Serenity Stuff

Posted on September 30, 2005 by Ampersand

I saw Serenity at a preview months ago, liked it very much indeed thank you sir, although I didn’t think it was quite as good as the best of the TV show it was based on. Still, it was a hell of a lot of fun, and I’m hoping it does well.

Most of the reviews I’ve read are warm but not ecstatic. About half of them, like the Times‘ reviewer, compare Serenity favorably to the recent Star Wars trilogy:

It probably isn’t fair to Joss Whedon’s “Serenity” to say that this unassuming science-fiction adventure is superior in almost every respect to George Lucas’s aggressively more ambitious “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.” But who cares about fair when there is fun to be had? Scene for scene, “Serenity” is more engaging and certainly better written and acted than any of Mr. Lucas’s recent screen entertainments.

The only outright pan I’ve seen so far is USA Today: “Isn’t it asking for trouble to make a movie version of a TV flop?”

There are posters to look at, too. The German poster, featuring Summer Glau in an extremely skimpy dress, is as cheesy as a cheese shop during a cheese convention right after the cheese delivery (and where did she get that haircut? Late 80s Madonna meets Severus Snape). The American poster of Glau in the same dress but a cooler pose is only slightly better. After viewing those two atrocities, this other American poster – which I think is the main poster they’re using in the US – will hardly seem cheesy at all.

I honestly don’t remember if Serenity passes the Mo Movie Measure or not. I’m planning on seeing it again, I’ll report back when I have.

Posted in Buffy, Whedon, etc. | 38 Comments

Commander in Chief

Posted on September 30, 2005 by Ampersand

(Warning: Spoilers ahead.)

Just watched the “Commander in Chief” premiere. Politics aside, it just isn’t a very good show, is it? The damn thing is so earnest – there were a couple of jokes (including a funny running gag about Hilary-resentment among the White House staff), but they were very far between. It’s as if someone set out to prove that West Wing would be unbearable without the sense of humor.

The Nigerian subplot was an insult to viewers’ intelligence. I understand it was intended to be wish-fulfillment, but come on: once having been warned, why wouldn’t the Nigerian government just move the prisoner to a secret location right away, or have a guard shoot her in the head before the US Marines could arrive? Why would they set a precedent that the US gets to dictate Nigerian internal policy, without even offering any benefits or face-saving to Nigeria’s government? It makes no sense.

Plausibility aside, I’m also bothered by the politics of the Nigerian subplot. The show endorses the idea that the US can get whatever it wants in foreign policy if the President is just willing to be a belligerent enough bully and to wave around the US military like a magic wand. The world doesn’t work that way – but the belief that it does helped Bush and co. get away with claiming that Iraq would be a cakewalk, in and out in less than a year, welcomed with hugs and flowers, etc.. I was hoping that the atrocious results in Iraq would put that kind of thinking in the grave for at least a few years, but apparently not.

Posted in Popular (and unpopular) culture | 14 Comments

And our new Chief Justice is…

Posted on September 29, 2005 by Pseudo-Adrienne

Roberts. Unfortunately but as *expected*, the Senate just confirmed Roberts in a 78-22 vote. Now let’s wait for the shit-storm over Bush’s pick for O’Connor’s seat–that’s the biggie to be most concerned with now. No surprises really. And perhaps it’s time for NARAL Pro-Choice America to withdraw its endorsement of the alleged pro-choice Republican Chafee who voted yea? How about some of the pro-choice Dems who voted yea? Someone *may have* lost their seat in ’06.

UPDATE: NARAL Pro-Choice America’s statement on Roberts confirmation.

UPDATE II: Feminist Majority’s statement on Roberts confirmation.

Posted in Supreme Court Issues | 52 Comments

Personal or political?

Posted on September 29, 2005 by Nick Kiddle

Some of you may have wondered why I haven’t put any posts up here in a while. The short reason is that my personal life has exploded in several dozen directions. The long reason has to do with the personal, the political and the etiquette of guest blogging.

