Category: collections

oink

Happy New Year! As you may well already know, it’s Chinese New Year. It’s year 4705 (For some fun information and descriptions of traditional Chinese New Year’s traditions, check out these couple of cool posts on the topic by YTSL.)
piggybank.jpg
Anyhow, this year is year of the pig. (Also called year of the boar. But I prefer pig.) And while I may not be able to manage much in the way of festivities for the day (I’m away from home and forgot to pack any festive red clothing), I offer this post as a small token of celebration. To welcome in the new Year of the Pig, I’ve put together a small list of some of my own favorite pigs. (These are a few of my favorite pigs…)

  1. Piggy. Nine Inch Nails. This song has these great opening words:

    hey pig
    yeah you
    hey pig piggy pig pig pig

    2. pigs.jpg

  2. Piggies. The Beatles. A classic song. “Have you seen the little piggies, living piggy lives”
  3. Small Pig, by Arnold Lobel. This was one of the first books I ever read. It’s about a little pig (a small pig, if you will), who liked to lounge around in a mud puddle. When he gets kicked out of his puddle and forcibly cleaned up, he runs off to find a new mud puddle.( Acceptable neatness standards be damned!)
  4. Charlotte’s Web. E.B. White. That Wilbur is “some pig.” This is one of my all-time favorite books of childhood. (I haven’t seen the recent movie, by the way, and not sure I can bear to.)charlotteweb.png
  5. Piglet. From the books by A. A. Milne. In the world of Winnie-the-Pooh, I identify most with Piglet. I’m a worrier. (Strangely enough, I couldn’t score a Piglet on the 100 Acre Personality Test. I got Pooh, and when I tried to adjust my answers to be what I thought was more Piglet-like, I got Owl, and then Kanga…)
  6. The Flying Pig sketches from The Kids in the Hall. Bruce McCulloch plays Flying Pig, a flying pig who appears on the scene to rescue people from boredom while they are standing in line. (By the way, I once bought a “flying pig” mug in the airport Cincinatti, Ohio, while waiting for a connecting flight. That city seems to have adapted the slogan “where pigs fly,” based on the “when pigs fly” idiom. And developed a lot of merchandising to go along with it. I bought the mug because of my affinity for the Kids in the Hall, and their flying pig. And my affinity for coffee mugs. And I suppose somewhat for my affinity for pigs.) Anyhow, back to the Kids in the Hall flying pig. I found some of the sketches on YouTube. Here’s one. Enjoy.


[update 4/28/09: the old video was taken down, so I replaced it.]

dude looks like a lady, lady looks like a dude

Or, the clothes make the man (look like a woman or the woman look like a man)

As I promised last night, while reflecting on the cross-dressing tendencies of the females of our household, I’ve put together a list of some cross-dressing instances in theater, film and TV. The entertainment media show us a host of reasons for donning the garb of the opposite gender. Whether it’s a lifestyle choice, or for some pragmatic or work-related reason, we see a variety of possible benefits.

The list below is a bunch of movies, shows and plays that feature some sort of cross-dressing, that have further been tagged and sorted by additional features.

1. We have two main types, as in two main genders. So representatives will be tagged:

  • (m->f): male dressing as female (dude looks like a lady)

    • and

  • (f->m): female dressing as male (lady looks like a dude)

    • 2. (kaw) Also note that a lot of these movies and shows also have been highlighted in lists of my kick-ass women project, so I’ll tag them, too. Especially those involving women dressing in men’s clothes. (Coincidence?)

    Movies, shows and plays that feature cross-dressing

    1. First, we have movies featuring transgendered or transexual folk:

    • Some dramas:
  • Glen or Glenda (1953) (m->f)
    Ed Wood stars, Ed Wood directs. Ed Wood wears fuzzy angora sweaters. Known (as are all of Ed Wood’s films) as a wonderfully bad movie. I need to see this some time.
  • The Crying Game (1992) (m->f)
    Yes, I know I just spoiled the surprise ending.
  • Boys Don’t Cry (1999) (f->m)
    Hilary Swank plays a teenage boy who was born biologically female. (Another one I haven’t seen. I hear it’s very good.)
    • Drag Queens of the stage:
  • Kinky Boots (2005) (m->f)
    Chiwetel Ejiofor plays Lola, a drag queen who needs some new shoes.
  • The Bird Cage (1996) (m->f)
    Nathan Lane plays a stage queen. Also pretends to be a woman off the stage to fool some folks.
  • La Cage aux Folles (1978), La Cage aux Folles II (1980), La Cage aux Folles 3 (1985) (m->f, m->f->m)
    Haven’t actually seen these. “The Bird Cage” was based on the first one. The second involves man pretending to be woman pretending to be man, from what I understand.
    • Road-tripping drag queens:
  • The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) (m->f)
    A drag queen goes on an Australian road trip.
  • To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (1995) (m->f)
    Wesley Snipes, Patrick Swayze, John Leguizamo as drag queens in an American road trip movie.

