Thursday, February 25, 2010
Wheel of Weirdos at Chat Roulette
I'm not about to say that Chat Roulette is some huge craze that's taking the Internet by storm, but I am going to say that a lot of people are writing about it and/or talking about it. I'm also going to say that while it's incredibly odd, it's also incredibly entertaining.
Picture this: You're in your house, hovel, tepee, whatever, and you're bored and you'd like to talk to someone. Now picture that you want to talk to someone that you don't know. Personally, I'm not sure what the appeal is in that. I'm not a big fan of "the stranger", but I guess that for a lot of people, that's appealing. (If you know what the appeal is, please let me know. I'm stumped.)
The solution to your dilemma above is Chat Roulette. The concept is simple. You allow the camera and/or the microphone on your computer to be activated. You sit in front of your computer and you click "Chat" or "Start" or whatever it says. The image of you streams onto the screen and then the site hooks you up with the video stream of a "random stranger" that is also on the site. Then you see the image of them. At that point, you can decide to click "Next" and go onto the next "random stranger" or you can chat with whoever you have there. That's all there is to it.
The thing is that this site seems to be like the dungeon of the human soul. There are a lot of people sitting in very dark rooms, as if they are doing something sinister. In a few cases, there was plenty of sinister going on (ie, crank yankers). No one looked particularly happy. The men outnumbered the women on probably an undercalculated average of 10 to 1 (it's probably closer to 15 to 1, but I'm trying to give the benefit of the doubt here, something I'm getting good at these days). I come to those conclusions having spent about ten minutes on the site with my camera and my microphone off, so I could see into the dungeon of the human soul, but it couldn't see into mine. Seemed safest that way. How about some examples? All rightee then!Here we have some of the aforementioned (and censored) crank yankers. Behold!
You thought I was kidding, didn't you? I was NOT. Let's see, what else? The sunglasses look was fairly popular (though if they were worried about being seen, they just could have turned off their camera, so I don't get it.
I like the Unabomber look that the one dude is sporting there. Sure. That's normal. Who else? We have perplexed guy...
Hooded guy amidst one heck of a mess...
Cousin of perplexed guy...
And pot smoking guy...
I did really enjoy puppet guy...
But you know what I really enjoyed? This could make the site something other than an anonymous outlet for public masturbaters. I really liked the hats and masks. Yes. The hats. And the masks. Behold! 
I really admire the guy in the furry hat there for not covering up his face. Way to go, anonymous chat dude! Way to go.And finally, we have the signs. I appreciate the signs. I don't know how successful they are going to be in their quest for breasts, but if they were only trying to amuse, they succeeded on several different levels. Behold!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Crack is Whack
Don't do drugs, kids. Drugs are bad. Drugs will take their toll upon you faster than you realize. Now, for Whitney Houston, I'm not sure how "fast" drugs took their toll, but the drugs definitely took her voice and they took her gift. Below is a video of her singing recently in Brisbane (that's in Australia). She's supposed to be singing "I Will Always Love You". And technically, she is singing that song. But it's not the Whitney Houston of yore that's singing it. It's the new Whitney. The one that spent years sucking on a crack pipe or a meth pipe or whatever pipe it was that ruined her pipes. It's just a sad, sad testimony of how something so beautiful and so wonderful can just be thrown away like she did with it. When she was good, there was nothing like her. And now that she's not so good, I highly doubt that there ever will be anything like her in the near future, if ever. It's very sad. It's also a horrible attempt at an awesome song. Ugh.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
The Swedish Style
The Swedish style of home decorating is heavily influenced by the light and weather. Long dreary winters with early dusk and a lack of natural light meant a need to bring the lightness indoors. {ale, light, airy, and lustrous is popular with Swedish walls, furniture and floors. Pale walls, floors, and furnishings reflect the natural light and are thought to be cheerful and calm. Walls, floors, accessories, and furniture are painted or stained in pale tones of white, cream, soft yellow, pale pink, soft green, and dove gray. Often distressed. After white, blue is the color most often used in Swedish style interiors. The tone reflects or emits the feeling of a clear, fresh day and coordinates easily with the other colors of the Swedish color palette.
Soft hues and understated elegance characterize the painted Swedish furniture. Wooden frames and delicate, carved legs are found on a typical Swedish style sofa. Fluted, delicate legs, carved table borders and mirrors, and beaded edging are common on furniture.
Light colored woods are used for case goods and flooring. Birch, white pine, beech, and alder are readily available and common. Woods are often bleached or painted or stained with white or pale paints.
Swedish interior design is often a base of plain and an almost primitive look but then it's starkness is softened with a beautiful piece of furnitre, a clock, an ornate stove... something that is an understated relief. Swedish home decor shows a distressed sophistication. Spots of color like red, gold, blue, green stand out against the white or pale colors. Decorating in the Swedish style requires restraint. A few well-placed accessories is enough.
