"Splendid" woman asks out millonnaires online

This exchange was released in an US financiel magazine, and originates from a post on a website named "Craiglist".

Here's the first post :

"Okay, I’m tired of beating around the bush. I’m a beautiful (spectacularly beautiful) 25 year old girl. I’m articulate and classy.

I’m not from New York.  I’m looking to get married to a guy who makes at least half a million a year. I know how that sounds, but keep in mind that a million a year is middle class in New York City, so I don’t think I’m overreaching at all.

Are there any guys who make 500K or more on this board? Any wives? Could you send me some tips? I dated a business man who makes average around 200 – 250k.  But, that’s where I seem to hit a roadblock.  $250,000 won’t get me to Central Park West. I know a woman in my yoga class who was married to an investment banker and lives in Tribeca, and she’s not as pretty as I am, nor is she a great genius. So what is she doing right? How do I get to her level?"

Here are my questions specifically:

• Where do you single rich men hang out? Give me specifics- bars, restaurants, gyms
• What are you looking for in a mate? Be honest guys, you won't hurt my feelings
• Is there an age range I should be targeting (I’m 25)?
• Why are some of the women living lavish lifestyles on the upper east side so plain? I’ve seen really plain jane' boring types who have nothing to offer married to incredibly wealthy guys. I’ve seen drop dead gorgeous girls in singles bars in the east village. What's the story there?
• Jobs I should look out for? Everyone knows – lawyer, investment banker, doctor. How much do those guys really make? And where do they hang out? Where do the hedge fund guys hang out?
• How you decide marriage vs. just a girlfriend? I am looking for MARRIAGE ONLY

Please hold your insults – I’m putting myself out there in an honest way. Most beautiful women are superficial; at least I’m being up front about it. I wouldn’t be searching for these kind of guys if I wasn’t able to match them – in looks, culture, sophistication, and keeping a nice home and hearth.

PostingID: 432279810"

That's one of the answers she got :

 

I read your posting with great interest and have thought meaningfully about your dilemma. I offer the following analysis of your predicament. Firstly, I’m not wasting your time, I qualify as a guy who fits your bill; that is I make more than $500K per year. That said here’s how I see it.

Your offer, from the prospective of a guy like me, is plain and simple a crappy business deal. Here’s why. Cutting through all the B.S., what you suggest is a simple trade: you bring your looks to the party and I bring my money. Fine, simple. But here’s the rub, your looks will fade and my money will likely continue into perpetuity… in fact, it is very likely that my income increases but it is an absolute certainty that you won’t be getting any more beautiful!

So, in economic terms you are a depreciating asset and I am an earning asset. Not only are you a depreciating asset, your depreciation accelerates! Let me explain, you’re 25 now and will likely stay pretty hot for the next 5 years, but less so each year. Then the fade begins in earnest. By 35 stick a fork in you!

So in Wall Street terms, we would call you a trading position, not a buy and hold… hence the rub… marriage. It doesn’t make good business sense to “buy you” (which is what you’re asking) so I’d rather lease. In case you think I’m being cruel, I would say the following. If my money were to go away, so would you, so when your beauty fades I need an out. It’s as simple as that. So a deal that makes sense is dating, not marriage.

Separately, I was taught early in my career about efficient markets. So, I wonder why a girl as “articulate, classy and spectacularly beautiful” as you has been unable to find your sugar daddy. I find it hard to believe that if you are as gorgeous as you say you are that the $500K wasn’t found you, if not only for a tryout.

By the way, you could always find a way to make your own money and then we wouldn’t need to have this difficult conversation.

With all that said, I must say you’re going about it the right way.  Classic “pump and dump.” I hope this is helpful, and if you want to enter into some sort of lease, let me know.

Her reply to that

Dear Sir,

I must confess that I was somewhat taken aback upon reading your email. Indeed, it has taken some time for me to sufficiently recuperate from my surprise. Lest your confidence quickly inflate for little reason (as we know is the predisposition for Wall St. types), allow me to hasten to reassure you that the source of my surprise was neither your candor nor the accuracy of your perception. Indeed, it is your “claimed” success in light of your poor grasp of economics which has me baffled. If the standards required to meet with financial success on Wall St. have sunk so low, perhaps I should indeed “make my own money”, except for the fact that the effort/reward ratio is far too high for my liking - especially when so many of your ilk have displayed a far more cogent grasp of market realities than you have.

By now you are likely scratching your ever-vanishing hairline in confusion, so allow me to elaborate, dear man. To build some credibility I will tell you a bit more about yourself. Though you did not mention the details of your occupation, it is clear that you are an investment banker and not a trader, as any good trader would understand that human courtships are based upon a semi-efficient open market, and not an investment banking cartel. However, your inability to grasp the realities of the dating market is not surprising, given that you have successfully employed the tools of collusion and market manipulation rather that true acumen in your supposed wealth generation.

If your grasp of finance were not a minority partner with your ego, you would realize that the “outflows” associated with my depreciating “assets” are quite certain, and therefore subject to a low discount rate when determining their present value. In addition, though your concept of economics evidently failed to move past the 1950s, advancement in plastic surgery is not subject to the same limitation. Thus, with some additional capital expenditure, the overall lifetime of “outflows” generated by these assets is greatly increased. Sad that Ashton Kutcher has demonstrated understanding of the female asset class which you, in all of your financial “wisdom”, have not.

You, on the other hand, are, given the uncertainty of the Wall St. job market, more of an inflation-indexed junk bond with an underwater nested call option. Though you may argue that you are more of an equity investment, my monetary minimums required from you do not change, and if you are unable to pay them, I will liquidate you without the benefit of a chapter 11, just as you would me.

