Nerd Dating: Dealing with Rejection Pt2 Things to not do
OK, a week of friends, family, and holiday cheer has gotten me over being rejected last week and, like a Superball dropped off the Empire State Building I have bounced back. However, while my motivations for starting this subject may have been suspect, I still believe this is both relevant and useful (not to mention funny) and will continue with it. Tonight we start a list of things to specifically NOT do after getting rejected.
1. Do not get a tattoo or body piercing in some painful spot. I can’t stress this one enough. Not that I have an issue with tattoos or piercings, having had several over the years myself. However, the decision to get one and, more importantly, what to get and where on your body, should be made with a clear head, not while wallowing in the depths of despair. You will probably end up with a tattoo of Edgar Allen Poe on your ass, and this is the kind of mistake you can make that will haunt you for quite a while.
2. Do not pick fights with random guys in bars. True, you have just had your manhood more or less kicked in the nads, but drunken violence against strangers has about a 15% chance of helping you recover your machismo and an 85% chance of you getting your ass kicked. It’s surprising how often guys who look kind of whimpy through an alcoholic fog turn out to be kind of tough, or have a bunch of friends hanging around looking for the chance to beat the hell out of something. Also, there is a distinct chance you are just looking for a way to hurt yourself and drunkenly decided the toughest looking guy is the way to do that. However, you have no control of how much pain he will bring to the table.
3. In general, do not do anything that you can say “This will show her.” Trust me, you have already blown it. There isn’t enough hang gliding, skateboarding, or other dangerous, macho stuff you can do to convince her she needs to see you naked again. Don’t quit your job by yelling at your boss (or buying a gun and shooting up you work place). Don’t join some cult. Don’t make any huge changes to your lifestyle until your head is clear.
4. Don’t inundate her with attempts to contact. There is a very fine line between infatuation and stalking, and once she has rejected you that line becomes so thin you couldn’t see it with an electron microscope. Trust me, even a single text or email will start her looking at getting a restraining order. The best you can hope for is to run into her randomly at some point and have a really awkward conversation. However, trying to arrange this “random” meeting is pretty much the definition of stalking. Give it up.
5. Don’t find some other girl you are attracted to and bitch to her about the girl who just dumped you in hopes of getting some sympathy (cough cough pity cough cough) love. Friends are a great resource and should be willing to suffer through your tribes and tribulations, but if there is a girl you have always had a thing for don’t bitch to here in secret hopes that she will sleep with you. She never will. You will look and sound like one of her girl friends in both demeanor and gender. Also, if some time down the road the new girl does want to hook up with you she will be forever haunted by the ghost of girlfriend past.
For the most part, avoid anything that is dramatic and/or potentially self destructive. Next post I will talk about thinks you SHOULD do after being rejected.
As for the question of Pee Wee Herman versus Sgt. Shultz, I think as comedic as Shultz is he does have military training and access to automatic weapons. I think it would go to him. Not my best question, in my opinion, but I was in a hurry.
Today’s question, I think, is better thought out. Uber annoying limited meta-morphs the Wonder Twins from the JLA verses super creepy heavy Witchiepoo from drug inspired H.R. Pufnstuf. (JLA image courtesy of the Superman t shirts).
By the way, in case you were wondering, Witchiepoo’s full name Wilhelmina W. Witchiepoo. WWW??? To bad, Al Gore. Looks like we found the real inventor of the internet. Her very cool vehicle was aptly named the Vroom Broom. She also had a henchman named Stupid Bat. I have to give her props for that. It is a evil super villain cliche that the henchmen all be of less than average intelligence, but to employ one who has the word Stupid in his name speaks of a commitment to the stereotype that is beyond the pale.
Nerd Rant: the 10 greatest superheroes WITHOUT any super powers
So at movie night a couple weeks ago my friend showed Kick Ass. This movie is a favorite of mine. I didn’t bother to review it as it has been seen by pretty much everyone I know and most likely everyone reading this blog, but it got me started thinking about superheroes who have no natural super powers.
