Something pretty damn insane just happened.
So, I read Ken Levine's blog. He's a writer/director, most known for M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, and I dunno, some other cool shows. His blog is great. A few days ago he wrote a post about The Social Network-- I commented, for the first time ever, agreeing that it was a great movie but echoing the comments I wrote in my last entry about how I wished the women were better portrayed.
Well, I checked his blog today, as I usually do, and... here's where the exclamation points come in.
AARON SORKIN HIMSELF WROTE A RESPONSE TO ME!!!!!!!!!!! TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Through Ken's blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ken even copied my full comment! I feel a little embarrassed that I was basically criticizing something about Aaron's movie (especially since I am a HUGE fan of The West Wing and even Studio 60), but he was totally cool about it and thus yet no one has bashed me too hard in the comments or anything so my psyche remains intact Anyway, the link is here! Aaugh!
I am Tarazza, obviously. I commented (which is embarrassingly lengthy), hopefully I don't sound too stupid or star-struck*. To be honest I didn't have much to add to the debate since I haven't really changed my opinion on how the women are portrayed, so mostly I just commented on how I worship both Ken and Aaron Sorkin. Ah well. I can't be brilliant all the time.
Anyway, Aaron Sorkin = total class act.
*Even though I am, in fact, pretty star-struck.
~
Monday, October 11, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
tivovovovovovovovo
Because sometimes you have something you need to say, but you can't because the words won't come out, or you get scared, or you feel stupid. But if you could write a song and sing it, then you could say what needed to say, and it would be beautiful, and people would listen, and you wouldn't make a complete idiot out of yourself. But all of us can't be song writers, so some of us will never get the chance to say what we're thinking, or what we want other people to know that we're thinking, so we'll never get the chance to make things right again ever... So give this guy a license!
~ Rory Gilmore
On Monday night, my friend Johanna and I put on our hipster caps and headed off to the Bijou theatre to see the decided non-hipster documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty, which, if you can find it, is so worth a watch. It documented the era of Disney when they had just about given up on animation/movies at all, and the Nine Old Men were on their way out, to their major comeback with movies like The Little Mermaid through The Lion King. Essentially, the years 1984-1994. The politics behind the scenes were details, and holy crap. Really fascinating. Also, there were lots of great shots of the animators working and things like Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury recording "Be Our Guest" (auuugh!). The best parts were the ones featuring Howard Ashman, who was obviously a really amazing person but was even more opinionated and involved in the stories of the films he worked on than I realized. What a cool guy. Just bring some tissues, because when he dies, if you're anything like me you'll cry like a baby.
I've been enjoying the new TV season, and found some new shows that I enjoy. Some of them ($#!* My Dad Says, Outsourced) I really just began watching out of curiosity and so I could say I've seen an episode, and some I started but quickly dropped when I couldn't force myself to feign interest again (Hawaii Five-O).
So far my favorite of the new shows is The Whole Truth. Perhaps the concept will wear thin, but thus far I'm quite intrigued by learning what really happens only after the jury has delivered the verdict.
HIMYM has not yet redeemed itself of last year's catostrophically terrible season, but it's been a step up so far.
You know what totally gets my vote for the best start to the New TV Season? Law and Order: SVU. Freakin' BLOWING ME AWAY this season. (Oh, and Medium kicks ass too, but the only other person I know that watches it is my mom.)
For the record, shows I'm watching (* indicates new show) are:
Sunday
Desperate Housewives
Monday
HIMYM
Mike & Molly*
Hawaii Five-O* (dropped)
The Event* (dropped)
Castle (saving for later)
House (saving for later)
Tuesday
Glee
Raising Hope*
Running Wilde*
The Good Wife (saving for later)
Wednesday
The Middle
Better With You*
Modern Family
Cougar Town
Law & Order: SVU
The Whole Truth*
Undercovers* (saving for later)
Thursday
Grey’s Anatomy
Private Practice
Community
The Office
30 Rock
Outsourced* (dropped)
$#!* My Dad Says*
The Big Bang Theory
Friday
Blue Bloods* (saving for later)
Medium
Not counting the shows I'm saving for later (obviously), that equals out to 14 hours of TV a week, which I don't really think is so bad since that's about two hours a day on average. It's still more time than I spend reading, though, so I need to work on that.
