Elsewhere－－That\'s Life

性工作者十日谈

elsewhere — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:35:00 +0800

◎译　　名　性工作者十日谈
◎片　　名　Whipsers And Moans
◎年　　代　2007
◎地　　区　中国香港
◎导　　演　邱礼涛
◎主　　演　朱茵
　　　　　　余安安
　　　　　　蒋雅文
　　　　　　董敏莉
　　　　　　吴日言
　　　　　　李逸朗
　　　　　　邓健泓
　　　　　　Mei-hei
　　　　　　汤宝如
　　　　　　King-Man
　　　　　　卢惠光
　　　　　　蒋志光
　　　　　　张锦程
　　　　　　张颖康
　　　　　　黄德斌
　　　　　　黄文慧

值得一看，对小姐的生活、心理刻画到位，但始终是一部商业片，思想性受到了极大的限制。尤其是近乎喜剧的结尾，不知是在号召从娼，还是在为香港摸金。我一向很尊重小姐，无论是供发泄也好，取乐也罢，她们都完成了不可完成的任务。可偏偏把小姐行业非法化，

性工作者十日谈

elsewhere — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:19:00 +0800

值得一看，对小姐的生活、心理刻画到位，但始终是一部商业片，思想性受到了极大的限制（呵呵，）

情长意深

elsewhere — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 04:37:00 +0800

爱的小屋

elsewhere — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 18:36:00 +0800

完美结合——令你鼻血直流的游戏女玩家（6）

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:25:00 +0800

Katy

Xbox Live to a face like this?" src="http://www.gamerhelp.com/images/content_images/123480-2.jpg">

How could you trash talk on
Xbox Live to a face like this?

Name: Katy aka bunnyXablaze
Age: 18
Favorite Game(s): Of all time: Breath of Fire III (PS1). Recent: Gears of War.
Console of Choice: I'm a microsoft fangirl, so Xbox 360 for sure!
Gaming Hours per Week: 35+

We understand that you recently won 5th place in the 2007 Miss Video Game Competition. What is this all about and how did you win 5th place?
MissVideoGame 2007 is a world wide competition. It started off with 400+ girls who joined because they enjoy video games. Since that's really too many, there was a massive online vote to narrow it down to 50. I was surprised I got 5th, most deffintily! I was sleeping and I got a phone call from my dad. He asked if I wanted good news to wake up to. While I spent the next minute or so rolling around on my phone about to fall back to sleep, he told me I had come in at 5th. I was definitely awake after that! I'm looking forward to playing the other 49 girls, during the next phase of the competition.

When did you first get into video games?
I really don't remember the age I got into video games, but I remember playing Duck Hunt on my brother's NES. I couldn't ever hit the ducks from the couch, so I'd stand up right to the TV screen and shoot them. Come on, who DIDN'T do that?!. Growing up, I had a Sega Genesis and played Sonic and Ecco the Dolphin, but I spent a lot more time doing table top role-playing games with friends. I grew out of that when I got my first PSX and started playing games like Silent Hill, Tomb Raider, and Medieval. It has expanded since then!

"Makes me feel like I'm prepared
for war! Huagh!"

What do you like to game in? Do you have clothes/gear/lucky charms that you tend to have on you when playing?
I can game in anything I'm comfortable in, but jeans and a t-shirts are perfect! In recent competitions, I haven't been without my dog tags. It's just two tags, one says "bunnyXablaze" and the other is the Gears of War tag that they handed out at the launch. Makes me feel like I'm prepared for war! Huagh! 300 rubbed off on me!

Do you have any ways of getting back at cheap players?
Aw. I really couldn't even do anything! I would feel like I stooped to their level. I've met alot of cheap players in my gaming. As for my trick... you don't want to let it get to you.