I could tell plenty of stories about feminist issues. My brush with the fear of rape that my nominal male privilege has thus far protected me from. Being centre stage at a slut-shaming. How violently irritating it is to hear racist or classist jerks talking about poor (mainly black) women “squirting out babies”. The way people who would unhesitatingly class themselves as pro-woman slip almost without realising it into treating a pregnant woman as a walking incubator. And, as of last night, how it feels when your ex-boyfriend seems to have taken a deep draught from the fountain of Men’s Rights idiocy.

I could tell all these stories, but I don’t know if I could make them about anything more than “this happened to me, and it sucks”. I used to pride myself on being able to turn my personal experiences into essays about more universal truths, but these stories are too new, too raw for me to manage that. And I want to have something to say: I don’t want to turn Amp’s excellent blog into a forum for my woes.

So I’m trying to work out whether my experiences, written out as calmly as I can manage, are something worth saying. If they’re not, I’ll have to go on hiatus until my life is sufficiently stable that I can relate my experiences to a coherent philosophical outlook; if they are, I’ll gladly stay and share them.

Posted in Whatever | 16 Comments

The Indictment

Posted on September 29, 2005 by Pseudo-Adrienne

Yesterday, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay aka “the Hammer,” and two “associates” were indicted on the grounds of ‘criminal conspiracy’ by a Texas grand jury. Rep. DeLay also announced yesterday that he would step-down from his post temporarily and did so.

[…]DeLay, 58, was accused of a criminal conspiracy along with two associates, John Colyandro, former executive director of a Texas political action committee formed by DeLay, and Jim Ellis, who heads DeLay’s national political committee.

“I have notified the speaker that I will temporarily step aside from my position as majority leader pursuant to rules of the House Republican Conference and the actions of the Travis County district attorney today,” DeLay said.[…]

Criminal conspiracy is a state felony punishable by six months to two years in a state jail and a fine of up to $10,000. The potential two-year sentence forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules.[…]

The indictment accused DeLay of a conspiracy to “knowingly make a political contribution” in violation of Texas law outlawing corporate contributions. It alleged that DeLay’s Texans for a Republican Majority political action committee accepted $155,000 from companies, including Sears Roebuck, and placed the money in an account.[…]

“The defendants entered into an agreement with each other or with TRMPAC (Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee) to make a political contribution in violation of the Texas election code,” says the four-page indictment. “The contribution was made directly to the Republican National Committee within 60 days of a general election.”[…]

“This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat,” Madden said, citing prosecutor Ronnie Earle, a Democrat.

Madden later added: “They could not get Tom DeLay at the polls. They could not get Mr. DeLay on the House floor. Now they’re trying to get him into the courtroom. This is not going to detract from the Republican agenda.”[…]

“The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom Delay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people,” said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-California.[…]

A state political action committee he created, Texans for a Republican Majority, was indicted earlier this month on charges of accepting corporate contributions for use in state legislative races. Texas law prohibits corporate money from being used to advocate the election or defeat of candidates; it is allowed only for administrative expenses.

With GOP control of the Texas legislature, DeLay then engineered a redistricting plan that enabled the GOP take six Texas seats in the U.S. House away from Democrats — including one lawmaker switching parties — in 2004 and build its majority in Congress.

This could either be fun or just painful to watch as the investigation unfolds and more information is released to the media and public (*if* anymore is released). But still, I’ll stay tuned to CNN just to see what happens to our deal ol’ Hammer, and the possible political ramifications that could follow for those who were involved, and are now among ‘the accused’.

Posted in Elections and politics | 7 Comments

"Louisiana was dysfunctional"–Michael Brown

Posted on September 27, 2005 by Pseudo-Adrienne

Former head of FEMA, Michael Brown, testified today on issues surrounding FEMA’s handling of the Katrina disaster, and blamed local officials for the poor response. Surprised?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The former head of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, who resigned under a hail of criticism about the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, on Tuesday blamed local officials and said his agency had done a good job.

