The Irish are wits, even when sober. Who knew? (I don't know why that clip is so funny, but it really is.)
I also found this clip absurdly amusing. I am relieved to find that it is not just me. Because let's face it, you have to be a total nerd to find this funny.
If it's vlogging you're after, check out this clip of Althouse dying in a fiery wreck.
Don't harsh the mellow, dude. When are we going to vlog?
That was kind of wonderful. The little satisfied smile after apparently drinking a half-gallon of coffee makes it.
6 to 4 and "vlomment" s/b" "vlomit".
althouse's vlogs make me want to go on a killing spree.
8 -- you mean vwallace's dog?
9: Umm, I think we can all agree that would be pretty awesome.
and "vlomment" s/b" "vlomit"
Already done, my man, already done.
I don't think I could vlog. I was playing around with the camera in Ficke's laptop this weekend and dropped about 50 IQ points in the process. I'm on the computer! How did I get on the computer?! When I move, computer me moves! It's like magic!
That happened to me once in college, hanging out with a friend doing a radio show. I got all "Wow, that's my voice, amplified" and didn't manage to say much of anything beyond giggling. It was pretty awful.
Not to get all pop-Freudian, but publicly speculating on the hypothetical castration of one's father is a little bit, er, interesting.
Labs and I are recording one right now, but you're all too young to watch it.
15: Yes, that first video from the link in 4 is quite . . . something.
I'm about halfway through that Althouse video and seriously: WTF?
"There are many reasons why any given person is born, all the little details of how all the [pause] parts, all the moving parts, the people, the genitalia, the sperms and ova came to be in the right place at the right time and you got born. It's a pretty extraordinary thing."
I was playing around with the camera in Ficke's laptop this weekend
And that's not a euphemism.
I have wondered if I would make a good vlogger, and decided no, for the same reasons I'm not good at taking my own picture. If I'm not reacting to a human being, I look really fake when I try to smile or look animated. Althouse is an interesting (if totally batshit) vlogger because she is only trying to entertain herself as it is--no audience is needed to get her all sparkly and alive.
"Oooh, ooh, there's my phone! Hello?"
I have managed to completely ignore this Althouse character until now. For some reason I clicked on the link in 4.
It made me wonder: if something is so boring that it's fascinating, is it fascinating or boring?
I watched about a minute of the Althouse vlog. Couldn't take it.
18: Yeah, her vlogs remind me of my stoner college roommate's monologues on how amazing stuff is. The light! It goes behind the houses! And is gone! Until tomorrow! When it appears again! What a beautiful thing! Oh, and memory! That it exists, that one can remember!
"I haven't melted down, I haven't freaked out, I haven't drunk any wine..."
Don't worry, 'smasher, we all die eventually.
Them's fightin' words, 'Smasher. We run on Althouse around here. Find an alternate source of energy first.
30: I don't think you can blame the mess that is Texas on Althouse, Smasher.
"Some people don't understand vlogging. I think a nice vlog for a blog post makes the blog bloggier, but some people are alarmed by blogginess. It brings out the you-a-law-professor side of a lot of people. Some people want the heavy signs of trustworthiness, like they try to serve up on the network news. If you cut into that with low-tech recording, rough edges, and -- oh, I don't know -- a glass of wine... it can really bend some people out of shape. But what bloggier than bending people out of shape?"
She answers the phone and moves the camera to keep it on herself? Gadzooks. Can't we go back to the Healy bit?
But she's obviously wrong about Austin, which is awesome.
Oh good god, the Kitchen Aid Mixer coffee-cup!
Ooh, can we remind the Bostonians that we're meeting up tomorrow? 6:00, Miracle of Science, be there or be square.
i totally am not paying attention to the clip but just honed back in when she talked about castration of somebody being related to some texas disaster. wtf is going on? is she high? augh. must kill.
Becks doesn't like it when we threaten Althouse, c.
hey, i'm glad people liked it ... though the comments thread seems to be evidence of a Gresham's Law of Vlogging.
I guess I just prefer that people limit their wishes to harm, not death.
In a bizarre sort of way, these Althouse vlogs are actually somewhat addictive.
God, I skimmed through the other posts on that page. It's totally banal. How did she get famous?
you're right, i should take the althouse-induced rage and channel it into something positive. like sneaking into her house and destroying her video camera/laptop.
44: By insulting people more interesting than herself. Although I guess I first heard of her before the breast-blogging incident. It was back when she was defending the treatment Padilla was getting. Why did we hear of her then though? there must be a jillion nitwits with equally vile opinions I've never heard of. Hmm. It's Labs fault.
Althouse is well-known because Insty links to her regularly and she guest blogs at his place.
Results 1 - 10 of about 15,100 from instapundit.com for althouse.
It should be Unfogged's mission to set up Althouse with Emerson.
Kieran both looks and sounds disappointingly American in that vlog. I want my Europeans to be exotic sophisticates.
OK, so, seriously, I wonder if anybody in history has thought of something more interesting to do with a camera than point it at a nerd and let them talk about politics (or, apparently, castration) for ten minutes in a single unedited take. Somebody must have, right?
38: Wait, I thought we were doing next week (the 12th), not tomorrow.
56: Oh sorry, you're quite right--tomorrow is Maundy Thursday. I just can't hardly wait.
Althouse has claimed that, as a natural redhead, she tried to get it dyed back that way, but it turned out "the color of an old copper penny [pulls face]" and she was, like, forced to go blonde to fix it. But she's had it that way for several years, that light white hooker blonde. Mustn't she like it that way?
By their mid-50s, most redheads have gone white naturally.