In my humble opinion, these are the true heroes. It’s easy to stop crime when you are bulletproof, super strong, can fly, have x-ray vision, and can melt stuff with your eyes. The real heroes (are all in Afghanistan right now, in my opinion) are guys who could be killed by any random thugs bullet and have to ride a skateboard to the crime scene yet still manage to get some stuff done. Here is my personal list. (By the way, I am going to not list guys who gained super powers from super technology like Green Lantern or Iron Man)
10. Sgt. Rock. This guy was a man’s man, and showed Hitler’s boys what for. Seriously, I think there is a serious lack of military heroes listed in the lexicon of comic heroes. He is a crack shot, dangerous as hell in close combat, and has been shot so many times his dress uniform must look like a grape from all the Purple Hearts on it.
9. Shaggy from Scooby Doo. I never liked Scooby Doo, to be honest. It seemed like all the villains went to an amazing amount of trouble to accomplish over several month what ten minutes and a handful of bullets would do. Also, why was it they always found diamond smugglers in dead astronaut costumes instead of cocaine smugglers in body armor? However, of all the characters on that show I liked Shaggy the best, if only because he was truly a coward but, like a true hero, was able to rise above his terror and do what was necessary. He was the only human character with a true sense of his own mortality. He was also the only one who had the brains to suggest the radical plan of “Let’s get the hell out of here before we all end up hanging on a meat hook.”
8. Nick Fury, head of S.H.I.E.L.D. This man goes to show how far a man with one eye and a smoking habit can go, as long as he has super advanced training, equipment, and a team agents ready to obey every order. Still, very cool character (S.H.I.E.L.D. image courtesy of the Marvel comics t-shirts).
7. Green Arrow. Not only does this guy have no super powers, his technology was antiquated about the time of the invention of gunpowder. Also, it takes super courage to go out in public wearing that Robin Hood feathered cap and Ren Faire beard.
6. Oracle. Barbara Gordan, rendered a paraplegic by the Joker, turned out to be a super information broker and investigator, as well as a computer hacker and date mining expert. It has been said that the pen is mightier than the sword, and in the modern age information is the most dangerous weapon out there, so I think we will see more heroes of her stripe.
5. Big Daddy, Hit Girl, and Kick Ass. I am going to lump these three into one listing as they all come from the same comic and movie. Big Daddy is a fav of mine in particular, especially in his willingness to use any weapon available to accomplish his goes.
4. Brock Sampson. Brock Sampson is so the man. No superpowers, no guns. Just a knife, a pack of smokes, a serious bloodlust, and a ’69 Charger. Also he is a chick magnet (guys who are following my blog for dating advice look at how he interacts with women. Notice how he says hardly anything and kind of ignores them? Take notes, boys).
3. The Punisher. Duh. Frank Castle is the epitome of what a bad attitude combined some military training and seed money can do. Ex-marine, by the way, and there were some great comics of his experiences in Vietnam. Truly great.
2. The Chainsaw Vigilante. This guy is awesome. His stated goal is to convince other heroes wihn no powers to give up the life and return to their jobs and so on. He runs into the Tick, who is nigh invulnerable to his chainsaw justice. I don’t know why I included him, except that he has an amazing costume and name. I wish I could be known as the Chainsaw Vigilante. Of course, for those of you who take offense at me using a minor villain in this list, substitute the Tick’s sidekick Arthur here.
1. Batman. If I were to put anyone else at the top of this list, I would have to turn in my nerd card and then beat myself about the head and shoulders with a garden hose. Seriously, in my opinion not only is Batman the greatest superhero with no powers, he is just the greatest superhero of all time. Mr. “I’m-invulnerable-and-grew-up-in-pastoral-Smallville” Superman can suck it.
That’s it. I think I have another rant in me for tomorrow having to do with my tragic childhood, but the post after that should be more dating advice. As for the who-would-win question from yesterday, I hate to say it but I would have to vote for the Iron Giant. He is bigger than Optimus Prime, is basically a walking cannon, and can self repair. Sorry Optimus.
Todays question is also robotic in nature, if not scale. Who would win: Tweekie (with Dr. Theopolis) versus R2D2.
