kbobam

I have too much 'seasonal-depression' going on for that. But it is a nice thought!

Putting 'flavor' of this sort into the water used for cooking actual rice can be a fun thing to do. ( :

Well son of a so and so! This falls into the 'learn something new' category for me. I've been very resistant to new music ever since the '90's, when I became convinced that it had all gone to heck. Even earlier than that I knew that I hated music videos since the day they were introduced. Still do, mostly. But the Cranberries' song was really nice, and I 'didn't mind' (that's as far as I'm willing to go admission-wise!) the video either! Good stuff! ( :

I think I remember those. They were good units to have. Many people didn't and still don't realize that having high-wattage hardly ever 'blows up' your speakers. This usually happens when you have a lower watt amp or receiver and turn the volume up too high, forcing it to distort the signal.

In the broad sense, as an only-child I don't feel particularly close to any of them. As far as the thing I mentioned, I'm definitely a 'Jan guy'. This is pretty much a matter of generally being attracted to women who have their own 'unique' appeal. Marcia's 'cookie-cutter' pretty girl next door look is okay, but gets a little boring. Guys who grew up 'liking' her probably wound up liking the traditional 'Playboy blonde'. Nothing drastically wrong with that, I guess, but to me they all look sort of 'plastic' and basically the same. (It's so tiresome having to turn away the large numbers of these women who are constantly knocking on my door!) I think you should continue to send me presents on both my birthdays. ( :

Ha! You guys are really in the holiday spirit! I love the brilliant skillful graphics from Winnie and the warm feeling from Darla's shot that makes me feel I'm gleefully finding the marbles deep down in the toe of a Christmas stocking! ( :

Huh! Based on your intelligence and overall 'togetherness' I would have thought so too. You're just a kid! But it's cool. You're still AOK in my book. You reminded me of something I hope at least a few people here will find funny. Guys meeting other guys for the first time have a complex 'screening process' which I guess you'd have to call an animal instinct. This is used to determine if the person is worth your time to ever speak to again. Generally it involves questions like "You a Cowboys fan?" For guys 'of a certain age', which is surprisingly wide-ranging, there's one question that to this day always comes up eventually. It goes like this: "So............. Jan or Marcia?" I know this has a distinct superficial and sexist tinge to it, and apologize for that. But for us this is vital information! Please forgive us. We can't help it.

Ha! I love this question! I'm not as 'serious' about this stuff as I used to be. But I'm still willing to tell my younger friends that the mp3 format stinks. They don't want to hear it. Before one even thinks about high-quality sound reproduction equipment, you have to have a top-notch original recording. I don't think most people today understand this idea. My fantasy stereo system involves what I, for decades now, have called "The Mac Stack"! This would be two of the old higher-powered Macintosh monaural tube amps, coupled with their equalizer of the time, which I think had five traditional adjustment knobs. I did once own my ultimate turntable of choice, which was the Bang and Olufsen model with the 'tangential' arm and their 'top of the line' cartridge. You could plug this thing into anyone's mediocre stereo system and immediately hear a clear improvement. Speakers! I don't care what anyone thinks. You can accept all the high-tech crap that modern manufacturers tell you, but I don't think you'll do much better than an old pair of 'K-Horns'! Thanks for bringing this subject up! It makes me happy!

Oh my God! (That deserved more than a silly "OMG".) I did not 'see that coming'. Wow. I hope this winds up in the 'best commercials of the year' list! ( :

You bet! But of course you already instinctively knew this on some level, which is why you're a high-class guy. We currently have three words which are impolite to the point where we have 'names' for them which follow the same format. There are traditionally "The F Word", and "The S Word", which we've decided are offensive, even though there's not much reason for this. In more recent times "The N Word" has been added to this list. This is the 'race-based' word which has often been used in an unjustified hateful and hurtful manner, so it certainly belongs there. These are the ways we refer to these words in 'spoken' conversation. Your use of the ** was another 'good manners' way to use this type of word in 'written' conversation. ( :

Interesting. Not one to keep up with the times, I hadn't heard of that! It was the final two lines spoken by the off-camera narrator in the video that reminded me of this thing I call the 'twang'. It's a strange sort of tonality or 'accent' that has a somewhat unnatural 'affected' sound to it. If someone you knew spoke this way all the time it would drive you nuts. But armed with my new knowledge, I'd have to say that the example here also seems to add some degree of 'fry' to it as well. ( :

