my "feminist response" to this bit o' pop culture:
mmmkay, judging from its trailer, i'd have to favor towards the "'jennifer's body' is feminist" camp. but first, i'd like to say i quite enjoyed the part in the trailer where it says "from the mind of diablo cody".
now to react to the posted counterpoints that don't make "jennifer's body" feminist, after having looked at the trailer:
- appears to be a vehicle for megan fox to be flash her bod and oggled by corndogs.
by corndogs of both sexes, perhaps. and before we forget, oggling is not bad. in fact, i myself find this activity enjoyable. i'm a woman, and i find megan fox hot.
- makes women look like femme fatale killers or uber-nerds...
ok, am actually surprised that the writer would actually apologize for calling someone an uber-nerd, like, um, it's a bad thing. obvy, amanda seifried's character is supposed to be the awesome cool character here. and don't we love dorks?
as for megan fox's "femme fatale killers" - my feminist response to that would be - why not. certainly in contemporary society ordinary women like myself often feel that women who look as unreal as megan fox would be and could be capable of being predatory. in the trailer, amanda r's character says - "she's not highschool evil. she's evil evil." - gotta say that the line made me laugh. it's certainly an exaggerated, horror-tastic view of how psycho demon bitchy some females can be in real life. and hey, i can relate to reacting to that.
- according to synopsis, this may be...an attempt by hollywood to punish women for liking sex by...putting them into insane asylums...turning them into demons...
i find this way of thinking very backward. i don't feel, in this day and age that media still "punishes" women for liking sex. and also, given that there might still be some media that can be as backward as to "punish women for liking sex", i seriously doubt that a female writer and a female director would "punish women for liking sex" and that that would become the main reading of this movie by its audience. give your female viewers the credit to think critically for themselves.
- makes light of bisexuality/promotes faux lesbianism
it's a HORROR film. EVERYTHING is taken light. i don't think there is anything wrong with making light of something if it isn't done disrespectfully.
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bottom line - i'd go see "jennifer's body" and try to process my knee-jerk "feminist" reactions before ranting about the movie not being fit for feminists to enjoy.
keks: sabi ko sa kanya, ipagno-novena ko siya kay st. joseph. march 19 kasi yung feast of st joseph (patron of spouses and happy deaths). me: hang on. "happy deaths"?????? keks: hahaha yeah. me: you mean - there is a patron saint of ORGASMS?
"magasin" english version. made by a bunch of kids for a school project
there are at least ten things i find hilarious in this little video clip, least of all the translated chorus:
"your smile is different your looks are different how come you underwent this metamorphosis? let's hope that no one saw it so problems won't come with it cause i'm experiencing this poverty..."
ugh - this is the worst. i've just gotten home making paper edits. one of these days, i am going to learn linear editing (obsolete everywhere else except for 4th floor gma).
i love you, guyz. i made you a mix. you can either: a. check your itunes or media player if you already have these tracks b. download all these tracks on your own manually (tedious) c. have me email you the tracks (baduy but i'll do it if i love you) d. leave a comment for an exchange (recommended. free music, people! you know what to do, di ba.)
about this mix: i made this mix for people who are alone during v-day (all the more reason to avoid the inevitable traffic. however, if you are in a relationship, go lang ng go congrats mario! i'm not selfish when it comes to tunage)! alone does not have to mean lonely. we are not sad bastards, people. think of all the people who are stuck in mind-numbing relationships where they want to leave but can't because they'd rather pretend than stick it out on their own. think about the lying, the cheating, the sleeping around that's possibly taking place between them as i write this. think about the people they'd rather be sleeping with than the ones they're with at the moment. because it could be you.
the track list with commentary:
1. "stop your sobbing" - the pretenders (if you're looking for songs that will make you feel like wallowing in pain and self-pity, you won't find them here. chrissie hynde wants you to stop all of your crying and so do i.) 2. "forget about him" - devendra banhart (i never understood devendra until this moment, but i guess he's always understood me) 3. "st. elmo's fire" - cloetta paris (if you grew up in the 80's, there's a better chance you'd know this song about being a man or a girl in motion all you need is a pair of wheels.) 4. "two times blue" - debbie harry (kasi hindi tayo 'yung talunan, friends.) 5. "people got a lot of nerve"- neko case (for everyone else you feel are being judgmental about the way you live and love. kebs!) 6. "don't look back" - boston (how can you not have ONE cheesy hair metal/slow rock power song snuck in somewhere in this mix? just add open highway and roll down the windows.) 7. "i love the unknown" - clem snide (how not to fear the uncertain for a change. wise words set to catchy tunes!) 8. "good after time" - lykkie li's "i'm good i'm gone"/cyndi lauper's "time after time" mash-up (it's good to give yourself a pat on the back for your valiant efforts to keep on keeping on. working a sweat, but it's all good.) 9. "if i were a freefallin' boy" - beyonce's "if i were a boy"/tom petty's "freefallin'" mashup (this is timely because this beyonce track is playing on a cellular phone next to you.) 10. "last words"- the real tuesday weld (gacked off the "nick and norah's infinite playlist" soundtrack.)
