Stephen King fans familiar with his epic 1978 novel The Stand are probably also familiar with the 1994 ABC TV miniseries version of the story. The miniseries wasn't terrible (not that everyone agrees with me there.) Gary Sinise did a great job playing Stu Redman, although Molly Ringwald wasn't my first pick for Frannie Goldsmith's character. The show had a run time of 366 minutes but even that wasn't enough to capture all of the book's original 823 pages, which told the story of a pandemic that wiped out most of the population on earth. The book follows a survivors as they meet up and disband and eventually form communities on the sides of good and evil. Since January sources have reported that Warner Brothers is developing The Stand as a movie. I don't know how they're going to fit that whole story in 120 minutes but I'm willing to watch their attempt. Recently,Deadline and Entertainment Weekly reported that Warner Brothers hopes to hire Ben Affleck to direct the movie. Affleck, besides acting in movies including Chasing Amy and Daredevil, has directed, written and produced films too, including The Town, Gone Baby Gone and Good Will Hunting. Do you think Ben Affleck will do a good job with The Stand?
Sarah Silverman is hosting a comedy show titled "Live from N*****head: Stripping the Paint Off Of Good Ol' Fashioned Racism." Silverman's fellow comics will be involved, proceeds will go to the NAACP, and the event will take place in Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry's home state of Texas. Of course, the name comes from Perry's family hunting ground, first reported by the Washington Post at the beginning of October and much discussed since then. Perry has said it's an "offensive name that has no place in the modern world."Asked about the title of her comedy show, Silverman told EW, "“This is a never-forget moment. The show’s provocative name holds a mirror up to an ugliness that seems to have become yesterday’s news without having barely even made news.” She also explains that using the loaded N-word in the title of a show to benefit a civil rights organization draws on "the positive thing about N-head and other outwardly racist actions...Like trying to put the Confederate flag on Texas license plates, it's no longer just a gas in the air. It's something you can point it. It's something you can fight against and expose. So I see this as an opportunity that should be taken."Jezebel asks, "But is Sarah Silverman the best person to hold the mirror? She made headlines ten years ago, when describing getting out of jury duty. She joked that a friend suggested writing "I hate chinks" on her paperwork. "I wanted to do it, but then, I'm like, I don't want people to think I'm racist. You know, I just want to get out of jury duty. So I filled out the form and I wrote I love chinks. And who doesn't? Many people — including the president of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans — found the joke, and its language, offensive."Do you think the use of the name of Rick Perry's former hunting grounds delivers a pointed critique or is it unnecessarily vulgar and unintentionally racist?
How I Met Your Mother's most lauded episode so far this season, Ducky Tie, brought back a season 1 character, Ted's ex girlfriend Victoria. The two former lovers end up at Victoria's bakery, where Ted expresses regret for the way their relationship ended. Victoria reveals that she is in a relationship and expects her boyfriend to propose that night. Ted walks her to catch her bus and -- this is the part he doesn't share with his friends when relating the story -- before Victoria leave, she tells him, "There is a reason it didn’t work out between you and me. It’s Robin. She’s so much bigger in your world than you realize.”The creators of HIMYM have created a conceit that demands careful attention to continuity and character arcs. This theme, that Ted, Robin and Barney are an unusual trio and that their friendship can't be sustained, has come up a few times. In season five's 21st episode, Twin Beds, Robin's boyfriend Don points out how weird it is that she spends every day with two ex boyfriends. Victoria's comment, and the ensuing shot of the three friends hanging out in their bar, is open to interpretation. Happily, the creators have some idea of where they're going with this.“We chose our words carefully as we always do, and it’s all right there,” Carter Bays told EW. "Bays says just like the audience, it will take Ted some time to figure out the truth behind Victoria’s words. 'As we left it, the narrator is very much aware that Robin will become an issue for him, specifically for him and Barney, and that triangle will not work out. But Ted has not internalized this yet.' " The co-creator goes on to say that the Barney-Robin-Ted dynamic is not so clear-cut as a "love triangle." “The way we’ve been talking about it, there is this central triangle between Ted, Barney, and Robin that’s always been there…and it will start rising to the surface.”As my loyal readers know, I'm a Robin-Barney shipper, so here's my theory. At the end of the premiere episode, Ted and Robin reinforce their promise to get together if they're both still single when they're 40. This serves to remind the viewers that Ted is still on Robin's hook, to quote episode 5.16. The two also live together, as one EW commenter points out, "He still has the emotional reliance on her that you would normally have in a relationship. They live together, so you can easily do all of that comfortable couple stuff – watching tv, cooking dinner, etc. – without having to have a relationship." Ted will always compare other girlfriend to her and wonder "what if?" I think once Barney and Robin get together for sure (and hopefully get married!), Ted will finally move on from Robin and find The Mother. So we know something happens to change the dynamic between Ted, Robin and Barney. Does Victoria mean that Robin is too involved in Ted's life, or that Robin and Ted should get back together and try it again? Or, when Future Ted concedes at the end of Ducky Tie that the relationship between the three of them didn't work out, was he referring to Barney and Robin's relationship and Robin's difficulty with Barney dating Nora? How do you think Victoria's words will come to pass?
