Fuck You [fill in blank]

[Franklin]

amazon dot com who just recently changed their checkout system
where from the US, the USVI as now considered international
we are not- we have a friggin US post office and a friggin zip code
the postage rates are the same here as in the rest of the US

the international price only applies to used books sold through amazon
not actual items sold and shipped by amazon themselves
so they actually know whats up- they don't pay 35 bucks to ship a book to me
but they want me to pay 35 bucks to have someone ship me a used book

[Ian C. Kuzushi]

"A ring a ding ding."

[Michael]

A big fuck you goes out to all the Chinese males who love that one-way "communication" where they speak, but never listen. HINT: you can't improve your spoken English without improving your listening. What you all do is not communication; it's violence.

[Michael]

And while I'm at it, a hearty F.U. to all those Chinese elevators without photo-sensors that constantly close on you. Go ahead and manically press the close door button, wouldn't want another person to have half a second to get on.

[gzregorz]

Go fuck yourself Chevron!

[Michael]

There is a scene in the director's cut that they greet them there. Smoking tobacco and eating smoked meats. Is that the same scene you refer to?

Yes, that's the one. In the book, it was just my favorite easy-going moment with the Ents and everyone hanging around. Just a personal fave. I'll have to check the director's cut and see if it can do the trick.

SPOILER ALERT




SPOILER ALERT



SPOILER ALERT


Well, I watched the extended versions and I have to say I like Jackson's take on two important points. In the book, Aragorn mentally overpowers Sauron in a contest of wills while trying to control the palantir from Isengard. In the movie, the palantir shocks the hell out of Aragorn, who then later fails to control it, which I think is more realistic. There are hints in the book of Aragorn's lack of confidence, which are accentuated in the film and I think Jackson did this right. In terms of raw power, there's no way Aragorn or anyone in Middle Earth can contest Sauron. It's only in terms of virtue that Aragorn can succeed against Sauron's evil.

Later in the book, there's a confrontation between Gandalf and the Nazgul, Witch King of Angmar, a creature who essentially caused the destruction of the kingdom of Ereador in the north, and then later tricked the king of the lesser kingdom of Gondor in the south into coming to Minas Morgul, which led to the creation of the Stewards.

In the book, Gandalf shoots a white light at the Nazgul Lord and he flies away, unable to enter the city after Grond has been used to knock down the gates of Minas Tirith. However, in the film Gandalf confronts the Witch King at the top level of the city and the Nazgul is obviously more powerful than Gandalf, breaking his staff with apparent ease. I think this makes sense if the Nazgul is powered/enchanted/taught by Sauron. Even though Gandalf is also the same class of being as Sauron, a Maia, Gandalf was not sent the first time or the second time to overpower Sauron directly, but simply to gather those of virtue to fight in unison and cooperation, leading to an understanding that seeking after power like Sauron's could only lead to evil.

The extended version also has more time with the death of Saruman at Isengard, which is really satisfying to watch. I just wish they had done the scenes with Frodo and Faramir closer to the book and left out those at Osgiliath and saved some time. But anyway, after seeing these additional scenes, I respect Jackson and his wife's writing much more than after watching only the theatrical release versions.

[meeks]

And while I'm at it, a hearty F.U. to all those Chinese elevators without photo-sensors that constantly close on you. Go ahead and manically press the close door button, wouldn't want another person to have half a second to get on.

How about an f.u. To the people that stand inside a half full elevator, watch an old man shuffle toward the door from his position in the elevator lobby, and as the doors close because he's moving too slow due to his age, no one offers to hold the door for him... They just let the elevator shut and let him wait 5 minutes for the next one.
"we take care of our old people, and other cultures don't..." riiiiiight...

[Michael]

I'm really grateful to find out that in the apartment building I just moved into, most of the people are more considerate than the above example, which is the norm pretty much everywhere else I've been.

[AllanF]

F.U. To the mutha fecking taxi driver who told me I'd have to pay for his door cause the handle came off in my hand as I opened it! Then proceeds to grab me and push me as I raise my forearm to push him away he starts yelling "you hit me! You hit me!" of course this means a huge crowd gathers to watch the rude foreigner who is bullying the poor taxi driver. Don't cry taxi driver your mummy will come and get you soon. The only consolation is the knowledge that he lost more money in lost earning than I had to pay.

So fuck you and your beautiful family! Wish I had hit him now, I'd have to pay more but dam I'd feel good!

[AllanF]

And while I'm at it, a hearty F.U. to all those Chinese elevators without photo-sensors that constantly close on you. Go ahead and manically press the close door button, wouldn't want another person to have half a second to get on.

How about an f.u. To the people that stand inside a half full elevator, watch an old man shuffle toward the door from his position in the elevator lobby, and as the doors close because he's moving too slow due to his age, no one offers to hold the door for him... They just let the elevator shut and let him wait 5 minutes for the next one.
"we take car of our old people, and other cultures don't..." riiiiiight...

I'd add to that not pressing the open door button for anyone at anytime even if you know there is a woman behind you carrying a baby, but we are much more well mannered and courteous than all other cultures.

Kissing my barbarian's hairy arse!

[Michael]

Totally different scenario, but I was riding my bike and had another bike frame strapped to the rear rack that extended a bit to the right. I accidentally tagged the cheap glass jars of a street vendor, breaking both that were holding cut pineapple. One of my students was with me and acted as interpreter and the street vendor wanted 50 RMB. The jars probably cost 2 RMB each, maybe 5 if I've lost all my senses.

