If they're that into Ren Faires they're likely also into après Ren Faire orgies. Just FYI.
As long as they're not jugglers. Or fire breathers.
après Ren Faire orgies
This is something I not heard about. How do they differ from ordinary run-of-the-mill orgies?
3: well, they happen at Ren Faires among the people who work at the Ren Faire. Other than that, I dunno. More talk of wenches and delightfully anachronistic grunting, I guess.
I went out on several dates with a guy who was really into tango. Going to all-night milongas every weekend and such. From the first date, it was clear that if things went well between us, there would come a point at which I would have to at least try to learn to tango. That didn't sound terrible. Things ended up fizzling out after we'd seen each other three or four times.
That was already a very contingent thing, though: IF I end up liking him enough, then I'll TRY the tango. The bar for that if-clause would be a fuckin' lot higher for Ren Faire, lemme tell you.
Wouldn't "every single weekend into RenFaire" just mean "major SCA dork?"
I dunno, I mean, it seems like you'd want to have SOME kind of affinity to your partner's overwhelming life obsession. I know a few successful couples where the opposite is the case, but it doesn't seem like the norm.
Semi-relevant: if you're not all watching Baggage, you're missing out!
It seems like it would be easy enough to make a flow-chart for this kind of question.
Is your partner's obsession legal? Does it involve dressing up in a funny outfit? Does it involve speaking in a silly dialect? Do people involved in the activity make up character names for themselves? Are most adherents single? Are most adherents fat, balding, 43-year-old men who live in their mother's basement? Seems like you could weed out most of the really objectionable stuff pretty quickly. I mean, if you like somebody who's into bird-watching, but find bird-watching stultifying yourself, there's some likelihood that you'd still be able to have a functional relationship. Outlaw bikers or furries, probably not so much.
The only Ren Faire equivalent I've ever been to is one that shows up in the park by the Cloisters every year, and I can't see it having much appeal to someone who was really into reenactment or whatever you call it. It's mostly booths selling sparkly things to local teenagers. Hopefully anyone who spends every weekend at that sort of thing has found a more entertaining class of Faire to hang around at.
It's funny, though, I can't see this sort of thing as being a confusing relationship problem at all at this early stage. Any actual people I try to visualize in this situation, the reaction to "I spend every weekend at a Ren Faire" is either "Oh good grief" and walking away or "Neat, that sounds entertaining." Like Blume with the tango.
If you're with someone you really care about, there are probably worse things in life than RenFaire.
The question is whether you could come to care about someone who spent every weekend at a RenFaire.
7: I was under the impression that few things are hotter than the tango, but whaddo I know.
OT: People emailing links to watch the U19 Girls national rugby championships should come up with better subject lines that "Watch the Girls LIVE today". I was this close to deleting it before I realized it wasn't porn.
Not even close to a dealbreaker. Thing is, whenever a dorky hobby makes you want to run screaming, what you are really saying is "Well, I'm too cool to dress funny and do something unusual." And if you are saying that, you need to get over yourself.
Besides, I bet someone who was into ren faire that much could be persuaded to branch out at least a little. Maybe steampunk.
Religion is one I'm not sure how I'd handle (and it's come up surprisingly infrequently in my dating life). Maybe it doesn't come up because the religious aren't trawling among the irreligious for partners, and vice versa.
My "Birding outlaw biker furries have more fun" t-shirts have not been selling terribly well. Might need less hobbits and swords in the design. Also I guess just having babydoll tees could be hurting me.
15: Maybe steampunk.
Yeah, I'm not seeing that as a deal-sweetener.
The serious answer seems to me, for any activity the following variables need to be evaluated: 1. How much of the weekend does it take up? 2. How far is it removed from anything you'd ever want to do? 3. Can your prospective partner talk about anything else the rest of the time?
If the answers are Most, Miles and No, then unless the activity in question is shagging like a maniac you should be out of there. If the answers are A couple of hours, Might give it a try and Yes, then it's completely benign. In between, well you know yourself best, and your own tolerance levels.
Do you like mead?
17 You lost me at "furries." In fact, I'm sure, and I surely hope, you lost most of us at "furries."
Come to think of it, a friend of mine is really into a steampunk, and was bereft when he left town. So who knows?
Does it involve dressing up in a funny outfit? Does it involve speaking in a silly dialect? Do people involved in the activity make up character names for themselves?
What is the turn-off for any of these, other than imagining other people looking at you and giggling? I think if these bother you, you are worried too much about superficial aspects of your self image.
I don't do these things, because I am lazy, but seriously, what is the problem.
20: Good mead is really nice. At least, I like the stuff Buck makes a great deal. I don't think I've ever had bought mead I wanted to drink again -- it's always too sweet.
Okay, so what about the opposite: People who are not really into anything at all? I have a friend like that, bit of a social chameleon, has tried all sorts of things, never really gotten into any one thing, so far as I can tell. Spends a lot of time on her career, which has been fairly successful, but is a bit of a cipher when it comes to her off hours, unless she's hooked up with someone who is going to drag her along to stuff. She's dated a lot of musicians, but of widely varying genres and instruments. In some ways, I guess that would kinda be a dealbreaker for me. If you can't find something to do without needing a prompt from somebody else, I could see the relationship getting boring fast.