If you beat the tar out of a male gamer who claims he's really good at the game that you just squashed him in, what happens next?
That type of thing really doesn't matter to me. I mean I'll probably rub it in his face for a while (laughs). But it's not that big of a deal. My biggest issue with guys is once they find out I play video games that's all they want to talk to me about. I find that aspect unattractive, not the boasting about how they can beat me. That's why typically my friends and I don't talk about video games a whole lot. New people always find it strange that I don't want to talk about them 24/7 because I talk about everything under the sun before I mention video games. I mean, don't get me wrong--once you get me started, I won't stop. But I deal with video games so much. I just kinda like PRETENDING I'm normal.

Do you have a big plans in terms of something you want to do in the future revolving around gaming?
Bwahah! "bunnyXablaze DESTROYER OF EGOS!" Although, that'd be pretty cool. I just want to be involved. I love gaming. I love the culture that surrounds it, the people, and of course the games. As I stated in my MissVideoGame entry -- "As a gamer, and a young adult, I have the ability to shape the gaming culture for the next 20 years." I'm currently involved in a bunch of gaming related projects along with an up and coming all girl gaming team sponsored by a large parent company. If things ever go south and I stop doing projects like these I'll just continue to play video games competitively and just for fun.

If you could change one thing about video games or a specific video game, what would it be?
I'd like to change the distance you have to be from the TV to play your Wii. My room is so small, I have to stand in the back corner of my room for my Wii Remote to even register.

完美结合——令你鼻血直流的游戏女玩家（7）

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:24:00 +0800

Dara

What more could a Blood Elf ask for?

Name: Dara aka FemmeFatale
Age: 19
Favorite Game(s): Counterstrike 1.6, Call of Duty 2, Gauntlet Legends, World of Warcraft, Gears of War, Golden Eye, Dead or Alive, Soul Calibur, THUG, THP8, Marvel vs. Capcom, F.E.A.R., and Tomb Raider.
Console of Choice: I still cherish my N64. I play more games on it than I do my other consoles. All my 64 games bring back awesome childhood memories.
Gaming Hours per Week: Anywhere from 15-40-ish.

What's one thing that separates girl gamers from guy gamers?
Umm... Boobs?! (Laughs) but really, I wouldn't say much besides obviously gender. Also, a lot of females are willing to express that they are gamers, while most guys keep their inner gamer in the closet. I think that's because gaming was once stereotyped as something only "geeks" and "nerds" did. Some guys may still be stuck in that mindset, and are embarrassed to admit they're gamers. I have a male model gamer pal who will not ever talk about video games with me in front of real friends, only one on one. I think it's silly, but I respect that. There's plenty of other things to talk about.

What was the most pissed off you've ever been when playing a video game?
Every battleground I enter, or CS round I play, something or some other player can send me on the verge of smashing my monitor into little pieces. I feel bad for anyone in vent with me when I'm having a game rage session. There is one vivid memory that sticks out from the many others and angers me still to this day: it was a couple of years ago, I was working on Final Fantasy X. I was really far into it, and one day I went to load it up and my saved game was not there. Everything on the memory card was gone! Turns out, my brother erased the entire memory card to make room for a bunch of new games he bought. I'd never game raged so hard in my life! I refuse to start FFX over again. Too much time wasted. (Laughs) This coming from a WoW'er.

What is your worst video game experience?
My worst experience related to games, was the result of playing too much of one. Can you take a wild guess which one? Of course it's World of Warcraft! About two years ago, I'd just graduated from high school and wanted to take a one month break before I furthered my education. I only worked on Saturdays, and every other day I would be playing WoW. Well, a small one month break turned into a lengthy four month break. My "addiction" eventually got so bad that I started making up excuses to my friends why I couldn't hang out with them when they invited me out. I was slowly losing them all. I went into a bad state of depression, and hit rock bottom. They say you have to hit rock bottom before you can recover, and that's exactly what happened to me. I sort of had an epiphany. I realized that there are too many things to see and do in life. Sitting on a computer every single day was a serious waste of precious life, and I should be embracing friendship and my youth. So I stopped WoWing for a couple of months, got a full time job, got all my problems sorted out, and went back to WoWing. I played in a much healthier manner and got control of how many hours I put into it. That was by far my worst game related experience.

