Little Bits--

~~Donald and I both have slightly sore throats, but no other symptoms. I think it has something to do with all the pollen in the air right now. The pines are definitely pollinating, and some other things probably are, too.

~~I found a red, heart-shaped note in that old Book of Etiquette (published in 1921) I mentioned in my last entry. Written on it in white script is the following message:

Mrs. Frank Bridgeman
Mrs. James Stevenson
Luncheon
Wednedsay,
February thirteenth
One o'clock
Bridge.

Funny that I should happen to find it so near the same time of year. I wonder how old this little note is. . . And do you think Mrs. Frank Bridgeman took up playing bridge because of her name, or was it just Fate? ;o)

~~Over the weekend, we watched Galaxy Quest, which is a parody of Star Trek. We finished the movie, turned off the DVD player, and what just happened to pop up first on the TV screen? Yep. Good old Captain Kirk, Spock and the rest of the gang. (g) Well, we thought it was good for a laugh. ;o)

~~You quilting folk out there-- Have you considered documenting your quilts? I think it might be a fun thing to do. You could even do it digitally (in a blog, for instance), if you preferred-- but if you also like scrapbooking, it could be a fun way to combine the two interests. A quilt scrapbook. Just passing along the link. . .

~~I was also interested in this link from the same quilting info source: Used fabric softener sheets as a foundation for crazy quilt blocks. I'm still too much of a novice to think seriously about this, but maybe someday. I think a crazy quilt could be fun. It'd have to be really crazy, though-- like the one Anne sleeps under when she spends the night at the Tomgallon House-- so crazy that you're almost afraid to sleep under it. (Incidentally, before searching for the right passage just now, I never realized how many times the word "crazy" appears in AoWP/W.)

ETA: Psst! If you've stumbled across this blog searching for rag quilting/sewing info, you might want to head over to my sewing blog. I've transplanted all my sewing-related posts over there, and that's where I do most of my "fiber arts" rambling, now. :o)

Memes

(Argh! Accidentally published prematurely. . . Sorry if you saw this before it was done.)

Meme meme meme. (In that order.)

Meme the First:
Cult TV--
Untouched means I've never seen it.
Italics means I've seen it at least once.
Bold means I watched it a lot or watched it religiously.
Struck out means I've seen it but didn't like it.
Parenthetical statements are in (parentheses). ;o)
P.S. Older relatives who may be reading: Don't worry-- this has nothing to do with any actual cults-- just tv shows with "cultish"/semi-obsessed fans. (g)

30. Square Pegs (Never even heard of it.)
29. Rags to Riches (No idea what it is.)
28. Wonderfalls (Saw the commercials for the millisecond that it was on TV. . .)
27. The Daily Show (Saw teensy clips of it; think it's overrated.)
26. Firefly (Again, do commercials count?)
25. Freaks and Geeks (Heard it was good, but never saw it.)
24. Absolutely Fabulous (Ditto.)
23. Forever Knight (Sounds vaguely familiar. . .)
22. H. R. Pufnstuf (Not that I know of, but maybe as a kid? In reruns?)
21. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (Was there really a show by that name?)
20. Twin Peaks (Too young at the time it first ran.)
19. Dark Shadows (I think I've seen bits of it, but not a whole ep.)
18. Doctor Who (Maybe bits of one of the newer series, but not the original.)
17. The Avengers (Nope.)
16. My So-Called Life (Just less-than-1-minute snippets.)
15. Quantum Leap (Again, never a whole episode.)
14. Beauty and the Beast (More than once, but not a lot.)
13. Babylon 5 (Not that I know of.)
12. Family Guy (So, so weird.)
11. Mystery Science Theater 3000 (On DVD, not so much on TV.)
10. Pee-Wee's Playhouse (Stop! You'll give me nightmares!)
9. Xena: Warrior Princess (Not a whole episode, though.)
8. The Twilight Zone (Mostly on "marathons" on SciFi.)
7. The Prisoner (I don't recognize this one. . .)
6. The Simpsons (Only within the past several years; not growing up.)
5. Monty Python's Flying Circus (Ditto.)
4. Farscape (Nope.)
3. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Not this one, either.)
2. The X-Files (Yeah, but by the time M. left, it just wasn't worth watching.)
1. Star Trek (Saw reruns of the original series when I was younger-- watched the Generations series regularly when it came out-- never really liked the rest of the series as much, though.)

