Star Wars Saga Goes 3 D

Normally when Holly or I write a post for this space, it has a definite social justice slant with a touch of snark - fuck it a lot of snark.  Today I came across a media related news item that didn't read to me that way, but still made me raise my eyebrows.  It seems that following the success of White Man's Burden for the 21st Century AKA Avatar, that George Lucas is once again re-releasing the Star Wars saga.  He has finally gotten over his snobbery regarding 3D and has decided to add this element to the films.

“Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” will return to theaters in 3-D in 2012 and will be followed in the stereoscopic format by the five other live-action movies set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

Lucas’ Industrial Light & Magic special-effects shop is overseeing the 3-D conversion. 20th Century Fox will release them, as it has done for all previous “Star Wars” films. (source)

Doesn't Lucas have enough money?  Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the Star Wars series.  The first movie that I ever saw was Empire Strikes Back however, I don't need to see it in 3D.  This just feels like a cheap attempt to cash in on some of James Cameron's success to further pad his wallet.  If Lucas really wanted to do something for the fans, he would make 7-9 of the series. He would also make sure that he never again subjected fans to an actor as terrible as Hayden Christiensen.  In fact, for the simple fact of unleashing him on an unsuspecting public he owes us new movies.

Are you planning on seeing the series again and what do you think of Star Wars 3D?

Survivor: Nicaragua: The Espada Tribe is Exploding Testosterone

Renee and I are back with some of our awesome reality show chats! Just like we did with Big Brother and MasterChef, this season we'll be taking on Survivor: Nicaragua and publishing our chats here the morning after for all of you to read and discuss.

As I've already recapped in a previous post highlighting the goings-on in the first two episodes, Survivor: Nicaragua is completely laden with extremely troubling statements from the tribe members, including themes such as disablism, ageism, misogyny and homophobia. The third episode, which Renee and I chatted about last night, is in no way short of comments that will make your head spin and want to ask these people, 'Really? Are you serious? Did you really just say that?'

Last night's episode of Survivor: Nicaragua picked up right after the La Flor tribe (the younger tribe) voted out uber misogynist and homophobe Shannon. I could not be happier that he was the first of the La Flor tribe to be voted out. While La Flor seems to be doing much better without Shannon trying to run everything, the Espada tribe (the older tribe) is quickly falling apart due to an overwhelming excess of testosterone. Every male in the tribe reminded me of small children sitting around a campfire yelling 'I want to be the leader! No, I want to be the leader! No me! No me!' and it pretty much all went downhill from there.

Check out what Renee and I had to say throughout last night's episode of Survivor: Nicaragua after the jump.

The Tea Party Colouring Book

This year I am giving everyone that irritates me "The Tea Party Colouring Book."

"A wonderful book of The Tea Party for Kids! Teaches children (and parents) about the origins of the Tea Party and what it involves. A very pleasant song, coloring and activity book on Liberty, Faith, Freedom and so much more! Get involved, participate, self reliance, freedom of choice, work, government-of-for-by the people, Leadership, Ingenuity, Jobs and responsibilty!" (emphasis mine)

It seems that though they have a great plan to indoctrinate children, they apparently don't have spell check on their computers. It reminds me of all the misspelled signs that they are known to carry in protest. For a mere $3.59, you can teach your children that thinking for themselves is not appropriate and that patriotism means that you can be a racist and oppress all Brown/Black people. Isn't this enough to make you miss. See Spot Run?

H/T Shakesville

What We've Seen So Far on Survivor: Nicaragua

This is a recap of the first two episodes of Survivor: Nicaragua. Survivor is on Wednesday nights on CBS at 8 p.m. EST. We will be writing about Survivor: Nicaragua throughout the season, so tune in and share your thoughts in the comments.

The 21st season of Survivor premiered on CBS two weeks ago. Anyone who has been reading this blog for a little while knows that I have been super excited for the new season of Survivor pretty much since the last season ended. Renee even dedicated a Sunday Shame to me after I divulged in our Emmy Awards chat that I would totally go to bed with Jeff Probst, if only afterward he spoke the words 'Holly, the tribe has spoken...'

This season of Survivor takes place in Nicaragua. As soon as we begin to think that perhaps Survivor has run out of remote places to drop 20 Americans to live for 39 days, Survivor comes up with a place where in the very beginning of the first episode shows active volcanoes, jaguars, bobcats, sharks and monkeys. It didn't take long to hear people spout their first impressions of the other people they walked to the sandy beach area with, assuming they were already split into tribes before talking to Jeff Probst. Not even five minutes into the episode, someone is making a remark about how an "old Italian guy", whose name is Dan, looks like a Mafia boss, because Italian man automatically screams Mafia boss, naturally. We also hear that one woman, Kelly B., has an artificial leg due to being born with a birth defect that forced the amputation of her right leg. You can most likely already imagine the remarks that will be coming from her fellow tribe members about her disability already.

I think the producers of Survivor caught on to older people not making it very far in the game before being tossed out and voted off the island by the younger tribe members. This season, Survivor is a battle of the ages, with people under the age of 30 being on one tribe and people over the age of 40 being on another.


My first reaction when seeing this: What a crock of shit.

Book Review: If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done by Shelly Rachanow

Today in 'Books that are older but I really love and think you should read' is If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done by Shelly Rachanow.

As soon as I read the title of this book, the very first thing that ran through my head was 'Damn straight!' I'm quite certain I'm not alone here, but If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done is much more than a phrase I would love to see stitched into a sofa pillow or put on a poster to hang up in my office; it is a collection of wonderful, amazing, inspiring, motivating, kick ass things that women have done throughout history and continue to do today to make their lives, the lives of their friends and families, and the entire world a better place to live in.

