Pet Peeves

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

...you know how most Indian films are ...

Nope, I don't have a clue. I've heard that there is one, and there are a few Indian actors who make it into the news, but that's all I know.

...There's this DJ <Insert crazy name> who comes along and spoils a good song...

We had Wolfman Jack.

Every now and then, there's a "brand new song" by a current, um, artist. If it should happen that it comes on the car radio, I've been known to sing along. Occasionally it startles one of my children that I somehow know the lyrics to a brand new song just released by a singer they listen to, that I don't.

The theme song to the old Marlo Thomas TV series, That Girl has come around a couple of times lately, in commercials. And there's a GE commercial with Bob Dylan singing "Catch the Wind" and the video is of a little boy doing just that: he catches the wind in a glass jar, brings it home to his grandpa, and uses it to blow out the 97 candles on the birthday cake.

What would we do without old music?

[Shapley]

Have you noticed how many "remakes" of pop/rock classics are out there these days?

This wouldn't be so bad if they brought something new to the tune. Like talent.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. We get that Jessica Simpson singing These boots are made for walking, which Nancy Sinatra did much better the first time. That's not to say it couldn't be done better, it just wasn't.

There have been remakes of songs that are better than the original, but they seem to be the exception, rather than the norm. I'm scratching my head just now trying to think of one, but I can't. Seems to me Jimmy Buffet redid a couple of old numbers that were pretty good.

V/R
Shapley

[barfle]

I'm afraid I pretty much quit paying any attention to popular music by the time I turned 30. But I remember several remakes even back then.

I've Told Ev'ry Little Star was done in the 1930s, I believe.
The Beatles remade both Twist and Shout and 'Till There Was You.
The Righteous Brothers remade Unchained Melody and Ebb Tide.

And those are just the ones that come to mind after a day at the office with no beethoven.com.

[BigJon]

Unfortunately, that's not the case. We get that Jessica Simpson singing These boots are made for walking, which Nancy Sinatra did much better the first time. That's not to say it couldn't be done better, it just wasn't.

Umm, Shap? I hate to be the one to break this to you, but Nancy Sinatra was a mostly talentless hack. Jessica can actually hit the notes that she is supposed to hit. Doesn't make up for the complete lack of personality in her singing, but she is singing the correct notes.

The most important rule of remakes is taken from the Hippocratic oath:
First, do no harm . . .
So many fail at even that.

[Serenity]

Another Pet Peeve resurfaced this week and I need to put it in writing before the weekend activities wash it away.

I really dislike when people at work raid conference rooms looking for free food. Especially those that check the Conference Room scheduling in Microsoft Outlook and pick the meetings that are from upper level management because they have better food. You see them circling the conference rooms like vultures toward the end of meeting time.

[Shapley]

Why does that bother you? It's sort of the corporate equivalent of Second Harvest, isn't it?
:confused:

[Serenity]

It bothers me because my co-workers have good paying jobs and act as though they are homeless and looking for their next meal.......malnourished and looking for their next scoop of rice. It's kind of pathetic.

Although.................my kid today said that the kids in his class have tasted dog biscuits!........and one kid even said wet, canned dog food!

Reminds me of the movie Mad Max eating Dinty Moore while his dog watched him and waited for the left overs!

[Shapley]

I had a friend in grade school that used to eat dog biscuits. He has a favourite brand, but I don't remember which it was (it wasn't Milk Bones). They were small, multi-coloured biscuits in some kind of shape that dogs supposedly liked (although most dogs I've seen never look at them long enough to even know what shape they were). He used to buy boxes of them at the supermarket and eat them like popcorn. I tried one once, but didn't I didn't see the appeal.

[Serenity]

Yeah, I've tasted dog biscuits and there is nothing tasty about them. It's almost like chewing inert, shipping materials. I guess it's an acquired taste! Kind of like the difference between butter and margarine, or .....Bud Light and Miller Light....

