Saturday, January 31, 2004
I admit it, okay? Yes, I abuse the words "irony", "ironic," and "ironically." Yes, I commit the common faux pas of using them to express coincidence or improbability rather than incongruity (between the expected and actual) or contrast (between the intended and apparent). I'm trying to change my erroneous ways, really I am -- they're just such easy words to misuse.
Now, the question is, do I go back and change all the references, or let them stand as testaments to my past transgressions? Speaking of which, I had originally intended to link to examples in my blog, but poring over the definitions has muddled the situation and blurred the line between good and bad usage. (Now that's ironic.)
Follow-up: I've confessed my sins, paid my penance, and learned my lesson, so the offending posts will remain as is; besides, correcting their flaws -- assuming I wasn't too perplexed to identify them -- would irrevocably change their essences, faulty though they may be.
posted by media_dystopia @ 01:08 [ link | top | home ]
Monday, January 26, 2004
No with an asterisk. CNBC describes the host of Dennis Miller as having a "take-no-prisoners, suffer-no-fools style," and yet, the linguistically erudite comic has made it quite clear that he's in the president's pocket -- a glaring example of mutual exclusivity if ever there was one. When I read the network's description, I immediately thought of Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Orwellian references aside, I'm going to give Dennis "Bushite" Miller and his flourishing neoconservatism a pass. (Did I mention that one of tonight's guests was David Frum?)
posted by media_dystopia @ 23:43 [ link | top | home ]
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Who? What? Huh? It's sad watching the 61st Annual Golden Globe Awards when you've only seen five of the movies on the nominations list. What's sadder is not recognizing the names of some of the others. Oh the shame...
Follow-up: Well, that was a lackluster awards show. Sheesh.
posted by media_dystopia @ 20:01 [ link | top | home ]
Hubba-hubba. I only caught the last 45 seconds of Sherry Torkos' interview on CTV's Good Morning Canada, but it was enough for me to be smitten by the beautiful "holistic pharmacist, author and lecturer." At about the 40-second mark, the warm and fuzzy feeling kicked in, and then like that -- said while snapping my fingers -- it was gone. Sigh.
Speaking of sighs, how's about the one of exasperation that just emanated from my female reader(s)?
posted by media_dystopia @ 08:15 [ link | top | home ]
The obese need not apply. Here's an interesting footnote to one of Ottawa's corporate job postings: "non-smokers only." It's probably one of many on the Web with this particular caveat; still, it begs the question: is this sort of discrimination moral or even legal? I realize that smokers make for easy targets these days, but it's not like they're smoking in the office; in fact, right now, they're lighting up (or trying to) in the face of an ungodly cold wind chill. One would think that that would be punishment enough -- no need to interfere with their livelihood.
And given that "non-smokers only" is a rather narrow exclusion, can it be inferred that those with other addictions are acceptable? If I mainline heroin in my spare time, but don't smoke cigarettes, can I apply? If I eat hash brownies instead of toking the finest B.C. bud -- I'm interpreting the word "smoker" broadly here -- can I apply? If I carry around a spittoon all day because my cheeks are stuffed like a chipmunk's with chewing tobacco, can I apply?
Forget addictions, what if my diet includes enough fiber to induce bi-hourly bowel movements? What if I have an insatiable need to gossip at the water cooler every 20 minutes? What if I'm an exercise freak and prefer shifting my paradigm in the company gym? What if I need -- I mean, really need -- to make the office's coffee...every single drop...my way...my exacting, fastidious, anal way...every time? I'm sure that each of these foibles would reduce a person's productivity just as much as, if not more than, smoking (assuming that's the rationale for the policy).
It would make sense to me if the successful applicant would be working for or with someone who is not only severely allergic to smoke, but also has the olfactory prowess of a bloodhound. I could even understand it if the company was involved with health-related activities that required a squeaky-clean public image. However, if it's the productivity issue or, worse, a corporate "it's for your own good" smoking-cessation program -- a helping hand to the government and anti-smoking organizations -- then welcome to the slippery slope. Who's next to face the arrogant disdain once reserved for smokers?