22: I guess I was proceeding under the assumption that whatever the activity is, it is something that you are clearly not into at all. So if you're going to be the one person at the Annual Viking Reenactors Ball who's wearing modern clothes and not hailing Hrothgar Fork-Beard in Old Norse while beating your sword hilt against the boss of your shield, you're really not going to be connecting with your partner or their chosen peer group very well.
16: religion v. non-religious came up significantly in my dating life.
In our park, there's weekend jousting every weekend, and they all dress up midevil-y for it. It's not a Faire, but it's the type of thing a super Ren Faire person could do every weekend.
Another possible reaction: `Well, that's kind of convenient, since my weekends are all booked for Ultimate.' That might work a little better if both of you were doing solitary rather than gregarious, affair-inducing things, but I've seen it work either way.
midevil
My brain reads this as "me devil".
Anyone who is *that* into Ren Faire probably has some closely related sexual kink. At which point either you find that kink hot (and so the Ren Faire obsession is worth it), or you don't (in which case that's going to be the deal-breaker, not the Ren Faire itself).
Possibly marking me as a bigger dork even than Ren Fair(e) enthusiasts: When I think of RenFaires the first thing that comes to mind is that bit in MST3K. "Sample my wares?" "Sample my fist, you community theater reject!"
What is the turn-off for any of these, other than imagining other people looking at you and giggling? I think if these bother you, you are worried too much about superficial aspects of your self image.
You don't have to find something laughable or be worried about whether it's cool to find it utterly uninteresting.
Further to 22, something I wondered about the Disney thread a while ago -- for people who like Disney's incredible detail-oriented worldbuilding, doesn't the discord with the un-detailed crowds annoy your eye?
In me experience, the A.V.R. will loan guests a tunic and be very helpful with improvised hairdos and politely ignore the modern shoes (shoes are hard), but you gotta do something to keep the illusion up. The payoff, when you're all putting a little mite towards the experience, is `like being in a movie' but actually being in it. One of my peak experiences ever is likely to be a waltz midway through a Gaskells when the whole heterogeneously gorgeously dressed crowd drifted automatically onto the floor as the band came back on stage and then, in the first two notes, we were all rotating in the epicycles of the waltz. Dancing with six score people at once. Oh. (Also I was dancing with the Dwarf Lord and he was wearing high waisted trousers, not that anyone else could see what with the waistcoat and tailcoat & what-all. But I knew.)
Not that any of this is immediately relevant to the dating question.
There was a nice Saturday morning sidewalk pedestrian jam outside the gym a few weeks back where the guys deadlifting outside were blocking the cosplay/anime convention attendees who were blocking the immigration rights activists who were blocking the homeless people.
I guess if there was a mixed-activity couple they could have carpooled.
Beware of all enterprises that require new old-clothes.
Anyone who is *that* into Ren Faire probably has some closely related sexual kink.
I don't think so. I mean, maybe they haven't told me, but they tell me *other* startling things. Possibly, in places less densely industriously organized about their hobbies than the Bay Area, there's less differentiation, but people go for the horses (I'm told jousting is a thrill like flying a MiG and nearly as affordable), the fencing, the music, the chance to learn a handicraft among people who will admire it and expect improvement. Community theater is a great parallel, but reenactments have parts for everyone.
At this point, any hardcore ren faire attendee has to be aware of the stereotypical horribleness of it, correct? They've been a regular punchline for what, 30 years now? I kind of admire that, in a fuck it I'm an obese bald dude who is going to have weird sex with someone whose dirndl is covered with turkey grease kind of way.
Also, since some of my best friends are participants in dorky subcultures, I note that it really helps to have an extremely high tolerance for very bad puns if you want to feel comfortable in those circles.
I can see some amusing games between the cosplayers and the weightlifters (`Hammer of Thor!'), and Superman is an undocumented immigrant.
A clean dirndl is too much to ask?
39: Does Superman have to work out to stay strong? I kind of thought he was just always already strong.
Superman is marching with the other immigrants. Thor is challenging people to lift his hammer.
I see. I had Superman pumping iron and swapping paleo recipes with Halford.
Did I ever describe here the time I went on a law firm corporate outing to Medieval Times? Someone had organized it as a summer associate event, I guess in the hope that it would be "ironic" fun. In fact, it was boring and horrible, no one loosened up, the chicken legs were fucking disgusting, the senior partners looked as if seriously someone was going to get murdered, and everyone else had looks on their faces of "let me leave now" but couldn't. Go blue knight?
The cosplay people were all anime types, not super heroes. They were also all about 16.
There must be a paleo superhero! With a mild-mannered cover identity! Perhaps as a lawyer! Next Month's Issue!
Ren Faire people mock of Medieval Times. And yet it persists, so apparently you can't go broke underestimating, etc.
I hate dressing up And costumes. This is despite the fact that I really like a lot of stupid childish stuff.
The ren faire thing would be an issue for me. I don't even like street fairs.
I hate dressing up And costumes. This is despite the fact that I really like a lot of stupid childish stuff.
The ren faire thing would be an issue for me. I don't even like street fairs.
Unfortunately my only secret power is blog commenting.
I hate dressing up And costumes. This is despite the fact that I really like a lot of stupid childish stuff.
The ren faire thing would be an issue for me. I don't even like street fairs.
