Creative uses of the word 'significant'

http://news.smh.com.au/national/no-real-harm-to-rape-victim-court-told-20080620-2tzb.html

Mr Haesler also said the 18-year sentence was manifestly excessive.
"The Gosling Park incident appears to take place over less than one hour," he told the court.
"There was no significant harm caused to the complainant. No significant physical injury."

I'm so pleased we can now use the word 'significant' in this way. I plan on thinking of many highly insignificant ways of harming a particular barrister. As long as it lasts for under an hour he couldn't possibly have a case against me.

Well, they couldn't have just called it 'Agents' now could they?

Sleeping with the enemy

What you experience as annoying, I experience as terror.

But that's your privilege.

Sex and the City

There were many things about this film I liked. The friendship between the four women was a realistic portrayal of solidarity which is rarely (never?) found in blockbusters. Usually, the presence of women in film serves as a plot device to explain the behaviour of particular men, and if there is more than one woman they are most likely in competition with each other. None of that here.

The male characters were peripheral figures with hardly any lines throughout the film - much like female roles in most films. I left the cinema feeling that if the men didn't exist, the four women would be absolutely fine with it.

There was also a bit of patriarchy blaming in the form of Halloween-Costume-Searching: "Why are the only options for women 'witch' or 'sexy kitten'?"

Unfortunately, too much was made about finding the right man, or forgiving the cheating man, for this film to be something feminists can get behind. I was hoping Miranda would come out as a lesbian but no such luck. I was also irritated by the very genuine anger Charlotte had towards the man who hurt her friend, being undermined by the physical instablity caused by her tight dress and heels. And the protagonists' disdain for all things deemed 'unfeminine' and their dependence on designer labels will alienate far too many women for this to be a feminist film.

Still, this blockbuster movie was sanctioned by a male-dominated capitalist society - so what did I expect? I was pleasantly surprised by some of it. Go see it; but I won't blame you if you walk out during the mocking of pubic hair or belly fat. I said to the friend I was with, "they have to get the woman-hating in there somewhere." She said, "I don't think it's a conscious thing. It's just so ingrained."

Quite.

Johnny Vegas: Overstepping the mark?

I don't think I would use that phrase to describe it. More like committing a sexual offence in front of a large audience, half of which found it funny and the other half unwilling to intervene.

I can easily put myself in the shoes of this girl, 18 or 19 years old, and I am absolutely horrified and disgusted. As someone prone to nervous giggling myself it appears obvious that she was terrified and didn't know how to fight him off - even if she felt she was allowed to under the circumstances, which I doubt.

This is abuse of power, plain and simple. Sexual bullying and abuse which (hopefully) would have been stopped had it not been happening on a stage in the name of 'comedy'.

Johnny Vegas deliberately picked a very young, nervous-looking woman. He should be charged with assault and banned from the comedy circuit.

Oh, and he should also go to hell.

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/theatre/2008/05/johnny_vegas.html

Disappearing women syndrome: Sylvia Gosse

http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/about/collections.asp?type=cBridgeman%20Artists%20Copyright%20Service&topic=318

I love this post...

...from Amananta

Go read.