review: Whatever works

This is a movie about Woody Allen - as it is in all Woody Allen's movies - where he draws out his fantasy about Scarlett Johansson. The story goes, where a young simple minded blond girl ran away from home, a old Woody Allen type neurotic person (but a physics genius with a 200IQ) finds her in behind the dumpster, and is kind enough to put her up for a month or so. She develops feelings for him (ofcourse) and he resists, but the old man ends up marrying the young blond- ofcourse through her request. There is even the introduction of Justin Timberlake character- whom she dates once and finds boring...quote "he lacks everything!"

I mean in the beginning of the movie, there is even a straight forward mentioning of how he thought "Scarlett" had sexual power- although here the Scarlett referred to the Gone with the wind heroine.

but i mean it's too blatantly clear what he is trying to say with this movie, its even embarrassing for the audience to watch...

True depictions of relationships

The older I grow and the longer I stay my relationship, I realise that of all depictions of relationships I've seen in TV and movies, the most realistic ones are the ones shown in The Simpsons and Family Guy...

review: Californication

Okay. I am sick, and I am very shy and embarrassed to admit what it is, since I am afraid people will start avoiding and start de-friending me when they find out. But I will say no more and leave you with this picture.

Now, I have been sick for the past three days, and am at the phase where I am not yet capable of tending to daily activities, which usually consists of sitting in front of the computer writing and reading, but have to resort to less stressful activities, such as sitting in front of the computer watching videos and writing about them. Actually as I am writing this my brain is sending out electric shocks just to stop me from doing any advanced activities, this also happened when I was watching Ze Frank videos (arg... too intellectual makes my head go oouui.. no that's not french for yes, but ouch in a more sissy manner).

Thus I have started watching Californication, why? because Southpark is putting its commercial on every other second. It is with that X-files guy that keeps going "I believe" or what not, and this girl who I was sooo sure was KT tunstall, but isn't.

Anyhoo in summary this show is like Entourage but in middle age folks in side it, and well not so many entourages... just the one. But other wise, the same. The main character gets laid everytime, and they find one way or another to get as much BBCT- Big boob coverage time- in the show as much as possible. The guys not necessarily my type of guys, seem to know where to find their next lay.. wait hold on, its more like the girls just can't get enough of them.

In more detail, the guy is not a actor, but a writer- the mid age thing right? - and has a kid - with this women I think was a fling or sth, but I have no idea what's going on - she is living on the other side of the US. He seems to be this wild type "man-child" who is just pure simple minded -sex pussy sex. He gives "the right" complements and tries to pick up any chick in the 1km radius, as if that was his instinct or tick if you will. And despite the fact that he isn't all that, it seems to work for him. Actually, I had a friend like that, almost exactly like that,but he wasn't in California, he didn't succeed that often, and ended up with some unattractive chicks, I'll tell you that.

I think one way this guy - Moody- makes it work, is that he places himself in between real (gifted) even more crazy nut and the stiff guy who has a broom up his ass (see this episode), so you are not that wild but not that stiff.. a half and half if you will.

Overall, I think this show is meant for guys who are lonesome with low-self esteem, and haven't got laid since the Bush sr was in power, to try out all their fantasies in one show - fucking your subordinate, your superordinate aka boss, your boss's wife, your student(who also works as a stripper), school teacher, and also come home to your loving wife, who is atleast 4 time zones away (Yes, I think all the ladies in the show are required to sign an agreement that they will show their boobs at the drop of a hat)- but are too cheap to buy real proper porn. OR girls like me who's brain capacity has maxed out and need something to bitch about.

And lastly, no woman at the age of 40 should look like a bag of bones. YES I am talking to you Miss Embeth Davidtz! 40 should be a age of fullness.... but that's another story.

draft thought: what do I excel in?

In the past months, I have had a dreading thought in my head. This thought keep getting bigger and bigger reconfirming itself throughout the experiences I went through... the thought was that, I am just average. not like average joe, but more like, I do not excel in anything actually, and am just mediocre in well some, if not many things.

Orwell once said

"After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all - and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery." - quote from Why I write.

I actually read this quote when I was not yet 30, and thought, bullshit. And now, like I do with all his other writing, this cannot be a better description of how I feel my life is. Ofcourse, he went on to say how writers are exempt from this rule of thumb, and well I am not sure if I can categorize myself as one, but I am definitely not an exception to this rule.

The problem is that I realised at a young age, I can do several things in a relatively easy manner. Sing, dance, do researchesque things, speak ... etc.
Now, after turning thirty, maybe due to the prior expectations that I would actually now excel in some of these things, given that I have been doing them for some time already, I do not feel like my ability to do one thing is any better than the next person. Thus I am just "meh".. mediocre in ..well not even all things but some things.

My dancing days are long gone, my voice changed into that which is okay to listen to but not something that one would want to go and hear, and my research skills, well let's just say I see younger researchers produce much more than what I have done.

I have tried hard in the last week(s) to try to figure out what I am indeed good at.
I am not a great singer,
I am not a great dancer,
I am not a great researcher
I am not a great cook - my skills have decreased over the years
I am not born nor developed beauty that excels the average person
I am not that great in sports - actually with this, I am below average.
I am not sure if I am a good friend or good at socialising - I used to be...but now I just talk to the computer using blogger.
I am not even so sure if I am a good girlfriend - I think some will definitely disagree with this,
Or if I am even good in bed.. well I don't think I am exceptional in this as well.

The only two things I've found that I am good at, is putting sexual innuendo in everyday sentences, and being cynical concerning life. But then again, I am sure there are others who are better than me at this as well...

Why US GDP per capita is highest of the world(with more than 5 mil population)

"... an important portion of the apparently higher standard of living in the United States comes not from working more efficiently than other comparable economies, but simply from working longer"

- Mischel, Bernstein and Allegretto, The State of Working America 2004-2005: 428-429.

and about productivity and wages...

