Incense_and_Peppermints

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Posts by Incense_and_Peppermints

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  42

  What Women Want In A Man...

  by Englishman in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  according to her ladyship's group of pals, what today's woman wants in a man, is the ability to fix things!.

  so many chaps are totally inept when it comes to climbing ladders, wielding a screwdriver or wiping a joint, that wives are getting a little pe'ed off with men who just want to show their feminine side.

  todays woman wants her man to be a do-er, a fixer, a man who creates, a man who can and does!

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  what do women want in a man?

  power.

  (vin diesel? oh-kaay)
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  3

  pop cult 101

  by Incense_and_Peppermints in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  bart simpson cereal.

  (kellogg's, 2001)

  gimmick: at long last, a breakfast cereal tie-in to america's first family, the simpsons.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  

  

  

  

  Bart Simpson Cereal

  (Kellogg's, 2001)

  Gimmick: At long last, a breakfast cereal tie-in to America's First Family, The Simpsons. Companion product to Homer's Cinnamon Donut Cereal, both limited editions.

  New Technology: The surfaces of the cereal balls are slightly dusty, as if coated with actual cocoa.

  Purported Flavor: "Peanut Butter Chocolate Crunch"

  Actual Flavor: Pencil erasers dipped in old peanut butter.

  Yet another attempt to fuse the taste of peanut butter into a sugary sphere, Bart Simpson Cereal inevitably fails in comparison to the classic Peanut Butter Cap'n Crunch. While it may be a small improvement over the execrable Reese's Peanut Butter Puffs, Bart Simpson Cereal proves once again that no one can match the food scientists of Quaker in formulating a satisfactorily artificial peanut butter flavor. Then there's the all-important matter of textureagain, the Simpson cereal doesn't match the mighty Cap'n in this regard with a chalky feel that's not altogether pleasant. We can only hope that the Kellogg's R&D department is fast at work developing Chocolate Frosted Frosty Krusty Flakes.

  Homer's Cinnamon Donut Cereal(Kellogg's, 2001)

  Gimmick: Another cereal tie-in product to The Simpsons.

  New Technology: Each cereal bit has a slightly dusty surface, as if coated with a residue of actual sugar and cinnamon.

  Purported Flavor: "MmmmDONUTS."

  Actual Flavor: Slightly stale cinnamon donutsbut cinnamon donuts nevertheless.

  Far more successful in its flavor replication than fellow Simpsons cereal Bart Simpson Cereal, Homer's Cinnamon Donut Cereal follows through on its mission plan by delivering not only the flavor but also the texture of day-old cinnamon donuts. How many donuts were sacrificed in Kellogg's relentless quest to forge such an unnatural union of fried-batter flavor and cereal grains? Despite its success, however, HCDC is overshadowed by the Quaker combine's own donut cereal sneak attack, Cap'n Crunch's Choco Donutsit's hard to combat multicolored sprinkles with mere imitation cinnamon. Nevertheless, we hope Kellogg's sticks with HCDC so consumers may still have an imitation donut cereal choice. (Also, it should be noted that the Simpons packaging is vastly superior in all respects to its competitors.)

  Mickey's Magix(Kellogg's, 2002)

  Gimmick: Utilizing the best of the Mickey Mouse personas (the sorcerer's apprentice) to shill another toasted oat cereal product.

  New Technology: Turns milk blue via the magic of artificial coloring.

  Purported Flavor: "Naturally Sweetened Toasted Oat Cereal with Marshmallows"

  Actual Flavor: Just like every other sugarcoated toasted oats with marshmallows.

  Well, yes, sugar is natural, thus Mickey's Magix is indeed naturally sweetened. With this slight of handas well as the ol' "Made with Whole Grain" labelKellogg's seems to be positing this as some sort of health product. But it's really the same old oats 'n' marshmallows cereal we've seen in countless previous iterations. The oat bits do include blue sparkles that add a little razzle dazzle, and they do bleed blue coloring into one's milk. But I'm no fan of foods that color other things, whether it be milk or tongues or fingers, etc. It's just another reminder of how artificial the food you're ingesting is. Overall, this is just underwhelming. Blue sparkles do not a cereal make!

  Quisp (Quaker, 1999)

  Gimmick: The king of '60s cereal cool returns!

  New Technology: Sometimes old technology is bestsaucer-shaped discs of pure sugary glory.

  Purported Flavor: "Crunchy Corn Cereal."

  Actual Flavor: Crunchy sugar with the faintest whiff of corn flour.

