January 2008 Archives
1. Why I hate Vampire Weekend.
2. Why I hate Diablo Cody, spurred on by Sasha (excerpt from an email exchange 'tween us RE: Juno):
DUDE I AM SO GROSSED OUT BY THAT MOVIE. Not Ellen Page, who is adorable, nor J. Garner (tho she is mostly monocharacterized, of course, as the shrewy, baby-fiending wife that keeps her cool husband down, even with the denouement) or Michael Cera (also adorable). But I'm really bummed at the nonchalant stick-shaking towards the topic of abortion. At first I thought it was because she was a teenager, and that's how she was supposed to deal with it. But she shows such great emotional clarity in every other aspect that it seems more like Diablo Cody's kind of half-assed way of advancing the script - cause she knew any preggers teen would consider abortion.
And also freaked out by the amt of anti-abortion (in principle if not stance) movies that have come out this year.
Anyway, I also hated it because I found it such a wannabe '90s indie film renaissance movie - "If I Were a Carpenter"? Seriously? - which made all the teen dialogue unbelievable, like I knew they were Diablo's nostalgic grunge mouthpiece. And the bad slang. Did you hate it?
1. Fresh is the funniest of all of the bloggers:
NEFFE! The best reality show character. (Can you call a person on a reality show a character? I don't know the proper name for it.)
2. How typical is it that I have a crush on my super-hot dance teacher, even though he is clearly from the west coast cause he totally puts in all these capital-B, b-boy moves (today we were even doing roller-disco throwback to Mary J. Blige. You do you, shortstop). Everytime he makes us do the "Raising Hell" pose at the end of a phrase, I picture myself in his toned and sweaty, Nike master-trained arms. Sidebar: "I Feel Fine" - currently making MAJOR rounds on the dance-class circuit.
3. Cashmere Mafia. You hate, but I will have a dissertation on this show by the end of the week, and not because the writers strike has desensitized me. Barring the pilot (which admittedly blew) - in certain ways it addresses the issues NYC career women / power players go through - women in the workplace, trying to have lives outside it but not getting very far. Yeah, it's no Murphy Brown, but this ain't the '90s.
High points of the day, in order
1. Toni Morrison's eloquent endorsement of Obama:
In thinking carefully about the strengths of the candidates, I stunned
myself when I came to the following conclusion: that in addition to
keen intelligence, integrity and a rare authenticity, you exhibit
something that has nothing to do with age, experience, race or gender
and something I don't see in other candidates. That something is a
creative imagination which coupled with brilliance equals wisdom. It
is too bad if we associate it only with gray hair and old age. Or if
we call searing vision naivete. Or if we believe cunning is insight.
Or if we settle for finessing cures tailored for each ravaged tree in
the forest while ignoring the poisonous landscape that feeds and
surrounds it. Wisdom is a gift; you can't train for it, inherit it,
learn it in a class, or earn it in the workplace--that access can
foster the acquisition of knowledge, but not wisdom.
2. Kennedy fam endorsement of Obama
3. THE LAST EVER STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS FROM LIL' BUSH aka GOD'S ROTTWEILER'S DOG WALKER:
3a. The look on Nancy Pelosi's face throughout said address, appearing to shoot lasers in the back of Lil' Bush's thick skull
3b. The Satanic look on Dick Cheney's face when looking out to the senate: as if he was fantasizing himself holding a flame thrower, blasting all the motherfuckers just for the hell of it
3c. Copious amounts of jowly Republican senators... and Condi
3d. Drink every time Bush references 9/11; Mo passed out before speech ended.
3e. Chris Mathews' Obamaboner. Finally some TV news dudes I am not totally ookied out by!
This song is carrying me through minute by minute of hell today. I feel like I did when I was in junior high, when every little emotional problem felt so huge and unsolvable. Personal, emotional, professional, all shit hit fan today in one fell flung. It's 12:14 am and it don't, it don't stop! THE SHIT KEEPS THROWIN ROCKS AT ME TO THE BREAK OF DAWN. Goodness I hope not.
BUT this is not to wallow! Because my mom is doing great and that is what matters the most. And because even when I am down and out, I am blessed, as most of us are. This post! is to proffer love to Monica for creating the following, which has been today's theme song, and kept me going good, kept my spirits up, in the way that I desperately want music to do.
The Murder Book, a daily chronicle by a former journalist of every murder reported in NY in 2008, is shaping up to be the real-life version of Alma "The Wire" Gutierrez's triple-homicide-on-page-12 story. I.e. today, 30-year-old black father of two shot in head on Long Island City; lands page 15 on NYDN.
Semi-Related: Black and Missing But Not Forgotten, which reports black missing persons days, weeks before Associated Press, if the AP ever does.
