Are the Muppets turning into hipsters, or were they just early adopters? (Salon)

In the '70s, Muppets were able to blur the boundaries between adult and kid entertainment. What's great now is that they don't have to: With a love for all things nostalgic, as well as the cultural parodies and "winks to the audience" that Jim Henson's creations were known for, the Muppets won't have to change at all to fit into our current definition of "hipsters."

The only thing wrong with this article is that it doesn't mention the completely genius version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which I'm sure you've all seen. But God forbid you haven't....


Read the full article here.

Hollywood's obsession with tiny women, big meals (Salon)

The illusion of a girl who wants your metaphoric meat is certainly more alluring than the reality of a girl who's ready to pass out because all she's had to eat today is half a grapefruit for fear that she'll blow that rom-com audition. ... But jeez, wasn't it bad enough when she was just supposed to look awesome in a bikini? Now she's supposed to look awesome in a bikini while unhinging her jaw over a blooming onion. ...

And how absurdly, stupidly hypocritical it is that if the same beautiful woman were to gain an ounce or two, that same public display of burger eating would be fair game for mockery.

These are a Salon writer's comments on a piece that ran in the NYT a couple of days ago ("For Actresses, Is a Big Appetite Part of the Show?"), and it's sad to say they're spot on. But more than that, why do we care what actors - actresses, really - are eating? The collective "we" need to get a life. Anywho, worth taking a look at both articles, and as always, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Read the full Salon article here.
Read the New York Times piece here.

"Deadliest Catch": Captain Phil Was A Lion Among Men (Salon)

There's moral terror in the scenes that show Jake Anderson, the aforementioned, knife-wounded crewman, being hazed by his mates on the fishing vessel Northwestern as a useless "one-armed bandit." There's dread in the tight closeups of cigarettes clenched between Phil's fingers and butts piled high in his ashtray, and in Jake's confession that he was stealing his dad's pain medicine because "I'm an addict." And there's fathomless sadness in the scenes revealing that all the fleet's crewmembers (Phil included) are routinely pushed to the brink of collapse -- pressured to do 20, 30, even 40 hour shifts with little or no sleep, often in pounding rain or bone-chilling snow. ...
It's hard to say how much of its blunt honesty comes from its makers' ethical sense and how much is bound up in its chosen subject - a hard job staffed by men who barely have time to eat and sleep, much less adopt fake, corny screen personas and sustain them over weeks. Either way, "Deadliest Catch" is a Trojan Horse reality show, smuggling integrity into a morally bankrupt genre. It's as real as TV gets.

I've been a huge fan of this show for many seasons, and Phil is my favorite of the captains. He wore his heart on his sleeve - there was never any doubt that he loved his two sons, even as he was griped "now you know why lions eat their young" when one of them pulled something stupid. He's a classic and he'll be sorely missed.
Read the full article here.

The meaning of torture porn (Salon)

I have heard a lot of people in their discussion of these remakes argue that this emphasis on torture is a passing fad, but I actually don't think that's true. Critics tend to ignore the fact that these films are part of a very long history in which torture and public executions are part of popular entertainment, from gladiator battles to the Inquisitions to public executions in 18th century France to lynching in the U.S. in the 19th and 20th centuries. The question becomes, Why are people watching them right now?

An interesting article about a genre I had hoped had gone away. Perhaps not, but I do think the interviewee misses part of the point, focusing too much on the torture aspect of these films, and not enough on the porn. Seriously - you can see someone get killed in just about every movie made, but torture porn is about enjoying the killing. Isn't that more disturbing?
Read the full article here.