That light white hooker blonde can look good on older women with graying hair. Red doesn't age well, and the red dyes very rarely look natural.
59: And once they go white, they never go back.
red dyes very rarely look natural
You're talking about maraschino cherries, no?
Right. One thing about white-blonde for an older woman is that it's very forgiving of white roots -- if she had her hair anything darker, she'd have to touch it up a couple of times a month.
the red dyes very rarely look natural
You have to pay a lot of money to someone who knows what they're doing for a realistic-looking red dye, I'm told by the women who cut my hair and express jealousy.
65: Apo, are you trying to tell us that your carpet doesn't match your drapes?
65: I get the same about my blonde. The funny thing is that my mom thinks I should dye my hair, since it's no longer that bright brassy whitish blonde, but I keep explaining that her blonde-center has just been screwed up by seeing people with bad dye-jobs.
I once told a woman with dyed red hair that her hair looked like copper wire unwound from an old electric engine. She was not amused.
Like *you* have to ask, M/tch. My beard has gone mostly grey, but I still have almost no grey anywhere else. And still no sign of hair loss as I approach 40. My four-years-younger brother, on the other hand, is notably salt and pepper with a rapidly retreating hairline. He's never said it outright, but I think he's a little pissed at the inequity.
Althouse has no shoulders, and those wobbly old-lady triceps.
68: Hey, a no relationship policy isn't always pretty.
67: My sister was the same way, and had her hair highlighted blonde because the dark ash blonde it darkened to didn't look blonde enough.
Red and blonde hair also tends not to look good while it's going gray. It doesn't go silver, it just fades and looks washed out.
70: But insists on sleeveless tops! This is what we were talking about w/r/t cocktail dresses. Not everyone looks good in straps.
73: I haven't seen anyone accuse her of aging gracefully.
72: This is why I'm glad mine is getting darker in places. Honey blondes age better than chick-fluff blondes.
Althouse is in her late fifties (I think). It's the woman in her rare late fifties who doesn't have old lady triceps.
[MuttermutterI can't believe I'm defendingmuttermutter]
My auburn-haired grandmother went beautifully white. I (sort of) hope to do the same -- the grey-or-whatever hairs that are coming in these days look promising in that direction. The trouble, of course, is that I'm afraid I'll look incredibly washed out instead of prettily tow-headed.
I dunno, I think Althouse is kinda pretty.
If you all are worried about how you're going to gray, you can always look into your hair dye options.
Stuff and nonsense, JM. I can think of two people I see at the pool who are older than Althouse and don't have old-lady triceps.
78: I think this is why she's so popular. Note that most of the responses to her vlogs are not about her weird ramblings, but about how nice she looks with a ponytail, and so forth.
70: Oh, come on. Hate her for her wobbly ideas, not her wobbly triceps.
79: I'm terrified of succumbing to that world, though. Once you start, you can't stop. I've already gotten on the relationship-with-expensive-hairdresser bandwagon.
I like my grey. But then I also like my crows feet.
I think Althouse is pretty.
And I don't know if I'll dye my hair when I go gray. Depends on when I do, probably. I figure I have about 15 years to decide, at least.
Agree with Magpie. Plus, however attractive/unatrractive you find her--and I think she's attractive--she's well above average for yer avg. blogger. Even yer avg. liberal blogger.
83: I took it as a statement of fact rather than of judgment. Then again, I also took it as a subtle shoutout to Althouse who surely must have noticed the referrals coming from this comment thread by now.
73: Careful, we've already had an ugly throw down here about whether people of certain body types should be told they shouldn't wear certain clothes. IIRC, M.leblanc was insisting that all statements of the form "People with X shouldn't wear Y" represented an unfair patriarchal imposition. I think I agree with her, but only because I'm into big thighs.
Yeah, I figured she was reading this thread, and wanted to hurt her feelings. But whatever my motivation, those triceps are wobbly.
Yeah, I figured she was reading this thread, and wanted to hurt her feelings.
For gawd's sake, why? Hasn't she passed "hatable," and moved into "pitiable"?
Of course she's pretty, and her arms look fine. And you know, even if they didn't, that doesn't mean she needs to throw a tarp over herself -- if she likes sleeveless tops she should wear them. No one's watching deLong drink coffee because the man's visually compelling. (Kieran, on the other hand...)
I'm going gray now (not all that much yet if you're not looking for it, but I think it's getting close to the tipping point where it's going to get really obvious) and I think I've decided I can't dye it because I'll never keep on top of the maintenance, and darkish hair with grey roots looks pathetic beyond words.
Ok, ogged, my sixty-five year-old ballet teacher didn't have old lady triceps either, but that's because she was freakishly fit.
It's so not true that you have to decide whether to go gray or not once and for all. There are all sorts of rinses, hennas, highlighting options. Hair grows. You can always hack off the dyed bits.
People with extra digits shouldn't wear swim flippers.
89: I didn't mean to issue a fatwa against strappy sleeves, just to retroactively explain what some of the dudes on that thread were not understanding about why a woman might not want them. We don't want ogged to judge us.
That was crossed with the last couple of comments. But M.Leblanc is right.
Ogged, someday you too will have a whole medley of wobbly, wrinkly, hairy, floppy old-man parts.
Aging: not just for the nutbars.
My mom started going grey in college, and dyed her hair until she was in her early forties. She now has very distinguished-looking silver hair.
God, you liberals have no taste for blood. Here we have one of blogdom's loathesome characters offering herself up for abuse, and when I take a cheapish shot (which had to hurt!) you go all "but but Categorical Imperative" on me.