"...Guys, and some girls, like
boobies, and they're nice to look at."

Do you think big breasted women depicted in video games have negative effects on gamers?
Oh yeah... I bet male and female gamers alike are all rushing to their mother's closets, trying on their push-up bras and stuffing the cups with cantaloupes in hopes to achieve the heaps of cleavage that sprout from Ms. Lara Croft's chest after playing Tomb Raider! (Laughs) I don't think video game character boobs have any major effects on society, or gamers. Besides more fapping fan boys with each release of a game containing hot female characters, I don't think there's a serious issue here. As far as self esteem issues go when it comes to this topic... video games show just as many large breasted, sexy women as anything else. Guys, and some girls, like boobies, and they're nice to look at. When they're busy gaming, they can't pay attention to real jugs, so the game has to take care of that problem... GOSH!

Who would win in a fight Kirby or Rosie O'Donnell? Pfft--that's too easy. You see, although Rosie definitely has the weight advantage over Kirby, that b*tch is all talk! All you gotta do with Kirby is do the final cutter move to get off the ground and escape a nasty crush from Rosie's body, and just pwn her real hard with his sword in the air! Even the biggest n00b controlling Kirby can kick her ass.

完美结合——令你鼻血直流的游戏女玩家（9）

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:23:00 +0800

Britini

"I only snore when I'm sick--I promise!"

Name: Britini
Age: 19
Favorite Game(s): Halo CE, Call of Duty 2 & 3, Gears of War, Halo 2, some Crackdown and the Shadow Run Beta are among my favorites right now. I also play a few of the 360 arcade games like UNO, Assault Heroes, and Geometry Wars.
Console of Choice: Xbox 360
Gaming Hours per Week: : Oh geez... I maybe average about 5 hours a night. Sometimes A LOT more though.

What's your most embarrassing gaming moment?
A while back I was really sick with a cold, so I was on some heavy doses of NyQuil and was playing Halo with some friends on Xbox Live. Apparently I passed out in the middle of a game and was snoring pretty loud into my mic. I only snore when I'm sick--I promise! Well my friends thought it'd be funny to just keep on playing and we were joining matches with rooms of 16 people. All these random people were like 'what's with this dude snoring!?' My friends were all, 'It's a GIRL!!!' Needless to say I got a few messages with people cracking up about it.

"I maybe average about 5 hours
[of gaming] a night."

What are some of your other hobbies other than gaming?
Other than gaming?! What??? Does not compute. (Laughs) Well... I'm really into art and photography. If I get enough motivation in me I can create some pretty cool drawings and stuff. I really want to get into computer graphics and design. I just don't have the tools right now. I'm usually on the computer searching up stupid/funny videos and finding ways to entertain people or make them laugh. I also like traveling a lot, but that's mostly just to go to gaming events. So there isn't much else besides that.

Do you play with other female gamers? Have you learned any differences between when a bunch of females are gaming together compared to a bunch of dudes?
I was always against formed teams and stuff with girls and all girl clans simply because I didn't want to get involved with the drama and large amounts estrogen, but I gave in a while back and decided to try to get a few all girl teams together for Halo 2 events. That didn't really work out, mainly because of the before mentioned problems and the fact that most girls just don't understand teamwork that well. I find that I play a lot better with a mix of guys and girls tho. Don't get me wrong... I'm cool with almost all girl gamers and the majority of them are a lot cooler than any non-gamers I've ever met. They're just not usually good to team with. There are some really really good girls though that I would actually love to play with more often and possibly team up with.

