Jezebel: girl crushes

The French On Julia Child: Elle Est Okay.

Sadie — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:00:00 EDT

Call it the anti-Jerry Lewis phenomenon. Sniffs one Gallic critic of America's French Chef: "It's the vision of a revisited France, adapted to the American taste, at a time when tastes were lifeless."

According to a nifty piece in the Times, Julie and Julia won't be making Mastering the Art of French Cooking a bestseller in France anytime soon. Indeed, most people haven't even heard of a woman who's widely regarded here as, in Meryl Streep's words, "one of the best ambassadors of France ... since Lafayette!" Says one French cookbook author, "Julia Child's cuisine is academic and bourgeois...It shows that in America, the cliché of beef, baguette and canard farci remains." One can only imagine the scorn they'd feel for "Julie"'s cutesy antics.

But very few Americans still regard Mastering the Art as their French bible, right? It's a relic as much of the time it came out in America as of France - a definitive treasure trove of classics, but too rich and fussy for modern tastes. But that doesn't mean it wasn't incredibly important - and not just to Ameirca's palette. As much as a cooking primer, Julia Child's book was the beginning of our enduring national girl-crush on France - which that nation has always treated like a cheerleader rebuffing a nerd, scornful and entitled but secretly flattered. In a way, it's sort of embarrassing to think of France seeing the movie, watching that crush play out. It's like they're reading out diary! Can't Julia play it a little cooler, make her infatuation and our clumsy advances just a little less obvious?

A ‘French Chef' Whose Appeal Doesn't Translate [NY Times]

Rachel Maddow: Sarah Palin "Is Lying To You — Enthusiastically And Repeatedly"

Jessica — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:00:00 EDT

There have been many times during this campaign when we felt like we were taking crazy pills; like spinmeisters were straight out lying and their words were being taken at face value. Thank Jebus we have Rachel Maddow: Maddow is incredulous and furious at Sarah Palin, who has been denying that the Branchflower report said she abused power and violated ethics. Palin said on a radio show earlier this week, "I'm very pleased to be cleared of…any hint of any kind of unethical activity there." Hearing this, Rachel went off. For Palin, Rachel says, "Day is night, up is down." This is not a question of whether or not Palin is lying, Maddow continues, "this is a person who is looking straight into a camera and lying to you. Enthusiastically and repeatedly." Clip above.

Palin's Alternate Universe? [MSNBC]

Earlier: Sarah Palin Gets To Have Troopergate Both Ways

Rebecca Traister and I have all the same...

Megan — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Rebecca Traister and I have all the same tastes in women: we both love Dana Scully and now she has publicly avowed her love for for Rachel Maddow. Maddow is smart, self-deprecating, funny but doesn't own a TV or read about herself on the Internet, though, so she's unlikely to learn of our shared love for her. Oh, well, unrequited crushes are always the best. [The Nation]

Diablo Cody Proves You're Never Too Old To Be Embarrassed By Your Mom

Jessica — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:00:00 EST

Jezebel girl crush, Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody, was on Oprah this afternoon, and her mom and dad made an adorable appearance in the audience. Diablo's mom calls her by her real name (it's Brook), and Diablo makes that awkward smile/grimace that is permanently etched on the face of every 14-year-old. Then Oprah called Juno and Diablo "fresh" approximately 40 times, and told Diablo and Juno stars Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner how much her boyfriend Stedman liked the movie, and we all know that Stedman is the ultimate arbiter of taste. Anyway, it's a whole bunch of cute, and Diablo's new wave looks hot. Clip above.

Dear Diablo Cody: I Wish My Boyfriend's Junk Smelled Like Pie

Jessica — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 17:00:00 EST

If "Jezebel" were a person, she very well might be up and coming screenwriter Diablo Cody, an ex-stripper and phone sex operator who pens hilarious movies with serious Oscar buzz, dresses like Courtney Love did about halfway through her glam makeover (she wears satin jumpers but also combat boots), writes a blog called the Pussy Ranch, and has made it her mission to create films with multifaceted female leads. Diablo's heroines are not just reacting to the choices of male characters — these women are actually choosing their own destinies.

I saw Diablo's incredible debut, Juno, on Wednesday night. It's about a 16-year-old girl (Juno, played by the unparalleled Ellen Page) who, after finding herself pregnant and half-heartedly attempting to hang herself with red-rope licorice, decides to keep the baby. At first Juno is going to have an abortion, but is freaked out by the clinic receptionist, who offers Juno boysenberry condoms, because, as she explains, they make her boyfriend's "junk smell like pie."

Juno decides that she wants to give her baby up for adoption instead, and she pictures the ideal adoptive parents as "A graphic designer with a cool Japanese girlfriend who plays the bass." The language in Juno is quirky, but not so precious that it feels forced. When Juno tells her best girlfriend, Leah, that she's up the stick, Leah goes "Phuket, Thailand!" (Don't worry, I've already integrated that into my vocabulary.)

After the preview screening, there was a Q&A with Diablo, Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner (who plays the potential adoptive mother of Juno's unborn child) and director Jason Reitman. I asked Diablo about her experience as a woman in Hollywood, what, with Warner Brothers' head putting a freeze on films with female leads and most lady roles reserved for hookers, victims and doormats. Diablo said that although she had no trouble getting Juno made, her subsequent experiences in Hollywood have inspired her to go on a personal mission to make movies starring complex, intelligent leading ladies. In a New York Times article that comes out this weekend, Diablo says: "The attitude towards women in this industry is nauseating. There are all sorts of porcine executives who are uncomfortable with a woman doing anything subversive. They want the movie about the beautiful girl who trips and falls, the adorable klutz." She's also working on the lady version of Superbad, which is tentatively called Girly Style, and which I will see as soon as humanly possible.

I went up to talk to Diablo after the Q&A like a big dorky fangirl, and guess what? Not only was she totally generous and down to earth, but she reads Jezebel!! Diablo herself was discovered and encouraged to try screenwriting after a producer read her blog. So Diablo, if you're reading this, thanks for creating subversive female leads, and we hope you create many, many more.

Diablo Cody: From Ex-Stripper To A-Lister [Entertainment Weekly]
The Pussy Ranch [Diablo Cody's Website]
Earlier:
"Cordial", "Charming" Studio Chief Explains Why Women Can't Sell Movies (Except Julia Roberts)
Women In Hollywood Speak Out On Women In Hollywood