There is a saying that nothing reveals a man's character so clearly as the joke he tells. There is a lot of truth to that. My ex-boyfriend used to joke that a woman's place was "in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant". Of course he'd immediately defend himself with "it's just a joke! I was only kidding!" but the truth is, he WAS the chauvinistic, sexist type. Maybe not in huge, obvious degrees like your stereotypical chauvinist who insists on speaking to a man when calling tech support. But it was there, subtly, and his so-called joke belied the true attitude beneath a veneer of civility.
Recently, the Twitter-sphere (Twitter-verse?) exploded with this activity:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/turtlefeed/nbc-voice-celebrity-brags-about-killing-turtle-on-ruc
Basically, country singer Blake Shelton tweeted that he'd intentionally swerved on a road to run over a turtle. I knew when I first read it that it wasn't true, but it was a horrible, tasteless "joke" just the same. I was outraged over it, as were many others who wondered if it was true or not.
After getting lambasted by enough people, he didn't simply set the record straight. That would've been nice, and an apology would've been icing on the cake. But no. Instead, he chose to outright INSULT the very people who were responding with concern. Calling them names, acting very flippant and arrogant. The flames were then fanned further when his fans jumped into the fray, joining in the name-calling and threatening to intentionally harm turtles.
I think that's what really turned me off to Blake Shelton. His original "joke" was in poor taste to begin with, and already bad enough. But insulting those who voice concern? Was just way over the top, totally uncalled for, and indicative of a really heartless, shallow, arrogant character. I mean, geez-- is it so hard to either ignore your detractors, or address them somewhat professionally? Must you call them "dipshit" and have the nerve to accuse them of blowing things out of proportion when you're the one fueling the fire? I'm not a huge fan of his music (though there were a few songs I liked), and this is just one more reason why I'll never be a fan.
There are many things in the world that are great fodder for jokes. Politics, Allan, TV shows, the Kardashians... but some things you just don't joke about: rape, domestic violence, cruelly harming innocent critters... and especially when you're in the public eye.
Shame on you, Blake Shelton. Not just for your terrible joke, but for the callous attitude that followed. Cover it up as a "joke" all you want, shift the blame back to the protesters all you want, but all this really says something about you, and about your character. I sure hope you treat your wife better...
La Maison des Tortues: One third of the "heckled trio" writes...
Monday, July 30, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Karaoke Ring of Death: Non-native artists
This month's theme was "non-native artists", in other words, songs by artists that are from a country other than your own. It could be in another language, but didn't have to be. For us Americans, that opens up a whole host of possibilities of English-speaking artists from Canada, which is exactly what Jes from Jes Getting Started did.
Here she is, rocking out "Call Me Maybe" by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen:
I have to admit, the title of her video on YouTube misled me a little-- I was expecting a patriotic rendition of the Canadian national anthem instead! ;-)
As for me, I've been looking forward to this theme for quite some time, as it allowed me to do one of my all-time favorite songs (a German one). You can find me on Liz's blog at:
http://joyfulcalamity.blogspot.com/2012/07/krod-going-international.html
And of course, the master list is here: http://karaokeringofdeath.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/july-master-list/
Happy listening! :-)
Here she is, rocking out "Call Me Maybe" by Canadian singer Carly Rae Jepsen:
I have to admit, the title of her video on YouTube misled me a little-- I was expecting a patriotic rendition of the Canadian national anthem instead! ;-)
As for me, I've been looking forward to this theme for quite some time, as it allowed me to do one of my all-time favorite songs (a German one). You can find me on Liz's blog at:
http://joyfulcalamity.blogspot.com/2012/07/krod-going-international.html
And of course, the master list is here: http://karaokeringofdeath.wordpress.com/2012/07/25/july-master-list/
Happy listening! :-)
Monday, July 16, 2012
Customized dresses from eShakti
It's been a number of months since I first discovered the eShakti website, which offers some really cute dresses at reasonable prices (an average of about $60)... and they're customizable! For an additional $7.50, you can customize not only the sizing to your specific measurements, but you can change details of the dress-- hem length, neckline, sleeve type.
