Psst, readers, let me tell you one of my quirky flaws - sometimes I mispronounce words. I know what they mean because I read about them often, but they're the types of names or words that don't come up often in conversation with me (either because I'm a poor listener or I'm socially rather awkward), so I have an idea in my head of how they should sound that really isn't how they're pronounced. My family jokes about it quite a bit.
I used to pronounce "doctrines" as "doc-treens" instead of "doc-trins."
I used to pronounce the last name in "Simon and Schuster" as "shuster" instead of "shooster."
And, just now, reading an interview at The Good, the Bad, and The Unread, I discovered my favourite romance author, whom I've been pimping out to friends and other romance readers in person as well as online, pronounces her last name an entirely different way than I do.
Random Friend: "Recommend any books?"
Me: "Yeah, how about The Secret Pearl by Mary BAH-LOW."
*headdesk*
I dunno, I remember reading Mary Balogh's website and how her last name is Welsh, and perhaps I confused that with Gaelic, which uses a lot of consonants in ways they really aren't supposed to (hate elementary school teachers? Give your kid's name Gaelic spelling), and I also thought of words like slough and through and eventually narrowed it down (in my head) to an "oh" sound, or a "oh" sound with a weird little cough at the end.
According to the author herself, it's actually pronounced "Bah-log."
Reeeeeaally glad I figured that out before the RWA National Conference.
Showing posts with label Weirdness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weirdness. Show all posts
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, October 19, 2008
In the "That's Just WRONG" Category:
I've been looking up new romance authors on the internet. Even though I've been reading romances for well over a year now, I'm still exploring new authors because there are so many, dear God. Plus, romance authors have some of the most beautifully designed websites out there (ironically, sci-fi authors, whose characters fight robots and insanely developed technology and the Singularity, often have really crappy-looking websites).
I like looking at the covers, the author's bio, and of course - their books!
Today, however, I came across an author's new book, and the book trailer explained the plot: girl tells lies, a boy gets the boot from his family and nearly dies, and years later comes back to work revenge. Oh, well, that sounds good.
AND THEN I READ THE EXCERPT.
The excerpt ... wow. The writing wasn't bad, but the plot it explained was. In the excerpt, our hero, ostracized from his family (and nursing a wicked throat wound) remarks on the cold, devious beauty of our heroine, calls her a "lying bitch," remarks upon her "calculated betrayal," and how he wants to choke her until she begs for mercy.
Our heroine? She's all of TEN YEARS OLD. Dude! Hero! Don't be talking about her pure alabaster skin and her ringlets that "saucily [frame] her face", you perv! SHE'S TEN! Has no one told you "You can't play cricket until there's grass on the pitch, old chum"?
And then there's the implications for the rest of the novel. Years later, when she's (thankfully) of marriageable age and engaged to another, he steps in with the intention of seducing her in revenge. In revenge for something she did when she was TEN. DUDE! Seriously? What is this, Atonement? She was TEN, you ASS. YOU have anger management issues, buddy!
The plot rings all kinds of creepy. But you can be sure that if I can get my hands on this novel without actually paying for it, I will definitely read it and see if it follows through on this idea, and write an hysterical review of it.
For the curious, this novel is:
I like looking at the covers, the author's bio, and of course - their books!
Today, however, I came across an author's new book, and the book trailer explained the plot: girl tells lies, a boy gets the boot from his family and nearly dies, and years later comes back to work revenge. Oh, well, that sounds good.
AND THEN I READ THE EXCERPT.
The excerpt ... wow. The writing wasn't bad, but the plot it explained was. In the excerpt, our hero, ostracized from his family (and nursing a wicked throat wound) remarks on the cold, devious beauty of our heroine, calls her a "lying bitch," remarks upon her "calculated betrayal," and how he wants to choke her until she begs for mercy.
Our heroine? She's all of TEN YEARS OLD. Dude! Hero! Don't be talking about her pure alabaster skin and her ringlets that "saucily [frame] her face", you perv! SHE'S TEN! Has no one told you "You can't play cricket until there's grass on the pitch, old chum"?
