Selkie

Claire. Maddi, and any other members of the distaff side of the board:

Am I the only one amazed we've made it to page three without any questions relating to horses or Sex and the City?

All bald hot, or just some bald hot? And if you are bald, do you have to have a great accent like Patrick Stewart?

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All bald hot. Some bald not hot. Accent a nice bonus regardless of hair status, but not required.

Shoes: Own two pairs at any given time. If I'm lucky, both are free of chew marks from hounds. Hate shoe shopping with a passion. Used to enjoy the color coordinated shoes thing, but that was a long time ago. Now it's one pair of black, one pair of brown. Wear such somber colors anyway that I don't need anything else.

Handbags: Guilty of that particular stereotype. Wallet, checkbook, cellphone, PDA, medications, receipts, keys for everything from my father's rarely operational vehicle to my mentor's studio, a glow in the dark pink alien, and enough change to serve as a lethal weapon in a pinch. It's a small, simple purse that I adore but never would have shelled out the $ for (under $100) but which my mother gave me as a gift. Have been using the same one for four-ish years now. Black, simple, elegant - or was before I added a Nightmare Before Christmas key chain as a zipper pull.

Clothes. Have a closet full, most of which I can't wear anymore but "will fit into again some day." The only unworn clothes are the ones that were inappropriate gifts but which I couldn't return for some reason, and which have either hidden in the dark recesses of my closet where I can't find them, or which I haven't arranged to donate to charity yet.

Underwear. Plain, simple, cotton, comfortable, thankyouverymuch. Frillies on underwear of any sort are uncomfortable and ridiculous.

Now, I have a more prosaic question: How do you feel about bras?

Instruments of the devil. Won't wear one, and I'm a LOT bigger than Claire.

And do you LIKE wearing g-strings etc, or is it just fashion?

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Wouldn't wear one if my life depended on it. Would prefer my pink parts exposed for all the world to see. May as well, for all the cover they offer.

"A woman knows within the first five minutes of meeting you if she would sleep with you."

 

True or false. I say false but what do I know?

False

Are women programed to be afraid to hit? Is this a major hurdle in their gravitating toward martial arts and combative/competitive sports? (Looks at Claire.)

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Oh heavens, yes. Can't count the number of times I've heard variations of "Women have no upper body strength, so therefore they shouldn't try/be allowed to try X." It's not that I disagree we're at a disadvantage in terms of upper body strength, but the second part of the equation infuriates me.

Also, remember that hitting is unfeminine, and it's vital that females be feminine. Western Civilization will collapse if the women stop being unfeminine! Watch a family iwth multiple young kids of both genders some times. Very young girls will hit their brothers and/or defend themselves from being hit, but parents will almost always step in and tell them to stop. Young boys hitting girls are almost always allowed to hit/wrestle/act physically aggressive, whether with another boy or a girl. Girls being violent are behaving badly; boys behaving violently are "just being boys."

The stigma gets a lot worse as girls grow up. A good friend, female, is a Marine lieutenant. When she attends Christmas mass in uniform, she receives scowls and stares. The male military members, regardless of branch or rank, receive smiles and thank yous. I could name a thousand more examples like this.

Bald: hot or not?

Hot.

Stubble: hot or not?

Not.

A really nice, stable, friendly, unassuming man: hot or not?

Very Hot.

Scalia to Synagogue: Jews Safer with Christians in charge

:huh:

The "real" cause of the tsunami

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Wouldn't San Francisco have been a more logical target!?

what;'s the deal with going to the toilet in pubs/bars/coffeeshops toghether, in grous of 2-5...?

 

so you can yak about the boys unhindered, exchange opinions? Why the toilet?

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The toilet because it's the one public place we can be sure that the men can't overhear what we're saying.

Relax, though - on those blissfully rare occasions that I've wound up in a pack of women going to the bathroom together, we rarely discuss men. When we, do, well ... it's generally not pretty.

Selkie pretty much covered the 'bad boy' thing, but I think another reason is that some women enjoy being victims. Not just for the sympathy but as a way to avoid responsibility for their lives. After all if you only date bastards no one can blame you for the relationship failing 'cause it was all his fault, right? Also there can be a matyrdom thing going on i.e. I'll stick by this guy and try to help make him a better person, and that means I must be a good person.

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How could I have omitted this important group, otherwise known as "Women who watch the Lifetime network."* Thanks for correcting this gap, Claire.

* For those fortunate souls who have no idea what Lifetime is, it's a cable channel devoted to "Programming for women." To its detractors it's sometimes known as "The Victim Network," for almost every program is some movie-of-the-week level crappe featuring a victimized woman. Pathetic.

