RIP Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)

"Surely, you can't be serious."
"I am serious. And don't call me Shirley."

How can you not love the person who uttered those words? Like many in my generation, I became familiar with the late Leslie Nielsen after watching his Airplane and Naked Gun movies. I have been a fan of comedies ever since.

What is so amazing about Nielsen is that he was in his 50s when Airplane was being filmed. Prior to this, he had a very impressive resume as a dramatic actor. The success of Airplane and the Naked Gun introduced him to a new genre as well as a new fan base. Thinks about this the next time you catch yourself whining that you are "too old" to learn a new skill or that is "too late" to pursue your dreams. I know I definitely will.

Thanks for the laughs, Mr. Nielsen. You will be missed.

My holiday wish list...

I avoid Black Friday sales like the plague. I never participate because it includes almost everything I hate about life (crowds, traffic, waiting in line, cold weather, getting up early in the morning, etc.) But that does not mean that I am not on the lookout for a good sale, or do not have a couple items that are on my wish list. Santa, if you are out listening, please hook a sista up!!!


Jay-Z: Decoded
Being a lover of all things Jay-Z, I absolutely have to get this book. I also love memoirs (although this technically is not considered a memoir or autobiography) and it has received fantastic reviews. Dream Hampton is an excellent writer so I know she did a fabulous job as well.



Valentino Bag
As part of my "Operation Upgrade" plan, it is imperative that I get my purse game up. I found out about Valentino after looking at a purse forum and I have been in love ever since. The bags are absolutely beautiful and feminine. Look at that bow just adorable!!!



Android
I am not a tech person by any means, and I have never been one to salivate over the next gadget. When I dropped my phone down an elevator chute, I taped it up and continued to use it for months! I also am not a fan of touchscreens and having an actual keyboard is a must. Luckily, Sprint carries a couple of Android phones with a Qwerty keyboard that slides out. Since I am not eligible for an upgrade and I am looking for something that makes it easier to send and receive email and browse the web on the go, it may be the perfect time to pick one of these up.




A Cute Sparkly Dress
With these holiday parties coming up, I know I will need something to wear. I have always wanted a blingy dress with tons of sequins. Fredericks of Hollywood (of all places) actually has a very cute sequin dress for sale on their website.


A Big Cocktail Ring
I absolutely love this ring that Rihanna is wearing. I would love to find an enormous and unusually shaped ring like that. I am also a fan of huge brooches as well.


What are some of the items on your wish list???

Leslie Johnson is a Down Ass Chick, Stuffs 80K in her Panties

SMH.

I guess Jack and Leslie Johnson are the T.I. and Tiny of Prince George's County. There are so many elements of fuckery in this story that it was hard to decide what angle to cover when writing about this. It wasn't long before the details of their arrest began to resemble something out of a Biggie song:

"The charges stem from a frantic phone call on Friday in which Leslie Johnson told her husband that "two women were at the door" and ultimately ended when federal agents found $76,000 in Leslie Johnson's underwear, according to an affidavit in support of the criminal charges.

The pair were taken away in handcuffs separately shortly before 1 p.m. Johnson, wearing a camel-colored suit and white shirt, did not address reporters' questions. The Johnsons made their initial court appearances late Friday and did not enter a plea. A hearing was scheduled for next month.

According to the affidavit, two agents came to the door of the Johnsons' Mitchellville home on Friday morning. At the time, agents were listening to a phone conversation between Leslie Johnson and her husband. Jack Johnson told his wife not to answer the door and told his wife to go into their bedroom to retrieve a check from a developer.

The agents allege it was a $100,000 check given in return for Johnson's support of the developer's project. The developer was not named in the complaint. Jack Johnson is overheard on the recording ordering Leslie Johnson to tear up the check. "Tear it up; that is the only thing you have to do!" according to the affidavit.

Leslie Johnson also asked Jack Johnson whether she should remove cash from the house, and he suggested she put it in her underwear, the affidavit says. Jack Johnson instructed his wife to "put it in your bra and walk out or something. I don't know what to do," according to the document."

