Things That Don't Suck, with Alexa Chung

Usually I feel like daytime TV exists to remind you that you shouldn't be watching daytime TV. Hence Elizabeth Hasselback. However, now MTV has this new show Its On, With Alexa Chung, that's actually kind of cool. If you can get past being jealous of Alexa and just think of her as your cool friend who happens to be richer, prettier, and possibly cooler than you than the show is awesome. Alexa is laid back and funny and reminds us that British people don't just have accents they say weird things like "pissed" and "cocked up". Its nice having a girl on TV who doesn't seem like a complete idiot. She also manages to have some amusing guests who she tries to reign in to be just appropriate enough for daytime TV... as you'll see in the Margaret Cho and Michael and Michael segments. Thanks Alexa for giving me a reason to get out of bed before noon on the days I don't work.

Daniel Radcliffe on Alexa Chung PT 2 - Click here for more blooper videos

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It's On w/Alexa Chung: Michael & Michael Have Issues

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It's On w/Alexa Chung: What's Happening (7.8.09)

The Man Shortage

Recently my Mom said something about how my Dad had been upset about how guys are also portrayed on TV as unconscious and irrational and I realized I hadn't really covered my thoughts on that yet. I totally agree, as well as being irrational they tend to be greedy slovenly creatures who provide no use to the family except that they happen to bring home the bacon. There are many different levels to this asshattery..... Ray Romano is clueless and his wife spends a lot of time nagging and hardly any time having her own interests, then there's that King Of Queens guy whose wife weighs about 150 pounds less than him though he gives her shit about how she wears her hair, and worst of all is the guy from According To Jim (Jim Belushi) which I only see when stuck at the laundry mat. Jim has a babe of a wife, as does his even more portly friend. He spends most of his time seeing how far he can get with other women and then making her feel shitty about it. At least this is what I've picked up while doing my laundry.




In a couple articles this week, Judd Apatow, king and creator of the movie shlubby dude character, tried to defend his viewpoints.

"So when someone says Knocked Up seems sexist, I'm like, ‘Really?' I mean, Seth [Rogen] has an earthquake, and he grabs his bong before his pregnant girlfriend. That's pretty bad. But I try to weigh it evenly so it's not really about men or women; it's just about miscommunications and us at our worst. Because people at their best I don't really want to watch in entertainment. I don't really want to watch mature people or smart people or people who do the right thing."
I could really argue all day with him on this stuff. After all Dan from Roseanne was a chubby hubby with a lot to deal with but you never saw him degrade his wife or take off for Vegas lapdances ...... and that show was funny.

Apatow goes on to talk about the criticism that Katherine Heigl's character was too good for Seth Rogen's in Knocked Up.
"Isn't that the code? 'Shiksa goddess shouldn't be near the Jews?' Diane Keaton was pretty cute. How did Woody Allen get her? I have my own shiksa goddess."
Oh boy, Judd. I wonder if he knows how creepy that last part sounds. I think he's missing the point that Heigl's character was motivated with a great job and Rogen's character is chronically unemployed, unmotivated, asks for b.j.s at inappropriate moments, and runs a soft core porn website when he gets around to it. Knocked Up sort of bummed me out in the way that Seth Rogen is actually a really funny guy whose been writing amazing scripts since he was a teenager but the way they designed his character there just wasn't a whole lot to love.

While TV seems to have some decent roles for women these days it's been making many of its men into completely one sided pigs. Its not just women that need decent characters to identify with and admire, television owes us some decent men so guys can have some pride again and so us girls don't have to live in fear of marrying the According To Jim guy. If Judd Apatow thinks that wouldn't be funny then he's just not that good of a writer, he needs to go back to Freaks and Geeks and re-learn his lesson.


So now, my three current crushes of TV(and well sort of radio). Sorry they aren't fictional but the best stuff is real of course.

Jon Stewart - Jon Stewart made me get Cable. Along with Rachel Maddow he makes me not want to leave the country. Jon Stewart is incredibly smart and when he does his little giggles and faces I feel like I'm in homeroom and we have an inside joke.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Vice Presidential Common Man-Off
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Steven Colbert
Really though Jon was just my gateway drug to Steven. They remind me of that old quote about Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Steven can do anything Jon can do but backwards and in heels.
You may think I'm joking about this crush but for a while I had an itunes subscription to his show and it made me start dreaming about him. I dreamt I was outside his house trying to spy on him and the girl he left me for. Creepy.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Tip/Wag - Cynthia Davis & Fox News
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Mark Sanford

Ira Glass
Ira Glass has a TV show now so I'm allowed to count him. Mostly though I listen to his old podcasts of This American Life. I first started liking Ira when I heard that he watched The O.C. and that he flipped out when my fictional crush Seth Cohen name dropped him on one of their episodes.
If you spend enough time with his voice you get really attached. We talked about it one day at work and this girl I work with was like "Yea, I'd make out with Ira Glass". I understand how she feels, I actually get jealous when he talks about his wife. I want to sit around and tell him all the quirky This American Lifey stories that have happened to me. Also fun fact : Ira and Philip Glass are cousins.