Nerd Dating: Spotting crazy girls early pt 4
I should be careful about letting my dating bile boil over, as I personally have a second date with a cool girl tomorrow night and don’t want to have this taint my interaction with her. I am sure one way or another the results of that date will make it’s appearance on the surface of this blog like a rarely seen Lock Ness Monster appearance. Wish me luck on my date. However, I feel the obligation to keep going with my current thread. Believe it or not, as rambling as these blogs tend to be, I have a plan in mind with a big finale for the end of the year.
So here are a few more signs that the girl you are dating is insane.
13. She is getting over some ex-boyfriend or husband. Remember that all women are crazy but some things are crazy catalysts and being in recovery over some guy is like Insano Brand manure on the field of her psyche. Also, there is no more thankless job on the planet than being rebound guy. You will suffer in agony as she regales you in excruciating detail the subtle nuances of their every encounter and hits you with questions like “What do you think he really meant when he said ‘Get out of my life and never call me again’?” Furthermore, being recently out of a relationship is her perfect excuse for raking you over the coals, punishing you for the crime of being the same gender as her ex, and then saying “It’s too soon. I’m not ready for intimacy” when you think you are getting some. Trust me when I say there isn’t enough of this abuse you can absorb to get her naked. She will damage your brain and leave you hanging. Also ex-boyfriends are a lot like certain social diseases, in that they tend to flare up at the least convenient times and can really ruin the mood. It is shockingly easy for him to resurface and become her boyfriend again.
14. She is a widow. God I feel guilty bringing this one up. This is Dave being the coldest bastard possible. However, if the girl you are seeing is a widow (or her boyfriend tragically died) there is no winning. The one nice thing about ex-boyfriends is if they were total jerks you can at least gain something 
in her perception by contrast. However, if he died no matter what kind of jerk he was in life in death he will be second only to Jesus Himself in her estimation. If you cured cancer, brought about world peace, and saved a busload of nuns and orphans from driving off a cliff you will still never live up to his legacy. His ghost will literally haunt you for the rest of her life. (Casper image courtesy of the cartoon t shirt category)
15. She cheated on, or was cheated on, by her last boyfriend. This is another one that is bad. The phrase to remember is “Once a cheater, always a cheater.” If she was OK making the decision to cheat once before she will find it that much easier to do so again with you. Also, nothing will make you feel more unmanly than finding out she is cheating, especially if you met the guy. Furthermore, there are certain types of insane women who revel in cheating on you with a good friend of yours, so unless you are trying to cut down on the number of friends you have stay away.
Now, it might seem like it would be OK if she were cheated on by her ex, but the fact is in my experience women tend to paint with a very broad brush. In other words, once she has had an example of cheating in a partner she will secretly assume all men are cheaters and treat them (and you) as such. You can look forward to all kinds of special paranoid insanity including but not restricted to her checking your cell phone records, email, text messages, following you in your car, and embedding RFID chips in your neck as you sleep. Also, there is something in girls that are attracted to cheaters that has the stench of the crazy. Save yourself the pain.
That’s it for now. More tomorrow.
Movie Review: Megamind
Ok, I know I shouldn’t interrupt the interview series with Danny Nero, but I just saw this movie and want to do this while it is fresh and the movie is still relevant. Also I have nailed down the rating system and want the chance to present it.
Like many movie reviews, I am going to award movies stars. However, unlike other movie reviewers, I am going to tell you exactly what each star is for. Each positive thing I see in the movie will get a star or two. For example, I might say “Plot was decent. One star.” Then, because I am a nerd who loves outer space and knows what happens to stars when they go bad, I am going to award black holes for negative things I see in the movie. An example might be “After the movie I felt compelled to go upstairs and murder the projectionist in an attempt to keep other film patrons from suffering as I had just done. Four black holes.”