If I had a prayer of having lovely, bright silver hair before age 70, I'd go grey naturally. But that's not going to happen, and grey hairs mixed in with my natural (or not-so-natural) color look like ass, so I'm committed to the bottle for the duration.
The important things here are that (a) she's using her looks to flirt with a readership that can't possibly care about her content, (b) she's hypercritical of fashion and looks in academics, politicians, and other bloggers, and (c) the content of her vlogs is mostly her drinking something, talking about drinking something, and getting mystical about mundanities while being pretty offensive about things and people she doesn't like.
I'm committed to the bottle for the duration
Hell yeah, sister! Oh wait, you mean hair dye.
God, you liberals have no taste for blood.
There's a difference between kicking someone who has fallen down and kicking someone who has fallen down and cannot ever get back up.
Yeah, you can kick the second one at your leisure.
99: Yeah, it's funny how having had the same sort of thing pointed my way in the past builds empathy for this kind of thing.
Also, if I had gray hair and didn't like it, I see no reason why I'd have to go for my natural color instead of hot pink.
Hair dye: a better proxy than makeup. (Ducks)
102: Well, the other bottle too. I am of Irish ancestry, after all.
But seriously, that's bull. As far as blogdom goes, she has traffic and a platform, at her place and Insty's, to say all sorts of false crap about people on "our side." That's not to mention abusing people at conferences and video debates. She's not fucking powerless, she's horrible and we should all want to make her cry.
She's not fucking powerless, she's horrible and we should all want to make her cry.
Word.
She's not fucking powerless, she's horrible and we should all want to make her cry.
I genuinely believe she has...issues. Does anyone take her seriously anymore? Does anyone think the right takes her seriously, anymore?
Pointing out that she's an idiot works just fine. Her triceps aren't a reason to listen to her one way or the other.
I switched hairdressers when I moved to DC because I didn't want to have to rent a Zipcar and go to Virginia every time I needed a haircut. NewGuy totally screwed up my cut (and, worse, my color) last time I went. I'm going to have to go groveling back to OldGuy next time to fix it and he's going to give me shit and a half for cheating on him.
Yeah, but LB, if you say she's an idiot, she just thinks that she's being unfairly persecuted, but there's nothing she can do about her wobbly triceps. Doesn't anyone know how to hurt someone's feelings anymore?
107 - Like people said on the other thread, if it's done right, you don't realize they've done it.
Also, I can't believe you didn't take this tack, ogged: "Would it be anti-feminist to attack her on any grounds available? It would be anti-feminist not to!"
66: I thought it was well-established that Apo has hardwood floors.
Also, if you have a good dye job, you don't have to wear as much makeup.
(At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)
I get the $25 cut once a year at one of those Jean Claude Van Damme chain places. It seems to work okay.
(Actually, I lie -- last year's haircut was expensive and very good, when I did that spa day thing. I actually thought about having the same woman cut my hair regularly, but forgot to arrange it, and now the spa's closed.)
There's such a rich vein of crazy to be mined in Althouse's blogging/vlogging that you don't need to go for the cheap shot. Plus it just gives her ammo in her self-righteousness: "waaah, liberals all just hate me because I'm beautiful!"
115: I just want to be clear that I was making a joke, and take no position at all on the hair dye matter. Some of my best friends have friends who dye their hair.
She's not fucking powerless, she's horrible and we should all want to make her cry.
Dude, that's kind of fucked up.
Ogged's trying hard, but we all know he'd totally tag Althouse, wobbly arms and all.
Have you guys seen McLemee metavlogging Althouse?
Have you guys seen McLemee metavlogging Althouse? He could have done more with it, but it's cute.
Dude, that's kind of fucked up.
I didn't know you had it in you, Bridgeplate.
119: Jean Claude Van Damme cuts hair now? Whuh?
122: That, I don't get at all. If I thought she wasn't largely powerless, I might agree with ogged. Maybe not. But it seems like a reasonable position to hold: if horrible, it's OK to want to make them cry.
114: The triceps thing is a better insult if what you're interested in is causing her emotional pain. It sucks if you're trying to reduce her influence, because it's perfect fodder for her standard "Why do they hate me so, they attack me personally because they can't refute my ideas," routine, and we're right back on the 'Why are lefty bloggers anti-intellectual misogynist bullies' merrygoround, which I'd just as soon skip, thanks.
I totally want to do MST3K treatments of Althouse vlogs.
Let's try that again: I totally want somebody else to do MST3K treatments of Althouse vlogs.
ogged, you need to make me a co-blogger so I can BAN YOU ALL FOR ARRRRRRHHHGGGJHHH.
131: If well done, that would be brilliant.
Whoops. My connection's been really goofy.
120 but think about the opportunity cost of expensive shots
'Why are lefty bloggers anti-intellectual misogynist bullies' merrygoround, which I'd just as soon skip, thanks.
This kills me, though. It's one thing to say that we shouldn't make certain kinds of attacks because either we're not that sort of people, or it harms our own as well as it harms them. But who the fuck cares what she thinks? She may not be harming people in the way that ogged thinks, but she's pretty clearly on the side of evil.
My connection's been really goofy.
Is your "connection" causing unexplained rashes again?
My connection's been really goofy.
Is your "connection" causing unexplained rashes again?
I didn't know you had it in you, Bridgeplate.
Neither does Labs. I think I'm in the next county over.
Don't joke, apo. I'm very single now.
I think your connection is affecting me now.
Some people are just horrible, and the only thing left is to crush them, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their commenters.
Y'know, if it would make her sycophantic comment-dork Simon cry, it might be worth it.
