Dec 22nd, 2010 | MamaPop, pop culture, Uncategorized | 7 Comments
Over at MamaPop, we’re all posting our “Best of” lists for 2010. Each person has their own criteria and theme for their lists. You can and should check them out, particularly the amazeballs TwoBusy’s Anti-Best of 2010: A List of Cultural Regrets. Mine, The Best of 2010: WTF? Edition, will be published Monday, so check it out then. In the meantime, I realized I had a whole list of pop culture casualties to pay tribute to, because we had some tough losses this year, so I thought I’d post them here. Pour one out for the homeys, y’all.
1. Lost. While I wasn’t 100% satisfied with the finale, and it’s demise was scheduled and appropriate, I still mourn the loss of one of the most talked-about, engaging shows ever produced on television. For six seasons, Thursday mornings were full of furious discussions, predictions, and, just as often, confusion, as viewers pondered the show and pored over the mysteries within. Several shows have unsuccessfully tried to replicate the intrigue of Lost; none have succeeded. While the show was ultimately a flawed one, I’d argue, like the producers, that the ride was more important than the destination.
2. Paste Magazine. While they’re continuing to produce online content, Paste stopped print production in August of this year, after over a year of financial difficulty. I discovered Paste in a train station in Zurich in 2003; not realizing the exchange rate at the time, I paid almost $20 for the issue. I don’t regret it. As soon as I returned to the States, I subscribed, drawn to the idea of a monthly culture magazine that included a mix CD each month full of new music to sample. But Paste was more than just a music sampler. It’s tagline, “Signs of Life in Music, Film, and Culture” was truth in advertising; Paste provided smart, critical analysis of the best of pop culture and gave me faith that not all of America was wrapped up in Toby Keith and NCIS.
3. Party Down. This show was preternaturally funny and produced maybe the most hilarious half-hours of television I’ve seen in years, the infamous “Steve Guttenburg’s Birthday Party” episode. Featuring hilarious writing, a can’t-miss premise (caterers in LA), and a superb cast, Party Down‘s premature demise was probably due to a strange combination of being too successful, yet not successful enough. Ratings weren’t great, largely due to original episodes airing on premium channel Starz on Friday nights while simultaneously provided on Netflix Streaming. But the cast was so damn good, Starz just couldn’t keep them around. Cast member Jane Lynch left after the first season to appear on Glee, where she won an Emmy for her role as Sue Sylvester. Adam Scott’s end-of-season guest stint on Season Two of NBC’s Parks and Recreation turned into a regular role for the upcoming Season Three, and Lizzy Caplan and Adam Scott both scored major network pilots for 2011. But the two seasons we did get of Party Down were damn near perfect, and I’ll probably watch them again and again.
4. Danielle Staub. While not dead, this Real Housewife of New Jersey did get the boot from the show, since no other cast member was willing to continue the franchise with her on board. While I’m glad she’s freed up to get the mental health care she desperately needs, she really did create a special brand of delusional crazy to Bravo. And that’s saying something. Farewell, PROSTITUTIONWHORE. Can’t wait for your next lesfaux slow ballad.
5. The vampire trend. Sure, True Blood will return in 2011, but the Twilight-fueled vampire obsession that pop culture has been obsessed with for the past few years was supplanted by the literal and figurative uprising of motherfucking ZOMBIES. Walking Dead ruled. Forget Robert Pattinson’s brooding ass; I want axes to skulls and raw survivalism. Vamps, you were fun while you lasted, but your gothiness comes across as snobby.
6. Summer music festivals. While I was glad that St Louis was able to host its own first-year festival (and do it right, I might add) 2010 saw the demise of several festivals I wish were still around. Rothbury, 10,000 Lakes, and All Points West were just a few festivals canceled in 2010 due to the abysmal economy. Hopefully, some will be resurrected in 2011.
7. Celebrity deaths. While anyone who watched the trainwreck reality show The Two Coreys could have predicted that Corey Haim was sadly on the fasttrack to an early demise. But Gary Coleman died. Rue McClanahan. Tom Bosley. FUCKING J.D. SALINGER! Double pour one out for that enigma.
8. The Hunger Games trilogy. Well, the highly-anticipated final book in Suzanne Collins’ popular young adult trilogy, Mockingjay came and went. I read it. I liked it. I didn’t love it, because I didn’t love the ending because I’m not a fucking libertarian. But Katniss Evergreen is an amazing character, and the fact is that she’s a teenage female and she kicks an entire dystopian nation’s collective ass, so I won’t dismiss three whole books because I didn’t like how the author wrapped up the overarching story.
What pop culture phenomenon that you will miss came to a close in 2010?
Sep 10th, 2010 | life, MamaPop, pop culture | 3 Comments
Every week I plan on writing something profound over here in this space, and the last few weeks, time has just gotten away from me. I’m spending valuable brain cells trying to decipher the cultural significance of the Real Housewives of DC and most of my patience trying to keep Neko from humping Asher or eating my last nice bras, so it feels like I just draw a blank every time I sit down to write here. I apologize, loyal readers.
In the meantime, you should check out my work over at MamaPop this week if you haven’t already. I recapped the aforementioned Real Housewives of DC, which I do weekly. I don’t know why people aren’t watching. I get that it’s no New Jersey, but it’s a very interesting take on race relations in the US, particularly the intersection of race and privilege in relation to wealth and cultural capital. Or maybe that’s how I justify my obsession. I also outlined six reasons why you should be watching Sons of Anarchy, because you totally should.
