I loved this turn of phrase from Betty Cracker last week – “for reasons I can’t explain” – and thought it could make for a fun post.
For reasons I can’t explain, I enjoy the occasional Hallmark channel movie where where a nanny or a parent with a kid going off to college falls in love with Cameron Mathison.
How about you guys? Confession time!
Baud
For reasons I can’t explain, Balloon Juice hasn’t banned me.
wjca
@Baud:
I just assumed that you were Cole under an alias.
EDT For reasons that I obviously can’t explain
Wave Function Collapse
For reasons I can’t explain, this old entitled white man has developed a passion for quantum mechanics and romance novels. Prior to turning 55 or 60 I had no real interest in either.
Baud
@Wave Function Collapse:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, is and is not in want of a wife.
TBone
For reasons I’d be happy to explain, this makes me happy.
“…Recently used to remove the right to abortion and to gut voting rights, originalism now threatens, Wilentz says, to become a “petard … exploding in the majority’s face.”
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/jan/28/us-historians-sign-brief-to-support-colorados-removal-of-trump-from-ballot
Catnaz
For reasons I cannot explain there’s some part of me wants to see graceland
Alison Rose
@Wave Function Collapse:
Historical or contemporary? If it’s the former, I gots recommendations for ya!
For reasons I can’t explain, I like apple-flavored foods but not apples themselves.
wjca
Haven’t got time to follow the link. But I’m guessing he means the Supreme Court’s majority.
Suzanne
For reasons I cannot explain, I bought a vintage crystal chandelier on FB Marketplace.
I’m not really a crystal chandelier girl…. but I’m into it.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
For reasons I probably can explain, LGM is referring to this blog as the “stray pet blog”:
on a thread about the drone attack that just killed three U.S. servicemen, one commentator linked to Adam’s post: “just up from Adam Silverman over at the stray pet blog:”
BlueGuitarist
@Catnaz:
ISWYDT
(Paul Simon, Graceland)
geg6
For reasons I can’t explain, I cannot give up my Survivor habit. I’ve watched since the first episode of the first season and haven’t stopped. Even though I hate Mark Burnett with the heat of a thousand suns and have not and will not watch other shows he produced, I can’t give up Survivor.
Snarki, child of Loki
For reasons I can’t explain, I enjoy occasionally browsing through the Table of Isotopes.
Alison Rose
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: It’s a fair hit.
Chris
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
That would make LGM, what, the Bad Man’s Tomb blog?
Ohio Mom
@Catnaz: You mean where Elvis lived? It was fun. I enjoyed it as a Time Machine into 1970s decor (think carpet going up the walls).
We were visiting friends of Ohio Dad’s who live in Memphis. Else I don’t think I would have ever thought to go.
It can’t think of anything right now that answers “For reasons I can’t explain.”
TBone
@wjca: yup
RevRick
For reasons I can’t explain,just thinking about the Chapel of the Transfiguration in Grand Teton National Park always gives me goosebumps. And the hymn “We Would Be Building” makes me cry.
Okay, I lied. I have reasons, but the reasons are for many inexplicable.
As for Confessions, I’m here for it —->
Ohio Mom
@Chris: Ha!
TBone
@Chacal Charles Calthrop: I am now singing Stray Cat Blues at the top of my lungs.
Baud
@Chacal Charles Calthrop:
Worse things to be known for.
Chris
For reasons I can’t explain, the Japanese comics industry (second in the world) became huge in the U.S. decades ago, but the Franco-Belgian comics industry (third) never made the transition and is mostly unknown here.
No real relation to anything we ever discuss here, but it’s what I grew up reading, and it falls under “for reasons I can’t explain.”
Gary K
I Can’t Explain
Omnes Omnibus
@Ohio Mom: For reasons that I can’t explain, weirdos approach me on the street and start conversations. I tend to have a pretty good handle on why I do and like things. If I decide to think about it.
Tony Jay
For reasons I can’t explain, whenever it’s on I will find myself willingly watching the Van Helsing movie and feeling something similar to enjoyment at its bombastic nonsense.
prostratedragon
For reasons I can’t explain — tango!
Tony Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
So… ‘the street’ is your euphemism for Balloon Juice?
I like it. Sounds seedy.
BlueGuitarist
@wjca:
Yep, refers to “The conservative majority of the Supreme Court.”
we need a better word than “conservative” for them.
Wilentz also wrote Trump will
“rescind the constitution in order to impose a
dictatorship of revenge.”
wjca
For no obvious reason, I’ve gotten hooked of a YouTube channel called Fab Rats. Talk about guilty pleasures.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tony Jay: If only.