Do you have any gaming rituals to get you prepared for an intense gaming session? Any lucky charms?
Well... not anything irregular. Just have to have my glasses and usually something to drink. When playing Halo though I HAVE to have my original Xbox S controller that I sort of took apart and traded out the thumbsticks and disconnected some of the vibe. Yeah... kinda dorky, but I can't play good without it. At events, I usually am seen wearing my pajama pants and SpongeBob slippers while I play.

完美结合——令你鼻血直流的游戏女玩家（8）

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:23:00 +0800

Raychul and Taun-yo

"If a guy fought for me as hard as
Mario does for Peach, I would be his forever

Name: Raychul
Age: 23
Favorite Game(s): Gears of War, Fatal Frame, the Silent Hill series, anything Mario, GTA series, Bully, God of War 1 & 2, Burnout Revenge, Resident Evil series and Animal Crossing.
Console of Choice: Currently the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.
Gaming Hours per Week: 20+

If you had to say what video game character you resemble, who would you say?
If I had to compare myself to a video game character, I would say physically I resemble Kasumi. (Laughs) just kidding... I wish I had a body like hers! Seriously though, I think the only cute little average blonde girl in any game would be the chick from Haunting Ground, so if I have to pick someone I physically resemble I would say I look like her more than anyone other character I can think of, which isn't bad, she was definitely a cutie. My personality best fits Princess Peach though, she acts all cute and innocent and a little ditsy, but man she packs a mean punch!

Do you have any bad video game habits?
My worst video game habit would definitely be throwing things. I don't throw my controllers... oh no, controllers are expensive, but when I get mad enough at a game I will pick up the closest object that will do the least amount of damage and throw it across the room.

Who's the hottest video game character of all time?
The hottest video game character of all time would have to go to the DOA girls... good lord those are some hot looking girlies. The hottest male video game character would have to be Mario. The ladies love Mario, that little chubby belly, and his devotion to his lady is just adorable. If a guy fought for me as hard as Mario does for Peach, I would be his forever.

Do you think that being a hot female gamer can give you any advantages over male gamers?
Being a female gamer definitely has its perks, people underestimate our skill which usually isn't a bad thing, and sometimes guys get a little distracted during a match, but it's all in fun.

________________________________________________________________________

Name: Taun-yo
Age: 25
Favorite Game(s): Counter-Strike 1.6
Console of Choice: PC
Gaming Hours per Week: 10-15

If you had the chance to challenge one person from history to a game of your choice, who would the person be and what game would you play?
Um, I wouldn't challenge this person but would love to play side-by-side with George A. Romero. I'd love to play any of the Resident Evil games with him because without him there wouldn't have been any zombie games or films.

What are your top 3 fondest gaming memories?
1. The first time I beat a few boys in the arcade at Street Fighter 2.
2. Learning how to play CS at a lan center.
3. The first time I pwned someone and everyone didn't believe it was actually me who did it!

Do guy gamers give you more flack when you kick their ass?
Some guys do! I've been called some dirty names just for getting a headshot on some kid. It's sad that they feel like we're less human or something because they get so embarrassed when they get killed by a girl and they feel like they have to spew out rude comments my way. When I play other girls its more competitive on an actual skill level than personal battle.

完美结合——令你鼻血直流的游戏女玩家（10）

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:22:00 +0800

Ashley W.

Ashley, the foul-mouthed Guitar Heroine

Name: Ashley W.
Age: 21
Favorite Game(s): Guitar Hero, the Tony Hawk series, Katamari Damacy
Console of Choice: PS2
Gaming Hours per Week: 10

What is your first memory of playing a video game?
I used to play Vectorman for the Sega Genesis with my brothers and sisters until the sun came up, and then we would tell our mom that we were really sick and we couldn't go to school. We would then stay home, just so we could play more Vetorman. We wore headphones so our mom would think we were actually sleeping.

Obviously you love to play Guitar Hero. What is your favorite song to play, and why?
My favorite song is "Cowboys From Hell" by Pantera. Why? Because it f***ing rocks, and I could play it over and over.