That being said, my paranoia is somewhat blunted by the thought that a lot of these "non-smokers only" clauses were written by jealous human resources lackeys who've quit the habit and are now looking for some payback.
posted by media_dystopia @ 05:23 [ link | top | home ]
Thursday, January 22, 2004
No wonder I cringe every time he opens his mouth. Every time U.S. Ambassador Paul Cellucci insults, threatens, or berates Canada, I feel like going to Sussex Drive and giving Fortress America the finger. I don't care if my middle finger gets frostbite because of severe wind chill -- the gesture is worth it. What's the latest threat? Increased border scrutiny if we decriminalize marijuana? (As if we haven't heard that before.) Hey, I've got an idea, Paul: stay the fuck out of our affairs. Jerk.
Either Canada needs to expel you -- and be as harsh and blunt about it as you have been with us -- or the White House needs to amend its February 13, 2001, news release to read: "President George W. Bush today announced his intention to nominate Governor Paul Cellucci of Massachusetts to be Asshole Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United States to Canada." No matter what, though, you need a good dictionary -- start with the word "diplomacy."
Follow-up: And kick the lane-blocking concrete security barriers for good measure. (If the finger hasn't already gotten me in trouble, that certainly will.)
Follow-up: Actually, just seeing him on the screen, even when muted, is enough to make me cringe.
posted by media_dystopia @ 06:54 [ link | top | home ]
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Suddenly, I feel like less of an idiot. Thank you, RCMP. Congratulations on making Ottawa that much chillier today. If we've learned anything this cold winter's day -- besides the obvious fact that the Mounties have got to lay off the horse shit -- it's that the Security of Information Act and Anti-Terrorism Act (aka Bill C-36) aren't going to warm the cockles of a free press' heart anytime soon. (Keeping in mind that freedom of the press is a fundamental one in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.) If this Maher Arar thing gets any worse...wait a minute, the federal police raided a journalist's home -- how can it get any worse?
Follow-up: Canadian journalists and the public at large are worried, but the prime minister isn't: "We are not a police state and we have no intention of being a police state and there is a balance between how does one protect the nation's security and what are the steps taken." Mr. Martin, I hope to hell you're right, for all our sakes.
Follow-up: Given the RCMP's incredibly poor judgment, not only is a backlash well-deserved, but so are some new mottos: the official "maintiens le droit" should become "maintenant Le Droit," and the unofficial "a Mountie always gets his man" should become "a Mountie always gets his Mansbridge."
posted by media_dystopia @ 23:45 [ link | top | home ]
I'm such an idiot. You know you're stunningly and embarrassingly oblivious to what's going on in town when you miss the fact that your favorite comedian is coming...by two days. Yes, George Carlin appeared at the National Arts Centre on January 19. I'm so ashamed.
Follow-up: This horrible incident spurred me to add sidebar links to WHERE Ottawa, Ottawafood.com, the Official Ottawa Tourism Site, CapitalTickets.ca, the Corel Centre, and, of course, the NAC -- just in case.
posted by media_dystopia @ 06:46 [ link | top | home ]
Tuesday, January 20, 2004
You've got to be kidding me. Sleeman Clear. Labatt Sterling. Molson Ultra. Subway Atkins-Friendly Wraps. Sigh. You know the low-carb craze has gone too far when Canadian breweries are flogging the 2.5 grams of carbs in their beers, and a fast-food chain is suggesting that its two low-carb wraps, each with 24 grams of fat (nine of which are saturated), are part of a "healthier choice."
The beer...okay, fine, I can accept that. It's messed up, not to mention usually less bang for the buck (alcohol-wise), but acceptable. The wraps, on the other hand, make my cholesterol ratio skyrocket just thinking about them. Go ahead, fight those evil carbs and shed those pounds; eventually, though, you might just end up like many of us, sidelined by high LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Your low-carb, high-fat diet won't help you then, although it will help the arteriosclerosis, heart disease, stroke, and whatever other disease or condition might result from its cholesterol-raising. You'll have to resort to a low-fat diet, and chances are, that'll mean getting used to -- gasp! -- carbohydrates.
