Oh, the Top 10 List.
My friend once asked a writer who worked on Letterman's show why #2 was always funnier than #1. The writer told him they needed a not-so-funny #1 so they could go into commercial break quicker.
Now you know the secret.
Everyone has at least a Top 5 List, right? Those lists drawn up on notebooks during dull high school classes (Top 5 Classic Rock Ballads, Top 5 Vodka Drinks, Top 5 Most Boring Teachers). With the advent of blogs, MySpace, and Friendster, everyone who visits your site can know your Top 5.
But what about those people you'll never see again? Like the checker at Ralph's Supermarket. Wouldn't it be great if she knew you really, really enjoyed Faulkner's Light in August?
Now there's a company that can help you out with such things by putting them on a t-shirt for you! T-lists will help you put your Top 5 Films, Top 5 Overrated Bands, and the like on a sweatshop free T.
It's like free advertising for your brain!
By the way, any thoughts Top 5 Favorite Things about Autumn?
- Fewer Tourists
- End of White Slacks Season
- Surly Teens Back in School
- Heavily Discounted Spiral Notebooks
- Slowly Gaining Back Winter Weight
Can't wait to see yours! (Either here or on your T-shirt. You pick.)
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I'm not a big Star Wars fan. Nor a huge Hello Kitty fan.
But, oddly, I find I become very interested when the two are combined.
Emily, Debra, Joyce, and I actually made it out to see Julia Sweeney's one woman show Letting Go of God at the Groundlings Theatre. The show is essentially her search for God as a lapsed Catholic (as they are called). The whole experience is initiated by, of all things, a visit from two young Mormon missionaries.
A word of warning: you have to be fairly open-minded about people's religious beliefs before attending, she manages to study and dismiss a number of them before she's through. (Did I really need to say that?)
Highlights? Her Bible study teacher telling her, "If St. John's Gospel is John on pot, then Revelations is John on acid", at which point Julia recites a portion of Revelations while In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida plays and a psychedelic light show starts overhead.
It was like being magically transported to Haight-Ashbury.
Or after Julia told her mother she was an atheist her mother replied, "That doesn't mean you're going to stop going to church, does it?"
Very funny and highly recommended.
Especially considering the last cultural outing this group took was to a play at the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum (a play which had only been performed once in 1846, then promptly buried along with the playwright by the audience).
Let's face it, there is a long history of versus in the world of graphic design: PC vs. Mac. Quark vs. InDesign. Windows vs. Mac OS. Shirt vs. Skins. (That last one is the bitterest of rivalries.)
My friend just sent me this remarkable link which ponders the fictitious Microsoft iPod.
Only a Designer who has been through the endless cycle of packaging revisions could have created this, because it is so dang on the nose.
It also illustrates how differently Microsoft and Apple market their products (okay, it's a send up, but still...)
If you're a Windows user and would like to see Macs get their due (Heather), go here. (Parental Advisory for explicit language and abuse of machinery.)
Well, it's that time of the year again. And since I'm blogging ithis year I might as well give you a warning of the roller coaster ride that's to come for the next six weeks.
Yes, I'm talking about Lent.
See, Mardi Gras is the fun part of the Easter season, the last hurrah, so to speak. The rest is work.
Problem is, I haven't come up with a decent item to give up this year and Lent starts tomorrow.
When I was a kid I always used to give up chocolate and would end up either a) cheating or b) conveniently forgetting about it when the Hershey bar was being divvied up. When my brother Andy and I were kids we didn't eat meat on Fridays during Lent. One week we rode our bikes all the way to Long John Silver's (which is one of those fast food seafood places where if they can't batter and fry it in oil they don't serve it), we ordered our dinners and sat down. We were halfway through our meal when we both realized we ordered the chicken. And no, we didn't tell our mother.
I've tried to give up more difficult things as the years have gone on. I figure if people can survive the South Beach and Atkins Diets, I can give up something as simple as burgers for a month and a half. Here's a little history of what I've given up in chronological order (for reference only):
1) Meat
2) Television (eventually went away entirely)
3) The LA Times Food Section
4) Alcohol (2 years in a row)
5) Videos/DVDs
6) Coffee
7) Caffeine
8) Music
9) Music, Talk Radio, Streaming Media, Books on CD/Tape, etc.
I think that last one was the worst on Lauren, my old office mate, who heard me grumble for six weeks straight and didn't punch me once.
So, no, you don't get to vote on whether I give something up or not, but what it is I'm giving up.
I could give up yelling at other commuters on the road, though I'm not sure that's entirely doable. Chocolate's still a good one and exceptionally hard in this office.
If anyone suggests giving up blogging, you're in for it (Drea...)
And there is no wagering whether I make it through or not. (You know who you are.)
