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Home » Culture and Criticism

Today’s designated time-killers

Submitted by on November 13, 2007 – 3:20 PM60 Comments

rosieliz.jpg

“It’s a stupid name!”   “So’s your face!”

The UN free-rice vocab game, guaranteed time-suck for word-nerd know-it-alls like me (thanks to reader Smash for the tip).

The new TWoP blogs, with daily picks and random bitching (today’s topics: Hasselbeck’s doofy baby-naming skills, Jenna Fischer on the strike, and why the latest ep of Cold Case bugged me). I would link you to my latest Beeyotchelor weecap, but it’s as boring as the ep was, which is to say zzzz.

And last but certainly not least: goddamn you, containerstore.com. Goddamn you to hell. Because I want those DVD storage boxes, but not in those colors, and I can’t seem to find the right thing anywhere else. I’ve looked at CB2, West Elm, Ikea.com, Pottery Barn, Bed Bath & Beyond — no love. Even more mad-making: I was just in a Target the other day, and not the shitsack Tarzh Of The Damned in Atlantic Center, either. A real one. A good one. Where I bought an awesome watch for nineteen dollars (ya burnt, Fossil — “Mossimo” and “awesome” share many key letters). And I could have bought them there, but I didn’t, because I forgot to look. And Tarzh.com only has them in black and wicker. Meh.

If y’all don’t have much to do, and wouldn’t mind pointing me to some DVD storage boxes that aren’t black, super-expensive, or made of hay, that would rock. Don’t forget, TinyURL is your friend.

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60 Comments »

  • LynzM says:

    Hey Sars, how ’bout white, green, or red? Searching IKEA for DVD Storage gives http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90115469 and also several varieties of this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20095083

  • Meg says:

    What color do you want? I found some in blue that are similar, though they are laminated, so they may be shiny; it’s hard to tell from the pics:
    http://www.acehardware.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2263934

    And the freerice game is super addictive and I love how they give you your vocab level. It gives you something to beat.

  • Helen says:

    Allsop has some nice ones, especially the blue boxes:

    http://www.tiny.cc/4vJTL

    Plus faux leather – woo hoo! But also aluminum and cloth ones that snap together.

  • PollyQ says:

    Not sure what your definition of “super-expensive” is, but at least these aren’t made of hay: http://tinyurl.com/ytnnb2

  • autiger23 says:

    Sars, you don’t like these from Ikea? They have red and white and green and are $8 for two:

    http://tinyurl.com/2rnpa2

  • FloridaErin says:

    Hooooot Pocket. Heeeee. :-)

  • Christina says:

    IKEA has similar boxes to those at the container store, in a variety of colors. We have several of the STRIKT set, which in the stores at least come in many more colors than the website currently shows, such as red and purple. You might also like the KASSETT set.

    http://www.ikea.com

  • Holly says:

    Has anyone gotten above level 48 (ahem) on freerice.com? If so, I’ll happily bow down before thee. I can’t help but imagine that for every word I miss, a bowl of rice is being torn from the fingers of a hungry child somewhere, though.

  • Melissa says:

    I got some really cute white and pink ones from Ikea. The bad thing about them is that they are made of cardboard and you have to assemble them with screws. I never thought I would have to put something made of cardboard together with screws until I bought those. I think they cost about $10 for a set of 2.

  • cayenne says:

    Damn you, Sars, for that vocab game; it’s too addictive. It would be excellent for SAT or GRE study, though.

  • Laura says:

    I found these on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/38gduj

    The one linked is the redone, but they offer other colors too. However, some of the product links don’t actually specify a color?

    More from Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/2spwhh

    These are bigger (hold 18 DVDs) and white.

    More: http://tinyurl.com/2ssnqe

    This one’s an 8-pack for $86, which might be more than you want. Also comes in “plum” color that looks brown to me, bluestone, nutmeg, sage, grey.

    More: http://tinyurl.com/298atv

    I sort of love the tweed, but it’s not specifically made for DVDs so I dunno about the size.

    Through this search I discovered that after the 10th page of results for “DVD box” in the homewares section of Amazon, you suddenly get pages and pages of Kurt Cobain memorabilia. WTF? Anyway, maybe one of these will help; it helped me kill some downtime at work.

  • Sars says:

    Ikea’s stuff is great, but I barely have time to shop online right now, much less drive to effin’ Elizabeth for the stuff, and those styles don’t ship; you have to go to the store.

