Pharyngula Mutating Genre Meme

Pharyngula Mutating Genre Meme

Nope. This isn't Part II to the vegetarian blog. I've been tapped by Stennie to do a meme. I think I understand the 40,000 rules attached. But you can judge for yourselves, because one of the rules is, naturally, to include the rules.

It's a challenging meme - one I actually had to think about, but I like it. Ready?

There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations:

— You can leave them exactly as is.

— You can delete any one question.

— You can mutate either the genre, medium, or subgenre of any one question. For instance, you could change "The best time travel novel in SF/Fantasy is…" to "The best time travel novel in Westerns is…", or "The best time travel movie in SF/Fantasy is…", or "The best romance novel in SF/Fantasy is…".

— You can add a completely new question of your choice to the end of the list, as long as it is still in the form "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is…".

You must have at least one question in your set, or you've gone extinct, and you must be able to answer it yourself, or you're not viable.

Then answer your possibly mutant set of questions. Please do include a link back to the blog you got them from, to simplify tracing the ancestry, and include these instructions.

Finally, pass it along to any number of your fellow bloggers. Remember, though, your success as a Darwinian replicator is going to be measured by the propagation of your variants, which is going to be a function of both the interest your well-honed questions generate and the number of successful attempts at reproducing them.

My great-great-great-great-great grandparent is Flying Trilobite
My great-great-great-great grandparent is A Blog Around the Clock.
My great-great-great grandparent is Shakespeare's Sister.
My great-great grandparent is Excuse This Mess...
My grand grandparent is Saying Yes.
My grandparent is Really Small Fish
My parent is Stennie


My siblings are Bet, LilyG, Duke (Don't know his URL) and Mike the Blogless

1. The best comedy in scientific dystopias is: Brazil

2. The best sexy song in rock is: “Sweet Emotion" by Aerosmith

(Looking back at the "family line" here, the definition of "sexy" is "dirty".)

3. The best Novel in absurdist fiction is: Tin Drum by Günter Grass

4. The best dead comedian in American comedy is John Belushi

5. The most embarrassing moment in live television was: I don't know - how about Ashlee Simpson lip syncing on SNL. I know there have got to be more embarrassing moments out there, but I just can't think of one.

I tap Josh, (Join, Josh, JOIN!) Lauren, Alexis, and Amy.

Not including life insurance ...

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Mingle² - Online Dating

Meme - Not Yet

So I'm back ...

... not only have I not been posting to my blog in the last month, but I've fallen really far behind in reading the blogs on my blogroll. It's nothing personal, I promise. I'm catching up though, and I'm even commenting a little bit.

Browsing Stennie's blog (cute kitty picture alert), I found this meme from last week. It seems like just the right way to get into blogging.

1) What haven’t you done yet in your life that you’d really like to do someday? Why? Will you do any of those things in the near future? Are you making progress toward them?

There are lots of things I'd like to do, the opportunity for some have passed. But someday I'm planning on doing such fun and exotic things as: visiting the Southern Hemisphere, developing interests that turn into long-term goals, writing the resume that makes every employer who has ever turned me down, salivate and turn green with envy that they can't have me. I used to want to be a herbalist, if even just as a hobby, and lately I've been revisiting that.

2) If you could completely start your life over from scratch, what would you do differently the second time around (if anything)? Why?

Coulda, shoulda, woulda: didn't. There are things I wish I would have done differently, sure, but I don't think I would like to start from scratch. I've always assumed that we're here to learn, even if those lessons aren't always pleasant.

3) What do you think you’ll be like when you’re 70, 80, 90, possibly even 100 years old? Where do you think you’ll be living, and what activities do you think you’ll enjoy?

I assume I'll be working until the day they shovel me a hole, but when I'm all geriatric and no longer an economic threat, I'll probably have relocated to to a mid-sized European city. I'll be writing or teaching something. I imagine I'll be growing my own herbs and forcing tea down everyone's throat.

4) What ages do you think have been the best for you so far? Why? What do you think of your current age ... are you enjoying it? Are you looking forward to your next birthday?

My favorite ages were from 24-29. Those were the wonder years. My current age doesn't really bother me, but every year around my birthday I start to decide I haven't done nearly enough with my years. I haven't looked forward to a birthday since I was 21. I mean, all the time I was a child, I was excited to turn some age or another to attain this privilege or that. But once you hit 21, the next big deal doesn't come until the AARP card at 65. Somehow the senior citizen discount doesn't seem to be a big enough deal to rush my life over.

