<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><?xml-stylesheet href="http://www.blogger.com/styles/atom.css" type="text/css"?><feed xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom' xmlns:openSearch='http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/' xmlns:georss='http://www.georss.org/georss' xmlns:gd='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005' xmlns:thr='http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0'><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073</id><updated>2011-09-13T14:33:43.807-07:00</updated><category term='What you should know'/><title type='text'>Very Dangerous Gangleader</title><subtitle type='html'>Don't make fun of blog or it will make fun of YOU!</subtitle><link rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#feed' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default?max-results=100'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/'/><link rel='hub' href='http://pubsubhubbub.appspot.com/'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><generator version='7.00' uri='http://www.blogger.com'>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>7</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>100</openSearch:itemsPerPage><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-2971033044345108080</id><published>2010-03-02T09:13:00.001-08:00</published><updated>2010-03-02T13:08:17.942-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Clasea</title><content type='html'>How many clacians can you find in the photo?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S41-MbRXqdI/AAAAAAAAAEI/vv4fq1Ujsj8/s1600-h/Clac+copy2.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 256px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S41-MbRXqdI/AAAAAAAAAEI/vv4fq1Ujsj8/s320/Clac+copy2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5444146276504938962" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S41HeCBIp9I/AAAAAAAAAD8/c5LgIlHTMtU/s1600-h/Clac+copy.jpg"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-2971033044345108080?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/2971033044345108080/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24001073&amp;postID=2971033044345108080' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/2971033044345108080'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/2971033044345108080'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2010/03/clasea.html' title='Clasea'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S41-MbRXqdI/AAAAAAAAAEI/vv4fq1Ujsj8/s72-c/Clac+copy2.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-6681275525415406998</id><published>2009-07-03T05:31:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2010-02-18T02:18:00.233-08:00</updated><title type='text'>Compressing through a Key Hole</title><content type='html'>Whenever I sit in front of a computer to write a blog, my mind goes blank. Conflicting views, a flood of thoughts and my stream of conscience goes on a roller coaster ride. People who blog need structure, patience and need to have an idea to express to the world. Right. Well sadly, I find myself lacking on the first two, and have way too many things to tell the world - if need be. And like all bad writers, I usually come up with what I write by thinking but 10 seconds of the composition of the sentence.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Most important, however, a blogger, at least who wants readers, has to be and should want to be a wanton exhibitionist.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;****&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I opened the door, as I heard the doorbell ring. A kid whose face was red and had little expressions was standing with a woman draped in a maroon sari, who I guessed should be his mother. "Hello is your mom there. this is Rahul. He..", I smirked - the sample set for Indian names had come down drastically. Kids I come across these days rarely have names people have not heard of ( Come on, no one names their kids "Pulakesin" these days :( ) "is my son." I had seen the woman before, she was the big eyed woman who kept looking at me from the next door window. Our houses were adjacent, her and mine - my room was one on the first floor and had a window which opened almost right into her kitchen. As my windows have no curtains and the computer was in my room, my privacy was always under check. Nevertheless, she never complained even when I played music louder than normal,  - though most of the time , I do try to keep the volume under check. Unlike me, she also did something useful through the day and ran a Kindergarten under the franchise "Kidzee". And yes, unlike me, she probably gets along with all those cute little monsters who get dropped at her doorstep every morning.&lt;br /&gt;"I heard you play your guitar. Can you teach him how to play? I am willing to pay", she asked.&lt;br /&gt;I blinked. Me? Teach someone to play the guitar? For a second there, I was happy - heck, she must think I am real good. In fact the reason she probably keeps looking through the window and giving me expressionless stares when I played the guitar was because I was that damn good. Ha.&lt;br /&gt;But Wait, there usually is a catch to such offers.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I could teach him for an hour or two everday, how much could you give me?", I asked her shamelessly.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I will give you 400Rs for every hour you teach him. But you should teach him everything. He should be able to play songs as soon as possible". I blinked again. Not bad money at all.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"I am not that great a guitar player, myself ... &lt;the&gt;... why don't you take him to a music school instead?"