I hate dressing up And costumes. This is despite the fact that I really like a lot of stupid childish stuff.
The ren faire thing would be an issue for me. I don't even like street fairs.
Some people might even think "I spend several hours each week reading and writing blog comments" is a weird, dorky hobby.
true! and we have secret names and injokes and possibly personae! The puns have really fallen off of late, though.
Right now I have scads of commenting time because: longest customs line ever. Though there is that "no cell phones" rule I'm ignoring. Along with everyone else.
49: But when you're last to the gym and the only remaining barbell is strangely dusty, long unused, and seemingly made of stone...
I'm too cool to dress funny and do something unusual, typed the man who just changed out of an aikido gi and into yoga pants.
Don't judge me.
It's hard for me to make any case that I'm cooler than Ren Faire types, but I really have zero interest in it. Along with lots of other sort of stereotypical nerd and/or geek culture things. Fantasy? Science fiction? Meh.
56: What would Jeeves say about yoga pants, flippy?
57: essear really is my brother. My little brother who would do my math homework for me.
Bach couldn't afford yoga pants; he had all those kids to support and supposedly the church cut his pay (!) after the St. Matthew Passion.
What does Bach have to do with anything?
Speaking of Ren Faires and perverts, I have an older relative who assumes that they are all just fronts for prostitution. Is that a common view?
I assumed that of the huge number of "Thai Massage" places near my hotel in Stockholm earlier this week.
Because if I learned one thing from international travel last year, it's to always err on the side of assuming a prostitution front.
Dude I know you think you're a sophisticated insider but really it's been common knowledge for a while now that string theory is a giant prostitution front.
62: Nothing at all.
64: Dunno, but it's masterful poisoning the well.
The wench/dollymop/can-can/cyprian enthusiasm drives me ragefest bugnuts insane, but even so I don't think it's actual prostitution.
I have not read the thread, but I will say apropos the OP that an erstwhile roommate of mine who was into RenFaire taught me the basic maneuvers of swordplay -- in our living room, using, I think, a yardstick and a broken broom handle as substitutes -- and it was terrific fun! Highly choreographic, dance-like. Fun fun fun.
That roommate routinely came home with serious bruises -- if I remember rightly, he didn't just do swordplay, but was an amateur jouster. Ouch.
Way back when, I had a girlfriend who was somewhat into the SCA, and I can verify that the sexual experimentation component of the subculture was not small. I'm a little bit surprised that RenFaire's are the same way, just because the people I've met who worked at RenFaires were actors who had not yet accepted that their dream of being movie stars was dead.
I went to a couple of SCA events, and my objection to it was exactly that I was too cool for it. This means that helpy-chalk would consider me a bad person -- and he would be right to do it.
23: was it here that people were talking about maple syrup mead? Acer, I think it's called?
Oh, hm, yeah. My sister is not an every weekend Ren Faire person but a lot of her social life is SCA. Years ago my mother told me (and probably her) that she worried that guys would lose interest when they found this out. My reaction to this is divided into 1) Mom, get a hobby that is not worrying about our lives 2) this assertion seems very likely true, and 3) I guess good for my sister for not caring enough about what people think to drop something she likes because some guy might not like it.
But I think it'd be a deal-breaker for me. For someone other than my sister, I mean. With her, the main deal-breaker would be that we're related. And she's a girl.
I think the last time I thought about it, my explicit deal-breakers were republicanism, smoking, and wanting children. And then I started dating someone who, at the time, was an occasional smoker, so that one turned out not to be hard and fast.
72, 74: Oh, is there is a distinction between RenFaire and the SCA? My former roommate was SCA. I believe that he did have some sexual kinks -- not that there's anything wrong with that.
[T]hat one turned out not to be hard and fast.
Anybody? Anybody at all?
Oh that does it, Flip. I challenge you to a joust. Now if I can just get it out of my head that jousts take place on flying ostriches.
I thought RenFaires were public, commercial events, where you are either a performer, or part of the audience. SCA events are private, and everybody is a participant.
33--I used to go the Gaskells semi-regularly in HS! Terrific fun, but then, I like dancing.
23: was it here that people were talking about maple syrup mead? Acer, I think it's called?
For its sharpness.
80: Thanks. I feel as though friends/countrymen/observers were allowed at the roommate's SCA events, but no, they probably weren't the big advertised hooplas that RenFaires are. I'm not sure I ever asked! My roommate certainly had a hella chain-mail stylee getup.
Anyway, clearly being into that sort of thing is not much different from being into any sort of thing on a highly regular basis. Many of the things RenFaire types are into are practiced in a more modern form: numerous track and field events (shot-put? javelin?); the Disney franchises, as clew noted; as well as any number of groups interested in the old ways of cooking, or sewing.
Whether it's a dealbreaker relationship-wise is just a question of whether you have any interest in the pursuit in question, as has been noted. I don't see that there's anything *especially* dealbreaking about RenFaire sorts of things.
69: Hofstadter is another geek culture thing I've never gotten into, although my gf gave me a copy of GEB so now I have to get around to reading it. Apparently she found it inspiring when she was younger, but she was also reading in a different language and recalled it being much shorter.
The wench/dollymop/can-can/cyprian enthusiasm drives me ragefest bugnuts insane, but even so I don't think it's actual prostitution.
