Uberfluff

 
 
Hello.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have a new Fluff Five on the five best pets for supervillains.  And, if you're catching up, there's always the latest Second Opinion, Chess's Questions About Harry Potter, and the Daily Fluff Archive.  Have a good weekend.
 
 
Good morning.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have a new Second Opinion, featuring a couple who somehow managed to pay a prostitute not to have sex with them.  Believe me, it's even sillier when you read about it.  And if you haven't seen it yet, don't forget to check out Chess's latest contribution of Questions About Harry Potter.
 
 
So today's Daily Fluff was inspired by an episode of My Life In Food about adult picky eaters.  This isn't picky eating the way you'd normally think of it--e.g. people who don't like mushrooms, shellfish, or anchovies.  No, these are people who have a diet of maybe 3 or 4 things.  People who literally go into an anxiety attack when confronted by a celery stick.  (And who can blame them.  After all there are all those terrifying stories of brutal, vicious celery sticks roaming the wilderness, attacking innocent travellers.  Plus, the bite of the wild celery stick is said to be poisonous.)


Unsurprisingly, some of these people have a little trouble dating.  One guy in the documentary only eats grilled cheese sandwiches and fried potatoes.  To see him explain this to his date at the end of the episode is to see a woman quickly try to weigh the problem of dating in your forties against spending her life with Grilled Cheese Guy.  And it seems she went with cats and re-runs of Sex and the City.


I don't even blame her.  It's one thing to have some foods you don't like or try to avoid--almost everyone does that.  (And there's a great Jeffrey Steingarten article about his effort to overcome his own dislikes on becoming a food critic.)  But could you really spend the rest of your life with someone who is thrown into panic at the thought of eating a spinach leaf?
 
 
Good morning.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have A Few Questions About Harry Potter from Chess, a new contributor who many or may not end up with a different name, seeing as I bestowed that nom de web on her without her knowledge or permission.  Anyway, enjoy!
 
 

Hello.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have a new Fluff Five, featuring artists with an annoying fanbase.  And don't forget to check out the latest Poor Decisions and Daily Fluff Archive.  Have a good weekend.

 
 

Hello.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have a new Poor Decisions. (I'll just say it's about celebrities and costume choices and leave it at that.)  Enjoy.

 
 

As you may have guessed from today's Daily Fluff, I saw the latest Harry Potter movie this weekend.  Overall, I'd have to say that I was pleasantly surprised.  Having read the books, it becomes kind of hard to judge the movies fairly--not because I think the books are so wonderfully written (ahem . . . on the contrary), but because Rowling stuffs them with so much detail and so many subplots that adapting them must be the stuff of screenwriter nightmares.  And if I recall correctly, Half-Blood Prince was especially tough, as it was mainly about people's memories and teenage love, with very little action or real drama and an annoying amount of Harry mooning around about Ginny Weasley and moping about Dumbledore or Voldemort.   Full credit to the screenwriter, who took a lot of this dreck and made it sweet, human, and even elegant at times.  I suspect that someone who hasn't read the books may be a little lost at times, but that may be the best possible compromise between appeasing the fans and revealing details that are not only anticlimactic, but a bit confusing as well.  (E.g. When I told Gator why the actual Half-Blood Prince had that name, it was enough of a letdown from the dramatic promise of the title that he wished he hadn't bothered to ask.)

[Note of clarification: Despite what it may sound like, I did enjoy the books, despite my problems with the quality of the prose.  The writing itself may be mediocre, but the story and characters are--for the most part--first-rate.]

 
 

Good morning.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have a new Fluff Five, featuring five colors you'll never see Crayola making.  And if you're catching up, don't miss the newest Second Opinion or the Daily Fluff Archive.

 
 

Good morning.  Today, in addition to the Daily Fluff, we have a new Second Opinion on the whole, "guys find me too intimidating because I'm smart" thing.  Enjoy.

 
 

I've never been much of a fan of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship), primarily because I think it tends to be surprisingly dull for something that includes the words "ultimate" and "fighting."  From what I've been told, the name used to be more accurate, but nowadays it seems to be more like "Ultimate Guy Who Trains In a Specific Style But Who Couldn't Necessarily Beat a Boxer/Wrestler/Etc. Championship."  (Even the "Championship" part is kind of dumb.  They're somewhere around 100 now in championships, which seems somewhat absurd for something that hasn't been around for that long.)

With its weight classes and "fighting systems" and legions of fanboys who seem to believe that these are the toughest and best fighters on earth, I have to admit that it tickles me when someone comes along and jars the fantasy a bit.  Like last weekend, when Brock Lesnar beat Frank Mir.  Brock Lesnar, for those who are fortunate enough not to carry around pointless pop culture knowledge, is a former WWE wrestler.  Therefore, he is not the ideal UFC champion for certain kinds of fanboys.  They would probably say that it's because of his "sports entertainment" behavior, but I think that it's because when a guy can jump into your sport and dominate it after years of running after Vince McMahon with a folding chair, it tends to undermine the idea that you really have the best  (most ultimate) fighters.

Oh, the other reason I don't like the UFC?  Because they're one of those petty organizations that will take down people's You Tube clips of a sports event that has already passed.  So, unfortunately, I don't have any video highlights.  But don't forget to check out today's Daily Fluff, which has nothing whatsoever to do with fighting.