Random Chatter

[TinyBird]

My fb feed is plastered with OMG snow posts. What's so great about snow? It happens every year at roughly the same time and then goes on for 5 months. Snow is a nuisance.

Well I can understand people getting excited about first snow after all you haven't seen it in quite awhile, but what I myself can't understand the "snow took the motorists/trains by surprise" thing that happens every. single. year. That stuff comes down every year about the same time, yet it always catches trains and cars while their pants are down it seems.
And then cars slide on roads and trains are late.

[nofu]

Well I can understand people getting excited about first snow after all you haven't seen it in quite awhile, but what I myself can't understand the "snow took the motorists/trains by surprise" thing that happens every. single. year. That stuff comes down every year about the same time, yet it always catches trains and cars while their pants are down it seems.
And then cars slide on roads and trains are late.

I guess a lot of people left the tire change on the last minute, also probably a fresh batch of rookie drivers who have no snow experience yet. Every year politicians at power get blamed for this and more. What, snow? Must be a hard job.

[keeptime]

Just did a Windows 7 reinstall. I'm so glad that a reinstall no longer means losing everything forever. Between Windows automatically storing an "old windows" folder and all the stuff I keep on my external hard drive/dropbox, there's almost no loss of files. This is great because I just finished a large assignment last night and I would have been pissed if I had to type it all up again.

[JDSart]

I live in a Tropical weather, i would get excited for snow

Just the same when people with 4 season weather get so excited over the caribbean´s "sweaty balls all year round, seriously fuck this heat" kind of weather.

[Vay]

The forecast is always cloudy in New York, if its not the cloud in the sky, its the cloud of the cigarette and car fumes. Every 30 seconds of walking on the streets, someone in front of you blows a cloud of smoke that drifts into your face. My trip to the rural New Hampshire was such a refreshing experience; I didn't have to go home to get fresh air.

Usually people would go out to get fresh air, but not in New York. Once I open that door out of my college, there are 30 people standing outside smoking even though NO SMOKING signs are posted everywhere, they even have a big stand right in the middle that says NO SMOKING.

What else is ironic? I have bad lungs, not because I smoke(though I might have smoked my fair share due to second hand smoking), but probably something having to do with living in New York and being underweight at the same time(ribs squeezing against your lungs too tightly is bad).

Can't wait to make enough money to get the hell out of here, but I have to admit that the good thing about New York is that there are people to draw during commutes on trains or bus. Other than that, I think I will move to Antartica; I am not a people-person.

P.S. Another hurricane is coming to lower New York. At least then the air will be a tad bit fresher.

[JDSart]

The super nintendo actually had a modem for internet play, its a weird purple cartridge that´s good for nothing called the x-band, i actually have one of these in perfect condition on its original package. I don´t think this thing was ever sold in my country or the service made available here. totally weird i have it but if my videogame junk suddenly is collectible, most welcome.

[TinyBird]

I guess a lot of people left the tire change on the last minute, also probably a fresh batch of rookie drivers who have no snow experience yet.

With cars I can more or less understand that since like you mentioned people leave these to the last minute, but what really gets me are the trains. You have a whole national railway company with experts (I assume) who know what to expect but nope, every year it's as if they never expected snow to get on the train tracks.
Well, it's easy for me to gripe here, but when the same problems arise every year, most people in here get pissed.

Anyway, pitcher plant update: it's still alive!


Four of the pitchers have wilted a bit, probably due the combination of transport, sudden change of atmosphere and lack of humidity in the first days, but all the other ones are stable and it’s made couple new, small ones.
It’s not exactly flourishing, but it’s hanging about okay.
It gets watered twice a week, I spray it with water several times a day, it has an air humidifier under it daily and it comes with me to the shower. If I get it through the winter, I’ll ease up a bit.

[JFierce]

Moving for the first time in like 5+ years. Feels weird.

[Star Eater]

I might have missed this in your original post, but does the pitcher smell at all? I know the biggest carnivorous plant reeks of decay.

[TinyBird]

I might have missed this in your original post, but does the pitcher smell at all? I know the biggest carnivorous plant reeks of decay.

Nope, they don't really smell at all (there's this really faint sweetness if you stick your nose to the pitcher) but for some reason I've had several people ask me this. I think some pitcher plants have some sort of smell, and the fact that mine doesn't have much insects may also contribute to this.
I'm also guessing some people mistake carnivorous plants to something like the Rafflesia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafflesia and other "corpse flowers" (which the pitchers and other things are not, as they are parts of the plant's leaves).

