Can I please have one of these? Please? Also, he looks -fucking good- in a kilt. Which is not something I can say for a lot of men (mayyyybe because I like the style he rocks it in, whereas I've seen the kilt paired with a jacket-and-tie top and...yeah no.) 

The pics are from a movie called Ten Inch Hero, which is -gasp- a rom com, but I thought it was pretty good. (This may be because a) I love low-budget films where the acting is good and I don't hate the characters, and b) I have, like, zero experience with rom-coms so I have no basis for comparison. I MAKE NO PROMISES.) But mainly...omfg Jensen Ackles /flails all over his face and piercings and tattoo and T-shirts with lame-ass slogans (because T-shirts with lame-ass slogans ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER.)

HERE, HAVE GLASSES!JENSEN AS A BONUS. 

To: PSYC 379 Prof making me write a paper when it is finally fucking sunny outside...

"100 Ways To Hate"

Five Finger Death Punch

Here, Have Almost 1k of Rage at TVB.

So we, like every stereotypical Asian family, turn on the TV during dinnertime, and more often than not, TVB is on. This evening, we turn on the TV to see an older man holding a younger man against a desk and demanding the younger man go to the police station and confess his mugging and raping of a woman (obviously a friend of the older man’s). The younger man claims he didn’t do it, and adds, “Who would want to rape someone that old anyway?” then proceeds to flee. Cut scene to a big yum cha table, where the woman who claimed to be raped is sitting with the older man in the previous scene, as well as several other couples. The older man brings up the mugging and the rape, knowing the woman in question was lying about it. A female half of one random couple says, “Oh, we’re eating, let’s not talk about it.” Then the older man proceeds to tell the entire table the woman had lied about getting mugged and raped, and tells everyone she was only playing on their sympathies and wanting attention. She ends up throwing a fit, her terrible history about never having a boyfriend comes out, and she leaves the table (and the scene) in a big flurry of emotions.

Cue me seething with rage.

Firstly, “Oh, we’re eating, let’s not talk about it.” Keep in mind this woman legitimately thinks the woman in question had been raped.  Oh, yes, lets not talk about it for fear of upsetting your delicate constitution for lunch, because obviously someone’s emotional and physical trauma is much less important than your gluttony. Because of course ugly topics like rape and robbery should be swept under the rug, it isn’t proper dinner conversation (or rather, lunch). Because of course someone who had been raped would never want to talk about it, would rather keep it repressed and bottled up and eating at them from the inside out. Because of course nobody should want to share such a horrifying experience, and the less said about it the better. Because out of sight means out of mind.

Then we find out the woman was lying about the robbery and the rape, that the only thing the man stole was a worthless (monetarily speaking) item, and when everyone assumed she had been robbed and raped she let everyone think that to gain sympathy. The item had been left by her mother as a dowry item, yet she has never had a boy “chase” her her entire life (she’s maybe early to mid fifties?). “How can you possibly know how I feel?!” she cries as she runs from the room.

Absolutely, because not having attention from the opposite gender your entire life obviously means you are unattractive and a social leper and have no desirability whatsoever. Because having an item left from your mother intended for your marriage that seems like it will never happen stolen is obviously equally as traumatizing as being physically assaulted and violated. Because there is nobody else out in the world who has never had a boyfriend by the time they’re your age, so obviously woe is you. Because feeling undesirable and unattractive and ugly gives you license to act unattractively and undesirably and ugly. Because it’s okay to pretend to be a victim of rape, because it’s reassuring to see your friends worry over you, because you’re looking for sympathy and who cares what means you resort to as long as you get it.

Then I think about what TVB’s objective was when they were writing this scene, because I normally don’t have such a big reaction to watching shitty TVs. Then I realize the answer lay in the first scene I watched, when the younger man said, “Who would want to rape someone that old anyway?”

Because, hey look, this woman has lived to be fifty-something without a single boy chasing her. Which obviously means she’s undesirable, to the point where even a criminal would not want to rape her. Comedy! Because, ha ha, lets all laugh at the social leper whom even rapists don’t want, let alone regular men. What, I say, would it have been better if she was raped? That at least she was desirable to the lowest scum of society? That she wouldn’t die a virgin, even if she lost it to a nameless faceless abuser? That if someone accuses her of being an old spinster she can at least reassure herself by saying, “It’s okay, at least I got raped once, I’m not completely undesirable”?