I never having seen "cyprian" before looked it up learned its definition "a woman who engages in sexual intercourse for money" seems pretty close to actual prostitution what's lacking if it's sexual intercourse for money that would make it prostitution seems nothing unless maybe clew just meant "woman cypriot" doesn't fit with her other examples though so maybe it's really just cyprian enthusiasm and not real cyprians glamo(u)r or something taken to be glamo(u) maybe.
But what I really wanted to say is that clew's comment reminded me of the serving suggestions for Assamese Snark Curry.
76: Only three dealbreakers? I thought you were more misanthropic than that. I think I must be at least in double-digits.
Jousting is the state sport of Maryland. ***The more you know!***
86: Maybe there were others. I think those were the big ones, though. Also I think online-me is more misanthropic than steakospheric me.
Only three dealbreakers? I thought you were more misanthropic than that. I think I must be at least in double-digits.
Most people, he wouldn't even consider a deal with in the first place, see.
Meth. I think meth would definitely be a dealbreaker. Heroin, maybe.
Dealbreakers: Republicanism, evangelical Christianity, corporatism, racism, obvious hostility to feminism ... and this is all obvious.
Less obvious: hm. Maybe house-proudness. Use of herbicides or pesticides. Oh, someone obsessed with football. Someone who never reads.
On preview: yeah, meth or heroin. I had the misfortune to date someone who had a problem in that area, and I have not agreed to his Facebook friend request these 10 years later. That is a negatory, no.
82: sure it isn't because Acer is the genus of the maple tree?
I'd say there's a continuum between RenFairs that are travelling themed circuses-- Medieval Times on the road -- and the more public events of the SCA ilk.
92: of course it's because Acer is the genus of the maple tree.
Use of the word "negatory" is probably a dealbreaker.
If your sense of humor is impaired, sure.
Possibly, in places less densely industriously organized about their hobbies than the Bay Area . . .
I just wonder where people get the time . . .
Having played a bunch of RPGs when I was younger, and gone to a couple of SF Conventions, I think of them as great fun, and miss that environment occasionally, but only if you are willing to put in a bunch of time. I don't know about SCA or Ren Faire, but gaming is only interesting if you can do it regularly.
So, kudos to the people who are getting off their couches and making it happen.
Meth, heroin, cruelty to animals/children, or movement Consevatism would be absolute dealbreakers. There are a lot of other categories that would count as *probable* dealbreakers: dude-bro-ness, poor English, hostility to the Internet, suspicion towards my family, lack of reading for pleasure...
85:Cyprian = Sacred Prostitution
Herodotus: "There is a custom like this in some parts of Cyprus"
In any case, one two however many "acts of prostitution" does not necessarily a "prostitute" make.
I'm having trouble understanding what cyprian refers to. This is an actual thing they have at RenFaires?
96 to 92 because I didn't think past the tree to the meaning of the words. Failure stings.
101: possibly because of it's sharpness.
I believe RenFaires have wenches; the SCA a whole lot of rôles up to cortigiana onesta; Victorian/Dickens fairs, dollymops; steampunks and maker fairs, burlesquers; and Regency dancers, Cyprian Balls.
What drives me nutty is that it's so much more common to play that prostitution was fun than to play rôles for women doing anything else. Also, if it's actual sex-positivity, there should be a lot more eye candy for straight women.
(Cyprus was sacred to Aphrodite, possibly because of the sugar. Classicizing periods used it as a euphemism.)
Oh! The other link I didn't say! All of these rôles are being played for fun - sometimes fun including actual seductions - they aren't jobs like the smithing & cooking is, they're rôles like the royals & the headsman & the feuding duellers.
Americans may care to be informed that as a native of Paphos Venus was until recently entitled to a British passport.
What sexual kinks are "closely related" to Ren Faires?
S&M, whatever fetish involves codpieces.
109:
Armor kinks (deduct points for eggcorn?).
102: no end to my shame is in sight.
The Greeks called Aphrodite "Kypris" all the damn time.
(Certainly "Kypre" is much easier to fit into a line of trimeter than "Aphrodite.")
Do reenactors seem kinkier than, say, post-COBOL programmers, or baristas? Are Civil War reenactors staid?
Reed.* Not a dealbreaker. Well, the half plus seven thing would be the dealbreaker . . .
* I guess I know more Reedies than fantasy role players, so this is my association with the term.
Cyprus was sacred to Aphrodite, possibly because of the sugar.
First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the callipygous sugar.
Reed's Renn Fayre wasn't Renn any more when I was there, and that was a while ago.
[T]he royals & the headsman & the feuding duellers.
And David Hasselhoff as the tough-yet-vulnerable austringer.
109: whole lightning bolt thing.
103: Also, if it's actual sex-positivity, there should be a lot more eye candy for straight women.
YOU'RE TELLING US, LADY!
Also wait I just got confused at the rolling of "maker fairs" into the various goofy role playing things. Aren't those where people bring their kids to look at burning man vehicles and cocktail robots in a safe, well-lit environment?
San Mateo has had costume groups all the years I've been there, including a steampunk corner. Which was running an aerostat message delivery rather than a burlesque, to be fair.
122: ?... And the swan and the shower of gold?
124: The one we took our kid to was cocktail robots, blacksmithing, and hippie-yurting.
