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THE POLITICS OF POP CULTUREThe Other Boleyn Girl - ah, the joys of matrimony and sisterhood
Posted February 29th, 2008 in All, Books, Entertainment and Entertainment News
“The Other Boleyn Girl” opens in theaters today.
Recipe: Combine one part history with one part soap opera, add a touch of fashionista, shake, serve with a side of steamed feminist perspective and voila - you have yourself some very tasty Philippa Gregory novels.
Historical novels, I should say, and mighty well written ones at that. Philippa Gregory is not your average romance novelist, just as The Other Boleyn Girl is not your average historical novel. Gregory, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in history and a Ph.D. in 18th century literature, combines her particular talent for weaving historical fact (or more to the point, presumed fact) with mesmerizing fiction, resulting in some of the most spellbinding history lessons one could ever hope to read. Her success as a storyteller is only furthered by her ability to analyze and assess what is known or believed about her novels’ subjects, and her historical re-imaginings are as full of vivid details reflecting the genuine sensibilities of the era as they are full of emotional impact.
Indeed, emotion is Gregory’s most powerful tool when it comes to writing historical fiction. Though her novels follow the path of history she injects a fresh perspective, even an alternate explanation, of the way in which historically poignant events unfurled. As a historian and academic herself, she is uniquely capable of capturing the essence of a period of history and wrapping it around her fascinating characters. Gregory uses her talents to re-position the reader at an otherwise well-known point in history, and challenges the reader to imagine what the experience of living through (or not so much) that period was like for the other; she writes of history from the perspective of the “loser,” romance from the perspective of the jilted, patriarchy from the perspective of women. In The Other Boleyn Girl Gregory replaces the usual pedantic history of Henry VIII with a deeply honest portrayal of the inherent paradox of sisterhood - the fact that a sister’s best friend is also silently her greatest rival. The universality of human emotion is Gregory’s needle and thread, and as she spins a story about exotic foreign courts or ill-fated lovers, her readers find themselves deeply invested in the characters she brings to life. Not everyone can imagine being an 18th century monarch, but everyone knows how it feels to fall in love, to be betrayed, to hope against hope itself, and Gregory brings this spark of humanity to her tales.
True to form, The Other Boleyn Girl is Gregory’s tale about the influential Boleyn family’s fight for Henry VIII’s English crown, but it is the setting of sisterhood and rivalry between Ann and Mary Boleyn which brings the story into the reader’s own frame of reference. The novel reflects those themes which are common to both history and contemporary life - ambition, love, lust, denial, resentment, anger, doubt, fear, courage, despair, hope, betrayal, forgiveness. Gregory sorts them all through the filter of history and feeds them back to the reader in a narrative which, but for the grandiose setting, could reflect a life lived in most any place or period.
The commercial success of Gregory’s novels combined with the critical acclaim of Showtime’s series The Tudors have led to the first silver screen adaptation of her work. The Other Boleyn Girl arrives in theatres across the U.S. today.
If you enjoy history, read all of Gregory’s works. If you enjoy fiction, be sure to check out her trilogy (and my favorite) Wideacre, The Favored Child, and Meridon. If you can only manage one, read her first novel Wideacre. And if you just aren’t the reading type, head to the theatres to catch The Other Boleyn Girl on screen and bigger than life. I wouldn’t steer you wrong.
Well, I might. But not about Philippa Gregory.
Is that a compliment?
Posted February 26th, 2008 in All and Celebrities
“I wanted to squish you, squeeze your head off, and dangle you from my rear view mirror.”
- Paula
THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL - Lewis Black Gets It
Posted February 23rd, 2008 in All, Celebrities, Commentary, Entertainment, Entertainment News and Politics
Political comedian Lewis Black puts pop culture on trial in his new Comedy Central series.
Q. Who wins in a smackdown between North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and myspace pseudo-celebrity Tila Tequila?
A. When Lewis Black does the judging, we all win.
Forget Judge Judy, comedy’s resident ragemeister Lewis Black (The Daily Show) is set to uncover The Root Of All Evil on the new Comedy Central series. The show will feature Black as a Moral Court style judge, but with a definite twist. Rather than having the contestants present their own cases, a rotating group of popular comedians like Patten Oswalt will act as prosecutors against the pop culture icons on trial, as Black attempts to determine which celebriwreck and/or vile trend is truly the scourge of all humanity. As devout fans of political pop culture AND Lewis Black, we officially cannot wait for the show’s premiere, set for Wednesday March 12 at 10:30 p.m. While it seems nearly impossible that a show this perfectly conceived will fully live up to its potential, we’ll be downright cockswaddled if it doesn’t spark a love affair between you and your TiVO for at least a few episodes.
Fashion Designers Take Themselves Too Seriously, Congress Caves
Posted February 20th, 2008 in All, Basement Fashion, Beauty Wars, Legal and Politics
If designers get their wish, affordable knockoffs (like the dress on the right) will be a thing of the past.
Here we are, scant months away from the November elections, and congress has its hands full with proposals, bills, and committees - the stuff that makes our great nation run; their desks are overflowing with paperwork, their aides are dodging come-ons, and their votes are deciding the future of major issues like healthcare, war maneuvers, the economy, and … fashion?
