Lorne: You know what they say about people who need people. Connor: They're the luckiest people in the world. Lorne: You been sneaking peeks at my Streisand collection again, Kiddo? Connor: Just kinda popped out.

'Time Bomb'


Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.

There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."


juliana - Mar 19, 2008 12:18:58 pm PDT #5386 of 28344
I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I miss them all tonight…

Voulez-vous coucher avec moi ce soir?


megan walker - Mar 19, 2008 12:19:12 pm PDT #5387 of 28344
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

What does 'menu' actually mean???

Menu is a classic faux ami/false friend.

A list of appetizers, main dishes, drinks, desserts, etc. is a "carte" in French. So, if you are ordering "à la carte", it means you are ordering individual things off one big list.

A "menu" is what Americans call a prix fixe meal, i.e., an appetizer + main course + dessert, all for one set price, where you can sometimes choose from among 2-3 things for each course.

So if you ask for the "menu" in a French restaurant, you will get the special meal; not a list of individual items to be ordered willy nilly.

Seekrit message to juliana: Absolument pas!


lisah - Mar 19, 2008 12:31:43 pm PDT #5388 of 28344
Punishingly Intricate

So if you ask for the "menu" in a French restaurant, you will get the special meal; not a list of individual items to be ordered willy nilly.

Good to know!

(I feel like I did know this at some point..)


Nutty - Mar 19, 2008 2:13:56 pm PDT #5389 of 28344
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

I just read Ballard's follow-up memoir The Kindness of Women and it's fantastic.

Eh. It's been a decade since I read it, but my overall conclusion was, it's a lot less fantastic if you're one of the women in question. About the most interesting part of it, for me, was mapping the little fibs it's speckled with: for a memoir, it's remarkably untruthful on some of the details.

(Then again, that was part of the weird/creepy appeal of Empire of the Sun as well. Mrs. Vincent is a lot ickier when you realize that she's loosely based on his own mother.)


Vonnie K - Mar 19, 2008 3:53:05 pm PDT #5390 of 28344
Kiss me, my girl, before I'm sick.

Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne

I love that movie, but I think most of that has to do with my gigantic crush on María Casares. I tried watching another Bresson film afterward... err, I think it was the one about Joan of Arc... and didn't even make it half way through.


Polter-Cow - Mar 19, 2008 4:13:31 pm PDT #5391 of 28344
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!

We Tell Stories.

Mashing up classics-inspired-stories with...GoogleMaps. It's interesting.


amych - Mar 19, 2008 4:22:00 pm PDT #5392 of 28344
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?

We Tell Stories.

I've worked on a bunch of similar projects with Google Earth and various literature or culture classes. On the plus side, Google Earth is way more fun than Google Maps. On the minus side, I don't get Penguin-Putnam's money.


Hayden - Mar 19, 2008 6:22:08 pm PDT #5393 of 28344
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."

When people speak French, this is what I think of.


DavidS - Mar 19, 2008 8:05:32 pm PDT #5394 of 28344
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."

it's a lot less fantastic if you're one of the women in question. About the most interesting part of it, for me, was mapping the little fibs it's speckled with: for a memoir, it's remarkably untruthful on some of the details.

That's a pretty backhanded dismissal. If you're calling him sexist you ought to take the time to make the case. Also, it's listed as a novel.

In any event, it's very well written so I'm not sure what standard you're holding him to.


Nutty - Mar 20, 2008 5:51:26 am PDT #5395 of 28344
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Basic feminist standard. In its -- okay -- memoiristic novel format, it doesn't have a chance to pass the Dykes to Watch Out For test, but, much of the point of it seems to be that women are merciful sex objects (or else they die, and that might be kind of a sex object too). Which, that's really tiresome, especially when you're the sex object.

I'm sure we could chalk a fair proportion of it up to his being a product of his time, but it still really tiresome.