March 18, 2017

"I haven’t spoken to him. Maybe just to say hello. It feels trite. I feel ridiculous bothering him."

Said Donald Trump Jr. about his father, the President. That's quoted in a big NYT "style" piece called "Donald Trump Jr. Is His Own Kind of Trump." I'm copying that quote for the post title because it distracted me. What I'd originally intended to make this post about was:
On Feb. 10, opening day for the erotic thriller “Fifty Shades Darker,” Mr. Trump tweeted, “@MrsVanessaTrump took/dragged me to see the new 50 shades movie and I am the only guy in an otherwise packed theater.”

“It’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back,” he said.
First, can't people think of some variations on "two hours of my life I’ll never get back"? It should be embarrassing to roll out that old line again. If you're so boring that you'd say that, I have no confidence that you'd have done anything of value with that 2 hours you lost, so the phrase collapses in upon itself.

Second, let's count the ways in which the man has insulted his wife by saying "@MrsVanessaTrump took/dragged me to see the new 50 shades movie and I am the only guy in an otherwise packed theater":

1. VT dragged her husband to a movie.

2. VT is interested in a movie about a man sexually dominating a woman.

3. VT loves sexual domination by a man but needs to dominate her own man to get to a cinematic vicarious experience of a man sexually dominating a woman.

4. VT unlike every other woman in the movie theater needs a man to get to the movie.

5. VT gazed at the sexually dominating man in the movie while her put-upon real-life man sat next to her not being the kind of man she's making such a show of fantasizing about wanting, which was a terribly unkind thing to do to him and something that no other woman in the theater stooped to doing.

131 comments:

Sprezzatura said...

This is the Trump tweet--from this Trump--that gets seriously sliced and diced.

Oh my.

Laslo Spatula said...

I keept reading "VT" as 'Vermont'.

Vermont Is For Lovers. Who like to be dominated.

By New Hampshire and Connecticut.

I am Laslo.

Laslo Spatula said...

Next: Vanessa takes her husband to a movie about an unsatisfied wife who grows a sexual obsession with her husband's rich, powerful father.

Awkward.

I am Laslo.

David Begley said...

Ok, Althouse. You come up with a witty phrase to replace the whole "two hours I won't get back" line.

rhhardin said...

Time travel flicks where the guy gets to figure out what the right thing to say is, are good.

rhhardin said...

You also get your two hours back.

Sprezzatura said...

BTW, I read that piece earlier.

I wish it said more about nuts and bolts re how this 39 yo runs the DJT businesses. Like day by day, hour by hour, tick tock stuff.

We learned that he's on the speech for dough circuit. Most of the rest was "style" filler, which seems appropriate for where this piece landed in the Times.

Anywho, when an owner's kid takes over I'm interested in who they bypassed re promotion and who else is better able to run stuff and who else may actually be running stuff.

All of that = I dunno after reading that piece.


P.S. How are Ivanka's companies going w/ her in all these meetings in DC? Again, I'm interesting in very detailed management stuff. There seems to be a fair amount of autopilot re the younger Trump's roles in businesses they run. But, maybe it just seems like that because nobody is reporting on the biz details.

rhhardin said...

Time travel puts the guy on an even footing with the woman.

Chuck said...


3rdGradePB_GoodPerson said...
This is the Trump tweet--from this Trump--that gets seriously sliced and diced.

Oh my.



Close it down. Today's Internet has been won.

Mary Beth said...

That's reading a lot into a tweet. You can't become an ultimate shit-posting tweeter like The Donald overnight. It takes practice.

I'll translate it as: My wife has bad taste in movies but I love her enough to go watch them with her. It was weird seeing so many women watching a movie about a man dominating a woman. Aren't women supposed to be against that? Also, the movie was pretty bad.

Darrell said...

That explains it. Chuck doesn't know a win from a loss. Or his ass from a hole in the ground.

Sprezzatura said...

"Ok, Althouse. You come up with a witty phrase to replace the whole "two hours I won't get back" line."

I'm totally w/ Althouse on this one.

In fact a day ago someone (ARM?) wrote a comment re relativity. I typed out a response re the principle of relativity, special relativity and general relativity.

But, I deleted it before publishing it when I realized that someone may have responded by rolling out the trite comment re "it's all relative." **shudder**

rhhardin said...

Trump isn't saying his wife has bad taste in movies. He's saying there are movies for women, and he's not a woman.

rhhardin said...

Dilbert on guys' and girls' movies.

Luke Lea said...

Ok. How abouts Althouse reviews the movie.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ok, Althouse. You come up with a witty phrase to replace the whole "two hours I won't get back" line."

I'm recommending that people come up with their own witticisms or criticisms or say whatever they feel. The problem with a stock phrase — that one or one I could invent — is that it pretends to be witty and we've all heard it before. I'd rather hear someone honestly say something in their own words. Anything - "I found it very hard to wait even 5 minutes before looking at my watch again," "I just wish I'd fallen asleep," or "I love my wife enough to go see '50 Shades of Grey' with her" or "It's easier to go along with her seeing '50 Shades of Grey' then it would be to perform any of those sexual hijinks in real life so I count myself lucky."

