Brooke's comments (member since Aug 22, 2008)

Brooke's comments from the True North group.

http://io9.com/5408127/the-medium-is-the...

I really like some of the art that the artist has made with books. Does anyone else have art made out of books that they've admired?

Debbie, I wish I could live in NZ too and not be subjected to the Palin family madness! Levi is the teen father of Sarah Palin's grandson. He has been capitalizing on his "fame" lately by giving lots of interviews, posing naked in Playgirl magazine, and basically being a thorn in Palin's side.

But when men are called the B word, it's basically to call them feminine or womanly or girly or "You're such a girl, man up" - it very much so still retains its origin as an insult towards women.

Talking about the double-standards that society imposes on the genders isn't about man-bashing, it's about how we perceive each gender as a society. Sometimes it sounds hostile, but the point is to remove the double-standard, not villify people.

I don't know anything about Martin Amis, but the link Stephen posted says Amis has "long been accused of misogyny" - so maybe his critique of Jordan in this article, which does seem more of a legitimate complaint about her getting more attention and money for her looks rather than anything to do with her writing, is just one more thing in a long line of sexist remarks?

Jezebel had a rebuttal to the NyTimes link that Amelia posted:

http://jezebel.com/5390038/three-ways-to...

The author appreciated Lipman trying to find solutions but felt that she fell back on tired stereotypes to do so.

My cousin's husband is a work-at-home dad, and nothing pisses him off more than the way their son's elementary school teachers and mothers of classmates treat him. Someone is always making some stupid comment about how wonderful it is that he's there taking his son to school every day and stuff, and his response is always, "I'm not doing anything different than you! Stop treating me like I'm unusual! He's my kid!"

And that's not even including the comments that assumed he was there every day to drop off and pick up and volunteer in the classroom because he was laid off and currently looking for work.

It's not bringing a lawsuit, Eric_W, it's asking the DOJ to investigate possible illegal activity. I'm too far removed from my antitrust class to say for sure, but the language used in the letter sounds familiar enough that it seems reasonable to me to suspect something is there. It may only be 10 titles, but those titles that Bun listed are ones that are guaranteed to top the best-seller's list.

No, it was Uma Thurman, Jude Law, and Ethan Hawke, I think.

Jim might be thinking of Gothika? Which was meh.

My love for Gattaca might be mostly nostalgic, but it was one of the first sci fi movies I saw that wasn't all about space and lasers and stuff. I like how it's this thoughtful, quiet, yet compelling little movie.

ETA: crosspost! I had no idea Tony Shaloub was in it...who was he? Was he the piano player with lots of fingers?

I love any conversation that brings up the movie Gattaca.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srvJ5RZ_9... is an AWESOME animated version of the Gashlycrumb Tinies.

Here's the article I read yesterday with the "I let them use my bathroom" quote:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...

The frustrating things about incidents like this is that it sort of takes over the conversation about racism - most racist people aren't like this guy, they're not like Bun's example of someone screaming racist epithets on the street. So we get complacent and say, "Oh, well, I'M not like that, I'm not racist." Except most racism these days is very subtle and just sort of woven into the fabric of society, and we don't even realize it.

I love how he says he has "piles and piles" of black friends, and that they use his bathroom.

*scratches head* Uh, whaaa?

ETA: Looks like the article Bun linked doesn't include that charming quote, just in case I end up confusing anyone.

The interesting thing I heard is that when nominations were made, Obama had only been in office for 2 weeks. Did they nominate him assuming he was going to do all the things that have been quoted here?

Whoops, I left out a letter in my title - given how important wordplay is in Tollbooth, that's a little pathetic on my part. :) Fixed now.

I am sad I have to wait a year to read this new one, but I'm eagerly anticipating it.

http://shelf-life.ew.com/2009/10/05/the-...

I don't have too much commentary to make on this - I just thought it was neat. I loved that book and the movie version when I was young, I should really revisit it.

I always get a little annoyed when people mix up introversion and shyness. I'm not shy. I can talk to anyone and usually enjoy my time in social groups. However, I just reach a point where I HAVE to have some alone time. Whereas, my best friend and my sister can't function by themselves. They HAVE to have people around. That's the main difference between me and them. But if I call myself an introvert, people start assuming I don't like people, or am scared of social interaction.

I agree with Bun about the presence of an institution in the Catholic priests cases making a difference. There are some other things that make a difference to me:

- The victims of the Catholic priest scandal weren't given a chance to seek justice due to the way the Church intervened and swept it under the rug. Polanski's victim sought justice right away, the sytem failed her (I refuse to let the system off the hook for allowing Polanski to escape), and has now dragged this out for 30 years against her will.
- There is more than one victim in the Catholic priest cases, and more than one perpetrator, many who had multiple victims. I think it'd be near impossible to decide which victims do and don't want to prosecute and selectively go after offenders.
- The Catholic priest scandal is something that potentially is still happening today, so deterrence and prevention are real concerns here.

No, I don't agree. First of all, I think the fact that it happened 30 years ago makes this very different from a situation where someone might try to flee today. I honestly can't see someone being deterred by a guy who managed to evade arrest for THIRTY YEARS. How is that a deterrent? If he'd been arrested in Switzerland 25 years ago, then I'd concede your point, but it's moot now.

And the state doesn't HAVE to enforce its laws. From the cops up to the DA to the judges, everyone uses discretion about who and how to arrest, prosecute, and sentence. Anyone along the way can decide that it would cause more harm than good to move forward. They can say, "Look, we're just traumatizing this woman over and over, she's been begging us to stop since 1997, let's stop and use our resources to prosecute current cases."

For me, I could care less about punishing him 30 years later, because all it's doing is punishing his victim 30 years later. People are furious that he's continued to be a hot shot director who lived well while he was supposed to be in prison, and that he hasn't faced justice, but at what point do the means not justify the ends? When do we stop foaming at the mouth for his head and start listening to the woman who's been punched in the gut over and over throughout the years? If she were saying that she wanted him to pay, I'd be right behind her saying the same thing. But right now I can't stand for making this woman a poster child for rape victims everywhere when she just wants it all to stop.

The victim has been pleading for years for the prosecutors to just let it go, and I just saw an article where she said the only thing preventing her from moving on in life is when the media kicks out all the lurid details over and over...I think that it's turned into this pissing match between a bunch of men, and the woman who was the the victim in the first place has just been victimized by all sides.

I keep seeing people screaming, including on feminist blogs, that HE MUST PAY and that we can't teach people that they can flee and evade responsibility, but seriously? It's been 30 years. I can't believe how rabid everyone is about obtaining justice and yet they're completely ignoring the injustice they continue to do the victim.

Shana tova!