“… from Superbad’s book of elaborate diddle doodling to Walk Hard’s full frontal, and now to Forgetting Sarah Marshall’s opening break-up scene, in which shlumpy (natch) protagonist Peter (Jason Segel) refuses to get dressed while his longtime girlfriend, Sarah (Kristen Bell), breaks up with him, the penis has become the de facto protagonist.
Like a paring down to the genre’s purest essence, it was only a matter of time before the sex comedy—fueled by libido, the search for the perfect ejaculation, the sting of sexual humiliation, the inner and outer vulnerability of the male beast—was reduced to this. Some might try and recoup this as an enlightened embracing of the homoerotic subtext within so much contemporary mainstream entertainment, as the naked male gets as much screen time as the female traditionally has; instead, the double standard has not only remained but been magnified.
As a parade of doughy lumps (Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Jonah Hill), given to habits like eating vast amounts of Fruit Loops from giant mixing bowls and blissfully ignorant of how to make themselves appealing to the fairer sex, continue to bag a nonstop succession of certifiable hotties (Heigl, Emma Stone, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis), the gap grows ever wider. The vagina may continue to terrify and baffle, but the whole female package is as glorious as ever; meanwhile disgust for the male form continues.
Been reading this review of Forgetting Sarah Marshall:
•May 1, 2008 • 56 CommentsProtected: First of May, Jonathon Coulton
•May 1, 2008 • Enter your password to view comments.•April 30, 2008 • 8 Comments
What if you could grow crops with salt water?
Also, I’m sure my mom would be entirely unsurprised that I’m interested in Why Things Break.
SO FRIGGIN’ EXCITED
•April 29, 2008 • 10 CommentsIt sounds like we’ll be seeing eight amaaaaaazing people (outside of my family) on this trip. Ferrett and Gini, Kati and Josh, Melanie and Rob, and Mink and Andy.
I’ve never really been this far northeast, and neither has Lucy, so this’ll be a pretty unique event.
Road Trip: Big Fish is the best idea, ever.
So cool — er, hot!
•April 29, 2008 • 12 CommentsSunrgi’s ‘extreme’ solar concentrators to match grid power
It has built a prototype device that magnifyies light 1,600 times onto expensive germanium solar cells. It intends to produce the devices in 12 to 15 months, capable of generating electricity at 5 cents a kilowatt hour–competitive with coal-fired power plants..
By focusing light onto high-end cells, they can get convert 37 percent of sunlight to electricity–substantially higher than the 15 to 20 percent range for typical silicon solar panels. Concentration also allows manufacturers to use less material for cells, which is a large portion of a system’s cost.
The company, founded by Silicon Valley veterans, intends to sell its systems to businesses and then utilities building solar power plants to meet peak power demands. The technology can be applied to residential homes as well.
In the article, they mention that it can generate temperatures over 3,000 degrees, so they use a cooling mechanism to dissipate heat down to a reasonable temperature. I can’t help but think, shouldn’t that heat be transferred to a steam generator instead? I mean, why dissipate useful energy before it has done work?
I’m serious, by the time I can afford and locate a house to live in, I think a reasonable, cost-effective method of electricity generation will be possible. I’d surely love to create enough electricity at home to power it and a commuter vehicle, wouldn’t you? Even better if it involves the opportunity for steampunk fun.
GPShenanigans
•April 29, 2008 • 10 CommentsWould anyone loan Lucy and I your GPS device (beep boop boop beeeep!) for the week+ of May 16th to May 25th?
It’s not that we couldn’t print out directions, but it would make our 1800+ mile road trip an awful lot simpler. :)
*muah*
I need to get a picture of me driving, that’s the icon I’m missing.
YES!
•April 29, 2008 • 6 CommentsI found my receipts!!!
That’s pretty huge – I’d put all my receipts from both my Long Beach trip AND my Las Vegas trip in one plastic bag and put it in my backpack… and yet I couldn’t find them anywhere, for weeks.
Which is why I’ve put off filling out my expenses, heh.
Anyway, I have a small pouch at the top of my backpack where I keep my earbuds, and for some reason that escapes me, I put it there.
Life is good!