Uppercase Woman's Faves & Flops

Winner!

Using a random number generator, I have selected the winner!

SK has won the prize from Eden Fantasies. Yeah! I will contact you and let you know!

Contest! And this one is a bit, um, steamy.

One of the blessings about being 40 years old is that you can finally say things like VIBRATOR and not feel stupid or embarassed. So, I'm saying it. Vibrator, vibrator, vibrator.

Why oh why, you ask, am I mentioning sex toys here? Because the lovely folks over at Eden Fantasys are happily sponsoring a contest here. Winners will win a very tame little massage love kit like this one and possibly more.

All you have to do is check out their site, come back here and post a comment saying what you liked. Maybe you are into something like this. Or perhaps you feel a bit crazy and like this. Or are brave and like this (yowza). Remember--you can put "anonymous" in the comment name line, just include your email and leave the url section blank if you prefer to be discreet. I am the only one that will be able to see your email address.

Or if you are brave, you can go ahead and lay public claim to the the most racy object there. Whatever you prefer. Just know that I have removed myself one step farther away from getting the best ads on my blog for running this contest. Don't say I never did anything for ya. Heh.

Winners!

And the winners are...

Toby, Lesley, and Chris! Selected at random by my mom. Enjoy! An email is on its way to you.

Stay tuned for the next contest--a bit different, but still fun.

Pro-Bug Kefir

It's rare for me to be so excited by a kid's product that I actually stop other mothers in the aisle of the grocery store to talk them into buying it. In fact, I don't think it's actually ever happened before. But Lifeway Food's Pro-bug Kefir drink is that kind of product.

I've been buying those annoying yogurt tubes for Tori for ages now, and while she likes them, she always drops them and splatters yogurt everywhere, or over-squeezes and ends up with two thirds of the tube on her shirt. So when I spotted the Pro-Bug packaging, I immediately grabbed some off the shelf at Whole Foods (the only place I've seen them for sale around here, but from web searches I see it's also available at Wegman's). Tori (who, obviously, was with me at the store) began demanding to "have it?" at top volume once she saw the funny cartoon bugs on the drink. I waited until we were in the car and gave her one. Which she drank, in its entirety, without spilling.

Then she asked for more.

Now, that might not seem so significant to anyone who is NOT the mother of a toddler. But Tori eats, as far as I can tell, randomly--sometimes she willingly eats her food, other times she ignores it no matter what we offer and survives, apparently, only on air. But the Pro-Bug kefir drinks? Tori will ALWAYS eat/drink it, no matter what, and she always asks for more. ALWAYS.

Kefir, if you don't know, is like yogurt only more so. This is a good explanation of the difference; basically, both yogurt and kefir contain probiotic bacteria (you know, the stuff that is good for you and your belly) but kefir has more kinds of probiotics. When Tori goes on food strikes she also goes on poop strikes, and the kefir can clear that up immediately.

Tori calls it "bug juice" and it really is her favorite food. Here are the basic stats of the stuff: 130 calories a container; yes, there is sugar, but it is actually not terribly sweet by my standards; 100% organic. Oh! And one important detail I nearly forgot! The packaging...ah, the packaging. Each drink has a screw-top that is shaped in such a way that tiny fingers can, all by themselves, twist on and off. Tori LOVES this. You have no idea. She can waste an entire half-hour screwing the top on and off. Bliss!

Because I like it so much, I actually contacted the company to let them know I was going to review it. The fabulous publicity folks have agreed to a contest! If you leave a comment here today, I will randomly choose three winners (I'll get Tori to give me three numbers at random to pick the winner--wait, maybe not since she only likes 8, 3, and 1. I'll ask someone totally unbiased to do it, like my mom) who will each receive three four-packs of Pro-Bug Kefir, one in each flavor. They will send it right to your house!

So, comment away! My very first contest! I'm so excited. :)

Warm Mouse

Kelby over at Type-A Mom asked me to review the WarmMe WarmMouse (and this review is cross-posted there). No, it's NOT a pet. It's a computer mouse that warms up to help treat carpal tunnel and arthritis.

I know, weird, right? I thought it would be. In fact, I thought it would be mildly creepy having the mouse warm up. But it's totally not. It's actually rather soothing.