At that point I will add up all the stars and subtract all the black holes and hopefully come up with a number between 1 and 10 in either stars or black 
holes. So a movie like Blade Runner would have like 10 stars and one black hole (for coming out with 14 different versions and making the first release the weakest of them. See the final cut if you haven’t) for a net total of 9 stars, an extremely good score. A movie like Zardoz would have like 10 black holes (plot, acting, character development, costumes, chest hair, the list goes on) and two stars (for having Sean Connery in it and for the fact that pretty much every woman in the film has a nude scene at some point) for a net of 8 black holes, a terrible score. (Blade Runner image courtesy of the movie t-shirt category)
Let’s try it out, shall we? Megamind is an animated superhero movie that borrows so heavily from Superman comics that if it were a lung transplant there would be no chance of tissue rejection. It details the adventures of Megamind, a super intelligent alien sent to earth by his parents while their planet got blow up by a supernova-I mean sucked into a black hole, and his arch nemesis, Metroman, a completely different super powered alien sent to earth by his parents from a different planet that was being sucked into the same black hole. The twist here is that Megamind, the protagonist, is the villain rather than the hero. I enjoyed the movie too much to give any more spoilers that that.
Stars first. Excellent plot-one star. Animation was un-freaking-believable-one star. Main character was very cool-one star. Main character was voiced by Will Ferrell, whom I am a big fan-one star. Main character was a villain-one star. Comic relief characters were not completely worthless but were rather actually pretty bad ass in and of themselves-one star. Dialogue was fun and well written-one star. Female supporting character was drawn as a younger, hotter version of Tina Fey (whom I already think is pretty hot looking) and basically had her sarcastic, dry personality with short haired brunette elfin-like looks-one star. Tons of super villain devices, robots, explosives, and weapons-one star. Total: 10 stars.
Now the black holes. The movie had not just one, but two comic relief characters (in a comedy, no less)-two black holes (one each). Story was kind of predictable-one black hole. While the writers can claim it’s a tribute to comic books all they want, it’s basically a Superman story with a twist-one black hole. Also, they couldn’t decide if they were writing the Incredibles or not-one black hole. Total, 5 black holes.
If you have a 1st grade eduction you can probably subtract the 5 black holes from the 10 stars and get this movies final score in my opinion: 5 stars. However, remember that there is a range of stars (positive) and black holes (negative) so really, it’s like a 15 out of 20. And that’s the last time I will explain that. Essentially a 5 is very good, as even a one star movie is still in the positive.
Also, note that there is no upper limit to either stars or black holes (just like in space). As an example, I give the Star Wars Holiday Special one star for each of the main movie stars that made the horrible mistake of showing up in it and another star for the cartoon first appearance of Boba Fett. Then I give it one black hole for every second of it’s existance-7200 black holes. Plus a black hole each for the appearances of Harvey Korman, Bea Arthur, and Jefferson Starship, with 10 bonus black holes for the wookie porn scene and 83 black holes for Bea Arthur singing. Net result: 7289 black holes.
(Please note-that is not my clever way of saying you should see the Star Wars Holiday Special for some kind of nerd cred. There is nothing good about that flick. Trust me. It would be better if you watched the Phantom Menace in slow motion every day for a month than watch that. If you ignore my advice on this you will have a cherished childhood memory sexually abused, murdered, and then have the corpse desecrated. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)
But I digress. Megamind gets a 5 from me, which means it’s totally fun. You can bring your kids to it. You can bring a date to it. Heck, I think I’d even bring my mom to it. Well worth seeing, even though I had to watch it in 3d, which gives me a headache.
By they way, as far as that rating system goes, Copyright 2010 Dave Inman
Los Angeles, here I come
I am going to take a break from dating advice tonight (I am planning a few good ones over the next couple days related to dating on a budget, a subject I am particularly experienced in) and talk briefly about some cool upcoming shows I will be working at. They are both in the greater Los Angeles and are two consecutive weekends, so in order to reduce my driving and increase my stress and insanity level, I will be staying at my mother’s house for at least three days going completely stir crazy and absorbing about a pack a day in contact smoke, if you know what I mean.
The first event is the Long Beach Comic Book Convention on Oct. 29th-31sth in lovely Long Beach, CA. I will be staying at my sisters house in Belmont, which will be fine as long as we don’t talk about politics. The show is supposed to be pretty good, and I will be running the booth by myself, so if you are in the area stop by and watch me going insane trying to keep up with the customers and trying to not go to the restroom for 8 hours a day (Green Lantern image courtesy of the comic book t-shirt category).
