Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[Jack Manfred]

See what happens when I don't log in for a couple of days?

To briefly address yesterday's issues:
1. Please don't confuse Capra with Wilder. Frank Capra created a sugary, feel-good movie-making that resonates with America like Norman Rockwell paintings. Billy Wilder made sharp, smart, cynical pictures that reveal a completely different side of America.
2. If you want to rent a good black-and-white movie, find a Wilder movie or a Hitchcock movie. Hard to go wrong.
3. Julia Roberts is not hot. She's not a good actress either. She's a personality and a celebrity, and we live in a society that is fascinated with celebrity. Before you write angry replies, I ackknowlegde her good work in Erin Brockovich, and give credit where it is due: to Steven Soderbergh, who masterfully unearths great performances from mediocre talents. See also, Andie MacDowell in sex, lies. Before we even address the Ashley v. Charlize pantheon, pick a fairer fight. Catherine Keener is about the same age as Julia Roberts, is much hotter, and is a far better actress. [After writing this sentence, I checked and learned that Keener is 7 years older than Julia. Still hotter, but 7 years older.] Ditto Isabella Rossellini and she's 15 years older than Julia.

On to today's matters...

Have we learned nothing from the tragic death of Aaliyah? Age Ain't Nothing But a Number. People that are going to college share many of the same issues, concerns, and experiences. What should I study? What am I going to do with my life? It's only natural that they should bond over these common themes and form relationships. People thrown into the working world also share many of the same issues, concerns, and experiences. Why the hell did I get a major that either affords me no career prospects or leads to a profession consumed by drudgery and backbiting? People with children share many of the same issues, concerns, and experiences. Why won't em stop crying/begging for new video games/asking to borrow the car? Will I ever have a life again?

Today, I declare that all dating within these three categories has no age difference. Seriously. If you're in grad school at 40, and your study group partner is 25, bang away with impunity. There's no age difference. But a 23 year old who hasn't finished undergrad must cross a gaping chasm to date a divorced single mom with 2 kids who is also 23 or to date someone who studied a trade, has worked for 5 years, and owns em's own shop.

This board has spent much of the day with men and women bickering over which age differences are "OK." You know what age differences are OK? The ones that work. If two people can get along and love each other, their age difference is OK, whether the couple shares the same birthday or has a couple decades between them. We wouldn't consider it outright squicky to have a Catholic marry a Jew? There are obvious differences there (depending on amount of religious fervor). For all of the diversity/tolerance/not-judging/judging other people or judging that is manifest here, we should be above this thread.

As for me, I've dated a woman 7 years older and 5 (or so) years younger. There was none of this pre-orgasmic nonsense with either. I use the word nonsense because "pre-orgasmic" is a euphemism and because women are responsible for their own sexual health and pleasure and have been since all of the women on this board hit puberty (or since birth, for some of the youngsters). In bed, the man has an obligation to deliver best efforts and to respond to constructive criticism.

On to new topics...
1. You should all make a dental appointment today.
2. You should all buy Welcome Interstate Managers from Fountains of Wayne.
3. You will need the dental appointment after listening to the CD because the songs are so sugary-sweet they might cause tooth decay.

[Not Bob]

Originally posted by bilmore
No, 'cuz I'm gonna die too, except I won't have some 20-something babe under me while I do it.

Hey, you were friends with Nelson Rockefeller?

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
The girl who sued to be the sole valedictorian, rather than 1 of 3, is now a social pariah: MSNBC story

"goody-goody"

She was up against a "knew or should have known" standard anyway. She either knew or should have known that filing a lawsuit to be sole valedictorian would have no positive effect on her future chances (think Harvard would have turned her away because she was co-valedictorian?) and would make her seem petty and mean spirited towards some other brainiac, who also worked way too hard in high school.

If she couldn't recognize that prior to the lawsuit, I'm not letting her in my law school (once I become dean of some prestigious law school, that is). Failure to use logical reasoning.

[SlaveNoMore]

Jack Manfred
1. Please don't confuse Capra with Wilder. Frank Capra created a sugary, feel-good movie-making that resonates with America like Norman Rockwell paintings. Billy Wilder made sharp, smart, cynical pictures that reveal a completely different side of America.

Or the Coen Brothers versions - "The Hudsucker Proxy" versus "The Man Who Wasn't There."

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by sebastian_dangerfield
Oh for Christ's Fucking Sake...

If I had a nickel for every older woman or angry spinster who ripped older guys who fucked younger women apart as insecure or pathetic, I'd have a 600 SL. Its the reverse of the argument made by unsuccessful men that women are whores because they'll fuck ugly men with money.

[sigh] I have to agree with you but I will do so without using the term "angry spinster." Why should anyone care why anyone else chooses a mate/fuck-buddy/whatever (unless, of course, it has something to do with the mate being pre-pubescent or something squicky and illegal like that)? It is kinda like caring if other people get plastic surgery -- I may personally choose not to and find it funny when fake boobies stand at attention, but.... --- it just makes you "sour." Face it ladies, our "window" is just smaller than a man's. It may be really fucking unfair, but that is how it is -- women are constantly judged on looks and men by how successful they are (although looks don't hurt either). I bet men think it is unfair that an otherwise great guy gets shitcanned for not having social status and lots of jack. Labeling a guy who likes young women as insecure isn't fair to him or to you. If it makes you feel any better, just remind yourself that statistics point to him being old and lonely someday because eventually the money (at least the amount that he has) won't be enough and maybe he will regret at and maybe he won't but why do you care?