    • 2. Often, cross-dressing can be a work-related activity. In many cases, it can be about landing a job:

    • For example, for men who aspire to become a nanny, it may be helpful to pretend to be a woman:
  • Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) (m->f)
    Robin Williams impersonates a woman to land a role as his kids’ nanny.
  • Arrested Development (2003-2006) (m->f)
    Ther was a story arc about Mrs. Featherbottom: Tobias (David Cross) “disguises” himself as a woman to play a nanny in the spirit of Mrs. Doubtfire. His family pretends to be fooled because they got a cleaner house out of the deal.
    • Police and spy jobs often require clever disguises for undercover work. And what could be more cleverly disguising than opposite-gendered apparel?
  • Barney Miller (1975-1982) (m->f)
    Periodically, the men/detectives of the cast/department dress up (unconvincingly) as women in order to entrap potential solicitation offenders, muggers, or others.
  • Charlie’s Angels (2000) (f->m)
    Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore disguise themselves in suits and facial hair to infiltrate a tech company.
  • White Chicks (2004) (m->f)
    Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans play FBI agents. Two (black) dudes masquerade as two (white) chicks. For some reason or another. (Haven’t seen it.)
  • Supercop a.k.a.Police Story 3: Supercop/Jing cha gu shi III: Chao ji jing cha (1992) (m->f, kaw)
    Uncle (Bill Tung) makes an appearance as the mother of Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh, who are pretending to be brother and sister for an undercover assignment.
  • Supercop 2/Chao ji ji hua (1993) (m->f, kaw)
    Jackie Chan makes a cameo. In drag. I’m not really sure why.
    • Getting into, or out of, the military by way of getting into transgendered clothing:
  • MASH (1972-1983) (m->f)
    Klinger (Jamie Farr) spends several seasons dressing in women’s clothes to try to get out of the army.
  • Mulan (1998) (f->m, kaw)
    A girl pretends to be a boy in order to join the army.
  • Futurama (1999-????) (f->m, kaw)
    The episode with balls. Bouncing balls. (Called “War is the H-word”) Leela disguises herself as a man to join the army to keep an eye on Fry and Bender (who joined the army to get a discount on gum.)
    • Getting onto the screen or stage:
  • Shakespeare in Love (1998) (f->m)
    Set in Elizabethan England, when/where only men were allowed to act on the stage. Gwynneth Paltrow pretends to be a young man in order to land a role in Shakespeare’s new play.
  • Tootsie (1982) (m->f)
    Dustin Hoffman dons wig and dress to land a soap opera role.
  • Victor/Victoria (1982) (f->m->f)
    Julie Andrews plays a (male) female impersonator.
  • Farewell My Concubine/Ba wang bie ji (1993) (m->f)
    Leslie Chung (a man, by the way…ambiguous name and all) plays an actor in the Peking Opera who plays female roles on the stage.
    • And like for the Peking Opera and the Shakespearean stage, sometimes real-life actors in more recent times play roles of the opposite gender:
  • Peter Pan (f->m)
    The play written by J. M. Barrie. Stage performances of this play written by J. M. Barrie commonly feature women (Maude Adams, Mary Martin, Sandy Duncan) playing the lead role, a boy.
  • Iron Monkey/ Siu nin Wong Fei Hung ji Tit Ma Lau (1993) (f->m)
    The young boy, Wong Fei-Hung, is played by a girl (Sze-Man Tsang).
    • There’s the related sketch comedy tradition:
  • Monty Python’s Flying Circus (1969-1974) (m->f)
    The chaps (Graham Chapman, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Eric Idle) don dresses, and speak in sqeaky voices. (I don’t remember Terry Gilliam ever appearing in a dress.)
  • Kids in the Hall (1988-1994) (m->f)
    The kids (Dave Foley, Scott Thompson, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch and Kevin McDonald) wear a lot of dresses, and a lot of wigs. And sometimes make very convincing women.