First off, I have to say I love the mouse itself. I've been using this one for a long time since I'm a Mac user, and while it's very pretty I have to admit it is not particularly ergonomic and doesn't feel nice in your hand. The Warm Mouse has a very nice shape, making it easy to rest your thumb and pinky fingers on either side of the mouse, and it has a nice functional roller (the wireless Mac roller thing is inconsistent, I must say). I'd also forgotten how  much I missed the right click option.

But the warming is actually the best part. It reminds me of being a little girl with a cold and using my mom's heating pad; it's very soothing. I have to admit that my hand feels better too using it. This surprised me because I don't have any carpal tunnel OR arthritis (that I know of--yikes), but it definitely keeps my hand from fatiguing.

My only complaint is that I wish there were a couple of temperature options; I'd like to choose a setting slightly less warm than the only setting it has now. But it's a minor thing, and I'm sure it will be fixed in later versions.

If you are interested, check it out. It's pretty cool. It was free to me (and I plan to keep using it, especially as winter approaches in my chilly basement office), and only $24.95 to you. Enjoy!

Tiny Prints & The Women

When Tiny Prints asked me to review their cards, I asked their marketing guy to tell me why he thought my readers needed stationery. His answer was highly creative and funny, so here I am reviewing the cards.

I should have pushed for a better deal, like getting my own holiday cards for free, though. Because they area really, really beautiful. They have gorgeous designs--totally different from the ones available at other sites I've tried--and the quality is amazing. (My favorite holiday design is this one.)

But. There's always a but, right? Well, what I've been paying for my holiday cards the last couple years is about half of what they charge. I've done those 4" x 8" holiday cards and I've ordered them from a competitor and, well, they look perfectly fine and cost about 50% less. Admittedly, the Tiny Prints folks create a far more professional looking card with a nicer finish--but considering the shelf life of Christmas cards, well, I'm not sure it would be worth it for me.

But check them out. You might love 'em!

_______________________________________________

I slipped out yesterday afternoon to get some me time and decided to go see the new movie The Women. I was really looking forward to it, even though I knew the reviews had been pretty bad.

The "pretty bad" review were actually kind. The truth is, this movie proves the adage that no matter how delicious the ingredients are, just throwing them together in a pot isn't going to make a great meal.

It's nearly unbelievable how much this movie sucked. From the awkward directing (too much time between lines of dialog) and the fact that not a single actress in the movie looks like she is actually buying the words coming out of her mouth, it is so bad that I actually ached watching it.

There are some funny lines, but oddly, the biggest punchline of the movie is the incredible lack of chemistry between the main stars (Meg Ryan and Annette Bening). Toss into the mix the ungodly mangling that plastic surgery has done to Meg Ryan's face--contrasted with the minimal work done to Annette Benings--and I found myself wondering what statement about women this movie was trying to make.

Have you heard of the Bechdel Test? Here is a way to find out if a movie offers real perspective into women: the movie

(a) Has two women in it who

(b) Talk to each other

(c) About something other than a man

Amazingly, a movie called The Women--a movie that doesn't have a single male appear on screen until the final moment of the film--this movie nearly fails the above test. If it wasn't for two (count 'em, TWO) scenes related to Annette Bening's character's job, it would fail the test.

Not only that but the women are portrayed as supremely consumer focused (the product placement, by the way, is incredibly obvious), catty, and nasty.

The opening credits include Annette Bening saying in a disparaging and disgusted tone, "Women."  Her voice is ringing with contempt for women; it's the perfect statement because this movie is filled with contempt for women. So sad.

MotherTalk Blogging Book Tour: Only Child

Today as part of MotherTalk's blogging book tours I'm reviewing the book Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo. I thought I'd be a good candidate to review this book since I am an only child, married to an only child, and the parent of an only child.

Interestingly, however, Charlie, Tori and I are actually only children technically and by default. I have three younger half-siblings that I didn't meet until I was 18 and wasn't (obviously) raised with, Charlie had an older sister that lived for only a few days (whom Tori is named after, and was a victim of thalidomide) and Tori, of course, has her two older brothers who didn't survive.

However, we all grew up alone (Tori is currently), without siblings, as the sole bearers of our parents love and mistakes.

This book is a collection of essays by writers who are also only children. Most are "true" only children, although a few are children that lost siblings. The vast majority were raised by two parents that were financially very well off. The essays seem to be split fairly evenly between those that wanted siblings and those that didn't.

