Sorry for whispering, but I don't want to let this one company know that I've figured out how to get a free t-shirt! I think there's a glitch in the matrix or something. See, I kind of stumbled across this site that says if I send in a picture of my kid I can get a...
What?
Really?
EVERYONE can do that?
And the COMPANY KNOWS?
Oh. Well, forget the whispering, then. I should shout it from the hilltop that you can get freebies by mail and all sorts of free deals at All Free Samples (all-free-samples.com).
I would do that, too, except that hilltop is pretty tall and I'm sort of lazy. So I'll just let you know that All Free Samples saves you the trouble of searching around the web for free stuff, and collects all the free things you want in one place, fromfree online dating services to free baby stuff to the aforementioned free t-shirt that you can get just by uploading a picture of your kid, and yeah I see it on the site now, thanks, I thought I was cool for finding it but I guess I was just a sucker.
In fact, the All Free Samples site has like twenty different listings for free t-shirts alone! I might never have to buy a t-shirt again, and since a free t-shirt is among the best rewards a society can offer its citizens (I'll do almost anything if you give me a shirt saying I did it), All Free Samples is kind of like the Smithsonian of websites. Is that right? I'm not sure what the Smithsonian does, other than keep live dinosaur skeletons around to torment Ben Stiller. (That's in the museum's charter.)
Anyhow, the secret's out: You can get free stuff at All Free Samples. Lots of free stuff. More than just t-shirts. I'm not sure why you're still reading this. GO!
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
30 Things "The Scream" is screaming, 9 (Is This Art?)
Grape ape!
Look, they're not all going to be winners, okay?
Previous:
I always knew Lucas made it up as he went along. (The Star Wars Blogathon)
Andrew got the answer to yesterday's question right: the Hoth scenes in The Empire Strikes Back were filmed (in part) on Hardangerjøkulen
Glacier in Finse, Norway. You can get a guidebook to tour the glaciers, Empire-style (I don't know what that means but it sounded good). You won't be able to find the actual entrance to the Rebel base; that was a matte painting, according to that guidebook. And now Question 79: What major character from Episodes V and VI did George Lucas originally intend to be a clone from a planet of clones that started The Clone Wars?
The picture to the left is Emma Stone in a Stand Up to Cancer t-shirt; apparently, Star Wars vs. Cancer T-shirts were a thing last fall and I didn't even know it.
You had me at "$11.99 for the next few days."
This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Lenovo for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
Odds are, if you’re like me at least, that most of your music and entertainment now comes to you via your computer.
(If you’re like me, there’s other things that are probably true, like “You probably had leftover pizza for breakfast today” but let’s focus on entertainment for now.)
I get about 90% of my music off my computer, and I get a lot of my news and non-musical entertainment off the computer, too. When home, I play my music off iTunes and listen to podcasts all from our laptop, and I tend to watch movies and TV shows on Netflix on the laptop, too, or sometimes on Mr F and Mr Bunches’ iPad. Meanwhile, in the office, where I used to have a radio/boombox to listen to cassette tapes (my God I’m old) I now do the same thing: the computer is the entertainment system).
Which means that most of my entertainment is coming through something that wasn’t designed for high-quality sound. Did you ever look at the speaker your laptop has? It’s TINY. I thought my laptop speaker was a USB port at first. Then I learned it was smaller than that. (Ba dum BOM!)
So you want a good speaker, if you’re going to listen to quality entertainment like I do – I really want the CB radio interludes in the song “Convoy” to sound crystal clear – and that’s why I’ve been considering getting one of those cool new red
Have you seen them? They’re awesome-looking: cool color, small size, that’s all great, but the important thing is they work great, too.
They plug into your USB port, so they don’t need a second power source, and they can be used with everything from a smartphone to a desktop. And the cord spools in, so you can store them easily and not have dangling cords all over the place.
But sound is the important thing, and Lenovo says these little speakers have built-in amplifiers which gives 4 watts of powerful sound.
So it’s more compact, less mess, fewer cords, looks better, and it’s really portable – I could have it at home and then carry it with me when I take the laptop on the road, or take it back and forth to work in my briefcase, although then Sweetie might get upset that SHE doesn’t get great sound, so maybe I’d better get two, which is fine because from May 15 to May 21, these little babies cost only $11.99 each, so they’re not even expensive. I’m sold. Great sound, here I come.
Odds are, if you’re like me at least, that most of your music and entertainment now comes to you via your computer.
(If you’re like me, there’s other things that are probably true, like “You probably had leftover pizza for breakfast today” but let’s focus on entertainment for now.)