143. Time to head for the free clinic, Apo.
137: Oh, I don't care what Althouse thinks. I just get the creeps being on the same side of an argument as someone saying "Hey, check it out -- there's a woman I disagree with who's no longer youthful and perky. That's a great way to shame her into shutting up." I mean, what do you say when one of Althouse's fans points out what's going on?
I'm 32, going gray and losing my hair. Fuck if I care. I'm fat and happy and my boyfriend is hot and awesome. I'd rather live to be flabby and bald than have died when I was 19 and getting all kinds of play.
145: What's the symbolic significance of the patriotic rhino in the header?
I started this with the hooker-hair comment, for which I hereby apologize. I just think it's obvious that, like Ann Coulter, AA has a lot of fans who are into looking at her and pretending to care about what she says.
As a side note, one of my grandmother's cousins started going gray at 17 and her hair was completely white at 20. Reportedly others were jealous because it made her distinctive but it's not like I was there to verify that.
145. Republican in Name Only.
Republican in Name Only.
See, I thought that, but it doesn't make much sense in this context. I'm wondering if maybe it references the Ionescu play?
151: My mother went gray that young, and kept it that way -- on her it looked amazing, like metal.
Seriously, isn't it just mean and bitter to want to make an middle aged law professor cry? Do you really want to be that way?
155 tell me you wouldn't get a kick out of making Glenn Reynolds cry.
155: I dunno, I'd like to make Glenn Reynolds cry.
You're going places, Beefo Meaty.
AWB, I'm just curious, are you insane?
I just think it's obvious that, like Ann Coulter, AA has a lot of fans who are into looking at her and pretending to care about what she says.
With all necessary qualifications about the content of their views, these are not attractive women. People claiming otherwise are, I'm convinced, doing so out of some kind of ideological solidarity. You might think that AA is "attractive for a woman of a certain age" or something like that, but there are very few people interested in looking at women of that age for purely aesthetic/visual stimulation.
re: 148
I started losing my hair in my mid-20s. Luckily it seems quite a slow process. Friends who started losing theirs after me have overtaken me.
I like going gray, though, although I only have a couple of grey hairs. So it's likely I'll be bald before I get that silver-fox graying-temple happening.
very few people interested in looking at women of that age
Your internet porn travels need expanding, my dear.
161: I'm not saying I am attracted to them. I'm just saying there has to be a reason why all Republican female pundits have frizzless, fetishy hair and wear revealing, tight tops. It doesn't matter if they have kissable lips or soulful eyes, the way it would if one was judging a potential date.
I take your point, LB, which is why you should all shout me down; it's not like the "you have wobbly triceps" bell can be unrung.
And Althouse is the sort of person a dude could imagine behaving just as flirtily to his face as she does to the image of herself on her editing program.
161: For her mid-fifties, or whatever, she looks good, and more importantly for the vblogging purpose, she presents herself and acts like an attractive woman. You get a lot more social advantage from successfully acting pretty than you do from however 'objectively' attractive you are, if that means anything.
So I take back the complaining about the Categorical Imperative. I get to hurt her feelings, you get to maintain liberal respectability--win-win.
Even you pervert of an Apostropher must admit that it's a fringe market.
There's a reason, but it's not a straightforward "they look good" sort of reason.
FL you need to broaden your porn universe. As google says: "Results 1 - 10 of about 2,180,000 for mature porn."
Also keep in mind we're talking about the universe of political commentators, here. Not exactly ANTM, or even "Real Housewives of Orange County."
164. Well, I think that they are "attractive" in the universe of pundits. Certainly better looking that Eleanor Clift, and she's on TV.
167: that's fine, but I don't think it contradicts my claim in 161.
I think we may be headed to the same place, dude. You want me to save you a seat if I get there first?
Ah, FL, while the status of the contextualist "for an F" is debated, clearly we can say Althouse is attractive for a Republican pundit, and now I seem to be pwned by Beefo Meaty, but whatevs, we know the pwn that can be named is not the calapwn.
The common theme of all these right-wing pundits is that they seem to care whether you want to fuck them or not. Left-wing women seem (eh?) to behave more like they're there to think and talk more than to suck up the pleasure of being watched.
Labs is about three comments away from saying no one looks good after age thirty.
Off to the eye doctor, where I'm going to ask for glasses that block out all flabby people...
147: I agree that certain types of attacks ought to be forsworn. Attacks on the way a woman looks probably fall into that category. It does sometimes bother me that liberal/Dems/whatever seem to have this instinctive urge to engage everyone in reasoned combat, as if, in the end, there was going to be some sort of consensus resolution. Sometimes, that end is never a possibility.
Right, but your claim in 161 doesn't contradict "fans who are into looking at her and pretending to care about what she says." She doesn't have a lot of fans who are getting sexually excited looking at her, probably. But she's attractive enough, and does pretty-woman schtick effectively enough, that she's going to have some part of her audience nodding along because they're being flattered and flirted with by an attractive woman, rather than because they're all that interested in her substance. Pretty gets you credibility.
174: I think you're underestimating how fungible a lonely conservadork's definition of "attractiveness" is.
I mean, loneliness-wise, Althouse and Coulter's fan base is pretty rarified territory.
180 to 174. And now, of course, I'm attacking her for the way she presents herself. Which is why I hate these conversations.
177. Appeasing the patriarchy?
AA has a lot of fans who are into looking at her and pretending to care about what she says.
I took this to mean that AA's appearance is an important reason why many people watch/read/tune in. And this claim is different from the claim she's attractive for a 60 year old (or whatever) or attractive for a female pundit. I can grant these latter claims and say, as I did, that the first one sounds crazy to me.