Because your outflows are so much more uncertain with respect to mine, I require additional compensation in the form of a underwater nested call option on your future assets. I say underwater because, even taking into account the value of your junk bond coupon payment to me, the value of my “outflow” is in excess of the market price of your equity (which is quite low due to its riskiness associated with your poor grasp of finance and my existing claim upon your junk bond coupon).

I must thank you though for raising the question, despite the reputation cost of subjecting your weak logic to such widespread scrutiny. This took either considerable courage or ignorance on your part- and we’ll give you the benefit of doubt, just this once. My current boyfriend (a trader who lives in Central Park West, of course) and I thoroughly enjoyed discussing your response and we wish you the best of luck in your unhappy pursuit of that elusive market inefficiency."

There have been contestations about those posts' authenticity (see that post) and some people say her reply was actually written by someone else (maybe even her boyfriend). 

Still.

Makes on stop to ponder.

Captain America, The First Avenger - movie

 

What to say?... Not too cliché, not too dumb... I know nothing of Marvel's Captain America, so I won't try to compare the movie to the original comics. One of my friends (who knows...) said it was ok.

The story's mojo is basically the same as in the Lord of the Rings: "even the tiniest dude can make a difference"...

Steve Robert. The Heroe. Makes you think swrimps are cool. I love shrimps.

However, unlike in the Lord of the Rings, the tiniest dude has first to turn into a huge fella to achieve his goal. The American way of life... don't question it.

Now cool AND super sexy. What's not to like?

Oh and, it also kinda shows how much this character drew guys into joining the army. But the propaganda aspect of the character is handled cleverly and doesn't make you sick. Hopefully.

That's the real thing. Americans and or subtlety...

But best of all? This movie realise the impossible: making Captain A.'s insane American flag costume look believable. I SWEAR. 

Yes. THIS costume.

To sum it up: nothing to criticize, really. You get what you pay for. A classic action movie. And that's kinda cool. 

I want YOU... to watch it if you want : )

CDZ, Les Chevaliers du Zodiaque - série abrégée de StateAlchemist

La mode des années... de ces années là, ça ne pardonne décidément pas... 

et puis, franchement, le trailer japonais a plus de classe...

Vous êtes déjà tombé sur / avez regardé cette série pleine de Chevaliers androgynes qui passent leur temps à se prendre des baffes dans le but de sauver une déesse guerrière trop faible pour se protéger elle-même ?

Oui, c'est ça, eux.

Vous vous êtes déjà dit (en tant que fangirl / fanboy emplis d'oestrogènes / de testostérone) que vous aimeriez bien les reluquer un peu plus mais, en découvrant le nombre hallucinant d'épisodes / séries / spin-off / films / autres, que vous étiez trop jeune pour sacrifier cinquante ans de votre vie à tous les regarder ? (d'autant plus qu'il leur faut généralement trois épisodes ne serait-ce que pour finir une phrase)

Nous avons la solution à votre problème !

Enfin, nous... C'est StateAlchemist qui s'en occupe, à vrai dire. Ce petit monsieur (dont en vérité je ne connais pas la taille) a eut le bon goût de nous abréger tout ce patafoin avec force blagues et saillis désopilantes.  

Donc, au lieu de regarder soixante épisodes par adversaire à abattre, il vous en offre un, et en plus, c'est super drôle. 

Voici un épisode au pif (mon préféré) pour vous convaincre...

... maintenant, vous pouvez aller déposer vos offrandes à StateAlchemist sur son blog consacré aux séries abrégés. Et au passage, regarder le reste des épisodes... Bonne poilade !

Madoka - (good) Magical Girl anime (!)

Madoka is a 12 episodes long Magical Girl anime (watch here). Magical Girls... You, know, those chicks who change clothes in the middle of the street to fight uglyness- erm, evil? A bit little Saint Seiya, but in girls' clothing.

However,  if you think Madoka is like other Magical Girls anime... don't. It's actually quite - totally - the opposite. 

 

Have you ever wondered, bewilded, at how stupid the usual Magical Girls were?  I mean, come on... a cute beasty comes out with a deal, and bam! next thing you now, the clumsy, good-for-nothing student turns into a weird clothes addict! (who fights evil).

Cute beasty. Namely, Kyube.

Well, Madoka makers did. So their created an anime raising, for once, the right questions (for instance: do I want to spend my life risking it for no good reason?)

Kaname Madoka wondering if she wants to spend her life risking it for no good reason.

The result? A mix of Alice in Wonderland horror, chibi kawai and light shojo-ai aka lesbianism. Or: let's get some sense into those Magical Babes. 

Oh yeah.

Let's go fight witches, bitches!

 So, to sum it up... a good show. A bit slow at first, but good. 

A Touch of Evil, film noir by O. Welles, 1958

Adaptation of the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson.  

Director: Orson Welles

Producer: Albert Zugsmith and rick Schmindlin (1998 restauration and director's cut)

Dark Angel, series

Dark Angel is a 2 seasons series in which the super sexy actress Jessica Alba impersonnates Max, a genetically engineered super soldier who escaped from her military camp as a child. 

Season 1

Max works as an employee of the Jam Pony mail delivery service with her hot lesbian friend Original Cindy. In their world, a strike caused the economy to collapse and most people live quite poorly, which is why Max uses her superhuman abilities to steal from the rich and give to herself.
 During one of her robberies she comes across a guy named Logan, who is able to witness her uncany habilities. Logan uses his riches to broadcasts informations the corrupted ones would rather keep a secret by hacking into the news system undercover as Eyes Only. 

 His lower superior brain instantly understands that Max could be a magnificent girlfriend ally and asks her for her help. However Max refuses, which eventually results in Logan being shot and loosing the ability to walk. 

