lists | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Archive for the ‘lists’ Category

May Books!

June 3rd, 2014 by pladd

This month I got through 8 books, so I’m 49% done with this project! Gotta pick up the pace!

To Be Or Not To Be by Ryan North

Title: To Be Or Not To Be: A Chooseable Path Adventure
Author: Ryan North
Rating: 5/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.26/5
When it was added to my list: 11/4/2013
Why was it on my list?: Um, did you read that title?

THIS IS A CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE BASED ON HAMLET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You should buy it right now. The e-book is ridiculously easy to navigate, and the illustrations are amazing. My favorite ending involves becoming a ghost marine biologist. Let’s face it, the other books I read this month really didn’t have a chance of making Top Spot after this.

Hell House by Richard Matheson

Title: Hell House
Author: Richard Matheson
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.8/5
When it was added to my list: 10/23/2013
Why was it on my list?: A list of good horror stories before last Halloween

I was interested to read this because my only Matheson experience is his seminal vampire/zombie work I Am Legend, which is pretty different than the Will Smith movie of the same name. I like how he tends to write horror in an almost clinical, science fictiony manner, where the “supernatural” elements can be explained by science even as traditional horror tropes are utilized. This is a typical “strangers locked in a haunted house” narrative, which I enjoyed, though like most genre novels, the characters were mostly two-dimensional and I didn’t really care about any of them.

An Exaltation of Larks by Robert Reed

Title: An Exaltation of Larks
Author: Robert Reed
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.49/5
When it was added to my list: 03/09/2010
Why was it on my list?: No idea

This book was way weird. Like to the point where I don’t even really know how to describe it. Here is the first sentence: “Youth is a bird. A simple and vivid wild bird. Quick to anger, and love, and hungry to forget, if only so that it can do everything again for the first time. Yet this is not a time of birds. It is a time of turtles.”

Easy by Tammara Webber

Title: Easy
Author: Tammara Webber
Rating: 3/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 4.24/5
When it was added to my list: 11/16/2012
Why was it on my list?: Who even knows, that was 2 years ago

I struggled a lot when it came to rating this book, because parts of it are really problematic, but I was still able to enjoy it by purposefully not thinking too hard about it. It’s a fairly typical romance novel about college students, but it also addresses rape frankly and calls out the bullshit victim blaming that so often shrouds the issue on college campuses. I really appreciated that, but found a lot of the main character’s actions surprisingly chill for someone who should be dealing with the aftermath of a sexual assault. Hopefully no one reading this would think there’s something wrong with them if they aren’t ready to fall in love/lust with the next cool, hot dude they meet.

Enchanted by Alethea Kontis

Title: Enchanted
Author: Alethea Kontis
Rating: 2/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.72
When it was added to my list: 1/10/2013
Why was it on my list?: Probably because I was really into reimagined fairy tales in 2013, like everyone else

Ugh, I am so over reimagined fairy tales, and this one gave me nothing special to focus on. The characters ranged from forgettable to annoying.

The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong by Tam L. Holland

Title: The Counterfeit Family Tree of Vee Crawford-Wong
Author: Tam L. Holland
Rating: 2/5
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.53/5
When it was added to my list: 12/2/2013
Why was it on my list?: A list of notable books out last year

I really wanted to like this one! The plot sounded interesting: after an assignment about making a family tree in school, Vee sends a fake letter to his father, supposedly from his long-lost grandfather in China asking for a family reunion, basically tricking his father into exploring a past he’d left behind. Unfortunately, Vee is completely unlikable. I think the author was going for how teenagers can sometimes be selfish or egotistical, but went too far until I couldn’t understand why any of the other characters would willingly spend time with him. I certainly didn’t want to.

The Ones I Decided Not To Read

Title: Breaking Beautiful
Author: Jennifer Shaw Wolf
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.93/5
When it was added to my list: 10/25/2012
Why was it on my list?: Good YA books published that year?
Why I’m not reading it: No joke, I have checked this book out on THREE separate occasions. The furthest I’ve gotten is Chapter 2. I have no idea why. I can’t tell you anything really wrong with it. I guess it just didn’t grab me, so I’m giving up.

Title: Wildwing
Author: Emily Whitman
GoodReads’ Rating: 3.43/5
When it was added to my list: 6/11/2012
Why was it on my list?: The cover looked really stupid
Why I’m not reading it: I don’t have time to ILL something for a funny cover

Previously: April Book List
Next: June Books

Tagged: 2014 books, book list, books

Posted in 2014 League of Six, Book Reviews, lists |

Amazing Birthday Facts for my Amazing Birthday!!!!

