Confabulous has moved!

Finally, Confabulous has moved to its spectacular new digs over at Confabulous.ca! There are posts going up daily, a renewed focus on politics and culture and lots of room for comments. Check it out!

Pink marketing makes me see red

Now the latest in insulting AND meaningless has arrived: pink lemonade Metamucil, marketed specifically at women. Why? Because it's pink, silly! The latest TV spot features women flocking to an urban pink lemonade stand, clamouring for their Metamucil fix while a cheerful jingle plays. It's supposed to look like Sex and the City getting fibre-rific! Instead, Metamucil's attempt to re-position the brand to a younger and female demographic is just embarrassing and maddening. Come on, ad dudes. Do you seriously think younger women (or women of any age) are going to fall for this? I mean, kudos, I suppose, for trying to make eating fibre fun, fluffy and kinda kicky! But do the dudes in the boardroom seriously think us ladyfolk are going to be clamouring for fibre in a cup 'cause it's pink? How about a smart, funny ad instead that addresses women's health or suggests how women can benefit from ingesting fibre? Oh, no. That would involve appealing to women's brains...which surely don't exist...

I LOVE SALMA HAYEK

God, I just love this. Just love this. I just thought the video clip of this was so beautiful, Salma's discussion of it was so clear and simple and the Guardian article so right.

Later:

Hmm, after calming down from the excitement over this public display of breastfeeding, I'm reflecting on the politically problematic undertones to the whole thing: the white woman swooping in and saving the poor, starving African child does obviously resonate with colonial history. And this also raises issues around the politics of food, and its intersection with the politics of the photographic image in the global South. It also raises tonnes of questions about where she was, what the local conditions are and about the particular issues facing children in that community. Looked at in the narrowest view, it would be easy to say, "Salma Hayek saved a baby today with the power of the mighty boobie milk!" But that would be wrong. That baby's mom still can't produce breastmilk, and after that one good meal, that mom and that baby have to face the repercusions of that (financial, health-related, attachment-related, and so on).

But the act itself seemed so genuinely loving and sincere--and the way the baby ate so happily was so beautiful. It really is so wonderful to see babies enjoying themselves at the breast. And it sounds as though Salma Hayek saw an opportunity to help a baby (whose mother had stopped producing breastmilk) and took it.

Yet ultimately, I am troubled by how difficult it is to think about and be in post-colonial relationships--between countries and between individuals--without reinforcing colonialism. It's just amazing how easy it is so slip into a colonial mindset in the blink of an eye, despite all the schooling and intentions that might point in the opposite direction.

First great phrase of the year

A lot of people seem to think Christian Bale's blow-up on the set of Terminator is funny. I don't; I seldom find abuse (especially the verbal kind) to be especially rib-tickling. However, I do admit to giggling my way through the inevitable YouTube dance remix. But mostly, I'm kind of excited that the incident has spawned what must be the best phrase to come along since the abuse of "prorogue" and "maverick." And that would be: "You and me, we are so done, professionally." Can't wait to try this one out! Clearly I'm not alone--check out the t-shirt!

Non-spoiler BSG post

The best line of the episode that aired this Friday (the best line from an otherwise "meh" episode):

Character A: I don't know anything about being a father.
Character B: It sucks--except for the parts that don't.

Trendwatch 2009

Hey, guess what? Looks like commitment is the next big thing for 2009. The evidence? First, don't we all just loooove the looooove between Barack and Michelle? Second, last week's In Touch had the screamo, "DIVORCE IS NOT AN OPTION" headline, referring to J-Lo and Skeletor. And then there are all the other random celebs who have also insisted that they'll stay in their marriages (no matter how miserable they may be with their spouse!), like Will Smith & Jada Pinkett and Courtney Cox and David Arquette. Oh, and through the magic of Google, I've also discovered that Jennie Garth (come on, you know damn well who Jennie Garth is) has also proclaimed these magic words recently.

Just cannot WAIT to see which couple crumbles first.

So don't worry: trendwatch 2010 will surely secure divorce as being all the rage once more.

Happy new year

How sad is it that it's the middle of January and I'm only posting my new year greeting now? Yup, that's pretty sad.

However, I do have some exciting news. I'm currently in the midst of getting two hawt new websites up and running, and boy, are they gonna be truly confabulous when I'm done. One site will replace this good ol' workhorse here at Blogger; the other site will replace my Leaving Academia blog. Both sites will be replete with juicy goodness, all kinds of crazy features and the dashing writing style you've grown to expect. Check back soon when I can give specifics around the launch date.

Overheard

Yesterday I passed a hetero couple walking down Queen Street. The man was pushing a stroller. The woman was talking animatedly and gesticulating with her hands. Clearly she was feeling rather exercised about something, but I didn't catch what. When I passed by them, I overheard the man say, "Yeah, and then he woke up the baby, remember?" Oh, yes, you baby-wakers. WE REMEMBER.

Live it all over again

As noted on Gawker, these are the kind of photos that, once upon a time, would have been published in Life magazine. Now, we have Flickr. Go there to watch the slideshow of the behind-the-scenes pics snapped by Obama's personal photographer on the night he was elected president. Amazing.

