No Means No Linkdump
- There's a really great article co-written by Dizzee Rascal and his high school teacher about how the latter was an important influence on the former's musical career.
- Amanda Fortini: “Yet the real problem with extremely low-riding pants is that they're impractical. Sitting is difficult: If you can't find a chair with a closed back, you have to tie a shirt around your waist—always highly attractive—or risk scandalizing the room. If you drop something, or need to tie your shoe, abandon all hope; bending over with dignity is next to impossible. You must perfect the art of squatting, back straight, head up, as though preparing to curtsy. Low-riders also tend to slide down, requiring the wearer to hitch them up repeatedly.” All of these things happened at the basketball game I was at tonight (see here): the pretty girls sitting in front of me were constantly either tugging up their pants or or tugging down their shirts, which, counter to their intentions, calls attention to them rather than away from them. I'd rather you didn't, but if you're showing, I'm looking.
- David M. Kennedy: “Americans apparently prefer misgovernment that will leave them to their own devices to an effective government that might actually do something for them — or ask something of them.” Makes sense to me. I always wondered why conservatives hated big government. It never gets anything done, and isn't that what conservatives want of government? To do nothing?
- The 10 Commandments of Simon: “How can an atheistic, seemingly normal person reach such depths of insecurity and lack of self-confidence? How can one reach 29 years in life and not form a single intimate relationship with another human being? How can one stand a life of unending longing, loneliness, and sexual frustration?”
- Caryn James: “There is no perfect hybrid that serves as a model for a new genre, because the best recent film to use documentary and fiction, "American Splendor," is so inventive and iconoclastic it should defy cloning. In this witty depiction of Harvey Pekar's life and work, the real comic book creator Harvey Pekar is interviewed on camera documentary-style. We see his comics, based on his life, as well as dramatized segments with Paul Giamatti playing Mr. Pekar.” There's a lot that I identified with in that movie—especially the first half of it.
- Aaron wonders what to do when someone says something obviously false. Like how giving fellatio reduces a woman's risk of breast cancer, which is a hoax. The URL (http://www4.ncsu.edu/~brwilli2/cnn.html) gives it away. In Dave's defense, he's actually telling the truth, just as the Bush Administration may have technically told the truth about the yellowcake from Niger. But it's a really terrible excuse. Why is there no update here?
- chastitycatt: “There are worse things than having a little extra Douglas Adams about the house.”
- Dahlia Lithwick: “Is sexual conversation confusing? Yes? Is it frustrating? Maybe. Should we change laws because women are conflicted and men are horny? No.”