I can't believe the outrage! Hey people I LIKE FASHION & BEAUTY. I read these fashion blogs everyday:
The Fashion Bomb
Chic & Untroubled
M.I.S.S. Crew
Honey
And Teen Vogue and Vogue and whatever else. I know plurality is confusing, but I believe it is possible to give a fuck about Obama, feminism, Latin American politics + sociology, global poverty and global warming and genocide while still being interested in the sartorial arts.
ANNND = Diablo Cody's movie, so self-absorbed and weirdly pat in its abortion dismissal, would have sucked without Ellen Page. And she is annoying on talk shows. But I'll save my Juno script critique for when it is not 7:26 AM.
Yo the fashion section of the Times today is wild downtown hipster. I would just like to say I have been rocking a pair of these for like three years now, except they are brown-and-black pony fur instead of white:
I get down with fake animal prints like what - my favorite being python - I will buy fake python ANYTHING. (Welll... almost.) I have like 97 pairs of python print shoes, including this joan & david peeptoe wedge and my new favorite, these insanely awesome, kinda impressionistic turquoise python mules by Poetic Licence that are like SO CBGBs Debbie Harry I want to wear them every day. Minimal leopard, but I do dig some - when u overload with leopard you can come out looking vaguely rockabilly, which is obviously a PROBLEM (unless you are frigging Diablo Cody, god forbid) - but the current shit i'm rocking are these dope purple leopard stretch pants from Tripp NYC, which I got at Trash & Vaudeville, which obvs is like a punk/goth store but don't front - they have mega unique stuff that kinda gives breadth to your non punk goth wardrobe, plus if you are a "nobody else has these" shoe freak, their downstairs store (Trash) is heaven. Though everytime I'm in there I'm halfway tempted to buy a pair of hot pink patent doc martens, just cause, like... whoa. Don't worry, I haven't. I am waiting until I hear a nu rave group that I like.
Courtesy my genius sister-cousin Kelsi Rivera:
My piece on indie female rappers is now out in the New York Times.
SUNDAY ARTS & LEISURE
IT'S ME AND LENNY KRAVITZ
JUST CHILLIN IN THE CUT
LET'S GET IT
My mom is doing great, and thanks to all for the crossed fingers and nice emails.
Little known fact: tumors on the heart are incredibly rare and almost always benign. They found one on my mom's ventricle or some shit and took it off, but the surgeon hadn't seen one in ten years.
But yes, she is recovering faster than they even expected. Escobedos strong like ox. We have awesome genes, too, btw. Healthy and long-living. I really should procreate just to help evolution. Ha.
ALSO:
1. Estelle has a blog, and it's pretty cool.
2. The new album by questionably employed rapper Y@k B@allz is entitled "SciFientology II." Here is my review: YAK BALLZ ON YO PHILIP K. DICK!
Also, does Yak Ballz stand for rapping his cojones off, or a llama's nuts? I am so confused.
Mama Escobedo is going in for a quadruple heart bypass in the morning. Obviously I am terrified, with the bad kind of butterflies in my stomach and dread, not just because a quadruple heart bypass is fucking major cardiac surgery but also because my fear is amplified by watching too much Grey's Anatomy. "The surgeon says I am extremely healthy," mom tells me, "and this is a precautionary measure, and it's really a routine surgery these days. It's going to be fine!" I tell her, "Everytime someone goes in for a routine surgery on Grey's Anatomy they wake up with a fucking towel sewn into their chest cavity, or worse." She says, "That's what I told the doctor, too, and he told me not to ever watch Grey's Anatomy because it's pure ER fiction," and I say, "That doesn't change the fact that it has shaped my fortunately limited perception of hospitals." Because it is a routine surgery and she is extremely healthy and there's no fucking chance she's waking up with a bomb and Xtina Ricci's intern-rexic hand planted inside her stomach lining, I fully predict my mom will be having an affair with her surgeon or a male nurse who's like, five years younger than I am by the end of her hospital stay.
Secondly, having read parts of the PAzz & Jop 2007 Music Critics music criticism (here is my essay on Rihanna and Dream and MIA), I would like to say that A. Sean Fennessey has the best comments and B. this essay by Christopher Weingarten is excellently conceived and written, and I think he deserves credit for it.
I would also like to say I would not be a music nerd if I didn't take this opportunity to make one point about Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" that is no fault of Christopher Weingarten's because it is a commonly held conception: "Kool Thing" is not actually about taking down the patriarchy. And, thematically, it's one of SY's most interesting tracks: It's written from the perspective of leftist white women in the 1960s who fetishized the Black Panthers and perceived them as their saviors, hence the sarcasm-dripping bridge wherein Kim Gordon sneers, "Hey Kool Thing... what are you gonna do for me? ... Are you gonna liberate us girls from male white corporate oppression?" Then guest voice Chuck D comes in, every bit aware of the set up: "Yeah. TELL em like it is." It's such genius and is reportedly about Jane Fonda and Patty Hearst and also reminds me of the Weather Underground, the '60s radicals who paired up with / sometimes tactically co-opted Black Panthers - and whose complicated messages set the tone for identity politics - hello 1990, the year Goo dropped and identity politics were every Bennington College student's minor.
