it sounds like a great movie, a post-millennial Home Alone for the big city: the little scamp is overjoyed at first, running through the ladies' underwear department, then befriending a gruff security guard with a heart of gold, then bedding down for the night in the home furniture section. But the kid just dutifully took the subway (which is apparently not safe for kids) home:

...if you look up "busty blonde" online, you will find dozens and dozens of women thusly described by the tabloids this past year. Look up "Busty brunette" and you will find exactly two. Even worse, the search engine politely inquires, "Did you mean busy brunette?" As if we brunettes, inevitably concave, must be working, working, working all the time because no one is taking us out for steaks at the strip club.

Then there's this bit, about A-Rod's psychology:

The man is a walking poster for New York's two main points of pride: the Yankees and intensive psychotherapy. These are the things we give to the world. And he has brought them low. I'd figured that any man with this much professional help under his belt would have reached the point where he could keep that belt buckled. "Quod licet jovi non licet bovi," Manhattan psychiatrist Harvey Roy Greenberg said. Fortunately, he then quickly translated: "That which Jove is allowed to do, a cow can't." By this he meant that superstars like the Roman god Jove — or the highest-paid Yankee — get a lot more perks than the rest of us. Almost inevitably they develop a sense of entitlement. When and if they stray, that is to be expected.

I volunteered to write something insightful about the Alex Rodriguez situation. Two thoughts are currently struggling toward coherency/relevancy: 1. The Yankee slugger has been in therapy *and* has a brilliant wife with a Master's degree, no less, and yet those aren't enough to keep the home fires burning? (What does this tell the rest of us brilliant wives with hubbies in therapy? All bets are off?) 2. Enough with busty blondes! A Nexis search shows about 50 references to "busty blondes" this past year and two to "busty brunettes." What explains the lure of the busty blonde? Any historians out there who can trace its roots (as it were)? Anyway, any other blazing insights or sidebars or random thoughts on the situation also accepted. And, of course, I'm on deadline. Contact: Lenore Skenazy, xxx@xxx.com

A Slugger, A 'Blonde' & A Therapist [NYS]

Earlier: "Wicca Is The Next Yoga"

As I write this, my neighbor is blasting the soundtrack from another '60s classic, "My Fair Lady." What if Eliza Doolittle had been a kinky coed? What if Professor Higgins had picked her up, brought her home and — instead of teaching her the Queen's English — kept her chained to his radiator for the next 17 years?

Movie Producers Are Abusing Woman and Making a Profit Off It [AdAge]

Previously: Ya Hear About This Spider-Man Movie?

Praise the Goddess and pass the magical candle—the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs has finally recognized the Wicca religion.

Then there's today's column: "The Catskills Is Why 'Dirty Dancing' Lives On."

"Dirty Dancing" is about to turn 20, and what once appeared to be a cheesy chick flick seems to be gaining the status of "Casablanca."

Nuts! (As it were.) What did Dr. Greenberg have to say?

"By setting the film in such a family-oriented place, it makes the transgressiveness" — the breaking of cultural taboos — "even greater."

Most parents want their children to stay children, or at least be obedient, and that was one of the appeals of the Catskills. It's where Jews went to keep things — and romances — predictable. Traditional.

"People went up there for romances," the head of the Catskills Institute, Phil Brown, said. "A waiter or busboy would likely be Jewish and a doctor or lawyer in training," he said. Parents, just like the ones in the movie, were happy to see their daughters date them.

The non-Jewish staffers, however, were off-limits. When Baby ( Jennifer Grey) stumbles upon this group dirty dancing, the thrill hits her like a pelvic thrust. And yet she still wants to be daddy's good little girl. She's torn.

Lenore Skenazy's Columns [NYS]
Earlier: 'News' Needs Women

Submitted by lenore, Mar 27, 2007 13:13

I tried plowing through the excerpt that was in the New York Times Magazine when it came out and, unfortunately, found the piece unreadable in its unrelenting detail. "I thought the EMT's came in 15 minutes, but I look back and see they took 17.3 minutes..."

So dull! I feel bad for her loss — whou wouldn't? — but I, too, was surprised that this woman whose work shook me to the core in college was now sounding like anyone else recalling a personal event: I.e, unable to see what might be utterly fascinating to oneself does is not necessarily relevant to the general public.

Anyway — i work at the sun, too, but didn't know how to contact you and just wanted to say how much this piece reverberated for me! - Lenore

Felt the same way! [NYS]

UPDATE: Now we hear this may have just been a "newsroom joke that got out of hand." That's how greatness begins, folks. Just wait.

Earlier: News Needs Women

Even in the permanently demoralized newsroom, this one really upset insiders. They see it as one more move by owner Mort Zuckerman's minions to toss a loyal staffer to the wolves in order to meet his budget numbers. Although Martin Dunn is the editor-in-chief, the blood from this one probably rests with op-ed page Editor Arthur Browne. Browne refused to comment.

HAPPY HOLIDAY NEWS [NYP]