Q

From JTA’s version of this, at which I did particularly badly.

1. Put your music player on random.
2. Post the first line from the first 20 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
3. Let everyone guess what song and artist (or musical) the lines come from.
4. Embolden the songs when someone guesses correctly.

Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING!

I’m using my last.fm library for this. Who knows what weirdness will come up? Some of these I am very familiar with, others I was hearing for the first time (not the band, but the specific song).

1. I’m playing the game with earthquakes around me
2. Just breathe in the air / But don’t be afraid
3. I was talkin’ to Chuck in his Genghis Khan suit
4. Baby’s getting anxious, the hours getting late
5. Shade, stay, know / but they communicate
6. I took my love, I took it down / I climbed a mountain and I turned around
7. What I want, you’ve got / And it might be hard to handle
8. Deep down Louisiana close to New Orleans –> Chuck Berry - Johnny B. Goode
9. Look at them all on the inside, look at them wasting away
10. Here they come with their make-up on
11. In the here and the now I wait / down among the young and the old
12. Leading everything along / never far from being wrong
13. People / They don’t mean a thing to you
14. San Francisco Bay / Past pier thirty nine
15. We’re no strangers to love / You know the rules and so do i
16. I’m just mad about Saffron, Saffron’s mad about me –> Donovan - Mellow Yellow
17. What gives you the right? / To fuck with our lives?
18. Old world underground, where are you now? –> Metric - IOU
19. On the corner of main street / Just tryin’ to keep it in line –> The Killers - Read My Mind
20. Maybe we’re all different / But we’re still the same

What interested me most is that taken out of context, it is often quite hard to determine the genre / mood of the music given the lyrics. I bet this would be a lot better if a genre was given with it, or if the tune was given instead of the words. Memory is funny like that.

EDIT: Full answers below:

1. Colours Run - On My Side
2. The Verve - Numbness
3. Lou Reed - Wild Child
4. Kiss - Plaster Caster
5. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Leverage of Space
6. The Smashing Pumpkins - Landslide
7. Hall & Oates - You Make My Dreams
8. Chuck Berry - Johnny B Goode
9. Suede - Lazy
10. AudioSlave - sound of a gun
11. Foo Fighters - X-static
12. The Bravery - Honest Mistake
13. Stereophonics - Have a Nice Day
14. Gotthard - Human Zoo
15. Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up
16. Donovan - Mellow Yellow
17. Stars - He Lied About Death
18. Metric - IOU
19. The Killers - Read My Mind
20. Bon Jovi - Welcome To Wherever You Are

As many of you are aware, Aber’s password security system can be a tad overzealous, disallowing words from any language, backwards or forwards, even with numbers replacing some letters, and doesn’t let you pick anything similar to passwords you’ve previously had. With the complaints that ensued, IS created this password phrase generator. It’s quite a laugh. The title comes out as *k_imji_ , which is probably more memorable as it is, really.

Aber Password Generator

This is not chronological. Let’s just say they range from about the age of 3 to now, in no particular order. All are things I have at some point believed, however briefly, but no longer do.

1. Everything happens for the best.
2. I cannot die or be severely injured.
3. The most efficient solution is always the best.
4. Everything has a reversible effect.
5. Everything can be most usefully explained by science rather than emotional or personal reactions.
6. I am perfect as I am and will always be the same me
7. Eventually I will have a job where I will be doing something I always enjoy that is exactly easy enough at all times, and it will pay me lots of money, in a location that is desirable and close to home.
8. Learning will always come so easily for me that it will never require work, let alone hard work.
9. I am the cleverest person I know
10. I can get along with anyone
11. I will never be jealous of metamours.
12. Any kind of sex is good sex.
13. Love is enough to keep any relationship together.
14. I never want children.
15. It will always be easy for me to stick to my principles and I will always do so.
16. Men make more sense than women.
17. Eventually, people will be satisfied with what I have achieved and stop expecting things of me.
18. I will be normal height one day
19. I will never have to think about what I eat or jhow much I exercise.
20. People below a certain “level of intelligence” are not worth conversing with and will never amount to anything.
21. I should always speak my mind freely, whatever the consequences.
22. I am capable of complete objectivity.
23. Doors will not close for me as I get older.
24. I will always be judged on my merits, without prejudice or assumption.
25. I have no prejudices and I do not make assumptions.
26. Things that I hold important should be held important by everyone.
27. No-one will ever want me sexually because I am too much of a nerd.
28. Everyone who fancies women wants to sleep with me.
29. If societal norms were removed, everyone is bisexual enough to sleep with people of any gender.
30. The world will never deteriorate to the point where western-style living is impossible.
31. I am a lesbian.
32. Drinking is always a good idea.
33. The wind will change and I’ll stay like that.

