Since I’m doing most of my writing elsewhere nowadays (hopefully, I’ll figure out how to change that formula, there’s stuff that calls my attention here beyond linkblogging) I’m going to start pointing out some of the more interesting bits from my blogging at AfterElton.

• Not dead yet: ABC’s Football Wives pilot (AKA “The Lucy Lawless vs. Ving Rhames Show”) still might become a series. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
• Guilty pleasures: I admit I kinda liked America’s Got Talent’s Leonid the Magnificent much like how I kinda liked American Idol’s William Hung and wonder if I’m aiding my oppressors in both cases.
• Meanwhile, on the British edition a transexual singing group based on the Pussycat Dolls were mostly accepted by the judges and the audience.
• Hooray for fictional gay assistants. Poor Stuart Glazer, even the internet doesn’t respect him — he was the only character I couldn’t’ find a solo picture of… or even a YouTube clip of him that I could screencap.
• Lifetime is developing an adaption of Mile High as very un-Lifetime program. Addict that I am, I play the casting game, even though I’m horrible at it (I usually end up thinking of actors who would have fit the role five years earlier). Casting Janis was the easiest one, if I hadn’t already suggested one British actress, Coupling’s Gina Bellman could also rock the role.

“Music I want to buy, damnit.” edition, part two:

1. More Sophie Ellis-Bextor, still haven’t found her new album or any singles.
2. I said it before, but I wish I could find Yoko Kanno on iTunes. I’m not eager to spend $30 on an import CD for just one song.
3. Billie Ray Martin is another one of my Earth to MTV discoveries. Martin is one of the most challenging vocalists to keep track of.
4. More Army of Lovers. I’m so annoyed I didn’t find out they put out a follow-up album to Massive Luxury Overdose

AfterElton has a 5-minute clip of my favorite new animated series, Rick & Steve the Happiest Gay Couple in All the World. The funniest stuff comes after the clip ends, but it gives you a decent flavor for the show which is wildly offensive and totally hilarious. Take the strangeness of South Park add in the bluntness of Chappelle’s Show and give it all a Lego look (it’s based on a short film that was made with actual Lego toys).

Check it out. There’s a lot of gay media that makes me cringe (like a certain soft-core horror soap), but this is one show I just love.

• Belated happy blogiversaries to John Jakala and Tom the Dog.
• The Dead Like Me movie will focus on Mandy Patinkin’s character being replaced. The rest of the reaper crew is expected to return.
• Samantha Be Good which used to be called Sam I Am is now named Samantha Who?.
• I warned you this might happen — ABC orders a seventh season of According to Jim.
• Just what I need. A celebrity couple I actually would stop and look at dumb celebrity magazines for. Awww, Kristen Bell and Zachary Quinto threaten to be the next Adrian Pasdar and Natalie Maines for me.

Just thought this might be the simplest way to say this.

From an episode of the Comedy Central series that needs a DVD release, Wanda Does It:

Tim: You sold your car? Why?

Wanda: Well, you told me I shouldn’t be drinking and driving.

Yesterday on Hardball:

Elizabeth Edwards: I’m going to ask you again to politely stop using personal attacks as part of your dialogue.

Ann Coulter: Alright, I’ll stop writing books.

I’ll just leave the more knowledgeable Doctor Who fans to comment on this quote from BBC Wales’ head of drama:

“We’re not ever going to talk about actors, if they’re
staying or going, because we want to protect our stories.”

Okay, it appeared too briefly to pause, but I believe the teaser for today’s Hardball seen at the beginning of my recording of Countdown promise “Al Sharpton vs. Christopher Hitchens”

Shudder.

Something I feel the need to nitpick:

Maybe you should give the bingo thing a rest. Yes, we might find it funny, but I think it alienates people who might otherwise be sympathetic to complaints about sexism/misogyny. The post which explained the whole bingo concept (which I can’t find right now) does a fairly good job in explaining everything, but I still think this is a fairly exclusionary rhetorical device–you’re for us or against us! You get it or you don’t! In the present landscape, I don’t think this is a useful way to frame the argument. People are much more willing to consider your perspective if they think you’re inviting them to do so, rather than telling them they’re too stupid to understand.

The thing about the BINGO post is that, yes, the point is that there are some people who just won’t get it and, frankly, aren’t worth attempting a conversation with. ‘You’re for us or against us!’ isn’t the point, ‘You get it or you don’t!’ is. Maybe you have to get stuck in a few dozen conversations with someone who truly believes that The Thing is a good example of a sexually idealized male superhero to counter Witchblade, to understand the feeling. But too damn many conversations that go on in comics fandom are like discussing global warming with someone who thinks a cold winter’s day is reason to start questioning if global warming happens. Sorry, the vast majority of people who bring up one of those BINGO points aren’t worth treating credibly for one who values their sanity — any of those arguments usually ends up in a circular conversation with someone who just isn’t listening to you.

That’s not to say that feminist comic bloggers don’t ever miss the point when complaining about the outrage du jour, but sadly the seats on the missing-the-point express are mostly filled with defenders of the status quo. (Since I only read a few comic blogs nowadays has anyone considered that the frequency comic controversies isn’t about people seeking to be outraged but a matter of the cluelessness of superhero comic publishers? There’s a good reason I compare Joe Quesada with David Brint so damn often, every time I read a statement by Quesada I feel like I’ve stumbled on Office fanfic.)

It’s rather like the defenses of that Falcon-on-fire Captain America cover, I’ve read. Most seem to focus on aspects that have nothing to do with the controversy. It doesn’t matter if Stephen Colbert’s Black friend saw that cover and didn’t think of a lynching, it doesn’t matter what the creators intended in the cover… the point, quite simply, is “No one at Marvel looked at this image and realized that some people would easily be reminded of something that (rightfully) invokes strong emotions?”

Today in “because I’m busy” check out this video of Hooverphonic’s “The World is Mine” a song I keep scanning the iTunes store for (hm, better check that before I post this…. nope) since the paranoid spouse won’t let me bring any Sony BMG CDs into the house ever since that whole rootkit fiasco.

• Yay! Bonnie Hunt has a talk show in development, here’s hoping that this is one of the cases where a witty talk show guest turns out to be an equally-witty talk show host.
• Bummer, albeit unsurprising, Creature Comforts gets pulled from the schedule. I was enjoying this one.
• I’ll second that recommendation for Daniel Handler’s The Basic Eight it’s a solid read for adults who enjoyed the sly subversiveness of Handler’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
• Coupling creator and Doctor Who writer Steven Moffat has a new sitcom in development titled Ada and Eve. It’s about two people who are perfect for each other but never meet… hm, that’s how I’d describe Love Soup.
• By the way, when did Barbara Walters jump the shark?