Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Blue Yeti ·
Jan 20, 2011 at 7:06pm
With Lileks, Long, Klavan, and Goldberg on board, you know we're going heavy on culture, and that's exactly what happens this week. We cover Whoopi's new play, Tucson, the possibility of repealing HCR, Tiger Moms, Hu's here, whether or not Teddy Rooselvelt really would a Ricochet member, the Golden Globes, and Jonah's strange obession with the TV show "V."
Sir Link-A-Lot:
- It's true. Whoopi Goldberg is actually producing a musical about a "pair of sisters who harmonize gorgeously about their hatred of blacks, gays, Jews and other groups; and the record exec who discovers them decides to repackage them as pop stars, masking their message in coded lyrics." A musical featuring lead characters who hate gays? Good luck with that, Whoopi.
- Stephen Bochco, who created the seminal cop show Hill Street Blues, tried to re-define the genre with Cop Rock which attempted to combine the musical and the police drama. Needless to say, it didn't work. But it was still a better idea than white supremacist pop stars. This number, Let's Be Careful Out There pretty much speaks for itself.
- Jonah is recalling the plot of John Singleton's 1995 film Higher Learning correctly, but it did not star Janet Jackson. James is probably thinking of 1993's Poetic Justice, which thankfully is not about Neo-Nazis who speak in iambic pentameter.
- Zeitgeist: The Movie is a 2007 documentary film by Peter Joseph. It asserts a number of conspiracy theory-based ideas, including the Christ myth theory, alternative theories for the parties responsible for the September 11th attacks and that bankers manipulate the international monetary system and the media in order to consolidate power. This actually would have been better as a musical.
- Still looking for the blog post about movie villains that Andrew and James discuss. Little help, Ricochet?
- A Lethal Weapon remake? Too soon...
- Yes, the ABC affiliate in Tucson is KGUN, but it has had those call letters since 1957, long before there was a debate about gun ownership.
- No, we are not going to provide a link to a photo of the Tucson gunman in his thong. But we will provide a link to Rob Long's Facebook page. Click at your own risk.
- Former Representative Paul Kanjorski's (D-Pa.) NYT op-ed may be read here.
- Actually, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says the Senate will vote on repeal. He's feisty!
- The Star-Tribune story on new bank charges is here.
- Tiger Mom Link-a-Palooza: The WSJ original excerpt from Amy Chua's book is here. The NYT waded into the fray with this piece by Kate Zernike and this bravely titled (Amy Chua Is a Wimp) op-ed by David Brooks. Despite Justin Bieber's popularity, Rob Long insists in this Ricochet post that our culture is returning to toughness. The lady herself speaks: Amy Chau's Today show interview. We need therapy just from watching that segment. Finally, Tiger Daughter comes to her mom's defense...we think.
- If you search Google Images for "high expectation Asian father," you get this.
- Jonah wrote a great column on the myth of China eating our lunch. Read it.
- Ricochet member Kenneth's post Time To Reconsider Free Trade? set off a terrific debate.
- However, Ricochet member Aaron Miller wins the highly coveted Podcast Mention of The Week with his post Would TR Really Be On Ricochet?
- Direct from the Theodore Roosevelt Association's website comes The Story of The Teddy Bear.
- Never seen the notorious speech given Stephen Colbert to the 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner? No problem, you can see it now. It defines the word awkward.
- Ricky Gervais' sign off in which he thanks God for being an atheist comes at the very end of this clip. Andrew Klavan blogs about it here.
- Gervais did a series of podcasts in 2008 with Stephen Merchant and featuring Karl Pilkington that may be the most downloaded podcast series in history. It has since been adapted by HBO into an animated series.
- V. Consider yourself warned.
- We never miss an episode PJTV's Klavan On The Culture. You shouldn't either.
Music from this week's episode:
- Let Yourself Go by James Brown
- Crazy Mama by The Rolling Stones
The direct link to this week's episode. But please be a mensch and subscribe. Don't use iTunes? Visit our Feedburner page for a number of other subscription options.
Don't miss our special edition of the podcast, The White House Writer's Room. A backstage look at the State of The Union Speech hosted by Peter Robinson.
The Ricochet Podcast is sponsored by Encounter Books. Our featured title this week is I Can’t Believe I’m Sitting Next To A Republican by Harry Stein. Available at EncounterBooks.com and for Kindle at Amazon.com.
