Everybody's Hummin'

In FFX-2, there is a giant world-destroying weapon. Its name? Vengagun. Actually Vegnagun, but what do the positions of an n and a g matter when humor is concerned?

Lucky Catastrophe

On Monday, it rained and my roof leaked. No ruined yearbooks this time - instead, a ruined lease: I was going to re-lease this apartment next year. But since this exact spot on the roof leaked before, and they told me they had fixed it way back then, I don't think I really trust them to do anything properly anymore. Finding out, two days before I was going to sign the new lease, that they lied about this is actually somewhat fortuitous, though. I could've been stuck with the place for another year. Instead, I've been reading classified ads all week, and I'll probably start seriously looking around after the holidays.

Last night, L. and I went out for chocolate. The two-story chocolate bar is an expensive but wonderful place. Then we walked around outside, saw a dude playing saxophone on the steps of the agriculture building (go figure), and visited the mini-gallery in the Union. It was the winners and runners-up of a photography contest, many of which were actually interesting. Some were just gimmicky, though. One was a longish exposure of a car driving at night: my thought is, if had to look semi-abstract and technical, I wish it had used a technique that took me longer to figure out.
I think the judges of this contest had a thing for pictures like that, though - another one was of a street-drawing guy drawing a woman (in sharp focus) while cars streaked by in the background. Same technique, but a bit more interesting. Still, I think it's overused.

Edit: I forgot to note that the haircut I got yesterday afternoon is still rockin' today. I am having a sexy hair day, I tell you what.

Weekend Gods

I read American Gods this weekend, and it struck me that for all his acclaim, Neil Gaiman isn't that good a writer. He makes up great stories, but reading that book was like reading Harry Potter. The style just rubs me the wrong way. He'll remind you that, earlier in the book, he foreshadowed what is about to happen. Or he'll say, "Shadow smelled something" and then go on to describe what the smell was, rather than just dispensing with the dilly-dallying and starting with the smell. The words 'something' and 'someone' are very common. One gets the feeling that the reader is someone Neil has to be very patient with.

But the story, in which a guy who (spoiler) is the bastard son of Odin falls in with a bunch of old gods in a fight against modern god-replacements (Media, Technology Boy, etc.) for the hearts and minds of America, is neat. I see now why the Sandman stuff I've recently started reading is so much better than this - he didn't have to flesh it out, just write the story.

Also, the Ted Leo and the Pharmacists show I saw this weekend was great, but I can't figure out why people danced at his disastrous previous show and not at this one. I felt a little exposed, wiggling while the rest of the room stood still.

Hardcore Cider

I went out for beers with some people in my research group today after work. It was weird that such dorky people still went out for beers after work. I have always attributed that kind of thing to less ivory-towery types.

Is there such a thing as Seasonally Surprised Disorder? I'm not sad that it's dark so often, but it's definitely unnerving when it's getting dark at 3:30.

Hi honey, I'm home

I wonder: how common is it for men in couples to become house-husbands? Does it vary with income/education level? I think it might have a spike in the upper middle class, and then drop again as people get richer and more conservative.

I don't think I would like being a housewife - I might like it a little bit, but I can think of many things that I would rather do. Also, getting a PhD and then staying home with the kids doesn't seem efficient. But at the same time, I imagine I'd like a house-husband: if I ever have kids, somebody's got to stay home with them. And wouldn't it be nice to get home and there'd be a dude who's already warm when it's cold out? But if I don't want to be a housewife (and for good reason), what dude would want to be a house-husband?

Boys Against Girls

P.'s comment about my X-2 post illustrates one of the oft-cited man/woman differences. I think this difference is better attributed to a science/humanities split, or a thinking/feeling split, or even a hard science/soft science split. Or a sane person/overachiever split. Or fighty/conciliatory. In any case, the generalization is that women like to talk about how they feel, how they should feel, and how they'd like to feel, while men like to talk about what to do.

It's strange that P. is actually one of the least macho-masculine guys I know, but he's got the most male communication style. In fact, I don't think I've really ever noticed any other instance of this phenomenon. I wonder how womanly I am in conversation.

In any case, I will probably buy X-2 when it becomes available. In the meantime, I want to talk about how I feel about X-2. I feel excited.

No Boys Allowed

Women and men are different. For politeness's sake, I like to attribute that to different social expectations of the two genders, but arguing and defending that position is beyond the scope of this blog. Recently, the legitimacy of women-centered and women-only spaces has been on my mind, as have the differences between the two and whether the first must imply the second. Specifically:

-Should spaces that acknowledge and attempt to counteract the androcentrism of the rest of the world exist?

-Do men need to be excluded from such spaces in order for them to function?

-Why do women feel the need to defend themselves from men specifically, rather than from nasty people in general? Are men disproportionately nasty?

Fantasy is Right

Final Fantasy X-2 is coming out early, but I already told my mom I want it for Christmas. How can I wait for it?