Archive
N is for Neve Campbell
Exhibit N in my continuing investigation of the repressed sexuality of American cinema is Neve Campbell, one of the more naturally sensual actresses of her generation and also, as we remember from her teasing moments of near-nudity in Scream and Wild Things, one of...O is for Oprah
There’s really only one interesting question when it comes to Oprah Winfrey, whose record of accomplishment is so extraordinary and whose past is so morally unblemished that even Kitty Kelley, perhaps our nation’s most resourceful scandal-mongering...P is for Sean (P)(.)(uff)(d)(a/i)(dd)(y) Combs
I met Puffy once, briefly, in the V.I.P room of a club in Ibiza. We were both drenched in the hallucinogenic purple foam with which the club’s spirit team had just hosed down the partying masses. I was—to be Frank—tripping my balls off, so when I say...Q is for Le Q
It’s indicative of the surprising paucity of our idea of Quincy Jones that the definitive profile of him is the rather short review of his autobiography, “Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones,” that Kelefa Sanneh published in the New Yorker in 2001....P is for Paris: Update
Many moons ago, I wrote a short post in which I explained why my dominant reaction regarding Paris Hilton had transmogrified from contempt to pity. The tipping point came when the contents of a storage locker she’d failed tokeep up the payments on was bought and...R is for Regis
In the second paragraph of her 2000 New Yorker profile of Regis Philbin, Elizabeth Kolbert has a wonderfully casual insight that, unfortunately but not surprisingly, the rest of the 5,500 word essay fails to adequately deepen. She writes: Philbin has made a career of...S is for Simpson, Jessica, and the relationship multiplier
We’re now far enough away from the end of the brief, ill-starred marriage of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey to subject Simpson-Lachey (or Nickica, as they were collectively known back when they were a bona fide celebrity supercouple) to the relationship...Matt Zoller Seitz on Harry Potter movie
Matt Zoller Seitz, my favorite working film critic (I say that as if there’s a whole legion of non-working critics who I like better, when in truth there’s really just Pauline Kael, who, being dead and all, certainly isn’t working anymore) has a nice...Wolcott on Denby on Knocked Up
James Wolcott has a nice riff off of David Denby’s essay in the recent New Yorker. Though I’m not a huge Denby fan, in general, I think everyone’s being a bit harsh on the essay, which was actually pretty good. Still, I always enjoy Wolcott taking...C is for Cruise, Tom
Tom Carson, one of my favorite working all-purpose, culturally omnivorous, pound-for-pound critics, wrote a wonderfulicious essay on Tom Cruise a few years that you just have to read (okay, you don’t have to read it, but if you don’t, you’ll forever...Déclaration de Mission
This blog is named "Cherchez La Femme" in an attempt to claim the term and belie its misogynistic origins and undertones. If taken at face value, which is, in plain English, "seek the woman," the phrase suddenly takes on philosophical implications...Girl on Girl Crime
Last week, Time Magazine’s Belinda Luscombe grasped at why Sarah Palin has been on the receiving end of apparently derisive and vitriolic criticism, namely from women. It’s not because her resume about qualifies her to be the vice president of some holy...Maddow about You
I love Rachel Maddow. I'm so proud of her. Remember when she was on Big Breakfast? Now she's got a national television show. And it's really good. Watch her stick it to Palin:Ew, Belgium
Et Septembre, là-haut, Avec son ciel de nacre et d.or voyage, Et suspend sur les prés, les champs et les hameaux Les blocs étincelants de ses plus beaux nuages. -Emile Verhaeren This is an ad for Ché magazine, Belgium's equivalent to...Maddow About You
Golly-Gee Feminism
I'd like to know exactly what McCain means by "liberal feminist agenda," or if he knows exactly what feminism was and has transformed into. He probably means something close to what Kathleen Parker was getting at when she called feminists a...Keep Your Paws Off My Pills
The Roman Catholic storeowner of the Diving Mercy Care Pharmacy in Chantilly, VA has amended the usual convenience store decorum code. Instead of "No shirt, no shoes, no service," manager Robert Semler has installed a "No candy, no soda, and no birth...The Tires are the Things on Your Car That Make Contact With the Road
Okay, so this has nothing to do with any of the issues this blog asserts as its focus, but just when you thought the nadir of viral YouTube videos has been reached, some crazy Frenchman has to go and do something like this:Bachmann's History as a Bigot
Jamie's last post touched on Michele Bachmann's McCarthy-ish wants for a press "exposé" of those members of Congess she thinks could be Anti-american (only Liberals need be scrutinized). Here's a video from the uptake.org of a debate in...Heroes: Amy Sedaris
Every time I see, hear about, or read something by Amy Sedaris, I get weepy. If, when filling out my Sunday crossword puzzle, there are only three spaces instead of five to answer the clue "Humorist Sedaris," I imagine giving the sprightly little blond a...Update: In Case you Missed It
I think they actually filmed this:I mean, with actual film.On Barack Obama's sex appeal: Please read this at your own risk (it isn't unsavory, it just tastes really bad). It's by Nicole Caldwell, former-editor-in-cheif of Playgirl. I understand how...Maddow About You: Expanded
It seems appropraite to make this post now after reading Tom Vannah’s Between the Lines in this week’s Advocate, which addresses the credibility of (basically) admittedly biased “news” programs on television like those of Rachel Maddow and Sean...Halloween Oh-Eight and the Wicked Witch of Motor City
Happily, only two women were dressed up as Sarah Palin at the Halloween party I attended. One of them had a cabbage patch doll who was afflicted with what she referred to as, "up-syndrome." Both had grotesque, giant flag pins. Neither wore American flag...Okay, So Now What?