Women have accomplished a great deal of awe-inspiring, out of this world things to improve the quality of people's lives everywhere simply by imagining the world as they would like to see it and creating it. However, despite all that women have and continue to do to change the world, we are still often denied the respect that we have worked for and undoubtedly deserve. Most often, we are not taken seriously and are even degraded and ridiculed for the world that we do because of our society that has yet to overcome a patriarchal frame of mind.

Gisele Bundchen Donates $50,000 to the Brazil Foundation and Auctions Dress She Knows No One Can Fit Into

Gisele Bundchen recently attended a gala for the Brazil Foundation in New York. During the event she not only pledged $50,000 to the organization, she also auctioned off the custom Calvin Klein dress she was wearing that night that was made for her by Francisco Costa.

Gisele has a whole lot of charity activism under her belt, which I always love hearing about. I really like seeing people who are paid attention to by the masses use their social standing to do some good and to make issues and organizations they believe in important to others as well. However, one thing amongst the plethora of articles and blog posts I have read about Gisele Bundchen attending the Brazil Foundation gala that is getting a lot of attention is that she donated $50,000 of her own money. This is somehow astonishing. This is apparently something we should be shocked about. This is something that the media is using to make Gisele the obviously choice to be the next honoree of the Humanitarian of the Year Award. But let's put this in perspective.

Gisele Bundchen is the highest-paid model in the world. She is the sixteenth richest woman in the entertainment industry. She has an estimated $150 million fortune.

One-hundred and fifty million dollars.

Vampire Diaries: Bad Moon Rising

This episode Alaric, Damon and the ever irritating Elena took a road trip to Duke University to look through Isobel's folklore and paranormal phenomena.  Alaric introduces them to Vanessa Isobel's former research assistant.  She takes one look at Elena and Damon and feels threatened enough to attempt to kill Elena.  Damon jumps in front of Elena and takes what looks to be a stake to the back.  At this point Elena should realize that what Damon feels for her is real even though the stake itself presented no real danger to him.  They banter back and forth after Elena explains that she is a descendant of Katherine's and that Damon is indeed Damon Salvatore.  She desperately searches through Isobel's records to find some clue as to what Katherine wanted while Damon in his usual snarky way pleads for her forgiveness.  Damon tells her that Katherine is originally from Russia and they learn that a werewolf bite is deadly to vampires. As they are leaving Vanessa is warned off by Aleric not to become to involved in her research because Isobel became her research.

Once home Damon questions Elena as to whether or not she can find it in her heart to resume their friendship.  She demands to know whether he saw the ring on Jeremy's finger before he killed him and Damon admits he did not.  He says, "I kind of got lucky with that one, I don't know what I would have done". Elena makes it clear that the relationship between the two of them is over and Damon responds telling her that she is more like Katherine than she thinks.  I understand the need to keep the tension going between Damon, Elena and Damon but other than the fact that she is a doppelganger for Katherine what do they see in this young girl?  She is supposedly a teenager, but has all of the freedom in the world. She is self-concerned and seems to want to be the center of the world at all times. I have decided that this must be some kind of  prerequisite characteristic to play the female protagonist in any vampire drama.

Stefan stayed behind during the big fact finding mission to help Caroline Forbes adjust to the fact that her life has changed forever now that she has become a vampire.  Of course this involves the help of Bonnie, Mystic Falls witch.  What gets me about this scene is that even though she clearly has misgivings about making Caroline a ring she does so because Stefan tells her to trust him.  Since when did she trust any vampire?  It's ridiculous that whenever they have some task that needs handling along comes obedient Bonnie to the rescue.

Mr. Big Calls Out New York Magazine for Killing Sex and the City

I will be the first one to unapologetically admit to all of you out there reading this that I love Sex and the City.

I started watching Sex and the City when I heard about it from a friend as a freshman in high school and came into the series very late, since it debuted when I was in 5th grade, so by the time I had any interest in watching it, the series was just about over with. After playing a whole lot of catch-up and loving the invention of the DVD, I started from the pilot and was immediately hooked; I stayed hooked until I reached the last episode of the series. Sure, it has problems. It has a lot of problems and we can talk all about them, able to come up with countless troubling themes running throughout the 94 episodes, but still, I love it. I love it in a very 'watch beautiful, privileged people live their beautiful, privileged lives' kind of way and I'm pretty sure after writing this I'll be appearing on Womanist Musings, starring in my own Sunday Shame.

Regardless of how you feel about Sex and the City, it did erupt into a franchise--a damn profitable one. The series was so well-received that it was a good business move to give it a movie and the first movie did very well, hence the sequel being made. Unfortunately for business execs and fans alike, the second Sex and the City movie was a disappointment, and that is putting it in the nicest way I possibly can. It was the second Sex and the City movie that immediately turned off fans, pissed off a lot of people and didn't even pack that much of a storyline that hasn't already been brought up repeatedly in the series itself.

Chris Noth on the other hand, holds someone else responsible for the demise of the Sex and the City franchise. After catching him at the premiere of Seymour Hoffman's Jack Goes Boating, Mr. Big had a few choice words for New York Magazine and the press in general, really.

"It’s over. The franchise is dead. The press killed it. Your magazine fucking killed it. New York Magazine. It's like all the critics got together and said, 'This franchise must die.' Because they all had the exact same review. It’s like they didn’t see the movie. Got any more gum?" (Note: That's not a reference to anything. He really asked us if we had any more gum.)

Hypothesis as to why Chris Noth is so obviously bitter: There is no way The Good Wife can be bringing in the same kind of cash Sex and the City did.