Late Show Ira Glass
by sporkythespaz

While they aren't exactly role models I'm just gonna throw this graphic in for fun.

Bloggity Blog Blog

Alexandra Gorczynski made another amazing video! Check out more of her stuff over at Hologram City.


Also Logan White has started a great blog called Psychic Sunset that explores women artists with a really awesome concentration on being your own muse. Sisters are doin it for themselves! You can also check out Logan's art here : http://www.loganwhitephoto.com/

Ye Ole Crones of Hollywood

Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Christina Applegate, Jane Krakowski, Mary Louise Parker, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. I believe this video has something to do with them being up for Emmys. In this clip the gals discuss getting older, playing moms to actors who are 8 years younger than them, magazine covers, and hoping they get to play the hag next door.

Are You There Chelsea, Its Me Vodka

Chelsea please write another book because I have very long work days and need more books on tape.
Here Margaret Cho visits the Chelsea Lately show. Its cool how well they vibe, cause when Chelsea doesn't like her guests its pretty obvious.


Here is an ad for Chelsea's Battercise Workout. Who hasn't had this boss?

Its Pat ( Buchanan) and other 100% Unhelpful Bullshit

Recently while on the Rachel Maddow Show, the ever disgusting Pat Buchanan made this comment in reference to Sonia Sotomayor, who he claims is an affirmative action candidate :

Pat Buchanan: “White men were 100 percent of the people that wrote the Constitution, 100 percent of the people who signed the Declaration of Independence, 100 percent of the people who died at Gettysburg and Vicksburg, probably close to 100 percent of the people who died at Normandy. This has been a country built, basically, by white folks.”

If I was Rachel Maddow I probably would have just bitch slapped him but luckily I'm not and she posted this great response in order to "correct mis-information aired on her show".

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

She doesn't even cover The Navajo Code Talkers without which World War Two would not have gone our way.

Also on this topic - Harvard professor and one of the most prominent African American Scholars, Henry Louis Gates Jr, was arrested this week when trying to pry open his own door which had been jammed. He was arrested after giving proof of residence. Gates has accused the Cambridge police of racial profiling. Its kind of amazing to think about how this happened in one of the most liberal states in our country, imagine the situation everywhere else.
For a time I worked at a job going door to door for a political party and I never had any problem getting people to open doors to me. I realized that being a young blond girl in a nice winter jacket made people much more concerned for my safety than theirs. Yet one of the guys I worked with, who was Jamaican, would have the cops called on him repeatedly. There were evenings we ended early because so many people had called the cops. When Henry Louis Gates Jr. is arrested going into his own house it just shows that there is no escaping this. No matter your income or prestige you will never escape racism. It reminds me of the old stunt Michael Moore set up where he had Denzel Washington trying to hail a cab in New York and very few cabs stopped.
Luckily Obama did actually acknowledge the situation in a speech the other day and said the Cambridge police acted "stupidly". A lot of news sources are saying that was unprofessional wording but I'm not sure I've ever felt happier about something he's said. Most presidents would say they don't know all the details so they can't really comment but luckily times are changing - even if its a little too slow for me.

Alexkyss K Taylor Explains It All

Alexkyss K Taylor is the host of her own local access sex advice tv show. Her show will make you blush, squirm, and repeat her catch phrases for the rest of your life. Perhaps that's why her show, Vagina Power, has become such a youtube sensation. You watch it in a joking ironic way and then end up thinking she's on to something with her "penis addiction" segments which you email to all your friends who should have dumped their boyfriends years ago.
Disclaimer: These are not safe for work,,,,unless your work environment is well, my work environment. And also, Dad if you're reading this, move on to that next post about roller derby girls.

Anyhow, here's Alexkyss explaining when you're mens a ho who wears jewelry and yet has a magic penis.


Here's some more on penis addiction......and how sometimes 'dick'll make you slap somebody".


This clip is actually safe I think. Its from The Soup and adorable Joel McHale blushes as Alexkyss explains having a noose on your nuts. Its the Halloween episode (hence that crazy hat) and she explains guys rationing dick just like government cheese.

Babe Ruthless

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It has just released its trailer. The movie stars Ellen Page who is sort of a polarizing 'love her or hate her' kinda gal. I'm generally a fan cause I like that she wears flannels and well she probably wears underwear too which is a rare thing in Hollywood.

