this is the thread where all y'allz latent issues are going to seep through to the surface isn't it. i can't wait
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 7:13 AM on January 19, 2008

Don't kid me around, it has been established that human beings aren't capable of that kind of intense empathy for people outside a small intimate tribal group.

...
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:38 AM on December 26, 2007

A large part of Hole's sound weren't just St. Kurt or Corgan, the lead guitarist (Eric Erlandson) was crucial.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 2:55 PM on December 14, 2007

It's not punk per se that she did circa Pretty on the Inside, it's basically Riot Grrl .. which is influenced by punk but not very similar to it. So it's still a hell of a record even if it's not Sex-Pistols-y.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:37 PM on December 14, 2007

The World Famous, you're correct. I wasn't suggesting that she's a particularly notable guitarist; it was just a manner of phrasing :)
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 5:09 PM on December 14, 2007

elpapacito, I have no idea what prompted that, but Hole has a lyric like that—

Hey you, you're way ahead of me
You're drunk on apathy
You burned right out
Hey you, you're just a cripple now...
You're bored of everything
You burned right out

As does Plath:

These girls looked awfully bored to me. I saw them on the sunroof, yawning and painting their nails and... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 5:55 PM on December 14, 2007

Nobody is suggesting that Hole 'pioneered' Riot Grrrl. In fact she was kinda Goth back when Riot Grrrl was starting. I just meant that Pretty On the Inside is a record in the Riot Grrrl genre. It's really hard to argue with that.

I'm a big fan of Bikini Kill but their wanton explosiveness was never tempered by the likes of Erlandson into awesome fucking grunge music.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:21 PM on December 15, 2007

And so, while Kathleen Hanna might have been the better Riot Grrrl, Courtney Love is the better/deeper/more transcending artist.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:36 PM on December 15, 2007

While we're gaping in shock, I'd just like to mention that the Ashlee Simpson connection is retarded. Seriously pyramid termite, were you joking? Ashlee fucking Simpson?

Let me know when Ashlee sounds like this or this.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:35 AM on December 16, 2007

Yeah, I know any bit of sociological generalization gets really irritating, but I just found it a fun read.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:55 PM on December 7, 2007

The word does have a sort of common ironic sense, but it's littered through the language of Muslim (and I guess non-Muslim Arabic) speakers. Sometimes almost every prediction of the future is punctuated with "inshallah". So it's not necessarily always an unhelpful term.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 4:56 PM on December 7, 2007

Wha?! Don't be an idiot. It's a signifier of faith and humility, not helplessness and failure-justification.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 7:03 PM on December 7, 2007

The idea that Trotsky wouldn't have produced a more refined and effective revolutionary legacy is old hat, but I find this piece interesting both for the throwaway idea that Trotsky wasn't as smart as Lenin and also (for those of us who've always had a soft spot for him) explaining his appeal in terms of character traits rather than an actual opinion on him vs. Stalin
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 8:27 PM on November 11, 2007

I would be surprised if more than one in a thousand young people in the US even know who Trotsky was.

Right. I don't think his sentence is suggesting that Trotsky is a figure in the mainstream imagination anywhere. Just that among those who're sort of aware of the matter, there has always been a contingent who think of Trotsky as a sort of tragic and "what-if" figure.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 8:40 PM on November 11, 2007

Yeah I got the Cultural Amnesia book a few weeks ago and think it's awesome. The only intruding agenda is an anti-Fascist/anti-Communist one, but all the connections and musings he attaches to his disparate subjects make for great bite-sized reading.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 10:32 PM on November 11, 2007

Because when one group of bloodsuckers defeats the other, it wants to suppress everything that remained of it?

I usually agree with you nasreddin, but this is a bit off the mark. The contrast between Trotsky and Stalin is not just in terms of whether or not one was more ruthlessly allied to ideology over humanity, or the difference in their specific plans (collectivization, NEP, permanent revolution, etc.). They were very different as... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 4:18 AM on November 13, 2007

Yeah, I guess you're right languagehat, the institutions and structural patterns that became Stalin's were also favoured (even moulded) by Trotsky.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:38 AM on November 14, 2007

mistersquid, it's presumptive to assume that any time a woman chooses to bare her body she's under compulsion or duress. Women are as involved in raunch culture as men are.

