Archive for Miscellany and Whatever

Why are some people so clueless?

February 28, 2006 / / 13 comments

Particularly, clueless about Teh Gay. I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while, but misty at Shakespeare’s Sister alerted me to this completely insane story.

I’ll give you the short version: Nine women are suing Clay Aiken’s record label for leading them to believe he was straight.

They allege that employees of RCA, Sony/BMG, and Aiken himself “engaged in collusion to prevent public disclosures they believed might be harmful to their product”.

The angry ladies go on to state, “This is tantamount to a manufacturer concealing information about a defective product. Therefore these actions were both unfair and deceptive to consumers.”

A spokeswoman for the group says, “As consumers, we feel ripped off. It is obvious now that the private Clay is very different from the manufactured packaged public Clay that was marketed to us.”

Okay, there’s just lots and lots that’s dumb about this, and frankly, my brain cells are popping like bubble wrap just trying to think it through.

» Read more..

House, M.D.

February 26, 2006 / / 8 comments

Why is the character of Gregory House so popular? He’s acerbic, insulting, crude, and self-absorbed. By every conventional scale, he’s unlikable. Yet the show is enormously popular, and has won Emmy awards for writing and performance.

The extras on the DVD for season 1 include some speculation, that rests in the notion that House is popular because he speaks his mind, and doesn’t care what anyone thinks, and we all wish we could be like that.

Nah. Homeless people living on street corners don’t appear to care and many speak their minds quite freely indeed. We don’t all envy them.

Here’s the deal. House is the best damn doctor ever. So good that he can get away with rotten behavior, bad manners, constant insubordination, and even ethics violations. Hell, even breaking and entering, if it’s for the good of the patient.

It’s the so-damn-good part that is so enormously appealing. The guy is so good at what he does that he’s given a pass. And that’s what we all long for. The fantasy is, I’m the best at what I do, therefore you have to put up with me. The fantasy is, I don’t have to suppress who I am, I don’t have to kiss ass and swallow shit, I don’t have to obey, because my wonderfulness is enough. It’s a compelling fantasy; it’s the same one that fueled the show M*A*S*H, where Hawkeye Pierce was both invaluable and insubordinate. It’s the fantasy that fueled the dot com boom, where brash young techies could wear sneakers and no socks to work, as long as they got the job done.

At the bottom of the whizkid fantasy is a more universal wish. We all want to be loved, appreciated, and admired for exactly who we are. We all suspect that, if the facade we wear were stripped away, we would no longer be loved. In life, we fear, we are one bit of misplaced honesty away from rejection at every moment. House’s goodness outweighs his inner evil; something proven each week as he miraculously saves yet another life. Since we all have that inner evil, we long to be reassured that in us, too, our goodness outweighs it.

AND it’s a damn good show.

How Many Products?

February 22, 2006 / / 6 comments

Someone told me yesterday that women use 15–20 “products” each day, whereas men use 3–5. So today I’m counting:

  • Body soap
  • Facial soap
  • Foot scrub
  • Hair goo
  • Hair spray
  • Deodorant
  • Perfume
  • Toothpaste
  • Under-eye poofiness remover
  • Moisturizer
  • Foundation
  • Mascara
  • Eyeshadows (2)
  • Makeup remover

Total: 15

Let’s see. I don’t usually wear makeup, but I have a thing tonight. Likewise, I almost never use hairspray, but there was a crisis. I wash my hair every other day, so no shampoo or conditioner today. The makeup remover is anticipated for tonight.

I’m not counting devices: Tweezer, cotton swab, toothbrush.

Maybe I should feel bad about all that stuff, a pawn of the capitalist machine. Or oppressed for being the gender with “pretty” on the expectation list. But I love my products, and I love the “me time” spent with them. I don’t get down with much girly stuff; fussing with under-eye lotions is as girly as I get, and I get quite the little thrill from it.

So, what’s your count?

