Sundance Channel

The slow but (hopefully) steady erosion of our gender stereotypes

Em and Lo — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:00:22 +0000

For our book club, we're reading the 2003 novel "We Need to Talk About Kevin" by Lionel Shriver.* I, Lo, knowing nothing about the book or its author, began reading and was amazed that a male author could create a female narrator that sounded so authentic and convincing, especially regarding childbirth and motherhood. That is, until halfway through the book when I happened to catch a glimpse of the author photo on the inside back flap: turns out Lionel is a woman.

Car crash sex on TV

Em and Lo — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:00:52 +0000

We recently ran a post on EMandLO.com about television shows with hot sex scenes, but if we're being honest, the stuff that really floats our boats is the hilarious, cringe-worthy stuff that just seems a lot more realistic -- after all, sex is often awkward, full of miscommunication, with some head bonking and disappointment, maybe tears. Which is why we loved, loved, LOVED last night's episode of New Girl on Fox. We'll admit, we were pretty eh about the pilot -- it was close, but no cigar. So we never scheduled a second date with the show. But a friend encouraged us to give it another chance last night and we are so glad we did -- because we can't remember the last time we laughed so hard, especially not from of a television show (we're talking tears and stomach pain). Not to get your hopes up, but it's one of the best sex scenes we've ever seen on TV* -- it should win an Emmy. We liked it so much, we went online so we could watch the earlier "penis" episode (officially titled "Naked"), which also did not disappoint. Oh, if only the same could be said for sex.

Why is sex fun?

Em and Lo — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 17:00:41 +0000

The Discovery Channel is in the middle of airing a series called Curiosity. Current and upcoming episodes include "What Sank the Titanic" and "Is There a Parallel Universe?" Not sure how we missed the last one, "Why Is Sex Fun?" hosted by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Sexist Bill Maher on sexism

Em and Lo — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 17:00:18 +0000

We’re two of those poor HBO-less saps who have to wait until the following Wednesday to get the free podcast of the previous Friday night’s episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher.” And so we only just discovered his final “New Rule” from last week: “Republicans have to stop thinking up intricate, psychological explanations for [...]

Pat Robertson vs. evil lesbians

Em and Lo — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 17:00:40 +0000

Have you had your daily allowance of crazy today? If not, here’s a little something to meet your needs — and then some. It’s a clip of Pat Robertson explaining why liberals are so intent on killing babies: apparently, it’s all part of a vast evil lesbian conspiracy. The clip was posted by RightWingWatch.org. So [...]

Let’s Talk About Sex (a documentary)

Em and Lo — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:00:49 +0000

Its title may be tired, but the documentary LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX is as relevant and necessary as ever: LET’S TALK ABOUT SEX takes a revealing look at how American attitudes towards adolescent sexuality affect today’s teenagers. We live in a society that uses sex to sell everything from lipstick to laptops. Yet fear and silence [...]

Zions, and Mormons, and polygamists, oh my!

Em and Lo — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:00:56 +0000

There seems to be Mormonism and polygamy in the air lately (at least for us), so we wanted to spread the love to you and you and you and...:

Escape -- Just finished this crazy page-turner of a memoir from Carolyn Jessop, one of the few women to escape The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or FLDS (of Warren Jeffs infamy) with her 8 kids (and 8 is a low number for this radical polygamist sect). She recounts how the cult basically imprisons women as sex/baby-making slaves -- you'll boggle over how something like this could exist in America in the 21st century. Katherine Heigl is slated to make the movie version of the book (which, we hate to admit, we're morbidly excited about).

“Sex in America with Lisa Ling”

Em and Lo — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 17:00:04 +0000

At least, that's what Ling's new show on OWN (Oprah's new tv network) should be called, instead of "Our America with Lisa Ling." After all, four of the first five episodes focus on matters of sexuality: There's "Pray the Gay Away," which looks at the conflicts between Christianity and homosexuality; "Transgendered Lives," which profiles several different people who were born in the wrong body; "The State of Sex Offenders" which takes a look at criminals once they're out of jail; and tonight at 10pm "Online Brides," which we're guessing (from the promos) follows men to foreign lands who are in search of love (read: paid-for sex slaves). The first three (which we've seen) all take a very personal and intimate look at how these issues are affecting real people -- it's fascinating stuff, all shot very cinematically.

The Onion finally comes to TV

Em and Lo — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 18:00:57 +0000

This Day In History: The Invention Of The Handjob Be afraid, Jon Stewart, be very afraid. Last week, the Onion News Network premiered on IFC and artfully accomplished what The Daily Show tries to: mercilessly skewering the 24-7 cable news industry (the subtitle is, after all, “News Without Mercy”). It’s exactly what a fake news [...]

