Inspired by my anticipation for Julie & Julia and Amelia, the upcoming biopic of Amelia Earhart starring Hilary Swank, and my continual frustration with the general dearth of female-centered biopics: What woman's life would you like you see made into a feature film?
Here are my top five:
1. Shirley Chisholm. First black woman elected to Congress, founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, first major-party black candidate for president, first female Democratic presidential candidate…what the hell does a woman gotta do to warrant a freaking biopic already?
2. Edith Stein. Jewish atheist philosopher whose fascination with Catholic mysticism prompted her conversion to Catholicism; she later became a nun. Brilliant and fascinating writer. Penned "an impassioned and extraordinarily prescient appeal to Pope Pius XI in 1933, urging him to galvanize the church against the Nazi persecution of the Jews." Stein's warning was not heeded; she was later arrested and died at Auschwitz. (I can't even write that without blubbing.)
3. Lola Montez. Irish-born dancer and famous European courtesan, whose rather amazing life of art, sex, and political intrigue took her around the world. There was a French-German film made of her life in 1955, but none since that I know of.
4. Renée Richards. Author, athlete, and activist. Famously denied entry into the 1976 US Open by the United States Tennis Association, who invoked a "women-born-women policy," prompting Richards to sue and eventually win her case in the New York State Supreme Court. The decision was hailed as a landmark in the struggle for trans equality. There was a TV movie made about Richards in the '80s, starring Vanessa Redgrave, but her story certainly belongs on the big screen—especially now.
5. Indira Gandhi. I'm honestly not sure how it's possible that there hasn't been a serious biopic made of India's first (and still only) female prime minister who was fascinating, controversial, and brutally assassinated. I mean, really?—Aileen Wuornos gets a film before Indira Gandhi? And how many films about Queen Elizabeth I do we really need? Come on.
Question of the Day
Quote of the Day
"I hope people can see that we're just people. Everybody should have an equal place somewhere, even if it's in a yearbook or getting married. We all should get the same rights as everybody else."—Deoine Scott, one-half of a lesbian couple recently voted "Best Couple" by their classmates in the graduating class at Mott Haven Village Preparatory High School in the South Bronx, NYC. [Via.]
Deoine Scott and Victoria Cruz
You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me
Disgraced Republican Dipshit and Professional Racist George "Macaca" Allen is trying to launch a political comeback with a book due out next year called The Triumph of Character: What Washington Can Learn from the World of Sports:
In The Triumph of Character, Allen brings together two all-American passions—politics and sports—and reveals what Washington could learn from the enduring principles found in athletic competition and team sports. Having spent the better part of his life with one foot in both the world of sports and the world of politics, Allen will draw parallels and contrasts between the two arenas. Using his own engaging and entertaining personal stories, Allen will illustrate how "characters with character" in the meritocracy of sports can provide principled, competitive examples of the ways to surmount challenges facing America.I hope he intends to include the anecdote about the time he and some of his friends, the day before their predominantly white high school was set to play a big game against a predominantly black high school, spray-painted racist graffiti on schoolgrounds—and, in quite the clever twist, made the graffiti appear to be the work of the black students from the opposing school by using phrases like "Die Whitey" and "Burn, Baby, Burn."
There's a lot to learn from that story about George Allen's character, methinks.
I Have No Explanation
Recently, in response to CaitieCat's QoTD about the klutziest thing you've ever done, I responded with a fine example of klutzwank with an exacerbating caveat: "Only adding to the world-class klutzery was the fact that I was wearing at the time a bright purple bathing suit bearing a cheetah that looked like it had escaped from a black velvet canvas or the back of a 1970's stoner van."
Evidence of this alleged fashion travesty was requested...
Oh yeah. Ernie, me, and my cheetah bathing suit at Sesame Place in Pennsylvania, circa 1984. HAWT.
Thanks very much to Mama Shakes for scanning this work of art.
Is It Just Me…
…or does anyone find it a little rich that there are Republicans trying to make hay out of the fact that, yes, Al Franken used to be a comedic actor? I mean, this is the party who's had among its House members this guy:
…and this guy:
…and ran this guy as a presidential candidate:
…and worship the star of Bedtime for Bonzo as their ZOMG Greatest, Most Awesomest, Totes the Best Statesman of All Fucking Time, Dood!
Bedtime. For. Bonzo.
'Nuff said.
I Get Letters
your not fareThat, Shakers, sent under the header "dumb fat Chick" (capitalization original), was the entire message. And, I have to say, it really brightened my day.
