Archive for September 30, 2006

Which Sandman Character Are You?

Which Sandman Character are You?


You are Dream! Many people see you as living in your own little world. Though you would never try to harm someone needlessly, you are not always aware of the consequences of your actions.
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You will not see a weirder picture this week

It’s like a deleted scene from Gregory’s Girl.

Friday Kittenblogging: Say Goodbye

This is the last edition of Friday Kittenblogging. Next week, I unveil….TA DA!!…Friday Catblogging. That’s right, the Gang of Two will be one year old on October 5th. The little monsters.

So without further ado, I present

Belly flap

Belly flap

Pretty much the minute she stopped looking like a kitten, Fanty developed El Gato Belly Flappo, the fat furry bit that flaps back and forth as she walks.

The other day, I noticed that when she lies on her side, it sorta POOFS up. Photography was mandatory.

Cute Adorable Sales Pitch

I just upped my bandwidth, which also ups my monthly fee. No big, but I thought it was a good time to remind you:

I write books.

You could buy them.

Thanks.

Jews on TV

Via Roberta, I find this short (not very short) history of the portrayal of Jews on television on the wonderfully-named blog Jew Eat Yet?.

The author speaks my heart. My experience of Jews on television, for most of my life, was that Jews are okay as long as they are Woody Allen. A proper Jew is nebbishy, funny but vaguely unpleasant, and preferably short. A Jew must! Not! Be sexy!

And then along came thirtysomething.

A girl can get slammed pretty hard for admitting to thirtysomething love, but I’m brave. The first episode I ever saw was the season 4 opener. As soon as I saw the episode title, Prelude to a Bris, I knew I was in for something different.

As the show opens, Hope (Mel Harris) gives birth to baby Leo. Michael (Ken Olin) is Jewish, Hope is not.

Michael. Is. Jewish. He is tall, handsome, nice, doesn’t wear glasses, isn’t a nebbish, an accountant, or particularly funny. He’s a human being. I am, in short, stunned.

The episode revolves around Michael’s decision to circumcise Leo (the ceremony known as a bris). Michael barely practices Judaism and, like about 50% of American Jews, he has married outside of his religion. He wonders if it even makes sense to go through the ceremony, and he wonders if he can bear to forego it.

This is a real dilemma for many modern Jews, a poignant and complex one, but I had never seen it mentioned on television before. I had never seen drama speak dramatically about the experience of being a Jew.

In the final moments of the episode, Alan King, as Michael’s mother’s boyfriend, plays a role in the ceremony. He dons a prayer shawl as I have seen a hundred Jewish men don prayer shawls—but never on TV. I got a chill, I swear to God, seeing this secret, invisible world, the world of Jews-as-real-people, suddenly become visible.

Plus, y’know, it was brilliantly written and acted and filmed and I was totally hooked and Roberta had the past three seasons on video and I was home with a baby so I watched them until my eyes bled.

But that’s not the point.

The point is, Jews: They’re not just for comic relief anymore.

Speaking of straws and grasping at same

The conservative mouthpiece network has totally run out of things to say.

They can’t answer Clinton on substance, because the least amount of research proves him right.

So they spent the first couple of days criticizing his style, as so wonderfully parodied last night by Jon Stewart.

I guess that got old, though, because now they’re deeply concerned about Mr. Clinton’s socks. The fact that I am not kidding makes this even funnier. Way funnier.

It’s Banned Books Week

Pandagon reminds me it’s Banned Books Week.

Here’s a reminder to conservatives: Allowing for the idea of banning books doesn’t mean that books will be banned in ways you approve of.

My step-father was not allowed to read the New Testament by his parents. Of course, he burned with curiousity and read it secretly. Despite his parents’ fears, he did not convert to Christianity as a result and remained a Jew until the day he died. Sometimes he even davened.

The Christian majority, of course, is so concerned with banning occult books that they forget it’s a two-edged sword. But freedom of thought benefits all of us, and there is no freedom without knowledge.

Big Dog gets hot

The transcript of the Clinton smackdown of Foxbot Chris Wallace is good, but if you want to really understand how awesome it was, watch the video.

Beautiful. Arousing, even. Oh, baby.

And if you’re not breathing heavy yet, watch Keith Olbermann’s “special comment” on it.

In the past few weeks I’ve despaired of posting anything political because I’ve been so aggravated at the lies, hypocrisy, justification of torture, and increasing racism that has become the norm in the Bush administration. But when the smart voices on the left speak up and speak strongly, well, I’m proud to be an American.

Monday Movie Review: Sylvia

Sylvia (2003) 4/10
Poet Sylvia Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow) meets poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig). They fall in love, marry, and have two children, but are plagued by Ted’s infidelity and Sylvia’s depression. Sylvia Plath committed suicide in 1963.

In anticipation of the release of Casino Royale, I’ve been seeing as many Daniel Craig movies as I can. There’s no doubt he’s a talented actor and physically powerful. But Sylvia is not a good movie.

It starts off promisingly. The scenes of Sylvia’s first encounter with Ted and of their early relationship are imbued with passion and intensity. Here I thought to myself, ‘How refreshing. A movie about a person who committed suicide that isn’t gray and heavy and sad.’ But soon it turned into exactly that movie.

Sylvia’s depression is shown with little insight. The movie is entirely from her point of view; sympathetic and kind of romantic, exactly the sort of thing that fans of Plath are criticized for—romanticizing suicide. But this single-minded focus damages the movie; without perspective we just can’t tell what’s going on. Sylvia is so brittle and mutable that when she suspects Ted of infidelity it appears to be her own paranoia. In fact, I had to read articles about the movie and the poets themselves to discover that Ted was, in fact, unfaithful virtually every time she suspected him.

Sylvia is filmed as such a neurotic, so terrified and clinging, that when, late in the movie, we see Ted in the actual act of adultery, I still thought it was a paranoid fantasy of Sylvia’s (the editing definitely allowed for it).

Because this is a “classy” project, it is stocked with name actors in brief roles, including Paltrow’s mother (Blythe Danner) playing Sylvia’s mother. Michael Gambon is charming and wasted as Sylvia’s neighbor.

Bond fans will note that Craig dyed his hair a dark brown for the role. Apparently he doesn’t object to changing his appearance when playing real people.

What Alcholic Beverage Are You?


You Are A Martini


You are the kind of drinker who appreciates a nice hard drink.
And for you, only quality alcohol. You don’t waste your time on the cheap stuff.
Obviously, you’re usually found with a martini in your hand. But sometimes you mix it up with a gin and tonic.
And you’d never, ever consider one of those flavored martinis. They’re hardly a drink!