These past few days have been very busy hence the little blogging. My parents were in town, so we spent a lot of time with them. On Friday night, we attempted to introduce my mother’s puppy Lily and one of the cats. That didn’t work out so well. It involved barking and hissing and a quick separation.

On Saturday, my husband and I headed to the Natural History Museum because I really wanted to see the H2O exhibit. Well, we stood in a line to only learn that it was sold old. I had NO idea that you had to buy separate tickets for it.

Our conversation with the ticket seller:

Him: its sold out.

Husband: well, can we buy tickets for tomorrow?

Him: Um, you have to buy it on the computer. I can’t sell you advance tickets.
Husband: So we have to go home to buy tickets.

Him: On a computer.

Our cat Andy checking out the H2O exhibit website.

Yeah…so we went and stood in another line to buy tickets to see a movie at the planetarium but it was $44.00 for both of us to see to watch a half hour movie. This is why I get easily frustrated in NYC–everything is so expensive.So we decided not to do that and go to the New York Historical Society down the street which was so much less hassle. Both of our tickets were $10 to see all of the exhibits. There was a very emotional exhibit about September 11th which contained pictures from that day. After that we went to view some of their permanent collection which they have arranged in a unique way.

A description of the Luce Center:

Innovative in its design, the Luce Center safely houses and makes accessible more than 40,000 objects - representing museum collections amassed over 200 years - previously in offsite storage. Paintings, sculpture, furniture, tools for home and trade, Tiffany lamps, textiles, metals, ceramics and glass are displayed in visible storage, offering a unique behind-the-scenes museum experience for the visitor. via

I had a lot of fun telling my husband about my days researching in the archives while we walked through the collection. However, toward the end we saw a little boy climbing a carriage that was an official part of the exhibit. At first, we assumed his parents would come up and stop him. But they came up and encouraged him to climb ALL OVER it. I was shocked, as it was obviously “hands off” and kept behind a display rope. Finally, I decided to find a security guard and tell him, as I could not stand by and watch a piece of history be possibly destroyed.

Saturday evening, we went to a wedding of my old childhood friend. It was a beautiful traditional Jewish wedding. The ceremony and reception were very classy and elegantly understated. And there was even a choreographed dance number! The wedding made me think a lot about people I have lost touch with over the years as well as a chance to reflect upon my own marriage.

Sunday, we hung around the house, and we went to see No Country for Old Men which I really liked until the very end. I hate it when movies have no ounce of closure what so ever. Of course, I watched some of the South Carolina primary coverage but I’ll write about that later.

-Ms. Rose

I saw the movie Juno and have a post to write!

Some article’s on Juno’s portayal of abortion:

A’ not OK: Current U.S. films avoid abortion option offers a close look at the three big pregnancy films this year: Waitress, Knocked Up and Juno. This article provides an in depth look and timelines of how abortion has been shown in films like Dirty Dancing and beyond.

The L Magazine’s I saw Juno Last Night and it Made Me Really Mad is quick to get the real point of it all with this one line: “Um, how come she and her sorta-boyfriend didn’t just use a condom?” This post gets into the real nitty gritty details of the film’s relationship with abortion, safe sex (or lack there or), and all other relevant details.

Entertainment Weekly columnist Lisa Schwarzbaum wishes Juno spent a bit more time on question of to have or not to have the abortion.

The NYTimes claims that Juno and Knocked aren’t anti-abortion they just follow a young woman on a certain path that includes not having an abortion. (Emphasis mine.)

Hollywood’s Got a Case of Baby Fever has an excellent point: it is shocking that someone as articulate as Juno has almost nothing to say about the possibility of an abortion. This also shows a HUGE weakness in the overall plot, Juno’s reasoning not to have an abortion is rushed and does not provide a real explanation as to how she reached that decision.

There is also a slew of articles that claim Juno decided not to have the abortion because of a singular protester outside of the clinic in the film. Um, I didn’t walk away with that feeling at all after seeing the movie.

