1,076 thoughts on “Scroll n’ Easy”

    • That really sucks. The Hip is one of my favorite bands. During an Earbuds segment with Lo, I traded a Hip song with him.

    • I’ve never been that familiar with their music, but I know they’re a huge source of pride for Canadians – – possibly on the level of Rush. Sad news indeed. Fuck cancers.

  17. Here’s a funny one.
    Just hearing that Congress took 1.3 billion from the TSA, money that had been raised by placing “fees” on every plane ticket sold, a fee justified as the way to pay for the TSA screening program … and instead of using that money to hire more TSA screeners they spent it to pay down the National Debt.
    Hilarious.
    Because raising taxes to pay down the National Debt is heresy. Raising a tax on airline travelers but calling it a FEE and saying it is for security but THEN diverting the money to pay down the Debt … why that isn’t raising taxes at all.
    Just something to ponder next time you are waiting in line at a TSA checkpoint.

  19. Kitty goes to the vet for a weigh in. I blame hubby for the fact she has become so large, and for the fact she hasn’t lost any of it.

    Me: Why is there so much food in the cat dish?
    Hubby: It was empty and she looked hungry

    Me: Did you only give her two bedtime treats
    Hubby: I gave her two…ish
    Me: Twoish?
    Hubby: There were two in it…
    Me: *sigh*

  20. the following is an email subject line I found in my inbox

    “I’d wear these at night.” –Corey Hart

    I found it amusing. I wondered how many people actually got it.

    • Show that Bozo the curb!

      I added something that rhymes with Pactronian to the music “box”. Hopefully that will bring a little joy to your day.

  23. So it appears a lot of fans aren’t happy Marvel turned Captain America into a Hydra Nazi.

    The creators of Captain America were Jewish, so still too soon Marvel I guess.

  25. So the older Draconian album “A Rose for the Apocalypse” is pretty great. The female singer isn’t as good as Heike, but I like the death metal vocals better than on “Sovran”. Reminds me of the early In Flames’ album “Colony”.

    • As someone who works in the publishing business, and, through my con connections, deals with authors of all types, some of her points are valid, though not all.

      Women writers are not as left behind as they use to be (think James Tiptree). But, that in no way means they are considered on the same level as most male writers. I liken this to the whole female vs. male payscale, regardless of what industry you are in.

      Speaking of pay, not all of the issue is female vs. male. In the writing industry, very few make enough to actually live on. And of those, even fewer make above a minimum living wage. This has nothing to do with gender, but more of the industry itself. They aren’t all Stephen Kings or J.K. Rowlings. This is similar to any of the arts such as acting, painting, etc.

      To achieve even a modicum of success, you have to be able to be a shameless self promoter. Again, nothing to do with gender, it’s more about making yourself heard in a sea of voices. We have an author who refuses to do self promotion. He is of the opinion that the publisher does all the promotion and he doesn’t have to do any, and his sales suffer for it. I don’t care how big, or small, a publishing company you are with, you will end up doing 90% of your own promotion if you want to get any sales. A good example of this is Robert J. Saywer. I knew him in his early days before he was the A-List writer he is now. He was constantly doing cons, talks, basically everything he could to get his name out there. Even now, when he probably doesn’t need to do it as much, he still is his own best advertiser.

      … I could go on but I’ll leave it at that, with one last thought: Tyche makes a point of seeking out either female authors, or stories with female protagonists. While we aren’t 100% we are around 90% female either writer or protagonist.

      OK, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

  27. Morning Pan

    I was doing some cleaning yesterday and found a half bottle of Sambuca. Hubby and I cannot remember when we bought it. Several years ago at least. I think I need to clean my cupboards more often.

    • That was an excellent essay, Bunny. You said it really well. I’d never try to make any claims that sexism is a thing of the past (hello, Sad Puppies, Mad Max Fury Road, Star Wars VII, Ghostbusters 2016, etc), but I’d point out one thing:

      The top-selling authors of the 2000s (at least as of a few years ago) are all women. Last I saw, Terry Pratchett was the only male author at the top of the charts, alongside JK Rowling, Stephanie Meyer, and some other mainstream female authors. This is a positive step toward diversity and better art in the long run.