my hands have been on this computer for almost twelve hours - a new record for me. still no word regarding the talent fees of my two new shows, but i can't be bothered because the magic is back like britney. i'm in my element - work doesn't feel like work and i am actually looking forward to seeing my co-workers (who happen to have varying degrees of ghey).
as one of the writers for these shows, i have to preview footage, make transcriptions, do the shot list and log time codes before i can build my script. this i hate with a burning passion, but i did that the whole day today and surprisingly, i enjoyed it. i'm forming a new system as i go, and it's working.
show 1 is reality-based, so that's a first for me. in the beginning it seemed daunting - the amount of footage shot meant i'd have to look at everything and weed out what is usable. i'm sure i'll get tired and sick of it at some point, but so far it's been exciting. i love the feeling of finding a really great soundbite and using it in the segment. i'm a huge fan of the audio/video lock (though sometimes it gets challenging to be mindful of this), so i am going to push for that even more.
show 2 is fashion based, so i'm psyched. secretly, i hope the team becomes friends with our hosts so that they will give us expensive kikay gifts come christmas (if the show lasts that long).
i'm getting a little confused when it comes to teammates because the shows share similar staff members. i still have to think which person belongs to which show, but i love them all (so far). shooting for show 1 bonded us in that special way only an extremely late subject bonds production teams. it's the same with show 2, but for different reasons- on the road in a cramped van, starving, face starting to oil up. it is a gas.
let's see how i hold up after the shows start airing.
have to say - lume-level (there, i used my word of the now) si "supernatural". this is a series that i checked out one time i was bored and a co-worker and i were swapping dibidis. i've never heard of this show, and when i asked if it was scary, she said, "not really, pero enjoy sha."
at first i thought it was dumb, but yes, enjoy nga siya. it's about these two brothers named dean and sam who hunt supernatural things. remember "shadow chasers" in the 80's? it's like that, except in a post-"buffy the vampire slayer" universe. i wanted to hate it, but i couldn't. yes, the storylines were lame - obviously copped from other horror movies, and the episodes had a predictable template. but the more i watched it, the more addicted to it i got because it wasn't annoying me as much as i'd expected it to.
plus factor - the guy who played denny duqette in "grey's anatomy" (jeffrey dean morgan) was in it for the first two seasons as dean and sam's dad. that's a good-looking family, right?
season one was lame. season two is better because the show loosened up. season three (the one i'm currently watching on dibidi) is the best so far because the jokes are actually good. and the boys are hot, obvy. i'm thinking sam is cuter/hotter but he's way too serious. dean is the dude i'd probably enjoy in the sack a whole lot better. he's like maude in "harold and maude" - you probably won't agree with him, but he does have a sound logic to the things he does. plus, his car is hot (a 1967 chevrolet impala. black of course, because he's so dark) and has better taste in music.
"and then we came to the end" joshua ferris "out" natsuo kirino "spiral" koji suzuki "twisted 8: night of the living twisted" jessica zafra "a million little pieces" james frey "the further confessions of belle du jour" belle du jour "gossip girl: would i lie to you?" cecily von ziegesar "gynomite: a feminist anthology of porn" "special topics in calamity physics" marisha pessl "the best sex writing 2004" "how to become a famous writer before you're dead" ariel gore "garlic and sapphires" ruth reichl "heart shaped box" joe hill "20'th century ghosts" joe hill "don't you forget about me" ed. by jaime clark "i was told there would be cake" sloane crossley "leave me alone, i'm reading" maureen corrigan "everything's eventual" stephen king "different seasons" stephen king "american psycho" brett easton ellis "to air is human" dan crane "born on a blue day" daniel tammet "the diary of anais nin, vol 1" anais nin "the washingtonniene" jessica cutler "flowers in the attic" vc andrews "petals on the wind" vc andrews "hubris" michael isikoff and david corn "pledged" alexandra robbins "chicken with plums" marjane satrapi "goerge and sam" charlotte moore "musicophilia" oliver sacks "groteseque" natsuo kirino "the year of magical thinking" joan didion "the other side of the story" marian keyes
unfinished for whatever reason:
"the kiss" kathryn harrison "among the shadows" lm montgomery "take the cannoli" sarah vowell "candy freak" steve almond "naked ambition" ed. by carly milne "IV" chuck klosterman "frightful fairy tales" dame darcy "the white album" joan didion "the cat's pajammas" ray bradbury
currently reading:
"100 years of solitude" gabriel garcia marquez "no one belongs here more than you" miranda july
top 5 for 2008:
"then we came to the end" joshua ferris "20'th century ghosts" joe hill "george and sam" charlotte moore "musicophilia" oliver sacks "the year of magical thinking" joan didion
"music, uniquely among the arts, is both completely abstract and profoundly emotional. it has no power to represent anything particular or external, but it has a unique power to express inner states or feelings. music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation... for while such music makes one experience pain and grief more intensely, it brings solace and consolation at the same time"
- oliver sacks, "musicophilia: tales of music and the brain"
"it's weird to me how 'thunder road' has survived when so many other arguably better songs have become less compelling as i've got older...but sometimes, very occasionally, songs and books and films and pictures express who you are, perfectly. and they don't do this in words or images, necessarily; the connection is a lot less direct and more complicated than that... it's a process something like falling in love."