Category: TV

watching my language

another_banana.jpgIt’s a strange expression for me to use, “watching my language.” Especially since I am a linguist, and study language professionally. And actually spend time looking at visual representations of speech. But that’s not what I’m talking about.

(Warning: this post contains “language.” And by that, I mean l*ng*ag*. You know, %$*#! words. So if you are my mother-in-law, or someone else offended by such words, please read no further. Actually, if you are my mother-in-law, it’s not really me at all who’s writing this. I have no idea how this post got here. In fact, this whole blog must have been written by someone else who coincidentally has my name.)

I was reading a message board message a little while back, and came across a message where someone had written “cr*p”. Yes, c-r-*-p. And all I could think in response was “holy fucking shit, crap is a bad word??”

Crap is a word I use fairly often. As in Oh, crap, I forgot something. Or I have a lot of crap to deal with. I mean, I realize that it more-or-less means shit. But I thought it was way less of a swear-word. Stronger than doodoo, certainly, but really quite mild. I may even have said crap in front of my mother-in-law. And my mother-in-law feels quite strongly about swearing. As in it upsets her. She didn’t like the movie “Titanic” because someone uttered the word shit in it. (There are plenty of reasons not to like that movie, but quite honestly, shit wasn’t even on the radar for me.) And I really don’t want her to find out about this blog of mine, as I’m sure it would upset her. Mostly because of my language. I mean, hell, I write the word ass often enough.

And while, as my sister put it, I am unlikely to be considered the Kevin Smith of the blogosphere, I do want to reserve the right to swear on my blog. Sometimes I just feel the need. I’m not trying to offend (I spend my whole life trying not to offend), but I find it liberating to have this uncensored aspect of writing.

But then there’s this whole parenting business. I caught myself saying to Phoebe, “you are so damn cute!” (She is really damn cute, you know.) And I ask myself, is this appropriate child-directed speech?

Anyhow, at some point, like so many before us, we’re going to have to face this issue. It’s obvious that Phoebe now understands many words, and can even produce a few. And it’s only a matter of time before Phoebe starts demanding her damn lunch when she’s at daycare, exclaiming “crap, my blocks fell over,” or telling another small child to hand over the fucking dolly.

It’s not that we swear a whole lot. I mean, it’s not like every other word that comes out of our mouths would need to be bleeped on prime-time TV. But, well, swearing happens. Shit happens. And other terms. In our speech, and in the movies we watch, and the music we listen to. For example, I may want to reconsider singing along to “Don’t fuck me up (with peace and love)” by Cracker lest Phoebe picks up on the words…

One option we have considered is to go the Battlestar Galactica route. They have cleverly and subtly substituted frak for another term. As in Frak off, frak me, frak you, go frak yourself. No frakking way.

So, please excuse me. It’s time for me to prepare Phoebe’s frakking breakfast.

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.]

kick-ass women TV shows I don’t know well (or at all)

Here’s another list for my ongoing kick-ass women project. (For your reference, I have an index to previous lists in the project.) I seem to be getting to the end of my lists, and soon I’ll be moving on to phase two: world domination. No, wait. That’s Starbucks. My next phase will be to start actually working at qualifying and quantifying what it means to be a kick-ass woman. Or at least what I mean when I say “kick-ass woman.” But first, a few more lists.

Anyhow, this list is following up on my last 2 lists of favorite kick-ass women TV shows (1 & 2). This time, the list is of shows I either never watched, or didn’t see much of, but that prominently feature (or at least appear to prominently feature) kick-ass women. And this list includes some of the glaring omissions from the previous lists. (Again, shows are listed chronologically by start date.)

