Random Thursday: Coffee, Tea, or Time Sucks?

First, a Non-Random Announcement

Happy Birthday to my Dear Husband!

May your Thursday be randomly filled with all the happiness you can handle.

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From Matisse’s Latte Period:

These are almost too fantastic to drink.

Almost . . . .

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Time Suck the First: Janie’s Fault

“Hey, Mom!  Can I show you something on the computer?”

“No computers or TV until tomorrow, remember?”*

“I just want to show you something.”

“Jane.”

“Fine.  I’ll stay in the kitchen.  Just google Electric Man 3.”

“Hmmm.  Okay . . . Oh.  Huh.  Cool. ”

“I know right?”

Some time later:

“So . . . Can I come in ad watch you play?  Mom?  Mom?“

“Nice try, honey.  Ooooo—got him!  Level eight . . . “

“Moo-ooom!  Not fair!”

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I Prefer FreeCell and Paperclip Jewelry, Myself

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Time Suck the Second: Blame the Black Cat Cafe

There is no time suck like preliminary research for a new writing project.  I have no idea at this point what might be important later, so I’m absorbing it all and chasing down paths that lead me pretty much everywhere.

Like to the Black Cat Cafe in Matlock, Derbyshire, which is now part of my extensive  Bucket List Tour of England for all sorts of reasons.

One of the things that caught my attention is an entry on their menu:  ”FAIRTRADE Tea – Blended or Specialty teas and infusions from Teapigs”

Teapigs?

Several of you probably know about teapigs already, but the population of Western Illinois was unaware of this Nirvana of Leafy Infusibles.

Watson and I spent some small (cough)amount of time exploring their wares—adorable teapots, intriguing diffusers, and, at least to our wondering eyes, All The Teas.

We also noticed that for a mere  £15 pounds or so, they will deliver to us barbarians in the wilderness.

Which means I think I’ll put my mother on the hunt for imports first—
sharing the Time Suck clearly  runs in the family.

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Owl the LOLs

My theories vary every time I look at this, but today, I think they’re laughing over the exchange rate . . .

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Time Suck the Last:  Egging on Hamlet, Over Easy

This one’s on Watson, who found it, but a small portion of the blame goes to Geoff Klock, who put together 198 quotes and references to Hamlet in movies and television and other resources, some familiar, some unexpected, some very odd indeed.

It’s long, but ultimately worth it.

Stay through the credits!

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*The management does not negotiate with members of the radical Anti-Homework League.  That is all.

Random Thursday: Sad Cats, Cool Cats, and Simon’s Cat

It’s Random! It’s Thursday! It’s Random Thursday!

Several of you sent me a lot of cats this week. So I’m giving ‘em back.

Don’t tell Mike Allegra.
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So That’s how it Happens . . .

Watson sent me this—she’s a bit worried, but only because she’s deathly allergic.

I told her my mother has been married for fifty years and has never had fewer than four cats since we kids left home.

On second thought, that probably wasn’t as comforting as I’d hoped.

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The Great Catsby

A mash-up of The Aristocats and that new movie adaption starring What’s His Name from Inception.*

It’s amazing how well this works.

The original is here, if you’d like to compare—it synchs with the above video about 38 seconds in.

(thanks, Kev!)

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Imminent Betrayal vs. Snuggles

Tough call.

Though I should probably mention here that our cat Toby is the reason I know from experience that when someone  jabs you in the eye unexpectedly,** you really do see red cartoon stars.

(via Siobhan, whom I forgot to thank for yesterday’s image as well—sorry, Vannie)

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Sad Cat Diary

This made me snort so loudly, Jane said “Bless you.”

(from Angela and Vicki and . . . someone else?)

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So That’s How it Happens . . . 

This is getting way meta . . .

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Cats Imitating Life

My friend Jen is a big fan of Simon Tofield and she sends me Simon’s Cat videos every once in a while.

This one is a near-perfect reenactment of my kids’ post-bedtime behavior:

I love how he’s perfectly captured Jane’s Cat’s exasperation with Sunny the kitten.

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*No, not the cute one who kicked ass or the sexy one who figured out how to get the job done.  The other guy.

**At least unexpectedly for you.  The only thing you can be sure of with the jabber is that s/he didn’t telegraph the hit.

Random Thursday: Fame, Farcicalities, and Caffeinated Owls

Random Thursday (ˈrandəm ˈTHərzdā): the day on which Sarah plunks down all the odd bits and pieces she’s been sent by friends or has otherwise stumbled upon in an effort to avoid writing a real post, the assembly of which usually ends up taking twice as much time as sitting down and creating actual content.

This week has been surreal and I like to share.

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How to Handle Being Freshly Pressed

1. Giggle wildly and dance around showing everyone the huge stat spikes in your bar graph and the hourly jumps in your comments and followers.  Ignore all those who blink and say, “Oh.  You have a blog?”

2. Clear the notifications out of your inbox on an hourly basis and hope you haven’t deleted anything that needs an immediate response, or indeed, any response.*

3. Hope that a few of the new people will stick around once they discover what really goes on around here.**

4. Repeat the following as needed:

Goes without saying, really . . .

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The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift

A retractable leash + a binder clip + a suction cup hook =

No more drowned books!

Watson (my SIL) said she saw this and thought immediately of me.  Can’t imagine why.

I showed my husband and he said, “That’s silly . . . You don’t take baths any more.”

Well, no.  But make me one of these, throw in a working lock on the door and help me corral all the toys and find bubble bath that doesn’t smell like Dora the Explorer*** and I might consider it . . .

