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Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 15:03:30 -0000

At Women's Eye on Media, Renee is continuing her critique of the series Dollhouse; Season 1, Episode 6: Man on the Street [TW for lack of consent]

A review of Rise of the Planet of the Apes [Spoilers a'plenty]

'Hysteria': The History of the Invention of the Vibrator Told as a Romantic Comedy: I'm excited about the upcoming movie 'Hysteria' because even while it is told through the romantic comedy lens, I hope it makes honest conversations about sexuality more accessible.

Re: Friday Blogaround

Holly — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:33:22 -0000

Renee has started watching and writing about the show Dollhouse, here is her take on the first episode: Ghost

Expedition Impossible: The Episode with the Most Exciting Finish Yet: We're still watching and chatting about Expedition Impossible, and this week's episode had on thing no other episode has had thus far: excitement.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 14:11:33 -0000

Patti Smith Covers Adele's "Rolling In the Deep" and It is Awesome!

We have been chatting about the new season of Hell's Kitchen on Women's Eye on Media:
Hell's Kitchen Season 9 Premiere and the TV Personalities of Gordon Ramsay and MasterChef's Mystery Box and Elimination Challenges are a Demonstration in Classism

MasterChef's Mystery Box and Elimination Challenges are a Demonstration in Classism

Re: Monday Blogaround

Holly — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 17:06:21 -0000

African American Romantic Comedies: Class: Renee has started a new series on Women's Eye on Media about African American romantic comedies. The first aspect of these films she talks about is class.

Expedition Impossible Series Premiere: In addition to MasterChef, we have just started watching the new ABC show Expedition Impossible and chatting about it. It's just like Survivor and The Amazing Race, rolled into one.

Book Review: Here, Home, Hope by Kaira Rouda: I reviewed a new women's fiction book and found a whole lot of troubling aspects going on within it.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:14:00 -0000

Women's Eye on Media is back! After pretty much letting the site fizzle out and die, we decided to resurrect it a couple of weeks ago because we remembered how much fun it was and we could all use a little more fun. So here are some posts from last few days:

Gene Simmons Family Jewels: Hyper Masculinity and Gender Roles Can Kill a Relationship

MasterChef: Three Eliminations, the First Team Challenge and a Whole Lot of Hating on Max the Arrogant Jerk: We've been chatting about MasterChef every week. While we usually hate on Joe Bastianich throughout the show, we've found a new, self-professed privileged dude who thinks he's above everyone else to hate on.

An Interview With Kevin Hearne, Author of the Iron Druid Chronicles: Check out Renee's podcast where she interviews Kevin Hearne. "As always we took a social justice perspective to his work. One of the most fascinating revelations by Hearne was his drive to promote religious tolerance in his books."

My Love/Hate Relationship with Alex Winston's "Sister Wife": As much as I really like Alex Winston's voice, my dislike for her song "Sister Wife" grows each time I hear it and at the same time, when I listened to it again a few days after I had first heard it, I couldn't stop listening to it. I hate it when music plays these mind games with you.

Re: It is Unacceptable to Allow Government to Play Politics with the Lives of Women

Holly — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 06:46:25 -0000

Thank you so much for reading, and for your comment. I really appreciate it. You brought up several excellent points and I could not agree with you more. Also, thank you so much for sharing with me your experience with your doctor and what that really means when it comes to women's right to bodily autonomy.

When it comes to tubal litigation, specifically, I have heard from several women who had given it some serious thought, made a decision that it would be best for them, and were told by everyone, including their partners, peers and their doctors, that they couldn't move forward with that because they would regret it. As if every single woman on the face of the Earth lives only to bear children and even if they are middle-aged, without children and want that procedure, they are also told they will regret it because really, deep down, that's what all women want, right? It's just completely maddening. Anyway, thanks again for your comment and for sharing your experiences and viewpoints.

Re: Question of the Day

Holly — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:02:27 -0000

I have been reading "Gotta Have It: 69 Stories of Sudden Sex" edited by Rachel Kramer Bussel, an erotic anthology from a wide variety of writers that is really great. So inclusive, so many portrayals of fabulous sex-positivity. It makes me incredibly happy.

Re: Monday Blogaround

Holly — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 08:57:06 -0000

It is Unacceptable to Allow Government to Play Politics with the Lives of Women: In a post that took me nearly three days (and nights) to write, I was finally able to sum up my feelings on the House passing of the Pence Amendment and how enraged and deeply sad the passing made me, a low-income woman who has relied on Planned Parenthood for all of my reproductive health care service needs.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 16:15:12 -0000

Jodie Foster Goes on the Record to Defend Mel Gibson--Again: Jodie Foster has yet again gone on the record to tell everyone what a great and loved guy Mel Gibson is.

Here's The Situation: The Situation has written a book. Clearly, the publishing industry has no legitimate standards.