David Begley said...

My effort? "I'd rather watch curling; in person and in Duluth."

traditionalguy said...

Cut him some slack. Living up to a father like DJT cannot be done. And part of the reason is that a Loyal Son will not compete and try to displace the father, but accepts his inferior second place role.

And he must realize that his wife sees him that way. Maybe he could be good at shooting and hunting that his Dad never spent time doing. His aggression has to be channeled into acceptible ways.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ok. How abouts Althouse reviews the movie."

I couldn't sit through it.

I have trouble sitting through GOOD movies.

Ever notice how rarely I blog movies. Have I blogged anything other than "Captain Fantastic" in the past year?

Laslo Spatula said...

"Donnie, I found this great movie on the Internet that I'd love to watch with you."

"Uh... Vanessa, that's a Porn Site."

"Yeah... But this video speaks to me. It's not just Porn, it makes a Statement."

"Statement? All I'm seeing is a muscular black man with a black monster cock fucking a petite white woman."

"I KNEW you wouldn't get it."

"Get what? Now the black guy is fucking the little blonde woman in the ass."

"It speaks to Hidden Desires, and the Emotional Complexity of a Relationship, Donnie."

"Huh? She's got one black guy fucking her in the ass, and now she's sucking another black guy's cock. Wait: now the black guys are switching places."

"Exactly! It shows the Interchangeability of Sexual Dynamics!"

"You're seeing all of this in this video? I'm just seeing two black guys ravage a tiny white woman. Wait: now it's three black guys."

"The three black men represent her Id, Ego, and Superego. It's brilliant!"

"Sure, yeah: brilliant. So which one is the Id?"

"The one fucking her in the ass. Obviously."

"You know, I think you just want to watch black men fucking a white woman. Is there something you're trying to tell me?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Vanessa, do you fantasize about having anal sex with a black man?"

"Of course not, Donnie. You're the only man for me."

"Well, this video is making me uncomfortable. I'm going to go to the Den."

"But you'll miss the best part!"

"And that would be... oh, wait: I see it. They are all shooting their loads on her face. Nice."

"That scene is open to SO many interpretations!"

"Really? I just see a woman with whose face now looks like a glazed donut."

"Okay, okay. How about we watch a film that YOU want to watch...?"

"Okay."

"Uh, Donnie: that girl sucking the man's cock sure looks underage."

"Yeah: it's making a Statement..."

I am Laslo.

Sprezzatura said...

My effort? "I'd rather spend more than 1.5 hours jabbering w/ Bob Wright."

Wince said...

Couldn't the Tweet be interpreted as mock bragging "I indulged my wife like few other men (not in the theater)" and "now I get to rub it in how silly the movie was" because he's Tweeting it with his wife next to him while they have a couple of drinks on a night out together without their five, yes, 5 young children?

"To the moon, Vanessa!" Standard situation comedy stuff, so, yeah, trite. But does everything Trump have to be so deep and invidious?

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I'd rather watch paint dry.. oh no that's no good.

I'd rather watch the grass grow... -- oh no, that's no good.

I'd rather have a root canal. no. no. no.

hmmm. It's all so boring!

southcentralpa said...


"If you're so boring that you'd say that, I have no confidence that you'd have done anything of value with that 2 hours you lost, so the phrase collapses in upon itself."

On the contrary, the phrase says to me that the show was so bad, that anything else would've been more of value by definition. Would it be more fun to try and list something (kudos, David Begley, but I would've said ice dancing)? Sure. But this didn't even rate that much effort, it was so bad ...

You and your dislikes, Professor, sometimes you remind me of the Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin is making a list of "Things I'll Never Like".

(On the other hand, a boring movie can have its uses. My first date with my wife was the movie "All the Real Girls". It was so boring, we starting smooching about a third of the way through, and we've pretty much been doing it ever since (obviously, that wasn't an option with his daughter-in-law :-) ).)

Sebastian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fernandinande said...

"More important, I found out that the anthropologist in question had never heard a particularly relevant joke, the one about the Irishman and the gorilla.

Seems that a zoo in Chicago had a rare albino gorilla, the last of its subspecies. A lady gorilla. So they decided to breed it with a human: they put an add in the Trib: ”Man to breed with rare gorilla, ten thousand dollars.”

The next day Paddy shows up and talks to them. “I’ll do it, but with three conditions. I don’t have to kiss the gorilla on the lips, the children will be raised in the Church, and you give me a week to come up with the ten thousand dollars.”

Sebastian said...

"It should be embarrassing to roll out that old line again. If you're so boring that you'd say that, I have no confidence that you'd have done anything of value with that 2 hours you lost, so the phrase collapses in upon itself." Embarrassing only to people who value verbal wit, i.e., not to most people, who value conventional sentiments conventionally expressed. To infer a "lack of confidence" about doing anything of value from verbal conventionality is the sort of error an intellectual would make.