Maker fairs are where people go to roleplay being "makers," obv.
Maker Faires are all in Trenton; the rest of the world is Taker Faires.
Acre Faires are held in really, really large convention centers.
Nacre Fairs are held inside molluscs.
Faker faires are held in reality tv shows. Slaker faires are held in smithies. Taker faires are held in DC. Shaker Faires are held one lathe at a time.
Fakir's fairs are held on beds of hot coals.
134 is probably a deal breaker for more people than ren faires.
Especially if you made the same joke every weekend.
I dropped my low carb diet for the year today. At the Baker Faire. Really.
I am direly disappointed not to have written 130 before essear did.
I went to Williamsburg (not the NYC one) recently and have been to Skansen (the Stockholm one) and I have to say there's definitely something hot about people with a great deal of expertise in old-timey things who happen to also be wearing old-timey costumes. So I guess what I'm saying is that if I went to a Ren Faire - and I've never been to one - I'd really only be in to it if the historicizing were sufficiently rigorous, IYKWIM.
On the other hand, I have no interest in costuming myself.
What I find artificial about RenFair types is that they simply aren't filthy enough. Instead, these people bath regularly and have most of their teeth. To me, it demonstrates a total lack of appreciation for the low hygienic standards of the middle ages.
I wear attire appropriate to my epoch.
Halford's going to get you for that one, Moby.
Holocene is fine. Lepenski Vir was Holocene. Danish shell middens were Holocene. Oregon Coast was Holocene. I hate motherfucking agriculture, not time.
Lepenski Vir was Holocene. Danish shell middens were Holocene. Oregon Coast was Holocene.
I think those are all Mesolithic rather than Paleolithic, but then the paleo movement doesn't seem to care that much about that distinction, so fair enough.
I hate motherfucking agriculture, not time.
142. Standards of hygiene were fine in the middle ages. It was during the Renaissance that it became theologically and medically fashionable not to wash. You need to get into mediaeval fayres, much more authentic.
Standards of hygiene were fine in the middle ages. It was during the Renaissance that it became theologically and medically fashionable not to wash.
How weird is it that Renaissance Fairs are celebrating the Middle Ages, not the Renaissance? A real Renaissance Fair would be all about neo-classical imagery and the spread of early printing technology.
I have heard of the Hanseatic League being used as something of a get-out-of-inappropriate-anachronism-jail-free card for Ren Faire/SCA attendees who preferred to dress as pirates or Vikings or characters from Avatar.
A real Renaissance Fair would be all about neo-classical imagery and the spread of early printing technology.
Yeah. The first Frankfurt Book Fair was late 15th century. Parsi should be getting in on this.
I saw someone dressed as Jack Sparrow just outside Parc Güell on Friday, which wasn't so entertaining, but the super-excited kid running in circles around him shouting "¡un pirata! ¡un pirata!" was.
142: To me, it demonstrates a total lack of appreciation for the low hygienic standards of the middle ages.
Right. Total farbs.
152: also, you were outside Parc Güell, which is pretty darn exciting just by itself.
Though less exciting than being inside it.
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Just wanted to publicly feel sad about something: I work with a young man who is a very, very talented musician. Absolutely, 100% dedicated to his art, and shows every sign of perhaps being one of the top people in his genre someday. (And it's a genre where people don't usually peak until their 30s or 40s.) The sad part is that he also is a person with very severe mental health issues. Sometimes when his meds are affecting him badly, he's just not there. And he occasionally has really bad days where he can't leave the house. He's getting what help is available, as thankfully his family is comfortably UMC, and very supportive, but I guess there is only so much that medical science can do for him right now. (I don't know what his exact diagnosis is, but it's not good.)
So I'm sad that someone I know, and someone with such an amazing gift has to suffer so much. I suppose I should be happy that he has access to very good treatment, and that his disability is balanced with this gift, but it is still hard to think about. And it's scary too, when you read about people with mental illness running afoul of the law, and basically having their lives destroyed because their illness has been criminalized. Hopefully, he is too rich for that to happen.
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Since Shinichi Mochizuki's purported proof of the abc conjecture was recently discussed here, thought I'd post this link to a weird rambling video during which Ted "hypertext" Nelson claims that Mochizuki is the true identity of 'Satoshi Nakamoto' the pseudonymous author of the Bitcoin paper. As much about Nelson's own eccentricity as Mochizuki/Nakamoto/Bitcoin.
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156 is very sad. Its sad both for your friend, and for the society that distributes access to mental heath care so unfairly.
There are only like seven Japanese people.
Its true, if I did this shit, I'd be a total farb.
Bleg: friend, partner & 17 year old daughter are going to Arizona in a couple of weeks. They're going to stay in Tucson, Phoenix and Sedona. Apart from the Grand Canyon, they don't yet have much else in the way of plans (have only just decided to go) - any recommendations? They're very outdoorsy, especially bloke and daughter, who will have a few days to kill in the south whilst my friend is at a conference.
I was about to say that Camelback Mountain outside Phoenix is a nice hike (albeit a busy trail), but looks like the trail is closed for now.
The parks of southern Utah (especially Zion National Park) are beautiful. They're not very close to the cities you mention, but then, neither is the Grand Canyon.