Women seriously need to chill with the Ride or Die Chick routine. I do not know much about this case but I find it very telling that Jack Johnson would put his wife in harms way by having her so involved in his alleged criminal activities. Even Biggie had enough sense to "keep your family and business completely separated." No man is worth going to jail over, and if he really gave a damn about you, he wouldn't even put you in that position to begin with. Not to mention putting money in your drawls does not sound very sanitary.

Social Media Fail: GOP Operative Posts Home Addresses of Democratic Staffers on Twitter

Apparently Kat Stacks is running the National Republican Congressional Committee. Enraged over a claim by the Tom Perriello congressional campaign that opponent Robert Hurt's spokeswoman is a carpetbagger, NRCC press secretary Andy Sere decided to retaliate by posting the home addresses of several Perriello staffers on Twitter. Incredibly, the NRCC actually defended this childishness. Sere finally got around to deleting his tweets and a petition is now circulating demanding that he be banned from the social networking site, since posting personal information is in violation of Twitter's terms of Service.

Robert Hurt is not happy about this either. Prior to this stunt, he has been doing so well in the polls that there are rumors going around that the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee considered Perriello a lost cause and was going to focus on funding more winnable races. These latest developments endanger all of that. In politics, going off message for just one second can destroy a campaign.

Unfortunately, Sere's actions are part of the "dark side" of social media. People with a grudge or an ax to grind can make your most personal information instantly available to millions of people. There was a case where a scorned ex-boyfriend posted his ex-girlfriends information in the adult services section of Craigslist. She was beaten and raped shortly after. So before we write off Sere's actions as a lapse in judgment, it is important to keep in mind that there are severe public safety concerns involved. What's interesting is that while the NRCC trolls have no problem blasting others personal information, they go to great lengths to conceal theirs!

Anyone working in politics or activism may want to do the same and have a "shadow address" to protect themselves against this kind of thing in the future.

Tweets of the Week

This has to go down in history as being one of the greatest Tweets ever. Seriously, the Fetishism of Regan must come to an end. But leave it up to RWNJs to turn one of the worst presidents in history into some kind of folk hero.

Don't understand estimate her intelligents: Sarah Palin uses nonexistent word, compares herself to Shakespeare

I will never forgive John McCain for making this idiot famous.

Did someone tell her that there is no such word as refudiate? Doesn't her BB have a spell-check? I was instantly reminded of Mary J. Blige's now infamous "don't understand estimate my intelligents" tweet.

But this is where the similarities between the two end. While Blige thanked the person(s) who corrected her and acknowledged she made an error, Palin insisted that English is a living language that changes over time and that even Shakespeare liked to "coin new words." This tells me everything I need to know about her character. Not only is she incredibly arrogant, but she seems to see lack of "intelligents" as some kind of virtue. And she is not the only one.

My biggest beef with the Right in this country is the rampant anti-intellectualism among its ranks. The funniest thing is that they claim to hate communists and socialists, but they have way more in common with them than they would like to admit. If you go back and research the rise of various authoritarian communist/socialist regimes, you will see that many were rooted in hatred for educated people disguised as populism. During the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, people were killed for actually looking too smart! Hatred of educated people combined with pandering to the "common man" almost always leads to violence, death and loss of freedom. There needs to be a liberal version of Glenn Beck so he can draw with his whiteboard and make these connections. Does anyone know of a black Nation of Islam member who is decent looking, articulate and media savvy? I think we could make a gold mine.

This disdain for educated, intelligent people is why individuals like Sarah Palin are so embraced by the Right. She knows this, so she doubles down on the dumb at every opportunity. I am sure that after her Twitter faux pas, people will embrace her even more. Her lack of grammar skills are seen as endearing. It makes her more folksy and real. And we all know how the Right loves all things real (Real Republicans, Real Conservatives, Real Americans, etc.) I guess they are not familiar with the phrase "when keeping it real goes wrong."

Salt

I am quite excited about this film. I have been a fan of Angelina Jolie for quite some time, so I am always interested in what she is about to do next (even though I must admit I am not feeling her playing Cleopatra, for reasons explained here). Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to seeing her in Salt.

I love the fact the a woman is starring in the movie as an action lead. How cool is it that Angie was able to land a role that was originally written for Tom Cruise? I don't want to hear any Hollywood actresses whining about how hard it is to get work when this chick was able to get a role the was originally for a man and had the whole storyline changed for her! Angie has so much clout that she pretty much calls the shots. One of the reasons that I think she has been so successful is because she has done a good job in picking the right roles. She has always went for the edgy, complicated roles instead of the sentimental and sweet characters you constantly see in romantic comedies. Jezebel elaborates on this further.