"Second, let's count the ways in which the man has insulted his wife"

"1. VT dragged her husband to a movie." Unkind, perhaps, but not an insult.

"2. VT is interested in a movie about a man sexually dominating a woman." Why is this insulting?

"3. VT loves sexual domination by a man but needs to dominate her own man to get to a cinematic vicarious experience of a man sexually dominating a woman." Not insulting. No evidence for "the need to dominate her own man."

"4. VT unlike every other woman in the movie theater needs a man to get to the movie." No evidence.

"5. VT gazed at the sexually dominating man in the movie while her put-upon real-life man sat next to her not being the kind of man she's making such a show of fantasizing about wanting, which was a terribly unkind thing to do to him and something that no other woman in the theater stooped to doing." Another example of how facility with language, unconnected to actual knowledge, can lead to wild overinterpretation. (Of course, the overinterpretation is more fun than the reality supposedly being interpreted.)

Michael K said...

It was weird seeing so many women watching a movie about a man dominating a woman. Aren't women supposed to be against that? Also, the movie was pretty bad.

Women secretly want to be dominated. Unless they're lesbians in which case they want to dominate each other.

Door to door salesman, "Sir, we are having a special on root canals this week. Can I sign you up ?"

"No, I would rather watch "50 shades of gray. Twice !"

Wince said...

"I haven’t spoken to him. Maybe just to say hello. It feels trite. I feel ridiculous bothering him." Said Donald Trump Jr. about his father, the President.

Moreover, isn't that the kind of firewall ethics experts said was required in order for Trump to run his business without conflict?

Maybe Trump should mention that when they accuse him of separating families by enforcing the immigration laws.

Laslo Spatula said...

"That's two hours that could've waited until AFTER I die."

I am Laslo.

Michael K said...

"you give me a week to come up with the ten thousand dollars.”

That's a Polish joke and it was 25 thousand dollars.

rhhardin said...

The problem with a stock phrase — that one or one I could invent — is that it pretends to be witty and we've all heard it before.

There's the social ritual of the repeated joke. You expect it to be retold and you're expected to laugh again, unless you've had a death in the family, in which case you're excused from the repeat ritual for some mourning period.

"Source Code" (2011) wasn't bad, given that I'm getting the dregs these days, having watched everything else.

Hari said...

Didn't Donald Trump explain the entire plot of the movie in the Billy Bush tape?

damikesc said...

50 shades of Grey was really damned terrible and I cannot fathom any way that the sequel wouldn't also suck. It's funny that when men watch porn, it's "creepy" but when women do so, it makes big money at the box office.

As for "two hours I will never get back", people who know me know that if it a bad movie, I'll usually just say "well, it was in focus". I try to say something nice about movies and if that's all I got, then yeah, it was horrible.

Also like "Amazing what people would rather have than money" for gaudy purchases.

damikesc said...

Women secretly want to be dominated.

Won't say all, but from my experience, a surprisingly large number. I assume it helps assuage the guilt some feel about having sex if it was "beyond their control". Plenty of women have rape fantasies as well and I'll never grasp that.

"Source Code" (2011) wasn't bad, given that I'm getting the dregs these days, having watched everything else.

Source Code was plenty enjoyable. I put it up with "The Mummy" (which was better than Star Wars Episode 1, which launched at about the same time) in my annals of fun but dumb movies.

Original Mike said...

Blogger David Begley said..."My effort? "I'd rather watch curling; in person and in Duluth.""

Wouldn't work. Some of us like curling. And some of us like Duluth. Some of us even like phrases that reliably and succinctly convey meaning.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Bringing a billionaire's son to a 50 Shades of Grey moving is throwing some serious shade. Vanessa for the win.

David said...

Why tweet about this in the first place? That's 60 seconds you will never get back. More if you try to be original not trite. For Donald that might take months.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

OT: Expedia - I will not be using you.

Freeman Hunt said...

Sexual domination? Isn't it about a guy who beats up his girlfriend to get off?

Michael K said...

I quit Expedia when they would not let me modify a trip that I had scheduled to Greece in 2015. When all the migrants started flooding through the area we planned to visit, I gave up and decided to stay in England. Our flight went from LA to London and then another round trip to Athens. I decided we would just get off at London and stay there. We could catch the return flight as scheduled. Expedia would not let me do that. They insisted that If I did not take the Greek leg of the trip, we would not be confirmed on the return trip from London.

I could see no reason for this as it would not cost them a penny. Finally, I had to reschedule the whole thing at a loss of $1700.

I will never ever use Expedia and they send me e-mails constantly. I have tried to unsubscribe and haven't been able to do so.

We went to Alaska last September is used another travel service.

Freeman Hunt said...

Had a friend who started reading that book because someone else recommended it to her. She did not know what it was about. Before she got to the part about sex and beatings, which I guess comes later, she posted on social media, "Christian Grey SO reminds me of my husband."

Heh.

Life is full of so many funny things.

David Begley said...