I'm at a loss. I am ecstatic, sure, but I am feeling hesitant. I whooped it up Tuesday night, jumped on the bed, said "I'm proud to be an American," rained crappy champagne out my apartment window, and watched a grown man cry. Barack Obama is now...Dumb Diva Dodges D.C. …
…and Faux News reaps the benefits. Apparently, hundreds of Sarah Palin stories that were to remain off the record until the end of the campaign are now ON THE RECORD. In the following clip, Fox News political correspondent Carl Cameron reveals some juicy inside...Sex Workers' Jobs Just Got Harder
Craig's List, the popular nationwide internet classifieds site, has made a pact with 40 states to crack down on users who use the "erotic services" section of the site to advertise prostitution. This page has, until now, been free to use for both people...Maddow About You
Rachel Maddow is funny. She has great hair and pretty, subtle makeup. The low-button stances of her suits hit just the right spot to flatter her figure and look casual without being sloppy. I'm glad she's on television. She has established herself as the only...Cooking With Balls: It's a Good Thing
I recently came across a vividly illustrated cookbook that utilizes a main ingredient of testicles in each of its recipes (the testicles were not human, but once belonged to bulls, calves, lambs, rams, stallions, ostriches and turkeys). It is a refreshingly simple...Entitled Entitled Hippo
I had a small and ancient fourth grade teacher with an affinity for elastic-waisted calico house dresses. We liked to call her Mrs. Itchy-Butt. She was evil. I recall her not allowing a girl to go to the bathroom, that girl then peeing in her chair, and Itchy-Butt...Heroes: Sarah Haskins
Sarah Haskins is a funny lady. Here is her latest installment of Target: Women, her online show in which she adresses the way women are targeted (hey!) by the media. She's a keenly derisive broad, and isn't afraid to be a little raunchy. This episode is about...Grrrls Rock
When thinking of great rock guitarists, I'm generally awash with images of thin men in tight pants through which they exude some sort of super-sexual musk that increases in intensity when they shred. I lament not maturing in an era past, perhaps the sixties,...Tween-age Wasteland
This is so wrong. Another blog pointed this image out and I had to see if Amazon had done anything about it. I followed the link, and sure enough, the image of a mid-pubescent girl was used to illustrate an article of clothing being described as "sexy."...The (Boob) Job
A gang of theives in Uganda has taken a somewhat shrewd approach to robbery. Police in that country are warning bar-going men to watch their noses, lest they have a heaving bosom smeared with chloroform shoved in their faces. Apparantly, women have been applying the...R.I.P.
Odetta, American folk legend, dies at 77.Heroes: Campbell Brown
Tell it like it is, sista: Embedded video from: CNN Videoor hereAttention: Aspiring Ladies
In perhaps one of the most hilarious performances of one of the silliest songs of all time, this goofball manages to say some stuff that isn't really okay. Like why does he get to decide that a certain "kind" of woman that he'd "like to flaunt...The Antis Have It
It seems like people who are anti-something for religious reasons stemming from Christianity are heard much more loudly that those who are opposed to things for moral reasons in general, even though both sets of people are equally insenced. The manipulative techniques...Stewart Chooses Side on Eve of Call-Out-Gay-to-Work Day, Puts Huckabee in his Place
John Stewart’s ability to have rational arguments with people he disagrees with continues to push his show out of the realm of comedy and into the world of real legitimate journalism. Last night on The Daily Show, Stewart interviewed former-presidential hopeful...R.I.P.
The venerable Bettie Page dies at 85. That she became a household name is testament to the fact that she was more than just a pin-up girl.How Young is Too Young?
