h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm in this mood of dropping by homepages of people I've sort of run into before, particularly if I notice names on the user list.

So hi. How are things?

I'm all right, a little tired from going out dancing last night, but pretty good. How are you?

Hehe, sorry about that! Didn't expect such the turn around reply, and I wasn't sticking around here at that point. Anyway, I'm okay, thanks.

Erm, I'm curious what prompted you to tack on the "Ugly American" suffix? Sounds like some forum thread gone bad.

What's funny is that I got off right after I posted that, too.

My name addition is because of the jerks on this Danger Mouse mailing list. I got on it because I happen to haved loved DM when I was little, but almost everyone on there was talking bad about Americans. And after I put something on there about how they didn't know how every American was and they should be more open minded, they accused me of putting guilt trips on them and said other rude things. And Ugly American is the title of a punk rock song.

Just another day at h2g2 then. Oh, sounds like you're talking about something not h2g2-related, but it just as easily could be, it seems much of the time. I know there was some Danger Mouse discussion going on here recently, but since I never saw DM it doesn't hold much interest for me.

Song title, ah, well, that just exposes my limited depth of knowledge in music.

It's not something from here. Everyone at Bring Back Danger Mouse is really nice. And even when people here do say bigoted things about Americans, they aren't half as mean as the people on that list are. The guy who started BBDM even put a message on that list repremanding those jerks.

What music do you listen to?

Oh, that's good to hear then. Well, good about here, bad about that list.

I'm neglecting music at the moment. I haven't bought near the amount of CDs that I used to, and I don't go seeking out MP3s. The last band I got particularly excited about was Ben Fold Five. They're the favorite of the moment for me, I guess.

Well what about previously? I rarely listen to music of the moment. Even though I'm listening to Beck's latest as we speak (or should I say type {or should I type 'type type'?}).

Haha, I'm with you there. I meant my favorite of the moment. Generally it's past everyone else's moments.

I keep meaning to buy some of Beck's stuff. Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out how much I've come to like certain music, and buying it hasn't been a huge priority recently. I guess it's good that I don't instantly think of Amazon in these cases, or it would drain my money quite quickly. With DVD movies on the other hand...

Okay, how about this, stuff I've put on recent tapes (though recent is beginning to be a misnomer, one of them being about a year old, but then in that year I've only bought a few CDs) in no particular order:

Ben Folds, Cure, U2, Connells, Billy Joel, Sugar, New Order, Blues Traveler, Enya, Enigma, Cranberries, Insprial Carpets, Wonder Stuff, Peter Gabriel, Heather Nova, James, Loreena McKennitt, Rush, Sarah McLachlan, Dramarama, Origin, Live, Catherine Wheel, Jennifer Trynin, Tom Petty...

Okay, do I sound "old" yet? (I'm 29, if that's old, then I might as well give up on everything. ) I have noticed that I've steered away from most harder stuff recently, but then I've basically steered into a lesser interest in music overall. I don't use it as background to everything else, for instance. When I listen, I often get really into it. Gimmee a set of headphones and I'll just sit there doing nothing other than listening to the music.

Anyway, enough babbling on that for now.

I had never felt the need to own any of Beck's stuff (even though I always liked it) until I saw the video for Sexx Laws and knew I had to have this cd. And I love it, I listened to it for about six hours in a row the day I got it.

Out of your list, this is the stuff I like:

Cure (I LOVE them, but I've never felt the need to own any of their stuff either,weird huh?), U2, New Order, Cranberries, Peter Gabriel, I really liked that one James song (what was it called?), and Tom Petty. And, even though this is kind of embarrassing for me, I really like Billy Joel.

I can't remember what Catherine Wheel sounds like, but didn't they have a popular (meaning they had a video played on 120 minutes) song around the same time as James?

I can go either way regarding how I like to listen to music. Sometimes I just immerse myself in it, but most of the time I like to have it as a background. Usually it's a mixture of both, like today I went shopping for books wearing headphones listening to Front 242. I was looking at stuff, but singing along listening intently at the same time. (Does this sound strange to you?)

I'll tell you how old I am, but I want you to guess first. I'm interested in how I come off to people, like whether I seem older or younger than I actually am.

Dunno which one James song, but anyway. I should note that for some of those in that list I really only might like one particular song (Live, for instance).

I have no idea who's popular when anymore. I've had a weird past several years of music influence by various people. I learned about some bands like Blues Traveler and Smashing Pumpkins a year or two before they got popular. Others I figure never really have been, or have faded quite fast when they were. And I don't watch videos. Ah, 120 minutes, yes, well, it's been ages since I've watched it anyway. Would you believe, no cable? The net has all but replaced tv watching for me.

By the way, I used to do that too, get embarrassed about what musicians I liked depending upon the crowd I was in. Advice: give it up, life's too short.

I don't think I should guess how old you are, because I probably gained enough info to get too close to the age back in the "why are guys guys" threads. I'm guessing 21 or 22, early 20s. Close?

You hit the nail right on the head. I'm 21 and turn 22 this July. I forgot if I ever said how old I was.

We're going to have to continue this conversation later though.

