The Random Thoughts Thread

CatsbyAZ · Post by **CatsbyAZ** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 9:19 am

Too many movies are too quickly labeled Cult Classics when they should instead be termed Nostalgia Classics. Cult Classics strike a lasting chord with a very specific group of people, and retain a sense of exclusivity. Nostalgia Classics are movies revived for purposes of reliving a younger time.

Christmas movies are in general Nostalgia Classics. Home Alone. Christmas Vacation. The Sandlot is a Nostalgia Classic.

The Crow is a Cult Classic.

Despite what I hear otherwise, Ace Ventura is neither. On release its commercialized following was large enough to spawn a Saturday Morning Cartoon.

And showing up on Free From doesn't turn your movie into a Cult or a Nostalgia Classic.

And being either a Cult or Nostalgia Classic doesn't mean your movie is immune to criticism and badness.

ByJoveByJingle · Post by **ByJoveByJingle** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 10:20 am

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA!

Just had to shout that—sorry. Cult classic.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Tue Dec 17, 2019 6:47 pm

I look like shit.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:01 pm

The advent of hot water is what distinguishes our intentional existence from that of lesser mammals. Without it we are just bears with furniture.

UAEebs86 · Post by **UAEebs86** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:29 pm

dovecanyoncat wrote:The advent of hot water is what distinguishes our intentional existence from that of lesser mammals. Without it we are just bears with furniture.

Indoor plumbing is mankind's greatest invention.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:32 pm

UAEebs86 wrote:
dovecanyoncat wrote:The advent of hot water is what distinguishes our intentional existence from that of lesser mammals. Without it we are just bears with furniture.

Indoor plumbing is mankind's greatest invention.

Along with toilet paper. I imagine there are still hundreds of millions of people in 2019 who still use their fingers to wipe. Right hand is the eating hand, left hand is the wiping hand. That's why the Muslim habit of amputating the right hand of thieves is doubly insulting.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 6:58 pm

Merkin wrote:
UAEebs86 wrote:
dovecanyoncat wrote:The advent of hot water is what distinguishes our intentional existence from that of lesser mammals. Without it we are just bears with furniture.

Indoor plumbing is mankind's greatest invention.
Along with toilet paper. I imagine there are still hundreds of millions of people in 2019 who still use their fingers to wipe. Right hand is the eating hand, left hand is the wiping hand. That's why the Muslim habit of amputating the right hand of thieves is doubly insulting.

Indeed. This will be TMI, obviously, but since we're a progressive community here on BDW I recommend we all adopt an anti-Western routine and use our non-dominant hand to wipe our arses. My low back problems have nearly entirely disappeared since adopting this regimen. I postulate the benefit is due to the counter-lateral en-toilet pelvic tilt necessary to complete the task.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Wed Dec 18, 2019 7:19 pm

dovecanyoncat wrote:
Merkin wrote:
UAEebs86 wrote:
dovecanyoncat wrote:The advent of hot water is what distinguishes our intentional existence from that of lesser mammals. Without it we are just bears with furniture.

Indoor plumbing is mankind's greatest invention.
Along with toilet paper. I imagine there are still hundreds of millions of people in 2019 who still use their fingers to wipe. Right hand is the eating hand, left hand is the wiping hand. That's why the Muslim habit of amputating the right hand of thieves is doubly insulting.
Indeed. This will be TMI, obviously, but since we're a progressive community here on BDW I recommend we all adopt an anti-Western routine and use our non-dominant hand to wipe our arses. My low back problems have nearly entirely disappeared since adopting this regimen. I postulate the benefit is due to the counter-lateral en-toilet pelvic tilt necessary to complete the task.

Interesting approach indeed

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Thu Dec 19, 2019 7:54 am

In this great big world of truly awful “holiday” music, Santa Baby is the absolute fucking worst of the worst.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Thu Dec 19, 2019 8:29 am

Sung to the chorus of Arlo Guthrie's "City of New Orleans":

The 19th of December came,
To that New Mexico Bowl in all its fame,
And the Wildcats threw the Lobos all o'er the field,
For ol' Rich Rod knew that he'd return,
Thanks to cryptic tweets from one Greg Byrne,
Now it's time to go get a red-or-green-enchilada-meal.

Christmastime in Al-bu-querque,
Got a ristra of red chiles hanging on the door,
There's a señorita inside by the warm fire,
Whether you're pretending or not you know she's probably a whore.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Thu Dec 19, 2019 8:48 am

Holy shit...

