Ben X

Hey, get your own recommendation!

Love that bit! I'm nearing the end of Book 3 pt 1, and I think that character's storyline is my favourite.

Time Gentlemen, Please! already did it.

This is confusing! When are people going to be in London? In the other London Meet thread, we'd suggested 8-9 Sep and maybe 22-23 Sep.

I'd be interested to know whether other long-standing Thumbs still see that as an angry face or if it gets directly translated into a sad face in their head. And whether they use it to mean "sadface" knowing others will auto-translate, or whether they only use it for "angry face".

Great Caesar's ghost!

Any photos of those costumes?

Harry Potter. Dexter, maybe?

I suspect that's a joke spoiler, but I don't dare check..!

Yeah, it spoiled that set-up! I would have enjoyed the gradual realisation as I started Dance With Dragons!

Spoiler that they last that long (Maybe starting this thread wasn't a good idea on my part...)

Spoiler! That's funny, I love Bronn already and he's barely done anything!

I think it means don't gloat once you've conclusively been proved right. It probably works better for marriages than internet forums...

Not sure if this is what you mean, but if you have a good AG idea that you want to make but can't bring yourself to do the legwork on, you could always post on the AGS forums and see if any programmers and artists want to make it with you.

Wow! A very weird mash-up idea, but I'd love to see it. I'd love to get back into Baker.

Who?

Which dates?

Agree, very much enjoying HoW.

I smell another Kickstarter thread!

Or the B12 doesn't really have anything to do with it...

What did you get rid of and what did you do with them?

Take the full stop off the end there, doc! Subbes: that thing about your pulse sounds exactly like clumsy exposition to set up the scene later where you have to play dead and the henchman checks your pulse on that wrist.

Synth mentioned him in the other comics thread. I've never got into Clowes, but I think I'll get David Boring from the library as it's had some recommendations here and I also read an avclub article recently which likened it to Jimmy Corrigan I love Squee by Jhonen Vasquez (also JTHM and I Feel Sick), and all of Kyle Baker's early stuff (The Cowboy Wally Show, Why I Hate Saturn, You Are Here, I Die At Midnight). Jay Stephens' early Land Of Nod and Oddville stuff was also great before he segued from 'kids' comics for adults' to 'kids' comics for kids'.

I was just about to post this tweet when I realised that it may well be seen as homophobic. It didn't strike me at first because this is one of those phrases that, to me at least, has been stripped of its original context to a large extent. That is, when I say or type it, I don't associate it in my head with the literal meaning at all. Perhaps the Feminism thread has made me more sensitive to this kind of thing, though, because I stopped to wonder. I hypothesised what my responses would be to any accusations of homophobia that followed, to determine whether I felt justified in using the phrase. The obvious response is that anal sex is not homosexual-exclusive. So, why am I using it as a negative phrase? Personally, I'm pretty terrified of getting fucked in the arse by a man or a woman (although listening to Dan Savage's podcast has tempted me to experiment with butt-plugs, but my hemorrhoidophobia is pretty strong), although I suppose the term is used in general with man-on-man connotations. I momentarily decided that if I'm not using it in a homophobic way, then it's acceptable, at least to me. But then, I'd rather err on the side of not upsetting anyone, and I could conceivably imagine some of my LGBT friends not liking my use of the term, plus I can't pretend to be so naive as to not recognise that it probably is used in a homophobic manner by a lot of people. So I tried to come up with a (funny) alternative. The trouble is, anything I came up with could potentially have me attacked for being derogatory about someone's kink: STOP PISSING ON MY SHOES? STOP KICKING ME IN THE NUTS? These could be offensive to water-sport or ball-busting fetishists. Should I be more sensitive to homophobia because it's more prevalent and violent? STOP FUCKING ME OVER might work but it's less funny and if I'm going down the road of literalism I should consider the connotations of rape. Should I try to find something utterly non-sexual (difficult what with there being a fetish for everything), or say what I want as long as I am comfortable with my intent?