I get about 90% of my music off my computer, and I get a lot of my news and non-musical entertainment off the computer, too. When home, I play my music off iTunes and listen to podcasts all from our laptop, and I tend to watch movies and TV shows on Netflix on the laptop, too, or sometimes on Mr F and Mr Bunches’ iPad. Meanwhile, in the office, where I used to have a radio/boombox to listen to cassette tapes (my God I’m old) I now do the same thing: the computer is the entertainment system).
Which means that most of my entertainment is coming through something that wasn’t designed for high-quality sound. Did you ever look at the speaker your laptop has? It’s TINY. I thought my laptop speaker was a USB port at first. Then I learned it was smaller than that. (Ba dum BOM!)
So you want a good speaker, if you’re going to listen to quality entertainment like I do – I really want the CB radio interludes in the song “Convoy” to sound crystal clear – and that’s why I’ve been considering getting one of those cool new red
Lenovo speaker, the Lenovo speaker M0620.Have you seen them? They’re awesome-looking: cool color, small size, that’s all great, but the important thing is they work great, too.
They plug into your USB port, so they don’t need a second power source, and they can be used with everything from a smartphone to a desktop. And the cord spools in, so you can store them easily and not have dangling cords all over the place.
But sound is the important thing, and Lenovo says these little speakers have built-in amplifiers which gives 4 watts of powerful sound.
So it’s more compact, less mess, fewer cords, looks better, and it’s really portable – I could have it at home and then carry it with me when I take the laptop on the road, or take it back and forth to work in my briefcase, although then Sweetie might get upset that SHE doesn’t get great sound, so maybe I’d better get two, which is fine because from May 15 to May 21, these little babies cost only $11.99 each, so they’re not even expensive. I’m sold. Great sound, here I come.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
I don't have much to add to this. (The Star Wars Blogathon)
Hint: It has nothing to do with Wookies.
ALSO: if you are owed a prize so far, re-email me at thetroublewithroy[at]yahoo.com and tell me what I owe you. Honor system, now: only the people who actually won a million dollars in gold bullion should claim that prize.
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 8 (Is This Art?)
In response to Andrew's question yesterday, yes, The Scream is the most-stolen painting in the world.
Or not.
I got that stat from CNN, which called it "the world's most stolen work of art," putting that in quotes, so someone else must have said it. But after Andrew questioned my blind repetition of CNN's claim, I decided to look into just how many times The Scream has been stolen.
Two sites agree that the number of times The Scream was stolen was...
(Drum roll, please)
Wow! I like that sound. I would like that to precede everything I have to say. Like:
Sweetie: What do you want for dinner?
Me:
Pizza!
Sweetie: [Sigh.] *mentally counts how many days until actuary charts expect me to kick off, brightens up*. "Okay." *reviews actuary charts in her mind again* "Extra cheese, right?"
Neat!
Anyway, the actual number of times that The Scream has been stolen, according to two different websites one of which is poorly worded is... two.
God dang it, Art World. Don't make me sic Big Retail on you.
So I looked into other works of art that might have been stolen, and I found this picture:
Which looks a lot like a guy who was a junior in high school when I was a sophomore and who used to smoke over by his Camaro in the parking lot, but who is actually "Jacob III de Cheyn," and that painting is by Rembrandt, who would go on to invent a short-lived toothpaste that ground your teeth into chalk, but who before that painted Jacob III, which this site says was stolen four times since 1960.
Interestingly, each time the painting has been recovered, it's been abandoned: it was found (again according to that site) on a luggage rack in a train station, under a bench in a graveyard, and on the back of a bicycle. (Presumably, the thief was not on the front of that bike as nobody has ever been charged with stealing old Jacob III).
But the Mail Online, which usually is devoted to stories of teachers having sex with their students, reports that Picasso is the artist whose work is most frequently stolen.
So The Scream isn't the most stolen painting, and it's also not the world's most valuable painting, as it turns out. The real most valuable painting is one that's missing completely:
That's The Concert by Johannes Vermeer, and this site says it's valued at $200,000,000, which means that if you want a truly valuable painting, have it stolen. (And, my idea for a thriller about the five people who could own The Scream gets a little better...)
Today's caption:
Previous:
Previous:
Caption 7.
Caption 6
Caption 5.
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
Or not.
I got that stat from CNN, which called it "the world's most stolen work of art," putting that in quotes, so someone else must have said it. But after Andrew questioned my blind repetition of CNN's claim, I decided to look into just how many times The Scream has been stolen.
Two sites agree that the number of times The Scream was stolen was...