A friend asked me a few weeks ago how I have time to watch so much television. Granted, this dude works 16-hour days and has two kids under the age of three, so we aren’t on the same level when it comes to allotment of leisure time. First, DVR makes this possible. I’d seriously cut back if I didn’t have it. However, I choose to watch television because I like people’s stories, fictional or not (or some weird Frankenhybrid), and I’m interested in their cultural significance and how they choose to reflect our dynamic culture. Like it or not, those crazy bitches in animal prints are a part of the cultural discourse. I also think well-written fictional shows are interesting windows into different times. For example, I thought I understood the constraints placed on women in the 1950s and 60s, but Mad Men brought that to life in a way that I hadn’t ever experienced before. That perspective is of value to me. Plus, I like crazy people. They make me feel normal.
ANYWAY, I’ve got some high-priority writing time scheduled this weekend and next week for this space, so I hope you won’t abandon me completely and will come back when I’m posting more thoughtful diatribes, or, at the very least, cute dog pictures.
Aug 10th, 2010 | bloggety stuff, Fun, life, MamaPop | 10 Comments
My trip to New York was a whirlwind of awesome. That pretty much sums it up.
There are fewer things better for the mind and soul than having high hopes that people you admire will like you back should you meet them and those hopes coming true. I think many of us still hold on to feelings of rejection from middle school or high school, and those can resurface at events like BlogHer. And when people aren’t snobs, and instead embrace you willingly, with arms oustretched, and shower you with positive thoughts, well, it’s nice. It’s better than nice. It’s fan-fucking-tastic. I finally met so many awesome, amazing people I’ve been sharing my life with online, and they were smarter, and funnier, and more intelligent and fun than I thought possible. And when I met these people, they gave me giant, genuine, real hugs. The level of positivity and emotional generosity is unlike anything I’ve experienced.
The highlights: → continue reading
Jul 19th, 2010 | bloggety stuff, family, MamaPop | 8 Comments
I was totally humbled and thrilled to be named a finalist in the Life category for this year’s BlogHer Voices of the Year contest. I may have peed a little. For those non-BlogHers, members submit posts in one of five categories that they feel were the best posts they’ve read over the past year. Each category is narrowed down to 20 or so finalists, then three are chosen to read at the Community Keynote at the annual BlogHer conference. → continue reading
Jul 16th, 2010 | bloggety stuff, education, family, Fun, life, MamaPop, Uncategorized | No Comments
Sunday I turned 30. Truth be told, I have relatively little anxiety about it. I was too damn stressed last Thursday and Friday, what with the complete failure of my hard drive on Thursday and (delayed) travel to school on Friday. I have a lot of friends who are older than me, which must be because I’m so mature I pronounce it matoor, so it just wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m lucky to have the life that I have; it’s a damn good one. And, I lost 15 pounds in the last three months. → continue reading
Jul 9th, 2010 | education, life, MamaPop, Sporty, Uncategorized | 4 Comments
So I’m a procrastinator anyway, and I had allotted all day yesterday to crank out a paper that is due today. That’s how I do it. I got a system. Long story short, about 45 minutes after sitting down at a local coffee establishment to get cracking, my two-year-old MacBook freezes, and when I restart, I get the blinking file icon of death. I know what this means. I know that I’m fucked. I also know that I haven’t backed up in a while. SO GO BACK UP, KIDS.
→ continue reading
Jun 25th, 2010 | bloggety stuff, Draft Day Suit, MamaPop, Sporty | 1 Comment
I’m writing this from high above the Midwest, on my way to Minneapolis to talk about Antonio Gramsci for two days while missing the U.S.’s second round World Cup game. Sorry, professor. I will either be streaming or keeping ESPN open during the match. It’s the people’s game, man!
Speaking of the World Cup, check out my Draft Day Suit post on why you should be watching the World Cup. It’s been one hell of a tournament for the Yanks, and none of us fans mind if y’all hop on the bandwagon for the game against Ghana. Then check out today’s MamaPop post, where you can watch Woody Harrelson’s soccer skills in the Soccer Aid game. Also this week, I wrote about the Real World heading back to New Orleans, and you should read that, too.
The heat broke yesterday and only yesterday, and I was able to get out in our garden and do work I’ve been meaning to do alongside Chris, for whom the heat is not a deterrent. We’ve had a relative bumper crop of high-quality chamomile that while tedious to harvest, smells heavenly; thanks to Justin for the very prolific plant that will provide us with calming tea to go along with our mint. Tomatoes and tomatillos are on the vine, and we’ve been steadily eating lettuce, swiss chard, collards, and tatsoi for weeks. The garlic will be harvested Sunday or Monday. Our blackberries are slowly ripening and we’ve started to enjoy the first plump, juicy specimens.
We’ve got potatoes, onion, carrots, and beans all coming along splendidly, and even a few corn plans. The beans are starting to ripen a bit on the vine, and I can’t wait to photograph the different varieties. Peppers are slow; they’re my achilles heel as a gardener and I never have much success. We’re going to plant winter squash in the spaces opening up by the departing greens and a few other experiments, as well.
I’d carry on towards something more profound, but I have but a few hours to finish my class readings and grab something to eat before class. Don’t forget, support the U.S. tomorrow against Ghana.
Jun 16th, 2010 | bloggety stuff, feminism, life, MamaPop, pop culture | 9 Comments
When I started blogging, I did it with the intention of all my wildest dreams coming true.
And now it’s happened. Fame, fortune, and power are MINE! <muahhahaha>
Well, not really. But the folks over at MamaPop, a pop culture blog with a feminist slant that I’ve loved since it’s inception, for some reason want me to join their crew. Which, OMG, is totally like your big sister letting you smoke with her and her friends. Well, if I had a big sister, which I don’t, but it’s too late for me to harbor resentment about that. → continue reading
