2009 January » otoh

Ah, but Who Would Want to Listen to You, Kissing his Existence Good Night

Posted by Tim at 17:06 on 2009/01/13

Jan 132009

I have a bad habit. Almost every work-day morning I stop at a 7-11 and buy coffee and a donut. Breakfast of champions it ain’t. I know.

But here’s the thing. Two store-fronts over from the 7-11 is a Starbucks and nearly every week some poor schmuck parks across the street, pays five times as much for his/her coffee as I pay for mine, and then starts to walk back across the street RIGHT IN FRONT OF ONCOMING TRAFFIC! They are halfway between two intersections. Both intersections have crosswalks and signs warning drivers to yield to pedestrians.

Have they not read Fulghum? Do they not realize that I have not drunk my coffee yet either and would dearly love [most mornings] to run their TSTL* asses over? I ~~grudgingly~~ happily yield to pedestrians in the crosswalks. In the middle of the block, you’re pushing the limits of my bleary-eyed good graces.

Maybe we all need one of those Jack Bauer alarm clocks — it screams, “You’re running out of time!!!”

Maybe not.

*TSTL = Too Stupid To Live

Mo Music

Posted by Tim at 19:29 on 2009/01/12

Jan 122009

Fifty years ago today, 12 January 1959, was the start of what would become Motown Records and some of the sweetest pop/soul/R&B music ever made, like these:

…and so so so many more.

I'd study elephant and eagle, buffalo and beagle, alligator, guinea pig, and flea!

Posted by Tim at 20:49 on 2009/01/08

Jan 082009

Bzzzpeek has been sitting in my “post maybe” folder for a long time. So I am obviously scraping the bottom of the barrel in a desperate attempt to post something giving long overdue recognition to an interesting site. [Honestly, I thought I had posted about this site, but I don't see it in my archives.]

What sound does a dog make? Or a cow? Or a train?

Onomatopoeia – The formation or use of words such as buzz or murmur that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to. [As defined on Answers.com.]

Does the sound a dog makes sound different if you speak French or Spanish or Croatian? Is it different in British English compared to American English? You betcha! [But not as different as English and Croatian, as you might expect.]

Bzzzpeek presents

a collection of ‘onomatopoeia’ from around the world using sound recordings from native speakers imitating the sounds of mainly animals and vehicles.

This project focuses on the pronunciation and comparison of these sounds by presenting them side by side as each language expresses them differently.

Twenty-nine animal and vehicle sounds are available in up to twenty languages. [There are some holes in the matrix.]

I don’t know whether Rosetta Stone includes onomatopoeia. On the other hand, “Woof” doesn’t seem to come up often in casual conversation in any language….

An Hour Away from Ridin’ on Your Prayers Up in the Sky

Posted by Tim at 16:57 on 2009/01/07

Jan 072009

Driving between central Florida and Louisville usually takes between 13 and 15 hours, depending on traffic, weather, and how tired I am. Still, I am able to make it in a single day. So far.

About half the trip is through Georgia. It occurred to me recently that on most of these drives I am in Georgia when the sun sets. “The sun sets in Georgia” seems to have a ring to it. Maybe a song title? I don’t know.

In my car, alone, is just about the only place I sing. Out loud. Sometimes really loud. Be grateful you aren’t there to hear it. Of course, if you were there I wouldn’t be singing so you wouldn’t hear it. Never mind.

There are a few CDs that I listen to on almost every long drive. Some songs that I know will make me laugh. Some that bring me to the verge of tears. [Not that I would ever really cry while I'm driving because of some stupid song because that would be... stupid. And unmanly.]

I have spent almost half my life [so far] in Florida. [You know the difference between uranium and me? Uranium has a half-life more than I do. bah-DUM-bum] With the current state of the economy, this is a terrible time to think about changing jobs or moving. But I do. Think about it.

Oh, hello. Nothing to see here. Move along now.

Remember my Noam

Posted by Tim at 22:39 on 2009/01/06

Jan 062009

After noticing the similarities in the sounds of certain names, I began to wonder if there are any two consonants that form common English words if you place any vowel sound in between them?

Who Wants to be a Slumdog?

Posted by Tim at 22:28 on 2009/01/06

Jan 062009

Last week I went to an actual movie theater — the third time in about six months! I almost never see movies in theaters any more. (Too many people act like they think they are in their living room at home and I would much rather be, you know, in my living room at home anyway.)

Anyway, we saw Slumdog Millionaire. I liked it. A LOT.

You probably don’t know any of the actors. You might know one of the directors, Danny Boyle, probably best known for the films Trainspotting and 28 Days Later…. And while this isn’t necessarily the kind of film that you must see on a big screen, it is the kind of film you should see. That doesn’t mean it is always easy to watch. Much of the story takes place in the slums of India. Children are exploited. People die. But, a “Baliwood” style song and dance run through the closing credits, so you’ve got that to look forward to!

The official plot summary is:

The story of Jamal Malik, an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai, who is about to experience the biggest day of his life. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India’s “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But when the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating; how could a street kid know so much? Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up, of their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Each chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show’s questions. Each chapter of Jamal’s increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show’s seemingly impossible quizzes. But one question remains a mystery: what is this young man with no apparent desire for riches really doing on the game show? When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers are about to find out. At the heart of its storytelling lies the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love.

It Figures

Posted by Tim at 10:23 on 2009/01/02

Jan 022009

I have to make a correction in my first post of the new calendar year. I usually double-check quotes and references before publishing a new post. I hope this isn’t a portent of how the next twelve months will pan out for me. [Not that I believe in such things anyway....]

The candy I referred to in my previous post is “M&M’s”® Chocolate Candies and what they actually did [according to their official history page] is:

In early 1998, the “M&M’s”® Characters proclaimed themselves the “Official Spokescandies of the New Millennium.” Since MM means 2000 in Roman numerals, the “M&M’s”® Brand is the only candy that can make that connection.

Happy twenty-ought-nine!