The first four episodes of The Office Season 8 have struggled to find the show's footing without Michael Scott. The AV Club calls the first episode, "The List," "a walking caveat, a thesis statement for the transitional season to come." Robert California's snap judgement comes with the moral that you have to be willing to change your first impressions, "a point the writers are trying to get across to viewers who have been itching to make snap judgments since Carell announced his departure."Episode 2, "The Incentive," suggested that the show might be trying to operate the same way as ever, with Andy standing in for Michael. Even Dwight being Andy's second in command recalls early seasons. Episode 3, "Lotto," avoid this trap by casting Andy as a supporting players and depending on his preexisting relationship with Darryl. Again, the AV Club comments, "The further the show gets away from the novelty of Andy being the manager, the more the show can start to explore how the situation at the heart of the show has been altered by recent story events. "And that's what this season needs to do. It will fall flat going back to retell season 2 and 3 stories with Andy standing in for Michael. It needs to stand on its own, 8th-season The Office, the Andy Bernard era, something totally different from what it used to be. The fourth episode, "The Garden Party," cobbled together a few different plots, including one that had Andy seeking his family's praise, and Jim writing a book to mislead Dwight in his capacity as host (some people objected to this gag because when did Jim find time to execute this prank with a pregnant wife and a baby?) It wasn't a strong episode, but we could consider these first four shows the birthing pains of a new kind of The Office, if the writers are willing to take us there.
The recent observance of Columbus Day brought my attention again to an objection I have read about before, most recently concerning this cowboy and Indians themed photo shoot, regarding cultural appropriation of Native American aesthetics, prints, traditions and icons. On Monday Racialicious posted an article titled "An Open Letter to Urban Outfitters on Columbus Day." Bitch, too, went with the topical theme -- their Monday post was called "Celebrate Columbus Day: Call Out Cultural Appropriation." Both articles mention Urban Outfitters specifically for the clothing company's rash of tee shirts, skirts, vests and accessories featuring faux-native prints and tropes. Here, Racialicious said it best: "Plastic dreamcatchers wrapped in pleather hung next to an indistinguishable mass of artificial feather jewelry and hyper sexualized clothing featuring an abundance of suede, fringe and inauthentic tribal patterns." Forever 21 is also guilty of indulging this trend, and Bitch calls Etsy out for its sellers' fascination with the fad. The Tumblr "My Culture is Not a Trend" has even more examples.What's the problem with dressing up as a Native American for Halloween, wearing a tee shirt with an image of an Indian scalping a woman or buying one of the many UO items with "Navajo" in the name?The problem is, it reduces entire cultures to cheaply made, passing trends. The Racialicious article explains that UO in particular "has taken Indigenous life ways and artistic expressions and trivialized and sexualized them for the sake of corporate profit." UO also illegally markets inauthentic products using Native American tribal names. Most "Native" products assimilate hundreds of distinct cultures and traditions into one stereotype. The items also perpetuate those stereotypes, disregard the cultural significance of items like dreamcatchers and headdresses, and commodify an ethnic group (My Culture is Not a Trend explains this one well: "Part of being seen as "trendy" also makes an entire culture not only a commodity, but also something that people will (and can) tire of; therefore being disposable.") All these factors implicate cultural appropriation, which Wikipedia helpfully explains is "the adoption of some specific elements of one culture by a different cultural group...once removed from their indigenous cultural contexts, [the items] take on meanings that are significantly divergent from, or merely less nuanced than, those they originally held."Clearly, I'm making the argument that it is, indeed, cultural appropriation. But as the comments section of some of the articles demonstrate, not everyone agrees. One response to the indignation readers felt about this photo shoot reads: "It's clearly a fun loving themed photo shoot cowboys and indians it's about kitch and americana and fashion and cute girls. If you were truly offended by it then you need to get out more." Another comment, regarding UO's obsession with labeling products "Navajo," says, "Why should we place any parameters on fashion in the first place? We are after all free to express ourselves (assuming we accept responsibility for our thoughts) and the market by the same token is free to reject our thoughts. So why the hysteria? You don’t like don’t buy. If you do, please help yourself."What do you think? Are these product objectionable, or are people who argue that it's cultural appropriation overreacting?