If your friends wanted to go out on Halloween dressed up as characters from a video game, who would you dress up as?
I would be... you know what? I'm so badass I don't even need to answer this f***ing question.

What is one funny or embarrassing thing that's happened to you that involves video games?
I beat the sh*t out of someone, called her a p***ycat, and made her cry. My mom said I was grounded and needed to respect her.

"You know what? I'm so badass
I don't even need to answer this f***ing
question."

Who would win in an arm wrestling match: Mario or Sonic? Why?
I would win. Those motherf***ers would eat my sh*t and beg for forgiveness. No mercy, that's my motto. I am intrepid and relentless.

Have you ever been shown up in a video game? What happened, and were you embarrassed?
Never. This b*tch is the sh*t. B*tches never lose, and losers never win.

If there was one concept or idea you'd want to see in a video game, and were able to put in a video game, what would it be and why?
They need to invent a cooking video game with smellavision, or one that teaches girls how to dance really well so I could go out to the clubs and show everyone up.

完美结合——令你鼻血直流的游戏女玩家（11）

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:21:00 +0800

Kassandra and Krystal

"Most the girls i play with are gorgeous."

Name: Kassandra
Age: 18
Favorite Game(s): Halo, Halo2, Oblivion, PGA tour '07, Gears of War, Zelda, old school mario games, pretty much anything for the Nintendo 64.
Console of Choice: Xbox 360
Gaming Hours per Week: Well it depends on what game I'm playing. If its Oblivion... at least two days of gameplay per week... I'm so lame! One day I played for 16 hours straight. With Halo I'd say like 10+hours a week, but i rarely play Halo anymore.

Do you play or have you ever played against other female gamers?
I actually play with a bunch of girls, mainly Halo, and they're really fun to play with unless they think they're the sh*t and just talk crap. Most of the time I can whoop their asses... but there are a lot of girls out there I've played with that are f***ing amazing and could kick my a** any day, as well as any guy out there.

screams his eyeballs out." src="http://www.gamerhelp.com/images/content_images/123600-1.jpg">

Strapping Young Lad's Devin Townsend
screams his eyeballs out.

We know you like metal music. You can select 1 metal CD to listen to while play a game. What would the CD be and what would the game be?
That's hard... can I make a mix? I'd have to say Strapping Young Lad's Alien. I love it. I'd listen to it while playing Halo 2 on Xbox Live because it gets me pumped.

What are the most "metal" games out there?
Metal games? Well... i don't think there are really many out there. The one that pops into my head first is Gears of War--it just seems all badass. I think the guys are a little too beefy, all muscle and tiny heads.

Have you had any strange experiences while gaming online?
I pretty much only play Halo 2 online, but occasionally I'll play PGA tour '07 and Gears of War online. I always find myself meeting the weirdos of Xbox Live. I had this guy stalk me once. He told me he loved me and said some pretty disturbing things to me. I guess you could call that strange.

Do you get taken seriously as a gamer or are you finding that other gamers label you as a girl gamer?
If it's a person I've been playing with for a while and they know me, they'd take me seriously, but if it's just some random person who figures out I'm a girl they tend to think that they're playing with a "fat Halo girl who has no life." It's really annoying. Most the girls i play with are gorgeous.

Random question: your house is on fire and you only have time to remove a few items before your house burns to the ground. What do you take?
I take my 360, all the games i can grab, and i strap my kitty meatball on my back and try to grab as many clothes of mine that i can!

Do you ever get angry or violent while playing games?
Oh yeah! I have my fits of rage. I've cursed out my fare share of people. I have a bad habit of that. I also throw the controller sometimes. If I'm playing with some of my guy friends, and they beat me by cheating or say something that makes me mad I tend to give them a little punch in the leg or something. Nothing too horrible I suppose.

________________________________________________________________________

"I've been known to fall asleep
clutching my controller."

