Innocuous things that make you irrationally angry (a list thread)

^^^^ this

No offense to any Bostonians - I've never been there, I'm sure it's nice and all and I have nothing against the place - but after seeing so many things recently about Southie Rules, or Boston's Finest, or hearing that damn Dropkick Murphys song randomly I started to get IA about what I feel to be the city's disproportionate representation in popular culture.

It's only the 10th largest metropolitan area in the US (though admittedly it's the 5th largest 'combined statistical area' counting into New Hampshire and such) but I swear I see ten things about Boston for every one about Phoenix, Philadelphia, Dallas, Houston, or even Chicago which are all larger metro areas.

The worst part is all that over-representation, and it's terrible, to boot.

celts be quarrelin

Hello? Is there an American better disposed toward the Irish than I? I thought I'd like Boston, was v excited to go there originally, and yet it just falls flat on every visit.

ok fair point

i've only been there once; i liked it but yeah boston sports fans are pretty terrible

Coming up next: IA II, The Wrath of DJP

Yes I'm rather awaiting that particular fiery comet.

feel like djp would defend mn more heartily than ma tho

http://www.dxdvds.net/images/201208/goods_img/594_G_1344040062536.jpg

specifically the way that the title on the spine on series 1 is a good 1/2" lower than the the other two.

otm

Haha, you're familiar with the television series "Monk" about a private eye with OCD?

http://cdn-www.i-am-bored.com/media/monk-dvd-OCD.jpg

That shit happens when some fucking marketing genius decides sales will perk up if you give the product a "fresh" look. They usually have not inquired about any amount of existing stock that may or may not be in the warehouse or out on shelves. When it comes time to do a boxed set you will want to kill them.

i have 27 (28?)mv issues of Lone Wolf and Cub on the bookshelf. the dark horse logo, prominent on the spines of each, changed between the first printing and the second. 8(

(but they are reprinting them shortly in 12 omnibus editions, ~600 pages each)

Whoever made Alasdair Reynolds' new book (and presumably all the new editions of all his previous books) not only a different colour scheme but a different height to all the old ones, you are on my list.

Also not being able to buy Kindle ebooks for someone else as gifts on Amazon UK, as whinged about on the Kindle thread.

That Monk thing is hilarious, though.

and there was a site where people would post dvd spine art that they'd designed, so you could download it and tuck it into the cases.

i bought the BFI kurosawa samurai box set before they finalised the packaging so it now doesn't match the 3 that followed.

(the reynolds is the start of a new trilogy. so that's ok. which reminds me - absolution gap wasn't available in the same oversize paperback format of the first two, only hardback)

i was going to mention that thing where a book spine is printed upside down, but tbh i think it might be for the disgusting savage thread

I think the US and UK standards are different re that.

I HATE THAT. It actually does send me into an IA rage. I mean, it's not completely innocuous, but the wrongness of it:my anger is definitely out of proportion.

I think the US and UK standards are different re that.

ime it's just doofus publishers being doofuses

I don't know that I've *ever* seen a US book with the words starting at the bottom and running up, but I do see it on a certain number of UK publications, esp older ones.

it's just dumb publishers

It may be dumb publishers but it doesn't happen in the US. It's a UK-only dumbness specialty.

I'm guessing it's also an Australian dumbness speciality, at least, unless AA imports a lot of books from the UK.

pretty sure it's universal dumbness

I'm guessing it's also an Australian dumbness speciality, at least, unless AA imports a lot of books from the UK.

fwiw i'm guessing io is referring to the two main channels of english language publishing/distribution (called 'commonwealth' and 'something something america', last i checked), rather than the countries in which printing occurs

btw it's something that also happens with cd/dvd/vhs covers, perhaps more commonly so

Oh internet:

In the United States, the Commonwealth, Scandinavia and for books in Dutch, titles are usually written top-to-bottom on the spine. This means that when the book is placed on a table with the front cover upwards, the title is correctly oriented left-to-right on the spine. This practice is reflected in the industry standards ANSI/NISO Z39.41[27] and ISO 6357.[28]
In most of continental Europe and Latin America, titles are conventionally printed bottom-to-top on the spine so, when the books are placed vertically on shelves, the title can be read by tilting the head to the left.[29]

long ago when i started working in bookstores, a customer complained that his neck was sore from tilting it (to the right) to read the titles on the shelves. he suggested that we stack the books flat in piles so the spines would be easier to read.

he was srs too

now THAT's a savage.

did you pick him up by the pants and throw him out onto the street

I love bookstore stories

I definitely get angry when I see CDs that have the titles printed upside down (bottom to top). There's one particularly egregious example in my CD tower right now - it's the only volume in a series of compilations (I own about eight in the series) where this is the case; all the others are printed right-side-up. I have actually put that CD upside down in the tower.

It will not surprise people that there are entire Doctor Who sub-forums complaining about this. 2 Entertain actually bowed to fan pressure and the sleeves are now double-sided although they still don't match closely enough for many and there is a period which is unmatched without fan covers (of which there are legion, and some of which are much nicer than the commissioned ones).

i fucking love my Artificial Eye DVDs with the writing going bottom to top tbh, makes a pleasant change from leaning the same way all the time, also i may be an anatomical freak but i can read spines without tilting my head if i must

When I think I'm almost out of ahousehold item (dish soap,toothpaste, deodorant, etc.) so I go out and buy some on my weekly grocery trip. But then the original, almost-finished item lasts beyond the next week's grocery trip.

It's a matter of underestimating how much use I can get out of the dregs of something. hate it to death though. I made this mistake with so much stuff on my previous trip to the grocery store.

If I am at any point in using the 'last' of something, I buy new household items whenever I see them on special offer. Would rather not run out of anything so if it takes longer to squeeze the last dregs from the toothpaste, bonus.

yeah, does it really matter if you have more? as i get older i am pleased by running out of things less frequently.

Well, its mostly innocuous. But sometimes I'd rather have an extra $20 or whatever instead of Qa bunch of dry goods I'm not actuallygoing to use for 2 weeks.

I hate it when smokers litter their butts wherever they want.

And people who spit their gum on the ground are assholes.

or their phlegm or their saliva

people wantonly littering just astounds and infuriates me, i have to stop myself telling them to pick it up. /dad

cig butts are tricky sometimes but not my problem any more.

wd shoot all spitters on sight tbh.

when i go running, my fucked up respiratory system produces so much gunk that i must confess to an occasional furtive spit. i bring tissues with me but sometimes i forget or run out.

I probably spit or snot rocket a gallon of phlegm when I run.

i do make a mental reservation for peeps engaged in sport but couldn't y'all wear some kind of snorkel/bag arrangement?

Spit into the street at least, and not where ppl are waking.

(this is why I hate shoes in the house. All that spit you're brining inside.)

"spit you're brining" = i gagged a little

I spit beside the lakefront running path, not on regular streets.

Oh god I'm sorry for that horrible typo. Ugh.

Tire warranties suck. I have bought 60K rated, 80k rated, etc. And they never last more than about 45K. Ever.