Thanks, Mr. Emailer Who Shall Remain Anonymous Even Though You Inexplicably Sent Your Missive from a Work Account with Your Full Name and Complete Footer Including Telephone Number!
Failywood
When I was complaining last week about the four-studio bidding war over a film adaptation of the video game "Asteroids," Kenny Blogginz told me that they were making a View-Master movie. I thought he was kidding!
He was not.
"Hello. My name is Viewy McMaster. I've come to entertain your family—TO DEATH!"
I anxiously await with heaving bosom and glistening brow the imminent release of Martin Scorsese's timeless masterpiece, Cement: The Movie.
[H/T to Shaker Constant Comment.]
The Telegraph's Pro-Rape Agenda
If that sounds like an inflammatory headline, well, it's not intended to be. It's quite literally the only excuse I can conjure for the Telegraph publishing an article headlined "Women who dress provocatively more likely to be raped, claim scientists" and subheaded "Women who drink alcohol, wear short skirts and are outgoing are more likely to be raped, claim scientists at the University of Leicester," based on a press release titled "Promiscuous men more likely to rape," summarizing incomplete research done for a dissertation project that found the exact opposite of what's blared as if fact in the Telegraph headline and subhead:
I rang Sophia Shaw at the University of Leicester. She was surprised to have been presented as an expert scientist on the pages of the Daily Telegraph, as she is an MSc student, and this was her dissertation project. Also it was not finished. "My findings are very preliminary," she said.Emphasis mine.
She had been discussing her dissertation at an academic conference when the British Psychological Society's PR team picked it up, and put out the press release.
…Shaw spoke to about 100 men, presenting them with "being with a woman", and asking them when they would "call it a night". The idea was to explore men's attitudes towards coercing women into sex.
"I'm very aware that there are limitations to my study. It's self-report data about sensitive issues, so that's got its flaws, and participants were answering when sober, and so on," she said.
But more than that, she told me, every single one of the first four statements made by the Telegraph was an unambiguous, incorrect, misrepresentation of her findings.
Women who drink alcohol, wear short skirts and are outgoing are more likely to be raped? "This is completely inaccurate," Shaw said. "We found no difference whatsoever. The alcohol thing is also completely wrong: if anything, we found that men reported they were willing to go further with women who are completely sober."
And what about the Telegraph's next claim, or rather, the paper's reassuringly objective assertion, that it is scientists who claim that women who dress provocatively are more likely to be raped?
"We have found that people will go slightly further with women who are provocatively dressed, but this result is not statistically significant. Basically you can't say that's an effect, it could easily be the play of chance. I told the journalist it isn't one of our main findings, you can't say that. It's not significant, which is why we're not reporting it in our main analysis."
So who do we blame for this story, and what do we do about it?
Shaw said: "When I saw the article my heart sank, and it made me really angry, given how sensitive this subject is. To be making claims like the Telegraph did, in my name, places all the blame on women, which is not what we were doing at all. I just felt really angry about how wrong they'd got this study."
Despite the inaccuracies having been brought to their attention, the Telegraph continues to run with the same misleading (to put it charitably) headline and subhead, satisfyingly confirming the prejudices of rape apologists and victim-blamers. They have, however, subtly made changes to the article's text since its original publication.
Even as the dangerously erroneous title still stands—a deliberate error that speaks to a dark agenda.
[H/T to Jess.]
You Go, Grrl: Rebecca Berry
I love this story:
Male Anchor: Well, you know, an eighty-year-old great-grandmother shouldn't have to work for a living anymore. And now Rebecca Berry—she won't have to.Berry's (soon-to-be-former) employer is a US district court judge in Honolulu, for whom she works as secretary. She's one of only four winners who have become instant millionaires playing Wild Cherry progressive slot machines.
Female Anchor: No, she's not coming to Tim's house, either, unfortunately! Last night, though, Berry hit the jackpot—on a dollar progressive slot machine at the Mystic Lake Casino; she takes home more than one-point-three million dollars. She looks so calm there! Berry lives in Hawaii; she comes to Minnesota a couple of times a year to visit her daughters. She says she just had a feeling about that machine.
Berry: I would play, walk away, play, walk away, and I kept coming back to the same machine for two days. [giggles] I was planning on retiring at the—early next year, but I'm going to call him and say, "I quit!" [laughs]
Female Anchor: Well, at eighty, she certainly deserves that. Berry says she plans to use the money to make repairs on her home and also to help out her children.