Because I'm a nerd, I just figured out how much TV that is considering I skip commercial breaks.
7 hour long shows @ 43 minutes each = 300 mins
13 half-hour shows @ 23 minutes each = 201 mins
= 600 mins / 60 mins = 10 hours
So really, ten hours a week? That's not that bad, right?
~
~ Rory Gilmore
On Monday night, my friend Johanna and I put on our hipster caps and headed off to the Bijou theatre to see the decided non-hipster documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty, which, if you can find it, is so worth a watch. It documented the era of Disney when they had just about given up on animation/movies at all, and the Nine Old Men were on their way out, to their major comeback with movies like The Little Mermaid through The Lion King. Essentially, the years 1984-1994. The politics behind the scenes were details, and holy crap. Really fascinating. Also, there were lots of great shots of the animators working and things like Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury recording "Be Our Guest" (auuugh!). The best parts were the ones featuring Howard Ashman, who was obviously a really amazing person but was even more opinionated and involved in the stories of the films he worked on than I realized. What a cool guy. Just bring some tissues, because when he dies, if you're anything like me you'll cry like a baby.
I've been enjoying the new TV season, and found some new shows that I enjoy. Some of them ($#!* My Dad Says, Outsourced) I really just began watching out of curiosity and so I could say I've seen an episode, and some I started but quickly dropped when I couldn't force myself to feign interest again (Hawaii Five-O).
So far my favorite of the new shows is The Whole Truth. Perhaps the concept will wear thin, but thus far I'm quite intrigued by learning what really happens only after the jury has delivered the verdict.
HIMYM has not yet redeemed itself of last year's catostrophically terrible season, but it's been a step up so far.
You know what totally gets my vote for the best start to the New TV Season? Law and Order: SVU. Freakin' BLOWING ME AWAY this season. (Oh, and Medium kicks ass too, but the only other person I know that watches it is my mom.)
For the record, shows I'm watching (* indicates new show) are:
Sunday
Desperate Housewives
Monday
HIMYM
Mike & Molly*
Hawaii Five-O* (dropped)
The Event* (dropped)
Castle (saving for later)
House (saving for later)
Tuesday
Glee
Raising Hope*
Running Wilde*
The Good Wife (saving for later)
Wednesday
The Middle
Better With You*
Modern Family
Cougar Town
Law & Order: SVU
The Whole Truth*
Undercovers* (saving for later)
Thursday
Grey’s Anatomy
Private Practice
Community
The Office
30 Rock
Outsourced* (dropped)
$#!* My Dad Says*
The Big Bang Theory
Friday
Blue Bloods* (saving for later)
Medium
Not counting the shows I'm saving for later (obviously), that equals out to 14 hours of TV a week, which I don't really think is so bad since that's about two hours a day on average. It's still more time than I spend reading, though, so I need to work on that.
Because I'm a nerd, I just figured out how much TV that is considering I skip commercial breaks.
7 hour long shows @ 43 minutes each = 300 mins
13 half-hour shows @ 23 minutes each = 201 mins
= 600 mins / 60 mins = 10 hours
So really, ten hours a week? That's not that bad, right?
~
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
cool chicks, bad writing
Regarding women in The Social Network and other films.
No spoilers, except for a very minor one for Get Him to the Greek, I promise.
I previously posted that I really enjoyed The Social Network. And that's true, I did, and I highly recommend seeing it, particularly if you recall those days when Facebook was all about the exclusivity (ie, only students at certain colleges could join). But I did have one complaint about the film, and it's analyzed very well in this article. (Read it! Actually, go see the movie, then read it.)
The women. There are very few-- only one or possibly two that I can really think of-- who are portrayed as more than idiotic groupies or sex objects or crazy bitches. (Mark's girlfriend in the opening scene may also be an exception, but it's hardly a shining example due to what happens next).
