Olivia Munn really surprised me when....

She is excellent on the Newsroom. One of the clear highlights of the show and every critic mentions it in recaps.

@laserbolts said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Legion_: Yeah, that she U-L-G-Y

1 day in and I bet this is the greatest post of 2013. Hitman level shit right here.

Hey man I blame Hotline Miami that shit broke my fucking brain.

@Animasta said:

@Legion_ said:

@TruthTellah: Agreed. But to call her ugly... It's just so stupid. She is a good looking lady.

It's like people don't know what ugly is; she's not the hottest person out there but she's much better than most in this topic would ever get.

and you know what? if y'all were in her shoes (trying to get into movies/tv shows whatever) you'd fucking use AOTS as a springboard too. That is what the life of an actor is like, it's goddamn cutthroat man

As I noted to Legion, I think the "ugly" aspect has more to do with putting her down as an individual than any real assessment of her physical attractiveness. Generally, if someone judges someone to not be attractive, they won't just leap to calling them ugly and worthless. That takes an additional step of dislike or carelessness toward them as a human being. I can understand some people who might judge her as "ugly" depending on their particular disagreement with some of her personal decisions and actions, but then, that point is better expressed in a different way that isn't so focused on thoroughly tearing her down.

@envane: You and me both!

@TruthTellah: oh no I definitely agree with you, it is subjectivity talking... although I guess you can't objectively gauge sexual attractiveness.

@TruthTellah: You are one reflected fellow. I get what you're going at, but I still don't agree that there is any justification to call her ugly.

@TruthTellah said:

It's absurd how just mentioning her starts a back and forth of either "SHE'S THE WORST PERSON EVER AND ULGY and stupid and if she was sexually assaulted, I'd probably say she was asking for it because she's sooo awful and slutty" or "SHE'S SO HOOOOOT and I could watch her eat hotdogs all day long until she chokes to death".

She's just a silly actress, and unless something has changed, she's still a regular human being like you and me. Why do we have to tear her down like she's worthless or even worse than worthless? And why do we have to ignore her flaws just to acknowledge that she may have positives like any other person?

We really don't need to be so extreme about her. It's okay to just say, "She's not my cup of tea." or "I think she may represent women in gaming poorly." And it's okay to simply admit, "Yeah, she's not perfect, but I still enjoy her performances." or "I like her, but I can admit that others may not appreciate her to the same extent that I do."

It's okay to have a conversation on an entertainer without just devolving into personal attacks and raving. We're all capable of better than this.

I searched for a video on Youtube of a crowd of people clapping, but some of the results said "butt clapping", so instead just imagine that I found a suitable video of people clapping to your post that everyone should read.

@Legion_ said:

@TruthTellah: Agreed. But to call her ugly... It's just so stupid. She is a good looking lady.

Subjectivity, dude. Some people might not think so. Admittedly, ugly seems to be hyperbole if the picture on the front page is actually her - but calling someone stupid for saying that someone else is ugly is also hyperbole.

On topic - I'd actually never heard of her before now. Yeah, sometimes pretty girls pretend to like video games to get their name out there. What of it? If you were a pretty girl aspiring to get your name out there, then you'd probably do something similar and hey, this topic is being made so it seems to be working at least a little bit.

@Demoskinos said:

@laserbolts said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Legion_: Yeah, that she U-L-G-Y

1 day in and I bet this is the greatest post of 2013. Hitman level shit right here.

Hey man I blame Hotline Miami that shit broke my fucking brain.

heh. Hotline Miami has shattered your good sense and personal discernment, eh? I've heard that's pretty common. Crazy game.

I'd never seen any of her supposedly terrible video games journalism when I saw her on The Newsroom, but her reputation preceded her. So she surprised me as well with how well they pulled off her character. She was definitely an asset to the show, and Sorkin had fun with a lot of her dialogue and she pulled it off great.

And although it doesn't really mean anything in the scheme of things, y'all who say she is unattractive are crazy.

@believer258: Of course there is a differnce in taste. But it is also possible to be objective. I think she is a very beautiful woman, but I don't expect everyone to agree. I do however expect common sense. You can say that she is not your type, without calling her ugly.

