Apologies, again

I apologize, I had not realized what idiocy Tipsy had been putting up on our blog, or I would have stopped her. As it stands, I have been pulled from my fascinating reading about the artifacts of Tutankhamen's tomb that Deirdre and Miss Adrien have provided for me so that I might address this twaddle. Tipsy should have mentioned that Miss Caitlin was obliged to point out the grammar errors and ambiguities for her grammar class.

In the case of "Services for man who refused to hate Thursday in Atlanta," the mistake is that commonly, native speakers expect "hate" to have an object. "Thursday" and the prepositional phrase "in Atlanta" are actually being used adverbially to describe when the services are, and "to hate" is being used intransitively, but because of the expectation for an object, the noun phrase "Thursdays in Atlanta" appears to be filling that role.

"British Left Waffles on Falklands" This instance is purely lexical in ambiguity. The world "left" can be the past tense of the verb "to leave," or it can be a noun that means "liberal." Likewise, "waffles" might be the present tense for "to waffle," which means to be indecisive, or it can be a breakfast food that is tasty with fruit or ice cream. What the reader views to be the meaning of the sentence depends on which word the reader takes to be the verb.

"Prison warden says inmates may have 3 guns" The confusion of this sentence derives from the epistemic versus the deontic uses of the modal "may." "Might" causes similar problems, but "may" is more common in headlines as it is shorter. The epistemic meaning expresses possibility - the inmates could possible have gotten a hold of three guns. The deontic meaning is the one Tipsy latched on to - that an inmate is allowed to have three guns.

"Babies are What the Mother Eats" I must reluctantly agree with Tipsy on this one. The author seems to have been trying to play with the old adage "You are what you eat," but what results is pretty twisted.

"Sisters Reunited After 18 Years in Checkout Line at Supermarket" The confusion here (which should not be confusing, as the real meaning is transparent - no one spends 18 years in a checkout lane) is what are the prepositional phrases "in Checkout Line" and "at Supermarket" are a part of. The correct interpretation is that those to phrases, as well as "After 18 Years" are part of the verb phrase with "Reunited" at its head. The incorrect interpretation comes from making the prepositional phrases "in Checkout Line" and "at Supermarket" subordinate to "18 Years," creating a rediculously long noun phrase to be the object of the preposition "after."

"Ancestors of Apes, Humans May Have Originated in Asia" This is caused superficially by the deletion of the word "and" and instead inserting a comma between "Apes" and "Humans." This makes "Ancestors of Apes" seem like an appositive for humans. But even with the reinsertion of "and," there is still a confusion. (Ancestors of Apes) and (humans) is one interpretation, while Ancestors of (Apes and Humans), presumably the correct interpretation, is not readily obvious. The best solution is to insert "both" as well, to read, "Ancestors of Both Apes and Humans May Have Originated in Asia"

"Large Church Plans Collapse" This is the same error as the Falklands example - how you interpret "plans" and "collapse" as nouns or verbs. I refuse to go into it again.

"Crowds Rushing to See Pope Trample 6 to Death" I first want to point out that creating amusement at the expense of pious old men is a deplorable past time. The crux of the matter here is where the end of the prepositional phrase is. The answer is that it ends with "Pope" and "Trample" is the present tense main verb for the sentence. The incorrect answer is that "Trample 6 to Death" is a modified infinitive phrase with the subject "Pope," and that whole phrase is serving as the object of the preposition. Rushing, however, is not in the position to be the verb of the sentence; anyone should be able to see that it is introducing the participial phrase, "Rushing to See Pope."

I hope Tipsy does not waste anyone's time with something this silly again. I am going back to my research about Tutankhamen's tomb.

Tipsy Cow Eats Up Funny Headlines

Tee Hee. Cat has homework full of funny headlines. I thought I'd share.

"Services for man who refused to hate Thursday in Atlanta" Very noble of him, since I CANNOT STAND Thursdays in Atlanta.

"British Left Waffles on Falklands" Man! I want the British to leave me some waffles!