I wasn't able to quite bring myself to finish the book. Why? Well, frankly, I wasn't finding myself in these stories at all. Many mentions were made of the "triangle" being one of the most stable shapes (a child and two parents) and frankly, as an only child raised by a single mother (I only found one story, the essay by Amy Richards, about being raised by a single parent), well, what does that make me family? A straight line? A pole?

While the essays are all compelling and well written, they all have a kind of similarity that didn't bear any resemblance to my life at all: the oppressive and omnipotent parents that you became overly enmeshed with. Well, my mother was too busy scraping together a living and trying to find a way for us to survive for us to become truly enmeshed (not that we didn't try).

For me, while being an only child was a major factor of my childhood, I'm not sure it was THE major defining factor. Honestly, I didn't have much in the way of toys to gloat about not having to share, you know? We were just too poor. I'm not sure that it impacted my adulthood more than the poverty did. Or not having a television did. Or not having a father did.

The one thing I remember about being an only child is having imaginary friends, friends that were with me right up until I was 12 or 13 (and not having a television probably had an influence there too). And only one essay I read mentioned imaginary friends, and that made me sad--I thought all us onlys had those.

If you were an only child raised by two parents--particularly if you were raised in New York City (this book is VERY heavy on NYC only kids), you might enjoy this book more than I did. Otherwise, I think I might skip it if your only child experience was more like mine. If I wasn't planning on donating my copy to my local library, I would hold on to it for Tori, though; I could see her getting just a tad enmeshed with us... :)

Comments available here.

Today as part of MotherTalk's blogging book tours I'm reviewing the book Only Child: Writers on the Singular Joys and Solitary Sorrows of Growing Up Solo. I thought I'd be a good candidate to review this book since I am an only child, married to an only child, and the parent of an only child.

Interestingly, however, Charlie, Tori and I are actually only children technically and by default. I have three younger half-siblings that I didn't meet until I was 18 and wasn't (obviously) raised with, Charlie had an older sister that lived for only a few days (whom Tori is named after, and was a victim of thalidomide) and Tori, of course, has her two older brothers who didn't survive.

However, we all grew up alone (Tori is currently), without siblings, as the sole bearers of our parents love and mistakes.

This book is a collection of essays by writers who are also only children. Most are "true" only children, although a few are children that lost siblings. The vast majority were raised by two parents that were financially very well off. The essays seem to be split fairly evenly between those that wanted siblings and those that didn't.

I wasn't able to quite bring myself to finish the book. Why? Well, frankly, I wasn't finding myself in these stories at all. Many mentions were made of the "triangle" being one of the most stable shapes (a child and two parents) and frankly, as an only child raised by a single mother (I only found one story, the essay by Amy Richards, about being raised by a single parent), well, what does that make me family? A straight line? A pole?

While the essays are all compelling and well written, they all have a kind of similarity that didn't bear any resemblance to my life at all: the oppressive and omnipotent parents that you became overly enmeshed with. Well, my mother was too busy scraping together a living and trying to find a way for us to survive for us to become truly enmeshed (not that we didn't try).

For me, while being an only child was a major factor of my childhood, I'm not sure it was THE major defining factor. Honestly, I didn't have much in the way of toys to gloat about not having to share, you know? We were just too poor. I'm not sure that it impacted my adulthood more than the poverty did. Or not having a television did. Or not having a father did.

The one thing I remember about being an only child is having imaginary friends, friends that were with me right up until I was 12 or 13 (and not having a television probably had an influence there too). And only one essay I read mentioned imaginary friends, and that made me sad--I thought all us onlys had those.

If you were an only child raised by two parents--particularly if you were raised in New York City (this book is VERY heavy on NYC only kids), you might enjoy this book more than I did. Otherwise, I think I might skip it if your only child experience was more like mine. If I wasn't planning on donating my copy to my local library, I would hold on to it for Tori, though; I could see her getting just a tad enmeshed with us... :)

Comments available here.

Juno, or why adoption isn't cute

So it seems like every movie I've gone to see lately has been morbidly depressing. I Am Legend was horribly sad (I know, I just didn't expect that); Atonement, of course, I knew would be, but it was so much tougher than I thought (plus now I'm having nightmares about drowning in subway tunnels). I saw P.S. I Love You which was a MUCH better movie than it had a right to be (and a MUCH better movie than book--the book was awful, I couldn't even finish it--) but still--sad (Hilary Swank was horribly miscast, but did ok anyway).