I'm so not a gambler; I've never even played a slot machine in my life, and I've been to Vegas (for a trade show, my attendance at which was required by an old job). "The house always wins" is just too compelling an argument for me to put down my money—but I love it when other people gamble and win. Congrats, Ms. Berry!
Q&A
Ezra Klein interviews the great Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), who's just written a book, The Waxman Report, which "offers an inside view of how Washington really works—and how it can work better." Ezra asks good questions:
Even with a popular new president and a large House majority and 60 Democrats in the Senate, it seems unlikely we'll actually solve these underlying problems. We might get legislation. But it's not likely to avert the existence-level fiscal threat from health-care reform or the existence level environmental threat from climate change. But if not now, then when? And if Congress can't respond to challenges of that magnitude, doesn't it suggest that something is quite wrong?And Rep. Waxman gives good answers:
When I came to Congress, if you were the senior member, you became chairman no matter how competent you were, no matter how in sync you were with the majority caucus. That was enormously advantageous for many of the Dixiecrats who remained Democrat for that reason, to take advantage of the seniority, but who aligned themselves on policy with the Republicans, and created a situation where even when Democrats had large margins, there was this sort of Southern Democrat-Republican coalition that ruled.The whole interview is well worth a read.
The fight by Sam Rayburn to allow the Rules Committee to be controlled by the leadership was an enormous and brutal fight, but a necessary one. The chairman before that time was Judge Smith from Virginia, who wouldn't let civil rights legislation go to the House floor because he was a segregationist himself. That meant that even when the Judiciary Committee proposed a bill for civil rights, members of the House couldn't vote on it.
Predictable; Infuriating
Last week, I wrote about the murder of gay Seaman August Provost, and I noted: "What breaks my heart even beyond the loss of Provost's life is that, if it turns out that he was killed because he was gay, there will be people who cite his death as justification to retain the DADT policy."
Cue Time to draw the connection between the murder and the military's DADT policy, but take the "the murder last week of an apparently gay sailor at California's Camp Pendleton has raised new questions over the readiness of the armed forces to accept openly homosexual personnel" route.
As I said last week, it isn't openly gay servicemembers who are the problem; it is the DADT policy: "The reality, of course, is that the forced association between being gay and secrecy, shame, and silence, the suggestion that being gay is something so bad that it should and must be hidden, created by DADT is precisely what feeds the dangerous homophobia that leads to the mistrust and harassment and harm of gay soldiers. If anything, Provost's death, if indeed a hate crime, argues for DADT's repeal, cries plaintively for a policy that does not tacitly encourage suspicion, contempt, violent hatred of the Other."
Aside from that, asserting that the murder raises "new questions over the readiness of the armed forces to accept openly homosexual personnel" (and what "new questions," btw?) is contingent upon ignoring that there are loads of openly gay soldiers (at least with their peers) who are being accepted without issue—and it is only one, or possibly two, of Provost's peers who didn't accept him. His partner said he was open with friends on the base who he trusted; what about their readiness to accept openly gay peers?
Meanwhile, let us also recall that two weeks ago, I wrote about white supremacists infiltrating the US military care of the increasingly lax regulations on extremism in the ranks. Not to put too fine a point on it, but white supremacists aren't generally known for their tolerance of the queers.
And then there's the evangelicalization of the American military, particularly the Airforce Academy, via shit like "Christian Embassy," an evangelical group affiliated with Campus Crusade for Christ, which has as one of its objectives recruiting members of the military. (Recommended viewing: Constantine's Sword.)
Call me kooky, but throwing wide the military's doors to white supremacists and conservative evangelicals just might deserve some attention, if we're looking at agents of intolerance in the military's ranks. Just sayin'.
[H/T to Memeorandum.]
Palin Not a Quitter, Totes a Martyr, Still Unfit for National Office
In an interview on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, yesterday, soon-to-be-former Governor Sarah Palin said, despite quitting her office 18 months before her first term was up, that she's not a quitter—and reasserted that she's leaving office because it's the best thing to do for Alaska.
"I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor.She noted that the multiple ethics complaints against her costing not only Alaskan taxpayers, but also her family.
...She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time and financial burden of a litany of ethics complaints in the past several months, she said. The complaints were without merit and took away from the job she wanted to do for Alaskans, Palin said.
