Oscars

It's not that Silver Linings Playbook fails at what it's trying to do, exactly. It's easy to see why the film racked up Oscar nominations, including a Best Actress nod for Jennifer Lawrence. But a movie that includes mental illness, family function and dysfunction, football, romance, and sparkly dance costumes is biting off a bit more than it can chew. 

 

Happy Leap Year Week!

• Sociological Images outlines how Leap Year Day was used as a day to reverse gender norms in marriage proposals.  
• Lucy Liu has been cast as Watson in CBS's new Sherlock Holmes series and many aren't happy about the gender flip.
• Two cool book projects are looking for funding: Radical Doulas by Feministing's former editor Miriam Perez, and a comics anthology about marriage equality. 
• At Native Appropriations, Adrienne looks at ANTM's clueless stereotyping of Native Americans. 
• The women of Community do a roundtable about the show, women in media, and the future of the series. 
• Joanna Chiu writes about how the recent spate of racism against Jeremy Lin comes as no surprise. 
• Monica Roberts of Transgriot on black transgender trailblazers at Ebony.com. 
• Charlotte Richardson Andrews writes about Iggy Azaela, white privilege, and hip hop.
• What does Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's Oscar win for Saving Face mean for Pakistan? Sadia Ashraf responds at AltMuslimah.
• Does Liz Lemon need a divorce from Tina Fey? Emily Nussbaum responds to the Liz Lemon backlash.   
• Viva la Feminista encourages folks to blog for International Women's Day next week. 
• Verizon Wireless has added Gender Identity protection to its employees. 
• Beyonce has been breastfeeding Blue Ivy (gasp!) in public.

Tell us what you are reading in the comments!

Remember what a douchebag Johnny Depp was last year when he compared his many celebrity photoshoots to instances of rape? You'd think his fellow actors would have learned from his mistake that "rape" is not a word that can be thrown about to describe any mildly uncomfortable situation, but some actors obviously did not get the message. Earlier this week actress Kim Novak, star of the 1958 Hitchcock Classic Vertigo, took out a full-page ad in Variety magazine to blast new film The Artist for ripping off Bernard Hermann's famous love score from Vertigo. While Novak could have expressed her disdain for the film's creative choices with any manner of unoffensive language, she instead used the full-page rant to accuse the film of "raping" her.

In an effort to cast a net beyond the sea of my own opinions (most of which involve reality television and hilarious animal photos) I asked for reader feedback on this week's Douchebag Decree. The nominations were many, and all were deserving: The Itawamba School District, for its attempts to ban gay couples from attending the prom. Eric Massa, for allegedly sexually harassing employees in his Congressional office. Ken Cuccinelli, for his letter advising public universities to retreat from their policies against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Ben Roethlisberger, for yet another alleged sexual assault. Douchebags are running amok!

However, one nominee rose to the top of the list for me, especially once I realized this Douche Supreme has never been awarded The Decree before. (I guess it was too obvious?) Congratulations, Howard "Douchemeister" Stern.

Even before I did my stint in a graduate film program, I was a pretty big fan of the Academy Awards. Though I’ve gotten increasingly less glamorous in my old age, I still enjoy the consistency of the red carpet style. But in terms of the environmental effects of the Academy Awards, I can only shake my head. The crazy electrical bills? The grotesque waste? The blood diamonds paraded around on loan from celebrity jewelers? All aspects I can do without. However, there were a few bright spots in terms of eco-powered celeb moments.

Well, I watched the whole darn Oscar ceremony.  And I've blogged it...

After the jump, some of my thoughts on the winners, the oddities, and the guys and dolls of the Academy Awards.

Big news from the NAACP Image Awards at the end of last week: women took top honors in the film directing and writing categories.  Gina Prince-Bythewood won the prize for Outstanding Directing in a Motion Picture for The Secret Life of Bees, while Jenny Lumet took home honors for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture for Rachel Getting Married.  Best Picture honors also went to The Secret Life Bees.  What's more, women were represented almost equally in the writing and directing categories, with Prince-Bythewood earning a nomination for writing, and Darnell Martin earning writing and directing nods for Cadillac Records.  

This is great news during the awards season homestretch.  While the media is busy contemplating Kate Winslet's potential acceptance speech meltdown, it's a welcome sight to see more recognition of women who are MAKING films.

[Full list of winners here: NAACP Image Awards]