So to all those food and beverage companies offering up Atkins as their messiah, I say that your message is lost on those of us who have become carbtheists because of our cholesterol.
Follow-up: Three weeks later and McDonald's Canada announces its Protein Platters. Gag.
posted by media_dystopia @ 16:14 [ link | top | home ]
Pardon me while I gush. I first saw Conspiracy soon after the HBO Films production was released on DVD. When I saw it again this past weekend, I ended up watching it twice in as many days, and plan to do so again in the near future -- a rarity for me. As a movie, it's undeniably well-written, visually compelling (in my lay opinion), and superbly acted by a wonderful ensemble cast; however, it's in its basis in historical fact that the film acquires its true value.
The callousness with which the participants of the Wannsee Conference euphemistically discuss the mechanics of the Final Solution is chilling, to say the least. Meanwhile, the meeting chair's deftness in diplomatically stifling the bureaucratic territoriality and legal wrangling associated with "evacuating" the entire Jewish population of Europe is as impressive as it is disquieting, given his sadistic machinations. During the course of the meeting and movie -- it was shot in real time -- the already sinister death's-head insignia of the SS adopts a darker symbolism, as its elite bearers assume control of the coming genocide.
(The preceding paragraph makes me either a good movie critic, or a lousy one -- and it scares me that I can't tell which.)
Follow-up: I can't remember the last time I've watched the same movie five times in two weeks.
Follow-up: Make that six times.
Follow-up: Actually, seven times in three weeks.
Follow-up: Say, would I come across as obsessed if I said I saw it eight times in a month and have begun repeating dialogue out loud? Just wondering.
Follow-up: Sorry, did I say eight? I meant nine.
Follow-up: My tenth viewing in just over a month excuses me from keeping track anymore. Suffice it to say, Conspiracy is a movie I can watch over and over.
posted by media_dystopia @ 10:26 [ link | top | home ]
Monday, January 19, 2004
"Welcome to Iqaluit, assholes." Last week, I said that I had watched the premiere of Rick Mercer's Monday Report; this week, after watching its second episode, I have to say that the show is, by far, one of the funniest I've ever seen. The line in the title alone had me winded with laughter; had I been drinking at the time, I would have sprayed the computer. So to Mercer and the rest of the writers -- oh, okay, you too, CBC -- I proffer a hearty thank-you for taking a Nerf bat to the Canadian funny bone. (Not the best metaphor in the world, I grant you, but it gets the point across.)
posted by media_dystopia @ 22:18 [ link | top | home ]
Sunday, January 18, 2004
A belated thank-you and apology. I haven't been paying attention to Technorati: Link Cosmos and other citation pages recently, so if you've linked to my blog in the last, say, six months, then I offer you my sincere thanks, as well as my apologies for not mentioning the linkage -- and blogrolling your site in return (if I haven't already) -- like I used to.
While I'm at it, I should point out that another change since my summer hiatus has been my desire to prevent information overload -- a contributing factor to the "mental minefield" -- and to focus on my writing; as such, I haven't been reading other peoples' blogs much, if at all. ("Forsaking my blogroll," as I put it in August.) If you've said something particularly witty, or intelligent, or poignant, or any other quality worthy of mention, my not mentioning it is strictly because I haven't read it -- I've had much-needed blinders on for the past half year. Sorry.
posted by media_dystopia @ 05:46 [ link | top | home ]
Friday, January 16, 2004
Blog trivia. I've written approximately 110,000 words -- excluding quoted material, date and time stamps, and template elements -- in my blog's 1,341 posts (including this one). In other words, if I wasn't such a capricious writer, I would have completed my first, or even second, book by now. And depending on how one views the quality of the writing, that number of words is either a lot of practice, or not enough.