May 21st, 2014 by pladd

Today is my birthday!!!! Here are some great facts about what is obviously the best day of the year:

On this day in…

…879, Pope John VIII recognizes that Croatia officially exists
…1502, Saint Helena island is discovered.
…1864, Russia declares an end to the Russian-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile, designating May 21 as the Circassian Day of Mourning.
…1881, the American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton.
…1927, Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world’s first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic.
…1987, I AM BORN
…2011, the world ends

Born on May 21st…

…1688, Alexander Pope, 3rd most cited writer in The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations after Shakespeare and Tennyson
…1952, Mr. T

YESSSSSSSS!

…1973, Noel Fielding, which makes total sense, since we’re both so stylish

…1980, Gotye. Don’t be jealous.

Okay, be a little jealous

Tagged: animated gifs, BIRTHDAY, lists

Posted in lists |

27 Small Presents for my 27th Birthday!

May 15th, 2014 by pladd

Hey Team! My birthday is next week!!!! I’m pretty excited to be 27! That’s a perfect cube! Anyway, I’m not sure what I’m getting for my birthday yet (!!! surprises!!!!), but I really like Bilbo’s idea of giving presents to other people on your birthday, so I thought I would get you something!

Unfortunately, I’m pretty cheap, and you’re the Internet, so it’ll have to be free things. So, here are 27 free things I like that you might like too! I organized them into categories for you:

1-5 are great web tools for different things!

1. GoodReads

Sorry the first one isn’t much of a gift, since you already know all about it

I know I talk about GoodReads all the time and you probably know all about it because you have it anyway. If not, you should!

2. Postable

Super simple and convenient interface!

Postable is a free online address book! I like it because it’s cute and easy, and they provide a link you can send to people to fill in their own info that automatically gets added to your contacts.

3. Feedly

It does its job well

Feedly is what I migrated to after the sad death of GoogleReader. It’s the only way to keep up with all the RSS feeds I follow!

4. Postcrossing

I just learned about Post Crossing pretty recently, but I am all in

Basically you sign up to send someone in the world a postcard (you’re assigned an address), and someone in the world sends you a postcard!! Exciting!!

5. Geosense

Strangely addictive

It’s a simple game: two players, each looking at a map, have a few seconds to click where they think a given city is. Points are given based on closest distance. There are different maps to choose from (world or USA) and I can waste hours getting pwned by someone from Finland.

Gifts 6-9 are cool places to learn something!

6. Io9

This stuff is important

Sometimes science news, sometimes interesting TV/movie facts. WHATEVER

7. The Mary Sue

I am all about this concept, incidentally

The Mary Sue has movie and TV news as well as random fan-made creations.

8. The Big Picture

The “Daily Life” posts are often my favorite

The Big Picture is part of the Boston Globe’s website that publishes photo series, either on specific news events, specific themes (spring around the world), or just “Daily Life” for a particular week.

9. I Love Charts

Education or entertaining, always fascinating

A repository of charts from around the Internet, from super serious graphs about income inequality to silly Venn diagrams about pizza.

Numbers 10-14 are funny!

10. NYTimes Haiku

Some are funnier than others

This blog just collects sentences from the New York Times that are unwitting haikus. It’s best to read them in a dramatic voice.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: BIRTHDAY, list, websites

Posted in lists |

Etsy for Rich People: Knitting vs. Crochet

May 9th, 2014 by pladd

I like both knitting and crochet, so I figured this would be a great opportunity to see which will (potentially) get me the richest on Etsy. Here’s a comparison between their various categories:

Accessories
Winner: Crochet, $10,000

The most expensive thing in the “accessory” category is this crocheted king sized blanket:

The information says it’s “taken over 11 years” to make

Not really an accessory, but whatever. Knitting doesn’t even close, even with this $3500 shawl.

Blankets/Aghans
Winner: Crochet, $18,044.90

This blanket is vastly more expensive than its $3450 knitted counterpart:

Unfortunately you can only buy it in Italy

Bags and Purses
TIE!

The most expensive items in this category are both $550. In crochet, this blue beaded bag:

From Senegal!

And in knitting, a series of bags of different sizes:

Still, with this you get SIX bags for the price of the other one

Clothing
Winner: Crochet, $9,500

This dress could be yours for under $10,000!

Called “red diamond”

Knitting couldn’t beat that with a weird turquoise coat for $1,264.56

Cozy
Winner: Crochet, $1000

Yeah, this snuggie will cost you:

But can you really put a price on joy?

Meanwhile, knitting has a $300 blanket. Nice try, knitting.