David Hasselhoff Is The First To Leave Dancing With The Stars

Isn't that a sight to just make you ill?  Yes, that is David Hasselhoff who seems to still believe that this is the 80's and women are hot for him and his talking car.  He danced to Sex Bomb with Kym Johnson and I do believe that I have been permanently scared from watching his routine.  Just the fact that this man is referred to in third person as The Hoff should be warning enough for any viewer that a disaster is coming.  Oh I know that he is big in Germany but I bet that is only during October fest because I certainly needed a double shot to get through his routine.  Even The Situation (another person in need of help) did not traumatize me to the level that Hasselhoff did. 

The Big C

When Allison McCarthy everyone's favorite Gus mentioned that Gabourey Sidibe had a new show, I immediately decided to watch it despite the reservations she mentioned.  I believe that Gabourey is an extremely talented actress but because of the fact that racism, sexism, and fat phobia are such a huge part of our world, the professional the road ahead is going to be difficult. 

Laura Linney plays a suburban mother who learns that she has cancer and decides not to tell anyone because she believes that they could not handle it and does not one anyone taking of her.  When asked by her doctor why she won't try chemo therapy she says that she does not want her hair to fall out. When I first realized the premise of the show, I was really unconvinced.  How could anyone keep such a large secret from everyone they love? As I began to watch it, Linny's reluctance to tell her family really became understandable because of how self involved everyone around hers is, from her hormone raging teen age son, environmental extremist brother and needy husband.

The Breakfast Club 25 Years Later Reunion on GMA

Yesterday morning on GMA, Robin Roberts interviewed the cast of The Breakfast Club, minus Emilio Estevez, who couldn't be there because he's filming... something... somewhere.

The Breakfast Club is one of those iconic movies that means so much to so many people, regardless of what their own social standing was in high school or what character in the film they most identified with and why. I first saw The Breakfast Club when I was a freshman in high school and the first thought I had about it was why hadn't I seen this brilliance earlier. I completely loved it and to this day I could watch nothing but this movie on a loop and never get tired of it.

There's a reason why after 25 years people are still being introduced to this movie and are still finding it completely relatable and that's because people do not change all that much from generation to generation. Sure, you'll hear older generations talk about "kids today" and how everything seems to have changed since they were children and young adults themselves, but today's generation of high school students are still very much impacted by the social food chain, just as it played out (albeit not so dramatically, per se) in The Breakfast Club. There are still athletes and cheerleaders who are amongst the predominant popular crowd who are seen merely as being popular and very little else, there are still outcasts who are written off as being weird and who no one really has any interest in getting to know, there are still nerds who are picked on for whatever reason the people picking on them deem fitting and there are still misunderstood people who are deemed as criminals or just plain bad people because of the walls they put up around themselves in fear of letting anyone into their lives. None of this has changed and when you have a dialogue-heavy movie like The Breakfast Club where there isn't a whole lot more going on except for the exploration of people and what makes them who they are to themselves and to those around them, you have a movie that can easily transcend time because everyone has been one of those characters in the movie.

Robin Roberts sat down with Molly Ringwald, Ally Sheedy, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall and talked about the scenes in the movie that people are still talking about today, such as the Cap'n Crunch sandwich Ally Sheedy ate and if Molly Ringwald can still apply lipstick with her cleavage. I'm sure you'll all be super sad to hear that the lipstick in the cleavage scene was just "movie magic" and that Molly Ringwald never was able to do such a trick.

Check out the interview after the jump.

Kate Gosselin and The Perfect Body

That is Kate Gosselin on the cover of People Magazine.  As you can see, she has fallen into the typical celebrity mom trap of announcing that her body is perfect, because it does not bare the marks of motherhood.  Kate Gosselin is the mother of eight children.

At 35, the reality TV mom says she is now "the most fit I've ever been." How? She credits near-daily runs outside her Wernersville, Penn., home – and she's not afraid to show off the results.

"I've worked really hard!" she tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story. "Haven't I earned the right, at this point, to look good?" (source) emphasis mine.

If the media is not speculating that a famous woman has  a baby bump because she's on her period and is fucking bloated, it is capturing after delivery photos, encouraging women to get back into the pre-pregnancy shape as soon as possible.  Then of course comes the wonderful how they did it stories.  Heaven forbid a single stretch marks appears as evidence that a woman`s body has just done something completely miraculous.

Project Runway Season 8: Fashion Inspiration in the Form of Jackie Kennedy

On this past episode of Project Runway, the remaining designers were given the challenge to design a "classic American sportswear" look inspired by Jackie Kennedy and what she would wear today in 2010. The term "classic American sportswear" painted a big, old question mark over my head, as Heidi Klum would say (and she did say to Casanova during the first episode of the season) but that just may be because I'm not in the habit of creating generalized statements about articles of clothing that I view as...well, clothing. Also, sportswear does not mean a dress to me, it means something you wear to play sports or work out in. Were the designers being handed a challenge where they would be making a fashionable pair of sweatpants or roomy mesh shorts? Apparently not. However, it's a little comforting to know that I am not the only one who just doesn't get it because what the term means to many of the Project Runway season 8 designers varied greatly from one to the next and only three designers on the runway were considered safe and could leave the runway without being thrown to the lions for critique.

Jackie Kennedy being used as fashion inspiration is not new; in fact, I would almost call it a fashion tradition. I was watching this episode of Project Runway and as soon as I heard her name come up for a challenge, I thought for a second, what, exactly, did Jackie Kennedy do to make her mark on the world? Did she do anything while being first lady besides going down in history as being impeccably dressed? I don't know if I should be embarrassed for not knowing if Jackie Kennedy should be more well-known for something besides her fashion sense or not, but I guess that just makes my point, so embarrassment be damned!