Doctor Pepper has a new product, a 10-calorie diet soda with 2 grams of tasty sugar. I've never liked diet soda but a low-calorie pop with sugar instead of aspartame sounds like it would be way more tolerable than the usual formula. Unfortunately I'm not allowed to try it; Doctor Pepper 10 is not for women. Advertisers often try to alleviate the perceived social stigma of light drinks when marketing them to men. Bitch Magazine, who graced Doctor Pepper 10 with this week's Douchebag Decree, point out that Miller Lite, Pepsi Max and Coke Zero have used this angle in the past. Doctor Pepper 10 beats them all with its bluntness. Besides the "It's Not for Women" tagline, the commercial spot features army dudes doing manly things in a jungle and the Facebook page features an app that excludes women visitors and lists ten "man'ments" for gender-appropriate behavior.The New York Times coverage makes me think the minds behind this campaign are onto something, in terms of the publicity the ads will receive as a result of their controversial, exclusionary message. They quote an expert who explains, "One topic people never tire of talking or arguing about is differences between men and women, particularly if women are excluded. That will always get someone's attention." And of course, getting attention is the point of an ad campaign.Doctor Pepper's executive vice president of marketing commented, "Women get the joke. 'Is this really for men or really for women?' is a way to start the conversation that can spread and get people engaged in the product." This sounds to me like glossy PR-speak for "people and media are going to get riled up and tell other people about this, and it will raise the public's brand awareness!" It's pretty genius. I mean, I'm participating in such a marketing method right now, by writing this.Of course, if it's offensive enough, such a method could backfire and even prompt boycotts. Change.org has a petition urging Doctor Pepper to end the campaign. Do you think "It's Not for Women" will prompt coverage of the product and increase sales, or will its offensive message fail to engage customers?
How I Met Your Mother is off to a great start this season -- critics especially loved the third episode, Ducky Tie. Last week, episode 4, The Stinson Missile Crisis, introduced Robin's new love interest Kal Penn as her court-mandated therapist Kevin. Kal Penn replaced Michael Trucco as Robin's early-season-7 love interest after Trucco's show got renewed, and now I'm thinking Trucco might have been a better choice, because Robin and Kevin's scenes in this week's episode felt awfully wooden.I liked Kal Penn's character in his first episode. Penn's second appearance, in this week's episode Field Trip, introduces Robin and Kevin as a potential couple when he dismisses her as a client because he's attracted to her. They have a week of not-dates and finally end up on Robin's couch, awkwardly posed to start making out. I realize some of the awkwardness was intentional -- Robin later makes Kevin spill two hour's worth of intimate personal information to even out their dynamic. Besides the intentional discomfort, though, I didn't see any sparks between the actors -- or their characters -- during their screen time together. Certainly their chemistry doesn't begin to approach the level of Barney and Robin's connection, which we saw illustrated beautifully in the season premiere, The Best Man. But Robin and Kevin have some time to get it together and their chemistry may increase throughout the season.
Today, Monday October 10, is Columbus Day. The first known Columbus Day celebration took place in 1792; Franklin Roosevelt declared it a national holiday in 1937, and in 1971 the day of celebration became the second Monday in October. The holiday celebrates Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, who stumbled upon the Americas on October 12, 1492. Columbus facilitated European awareness of the American continents and initiated the Spanish colonization of Latin America. His exploration led to "a period of European exploration and colonization of foreign lands that lasted for several centuries."The celebration of Columbus Day traditionally involves revering the explorer for his bravery, tenacity, faith, and for his actions. One article published today reads, "what we ought to celebrate about Columbus is his sheer tenacity — without him, we wouldn’t be here. Willingness to undergo extreme hardship to maintain a belief in spite of mounting evidence to the contrary? The sheer tenacity to go blundering off into the unknown? Check, check...He's a man for our times. "Recently, many people have become disenchanted with the celebration of Columbus Day. Columbus pushed religious conversion on the natives he found in America; his discovery led to white settlers practicing genocide, torture and oppression of the native Americans. He mislabeled the indigenous people he found, calling them "Indians" in stubborn insistence that he had indeed reached India, and not the continent in between Europe and India. Even the assertion that Columbus discovered America sparks indignation for its implication that the people already living in the Americas don't count when it comes to humanity's awareness of the continents.Those opposed to Columbus feel that a national holiday celebrating him does a disservice to Native Americans, whose ancestors suffered personal injury as a result of this man's actions, and the decency of all Americans. South Dakota celebrates Native American's Day instead of Columbus Day on the second Monday in October. Should we stop celebrating Columbus Day and perhaps adopt Native American's Day as a federal holiday?