  31. Finally Got to see Captain America – Civil War.
    It was okay.
    I was never a fan of the – Super Hero “A” vs Super Hero “B” genre of comics and now that it is on the screen … seems it is still not my thing.

    SLIGHTLY SPOILER-ISH
    The “Tony Stark suddenly gets a conscience” thing never became believable to me. I wish they had played it up as “Tony Stark wants to sign away the responsibility for the consequences of his actions. He still wants to reign destruction but have the culpability to blame it on those who sent him.”
    I think this would have been very much in his already established character.

  32. Also, as I over heard someone else say, “Rogers and the niece couldn’t have seemed more contrived. Bucky had more chemistry with those plumbs than Rogers had with Agent Carter’s niece.”

      • Did like the buddies reaction.
        The throw away moments and lines may have been the best parts.
        Stark yelling “Hey! Under-roos!” was fun.
        I also liked the way Spidey and Ant Man were all “Fan Boy” with Captain America and Iron Man.

  33. Ummm. So I recorded a movie named Sleeping Beauty from our local movie channel. It didn’t have a write up. That should have been my first clue. I seemed to have recoded a porno. While I have nothing against it, a little heads up would have been nice. Not so much for me (hubby and I will probably watch it together at another date) but surely at least a rating would be good for those who have kids. I can see some mom recording it for their kid. Hilarity would ensue

  41. So it looks like we’re going to see Repo Man on a big screen at some barcade tonight. Tiffany missed the RepoPalooza, so this will be her first time seeing it (I’ve already warned her).

  52. So Sony lists the requirements for remote play of a PS4 as a minimum of Intel i5.

    Installed the software n my puny Netbook and it worked quite well.

    Way to go AMD.

    • To this, I say the same thing I do about all coffee makers. How can you make a perfect cup of coffee when everybody’s opinion is different on what a perfect cup of coffee is? I actually know a person who prefers their coffee after it’s been sitting in a pot for some time. I call it sludge, he calls it “the perfect cup of coffee”.

  60. Morning Pan

    Had a very busy weekend. Expecting a busy week. I also have to find time to do some sewing this week, I’m way behind.

    Sometime this month, I should clean out all the junk from the guest room. It’s amazing how much crap ends up piled up in a room that’s only used a couple times a year.

    • I really don’t get this recent phase of advertising. On the front page of this web site, I see that it has groundbreaking technology, what kind of technology goes into it, what the dimensions are, how it compares in size to thermos, then how it compares in price to a stove, that it has “clever ergonomics”, and even an FAQ page listing where it can be purchased, how portable it is, etc. Know the one thing that frond page doesn’t tell me? What the $%@# is this goddamned thing? Let’s just hope they didn’t combine it with my other least favorite advertising gimmick… the billboard with just a name and web site trying to peak your interest.

  69. Meanwhile Captain America 3 passes 1billion worldwide after 25 days in release. There’s something to be said about proper story telling and presenting characters properly. When it comes to super hero film, make mine Marvel.

  74. I may have committed a faux pas.

    I mailed the postcard from my home town today.

    Was I just suspose to bring it to Phoenix?

  76. Moving in 11 days, and heading on tour in China in two weeks. Crazy times. So far: Ningbo, Shanghai, Wuhan, Changsha. I’ll try and report through the chinese firewall when I am there.

  77. The weight restrictions on hand luggage the Air Canada flight to Phoenix are really going to
    Kick my ass this year.

    Will have to use a smaller bag and find a laundromat.

  78. ditto that SPC ECO album is pretty darn good. I will say theres a lot more electronica than Im used to ESPECIALLY when it comes to shoegaze but that makes it interesting. Her voice is amazing, almost a sweeter version of Miki from Lush.