posted by media_dystopia @ 00:57 [ link | top | home ]
Thursday, January 15, 2004
Oh, there it is. No, I'm not ignoring the fact that it's nad-numbingly cold outside -- all my cold-snap-related comments have been added to the appropriately titled December 30 post as follow-ups.
posted by media_dystopia @ 06:58 [ link | top | home ]
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
Only a retired Replicant drives a 2003 model. My favorite song from Vangelis' Blade Runner soundtrack is "Rachel's Song," a hauntingly beautiful piece that gets me right in the chest. That's why I'm a little weary about it being used in a television commercial to flog the Kia Amanti. Mind you, it could have been a lot worse: an Apple iPod spot. (Those damn ads have overkilled Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" to the point of making me want to turn it off every time I hear it on the radio.)
posted by media_dystopia @ 00:47 [ link | top | home ]
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
There's no conservative like a pulchritudinous conservative. Is it just me, or is Belinda Stronach a babe? (By way of an explanation, the president and CEO of Magna International is considering a run for the leadership of the new Conservative Party of Canada; therefore, news outlets have been flooding the airwaves with her file footage.) I'm no gold digger, though; the fact that she's a multimillionaire has absolutely nothing to do with my all-too-superficial appraisal. That being said, I'll keep the position of sugar mama open just in case the federal politics thing falls through.
Follow-up: Yep, she's in the race. Like fellow leadership candidates Stephen Harper and Tony Clement, she has a Web page; unlike them, she has a blog...and is a rich, attractive woman. Let the media frenzy begin! Woohoo!
Follow-up: The press' inane drivel about Stronach's belinda.ca being easily confused with "porn site" belinda.com proves just how stupid its members can be -- the latter is so far from being porn that journalists are embarrassing themselves by associating the word with it. Besides, if you're told that the address is belinda.ca and you go to belinda.com, then it's your own damn fault when you end up in the wrong place, either someone else's legitimate site -- as is the case here -- or, worse, a trap set by a cybersquatter who has registered a common misspelling of a popular domain name or a variation of a top-level domain (something that could happen even if Stronach's campaign used a different one). Want to avoid all this? Learn to pay attention, spell, and type -- in that order.
posted by media_dystopia @ 09:13 [ link | top | home ]
Saturday, January 10, 2004
I go away for a week and this is what happens. So, there I was driving past Brockville, on my way home from Toronto, when I decided to tune the radio to 101.1 FM. Imagine my dismay when I realized that my favorite alt/new-rock station, 101.1 XFM, had been replaced by Y101 -- country and western, y'all -- a clone of Y105 prior to its simultaneous re-invention as 105.3 KISS FM. In other words, Ottawa lost its "New Rock Alternative," kept "Today's Best Country" -- less Tool, more tools (Toby Keith comes to mind) -- and gained "Today's Best Music."
Orwell would have been proud: in the day and a half since the switch, XFM has become an unstation -- removed from the airwaves, deleted from cyberspace, and confined to fading memory. Pretty soon, only salt-encrusted bumper stickers and tales of the "XFM years" -- recounted by nostalgic Gen Xers, probably in exchange for beer -- will remain of what was, until noon yesterday, the radio station responsible for the lion's share of kick-ass music in the nation's capital.
By the way, I sensed this would happen -- just look at my now-prescient Halloween post. (The last paragraph alone should earn me some "I told you so" points with those who scoffed at my paranoia.)
Oh, and fuck you, Rogers.
Follow-up: Suffice it to say, relying on 106.9 The BEAR for musical edge in post-XFM Ottawa is like relying on a butter knife after your steak knife has been forcibly taken away. In the three days since an entire radio demographic was bent over a chair by the aptly named Rogers, I've pushed the presets on my car radio more than I have in years, desperately searching for that missing oomph. (XFM was always the base station; the others were alternates in the event of crappy music.) Sadly, Ottawa is now an alt/new-rock void, and like all vacuums, it sucks. Thank you, Rogers.
