My favorite part of Bossypants:

Image via morethanwalk.tumblr.com

Thanks for sharing this story in your book, Tina Fey!


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"I was in *NSYNC with you!"

"That's MC Skat Kat!"

Justin had quite a Saturday night:





"Bring it on down to Liquorville!"


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Uncle Tom, Uncle Remus, and that guy from the Facebook movie

You know what's hilarious? A cocktail of misogyny and racism, mixed with a dollop of anti-Semitism and a dash of general body hatred.

Not Dean Edwards: Igor, man. Where'd you get that brain?

Jesse Eisenberg: Ah, from a woman who had just died.

Not Dean: What kind of woman?

Jesse: She worked at the DMV.

Not Dean: And what about the fingernails?

Jesse: From a cashier at Walgreens.

Not Dean: And where did you get the mouth?

Jesse: From a ho who didn't know her place.

The sketch continues:

Jesse: Master, I don't understand. Why doesn't he just tell her he's the man, and that she should do as he says?

Not Dean: You ever been with a sista?

Jesse: No.

Not Dean: Then you wouldn't understand.

Jesse: I've just been with Jewish girls.

Not Dean: Then you kinda understand.

Jesse: Yes.

Jesse Eisenberg, do you kiss you bubbe with that mouth? Speaking of bubbes, I should give a shout-out to my own: Hello! Thank you for reading. :) Who am I kidding? My grandmother doesn't read my blog. She doesn't even own a computer.

If only Igor and Dr. Frankenstein and his monster could find some more docile women to associate with, for example, some imaginary Asian women who will blow them in public bathrooms. I'm just saying.

Just when I was feeling happy about being me. But yet again, in the words of Joan Holloway, "No matter how powerful we get around here, they can just draw another cartoon."

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I saw it.

The Social Network was no Superbad, but Stephen Colbert was correct. Almost every girl and woman in the movie was unnecessarily objectified for the purpose of satisfying some fantasy, fantasies that stemmed from both the male characters in the movie and from the male creators of the movie. Even the characters played by Rooney Mara and Rashida Jones existed in the story on some level because the Mark Zuckerberg character was sexually attracted to them. Two of the last scenes in the movie involved Mark asking Rashida's character out to dinner, followed by Mark obsessing over the Facebook page of Rooney's character.

Both the presentation of and the critical acclaim for The Social Network depress me. It's a perfect storm of straight white male privilege packaged by a writer and a director who were both trying a little too hard. The movie's current 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes doesn't surprise me, considering that most film reviewers are nerdy white guys whose nerdy wet dreams were fulfilled by seeing their self-projections on screen, as portrayed by the likes of Andrew Garfield and panty-chasing Justin Timberlake (?!). (Jesse Eisenberg is talented, but the real Mark Zuckerberg did get cheated aesthetically on the casting.) There are no movies this year or last year or scheduled for next year that would either be a female equivalent of The Social Network, that have a solid female cast, or that even pass the Bechdel test. This exclusive, incestuous system takes a property from the male-dominated field of nonfiction--a story about the male-dominated field of technology--then has the story adapted through the male-dominated fields of screenwriting and directing; this system does not encourage or leave much room for women to succeed.

The scene that summed up the movie for was when Mark was handing out assignments to his friends so that he could to expand the website to additional schools throughout the country. When Brenda Song's character, who was eager to help, asked what she and her female friend could do, Mark simply replied, "Nothing."

With all that said, I advise you readers to go see The Social Network (tickets are still available!), and report back to me. I welcome your thoughts. Please leave comments! :)

Edit 10/13/2010:

1. In the words of Joan from the episode of Mad Men, "The Summer Man", "No matter how powerful we get around here, they can just draw another cartoon." In this case, no matter how hard you have worked to get into Harvard or Stanford, they can just make another movie, portraying you and all of your female colleagues as useless, drunken, coked-up whores. You would think that attending an Ivy League university would spare you as a woman from getting painted with the skank brush on the silver screen, but no. I wouldn't be surprised if there were a Sorkin/Fincher movie coming out next year about the girls gone wild in the House of Representatives.