And then there's the implications for the rest of the novel. Years later, when she's (thankfully) of marriageable age and engaged to another, he steps in with the intention of seducing her in revenge. In revenge for something she did when she was TEN. DUDE! Seriously? What is this, Atonement? She was TEN, you ASS. YOU have anger management issues, buddy!
The plot rings all kinds of creepy. But you can be sure that if I can get my hands on this novel without actually paying for it, I will definitely read it and see if it follows through on this idea, and write an hysterical review of it.
For the curious, this novel is:
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Huh - should I be flattered?
All of a sudden, I have to word-verify my blog posts, because for some reason, "Blogger's spam-prevention robots have detected that [my] blog has characteristics of a spam blog."
According to Blogger's definition, a spam blog "can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text."
Um...well gee, that makes me feel just great, Blogger.
According to Blogger's definition, a spam blog "can be recognized by their irrelevant, repetitive, or nonsensical text."
Um...well gee, that makes me feel just great, Blogger.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
The return of the LOLcelebs!
I lost mah shurt
I can haz anudder?
Mmmmm....
Mah thurst iz kwnched.
Yes, Sandy Clawz
Elijah Wud duz egzist!
Friday, July 13, 2007
The First Installment of: The LolCrushes!
What are LOLcrushes? They are actually derived from the ever-popular Internet LOLCat, which is defined by Urban Dictionary as:
The phenomenon of pasting captions in large text onto pictures of cats. The captions are a specific blend of:
1) txt msg text (shortcuts like "ur" for "your")
2) bad English-Asian translations (like the classic "all your base are belong to us")
3) common typing mistakes (like "!!!!1" and "ZOMG" and "teh")
4) misspellings (like "cheeze")
5) spam shortcuts (like substituting "5" for "S" and "3" for "e")
The Smart Bitches recently retooled that theme for their LOLHoff (as in, Hasselhoff) contest, which I recommend you see. My favourite? The winner - "Ah sex u. Yes?"
So I am retooling that standard for my crushes du jour. Why? For fun! Submit your own if you can, in my comments or by email!
Silly? Yes. Border-line random? Of course. Fun - definitely!
The phenomenon of pasting captions in large text onto pictures of cats. The captions are a specific blend of:
1) txt msg text (shortcuts like "ur" for "your")
2) bad English-Asian translations (like the classic "all your base are belong to us")
3) common typing mistakes (like "!!!!1" and "ZOMG" and "teh")
4) misspellings (like "cheeze")
5) spam shortcuts (like substituting "5" for "S" and "3" for "e")
The Smart Bitches recently retooled that theme for their LOLHoff (as in, Hasselhoff) contest, which I recommend you see. My favourite? The winner - "Ah sex u. Yes?"
So I am retooling that standard for my crushes du jour. Why? For fun! Submit your own if you can, in my comments or by email!
*drumroll*
Silly? Yes. Border-line random? Of course. Fun - definitely!
More to come, once I have the time, and perhaps a better understanding of the LOL format.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
My First Celebrity Encounter - Chris Kattan and Patrick Swayze!
Today, after work, I went to the Mall (the Big One - I needn't tell you where since you're all so smart you've probably already guessed the city I live in by now) to look for a part-time job to supplement my other one. As I was walking on the first floor, I passed a sign saying I was walking across the film set to the in-production Yuletide film Christmas In Wonderland, and that by doing so the company was allowed to use my image, should it appear on film, however they wanted, etc, etc. There were snaking cables everywhere, stretching all the way back to the Ice Palace and beyond, as well as lights reflecting off of mirrors, and young men in walkie-talkies, booms, grips, and a craft service table.
Everyone was just walking wherever they pleased, but some people had stopped to look, so I did too. A bunch of kids with shopping bags were just sitting around on benches, some where leaning up against storefronts, and a couple in fur coats (fur coats??) were talking in whispers by a mirrored column. The only person I guessed was an actor was an extremely large man in a green Hawaiian shirt who was being tended by two aids with hand-held fans and tissues trying to daub the sweat off of his face without smudging his make-up. But then someone in a megaphone yelled something, and the guys in walkie talkies started barking at people to leave the set, so I walked a ways off, but they continued to say "Keep going! You're right in the shot!" I honestly couldn't tell where I should stop, because there were still people hanging around.
