Some places are already playing Christmas music and nothing but Christmas music. This is rather early, I think, for that. The inclusion of the occasional winter tune might be acceptable, but full-on Christmas music shouldn't happen until after Thanksgiving if it happens at all. My problem with Christmas music isn't that I don't like it. It's not even necessarily the repetition, though by now there ought to be enough tunes that repeats shouldn't need to happen frequently, and that's counting by title rather than by performance. It's the poor quality of every b-list,c-list, d-list... z-list quasi-celebrity cover of tunes that have been better by better. While White Christmas might not require Bing Crosby and Here Comes Santa Claus might not require Gene Autry, they are destroyed by various wannabes and also-rans put their undesired mark on them. One thing I will agree with the bletcherous Beavis and Butthead on: "Micheal Bolton can make anything suck."

I know there are some radio stations with an all-Christmas format, but the places where one encounters this most are stores that have Muzak or such (no commercials save what the store adds) and those seem to be sanitized of the more interesting Christmas and Winter tunes, such as Christmas At Ground Zero.

Now I'm pondering the interesting not-so-standard Christmas and Winter tunes. I know of a few:

Christmas At Ground Zero - Weird Al Yankovic
Happy Hairy Hippie Santa Claus ("You bet your sweet bippy Santa Claus is a hippie...")
Rusty Chevrolet - Da Yoopers
My Car Won't Go - Da Yoopers
I Yust Go Nuts At Christmas - Yogi Yorgesson
A Christmas Carol - Tom Lehrer
I'm Spending Hanukkah In Santa Monica - Tom Lehrer

Any others that wouldn't be all that likely to played in a store, but might provide some welcome relief if they were?

Current Mood: curious

Nobody put in an appearance to decry fruitcake or the committing thereof. There was agreement that real ingredients (butter, eggs, spirits) be used - and that the spirits were essential. Rum seems to be the canonical spirit for this sort of thing. I don't know enough about rum to judge what might be good or bad.

So, what rum would you recommend for soaking a fruitcake? And maybe for other baking. Possibly even drinking, though probably not by itself.

Current Mood: curious

A day or so ago I made 'peanut butter blossom' cookies (the peanut butter cookies with a Hershey's Kiss stuck in the middle while still hot) and bogged the mixer down quite a bit. Last night I made some devil's food cookies with a cake mix and really bogged the mixer down. While the mixer was several years old, I almost certainly was asking too much of (that is, abusing) it. The result was that last night the mixer died. As in "let the smoke out." I've taken the thing apart and I suspect a shorted winding in the motor since that's about all there is to the thing.

Thus I need a replacement. I'd put a handheld mixer ob my Christmas list but I'm not about to wait that long, even if we move at least part of Christmas up to about Thanksgiving.

I went to Wal-mart (the only place that [A] was open by the time I went out and [B] had mixers) and looked at what they had.

What I had, and burned out, was a 200W Black & Decker mixer with the typical beaters and five speeds and a 'burst' for highest speed.

What Wal-mart has is:

1. Rival, 125W, 5-speed, for $6.36.

2. Hamilton Beach, 250W, 6-speed (burst), for $15.88.

3. Black & Decker, 250W, 6-speed, for 19.88.

4. GE, 300W, 6-speed, for $29.00.

1 and 2 looked like they had the usual beaters. 3 had wire beaters of a couple types and a little case for everything, while 4 has wire beaters of a few types, a little case for everything, and in what seems complete overkill, digital display and membrane keys. Actually the membrane keys or buttons make some sense: they keep things sealed and won't let flour/dust/dirt/whatever in that way.

While the Rival is cheap, I suspect that it is just that: cheap rather than merely inexpensive. And considering what I've been asking of my mixer a mere 125W seems inadequate. Both the Hamilton Beach and the Black & Decker should have more oomph than what I had and I'm not sure there's all that much difference between them. The 300W GE is tempting but I don't know if I want or even need that much - or want to spend that much.

The other choice, a standing mixer, is out due to lack of room in the kitchen and funds for something that fancy. No matter how nice such a thing might be, it just isn't going to happen. I don't have to stick to Wal-mart, but really the only other place in town is Shopko. Target or K-Mart would mean a trip to Mankato. There is a Sears in town, but it's a small place that concentrates on larger items - and I'm not exactly thrilled with the idea of dealing with Sears for various reasons.

So I ask the the folks who bake and put some stress on their mixers, any recommendations?

Current Mood: cranky

Shamelessly swiped from LJ:towyncoyote's post Species stereotypes..

In furry fandom foxes, deservedly or not, have a certain reputation. What of other animals/creatures? Naturally I am most curious about the ones close to me. Thus I am curious as to what folks might think of:

* Horses

* Centaurs

* Bovines (Ox/Bull)

* Warners (the species of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot)

And if there's anything else that comes to mind, especially that you might somehow associate with me, I'm curious about that too.

