There’s a new meme floating around LiveJournal country, about books. I just did a book meme not too long ago, but the questions on this one are a little different, and it’s short enough that neither writer nor reader will lose much time over it. If this is your sort of thing, read on and enjoy. If not, I’ll catch you later…
It’s been a wild day here at the Bennion Compound — there’s a storm approaching, and high winds have been causing havoc with the electricity all afternoon. The power lines across the street keep brushing together, which results in a cool sound-and-light show but also leaves me sitting in front of a dead monitor and feeling frustrated because I’ve just lost another half-finished blog entry. (I’ve had three attempts at an entry vanish into the ether today, thanks to that damned wind! Must… buy… a UPS!) Things seem to be quieting down now — which means the rain should begin anytime — so hopefully I can reconstruct my work from earlier without any further problems.
While I work on that little task, though, I thought I’d leave you with something to look at. I see that my LiveJournalling friend Jen has recently taken one of those weird on-line quizzes that purport to tell you which animal/character/intangible concept/inanimate object you would be if only you were an animal/character/intangible concept/inanimate object. I don’t entirely see the point of these quizzes — under what circumstances would I ever become an intangible concept or an inanimate object? — but they’re fun timekillers, and it’s a fast way to come up with something to post. So, without further ado, here are my results to the question “What sort of key are you?”:
You are a stone key, and you unlock old and magical
secrets. What you have to offer is powerful and
difficult for many to understand, but
invaluable to the few who can truly grasp it.
Give the things you have carefully and
wisely, because not everyone will use them for
good.
What sort of key are you and what do you unlock?
brought to you by Quizilla
Hope that provided you with some kind of insight into my character. If it did, would you mind explaining how? Not to mention, what that insight may have been? Thanks.
I’ll be back with at least one more post later this evening, assuming the lights stay on…
I’m pretty ruthless when it comes to screening my personal e-mail. Commercial spam, of course, is at the top of the “delete” list, but I also have little patience for all the crap that people forward because they think it’s fun or somehow useful to me: the jokes, the heartwarming “true stories,” the calls for boycotts on this or that, and, worst of all, the “public service messages” that nine times out of ten turn out to be urban legends. (Actually, I sort of enjoy those, because then I have the pleasure of debunking them for whoever sent them. But I’ve noticed that people don’t much send them to me anymore, probably because my debunkings take the fun out of it for them.)
All that stuff that eternally floats around the comm channels wore out its welcome for me very soon after I started using e-mail. All except for the questionnaires. I still like those. You know, those lists of random and essentially superficial questions that are supposed to provide insight into our friends.
I got one from Anne awhile back, the first one I’ve received in a long time. Considering that these questionnaires are essentially the same thing as the LiveJournal memes I occasionally put up (and the fact that I don’t have anything else ready to post today), I thought I’d reproduce it here, along with my sure-to-be-fascinating answers:
Oh, no, it’s another meme! No worries, though — this one is pretty short, only five questions about books…
In addition to his personal blog, writer John Scalzi also maintains an AOL Journal called By the Way. It’s a paid gig — how would it be? — intended to promote AOL Journals and provide tips and hints for those who have one. Every week on this site, John comes up with Weekend Assignments, which are essentially the same thing as the memes that float around the LiveJournal community, just scenarios or suggestions to encourage people to think about themselves and start writing. This week’s Assignment is a fun one:
Congratulations! Hollywood is making a movie of your life, and you get to choose any actor you want to play you — yes, even if they’re dead (the things they can do with special effects!) Who do you choose and why?
Extra credit: Name the musician/band who will play the theme song to the movie.
Now obviously, any casting decision of this magnitude can’t be taken lightly, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time considering the matter…
Here’s another of those interminable list-entries in which I show off my vast experience with popular culture. This time we’re looking at the American Film Institute’s Top 100, a list of the greatest American movies of all time as determined by “a blue-ribbon panel of leaders from across the film community.” Whoever they might be.
