What I Hate and Like and Why

Memes are viral nuisances and every now and then someone throws one at me. I hate that! I never know what to do and make Susan deal with it (what else is a Blog Wrangler good for?) and then she gets really cranky. Very cranky. So this time, and this time only, I'll deal with it because she said I have to because I haven't been commenting on any of my Blog Friends' blogs. OK, I give up.

But, in the interest of stopping the meme madness, I'm not going to make people pass this on. I will do the meme questions, as (snarl) suggested but instead of tagging anyone, at the end (so keep reading) I'm going to pass on some blog and website links. Which ones? Some from our Top 100 Hit Parade, the ones we come back to over and over again, the ones we often share with friends. Giving you these links is the easy part. The hard part and the part that is important is the Why. Please pay attention to the Why because we think the links will take you to places where you'll learn something or be amused or be awed or just plain entertained. Or maybe you'll think "What the %$#& . . . . ?"

But first, the nasty meme questions and answers (Don//Susan):

1-What is your current obsession?
eating avocados // photoshop

2-What was the last thing you bought?
clamps at Harbor Freight // citrus reamer

3-What are you listening to right now?
Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground by Beth Rowley // Erik Satie's Gymnopedies

4-Say something to the person who tagged you:
Don't make me hunt you down! I hate this! // I hate this too but we are still kin.

5-Favorite vacation spots?
Mauna Kea in Hawaii, Paris, Port Aransas, Bonaire

6-What are you reading right now?
The Steel Wave by Jeff Shaara // Voodoo Heart by Scott Snyder

7-What four words would you use to describe yourself?
meticulous, quiet, happy, flummoxed // messy, noisy, glass-half-empty, crabby

8-What is your current guilty pleasure?
ice cream with homemade hot fudge sauce and praline pecans // the "Next Blog" button at the top of blogspot blogs

9-Where are you planning to travel next?
Washington DC and New York City

10-What was the best thing you ate or drank recently?
grilled trout and red wine// chocolate parfait from Whole Foods

11-care to share some wisdom?
Fake it till you make it. // Growing old sucks.

12-What currently has you fully flummoxed?
How pathetic TV is // The decline of newspapers

As promised, random selections* from our Top 100 Hit Parade, in no particular order, with the all-important Why:
Lee Valley Tools --- Why? Their spiral punch is $30 cheaper than most other places.
Ron Pippin --- Why? Imagination unleashed.
Art Propelled--- Why? Robyn provides depth and value to your browsing.
BibliOdyssy--- Why? Incredible amount of material provided.
Carol Marine--- Why? She keeps at it, day after day.
HP Smart Web Printing--- Why? It saves ink and paper and it's free.
Denis Collette--- Why? Beautiful photography
The Altered Page--- Why? Seth continues to engage the art community.
How to Make a Button--- Why? It's mesmerizing.
Where the Hell is Matt?--- Why? It's our global community.

And finally,The way cool video on YouTube about information dissemination. It will make you feel smart because it is about digital ethnography and digital anthropology, which (if you are reading this) you are a part of.

Step 1. To make sense of it you should watch this video first:
Michael Wesch: Machine is Us/ing Us.
The first/original version of this video has been viewed over 8 million times, this is his final edited version which has been viewed over a million times.
Step 2. Then watch this very nutty homemade video (it will make sense later) which has been viewed over 27 million times.
Step 3. And finally, the main speech Michael Wesch made.

*Did we leave off your blog or website? Don't be offended, we just randomly picked from our Hit Parade and you might be on it but missed being a random choice.