  • autiger23 says:

    Ahhhhh, suckage. They ship the white Kassett ones, though. But I’m guessing from seeing a lot of other links that you’ll find something better. I prefer colors that hide dust best. Heh!

  • Kat says:

    Glad to see freerice.com is an obsession for someone else other than me. I have it up on my firefox permanently on my browser at home, mainly because seeing that “barely anyone” gets past 48. that was just a DARE. I’ve gotten as far as 46…..sigh….

  • Colleen says:

    @Holly: I’ve touched 47 a couple times, but that seems to be the best I can do. And deeeeeyamn! is it ever working my long-unused Latin muscles. Don’t tell Ms. Hannafin that this is the first time since I took the SATs that I’ve used anything she taught me.

  • Jessica says:

    Ohhh, freerice.com…. I got to 50 once and then quit and am not touching it again. Too many hours lost!

  • Katy says:

    I was totally having a productive day until this entry popped up on my RSS feeder. That rice game is seriously awesome.

  • Grace says:

    Freerice is great! I made it to 49 a couple of times, but couldn’t break through to the 50s. That’s such an awesome site, but for someone who loves Scabble and crosswords, it’s like video crack.

  • polly#2 says:

    @Holly, @Colleen, @Jessica – 50, you say? Stopped at 47 because, finite number of hours in the day, but now that the note of competition has been introduced…..

  • Kath says:

    Heh, I got those DVD storage boxes, with metal reinforced corners in lots of cool colours at my corner dollar store. So all my makeup and hair stuff is no longer all over the place and ‘designated’ play things for my cats! $1 each, can’t beat that price, although Montreal ain’t New York… long drive for boxes…

  • Mary says:

    Here are some similar box style ones that come in brown, white, and orange in addition to black.

    http://tinyurl.com/33v6vf

  • daki says:

    freerice is stopping all productivity around here. But I got to 47 a couple of times! Dayum but I was proud of myself. High School Latin Geeks, Represent! I’d love to send the link to my brother, but I have this horrid fear he’ll hit 50 right away, and thus, sadly, cannot.

  • Smash says:

    I haven’t yet been able to get past level 48, but I’ve fed like all of Djibouti trying.

  • cotterpinx says:

    Oh man, i haven’t seen freerice before. That is too much fun! I did just manage to touch 50 for a couple of words before it smacked me down. This was after a while… somewhere around 2180 grains of rice i’m guessing. I’d been playing long enough that i started to see a repeat every now and then. I think mostly i’m hanging out around 46/47. It’s amazing what basic knowledge of Latin roots will help you figure out! Oh, and my limited knowledge of diseases, anatomy, and botany. :-) When i saw “Campanulate” and remembered my beautiful bellflowers… bingo!

  • Kidge says:

    Archival USA has DVD storage boxes in about 6 colors other than black:
    http://www.archivalusa.com/kbcd1s.html

  • Michelle says:

    This isn’t over, 47. Not by a long shot.

    Kat, glad you brought up the “hardly anyone gets past 48.” I started playing before I wandered over to the FAQ, and by that point I had become emotionally involved enough that I wondered briefly whether they’d programmed the FAQ page to say “hardly anyone gets past [score juuuust beyond the best you’ve managed tonight].”

    As a web programmer and, apparently, a paranoiac, I know such a plan is at least within the realm of possibility… and I must say would be fiendishly effective. If getting me addicted to this stinking game is the goal.

  • Sars says:

    I hit 50 earlier, stuck it for two words, and fled before I could fuck it up;

  • evaberry says:

    Why don’t you just buy some of those black ones and cover them in whatever paper you want? All you need is a little mod podge and they’ll be fully customised. You can use wallpaper for strength, and there are lots of great patterns.

  • bronte says:

    I love this game. Soon it will take up so much time I will hate it.

    My best so far is 43. I find I do better when I don’t overanalyze. As much as I would have liked to I never did any Latin, just picked up bits a long the way so I have no comprehensive background to fall upon. Not that would help with the greek anyway.
    What’s helping me the most? My knowledge of Shakespeare and scientific terms

  • smark says:

    I would also like to say that sporran could easily be “a pouch” or “an exciting journey.” As it were.

  • Molly says:

    I can’t make it past level 42. I feel like a dolt. But then, I haven’t taken Latin since grade 7, and I never took any other language that might help me with this. The best I can do is common sense and my hobby of reading the dictionary as a child. (And my parents’ refusal to treat me like a little moron. “Firmament,” on of the words I just got? I learned when I was about six. Kids are only as dumb as you let them be.)