"The typical worker’s compensation (wages plus benefits), which has traditionally risen in sync with productivity gains, began falling behind in the 1970s. Since then the gap has widened dramatically as productivity kept climbing while compensation has remained essentially stagnant."

Figure - from State of Working America 2008/2009

Less is more...

Since its been quite a while since I've done anything to this page, I've decided to write one of those, "today I was reading..." posts. I mean I try not to use this space as a "dear diary" space, but once and then yes, I do write one of those as well. Despite feeling like a pathetic looser who does not have any friends to share this with in real life and have to resort to the unidentified mass out there in cyber space(hello world!), I am going to write one of the aforementioned posts... (did I just repeat myself?)

Anyhow, today Charlie Brooker wrote another one of his sharp view on life columns, concerning having infinite amount of choices and being stressed out due to it... well here it mostly concerns books and dvds. First of all, I was so happy to see that I am not the only one with the ever expanding list of books(or books actually on the shelf) to read and not enough time or self-discipline to actually read them. Phew, I thought I was the looser.
The interesting thing was his conclusion was that he wants to loose his freedom of choices, that he wants a strict regulation on what he gets to see, read etc.
Which made me think of the talk by Barry Schwartz at the TED conferences concerning the "paradox of choice"(video below), which is based on his book with the same title.



The summary (quoted from wikipedia/which quotes from this book) is

"... eliminating consumer choices can greatly reduce anxiety for shoppers.
Autonomy and Freedom of choice are critical to our well being, and choice is critical to freedom and autonomy. Nonetheless, though modern Americans have more choice than any group of people ever has before, and thus, presumably, more freedom and autonomy, we don't seem to be benefiting from it psychologically."

This is exactly what Brooker was tapping into. The psychological anxiety due to the amount of choice we have. This has to do with the missed opportunities.

One of the suggestion to Brooker's column, by the reader, which I can't find any more, is that he should stop earning money. Since having less money really simplifies this choice making since you don't have any money to buy anything then.
Which I agree completely. I am one of those people who decided that I will not spend money on stuff, not because I am stingy nor because I am poor.. (well I was at the point when I started though), but because it's just soo much easier (thinking that) one does not have the monetary possibility to do various things.

An example. I would rather patch up holes in my socks(many of which were given to me by family and friends, thanks owen), rather than go shopping for them.
Why you ask? since I get incredibly anxious about which socks to get, the sporty ones of fashionable ones, or which brand, which shop to go to etc. It takes ridiculous amount of time and ends up with me being worried that I've made the wrong decision.
The same goes for other clothes and attire.

The same could go for books and CDs(I don't do DVDs - no I don't even download them. I just try to find free streaming services or go to movies - now that is a commitment of atleast 2 hours!!). Although I must say even in my poorest times, I've decided to splurge in CDs and books, since 1. I love music, 2. I don't buy many books anyhow.
Actually these days I resorted to buying either CDs. vinyl from bands I"ve just saw live or buying vinyl from the street flea market for 1 euro(especially because I know that they will throw away the rest at the end of the day if they can't sell them).

But whichever the case, I think the conclusion I was trying to make is that this whole paradox of choice becomes much easier when you limit your choice making to the minimal. And this links with the whole consuming less and preserving more. (also see this blog post on related topics)

Ze Frank

At this movie festival in amsterdam, I saw a retrospective of interactive artist, comedian
Ze Frank (pronounced Zay Frank)
Which had some clips from his show, called... yes you've guessed it.

The Ze Frank Show.

He has a very sharp witty/cynical side to his humour, and the way he addresses his audience(intense eye+ and a pedagogic yet sarcastic manner in which he speaks) , has been followed by other vloggers ever since (such as the vlogbrothers: I'm thinking maybe they even copied his hairstyle)

Anyhow here are some of my favourites.





and here is him talking at TEDtalks

word of the day: camp

camp  [kamp] via dictionary.com
–noun
1. something that provides sophisticated, knowing amusement, as by virtue of its being artlessly mannered or stylized, self-consciously artificial and extravagant, or teasingly ingenuous and sentimental.
2. a person who adopts a teasing, theatrical manner, esp. for the amusement of others.
–verb (used without object)
3. Also, camp it up. to speak or behave in a coquettishly playful or extravagantly theatrical manner.
–adjective
4. campy: camp Hollywood musicals of the 1940s.

Its all about the packaging

The more I get into this research business, and read articles published in "prominent" journals, what I see is that its not really what you say, and what you found (new) that makes you get recognition or published, but its really about how you say it that matters.

- 10 August, 2009 ... frustrated.

Hunting in preparation for Christmas.....

Here is a promotional video from Rare Exports






..... now you know where it all came from.

My political views?

Here is an interesting quiz finding
from
Political Spectrum Quiz


My Political Views
I am a left moderate social libertarian
Left: 7.19, Libertarian: 1.53

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Foreign Policy Views
Score: -6.31

Political Spectrum Quiz


My Culture War Stance
Score: -6.64

Political Spectrum Quiz


you can also compare the results of different demographic groups.
I found that I am more left than most people my age and more authoritarian than most people my age. and I am most closest to people in my age group in the Netherlands.... (ohhh scary isn't it? is this cultural assimilation of mine?)

Depression is a sign from our body to chill?

An article in the economist reports about a medical study which argues that depression is a body's natural way of stopping you in pursuing unreachable goals.
So the study's conclusion is that
1. your body/mind gets depressed if you try to pursue certain goals that you(maybe your subconscious) identifies as unattainable
2. since you get depressed you stop doing what you were doing --> you seize to be depressed
3. if you don't stop what you were doing, and do not disengage in the goal, then you are more likely to suffer from serious depression in the longer run.