Orginal Mi
A little context. So I am at this St. Patrick's Day party after Creighton lost. And the hosts put on "Curling Night in America"' instead of the Marquette game. I was doubly horrified. I had no idea such a TV show existed. It was the definition of terrible.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, this should have been set up as the sort of poll where one can click on multiple answers.

Fernandinande said...

Michael K said...
That's a Polish joke and it was 25 thousand dollars.


That version sounds considerably more microaggressive:

Seems that a zoo in Chicago had a rare albino Polish woman. So they decided to breed it with a human: they put an add in the Trib: ”Man to breed with Polish woman, twenty-five thousand dollars.”

The next day Paddy shows up and talks to them. “I’ll do it, but with three conditions. I don’t have to kiss the woman on the lips, the children will be raised in the Church, and you give me a week to come up with the twenty-five thousand dollars.”

jg said...

that's all true, and to joke about it *with awareness* of those elements is a sort of peacocking - look how secure and valuable i am

MD Greene said...

I believe the story resolution, over time, is that the young woman convinces the sadistic billionaire to become more cuddly. As one of the better book critics remarked: "NOW who's the dominant?"


Dave Barry also had fun with the books. http://time.com/3030375/dave-barry-50-shades-of-grey/

Myself, I'd rather see Beauty and the Beast, and that doesn't mean I want to see Beauty and the Beast.

Drago said...

PB: "Anywho, when an owner's kid takes over I'm interested in who they bypassed re promotion and who else is better able to run stuff and who else may actually be running stuff."

We don't have that kind of time to plumb the depths of Chelsea Clinton's "career" in and around the Clintons Global Initiative and Pay for Play scheme.

Not to worry. She will be a Senator just as soon as Gillibrand gets a "Nita Lowey-type visit" from certain dem party muckety-mucks.

It's super hard to peddle influence when the influence isn't there, as the Clintons have discovered.

Amexpat said...

Two thoughts:
One, if Donnie Jr had a good working mind, he could find something to occupy him while stuck watching a dumb film. He could think about business ideas or muse about why so many women, including his wife, got off on this type of film.

Two, if there's any chance that you're going to be very famous or successful, don't name your kids after yourself. Junior will never measure up. However, if you're a mediocrity, it's a good strategy to perhaps bask in the glory of someone greater than yourself.

Drago said...

Darrell: "That explains it. Chuck doesn't know a win from a loss."

It's watching him attempt to distort space-time in order to turn a clear loss into a "win" that is so pathetic.

Laslo Spatula said...

"On Feb. 10, opening day for the erotic thriller “Fifty Shades Darker"...."

'Erotic thriller'? Does it have a killer chasing the heroine? What suspense is there, other than what S&M fetish area will happen next?

I suspect "Thriller" was added to make it seem like more than it was: a soft-core porn flick for chicks.

Like calling "Back Door Baristas Vol. 12" an erotic 'documentary'.

I am Laslo.

hombre said...

Maybe the silliest blogpost I've seen here.

cronus titan said...

THis post is competitive for the most chick post in Althouse history. Some guy makes a lame wisecrack of going to a chick flick he would never see but for his wife wanting to see it, and it turns out to be a carcicature of a chick flick, complete with no other male attending. Yet Althouse takes the lame wisecrack and blows it up into some deep emotional and insulting meaning, going off on irritated tangents and nuanced insights into emerging relationships.

Perhaps Althouse shoud create a new tag, "Chicksplaining"

ceowens said...

Sometimes, you just do what the wife wants. Mine can't tolerate sitting in a movie theater. I think the last movie I saw was "Restrepo" and that was with my son. Also, I have not touched any HVAC controls (house or car)in 14 years (hot flashes).

Michael said...

Ah, guys often will say "she dragged me to it" about something they are a little embarrassed to admit to their friends they did. I think you are a little too far into pop psychology here.

Virgil Hilts said...

How about "If I had really wanted to spend two hours passively watching a billionaire sodomize a much younger woman, I could have just flown down to Little St. James Island where the food, drinks and chairs would have been much better and I wouldn't have to be distracted by these young brats who won't turn off their cell phones"

Bruce Hayden said...

"I will never ever use Expedia and they send me e-mails constantly."

Don't know where I saw it yesterday. Or, maybe I remember it from a dream. But that memory was that Chelsea Clinton was going on the Expedia board. I was thinking about complaining, or starting a boycott, or some such.

Bothered me enough that I Googled it, and, sure enough, Expedia is adding her to their board. Apparently, they added a board slot just for her. $45k a year, and $250k in stock vesting after 3,years.

Bob Boyd said...

"Vermont Is For Lovers. Who like to be dominated.

By New Hampshire"


I think New Hampshire's license plate motto is: 'Break Free or Die'

Bruce Hayden said...

@Begley - was thinking of you last night when we were watching NBC Dateline last night, because of the Creighton connection. Apparently, there was a guy running around Omaha killing, or trying to kill, people somehow related to the pathology dept at Creighton. They ultimately convicted a guy bounced out of the pathology residency program a decade earlier for 4 murders.

