My second vlog is my best one yet!!!!

Cheers, 

Margaret

I'm a professional vlogger now

WATCH

Goodnight,
Margaret

Meet my housecoat - VIDEO

Shucks. Working late. Time keeps on drifting, drifting...

In leui of the written word, please enjoy the following stream of consciousness video blog.


 

Cheerio,
Margaret

17 July 2015 blog

I wish I could write a long, hilarious blog post full of delightful sentence fragments and sentences beginning with "and" and "but" (typical Madgespace). But I can't. Instead, I have an 'almost live' video for you, the diehards, to watch. It's about my drive home to Kenmore from Fremont. Enjoy!

From the Archives, Edition 5

Char and I just did our US taxes. It was HELL. Even though we don't have to pay anything because we pay our taxes in the UK, we still have to file in the US. It's sooooooo lame.

All of this is to say, it's definitely a 'From the Archives' night.

Found this lil' gem hiding in among the unlisted videos on my YouTube channel. Note how English Andy sounds. I never thought living in Scotland with an American really had much of an effect on his accent, but I guess I was wrong!

Also, I blame my cousins Conor and Spencer for giving me a complex about my upturned pig nose. They would always point it out and I still try to "reshape" it every night before bed!




TGIF,
Margaret

I'M BAAAAAAACCCCCKKK!!!!!!

Guess who's back back back, back again gain gain? Grassy's back back back. Tell a friend friend friend.

It's been a while! I don't even remember how to type. I have to keep reminding myself to rest my fingers on 'home row'.

But it feels great to be back in action.

Heck, I even made an iMovie about it.

Guest Blog Week: Review

Thanks to everyone who helped make the first annual Madgespace Guest Blog Week a resounding success. Thanks to the talented guest posters, to my legions of loyal fans and to Char Kay for organising the whole thing.

Every evening I'd get the text from Char saying the next post was ready to go. I'd quickly flip open my laptop, head to the blog and drink in every word. Not only was it amazing to be relieved of my blogging responsibilities for a while, but, dare I say it, it was refreshing to read voices other than my own.

I realised that THIS is what life's all about. Family blogging. OK, no, not family blogging—what I mean is that life is all about creating. Or at least it should be. I'm at my happiest when I'm creating something, be it a homemade Thai curry or a blog post about toilet paper alternatives. I like the challenge, the process and the end result. I also enjoy the creations of others. It's a great way to get to know people and see a different side to them.

Basically, what I'm saying is we should all get together and Mod Podge photos and magazine cut-outs onto an Ikea bookcase. You in?

Life update

OK, so you're dying to know what I've been up to during my week off.

Here's what I've been doing:

• Getting loads of migraines. Seriously! Char hypothesised that blogging may be the cause, but now I'm thinking it might be the only thing keeping my kopf from exploding.

• Watching every episode (so far) of HBO's 'Silicon Valley'. I wasn't convinced at first, but the more I watched, the more I liked. 

• Getting my bowl cut frisked at airport security. I had to go through the body scanner, then afterward the lady said, "And I'll just go ahead and check your hair." She patted me on the head like I was a labrador. 

• Hanging out with Andy before our FIVE MONTH stint apart. We've been eating lots of Sainsbury's fishcakes and watching The Americans, Better Call Saul and House of Cards. If you still aren't watching The Americans, it's time you take a long look in the mirror and reevaluate your life. The show's great. 

See you tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that, 

Margaret

P.S. If you're not going to produce an iMovie in honour of yourself, then who is? 

Don't hate. Don't wait. Make yourself an iMovie today. 

Giving these typing fingers a rest

Sometimes, after writing all day about card payment solutions for SMEs, you just can't go home and write a blog post.

Tonight is one of those nights.

Enjoy a video message instead. Don't worry, it's SFW.



Your sleepy friend,
Margaret

P.S. Andy ordered in some food for his dinner tonight. Guess what he got.

Pizza? Nope!

Thai food? Nope!

Indian food? Nope!



SPAGHETTI!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snow. Just snow.

Three minutes after I filmed this, the snow stopped. Thirty minutes after that, everything that was stuck to the ground had melted.

As a gal born and raised in Western Washington, STORY OF MY LIFE.

#TemperateClimateProblems

Disappointed in Edinburgh,
Margaret

Madonna sucks now

It's the ugly truth.

Image via Wikimedia Commons

As Jack Black said in High Fidelity:

Top 5 musical crimes perpetrated by Stevie Wonder in the 80s and 90s—go! Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticise a formerly great artist for his latter day sins? Is it better to burn out or fade awaaay?

Char, Andy and I discuss.

Let me know what you think.

