Yearly Photo Books

by Liz Heather in ,

I haven't had photos printed in quite a long time. And that doesn't really make a lot of sense since I still take photos often. So I decided to start making yearly photo books. I started doing this last year in 2012 - and all you do is compile all the memorable photos from that year and upload them into a photo book. There are tons of sites that do this for you, but the one I've been using has been Snapfish. (You could always do this yourself, with printing the photos yourself and putting them in an album yourself - but my way is way faster and easier, I think. And possibly cheaper, depending on where you print your photos.) (I paid $30 for a book with about 222 photos in it, and I got to arrange how I wanted it to look, also.)

The goal here is to make one of these books each January. To be honest, I wish I'd started doing it sooner. When I someday have tons of free time and money isn't an issue, then I'll make sure to go back and get those past years done. Also, if you are taking photos in your everyday life, well, you can't rely on computers to always keep them safe. I do have an external hard drive, but that isn't the main issue here. I want to actually see these photos once in awhile! And having a handy little book full of them is way more attractive an idea than rummaging through files on a screen, in my opinion. 

Again, I've been using Snapfish and if you do choose to make one, they're having a sale right now until November 24th where they have 60% off photo books with the code BOOKNOV60. I would say that this would be a good gift for someone, but it's really a way better gift for yourself since you're the one with access to all the photos you want to save. (There are also mad deals on Groupon every so often, so check there, too.)

Also, am I the only one who actually enjoys it when someone brings out a photo album? 'Cause I love the hell out of that shit. Not the albums of strangers (I'm not a mutant), but of people I know? C'mon. That's adorable. 

Tip of the Day - Pillow Mist

by Liz Heather in ,

Have you ever seen this product? You can get it at The Body Shop or through Avon - or basically anywhere with women's products. And like a rube, I've bought varying "flavours".

Verdict? They're all bullshit. ALL. And I'm a moron for thinking that a certain kind of scent would lull me into some kind of heavenly abyss. Ain't gonna happen. Want to hear a better idea? Wash your damn sheets. 

Fury of the Day - Comedians Who Do Impressions

by Liz Heather in

I'm not talking about your Uncle Bob here (though I silently doubt that his Walken is amazing). I'm talking about comedians who do impressions. Oh, and also the people WHO LOVE HEARING THESE IMPRESSIONS - you're a big part of this problem. 

Before I go on, let me state that I absolutely can admit when I hear a great impression of someone. Bill Hader's version of Alan Alda? Get out of here. I will be the first one to stand and say, "Hey! That was great! Good on you." I cannot, however, encourage comedians on a stage who do them in excess. If you have more than five seconds of impressions in a set? Walk slowly into the ocean. 

I wish I could shake every comedian alive and beg them not to do them - for three main reasons.

  1. Impressions are never funny. A "funny impression" of a person does not exist. If it's a good one, then it's just accurate. And if it's accurate - then cool, you have the ability to sound like that other guy. Wicked. And if it's a bad impression? Oh man, I couldn't hate you more. You're not even good at the thing that you think I want to see?! Fuck.
  2. The thought of someone sitting in their room, practicing some other person's voice or mannerisms makes me very sad. I apologize if that sounds condescending, but it's really fucking depressing to me. (Unless you're considering yourself an impressionist who ONLY does impressions, that is. But that's never the case.) They could be using that time to fucking think up original or personal insights to offer people, maybe.
  3. Jokes and stories are memorable - your fucking DeNiro is not. I will likely vomit if I'm subjected to it. It's come to a point now that when I see someone even slightly attempt any kind of impression on stage, my eyes close gently as my mind shuts down in a furious rage. It's at that moment that I'll definitely think this person is awful to the core and also sort of dumb, for some reason. And I don't want to hold that prejudice! Years of witnessing impressions has forced me into this, unfortunately.

I understand why people want to get good at impressions - it's because almost everyone fucking loves hearing them. Why the hell is this? I wish I could fucking tell you, but I have no idea.

Oh hey, you know that guy in that movie you loved? Well, we don't have him. Yeah, he's crazy busy. But we got this other guy... and you're gonna be blown away by how much they sound alike. Like, it's eerie. AND IT WILL MAKE YOU LOSE YOUR MIND IN EXCITEMENT.

And I know that I can't stop them. At this very moment, somewhere out there someone is perfecting the hell out of their goddam Seinfeld and there's nothing I can do about it. Makes me so mad. 

People To Follow - The Mindy Project Cast

by Liz Heather in

This was going to be a post encouraging you to follow Ike Barinholtz, but upon closer inspection - almost everyone I follow on The Mindy Project appears to be pretty great.

Maximizing Your Instagram Photos

by Liz Heather in

Apparently, there are dozens of places on the internet where you can turn your Instagram photos into other things. Things like:

I would probably get the magnets done at some point, too. Such a sweet little idea. What these sites should really have is a way to purchase these as gifts to give to other people. As of right now, you need an Instagram password and login to choose what you want to print, but it's such a good gift idea for another person since receiving one's own photos as magnets would be such a welcome surprise since we all think we're individually such great photographers. (We are... right?)