I don't get......

[Jackson Monk]

I was watching the TV today and Kate Moss was prancing about on stage.....an activity for which she gets paid megabucks.

I don't understand why she has been so successful. She's built like a stick insect and isn't really that pretty.

What popular things do other board types not get?

Could be anything...an activity, band, movie star, food, sex toy etc

[alexv]

Some of these are more popular in some parts of the world than others, but I consider myself open minded enough to have given them a fair chance, and still I don't get... bollywood musicals, ballroom dancing, anime, mariachi movies, david thewlis, gary oldham, kenneth branagh, neil young, frank zappa, jimi hendrix, NASCAR racing (actually any kind of car racing, let's not single out the version popular in southern USA), vodka, gin, whisky, tea, steak, Extreme Sports, why men with hair would shave their heads, jerry lewis, Beckett, why women with, how do I put it, fleshy bellies, wear those low hanging jeans, Bjork (as an actress).

I should stop now, Jackson, I'm in a cranky mood and this list could go on forever. Thanks for the opportunity to focus on my negative side on this dreary friday afternoon.

Oh, speaking of Bjork, I truly don't get Lars Von Trier, or kung fu movies or WIWC or ....

[Otis Westinghouse]

To quote the Buzzcocks, I don't get you! How can you not get so many of civilisation's finest things, well, tea, whisky and Beckett. Chacun a son gout and all that.

I get everything.

[alexv]

Sorry, Otis, I know you, and many others, love Beckett. Me no get. I'm kind of weird on the liquor thing. Wine is all I can tolerate, putting me in the distinct minority.

I'm in a better mood now (half a bottle of red), but I still don't get...Nirvana, Eminem, Jay-Z, merengue, Maggie Smith, Jerry Lee Lewis, Vegas, grown-ups who go to Disney (sans kids), bowling, minimalist fiction, bird watching, hunting (particularly with guns), Godard (except for Breathless, which Truffaut wrote), Jim Jarmusch....

[ice nine]

I don't get........ Deal or No Deal. You pick a suitcase.

[Jackson Monk]

I'm with Alex on Nirvana and Motor Racing....yawn.

I also don't get BDSM.

[Boy With A Problem]

Video games

[Otis Westinghouse]

Maggie Smith? Jim Jarmusch? Oh well...

BDSM? Is the SM sado masochism? Big dirty SMwomen?

[Mechanical Grace]

Video games

Right with ya there.

Also, I don't get get:

- Beef cooked past medium rare
- Budweiser (or Heineken, for that matter, just more skunk piss)
- Three Stooges (lack of a Y chromosome may be a factor here)
- Men who try to hide or alter a receding hairline
- The overratedness of a firm stomach on either sex
- The continuing ubiquity of Robin Williams (deal with the devil, maybe?)
- Sleater Kinney (that voice! aggggggghhhhhhhh!)

[johnfoyle]

Texting.
Fake Tans.
Spectacles balanced on top of head.
Ends of trouser legs being ragged and torn on purpose.

I could go on.

[Gillibeanz]

Plastic surgery for anti aging - what's wrong with growing old gracefully?

Having one of the highest tax billing systems in the world

Always having to queue up for the ladies toilets - why cant they build a few extra?

Having to pay the BBC for a TV license even though we rarely ever watch programs on BBC

[alexv]

Otis, let's enter the Maggie Smith School of Acting:

step one: tighten your face, and stick your nose up;
step two: emote, emote, making sure your voice sounds as tightly wound as your face;
Result: you will always act as if you are in the throes of a rectal exam.


Let's venture into the Jim Jarmusch school of directing:

Wear black
Write a boring script (emphasize irony and ennui, with a dash of angst, fake jazz, muchos cigarrettes, thrift shop clothing, funny hats, old cars, minimum sexiness)
Use actors (they don't'have to be actors though) who have your "downtown" sensibility (never use Maggie Smith)and let them, no, make them, talk a lot (preferably without looking directly at each other, ever).
Wait for the accolades to pour in.

[Mr. Average]

1. As a physiologist with a strong background in embryology and neurology, I don't get how someone could not believe that a Higher Source is the creator and architect of this incredible machine called the human body. Forget about the symphony of the animal kingsom. Forget about the wonders of nature. The idea that all this somehow is explained by modern science, spontaneous evolution, etc is simply beyong credulity to me. Never once had an explanation of atheism and/or agnosticism in the context of the perfect integration of a fully functioning human physiology.

2. Axl Rose. Finger Nails on a chalkboard provide more aural enjoyment

3. Rosie O'Donnell

4. Stevie Nicks. An asthmatic billy goat in mid-attack would sound better, I think. George Clinton called and wants his wardrobe back.

5. The erosion of culture through unbridled illegal immigration. NOT legal immigration, which I consider the progenitor of culture.