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 2:19 pm

I'm realizing that people are happier when you claim that the Christmas dinner you're making them is Swedish.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 3:12 pm

Whatcha making

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 3:17 pm

I’ve got to figure that out. You?

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 3:18 pm

Tonight is Kenji's pressure cooker beef stew. For Xmas itself I'm not sure. Considering rack of lamb but not sure of my effort level. Potentially Chinese takeout.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:45 pm

I’m off the rails drunk right now.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 7:49 pm

Longhorned wrote:I’m off the rails drunk right now.

What's your poison?

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 9:13 pm

Merkin wrote:
Longhorned wrote:I’m off the rails drunk right now.
What's your poison?

Wine then madeira.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:24 pm

Longhorned wrote:
Merkin wrote:
Longhorned wrote:I’m off the rails drunk right now.
What's your poison?
Wine then madeira.

That's gonna hurt.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Dec 21, 2019 10:56 pm

dovecanyoncat wrote:
Longhorned wrote:
Merkin wrote:
Longhorned wrote:I’m off the rails drunk right now.
What's your poison?
Wine then madeira.
That's gonna hurt.

Well, I have a cough, so I'll probably have to take whisky shots at 2 am for that. Maybe that will even it all out.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Mon Dec 23, 2019 11:48 pm

Rachel Brooks: When I was Nick's age, before my father's cancer, I thought we were the Cosbys. My parents had good jobs, there was a feast on the table after church on Sundays. Shawnee and I would ride our Huffys around the neighborhood. We had good hair, and made straight A's. Except, as my mother reminds me, that wasn't reality. The jobs weren't all that good, and my father was never a happy man even before he got sick. And Shawnee was smoking pot at 9 and running away to smoke heroin at 15.

Raylan Givens: I never bore any illusions that my family was the Cosbys.

Art Mullen: Your family wasn't funny.

Tim Gutterson: At least you got to shoot your father. Mine had the nerve to die before I got back from Basic with skills and a loaded weapon.

Raylan Givens: You didn't miss much. I thought it was gonna be way more fun than it was.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Thu Dec 26, 2019 6:06 pm

Does my recent permanent ban from Disqus across all its discussion sites certify that I've graduated from being a commonplace asshole to the ranks of semipro?

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Fri Dec 27, 2019 10:03 pm

In general, owls are viewed as omens of bad luck, ill health, or death. The belief is widespread even today. Among the Kikuyu of Kenya it was believed that owls were harbingers of death. If one saw an owl or heard its hoot, someone was going to die. The Swahili people of East Africa believe owls bring illness to children, while the Zulu people of South Africa know the owl as the witchdoctors' bird.

Unfounded superstitions such as these threaten the existence of these silent nocturnal hunters. The myths are enforced by horror films and Halloween decorations in which they are linked to haunting night themes and portrayed as symbols of magic and witchcraft or harbingers of death and destruction.

Even their physical appearance can be frightening to the uninformed - children are often afraid of their wide staring eyes and the tufts of feathers which give them the appearance of horned devils.

_________

There is an owl on my roof hooting.

I'm fucked.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Dec 28, 2019 10:39 am

At 3:45 am, a group of people on some kind of meth started banging on my front door and ringing my doorbell like it was an automatic weapon. When I got to the front door, they demanded that I let them into my house to search for one of their cell phones that “your kids stole!”

Since I owed it to my family not to get them killed, I called 911, and even though they continued to bang and ring and yell, they somehow managed to vanish right before the squad car appeared.

Since I’m white, what followed In my living room was a protracted conversation with the officers — in my underwear — until I was so awake that I never got back to sleep.

I’m not sure how I’m supposed to look after my 3 year-old in this zombie state, but I also can’t guarantee I’ll be able to sink into deep sleep tonight.

dovecanyoncat · Post by **dovecanyoncat** » Sat Dec 28, 2019 11:50 am

The mob will keeping coming back until your 3 year-old surrenders that cell phone.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Sat Dec 28, 2019 9:38 pm

Longhorned wrote: Since I’m white, what followed In my living room was a protracted conversation with the officers — in my underwear — until I was so awake that I never got back to sleep.

After watching the Northridge earthquake of 1994 on the news, and seeing all those guys running around outside in their underwear, since then I always wear gym shorts to bed.

Secondly, get a Ring camera for evidence next time it happens.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sun Dec 29, 2019 1:32 pm

Merkin wrote:
Longhorned wrote: Since I’m white, what followed In my living room was a protracted conversation with the officers — in my underwear — until I was so awake that I never got back to sleep.
After watching the Northridge earthquake of 1994 on the news, and seeing all those guys running around outside in their underwear, since then I always wear gym shorts to bed.