But when she discovers that Logan can help her locate the 11 other Manticore soldiers that escaped with her years ago, Max decides to help, and thus starts doing errands for Eyes Only, who's now stuck in a wheelchair thanks to the misses. 

This season can pretty much be summed up by Max searching for the other runnaways, eventually finding some and having to part from them, some flashbacks about her sad childhood as X5-452 in Manticore, Logan turning all emo about being stuck in a wheelchair and both of them falling in love with each other but being to stubborn too admit it.

Season 2

It starts with a burnt down Manticore and the escape of all transgenics. The government, who paid for the secret project with public taxes, doesn't want it revealed and asks Mr. White to kill them all. So at first, Max and Logan's tasks is to hide all the transgenics their find, from the part-man part-dog Joshua to the X5 Alec.

Only that Mr. White is also working for some kind of cult who breeds transgenics by selecting mating partners. When his son, who was the result of one of those breedings, is kidnapped by Max at her mothers' demand, he decides exposure is worth it to retrieve his child.

Thus the transgenics' presence is officially revealed and the public decides lynching them is the way to go. The series ends with the trangenics regrouping under a flag to fight for their right to live.

Overall

The  series had a great potential. The idea of a super sexy super strong fighting chick isn't new but hell, who would complain about Jessica Alba rocking the world. And let's not even get me started on Jensen Ackles.

Basically, it's a canon series with everything a good geek needs to feel happy: gorgeous girls who goes in heat and lesbians on motocycles, improbable fighting, guns, genetic engeneering, an apocalyptic future, weird-looking super monsters, good people above the law, a geek who's not only an undercover superheroe but also a super-smart super-brave hacker good-looking enough to tame the wild and beautiful superwoman they can identify with... It's almost a SuperBatCatPr.Xman Marvel comix.

However, the main story is quite weak, as most of the characters we meet disappear almost instantly (remember Americans, the solution to all your problems is going to Canada). That keeps the focus on Max but is also kind of illogical regarding her goal, as she almost always ends sending away, turning down or even killing the members of her escapee "family". However, this is less relevant in season 2, were the recurring characters of Alec and Joshua are intruced to stay.
And also, what is that about Max and Logan not being able to "get busy" because of a "right time" or a freaking virus? Guys guys guys, if you want to let a geek boy viewer dream about being the only one who ever (dream) banged miss Alba, please at least learn about subtlety. 

I also think the characters are quite shallows.
Max quickly turns from a strong willing and independent wildcat into a fragile, emotionally driven kitten (okay, maybe I'm exagerating, but only a little).
Logan is... actually, I'm not sure we even know why Logan does such a dangerous job as Eyes Only. Plus, come on man, you stoped killing yourself because who saw water drop from your ceiling? How not serious were you about commiting suicide?
Max friends have little or no background.
Joshua is quite cool, and his weirdly found interest in painting kinda nice actually, but the fact that only freaks / blind girls would talk to him is a bit pessimistic from my point of view.
Alec's story is disappointing. It looks like suddenly the writers discovered that he had the potential to attract fangirls (which is so true), so they cooked him a sickening sad romantic background. Which could have worked, actually, as Jensen Ackles is just that pretty, had they not insisted on Max kicking his ass each time she had the opportunity to do so (don't worry Jen, we still love you). Moreover, the more Max kicks him the more Alec likes her. X5 turned into a masochistic kitten, take 2.

To conclude, great ideas (for a comic), gorgeous actors, not that great a series.

A Very Potter Musical / A Very Potter Sequel, by the Starkids

The Starkids are a bunch of crazy godamn good singers from the University of Michigan. "A Very Potter Musical", originally untitled "Harry Potter: The Musical", was born on April of 2009 as a two act parody, from this very grave wondering: "did Draco have a crush on Hermione in the Order of the Pheonix Book?". After its successful release on Youtube, "A Very Potter Sequel" followed on the 22nd of July 2010 (see more info. here, and here).

THE trans narrative? not my narrative, by Eli

This is a message about transgenderism from "eli. 22. demisexual. open to all identities and embodiments. poly. queer. subversive. human. fourth year psych & soc student. pro-women. pro-choice. pro-lgb/t/q/. sex & body-positive. political. radical. philosophical. ex-christian. sensitive. empathetic. egalitarian. writer. depression, usually triggered by college stress."

It is very interesting to read, and highlights the fact that little information often gives the people the wrong idea about things such as gender, as it happens with female-to-male transgender Chaz Bono being the main voice, "THE narrative" of transgenderism: not every trans lived that same experience, says Eli. 

It also shows us how NOT definite our gender is at birth, and how people try to understand it by blaming it on external causes. Gender isn't even defined by genitals, as turning into a male won't make Eli less of a "non-binary identified person". Eventually, Eli concludes that even if it wasn't always easy, being trans "has been fucking awesome", whereas being denied an identity, either physical (for instance sexual) or spiritual (religious for instance) was painful.

My own conclusion would thus be that if people can be made happy by being allowed a choice, making them sad by denying them said choice out of misunderstanding or fear is very... well, very human, in a non-rational, non-positive kind of way. It's "mammal" human, and I think an auto-proclaimed "superior" species should know better.