Also, since the event is on Halloween stop by on the 31st and I will have a bucket of candy for you or your kids.
I then go to my mom’s house, which will be great for the first day and a half and probably drive me nuts for the next two days. Still, it will be great to see her again, and three days of free food is not to be laughed at.
Then, my friends over at Creation Entertainment are running three shows for the price of one on Nov. 5-9th down near LAX. The three shows are Farscape, Stargate, and Firefly/Buffy/Angel/Dollhouse show (basically a Joss Whedon-athon). I am a hard core fan of all three, and am really excited to be there. My good friend Liz will be there with me as she is also a huge fan and will be bringing down a number of additional shirts I just ordered earlier today. All shows and genres will be fairly represented. I will be staying in a hotel for that one and enjoying it’s amenities to the fullest extent.
Speaking of Joss Whedon, by the way, I am a couple days from getting my interview with Danny Nero, a stand in who worked on Firefly, Serenity, Angel, and any number of other amazing shows and moves, done and put up on this blog. He is giving me some great stuff on the cast, working with Joss, and working in the film industry. Stay tuned for it.
Nerd Dating: Dirty dating tricks Pt 1
We’re kind of halfway through your first date, but I think it time to discuss some of the dirty tricks (and some that are just tricks) out there, both so you can see them coming and possibly use them if necessary. Like our friend Felix here, everyone needs a Magical Bag of Tricks, and the more tricks you have, the more accomplished you can be (Felix the Cat image courtesy of the cartoon t shirt category).
The first trick is what I like to call the Cell Phone Dodge. This is where you arrange for a friend of yours to either text or call you at a prearranged time, usually 1-1.5 hours into the date. The tricky part is if you are having a good time and are really into your date you completely ignore the phone. If the your date is being a huge pain in the ass, turns out to be a white supremest, is painfully stupid, or talking marriage in the first 3o minutes you take the call, have a brief conversation, and declare “Oh, my god! My cat just set fire to my apartment!” or something like that.
Actually, don’t use any details. Just say “Oh, wow. I’m really sorry but I’ve had a personal emergency come up.”
This is your rip cord on the date being a total waste of your life and money. Never feel guilty about using this one (some of the other ones I am going to tell you feel free to feel guilty about) as about 100% of the women out there use it on a regular basis. Ever notice that they all seem to get a text or phone call about an hour in? This is your first real test. If she blows it off she is into you. If she takes the call and rushes off, better luck next time. Also, practice your dating conversation more.
Next post, the Dinner X2 trick. By the way, I am going to start doing some interviews with people in the nerd world who I think are particularily interesting, like a woman who did a horror film documentary and a couple of special effects I met recently. Should be pretty cool. I won’t be stopping the dating stuff, but interspersing the interview to keep things interesting for those of us who don’t need dating help.
Nerd dating advice: to dance or not to dance Pt 5
Now we come to the meat and bones of the matter; how to actually dance. Again, there are those homo sapiens who are blessed with the natural grace, rhythm, and athletic ability to be a great dancer but I am willing to be a good amount of money that that is not you. However, a lack of ability can be overcome by a healthy mix of perseverance, alcohol, and the ability to not give a crap what other people might think of you.
First of all, like Frankie said, relax. Stand easy. You want to make your moves look smooth and natural, kind of like Gumby here (image courtesy of the cartoon t shirt section), not like a man on stilts with a third stilt inserted somewhere, if you know what I mean.
Start off listening to the rhythm of the music. Most dance music (for idiots) has a relatively simple one, two, three, four pattern that can be fairly easy to discern if you stop listening to the lyrics (something I recommend anyway as a means of preserving valuable brain cells). You can start off bobbing your head to the music (not headbanging, as we discussed earlier) in time to the music, unless it is really fast, in which case try to go every other beat.
