Oh God! Please... NO

For heaven's sake. TopShop has brought back one of the more heinous offenses from The Late Great 80's.

The Harem Pants:



I know we love to rehash and reinterpret fashion from bygone years, but please. Not the 80's.

Just say NO.

Daily Snort

Read this on MSNBC this morning:

Jobless claims at lowest level since January
New Labor Department data show decline of 34,000 in latest week

“The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless aid unexpectedly fell by 34,000 last week, sinking to the lowest level since late January, new Labor Department data showed on Thursday.”

Wait, didn't Microsoft just lay off over 3000 people yesterday? What about all the other companies that are laying people off ? The article goes on to say DuPont plans to cut 2000 jobs.

WTF? Are we supposed to be excited about this?

So, YAY, unemployment is momentarily down this week. However more suckage is on the way, when everyone who was layed off this week, files their claims next week?




And then there's this little gem on Madonna:

Mercy’s father questions Madonna’s morals

I personally find this headline hilarious. No need to read any further, really.

See, there's this dude in Malawi (Africa), who's allegedly the father of a child Madonna is trying to adopt. The headline is supposed to be his reaction to Madonna's wacko out fit for The Met gala. Which isn't even one of her bigger calamities.

He's quoted as saying, “What morals can a woman of 50 have, who has no qualms in showing her delicate parts and displaying herself like that in front of her children?”. He does have a point though.

God forbid he sees ANYTHING Madonna did during the 80's and early 90's. His head might explode.

“Delicate parts”. He really doesn't know Madonna.

Schizophrenic Spring in Pennsylvania

It's been raining for a week solid now. Just prior to that, we had a 4 day heat wave where it reached 100 degrees. That's right. One. Hundred. 100 smelly, sweaty degrees. In April.

Since then, it's back down to 40 degrees in the mornings, and maybe 65 by mid-afternoon. And wet.

This is one of the many reasons I hate PA. There's never a gradual move into Summer, with cute, light jackets, and kicky new ¾ length tops. Spring is a schizophrenic season where one day you're wearing a down-filled parka, and the next it's shorts and a tank top. If you're lucky enough NOT to get SNOW in MAY, you're waterlogged with rain.

I've lived here all my life, and have never gotten used to it. Someday, I'll move to a state with stable weather.

Tiresome

I'm so tired of sensationalized news. At this point in my life, I pretty much don't believe ANYTHING written by the main stream media.

This particular story is annoying me because it's misleading, among other things:

Topless photo could cost Prejean pageant crown

1) She's not topless. Side-boob doesn't count.

2) Even if she was topless, who cares? How does that make her unChristian?

3) Apparently she was 17 when the photos were taken. Well then, why wasn't the photographer arrested on “Peter File” charges?

4) 10 points for a dumbass career move (hasn't she heard of Vanessa Williams?). Also, awesome lack of guidance on her parents part.

5) Last time I checked, this country still had free speech. She voiced her opinion. The left may not agree with it, but she's entitled to it.

6) Can the we stop beating up on Christianity already? The MSM preaches tolerance for every other religion, except Christians.

7) Who else is really, really tired of this story??




UPDATE 05/07/2009

Due to the unfortunate circumstances of not being able to avoid this story, I happened across more articles that insinuate there are more photos of this woman, that are actually topless. And it seems she may have taken them herself at 17.

I haven't been able to find an article that definitively backs that up, but since this non-story is getting really boring, I didn't try that hard either.

If it's true, then it just proves dumbass theory #4 above.

Little Friends

Yay! Just had my first spider of the year. Under my desk.

I haven't even seen one in the frickin basement yet. Why under my desk? It's clean... mostly. You'd think the dust bunnies would frighten them away.

Welcome Back To Hell

I'm baaaaack. Like a bad cold. Or the swine flu.

I figured I'd give this another shot, this time with a wider range of topics and general rantiness.

I've changed up the site as well. Less pink and perky - more cranky.

On that note...

Today was worse than a Monday – which is exactly what happens on a Tuesday, after taking a mental health 3 day weekend. I managed a complete meltdown long before I caught up with the 300 emails in my inbox.

My company has a “relationship” with a certain store. When there's a problem, our “relationship managers” open a work ticket to us (IT Department) to investigate the issue.

I've told these “relationship managers” time and time again to open these tickets to our group, not directly to ME. The reason being, if it's assigned to me and I'm not in the office, nobody will work on it. Everyone else in my group will assume I already know about it – simple right?

So invariably I come back from vacation only to find 50 emails from the dumbasses, who are freaking out because the ticket they assigned to me hasn't been worked on (obviously), and they failed to actually read my out of office message.

Of course, they escalate this to Herr Manager the morning I returned from vacation. So now he's yelling for a status on an issue that I've had not five minutes to review – and apparently being out of the office is not an excuse.

I need another mental health vacation.

Spring Break

The beloved family pet died.

My company is laying people off and I may be next.

