That's why their ACTORS!

Is anybody else tired of this stupid "Memoirs of a Geisha" scandal?? I am! Basically China and Japan, which are at each other's throats over any number of issues, finally seem to agree on one thing: Hollywood's latest release is cultural monstrosity. It had its premiere in Tokyo- and all hell broke lose...and why you ask...because none of the three lead actresses are Japanese; two of them are Chinese and another is an ethnic Chinese from Malaysia.
Citizens polled in Tokyo questioned why Hollywood chose Chinese actresses to portray geishas, traditionally Japanese women. Guess what!? Most Americans think Japanese, Chinese and Korean are all the same!! That there is even a debate over the fact that Zhang, Yeoh & Li are Chinese actresses playing Japanese geishas is just plain stupid. You know why Zhang Ziyi is called an actress? Because her job requirement is to pretend to be other people. We're not talking about a documentary, we're talking about a movie!!
So what! Tom Cruise wasn't the last samurai. Do we complain that Heath Ledger is in every movie about the American Revolution? No. Do we pitch a fit that Colin Farrell plays American characters in 2/3 of his movies? No. And why not? Because we realize that these people are actors. They are making a dramatization.
It's not like they were planning on moving to Japan, adopting Japanese as their language of choice, and claiming that they went to primary school with Doi Takako-- they are acting in a movie.

My sister always says that watching a movie is a "willing suspension of reality". So bit back, relax and enjoy!

Why Accents are Glorified Speech Impediments??

Why do people think that accents are an impediment? I realize that most people just want to fit in, but honestly. I know a lot of people who aren't from around these parts who think that if they don't speak English with a typically Northern-American accent they won't be taken seriously, which is silly. Most English-speakers don't have a northern-American accent, in fact, we are in the minority. Percentage-wise, I'd be suprised if the majority of people that are capable of speaking English are even from primarily English-speaking nations (just consider the number of Germans, Swedes, Indians, Chinese, etc. that are capable of speaking English), and even with that considered, the majority of English-speaking individuals from nations where English is their first spoken language aren't from here.
Secondly, accents are what makes the world diverse. Do you know how boring it is living in a place where everyone sounds EXACTLY like you? Sure, you do. I love hearing the occasional Brit, Australian, or Scot speak. Even going to the southern states in the U.S. is a nice change of pace.I hate when I hear someone teased because their English isn't perfect, especially when it's their second or third language. Most of the 'people' (and I use the term losely) who tease them can't speak a bit of English themselves, and it's their first language!
Do you know how difficult it is for someone to speak a second language? You should be praising them for bothering to learn your native language, not teasing them because they've still got remnants of their first language in their inflection.You shouldn't be changing or quelling your accent to please others, or to stimulate business, you should be proud that your accent makes you different than 99% of the world's population.

Do androids dream of electric sheep?

Well...do they? They say counting sheep helps you fall asleep...they even made those cute little Serta sheep with their number branded on their sides to remind us of that. As I pass yet another night of trying unsuccessfully to find the black hole that is sleep- I find myself thinking of an odd question... Do androids dream of electric sheep? I admit this line of thinking is a bit strange, but then again, so is watching A Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy at 3am...you do what you gotta do! The improbablity factor is pretty high- so that's why I think it must be true! It only stands to reason right? I don't think electric sheep would be nearly as cute...nor do I think androids would picture them jumping over fences or picketing the Serta mattress owner's homes! As I plod through the t.v. channels hoping for something to help slip into the oblivion- the question still haunts me. What do you think?

Calvin and Hobbes

This was one of the best cartoons ever made- I hope they come back into circulation soon :) I've scanned afew of my favourite winter "Calvin" strips... Hope you like them too! I've written the caption below in case you can't read it- or click on the photo for a bigger shot!

Dad: I think we'd better get that kid to a psychologist.

Hobbes: Snow sharks? Calvin: That guy's a goner.

Calvin: First she says go out- now she says come in.

Dad: Eggplant cassarole tonight? Mom: Why yes!

I thought they were Smart!

This is the leading cause of death among penguins...

Art?

Or. . .

Waste of Time?

