Blurred Lines, Conflicted Feelings

On the one hand, I like having something catchy to groove to while I'm driving around town or trying to answer a question at pub trivia. On the other hand, I am 100% skeeved out by misogyny and am not the world's biggest fan of rape culture.

Oh, hello there, Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines"! Good to see you  go to hell  WHY ARE YOU CONFUSING ME IN THIS WAY?!

To attempt to explain the massive amount of cognitive dissonance involved every time I nerdily groove along to this charming little ditty, I thought I would employ the internet's biggest contribution to pithy communication: gifs. Specifically Doctor Who gifs, because OH MY GOD YOU GUYS, DID YOU HEAR THAT PETER CAPALDI IS THE TWELFTH DOCTOR?!

So, without further ado, I present to you the sublime poetry of Shakespeare  Alfred, Lord Tenneyson  the real-life son of Dr. Jason Seaver from Growing Pains.

 Everybody get up!

Source: televisionwithoutpity.tumblr.com

So far, so groovy!


   Hey, hey, hey

Source: televisionwithoutpity.tumblr.com

Hey, hey, hey

Source: televisionwithoutpity.tumblr.com


 Hey, hey, hey

Source: televisionwithoutpity.tumblr.com

Still groovy!


If you can't hear what I'm trying to say
If you can't read from the same page
Maybe I'm going deaf,
Maybe I'm going blind
Maybe I'm out of my mind

Source: crayonshower.tumblr.com

Well, it ain't Shakespeare, but I can still jam to this while I'm stopped at a red light!


OK now he was close, tried to domesticate you
But you're an animal, baby, it's in your nature

Source: district9andthreequarters.tumblr.com

 

Oh, really, now we're going to compare women to animals kept in captivity? Charming.

Just let me liberate you

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

 

CHYEAH, OKAY. YOU DO THAT.

 

You don't need no papers
That man is not your maker

 

Source: mattsmithissexy.tumblr.com

 

You ain't telling me anything I didn't already know/wasn't granted by the U.S. Constitution, Robby.

 

 

And that's why I'm gon' take a good girl
I know you want it

 

Source: mattsmithissexy.tumblr.com

 

Aaaaaand...no.

 

 

I know you want it.

Source: mattsmithissexy.tumblr.com

 

Still no.

 

 

I know you want it.

 

Source: mattsmithissexy.tumblr.com

 

No no no no no no no no creepy as hell NO.

 

 

You're a good girl
Can't let it get past me
You're far from plastic

Talk about getting blasted

 

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

 

"Far from plastic"? What high praise! It's almost like I'm a real human being or something!

(Also, this episode of Doctor Who is all this line ever makes me think of. I'm a nerd. It's okay.)

 

I hate these blurred lines
I know you want it (x 3, ughhh)
But you're a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

 

Pro tip: If you have to tell a woman six times in a row that you "know she wants it," she probably doesn't "want it."

 

 

What do they make dreams for
When you got them jeans on
What do we need steam for
You the hottest bitch in this place

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

It couldn't possibly be 2013, could it? It's like feminism never happened!


I feel so lucky
You wanna hug me

 Source: wilfulwilf.tumblr.com

Oh, I want to hug you? Do I really, though?


What rhymes with hug me?

 Source: coulombs-flaw.tumblr.com

 Source: romolas.tumblr.com

Someone buy Robin Thicke a rhyming dictionary and he could be the Bard of our generation!


One thing I ask of you
Let me be the one you back that ass to

Source: dwgifs.tumblr.com

As long as we're asking things of each other, let me ask you this: Does that line work on anyone? Do you think women are flattered when you "ask" them shit like that?


Go, from Malibu, to Paris, boo
Yeah, I had a bitch, but she ain't bad as you
So hit me up when you passing through
I'll give you something big enough to tear your ass in two

Source: reddit.com

I think there is a flaw in your technique, good sir. Oh, and also:

Sourcedoctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

BLIND RAGE.


Swag on, even when you dress casual
I mean it's almost unbearable
Then, honey you're not there when I'm
With my foresight bitch you pay me by

 Source: ibegto-dreamanddiffer.tumblr.com

I literally don't even understand what you're even trying to say any more.


