Friday Orts and a Blurb

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It's been so long since I've done Friday Orts that you don't know my opinion on several important topics. That is something up with which we cannot put.

Subject one: The color of the year, which you all know by now is Pantone 18-3224, Radiant Orchid. My opinion on this is "Well, huh."

According to the Pantone people who make these pronouncements, "Radiant Orchid blooms with confidence and magical warmth that intrigues the eye and sparks the imagination. It is an expressive, creative and embracing purple—one that draws you in with its beguiling charm. A captivating harmony of fuchsia, purple and pink undertones, Radiant Orchid emanates great joy, love and health."

All I know is that it's the exact same color Much Older Sister wore to light candles in my uncle's wedding when she was 13, and that was many, many, many years before this year so if we're going for new trends this one is not it.

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Subject two: Toast apparently is the new cupcake. All of you lovely reader(s) are so hip and happening that you undoubtedly knew this months ago, but I was unaware that toast has now moved into the food arena's spotlight as the most supercool overpriced item on the menu. After looking at some of the examples of artisanal toast, though, I think I could get behind this trend.

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Subject three: My efforts to get MY OWN MONEY back from the company that holds it until I need reimbursement for something I've spent on MY OWN MEDICAL CARE, SUCH AS TEETH CLEANING. On second thought, I think I'll leave that one for another week because I'm having a nice morning (mmmm, toast!) and I don't want to stomp all over that mellow.

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Subject four, in which I learned something about myself. If you found a fully-wrapped fun-sized Hershey bar on the ground, what would you do? Now supposing you found a package of gum (all individual pieces fully wrapped) on the ground? Yesterday I was placed in a position to answer both of those questions within a few hours and my answers turned out to be "duh" and "ick." Apparently the thought of eating a Hershey bar is irresistible to me, even though said bar has been on the ground, because chocolate. The gum, however, made me turn up my gross-discerning nose because it had been on the ground. Again: Well, huh.

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Subject five, today's blurb: I have an informal multi-tiered ranking of the blogs I read. Some I read only if I'm sitting in the car and don't have any knitting with me. Some I try to catch up on when I can but if I miss a day or two, it's not a problem. For the four or five writers in my top tier, though, I pretty much drop what I'm doing and read as soon as they come across my feed.

Linda Holmes, the National Public Radio commentator on pop culture, is at the top of the top tier. Her blog, Monkey See, says what I think so many times that I sometimes feel she's my long-lost much-younger twin. She makes me think harder about what I see in movies and television, and has great insights on the way something we may think of as sonic wallpaper actually influences our lives. And she writes beautifully.

For a good introduction, read her take on the recent study that showed women prefer men who drive pick-up trucks. It contains the following paragraph, which made me laugh:

This is a study, for real, that imagines that a group of women are sitting around, Sex And The City-style (the only way women do anything according to studies like this), and one of them says to the other one, "My new boyfriend drives a minivan." And everybody makes a little face. You know, they're all judging. Like we do. And then another one says, "My new boyfriend drives a UPS truck." And everybody else goes, "Well, GAME SET MATCH, I cannot compete with that."

 Spend the weekend reading her archives. It's an investment in your brain.