smrou

Yeah, that's probably a better way of putting what I was thinking. It wouldn't be a betrayal of trust, which is what I consider the hallmark of cheating, but I still wouldn't like it.

It's the little white patch next to her nose that got her the name Smudge.

Yeah totally, but I think within that there's still fairly broad range. Like, on one end of a spectrum you've got things like RealDolls, which are designed to look and feel human-ish, but they're clearly not even remotely sentient and whatever they look like they don't act anything like a person. They're just an object (though having said that, I think I would take issue with my partner using a RealDoll for masturbation and might consider it something kinda-sorta-almost akin to cheating). At the other end you've got something like a Cylon, which may have initially have been created by man (sort of, since it evolved from something created by man) but is clearly sentient and, as far as I'm concerned anyway, entirely a person even if not human. The synths in Humans (most of them, that is--not the ones programmed to feel, which complicates issues) are somewhere in between, but I think closer to the Cylon end than the Real Doll end. Yeah, exactly. Incidentally, the podcast I mentioned before also did an episode when they talked about sexbots/sex dolls/etc (I think they focused on RealDolls rather than speculating about artificially intelligent sexbots). And another podcast I listen to (Huffpost Love and Sex) also had an episode in which they discussed the prospect of sex with robots. Apparently this is a subject I have many thoughts about!

I think so, yes, but I'm not sure where I personally draw the dividing line.

Hey, if you're putting out the call for new pictures I am more than happy to oblige. I have a lot of pictures of my cat. This is Smudge when she was still a little kitten: Sleeping next to me: Wondering why I'm paying attention to the computer instead of her:

Yeah, that's part of what's so interesting about the show since it deals primarily with the relationships (of various types) between synths and humans, so it's kind of all about the humanness or lack thereof of synths. So sex with a synth is a pretty ambiguous thing, which is complicated and kind of hard to wrap my head around. But it's because the synth is very human-ish that it's even an interesting moral question. If you think even masturbating is cheating that removes a significant chunk of the dilemma because it kind of doesn't matter whether the synth is an object or a living thing. From that perspective, it's cheating either way. (There's still the question of consent, if you consider the synth to be a living thing rather than an object--that's something that was prominent in another scene in the same episode--but that's a separate issue from the fidelity question.)

Oh, this was discussed on a podcast I listen to not that long ago. Actually...wait, no, it might not have been whether people consider masturbating cheating but just whether they do it at all when in a committed sexual relationship and if they do whether it's a bad sign for the relationship. The hosts of the podcast were all like "I mean, duh, of course I masturbate when I'm in a relationship," but I just remember part of the conversation involved the fact that some people don't do it or consider it bad or whatever. [ETA: I looked back and it was actually the first episode of the NYMag Sex Lives Podcast.] I'm with you, though. The idea that masturbation could be considered cheating is bizarre to me. If a person is masturbating all the time and not having any sex with their partner then that's an issue, but it's a different issue from cheating. I take it this came up somehow in the context of sex with the synths? BTW, I finally started watching Humans. I watched the first four episodes a couple of days ago and I totally dig it.

Ugh, won't this stupid Callie/Brandon nonsense ever just finally be over? I just have no patience for it. I really thought it was behind us now, but no, now next week's going to rehash the whole thing presumably. Lord, I hope so. Yeah, I feel like I should have been on his side of the conflict in this one--and I mean, I was in that I do think the other guy was a total snake to copy his idea--but I just can't bring myself to actually care about him. So he got screwed over once again at his music camp thing. Whatever. Let's move on to any other character, please. Anyway, apart from the Brandon business during the episode and the bit that popped up again at the very end, I liked this for the most part. I thought the religion storyline was interesting and once again I found myself really liking Mariana. She stood up for herself and she knows her own mind enough to realize in the end that she couldn't go through with baptism. I also liked AJ's brother and think it makes a certain amount of sense that he doesn't trust that people really are trying to help AJ and want to have him around. I'm wondering if we're going to see more therapy with Stef and Lena. I assumed it would be an ongoing thing but when Lena had her breakdown at the end she said something like, "I know I should have brought this up in therapy but..." which made it sound like something in the past. But maybe she just meant she should have brought it up already and they're still going.

