My favorite part of Bossypants:

Image via morethanwalk.tumblr.com

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


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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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"The lady will have two tickets to the gun show!"

Not a real gun show; Alec Baldwin's 25-year-old arms.

If only I had bubble problems, my life would be dreamy.

Don't get on Jon Hamm's motorcycle, Liz Lemon!

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"Here comes the Funcooker!"

I hope my workplace never gets that bad.

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"You shouldn't end a sentence with a preposition at."

I loved this episode! My favorite quote of many:

Tracy, regarding the new former-investment-banker interns: "I have a rep to maintain. If I can't keep up with a bunch of Wall Street frat boys . . . Uh oh. Here come the roofies."

And one more!

Tracy: "So if I'm going to keep my hilarious reputation, these interns got to go!"

Kenneth: "But where? They don't know how to do anything. And there are no jobs left on Wall Street."

Hee! Also, more Jonathan please!

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I'm not "aggressive",

but I do give off a "nerdy vibe." I would totally date a small, clever UN officer, and I can find the Brooklyn Bridge.

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"Please welcome Liz Lem-ooon!"

I learn so much from 30 Rock. Apparently it's illegal to be black in Arizona. Good to know.

I could totally be a 12-year old Oprah, bringing black men and white women together. Wait a minute . . .

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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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"I don't want an angry woman in the White House."

Well, I do.

That's what I said, Tina Fey! We do get things done!

Also, Mike Huckabee needs a hug. Not from me, though.

btw, beside Carrie Underwood's performances, the rest of the episode was pretty bad. Fred Armisen as Barack Obama? Lorne, no.

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How would Liz Lemon strike?

Strike Watch: This Week on at 30 Rock, by James Poniewozik at Tuned In. Emphases mine.

"Yeah, to the outside eye, I guess this looks like some pretty lucky people arguing with some very lucky people," Fey said. "We have dream jobs that most people would want to have. That doesn't mean that it's OK for the conglomerates that produce our shows to rip us off." Rip-off, of course, is a subjective term, with the networks and studios arguing that the online distribution of shows--the money from which is the central issue of the strike--is still a financial question mark. Fey, unsurprisingly, doesn't buy it: "These companies clearly smell that the Internet is where their future profits are coming from. If you look at NBC breaking off with iTunes and trying to start their own thing and raise the price, it's because they know this is where the money's going to be."

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Musings from an Adorable American: "It's Valentine's Day?" Edition

Things of various importance that have been on my mind this week:

• The State of the Black Union 2007
  

On Saturday morning, I stumbled upon this day long event on C-SPAN, while I was wading through the jungle that is the new TimeWarner Cable program guide. Ugh. This whole channel grouping thing is not helpful to me at all. I'm just confused and frustrated, and my networks aren't where they are supposed to be!

Back to the black people. I watched this program before and after the Barack Obama Presidential Campaign announcement--which C-SPAN cut to, then came back--and before and after I went to Step class at my gym.

Lots of pertinent issues were discussed by the usual suspects, like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, as well as other distinguished panelists. Even though Sharpton and Jackson are both ministers, I still can't tell you what their actual jobs are. They just seem to be on call whenever people like Michael Richards or Joe Biden need to apologize to the black community.

The most striking part of the State of the Black Union was not the gospel dance party afterwards that moderator Tavis Smiley didn't expect C-SPAN to stick around for. (What were they going to cut to, an empty Senate chamber? It was Saturday. That follow-up musical performance was the most exciting spectacle C-SPAN has covered in a long time.) The most striking part was that the majority of issues discussed were important to every American: health care, the growing prison population, education, employment, financial matters, the illegal occupation of Iraq. The event could have been called, "The State of the Union, and we just happen to be Black." This conversation was way more informative and engaging than either George W. Bush's State of the Union address this year, or the Democratic Party's response delivered by Senator Jim Webb. Just like Nickelodeon and Linda Ellerbee used to say when I was growing up, Black History is Everyone's History. And possibly more now than ever, when bankruptcies abound, home mortgage foreclosures are increasing, the gap between the very rich and the very poor is widening exponentially, and No Child Left Behind is leaving behind most of its school districts, the State of the Black Union is the State of Everyone's Union.

• Tina Fey's spot-on assesment of Aaron Sorkin

"...Sunday night at the Writers Guild Awards...Fey told the crowd, 'I hear Aaron Sorkin is in Los Angeles wearing the same dress - but longer, and not funny.' "

Hee!

• The State of the Black Union 2006

I watched the beginning of it this morning on TV One. Compared to the day-long coverage on the 2007 version on C-SPAN, I didn't like the commercials TV One has to show for revenue, but I did appreciate the editing. Listing the name and accomplishments under each speakers face is much more effective and time-efficient than Tavis Smiley taking two minutes to vocalize the same thing. I know Mr. Smiley is being reverrent and polite to these great American leaders, but I've got things to do. Let's keep it moving. You know these people can be longwinded. And when I say, "these people," I mean the mature members of our American community who love a captive audience and a TV camera pointed at their face.

• Gilmore Girls

This show has gone down the pooper. I was so bored during last night's episode, "Farewell, My Pet." The only saving graces were Michel and Paris, both of whom I have always loved.

• Debra Dickerson on The Colbert Report

I cannot believe this fool. Watch the clip that had me yelling at my TV screen. Like that's an unusual occurence for me. It's at the bottom of the Comedy Central page, so hurry before it's gone.

To summarize for the time- and/or technologically-impaired, Ms. Dickerson informs Mr. Colbert that Barack Obama is not really black, since, according to her, "'Black,' in our political and social reality, means those descended from West African slaves." Calling him black would supposedly disrespect his father's Kenyan heritage. Despite the fact that Senator Obama was born in Hawaii, and his mother, white though she may be, was born in Kansas. Mr. Colbert suggested calling Senator Obama, "nouveau black," to which Ms. Dickerson replied that they could call him "African African-American." Mr. Colbert also had a solution to Senator Obama's non-owned heritage: he could be someone's slave for a short while for the black experience and to gain some street cred; to avoid the racist overtones, he could be Jesse Jackson's slave. Ms. Dickerson had no response for that.

I'd love for Ms. Dickerson to come up to my face and tell me I'm not black because I can't trace my ancestry to a particular West African slave in my family tree. What an idiot. I am so not buying her book.

I'm sure I'll have more stuff to think about later this week.