[jamiebk]

Who says there ain't no such thing as a free lunch?
I am always happy when the leftovers disappear...at least they do not go in the trash can. I have no problem with the practice so long as the vultures don't circle during the meeting. In fact, everyone gets a good laugh out of it at our office.

[Trumpetmaster]

Yeah, I've tasted dog biscuits and there is nothing tasty about them. It's almost like chewing inert, shipping materials. I guess it's an acquired taste! Kind of like the difference between butter and margarine, or .....Bud Light and Miller Light....

[Trumpetmaster]

It bothers me because my co-workers have good paying jobs and act as though they are homeless and looking for their next meal.......malnourished and looking for their next scoop of rice. It's kind of pathetic.

Although.................my kid today said that the kids in his class have tasted dog biscuits!........and one kid even said wet, canned dog food!

Reminds me of the movie Mad Max eating Dinty Moore while his dog watched him and waited for the left overs!

Serenity,

I understand where you are going with this, but I think it is just
the "Corporate Culture". Many folks here make alot of money and
it is amazing how people do scrounge as if they never ate in their lives.

TM

[analog]

Foraging after a banquet? I've been guilty myself, don't quite remember why. Perhaps it's programmed into us somewhere deep to forage, maybe even scavenge. I think it's beyond "waste not want not".

That's the secret of Sam Walton's success: merchandise piled up to the ceiling triggers something akin to a feeding frenzy.

I'm one of those unfortunates who has a hard time coming back from the dump with less stuff than I took there. Always some old motor or something just needs a little fixing up... rescuing can become pathological.

[Marye]

Why does that bother you? It's sort of the corporate equivalent of Second Harvest, isn't it?
:confused:

In my corporate culture raiding the conference rooms for food was seen as such repulsive behaviour that they instituted donating the food to second harvest. To the extent it did happen, it doesn't happen any more. I'm with Serenity on this one.

[Shapley]

We receive donuts here every Thursday, courtesy of one of our vendors. I once commented that it was part of scheme to make us all fat, and the vendor responded by sending kiwi fruit along with the donuts. I try to avoid the donuts, but will eat a kiwi fruit or two when they are here. We don't like to leave them overnight, so we send the remainders home with whoever wants them. The donuts rarely last through the day, being nibbled on throughout the day by employees passing through the breakroom.

The unwritten rule is that anything left out in the breakroom after the end of the morning break is fair game. Having found myself feeling hungry and with an hour or more 'til lunch, I've been known to gobble down the occasional left over donut or kiwi fruit.

The Christmas season is always a treat. We are laden with perishable foods, sausage & cheese baskets, honey-baked hams, and various other goodies such as cookies and cakes. Many of us do not leave the office for lunch during this time, eating sausage & ham sandwiches. Very few of these items leave the office, but are consumed here over the weeks leading up to Christmas.

Since the foods are perishable, we prefer that they be eaten than wasted.
If a particular person (myself included) is seen making too many trips to the trough, the occasional hog-grunt as they pass is sufficient to embarrass them into curtailing their trips (or scheduling them when no one is looking). Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your veiwpoint), the breakroom is along the route to the restroom, so you can always mask the true purpose of your visit with a detour to the facilities if an onlooker happens by.

In short, the food is there to be consumed. Once the intended recipient has had his/her/their fill, the remainder is fair game. Only if the practice becomes disruptive should it be considered a problem.

V/R
Shapley

[Bones]

... And there's a GE commercial with Bob Dylan singing "Catch the Wind" and the video is of a little boy doing just that: he catches the wind in a glass jar, brings it home to his grandpa, and uses it to blow out the 97 candles on the birthday cake.

What would we do without old music?

Not Dylan, Donovan.

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Bones would know that. I'll make a note of it.

It's still a great commercial.

[piqaboo]

Treating John Wayne as a hero. He was an actor, dadnabit!

[Catmando]

Manitobans crying for political change and then voting back in the same New Democratic Party

[Marye]

Manitobans crying for political change and then voting back in the same New Democratic Party

Gary Duer... election history, Cat. Did most of the crying Manitobans not show up to vote, then?