I have the same issue, joanne, particularly with regard to Callie's storyline. Sure, the situation isn't identical to the one with Brandon, but it's just so familiar. And given that there's relationship drama (though certainly not in a will-they-won't-they sense) between Stef and Lena, new relationship stories to address with Jude and Conner, and Mariana's somewhat complicated romantic entanglements, I don't understand why it seems so important to once again make romance the center of Callie's storyline. There are interesting plots other than romance.

Yes! This totally bugs the crap out of me, too.

Me neither, and I wish I read more because there's so much that sounds really interesting, but I just find that when I read non-fiction I often end up losing interest. Not losing interest in the subject, generally, but I guess just in the process of reading it. I end up stalling partway into a non-fiction book and then switching over and reading some fiction instead. My mom listens to a lot of non-fiction, but I've tried that and it doesn't seem to go any better.

It can be difficult to feel a lot of sympathy for Callie when she just continues to make such godawful choices. No, Callie, making out with yet another foster brother is not the way to take care of yourself. Absolutely. Callie's part of a fairly big family. Another car would just be useful. She was already planning to share a car with Mariana so surely she'd have no problem sharing the brand new car. She'd been hesitant about buying a car with Mariana in the first place because Stef and Lena weren't on board. The new car would be a lot less likely to have problems that will just take more money to fix. Robert said he'd take care of the insurance. I mean...where exactly was the downside of accepting the car? She had this arrangement with Mariana that she didn't want to break, but I'm sure if Mariana had been there she'd have been like, "Um...no, we'll take this brand new shiny car, thankyouverymuch!"

I'm with you on GSAW, possibilities. I will be avoiding it, at least initially, for fear of tarnishing my view of Atticus. I mean sure, he's a fictional character, but...he's just such a good one. We read TKAM for school in 8th grade. All through middle school I was one of the kids who basically never read the books that were assigned, but with that one, when we were given the first reading assignment--probably only a few chapters--I just read the whole book. And then I reread it twice while we were studying it. I do think it's probably a book that's easiest to connect with as a young person, but for people who haven't read it or seen the movie, I'd at least recommend watching the movie. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch is just fantastic.

I loved that credit sequence crackpot theory so much, even though I think of the whole bunch it was by far the crackpotiest theory, because it was so affectionate and almost poetic about the TV viewing experience. I wish I could embrace credit sequences so warmly. And when it's a good one and really matches the mood of the show I totally agree; one example that comes to mind is Buffy because that song totally pumps me up for the show in just the right way and I would never ever skip it. But often that's just not the case. I actually don't mind the lengthy OITNB credits even when binge-watching, but I also recently watched Sense8 on Netflix and that credits sequence was equally long (longer, maybe?) and boring as hell and you better bet I skipped it every time. Also, I think it took about four episodes of watching Friends back in the day before I was sick to death of freaking "I'll Be There For You" and was thankful that I was never home when the show aired and therefore was watching on VHS and could fast-forward right through that dreck. Also, the crackpot theory about weirdo asshole "genius" characters was awesome and hilarious.

Or just continue to not have a boyfriend. It's just so unnecessary.

Sure, it used to be the case that a passport wasn't required for either the US/Canada or US/Mexico borders and it was fairly recently that that changed, but by "fairly recently" I mean something like ten years ago, which is not recent from the perspective of either Brandon or Callie. So they really should have known.

I am interested in both of those but haven't actually watched a second of either yet.

Oh man, that Callie/Brandon storyline was just ridiculous and pointless beginning to end. The goal was to have Brandon accept his own role in what happens in his life and for Callie to...have more stories? There's Callie, little miss followed-around-by-trouble, and she's all, "Hey, I've got a free day. Guess I'll cross the border into Mexico and go hang gliding with some company I don't know anything about run by people I can barely communicate with. No chance this could land me in any trouble!" Whatever. Just silly and stupid. I'm pretty interested in the Lena/Stef storyline. I just adore them as a couple and if anything threatens their relationship in a genuine way then I will be one seriously pissed off viewer (or...no longer a viewer), but it's definitely true that poor communication, and particularly one of them making decisions without the other, has been an ongoing issue. I'm really not on board with Callie getting involved with a foster brother yet again--like it wasn't cringeworthy enough the first time, she ought to know better now, and even if he's living with Mike...I mean, that's still kind of family at least to the extent that it could cause serious drama. On the other hand, AJ is at least a lot more interesting and appealing than Brandon ever was.