&lt;/the&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;the&gt;"He is 4. The music school at least wants him to be 6 before they can teach anybody"&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I looked down at the kid. I almost felt sorry for him. Soon, it will be time for him to enter a school,get into coaching classes and do more ridiculous things that society expects him to do to get ahead in life. The kid was actually, I am pretty sure, shorter than my guitar.I decided to let this opportunity for making a quick buck pass. Besides, I don't like kids too much anyway. &lt;/the&gt;And besides, I guess that poor kid is going to suffer anyway - I already see him five years on, coming to me for JEE advice and 2 years after that for CAT advice. (yes, they do think highly of me)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;the&gt;"No Aunty, I really am no good. MOM..." Exit stage right.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/the&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;the&gt;I went to the hall and turned on the TV while left the neighbour and mom alone. There was some small chat and she left. India vs South Afica day 5 2nd Test. A I was multitasking - reading a book called 'V' and watching TV. No sooner I had brought my head down to read the book than I heard the commentators and players screa&lt;/the&gt;&lt;the&gt;m; India had got a wicket - Amit Mishra was the bowler and the batsman was Prince. Neo Sports broke into an advertisement break.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The advertisement has a girl walking out of water in a swimsuit. It caught my attention. And then out of nowhere, the ad screamed "Vishwas hai, ismain kuch khas hain. JK cement." That's it folks. With this, Indian advertising had been taken to an all new level.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ta says that this is an example of Poe's law.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/the&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;me&lt;/span&gt;: The JK cement ad is absolutely  ridiculuos&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"&gt;7:29 PM &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style="font-weight: bold;"&gt;Ta&lt;/span&gt;:  the woman?&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;i think a woman made it&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;:p&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; float: left; color: rgb(136, 136, 136);"&gt;  &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;poe's law&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style="display: block; padding-left: 6em;"&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;the&gt;Ironically, I found the best definition of Poe's Law on Conservapedia: &lt;/the&gt;&lt;b&gt;Poe's Law&lt;/b&gt; is an internet law stating that "Without a winking  smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a  parody of &lt;a href="http://www.conservapedia.com/Fundamentalism" title="Fundamentalism"&gt;Fundamentalism&lt;/a&gt; that SOMEONE won't mistake for  the real thing." Again, iIronically, it also says that it was originally proposed by Christian Forums user &lt;b&gt;Nathan  Poe&lt;/b&gt;. The best example of this law was illustrated when some conservatives mistook the &lt;a href="http://wikiality.wikia.com/Main_Page"&gt;The Colbert show&lt;/a&gt; to be seriously about taking up their cause.&lt;the&gt; Yes, some people think that Colbert is serious when he says "&lt;/the&gt;They weren't booing at Sarah Palin at that Hockey game. The crowd was  just getting in the Halloween Spirit. BOOOOOOOOOO. This Is the Colbert  Report!". You don't wink, it's not a joke. The widget on the side which says "Donate to me and I will save Rainforests" is not an example of Poe's law because I say so :| Do donate to me. err...And I will save Rainforests. But donate to me, ok?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Poe's law (Mathematically):&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S30MHGraVkI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Ef2BFu7r_gE/s1600-h/poe1.png"&gt;&lt;img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 307px; height: 30px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S30MHGraVkI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Ef2BFu7r_gE/s320/poe1.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5439517241124738626" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;the&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;So according to Ta (who claims that she can think like a woman, because she is one),  a woman has designed the ad, and is probably laughing her ass off somewhere. On the other hand, it works for advertisers - as people are watching the ad (? O_O)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Meanwhile, I am still trying to find a video of this online. Can someone help me?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/the&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-6681275525415406998?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/6681275525415406998/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24001073&amp;postID=6681275525415406998' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/6681275525415406998'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/6681275525415406998'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2009/07/compressing-through-key-hole.html' title='Compressing through a Key Hole'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/S30MHGraVkI/AAAAAAAAAD0/Ef2BFu7r_gE/s72-c/poe1.png' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-8357332803070332358</id><published>2008-01-08T11:29:00.000-08:00</published><updated>2008-01-08T11:35:52.936-08:00</updated><title type='text'>It's 3rd term now.</title><content type='html'>&lt;a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://bp1.blogger.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/R4PPYQUrFTI/AAAAAAAAACk/TKMz6LkTaqk/s1600-h/fandom.jpg"&gt;&lt;img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 557px; height: 153px;" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/R4PPYQUrFTI/AAAAAAAAACk/TKMz6LkTaqk/s400/fandom.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5153190414247466290" border="0" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Credits:&lt;br /&gt;Art: xkcd&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-8357332803070332358?