Friday, March 25, 2011

rilestar puts it out there

That title couldn't be misconstrued, could it?
Anyhoo, the rilestar has been putting it out there, "it" being his rant. A couple of examples:
In response to the article "Rivers ad campaign 'a deadly deal for women'", regarding a photo used in its latest "Deadly Deals" catalogue featuring "a leggy corpse in fishnets and high heels sprawled under a couch" (and in particular in response to some of the other comments):
"A lot of people (let's not jump to conclusions and call them mysogynists) don't seem to get it, so here's the thing: The issue is not necessarily whether there is a woman or man crushed by that couch. If it were just a picture of any old couch-crushed-corpse, male or female, the ad would just be in poor taste, not necessarily sexist. However, by eroticising the corpse, they are stepping into sexism territory. There is no need to have the corpse wearing sexy fishnet stockings except to eroticise the corpse. Yes: I'm sticking with that phrase, as it's equivalently unpleasant.
What they've ended up doing is having an ad where people get to look at the bottom half of a sexy lady, and they don't need to worry about the top half, or her personality, or anything else about her, because she's dead. Is that how women should be perceived? To use our favourite phrase, should people prefer it when they eroticise the corpse?
Putting a man's legs sticking out, or a woman wearing a long dress or slacks, or a baby's legs, does not have that issue. It's just dumb.
People who don't get this just like to eroticise corpses."
And having a little more "fun", the topic "Tips on tipping: it's a minefield for Aussie travellers" provoked this comment from "JohnT":
"The origin of 'tip' is an acronym: 'to insure promptitude' and you dropped some tin in a box before you were served to get better service. Aussies may be poor tippers but that is because, unlike the appalling workplace laws in the US we actually have insisted that people get paid a fair wage for their work. In the US waiters are paid appallingly or work just for the tips (but do you notice a price differential without a wage overhead? no Sirree Bob). I refuse to feel guilty because in Australia we have decent labour laws and therefore this hospitality scam of having the customer pay extra for the service has never really taken root.
I do tip when in the USA however - at a rate of 15% if the service was great - but 10% if only going through the motions.
I do not tip in Australia as I am fully aware of the fact that these people are paid a fair wage. Also the service from Gen Y is generally either so indifferent as to border on the rude or so familiar (it is Sir and Madam, not "guys") that a tip is not warranted - other than "get a decent haircut, learn some manners and don't say 'like' incessantly when describing the Blackboard Specials. Also, the word Specials does NOT have an apostrophe."
rilestar's response (borrowing liberally from Bill Hicks):
"Hey JohnT. You sound like a lot of fun. I want to hang with you and play Twister.
I'm a Gen-X-er to the max, by the by. Please correct my grammar and punctuation."
That said, his comments regarding tipping in Australia did have some merit.
I also had a more serious comment:
"I only recently found out that it's pretty much expected that you tip a dollar a drink in bars in the US (at least in New York) - this was something like the fourth time we'd been to the States. That said, somewhat sheepishly we started tipping like the Americans do (the bar staff will always ensure you get some dollar bills in your change - once I received $10 change as a $5 note and 5 x $1 notes), and we received great service - long chats with the bar staff, recommendations for things to do or places to go, invites to other places with them, and free drinks! Winning! #tigerblood"
It's now well and truly out there.




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