Some kick-ass women TV shows I didn’t watch

  1. The New Avengers (1976-1977)
    Starred Joanna Lumley as Purdy. The most I have seen of this show was actually as a snip in an episode of Absolutely Fabulous. This show is supposed to bear little resemblance to the previous Avengers incarnations, aside from the presence of Patrick MacNee resuming his role of John Steed. But I’m still pretty curious.
  2. Cagney & Lacey (1982-1988)
    This cop series with Sharon Gless (Cagney) and Tyne Daly (Lacey) was on for quite a few years, but I’m not sure I ever saw a single episode.
  3. The X-files (1993-2002)
    I never watched this show, but I have, of course, heard of it. My spy network informs me that Gillian Anderson kicked ass as Dana Scully.
  4. Xena: Warrior Princess (1995-2001)
    I’ve seen maybe a couple of episodes of this, or possibly only parts of episodes, but actually had trouble getting into its particular flavor of campiness. (I realized many of the shows and movies I enjoy are definitely campy.) I think it was mostly the other characters that I found irritating. But I fully acknowledge the supreme kick-assedness of Xena.
  5. Dark Angel (2000-2002)
    Never saw it. Don’t know much about it. Jessica Alba stars as a “genetically enhanced superhuman prototype.” Which sounds like definite kick-ass potential.
  6. Kim Possible (2002-????)
    Don’t know much about this animated show. I understand it’s about a girl (voiced by Christy Carlson Romano) who can do anything. Which sounds appealing.
  7. She Spies (2002-2004)
    I know nothing about this beyond, well, the title. I’m guessing it’s a spy show. With females. Hence the feminine third person subject. Was somewhat short-lived. Starred Natasha Henstridge, Natashia Williams and Kristen Miller. (Funny –how often do you have 2 Natash(i)as in the same cast?)
  8. Commander in Chief (2005-2006)
    Geena Davis plays President of the US. (That is potentially an even cooler role than pirate.) I should probably see this. I’ve read that it’s good. And I like Geena Davis.
  9. Heroes (2006-????)
    A new show about superheroes. Haven’t seen it. I’ve heard it’s pretty good. I don’t know all the details, but there had better be at least one kick-ass woman on the show. (Anyone care to enlighten me?)

    10. One more item:

  10. Charlie’s Angels (1976-1981)
    I’m not sure what I think about this one. Strange as it may seem, I don’t really remember watching this show as a kid. It was certainly a presence, though. I must have seen a few episodes. And I remember kids playing Charlie’s Angels, etc. Jaclyn Smith and Kate Jackson played the brunettes, and a string of others (Farrah Fawcett, Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack & Tanya Roberts) play the blonde. But I’m not sure to what extent these women kicked ass. Isn’t this the show about which the expession “jiggle TV” was coined?

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.

    • (occasionally) going through the motions

    Breaking news! I got a bit of exercise today.

    John and I have some exercise equipment in the basement. An elliptical machine and some weights. Believe it or not, we’ve actually gotten a lot of use out of them. And not just for hanging laundry. For several years, we’ve had a tradition of heading down to the basement in the evening, 4 or 5 nights a week, to work out. We’d largely alternate doing weights and using the elliptical. And part of our tradition is to watch episodes of Buffy as we work out. We have the whole series on DVD. And we’ve watched them through a number of times. We’ll sometimes put in other DVDs once we get to the end of the series. But usually, we just watch Buffy. It helps to have something familiar on in the background, so we don’t need to pay too much attention. And the show, with its blend of suspense, comedy and action, tends to suit our mood. Part of our motivation for comes from looking forward to the good episodes. (Because, let’s face it, some episodes are better than others.)

    We’ve had periodic lapses over the years, sometimes of several months, even. But more often than not, we’ve managed to keep the schedule going. I even kept up a pretty decent workout schedule through my pregnancy, albeit less rigorous. But last February, something happened. Our lives were totally turned upside-down. And we haven’t been down to the basement too often. (Actually, we even lost a DVD player due to our inactivity. We must have left the disc in with the menu screen on, which meant that the disc was spinning. When we went back down to the basement, a month or so later, the motor was burned out. And then there was the time we discovered mold growing on the equipment, inspiring us to find even more excuses to avoid going back down to the basement.) Anyhow, I’ve been trying to get back to the workout schedule once more, even if slowly. And tonight, I got rewarded with one of my favorite Buffy episodes: Once More With Feeling. Hurray!

    subway tokens

    I have a long commute. I work and go to school in Boston, and neighboring Cambridge, Massachusetts. But I live out in the boonies. I’ve been dealing with this commute since I started grad school. Until fairly recently, I would pretty much always take public transportation. I would drive to the nearest train station, take the commuter rail into Boston, and then ride the T, Boston’s combined subway and above-ground transit system. The whole commute would take about 2 to 2 and half hours from door to door. Each way. I’d only do this about 2 or 3 times a week, piling up my Boston/Cambridge commitments into crazy-long days. I’d usually be gone from home between 12 and 15 hours on one of my commute days.

