That colorism existed in East Asian countries prior to the 1500s(ish) does not make it a static phenomenon that continues to exist entirely independent of racism or the "pervasiveness of whiteness," with absolutely no crossover whatsoever. This conversation also began as a discussion of two very specific things:…

Yeah, or possibly blaming the studio for not promoting the film as having been made for a female audience, even though that's what he (seems to think he) did.

I really would disagree that this is not very much connected to overvaluing whiteness and a western ideal of beauty. Particularly in this case considering (to throw in another variable) the prevalence of things like eyelid surgery in J-Pop and K-Pop.

"Soft, pale, and sweet." Valuing paleness is the very essence of colorism, and colorism is grounded in the same nasty attitudes that form the foundations of racism & white supremacy.

Well, I'm sure his current kids care if he's a good father to them. We should all hope that he's a good (i.e., non-abusive) father to his currently-minor children. It's just that that doesn't erase things that might have come before. You can't say of someone "sure, he murdered someone, but I know of a whole bunch of…

Is there some point after which you're no longer supposed to hold your parents' hands? Sometimes I still hold my folks' hands, and I'm in my 30s.

I remember what a hard time my Japanese-American friend got every time she went back to visit—she was thin as a rail, but also unusually tall (5'8") and had broad shoulders. She was constantly harrangued by her relatives about her physique—both the number on the scale (as if a 5'8" woman should weigh the same as a…

But "soft, pale, and sweet" is kind of why it's not cute. It's overvaluing childlike, yielding simplicity. And whiteness.

Yes, and then also to say, if we have to assume personal culpability for all the terrible things our ancestors might have done, can we also take personal credit for any good things they might have done? (people do this all the time, of course, but they should stop it.)

Yeah, I can only hope they just arrested her in order to hold her while they sorted through the situation, and then dropped or will drop any charges rather than prosecuting a child victim of sex trafficking. Which is about as absurd as arresting a mugging victim on the charge of carrying a wallet.

I'm mostly distracted by the fact that the linked NYDN story on the matter refers to her as a "starlet."

LOL at "call on the power of the moon."
Moon: Is someone calling me, via the fluid-consumption communications system? They must want to lose weight! I will answer this call.

"If you're rooming with a young man who watches a lot of porn, DON'T BE SILENT. Please let me know immediately. Let me know his name, share a photo, tell me what SPECIFICALLY he's interested in. Titles, please. This is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. You'll have to trust me on this."

That episode is absolute magic. The Hallmark Channel just reran it last month. (What, like you don't watch MSW at 11pm on the Hallmark Channel?)

Creative expression like "What the hell is wrong with you? You should have just SHUT THE FUCK UP. Fuck you, [Sally]"?

Whoooa. That would be a weird conversation. Though I just googled "Sloughis," and those are definitely memorable looking dogs. Very handsome!

They probably just asked around about a regular trail user who matched the description in the letters. (The link says that the guy mentioned her walking her pitbulls, so that would kind of narrow it down, for example.)

I can't speak to this business about smoking and synthetic hormones, but the theory that fraternal birth order affects sexual orientation is not new, nor is there any reason for it to be particularly controversial—it's just sort of an interesting piece of information: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/45962…

I didn't realize until I clicked on that link that Taylor Armstrong and Farrah Abraham would be called upon to get along, or even to cross paths at all. That looked as strange to me as "David O. Russell and Susan from Sesame Street do not get along." What a strange world we live in.

I would not want my chin pointed, but I think this is just a matter of where to draw a line, and there's no one "right" place to draw a line. My personal line is this: I understand "correcting" things that are temporary to begin with (zits) or that maybe come and go (undereye puffiness) or were an accident to begin…