    • There was recently a case (I think in Texas) were they had decided to try a Teenager as an adult for having nude pictures of an underage kid on his phone.
      The pictures were selfies he took.

      Besides the fact that he was being considered both the victim AND the perpetrator … he is being classified by the legal system as simultaneously being a minor AND an adult.

      It boggles the mind.

  82. On reflection, telling the young wAitress at the coffee shop that her tattoo on her arm was an image from My Neighbor Totoro was not a good idea.

    I got the creep look.

  83. Morning Pan

    Today we decided which of two homes we want to place an offer on. Decisions, decisions.

    (BTW Van, we’re looking at an end of July possession date so will not affect your visit one whit… I guess I should start thinking of an itinerary)

  86. Putting this out there. I would like to visit the Grand Canyon while out in Phoenix. It’s on my bucket list. It sounds like Van is interested too. The trips can be up to 13 hours depending on where we visit and how. The best options are Friday before the party or Sunday. Is there anyone else interested in going before I look at more details?

  87. So I’m being “left in charge” of my unit at work for the next several days and I take great pride in that and have puffed up my feathers. Go (career woman) Me!

  93. And, I don’t think I’ll be making the Grand Canyon this trip either. I’ll be coming in Friday afternoon and most likely leaving Sunday evening.

    That said, it is most impressive and definitely worth a visit.

  95. Well, will you look at that. It looks like we bought a new home. (not the one I linked to earlier, that house was just stupidly set up in reality)

    What I’d like to know is how we went from, “Our house needs some major work” to “Let’s buy a new one”. *shakes head*

  107. We listened to quite a bit of the “Top 500 Songs” thing that our local Classic Rock station did over the weekend. I haven’t heard this kind of thing in ages, but the Classic Rock stations in NY also used to do this gimmick every Memorial Day, back in the 80s, 90s, and early 00s. The #1 song was pretty much almost always “Stairway to Heaven,” with “Satisfaction” and “Born To Run” at #2 and #3.

    We didn’t catch the top 3 live this year, but the station posted the total list on their site. I recognize these kinds of things are designed to stir debate. . . but. . Really? Have things changed that much in the past 10-15 years? Fucking “Sweet Emotion” was #1? Really?

    http://kslx.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/AZ-500-list-1-500.pdf

    • I heard a similar list of songs years back on a KC radio station. They advertised that their number one song wouldn’t be “Stairway”, which ended up being #2. The number one rock song of all time was “Enter Sandman”.

    • He was a regular in a Scottsdale restaurant in his old age, and was supposedly the nicest guy. He definitely made his mar on the twentieth century. RIP

  112. If you like the idea of an extended fan fiction letter to the works of Arthur C Clarke then you may enjoy ‘The Medusa Chronicles’ by Alastair Reynolds and Stephen Baxter.

  120. Crap joke for the day:

    Paddy says to Mick, “I’m getting circumcised tomorrow”. Mick says, I had that done when I was a few days old.! Paddy asks, does it hurt? Mick replies, “well I couldn’t walk for about a year”…!!!

  134. So that Ready Player One was a super fun read. . . But. . . I also felt like I was being pandered to, with the overload of references and geek wish-fulfillment. I have more spoilery thoughts on it, but you’ll most likely read the book yourself or see the movie, when it comes out.

  136. Crap joke for the day;
    Noticing this, a policeman stopped her, and said, “Ma’am, there are $20 bills falling out of that bag.”

    “Oh, really? Darn it!” said the little old lady. “I’d better go back and see if I can find them. Thanks for telling me officer.

    “Well, now, not so fast,” said the cop.“Where did you get all that money? You didn’t steal it, did you?”

    “Oh, no, no”, said the old lady. “You see, my back yard is right next to a Golf course.

    A lot of Golfers come and pee through a knot hole in my fence, right into my flower Garden. It used to really tick me off. Kills the flowers, you know. Then I thought, ‘why not make the best of it?