Re: Monday Blogaround

Holly — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 03:49:01 -0000

Bill O'Reilly Brings His Big Bag of False Information and Scare Tactics to The View: A few thoughts on Bill O'Reilly's now-infamous appearance on The View.

The Amazing Race went to the Arctic Circle.

Anderson Cooper Goes Furry: Anderson Cooper tweeted a pretty hilarious picture of himself dressed up as a bunny for, as he said, a story on ape communication.

Survivor: Nicaragua switched things up on the last episode by getting rid of the Old vs. Young tribes and the Medallion of Power.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 21:42:27 -0000

Menstrual Poetry has a new post, finally, where I talk about Coming Out Day, why it's a crucial conversation to have and where I make my first "formal" coming out announcement.

ANTM Winner Whitney Talks Fashion, Sample Sizes, Body Image and Eating Disorders: Whitney Thompson, the first-ever plus-size winner of America's Next Top Model, was recently interviewed by Sunny Gold in which she says "there's no soul in modeling" among other things.

Chris Brown Has No Friends: It seems that despite his highly manipulative tear fest at this year's BET awards, Chris has not been completely forgiven.

Re: Monday Blogaround

Holly — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:35:08 -0000

Tim Gunn: It Gets Better: Tim Gunn's awesome video for the It Gets Better Project. His video made me love him just that much more.

Kanye West on Lindsay Lohan's Ungaro Collection: 'The 9/11 for celebrities doing fashion': I have nothing against people bringing up 9/11 in conversation, or really comparing it to anything, I just like my hyperbole and references to make a little sense.

Insane Clown Posse's "Thy Unveiling" Unveils Bottom Line--Evangelical Christianity: ICP has been a small topic of conversation amongst media outlets for "admitting" that they're Evangelical Christians. A lot of people have known this for a while now, but Violent J's statement on how they "tricked" people through their music to bring them to god really brought up a whole different conversation for me.

The Vampire Diaries Killed or Be Killed: Renee recaps and shares her thoughts on the last episode of The Vampire Diaries.

Re: Friday Blogaround

Holly — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 22:07:02 -0000

Thanks for the link love to Women's Eye on Media!

We also recently chatted about Survivor: Nicaragua. The Espada tribe became divided after the men in the tribe found themselves in a power struggle against Jimmy Johnson. The entire episode, all I could think of was the men sitting around arguing "No, I want to be the leader! No, I do! No, me!"

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:42:10 -0000

What We've Seen So Far on Survivor: Nicaragua: A recap of the first two episodes of Survivor in which we see a whole lot of homophobia, disablism and ageism. We'll be chatting about Survivor: Nicaragua throughout the season and would love to get some good discussions going on.

Book Review: If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done by Shelly Rachanow: A book review of Shelly Rachanow's 'If Women Ran the World Sh*t Would Get Done', an inspiring book about how women have created change in the world throughout history up until today with a reminder that it only takes a great idea and a determined women to get stuff done. So not your standard, rah rah, you can do it self help book by any means.

And in Menstrual Poetry blogging, meet Vincent, our new addition. We got a new kitten. His name is Vincent, he's about 10 weeks old and he's a snuggler.

Re: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2010/09/monday-blogaround_27.html

Holly — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 18:26:51 -0000

Meet Vincent, Our New Addition: We got a new kitten a couple of weeks ago. His name is Vincent and after two weeks, our other cat Devin has finally warmed up to him.

Gisele Bundchen Donates $50,000 to the Brazil Foundation and Auctions Dress She Knows No One Can Fit Into: Everyone is so shocked that Gisele Bundchen donated $50,000 "of her own money" to the Brazil Foundation, in which I reply with "Seriously?"

Vampire Diaries: Bad Moon Rising: Renee shares her thoughts on the last episode of the Vampire Diaries.

Mr. Big Calls Out New York Magazine for Killing Sex and the City: Chris Noth recently yelled at New York Magazine for "killing" the Sex and the City franchise, claiming that he thinks no one in the press saw the movie, but were just adamant on killing it.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 22:00:50 -0000

Fat Shaming in the Name of Health Issues is Still Fat Shaming -- and Patronizing: Thoughts on body image, shaming and how looking at someone's physical size is not an indicator of their overall health after seeing a slideshow published by a health and nutrition website claiming they didn't want to look like these overweight celebrities, making it about appearance, not health.

Kate Gosselin and The Perfect Body: Kate Gosselin's "perfect bikini body" is on the cover of People magazine. Renee discusses womanhood, femininity and motherhood and how society expects women to play out these roles, but not simultaneously.

Vampire Diaries: Brave New World: Super vampire fanatic Renee is adding to her list of vampire television shows by watching (and writing about) the new season of The Vampire Diaries.