MY TWO CENTS: The role of the parents in this film was completely unrealistic. They’re upset with her for a minute and then they get over it. The stepmom briefly brings up abortion but then dismisses it when Juno does. The boyfriend doesn’t even broach the subject. What’s going on here? I think what this film offers is a decent look at the OTHER great option: adoption. BUT to have little to zero open and honest discussion of ALL of the options is irresponsible. If you’re going to take on the topic of an unplanned TEENAGE pregnancy like Diablo Cody did, you need to offer the full story. The full story is that people are not only having abortions BUT TALKING ABOUT IT. On the reverse, out of Waitress, Knocked Up, and Juno, this is the only film that even entertains that thought. It’s funny the 16 year old has a more thought out plan than the married woman and career woman in the other films. Ultimately, Juno was a cutesy movie in the vein of films like Garden State with pregnancy as the back drop to a romance story instead of a funeral.

(1) Prez hopeful Romney is finally going to address the ISSUE at hand!

Trying to save his presidential campaign from an Iowa swoon, Republican Mitt Romney on Thursday will take on the issue of his Mormon faith by stressing America’s tradition of religious tolerance.

Romney is to make remarks at the presidential library of former President George H.W. Bush in College Station, Texas, not far up the road from Houston, where Democratic candidate John Kennedy in 1960 used a speech to ease concerns about his Catholic faith and went on to win the presidency.

I love how everyone is so quick to compare him to Kennedy on the religion issue and obviously his PR team is doing some great work by having him give this speech in Texas, at a presidential library to boot. But here is what I don’t understand, the complete disregard (on the side of the media) to weigh in on differences between Catholicism and Mormonism. The first one being that Catholicism is a VERY, VERY old religion and well Mormonism hasn’t even hit its second centennial (is there a better way to write that?)

I’ll be looking into that news story tomorrow!

(2) What is going on with beauty pageants?

Miss LA gets told she ain’t Miss California THEN has to call the actual winner and tell her. 

And then the whole pepper spray incident… 

Maybe this is the universe’s way of telling us that there is more to life than winning beauty contests. I am so a feminist!

Today in “way back when” I listened to Veruca Salt, a band I listened to a lot when I was 12 and 13. I drove up to Albany for this here conference. I kept trying to find the NPR station but I couldn’t find the proper one, so I gave up and popped in the CD.

As soon as I opened the CD case and saw the purple V on the CD I was taken right back to middle school. I was so cool in middle school, at least compared to high school when I was busy sucking up the various english teachers while editing the newspaper and lit. mag. (I really wanted to quit the newspaper and focus on the lit. mag but alas.) So, I blasted Veruca Salt in my rental car in the drive up from NYC. Listening to them made me remember how awesome women rocker were in the 1990s like Courtney Love and Kim Gordon, who was/is awesome before the 1990s and still is.

I can’t really think of any contemporary women beside one of my other favorites, the Dixie Chicks, that compare with bands like Veruca Salt.

They’re awesome. I wish they would make a big comeback and inspire some more kick ass music which were in desperate need of!

It’s been a year since I first started blogging here. I thought about doing a recap of the last year but I think I’ll save that for another time.

Instead, I want to write about a movie I saw this weekend, My Super Ex-Girlfriend. From the beginning of this film, I started tot think about the representations of female super heroes we have in Western culture. There is Super Woman, Bat Woman, Wonder Woman, Shera Princess of Power and a few others. All of these super hero(ines) are seen in short skirts and high-heeled boots.

While these images are not realistic, neither is the idea of a super hero. My Super Ex-Girlfriend doesn’t disappoint in the unrealistic department. The film was funny in moments but what I found disturbing was the story behind the transformation of a normal adolescent to a super powered heroine. Uma Thurman plays G-Girl, a young woman who gained super powers when an asteroid hit the Earth. During the flashback of G-Girl gaining her power, she goes from thin, ungainly brunette to a busty, curvy blonde. That’s right as soon as you become a super hero, you get a sexier body. Or at least “sexy” as defined by Western traditions.