(Drum roll, please)
Wow! I like that sound. I would like that to precede everything I have to say. Like:
Sweetie: What do you want for dinner?
Me:
Pizza!
Sweetie: [Sigh.] *mentally counts how many days until actuary charts expect me to kick off, brightens up*. "Okay." *reviews actuary charts in her mind again* "Extra cheese, right?"
Neat!
Anyway, the actual number of times that The Scream has been stolen, according to two different websites one of which is poorly worded is... two.
God dang it, Art World. Don't make me sic Big Retail on you.
So I looked into other works of art that might have been stolen, and I found this picture:
Which looks a lot like a guy who was a junior in high school when I was a sophomore and who used to smoke over by his Camaro in the parking lot, but who is actually "Jacob III de Cheyn," and that painting is by Rembrandt, who would go on to invent a short-lived toothpaste that ground your teeth into chalk, but who before that painted Jacob III, which this site says was stolen four times since 1960.
Interestingly, each time the painting has been recovered, it's been abandoned: it was found (again according to that site) on a luggage rack in a train station, under a bench in a graveyard, and on the back of a bicycle. (Presumably, the thief was not on the front of that bike as nobody has ever been charged with stealing old Jacob III).
But the Mail Online, which usually is devoted to stories of teachers having sex with their students, reports that Picasso is the artist whose work is most frequently stolen.
So The Scream isn't the most stolen painting, and it's also not the world's most valuable painting, as it turns out. The real most valuable painting is one that's missing completely:
That's The Concert by Johannes Vermeer, and this site says it's valued at $200,000,000, which means that if you want a truly valuable painting, have it stolen. (And, my idea for a thriller about the five people who could own The Scream gets a little better...)
Today's caption:
Everything reported about me is a lie!
Previous:
Previous:
Caption 7.
Caption 6
Caption 5.
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
Monday, May 14, 2012
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 7 (Is This Art?)
Who actually bought The Scream, paying $119,900,000 for a painting that nobody might ever buy again for that price?
According to The Economist, the speculation is on three people: Leonard Blavatnik, a financier, Paul Allen, Microsoft tycoon/horrible person, and members of the Qatari royal family. CultureGrrl added that the Sotheby's man who made the bids for the winner (who phoned in his bid) usually represents Americans.
Meanwhile, Forbes agrees with me that the purchase wasn't worth it as an investment -- pointing out that only about 5 people in the world have both the wherewithal and the ability to pay more than $119,900,000 for a painting. Since 1 of them already did, that leaves four left. If one of them buys it, that leaves only three other people currently alive who might be able to repurchase the painting and get a return on your investment.
Then again, maybe "return on your investment" could be realized by having crowds of people line up to see it: Sotheby's put on a huge marketing campaign (they won't say how much they spent trying to get people to spend money on The Scream) and part of that packed people into museums, so sending the painting (the world's most-stolen artwork) on tour might generate income to pay off some of that purchase.
But back to the 5-living-potential purchasers: Am I the only one who senses a Dragon Tattoo-esque thriller in that setup? DIBS ON THAT STORY!
Today's caption:
Previous:
Caption 6
Caption 5.
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
According to The Economist, the speculation is on three people: Leonard Blavatnik, a financier, Paul Allen, Microsoft tycoon/horrible person, and members of the Qatari royal family. CultureGrrl added that the Sotheby's man who made the bids for the winner (who phoned in his bid) usually represents Americans.
Meanwhile, Forbes agrees with me that the purchase wasn't worth it as an investment -- pointing out that only about 5 people in the world have both the wherewithal and the ability to pay more than $119,900,000 for a painting. Since 1 of them already did, that leaves four left. If one of them buys it, that leaves only three other people currently alive who might be able to repurchase the painting and get a return on your investment.
Then again, maybe "return on your investment" could be realized by having crowds of people line up to see it: Sotheby's put on a huge marketing campaign (they won't say how much they spent trying to get people to spend money on The Scream) and part of that packed people into museums, so sending the painting (the world's most-stolen artwork) on tour might generate income to pay off some of that purchase.
But back to the 5-living-potential purchasers: Am I the only one who senses a Dragon Tattoo-esque thriller in that setup? DIBS ON THAT STORY!
Today's caption:
I hope they cast Rihanna
in the movie version of this painting!
Previous:
Caption 6
Caption 5.
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
Kurt Russell almost was your Luke Skywalker? (The Star Wars Blogathon)
I once went to watch my brother run in the Chicago Marathon (an occasion that saw me using my high school literature class as a navigational system) and standing at mile 26 was somewhat like watching this weekend on the Blogathon: I want to cheer on the people who are struggling to keep their feet moving one step ahead at a time, but, honestly, I also want to just go home.