[Black Spot]

I think they need to smell sweet to attract their prey. Used to see tons to those growing wild in Malaysia, but not with the red, just plain green. I liked the plants that played dead when you touched them - you could tease them for hours.

[keeptime]

Weird question Tinybird, do you have to feed all those pitchers or is one enough? It's all one plant, right?

I went on a hunt for a venus fly trap last week. The plant nursery is closed for the rest of the year, so I marched over to Canadian Tire. The entire place was already decked out in plastic boughs of holly! Hardly a halloween decoration left. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it really feels like they're pushing Christmas shopping back earlier and earlier every year.

[Star Eater]

I kept a flytrap for quite some time. I found the trick to keeping it alive was just to provide it water and general plant care. It generally fed itself on any gnats
and such that flew into the window. After traps close a couple of times they die off and should be replaced if the plant is happy.

As for your Christmas shopping remark, its like at the end of September here we already see x-mas stuff in the stores.

[TinyBird]

Weird question Tinybird, do you have to feed all those pitchers or is one enough? It's all one plant, right?

Well, I generally don't feed them at all (unless I just happen to kill a silverfish) and from what I've read it's not really a life-or-death matter if you feed them. Though personally I'd feed several ones for the reason that the one pitcher might get bit dirty and risk filling up too much which probably wouldn't be a good thing for that pitcher, but it should get all it needs from that one pitcher (unless there are several plants together in the pot).

As for venus fly traps, I think they're dormant during the winter, so I might go look for them in the spring or be prepared to put it in the fridge http://www.flytrapcare.com/venus-fly-trap-dormancy.html
Also yeah. They've brought out the Christmas candies in here already.

[keeptime]

Yeah, you're right. I did a bit of research before going out and looking for a venus fly trap and from what I read they start dormancy around this time of the year, so it wouldn't have been too fun to have one now anyways. Fortunately it rains quite a bit here so when I do get one next year I'll be able to keep a steady supply of rain water for it.

At least the bright side of all the early Christmas products is that the stores are desperate to get rid of halloween stuff earlier, meaning chocolate on November 1st is dirt cheap.

[Shahan]

i hope i don't lose power... Sandy is coming...

[Star Eater]

Hang in there Shahan. I hope all our American members in Sandys path make it through safely.

[dpaint]

This is a 50 foot pine tree that just fell away from the house in my backyard. first quarter, Sandy 1 ,Armand 0...

[Star Eater]

If I clean it up can I live there?

[dpaint]

If I clean it up can I live there?

Wait, what? Sure come on out if we're still standing by the time you get here. We'll open a bottle of wine for every tree that falls in our backyard.

[Mossi]

Everything went better than expected and, I'm home and our bird's home.

[JFierce]

This hurricane isn't as bad as a previous storm we had in my area wind wise. Previous one wasn't a hurricane I believe but had ridiiiiculous wind like 60+ mph gusts. A tree fell diagonally across our driveway missing 2 cars by an inch and almost hit the house. Was several fee in diameter.



This time our little creek in the backyard became a raging river with a ridiculous current. Actually looks really awesome. Wish it was like that all the time.

[keeptime]

A couple of friends and I were painting in one of the arts buildings on campus. The wind was louder than the music at times. It had that classic horror movie moaning sound, which was kind of cool for this time of year (until we had to walk back to residence and were almost blown away). Best of luck to everyone getting the brunt of the storm. I can't imagine what it must be like closer to Sandy. We're only expected to get a lot of rain and some wind.

[Star Eater]

Wait, what? Sure come on out if we're still standing by the time you get here. We'll open a bottle of wine for every tree that falls in our backyard.

Sweet, I'll gas up the Prelude!

Glad you guys are holding out ok.

[JFierce]

Oh lord god damn storms...... ANOTHER giant tree fell. This one was a few feet from the house. Luckily it at least fell clear of the house. That would have been almost terrible ironic fate. "What's that you just a few days ago signed that the house is being sold then a tree falls through half your house..... oh..... great..."



But the bad news on this is we have about a month to move. Our basement is full of junk and it fell directly across the basement doorway. The trunk of the tree is like 4-5 feet in diameter would be my guess it's really thick and going to be a pain to somehow chop up and move. .

[Black Spot]

But the bad news on this is we have about a month to move. Our basement is full of junk and it fell directly across the basement doorway. The trunk of the tree is like 4-5 feet in diameter would be my guess it's really thick and going to be a pain to somehow chop up and move. .

