Shoot the Wall (A.K.A. The Rant Thread)

[Surelock]

 

At any rate, I feel strangely compelled to stand up for girly girls here. I'm reminded of my niece-in-law, who's possibly the most feminine female I know in terms of what she likes to wear, her makeup, interests, behavior, petite curvy figure, demeanor, etc. At the same time, she was a captain in the Marines, where she taught martial arts, and she could probably wipe the floor with everyone on this forum with one hand behind her back whilst quoting Elizabeth Barrett Browning. So I don't mess with the girly girls! The risk to my life isn't worth it. :D

 

You have a niece-in-law that was a captain in the Marines?

 

Didn't you also say in the Speedy's Cafe thread that you had a nephew that was a soldier stationed in Afghanistan? 

 

It seems you have a very military family. 

[Van Buren Supernova]

Oh no, my problem is not with girly girl appearance, I should know, because eventhough I don't dress or make up or in pants, I look more like girly, people always underestimate me in first impression because the things I do require toughness and strength, but I often prove that I am more capable than most, people in the street also think I am nice and friendly or easily intimidated. :p

 

I was talking about girly girl in term of attitude. For example, this girl in my class was whinning and half screaming for me when I walked pass the classroom during break. I am not talking about children time, it's post-grad class and we were working adults. I found her hugging a biscuit can with ten fingers spread apart. She just had her nails done, couldn't open the can without damaging them and begged that I did.

 

Well, decent person would help her, but at that point I was sick with her nagging as daily occurance, so I just ignored her but told her there were rulers or other stuffs on the table that she could use. Of course she called me heartless etc. To her credit, she wasn't really angry at me and learned that whinning doesn't get me to do anything.

Same with people who poke me in the eye with umbrella during non-rainy-non-sunny day crossing a 8 meter street to avoid the sun. Come on! (I have an acquaintance with lupus who has to avoid sun everytime, but for many others I know, they go to extreme to avoid it for beauty reason)

 

Aesthetic is good, but shouldn't make anyone incapable of doing daily stuffs for the sake of it, and counting on others. It's just.. so insanely unreasonable to me.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Today I am once more irked by the state police phoning up asking for donations to their charity [....]

 

[...] it feels wrong to say no to a policeman. (And come to think of it, seems like it's always a man who phones, and a notably manly sounding man at that. Dunno if he's actually a police officer, but he never says he isnt.). So it seems to me like they are (intentionally or not) intimidating people into giving, and heaven knows a lot of people are far easier to intimidate than I am.

 

After hanging up on what I took to be a cleverly-designed robo-call for some police charity, I looked up the number online, and found that an awful lot of those "charities" might as well be out-and-out scams, considering how little of the funds raised actually go to the program.  One article recommended that before one donates to any such group, one should check their standing with some charity-watchdog organizations, such as CharityWatch, Charity Navigator, and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance.  I assume those groups mostly rate American charities, but things are getting so international these days that they surely rate a number of others as well.

[Arcadia]

 

 

At any rate, I feel strangely compelled to stand up for girly girls here. I'm reminded of my niece-in-law, who's possibly the most feminine female I know in terms of what she likes to wear, her makeup, interests, behavior, petite curvy figure, demeanor, etc. At the same time, she was a captain in the Marines, where she taught martial arts, and she could probably wipe the floor with everyone on this forum with one hand behind her back whilst quoting Elizabeth Barrett Browning. So I don't mess with the girly girls! The risk to my life isn't worth it. :D

 

You have a niece-in-law that was a captain in the Marines?

 

Didn't you also say in the Speedy's Cafe thread that you had a nephew that was a soldier stationed in Afghanistan? 

 

It seems you have a very military family. 

 

 Well, in this case, the one is married to the other (that's how she got to be my niece-in-law) so their family is rather military, yes. But they're the only ones. The rest of us are wimpy liberal arts majors. :p

[Artemis]

Hmm, I've not yet been unable to tell whether someone on a forum is male or female.  To me their writing voices are pretty distinctive, even the more gender-neutral ones.

I usually keep my gender off my profile for a few reasons.  One, I'm a private person by nature.  I take comfort in anonymity.  Two, like Arcadia said, I make a habit of keeping personal info out of my profile for safety purposes.  It's very easy to track down a lot of information on someone with just a couple identifiers.  I don't think gender is one that makes much of a difference, but it's just good practice and I feel more comfortable.  Three, like Surelock mentioned, I've been harassed.  My forum history has not been pleasant.  Four, I tend to be treated differently, by men especially, once my gender is known.  I'm sure it's a subconscious response, but nevertheless I prefer to keep my gender out of it when I can, so the focus will stay on my words.  It's also a subtle indicator to others that I don't want my gender to be an important factor in anyone's mind.

On this forum I obviously didn't mind so much, as I chose a feminine username, and I write with a more informal voice which indicates my gender.  (I still won't put it in my profile though.)  On other forums I stick with gender-neutral usernames and speak with more neutrality (until I'm comfortable).  If anything gives me away before I intend, it's usually my prefacing, which is something women do a lot more than men.

I'm definitely not a girly girl, but I've never considered myself a tomboy either.  I don't enjoy most stereotypical male or female activities.  I feel sort of agender really, though I don't bother about it.

I don't wear makeup either, I can't stand the feel of the stuff on my face.  I also don't wear jewelry, or style my hair, or carry a purse when I can avoid it.  I dress in t-shirts, sweatshirts/hoodies, and jeans or slacks most of the time.