I think she meant SHE will get depressed. ;)

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Well, I will get depressed, but mostly I was thinking in terms of "Nice guys will get depressed when they hear my answer."

Let's start with the relatively short version, and I'll answer follow-up questions from there.

1) Confidence. If there's one thing society - at least the society I grew up in, YMMV - is good at teaching women, it's to be afraid. Of everything. And nothing. Dubya's vague terror warnings have nothing on the myriad subtle ways women are taught to be fearful. And, in a manner not dissimilar to a spooky horse, spooked woman will gravitate toward confident men. Cads tend to act very confidently, because they don't particularly care about their partners the way the "good guys" do.

2) Self-esteem. Always a tricky one, but most of the women I know who are drawn to (or stay with) "bad boys" have developed an inner sense that they don't deserve to be treated well. There is a sad, and staggering, percentage of women who appear to feel this on one level or another.

3) Cultural conditioning. Some women grew up in environments where they simply expect men to abuse them, and think something's not normal if it doesn't happen. Others are terrified to lose social status by shedding a mate, even if he turns out to be scum. More than a few are terrified to be "alone" and consider being with an asshole better than being single.

Incidentally, lest anyone interpret my comments as man-bashing, believe me, they're not. If anything, most of the negative social stereotypes are transmitted by other women, not by men. But that's a whole other story altogether.

More to come, but I have to continue sculpting fish scales and today is one of the only days I have to do it.

Heres my question.

 

Why do you always yell at us? And then when we ask "What did I do?" You reply "If you dont know, Then I'm not gonna tell you!" Why can't you just tell us what went wrong.

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I suspect that's shorthand for "The answer should be self-evident. If I try to explain it, you'll just tune me out so why bother." :huh:

Women: why do you fart like men around each other but refuse (to the point of causing yourselves pain and possible gastric disorders) to fart around men?

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Underlying assumption is partially incorrect. Women are reluctant to fart in the presence of someone who will draw attention to the fact they've just farted. For some reason that's usually men (see related question in the "Ask Men" thread) but it can just as easily be another woman, especially if a relative.

Cushions.

 

What the fuck is it with cushions? You put them on a sofa or chair, but before sitting down every man I've ever met will shift the cushions to one side so as to get them out of the way. What's the point? They're uncomfortable to sit on, and they don't look particularly appealing.

Women are conditioned from a very early age that pillows are "feminine," and in a culture where a woman's femininity is considered (a) important and (b) fragile, cushions abound. Mothers are very fond of giving cushions to their daughters, and what else can we do with them BUT put them on sofas and chairs?

Avaunt], I have an answer for your question, but it's very depressing, and long. Are you certain you want to hear it?

WHAT is the fascination with farting?!

What is the attraction of the Three Stooges?

America to open its first creationist "museum"

More controversial exhibits deal with diseases and famine, which are portrayed not as random disasters, but as the result of mankind's sin.

Other exhibits in the museum will blame homosexuals for Aids. In a "Bible Authority Room" visitors are warned: "Everyone who rejects his history – including six-day creation and Noah's flood – is `wilfully' ignorant.''

And, my personal favorite (bolding added):

Elsewhere, animated figures will be used to recreate the Garden of Eden, while in another room, visitors will see a tyrannosaurus rex pursuing Adam and Eve after their fall from grace. "That's the real terror that Adam's sin unleashed," visitors will be warned.

From this organization's own web site (bolding mine):

Reality drama at the Creation Museum

 

15 September 2004 — We’re not talking about so-called ‘reality TV.’ At the Creation Museum special effects theater, you’ll see true stories from the Bible, not embellished with unrealistic subplots. And the unusual twist is accuracy—both biblical and scientific!

There's even a virtual tour for those not stuck on dial-up...

Avaunt, "Dr. Who" was indeed deemed unsuitable by the local PBS affiliate, although not for the usual reasons (i.e., no, there's no flash of Nyssa's nipple or anything). Dr. Who was officially canceled because it was deemed insufficiently educational for PBS. The scuttlebutt was that WTTW was embarassed by how popular the show was - hence the Sunday night/Monday morning timeslot - and ultimately the supporters of the show were defeated by internal station politics. At least, that's the story. Now, if you want a funny story about how the community I live in banned videogames in the 1970's/80's, that's a WTF story.

Mind you, "Dr. Who" does have a history of being censored in Australia as a result of its "violent content." There was a time when I could remember details, but that was long ago.

Oh, and for the record, I live nowhere near Utah (for which I'm very thankful), but there's an Amish community about two hours' drive from me. Fortunately the Amish don't tend to be a driving force in television censorship, given that they don't own televisions.

