web series

There are plenty of web shows to choose from but one of my favorites from this year is the standout comedy, My Gimpy Life.

News broke yesterday that Comedy Central ordered an Amy Poehler-produced pilot based on the popular web series Broad City.

Alison McDonald merges comedy, female heroines, and the single black experience in the webisodes “She Got Problems” and “Alison is Having Really Bad Day.” Her videos, which are "trailers" for a complete series, portray the strong black female protagonist that is largely absent from pop culture. Currently studying with the hilarious Upright Citizens Brigade and boasting an impressive résumé (writer for Everybody Hates Chris, Nurse Jackie, American Dad!, a Fulbright Scholar, and graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and Columbia University), McDonald not only writes and directs, but also acts and can without a doubt carry a tune.

If you're a diehard Smart Girls at the Party fan, please join me in being jazzed about the new show on the Smart Girls channel, Meow Meow Music. Like Smart Girls, Meow Meow Music features interviews with young people doing great things, but based on the first episode, which went up yesterday, it looks like Meow Meow Music will showcase musicians of all genders. Also, there are cats!


Amy Miles and a cartoon Leroy

Filmmaker Angela Tucker aims to complicate some of those stereotypes about what black people do and don't do with her web series Black Folk Don't. The second season, shot in New Orleans, kicked off this week with the episode "Black Folk Don't: Swim." Take a look!

Black Folk Don't: Swim from NBPC on Vimeo.

Straight women: would you ever date a bisexual man? Do you think that bisexual men are more likely to spread STDs than straight men? Do you think that bisexual men are more feminine than straight men? These questions have preoccupied writer and filmmaker Arielle Loren’s work for the last few years. After falling in love with a bisexual man, Loren developed The Bi-deology Project, a two-part web series exploring straight women’s perceptions of bisexual men, particularly in the context of romantic relationships. The series has since inspired a feature-length documentary, Bideology, which will be premiering at film festivals this spring.

One of the best parts of writing for Bitch has been hearing from folks who read the series, particularly when they recommend media I’ve never seen before. Such is the case with Rose By Any Other Name, a web series that recently finished its second season. Produced by Kyle Schickner of FenceSitter Films, the series follows Rose, a woman coming to terms with her bisexuality after falling in love with a man, Anthony (played by Schickner). The episodes chronicle Rose’s relationship with Anthony as she struggles to find a way to talk about her identity with her lesbian friends, the new acquaintances she’s met in a bisexual support group, and Anthony himself. The show is incredibly funny and emotional, but most importantly, it’s honest.

Time for a blog roundup!

• Former Bitch intern Katie Presley reviews Anuradha Roy’s novel, An Atlas of Impossible Longing, on the Ms. blog.
• Bitch contributor Chally writes on representing representations of feminism, saying, "when feminism becomes about defending the identity rather than doing the work, that’s when we have a big problem."
• The Crunk Feminist Collective shares their post-Mother's Day musings.
• Bad Reputation compares retellings of The Little Mermaid.
• HuffPo reports on a pro-QUILTBAG church ad... and the "progressive" group that refuses to run it.
• Bitch contributor Sady Doyle discusses H.R. 3 and so-called pro-life Democrats at Global Comment.
• In better news, Mother Jones relates that the Navy will now perform same-sex marriages!
• Bitch contributor Jaclyn Friedman spoke at the Boston SlutWalk; check out the video and transcript of her speech!
• ColorLines praises the web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl and Friends."
• Feministe's Clarisse Thorn names her "Central Sex-Positive Feminist Ideas."
• At Gay YA, Bitch contributor Everett Maroon talks about his goals as a trans writer. On his personal blog, he writes of Chaz Bono and the simplistic ways in which people talk about gender.
• AfterEllen takes on a subject near and dear to the hearts of many queer web addicts: lesbian shipping wars!
• Feminist polygamy? Katherine Butler explores the concept on AlterNet.
• xkcd had a recent win with an edition about female scientists. Feministing reprints the "Marie Curie" comic and talks about why it's right on target.
• Community star Ken Jeong is excerpted on Racialicious regarding Mother's Day and his wife's battle with breast cancer.
• The new Topside Press is looking for short fiction by and/or about transgender people! Read more at their homepage.
• Original Plumbing debuts the trailer for Nick Krieger's memoir, Nina Here Nor There: My Journey Beyond Gender.
• Garland unpacks Lady Gaga's "Judas" at Tiger Beatdown, including a phrase I never knew I always wanted in my life: "racy biblical slash fic."

Thoughts? What else have you been reading?

My take on the Felicia Day and Christopher "moot" Poole keynotes at SXSW 2011.