site banner
PaperclipPerfector  2d ago (text post)   1345 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for August 7, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Who's the female equivalent of Ryan Gosling? Feel free to interpret the question however you wish, but please post your rationale.

My fiancée says Jennifer Lawrence. Obviously attractive, obviously a talented actress equally adept at comedy and drama, and yet has a certain girl-next-door quality that you could imagine shooting the shit with her over a couple of beers.

Emma Stone. She is a formidable actor (multiple Oscar nominations and wins) and seems to improve with each new film. Coincidentally, she starred with Gosling in La La Land.

She also has the same cross-gender appeal as Gosling, which you don't get with someone like Jennifer Lawrence (in one direction) or Sydney Sweeney (in the other). They share a sort of "safe horny" energy I can't really explain.

They share a sort of "safe horny" energy I can't really explain.

Emma Stone looks like that one woman at the corporate Christmas party that thinks she can make up for her lack of traditional beauty by laughing the loudest. I was surprised to learn she's not English.

I was also going to say Emma Stone, mostly due to their appearances in the better SNL sketches of the last decade.

She also co-starred with him in Gangster Squad, and Crazy Stupid Love (the latter of which, despite the silly title, is actually well worth checking out).

Tends to play roles that men project themselves as rather than women swoon over; demonstrates a good understanding of the way men feel and express emotional vulnerability. Good at playing autistic or autism-coded characters. Good looking, cleans up very very well but not ethereally so, like a top 10%-5%, not a top 2% looker. I've looked at lists of currently popular actresses and maybe Maika Monroe would fit the bill. I saw her recently in Longlegs and she did a great autistic-coded pseudo-Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs detective. A couple decades ago, Jodie Foster would have been my choice.

Good pull on Maika Monroe. I couldn't think of an actress who specialized in Gosling's Drive/Blade Runner aloof autist thing, but she's probably as close as it gets. I am also of the opinion that in her prime she was one of the most beautiful people on planet earth, ex. in the movie Watcher.

This description looks absurd to me, because a solid majority of what I hear about Ryan Gosling is women swooning over him as an easily-top-1% looker. Maika Monroe and Jodie Foster are both quite attractive but I wouldn't expect Ryan Gosling to be their looksmatch (to use a term I find mildly offputting).

This. I liked Gosling in his early roles but don't identify with him, and nowadays my only contact with him is hearing from women about him.

This description looks absurd to me, because a solid majority of what I hear about Ryan Gosling is women swooning over him as an easily-top-1% looker.

He's good looking but I really do think it's his demeanor and not him being in the 1%. He carries himself like he's always deeply content and comfortable in any situation. It's the combination of looks, demeanor, and fame that put him in the 1%. Not looks alone.

Supposedly the director didn't want him in The Notebook as he didn't think he was handsome enough to be a romantic lead.

What makes him stand out is that men identify with him in a way they don't with other handsome heartthrob panty-droppers.

Kristin Stewart could have done it perfectly if she didn't take the arthouse route. She even has similar physiognomy to Gosling.

Gosling can act though.

I enjoyed her in On The Road, and American Ultra.

I'll begrudgingly admit she was alright in Love Lies Bleeding, but she's always been the weakest actor in anything I've seen her in.

she's always been the weakest actor in anything I've seen her in.

That could be a selection effect, look at who she's onscreen with. If your comparison every time is a legend three feet away, of course she reads as the lesser one.

None of the other actors in this pretentious French movie struck me as exceptionally talented, and yet she was still the obvious weak link. Even Taylor Lautner upstaged her in the first Twilight movie.

I've not seen Personal Shopper. I was thinking more of Panic Room or Into the Willd, On the Road, Clouds of Sils Maria, Cafe Society or Spencer, though I've not seen Spencer.

Scarlet Johansson maybe? Roughly same age, A-listers, filmography that is broadly appealing, some higher-brow stuff but not too much so, Oscar nominated but never won, partially famous for being broadly attractive to the opposite sex.

Florence Pugh, by virtue of being Literally Me Her.

It's interesting how Gosling is "literally me" for roles in which his character does what's expected of him, doesn't get the girl and dies, while Pugh is exactly the opposite.

He has an older sister named Mandi Gosling. That’s the closest you get to a pure gender swap.

That would make Eric Roberts the male Julia Roberts.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats