Gar.
No, I’ve not forgotten you. I’ve not forgotten the Sunday Roast either. Just hang on a moment whilst I hunt round Meadow Towers for my mojo. I know I left it here somewhere…
(Yes, my will to write has temporarily deserted me. I’ve got things I want to tell you all about but, well, I’m actually having more fun living them right now! The Sunday Roast will be along shortly – by the end of the day UK time I promise).
Till then…
*musak plays*
Well, I thought I would be back in time today to do a late Roast, but I’ve been detained in London slightly longer than planned with Boat Shows and building kitchens. Therefore, I would like to introduce you all (or remind you of) a Great British Tradition – Do It Yourself.
Fanfare please…
Write Your Own Roast
The rules are simple:
In the comments, simply provide a link you think is Roastable and give a short explanation or commentary. Points for humour, topicality and general oddness (you all know the kind of things that get roasted by now).
Things to bear in mind:
1) I’ve got WP set up to automatically put in moderation anything with more than one link, so don’t put two links in one comment. If you want to roast two (or more) things, write two comments (I know it’s a bit of a drag, but I’ve been hammered with over 1000 pieces of spam in the last 24 hours so I’ve got to be cautious).
2) Try and keep it (moderately) clean people – I’m thinking particularly of YouTube videos and the like. While we’re all friends and easy going people here, try not to be too offensive. Anything that you’d consider NSFW (not safe for work) is probably not appropriate for the blog.
3) And that’s it! Have a good time and I’ll join in the fun when I get back to Meadow Towers at god-knows-when!
I’d love to see new people in the comments as well. If you’ve been reading for a while and have been reticent about joining in before now, I think this is a perfect time to pop your cherry. Or even if this is your first time at Bright Meadow, why don’t you say hello? We’re all nice people here 🙂
p.s., Thanks to Moose for the idea for this!
p.p.s., Minion-hood awaits for anyone who participates. Exciting!
Well this is the first Roast of 2007, and more importantly the first Roast in a couple of weeks, so let’s hope it’s worth the wait. I was starting to get a bit jaded towards the end of last year but a few weeks off was just what I needed. I hope you all had an absolutely fantabulous break and are feeling refreshed, revitalized and ready to face whatever this year has in store for you with humour and joy in your heart. I would share with you what I have planned for 2007, but I won’t because things I plan have a long tradition of not happening or going tits-up in a spectacular fashion. Still, if you want to share don’t let my reticence stop you!
First let’s look at some of the films that, from their trailers, have caught my interest:
Indy is making his comeback (in 2008). Yay! Though I am still having issues with thinking on how a 64 year old can believably turn in the same kind of action from the previous movies.
Y’all ignored my hints prior to Christmas about penguin speakers (I’m very upset). But look! Aren’t these penguin speakers just so adorable?! Just the sort of thing that you’d want to treat your bestest blogging bud with 😉
As Moose said when she sent me the clip – could the French get any odder?
That wonderfully silly film, National Treasure, is getting a sequel. How… silly! But I’m a Nic Cage fan, so it’s a given I’m going to be watching this film at some point. Whilst we’re on the topic however, was there ever a more misleading film poster?! I mean, Nic Cage with a tube strapped to his back – that’s got to be an RPG-launcher, right? Wrong. It’s a map tube. I felt betrayed and violated on so many levels.
So the Royal Mail can’t even deliver a letter from one side of Southampton to the other without fucking it up, but they can deliver a postcard without an address?
I love me a good quote, (btw, no point looking for the provenance of today’s title, it’s a Moose Classic, though points for guessing what food she was talking about) and stumbling across this list of last words got me thinking what my own would be. Guess it depends on how I’m gonna die. “Told you penguins were evil…” would probably be the best. Why not join in others in the game?
As Meadow Towers is a pet-free-zone ( 🙁 ), perhaps this robotic guinea pig would be a good solution? Thinking about it, perhaps not. I have sad memories of finding my last guinea pig beheaded on the front door step when I was six. That kind of image is one that stays with you and can put you off an animal for life.
