Pazzesco!
Pazzesco!

Thursday, September 21, 2006


das treatment
NEW YORK (AP) -- Often when I'm watching "Grey's Anatomy" I feel like I work at Seattle Grace Hospital. (What!? What?!)

Seriously. (What!?)

Sure, I'm not a surgeon and I never deal with patients, but frequently I feel like the stories on screen eerily reflect my own life in the way that every medical case mirrors a character's personal struggle. (These people aren't surgeons either, in fact they really don't do much of anything relating to medicine. Maybe the likenesses comes in the excessive drama you create in your life.)

And I'm not the only one who feels this way. (Here we go. Vindication through "friend" approval.)

Over the past year-and-a-half, my diverse girlfriends (Notice she includes diverse. Diverse in the sense that they are multi-racial, because obviously they all have nothing better to do than watch a prime-time soap opera) (and some male (GAY) friends as well), from the Bay Area to Boston, have all independently (Oh my God have you watched this show called "Grey's Anatomy"? Their life situations and responsibilities are so relevant to my little world! You have to watch it!) gravitated toward the medical drama that examines the anatomy of life's many shades of grey. (What!? What!? How does the line go: "It feels like someone just threw up inside of my head.")

Through the hospital staff's professional exploits and extracurricular sexploits, the show strikes such a relatable chord that it has become a vernacular for how my friends and I discuss and deal with our own lives. (Because Sex and the City is off the air, we had to gravitate to some other show about women and apply it to our own lives.)

For example, around the time of Meredith and George's sexual incident, I briefly dated my own "George," (What an AMAZING coincidence!) a beautiful soul who would have given me the world, if only I was physically attracted to him. (He didn't have enough money. Notice she refers to the world and not "anything I could ever want.") And several months back, I had an ill-fated connection with a "McDreamy," a chemical force of a man who could knock me off my feet with the slightest glance. He remains the occasional awkward presence in my life. (I still sleep with him because he knows I'm good for a no-strings fuck and will do anything for even 30 minutes of his presence.)

When I was caught (see above) under my "McDreamy's" spell, all I could think of was the show's line, "I hate how into you I am." This line was not said about Dr. Derek "McDreamy" Shepherd. Rather, Callie was talking about her feelings for George, demonstrating in true "Grey's Anatomy" fashion that someone's "George" is someone else's "McDreamy." (Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.)

The appeal of "Grey's Anatomy" goes beyond the relationship hurdles of finding, holding onto and losing one's "McDreamy." It also reflects the common struggle contemporary women face professionally in our quest to have it all. (What!? What!? It never goes beyond the petty little relationship issues that contemporary women have!)

The show, which returns Thursday on ABC, is led by creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes, a successful black woman who has found a way to infiltrate the ranks of Hollywood, one of many white-male-dominated industries that rarely take women as seriously as men. (Do we need to go into my issue with successful black women?)

In conceiving the show, Rhimes concocted a recipe with familiar ingredients in the forefront, served with an underlying richness that deliciously addresses the diversity, depth and evolving roles of women today. (She played exactly into the predictable psyche of women 25 - 50 years old...like Oprah.)

The show's central character, Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), is Ally McBeal and Carrie Bradshaw in scrubs. (I can only compare TV personalities with other TV personalities because that's how limited my mind is.) A lovely, thin, inquisitive woman, she is successful professionally, but a mess when it comes to men and relationships. (What an excellent concept: a woman with a relationship problem.)

Real women (Too easy.)

But the similarity to those popular shows' female characters ends there. "Ally McBeal" was full of eccentrics, and the women of "Sex and the City" each represented a portion of the female psyche (the cynic, the romantic and the sexual free-spirit). (More TV comparisons.)

"Grey's Anatomy" reflects the diversity of real women. Dr. Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) and Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) anchor the show with their compelling, unconventional humanity. Together with newcomer Dr. Callie Torres (Sara Ramirez), they give faces to the underrepresented Asian, black and Hispanic communities while refusing to succumb to Hollywood stereotypes. (OK so let me get this straight: you had a white girl, an Asian girl, and a black girl? So you hired a Hispanic girl to complete the set and that doesn't have anything to do with Hollywood stereotypes? Am I the only one alive with any sense here?)