    • 3. And finally, we have a bunch of miscellaneous reasons for cross-dressing. Prizes! Disguises! Housing! Respect! Modesty!

  • News Radio (1995-1999) (m->f)
    The episode where Dave Foley wins a costume contest by donning a wig and a little black dress. A bit of a tribute to his Kids in the Hall days.
  • Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon/Wo hu cang long (2000) (f->m, kaw)
    Zhang Ziyi runs off with a stolen sword and disguises herself as a young man. (Leading to that incredible scene where she fights a restaurant-full of men. And trashes the restaurant. Not that I condone the trashing of restaurants. I just love that scene.)
  • Twelfth Night (f->m)
    Play by Shakespeare. Made into bunches of movies, including She’s the Man (2006). Woman Viola pretends to be her brother. (I’m not actually sure on the motivation for this. Shamefully haven’t read or seen the play. Or movies.)
  • Just One of the Guys (1985) (f->m)
    Haven’t seen it. High school gal pretends to be a high school guy in order to be taken seriously.
  • Some Like it Hot (1959) (m->f)
    Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon disguise themselves as women to hide out from the mob. (And get to hang out with Marylin Monroe.)
  • Bosom Buddies (1980-1982) (m->f)
    Peter Scolari and Tom Hanks pretend to be women in order to get a good apartment.
  • Splash (1984) (w->m) (f->m)
    Daryl Hannah plays a mermaid who arrives in New York City without a wardrobe of her own. Staying at the apartment of Tom Hanks (not the one shared with Peter Scolari), she puts on one of his suits before heading out for a shopping expedition in order to avoid further displays of public nudity.

    • There’s a duck in the dishwasher.

    These are words I spoke soon after arriving home last night. “There’s a duck in the dishwasher.” And as is a common curse with those working in linguistics, I (sometimes) actually listen to the words that come out of my mouth. “There’s an unlikely sentence,” I said to John. And googling “duck in the dishwasher” in fact brings up only one (two if you count the archive of the same) hit, with the following line: “…and so before I clean the duck (in the dishwasher) I first have to squeeze the water out.”

    So I bring to you this duck in the dishwasher. My own duck in the dishwasher. (Thus increasing the frequency of the sequence of words “duck in the dishwasher” on the web.) And I hope to start a collection of highly improbable-sounding, but spontaneously and appropriately contextually-oriented, sentences. So if you have any to share with me, please do so. (Before you duck in the dishwasher.) (Did I mention I need to nap? Haven’t done that yet.)

    duck.jpg

    And by the way, this post is largely an excuse to set up my Technorati Profile.

    More kick-ass women TV shows

    Here’s continuing my ongoing kick-ass women project. (Check out my index to previous posts in the project, if you like.) Following up on my last list of favorite kick-ass women TV shows, I offer up another list of TV shows. These are are shows that I’ve watched and loved, or at least enjoyed, that prominently feature kick-ass women (and girls). I do have some reservations about some of these, though…(And again, shows are listed chronologically by start date.)