Meme the Second:
Another (5) Book Meme--
1. Take five books off your bookshelf.
2. Book #1 -- first sentence
3. Book #2 -- last sentence on page fifty
4. Book #3 -- second sentence on page one hundred
5. Book #4 -- next to the last sentence on page one hundred fifty
6. Book #5 -- final sentence of the book
7. Make the five sentences into a paragraph.

I'll try to be random with the books-- one off each shelf, picked with eyes shut. (Because it's so very important. It's really worth all this extra effort. Really.) Ok, here we go:

Once upon a time, sixty years ago, a little girl lived in the Big Woods of Wisconsin, in a little gray house made of logs. Ford scrambled round and flung his shoulder uselessly against the reclosing hatchway. The flowers that she had taught me to distinguish by their names, the flowers that I had taught her to paint from, were gone, and the tiny white paths that led between the beds were damp and green already. If the person called upon feels the loss so poignantly that he or she cannot be composed, it is far better to leave a cordial note at the door asking to be excused from all callers, than to greet them and cause embarrassment by a display of emotion. "My dear," replied Valentine, "has not the Count just told us that all human wisdom is contained in the words 'Wait and hope!'"

So. . . Didn't make much sense, did it? I don't suppose you can expect much better, though, from such a random assortment of sentences. It's interesting that the three internal sentences all happened to relate to loss/trouble in some way, while the last was more hopeful.

Books used:
1. Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
2. The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
3. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins
4. Book of Etiquette, Lillian Eichler (1921)
5. The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (abridged, but still 500+ pages)

Looking back, I think it might help if the books were at least all in the same tense and told from the same point of view (second person, first person, etc.). Maybe I'll give it another try, but this time only keep five books that have at least that degree of parallelity.

It was a warm, golden-cloudy, lovable afternoon. She was assisted, however, by that perfect indifference and apparent unconsciousness, among the only three of her own friends in the secret of the past, which seemed almost to deny any recollection of it. "I'll never improve," the Turk answered, but his arms began to move faster than before. He said, "If you haven't found it so far, you better look harder. One thing's sure. I better not find it first." And, somehow, Sara felt as if she understood her, though she said so little, and only stood still and looked and looked after her as she went out of the shop with the Indian gentleman, and they got into the carriage and drove away.

Not that much better. Oh well. (g)

Books used:
1. Rilla of Ingleside, L. M. Montgomery
2. Persuasion, Jane Austen (Wow. That was a pretty bad sentence!)
3. The Princess Bride, William Goldman
4. The Bad Seed, William March
5. A Little Princess, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Meme the Third:
Music Meme--
(It's pretty bland, but at least it's short and to the point.)

1. Grab the nearest CD (or your mp3-player, etc.).
2. Put it in your CD-Player (or start your mp3-player, I-tunes, etc.).
3. Skip to Song 3 (or load the 3rd song in your 3rd playlist)
4. Post the first verse in your journal along with these instructions. Don’t name the band, nor the album-title.

Ok, here goes: "Close your eyes; give me your hand, darling." I bet at least a couple of you out there know the song, right? (g)

Well, that ends my Sunday Afternoon MemeFest!
You can now return to your regularly scheduled last-minute weekend business, while I go off to contemplate that eternal question-- What's for supper tonight? ;o)

No memes were harmed in the making of this blog post.
These and other memes may be found at TheDailyMeme.com.

Things that have been happening lately:

• Daisy's slowly recovering from another bout of seizures. At least we think we know what brought it on this time. The dosage on her medicine was off, due to a mistake at the vet's office. It's pretty frustrating that we'll have to watch them more carefully from now on-- but at least she's getting better again.
  
• Highs today will be in the mid-70s, followed by a chance of rain and maybe thunderstorms tonight and tomorrow. It doesn't feel much like February! It's nice to be warm for a day or two, but I'm glad the temperature will be going down again, soon. I don't mind spring, but I'm not ready for summer, yet. (Ok, I'm not ever ready for summer. It simply has to be endured.)
  
• Yesterday, I noticed new leaves on our hydrangeas and the beginnings of daffodils poking up here and there. I guess spring is on its way. (Today, it feels like it's already here!) I need to get into gear and do some yard work before it's sweltering again.
  