My first purchase was this admiral blue pleated cotton poplin dress:
I had it custom-sized to my measurements, chose a hem length of "above the knee" and then waited eagerly for it to arrive. It actually arrived relatively quickly-- probably about 2-3 weeks after I ordered it. Considering it was custom-tailored to my size and that it shipped all the way from India, I was pleased with that timeline.
I was very impressed with the quality of the dress: good, solid, sturdy material, excellent craftsmanship in terms of sewing, and quite a lovely color!
I wasn't exactly enamored with the way it fit on top-- the neckline was a bit wide open for my liking, and because I don't have enough of a bust to completely fill it out, it kept bunching up when I sat down. However, the dress fit fantastically from the waist down-- I love the flared skirt, and so I was able to salvage it by wearing it with things on top, such as this black top:
... or a cardigan, either long-sleeved or short-sleeved:
I had such a good experience with the ordering process, and was so pleased with the quality of the dresses, that I promptly placed an order for two more, taking advantage of free shipping for orders over $100, and applying a coupon I happened to have, for more savings.
The next two dresses took a bit longer to get, I think because when I placed this second order, Jezebel.com had just put out an article about them, and demand increased faster than they could handle. They were really good about alerting me to the delay, and even so, I received them 5-6 weeks after placing the order. Still not too terrible for customized dresses coming from halfway across the world!
First up was this "Color trim poplin dress", a navy blue dress with red trim:
I added puffed sleeves to it, sent in custom sized measurements again, and chose an "above-knee" length. This is how it turned out:
True to its photo, this dress's skirt doesn't flare out as much as the other one, and as with the other blue dress, it's still a tad big in the chest, but it does fit pretty well, otherwise! Add a white cardigan and you've got the perfect 4th of July outfit! ;-)
I've also always wanted a green dress, and liked the look of shirt dresses (such as my Modcloth Soda Fountain dresses)-- good fit on top, flare on the bottom. So I selected this Retro poplin shirtdress, which came in a variety of colors, including a pretty, perfect shade of green:
This dress (aside from tight armholes), fit amazingly well. Perfect fit on top, and a full skirt providing a bit of flare on the bottom:
My only complaint about these dresses is the fact that the armholes are really tight on all of them! It's not so bad on the first blue dress, but it's much more noticeable on the other two. I wonder how much it would cost to have the armholes enlarged so that they aren't digging into my armpits and restricting my movement (especially when driving!) while I'm wearing the dresses.
All in all, I'm really happy with my shopping experience at eShakti. Because of the armhole problem, I probably won't order anything but sleeveless dresses from them in future, but I really like being able to customize the dresses to fit my own measurements and to be able to further tailor specifics of the dress to my liking.
The customer service was a pretty good experience, too. I had read plenty of negative reviews online complaining about customer service, so it was with some trepidation that I placed my very first order. Happily, I've found that I've had nothing but good experiences with them. All my emails were answered promptly, and all my issues were resolved MORE than satisfactorily. Based on that, I'd highly recommend them to anyone looking for custom-sized, good quality, affordable dresses. I wouldn't recommend it if you're on a time crunch (i.e. counting on it to arrive in time for an upcoming event that's less than 2 months out), but if time is not of the essence... well, go for it! :-)
And no, I'm not being paid by anyone to write this :-P I thought I'd finally chronicle my experiences with not only dress shopping online at a different site, but with attempting custom-fitted dresses. Still working on the armhole problem-- maybe I just have broader-than-average shoulders and don't know it!
My first purchase was this admiral blue pleated cotton poplin dress:
I had it custom-sized to my measurements, chose a hem length of "above the knee" and then waited eagerly for it to arrive. It actually arrived relatively quickly-- probably about 2-3 weeks after I ordered it. Considering it was custom-tailored to my size and that it shipped all the way from India, I was pleased with that timeline.
I was very impressed with the quality of the dress: good, solid, sturdy material, excellent craftsmanship in terms of sewing, and quite a lovely color!