Secondly, get a Ring camera for evidence next time it happens.

I don’t remember whether Ring is one of the brands I’ve looked into, but so far I’ve favored the occasional home intruder over the surveillance capitalism that watches and listens to my family. Right now I’m averaging less than one attempted break-in a year, at least that I know of.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:42 pm

I gave my kids all my legos (city town junkie) from circa 1986-1994. Essential 4huge plastic bins full.

Let the LEGO colonization of every room in our house and the nighttime bathroom LEGO firewalk begin!!!!!!!!

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Thu Jan 02, 2020 1:45 pm

And I love my new guest room Murphy bed set up!

There you are, and now your gone!

Hello proper study/desk/reading room!

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Thu Jan 02, 2020 7:23 pm

People take advice from this psychopath?

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 7:47 pm

Someone left a blanket at our doorstep.

No nothing, no note,, but a bundled dirty blanket.

What does this mean?

CatsbyAZ · Post by **CatsbyAZ** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:15 pm

How are TV Commercials priced between the TV Channels and the advertiser?

More specifically: Does the company (let's say Ford) reserve two commercial spots during a program (say an NFL playoff game) by locking in a price by paying up front for a projected rating? Say $250K/1 minute for a projected rating of 25 million viewers, even if the viewership ends up significantly more or less?

Or...

Do companies reserve a spot and pay after the fact based on the ratings determined?

I'm assuming it works the first way? But this is an industry I know nothing about.

scumdevils86 · Post by **scumdevils86** » Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:40 pm

Chicat will know

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 3:37 pm

It’s a mix. Rates are pre-determined based on expected ratings. So the networks are selling space (e.g.- first commercial in the break prior to kickoff of every NFL game) and eyeballs (total expected viewers of that slot who are of certain demographics).

Ford’s agency will then look at ratings after the fact, as well as proof the commercial actually ran (live sports/events can be tricky there), and ask later for make goods if there was an issue. If the program underperformed to the tune of a couple hundred thousand households, the Network would have to make it up by running it on a program with a similar audience. So after the commercial airs there is some settling up that happens usually.

For high leverage programming, they usually lock in rates and won’t do make goods. Live sports definitely falls into this bucket. That way if Lebron suddenly has to sit out a game and viewership is way down for that particular game, it’s not on the Network to give back money.

Networks also sell their inventory to aggregators, such as cable companies, in blocks. They’ll sell slots to Comcast who will then slide their client’s commercial in, but they’re selling a “national” slot to Ford because not everyone has that cable company.

I honestly don’t know how networks still charge the outrageous rates they do for the very few people who actually watch their commercials. I watched the Oregon game via DVR and ended up catching up to Live with like 4 minutes left in regulation which pissed me off to no end. So I checked twitter on my phone while their commercials ran.

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:11 pm

CalStateTempe wrote:Someone left a blanket at our doorstep.

No nothing, no note,, but a bundled dirty blanket.

What does this mean?

Abandoned toddler who walked off.

CatsbyAZ · Post by **CatsbyAZ** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 4:22 pm

Thanks - very informative answer!

Chicat wrote:
Networks also sell their inventory to aggregators, such as cable companies, in blocks. They’ll sell slots to Comcast who will then slide their client’s commercial in, but they’re selling a “national” slot to Ford because not everyone has that cable company.

I guess this is how all those Cummings Plumbing and Casino Del Sol commercials get on the local air? They buy through the nearby cable companies while off in Grand Rapids Michigan something else will be aired?

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Fri Jan 10, 2020 6:32 pm

CatsbyAZ wrote:Thanks - very informative answer!

Chicat wrote:
Networks also sell their inventory to aggregators, such as cable companies, in blocks. They’ll sell slots to Comcast who will then slide their client’s commercial in, but they’re selling a “national” slot to Ford because not everyone has that cable company.

I guess this is how all those Cummings Plumbing and Casino Del Sol commercials get on the local air? They buy through the nearby cable companies while off in Grand Rapids Michigan something else will be aired?

There are local slots in every broadcast that the local stations or local cable companies get to sell. Interestingly, the cable companies can divvy up their inventory by zip code, so in Tucson you could see a different local commercial depending on where in town you live. That’s more valuable to an advertiser because they can target people most likely to be customers. The local network can’t do that. What they run goes to the entire market.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Sat Jan 11, 2020 8:50 pm

This morning I put Shamrock whole chocolate milk in my coffee.