It is a well known fact that although twice as more women suffer from depression, however, it is the men that suffer from severe depression which are more likely to end in suicide. source for depression rates source on suicide, WHO stats for suicide

Okay. then let's put these two together.
This means that either women usually set up higher goals for themselves on a regular basis, but eventually comes to terms with their limitations and disengage at least at a certain point.

On the other hand, men usually do not set higher goals for themselves, but when they do, they have a harder time disengaging from them and/or these goals are more unattainable than those of the "average woman", and they end up pushing themselves in situations of suicide...

Ofcourse this would only hold true if 1) depression is ONLY caused by not attaining goals, 2) suicide is ONLY caused by severe depression 3) there are no externalities of suicide attempt and success rates.,,, whoa... maybe I'm becoming too much of an economist? :-P

On another note...
Korea has one of the highest suicide rate in the world..WHO document
and the patterns seen here are quite different from the patterns found in, for example, those of Finland, which also has very high rates.
the difference is Koreans have higher suicide rates for older age groups, where Finland this is approximately same across all age groups.

Does this mean Koreans are more likely to have higher goals when older, get depressed and commit suicide? Actually, I think the suicide of koreans, including that of the ex-president which happened quite recently, is more due to the east-Asian culture of getting rid of yourself when you shamed your family/country. something like Seppuku in Japan.

Of course, I would end this whole post with this question. Forgetting about the suicide rates and all, the whole point that our bodies are trying to protect ourselves from causing harm by being depressed means that we are not really programmed to be "persistent" or overly-ambitious. that we are just supposed to chill....

Meet Milo

the computer human....

.... this is really really cool yet scary...



this is all part of the new Xbox project Natal.
which is like Wii but like developed to a unbelieveable level.
It really is sth out of a si-fi movie and then some.
It gives interactive a new definition.





The only problem is that, this make me fear more that cyber reality can/will replace the real reality... I mean come on, playing ball with your body... you can actually do that with a real ball with real people. now the computer will substitute it.

HollyWoody porn movie titles

My friend, who I will not name, has collected (during his job) a list of titles of porn movies that are based on famous hollywood movies.
I would like to share that list with you - cuz its just way too funny.
My favourite is foreskin gump.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~The list~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

· 20,000 Legs Under the Sea
· 2002: A Sex Odyssey
· A Clockwork Orgy
· A Penile Action
· A Tale of Two Titties
· All Hands On Dick
· Anus the Menace
· Ass Ventura: Smut Detective
· Battlestar Orgasmica
· Beverly Hills Cock
· Black Men Can Hump
· Bone Alone
· Bonfire Of The Panties
· Buffy the Vampire Layer
· Butch Lesbian and the Lapdance Kid
· Cliff Banger
· Coo-Coo for CoCo Cocks
· Crocodile Dun-Me
· Cum to Drink of It
· Cumming to America
· Das Booty
· Deep End With Some Lotion
· Dial M for Missionary
· Dickman and Throbin Hood
· Dickman Forever
· Dog-Style Afternoon
· Doing John Malkovich
· Dun-Hur
· E3: The Extra-Testicle
· Edward Penishands
· Ejacula
· Enema of the State
· Erectnophobia
· Flashpants: Cop a Feeling
· Flesh Gordon
· For Your Thighs Only
· Foreskin Gump
· Forrest Hump
· Frisky Business
· Full Metal Bikini
· Ghostlusters
· Gonad the Barbarian
· Good Will Humping
· Guess Who Came At Dinner
· Hannah Does Her Sisters
· Hindfeld
· Honey, I Blew Everybody!
· I Cream On Genie
· I Reenter Mama
· In RearEndence Day
· Indiana Joan and the Temple of Poon
· Intercourse With a Vampire
· Interview With a Vibrator
· Jack/Off
· Jennifer Ate
· Juranal Park
· Jur-ass-ic Park
· Lawrence of Labia
· Mad Jack: Beyond Thunderbone
· Malcolm XXX
· Mighty Joe Schlung
· Miracle on 69th Street
· Missionary Impossible
· Murphy's Brown
· Mutiny on the Booty
· Natural Born Thrillers
· Night of the Giving Head
· Oh Cum on Ye Faces
· An Officer and a Genitalman
· On Golden Blonde
· Picnic at Hanging Cock
· Pornochio
· Pulp Friction
· Pumping Irene
· Regarding Hiney
· Reservoir Bitches
· Riding Miss Daisy
· Romancing the Bone
· The San Francisco 69ers vs. the Green Bay Butt Packers
· Saturday Night Beaver
· Saving Ryan's Privates
· Screw The Right Thing
· Sgt. Pecker's Lonely Heart's Club Gangbang
· Sex Trek: Penetrations
· Sexcalibur
· Shake My Spear, I'm In Love
· Sheepless in Montana
· Snatch Adams
· Splatman
· Splendor In The Ass
· Star Whores
· Tailiens
· Tales from the Clit
· The 7" Samurai
· The Bare Bitch Project
· The Bitches of Madison County
· The Bootyguard
· The Empire Strokes Black
· The Flintbones
· The Fuckulty
· The Horny-Mooners
· The Humpback of Nasty Dames
· The Hunt for Miss October
· The Joy Suck Club
· The Load Warrior
· The Long Ranger
· The Maddam's Family
· The Naked Bun
· The Porn Birds
· The Replacement Drillers
· The Rodfather
· The Sexorcist
· The Sixth Inch
· The Slutty Professor
· The Sperminator
· The Talented Mr. Lickme
· The Touchables
· The Whore of the Worlds
· The XXX Files
· Thighs Wide Shut
· Too Clothed For Comfort
· Twin Cheeks
· Wet Dreams May Come
· Wetness for the Prosecution
· When Harry Ate Sally
· Willie Wanker and the Fudge Packing Factory
· Yank My Doodle - It's A Dandy
· Yo Quiero Taco Smell
· You've Got Tail

Catholic Kamasutra guide, a big hit!