So what do the designers think Jackie Kennedy would be walking around today wearing?

Little People Big World and The Little Couple Send a False Message

TLC is currently airing the last season of Little People Big World.  Though I am sure the loyal fans will miss keeping up with the Roloffs, they will still get to watch The Little Couple as they move from newlyweds to a family.  Both shows try to put a positive face to dwarfism and this is particularly important, because they are invisible in the mainstream.  When the media does decide to have a little person as a character, they're  inevitably given ridiculous lines to say.  Consider Tony Cox, who played an elf in Bad Santa

And then there is Verne Troyer, who became famous playing mini-me, in the Austin Powers movies.

These are just two of the most recent examples; however, there is also R2D2, The Ewoks, of Empire Strikes Back,  and who could forget the munchkins of the Wizard of OZ.  There was also a time when society only intermingled with people of short stature, when they showed up in carnivals in the freak show, thus further emphasizing their status as "other."

Vampire Diaries: Brave New World

Well, I am sure by now everyone reading knows that I am a complete vampire freak, from True Blood, to Twilight, I just cannot say no.  Two weeks ago, the season premier of The Vampire Diaries aired.  Can you guess what that means?  Yep, happy, happy, joy, joy, I will be writing a review each week.  If you are not already watching, now is the time to start.  This week I am just going to do a simple overview,  but I will get into more details with each successive post.  On Monday evenings at 6pm EST Tammi, of What Tami said and Racialicious and I, will be hosting a podcast to share with you our thoughts on each episode.  I will post the podcast on this thread, for those of you that are unable to listen to it live.

The Vampire Diaries airs on the CW and so of course, this means that it is not without its share of teen angst.  The very first season pretty much established a bit of a love triangle between Elena, our typical teenage heroine and the GORGEOUS, Salvatore brothers (they are the vamps in question).  Stefan is stoic and the good vamp because he only feeds on animals whereas; his hot brother played by Ian Sommerhalder (that man makes me want to fan myself) Damon, is a very complicated individual, who subsists on human blood.  It is clear that he has a tough exterior and soft under belly.  Damon is stronger than Stefan though they are the same age because he feeds on human blood. Both vamps are attracted to Elena, because she looks like her vamp ancestor Katherine.  Katherine crossed both brothers over to the side of the undead and fueled the competition between them.  

The Salvatore brothers are considered a founding family in Mystic Falls.  Only the descendants of the founding families know that vampires exist, and they have made it their duty to keep the town safe from the undead.  In their human life, the Salvatore brothers watched as several vampires were buried in a tomb.  Both Damon and Stefan tried to save them, for love of Katherine, but they were unable to.  Damon vowed to set Katherine free one day.  What he did not know, is that she had escaped the entrapment and spent the last 140 years doing as she pleased, leaving him to focus on what he thought was his lost love.  When he is finally able to get the tomb open with the help of Steffan, Elena and Bonnie the local witch, he is disappointed to find that she is not in there.

At the end of season two we find Catherine on Elena's porch kissing Damon, because he believes that she is Elena.  Ummm, if you have not seen that kiss, you really should; it`s hot as hell.  When they discover that it is indeed Katherine, she makes it clear that she came back for Stefan and not Damon.  When Damon tries to kiss Elena, she rejects him saying that she loves Steffan and not Damon.  Let me say right here, that these women are making the wrong choice.  At any rate, we now have a rejected and brooding Damon.  Both Salvatore brothers want Katherine out of town and so she declares her evil intentions by killing Elena's friend Caroline, unaware that she was full of Damon's blood.

Fat Shaming in the Name of Health Issues is Still Fat Shaming -- and Patronizing

A few days ago the "health and nutrition" website Blisstree published a slideshow of ten celebrities whose bodies do not fit into the society-accepted idea of thinness. The supposed point of the slideshow was to feature ten celebrities who are overweight and to raise awareness of the "health risks posed by their being overweight." What the slideshow actually did was make the conversation all about visual appearance, hence the title being '10 Overweight Celebrities We Don't Want to Look Like', under the guise of being concerned for their health in a truly fat-phobic and patronizing way.

The slideshow features images of these celebrities--in all of their horrid fatness--accompanied by mindless, snarky jokes about their weight. It is all very, very high school; and very little of their commentary has anything at all to do with these supposed health risks they're so dedicated to raising awareness about. Take this crack about Jorge Garcia (who played Hugo on Lost) for instance:

"We like Jorge Garcia (formerly of Lost), but we’re not so into his girth. Perhaps the actor needs to be left on a dessert, er, desert island for a few months?"

Oh, haha! Get it? Because he was on Lost and the show is about being stranded on a desert island and dessert is just like desert, you just have to add an extra 's'! Get it? It's funny, right? Um, no.

Other celebrities they blatantly make fun of or speak about in a totally high and mighty way are Rosie O'Donnell, Zach Galifianakis, Phyllis Smith (of The Office), Tracy Morgan, Mo'Nique, Kirstie Alley, Mario Batali, Jonah Hill and Nikki Blonsky, who they had this to say about:

"While actress Nikki Blonsky is rallying for social acceptance of overweight people on her TV show Huge (which we’re all for), we wish she’d push for being health-conscious, too."

Now we see some complete backpeddling going on. The people behind Blisstree are "all for" the social acceptance of overweight people but they choose to write an entire post that completely bashes overweight people for being overweight. How interesting. So now I'm wondering, where does all of this advocating for health consciousness come in on Blisstree's part?