    So, now, I stand behind the fence by the knot hole, real quiet, with my hedge clippers.

    Every time some guy sticks his thing through my fence, I surprise him, grab hold of it and say, ‘O.K., buddy! Give me $20, or off it comes.’

    “Well, that seems only fair,” said the cop, laughing. “OK. Good luck! Oh, by the way, what’s in the other bag?”

    “Not everybody pays.”

  139. Another highlight from Phoenix Comicon was when we were riding the down escalator and my daughter high fived seven Deadpools riding the up escalator.

  140. Our first (and super awesome) wedding postcard arrived to The States safely!

    Van– your postcard is PERFECT! We also really enjoy the Postmark on it! Thank You for sending it early and I bet now that you don’t have to carry it on the plane, you will not be charged any over-the-weight-limit fees! ftw

  143. Spotted on FB:

    Here’s what was released in the first five months of 1976:
    Peter Frampton Comes Alive
    David Bowie Station to Station
    Heart Dreamboat Annie
    Mahavishnu Orchestra Inner Worlds
    Journey Look Into the Future
    Be Bop Deluxe Sunburst Finish
    Starcastle Starcastle
    Ramones Ramones
    Genesis A Trick of the Tail
    Bad Company Run with the Pack
    Lynyrd Skynyrd Gimme Back my Bullets
    Kiss Destroyer
    Doobie Brothers Takin’ it to the Streets
    Judas Priest Sad Wings of Destiny
    Wings at the Speed of Sound
    Thin Lizzy Jailbreak
    Camel Moonmadness
    Led Zeppelin Presence
    Nazareth Close Enough for Rock and Roll
    Joe Walsh You Can’t Argue with a Sick Mind
    Rush 2112
    VdGG Still Life
    Bob Seger Live Bullit
    Jeff Beck Wired
    Rolling Stones Black n Blue
    Jethro Tull Too Old to Rock and Roll
    Gentle Giant Interview
    Aerosmith Rocks
    Pat Travers Pat Travers
    Rainbow Rising
    UFO No Heavy Petting
    Steely Dan The Royal Scam
    AC/DC High Voltage
    BOC Agents of Fortune
    Steve Miller Fly Like an Eagle
    Alan Parsons Tales of Mystery and Imagination

    • He appears to have forgotten that the good old days were nothing of the sort.

      Just go and learn about how the Victorians would adulterate basic foods with all sorts of crap.

    • This sounds like a super cranky old person rambling. Seriously? At what point did any real person only eat potato chips made by the Amish in their youth? Is this person 150 years old? It’s a bit over the top. I agree that we should eat more foods that we make from scratch ourselves… but extremist diets like this take a kind of dedication that 99% of the population simply can’t handle.

      Also, it would cut out beer, cheese, and bacon (all labeled foods) from my life. There’s not a snowballs chance in hell those things are going away.

      • My take on that philosophical diet approach would absolutely allow for bacon, beer, and cheese, although maybe not Bac-Os(TM), Bud Light, and individually-wrapped Velveeta singles. My take:

        Try to eat more foods with simple ingredient lists. Eat fewer foods with long ingredient lists which include a bunch of 10-syllable words.

        — Maybe I’m willfully misinterpreting his words to suit my own feelings. I think he also said we should invest more in the space program and establish Martian colonies by 2020.

  151. So I’m listening to the latest to the latest Tegan and Sara album.

    It’s nice enough I guess.

    I’ll get my coat.

  154. Crap joke for the day:

    My gran rang this morning to tell me that my 98 year old grandad had just died. I rushed round to comfort her, and over a cup of tea she told me that he had died during their usual Sunday morning sex session…..
    Aghast that they were still at it, she reassured me that they took it nice and gentle, to the rhythm of the church bells. “In on the ding, out on the dong,” she said. “And he’d still be alive if the fucking ice cream van hadn’t come round…”

    • Agreed. I’ve seen this in action.
      I can recall in my early 20’s, not having cable TV and there was no internet (gasp), actually putting an album on to listen to. Not as background music for what ever else I was doing. I’d put it on and lay by the stereo looking at the cover art and reading the liner notes as I listened.
      Can’t remember the last time I took the luxury of doing that. Actually, Now I don’t know how long I could JUST listen without feeling the need to multi-task. :/

      • I recall the days when a song – – or hell, even a riff inside of a song – – or hell, a soulful moment in a guitar solo – – could feel like it was instilled with great importance.

