Halloween costumes

[TheEarl]

Scarily rare foray into Lit...

I only actually really discovered Halloween last year. There's no big deal about it in England and there is no such thing as trick or treating (at least not where I live).

But had the opportunity to dress up last year and went out with my g/f as Spike and Drusilla from Buffy. she pulled of Drusilla quite well. Me with my astounding lack of blond hair, didn't do Spike quite as well.

Considering getting a wig this year.

The Earl

 

[The_Darkness]

Dest., thanks for that. I frankly don't understand why so many do not get my point. But then the church doesn't get it either.

Perdita

Make no mistake, I get the point, but my mind is a little more open to things of the sort, and that statement needs a clarification.

First, I'd to say that when we catch pedophiles at home, we break them. We MIGHT tell the cops about them, but really, what's 6 months of sitting in the county jail and being put on a sex-offenders list? Not much. Yeah, that list follows you around, but if you can prove discrimination because of it, you can sue the state and get your name removed, sue the discriminatory party, and come out with a bundle of cash. Where's the punishment?

I think that priests molesting people is heinous and I whole-heartedly believe that God and Satan did work out a little special place in Hell, just for them. If they're molesting kids of under the legal age (which most of them do) they ought to get drug naked through a field of broken glass and then used as a pinata.

People who violate other people in such a manner deserve (in my mind) every ounce of what can be meeted out to them. Cruel and Unusual punishment shouldn't be levied to criminals who's crimes are cruel and unsual.

I understand that in polite company, jokes of the manner are not to be said. I understand that some people believe that a polite and professional appearance and demeanor should be maintained at all times. However, I also understand that some of us get the joke, we think it's funny, we laugh our heads off because we see humor in the digusting perversity of the joke. And God help the person who attempts the actions mentioned in the joke because no one else is going to. Which, in and of itself may be wrong, but sometimes the legal system is too caught up in itself to hand out an appropriate sentence *see the first paragraph*.

But racial jokes, those are almost always good, unless they're said out of pure spite. If anyone knows any good Irish or German jokes (and yes, I am both) fire away! BTW, any joke involving potatoes and the Irish will be ignored. Odds are, I've heard them all...or enough of them to call it good.

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[destinie21]

IDK maybe my sense of humor is skewed on the whole issue I have no problem with raccial jokes but some things I don't consider laughable and others just offend me. As far as jokes on molestation those always hit to close to home and make me sick to my stomach.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

There is this Christmas tradition in Sweden when little boys dress up in long white robes, and carry cone-shaped white hats, and carry a stick with a golden star on top of it.

When they celebrated this in a Swedish neighborhood in USA, they almost got beaten up, becaus the Americans thought they were the KKK.

 

[The_Darkness]

Now see, I find that both very funny and very sad all at once.

History is riddled with common misconceptions just like that. When Cortez landed in Mexico, the Incas thought he was their god. When the swedish people performed their tradition, people got bent out of shape. The Oracle at Delphi told Alexander he was a god. It's always little likeness and details that lead people to the very wrong conclusions.

Misconceptions suck. Some jokes hit a little close to home, and some costume ideas should get a person tied in a burlap bag and beaten with canes.


*sigh*

And now that we've beaten that statement to death and all said the same thing like 12 times now, have any of the rest of you planned Halloween out this far?

 

[destinie21]

Me I'm going as queen of the damned if I ever get around to making the outfit that is

 

[Guest]

Dark, I get that you think child molestation is bad. Even child molesters know that. But you do not get my point.

You do not have a more open mind than I do. So drop that attitude or mere opinion.

My thoughts on the matter have nothing to do with 'polite company' or the nature of humor, or professionalism of any sort. I realize I cannot explain myself to you further.

Do you also tell 9/11 jokes?

Perdita

 

[Ravishing]

That is beyond tasteless and I am sorry you posted it, Mack, and that anyone might find it funny. I wonder if he had any regard for those molested children and their parents who might have seen him that night. The majority of the children most likely are adults now. I am appalled that people still "joke" about child molesters of any sort. If one simply thinks for a minute, they might realize that any number of persons in an audience (or wherever) are being forced to recall something horrific for which humor is impossible.