Celebrity Dead Pool

From Mike the Blogless, or from Bet, or from Stenns or from the Web at large, it's another meme of sorts. This one is a game: The Celebrity Dead Pool Meme. Here are the rules:

1. Pick ten celebrities who you think will die from 1/1/07 to 1/1/08
2. You aren’t allowed to murder the celebrity.
2.5 Saddam Hussein doesn’t count.
3. The point system works like this: you get one point for every year UNDER the age of 90 that the celebrity dies at. Anyone over 90 gets negative points.
4. Whoever gets the most points, wins.

I've been mulling over my answer for a few days now - this isn't easy. I'm not the biggest celebrity follower, but I think I've got a list:

1. Peter Falk
2. K-Fed
3. Barbara Bush
4. Liz Taylor
5. The Reverend Al Sharpton
6. Joan Rivers
7. Tammy Faye Bakker
8. Jerry Lewis
9. Dick Clark
10. Ariel Sharon

Play!

The Soundtrack to my Life implies a Sucky Life

And so here it is, the last day of the year. More than usual, I'm behind in my blogging and my reading of other blogs.

Working my way down the list, so far, I have only read Alexis in Amsterdam and Betland. I'll get to the others, but first, I have to do this meme. I got it from Bet, but it came from Stennie. Chances are, Stenns hasn't written anything since she did this meme anyway.

This meme seems a little silly because it is so random, but what the hell? Maybe iTunes has special powers.

If your life was a movie, what would the soundtrack be?

So, here’s how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, etc).
2. Put it on shuffle.
3. Press Play.
4. For every question, type the song that’s playing.
5. When you go to a new question, press the Next button.
6. Don’t lie and try to pretend you’re cool.
7. Don’t skip songs.

(1) Opening credits: "She's So High," Blur. Those of you who know me are having a good laugh right now. Those of you who will be spending New Years Eve with me be forwarned!
2) Waking up: "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," Elton John. I suppose I am remorsful for everything I did during the opening credits? Not that I'd remember what I'd done, of course.
(3) First day at school: "Rest of the Day Off," Neil Finn. I guess I never was really all that into school.
(4) Fight song: "Freewill," Rush. I kick your ass because it is my choice...
(5) Breaking up: "Rollerskate Skinny," Old 97's. Hmm... this one doesn't really fit.
(6) Happiness: "I fought the Law," The Clash. Because being a hardass makes me happy.
(7) Life’s okay: "The House of Love," Squeeze. I couldn't have picked a worse song for this category if I'd tried. For the non-Squeeze fans, the chorus goes, "The house of love caved in and that was it." It's a song sung by a man who hates a particular woman.
(8) Mental breakdown: "For Emily, Wherever I May Find Her" I don't know any Emilys. That may be the problem.
(9) Driving: "I Don't Want To Know," Vaya Con Dios. Nope. This one is about a cheating man. Maybe I'm driving around when I catch him cheating and I run him over?
(10) Flashback: "The End," The Beatles. Perfect! I really do hope that when my life flashes before my eyes in that moment before the end, I'm thinking about the love.
(11) Getting back together: "Feels Just Like It Should," Jamiraquai. Fine. But then why did we break up in the first place?
(12) Wedding: "11:11," Rufus Wainwright God, I hope that's not my wedding!
(13) Birth of a child: "Am I Too Late?," Old 97's. Morbid. Just morbid. This is a song about death.
(14) Final battle: "Every Day I Write The Book," Elvis Costello. Think about the video for this one - it could fit.
(15) Death scene: "Sexual Harassment in the Workplace," Frank Zappa I always knew I'd suffer death by harassment.
(16) Funeral song: "Savoy Truffle," The Beatles. Eat, Drink, Be Merry! I died by harassment, now eat some sweets and think about how much you'll all miss me.
(17) End credits: "Deep Cuts," Squeeze. This is a song about a sexually frustrated prank caller. So let me get this straight: I come into the world all high, kill my cheating lover and his girlfriend with my car, then my baby is a stillborn, and to top it off, I die from sexual harassment, and the closing song glorifies the bastard who kills me? I guess that's just life, eh?

Have a wonderful New Years Eve everyone!

Five on Friday

Here, Alexis: you'll be happy with this meme - it's about FOOD! As usual, this week's meme comes from the sexy Stennie.

1. Given a choice, and imagining that money and time were no object, would you rather cook dinner, eat out or order in? This depends on the weather and my mood. I like cooking, and people usually enjoy eating what I've made. Cooking is relaxing, creative, and brings instant gratification. This is more than I can say for, say, pottery, which takes forever and tends to explode in the kiln. I'm just saying.