    9 more kick-ass women TV shows

    1. The Avengers (1962-1964)
      This incarnation of The Avengers starred Honor Blackman (who later gained more fame playing Bond girl Pussy Galore) as Cathy Gale. I didn’t get to know the Gale episodes until quite recently, when they were released on DVD. But they are well worth watching, in spite of the poor video-taped quality.
    2. Get Smart (1965-1970)
      Barbara Feldon was great as Agent 99, the competent foil to the bumbling agent Maxwell Smart. However, I was never too thrilled with the plots developing to woo and win Max. I don’t really buy her desire to get married, especially to him…
    3. The Avengers (1968-1969)
      I was mostly just going through the motions when I watched this incarnation of The Avengers. Linda Thorson played Tara King, a much softer, wimpier partner to Steed. But she still played a secret agent who could kick some moderate ass.
    4. Remington Steele (1982-1987)
      Stephanie Zimbalist plays Laura Holt, a brilliant private investigator who finds she gets more clients by operating under a man’s name, even a man’s name that she’s made up. Unfortunately, the whole premise of the show is that Pierce Brosnan comes along and usurps her success, and she has to go along with it.
    5. Teen Titans (2003-????)
      This Cartoon Network animated series featuring bunch of adolescents with superpowers has a couple of pretty kick-ass girls. Starfire (voiced by Hynden Walch) is a bit too needy-touchy-feely for my tastes, but I guess can kick some ass in a fight. I’m partial to Raven (voiced by Tara Strong), who is cranky and dark.
    6. Star Trek: Voyager (1995-2001)
      It’s been absolutely ages since I watched this. I didn’t even realize it was on the air that long. Anyhow, I seem to recall some pretty kick-ass women characters: Roxann Dawson as B’Elanna Torres and Jeri Ryan as the Borg Seven of Nine. There was also the kick-ass character Captain Kathryn Janeway, portrayed by Kate Mulgrew. (I am remembering a story about Kate Mulgrew publicly proclaiming that she wasn’t a feminist, though, which made me lose quite a bit of respect. Jenny, care to remind me of the details?)
    7. Futurama (1999-????)
      Leela (full name: Turanga Leela) as voiced by Katey Sagal shines with competence as a spaceship captain surrounded by dimwits in this animated series created by Matt Groening. (I never really bought her attraction to clueless Fry, and am suddenly noticing the parallels to 99’s infatuation with Max Smart…It’s a theme we’ve all seen too often…)
    8. Jackie Chan Adventures (2000-2005)
      Animated Jackie’s trouble-making little niece Jade (voiced by Stacie Chan) shows some potential to grow up into a kick-ass woman in this kid-oriented cartoon. She’s got some of the key ingredients: courage, daring and wit. (Forget sugar and spice.)
    9. The Tick (2001)
      This inpsired gem of a show, the live-action version of the zany superhero cartoon, only lasted 8 episodes. Liz Vassey was great as the tough-as-nails-in-her-shiny-gold-boots Captain Liberty, a character inspired by Wonder Woman.

    9 of my favorite kick-ass women TV shows

    Here is yet another installment of my ongoing project to collect, classify and critique movies, TV shows and other media that prominently feature kick-ass women. This is the first list of TV shows I’ve put together. I’ll probably have one or two more, and probably another movie list at some point. To recap the lists so far:

    Kick-ass women project meta-list

  • movies I love or at least like moderately well (1, 2, 3, 4)
  • movies I need to see (5, 6)
  • movies I found disappointing (7)
  • movies I don’t expect to like (8)
  • another blogger has put together a related list of Hong Kong movies
  • I also started a consolidated list, for quick reference, but haven’t updated it recently.

    • So, here’s the first TV list. As in my previous lists, I’m ordering these chronologically, though in this case by year that the show began to air. (I considered ranking these differently, but since my favorite came first chronologically and gets to be at the top of the list this way anyhow, I’m going to avoid the tricky task of ranking the rest of my favorites.) (I also feel compelled to say that if you’re wondering why “Xena” and “X-files” aren’t on the list, it’s because I didn’t watch them. I’ll try to remedy that. One of these days.)