6. Those who would be offended by my "Merry Christmas". The idea that I have ever been offended by a Yamika, or an islamic engineer praying in his office at lunch, is absurd. But if my "Merry Christmas" is taken by you as a personal attack, then shut up, and Merry Christmas.

7. The deevolution of politics in the United States, where good leaders aren't just hard to find...they simply do not exist in such a way as to allow devouring by the current system.

8. Ron Sexsmith. I really do get most of the other artists heavily referenced here. I unfairly attacked Mug because while I genuinely like Sufjan Stevens, for example, I don't consider him to be genius. Just really good. But I can't seem to get Ron. What I have heard is so contrived, derivitive, trite, I just don't get it. PLESE allow me to say that Imust be the one missing the point.

9. The sadness that must drive a guy like So Lacklastre to be so spiteful and hateful. I pray hard for his children.

10. The erosion of modern healthcare. US healthcare has also de-evolved to tremendously low levels. Group Purchasing Organizations (GPO's) are driving quality healthcare profesinals out, and limiting access to the best devices and instrumentation. The position that the US held in modern healthcare is rapidly falling, with the profitablity driver, coupled with apathy, the root cause.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all.

God Bless

[Jackson Monk]

offal

[Jackson Monk]

9. The sadness that must drive a guy like So Lacklastre to be so spiteful and hateful. I pray hard for his children.

That's a bit not nice.....and not very festive.

[Otis Westinghouse]

Having to pay the BBC for a TV license even though we rarely ever watch programs on BBC

I think I'll keep away from this thread cos it's silly to not get people for not getting stuff, it's not good for the soul, but really, Gilli, we have the finest public service broadcaster on the planet, the best radio stations, the last bastion of commercial-free TV, a company that represents everything good about British culture and society, in return for a modest donation, and people gripe about it! I don't get it. It's an honour to pay the licence.

I shouldn't mention the use of the word 'contrived' in relation to Ron, other than to say I never heard a less contrived songwriter ever, so I shall exit gracefully.

[Mechanical Grace]

I think I'll keep away from this thread cos it's silly nto not get people for not getting stuff, it's not good for the soul

Ditto that, though damn it's tempting. Though I will say, if there's one thing I DO get, it's evolution (Otis can't help but defend Ron, and I can't help but defend evolution!).

It's the simplest, most elegant scientific concept of all. To call it 'spontaneous' shows the tautology in Mr. A's thinking-- in other words, it presumes that the natural state of things would be evolution that was NOT spontaneous. But the whole idea of evolution IS spontaneity. Yes, life is amazing, but compared to what? The big bang threw matter and energy out into space, and that matter and energy have coalesced into a universe (maybe more than one!). Only cultural blindness prevents our vision that such things happen without our involvement or that of some sentient entity we think we're modeled on. Or to look at the micro level, crystals grow incredible, PERFECT forms, but it doesn't mean there's a higher power guiding them. The process of evolution-- even that of the human eye, etc.-- is nothing more than a mega-extrapolation of those same forces, unfolding over hundreds of billions of years. Mind boggling? Yes. Joyously, life-affirmingly amazing? Damn straight. Proof of God? No way.

To say we're too amazing to have "spontaneously developed" like this is akin to contemplating "where you'd be" if you parents had never met. It's meaningless. What I don't get is how the incredible beauty and elegance of this concept can frighten people.

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!

[BlueChair]

I don't get:

Guns 'n' Roses

So-called "credible" media sources like CNN, The New York Times, etc. and their obsession with the lives of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton

Justin Timberlake

Borat/Ali G/Sascha Baron Cohen

Republicans who still support George W. Bush, blunders and all

Deal Or No Deal

People who are offended by the phrase "Happy Holidays" (FYI - there is more than one holiday that occurs during this time of year, and 'screw you' if your mission is to exclude those of us 'outsiders' - with that said I do not take offense to the phrase "Merry Christmas," but I do take offense to people who take offense to "Happy Holidays.")

[Mechanical Grace]

I don't get:

So-called "credible" media sources like CNN, The New York Times, etc. and their obsession with the lives of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton

I don't know from CNN, but I read the NYT pretty much every day and aside from the occasional very small mention of an arrest, or cultural commentary (i.e. discussing our National obsessions, rather as we're doing right here) I can't remember any mentions of Spears, Lohan or Hilton. In any case, there's no obsession there.

The Happy Holidays thing boils down to this, imo: I don't know that Merry Christmas offends many people EXCEPT when issued in a broadcast, one-size-fits all, public manner, in which case I can understand taking offense because it assumes that a greeting celebrating the primacy of a very particular faith is somehow neutral. And as Blue indicates, it's perverse that people take offense at the phrase Happy Holidays, as that truly is neutral because it's inclusive of other faiths and other holidays that also fall at this time of year.