Name: Krystal
Age: 25
Favorite Game(s): Big fan of the Final Fantasy games as well as anything strategy based. I love World of Warcraft!
Console of Choice: Lately it's been the Wii or 360. I do a lot of PC gaming as well though.
Gaming Hours per Week: I try to get in my 3 hours a day fix. I'd say right around 20-25 hours.

Describe your ideal gaming experience.
My ideal gaming experience would have to be sitting in front of my TV in my comfy clothes. I'd have my phones turned off and my rice cakes within reach! If it's a really good game I'd stay up until my eyes were bloodshot (which could be days) and couldn't keep them open any longer. By the way, I've been known to fall asleep clutching my controller!

Where do you play video games, in bed, in a living room, in a garage, on a train?
I have most of my consoles in my bedroom. Sometimes it's just easier to stay in bed! I always keep my portables within reach for long road trips too.

Who is the hottest male video game character and why? Who is the hottest female video game character?
I have a spot in my heart for Squall from Final Fantasy VIII. He's sexy! I loved his attitude and his hair! As for the hottest female character I'd say Lulu from Final Fantasy X. I loved her dress and pretty much everything about her. She's got my vote!

Do you have any weird/funny stories about reactions people have to you as a girl gamer?
I probably have the same stories as most girls. Guys can't believe that I play, and when I'm online they'll call me names thinking I'm some little kid who hasn't reached puberty. (Laughs) It gets really bad when you beat a guy and he finds out that you're a girl. Sometimes they can be real weenies!

Do you think that girls in the gaming scene are becoming more prevalent? Why or why not?
I'd say yes. Most of the reasons for that is because video games rock! All a girl has to do is pick up her first controller and it's all over! Some girls I know are anti-video games because their boyfriends play and it takes time away from them. I've found that sometimes girls will pick up a controller just to get some attention from their guy and realize that they love it too. Of course, this isn't true of all situations, just some of the ones I've encountered. I think curiosity has something to do with other girls. They just want to know what the big deal is! Then there are those of us that have been raised on them!

Has there ever been a depiction of a female in a video game that has offended you?
Not really. It's annoying sometimes to see women depicted as these big-busted beauties with hardly any clothes, though. But, I guess that doesn't bother me that much.

Do you play video games alone or with a bunch of friends?
Typically I play console games alone. I do play with my friends online, in games like WoW, Smash Brothers or Halo... games where it's just better to play with people!

ZOO影评

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:20:00 +0800

Into the Shadowy World of Sex With Animals

The director Robinson Devor apparently would like viewers who watch his heavily reconstructed documentary, “Zoo,” to see it as a story of ineluctable desire and human dignity. Shot on Super 16-millimeter film, with many scenes steeped in a blue that would have made Yves Klein envious, “Zoo” is, to a large extent, about the rhetorical uses of beauty and metaphor and of certain filmmaking techniques like slow-motion photography. It is, rather more coyly, also about a man who died from a perforated colon after he arranged to have sex with a stallion.

Mercifully, you don’t see this death on camera, though if you sit close enough to the screen, you will see a few fairly brief images of one sexual event, accompanied by graphic sounds. It isn’t pretty, which is why the images appear only on a small television monitor. Art-house devotees may be a tolerant lot, but it’s doubtful they want to look at a stallion’s erect penis stretched across the big screen like a sailboat boom, at least in public. Certainly such an image would work directly counter to the self-conscious poeticism of Mr. Devor’s film, to its carefully confected narrative of misunderstood barnyard love and baleful testimonial. It is, after all, difficult to sing of the bodies electric and equine amid a chorus of “yucks.”