So, when my mom was desperate for some Tori time this weekend and Charlie and I reviewed our movie options, he was excited to see Juno. This isn't shocking--the reviews are crazy good--but I was feeling pretty full of trepidation. I've read a lot about it; between reading about the very interesting woman that wrote it, and reading the stories of women that have been through similar experiences, and the stories of women that have adopted children, I wasn't sure I was up for a comedy about adoption. Because in the last four years that I've been reading blogs by women who were going through the adoption process, the one thing that has been clear to me is that IT IS NOT FUCKING FUNNY.

But we went.

Ten minutes into the movie it was clear that it was going to be cute. And by cute I mean over-the-top aren't we so fucking clever cute. The dialog was witty, snappy, and utterly and completely unbelievable--there is not a single teenager on the planet that talks the way Juno does. But still, I always enjoy hearing words put together well, so I was able to enjoy that aspect of the movie.

It was my understanding that abortion wasn't discussed at all in the movie, but that's not true. In fact, the first thing Juno does is call someone "to procure a hasty abortion." But she changes her mind because the baby has fingernails. For the first couple of days after I saw the movie I did not see this as an anti-choice movie--I thought, basically, that Juno was presented a choice and made a choice (and hey--I am ALL about choice). But now, after a few days away from the cuteness, I feel like it's actually a damned sly anti-choice statement--and that kind of pisses me off. Not only because of the whole "fingernails" thing, but because the whole movie makes the process of adoption look so easy and simple. Ug.

Anyway. Throughout the movie, I couldn't stop thinking about Kateri, a birth mom, and about this post (warning--tough read if you are an adoptive mom), were she talks about being:

"De-mothered. No one’s mother. Hit the reset button, reboot and start again. Motherhood erased. That’s how it was supposed to be."

It wasn't until nearly four years later that she felt the full pain of her choice:

"The anesthetic had worn off, and I was raw, naked, freshly separated. My body unleashed the primal force of loss so that I could not speak, I could not make a sound. I could not sob. I could not think. The hall of mirrors collapsed in shards stained with the blood of my psyche. Within a month I was suicidal."

In the last moments of the movie, this was all I could think about. Juno is happily playing guitar, her life is fine, and the baby is happy. All is well. Right?

I also couldn't help but think about Dawn and her experiences with her daughter and what she refers to as the "primal wound" her daughter suffered from leaving her birth mother. Now, Dawn has one of the best open adoption stories I've heard of, and it's clear that her daughter is wildly loved and loves in return (I know this because I got to meet them), yet she still talks about how much loss her daughter feels:

“When you were a little tiny baby,” I said and her sobbing quieted but she was still choking on the tears that kept running down her face. “When you were first born you stayed with Jessica in the hospital for three days. And then you came home to us and Madison, you were very sad then. Sometimes you cried a lot. I think it’s because you missed Jessica so much.”

It was like … I wish I could show you the look on her face. The floodgates opened back up but she had such … relief on her face. She was still crying, mind you. She cried for more than 45 minutes.

“It must have been scary for you,” I said. “You didn’t know me. You didn’t know Daddy. You didn’t know Noah. And you missed Jessica. You wondered where she was. I know she missed you, too, you have really missed each other.”

So, sure, in the movie the baby was in a good and loving home. I mean, my heart was with Jennifer Garner's character as the infertile mother throughout the movie (oh, she was perfect, I tell you). But I could not set all of my second-hand knowledge aside and just enjoy this movie. I worry, too, that all those teenage girls there in the theater with us, the ones that giggled as I wept when Jennifer Garner's character got down on her hands and knees at the mall to feel the baby move in Juno's belly, that all those girls will now have taken a big old swallow of the "adoption kool-aid" as Kateri calls it. That if they end up pregnant they will think it is just that easy; Juno at one point says she just wants to "squirt the kid out and get on with her life."

If only it were that easy. So, kids, view with caution. For normal people this movie may be light fare. For the rest of us? Not so much.

Comments available here.

So it seems like every movie I've gone to see lately has been morbidly depressing. I Am Legend was horribly sad (I know, I just didn't expect that); Atonement, of course, I knew would be, but it was so much tougher than I thought (plus now I'm having nightmares about drowning in subway tunnels). I saw P.S. I Love You which was a MUCH better movie than it had a right to be (and a MUCH better movie than book--the book was awful, I couldn't even finish it--) but still--sad (Hilary Swank was horribly miscast, but did ok anyway).