Move your weight back and forth between your feet. In fact, try to lift each foot in turn off the ground. Keep your knees bent and feel free to add a little bounce to each step. Do not stop with the head bobbing (<–important). In fact, everything I tell you to do stacks, so you have to do them all at the same time. This might sound scary, but with enough practice (or tequila) it will get easier.
Try moving your feet a little as you lift them. Just a few inches back and forth, or side to side. It doesn’t really matter. However, now we get into the first real danger zone in that you have to be sure you don’t step on your dance partners’ feet (or anyone else, for that matter, but your dates’ feet needs to be your number one concern). Also, try to avoid “drifting” either away from your partner or into her personal space. While your feet are moving your relative position on the dance floor should remain more or less constant.
As you move your feet, try to shift your hips around with them. Throw your hip sideways or forward. If you have ever had to shut a refrigerator door with your hands full (and really, who hasn’t) the hip thrust you most likely employed is probably your best bet. At some point you may actually intentionally bump hips with your dance partner, but take it from me, a great deal of control is needed for this maneuver. I know from experience that a 250lb guy can more or less launch a 110lb girl into the DJ booth if the timing and power is off even a little. Save this for a more advanced lesson.
Move your hands and arms, but avoid that collar bone line I keep stressing. Also, while it might seem natural avoid any movement that smacks of combat or martial arts, as well as fast moves, windmills, whips, or anything snake like. Mostly I do little circles at the elbow and hope for the best.
Those are the basics. I will get into more specifics next post, but I wanted to tell you the three real secrets of becoming a great dancer: practice, practice, and practice. Seriously, in your living room, by yourself, load some dance music onto Pandora and go nuts. No one can see you. DO NOT do this in front of a mirror or your web cam, unless you are OK with someone accidentally recording it and making you a YouTube sensation. If you really feel the need to self critique yourself (and I do not recommend you do) set up a video camera and watch afterward. Then delete it completely. These videos have a nasty habit of resurfacing a few years later at the most embarrassing time and place possible (often the video loop playing at your wedding reception) so spare yourself the agony.
Nerd Dating: What to talk about on your first date pt 3
Another topic that will inevitably come up on the first date will be your family and the nature of your relationship with them (Family Guy shirt image courtesy of the cartoon t shirt category).
A negative relationship with your family can really put the average girl off. Don’t fall into the trap of having her tell you how horrible her relationship is and then assume that means she will be cool with your bad relationship. Double standards exist everywhere. She will not want to hear about how bad your family life is no matter how bad hers is.
On the other hand, if you gush too much about your family, especially your mother, you will look like a mama’s boy. A girl in the process of evaluating your ability to be a partner does not want to have to compete with your mother. Basically you need to strike a balance between loving and messed up.
Each person’s life is different, and in this you should not be making stuff up as if you develop a relationship this will bite you on the ass. Instead, tell the truth but use an old sales technique I used to use when I would be selling products I wasn’t gung ho for I like to call “Finding the Positive.”
For example, it would be fair to say my relationship with my father was not Ward Clever and the Beav. However, when I talk about him I try to stay focused on the few fun things we did, and try to see some of the messed up stuff he did in a humorous light. In retrospect most of the things he did that bordered on abuse can be seen as just quirky and funny (by the way, in my free time I am writing stories about my childhood with him).
By the same token, I am very close to my mother. However, I don’t mention that I talk to her pretty much every other day. I talk about being close but I don’t harp on it.
As for your brothers and sisters, feel free to say anything you want, as a messed up relationship with a sibling is not an abnormal thing. Just make sure you end the story with something like “We used to fight all the time, and I don’t talk to him/her much anymore, but of course I still love him/her).
By the way, brothers, sisters, and cousins can be a great source of amusing anecdotes that don’t actually reveal a lot about you. I have yet to even tap that keg, but believe me there is no shortage of material.
My review for Inception
I know I keep promising to write more on dating, and I will, but honestly I am not feeling it at the moment. Maybe because it is summer and I am feeling lazy, maybe it’s because I have about a million other things going on, mostly about the Star Trek convention we are doing next month in Las Vegas (“I like to call it lost wages”-name that reference).