This week in poker

We had many poker games this week :) It was SO MUCH FUN! Ok so Friday nights game consisted of: You-can't-take-my-pinkies, Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up? , You're-not-doing-that-right and You-should-be-a-dealer (yup that's me!). We played a few different versions of poker this time from Texas Hold'em to Chicago to Fiery Cross. Let's just say that You're-not-doing-that-right is only good at playing Texas Hold'em! We played Chicago for a few hands and she lost ALL HER CHIPS! In a stroke of kindness- You-can't-take-my-pinkies actually gave her some chips! Can you believe it!!?? But in the end You're-not-doing-that-right lost all her chips, again- and You-can't-take-my-pinkies had to go home. Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up? was doing fantastic. She had stacks of chips left and when we counted out...Surpassed even me! I was playing pretty good..I had my original stack of chips, and was playing off my winnings for a few hours :) Even Resident-Advisor congratulated me! So that was Friday.
On Saturday we had a surprise visitor from Kitchener arrive :) She's been wanting to play for a while. We divvy up the chips, and get crackin' right after dinner! Players tonight were: Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up?, You-can't-take-my-pinkies, Resident-Advisor, the new girl who's name is Closet-poker-shark and me, You-should-be-a-dealer. We played Chicago, Fiery Cross, Texas Hold'em (and Indian Sign- which I'll comment on later)!! Well- Closet-poker-shark tried to act like she didn't know what she was doing- Resident-Advisor would help her out every few hands- and then she started slamming down flushes and straights like there was no tomorrow. It was full house here and three of a kinds there! I was starting to think that her and Resident-Advisor were in cahoots (is that how you spell that?) Especially after this one round where we were betting like $20 and $35 PER ROUND we all had like $120 in the pot for this one hand...and Closet-poker-shark and Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up? shared the win. I wanted to cry! You-can't-take-my-pinkies left after that round...she actually was crying!! Ahh-don't-bug-me and Snacks-a-lot had to take her home to comfort her! We played for another couple of hours till it was well past midnight and just Closet-poker-shark and I were left. That's when the real fun began- we started to play Indian Sign. We made the opening ante $2 and before we even got our card, we started betting blind. The pot was at a minimum of $20 for each hand. Wins were evenly distributed for the first part, then they started to lean heavily my way, let's just say, by the time we ended the game..I had ALL the chips :) Oh ya...Victory for me :) That was Saturday.
Sunday we only had time for a few hours of play! After the marathon we had going this week, it was such a tease! Closet-poker-shark and I started with some Indian Sign, where she must have learned some mystical powers in her sleep, because she wiped me clean. Then we reset the chips when You-can't-take-my-pinkies arrived and tried to teach her how to play, but she's way too analytical to play that game. She can't bet blind- she just thinks it's stupid! Closet-poker-shark and I were having quite the laugh trying to convince her to raise the blind. You-should-be-the-dealer was out pretty damn fast (almost embarrassingly so!) and I watched the other two play for a bit. You-can't-take-my-pinkies lost. BIG TIME! So big in fact that she owed Closet-poker-shark just over $200. Proof is in the picture ;)

Just one 'chute?

Here's a hypothetical situation for you: Let's say your on a plane. What if the 'fasten seatbelt' sign comes on, you feel some turbulence, looking out the window you see the engine burst into flames, you start a downward spiral, the oxygen masks drop from the ceiling...so..it's a really bad flight! Now- you can see fire inside the aircraft...would you consider jumping? Or would you pull your chair up and prepare to toast your toes?
Situation 1: The same stuff is happening to your plane, but your flying over water...would you jump?
Situation 2: Now your flying over land? Any takers??
Situation 3: What if you found a parachute...but two people had to share it?? Feel like you can fly?
Take a moment and think about it...here's what I would do: #1- Hell Yeah I'd jump. I'd grab some seat cushions and strap them to my body then jump without missin' a beat...heck I'd probably push lil'Timmy outta the way to make sure I get out of the plane. Hey! Anything is better than roasting to death. #2 is a bit tricky- slamming into concrete is not really my idea of a good time- BUT I'd still do it. It might take me a bit longer to jump outta the plane. This time I'd patiently wait in line, hoping the plane would get nearer to land, and the jump wouldn't be so far! I'd still use some seat bottoms to help break my landing- either that or try to aim to land on something soft ;) Scenario #3 is a EASY. With a parachute..even one 'chute for two people...c'mon! You have an excellent chance of landing perfectly safely- it's better than roasting to death...and even if you don't land with grace- it'll just be a broken leg! At least you'll have a good story! You will definitley be alive to tell it! There are even stories of people who survive falls when the parachute doesn't even open! In case of that particular emergency, hope the 2nd jumper with you has heart failure and use that person as your cushion!
Ok so maybe that last suggestion was a little morbid- but it's life and death situation...I choose life! For all you toe-toasters out there- I'll attend the memorial ;)