Update: My actual total was 20! I left out

  • Body oil
  • Baby powder
  • 2 lipsticks (I blend)
  • Different eye stuff for overnight.

The Ice Diva

February 21, 2006 / / 8 comments

Yes, I am an Olympics freak. Every two years, I watch sports; that’s how often I can stand them, but when I watch, I watch with focus and devotion.

I don’t normally take to ice dancing, but the reporting on all the falls got me pruriently interested, so I tuned in last night. The focus of all the buzz was the Italian couple.

(I’m going to tell you the truth, which is that I watched uncritically, and only started thinking about the coverage afterwards. Any comments I make were absent from my brain while zombied in front of the TV.)

On Wednesday night, Maurizio Margaglio dropped Barbara Fusar-Poli during a lift. They’d been in first place but this destroyed their chances for a medal. The real buzz, though, was the dirty look she gave him. While she glared at him for 31 seconds (yes, they clocked it!) the commentators called her “ice diva,” the “dominant partner” in their team, and joked they were afraid of her. This went on, at length, on the Olympic Ice wrap-up.

(There’s a video of “the glare” on the right side of this page.)

So here’s where I want to point out that he dropped her. She’s the bitch, he’s the victim? He. Dropped. Her. The Canadian woman also fell from a lift on Sunday (this time she was the one who lost her grip) and had to withdraw from competition because she was in too much pain to skate on Monday. When interviewed, she said she was just grateful she hadn’t broken her hip. So I’m thinking, not a trivial thing, such a drop. I’m thinking, I’d be mad too.

» Read more..

Kitty Pryde is Jewish and Orson Scott Card is a Mormon

February 20, 2006 / / 4 comments

Jason at Wild Hunt has these terrific links that give the religions of various science fiction writers as well as various comic book characters. Cool.

Welcome Pandagonians!

February 20, 2006 / / Comments Off on Welcome Pandagonians!

Hi. If you’re visiting via the link on Nerd Art, thanks. Hang in there. Monday Movie Reviews are about to go up, and some other stuff as well.

(Ah…Monday.)

Plus, there’s the math angle

February 17, 2006 / / 2 comments

Who Should Paint You: M.C. Escher


Open and raw, you would let your true self show for your portrait.
And even if your painting turned out a bit dark, it would be honest.

Spin Art

February 15, 2006 / / Comments Off on Spin Art

Bob Harris is way smart. I never would have caught this.

I guess it’s a matter of assuming there’s a spin and then working your way backwards.

It’s National Delurk Day!

February 14, 2006 / / 19 comments

C’mon, show the love! I get between 70-110 hits a day here, and I’ve got maybe 15 unique commenters. Here’s the chance for the rest of you to intorduce (sorry, in-joke) yourselves. Gimme location, gimme life story, gimme favorite fast food; whatever you like. I’m all ears.

(And yes, I know it’s a different holiday for some of you whose boyfriend didn’t dump you last year rather than acknowledge said holiday, but for me, it’s Delurk Day. Live with it.)

Interview with Dan Savage

February 9, 2006 / / 6 comments

Dan Savage writes a weekly advise column for The Onion‘s AV Club. This week, AV Club interviews him. It’s a joy to read from start to finish. It’s smart, it’s weird, it’s funny, it’s incredibly diverse. In fact, I insist you read the whole thing.

Here’s an excerpt.

I actually think the solution to homophobia is eradicating misogyny. I think a lot of homophobia is hatred of women repackaged, ’cause gay men seem to preoccupy homophobes the most. It’s usually about anal sex, and gay men are perceived as taking on the woman’s role, and women are despised. The woman’s role is less-than. And in a male-supremacy culture, men who take on the woman’s role willingly kind of freak out some of the dudes. If you could eradicate misogyny, homophobia would evaporate. That’s why I always tell women, “If you’re dating a homophobe, you’re dating a guy who’s secretly a misogynist, who secretly hates you. And you shouldn’t.”

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