Uh-oh, it’s another LiveJournal meme. Surf on if you’re not interested in gaining further insight into my questionable tastes and interests…
Still here? Oh, good, then let’s talk about banned books. What follows is a list of the 110 all-time banned books. Exactly what the term “all-time” means is open to interpretation, since the LiveJournaller I appropriated this from wasn’t sure who compiled the list or what criteria were used in choosing items for it. Nevertheless, these are books that at some point have gotten somebody’s ruffles in a bunch. The idea of this meme (presumably) is to demonstrate to all the world how enlightened, literate, countercultural, or just plain contrary you may be by showing how many of these you’ve read.
A few days ago, John Scalzi posted an entry on his blog called 10 Things I’ve Done You Probably Haven’t. As he explained, this is another of those LiveJournal triggers, or “memes,” that are supposed to get you thinking about your life. In this case, you’re supposed to list ten experiences or accomplishments that are unique to you. Presumably this exercise is intended to help you realize how cool you really are, or at least give you something to write about.
Since I’m always on the lookout for new blogging inspirations — that is, I’m a copycat — I figured I’d take a stab at this one myself. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. It turns out that a lot of the cool things I’ve done aren’t so very different from things I know my friends have done themselves. For example, most of my really memorable experiences are somehow related to travelling, and I know that several of the folks who read this blog have travelled to the same or similar places that I have. In some cases, my friends were actually with me and shared my most memorable experiences, so I can’t really say that all of the things on my list are unique to me. But I gave it my best effort and I think I came up with a few items that most of my readers probably haven’t experienced. In any event, here’s my list, presented in no particular order:
I don’t know why I bother playing with those Internet quiz-things that purport to reveal one’s tastes and personality traits. The results are never remotely accurate. Case in point: my Movie Recommendation score…
You scored as Mindless Action Flick.
Congratulations! You’ll blow fifteen bucks on the worst script ever as long as there’s lots of guns, explosions, car chases, kung fu, and unrealistically happy endings. Reality means nothing to you! I don’t know you but just lost all respect for you! Check out: Die Hard, Fast and the Furious, Charlie’s Angels (they can fly!), Biker Boyz.
| Mindless Action Flick |
|
80% | |
| Sci-Fi/Fantasy |
|
75% | |
| Drama/Suspense |
|
70% | |
| Mindgame |
|
70% | |
| Artistic |
|
65% | |
| Sadistic Humour |
|
40% | |
| Romantic Comedy |
|
35% |
[Created with QuizFarm.com]
This thing is wrong on so many levels. I enjoy the occasional action movie, and god knows they’re not usually very intelligent, but I don’t think they’re my primary cinematic interest, and I do discriminate when it comes to which ones I bother with. (Otherwise, I might have actually seen Elektra, which probably would have led to an unfortunate case of self-inflicted eye-gouging.)
In addition, I would not characterize the original Die Hard as “mindless” (a rant for another day), and I consider Charlie’s Angels more of a comedy than an action movie. The thing that really ticked me off, though, was the suggestion that I would find any pleasure whatsoever in Biker Boyz and The Fast and the Furious. I hate those Gen-Y/skate-punk/X-box/extreme sports/ritalin-deprived/crap-editing flicks… but perhaps I’m taking this far too seriously…
My friend (and frequent Simple Trick commenter) Jennifer Broschinsky maintains a blog/diary over at LiveJournal, where she occasionally posts up one of the personal surveys that make the rounds of that online community. For the journaler/blogger, the point of these exercises is to reveal things about yourself that you might not think to write about without prompting. The point for the reader is to gain some insight into what makes your friends tick. Think of these surveys as the online equivalent of the handwritten notes we used to pass around in boring high school classes, the ones that asked embarrassing questions and which we always hesitated to return because we figured we’d look like a dork whichever way we answered.
A while back Jen put up a collection of topics that all began with “Five Things You May Not Know About…” I thought her answers were pretty interesting, and the questions that prompted them fairly stimulating, so naturally I nicked the thing for my own blog. Below are my answers to the “Five Things” survey. Enjoy!