That’s right folks. While your house is being repossessed because of a little clause in that sub-prime mortgage the bank foisted off on you, your senators are working hard to make sure that Prada and Gucci can still find new and insidious ways to vacuum up whatever dollars you have left to spend on luxury items like, well, clothing. The Council of Fashion Designers of America (no, WalMart employees can’t organize, but heaven forbid we restrict the rights of Park Avenue fashionistas) have managed to get congress to introduce and push a bill called H.R. 5505, which would “amend Title 17 of the United States Code to provide [copyright] protection for fashion designs.” In other words, high-end designers want to be able to register their designs so that stores you can actually afford to shop in are no longer free to sell less expensive, similar versions of the current fashion trends.
As it currently stands, the bill would allow fashion designers to register their designs for copyright protection for a period of three years, and offenders (stores selling knockoffs) would be assessed a penalty which would range from $250,000 to $5 per copy, whichever is more. Remember, as laws stand right now, knockoff clothing can only be sold as that - a knockoff. The less expensive items are already barred from carrying designer labels or designer logos, which are currently protected under copyright. Now the high-end designers also want to restrict mass fashion houses from selling designs which look like theirs as well.
Vogue designer house Van Cleef & Arpels recently filed a lawsuit against Heidi Klum’s more affordable jewelry line for selling a necklace with a clover pendant. A clover. According to the suit, the clover (which is not the designers’ registered trademark) was too reminiscent of their brand among fashion mavens, and therefore violated their rights and impugned their “reputation.” No word yet on who owns the rights to the orange stars, pink hearts, purple horseshoes, or blue diamonds.
As if the issue weren’t silly enough to begin with, one has only to cast forward a few years to realize that tightening restrictions against affordable fashion will only hurt an economy which cannot afford the loss of mass revenue. The expense of fashion is already a major class issue, especially among women. But if designers do manage to further alienate their own market, they may find that the greater loss belongs to them. Only the labels which already make a killing off of their exclusivity stand to benefit much from this new law; less established designers are generally more than happy to see their designs launch a new, mass desirable (and marketable) trend. As ever, the haves are grasping greedily to keep their place exclusive of the have-nots (or have-not-yets), despite the fact that they clearly already have enough money to buy themselves a shiny new law. They would do better to follow the path of some designers like Vera Wang, who have chosen the more reasonable (and in the long run probably more lucrative) avenue of creating an affordable line under their own labels, rather than fighting to make their designs even more exclusive. Wang seems to understand what more self-impressed designers fail to grasp; the fact that with the economy on a downslide and the dollar losing steam, fashion is not likely to be the number one issue in the minds (or wallets) of American consumers. So why is it occupying the time and attention of congress?
Scarlett Johansson Does Tom Waits (Wait, what?)
Posted February 15th, 2008 in All, Celebrities, Entertainment, Entertainment News, Inside New Orleans and Music 
Johansson briefly performed back up vocals at Coachella in 2007 to rather mixed reviews.
If we are to believe Paste Magazine, Scarlett Johansson will be releasing an album of Tom Waits covers called Anywhere I Lay My Head. The platinum bombshell, who was once an aspiring musical theatre performer, sang briefly at the Coachella music festival in 2007, and has reportedly not ruled out attending one of the summer music festivals this year. I think I speak for all of us here when I chant repeatedly “JazzFest, JazzFest, JazzFest,” because she will either officially become the most perfect woman in the world, or take the quickest career dive since DavidCarusoGate. Either way I want front row tickets.
Paste happened to be in NYC, and caught the last three tracks of the album as well as the question and answer session. The record was nothing like we imagined. Instead of the lounge-y approach favored by fellow young thespians like Minnie Driver, it’s a feast of indie production with TV on the Radio’s David Sitek going all David Fridmann, layering keys, guitars that sound like keys (What kind of synthesizer is that? “It’s Nick Zimmer [of Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs] on guitar playing really fast through something weird,†Sitek says.) and a collected assortment of sounds found outside a studio in Lafeyette, La. The stated goal was “a cough medicine/Tinkerbell kind of vibe.â€
Johansson, whose initial aspiration was musical theater (“It didn’t work out because my voice was too deep for Cosette in Les Miserables.â€), says the project began as an attempt to cover standards, including a Tom Waits duet with Bette Midler. Over time, one Waits song led to another, and she decided to just go with all Waits. “His melodies are so beautiful, his voice is so distinct and I had my own way of doing Tom Waits songs,†she says.
The results, as far as we could tell, are true to Waits’ spirit of weirdness without sounding anything like him.
“My ultimate goal,†says Sitek, “was to not get chased down by Tom Waits and get my ass beaten in a bar.â€
Waits is planning his first full tour since 1999 this August. Billboard posts the following dates:
Aug. 1: Atlanta (Tabernacle)
Aug. 2: Asheville, N.C. (Thomas Wolfe Auditorium)
Aug. 4: Memphis (Orpheum Theatre)
Aug. 5: Nashville (Ryman Auditorium)
Aug. 7: Louisville (Palace Theatre)
Aug. 9: Chicago (Auditorium Theatre)
Aug. 11: Detroit (Opera House)
Aug. 13: Akron, Ohio (Civic Theatre)
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