@Demoskinos said:

@laserbolts said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Legion_: Yeah, that she U-L-G-Y

1 day in and I bet this is the greatest post of 2013. Hitman level shit right here.

Hey man I blame Hotline Miami that shit broke my fucking brain.

Oh dont take any offense to it. Hitman is probably my favorite user to ever roam these forums. I always got a good laugh out of reading his posts. You're alright.

@Legion_ said:

@TruthTellah: You are one reflected fellow. I get what you're going at, but I still don't agree that there is any justification to call her ugly.

To be fair, someone just called her "ulgy"; so, maybe they agree that "ugly" isn't proper to use either. ;)

@TruthTellah: Touché. Could be, but my money is on dyslexia.

@TruthTellah: Ha jokes! No just my spelling apparently. I was just bringing up what was going to be brought up anyways apparently I'm the "bad guy" for this hey whatever. Opinions were asked of Munn and I gave them. I only busted out the "ugly" word after trying to be convinced I was "wrong" which I mostly in jest anyways I can't help it that people apparently are rather defensive about Ms. Munn

The only Olivia I give a fuck about is Wilde

@Legion_: Judging by how well it fits within the "Terse statement with purposefully poor spelling and punctuation" meme, I'm going to go with the theory that it was a poorly made joke meant to represent a mild dislike as an extreme statement.

e.g. "U SO D-U-M lulz" from an otherwise intelligent Internet user.

@laserbolts said:

@Demoskinos said:

@laserbolts said:

@Demoskinos said:

@Legion_: Yeah, that she U-L-G-Y

1 day in and I bet this is the greatest post of 2013. Hitman level shit right here.

Hey man I blame Hotline Miami that shit broke my fucking brain.

Oh dont take any offense to it. Hitman is probably my favorite user to ever roam these forums. I always got a good laugh out of reading his posts. You're alright.

Oh, I largely don't get offended by internetz comments anymore. I've been through the whole forum drama things in years past. Its a waste of time to get offended by shit.

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: Ha jokes! No just my spelling apparently. I was just bringing up what was going to be brought up anyways apparently I'm the "bad guy" for this hey whatever. Opinions were asked of Munn and I gave them. I only busted out the "ugly" word after trying to be convinced I was "wrong" which I mostly in jest anyways I can't help it that people apparently are rather defensive about Ms. Munn

people are defensive about munn because people are needlessly hostile to her.

Like I don't really give a shit about her either way, but this weird hostility is needless and makes people seem petty.

@Legion_: She looks like a bat.

@Animasta said:

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: Ha jokes! No just my spelling apparently. I was just bringing up what was going to be brought up anyways apparently I'm the "bad guy" for this hey whatever. Opinions were asked of Munn and I gave them. I only busted out the "ugly" word after trying to be convinced I was "wrong" which I mostly in jest anyways I can't help it that people apparently are rather defensive about Ms. Munn

people are defensive about munn because people are needlessly hostile to her.

Like I don't really give a shit about her either way, but this weird hostility is needless and makes people seem petty.

And...there isn't any hostility. I'm not stomping around on internet forums with anti-munn agenda or telling her to fuck off on twitter its just like yo you asked for an opinion I gave my opinion. Honestly forgot she even existed until I read this.

The Newsroom is such a hatewatch for me. I do love about 30% of it, but the rest is just vomit. It's so clumsy and overbearing. Will Macavoy is a republican! How do we know it? Because he says so. But nothing he does is the least bit conservative. Psuedo-Pam is a Christian? How do we know it? Because she says she's one. But nothing she does it the least bit Christian. But Will is a republican and Psuedo-Pam is a Christian so they can safely criticize republicans and christians and then hide behind the characters' throwaway traits. Between that and the stolen storyline from The Office (even named the fucking dude Jim Harper?!), it's just the laziest shit.

And Olivia Munn is just atrocious on it. Ruins every scene she's in. Though, pretty much everyone in that show ruins every scene they are in, aside from Emily Mortimer and Jeff Daniels, who are the show's only saving graces.

Olivia Munn has one expression that she's making about 80% of the time: Incredulously blank stare, mouth slightly hanging open.