Oh yes, wait, I see. Tracy Morgan.

"Tracy’s struggle with diabetes should be a wake-up call for him to shed some pounds. He would be a lot less hilarious if he were dead."

Apparently the people behind Blisstree feel that they can not only police people who they personally deem to be overweight and then make catty jokes about them, but they are also following them around, seeing what kinds of foods they eat and what their fitness routine is like. I mean, that's the only way they can know if Tracy Morgan having diabetes was really a wake-up call for him, right--if they follow him around and know what he does when he isn't working?

Now, not only does Blisstree feel that they can attempt to publicly shame celebrities who they personally deem to be overweight, but they can also make gross accusations of their entire medical record. Someone should probably point the person who put this slideshow together in the direction of the BMI project, just to give them a visual representation of how wildly inaccurate the BMI standards are and that you can never look at someone's visual appearance and immediately determine the state of health they are in.

MasterChef Season Finale

The first season of the American version of MasterChef came to an end last night and one of the amateur chefs was named The Master Chef. Overall, the finale was what I expected it to be--more of the same classist comments from the judges, particularly pompous and self-congratulatory comments from Joe Bastianich, regardless of the fact that he is not a chef, but a businessman within the culinary world.

Renee and I have watched MasterChef from the first episode until the very last--and chatted about it along the way here--and my overall impression of it is that it's a good idea for a show, having been a huge success in some other countries already, but a little anti-climactic. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that it was just too rushed. Two hours of MasterChef one day a week was a little too much at one time and it is beyond me why Fox would choose to premiere this show almost in the middle of the summer television season and then rush to finish it up so they could move Hell's Kitchen into the fall lineup.

MasterChef is a celebration of class, just like most of the foodie world and the foodie culture that amateur chefs idolize just because chefs and critics who just so happened to have made a name for themselves in the culinary world tell them so. We have seen it time and again in previous cooking competition reality shows and MasterChef is no different. This show merely is what it is and that's all I can really take away from the first season of MasterChef.

Check out what Renee and I had to say about the season finale after the jump.

The Avatar Re-Release

Imagine my surprise when I learned that Avatar is to be re-released. I get that the special effects are awesome but do we really need to see the colonialist racist message that the movies sends one more time? Can't we just look around the world and see the colonialism that perpetuate everyday without putting on 3d glasses and entering someone else's imagination? I won't get into a long critique about what is wrong with Avatar because if you didn't catch the White man's burden and White man as hero motif the first time, you probably won't get it now.

Yes, you are getting more than entertainment when you spend your 15 bucks on a ticket and some dry popcorn. You are being indoctrinated to believe that certain bodies are born with an innate supremacy and that others are exotic. Anything different from wonder bread white is to be viewed as mystical and in need of protection. You are supposed to leave the theater thinking you have done your part to challenge hierarchy while doing nothing more stressful than putting popcorn in your mouth. I recently came across a real cool video looking at colonialism in movies and I thought since most are more than happy to have others do the happy lifting for them that I would post it.

Jennifer Lopez Confirmed for American Idol

Negotiations, rumors and reports began flying around in July about Jennifer Lopez joining the American Idol judge's table and now it has been confirmed that she will appear on the reality singing competition show as a judge, but only for one year.

Jennifer Lopez's initial demand for joining the show was $15 million and guaranteed TV/film deals, but she ended up signing the year-long contract with Fox for $12 million.

It is beyond me why American Idol cannot keep this one judge's seat filled; it's as though it's haunted by the ghost of Simon Cowell. I thought Ellen would have stayed on the show longer than one year, not because she is super knowledgeable when it comes to weeding out the bad, hilarious and sub-standard singers from the good enough to be on television and pull in ratings singers, but because she is just damn entertaining. However, I really don't know how entertaining she was as a judge on American Idol because I do not watch American Idol and never really have.

When American Idol first started, I believe I tuned in here and there, got the gist of what the show was about and have seen maybe two episodes of every other season since then. As the show progresses, they seem to pick less and less talented folks to win the competition and I believe all my hope for the show was thrown out the window as soon as Clay Aiken did not win. What season was that, 6? 53? What season are we on now again? Anyway, that was pretty much the moment when I saw the show for what it is--entertainment over talent always.

I am not too jazzed about the thought of Jennifer Lopez sitting at the judge's table, just because while she has been in the public eye for years and years, I still do not know if this woman has a personality. I have never been a fan of Jennifer Lopez's and have given up on trying to tolerate the films she chooses to do, with the exception of Selena, which was a damn good movie. However, on the flip side, she has had a successful career in music, topping the Hot 100 chart four times since 1999 and topping the U.S. dance charts with her last four singles. While her music abilities are debatable, she does have experience and knows what goes in to being an artist and being in the public eye now, which is exactly what these American Idol hopefuls are looking to do.

I don't know if Jennifer Lopez will bring additional viewers to American Idol or if she will bring back past viewers who have drifted away over the years. It is also pretty hard to hypothesize whether or not she will bring more people in than Stephen Tyler would, who was previously rumored to take Ellen's place at the judge's table. Regardless, I do think that American Idol's loyal and dedicated fan base will stick around and I doubt Jennifer Lopez will be scaring anyone away from the show.

A Look Back at Patrick Swayze

Patrick Swayze passed away one year ago today after a 20-month long battle with advanced pancreatic cancer. Patrick Swayze loved what he did and we all know we loved watching him do his thing; even while undergoing treatment for his cancer, he remained very much in the public eye and continued to work, filming a complete season of the series The Beast for A&E.

