joelene

Skinner should not have a beard. At least not that beard. No. Nope. Shave it off immediately, Skinman!

I've never, ever given a second thought to "no problem" being an issue for some people, and I've never heard of anyone else having that problem, so it's interesting to hear. I work in a small grocery store (in Sweden). I do everything. Cashier, deli, fruits and veg, make orders, roam around in the dairy section listening to podcasts. When someone says thanks, sometimes I say (in Swedish, obv) "Thanks!" back, or "Thank you", "no problem" (this can be said in either Swedish or English), sometimes just smile (and a wink, because why not), sometimes with a "Have a good day" if I'm feeling especially generous. It's all off the cuff and I usually don't give my response a second thought. The bagging situations you've talked about is also interesting. The cashier bagging for the customer is inconceivable to me. That would make the que endless plus talk about exhausting the staff. That's something from the 50's, for me (or any Swede). Pet peeve: people throwing their groceries up on the [what is the English word, the conveyer belt?) in a big pile. I don't know if they think this will make the transaction go buy quicker but it really won't. It takes longer, you have to lift more, it's annoying as hell, you will not get much of a smile. People who place the barcodes in the right way so you can just slide them down on the other side gets a smile as big as the sun. This is not so much a pet peeve as it is amusing, but the grocery store is on an island (and where I grew up), and during the summer it's packed with tourists. There aren't a lot of Americans but sometimes you talk to a couple of US citizens who wants information and every single one of them essentially believes the island "shuts down" during autumn/winter. "People live here all year around?!". "Oh, yes, of course. 1300 people." "But what do you do during winter?!" "We put on more clothes." They ask about running water, how can the ferries cross the water during winter (not cold enough to freeze for a long period), etc. Perhaps some questions aren't without its merits (and to be fair, there are some city Swedes who ask the same thing, but I do think they're especially idiotic. The coasts in Sweden are packed with islands), but it's pretty funny to be asked these questions. Don't you have islands in America?

Preach. How hard is it to grasp the concept of feminism? It's one sentence. Equality for men and women. There are extremists within every group of people. I don't like or agree with every single feminist. Some feminists annoy the shit out of me. But believing that all feminists are radicals who want to purge the world of men (or whatever justification anti-feminists have) is like believing all gay men are dirty sodomites with aids or all black people are lazy criminals or all Middle Easterners are terrorists or that all Christians are good people. ETA: Just read a news item at The AV Club on that Marion Cotillard apparently also doesn't want to define herself as something so ugly as a feminist, although it's clear from the interview that she, in fact, is one. Then the article included this great quote from Aziz Ansari: "If you believe that men and women have equal rights, if someone asks if you’re feminist, you have to say yes because that is how words work. You can’t be like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m a doctor that primarily does diseases of the skin.’ Oh, so you’re a dermatologist? ‘Oh no, that’s way too aggressive of a word! No no not at all not at all.’

Good lord. Thanks!

I don't even remember her motive for trying to ruin these girls lives. I recall some bullshit "It was such a high!" reason, but what was it before that? Something about them not mourning Alison enough, or something? Can someone remind me?

I use that quote as well with some of my friends but in Swedish, which also gives it a juvenile double meaning. The Swedish word for log - stock - is also slang for penis. Anyway. So sad to hear about her passing. One of my favourite characters in the Lynchverse.

Olivia Colman (Tyrannosaur, Peep Show, Broadchurch) seems to finally getting some real attention. I've been thinking for years she should be a bigger star than she is. I hope it's happening.

I think that if a new series aired today that was like season 9 of The X-Files, standalone-wise, I'd be all over it. But with so much better X-Files that came before it's so hard to swallow this seasons stand-alone episodes. On the mythology eps I'll just stay quiet.

I didn't love it but enjoyed it a lot. I don't know why I thought it would be a bit more serious in it's slasher parts (after all I had seen the trailer) but this is straight camp comedy, which is totally fine. I liked most characters except, unfortunately, Emma Roberts (so tired of her) and Abigail Breslins Chanel #5 (or was is #3? Whatever). Breslin was terribly unfunny. I hope she goes soon. And lastly Grace, the heroine. Just dull. All the other pledges I liked. The douche boyfriend was actually one of my favourite characters and I usually hate to watch that type. Making him so over the top (but then they all were) was a good move. Niecy Nash reminded me of Loretta Devine's amazing campus police character from Urban Legend, and I loved Niecy's character as well. Looking forward to more, although I have no doubt it will all spiral into nigh unwatchable by the end.

