...but it will change the way you view* the content of Threshold if you go here.
If you hover over the blue button that says "Flipcard," you'll be presented with even more options.
Also, while I'm here, I wanted to say Happy Birthday to my favorite April Fool, my sister Kim.
*Or, as is more statistically likely, you don't view the content of Threshold.
Showing posts with label april fools. Show all posts
Showing posts with label april fools. Show all posts
Friday, April 01, 2011
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Your Papers Please
Talk about a 180 - today is pretty much the polar opposite of yesterday: warm, sunny, full of promise.
Which is part of why it made having to stop at some sort of State Police checkpoint on my drive home so irritating. I mean, it would have fit perfectly with yesterday's dismal state of affairs, but on a nice day?
I have no idea who/what they were looking for, as they simply asked to see peoples' drivers license and then sent them on their way.
After looking at mine, the trooper simply handed it back and said, "You have a good day sir."
As I pulled away, he added, and I shit you not, "Have a cheerful day."
The fuck?
Maybe my grumpiness about the unexpected stop was showing.
So it's April Fools Day today, and I thought about, like so many other bloggers and Web site owners have done, engaging in some elaborate prank here at Threshold.
Actually, consider that my April Fools joke: I thought about nothing of the sort.
I tend not to think of it as April Fools Day anyway, as it's actually my sister Kim's birthday.
Happy birthday to my favorite April Fool!
I sent out the Evite for my own upcoming birthday party and so far have received two nos, a yes, and a maybe (that was initially a yes).
So I'm sure that it will be a smashing success.
In any case, not much else is going on, and I apologize for not having some fun, exciting prank prepared for you.
Just be thankful I didn't Rickroll you.
Which is part of why it made having to stop at some sort of State Police checkpoint on my drive home so irritating. I mean, it would have fit perfectly with yesterday's dismal state of affairs, but on a nice day?
I have no idea who/what they were looking for, as they simply asked to see peoples' drivers license and then sent them on their way.
After looking at mine, the trooper simply handed it back and said, "You have a good day sir."
As I pulled away, he added, and I shit you not, "Have a cheerful day."
The fuck?
Maybe my grumpiness about the unexpected stop was showing.
So it's April Fools Day today, and I thought about, like so many other bloggers and Web site owners have done, engaging in some elaborate prank here at Threshold.
Actually, consider that my April Fools joke: I thought about nothing of the sort.
I tend not to think of it as April Fools Day anyway, as it's actually my sister Kim's birthday.
Happy birthday to my favorite April Fool!
I sent out the Evite for my own upcoming birthday party and so far have received two nos, a yes, and a maybe (that was initially a yes).
So I'm sure that it will be a smashing success.
In any case, not much else is going on, and I apologize for not having some fun, exciting prank prepared for you.
Just be thankful I didn't Rickroll you.
Sunday, April 01, 2007
Like We Aren't All Fools During The Other 11 Months
So today is April Fools Day, though I seldom think of it in those terms, as for one thing it’s my sister Kim’s birthday, and for another it sort of marks the start of a rush of birthdays in my family, including my own.
I did the math the other day and figured out that if I’m going to be 35, that means that Kim would be 40 today, and so I went out in search of an appropriate birthday card, one that’s subdued and respectful.
There. I got my whole “April Fools” thing out of the way with that description of the card (if you believed it for even a second).
I’m not really in much of an April Fools mood anyway, as the next birthday up on the calendar would have been my dad’s on Tuesday.
He would have been 72.
Up after that is mine, then my brother Brad’s two day’s later.
We used to have another one, as my late aunt’s birthday was right in between mine and Brad’s. Also, if I recall correctly, my ex-mother-in-law’s birthday is in April.
Kathleen’s is 11 days after mine, and I pointed out to her – as if she didn’t know – that we’ll be 35 this year. That got me a very loud and somehow disbelieving “I know!” in response.
My friend Eric also has a birthday in April, but I must confess that I’ve never been able to remember the exact date. I know, I’m terrible.
As you can see over on his blog, Scott and I went to see TMNT on Tuesday. What he wrote pretty much covers my thoughts on the subject, though I was never actually into the comics.
He did, however, neglect to mention the fact that when we walked into the theater we were hit by an odd barnyard-like smell, which I likened to that of a 4H fair, as it was a distinct odor of hay and livestock.
It disappeared once we took our seats, but on the way out it was there again. Not sure what was or had been going on in that particular theater.
Scott and I also stopped at the comic book store on the way home from work on Thursday night. I spent a much more reasonable $15 this time around, though apparently somewhere between picking it up and adding it to my stack and actually paying for them I failed to buy the copy of the (second printing) of Captain America that I’d grabbed, as after I got home it was not in the bag and not listed on the receipt.
Because the store’s upcoming move closer to me will make it too far out of the way for Scott to swing by after work, he’s most likely going to take advantage of their subscription service and authorize me to pick his books up for him.
I might also do the subscription thing just to ensure that I always get what I want and so that I won’t have to make weekly trips.