Kim Gordon's own words: ''Kool Thing,'' the first single, is ''partly a fantasy about Jane Fonda and Patty Hearst when they were leftists, their fancy of the Black Panthers or the black revolutionaries,'' Ms. Gordon said. "'On the one hand, it's like, what an absurd idea to make a statement like this in a song,'' Ms. Gordon said. ''But on the other hand, there is some seriousness in it. I'm not talking to Chuck: there is a third person there, and Chuck is just being himself, reinforcing what I am saying."
Fascinating, but definitely read the full interview for some prescient statements and righteous feministing. I forgot how Goo was SY's most woman-centric album, topically.
To quote Why Black Women Are Angry: "Don't push Mr. Nice Guy because still waters run deep."
MODED! IN YA FACE!
Mo sends these amazingly fucked up and/or hilarious commercials - from 2007 advertising a play house for little girls. She sez:: "I hate it when I do my laundry and it doesn't get clean!"
The Rose Petal Cottage: A place where she can contain her imagination. Let's do lauuundry!!!
Martin Luther King, III has announced he and his wife are expecting a child with his wife, Arndrea Waters. Now if that isn't beautiful, I don't know what is.
Happy MLK Day, part two.
BEYONCE IS READY TO SCAB HER'DELF, which is incredibly messed up, though unsurprising. Every scab means NBC's that much more liable to shut off the Friday Night Lights! Don't do it, Beyaki!
From the comments section of Nicholas Kristof's blog, regarding his column "Hillary, Barack, Experience":
Someone should raise an issue of whether the manner in which Bill Clinton is campaigning for Hillary Clinton is ethically, if not legally, appropriate of a former President. For what Bill Clinton has recently been doing on the campaign trail, especially the super-aggressive and abrasive manner in which he has been campaigning for Hillary Clinton, has been very undignified, to say the least, and has degraded the office of the U.S. President. Presidents, even after retirement, are accorded a very special status and role in the national and international affairs and are given special respect and courtesy by the entire nation. Using that special role and status to actively campaign for a particular individual, as opposed to merely expressing his general opinion or preference, seems to be wrong and seems to amount to a gross violation of etiquette and propriety, and possibly worse. Actually, Bill Clinton is not only acting like one of the low-level abusive political operatives do, which is clearly unbecoming of a former U.S. President but he is also acting almost as if he were running for another term of Presidency through his wife. Hillary, too, is claiming “experience,” as if she had also been a President (or, “co-President”), when Bill was. If we remember that Bill is not legally allowed to run for another term of Presidency, we can see that what Bill and Hillary are doing together is almost a violation of the law that prohibits more than two four-year terms of Presidency by one person. In other words, if Hillary was really a co-President when Bill Clinton served as President, then, at least in the spirit of the law, she should not be allowed to run for President because she had already served two four-year terms as co-President. If Bill Clinton implies that he will stand by Hillary in a special way, as if he were a co-President, if she is elected, then, he is violating the law himself. Of course, there is no law that states that one cannot run for the office of President if his or her spouse has served two four-year terms. But my point is that the relationship of husband and wife is so special that the law should, at least in spirit, be applied to a couple together. Or, at the least, a former President should give enough deference to the office of US President which he had previously occupied, and should not abuse that very special status and respect for political gains of any particular individual, let alone his family member, with the insinuation that she is his political alter ego.
Nathan Nahm
— Posted by Nathan Nahm
Found this on YouTube and thought it was dope. Happy MLK Day.
Some very exciting things gwan 'round here as of late. Only, I can't spill any of it yet. Let's just say this: You know what time it is. And also: tune in to Faded Radio tonight where Pete and Schnippz and I will hold it down for Sam, who will be in his own personal purgatory for the love of family while we fuck up the mic situation and over-mention Dewars (the sponsor of Faded Radio) because we are afraid we will forget to mention it.
AND: In honor of President Obama, here is Michael K. Williams (OMAR) in Madonna's somewhat questionable "Secret" video (he debuts at 2:11, shirtless of course. Go Brooklyn!):
Alex Pappademas Keaton gets the "good lookin out on converging interests award" for sending THIS AMAZING SHIT: an interview with Obama about Omar from the Wire. You do want this man as your president, don't you?
Obama: I gotta say Omar’s a great character. That’s not an endorsement.
Coolican: (Laughing.) Uh oh, you’re making national news here.
Obama: Exactly. That is not an endorsement. He is not my favorite person. But he’s a fascinating character.
Coolican: And there’s a real life story behind it, too.
