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Word of the day: “tsuris”

Word of the day: “tsuris” published on No Comments on Word of the day: “tsuris”

I learned a new word recently: tsuris. It's a Yiddish word meaning "trouble" or "distress." It seems to be used in English to refer to a large, annoying vexation, i.e., "They are always creating artificial drama wherever they go, and you really don't need that tsuris in your life." Pronounced "tsir iss" or "tsoo riss."

If you’re racist when angry, you’re a racist all the time!

If you’re racist when angry, you’re a racist all the time! published on 1 Comment on If you’re racist when angry, you’re a racist all the time!

Tami says it succinctly and well on Racialicious. Some people, including those that I’ve been friends with, seem to think that racism or any other prejudice that comes out in anger represents a deviation from their normal character. However, I agree with Tami that pressure shows what a person is truly made of. If racism comes out of you when you are angry, you have shown yourself to be a true racist. No ifs, ands or protestations.

Grimm: still silly

Grimm: still silly published on No Comments on Grimm: still silly

Grimm is such a procedurally stupid show. This episode showed the detective and his Blutbad friend breaking and entering in their investigation. Hey, it's no problem if the police bend the rules, right, as long as they get the right suspects, right? Wrong. This show is so sloppy. Yet I still keep watching it.

The boring Pregnancy Plot strikes again.

The boring Pregnancy Plot strikes again. published on 1 Comment on The boring Pregnancy Plot strikes again.

Bones is back [well, I finally got to watch the first ep of Season 7], and there's yet another Pregnancy Plot on the table. After suffering an entire season of Angela and Hodgins' heteronormative nesting behaviors in Season 6, we have to go through the same thing again with the 2 main characters, Bones and Booth. I say "the same thing again" because there's apparently only one way for mainstream pop culture, especially TV and movies in the US, to treat pregnancy.

  • No matter what the situation of the woman getting pregnant and the way that she gets pregnant, she always wants to go through with the pregnancy and have a child and raise it herself. Where are the miscarriages? Where are the adoptions? [Once Upon a Time, featuring Henry, Emma's son that was given for adoption shortly after birth, remains an exception to the rule.] Where are the abortions? Mainstream pop entertainment does not reflect the realities of so many pregnancies.
  • The attitudes of the prospective parents suddenly become suffused with gooey lovey-doveyness, confidence, starry-eyed idealism and happiness. I mean, God forbid that anyone feel hostile or ambivalent about the fetus! That's just not possible! That would destroy the unrealistic emphasis that TV has on pregnancy and childbirth being some sort of panacea for life's problems.
  • Pregnancy brings out the inner femininity of the pregnant woman and fulfills her. No matter how many successes and enjoyments the character has had in her life before becoming pregnant, the glorifying way in which pregnancy is haloed on TV makes all the other accomplishments and sources of joy insignificant in comparison. For some women, pregnancy may be the best thing they've ever done with their lives, but, if TV insists that every pregnant female character feel this way, then these shows are just reproducing boring, essentialist, reductionist stereotypes about what women can do and be.

Pregnancy Plots just instantly flatten out character depth and plot dynamism. Furthermore, their relentless heteronormativity makes me want to throw up. 

Dr. Who season 4 wrap party music video

Dr. Who season 4 wrap party music video published on No Comments on Dr. Who season 4 wrap party music video

This video, set to a Proclaimers song, just makes me so happy to see how much fun the cast and crew of David Tennant's Dr. Who run are having! Look at David Tennant's expressions when the Proclaimers themselves come on!

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