Hopefully Salt does well at the box office because if it doesn't then you know you will never see another movie like this again. Male actors can be in flop after flop but if a woman is not successful she is quickly given the ax. Time will tell. Stay tuned for my review!

h/t Women and Hollywood

Would YOU Leave Your Man Alone with Nicki Minaj?

If you're Alicia Keys, the answer to that question is a resounding no.

I must admit, I found this tidbit of gossip to be very comical. The visual of Alicia waddling full speed to the studio to babysit Swizz Beats cracks me up. There is a very good possibly that this story is not even true, but the funny (and sad) part is that it could be. How many women feel the need to watch their man like a hawk, especially when he's around around "scandalous" women?

Of course all this does is reinforce the notion that men are slaves to their penises and it is de evil wimmenz fault for tempting them. Which is of course why everyone has attacked Alicia for "stealing" Swizz away from his first wife, while he received virtually no criticism at all. It is quite funny how women are given so much credit. Maybe someone can pass some of that "evil seductress" magic off on me so that I can put a spell on these poor defenseless men.

Has there been a woman that you didn't want your s/o around? Please share!

"Wife lost baby at 16 wks. Went for surgery & was screamed at by protesters."

When I read this, I get sad and furious at the same time. Just when I think that human beings have completely maxed out on their ability to be truly despicable and evil, I read something this. I don't want to rehash the entire blog post over here, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts as well and didn't want to take up space at the Daddy Files blog by leaving extremely long comments.

I cannot imagine being a woman looking forward to having a baby, only to be told that as a result of a rare genetic disorder, I will give birth to a stillborn child. Then when I try to avoid the horror of a stillbirth and go to a clinic to have surgery, I am accosted, yelled at and heckled by protesters. Yet this is what happened to this man's wife. He confronts this scum and records the encounter. As you can see in the youtube video, this individual really had no real reason or explanation for her atrocious conduct and has the nerve to threaten to call the cops for recording her!

Aaron, the husband and blog hose of The Daddy Files, is completely on target in his assessment:

"Yesterday I discovered just how cowardly these people really are. They didn’t respond to a single one of my arguments. They had no salient points and could only fall back on their rehearsed rhetoric. They could be volunteering in the schools or youth programs to try to fix the problem of teenage pregnancy at it’s core. But they aren’t. Instead they take the coward’s way out, picketing and putting on a shameful public display that, in the end, accomplishes nothing."

That's the thing with misogynists; they are cowards through and through. They have no problem harassing and terrorizing women and girls but when a light is shined on them they quickly scatter like cockroaches. They are used to a young, scared unoccupied woman or teenager who they can bully. What they were not prepared for was the wrath of a furious husband armed with a camera phone. The creature featured in the Youtube video may be female, but she is definitely a misogynist. When I decided to do my series on female misogynists yesterday, I knew nothing about this case. After I got over my disgust, I saw how this creature (I will not refer to her as a woman or human being for that matter) was behaving in typical female misogynist guard dog fashion. Notice how the foot soldiers and water carriers in these movements are usually female.

Aaron's video and blog posts shows the importance of exposing these individuals for the cowards they are. In his post, he noted how no one really confronted these terrorists for their behavior. I believe that shame is a powerful behavior modification tool. If more of these creatures knew that they would be confronted, photographed, put on the internet, they would stop. The reason I chose to do the female misogynist series is to expose the women who hate other women and who serve as guard and attack dogs. While this protester's actions are extreme, there are many other women out there who's actions are no better.

Female Misogynists: Enter Sharron Angle

In the Black community, we have a saying: "All my skin folk ain't all my kin folk."

What that means is that you cannot assume someone is an ally because they share similar superficial characteristics as you. Many times they can be your worst enemy. This phenomenon led Dave Chappelle to create his infamous skit about a fictitious black man named Clayton Bigsby who was a white supremacist.