So I don't blame people for dropping out or not showing up every day -- but those who do now have a commanding lead, as nobody WHAMMYied this week: only PT and Andrew answered, and so the dreaded number 3 answer didn't come up. But nobody gained on anyone, either: the same margin still separates Sith Lord Andrew Leonian (Andrew, come up with something better; I'm using what little creativity I have to make up metaphors for this Blogathon) and PT, who now have nearly 12 times Rusty's score. But remember: the last 10 questions are all WHAMMY! questions, because doing it that way makes the previous 90 questions more or less pointless. Hey, people love it when basketball does that with its regular season, so it'll work here, right?
Today's question, Question 77, worth 50 points, as always, with the last commenter getting 40 points:
What director held joint casting sessions with George Lucas when Lucas cast Star Wars, and what movie was he casting for?
222 Words About "The Avengers." The Best Movie EVER?
At one point during the movie The Avengers, I spontaneously began to laugh, not because there was anything particularly funny going on in the movie, but because I was so happy to be watching this movie.
I can't remember feeling like that about any other movie I’ve seen in recent memory, feeling happy to be alive and watching this movie.
I’ve seen some good movies in my life, but none of them have measured up to my elation at how good “Avengers” was. There is literally nothing wrong with the movie. The fight scenes feature every possible combination of awesomeness one can imagine. The slower, plot-development scenes are like that lap when you’re jogging where you pace yourself before another sprint. Even the parts that should not work, like Hawkeye and Black Widow fighting an alien invasion with a bow and arrow and judo, somehow work.
Before I saw The Avengers, which I watched Friday, a coworker said “It’s a little long.” I beg to differ: it’s a little short.
I didn’t want it to end.
I wish I was still watching it, right now.
I thought maybe I was just excited by the movie and I would come back down, but I saw it Friday and I’m still not over the rush. I might skip work and go see it today.
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The WHAMMY! Question! (The Star Wars Blogathon)
If you want to answer the WHAMMY! this week, leave your wager here in the comments -- but email the answer to me at thetroublewithroy[at]yahoo.com. The Random Numbers have ruled that answerer number 3 will WHAMMY!, so the odds are with you. Or are they? How should I know? I'm no soothsayer.
Today's question: What Star Wars actor appeared in a Laurel & Hardy movie, and what was the movie?
A two parter!
In which I manage to compare my life with a Dickens work and reveal a 38-year-long hang up. (Sundays with the Classics)
But Sundays are reserved for the classics. On Sundays, I read nothing that is not the classic I'm currently reading. I don't read the news, my email, my Twitter account (much?) or anything else -- nothin' but classics. But even with that I didn't read much today because it's Mother's Day and my 12th anniversary. Sweetie and I celebrated the anniversary Friday, getting babysitters and heading out to see The Avengers, about which more later, and left today for Mother's Day-ing, and amidst getting her brunch and presents and the older kids taking her to a movie and all going for a walk together on the nature trail I also moved our old furniture into the family room and the family room furniture into the garage to make way for the new furniture we bought on sale yesterday as an anniversary present for us, and then I had a water fight with Mr F and Mr Bunches.
That all seems to have not much to do with the classic and Great Expectations in particular, but the part of the book I'm at is where Pip has gotten to London and had dinner with Herbert, who is the pale young gentleman
that was the kid Pip had a fight with at Miss Havisham's, and Pip has also met Matthew Pocket and watched that man's peculiar habit of trying to lift himself up by his own hair (and also has met the hilariously incompetent Mrs Pocket) and has had dinner with Wemmick and dinner with Mr Jaggers and otherwise has just been whiling away the time in London doing not much of anything.
(Like me, today, see?)
The part where Pip has dinner with Wemmick is one of my all-time favorite scenes in books. I'd completely forgotten about Stinger, although I never forgot Aged Parent, or Aged P, as Wemmick likes to call him. I have a vivid memory of 10th grade English class, when we read Great Expectations, and Mr. Schaefer, my teacher, would read aloud the parts and imitate Aged P, nodding his head and grinning and encouraging us to love this book as much as Mr. Schaefer loved it.
And it worked.
I was talking today with Sweetie about the things we remember and how they have shaped us. In our discussion, I was talking specifically about how in kindergarten I was never chosen to be the "best napper," the person who got to end his nap first and wake everyone else up. You would think the honor would rotate... but no. You would think that if wasn't just 'everyone gets a turn' then the criteria for being the best napper would be explained ("work on this a bit, Briane, and then maybe you'll get picked next week")... but no.
