Fresh from the lind-e-list

9. Swing Etiquette tip #84
When someone asks you to dance, your response should nearly always be, "yes, thank you, I'd love to." It is never acceptable to say no because you don't think this partner is good enough for you, or because you are hoping someone "better" asks you. It is never acceptable to say "no" to one person and then "yes" to another, "better" dancer on the same dance. Few experiences are more demoralizing to the rejected partner, and your three minutes of fun are not worth ruining someone else's entire evening.

I haven't seen this to be a big problem, myself, and I imagine the women on the mailing list resent the idea that they're not allowed to reject anyone for any reason, or have any control over their situation. Just to let you know, you won't hurt anyone's feelings if you sit out a few songs, or if you've promised the next dance to someone else. One cannot argue with the primal economic forces of supply and demand.

It also supports the idea that the year I spent swing dancing was more of a triumph over my own shyness than a source of validation from gurls. It shouldn't matter now, as I've transcended such baby steps at this point.

(no subject)

Coming home after an early-morning shift at work, I find an old Penn & Teller TV movie on Comedy Central. In the movie, one of their more serious causes is the debunking of "psychic surgeons". They demonstrate in the movie how it's done, with cheap sleight of hand.

I've seen psychic surgeons in two other movies, both of which allege to be true stories: first, in Gray's Anatomy, where Spalding Gray actually sought out one of these guys in order to cure some eye problem that he had developed. It didn't work. And later, in Man on the Moon, Andy Kaufman is portrayed being treated by one of these psychic surgeons. That scene dissolves from him on the treatment table to him in his coffin. It's a pet peeve of mine that every time there's psychics, mediums, or prophecies in a movie or TV show, they're always genuine and dead-on accurate, usually to the humiliation of some negative Nancy who's been skepticking them all movie long. It's good to see frauds portrayed accurately for once.

Incidentally, I heard a radio interview with Teller once. No foolin'. But the archive link is broken.

(no subject)

Did I mention I'm going to northern California in two weeks?