182 it does beg the question, if that's her schtick, of why the way she presents herself (sleevelessly) isn't fair game.
But she's attractive enough, and does pretty-woman schtick effectively enough, that she's going to have some part of her audience nodding along because they're being flattered and flirted with by an attractive woman, rather than because they're all that interested in her substance. Pretty gets you credibility.
LB, you tool of the patriarchy, we're at least talking about the same thing. I think we just disagree about the plausibility of this claim.
I'm John Derbyshire.
182: I think it's OK for you or another woman to go after her in certain ways that it's not OK for a man to do. The problem is that someone sees a woman saying something, and then the guys feel licensed. But I think attacks by women are the solution: the "attractive and thus credible" thing is a real phenomenon, and it win the day because no one calls it out.
I'm John Derbyshire.
And you're not.
186: I think it's undeniable that presenting oneself as youthfully attractive, as Althouse does, is socially advantageous for older women even if they aren't successfully making themselves look 25. There's a reason all the fifty-something TV newswomen dye their hair -- middleaged doesn't get you credibility, it gets you ignored.
Oooon the other hand, I don't begrudge a lonely middle-aged woman the desire to look good in spite of an increasingly rebellious physique. Even if she is repellent and mean-spirited. So 185 is sort of a moot point.
I do bregrudge a lonely middle-aged woman the desire to publish dozens of addictively train-wrecky vlogs of herself acting plastered out of her mind.
Yeah, I'd like that to stop. Also I don't think she's acting.
185: It's not fair game because it reinforces the validity of a horrible criterion. To the extent that her self-presentation isn't neutral, she's playing the "Pretty women can be seen in public, the rest of you go hide under your rocks" game. Attacking her by saying "You too are too old and ugly and flabby to be seen -- go away, we only want to listen to really pretty women!" doesn't undermine that game, it strengthens it.
I kind of like the idea that I'm allowed to speak regardless of what I look like -- if Althouse's triceps disqualify her, I'm next under the bus.
191: And for that we should make fun of her relentlessly.
For the record, my "not aging gracefully" crack a ways upthread was aimed primarily at her apparent resentment of young, attractive women pundits whom she apparently takes to be trying to usurp her ecological niche. In the world we live in, trading on your looks a bit isn't the greatest of sins, but attacking other women for being younger and better-looking isn't very nice, especially when they're not playing the same game.
(Is this a good time to say that I've been annoying the crap out of myself for the last week or two? Didn't blogs used to be more fun?)
I'm next under the bus.
Women under busses are hott.
195: Yeah, I think that's part of what's going on.
197: I can't believe that comment didn't have a link to porn.
193: Yes, and I get the sense that she's only comfortable with women who are exactly as attractive as herself. If you don't dress well, you're off her list, but you're also off her list if you look too good. Hearing her rundown of American Idol, it was like all the women were overrated, the boys were all adorable. It reminds me of girls who go to parties to insult the outfits of all the girls present to the boy of her choice, as if to say, "Clearly, I am the only acceptable human being."
I kind of like the idea that I'm allowed to speak regardless of what I look like -- if Althouse's triceps disqualify her, I'm next under the bus.
But you and she are playing different games. And I think people do respect that difference, though not as much as one would like. Maybe that's because your choices as a woman are (a) faceless, or (b) sex object; I hope not.
185: Raise the question! We've been here before, people.
I can't believe that comment didn't have a link to porn.
Okay, it really isn't that hott.
197: We already had a thread about that.
"Didn't blogs used to be more fun?"
Yeah, I miss that thread, too.
OK, half an hour since the last comment anywhere. I think we broke the blog.
97: Ogged, someday you too will have a whole medley of wobbly, wrinkly, hairy, floppy old-man parts.
If he plays his cards right with the 70-year-old guy at the pool, ogged can have his medley of floppy old-man parts any night of the week.
Nothing fixes a blog like a medley of floppy old-man parts.
Dudes! We are talking about Ann Althouse.
Who the fuck cares about Ann Althouse?
Can we move on?
I still cannot believe she had a guest column at the Times. Well, I can believe it, but it just makes me even sadder for the Times.
And when he is a 70-year-old man, then he will be able to swim a medley with his floppy medley of floppy parts.
193: It's not fair game because it reinforces the validity of a horrible criterion.
Well, it reinforces that attacking people's appearance is fair game, and that there's a certain amount of callousness toward how this might affect the feelings of anyone else in the room.
Which isn't nice, strictly speaking, but which is really not the same thing as saying that only pretty people get to speak. It's perfectly commonplace to people on political blogs mock Ann Coulter's Adam's apple, Hugh Hewitt's man-boobs, Michelle Malkin's crazyface, Jeff Gannon's cock-shaped head, Kaye Grogan's fashion sense, Don Surber for looking like a thumb puppet, etc -- but I've yet to see anyone go on from there to say that Pam Oshry seems sane to them because she's prettier, or that commentary should only be got from Matt Damon and Jessicas Alba, Biel and Valenti because they all have nice tits. That just isn't the dynamic.
209 is completely right, BTW. In other news (for those who may not have read The News Blog recently) sweet Christ is Gilliard in rough shape.
Did I mention that Kieran is funny? And that I never read/watch Althouse, nor expect to?
I confess I found McLemee watching Althouse watching American Idol pretty funny, though. Also.
By the way, ogged, did anyone ever tell you this blog is easy to look at?
"commentary should only be got from Matt Damon and Jessicas Alba, Biel and Valenti because they all have nice tits. That just isn't the dynamic.
Forget Damon. The rest is genius.
And does Matt Damon really have nice tits?