With all of the talk about restrictions against gay marriage lately, I think it's prudent to take a look at controversial straight relationships that some may consider immoral or perverse. In Australia, the law does not recognize same-sex marriages. However, in...Not-So-Virgin Mary
Playboy Mexico's December issue features a sexy and nude Virgin Mary on the cover. They recently issued an apology, but i can't help but think someone had to have seen the potential for controversy coming, especially considering that Roman Catholics make up...Not Hugely Annoying, But Huge and Annoying: A Visual Tour
I have to admit. I like to buy things. I am an all-consuming lemming who'll likely jump off a cliff for a nice pair of leather boots or a Diane Von Furstenberg wrap dress (what I wouldn't give). At least I'll look good when I'm dead; the undertaker can...On Nature
The BBC/Discovery Channel series Planet Earth has been on my mind lately. If you haven't seen it, I recommend that you do so. Soon. Do yourself a favor and watch the version narrated by David Attenborough, not Sigourney Weaver.Not only is the series full of...Grandma Palin and the Baby Train
Bristol Palin's controversial pregnancy has come to a head. Continuing the Palin trend of obnoxious, made-up baby names, Bristol dubbed her son Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. Baby Tripp–who sounds like he could grow up to be either a country singer (the...Finding a Way
Thankfully, the appeal of social conservativism did not outweigh the benefits of financial liberalism in October’s presidential and senatorial races. For once, the Republican party was not successful in convincing poor white Americans to vote for them because...R.I.P.
Awesome lady Helen Suzman died yesterday at the age of 91.Semi-Vintage Stewart
Now that the world’s coolest president elect is about to become the world’s coolest president, should we be worried that John Stewart will become obsolete? My instint tells me he (and I) will have enough to make fun of. Check out this clip from early 2008....More Obama Drama
So everyone's up in arms about Barack Obama's choice for the person who will give the prayer at the inauguration later this month. He's picked the inspiring-looking, Evangelical, megachurch-leading Rick Warren to bless the ceremony. The logic behind such a...Tales from the Tool Box
Vh1's "reality" programming is anything but. Instead, the shows seem to bubble to the surface from the depths of a bottomless cesspool of greed, confusion, humiliation, and fame, manufactured to provoke the worst in people. Seen this way, the shows seem...Wailin' Palin
Just. Watch. She still uses the peripatetic itinerant present.Pelosi Footing
Who knew? Nancy Pelosi and congress have nothing better to do than post silly videos of cats and RickRolling (which is sooo last year). If Newt Gingrich was dead, he'd be rolling in his grave.Staying Abreast
In the latest issue of the New Yorker, Jill Lepore explores the history of breastfeeding in the Western world, and how it is practiced today. What she determines is that more and more women are opting to use breast pumps to extract milk from their breasts in order to...Abortion + Doughnuts = Wing-Nuttery
This is an actual press release from actual pro-life group the American Life League. In it, Judie Brown explains how the Krispy Kreme doughnut chain is bad because they used the word choice twice in a promotional statement promising free doughnuts on Inauguration...Feminists and the Feminine Feminists Who Love Them
There has been so much noise made by lady bloggers over this Ms. magazine cover which features Barack Obama ripping open his shirt a la superman to reveal a black t-shirt with the words "This is what a feminist looks like," emblazoned across it. I certainly...Shaking Things Up
"The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works…"-Barack Obama, 2009 inaugural address Jezebel.com compiled a montage of Fox News' coverage of the inauguration. It's pretty fascinating. (I...iGroan
Let it be known that there is nothing in the world that I covet more than an iPhone. But when the miraculous day comes when I receive my communicative and mechanized manna, I do not want it to do this. Ew.I give this one a big, Nancy Kerrigan "Whyyyy?!?!" (I...What was silent in the father speaks in the son, until the son the son is silent, in which case the father opens his thin-lipped mouth…
In this video, Clinton is not only artfully self-depricating and astutely observant of a double-standard (if a Republican is ribald, it's a kind of old-boys-club, fraternity thing; when a Democrat does it, he's a scoundrel (which is kind of true in this case,...Breaking: In Anti-Abortion Ad, Catholics Employ Guilt, Exploit People UPDATE! UPDATED AGAIN!
Implying that by getting that abortion you're cheating yourself out of having potentially powerful and/or successful offspring is manipulative at best.This is an ad put together by the anti-abortion group CatholicVote in which they exploit the president and his...R.I.P.
Author and examiner of the "American small town, Protestant middle class," John Updike died yesterday at 76. His 1984 novel The Witches of Eastwick was criticized by many for its misogynistic undertones. Updike was too smart not to know this ahead of time,...E-Edition
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