• Donald and I watched the extended versions of The Two Towers and The Return of the King over the weekend. I think that might have been the first time we say the latter since we watched it in the theater.
  
• I still can't see why Tolkien chose two names ("Sauron" and "Sarumon") that look and sound so similar. I remember being a bit confused when I read the books, too. Two of the very few women in the books also have similar-sounding names-- "Arwen" and "Eowyn". They're not identical, but they're pretty close, considering that he had his choice of all the names in the world (or out of it, since this is fantasy).
  
• I can barely remember the books. Of course, I was in middle school when I read them, so it's been a while. (g) I might try re-reading them, sometime. I'm not generally a big reader of fantasy, but a little variety can be nice.
  

Couple of things. . .

I read today that there is a new version of Match Game in the works. I think whether or not it's worth watching will depend mostly on the panel of celebrities, but I also wonder what the tone of the show will be. The old one (the re-runs of which I used to watch on GSN, with some of my family) was pretty risqué for its time (the 70s), but depended a lot on insinuation and the double entendre. These days, it sometimes seems that almost nothing is off-limits, so I wonder how far the writers and panel will choose to go. Will the old formula translate well to a modern audience? Will they even try the old formula, or instead opt to push it right over the edge into raunch?

At any rate, at least this should be a departure from the usual game show fare of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? mimics. Donald is deeply annoyed by the fact that every new game show to come along has to have the same dramatic lighting and music-- and the same agonizingly "dragged-out" snail's pace. I'm not fond, myself, of the irritating "You'll have to wait until after the commercial to find out!" aspect. (g)

One other tidbit, which will only be amusing to the two or three of you who watch/have watched Mythbusters, but so be it. ;o) I found this on a blog earlier today, and since I don't think any of my known readers also read that blog, I thought I'd pass it along. It's originally from I Can Has Cheezburger?, which is a good place to satisfy your need for funny animal photos with creatively spelled captions. (g)


(I'm writing a lot about TV today, aren't I?)

Just chatting. . .

Random snippets:

It's a Swedish tradition to make "semlor" (that's the plural, singular is "semla") for Fat Tuesday (or as they call it, "Fettisdagen"). Donald decided to make them this year. He got his recipe from his mother, but here's one online (in English) if you're interested.

I think he's only made them once before since moving to the US, and I don't remember much about them, so I'm a bit curious. I guess we'll probably make them over the weekend, which will be a longer one than usual for us, since he's taking Monday off. :o)

~ *~ *~ *~ *~

I'm feeling a little bit nostalgic for the 90s today. Just thought I'd let you know. (g)

Seriously, though-- at the time, I never thought "Yeah, boy, these are the years!" Just like there probably aren't many people walking around today thinking "Early 2008 is the greatest time of my life! If only this year could last forever!" And yet in ten or fifteen years, some of us will probably look back fondly and think how simple life was for us "back then".

I'm not saying that I'd like to relive the 90s-- no more middle and high school, thanks; I've had my fill-- but we're all allowed a little nostalgia. ;o) This particular bout was brought on by a familiar song I heard while grocery shopping yesterday. With a little creative googling, I identified it as "Hazard" by Richard Marx and even found the music video on YouTube. (I keep telling you, this Internet thing is downright nifty!) It's not a warm, fuzzy song at all, but it still brought back a lot of pleasant memories. Funny how even an ominous song about a murder can be nostalgic, huh? Or maybe that's only true for the dark and grungy 1990s. . . ;o)

~ *~ *~ *~ *~

LOST finally returned with a new episode last night. Which I'm sure you already knew, if you care at all.

Still, just to be on the safe side-- If you haven't seen the newest episode, there are spoilers coming up now.

Big, bad LOST spoilers!!

Right now! After just another line or two of warnings!

. . . So stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled! ! ! (This also applies if you haven't seen the show and don't give a hoot about it.)



