Miss Anita Manbadly – Page 11

Daylight Savings Time: It’s Good For You?

Daylight saving time finally ends this Sunday at 2 a.m. — remember to set your clocks back one hour when you go to bed Saturday night — and for many of us, that’s depressing. The day seems to fly by. It’s dark before it’s time to start thinking about dinner.

The seven-month period of daylight saving time is mandated by governments which began implementing the time switch during World Wars I and II to save energy and resources for the war effort. From World War II until recently, daylight saving in the U.S. ran from April until mid-October. Continue reading →

Daylight Savings Time

The Devil Didn’t Make Me Do It

The oldest Roman Catholic newspaper in the United States has retracted an opinion column suggesting the devil may be responsible for gay attraction.

The column, which appeared Friday in the Archdiocese of Boston’s official newspaper, The Pilot, was titled “Some fundamental questions on same-sex attraction.” It was written by Daniel Avila, an associate director for policy and research for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

In the column, Avila says “the scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil.” Continue reading →

In Today’s Job Market Everything Old Is New Again

Hey, remember the 90’s and Bill Clinton signing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)? Remember how offshoring and outsourcing were going to lift all our boats and send all the grungy no good very bad jobs somewhere else, so we would all end up as total glam rock stars lounging about in Herman Miller office chairs at ergonomic workstations, taking Very Important calls and meetings, becoming the information workers of the future?

Yeah, me neither. Offshoring (moving jobs to another country) and outsourcing (moving business functions like Information Technology to another company, because they are deemed not critical to a company’s core business) had the spiffy side effect of creating a poorly received sitcom on NBC which featured thinly veiled racism, as well as knocking the bottom rung off the ladder of the American workplace. Continue reading →

The Quiet Genius of Stephnie Weir

In the fall of 2000, at the start of its sixth season, Madtv added Stephnie Weir to their cast as a featured performer. A Texas native and Chicago transplant, former Improv Olympic and Second City performer, Weir was ready for the big time.

During her six year tenure on the show, Weir created characters like Dot, an average yet hyperactive young girl, whose twin (usually played by Alex Borstein) was overwhelmingly brilliant. The comparison of the brilliant sister and Dot’s upbeat normality offered moments of comedy gold. Another recurring character was Dr. Kylie Johnson, a Harvard grad who seemed to be able to handle any medical situation, from infertility to puberty to breast augmentation. Dr. Kylie’s frequent references to her past party life and subtle yet pointed digs at her patients’ shortcomings made her likable as well as hilarious. Weir’s impersonation of Anna Nicole Smith, another recurring character on the show, allowed her to truly run amok. She took Smith’s drug-fueled public persona and amped it up to Brobdingnagian proportions. Continue reading →

Project Runway Season 9: This Is The End

Beautiful friends, this is the end of season 9 of Project Runway on the Lifetime Ladyparts Network, brought to you by toilet paper, cranberry juice, lady shavers, yogurt, Meredith Baxter Birney, deodorant sprays, and the makers of fine Sport Utility Vehicles For The Soccer Mom In You. Curious to know how everything done shakeded out? Well come on in, and of course, as always there are spoilers inside. Continue reading →

Project Runway Season Nine: This Girl Needs A Pearl Necklace

It’s the penultimate episode of Project Runway this week, and you know what that means. Tim Gunn performs his annual mitzvah of visiting the homes of the designers who have been selected to prepare a collection that may or may not be shown at Fashion Week. Convoluted much? Yes, indeed. As always, there are spoilers inside, so click at your own risk! Continue reading →

Thoughts On The Rosie Show

In the late 1990’s, The Rosie O’Donnell Show was one of the most popular daytime talk shows. Back then, Rosie was the Queen Of Nice. She had lots of big name guests, she was wacky, she threw Koosh Balls at everyone and screamed about how much she loved Tom Cruise.

Like all good things, The Rosie O’Donnell Show came to an end in 2002 after almost 1200 episodes. Throughout the aughties, she kept busy with appearances on various talk shows, producing documentaries and TV specials, and a notable run on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Continue reading →

Oprah’s Advice Is Actually Kind of Good Sometimes

I had some down time between watching World Cup gymnastics and the Bears game, so I did some channel surfing. When I got into the 200’s, I found OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Now, this is a different network from Oxygen, the “O” network she launched a few years ago. Programming on Oxygen is sort of a rag-tag affair of “Bad Girls” shows, reality / competition shows, and infomercials.

Continue reading →

One Step Closer to The Handmaid’s Tale

Hey kids, you know how the Republican-led House of Representatives voted to cut funding for many procedures performed by Planned Parenthood?

Well, they topped themselves yesterday. Now they’ve passed H.R. 358, the Protect Life Act, which prohibits women from using their own money to purchase private health insurance that would cover an abortion if it were medically necessary. The bill would also allow hospitals to refuse, on moral grounds, to treat a woman who was seeking an abortion, even in emergency or life-threatening situations.

Keep on voting for those Republican representatives, people, because they’re obviously doing your will, right? Continue reading →

Project Runway Season Nine: Go to Your Corner

Hey kids, shake it loose together. It’s the final challenge before the Fashion Week kids are chosen. Are you excited? Are you thrilled? Are you filled with a lingering ennui, one that can’t be shaken no matter how many cigarettes you smoke, drinks you drink, bums you roll in an alley? No? Just me? Well, then, on with the show!

We join Smeagol and Gay Ryan Reynolds in their room at Atlas, where they discuss Miss Bertina. Oh, Miss Bertina, how we mis-judged you, they lament. You should have stayed and Kimberly Goodpants should have left, wails Smeagol. We hardly knew ye, weeps Gay Ryan Reynolds. How sentimental. A quick fade over to the ladeez and it’s all back-slapping and smiles. What is our lesson to learn here? Spoilers and more, after the jump. Continue reading →