Spam emails. Somebody likes it, because they buy crap all the time. Who are these people and why can’t we have them killed?
I’ve come to subscribe to the theory that a good number of spammers were themselves conned into spamming by people promising easy money if they’d just buy this list of email addresses and that special software and get an account at t’other bulletproof* ISP. It seems to account for the sheer volume better than the idea all spammers are actually making money at it.
*(A bulletproof ISP is one that ignores complaints and, presumably, won’t be shut down by the ISP it buys bandwidth from. Bulletproof ISPs are why we have blocklists.)
Speaking of the Internet, one thing I see quite often – or rather, hear – are Web pages that force music on their visitors. I have never read anything positive about this; sites that force music or sound on their visitors are universally despised, yet they are still very common. Has anyone every written anything positive about musical Web pages? Does anyone really like them?
Fruit cake and cranberry sauce. Both seem to be put on the table just for tradition, maybe one person out of 20 likes them.
Also known as Secretary Rock.
See also Hall & Oates, Journey, Kelly Clarkson, The Strokes, Journey, Creed, Bon Jovi, Bush, Night Ranger, and any of the GreatWhiteLionSnakes that came out of the 80’s.
I’ve got one. While perusing a recent issue of “Previews” which is a magazine for comic store owners and comic book collectors and people like me who just like to know what’s going on, I came across a comic book cover – full page ad, IIRC – whose artwork consisted of two realistically rendered cockroaches mating.
I thought, Who the hell would look at that cover and think, “I’ve got to see MORE!”? Who greenlit that cover thinking it would make people want to buy the comic?
<raises hand in some embarrassment>
I…uh…have the single. On a 45.
<slinks off before being forced to admit to liking disco, too.>
Televised interviews of an athlete immediately after the game.
So boring and predictable, yet done after every freaking game.
Ohh, I feel like a doofus! I usually correct other people on stuff like this.
Here’s one:
Does anybody like the new(ish) way that paperback publishers have stopped putting a short summary of the story on the back cover, replacing it with things like “Everyone reads Danielle Steele!” and “Robin Cook–America’s Number One Medical Mystery Writer!” and so forth? Or else a big picture of the author?
Dammit, when I look at the back of a paperback I want it to sell itself to me. I want it to make me want to read it. I don’t give a <expletive deleted> if every other person in the world reads Danielle Steele! If the blurb doesn’t sell me, I put the book back on the shelf.
::raises hand:: I like both. I’ve never understood the grief fruticake gets. Sometimes, I think people just mock it because that is what is “supposed” to be done – “no one likes fruitcake.” Bollocks! It’s tasty. So is cranberry sauce.
emphasis mine
I’ve got no allegiance to either band, but neither The Strokes nor Bush fit any working definition of light rock that I am familiar with.
This was my single biggest complaint about Batman Begins. I had to take it on faith that Batman was beating up the bad guys, because I sure couldn’t see it. I couldn’t imagine that anyone thought this sort of editing worked. I’ve since had several people tell me (at great length) that this rapid-fire cutting is brilliant because it reflects the confusion of the characters. Sheesh.
HA! When I saw the thread title, “Things that seem to appeal to no one,” the first thing I thought of was Jakob the Liar and that awful poster with Williams frowning melodramatically. I still can’t understand how a movie like that got made.
While I hate rapid-fire cutting as much as the next man (it singlehandedly turned me off The Bourne Supremecy), I think it works in Batman Begins.
For some reason, to me, in BB it doesn’t feel quite so random. Like there is a purpose to the quick cutting (the confusion as you said) and I was able to follow the fights pretty well.
Contrast this to Transformers, where following the fights is next to impossible (but the movie was just too damn cool to dislike).
Every pot dealer I’ve ever known uses the fold-over kind of bag. I think it’s a profit margin decision.
I have to agree with this. “So, Biff, what are your thoughts on today’s game?” [Mix and match and adjust as necessary any of the following:]
– We/they came to play.
– We/they caught a few good breaks.
– We/they were really prepared going into today’s game.
– When our/their [specific position] did ____, that was the turning point.
– [Player name(s)] really turned the tide for us/them.
– We/they really had to work hard today.
– Our/their _____ is working well.
– Our/their _____ needs a bit of work.
– This victory means a lot to us.
– This loss is a setback, but we’re not going to let it bother us.
– It was a real good game.
– We’re looking forward to meeting the [team name] next game.
So let’s see what we can come up with in response to the above question:
– Well, Jerry, they caught a few good breaks, but we were really prepared going into today’s game. We came to play! Our _____ is working well, but still we really had to work hard today. Gotta say though that when our [specific position] did ____, that was the turning point. [Player name] really turned the tide for us, and this victory means a lot to us. But anyway, it was a real good game.
– Biff, what do you see for next game against the [team name]? They’re Number 1 in the [conference/division/league, etc.].
– Jerry, for sure we’re looking forward to meeting the [team name] next game. Yeah, our _____ needs a bit of work, but if our [player name] can do ____, that’ll turn the tide. They may be Number 1, but if they win, it’ll be because they caught a few good breaks. We won’t see it as a setback and we won’t let it bother us. We’ll be prepared and we’re looking forward to a real good game.
Sound familiar? Again, I have to agree with Lionel. Always predictable.
But isn’t fruit cake supposed to have, well, FRUIT in it? Not that weird gel stuff.
When I worked in retail our store played music from “the station everyone can agree on.” The music was so mind-numblingly bland, and like most radio stations, they played the same shit day after day. Most of the bands listed above get play on the classic rock stations, which aren’t neutral enough for listening to in a retail environment. The dreadfully boring station we were aurally assaulted with included such wonderfully unstimulating and insipid pieces from the likes of Steve Winwood, Hall and Oates, Little River Band, Tina Turner, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Ace of Base and the Wallflowers. These are better examples of what I would call “secretary rock.” Even if you may like some of these artists, they get tiresome very quickly.
fleas
Huh, I’ve never known any who does. All Ziplocs here, baby, nothing but the good stuff.
Um…hypothetically speaking, of course…
RHCP is secretary rock now? 
(I remember when Under the Bridge became popular, and Kiedis in an interview was amused by the fact that some little old ladies who bought BSSM just for UTB would then be exposed to all of the songs on that album (He mentioned Suck my Kiss, but Sir Psycho Sexy also immediately springs to mind.)[/hijack]