Anyway, I will get back on track soon, but last night I saw the movie Inception and felt compelled to write a review for it. In a nutshell, freaking awesome. I normally approach anything involving Leanardo DiCaprio with the same enthusiasm I would approach a dead, radioactive skunk rotting in the center of a toxic cactus patch. I saw the trailers and more or less decided to pass, but then my best friend saw it and told me I had to go. I am very glad I did, and in the course of two hours became a DiCaprio fan.
The story is amazing. Clean, makes sense, doesn’t try to oversimplify in order to pander to the grunting masses that comprises most of human society, didn’t throw in some dumb hot chick for no purpose other than to show cleavage, and ends entirely appropriately. All around great plot.
The acting was superb from all participants. I especially like the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun (a great show) in his first adult roll. The young hot chick (Juno) actually delivered the weakest performance, but really that is only in comparison to everyone else. She did a great job. Just everyone else did better. I also like the fact that Nolan did not over play her to gain teen sex appeal. He seems to understand the concept of supporting actresses just supporting main actors.
Christopher Nolan is great as a director and writer. He did the Dark Knight and I guess it made enough money that he was given free reign with which to prove himself and he did. I guess every Hollywood director isn’t a complete jackass who lets creative freedom turn into an opportunity to gratify his own overblown ego.
I realized after seeing this movie that I have been remiss in not featuring more Dark Knight shirts in my comic book t shirt section. In fact I will definitely keep an eye out for Inception t shirts and put them up as soon as possible.
The thing I love about this movie is when a great, intelligent movie makes a lot of money (as this one is obviously making) it encourages the production of other great movies. This summer has been pretty horrible, movie-wise. If I see one more sparkly, shirtless, body-hairless, homo-erotic teenage vampire heart throb I will vomit. By the way, anyone who wears a Team Edward or whatever t-shirt needs to go shopping for a life and then neuter themselves in order to keep from passing their genes on to the next generation. This summer also has more talking cats and dogs, and the ruination of a great cartoon series, Avatar. In fact, I think tomorrow I will write a review of the Last Airbender, which I was unfortunate enough to watch last week.
A Guide to Nerd Guys Meeting and Dating Women: How to start talking to them Part 2
Ok. Let’s talk about how to actually start a conversation with a woman who is a complete stranger in hopes of making her not a stranger without creeping her out. The intimidation factor puts guys into a weird head space and more or less forces them to adopt some bad habits.
The number one thing to watch out for is not being intimidating. The main thing guys can do to intimidated someone is to violate their personal space, which creeps everyone out, but especially women. In a perfect world you all would understand the concept of personal space but I have known enough nerds to realize I can’t make that assumption, so I will drop a couple guidelines on you. Basically, there are three different “zones” of personal space. The first is the space used by intimate couples. This zone is where they are more or less touching each other and could be wearing each others clothes. The second zone is the zone used by friends. This is approximately one full arms length away from each other. The third zone is what is considered appropriate for strangers and business associates to deal with. This is a double arms length away. In other words, if you and the person you are talking to were to put out your arms at the same time you could just touch fingers. THIS IS YOUR ZONE! I can’t stress this enough. When talking to a stranger you need to stay at this distance.
Now granted, if you are sitting next to someone on the bus or something you are already violating the zone, but this is OK as long as you don’t have the option of being at the appropriate distance.
Other creepy body language includes talking to someone shoulder first. In other words, leading sideways with one shoulder towards who you are talking about it a very aggressive attitude and extremely off putting. It is a combat position (if you don’t believe me check out Popeye’s body language (shirt from the cartoon t shirt section)) and you should always face directly at whomever you are talking to, man or woman.
Finally, and this is another point I really have to press, never stand or move between a woman you are talking to and the only exit of the room. Women tend to be pretty skittish when talking to a new guy and will feel really freaked out if they don’t know they can get out readily. I have seen guys actually move to block women and it is not only going to make sure she never wants to talk to you again but will also more or less ruin the day or evening for her, which is really an unfair disservice. It is not OK under any circumstance.
So try to not be creepy. More later.
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