This morning I watched the movie This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which I’d recorded last night.
It’s a documentary about the film rating system that brought to light some interesting information and made me realize that the film ratings system is even more arbitrary and retarded than I’d thought.
Ultimately what it boils down to is that portrayals of violence are okay, though portrayals of bloodless violence are even better, sex is bad, and any kind of sex outside of male-female missionary position sex is really bad.
Even more retarded than the ratings process, though, is the appeals process once your move has been rated.
One example of retardation is that you are not allowed to cite precedent.
For example, you can’t say, “My movie has one shot in which you can see one woman’s pubic hair and it was rated NC-17, but in the movie Porky’s you could see several women’s pubic hair, and that was rated R.”
If you were to try to compare your movie to another movie, essentially you would be told to shut up.
(Apparently, no doubt thanks in part to fallout from the movie, you are now able to cite other movies in the appeals process.)
What I was most struck by in watching the documentary, though, were the amazing parallels between the MPAA in movies and the CCA (Comics Code Authority) in comics.
That they are similar and share a rather common origin isn’t exactly news, but I was surprised at just how close the parallels were.
Ultimately I’m not as opposed to a rating system as perhaps I once was or as some people are, but I do think that it needs to be much less arbitrary, much less reactionary, and the process has to be a lot more transparent than it has been, and the system certainly shouldn’t be used to penalize filmmakers who refuse to toe the line.
Anyway, that was the excitement for today.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment, and no further plans for the week beyond that.
In any case, I hope all of you April Fools out there are having a good day.
I did the math the other day and figured out that if I’m going to be 35, that means that Kim would be 40 today, and so I went out in search of an appropriate birthday card, one that’s subdued and respectful.
There. I got my whole “April Fools” thing out of the way with that description of the card (if you believed it for even a second).
I’m not really in much of an April Fools mood anyway, as the next birthday up on the calendar would have been my dad’s on Tuesday.
He would have been 72.
Up after that is mine, then my brother Brad’s two day’s later.
We used to have another one, as my late aunt’s birthday was right in between mine and Brad’s. Also, if I recall correctly, my ex-mother-in-law’s birthday is in April.
Kathleen’s is 11 days after mine, and I pointed out to her – as if she didn’t know – that we’ll be 35 this year. That got me a very loud and somehow disbelieving “I know!” in response.
My friend Eric also has a birthday in April, but I must confess that I’ve never been able to remember the exact date. I know, I’m terrible.
As you can see over on his blog, Scott and I went to see TMNT on Tuesday. What he wrote pretty much covers my thoughts on the subject, though I was never actually into the comics.
He did, however, neglect to mention the fact that when we walked into the theater we were hit by an odd barnyard-like smell, which I likened to that of a 4H fair, as it was a distinct odor of hay and livestock.
It disappeared once we took our seats, but on the way out it was there again. Not sure what was or had been going on in that particular theater.
Scott and I also stopped at the comic book store on the way home from work on Thursday night. I spent a much more reasonable $15 this time around, though apparently somewhere between picking it up and adding it to my stack and actually paying for them I failed to buy the copy of the (second printing) of Captain America that I’d grabbed, as after I got home it was not in the bag and not listed on the receipt.
Because the store’s upcoming move closer to me will make it too far out of the way for Scott to swing by after work, he’s most likely going to take advantage of their subscription service and authorize me to pick his books up for him.
I might also do the subscription thing just to ensure that I always get what I want and so that I won’t have to make weekly trips.
This morning I watched the movie This Film Is Not Yet Rated, which I’d recorded last night.
It’s a documentary about the film rating system that brought to light some interesting information and made me realize that the film ratings system is even more arbitrary and retarded than I’d thought.
Ultimately what it boils down to is that portrayals of violence are okay, though portrayals of bloodless violence are even better, sex is bad, and any kind of sex outside of male-female missionary position sex is really bad.
Even more retarded than the ratings process, though, is the appeals process once your move has been rated.
One example of retardation is that you are not allowed to cite precedent.
For example, you can’t say, “My movie has one shot in which you can see one woman’s pubic hair and it was rated NC-17, but in the movie Porky’s you could see several women’s pubic hair, and that was rated R.”
If you were to try to compare your movie to another movie, essentially you would be told to shut up.
(Apparently, no doubt thanks in part to fallout from the movie, you are now able to cite other movies in the appeals process.)
What I was most struck by in watching the documentary, though, were the amazing parallels between the MPAA in movies and the CCA (Comics Code Authority) in comics.
That they are similar and share a rather common origin isn’t exactly news, but I was surprised at just how close the parallels were.
Ultimately I’m not as opposed to a rating system as perhaps I once was or as some people are, but I do think that it needs to be much less arbitrary, much less reactionary, and the process has to be a lot more transparent than it has been, and the system certainly shouldn’t be used to penalize filmmakers who refuse to toe the line.
Anyway, that was the excitement for today.
Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment, and no further plans for the week beyond that.
In any case, I hope all of you April Fools out there are having a good day.
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