>and perhaps views himself as the ever-needing-to-mature Ben/Pete hybrid whose personality and interests are constantly subsumed by marriage and his wife.<

It's one of those nifty little ironies that the people who holler the most about how their "sainted wives" made them better men and how singles lack worthwhile lives are the ones who act in RL as if their marriage is a frickin' life sentence without parole. :)

>Yes, strippers are trash. The novelty wore off for me after the age of 21. Any hag can get on the stage an act like a reverse human ATM machine.<

"I was sure those hot-looking bitches would fall over backwards for me. After all, they are just stupid sluts, right? But they laughed at me and told me to fuck off because they spotted me for the woman-hating loser I really am. Screw them--all strippers are trash and deserve what's coming to them."

...to marry anybody. It's all in their heads. The power of the marriage myth is that no matter what you've accomplished and how happy you are, you are still not complete/mature/worthwhile/a good person unless you get hitched. Too many people take that at face value and don't stop to think if marriage is right for them. Once they find out it isn't, they can't face it--or they think there's something wrong with them that they can't do marriage "right." Result--the marriage myth gets more hypesters, all of whom would rather demonize non-marrieds than find their own happiness.

...how some men think that all women are like that. :P

...I smell studio plant (or someone from a conservative site.) His snotty attitude and arguement are the kind of "spike controversy" spin someone invested in making this movie a hit would say...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers

>From what I read during our ordeal, (I always educate myself when confronted by things I don't know or understand) this is becoming increasingly common, this hoarding of cats, newspapers, junk mail, whatever. It can't be tossed, it may have a use one day.<

I suspect this problem is so widespread among seniors because a good many of them grew up during the Depression, and the "save no matter what" anxieties that period engendered die hard. My parents grew up during that era. My dad has always been something of a saver, but lately he's been getting worse and worse--saving catalogs with stuff he wants to buy but never will; keeping newspapers with articles he may have already read but feels compelled to hang onto; compiling printed-out emails that have been read and dealt with. My mother practically has to force him to toss some of it--or file it away in boxes in the basement. (And I do my fair share of secret throwing-away, because I've found from hard experience talking with Dad about it does no good. :)) But Mom doesn't push him as hard as she should because she has a less-virulent form of the same mindset--and it's hard for her to deal with the fact Dad is not as sharp as he once was. As well, they have a tendency to argue about this to a standstill--which means some things don't get done unless my brother and I step in...

> MIL spent a lot of time obsessively counting and recounting her 30 different prescriptions (that's not an exaggerated figure.) We fought tooth and nail with them to get it together & there was no way. They didn't want housekeeping help or any of the other available services.<

Ha--that's another generational anxiety-deal. Women back then had sole responsibility to keep a clean house and getting in a maid or help (especially if you grew up poor/middle-class) was seen as an admission of laziness, being too big for your britches--or giving "strangers" a chance to invade your privacy. Since my parents not only refuse help, but get into arguement deadlocks, my brother and I have found that preemptive strikes work. We hire folks to clean out the garage, for example; split the cost; then "give" the service to my parents as a birthday/Father's Day/whatever gift. That (so far) has been the easiest, most productive way to get things cleaned up (though they still don't want someone coming in on a regular basis to clean--Mom still prefers to do it all herself.) But it does keep major mess from piling up.