I like me a good graphic novel on occasion and even Brother Dearest is getting the bug – he spent Christmas buried in V for Vendetta which he’d picked up on a whim while getting my presents (there’s a reason browsing through bookshops will never go out of fashion), but we both have a problem in that, when faced with the sheer mass of titles to choose from we have no idea what to go for. Frank Miller is always a good bet, but he’s only written so many. Which is why recommendations are essential. Anyone got anything else I (and now my brother) should get stuck into?
I’ve noticed something happening on some of the sites I visit regularly – a little preview that appears when I hover over a link. The first time I saw it I thought “ooh, cool!” The second time it was “hmmm, would this work for the Roast?” The third time it was “aw, crap! Not again.” By the fourth and more times I was no longer hovering over links because it was just bugging the hell out of me. Turns out I’m not the only one. Now I’m not being as vitriolic as good ol’ Christian (bless him for bringing the snark) but he and Lorelle do make good points. If you’re using SPA, do take a moment and think why. If you think it brings added value to your blog then keep it. It would be a boring world if we all thought and did the same thing. If you can’t make a valid case however, consider taking it off again?
And to finish the film-theme of this Roast, aren’t films just going to the dogs lately?
But before I let you go, nominations for the Seventh Annual Weblog Awards are currently open. Not one to toot my own horn, have you considered nominating Bright Meadow? For starters I think I’d fit well in the ‘best british or irish weblog’ category. Then there’s the best topical (if personal is a topic…) and best writing categories. You could possibly even make an argument for ‘best-kept secret weblog’.
Now I’m not forcing you to nominate – I am a great believer in only doing something you believe in (and there goes my nomination for best writing) – but, well, if you don’t ask you don’t get I suppose.
Have a lovely week people and I will have more supreme content for your delectation shortly no doubt. Can I just take this moment as well to say 2007 looks like it is going to be a GOOD year for me with lots of fun and frolicks. I wish the same for you all 🙂
So according to Moose, there are around 200 million blogs that are no longer updated. In case you thought Bright Meadow was one of them because the Roast is so late this week, forgive me. I blame the penguins – Penguins with happy feet.
Don’t you just love marine biologists? Only they could come up with the vampire squid from hell.
Airplane + Treadmill. Who would win?
Now, I’ve been to some wild parties in my time, but I’ve never sacrificed a camel.
It’s harder than you would think to find a pink cover for the new iPod nano – so what does a clever girl do? Make her own.
The other week there was singing cats. This week it’s singing sheep. I just love how the Cumbrian tourist chap likens it to the re-release of Slade…
You can’t make this stuff up – the World’s tallest man saves a dolphin.
I always knew that my Minions were wonderful people – now I KNOW they are.
Who would win in a fight? A lion, or 42 Cambodian Fighting Midgets?
I reckon the Midgets if you are counting the Midgets as an entity – so sure, you’re going to have sacrifice a few for the greater good, but as a whole the Midgets would win.
Then you’ve got to ask yourself, for who would it be morally more wrong?
This week has been ever so slightly odd for me. Nothing in particular has reared it’s head it’s just been… odd. For some reason the silliest things have thrown me: case in point, getting into work on Friday to find out that Christmas Decoration Hell has taken over our section of the office. I’m not a scrooge, nor am I averse to a few decorations around the office (though their appropriateness is debatable), but I am averse to Ms. Stickybeak making a unilateral decision to decorate our area as well as hers without consulting our team. I’m not sure which annoys me more – her blithe assumption that we’re all Christian and celebrate Christmas (because we’re not), the fact that she decorated without asking (yes, I get territorial), or the fact that I had plans to make lots of 3D snowflakes this weekend and hang them on Monday. She foiled my cunning plan!
Oh, I’m still making the snowflakes and taking them in, but I’ll either have to leave her decorations up which will detract from the prettiness of mine, or take hers down and live with a horrendous atmosphere for the next millennia.