I should note that we usually watch CBS on Fri nights, but were watching NBC because it was the only thing that we could agree on, with NCAA basketball on CBS. It also means no "Young and the Useless" and "Bold and the Lustful" soaps this week.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Michael K. 10:43
Good to know. Not that I was planning a big trip with Expedia anyway. Now - never. ever.

It's funny how these big leftwing corporations (NBC now Expedia) can afford to pay Chelsea Clinton big bucks and she will bring exactly nothing.

Original Mike said...

@David Begley - "Curling Night in America"? Cool! Do you know what channel it's on?

Ann Althouse said...

"Sexual domination? Isn't it about a guy who beats up his girlfriend to get off?"

You tell me. I was vague because I actually don't know what the guy does.

I suppose it's possible for a man to reverse engineer what would be secy for the Shades fan in real life, some kind of domination that isn't whatever is shown in the movie.

I don't think Donnie is up to that, but at least he can copy the being a billionaire part.

Ann Althouse said...

Sexy

Sorry. I'm typing on an iPad and I can't enlarge to see what I've written until I've published.

Leora said...


In response to the news that people were paying thousands of dollars to look like his sister Ivanka he tweeted

"And ladies to start the weekend right, for about +\- $3 the man in your life can look just like me! 😂😜😂🇺🇸 #justsayin #yourewelcome #bargain"

He comes across to me like someone who is pretty secure in himself and doesn't take himself too seriously. His feed radiates affection for his family. Though I suppose it could be read as crippling lack of self worth as the result of competition with his overwhelming father, it reads more to me like a man with nothing to prove assenting to the bumbling American Dad stereotype.

Yancey Ward said...

Attending that movie reminded me of my nightmare where every comments section on the internet banned every comment but those of Chuck and Peanut Butter, and Laslo was being held against his will in Guantanamo.

Original Mike said...

"Sorry. I'm typing on an iPad and I can't enlarge to see what I've written until I've published."

Been there, done that. (ohhh... noooo...)

Freeman Hunt said...

"You tell me. I was vague because I actually don't know what the guy does."

I haven't read the book or seen the movie, but Wikipedia says, "It is notable for its explicitly erotic scenes featuring elements of sexual practices involving bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, and sadism/masochism (BDSM)."

William said...

Time is the moving image of eternity, and never more so than while watching a dumb moving picture........My problem is that whenever I try to say something witty or original it more often than not comes out pretentious or murky. I try to use cliches as much as possible. Cliches rest upon shared assumptions, and your chances of being properly understood are much better if you use cliches. That's my two cents.

Yancey Ward said...

I think William gets it in the comment above. The old cliche of there being nothing new under the Sun is pretty fucking accurate- coming up with something truly original is daunting at best. I think almost all of use cliches. I know I try not to use ones I have used recently, but even that is tough to do.

damikesc said...

Always remember, it was originally Twilight fan fiction.

Bob Boyd said...

Speaking of reactions to films I'll never see...
Apparently people are upset that Wonder Woman doesn't have any arm pit hair in the newly released movie trailer.

"Twitter exploded at the revelation, claiming women of the fictional matriarchy Themyscira would probably not shave their armpits."

"Many woke, intersectional journalists were also angered by the lack of gross armpit hair."

"“Is this seriously still happening in 2017,” cried Slate.

“Do better!” crowed the Revelist.

Refinery29 even opined [sic] for a day when Wonder Woman could “prove that women—even those who are superheroes—don’t have to cater to beauty standards that are meant to make them more attractive to men.”"

Bob Boyd said...

https://heatst.com/entertainment/people-are-actually-mad-that-wonder-woman-gal-gadot-has-no-armpit-hair/

Bob Boyd said...

"...and I am the only guy in an otherwise packed theater.”

I'm curious if this movie is popular with lesbian couples.
Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Jupiter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

Donnie can watch NCAA Wrestling Tournament finals tonight, and make the wife watch two people both of whom are intent on Domination of the other one.

She should appreciate the terminology: Takedowns, Reversals, Escapes, and especially Riding Time.

buwaya said...

There are a good number of ideas that never made it into movies. Which would make a fine movie, though not necessarily a popular one. Science fiction is full of them.

Norman Spinrad's "The Iron Dream" for instance.
Check it out.

Jupiter said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...

"I couldn't sit through it"

Rats. Come on Althouse. You wade through the pages of the NYT so we don't have to. I was really looking forward to having an intelligent, articulate woman explain, perhaps with cruel neutrality, why 50 Shades is so popular with women.

The other interesting question is why men don't like it. As the Irishman joke implies, sex is an easy sell to men. Maybe I'll go find out. It could be interesting, being the only man in the theater who did not come with a woman.

FullMoon said...

You'all gettin way too old.

D.J. tellin' us players plenty of horny women comin' out of AMC . Be there, or be square. Bring your 'cuffs

Laslo Spatula said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
damikesc said...