    Crap. I was going to be productive today. So not happening now.

  • Cooke says:

    Muji has just opened a shop in NYC (http://www.muji.com/), so you could always try there. They have DVD and all sorts of other storage clear acrylic (http://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?V=1&Sec=3&Sub=17&PID=179) and what they call ‘pulp’ (an old-fashioned manilla envelope colour). I would also second the covering ones which are the right shape and/or size with wrapping or wallpaper.

  • Margaret in CO says:

    I got up to 77 – mostly just lucky guesswork. OMG, it’s more addictive than candy corn! Thanks, Sars!!! Thanks SMASH!

    bronte, I have a friend who speaks Latin in her sleep. First time we vacationed together, I wasn’t sure whether she was posessed or what! I kept waiting for her head to spin all the way around! It was CREEPY!!!

  • Annie says:

    Loved FreeRice. It helps that I speak French, because a lot of the more complicated resemble French words.

    Loved also the two TWoP blogs, hadn’t seen them before. Is there any way we could get RSS feeds for the blogs? I don’t mind visiting them once in a while, but knowing me, I’ll become compulsive and check 15 times a day if I don’t have RSS.

  • ambient says:

    I agree Bronte — I am proud of my “never studied a drop of Latin” self, even though I never cracked 46.

  • Mary says:

    A friend and I teamed up and got ourselves a nice consistent 50. Though we are both grad students in an English program. So there’s that.

  • Margaret in CO says:

    Never mind that 77 – I wasn’t looking at the right thing.
    Now I’m fiendishly determined to get there though!!!

  • Sars says:

    I like getting crafty with that sort of thing but I barely have time to shotgun a can of V8 these days, so the less work I have to do with this right now, the better. Like, getting them shipped with my mind would be ideal. Hee.

  • Deirdre says:

    A colleague sent me the Freerice link two days ago and I’ve gotten no work done since. I got to 49 with a combination of lucky guesswork, dredging up memories of Lord Peter Wimsey stories (seriously) and recognizing the repeats as they came around for the third – and fourth – time. Then I crashed and burned.

  • Laura says:

    I got my whole English class (college freshmen) playing today at the end of class. With a dozen brains working together, they were staying alive around level…

    …32.

    Which is why I told them about the game in the first place. Sigh.

  • be right back says:

    I hate to seem psycho-fan-tic, but I’ve read all of your Bachelor reviews and loved them, and I don’t watch the show at all. (I’ve found this works for reality, but not scripted, television, though I’m not entirely sure why. I’m doing this with The Biggest Loser as well, incidentally).

  • Sars says:

    An RSS feed for the blogs is in the works.

    @brb: Thanks!

  • drsue says:

    Just so everyone knows, 1 pound of rice has approximately 29,000 grains, so keep improving your vocabulary!

    The total grains for yesterday (11/13/07) cam out to about 6650 pounds of rice. Not to shabby!

  • Meg says:

    Hey Sars,

    Check out craft supply stores, for “Photo” boxes. They’re the same thing, I believe; I bought a few and they come in all sorts of colors and finishes.

  • Kate H says:

    I’m letting my sweet, sweet 50 sit there for a couple minutes, because next question, I’m f’ing it up. I teach writing at a university and all of us are now glued to this thing in between student visits.

    Also, the 77 almost caused my head to explode; thank you for the retraction.

  • Abi says:

    I’m totally hooked on Free Rice. By myself, I get to 43, looking at roots, berries, French, and my knowledge of Gilbert & Sullivan. When dear hubby gets home, he cranks out easily the ones I guess on. It hurts so much! And he bests my G&S without batting an eyelash.

  • Karen says:

    Dear lord above, freerice.com is TOTALLY like crack. I got to level 48 and 310 (I think) grains of rice before crashing and burning on “venire”–who knew that’s what you called prospective jurors?

    Like I needed another black hole of time suckingness–in addition to all these BLOGS I read! But flexing the vocab muscle while doing good? How can you say no to it?

  • Emily says:

    About the DVD boxes… They look just like the photo storage boxes that you’d find at a craft store, like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s. They’d be in with the scrapbooking stuff. And they’d come in colors and pretty prints. Hope that helps.

  • Allison says:

    @Michelle: Haha I thought the same thing! Then I figured that probably if it only goes up to 50 I shouldn’t take the taunting at 47 too seriously.

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