A Polish Priest has written a sex-guide for Catholics, where he tells you what is allowed and not allowed for catholic sex.the book was instantly a huge hit, and is planned to be translated in the other languages. The author Father Knotz, who lives in a monastery of the Order of Friars outside Kraków in Stalowa Wola in southern Poland writes...

"Some people, when they hear about the holiness of married sex, immediately imagine that such sex has to be deprived of joy, frivolous play, fantasy and attractive positions...They think it has to be sad, like a traditional church hymn. But every act, caress or sexual position that has the goal of arousal is permitted and pleases God."

He also says that sex is not just a union between a husband and a wife, but also God... uh uh.... so I guess threesomes are also okay with god, as long as HE is gettin some of the action...

post-doctoral manuscript writing

After writing on the manuscript for how many god forsaken months, I now actually perceive this research business as something fun.

must be going mad...

Average Korean face

In a show in SBS(Seoul Broadcasting System) it was shown what the computer generated result of the average korean girl - in their 20s - looks like, based on several different faces of real women.
Here is the result.



Now compare this to the 3D beauty, of what koreans consider beautiful.

Its quite a difference here. Mostly it has to do with the eyes...
In the show the director of the Institute of the study of faces in Hannam University said " 68% of korean women do not have double eye lids, which is the highest percentage in the world"... when asked, then why one could see so many women with double eye lids on the street... he answered "well, that means that there are that many people who have had surgery done" source Hani jooltong.

OMG I was bleeding all this time for no reason?

Okay. Here's a shocker. no seriously, I'm also not the type to get shocked easily, but this one truly is a shock that feels like a blow to one's head.
Brace yourself-- btw I'm talking to women here, and men who are interested -- we, human females do not necessarily have to bleed (too much) during our menstruation.
I know, you're there thinking "what the f*** does that mean?!" Of course we bleed because the lining of the uterus is shed!!.. right? Or does it really have to be like that?? Thanks to Ollique's blog I've found this piece of information.

"During the days before a woman ovulates, the lining of the womb - the endometrium - thickens in preparation for a possible conception. If the egg released at ovulation passes through the womb unfertilized, the thickened endometrial tissues are not needed - and in a truly healthy woman, as in animals in their wild state, those tissues are mostly reabsorbed. What remains is expelled over a short period of time as a slight mucus discharge (2:28-29; 15:227)."

source

Apparently, other wild animals do not shed massive amount of blood as we do, but rather reabsorb the lining back into their systems (source 1), (source2).

This site argues that the reason human being, and other domesticated animals have heavier flows is due to our diet, too much protein and lack of other substances. Others consider light flow menstruation a sign of illness, or drug side effects.

However, it does make me wonder, if I can really decrease the flow of my period without becoming ill, and on top of that not have cramps, that would be revolutionary. I think I will gain at least 12 if not 24 more days of my life per year!, where I can be productive and do something other than lie in bed grabbing my tummy, due to the intolerable pain. Also then could I avoid the effort of changing pads/tampons, being scared that it will leak, which it always does!, and not being able to sleep through cuz of the heavy flow - sorry for the graphical depictions here.

I can't go too much into this, but will keep you up to date with all my new findings.

But while I'm on the topic, I would also like to introduce to you a couple of more things. While I'm on the sustainable living roll these days, here are a couple of ways to not kill too many trees and not fill our planet with large amounts of non-biodegradable waste.

Lunapads: pads made of cloth - nicer feeling - which could be reused after washing.
(they also sell those devices which allow you to pee standing up called Pstyle).

Mooncups: its the reusable tampons, so to say, made of silicon, it collects menstrual blood rather than absorbing it. Also, you don't need to change it as often because, the Mooncup will hold 30ml of fluid, which is roughly one third of the average total produced each period, which is approximately 80mL.



But of course you won't even need these if you were to not bleed...

Women decide on what to buy

says the economist...

"In America, where female consumers make more than 80% of discretionary purchases...They buy 90% of food, 55% of consumer electronics, and most of the new cars... "

the result??


we rule.

The fat meat eaters are killing our planet!!

The obese are being targeted as one of the suspects for increasing carbon emission...

"Population fatness has an environmental impact," said Phil Edwards, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "We're all being told to stay fit and keep our weight down because it's good for our health. The important thing is that staying slim is good for your health and for the health of the planet."

and for the UK

"due to the increased number of people today who are overweight, the UK consumes 19% more food than it did 40 years ago, which equates to an extra 60 mega tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions a year. It also included the extra transport-related emissions caused by the increased obesity."

In addition, the meat eaters are killing our earth

"Last September the world's leading authority on climate change suggested the people should eat less meat, because meat production causes 20% of global emissions."

In my opinion the whole issue with taxing or discriminating the obese or overweight - including in flights- depends how much of individual choice is involved in becoming obese. How many obese actually do choose to be obese, and when does this choice begin? What if you were "nurtured" into being obese. This is an important issue, since depending on this would we be able to consider the obese either the same as, smokers, most cases individual choice and fault, or on the other hand, disabled people, most cases not through one’s choice nor fault.

On the other hand, I think one of the best way to overcome this problem is to make the fatty foods, that lead directly or indirectly to carbon emission - expensive through taxation. Thus, encourage people to eat healthy not through the use of taxing the people directly, but making incentives to eat healthy. Making organic fresh veggies – cheaper and more accessible than what it is now, where they are the most expensive item in the supermarket.

Whereas make food products that directly produce more carbon emissions in their production process – such as meat, as mentioned in the article - and food that indirectly can lead to more costs may it be carbon emissions or health costs, due to the problems it may cause to the individual’s health – such as sweets and fatty foods -more expensive through taxation on two accounts 1) carbon emission throughout the production of the food item and 2) health implications of the food to individuals, not only in the short-term but also in the longer-term.