Perdita

It's hard to formulate a comment to something, when, the subject thats being discussed rips your heart out, freezes your mind, and makes you just want to hide away from the world so you don't have a panic attack.

That's about all I can say, before I go off to hopefully write this mood out of my system. If anyone wishes to comment, they'll have to PM and not via the AIM link, I am not at home currently.

~ Ravishing ~

 

[Guest]

errata

p.s. to Dark: The Incas were in Peru. Cortez helped annihilate the Aztecs. They did not think he was one out of a myriad dynasty of gods they believed in, though the timing of his appearance, according to their symbolic calendar, caused them to treat him as a special guest.

I realize your error means nothing w/re. to your point, but I am Mexican and could not let it stand.

Perdita

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Do you also tell 9/11 jokes?

Would this count as too bad, P?

Design plans for the new WTC

 

[The_Darkness]

Perdita, no in point of fact, I don't make jokes about September 11th. Nor did I mean to imply that you're a close minded individual. It probably came off that way, but I'm trying to type and not let my supper burn at the same time. For that I appologize.

The best example of what I think is funny is a Mel Brooks movie. They have quite potentially the greatest range of comedy, from the pun to the site gag to the toliet humor, to sexual humor, age humor, religious humor, racial jokes....you name it, you can probably find it in one of his movies.

The simple fact is, whether people know it or not, when a joke is made, it's made at a stereotype, and very seldomly as an individual (except President Bush and the entire span of jokes spawned from Michael Jackson's career). Some people thing that's funny, others just see distaste. That's really all there is to it.

 

[The_Darkness]

*makes note to learn Swedish after Latin, Greek, Italian, and Spanish.*

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I'd choose Swedish over Spanish, Darkness. It may not be a world language, but it makes porn films even more fun to watch.

*fondly remembering the scene in Splash where John Candy said: "Du, grabben - jag har en tolv tums penis!"*

 

[The_Darkness]

HA! God, why didn't I think of that...come to think of it, I think I have a few swedish films on the old computer here...tell me, if the spoken language is Swedish, and the sub-titles are swedish, what's the point? Does anyone really pay attention to the dialog in those movies anyway? Has anyone ever read the "script" to a porn movie? And yes, I realize I'm saying this at an erotic fiction site, but seriously! Besides, I thought those sort of movies lead to blindness....are subtitles really something else that we need to strain someone's poor eyes on? That's as bad as braille keypads on drive up ATM's! I realize it's for passengers or visually imparred pedetrians to talk up to them, but still....it's that whole knee jerk reaction of your brain screaming "WHAT?!"

Hmmm....Swedish.

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[The_Darkness]

Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstien, Dracula: Dead and Loving it, Spaceballs, The Producers.....

A long list of some very very funny off-color humor.

 

[minsue]

Would this count as too bad, P?

Design plans for the new WTC

Thank you 'Flicka for posting that link. I cringed as I cliked on it since I've never seen any 9/11 'jokes' that I found at all amusing. That, however, is absolutely flippin' beautiful.

- Mindy

 

[Svenskaflicka]

How about this?

English terrorist

 

[Svenskaflicka]

...or this?

Traitor!!!

 

[The_Darkness]

Those were both awful.

Of course I laughed.

The Bean-ladin one was just damn scary.

 

[shereads]

Dest., thanks for that. I frankly don't understand why so many do not get my point. But then the church doesn't get it either.

Perdita

I'm reminded of Mel Brooks' line, "Humor is tragedy plus distance."

Those who find the costume funny do understand the tragedy it represents, but they (we, unfortuntately, because I did laugh) have never been close to that type of tragedy. If we were all cautious not to offend others, the world would be a friendlier and more peaceful place, but there would also be little humor in it.

In Florida, you can buy a "themed" car tag for extra cash, and one of the most popular for years has been in honor of the Challenger, the space shuttle that blew up right after launch. A couple of years ago, I read that the state had recalled a vanity version of the plate (vanity plates, for those who don't know, are the ones where you pay extra to spell your name or STUDLY 1 or some such). Vanity plate requests are screened for obscene words, offensive slogans, etc., but one had slipped through and was displayed on the owner's car before the state received a complaint about it.