I wasn't exactly enamored with the way it fit on top-- the neckline was a bit wide open for my liking, and because I don't have enough of a bust to completely fill it out, it kept bunching up when I sat down. However, the dress fit fantastically from the waist down-- I love the flared skirt, and so I was able to salvage it by wearing it with things on top, such as this black top:
... or a cardigan, either long-sleeved or short-sleeved:
I had such a good experience with the ordering process, and was so pleased with the quality of the dresses, that I promptly placed an order for two more, taking advantage of free shipping for orders over $100, and applying a coupon I happened to have, for more savings.
The next two dresses took a bit longer to get, I think because when I placed this second order, Jezebel.com had just put out an article about them, and demand increased faster than they could handle. They were really good about alerting me to the delay, and even so, I received them 5-6 weeks after placing the order. Still not too terrible for customized dresses coming from halfway across the world!
First up was this "Color trim poplin dress", a navy blue dress with red trim:
I added puffed sleeves to it, sent in custom sized measurements again, and chose an "above-knee" length. This is how it turned out:
True to its photo, this dress's skirt doesn't flare out as much as the other one, and as with the other blue dress, it's still a tad big in the chest, but it does fit pretty well, otherwise! Add a white cardigan and you've got the perfect 4th of July outfit! ;-)
I've also always wanted a green dress, and liked the look of shirt dresses (such as my Modcloth Soda Fountain dresses)-- good fit on top, flare on the bottom. So I selected this Retro poplin shirtdress, which came in a variety of colors, including a pretty, perfect shade of green:
This dress (aside from tight armholes), fit amazingly well. Perfect fit on top, and a full skirt providing a bit of flare on the bottom:
My only complaint about these dresses is the fact that the armholes are really tight on all of them! It's not so bad on the first blue dress, but it's much more noticeable on the other two. I wonder how much it would cost to have the armholes enlarged so that they aren't digging into my armpits and restricting my movement (especially when driving!) while I'm wearing the dresses.
All in all, I'm really happy with my shopping experience at eShakti. Because of the armhole problem, I probably won't order anything but sleeveless dresses from them in future, but I really like being able to customize the dresses to fit my own measurements and to be able to further tailor specifics of the dress to my liking.
The customer service was a pretty good experience, too. I had read plenty of negative reviews online complaining about customer service, so it was with some trepidation that I placed my very first order. Happily, I've found that I've had nothing but good experiences with them. All my emails were answered promptly, and all my issues were resolved MORE than satisfactorily. Based on that, I'd highly recommend them to anyone looking for custom-sized, good quality, affordable dresses. I wouldn't recommend it if you're on a time crunch (i.e. counting on it to arrive in time for an upcoming event that's less than 2 months out), but if time is not of the essence... well, go for it! :-)
And no, I'm not being paid by anyone to write this :-P I thought I'd finally chronicle my experiences with not only dress shopping online at a different site, but with attempting custom-fitted dresses. Still working on the armhole problem-- maybe I just have broader-than-average shoulders and don't know it!
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Top Five Favorite Films
Today's blog post comes from a Plinky answer prompt from a couple months back:
List your top 5 all-time favorite movies
(I'm going to list them in order of exposure, from the most recent to the longest-lived, since I can't really decide a "most-to-least favorite" order!)
1. Star Trek (the prequel movie from 2009)
I didn't have many expectations coming into this movie. Although I was a fan of The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine, I was never really a fan of the original Star Trek TV series with Shatner and Nimoy. So I didn't think I'd enjoy this movie as much as I did. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the story was amazingly well-written, and the actors were great. And having Leonard Nimoy on board, playing himself? THAT really added the perfect touch to the movie. I enjoyed it so much that I promptly watched it about 5 times in a row in the span of a couple of months.
2. Wall-E
This was another unexpected find. Allan brought it home from Blockbuster one day when our first choice was all rented out, and I promptly fell in love. The anthropomorphization of the two main robot characters, and their subsequent love story, was very touching. I fell in love with all the other quirky characters, too-- my favorite is cute, little, cleaning fanatic M-O! The movie was full of interesting characters and the way they overcome challenges and grow. I also admired the Captain's heroism in the end, and of course, loved the happy ending :-)
3. Liar, Liar
Jim Carrey movies tend to be hit-or-miss for me. He is such an over-the-top actor, that I either can't stand the movie, or I love it. This one is one of the very precious few of his movies that I actually like and can watch over and over again. Not only are the antics hilarious, but I love how his character comes around, learns his lesson, and reforms himself at the end. Allan and I often have fun quoting some of his funnier expressions from the movie!