So, when my mom was desperate for some Tori time this weekend and Charlie and I reviewed our movie options, he was excited to see Juno. This isn't shocking--the reviews are crazy good--but I was feeling pretty full of trepidation. I've read a lot about it; between reading about the very interesting woman that wrote it, and reading the stories of women that have been through similar experiences, and the stories of women that have adopted children, I wasn't sure I was up for a comedy about adoption. Because in the last four years that I've been reading blogs by women who were going through the adoption process, the one thing that has been clear to me is that IT IS NOT FUCKING FUNNY.

But we went.

Ten minutes into the movie it was clear that it was going to be cute. And by cute I mean over-the-top aren't we so fucking clever cute. The dialog was witty, snappy, and utterly and completely unbelievable--there is not a single teenager on the planet that talks the way Juno does. But still, I always enjoy hearing words put together well, so I was able to enjoy that aspect of the movie.

It was my understanding that abortion wasn't discussed at all in the movie, but that's not true. In fact, the first thing Juno does is call someone "to procure a hasty abortion." But she changes her mind because the baby has fingernails. For the first couple of days after I saw the movie I did not see this as an anti-choice movie--I thought, basically, that Juno was presented a choice and made a choice (and hey--I am ALL about choice). But now, after a few days away from the cuteness, I feel like it's actually a damned sly anti-choice statement--and that kind of pisses me off. Not only because of the whole "fingernails" thing, but because the whole movie makes the process of adoption look so easy and simple. Ug.

Anyway. Throughout the movie, I couldn't stop thinking about Kateri, a birth mom, and about this post (warning--tough read if you are an adoptive mom), were she talks about being:

"De-mothered. No one’s mother. Hit the reset button, reboot and start again. Motherhood erased. That’s how it was supposed to be."

It wasn't until nearly four years later that she felt the full pain of her choice:

"The anesthetic had worn off, and I was raw, naked, freshly separated. My body unleashed the primal force of loss so that I could not speak, I could not make a sound. I could not sob. I could not think. The hall of mirrors collapsed in shards stained with the blood of my psyche. Within a month I was suicidal."

In the last moments of the movie, this was all I could think about. Juno is happily playing guitar, her life is fine, and the baby is happy. All is well. Right?

I also couldn't help but think about Dawn and her experiences with her daughter and what she refers to as the "primal wound" her daughter suffered from leaving her birth mother. Now, Dawn has one of the best open adoption stories I've heard of, and it's clear that her daughter is wildly loved and loves in return (I know this because I got to meet them), yet she still talks about how much loss her daughter feels:

“When you were a little tiny baby,” I said and her sobbing quieted but she was still choking on the tears that kept running down her face. “When you were first born you stayed with Jessica in the hospital for three days. And then you came home to us and Madison, you were very sad then. Sometimes you cried a lot. I think it’s because you missed Jessica so much.”

It was like … I wish I could show you the look on her face. The floodgates opened back up but she had such … relief on her face. She was still crying, mind you. She cried for more than 45 minutes.

“It must have been scary for you,” I said. “You didn’t know me. You didn’t know Daddy. You didn’t know Noah. And you missed Jessica. You wondered where she was. I know she missed you, too, you have really missed each other.”

So, sure, in the movie the baby was in a good and loving home. I mean, my heart was with Jennifer Garner's character as the infertile mother throughout the movie (oh, she was perfect, I tell you). But I could not set all of my second-hand knowledge aside and just enjoy this movie. I worry, too, that all those teenage girls there in the theater with us, the ones that giggled as I wept when Jennifer Garner's character got down on her hands and knees at the mall to feel the baby move in Juno's belly, that all those girls will now have taken a big old swallow of the "adoption kool-aid" as Kateri calls it. That if they end up pregnant they will think it is just that easy; Juno at one point says she just wants to "squirt the kid out and get on with her life."

If only it were that easy. So, kids, view with caution. For normal people this movie may be light fare. For the rest of us? Not so much.

Comments available here.

Television Women

So, the writer's strike continues (go writers!) and television is becoming more and more of a wasteland. But there has been an odd side effect to the strike, I think. Shows that might have normally been canceled after a few episodes are being allowed a slightly longer run, and the interesting theme that ties some of those shows together? Women.

