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Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 9:35 pm
by Spidrift
brasca wrote:She has a mature clinical understanding of gay sexuality that an experienced gay man lacks and I would guess enough observations of people behaving stupidly even before she moved in with Amber and Dillon.
"Clinical" seems a stretch, though I'll go with "mature". She's hitting the sort of level of good sense that I'd expect from any normal, rational adult, whether or not they had any particular knowledge of gay men. It's just that's a lot better than we might have expected from her, given her determined self-sheltering. It'll be interesting to see if Dillon challenges her on the point, simply because I'd like to see if she has an explanation.

The knowledge of stupidity probably comes from observing her peers and (especially) her parents. Ask any normal bright irritable 18-year-old (which is functionally what she is).
themacnut wrote:The kinda sad thing was that Nathan probably believed what he telling Dillon himself - in other words the guy was most likely very much in denial about his sexual orientation. That's part of the reason his story sounded believable enough to Dillon.
Nathan is a classic case of denial, yes. The only problem with "sad" is that he's, well, Nathan.
TheEighth wrote:I do hope the comic centers on Nathan a bit, I found him interesting back in Ma3.
Nah, Nathan's just a standard casting couch jockey, direct from Central Casting. Okay as a comedy device, no interest as a character. The only slightly unusual thing about him is that he's bi, and that just shows this is the 21st century rather than the 1950s.
Should Nathan meet Gary, I could totally see him trying to get Gary into bed with him by threatening Amber and Dillon's careers.
What is this obsession with wanting to see Nathan try to bang Gary via blackmail? Every bloody time that Nathan is mentioned, up pops that stupid idea with the tedious inevitability of an unloved season. You're talking about a largely-forgotten one-joke character from hundreds of strips ago, who would now appear, if anywhere, in a completely different comic to Gary's usual stamping-ground - and he'd have virtually no way to make such a move, even if he ever even met Gary.

You are being very silly.
FlashD81 wrote:Ruby for the win!
It's notable that, after weeks of putting up with Dillon being impertinent and offensive with no more than token complaints, the one thing that can make her get in his face and yell is him being stupid. She really is pure nerd.

Double post merged. The DAMNed

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:41 pm
by Fluffy
In regards to Nathan blackmailing Gary obsession - it's also a rather dark plot for something that is supposed to be a sex farce comedy. The incident between Nathan/Amber and Dillon, as slimy as it was, was still consentual by all parties- and under strict, legally binding conditions. To put Gary through blackmail in order to protect Amber and Dilon's career would be largely forced (and not in the least bit funny).
MoonshadowDark wrote:Ruby, why you gotta be a buzzkill?
If anyone deserves a huge buzzkil, it's Dillon.

The guy was just too proud of stealing 27 men from their girlfriends; he needed his inflated ego dropped several notches by having reality thrown in his face.

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 10:58 pm
by CFT
This is like the exact reverse scene from the one with Ruby's professor and the short skirt. In both cases, one person open the other's eyes to something that should be blatantly obvious.

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:05 pm
by philippos42
Dubcon fans in the Sticky Dilly Buns fandom? Really? Well, OK, that's kind of to be expected, actually.... But remember that Gary and Amber did actually like each other, and Amber did "win" by beating Nathan at his own game. Nathan just crassly exploiting Gary like that could be a bridge too far, particularly for as light as this strip seems to want to be.

I notice Shouri went with Japanese-style dating with this thread's title, whereas she's been using English-style previously. That threw me.

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:08 pm
by Spidrift
CFT wrote:This is like the exact reverse scene from the one with Ruby's professor and the short skirt. In both cases, one person open the other's eyes to something that should be blatantly obvious.
Self-awareness is not a common virtue in this setting. Even among people who are pretty good at understanding everyone else.

(Though some third party should have picked up on the short skirt problem long ago .)

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:37 pm
by 'J'
oh god, i can actually hear dillon's world imploding in that last panel.

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 11:52 pm
by Abraxas
Image

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 12:33 am
by Don Alexander
philippos42 wrote:I notice Shouri went with Japanese-style dating with this thread's title, whereas she's been using English-style previously. That threw me.
I can't claim to have researched this, but I have the inkling it's more "non-US style" than "Japanese style" It sure is "German style" as well, and I think most, if not all of Western Europe writes it that way as well.

NOT TO MENTION IT MAKES MUCH MORE SENSE THAT WAY! %-(

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 2:46 am
by Zippy
YYYY-MM-DD is usually called ISO style.
DD-MM-YYYY is UK style
MM-DD-YYYY is US style, and makes the least sense of the three (the others go big-medium-small and small-medium-big. Medium-Small-Big, OTOH...)

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 3:05 am
by FragileMara
And the penny has dropped. Poor Dillon. :(

Re : "That's why I have you wear the wig".

... I didn't question it back in Ma3, but how would that work, anyways? I mean, even if your partner is looking especially feminine (as Dillon-in-a-wig canonically does), you'd have to be at least a liiittle aware when you're having sex that your partner's physicalities are different - no? I find the fact that Nathan (or others) would have "secret gay sex" without even considering it, i.e. going "hey, I might be doin' it with a guy right atm" pretty surprising.
Now Ma3/SDB are comedies, so realism isn't always on par with the strips. And we didn't see much of Nathan anyways - so for all we know his behaviour hasn't always been the same as it is now. But is this an argument people tend to use in real life? I wouldn't know, since no one I've heard of has ever been in the same situation as Nathan before, but I'm curious nonetheless. I'd love to have your input if possible.