"You know conditions have really changed in Alaska in the political arena since Aug. 29, since I was tapped to run for VP. When that opposition research -- those researchers really bombarded Alaska -- started digging for dirt and have not let up. They're not gonna find any dirt," she said. "We keep proving that every time we win an ethics violation lawsuit and we've won every one of them. But it has been costing our state millions of dollars. It's cost Todd and me. You know the adversaries would love to see us put on the path of personal bankruptcy so that we can't afford to run."Given what I know of the politics in Alaska and the Palin administration specifically, I'm guessing that while part of the reason for the series of complaints since she came to national prominence might be political animosities, another part of it is that people who knew their complaints wouldn't be vigorously investigated before the nation's eyes were on Alaska finally felt like their legitimate complaints might get taken seriously.
But as for whether another pursuit of national office, as she did less than a year ago when she joined Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the race for the White House, would result in the same political blood sport, Palin said there is a difference between the White House and what she has experienced in Alaska. If she were in the White House, she said, the "department of law" would protect her from baseless ethical allegations.Oof.
"I think on a national level, your department of law there in the White House would look at some of the things that we've been charged with and automatically throw them out," she said.
There is no "Department of Law" at the White House.
While I'm well aware that sort of shrugging, folksy, whatever!-you-know-what-I-mean shtick is actually quite appealing to lots and lots of people, it really, truly makes me cringe down to my freaking spleen.
If It's Tuesday, It's Boehlert!
Palin, the press, and her "no más" moment:
Palin herself led the utterly predictable anti-press charge over the weekend, claiming on her Facebook page that "[t]he response in the main stream media has been most predictable, ironic, and as always, detached from the lives of ordinary Americans who are sick of the 'politics of personal destruction.'"Read the whole thing here.
...At National Review Online's The Corner, Jonah Goldberg insisted that The New York Times, among others, has "gone after Palin and her family in ways that I think are particularly egregious." (Goldberg didn't bother to cite any evidence of egregious Times behavior to support his media critique.)
Meanwhile, unveiling an unlikely coalition, The Weekly Standard's Bill Kristol announced that the liberal media were in cahoots with the "GOP establishment" to bring Palin down. (I kid you not.)
And just days before Palin announced her exit, The National Review's Jim Geraghty and conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt huddled to discuss why liberals hate Palin so much; what is it about her that drives them to distraction? (It's because Palin's so pretty, Geraghty posited.)
So the familiar outlines were all in place and the pity party hummed in high gear: the unhinged liberal media had it in for Palin and wanted to drive her off the national stage. Liberals were smearing her.
But then a funny thing happened -- scores of conservative commentators broke ranks with the "liberal media" brigade and decided Palin's political problems were of her own making.
In other words, the beloved liberal media meme completely fractured under the weight of the Palin story. The front-line, knee-jerk troops were ready and eager to lob the ever-ready accusations, but it turned out that lots of Noise Machine generals weren't buying it, and instead of blaming the liberal media for Palin's disastrous weekend showing, they blamed ... Palin.
Fat and Wordy, yo
Inspired by a (surprisingly) brief e-mail-based conversation I shared with Liss on the topic of our shared blogorrhea (the obsessive need to fill the blank space - ever and always renewing blank space, curse you, computers! - with words, words, beautiful words), and with an apology to a certain Mr. Yankovich:
Fat & Wordy
They see me scrollin’
My blog roll
I know they’re all thinking I’m so fat and wordy
Think I’m just too fat and wordy
Think I’m just too fat and wordy
Can’t you see I’m fat and wordy?
Look at me, I’m fat and wordy
I wanna roll with
The blogstas
But so far they all think I’m too fat and wordy
Think I’m just too fat and wordy
Think I’m just too fat and wordy
I’m just too fat and wordy.
Really really fat and wordy.