Follow-up: Rogers is lucky that my consumer pragmatism precludes me from abandoning existing cable services -- television, Internet -- out of spite; however, I will definitely think twice about going to Rogers Wireless for cellular service if and when the time comes. In the meantime, I wouldn't suggest that any of their pushy "but, sir, it's a great deal" cable reps come knocking at my door.
Follow-up: A week later and a question lingers in my mind (besides the obvious "Why did Rogers do this to us?"): robbed of the cachet and promotional power of an alt/new-rock station -- rival-turned-heir-presumptive The BEAR and its tagline, "Ottawa's best rock mix," fall short of XFM and "new rock alternative" respectively -- how will Ottawa fare on the concert circuit?
Follow-up: I realize that Algonquin College's CKDJ (107.9 FM) is hoping to court the city's alt/new-rock disenfranchised -- judging from the station manager's January 15 letter to OttawaStart -- but we shouldn't have to stoop to an amateur station (no offense to the Radio Broadcasting students running it) catering to 17- to 24-year-olds and featuring a partially hip-hop playlist. To do so would be tantamount to declaring our older, non-urban-music-appreciating demographic irrelevant. Pardon me while I extend my middle finger to that notion (and to Rogers for good measure).
Follow-up: Silly question, but why did I just watch an XFM commercial, produced by Rogers, on Rogers cable, ten days after the station's demise at the hands of -- you guessed it -- Rogers? (Even if you're not paying attention during a commercial break, it's hard to miss the telltale "Imagine" slogan and three-note chime at the end of one of its ubiquitous ads.) Combine that with the fact that the company's Web page has yet to be updated -- XFM and Y105 are still on the list of Ontario radio stations -- and you have corporate lameness at its finest. Ladies and gentlemen of the board, you suck; what's more, you owe Orwell and me an apology -- XFM isn't the unstation it was recently thought to be.
Follow-up: I know it's only been a week and a half since the Great Alt/New-Rock Chair-Bending of 2004 -- rogered by Rogers -- but The BEAR's playlist is sapping my will to live. The rest of my car radio's music-station presets -- in order of likability: CHEZ 106, 93.9 BOB FM, KISS FM, and another newcomer, 92.3 JACK FM (Country 92's "playing what we want"-mottoed replacement) -- aren't helping much, either. There have been times during my commute when I've actually resorted to -- gasp! -- CBC Radio One. (And yes, I have been giving Algonquin's CKDJ a try; so far, though, it's been too hip-hop for my taste. Dead air isn't fun to listen to, either.)
Follow-up: Proof positive that Ottawa is now the ninth circle of radio hell: the Paul Shaffer-led CBS Orchestra on the Late Show with David Letterman plays more Tool than The BEAR does. (Sadly, there's nothing divinely comedic about Rogers' treason.)
Follow-up: A month later and I've come to realize that having to push radio presets ad nauseam -- safe driving permitting, of course -- to find decent music to listen to is just as, if not more, frustrating than traffic, red lights, and other drivers combined. Even more frustrating is starting every trip hopeful that Ottawa's new radio landscape will lift my spirits with songs I enjoy, only to end most trips disappointed and sullen. (It's any wonder my teeth have enamel left what with all the gritting caused by Rogers of late.)
Follow-up: Yes, there is a death-of-XFM angle to 101.5 The Fox's mid-February airwave encroachment and media campaign.
Follow-up: During my visit to Toronto in early June, I had the pleasure, nay, joy of listening to 102.1 The Edge on the car radio; never was there a bigger reminder of how much Ottawa radio sucks since those bastards at Rogers took XFM away.