Fuck that show so hard. But I'll still watch every episode of season 2.

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: Ha jokes! No just my spelling apparently. I was just bringing up what was going to be brought up anyways apparently I'm the "bad guy" for this hey whatever. Opinions were asked of Munn and I gave them. I only busted out the "ugly" word after trying to be convinced I was "wrong" which I mostly in jest anyways I can't help it that people apparently are rather defensive about Ms. Munn

heh. I figured, but you certainly could have said it better. At first, I thought your posts were actually parodies of those whom often denigrate female actresses online, but in your later defenses, it did become clear that you were just somewhat farcically expressing a simple dislike for her. Personally, I would have gone a different route that wouldn't have so derailed this topic, but then, it was already going off the rails as it is. Plus, it's an Internet forum; so, it's understandable that someone may be more willing to embrace absurdity over reasonable assessments of a person's merits.

Still, since you seemed to muse a bit on people resorting to personal insults in a topic like this, I hope you can understand the irony there, as others were simply doing something rather similar to what you were doing. Neither kind of response was particularly useful to a discussion of her, but then, extreme is generally matched with extreme and personal attacks are matched with personal attacks.

Expressing the reality that you aren't fond of her acting or attractiveness is perfectly reasonable here, as she is the topic, but then, how you expressed it was what helped derail this into a simple discussion of discussions over anything having to do with the person in question. You weren't the only one, of course, as she tends to be a lightning rod for people speaking rather crudely, but it was how you said it that painted you as the "bad guy", not your actual personal opinion of her. I don't think you're a "bad guy", as I've seen you post plenty of good things over time; it was just your words here which betrayed that more accurate impression and drove these responses.

@Legion_ said:

Olivia Munn always struck me as a terrible and ackward games journalist. Her interview with Jaffe is probably the single most awkard moment I've ever seen on TV. It's so bad, I won't even link it in this thread. If you do go forward and watch it, consider yourself warned.

So one day I'm sitting in my couch and watching my favorite new TV show of the year, The Newsroom (by Aaron Sorkin, starring Jeff Daniels). This one girl on the show just seemed so faimiliar to me. This lead to me looking up the cast list on IMDB. Imagine the surprise when I found that the girl was Olivia Munn. She has a recurring role, and she's playing that role really, really well. She's always been quite the looker, and now that I know she's a good actress... Let's just say I was surprised.

Thoughts? Have you seen the show, and what do you think of her as an actress compared to a journalist?

She is amazing in Newsroom, but then again so is the whole damn cast. Can't wait for season 2

Yeah guys, sexism doesn't exist and Patrick was just hit baiting but let's have a thread about a women gaming personality and exclusively talk about looks.

@Legion_ said:

@Demoskinos:

Case fucking closed.

I don't what you're all talking about. This looks like a totally legit jounalist/reporter/interviwer appropriate picture.

@pyrodactyl: was attack of the show ever about news? would you call o'reilly a reporter? she was a TV personality, nothing more

also she is an actress

@TruthTellah: Could my statements been taken as being abrasive? Probably. However, I submit to you that bringing up her looks is a completely valid discussion regarding Munn considering the way she promotes herself. If she wants the discussion around her to be framed more around her acting then well ya know don't go deep throating hot dogs on national TV because if you aren't going to respect yourself then don't be surprised when others pigeonhole you.

@Milkman said:

Yeah guys, sexism doesn't exist and Patrick was just hit baiting but let's have a thread about a women gaming personality and exclusively talk about looks.

heh. Indeed.

(Though, while I agree with your point, I do think a lot of this response is based on people's assessments of her character over her actual looks, as only one picture has been posted and I have seen no one mention any actual physical trait of hers outside of her being "ulgy". It's just language which betrays their primary point of "I don't like her or think she is good at what she does." or vice versa.)

@Demoskinos said:

@Legion_: Yeah, that she U-L-G-Y

Checks Giantbomb profile page

Oh, okay, lol. I am sure you are bringing home 10's every night. Now if you said "She isn't really my type", that is cool, but this just seems childish.

God damn it Giantbomb, I am fairly anti-munn, stop making me defend her.

You motherfuckers, I told you not to be those assholes. I fucking warned you. And look at where this thread has gone.

