Sudden animal appearance/other surprise: I scream. Much to my own shame. I can't explain it and I'm very frustrated that it happens. I, uh, was once in my basement doing laundry when I uncovered a mouse, quite alive, under some clothes. Whereupon I immediately shrieked at a note I theretofore had considered impossible for human voices to reach. Then I backed away.
Not-so-sudden animal appearance/other surprise: I gasp silently, frozen for a second, and then back away.
Bad people: Make fists, glare. If there's something somewhat holdable, I'll make a fist around that (like Zero does with the pool ball in "Holes") so as to pack a bigger theoretical wallop. Even better if there's a lamp or a glass bottle around.
Yeah, but what do you do when a bug-eyed poltergeist punches its way out of your bedroom wall and reaches towards you with skeletal fingers, whispering plaintively in words that you can't quite understand?
Clever girl. I'd not thought of going for Venkmanisms.
FYI: A simple, "Get thee behind me, demon!" tends to work well. It's also very useful for when someone tries to cut in front of you when you're waiting online at the supermarket.
As an actual non-shrieking girl, I feel compelled to answer. When something shocking or scary happens, I too have what amounts to two separate actions. I either A: Run like hell. No questions, comments or screaming because I'm too busy running for my life. If it's a false alarm I'll laugh about it later. Or option B: Beat the shit out of it. Once a very angry rottweiler slipped under a fence and started to run towards me. I can't out-run a dog because I'm not Superwoman. So I kicked it in the face when it came close. I felt bad for about three seconds but then I realized that this cute and fluffy puppy wanted to eat me
( ... )
Here's food for thought, or ya' know, just plain old consumption: how does having your most vulnerable parts, your dangly bits if you will, on the outside make you tough? It's the thermal exhaust port to your death star. Having your goodies out and about makes you WEAK my friend.
Ha! See what I did there? I used your statements about genitalia and turned it around on you! ... Yes, I am a loser...
Ah, but you see, mankind had to evolve the ability to be tough and strong despite this glaring design flaw. You so-called "ladies" have no idea just how tough one has to be when living with said vulnerable dangly parts. Not only that, but you've got those safety cushions built right onto your chests. Why, when I fall over, if my arms don't break my fall, then the next thing to go is my face!
So quit lording your evolutionary advantages over us men. We're downtrodden enough as it is.
I mean look at the facts. According to the United States Census, there are roughly 150,000,000 women in the united states. Meanwhile, us men would barely muster a 1,000,0000 people in what was later dubbed the historic "Million man march."
Clearly I have proven, through the use of numbers, that men as a gender have had become tougher as a reactionary measure to being so downtrodden by you female lady types over the centuries.
This is true, it's just that I watched roughly three episodes and it happened often enough that I actually noticed it. I think that's probably saying something, and that something is: Eeeeeeek!
I haven't watched since the S3 opener because 10 minutes into the show when they introduced the black couple who were hunters I said to myself, "They're going to do something stupid which will lead to the black guy getting killed. Then the black woman, who is an experienced hunter, will do something stupid to put them all in danger before the end of the show."
Low and behold, my prediction was right on the money. Hence, I never watched again. With the sole exception of hearing that Robert Wisdom played an angel in S4, everything I've heard about the show AND the fandom has convinced me that it was the best move ever. And even the Robert Wisdom temptation faded when I found out that his character ended about the way you'd expect any black character would end on Supernatural: evil and dead.
I will fully admit that my show does tend to have the girls be a little... weak shall we say? In its defense, when they do introduce kick ass female characters (points to icon, don't think you've met her yet have you?) the insanity that is the extremely vocal bromance minority (yes, I said minority - most fans are not Wincesters) slam them down in a heartbeat and they are kickly written down. (edit: Quickly, not kickly. I left in the original spelling to leave you to wonder as to the aptness of the Freudian Slip there!)
That's what happened to poor Jo before she even came onto the show - there was a web-based 'Jo's Journal' and the attacks began almost as soon as that appeared.
I love my show, but sometimes the fandom makes me wonder why.
As for me - I have been known to scream, feel horribly embarrassed about it, then do something violent to compensate. Does that make me dysfunctional too?
Well, having not known about Jo before I saw her and having never seen the web-based stuff, I can't say I was too thrilled with her myself, mostly because of the aforementioned hysterical shrieking.
I'm trying to give Supernatural a chance, I really am. I have this sinking suspicion that it's just Charmed, only instead of hot girls it's got hot guys, and considering how much I hated Charmed, the lack of hot girls is not exactly a point in its favor.
But so far I don't think it's on that level of awfulness. It's just...I don't know. There's something about this show that rubs me the wrong way. The brothers and their relationship (their NORMAL relationship, you scary internet twincesters), is definitely the best part of the show. But, I dunno. There's something I can't quite put my finger on, and maybe it is the gender/race stuff that some of the other commenters are pointing out.
I tend to think of it like this: I've seen Supernatural for a few seasons now. It does the job in staving off boredom, and in doing so has demonstrated a few redemptive qualities.
What little I've seen of Charmed has so far demonstrated a complete lack of qualities, redemptive or otherwise. So the equation is fairly simple. I can watch a show with wildly varying quality of script, decent acting, workable characters and a whole lot of sexism in it, or I can watch a show with consistently abysmal scripts, awful acting, bile-inducing characters and even greater amounts of sexism.
For me, that equation is pretty much a given. Of course I think your problem, with which if true I'm fully in agreement, might have to do something with a fact that even if something is superior to Charmed in every way, that does not necessarily make it good. If so, that proves you still have a measure of taste.
Ummm, I've been known to accidentally kick the shit out of people who thought it was funny to sneak up behind me and go "Booo!"
No, really. Imagine this:
Some male relative or guy I'm dating deciding to play a "Boo!" joke on unsuspecting me. Then imagine the "Boo!" moment. They go, "Boo!" I yell, jump 3-feet into the air, spin around in mid-air, and then proceed to land a couple of kicks and a couple of blows. It's just sheer instinct on my part, and not at all taught.
Let's just say none of my male relatives yell "Boo!" anymore. :-)
However, if I see the bad coming, I just run. the fuck. away. Because I'm all about self-preservation like that.
That's a kickass instinct (pun not intended), and one I'd imagine is of net benefit. I'm an example of the other end of the scale; due to incidents in grade school, I'm mentally unable to throw a hard punch or kick. Body just won't obey, and I'm generally useless in fights. I'm stronger than all but one of my female friends, yeah, but that doesn't take you far if you go to pieces the instant things go bad.
Funny thing is, since it's an "established" fact that women will be helpless in the face of danger, anyone reading this will probably consider Liz Marks to be an atypical woman, and by the same token me an atypical male. They'll probably think the opposite a fact of biology, too. Reactionary gender stereotypes, yay!
That's kind of what I'm getting at. I thought we were kind of moving away from that shrieking woman stereotype, but I think I was living in a bubble world of Joss Whedon stories where women can actually punch people in the face and figure out how to fire a weapon. (Not that Joss doesn't have his own gender issues now and again, but nobody's perfect and at least he's trying.)
Screaming followed by quickly running or moving away is fine. It's the standing there screaming while the evil ghost thing is going to slobber ectoplasm all over your eyeballs, that's what I don't get.
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Not-so-sudden animal appearance/other surprise: I gasp silently, frozen for a second, and then back away.
Bad people: Make fists, glare. If there's something somewhat holdable, I'll make a fist around that (like Zero does with the pool ball in "Holes") so as to pack a bigger theoretical wallop. Even better if there's a lamp or a glass bottle around.
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What then, woman!?
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FYI: A simple, "Get thee behind me, demon!" tends to work well. It's also very useful for when someone tries to cut in front of you when you're waiting online at the supermarket.
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(I don't need to put a /sarcasm thing here, do I? You all get the yuks)
PS: Why did I just now spell tough "tought" twice in a row? Could it have something to do with my genitalia?
(Second parenthetical to add that I'm going for a running gag about things being related to gender for absolutely no reason at all)
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Ha! See what I did there? I used your statements about genitalia and turned it around on you! ... Yes, I am a loser...
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So quit lording your evolutionary advantages over us men. We're downtrodden enough as it is.
I mean look at the facts. According to the United States Census, there are roughly 150,000,000 women in the united states. Meanwhile, us men would barely muster a 1,000,0000 people in what was later dubbed the historic "Million man march."
Clearly I have proven, through the use of numbers, that men as a gender have had become tougher as a reactionary measure to being so downtrodden by you female lady types over the centuries.
You should be ashamed!
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I haven't watched since the S3 opener because 10 minutes into the show when they introduced the black couple who were hunters I said to myself, "They're going to do something stupid which will lead to the black guy getting killed. Then the black woman, who is an experienced hunter, will do something stupid to put them all in danger before the end of the show."
Low and behold, my prediction was right on the money. Hence, I never watched again. With the sole exception of hearing that Robert Wisdom played an angel in S4, everything I've heard about the show AND the fandom has convinced me that it was the best move ever. And even the Robert Wisdom temptation faded when I found out that his character ended about the way you'd expect any black character would end on Supernatural: evil and dead.
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That's what happened to poor Jo before she even came onto the show - there was a web-based 'Jo's Journal' and the attacks began almost as soon as that appeared.
I love my show, but sometimes the fandom makes me wonder why.
As for me - I have been known to scream, feel horribly embarrassed about it, then do something violent to compensate. Does that make me dysfunctional too?
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I'm trying to give Supernatural a chance, I really am. I have this sinking suspicion that it's just Charmed, only instead of hot girls it's got hot guys, and considering how much I hated Charmed, the lack of hot girls is not exactly a point in its favor.
But so far I don't think it's on that level of awfulness. It's just...I don't know. There's something about this show that rubs me the wrong way. The brothers and their relationship (their NORMAL relationship, you scary internet twincesters), is definitely the best part of the show. But, I dunno. There's something I can't quite put my finger on, and maybe it is the gender/race stuff that some of the other commenters are pointing out.
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I tend to think of it like this: I've seen Supernatural for a few seasons now. It does the job in staving off boredom, and in doing so has demonstrated a few redemptive qualities.
What little I've seen of Charmed has so far demonstrated a complete lack of qualities, redemptive or otherwise. So the equation is fairly simple. I can watch a show with wildly varying quality of script, decent acting, workable characters and a whole lot of sexism in it, or I can watch a show with consistently abysmal scripts, awful acting, bile-inducing characters and even greater amounts of sexism.
For me, that equation is pretty much a given. Of course I think your problem, with which if true I'm fully in agreement, might have to do something with a fact that even if something is superior to Charmed in every way, that does not necessarily make it good. If so, that proves you still have a measure of taste.
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No, really. Imagine this:
Some male relative or guy I'm dating deciding to play a "Boo!" joke on unsuspecting me. Then imagine the "Boo!" moment. They go, "Boo!" I yell, jump 3-feet into the air, spin around in mid-air, and then proceed to land a couple of kicks and a couple of blows. It's just sheer instinct on my part, and not at all taught.
Let's just say none of my male relatives yell "Boo!" anymore. :-)
However, if I see the bad coming, I just run. the fuck. away. Because I'm all about self-preservation like that.
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Funny thing is, since it's an "established" fact that women will be helpless in the face of danger, anyone reading this will probably consider Liz Marks to be an atypical woman, and by the same token me an atypical male. They'll probably think the opposite a fact of biology, too. Reactionary gender stereotypes, yay!
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Screaming followed by quickly running or moving away is fine. It's the standing there screaming while the evil ghost thing is going to slobber ectoplasm all over your eyeballs, that's what I don't get.
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