Follow-up: Ottawa has been an alt/new-rock black hole for six months now. (Sorry, but The BEAR just doesn't cut it.) What I want to know is, why hasn't a media company challenged the Rogers-CHUM Limited-Standard Radio triad and filled the void with a new English-language radio station? I would have thought that The Edge's parent company, Corus Entertainment, would have seized the opportunity to expand into Canada's fourth largest metropolitan area. (Although, I'm not sure how long these things take, especially with the CRTC involved; for all I know, the process is already underway.) Trust me when I say that there's a ready-made audience here, just as in Toronto, for the sort of kick-ass playlist, rockin' energy, and badass 'tude (pardon my hip lingo) that comes with an Edge-style station.
posted by media_dystopia @ 23:16 [ link | top | home ]
Friday, January 09, 2004
A great moment of Canadian journalistic understatement. Once again, hearty-chuckle-of-the-day honors go to CTV News, this time for its report on Rideau Hall's new $91,000 rug, in which correspondent Roger Smith used the line, "...but fears were that thicker pile might cause dignitaries to trip, like George Bush did, albeit on a bare floor...." There is absolutely nothing I can add to this.
posted by media_dystopia @ 23:35 [ link | top | home ]
Pifko has piqued my interest. With all the recent ads for CBC mini-series Human Cargo (which I missed) and soon-to-debut series This is Wonderland, I've become intrigued with Canadian actress Cara Pifko. She's beautiful, yes, but there's also something else about her -- something indescribable -- that's caught my eye. And, in what will surely make some CBC exec's day, my curiosity demands that I tune in to her new show -- I need to put my finger on her je ne sais quoi. (Said sheepishly, of course.)
Follow-up: I did indeed watch the January 12 premiere of This is Wonderland, and what's more, I enjoyed it immensely. Cara Pifko is very entertaining and engaging. She's just as indescribably intriguing as before, but at least now I know that she has a great voice and beautiful eyes. (It's the little things that count.)
Follow-up: An addendum to infuse some giddiness into the folks at CBC, especially those responsible for the stylish promotion of its new Monday-night lineup: I also watched the premiere of Rick Mercer's Monday Report -- Canada's master of sardonic wit and thought-provoking satire is back where he belongs, grabbing the headlines by the balls -- and the season premiere of the ever-amusing The Newsroom. In terms of my viewership, January 12 was a banner day for CBC, especially now that I'm planning to tune in every Monday night. (You're welcome.)
Follow-up: And now to make them blush: This is Wonderland is thoroughly entertaining; its wonderful ensemble cast and great writing make it a joy to watch. I've been tuning in to the show -- and having a fun time doing it -- since it premiered a month and a half ago, although it took less time than that to realize that it puts most U.S. network shows to shame. Kudos, CBC.
posted by media_dystopia @ 04:23 [ link | top | home ]
Thursday, January 08, 2004
Full throttle the director, please. I finally sat through Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. I rented it with friends, okay? It's all we could agree on -- honest! Get off my case!
Besides, every once in a while, it's good to watch a film that makes you shake your head, groan, cringe, and mutter, "Make it stop. Please, I beg you, make it stop." (Better yet, one that makes you do all that at the same time.) Movies like that -- like tonight's -- make all the others seem palatable. Well, sometimes. Most of the time, though, they just make you wish that your friends hadn't laughed at you when you suggested that romantic comedy a few aisles over. Sigh.
Next on my rent-and-lament list: Gigli. (Why yes, sadomasochism does run in my family.)
posted by media_dystopia @ 23:47 [ link | top | home ]
Wednesday, January 07, 2004
Who says Canadians have to be bullish on Bullard? It's not just Global TV versus CTV. It's not just The Mike Bullard Show versus The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. "It's Canada versus the United States as Jon Stewart and Mike Bullard go head-to-head," according to TV Guide's January 10-16 cover story. (The Canadian edition, of course. Americans are asking, "Mike who?")
However, there's a problem with playing the patriotism card in this case: one comic-turned-talk-show-host is funnier than the other, and it isn't the Canadian. I gave up on CTV's Open Mike with Mike Bullard a long time ago, and have no intention of watching its reincarnation on Global TV. It's gotten to the point where I think a lot of Bullard's humor is just plain lame; in fact, I can't stand it most the time.
Meanwhile, Jon Stewart the rest of The Daily Show cast -- including Toronto native Samantha Bee -- are flat-out, laugh-out-loud, almost-piss-myself-laughing hilarious. I applaud CTV's decision to add the irreverent show to its late-night schedule; moreover, it gives me a sense of satisfaction knowing that the network gave it Mike Bullard's old time slot.