So, I thought it would be a great idea to take a look back at Patrick Swayze; at the parts of himself that he shared so openly with anyone and everyone who has ever seen one of his films. Leave your favorite Patrick Swayze moments, movies, scenes, or anything else in the comments.

Reality TV: A Love/Hate Relationship for Millions

With the end of summer comes the official summer television ratings and unsurprisingly, reality television once again dominated ratings. While a recent poll from TiVo says that 40% of television viewers think reality television is "the most overdone genre of programming," it didn't fail to bring in the most viewers.

Just like seasons past, the heavy-hitters of the reality television genre have not changed; millions of people are still tuning in for America's Got Talent, The Bachelorette, So You Think You Can Dance and Big Brother. The biggest reality show of the summer was Jersey Shore which, during the last week of the season, raked in 4.4 million viewers, putting it above any other show on television.

I unapologetically admit that I love reality television, but every year at the end of the regular television season, I always find myself wondering what, exactly, is on during the summer. I always seem to think of the summer lineup as the reject shows or the shows that need to be tried out before they can graduate to the regular lineup. That is exactly how reality shows like Survivor and American Idol made it to the fall season. I can say that the summer season in terms of television has never been as entertaining as it was this year, primarily because Renee and I started this blog in July--just in time for one of the biggest summer reality shows Big Brother and the new show, MasterChef, which pushed Gordon Ramsay's longer-running show Hell's Kitchen into the fall season.

15 of the top 20 highest-rated television shows were reality or unscripted shows. So, if 40% of television viewers are sick of reality television, how are these shows always coming out on top? Do people really have such an intense love/hate relationship with reality television, do people believe it's an overdone genre but like it anyway, or is there simply nothing else on?

The reason why there are so many reality shows on the air is because they typically cost less than half as much to produce as scripted television shows. If we're collectively so sick of reality television, it's definitely going to take a lot more than a poll from TiVo saying we're sick of these shows, especially since it seems like such a win/win to television producers. Low cost + millions of viewers = gold mine.

Big Brother Season 12: Stuff We've Already Seen but Apparently Need to See Again

You know those episodes of Big Brother we chatted about that I called the most boring of episodes? I take it back. I now know what qualifies as the most boring episode of Big Brother episode and it was not any of those previous episodes; it was last night's. Last night's episode of Big Brother was merely a recap of the season's "best moments" as well as scenes we've never seen before--on television, anyway. It was painfully boring and Renee and I found ourselves really at a loss for anything to talk about during the show, since we've talked about most of last night's episode already and you can read all about it in our previous chats.

So check out our random thoughts and musings on what we could find to talk about last night.

Project Runway Season 8: Michael Kors Stars in the Resort Wear Challenge

On last Thursday night's episode of Project Runway, the designers arrived at a boat dock and were greeted by Tim Gunn and Michael Kors. Apparently Michael Kors has a new line of sunglasses out, which the designers were given, along with the challenge to create a resort wear look for the runway. There were many reactions to this challenge, but mostly the designers were skeptical; Casanova, for instance, stated that this is a Michael Kors challenge, and if we know one thing about Casanova and Michael Kors, it's that there have been a few hilarious "Kors-isms" that will go down in Project Runway history, directed at Casanova's garments. Casanova's immediate reaction: "This is not my challenge."

After the designers shopped at Mood and got back to the workroom, Tim Gunn came in with his little bag of names--a bag every designer has already come to loathe. Tim lets the designers in on the second part of this challenge; that the designers will be put into teams of two and will swap garments for the other to execute. The teams were: Valerie and Andy, Michael C. and Mondo, April and Christopher, Casanova and Gretchen, Ivy and Michael D.

Not one of the designers likes Michael C., for some reason or another, and Mondo admitted to being pissed off about being paired with him. When they got together to go over their garments, Michael C. told Mondo that he is not the fastest or best sewer and that he does all draping stuff. I have thought throughout these past few episodes that the hostility towards Michael C. has been pretty unfair, but it wasn't until Mondo came right out and told him that he was not really excited about the pairing because "his construction is awful" where I immediately felt very, very bad for Michael C.

Really Louis C.K

The first season of Louie has not been without controversy.  First there was the famous poker scene in which Louie and his buddies decided to question their gay friend during a poker game about his sex life.  Then we had the episode of Louie that I nicknamed rapetastic, for its cavalier portrayal of rape, as well as stalking, and then a hint of racism for spice. Louie is certainly not an easy show to watch, and so far I suppose it has less failures than shows that are already on television, but that does not mean that we should not speak up when it fails.

In episode 13, Louie is encouraged to go out by the babysitter that he hired, because she is concerned that he will turn into a loser with no life, due to the fact that  he spends so much time at home alone.  Louie is resistant at first, but then quickly ends up at bar with his buddies.  He watched as two Black men entered and approached a group of women.  The women immediately showed interest in the men and Louie's buddies surmised it was because they are confident and Black.  Of course Louie wanted a piece of the action and so he approached them and asked to hang out with them for the night.

The group ended up at a club where the Black men approached various White women and successfully made a connection.  When Louie attempted the same approach they did, he was smacked, causing him to run out of the club.  So, let's look at the stereotype of inept White guy and smooth Black guy.  Louie does not have a reoccurring character of colour and usually when a person of colour is introduced, it is for the purposes of what I can only presume to be a teachable moment.  All of the White men that we have seen on the show have been for the most part decidedly unlucky in love.  Louie is at times down right socially inept, but of course, as soon as two Black guys come along, they're constructed as the definition of cool and know just what to say.  Gee,  where have heard the stereotype that all Black men are cool before?  Nope, it is not a good stereotype, because it is built on the notion of Black male hyper-sexuality and this is especially true when placed against a socially inept White male. It is not accidental that the Black male character knew immediately, that Louie approached them for the sole purpose of help in getting laid.