You can see how many views a thread has had. It's right next to the thread title and number of replies.

I have yet to get tired of Lizzie Caplan's boobs, but I'm with you on the peen, LL. And oh yeah, you've just reminded me that season 3 of Masters of Sex starts soon, which I'm excited about.

Ooh, I haven't started watching that yet, but I've DVRed it. Is it good? I love the book. I've read it twice, and for a slow-ass reader like me that's kind of a big deal considering the length of the book (I rarely reread books. I mean, other than Harry Potter.) As for shows I've watched recently or am watching now: Sense8--This is a Netflix show that I really thoroughly enjoyed. It's a sci-fi show that's a little hard to explain succinctly, but it centers around a group of eight people from all over the world who are part of a "cluster" of sensates, meaning they're linked in a way that they can sort of psychically...associate? (blanking on a good word here--it's more than just communicating). It took me a few episodes to really get into, but then once I did I just found it a really fun viewing experience. My one gripe would be that there were a couple of episodes that I found excessively violent, which is something I just don't love. Happy Valley--This is a show from last year, but I just watched it last week. It's a British show that's primarily about a kidnapping, but it deals a lot with the life of one particular police woman and her history, and also with how drugs affects the town. To this point there is only one season and six episodes, so it wasn't a big undertaking and I found it very engrossing. It's fairly dark and depressing, though, so not exactly fun. It's on Netflix. Wentworth--This is not new viewing for me, but it's on my mind because it recently finished its third season and I just dig it a lot and I think most people haven't seen it. It's an Australian show about a women's prison. It begins when one woman, Bea, enters the prison after attempting to murder her husband, but then throughout the three seasons it deals with interactions and politics within the prison between prisoners, guards, etc. The natural comparison to make with shows people here already watch is OITNB, but Wentworth isn't billed as a comedy, so in general it's a much more straightforward drama. Really more of a (good) soap opera set in prison. The first two seasons are on Netflix. Oh, and on the recommendation of Tara Ariana on a recent episode of Extra Hot Great I am also watching The Crimson Field, which is a British mini-series currently airing on PBS about nurses at a field hospital in the first world war. I don't really have an opinion about it yet (after two episodes), but it's a female-centric period series so I'm on board.

The theme song from Terriers is what I use for my morning alarms.

Nitpick: "What Kind of Day Has It Been" was the title of the first season finale of The West Wing (also the first season finale of Sports Night), not the series finale. Seriously. That was some good shit. I love it when you guys hate on stuff! (See also: that Rocko's Modern Life canon submission.)

Those recommended videos on youtube are totally dangerous. I can't remember exactly what it was, but there was definitely a time when I showed a youtube video in class and one of the recommended ones that popped up afterward was inappropriate. Though not giraffe sex inappropriate. But that's not nearly as bad as the time one of the other teachers in my department projected a straight-up porn site on the screen. She already had the projector on and typed in the url for a site she wanted to show (it was something about the human body if I remember correctly), but by either adding or leaving out a "the" she ended up at a porn site*. And that's not the sort of thing that is going to escape the attention of a bunch of fifteen-year-olds. *A site which should have been blocked on the network, clearly. I'm forever clicking links and getting a message that the site has been blocked for the reason of "pornography", even though the link had nothing to do with porn. But apparently actual porn sites? No problem. There was another time when a different coworker of mine went to talk to the tech person at the school to ask how to block porn sites on her home computer and he started out by saying that of course porn sites would be blocked at work. To demonstrate, he typed in some super obvious porn url, and sure enough it loaded just fine. I think Piper might be my best friend's favorite, but if so it's mostly because she's totally hot for Taylor Schilling.

Just ask Piper!