RIP Whitney Houston

Singer and actress Whitney Houston died today, from as yet unknown, or at least unreported, causes. She was 48.


I am so desperately sad about this news. Her eponymously titled 1985 breakout album was one of the first cassettes I ever owned, and I used to listen to it over and over and over on my purple boombox in my bedroom, dancing and singing along into my hairbrush.

When I was in the middle school choir, my best friend and I performed Whitney Houston songs at every annual Solo & Ensemble competition. We didn't even remotely do them justice, but we just loved her so much. Blub.

My sincerest condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues. My thanks to Whitney Houston for all the amazing music.

Eureka!

Well, this happened in the world: Ten-year-old fifth-grader Clara Lazen discovered a new molecule.

[Lazen's] class assignment was to build a molecule using one of those modeling kits with the colorful balls and plastic connectors. Many kids would probably throw together a little H2O and call it a day — but not Clara. She randomly pieced together a combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms to create a molecule her chemistry teacher, Kenneth Boehr, had never seen before.

"I just saw that these go together more," Clara told the Fox News local affiliate in Kansas City. "Like they fit more together. And they look better. And all the holes have to be filled in for it to be stable."

Astonished, Boehr emailed his friend Robert Zoellner, a computational chemist at Humbolt State, to confirm whether it was legit. "Ken sent me a picture of the molecule on my cell phone and usually I can tell right away if it's real," Zoellner says.

This time, he couldn't.

To check whether Lazen had just discovered a new molecule, he ran the molecule's formula through an Chemical Abstracts, an online database of chemistry research dating back to 1904. He found one match: nitrogylcerin

But (and it's a big "but"), Lazen's molecule, dubbed tetranitratoxycarbon, had a different structural arrangement, which meant they could now tell the world they had just discovered a new molecule. Similar in composition to nitroglycerin, an explosive, Zoellner says tetranitratoxycarbon may have the potential to store energy, combust or do a little of both. At the very least, it's a molecule chemists can attempt to synthesize and toy with to see if there are any possible technological applications.

Neat!

[H/T to @pourmecoffee.]

Photo of the Day

Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords hugs intern Daniel Hernandez, who "literally went into the line of fire" to save her, during the Congress on Your Corner event, which she finished today after it was interrupted by an assassination attempt one year ago.

Wow.

This is a real thing in the world.

And I love it with SO! MANY! HEARTS!

Today is not only First Lady Michelle Obama's birthday; it is also Betty White's 90th birthday—and, over the weekend, there was a celebratory gala in her honor, which included this AMAZING birthday greeting from President Barack Obama:

Male voiceover, over text onscreen reading "Dear Betty…": Ladies and gentlemen, an official birthday message from President Barack Obama.

President Obama in voiceover, over video of himself sitting at his desk in the Oval Office, filling out a greeting card: Dear Betty, you look so fantastic and full of energy, I can't believe you're 90 years old. In fact, I don't believe it. That's why I'm writing to ask if you will be willing to produce a copy of your long-form birth certificate. [audience laughter] Thanks, and happy birthday, no matter how old you are!

The Golden Girls' theme, "Thank You for Being a Friend," begins to play as President Obama puts his pen back in his jacket pocket, then adds a framed photo of Betty White to the table of family photographs behind his desk. He sits back down, puts in earbuds, and rocks out with a grin to "Thank You for Being a Friend." [laughter and applause]

Let that settle any debate about whether Betty White is a national treasure.

Related Reading: The Obama Made in the USA Mug; Obama at the White House Correspondents' Dinner.

[H/T to Shaker Kate217.]

Quote of the Day

"What I loved most about Elizabeth was her bawdy humor. She was down to earth. And her capacity for friendship was extraordinary. It was a comfort that I could call her to talk about whatever. And I could always go over and get a hell of a meal. Oh, to watch her eat! This woman loved soul food. And she'd top off any meal with a sundae. She'd pile stuff on a sundae that I didn't even know existed!"—Shirley MacLaine, Elizabeth Taylor's longtime friend, quoted in People in their end-of-year memoriam to Taylor.

What a wonderful way to be remembered.

The Enlightened Thread

Today in Good TV News: HBO has renewed Enlightened for a second season.

When HBO first announced that it was going to air a series helmed by Mike White (who is great) and starring Laura Dern (who is amazing), I was extremely excited. I mean, honestly, to merely say I adore Laura Dern isn't sufficient. She is a brilliant actress, whose work I've admired since I was a kid. Wild at Heart's Lula is one of my all-time favorite movie characters, not because the character is lovable, or even particularly likeable, but because of the way she is played by Laura Dern.