I've just watched the first three episodes of Cashmere Mafia (I had them all DVRed; I no longer watch TV when it actually airs) and while it has some huge, gaping problems I have to say I cannot remember the last time a network television show revolved around four women. Can you? Not only four women, but four women who met in business school and are all wildly successful in their careers. So name me the last time that any show centered on four smart successful women aired on network television.
.
.
.

Yeah, I can't think of it either. While I find myself wishing that the women were more like, well, anyone normal frankly--they are a singular unique entity, the New York City urban business woman, something that is hardly reflective of the rest of use women--I do think the show manages to escape some traps it could easily fall into, and the acting isn't too bad and the writing is actually pretty good (of course they are all white, with the exception of Lucy Liu, so that's another problem too). If it could just release the Sex & The City chains that are dragging it down I think it could be a really good show. I love watching women making deals, and calling men on their shit, and this show dedicates a lot of time to that. There's also a lot of makeup and fluff--and I find the whining about demanding nannies and incompetent assistants dull--but what can you do. The additional fact that the show is willing to allow a character to explore a lesbian relationship in a shockingly realistic way is pretty cool too.

...

Now, in the "wildly successful" column (as opposed to the 'only on the air because we have nothing else' column) falls the new show based on the Terminator movies, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'm sure you saw it if your TV was on when it was on, because some ridiculously astronomical number of people watched the show (I think I heard 34 million). The show basically covers the territory between the second and third movies--when Sarah is free and in hiding and protecting her son John from the machines from the future (we know that she dies eventually thanks to the third movie, and they pull no punches about that in the show).

Now, I freely admit that I am a sci-fiction geek to the extreme (I love the movie the 5th Element--no, I really really do), so I'm pretty easy to please. But they made some truly smart decisions about this show, particularly about the casting. Sarah Connor is played by Lena Heady, a fairly accomplished actress who manages to convey the fragility of her love for her son perfectly, but also manages to be tough and true and strong without the bulked out artificialness of Linda Hamilton in the second movie (which I actually liked). John Connor is played quite well by the young man that played Zach on Heroes.

But by far the best casting choice was the use the lovely and amazing Summer Glau of Firefly/Serenity fame. She's playing the "good" terminator, the one sent back to protect young John. She kicks butt most elegantly, and she manages to look like an actual robot while she does it. It's awesome.

The writing is surprisingly tight and compelling, the show captivated both me and Charlie and it is MUCH HARDER to get Charlie to buy into a sci-fi world than it is me (I'll fall for anything). I really enjoyed it and I am so glad to see it, to see more tough strong women doing what they need to; saving the world. Oh yeah.

The only real issue I have with the show is the truly disgusting and misogynist image they are using to promote the show featuring Summer's armless and topless torso. Ick. Memo to Fox and all other idiots that promote science fiction: WOMEN WATCH TOO. STOP USING SEXIST IMAGES AND YOU WILL SELL MORE/GET MORE VIEWERS.

...

Other than that, I enjoyed watching the first two episodes of American Idol. And if you ever wanted to know why I stopped hosting poetry readings here in Philadelphia? It's because of this; all those crazy people that auditioned? THEY WRITE POEMS TOO.

Comments available here.

So, the writer's strike continues (go writers!) and television is becoming more and more of a wasteland. But there has been an odd side effect to the strike, I think. Shows that might have normally been canceled after a few episodes are being allowed a slightly longer run, and the interesting theme that ties some of those shows together? Women.

I've just watched the first three episodes of Cashmere Mafia (I had them all DVRed; I no longer watch TV when it actually airs) and while it has some huge, gaping problems I have to say I cannot remember the last time a network television show revolved around four women. Can you? Not only four women, but four women who met in business school and are all wildly successful in their careers. So name me the last time that any show centered on four smart successful women aired on network television.
.
.
.

Yeah, I can't think of it either. While I find myself wishing that the women were more like, well, anyone normal frankly--they are a singular unique entity, the New York City urban business woman, something that is hardly reflective of the rest of use women--I do think the show manages to escape some traps it could easily fall into, and the acting isn't too bad and the writing is actually pretty good (of course they are all white, with the exception of Lucy Liu, so that's another problem too). If it could just release the Sex & The City chains that are dragging it down I think it could be a really good show. I love watching women making deals, and calling men on their shit, and this show dedicates a lot of time to that. There's also a lot of makeup and fluff--and I find the whining about demanding nannies and incompetent assistants dull--but what can you do. The additional fact that the show is willing to allow a character to explore a lesbian relationship in a shockingly realistic way is pretty cool too.