My first thought was how “sexist and typical” but then I started to think about how many young women go through that alteration every day by changing their looks through a bottle of dye or surgery. There are a lot of TV shows that revolve around these sorts of transformations. Are they sexist? Probably. But is also natural to doubt one’s appearance and wish to change it. It seems to be the means one goes through to change one’s appearance that defines whether the change is extreme. Is there a major distinction between a young woman getting highlights or getting a new set of breasts? Yes, I believe there is but I don’t think the thinking process behind the action is that different.

In the movie, Uma Thurman plays a neurotic woman looking to hold on to her man. What is funny about this film is that it abandons past stereotypes about super heroes being pillars of the society and using their powers for good only. Unfortunately, G-Girl uses her powers to scare her ex boyfriend after he broke up with her. She is also written as a crazy sex fiend who likes to use her super powers in the bedroom which in turn emasculates her boyfriend. This emasculation is, of course, used for laughs in the film. But it gets old when once the viewer realizes it’s a plot device that been used before.

As far as your average Luke Wilson romantic comedy, My Super Ex-Girlfriend is standard. What I don’t get is why Uma Thurman would agree to be in this. She usually makes pretty smart movies. It does bring up some valid issues about the unfortunate ways women and their desires are portrayed.

I hope the next film that features a super heroine is more intelligent and does not rely on old tricks and gender conventions and stereotypes to tell its story.

My husband and I went to see Laurel Thatcher Ulrich at the Tenement Museum in New York. He bought me her new book which I, of course, had autographed.

There was some very intriguing points made:

• Idealization of women in the past. Having to live up to those who came before us.
• Public records, such as a census, determining and informing what history is.
• History is not created by action alone.

• Feminist activism made women’s history as a field of scholarship possible.

Professor Ulrich also shared the panel with Deborah Siegel of Girl with Pen and Pamela Thompson who wrote Every Past Thing (Great video link here too.) It was a great talk that I really appreciated, having been out of academia for awhile. Also, I am reading Siegel’s book Sisterhood Interrupted. Such a resource! I wish I had this when I was writing my MA thesis about women’s history as an academic field and its relationship to women’s studies!

This weekend I saw Eastern Promises and Elizabeth, The Golden Age.

Eastern Promises was beyond violent. I thought I was accustomed to violence on the big screen. WRONG! I have never seen such graphic displays of violence…against men. And a baby came thisclose to being killed but she was saved at the last minute. I am not calling for violence against women in film, TV or any other sort of media BUT it is unrealistic to have no violence against women. I am obliged to mention that a rape involving several of the characters occurred before the actual film took place, but that doesn’t count in my eyes.

The acting was superb as usual with this bunch (Viggo et al.). But the film did play into the whole good girl/bad girl dynamic. Prostitute dies because she’s a prostitute. Blonde, virginal looking woman lives despite hanging out with the Russian mob. And the whole Virgin Birth idea plays out when the blonde gets to raise the dead prostitute’s baby. Oh how I love a happy Hollywood ending.

The audience during this film was oh so pleasant! There was a woman in the front row who kept chatting on her cell phone at top volume. Two other audience members actually got up out of their rows, walked down to her and told her to shut up. This happened two seperate times. Then there were the ladies behind me who cooed loudly whenever the baby was on screen. Like they’ve never seen a baby before.

And speaking of virgins…I saw Elizabeth, The Golden Age. Senior year of high school, I was obsessed with the first movie and Joseph Fiennes. I tortured my college roomates with a poster of Joseph Fiennes from the Elizabeth film, with the word

LOVER in huge capital letters, above or below his face. One of roomates said it bothered her. She later moved out of our room leaving our other roomate and I to our shenanigans.

Not the poster I had, but a pic none the less.