Obama: He’s this gay gangster who only robs drug dealers, and then gives back. You know, he’s sort of a Robin Hood. And he’s the toughest, baddest guy on this show, but he’s gay, you know. And it’s really interesting. It’s a fascinating character.
For those who are impatiently waiting for Kelsiography #2, in which my brilliant 14 year old cousin reviews records of her choice and I pay her $0, here is the update. I have instructed her to forget everything she ever read in any music magazine ever and told her to just write reviews in her voice, like she was talking to her friends, because that's more interesting than hearing about the undeniable seminalness of like, Jon Bonham's boner. So here is her response:
"For my music review I'm gonna do sawdust by The Killers, Man they do this cover of the Joy division song shadowplay Man THAT STUFF BE SMOKIN!"
As you can see, we are seriously related. SIT TIGHT CAUSE IT'S COMIN SOON!!
NAOMI CAMPBELL AND HUGO CHAVEZ. SERIOUSLY. Say what you want about her (Linda calls her a "runway version of Foxy Brown"), but Naomi's diplomat game is on point - she used to date the Prince of Dubai, which you may recall as good news for Dallas Austin, who got busted for trying to take weed into Dubai when traveling there for Naomi's birthday party a couple years ago. The Prince pardoned him out of, like, a 350-year jail sentence. What a dumbass - I mean, Dallas, first of all why were you even trying to do that and second of all, don't you think they probably have good hashish or some shit in Dubai? And that if you really needed to get lifted the fucking Prince could have hooked you up? Seriously.
Anyway, there's something tyrannical and awesome about these two. Do you think Naomi's getting it in with Chavez cause Castro's a man of the past? It's like the idea of Barbara Walters and Fidel getting it on, only way less gross of imagery:
This is interesting. Again, Obama's voting record and/or stances / speeches on immigration are more progressive, more humane and more economically sound than Hillary Clinton's, so I'm not playing all that. Love the quote from CA state senate majority leader Gloria Romero: "'I don't think eating tacos' is effective." What the person said about her mother role, though - gotta watch out for that one.
The Clintonian busted-ass strategy of turning this campaign to race issues in order to convince white Obama supporters that he is racially divisive is A. explained here and B. the most despicable campaign strategy since Junior stole the 2000 election. The Clintons are SO over for me. Will said to me in a text recently "Somehow we'd be okay if Hillary did get elected" in a moment of hope - but right now I have to say, anyone who would employ this bullshit has NO interest in the good of the country.
The sad part is that my first first galvanizing moment in the political process was at a Bill Clinton rally before I was even old enough to vote. Thanks for helping to off my young idealism, assholes.
And if this campaign DOES end up coming down to race vs. gender rather than candidate vs. candidate, it will be a sorry day indeed.
Also: Gloria Steinem, you are also dead to me. Just FYI.
Faded radio is back in full effect after the break and last night's entry was fairly epic. It started out with just me and Sam (so the show is basically all rap, including Ill Al Skratch, which is Sam's and my favorite BK rap crew ever). Then Chris and Schnippz and Cole and Schnippz's roommate who works at fake-Fader-rival Mass Appeal and Schnippz's twin sister's best friend from Hebrew School and Nick who was also subbing for Mahk Ronson whose show is after Faded Radio's because Mahk was in Dubai. And for the last five minutes Chioma came thru too. So obviously there were good stories and great music. Go listen!
Just want to say - I am really into Tokyo Mango right now - the writer is a contributor to the new gawker sci fi blog, io9, which I am not super intrigued by - but her blog about Japanese pop culture is the shit.
AND
Too Sense has been on point and laser-focused about the identity politics surrounding the presidential race - a much better cultural critique than anything I've read on the internetses, including a take-down of that idiotic Christopher Hitchens Obama piece on Slate recently. Too Sense? Too DEF! (sorry, I'm watching Titanic on cable with Mo right now and internetting and my corny meter is low)
I am still super pissed at Gloria Steinem - and the more rebuttals I read, the more angry I become. Word to all you are, 2nd wave... but there's still so much you're not.
An Open Letter to Gloria Steinem (sent by Humanity Critic - whose funny Obama endorsement is a must-read)
Professor Mark Anthony Neal on Hillary vs. Barack:
Ms. Steinem misses the point that for a significant amount of black folk, separating gender and race out of the equation is not possible. Much has been made about the increased significance of the black vote in the democratic primaries, but black women make up more than a majority of registered black voters--some numbers suggest that they make up nearly two-thirds of registered black voters. Thus this process is not about winning the hearts of black voters, but more specifically, about winning the hearts of black women voters. This is why South Carolina is such critical terrain for both Obama and Clinton, with black voters representing more than 40% of registered democrats in the state. Black women voters are the primary reason why Senator Obama employed Oprah Winfrey's celebrity in his stumps in the state; those black women are the reason why Reverend Marcia L. Dyson has been traveling throughout the state on behalf of Senator Clinton. Ironically Black women represent a segment of the American electorate that has rarely had their concerns addressed or even acknowledged. Think, for example, about the collective silence of John Edwards and Dick Cheney when Gwen Ifill asked them about high HIV rates among black women in the 2004 Vice-Presidential debate. Nearly four years later, like some surreal remix of The Children of Men, black women may dictate the future of the democratic party and thus the future of this country.