  Yes, the dream of millions has come true: the pink propeller-headed alien has flown back to a grateful planet Earth. But is this reissued cereal as good as the original? Honestly, it's difficult to remember the exact flavor of the '60s/'70s vintage. But it appears as if the food scientists of the Quaker labs have stuck to the original recipethe ingredients panel does not include any artificial flavors or even corn syrup just the pure goodness of refined white and brown sugars. The texture doesn't seem quite as crisp as I recall, but that may simply be due to a forgiving memory. What's even more exciting is the efforts put forth by the Quisp marketing team: a superb wrist watch, excellent T-shirts, and cartoon hijinks by none other than the Spmc artists. On the back of the box, you'll find a comic strip and at quisp.com there's even a Flash cartoon starring Quisp in a Spmc-style adventure. Truly, this was a masterstroke of marketingSpmc is a fitting heir to the Jay Ward mantle. While most adult metabolisms may not be able to absorb large quantities of Quisp, it is comforting to know that it's on supermarket shelves for a new generation to discover and puzzle over.

  Star Wars Episode II Cereal (General Mills, 2002)

  Gimmick: A new Star Wars movie, a new cereal. It is the law of the universe.

  New Technology: The union of two standard cereal bits never before combined: corn puffs and marshmallows.

  Purported Flavor: "Sweetened Corn Puffs with Marshmallow Pieces"

  Actual Flavor: Exactly as described! Could this be a first in the annals of sugary breakfast-cereal history?

  The ubiquitous marshmallow piece is the universal currency of sugar cereals. No kid on Earth will ever refuse them, so if you add marshmallows into a cereal then you can't go wrong. (Unless you are susceptible to feelings of guilt over supporting an entire dental industry by causing children's tooth decay.) Typically, marshmallow pieces are combined with toasted-oat bits to create a pleasing yin-yang balance between the sweet and the less sweet. But General Mills has boldly overturned this common industry practice with its own unique take on the time-tested formula. Brace yourself: marshmallow bits with corn puffs! Imagine plucking out the velvety-sweet marshmallows from Lucky Charms and combining them with the forthright corn spheres from Kixwhy, you'd have a whole new world of marshmallow-breakfast sensations to explore. That's exactly what Star Wars Episode II Cereal delivers with its light-saber-shaped marshmallows and its ever-so-slightly less sweet corn puffstruly a masterstroke of elegant sugar cereal design. But can Star Wars Episode II Cereal last longer than the ill-fated C3PO Cereal? We must look to The Force for an answer

  

  

  Every one of the following artists is not only hugely successful, but also genuinely beloved by worshipful fans. You can see why: Each artist puts his or her distinctive style to use in producing "cute" art. It should be noted, however, that this popular artwork is also overexploited to the point of naked greed. A few popular coffee-table books would certainly be understandablebut like Hollywood's unstoppable penchant for regurgitating bland sequels, these artists have created franchises more than they have fresh art. Every year, they issue new titles that are barely distinguishable from their previous books. Then the same artwork is republished in calendars, greeting cards, posters, postcards, etc. Far be it for me to criticize the actual artwork (though the words "cloyingly precious" do come to mind). Rather, let us examine the craven urges of popular artists and their publishers.

  SARK

  SARKjust SARK, thank youcombines her watercolor paintings of whimsical figures with hand-written thoughts on becoming a "succulent wild woman." Her journal-like books, usually filed in the self-help section, have titles like The Bodacious Book of Succulence: Daring to Live Your Succulent Wild Life, Succulent Wild Woman: Dancing With Your Wonder Full Self, or Eat Mangoes Naked: Finding Pleasure Everywhere and Dancing With the Pits. While self-help books generally tell you things that you already know, SARK takes the format to new levels of obviousness with such empowering words of advice like, "Live a wild, vulnerable life. Let us see you, laughing loudly, walking flamboyantly, and wearing colors that don't match." Don't worryshe also offers more specific directives such as "immediately take a nap! naps are when the angels come out to take special care of you." Naturally, these bold, new ways of thinking have snared thousands of people with low self-esteem or who watch the Lifetime network. Whether lasting personal change can really be effected via hand-written admonitions to be "succulent" remains to be seen.

  Mary Engelbreit

  Mary Engelbreit has created a Martha Stewart-like empire of decorating tips and crafts ideasonly with the addition of teeth-achingly-cute illustrations of children, pets, flowers, birdies, etc. The actual text is pretty mundane stuff. Here, for example, is a bit of simple wisdom from Mary Engelbreit Decorating Ideas: Projects to Make for Indoors and Out: "Some of the best times spent with family and friends are when we prepare for meals and enjoy each other's company as we gather 'round the table. These creative projects make every get-together a time of celebration." Expect more helpful advice from Mary Engelbreit Cross-Stitch, Mary Engelbreit's Queen of the Kitchen Cookbook, Christmas With Mary Engelbreit: Let the Merrymaking Begin, or Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion: Fabric. Yes, Mary Engelbreit has got your home projects coveredbut, more importantly, they also have delightful cartoon characters to boot. Let's see you try that, Martha! Meanwhile, Engelbreit also specializes in illustrating children's books that are actually for adults, especially mothers, such as Words For Mothers To Live By, A Mother's Journal: A Collection of Family Memories, When a Child Is Born, So Is a Grandmother, Mother O' Mine, etc. Amazon.com lists 161 selections of Engelbreit products. You can be sure that the country crafts-susceptible have bought them all.

