My ears must be broken. I didn't think Perry sounded all that bad in this as a live singer. I've heard a lot worse. A whole lot worse.

Yep. Something I like to keep in mind when I compare myself unfavorably to stylish stars who look more put-together on their way out of a yoga class than I often do for a night on the town is that they get paid to look a certain way. I'd be immaculate too if I were earning millions because of my image, either wholly…

Let's do it, then! I've always felt more kinship with the folks over in Biloxi and Mobile than with those bible-toting sorts in the northern reaches; we should make it official. What sounds good — Loumissibama? Alamissiana? Do we want to let parts of Florida in on the fun and go with Loumissibamada, or is that a…

Yes! Same here! We ought to form our own Louisiana along with the folks in Cajun country and maybe the people from coastal Mississippi and Alabama who probably want to leave their backward northern compatriots to their own devices too.

I know how you feel, and I don't think of the Carolinas as being particularly "tight" states. It always surprises me to see Louisiana on these lists too until I remember that the long part of the "L" shape is practically another universe from the fun-loving, exciting and welcoming part that pays most of the state's…

Wrong McCarthy. The one you're thinking of is Jenny, not Melissa.

Clearly, it was an organic fair-trade coffee table book, but does she really need to spell that out for us? Surely, those things are a given.

Could you explain, then, how someone whispering "peace" and "love" over their water before they drink it could have more "spooky action from a distance" than, say, the countless trips that water has made through digestive systems, the innumerable times it has been trapped in a dying body's tissues or that one time you…

Your connotation is an unusual one. "Nether" just means "lower," as in Netherlands. Etymologically, it basically means "down there." While that can also apply to traditional concepts of hell, it could also mean anything from the genitals and butt to, say, Australia. (I love you, Australia, and I am not comparing you…

Even if you were right, does it matter? Does it make a difference to you — you personally, you as an individual — how some other person defines himself or herself? Unless you plan on dating someone, it really doesn't make a difference what his or her gender is (and depending on who you are and how you're wired, it may…

Anyways, enough about me. This is an article about ucsb shooter's horrible friends.

I have a small chance of dying in an auto accident. I have a far, far smaller chance of being killed by a lightning strike. Realistically, I should be more concerned about everyday driving safety and caution than I should be about being caught outside during a thunderstorm and being one of those incredibly rare…

They probably pay some struggling writer a penny or two a word to come up with the copy on their descriptions. At those prices, BB doesn't get the kind of in-depth research (e.g., Googling) needed to see if the Latin name of the wood is spelled correctly. (I also have to note it isn't capitalized properly in those…

You know what? I never have been to a salon because it always seemed like a waste of money — money I don't have. Money I don't need to spend because I generally have good nails. Money I'd rather spend on an inexpensive bottle of polish here and there, some of which occasionally has glitter. I'm glad for alter_ego's…

Yes, I do think it's good that he's facing consequences for this. If the tweets were indeed a cry for help, that will come out during the legal process. If — and this is far, far more likely — he's a little shit who thinks rape is amusing to talk about or sounds like a really fun idea, well, that'll come out too.

"R" stands for "restricted audiences." I don't want to see literature being rated because the next step is seeing some of it disappear from school curricula — not in all schools, no, but in many. Unlike television shows and movies, books have an automatic fast-forward feature; we can flip past scenes that are too…

It kind of is, yeah, but I've known plenty of people who've been mocked for vocal weirdnesses such as a nasal monotone or vocal fry or constantly saying "y'know" and "like." I'm not sure it's specifically a gendered thing — although many complaints about women's "high-pitched" or "breathy" voices are absolutely…

While it's true that a lot of people complain about hearing female voices and it is absolutely sexist bullshit, it is also possible that their complaint was with this particular woman's voice. I thought that was some dog-whistle bullshit too, so I looked up an interview with her. I thought she was delivering a mocking…

I had to hear it for myself as a refresher and looked up an interview on YouTube, and you're right — she is a female Ben Stein, voice-wise. A nasal drone is tough to hear from anyone, male or female. When I skipped to a random part of the video to hear her, I thought she was doing some kind of caricature or funny…

No, it isn't Firefly, and I do wish the show's writers would let characters evolve naturally. I think they've done that with Datak and Stahma, which is why they're by far the most interesting characters on the show, and to a lesser extent with Doc Yewll. I also think they're doing a good job of presenting a mixture of…