...

Now, in the "wildly successful" column (as opposed to the 'only on the air because we have nothing else' column) falls the new show based on the Terminator movies, The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I'm sure you saw it if your TV was on when it was on, because some ridiculously astronomical number of people watched the show (I think I heard 34 million). The show basically covers the territory between the second and third movies--when Sarah is free and in hiding and protecting her son John from the machines from the future (we know that she dies eventually thanks to the third movie, and they pull no punches about that in the show).

Now, I freely admit that I am a sci-fiction geek to the extreme (I love the movie the 5th Element--no, I really really do), so I'm pretty easy to please. But they made some truly smart decisions about this show, particularly about the casting. Sarah Connor is played by Lena Heady, a fairly accomplished actress who manages to convey the fragility of her love for her son perfectly, but also manages to be tough and true and strong without the bulked out artificialness of Linda Hamilton in the second movie (which I actually liked). John Connor is played quite well by the young man that played Zach on Heroes.

But by far the best casting choice was the use the lovely and amazing Summer Glau of Firefly/Serenity fame. She's playing the "good" terminator, the one sent back to protect young John. She kicks butt most elegantly, and she manages to look like an actual robot while she does it. It's awesome.

The writing is surprisingly tight and compelling, the show captivated both me and Charlie and it is MUCH HARDER to get Charlie to buy into a sci-fi world than it is me (I'll fall for anything). I really enjoyed it and I am so glad to see it, to see more tough strong women doing what they need to; saving the world. Oh yeah.

The only real issue I have with the show is the truly disgusting and misogynist image they are using to promote the show featuring Summer's armless and topless torso. Ick. Memo to Fox and all other idiots that promote science fiction: WOMEN WATCH TOO. STOP USING SEXIST IMAGES AND YOU WILL SELL MORE/GET MORE VIEWERS.

...

Other than that, I enjoyed watching the first two episodes of American Idol. And if you ever wanted to know why I stopped hosting poetry readings here in Philadelphia? It's because of this; all those crazy people that auditioned? THEY WRITE POEMS TOO.

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MotherTalk Book Tour: The Daring Book for Girls

I didn't take part in the kerfuffle about the Dangerous Book for Boys when it came out, but I couldn't help feel a twinge of "why is it just for boys???" irritation, even though all of the reviews were positively gushing about the books fabulousness. OK, maybe it was more of a serious feminist flare than a twinge. When I looked at the book and couldn't see a single thing in there that girls couldn't do.

However. That was before Andi Buchanan and Miriam Peskowitz (both Philly authors so they are my neighbors--holla! OK, I can't believe I just typed that) wrote the amazing, the fantastic, the beautiful, the wondrous, the absolutely fucking perfect The Daring Book for Girls, which I am blessed to be reviewing for MotherTalk.*

Oh, how I love this book. From the sparkly NOT PINK cover (bless you, authors, for that) to the retro-layout (it's very much like the old Girl Scout handbook of my youth, and I am not the first person to note that) to the magnificent content, you must--MUST--plan to purchase this book during your Christmas shopping for any girl on your list.

I knew I was going to love this book when I turned to the section about hiking and the authors not only discussed the basics (animal tracks, how to find a trail head) and poison ivy. They also included a photograph of the plant that works as a natural antidote to poison ivy (jewelweed; it also works wonderfully for stinging nettle burns).

But it's the sections on slumber party games and jump rope rhymes that makes it a book for girls. But it doesn't stop there. There are also math tricks, instruction on how to paddle a canoe, how to build a scooter (like, from wood), how to do a two-fingered whistle (a skill I personally learned in Girl Scouts), and so many more cool things that I wish I were ten again and could do them all. It's just chock-full of awesomeness.

Just reading this book makes me feel happy and relaxed. I find myself picking it up and reading it again and again and discovering new charming sections that I didn't notice previously. I can barely put it down. I can't wait to buy copies for girls I know this Christmas! It's just such an original (OK, so the boy's book was first, WHATever), quirky, cool book. I adore it. Seriously love it. Can you tell?

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