Smoke 'em if you got 'em

[vovat]

The most recent thing that bethje and got from Netflix was some Nova special from 2001 about attempts to develop safer cigarettes. As you can imagine, some of these attempts actually made things worse, like the asbestos filters that they used to put on Kent cigarettes. Honestly, I just can't understand the appeal of smoking, but I guess that had a lot to do with my upbringing. Neither of my parents smoked, and I never hung around with other kids who did. (In fact, I rarely hung around with other kids at all.) But, really, what's the attraction? The only thing I've heard people say that makes sense to me is that it's calming. I don't think the idea that it looks cool is relevant in this day and age. There was a time when smoking was presented as glamorous, but now it usually seems to be portrayed as trashy. Maybe there's still kind of a classy look to pipe smoking, but not cigarettes.


And here's a meme that I've done before, but since slfcllednowhere recently posted her results, I figured I might as well try it again. I'm pretty sure I added a few new interests since the last time, anyway.

Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. john linnell score: 11
2. mono puff score: 9
3. mike doughty score: 8
4. the minus 5 score: 8
5. theremins score: 6
6. uncle tupelo score: 6
7. minus 5 score: 6
8. kim deal score: 6
9. negativland score: 6
10. dr. demento score: 5
11. bloodshot records score: 5
12. ned's atomic dustbin score: 5
13. chris ware score: 5
14. buckaroo banzai score: 5
15. wfmu score: 5
16. trachtenburg family slideshow players score: 5
17. the billy nayer show score: 5
18. the the score: 5
19. theremin score: 5
20. crispin hellion glover score: 5

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It looks like a lot of these are just revme's interests. {g} But here are comments on a few of them:

1 and 2. Yeah, I'm interested in them, but I kind of figure listing "They Might Be Giants" is enough. I doubt there are too many people who would look for those other terms and NOT the main band name.
3. I never really got into him. Nothing against him, really; his music just never did that much for me.
4 and 7. I really don't like to list the same interest multiple times, so sometimes it's difficult deciding how I should name it. I went with "Minus Five," but maybe I should change it. Despite being somewhat ambiguous with the spelling (so to speak) in the band's earlier days (I have even an EP that calls them "The Minus Fives"), they seem to have settled on the numeral for their more recent releases.
5 and 19. I guess I find theremins pretty interesting, but not in a way that I would list them in a profile.
6, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, and 18. I'm not really familiar enough with any of these things to know whether I like them. I believe I've heard one song by the Trachtenburg Family, but since it was without the slideshow, I probably wasn't getting the full experience.
8. I like her work with the Pixies, of course, and the one Breeders album I've heard (which was, predictably, Last Splash) is pretty good, but I'm not a big enough fan to include her in the list.
9. The little I've heard of Negativland was intriguing, although not anything I could listen to all that often.
10. Is his show still on? I've never actually listened to it, but I would imagine I'd like it if I did. And hey, giving Weird Al his first big break is nothing to sneeze at!
11. I don't usually pay all that much attention to record labels, but I like a fair number of Bloodshot artists. So yeah, I'd say they got this one right.
15. Is that the station that Laura Cantrell used to be on? If so, that's cool, and probably explains why it showed up in the list. I can't say I've ever actually listened to it, though.
20. Wikipedia says that "Hellion" is his real middle name. Is this true, or does no one really know?


Incidentally, I'm composing this in Gmail, and one of the ads on the side (which is actually no longer there now) asked which Jonas Brother's phone number I'd rather have. Man, I don't know if I can decide! :P

Comments

[dragonxbait.livejournal.com]

It's calming and it makes you eat less. I would totally do it if it weren't *disgusting*. Both of my parents smoked, and I lived in NC for a year where my boyfriend and everyone I knew smoked. I still never felt the urge to do it. Actually I think seeing my parents struggle to quit many many times, and how miserable they were without them made me determined to never try one, and I never have.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

But eating is fun! Why would I want to do LESS of it? :P

Seriously, though, I guess that makes sense. It seems like there are a lot of people who start smoking even when they see other people struggling to quit, though.

[dragonxbait.livejournal.com]

Maybe you have to be a girl to get the eating thing? Neither of my younger sisters smoke either, perhaps it's because our parents were particularly miserable smoking quitters?

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Maybe you have to be a girl to get the eating thing?

Maybe, although I understand that eating disorders are on the rise among men.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

Weird, we don't have any overlapping unusual interests that I'm aware of, yet we both ended up with wfmu on our lists....

The woman I was working with yesterday was talking about Being a Coffee Drinker and how it wasn't so much about Drinking Coffee as Having Something to Do. She likened it to how I kept habitually drumming with pencils. I believe smoking is the same way; though, if you need Something to Do, drumming with pencils is both healthier and cheaper, and depending on how good you are at it, less likely to annoy those around you.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Weird, we don't have any overlapping unusual interests that I'm aware of, yet we both ended up with wfmu on our lists....

If it's what I think it is, then it is (or at least was) a free-form station, so maybe they play some of the more obscure bands from both of our interest lists.

The woman I was working with yesterday was talking about Being a Coffee Drinker and how it wasn't so much about Drinking Coffee as Having Something to Do. She likened it to how I kept habitually drumming with pencils.

Yeah, I can see that. There are a lot of little things I do when I'm bored, too. It just seems like there are so many better ones than smoking. I don't drink coffee either, but that's just because I don't like the taste, not for health reasons. I'm sure I drink plenty that's equally bad for me, if not worse.

