Lizbeth Finn-Arnold

I was left speechless by Speechless

How can a TV show about sensitivity be so insensitive to women?

Last week, I finally found time to tune into the new ABC comedy Speechless. The show has been positively praised by just about every TV critic as being one of the best, if not the best comedy of the year. If you scan the reviews you’ll find words such as: aspirational, offbeat, genuinely funny, compelling, irreverent, nimble, quirky, and heartfelt. The show is hailed for showing the complexity of living with a disability, while not becoming overly-sentimental or sappy. One reviewer said: “Speechless exemplifies simple human decency without emphasizing it. Its world exists as ours should; unembellished. And in that, its powerful message could become extraordinary.”

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Fiona's Run

Been reading a lot about the inequality in Hollywood, not just about the lack of jobs for female directors/writers but also how warped it is that actresses aren't allowed to age. Kind of sad that by the time a woman turns 29 in Hollywood she's deemed TOO OLD to play the wife or girlfriend to Leonardo DiCaprio or George Clooney or all the other old farts whom we are expected to believe can still kick ass and get barely-legal ass well into their 60s and 70s.

Talk about male fantasy. Sadly, it's porn mentality that rules Hollywood, and I call it porn mentality, because women exist as beautiful blank slates, who are just here for men's gaze, sexual gratification, and entertainment. And the men in power, who make these films, see nothing wrong with that. They don't even question that maybe, just maybe, WOMEN AREN'T HERE FOR MEN'S ENTERTAINMENT. We have our stories to tell too!

Suffering from Netflix Malaise...

Suffering from Netflix/Hulu Malaise...it's a very common illness that comes over you when you've spent the last couple of weeks binge-watching 65 plus episodes of tv series only to come to the end of said series and be left with that anti-climatic feeling of "Now what the hell am I supposed to do with my life?"

For the next couple of aimless days you are left trolling Netflix/Hulu/Amazon for your next big binge. But it's not easy. Everything seems lame in comparison.

Top Ten Reasons I Wouldn't Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

This season's Walking Dead has gotten me thinking about what kind of survivor I would be in a Zombie-infested world. I came to the following conclusion -- I wouldn't survive.  And here are the reasons why.

1. I like sleeping in my bed. A real bed. Lizzie ain't sleeping in no damn woods. On the ground. Without a pillow. Or a blanket. While zombies moan all damn night around the perimeter. Ummm....NO.

2. I like sleep period. Lizzie is a grouch without at least 8 hours of zzzs...I would not make a good lookout and I'm not taking the night shift. And wake me before the sun is up, and you'll see a side of me you wish you didn't. I'm not kidding.

The Seattle Times: How do you Break the "Zoey 101" News to a Child?

I was just watching 'Zoey 101' the other day with my 11-year-old daughter and I commented something like, 'I bet Jamie Lynn's going to become bigger than Britney ... she seems like the smart, stable one,' " wrote Lizbeth Finn-Arnold on her "MOM & Pop Culture" blog..."Boy," she added, "was I wrong."

Read more at The Seattle Times.

New York Times: On the Internet, Nobody Knows You're in Mahwah

"Lizbeth Finn-Arnold, a filmmaker in Aberdeen, has a Weblog called Mom and Pop Culture. She started blogging to find mothers more sharpe-tongued than those she was finding in the physical world. "Motherhood is about not being honest," she explained, adding, "I had to talk about things other than dirty diapers."

Read more at The New York Times.