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Meryl Streep
Dec. 2nd, 2012 08:00 am
“Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there”
-- Meryl Streep
Dec. 2nd, 2012
“Acting is not about being someone different. It’s finding the similarity in what is apparently different, then finding myself in there”
-- Meryl Streep
Hitchcock's Blondes
Dec. 2nd, 2012 10:56 amMaureen Dowd begins her column with a discussion about our current bout of Hitchcock-mania, and then launches into a discussion about Hillary Clinton - playing off Hitchcock's blonde thing. I'm just keeping the Hitchcock part, though. But, yeah, Dowd is a Hillary fan.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Islamism and Liberalism
Dec. 2nd, 2012 12:49 pmWestern liberals (white liberals) are still struggling with the line between Islamophobia and the problem of tolerating Islamist intolerance.
_ _ _
Imagine if white racists in Norway or Britain had targeted Deepika Thathaal, the former pop singer who has recently made her first feminist documentary, Banaz: An Honour Killing, which was shown on ITV1 at the end of October. As a brilliant and beautiful 17-year-old she had mixed the influences of the Asian music her immigrant parents knew with the sounds of Massive Attack and Portishead to become one of Norway's first Asian stars.
[...]
The men who persecuted Deeyah in Norway and Britain were every bit as prejudiced and violent as neo-Nazis, but as it happens, they rallied under the banner of radical Islam rather than the swastika. A tiny difference, you might think. A mere trifle. But that tiny difference made all the difference in the world. No one came to Deeyah's defence. Not liberal-left or compassionate conservative politicians. Not the BBC or liberal press. Not Amnesty International or the "concerned" artists who take up so many leftish causes. No one cared. To defend an Asian woman from unprovoked attacks by Asian men was to their warped minds a racist or Islamophobic act. Unprotected and unnoticed, Deeyah slunk off to live in an anonymous suburb of Atlanta, and begin the long task of pulling herself together.
-- ONTD
_ _ _
Imagine if white racists in Norway or Britain had targeted Deepika Thathaal, the former pop singer who has recently made her first feminist documentary, Banaz: An Honour Killing, which was shown on ITV1 at the end of October. As a brilliant and beautiful 17-year-old she had mixed the influences of the Asian music her immigrant parents knew with the sounds of Massive Attack and Portishead to become one of Norway's first Asian stars.
[...]
The men who persecuted Deeyah in Norway and Britain were every bit as prejudiced and violent as neo-Nazis, but as it happens, they rallied under the banner of radical Islam rather than the swastika. A tiny difference, you might think. A mere trifle. But that tiny difference made all the difference in the world. No one came to Deeyah's defence. Not liberal-left or compassionate conservative politicians. Not the BBC or liberal press. Not Amnesty International or the "concerned" artists who take up so many leftish causes. No one cared. To defend an Asian woman from unprovoked attacks by Asian men was to their warped minds a racist or Islamophobic act. Unprotected and unnoticed, Deeyah slunk off to live in an anonymous suburb of Atlanta, and begin the long task of pulling herself together.
-- ONTD
Britney's birthday
Dec. 2nd, 2012 02:17 pmIt's Britney's birthday. Spears. These days, one probably does need to be clear about who we are talking about. Ten years ago, you only needed to say Britney, but that seems like a lifetime ago. She's only 31. Which kind of shocks me. There's no reason why she still should not be super-hot, but she looks like she is on the fading side of her forties. It feels somehow embarrassing to see any news of her now. I kind of wish she would fall into total obscurity, but that's probably not going to happen for a few years yet.
(ONTD)
(ONTD)
Meryl and Hillary
Dec. 2nd, 2012 04:01 pm
Meryl Streep and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton snap a pic on an iPhone at the Artist’s Dinner honoring the recipients of the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors at the U.S. Department of State on Saturday (December 1) in Washington, DC.
The 65-year-old politician, who hosted the event alongside her husband Bill Clinton, and former honoree Meryl, 63, accompanied by her hubby Don, were joined by Dustin Hoffman, Alec Baldwin with his wife Hilaria Thomas, Harvey Weinstein, who just announced him and his wife are expecting a baby, and David Letterman.
The 2012 honorees are Dustin, David, dancer Natalia Makarova, Buddy Guy, and members of the British rock band Led Zeppelin Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones.
-- ONTD
Smash Burger
Dec. 2nd, 2012 07:31 pmPop had another two-for-one coupon for Smash Burger. I never heard of it before, and the picture on the coupon did not strike me as appetizing. I also dread leaving the house alone. But I have learned that it is smarter to seize on these opportunities and get something different to eat, something that I don't have to pull out of the freezer and microwave.