I had this conversation with a friend with benefits around the time I met him. I told him that I hate when people write things like "No Asians/blacks/fattys" etc on Grindr, he responded with the usual "Why? It's just a preference. I'm not into Asians so why can't I say that?" (Thankfully he hadn't explicitly said this on his profile or else I would never had met up with him) and I told him that it's just racism masquerading as preference, and that even if he didn't agree with that, he could at least agree with that it's being an asshole. Look beyond yourself and imagine coming from one of these groups that are being dismissed so casually all the time and how incredibly disheartening and hurtful that has to be. If you "don't like Asians" then just say "no thanks" or whatever if someone writes to you. He could at least agree with this. Jump ahead one year later and he's regularly seeing an Asian guy for sex. I reminded him of that conversation and he kind of sheepishly went, "Yeah, yeah..." Preferences - sexual or for people/appearences - change all the time. I know mine does. Daily, sometimes.

I LOVE this show. It had its ups and downs but I'm glad it ended on a high note. Season 5 was great. The best after the first season (which is hard to beat). I also really loved season 3 which seems somewhat unpopular.

If you want to watch something weird, hilarious, sometimes unnerving and unlike anything you've seen before (probably) you should watch Psychoville. The plot is a bit difficult to explain, but it involves a cast of seemingly unrelated people (including an angry clown, a nurse with an unhealthy relationship to a plastic baby, a little person, someone who is incredibly backwards and a wealthy blind man) receiving a note saying "I KNOW WHAT YOU DID". From there a truly demented story unfolds and it's absolutely hilarious and so, so weird. The humour is very British. It's described as a horror comedy, but it's more unnerving in places, and the humour is more prominent (although it is very dark and "off"), it's not scary or gory or anything. It's two seasons, 13 halfhour episodes all in all and there is an ending. I've seen it three times. Still funny.

Drive is only on that list because of Cranston/Breaking Bad. It's an alright episode, but come on. I think All Souls and Mind's Eye are pretty underrated. I think they're great. 2Shy as well. And Sanguinarium, which I find endlessly rewatchable. I little harder to defend than the others, I'll admit. Rewatchable and underrated doesn't have to mean the same thing, but I do think it's a little bit underrated. Or maybe I just like it because it's so gross. I used to think Young at Heart was very underrated but I've fallen less and less in love with it over the years. Still think it's a decent episode, though.

Alison, Toby and Ezra on Pretty Little Liars.

Of course it can be self-destructive and incredibly so. But the posts and comments about Paul that annoyed (the shit out of) me weren't speaking about these issues. Like I said in my original post (or meant, if it didn't come across), what annoyed me were all the incredibly flippant and dismissive comments about being closeted in general, which, as Irlandesa said, is speaking from ignorance and/or privilege (from both straights and gays). Yes but I'm talking about seeing things from the character's point of view. This is someone who is deeply self-loathing about being gay. It's about his fear. Someone who lives in the closet and is not on the verge of opening is more likely thinking about all the bad things that could happen (being fired, rejected, made fun of, things that might not even be likely to happen, but the fear is there and shouldn't be dismissed, because it could very well happen) or he/she is trying their damned hardest to suppress their true selves because they've been taught that gay=bad. It's not about what would realistically happen to a bigoted boss in a public office. What annoyed me was that so many people seemed incapable of seeing things from a closeted persons POV. Again, to me, speaks of ignorance and privilege. I don't think so either. I was talking about LGBT people taking offence too quickly in many cases when a "stereotype" is introduced.