I've never spent any time in southern AZ.
The Painted Desert / Petrified Forest area has some pretty striking scenery.
I guess Sedona actually isn't so far from the Grand Canyon; somehow I was putting it in the wrong place (I've never been there).
Meteor Crater is a bit east of Flagstaff.
161: If by "south" you mean the Tucson area, I suggest Madera Canyon and Patagonia. I can quite recommend the B&B I stayed at near there, but it also works as day trip(s) from Tucson.
A bit further afield Coronado National Monument and Chririchua National Monument.
In the Tucson area, Saguaro National Park and the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum are obligatory, especially for the outdoorsy.
Reed's Renn Fayre wasn't Renn any more when I was there, and that was a while ago.
It wasn't Renn when I was there even longer ago, except for one small SCA contingent whom the rest of us cool, bad, drunk people considered dorks.
I think my brother had a Renn Fayre t shirt that had a diagram for the active ingredient in mescaline. Every weekend would be a dealbreaker.
My grandparents lived in Sierra Vista, and the hummingbird canyon down there is worth a go if you're down that way. I kind of liked Tombstone, for pure tourist trap stuff. I put one of my daughter's Sedona pix in the pool last year -- drop me a line, and I can send a link to more of them. She went on some pretty cool hikes.
In a couple of weeks, So AZ might be awfully hot.
The Desert Museum is indeed really excellent.
the Hanseatic League being used as something of a get-out-of-inappropriate-anachronism-jail-free card for Ren Faire/SCA attendees who preferred to dress as pirates
Klaus Störtebeker! I once saw a marionette show about him that was rather adult. Lots of bawdy sailor humor and marionettes humping things.
The Hanseatic-era areas of the Hanseatic cities I've seen have pretty much all been beautiful.
One of my friends thinks that one pair of my shoes (a matched pair, no less) resembles something one might have seen in a Hanseatic League city.
A real Renaissance Fair would be all about neo-classical imagery and the spread of early printing technology.
A Joscelyn Godwin event would... take a lot of planning.
117: Oh, the Reed Renn Fayre looks great fun, even though it's not Renn. I can't even conceive how I might have turned out had I gone somewhere like that. (Where are other places like that? Middlebury? Hampshire College is: I saw Phish there at the Red Barn back before Phish was cool.)
Anyhow, I didn't figure out that I was a hippie until after college, thanks to one very dear ex. Hrm, what does Ha-va-d have going for it? The primal scream, maybe? Do they still do that? I hope so.
God, it seems that the Primal Scream has become a naked runaround. Dumbasses.
Back in my day, the Primal Scream was audio only. You could hear the collective howl a mile away.
I am sad.
174.1: It's a blast. I did some organizing work for it one year. Also did Karma Patrol, which is a volunteer group who help talk down people having bad trips. That was a lot more fun than it might seem, despite having to interact with the occasional person having a really shitty time.
174: Evergreen State? Sarah Lawrence? Macalester?
Hrm, what does Ha-va-d have going for it?
There are a couple of off-campus hippie-ish co-ops undergrads can live in if they don't do the whole house system thing.
176: Togolosh, I didn't realize you were were a Reed alum. I can well imagine Karma Patrol was a serious matter -- people take care of each other. I miss that kind of community, need to get back to it.
The Harvard Psilocybin Project ended before its time, of course.
178: Yeah, I knew people in the one closest to the place I lived in. I lived in a three-story wood-framed house, a property the school owned, that was affiliated with a House; there were 14 of us there, single rooms with a kitchen and living room, good times. It's good to know the co-ops are still around.
Middlebury? Are you maybe thinking of Bennington?
182: I was gonna say Bennington, based on my impressions from playing shows there a few times, but I wondered if Charley would get there first. And there you are.
161/6/8: We were at the Desert Museum in December and they were just about to open some kind of aquarium exhibit, on the perhaps dubious grounds that marine connections are vitally important to understanding the ecosystem of the Sonora Desert. Not only does this make the place still more awesome, but it's probably also climate-controlled. It is a bit of a drive from Tucson, though: not in the city. Within (or near) the city limits, Tohono Chul park is a nice botanical gardeny place. Didn't we just do a round of Tucson recommendations?
I'm not very familiar with southern Arizona, but the suggestions other people have given sound good. In the Sedona area, I'd definitely recommend Montezuma Castle and Tuzigoot. If they're headed up toward Grand Canyon, Sunset Crater and Wupatki in the Flagstaff area are also worth seeing, as is Flagstaff itself. That time of year northern Arizona is going to be much more comfortable for outdoor activity than the southern part of the state.
Wait, these are asilon's friends, so presumably foreign? You can let them know that, while much of the "show me your papers" law was thrown out by the Supreme Court, the law itself remains a healthy reminder that Arizona contains many very crazy people.
Yeah, good call. As (presumably white) tourists they probably won't run into much of the serious crazy, but they should be aware that it does indeed exist.
187: And if they do go south from Tucson definitely bring all papers since it seems to be treated as having quasi-territorial status. And CC was right above; if going south, head for one of the various Islands in the Sky--although there is something to taking on and experiencing the full blast furnace...for s short time and with adequate preparation (Tucson will probably be in the 95-105 high range but with comfortable nighttime lows).
I'm less concerned I had to pass on my job offer in Tuscon.
