Wordses
1. I'm very fond of inside jokes, especially those found in television shows. Futurama's opening sequence had a couple of items that changed every week for the benefit of observant viewers; The Simpsons has been doing this since the opening was redesigned for high-def. And Stephen Colbert's word list changes every now and then (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Colbert_Report#Program_format). Sometimes what follows ACCLAIMED INCISIVE POWERFUL COURAGEOUS EXCEPTIONAL RELENTLESS is a real word/phrase, but more often it's a Colbertism like "gutly" or "factose intolerant."
Currently, the variable slot is filled by "PURPLE-MOUNTED," and I can't decide exactly where the joke is. Are the writers deliberately corrupting "purple mountain['s majesty]," or have they fallen victim to a mondegreen? No way to know.
2. The closed captioning on Inside the Actors Studio and IFC Media Project continues to amuse. IFC is owned by the notoriously tight-fisted Cablevision company. Odds are they assigned some intern or in-law to the captioning task, rather than pay anyone competent. (Cablevision also owns AMC, and the memory of the season 1 Mad Men captioning still burns.) But ItAS airs on Bravo, which is owned by NBC. Is Lipton pocketing the captioning budget? Or did Danny DeVito really go to beauty school and learn how to "quaff"?
3. I have finished proofreading The Worst Novel Ever Written. The author found a new way to surpass himself in the last few pages, as a character made an emphatic statement a) in caps b) in italics c) followed by two exclamation points d) followed by "he screamed." Just in case you weren't sure.
Also of note, the villain kidnaps a couple and their daughter at gunpoint. They drive (in the family's car) to a secluded spot in the woods. The next time we see them, the police are approaching, and what do they see? Mom and Dad are tied to a tree, and the daughter is bound to a table. It has already been established that the villain keeps the fold-up table in his own car trunk. How he got it into the woods and managed to tie up the family with one hand (he couldn't put down the gun, could he?) is left to the reader's imagination.
Does any reader possess sufficient imagination?
Currently, the variable slot is filled by "PURPLE-MOUNTED," and I can't decide exactly where the joke is. Are the writers deliberately corrupting "purple mountain['s majesty]," or have they fallen victim to a mondegreen? No way to know.
2. The closed captioning on Inside the Actors Studio and IFC Media Project continues to amuse. IFC is owned by the notoriously tight-fisted Cablevision company. Odds are they assigned some intern or in-law to the captioning task, rather than pay anyone competent. (Cablevision also owns AMC, and the memory of the season 1 Mad Men captioning still burns.) But ItAS airs on Bravo, which is owned by NBC. Is Lipton pocketing the captioning budget? Or did Danny DeVito really go to beauty school and learn how to "quaff"?
3. I have finished proofreading The Worst Novel Ever Written. The author found a new way to surpass himself in the last few pages, as a character made an emphatic statement a) in caps b) in italics c) followed by two exclamation points d) followed by "he screamed." Just in case you weren't sure.
Also of note, the villain kidnaps a couple and their daughter at gunpoint. They drive (in the family's car) to a secluded spot in the woods. The next time we see them, the police are approaching, and what do they see? Mom and Dad are tied to a tree, and the daughter is bound to a table. It has already been established that the villain keeps the fold-up table in his own car trunk. How he got it into the woods and managed to tie up the family with one hand (he couldn't put down the gun, could he?) is left to the reader's imagination.
Does any reader possess sufficient imagination?