Hank Williams Jr. went on Fox & Friends last week and made a thoughtless comment comparing President Obama to Adolf Hitler. ESPN subsequently cancelled William's musical introduction to that night's Monday Night Football and stated that they were "extremely disappointed." Three days later, on Thursday, ESPN cancelled their affiliation with Williams and have since replaced his segment.Williams' initial flub got a reaction from the media, as has ESPN's decision to sever ties with the country singer (or maybe he quit?). A journalist for the Boston Globe explores the controversy comprehensively and calls Williams' comment "a hurtful, ignorant, abominable comparison and a distortion of history." He approves of ESPN's decision to "permanently severed the relationship, no doubt knowing that bringing [Williams] back would be a grandiose insult, not just to the network’s Jewish viewers, but to the viewing public at large." The journalist' cites friends who express the ideas that 1. the subject is taboo for a reason and that Williams violated decency by using a comparison with Hitler, and 2. that the comparison "trivializes what Hitler did."At oxJane.com, on the other hand, the sports writer punished a piece titled "I Don't Think Hank Williams Jr. Should Have Been Fired By ESPN For His Stupid Comment Comparing Obama to Hitler." She exclaims, "I mean, we’re freaking out about some asinine comments by a B-list country singer who doesn’t even understand how the First Amendment works!" and goes on to say "I think it’s a problem that Hank Williams Jr. compared the President to Hitler. But I think it’s a much bigger problem that our society puts so much weight on the words of actors, musicians, reality TV stars, athletes, etc." She also points out that Williams didn't have some malicious agenda; he's just stupid.And over at the Washington Post, a journalist thinks comparisons to Hitler and Nazis are "horribly offensive to the memory of the people who died at their hands and it’s simply an exaggeration that can’t be tolerated," yet "does that mean he shouldn’t be associated with Monday Night Football?... I’ve always known that Hank Williams Jr. has crazy political views, but I’ve never associated those with the brand of Monday Night Football." Even if his statements were offensive, maybe it wasn't necessary for a tangentially related organization to disown him.What do you think? Did Hank William Jr. deserve to be fired because of what he said?
October is Vegetarian Awareness Month, according to the North American Vegetarian Society. October 1st was World Vegetarian Day, or Hug a Vegetarian Day if you ask PETA. NAVS says of the month-long celebration of meat-free diets, "For those new to vegetarianism, it serves as an enticement to give meatless fare a try (even for a day) and learn about its many benefits. And, of course, it's the perfect occasion for vegetarians and those already moving towards plant-based diets to celebrate their healthy, compassionate food choices."There are many reasons that vegetarians and flexitarians (people who eat meat only occasionally, like once a week) choose a meat-free diet. Plant-based diets are often healthier and people who avoid meat generally weight less than those who don't. Some people have ethical objections to either factory farming or any kind of killing for food. Others choose not to eat meat to have a positive impact on the environment -- some experts, including advisors to the UN, have said that avoiding meat is one of the most effective ways to reduce your climate change impact. Of course, that's disputable -- Fox News disputes it, at least.But most of us can agree that eating less meat is probably a good thing. The best part? You don't have to go full-on PETA-style vegan to embrace the message of Vegetarian Awareness Month. Cut meat out of your diet one day each week in October, and you'll have a positive impact in addition to trying something new and personally benifical. Plus, you'll be in good company.Will you choose meat-free options during Vegetarian Awareness Month?
Eleanor Brown voted on
Is Ben Affleck the right choice to direct the movie version of The Stand?
Eleanor Brown posted a poll
Does the name of Sarah Silverman's show undermine its message?
Jersey Shore: Will Mike "The Situation" really quit the show and skip Jersey?
Jersey Shore: Should Snooki have called Jionni back to tell him the truth about Vinny?
HIMYM: How will Victoria's message about Ted and Robin play out?
The Office: How's Season 8 doing without Michael Scott?
WhosRight.com on Facebook