It was the Challenger plate with the word "KABOOM".

I laughed and laughed. Because it was years after the fact. If somebody had made that same cruel joke a year or two after the Challenger explosion, I would have thought they were sick. But apparently the person who complained to the state and got the tag recalled still felt close to the tragedy, deeply affected, many years after it took place.

I understand your feeling about the priest costume, Perdita. I also understand, though, that the person who wore it probably didn't think that abuse by priests was as commonplace as it is, and that someone among his circle of acquaintances might lack the "distance" necessary to find something humorous.

I apologize for laughing.



----------

There are jokes that have a limited window of opportunity. They have to take place after the initial shock and grief of a tragedy, but if you repeat them too late, they have no meaning. For example:

What kind of wood doesn't float?

Natalie.

Why didn't Natalie Wood take a shower on the yacht?

She thought she'd just wash up on shore.

 

[The_Darkness]

p.s. to Dark: The Incas were in Peru. Cortez helped annihilate the Aztecs. They did not think he was one out of a myriad dynasty of gods they believed in, though the timing of his appearance, according to their symbolic calendar, caused them to treat him as a special guest.

I realize your error means nothing w/re. to your point, but I am Mexican and could not let it stand.

Perdita

Nope, hey good call on that one Perdita...my bad. For a history major I know very little about the Western Hemisphere.....as far as dates and stuff...and I've always gotten the Incas and Aztecs switched...but I manage to keep the Mayas straight.

I was under the impression though, and I'm probably wrong, that they believed him to be an incarnation of Quetzelcoatl (forgive the nasty spelling) and bore resemblance to him in a number of ways... Once again, I'm probably wrong, but that's stuck in the old brain for some reason.

 

[Guest]

Dark, the spelling was nearly right - Quetzalcoatl; it means feathered serpent and is featured in the Mexican flag (an eagle with a snake in its beak alighting atop a cactus is the symbol for it). What most helped Cortes' welcome was the coincidence of his arrival with the religious calendar, the Aztecs were expecting Quetzalcoatl to return. However, they were astonished more by the horses (unknown to them) than the Spaniards on top of them. It did not take long to discount Cortes as a god though. BTW, the legend of Quetzalcoatl began in the 10th c. and was passed along through a number of mesoamerican cultures. Unfortunately, the conquerors destroyed much written history (burning scrolls of codices) and of course revised their own.

Perdita

 

[The_Darkness]

Dark, the spelling was nearly right - Quetzalcoatl; it means feathered serpent and is featured in the Mexican flag (an eagle with a snake in its beak alighting atop a cactus is the symbol for it). What most helped Cortes' welcome was the coincidence of his arrival with the religious calendar, the Aztecs were expecting Quetzalcoatl to return. However, they were astonished more by the horses (unknown to them) than the Spaniards on top of them. It did not take long to discount Cortes as a god though. BTW, the legend of Quetzalcoatl began in the 10th c. and was passed along through a number of mesoamerican cultures. Unfortunately, the conquerors destroyed much written history (burning scrolls of codices) and of course revised their own.

Thanks! Too bad about the burning of the records...it's happened way too much in history. The Library of Alexandria (which has now been rebuilt) is a prime example. When the Islamic people took over Alexandria, the ordered most of the scrolls and books burned. Thankfully the vatican stepped up and saved most of the records, though a great deal of them were lost. Napoleon raided the vatican quite a number of centuries later and stole some of the records. Most of what he plundered went back to France where I believe they were stored in the Louvre. Hitler helped himself to some of these, most were burned.

I don't know if the saved Alexandrian lexicons and scrolls were in the collection pillaged by Napoleon, but if they were, who knows what information was lost.

*sigh*

I think the greatest line I've ever heard about history was from the begining of Braveheart and I've yet to find out if it's an actual quote of his or of Wallace's or if it was invented, but it says, "History is written by those who have hanged heroes." Very very true and yet ultimately sad at the same time.