makimaki

So, at the moment I'm grabbing the 'family version' of the latest episode of Torchwood, because I'm curious about the differences. I can get the regular version of Torchwood here legitimately on BBC2 or BBC-HD, but I'm guessing the 'family' version is only available to UK viewers with the red button or something? I don't know really.

As far as I can recall, there was only one scene in the episode that could conceivably be kid-unfriendly. And even that's really iffy. Well in the U.S. it would definitely be off, but this is the (hopefully) more enlightened U.K. That's the scene where Jack and John kiss, but it was quite a chaste or sort of incidental kiss.

I have to admit when Jack and John got it on the first time, I sort of screamed. Not because it was a gay connection but because I did not see it coming, and...any kind of kissy scene on tv or in the movies makes me awfully embarassed. I don't know where this came from, and I'm no prude by any means! It's just so. I guess I am not much of a voyeur. One of the most awkward moments I had at the movies was when I went to see Bull Durham with my sister. The bath and toe-painting scenes made me want to hide. I still can't watch them on DVD, and I love that movie.

In any case, I'm enjoying this season of Torchwood a lot more than the first season so far. Not just because of that new love connection, but it helps. The newest episode was quite sad, though Toshiko's tears were so obviously fakey.

(Hmm, looks like Vox is where I come to prattle on about television.)

(Later: Nope, the kiss is there. And the bed scenes too. I'll have to try comparing with another ep sometime I guess.)

It's hard to keep up with all of my online presences, and so it looks like the Vox one is and will remain rather neglected.

I'm all over the place though!

my personal site, where I am mostly a bitchy old woman, complaining about stuff.
Just Hungry, my main food site, almost 4 years old!
Just Bento, my brand new bento-only site!
Hungry For Words, my language site mostly about Japanese. There's a dedicated Twitter account for this, @mainichinihongo.
my photo page on flickr

I am on Myspace but only because without being a member I can't go and check out my sister's page and read her blog and crap. She has the ugliest Myspace page in the universe, but I dare not link to it or she will never talk to me again.

I am on Facebook (under my full name), I never use it, and have about I dunno, 5 friends now. Whee!

I am on Twitter (bentotips) - now I have some friends there.

How do people keep up with all this? I'm busy enough dealing with people in the corporeal realm.

I am fairly sure that, if cats did talk, they would sound quite educated - sort of like the way the rabbits talk in Watership Down. (If rabbits can have a rich folklore tradition, imagine what cats would have.) They wouldn't talk like toddlers on crack.

Notlol

So, I have a name which is pretty common in Japanese. My last name, Itoh, is like the Smith or Jones of Japanese. My first name, Makiko, is not that unusual.

I know that the name is not that easy for non-Japanese people. Especially English speakers. Still, it really bugs me when people misspell it. If they mispronounce it I can correct them on the spot (a common one is MaKAAAko, which sounds like kaka, or something). When they misspell it I try to correct them.  Sometimes they correct it. sometimes they don't.

For instance, this weekend a post I wrote on my food blog about bunny bao got linked to a lot. Some of those mention my name and it's mispelled over and over. The abbreviated version of my first name is only 4 frigging letters, but it's still misspelled - over the years I've seen Mako, Miko, Miki, Maka and Mike (wtf?)

And as for my last name, I spell it Itoh with an H. That's what it says on my passport and my credit cards. That's how my father spells his last name. I know some 伊藤s or 伊東s (I am an 伊藤) spell it without an H, e.g. Joi Ito. Some others, like the electronics company C. Itoh, spell it with an H. I spell it with H and I would like it spelled with an H.

But people write Ito, and don't even bother to correct when I ask them to all the time.

Like, Mr. Jones, what if I spell your name Goanez just for the heck of it?

I see that as a form of cultural insensitivity. Really. Just because my name is hard for you, doesn't give you the right to mangle it at will. And I see it mostly (or even exclusively) with English (American) speakers.

This was a weird winter around here, the warmest in a zillion years or something. So warm that some lower-altitude ski resorts are worried about their future. Not that I care much (I don't ski, and don't have any desire to).

Still it's nice that's it's spring. The air is warm enough to keep the windows open. So I do. Aaah....feels so nice...

Some time later...my eyes start to get uncomfortable. My nose is stuffed. Argh, I always forget it's also the start of pollen and first-mowing-of-grass season.

The Apprentice UK started its third seasion last night.

It's awesome in all the ways that the Trump Apprentice no longer is.