Swedish stoves
Soft hues and understated elegance characterize the painted Swedish furniture. Wooden frames and delicate, carved legs are found on a typical Swedish style sofa. Fluted, delicate legs, carved table borders and mirrors, and beaded edging are common on furniture.
Light colored woods are used for case goods and flooring. Birch, white pine, beech, and alder are readily available and common. Woods are often bleached or painted or stained with white or pale paints.
Swedish interior design is often a base of plain and an almost primitive look but then it's starkness is softened with a beautiful piece of furnitre, a clock, an ornate stove... something that is an understated relief. Swedish home decor shows a distressed sophistication. Spots of color like red, gold, blue, green stand out against the white or pale colors. Decorating in the Swedish style requires restraint. A few well-placed accessories is enough.
Swedish stoves
Organizing Shoes
I found this video on YouTube. This is what I do myself. All my shoes, except my house shoes, are in shoe boxes with pictures.
Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon
Dismantled by Jennifer McMahon
I would not recommend this book to anyone. The language is filthy, there are detailed sexual encounters and drug usage is casual and "normal."
This book is about 4 college friend and one hanger-on. They attend Sexton, an art college. Henry, Tess, Valerie (Winnie) and Spencer meet the insane Suz. Val and Spencer are a couple at the beginning. Val is a cutter and this is described as almost a sexual high which is another reason for not reading the book. Tess is pining for Henry but Henry only has eyes for Suz when she comes into their group. Suz is as wicked as they come, a female Charles Manson. Her personal motto is Dismantled=Freedom. She thinks everything has to be torn down. In fact, her "art" is to build something and then destroy it. The group become the "Compassionate Dismantlers" which is an oxymoron. There is NOTHING compassionate about these dismantlers. Trying to be so off beat, different, avant guarde they really are the worst of the following followers. Suz holds them completely in her hands and she just follows the devil. Just like Manson and his "family". Anything Suz tells them to do, they do, despite their own conscience. She immediately sets out to dismantle each group member. Her sarcasm, personal attacks, mockery, dares, all are to break them down. Then she begins to break down the relationships. She destroys Val and Spencer's relationship by seducing Val. She changes Val's name to Winnie as another way to show that Val/Winnie is no longer the old Val that Spencer loves but her newest and most complete transformation, Winnie. Winnie is Suz's creation. She owns Winnie body and soul. She's cut all her hair off and changed Winnie's clothes for black t-shirt and jeans. She gives Winnie a rifle. Then she keeps messing with Henry and Tess. She pushes and pulls Henry to keep him totally off balance but she encourages Tess to go for Henry. Here is where we see how much like Suz, Winnie becomes… she sabotages their relationship by piercing Henry's condoms with a pin and Tess gets pregnant. Winnie has been watching Henry and Suz and knows Henry's feelings for her and she wants to be sure she ties Henry to Tess and leave her Suz alone. Meanwhile, Suz's hatred for Spencer becomes more and more malignant. Despite all of them feeling sorry for him, Suz still gets her way and they help her. They drug him, take him off to the wilderness, strip him of his clothes and leave him to find his own way back. He does find his own way and finds their little cabin in the woods by the lake. So she tells them they are going to kidnap him (his father is rich) and ask for ransom. She drugs him and they tie him up. Tess has found out she's pregnant and she finally decides to pack up and get out because she's afraid Suz will kill Spencer. She tells Henry that she's pregnant and they argue but Suz can't stand for anyone else to get attention so she announces they are killing Spencer. Winnie carries the rifle and keeps it at his head the whole time. To let you know how messed up they all are, Spencer has been taking it all like a joke and still declares his love to Val/Winnie every chance he gets but Winnie is becoming more and more like Suz with her vindictive behavior. She's become totally butch and is holding a rifle to her ex-boyfriend's head for crying out loud. So Tess decides to "sabotage" Suz. She puts 4 Benadryl in Suz's Tequila so that Suz will pass out and they won't have to kill Spencer. So they all get drunk on Tequila, including poor tied-up Spencer. Then they walk him to the lake to "drown him". Suz commands Winnie to shoot him in the head. Henry and Suz begin arguing and she tells him that SHE'S pregnant too. It seems they had a sexual encounter recently. Winnie, Tess and Spencer hear all this and they get all upset too. In the heat of the moment, Tess picks up a rock and heaves it at Suz to make her shut up but it hits her directly in the head and she's dead. Henry tells them they have to sink her in the lake and tell everyone that she hitchhiked to California so he fills her clothes with rocks and drags her out to the middle of the lake and lets her sink. They all leave the cabin as it was and go back to their lives. Henry and Tess get married and have a wonderful little girl named Emma.
