life – Page 26 – Cubey Terra

June 6, 2005

Rhymes with what?

The other night, a friend and I had a… debate… over the pronunciation of “Glenmorangie”. Is it like “glen MORE an gee” or “glen MORE an jee”? Or maybe even “glen MERANGUE gee”, like the pie? We didn’t fall to fisticuffs over it — there was a lady present, and we didn’t want to offend her sensibilities and make idiots of ourselves doing it. Actually she changed the subject quickly to something more sensible, like beer.

This debate has raged among family and friends for years, turning the “gee” faction against the “jee” faction. After calling it “glen MORE an jee” for years, I heard more than one person who should have been in-the-know call it “glen MORE an gee”, so I converted from the “jee” camp to the “gee” camp.

Today I went to the all-knowing prophet, Google, to settle the debate. At www.Glenmorangie.com, I discovered the truth. The one, true pronunciation, right from the source, is this: “It rhymes with ‘orangie’.”

Next, have I been mispronouncing “Glendronach“?

Link: Glenmorangie.com: “Your Questions Answered”

June 3, 2005

No… thank YOU

Sadly, I have to admit that today I lunched at the Scottish restaurant. I had avoided it for months, but while passing McDonald’s I succumbed to a combination of hunger pangs and delicious posters of hamburgers. (No, that wasn’t a misplaced modifier — the posters are far more delicious than the hamburgers.)

I’m pleased to report that the menu is exactly as I remember it — a lineup of vaguely beef-related sandwiches accompanied by tallow-soaked potato product. After consuming the “McDeal” of the day, I dumped the remains of the day into the nearest garbage receptacle, and was startled when it spoke to me.

“Thank you,” it said. Its voice was deep and gentle, and imbued with paternal kindness, as if someone’s dad had accidentally fallen into the garbage can and decided to make the best of it by thanking passers-by for cleaning up after themselves. It turned out not to be my dad or anyone else’s, thankfully. It’s actually an electronic recording that’s triggered each time someone throws something away — an innovative way to imbue a feeling of warmth and personal attention that doesn’t actually exist at McDonald’s.

I can’t wait to see what else speaks to me next time I need to satisfy my hamburger addiction. Maybe my chair will thank me for sitting down, and my table will thank me for placing objects on it. And toilets too! “Thank you.”

May 24, 2005

I admit… I was wrong about Star Wars

Warning: Contains possible Revenge of the Sith spoilers.

I’m a big enough man to admit when I’m wrong. Actually, I’m a big enough man to get winded walking up a flight of stairs too, but that’s another issue. The point is, I totally trashed Star Wars before I went to see it, and then George Lucas smacked me in the face with a great movie.

Alright, sure we have to overlook little details, like the fact that Padme dies in childbirth, despite the fact that in Return of the Jedi, Leia tells Luke what their mother was like. And the fact that R2-D2 and C3PO perform vital roles in Obiwan’s life, yet when Luke brings R2 to him in the original Star Wars, Obiwan says, “Strange. I don’t remember ever owning a droid.” I’d better stop there, because the list of massive plot holes can fill pages. Besides, that’s nit-picking. For the sake of willing suspension of disbelief, let’s ignore the fact that Annikin is about 6 years old in The Phantom Menace (and building pod racers!), yet he’s about 16 only a few years later in Attack of the Clones, and then by Star Wars, apparently he adds about a foot to his height and develops a gravelly, bass voice.

Setting all that aside, I have to say that I enjoyed the show very much. It wasn’t deep, or particularly thought-provoking, but its pacing moved the plot along quickly, without dallying on the mysteries of life, the way the previous two movies did in such depth. And the movie sprung so many surprising plot twists on the audience too. For example, at one point, a woman nearby leaned over to her husband to ask, “No way… Annikin is Darth Vader?”

Oh. I hope I didn’t spoil the plot for anyone there.

If I have a serious complaint, it’s that Luke Skywalker was a bit flat in his performance, and the actor was, I believe, a little too old for the role, and didn’t bear even the vaguest resemblance to Mark Hamill.

In the end, I left the theatre feeling that I’d gotten my money’s worth. My dollars had been far better spent on The Revenge of the Sith than on, say, food for a couple of days. George, I was wrong to doubt you.

May 17, 2005

Coffee, crosswalks, and a ballot box

I did my civic duty today and made the trek up the hill to the local polling station. On the way there, I was nearly struck by a car that didn’t see me in the crosswalk. I carried some (miserably awful) coffee, too, which I expertly spilled on myself. Incidentally, black coffee is good for spills — it doesn’t leave a fetid stain that smells like rancid cream for weeks. At worst, it merely looks like you wet yourself.

As I crossed the sidestreet in front of the polling station, I had to dodge another car. Seriously, by this time, I was wondering if it was some kind of plot against me. I wonder if they knew which way I intended to vote?

I wasn’t intimidated, though. I entered the polling station, made my mark, and dropped it in the box without further incident. In fact, I left there fairly glowing with satisfaction at having fullfilled my role in the democratic process. Aside from almost being run down twice, it was a remarkably positive experience. And the lizard in charge of the polling booth was kinda cute too.

May 17, 2005

Motu Motu Mountain

On the rare occasions that Second Life goes down, I usually spend hours moping around the house, or shivering in the corner, pale and withdrawn. I’m an SL addict. Sometimes, when I need a fix, and SL isn’t around, I’ll sign up for yet another There free trial.

I’ve tried There a few times now, and concluded that it’s a poor substitute for SL and lacks substance. It lacks, for example, the ability to create things with very few limitations. There seems to be mainly for chat. Oh and for spending money. Holy cow, things cost a lot, compared to the virtually free access to SL.

In There‘s favour, the avatar movements are very smooth, if you can get past the sickly-sweet Disney cartoon style, and the vehicles aren’t encumbered by the need to stream an entire world of content on the fly.

Anyway, besides skulking around Zephyr to steal as many dune buggies as I can (yes, I know it’s pointless), my favourite pastime in There is to throw my avatar off the tallest mountain I can find. In this case, it’s a place called Motu Motu. As an aside, don’t they get tired of the ubiquitous tiki theme?

However, you can only watch your avatar slide down a cliffside so many times before you yearn for something a little more fulfilling. I’m so very glad SL is back online. I was able to complete the new multi-destination teleporter. You can pick one up for free at my shop.