Dana, I agree with you, all three times. But my trying to go to bed early didn't take. Just made myself a strong hot toddy, hoping that will do the trick.

Wow, that's interesting. No idea what happened there.

OMG, somebody turned on my heat again!

WTF, people! Don't mess with fuse thingies that aren't for your own apartment!!

Don't mess with fuse thingies that aren't for your own apartment!!

Have you put up a sign? Or covered it with tape?

I think I am going to bed and getting up early to work on refinishing furniture or the yard, or both.

I think I'll cover it with tape. That is a good idea.

Huh. I love The Losers. I saw it twice in the theater and will probably end up owning it, AND I bought the comic books it was based on. The character could have been a guy, sure, but I don't see why it *should* have been a guy. And I don't see that Aisha's any more ridiculous or unbelievable than any other character... actually, the bad guy is just cartoonish. He's much more two-dimensional than she. So is Cougar, much as I love him. Can you tell me anything about Cougar other than he's a taciturn sniper who wears a hat?

I never read the comic. I didn't say the character *should* have been a guy, I said it wouldn't have made any difference if it had been, except I might've liked the movie better without a character that I thought was stereotypical and boring. I'm not surprised she came off better in the comics. And no, she wasn't any *more* unbelievable than any other character: they were all cartoonish and two-dimensional, and they all bored me. I can't tell you anything about Cougar; I didn't even remember his name, or hers, or the hat. I don't remember any of the character's names. Sorry!

Where's Nutty? I feel like she could cogently talk with researched sources about women in the Old West...

I didn't say there were no women, or even no powerful women, in the Old West. Certainly there were.

I'm beginning to feel like a crotchety old woman about sex scenes that do not have anything to do with the action.

Ginger and I are crotchety old women together.

Even though I still love female ass-kickers, I think it's important to remember that that isn't the only way to have a great female character.

I think the dichotomy today isn't as much virgin/whore as warrior/whore. I'm not saying there aren't exceptions, of course there are, but it seems to me that in most contemporary popular fiction, women are either kick-ass warriors or dangerous whores (or helpless damsels; the helpless damsel isn't going away). It's great that women are now allowed to kick ass, but it's not any more realistic a depiction of women. The kick-ass warrior woman exists for the same reason the whore does: for the delighted gaze of men. I suspect the kick-ass warrior woman doesn't exist because the Average Guy has come to recognize women as having power and agency, but because of the generation of men who grew up lusting over Emma Peel in her catsuit. If the warrior woman were fully dressed, wearing combat boots, no jewelry or makeup, with her hair cut short, and she fought the main guy and won and then walked away without fucking him? That would be realistic, and not one man would be interested. I like female ass-kickers too, but they aren't being written for me.

Cats are so predictable sometimes. I took a 2x2 furry mat that they had ignored from out of the bedroom and placed it in a corner of the living room. First they fought over it, now they have to sit next to each other to both fit their butts on it.

The kick-ass warrior woman exists for the same reason the whore does: for the delighted gaze of men

Not while I still get so much pleasure out of her. It's not like Aisha fucked an ugly guy in The Losers. Her character was vital to the plot--why can't she be female? If she's female, why can't she sleep with someone?

If the warrior woman were fully dressed, wearing combat boots, no jewelry or makeup, with her hair cut short, and she fought the main guy and won and then walked away without fucking him?

Yeah, and if you make the leading man not typically attractive and sexual, you also risk your target market. How is that surprising? Sex sells. Sexy people sells. IF you were bitching about unpleasant men getting the hot chick all the time, then I'd kinda see your point. But what we're seeing is the apex of both male and female looks sexing each other up--and the woman doesn't have to fight to get to be the love interest. And she doesn't have to not fight. She can be a scientist or a fighter pilot or a busineswoman or a soldier and still come away with the leading man. Where's the warrior whore in that? Where are the warriors and whores in this summer's movies?

Aisha had a crucial role in The Losers. Without her, there's no movie, just a bunch of guy stuck wherever that was after the helicopter crash.

I think she slept with him, or intended to, to get him to let his guard down. Then they found the spark. Nothing wrong with either thing for me.