The wisdom and wit of Snooki

Em and Lo — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 18:00:41 +0000

Somehow in the post-holidays hangover, we missed the fact that Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi -- a.k.a. the Jersey Shore star with a pouf -- made her debut as a novelist earlier this month, with A Shore Thing. Yep, she's the one who once admitted she'd only read two books, Twilight and Dear John. (Which might explain why Snooki's novel contains both a Bella and an Edward -- not exactly the most common names overheard on a Jersey boardwalk.) We're too busy reading George Eliot right now to actually read her entire snook, as we like to call it, but we have been enjoying reading the following brief excerpts out loud while lounging around in our silk pajamas and feeding each other grapes. Just in case you were expecting Hemingway, the cover helpfully explains that the novel is about "a girl [named Gia] looking for love on the boardwalk (one full of big hair, dark tans, and fights galore)."

"Gia danced around a little, shaking her peaches for show. She shook it hard. Too hard. In the middle of a shimmy, her stomach cramped. A fart slipped out. A loud one. And stinky."
"He had an okay body. Not fat at all. And naturally toned abs. She could pour a shot of tequila down his belly and slurp it out of his navel without getting splashed in the face."

New season of Craigslist TV

Em and Lo — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 17:00:40 +0000

A few weeks ago, Craigslist TV (on YouTube) launched their second season of mini-documentaries based on real Craigslist ads. (Watch the trailer for the series here.) If you think reading the ads is great entertainment for inducing second-hand embarrassment, try watching them. There’s “Charity’s Casting Call for a Husband” and “Hollywood Superheroes Unite” and “Michael [...]

A conspiracy theory about “Rubicon”

Em and Lo — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 17:00:18 +0000

If you're a fan of the first two episodes of AMC's new conspiracy thriller series, Rubicon, what you probably like is what makes it different from your typical television drama: its slow pace, its subtlety, its intelligence, its lack of glitzy pizazz, even its muted colors. Well, that's why we like it. And it's why there was one element of the second episode that was so out of sync with this vibe we just couldn't get past it: the assistant's cleavage.

Old Spice Guy, how do we love thee? Let us count the 183 ways.

Em and Lo — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:00:25 +0000

He captured our hearts this past winter with his first breakthrough ad that had him going from shower to ship to white steed all in one take. At the end of June, he was back with another ingeniously absurd one-shot commercial, an awesome upping of the stakes of the first (log rolling? check! jacuzzi busting? check! flying? check!). And just last week, Old Spice Guy launched 183 -- yes, 183! -- individual video responses (all available on YouTube) to various Tweets he'd received from both big names and no names alike (e.g. Ellen DeGeneres, Starbucks, Alyssa Milano, Huffington Post, George Stephanopoulos, Demi Moore, Gillette, the list goes on and on and on). In just three days, the series had received 11 million views! The marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy has created a perfect storm of viral media for Proctor & Gamble using a beloved character (played superbly by Isaiah Mustafa), humor, interactivity and social networks. It's hard to get worked up over being manipulated into giving away free advertising for a major corporation when it's so damn entertaining!

Guess whose high school yearbook pic?

Em and Lo — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 20:00:50 +0000

Yep, Rachel Maddow's. Out and proud Rachel Maddow of MSNBC's kick-ass liberal politics show "The Rachel Maddow Show." Maddow, who wears as little makeup as the producers will let her get away with, who would never be caught dead in feminine jewelry (let alone pearls!), who's always in jeans and sneaks under her television desk, who gets her haircut with what looks like a Flowbee. Don't get us wrong -- none of that is a dis. We love, love, love that Maddow refuses to abide by the strict beauty rules set for women in our society, especially in our society's television media. Which is perhaps why this picture is so striking -- it's such a 180 for her, the epitome of the feminine ideal, even today: blonde, long-haired, tan, make-up-ed, and accessorized. We admit, our first reaction was: OMG! But why?

10 reasons why we love Samantha Bee

Em and Lo — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:00:28 +0000

She posed in a bee costume for the cover of her new memoir, i know i am, but what are you? And still manages to look kinda hot in it.
She's a fan of pubic hair. "Our body looks weird without it," she told The Frisky. "Vaginas don’t look that nice to me without it. Like, little girls have cute vaginas. But lady vaginas, you need a little hair. It makes it look better. I just resent being told I’m supposed to do something with my pubic hair. Fuck off! It’s my thing. If you don’t like it, let’s move on. I don’t like you."

Best condom tagline ever: “You can’t wait to get it on”

Em and Lo — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 21:16:39 +0000

Trojan Fire & Ice – Kinda Like a Thrill Ride from Raymond Forbes on Vimeo. We just saw this awesome condom TV commercial from Trojan the other day. We’re not necessarily endorsing the product, just the ad. First of all, the tagline “You can’t wait to get it on”? Genius. How has this not been [...]

Frontline’s “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan”

Em and Lo — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 17:00:16 +0000

We just got around to watching Frontline’s late April report called “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan” — it’s a horrific and mind-blowing look into the world of “bacha bazi,” or “boy play”: …Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi (Behind Taliban Lines) returns to his native land to expose an ancient practice that has been brought back by [...]

Our crush of the week: 6th grader performing Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi”

Em and Lo — Tue, 25 May 2010 20:00:23 +0000

Okay, it may be a stretch that we’re covering this in the Naked Love category of SUNfiltered, but we’re totally smitten with Greyson Chance (what a name!), the 6th grader who recently did a cover of Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi” at a school event. No singing lessons, only three years of piano! He’s so good even [...]

