RAWR!! I was really enjoying this, got about halfway through, then the DVD player broke. I’ll have to borrow it again sometime. Thus far I’m loving the fact that Disney has (gasp) a sense of humor about its own animated films and their unrealistic portrayals/expectations of women. And the two exceedingly attractive male leads don’t hurt either.

D’oh.

This book was frustrating because I could not for the life of me tell when Kipnis was being sarcastic, funny, serious, or just what her position was on anything. In a way, that made it interesting, because it forced me to think about my own opinion on everything. But mostly it just made me want to throw the book at the next biological determinist I see.

I probably won’t get around to finishing this book for a while, so I’m going to write an entry now, while I’m all jazzed up about it. This is the first time that I’ve ever wanted to finish a book of which only certain chapters were assigned for class. Simply put, it’s fantastic and everyone should read it. It forced me to look critically at so many things I took for granted – the objectivity of scientific fact, the metaphors we use daily to talk about menstruation and reproduction, etc. And Emily Martin’s writing style is totally engaging and easy to read – I’ve never had assigned reading speed by so quickly.

I highly recommend playing the Snakes on a Plane Drinking Game (look it up) while viewing this film. I don’t know if I would have enjoyed it otherwise. As such, it was a blast.

Actually, the whole movie is worth it for the music video at the end. Oh heck, just listen to the song.

Why did Matthew McConaughey feel it was necessary to talk out of the side of his mouth the entire time?! He looked like an idiot and his accent sounded forced. I couldn’t take him seriously.

This film was visually stunning and had some very humorous moments, as well as poignant ones. My biggest problem was that the English captions (at least in the version I watched) were terrible, and I found myself getting extremely lost. It would definitely be helpful to know some background on Indian politics and culture of the time, particularly dealing with family structure and gender roles. I enjoyed watching it, though, regardless of whether or not I knew entirely what was going on.

This was a lyrical and lovely little book. Ba makes it easy to connect with the main character and understand her emotions. She is not a terribly strong female figure, at least not compared with the friend to whom she is writing, but brings to light many of the issues facing women in Senegalese society.

I’m not sure I’d read this again, but I think it was worth reading as she is such an important African writer. It’s really difficult to get through, especially in the beginning, because it is told from the point of view of a woman who is not mentally sound. By the time I finished I felt like I was going crazy too…

This movie made me feel really empowered. Which, I guess, is what it’s supposed to do. Some of the dialogue seemed awkward or forced or something, but overall I really enjoyed it. It made me want to run around in my underwear and celebrate women’s bodies of all shapes and sizes. While I didn’t end up doing that, I did go straight home and sign up to pose for a nude calendar, which turned out to be a fantastic experience. Thank you, America Ferrera!

In the beginning, there was too much lesbian sex.

After that, there was not nearly enough lesbian sex.

Not my kind of movie, I guess – too campy with sort of a dumb plot.