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Revisiting: Ellen DeGeneres - The Generous Idol Worshipper

Truth Thursday

I've been following the Supreme Court hearings on California's Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act over the past two days with wonder and amazement. I believe that marriage equality is the civil rights issue of our generation. It took Obama some time -- some would posit too long -- but he has changed the course of human events in our country.

Earlier this week, NPR ran a great story about Ellen DeGeneres, which reminded me of a piece I had written three years ago about her and a conversation with my daughter, who was 10 at the time. Rereading it, it still says almost everything I want to say about this issue today (including the fact that I basically worship Ellen DeGeneres.)

So here's to the death of DOMA, the defeat of Prop 8, the growing understanding in our country that everyone should be free to love who they want, and that GLBT couples should be afforded the same marital rights and privileges (and headaches) as their straight neighbors.

 

And here's my paean to Ellen:

 

 

Sharing Saturday  

I was very excited about the selection of Ellen DeGeneres as the replacement for Paula Abdul on "American Idol" this season. I think she's hilarious and brave and beautiful, as well as a great foil to Simon.

My kids and I just discovered "Idol" last year – yes, I know we were about seven years too late, but never the less, it's great family entertainment. No cursing, no inappropriate plots, no kissing or yucky stuff, but just enough raciness and tension to keep me interested. And some decent music too.

When the selection of Ellen was announced, my 10-year-old daughter apparently heard her name as "Ellen The Generous." For a few weeks, she walked around thinking that Ellen The Generous would be the new Idol judge. For a lot of reasons, I love this moniker. But the best thing about Ellen's rise on Idol happened on our home turf.

My daughter and I were having a quick dinner after basketball practice, and we were laughing about the fact that she had thought Ellen's name was "The Generous." She asked who Ellen was. I told her she was a comic, and that she had her own talk show. She asked, "Like Oprah?  Like Tyra?" Indeed, I told her, and chuckled to myself because not too long ago she had trouble distinguishing between "Oprah" and "Opera" and she didn't understand why I also found that so funny.

Mad Men, Downton Abbey - Highlighting Women's Roles At Home and At Work

Truth Thursday

I trotted downtown to my office recently wearing capris and black ballerina flats, feeling oh-so Mary Tyler Moore as Laura Petrie, circa 1966.

But what I was really channeling was another show set in 1966 – at least at the start of its current season. That would be my newest obsession … Mad Men.

I jumped on the Mad Men bandwagon almost half-heartedly a couple of seasons ago. While I found it compelling, it never quite lit the spark for me. But this season’s teasers reeled me in, and just as the season commenced, I also started to re-watch it from the very beginning (thankful for video streaming on demand, despite the silo-like place my house has become with everyone watching their own thing. But that’s another topic for another day.)

I am now completely, entirely, 150% obsessed.  A Maddict, if you will.

I can’t stop watching, gobbling episodes like they’re candy. And when I’m not watching it, I’m thinking about it. I’m rehashing the clothes, the décor, the lines, and the characters -- their lives, their loves, their losses.  Analyzing its every detail on Facebook, with my other obsessed friends.

I am stunned by how much online commentary one episode can generate. And I read it all, lapping it up greedily whenever a new Slate essay appears.

There are so many layers to this show, so many nuances. Like an English class assignment, you really have to see each show several times to unpack it all.

I think what I find most intriguing is that I was born at the time of the beginning of the series (or near it – 1963.) My life has been taking the same arc that the show is taking, although I was much too young to understand the tides of change that washed over our country in the 60s and early 70s.

Are You a Retrosexual?

Your girl Rogue has never been afraid to go retro, even referring to herself as a ‘housewife’ because, well, it most accurately describes her current life.  But she was nevertheless surprised when she tuned into the series premiere  of AMC’s Mad Men a few weeks ago only to witness the suave main character Don Draper fall for the most basic form of seduction from his hot new wife.  No we're not talking about her prancing around at a party singing "Zou Bisou Bisou."  Interestingly, he was turned off by that.  After he gave her the cold shoulder, she resorted to the pouty get-on-your-knees-in-your-sexiest-bra-and-panties and-angrily-scrub-the-floor routine.  Worked like a charm.  Or let's just say he responded in a very manly way. 

Rogue wonders if the male domination model really speaks to modern women.  It sure seems so. 

Live TV Just Got Cheaper! And Still I Don't Care.

Tech Tuesday

There are so many ways to watch television these days without even having an antenna. Recently one of the 'add-on' units for your home theater, Boxee, introduced a new feature that brings HD-quality channels in your area to your television for less than subscribing to cable. 

Great, right? No more paying out the nose to watch all those reality shows or sports on the weekends. And in HD. So - why am I not that excited?

Well, let's face it. There's a good reason most tech-minded people don't like paying for TV and/or movies. For one, it can get expensive and cut into our budget for new console games that run as much as a month of cable per game. We also have to budget for those convention trips and the costumes we'll wear, we have to make the costumes in many cases and there are those marathon viewing sessions with friends re-living the days gone by of our favorite sci-fi/fantasy show(s). 

You know, the good ones. The ones that barely lasted a season or they killed just to use the budget on the next remake of "The Cosby Show". (Bitter? Us? Pfft.)

Modern Family

Truth Thursday

Being a product of the 1970s, I can sing the theme songs to any number of mind-numbing, puerile television shows, as can most Americans who are around my age.  

Gilligan’s Island. Green Acres. Petticoat Junction. Family Affair. F Troop. H.R. Pufnstuf. The Addams Family. Even The Patty Duke Show. (and I worry about how much TV my kids watch?!)

And then there was the mother of them all ... The Brady Bunch. 

When I was 10, I lived for the Brady Bunch. I wanted to be the Brady Bunch. I had a profound crush on Peter, knowing that most other girls were in love with Greg, so perhaps I had a chance. I sighed with Marcia, cried with Jan, and wished I had corkscrew curls like Cindy. I never quite understood the little flips in Carol’s hair, or why, as a stay-at-home mom, she needed a full-time housekeeper (although I have a better idea today what it must have been like to care for six children. And Tiger. Maybe there was valium in that medicine cabinet after all.) 

I dreamed about having a groovy California staircase with no risers and a dad who would wear bell bottoms. And having two parents who would sit down with me whenever I had even the slightest problem in school. 

Oh, the Brady Bunch. The way a family was supposed to be. 

In my house, not so much.