Writer Vixen Explains It All

The Man with the Mac Has Left the Building

 

 

Even if you've never owned an Apple product, Steve Jobs's vision of a different world changed your life — over and over and over again. President Obama summed it up beautifully:  “There may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.”

RIP Sir Steven. The world will be a less interesting place without your light inspiring us.

 

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them.
Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

 Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

 

Twittering the Oscars: Keeping It Real

Kathryn Bigelow and team collecting well-deserved awards for "The Hurt Locker." [Photo: Monica Almeda/The New York Times]

There may have been few surprises in the awards, but there was loads of heart.

Kathryn Bigelow was the dark horse favorite, with The Hurt Locker taking home awards for Best Picture and her award as the first woman ever to win for Best Director. 

She finally (finally!) got to trade in ex-husband James Cameron—who was himself the odds-on favorite for both awards—for an even smaller, far more powerful man with whom her name will now forever be associated. And one who doesn't talk to her. Which made her the big winner of the evening in every conceivable way. 

Presenting the Best Director award in a moment destined for Oscar clip history, Barbra Streisand prefaced the announcement with, "Well, the time has come." Babs is the queen of drama—not to be confused with the mere drama-queendom of lesser mortals.

Serving up a boring telecast even by Oscar standards, the real action—and most of the fun—was online where Twitter livened up the show with snarky and insightful commentary:

@kellyoxford So many ex wives feel good right now.

@BorowitzReport Kathryn Bigelow says she got the title "The Hurt Locker" from her marriage to James Cameron.

@rejects "I'm Queen of the World." - The only way Kathryn Bigelow's speech can end.

@jedgarlopez Poor James Cameron, he'll have to cry himself to sleep tonight in his bedsheets made of gold-plated hundred dollar bills.

The best headline came from @newyorkpost: 'Hurt Locker' leaves 'Avatar' Blue; Wins Best Picture.

Seizing the moment, The Women's Media Center—a nonprofit founded by Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan and Gloria Steinem ("Amplifying women's voices. Changing the conversation.")—leveraged Twitter-power for its fundraising. After congratulating Kathryn Bigelow, the organization tweeted:

@womensmediacntr Voice your support for women in film - text WOMEN to 50555 to donate $10 to Women's Media Center

Their message was retweeted by @Janefonda (natch) and dozens of other influencers, reaching hundreds of thousands of potential donors.

From left: Kate Winslet, Helen Mirren, Kathryn Bigelow, Elizabeth Banks [Photos: The New York Times]

In fashion, the classiest ladies wore silver. Except for the always-appropriate Sandra Bullock, who wore gold to match the guy she took home at the end of the evening. 

A long-time romcom favorite—and clearly an auditorium favorite—who's never before been nominated, Sandy accepted her Best Actress award for The Blind Side asking, "Did I really earn this, or did I just wear you all down?"

The Twitterverse had its own spin on this heartfelt moment:

@weareyourfek Come to think of it, bittersweet night for Keanu Reeves. His Speed co-star and Point Break director reminded him ... he'll never win an Oscar.

Jeff Bridges, Hollywood's hometown boy and the sentimental favorite to win Best Actor for Crazy Heart after a career filled with nominations and near-misses, didn't disappoint. His award brought the Academy to its feet for a raucous standing-O, and his tribute to his parents, whom he thanked for turning him on to a "groovy profession," had everyone reaching for Kleenex.

Except on Twitter:

@popcornreel This just in: Jeff Bridges has officially broken the record for saying "man" the most times in an Oscar acceptance speech.

@JamieKennedy How many people think jeff bridges smoked a lil medical before his speech...anyone?

@thecarpetbagger Jeff Bridges in press room, reflecting on career, immed makes a Lebowski ref: "Well, ups and downs - as the Dude says, strikes & gutters."

@aliarikan Please say "The Dude Abides." Please say "The Dude Abides." Please say "The Dude Abides."

@ebertchicago The Dude Aboded.

