Mandika

My friend Lizzie Owens showed me this video a while ago. The 23 year old Sinead O'Connor performing her song Mandika at the 1989 Grammys. Its sort of makes you wish TV was still this simple.

New Target Women

A couple new Target Women for you...
Chocolate!


Online Dating -where everyone looks attractive but not hot.

Isa Genzken

Isa Genzken has been one of my favorite artists for a few years, so when I saw her in Chelsea a few weeks ago (wearing some awesome dirt bike riding pants), I figured I'd put a post up of her work. Unfortunately, there's not a whole lot of info about her life online. I guess that's how it tends to go with artists who are still alive, especially female artists. Isa was born in 1948 in Bad Oldescloe, Germany and studied at the Hamburg College of Fine Arts (1969 - 1971), Berlin University of Fine Arts (1972 - 1973), and Düsseldorf Art Academy (1973 - 1977). For a time she was married to the artist Gerhard Richter. Genzken received the International Art Prize in 2004 and theWolfgang-Hahn-Prize in 2002. One of the things I love about Isa Genzken's work is that she explores all sorts of mediums - sculpture, installation, video, painting, works on paper, photography, and artist books. Genzken uses everything from wood and plaster to found materials. I've always been interested in how she can combine themes that are generally thought of as masculine, such as architecture, modernism, and industrialization, and approach them with a fresh visualization that seems to know no gender or class distinction.

Hot Licks

Some more rock. Hope you enjoy.

L7 - Andres


Heart- Crazy On You
Nancy Wilson starts this off with an awesome guitar solo. Then sister Ann takes over with killer vocals. Old footage of Heart is just so moving. And you gotta love that the guys are belly bearing Luke Sykwalker types.


Siouxsie and The Banshees- Kiss Them For Me
I wish music videos were still this cool.


Vivian Girls - Tell The World
Something a little more contemporary


Babes in Toyland - Memory
If only MTV still showed girls this cool.


Slapp Happy - Just A Conversation
Dagmar Krause of Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Art Bears is something to aspire to. I wish there was more of her on youtube.

Maude Needs Weed!

Due to positive response from the Golden Girls episode a few days ago I've got a new clip for you. This one is from the show Maude, which also stared Bea Arthur. Maude was ground breaking not only for the 70s but probably also by today's standards. Having been married four times Maude was no spring chicken and had no qualms talking politics, women's lib., civil rights, or as you'll see from this clip, drugs. In one of the most controversial episodes (actually a 2 episode segment) Maude discovers she's pregnant at 47 and decides after much thought and discussion to have an abortion. Despite that fact that more than 1/3 of American women will have an abortion in their lifetime Maude is the only American show I know of that actually follows through on the decision.
Despite some controversial subject matter the show managed to have a great run as a sitcom. Here is a clip of Maude trying to score some weed.

Punctuation Face

The Hills, and its new spin off The City, are generally shows I avoid. They fall under the category of show that I might watch if I'm cleaning my apartment or home sick. I'm not much of a tv snob but basically nothing ever happens to the girls of The Hills. If something does happen it takes 4 episodes to happen and there are so many awkward silences and dull sighs that it feels like nothing is happening. Occasionally I get really annoyed thinking about how my life would have made a much better tv show when I was 20. Maybe there were no plastic surgery scandals but parties at art school were definitely better than the backyard BBQs on The Hills.
I spend a lot of time thinking about language and tone and the nonexistent substance of communication on The Hills. I remember reading in Jane Fonda's biography that women come into their own voices when they mature in to a comfortable confident understanding of themselves. Jane talks about going back and watching her old movies to realize that her voice was much higher and wispier in her most unsure phases. I've also read studies that show that men and women both talk differently when in the presence of their own gender or the opposite gender. Men talk deeper around women(especially unfamiliar ones) and women talk in a higher octave around men. The thing that amuses me with The Hills is that they almost seem unable to communicate at all. No one ever launches into a long opinion on something. No one goes out of a wispy flirty tone. No one is very funny. (Well except for Heidi's boss Kelly Cutrone.)
I suppose living under constant televised conditions would instill awkward non conversations. The girls of The Hills have had a sort of second puberty (or social criticism and false identities) at the time when they should be coming into their own as adults. So I suppose its no surprise that they resort to what I've come to think of as punctuation face. They communicate through a ridiculous plethora of facial expressions.....mostly the expected 'surprised face' and 'I understand face'. During the writers strike last year the punctuation face got really out of control. Heidi feigns excitement and Lauren either cries or looks bored. Audrina is sort of like a set of parenthesis with nothing in between. You keep expecting her to be pissed off or sad but she exists in some sort of premature botoxed state. They remind me of Cindy Sherman's "Untitled Film Stills".