Quoted from xthread, from Woven Together

so i usually almost always just reblog stuff and save my personal thoughts and wrestling-with-the-self type stuff for more private mediums, but i’m thinking today i want to tumble.  i have been reblogging quite a bit recently that speaks directly to my current life situation, not just the things i agree with or the ideologies i hold, so i want to get into that. also, be gentle with me. part of the reason i don’t like blogging my own personal stuff on tumblr is because ya’ll aren’t that gentle, and i’m a tenderoni that needs to be handled with care. kay?

recently (as in, last week) i had a conversation with my mom about beginning hormone therapy (which should happen in august!).  i’m a (more or less) non-binary* identified person but have been going by he/him/his for over three years now and have been “male” in presentation this whole time. since this is such a huge shift from how i used to present and identify years prior (which was pretty feminine in the socially-legitimated sort of way), everyone in my life took notice. but that doesn’t mean that everyone opened dialogue with me surrounding it, though many did- just not my parents. so this conversation has been a long time coming.

in the back of my mind i always kind of recognized that testosterone would be the only thing with the ability to signal to my parents “hey i’m serious”, and that has really frustrated me. not taking t/ having surgery/ dressing in 100% “male” clothes/ etc are all legitimate ways for a cafab person to express a male gender and/or nonbinary gender. but i didn’t really believe it until last week when i brought up testosterone and my mom pretty much told me she didn’t want me to be a man, completely erasing 1) my inner gender identity, which i have taken time to explain in recent weeks, and 2) my way of living in the world the last three years.

and this is where i want to talk about how “the” trans narrative hurts me. 

i don’t want to make this about chaz bono, but he has to be mentioned because of a reason i am about to get to. chaz has received (i’m sorry) WAY too much media attention—simply for being the child of cher—when he is not the only trans voice, and *certainly* not MY trans* voice. he’s not only binary-identified, which i’m not, but he’s hugely sexist. his media attention is problematic for me because people are going to see him and think they understand the trans* experience (as if it’s singular) when they really have no clue (because the reality is that our lives are complex and diverse). and when i say “people” i really mean: my mom. well, at least in the context of this post.

in this dialogue with my mom around my transition there was a huge road bump: i am nothing like chaz bono. (thank god. not that there’s anything wrong with experiencing gender in that way, but, it’s just so not me.) her comments are hard to distinguish in that i can’t tell if she is more upset that i 1) wish to live in a male body now or 2) was content living in a female body previously.** or on a less-presentation-based note, that i 1) had a strong sense of femininity as a child or 2) still have a strong sense of femininity. because she believes THE narrative. and i don’t fit the narrative.

i don’t believe i was “born in the wrong body”. i didn’t hate “girly” things growing up. i am not a misogynist who detests all things associated with women or things deemed “femme” or “feminine” and in fact feel the opposite quite strongly. i didn’t “always know” i was male, nor do i identify as male now. i don’t believe there is one gender in my brain and another in my body, as chaz bono so ridiculously spouted. i believe that my mind and body are inseparable entities that interact with each other and the world as the world interacts with them; i believe that i am composed of many different genders and identities that i am only able or desiring to express at various different times. i am happy to have been raised as a girl and encouraged to be sincere, compassionate, creative and empathetic. but being raised as a girl, and enjoying femininity even today—none of that has to determine how i live now.

the thing i am coming to realize is that changing my body actually has little to do with my gender identity(ies) inside. it’s political for me, at least somewhat. i am exercising my freedom to decide for myself which shell my soul navigates the world through, and, essentially, whether this shell has facial hair or not (although it’s a little more complicated than that). i don’t see myself as “female bodied” and i am not transitioning “to” anything. i don’t identify as ftm. i was given this one body, this one body i use to interact with the world around me, and this body has a vagina. and because of that many other people interpret my body as a “female” body. but that doesn’t make my BODY female; at the very least, it makes my *genitals* female (and even then…). there is so much overlap between “the two sexes” (ew) as far as voice pitch, fat distribution, muscle mass, bone structure, height, shoe size, genitals, literally everything— to essentialize everything down to birth sex is like, really fucking trivial. and on a note more related to characteristics, it’s even more trivial. the amount of diversity within experienced and expressed characteristics is a human experience. last time i checked, men and women (binary on purpose) were both human, so they should be able to experience a vast array of emotions/ passions/ feelings/ attractions/ needisaymore.

it hurts me that THE NARRATIVE is so pervasive, not just because it hurts me in itself, but because it hurts me to know i am hurting others by not even remotely fitting it. i mean, they didn’t choose to internalize the blank-to-blank narrative; it’s just the only easily accessible narrative about trans* people. my mom is upset that i “misled” her into believing i was content within my femininity; that i “didn’t show signs” from an early age. in her world, the only *legitimate* way to be trans* (or gay or queer) is by an outside force (be it genetic or environmental) that pushed you into it. to be created this way (in an essentialist way, not in a way that suggests i’ve actively created myself this way). she has tried to pinpoint it to being raised with brothers. to sexual assault i experienced as a child. family members have tried to pinpoint it to my dad having had always wanted his first child to be a boy, and for treating me like one. for my mom’s pregnancy stress washing me in a testosterone bath. for so many things i had no control over.

it’s none of those things. or maybe it is. or maybe i don’t care. ha, i mean, i don’t care. i am queer by choice, friends. i wasn’t always, and there was a time i intensely hated myself for being nonnormative. but those times are in the past. i want to scream from graffitied urban buildings: I’VE NEVER BEEN HAPPIER. i’ve legitimately never been happier. i have broken so many boxes; i have shattered so much shame; i have triumphed over so much turmoil; i have pushed through so much pain. (okay WOW rhyming needs to end.) this is NOT to say that being trans* has been painful; i refuse to say my BODY has caused my pain. it hasn’t. being told i am broken was painful. being denied agency over my own sexuality was painful. being denied freedom of gender was painful. being denied freedom of religion was painful. being trans* has been fucking awesome.

and i don’t mean to say that it’s been all happiness and rainbows and unicorns—there have been times when it’s been fucking hard—but i’ve stepped into this place where i feel complete control over who i am and how i exist in the world, where outside forces are no longer playing tug-of-war with my soul… and i wouldn’t trade it for anything. i just wouldn’t.