“My biggest mistake was not recognizing, by Saturday (before the storm made landfall), that Louisiana was dysfunctional,” Michael Brown told a House of Representatives panel looking into the aftermath of the catastrophic storm.

“I very strongly personally regret that I was unable to persuade (Louisiana) Governor (Kathleen) Blanco and (New Orleans) Mayor (Ray) Nagin to sit down, get over their differences and work together,” he said. “I just couldn’t pull that off.”

[…]He refused to concede FEMA made serious mistakes and rejected reports that he had been unqualified for his job.

“I have overseen over 150 presidentially declared disasters. I know what I am doing. And I think I do a pretty darn good job of it,” he said.

[…]”I find it absolutely stunning that this hearing would start out with you, Mr. Brown, laying the blame for FEMA’s failings at the feet of the governor of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans,” Rep. William Jefferson (news, bio, voting record) said.

[…]Brown said the response to Katrina, which killed more than 1,000 people and inundated New Orleans, went more smoothly in Alabama and Mississippi, which have Republican governors, than in Louisiana. Gov. Blanco is a Democrat.

“It’s my belief that FEMA did a good job in the Gulf states,” Brown said. He said most of the problems were due to a failure of state and local officials to order a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans earlier than Sunday, the day before the storm hit land.

Nagin issued a voluntary evacuation order on Saturday before the storm and made it mandatory the next day.[…]

The inquiry has been marked by partisan bickering. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California has refused to name members to the Republican-led panel saying it would not undertake an honest investigation of the Republican White House.

Pelosi on Tuesday said Brown’s testimony underscored the need for a non-partisan independent commission investigation of the federal response to the hurricane.

“Surprise, surprise, surprise. The administration sends over their crony to testify and whitewash the committee that it wasn’t their (the Bush administration’s) fault,” she told reporters.

Committee Chairman Tom Davis, a Virginia Republican, said in a statement that the committee will conduct a “tough and thorough” investigation.”[…]

Oh jeez. As for this committee or commission investigation (whatever they’re going to call it) into ‘what went wrong,’ will we truly get any honest answers from them?

Posted in Elections and politics, Katrina | 33 Comments

Commander in Chief

Posted on September 26, 2005 by Pseudo-Adrienne

I’m sure many of you have heard of ABC’s new show, Commander in Chief (they even have a fake blog going), staring Geena Davis as the president, which premieres tomorrow night. I don’t know what to make of this show yet. The commercials for it are pretty intriguing and kinda hits a nerve in regards to how would the country would respond to a female president. One of the phrases used in the commercials is “wife, mother, leader,” and I wonder how many times the marital and parental status, and concerns surrounding those things of a male president or world leader come up. And how many times would the media ask a male head of state, “can you balance your marriage, family life, and manage to fulfill your obligations as president/prime minister/chancellor? Will any of those spheres in your life suffer because of too much emphasis on another? Will you get moody one day and blow up another country?” Not that there isn’t any room for one to be concerned in how to balance a relationship, family, and a career, and keep their sanity all the while, but why is this question and concern still mostly posed to women? And why does there seem to be a hint that they’ll fail in balancing these things out? Oh well. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

**Also on a totally different subject, Cindy Sheehan was arrested today while protesting outside of the White House.

Posted in Elections and politics, Feminism, sexism, etc, Popular (and unpopular) culture | 33 Comments

Monday Baby Blogging: Mother-Daughter Nap

Posted on September 26, 2005 by Ampersand

As Kim (basement variety)’s pregnancy goes on, napping has become a more important part of Kim’s daily life – and naps have always been part of Sydney’s agenda. (Sydney’s sister will arrive in less than two weeks, by the way – very exciting!)

As a bonus, here’s a cute shot of Sydney snapped by her dad (or maybe by Kim, I’m not sure) at a wedding we attended this past Saturday.

Damn, but she’s a pretty child. Doesn’t stop her from wrecking havoc in her secret identity as destructo-girl, though.