Social regeneration? The thing about we won't fight is a joke.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:33 PM on August 29, 2007

Also I'm not one for fixating on boobs but that video is achingly beautiful. That is all.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:37 PM on August 29, 2007

I think your ferocious egalitarianism has crashed through the cliff barrier. What extent of volition on part of the women is required before your claim of exploitation becomes supercilious? By holding the test of 'exploitation' beyond consent you've managed to be patriarchal, patrimonial and patronizing—all at once.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:54 PM on August 29, 2007

Alright guys let's not pile on. He wanted some parrying. He got it. Now everybody chill. BOOBIES.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 2:34 PM on August 29, 2007

A bit uncomfortable with writing this here but ... ok: I don't think it's lousy as porn.

It's not Girls Gone Wild, it's not just a camera flashing by a bunch of people opening their shirts and doing a sterile zoom on a portion of their anatomy. Did we watch the same video? It's scenes, stories, faces, expressions—it's a collage of seduction (note how many of those scenes have the woman in total control of the situation.)

It's... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 9:35 PM on August 29, 2007

Guys. OBVIOUS POINT: college degrees don't correlate all that well to education. I mean, when we talk about ye average college, we're not talking about people going to Oxford and passing stuff based on personal syllabi etc. We're talking Econ 102 and Intro to Psychology. I guess the fact that you get a degree means you spent time learning about something, so I can see the other side of this—but I'm unconvinced that a person is more likely to be 'educated' by virtue of... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:01 AM on August 29, 2007

It's a pretty shallow view on things, but typical for American society.

Right, the reason India and China etc. are nations of parents telling their kids to go be Engineers, Doctors or Lawyers is because they have an innate appreciation of the civic value of cosines, tumorous tissue and latin.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:03 AM on August 29, 2007

Eekacat, as a generalist by nature I'm sympathetic to the distinction you're making. My point was just that (a) this isn't just an American problem—all over the world people see college as a career path rather than some humanistic place of refinement (b) if it wasn't a career path then there would be way less people seeking to go into college. Not so many people actually value 'education'—definitely not to the tune of four+ years and all that money.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 12:47 PM on August 29, 2007

I don't think she can really answer the question either. "Well this is why I don't have a very high opinion of the general populace—a lot of them are grossly uninformed"?

The objective is to win the pageant, not answer the question.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:10 PM on August 26, 2007

It's per scene. So multiply the rate by 6 or so for 30 mins I'd think.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:05 PM on August 24, 2007

Surprised that the guys are being paid as much (and better) than the girls. It's not standard in the industry I think…
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:14 PM on August 24, 2007

Ambrosia, prostitution is so not a direct substitute for pornographic performance, if that's what you mean. The latter is way safer and structured for most people, wouldn't you think?
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:13 AM on August 25, 2007

fungible, these guys seem to be more commodity than boutique, I doubt they have too much space for variation in the acts being filmed or payscales.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 8:42 AM on August 25, 2007

Metafilter: You and Your Magical Crotch
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 8:19 PM on August 25, 2007

item, you're acting silly. "You may have clinical trial data, but I have home-made nekkid vids" isn't exactly the most convincing of arguments.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 10:37 PM on August 25, 2007

*rolls eyes* getting more objective by the minute I see. What is this, a bar fight? Look dude, I don't know what you feel the need to prove but we're not doubting your awesome throbbing manhood here.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:08 PM on August 25, 2007

It reminds me of a line from someone about some recent investigation—along the lines of, "If this had been the plot of a Grisham novel, they'd call it too predictable." The symmetry is too perfect!
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 10:37 AM on August 23, 2007

I love how sensible/steady the guy's wife is (writing him a note that 'if you want to split, we can, but this won't do'.) I would have flipped. Although I guess the note probably came well after she first confronted him.