4. The Negotiator
As you can tell from one of my previous blog entries, I adore Kevin Spacey. He is my number one favorite actor of all. He takes on such versatile roles, from the out-of-it dad in "American Beauty" to the alien mental patient in "K-Pax" to the musically-talented (and yes, he sings, himself) Bobby Darin in "Beyond the Sea" to the maniacal killer in "Se7en"... to the smart, tough negotiator in this movie. I really love the way the story unfolds in this movie-- there is just the right amount of action/special effects when it's warranted, and yet even the "downtime" is filled with activity that really builds the plot and starts revealing the story. I loved watching the transformation of Spacey's character from that of a neutral cop doing his job, to Samuel L. Jackson's character's ally. I loved how the two negotiators were able to connect, and how their relationship changed along the way. It's a long movie, but it keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole way, and is well worth it!
5. You've Got Mail
I've always been a big fan of the Meg Ryan romantic comedy movies (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail). Her characters were always so cute and classy. And of course, it's no secret that I adore Tom Hanks, as well-- my second favorite actor after Kevin Spacey. I really really love that this movie has, essentially, two parallel stories going on (real life where Meg and Tom hate each other, and online life, where they are in love), and we get to witness the convergence of these two lives as each discovers who the other really is. I don't cry often, but this movie had me tearing up at the end. This movie was based on the 1940 film "The Shop Around the Corner" (Meg's bookstore is an homage to it) starring Jimmy Stewart, and that story was equally enchanting. Nora Ephron, however, did a remarkable job of modernizing not just the story line, but the incorporation of modern technology (i.e. e-mail replaced snail mail).
And the soundtrack? Absolutely amazing. Not since "American Graffiti" has a movie's soundtrack resonated SO perfectly with the story. I have the complete soundtrack (both instrumental parts only and actual songs), arranged in order of appearance in the movie, and it's really incredible how you can just close your eyes and listen to ONLY the soundtrack, yet it still enables you to visualize exactly what is going on in the movie as each song plays. That's how perfectly the score matches the movie.
There are other movies that make my "top favorites" list, but these are most definitely the ones I could watch over and over and over again without every tiring of them!
How about you?
List your top 5 all-time favorite movies
(I'm going to list them in order of exposure, from the most recent to the longest-lived, since I can't really decide a "most-to-least favorite" order!)
1. Star Trek (the prequel movie from 2009)
I didn't have many expectations coming into this movie. Although I was a fan of The Next Generation, Voyager and Deep Space Nine, I was never really a fan of the original Star Trek TV series with Shatner and Nimoy. So I didn't think I'd enjoy this movie as much as I did. However, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the story was amazingly well-written, and the actors were great. And having Leonard Nimoy on board, playing himself? THAT really added the perfect touch to the movie. I enjoyed it so much that I promptly watched it about 5 times in a row in the span of a couple of months.
2. Wall-E
This was another unexpected find. Allan brought it home from Blockbuster one day when our first choice was all rented out, and I promptly fell in love. The anthropomorphization of the two main robot characters, and their subsequent love story, was very touching. I fell in love with all the other quirky characters, too-- my favorite is cute, little, cleaning fanatic M-O! The movie was full of interesting characters and the way they overcome challenges and grow. I also admired the Captain's heroism in the end, and of course, loved the happy ending :-)
3. Liar, Liar
Jim Carrey movies tend to be hit-or-miss for me. He is such an over-the-top actor, that I either can't stand the movie, or I love it. This one is one of the very precious few of his movies that I actually like and can watch over and over again. Not only are the antics hilarious, but I love how his character comes around, learns his lesson, and reforms himself at the end. Allan and I often have fun quoting some of his funnier expressions from the movie!