I skittered nervously away to an escalator, and watched the rest of it unimpeded from the second floor. It was then that the immensity of my ADD hit me square in the face, when I finally noticed that all the kids sitting on benches and leaning around and talking were all wearing toques and parkas and winter coats. In May. And it also explained why the Mall still had it's Christmas decorations up - they were shooting a Christmas movie! Face, meet palm! It's funny the things my mind just doesn't notice.
Anyway, the director yelled, "Rolling!" then "Action!" (just like in the movies - HA!) and the weird couple in fur coats and the kids all started walking like they all had places to be - and the rubberneckers inconveniently dressed in shorts and tank-tops for the summer season had been successfully herded away. The scene, from what I could see, seemed to comprise of a man in a tan jacket and red shirt examining some sunglasses and then walking away looking around significantly.
I honestly didn't think there were going to be any stars at this point - I figured since they were doing it in the middle of the day in the summer crush they were just doing establishing shots or crowd scenes or minor shots - I imagined the man at the sunglass stand would turn out to be a bungling criminal that those meddling kids would help catch in a serious of slapstick capers. Or something. It's a kids movie, c'mon!
But then, after letting some of the actual shoppers through, the guys with walking-talkies went back to cat-herding and got them all out, and the director yelled "Action!" again. This time though, Chris Kattan - aka Mango, Mr Peepers, Mr Feather from Undercover Brother, the walking gymnast corpse from Monkeybone, the other half of that weird SNL skit where the guys tilt their heads to "What is Love?" - dressed in a black suit, stormed down the hallway looking very annoyed, with the big fat guy (apparently Preston Lacy from Jackass) waddling behind him. The actual Chris Kattan! In person!
Anyway, not knowing the plot. I imagined that Kattan would play the buttoned-up, strict Mall Manager, or some Goofily Oppressive Authority Figure those Meddling Kids would have to deal with (with slapstick capers, of course). Mr Lacy, I assumed, was his shlubby sidekick. I stood around staring at Kattan for a while (it isn't anymore comfortable staring at a celebrity as it is staring at anyone else - anytime one of the entourage moved their head so much as 45 degrees in my direction I raised my eyes to the ceiling and pretended I was looking somewhere else, I wasn't just some creepy rubbernecker like the others, oh no...), when I heard some people mention the name Swayze.
What? I walked around to the other side to get a better view, and I saw a tall, brown-haired man in a blue shirt between two jewellery carts. His back was to me, and I was looking down at an angle. He's a grip, I thought, or a best boy, whatever those are...Then he turned around. Flash! It was like walking through the woods, and you're not expecting to see any wild animals because you're a human making a big, stomping racket, and then out of nowhere this gorgeous deer leaps into view for just a second before trotting away as calm as you please. I was looking at the face of Patrick Swayze - and I was close enough to recognize him! Swayze and Kattan.
I pretty much turned into all of those idiotic "little people" who wonder wow, they look just the same as they do on screen... I honestly wished I had a camera. Seriously. Freakin' cool. I hung around for a bit, but eventually knew I had to go home. My mother was yelped when I told her the news, but no one reacted as much as Sister #1 - she's a huge fan of the Guy Who Kept Baby Out of the Corner.
Anyway, I went online and looked up the plot. From what I can gather, Chris Kattan and Preston Lacy probably play a couple of criminals dealing in counterfeit bills (that the Meddling Kids have to bring to justice with some Slapstick Capers!), but I'm quite pleased to note that Our City will be playing Our City, and not Our City Dressed Up To Look Like Seattle Because It's Cheaper To Film Here. It looks to be pretty interesting - or at least, more interesting than Snow Days, which was also filmed in our city (in front of my Nana's house!).
