When did Hollywood stop making movies that take ambition, or just plain JOBS, seriously?

Dear Luke Wilson,

A few moments in Blonde Ambition might have prompted you to think hard about whether to sign on to this project. The first is when Ms. Simpson cracks wise about a thick-waisted girl with flat, greasy hair and glasses. Pretty girls making fun of homely ones is not “comedy gold.” A pretty girl making fun of an ugly girl in a movie produced by the pretty girl’s father doesn’t even live in the same state as “funny.”

The second moment is when the fat black secretary squeaks “Oh, lawd, here come [sic] trouble!” at the sight of an approaching colleague. Also not funny! Maybe if this character had been named, oh…Aunt Jemima, the retrograde racial stereotyping might have been more…of a piece. But as is, no.

Honestly, though, most troubling was when Ms. Simpson falls on her face in a crowded Manhattan office lobby and no one stoops to help her. I’ve witnessed stumbling, stinking, Bowery drunks helped up in this town. That lobby scene asks us to suspend disbelief for no good reason. New Yorkers also never snatch the cab you’ve just hailed out from under you — as happens three times in this film. So these attempts to position Ms. Simpson as a vulnerable innocent in a mean, indifferent city instead prompted me to think, “You know, Showgirls was a better movie than most people remember.”

Kind Regards,

Megan

PS. Did you see this? Papa Joe Simpson speaks in the DVD bonus material. On Jessica’s work in Blonde Ambition:

“This is a great moment for America.”

On director Scott Marshall:

“You know, the first time we sat down, I told him, I said, ‘What your father did in Pretty Woman is what I’m looking for in this movie. I’m challenging you to look beyond the script and find those things that are just natural for Jessica and if we can put that together with what’s happening in the script, I think we’ll be successful.’”

to Yasmin, from Bruce

Because it’s been a while, here’s the latest from the $1 shelf. Not the book jacket this time, but the inscription on the first page. (Click to enlarge)

This is why I prefer used books that have been marked up by previous owners. I’m not a fiction writer, and can’t make this stuff up, so I rely on lucky finds.

First they came for the PowerPoint

Ever heard of this thing called “PowerPoint“? Well, it’s new to me, and I’ll be demonstrating my lack of prowess at synchronizing my words to the timely hitting of the Page Down key in a short talk on “success literature” — if that’s what you want to call it — this Thursday night at 7:00 at McNally Jackson Books in Soho.

Huh

I signed up to post a comment on a website that traffics in customer service complaints. (I’m on to you, Snapfish!) The website — perfectly legitimate, or so I thought — sent me a temporary password:

gowffuck

I’m hoping this is the work of a random password generator gone wild. Otherwise I’m thinking twice before I log in.

Hello, Canada! (Part II)

An article in The Gazette  — the Montreal paper — focuses on Ch. 7: “When It’s Just Not About You.” You can read the full text here.

Drive-Time Radio

I need to add a radio page! Just got off the phone with Dr. Alvin Jones of WCBQ/WHNC in North Carolina, and then the delightful Richard and Lori of Hits and Favorites. I’m gaining a whole new appreciation for DJs. The good ones are great, great fun to talk to.

UPDATE: Dave Madee, of 950 ESPN in Philadelphia, can also now count me as a fan.

more Marketplace

I record another commentary this week. Fingers crossed.

Reader Mail

“When the Successories store at [the Mall of America] had their going-out-of business sale, I asked the clerk if he thought the affair more than a little ironic. He did not, nor did he find my question amusing.” —Randy, a fellow Mpls. South High alum

P.S. I used to live ten minutes away from the Mall of America. The first time I visited — with mom — we could not locate the exits. I once fainted in the Mall of America, and was revived with the help of Swedish Fish. Now I hear the MOA, as it’s known, is drawing European families who come to the U.S. for their back-to-school shopping. Wow. Just wow.

P.P.S. Check out the photo at the top of the Sough High link. It looks, as ever, like a correctional facility. Yay public schools!

this hurts me more than it hurts you

Why is that people who fire people feel sorry for *themselves*? I wondered about this recently when a friend was told, gently, that her department was being “reorganized” and she wasn’t part of the new plan. The boss lady who gave this speech then proceeded to get teary-eyed and pop a Xanax. (Perhaps she just talked about her desire for Xanax. That part of the story was unclear.)

In any event, I’ve witnessed this phenomenon before. It’s as if some people are deeply ill at ease with their own power. These types do a lot more damage than those who wear their superior status more comfortably — those people, at least, you can see (and hear) coming.

the latest review

“[T]urns the executive-heavy office-help book formula on its head . . . Like a pin-wielding kid in a balloon shop, Hustad uses her insightful little book to burst workplace-attitude myths.” —Las Vegas Business Press

P.S. If anyone’s wondering why I’m anal and put the [T] in brackets, it’s because in the actual review, the “t” is lower-case, and by the standards of Stephen McNabb (hello, Stephen!), just willy-nilly elevating a lower-case “t” to a capital “T” because that better served my purpose here would be wrong in every conceivable sense. Integrity, man. Or maybe it simply illustrates that what you learn on your first job stays. with. you.