It is, however, very easy to hide behind aestheticized imagery, as “Zoo” soon proves. Much has been made of the film’s look, and it’s easy to see why. The cinematographer, Sean Kirby, who also shot Mr. Devor’s “Police Beat,” a fiction film about a lovelorn Seattle bicycle cop, has done some striking work here. The prowling camera and dusky colors give much of “Zoo,” which opens with the portentous image of what appear to be miners emerging from a tunnel, a sumptuous, almost velvety look and vibe, an effect enhanced by the repeated use of slow-motion photography. Characters don’t just walk in this film; they float across the frame, pouring like liquid toward their inexorable destinies.

Written by Mr. Devor and Charles Mudede, “Zoo” is nothing if not artful. Even before its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January, it had attracted a fair amount of attention that quickly morphed into a reassuringly familiar drone. Documentaries, particularly the kind shown at festivals like Sundance, tend to reaffirm the audience’s worldview, partly by appealing to its presumptive tolerance and partly by underscoring the artistry of the endeavor (the vision thing). Like many such documentaries, “Zoo” wraps its sensationalistic core in a seductive mantle, an approach that appeals to viewers already predisposed to art and the Enlightenment, “Sesame Street” and all things not Rush Limbaugh. These are films as documents of reason (yours, mine, the creators’), the cinema of indoor voices.

In “Zoo,” three of those voices belong to men who, along with a group of unnamed, unnumbered other men, regularly met at a farm near the small city of Enumclaw, about 45 minutes southeast of Seattle, to party with one another and animals, occasionally recording their activities on video. Some of the men are identified only by their Internet handles (they met online), like the dead man, “Mr. Hands.” What Mr. Devor doesn’t explain until right before the end credits is that almost everyone who appears in his film, including most of the men who call themselves “zoos” — for zoophile or lover of animals — are played by actors. Structured like a mystery that taps many of the usual suspense beats, the story unwinds through dramatic reconstructions that show what happened, if not really why.

Reconstructions are old hat in documentary, employed by reality-minded, dramatically inclined filmmakers from Robert J. Flaherty to Errol Morris and of little aesthetic note or interest here. Far more interesting is Mr. Devor’s decision not to name the dead man, identified in news reports and even the film’s production material as Kenneth Pinyan, a divorced Boeing employee. This refusal to give the dead man a name, as well as the penumbral lighting, go a long way toward keeping Mr. Pinyan and the rest of his adopted community in the shadows from which Mr. Devor otherwise seems eager to retrieve them. Given that Mr. Mudede identified Mr. Pinyan in a February 2006 column he wrote for the Seattle newsweekly The Stranger, this silence seems, at best, poorly considered.

It’s hard to know what Mr. Devor is after, though a clue materializes during the only on-camera interview. Late in “Zoo,” the actor Michael Minard suddenly pops up on a blindingly white set, talking about how he was hired to play a cop in the film. On a banal level, his recollection about landing the role underscores that each of us — actor and zoophile and doubtless filmmaker alike — plays a role. But his performance here also appears to be a veiled statement of purpose. “A man bled to death,” Mr. Minard reminds us between clichés (“it hits close to home”) and memories of a young boy who died in his arms after a drowning accident. Looking into the dying child’s eyes, the actor says, he saw his own reflection.

Reality is in the eye of the beholder, and so too, Mr. Devor would seem to have us believe, are death and deviance. Not that he labels man-horse sex deviant or comic or icky or anything much at all. Instead of taking on the serious moral and political objections to bestiality, including those in Leviticus (thou shalt so not) and by animal-rights proponents who reject the instrumental use of animals, he offers haters shrieking on the radio and other opportunists. Yet, paradoxically, it is precisely because Mr. Devor refuses to acknowledge the murkiness that clings to every frame in his film, because he refuses to engage with the world beyond that of the zoophiles, that they seem like creatures from some never-ending night.

