At least homegirl is still offered roles.

I was so pleased to read CDAN's post about WHY it seems like nobody's ever allowed to say anything bad about Nat P. She seems like a Little Miss Perfect to me, and I'm not totally smitten with that type.

Meh, Nat should stfu. She's basically perfect. I'm over her whining.

@BiscuitDoughJones: Where can I find this? She bothers me.

I wonder why they call it a myth about Jesus visiting India? Makes sense to me, if he knew he was the Son and everything.

Pirate DJs? What the fuck? With that Rhys douche? OMG, my GF is going to shit her pants.

She should learn to be competent in the roles she's offered before moving up in the world.

@badmutha: Seems redundant to me!

BTW, female yogi = yogini, which is one of my favorite words in any language.

and...PIRATE DJ! I think I found my next career!

Pirate DJs? Really? Like, "arrggghhh, mateys, next up is the new single off Janet Jackson's new album, after a word from our sponsor, Yo Ho Rum. arrrggghhhh!"

Perhaps "dj" stands for something else in this case.
Double jointed?

That's why she played a stripper in the Oscar bait crapfest "Closer"

Buck up, Portman. I just got really happy over getting $50 for something. Your complaining is the like the buzzing of flies to me.

Who falls for Rhys Ifans? He's... Welsh-looking. That said, yay January Jones for getting a role that isn't necessarily a victim (probably a doormat though).

Also, the bigger problem is that writers only write the virgin-whore female characters. Writers suck, time for me and Bess Marvin to revolutionize the system!

Damn. Do NOT make me have to start liking Natalie Portman.

@JessicaLovejoy: [www.crazydaysandnights.net]

Mad Men is one of the best TV shows in years - visually stunning and challenges those of us who would have us return to the pre-PC days. Gender issues are expertly highlighted, I'm surprised it hasn't featured on Jez much. Plus the clothes are to die for.

Methinks this movie is a vengeful god's way of punishing Kenneth Brannaugh for cheating on the delightful Emma Thompson. From Shakespeare to pirate DJs in the space of a decade. So. Very. Pathetic.

@BrutallyHonestBabes: Oh yes you did! That was award-winning snark that was.

has natalie looked at her resume? does she remember doing 'the professional'? her character wasn't the most innocent girl on the block...and how old was she when she did that part? she's a smart woman and lovely to look at, but come on...if she wants better parts for women, perhaps she should use that harvard degree of hers and starting writing some screenplays.

@PhillyLass:
So he really did cheat on emma thompson? What a hoser.

So now we're going to snark on her for saying she wants better roles for women? Why is this a bad thing?

Boo on all this Natalie hate.

@AthertonMerriweather: That's what I'm sayin'. This makes me want to like her but NO WAY MAN! It takes more than a brief and fleeting show of feminist consciousness for me to like a snoot like her.

This Jesus-goes-to-India movie probably won't be as funny as Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, but I'll probably still see it.

I think the pirate dj movie is going to be about Radio Caroline, a pirate radio station. Pirate, as it unauthorized, not raping, pillaging and going mad for gold and maps. [en.wikipedia.org] Although I'm sure there will still be lots or ARRGGHs and AHOY MATEYs because who can resist that?

Damn haters! First off, Natalie has the ovaries to say what is so freakin' true, and all you have is hate.

Second, notice in the article that's referenced that she has three quotes, and two out of three are glowingly thankful and appreciative. Hm.

@badmutha: Well, and that's exactly the problem.

You see, if Jesus is actually also God, and God is essentially ineffable, then it's impossible for a human being to understand His plan. By definition, then, any aspect of His life which DOES seem to make sense must therefore not make sense, because otherwise Jesus would not longer be ineffable, and instead merely explicable. Consequently, the things that he did that make the most sense must therefore be the things that are the most unlikely.

Whatever. I love Natalie Portman. She's beautiful and smart and I think she's actually a pretty good actor.

Pirate DJ's are unknown to 'mericans, whose airwaves were (in theory) free to play whatever music they wanted. In the UK, the only radio option was the BBC, and for a long, long, long time the BeeBeast did not like nor would it play pop/rock. For Brits who wanted to hear, say, the lastest from the Who or Hendrix in the late sixties to Bowie to early punk, you had to tune in to pirate radio stations. The stations were on boats that sailed out to international waters of the coast of Britain where they could legally (or semi-legally) broadcast whatever the hell they wanted, and music fans were forever grateful but the authorities were pissed off. So you're talking culture or counter-culture heroes. Just dudes and dudettes spinning vinyl on a boat, no "Yo ho ho and a bottle o' rum" with the parrot singing harmony.

Ms. Portman is getting annoying as hell. Her first role was a 12-year-old Lolita-esque type who learns how to be a hit-person. Then later, when offered the role of Lolita, she spoke of how disgusting that role would be. But really, playing Queen/Senator Amidala (sp?), which probably was the part that paid her the most money and playing Anne Frank on stage don't exactly strike me as virgin-whore types. Granted, woman in general aren't offered as many different roles which cover a broad spectrum, except as broads of some sort (sorry about the pun, it was pushing it), but she has had a choice, and said things like she wouldn't accept any "Jennifer Love-Hewitt" roles so she has kind of established her territorial boundaries... just don't accept the damn roles, especially since you're in a position in your career to dictate terms. She does like to speak out for the little people, and I guess she's trying to establish common ground as far as victim-hood, but it rings just a bit false. Just go back to smooching Ms. Johannsson and STFU.