But this kind of internal strife is not just limited to African Americans. Just like there are Black white supremacists, there are also female misogynists. Similar to the way Black white supremacists gleefully throw other blacks under the bus to curry favor with racist whites, female misogynists have no problem with degrading, betraying or exploiting other women if it will result in the male approval they so desperately crave.

A female misogynist does not want appear to be too partial to other women, so she will go out of her way to develop an anti-woman point of view, to the point where she becomes dangerously male identified. You have probably heard all about right wing lunatic Sharron Angle and her freak show of a campaign for U.S. Senate. Apparently when she is not busy appearing in Scientology videos, demonizing the unemployed, defending BP or homeschooling her son who couldn't pass kindergarten, Mrs. Angle likes to advise child rape victims that their rape was "God's plan" and therefore they must keep their rapist's baby.

There you have it. A female (I refuse to refer to this individual as a woman, or a human being for that matter) views rape and incest as lemons to be made into lemonade. A mere inconvenience. A speed bump on the road of life. No need to make things worse by exercising your right to end your pregnancy, turn that frown upside down! For someone to take such a glib stance on this matter shows an extreme level of callousness to the plight of women and girls who are victims of rape and incest. It also indicates to me that this individual is actively opposed to the very idea of promoting the safety and well being of women and girls. Please don't think for one second that this is about abortion. If someone is nuts enough to think that rape is God's will, can they really be trusted to enact tougher penalties against sexual predators? Maybe if elected she will take a page out of the nutcase from Alaska's playbook and extort money from rape victims in her state.

What both of these individuals have in common is the complete lack of concern for women and girls. I will go even further to say that their world-view is rooted in contempt for other women and girls. Female misogynists in general do not like other women. They see them as competition for the approval of dominant males. It doesn't take a genius to see that Angle and her ilk espouse anti-women views in order to get in good with the male-dominated religious right.

This type of insanity is not limited to crazy politicians. In the next post, I will call out the male-identified women who serve as guard dog for predatory males.

Apparently Wonder Woman Has Been Shopping at the Gap

And she came out with a pair of leggings and a jean jacket!!!

This is such a fail. The iconic symbol of Girl Power has now been reduced to some hipster on her way to Whole Foods. When the drawing of Wonder Woman's makeover became public, the criticism was fast and furious. The blogs have been having a field day. Style maven Kelly Cutrone was not impressed. The debate has even entered the political realm, where conservatives are now attacking Diana Prince's patriotism since she is no longer rocking the starred bloomers (I am not making this up).

But the new look does have its defenders. I have heard some say that the toned-down look will allow her to be taken more seriously as a superhero. I have to say this train of thought bothers me. Why is it that the only way we can be "taken seriously" is for us to cast away our femininity? The Wonder of Wonder Woman was that she was a sex symbol who could still kick your ass.

Head writer J. Michael Straczynski said that he wanted Wonder Woman to look more modern. Has he been paying attention for the last couple of years? It is the era of the leotard. If anything Wonder Woman's old look would have been more timely than ever before. Exhibits A-C:





Pants are so 2006. It' s all about the onesies!!! Let Wonder Woman be great!


Wonder Woman In Pants Is Not A Feminist Win (Jezebel)
Wonder Woman Finally Loses the Bustier (Women and Hollywood)
Wonder Woman's New Comic Book Wardrobe Not Patriotic Enough for Fox News (Media Matters)

BP CEO Tony Hayward is On A Boat

While birds are drowning in oil, BP CEO Tony Hayward is off enjoying a Yacht race. Must be nice. For him to go off and race his $700,000 boat while fisherman in the Gulf risk having their livelihood permanently destroyed is nothing short of vulgar. I am reminded of Condi going shoe shopping and taking in a Broadway play while people in New Orleans and other parts of the Gulf were fighting for their lives.

This latest gaffe is the latest in a series of callous actions that would give Marie Antoinette a run for her money. In addition to lying repeatedly about the extend of the damage the oil spill has caused, he has accused Americans of being more likely to file bogus claims against the company and has whined about "wanting his life back." His people yet again tried to go in damage control mode, defending Hayward's actions by saying that he was spending some much needed time with his family. That would be a nice defense for attending a kid's soccer game. A glitzy yacht race, not so much.

But I guess I should not be too harsh to poor, put-upon Tony Hayward. Or else Rep. Barton will be forced to apologize to him again.