Viomedia, speaking of psychology—isn't there some sort of connection between the frailty with which this guy considers real identities (me vs. Tommy, whom I can just morph... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 12:07 PM on August 23, 2007

Oh Viomeda I definitely agree that the guy wasn't neurotic and that the "I wish I was somebody else so I'll pretend to be him" is a pretty normal sort of thought process.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 1:31 PM on August 23, 2007

There was Hans Reiser, badass kernel hacker, who's assumed to have killed his wife. But that was less internet-related.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 4:18 PM on August 23, 2007

I agree with Gnostic Novelist. Politics is a nasty game and putting people who disagree with you on the defensive doesn't tend to help your side.

I actually don't know much about the gay rights lobby in the States but my understanding is that they don't tend to be too uncompromising or have a tin ear with respect to socially conservative demographics. I've heard / read a fair bit of stuff from people affiliated with leading organizations in the movement who say that... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 2:27 AM on August 9, 2007

The Don't Ask Don't Tell story goes something like this:

→ Clinton gets elected
→ Media raise issue
→ Clinton White House has no idea how to manage the media (they never really figured it out)
→ Republicans grab hold of issue, media gets into frenzy
→ New president convenes meetings, armed services push back hard
→ Colin Powell compromises with don't ask don't... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 4:16 AM on August 15, 2007

And the "I'm not willing to delay becoming a second-class citizen" line misses the point. The gays-in-military thing majorly helped the 1994 Republican sweep. Way to secure your first-class rights!
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 4:21 AM on August 15, 2007

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That American Spectator link is.. wow. Just, wow.
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:58 PM on August 11, 2007

Do people really think that the "muslim sense of humour" (or anything else) is limited by basic Islamic principles? What the hell does,
These were philosophical and artistic forms that highlighted the essential precariousness and meaninglessness of human life, again concepts foreign to Islam.
Bloody mean? Wait let me guess, Saudis don't understand dry humour? It's all predicated on a stupid idiotic notion: "Satire and irony are largely Western concepts... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 12:09 AM on August 12, 2007

Peter, I guess I just don't follow the whole genre of questions along the lines of "good examples of Christian humour". A lot of common wit is soft and fluid, it permeates rather than punctures. Surely Sunday sermons aren't devoid of zingers. Surely when the attendees go home they don't refrain from joking with each other. What else could one ask? There are So. Many. Christians. out there. All of them have different appreciations of humour. Quelle surprise.... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:11 AM on August 12, 2007

Azaadistani, he doesn't like it but apparently doesn't really care either.

Good for him: good that he exercises his democratic rights, good that he's willing to go a little bit over the line and be locked up, good that he doesn't give a whit about whether he's caricatured.

I don't agree with his beliefs or support his actions, but I admire his punk-rock-ness. Vive la Résistance!
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 11:16 AM on August 13, 2007

So the whole "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heav'n" thing didn't work out eh?
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 4:53 AM on August 13, 2007

OH

MY

GOD

posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 2:38 PM on August 8, 2007

You raise a very precise issue Ambrosia, but I think Pimp doesn't necessarily require the person characterised as such necessarily fit that sort of "mistreat, fuck and run" mentality (I'd be skeptical that someone who takes such a mindset too literally would actually be in too many fulfilling relationships themselves.)

Attention that endears as opposed to attention that harasses is inherently an ambiguous spectrum in any cultural context, not... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 8:06 PM on August 8, 2007

cmgonzales, you miss the point of the comment you last responded to. It's about the potential viewers of the dateline segment, not about her or the attendees.

Also, it's awfully convenient to mix up the approach of the conference, the crowd, and random internet message boards. And dishonest.

They called her out, like they call out any reporter. She got videotaped as she walked out which sucks but it's not all that different from what journalists... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 5:39 PM on August 5, 2007

That sort of rhetoric doesn't help anything Mary. Time and effort *are* costs. If we have to figure out how to change the incentives towards being healthy we need to take convenience factors into account. (And yes, for various reasons, even besides the whole price distortion via farm subsidies thing, the direct price of unhealthy food is higher than that of healthy food. This is well-established. You need to buy less high-calorie stuff to get satiated than low-calorie... [more]
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 3:52 PM on July 29, 2007

Now we just need a song for giant cross-bearing lady liberty!
posted to MetaFilter by Firas at 10:11 AM on July 29, 2007