Disqus - Latest Comments for laguiri

Re: A question for gay (or queer) readers

laguiri — Sat, 17 Nov 2012 07:48:08 -0000

1. Not really, although it depends on how it makes you feel and other circumstances. For me, and this is my own case, a big part of growing up has been not treating my family's opinion of me as a life and death issue, so I felt a bit more grown-up when I came out to my parents. I don't need us to agree all the time and I have had to learn very slowly to feel comfortable and not care too much when my parents judge some of the stuff I do. Having said that, my parents are, on the whole, quite liberal, and they love me very much, so I always knew the most I'd get from them would be "this is very bad news and we'd be happier if you kept it secret". Anyway, I'm rambling, and the short version would be "no, just do what makes you feel comfortable".

2. I think that the difference between adults and younger people is that adults have a much smaller amount of very meaningful people in their lives. Adults are... more alone. And the amount of people with whom discussing sexuality is a good idea is tiny. Something that normally works for me is to pretend that everything is entirely normalised. I'm married to a man and most people who know me, know that. But in the right context, I can say, for example, "Oh, you're from Townville? I once had a girlfriend from there! I loved SuchandSuch bar, I must go back one day and have a mojito" If the person is another adult, this will be a conversation about the bars in Townville.

I hope that's useful!

Re: The Price of Opportunity

laguiri — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 05:30:50 -0000

It's interesting that in Spain, a degree is more beneficial to women than to men. It says a lot about how and why our economy grew 1995-2008: in short, there was a construction boom that encouraged boys away from education.

Re: Wardrobe Oxygen: Fashion Uniforms: Anything but Boring

laguiri — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 16:48:59 -0000

Thank you so much for this. I have always felt that I have no sense of style precisely because I really like a few staples - for example, all my handbags are squarish and I have lots of white dresses. This post encourages me to keep perfecting the LBD-with-funky-accesories look for work, too :)

Re: Boston.com Oktoberfest Slide Show Doesn’t Objectify Women

laguiri — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 04:58:43 -0000

This makes me think that it's so rare to see in the media pictures of women who aren't stereotypically beautiful, having fun. I like the picture of the two young women under the rain for its rarity.

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:23:01 -0000

I watch very little TV, so there are many shows that are really a part of the culture that I have never watched.

I've never gone on a pilgrimage. Some local ones are wild parties with a religious excuse that last from one day to one week at a fixed time in the year.

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 12:00:30 -0000

1. A Room of One's Own by Virginia Woolf started out as a lecture, I think. So, that.
2. The final speech in The Great Dictator.
3. Fernando Trueba's acceptance speech for the Oscar for the best picture in a foreign language: He said something like "I wish I believed in God so that I could thank him but I only believe in Billy Wilder, so, thank you Mr Wilder".
4. In a Spanish play called "The Wedding of Alejandro and Ana", there is a monologue from a waitress, or maybe a cleaner, who explains to another employee why she is conservative even though she's working class.
5. Lately, I have thought a lot about the TED talk "How I am preparing for Alzheimer" by Alanna Shaikh.

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 04:16:47 -0000

My husband and I joke that my job consists of giving The Red Pill to teenagers, or rather, a series of red pills. He told me again that joke a couple of days ago, as the school year has just started. I can't remember his exact words, but it made me feel like a cross of Morpheus and Mary Poppins.

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 04:16:54 -0000

Late in the last school year, I had an hour of watching around the school and there was a girl I had never met before at the building's entrance. She was a bit ill and waiting for her family to pick her up and as both of us were bored, she told me about her father's job (fisherman), her boyfriend, and her after-graduation plans.

I have to admit I prefer small talk with students than with colleagues.

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 11:16:05 -0000

Babette.
Ferrán Adriá.
Chichi Wang - I don' think she's really a celebrity, but she's the offal specialist at Serious Eats.
Delia Smith - because the recipe I use for Christmas cake is hers.
Anjum Anand - Because curry.

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Tue, 04 Sep 2012 04:22:53 -0000

I was going to say "I already have my dream job", but this, especially in the field of eating disorders, is a close second.

Re: “People Don’t Want To See Problems On The Screen”: Why The West Won’t Watch Bollywood

laguiri — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:32:32 -0000

What is also very telling of the Western attitude towards films done by brown people is that it's extremelñy easy to see the references to Cidade de Deus, a Brazilian film, in Slumdog Millionaire. It's a back and forth relationship, as CdeD is influenced by earlier Boyle films. In any case, it's a brilliant film and anyone who had seen both would have pointed out that Slumdog Millionaire is a sort of "Indian Cidade de Deus". But it's easier to see Doyle as "improving" on Bollywood than as learning from many different filmakers, some of them POC.