Posted in Baby & kid blogging | 4 Comments

Yale Student Accuses NYTimes of Deceptive Quoting

Posted on September 23, 2005 by Ampersand

From a much-criticized New York Times article:

[A female Yale student] added that she did not think it was a problem that women usually do most of the work raising kids.

“I accept things how they are,” she said. “I don’t mind the status quo. I don’t see why I have to go against it.”

That same student, in Mediabistro, is clearly unhappy with how the Times quoted her.

The things I told her about fighting against stereotypes that people had of me as an immigrant, and how I overcame obstacles to get where I am today never appeared in the article, and what did in fact appear is a quote about “status quo” that I do not mean in that context.[…]

It saddens me that I am portrayed as an insensitive and unambitious person in the article, and really did not know that Louise was only going to quote those of us who wanted to stay at home if/when we had kids. She in fact did interview my other suitemates who answered the survey as either not wanting to have children at all, or would continue working as a mother. I am somewhat shocked that she did not include ANY of their ideas or views in the article.

The student’s full response can be read at the Mediabistro link. It certainly lends credence to the impression many of us had reading the article – that the reporter, Louise Story, had already drawn her conclusions before doing research.

Posted in Media criticism | 16 Comments

FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford resigns

Posted on September 23, 2005 by Pseudo-Adrienne

(Huzzah!) Well there’s some good news. Bush’s ‘golden boy’ of the FDA has resigned from his post. Though I’m sure she’s pleased in seeing this, Interim President of Planned Parenthood, Karen Pearl, calls for science to return to the FDA’s decision-making, and for politics and ideology–namely anti-reproductive-rights politics and ideology–to be abandoned. No doubt that politics and ideology has certainly impeded the FDA’s ability to approve Plan B and deal with women’s health in a responsible manner. Potentially dangerous breast-implants are okay, but not emergency contraception? Anyway…

“Women’s health suffered under Dr. Crawford’s tenure. The FDA has ignored its public health responsibilities, repeatedly refusing to issue a decision on the application to make Plan B emergency contraception (EC) available over the counter. During more than two years that the application has been pending, greater access to EC could have prevented 3.4 million unintended pregnancies and 1.6 million abortions*.

“The FDA has become a politicized agency and has ignored its mandate to safeguard the public health. In the process it has lost the credibility and respect it has traditionally enjoyed. The resignation of Dr. Susan Wood from the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health in protest over the delay in issuing a decision on EC was further proof of the politics that had trumped science under Dr. Crawford’s tenure. Causing further confusion and illustrating its internal disarray, only last week, in quick succession, the FDA named two acting directors to replace Dr. Wood.

“The FDA has led an ideologically motivated effort to keep a safe and effective drug out of women’s hands. We are hopeful that this resignation signals a new day for the FDA, one in which the FDA will resume its public health responsibilities and make decisions focused on science, not politics.”

And I just can’t wait to see Crawford’s replacement, not that I’m expecting much. Now for some bad news which you saw coming a hundred miles away. The Senate Judiciary Committee has given Roberts the ‘okay’ by a 13-5 split. And I have to agree with my fellow pro-choice bloggers that it’s now time for NARAL to withdraw its support of Chafee for obvious reasons, along with any pro-choice Democrat (and alleged pro-choice Republican) who votes in favor of Roberts’ confirmation. Next we have the ‘fight-to-the-death’ battle over O’Connor’s replacement—whoopie. Will the Dems disappoint us again with another ‘okay’ vote, though it’s to be expected when dealing with them? Oh and by the way, Ohio hates women’s reproductive rights and is purposely trying to push an anti-abortion bill through, that lawmakers hope will act as a “trigger-case” to overturn Roe. Wow, what a fun week. But don’t worry ladies, if things get any worse in the way of our reproductive rights (or the possible lack thereof, to be extremist just for a moment) just remember, we’ll always have Mexico. (sarcasm)

Posted in Abortion & reproductive rights, Anti-Contraceptives/EC zaniness, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Elections and politics | 11 Comments