Small Town Wren » TV

RuPaul’s Drag Race

Wren Roberts — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 01:42:08 +0000

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know. I’m pretty late to the game on this one. But please forgive me; I didn’t have Logo until quite recently.

I’ve got to say it: this show is amaaaaaaazing! I spent my afternoon off watching the first two episodes of the current season. Oh the magic of DVRs. It really makes me miss Lucky Cheng’s in New York and more than one NYU anthropology professor. Though I have yet to see a drag queen who could best my friend Drue from high school. He looked better in a dress than most women. He just flat out looked better than most women.

I’m a sucker for camp.

FAIL: Law & Order Takes on Abortion

Wren Roberts — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:51:31 +0000

Law & Order is one of my guilty pleasures, though it’s not exactly guilty. One of my favorite undergrad professors worked as a producer and writer for Criminal Intent, so I can’t bash it as a series/franchise by any means.

Tonight’s Law & Order episode, “Dignity,” took on the abortion debate. The New York Times posted an article today about the franchise’s history of abortion coverage, which has been spotty at best. This isn’t surprising consider the issue is, um, abortion. Not exactly a bed of roses issue for prime time television to waltz through without thought.

It started out very promising: an obvious take on the tragic murder of Dr. Tiller. From there, it went downhill in its attempt to cover way too many aspects of the pro-choice/anti-abortion debate. A shout out to Mom Martyrs/Shamers was nice, but the detour into Jill Staneck crazyland that didn’t point out that babies being murdered after surviving abortion is a big fat (obvious) lie kind of killed it for me. And then they tried to divide the DA’s office along the pro-/anti- lines in a way that didn’t feel right for any of the characters. The show refused to explicitly say that their Dr. Tiller stand-in had as much right to his life as any that could be argued for unborn fetuses. And that, ladies and gentleman, is where the EPIC FAIL lies. Law & Order completely failed to stand up to everything it has postured itself to believe in: that murder is wrong, that crime is wrong, that justice is what is important.

I watched this episode with my father. It was nice to hear him agree with my complaints. I like to think that he enjoyed my explanations of the nuanced references this episode made.

My Mother is Easily Confused by Technology

Wren Roberts — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:07:34 +0000

Today marks a big day in our house. We switched cable companies, and my mother finally let go of her infernal VCR. And by let go, I mean we ripped it from her cold, dead hands.

Okay, not quite, but she only let it go due to not having any other choices. Though can I point out that it’s still sitting under our television, not hooked up to a damn thing? Change can be oh-so-hard in this house. She’s still skeptical of the DVR that arrived, even after I on-the-fly recorded a rerun of Law & Order for her.

I, however, am one happy camper. We finally have The National Geographic Channel! Oh how I have missed it’s educational and somewhat silly programming since I left New York City. Bonus: our internet seems to (finally!) work properly, too.