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/8357332803070332358/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24001073&amp;postID=8357332803070332358' title='3 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/8357332803070332358'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/8357332803070332358'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2008/01/its-3rd-term-now.html' title='It&apos;s 3rd term now.'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media='http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/' url='http://bp1.blogger.com/_mnmMVyk-QNE/R4PPYQUrFTI/AAAAAAAAACk/TKMz6LkTaqk/s72-c/fandom.jpg' height='72' width='72'/><thr:total>3</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-6044308202875534180</id><published>2007-06-13T22:10:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-06-13T22:17:01.082-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='What you should know'/><title type='text'>The Baster</title><content type='html'>Betty Boughter bought some butter&lt;br /&gt;But she said the butter's bitter&lt;br /&gt;If I put it in my batter&lt;br /&gt;It will make my batter bitter&lt;p&gt; But a bit of better butter&lt;br /&gt;Will make it better&lt;br /&gt;Than the bitter butter&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; So she bought a bit of better butter&lt;br /&gt;And put it in her batter&lt;br /&gt;And her batter was not bitter&lt;br /&gt;So t'was Betty Boughter&lt;br /&gt;Bought a bit of better butter And put it in her Batter&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt; And her batter was not bitter.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;You are all &lt;a href="http://mathewke.wordpress.com/2007/05/05/kaliptionary-baster/"&gt;basters.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-6044308202875534180?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/6044308202875534180/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24001073&amp;postID=6044308202875534180' title='4 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/6044308202875534180'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/6044308202875534180'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2007/06/baster.html' title='The Baster'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>4</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-5796267792962096610</id><published>2007-05-04T09:10:00.000-07:00</published><updated>2007-05-04T10:25:52.959-07:00</updated><category scheme='http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#' term='What you should know'/><title type='text'>Vdg's Must knows</title><content type='html'>Russian Reversals.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style="font-style: italic;"&gt;In Soviet Russia,  asses kick YOU!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href="http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Russian_Reversals"&gt;http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Russian_Reversals&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-5796267792962096610?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/5796267792962096610'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/5796267792962096610'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2007/05/vdgs-must-knows.html' title='Vdg&apos;s Must knows'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-6641305000069195788</id><published>2007-04-29T09:15:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-29T09:15:56.257-07:00</updated><title type='text'>THERE WAS ONCE - Margaret Atwood</title><content type='html'>&lt;p&gt;“There was once a poor girl, as beautiful as she was good, who lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the forest.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Forest? &lt;em&gt;Forest &lt;/em&gt;is passé, I mean, I’ve had it with all this wilderness stuff. It’s not a right image of our society, today. Let’s have some &lt;em&gt;urban&lt;/em&gt; for a change.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once a poor girl, as beautiful as she was good, who lived with her wicked stepmother in a house in the suburbs.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“That’s better. But I have to seriously query this word &lt;em&gt;poor.&lt;/em&gt;“&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“But she &lt;em&gt;was &lt;/em&gt;poor!”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Poor is relative. She lived in a house, didn’t she?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Yes.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Then socio-economically speaking, she was not poor.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“But none of the money was &lt;em&gt;hers!&lt;/em&gt; The whole point of the story is that the wicked stepmother makes her wear old clothes and sleep in the fireplace-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Aha! They had a &lt;em&gt;fireplace!&lt;/em&gt; With &lt;em&gt;poor,&lt;/em&gt; let me tell you, there’s no fireplace. Come down to the park, come to the subway stations after dark, come down to where they sleep in cardboard boxes, and I’ll show you &lt;em&gt;poor!&lt;/em&gt;“&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once a middle-class girl, as beautiful as she was good-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Stop right there. I think we can cut the &lt;em&gt;beautiful,&lt;/em&gt; don’t you? Women these days have to deal with too many intimidating physical role models as it is, what with those bimbos in the ads. Can’t you make her, well, more average?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once a girl who was a little overweight and whose front teeth stuck out, who-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“I don’t think it’s nice to make fun of people’s appearances. Plus, you’re encouraging anorexia.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“I wasn’t making fun! I was just describing-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Skip the description. Description oppresses. But you can say what colour she was.