In this case, it was all my fault and I was scooping up broken glass and throwing it away for fear of some barefoot kid or anyone might step in it, not to mention how often I have to dodge broken glass on my bike. During this time, my student is talking to the stubborn vendor who insists I pay him full retail for each dropped piece of pineapple, but he won't charge me for the ones that didn't fall off his table which are mingled with other shards of glass. He was sorting them for future customers.

A crowd gathers, and a couple of the middle-aged men told the vendor he should accept 20 or 30 RMB max, but he insists on 50. Anyway, I gave him 50, tossed all the pineapple pieces from his table that were in the jars I broke, plus asked him for 2 more fresh pieces for me and my student, and that was the end.

How does this relate to Allan's incident? Stubbornness is simply the way here: "I can't listen to you, give me my money!" It's very short-sighted and aggravating, but it's definitely their problem.

[Michael]

I'd add to that not pressing the open door button for anyone at anytime even if you know there is a woman behind you carrying a baby, but we are much more well mannered and courteous than all other cultures.

Something odd has happened to me and I'm wondering if any of the other wai guo ren (foreigners in China) have experienced this. For me, I just add it to a very long list of things that I've learned in China that I previously never imagined were part of human reality, and this one is about having a door opened for you, which wouldn't seem that interesting, but such things here can not be taken for granted.

Since coming to China, I have had collisions with doors that were ostensibly being opened for me by Chinese people so many times, that now I have totally changed my "doorway crossing habits". LOL If someone tries to open a door for me, my hand is out like a Heisman Trophy running back an inch or two away from the door in case they release it at the wrong time, which they usually do if you take your eyes off them.

Probably four times out of five, if someone over here opened a door for me, they would release it before I got through, and it would hit me in the elbow, upper arm, or ribs. I am as certain as I can be this was not intentional, but it does seem to be habitually unintentional and the timing is perfectly coincidental to when I take my eyes off them and look straight ahead. Bam!

This has been done by doormen in 3 star hotels and lower (closed it on the luggage), the girls in the qi pao's who open the doors at nicer-than-junky restaurants, "friends", employers, and students the least often. During maybe the first four years I was here, it kept catching me off-guard because it's so under my radar, but the last time it happened I swore it would be the last.

Has anyone else experienced this?

I have noticed that a lot of Chinese people like to squeeze through doorways with as little effort of opening the door as possible for themselves and maybe that's the underlying cause. And maybe natives instinctively know this and are not expecting what I'm expecting—that opening a door means keeping it open until the person passes all the way through it—so they never get hit.

Yesterday, as I got off the elevator with my bike, there was a man with a large dolly full of concrete for a refurb somewhere upstairs. Since he was of course already coming onto the elevator before I could get off, and Newton's laws being what they are, he had to back up with his cart/dolly and let me off with my bike before he could get on. After I exited, I was standing there by the elevator door, pressing the button to keep them from closing on the man and his cart/dolly as he entered, but he would have absolutely none of it. He politely refused to allow me to hold it for him and did not attempt to enter the elevator until I backed up and let him hold the button.

How many bizarre behaviors and petty safeguards am I going to have programmed into me before I leave the Middle Kingdom? If we add this one about doors to the daily necessity of watching out for people who are walking left and looking right, then we're two-thirds into a "Three Stooges" routine.

[AllanF]

People hold the door open for you in Guangzhou?

Certainly only happens once in a blue moon here! More often than not they will know you are behind them but allow the door to close behind them anyway. When my wife was pregnant and carrying a bag of shopping she was about 10ft behind someone and as they went through the door the looked straight at her and still allowed the door to shut! Personally i make it my point to hold the door for people (which i would anyway but know it has become a point to prove) of course the number of people who say thank you i could count on one hand. To those who don't say thank you i intentionally say "bu yong xie!" TIC as they say! (That Is China!)

[Michael]

Allan, I strongly suspect the person who failed to keep the door open for your wife did not really see her because he had essentially conditioned himself to not perceiving the needs of other people around him as an ingrained and culturally trained defense mechanism in order to protect himself from abuse in a hierarchical social system.

When someone above you in the hierarchy exercises their power and causes you to suffer, perhaps just by yelling at you, in a system where you're not allowed the opportunity for "feedback" one of the only socially acceptable protections is to pretend you didn't hear it, see it, etc. Considering how much time people here spend on the victim side of an abusive situation within the hierarchy, it just becomes normal to ignore people and not perceive in your mind what your optic or aural senses are telling you. Senselessness is very common here, is it not? About as common as one-way communication and psychoses, IMO.

This is my explanation for the incident a couple of months ago in Foshan where the 2 year-old girl was hit by a car in broad daylight and people just walked by her for hours as she lay bleeding in the gutter. They probably did not really see her.

As far as people in Guangzhou opening doors for me, doormen and doorwomen who are being paid to hold the door open sort of do that, but they don't hold it open long enough for me to fully pass through. They allow it to close on some part of my body or my luggage. It's not just the professionals either, it's pretty much anyone who opens a door for me in China: they wait until I stop looking at them, and regardless of where I am in relation to getting through the door frame, they release the door and it slams into me. Anyway, I'm sure it's my fault for not understanding Chinese culture. LOL

[karlson]

F*** Y**, what does that mean anyway? It kinda sounds gggggggay.
"Hey Bro, F*** Y**."
"OK. I thought you'd never ask"