I was just never the best napper.
Never.
And I haven't forgotten that in 38 years, and, as I said to Sweetie, it has shaped me, I'm sure, in ways I can scarcely contemplate (other than that I both long to have the time to take a nap and then, when I do have the time, such as today, I don't actually nap but instead do something like move furniture around all afternoon including a piano which: a piano is very hard to move and moreso if you are trying to move it while watching out for Mr and Mr Bunches.)
Other things I have not forgotten include Mr. Schaefer imitating Aged P, and certain parts of Pip's lollygagging in London, including in particular Mr Jaggers' habit of washing his hands vigorously after his work is finished -- washing his hands of his clients. He literally washes away the grime of his job. Wemmick, on the other hand, doesn't speak of work at the Castle, and doesn't speak of the Castle at work -- he separates those two things, especially.
As for me? I don't take work home, hardly ever. I will stay late at the office, if I can -- but I try to never work from home.
One might think that's maybe a carryover from when I read about Jaggers and his clerk Wemmick in the 10th grade, but it's actually that I just get to distracted to work at home and I'm not very productive there.
On the other hand, for a while, when I began practicing law, I did give some thought to imitating the way Jaggers would throw his finger at people to get them to crack. I never mastered it, though.
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 6 (Is This Art?)
 |
| Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah... |
That's right. They formed a choir. I was going to have more of those -- I planned on 100-- but my Paint program is impossible to figure out with Mr Bunches sitting on my lap.
Also, Andrew was right about that baseball in his comment on number 5; it became worthless, but everything becomes worthless if nobody's willing to pay for it. Look at housing values right now; they're falling because people aren't willing to pay as much for them. The intrinsic value of the materials used to build the house have nothing to do with housing values, while what someone is expected to pay for them has everything to do with the value of a house.
Likewise with The Scream, which no longer is worth $119,900,000 -- at least not until someone else offers the new owner that much money.
There's another measure of value, though: psychic benefits, something I learned about when Malcolm Gladwell wrote about the NBA lockout on Grantland.com:
Psychic benefits describe the pleasure that someone gets from owning something — over and above economic returns.
Gladwell was writing about the psychic benefits of racism in the ownership of the Red Sox; the entire article is worth reading.
Do you suppose The Scream's new owner will get $119,900,000 worth of psychic benefits from owning the painting? Will I diminish or increase that value by talking about it so much? Does the psychic benefit come, as the Red Sox owner's did, as a side effect of hurting others?
Probably that last one. Classist hoarding isn't as pernicious as racism, but it's still bad, Mr Scream Owner.
Previous:
Caption 5.
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
Friday, May 11, 2012
"Just like every cowboy, sings a sad, sad song," every Star Wars Reference has its predecessor. (The Star Wars Blogathon)
The title of yesterday's Blogathon post referred to this little-known gem:
That's Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues, and I'm not sure why it was in my head yesterday, but I'm glad it was because while the comments on this blog are always good, Rusty Webb nailed it with his story of acoustical weddings gone wrong:
So much at work in that comment! Not only did it make me laugh, it also made me hum Every Rose Has It's Thorn AND it called to mind the classic Seinfeld episode:
For that, I award Rusty the 100 points; nobody got it right, per se (Andrew was closest) but Rusty's story was worth 100 points. Besides, Andrew got the Kurosawa influence correct.
Today's question, question 75! Worth 50 points! is as follows:
What thing from Star Wars actually got its name from an Edgar Rice Burroughs creation (and what was the Burroughs creation?)
Last commenter gets 40 points again. And, to close out the post with another video:
Want to know a true story? Sweetie's best friend appears in that video. Right at 3:09; she's the girl crying. Here's a close-up:
So now you know a guy who's married to a girl who knows someone who once cried on an MTV video.
That's Talking Seattle Grunge Rock Blues, and I'm not sure why it was in my head yesterday, but I'm glad it was because while the comments on this blog are always good, Rusty Webb nailed it with his story of acoustical weddings gone wrong:
I used to play guitar at weddings, and after forgetting a particular piece I was performing for the bride during her march down the isle (it was supposed to be, Jesu, Joy of Man's Desire, by J.S. Bach) I totally drew a blank halfway through her march and so I started playing Every Rose has it's Thorn, by Poison. Seriously, she marched down the isle while folks were humming Bret Michaels lyrics under their breath.
Every since that fateful day I have refused to play versions of anything at any time. I found I don't perform that well under pressure. So I choose to not perform at all.
