Friday Fun Video: Brazilian Shampoo Ad

China's Extra-Wide Pink-Painted Parking Spots For The Ladies

Haha.

Camille Paglia Trolls the Extreme Feminists

There's no other way I can think of to describe this article.  Time to make some popcorn and watch the fireworks!

Friday Fun Video: Gender Role Reversal

LOL: Government Shutdown Pick-Up Lines on Twitter

Hey girl.  

Fugly or Fabulous? Updos for Guys

I laughed out loud.  Sassy!

Movie Review: "Magic Mike" (2012)

It's feigning men.

The movie is pretty much just an animated version of the its poster: all flash and no depth.  Neither fully guilty pleasure nor truly incisive storytelling, Magic Mike shows us a lot of muscles while neglecting the two most important organs of all: the heart and the brain.  

Friday Fun Video: Disney Princess Leia

Monday Therapy: Office Coffee

Ugh, it's Monday. Time to chug a potful of coffee so we can get our work done ... We might as well have some fun with the whole idea of coffee at the office!

Honda Markets a Car For Women

I was kind of hoping this was a joke, but it seems legit.  Anyway, the car is pink (natch), and part of the marketing is that it has "a windshield designed to block skin-wrinkling ultraviolet rays." Oh, I laughed out loud at the whole thing.  The cutesypoo car is only available in Japan.  Somebody slap a Hello Kitty face on the hood and be done with it, OK?

On a related note, let's play with a certain stereotype, shall we?  Here's an actual bumper sticker with proof that somebody's got the sassy sense of humor to use it:

A Cultural History of "Mansplaining"

Heh.

"Standing Like A Girl" Only Works If (A) You're A Girl and (B) You're Wearing Awesome Heels

That's my response to this.  OK, we all know that posture matters in public speaking.  Now I don't care if I sound "sexist" or whatever, so here's my bit of advice: If you're stuck at a podium, guys, you shouldn't put up a foot because it looks stupid and sloppy.  Nobody should, really, because it's a fidget.  

BUT if you're a girl, you can get away with it once a speech/presentation 

• if you're wearing beautiful heels (and preferably have good ankles and/or great stems) and 
• if you do it slowly and gracefully and 
• if you don't also slouch or break eye contact with the audience.

I've done it myself on occasion for the simple reason that high heels can be uncomfortable and it helps sometimes to shift your weight on those teetering structures.  But having said that, I freely admit that it's not fair and it's gendered and all, but if you're a guy in wingtips, you should not do this.  (Besides, you don't have the "high heels hurt" reasoning.  What's your excuse?)

Apparently I'm a Cold, Calculating, Unsympathetic ... Guy

This article about "the cold, calculating libertarian mind" made me laugh, especially since it also claims that libertarianism appeals more to guys than girls ... and almost every libertarian I know is a girl, and we're all (if I do say myself) decent warmhearted folks.  Oh, and when Alessandra got wind of this piece, she messaged me with "you cold libertarian biatch!"  LOL!

Anyway, this seems to sum us up pretty well:

These are people who often call themselves economically conservative but socially liberal. They like free societies as well as free markets, and they want the government to get out of the bedroom as well as the boardroom. They don't see why, in order to get a small-government president, they have to vote for somebody who is keen on military spending and religion; or to get a tolerant and compassionate society they have to vote for a large and intrusive state.

I personally don't object to military spending in the way that some others do (I've read too much history - unilaterally disarming is a greeeeeeat way to invite people to assault you), but the rest of that block quote applies.

LOL: the EU's Hilarrible Ad for Women Scientists

Apparently this is not a joke.  This really is the EU's attempt to encourage girls to study science.  Come on, really?  Some ladies are not amused.  I laughed out loud, though.  It's so blatantly stupid.  Dude, they replaced the "i" in "science" with a lipstick!  Here's the actual website.  

Look, I'm on the record on this blog saying that girls should feel free to be themselves in academia, and if "being themselves" means enjoying nice shoes and clothes and whatever, then that's great!  My point is that you should feel free to express your femininity and your personality however you please instead of constraining yourself inside someone else's arbitrary expectations ("you have to look like a frump in order to be taken seriously," etc.)  At the same time, I don't think you should construct yourself as a sexpot to order to get attention.  Your work should speak for itself. This EU propaganda, though, isn't about that at all.  The geniuses behind this would have done better to appeal to the intellect and highlight actual women scientists past and present ... oh, you know, people like Ada Lovelace or Marie Curie or Rosalind Franklin or Barbara McClintock or the growing number of female astronauts or ... You get the picture.  Oh, and see this too as long as we're talking about scientific stereotypes.

 

Fashion PSA: Suit Up, Guys

I stumbled across this hilarious image online, and I simply had to post it because ... well, I think it's mostly true.  I even gave you a real-life bit of evidence after the fold.  Oh, and you'll recall my previous bit of fashion advice. (What do you think, La Parisienne?)

Ridiculous: UK Poll Reveals Qualities of "the Perfect Guy"

I have no idea just how this British survey of some women was conducted and all, but it doesn't matter.  I can already tell you that the results are ludicrous. Look at this: "86% say they want a man who is sensitive, calls his mother regularly and cries during films."  Oh, please. I don't know about you, but I don't want some touchy, prissy mama's boy who likes The Notebook.

Oh, and I just love this comment left on the story:

This is ridiculous. As someone else stated, if there were a "perfect woman" poll (which there probably will be), women all over the world would be [FURIOUS]. Such a waste of time ... why did I read this article?

LOL: Craptastic Fantasy Book Cover Poses

Don't try emulating them unless you have a really good chiropractor.  Exhibits A, B, and C, with an additional thought.

LOL: Pandagate ... and the Quote of the Day

Oh, my!  Plus the quotation du jour:

"The thing about pandas is that they're the most useless evolutionary dead end ever to be preserved, at great expense, in the name of sentiment and nationalist flim-flammery."

Ouch.

LOL: "Girls Like Superheroes Too!"

I never liked Barbie dolls either!

LOL: False Dichotomy Du Jour

Is it better to be hot or to have a college degree?   Why choose? What's wrong with being both hot and educated?  Isn't that what my buddies and I have been trying to promote?  Oh, and let me add this too: during job interviews, it might help to be hot and all, but it also helps to have good social skills -- something that a LOT of people, especially egghead academics, do not have!