Ten years later, Emma is 11 years old, her parents are separating. Her father has had to move out to the apartment in the barn. She's desperate for her beloved Daddy to move back in. At 11 years old she still has an imaginary friend named Danner. Her real buddy is Mel and she and Mel decide to look around for something that might bring her parents back together. They find Suz's Journal and a stack of polaroids of the group. They decide that seeing old college friends might make them relive how they fell in love in the first place so they send out postcards to Spencer, Winnie and Suz which only read "Dismantled=Freedom". When Spencer gets his postcard he commits suicide. But whatever happened to Val/Winnie? How are the mysterious happenings affecting Henry and Tess? Why is their daughter seemingly in contact with Suz? Can Suz still dismantle, even from the grave?
I would not recommend this book to anyone. The language is filthy, there are detailed sexual encounters and drug usage is casual and "normal."
This book is about 4 college friend and one hanger-on. They attend Sexton, an art college. Henry, Tess, Valerie (Winnie) and Spencer meet the insane Suz. Val and Spencer are a couple at the beginning. Val is a cutter and this is described as almost a sexual high which is another reason for not reading the book. Tess is pining for Henry but Henry only has eyes for Suz when she comes into their group. Suz is as wicked as they come, a female Charles Manson. Her personal motto is Dismantled=Freedom. She thinks everything has to be torn down. In fact, her "art" is to build something and then destroy it. The group become the "Compassionate Dismantlers" which is an oxymoron. There is NOTHING compassionate about these dismantlers. Trying to be so off beat, different, avant guarde they really are the worst of the following followers. Suz holds them completely in her hands and she just follows the devil. Just like Manson and his "family". Anything Suz tells them to do, they do, despite their own conscience. She immediately sets out to dismantle each group member. Her sarcasm, personal attacks, mockery, dares, all are to break them down. Then she begins to break down the relationships. She destroys Val and Spencer's relationship by seducing Val. She changes Val's name to Winnie as another way to show that Val/Winnie is no longer the old Val that Spencer loves but her newest and most complete transformation, Winnie. Winnie is Suz's creation. She owns Winnie body and soul. She's cut all her hair off and changed Winnie's clothes for black t-shirt and jeans. She gives Winnie a rifle. Then she keeps messing with Henry and Tess. She pushes and pulls Henry to keep him totally off balance but she encourages Tess to go for Henry. Here is where we see how much like Suz, Winnie becomes… she sabotages their relationship by piercing Henry's condoms with a pin and Tess gets pregnant. Winnie has been watching Henry and Suz and knows Henry's feelings for her and she wants to be sure she ties Henry to Tess and leave her Suz alone. Meanwhile, Suz's hatred for Spencer becomes more and more malignant. Despite all of them feeling sorry for him, Suz still gets her way and they help her. They drug him, take him off to the wilderness, strip him of his clothes and leave him to find his own way back. He does find his own way and finds their little cabin in the woods by the lake. So she tells them they are going to kidnap him (his father is rich) and ask for ransom. She drugs him and they tie him up. Tess has found out she's pregnant and she finally decides to pack up and get out because she's afraid Suz will kill Spencer. She tells Henry that she's pregnant and they argue but Suz can't stand for anyone else to get attention so she announces they are killing Spencer. Winnie carries the rifle and keeps it at his head the whole time. To let you know how messed up they all are, Spencer has been taking it all like a joke and still declares his love to Val/Winnie every chance he gets but Winnie is becoming more and more like Suz with her vindictive behavior. She's become totally butch and is holding a rifle to her ex-boyfriend's head for crying out loud. So Tess decides to "sabotage" Suz. She puts 4 Benadryl in Suz's Tequila so that Suz will pass out and they won't have to kill Spencer. So they all get drunk on Tequila, including poor tied-up Spencer. Then they walk him to the lake to "drown him". Suz commands Winnie to shoot him in the head. Henry and Suz begin arguing and she tells him that SHE'S pregnant too. It seems they had a sexual encounter recently. Winnie, Tess and Spencer hear all this and they get all upset too. In the heat of the moment, Tess picks up a rock and heaves it at Suz to make her shut up but it hits her directly in the head and she's dead. Henry tells them they have to sink her in the lake and tell everyone that she hitchhiked to California so he fills her clothes with rocks and drags her out to the middle of the lake and lets her sink. They all leave the cabin as it was and go back to their lives. Henry and Tess get married and have a wonderful little girl named Emma.
Ten years later, Emma is 11 years old, her parents are separating. Her father has had to move out to the apartment in the barn. She's desperate for her beloved Daddy to move back in. At 11 years old she still has an imaginary friend named Danner. Her real buddy is Mel and she and Mel decide to look around for something that might bring her parents back together. They find Suz's Journal and a stack of polaroids of the group. They decide that seeing old college friends might make them relive how they fell in love in the first place so they send out postcards to Spencer, Winnie and Suz which only read "Dismantled=Freedom". When Spencer gets his postcard he commits suicide. But whatever happened to Val/Winnie? How are the mysterious happenings affecting Henry and Tess? Why is their daughter seemingly in contact with Suz? Can Suz still dismantle, even from the grave?
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