Our Open Thread this weekend is hosted by a dear otter with the most astonishing whiskers. [image by Andy Fox on flickr.]
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a good book (or a bad one)? Anything in the news that you’d like to discuss? What have you created lately? Commiserations, felicitations, temptations, contemplations, speculations?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
So, doofus here was not organised enough to go and book a ticket for the Bell/Greer thing when it was announced, and now it’s sold out. Anyone got a spare they’d be willing to sell me?
Sorry Orlando I don’t, but I will keep an eye out for you.
Virginia Trioli tweeted a photo yesterday of a postcard someone sent criticising her hornrim glasses. Which are cute as btw. So I have written, but not yet posted, a postcard for her which says that I like them and I think she is great. Take that horrible man.
I spent a large part of my afternoon doing some serious multi-tasking: reading, crotchet, cuddling cats, drinking wine.
It was wonderful.
What happens when you watch the Michael Bolton “Sexy” episode of Never Mind The Buzzcocks just before you watch the first episode of Series 3 of Sherlock where Sherlock briefly appears with 80s Bolton-esque hair. You and your younger sprog start fantasising about Sherlock doing a long-haired lipsync to “How Can We Be Lovers If We Can’t Be Friends” with Moriarty and Watson dancing in the background. Make it happen, universe.
I’ve just popped over to have a bit of a grumble. I have this regular slot on Radio NZ Nights, talking feminism, which I tend to keep at a feminism 101 level, and that still seems to elicit shrieks of outrage from the listeners. So I work having challenging concepts, but talking about them via quite straightfoward, and even simplistic examples. Baby steps.
So last night, I talked about male privilege. I managed to work in some other forms of privilege too. I thought I did okay – got the concepts across without being too scary about it, in the hopes of getting more people to listen.
But… and here comes the grump. One of my colleagues – straight, white middle aged man – is busy telling me on my Facebook page that I should have talked about its phallocentric origins and it wasn’t men’s fault and why wasn’t I talking about class privilege. ‘Splaining.
And here’s the real rub. Because it’s on my FB page, and because it’s a very public page (political ambitions have a LOT to answer for), and because he’s someone I really like very much, I really don’t want to have a full-on fight there.
All I can say is, f^&^!@n bloody hell.
Also, he told me that the way I was teaching my tax course was wrong the other day, even though he (1) has never, even been into my classroom and (2) he has no idea about my students’ employment destinations and (3) he has actually got no idea about the structure of the degree course I’m teaching into.
Mansplaining 101. Great.
Thank you for listening. I still read every single post here…
Ah yes, why haven’t you solved all the problems of the world, starting with men’s issues first. Telling you you are doin it rong with your tax course, considering that you are a professional and have been doing it for some time is just plain rude.
Eww, Deborah, that sounds incredibly frustrating. It’s always easy to nit-pick and bring up irrelevant (to that conversation) points instead of actually engaging with what you’re saying properly. You know, maybe it was making the poor white guy feel bad or something.
I spent $120 on a specialist appointment today to get a referral for a bulk-billed MRI which would have been $500. Most of me feels like this is a win. The other part of me… is not so sure.
tigtog, I’m sorry, but I’m not coping with the image of Benedict with a mullet.
I will absent myself from the viewing. Much prefer the modern Cumberbatch.
Deborah, the only compensation you have is that it makes a good story in a bitter, wry way.
I am so impressed your job is talking feminism. On one hand, how awesome! On the other hand, your boss just painted a target on your head. All the sympathies.
I am playing a new computer game. The developers have had an extraordinary epiphany and have resisted the urge to make all the female characters sex-bots.
I think it’s fantastic, obviously.
The game forum is FULL of complaints about the PC nature of the game, and the failure of the developers to provide images of boobies.
How long, Lord, how long?
What game is that Eilish?
Dragon Age: Inquisition. I am not actually able to play the game very much because the developers have been forced to use a new engine= irrecoverable crashes to desktop everytime there’s a cutscene, and there are a lot of cutscenes.
Also, they designed the game for console players who have co-ordination and like to mash buttons. I fulfil neither of these qualifications so while I love looking at the game, and listening to what the NPCs say, I don’t enjoy the bits where I try to steer my character around doors and try to fight with a sword. I will probably never buy another Bioware game: this is the fourth game they said “it’ll be great/we fixed it” and it isn’t/they didn’t. I’ll just watch the romances on Youtube.
My computer’s not up to running Inquisition; it’s frustrating. 🙂
Your comment reminds me of Jennifer Hepler’s observation that it would be cool to be able to skip combats (and more sourly of the threats she got over it).
No-one’s computer is up to running DA:I. It runs best on the newest consoles.
I had a good chuckle over Hepler’s remarks at the time: wanting to skip combat in a RPG! tee hee! What a funny woman!
Now that Bioware has removed auto attack, put a ceiling on the tactical camera zoom so that you can’t get a view of the battle or switch readily between companions, has reduced the hotbar skills to 8, reduced healing potions to 8, and won’t let you switch weapons I am completely on board with the idea.
@Deborah,
Don’t talk about this thing that your hysterical ladybrain thinks is important! Talk about this other thing, which my manly manbrain deems important!
Or was it more, How can you talk about This when This Other Thing is happening! Like, some people can care about more than one thing, y’know…
I am useless with interpersonal relations so I have no help to give. 😦
@Deborah, I would only offer, that it’s probably best to wait until your initial (& totally justified) annoyance (outrage? contempt?) has subsided, and talk to him face to face in private. Maybe write some notes down before hand, to get it clear in your head what you want to say, maybe rehearse it in your head. Do you Shakesville ? You could post a query there, they’re very smart cookies.
Sorry if this is crap advice or annoying in any way. I like to be useful, but…not very good at it. 😦