Big Brother Season 12: Down to the Last of the Brigade

The 12th season of Big Brother is officially winding down. The house has been whittled down to three and the last three standing are, hold on to your hats now, Hayden, Lane and Enzo. These three house guests started the entire season in a four-person alliance and after getting rid of Matt, are the last three standing.

Last night's episode wasn't all that jam-packed with excitement, but it was the first installment of the official wind down and eventual end of the longest reality television show ever. What we did see, is what happened when Ragan entered the jury house and how Matt broke the news to him that his wife is totally healthy, which is admittedly what I wanted to see. Yes, I admit it, I was kind of looking forward to one small aspect of Big Brother; I couldn't help it! We also saw that there is no hope at all for Rachel to treat Ragan with any sort of civility whatsoever, but there's really no surprise there.

So here's what Renee and I had to say about last night's episode of Big Brother.

Master Chef: Clanging Balls Edition

So last night, Holly and I watched another two hour marathon of Master Chef. As usual, Joe Bastianich made a complete ass of himself.  I am almost going to miss his weekly screw ups when the show is over. This week, proving that his lordship is not a chef, he suggested putting olive oil on venison.  That's right, just throw some Bambi in the oven and then pour some olive oil over top of it, does that sound yummy yummy to you? This from the man that had the nerve to throw out people's food BEFORE tasting it.

I don't want to put too many spoilers in the introduction, but I really do feel that a certain person got exactly what they were looking for this week. Sometimes the Karama boomerang strikes hard. Pink princesses for everyone.  Well, check out what Holly and I had to say.

Fall Shows That I am Looking Forward To

Well it is after labour day and so all of you who have been going through television withdrawal for your favourite shows are probably climbing the walls. I know that I am looking forward to the return of House, Vampire Diaries, Big Bang Theory, Survivor (stop drooling Holly) etc.  One of the shows that I love to watch is The Marriage Ref. 

Essentially what happens is each week couples come on the show and ask someone to pick a side on an argument that they cannot seem to solve.  Yes it's popcorn for the brain, but I find that it is one of the few shows that does not make me want to bang my head against the wall trying to shut out the isms.

The unhusband and I watched a re-run last night that of course started bickering. I really believe that the show should come with the warning label: might cause bickering.  You cannot watch this show and avoid taking sides.  When I first heard about this show, I thought about the thousands of little arguments we have had over the years.  One of our largest fights to date was 20 years ago when we first moved in together and we discovered that we have different ideas about where the ketchup should be kept. Today we bicker about things like his usage of axe, and of course, since I have no faults so he is perfectly happy. 

Project Runway Season 8: Philip Treacy Hats, Gretchen is a Manipulative Bully and the Avocado Goiter

Since the last time we all chatted about Project Runway here, the remaining designers had to create a look to go with a very, very couture hat designed by Philip Treacy. There were a myriad of wild and crazy hats for the designers to choose from and if you're not familiar with Philip Treacy's work, he has been known to design hats for Sarah Jessica Parker; that should give you an idea of the kind of hat we're talking about here. There were hats made of feathers, one that looked kind of like a squid, another was a giant orchid, one looked like a spinning top and so on.

Michael Costello won the challenge, which confused the hell out of me because his hat did not match the dress he made and his dress, while pretty, was totally uninspired and unoriginal.


None of the other designers thought he should have won either and considering I also did not particularly enjoy his dress, I'm inclined to agree with them rather than declare that they were all jealous.

Kristin, the woman who makes "good mistakes" in her designs made a giant mistake by producing a really, really heavy, ugly, black dress that had nothing to do with the giant orchid that was on top of her model's head.


Kristin was eliminated from the show, which I totally agree with because her designs were all just... blegh.

The week later, the designers were split into two teams of six to create a six-piece mini collection that will be hot for fall 2010. Each team picked two trends to be the backbone of their collection and because Michael Costello won the previous challenge, he had immunity and also had the first pick in who would join his team. He immediately picked Gretchen, which was a little weird because Gretchen is a very headstrong and also very annoying, bossy and demanding woman and the thought of working with her scares the crap out of me because I cannot help but think I wouldn't be able to help myself but to tell her off and make her cry. Michael C's team (Team Luxe) ended up consisting of every designer who has been in the top thus far, while the other team included those who have been consistently in the bottom (Team Military/Lace).

Big Brother Season 12: Hayden Wins HoH and the Brigade Crumbles

Last night, Renee and I sat down for another episode of Big Brother. We haven't chatted about a Sunday night episode of Big Brother in a few weeks and honestly, I had forgotten just how boring this show was when we weren't just tuning in for the Thursday night evictions. I now know that if I ever feel the need to inflict this kind of torture on myself ever again and watch anything related to Big Brother, I should do it on a Thursday when all the shit goes down and when it's full of surprises. "Oh so-and-so won HoH and who's on the block!? That's so surprising!" Because that's what happens when you don't have to sit here for an hour, twice a week, and think "Okay, when is someone going to say something at least mildly amusing to make me stop thinking about my grocery list or what else I could be doing that would be better than this--a pap test, perhaps? Hmm..."

So, Hayden won HoH and we saw the Brigade take quite the nose dive. No longer are Hayden, Enzo and Lane as close as they independently believe they are with each other. Much to my surprise, however, Big Brother could not manage to make backstabbing entertaining.

Take a look at what Renee and I had to say about last night's episode of Big Brother.

