Princess Week: Ariel
Posted: April 27, 2012 Filed under: Commentary | Tags: ariel, disney, princess week, the little mermaid 2 Comments »I love The Little Mermaid. And as much as I admire and adore the princesses who came before her and after her, Ariel will always be my princess.
The Little Mermaid debuted in November, 1989. I was thirteen years old and I’d just started ninth grade. My mother had died suddenly the April before. I don’t remember what my first impression of the film was. But over the next five years I started dyeing my strawberry blond hair redder and redder, I purchased multiple copies of the Part of Your World sheet music and used it for all my auditions, and the great majority of my money from after school jobs went to Little Mermaid merchandise. And not just cute shirts and mini-backpacks. If they put Ariel on it, I would buy it. Ariel collected human stuff and I collected Ariel stuff.
Princess Week: Snow White
Posted: April 24, 2012 Filed under: Commentary, Event | Tags: ashley judd, ginnifer goodwin, kristen stewart, lily collins, mirror mirror, once upon a time, princess week, snow white, snow white and the huntsman, snow white and the seven dwarfs Leave a comment »It’s National Princess Week! To celebrate, my daughters and I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Snow White was the original Disney Princess after all, and seventy-five years later, she is having a banner year!
Ginnifer Goodwin in Once Upon a Time
Lily Collins in Mirror Mirror
Kristen Stewart in Snow White and the Huntsman
Things that are Amazing. Things that could be Better.
Posted: March 15, 2012 Filed under: Commentary | Tags: feminism, marketing, marvel, spider-man Leave a comment »I love Spider-Man. And like any geek, I like to show off my love by collecting and displaying things related to Spider-Man. I have toys and web-crawling earbuds and I have t-shirts and sneakers. But to get these things I usually have to shop the “Boys” aisles. So when I saw this, I got really excited:
Spidey-polish (by OPI)! My own nails are a disaster. Most of the 12 year old boys who my Spider-shirts and -shoes are actually made for probably have prettier ones. But I would buy this anyway because it’s that amazing. And because I want to support the initiative. And because, like I said, I collect things related to my love of Spider-Man!
But when I looked a little closer: Read the rest of this entry »
January Jones, Betty Draper, and Emma Frost
Posted: June 11, 2011 Filed under: Commentary, Event Fashion, Film Fashion | Tags: emma frost, january jones, x-men 3 Comments »January Jones is fascinating.
January played a sociopath, Kim Brody, on an episode of Law and Order (“Quiet Calm”). She was a beautiful, calculating, manipulative ingenue whose visible emotions ranged from raising an eyebrow to pursing a lip. She was always a step ahead of the game. She played each moment with straight confidence born in the knowledge that she always got away with everything. She was an ice queen who hated everyone because they didn’t love her. This episode played on TNT a couple weeks ago and when my brother asked “who’s that?” I answered:
Emma Frost.
Incredible Casting
Posted: July 13, 2010 Filed under: Commentary, Event Fashion | Tags: helen mirren, the avengers Leave a comment »There’s been a lot of speculation about who should take on the role of Bruce Banner/The Hulk for The Avengers now that Edward Norton is out. It is no secret that I don’t like The Incredible Hulk. “Hulk Smash” stuff bores me to tears and the tragedy side gets tired — especially when Bruce Banner is seen as one of the smartest people in the Marvel Universe and he can’t solve the ONE problem he has been working on for as long as we have known him. I like Edward Norton, I thought he did a good job with a character I really have to force myself to care about. I’ve been thinking on it, is there ANYONE who I would be excited to watch as Bruce Banner? Joshua Jackson or Leonardo DiCaprio? Not really, either’d be miscast. Sam Rockwell? Maybe, but they wouldn’t recast him. Well. Probably. Anyway, the answer is probably not. So, I will put forth the most ridiculous and yet brilliant suggestion:
Look, if anyone in Hollywood can make Bruce Banner my most favourite character, it’s Helen Mirren. The woman is magic (speaking of, this is from The Sorcerer’s Apprentice premier which I am choosing to take as suggestion she’ll be back for National Treasure 3) (and, hey, she’s almost wearing Diana’s new jacket). I would be first in line to watch Helen Hulk out.