Buttertarts!!

I want to make this ONE thing very clear: Buttertarts are worth EVERY PENNY the stores charge you!
Never again will I complian when I pay $3.49 for 6 of these things...

Yes, I made these, and yes even the dough was from scratch...they smell divine- but I haven't actually tried one yet! Apparently you must wait until the tray completley cools before removing (so even though the one that's missing looks like it just slipped right out-- it was more like gooped all over the table whilst I attempted to remove it gently and make it still resemble a buttertart!)

So..who wants coffee and dessert at my place? Hmm??

Can you read this?

Olny srmat poelpe can.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

** This was copied from an email I received afew months ago- I don't like to copy and paste- but it's interesting! **

Bad News for Bears!

I watched a show on TV about the search for the North West passage. In the end a pointless task, as the route would never be the same due to the ices habit of freezing wherever it wanted! Can you believe it!? Very inconsiderate I think *wink* Roald Amundsen was the last to look for it and kind of found it too, well the route for that winter at least. People have been looking for a new way ever since!
Guess what! The famed northwest passage will soon become a reality. You see that pesky ice is melting at such a rapid rate that in 100 years time there wont be any ice left in the Arctic! Isn't that great! Satellite pictures show that the extent of Arctic sea ice this month dipped some 20% below the long term average for September -- melting an extra 500,000 square kilometers, or an area twice the size of Quebec!
If current trends continue, the summertime Arctic Ocean will be completely ice-free well before the end of this century. The "Polar Dip" will become a reality! We swim with dolphins- why stop there! We can swim with polar bears and penguins and seals too! We're messing up this planet up at such a rate that we are actually causing climatic changes, aren't we clever!!
But really, I mean does it matter, are we humans actually going to make it another 100 years as an entity? The pandemic du jour, the Avian Influenza (bird flu) is most likely gonna sort a fair few million of us out. Hurricanes larger than we have ever seen before will waste a whole lot more of us, don't forget the war (this one and next!), and nuclear arms...
But I could be wrong and everythings gonna be peachy, the ice wont melt, all wars will stop and the world will become nuclear free! What a sec- what was that place called again? Oh yeah ..... Eden!! Just don't eat the apples!!

Nobody ever thinks of the polar bears, wont somebody please think of the bears!!

Sorry!

Just wanted to say "Sorry" for not writing...I was on a quick hiatus in order to bake dozens upon dozens of cookies :) Yup...the house smells yummy!

Have no fear- new stuff is on the way!

In Whose World? Not mine!!

I admit it. I'm a television junkie. But, that's not the topic here. Trust me, I have something else on my mind, albeit related to TV. Commercials. Yep, you heard me. I want to know who's writing them and in whose world they live. It's certainly not my world!!
I can tell you right now that if I were to have a party and folks started dancing around with Dirt Devil broom thingees (even though I secretly want one!)- making messes and performing choreographed cleaning... well, I'd have to call the cops. I'd have to. They've obviously escaped from the Hospital for the Criminally Insane. I don't want them in my house, or cleaning up any messes!
Another commercial not in my world is giving a Lexus as a Christmas gift. Who does that? I want luxury cars for the holiday in lieu of gift cards from Chapters! The only form of transportation I've ever gotten for Christmas was a new pair of shoes! Okay, before that I got a tricycle. Who are these people giving $60,000 cars for Christmas? Am I in the wrong social circle or what?
Who's with me for a move to Commercial-ville :)

"You can't see the forest for the trees."