Jay
For reason’s I can’t explain, Nitter.net is still for the most part, borked.
Other than one search, I either get “Instances” or a Security Block.
Ajabu
For reasons I can’t explain……………..????
I give up. Everything I do or have ever done can be explained although the reasoning may convoluted:
”It was before I knew what FAFO meant.” “I never should have smoked that last joint”
“It was New Year’s Eve, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
” When you’re a star, they let you do it.”
Mai Naem mobile
For reasons I can’t explain I enjoy watching Family Feud. I am kind of embarrassed by this because it’s kind of a stupid show.
Wave Function Collapse
@Alison Rose: I’ve read some of both, but mostly tend towards contemporary.
KM in NS
For reasons I can’t explain… I love David Bowie. 80’s I guess. 🤷♀️
edit: grew into 70’s Bowie.. the best!
RSA
@TBone: Thanks for the the link.
I’m thinking that, interpretation aside, if I ever suggest that the framers of the Constitution might not have predicted the harm of the Second Amendment in its current form, 200 years down the line, I hear that amending the Constitution is the appropriate remedy.
I’d give that same advice to these political and legal observers. Repeal the Fourteenth Amendment, in part or in whole, if you think it’s anti-democratic. Good luck with that!
Chris
@Tony Jay:
Oh, I enjoy that one too.
Stephen Sommers is good at light hearted fun action movies. See also The Mummy, the best Indiana Jones movie made since the eighties.
SiubhanDuinne
@prostratedragon:
Piazzolla!!
RevRick
@Mai Naem mobile: It’s the Three Stooges of game shows
Mai Naem mobile
Hallmark movies many times are just romcoms with b grade actors and b grade writers.
WaterGirl
@Mai Naem mobile: No judging! :-)
Yarrow
@Jay: There’s an explanation for that. The new method for making Nitter work, which was a new method developed after Twitter shut down the previous pathway, was to use guest accounts. However, Twitter has now done something to shut down guest account access. I’m not following the particulars, so can’t explain the code issue.
Some Nitter instances still work because those owners grabbed guest accounts on the last day they could (some day last week). Those accounts will probably last about 30 days then time out. Then no instances will work.
smith
@Jay: Yeah, me too. Glad to know I’m not the only one.
frosty
For reasons I can’t explain I continue to read every comment on B-J even though it costs me 3 to 4 hours a day. Yikes!
jeffreyw
Scott Barolo @sbarolo.bsky.social
*
1h
R.F. Kuang’s BABEL, infamously excluded from this year’s Hugos, is currently $1.99 USD on Kindle
Ajabu
For reasons I can’t explain………….???????? Actually, I can explain everything but the reasoning may be kind of convoluted:
” I was young. I didn’t know what FAFO meant.”
“ I never should have smoked that last joint.”
”It was New Years Eve and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
”When you’re a star they let you do it.”
Mai Naem mobile
@Wave Function Collapse: i don’t remember the actual numbers but I remember hearing some statistic about a pretty decent number of readers of romance books being male. I also remember seeing an article several years ago about romance books becoming more specialized – lgbtq, biracial/multiracial, black, may-september, different religious sects, south asian etc.
Mai Naem mobile
@RevRick: thats actually a good description.
Tony Jay
@Chris:
It must be something like that. It can’t just be Kate Beckinsale because, try as I might, I couldn’t watch the later Underworld movies more than once. And even the first two test my patience with their insistence that Scott Speedman be in them.
smith
@Yarrow: Well, that sucks. Why won’t people move to non-Xitter platforms? Most have set up alternative places to post, but then don’t cross-post at all. Why keep feeding the fascist beast when there are viable alternatives?
Omnes Omnibus
Yeah, why would they do that? Kate in a cat suit with the Maserati and the vintage Jag should have been enough.
prostratedragon
@SiubhanDuinne: Well☺️, yeah. Though Brazilian music was a serious gateway drug. Had heard here and there *about* AP for nearly 20 years, but decided to learn more about things closer to home. “Libertango” tore it.
Delk
For reasons I can’t explain ear wax removal videos are entertaining.
Narya
For reasons I cannot explain, I love stale Peeps.
ETA: and cowboy boots.
Yarrow
@smith: It does suck. Maybe someone will come up with something. Last time Nitter broke someone (not the original person who created Nitter) came up with the guest account solution. So it’s possible someone will come up with a solution this time. We’ll see.
Chris
@Tony Jay:
Someone once told me “girls watch Twilight, boys watch Underworld,” but I must not be performing my gender role right, because I couldn’t really get into Underworld either.