Too Sense: Women, White Privilege and the Bradley Effect: a must-read that made me think hard. An excerpt (definitely go read the original:
It is a simple fact that when Applebaum and Steinem say "women" they mean white women. When they don't mean white women they say black women. Black women remain largely absent from the equation of white feminism unless the target of criticism is black, such as a Hip-hop artist. Under such circumstances, white feminists are often content to employ a black female voice so that they cannot be accused of being "racist" for their criticism. The interest in including black women usually wanes soon after.
I do not restrict this criticism to white women, or white feminists. The use of black voices as political props goes across both genders and political parties. While Republicans are somewhat more "honest" about expressing their prejudices, they largely can't be reasoned with in terms of establishing that racism is still an issue in this country. Liberals are comfortable only when the discussion is about how uncomfortable Republicans are with race. When it comes to confronting their own prejudices, most aren't as sanguine.
In terms of electoral politics, white women have a privilege no black person, male or female, will ever have. The GOP functions as a party entirely without the black vote because they don't need it. The same cannot be said of white women voters. An election can turn on their vote in any state in the Union, but the black vote is only significant enough to do so in certain states.
But discussing sexism without acknowledging white privilege, saying "women" when what you mean is white women, is fundamentally dishonest. It allows people like Applebaum and Steinem to minimize their access to power, which by any objective measure is greater than that of black Americans of either gender. This is not to say that sexism doesn't exist, or doesn't place significant obstacles or social double standards in the path of someone like Hillary Clinton; but the reality is that such essentially race neutral discussions about sexism minimize the fact that while Clinton may be a woman, she is still white. There is no Bradley Effect for someone like her.
Jack & Jill Politics on Hillary Clinton's crediting the Civil Rights Movement to LBJ.
Still bothered by Gloria Steinem's apparent dismissal of feminists not voting Hillary Clinton, I was thinking harder today about Hillary. I mean, this is a woman whose reign in the '90s I was going to write a book about, back in '05. And one reason why I really cannot ride by her, particularly on the token "feminists vote for women" platform, is that, beyond her admirable pro-choiceness (mirrored by Obama), I really don't believe my life as a woman, a Latina, as a feminist, will be that much improved if she is elected president. (And as a humanist feminist, I still cannot forgive the Yes on Iraq vote, again, despite the presence of JIZILLIONS of protests across the States, and the fact that the war was intro'd on utter LIES.) In 2001 she voted FOR Bush's disastrous No Child Left Behind act (most famously aka'd as "Every Child Left Behind" - if you don't know any kids in the public school system, I greatly suggest you watch season 4 of the Wire to see exactly how this shit is damaging the children of America - particularly the poor children of America). Last year she voted AGAIN to make English the official national language, nothing but a symbolic vote that reinforces xenophobia towards ESL immigrants in particular. She also voted FOR the border fence in 2007 - which is not only a waste of money, and purely a kowtow vote, it doesn't address the real root issues of Mexican immigration (read Obama's floor speech on immigration, which I love and, as a second gen Mexican-American, find totally reasonable and unoffensive. ). In 2002, she voted FOR the Homeland Security Act, which created the frigging Homeland Security Dept., best known as the governmental wing that sucked up our tax money to make sub-Sesame Street "green means go" terror alert bullshit. Further, Barack Obama is more progressive than Hillary on gay rights (with much stronger language in speeches - lest we forget, Hillary has a way of vague-ifying her message in case she seem less centrist), Barack Obama has said many many times we should leave it up to the woman to decide whether she will get an abortion, Barack Obama takes a stronger stance against evangelicals running tings, Barack Obama has a better plan for immigration that doesn't dehumanize immigrants (see above, and bills he sponsored), Barack Obama has voted to reinstore an affirmative action-type system in which employers would hire more women and minorities, Barack Obama opposes the death penalty, Barack Obama opposes three-strikes sentencing (rockefeller drug laws to new yorkers).
I would also expect Clinton to appoint Bill-era advisors and cabinet members (witness Madeline Albright leering behind her every speech) which, as great as the '90s may seem now, I frankly do not want to rehash / recycle them.
Rather than talking about my disappointment, I am going to ponder my fascination with the Republican candidates for a moment, while I still can, during the grace period before I have to start being afraid of whatever religious freakfest those mofos start proffering for prez.