This is the kind of shit broadcasting in the living rooms of the majority of Hong Kong population right now. That every day, women and men and children are subject to this kind of message. That it’s funny to laugh at a woman who couldn’t even manage to get raped to lose her virginity. That it’s “bad” to pretend to be raped, not because of the heinousness of the pretense, but because it’s bad to lie. That when you’re a fifty-something woman who’s been single all her life, letting people think you were raped is an acceptable way to deal with your lack of sexual attractiveness. That it’s okay to be cruel and politically incorrect and completely unthinking about the victims of such crimes, because the show is created for mindless dinnertime entertainment and nobody should think deeply about TV shows anyway and the show wasn't intended for those who do and rape doesn't occur in real life, it's only something you see on TV.

Ageism is not funny. Sexism is not funny. Rape is not funny. Don’t try to pretend it is. 

Feeling Restless

So, all I ever seem to talk about on Xanga now is TV. Which is kind of surprising, considering how I am very much a person who -doesn't- watch TV. But there really is nothing else in my sad pathetic life that warrants talking about. So, TV it is. 

Supernatural!! 

Anyone who's known me for any length of time knows that I have major, major issues sticking with a TV series for any length of time. House - dropped after 3 seasons. Torchwood - dropped after 3 seasons. Merlin - dropped after 2.5 seasons. Dr. Who - couldn't get invested in the Eccleston days. 

However, I have managed to get hooked onto Supernatural. And finished all 7.5 seasons of it in...oh....one month. >__>

But, seriously, it's got NO romance. NO comedy. and NO drama. can you name any other TV series that fulfills these three requirements? it's also got LOTS of angst, which is a bonus, and the character interactions are just amazing. Having watched so many episodes in a relatively short period of time, it's easy to see how far the actors have progressed (the series has been ongoing for 7 years now) and it really is something quite impressive. And now that I'm completely caught up and am waiting for the next episode to air a week this Friday, I've sort of sunken into post-amazing-series-depression. Which, as anyone who is familiar with great TV/anime/manga will know, is the feeling of being adrift and at a loss. Where it's muscle memory to plop onto the couch when you have a spare moment, except, oh wait! you don't have anything to watch now! 

tl;dr - can anyone recommend me a TV series with NO romance, NO comedy, and NO drama? Bonus points given to series that pass the Bechdel test, and has lots and lots of angst. I got bored with Suits and White Collar after the first ep. 

Oh yes, I do have something new going on in my life, yay. I have a job now! To be fair, it's sort of half-internship, half-volunteering, half-paid work, but it's something to do, and I'm having fun. I'm working for the Chinese newspaper, which is the new company that's taking over Chinese Buy and Sell's previous business because they stopped publishing. Long story as to how I got started there, but suffice it to say I'm pretty friendly with bossman, and I'm getting paid a set amount per month as opposed to by the hour. I suppose the title for my job would be "office administration", but it's pretty much just anything that needs doing - ranging from answering the phone to translating e-mails to going out to interview people for our feature pieces. I've only done one interview so far, and I'm waiting for feedback from bossman as to how well he thinks I did (the transcript I typed up afterwards was 3.5k words, which might take him a while to work through/translate into Chinese) but I had fun, it wasn't as harrowing as I expected it to be (keep in mind: antisocial!), and I'm learning lots, which I guess is the important thing here. 

The paper is focusing on mainly local small businesses - innovation and entrepreneurialism. Our last interviewee was a member of Shift - small, local, and fresh. If anybody knows anybody who would fit the bill, send me an email or let me know. We're always on the lookout for personal and personable businesses in need of a signal boost! 

Or if anyone wants to place an ad. To target Chinese audience. Let me know! :) 

Or if anyone is looking for goods or services and wants to find Chinese services! Pick up our paper! :) 

Shameless plugging ftw! :) 

Inspirational/Feel-Good Video of the Day