Of course governments will be reluctant to do this, because it is regulating the market and increasing taxes for them, which all politicians hate to do. In addition, such measures have to be done in collaboration throughout the world, since we need to regulate the whole process of food production to retail. Since world's food production is also becoming more and more globalized, the world has to work together to tackle this issue to examine/regulate the whole chain of food production, but also to make sure there will not be any competitions between countries in trying to save their own food production groups, while enforcing stricter rules on others.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
For more read guardian article and this on the UK and how we should think of taxing the obese for this reason

17.8 or more....

I really wanted to stop writing about penises...
seriously

however, there are so many funny stuff on line, its impossible for me to stop!!

Here is something for the ladies... so to say.

Its a dating site for those women, who can't be bothered to actually go on a date, pretend to be interested in what men have to say, when all they want is a 18cm...

7 or Better

"take the guess work out of dating"

yes 7inches is 17.8cms... (above any country's average...)
Search credits to Bundestrendscout.

female orgasm passed for tv

This is a new commercial that would be played in british telly before 11pm.
shows women of all races and classes having various sorts of orgasms from various sources.

This would never pass in the us telly.. me thinks.

Shut it men, you still do less household chores! here's the proof

I don't know how many of you men out there believe that you do your "fair share" of house chores.
Well I will tell you now... shut it, you just have no idea how many hours we women put in.
It could be the case that, when a man lives with a woman, his hours of domestic work may actually increase slightly due to the enhanced strictness of defining what "clean" is or what "liveable" actually means. However, you guys NEVER put as much hours as well do -- in average. I, as a social scientist, always believe that there is diversity between humans and people...so there could be differences depending on the guy and girl. HOWEVER, its still the woman who is and feels responsible for the daily household chores due to that they- both men and women- have seen their mothers do it all throughout their lives, or because women have a stronger idea of what a proper house should look like,i.e., no un-identified living substance crawling on the floor or in the fridge, atleast one clean shirt to be worn in the closet, at least a clean plate and cutlery to use in the kitchen, breathable air that doesn't stink of sweat and feet in the house, etc.

Still not convinced, I will use the power of statistics then.

source: European Foundation/Burchell et al., 2007.

As you can see all men- part-time, full-time (represented here as the greens), work less than woman- part-time, full-time (represented here as the blues) on all accounts. Especially notice that men working part-time still puts in less hours than women working full time.

Here is another one. Which shows how much hours men and women use weekly for work - both paid and domestic - this means house chores...

source: European Foundation/Burchell et al., 2007.

Look how even full-time employed men work (54.9) two hours less than part-time employed women (56.8) on a weekly basis due to that women do a much larger chunk of the household work. Its also interesting to see for men, they put in approximately 7~8 hours on household chores, regardless of whether or not they are employed part-time or full-time!
In cases of two full-time couple, the woman does (66.6) approximately 12 hours more work per week than the man because she does almost three times what he puts in for household work.

So Shut the f**k up men when it comes to household work and just f**king do your chores.


--- and by "it" we mean "beat your sorry ass so you do the housework" ... or something around those words.

I'm not gay, but queer

and while I'm on the topic...

Are we just misogynistic feminists?

One thing many women do while fighting for women's right is to segregate women into two groups. Us and them. They are usually women who are following the stereotypical image of women held up by male dominated society, putting all efforts into making themselves look pretty, big breasted and naive and safe enough so no man will find them physically but also mentally threatening.

Thus, some feminists take these women on as their number one enemy, for reasons that they re-enforce the false imagery of how women should be, for they take us back 30 years when emancipation was just an infant or non-existing. They/we treat these women as brainless bimbos and "large walking implants", with no character nor sense to see what they are actually doing to woman kind. Attack them, make them into worthless creatures, only then can the smart intelligent women shine...

... or is it?

If we look up the word misogyny, it is defined as the hatred of women or girls. However, prejudice against women is also considered misogynistic.
Okay then, how about feminists who critique other women that behave completely according to the patriarchal social structures.

Tanya Gold's article on Miss Great Britain is a good example of this. Although her article is bit more spiced up and rude, as it always in to get more viewers/readers interested and excited, it is not too different from what other feminists think and do, and by other feminists yours truly is not excluded. However, what we forget is that this type of attacking other women, who we believe to set us back in our fight for feminist rights, is also misogynistic. Especially when it is done in a non-tasteful way of criticizing them by being mean, suggesting that they only way they could be helpful to this world would be in the form of them being tampons - see Tanya's article for more on this reference.
In other words, we hate women, who we think hate themselves because they act like the only way to love themselves is to be loved by men by living up to this image of stupid skinny bimbos. However, even if it is indeed hatred towards women with serious self-hatred issues,(or body image issues etc), it is still hatred for (other)women = misogyny.

I am not saying these women should not be criticized, although I think it is even hard to draw a line between the feminist and non-feminist women, since it is a continuum of various rights of various dimensions. It is not like feminists can group together in harmony to begin with, we all have various ideas of what needs to be tackled and how, and it is good that we do have this diversity. It is important to critique what is being done in this society and how other women, who should really take part in changing the vision of what woman should be like, are actually enforcing the machoistic view of women's roles. However, just flat on hating them, considering them as some other creatures which one cannot even relate to, is not the way to do it. Still, being the minority - thus still the societal norm of womanhood involving lots of make up, great loss of weight, lots of plastic surgery, and no brains!, we tend to be very defensive since we need much more power to balance things out. However, to single them out as being idiotic women, will only enforce this view, making men take on views such as, "yes I respect you and your beliefs and thoughts, but the other women, those bimbos, well all they are good for is a good fuck."

True feminism should not be changing men's, world's view on myself and other similar women, but every women and everyone, even if this may entail respecting other women's choice to become bimbos and walking silicone implants.