Who decided that open-plan offices were the way to go? *whimper* Anyway, that little incident completely derailed me for the entire of Friday. Other little things have also gained significance out of all proportion to what they deserve and… Just odd. Still, only two weeks till the holiday and if you don’t think I’m counting down the minutes you’re mad. I haven’t had a break since a week back in April and I’m running on the fumes right now. The only thing that’s keeping me going is the knowledge that I’ll have five days back at the Homestead where I can do nothing but sleep, maybe do some light DIY or defrost a freezer or something, and play with Gilbert the Rabbit. It’s the little things you understand.
Though the week has just made much nicer by the news that I’m going to get the first lot of payment for some work I did a few months back. PERFECT timing for Christmas!
So as I said, it’s been an odd week for me and consequently I’m viewing everything at kind of one remove with my irony level dialed to ‘high’. Bear that in mind as you enjoy this week’s Roast.
A little less conversation, a little more action? Are comments actually detracting from your site? Whilst comments and community are a big (and to me one of the most important) part of Bright Meadow, I can see Andy’s arguments that they aren’t suitable for all sites.
Christian Montoya, on the other hand, has pretty much the opposite view point (- which pretty much sums up my own feelings on comments).
Ever hit the ‘publish comment’ button then gone “DOH!!!”? I know I have. Well, for those of you who have always wanted to be able to edit their comments, I have some good news – part of a big Bright Meadow Refresh I have planned for the new year will include the addition of editable comments. Don’t say I never do anything for you 😛
Because I never can be certain who’s reading Bright Meadow and wanting to buy me a surprise gift, GeekGirl Jewelry.
97% of websites do not provide even minimum levels of accessibility. Ouch.
Long-time readers of Bright Meadow will be familiar with my deep respect for the work of danah boyd, so it should come as no surprise that I’m going to link to her latest paper all about online ‘friends’. Yes, it might be a little long and serious for a Sunday afternoon, but do bookmark it and return to it when you’re brain is in the right place. Well worth the read.
Mobile phones do NOT cause cancer. Well that’s one lot of bad karma the Crazy Canalman no longer has to deal with. Woot.
It’s not just me who has trouble with their office decorations: even the BBC can’t get it right it seems. Where along the way did Christmas get this bloody big?! When I was a kid it was fun, sure, but we never decorated till the week before Christmas (two weeks if my Mum was particularly persuasive that year) and if my Dad had had it totally his way it would have been Christmas Eve that the tree etc went up. So why are those of us who don’t want to go over board on the 1st of December now viewed as aberrations and crazy subversives?
It’s winter, the time for baking – chocolate chestnut fridge cake sounds just perfect and ridiculously easy to make.
9rules is starting to announce the Round 5 additions to the network and already there are a host of wonderful new sites. One that I’ve already fallen head-over-heels in love with is Creampuff Revolution
Some more eye-candy (and coincidentally another new 9ruler – welcome 🙂 ) Midnight Snack
One film this week caught my eye – Breach. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t get enough of these spy-thriller deals.
And that’s it for another week. Before you all go scooting off to your lives, I would like to remind you all that post deadlines are looming – if you want a Christmas/Seasons Greetings card then use the contact form and email me your address ASAP. And I’m off to go make lots of 3D snowflakes. Toodles 🙂
My thanks go to Josh for kicking off this week’s Sunday Roast: Little Penguins are being fitted with blue shoes at a New Zealand zoo to protect their feet.
There have been recent calls in the UK for a voluntary code of practice for blogs. Is such a code needed? Should all blogs really adhere to the journalistic model? Will it stifle free speech or engender more honest writing? Discuss…
Not sure what to do with those Moo cards you couldn’t resist ordering? Or, like me, are you having to carry them round in a business-card case that doesn’t do the job OR show them off to their best? Why not make some moo tins. (I’d love to make some Moo tins, but I can’t find the UK equivalent of the necessary containers 🙁 )
Quebec is now a nation within a united Canada. Woot?