Doll
Winner: Crochet, $888.35

This terrifying doll thing could be yours:

Cost does not include therapy

Knitting has stuffed rabbits for $277.07

Hat
Winner: Knitting, $1,325

Knitting actually won this one for some reason:

I don’t get it

Which is too bad because the $850 crochet hat is just wacky.

Housewares
Winner: Crochet, $8,000

You have to REALLY want a Mickey Mouse coaster set for that price:

Maybe it covers the ensuing legal fees when Walt Disney Co sues you

Knitting has another $1995 blanket.

Jewelry
Winner: Knitting, $640

Knitting narrowly wins this one with these earrings:

It totally still counts as knitting

Crochet had some $625 necklace

Scarf
Winner: Crochet, $1000

What winter look would be complete without a badly made $1000 scarf?

Hot

Knitting’s priciest scarf is only $899

Supplies
Winner: Crochet, $1799

I guess this rocking chair could be considered a crochet supply.

Maybe

Knitting has this $1595 electric wool drum carder.

Final Totals
Crochet: $44,257.25
Knitting: $15,795.63

Knitting also has some categories that crochet lacks, namely: Baby, Children, Men, Women, and Sweater.

But even adding these in only brings knitting’s total up to $22,603.43. Clearly crochet is the best way for me to strike it etsy rich.

Previously: Holidays

Tagged: etsy

Posted in Etsy for Rich People |

Etsy for Rich People: Holidays

April 14th, 2014 by pladd

Since Easter is coming up, I thought it would be appropriate to check out the most expensive things you can buy on Etsy in the “Holiday” category. Maybe it’ll get you into a festive spirit.

First up, Birthdays which offers us this $1,850 custom flag:

I assume they want you to get one with your face on it

Halloween has a fairly predictable entry offering to make your dream outfit for $5000. The best example they gave was this:

Apparently she wanted a wedding dress that incorporated her horse’s hair. As you do

Valentine’s Day, also pretty standard, with this $800 brooch:

I was hoping for at least a gold cupid statue

The most expensive item I found was this $13,999 menorah in the Hanukkah category. Made of silver, gold plating, and Jerusalem stone and shipped from Israel:

A bargain!

The same seller claimed both the St. Patrick’s and Thanksgiving categories with these custom made wreaths:

This one’s $549 and you can see why

Apparently there’s such a high demand for these artistic works that you have to preorder months in advance:

So you better jump on this turkey right now

For a mere $5000 you can buy this “art piece” made of different photographs of the Basilica de Virgen Guadalupe. Apparently this has something to do with Day of the Dead:

I don’t know enough about Day of the Dead to be sure

Speaking of art that probably isn’t related to the category it’s found in, look what’s waiting for you in New Year’s! It’s this $1600 pineapple embroidery!

Can you really put a price on art?

Meanwhile, over at Independence Day, we have some art you can wear: “scarves of jewels bead scarves.” It looks like you’re paying $449 to be hella uncomfortable, but what do I know:

Apparently as seen on “The Chew”

I know you’ve been waiting for Easter, and you won’t be disappointed. $2150 giant fiberglass egg!

You want it

I saved my favorite for last. If you’re a rich person searching for Christmas things on Etsy, you can’t go wrong with this undeniably Christmasy “VENUS dress“:

Celebrate the birth of your lord in style!

It’s $3500 if you buy this one, or $4000 if you want one made to your measurements. But that’s a steal because it’s made out of “handpainted lamb leather” and “is unique, one of a kind dress existing in the world.” There, I’ve solved your Christmas shopping for you in April. You’re welcome.

Previously: Geekery
Everything Else
Next: Knitting vs. Crochet

Tagged: etsy

Posted in lists |

Etsy for Rich People: Everything Else Category

March 7th, 2014 by pladd

Last time we took a tour of the most expensive things you can buy on Etsy in the “Geekery” section. I felt like the best section to follow that would be “Everything Else,” a hodgepodge of random listings that wouldn’t fit anywhere else. And one of the subheadings is “Taxidermy” so you know this is going to be good.

Everything Else–>Educational

The educational section seems to be kind of a mix of teaching supplies and instructions for things. The most expensive item listed right now is this:

Yes, you’re paying $12,182 to download a file

The description claims that “IT training includes website creation and Internet marketing,” and that’s all the information you get.

Everything Else–>Magic

The Magic section has the crystals and tarot card readings you’d expect. The most expensive item is this 6-month psychic therapy session for $5,500:

Hey, it’s cheaper than some life coaches

Apparently you’ll meet for an hour on Skype once a week, and she’ll assign you homework to turn your life around! I feel like I already do that for people under the guise of my conversational English lessons. Clearly I need to up my prices.

