MamaPop™

"A Really Bad Disney Movie..."

I know that you read the title of this post and thought, "Oh, no, not a review of Beverly Hills Chihuahua!" Fear not. The title is actually from a quote from Matt Damon who said of vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, "It's like a really bad Disney movie. The hockey mom from Alaska...is president. She's facing down Vladmir Putin using the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink. It's absurd."

It's Paul Freakin' Newman, people!

Did you hear? Butch Cassidy is dead. Henry Gondorff, Fast Eddie, Doc Hudson, gone. Cool Hand Freakin' Luke! Gone! You'll have to forgive a little emotion here, because I really admired Paul Newman. And I don't admire anybody. Trot out all the Standard Terms you can: Legend, Icon, Enough Charisma to Make Jimmy Stewart Look Like Vincent Gallo. He was the shit, plain and simple. So what do you do when the man you've sort of idolized most of your life dies on your birthday?

You take up the mantle, that's what.

Does Banned Books Week Still Matter?

Happy National Banned Books Week, everybody! Now, call me weird, (wow, that was deafening,) but I LOVE Banned Books Week. Why, you ask incredulously? Because it gives me a reason to look through a wonderful and convenient list of fantastic books to see which ones I will read in honor of still being able to do so. But does Banned Books Week matter anymore? I think it does, more than ever.

Is Snark Killing the Internets?

A friend linked me to a blog post called "Is Snark Killing The Web?" yesterday morning, figuring it was relevant to my interests. Since it's about how snarky websites and comments are killing the internet, or at least the part where blogs live, and since I write for a snarky pop culture commentary site under a moniker that clearly implicates me as part of the vast Snark-Wing Conspiracy, I guess my friend was right on the money.

Dennis Quaid Fires Back Against Meg Ryan

 

It feels a little odd to post about celebrity gossip while a national financial crisis is taking up space in most of our minds, but, hopefully, this proves to offer a slight distraction to the plunging Dow and scary governmental strife. I'm hoping you're like me in that stepping away from cnn.com (or whatever your 24-hour news network of choice is) for a little while is a good thing. That's also why I still watch The Hills.

Hot Sauce Kills Man; Amy Backs Away From the Tabasco

I have had two guiding dietary tenants during this pregnancy (have I mentioned recently that I'm pregnant? in the past 10 minutes or so? because seriously, so beyond ridiculously pregnant.):

1) Do not talk to me about chicken.
2) Pass the motherfucking hot sauce.

I love spicy food. Adore spicy food. My taste buds are fried, my digestive tract is probably blistered and callused and I chomp prescription-strength Zantac like tropical fruit-flavored Tums. So the constant helpful suggestions of "eat some spicy food" to bring on labor have generally been a little amusing, considering I've been gleefully burning the skin off my tongue (and esophagus) for nine whole months now.

So needless to say, the story of a young and otherwise healthy aspiring chef dying -- no, seriously, DYING -- after a hot sauce competition gave me pause.

McCafe Might Suck, But McDonald's Burgers Will Sustain Us Through a Nuclear Holocaust

So, we spent a good bit of time the other day blasting McDonald's latest venture, McCafe, not only for their sexist advertising, but for their crappy coffee. And I now feel closer to all of you because, like me, if there's one thing that you can't stand it's someone besmirching the name of that wonderful substance, coffee.

Now let's turn our attention to McDonald's food, or "food" as the case may be.

Heather Locklear Arrested for DUI

On Saturday afternoon police pulled Heather Locklear over for suspicion of driving under the influence.

Police were tipped of by a call to 911. Someone saw a woman driving erratically.

She was taken in and tested for alcohol and drugs.

Being MamaPop's New Writer Is Kinda Like Being An Army Surgeon Or Flea

Hi. I'm the newest writer at MamaPop. I'd like to introduce myself to you but before I do, here's a picture of Flea. I bet you think Flea is just some stupid bass player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Well, you are stinking wrong. You should apologize to Flea.

Vampire Mania

Lately I have been completely consumed by the undead.

