Imprimatur

The Word of the Day for November 5 is "imprimatur."

imprimatur: (noun) Formal and explicit approval.

Synonyms: endorsement, sanction

Usage: The candidate's campaign was bolstered by the imprimatur of New York's governor.

Relevance to my life: My imprimatur was unnecessary; he was hell-bent on leaving, so he left.

I am cranky and my head hurts this morning. I can't think of any video clips to add, so here it is - a very short WOTD blog entry.

Opine

The Word of the Day for November 4 is "opine."

opine: (verb) Express one's opinion openly and without fear or hesitation.

Synonyms: sound off, speak out, speak up

Usage: "I dare say it is all for the best," opined Mrs. Munt.

Relevance to my life: It may appear to some that I opine at length about what gets under my skin when in fact, I feel as though I have been biting my tongue in half, holding back what I really think.

Happy Election Day.

How ironic, considering the fact that if politicians really expressed their true opinions instead of pandering to the widest possible voter base, few of them would make it higher than city dog-catcher.

What? Cynical... me?

---

WD-40 or Duct Tape Can Fix Anything

In all my years as an active voter, I have never experienced what I did today.I got to my polling station, located conveniently two doors down from my house, just after it opened at 6 am to see a long line and the news crew from News Channel Nine. I'd expected the line, even the news crew, but not the snafus.

My polling place is home to two districts in a single ward. There were two old-fashioned lever-type voting machines, one for each district; one electronic, touch-screen machine which could be used for registered voters in either district; finally a stack of emergency paper ballots.

The electronic voting machine was not yet online, the were waiting some code, and the voting machine for my district was not working: the levers would not go down. So we stood there and watched our line grow.

Tempers flared a bit when one annoyed voter opined that the reporter should stop being part of the problem by merely reporting the news instead of being an agent of change. Repeated calls to the board of elections yielded busy signals or interminable phone trees.

We had a man there from the Democratic party charged to observe the process and watch for irregularities. It's thanks to him, I believe, that the official voting machine repairman finally showed up at 7:15 with his magic can of WD-40 to remedy the situation.

So it was that at 7:26, almost an hour anad a half after I got there, I cast my vote.

Doyen/Doyenne

The Word of the Day for November 3 is "doyen/doyenne."

doyen: (noun) A man who is the eldest or senior member of a group.

doyenne: (noun) A woman who is the eldest or senior member of a group.

Synonyms: elder, senior

Relevance to my life: One girl in my class, I believe,  had been held back once or had started Kindergarten later than the rest of us, so in comparision to the rest of us she was huge, and she knew it. She also tended toward the bully end of the spectrum, so in no time at all she had taken over the class as de facto leader: The doyenne of our class at Borough Elementary School.

Since November is NanNoWriMo, and this means I will be aiming for an average of 2,000 words a day, I will also go out of my way to include the word of the day in each day's work as a little challenge to myself.

Ok, about "doyen/doyenne," I have heard the feminine form of the word before: on NPR, one of the commentators used to introduce a gardening correspondent, Ketzel Levine, as "The Doyenne of Dirt." I have never head the male form used before today.

Today's video clips feature two period dramas, Brideshead Revisited and, what else, Pride and Prejudice.

In the following clip from Brideshead Revisited, the alluded-to-Mr. Samgrass could be considered a doyen. This is a pivotal, yet subtle scene. It provides a lot of background info to allow things to fall into place and also foreshadows what's to come.


Charles and Lady Marchmain

I can't think of a better example of a doyenne than the wretched Lady Catherine de Bourgh from Pride and Prejudice.

This sums her up perfectly.



The Piano Scene

Sacrilegious

The Word of the Day for October 31 is "sacrilegious."

sacrilegious: (adjective)

1. Grossly irreverent toward what is or is held to be sacred.
2. Having committed sacrilege.

Synonyms: blasphemous, profane.

Usage: They took an oath to defend and protect the united cities, to punish the violators of this oath and to inflict vengeance on sacrilegious despoilers of the temple.

Relevance to my life: When he and I were acolytes and had just extinguished the candles on the altar, Joel Baker tried to kiss me in the corridor right behind the giant crucifix hanging on the wall in the front of the church. I was so stunned by his sacrilegious move that I was afraid that the church roof would cave in.

Example from literature: In Anne of Green Gables, Marilla had a brooch.

Marilla wore her amethyst brooch to church that day as usual. Marilla always wore her amethyst brooch to church. She would have thought it rather sacrilegious to leave it off--as bad as forgetting her Bible or her collection dime. That amethyst brooch was Marilla's most treasured possession. A seafaring uncle had given it to her mother who in turn had bequeathed it to Marilla. It was an old-fashioned oval, containing a braid of her mother's hair, surrounded by a border of very fine amethysts. Marilla knew too little about precious stones to realize how fine the amethysts actually were; but she thought them very beautiful and was always pleasantly conscious of their violet shimmer at her throat, above her good brown satin dress, even although she could not see it.

