Random snark

[mamajoan]

"I've always thought this picture was pretty. I took it about two weeks ago."
--from this post in sunsetpictures
Boy, I wish I were still young enough that two weeks qualified as "always." :P

And now, on to the rant meme.

sydb42 asked for a rant on people who can't drive, specifically the ones that cut you off and then slow down, the ones who think your following distance was put there for them to merge into, and as long as we're talking about merging, the people who think merging onto the expressway at 25 miles an hour is ok.

This is one of my biggest pet peeves. Now, there are two kinds of people who can't drive. There are the ones who apparently don't know the rules of the road, like everything on those tests you have to take to get your license is a hazy, dim memory. These are the idiots who do things like randomly running red lights and stop signs, failing to stop for pedestrians, failing to yield for the right of way, and perhaps even more annoying, randomly YIELDING when THEY have the right of way. I know it probably sounds weird to bitch about people who yield when they shouldn't, because the reverse is much more common and rage-honing, but to me there's just something about people who sit there waiting for you to go when THEY have the right of way and you're waiting for them to go. I mean, seriously, what the fuck? Fucking go already!!!

Ahem, but anyway, the other kinds of people, of course, are the assholes. The people who think the rules of the road are mere "suggestions," immediately suspendable upon emergency, such as, for example, that they are out of coffee and it's two blocks to the next fucking Starbucks. Or that they overslept and therefore are late, which of course becomes MY fucking problem when they sit on my bumper and cut me off and so forth. Listen, fucktards, shaving another thirty seconds off your time is not worth risking your life AND MINE, AND MY SMALL CHILD'S, so BACK THE FUCK OFF. My favorite is when you're sitting at a red light and the light goes to green and they honk their horn at you literally one second after the light changes. HELLO!!! At least wait as long as it takes for my foot to move from the brake pedal to the gas, moron!

Ahem, but anyway, getting back to the merging issue ... people who merge at 25 mph, or generally speaking people who merge timidly. Listen, when you're getting onto a highway where cars are zipping by at 70, 75, 80 miles an hour, this is not the fucking moment to be timid. The gas pedal is the one on the right. USE IT! And as for the ones who cut in front of you and then slow down, there is a special hell reserved for those people. Right alongside the ones who go straight from a turn-only lane. It's the special hell where you spend all day in bumper-to-bumper traffic in 95-degree weather with busted AC, and every channel on the radio dial is playing Madonna's execrable remix of "American Pie" on continuous loop, and you're late for an important meeting with your boss, and your cellphone is busted so you can't call in to explain where you are ... and you have to pee.

And here's the rant that rainbow_goddess requested, on the fact that there are no more shows to get excited about since the departure of Buffy and Angel from the airwaves.

It is pretty sad, isn't it? I know that a lot of the folks on my flist are managing to get excited about, e.g., "Lost" or "Alias" or "Veronica Mars." But it just isn't the same. I've checked out bits and pieces of a lot of new shows lately, and none of them make me go "Wow, must add that to the TiVO right away." I miss Joss. Hell, I miss JMS. Heck, I even miss Aaron Sorkin; at least he knew how to make dialogue pop. (I hear "West Wing" is better this year than it was last year -- but that ain't saying much.)

I, of course, blame it all on conspiracy. Specifically, the network TV execs are banded together against quality sci-fi TV. And who can blame them? For they are idiots who don't understand or appreciate the qualities that make sci-fi TV good. Instead they appreciate the qualities that make sci-fi TV bad, such as T&A, random loud explosions that defy the laws of physics, and simplistic plots based around the fascinating concept of "let's find a bad guy/creature and kill him/it." I mean, I still can't believe the idiots at the WB let "Buffy" go. The hell? Talk about bone-fucking-headed decisions.

Ahem, but where was I? Oh yes, the vast wasteland of "reality" and get-rich-quick-while-embarrassing-yourself-in-front-of-the-nation that is TV these days. It's pathetic. It used to be that you could at least say "well, we have cable, there'll be something on," but no more. Now you're lucky if you can find anything that isn't a rerun of Friends, Seinfeld, or Sex in the City. One can only hope that soon enough the nation will see the error of its ways and wake us collectively up from this reality-TV nightmare, and that a new Joss/JMS/Roddenberry* will arise from the ashes of the reality crazy, to enrich our lives anew.
* Yeah, Roddenberry had his faults, but you gotta admit, he did wonderful things for the state of TV, and sci-fi TV specifically.

Hmm, that one wasn't very ranty. Sorry. I don't have much time for TV lately anyway so it's a little hard for me to get worked up about that topic except in the abstract.

Anyway, the lines are still open if anyone else wants to request a rant. And now if you'll excuse me, my feet are wet and cold.

Comments

[sydb42.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the great rant! The only time I forget myself and curse in front of Roo (and I'm doing better because I get so much practice) is when I'm driving because of all the idiots on the road. You brought up so many more that are just as bad (or worse) than what I mentioned in my request...and I LOVE your punishment at the end!! I will cherish that thought the next time I get cut off. :)

[retch.livejournal.com]

Have you seen Battlestar Galactica? The first two episodes were good, last weeks was so-so, we'll see how this week is. :) Overall I'm still hopeful.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

I tried watching the new Battlestar Galactica, but I couldn't make head nor tail out of it. There was a vanishing blonde bimbo who kept appearing and disappearing, and a lot of people saying that the Cylons were going to attack in x number of minutes, and I couldn't find an actual plot. But then I'm a fan of the original BSG, so I wasn't expecting much.

[rainbow-goddess.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the rant. I think it was a good rant, even if you haven't watched much TV lately.

[retch.livejournal.com]

Yeah it apparently picks right up after the mini-series, with the full assumption that you have watched it. We were all mildly befuddled at first, but deciphered it all from context.