        Now, all music is seen as disposable. The most inspired, brilliant phrasing is met with blank indifference – – or at best, its song gets a couple of Thumbs Up in some social media space.

  162. Should I get money exchanged now or wait for the result of the away referendum, which will probably have a big hit in the exchange rate.

    Hmmmm..

  165. JW: season 4 finale of The Americans

    A bit disappointing that it was basically a setup for S5, but it’s been a ‘fun’ ride this season.

    • I thought it worked well not pushing the typical “dun dun DUNNNN!” cliff hanger. They’ve been confirmed for two more seasons, so they don’t really need to rely on such tricks at this point.

      I enjoyed the season and thought it made for some solid and compelling story telling. Though, the body count (at least in getting rid of characters one way or another) was extremely high.

      Good night, John Boy….

  178. On a more trivial note got the dreaded price rise email from Netflix.

    Went SD, I sit far enough away from the to not to notice..

  179. These mass shootings that happen here have been labeled as terrorist attacks, rather than domestic violence attacks. Could that be why no one thinks about the gun control and mental illness connection?

    So sad that two separate attacks in Orlando in two days are being viewed from different perspectives, and yet they each yielded the same end result.

    • Mental illness is the greatest problem in the world today, but its link to gun control is complex. We’re decades away from sensible gun control in the U.S., even further in the world. It’s the same for proper, serious mental health treatment, believe me.

      We’ve got to get shit started in this generation, though. We’ll never see legitimate change, but maybe our grandchildren will.

    • Doubt this was mental illness. This was cold, calculating, and he was ‘educated’ by the wrong people whomever those people end up being.

      • In my book, homicidal hate is always a mental illness. Maybe not the same flavor as Depression or schizophrenia … but an aberrance in mental processing none the less.

        Here is a philosophical point for consideration. While this murderer’s connection with a non-domestic terror group remains to be seen, let’s postulate for a moment that he WAS motivated by ISIS. No amount of increase in military spending, or massive deployment of US troops to the middle east or even “Nuking” of some unfortunate foreign country could have stopped this. He was an individual with a fukd up head and a sense of morality that said random KILLING of other human beings is A-OK.
        I just don’t see a military solution to this. This sort of “attack” is an individual who has seen this work, has seen the endless news coverage it generates – and suddenly feels empowered at the thought of copying these actions.

        How do we even begin to put this genie back in the bottle?

  185. Considering the current high exchange rate pound/Canadian dollar, might be better to just get all Canadian dollars and then convert the unused dollars to US (since that is almost one to one).

    Hmmmmm.

    • I remember taking some out of town guests to Banff once. On the side of the road was a bear. A number of tourists stopped to take pictures. Among them was one group of Japanese tourists who had young kids. They were encouraging the kids to get closer to the bear so they could get a good picture. As we were watching, I was imagining the headlines on the news. Luckily for them, the bear didn’t actually attack. A lot of people seem to forget that, even though you see a bear in a populated area, it is still a wild animal. It’s name isn’t Ben, and it is not gentle.

      *shakes head at the stupidity of people*

  192. Crap mini joke for the day:

    Q.What do you call a man with 2 birds of prey, vacuuming with the light out?