Little People Big World and The Little Couple Send a False Message: TLC is currently airing the last season of Little People Big World and Renee brings up troubling themes and scenes from the show that cast these people out as "others."

Project Runway Season 8: Fashion Inspiration in the Form of Jackie Kennedy: On the last episode of Project Runway the designers had to create "classic American sportswear" inspired by the fashion of Jackie Kennedy, wherein I ask if Jackie Kennedy should be more well-known for things she had done throughout her life that have nothing to do with how she dressed.

The Breakfast Club 25 Years Later Reunion on GMA: Four of the five stars of The Breakfast Club were interviewed on GMA. They discussed the Cap'n Crunch sandwich Ally Sheedy ate during the movie and Molly Ringwald's cleavage lipstick applying abilities.

Re: Open Thread

Holly — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:28:58 -0000

I read "Speak" quite a number of years ago and I really loved it. I also read the book Laurie Halse Anderson published after that, "Catalyst" and while it was good, it does not even come close to comparing to "Speak." I can definitely get behind a book sharing movement such as that, I have had so many friends recommend books to me that have ended up becoming my favorite books, such as Jeanette Winterson's "Written On the Body" and Margaret Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale."

Re: Friday Blogaround

Holly — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:41:30 -0000

Fat Shaming in the Name of Health Issues is Still Fat Shaming -- and Patronizing: "Health and nutrition" website Blisstree published a slideshow of 10 overweight celebrities they don't want to look like, making a fat-phobic and patronizing argument for why these particular celebrities have to lose weight. After being called out for fat shaming, they then published another slideshow of 5 celebrities who have died of fatness. It's wildly inaccurate, but you saw that coming, right?

MasterChef Season Finale: After watching the new cooking competition reality show MasterChef all season, Renee and I weighed in on the two-hour season finale.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 16:06:37 -0000

The Mosque (Sorta Kinda) Near Ground Zero and Muslim Panic: I had intended to write this post back in August, but I thought all of the debate and drama died down, but the great, big "Muslims are going to take over the U.S." debate is still here and it's still wrong.

The Avatar Re-Release: Renee writes on her surprise that that Avatar is to be re-released--Special effects are awesome but do we really need to see the colonialist racist message that the movies sends one more time?

Reality TV: A Love/Hate Relationship for Millions: A TiVo poll says that 40% of tv viewers think reality television is the most overdone genre of programming, but the last week of Jersey Shore raked in more viewers than any other show on television. Do we have a love/hate relationship with reality television or is there just nothing else on?

Project Runway Season 8: Michael Kors Stars in the Resort Wear Challenge: The remaining designers deduce what "resort wear" means, Mondo points out the privilege in the term "resort wear" without really meaning to, everyone beats up on Michael C. some more, but one designer admits that he was mean for really no reason at all.

Really Louis C.K: The first season of Louie has not been without controversy, and in episode 13 white men try using black men as a way to get the ladies.

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 15:56:17 -0000

Advice for Young Girls from a Cartoon Princess: Beauty and the Beast: There is not one female character in the arsenal of Disney princess movies that can be classified as a heroine as being empowering for young girls. We found an awesome video that sums up Disney's celebration of sexism and all of the disturbing messages and imagery seen in Beauty and the Beast.

Usher and His Babies Grace the Cover of People Magazine: Usher and his two sons were on the cover of People Magazine; Renee talks about the discrimination Black fathers face in our society.

Snooki's Wedding Proposal is Almost as Ridiculous as Jersey Shore: Snooki's boyfriend Jeff Miranda will be on the cover of the September 10th issue of Steppin' Out Magazine where he proposes to the Jersey Shore reality star. Classy and romantic, seeing as how she'll most likely find out about her own wedding proposal from tabloids and blogs.

2010 Emmys: The Most Boring Awards Show of the Year and it's All Jimmy Fallon's Fault: Renee and I chatted during the 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards. They were insanely boring, seeing as we cannot stand Jimmy Fallon, so if you missed the Emmys or just need a few laughs, check out our chat.

Re: Friday Blogaround

Holly — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:17:06 -0000

Louie: Goes to the Dentist and Gets Rapetastic: Louie is extremely bizare. Each episode he starts off with a brief monologue. Yep, a direct Seinfeld rip off and at times equally awkward. The thing with comedians, is that they often equate shocking people, and being insensitive to funny.

Bob Dylan to Release Ninth Installment of Bootleg Series -- The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964: On October 19th, the ninth installment of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series will arrive in stores as well as a box set which will include Dylan's first eight albums remastered.

Master Chef: Perhaps it Should Be Called Bastianich Goes Douche: Foodie culture at the best of times is filled with exclusionary masturbatory spunk and shows like this seem to forget that many Americans are starving. The food that Joe refused to taste, would have been gratefully eaten by many -- and it his class privilege that encourages him to act so cavalierly.

