Raq,

all the people I know who have had cartilage piercings echo Amy's perspective. Seeing as how I just got my earlobes done and that was a pain in the ass, I'm not interested in more piercing.

as far as the goth pippi longstocking, I can kind of see it (Pippi was pretty mischevious, and quite self-reliant, and very STRONG), but I don't think that analogy is particularly helpful. Lisbeth (in the book) is actually dysfunctional. You know this from reading the books: She does not form healthy relationships with others ever - there is good reason for that, but still. She takes care of herself to be sure, but she also puts herself in danger when she shouldn't/should know better. She also has a serious violent streak.

The director said that Lisbeth Salander is the goth Pippi Longstocking.

That's actually Stieg Larsson's conception her. He was quoted many times that he wanted to create an updated, adult Pippi.

Oh, my goodness, this is adorable--the Harry Potter characters in the manner of a Disney cartoon: [link]

I think my favorites there are Tonks and Gilderoy Lockhart.

I think my favorites there are Tonks and Gilderoy Lockhart.

I wish Ginny had half the spunk that drawing has.

I wish Ginny had half the spunk that drawing has.

Yeah, she actually looks a little evil there.

That's actually Stieg Larsson's conception her. He was quoted many times that he wanted to create an updated, adult Pippi.

Interesting. It's a really really dark interpretation then.

So I was flipping thru an issue of W magazine featuring The girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (American film version). The director said that Lisbeth Salander is the goth Pippi Longstocking. Given that I haven't seen the movie, and have only read the books, and have also never read Pippi Longstocking, I'm still intrigued by this idea.

Well, that goes along with the whole Kalle Blomkvist thing.

re: the cartoons--Harry looks like the BBC Sherlock Holmes. And I love Lockhart.

A properly executed cartilage piercing should hurt less than a nipple piercing. I've had two, and one was easy peasy. Smash the cartilage and it is a bitch. The density of nerves at the nipple, however, set you up for a world of hurt. I certainly learnt a lot about the interaction between pleasure and pain.

I had my ear cartilage pierced in high school and I don't remember it hurting at all.

So the NYT has a review of that Ogi Ogas book that makes it sound even worse than I had imagined.

Ogas and Gaddam argue that romance novels and their Internet-era counterpart, “fan fiction,” dramatize the workings of female desire. Such stories feature the strong, rich, handsome, competent, socially dominant alpha men whom women need to care for their offspring, and to whom they yearn to submit. How exactly a neural structure residing in the conscious parts of the brain can be innate to a single sex is never answered. Later, the authors write that every male has a set of “female software,” and vice versa; they concede that “male fans of sexual submission porn are accessing the female submissive circuitry their brain shares with women,” which raises the question of what makes the software female if both sexes possess it.

It's not a positive review, but I really wish he'd just ripped the book to shreds instead of treating it as a mild curiosity. Sigh.