Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/22146
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD Among the oppressive patriarchal WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY customs that remain in force in Saudi Arabia is a requirement that females obtain their father’s (or guardian’s) permission before marrying — even women who are profoundly independent, such as the 42-year-old surgeon (licensed to practice in the UK and Canada as well as Saudi Arabia) who was the subject of an Associated Press report in November. One activist, estimating that nearly 800,000 Saudi women are in the same position, complained that a Saudi woman “can’t even buy a phone without the guardian’s permission.” The surgeon took her father to court recently, but the judge had not rendered a decision by press time. [Bloomberg News-AP, 11-27-10] The Entrepreneurial Spirit Alabama is the only remaining state to ban the sale of sex toys, but nevertheless the Huntsville shop Pleasures recently expanded by moving to a former bank building in order to use three drive-thru windows to sell dildos. (Since state law prohibits the sale unless used for “bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purposes,” customers must provide a brief written description of their medical or other “legitimate” condition in order to make the purchase.) [Huntsville Times, 11-9-10] Wei Xinpeng, 55, a boatman in a village near industrial Lanzhou, China, collects bodies from the Yellow River (the murdered, the suicides, the accidentally drowned), offering them back to grieving relatives for a price. Distraught visitors pay a small browsing fee to check his inventory and then, if they identify a loved one, up to the equivalent of $500 to take the corpse home. Said Wei, “I bring dignity to the dead”; no overstatement for him since his own son drowned in the river (yet his body was never recovered). [BBC News, 11-21-10] Nov. 3 was National Sandwich Day, and several U.S. eateries capitalized by mixing up bar drinks in honor of such favorites as the cheeseburger, the BLT (bacon-infused rum), and the PB&J (peanut syrup, strawberry jam, banana and rum). The mixologist at Toronto’s Tipicular Fixin’s makes his cheeseburger cocktail with beef stock reduction, Roma tomatoes and iceberg lettuce water, garnished with a cheddar crisp and a kosher dill. [New York Daily News, 10-27-10] Cutting-Edge Science Researchers at the University of Queensland revealed in November that parrot fish, which reside on Australia’s reefs and need protection from blood- sucking, lice-like parasites, shelter themselves at bedtime with blankets of “snot.” Typically, the fish’s mouth- slobber, once it starts dribbling out, takes about an hour to ooze into place. [Wired. com, 11-18-10] COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM ARIES (March 21-April 19) You put things in a logical order and run your schedule in a way that makes sense. Maybe there’s a trick here you haven’t tried or an approach that would help your efforts. Learn all you can — you’re bound for success. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You are an adamant improver, and it shines through in all you do. There doesn’t have to be anything particularly wrong with a situation in order for you to fi gure out how to make it better. Furthermore, you will fi nd peace in places where it evades others. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) You are the person who should be at the center of your life. Resist the impulse to put someone else in this position. When you take fantastic care of yourself, you give a gift to others at the same time — the gift of your best self. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You have lost touch with the things that make you feel good and taken care of. Make a long list. The fi rst items may not be the most exciting, so keep going until you hit on things that you really and truly enjoy. There is time in your week to do at least three of these items. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You will balance your energy by observing your life from as objective a viewpoint as possible. From a distant place, you will more easily see how you can reduce what is too much and augment what is too little. You’ll leave the week a better person than you were going into it. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It’s been proved that optimists are healthier than pessimists, and that they live longer, too. This is good news for you, since your sign is optimistic by nature. Be vigilant about thinking the best of others. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) You’ll see the possi- bility in the moment because you’re awake and looking for it. This is why you feel sorry for the sleepwalkers around you. Supposedly, it’s dangerous to wake them; however, you get the sneaking suspicion that it’s your job to do so. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) It may sud- denly feel as though you have to fi ght for what’s yours, but it’s only human nature to react in this way. Just be sure you really want what they want enough to brave the crowd for it, or you’ll be wasting your time. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) When your view of a situation is very narrow, things appear impossibly complicated. The answer is not to make a move at all until you learn more. Knowledge is like light: The more you can shed on your scene the easier it will be to navigate your environment and get where you want to go. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) This week brings strange and exhilarating circumstances. It will feel like you are standing in front of an audience without a script, and yet, you’re not really lost. It’s an opportunity to become extremely aware of your environment. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) It seems like a certain friend has it made. It’s doubtful that you would actually be having a better time with that person’s particular set of problems, so thinking you would is simply a waste of time. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Be mindful of how you spend time with others. Remember that it’s rude to interrupt real-life conversations to text a remote party. Furthermore, face-to- face contact with a few people will benefi t your emotional health and well-being signifi cantly more than thousands of “friends” on a social networking site. By Holiday Mathis I swear I see this line in almost every guy’s online dating profi le: “Looking for a real woman.” What exactly does that mean? — Real Curious A guy advertising for “a real woman” you’ll miss the biggest party in town! If you’re not at Big Apple, not at Big Apple MON $2 Wells and $2 $2.50 $2 Wells and $3 Lemon Drops $1 Wells and $1 WED $2 NEW 125 sounds selective — while not ruling out anyone on the planet with a working vagina. (Even a woman who’s 51 percent silicone isn’t going to say, “Whoops, I’m too fake to reply.”) As for what it means, well, it means he’s looking for a woman with real breasts. Or, a woman with real- looking fake breasts. A woman who knows how to change a tire. Or, a woman who knows to stand back and watch the man change the tire. Mostly, it’s a euphemism for “I don’t know what I want, but I don’t want what I just had.” Being so vague is pretty dumb, considering the medium. In a bar, you can only hope the hot thing across the room has the qualities you seek. The Internet affords you the opportunity to articulate exactly what you want: “funny, easygoing, college-educated, adulterous.” Even being the slightest bit more specifi c helps; for example, as one “real woman”-seeker put it: “I’m looking for a real woman who wants to have sex with a married man.” (c)2010, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. DEC. 9, 2010 - JAN. 4, 2011 UCW 23 ADVICE GODDESS Deleting Him On I’m sick of leaving a message asking a woman out and getting no response. Most recently, this happened when I left a voicemail for a woman who’d verbally agreed to another date. Instead of no reply, I’d even prefer a lame excuse, like “Hey, in the two days since our date, I met the love of my life and don’t want to lead you on.” — On Hold It’s called “the chase,” not the “call once and leave a message, then give up.” If you’re like a lot of guys, you ask girls out by phone message as a way of avoiding rejection. Unfortunately, you won’t avoid rejection this way; you’ll just avoid hearing it and knowing you can move on. And while no response probably means you’re being blown off, there is that slim chance that a woman Amy Alkon accidentally erased your message. Never ask a girl out by voicemail. If getting her on the line seems impossible, only leave a message asking her to call you, not asking her out. I Bland Of Brothers Impress for the New Year’s Dress to Silver, Gold and Black Party starting at 9 p.m. Drink specials, live DJ, dancing and prizes! A champagne toast, balloon drop and the crowning of Fayetteville’s King and Queen of the New Year! Happy New Year from Big Apple!