Former model Dr. Isobel "Izzie" Stevens (Katherine Heigl) has a curvy, healthy-sized body, unlike virtually every other designated "pretty girl" on television. (Tits? Is that what you mean by "curvy, healthy-sized body?" That she has big tits? Nice try, but no man is going to sit and risk growing a vagina just to see some tits. That's what the interwebs is for.) And Dr. Addison Shepherd (Kate Walsh) fights the notion that an extremely successful woman must be bitchy, neurotic or masculine when working at the top of the food chain. (What!? What!? You talk a lot and nothing relevant is comes out.)

What unites these women at Seattle Grace Hospital is their common desire to be strong, successful professionals. (They are all there because they're doctors. Oh, I get it now. For a minute I thought this show was about women and their relationship problems who happen to be in a hospital all the time. My mistake.) They each embrace their sexuality, but they also struggle with how their femininity can be a liability for retaining respect and how it can soften them into feeling vulnerable and insecure. (And this has what to do about being a doctor?)

Every member of the ensemble cast is deeply flawed, and, as a result, endearing and sympathetic. (Hitler was deeply flawed and nobody was endeared or sympathetic to him. Yeah had to work a Hitler in there.) The more each character transforms into a multifaceted person, the more interesting and enjoyable the show is to watch. (The more men they sleep with the more I can blame TV for being the way I am.)

My friends and I can't wait to see what will happen this season. (I'll bet.) Recently I was walking down the street with a thirtysomething friend of mine, and the moment she saw an advertisement for the show's new episodes, she squealed and jumped up and down with excitement. (Thirtysomething? Squealed? Jumped? You left out perpetually single.)

Even as it can so obviously bring out the little girl in all of us, "Grey's Anatomy" has shown that today's women deserve to be taken seriously. (Listen Ms. Associated Press. You and your entire news organization are a mockery of journalism and human responsibility. If you're any indication of what today's woman is like, I feel bad for today's rest of the world who has to deal with you.)

Seriously. (Die in a fire.)

QUICK NOTE: I think it's about time for pumpakin/apple picking and other autumny activities.

Friday, September 01, 2006


like I wrote every note with my own finger
Civilization just keeps getting worse and worse. Here in Philly we get to celebrate our 261st homicide, thanks to a waste of space mayor and the flimsy gun laws. We also get to celebrate the death of a neo-tradition down here.

Much to my chagrin, but predictably so, another radio station has bit the dust. Sunny 104.5, home of wholesome good time music from all decades has ceased to exist. Sunny joins the ranks of other great radio stations cut down in their prime: 96.5 the Point, Mix 95.7, Y100, KROCK, 101.1 CBS FM. You probably are assuming that "some rap station" replaced it. Usually you'd be 50% right. Most of these channels went rap. Some of them went to that dumb IPOD like format, where someone just pressed shuffle on a not so good playlist; yeah, that's successful. Breaking the trend, Sunny 104.5 is now Rumba 104.5. A Latino channel. Now correct me if I'm wrong but there are about 12 Latinos in the Philly area. Why do they need a station? If this were New York I understand. Every other station is now Latino in New York. I guess there is such thing as too many rap channels. Although the people down here would probably disagree.

The greater ramifications of this move is the death of really really really early Xhristmas music. Sunny has a long standing tradition of playing Xhristmas music as early as the first week of November. I've spoken about it at least twice here, and now that I'm finally back in the area I don't even get to enjoy it. Luckily satellite radio rocks. I don't know what FM is doing, but if they keep creating crap channels, everyone will have no problem shelling out 12 bucks a month for commercial free radio. Sirius has a Xhristmas channel. While it may not start as early as November 1st, it still does the job.

In the meantime I've been getting my local enjoyment from the blustery cool days we've been having here. As you know, we will be embarking on the greatest season of them all pretty soon, so I'm hoping that this is a sign of things to come. None of that random week of 80 degree temperatures. Summer had its chance and can't make another try. Sorry summer, see ya next year...douche bag.

QUICK NOTE: UPenn has a very nice campus. It's well treed, has an unorthodox amalgamation of building styles, and has a bridge so people don't get run over on 39th street. A welcome change from trying to cross the death highway that is Lancasster Ave. Unfortunately, it seems they too have a wretched infestation...of bitches. For in my brief walk through the campus this afternoon I encountered far too many orange, cell phone wielding, ugly clothes wearing animals. That and the bitch smell seemed to emanate directly from the campus itself. Is any university safe from this horror?


This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
© 1999-2013 pazzesco.