"Prison warden says inmates may have 3 guns" Well, that's nice of him. 3 a piece seems a little to generous to me but who am I to say anything? (We are free roving bovines, we roam free today!)

"Babies are What the Mother Eats" . . . Alright, whoever wrote this just needs to be shot.

"Sisters Reunited After 18 Years in Checkout Line at Supermarket" Is that a long time to stand looking at tabloids and candy displays or what?!

"Ancestors of Apes, Humans May Have Originated in Asia" Wait, I thought humans came from apes . . . Silly science people . . .

"Large Church Plans Collapse" I didn't know you could decide things like that in advance . . .

And you can never go wrong with Pope headlines: "Crowds Rushing to See Pope Trample 6 to Death" Aggressive Pope, I guess.

Soundtrack to the Movie of Cat's Life

I was scared that Seiran was going to die in Sauinkoku, but Stupidhead died instead so it's all good.

Clem got the play the DnD group's baby silver dragon. He has this to say: "I like game. My friends come to play. I like to be with friends. I helped my friends to play the game. I like game."

. . . So I guess while he fluently speaks pig (obviously), cow, sheep, and dog, Clem's English is a little rusty. Anyway, you can tell that Clem enjoyed socializing with Cat's friends - it always makes him happy.

So Adrien's rommy Kitty gave Cat a thing to figure out the "soundtrack to the movie of your life." You stick all the music on your comp on a playlist, hit the randomizer, and write the songs down in order into these categories. Cat did it three times and took the best, because she kept getting things that were totally wrong for a spot. Here's what it looked like.

Opening Credits: "Hey, That's no Way to Say Goodbye" by the Johnstons - a Leonard Cohen song not sung by Leonard Cohen - always appropriate for movie openings, but a little weak.
Waking up: "Raise the Roof" by Carbon Leaf - not the best Carbon Leaf song to wake up to, but a nice, peppy, solid one
First Day at School: "If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out" by Cat Stevens - Theme song of Harold and Maude, and an appropriate choice.
Falling in Love: This one came up with three good choices, so they all make it here: "New Horizons" by the Moody Blues, "Catch the Wind" by Donovan, and "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel.
Fight Song: "Story in Your Eyes" by the Moody Blues - possibly the best Moody Blues song for a fight scene, and an all around good choice: Nice beat, fast pace, sounds great loud.
Breaking Up: "Who Loves the Sun" by Velvet Underground - this is a song Cat didn't even know she had on her computer. Apparently it comes from the Soundtrack of High Fidelity - I don't remember hearing the song in the movie . . . hmm . . . anyway, it sounds really light and cheery, but has really sad lyrics. It'd make a real contrast between happy sound and sad action - make the audience feel uncomfortable - not a bad effect overall.
LIFE: "Stay Home" by Self - yeah Cat's lazy and introverted so this song makes pretty good sense here.
Mental Breakdown: "Fire and Rain" by James Taylor - not perfect for this category, but a lot better than the other choices.
Driving: "Losing my Religion" by REM - not the best driving tune by REM, but much better than the two traditional ballads that fell in this spot on the other lists - Cat reads to those; she'd fall asleep if she tried to drive to them!
Flashback: "I Don't Know Where I Stand" by Fairport Convention - this is a tricky spot, because it depends on what the flashback is off. This was the least weird choice for it . . .
Getting Back Together: "Coming Back to You" by Martin L. Gore - 'Nother Leonard-Cohen-Song-Not-Sung-By-Leonard-Cohen.
Wedding: "For My Lady" by the Moody Blues - third and last time they make it onto this list.
Birth of a Child: "Old Paint" by Loudon Wainwright III - apparently Mr. Cat's Dad sang this to her when she was a baby, so she was happy. Wonder if she'd be equally happy with a Christmas Carol, since he also sang those to her . . .
Final Battle: "Life" by Yui - This was an ending song for Bleach in the third season. It's not really rocking enough to really be a fight song (which made it lame as a end song for Bleach) but it's a cool song and all the other songs were worse.
Death: "Gaudete" by the Medieaval Baebes - this is actually a Christmas song in Latin about how we should rejoice that Jesus is born the the Virgin, but it's done a capella and with all sorts of harmony and it's real serious, so it makes a pretty sweet song to die to.
Funeral Song: "Let Your Troubles Role By" by Carbon Leaf - A pretty sweet song to have your funeral to.
End Credits: "Dover, Delaware" by the Duhks - It's soft and pretty, kinda thoughtful. It was the most appropriate for a movie that ends with a death (since apparently it does . . . Cat's).