The reason I ask is because "it's not gay if he looks like a girl" seems a pretty popular thing in fiction - heck, iirc it's a standard yaoi trope - and it never really made sense to me. So if you guys know if it has roots somewhere else, by all means enlighten me !
Going back to Nathan... the way I see it, he wouldn't reply as he does if he wasn't in the far end of denial. The kind you'd have to actively make yourself believe in in order to maintain appearances. Is that sad, as themacnut said? Maybe. In a realistic setting, perhaps, that would be. But all we've seen of Nathan is him causually dismissing Dillon as being a bit on the side, so I don't feel particularly sorry for him.

Favorite SF

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 5:10 am
by RickSmith
>> Currently undergoing minor existential crisis. Would appreciate any pointers towards your favorite science-fiction works as means to
>> help restore faith in the Universe as a whole.

Donald Kingsbury "Courtship Rite"
Kim Stanley Robinson "Red Mars"
CJ Cherryh "Downbelow Station" or "The Pride of Chanur"
Lois McMaster Bjold "The Warrior's Apprentice"
Robert J Sawyer, "Hominids" (First story in the Neanderthal Parallax Trilogy).

These should get you going...

Warm regards, Rick.

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 6:15 am
by JoybuzzerX
Zippy wrote:YYYY-MM-DD is usually called ISO style.
DD-MM-YYYY is UK style
MM-DD-YYYY is US style, and makes the least sense of the three (the others go big-medium-small and small-medium-big. Medium-Small-Big, OTOH...)
because when we say it, we say August 29th 2014? Soooo....MM-DD-YYYY makes sense :p
FragileMara wrote:And the penny has dropped. Poor Dillon. :(

Re : "That's why I have you wear the wig".

... I didn't question it back in Ma3, but how would that work, anyways? I mean, even if your partner is looking especially feminine (as Dillon-in-a-wig canonically does), you'd have to be at least a liiittle aware when you're having sex that your partner's physicalities are different - no? I find the fact that Nathan (or others) would have "secret gay sex" without even considering it, i.e. going "hey, I might be doin' it with a guy right atm" pretty surprising.
Now Ma3/SDB are comedies, so realism isn't always on par with the strips. And we didn't see much of Nathan anyways - so for all we know his behaviour hasn't always been the same as it is now. But is this an argument people tend to use in real life? I wouldn't know, since no one I've heard of has ever been in the same situation as Nathan before, but I'm curious nonetheless. I'd love to have your input if possible.

The reason I ask is because "it's not gay if he looks like a girl" seems a pretty popular thing in fiction - heck, iirc it's a standard yaoi trope - and it never really made sense to me. So if you guys know if it has roots somewhere else, by all means enlighten me !
Going back to Nathan... the way I see it, he wouldn't reply as he does if he wasn't in the far end of denial. The kind you'd have to actively make yourself believe in in order to maintain appearances. Is that sad, as themacnut said? Maybe. In a realistic setting, perhaps, that would be. But all we've seen of Nathan is him causually dismissing Dillon as being a bit on the side, so I don't feel particularly sorry for him.

That's the whole point behind "On the down low" it's being gay but saying you're not. It started as a black thing (males needing to feel more masculine and being gay is thought to be the opposite of), not sure if just American culture or in other countries (Canada, UK, etc) as well however.

Double post merged. The DAMNed

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:09 am
by Eisu
JoybuzzerX wrote:
Zippy wrote:YYYY-MM-DD is usually called ISO style.
DD-MM-YYYY is UK style
MM-DD-YYYY is US style, and makes the least sense of the three (the others go big-medium-small and small-medium-big. Medium-Small-Big, OTOH...)
because when we say it, we say August 29th 2014? Soooo....MM-DD-YYYY makes sense :p
In Malaysia, we follow the UK style, which also makes sense when you say it as 29th August 2014. Or 29th of August 2014.

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 7:12 am
by X3N0-Life-Form
Zippy wrote: DD-MM-YYYY is UK style
I'd call it the rest-of-the-world style, makes it less UK-centric :P .

Re: 14-08-29 Oprah never lies

Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:53 am
by Spidrift
FragileMara wrote:Re : "That's why I have you wear the wig".

... I didn't question it back in Ma3, but how would that work, anyways?
Nathan is a lying self-deluding ass (subspecies jerk) whose capacity for rational thought clearly goes out the window when it comes to sex. (Blame hormones. He seems to be a successful businessman, so he must be able to think a bit more clearly at other times. Though if he's in sales, a loose grasp of truth vs. falsehood may actually be a job skill for him.) Plus, comedy character. Expecting him to make sense is wildly optimistic.

How this sort of thing works for other people may be a bit more complicated. Human sexuality is a wonderfully messy thing, and we can sometimes latch onto specific visual cues to the exclusion of everything else.

Talking of sales, by the way - it occurs to me that there may be a good explanation for Ruby's solid theoretical grasp of psychology. Her business degree may have included a bit of marketing, and that could mean reading a few books on social psychology, just as a basic foundation. She probably won't club Dillon into submission (verbally) with a mass of statistics and survey results, but it might be funny if she did.