BP chief 'sailing into PR disaster' (Telegraph)

Social Media Fail: Utah Attorney General "Live Tweets" An Execution

A wise cyberfriend once said "Some things aren't meant to be a Facebook status." I would like to amend that to include Twitter.

For some strange reason, Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff thought it was a good idea to give a real time Twitter update of Ronnie Lee Gardner's execution. As if an execution by firing squad was not controversial enough. Attorney General Shurtleff did not stop there, making another Tweet informing his followers that he will be live streaming his press conference at the exact moment of Gardner's death.

Naturally, people were not pleased with Shurtleff's over sharing and used Twitter to voice their outrage. Some defended Shurtleff saying that he is a government official and is obligated to keep the public informed of government business.

What I found interesting was that people for the most part had the same negative reactions about the tweeting regardless of their feelings about the death penalty in general. While it can be argued that social networking sites are just another form of media like TV or radio, my gut doesn't buy that. When I learned about AG Shurtleff's tweets, I had a strong sense that this was going too far. I was also reminded of when reports of a woman live tweeting her abortion ignited a similar firestorm of controversy.

In an age of Google searches, reality television, and sex tapes, is a person's entire life (and death) now to be played out in the public eye? Where do we draw the line?

Utah official gives execution go-ahead, then tweets (Yahoo News)

Bethenny Frankel a Perfect Example of What Women Face When they Dare to Elevate Themselves

Props to Bethenny for having the highest rated premiere in Bravo history. Like 2 million others, I tuned into to the debut of Bethenny Getting Married and I think it is a great show. After seeing the negativity and pettiness displayed in the third season of the Real Housewives of New York City, it was refreshing to see Bethenny enjoying her pregnancy, career and hubby-to-be.

Which brings me to why I decided to write this post. While it was an absolute train-wreck, I think we can learn a great deal from the last season of the NY Housewives. As women, many are deeply invested in our suffering. Unfortunately, many of these people are usually other women. These women simply cannot be happy for other women and deeply threatened by any real or perceived female competition. In addition, women for the most part are assigned roles: the smart one, the funny one, the pretty one, the slutty one, etc. The second a woman dares to step out of this role, people will become upset. Some of these people will be her own family and friends. Which brings me to the Bethenny/Jill fallout.

Jill was happy in her role as "queen bee," and loved having Bethenny as a side-kick. When you are a wealthy, married socialite with an ego problem what could be better than having a sad, lonely, broke misfit around to make you feel better about your own life? I must say, castmate Ramona Singer was right when she said in season two of RHNYC that Jill likes being around Bethenny because she is the "underdog." In fact, while the Bethenny/Jill feud was a pivotal part of the season three storyline, many of the issues that resulted in the demise of their friendship began in season two. The snide remarks, the career sabotage, etc. When Bethenny decided to not play her role as underdog and actively seek for more, Jill could not handle it. Another cast member, Alex McCord, blogged in great detail about some of the vindictive things Jill has done to Bethenny since their friendship has dissolved. I have to say that I am not surprised. I think many of us have or have had these sort of toxic friends in our lives at one point.

Many people feel that Bethenny should have given Jill a chance because Jill was "there for her when she had nothing." I disagree. As a matter of fact I think that people who like to constantly like to remind you where you came from should be cut out of your social circle immediately. How can you grow when you constantly have people telling you how you used to be?

What amazes me the most is how women are totally unprepared for the fallout that WILL happen when they choose to step out of their assigned roles and elevate themselves. Are you preparing yourself for the inevitable hate you will receive as you embark on your own self-empowerment journey?

Mean Girl (Alex McCord)

Is Biting the New Black? The Disappointing Lack of Originality in the Industry

Maybe it is just my age catching up with me but every time I turn on the TV or the radio I get deja vu. Every thing is now a remake, rendition, or rip-off of something else. Is creativity a thing of the past? Is everything old new again?