    9 of my favorite kick-ass women TV shows

    1. The Avengers (1965-1967)
      This is my all-time favorite kick-ass woman TV show. Emma Peel (as portrayed by Diana Rigg) is my idol. (By the way, the whole series ran from 1961-1969, but here I’m talking about the Mrs. Peel seasons.)
    2. The Bionic Woman (1976-1978) Lindsay Wagner plays Jamie Sommers, a woman with “bionic” (cybernetic) superpowers. It’s been absolutely ages since I watched this, but I enjoyed it as a kid. It may well have been the first kick-ass woman show I watched.
    3. Wonder Woman (1976-1979)
      Lynda Carter plays the quintessential woman superhero. A colorful show where good and evil are portrayed as black and white. (I vaguely remember watching this when I was little, and then got some of the DVDs recently. I don’t think I’d ever seen the first season before, though, which was set during World War II. It’s actually quite a bit better than the following seasons, which are set in the contemporaneous 1970s.)
    4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003)
      Sarah Michelle Gellar kicks ass as Buffy, as do a variety of regular cast members and guest stars. I also love the way this show interleaves the horrors of living in the midst of monsters and supernatural evils and the after-school-special-type horrors of being in high school. (This show is another one of my absolute favorites. A possible 2nd.)
    5. Stargate SG-1 (1997-????)
      I quite like Amanda Tapping as Samantha Carter, with her brilliant matter-of-fact geekiness. She was usually about brains more than brawn, but could hold her own in a fight scene.
    6. The Powerpuff Girls (1998-2004)
      Three cute little girls with big eyes and superpowers battle the forces of evil in this animated kids’ show. I’m partial to Buttercup, the angry one. I fear I’m probably more like Blossom, the annoyingly nerdy one. I don’t think I’m much like Bubble, the sweet one. (Though she’s John’s favorite. What does that mean?)
    7. Alias (2001-2006)
      Jennifer Garner plays secret agent Sydney Bristow in this flashy spy show. Lots of fun fight scenes and clever gadgets, combined with over-the-top cloak-and-dagger disguise scenarios. I’ve only seen the first 2 seasons, though. I liked the first (lower budget) season better.
    8. Firefly (2002-2003)
      A great, but sadly short-lived, sci fi masterpiece, which happily at least led to a movie. I love Gina Torres as Zoe, a warrior woman with a dry wit, steady hand and a sense of being in control.
    9. Battlestar Galactica(2004-????) (plus the 2003 miniseries)
      I was surprised at how much I like this reinterpretation of the cheesy 1980’s space opera. In this show, strong women are the norm, rather than the exception. Katee Sackhoff as Starbuck majorly kicks ass as an ace pilot. Other noteworthy strongwomen include Grace Park as Sharon(s) Valleri, Mary McDonnell as President Laura Roslin, and Tricia Helfer as the bad-ass cylon Number Six.

    pajama mama

    I love pajamas. (I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because I love sleep so much.) One of the unexpected benefits of being a parent has been increased access to pajamas. Little pajamas. Lots of pajamas. And in particular, footie pajamas. I thought I’d share a retrospective of some of the pajamas I’ve known over the past few months.

    phoebe and mommy
    February: Phoebe in frogs and swamp critters, Mommy in silk
    March: duck

    img_0905.jpg img_1077.jpg
    April: With Daddy, in yellow velour pajamas (Phoebe’s in the pajamas, not Daddy), and pink stripes

    img_1371.jpg
    May: John Lennon’s Imagine
    August: pink elephants (with access to toes)

    img_1906.jpg
    September: Winnie-the-Pooh flowers and yellow-covered toes

    img_2324.jpg img_2346.jpg
    img_2419.jpg img_2610.jpg
    October: hippos, squirrel, green flowers and Halloween kitty


    November: fuzzy purple

    img_3175_2.jpg
    December: owls and snowmen

    And finally: January

    Potentially kick-ass women movies that probably suck

    This is another installment of my ongoing project to collect, classify and critique movies, TV shows and other media that prominently feature kick-ass women. I started by putting together lists of my all-time favorite movies in this genre. (I also started a consolidated list, for quick reference, but have to update it.) A recent contribution to the project has come from another blogger, who put together a list of her 10 favorite Hong Kong kick-ass women movies. Other installments from me have included a couple of lists of movies that I haven’t yet seen, but would like to. I also recently made a list of movies with kick-ass women that I found disappointing. (Whether it was disapointment in the movie, or disappointment in the potentially kick-ass women.) This next list somewhat straddles the last two categories: movies with potentially kick-ass women that I haven’t seen, but don’t have high expectations for. In many cases, I’m (morbidly) curious about them, though.

    9 potential kick-ass women movies I haven’t seen, am not sure I want to see, but have some morbid curiosity about

