I’ve got a $100 on it in Vegas at the Comic Book at the Belagio. If you haven’t been there, it’s great. Big overstuffed chairs, newspaper comic sections from all over the country lining the walls, and hot cocktail waitresses bringing you drinks as long as you’re placing bets….

http://shaenon.livejournal.com/29475.html

from the brilliant Shaenon K. Garrity.
— I read this LJ entry with more attention than called for by the low interest I take in FBoFW because I thought it might give some clues to understanding Garrity’s mysterious Skin Horse. And perhaps it did, though from the discussion of her projects it dates from before she was doing SH.

I find Brad pretty obnoxious, but not even near as bad as Anthony. At worst, Brad is just extremely immature and bratty. Plus, I think he’s kind of cute.

Since I don’t read Luann, all I’m getting from this thread (and others previous) is “nice hot girl falls for plain schlub who’s also nice.” While Brad doesn’t seem NEAR as bad as Anthony, nor Toni as potentially interesting as Elizabeth, it still feels a little like deja vu all over again. Or … ?

The saddest part is that As Far as we know, Dirk has been the only Boyfriend Toni had, so Nancy is assuming too much that “all Toni’s past BFs are jerks”, plus from what I see from Toni’s reaction to Nancy “coldness”; Nancy is going on dangerous ground, as many times women who are or were in abusive relationships get very hurt and depressed when others try to put them downas people who do not deserve anything good (Nancy thinking that she is a Bimbo who only wants adventures and jerks, and not nice, polite and ordinary men like Brad, and that Toni will eventually hurt Brad by leaving him so Toni does not deserve Brad)

The other thing, when did the really hot, smart neighbor girl disappear? Brad lusted after her for years, but became a tongue -tied idiot whenever he had a chance to talk to her. Turned out she used him a few times to experiment on what happens when you expose a monosyllabic moron to culture. IIRC, Nancy pointed out to Brad what she was doing, but didn’t get terribly bent out of shape about it. And if she’s OK with TJ, she should be OK if Brad decided to date a bisexual, polygamous alpaca.

My take blames Nancy for what seems like, after just a little analysis, an antimale and antisex viewpoint. She assumes her son, like all men, is “just after one thing”, which he could disprove only by going after a very dowdy or otherwise unattractive and unsexy girlfriend. The fact that Toni is pretty and sexy makes her a bimbo in Nancy’s eyes, sweeping aside Toni’s intelligence, sweetness, independence, and career prospects.

Also, in the storyline when Dirk punched Brad, his Mom said that something bad happens to Brad every time Toni is around. At the time, it was a justified statement - previously, Mom caught Dirk putting Brad in a headlock while Toni was there. Toni was also still involved with Dirk.

Later in the story, Dirk violated his restraining order against Brad, and Brad called the police in spite of Toni’s protests.

After that, even Brad made Toni work a little harder to regain his trust.

So in summary, Brad and Toni have moved on, but Mom is holding a grudge. Given the history, it’s understandable. However, Brad will need to address it soon.

Right. That’s totally a mainstream national holiday in Australia. And the reason all those Australians keep saying that Greg Evans was wrong about them celebrating Thanksgiving is because they’re part of a conspiracy. A conspiracy to deny the existence of a holiday that everybody supposedly celebrates.