When I was a kid I attended a tiny church-school, K-7th.  Girls had to wear dresses, and everyone had to tuck in their shirts.  My family was poor and most of my clothes came from garage sales or Goodwill, so I imagine I looked a little ridiculous with my bulky old garage sale t-shirts tucked into my mismatching garage sale skirts (made worse by the fact that I am short-waisted).  Needless to say, I was picked on for my clothing a lot.  I don't wear skirts anymore.  Nothing against them, I just find them uncomfortable and always feel I look ridiculous in them now.

I love fantasy!  I'm a major Tolkien fan.  I love sci-fi too, I'm watching "Star Trek" right now.  I know a pretty equal number of men and women who are into fantasy, so I don't see it as a gendered thing, though I have noticed it is more often portrayed as stereotypically male.

 

 

[Arcadia]

OMG, I think I just found my clone. I wondered where you'd wandered off to. Or ... are you the original, and I'm the clone .... ???

[J.P.]

My reason for keeping my gender hidden was - I always feared that as a female you won't be taken seriously enough.

But then, I was moving around in areas considered guys playgrounds. Like war movies.

[Artemis]

OMG, I think I just found my clone. I wondered where you'd wandered off to. Or ... are you the original, and I'm the clone .... ???

[Pseudonym]

Uh oh Arcadia, look out.

[Arcadia]

Holeee Cripes.

 

Uh ... you know, I looooove makeup! Never wear jeans, ever! My hair is styled at the salon every week! Never read Tolkien! Honest! Honest!

[Van Buren Supernova]

Holeee Cripes.

 

Uh ... you know, I looooove makeup! Never wear jeans, ever! My hair is styled at the salon every week!

Ugh!

girly girl!

 

 

 

:p

[Arcadia]

Am not!

[Artemis]

Awww, never fear, GIFs are the scariest I get, lol.

 

Did anyone ever see the movie "The One" starring Jet Li?  The premise is that there exist over a hundred alternate universes, and a version of you in every universe.  If one of you dies, your life energy is divided among all the others, increasing your strength, speed, and mental ability.  If you become the only one left then you're basically unstoppable.  So in this movie, Bad Jet Li is travelling to each universe and killing all the other Jet Li's, becoming more and more superhuman, until only he and Good Jet Li remain, and Good Jet Li has to defeat him.

 

It was mauled by critics, but I love it for some reason.  ^_^

 

 

[Pseudonym]

I think I saw that in the cinema in New York whilst I was on holiday (because we were told that a cinema experience is America is different than it is here). From what I remember I liked the premise but not the actual film. 

[Artemis]

Was it a different experience?

 

 

[Pseudonym]

I think it might have been with a better film (sorry). Apparently American audiences get more involved, whooping, cheering etc, whilst here if someone makes a noise they get glared at and shushed. 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Depends on the movie. One would expect more "audience participation" with, say, an action-adventure movie than with a romantic tragedy.

 

The classic case is of course The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which has developed a very specific set of traditional audience responses. Some theaters will have two types of showings, one for the enthusiasts and one for people who actually want to see (and hear) the movie. But maybe that's also true in the UK?

[Artemis]

That's interesting, I've never heard that.  It's definitely not true where I live.  Here it's considered very impolite to make noise during a movie, and you will get shushed and glared at.  I've never been to one where there was audience involvement like that.

 

Makes me wonder now if there are regional differences in this regard.

 

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

Maybe I should be more specific. It's definitely considered impolite here to talk during a movie. There's always an on-screen reminder to turn off one's cellphone and stop chatting when the movie is about to start.

 

On the other hand, it's considered perfectly normal to laugh or gasp or moan softly, in reaction to what's happening in the movie. If there's a really great triumphant moment, people might clap or cheer. Those things are considered just normal reactions.

[Pseudonym]

It's the clapping and cheering I meant. Like when the big bad is finally defeated at the end.

 

I think things like Rocky Horror are in a different category, though people are more likely to dress up, participate and make it an event if they are going to see the stage show rather than a showing of the movie. 

[Arcadia]

I think here it's tolerated only to the extent that everyone is participating ... like laughing at a punchline, or cheering when a beloved character first appears, or clapping at the end. Individual outbursts are still generally frowned on because they interfere with the other movie-goers' experience.

[Pseudonym]

Movie going etiquette, no wonder the world can be so confusing :D

[Carol the Dabbler]

Individual outbursts are still generally frowned on because they interfere with the other movie-goers' experience.

Right, so no yelling at the screen, no snide remarks, etc. Some people seem to forget that they aren't sitting in their own home watching television.

[Boton]

Depends on the movie. One would expect more "audience participation" with, say, an action-adventure movie than with a romantic tragedy.

 

The classic case is of course The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which has developed a very specific set of traditional audience responses. Some theaters will have two types of showings, one for the enthusiasts and one for people who actually want to see (and hear) the movie. But maybe that's also true in the UK?

 

To expand on Carol's example, movies like Rocky Horror are often billed as "audience participation" films, although most people expect Rocky Horror to be that way and would, IMO, be surprised to go to a "traditional" showing.  There are other, less R-Rated versions of these kinds of movies.  I once went to the "Sing Along" Sound of Music, where everyone dressed in costume and the lyrics of the songs were projected so you could participate.  People also did a fair amount of heckling the Baronness whenever she was on-screen, as well as making fun of the clothes made out of curtains.  It was a blast.  But the showing was pretty clearly labeled that you were expected to yell at the screen.

[Carol the Dabbler]

It's the clapping and cheering I meant. Like when the big bad is finally defeated at the end.

 

You guys don't do that? Ever?