    A. Hawk Kestrel Man Hoovers in the Dark

  193. Flying to Ningbo via shanghai and beijing for the tour. Anyone have any dinner suggestions in any of these places?

    17 | AD-LIB | NINGBO
    18 | ELEVATOR | SHANGHAI
    22 | TO IBIZA! | CHANGSHA
    24 | TBC | GUILIN
    25 | GENIUS PARTY | WUHAN
    26 | STRAWBERRY MUSIC FESTIVAL | CHANGSHA
    01 | DB+M | DALI
    02 | BANG CLUB | SHENZHEN

  194. Comment of the day from The Onion:
    “Yes because what definitely would have prevented this tragedy is mostly drunk people with guns returning fire in a dimly lit nightclub. I can’t see that going wrong at all.”

    • I’m a little nostalgic now. I wonder where the author lives in NJ. Diners are a different kind of thing there than the rest of the U.S. They’re really state institutions; my first breakfast when I went back last year was at a diner.

      The food is never very good, it’s downright awful at a bad one, but they’re often social destinations, more than culinary experiences. I can’t tell you how many late evenings in the 90s I spent with friends over bland fries and club sandwiches at those places.

  208. My work computer’s anti virus software is reporting some trojan virus on the Deadpan site. Not sure if that is causing issues for others.

    • So, the first hit on this page gives me the warning. I don’t have a problem when visiting the feed page.

      Looking at the page source, there’s some odd stuff, but I don’t know for sure what belongs and what doesn’t. The XML Friends Network looks benign but pointless. I’m not sure what bellevuehigh62.com, but jQuery seems a popular point of attack nowadays.

  213. It looks like Tony did some updates. I’ve done some digging around too, but I haven’t been able to find the offending files. Meh.

  216. Crap joke for the day:

    A policeman caught a nasty little boy with a bb gun in one hand and a raccoon in the other. “Now Listen here,” the policeman said, “Whatever you do to that poor, defenseless creature I shall personally do to you” “In that case,” said the boy. “I’ll kiss it’s butt and let it go”

  217. So I’m listening to the audio book version of ‘A Canticle for Leibowitz’.

    I remembered more of the book’d plot than I thought I would.

    The narration brought out humour that I completely failed to recognise when I first read the book in the 90’s.

    It’s still a rather serious book…

  224. In answer to Van’s question, today’s movie is The Visit (the only one on my DVR at the moment)

    The DVR writeup: A teen and her young brother discover a shocking secret about their seemingly charming grandparents while staying at their remote Pennsylvania farm

  225. I rallies this movie was more… “Mainstream” as far as theatre release goes so I’m going to make this PBP as vague as possible. If you watch this movie, see if you can figure out what scene I’m referring to

  322. If you kneel before your god in prayer
    But do not cry for those who died;
    If you raise your voice in hymns of praise
    But cast the plight of others aside;
    Then I call you false, your religion lies
    To you, and tempts with ephemeral prize.
    If you say the words from mouth not heart
    And close your ears to pain;
    If you play along, but not your part
    Then you’re a traitor to the game;
    For all faiths preach of hope and love
    And of kindness done for a god above.
    It matters not what faith you claim
    The central core is just the same.
    -2ndWitch

  324. I think, when I clean the washroom today, I’ll also do the guest washroom. That way it’s done and I don’t have to worry about it in two weeks when I have a very special guest

  325. Hmmm. I must have cleaned the guest washroom some time between now and when I last had guests. It seemed pretty spic and span already

  331. Crap joke for the day:

    A guy finds his dog with the neighbor’s pet rabbit in its mouth. The rabbit is dead and the guy panics. He takes the dirty, chewed up rabbit into the house. He gives it a bath, blow dries its fur, and puts it back into the cage at the neighbor’s house, hoping they will think it died of natural causes. A few days later, the neighbor asks the guy, “Did you hear that Fluffy died?” The guy stammers and says, “Um… no… what happened?” The neighbor replies, “We found him dead in his cage one day, but the weird thing is that the day after we buried him, someone had dug him up, gave him a bath and put him back into the cage. There are some real sick people out there!”

  332. Frustration:

    Trying to sign in to a sisters email account as she’s forgotten the password, the phone number linked to the account and the answers to the security questions….