4. The Negotiator
As you can tell from one of my previous blog entries, I adore Kevin Spacey. He is my number one favorite actor of all. He takes on such versatile roles, from the out-of-it dad in "American Beauty" to the alien mental patient in "K-Pax" to the musically-talented (and yes, he sings, himself) Bobby Darin in "Beyond the Sea" to the maniacal killer in "Se7en"... to the smart, tough negotiator in this movie. I really love the way the story unfolds in this movie-- there is just the right amount of action/special effects when it's warranted, and yet even the "downtime" is filled with activity that really builds the plot and starts revealing the story. I loved watching the transformation of Spacey's character from that of a neutral cop doing his job, to Samuel L. Jackson's character's ally. I loved how the two negotiators were able to connect, and how their relationship changed along the way. It's a long movie, but it keeps you at the edge of your seat the whole way, and is well worth it!
5. You've Got Mail
I've always been a big fan of the Meg Ryan romantic comedy movies (Sleepless in Seattle, When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail). Her characters were always so cute and classy. And of course, it's no secret that I adore Tom Hanks, as well-- my second favorite actor after Kevin Spacey. I really really love that this movie has, essentially, two parallel stories going on (real life where Meg and Tom hate each other, and online life, where they are in love), and we get to witness the convergence of these two lives as each discovers who the other really is. I don't cry often, but this movie had me tearing up at the end. This movie was based on the 1940 film "The Shop Around the Corner" (Meg's bookstore is an homage to it) starring Jimmy Stewart, and that story was equally enchanting. Nora Ephron, however, did a remarkable job of modernizing not just the story line, but the incorporation of modern technology (i.e. e-mail replaced snail mail).
And the soundtrack? Absolutely amazing. Not since "American Graffiti" has a movie's soundtrack resonated SO perfectly with the story. I have the complete soundtrack (both instrumental parts only and actual songs), arranged in order of appearance in the movie, and it's really incredible how you can just close your eyes and listen to ONLY the soundtrack, yet it still enables you to visualize exactly what is going on in the movie as each song plays. That's how perfectly the score matches the movie.
There are other movies that make my "top favorites" list, but these are most definitely the ones I could watch over and over and over again without every tiring of them!
How about you?
Friday, July 6, 2012
Friday Five: Recent Exclamations
I've noticed that in recent months, I've been blogging at a rate of twice per month: one post is a Karaoke Ring of Death post, and the other is a "normal" post. Which means that in actuality, I've been posting only once a month. One of the things I used to do with regularity back in my blogging heyday was the Friday Five. So I thought I'd try to get the blogging juices flowing again... with another installment of the everlasting meme :-)
1. Well, Allan can attest to this one-- it invariably involves some kind of electronic device, whether it's a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a desktop computer. I have a reverse-Midas touch: every device I touch will, without fail, hiccup at least once. I'll bet you didn't know that Macs and Linux machines have BSODs, did you? Well, just leave those devices to my capable fingers... Anyway, while I don't remember the last specific instance leading to my utterance of "oops", I am quite sure it involved a device of some kind, and I'm quite sure it belonged to Allan ;-)
2. This one is less amusing: we'd gotten a letter from the IRS with questions about our 2010 tax return, and I was puzzling over why they thought we had so much unreported income. After sifting through our W-2s, pay stubs, and financial company statements, I figured out where they were getting those numbers (that was my "aha!" moment), and immediately printed out and organized my "evidence" to set them straight! Now I've got a nice little packet to mail back to them today. I tried to make everything as clear as possible, and hope they will be able to sort it out. No offense to my father-in-law (the former IRS agent), but I have little faith in the organizational and comprehension skills of your average IRS agent!
3. This morning we held a little welcome breakfast for the new Chair of our department, and the subject, as it usually does amongst my co-workers, turned to food and local eateries. Someone brought up Jack-in-the-Box, which garnered many wrinkled brows of disgust, particularly at the tacos. Not me personally, as I like the place okay. But when my boss brought up how her husband loves JITB and how it sometimes doesn't agree with him, and a co-worker piped up with "yeah, JITB can be a real crapshoot", that certainly elicited groans at the pun and "ewws" at the visual!