This is another favourite of mine. It's true- by the way. When your walking amongst them, they are just tree's. You have to step back and look at the bigger picture to notice that it's a whole forest you're venturing through. Our eyes fool us.
It's all about perception. Any task that we do has the potential to become a forest. If we started by looking at it as a forest- it would never get done. It's overwhelming. This can be something as big as coordinating a gala event to cleaning your house. You break the job down to little pieces. If you constantly worried about getting the whole house done, you'd get lost.
On the flip side, if you pay too much attention to details, you won't have time for the rest of the project. You're field of view becomes so limited that it boggs you down. You spend all your time focusing on one aspect that you neglect the others.
It's always wise to have a healthy perspective balance. Only looking at things as a forest can hurt you, but focusing on one single tree will do the same damage. My advise is to know what your getting into, keep that idea at the back of your mind, but tackle each obstacle one at a time- giving time to the items that need it.

Yes...I do know the words!

For those of you who don't believe I know the words, here are the definitions :

flocculent - fluffy (in appearance)
flagitious - infamous/scandalous
farinaceous - made from starch
fecund - fertile
blandishment - to cajole or coax by flattery
bipartite - having two parts
beleagure - to harass
dilettante - a dabbler in the art of knowledge
parsimoniously -excessivley sparing or frugal.

So there!

Don't be a statistic

I find myself using way too many F-words these days.
I can’t help myself. They just explode out of my mouth with a force that knows not restraint.
People gasp and look away, obviously uncomfortable in my presence.
But you know what’s really twisted?
I like it.
I enjoy the shock-horror, especially when I say things like Flocculent, Flagitious, Farinaceous and Fecund.

When I’m tired of the F’s, I throw in a couple of B’s; blandishment, bipartite, beleaguer. Recently I've acquired Peter Bowler’s “The Superior Person’s Second Book of Words”, and I’ve been converted.

Call me verbose and lexically-pompous, but I love big, extravagant words. Provided, of course, they’re relevant and used in context. A guy I barely knew once called me an “Intellectual dilettante”. It was during a conversation he was having with a friend. I was idly sitting by, not really participating, but when he mentioned what a huge fan he used to be of ‘The Matrix’ trilogy, I just had to hijack some of the exchange. I made some arb comment, and that’s when he labelled me. Forget the fact that his remark was somewhat disparaging, I fell in love. Well, almost. But the fact that he carried the word ‘dilettante’ in his verbal repertoire was so impressive, and that he used it in its proper context, why, I was just about ready to have him father my children. (I’m given to dramatics.) But superior words are no fun if they’re just thrown around all willy-nilly.
They should be treated like an expensive spice. To be used parsimoniously so as not to overpower your reader/listener and detract from the message you’re trying to send out. For in the same vein that a man tries to make up for an inadequate sense of masculinity by buying a large, expensive car, someone with a stunted intellect may over-compensate by hiding behind superior language, that is largely vacuous in its essence.
But of course that’s no excuse to allow your vocabulary to stagnate. Apparently the average person stops learning new words in their mid-twenties. Don’t be a statistic.
A gift to you from me-word for the day:
Excoriate (v): To criticize severely.

Michelangelo said:

"I hope that I may always desire more than I can accomplish." Can you imagine being able to create what he did, with his hands, and his ideas- can you imagine still wanting to do more? He was on his back everyday for 4 years to finish the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He wasn't even a painter when he did that. He had considered himself a sculptor, and had to learn to paint frescos to complete the ceiling! He was 37 years old and had painted over 400 larger-than-life-size figures. Reproductions of the ceiling are still selling today. This one is my favourite. It's the from a scene called "Creation" it's Adam's finger (left) and God's finger (right). His painting was so advanced that Raphael who was a student at the time- actually changed his technique to copy Michelangelo. My other favourite was a sculpture that he made called "Pieta"- it's mother Mary with Jesus after he was crucified. The marble looks soft as silk. He was commisioned by Bishops and Emperors and Ceasers alike to surround them with his beauty. When he was younger, his father wanted him to have a good job, not work with his hands as a labourer. Michelangelo could be found staring for hours at marble columns. When asked what he was doing he simply replied "I'm working". When his father finally relented, almost 10 years later, the statue of David was born. He always said that he didn't make his creations, he simply released them from their marble capture. He had many unfinished projects when he died. Most are displayed even in their raw state. So I guess, his wish came true- he did desire more than he could do.

