Callidior Quam Ursus Typicus

...and still not saying anything of much importance.

If you're building a parody film using a very serious movie for your video and Yakkity Sax for your audio, there are certain guidelines that must be followed.

1. The speed of the film must be at least 50% higher than normal. 100% more is preferred.

2. It can't just be any footage. A Benny Hill parody is, by necessity, all about the chase.

3. Part of the visual humor is that bipedal locomotion, whether walking or running, is extremely funny to look at when sped up. So try to stick with bipedal locomotion (as opposed to quadrupedal or vehicular locomotion).

4. Scantily clad women are a bonus, but not necessary. If they don't fit into the chase, leave 'em out.

That is all.

Angels Anniversary went really well. I debuted my field heralds banners (up to 18 at this point, and every single one of them used today was silly fabric hand-picked by the Baroness). I had a couple slips at court, like calling Baron John a Baroness. I stepped up as Seraph, which is very cool. I had plenty of field heralds volunteer today, and the day went very smoothly, at least on my end.

I was also admitted to the Order of the Harp Argent of Caid (for those outside the kingdom, it's the AoA-level A&S award) for my work in tablet weaving. It was a truly unexpected honor, and I'm still trying to figure out how I got it.

I was watching episodes of Doogie Howser, MD on Hulu last night, and was intrigued by the similarities between it and current medical comedy-dramas. So I started doing some math: each show was 30 minutes long, minus 8 minutes for commercials, 2 minutes for the opening and closing credit reels, and another minute or so of Doogie becoming the world's first Twitter user at the end of every episode (dude, you need to work on your typing speed). So really, you only have 19 minutes of actual plot for any given episode. And yet, they were discussing some pretty heavy issues; domestic issues like domestic abuse and addiction, social issues like racism, sexism and the LA riots, and deeply personal philosophical issues such as the definition of self and one's purpose in the world.

The only real difference between modern medical dramas and Doogie Howser is the time frame in which to deal with these issues. While the current shows grapple with the issues in-depth, carrying them through an arc that can span seasons, Doogie Howser solves the domestic, cultural or personal issue du jour by the end of the episode (19 minutes or less or your pizza is free). While I think it's great that they were examining such complex issues in a time where most shows were flatly ignoring them, the need to resolve the situation before the credits roll required that the issues were scarcely given more than a casual, often dismissive glance. As an example, an episode dealing with potential child abuse on one of Doogie's patients quickly flips into a "doctors overreact sometimes" resolution combined with a "father knows best" moral.

Discussion question: did bringing up serious issues on Doogie Howser, MD do anything to help or hinder the greater national dialogue on said issues?

It seems like the interwebs is back, for now.

My apartment's free wireless has been down since at least Thursday, so it's been difficult checking email etc. The best way to reach me after 5 PM on weekdays is still my cell phone.

Not the best birthday on record. There were bright spots, like when my mom and grandma came down for lunch, and when my department brought out the ice cream cake. But the day was blighted by news on the escrow front.

Apparantly, Homeowners' Associations (HOAs) are required by law to maintain a reserve fund equal to six months of dues from all of the units in the building. For the condo I was trying to buy, that number came out to approximately $16,000. Unfortunately, the HOA for this particular condo only had $1,000 in their reserves. The loan agencies won't touch it. Without a loan, I cannot buy this condo. So after 3 months, escrow will be cancelled, and I'm back to square 1.

I'll be perfectly honest: I am quite bitter, angry and resentful at this news, but mostly sad. The last time I went through this failure of escrow, everyone said "these things happen for a reason," and later cited this condo as a clear reason why the last escrow failed. And yet, here I am, another failed escrow, and the same tired old phrase. Forgive me, but things don't always happen for a reason, and if anyone thinks this is an appropriate consolation technique, let me be the first to divest you of that notion by asking "Ok, so what's the reason?" I've wasted so much time on this condo and the one in Pasadena that I may have missed my window of opportunity.

"Freedom of speech/expression/religion" is not "freedom from disagreement," nor is it "freedom from being called out on your words." You can worship or say whatever you want, but if it's something stupid, someone else has the right to correct you, disagree with you, or mock your stupidity. If a public official forwards a joke with racist undertones, and a local newspaper reports it, that isn't suppressing his freedom of speech. That's pointing out that the person who has freedom of speech has chosen to use it to express hateful ideas.

In other words, there's a big difference between "you can't say that," and "you really, really, really shouldn't say that."

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jun/21/uh-oh-cheerios/

Cheerios and Raisin Bran were the only cereal I ate when I was younger. Mom, how could you?

...until you try to sort through it all. Yesterday was devoted to packing, so naturally, I woke up at around 1:30 PM and proceeded to play on the computer for a couple hours before getting down to business. As I'd recently bought two new plastic bins for fabric, my focus was on finding, folding, and stowing my yardage, while tossing dirty clothes into a laundry bag for later care.

I know I haven't found all the fabric yet, but I'm amazed at how much I've found. I'd forgotten, for example, that I'd bought 15 yards of brown linen, and almost 10 of yellow linen. I was pleased to find most of my raw silk (but I'm still missing my white raw silk, so no Caidan dagged sleeves yet...). Also, I found 5 yards of this ridiculously bright linen, the color of which I can only describe as a strawberry/orange smoothie. I sincerely doubt I could pull off wearing it, and I don't rightly recall why I bought it in the first place, but I'm sure I can find someone to take it off my hands.

http://books.google.com/books?id=3vgpAAAAYAAJ&printsec=toc&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0#PPA71,M1

This link should take you to Senator Smoot's Peach Cobbler. I was particularly amused by the Editor's note about the addition of brandy to cobblers prior to Prohibition, not only because it gives a great historical context to the recipe and its predecessors, but also because of my first cooking experience in the SCA.

At my first war, I brought a dutch oven and the makings for peach cobbler (well...technically peach dump cake, but the Scouts called it cobbler, so cobbler it is). In order to make the recipe more interesting, I decided to add some alcohol to the mix. Without any knowledge of the history of cobblers, and without any trial attempts, I acquired a bottle of cheap peach brandy and went to town on the cobbler. Note: brandy in cobbler makes canned peaches taste fresh.