    1. Barb Wire (1996)
      This is the one starring Pamela Anderson (Lee). I really don’t expect anything redeeming about this movie, though I did read a review on imdb saying the movie is fun in a campy way.
    2. Batman & Robin (1997)
      This looks awful. I’ve read that it’s awful. But I’m somewhat morbidly curious about Uma Thurman as Poison Ivy and Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl.
    3. Starship Troopers (1997)
      I stumbled across a mention of this one at some point in my “research,” but from a source I don’t have much trust in. Not sure the details on who the kick-ass woman is. It has Denise Richards and Dina Meyer. (Funny, I just typed Dina Richards and Denise Meyer…guess that reflects that I don’t really know either of their work.) Googling “Denise Richards” and the movie title brought up various mentions of breasts and sex scenes, which is not a good sign. Oh, and I did find this useful abridged version of the script, though.
    4. Out of Sight (1998)
      Jennifer Lopez plays a US Marshall. I vaguely recall that this is the movie where she lets her own ass get kicked due to mushiness for George Clooney.
    5. Entrapment (1999)
      I have very low expectations of this for 2 reasons: 1) Sean Connery, who is, as far as I can tell a misogynist. I blame him for some of the atrocities of The Avengers (1998). I don’t think he likes to have a character he plays bested by a woman. and 2) Catherine Zeta-Jones. I once read an interview with her in a magazine (I don’t even know which. I was probably in a waiting room somewhere) where she talked about the importance of the and the challenges associated with being…pretty.
    6. Miss Congeniality (2000)
      I have serious doubts about the kick-ass qualities of Sandra Bullock in this, but I’m curious. Looks to be a lightweight comedy.
    7. Lara Croft Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life (2003)
      Angelina Jolie, once more. The first one was moderately disappointing. What should I expect from the sequel of a moderately disappointing movie?
    8. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
      I just don’t know if I can stomach this one. What with Arnold and all. Kristanna Loken plays a female terminator. That Arnold presumably whoops.
    9. Catwoman (2004)
      I wanted this one to be fun, but I heard it was pretty bad. (Although one friend of mine said she enjoyed it.) Halle Berry wears the catsuit.

    9 disappointing kick-ass women movies

    In my continuing quest to find media that prominently feature kick-ass women, I have come across examples of such that well…haven’t measured up. In some of these, a potentially kick-ass character was disappointingly wimpy. Or the actor/actress couldn’t pull off the role convincingly. In others, the movie was not great. In still other cases, the movie just plain sucked. Here’s the list of my biggest disappointments. As with previous lists, movies are ordered by year produced/released. With one big exception: I’m saving my all-time biggest disappointment for the end of the list.

    9 kick-ass women movies I hoped would be better:

    1. …coming up at the end of the post…
    2. Cutthroat Island (1995)
      I really want to like this movie, and it has its moments. Geena Davis plays a pirate. How cool is that? Lots of action, fight scenes, chase scenes, etc. And Geena Davis plays a pirate. But somehow, unfortunately, it’s just not that good a movie. But Geena Davis plays a pirate!
    3. The Fifth Element (1997)
      I remember looking forward to this one, since I’ve liked Besson’s other movies, and since it appeared to prominently feature a kick-ass woman. I saw it in the theater. However, I found the movie to be generally pretty forgettable. (As in, at this point, I don’t remember much beyond some bright colors and some irritation with Bruce Willis.)
    4. Star Wars: Episode I – the Phantom Menace (1999)
      This movie disappointed so many in so many ways. One of the ways in which it disappointed me was that I thought there was an opportunity for Natalie Portman to kick some ass. I was unimpressed. (And things just got worse in Episode II…)
    5. Rush Hour 2 (2001)
      Another movie I don’t remember too well. This one has Zhang Ziyi, playing a kick-ass villainous type. Problem is, she seems pretty unstrung, from what I remember. And of course, she’s not the star, so her character doesn’t get to win.
    6. Tomb Raider (2001)
      While Angelina Jolie did kick ass moderately well in this, the movie was pretty weak overall. I do remember a few cool fight scenes. I should probably give it another chance.
    7. Daredevil (2003)
      Another movie I really wanted to like. Probably because of Kevin Smith‘s involvement, as well as being a comic book/superhero movie. But let’s face it. Ben Affleck is just not convincing as a superhero. But Jennifer Garner kicked ass as Elektra in spite of things. At least in the fight scenes.
    8. Underworld (2003)
      I loved Kate Beckinsale in Cold Comfort Farm (one of my all-time favorite movies, though not in the kick-ass woman genre). However, this movie was…well…not great. And Kate was not terribly convincing in an action role.
    9. Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
      I’m not sure what was going on with this movie. I found the first one entertaining and funny. This one just pained me.