STOP JUDGING WOMEN ON A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL BY THEIR LOOKS. STOP BEING TERRIBLE.

I love these threads.

So much.

Used to watch AotS a lot back in the day. Don't like Munn though. In terms of looks, since that's being brought up, she's not my type. Overall I just find her really annoying, fake and dumb.

Attractive? Since when were fake-baked tarts considered attractive?

@beeftothetaco: Stop judging women professionally on their looks. Stop being jerks. All of you.

@Legion_ said:

@Demoskinos:

Case fucking closed.

I would consider myself EXTREMELY lucky to date a woman as attractive as her.. on the condition that she's also a nice person and is into me as well. No idea why some people have such ridiculous standards of beauty nowadays.

Oh yeah.. What was this thread about again?

So... Hold on. Let me get this straight. You sat in your couch? That must have been an "ulgy" situation.

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: Could my statements been taken as being abrasive? Probably. However, I submit to you that bringing up her looks is a completely valid discussion regarding Munn considering the way she promotes herself. If she wants the discussion around her to be framed more around her acting then well ya know don't go deep throating hot dogs on national TV because if you aren't going to respect yourself then don't be surprised when others pigeonhole you.

I can understand not holding respect or affection for her based on one's own personal assessment of her history. People can decide on that as they like. But if your point was to convince people that she is not attractive and thus people are incorrect in appreciating her appearance, that absolutely did not come off in any way. The topic was the surprise that she turned out to be rather good at acting on the show The Newsroom, and he asked what others thought of her and the show. So, as with you, it seems Legion probably had a less than stellar appreciation for her acting before this, but after seeing it, he has changed his mind. Thus the surprise.

That topic is very different from her appearance; though, it does relate to her actions. So, focusing on your disagreement with the off-handed suggestion that she is attractive is hardly the point. Instead, you could have brought up that you don't appreciate her acting(even in The Newsroom, if you have seen it) and hold no respect for her as a human being. That would have been on topic and added something to the topic of her acting skill and how surprising it is that, with her poor reputation, she might actually be decent in this recent role.

Legion never asked, "I find Olivia Munn attractive. Do you?" He asked whether other people had seen The Newsroom and what they thought about Munn's performance in it. Thus, things were bound to go poorly when the focus was instead put on her looks. As @Milkman noted, it's very common for Internet discussions of women to turn from an assessment of their work or skills toward a simple shouting match over whether they are "hot or not". This is unfortunate, as it does derail a great many conversations on women in the public eye, and whether it was intentional or not, that's how things turned out here, as well.

She's a moron. I stopped watching G4 the moment she and the other crew started acting like idiots.

@FluxWaveZ said:

I love these threads.

So much.

Glad someone is.

Though, I guess we could talk about the topic for more than three posts out of ninety. Anyone else seen The Newsroom and have a response to her performance in it?

I have never been a big fan of her acting or public presentation of herself, but she has certainly gotten some notice for her role here. I imagine that, like most actresses, she may be learning over time, and perhaps this is one of her breakout roles.

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: Could my statements been taken as being abrasive? Probably. However, I submit to you that bringing up her looks is a completely valid discussion regarding Munn considering the way she promotes herself. If she wants the discussion around her to be framed more around her acting then well ya know don't go deep throating hot dogs on national TV because if you aren't going to respect yourself then don't be surprised when others pigeonhole you.

Dude - I respect myself, I want to be treated with respect, and nude photos of me exist somewhere on the net. The latter does not cancel out the former. It's perfectly okay to think someone is hot or ugly but don't base your entire perception of them around that fact. We are all human beings and we all deserve to be treated as auch, regardless of how much hot dog dick we suck.

@panvixyl: Professionally? What the fuck are you talking about? I said I didn't find her attractive, not 'She's ugly so she is not qualified for her job position'. I mean, the latter is also true, but dude, are you seriously white-knighting for Olivia Munn right now? Holy shit.

@TruthTellah: True it wasn't asked but whatever I also didn't think people were going to blow up about such an offhand remark. So whatever I've talked way to long about Oliva Munn anyways even if it is 1:30am and I have shit else to do.