Alison Rose
@Wave Function Collapse: I don’t read much contemporary romance, but a few I loved are Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake, A Duke By Default by Alyssa Cole (sounds historical but isn’t, LOL), and Red White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston.
For historicals, literally anything by Tessa Dare or Lorraine Heath or Beverly Jenkins, and of course the Bridgerton series (though I’m only up to the third book). Some other favorites would be The Perks of Loving a Wallflower by Erica Ridley, the Elusive Lords duology by Sapna Bhog, the Feminine Pursuits series by Olivia Waite (though the third book was not as good as the first two), If the Duke Demands by Anna Herrington, Girls Before Earls by Anna Bennett, A Lady For a Duke by Alexis Hall, and The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe.
RSA
For reasons I can’t explain, having been raised in Asian-American and European-American households, my favorite musical genre is the blues.
I’m slowly learning to play the guitar (I would count as a remedial student if this were a core academic subject). One my favorite pieces is John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom. I can match the tempo he plays in the Blues Brothers movie, but his earlier recordings are too fast for me. Working on it!
Alison Rose
@KM in NS: Loving Bowie requires no explanation.
eclare
@geg6:
I like reality shows, including The Bachelor and The Bachelorette. It is stupid, but there you go.
Oh and Dancing With the Stars is the best. It’s live, will someone fall?
The Thin Black Duke
@Chris: Agreed. Unfortunately, the sequel forgot everything that made the first movie memorable.
Kristine
Back when I had cable and watched most all the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries series, I was heartily in favor of Cameron Mathison…
…except In Murder, She Baked, where for reasons I cannot explain I admit to having had a soft spot for the dentist.
Chris
@RSA:
That’s me with Irish punk.
There are many tribes of white in my heritage, but Irish isn’t one of them. Nevertheless.
Trivia Man
@Ohio Mom: And “bars” in about 6 different rooms. Bottles of liquor and accessories so you never have to leave the room
zhena gogolia
I wrote a comment along these lines the other day, and no one replied, but for the life of me I can’t remember what it was!
piratedan
for reasons I can’t explain, but fully accept, I like road trips by car with the spouse. I know it’s not for everyone, but there’s just something about music and good company and the open highway that is strangely alluring.
Kristine
@KM in NS: Started in the early 70s and loved him till the end.
Saw 2004 Bowie live. That was, imo, his hottest era.
Evap
For reasons I can’t explain, I love Project Runway. (But only the ones with Heidi Klum )
for reasons I can’t explain, I’m loving this thread
zhena gogolia
@eclare: I watched DWTS religiously through the Tom Bergeron era. Then one day I just found I couldn’t watch it at all.
martha
For reasons I can’t explain, I’m addicted to watching the YouTube channel of a Chicago fine art restorer. I just love seeing him transform old, sometimes damaged, paintings into what they looked like when the artist painted them https://baumgartnerfineartrestoration.com/
Trivia Man
@Mai Naem mobile: my favorite question on celebrity feud in the final board (2 players, 5 questions, try to get to 200 points)
NAME AN OCEAN
(surprise! They got 100 points on just this one question)
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: But you did explain it.
zhena gogolia
@zhena gogolia: My first blog-like experience was with the DWTS comment threads they used to have. I never commented myself, but I had my favorite and non-favorite people on the threads, just like now with BJ.
Kristine
@martha: Oh, thank you for this.
Delk
@piratedan: I agree!
Kristine
@Chris: @Tony Jay: Also a fan.
Hugh jackman in a leather duster. That’s a reason I can explain.
prostratedragon
@RSA: For reasons I can’t explain, tango (see above; and it extends beyond AP) led me further into the blues.
Shana
@KM in NS: I just recently finished the book by one of his early bandmates called something like David Before He Was Bowie. Interesting picture of “pop groups” of the era.
Chris
@The Thin Black Duke:
I actually enjoy the first sequel. The second, on the other hand…
I also enjoy the first Scorpion King movie. It really had no business spawning that many sequels, though.
Kristine
@Mai Naem mobile:
Id’ing character and other tropes allow for searchable keywords readers can use to find the books they like. Because damn there are a lot of books out there.
Wapiti
@piratedan: The last road trip with the spouse, we went Seattle to St. George Utah, did a tour, then made the road trip home. Maybe 5 days on the road. When we got home and were unpacking the car, I realized that we had never played the CDs we took along for when we were out of range of a decent radio station. We’re just happy chatting or not, I guess.
She pointed out, after checking, that the new car doesn’t even have a CD player.