Is this Cindy Sherman in The City?

I hope that at some point these girls return with loud opinions and excited tirades but until they find their voices vast amounts of MTV viewers will cling to the pages of punctuation their "reality tv" writers must be feeding them.

Forget Your Job, Hold On To Your Husband

There's a new movie coming out called Obsessed. If it weren't for Beyonce I bet this movie would be straight to tape. It starts out all Fatal Attraction and looks like it takes a turn for The Hand That Rocks The Cradle. The thing I'm having a hard time letting go of is the line in the trailer that goes " A lot of single girls see the work place as their hunting grounds". Despite the fact that its 2009 Hollywood is still putting out these movies that prey on the concept that single working girls exist to tear apart the family structure. Its not because they need to pay their rent or actually enjoy the work they do. This trailer shows the single girl, Ali Larter, practically raping her boss, although its evident that everyone in the office was playing out this little fantasy in their head. I love how they sexually refer to her as " a temp". It reminds me of how, thanks to Bill Clinton, most kids from my generation grew up thinking "intern" was a scandalous word.
She of course doesn't stop there, she next attempts to steal his child and kill his wife (Beyonce). Clearly there are all sort of racial issues going on here as well, I'm guessing something along the line of white women wanting to steal all the "good" black guys. A book could probably be written about that topic, but the thing that really pisses me off is that these movies exist to instill more fear in women. They perpetuate the girl on girl hate that stems from thinking women don't belong in the work place. Of course the men get off clean from their infidelity when it turns out the woman is a homicidal maniac. So in the long run everyone is rooting for Beyonce because she knew her place and stayed at home. As with the over a decade old Fatal Attraction, everyone will be yelling at that screen that someone needs to kill that working girl bitch. Its interesting to note that in the original script for Fatal Attraction the moral of the story is that we all bear a responsibility to those we involve in our lives. There's no maniacal rampage by the single gal, she merely calls the man's home and he feels shitty about it.
So its interesting that in this updated version, the workplace (or hunting grounds) is a place to be feared, despite the fact that everyone in the office is ogling and talking about Ali Larter's character. Is the fear of working women part of what makes them a fetish object? When the economy crashed a few months ago Playboy put out an ad asking "women of Wallstreet" to pose for playboy. I guess they figured the girls could use some extra cash. Yet, I wonder if part of this has to do with the fact that if the women were out of work or down on hard times they were easier to deal with, less intimidating. I looked into past issues of Playboy that fetishize career gals. Check out these titillating money makers. I totally dress like this for work, so everyone hold on to your husbands.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate national condom week check out this funny old Golden Girls clip.

There is no instinct like that of the heart. - Lord Byron

The Courage Campaign has one of the most powerful videos I've seen regarding the insanity that was Prop 8. Ken Star has filed legal briefs to nulify the 18,000 marriages that only a few months ago were legal in California. You can sign their petition to overturn Prop 8 at http://www.couragecampaign.org/page/s/divorce

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Favorite Thing I've Seen This Week

Thankyou, First Lady of the Press

I was having a conversation with some co-workers today about who "the biggest prick in the world is". We finally all settled on Bill O'Reilly. So of course tonight when I got home there was more news of what idiot thing he said on his show last night. This one really pissed me off.
So Bill O'Reilly was making fun of Helen Thomas comparing her voice to the "wicked witch of the east" and picking at her age and appearance. The thing that really got me is that he attempts to insult her by comparing her to his mom, saying "Well, why can't my mom ask a question". I noticed in the coverage of Hilary Clinton in 2008 that targeting a woman's voice or writing her off as a mother or wife figure are some of the most used tactics for tearing a woman down.