2. I didn't fully address Brenda Song's character, but someone else did:

Brenda Song’s Crazed, Hypersexualized Asian Female Stereotype in The Social Network, (Updated), by Jenn, Racialicious.

3. Joseph Mazzello is still working. And he has a college degree? Good for him!

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Musings from a Black Woman: Inception

Joseph Gordon-Levitt was dreamy. Smiles!

(For deeper thoughts on Inception, look over here.)

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"Let's leave New Jersey out of this."

"That's what the Constitution should have said."

Ha!

BT-dubs, I forgot he was black, too (at 4:25). That's the power of Fred Armisen.

Also:





That's what I'm saying, Andy.

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"Really?!?"

Yes, Saturday Night Live was actually funny this week, due in large part to Betty White. The other thing that helped? Guest appearances by former cast members from when the show had jokes.

I would have liked some "What up with That?", but I had to settle for some Scared Straight:





Also, what is Burn Notice?



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"A nanny, a baby, and a crippled black man."

For the past two days, I have been trying to figure out how to express my annoyance towards Tina Fey's appearance on Saturday Night Live this past weekend. For now, you readers can entertain yourselves with the following post: MONDAY ARTS SECTION: Time to Check In With Tina Fey’s Feminism!, by Sady, Feministe.

Instead of writing my own biting post, I have been distracted, chiefly by this article on the passing of Dixie Carter, who played feminist icon Julia Sugarbaker: Dixie Carter, R.I.P.: Her five best 'Designing Women' moments, by Tim Stack, EW.com.

I have been reading through the 300+ comments about her classic moments on the show. The quote above comes from the episode entitled "La Place Sans Souci." My favorite exchange that I was reminded of as I read the article comes from the episode, "Julia Gets Her Head Stuck in a Fence". I couldn't find a video clip for that particular, but here is another scene from the episode, and below is a transcript of the funny part:

Suzanne: I think these pantyhose are too dark for this dress.

Julia: Oh, my goodness. Suzanne, do something. That could be embarrassing. I mean, in 45 minutes when the finest people in Georgia are gathered here before me, I wouldn't want anyone to say, "Did you see that woman with her head stuck in the staircase? Yes. That woman the Governor just stepped over? Don't you think her pantyhose are a little dark for her dress?"

Suzanne: Now, listen, I have a lighter pair right here.

Julia: Suzanne, of all the experiences I would like to avoid, I believe having my pantyhose changed in the front hallway of the Governor's Mansion would rank right up there.

Speaking of Suzanne, here is one of my favorite exchanges of hers, from "The Rowdy Girls":

[The ladies are set to play the Supremes in a talent show, so in an effort to be more authentic, Suzanne buys everyone dark facial and body makeup.]

Mary Jo: Suzanne, we can't go around in black face, that's racist!

Suzanne: Why? If Dustin Hoffman was gonna play Martin Luther King, you don't think he'd wear black makeup?

Julia: Suzanne, Dustin Hoffman would never play Martin Luther King — that part would go to a black actor.

Suzanne: Well I think that's racist! I mean, I think it should go to whoever the best person is — and that could be Dustin Hoffman.

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"Denise is the other black woman who works here."

I never have that problem since I'm usually the only black woman in the room. :( But I sure could use some of that specifically branded Excedrin.

~

Here is another of my favorite SNL clips from the 2000s:



Oh, Larry Craig. You embarrassed so many people, and provided laughter for us all.

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I was disappointed in SNL last week,

yet I am still singing, "What up with that?". Al Gore and Mindy Kaling were woefully underused in this sketch.

But Kenan was working it here, too:

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Who's excited about this Saturday night?

I am!

I hope Mr. Gordon-Levitt leaves me satisfied and smiling. From his jokes, people! It's a comedy show. At least that's what Lorne tells us.