These were all well and good, but I decided that I would make my own list, picking things out instead of doing things random.
Opening Credits: This is a tie (maybe the credits are long . . . ) "Don't be Shy" by Cat Stevens, and "Turn" by Great Big Sea - "Turn" is an awesome and pretty song; "Don't be Shy" was the opening to Harold and Maude, and not released as anything else for a long time after that, so most people would recognize it as that (if, you know, they recognized it at all), and then we could make Harold and Maude references through the movies, and that'd be cool, since Cat's family is really in to that movie.
Waking up: "Take on Me" by Aha - there are a lot of songs that could go here. Cat has a whole CD of them. But I chose this one because I've been listening to Cat's 80's mix a lot lately and this one's my favorite.
First Day at School: Another tie: "Song of the Elves" by John Simon and "Nice to be Here" by the Moody Blues - both are fun, whimsical, and carry strong childhood memories for Cat. Good luck finding any info on "Song of the Elves" . . .
Falling in Love: "Bridge over Troubled Water" by Simon and Garfunkel - I copped out, I know.
Fight Song: "Bad Reputation by" Half-cocked - Nice beat, fast pace, sounds great loud.
Breaking Up: "Forever Autumn" - Single Cut by Justin Hayward. Is pretty and sad.
LIFE: "No Rain" by Blind Melon and "The Actor" by the Moody Blues - Both capture a lot of Cat's life and life philosophy. And "The Actor" has the line "put out your problems with your cat" - awesome line!
Mental Breakdown: "Everybody Hurts" by REM - yeah, can't get too much more melancholy than that.
Driving: "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads - great driving song. Enough said.
Bonus Section: Train Travel: "America" by Simon and Garfunkel - I know, I know, it's about being on a greyhound bus, but it works well for trains too! And so pretty . . .
Flashback: "Hey Ho" by the Minstrels of Mayhem - this is a group that shows up at Cat's favorite Renaissance Faire - they did a round of two folk songs on one of their cds, and one of the songs Cat sings at Camp! And it's slow, sad, not very distracting, pretty good for a flashback.
Getting Back Together: "Call and Answer" by Barenaked Ladies - it's about patching up a relationship. Really long though - we'll have to cut it short for the scene in our movie.
Wedding: :You're so True" by Joseph Arthur - This is really sweet and perky. It comes from the Shrek 2 soundtrack and I'm attached to it.
Birth of a Child: "Old Paint" by Loudon Wainwright III - No change - the randomizer was too perfect for this one!
Final Battle: "Hall of the Mountain King" but the Who - well, it claims to be by the Who. Not sure I believe it. It's really rocking anyway - good battle material.
Death: "Trouble" by Cat Stevens - It's especially appropriate if we use "Don't be Shy" to start the movie. Nice Harold and Maude symmetry. But likely no Jag for Cat . . "Angel" by Sarah McLachlan was also a high contender. The random songs in different languages by the Medieaval Baebes would be good material too, but I couldn't pick one since I couldn't read their titles . . .
Funeral Song: "Anabel" by the Duhks - dead girl song. . this is in addition to "Let Your Troubles Roll By" by Carbon Leaf from the earlier list.
End Credits: "Once I Was" by Tim Buckly - Sad, thoughtful, pretty, but not something most people want to listen to. Got to hustle people out to begin the next showing and all that.

So, great list, huh? I thought so . . . Snibbly's probably going to think it's lame, but he's not paying attention now, since he borrowed some reading on Egypt so he can have something to talk about the Deirdre next time her sees her (lame LAME!).