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“What colour?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“You know. Black, white, red, brown, yellow. Those are the choices. And I’m telling you right now, I’ve had enough of white. Dominant culture this, dominant culture that-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“I don’t know what colour.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Well, it would probably be &lt;em&gt;your&lt;/em&gt; colour, wouldn’t it?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“But this isn’t &lt;em&gt;about &lt;/em&gt;me! It’s about this girl-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Everything is about you.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Sounds to me like you don’t want to hear this story at all.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Oh well, go on. You could make her ethnic. That might help.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once a girl of indeterminate descent, as average-looking as she was good, who lived with her wicked-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Another thing. &lt;em&gt;Good &lt;/em&gt;and &lt;em&gt;wicked&lt;/em&gt;. Don’t you think you should transcend those puritanical judgmental moralistic epithets? I mean, so much of that is conditioning, isn’t it?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once a girl, as average-looking as she was well-adjusted, who lived with her stepmother, who was not a very open and loving person because she herself had been abused in childhood.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Better. But I am so &lt;em&gt;tired&lt;/em&gt; of negative female images! And stepmothers-they always get it in the neck! Change it to step&lt;em&gt;father&lt;/em&gt;, why don’t you? That would make more sense anyway, considering the bad behaviour you’re about to describe. And throw in some whips and chains. We all know what those twisted, repressed, middle-aged men are like-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“&lt;em&gt;Hey, just a minute! I’m a middle-aged-&lt;/em&gt;“&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Stuff it, Mister Nosy Parker. Nobody asked you to stick in your oar, or whatever you want to call that thing. This is between the two of us. Go on.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once a girl-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“How old was she?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“I don’t know. She was young.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“This ends with a marriage, right?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Well, not to blow the plot, but-yes.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“Then you can scratch the condescending paternalistic terminology. It’s &lt;em&gt;woman&lt;/em&gt;, pal. &lt;em&gt;Woman&lt;/em&gt;.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There was once-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“What’s this &lt;em&gt;was, once?&lt;/em&gt; Enough of the dead past. Tell me about &lt;em&gt;now&lt;/em&gt;.”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“There-”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“So?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“So, what?”&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;“So, why not&lt;em&gt; here?&lt;/em&gt;“&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-6641305000069195788?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/6641305000069195788/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24001073&amp;postID=6641305000069195788' title='11 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/6641305000069195788'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/6641305000069195788'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2007/04/there-was-once-margaret-atwood.html' title='THERE WAS ONCE - Margaret Atwood'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>11</thr:total></entry><entry><id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24001073.post-150071267126392646</id><published>2007-04-29T09:05:00.001-07:00</published><updated>2007-04-29T09:08:58.969-07:00</updated><title type='text'>Hello World</title><content type='html'>&lt;div class="entrybody"&gt;    &lt;div class="snap_preview"&gt;&lt;p&gt;Welcome to VDG's blog world&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;*****&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Since my first post cannot be a tag post, I wont post a tag post. Ok henceforth, you shall be reading a lot of incoherent sentences, words that dont make sense and somethings that seem almost too good to be true.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;But learn to believe&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;Yours truly,&lt;br /&gt;VDG&lt;/p&gt; &lt;/div&gt;  &lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class="blogger-post-footer"&gt;&lt;img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/24001073-150071267126392646?l=icarus-fallof.blogspot.com' alt='' /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</content><link rel='replies' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/feeds/150071267126392646/comments/default' title='Post Comments'/><link rel='replies' type='text/html' href='http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=24001073&amp;postID=150071267126392646' title='0 Comments'/><link rel='edit' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/150071267126392646'/><link rel='self' type='application/atom+xml' href='http://www.blogger.com/feeds/24001073/posts/default/150071267126392646'/><link rel='alternate' type='text/html' href='http://icarus-fallof.blogspot.com/2007/04/welcome-to-vdgs-blog-world-since-my.html' title='Hello World'/><author><name>Thelaughingbuddha</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email><gd:image rel='http://schemas.google.com/g/2005#thumbnail' width='16' height='16' src='http://img2.blogblog.com/img/b16-rounded.gif'/></author><thr:total>0</thr:total></entry></feed>