Anyhow, the supporting cast is pretty much all my favorite females...Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Eve, and the amazing Zoe Bell. Not to mention Drew Barrymore, Marcia Gay Harden, Jimmy Fallon, and 'the other Wilson brother' Andrew Wilson who I loved as Beef Supreme in Idiocracy. The trailer ends with Andrew Wilson, the coach, telling the girls to celebrate mediocrity, which in a world that insists we be both Jenna Jameson and Mother Theresa (basically Angelina Jolie) - well I'm just gonna say that mediocrity doesn't seem like that bad of message. After all they're having fun. All two of the roller derby girls I've ever known have been pretty awesome. I hope this movie does well, because it looks to have a decent message - no terrorist brides or shopaholic shells of human beings. Whip it....whip it good!

Tina and the Tom Toms

Tina Weymouth was the first famous person I ever met. I was a freshman at RISD and I believe I just said
"I think you are really cool."
She sort of looked at me with a look of boredom, I don't blame her.
I have always played it cool with celebrities after that.
This live version of The Tom Tom Club's "Genius of Love" was my favorite song in 12th grade. Its in the middle of a Talking Heads concert when they 'change into' the Tom Tom Club for one song. Tina Weymouth rocks on it.

play in in HQ so you can learn those dance moves

Sex In The Midwest

The Midwest Teen Sex Show is surprising designed to actually be not just informative for teens but pretty funny as well. They even made an episode about all the freaked out mail they've been getting from parents who didn't think the show was appropriate. However, lucky for all of us Comedy Central just signed The Midwest Teen Sex Show on for next season....I hope they manage to keep it as funny and open minded as the online podcast.
Also thanks to the new blog FBomb(made by some awesome teens) for introducing me to this great show.


Gym Class
I love how the guy giving health advice is drinking a beer.




BreakUps




The Older Boyfriend

Independent Cliche

The indie teen comedy/romantic barf fest is now officially so formuliac that its really easy to make fun of it. Quirky hand drawn graphics and names of bands and you're on your way....

The Current TV "Ode to the Indie" by Brett and Ellen really encapsulates it :


And this funny video with Alicia Silverstone and Alanis Morissette really zones in on the indie road trip genre:

My Mother's Red Hat w/Alicia Silverstone & Alanis Morissette from Alicia Silverstone

Preach It Jimmy

Jimmy Carter is sort of known for getting more done after being president than while in office. So hopefully his new step of severing his ties to the Southern Baptist Convention will bring some much needed notice and change to the way religion tends to marginalize and criminalize women.

Jimmy says in his article in The Guardian: "It was, however, an unavoidable decision when the convention's leaders, quoting a few carefully selected Bible verses and claiming that Eve was created second to Adam and was responsible for original sin, ordained that women must be "subservient" to their husbands and prohibited from serving as deacons, pastors or chaplains in the military service. This was in conflict with my belief - confirmed in the holy scriptures - that we are all equal in the eyes of God.

Jezebel.com pointed out a group called The Elders (which includes Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt, Mary Robinson, Desmond Tutu, Gro Brundtland, Lakhdar Brahimi, Graca Machel, Aung San Suu Kyi, Muhammad Yunus, and honorary elder Nelson Mandela) have currently made it their calling to focus on women's rights with a concentration on religion and tradition. It's impressive that they chose those two pillars since they're possibly the hardest ones to move.

Assata!

This is a groovy video of Assata Shakur, an activist, escaped convict, Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member (and yes Tupac's step-aunt). You can read about Assata on her very active website, or wikipedia, or in her autobiography. I highly recommend all three. Assata didn't shy away from controversy, consistently active with the Black Panthers, BLA, and Republic of New Africa, she eventually became the center of a multi-state manhunt. In 1977 a shootout on the New Jersey turnpike left a trooper and a BLA member dead and Assata and another trooper with near fatal gun wounds . Between 1973 and 1977 she had been charged with but found not guilty of murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping but all cases were acquitted or dismissed. While awaiting trial for the NJ Turnpike shootout three BLA members busted her out of jail with a few .45s and a commandeered prison van. Assata hid out in the U.S. till 1984 when she fled to Cuba where she still has asylum.

Jennifer's Body

I've been waiting for a while for this trailer and it does not disappoint.
So many good one liners!

Anthem

When I was in high school I was lucky enough to have the Sundance channel to come home to after school. One movie that always stuck with me was a documentary made in 1997 by two 26 year old girls who took to the road with some video cameras and a laptop to explore the concept of the American dream. I remember being impressed with the range of those they interviewed...scholars, politicians, musicians, writers, the kid at the gas station...
The two girls, Shainee Gabel and Kristen Hahn managed to interview Robert Redford, Michael Stipe, Studs Terkel, Winona LaDuke, George McGovern, Willie Nelson, Geraldine Ferraro, Hunter S. Thompson, John Waters, George Stephanopoulos, Chuck D., Tom Robbins, Krist Novoselic and so many more. Here are a few highlights:

Talks Slow, Thinks Fast

Well finally. Daria is going to be released on DVD in 2010. Welcome back Daria, Jane, Trent, lasagna, Sick Sad World, and Mystik Spiral!

In celebration here is the original Daria, teaching Beavis and Butthead some science, before she had her own show.