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Comments :
Sep '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
I take that Tiger picture as a personal affront. I'm the hardest working cat on this site, shamelessly sucking up to Robinson, Berlinski et al and what do I have to show for it? My free Encounter Book has still not arrived!
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Blue Yeti
I haven't listened to the podcast yet. But when I read that, my gut reaction was to think someone is trying to erase Mel Gibson from cinema history.
I'm sure that's not really the reason the remake was proposed. But I do expect that, even if Gibson goes to jail or otherwise disappears, Hollywood will continue to find excuses to bash him for another decade.
Jul '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
"Ricochet member Aaron Miller wins the highly coveted Podcast Mention of The Week"
And yet, no one mentioned His Name.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
I know! Our apologies, Aaron. We'll make it up to you next week.
Sep '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Hear, hear.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Haha. Thanks, but no need. I'll be overjoyed just to hear Jonah and Peter share some of their historical knowledge concerning my question.
No offense to Rob and Andrew, whose expertise seems to lie in other areas. I expect this is a great podcast.
"Haha" -- I'm reminded of how utterly incapable written language is of representing laughter.
Edited on Jan 20, 2011 at 8:57pmNov '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Aaron Miller:
"Haha" -- I'm reminded of how utterly incapable written language is of representing laughter. · Jan 20 at 8:55pm
Edited on Jan 20 at 08:57 pm
You can say "lol". Or "rofl". Or "roflmao". The last is my favorite. I say it "roffel mao". Roffel Mao is a Chinese communist who's mother was previously married to a German panzer commander from WWII. FYI. In case you didn't know.
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Ken Owsley
Roffel Mao is a Chinese communist who's mother was previously married to a German panzer commander from WWII. FYI. In case you didn't know. · Jan 20 at 9:25pm
Lol.
Oct '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
A really great episode title would have been "Liger Dads." Another Lileks zinger.
Nov '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
My favorite quote from the podcast was "He's a friggin' hoss!"
Oct '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
I think Whoopi is brilliant. This is obviously inspired by the success of Public Enemy's Fear of a Black Planet. While songs like "Fight the Power" and "911 is a Joke" were meant to inspire black radicals to some sort of something or other, instead the album achieved tremendous commercial success among white kids in the 'burbs who loved the utter rebelliousness of the lyrics.
Oh, for the days when Flavor Flav wasn't just a reality tv star...
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
I'm pretty sure that Whoopi's reference to blogs implies that the racist rockers in her musical are representative of bloggers and other conservative media, rather than of actual musicians. Or perhaps she had blogging guitarists like Jonah specifically in mind.
The surprise of the repeal performance is that Pelosi was able to hold onto so many Democrats. It's perhaps a reminder that the Blue Dogs are gone and Democrats are radical pretty much across the board now.
Jonah makes a strong case for not fearing China (aside from military aspirations). I wish y'all had spent more time on Kenneth's thread, which is above my head but a great discussion. Kenneth's argument seems to be that free trade works under certain circumstances, and those circumstances aren't present anymore.
Thanks for addressing my question. And sorry, Lileks, for forgetting you in my previous comment! I just assumed Peter and Rob would be hosting as usual. You do a great job as host.
Klavan always strikes me as unusually reserved on these podcasts. I think Rob intimidates him.
May '10
Re: Ricochet Podcast #53: The Tiger Moms
Speaking of hidden nazis, isn't that what Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy is about: A nefarious group of men who wish to subjugate society in modern sweden? Turns out it was the anti-feminist nazis all along.
I don't know of one person who's read that book, yet it seems to have sold millions of copies. He might as well have blamed witches. I understand the liberals in sweden aren't above using satanic rhetoric either.
When they were there, the nazis weren't worth the fight. Now that they're gone, tattooed swedish waifs are going to go toe to toe with the teutonic menace.
I forgot to mention Kevin Smith's Red State. That dude is hellbent on making me not watch one of his films for the first time.
Popular culture is now ruled by secular priests writing edgy hosannas so they can be noticed by their gods who will invite them to the right parties at the vomitorium. You can bet the MTV executives who approved Skins are basking in the glory of the negative press they're getting. Underage skin is OK Terrific, just don't mention Muhammad.
Edited on Jan 21, 2011 at 5:11pm