I do. The people questioning it are obviously either not LGBT themselves, or they are dismissive about the big portion of gay people who struggle, be it internally and/or with family about their sexuality (living in the big city or not the big city). The person/character in question don't care about "public perception", or they care too much. And, um, people are being fired left and right for being gay. I don't know how prominent it is in LA in particular but it's not like that city is devoid of homophobes and gay bashers. Sweden is supposed to be one of the most gay friendly countries in the world and yet there have been multiple accounts of qualified gay people being dismissed over straight guys who barely passed high school. Which was my point. They shouldn't be seen as offensive, not at first glance. Of course a character like this can be offensive, but it can also be a great character if done right. It shouldn't be shied away from. Which is just cowardice. But then Hollywood execs seem to be cowards in general.

possibilities put it more eloquently than I would have and I agree with the whole post. I think tropes in general are brought up too casually to dismiss characters nowadays. It's all about context and development. i.e if a "camp" or "flamboyant" gay male character is introduced I feel like people like to complain about them because "that's not who we are and what is this, the 90s?" as if feminine gay men doesn't exist in the real world, all wonderful, and shouldn't still be portrayed on television anymore. And the complaints about Taylor Kitsches closeted character in True Detective annoyed the shit out of me ("Why is he closeted? He lives in LA!" Good grief). With Tyrell, "the scheming bisexual" didn't even occur to me. I just read him as a schemer who would hardly let something so pedestrian as sexual labels get between him and his goals, so I haven't put a label on him.

Agreed. Season 5 was great.

No, she's my favorite as well!

I liked Kevin (well, as much as I liked any of those family members before they all got mostly annoying) and he certainly had a lot of love interests. I don't remember anything about the portrayal that bothered me. I think I was mostly happy and invested with the character. And this coming from gay eyeballs.

I had to think for a long before I could even remember an American shows I was excited about this fall. Scream Queens was the only one I could think of, and I know that won't be good through it's entire run (because Ryan Murphy). Then I guess I look forward to The Good Wife, American Horror Story and The Walking Dead (mostly about Carol) even if they're all well past their prime. Oh, Transparent! That one I'm excited about. As for non US shows: Please Like Me, Broen, The Returned and Catastrophe.

I only made it about seven episodes into Empire, but I love that it exists because I miss the campy soaps of the 80s and 90s that weren't teen oriented. I need more Central Park Westses and Model's Inc.ses and Savannahs on my teve. They didn't have to die with Aaron Spelling!

Tosh hit me harder than Ianto. Maybe because she was a sadder character. How Ianto's death happened also had a WTF SO UNNECESSARY feeling hanging over it for me. Cal and Chloe from Harper's Island. That one hit harder than it probably should have considering that show, but it had me bawling my eyes out.

I don't roll my eyes over Paul's sexuality storyline on True Detective, thinking it's cliche. I kind of find the "Oh, the obligatory gay person", "Like we haven't seen this story a hundred times before", "There has got to be more to his angst and shame" and "Please, it's 2015, not 1975!" posts a bit annoying. Sure, the repressed gay guy is far from original and it's far from the first time it's been portrayed in a cop drama but that's no reason to never portray it again seeing how true to life is (yes, even in 2015!) I also think it's an important story considering how flippant the average person is about gay people's struggles nowadays. Now that marriage equality has finally happened in America (like, two weeks ago, not ten years ago!) it's not like we're suddenly valued the same by everyone. Getting emotionally and physically abused is still a very real and near threat, not to mention coming out five times a week can be exhausting (because coming it isn't something that happens just once). If Paul's repressed sexuality is "the only thing" driving his angst, that doesn't mean it's a little thing that he should just get over "in this day and age" because "no one would really care." It's obviously also possible that there is more to his angst, (incest, rape, whatever is on HBO's checklist) but I kind of hope that there isn't more to it, just for the sake of showing that the "tired, cliche, gay macho closet cop" is still a real thing. From my experience of television watching it's also not a very common gay character these days. Most of them seem to be out nowadays (which is of course great). However, having said that, on the other hand I get that throwing his story onto the numb storytelling garbage pile of cliches that is True Detective is an easy thing to do and that if stories about closeted gay folk just isn't something you find terribly interesting (especially in a murder mystery cop drama thriller thing) then that's obviously fine and doesn't make you an asshole.

So if Melissa knows about Wren and brought him over to London to help him/save him from himself, I wonder where the hell she has been all this time Wren has been back in Rosewood kidnapping and terrorising the girls? Did he lock her up? Does the spoilers say?