Current Mood: curious

I really only have one* and that is the ACME group. If you are not in that group and would like to be, let me know.

Someday I might have other groups, once I figure out what they should be and how best to deal with inclusion/exclusion from same.

So, want in on the ACME group so can either get an idea of what might be coming or help me conspire to fold bits of reality into more interesting shapes?

Current Mood: curious

Fill in the blank:

_____ and tonic.


The reason I ask will be revealed later.

Current Mood: curious

In the last poll I had a question about apple pie and what might accompany it. I listed "nothing else" "cheese" "ice cream" "diesel" (the silly choice) and "other."

One person selected everything, and was the only one so far to include the diesel. But a couple other selected "other" and now I'm curious. What else, besides ice cream and cheese, do folks put on or have with apple pie?

Current Mood: curious

Why are clowns scary? Or: What makes clowns scary?

Current Mood: curious

I'm getting a bit of a head start on things for ACME at RCFM.

I'm looking for suggestions of what ACME should deliver at RCFM 7 (2009), and who things should be delivered to.

( Advise ACME  )

NOTE: Friends replies are NOT screened and will be visible.

Current Mood: curious

I'm getting a bit of a head start on things for ACME at Penguicon.

I'm looking for suggestions of what ACME should deliver at Penguicon 7 (2009), and who things should be delivered to.

( Advise ACME  )

NOTE: Friends replies are NOT screened and will be visible.

Current Mood: curious

I'm getting a bit of a head start on things for ACME at MFF. I'll have a couple other ACME polls for Penguicon and RCFM later this month.

I'm looking for suggestions of what ACME should deliver at MFF this year, and who things should be delivered to.

( Advise ACME )

NOTE: Friends replies are NOT screened and will be visible.

Current Mood: curious

At almost every convention at which Orvan has done ACME deliveries, he has delivered an OPS Survival Kit.

This started as a joke. And it was meant as only a joke, but it's turned out more than once that this joke was surprisingly practical. If it was just a joke, I'd probably retire the bit as "it's been done" and part of good comedy is not running the same gag into the ground through excess repetition. Since it has moved from humor to practicality, I have different concerns. One is that I really hope this whole thing really does become redundant and that folks working Ops and such at a convention manage to be properly prepared for the things this sort of kit covers. It's not that I want to bail out of it. It's that I would rather people be prepared. If they start depending on this showing up, it'll be a bit awkward if something happens and I (and therefore Orvan) can't make it, and this doesn't show up. Not a disaster, but it'll be one more nuisance for them then.

Beyond that, there is the matter of what items belong in the kit. I think I have the basics covered, but I'm not the one using the kit. For all I know there is something there I simply should not bother with. Or worse, there is a blatant omission of "D'oh!" proportions that would be trivial to take care of.

Some of these items have been common to every OPS/REGS Survival Kit. Others have only been in some and not in others due to ready availability (These are generally dollar store specials - ACME is cheap.) or to differences in the nature of a convention. For example, including caffeine in something going to Penguicon seems horribly redundant.

Aspirin
Ibuprofen
Acetaminophen (Tylenol)
Naproxen (Aleve)
Antacid
Pepto or equivalent
Throat drops
Bandages / mini first-aid kit
Handi-wipes
Tissues
Caffeine
Candy
Duc{k,t} tape

Is anything there that should not be? Anything that makes you think, "What the blazes is that there for?" Or that, after a convention, has not been opened at all? The various analgesics will stay as people have different preferences and tolerances, and even if one kind goes unused at convention X, I expect it will be used at convention Y.

Is anything obviously missing? Any item where you reach for the kit, look through it, and wonder why that thing isn't there?

I'd especially like to hear from anyone who worked Ops/Regs at a con and made use of one of these survival kits.

Current Mood: curious

Every year that the Siouxland Renaissance Festival has taken place, jmaynard and I have attended it. We arrive Friday afternoon, check in to a hotel, and then go out for supper. The past several years we've gone out to supper with some folks we know who are also going to the RenFest. We also tend to wind up going out with some folks on Saturday and Sunday, but that's usually arranged at the Festival.

I know a good many folks who will be there will be occupied with final site set-up and performer/vendor/volunteer orientation sorts of things on Friday. Is anyone reading this going? And will be free for supper Friday evening?

Current Mood: curious

brace_bear takes a lot of con photos and puts them up on the web so anyone could view them. Or used to, and still wants to. I recall there was some issue with his previous image host (not sure who it was, it might well have been flickr but I can't say for sure) so he looked around and found... phanfare.

Phanfare screams "we want to spam you" at me. Why? You need to have an account to even look around. You need to be "friended" to look at anything. It's as if they are trying force a community site. Actually, they are. Recall anyone else that did a force-build of a community and succeeded? Me neither.