When somebody orders a pitcher of beer for just themselves, does that scream "frugal" or "alcoholic"?
In Chinese the words for "frugal" and "alcoholic" are the same. You're a frugaholic!
Or, I guess, whoever you're talking about is.
Not me. I don't like flat beer. Seems to be semi-common here.
161/6/8
What strange new calendar is this?
I tried to eat light and ordered a salad. It came covered in fries. I don't know why I didn't see that coming.
They speak foreign languages in Tombstone. Your folks should work on their hand-eye.
Also, I am reliably informed that Canada is losing.
Anyway, hockey apparently has two thirdtimes instead of halftime.
I'm going to guess that on some level you don't consider yourself a serious hockey fan.
Protip: Canadians refer to the puck as a "loonie", and the traditional post-game celebration involves a dish of fried loonies covered in gravy and cheese curds.
True story: Very briefly, this bar had a hot Canadian libertarian working as a cook.
Also, be sure to use the traditional Canadian expression of good tidings - "Take off, hoser!"
That isn't really a story. Sorry. It is true.
205: As popularized by the comedy act known as Doug and Rob Ford.
I didn't ask for a passport or administer a political ideology questionnaire, so maybe I should say it isn't demonstrably false.
I don't quite know what epistemology applies here. Maybe I'll ask the bartender.
He is into consequentialist ethics and doesn't care.
That isn't true. He is really busy and I did not ask.
Of course, the untruthful statement didn't hurt anybody so it isn't really wrong by my understanding of consequentialism.
Apparently, hockey sticks just fall apart from time to time.
And now the game is going into the fourth third.
There is a guy here with a shirt reading "I (heart) unabomber." Does the missing article mean he has issues with grammar or that he won't kill me if he learns I work at a university?
Maybe he just didn't want to specify which unabomber?
The guy behind me is worse about hockey than me. He just referred to Canada's "keeper".
I guess hockey now has a fifth third, which is also a bank in Ohio.
The third longest hockey game ever took place in Pittsburgh. I remember watching that on tv.
That game had, like, 8 goddamn thirds.
The longest hockey game ever lasted a month in Philadelphia. I believe it was a Tuesday.
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Is it necessary to alert the commentariat that new posts will be appearing beneath the party post all week? It's a pretty savvy bunch, but just in case, so alerted.
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No reason to sound needy about it.
I was merely trying to be helpful, while perhaps at the same time DEMANDING YOUR ATTENTION TO MY WORDS.
213: Don't trust those global warming deniers.
Apparently, Canada doesn't suck. Go figure.
I saw someone dressed as Jack Sparrow just outside Parc Güell on Friday, which wasn't so entertaining, but the super-excited kid running in circles around him shouting "¡un pirata! ¡un pirata!" was.
My colleagues and I once went on a skiing trip over New Year and were told that the tradition at this particular resort was that you skied in fancy dress on New Year's Day. THIS WAS A LIE we were the only abnormally dressed people on the slopes but the kids loved us. "Regarde, Maman! C'est Batman!" Ou, peut-etre, c'etait Superman, un soldat russe, le meutrier du film "Scream", un homme ecossais en kilt, un homme en whatever the French is for dinner jacket, etc.
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Yahoo buys Tumblr. Nice while it lasted.
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231: that's weird because a smoking jacket definitely isn't the same as a dinner jacket.
233: Yep! What we (well, most) Amurricans would call a tuxedo.
What do you call a smoking jacket, then? neb is probably the man to ask.
Americans call a dinner jacket a tuxedo and a smoking jacket a smoking jacket*. I don't know what the French call a smoking jacket.
*I own an amazing blue paisley one I bought at Good Will (Oxfam, what have you) in high school.
I thought those white jackets that nobody has worn since 1963 were dinner jackets and that a tuxedo was something different.
Heh. WordReference tells me the French call a smoking jacket a veste d'interieur. ("A gentleman's housecoat.")
237: Wikipedia suggests that you're right for American usage, and that British people call white jackets "tuxedos". It also says:
In the United States, it is also referred to as a "monkey suit" in slang.
Which, really?
237: To Americans, sometimes yes. But "tuxedo" is the North American term (and apparently Irish, too? Who knew?) for what the British call a dinner jacket. (And actually the sorts of Americans who spend a lot of time in tuxedos tend to call them "dinner jackets" as well.)
239 I think British people actually call white dinner jackets "shell jackets".
And actually the sorts of Americans who spend a lot of time in tuxedos...
Waiters? Musicians?
More clicking around Wikipedia leads me to wonder: why don't we have doctoral hats? And even doctoral swords?
I'd have totally finished a dissertation if I knew there was a sword in it.
essear you should go to commencement see if you spot any. I'm pretty sure at least one person involved in the commencement for your institution carries a sword.
Women can be a bit more creative in wearing the sword, because usually the material of the evening gowns isn't strong enough to support the sword and the scabbard. The sword can be attached to for example the belt of the skirt. In a two-piece outfit, the support system can be hidden underneath the hem of the top piece. If a female Doctor does not want to attach the sword to their outfits, it can be carried in hand.
243: I think it was Gonerill who wanted to claim a Finnish PhD so that his institution would buy him that regalia.
The idea of the doctoral hat is great.