He's got nicer legs than Hitler and bigger tits than Cher.
213: in other questions I hope never come up,
Was Idealist in the Army?
Does Gary read comic books?
215: Not as good as Hewitt's, but I guess that's a pretty high bar.
Threadjack! What is the name of the principle that "the likelihood of making a grammatical error while correcting someone else's is 1"? Does it have a funny name like Gresham or Godwin or Avogadro or one of those?
You'd think the Internet could do better than "The Iron Law of Nitpicking".
I see you've all moved on, but for the record, of course it's wrong to try to refute someone by appeal to their looks (ok, it's probably wrong, but don't you think that someone wouldn't be ugly (accidents aside) if their soul wasn't broken?), but you can't hurt someone's feelings while being a rock of righteousness, and being an adult means making tough choices.
OK, not so much "Threadjack!" as "feeble attempt at resuscitation!" And here I thought you people were talking about something.
I know it's on Language Log somewhere, Wrongshore.
Sorry, that's obvious, but I thought it had a different name, too.
220: Zoolander's Law, in honour of the Centre for Kids Who Can't Read Good? (I'd like to call it Truss' Law, in reference to the awful copy-edting of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, but not enough people have read the book.)
Yeah, I got the Iron Law of Nitpicking through them. Oh well. Thank you.
212: I know, doesn't it sound awful? I wish they'd raise money for something or something -- someone who writes a blog I read is that sick and I want to do something tangible. I suppose I could send a get well card.
Everything that LizardBreath has already said, but since I love to yammer on, an additional observation or two:
Look, it's not as though any of the male vloggers I've seen are any sort of model for the Adonis, but that's all well and good, and who would reasonably expect otherwise? With women, the expectations are different, I think. Which expectations are exactly what makes mention of triceps or biceps, or whatever the hell youse are talking about, at least a little bit problematic. The fact is, a male blogger (and even a male vlogger) can be as homely as a hedgehog, and yet nobody will see fit to mention it. Would that it were so for the women.
That said, Althouse is clearly well-schooled in the performance of a certain type of femininity. She is quite pretty, imo, but let's face it, the bloom is off the rose. I would not say that she is attractive for a fifty-something, but I would say that she is attractive as a fifty-something. But she apparently still wants to see herself as a twenty-something, which is partly what gives her public performances of femininity their cringe-inducing quality. She needs to get over this, and fast, if she hopes to maintain even a shred of dignity. But all of that said, instead of just focusing on her failure to live up to the ideal she is trying to embody, I guess I'm inclined to ask some hard questions about that very ideal in the first place.
None of which should be read as an endorsement of anyone who was idiotic enough to vote for Bush in 2004 "because of 9/11." On this point, my contempt knows no bounds. But I don't see the need to mention the biceps or triceps or whatever musculature whatsoever of the voter in question, and I can think of several reasons not to.
227: Completely agree, it's frustrating.
228: The fact is, a male blogger (and even a male vlogger) can be as homely as a hedgehog, and yet nobody will see fit to mention it.
We're talking about the same blogosphere that brought you the Pillsbury Pantload, right?
Oh, come one. She's charming in a self-delusional kind of way.
Not to mention that Kaus gets called ugly (rightly!) every five minutes.
come one come all! to the althouse ball!
228: I agree, except that ad hominem attacks work, and they work better than "attacking the argument." Jim Henley had a short post about this problem in the past, but I can't find it yet.
229: yeah, coming from a site which pretty regularly mocks male republicans for their appearance that sounded a little strange to me, too.
Wasn't there a big fight over at S,N! recently because they were making fun of Dafyyd Ab Hugh's appearance?
I think the idea is that attacks on a woman's attractiveness harm a woman more because (I think--this is a bit of a guess) a woman's attractiveness affects her credibility more than a man's attractiveness affects his. Also, the attacks are more frequent.
If it weren't for the crazy politics and the idiotic chafing over whatshername's cleavage, there would be nothing unlikeable. I mean, how many people here aren't self-delusional in some regard? We are sitting, typing into a blog thread.
Let's face it, there's a 90% chance that one of the regular commenters here is, in fact, Ann Althouse.
235: So it is okay to mock men for their appearance? Because it's pretty fun.
The blogging from the road is by far the better of the two clips.
This is dedicated to the one I love.
There was someone who actually disagreed with making fun of Dafydd Ab Hugh's appearance? Cripes.
Let's face it, there's a 90% chance that one of the regular commenters here is, in fact, Ann Althouse.
SURE, KILL THE GOOSE...NO MORE EGGS FOR YOU
Did you read the comments on those vlogs? Very weird stuff, all about whether her eyes are really so blue, and whether the china is real or not, and how bare bare bare her arms are and how they wish there were bare legs too. I rest my case.
239: So wait, I should have a double standard in how I treat men and women?
This stuff gets confusing.
But what you said about chimpeaching the chimperor: it was all lies?
You know, I think this notion that women pay a price in "credibility" if they're attractive is false. Not just false, but quite the opposite of what's true. Attractive women have lots of advantages, but being taken seriously isn't one of them; at a certain level of "seriousness," attractiveness becomes a liability. (This is true, though less so, for men as well.) That doesn't mean that there aren't people who will call Madeleine Albright an ugly cow, just that it doesn't matter as much as we think, because the fact that she's an ugly cow is one reason most people trust her to be Secretary of State. Given that, I'm not sure what the cost of my noting her wobbly triceps really is. Does it keep unattractive women from vlogging or reinforce norms that keep them off the television? I'm ok with that; there are other outlets for people's deep thoughts and I honestly don't want to see ugly people on my screen--I know this sounds flip but "a face for radio" is a phrase we all understand.
