intermittently asked questions

Traffic to my small plot of the internet has been increasing steadily for the past few months so I thought I'd lay out the info.

Is Xenius Jones your real name?

No. I explain more in this post.

How do you pronounce Xenius?

That's a good question! I've been thinking "Zenius," but I suppose that Keeler was thinking of "Genius."

I don't understand the name of your blog, what does it mean?
I drop that info twice, here and here.

Why do you need three blogs?

This is my main blog. I decided to have a separate blog for Doctor Who because I thought that I would be able to make posts without having to explain to non-Doctor Who literate readers what I was talking about. Ants in Your Plants of 1941 was set up when Blogger was migrating to Beta and I was afraid that I was going to be shut out of my primary blog. I'm keeping it for things like the 1912 project that can take advantage of the multiple labels.

This sentence makes no sense. What does it mean?

I frequently write in fits and starts, coming back to a post after a few days and picking up a sentence from where I left off. This means that occasionally something that I write will go haywire. If you see something like that, please let me know.

This entire post makes no sense. What does it mean?

Sometimes I like to use obscure references to make obscure jokes. If a post doesn't make sense, please let me know.

How do I let you know?

You can add a comment or shoot me a line at x*e*n*i*u*s*j*o*n*e*s(at)g*m*a*i*l[dot]c*o*m.

What's with all these different projects?

The short answer is this is how I keep myself thinking of something to write about. I have no deadline for any of them, I'm just chugging along at my own speed.

Can you explain what they all are?

I've set up a seperate post to do that here.

The things I get up to

The Comic Strip Project

I will watch every episode of The Comic Strip Presents in order and comment. I'm done with everything but the extras - the dvd was gouged by one of my machines.

The 1912 Project

I scan and post the ephemera from my Great-Grandfather's trip to Europe. This is on my secondary blog, Ants in Your Plants of 1941.

Buying the New Yorker

The first go through (Buying the New Yorker 2006) was my idea to find the answer to the question, "If I were to buy absolutely everything advertised in this issue of The New Yorker, how much would it cost?" Now I am using the same format to look at every ad in the issues that came out every decade prior to my first issue. It isn't as complex as it seems.

Lyricblogging

I take a song and put up a post of commentary for each line of lyrics. I've only managed to do this once. It's hard to find a song that will hold up.

Reading Hitchcock

I read the source material for every film directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Listening to the World

I listen to an internet radio station from every country on the planet Earth. (Of course, if you can find others I'll happily listen to them too.)

Breaking Down the Nervous Detectives

I watch and comment on British action television. Luckily, I have no set agenda for this one.

O.K. I'm going to comment. Sort of.

One of the things that I didn't comment on in the last post was the fact that there are now ten feature films based on the Pokemon franchise.

I, being an inquisitive sort of goof, decided that I needed to figure out if there were different plots for the various films or if they all followed some sort of formula.

My researches brought me to the Wikipedia entry for the first film which has the following moderator flag:

This article or section contains a plot summary that is overly long.

I am no longer worried about the differences between the ten movies.

Offered without comment

Sarah Brightman is singing the theme song to the soon-to-be-released tenth Pokemon film. You can hear a snippet of it in the newly released trailer for the film, which is currently hosted exclusively on Brightman's official Japanese website.

Last year's model

I somehow found my way to this archive of photographs from Nico's pre-Velvet Underground modeling days.

I am particularly amused and delighted by this:

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering... Um, Well

In some circles, "The Eye of Argon" is legendary for its compensation of enthusiasm for skill.

All knowledge of measuring time had escaped Grignr. When a person is deprived of the sun, moon, and stars, he looses all conception of time as he had previously understood it. It seemed as if years had passed if time were being measured by terms of misery and mental anguish, yet he estimated that his stay had only been a few days in length. He has slept three times and had been fed five times since his awakening in the crypt. However, when the actions of the body are restricted its needs are also affected. The need for nourishmnet and slumber are directly proportional to the functions the body has performed, meaning that when free and active Grignr may become hungry every six hours and witness the desire for sleep every fifteen hours, whereas in his present condition he may encounter the need for food every ten hours, and the want for rest every twenty hours. All methods he had before depended upon were extinct in the dismal pit. Hence, he may have been imprisoned for ten minutes or ten years, he did not know, resulting in a disheartened emotion deep within his being.

Go read the whole thing. It is astonishing.

Buying the New Yorker 1976 - Interior Front Cover

Here we are with the first ad for the January 19th, 1976 issue, and we are leaping into the proper atmosphere already.I will presume that Quantum! has gone out of business. Interestingly, 1411 Broadway is the Albuquerque address of a company called UniRac (They make PV Mounting Structures). UniRac's brand new CEO was once the Vice President of a California-based computer company named Quantum.

In any event. These are some outfits. It took a bit of scrutiny to be certain that the golfer wasn't wearing a hard-hat. It's a pity that it isn't - that would be a good look.