So much at work in that comment! Not only did it make me laugh, it also made me hum Every Rose Has It's Thorn AND it called to mind the classic Seinfeld episode:
For that, I award Rusty the 100 points; nobody got it right, per se (Andrew was closest) but Rusty's story was worth 100 points. Besides, Andrew got the Kurosawa influence correct.
Today's question, question 75! Worth 50 points! is as follows:
What thing from Star Wars actually got its name from an Edgar Rice Burroughs creation (and what was the Burroughs creation?)
Last commenter gets 40 points again. And, to close out the post with another video:
Want to know a true story? Sweetie's best friend appears in that video. Right at 3:09; she's the girl crying. Here's a close-up:
So now you know a guy who's married to a girl who knows someone who once cried on an MTV video.
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 5 (Is This Art?)
"The Scream" sold for $119,900,000... but is it worth that much?
We say things have value, or are worth something, but really something has two kinds of values: What it will sell for, and what it's worth to you.
Those aren't necessarily the same thing.
What a thing will sell for is what we usually think of as value or worth for a thing. Which is why people might be excused for thinking that The Scream is worth $119,900,000. But it's not; it's only worth that if someone else will pay that much for it.
In other words, The Scream was worth $119,900,000 to exactly one person, so far, and that person has it. So in terms of worth or value, The Scream, as an investment, may be worthless. If nobody anywhere ever offers to pay money to the current owner of The Scream, then that painting is worth nothing.
Which is why I say we make two pacts today:
1. We as a world promise to never ever ever pay any money for The Scream again, and in fact we as the world ought to vow to copy, reprint, post, and otherwise make versions of The Scream so ubiquitous that the painting is guaranteed to be worthless, and
2. We as a world ought to also promise to make Rusty Webb's pizza on the bottom a reality. As Rusty said in his response to the previous caption:
That is genius, and it's thinking like that which made Rusty the Reader Of The Month. Of course, when I named him Reader Of The Month, I didn't know he'd revolutionize pizza for a new generation, so actually, I should say: this is the kind of thing I expect from my readers. Everyone else, the bar has been raised: if you can't come up with the equivalent of putting cheese on The Dark Side Of The Pizza, you're not living up to expectations.
Today's caption:
Previously, on The Scream:
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
We say things have value, or are worth something, but really something has two kinds of values: What it will sell for, and what it's worth to you.
Those aren't necessarily the same thing.
What a thing will sell for is what we usually think of as value or worth for a thing. Which is why people might be excused for thinking that The Scream is worth $119,900,000. But it's not; it's only worth that if someone else will pay that much for it.
In other words, The Scream was worth $119,900,000 to exactly one person, so far, and that person has it. So in terms of worth or value, The Scream, as an investment, may be worthless. If nobody anywhere ever offers to pay money to the current owner of The Scream, then that painting is worth nothing.
Which is why I say we make two pacts today:
1. We as a world promise to never ever ever pay any money for The Scream again, and in fact we as the world ought to vow to copy, reprint, post, and otherwise make versions of The Scream so ubiquitous that the painting is guaranteed to be worthless, and
2. We as a world ought to also promise to make Rusty Webb's pizza on the bottom a reality. As Rusty said in his response to the previous caption:
Yeah, no one is putting cheese UNDERNEATH the pizza yet. That's like half the surface volume totally untapped.
That is genius, and it's thinking like that which made Rusty the Reader Of The Month. Of course, when I named him Reader Of The Month, I didn't know he'd revolutionize pizza for a new generation, so actually, I should say: this is the kind of thing I expect from my readers. Everyone else, the bar has been raised: if you can't come up with the equivalent of putting cheese on The Dark Side Of The Pizza, you're not living up to expectations.
Today's caption:
Did you know we're down to
just one version
of Law & Order on TV?
Previously, on The Scream:
Caption 4.
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
Thursday, May 10, 2012
They refused to play acoustic versions of the songs they'd refused to play in the first place. (The Star Wars Blogathon)
Without very much ado:
Question 74: Name the two main characters, and the film they appeared in, by the director who is widely given credit for influencing George Lucas' creation of Star Wars?
And, for no particular reason, a live version of Mission Bells by Couer de Pirate:
Well, not for no reason. I listened to it while I wrote this post.
Bonus non-Star Wars question: Name the song the title to this post alludes to. (For 100 points.)
Question 74: Name the two main characters, and the film they appeared in, by the director who is widely given credit for influencing George Lucas' creation of Star Wars?