4. Yesterday, a HS classmate of mine posted on FB about how he was cooking up sausage and kale soup. It sounded really delicious, and the thought of the dark, leafy green, healthful kale balancing out the less-healthful but undoubtedly yummy sausage made it sound even more appealing!
5. This week has two Fridays. Tuesday was a "Friday" because of the 4th of July holiday on Wednesday, and, well, TODAY is a real Friday. So what better way to celebrate a mid-week "Friday" than by going out and enjoying a good happy hour? My mind and lips were full of "ooooh"s as I scoped out various local joints to find out which ones had a good happy hour. Eventually, I settled on Tupelo Junction, which elicited the most emphatic "ooooh"s from both me and Allan. I mean, come on, just LOOK at their Happy Hour menu-- isn't that enough to make anyone salivate? Here's a small sampling of some of the many mini dishes we savored on Tuesday night: bread assortment (cheddar scallion, smoked bacon gouda, and sweet potato pecan) and fried green tomatoes with a corn and tomato salsa and buttermilk dill sauce. Blackberry mojito in the background:
How about you?
- What were the events leading up to your most recent utterance of oops?
- What were the circumstances that led to your most recent utterance of aha!?
- What most recently caused you to say ick?
- What inspired your most recent utterance of yum?
- Where were you (and what was going on?) the last time you said ooooooooh?
1. Well, Allan can attest to this one-- it invariably involves some kind of electronic device, whether it's a phone, a tablet, a laptop or a desktop computer. I have a reverse-Midas touch: every device I touch will, without fail, hiccup at least once. I'll bet you didn't know that Macs and Linux machines have BSODs, did you? Well, just leave those devices to my capable fingers... Anyway, while I don't remember the last specific instance leading to my utterance of "oops", I am quite sure it involved a device of some kind, and I'm quite sure it belonged to Allan ;-)
2. This one is less amusing: we'd gotten a letter from the IRS with questions about our 2010 tax return, and I was puzzling over why they thought we had so much unreported income. After sifting through our W-2s, pay stubs, and financial company statements, I figured out where they were getting those numbers (that was my "aha!" moment), and immediately printed out and organized my "evidence" to set them straight! Now I've got a nice little packet to mail back to them today. I tried to make everything as clear as possible, and hope they will be able to sort it out. No offense to my father-in-law (the former IRS agent), but I have little faith in the organizational and comprehension skills of your average IRS agent!
3. This morning we held a little welcome breakfast for the new Chair of our department, and the subject, as it usually does amongst my co-workers, turned to food and local eateries. Someone brought up Jack-in-the-Box, which garnered many wrinkled brows of disgust, particularly at the tacos. Not me personally, as I like the place okay. But when my boss brought up how her husband loves JITB and how it sometimes doesn't agree with him, and a co-worker piped up with "yeah, JITB can be a real crapshoot", that certainly elicited groans at the pun and "ewws" at the visual!
4. Yesterday, a HS classmate of mine posted on FB about how he was cooking up sausage and kale soup. It sounded really delicious, and the thought of the dark, leafy green, healthful kale balancing out the less-healthful but undoubtedly yummy sausage made it sound even more appealing!
5. This week has two Fridays. Tuesday was a "Friday" because of the 4th of July holiday on Wednesday, and, well, TODAY is a real Friday. So what better way to celebrate a mid-week "Friday" than by going out and enjoying a good happy hour? My mind and lips were full of "ooooh"s as I scoped out various local joints to find out which ones had a good happy hour. Eventually, I settled on Tupelo Junction, which elicited the most emphatic "ooooh"s from both me and Allan. I mean, come on, just LOOK at their Happy Hour menu-- isn't that enough to make anyone salivate? Here's a small sampling of some of the many mini dishes we savored on Tuesday night: bread assortment (cheddar scallion, smoked bacon gouda, and sweet potato pecan) and fried green tomatoes with a corn and tomato salsa and buttermilk dill sauce. Blackberry mojito in the background:
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