1. JOHN MCCAIN: The least offensive of all the potentials, though I still wouldn't vote for him, obviously. Mo told me he is 99 years old. His wife is slightly too botoxed and fake-tanned for my liking, but she does a lot of cool non-profit ish and had a five-year addiction to painkillers in the early '90s, which makes me like her more (I go in hard for all that "survivor of my escapist vice" shit).
2. MITT ROMNEY: Name contains same amount of syllables as "GOD's ROTTWEILER." You do the math.
3. GIULIANI: TWO WORDS: CABARET LAW. Do you want to live in a country just like the first part of the movie Footloose, where dancing is outlawed?
4. MIKE HUCKABEE: Hands down, my favorite candidate of the Republicans (at least while he is still a super-long-shot and unlikely to actually get voted in). He is the Nicholas Cage of the Republican primary: Over the top, ridiculous, self-aware, ironic in a way, wears funny sweaters, lost 180 lbs, best friends with Chuck Norris. Doesn't believe in evolution! LOL What a cad! He is the candidate I can imagine John Waters inventing for a short movie about fringe politicians. During his Iowa victory speech, he was like, "I have to thank my beautiful wife standing behind me," and I was like DAMN! Huckabee's wife is like NINETEEN! But later I found out that it was Chuck Norris's wife behind him, and Huckabee's wife was behind him but off camera. Do you think he did that on purpose?
As much as I love and admire Ms. Steinem, and think for the most part she is on point in this piece in the despicable way lots of media dealt with the Clinton crying moment (which I really liked - a rare show of emotion on what can previously be defined as an emotional brick wall) I have to ride with feministing on this one -- cause there are a few things I take issue with (her points in italics):
1. She writes, Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House.
While obviously I agree with her on the gender-being-restrictive-in-America point - particularly as someone whose profession is generally dominated, decided and run by men, and as a woman whose ideas and accomplishments have at times been undermined because of it - I VEHEMENTLY disagree with the implied pitting-against-each-other of "restricting forces" (and the not-so-subtle comparison between Obama's race and Clinton's gender) - saying one disadvantaged group has it worse than another does nobody any favors, nor does it strengthen ANYONE's cause. Even though she later says, "I'm not advocating a competition," actually, it's the basis of half her piece. It's really nefarious and wrong.
2. What worries me is that she is accused of “playing the gender card” when citing the old boys’ club, while he is seen as unifying by citing civil rights confrontations.
Note that most people who have said this "unifying" stance have been the white media (and even then, rarely before he won Iowa). Meanwhile Barack has had to defend his "blackness" to everyone from Al Sharpton to hip-hop bloggers. Which is not to say anything except, it's not like Barack Obama has had, or WILL have, some sort of uncontested walk in the park compared to Hillary Clinton's struggles with double standard and gender perception! Like, call me when we get to the primaries in the real racist states, word?
3. What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age.
Actually, a lot of young women who are "disproportionately" voting for Obama, myself included, feel their vote is radical on the point that Hillary Clinton is a totally non-desirable candidate based on her voting record, particularly her cosign for the Iraq War, which she voted for despite that many of us young people PROTESTED EN MASSE.
Ann at Feministing says it well:
"I don't have a feminist obligation to vote for Hillary Clinton, or donate money to her campaign, or show up at her rallies. My obligation is to support her right to compete on an equal playing field. To decry the disgusting amount of sexism she faces every day. (We've done so again and again and again.) And then to vote for another candidate if I feel he would make a better president. That, too, is a feminist act."
Actually, what pisses me off the most about this piece is it seems like Steinem is calling young women voters who endorse Obama (and don't endorse Clinton on the grounds that she is female) bad feminists! (And what of black feminists? Based on this logic, should they vote Oprah on the write-in ballot?) Are you serious!? Perhaps this election really IS about what the pundits are saying, what Joe Klein wrote eloquently about in Time - the passing of the political torch from the baby boomers to the new generation. Or rather, the TAKING of the political torch by the new generation from the baby boomers. Cause Gloria Steinem's 1970s representational feminism, here, feels mesozoic.
Again, I totally think she did an amazing job of capturing the double standards, glass ceilings etc., but I feel somewhat preached to and condescended to, like my mom is telling me my crazy ideas are wrong:
What worries me is that some women, perhaps especially younger ones, hope to deny or escape the sexual caste system; thus Iowa women over 50 and 60, who disproportionately supported Senator Clinton, proved once again that women are the one group that grows more radical with age.
Um... no.
Please read this hilarious conversation between my friends and ex-coworkers Angela Bruno & Chris Ryan on "hipster rap" aka Amanda Blank, Kid Sister, Spank Rock, Kanye West (the hipsterest of all hipster rappers) and Cool Kids:
CR: People who ironically go to clubs usually make ironic club music which I usually react to with irony-free hate.