I haven't seen the newsroom but I never thought she was bad on The Daily Show or G4. Sure she gave a bad interview with Jaffe but whatever. Just don't put her in front of a camera for a shoot, she doesn't know what to do with her face when posing. Always looks awkward as fuck.

I'm going to go watch the Newsroom now.

@beeftothetaco: I meant the OP was asking about feelings on her acting, her profession, and it somehow devolved into talking about her looks. Sorry for my unclear phrases but I am just sick of any discussion of any lady turning into a dissection of her appearance. This dumb discussion has gone down with everyone from Munn to Hilary Clinton and goddamn does it get annoying.

@panvixyl said:

You motherfuckers, I told you not to be those assholes. I fucking warned you. And look at where this thread has gone.

STOP JUDGING WOMEN ON A PROFESSIONAL LEVEL BY THEIR LOOKS. STOP BEING TERRIBLE.

This times a thousand. It's fucking pre-pubescent.

i know some people who don't like her and think she has an entitled hot-chick attitude of sorts. i didn't think much of her either way, thought kevin played off her well enough (though not as great as a straight man/woman as i thought candace was) and she had her moments but i can see how some thought her off-putting. obviously this is not trying to make a misogynistic she's-hot-therefore-a-bitch statement, just saying i can see how some people could see her haughty attitude as being a bit too much. obviously candace and sarah underwood were arguably attractive people but they were genuinely decent people and didn't have similar superiority complexes. didn't mind her, but i wouldn't be motivated to watch her on her own.

@Demoskinos said:

@TruthTellah: True it wasn't asked but whatever I also didn't think people were going to blow up about such an offhand remark. So whatever I've talked way to long about Oliva Munn anyways even if it is 1:30am and I have shit else to do.

heh. In all fairness, you've really not talked about Olivia Munn much at all. We have primarily talked about how you've expressed your displeasure with her and the careless way in which you called her ulgy and denigrated her worth as a human being. You're a regular duder around here; so, how you express yourself has a greater impact on others than just some random scrub. That's why myself and others are trying to get the point across that you expressed yourself poorly, but you and I know you can and have done better.

So, this is about more than just some random actress; this could have been about anyone or almost any topic. This is about how we talk to one another and effectively express our opinions on topics like this. We can all do better than to just see someone mention a woman and then jump to "she ulgy" or "she hot". When the topic is their skills, we can talk about their skills. We don't just have to speak carelessly about other people, and while the topic itself hardly matters much at all, how we talk about things does matter.

@TruthTellah: To be perfectly honest, as a person and personality, I have zero opinion on her. I don't really give a shit about her (or anyone else's) "nerd cred" or whatever the fuck you wanna call it. I will say that I absolutely hate when people go on about how "oh, this person isn't a REAL gamer" or whatever. And if we're going to have that discussion, why do we never have it about Kevin Pereira or Will Wheaton but we can't go a day without calling Olivia Munn or Jessica Chobot or Felicia Day fake "gamer girls"?

This thread makes me glad that I don't care about something this pointless.

@Milkman said:

@TruthTellah: To be perfectly honest, as a person and personality, I have zero opinion on her. I don't really give a shit about her (or anyone else's) "nerd cred" or whatever the fuck you wanna call it. I will say that I absolutely hate when people go on about how "oh, this person isn't a REAL gamer" or whatever. And if we're going to have that discussion, why do we never have it about Kevin Pereira or Will Wheaton but we can't go a day without calling Olivia Munn or Jessica Chobot or Felicia Day fake "gamer girls"?

Yeah, I haven't heard anyone here yet say she was a "fake gamer girl", which is a whole other issue with how people look at women in gaming. It's more what you brought up originally. That mentioning women at all generally devolves into a discussion of whether they're hot or not, and that's a shame. It could -at least- be about whether they're bad at what they do or not.

Under different circumstances, I'd probably be agreeing with the people here who don't hold a very high opinion of her as an actress or personality, but when people just want to bag on her looks or simply insult everything about her, it reeks of carelessness and often even sexism which I can't stomach. If someone thinks her acting is poor, let's talk about that, but we don't just have to have a shouting match over whether she's hot or not. It shouldn't just dwell on that.