Nothing like your last guy, he too square for you
He don't smack that ass and pull your hair like that

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

OH, YES! You're totally right, ass-smacking and hair-pulling is definitely what was missing from my last relationship. I can't believe I didn't see it before!


So I just watch and wait for you to salute
But you didn't pick
Not many women can refuse this pimpin'
I'm a nice guy, but don't get it if you get with me

Source: mattsmithissexy.tumblr.com

Yeeeeeah. All righty then.


Shake the vibe, get down, get up
Do it like it hurt, like it hurt

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

 

HOW ABOUT YOU BACK OFF WHILE I MAKE MY ANGRY FACE, KAY, THANKS.

 

 

What you don't like work?

 

 Source: wilfulwilf.tumblr.com

ICY DEATH GLARE.


Baby can you breathe? I got this from Jamaica
It always works for me, Dakota to Decatur, uh huh

Source: feckingbatman.tumblr.com

 

Requires no further commentary.

 

No more pretending
Hey, hey, hey
Cause now you winning
Hey, hey, hey
Here's our beginning

 

 Source: 13wilde.tumblr.com

Couldn't have said it better myself.


I always wanted a good girl
I know you want it

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

Oh you do, do you?


I know you want it

Source: gif-database.tumblr.com


I know you want it

Source: fallofthesmith.tumblr.com

 

You're a good girl
Can't let it get past me
You're far from plastic
Talk about getting blasted
I hate these blurred lines

Source: doctorwhogifs.tumblr.com

Are you STILL talking? Really?!


I know you want it


 Source: holygifsbatman.tumblr.com


 I know you want it

Source: veryusefulgifs.tumblr.com


I know you want it

Source: reactiongifs.com


But you're a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me

Source: whatshouldberkcallme.tumblr.com

Source: syfyforever.tumblr.com

 

 

Source: televisionwithoutpity.tumblr.com

 

 

Yep. That about sums it up.



London Calling

You might be pleased to know that, in terms of luck, London is turning out to be the anti-Paris. It's been more or less smooth sailing ever since I arrived. Actually, things were going quite well even before I arrived.

For starters, my train ride from the Cotswolds was free! The ticket office was closed in the village train station and there were no automatic ticket machines at the station, so a sign informed me I'd have to buy my ticket on board the train. Well, I waited and waited for a conductor to come around so I could buy a ticket, but no one ever did. I have integrity, but I wasn't going to buy a ticket once the train ride was over and I was in London. That one's on you, First Great Western. SCORE! Money saved: $53.

Then I had to take the tube from Paddington Station to my hostel. In Oxford I'd met another traveler who was coming from London, and when she found out I was headed this way she gave me her Oyster card (the commuter card for the Underground). "I don't know how much is left on it," she said, "but I don't need it anymore." Turns out there was £5.80 left, which was good for at least a couple free tube rides. DOUBLE SCORE!

Since then things have continued on quite well. The hostel is nice, my roommates are cool (half of them, anyway), the weather is sunny and mild, and yesterday I had a nice day wandering around the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, and Somerset House (all free!) and shopping/browsing in Piccadilly Circus and Covent Garden.

Woke up feeling a bit under the weather this morning, but three pieces of plain toast later I'm feeling like a human being again. Grabbing lunch with Sede, a fellow English department thesis-writer who's doing her grad work in London, and then tonight I'm seeing Matilda in the West End, so today's shaping up to be pretty awesome as well.

I'm still looking forward to coming home, though not quite as desperately as I was. I love London, and returning here felt like a mini-homecoming in a sense...partly because I have my bearings and can remember enough about the city to find my way around fairly well, but also because I just get that homey, familiar, welcoming vibe from London. It's tops on my list of "Dream Cities in which to Live Someday," perhaps (gasp!) even higher than my beloved Lyon.

But things are winding down, I'm taking it a bit easier (it's nice not having to pack up and move every other day...at five nights, London is my longest stay on this whole trip), and things are going quite well.

Also, I think I saw Christopher Eccleston on the tube. (Either that or he has a very convincing doppelgänger.) in any case, London > Paris.