How to Dance At A Rave

So maybe I have too much free time, but look at the stuff I find.

Reclaiming Pocahontas: Once Tongue Tied

Anyone that knows the slightest bit of history, is well aware that Disney's Pocahontas is full of shit, to put it mildly. This is hardly surprising, because Disney has a long history of racist imagery in their films and it is well known that Walt was no friend to people of colour.  Just look how long it took to make a Black princess and all the fucked up shit that went into creating her.  With Pocahontas, not only do you have the most ridiculous of gender stereotypes, children learn that a first nations princess was desperate to save the White man.  I suppose the fact that Smith was known to tell this story using various women is unimportant, because if a White man is speaking about First Nations people, it just has to be the truth right? It also doesn't help that Smith is narrated by Mel Gibson, of "I hope you get raped by a gang of  niggers" fame.  Oh, I know that people were not aware of his mega douche nature at the time of the filming, but I find it quite ironic that he was cast as Smith.

Every time one of these Disney post pops up, someone comes along to tell us that we are reading to much into it. It's just a cartoon.  It's not like kids spend an inordinate amount of time watching television.  It's not like kids can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality.  Consider the aforementioned to be snark.  Letting kids watch this ignorant nonsense without informing them that they are being brainwashed is wrong and neglectful of our duty as adults.  Re-inventing history is not just Saturday morning fun.  Telling the oppressors history harms people of colour -- and that is what this supposedly harmless little cartoon does. I suppose if you don't give a damn about how racism harms First Nations people, and more specifically First Nations women, drink the kool aid.  But if you do care, even a little, watch the following.

Big Brother Season 12: An Eviction and Matt is the Worst Person in the World

It feels like quite some time since Renee and I have sat down for a Big Brother chat--and I cannot tell you how freeing and just plain awesome those days away from the chaos that is Big Brother were! Between the Emmy Awards and chatting about MasterChef on Wednesday nights instead of tuning in for Power of Veto competitions and random, mediocre drama, it has been a nice little vacation from watching the remaining house guests continue on in their path to battle it out for half a million dollars.

On last night's episode of Big Brother we got to see the inside of the Jury House, which ended up being a good portion of me and Renee's chat. Most notably, Matt finally cleared his conscience and told fellow jury members Brendon, Rachel and Kathy that his wife is perfectly healthy and never did have some rare bone disease. In other news, Lane was the HoH for the past week and he put Ragan and Enzo up on the block. Enzo ended up winning POV and in his place, Hayden was put up for eviction.

Check out what Renee and I had to say throughout last night's episode of Big Brother.

Master Chef: The Crab Incident

Last night Holly and I sat through two hours of Master Chef.  Clearly Fox started this show too late into the summer season and is now rushing to make room for Hell's Kitchen in the fall. An hour at a time the show would be far more tolerable but at this length Holly and I find ourselves rambling -- not to worry, I pruned most of what was not applicable.

I think that the most compelling part of last night's cooking extravaganza, was the now infamous crab incident.  The question that it raised was should someone get an accommodation because of religious beliefs?  Though I certainly do not agree with how this was handled I think that it was a very good reminder that even though these cooks appear homogeneous they come from vastly different places and have a plethora of unique experiences.   As one who is used to the White guy as expert coming from the Food Network, this unexpected glitch on Fox serves as a good reminder to the viewer that their is more to food than how it looks and how it tastes. 

After the drama, we of course took time to laugh at Ramsey -- who thinks that sucking in his gut actually makes him look better.  There was also the obligatory Joe is a douche comment.  I have finally found someone who makes the song puke in my mouth make sense.

At any rate, without further ado, our musings

Dancing With the Stars Season 11 Cast and FYI, Bristol Palin is an Adult

The cast of the eleventh season of Dancing With the Stars (premiering Monday, September 20th at 8 p.m. EST. on ABC) was revealed a few days ago during The Bachelor Pad. Of course, gossip blogs went crazy with the news and soon-to-be ballroom dancing contestants were interviewed by people obviously pretending to really love watching celebrities new and forgotten dance their hearts out on television.

But before we get into anything else, let's take a look at the entire cast for season 11 of Dancing With the Stars. We have...

On the women side, there's platinum-selling R&B and pop singer, actress, songwriter and record/television producer Brandy, Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey, super awesome comedian Margaret Cho, Audrina Patridge from The Hills, Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson and Bristol Palin.

The men competing are singer/songwriter, seller of more than 53 million records Michael Bolton, Jersey Shore reality television star Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino, retired NFL quarterback Kurt Warner, the most-watched TV star in the world David Hasselhoff, Disney Channel's Cory in the House actor Kyle Massey and three-time NBA champion, actor and producer Rick Fox.

There was a lot of talk about Bristol Palin being on Dancing With the Stars before the big reveal of the entire cast and since the night it was confirmed, even more people have been talking about how Bristol Palin appearing on Dancing With the Stars makes Sarah Palin's inevitable upcoming 2012 presidential run look like a laughing stock within the political world.

Advice for Young Girls from a Cartoon Princess: Beauty and the Beast

A few months ago, Renee posted about Disney princesses and how not one female character in the arsenal of Disney princess movies can be classified as a heroine or as being empowering for young girls. In her original post, that spawned quite the controversy in the comments section from people who see no problem with Disney's celebration of sexism, she included a super awesome video, Advice for Young Girls from a Cartoon Princess: The Little Mermaid.

Much to my thorough enjoyment, it looks like they have decided to make Advice for Young Girls from a Cartoon Princess an ongoing series and have recently come out with a video that sums up all of the disturbing messages and imagery seen in Beauty and the Beast.