————————————

*i’m still trying on the non-binary label. i identify mostly as a queer genderblended/ gendercolorful/ gendercreative / genderfierce trans* person. but for some reason it’s important to me to be read as male. 

** not to essentialize the male/female body differences. i don’t believe in them. i just can’t take too much time making every word perfect or i will never actually write anything, ever.

*** i still love my binary-identified trans brothers. i love those who identify as ftm, and those who identify as mtm. i love all of ya’ll. it’s just not me.

——————————————

these are some things i’ve read that have been meaningful to me lately:
- my trans* confession
- “genderqueer” adjective? noun? verb?
- toward the queerest insurrection
- for lovers and fighters
- chaz bono: almost a transgender role model
- i am not your tragic trans narrative
- i’m glad i’m faab
- the blank-2-blank model
- wrong bodies, wrong gestures
- the cost of exclusion and erasure

Loom, short movie

Orlando, 1992 movie by Sally Potter

Tilda Swinton portraying Orlando

The young aristocrat Orlando makes a promise to Queen Elizabeth the First on her death bed: in exchange for a castle and a land, he will not age neither fade... For 400 years he walks the earth, learning about death, love, poetry, politics, sex, birth... He even swiches genders at some point, learning then about the difficulties of living as a woman. 

To tell the truth, this movie puzzled me. It's quite conceptual I think, and I have not yet read the novel by Virginia Woolf it is based upon, so I might not have understood it all properly; but after seing this, I'll make sure to read it. It is quite fun, actually, and sad, too, but always in a subtle, kind of intemporal way, as if the story was passing by as a rivers do. To feel it, you have to let yourself get carried by the flow.

Epic moment

Shelmerdine arrives grandly, riding a magnificent black horse from the blurs of the fog to the open air; then his beautiful stalion magnificently rears, jerking Shelmerdine off the saddle to the ground, his mouth tightly embracing the mud, his hair a mess, right in from of Orlando, who was also streched over the grass.

SHELMERDINE : You're hurt ma'am?

ORLANDO: I am dead sir.

SHELMERDINE: Dead. That's... serious; can I help?

ORLANDO: Will you marry me?

SHELMERDINE: Ma'am I would glady but hum, but I fear my hankle is... twisted.

My absolute favourite part of the movie is Tilda Swinton. I already enjoyed her acting in the Constantine (...), but here, she's also breathtaking. Her habit of impersonating (splendidly) both men and women is admirable. And the deep of her changing black from clear-blue eyes has a certain way of always astonishing me.

Tilda Swinton as Gabriel in the Constantine

So that's what happened! G. Lucas Strikes back, short movie

And I who wondered what had happened to that marvelous script of the first Star War trilogy. I'm all relieved now -let's go kick some ass! (plus, two thumbs up for striper Leia. Yummy.)

More videos by Slick Gigolo here.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The play: "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" brought to you by Oscar Wilde (1895)

To preserve his intimacy when in town, Jack has himself pass for a so-called Earnest. He also tells his relatives whom reside in the country that he is visiting his fictitious brother he also nicknamed Earnest. However, when Gwendolen, the town woman he wishes to marry, insists on loving him because of his being named Earnest, things get a bit complicated; when his friend Algernon proposes to Jack's pupil as his pretense brother Earnest, events turn a tat tricky; when both fake Earnests meet in the countryward, having both proposed under this name to different women, who eventually meet, meeting also with Algernon's severe Aunt Agatha, a lightheaded baby stealer and a shy priest, it all becomes somewhat chaotic...

Though severe, Aunt Agatha is one of the wittiest characters of the play and her dark puns are delightful.

2002 Movie

This movie hightlights the play by adding to the fun of the original script through visual images such as a fierce riding knight when Cecily daydreams, turning the priest into an adorating paintor, giving us an interpretation of Aunt Agatha's... past, etc. The actors are great and the result, delightful.

 

Some Epic Quotes

AUNT AGATHA: To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

AUNT AGATHA: I must confess that I feel somewhat bewildered by what you have just told me. To be born, or at any rate bred in a handbag, whether it have handles or not, seems to me to display a contempt for the ordinary decencies of family life which reminds one of the worst excesses of the French revolution, and I presume you know what that unfortunate movement led to?

JACK: You have been christened already.

ALGERNON: Yes but I haven't been christened for years!

ALGERNON: The doctors found out that Bunbury could not live, that is what I mean - so Bunbury died.

LADY BRACKNELL: He seems to have had great confidence in the opinion of his physicians. I am glad, however, that he made up his mind at the last to some definite course of action, and acted under proper medical advice.

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest. Additional 37948, f. 109v. Copyright © The British Library

 > Read the play. 

Latte Art

Free Pouring By Scottie Callaghan in 2006

Latte art sprout all over the world thanks to the inventing of expresso machinery and microfoam (insertion of air in milk leading to milk texturing or "velvet foam"). It might have originated in Italy, and developped in Seattle in the 1980s, credits going to David Schomer at his shop Expresso Vivace. 

 Etching Latte Art by Sammy Lin

To create Latte Art, one needs to know how to deal with the conception of the coffee and of the foam, controling temperatures and speed ; some use free pouring to create the art, while others rather use a tool to carve into the foam.

 Fun Latte art depiction from the Uncyclopedia.

Pendulum Waves

Cats and the military

Supernatural series

Supernatural is a series about too brothers roaming the States to hunt supernatural creatures.