A little Adventure.

So yesterday some friends and I decided to check out The Screaming Tunnel. Since it was the middle of the day, and winter! it was a bit of a silly idea. But- we had fun. Just so you know, the camera worked just fine, the matches lit and only blew out because of the wind and we didn't hear any scream. What did happen was we got covered in snow, and cold :) Ahh, the joys of December in Canada. A little bored we went on a hike through the other side of the tunnel. We checked out the ruins of the old house and found that creepy looking well. We started to notice these white shapes (sometime square, sometimes rectangles) stained on some trees. So we'd walk over to the tree with the mark on it..then notice another tree just ahead and walk towards that one. It was a bit odd. Sometime the marks were on healthy trees, sometime they were on fallen half rotted trees. We followed them unconsciously for a bit. Then we noticed an old stone wall that lead into the side of an embankment. We walked over fallen trees and through some nasty thorn bushes (by accident of course!) to check it out. We decide it must have been an old road, and new construction plopped down some fresh dirt. That's when we saw it. We had come across this little clearing. As the three of us stood on the ridge, my friend Robin says "Hey, what's that?". Kevin and I look to where she's pointing..."What's what?" we both say. "That right there!" she says, pointing again. I still maintain that I couldn't see what she was talking about, but Kevin trudges down the hill, around some more trees and stands at the spot where she's pointing. Now I figure he's going to get down there and ask Robin again what she saw, but nope, that didn't happen! He leans over, moves this one big old rock, and pulls out a bright red Folgers plastic aroma-seal container. He walks back to us, and we check out the container. It looks ok- no animal scratches, the lid is on. So we open it. That's when the real adventure began! Inside were all these new, un-opened items. Lipsol, pens, a muisc cd, kleenex pack, some candles- and a note pad with a pencil inside a baggie. We open the baggie and a single sheet of paper is also inside. We decide to read the note first..Congratulations! it says! Turns out we stumbled upon a GPS treaure hunt. It talks about the company that dropped it off, and it asks you to log in the notebook the date you found the 'cache' as it's called, if you found it on purpose or if you were looking for it et cetera. Then it asks you to log on to this website and track that you found it. So- for your trouble they ask you to take something from the container, but to please leave something behind as well. As luck would have it, Robin had just bought a new multi-pack of halls so she dropped two packs in and we took a candle each. We then ripped out a sheet from the note pad, wrote down the web address..and started to head back to the car. It was very cool (pun intended!) and dark outside now. We had been walking out there for 3 hours! We head back to my place- Robin and Kevin had to leave- so I check out this website. Turns out that this GPS Treasure Hunt is currently taking place in 219 countries with just over 9 000 active caches. The one we found was deposited Sept. '03 and only one other person has found it before us. The site was awesome as it gives you instructions on how to drop your own cache and log it, as well as pick a cache you'd like to find. I think I might be looking for some of these to find for the summer. Quick weekend get-a-ways just a few hours drive away east/west/north/south of where you are there is sure to be afew caches waiting to be found. I smell a treasure hunt. . .

Ahh..more snow!

I took this photo from my cell this morning- It was so pretty to look at. I'm not sure it was a real rainbow- because snow was falling, and not rain- but it was winking at me. So I had to take the picture. The clouds were so cool too.

Turned out ok I guess! I wish that sun would just fire up to around 24C and melt the snow! Then bring summer back!

Just so this post wasn't a complete waste of time for you guys, I'll leave you with this:

"We are here on Earth to do good to others. What the others are here for, we'll never know!" W.H. Auden

" I believe that every human has a finite number of heart beats. I don't intend to waste any of mine running around and doing exercises." Neil Armstrong.

and "Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock." Ben Hecht.

We have a new WINNER!

Players: You-can't-take-my-pinkies, Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up and You-should-be-a-dealer. Snacks-a-lot, Resident-Advisor and Ahh-Don't-bug-me! were also around.