I know that the common response to these questions is that there is nothing new under the sun, that is is common for artists to play homage to the people who came before them or that remaking a film/TV show is a no-brainer because of the built-in fanbase, but I simply disagree. While borrowing from previous generations is common and to be expected, I see artists imitating other artists that have not even been "gone" that long. I also think that this constant recycling has made Hollywood become lazy and out of ideas. Which brings me to Exhibit A. I remember the first time I saw one of Nicki Minaj's youtube clips, I was shocked at the blatant Lil Kim swaggerjacking. It looked like it wasn't unnoticed by Miss Jones neither, and the two are now beefing big time. And the lack of originality is not just limited to rap. Yesterday I tweeted that Lady Gaga's recent video looks more like a montage of every video Madonna made from 1985-1996. Judge for yourself:











And just when I think that I've had my fill of nostalgia, I read that the remake of The Karate Kid starring Will Smith's son Jaden made a killing at the Box Office. Its competition? A remake of the A-Team. Sheesh.

A Chill Pill and a Cosmopolitan: Why Everyone Outraged Over Sex and the City Needs to Bring It Down A Notch

Who knew that a chick flick could cause such a stir??? The criticism for the sequel of Sex and the City 2 has been down right brutal. This film has been called anti-feminist, anti-Muslim, racist, consumerist, materialistic, unrealistic, a "gay fantasy," vapid, insipid, superficial and my personal favorite, a "Taliban recruitment film." These critics would have you thinking that this movie is the Birth of a Nation of our generation.

I have seen review after review that took the same emotionally charged, self-righteous and downright hostile tone that went far beyond simply not liking the quality of the writing, direction or plot. Not only has the critique of this film been unusually harsh, I was unusually bothered by it. I never pay attention to reviews, but many of the things I read just did not sit well with me. When I went to see SATC2 on opening night, I was seriously confused as to what was it that got folks so angry. As my cosmopolitan-induced buzz wore off, I thought to myself, what on earth has so many people worked up?

I could not ignore the overt and covert ageism reflected in many of the comments. I actually read the women's faces being described as "leathery." There was much ado about these four middle aged women carrying on like high school girls, how "childish" they are and how they are getting too old to do these movies. I expect men to make these comments, but when that sentiment is also shared by women (many of who claim to be feminist), I am saddened, annoyed and frustrated. Why are people so quick to remind us of what we are too old or too young to do? Isn't this just another way to keep us wimmenz in our place? Ironically, in the movie Samantha has to check a sales associate who tries to discourage her from buying a trendy dress by saying that it is too young for her. Samantha was not having that BS and neither should we.

In addition to a great deal of criticism over the film being rooted in ageism, I also think there there is some serious sexism and class warfare going on as well. I gave the side-eye to many of the male critics of this film because many of their criticism is either over the cast members appearances, how "slutty" they are or how they are engaging in behavior that they deem wrong. It just came off as more behavior policing to me and I was turned off. Which brings me to my other comment about class warfare. It is very strange to me that this film is being called materialistic. I am starting to thing that materialistic is becoming one of those dog-whistle terms used to demean any woman who dares to live well. Think of a time when you have heard of a man being referred to as materialistic. In my Katt Williams voice, "Don't worry, I'll wait."

Sexists hate women who live well because they hate any woman who aspires to want more and be more than just what some man thinks she deserves. Class warfare wagers hate them because for the most part they hate anyone with money. And like blacks, women are criticized even harsher for this because we are expected to fight the good fight since we "know what it is like" to be oppressed by the man, society, corporations, etc. As a black woman, this line of thinking offends me. My race or my gender does not obligate me to fight any system, nor does it require to be on my best behavior at all times in order to be a good representative of my people. Every woman's film does not have to have some deep, political, "feminist" message.

The one good thing that came out of this is that there appears to be some backlash to the backlash that the film is getting. I suspect that many other fans of the movie were irritated at the mean-spirited and hypocritical nature of the reviews and are finally starting to push back.

While the Box Office numbers have been somewhat disappointing, I believe this installment much better than the first. I absolutely loved that they bought Aidan back, Samantha's over the top antics were hilarious as usual, and I appreciated that they allowed Charlotte to shed her Pollyanna Super Mom image and "get real" about the challenges of parenting. The fashion was fierce (Miranda's dress in the wedding scene was TO. DIE. FOR.), and contrary to what many have said I thought that the Abu Dhabi theme was integrated into the story in a very entertaining and thought provoking way. Was it Citizen Kane? Of course not, but neither is Transformers.

H/T Women and Hollywood
H/T Mendolson's Memos









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