Gnumoon's Stuff

The Chancellor has done been Brita-ed

(NOTE: this is just a GIS result for "filter." It has nothing to do with this post, I just can't stand not posting a picture.)

A bit of background for non-nerdy types who don’t use messageboards or fourms: certain websites have filters that catch words or phrases tagged by the moderators to be “offensive,” and automatically change them to something else. This is in an effort to keep public sites safe for work and relatively clean.  Read a more technical definition here.

For example, Fark turns F-bombs into “Fark” (which is where the site got its name), “shit” becomes “shiat,” etc.

Sometimes sites turn filters into something funny so that when it gets posted it says something that the writer did not intend. For example, on Fark if a poster types the “N” word, the filter automatically changes it to say “an attractive and successful Aftrican-American.”

My all-time favorite is on one board that automatically filters the annoying internet-speak phrase “LOL" (laugh out loud) into something so hilarious, yet wrong that I won’t even repeat it here in case y'all are reading at work. Suffice it to say that around these parts we now use the alternative phrase quite regularly instead of actually LOLing.

So why mention it? Because something from work (the big project from Monday, actually) got filtered today on a national website. Our esteemed Chancellor’s last name is that of a bird, and that bird’s name has a word in it that could slangily refer to a part of the male anatomy. So it is unacceptable by this site’s standards. Read for yourself.
You’ll LOL (but keep a hankie handy, in case the other filter gets ya).

Currently Listening to: Lightning Blue Eyes, by The Secret Machines

Off to never never land

The answer to my misheard lyric is Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” (Steveo guessed it immediately, but he doesn't count, as he’s practically a groupie.)
Lyrics:
Dreams of war, dreams of liars
Dreams of dragon’s fire
And of things that will bite
NOT, as I had long thought (second line there), “Dreams of dragonflies.”
Which is good, because I thought dragonflies were kind of a weenie thing for a big scary dude like James Hetfield to be afraid of. But then, some people have a problem with insects- I myself cannot see a millipede without an involuntary shudder- so I never questioned the line.

My dad emailed me today, RE: misheard lyrics- evidently there is a technical term for mishearing the spoken word, and that term is “mondegreens.” I copied and pasted his text:
The term "mondegreen" was coined by Sylvia Wright in a 1954 Atlantic article. As a child, young Sylvia had listened to a folk song that included the lines "They had slain the Earl of Moray/And Lady Mondegreen." As is customary with misheard lyrics, she didn't realize her mistake for years. The song was not about the tragic fate of Lady Mondegreen, but rather, the continuing plight of the good earl: "They had slain the Earl of Moray/And laid him on the green."
Mondegreens can be found in every area of the spoken word, from the record-buyer who asks for a copy the Queen single "Bohemian Rap City" to the schoolchild who is convinced that the Pledge of Allegiance begins "I led the pigeons to the flag."

So there ya go…and to my good friend D who always thought that the words to Rusted Root’s “Ecstacy” were “I eat corned beef,” I guess it wasn’t just you.

Currently Listening to: Don’t Tread on Me, by Metallica
BY THE WAY: Metallica gets (or loses, depending on your perspective) points for this song, because it is likely the only instance in hard rock where the opening guitar riff is from from “West Side Story.”

ps- I'm not a huge Metallica fan, and I didn't expect to ever devote an entire post to them. So, to balance it out, let me say that LBP and I watched several episodes of my new Fraggle Rock DVDs last night, and the show has held up quite well over the years. Hands of my doozer sticks, Gobo!

Queen of Misheard Lyrics

I have been working on a huge project for work that was unveiled today- I must have been more nervous than I’d thought, because as soon as the presentation was over I was just wiped out- the stress was finally gone. It went really well (in front of the chancellor, AD, friends of the program, etc.), and I just wanted a nap. So I was fairly useless the rest of the day.

That’s boring stuff, though. This is funnier- I was driving today and really listened to the lyrics of a song that came on, only to discover that I’ve been singing it wrong for YEARS. Here is an insta-‘shop (done 3 minutes or less from GIS to completion) of what I thought they were saying. Anyone have a guess as to what song it is?

Bear in mind that I am the same person who thought that the words to "Limelight" were "Living on a fish island," instead of "living in a fisheye lens."

In other music-related news, Lo sent me some CDs today of great new music (plus a sweet new iPod skin)- thanks for those, love the new tunes! See you manana for show #100...woohoo!

Currently Listening to: Comfortably Numb, as covered by Buds of May

On a classiness scale, it was all pretty much downhill after those solo cups full of Pinot Noir

Last night’s events happened in three distinct stages of degenerating classiness. Let us explore those striations, shall we?

