If you’re trying to enjoy your July 4th and don’t care to listen to an ain’t it awful rant, don’t worry; this post, on the hope/fear porn scale, is in the light and fluffy range.
It got up into the mid 90s the last couple days. Working on the ponds out in the sun can be draining, so it’s nice to have Independence Day off, even if it’s 69 degrees and drizzle and the once proud and independent nation has become the Whore of Talmudic Babylon. Actually I’m happy it’s 69 and drizzle- there’s no shame in hangin’ round the house; plus all the fireworks from the Hong Kong Harry’s and Beijing Bob’s stands along the 93 won’t burn the valley down- lightning and arson will take care of that later. Also I know I’ll be burning up soon as I’m heading to Phoenix in a week to do an interview for kla.tv and maybe a couple of my own for BBR.
Here’s a car I saw just as I passed Beijing Bob’s yesterday in Hamilton:
What does that Read a F’n book sticker really say? To me it simply says, Everybody but me is a f’n moron. It also says, I’m single- for good reason. I wonder what she’s listening to on her radio.
Speaking of which I continue to subject myself to Morning Edition on NPR. It’s almost as jarring and therefore suitable as a wake-up alarm as the buzzers on early digital clock radios in the 70s before you could set them to ‘radio’ wake up. The most annoying voice woke me today. I listened to one sentence and slammed the snooze button. “We do everything we can to empower women to success.”
I take that back. The most annoying voice on NPR is actually the local MTPR (Montana Public Radio) announcer that does all the commercials. “MTPR is supported by…” She is on all day long and her voice tortures me. How to describe it?? If I try to imagine her face, she’s a semi-pretty dishwater blonde 3 years out of college, doing a frown-smile (try it: first do a full-faced frown and then smile with your mouth only and you’ll know what I mean) as she announces the local businesses, organizations and individuals who donate. She’s shaking her head side to side while doing that frown-smile, like she can’t believe how wonderful these donors are, just doing their part to support public radio. I’d describe her delivery as innocent, sincere, pleading, gushingly appreciative, and phony as can be. She achieves all this without even employing the old rising inflection and (what I thought was) newer crackly voice that also drive me nuts in female announcers and interviewees. Are men doing this too and I’m just not noticing? Could be- I have a Canadian friend, Todd, who raises his voice at almost every comma, if not at periods. Today I discovered that the crackling voice thing has been discussed publicly and I’m not alone in my allergic reaction to it. They have a good name for it: vocal fry. And they have a name for the rising inflection too: upspeak.
On that note, you gotta watch this video that deals with vocal fry. It’s five years old, but still brilliant, and the actress playing the barista is pure gold. caution: language
perfect
LMAO! Great vid! Thank you.