All normal people eventually age -- boobs sag a bit, skin gets loose, hair falls out, tummies get soft, balls droop into the toilet water, etc. If there are guys who prefer younger women then I say all power to them for as long as they can do it, ain't none of my business. The funny thing is that, in my experience, the women I know (everyone on the FB excepted because, well, I don't really know you now do I?) who look at men who fuck younger women and call them insecure, etc. were those same younger women (or wanted to be) 10 years ago and now they are just a little upset at themselves and life because they didn't realize that their "window" was speeding by while they played the field. They all called me crazy for marrying and having a child in my mid/late-20s when they figured I was in my prime for "playing." Now they are all pissed at the men their age and older who are going after the women that they used to be and lamenting the "dearth of good men to settle down with while there is still time to make babies." All of the good ones are not taken, but they are a bit harder to find after 30.


NOTE: I would like to reiterate that the comments above are based on personal experience and in no way represent an analysis of anyone on the FB or their reasons for feeling/believing a certain way.

[Shape Shifter]

Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
The girl who sued to be the sole valedictorian, rather than 1 of 3, is now a social pariah: MSNBC story

"goody-goody"

Her familiarity with chronic fatigue should come in handy in her future career as a lawyer.

[purse junkie]

$1.5 mil, to be exact:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/926241.asp

Hmm. Maybe I'll have to lay off the accessories purchases for awhile...

[str8outavannuys]

Originally posted by evenodds
Okay, what is the biggest difference older and younger you've dated?

And what's the age difference now?

When I was just 17 I lost my oral virginity to a woman in her thirties who had a short film in the Toronto Film Festival and was just in town for the week (I met her as we both walked out of "Pink Ulysees," a piece of homoerotic crap, at the same time). So I'd guess it was a 16 year age difference. Alas after the Festival I didn't see her again.

Since then I've dated women exclusively within 3 years of my age.

str8.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive
She was up against a "knew or should have known" standard anyway. She either knew or should have known that filing a lawsuit to be sole valedictorian would have no positive effect on her future chances (think Harvard would have turned her away because she was co-valedictorian?) and would make her seem petty and mean spirited towards some other brainiac, who also worked way too hard in high school.

If she couldn't recognize that prior to the lawsuit, I'm not letting her in my law school (once I become dean of some prestigious law school, that is). Failure to use logical reasoning.

This kind of shit irritates me to no end. These are the lawyers that people hate. It's giving a bad name to all of us. And this asshole who took the case and probably "advised" her that it was a good idea and to "get what she earned" needs to have his ass kicked and have a meeting before the Bar Assoc. You know, someday I'm going to work for the Bar and get assholes like this kicked out of the profession. If she didn't know it was going to cause problems to be selfish and not want to be co-valedictorian, then HE certainly had the obligation to warn her.
Geez, how petty do you have to be to want to be SOLE valedictorian after you've already been accepted to Harvard? What does that get her? Accepted again with bonus points? She's going to find out that out here in reality, being sole valedictorian doesn't mean shit. Less than shit. And that she found this battle and won, but only to eventually lose and for NOTHING.

Originally posted by NotFromHere
This kind of shit irritates me to no end. These are the lawyers that people hate. It's giving a bad name to all of us. And this asshole who took the case and probably "advised" her that it was a good idea and to "get what she earned" needs to have his ass kicked and have a meeting before the Bar Assoc. You know, someday I'm going to work for the Bar and get assholes like this kicked out of the profession. If she didn't know it was going to cause problems to be selfish and not want to be co-valedictorian, then HE certainly had the obligation to warn her.
Geez, how petty do you have to be to want to be SOLE valedictorian after you've already been accepted to Harvard? What does that get her? Accepted again with bonus points? She's going to find out that out here in reality, being sole valedictorian doesn't mean shit. Less than shit. And that she found this battle and won, but only to eventually lose and for NOTHING.

Was this the case where her parents were lawyers? If so...Way to go Mom and Dad!

-TL

Please do not email me pictures of your fetus at work. Or anywhere else. Thank you.

[ThrashersFan]

Originally posted by purse junkie
$1.5 mil, to be exact:

http://www.msnbc.com/news/926241.asp

Hmm. Maybe I'll have to lay off the accessories purchases for awhile...

If they had asked me, it isn't the amount of money that I have but rather the lack of debt that brings happiness. Being out of debt, even if it means still needing a job would be okay by me because all I would have to work for is daily living money and not mortgages, loan payments, etc. I could work a casual type job or else just stay home and live off of the hubby for a change. I didn't make great money until about four years ago but by focusing on debt reduction I am now able to live without any credit card debt, student loans are done, 2 cars paid for and 1 more to be paid off by the end of the year and on target to have the house paid off in 3 more years. My hubby used to call me a penny-pincher and I admit that we haven't really done elaborate vacations or anything like that but now that he can see the light at the end of the tunnel being debt free by the time he is 35 has become very appealing. Although we do our sporting events and movies and stuff like that we probably live boring lives compared to the rest of you but I don't have $1.5million so I gotta find my happiness in other ways.

Of course, I wouldn't turn down the $1.5million if somebody out there wanted to try to make me happy with it.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by paigowprincess
Please do not email me pictures of your fetus at work. Or anywhere else. Thank you.

Please tell me you're kidding. No one would actually DO that.

[bilmore]

Originally posted by paigowprincess
Please do not email me pictures of your fetus at work.

What ever happened to the enforcement of child labor laws? Sheesh.

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Please tell me you're kidding. No one would actually DO that.

Oh, yes they did. WHo wants to see the fetus besides the parents and grandparents? I think I posted about beinga t a party where the pregnant hostess tacked a picture of her fetus to the fridge. That was bad, but emailng me at work? forget it.