#1: The banquet.
Photo: The ASN boys and The Trophy.
Classiness abounds. Suits, ties, dinner music, 700 people rubbing elbows, mingling, and schmoozing. Nice event- toughness points are awarded to Parker, whose first day on the job as bartender for the said masses resulted in several nasty-looking hand injuries caused by wine foil and corkscrews.
Points are also awarded to DJ, who became the first emcee in the history of emcees to have utter the phrase “exploding potatoes” to a roomful of banquet attendees. He did so with a straight face. 
Classy factor: 9

#2: The bar.
Photo: Possum under glass.
Not as classy as before, but a pretty typical night out in a college town. I found out that my buddy’s band, Possum Jenkins, was playing, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots. Negative points assigned to the bar for not turning any lights on the band, and for not turning off the TV’s behind them.
I got some semi-decent shots anyway, and am strangely taken with this one of the guys framed between bottles of beer. When I mentioned to my friend that my inebriated friends were impressed by the band he replied, “Oh yeah, drunks are our number one demographic.” So maybe the beer shot works.
Classy factor: 5

#3: All-night diner & drag show.
Photo: Late night cultural melting pot. (Cell phone picture)
After the bar, we all decided we needed food (guess the exploding potatoes didn’t satisfy). So we hit up this late-night diner, which is apparently where drunken queens like to eat after a drag show. Then, also post-event, several members of the Black Student Association showed up to grab a late bite. I’m pretty sure that the whole business was on the verge of erupting into either a full-fledged dance number (I'm thinking something Crybaby-esque) or a knock-down-drag-out brawl. Neither happened while we were there, but the whole thing was just…surreal. 
Classy factor: 2 (It would have been perhaps a 3+, but at one point the dragster pictured here yanked off her wig and chucked it at one of her handlers and then slapped him.)

Currently Listening to: Our Truth, by Lacuna Coil (Dear L.C.: Your Flash site is very annoying.)
Plug: I checked out the Banff Mountain Film Festival tonight on its tour through the HC. All the selections are indie films with a "mountain" theme...orienteering, climbing, kayaking, etc. There was one short about a 10-year old girl who was climbing v10s. Sheeyit.

Do I hafta go?

I'm sitting here, all dolled up and too many places to go. I'm wearing more make-up and dressy clothes than should be allowed on a Saturday afternoon (unless it is one's own personal wedding day). Also, it is snowing and frakin' COLD outside...can't I just stay here in my jammies and drink hot chocolate, play video games, and finally watch these Fraggle Rock DVDs?
Nope...right now I have to slap on the ol' perma-smile, go to a ritzy banquet, and make chit-chat with rich donors- all of whom will matter-of-factly inform me that it's time to give DJ some babies. (I'm a woman, it's my job, dontchaknow?) Oh well, the upside is that they'll all promptly get wasted on the free booze. That's always fun to watch.

Currently Listening to: The piano score from Donnie Darko. Tis haunting and beautiful.

We've been expecting you.

As bad as movie versions of video games can be (Super Mario Brothers, anyone?), I’m getting pretty jacked about Silent Hill. It could work because- and this is important, pay attention- the game had a compelling PLOT. Storylines are normally overlooked in video games in favor of getting straight to the action for the ultimate gratification of the end user (same principle as in porno flicks, but with more splattering gore and generally less splattering Ron Jeremy).

Movies made from games that all are action/no story have been complete crap: Doom, Mortal Kombat, House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, Wing Commander, Street Fighter...etc. etc. etc.* (see footnote)
Basically the only good gaming film ever made was based on a survival horror game with a good story: Resident Evil. (This is the original, not the shit-tastic sequel.) And in that same vein, we have Silent Hill. (At this point, the only games left movieless in the S.H. genre are probably Parasite Eve and Phantasmagoria. I would pay to see a decent version of the former; the latter, notsomuch. Ick.)

The original game featured a high creepiness factor (lots of fog, spookiness) coupled with general human ineptitude on the part of the main character (not good with a gun, indecisiveness, etc.). I think I was initially drawn to the game because the fictional village of Silent Hill seemed not unlike the real freakass town of Centralia, a place I've been long-obsessed with.

So I was already hopeful about the potential for this film, and then I saw two teaser posters (#1 & #2) and am just sold. (Warning: semi-disturbing images ) These stills look like Todd McFarlane/Clive Barker's Tortured Souls action figures dropped some acid and then staggered onto a soundstage where Mark Romanek and Anton Corbijn were shooting a video. awwww, yeah.

Watch the trailer here.

ps- Not SI-related, but NOTHING is more disturbing than this. I'm not even going to talk about it, that's how disturbed I am. (And forget that crowning bs, Mr. Pervosculptor. She went c-sec- not like the whole world didn't read about it.)

