And if I opened up Salon, and the first thing I saw at the top of the page was a woman with that cheek and jaw, I'd say the same about her. That was, in fact, my first reaction (before I read anything about him). Why is that an invalid reaction?

Clearly the dude has a lot of marketing savvy, and a lot of money. You'd think, that being the case, that he'd be able to afford plastic surgery that didn't make him look freakish.

I have purchased a t-shirt from A&F. I bought the one that says "I'm Not with Stupid Anymore" and wore it to a function where stupid was (and got a lot of highly amused reaction from the people there who knew about the situation). And I am not their target demographic (I'm a 39-year-old woman who is NOT rail-thin). Looking at the guy, though, I'm not sure I'd ever want to purchase anything there again. It's just too weird to think that I'd be buying into his aesthetic.

His business is based on image; I think if a lot of his young customers saw HIS image, they might think twice about what they're buying in to.

And if it's true, would anyone like to tie THAT statistic to the ongoing debate about how wonderful and fulfilling it is for mothers to stay home with the kids?

That totally tasteless movie where James Mason plays the owner of a plantation and "breeds" slaves. Deathless dialogue: "Master's duty to pleasure the wenches first time".

He also uses little slave boys as footrests. Seriously.

Considering the subject of the Von Trier film, I wonder if the similarity was intentional?

I haven't read the study, but there's a difference between having a sense of humor, and being "funny". I'd say having a sense of humor is pretty much required in this world. I have a hard time defining "sense of humor", but I think it relates to an ablity to cope with the ups and downs in the world, to take things lightly that SHOULD be taken lightly, to laugh at yourself and laugh with others, etc.

Now, being "funny" is another thing altogether. I would define a "funny" person as someone who grabs the spotlight and doesn't tend to let go. Think "class clown". Yes, some of these people are extremely entertaining--but some are hurtful (intentionally or unintentionally) and sometimes they are just plain exhausting. Can I see why men might not find this sexy? Yeah, I do. *I* don't particularly find it sexy either, in men or women.

Nora Merhar

Although certainly better written than your average curmudgeon rant. I pretty much knew what to expect when I clicked on it to read it, though, so I'm not surprised.

I have a cellphone and I love it. I have no land line at all. It's actually cheaper for me to have a cable modem and a cell phone than it was to have a land line and a dial-up account.

Here are some things I've used my cellphone for:

1. Talked my then-boyfriend into calling his mother to pick him up and take him to the hospital when he was vomiting and hallucinating at a truck stop outside Springfield, IL, and I was camping in a cornfield in Iowa. Turned out he had appendicitis (his mother issues were quite another matter and thankfully no longer my problem).

2. After wrecking my car in an accident on a busy highway, on an extremely cold and icy night, 80 miles from my home, I was able to call my insurance company, my then-boyfriend, and some friends who were nearby (to get me, my stuff and my three dogs and take us all to a motel where we could spend the night).

3. Allow a friend who is quitting drinking to call me (and know he can get hold of me) any time he needs support.

4. Keep in touch at a reasonable price with my current boyfriend, who lives 2 states away. We've talked on the phone almost every night since we started seeing each other over a year ago, quite often for more than 2 hours at a time. My land-line bills would have been astronomical. My cellphone bill doesn't change.

5. Avoid the 12 or so autodialer "hang-up" messages that I used to get on my home answering machine every day. Maybe they DO sell cellphone numbers to telemarketers, but I rarely get any telemarketing calls, and since my phone has caller ID (at no extra charge) I just don't answer any calls from numbers I don't recognise.

I could think of other things, but as a bonus: Anyone trying to break in and rape and murder me couldn't pull the horror-movie trick of cutting my phone land line! (Well, they COULD, but it wouldn't do them any good.)

Killing the dog is such a cheap way to make us hate the villain.

I read some of the early letters, then skipped on to the later ones, so I'm not sure if this has been brought up, but...

In many of the "classic" fairy tales, in their original incarnations, the women were a lot tougher and much more actors in their own right, without needing to be rescued by men. Those fairy tales were also a lot bloodier and more violent. Check out "Grimm's Grimmest", which I believe was reviewed on Salon.

The tales were neutered and sentimentalized later.