I also wanted to mention that I enjoyed and respected Hoody's use of sh** here. This was clearly the work of a sophisticated multi-lingual 'gentleman', as we know he is. The "S" word! It's one of the words you just don't say or write 'out loud' in U.S. English if you want people to recognize that you're of good breeding and manners. No particularly good reason for this. Just the way it is. But I was thinking that the German word was similar, so I had to took it up. Just like some of the Yiddish words we've talked about, it looks like the German word in some forms is spelled with the sch..., and other times with just the sh.... I don't know why this is. What was especially interesting was that the word seems to be much less impolite in German. It sounds like it's acceptable for children to say it in many situations. In the U.S. there are many people who would spank a child silly for saying this word. Even though this is very 'politically incorrect' to do now. I'm very tired right now. Not even sure what I'm talking about any more. So I'm going to stop. Wishing everyone a great weekend! ( :

Oh man! The folks at Campbell's Soup and the advertising people they're working with are brilliant. On so many levels. I'm not going to bore you with my endless banter trying to describe it. The link below is a 'tuber' of the first commercial I saw from their 'real real life' campaign just a little while ago. In spite of being a hairy, sometimes smelly, working-class straight-laced guy, I can only describe it as 'charming'. While searching for this, I came across another one of their new ads. Personally, I'd say that this one is just as charming, but it involves what I guess you'd have to call a 'controversial subject', and as such I'm not going to show it here. If you're of a 'liberal' (which doesn't necessarily mean you're not a Republican!) mind-set, and like Stephen Colbert, I'd recommend looking up his 'million moms' video, and watching it there along with his amusing commentary. Regardless of anyone's personal feelings, Campbell's is going to get so much 'bang for their buck' publicity from these ads! These are new to me, and I haven't even looked to see if there are more of them which I haven't seen yet. But so far I think they have a real winning concept here. ( : (What I don't understand is the strange female vocal 'twang' from no known region, that has been very popular in advertising in recent years. But what the heck.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCoDi4Ed108

It probably would, so I think you won this one. ( : And it is hot chili oil. It leaked from one of those little plastic cups, like it always does. It's on top of a thick piece of architectural glass I use as a cutting board, which in turn is on top of my fake wood grain formica counter. A dim light way off to one side was the only lighting. This angle and the thick glass allowed for the dark 'edge effects', although you couldn't really see this well. A six second exposure effectively 'lit' everything up, and made the bright-looking scene possible without using a flash, which wouldn't have worked well with the glass. Maybe this would be a good time to shut up.

Once again, one foot away and straight down. Please don't hesitate with any of these 'mysteries' to stray from the 'challenge' aspect for a second or two and say that the photographs are stunning. ( : The hint is 'Chinese food'.

It's a little scary looking, but nice!

I'm a little confused. (Ha! Many TMC people are now saying "So what else is new?") Are you suggesting that you'd like similar abstract photos based on 'natural design'? Or were you suddenly disgusted and want me to shut up and go back to pictures of pretty things? Which I kind of think this is, in terms of the final image if you skip the 'background story'.

Sorry, everyone! I lost track of this topic temporarily. This is genuine 'raw sewage' on the floor of a shower. (From a septic tank back-up.) Not in its original wet and messy form, but after the 'water' has all drained off. The patterns that are left by the solids in many different 'solutions' which have been allowed to drain are actually much more interesting than most people would imagine. One time long ago I turned on the water in a bathtub. When I returned to see if it was full, I had a tub full of very rusty, very brown, water. I pulled the drain plug and went to bed. The next morning was one of the most 'mind-blowing' experiences I've ever had. The bottom of my tub was a panoramic mural! There were very detailed 'images' of many quite realistic looking things. Including Don Quixote and the windmills. Until the day I die I'm going to painfully regret not having a camera with me at the time.

'Esio Trot', a movie based on a novel by Roald Dahl, This guy is one of the few people in the world who have earned my top rank of 'a fricking genius' based on the books of his which I've read. I'm in the middle of the movie right now, but so far it's totally charming in a non-barfy way if you like that sort of thing. I know I do. And both Dustin and Judi Dench apparently wanted to play the main characters, since neither of them 'needed' the work. That says a lot in itself! I'm psyched for the rest of it and going to get back to it now.

I can't even begin to tell you how significant this particular moment seems to me. Here's Dustin Hoffman, who's possibly my favorite actor of all time. And he's just out-classed every brilliant philosopher who's ever lived. By explaining it all in one simple sentence.

Ha! Thanks for the 'nucklehead'! Mondays are always bad for me for several reasons. Even worse than for most people. And Garfield. It was my first laugh all day. Okay, I didn't see it until a little after midnight, but since I hadn't gone to bed yet it still counts! ( :

Very cool stuff! And given your love of birds, these have to be in your 'prized possessions' category!

I now knot what you mean!

Getting really close!