It's awesome because of Alan Sugar -  gruff, curmegeonly, yet oddly lovable. Not a slimeball like the one with bad hair.

It's awesome because of the lack of in-your-face-product placement (besides stuff that Amstrad makes, which I suppose is sort of inevitable) BBC editing.

It's awesome because of the London setting, and the shots that make it look like the futuristic, buzzing business capital it is rather than the same old 'historic olde city' stuff.

It's awesome because the contestants who actually look like they are real people, not model/actresses.

Even the post-show, hosted by the excellent Adrian Chiles, is awesome.

Looking forward to 15 more awesome episodes!

(Even the Red Nose Day Celebrity Apprentice was great. I have so much more respect for Trinny Woodall now; she's not just some fashionista, she's an amazing fundraiser/PR type person. Scary good.)

SinisterDucks-MarchoftheSiniste

What are the weirdest song titles in your playlist or music collection?
Submitted by Charline.

What is your current obsession(s)?
Submitted by eijsr.

Drawing. Even though I can't get my stupid scanner to scan them properly.

The idea of starting seeds for spring. (But I have an odd mental block against actually sowing them, yet.)

Finding a good place to stay in Provence in the summer. Hours and hours spent surfing those vacation-home ads. I want to go for at least three weeks. A month would be great but not sure we can stay away from Work that long.

Continous obsession: my food blog. Amazing that I don't get tired of it.

Continuous obsession: trying to lose weight whilst eating well.

Bandwagonmodal

Someone pointed out to me that my calling the Bandwagon initialization popup dialog box a modal window was not quite accurate. So to clarify exactly what it is, above is a screenshot of said dialog box. (This is the latest version that I have downloaded today.) This initialization window stays above all other windows, with no way to close it or put it behind other windows or to even hide it. If it only stayed up there for a short time it wouldn't be so bad, but it stays up there it seems for as long as it takes to do what it says it's doing. I can use other programs, but always have that dialog box stuck right in the top middle. To me, this is just extremely poor interface design, on top of all the other problems noted previously.

I gave it  one last shot, as it were (partly to take the screenshot, but I also wondered if there had been any improvements. Unfortunately they are still all there as far as I can tell, despite at least 7 updates since the 1.0 release. The Bandwagon Google Group has numerous problem reports.

I should mention that when I installed the newest update and logged on to my account, I was informed that "Bandwagon was already running on another computer and that all my data there would be lost. I never used it on another computer...only on my Powerbook. So, anything that was uploaded/saved previously was lost. Great.

On top of everything though, it seems as though they've underestimated the storage needs of many users...so the initially set price of $69 per year for 'unlimited storage' may not work.

In short, I feel as though I was lured into beta-testing an extremely buggy product with the promise of a year's worth of free service (they now offer a free account to anyone and are issuing refunds to those who paid.)

Normally I wouldn't criticize a small software developer like this in public - I've downloaded and/or beta-tested plenty of buggy software in my time. In this case though, I feel that they gathered a lot of interweb airplay with their viral blog-marketing
tactic, and therefore have exposed themselves to this. (They really, really need to do a lot more beta testing. A LOT more.) Since I inadvertently sort of recommended software that I hadn't tested yet, lured by the promise of free, I'm writing my actual experience with it also in case someone was tempted to try it out and even pay for it. (I do wonder if the big tech blogs who gave this so much free publicity will mention its pitfalls.)

I am sure Xackup has the best of intentions, but to me this is an unmitigated disaster of a debut for a new software program. If anything it's a model of what not to do.

And, note to self: never ever link to or recommend software you haven't tried first personally again.

(I'd normally write about this kind of thing on my personal blog but I'm writing it here since I casually mentioned the damned thing here in the first place.)

Have you ever played matchmaker?  How did it go?

I once inadvertently played matchmaker. I thought two people I knew would really get along as friends, so when I was able to finally them together in person and saw they did indeed get along I was quite happy.

A few months later, the girl in the equation confessed to me that they were in the middle of a relationship. Thing is, she was married. I don't know why I didn't see that they might get along a bit better than the FRIEND level. But more than that I think I could not see how on earth she could find him attractive in THAT way since to me he was Totally Not My Type. Great as a friend but otherwise...like no way. So the fact that she found him attractive...just knocked me over. Each to his/her own indeed.

But anyway...now they are not together anymore. She's married to someone else, so I guess she wasn't happy in that marriage anyway.