Quizzes vs memes

Has anyone else here noticed people losing the distinction between those two forms of cookie-cutter LJ-ing, quizzes and memes?

Memes — inspired by a word coined by Richard Dawkins to describe a method by which ideas might spread and compete, allowing us to apply evolutionary thinking to cultural and cognitive processes — are, in the LJ context, sort of like school essay tests, a flexible idea that inspires you to do some creative writing. At least, that’s how I’ve always seen it. Sure, you’re picking up and spreading something, but you’re also adding a bit to it.

Quizzes are those things where you go to some page and fill out a form and get a CGI-generated response that you post in your journal to show people which sexual position you’d choose to sleep with your favorite anime pirate character’s secret zodiac totem animal.

( Speaking of which, the What Zodiac Sign Are You Attracted To quiz tells me I should be dating myself. )

BFL, week 5, day 5: upper-body

Oh man, my arms and back are gonna hurt tomorrow!

(  Upper-body workout numbers  )

Naked roommate sketches

cadhla is a major-league My Little Pony fan, to the extent that we’ve currently got a small herd grazing on the side of our fridge. (The current generation of ponies have magnetic hooves.) I asked her whether little unicorns and pegasi were available, and it turns out they are, or were, but are hard to find. I though about why it might be hard to find My Little Unicorns....

( Why it might be hard to find My Little Unicorns )

Today I came downstairs in the afternoon to find ladymondegreen standing in the living room nude, and Cadhla on the couch with pencils and markers. I promptly joined in:

( Three sketches )

Other things done today:

• Gym
• Laundry
• Called two clients about payment for work done, emailed invoices (in one case I needed to verify that the job was done, in the other it turned out they’d never gotten the invoice I snail-mailed last month! but at least I got an bit of gossip about the head of a well-known SF publishing firm)
• camwyn brought over Hong Kong bootleg copy of Pom Poko which we all watched