Everything Else–>Metaphysical

In this section, you can pay $21,370 for a painting full of healing energy that will bring you happiness and longevity:

The description also mentioned how angels guided me to this page

It also comes with a certificate to prove how much healing energy it has.

Everything Else–>Personalized

This one is actually super cool, but I’m not sure why it’s in the Personalized section:

It’s an awesome chandelier!

$3,650 isn’t that bad for something forged, right?

Everything Else–>Religious

Bringing it in the Religious section is this “very large chanukah menorah” at only $4,450:

It IS a very large menorah

Made of bronze, straight from Jerusalem!

Everything Else–>Custom

In the custom section, we find a dude trying to sell his patent for a light-up fence:

I mean, it is a pretty cool fence

Sorry to disappoint you, but the asking price is ACTUALLY $1,000,000 US dollars. $250,000 is apparently the largest price Etsy will allow.

Everything Else–>Taxidermy

Taxidermy yes!!!!! And I’m not disappointed:

It’s everything that was promised

This $8,500 articulated cow skeleton would make “a great gift for a veterinary student or for yourself” and will be “at home in any collection of veterinary specimans, bones and skulls, or for the discerning cow owner.” Thank you, Taxidermy section.

Everything Else–>Weird

Alright, time for weirdness! The most expensive is at Etsy’s top allowable price ($250,000), and I don’t really understand what I’m looking at:

At first I thought it was like a copy of the book with Ray Bradbury’s spirit trapped inside or something

The description doesn’t really help me out either:

So you get a magical mirror box that will let you see into the ocean?

My favorite part of the Weird section was definitely this steal at $100,000:

Grimace’s autograph!!

“He was solely focused on the art of being fat and purple back then, man.”

Well, that wraps up this session of Etsy for Rich People. Try to contain your burgeoning fortunes till next time, when I’ll show you some more ridic things you can buy

Previously: Geekery

Tagged: etsy, lists

Posted in lists |

Theatrically Released Animated Disney Movies

February 25th, 2014 by pladd

For some reason, I found myself looking at Wikipedia’s list of all theatrically-released animated Disney movies the other day, and decided I needed to rank the ones I’d seen. There are 58 of them (and 47 more I haven’t seen), and I ranked them kind of haphazardly, by going through and asking for each “Okay, is this better than that?” until I’d made a list. Some of them are tricky, because the plot’s pretty crappy but the animation is beautiful or I really like the songs. Others I’m pretty sure have earned their spots only through nostalgia. Here’s the Top 10:

1. Frozen (2013; Walt Disney)
2. Mulan (1998; Walt Disney)
3. Spirited Away (2002; Studio Ghibli)
4. Beauty and the Beast (1991; Walt Disney)
5. Emperor’s New Groove (2000; Walt Disney)
6. Aladdin (1992; Walt Disney)
7. Finding Nemo (2003; Pixar)
8. The Little Mermaid (1989; Walt Disney)
9. Hercules (1997; Walt Disney)
10. Howl’s Moving Castle (2005; Studio Ghibli)

It was interesting to me that a lot of them are from right around the same time period. Is that because Disney was the most skilled then? Or because I was the right age? Obviously there are outliers, like Frozen at #1 and the original Fantasia from 1940 ranking pretty high at #23 (see full list at the end). I made a graph scatter plotting release dates with my rankings and you can see most of the top ones are clustered in the post-1985 range, although that’s also when Disney increased their output, and acquired other studios like Pixar and Ghibli.

Interestingly, the worst ranked movie is from 1985

Here’s the bottom 10:

49. Sleeping Beauty (1959; Walt Disney)
50. Ponyo (2009; Studio Ghibli)
51. Dumbo (1941; Walt Disney)
52. A Goofy Movie (1995; DisneyToon)
53. Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars (1998; Hyperion)
54. Pinocchio (1940; Walt Disney)
55. Bambi (1942; Walt Disney)
56. Tarzan (1999; Walt Disney)
57. Doug’s First Movie (1999; DisneyToon)
58. The Black Cauldron (1985; Walt Disney)

If anything, it’s harder for me to decide the worst than the best, maybe because my reasons for disliking a movie are more varied. In the end, The Black Cauldron beat out all crappy contenders by having a lot of the same problems of plot, characters, and art style but also trying to cram 5 books into one movie. Five books that I kind of really like, especially at the time I first saw this film. You can imagine the disappointment. Child-Me had not yet come to terms with the fact that movie adaptions of books you like are often fraught with terribleness, but this movie helped teach her that lesson, I guess.