One of the many things I fancy about this show is how they portrait demons: nasty, as demons should be, but mostly non corporeal, which allows them to swich "meat suits" (bodies) all along the show... which is great as that forces actors to, you know, act. I love to see actors impersonnating various characters within a same story. That really shows how good they are, and helps us believe the story is real. (Actually, I think that at some point I looked outside and wondered why there was no big Apocalyptic cloud outside the window -and then I realised that North-americans shows almost never remember about other countries, which is why all the Apocalyptic stuff only happens in the USA).

Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki), aka the Winchester Boys.

First season: daddy, wait for us!!

Sam is about to take his law school exam, backed up by his girlfriend, when his long time no seen older brother Dean comes knocking to his door. Apparently, their dad went missing during a "hunting" mission, the issue being that he doesn't hunt rabbits for a living (not that not killing rabbits is actually an issue) but all kind of nasty monsters. Reluctantly, Sam agrees on helping out his brother this one time and they go chasing after a woman in white.

Daddy's not home. Not ever.

[WARNING: From there and on, there will be nothing but spoilers]

The mission is a success, and Sam goes back to his home, where he is to find that Jessica has been murdered by the same demon that killed his and Dean's mom when they where kids. From that moment, Sam decides to carry on with Dean and his father's desire of revenge against the demon that killed both his girlfriend and his mother.

Sam and Dean's mum's very original way of dying.

This first season is a tat redundant: Sam and Dean drive in Dean's Impala to the place their dad's diary seems to indicate. They find a gorgeous girl, Dean drinks beer and flirts, Sam does some research, they both do some impersonating of FBI agents (or whatever kind of person seems indicated at the time), they almost always end up being discovered but find out what kind of supernatural event they're up against and succeed in beating it ("Salt and burn, boys! SALT AND BURN!!").

Some of the Winchester fun.

They goal is to find their dad and kick the nasty yellow-eyed demon that killed mummy. Meeting with demons, pagan creatures and beast issued from old folklore on the way. It all seems to end quite well, them being able to beat a bit Sir Yellow-Eyed. That is, until a car crashes into theirs.

"Sam, be serious damnit. A car crashed into us"

Season 2: The pursuit of a yellow-eyed demon. 
Sam and his father John survive the accident, but Dean stays stuck in a fatal coma. In order to save him, John makes a deal with a crossroad demon and gives his soul in exchange for the life of his son. That being solved, the Winchester combo goes back to kicking asses, drinking beer, flirting, arguing, hunting things and, most importantly, trying to solve Yellow-Eyed one's mystery.

It seems like Sam was not the only 6 months old child whose mother Azazel burnt, It's actually an old habit of his to feed babies demon blood before burning they mummies to ashes. As the series goes on, the brothers discover that Azazel was doing so to create some kind of perfect warriors. He eventually collects them all and asks them to kill each other so that only one of them remains. As Sam is one of them, he has to fight for his life until Dean arrives -but too late. Moreover, a frigging door to Hell opens and frees lots of nasty things out there. Unable to accept his brother's death, Dean concludes a pact with a crossroad demon, who gives him one year of life on Earth before his soul is sucked down to hell.

Yellow-Eyed demon Azazel.

Season three: running away from the hellhounds. 
Sam learns what Dean did in order to save him and starts freacking about him going to Hell. To spice this up, a demon called Ruby decides to help them out for who knows what reason, which can't be good knowing how demons go on.

Some of Ruby's "meat suits".

But we'll get to that later. The important thing to learn there is that Ruby helps the boys out a couple of times and eventurally gives them a demon-killing knife (which comes handy when it comes to killing demons).

One of my favourite episodes from this season is number 11, "Mistery Spot", a very classic one about time leap, which means time being stuck until, supposely, you find the right thing to do to find your way out of it. I liked it both because it reflects how Sam hands Dean's going to Hell (not that well), is filled with dark humour and because, actually, there is no way out, which breaks a bit the cliché.

 

Despise Sam's bests efforts to save his brother's life, by tracking down Lilith, the demon who holds Dean's contract, for instance, Dean is eventually send to Hell by invisible Hellhound with no hopes of ever coming back.  

I really love Lilith. She plays a very naughty, naughty child.

Lilith's first meat suit.

Season Four: Let's kill Lilith. 

But, you know, Dean comes back all the same. He reappears suddenly in a field, unable to recall who dragged him out of Hell. He goes to Bobby, is received with the usual glass of Holy Water to the face and then goes to Sam. 

Little Sam has changed. His trying in vain to bring back his brother left him broke and angry -plus, you know, he kinda befriended the demon Ruby and started junking over demon's blood- which is not a good thing to do if you're afraid of detox.

They eventually find out that the one who brang Dean out from Hell is an angel, Castiel, and that Dean, by breaking in in Hell and starting to torture other souls, did break the first seals that leads to the beginning of the Apocalypse and the rising of Lucifer. 

Therefore their new mission becomes to avoid the breaking of other seals, knowing that only 66 out of a lot more suffice to release the imprisoned angel. 

The first apparition of Castiel, in a Jimmy meat suit.

A bit at a loss as to who they real allies are (angels being jerks and demons sometimes friendly but still, demons), the two brothers argue a lot, keeping bloody (demon-like bloody) secrets from each other and acting often out of hand. However, they eventually learn the truth about the seals, and about the not so friendly after all Ruby. Which means that, eventually, Lilith dies (yeaï!), but that's bad (Oooh?...) because she was the very last seal to be broken... and Sam realises too late his brother was right about not trusting sexy demons after all, for it was all a plan for him to break the seal and realease Lucifer...

And so Lucifer rises. 

Lilith, take 2 out of many.

This season is very dark, and the relationship of Sam and Dean becomes even more angsty than it was before, if possible. The trust they put in each other shatters, which is quite sad as that was the rock of their brotherhood. 