    Sometime last year, say around February, I stopped commuting so often. I’ve been largely busy with another project, and have been working from home, telecommuting, etc. And days when I’ve gone into work for meetings, I’ve driven. While it has plenty of downsides (traffic delays, parking hassles and environmental impact), driving is also usually a bit faster: 2 to 3 hours total. Plus with more flexible times. So, in order to be able to have that extra time with the other project, I’ve been driving a lot more. But I decided to start taking the train in again, at least some days.

    So here I am, taking public transportation again. (And today I got my first Charlie Card. I guess I’ll write about that later.) Sitting on the train and the subway, I have time to sit and think. So I’ve been thinking about subways, and subway scenes.

    Subway scenes seem quite popular in movies and TV shows, especially in the action genre. There’s something compelling about the seedy, dark atmosphere of a subway station for a fight scene, with the tension of possible oncoming trains. Or about slipping into a subway car as the doors shut in a chase scene. And let’s not forget the claustrophobic fight scenes inside a subway car.

    Subway Scenes

  • Buffy, season 5 “Fool for Love”
    This is the episode where Spike tells how he killed 2 slayers back in the day. The second one involved a fight scene in a New York subway car.
  • The Fugitive (1993)
    This one has an L train (elevated train) rather than a subway. Harrison Ford has a fight scene with the one-armed man in a train car.
  • Daredevil (2003)
    There’s that vengence fight scene in the subway station at the beginning with Ben Affleck, followed by that whole flaming “DD” insignia on the platform in the scene with Joe Pantoliano.
  • The Matrix (1999)
    Keanu (dude) Reeves has a big showdown with Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) in a subway station.
  • V for Vendetta (2005)
    V (Hugo Weaving, again), with some help from Evey (Natalie Portman), uses a subway train to deliver a message. (“Boom.”)
  • Run Lola Run/Lola rennt (1998)
    Lola’s run started because her boyfriend left a bag of money on the subway.
  • Strange Days (1995)
    The movie starts off with a chase scene where a woman (Brigitte Bako) escapes by running into a subway car just as the doors close.
  • Sliding Doors (1998)
    This movie’s alternate outcomes hinge upon whether or not Gwyneth Paltrow makes it onto a subway car before the door slides shut.
  • Crocodile Dundee (1986)
    End of movie. Declarations of love shouted across a crowded subway station.
  • Hellboy (2004)
    Hellboy (Ron Perlman) chases down demons in the subway tunnels, gets hits in the head with a train. (Don’t worry, he’s fine.)
  • The Italian Job (2003)
    Minis get driven down into a subway station, and race down the subway tunnels.

    • 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.

    My ability to talk with fish is of no help, Wonder Woman!

    I’m not sure what recently reminded me of this Cartoon Network interstitial (new word for me, by the way) featuring Aquaman, Wonder Woman and the Powerpuff Girls. I hadn’t seen it in ages. (We don’t actually get Cartoon Network now, sadly. Just bottom of the barrel basic cable. which means no Comedy Central or SciFi, either. Sigh.) But thanks to the marvels of YouTube, I was able to watch it once more. (Actually more than once.) And since it’s late and I don’t have much time to write, I thought I’d share it. Because it is just so damn funny.

    I particularly like the way Wonder Woman rolls her eyes in response to Aquaman’s statement.

    Interestingly, this clip seems to contain an oft misquoted line. (Actually, it’s one I remembered wrong.) Searching Google for the misquote (“my ability to talk to fish”) gets more hits (26) than the right version (“my ability to talk with fish”), which gets only 8 hits. Different pages on Wikipedia feature two versions of the misquote:

    “My ability to talk to fish is of no use to us, Wonder Woman!”

    and

    “My ability to talk to fish is of no help, Wonder Woman!”