qotd

272 posts

QOTD: Name Your Prince

PrinceI love Prince.

I have mostly terrible taste in music but my long-standing, top volume devotion to Prince is my one musical saving grace. His Royal Badness has rescued me in many a social situation, after I mistakenly think a party can handle the raw power of “Teenage Dream” and when I am trying to sleep at night after spending day 324 in a row listening to a playlist entitled “Call Me Maybe 4 EVA.” Prince is an incredibly prolific artist and it’s been pointed out there is a Prince song (or entire album) that has gotten a Crasstalker through every fragment of life, so trying to pick just one favorite song really isn’t enough space to capture the full range of wonderful that is Prince the artist. Continue reading →

QOTD: Your Terrible Winter Travel Stories

highwaystormThis isn’t a competition, but if it were, the Canadians here would win hands down. Team Canada!!! More snowstorm-driving miles (older members) and kilometres (younger members) per capita than anywhere else in the world, except maybe Siberia.

It’s amusing to tell lurid stories of near-disasters on January roads to Californians who have never seen snow, watch their eyes get round, watch that ‘oh they’re exaggerating’ (we’re not) suspicion enter their eyes. But driving and flying and, indeed, walking down the damned street when it’s cold and icy and snowing sideways are no joke. Continue reading →

QOTD: What is Your Otherkin?

“Otherkin”?  What is this “otherkin” business? you ask.

Let me ask back: do you think of yourself as being somewhat non-human? Do you believe, in your heart of hearts, that you are actually an elf? a dragon? a wizard? a wolf? an alien? Then you are an otherkin.

There are few limits when it comes to otherkin-ing. Your alter-ego will find you itself, and it could be any creature from other cultures, writings, computer games, a TV series, or your own mind. Continue reading →

QOTD: Music To Have A Recession To

If you were to run your eyes over the lists of best-selling singles and most downloaded songs of the past few years, it would be hard to find many songs that directly mention the late-2000s recession, despite the massive impact it has had on much of the public. This is hardly surprising; political songs rarely chart highly, love is always going to be a more popular song theme than unemployment and one of music’s greatest assets is its capacity for escapism which is much needed by many at the moment.

You could say that there are subtle nods towards the situation, such as the appearance of slightly dystopian or politically charged videos from some of the most popular artists around, less songs dismissive of the poor compared to ten or fifteen years ago, less conspicuous consumerism and lower budget videos, but a lot of these trends can be explained by other influences. Lower budget videos are a direct result of the internet and how we watch videos now (I’ll let “Michael Destiny” explain this one). Continue reading →

QOTD: What’s Your Favourite (Work With Me Here) Diet?

Christmas is coming! Cookie recipes paper the walls of the kitchen! So of course it’s time to talk dieting.

There was a time for a while that ‘dieting’ was a dirty word, not sure why, and not sure if it still prevails. So let’s agree that what we’re talking about here is the effort to keep something of a lid on what you eat. No one likes to refrain from eating something they desire (luuust for) but sometimes it’s necessary.

A list of formally set-out diets would fill a book. Atkins.  Weight Watchers. Paleo. A while ago I was describing to a friend what I was trying to avoid eating, and she said, “Oh, the no-white-food diet.”
Continue reading →

QOTD: What’s in Your Car?

My house is usually reasonably clean and tidy, but my car is a pigsty.

It’s not utterly gross, there’re no food remains anywhere. But there is Stuff. I throw stuff in it, and it’s never seen again.  Donations for charity have spent an entire summer in the back seat, except for a week when it was moved to the trunk because people were visiting and I needed the seat for them.

Continue reading →

QOTD: What Exactly is a Hipster?

Honest question. I don’t seem to see many where I live so I’m not sure what their distinguishing characteristics are. The fedora hat, yeah, I got that. Skinny pants, check. General air of ennui, got it. Messy hair, but not floppy (that would be emo, right?) (hahahaha emop, lol).

But after that, what am I looking for? Where do they hang out? Are there more boys and than girls? Do the two genders dress differently, or pretty much the same?

What music do they listen to?  What do they do all day? What is their dream job? Continue reading →

QOTD: Got a Hotel Story for Us?

Let me start with the worst hotel experience I ever had. It was in Albuquerque, a word that if I never have to type it out again in my life I’ll be very happy.

It was part of a cheap chain, one we’d often stayed at before and done just fine.  They’d all been clean, quiet, and had very comfortable beds. But this one! When we first entered the road, there was no air conditioning (it was nearly 90 outside), no remote, no fridge, microwave, iron, ironing board or coffee-maker, as there had been in the rest of the chain. Continue reading →