Season Five: Apocalypse NOOOOOO!...

So Lilith's dead, Lucifer rises, it's Hell on Earth and lots of bad, bad things happen. People dying, I suppose. A bit more than in other episodes. And the Winchesters learn that yes, things can actually get worse than them launching the actual Apocalypse (which is depicted by Archangel Gabriel  merely as one of Lucifer little's tamtrum, by the way) as they are from the lineage of Cain and Abel and have to accept to become Michaël and Lucifer's vessels in order for them to slaughter themselves. Yahooza!

Of course, Dean doesn't want his little bro to turn into the Devil (even if the  mafia-like white suit would suit him well) and he really doesn't want to let Mickaël in (which would actually be a little more logical than Sam accepting to become Lucifer's vessel in great hope he'll be strong enough to throw him back into the cage he was released from -wait, that's what they did).

Happily, Sam eventually takes over Lucifer, stops beating his poor big bro to a pulp and jumps back into Hell (along with Mickaël, who's probably as poor-minded as them at this point). 

Aaaaand... Dean goes to lives a happy apple-pie life as he promised his brother he would (plus, you know, for once, no demon would bring Sam back).

Lucifer wearing Sam to the prom.

I loved this season. The vain search for an absent God is such a modern thematic. The despair, the doubt, the madness of the angels left to themselves, the sadness of Gabriel and Lucifer having to fight each other, the horror of angels slaughtering one another, the rebellion of the pagan Gods, the struggling of Sam and Dean to egoistically preserve their freedom and themselves from being turned into puppets, it's all very moving. 

On the light side, Supernatural novels within the Supernatural story... that's feaking genious! I'm a big fan of parodies, and this series is filled with them. It even makes fun of fangirls. (See S05E09, "The Real Ghostbusters" which holds a Supernatural convention, for instance). I'm considering marrying this show.

Plus... Castiel. Is. Freaking. Oblivious. Of. Human. ... stuff.

Season six: what now?

Guess what? Ooof course. Sam comes back. He kinda forgot his soul back on the way but that's only an issue when he forgets to pay his brother a visit within the year or even to save said brother while he's being abducted by sorts of aliens... which is why Dean does his best to retrieve his soul and shove it back in... Apparently, "souls are important", and that's the new axis of the show, which isn't done with all the ressucitating yet, so we'll see how it goes!

S06E15 is EPIC. A Supernatural show within the Supernatural show? It almost got me killed of fangasm there. Story within the story. Jensen meets Dean, Sam meets Jared, Ruby's alive and by the way the name's not Ruby, and Misha dies... Wait, what, Misha?

I don't know how the series will keep up with the ambitions of the third and up seasons, but I sure damn wish it will.

Armless woman takes care of her child with her feet

Epic quote, Neil Gaiman

“My cousin Helen, who is in her 90s now, was in the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. She and a bunch of the girls in the ghetto had to do sewing each day. And if you were found with a book, it was an automatic death penalty. She had gotten hold of a copy of ‘Gone With the Wind’, and she would take three or four hours out of her sleeping time each night to read. And then, during the hour or so when they were sewing the next day, she would tell them all the story. These girls were risking certain death for a story. And when she told me that story herself, it actually made what I do feel more important. Because giving people stories is not a luxury. It’s actually one of the things that you live and die for.”

—

Neil Gaiman

That is scary... octopus girl 2

Trois petits points, court métrage

Over-analysing M. Freeman, from Bruiser series

 You may see the list of this series episodes here.

Iron, by Woodkid, clip

That's probably the most beautiful clip I've seen so far. But then again, medieval clothes + owls and "wolves" + battle for life + inspirated filming = definitively a favourite

Nature sounds generator.

Find it here.

De Fontaine recipes / recettes De Fontaine

I went yesterday to a cocktail party (gosh, does that sound posh) where a friend of mine cooked some tasty yet simple to do amuses bouche, which recipes are to follow.

Voici deux recettes d'amuses bouche préparées par une amie à moi et sa mère.

L'Artémis (I named it after her -well, that's not exactly her name, as I don't think she would like me to post such a thing on the wild wild net.)

Cut out little circles into cuff pastry. Fold them in two. Bake them. 

Stuff in with goat's cheese (frothy, white and fresh french kind of cheese) and a tat of thyme. It's reaaa-dy!

Découpez des cercles (ou toute autre forme marrante) dans de la pâte feuilleté, pliez les en deux et faites les cuire. Garnir de fromage de chèvre aromatisé de thym. C'est prêt !

It kinda looked like that -with cheese.

Le Léto (I call it that as it was invented by her mom. Yes, I do love greek literature).

Slice thin slices of ham into ham ribbon of approximately 1 or 2 cm. Spread Boursin on it (a frothy, fresh french cheese subtly spiced out with garlic and herb garden). Roll the ribbon and prick it with a thoothpick. It's done, and it's DELICIOUS.

Couper des tranches de jambons en lanières d'environ 1 ou 2 centimètres. Etaler dessus du Boursin (ou alors, montrez-vous créatif). Roulez les lanières sur elles-mêmes et maintenez-les ainsi à l'aide de cure-dents. C'est prêt, et c'est bon ! ^^ 

It absolutely looks like that!

The Aurora, by Terje Sorgjerd

FromTerje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

Le Blog de Florent [french pastry]

Voici l'adresse du blog de Florent, un gars que j'ai rencontré à l'école et dont le hobby est de préparer de superbes plats et desserts, tel que celui présenté ci-dessus.

En plus de photographies qui mettent l'eau à la bouche, le monsieur a le bon goût de donner la recette qu'il a suivie pour réaliser ses chefs-d'oeuvres...