And Justin Timberlake was pretty damn funny on SNL the other night. Y'all have seen this, no?

http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/uncensored.shtml

[alexv]

I am very content today, and GET everything, but I'm in the mood for a chat with my fellow EC celebrants, so taking up on Blue's Happy Holidays riff let me put my two cents in.

Say you are a christian and you meet up with a jewish friend during the holidays. What do you say? I would think that the polite thing is to say "Happy Hanukah to you", and for him to say "And a Merry Christmas to you". Done.

Now, let's say that the religious views or identities of either party are not known, the safe thing is for the receptor to adopt the greeting of the initiator out of simple politeness. You say merry christmas to me (let's say I am a Jew, and you don't know it), I say merry christmas to you (I assume, to be safe, that your christmas reference may indicate heartfelt religious conviction and is not just conventional usage) and we both go on our merry way, with me safe in the knowledge that you did not intend to offend, and you blissfully ignorant of my religious faith. No biggie.

An alternative would be for me to let it be known that I am Jewish by tactfully replying: "You know, I am Jewish and we celebrate Hannukah, but Merry Christmas to you". That gets a little more information out there, but does it in a polite way. An interesting exchange, and even a deeper friendship could ensue. No biggie.

It seems to me that the reason to use the neutral Happy Holidays is simply to avoid this possibly uncomfortable and unnecessary exchange. And that's why I use it for general greetings, or in cases where I don't know the faith of the person I am greeting.

The following rule should thus be followed: if you know the faith of the receptor, use HIS greeting out of politeness, even if you are of another faith (or no faith at all).

If you don't know his faith, use the neutral "happy holidays".

Never, again out of simple politeness, and because this is such a charged issue, take offense at a non-neutral greeting except in cases where you know the greeting is being use aggressively (i.e. the initiator knows you are Jewish and greets you with a Merry Christmas, or the initiator is Jewish and knows you are not, and greets you with Happy Hanuakah).

By the way, I've known many Jews in my life and that last scenario has never ever happenned. The aggressive use of MC towards me by those who know I am a non-believer happens all the time (usually followed by a dissertation on why they don't use happy holidays etc.). That's rude. If they simply said "happy holidays" to me, I would respond "and a Merry Christmas to you" and that would end it. Sadly, these people get a nasty "happy holidays" from me, and off we go into the dark pit of religious argument land. Sad.

[Jackson Monk]

Having to pay the BBC for a TV license even though we rarely ever watch programs on BBC

I think I'll keep away from this thread cos it's silly nto not get people for not getting stuff, it's not good for the soul, but really, Gilli, we have the finest public service broadcaster on the planet, the best radio stations, the last bastion of commercial-free TV, a company that represents everything good about British culture and society, in return for a modest donation, and people gripe about it! I don't get it. It's an honour to pay the licence.

I shouldn't mention the use of the word 'contrived' in relation to Ron, other than to say I never heard a less contrived songwriter ever, so I shall exit gracefully.

Gotta say that I fully concur with all of this. Esp the bit about the BBC. Absolutely the best tax I pay on anything!

[Otis Westinghouse]

Otis can't help but defend Ron, and I can't help but defend evolution!

The two things are closely linked, Ron being a splendid example of the magnificence of human evolution! Actually I was gonna take up that one, but I thought one cause was enough, and it was more straightforward to be astonished at the dismisssal of Ron than the dismissal of non-creationism. And I knew you would put it so much more spiffingly, my friend. I agree with every word of that.

I wasn't meant to be lured back, but just to give you the UK perspective, Happy Holidays isn't common currency here at all, and the acceptance of Christmas as a widespread celebration for all including those of other faiths and atheists more standard. It always sounds to me like a euphemism. Please wish those of other faiths happy Eid/Divali/hannukah, etc., but the holidays are only becuase of Christmas, so why call them something else? (I 'get' why, of course, just explaining the persepctive.) People are using things like Winterval to reflect the increasingly secular nature of life, but the issue of wishing anyone of any faith a Happy Christmas is not the one it is over there. I've written Happy Hannukah to Jews, but wouldn't feel guilty about saying Happy Christmas to them.

[Gillibeanz]

Re my comment on the TV licence fee - I could argue with facts and figures but I really can't be bothered.

It might interest Brits to know that the BBC is now quietly lobbying for the licence fee to be extended to computers connected to broadband networks. If they win it I hope everyone thinks thats good value for money too. Next will be a tax on breathing the air.....

[A rope leash]

http://savetheinternet.com/

[Mechanical Grace]

Lying rag my ass. It's not what it should be but it's still damn good.

I must say, in defense of Maggie Smith, that out of an all-star cast in Gosford Park, she's still the one who shines the brightest. Delightful (which is not a word I use, frankly). I also saw her play Lady Macbeth opposite Christopher Plummer, and she was perfect.