published in Today on November 26, 1998
A: Because I respect myself too much to accept anything less than what I believe I deserve, and this goes for restaurant service, movies, government, human relations, everything. Because I am exercising my freedom of speech. Because if we just shut up and patiently bear with the crap other people will throw us, nothing will happen. Hey I know things won’t always go my way, but I refuse to be a victim, and I will not be a martyr. Beside, I’m good at complaining.
Some weeks ago a reader wrote to you about how she had trouble about making a guy notice that she existed, and you said that she should use an ancient girl trick and pretend to be seeing someone else to make herself appear desirable. I was wondering: could you tell me what books to read about ancient female tricks to lure a man, or which female Web sites to visit? I want to know how women think, especially in situations like this. – Neutron (a boy)
There are several books which discuss techniques which are supposed to attract and ensnare men, but they are mostly insulting to women, and too stupid to recommend. Instead of that drivel, read the collected series of Colette and the novels of Edith Wharton (The Age of Innocence, The House of Mirth, The Custom of the Country, etc).
If you really want to understand how women think, I suggest you get to know some real live women. And even if you do get to knoe them, do not assume that the way they think and behave is the way all women think and behave. Every woman – no, every person – is unique. Then how come many people seem content to act like androids without freewill and personality? I don’t know.
Who starred in David Lynch’s Eraserheads? – Pi-Meson
Eraserhead is singular. The actor’s name was Jack Nance. He was beaten to death outside a doughnut shop in Pasadena in 1997.
Perhaps you are indeed “the happiest person that you know” because you can stand such doomed scenarios! However, I cannot relate much to your article on Millenium because I don’t watch TV. Anyway, I just wanted to ask you if ever you came across this line, that “the happiest persons are those who genuinely do not care” … I honestly do not want to mar your happiness but I guess happiness is just not absolute. Forgive me too for not being able to cite the source of this depressing quote – I read it in some newspaper a few months back. – Muon
I am happy, and I will not apologize for it. I do not recall having come across that line; it seems neither original nor clever. However, I do not find it depressing. In some contexts, I would agree with it. You’re not marrying my happiness, even if I do find you slightly annoying. Maybe if you stopped taking yourself too seriously you would find life ridiculous instead of miserable.
Do you still remember the first movie you ever saw? – Electron
I think that it was one of those Walt Disney movies -- Sleeping Beauty or Pinocchio. if you mean movies with people, it was probably a Holy Week screening of Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments, or a James Bond movie. I am sure it was not The Sound of Music. I have never seen The Sound of Music. in its entirety; even when I was a kid, it made me retch.
You never really described your activities in Singapore. Explain. You never really described how Goran Ivanesic looks. Is this an X-File, a coverup? – Photon
If your read Twisted regularly instead of imagining X-Files scenarios, you would know that I have written two columns on my Singapore trip, and described Goran in one of them. I am now training for the Australian Open in Melbourne in January, where I hope to see Goran win a grand slam at last (Yes I am being optimistic). My grueling regimen includes daily exposure (at least two minutes) to sunlight, climbing stairs and wearing white.
Is it possible for a handicapped person to court the girl of his dreams? – Gluon
Of course it is. And if he gets rejected –a possibility which everyone faces, regardless of their physical state – he should go after the next girl he dreams about.
Don’t know. Skipped mine.
I rarely read reviews, but I somehow find myself listening to your radio show Sundays on my way to the riving range. Could you recommend five fictions and nonfiction titles I could check out? – Manganese
Nonfiction: Pure Drivel by Steve Martin, a collection of his comic essays. America’s Boy by James Hamilton-Paterson, about the Marcoses. Anatomy of Restlessness by Bruce Chatwin, essays and stories of travel. God: A Bibliography by David Denby, in which the critic returns to his alma matter after 30 years, reenrolls in two courses in Western literature, and gets reacquianted with Homer, Aeschylus, Dante, Boccaccio, and other classics. Fiction: Fantastic Tales, edited by Italo Calvino, The Black Dahlia by James Ellroy, underachiever’s Diary by Benjamin Anastas, The Collected Stories of Paul Theroux, and The Most Beautiful Woman in Town by Charles Bukowski.