You might also notice that this bottom list is more varied in terms of studio responsible than the top list. I was interested in that too, and if there was a correlation between studio and quality. The comparison is a little unfair, of course, since Walt Disney Studios has produced 37 of the films on this list, while the next most prolific, Pixar, only has 10.

Films on this list produced by each studio

Still, I thought it would be illustrative, so here are the average rankings of each studio on the list (out of 58, remember)

The results aren’t surprising

DisneyToon makes a terrible showing, partly because there are only 2 films it produced, and both are on the bottom ten. Studio Ghibli is a clear winner, even with the terribleness of Ponyo weighing it down from #50. Walt Disney Studios, where the bulk of these are coming from, is sitting comfortably in the middle. Because, sure, it’s got its Frozen and Mulan, but it also has The Black Cauldron and Tarzan weighing it down.

Here’s the full list: Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: charts, disney, movies

Posted in lists |

4 Interesting People From North Dakota

January 24th, 2014 by pladd

Are you sick of hearing about North Dakota yet? TOO BAD because I got a new book on it for Christmas. It’s called Did You Know That…?: 46 Fascinating Stories About People Who Have Lived in North Dakota (vol 4). You may think it’s kind of a weird gift–especially being volume 4 in a series, but my uncle is a whimsical Santa who knows Christmas is the best time to clean out your apartment of random things you don’t want (my cousin received an empty tape dispenser and half a candle). Joke’s on him anyway, because I READ IT. Well, not all of it (yet). Eventually I got bored reading about all the dudes who rode with Custer and skipped ahead to find the ladies (there were 5–this is how history works). But it turns out, some of the people were fascinating! Well, interesting anyway. So I’m giving it to you straight:

1. Isobel Gunn: North Dakota’s First Crossdresser

There aren’t any pictures of her, so here’s another girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy

Isobel Gunn (1780ish-1861) was born in Scotland, and soon decided that being poor sucked. So, she dressed up as a dude and got a job with the Hudson Bay Company to see beautiful Canada! She was found out in 1807 when she gave birth in what is now North Dakota. Like, on the floor of her boss’ house. Awkward. The father was a dude she’d been sharing accommodation with, and he didn’t stay with his small family long. Isobel and the kid were sent back to Scotland, because North Dakota was still No Girls Allowed. Bummer, Isobel.

2. Charles DeRudio: Custer’s Most Ridiculous Officer

And best facial hair

Charles DeRudio is amazing. Here are some reasons why:

1. His real name was Carlo Camillo di Rudio (1832-1910) and his parents were a count and countess in Italy
2. He attempted to assassinate Napoleon III with a bomb in 1858
3. After being sentenced to death for that, his last request was to “smoke a pipe of tobacco,” and while he stood there smoking his reprieve arrived from the empress
4. He was then sentenced to life in prison in French Guyana, but after a year he escaped, stole a boat, and sailed to British Guyana where he was given asylum
5. Even though he eventually worked for Custer, he didn’t die at Little Bighorn because Custer didn’t like him and had him transferred to another company at the last minute
6. Why is there not a movie about this person?

3. Yellowstone Kelly: Noted Badass

He only wore things he killed with his own two hands

They did make a movie about this guy (sort of). Luther Sage Kelly (1849-1928) made a name for himself in Dakota Territory as a respected guide and trapper, sometimes helping to deliver the mail hundreds of miles across treacherous terrain. There’s all the usual stories about him having daring Wild West battles with Native American warriors, but he was also known for being unfailingly honest and humble, rarely speaking, and almost never about himself. The best story about him is:

Having no greeting card, Kelly cut off one of the paws of a grizzly bear he had recently killed, etched his name on the paw, and sent it to General Miles. Miles hired Kelly as his chief scout.

Yeah, I’ll BET he did. You have to take particular notice of anything you receive written on part of a bear.

4. Enos Stutsman: Trying to give ladies the vote since 1868

North Dakota’s cold, alright? Gotta keep the sides of your face warm somehow

Enos Stutsman (1826-1874) must have had a difficult life–he was born without legs, on the frontier in 1826, a setting not known for its ADA compliance. Still, he managed to become a successful lawyer and kind of sketchy land speculator. I guess it’s easy to get around legal restrictions of selling land you don’t actually own when you’re the only lawyer in town. He served in the Dakota Territory legislature at various points, which is where, in 1868, he introduced a bill “to confer upon women the elective franchise and eligibility to office.” It passed in the house, but was defeated in the council (the upper chamber). Supposedly, this bill is the first such attempt at women’s suffrage in the US!

You know I’ll keep you informed of any further North Dakota related developments.

Tagged: lists, North Dakota

Posted in lists |