I always thought that Erin Esurance, the Esurance cartoon mascot had a particularly alluring voice.

The phone thing is fascinating. How is “interest” generated? Is it mainly physical appearance? And what happens if they do talk on the phone, but the relationship ends? Does she have to give him back the phone? I could see situations where men are carrying around a bag full of phones, and women walk around with an…

I guess, sure that definitely one way of looking at it. But do you feel the same way when women say, “He can get it,” or refer to men or things men do as “panty droppers”? Is it not the same thing.

I just looked up “the Sellout,” and now I want to read it. I can see if a black comedian is cracking jokes largely at the expense of black people, it can be offensive for non-black people to be laughing at it. But I think that white people laughing with a black comedian is different from a white artist painting…

Dylan’s song was from 1962, way before people were concerned with “cultural appropriation.” Also, since the Till murder was in 1955, Dylan’s song can be seen as spreading awareness of Till’s murder. I think both of those things matter in our interpretation of these pieces of art. Similarly, I find it odd that Woody…

I am half Chinese and half white, and I look ambiguous, people ask me “what are you?” All the time. It bothers me a lot less than other ambiguous people. But I often don’t like peoples’ follow-up questions, such as “That’s why you’re so hot,” or “mixed race people are so hot.” Yes, it is a compliment, but I really…

How old are you? I find it unfathomable that people would use the “tar brush” phrase in the 21st century. Then again, a lot of your New England comments see foreign to me. “super zip,” “using your name to open doors,” in many ways, New England is another country. Candlepin bowling.

Magic guitar: There was a similar question within the past month, and Drew opted to be the #1000 guitarist in the world for rock star badassery. I and several others in the comments pointed out that mere technical skill are not enough to be a rock star, you have to write songs.

If I had to guess, I would have guessed that Minaj had recorded fewer than 76 total songs in her career. I am amazed that she has 76 hits. I am kind of surprised that “top 100" is even a thing. How many songs are reasonably released at a time? If there was a truly accurate chart, would it even be possible for a song…

Yeah, black people might have been present during most of British history, but at most a minimal presence. Newton is basically saying that roles exist, but there are too few, and too many black actors fighting for them.

I had a roommate once who was Puerto Rican. He said he was ethnically 1/16th Chinese. He said he had a Chinese ancestor who moved to Italy in the early 19th century, learned Italian and tried to pass himself off as Italian. I am unsure if Italian people believed him, or maybe they didn’t believe him but it didn’t…

I don’t think you are insecure, shallow, or a jerk at all. KaraThrace is a raging asshole though.

I teach high school English. I used to teach history. When I did the 1950's, I spent a day on rock and roll. I played clips from Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers. The kids liked Chuck the most. And so do I.

I guess i never realized that British shows have so few episodes. How does this affect syndication? A US show needs 100 episodes before it can be syndicated and run in reruns. It seems that British shows are unlikely to hit that mark, but do they get syndicated? I seem to remember watching Are You Being Served reruns…

Well, I don’t really know much about these dolls, but I am interested now. i just looked them up on wikipedia and apparently there is Cecile Rey, who is French-African American in New Orleans in 1853. I think she is from France, I am unsure if she is half white.

Where was that trivia night? In Washington, DC, most people have TMI, so bar trivia is hard as fuck. That question you answered, really doesn’t seem that difficult.

So, you say whatevs because Seyfried and Watson are young and hot, but then you say if you have some kids and medical drama, you care less about who sees you naked. Are nude pics just all around “Whatevs”?

Regarding body image, I meant to write, “Not all men do, but the ones who do...”

I think that a big reason why there is so much more solidarity between women and so little among men, to the point where men’s concerns fail to get traction is because men have a much wider variety of experiences. I understand the origins of Not All Men, Yes All Women, but those phrases really apply to a wide variety…

Yeah, women can be lonely and isolated too, but it is quite a bit easier for women to break out of that than men. Just like it is very possible for a white person to be homeless, but it is quite a bit easier for a white person to break out of that than a black person. White privilege. And female privilege.e