I am currently reading Breaking Dawn after reading the first three novels in Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. I read them like chain smoking, I started reading each book when I was barely finished with the one before it.

(Another picture of Edward for everybody's viewing pleasure)

Then a couple of weeks ago I started watching the new HBO series True Blood.

Photo in Search of a Caption: David Blaine & Kelly Ripa

It Ain't Nothin' But A Movie: What's All The Fuss About Hounddog?

Let's just get this out of the way right now: this isn't a review of That Rape Movie. And I'm not going to describe for you That Rape Scene. A) because I don't do reviews (I hate reviewing movies, mostly because my reactions to most movies tend to reduce to either OMG IT WAS SO GOOD or OMG THAT WAS SO BAD) (I do not have nuanced taste in film), and B) because the content of the movie is more or less incidental to what I want to say here.

(That Rape Movie = That Dakota Fanning Rape Movie a.k.a. Hounddog, the one that's been protested all over the place because - wait for it - the character played by Dakota Fanning gets raped.)

(I did watch it, though. They sent me a screener. Dakota Fanning is freakishly, freakishly talented.)

What I want to say here: I just do not get what all the fuss is about.

Project Runway Lovers Don't Set Your DVR Yet

On Friday a judge ordered a temporary injunction that prohibits Project Runway from moving to Lifetime, "television for women."  What's WE and Oxygen then, television for other women?

The Weinstein Company, which produces the show, had made a $150 million deal with Lifetime to move the show from Bravo.  NBC Universal, which owns Bravo, sued to halt the move.  NBC claims they should have been offered an opportunity to keep the show and any spin-offs before it was offered to anyone else, which is known as "right of first refusal."   Weinstein said that there was no right of first refusal in the contract and that NBC Universal was offered the deal and was outbid.

Paul Newman Dies, Age 83

Via The Washington Post: Paul Newman, 83, the actor and sex symbol who surged to stardom by playing loners as well as criminal and moral outlaws -- anything to downplay his astonishing looks -- died of cancer yesterday at his farmhouse in Westport, Conn.

I'm utterly stunned. I had no idea Newman was even ill. What a tremendous loss for us all.

Our sincerest condolences go out to his family.

source

This Week In Covetousness

Join us over at MamaPop's sister site, We Covet, for better living through consumerism! What you should be coveting this week:

We Covet Accessories That Make Us Feel We're Gonna Make It After All At less than twenty bucks, this will safely keep you cozy through the credit crisis.

We Covet Rings Of Glass I wanted to find a way to incorporate Blondie's Heart of Glass into this post, but just wasn't able to sort that out. No matter. All you need to know is this: GLASS. PRETTY.

We Covet Homemade Wooden Toys Enough with the plastic, melamine, lead based toys!

Shower Gel Dispenser We Do Not Covet Proceed with caution: this may put you off showers.

We Covet Fun With Placemats My children would probably pretty much absolutely certainly destroy these in about five minutes, but still. I would enjoy them a lot while they lasted.

And much, much MORE!

Yes, Women Are for Raping, for "Law & Order" Tells Us So

I am a long-term fan of the "Law & Order" franchise.  I have been watching its shows faithfully since the mid-1990s when a lull between my failed university career and a job in a bookstore left me with some time on my hands.  I would hear that famous BUM-BUM that happens before the opening scene in each episode of the original show, and I would race from whatever part of the apartment I was in, even if it meant tripping across the floor in a towel while yanking on jeans over wet legs, so that I could catch the usual gruesome opening scene in which death or an already dead body came as a surprise to some unlucky soul or another.

Britney's New Song "Womanizer"

The first track off Britney Spears' album "Circus" has made its way to the internets in its entirety. A snippet was originally leaked and the release was pushed back to December 27th, Spears' birthday. For most pop singers, follow up tracks have to be as good or exceed sales of the previous album for it to be hailed as a success; after Britney's much-publicized breakdown, I think her album will be deemed a success if she can perform the track live while looking good and not forgetting her dance routine.

Listen to the song after the jump.