Mad Men Barbies

Em and Lo — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:00:41 +0000

Mattel is set to release four new Barbies ($75 each!) based on characters from Mad Men this coming July to coincide with the start of the show's fourth season. There's main character Don Drapper and his soulless wife Betty, company head Roger Sterling and his one-time mistress and office manager extraordinaire, Joan Holloway. While Mattel chose to leave out the "inappropriate," sinful accessories like martinis, packs of Lucky Strike, and silk panties in suit pockets that are ever-present on the show, it's still a bold choice for the company to celebrate such a debauched group of alcoholic adulterers. But then again, Barbie was created in 1959, right around the time Mad Men takes place -- a time when women were expected to simply look pretty and shut up, make a nice home, and expect their husbands to cheat. So maybe this licensing agreement is not so bold, maybe it's just eerily perfect.

Rejuvenique

Bradford Shellhammer — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:47:17 +0000

I have no problem sharing and watching, sometimes repeatedly, viral YouTube videos. I especially am fond of old TV commercials for ridiculous products. They are the true signs of the times. And when celebrities are attached I get even more giddy. Enough with these posts around here about the Olympics and the environment and music. We need some camp too! (Yes, Johnny Weir counted as camp!)

New Jersey vs. California: Which state is worse for sex?

Em and Lo — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:00:15 +0000

Remember when former Miss California Carrie Prejean got famous for (a) getting pageant-funded breast implants and (b) saying "I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there"? Well, suddenly No-Offense Prejean is looking like the picture of tolerance (after all, she did also say "I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage.") Enter Lauren Ashley, who will be representing Beverly Hills in the Miss California pageant this November. She was all like, I'll see your "marriage is between a man and a woman" and I'll raise you "punishment by death." No, seriously.

The Super Bowl Ad Superlatives (in the love & sex category)

Em and Lo — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:00:09 +0000

BEST OVERALL: Dove Men+Care's "The Journey to Comfort" At last, a commercial that celebrates manhood without being sexist, stupid or beer-related! It's basically a mini-movie crammed into 45-seconds (seriously, try counting the number of scenes they had to shoot) that follows one Everyman's life from birth to adulthood by highlighting the big moments as well as the mundane ones: puberty, love, marriage, jar-opening, parenthood. The message is "You're mature and comfortable enough in your own skin that you don't have to worry about seeming like a pussy if you want to moisturize your skin." And it avoids all the divisive or offensive gender stereotypes often found in Super Bowl ads. BUT -- and it's a big "but" -- the title of "best ad" only applies to the 45-second version that aired during the Super Bowl last night. If you search online for it (and on the Dove site), the version that will probably come up first is the ONE minute version, which sadly DOES include a bunch of tired gender stereotypes, like fighting at parties, never showing your sensitive side and never showing fear -- ugh! Like with good film making, good commercial making is all about editing, editing, editing. 45-Second Version (Yay!): One-Minute Version (Boo!): See the winners for "Most Romantic," "Most Sexist" and "Funniest" after the jump:

The Superbowl ad you WON’T see this weekend

Em and Lo — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:00:01 +0000

We used to look forward to Superbowl Sunday for the ads (that, and the excuse to over-indulge in junk food). But it looks like CBS is determined to ruin the one sports-related joy in our lives. First of all they went and accepted an anti-choice ad from conservative Christian group Focus on the Family -- apparently CBS no longer bans advocacy submissions or controversial ads, as they have claimed in the past. Of course, Focus on the Family claims the ad is not controversial at all, and is simply about "the issue of life." Riiiight. The ad -- which has not yet been released -- is expected to feature Pam Tebow (mother of college football star Tim) and her decision to carry Tim to term despite a recommendation from doctors that she have an abortion. Sorry: despite a recommendation from doctors regarding the issue of life. Unfortunately CBS's policy on "controversial" ads still holds firm if the ad happens to come from a gay men's dating site.

Our new sex tape is out! Hi Mom!

Em and Lo — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:00:50 +0000

About a year and a half ago, we lost our innocence as hosts of a 10-episode UK TV series called "SEX: How to Do Everything." We consider ourselves fairly prudish sex writers, so you can imagine our shock when the series turned out to be way more explicit than we (or our parents) would have ever had hoped for.

Let’s end Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell…finally

Em and Lo — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:00:25 +0000

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Gay After Tomorrow www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview We sure do wish Jon Stewart and “The Daily Show” would address reproductive rights more…ever. Oh, well, nobody’s perfect. At least there’s one sexual issue they tackle well…and often: [...]

Ugly porno

Bradford Shellhammer — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:44:46 +0000

Michael Lucas, the flamboyant Russian-American porn mogul, will soon be heading mainstream with a walk-on role on ABC's hit Ugly Betty. Not cast in the traditional sense, and no, I do not mean on the director's couch either, Lucas simply bought his way onto the show.