But if it's hot and I'm lazy, then I'll be going out to eat.

2. What is the most elaborate meal you’ve ever prepared yourself or purchased at a restaurant? I've made some pretty elaborate things - especially in those apartments where I've had a dining room. But I think the most elaborate of all elaborates had to be at a very shi-shi Thai restaurant near me called Aruns. You get a seven course tasting menu with all these fantastic flavor pairings. And wine for each course. It cost a bundle, and I liked it a lot - it was fussy for Thai though.

3. What food do you find yourself making and/or eating way too much? Probably broccoli. I eat it almost every day. Sometimes I eat it more than once a day. With the weather changing though, I've been changing over to cheese, which is not only bad nutritionally in large doses, but also really makes me very ill. But I like it. Call me Wallace.

4. What was your most disastrous cooking/eating out experience? Probably when I took a Bulgarian friend out for sushi. "This tastes like mushi,*" said he. "I usually don't pay for that." Then we both got food poisoning: "Typical for mushi."

5. Would you rather cook for someone else or have them cook for you? Again, depends on what and where. Guacamole? Lauren. Fish? Larry. Anything Italian? Karl and Steph. Indian? Peer, hands down. But generally, I'm pretty fussy, and I like to cook. In fact, for a woman who claims to been born without an iota of maternal instinct, I like to feed people.

*This is vulgar. Use your imagination.

Weekly Meme

As usual, several days late, here's the weekly meme as posted by Stennie.

Q1 - Image: Does it bother you that the rest of the world seems to hate the United States? Do you think the U.S. has to change its politics or simply do a more effective job at public relations?

Yes, this bothers me a lot. We haven't been exactly popular in a long while, but the last six years have been especially hard on our reputation. The US has to quit acting like it is the only country in the world with people in it. Not participating in Kyoto and invading other countries are very bad policy. So yes, I think the US has to change its politics. I think we need to change the current administration. I hate it that wherever I go, I am an ambassador for politics I don't actually get to choose.

Q2 - Education: Which do you feel is the best environment for children's education, single sex or co-ed?

For sure, co-ed. I don't understand the point of separating the girls from the boys for school. I taught at a single-sex school once, and I don't see that the girls were doing any better there than at the co-ed one I was teaching at during the same time period. Both sets of girls felt pressure to wear make up and try to be the cool kids. In fact, one of my all-girls school classrooms had a picture of the Spice Girls in it, where the girls were wearing no tops, just covering their breasts with their hands. Titillation? Not for the most part. These were their role models. I don't know if not having the girls around helps the boys study better, but I can't imagine it makes a difference.

Q3 - Convenience: The 2007 Lexus LS has a feature that helps its driver parallel park or back the vehicle into a parking space. At the touch of a button, the Advanced Parking Guidance System’ automatically parallel parks the LS or backs it into a parking space with just a little brake work by the driver. If this feature were available for your car, would you use it?

I'm very good at parallel parking. But if this were available to me, I'd use it. You never know.

Q4 - Work: If you had to choose between working in sales or customer service, which would you choose?

Customer Service. Not everyone is mean and grouchy, and sometimes you can really make a difference in someone's day. Sales just seems slimy to me.

Friday Meme

Stennie has posted her weekly meme, and since it seems that my blog is very much "monkey see, monkey do" here we go.... a meme about memes.

What first got you started blogging? Stennie started it, she told me to follow, and I did. I think this was back in 2002. I can't figure out how to work my broken archives, so I can't tell you for sure.

How often do you post to your blog? Sometimes several times a week, sometimes several times a month. It depends on my mood, my schedule, and my desire to communicate.

Do you have more than one blog and if so, how are they each different? Nope. I just have Fred.

Where did you first hear about memes? I think it was a Monday Mission, and I'm sure I got the idea from either Stennie.

Do you remember the first meme you participated in and if so, what was it? I don't remember, broken archives and all that.

Do you run any memes yourself and if so what are they? I seem to remember trying my hand at it once or twice, but I generally just do the ones my friends post, or I hunt around and find them on my own.

Weekly-ish Meme

This week's meme is courtesy of Stennie It's a word association. You're supposed to type in the first word you think of when you read the words before the double semicolon.

1. Opinion :: Mine
2. Tardy :: Slip
3. Peer pressure :: Fish (sorry, it's the word that popped into my mind first.)
4. Grownup :: Job
5. ! :: $%^&*()
6. Beer :: Summer
7. Sit :: n'spin
8. Shower :: Wet
9. Consummate :: Bitch
10. Wasting :: Away

Calling Dr. Freud?