  George Rodrigue

  As NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw so eloquently states in his foreword to Blue Dog Man, "When I am working, I can look up at the wall and see a picture of Blue Dog staring out from within a television set. The caption reads, 'Sometimes I feel like a Blue Dog.' It's a funny, provocative commentary on the feelings I often have as I look into the lens of a television camera and, by extension, into the eyes of millions of Americans."

  Eh?

  While Brokaw's statement makes very little actual sense, the Americans he speaks of no doubt also feel the same mysterious attraction to George Rodrigue's Blue Dog. The perpetually hollow-eyed creature stares out unrelentingly in countless paintings collected in such books as Red White and Blue Dog, Why Is Blue Dog Blue, Blue Dog Love, A Blue Dog Christmas, etc. Why are this nation's citizens transfixed by the same dog in the same pose in paintings that seem barely different from one another? Why has a painting style that would normally be disregarded at the flea market become, as amazon.com's reviewer puts it, "a touchstone of contemporary American culture, winning accolades from U.S. presidents, Hollywood stars, and ordinary people alike"? Some claim that the pooch communicates on the same sort of human/dog level that occurs in real life, thus sparking memories of canine bonding. Or maybe it's just cute.

  William Wegman

  William Wegman is undoubtedly one of the most popular photographers in the entire world. His photographs appear on magazine covers, in museums and galleries, and on address books. They are instantly recognizable for their wit and charm. But there is one aspect that most art connoisseurs seem to disregard when lavishing his sizable output with praise:

  These are a bunch of photos of dogs in costumes.

  Dogs as Cinderella, dogs as Little Red Riding Hood, dogs as construction workers, dogs as firemen, dogs in dresses, dogs in suits, and on and on. Certainly, Wegman has brought a new degree of technical craft to the dogs-in-costumes genre, but the fact remains that this used to be the stuff of turn-of-the-century postcards. With his non-costume dog photography, Wegman is still just as manipulative; in Puppies, he jams cute lil' weimaraners into trees, vases, wheelbarrows, etc. While these poses are undoubtedly entertaining for humans, I wonder how fair it is to seal a puppy into a cloth pouch and then hang it from a metal fence post just because it looks cool?

  Anne Geddes

  What William Wegman does to dogs, Anne Geddes does to human babies: stick 'em into costumes and make 'em do silly things. This means coating a baby in feathers and propping it up in a bird's nest, attaching flowers to babies' heads then making them sit in flower pots or old cans, putting babies into watermelon costumes then sliding them into melon rinds, slapping a cabbage leaf atop a baby's head and making him sit inside a cabbage, etc. Of course, all of Geddes' photos are beautifully lit, artfully composed, and gosh-darn cute. But they're also manipulating children to do patently unnatural things just so we can say, "Look at the peapod with the baby's head! Awwww" The effect, at times, isn't just surreal, but rather freakish. Geddes' non-costume work of babies just being babies is often just as captivating, though perhaps not as profitable.

  Edited by - Incense_and_Peppermints on 15 August 2002 11:43:20
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  20

  christmas

  by Incense_and_Peppermints in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wonder what lurkers would think if our profiles all said we lived in christmas island .

  anyway, soon some of you newly liberated ones can celebrate your first christmas... hooray!

  here's some christmas stuf to get you in the mood.... (a christmas countdown: http://www.christmas.com/pe/56.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  oh, beck, how is wish i did! i would love to meet you and give you a great big hug.
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  11

  If WTS fell today, where should the money go?

  by sleepy in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  if the watchtower society fell today , where should the money go?.

  think of all those millions, even billions that are tied up in brooklyn bethal , in shares, in banks, assembly hall and kingdom halls.. where would the money legaly have to go?.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  they should set up a children's fund and use the 95 million or so to provide counseling for those who have been abused, victimized and traumatized by the wts. also another fund for the bereaved parents who lost their precious children (or anyone for that matter) to the "no blood" clause... we've all been traumatized in one way or another, but i would happily give any monies to someone who truly needed it, like an innocent child in desperate need of counseling or treatment... that would indeed be poetic justice.
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  110

