Groundhog's Random Banter of Weather Prediction and Anti-Gopherness #120

[Groundhog]

I've still got my k'nex. Most of them have been built into a permanent structure though.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Well I went to sleep revised in the sun for most of today and I'm just dandy.

Well you living as you do in London probably never even saw the sun all day. Only thick clouds of pollution and mucky muck muck like smog.

Furthermore, you sail. Of course you won't sunburn easily.

'Course, this sunburn'll turn out to be a tan and by tomorrow I'll be medium brown.
Next week I should be well done.
Then some god Up There or Down There will pick out the human steak to have with their Celestial or Demonic Rabbit Food.
It's what we get for living in the equivalent of a lobster tank I suppose.

[Dragonrider]

I want to make some snarky, joking comment, but considering I know the difference as well, and still have a ton of Legoes (but not the k'nex), I think I'll keep my mouth shut.

...are you telling me I'm a dorky child?

I have three younger brothers who keep the interest in it alive. I remember when I was ~12, the three older of us (I guess the youngest wasn't born yet) got together all our K'nex and legos and made a robot family with cars that really ran out of the K'nex and built them a giant house with the legos.

It was EPIC.

As Star Wars nerds, we also pretended to be Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin (...V.V we were about the right ages, okay?) and did crazy stuff with legos. I made a ship (the Bladewing) that we used to throw against a wall to prove it was indestructible.

[/LEGO geek]

[TwoBitWriter]

As Star Wars nerds, we also pretended to be Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin (...V.V we were about the right ages, okay?) and did crazy stuff with legos. I made a ship (the Bladewing) that we used to throw against a wall to prove it was indestructible.

[/LEGO geek]

I played legos at a time when the sets were very generic. I had the "Castle" set which was a generic fantasy setting (with a dragon and wizard lego-man!)

Those were good times.

[Dirk Kris]

I wasn't going to assume that if I just said K'nex anyone would know what I'm talking about.

*raises hand*
I woulda known. I had K'nex and Legos AND Erector Sets!

As Star Wars nerds, we also pretended to be Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin (...V.V we were about the right ages, okay?) and did crazy stuff with legos. I made a ship (the Bladewing) that we used to throw against a wall to prove it was indestructible.

I always said that if I ever had twins, I was naming them Jacen and Jaina. I would then explain to the not-Star-Wars-geek girl I was attempting to woo just WHERE I got the names from. And then she would stop calling. It happened a few times.

You'd think I would have taken the hint.

[Dragonrider]

I played legos at a time when the sets were very generic. I had the "Castle" set which was a generic fantasy setting (with a dragon and wizard lego-man!)

Those were good times.

The first-ever Star Wars legos came out around the same time as Episode 1 did, 1999, when I was eight. We were IN LOVE WITH THEM. But the Bladewing was special because I made it completely from scratch. It weighed about five pounds...it was really dense.

[Kaelaroth]

Well I went to sleep revised in the sun for most of today and I'm just dandy.

I did that in between working. 'twas luvverly.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Wait, there are people that don't know what K'Nex are?
I had K'nex, I loved K'nex. More than LEGOs. By a fair few miles.

[Cristo Meyers]

Wait, there are people that don't know what K'Nex are?
I had K'nex, I loved K'nex. More than LEGOs. By a fair few miles.

I just never assume that anything common in the U.S. is also common anywhere overseas.

[randman22222]

...are you telling me I'm a dorky child?

I have three younger brothers who keep the interest in it alive. I remember when I was ~12, the three older of us (I guess the youngest wasn't born yet) got together all our K'nex and legos and made a robot family with cars that really ran out of the K'nex and built them a giant house with the legos.

It was EPIC.

As Star Wars nerds, we also pretended to be Jacen, Jaina, and Anakin (...V.V we were about the right ages, okay?) and did crazy stuff with legos. I made a ship (the Bladewing) that we used to throw against a wall to prove it was indestructible.

[/LEGO geek]

I did the same thing with the ships I made! They were cool... I wonder what happened to them. I also took Lego's X-Wing, and span in circles, letting inertia prove that their design was structurally inferior to mine.

We didn't have enough k'nex to do anything fancy with them, but we'd make castles and houses and stuff from our Legoes.

Watch, tomorrow I bet I'll creep into my brother's room while he's at school, and steal all the Legoes back.

[Dr. Bath]

Man you people are crazy. It's Lego. Not legoes, or legos or whatevercrazythingyoucallit. Like sheep, or fish. Pah!

*sticks out tongue at Curly* Ain't no smog. How rude!

[CurlyKitGirl]

Man you people are crazy. It's Lego. Not legoes, or legos or whatevercrazythingyoucallit. Like sheep, or fish. Pah!

*sticks out tongue at Curly* Ain't no smog. How rude!