Flashback Friday: Bryce Dallas Howard
Posted: June 25, 2010 Filed under: Commentary, Event Fashion, Film Fashion, Flashback Friday | Tags: bryce dallas howard, dressed like diane 1 Comment »Tomorrow kicks off our Vampire Movie Week (content will start Monday) so today I bring you a vampire. THE new vampire in Twilight’s Eclipse, Bryce Dallas Howard:
Bryce took over the role of Victoria for the Twilight Saga’s third film and I am honestly interested in seeing if she is noticeably superior. She is certainly a bigger name (I, uh, don’t actually know who was the first Victoria) (Edited to add: Rachelle Lefevre; thank you Mizzelle) and it’s not like I don’t like Bryce or don’t think she’s talented… It’s not HER fault all the movies she’s been in have been PAINFULLY AWFUL. Right?
Vuitton Girl Might Punch You (SatC2 London Premiere)
Posted: May 28, 2010 Filed under: Commentary, Red Carpet Fashion | Tags: alexandra burke, amanda holden, cynthia nixon, karen gillan, kim catrall, kristin davis, sarah jessica parker, sex and the city, stacey solomon 1 Comment »So Roger Ebert finished his — let’s call it ‘scathing’ — review of Sex and the City 2 with the following question:
Reader, I must confess that while attending the sneak preview with its overwhelmingly female audience, I was gob-smacked by the delightful cleavage on display. Do women wear their lowest-cut frocks for each other?
I’m going to disregard the appalling sexism on display here for a moment and just answer with this picture:
These four women, and the crowds of women behind them, are not dressed for YOU, Roger. They are dressed for ME. And for each other and for their fans and for the idea that fashion is fun and that that is a part of the appeal of Sex and the City.
Sex and the City should be a comic book.
Posted: May 26, 2010 Filed under: Commentary, Linking, Performance Fashion | Tags: girl power, sex and the city 5 Comments »Yesterday was “International Geek Pride Day” and I celebrated by window-shopping 5th Avenue and going to a press screening of Sex and the City 2. None of which sounds “mainstream geeky” but maybe the following suggestion will make up for it.
It was mid-way through the movie; the gals change into camel-riding-ready outfits (from Dior and Vuitton, of course) and they strut across the sand, a fearsome foursome if there ever was one. The wind made their outfits billow and Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda suddenly had a full-on cape. Later on Samantha makes an absolute spectacle of herself as only Samantha can. Shouting at a disapproving Middle Eastern crowd that she has sex and likes sex thank you very much she made it very clear that she will not be covered up or contained and she became a superhero for the covered up and contained women watching. Women who then took all four of our heroines behind closed doors and revealed their own secret identities (and designer outfits, of course). This is just begging to be a comic book.
Project Runway: Let them eat cake!
Posted: August 10, 2012 | Author: Anika | Filed under: Commentary | Tags: buffi jashanmal, classism, michael kors, project runway | 2 Comments »No television show is going to be my favourite every week. All of the shows I consistently watch are flawed. Some of them deeply. To the point where I wonder why I am still watching. Last night’s episode of Project Runway made me sad. And also angry.
Andrea, for reasons she very clearly doesn’t want to share, fled the apartment and the show in the middle of the night. And then she apparently quit via email. We’d barely begun to process this bizarre turn of events when Kooan (literally) bowed out of the competition. So then last week’s loser, Raul, was brought back in — and proceeded to go on at length about his awesomeness. Things happen for a reason, said Tim (aside: I love Tim Gunn, he was great dealing with this). The problem is the things were really kind of upsetting and if the reason was to give Raul more opportunity to self-aggrandize while making ugly clothes, I’m not sure we needed that. I entirely agree with the decision to bring him back — Andrea should have spoken up and left at the end of that challenge not hours later while everyone was asleep — but I don’t have to like him or his fashion. And I don’t.
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