That’s too bad. After all, Bible-believers notwithstanding, if you eat and wear animals and agree that it’s O.K. to torture them in the name of science and beauty, what’s the big deal? Human beings subject animals penned in factory farms to far more grievous abuse than anything apparently done to the horses in “Zoo,” and on a daily basis human beings also subject themselves to greater risk. One zoophile’s fond memories of cooking up ham for his brethren indicate that theirs was not a PETA-approved animal love, true. But, as Mr. Devor makes clear, again and again, these were men who truly loved their animals in sickness and in health and, at least in the case of one unfortunate soul, till death finally did part them.

人体艺术

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:19:00 +0800

http://www.couscouskid.co.uk/

聪明的不一定能赚钱

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:18:00 +0800

A Wealth of Smarts Does Not Guarantee Actual Wealth

Just because you are smart doesn't mean you can balance a checkbook, or tackle any of the other tasks that might make you wealthy. A detailed study of 7,000-plus Americans followed since their teen years in the late 1970s reveals that intelligence provides more earning power but not necessarily more accumulated wealth. "The smarter you are, the more income you have," explains economist Jay Zagorsky of Ohio State University, who analyzed the data. "For wealth, there is no relationship."

Zagorsky defines wealth as "the difference between a person's assets and liabilities." So, wealth is income plus home value plus investments (plus fun, valuable stuff like stamp collections) minus mortgages, credit card debt and other debts. In 2004 a collection of 7,403 30-something baby boomers answered questions about their financial status, including whether they had ever maxed out any of their credit cards, fallen behind in bill payments or declared bankruptcy.

Roughly 9 percent of these folks reported credit cards charged to the limit, 18 percent had missed at least one bill payment and more than 13 percent had filed for some form of bankruptcy. This same group also participated in an IQ test in 1980 as part of their enrollment in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. The Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery consists of 10 tests, four of which—word knowledge, paragraph comprehension, math knowledge and arithmetic reasoning—the U.S. Department of Defense uses to assess the intelligence of recruits.

Zagorsky used these intelligence scores and compared them with financial data collected in 2004. For each IQ point, there was a rise in income of between $202 and $616 annually. (For example, a person with an IQ of 130 earns between $6,000 and $18,500 more per year than a peer of lesser intelligence.) But this higher yearly income did not translate into higher wealth. In fact, people with slightly above average intelligence (105 IQ score) had an average net worth higher than those just a bit smarter (110 IQ). "There are some very smart people who get into financial difficulties," Zagorsky notes. "Even smart people don't save."

When Zagorsky controlled for variables like race, education, job status and even factors like smoking, the gap between IQ and wealth remained the same. "Why don't smart people do financially better is the next question to answer," he says, adding that he is completing a follow-up study examining the relationship between intelligence and saving rates. And the probability of missing a payment actually increases with IQ score, he notes.

Explanations are lacking, though Zagorsky speculates it could be anything from people with higher IQs having a better memory for missed payments or a predilection for financial risk, among other possibilities. One thing is clear, however: most of the participants showed financial savvy from an early age, agreeing to participate in the armed forces test in exchange for $50.

The bottom line: "If you're an individual with relatively low intelligence, you shouldn't really believe that you're handicapped in achieving wealth," Zagorsky says. "Similarly, if you're intelligent, you shouldn't think you have an advantage in living the rich life."

欲建“女王国”

elsewhere — Mon, 21 May 2007 09:17:00 +0800

In Women's Town, Girls are on Top

According to Reuters, "Chinese tourism authorities" are "seeking investment to build a novel concept attraction -- the world's first 'women's town,' where men get punished for disobedience."

The village hosting the attraction, Longshuihu, is traditionally matriarchal. The way I read it, the Chinese are taking a feminist utopia and sexing it up into the world's first state-sanctioned BDSM ghetto. The project is budgeted at $26 million and, based on the time line described in the story, may be completed in time for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

According to the article, tourists would be expected to engage in femdom role-playing:

When tour groups enter the town, female tourists would play the dominant role when shopping or choosing a place to stay, and a disobedient man would be punished by "kneeling on an uneven board" or washing dishes in restaurant, media reports said.