Rumble Seat

Hi! We're back in K-town now. Cat's doing her class thing, but she's around in the evenings! And we're going to have Dungeons and Dragons tomorrow! Cat has to clean up the apartment though . . . good thing she only has work tomorrow.

She bought a rumble seat for me over break! Snibbly calls in an "external DVD burner," but I think he's just saying that because he's stuck sitting on the speakers while I have the rumble seat. Silly pig.

It was really warm the past few days. Today it was a little cool, but still nice. It was so warm Tuesday night that Cat ran the air conditioner. It's off again now; she just has the fan on to move air around.

Pictures!

I forgot that you can take the card out of the camera and load them that way. You don't need the stupid cord! So I stole Mrs. Cat's Mom's computer to do it. And now you can see exactly why Dog is not the best at games. Really, he's not the best at doing anything but sleeping. Poor old guy.

We also took a group picture of all the home animals, but I'll put them up later.

By the way, we're in Michigan! Cat's visiting her grandparents again, because she won't have another chance to until June after our trip to Greece!

Deplorable Reading Habbits

Miss Caitlin is displaying that most deplorable reading habits possible; she is reading a romance novel! To be sure, is was written by Georgette Heyer, known for her tact and refinement, and hailed as being "almost as good as reading Jane Austen," but all the same, a romance novel! And I thought her tastes would be advanced by reading Anna Karenina. Alas, it appears not to be the case . . .

She did watch An Inconvenient Truth, and while she had always been aware of environmental problems (as she says, her generation was inflicted with Captain Planet at an early age), the documentary drove home the immediacy of the problems. Miss Caitlin is strongly considering changing the light bulbs in her apartment. Unfortunately, it seems the ecological efficient light bulbs should not be used in light fixtures with enclosed housings, so the lights in her bathroom and kitchen will have to remain the older sort, but the lights in her main room can be switched. It seems a small but easy step for her to make.

Snibbly's Dumb

Cat made Snibbly leave me alone. He was cranky about something. I'm going to back to just ignoring him. I think it was maybe about my earing again.

Cat spent most of last week doing homework. She still has some work to catch up on over this break.

We came back to Cat's parent home. The other animals in the house were playing hide and seek in Cat's room when we got here. They had made Dog be the seeker. I thought that was really mean. Mr. Cat's Dad says that time did not exist before Dog, which means in dog-years, Dog's like a mummy. Cat took some pictures, but she forgot her USB cable at school, so they can't go up on the blog. Anyway, Cat helped him out with his seeking (he kept falling asleep). This morning I made everyone play again, but in Mr. and Mrs. Cat's Parent's room. It was a lot of fun, but Dog fell asleep without hiding very well. I think maybe next time we won't make him play . . .

Cat's going to a party tonight. Abandoning us again. But she will be around most of the week, sleeping and reading and doing homework. She's not sure who all is around, since we have an early break. Maybe she'll get to see some people while she's here. We don't go back to school until Sunday. I'm excited that I'll get to play all week.

Arrived in Chicago Area

We have returned to Miss Caitlin's parent's house. We arrived by way of train yesterday. Accompanying her on the trip were Tipsy, myself, and one of her former cast members - the young lady who played Hortensio's widow. Clem elected to remain at Miss Caitlin's apartment by the University and Miss Adrien was not able to leave until today.

Thursday, I had to part with Deirdre. I feel I was dignified in the face of such a loss. But she did not wish to travel with us here, and it would have been depressingly boring staying in the apartment. Perhaps I overstate the boredom, as Clem is always willing to socialize, but without Tipsy or me to keep her company, Deirdre would likely be lonely. And so Miss Caitlin carefully situated Deirdre in her pocket and transported her across the street. Perhaps I will visit her when we return to University next week. Or it might be more appropriate for me to wait a short period before imposing on her and Miss Adrien. It would be a fortuitous opportunity for me to leave the company of Tipsy. She has been quite irritating lately. She continuously diverted Deirdre's attention from me. I am deciding whether I will forgive her for that. I did not feel it appropriate to say say anything. But now . . .