Political hangover

OMG. OMG! Michelle Obama's husband has made it to the White House! Finally, the drought of stylish First Ladies comes to an end!

No longer does casting Morgan Freeman as the American president signify a distant and utopian future!

Think of the implications!

But seriously, folks, HOLY SHIT.

Now, I know there are those among you who subscribe to the "same shit, different pile" school of thought. After all, Barack Hussein Obama's win last night in itself does not challenge America's relationship to the rest of the world, it does not challenge America's hegemonic position in global militarism and it doesn't challenge class politics one bit.

But that does not change the historic significance of America having its first black president (first president of colour at all), nor the significance of this happening within a handful of decades of the end of segregation.

And I also think that, from a policy perspective, this is also a very historic win. Although I have been deeply disappointed by politicians in the past who I thought would really shake things up, I'm still going to go ahead and hold my breath on this one. For example, the possibility of Obama actually changing health care for Americans is real. And of course, coming from a Canadian perspective, it's certain he and the Senate will not go far enough in securing health care for all. But I'm going to be optimistic anyway and hope that fewer people will suffer under Obama.

Wetting my pants

Oh, yeah, baby! Christopher Hitchens swerves the right (er, left) way! Scroll to the bottom of the article for a graphic illustrating my exact feelings of excitement about this.

And for Hitchens' article on this matter, go here. But let me spoil it for you and give you the nut graf, as it were:

The most insulting thing that a politician can do is to compel you to ask yourself: "What does he take me for?" Precisely this question is provoked by the selection of Gov. Sarah Palin. I wrote not long ago that it was not right to condescend to her just because of her provincial roots or her piety, let alone her slight flirtatiousness, but really her conduct since then has been a national disgrace. It turns out that none of her early claims to political courage was founded in fact, and it further turns out that some of the untested rumors about her—her vindictiveness in local quarrels, her bizarre religious and political affiliations—were very well-founded, indeed. Moreover, given the nasty and lowly task of stirring up the whack-job fringe of the party's right wing and of recycling patent falsehoods about Obama's position on Afghanistan, she has drawn upon the only talent that she apparently possesses.

It therefore seems to me that the Republican Party has invited not just defeat but discredit this year, and that both its nominees for the highest offices in the land should be decisively repudiated, along with any senators, congressmen, and governors who endorse them.

Ooooh, Hitch, how I love to hate and now love to luuurrrve yew.

What She Said

This is something my mother wrote in an email to me, but it's like she plucked the words right out of my mouth:

"One bad thing about my CNN addiction is that I have practically paid no attention to our own election. I am glad it's over on Tuesday so I can get rid of my guilty conscience."

Barack the vote

My excuse for not blogging adequately (okay, not blogging at all) in the past several weeks is not just attending to an infant but the fact that by the time I can spare the time to blog, world events seem to have changed so significantly that my post would be totally moot. Case in point: my mind is still recovering from the mental explosion that occurred 5 weeks ago when Sarah Palin, at her very first public appearance as McCain's running mate, acknowledged the path that had blazed for her by Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton. Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton?! Wait, wait. You mean...you're tipping your hat to two women from the opposing party...one of whom is among the top 5 of the most reviled (and beloved) political figures in American politics...?! Now, of course I realize this was in an effort to get the Hillary voters on board, but this hailing of a Clinton by a Republican was such a bizarro twist that I knew this was the beginning of the "curiouser and curiouser" tone of the entire campaign.

But I knew last night that I had to write a quick post when I was watching the Palin-Biden debate and it struck me how much the contest between these two was torn straight out of Plato's Republic. The question posed by the choice between these two is: do we (okay, you Americans) want to be governed by someone better than us (smarter, trained in governance) or do we want to be governed by one of our peers (Joe Six Pack-Pit Bull-Hockey Mom)?

The child squals. Thus concludes posting for the next indefinite period of time.

Planet Soap

Holy cow--August is almost all gone and Confabulous has been seriously neglecting her blogging duties. But it's never too late to do some self-promotion! There is a series called Planet Soap that's airing this fall on TVTropolis--a fun, clever take on all things soap opera related, and yours truly was interviewed for the series to serve as a cultural critic and soap expert (yep, not only having I been watching trash TV since I was a kid, but I even did some readin' and writin' about 'em when I was doing my fancy degree). Bear in mind that I was eight months pregnant when I was interviewed, so my usual svelte (!) figure is absent--but I did still have a near-functioning brain at that point. So set the PVRs now, folks!

The first episode aired yesterday, but it's not too late to catch it this Saturday at 8:30 am (Eastern), Sunday at 7:00 pm and 10:43 pm and Monday at 10 pm. Catch the next dozen episodes at those same times, including 4 more times on Tuesdays starting at 7:30 am.

Obama-rama

This is a Public Service Announcement directed in particular at any Americans (or Canadians who are koo-koo for American politics) living in Toronto: a fundraiser for the Obama campaign is going to be held in Toronto on July 29th, and Obama's sister serving as the *special guest.* If anyone is interested in attending, email me and I will pass on your contact info to the organizers.