And, for no particular reason, a live version of Mission Bells by Couer de Pirate:
Well, not for no reason. I listened to it while I wrote this post.
Bonus non-Star Wars question: Name the song the title to this post alludes to. (For 100 points.)
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 4 (Is This Art?)
The Scream sold for $119,900,000 recently to a guy who had $119,900,000 that he couldn't think of anything better to do with than buy a painting.
The record for the loudest scream, by a crowd, indoors, is held by crowd of people attending a "FAMA" concert in Hong Kong in 2009. It was 131.6 dBA.
Sounds cause pain at 125 dBA.
People buying art selfishly cause pain at about $1,000 and are good proof of why I'm right about this.
Here's the 4th thing The Scream is screaming:
Previously, on The Scream:
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
The record for the loudest scream, by a crowd, indoors, is held by crowd of people attending a "FAMA" concert in Hong Kong in 2009. It was 131.6 dBA.
Sounds cause pain at 125 dBA.
People buying art selfishly cause pain at about $1,000 and are good proof of why I'm right about this.
Here's the 4th thing The Scream is screaming:
I just realized there's NO MORE
PLACES TO PUT CHEESE ON PIZZA!
Previously, on The Scream:
Caption 3
Caption 2
Caption 1
Wednesday, May 09, 2012
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 3 (Is This Art?)
The Scream was deemed to be worth $119,900,000 recently.
That's ridiculous, and so I'm posting 30 days' worth of things The Scream is screaming.
Do you know what $119,900,000 will buy you?
44,738,805 gallons of milk at my grocery store.
Or 441 homes in Westchester County, New York.
Or you could pay the full cost of raising 528 kids from birth to age 18. (Technically, 528.38 kids, but that 0.38 kid is probably going to get picked on a lot.)(Kids are mean that way, always finding out what makes you different, like maybe being only 0.38 of a kid, and teasing you about it.)
Here's what The Scream is screaming today:
Even The New Yorker's getting into the act:
Here's
Caption 2
Caption 1
That's ridiculous, and so I'm posting 30 days' worth of things The Scream is screaming.
Do you know what $119,900,000 will buy you?
44,738,805 gallons of milk at my grocery store.
Or 441 homes in Westchester County, New York.
Or you could pay the full cost of raising 528 kids from birth to age 18. (Technically, 528.38 kids, but that 0.38 kid is probably going to get picked on a lot.)(Kids are mean that way, always finding out what makes you different, like maybe being only 0.38 of a kid, and teasing you about it.)
Here's what The Scream is screaming today:
Avengers Assemble! Was that so hard, Joss Whedon?
Even The New Yorker's getting into the act:
Caption 2
Caption 1
Can you tell I've been driving a long time today and had time to think? (The Star Wars Blogathon)
PT Dilloway was right that Star Wars helped revive the Wagnerian practice of leitmotif, which specifically means the practice of having one particular piece of music or theme associated with a character or scene, so that when the audience sees that thing the music cues them -- and changes in the music can help evoke changes in the characterization or setting. Since music is particularly effective at sticking in your memory -- think of the jingles you remember from when you were a kid -- the music in Star Wars helped cement it in your mind.
But another reason Star Wars may be central to all of Western Civilization is that, like Wagner's Ring Cycle, it takes a relatively simple story (the hero's journey) and wraps it in simple philosophy, combines it with evocative music, and sends it out into the culture. The characters in the movie aren't very well-developed; they're more archetypes than they are actual people or characters. And although it's admittedly hard to develop a character over the course of a 2-hour movie, Lucas had six films to develop Anakin Skywalker and three to develop his sons and daughters and none of them are very fully-realized people that you could read motivations into.
Instead, the characters are ciphers, letting us see ourselves in them and allowing us to feel as though the story maps onto our lives. Just as people have interpreted The Ring Cycle in many different ways, people interpret Star Wars through their own filter, seeing themselves as Luke or Leia or Han or Chewie... Rusty, really? ... and mapping the movie onto their own life.
That pull is especially powerful when the emotion is generated at a time when you're still forming opinions. Baby Boomers tend to be amazingly protective of and overwrought over Woodstock, which really was nothing -- they hold a Burning Man every year and nobody thinks that is transformative.
But Woodstock as an idea stands in the Boomers' minds as a watershed moment, the moment when they realized they could do something big and even though Woodstock itself was a blip in history (if that) it made the Boomers feel as though they were all a part of something.
My grandfather's generation had World War II. His father had World War I. The Boomers had Woodstock and/or Vietnam.
And my generation? We had Star Wars, perhaps the last time that the majority of the people my age all took part in one thing at one time (more or less.)
