Quickies

Skepchick Quickies 10.2

Per Wikipedia, on October 2, 1263, “The battle of Largs [was] fought between Norwegians and Scots.” Note that “Largs” is a place, and not some sort of weird floppy battleaxe, as I imagined.

BONUS: What Stanley Kubrick got wrong about “The Shining” (Aw, I’m so conflicted because I did like the movie better than the book, but the article does make a good point.)

Mary

Mary Brock works as an Immunology scientist by day and takes care of a pink-loving princess child by night. She likes cloudy days, crafting, cooking, and Fall weather in New England.

Related Articles

7 Comments

  1. The first time I saw The Shining, I didn’t get what was great about it. It wasn’t particularly scary (no more so than any other horror movie) and had too many goofy issues for me to really take it seriously. I loved the book. I still think the book is way better than the film or the underrated miniseries. When I saw The Shining recently, I got it and it came across as a better film. But truth be told it is nothing more than a variant of Holloween or A Nightmare on Elm Street with Jack Nicholson as the Michael Meyers/Freddy Krueger. That article really put to words many of the issues I did have with the film.

  2. oh, the kiss cheek. I have mostly been spared, but coming from a partially latin american family I didn’t have the heart to say no to my great grandmother when she asked me to kiss her cheek. like you live to be one of the oldest people you know and your great granddaughter won’t even kiss you on the cheek like you did to your grandmother? that would just suck.

    I have less sympathy towards the various family members who would try to -force- a kiss cheek on me when I was a child. One time someone did that without warning and I immediately pushed her away, hurting her a little in the process. she was mad at me but I have no regrets.

    I don’t necessarily have a problem with hugging but it’s not okay when you expect it or get mad at someone for not wanting to.

    1. oh, to make clear, it was actually my non-latin american family members who tried to force it on me. the latin american ones might have resented that I didn’t want to, but for whatever reason they didn’t try to force it.

  3. Ugh, if I had a nickel for every stranger or acquaintance who lunge-attack-hugged me, I’d be a rich woman. I’ve recently begun freezing up and snapping, “You need to ask before touching women.” One person took the advice happily, but another challenged me. Asking before assuming pretty much guarantees my willingness to hug.

  4. Ugh, hugging. The only person I’ll hug is my grandmother. For pretty much the same reason as emelia. Everybody else is forbidden from touching me in any way. This has caused certain uncomfortable situations in the past for me (I defend my right not to be touched. First by politely declining if asked, shouting if not. Second by force if they persist.). It’s also cost me jobs and other opportunities (seriously, I DO NOT touch people, not even hand-shakes). But on the up-side I’ve never been sick, so I think it all evens out.

    1. I feel I should defend the “never been sick” part of my post. It’s not that I’ve never been sick at all in any way, I’ve simply never been sick beyond feeling kind of icky. Also, I never use public washrooms and diligently wash my hands.

      Your mileage may vary.

  5. Greetings are social constructs. The proper greeting depends on culture. We should be careful not to be intolerant or culturally biased. A kiss or hug or handshake or high five, when it’s the culturally expected and appropriate greeting, isn’t something we should be offended by or get hostile about. We can refuse and apologize if we’re not comfortable with the greeting. That should also always be okay. If someone refuses your greeting, deal with it gracefully.

    That said, in American culture, the guy insisting on a hug thing is definitely a problem. I’ve seen a lot of creepy behavior there. The gal insisting on hugging everyone as thing is also a problem. Just because you’re giggly and bouncy and happy doesn’t make it appropriate for you to hug your college instructor or your boss.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button