The other interesting question is why men don't like it. As the Irishman joke implies, sex is an easy sell to men. Maybe I'll go find out. It could be interesting, being the only man in the theater who did not come with a woman.

Having watched the first one with the wife, there is nothing to appeal to men. The female lead is, let's be gentle, awfully homely to turn around a sado-masochist billionaire into a puppy dog. Porn doesn't work for straight men when the man is more attractive than the woman.

Laslo Spatula said...

Jupiter said...

"...being the only man in the theater who did not come with a woman."

Come on, you're all thinking it.

I am Laslo.

David Begley said...

Bruce:

I know the parents of the little boy who was murdered. Former path resident convicted. Sentencing pending.

Mike

Some NBC outlet. NBS Sports Network.

Sebastian said...

@YW: "Laslo was being held against his will in Guantanamo." What's so nightmarish about that? Surely his reports from G would be more fun than Begley's on Curling Night in America.

Martha said...

Much better movie —ELLE.

Isabelle Huppert dominates her rapist.

Sebastian said...

"Jupiter said...

"...being the only man in the theater who did not come with a woman."

Come on, you're all thinking it."

Yeah, I was just thinking, Jupiter, being a God and all, could come with anyone, or anything, he damn well pleased, even alone if need be, Zeus-like.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

I feel his pain. I've seen many crap movies in my day, but I remember walking out of Pearl Harbor and, for the first time in my life, actively resenting the utter waste of three hours of a beautiful spring afternoon. I'll never, ever, get them back. Ever.

RigelDog said...

OR--a couple who don't have as much free time to spend together as they would like. A caring husband who goes to a stupid movie he really doesn't want to see because his wife wanted his company.

Michael K said...

Blogger Fernandinande said...
Michael K said...
That's a Polish joke and it was 25 thousand dollars.

That version sounds considerably more microaggressive:


I finally found where you got that joke.

It's an old Polish joke that seems to have found new life as a St Paddy's Day one.

Michael K said...

"I remember walking out of Pearl Harbor"

I went with my son and daughter-in-law to see "Thin Red Line" when it came out.

I was sitting there hoping th film would break or something when I began to notice people going out and, I finally realized, not coming back. I thought they were going out for drinks or snacks but the theater was beginning to look empty and the film was only half over.

I suggested we do the same to my son and DiL. With a sigh of reliefe they agreed. I thionk there were less thn a dozen people left when we walked out.

Naturally it was nominated for Best Picture. At least it didn't win, I think.

Anonymous said...

cronus titan: THis post is competitive for the most chick post in Althouse history.

I thought maybe she felt like doing a parody of a Salon article this morning. Pretty much the same thing, I guess.

Bruce Hayden said...

@begley - Not surprised that you know them. Not that big of a city. Horrible story. Dateline did interview the parents, but mostly another one of the boys, who had been at U Neb at the time his youngest brother was murdered. As an atty, what do you think the defendant's chance on appeal? And what are his grounds for appeal? Any additional info would be appreciated.

Anonymous said...

Speaking of Expedia, why are boycotts never called for companies whose products I actually buy/use? (I think I've booked some hotels via Expedia in the past, but their spam was annoying and their phone app sucked. Bye.)

How can I get into heaven with no way to prove my virtue via consumer sacrifice?

Buy-cotts are better. I never eat fast-food unless I'm on the road and it's the only game in town, but I did go into a Chick-Fil-A for the first time back when they were the target du jour of the SJW Two-Minute Hate machine. Just because. (Had a spicy chicken mcbigot sandwich and waffle fries. Not bad.)

wholelottasplainin said...

Ann wrote: “It’s two hours of my life I’ll never get back,” he said.

First, can't people think of some variations on "two hours of my life I’ll never get back"? It should be embarrassing to roll out that old line again."
*********

I agree. Stick a fork in it; it's done.

dreams said...

I think his goal was to communicate and I got his message loud and clear.

dreams said...

Its shorthand language.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

The late NY Times columnist Russell Baker wrote a column about women's movies and men's movies that has stuck in my head. Baker said he was dragged to many a chick flick by first his mother and then his wife in the '40's and 50's. They weren't erotic, of course, they were what men derisively referred to as "weepies," which frequently featured the heroine dying of the Movie Disease which lets movie stars look radiant and fresh as they expire in their hospital beds. (Ali McGraw in "Love Story" was a later victim of Movie Disease.) Russell wrote he was often the the only guy in the theater and he would have to struggle to keep from laughing aloud while he was sitting there listening to women cry and sniffle all around him.

Russell contrasted those movies with what he called "male weepies," which he said were much more difficult to make because the desired effect was not to actually make men cry (which would have made them despise themselves) but to bring them close to crying - a lump in the throat, eyes watering slightly. He gave several examples of the genre, but the ones I remember are "Brian's Song" and, I think, "A Officer and a Gentleman."