Things suck.

I think I'm going to take a break for a while and get my head together.

Thanks everyone :)

Let Me In, A Non Book Review

No, I'm not dead. Not yet at least.

Well, it was only a matter of time before something came along that either impressed me greatly, or irritated the hell out of me – and then I'd feel inspired to write about it.

In this case, it's a book. And I'm writing a non-book review, because I've managed to only get halfway through it before deciding it's a complete piece of shite. I pushed myself to get this far, only because I hate leaving a book unfinished. I may yet finish it; but doubt I'll enjoy it.

I purchased Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist because of a positive review I read on RevolutionSF. (This was originally titled Let The Right One In, and was made into a movie in Sweden).

Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk reviewers gave it rave reviews. Things like :

“Oooh it's so EDGY!”

“It's so disturbing you won't be able to put it down!”

“It's not like any other vampire novels!”

The few that did not give it 4 or 5 stars, seemed mostly bothered that the story meandered around and didn't go anywhere and that a lot of material could have been cut; thus creating a much smaller volume (This book is over 450 pages in length).

I agree wholeheartedly with those reviewers - the story could have used a good slashing of it's own content. However this alone isn't enough to make me walk away from a book (I've muddled through many a boring tome).

What killed this story for me was that it certainly wasn't like any other vampire novel I've ever read. Or, any other novel I've ever read, for that matter. This isn't “edgy”, unless you happen like reading about “Peter Files” [sic].

I fully understand that in purchasing a book, you never truly know what you'll get. Reviews are not comprehensive, and something that one person would like, others may not. However, out of 30+ reviews, only a few people alluded the book's child abuse/murder and “Peter File” [sic] character.

To the rave reviewers, this is apparently “edgy” and titillating. Or just plain below their radar maybe? Not important enough to be mentioned? It's a sad world where we're that desensitized to such violence. I found it deeply disgusting, and it would seem I'm the only one.

Why is this titillating? It shouldn't be. It's not as if this is a book educating one about the dangers of “Peter Files” [sic], it's using this as character development. Lindqvist paints this character as though we should pity him. It felt like a deliberate attempt at raising a sensation. Sorry, there's still some of us with a sense of decorum, and that just doesn't fly.

I do, however, highly recommend Theodore Dalrymple's Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses.

In his book, Mr. Dalrymple takes aim at many of the things that are contributing to the disintegration of our society. He has an excellent chapter called “Trash, Violence and Versace: But Is It Art?", which really says it all better than I ever could.




NOTE: I must give credit for the term “Peter File” to Graham Linehan and his television show the IT Crowd.

UPDATE 03/04/2009: I finished the book. My opinion has not changed. Not an entirely bad plot, however it could've been done without the "Peter File".

Learning Curve

Well, I'm in another class this week. I can't complain, it's a good class, and I'm thankful my company is kind enough to educate us.

Along with my regular overtime, I've had to find a way to practice the new language I've learned; so it sticks in my feeble, old brain. As "homework", I'm working on a small application to hone my skills. Hopefully this will keep me gainfully employed.

When I began this blog, I tried to post daily. Now I'm lucky if I have time to do 2 postings a week. I don't want to give up the blog - I enjoy the writing.

So, with the economy in the crapper and my company merging, I may not be writing as often as I'd like.

I'll try and keep this going as long as I can though ! :)

Ashes To Ashes

I finally got my hands on the first season of the BBC show Ashes To Ashes. This is sort of a “sequel” to Life On Mars, with all the main characters except Sam Tyler. This time it's a woman, Alex Drake who gets to “go back in time”.

I won't give away any huge spoilers (I'm hoping BBCAmerica will be kind enough to run these at some point). The story goes that Sam Tyler supposedly lived out the remainder of his life in the 70's, and criminal profiler Alex Drake has been studying his notes about having traveled back to 1973. Of course, she thinks he's a complete loon, until she's shot and finds herself back in 1981 London (instead of 1973 Manchester) with Gene Hunt, Chris Skelton and Ray Carling.

I blew through the 8 episode series in about a week, and it was very cool. Especially Gene Hunt. The writing wasn't as good as Life On Mars though. There were cringe-worthy scenes with Alex meeting her parents, and I found myself thinking, “If Alex Drake studied Sam Tyler's notes on his experiences in 1973, then why didn't she learn something from them?”.

The best episodes were the very first one and the very last one. In between those episodes, adventures ensued. Oh, and there's a David Bowie clown who starts off creepy, then just becomes annoying. Like a stalker. If I was Alex Drake, I think I would've decked him after the 3rd sighting – imaginary construct or not.

Overall, I enjoyed this series and would definitely go back and watch them again. I understand a second series has been commissioned, and I'm looking forward to seeing that eventually.

So here's a bit of the first episode, courtesy of YouTube. A most excellent introduction of Alex Drake to the infamous Gene Hunt.

Sis - if you're reading this, I think you'll enjoy!