CNBC financial advice...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
CNBC Financial Advice
comedycentral.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Important Things w/ Demetri Martin Political Humor

Jon Stewart hits it big... again.
This guy is a pure genius

His current mission is to make CNBC a network where one can trust to bring you honest news about the financial market, which has been lawless in the past decade.
He maintains that the CNBC reporters should take the responsibility to call out the mad crazy money deals the financial market people are making. And that the fact that they were not able to do this shows that they are siding with the big capital instead of the people. However, what Job Stewart doesn't say is that all of big media, all of TELEVISION by nature of how is structured has to side with capital. If you think about how television is produced, from which money.. its all big capital. Its much easier to call out politicians since they are not directly the hands that feed you. However, for CNBC to call themselves the business channel..its harder.
Also, its not just CNBC... its all financial media that is in on this.
anyhow for more check out this episode of Job Stewart where he interviews a commentator from CNBC.
What they are talking about - video clip - in the beginning of the interview is called
"Short selling".

Question de jour~~

Here is the question of the day.
For anyone with answers, I will give you a cyber prize... of gratitude... non measurable.

The question is
Can we quote wikipedia in our work?/thesis?

This is not a manner of possibility? but of normative issues....

Can we? Should we? and if so, how???? if not, why not? and if some, which ones?

Lives of poor families in Britain

Although many believe that the poor incomes classes are drug addicts or just too lazy to get off their bum to be a proper tax paying citizen, for many it is a part of a vicious cycle that repeats itself generation after generation.
The Guardian had published a wonderful piece that gives you an idea how this may be.

Its a detailed story about a single mother with two children, whose father have left them earlier on - not that she was a teenage mother who didn't know better, but whose relationship really just ended. She herself was also a child of a single mother, didn't succeed in graduating highschool, and no career experience to name. She lives off government benefit, she doesn't have enough money to buy fresh fruit and veg, since they can go bad.

"She hates to be cast as "the stereotypical single mum on benefits, sitting on my bum living off other people's taxes". She points out that she was in a serious relationship when she had her children. "I wasn't young and foolish. Their father had a job," she says. Since he abandoned them he has paid no maintenance,"

"It would be nice, on occasion, to buy them something on a whim - treats, cakes and biscuits. But if you do, you know you're going to have to turn the heating off," she says

"Everyone is trying their best for their family. Some mothers are growing marijuana in their flats and dealing drugs on the side. They do it because they think it is the only way to give their children a better life," she says, without passing judgment. Other mothers regularly pop into Morrisons to steal stuff they can sell, to supplement their income."

"There is a stigma attached to this area. The teachers think that the children from here are all thick and they don't bother with them. I'm worried that my daughter won't do as well as she could. She's a clever little girl but all that's offered is a basic level of learning,"


For more click here.

What men/women want

source: What Men Look For vs What Girls Look For



According to this, I am an asian man or a black man who got really drunk one night to notice.

Missed opportunities

Looking back at life, I realised how I restricted my life to stop at being second rate because I was shy or didn't believe I was good enough or cool enough, and thus didn't even try and stopped at being just an observer, who always wondered what that life would be like.


....

yeah, but maybe I am just not so cool as I want to be.
but I think I should develop some more balls... or get the ones I used to have when I was in my early 20s....

Buy your Ph.D. online

Are you stressed out about writing your PhD dissertation?
Is that dissertation just too much of a hassle for you to waste your precious time?
Are you rich and think maybe I can just use another title to just make your current name even longer??
Look no further!
Buy your doctorate thesis right here!!

http://www.phd-dissertations.com/


Or here

Or here!
~
and here are some tips for you when you just cannot choose which PhD dissertation to buy!

How stupid are those people who actually spend 4 to 10 years actually writing a dissertation when you can easily buy one at only 18 dollars per page eh!!??

Investigative reporting: Dawn Porter and Super Slim ME

I think one of my real true dream job is investigative reporting on issues I FIND interesting. It will give me the opportunity to experience various things that usually I won't get a chance of doing, and being able to write stories on it delivering information to people, and getting a shot at changing their perception of society - which I strive to do. I have waves where I day dream about this fantasy life of mine (see blog from June, 2007).

Here is a girl who is able to do my dream job.
Dawn Porter
[website]

She has lived with polygamist families, became super skinny, got naked, became a geisha, a mom, a internet dater, free lover etc.
And she does all this with a sense of humour. I must admit she is this loveable type which makes you relate to her, and empathize with her.

Here is a taster, the episode where she takes two months to slim down her size from a UK size 12 to size 4 (she ends up at 8 though).


You can get the rest of the episode through this list

But I guess to really be able to do this, to beat the competition and be able to live off of doing this, you have to be much more of a talented writer than I am, have mind blowing creative ideas, and be relatively more attractive than what I am now - although I never really mentioned that I would like to be a tv journalist, but now since the major form of new delivery is through videos formats, I have changed my mind abit. Ofcourse you will also need to have the balls to be able to do any thing in the sake of journalism. - such as pose naked, starve, etc. No one said it would be an easy task! ... but I still dream on...

French keyboards

Yours truely is in Frqnce
yes qs you cqn see; the keyboqrds qre different here:
I think it is becquse they hqve different qlqbeths thqt they use ,ore freauently thqn others:
qlso you cqnnot zrite nu,bers qs zell: ofcourse the plqces of the puntuqtion ,qrks qre qlso in different plqces: I thought the ger,qn keyboqrd zqs zeird111 ,y god1 is it possible thqt in this dqy of Europeqn unificqtion; ze cqn hqve such different keyboqrds%%%%

qnyhoz:::

I hope you cqn reqd zhqt I q, trying to zrite


hints: ,=m %=? q=a z=w w=z 1=! a=q
:=. ;= ,

College humor

Okay, remember that boyfriend vibrator video clip?
That was college humor
and well they have like 307 videos on their you tube site
yours truely probably watched all of them... like twice.
I mean I am extremely addicted to them now
can't stop watching.
I think one of them even came out in my dreams.
For those of you who has never seen one of their clips
start easy with their best of selection
and work your way into hardly working series
but anyhow, need to go back to work...ahhhhhh

light graffiti

Light Graffiti

Intellectual masturbation

Working in the academic field, I get quite many chances to see people - and yes, I admittedly say, yours truly is not exempted from this, but then again its mostly (white) middle aged/older men - display pure masturbation of themselves and their group publicly in front of others.
Ofcourse this is not the more innocent type of masturbation where one comes to a point of physical orgasm, but no.. I am talking about the intellectual masturbation, where one comes to a orgasm due to believing that one is the smartest person in the world, a wise knowledgeable scholar, who has a keen view on society.