@ehkca: Ya beat me to it, dangit. But, yeah, Radio Caroline was what I had in mind.

@ehkca: As long as there are parrots, I will be there.

Lets talk more about how fabulous MAD MEN is!

@SeraSera: I just bought that book and can.not.wait. to get a free afternoon so I can read to my hearts content.

@PapaLegba: Oh, wow! Reminds me of the Dar Williams song "Are You Out There." Badass. Thanks for the info (but JustZoot still cracked my shit up)!

@Lady Skittlehattington: ... and what, exactly, did you get $50 for, huh, missy? ;)

@ehkca: I love that word, "pillaging".

@AthertonMerriweather: Seriously. The very point of the HV&D section is to bitch about this and suddenly it's just whining when it's someone they just don't like!?!

@PapaLegba: And comparing The Professional to Lolita only proves how many people don't understand Lolita at all, or even The Professional for that matter. I won't even get into the sad fact you're bringing up choices she made when she was 12 (that were ultimately her parents' choices).

@rednrowdy: For the love of all that is holy, please do not encourage another actor to think they have skills behind the camera as well.

First of all
@Macloserboy:
EXACTLY.

Secondly, I kind of like NP (she has such a great face). She seems worlds above alleged performers like Lindsay, Paris, etc. Indeed, she's packaged as such. Hollywood has to offer the public an alternative. NP's best performance was as Mathilda. She hasn't come close to emoting that well, or projecting that kind of authenticity since. I saw "Garden State" and was so turned off by the whole "cute, offbeat, Shins-loving pixie" shtick (though that might best be attributed to Zach Braff's lame script). She's not as talented as she thinks she is. This may be why she's not being offered anything other than sexy dame or woebegone little girl roles.

While I can't stand Natalie Portman, I can see how she more than anyone would get sick of this. About every piece I've read about her seems to somehow mention her virgin-whore appeal--the "virgin" side apparently stemming mostly from the fact that she's tiny and boyish and innocent-looking, and the "whore" side because she uses dirty words. Oooh, TITILLATING. Also: normal, lay the hell off. I'd be pissed too.

Have none of you ever seen the glory that is Pump Up The Volume with hot young Christian Slater? Cripes, I'm old.
I'll take Portman anyday over most other insipid "actresses" in her age bracket. However, I get how she can bug.

I applaud her for trying to get out of a stereotype. She may seem perfect, but that's her thing and it doesn't bug me.

@Pterodactyl: not only have I seen pump up the volume. I own the soundtrack. And I'm 28. I think the best Christian Slater movie, however, was the Legend of Billy Jean, that or Heather's of course.

yeah, um, why are people so upset about her wanting better roles for women? maybe there is a teensy bit of jealousy about how she is harvard educated/a famous actress/really pretty?

It's all very highschool to me (I should know, I'm still there!). The pretty and popular valedictorian is deemed a bitch merely for being "better" than every other girl.

All I could think about while reading that Natalie quote was how Anne Boleyn, her newest role (for which she is incredibly miscast), was executed for cheating on Henry VIII (which was treason during the era). So ... she took one of the whore roles. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for Anne's ambition and ability to get what she wanted (used her head and not just her body), but still. The irony kind of appeals to me.

@blondegrlz: You're welcome. I also agree with you on JustZoot, 'cause that is kinda the image the term still generates even while I'm "in the know".

@Macloserboy: Who exactly is misreading Lolita? I brought it up to show what Ms. Portman said about it, not my own take on it.

This is IMDB on her role in The Professional: "Although the movie was a huge hit, it caused her family some problems due to her Lolita-esque role." It was a sexually charged role, and it was said she originally rejected the role because of its sexual nature, and if she was the one rejecting/accepting, can this be blamed on the parents?- it doesn't seem that they kept her on a short leash, although perhaps they should have been keeping a closer eye on the roles given their 12-year-old, but ultimately they didn't seem to object. Perhaps they weren't/aren't the Puritan type.

By the way, this is on the same page ([www.imdb.com]) where Ms. Portman's quotes concerning the movie Lolita is concerned: "exploitation", "sleazy". Nabokov's ultimate point wasn't actually the pedophilia, that was a means to his ends, thematically speaking. But as you complain, and Ms. Portman illustrates, most folks don't get that and don't get past the pedophilia.

"The very point of the HV&D section is to bitch about this and suddenly it's just whining when it's someone they just don't like!?!"- perhaps it isn't disliking Ms. Portman or disagreeing with what she's saying, but the fact she appears to be hypocritical. That's what's being bitched about in this case, or my case. You can't be both an artist devoted to one's craft or art and whatever it might have to say, which might be of a sexual nature and has been something you've played along with at times, then be a prude. Gives me a twinge of nausea.