Insulting a woman by comparing her to a mom is assuming that people think moms are all idiots who should be ignored. Some of us happen to have brilliant moms and some moms happen to be brilliant journalists. Demeaning the questions of a journalist who has been on the White House Press Corps since JFK is grounds for us all to ignore O'Reilly. Helen Thomas was the first female member and president of the White House Correspondence Association. She began and ended all the Presidents' Press Conferences from Kennedy to Bush and always brought up the most uncomfortable and important questions.... which eventually is why Bush pushed her to the back of the room and didn't want her to end the conference with her signature "Thankyou, Mr. President". As Helen Thomas herself says "The presidential news conference is the only forum in this country where a president can be questioned on a regular basis and held accountable." On Monday, Obama called on Helen for a question saying "Helen, I'm excited this is my inaugural moment".
Last summer HBO aired a great documentary Rory Kennedy made about Helen Thomas. I believe this is the whole documentary. As Nas would say "Oh really, O'Reilly"

Zoe Bell

Zoe Bell is a professional stuntwoman who has done everything from Xena to Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill. She's definitely on my list of 'if i could be someone else for a day' people.
Check out these cool clips of her work....

This one is from Quentin Tarantino's DeathProof. Zoe plays herself and does all her own stunts. I love this scene!


Here is another video of a bunch of stuff she's worked on.

Power Skirts

One of the topics I'm continuously interested in studying is the semiotics of women with power. From power suits to details like hairstyles or accessories there is a constantly changing formula for what look will gain you respect in politics or the media. In Backlash, Susan Faludi makes the point that while suit styles stay acceptable for men for a decade or more, women expend a great deal of time and money because we have no formula and the "respectable style" changes every year.
These things that women do to convey importance and power are part of a complex system of signs and symbols that use up a great deal of our time. Not to mention there is no winning in this game. Nancy Pelosi is made fun of for having plastic surgery, and yet I've no doubt that the further up Kathleen Sebelius's career takes her the more negative attention her gray hair and age appropriate looks will bring.
The International Museum of Women has an online exhibition, Women, Power, and Politics that covers issues like power suits and female politician's styles. I recommend checking it out.

Yulia Tymoshenko- Prime Minister of Ukraine


Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf -President of Liberia


Nancy Pelosi- Speaker of The U.S. House of Representatives


Michelle Bachalet - President of Chile

A New Installment of Comedy

So for this segment of female comedians I found music videos. Have fun!

So Julie Brown is kind of the queen of this genre. Here's a segment from her spoof of Madonna's Truth or Dare. Another one I recommend is Trapped in the Body of White Girl.


I think Gilda Radner is spoofing Patti Smith in this one. Candy Slice and The Slicers singing about Mick Jagger.


This one I found on accident but I love it. Margaret Cho directed the music video. Its Margaret Cho and her friend Diana Yanez as the characters "Maureen and Angela". At least thats what I've pieced together from youtube. If anyone knows more, tell me!


I only recently found out about Judy Tenuta. Some of her stand up seems more like performance art than comedy. I'm a big fan!


And of course Sandra Bernhardt

Manic Superstar @ Yahoo! Video

All the cool kids are doing it.....

This is a mini public service announcement. A really good way that I found to stay up on issues and be aware of how you can help is to go right here....http://capwiz.com/ywca/home/ . This is the website of the YWCA. They have a great legislative action center section where you can read about current legislation. You can even put in your zip code and find out who all your local and state officials are as well as how they voted on what senate or house votes. There's a little green check that shows if they're supporting women in their decisions. You can also send emails to them or find their number and a brief write up of what to say if you want to call your senator or representative and tell them how you hope they'll vote.
If you don't want to get that involved you can still sign up for email updates and you'll be able to stay up on what actions are being voted on and how that affects your life.

Roseanne meet Riot Grrrls

Growing up I remember going over the house of some kids I knew and being totally amazed that they were not allowed to watch Roseanne. Of course they could watch all the violent movies they wanted but Roseanne was immoral. This really got my little mind to thinking that there must be something pretty badass about Roseanne.
I recently found this awesome old video from her show that guest stars Jenna Elfman as a riotgrrrl. Roseanne discusses women in music and sexual harassment,,,,,but of course in the funnest way possible.



And in celebration of Roseanne here's a Bikini Kill video. Everything Kathleen Hannah says in these old videos is just awsome.

The One Thing You Can Control - Your Period

I'm currently living out a lifelong dream of getting through a Superbowl Sunday without having to watch the Superbowl or participate in any Superbowl oriented activities. I saw the commercials from Walmart about the big day and that was quite enough.
Instead I'm watching an hour long segment of Target Women on Current TV (yeah, i know its so crazy I'm actually watching it on TV). Anyhow, Sarah Haskin's segment on Birth Control (Period Control) reminded me of one of my favorite SNL skits from this past year.
Enjoy!