Have you asked yourself lately how’s your online IQ? I know we’re all guilty here – there’s so many egos running round the Internet I’m surprised there’s room in the comments for all of us 😉
I keep saying this, but I do that because it is true – I love photos and old albums because of the stories they can tell us, even of complete strangers.
Work these last couple of weeks has suddenly gone from ‘very busy’ to ‘totally and utterly insane’ and is looking like it won’t stop till it reaches ‘go have a nervous breakdown because you’re never going to get everything done’. Ok, so I do my best work when I’m under pressure. I actually enjoy tight deadlines because it means I can justifiably have a little grumble and feel hard done too, but I haven’t had a holiday since April and even that was just a week. Right now I’m running on empty and literally counting the days till Christmas not because of the holiday/presents/seeing family but because I will be able to sleep for a week. All of which makes me think that David has the right idea with three tasks a day…
Still wondering what to get me for Christmas, I think this FooBar poster would look mighty fine on my wall 😉
Sir Rod Eddington has proposed that motorists pay road tolls to use the nation’s road network. I’m sorry, but isn’t that what I am paying my road tax for already?
This is gleefully nicked from Jay: how to make a 3d snowflake.
And finally, because I feel that these things are best shared, I bring you The Order of the Stick comic. Neko just introduced me to it last week and, thanks to her, I’ve been consistently nearly missing my bus all week because I’ve got reading it in the morning. Grrr! (It’s very funny though, especially if you’ve got even a smidgeon of a D&D background).
Guess where the quote in todays title comes from – five huggles to the winner (five more if you can say which episode). I’m sorry if today’s Roast feels a little rushed, but that’s because it was (*blush*). Moose is dragging me off to see Pan’s Labyrinth and then Neko is coming round and… I’m not sure where along the way I suddenly got a life, but I have one, and it is to the detriment of the blog. I am sorry 🙁
Enjoy the Roast whilst I am off doing things with people 🙂
You still need evidence that penguins are evil? Well, they beat up James Bond. That’s quite evil.
Microsoft are pondering how people will cope switching to Office 2007. My favourite quote has to be where one Microsoft VP interviewed says the ordinary user will switch fine… “The people who take longer are the die-hard users; the expert Excel user”. So nice to be completely written off by Microsoft. I wonder how they define an ‘Expert Excel user’ – someone who can turn the programme on?
The California Supreme Court has ruled that Internet publishers could not be held liable if they posted defamatory comments written by others. Basically it means that even individuals are protected from lawsuits when/if they republish something. In America, anyway.
Ever wondered if it’s really worth getting that 13 megapixel camera or the (much more affordable) 5 megapixel camera? Wonder no more.
Looks like the Conservatives should swop Churchill for Polly Toynbee who is, by the by, the one Guardian columnist guaranteed to get me frothing at the mouth. In fact, she’s already inspired a blog post.
There’s a new scheme in London to pass on the nice things. I think this is a great idea. Gives me the warm fluffies.
Robin Hood has been commissioned for a second series by the BBC. Why? Yes I admit I have been watching this series (to the point I’ll record it if I’m not going to be in) but it IS shite. I could write a better script! You know when there’s a silence in a film/show and you guess what the next line of dialogue or action is going to be? Well, I frequently do this with Robin Hood and invariably get it right. To the very word. So predictable. So badly acted. So camp. Why oh why are they doing a second series!?
Penguin are issuing a series of books with blank covers so you can draw your own. I think this is a supreme idea! Though I would probably never be able to come up with a design I was happy with.
How do you end your emails? At work I go for ‘kindest regards’ unless I know the person really well, then they get a variation/nothing. Personal emails tend to be some variation of Cas/C =)/Cxxx (if you get that last, well, you know you’ve made it 😉 ). Anyway, it’s nice to know I’m not the only one who agonizes over how to end an email.
And to end on a high note, Free Hugs. This video got sent to me in an email and, whilst I was initial skeptical, I stuck with it and by the end I had a grin on a mile wide and such a load of warm fuzzy feelings toward my fellow man you wouldn’t believe.