Dinner Time Outrage

So, I was watching Real Housewives of Orange County during dinner because it is Sunday and there wasn't anything else on. It was the episode when one of the thin blonde women who isn't Vicki (I know this isn't that helpful but I really can't tell any of the others apart yet) got celebrity chef Susan Feniger to cook for her upcoming dinner party.

Her husband felt that Latin food wasn't good enough for his pool party. He had planned to serve steakhouse type food. If you're going to, presumably, spend a ton of money on a chef it's probably a good idea to actually know what kind of food she specializes in and then to not ask her to cook something completely different. Like maybe Google her or something. This is the actual first line of her Wikipedia page (emphasis, other than her name, mine): Susan Feniger is an award-winning American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and radio and TV personality considered to be a leading authority on Latin cuisine in the United States."

But no, they obviously just wanted someone with a 'name' and figured that if they paid her enough money she'd cook whatever food they wanted. Then, with no sense of irony, the husband asked her to make deep fried Oreos for dessert. Latin food for the main course, no way! Carnival food for dessert, awesome! There's obviously some implied, or even outright, racism there. Also I wonder if he would have had the same crappy, condescending reaction if Rick Bayless, a man, proposed to serve Mexican food at his pool party. If I had to guess I'd probably say no.

read on

Early Morning Outrage Pt. 2

Ok, I know she would dismiss me as one of those do-nothing bloggers, but Whoopi Goldberg seriously needs to stop using, "But she didn't go to the police," as a criticism of Mel Gibson's significant other. SHE DID GO TO THE POLICE. She got a restraining order before the tapes were released. (Also, I don't know that any woman should be criticized for not going to the police in an abuse case, but it's factually wrong to say she didn't).

Whoopi also needs to stop giving the benefit of the doubt to Mel as to the veracity of the tapes if she isn't also going to give it to Oksana as to whether she leaked them. Whoopi assumes that Oksana is the one who leaked the tapes without any proof. Maybe she did leak the tapes but it's wrong to hold people to different burdens of proof. It's not surprising that Oksana (the side-piece, as Whoopi calls her) is held to higher burden of proof than Mel.

read on

NY Times Clutches Pearls Over Body Hair

I've read about the fact that Mo'Nique's doesn't shave her legs on a lot of blogs. The first time I read about it was a while ago. It was definitely pre-Precious because when her leg hair was being talked about in an awards show context I was already aware of the fact. The New York Times, perennially behind the times, just decided to tackle the issue of body hair on the red carpet yesterday. It's a silly piece with a gossip blog tone.

The part that bothered me most:

...Mo’Nique...lifted her floor-length dress to reveal her unshaved calves, abundant in their hairiness. This did not go over well. The New York Daily News crowned her “the least superficial actress ever.” On Web sites like TMZ.com, people posted comments like “I have to HURL now ... Disgusting is an understatement.” It would seem that a collective ewww rang out nationwide, one designed to make every ’tween girl snap to attention and realize that leg hair is not allowed.

I don't understand how being called 'the least superficial actress ever' consisitutes not going over well. Does the NYT value superficiality so much that pointing out ones lack of superficiality is an insult? Also why are comments from TMZ being used as a source? What's next, quoting bigots on YouTube in an article about race relations?

If this is an attempt from the NYT to be snarky and relevant it's worrying.

Via Roger Ebert's twitter.

read on

Early Morning* Outrage

Ugh!! So I was reading some other blogs and had the TV on in the background. The Rachael Ray Show was on and this plastic surgeon was talking about nose jobs and brought up Adrien Brody. I've loved him since he was the (kind of faux) punk in Summer of Sam. His face is perfect and his nose suits him (and I've always had a thing for big noses). This effing plastic surgeon puts up a side by side pic of Adrien and what he'd look like with a nose-job. He said even though he's very handsome, that the smaller nose fit his face better.

TOTAL LIE!! In the after picture his nose did not balance out his chin, and the proportionality was gone from his face. I'm actually surprised the Dr. didn't suggest shaving down his chin bone as well. Jesus...I'm so sick of people getting cookie cutter noses. So many awesome looking people don't have cookie cutter noses. Besides Adrien, Noel Fielding and Erin O'Connor spring immediately to mind.

After the Adrien face massacre he brought up a similar side by side showing a woman in the audience what her nose could look like post-rhinoplasty. She basically said she wanted to get the surgery but couldn't afford to so the doc was basically showing her what she can't have. Nice...

For the rest of the segment, Rachael, who doesn't really seem all that vain, had to ooh and aah over things from breast implants to eyebrow growth serum. It came off as totally fake and pandering, the same way she seems to be pandering when she does segments for people with children (ok, I have watched her show before). I tend to think it's because producers are likely pressuring her to try too hard to appeal to her perceived audience. I wonder if this will change now that the demographics of people at home at 10am, due to unemployment, become very different.

*I'm fully aware that 10am isn't really considered early morning but I freelance and I stay up really late so to me it's pretty much early morning.

read on

Doppelgängland

I basically should have started this blog a year ago. My first bunch of posts are probably going to be kinda dated. I have a bunch of blog ideas backlogged in my brain. This is going to be the innaugural Doppelgängland post, showcasing people who look a lot a like but are very different. The name comes from the Buffy episode where regular Willow meets vamp Willow.

Spider Webb from The Horrors (left) and Chad Rogers from that house selling show (right):

I've never watched the house selling show, I just watch a lot of Bravo and he's pretty inescapable in the promos. He was also mentioned on The Soup a few days ago, which reminded me how similar they look. I doubt though that, haircut aside, they're anything alike. I also doubt chad can do this.

Also Chad was initial evidence for my very wrong prediction that the bowl haircut was going to be big in America this year.

read on