A big #OscarFail goes to the Academy for inexplicably omitting Farrah Fawcett from its memorial tribute. As Roger Ebert tweeted, "They have a whole lot of 'splaining to do."

Vanity Fair's Twitter reporters lent some unexpected perspective to the evening's glamour, a point-of-view usually absent from the pandering print pub:

@vanityfairmag The glamorous red-carpet interviewers spend the broadcast wearing overcoats, watching the show on flat-screens.

@vanityfairmag Shirley MacLaine jokingly asked the doorman, "What are we here for, the Writer's Guild Awards?" Close!

Summing up the awards, Twitterers irreverently nailed the zeigeist:

@tinadupuy The Academy Awards should not hand out Oscars for editing until they learn how to edit the Academy Awards.

@phil_rosenthal How come they don't rush through the Oscar credits like they do on every single movie that ever airs on TV?

@weareyourfek Oprah's about to tell everyone in the audience there's an Oscar under their seat.

Live-blogging Oscar, the biggest Oscar winner was clearly Roger Ebert, who graciously thanked the Academy and also remembered the little people:

@ebertchicago http://twitpic.com/17b5ry - I would like to thank the Academy for getting me 6,575 new followers on twitter. And my drama coach, of course.

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Twittering vixenish things @WriterVixen

"I Have a Dream": Speaking from the Heart

Long weekends are awesome. Even when they're rainy, cold and dreary (hello Bay Area!) they still rock.

Martin Luther King is now remembered as much for giving us the first holiday of the new year (don't quibble with me over New Year's Day) as for his humanity. But thanks to the early days of television, we can still witness the passion and conviction that were the hallmarks of his short life. 

I'm a collector of fabulous speeches (there aren't many, so don't be too impressed—or, you know, too horrified) and they don't get much better than this one. Dr. King was a master of oratory. In an age where people gas on endlessly about every boring thing, King's "I Have a Dream" speech reminds us of the power of speaking truly, simply, and clearly from the deepest places of our hearts.

EXCERPT:

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

Happy Martin Luther King Day.

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Twittering vixenish things @WriterVixen

Ted Kennedy: End of an Era

One of [the good] times was the day in 1986, when he gave niece Caroline away at her wedding to Edwin Schlossberg.

"She was so extraordinarily happy and joyous," he said. "And Jackie was absolutely radiant." 

After the wedding, Jackie wrote Ted a thank-you letter—a token of gratitude for what he’d meant to all the Kennedys over the years. The letter read:

There have been 17 children besides your own—Bobby's, Pat's, Jack's and mine, for whom you have always been there. Every graduation, every big decision, every trouble, every sad and even every happy day. On you, the carefree youngest brother, fell a burden a hero would beg to be spared. Sick parents, lost children, desolate wives. You are a hero. Everyone is going to make it, because you are always there with your love.

Jackie

[From "Ted Kennedy: The Last Brother" | Photo: Stephen Crowley/The New York Times]

Is it Better to be Married or Single?

Best of Writer Vixen

Originally published as "Defending Marriage . . . and Singledom" for "Zeitgeist: Quirkyalone Pop Culture" at Quirkyalone.net.

You’d think it was the first time anyone’s ever gotten a divorce.

Sandra Tsing Loh’s recent admission in The Atlantic that she’s divorcing her husband after 20 years (following her own extramarital affair) has ignited a firestorm of high-minded controversy debating the pros and cons of marriage. The story was picked up nationally, with nearly all the major news outlets chiming in online, on air and in print.

The particular point of contention is Ms. Loh’s theory that perhaps the reason we have a divorce culture is because we marry too often. Citing “all the abject and swallowed misery” she observes in modern marriage, she wonders, “Why do we still insist on marriage?”

Then she really gets down to it, ending her polemic with

"a final piece of advice: avoid marriage—or you too may suffer the emotional pain, the humiliation, and the logistical difficulty, not to mention the expense, of breaking up a long-term union at midlife for something as demonstrably fleeting as love.”