So it came a bit late, but here's the first entry in my weekly WIRE review column. This shit's a rundown but it'll get better as it goes along, PROMISE like remixed kellz.
Also check out Toshi's playlist interview on Rhapsody with Jamie Hector, aka Marlo fineass Stansfield.
If I may, President Clinton, the biggest fairly tale I'VE ever seen is this quote implying Senator Obama's record even remotely mirrors the record of your wife who, if she flip floppered on her stances any more (whenever it was constituentially convenient, given that she's had this presidential bid in her sights since she moved her interlopin ass to NYC to be a senator), would be a performing arts dolphin trained to jump through hula hoops for a bit of chum. No dis to dolphins. I know that was an awkward metaphor, but yo, I'm struck dumb by disgust.
Full thoughts untangled here after the workday, but it goes without saying that any scumbag who gets drunk and beats on his girlfriend is no friend of mine.
The actors on the Wire are magic. As a drooling, parsing, analyzing, DVD-buying freak-fan (e pluribus unum), being in their presence felt something like being four years old and going to the mall to visit Santa Claus for the first time. At the Wire premiere party on Friday, sitting in a seat at the Chelsea Clearview Cinemas, waiting for episode one to fire up on the big screen, Larry Gilliard Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale, a fave character kilt off in season one) comes bounding down the aisle, to perch in front of us next to Season 5 star Michelle Paress, who plays reporter Alma Gutierrez. And we had a moment of, "Oh shit! Thank god D'Angelo Barksdale isn't really dead! What joy!" It's like, you know they are actors, they are real people, but the show is so realistic and intertwined with your (my) personal and creative reality, it's hard to seperate them from their characters. Even J.D. Williams (Bodie), who I had to thank for hosting 106 & Park like every ten minutes, and repreiving us from the stunningly annoying Rocsi and Terrence.
This is the only thing I'll tell you about season 5, not a spoiler (watch VIBE.com for my weekly review of each episode starting monday) - there's a moment in the first episode where Slim Charles (played by Anwan Glover) has a DAMAGING line - the typical kind of Wire line where you're like "THAT IS SO DEEP AND FOREBODING AND FORESHADOWING, MFING SHIT!" At the afterparty, I asked Glover about it (he is extremely tall and extremely nice, probably the nicest dude we talked to) and he said it was going to set the tone for the whole season. You'll know it when you see it. Fucking shit. I have to get my HBO re-connected like NOW.
Anyway so David Simon intro'd the premiere, and said everything an avid reader of every interview he's ever done would expect him to say: "On another network this wouldn't have lasted beyond three episodes"; "Thank you to the city of Baltimore, the main character." And he talked about how after the fourth season, the actors' contracts ran out and they had to talk about renegotiating everyone's pay and how they couldn't pay anyone more than what they'd been earning from day one. And he thought maybe it would blow the entire series, but somehow he knew everyone would come back. Because of how things were feeling on the set. And he said everyone did, for the same pay or just slightly above. Then he read off each actor's name alphabetically, and had them stand up in the audience (every actor was there, notable exceptions being Idris Elba, Wood Harris) as he read off their name. It was truly awesome. Burrell! McNulty! Bunk! Snoop! Dookie! Chris Partlow! Omar! I was like CAN I GET A WITNESS. I mean, straight up, I don't give a shit about famous people at all, I have interviewed some of the most stupidly (dumbly) famous people in the world and usually their accomplishments are formidable (unless they are Nick Lachey, Jessica Simpson) but not enough to get me shook (unless they are either Barack Obama and/or really, really fine). But seeing David Simon in the movie theater lobby, I got all dumb tongue-twisted. (Embarrassing encounter detailed in a minute.) We were kicking it with this chica who works at a prominent US tabloid and she said the same: "I can be in a room alone with Brangelina and their kids and not give a fuck, but put me in a ballroom with the cast of the Wire and I turn into a starstruck 15 year old." They are icons! This is the most important work of visual literature of my lifetime! How can you not react to that total awesomeness?!
So after the premiere, HBO had rented four charter busses to drive us to the afterparty, even though it was literally like ten blocks away. It's in this beautiful ballroom in midtown with giant pillars and the tiniest dancefloor I have ever seen, surrounded by tables and long spreads of booze and hors d'ouevres including, I shit you not, a spread of whole crablegs on ice. So of course Jen Romolini and Ms. Prominent Tabloid and I are all like "LET'S DO THIS" so we let our dudinators fend for themselves and proceed to get our party started, running around, talking to everyone. All journalists of sorts, I feared revealing my awe so basically everyone we talked to, I just bitched about how the DJ super needed to turn up the levels. !!!! "Snoop, this party is on point but homeboy up at the booths needs to get the dancefloor on!" "Andre "Bubbles" Royo, thanks for having us, but what the fuck is up with the DJ?" "Bunk, I am having a terrific time but I'm ready to get my dancefloor on!" "Jamie 'Marlo' Hector, what's good with your boy up in the booth?" "JD "Bodie" Williams, thanks for taking over 106 & Park cause I despise Terrence and Rocsi but yo, can you do something about the DJ? Like get him a subwoofer?" Seriously. In true Esco stylee, I bitched about the DJ to literally every cast member of the Wire. But to my credit, most of them agreed! The only meaningful conversation was of course with Anwan Slim Charles, who was just a dope dude in general.