Follow-up: Two months later and Mike Bullard is out of a job. What can I say, I'm tearing up -- no, wait, it's just my allergies.
posted by media_dystopia @ 23:48 [ link | top | home ]
Sunday, January 04, 2004
She makes sure the spirits are poured right. Next time you're in Cambridge, Ontario, be sure to visit 19th-century-post-office-turned-Irish-pub Fiddler's Green (12 1/2 Water Street; 519-622-5270), overlooking the picturesque Grand River.
My first visit to the haunted establishment was truly delightful, despite not meeting resident ghost Emily -- perhaps I didn't drink enough -- who I hope is just as charming, courteous, and beautiful as the female staff. (Although I doubt her brand of ethereal placemat-moving is the sort of service the corporeal management had in mind.) If the pub's paranormal offerings aren't to your taste, there's always the great food, cozy atmosphere, live music -- multi-genre, no less -- unique architecture, and nice view (in addition to the waitresses).
That's my gratuitous plug (and pun) for the day.
posted by media_dystopia @ 20:45 [ link | top | home ]
Hyphenate this. My latest grammatical obsession: the hyphenation of compound adjectives composed of non-"ly"-ending adverbs followed by adjectives (e.g. "oft-contrarian" from the December 22 post), and of compound nouns composed of nouns followed by present participles (e.g. "Canuck-bashing" from the December 3 post).
As usual, my late-night foray into the stylistic quagmire that is the English language ended in me clawing at my face and wallowing in confusion. After an aggravating online search for definitive answers -- there aren't any -- I turned to Merriam-Webster Unabridged's style guide (the closest thing I have to "authoritative" while on the road), only to find that it was equally ambiguous at times.
And then there's the edit creep; it's not uncommon for my traveling to result in it, where posts -- including this and the next one -- end up stuck in an editing holding pattern for days. Problem is, editing is hard enough to do without having to stop and ask, "Is this right?" A question like that means butting heads with all sorts of contradictory usage "rules," and that, in turn, means further delays in pushing the "Publish Your Post" button.
Follow-up: I've since gone through the entire blog and removed the hyphens from the aforementioned compound adjectives, with the exception of those in printed quotes -- they belong to other people's style. Of course, phrases like "ugly-dog clothing" and "friendly-fire incident" remain unchanged because the "ly"-ending word is an adjective, not an adverb. The oddball case is "early morning program" in that the "ly"-ending word can be either an adverb or an adjective; however, in this case, its meaning as the former is clear given the rest of the sentence, so the hyphen has been eliminated. (I also made sure that there were no cases of adverb "very" plus an adjective being used as a unit modifier and, therefore, being hyphenated.)
posted by media_dystopia @ 04:37 [ link | top | home ]
Thursday, January 01, 2004
Happy New Year! Resolutions? Of course Canada has resolutions: no SARS, no West Nile virus, no mad cow disease, no you're-either-with-us-or-against-us wars, no blackouts, no forest fires, no floods, no hurricanes, no...sigh...oh, sorry, the thought of another year like 2003 induced a momentary surge of despair. Don't worry, I'll be fine so long as I don't see or hear any newscasts in 2004.
(Said with the realization that residents of earthquake-stricken Bam, Iran, and other devastated or impoverished regions of the world would rather that Canadians kept their so-called "problems" to themselves.)
On a personal note, I resolve to stop instinctively double-tapping the space bar after every period and colon. Not that I need New Year's to make resolutions, mind you; the fact that I chose the end of one year and start of another to rue the lasting effects of Grade 9 typing -- yes, using a typewriter -- is mere coincidence. (Whoever told me that course would help me in the long run was full of shit.)
Follow-up: Amazingly, it took less than a month to undo 15 years of double-tapping indoctrination; in fact, extra spaces have become intolerable aberrations.
posted by media_dystopia @ 04:23 [ link | top | home ]