That in their explanation they refer to "third party e-mail marketing" by that euphemism scares me. Why not call spam what it is? It's spam. This suggests to me at least one of two things: They really don't understand how the net works. They are going to spamming while claiming "spamming is that which we do not do."

The big touting of having being both Windows and Mac gimmicks also amuses me in the wrong way. "We have both kinds of music, Country and Western!"

So... those who have had Phanfare accounts for a while: Have they kept their word? Are they merely clueless, or are they evil?

Current Mood: suspicious

I've been wanting something to drink that doesn't seem to exist. I expect it does, but I'm just not aware or haven't been recalling it.

When it's cold, it's nice to have something warm or hot. This is covered by coffee, tea, cider, and hot chocolate. When it's warm or hot, something cool or cold is nice. This is covered by fruit juices, soft drinks, milk, iced tea (and now iced coffee), and ice-water. Also, beer and wine are served at least somewhat chilled.

But the only thing I can think of that is served at or around room temperature is hard liquor. And what I want is something that is neither hot nor cold, and is not intoxicating. So far all I can come up with is letting some water, without any ice, stand and warm up for a while. It's not bad. A little lemon or lime juice helps. Water is probably the best thing I can drink: no caffeine, no alcohol, no sugar, no artificial sweeteners, no calories. So I don't really mind that other than the delay of letting it come up to temperature.

But this does have me wondering, are there any drinks (other than hard liquors) that are served at, and considered good at, room temperature?

Current Mood: thirsty

Most Sundays jmaynard and I go out for breakfast and one fellow who works at the restaurant takes his family to Disney World every year This morning I just happened to ask him, "What's up, Doc?" and he pointed out that was a Warner Bros. thing and he was more a Disney type. Thinking the incident over a bit, a question came to me: Is there any popular phrase that makes Disney or a Disney character immediately come to mind?

For Warner Brothers there are a few phrases: "What's up, Doc?" "Th-th-that's all, folks!" "Of course you know, this means war." and even "I tawt I taw a puddy-tat. I did. I did taw a puddy-tat!"

But all I can think of for Disney are musical items such as, "When You Wish Upon A Star" or the derogatory usage of Mickey Mouse to describe a (I am trying not to say 'goofy') screwy system.

Am I overlooking something? Is there some character quotation that is fairly common that instantly brings a Disney character to mind?

Current Mood: curious

I've been getting things together for ACME deliveries at Penguicon in April and RCFM is only a month or so after that. That means I need ACME delivery ideas for RCFM. Both who to deliver something to, what to deliver to them. I don't know everyone well enough to work it all out by myself, so I'm asking for some help.

( Delivery guidelines )

In keeping with #5, replies to this post are all screened so only I will see all of them.

Who can be a recipient? Anybody! This isn't just for Guests of Honor and staffers. If it's just someone you know will be there and have an idea for what to send them, that will do nicely. I probably won't use every idea, just so I have some time for myself, but more ideas are better than fewer.

Generic ideas (e.g. "Chew toys for canines.") are certainly useful and I do not want to discourage those. But the main interest is to try to get things specific to a person.

Thank you for any suggestions.

Current Mood: curious

I have a need, or at least a use, for a picture of a jar[1] of Folgers. I do not have a jar of Folgers or I'd just take the picture myself. I also don't have any use for Folgers beyond the image[2], so it doesn't make sense for me to buy a jar if I can avoid it. The image is for the ACME Delivery web site. I am asking for photo if anyone is able and willing to take such as I want to be sure I won't have any copyright issues. That's why just snagging something that Google Images comes up with is out. The photographer will be properly credited. I can add such text to the image since I'll be editing it anyway, as I'll probably need to crop and re-size it.

Anyone have the ability and the interest?

jmaynard

Current Mood: curious

I haven't made up my mind for sure what to do about the 2009 ACME Calendar but I have decided I ought to be building up a collection of Orvan photos that could be used for a Calendar.

These would have to be public places, unless an arrangement with the property owner(s) could be had for access to non-public locations. I figure places like public parks and historical markers or such are probably about the best. But a scenic roadway or just a good spot downtown could work too. Note that places like malls are private and would need to be negotiated, and there is apt to be concern about wear a "mask" since my face will not be visible.

The ideal locations would be in southern Minnesota (including the Twin Cities), the Sioux Falls area, northern or central Wisconsin and perhaps Des Moines. This is just "places I can drive to" and am likely to either have someone with me or can find someone there to take the pictures and help with local navigation.

This is the season for Winter scenes (though I'd rather not have Orvan's feet in the snow - I want to keep him dry) but I can go places in other seasons as well.

It's far better to have too many suggestions and extra photos than to be wondering how to fill gaps. So, suggest away!

Current Mood: curious

While it's still a few months until Penguicon it doesn't hurt to get an early start to things. It's much easier to find things when it's not a last-minute search.

( More )

Current Mood: curious