Re: Chromatic Casting: The All-Female Expendables

laguiri — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 06:10:02 -0000

It would be cool to have a Brit WOC or two, as villain or as hero.

Re: Shaker Gardens Discussion Thread: August Edition

laguiri — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 14:57:07 -0000

Thanks! Rosemary is traditional over here but it's getting increasingly difficult to see, for some reason. I'll see what I can find. And I forgot to say I already have a mint plant that has just survived a mouldy infestation :)

Re: Shaker Gardens Discussion Thread: August Edition

laguiri — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 13:18:54 -0000

Hi! Since the last time we had one of these posts, my thyme and my coriander died, but the two lavender tiny bushes, the small-leaf basil, the sage and the oregano are doing great. The parsley and three tomato plants are just coping.

The lavenders are several years old and they have never blossomed, which makes me a bit sad, but overall it's good that I can manage to make green things grow on a balcony. I have a couple of questions if anyone wants to answer them: I live in a place with hot summers and mild winters (just like California) and I have a west-looking balcony. 1) Can tomato plants survive a mild winter? 2) I have room for 1 to 3 more plants and I prefer herbs or vegetables. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Re: Tuna Time

laguiri — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 11:47:22 -0000

Summer version:
Tuna canned in oil, preferably olive oil.
Boiled potatoes.
Tomatoes.
Some chopped green pepper.
Salad onion.
A whole lot of olive oil, and a bit of red wine vinegar.
Fresh parsley.

Winter version:
The same, but instead of tomatoes, it has chopped carrot, lightly cooked so that it's still a bit crunchy, and peas (boiled from frozen, never canned).

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 16:53:15 -0000

Heh. I'm not a native speaker of English and I've spent some time in Scotland, mostly Glasgow. I could only understand the book in English after living there and I love the way it sounds in my head.

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Wed, 22 Aug 2012 11:21:42 -0000

1. As quoted by others, the opening lines of Pride and Prejudice.
2. Trainspotting: The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist thair, focusing oan the telly, tryin no tae notice the cunt.
3. Ulysses: Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air.
4. The Neverending story, which in a sense has two opening lines: rednaeroC darnoC lraC skooB dlO. This inscription could be seen on the glass door of a small shop, but naturally this was only the way it looked if you were inside the dimly lit shop, looking out at the street through the plate-glass door. (5) And the other opening line is: "All the beasts in Howling Forest were safe in their caves, nests, and burrows.", but since it is important that this line starts with an A and I first read it in Spanish, the translation I've read all my life goes something like "To their holes, nests and burrows were going all the animals in the Forest of Haule".

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Mon, 20 Aug 2012 19:53:27 -0000

Kissing my husband.

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 19:34:33 -0000

I'm trying to concentrate on things that ideally take only an hour, and it's hard!

1. Watching a episode of a TV series on the sofa, with my husband, drinking tea.
2. Taking a walk.
3. Having a relaxed morning in: breakfast, lunch planning, reading a book while finishing the second cup of tea or coffee.
4. go to a dance class.
5. Teach a lesson. I mean, at work. I don't just like my work: I quite like the fact that it happens in one-hour doses.

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 19:27:10 -0000

It may seem trivial, but the one thing that makes him more disturbing to me than the average ultraconservative politician is the question of "posthumous baptism". Grave desecration is creepy, as a sign of the degree of disrespect that he can show.

Re: Question of the Day

laguiri — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:35:34 -0000

Someone's re-invention of his 20s to erase the importance of his then-girlfriend. I just think that it's wrong to pretend that someone was never your partner.

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 13:34:04 -0000

My bottom, which is round and high, big but not wide.
My broad shoulders.
My feet.
My sense of smell/taste. The ability to enjoy sensuous pleasures, especially food.
Elasticity.

Re: Top Five

laguiri — Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:24:24 -0000

Gourmet shop owner / salesperson.
Opinionologist - You know, the sort of journalist that doesn't report but gets invited to talk shows and to the radio to give opinions on current affairs.
Nutritionist.
School principal.
School inspector.

Re: Mass Shooting Reported at Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin

laguiri — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 17:14:24 -0000

Laziness, ignorance and bigotry should not be confused with having a certain number of brain cells. Not even as a joke. Please.

Spanish press is calling this a journalistic word I can't translate, "suceso", the oldfashioned name for the crime section of newspapers were you found sensationalist reports. It's the way of tagging it crime but not terrorism. The coverage is not very remarkable; some progressive media mention the Denver shooting. And this goes third after the Olympics and the death of a legendary Mexican singer. It makes me ashamed that they find it necessary to define Sikh, as I guess the average local has no idea what that means.

My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.

Re: Friday Blogaround

laguiri — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 08:15:53 -0000

My apologies if this is linked elsewhere: A very detailed tutorial on how to imitate chick fil a sandwiches at home. http://www.seriouseats.com/...