I think the worst are those who talk in jargons, which is a method people use when they do not understand their own topic well enough to explain it to others*, and while others cannot follow them, not due to the elaborate character of their analysis but due to their clumsy-arrogant way of explaining it, they feel that they are superior to their listeners. The fact that no one could refute their theory, is shown as a victory to themselves - while the truth is that it was either non-comprehensible due to its bad presentation, or due to that its substance was so insignificant that it is not worthy spending one's time trying to explain to the writers that their work is redundant.

Thus this intellectual masturbation is so, not only due to the orgasm one brings by falsely tricking one's mind that it was real -(sex) - but also due to that even done in front of others, it is essentially done by and for your own self, and others can only be spectators.

Ofcourse again, I am not excluded from this as well.
This blog writing actually signifies how I love to read/hear myself speak/write/masturbate, through making my hands busy.


*one should always have the ability to make one's study understandable to a child

Yellow Rage

Two asian-American girls on Def Poetry Jam



I would also have shit loads to say if given the chance
Such as, just to add to the one that was said above

why do you think we all are Chinese, and what is so funny about shouting "ni-hau" in a mocking manner and hilarious to laugh at me with your friends?
Why do you feel like you need to shout random sounds, just to segregate me with you, so you feel safe in your own little world?
What makes you think its okay to shout at me words you would not use to others, but no I am not one of you, you as in human?
Why do you think we are completely different, that I do not feel? that my food smells and while your ways are right, my ways are underdeveloped?
Do I not think as you do? shall I not love as you do? shall I stay within the boundaries you have set for me in the Chinese restraurants and Kung-fu movies?
Your ignorance and prejudice makes me sick, disgusted and speak in anger when I hear your murmur

==============================================================

but here is another hilarious version to the asian pride...


about hiphop ignorance

but check out others... there are quite alot of angry asians out there.

Work vs Blogging

Ofcourse the y axis can be changed in to the frequency of logging into e-mail accounts, facebook accounts or other random procrastination methods.
...

see how many blog posts I have this month....and try to predict how many months I have left in writing up my thesis.

He's just not that into you

Apparently there is another "sex and the city" movie out trying to teach women how to "catch guys", which is now called - and bluntly put - "He's just not that into you".

I haven't seen it but Tanya Gold's interpretation of the key message of the movie is...

"If a man is not trying to undress you, he's not into you. If he doesn't want to marry you in the next 10 minutes, he's just not that into you. If your lover is impotent, distant, tired, anxious, busy, brusque, depressed - anything that proclaims him to be a human being, not a Disney hero with cartoon flowers, nice teeth and a 24/7 erection - he's just not that into you."

If you see the trailer of the movie, the last line of the trailer says

"XXX cinema brings a comedy about meaning what you say without saying what you mean"

Which I think means, never say what you want to say, always pretend and put on a front to be cool because most people are shallow and superficial and will not notice that it is all fake anyhow, and will even appreciate it. Who cares about being true when one can have it all by being fake?

Similar to the Rules
in wiki's definition is a book about "in order to attract and marry the man of her dreams, a woman should play hard to get"
in Tanya Gold's words..

"The Rules are: never telephone a man; never be in when he calls; never speak to him; wear matching underwear.... pretend to be dead in order to get married"

And Guess what! the ladies of the rules have actually made their own list of "he is not that into you if .."

They include things such as

4. He's not that into you if he doesn't ask you out by Wednesday for Saturday night.

==> apparently you only need to date guys who are very organized???

7. He's not that into you if he asks you to split the check.

==> are you kidding, in countries such as the Netherlands, it is considered weird even rude if you do not split the check on a date

8. He's not that into you if he expects you to meet him half way or travel to him in a long-distance relationship.

==> In all my long-distant relationships and the ones that I know of, both couples traveled back and forth and most of the relationship have worked into marriages and other serious steps.

12. He's not that into you if he forgets your birthday.

==> again like number 4, you need a guy who is definitely organized... can't it be that he is absent minded? Also how about, "you're not into your boyfriend if you forget his birthday"

But this has got to be my favourite.

13. He's not that into you if he doesn't give you a romantic gift for Valentine's Day.

==> these women really must be living in the victorian ages or some weird Hollywood movie

The list goes on to

21. He's not that into you if he doesn't want to have sex.
22. He's not that into you if he doesn't propose.
23. He's not that into you if he proposes but won't set a wedding date.

Ofcourse these rules are for American-USA- women, which apparently is a country of the strict evangelist Christians whose women's main goal is to grasp a man into marriage??

How about those of us who have a hard time deciding, how about women who do not want to get married? how about open relationships? I mean these "rules" presupposes that all women want to get married right away, as soon as possible, and do not question their choice of men, and would like to be financially dependent on their men. - oh yeah, they are all hetrosexual, and celebrate these capitalistic driven holidays such as valentine's days.


And then there was the list for Jennifer Aniston
And then it really really hit me.
These women are "like" 10. their mental and emotional brain capacity has stopped at ... not not even 10... like 7 more like it.
Some disney movie has raised them up to a level in which they can never over come.
They are a cult trying to encourage other women to stay... 7 and be a little girl when it comes to such issues as relationships.
And look at the two women, writers for the rules book. They really look like two insecure, superficial women, who is afraid of living in the real.