Un artiste du genre !

Pink Floyd medley [both english and french]

There's this guy, who plays guitar, he loves music you see... And he told me about Pink Floyd. Well, actually, I'd heard of PF before, but never payed real attention to them (even though I kinda liked what I listened of them).

But Guitar guy sir told me in his own, very enthousiastic way to listen to PF, and as I believe in his keen music sixth sense, I decided to trust him for once ('cause, come on, this guy is not to be trusted).

Overall, I discovered a great band with a very peculiar style (they call it psychedelic or something). I wouldn't listen to them in the street (as cars would swallow it all and ruin all the crescendos and stuff), and I still rather listen to pop / rock music as I it when it rocks. Only...

...if you listen...

                     ...very attently...

                                              ...just once...

...those pieces are like little dark diamonds, chiselled works of art! 

Time
Take it to listen to that song.

Echoes
Have you ever heard cristal shining like water?

Brain Damage
The choirs... ah, the choirs... they feel like a tree suddendly rising from the void... I love choirs...

Shine on You Crazy Diamonds
At first, it seems so slow. And then his voice rises and the songs turns out to be, breathtakingly... beautiful.

*

Pour être franche, je n'ai pas tout adoré, mais dans l'ensemble, si. 

Je doit avouer que certains morceaux m'ont absolument impressionnée, parce que c'est la première fois que j'ai eu l'impression à la fois d'écouter un morceau de musique et de contempler une oeuvre d'art. 

Je suis particulièrement accros aux choeurs de Brain Damage (bon, évidemment, des choeurs... c'est me prendre par les sentiments, là...), à la voix du chanteur (ou des chanteurs, ça change souvent de profession ces petites choses là), aux échos d'Echoes (sans blague) et à Shine On You Crazy Diamonds (je n'aime pas admettre que les autres ont raison, mais là, tout de même, ce serait de la mauvaise fois... alors, il n'avait absolument pas tord, elle est magnifique, cette chanson !).

En résumé, même si je ne saurais pas dire quoi, Pink Floyd a quelque chose de vraiment intéressant et... un truc, en fait (j'avais bien dis que je ne saurais pas le décrire). Un truc qui donne une vraie profondeur à leur musique, et comme je n'arrive pas à mettre le doigt dessus, ça me frustre.

Doctor... Who? Comic Relief

Comic relief 2011

Torchwood series

"Torchwood"
is an anagramm of "Doctor Who"...

The Torchwood series is a "adult" spin-off of the science fiction show Doctor Who. It's compounded of three seasons and revolves around the character of Jack Hawkness, who appears first in the Dr Who series and gets turned into an immortal man by a very Bad Wolf.

Through the Torchwood series, get involved in a world where being bisexual, being gay, being an alien, being in love, being unfaithful, being vulnerable, being forced to make the right choice even if it's not a good one, being human, in a word, isn't a taboo.

Be prepared to laugh, and be prepared to cry. Because here's no Doctor to fix it all at the end.

Captain Jack.
Sexy, manly, perhaps a bit too old for you, bloodily (pan)sexual.

First season: Something is moving in the dark.

Through the character of Gwen, ones gets introduced to the alien chasing world of Torchwood. Meet Captain Jack, who's oh so sexy but oh so NOT a good guy. Meet Ianto, apparently the coffee boy who knows it all and has a very good reason to have joined the team (Let me say, as a spoiler, that Ianto gets tortured a lot by the scenarists). Meet Owen, a real doctor and a true cynist. Meet Toshiko Sato, a pretty hard working japanese girl who's too shy to tell the one she loves about her feelings.

The stories are short, mostly interesting and absolutely "adult". Sex and death, you're going to get that a lot. And real questions too. And surprising endings -don't believe all will always turn out well.

I didn't like the last episode of the season, though. It felt too rushed to me.

Ianto Jones.
Cute, responsible, coarse-voiced, the scenarist's second favourite subject of torture.

Second season: You let go of my hand...

Same characters, same old principle of appealing short stories. However, people in there die. A lot. And even more than twice (I'm not counting Jack in -he's immortal, he dies in almost all episodes).

They get caught in awful situations. You won't believe they can get out of it. EVER. But then, they find a way. Not always the way you wish they would find. But they do.

And then, people you liked dies for real, and you cry. Seriously, are the guys who wrote that sadists of what?

Thoshiko Sato.
Pretty, very smart, high sense of duty, lacks of self-confidence,
is easily targeted by very wrong partners.

Third and last season: What choice do you have?

Brilliant. Absolutely, bloodily brilliant.

This season is short, only five episodes, all revolving around one main story. The main story triggers interesting, breathtaking questions, such as: if the only way to save humanity was to sacrifice millions of human lives, would you do it? Should you do it? Who are you ready to sacrifice?
It also gives us an intelligent insight of political choices, and by intelligent, I mean that politicians are not shown as bad or good, just as people. People in charge, which is sometimes worse.

So, to sum it up... Brilliant. Absolutely, bloodily brilliant.

Those felt like real stories with real people, and sometimes it's so real you start believing it's actually happening, that there really is a Torchwood institute and that aliens are roaming around in the streets.
Brilliant. Bloodily. And kind of heartbreaking, too.

I wouldn't want to be Jack for the world. (Well, for the world, maybe, but...) Being an immortal creature is one thing. Being an human who's immortal, hurts.

Owen Harper.
Cold, very cold (in more than one way), violent, easily and often angered,
a broken man inside (which doesn't make him any less despicable).

And last but not least...
Gwen Cooper.
The "main" character, the one who introduces us to Torchwood. Strong, determined, pretty, a high tendency to loose her temper (reason why I don't really fancy her).

A must see series.