*concurs with the first point*

Ha! As I'm too lazy to change my homepage from MSN I can tell you that Londinium is really smoggy.
But it can be rude and true.

Upon reflection my sunburn is just my tan coming in quickly. I was only out for two (ish) hours today! Fine, three including my hour revising on the Oven That Is Actually The Doorstep.

I was actually going to save this until I'd seen the whole thing; but the confusion is too much. Here goes:
About a month ago Best Friend ordered me a virtual knifepoint (MSN conversation means it was virtually virtual too!) to watch Revolutionary Girl Utena. Checked it out on TV Tropes and I thought, sure why not.
I only really started during half term for fairly obvious reasons.
I am now on episode twenty nine of thirty nine.
Sure, the roses were everywhere, but that's symbolic, I can take it. Rebirth, love and so on. Absurdly powerful school councils? Easy! Practically an anime staple.
Fencing? Better than card games. Lots of stock footage - sure. Ceremonial though, this.
Upside down council, magical lifts to coucil rooms with mysterious visual metaphors (or something? Are they even real? They interact with them? I just saw her do that!) and strange Greek Chorus moments are . . . confusing. But I can take that. I certainly don't think I'll understand everything here.
Black roses?
O . . . kay . . . just Fencing II. Ah. There's the stock footage back.
Coffins? Whu'?
Implied incest? Twincest? Implied twincest? Love triangles? Never seen so much of it before in one show, but I can handle - wait what.
He slept with - but didn't he, whith her? And him? But isn't she with her who's with him? But he's with him too? And she loves her, who blatantly loves the other female main character. No subtext there.
But now she wants him who wants everyone, and has slept with the manwhore (pardon my Klatchian) and where does this purple haired man come into it?!
And now they sleep together on the same bed? Is it even a bed? But holding hands and gazing into eyes - when did her short hair get that long?!! ANd she so just slept with her brother. ANd her 'girlfriend' (unrequited?) is just next door?
And brother loves 'girlfriend'?
CARS?!
WHY ARE THERE CARS! Sure, I guess it's just a metapor for the journey and - why can this car drive itself and magically unfasten the shirts of bishie men? Some of whom now also have miraculously long hair? (Untangled as well)
How can the cars drive into the school? There's no way it can fit through the doors? Why doesn't anyone ever mention this to anyone? - And now this twin is sleeping with him?
Can't they even remember being almost abducted? And why don't they react to someone else (a loved one? I don't know) being in the same car knowing all this secret stuff?
And now their step - mother - to - be is her?! But there's no way?
And what is this with the girl butt monkey and the episode with the cow?! Does she become one or is it psychological? Or something? And the EGG?!
Is she really that stupid?
Doesn't she know anything? And she tolerates this nine (ish) year old boy who does all her homework so is presumably more of a genius than normal for this school but stalks her utterly?
HOW DID THE CARS GET ONTO THIS OTHER MAGICAL TOWER underneath the upside down revolving castle? Why does noone comment on this? How can they drive on walls?

It's saying something when the escaped boxing kangaroo (in a school), two escaped horses (both on separate occasions), the bull, the cow episode, the egg episode and the Freaky Friday episode, not to mention this miniature mouse - monkey - purple - type - thing barely even get a rating on the What - The - Hell - O - Meter.
Or all the disappeared parents (does noone have any parents), or the sopa opera style love with an incurabl illness setting out to make her (he reciprocates her feelings) utterly despise him during his last week alive.
Or the freaky second transformation scene. Why does she disappear but not her clothes? Why does she then appear (from the back) buck naked and then reclothe herself? Why does a rose tree grow out of her old uniform?
WHY?!
WHY EVERYTHING?!!

TV Tropes has it right. Mind. Screw.
Utterly.
And everything. Everything. Is. Symbolic.
Turned up to eleven.
[/disbelieving insane and disjointed rant of confusion]

[TwoBitWriter]

Curly, it's easy. The show is just weird.

That's really all that you need to sum it up.

And yes, I have seen it.

[Dr. Bath]

Well it's been blue skies all day. Who do you believe, MSN or me? don't answer that...

Also: Harpsichords are super great. I am yet to hear a song that is not improved by gratuitous harpsichord use.

[CurlyKitGirl]

Curly, it's easy. The show is just weird.

That's really all that you need to sum it up.

And yes, I have seen it.

I can do weird easily. I can understand it, or at least enjoy it, but this is rapid - fire buh? and far too much of it all at once.

P.S. The YouTube link: awesome. I've had some chats moderately similar to that. Pratchett says (paraphrased): "This [or any] language was evolved to scream defiance at other monkeys in another tree. It's a wonder we can understand one another at all."
I agree.

EDIT:
@Bath: HOw about a compromise? Where you were it was blue skies. Most the rest of Londinium was under smog the likes of which have never been seen before outside a film or book set in Victorian London?