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"Who are you going to go after next? Koalas? Baby Koalas?"

"I mean really!?! Rude! Really!?!"

Really, NBC? I can't embed the video? I mean really!?! Rude! Really!?!

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Neither of them is Hawaiian,

but one is half Samoan (and Canadian!) and the other is partially Japanese. The Japanese one still isn't any part black, so I don't know why he continues to play Barack Obama; I don't think he is channeling the President's white side.

Anyway, the dialogue and setup is funny. I hope that is an actual Hawaiian song.

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Le sigh.

Andy Samberg Breaks Caricature, by Joshua David Stein, Out.

Click through to see the behind the scenes video of the cover shoot.

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Saving me an hour and a half.

Bring it on down to Turkeyville!

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That baby inside of Amy's tummy is having way too much fun already.

Poor moose.

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"Say hi to your mother for me, okay?"

Mark Wahlberg Slams "Saturday Night Live", The Huffington Post via Yahoo!.

Someone showed it to me on YouTube. It wasn't like Tina Fey doing Sarah Palin, that's for sure. And "Saturday Night Live" hasn't been funny for a long time. They've asked me to do the show a ton of times. I used to watch it when Eddie Murphy was there and Joe Piscopo and Bill Murray. I don't even know who's on the show now.

Admittedly, SNL has not been funny for a long time. However, I am still laughing at this sketch. Andy does a good Marky Mark. Mr. Wahlberg should be happy that someone thinks he is still relevant enough to mimic. I'd be honored if Andy Samberg wanted to do me. Wait a minute . . .

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Really!?!

(Skip to 2:16 for the reference. Darn you, AIG.)

This morning I clicked on the Shine link on left side of my Yahoo! front page. The About Us section of Shine includes the following:

When we started talking about creating a new website for women, we wanted to avoid all of the common categories that advertisers or marketers tend to put us in. We didn’t want to be a site just for moms or just for single women or working women, or any specific demo- or psychographic. We wanted to create a smart, dynamic place for women to gather, get info and to connect with each other and the world around them . . .

. . . We’ve got a woman campaigning for the top job in the country, female bloggers now outnumber men, and we’ve got Tina Fey writing a hit network show for goodness sakes. We no longer need to stand by passively as the media portrays us as fashion-obsessed diet victims. With the internet as our megaphone, we can now portray ourselves as funny, opinionated women who are in charge of our incomes, careers, families and happiness.

So what you won’t find on Shine: Advice on how to please your man and diets that urge you to "lose 10 pounds fast!" . . .

Coolness!

But then I scrolled down Shine's frontpage and found the following headlines under the love + sex section:

Is there such a thing as an "ugly vagina"?

and

I need advice: Spit or swallow?

I spent the next few minutes yelling at my computer screen. Then I wondered, Is this really "a smart, dynamic place for women"? I certainly have more pressing issues to ponder than "an ugly vage". For instance, the illegal occupation of Iraq, or the genocide in Darfur, or the 2008 US Presidential election. Shine does address our current political state with the following front and center article: Obama v. McCain: A fashion face-off, subtitled, "First Lady Fashion Smackdown".

Yeah.

I do some advice for Ms. Vajajay and the Concerned Spitter. If you are with a gentleman--and I use that term loosely--who insults your vagina or gets upset when you don't swallow his ejaculate, then kick him to the curb. Tell him "to the left", and keep it moving. Your partner should see you as more than an eager-to-please sperm receptacle. Moreover, you should see yourself as more than that. Stop trying to figure out what someone else might like. Figure out what you want and what makes you happy. Then go from there.

Those Shine people should hire me. I am an expert at giving advice about issues which I have no experience in.

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Incredible Restraint

This is how the debate actually went! Joe Biden behaved himself well, considering he was up against the offspring of Gomer Pyle and Jed Clampett. However, no gay marriage? Still? Really? Joe Biden and Barack Obama, your bigotry continues to astound me.

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I liked Baby Mama, too!

The movie makes a great gift. Winky wink.

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