There was a donut place in the same strip mall, and Pop was willing to oblige me for a few donuts. It has been a long time since I have had a good donut. And the streak continues. Maybe it is 'cake donuts' that I like, and that I enjoyed when I was at Austin - chocolate frosted with sprinkles on top. Maybe I should just stick to cake. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the femme clerk in those ultra-tight jeans - a tad overweight, but I wouldn't say no.
There was a donut place in the same strip mall, and Pop was willing to oblige me for a few donuts. It has been a long time since I have had a good donut. And the streak continues. Maybe it is 'cake donuts' that I like, and that I enjoyed when I was at Austin - chocolate frosted with sprinkles on top. Maybe I should just stick to cake. Nevertheless, it was nice to see the femme clerk in those ultra-tight jeans - a tad overweight, but I wouldn't say no.
The Name of God
Dec. 2nd, 2012 07:48 pmAn interesting note on biblical translation.
_ _ _
God responds to Moses’ request to know his name (that is, his nature) by telling him “ehi’eh asher ehi’eh” —“I will be what I will be.” In most English-language Bibles this is translated “I am that I am,” following the Septuagint, which sought to bring the biblical text into line with the Greek tradition (descended from Xenophanes, Parmenides and Plato’s “Timaeus”) of identifying God with perfect being. But in the Hebrew original, the text says almost exactly the opposite of this: The Hebrew “I will be what I will be” is in the imperfect tense, suggesting to us a God who is incomplete and changing. In their run-ins with God, human beings can glimpse a corner or an edge of something too immense to be encompassed, a “coming-into-being” as God approaches, and no more. The belief that any human mind can grasp enough of God to begin recognizing perfections in him would have struck the biblical authors as a pagan conceit.
-- Yoram Hazony
_ _ _
God responds to Moses’ request to know his name (that is, his nature) by telling him “ehi’eh asher ehi’eh” —“I will be what I will be.” In most English-language Bibles this is translated “I am that I am,” following the Septuagint, which sought to bring the biblical text into line with the Greek tradition (descended from Xenophanes, Parmenides and Plato’s “Timaeus”) of identifying God with perfect being. But in the Hebrew original, the text says almost exactly the opposite of this: The Hebrew “I will be what I will be” is in the imperfect tense, suggesting to us a God who is incomplete and changing. In their run-ins with God, human beings can glimpse a corner or an edge of something too immense to be encompassed, a “coming-into-being” as God approaches, and no more. The belief that any human mind can grasp enough of God to begin recognizing perfections in him would have struck the biblical authors as a pagan conceit.
-- Yoram Hazony
Lindsay Lohan
Dec. 2nd, 2012 08:02 pmThe LiLo drama continues.
_ _ _
Lindsay Lohan's friends are trying to make her go to rehab, but she's saying NO! NO! NO! ... telling them she doesn't believe she needs it ... TMZ has learned.
As TMZ first reported, Lindsay has become so stressed out by her impending probation violation, she's been hitting the bottle hard ... drinking as much as two liters of vodka per day.
According to our sources, close friends of Lindsay have been urging her to go to rehab BEFORE she goes to court ... hoping the move might win her favor with the judge.
But we're told Lindsay is having none of it ... telling friends she does not think she has a problem with alcohol. Our sources say Lindsay points to the fact that she recently completed three movies as proof she does not need rehab. Funny ... cause watching "Liz & Dick" suggests the opposite.
We're told Lindsay is worried about the upcoming hearing, but maintains she will not check into rehab as a way to try and avoid jail time.
-- ONTD
_ _ _
Lindsay Lohan's friends are trying to make her go to rehab, but she's saying NO! NO! NO! ... telling them she doesn't believe she needs it ... TMZ has learned.
As TMZ first reported, Lindsay has become so stressed out by her impending probation violation, she's been hitting the bottle hard ... drinking as much as two liters of vodka per day.
According to our sources, close friends of Lindsay have been urging her to go to rehab BEFORE she goes to court ... hoping the move might win her favor with the judge.
But we're told Lindsay is having none of it ... telling friends she does not think she has a problem with alcohol. Our sources say Lindsay points to the fact that she recently completed three movies as proof she does not need rehab. Funny ... cause watching "Liz & Dick" suggests the opposite.
We're told Lindsay is worried about the upcoming hearing, but maintains she will not check into rehab as a way to try and avoid jail time.
-- ONTD
The Color of Christ
Dec. 2nd, 2012 09:27 pmUp until the late 1800s, Blum says Americans were comfortable with Jesus' Semitic roots and depicted him with brown eyes. But as waves of Catholic and Jewish immigrants came to the United States, some Americans "became concerned that it was changing the face of America too much, changing it racially, changing it religiously." In the early 20th century, there was an attempt to distinguish Jesus from his Semitic background. Religious writers and artists who were advocating for immigration restrictions began to depict Jesus with blond hair and blue eyes.
-- Edward J. Blum, "The Color of Christ"
-- Edward J. Blum, "The Color of Christ"