Look on the bright side - you're going to develop a ton of muscles and a rippling six pack.

[JDSart]

Ok, so now jokes about Disney ruining Star Wars are all over my dash, twitter and facebook.

Am i the only one that thinks this is actually the best goddamn thing to happen to that franchise? has the world gone crazy and forgot about the last three wankfests George Lucas put out or is everyone so desperate to use any chance they get for an easy joke?

Disney bought Marvel in 2009, "they are going to turn all hero movies into Highschool musical" , "Spiderman is going to be a Disney Princess" , i don´t see no one complaining now about Avengers or any of the movies released since then , Spiderman´s last movie was short on songs and period dresses so i´d say, no, that is not how it goes.

Suddenly everyone forgot that Disney is the same company that made Pirates of the Caribbean and a crap ton of movies that are not Highschool musical, they have the resources and the talent to do wathever the hell they set out to do and do it fantastically.

I´m not saying its sure to be the greatest thing ever, Disney did fuck up with John Carter, shit happens, but are people seriously going to keep assuming it will be bad just because is Disney behind it? jeeeeez, cut the flamming, an episode 7 without Lucas messing it all up is the very thing fans have wanted for ages. I think it should have happened sooner!

[dpaint]

Ok, so now jokes about Disney ruining Star Wars are all over my dash, twitter and facebook.

Am i the only one that thinks this is actually the best goddamn thing to happen to that franchise? has the world gone crazy and forgot about the last three wankfests George Lucas put out or is everyone so desperate to use any chance they get for an easy joke?

Disney bought Marvel in 2009, "they are going to turn all hero movies into Highschool musical" , "Spiderman is going to be a Disney Princess" , i don´t see no one complaining now about Avengers or any of the movies released since then , Spiderman´s last movie was short on songs and period dresses so i´d say, no, that is not how it goes.

Suddenly everyone forgot that Disney is the same company that made Pirates of the Caribbean and a crap ton of movies that are not Highschool musical, they have the resources and the talent to do wathever the hell they set out to do and do it fantastically.

I´m not saying its sure to be the greatest thing ever, Disney did fuck up with John Carter, shit happens, but are people seriously going to keep assuming it will be bad just because is Disney behind it? jeeeeez, cut the flamming, an episode 7 without Lucas messing it all up is the very thing fans have wanted for ages. I think it should have happened sooner!

Three? You forgot to count Jedi, and then non franchise there's Willow, Howard the Duck, the Indiana Jones sequels, need I go on? George hasn't made a good film since American Graffiti. The first two star wars were ghost written by Leigh Brackett.
Disney Bought Marvel in 2009 so they only get credit for Avengers so far we will see how good they are with sequels but in my opinion the Spiderman reboot sucked

[JDSart]

I sort of try to erase from my mind the fact that all of those movies you mentioned exist.

Empire and Jedi were not directed by Lucas, and awesome ensued.

Disney at least should get the benefit of the doubt, it may revive the franchise, it may drag the sucking but its not such an awfull tragedy. Even if the new movie is not very good, is not falling from a very high place to begin with.

Avengers was full of fan service but stll a fun movie. I personally liked the new Spiderman much better than the previous ones but i´m biased towards things that don´t include Tobey Mcguire.

[keeptime]

Speaking of the Avengers, I just watched it last night and it really struck a nerve with me for being another movie relying on the orange/blue colour palette. I understand why orange/blue go well together, but I don't understand why it's being used so often without any real meaning anymore. For instance, Fight Club was fairly desaturated and dark (so much that you couldn't see the actors' eyes throughout most of the movie) to help emphasis the "off" feeling of the movie and the emptiness of the protagonist's life. If I remember correctly, Alien and the Matrix had green tones to underline the other-worldly feel of it. Lately all the orange/blue movies I've seen aren't just trying to highlight skin tone, but they're completely blowing out "warm" scenes and desaturating "cool" scenes to the point where it seems like there's nothing to draw your eye to. When watching Captain America earlier today I colourpicked a few "cool" screenshots and was surprised at how close all of the colours were to grey, including Captain America's blue helmet that makes him stand out from the other soldiers.

Long story short, I'm just trying to understand why professional colourists are relying on these shortcuts to the point where it's almost ruining the movie. Brave used a lot of orange/blues, but it also used a lot of greens, purples, and reds. I don't remember ever being distracted by the colour palette in Brave, whereas it's something I can't stop focusing on in nearly every movie I've seen in the last year or two.

Is palette the right word here? Colour scheme? Theme?