[Erothayce]

So does anyone else cycle regularly? Just kind of curious as i ride every day and I was wondering if anyone else knew the boundless joy of spending time outside gaining freakishly muscular legs while having fun.

[Dirk Kris]

I love love love cycling. Unfortunately, my bike is...deaded....at the moment, so I am unable to ride just now. I do have to say that it is probably my favorite form of exercise.

[Cristo Meyers]

I can do weird easily. I can understand it, or at least enjoy it, but this is rapid - fire buh? and far too much of it all at once.

Never seen it, and now I'm not entirely sure I want to. Anime shouldn't give me headaches...

...though now I want to watch Witch Hunter Robin for some reason...

[Neko Toast]

I love love love cycling. Unfortunately, my bike is...deaded....at the moment, so I am unable to ride just now. I do have to say that it is probably my favorite form of exercise.

I'd argue that swimming is more enjoyable, but not everyone knows how to swim. Biking, on the other hand, you'd have to be pretty sheltered to not know how to do it. So biking is second best.

[Recaiden]

Really? I only know 1 person who can't swim, and I thought of it as something almost everyone knew, like biking. Maybe it's not as common in other places.

[TwoBitWriter]

P.S. The YouTube link: awesome. I've had some chats moderately similar to that. Pratchett says (paraphrased): "This [or any] language was evolved to scream defiance at other monkeys in another tree. It's a wonder we can understand one another at all."
I agree.

In case anyone was wondering, This is the clip from the movie Waking Life that I showed Curly.

Very deep movie. It should be required viewing of ALL intelligent human beings.

[Erothayce]

Swimming is fun and all but it's not too fun in the middle of winter or when it's cold. Cycling on the other can be done year around by throwing a jacket on. As my sig shows i LOVE cycling. Where I live a cool little thing just ended called May is Bike Month. The goal is to reach 1 million miles collectively by pledging miles and then reaching them. It's been happening for the last 4 years around here and this year it broke 1.25 million miles. I pledged 300 miles but ended up going over which is great.

On a side note does anyone else ride a fixed gear?

[CurlyKitGirl]

Never seen it, and now I'm not entirely sure I want to. Anime shouldn't give me headaches...

...though now I want to watch Witch Hunter Robin for some reason...

You don't want to see Utena if you value your mind. It's really good, but about five inches thick in symbolism.
And the car must be a metaphor for sex or something. The camera practically zooms up his crotch being panning across the chest (recall! Magically undone shirts that weren't undone one second ago) and ending on his face.
Don't watch Utena.

Witch Hunter Robin? Never heard of it. Is it good?

@Recaiden: Everyone I know, apart from babies can swim. Or at least knows how to. But I live by the sea, on a small island. It's only natural that we know right?

[Cristo Meyers]

Witch Hunter Robin? Never heard of it. Is it good?

I know I like it, but I seem to very rarely come across anyone that's ever seen it. Strange, since the entire series was on Adult Swim back in the day.

[TwoBitWriter]

I know I like it, but I seem to very rarely come across anyone that's ever seen it. Strange, since the entire series was on Adult Swim back in the day.

It, like most anime, was terrible.

Really, I had come to expect more from you, Cristo.

[Quincunx]

. . .That is no mindscrew at all. Heavily symbolic works in any format are just algebra in another form. Here a rose (and hoo boy can you fill a book with all the things they symbolize), there an X, it's all the same in the end.

I will, however, agree that whoever is responsible for Excel Saga was mainlining magic mushrooms.

[Nameless]

It, like most anime, was terrible.

Really, I had come to expect more from you, Cristo.

You wanna see a terrible anime? Watch Loveless.
I swear, it's like the Twilight of Anime/Manga.

[CurlyKitGirl]

. . .That is no mindscrew at all. Heavily symbolic works in any format are just algebra in another form. Here a rose (and hoo boy can you fill a book with all the things they symbolize), there an X, it's all the same in the end.

I will, however, agree that whoever is responsible for Excel Saga was mainlining magic mushrooms.

How about:
Utena was crazily symbolic and all those layers (I know there's at least eight because those ones I figured out myself) can make it really hard going and downright confusing at times?

Excel Saga is just mad. I don't know what combination the makers of that were on, but it must have inolved both LSD and magic mushrooms. And cocaine.
Still good though.

[Groundhog]

So does anyone else cycle regularly? Just kind of curious as i ride every day and I was wondering if anyone else knew the boundless joy of spending time outside gaining freakishly muscular legs while having fun.

I used to. Then I developed chondromalacia patella. *sobs*

[Alteran]

So does anyone else cycle regularly? Just kind of curious as i ride every day and I was wondering if anyone else knew the boundless joy of spending time outside gaining freakishly muscular legs while having fun.

I used to. I had a wonderful bike, and it was stolen about a year and a half ago. I still haven't gotten a new one yet, but I plan to do so soon.