I find this bothering me more and more as I get older, especially when I look at things through my boyfriend's eyes, because I don't think it really occurs to a lot of men (please note, not all men) to necessarily come away from a movie saying, "Wow, there sure weren't many women in this movie" or "wow, they sure didn't write very strong female characters in this movie," etc. And I don't think it's just a woman's job to think about (or write about) these things.
The most actually offended I've recently been at a movie was Get Him to the Greek. Parts of it were funny and even bordered on touching, but I came away being a bit grossed out about, well, the gross-out bits, and a bit disgusted by the women. They mainly existed to take off their clothes (oh yes, plenty of nudity there), have sex with the lead male characters, and be crazy and moronic. The one exception was Jonah Hill's character's girlfriend, aka the always-great Elisabeth Moss-- but even she was ill-treated considering she was a smart (a doctor, no less!), pretty girl paired up with an idiotic, nasty dude (naturally his gross-ness is played up for comedy, including the shot of his naked backside-- definitely not sexy, definitely intended for laughs)-- who cheats on her and is instantly forgiven. Not to mention that at the end-- spoiler alert-- she agrees to a threesome with the two [male] leads.
Ick.
Plenty of movies exist out there with strong, smart, funny female leads. A prime example at the moment is Olive in Easy A (though there is the irony of the fact that everyone believes her to be a slut-- still, we the audience know better).
Of course, we could talk all day about the fact that Emma Stone is gorgeous and appears in what amounts to lingerie throughout the entire movie, but then, that's the point, of course. It's both there to draw people (men) in to the box office, and there because it's ironic. Either way, Olive is still a fantastic female character.
I just wish that all movies, not just the ones with a special interest in a woman's perspective, would take such care in illustrating awesome women and girls.
~
No spoilers, except for a very minor one for Get Him to the Greek, I promise.
I previously posted that I really enjoyed The Social Network. And that's true, I did, and I highly recommend seeing it, particularly if you recall those days when Facebook was all about the exclusivity (ie, only students at certain colleges could join). But I did have one complaint about the film, and it's analyzed very well in this article. (Read it! Actually, go see the movie, then read it.)
The women. There are very few-- only one or possibly two that I can really think of-- who are portrayed as more than idiotic groupies or sex objects or crazy bitches. (Mark's girlfriend in the opening scene may also be an exception, but it's hardly a shining example due to what happens next).
I find this bothering me more and more as I get older, especially when I look at things through my boyfriend's eyes, because I don't think it really occurs to a lot of men (please note, not all men) to necessarily come away from a movie saying, "Wow, there sure weren't many women in this movie" or "wow, they sure didn't write very strong female characters in this movie," etc. And I don't think it's just a woman's job to think about (or write about) these things.
The most actually offended I've recently been at a movie was Get Him to the Greek. Parts of it were funny and even bordered on touching, but I came away being a bit grossed out about, well, the gross-out bits, and a bit disgusted by the women. They mainly existed to take off their clothes (oh yes, plenty of nudity there), have sex with the lead male characters, and be crazy and moronic. The one exception was Jonah Hill's character's girlfriend, aka the always-great Elisabeth Moss-- but even she was ill-treated considering she was a smart (a doctor, no less!), pretty girl paired up with an idiotic, nasty dude (naturally his gross-ness is played up for comedy, including the shot of his naked backside-- definitely not sexy, definitely intended for laughs)-- who cheats on her and is instantly forgiven. Not to mention that at the end-- spoiler alert-- she agrees to a threesome with the two [male] leads.
Ick.
Plenty of movies exist out there with strong, smart, funny female leads. A prime example at the moment is Olive in Easy A (though there is the irony of the fact that everyone believes her to be a slut-- still, we the audience know better).
Of course, we could talk all day about the fact that Emma Stone is gorgeous and appears in what amounts to lingerie throughout the entire movie, but then, that's the point, of course. It's both there to draw people (men) in to the box office, and there because it's ironic. Either way, Olive is still a fantastic female character.
I just wish that all movies, not just the ones with a special interest in a woman's perspective, would take such care in illustrating awesome women and girls.
~
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