Then came the marketing for Enlightened, which made me nervous. The poster pictured Dern in close-up with mascara streaking down her face, wearing an expression I can best describe as stricken. Still, I am well aware that the marketing of a TV series or film can wildly misrepresent its actual content, for good or bad.

So I watched the pilot episode. And it was...okay. If it hadn't been Laura Dern and Mike White, I wouldn't have kept watching. But it was. And Dern's real-life mother, the fab Diane Ladd, playing her character's mother, as she did in Wild at Heart. That was enough to keep me watching. I kept watching.

And by the time the series ended last week, I was a committed fan.

There are a lot of reasons I like Enlightened. The relationship between Dern and her mother. The exchanges between Dern and White. The subtle but incisive commentary on how do-gooding frequently can't pay the bills, if a path to do-gooding is even apparent (which it often isn't). The commentary on corporate workplace culture, and how it differs at different professional levels. For me, though, it's mostly about Laura Dern.

She plays the central character, Amy Jellicoe, with such extraordinary finesse: Jellicoe is an awkward, clueless, self-centered, privileged pain in the ass, but Dern imbues her with enough vulnerability and decency that she is a character worth caring about, even as she fumblefucks her way through each day, constantly disappointed by the people around her who haven't been enlightened by recovery.

It is a source of both humor and angst to watch her practice the good approaches recommended by therapy and repeatedly bump up against the disinterest of an apathetic world where healing is hardly a priority. Jellicoe, in Dern's capable hands, becomes a relatable character, and when I see myself in her, I squirm. But I also laugh.

And then there's this: Laura Dern is 44. She is stunningly gorgeous, and she looks 44. I want to neither explicitly nor implicitly condemn actors who make the decision to get plastic surgery or fillers, because that is a valid choice and an entirely understandable one especially in an industry that puts such a premium on youth and compliance with the Beauty Standard. Dern has simply made a different choice, equally legitimate but much rarer, and it is remarkable to see a woman with beautiful lines on her face every week.

The ten episodes of the first series of Enlightened were directed by either Mike White, Miguel Arteta, Jonathan Demme, Nicole Holofcener, or Phil Morrison, all five of whom give the audience something to which we are rarely treated: Long, lingering shots on the face of an actress.


We gaze at her countenance straight on; her face is not tilted up and shot from above, from the "male" perspective. The shots hold her expression, and let us look at her feel something. The way the show is directed says this person means something, and it was breathtaking to me week after week how radical it felt to me for that message to be conveyed by a show about its female lead.

Anyway. I'm thrilled Enlightened is being given a second season. I can't wait to see it.

Whoooooooops Your Kyriarchal Assumptions

Actress Gabourey Sidibe arrives for the premiere of the film "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" in New York, December 15, 2011. [Reuters Pictures]

Earlier today, I saw this picture of Gabby Sidibe on the red carpet last night, looking gorgeous as always, and I was reminded of a popular media meme about Sidibe when she was nominated for an Oscar for her breakthrough performance in Precious. It was said in a lot of different ways, by a lot of different reviewers, reporters, and assorted film industry experts, some of whom were more circumspect and some of whom were more blunt, but the gist was always that Sidibe would not—could not—have a sustainable career, because she is fat, because she is a fat woman, because she is a fat woman of color, because she is a fat woman of color with very dark skin, because she is a fat woman of color with very dark skin who played a survivor of sexual violence in her career-launching role.

Since then, Sidibe has starred in Victoria Mahoney's Yelling to the Sky, had a major supporting role in a cable series (Showtime's The Big C), done voice work on two different animated series, played a key supporting role in the recently-released Brett Ratner film Tower Heist, and is currently filming Martin McDonagh's Seven Psychopaths, which has an A-list cast.

Not too shabby. I imagine there are a lot of actors who would be thrilled to have such a non-career.

I would say that I'm looking forward to reading all the follow-up pieces in which the Very Important Knowledgeable Prognosticators of the Entertainment Industry admit that perhaps they were a little quick to judge, to mistake the prejudiced habits of the film industry with some immutable truth about its nature. I would say that except ha ha I'm not stupid and it will never happen.

I hope Gabby Sidibe keeps getting opportunities, and that her career is exactly as long as she wants it to be.