  On The Art Of Fading

  by expatbrit in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  in october of 2000, i faded away from the watchtower.

  like most people, i have family and friends who are jw's (including my wife and parents).

  fading is generally the best method for people in that situation.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  wow. you should turn this into a book, seriously. awesome, well-thought-out narrative.

  p.s. "bunch of dingoes kidneys", good one
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  christmas

  by Incense_and_Peppermints in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wonder what lurkers would think if our profiles all said we lived in christmas island .

  anyway, soon some of you newly liberated ones can celebrate your first christmas... hooray!

  here's some christmas stuf to get you in the mood.... (a christmas countdown: http://www.christmas.com/pe/56.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  i found out where it is ... (don't they have a cool flag?)

  Location

  Geography and Climate

  The Island is the summit of a submarine mountain. It rises steeply to a central plateau dominated by stands of rainforest. The plateau reaches heights of up to 361 metres and consists mainly of limestone with layers of volcanic rock.

  The Island's 80 kilometre coastline is an almost continuous sea cliff, ranging in height to 20 metres. In a few places (about 13) breaks in the cliff give way to shallow bays and small sand and coral beaches. The largest of these bays forms the Island's port at Flying Fish Cove.

  The Island is surrounded by an encircling coral reef. There is virtually no coastal shelf and the sea plummets to a depth of about 5 000 metres within 200 metres of the shore.

  The climate is tropical and temperatures range from 21C to 32C. Humidity is around 80-90% and south-east trade winds provide pleasant weather for most of the year, although during the wet season, between November and April it is common for some storm activity to occur, producing a swell in seas around the island. The average rainfall is 2,000 mm per annum.

  Time Difference

  1 hour behind Western Standard Time (WST). 3 hours behind Eastern Standard Time (EST) eg. 9.00am EST is 6.00am on the Island. Add one hour for daylight saving eg. 9.00am EST is 5.00am on the Island.

  History

  Christmas Island was named on Christmas day 1643 by Captain William Mynors, the master of a passing ship. The first landing was recorded by William Dampier in 1688. For the next two centuries, little interest was shown in the island due to its rugged coastline.

  Following the discovery of phosphate deposits, the island was annexed by Britain in 1888.

  Christmas Island was occupied by Japanese forces from March 1942 until the end of the Second World War, and in 1946 became a dependency of Singapore.

  By agreement with the United Kingdom, sovereignty was transferred to the Commonwealth of Australia on 1 October 1958 under the Christmas Island Act 1958.

  The extensive phosphate deposits on Christmas Island have been mined for many years. The Phosphate Mining Corporation of Christmas Island ceased business in late 1987. The mine was reopened in 1990 by a local consortium and is now operated by Phosphate Resources Ltd (trading as Christmas Island Phosphates).
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  christmas

  by Incense_and_Peppermints in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i wonder what lurkers would think if our profiles all said we lived in christmas island .

  anyway, soon some of you newly liberated ones can celebrate your first christmas... hooray!

  here's some christmas stuf to get you in the mood.... (a christmas countdown: http://www.christmas.com/pe/56.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  i wonder what lurkers would think if our profiles all said we lived in christmas island . someone mentioned christmas island and i thought it would be a smashing idea, so i changed my profile country to christmas island. (does anyone know where that is?)

  anyway, soon some of you newly liberated ones can celebrate your first christmas... hooray! here's some christmas stuf to get you in the mood...

  (a christmas countdown: http://www.christmas.com/pe/56
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  Should I Go To College?

  by joeshmoe in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  like a typical witness goody-goody-two-shoes, i eschewed college in favor of "theocratic pursuits" when i was a teen (i.e.

  over 5 yrs at bethel).

  now, at age 26, with my eyes opened and purged of the witness insanity, im thinking about college again.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  everybody already answered your question, so i'm glad you're going. school starts for me in two weeks and i can't tell you how excited i am. good luck!
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  18

  Do you still read societys literature?

  by haujobbz in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  i still got my insight books,bible,song book,revelation book,isiahia book,some tracts,awakes @watchtowers.

  i did throw a lot of my magz away but still got these,what shall i do keep them,sell them to second hand book store,give to charity shop,or read them all again and brainwash myself with jw ideology.

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  i cherish books, and would never ever throw one away. but with jw material, i would make an exception. i threw out everything. every bit of it. why give it away and help spread their propoganda around? now that i think about it, i should have burned it all. good therapy...
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  valis' picies made me think

  by Incense_and_Peppermints in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  wear your love like heaven (wear your love like).

  wear your love like heaven (wear your love like).

  wear your love like heaven (wear your love).

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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  I think so too, Moe.