    And here it is. My all time biggest disappointment in a movie in the kick-ass women category:

    1. The Avengers (1998)
      How could they???

    To say that The Avengers (1998) movie disappointed me would be like saying Everest is a pretty big mountain. That eating the chicken salad sandwich you left in your car all one hot July day may lead to stomach upset. That the Hindenberg disaster was the result of an unfortunate mishap. What I’m saying is that this movie was a gigantic, mountainous gut-spewing fireball of a disaster.

    Okay, perhaps I exaggerate. In that my expectations were pretty low, so I supposed the disappointment level couldn’t have been that extreme. But please understand that I love the Avengers show, at least in its 1965-1967 incarnation. That I have idolized the character Emma Peel, as portrayed by Diana Rigg, since my formative teenage years.

    This movie had a variety of “flaws” (Ralph Fiennes’ cardboard performance as Steed, the inclusion of the character “Mother,” Sean Connery’s unconvincing role as a megavillain, to name a few), which could have been overlooked if only the portrayal of the character Emma Peel had been appropriately…like Emma Peel. But she just wasn’t. Uma didn’t cut it.

    I actually got a fair amount of enjoyment, after I saw the movie, just from ranting about how many things they got wrong. Believe it or not, I want to watch it again. So that I can relive those rants, and perhaps share them here.

    Another 9 kick-ass women movies

    Here’s another installment in my endeavor to catalogue, critique, and otherwise classify movies, shows and other media that prominently feature kick-ass women. This is my fourth list of movies. The first three lists contained more of my all-time favorite movies (or at least those movies I know better), but this list still includes some great movies (or at least some movies that have great kick-ass women roles). At some point soon, the lists will be moving into the following territories:

    A pre-list list of upcoming lists:

    • Movies that I hear are good, which appear to have very kick-ass women, but which I have (shamefully) not yet seen
    • Movies in which there are some great kick-ass women, though with roles that are less central
    • Movies with kick-ass women where either the characters or the movies themselves were disappointing (or just plain awful)
    • Movies that I haven’t seen, but heard or suspect are crap, but which I should probably still see anyhow.
    • TV shows! I’m happy to say that TV has many more kick-ass women characters than in the days when Cathy Gale and Emma Peel first fought their way onto the small screen. I’ll likely start with my favorites.

    And then at some point, my plan is to devise a rating scheme whereby I can actually rank the movies, shows and kick-ass women characters.

    Okay, onto the real list. Like the previous lists, these movies will be ordered chronologically.

    Another 9 kick-ass women movies

    1. A View to a Kill (1985)
      Grace Jones (Mayday) played an atypical “Bond Girl” role in this one. Not restricted to the role of pillowy soft femininity to bolster the masculinity of Bond.
    2. La Femme Nikita/Nikita (1990)
      This is an important movie that probably should have appeared on one of my earlier lists. Anyhow, a great movie, and a great role. Anne Parillaud kicks ass in style. And in French. Perhaps even in French style.
    3. Thelma & Louise (1991)
      This is more about kick-ass strength of character than ass-kicking action, but this movie is still a classic of the kick-ass women genre. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon take no prisoners.
    4. Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
      It’s not the amazingly great TV show, but still fun. Kristy Swanson’s portrayal of Buffy is still worthy of being labelled kick-ass.
    5. League of Their Own (1992)
      I’m not generally a big fan of sports movies, but this one is worth mentioning, especially since it’s based on some real-life women who kicked ass, in their way.
    6. Iron Monkey/ Siu nin Wong Fei Hung ji Tit Ma Lau (1993)
      Jean Wang plays a supporting role, but holds her own and kicks ass along with Donnie Yen. This movie also scores extra points because the kick-ass young boy in the movie was actually played by a kick-ass young girl. And it’s a great martial arts movie, overall.
    7. Supercop 2/Chao ji ji hua (1993)
      It may be pretty clear that I am a big fan of Michelle Yeoh. In this one, she reprises her role from Supercop (the one with Jackie Chan). It wasn’t a super movie, but it did have some super ass-kicking scenes.
    8. X-Men (2000)
      While this movie gets points for having women superheroes, I actually found the X-Women to be a wee bit wimpy. Especially in the fight scenes–they only kick moderate ass. On the other hand, Rebecca Romijn as Mystique counterbalances with a more impressive display of ass-kicking, and is menacing to boot.
    9. Mrs. & Mrs. smith (2005)
      I can’t say I loved this movie, but I did appreciate the kick-assedness of Angelina Jolie’s character.