OK OFF TOPIC! I loved everything about this film except the ending which involved another baby. All the reviews said it was over the top, but wasn’t the first one? I also did feel as though the filmakers were trying to show a cautionary tale of what happens when one has too much power. Of course, our heroine does everything right in the end and atones for all of her prior mistakes. Cate Blanchett rocks!

We did have a lovely couple next to us and who spent the whole film mucning loudly on their popcorn. Halfway through the film, I thought about asking if I could have any but I didn’t. Because I’m polite like that.

OK look out for the random post…

Some things I wanted to mention:

(1) I’m taking a memoir writing class at the Gotham Writer’s Workshop. It’s an online class. Its the first online class I’ve ever taken. I like it so far because its giving me a chance to write memoir, something that I think is beneficial for every writer to be able to do. And by writer I mean journalist, novelist, short storiest (I know not a word), and so forth.

My only problem with it is that I keep forgetting about and I have to assign myself a dozen google reminders to turn in assignments. There is nothing like going to a physical classroom that makes me get my work DONE.

(2) Perhaps this is here nor there. But it simultaneously appalls and amuses me that this exists

From the Coronado Naval base near San Diego, CA.

Full LATimes article about the shenanigans.

(3) This February, I am going with my mom and some of her friends to Patagonia. Yes, its more than a clothing company.

Its the Southern most tip of Argentina and Chile. We’re going for two whole weeks and I’m very, very excited. This means (a) two new countries (b) a new continent (c) an excuse to beef up on my Spanish (d) a chance to learn more about South America in a historical light.

I’ll admit it…I have long been intrigued by The Hills on MTV. The other morning I watched two episodes online. I’m not sure what it is about this show that makes me want to watch it. The soft lighting. The beautiful people with money and no real problems. They don’t do much of anything except sit and drink alcohol, sit and drink coffee, sit and eat and just SIT. They do go to work where they get to talk about their problems.

However, there is this interesting notion at play here, platonic friendship as serious (and perhaps romantic) relationship. On one of the clips I watched, one of the main characters, Heidi, decides against moving in with her boyfriend because she has hit a rough patch with her female best friend and roomate Lauren and wants to work things out with her.

On one of the leadin’s for the show, the voice over says that a guy “broke up” with his best friend after having a fight. Hmmm.

And even wikipedia joins in. A snippet from their page about the character Heidi:

Season two of The Hills (which aired from January through April of 2007) focused on Montag’s relationship with Pratt and its effect on her friendships with Conrad and their friend Audrina Patridge.^[8] On The Hills’ season two finale, Montag moved out of her apartment with steady roommate Conrad to live with Pratt .

I’ve never heard of the term “steady roommate” even in reference to shows like Laverne & Shirley and Friends, where the idea of steady roommate existed. The Hills is an example of how pop culture affects reality. Reality tv is the perfect hybrid of real meets fake, where personality stars thrive.

I know of plenty of friends who live together and then one moves out due to a new relationship, relocation or just because they needed to move on. It’s certainly interesting that The Hills is playing with same gendered friendships as relationships and almost applies a bit of 19th century romantic love ideology to it.

I recently rewatched this season’s first episode. As the big confrontation between ex best friends Lauren and Heidi came up, it seemed as though Lauren was looking at Heidi as a jealous ex lover, not a friendship gone awry. No, I’m not saying they’re in love, but I am saying in this tv show, platonic same sex friendships are the ideal, not having a boyfriend.

So this AM, the husband turned on CNN.  We usually watch this or NY1.  Well, the good ole folks there were discussing Britney’s performance at the VMAs.  The headline question was “Is she fat?” Um hmm what? Seriously???

Well, they interviewed all sorts of people about their opinions on Britney’s BMI and then Tony Harris said something like “get that butt cheese off TV.” He was obviously very embarrassed at himself after saying that.  And so was the whole new room sitting there behind him.

It was an “oops” moment. Hopefully, he won’t do it again.

Oh yes I did!