First in my class here at Shakie-V
Can write, I’m a champion at speechin’ free
MC’Ewan - that’s my favorite MC
Now I’m 40, and my face is all liney
My mug’s never thin, to the contrary
You’ll find that it’s plump like a berry
None of my theory tomes are cherry
Favourite book is my dictionary
My ref’rence shelf is all totally pimped out
Got people diggin’ my neologizin’
Yo, I drop words in a thousand places
Can’t leave the lure of the empty spaces
I can hang in a comment thread for days and days
I’m a whiz at arguments – my words just raze
Once you read my sweet words you’re gonna stay amazed
My fingers movin’ so fast I’ll set the Toobz ablaze
There’s no takedown that I haven’t done
At critique, well I’m number one
Feminist analysis just for fun
I ain’t got a joke but I can kill with a pun
Bella Ciao is my fave protest song
I could sing it out if you want to sing along
I’ll take down neo-cons who bring on
Any fallacies – and I can do it in Klingon
They see me bikin’
With my big ass
I know in my heart they think I’m fat and wordy
Think I’m just so fat and wordy
Think I’m just so fat and wordy
Can’t you see I’m fat and wordy
Look at me, I’m fat and wordy
I wanna scroll with
The blogstas
Because it’s apparent I’m so fat and wordy
Think I’m just so fat and wordy
Think I’m just so fat and wordy
I’m just so fat and wordy
I’m so glad I’m fat and wordy
I’ve been bloggin, interjectin’
Comment threads, you know I inspect ‘em
Dust jackets on my books, I must protect ‘em
My little laptop keyboard
Never leaves me bored
Cruisin’ online for things I can write about media
LOL at Conservapedia
I memorized Female Eunuch so very well
I could recite it right now
And have you say “Caitie well what the hell?”
I got a business doing edits (edits)
When my friends need some words, who do they call?
I do the spellcheckin’ for ‘em all
Even made a personal ranty blog
Yo, I got myself an open mind
Seems they’re really not hard to find
Spend my nights with a keyboard tap-a-tap
Hit “Post”, hope someone reads me
Look, “Fuck’s-sake” from Deeky!
I’m wordy in the extreme
And writin’ feminist themes
I ain’t no Repub, hate the G-Dub, cause yah, “I have a dream”
Yah the question is
Which of them’s the worst
Cause Billy O’s bad
But Limbaugh comes in first
Spend every weekend at my laptop over here
Got my byline, it’s way up there
They see me scrollin’
Blog-rollin’
Cons shakin’ in their boots ‘cause I’m so fat and wordy
Just because I’m fat and wordy
Just because I’m fat and wordy
All because I’m fat and wordy
You know I’m fat and wordy
I wanna scroll with
The blogstas
And I will, cause I’m obviously fat and wordy
Liss and I so fat and wordy
We're so glad we're fat and wordy
We're both so fat and wordy
Look at us, we're fat and wordy
Sigh
White House Open to Deal on Public Health Plan. Of course they are.
It is more important that health-care legislation inject stiff competition among insurance plans than it is for Congress to create a pure government-run option, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said Monday.So, the relevant comparison is the ginormous gift to Big Pharma that was the '03 prescription drug plan? That piece of shit legislation resoundingly cited as one of the US government's biggest sell-outs ever to its corporate bankrollers? The one that it was just reported less than a week ago has increased out-of-pocket spending on drugs? Awesome.
"The goal is to have a means and a mechanism to keep the private insurers honest," he said in an interview. "The goal is non-negotiable; the path is" negotiable.
...Mr. Emanuel said one of several ways to meet President Barack Obama's goals is a mechanism under which a public plan is introduced only if the marketplace fails to provide sufficient competition on its own. He noted that congressional Republicans crafted a similar trigger mechanism when they created a prescription-drug benefit for Medicare in 2003. In that case, private competition has been judged sufficient and the public option has never gone into effect.
Mr. Obama has pushed hard for a vigorous public option. But he has also said he won't draw a "line in the sand" over this point.
Digby says wryly, "It's always possible that Emanuel is playing 45 dimensional chess. Gosh I sure do hope so." Snort. Yeah, gosh, me too.
What The Hell?
Shaker Reedme
What the hell is up with those undies? What the hell is that white stuff on your pants?? What the hell are you smiling about??? What the hell????
[See also: Deeky, Liss, evilsciencechick, katecontinued, ClumsyKisses, Mistress Sparkletoes and Liiiz.]
Question of the Day
What's the most unintentionally hilarious movie of all time?
Hands down, I gotta give this one to Battlefield Earth.
"I can assure you that I was not groomed since birth to have some cushy job that even a moron like you could perform! While you were still learning how to spell your name, I was being trained to conquer galaxies! To do anything less is a disgrace to my entire family line!" (6:35) Awesome. Totally awesome.
Quote of the Day
"I believe we need to spend a little more on illegal immigrants. Get them the hell out of our damn country and close the borders down. We can do it. We've got the greatest military in the world and you're telling me we can't close our borders? That's just ridiculous."—Joe the Plumber, Great American Patriot, celebrating the best July 4th in human history with a little nonpartisan opinionating on the pressing issues of the day. He added that he would also like to see the US government "pull its head out of its butt."