Margaret

I want to play a brass instrument

A military marching band went by our flat today, and boy could those ol' geezers play! It made me think: Have I missed my calling? Was I never meant to be a digital marketer, but actually one of the great horn players of my generation? Cue spine chills. 

Have a listen for yourself.

I'd like to learn the...

• Trumpet, so I could play that amazing 'Penny Lane' solo. 

• Trombone, so I could look awesome and tone my arm fat. 

• Saxophone, so I could be mates with Kenny G and ask him to guest star on one of my tracks.

• Bugle, so I could wake up summer campers and, that's it I suppose (is there any other purpose for a bugle?). 

• Sousaphone, so I could find out what that is.

• Tuba, actually, I don't think I want to learn the tuba. Far too heavy. 

Kenneth Bruce Gorelick. The man, the legend.
Image via Wikimedia Commons

Boo hoo, the weekend's over. Tell me again why we've all decided that a five-day work week is OK? We've done this too ourselves! Oh well. Treat yourself to a pastry of some sort tomorrow morning and it will all be fine. 

Love,
Margaret

Remember, remember the 5th of November - VIDEO BLOG EDITION

Nighty night,

Margaret

The Renée-sance

Let's face it: faces matter.

Recognising and interpreting human faces is a vital part of our cognitive and social development. On the day we're born, we can pick out faces in a blurry sea of bright lights and foreign objects. By the time we're a month old, we can mimic the facial expressions of our parents.

Faces are so hard-wired into our brains that we often see them when they aren't there — in the clouds, on the exterior of houses, or on a slightly burnt grilled cheese. There's even an official name for the inability to recognise faces. It's called prosopagnosia or 'face blindness'. I'm sure you listened to the Radio Lab about it. 

Anyway, all of this is to say that there's a reason why Renée Zellweger's new, man-made face is FREAKING US ALL THE F OUT. We don't recognise her anymore! That unique, Bridget Jones face is gone FOREVER. There is no getting it back.

The old Zellweger.
Image by Siebbi via Wikimedia Commons

I've had a day to process it. I've read through the articles about whether "we" created the problem, whether it's even a problem at all, and if even the act of commenting on it makes us misogynistic arseholes. Maybe all of those conversations are worth having (except the last one, which I don't think holds up in this case). But I am not going to apologise for my initial reaction, which was a combination of:

• Sadness (10%)
• Horror (10%)
• Puzzlement (10%)
• Unease (70%)

Here's why:

• Sadness — The idea that someone would dislike their face so much that they would rather be completely unrecognisable makes me sad. As someone who is obsessed with her own face and would stare at the mirror for hours as a child (making funny faces and practicing fake crying), I find the situation particularly troubling. When you're bored and lonely, your face is a loyal friend! The PhotoBooth tool on my computer can attest to that. 

• Horror  — Plastic surgery is spooky. My brother Max actually called it years ago. I remember him saying, before the OC-housewife-look really took off, "Plastic surgery is terrifying. It really, really freaks me out." He was right then, and he's been proven even more right with Renée's big reveal.

• Puzzlement — Is that really her? What did she get done? Are the eyes different? The nose? The chin? What exactly is going on?

• Unease — My overriding emotion as I stared at the photos was unease. Maybe her artificial face gave me a bit of an 'uncanny valley' vibe, like I talked about yesterday. But I think I was mainly shaken by the fact that I wouldn't have known it was her if the headlines didn't tell me. That's unsettling. 

I'm still unsure of how I feel about all this, so I decided to ask Andy to chat it over with me in a short video blog. 

Fair weather fans, this is your exit. Sashay away. Go back to Facebook and scroll through a bottomless assortment of Upworthy links and engagement photos. True Madgespace fans, you stay. This is your chance to delve even deeper into the mind of a misunderstood genius.



Auf Wiedersehen,

Margaret

P.S. Andy says that it was actually Francis Bacon who said that quote about beauty (we talk about it in the video). He regrets the error.

Woman learns to export Skype video msgs. What happens next will blow your mind.

Hi Everybody (every body. every body. ew, what a weird word)!

It's been a while since I've blogged. Anyway, I think the title of this post speaks for itself.

Warning: NSFAWIIMIF
 (not safe for anyone who isn't in my immediate family)

VIDEO BLOG: nothing interesting is said.

Love, marg

Edinblog

Cheers,

Margaret and Laura

Check out my flat!

The macbook is warm on my thighs...

Your honorary couve-rat, 

Margaret

Superfood, Super Deal!

Hello, 

Love, 

Madge

Rub-a-dub-dub, Thanks For the Snug, Yaaaaaaay God!

Tweedley deedley deet. Tweedley deedley deet,

Madge

Vlog whatchyo mamma gave ya!

Make it a great day, 

Madge

P.S.

Separated at birth?