--So, what did you think? As far as season premiers go, this one probably wasn't the most spectacular the series has ever offered. (Remember the disoriented feeling when we realized that the first few moments of that one premier wasn't a "flashback", but was following the normal routine of someone in the bunker, just moments before John blasted off the door?) Still, it wasn't bad. It did feel pretty hopeless, though. . . I mean, the ones (six, I guess, since Hurley referred to "The Oceanic Six", right?) who made it off the island seem to be in trouble. I'm a bit confused and lots curious, but that just comes with the territory for this show. ;o)

Here are some things I was thinking about while I watched. Feel free to comment/discuss in the comments section, if you like. Or not. (g)

• They need to stop "killing off" so many characters. I'm getting tired of it. Yes, every now and then it's a powerful plot twist, but it's also possible to overdo it. I like some of the secondary characters better than their precious Jack and Kate, but given the rate at which they keep flicking these characters into oblivion, I don't want to get too invested in them!
  
• So, since Hurley is going to hide and Jack and Kate aren't-- and based on the preview for the next ep.-- I guess we can assume that they aren't immediately rescued (since we know all three of them are rescued). I wonder who the other three rescued castaways are. . .
• I'm sure the folks on the message boards have been playing around with theories since the season finale, but who do you think was in the coffin? Someone related to the island, almost certainly, but it must not be someone they liked. (Not friend or family, Jack said, and Kate wondered why he thought she'd come to the viewing.)
  
• Is Jack's dad still really alive? Jack was drugged up and somewhat out of it when he referred to his father, so it's possible that he just slipped up, but the other doctor (albeit maybe a new kid on the block) didn't look startled, so it seems likely that he is still around. Very, very weird.
  
• Something FutureHurley said gave me the impression that some of the people are still on the island. But that doesn't make sense, unless they were hiding. Otherwise, you'd think they'd be "rescued" even if they said they wanted to stay.
  
• What does GhostCharlie want FutureHurley to do?
  
• And based on what FutureJack said, we get the impression that they're not supposed to give away the truth about the island-- or something like that. (At least, Jack seems worried that Hurley will say too much.) What's the big secret? Did they have to agree to secrecy in exchange for rescue? Are they protecting whoever/whatever's still on the island?
  
• Incidentally, I'm not sure if the "future" scenes are really supposed to be set in "our" future. I'm not such an obsessed fan that I recall when the plane crashed, how long they've been on the island so far, etc. Maybe the "future" in the show is actually our present? Anyway, for ease of use ;o) I'm referring to "on the island" as "present" and "back in the real world" as "future".
  
• Speaking of present vs. future-- Do you think this episode and the season finale set the tone for the whole season? Instead of flashing back to character's lives before the crash, will we continue to flash forward to their lives after rescue? (Or at this point, since the season finale may have started in the "future"-- I can't recall-- maybe they're still flashbacks, but they're flashing back to the island and the new status quo is the "future", off the island. . .)
• When FutureKate and FutureJack meet (in the season finale), she says she has to go because "he" will be wondering where she is-- or something like that. I wonder who "he" might be. . . It could be Sawyer-- maybe he wouldn't be too happy about Kate going to meet Jack-- but that just doesn't feel "right". It must be someone else. . .
  
• Weird how people's lives are so intertwined in this show, isn't it? (g) Of all the detectives for FutureHurley to talk to, it just happens to be one who knew Ana Lucia. What was the point of that, do you think? Just to forcefully remind Hurley of the horrors he experienced on the island-- and bring on the hallucination and panic attack-- or was it setting the stage for something more with that detective?
  
• That "haunted house" thing is creepy! (g) Who do you think they eye peeking out at Hurley was supposed to belong to? I mean, we saw a shadowy figure (Jacob, I assume) in his spooky rocking chair. . . Then up pops this eye! If it's someone else, then who? John Locke, who conveniently turns up a moment later? Could John have gone back to the shack in search of Jacob? You wouldn't think so, considering how he turned tail and ran away the first time he heard the disembodied voice, but John's a strange character, so who knows.
• The whole "Jacob" thing is just so weird that I don't even know where to begin with it. What is Jacob? A ghost? The black cloud of smoke? (No, probably not.) I hope they'll at least show us soon how Ben came to find Jacob.
  
• Oh, and while they're at it, can they please explain to me why that one guy (the one who looks like he's wearing eyeliner) looks exactly the same age "now" as he did when he first met Ben as a kid, even though Ben looks 30 years older? (g) Maybe the guy just has good genes and a great nutrition/exercise plan-- or a skillful plastic surgeon-- but I'm skeptical.
  

There are more questions, of course, but the biggest one of them all is-- Will any of this ever be explained? ;o) I'm not too concerned. As long as I'm interested, I'll watch.