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

But I really didn't put any really OBSCURE bands on my list.Wait, I take that back, one of my Interests is "the band Chicago" because I figured just putting "Chicago" could confuse it too easily with the city or even the musical (stage or screen, even), so I'm sure that's a rare thing typed like that. I was thinking rare along the lines of Love Sculpture or something, but rare in actuality and a rare-series-of-typed-characters are two different things!

Yeah, there's no GOOD reason to start smoking. Just excuses.

[arfies.livejournal.com]

In middle school health class (yeah, yeah), the reason it's "calming" is because it's merely stopping your body from going nuts over lack of nicotine, which it got used to from smoking in the first place. And the reason you eat less is because you have something else occupying your mouth, and it kills your taste buds. But whatevs.

I think smoking can "look" classy (as in pipes and long Audrey Hepburn-esque cigarette holders) but it certainly smells nasty, and I try to avoid smokers.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

In middle school health class (yeah, yeah), the reason it's "calming" is because it's merely stopping your body from going nuts over lack of nicotine, which it got used to from smoking in the first place.

Which would mean that it really ISN'T calming to people who aren't addicted yet, and hence isn't a good reason to start smoking, wouldn't it?

I do agree that the cigarette holder look is classy, but how many people do you see using them these days?

[arfies.livejournal.com]

1) Correct.

2) Cruella de Vil.

[yosef.livejournal.com]

and Miss Scarlet in older editions of Clue!

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Then that's not really "these days," is it? :P

I always picture Miss Scarlet with the cigarette holder. I guess she doesn't have it on more recent boxes?

[bec-87rb.livejournal.com]

Smoking provides you with a burst of energy that comes on within a minute of lighting up. It's the same appeal as coffee, only faster.

You're averse to bitter tastes, so you're a poor candidate for coffee, and as to smoking, if you had relatives who smoked, it's a comforting smell, especially pipe smoke. Pipe smoke is sweet, and it keeps the bugs away.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

You're averse to bitter tastes, so you're a poor candidate for coffee

Yeah, I guess I'll just have to stick to the old-fashioned method of getting quick bursts of energy, which involves being prodded in the ass with a pitchfork.

Seriously, though, the only coffee I ever kind of liked was some caramel thing that bethje got at the mall once, and I think that was only because it didn't taste like coffee. I've known people who said they didn't like coffee but learned to because they couldn't have made it through school otherwise, but I think I did well enough without it.

[colbyucb.livejournal.com]

I'm laughing at the idea of asbestos filters... well I guess that's one way to make sure you die from lung cancer.

Smoking is, unfortunately, a pretty social activity (when you're around smokers, that is) so it's easy to get some kind of feeling of psychological reward from being part of the group. Not necessarily due to peer pressure or even fitting in (though that is a part of it), but for me it's more being able to have a little chitchat session when normally there wouldn't be a place for it during the day... that more applies to smoking at work, though. But the main draw is definitely the anxiolytic effects for me, which you can obviously get through much less cancer-causing means but oh well.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

Smoking is, unfortunately, a pretty social activity (when you're around smokers, that is) so it's easy to get some kind of feeling of psychological reward from being part of the group. Not necessarily due to peer pressure or even fitting in (though that is a part of it), but for me it's more being able to have a little chitchat session when normally there wouldn't be a place for it during the day... that more applies to smoking at work, though.

And since I much prefer to spend my breaks alone, I guess I just don't have that same desire.

[revme.livejournal.com]

The Trachtenburgs are pretty interesting and rad, but it really probably is something where you'd have to see them live to get the full effect. The songs themselves stand up pretty well, but it's almost like hearing a mono version of a stereo song.

WFMU is indeed that station, and is a pretty awesome freeform station in its own right. Their blog (blog.wfmu.org) is pretty dang rad.

I believe Hellion IS his real middle name. Which is pretty neat. He swears up and down that it is, but who knows.

And Dr. D IS still on! Not in this state though, but I am seeing him live on August 1st! Yaaaay!

[revme.livejournal.com]

Also, mine:
Based on the lj interests lists of those who share my more unusual interests, the interests suggestion meme thinks I might be interested in
1. the posies score: 13
2. chris ware score: 12
3. uncle tupelo score: 11
4. jeff tweedy score: 10
5. mike doughty score: 8
6. stephin merritt score: 8
7. momus score: 8
8. krazy kat score: 7
9. ken stringfellow score: 7
10. the apples in stereo score: 7
11. the psychedelic furs score: 7
12. son volt score: 7
13. spike jones score: 7
14. mono puff score: 6
15. dan savage score: 6
16. adrian tomine score: 6
17. james kochalka score: 6
18. nick bantock score: 6
19. pete townshend score: 6
20. the american astronaut score: 6

I'm kinda surprised I didn't have the Posies.

[vovat.livejournal.com]

I have the Posies on mine, as well as Stephin Merritt. I'm not even sure who Adrian Tomine and Nick Bantock are, though. And while I think I've heard a few Psychedelic Furs songs, the main thing I know about them is that they're in the room next to the priestess of the moon, trying to get their brand-new song just right.

[revme.livejournal.com]

Adrian Tomine is a pretty good cartoonist who is sort of a Dan Clowes, Jr. His work is very similar (though maybe not QUITE as good), but he's much more prolific than Clowes -- though it is hard not to be -- so he's pretty useful in keeping people in Clowesage when there is no new real Clowes material out there.

No idea who Nick Bantock is.