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

I think Baker's column stuck in my mind because I watched "Brian's Song" with my brothers, sisters and dad. (Don't know where mom was.) My sisters and I all cried. My dad and brothers looked very solemn - like they were about to cry but didn't. So I understood Russell's point - the movie got those guys right to the edge, but didn't push them over.

Laslo Spatula said...

Sketchy Guy Who Works at the Adult Bookstore says:

It's not often that a customer comes into the store and I can't find what they want. Of course, I'm not counting the ones entering in the hopes of THIS being the secret store that sells clandestine REAL child porn, but -- of the legal stuff -- we pretty much have it all...

However, this woman came in, dressed in crisp business attire, and knew EXACTLY what she wanted: pegging videos. Sure: we got those. Lots of guys like them, lots of girls like them: pegging's a crowd-pleaser, if you run with that kind of crowd...

However, she threw a curve with her request: she wanted white-on-black pegging. We got a LOT of white-on-white pegging, and we do have some black-on-white pegging, but we didn't have any videos of a white girl pegging a black man...

You'd think racial sensitivities would be gone by now in the porn world: basically everybody fucks everybody else now, and they pretty much fuck them wherever and however they can be fucked. But trying to find a video of a black man getting fucked in the ass by a white girl with a strap-on cock? THAT'S a challenge...

Gay Porn proves that there are black men who don't mind a large cock in their ass, even a large WHITE cock, but for some reason they draw the line at being sodomized by a white GIRL with a twelve-inch strap-on. Is this the line in the sand for Black Pride? Is such pegging just TOO 'plantation'...?

I talk with the woman awhile, and -- yes -- she really likes the idea of watching a Black Man being sodomized by a white woman with a strap-on prosthetic cock: she thinks that a black man's shaved testicles are more aesthetically pleasing than those of a white man, and if you are watching a guy get pegged you ARE going to see his balls....

I had to shake my head: we have things for the guys who like fat chicks, things for the fat chicks who like thin chicks, things for the aficionados of every orifice and fetish, but I DIDN'T have what this one woman needed: I didn't even think it was possible...

Of course, right after she left a guy came in looking for underage porn: I sent him to the 'Barely Legal' section and told him he'd have to make do with that...

I am Laslo.

gadfly said...

I like the first subject line better ... about Donny not speaking to his father since the election. All the stories are out there about Donald Trump's disinterest in raising his children make a nice backdrop for pretending that Uday and Qusay, um, Donald Jr. and Eric, are running the Trump Organization, not the President.

Anyone who believes that malarky is a candidate for acquiring a certain bridge in New York. The same is true for anyone who believes Donald's statement: "The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest."

William said...

I understand that Disney is bringing out a bestiality movie that stars a former child actress who still looks very young. Sounds intriguing. This could be the cross over romantic flick that appeals to both men and women. Perhaps she can peg the beast. That would make it empowering for feminists.

Michael K said...

Anyone who believes that malarky is a candidate for acquiring a certain bridge in New York. The same is true for anyone who believes Donald's statement: "The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest."

You must have an incredibly high opinion of Trump's powers of concentration, running his business and all he is doing with the country.

virgil xenophon said...

Laslo is tough to follow, but I will note the old saying that "even the best of men look at their watches."

David Begley said...

Bruce

Zero chance on appeal but it will grind on for years as the defendant (and his attorneys) have created all sorts of fake issues.

dreams said...

So we're now calling Trump's son Donny as a pejorative to slam Trump, I see. That's really imaginative too.

Milwaukie guy said...

The Irishman joke I heard as a Minnesota joke with old Ole, the guy who cleaned up the cage and it was five hunnert dollars and any potential child had to be raised strict Lutheran.

walter said...

Did your vacation end? Seem kinda pissed.

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
walter said...

So a rich guy dominates a woman in the movie. Does he grab her by the pussy?
Maybe Don jr. knows his wife will..in the end..only allow vanilla.

Quaestor said...

VT is interested in a movie about a man sexually dominating a woman.

A LOT of women are interested in sexual domination of women by men. Vanessa Trump is certainly not unique or even unusual in this matter. And it goes far, far beyond a mere work of fiction. Did Althouse happen to see the "Women's March" last January (more of a women's slither if you ask me)? There were hundreds of women wear hijabs, and a few wearing full-on burkas. Just the other day I encountered a burka-clad moron shopping at Trader Joe's in my small white-bread town. Back when Dr. Althouse was a student the feminists were condemning clothing they deemed emblematic of male domination. Women burned their bras and eschewed traditional styles — skirts and dresses — in favor of mannish garb. The paradigm of the liberated woman wore jeans and alpine boots topped with a rude tee-shirt over jiggling unruly breasts, surmounted with hair merely combed — no "permanent" curls and no hairspray. The conservative stick-in-the-mud gals were ostracized by the feminists and called "Stepford wives".

Today feminists have embraced the culture that oppresses women as a matter of religious obligation. Is that logical? Is that even sane? It doesn't look too rational from where I stand. Long, long ago before men invented architecture, literacy, government, and just about anything you can name (Okay, casseroles. Women invented casseroles. And lipstick.) men concluded that women couldn't be trusted with the important decisions. Could this astounding volte-face of feminism be related to that ancient wisdom?