Perfection.

CatsbyAZ · Post by **CatsbyAZ** » Tue Jan 14, 2020 2:04 pm

I understand prosecution can give anybody immunity to use them as witnesses. What about the defense?

Say you're the defense and you know of a witness willing to provide testimony helpful to your case. Say said witness is wanted internationally for war crimes not related to your client. Is there a way the defense can call them as witness without worrying whether, once in court, the witness can be arrested there?

I guess I never realized it, but providing immunity is a big advantage a prosecution has over the defense. And it makes sense why I've seen a number of criminal cases where the defense doesn't bother produces witnesses. Instead their strategy is to attack and discredit the prosecution's witnesses under cross examination.

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Wed Jan 15, 2020 9:32 pm

If society is willing to accept my decision to outfit myself in a western wear store and present myself as a cowboy even though I don’t actually work on a ranch, are they equally prepared to accept me dressing as a vet tech even if I don’t actually work in an animal hospital?

You know, slightly higher end scrubs you could wear to a restaurant.

CatsbyAZ · Post by **CatsbyAZ** » Mon Jan 20, 2020 1:36 pm

About once a year, or twice if (un)lucky, I'm asked by a woman that I don't know very well how old I think they are. There's a careful range to aim for. I subtract 5 years from an honest guess. 37 - 5 = 32. Aim too high (39?) and she'll never speak to you again. Aim to low (27?) and conversation goes on hold for 10 - 20 minutes.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Mon Jan 20, 2020 1:59 pm

The flight attendant gave me a whole bottle of wine after getting over my direct to the east coast last week.

I was flattered and scared. She has the pushing 60yo flight attendant thing going on.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Mon Jan 20, 2020 3:09 pm

CatsbyAZ wrote:About once a year, or twice if (un)lucky, I'm asked by a woman that I don't know very well how old I think they are. There's a careful range to aim for. I subtract 5 years from an honest guess. 37 - 5 = 32. Aim too high (39?) and she'll never speak to you again. Aim to low (27?) and conversation goes on hold for 10 - 20 minutes.

“How old do you think I am?”
“I’m not sure. Can I cut you in half and count your rings?”

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Mon Jan 20, 2020 3:39 pm

As I type this, I’m riding on a mini train.

CalStateTempe · Post by **CalStateTempe** » Mon Jan 20, 2020 11:28 pm

Asked to plan a conference.

Region is Hawaii, so cal, nor cal, Nevada, Utah, or Arizona.

Can’t be nor cal, Arizona, or so cal due to recent conferences.

Where do you go? Or do you cruise? Or do you pick Cabo?

I thought Nevada Side of Lake Tahoe, but I most people think of LT as NorCal, so that’s out.

Come on BDW brain trust, help a brother out!

RichardCranium · Post by **RichardCranium** » Tue Jan 21, 2020 1:47 am

CalStateTempe wrote:Asked to plan a conference.

Region is Hawaii, so cal, nor cal, Nevada, Utah, or Arizona.

Can’t be nor cal, Arizona, or so cal due to recent conferences.

Where do you go? Or do you cruise? Or do you pick Cabo?

I thought Nevada Side of Lake Tahoe, but I most people think of LT as NorCal, so that’s out.

Come on BDW brain trust, help a brother out!

Aussie, Aussie, Aussie!
Oy, Oy, Oy!

Longhorned · Post by **Longhorned** » Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:23 am

Mexicali, and be really adamant about the early 20th century Chinese migrant background as being central to the experience of the conference. Lots of grainy black and white photos. Relate it in a vague way to current immigration policies in the borderlands, and at one point tear up a little and apologize before leaving the room to collect yourself. You’ll never get asked again.

Chicat · Post by **Chicat** » Tue Jan 21, 2020 10:35 am

CalStateTempe wrote:Asked to plan a conference.

Region is Hawaii, so cal, nor cal, Nevada, Utah, or Arizona.

Can’t be nor cal, Arizona, or so cal due to recent conferences.

Where do you go? Or do you cruise? Or do you pick Cabo?

I thought Nevada Side of Lake Tahoe, but I most people think of LT as NorCal, so that’s out.

Come on BDW brain trust, help a brother out!

What’s wrong with Vegas?

Merkin · Post by **Merkin** » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:04 am

For what month? San Diego has ideal weather all year round and plenty of attractions.

Vegas has easy travel, but be less inclined to go there since I really don't gamble, and not much of interest to me.

pc in NM · Post by **pc in NM** » Tue Jan 21, 2020 11:10 am

Park City, Utah?

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