Which brings us to my moment of truth with David Simon. . So a little buzzed, we finally get up the liquid courage to approach him. I have been plotting my speech all night, like "Do you have any advice for a young Latina scribe such as myself?" "What are you reading right now?" or most especially, "What are your predictions for newsjournalism? Do you really think it's dead?" Or whatever, because of course I want to sound intelligent but not pretentious so we can actually have a conversation. But I end up being all gushtarded, like,
"Dude, you are my favorite writer everything, you have changed my life, the Wire is a part of my cranial fabric, I am soooo into your shit"
Meanwhile thinking,
!!! ASSHAT !!!
He was gracious and gave me a hug and after that all i could think of was to ask him, "SO ARE YOU DRUNK YET?" which is the advice Pappademas gave me before I sheepishly approached Mr. Simon. And he laughed and then started talking to someone else.
Oh yeah and then after we were BFF'd with our newfound dancefloor buddies from the Wire, we were like "WHERE IS THE FUCKING AFTERPARTY" and we all went to Love fka Luke and Leroy where Aaron Lacrate was DJing the Wire soundtrack release and listened to two seconds of Bmore club and then were like "Fuck this" and went home.*
Anyway I feel like a super fangirl right now, which I am and am unashamed. I would write about the first episode but it airs TONIGHT and I don't want to fuck it up for y'all. But it's really good, unshockingly.
* actually we didn't really go home, we went to Studio B to see Tim Sweeney and Metro Area DJ, but by the time we got there Sweeney was already over and whoever was DJing afterwards was boring the pants off us, despite our every effort to get down. My homeboy was like, "You're right, rare disco nerds DO throw the worst parties!" because that is a prevailing theory of mine, and we laughed and laughed and laughed. And bounced.
I ran into my friend J. Romolini last night at The Wire premiere party (SEPERATE ENTRY TK!) and was reminded of her total awesomeness - we hardly ever kick it because we are both loco busy-busy but when we see each other we're like, um, why aren't we BFFs again? And weren't we supposed to go roller skating as our last get-together, only, in an emblem of the death of old New York, the roller rink is now shut down? She is great fun, wild, brutally honest, unflinching and tells excellent stories. Michael K Williams from the Wire - my favorite character and actor and former Crystal Waters choreographer - now has photos of us freaking some lady on the dancefloor, which I attribute entirely to her ingenuity and bravery (and my own liquid bravery). This blog entry is devoted to her.
Jen's fun and funny ebay blog on Lucky Mag dot com, where she is Deputy Editor
A picture of Penn Badgley when he was on Bedford Diaries, whose costume designer apparently thought "Williamsburg" translated to "grunge"
If Michael Williams posts his photos of us on the internet, we will direct him to this 1993 George Michael video, in which he is featured as a trumpet-playing centaur perched atop a skyscraper.
(Find his scene at about 2:15, and don't miss his mohawked ROWR!)
After his speech, homeslices on MSNBC last night were practically peeing themselves, AND dude whose name I don't know but who I think is Wolf Blitzer based on his hairdo, was like, "I HAVE NOT SEEN THIS KIND OF CHARISMA SINCE BOBBY KENNEDY." No fucking shit! It's like the mainstream media just now woke up to the fact that he could be a great leader. Yall need to listen to more non-evangelical 18 year olds! I have so many theories - he is so of our generation - even the way he poses his populist "you did this, I am a conduit" stance has YouTube generation written all over it - he makes everyone feel like a star.
RE: Hillz losing the women's vote - the Victorian analysis would be that lots of nonfeminist women aren't feeling a woman president and also, you know, Obama is much hotter... but I wonder if her whole "i am gruff and fake and kowtowing so men will think I am powerful" shit is too 1978 for the deal - but then again, her entitlement act is a whole turnoff. Her speech, I was like, "You are a giant asshole." I'd rather vote for someone on gossip girl. The whole "young voters don't succumb to the Clinton magic" theory is also intriguing.
But no negatives, THANK YOU IOWA! OBAMARAMMMMMMA! Mo and I are tryna go to New Hampshire, the no-tax supply center (as we Massholes thought of it) this wknd to keep it movin, in the words of Keke Palmer. If you have a hybrid and want to carpool, HOLLARAMA.