Anoniminous
@Baud:
FIFY
eclare
@Mai Naem mobile:
Family Feud is an interesting insight into the audience’s thinking. What is the most fun food to play with? When my dad had surgery, the TV played that nonstop in the waiting room.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: you’re right, guilty as charged. probably due to my assumption that not everyone enjoys long distance driving and traffic and making conversation when the scenery is less than.
Kristine
@Tony Jay: I love all those movies. Like the Resident Evil movies, the female protag wears stupid outfits but is the star/plot driver instead of the hero’s arm candy.
prostratedragon
@prostratedragon:
Milonga para armonica, Hugo Diaz
eclare
@Evap:
Make.It.Work.
Heidi’s criticisms were the best.
TBone
@piratedan: even on days when I feel like crap, a road trip with spouse will make me wag my tail.
eclare
@zhena gogolia:
Tyra was awful.
It is much better with Alfonso and Julianne. But I still miss Len.
Tony Jay
@Omnes Omnibus:
Exactly. Kate in a cat suit made those films. If they’d put an actual actor who could act in the role of Michael then they could have actually been… good?
@Chris:
Ha! No, I totally get that theory. The Underworld movies were 15 year old me’s idea of What I Want To Watch But They Don’t Make. Their flaw was giving the role of “Guy who could totally be you dragged into a world of vampires and werewolves and tight, tight latex” to a man who made Mike Pence look vivid and charismatic.
And they had Michael Sheen right there.
TBone
@martha: That’s really cool, I saw one where a Black kid was restored from being invisible.
eclare
@Trivia Man:
Name a month that has an R in it in fast money. One celebrity said August, the other said July.
SMDH.
Chief Oshkosh
For reasons I cannot explain, I’ve become semi-hooked on YouTube videos about restoration and real use of vintage small-farm tractors.
Tony Jay
@Kristine:
Oh God, yes. Terrible, terrible movies. Constructed from bad tropes and 90s music videos, but somehow they work. Mostly thanks to Milla Jovovich kicking all the ass.
They’re part of an entire sub-genre of Hot Leather Horror that includes Blade and the much maligned Blade Trinity, which I love unashamedly, while Blade II can go sit in a room with Highlander II and think about its terrible life choices.
schrodingers_cat
For reasons I cannot explain most of my backgrounds for my coloring pages end up being various shades of blue.
KM in NS
@Alison Rose: absolutely!
martha
@Kristine: I just find his work so interesting, watching a true craftsman at work. He’s such a nerd, which I love.
KM in NS
@Kristine: omg! I didn’t get a chance to se him live.
martha
@TBone: Yes! It’s amazing what can “appear” on a canvas, just because it gets cleaned.
geg6
@Evap:
Me too!
trollhattan
For reasons I can’t explain I think this is how I go out.
The picture shows a car pulled to the water’s edge and 10-15 yards of head-sized cobbles serving as the “beach.” Ain’t a road anywhere to be seen.
Kristine
@Tony Jay:
Hot Leather Horror. Great description. Definitely one of my fave genres.
I loved the Blade movies (even the 2nd one). #3 was Full. It was pretty much Ryan Reynolds’ audition for Deadpool. Parker Posey was so over the top.
Alison Rose
@Kristine:
She always is, and it’s always awesome.
Kristine
@KM in NS: I saw him twice. First time was one of the first shows at the Tinley Park amphitheater in 1990. I had to use binoculars to see him (they did have screens)—it almost doesn’t count. The 2004 show was at the Rosemont Theater. Much better views and Bowie was great.
Yutsano
For reasons I can’t explain, I am addicted to People’s Court cases on YouTube. There it is. I await the eternal damnation of the lawyers here, especially Omnes.
Kristine
@Tony Jay:
Underworld Michael Sheen vs every other role I’ve seen him in—I will never get over it.
Tony Jay
@Kristine:
I love that Reynolds’ expletive laden (“Cock Juggling Thundercunt!”) character in Blade Trinity led to someone telling him he should totally be Deadpool. Talk about fate lending a hand.
And, yeah, Sheen in the Underworld movies. “Michael, we need you to be sexy. Can you be sexy?”
“Ask Kate.”
(Voice offscreen) “Bloody hell, yes!”
Old School
@Trivia Man:
My favorite Celebrity Family Feud final question was: NAME A COLOR ON A TRAFFIC LIGHT.
That one also netted a hundred.
TBone
Doug J strikes again! 🤣
https://twitter.com/DougJBalloon/status/1751762992721494301
TBone
@martha: almost makes one believe in ghosts!
NotMax
@Yutsano
My childhood BFF grew up to become the announcer on People’s Court.
Juju
@Narya: Do you stuff the stale peeps in the cowboy boots to make yourself taller?