So...guess who won?! Nope! Guess again!! The winner of the poker game last night was (drum roll please!!) Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up!! It was a fantastic game :) We played our regular Texas Hold'em (which we are all getting better at!) And even some high/low Chicago- which is alot of fun too. More opportunity to get some chips when you have bad cards ;) The bets were pretty high last night- I had my own little stack of You-can't-take-my-pinkies $5 chips...just to annoy her! Not even an hour into the game, it was obvious that Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up was on a roll. She was being true to her name..and forgetting to ante...as usual, but she had STACKS and STACKS of chips! It was so good in fact, that even the Resident-Advisor sat down for a few hands. Now I found out something about this guy last night...he likes to bet! When he's betting it's $20 and $30 a round. The pot was so colourful it looked like the United Colours of Benniton were meeting in the centre of our table! Being the poker buff he is- he convinces you that he's got no cards so you bet..then he takes all your chips! And when you start to bet a little heavy, he folds before he drops any more chips than necessary! Who invited him to play anyways?!? I believe this was LADIES POKER! Needless to say, I may be a bit bitter because he took all my chips- but watching Guess-who-forgot-to-ante-up play against him was worth it!

And she WON! So...the stars have re-aligned :) We are having a re-match tonight- so who knows what will happen then! Until later. . .

Did you know...

Eyeglasses don't make you smarter.
You need a British accent, too!!

An Idea?

If you could time travel, would you do something you wouldn't normally do? Then travel ahead in time to tell your future self to go back in time to stop yourself from doing it? Do you think you would really believe youself? Or would you not do it just to piss yourself off like you did when you did it in the first place? I mean- you did do something that was not like you!! And can you imagine how freaked out you'd be from a visit by your future self? I'm pretty stubborn when it comes to listening to myself now! I don't think I'd care to hear to hear what my future self would say. With her extra wisdom, and her insight into the future!
No, even if I could time travel...I wouldn't risk it...way to much loathing of my future self! And my present self's ego would not be comfortable with the inevitable backlash!

What type do you have??

I have O so Negative blood type.
It's bold when I'm drunk,
and italicized when I'm sarcastic !!

Wanna see my grill?

Is the universe trying to tell us something? Should more of us had become dentists? When did decorating your teeth become a good idea?? Seriously?
Now don't get me wrong, it's fascinating to see Paul Wall or Mike Jones with a total amount of 12 (yes twelve) carets on their top 4 teeth- but I look because it's scary! not attractive!! Actually, Mike Jones has both his top and bottom teeth encrusted with diamonds- I'm fascinated that he can still speak!
I've had a few memorable experiences: The funniest one being from the Atlanta Airport in January...those of you who were with me- you can start laughin at any moment! This lady - and I use the term loosely- started to speak, but the glare from her teeth caused me physical pain! and I couldn't think! Every time she opened her mouth this glow came out..I thought it was the light at the end of the tunnel! That's when she smiled...and I noticed it! Her big old diamond just chillin' on her front tooth. Sexy don't ya think!?!?
Then there was: My friend and I were heading to Jack Astors to grab some lunch. A man flashed his fronts at me. Or maybe the proper term is "bared". Anyway, he came out of the restaurant, saw me, looked me up and down once and then put his upper teeth over his bottom lip and sort of nodded at me. I'm sure I looked back- I know I stopped walking! My friend stopped walking too! I looked at her and we started laughin...the man actually thought he was sexy!
So maybe the universe is trying to tell us that we need to be CREST KIDS! So we don't feel the need to hide our teeth with gold, platinum or any type of gems. Besides, they look prettier where everybody can see them- not swimming around in saliva :)
Did you know that we even have tooth-tattoos now? Apparently plain ol' teeth are boring to look at! I wonder how long you have to stare in the mirror to decide that your smile would truly look better if it had a rose painted on it! Or a skull!
I used to think kissing a smoker was bad. I once compared it to licking an ashtray. Who's willing to kiss somebody with precious metal in their mouth? Would it taste like licking a battery? I imagine (hope?!) they jewels are filed down to a flat surface, so as to not cut the inside of your mouth.
More importantly- does it hurt your jaw to wear all this? Do you come home at night complaining about a headache and your significant other yells out to remove your teeth! Do you just wear them when your going out? Like an accessory?
The next time somebody compliments your naturally pearly whites- say thank you! With all the bling out there the competition is getting stiff :)