Everyone was just walking wherever they pleased, but some people had stopped to look, so I did too. A bunch of kids with shopping bags were just sitting around on benches, some where leaning up against storefronts, and a couple in fur coats (fur coats??) were talking in whispers by a mirrored column. The only person I guessed was an actor was an extremely large man in a green Hawaiian shirt who was being tended by two aids with hand-held fans and tissues trying to daub the sweat off of his face without smudging his make-up. But then someone in a megaphone yelled something, and the guys in walkie talkies started barking at people to leave the set, so I walked a ways off, but they continued to say "Keep going! You're right in the shot!" I honestly couldn't tell where I should stop, because there were still people hanging around.
I skittered nervously away to an escalator, and watched the rest of it unimpeded from the second floor. It was then that the immensity of my ADD hit me square in the face, when I finally noticed that all the kids sitting on benches and leaning around and talking were all wearing toques and parkas and winter coats. In May. And it also explained why the Mall still had it's Christmas decorations up - they were shooting a Christmas movie! Face, meet palm! It's funny the things my mind just doesn't notice.
Anyway, the director yelled, "Rolling!" then "Action!" (just like in the movies - HA!) and the weird couple in fur coats and the kids all started walking like they all had places to be - and the rubberneckers inconveniently dressed in shorts and tank-tops for the summer season had been successfully herded away. The scene, from what I could see, seemed to comprise of a man in a tan jacket and red shirt examining some sunglasses and then walking away looking around significantly.
I honestly didn't think there were going to be any stars at this point - I figured since they were doing it in the middle of the day in the summer crush they were just doing establishing shots or crowd scenes or minor shots - I imagined the man at the sunglass stand would turn out to be a bungling criminal that those meddling kids would help catch in a serious of slapstick capers. Or something. It's a kids movie, c'mon!
But then, after letting some of the actual shoppers through, the guys with walking-talkies went back to cat-herding and got them all out, and the director yelled "Action!" again. This time though, Chris Kattan - aka Mango, Mr Peepers, Mr Feather from Undercover Brother, the walking gymnast corpse from Monkeybone, the other half of that weird SNL skit where the guys tilt their heads to "What is Love?" - dressed in a black suit, stormed down the hallway looking very annoyed, with the big fat guy (apparently Preston Lacy from Jackass) waddling behind him. The actual Chris Kattan! In person!
Anyway, not knowing the plot. I imagined that Kattan would play the buttoned-up, strict Mall Manager, or some Goofily Oppressive Authority Figure those Meddling Kids would have to deal with (with slapstick capers, of course). Mr Lacy, I assumed, was his shlubby sidekick. I stood around staring at Kattan for a while (it isn't anymore comfortable staring at a celebrity as it is staring at anyone else - anytime one of the entourage moved their head so much as 45 degrees in my direction I raised my eyes to the ceiling and pretended I was looking somewhere else, I wasn't just some creepy rubbernecker like the others, oh no...), when I heard some people mention the name Swayze.
What? I walked around to the other side to get a better view, and I saw a tall, brown-haired man in a blue shirt between two jewellery carts. His back was to me, and I was looking down at an angle. He's a grip, I thought, or a best boy, whatever those are...Then he turned around. Flash! It was like walking through the woods, and you're not expecting to see any wild animals because you're a human making a big, stomping racket, and then out of nowhere this gorgeous deer leaps into view for just a second before trotting away as calm as you please. I was looking at the face of Patrick Swayze - and I was close enough to recognize him! Swayze and Kattan.
I pretty much turned into all of those idiotic "little people" who wonder wow, they look just the same as they do on screen... I honestly wished I had a camera. Seriously. Freakin' cool. I hung around for a bit, but eventually knew I had to go home. My mother was yelped when I told her the news, but no one reacted as much as Sister #1 - she's a huge fan of the Guy Who Kept Baby Out of the Corner.
Anyway, I went online and looked up the plot. From what I can gather, Chris Kattan and Preston Lacy probably play a couple of criminals dealing in counterfeit bills (that the Meddling Kids have to bring to justice with some Slapstick Capers!), but I'm quite pleased to note that Our City will be playing Our City, and not Our City Dressed Up To Look Like Seattle Because It's Cheaper To Film Here. It looks to be pretty interesting - or at least, more interesting than Snow Days, which was also filmed in our city (in front of my Nana's house!).
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