*- It is important to note that even really bad video game movies often feature really fantastic, ass-kicking, “workout-until-you-puke-and-fall-down” soundtracks. This is due to the 13-24 year old male target demographic. Also, Rob Zombie manages to appear on almost all video game soundtracks. Honestly, anything that keeps him from making movies of his own is probably a good thing.   

Currently Listening to: Evil Woman, by ELO.

The adventures of B.O. Girl and the Chinless Wonder

(UPDATE: Otis, who is taking the day off and so has time to participate in this foolishness, found this file photo of BOTH "The Chinless Wonder" AND "Pink Shirt and a Wonderbra." Score.)

Otis’ comment a few days ago about “B.O. Girl” got me thinking about how we have always had a propensity to nickname people. These are uncreative, overly-descriptive nicknames that get grandfathered in forever, usually within about 30 seconds of first encountering a person.   It's like a tagging system; a quick cross-referencing way to immediately identify people, even if we haven't seen them in years. In the time we’ve been HLMs (that’s Hetero Life Mates), we (and/or our friends) have known/named/been dubbed:

The Chinless Wonder
Pink Shirt and a Wonderbra
B.O. Girl
Mutie (The Mutant)
Phildo
Yankee Bastard
Elsie (or Bessie)
Lazy-Ass O’Dell
Cutie Eudy
Drunken Racist Lesbian Roommate (that sounds like a bad SNL skit, a la "Massive Headwound Harry")
Stevil
Matt, no not that Matt, the other, cuter Matt from class who likes Kids in the Hall
The Nine Month One-Night Stand
That ROTC from the Elevator
Wanna Come to my Game? (aka TKE TKE TKE TKE BOOM)
Poah (This nick was for a dumbarse who once tried to reset the password on my computer to “Winnie the Pooh,” except that he was a wretched speller)
That Bitch Girl who Looks Like Skeeter  (Skeeter,btw, is a chow mix. This is not a favorable comparison for anyone)
And one guy, Speez, had an Acura Integra that we called the "Spacura."

I’m sure I’ll think of more and add them later (Otis, feel free to append). Right now I’m tired from the workday and exhausted from going out tonight and watching Duke forget how to play basketball.

ps- Congrats to Otis and Bri- they’re hip-deep in the process of buying a new house- can’t wait to see it!

Currently Listening to: Orestes, by A Perfect Circle
(Although I'm man enough to admit it was Shake That by Eminem previously: shake. that. ass for me. shakethatassforme. C'mon girl.)

Speaking of currently listening to…you know that South Park episode where Cartman goes in front of congress and they all end up singing Asia?Yeah, it was so amusing that I downloaded “Heat of the Moment.” (hangs head in shame)  I’ll hand in my "rocker chick" ID card and decoder ring, promise never to make devil horns again (\m/), and show myself out. It’s been real. 

So much kewtness you'll spew chunks

We here at Gnumoon’s Stuff are definitely down with O.P.P. (ok, so that’s just me, but sometimes Gnumoon refers to herself in the third person, so she’s prone to fits of weirdness anyway)
So in that spirit, here are some other people’s pets from the past few days:
The Good-
Bert, the deaf JRT. So freakin’ cute and charming.
The Bad-
Jonesy, the sadistic hairball. Tried to kill me several times. You know that a cat has really got your number when you close and LOCK a door behind you because you’re afraid the cat will somehow get in the room. To quote Peter Griffin, "I hate this frickin cat."
The Snuggly-
Squidgie, the puffy hammie.
Looks like a Pokemon, would be at home on CuteOverload. (My name suggestion of "Squishmitten" was rejected without even a second though. That makes me a sad panda.)

Currently Listening to: All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, by Bauhaus
Random Trivia: Did you know that Robert Patrick from T2 and the X-Files and Richard "Hey Man Nice Shot" Patrick from Filter are brothers?

PS- Big big thanks today to Brent for the new tunes (or “kickin new tuneage, bud-dy” if for some reason you’re Pauly Shore)

PSS- If I ever have to input data into SPSS again like I did last night, you'll likely see the aftermath on CNN.

oh noooooo

i'm in class. we're doing data entry. someone please kill me.

Technical Difficulty

I just found out that my FEEDBACK buttons aren't working over on the gallery site. So thanks to anyone who TRIED to leave me comments there, but I didn't see them. Sorry- I didn't think to test it out after I loaded the page.
I suck at life sometimes. ;)

Feel free to email me or put comments in the comments here...but that's kind of a lot of work, so I'll just assume you all left AWESOME comments and nothing the least bit critical. heh.

I'll try to fix it after class, if I survive class. I have my research proposal due, and to be honest, I'm just not that into the project at the moment. Tis a tad bor-ring.