Re: Open Thread

Holly — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 09:41:30 -0000

Good morning, everyone! I have been awake since Renee from Womanist Musings called to wake me up last night because I was sleeping through MasterChef and we chatted about it last night for Women's Eye on Media. Since we finished last night, I have been working and getting some writing done and do not see a foreseeable end point to this workload anytime soon.

My partner and I are working on a portfolio for our upcoming web design and development firm. It's been a tough week of coding, glitch-testing and getting everything working function-wise and now I get to go through and write out all of the services, our bios and everything else. I am so not looking forward to it, but alas, it must be done. What's keeping my hopes up about doing this is that we are getting a signed contract back today from the first client we'll work with under our new banner. It's pretty exciting and giving me just a glimmer of hope that we can get this business launched and maybe even make it a full-time job for us.

Oh yes, and it's been a Ben Folds / Ben Folds Five filled morning!

Re: Wednesday Blogaround

Holly — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:55:10 -0000

Holly Writes Sex and Sexuality (at Fascinations!): BDSM and Safe Words: I started writing sex and sexuality articles for Fascinations, a very awesome sex toy retailer and sexuality resource. After writing a few articles, I realized I would be writing primarily about BDSM. The reason for this: While the feminist blogosphere and community at large like to think they are educating and encouraging people to explore their sexuality in a safe, responsible manner that fulfills them, I think there is a severe lack of discussion on BDSM when it comes to sexuality and sex-positivity.

And on Women's Eye on Media:

Stephen Moyer and Anna Paquin Got Married, News is Reduced to His "Mid-Life Crisis" and Her "Scary Smile": Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer got married last Saturday night and in typical Hollywood fashion, everyone was reading and talking about it on Sunday morning. In typical internet fashion, amidst the many, many messages of congratulations to the newlywed couple from fans, two solid topics of debate emerged in the comments section of pretty much every single entertainment and celebrity blog that reported on the wedding news. Apparently people are gravely concerned about two things when it comes to the marriage of Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer--his age and her teeth.

Book Review: The Impostor's Daughter by Laurie Sandell: Laurie Sandell lived her life firmly believing that her father was a brilliant, exciting man who was more accomplished than anyone else she would ever know. When she was 31 years old, she realized that every single thing her father ever told her was a complete lie. In 2003 she wrote an article for Esquire magazine, My Father the Fraud. Although she wrote the article anonymously, the first time she met with her agent who had read the story, she was interested in selling the book. Fast-forward to July 2009 and The Impostor's Daughter: A True Memoir was published.

Re: Mississippi’s Message to the World: We Will Erase Young People Who Do Not Conform to Gender Norms

Holly — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:46:37 -0000

Wow. I hadn't heard about Juin Baize until now, which is a shame. I guess if the ACLU doesn't take on a case, the story has a harder time reaching the people it should be reaching, but thank you for the link and for letting me know about this.

Speaking of the ACLU, I think that it's bullshit that they didn't take Itawamba Agricultural to court because of what they did to Juin Baize. The fact that a person had to relocate because of harassment and discrimination is a damn good case for court in my opinion, but then again, I'm not a lawyer so maybe not? Hmm... Nope, I still think it would be a damn good case.

Re: Open Thread

Holly — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 12:34:08 -0000

Well, this is the first time I have opened up an open thread and I have to say, I quite like it.

@JenMR: Congrats on your very own, new apartment. I remember the feelings I had when I first rented my own apartment. Everything was new, everything was exciting and best of all, everything was mine. I was cooking eggs in my apartment, on my stove and getting coffee from my coffee pot that was sitting on my kitchen counter in my apartment. Mine mine mine. I first rented my own apartment when I was 18 and nearly six years and three apartments later, I have not felt those wonderful, amazing, mine, mine, mine feelings since that first apartment. The magic wore off, I suppose. So, be sure to enjoy all of those amazing, wonderful feelings of everything being yours as much as humanly possible right now!

As for me--It's Sunday. It's rainy and gloomy and I have a killer headache and an earache that just appeared out of nowhere yesterday morning. I haven't been feeling very well for the past few days. I would love nothing more than to crawl back into bed, but I can't because my partner's kids (4 and 6) are here for the day and ohhh, the noise and the very high-pitched squealing and screaming and fighting, we cannot forget the fighting. Needless to say, I could very well be seen as a not-so-fantastic partner today--I'm hiding out in his office and I'm willing to bet nothing will make me leave this little sanctuary of a room. I have my coffee, a computer and many internal pleadings that are practically screaming 'Please, please, please, no one come in here and bother me.' Yeah, not-so-fantastic indeed, but considering how I feel this morning, I'm going to go ahead and be okay with that.

I have lots of things to write for the upcoming week for the number of sites I run and contribute to. I'm sure some of that will actually get done at some point. Here's hoping!