For those who have just joined us, that was a list of things I don’t believe. But I did, once. Just making sure you are paying attention.

I highly recommend this as an exercise whether or not you choose to share your list. It was very therapeutic just to sit and think of all the ways in which I have changed as a person over the years, and to realise that it is an ongoing process that has long distant and recent elements and will continue to happen throughout my life. It pleases me to know that I have not yet stagnated, or set, in my ideas and ideals.

I tried me, it wasn’t too interesting. Dan, however:

Oh yes. Dan looks like Sarah Michelle Gellar. Might they have a bit of work to do?

For reference, the people are: (l-r then t-b)

• Michael Vartan
• Alexa Havins
• Nicky Byrne
• Jamie Bell
• Heidi Klum
• Gerard Butler
• Sarah Michelle Gellar
• Holly Hunter

Your Brain is Yellow

Of all the brain types, yours is the most intellectual. You crave mental stimulation, and your thoughts tend to very complex. Your thoughts tend to be innovative and cutting edge, though many people don’t understand them.You tend to spend a lot of time thinking about science, architecture, and communication.

What Color Is Your Brain?

CNPS:75

1. Where is your cell phone? handbag
2. Your boyfriend/girlfriend? Dan
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your mother? Dead
5. Your father? Retired
6. Your favorite thing? musicianing
7. Your dream last night? Vomit
8. Your favorite drink? Ale
9. Your dream car? TT
10. The room you’re in? small
11. Your ex? Ben
12. Your fears? responsibility
13. What do you want to be in 10 years? drunk
14. Who did you hang out with last night? non-aberites
15. What are you’re not good at? Game
16. Muffins? Muffins.
17. One of your wishlist items? kitten
18. Where you grew up? Norfolk
19. The last thing you did? drove
20. What are you wearing? casual
21. What aren’t you wearing? jewellery
22. Your pet? Rats
23. Your computer? Gaming
24. Your life? Great
25. Your mood? Happy
26. Missing? Answer
27. What are you thinking about right now? Curry
28. Your car? Fiesta
29. Your work? Databases
30. Your summer? Warm…
31. Your relationship status? Open
32. Your favorite color? Blue
33. When is the last time you laughed? Driving
34. Last time you cried? Hormonal.

We were talking about open-mindedness last night, and I think it’s interesting that liberal and open-minded often get lumped together. You can be the most conservative god-fearing anti-gay anti-abortionist, and still be open-minded if you understand that your beliefs and stances may change, and you are willing to inspect your own reasoning. As I see it, liberal is a particular direction of belief, whereas open minded is about willingness to change or justify your own beliefs, and accept the beliefs of others. The following test asks questions on both sides of the coin, which I thought was quite clever.

You Are 92% Open Minded

You are so open minded that your brain may have fallen out!Well, not really. But you may be confused on where you stand.You don’t have a judgemental bone in your body, and you’re very accepting.You enjoy the best of every life philosophy, even if you sometimes contradict yourself.

Of course, I could be wrong.

Dan introduces this over on his blog, thought I’d have a go.

The Dragon
Red-tongued and red-scaled, he rears proudly for the Welsh cou… nation.

Explosion
Dan, in his final moments, having lit a firework, could only utter “Wha..?”

Contraction
“That’s only half a word!” said Claire, referring to the fifth letter.