So this election has drummed up lots and lots and lots of political humor. So what happens to all that McCain material and Obama observations come November 5th? Who knows, but if you live in NYC and need a nice dose of election humor before visiting the polls tomorrow check out The Last Chance Election Humor Show “Listen, Drink, Vent, and Hope” hosted by fabulous Jon Friedman (The Rejection Show). The show will feature some of NYC’s favorite writers and comedians gathering the night before the Election to perform their “election material” for the last time before it becomes WAY less relevant. Monday November 3rd 8PM The Slipper Room. 167 Orchard Street. Free! takepart and get ore info at http://www.rejectionshow.com

Whether you’re dressed as a zombie John McCain, an Exxon Mobil executive drowning in dollars or a devil (which could look quite similar to a certain Tina Fey character), everyone seems to love to eat candy on Halloween. And, I don’t want to rain on your parade, but Halloween provides yet another opportunity for the Social Action snapshot to promote one more cause for you to consider. A large percentage of commercially sold chocolate (think Nestle, Mars and Hersheys) is made from cacao beans harvested in West Africa by child labor. These kids work under harsh, unethical conditions for very little money. However, consumers can make an easy choice today by buying from only the sweetest chocolate companies (sweet, that is, to labor rights).

takepart Click here for this chocolate list so that you can avoid the most bitter companies and have a truly sweet Halloween!

You all know how I like my Keith Olbermann, but I think even those anti-Olbermann folks might find this clip interesting. Here Olbermann discusses the role of Saturday Night Live in the election and how their current skits are impacting the election:

The cigar box bit still cracks me up.   But I think Olbermann and his guest make some good points and provide a good historical context to the current batch of SNL skits.   Go after the jump to read TakePart’s SNL coverage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Saturday Night Live left a bad taste in my mouth last night.   I blogged earlier about how I really didn’t want SNL to let Sarah Palin on the program and lo and behold last night they did.   It was a bit weird and overall what makes me a bit sad is that all the Sarah Palin jokes they’ve been doing as of late, while funny, are actually vital in pointing out the flaws and reasons that Sarah Palin is unqualified for the position for which she is running.   Allowing Governor Palin on the show delegitimizes all of that and saws that all it was was humor - and I’m sorry but that isn’t true. Also confusing is Alec Baldwin’s appearance, he’s a very open Obama supporter and Huffington Post blogger.   He even wrote apiece called John McCain Is Not George Bush, Sarah Palin Is where he wrote ” Forget about the fact that Palin looks a lot like a really attractive TV star I know. Underneath all the Tina, she’s George.”

Well Alec, it’s hard to forget when you point it out on national television with the woman standing next to you.

What did you think about the SNL opening? 

Read the rest of this entry »

Phew.. Good news! I’ve been worried for awhile now that SNL would allow Sarah Palin on their show.   Rumors have been floating all over the web and there isn’t anything I want less than Sarah Palin on SNL.  It would make her seem more likable and also validate her as a political candidate - and the brilliant Tina Fey skits have been so wonderful in helping to invalidate her in some important ways.

Thankfully Tina Fey released this statement today, which doesn’t say anything about Palin on SNL but seems to suggest that she might be against it:

We’re gonna take it week by week. If she (Palin) wins, I’m done. I can’t do that for four years. And by ‘I’m done,’ I mean I’m leaving Earth.

I can’t imagine she would share the stage with someone whose winning the election would cause her to leave the earth.  

Read the rest of this entry »

Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler as Hillary Clinton on last night’s SNL.

I laughed but also cried on the inside because most of things Fey’s Palin said weren’t funny things SNL writers wrote, they were things Sarah Palin has said.

Also, maybe more interesting than the Palin skit was the skit that followed the opening monologue. The skit was a high school style quiz show between a group of kids from public school and a group of home schooled Christian fundamentalists.    The skit wasn’t especially funny, but it was a pretty strong statement by the SNL crew.

Read the rest of this entry »

The TakePart Top 10 Weekly Roundup is a compilation of the week’s most notable stories from our entertainment-meets-social-action blogging network. Check out some of our most popular stories of the week, as well as a few TakePart blogger favorites!

TakePart Gang:

Chasing the DNC Flame by Fonda Berosini

TakePart at Slow Food Nation by Wendy Cohen

* * *

Nicole Hughes:

State Fair Having Trouble Keeping It Green

TOMS Wrap Boot: Shoe Addicts Saving Lives

* * *

Andy Kondrat:

Mexican Gov Spends $16M to Save Endangered Porpoise

Wilco Offers Section on Website for Carpooling to Shows

* * *

Jon Popham:

Portland Gym Utilizes Human Energy

Angkor Wat Threatened by Tourism Boom

* * *

Gina Telaroli:

10 Powerful Women Using Their Power for Good

10 A+ Worthy Movie and TV Teachers

The Onion has a fine list up of 26 awful tv/movie teachers. It’s full of some great guilty pleasure favs - like Mrs Tingle from the Katie Holmes flick Teaching Mrs Tingle, Vic Racine from My So Called Life and of course Principal Vernon from The Breakfast Club. And as fun as these are, there are some totally awesome teachers that have been on TV or in the movies - and I don’t mean just the uber cheesy Dangerous Minds or Mr. Holland’s Opus type.   I mean teachers that actually made the students on the show along with you as a viewer think.

Here’s 10 that I think are pretty great. Let me know if I missed one and be sure to takepart and learn how you can actually improve the quality of teachers in schools these days by getting involved with Teach for America.

1) Mr. Collins from The Wonder Years - I would have had this list up sooner but I somehow found the entire episode about Kevin and his great math teacher Mr. Collins. Needless to say I watched it and tears are still fresh on my cheeks.   I would write more, but you should probably just watch

Part 2 after the jump

Read the rest of this entry »

Chris Kattan, actor and comedian of SNL fame, exchanged vows with his new bride Sunshine Tutt in an environmentally-friendly ceremony which included biodegradable invitations with flower seeds embedded inside. The two celebrated their nuptials in nature-happy Yosemite Valley. Former SNL castmates including Will Ferrell and Tina Fey attended the green affair. Get the full scoop here. You can also takepart and check out Treehugger’s online guide to planning a green wedding here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Always on the pulse of dumb crap said about women, Feministing blogged about this annoying review of the movie Baby Mama in The New Yorker:

Kate [Fey] stalks around bare-legged in skirts that lurch to a halt two inches above the knee, which is a length that Christy Turlington would struggle to carry off. It’s possible that Fey, like other television stars, is unused to being framed in full length, and, though in complete

Read the rest of this entry »