Not For Nothing, But These Six Things Are Annoying

1. In an image purporting to show an actual strip of movie film, they print the same picture over and over, figuring no one will notice. (And p.s., four sprocket holes per frame on standard 35mm movie film, not five)

2. A complete, potentially fully-functioning traffic light that hangs over an intersection with all sides flashing yellow. It's as if the Highway Department said, "After we put it up... we decided it wasn't really necessary."

3. This, in a catalog: OEM Style Battery. The "Original Equipment Manufacturer" is either 1) the company that sells products under its own brand name that it didn't itself manufacture, or 2) the company that sells products to companies that sell products they don't themselves manufacture under their own brand name. "OEM Style" implies that the product wasn't made by either of these companies. "OEM Style?" What the hell would that be?

4. Huge Photographic heads on tiny cartoon bodies. Whose idea was this? Did someone find it amusing or interesting? I think it's creepy and ugly.

5. "Myanmar, formerly known as Burma." OK, so our country refuses to officially recognize the new name. But to the rest of the world, it's been Myanmar for 18 years now. Don't you think we can drop the "formerly known as" thing? I mean, kids have graduated from High School who never knew the country as Burma... and now don't know it as Myanmar.

6. "Lost" as an adjective describing movies or TV shows. In a couple of rare instances, films and tapes presumed lost have turned up - the 1910 version of Frankenstein produced by Thomas Edison is a good example. But the definition of "lost" as regards film and TV... is about as reliable as the definition of "rare" in an eBay listing. Most of the series titled "The Lost Films Of..." and "The Lost Episodes of..." contain titles that were either a) extant, but historically unavailable, and/or b) extant, but previously considered of dubious value for release.

7. "Not for nothing, but..." Not for nothing, but can someone explain to me what the difference is when a sentence is preceded by this phrase?