When I arrived at Oxford, my fellow common room people were always very impressed by my Glasgow robes, which were a bit more Batman-like -- with a nice dramatic swoosh and wide shoulders -- than the usual Oxford MA or scholar's gowns. No top hat, though, sadly.
At my undergrad school, one of the tutors earned his PhD in the 50s at some French (possibly Catholic?) institution. His robes were this ermine and velvet insanity -- the effect of which was enormously heightened by the fact that he was 4'10" tops.
re: 250
Some British universities will have both the ordinary robes, and the fancy red and ermine shit for major ceremonial occasions. And some institutions will trim their hoods [not normally worn for daily use] with fur and line them with velvet or silk.
Iirc, McGill or one of the Canadian universities has a fur-lined red doctoral robe. I may be confusing this with the Canadian Supreme Court, who definitely wear fur lined red robes and look like they're wearing Santa suits.
250. You had Napoleon I as a tutor?
Wasn't this on the common misconceptions wiki page?
I thought Halford was exaggerating about the Santa-nature of Canadian legal clothing, but I was wrong.
No one really believes in the Canadian Supreme Court.
240: And if you're in the trade, dinner jackets become DJs. I spent a long time thinking we were going to a party with a disc jockey (and wondering why everyone was specifying this) when really it was a semi-formal event.
Canada's constitution must have a Claus Supremacy.
In the disputations, the supervising professor and the opponent carry their hats, but do not wear them. During disputations, the hats rest on the table, with the university emblems towards the audience.
Losers must surrender their hats, it does not go on to say.
McGill's regalia are crazy red and green Hogwarts looking things.
260: No -- you leave the room while the matter is being decided, and if when you return the emblem has been turned away from you, you've lost.
But "tuxedo" is the North American term (and apparently Irish, too? Who knew?) for what the British call a dinner jacket.
I think it varies here regionally and/or by class & religion, but tuxedo or tux is probably more common.
P.S. do UK school leavers have dances equivalent to North American proms? Irish ones do, in most parts of the country referred to as "debs' dances" (or just "debs") but in a few places called a prom or a grad.
Are school leavers people who drop out (i.e. do not graduate)?
British teenagers do not graduate from school. Until last year, they could leave at 16, now they have to stay in some sort of education/apprenticeship until 17, and staying until 18 will be mandatory after that.
And yeah to proms. Never used to in my day - we had a thing at 18 - but most schools have one at 16 now. Which makes sense, as there's often a lot of movement after gcse's. Kid A has hers in a few weeks, after her exams.
And then they have another one at 18.
I don't remember what our dance event was called, but it wasn't called a prom.
We had annual dances in our Scottish school. At Christmas. They were basically big ceilidhs with an interlude in the middle where modern music was played. For several weeks before our PE classes at school were country dancing lessons, which were mortifying if you were a bit shy or awkward.
If I recall correctly there wasn't one dance for every year group (in the school). I think there was one unified dance for 5th and 6th years, one for 3rd and 4th, and one for 1st and 2nd.
You didn't wear tuxedos to them, though. Just smart clothes, like you'd wear to a formal party or wedding or whatever. I remember wearing a high-80s style seersucker sports coat will rolled up sleeves to one. Like a shit Falkirk 'Don Johnson' outfit.
There were no events at all that were analogous to US style proms, and even at the 5th and 6th year dance, people didn't go with dates. You'd find a way to buy alcohol, get pissed en masse with a group of mates, turn up, try to smuggle booze in, and then if you were lucky get a snog or a bit of a grope somewhere dark in the school hall.
No, it wasn't called a Prom and we didn't dress for it (or not as much as Americans do). But it was a big deal. For '66 we had the Moody Blues, which was regarded as something of a coup.
What about the Yule Ball?
268 sounds pretty familiar to me. The worst one was the junior one, because a) at that age dancing with girls doesn't have quite the attraction that it develops later and b) all the girls are about a foot taller than you are, and, in Scottish country dancing, that's a perceptible force multiplier.
(Scottish weddings, like Dothraki weddings, are not considered proper without a few injuries. One broken ankle at the last one I went to, a couple of weeks back.)
272.last: Hmm, the wedding we went to this weekend had someone take a 20-foot fall off a "cliff" as he tells it, though that was after we'd left. I didn't see a cliff there, but I suppose neither did he.
The girls, especially Mara, don't understand that weddings don't just keep happening and that we can't go back to this one, which is kind of cute.
re: 272
Oh aye. I've been to the Riverside Club [in Glasgow, which used to have ceilidh nights aimed at more of a 'clubbing' audience], and come away with hellish bruises.
Googling, it seems the Riverside shut a few years back:
http://www.list.co.uk/article/1404-venue-closure-the-riverside-club/
269: Except for the lucky part, that was pretty much prom for me. And all the other high school dances.
re: 275
Me, too. I had no luck at all. Certainly until the final year at school, anyway.
We actually did wear tuxes for prom, except for the girls, but actual dating was beyond me and large subset of my peers.
At my old law firm, long before I got there, there was a dinner dance at (after) the annual meeting known as the prom. I doubt this custom went on into the 70s, but Philadelphia WASPs are a breed apart, so maybe it did. The use of the term was part of the folklore when I started, but has probably fallen below even that surface as oldsters have dropped out.