And I haven't even mentioned that Althouse both asks for nastiness and deserves it...see gswift's 144.
"I rest my case."
Your case that the people who comment on Althouse's blog are creepy?
241: Lots and lots and lots of people.
It was perhaps the most tiresome argument in the history of the blogosphere.
I was trying to find all the links, but I'm already bored. Suffice to say it spiralled wildly out of control.
244: I think the rule is really one about "unfair advantage," so no double standard. You can't make fun of certain things that give you an unfair advantage: race, gender, disabilities, etc. In real life, you'd only be allowed to go back to the "that guy's fat" well so many times before it was too much. I think (and maybe the proper word here is "feel") that attacks on the attractiveness of women go to gender somehow. But that's rampant speculation.
Yglesias ups the ante again.
Holy moly, his girlfriend talks in complete paragraphs without ever saying "um."
if someone could get aa to vlog w/ atlas pam, my head might explode from the sheer awesomeness. or from the explosion, as the sparks from the friction of their mighty egos ignites the gin fumes.
Unless he's recently shaved, Yglesias is waaay overchycked.
Sara really is lovely. She did say "um" a few times, though.
247.---I instinctively trust the not-particularly-attractive, okay, fine, she's ugly, Candy Crowley.
"Does it keep unattractive women from vlogging or reinforce norms that keep them off the television? I'm ok with that; there are other outlets for people's deep thoughts and I honestly don't want to see ugly people on my screen"
Especially given the inherently uncompelling nature of vlogging. If the only thing different about vlogging versus blogging is that people get to look at you, should you consider whether you're actually adding value?
Or maybe that's too old media of me.
I'm getting a kick out of all the vlogging, but if this keeps up, I'm going to be annoyed. Beyond idle curiosity about what people are like, it takes too much time to watch, lots of people can't watch at work, etc. etc.
257: I almost never watch them. The trainwrecks are pretty hilarious, but when it comes to people making points I'm actually interested in I prefer reading them about a million to one.
Which is not to mention that most vlogs are slightly less visually compelling than a driver's license.
I can only hope bloggers will figure out some slightly more creative uses of ubiquitous video embedding.
how bare bare bare her arms are
Ah, but in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!
248: Some point I made way up there about AA's looks being what these vlogs are about, that no one cares about what she says, so criticizing her content is beside the point, which is that right-wingers like to flirt with her.
Vlogging is usually dull, for the same reason that public access television is usually dull. If people are going to do it, they need to smoke a few grams of rock and climb on a treadmill or something.
is there anything wrong w/ only being able to watch the vlogs of those on whom you have blogcrushes? i vaguely feel i'm being unseemly when i criticize anyone based on their appearance, even when they're making it part of their schtick. i also vaguely feel that maybe i should feel vaguely unseemly when i'm watching a vlog when i like the vlogger's blogging and thinking "they're cute!", and noting that i wouldn't be watching the vlog of a less attractive vlogger whose blogging i enjoy.
vlog.
Picking on someone's looks only makes the picker look like a child.
Also, I'm grateful to Kieran for the Kitchenaid coffee cup idea, because pretty much every dish in the house is dirty and I may or may not load and run the damn dishwasher tonight. If not, Kitchenaid tomorrow morning!
263: Picking on someone's looks only makes the picker look like a child.
Also, you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
"a face for radio"
should be, a face for podcasts...
"Picking on someone's looks only makes the picker look like a child."
Well, that and elicites laughter from people who appreciate stupid, childish humor.
It also really is one of the best ways to be mean, which is no surprise, children being the acknowledged masters of hurtful, petty teasing.
Right; it's not something I would have written in a post at the Washington Monthly, for example. But here, where most of the people will either agree with me or be Ann Althouse...
, children being the acknowledged masters of hurtful, petty teasing.
So true.
264: I know it sounds prim, but it's true.
But we go on the intertubes to indulge our worst natures, B.
while i'm delurkering, i'd like to speak for the silent lurkority with a "hooray! sifu tweety!"
B, you did not just unironically agree with 264.
263: A measuring cup might work too.
at a certain level of "seriousness," attractiveness becomes a liability and because the fact that she's an ugly cow is one reason most people trust her to be Secretary of State.
Facile and untrue.
Wrong and wrong.
See how easy that is?
why is it prim to catch flies? also, why is ironic to primly, truly catch flies. also, won't you catch more flies yet w/ poop? that's the maxim by which i live.
272: What? I know I'm being a priss, just like you know you're being a sexist ass.
B, you are vinegar. You, personally, are probably responsible for driving at least 146 people to stop calling themselves feminists.
278: Your psyops techniques will not work on me. I am not responsible for other people's decisions.
Plus I'm responsible for making hundreds, if not thousands, of undergraduates realize that feminists are cool and interesting, so there.
278: Show your work. That number looks like you pulled it out of your ass.
Also, you're just wrong. Pelosi may not be a great beauty, but she looks damn good for someone who is 66. Etc.
Honestly, I've never understood the flies and vinegar saying. Why adjudicate the worth of anything by whether flies will like it (cf. matty's 276)? Also, vinegar is damned good.
What I really meant to say in 264 was: be the change you wish to see in the world. Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every byway, until you find your dream.
There's a difference between substantive critique, no matter how bitchy, and nyah-nyah you're ugly critique.
So nyah-nyah.
282: Yeah, unfairly or not, the latter works.
At what? Being annoying and looking dumb? Isn't that exactly the kind of thing that makes Althouse so dismissable?
Also, I would have a hard time describing a really super bitchy substantive critique as "honey."