Adrian Brown, I stumbled across some DVDs of "At Large" on a UK web site ... somewhere. I may just have to take you up on your offer, as replacing my machine isn't currently an option for reasons that have nothing to do with finances or technology. As bad as the politics of American government may be, they don't hold a candle to the internal politics of my family!

Saw this trailer at the theater a couple of days ago, and it's taken me that long to recover.

WOW!

Looks absolutely amazing. The Sin City books I've read blur together into my mind - about all I can remember is loving the art, and Miho, and not recalling much else - but I'm now on tenterhooks waiting for this one. Opening night for sure. Even my traveling companion, who immediately tunes out at the sound of the word "comic book," loved the trailer.

So Yellow Bastard is all that and a bag of chips, is it? Might have to pick it up.

Thanks Avaunt! Your post is yet another reason I love this board. Anywhere else I post, this query would have been met with "Dave who?" As far as I can tell, he's not well-known in the U.S. generally, but "Dr. Who" was such a local Chicago cult phenomenon (and oh, the hue and cry when the PBS station canceled it for being unsuitable for public broadcasting!) that I can't be the only Chi-town resident who remembers Dave Allen because his show was the lead-in.

Assuming this web page is accurate, New Zealand is Region 4, although perhaps region-free DVDs are more available there than here in Dave Allen-free Region 1.

Way back during the mists of pre-history, when I was but a callow youth, my local PBS station used to play "Dave Allen At Large" right before the midnight showing of "Dr. Who" on Monday morning. As I was but a callow youth (who shouldn't have been up that late/early on a school night), I knew that a lot of the material was flying right over my head, but I loved the show nevertheless. I hadn't thought about it for years, but the subject happened to come up when talking to a friend of mine the other night, and now I'm jonesing to see it. Does anyone know whether there are any Region 0 or Region 1 DVDs available? All I've been able to find are Region 2s. As much as I'd like the nostalgia kick, I'm not investing in a new machine to indulge myself.

The first year of American Flagg!

Grendel: Devil Tales, which contains some of the most visually interesting and innovative visual storytelling I've ever seen and which improves upon each reading.

Jinx

The boys got collars

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Upon reading this snippet, did anyone else's mind immediately form an image that has absolutely nothing to do with cats?!

1.How long have you been reading comic books?

Four years. I'm one of those supposedly mythical adult readers who never touched comics as a child, or even a teenager.

2.What was (were) the first comic book(s) you remember reading or collecting?

Watchmen was my introduction to the medium. Then a bunch of embarassing stuff I'll never admit to. Then V for Vendetta

3.Do you currently enjoy superhero comics?

Well ... I love Sleeper, although I liked it better when it was more espionage and less superhero. That's the only currently published superhero book I read, and the only one I've read for a while. However, there are plenty of previously published superhero tales that grace my shelves, and will leave my library when they're ripped from my cold dead hands. I pity the misbegotten fool who tries to take away my Grendel. Or American Flagg!. Or The Broccoli Agenda. Or Starman. You get the picture.

Definitely had a good Solstice:

Comfy down comforter, in a convenient "Travel around the house" size

A desperately needed wrist watch

"Patrick the Wolf Boy" TPB

Doop action figure

X-Force HC

Comico oversize "Grendel: Devil by the Deed" TPB

Point of No Return DVD

The same, to a much lesser extent, goes to the Christians praying en masse through the internet .

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Nothing wrong with mass prayer as long as they are praying for some noble cause.

 

I can't be bothered to track it down but there was scientific study into prayer and it's effect on curing ills, it actually works. It was a double blind test in that the patients didn't know they were being prayed for and the doctors didn't know which of the patients in the study were being prayed for. The best part about was that religious belief was irrelevant, so whatever the religion of the praying people and the prayed for it still works, also works for atheists. :D

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And, sadly, almost every one of the studies that supposedly "prove" distance prayer proides medical benefits have later been discredited or had major methodological problems. I'd love to believe it does work, but thus far it strikes me as hokum. I think the people involved in these efforts have the best of intentions, but I can't help but feel that all that time, energy, and money would be a lot more beneficial if directed into concrete actions.

I hate to be predictable, but I've got to admit: my hardcover Watchmen would be the book I'd keep, although my mourning for Transmetropolitan:Lust for Life, Swamp Thing: The Curse, and The Absolute Authority would nearly kill me.

No, I don't have what most people think of as the Watchmen HC. Too rich for my blood. I have a nicer-than-you'd-expect book club type HC Watchmen edition.

If I get to to count Chicago as my "home town," (it is the city in whose shadow I live) there's the Chicago Picasso that's beloved by almost everyone in the city, from sanitation workers to snobby artistes.

The Art Institute of Chicago is guarded by its two famous lions, which are similarly beloved:

I wish I could find a better picture of

this statue, which I used to drive past on the way home from work.