YoungHegelian said...

@damiskesc,

The female lead is, let's be gentle, awfully homely to turn around a sado-masochist billionaire into a puppy dog.

Yes, I noticed that, too. Dakota Johnson, while certainly not unattractive, comes across as what Cosmo magazine would call mouseburger. Imagine a young Ava Gardner in that roll, & --- Yowza! --- the male eyes light up.

But I think that it's part of the charm of the fantasy for women that it's such a Cinderella character who gets the prince. I also think that we as guys tend to see sexual situations as doing what, e.g. our dear Laslo & anal, while the ladies see it in a more Leninist light, who - whom. The fact that the male lead is a uber-handsome, billionaire** has a lot to do with the fantasy.

** As a point of fact, powerful men are often into being dominated, & not the being the top. For men who spend their lives making decisions all the time, it's a mini-vacation to go to the dominatrix and let someone else make the decisions for once.

raf said...

two hours I'll never get back"

Can someone tell me the (pleasant?) experience where one can get the hours back?

I'd like to try that.

Bad Lieutenant said...

First, can't people think of some variations on "two hours of my life I’ll never get back"?

Some lines are classics. I deprecate overuse but that really gets the message across, IMHO.

Second, let's count the ways

Sugar tits, you think too much.

Leigh said...

@rhhardin -- If you haven't already, try "The Honorable Woman" series. I think it's on Netflix. Give us some good suggestions when you get a minute. I'm down to dregs as well, watching re-runs of my favorites and could really use some tips. "Source Code" will be my movie tonight.

"At the end of the day" is hate speech to me. "Two hours I'll never get back"? Not so much.

Bad Lieutenant said...

3/18/17, 11:06 AM
Blogger Virgil Hilts said...
How about "If I had really wanted to spend two hours passively watching a billionaire sodomize a much younger woman


Funny, doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way...

Bad Lieutenant said...

"At the end of the day" is hate speech to me. "Two hours I'll never get back"? Not so much.


+eleventy. Wenn ich "At the end of the day" hore...

"Two hours" to my mind really captures the emotion. I thought it was genius when I first heard it. To say it cliche-free coyld only be "it was a waste of two hours" or "I wasted two hours"

Bad Lieutenant said...

...and by comparison would sound robotic.

Sprezzatura said...

"So we're now calling Trump's son Donny as a pejorative to slam Trump, I see. That's really imaginative too."

IIRC, the NYT piece said that he often went by that name.

dreams said...

"IIRC, the NYT piece said that he often went by that name."

IIRC, my comment still applies.

MathMom said...

Dave Barry came up with a better comment than "that's two hours of my life I'll never get back".

There are two more books in this series, titled “Fifty Shades Darker” and “The Third Fifty Shades Book That Was Required to Make It a Trilogy.” I assume these books bring these two lovebirds back together, as well as revealing the Dark Secret in Christian’s past. I don’t know because I haven’t read them, although I fully intend to do so in the future if the only alternative is crucifixion.

narciso said...

IThe honorable woman was interesting in the way it tried to pigeon hole the anti-israel in a stockholm syndrome hamhanded way

narciso said...

Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the heir of an Israeli telecommunications company, whose father was executed by Palestinians, nonetheless she ventured into the peace procezz with disastrous result, it was wonderfully photographed with great sets

Sprezzatura said...

"Maggie Gyllenhaal plays the heir of an Israeli telecommunications company, whose father was executed by Palestinians, nonetheless she ventured into the peace procezz with disastrous result, it was wonderfully photographed with great sets"

Didn't her character also like* being severely beaten by men? As I recall some scenes were unwatchable because of gratuitously depicted abuse, imho.



*"like" isn't the right word. I think that only a shrink could explain this sorta thing.


Anywho, it's cool that Maggie, in real life, was punished for not being a good member of her collective grocery store in NY. Good for her.

Achilles said...

3rdGradePB_GoodPerson said...
"So we're now calling Trump's son Donny as a pejorative to slam Trump, I see. That's really imaginative too."

"IIRC, the NYT piece said that he often went by that name."

Obama went by Barry, barky, and chooch too. Didn't see that in the times.

Mountain Maven said...

It's a movie.

enough with the feminist crap

Bob Loblaw said...

"At the end of the day" is hate speech to me.

Why? I've met a fair number of people who really hate that one, and for the life of me I don't understand it.

Guildofcannonballs said...

This is what it is, alright.

It just is, okay.

It is what it is.

It's a little more, and a little less too, than what it is also. I have trouble believing you would understand.

lonetown said...

I totally get it.

stevo said...

To be fair. Nobody ever gets any hours back.

William said...

Lighten up, fer chrissakes. The guy was trying to inject a little light-heartedness into the conversation and Althouse goes all judgmental SJW/feminist on his arse. Sheesh.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Narciso re Maggie G - huh?

Secretary?