"You can catch more flies with organic balsamic vinaigrette than you can with spoiled Night Train," perhaps?
What would a substantive critique of Althouse's vlogging look like, anyhow?
"Well, she's drinking a cabernet there, and I personally think that if you're going to get lit on camera you should stick to your nicer pinot noirs."
I'm off to bed early tonight, but 1) we weren't doing substantive critique--we've done that before, but today we were all making fun of her, in various ways and 2) I wasn't trying to critique her, I was trying to make her cry, or at least self-conscious.
Nighty night.
Unfortunately, the last few years have demonstrated that trying to substantively engage with certain people is a waste of time, while childishly mocking them is cathartic and gets under their skin.
Is such mockery a noble endeavour? Perhaps not as noble as the time I saved a group of waifish, saucer-eyed orphans from certain death in the guts of a burning building. But there is perhaps a certain Quixotic charm to it, nevertheless.
285: I wasn't; I was admitting DS's implied critique that I was being pat and priggish.
cathartic and gets under their skin.
I think that's really it.
There's a reason all the fifty-something TV newswomen dye their hair
It would be really cool to see a badass middle-aged newswoman with steel-grey hair snatch the guts right out of one of our elected liars, BBC-style. A little fantasy, *sigh*...
I have to take LB's side on the great wobbly-tricep debate, mostly cuz, growing up in Florida, I saw lots of old-man titties hanging off of elderly Cuban/Jewish gents who could give a fuck what you think, and was awed. Imagining flapping my own pair around with contempt for everyone in view is one of the few things I look forward to about growing old.
In a (subtly) related matter, even just reading this: I'm fat and happy and my boyfriend is hot and awesome. nearly makes me seize with insecurity. (or not so subtly)
Also: Seriously, Kaus IS pretty ugly. Chait too.
a badass middle-aged newswoman with steel-grey hair snatch
Took me three tries to get past reading that as "steel-grey snatch hair". I blame apo.
Ah, I fell asleep at 8:30 (6:30 UnfoggedStandardTime) and just woke up out of a dream where, I kid you not, I was pulling M/tch M/ills on a sled across an iced-over river that was dangerously thawing. I come downstairs and this thread is still rolling right along. I'd like to personally congratulate Matt F for 259, and link to this.
Did everybody go to bed? I'm awake now! Somebody play with me!
It's past America's bedtime....
You're gonna have to place with yourself—again.
I had the same thing happen. Crashed at 2045 and I've been up half an hour. Back to bed. Ah, allergy season.
I'm awake. Scissors/Paper/Rock?
Scissors!
Rock Paper Scissors, pff. It's all about Bear Ninja Cowboy.
Okay, it's really not, unless you're some kind of damn frisbee playing hippie. But it is fun.
Scissors.. *
(* Warning: link makes the infamous creepy crawlies story look like a human-interest story about a Rotarian convention. Later.)
I spot a fundamental flaw in this game.
Of course, it's pre-coffee-oclock here ...
On this thread's actual topic of the epidemic of vlogging, I'm sort of disapointed at the internet for it's lack of Sausagely dating life gossip. What's reading Unfogged comments for if you don't get to learn about the personal lives of bloggers before the rest of the blogosphere?
Paper.
Boy, wikipedia sure knows a lot of useless crap about this game.
Sweet jesus, DS, way to end your commenting day with a bang.
On the other hand I could see a movie about a rogue Rabbi who caters to the fetishistic penectomy crowd working pretty well. Maybe Nicholas Cage as the rabbi.
307: Sausagely's girlfriend is a libertarian.
305: The comments at BME always crack me up. Like the ones to this story (nudity warning), where people get very indignant that "she has the right to put whatever tattoos she wants on her body!!1!" Well sure. And people have the right to write whatever they want in their blog. Doesn't mean the rest of the world can't look at either one and go, "Damn, that person has some serious mental health issues and hoo boy will they regret this if they ever get them sorted out."
I'm sort of disapointed at the internet for it's lack of Sausagely dating life gossip.
He's dating a , but don't let on; he doesn't know.
And it doesn't even have the variant that I'm most familiar with: rock-scissors.
Apparently I know a former RPS world championship bronze medalist.
In light of 302, I should probably update this post.
Synchronicity!
From the wikipedia article: "Another variation is Extreme Rock, Paper, Scissors, in which the winner of each game may use their winning hand position to assault the loser. Paper becomes a slap, rock a punch and scissors a poke (usually in the sternum, but sometimes in the penis)."
So that's what was going on.
and scissors a poke (usually in the sternum, but sometimes in with the penis).
Oh dear.
Apo I blame you for the fact that I'm not trying to come up with a plausible dick-based variation on Rock Paper Scissors.
Slug, snake, cucumber?
Do you guys know the Yes Game?
Everybody go "Yes" or "No".
OK, Johnson loses. Everybody else wins. Play again. Go! Yes or no.
Taylor, Johnson, Tubman win. Hoover loses! OK, have at it. I'm goinna bed.
Apo. you lose too. But apparently now Taylor, Tubman and Johnson all have to make out. Weird, I didn't know that variation.
332: Now that's an underground railroad!
Thanks for playing, everybody. I'm going back to bed now. But not before linking to this.
335: You know, that headline completely failed to live up to its potential.
nearly makes me seize with insecurity
Aw, cerebrocrat, don't seize! I got lucky. Just remember, somewhere out there is a set of non-unique individuals who would be near-perfect for you.
335: Is it just me, or do his triceps look a little wobbly?
Professor Bérubé has joined Ann Althouse in the ranks of vloggers.