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Smooth like Iron

This one goes out to all the other Marvel nerds and, I guess, Justin Timberlake fans.

I promise there aren’t any spoilers . . . or not any more than the trailers.

But you’ve already seen them movie anyway, right?

Right?

The brilliant wekejay has other mash-ups, if you’re interested—Batman Maybe  had me rolling.

(what do you think, Jalisa?  Better than the original?)

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 Because I Like Owls and I Live Caffeine

Though I’m thinking that first one looks far too cheerful and, you know, alive.

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Another Mother’s Day Idea

Or at least the best car commercial I’ve ever seen.

And I once viewed over twenty collective minutes of Benedict Cumberbatch shilling^ for Jaguar.

Yeah, okay . . . Twice.

But this one still wins, for obvious reasons:

Sheer. Trekkie. Awesome.

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*If I haven’t responded to something you sent to me between Tuesday and today, please forgive me and send it again—if you sent it before that, I’ll find another excuse and get back to you . . . probably.

** Though if Poetry Wednesday didn’t send the numbers plummeting, you’re probably as close to bulletproof as you can be.

***Coconut, apparently.  Yeah, I don’t know, either.

^Although, since it’s Mr. Cumberbatch, one should really use a lower-pitched verb. To properly shill, you really need to be a tenor . . .

Random Thursday: “HIchop!” “Gesundheit!”

I’m home sick today with a sore throat and the general muscle aches and fever that have been going around the library, so if things get even more surreal around here than the usual Thursday oeuvre, that’s my excuse.

I’ll probably be fine by tomorrow, but just in case, does anyone know if the burning of sage wards off strep throat?  

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First, a Poll

If you read this blog through a feed, could I ask you to drop in and take a look at what I’ve done with the place?

While I loved the old theme, it simply wasn’t wide enough for some of the things I wanted to do, so I searched for a couple of days until I found this one.  It has most of the features I wanted, but it might be a little . . . too much?

Whaddaya think?

Be honest—I can take it.

Suggestions are also welcome, though mean ones will be severely mocked.

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I See a Scary Silhoutte of a Hut

Oola-girl, Oola-girl, better dance the fandango!
Rancor hatch is widening—very very frightening  me . .  .

No, seriously, if you’re secure enough in your love of Star Wars to embrace intelligent parodies—as opposed to my sad efforts—check out Blue Milk Special.

They know what they’re doing and they snark with such love.

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Separated by Uncommon Language

Hey, Downith? What do Canadians say?

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The Federation has Mondays, too

Worth it for the Red Shirts alone . . . 

The Bad Days series is part of Stan Lee’s World of Heroes, which explains the cameo . . . sort of.

(psst, Mike: try Superman—the bit around 1:08 reminded me of you)

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Brief Actual News

The winner of the Libraries are Awesome poetry contest will be announced tomorrow!

Sorry for the delay—it’s been a heck of a week.

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Trekkies, represent

Dude . . . there are no words.  ’Cause I can’t speak Klingon.

But Jen Usellis can:

As Jane said, “It’s a very [scurfing up a giant loogey sound] language, isn’t it?”

Yes. Yes, it is.

Random Thursday: Paper Wins, Befuddled Brains, and Starships for No Real Reason

This is a little less cohesive than usual . . . but so am I.

That counts as a theme, right?
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Diagram Your Title

Those of you who hail from the UK probably know about the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year, but I didn’t until my friend Cha Cha sent me a link.

This year’s winner is above—the competition was fierce:

Was Hitler Ill?

Lofts of North America: Pigeon Lofts

How to Sharpen Pencils: A Practical & Theoretical Treatise on the Artisanal Craft of Pencil Sharpening for Writers, Artists, Contractors, Flange Turners, Anglesmiths, & Civil Servants*

God’s Doodle: The Life and Times of the Penis

How Tea Cosies Changed the World

A gallery of former winners is here—I’m particularly tickled by The Anger of Aubergines and Tattooed Mountain Women and Spoon Boxes of Daghestan, but Rats: for those who care is tough to resist.

And after agonizing over my own titles, I find the weirdness oddly comforting.

Anyone else have a contender for next year’s prize?

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Paper—2, Digital—0

My husband sent me this in response to the video I posted last Thursday.

Sure, it works, but you can’t void the warranty on a rolled up copy of the New York Times.

Right, Emma?

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A Concise Explanation and Some Sound Advice

John Cleese explains the brain.

Or points to one while talking.

The auto-caption feature was completely befuddled by this—it offered different interpretations each time I played it, and didn’t match what I think he’s actually saying.

But befuddlement is John Cleese’s superpower, so it’s all good.

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A Papery Aftertaste . . .

I honestly thought this was a Photoshop joke, but when I tried to link back, I found an actual  promotion for a  beer created for Powell’s Books anniversary—brewed with actual pages from Moby Dick.

Then, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but the announcement was posted in November.

And now I have no idea.

I’m not a beer drinker, so if it is true, I think I’ll pass.

But I’m looking forward to trying the Crime and Punishment Russian Standard.

Or a Chekhov cherry liqueur.

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Sheer Starship Awesome

Watson hates the song, but I love everything about this fanvid, from the beat to the clips to the way it’s all put together.

Because that’s how I geek.

How many of the clips do you recognize?

(Psst: I’m putting a parental warning on this for language—it’s barely radio-safe,** so listen first, please)

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*The celebrity quotes on this book are hilarious.  There’s a sample of them on Amazon.

**I was going to make a “pun intended” joke, but realized being bare is generally safe for radio, Howard Stern notwithstanding, so never mind.