Good night.

Ah, I was thinking you had actually said or come close to it anyway. (Oddly enough, I have a stupid situation of my own that has gone I think much like the one you described, but I can't talk about it here for several reasons.)

Good night then.

Good job too. I generally find trying to keep up a semi-live conversation in these forums rather annoying. I've gotten to used to instant messaging apps these days.

Thanks for chatting, see you around

Er, too! I really really hate that. Sorry. Back to normal now.

What?

I'm sorry to hear about your 'situation'. If it is anything like mine it totally sucks.

I'm a little better now. The only thing that gets me is that I still have feelings for the bonehead. But, I've been here before and came out the other side, so I'm not that worried.

You said something a way back about DVD movies. What kinds of movies do you like? I'm a huge movie buff myself.

Or is that too personal?

I don't know how much it is like yours. Not entirely, I suppose, if I recall. And part of it is probably me being unrealistic. But anyway. As I said, I can't go on about it here because that wouldn't be fair.

Hehe, movies, well, it's not too personal as long as you're not going to go all film snob on me.

I got a DVD player in early January (for Christmas, essentially) and I own all of 5 movies in the format so far. So we have those: The Shawshank Redemption (an absolute favorite of mine), The Matrix, Witness, Aliens, The Right Stuff. I also particularly like all the Monty Python films, pretty much anything directed by Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys, The Fisher King, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, etc.) and all the Kevin Smith films (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma).

I dunno. Admittedly I don't watch nearly as many as some, but I don't run into movies I truly dislike very often. A few terrible ones I've had the displeasure of seeing in the past several years: Con Air, Speed 2, Species, Under Siege 2. Go back further and I've seen a few more bad ones.

I have what some might deem a strange affinity for the movie Hook.

Enough for a start at least.

I usually get a bit lost when people start talking lots of directors and actors that I'm not sure of. I find myself running for the IMDB.

So what does an admitted huge movie buff like?

Well, I like most of what you said first of all. Out of all of them, the only one that I haven't seen is The Right Stuff, and I only saw Witness once and that was a long time ago.

But I LOVE Shawshank Redemption, Terry Gilliam (if I was producing the HHGTTG movie, I'd want him to direct), Monty Python and Kevin Smith. And I really like all the Alien movies and I thought The Matrix was rad!

Other directors I like (it's easier for me to list this way) are:
Jim Jarmucsh (sp?)-Dead Man, Night On Earth, and the just released Ghost Dog (if you can see this, do so, it rules!)
John Waters-Pink Flamingos (not one of my particular faves), Desperate Living (one of my faves), Serial Mom, Cry Baby, Polyester, Pecker
Stanley Kubrick-2001, Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove (my fave Kubrick film, and my fave movie period at the moment)
And, last but not least (not really last either, just the last I''m going to mention now), Trey Parker-Cannibal the Musical, Orgazmo, and every South Park episode and the movie. I LOOOOOOVVVEEE Trey Parker!

I'm not the type to go film snob on people. I hate people who think they're intellectuals and analyze movies and think you're stupid if you don't. I ran into some guys in a chat room who were like that once and got upset.

However, there are some movies that if I watch them with a friend and they don't like them, my opinion of said friend goes way down. I'm talking about Cannibal the Musical here. It is a really silly movie and it is a musical, but a whole lot of the humor is actually very subtle and, dare I say, sophisticated.

I run into movies I don't like pretty often, but I can enjoy a movie on different levels so I like a lot of movies that other people don't. The last movie that I saw that I hated was Runaway Bride. My mother made me see that and Notting Hill (not a great movie, but infinately better thatn RB) on the same day!

And I also liked Hook quite a bit. But, I can't stand Robin Williams these days. I think he needs to pick better movies.

Hm, well, it seems to be my turn again, and I'm out of things to say at the moment. I'm supposed to be sleeping. I did go to sleep, slept from about 11 to 1, and I haven't really been able to sleep again since (it's now about 3:20). Think I have too many things on my mind, but I dunno how to get rid of them and just sleep! Right, enough of this misplaced journal entry anyway.

Good afternoon (for me anyway it's 3pm)!

Did you get some sleep last night?

I know how you felt. I'm a chronic insomniac myself.

I don't actually have that problem often. More likely I just stay up too late (1-2ish) and can't get up in the morning. I was awake until about 5:30, and then slept away the day. This is not good seeing as I'm supposed to go to work, but I'm still sick to a degree, and I can't convince myself that it's necessary for me to absolutely be there at any given time. (I usually wander in around 10ish and leave about 6 or 6:30. I'm paid on salary and don't need to keep a time log at all.)

This is obviously not good, though, and I'm intending to launch a job search as soon as later this week, or at the very latest next week. Putting together 8 years worth of resume stuff (the last time I changed employers was over 8 years ago) has been a real sticking point for me. That and it's just very comfy. But I'm sick of feeling like this and I'm sick of living here. (The idea is to move as well.)

So 3pm when you wrote that? What time zone, Central, yes? Actually I think I knew that too from something said ages ago. Weird the info I store What kind of schedule do you have to keep?