I wonder if Harry Potter will serve as the same thing for The Boy's generation?
Also, It's nice to think that our generational touchstones have moved on from slaughtering millions to swinging across the Death Star.
And now, the question: As always, worth 50 points:
Name the person who choreographed the light saber fights in Star Wars, and the movie in which he discussed how he did that.
Last commenter? Get 40 points.
Tuesday, May 08, 2012
You'll get almost as many points for being tardy to the party as you will for being right. (The Great 100-day, etc etc etc)
George Lucas stole from Wagner?
Probably. And so did J.R.R. Tolkien. I was listening to Radiolab's "The Ring And I", a years-old podcast about Wagner's Ring Cycle, and although I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, I've already learned a lot, like the fact that Lucas' famous kiss between twin siblings who don't know they're twins is actually something Wagner put into his opera, but it's okay because Wagner took that stuff from Norse mythology, which also suffered a bunch of pillaging by Arthurian legend.
Here's how it all works:
Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas is the story of how an evil dwarf stole the Rhinegold and made a ring of power, which then fell into the hands of the gods, creating all kinds of problems. I really don't know the entire plot yet, but Odin's son Sigmund figures in, as Sigmund falls in love with his twin sister Sieglinde -- he doesn't know she's his twin- causing Odin to send Brunhilde the Valkyrie to bring Sigmund to Valhalla (i.e., kill him) but Sigmund explains to Brunhilde that he doesn't want to go because he's in love and so Brunhilde takes his side in things.
Also: At one point in Norse legend, Odin buries a sword in a tree and says that whoever can pull it out gets the sword as a gift.
Whew! That's a lot to digest on my morning commute to work.
Andrew got the answer to yesterday's question; I don't know how he did it, but he did.
Here's today's question, #72: remember, they're all worth 50 points from here on out, and the last commenter on each post will get 40 points, the "last commenter" being determined by whose comment is last when I post the next question in the blogathon.
What Wagnerian musical technique did Star Wars consciously use?
Sure beats questions like how many buttons were in the Millennium Falcon model Lucas used? [ANSWER: I don't know.] I should've gone off-book 71 questions ago.
Probably. And so did J.R.R. Tolkien. I was listening to Radiolab's "The Ring And I", a years-old podcast about Wagner's Ring Cycle, and although I'm only about 1/3 of the way through it, I've already learned a lot, like the fact that Lucas' famous kiss between twin siblings who don't know they're twins is actually something Wagner put into his opera, but it's okay because Wagner took that stuff from Norse mythology, which also suffered a bunch of pillaging by Arthurian legend.
Here's how it all works:
Wagner's Ring Cycle of operas is the story of how an evil dwarf stole the Rhinegold and made a ring of power, which then fell into the hands of the gods, creating all kinds of problems. I really don't know the entire plot yet, but Odin's son Sigmund figures in, as Sigmund falls in love with his twin sister Sieglinde -- he doesn't know she's his twin- causing Odin to send Brunhilde the Valkyrie to bring Sigmund to Valhalla (i.e., kill him) but Sigmund explains to Brunhilde that he doesn't want to go because he's in love and so Brunhilde takes his side in things.
Also: At one point in Norse legend, Odin buries a sword in a tree and says that whoever can pull it out gets the sword as a gift.
Whew! That's a lot to digest on my morning commute to work.
Andrew got the answer to yesterday's question; I don't know how he did it, but he did.
Here's today's question, #72: remember, they're all worth 50 points from here on out, and the last commenter on each post will get 40 points, the "last commenter" being determined by whose comment is last when I post the next question in the blogathon.
What Wagnerian musical technique did Star Wars consciously use?
Sure beats questions like how many buttons were in the Millennium Falcon model Lucas used? [ANSWER: I don't know.] I should've gone off-book 71 questions ago.
30 things "The Scream" is screaming, 2 (Is This Art?)
The Scream sold recently for $119,900,000.
The average salary in the United States for a full time worker is $41,673.83.
So in just 12 minutes, someone spent the equivalent of 2,877 years worth of the average person's salary.
On a picture.
To celebrate this demonstration that society doesn't work, I'm spending 30 days captioning The Scream:
Caption 1, here.
The average salary in the United States for a full time worker is $41,673.83.
So in just 12 minutes, someone spent the equivalent of 2,877 years worth of the average person's salary.
On a picture.
To celebrate this demonstration that society doesn't work, I'm spending 30 days captioning The Scream:
"So Bruce Willis was dead the whole time?"
Caption 1, here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)