Oh, I love that book! I can't wait to buy the set for Natalie when she's a bit older.

Today's video compilation includes something from The Exorcist & Fallen, because nothing says "sacrilegious" like a good demonic possession. I'm also tossing in some Anne of Green Gables.

Warning, there are graphic scenes in this.
If blasphemy and sacrilege offend you, DON'T WATCH THIS.
 Don't say I didn't warn you.




Another great tale of possession is Fallen, with Denzel Washington. It has a nice twist to it as well, which I love. This scene is so creepy.





Finally, going back to the previously-visited theme of Anne of Green Gables, here is a clip with assorted funny moments.
 And yes, that is the chicken dance you hear.

Frump

The Word of the Day for October 30 is "frump."

frump: (noun)

1. A girl or a woman regarded as dull, plain, or unfashionable.
2. A person regarded as colorless and primly sedate.

Synonym: dog

Usage: Her hairstyle had not changed since the early 1970s, and she did little to shed her reputation as a frump.

Relevance to my life: Like Toula in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," I went through a frump-girl phase which endures even now on some days, and even though photographic proof of it exists, thanks to people whom I later had to kill, I will be taking it to my grave.

Example from the movies: In "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," (@ the 4:10 mark on the first video clip below) Toula and Ian are on their first date when Ian recognizes her:

Ian: "I remember you. You're that waitress."
Toula: "Seating hostess, actually."
Ian: "I remember you."
Toula: "I was kind of going through a phase, up til... now. And, uh... I was frump-girl."

I love this movie. I'm not usually the hugest, gushing sort of fan of romantic comedies, but I love this one.

The scenes where Toula first meets Ian's parents and then when his parents meets he family made the s2bx and me laugh because we could relate: My family is small and WASP; his is large and Catholic. At dinner time at my parents' house, just like in the movie, you can hear the clink of cutlery on the plates.

The first time my parents met a good portion of his family came as sort of a surprise to them. Granted, there was no bacchanalia complete with a lamb roasting on a spit in the front yard, but it was large, loud and raucous, very un-WASP-like.



Frump-girl bit



Trailer



Some funny bits

Immutable

The Word of the Day for October 29 is "immutable."

immutable: (adjective) Not subject or susceptible to change.

Synonym: changeless

Usage: Destiny was too potent, and her immutable laws had decreed my utter and terrible destruction.

Relevance to my life: Denial is a strong force, it prompted me to bang myself against the truth, an immutable brick wall, but no matter how many times I screamed "No," my child was still dead.

What it is NOT: unable to be muted -
The Mute button on the damned remote is stuck, now the tv is immutable! wrong but funny lol

Example from the movies: In The Shawshank Redemption, when Andy naïvely mentions that he might simply ask Warden Norton for more funds to expand the library, Brooks explains that that is not likely to happen:

"Son, six wardens have been through here in my tenure and I've learned one immutable, universal truth: Not one of them born whose asshole won't pucker up tighter than a snare drum when you ask for funds."

Now for some scenes from the movie, and other randomness:





Icy-cold, Bohemia-style beer



Mozart



Escape

Clancy Brown, who played Captain Hadley, the foul-mouthed, baton-wielding guard also provided the voice of Mr. Krabs from Spongebob and the arch-enemy The Kurgan in Highlander. This naturally makes me think of Queen.

Who Wants to Live Forever

Riposte

The Word of the Day for October 28 is "riposte."

riposte: (noun) A quick reply to a question or remark (especially a witty or critical one).

Synonyms: comeback, counter, rejoinder, replication, retort, return

Usage: His sassy comment brought a sharp riposte from the teacher, and the shamed student's cheeks turned a deep crimson.

Relevance to my life: I'm usually pretty on target and timely with the snappy ripostes, but on occasion when I really do need to say something witty immediately, I am left speechless, until ten minutes later when the moment has passed. Oh, I hate that!

What it is NOT: "to post again" -
My constant editing screwed up the html formatting of my blog, so I had to riposte it. wrong

Comics' comebacks when dealing with hecklers are some of my favorite examples of ripostes. Some are witty, but most are the standard "STFU, you maggot-d*cked motherf***er," "Yo Mama" and grade-school type comments "I know you are but what am I," but I laugh at them because I am both child-like and childish.

Jimmy Carr and Heckler





George Carlin, His Potty Mouth and Some Random Heckler
"You gotta use psychology."



Richard Herring (I've never heard of him before) and Drunk



Joe Rogan appealing to the ever-popular vein of homophobia



Bill Maher and Assorted Others Deal With Hecklers