Then it really hit me... shit why am I wasting time writing about these stupid people when I should really be writing my paper..

..............................................................................

Big city and all this excitement

I am from a city of 20 million inhabitants.
Well having said that I have lived in 5 different countries and 6 different cities so I can't say i am just from that city.
Let me share the size of the cities I've lived in.
(current population due to that I do not have info on the past population)
24,472(10,421) thousand, 3,424 thousand, 743thousand, 448thousand, 203thousand

now: 755 thousand

However, until recently I've lived in the 203 thousand city. And I felt, really I cannot live here, or more like I cannot breathe here. Its a city where everyone joked around saying its one of the ugliest cities in the country I live in, as well as being dead. To be completely honest, this wasn't all that true. IF you looked around you could find nice areas in the place as well as finding things to do there, such as going to live gigs, theater and etc. However, whatever I did, I did not feel home, nor was I able to find people I could really connect to. Life was utterly boring. Life was giving me no incentives to really live. This may have to do with the fact that the people around me were all of a certain type- same jobs and same hobbies. Mostly people involved themselves in work, casual drinking and sports. don't get me wrong here, they are all lovely people whom I called friends.
But then again there was something missing. Some inevitable hollowness I felt in life. The feeling of slowly dying... my inner self fading away each day... a fire inside me was in the verge of extinguishment.

Having moved back into a big city, not to say it is a very big city, only about twice the size of the district I live in when I was growing up, I feel there is a difference. Something about the people, who refuse to just live life as normal human beings. Somewhat struggling to find some more meaning in life. Refusing to just take part in the rat race of life. Or it could also be that they had to find some sort of significance of their lives to make a mark in the big city where everyone looks and live the same. To show to the world that, wait hold on, here I am. That one has to find its own uniqueness, meaning to survive, or else would be wiped away in the stream of mass.
I'm not saying all big city folks are unique and all smaller city folks are just the same ol' people with no true characteristics. However, the variety you get in the bigger city is just bigger and no, not proportionately. Also there are just more opportunities in the city. Just something about the place that makes one think there is soo much to live for and do. I feel alive again, like the inner senses that have been dead are slowly waking up to search for what I can do. Ofcourse one has to always be aware of getting carried away by the façade of it all. However, in the masquerade of big city life, one needs to, gets an opportunity to find, make one's own mask. And that is good enough for me.

The boyfriend vibrator

Many say women like sex just because of the emotional connection it brings.
Well here is the perfect thing for those "hypothetical" women
The boyfriend vibrator...
All that emotional connection with just two AA batteries!



Ofcourse it comes with the downside of boyfriends as well...

The Question: what is idleness....

In (Korean) Budism, there is something called a "wha doe"(화두: 話頭).
This can be translated, literally as the (first) question/topic of conversation.
However, its true meaning is the question, mostly concerning life, you have in your head for a long time to reach a state of knowledge/nirvana. The Vipassana method of meditation per se.

I, not of my own choosing really, sometimes have this question in my head, which stays for a long time. The interesting thing is that when I have such a question, it is as if life decide to give me examples related constantly, so I can learn from them or see things in different perspective. (Amy Tan in her TED talk, talks about how this happens to her)

anyhow, this time the question is life, the speed of life, competition, winning and being lazy.

This weekend, my time was spent on the song "something important".
The main message of the song, no the main question of the song is, are you doing something important right now, and by the way what is important and why on earth do we ask this question to begin with?

I think this started with the fights I had with my boyfriend, which had much to do with him being slow and I trying to finish things in a rapid manner and getting stressed if they are done as such. Then the question was, why do I have to do this like such?
Similarly the other problem was that he didn't pursue some things hard enough, that he didn't really give his 100%... didn't try his best to save money, didn't work hard enough to achieve something etc...
all of which is vehemently argued against by Bertrand Russell in his (short) essay In Praise of Idleness.

It is the question of why am I running? where am I running towards and what then?

I think I used to be very competitive. Although I do not want to reinforce any stereotypes that exist in this world since there are too many as they are, living as an Asian American girl, in Texas, I think it really comes with the territory. You are driven to be competitive, and well the problem was that most of the time, without really trying hard, you were better than most people... well in the things that mattered, such as maths :-P.
This competitive edge did not decrease any bit when I came back to Korea. The only thing that changed was that art and music was taken out of the competition category.
Even later on in life, when I wasn't competing on special issues, the idea that I am very able and have all the potentials in the world, just that I am not diligent enough to follow up on them, an idea jammed in to my head constantly by my parents, and later on by myself made me nervous just enough to think I have to win.
Then came the question, what was this I had to win?
The other thing was hey do I really have that ability?
last question being, do I really want to win to begin with.
Many of these question came in waves due to various experiences.

One of which was my father's manner in which he lived and his inability to achieve what he and his environment thought was an obvious course for him to take.
He, being one of the elite of the elite, graduated from the best high school(back in his days they had to take tests to get in to good high schools), top of the class, went into the best university highest scoring department as the top, graduated as one, passed the civil servant test in a high score, was the director of a Korean economic planning bureau at a very early age etc.
Every one expected him to be a minister of economic affairs or atleast labour at atleast on point in his career. His shining career however was not meant to be, due to various reasons some of which was of his own fault, may it have been directly or indirectly, others chance of luck or in his case, bad luck and well mostly bad politics.
However, to this day I know that he is still waiting for everything to fall back into place and so that he can take on his rightful place in the government.

The problem is, the more I look, I feel like that the only reason he wants to take place in the government ministry, is not (only) because of the purpose of bettering Korea, the world, society etc, but it is the only game he knows how to play and he can't stop playing.

I do not say this in a condescending manner. I myself believe that I also am a victim of such single mindedness.

===========================
Originally written at the 26th of August 2008.
Just realised that I didn't write for such a long time, so am putting this up.
will add more to it later on...