The Continuing Adventures Of Moe Tkacik: C’mon, Say Something Outrageous
When we last checked in on Philly expat/Jezebel editrix/tight bro from way back when Moe Tkacik, she had finally gotten the tampon out, but was also the first to admit that coke would never feel the same again. These have been heady times for Moe — even if we weren’t buds, we’d still say she’s got some of the most electric nastyprose going on the Web right now — but into each life, a little rain must fall. And so it came to pass that Moe, along with another Jezebel colleague (we think her name is Slut Blanket or something) fell into the trap that has killed lesser bloggers: The public speaking engagement. Appearing on Lizz Winstead’s Internet TV talk show, “Thinking & Drinking,” the ladies seemed to do a lot of the latter but not the former. Now, yes, Moe & Slut Party completely fumbled through this thing: They upspoke like a bunch of 12 year olds, they missed punchline after punchline, and generally just came off like morons. But can you blame them? After all, the whole thing was a trap: In the clips (at right and on the link), Winstead is clearly revelling in how clueless she thinks these (younger) women are, when in fact, they clearly just don’t give a shit. Look at the body language of Moe and Slut Junction: They look like they’re being scolded, and well, they kind of are. But this is not some academic bastion of feminist study, it’s a washed-up comedy writer’s Internet television show. Furthermore, Winstead’s rage — and the accompanying pussyfooting shame-game that it elicited from another Jezebel poster — seems to turn on her idea that the posters on Jezebel are “role models for young women.” Are you fucking kidding me? The whole thing reminded us of nothing so much as the famous Bill Grundy/Sex Pistols interview: The goading, the seething, the air thick with some admixture of jealousy, dismissal and worlds colliding. Sure it was the wrong venue, the wrong booking, the wrong scene, but something in us kept hoping that Moe would’ve called Lizz what she really was here: A dirty old bastard.
July 8th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
I definitely felt like Lizz was trying to make them look bad. They played right into it - they were definitely acting like assholes - but there was a certain degree of set-up to it.
My main question is this: how are you going to get your guests drunk - for an engagement with “drinking” right in the title, no less - and then address serious topics like rape?
Throw in her eviscerating, down-talking “behind the scenes” article and you have a full-blown asshat.
July 9th, 2008 at 11:31 am
the appeal of these people, rather the doubtless entropy that surrounds their appeal, is more interesting than the actual people. moe is to blog as corey is to haim. and i’m not even gonna metaphor the tv bitch. you cannot help but wonder if they “came off as morons” because they actually are (my vote!) or because they’re nervous (which is endearing and oh, i vote for that one too!) either way, like watching “intervention,” people are gonna keep digging on this shit until it self-destructs or is put to sleep by lesser standards (until we reach the nadir - and who knows? maybe this is it.) go to jezebel and read the comments if you want to see a boat about to sink from the weight of so many opinions placed against its one side. its irrational blogging, selfish, and just as careless, however well crafted and interesting it might be. watching this show, though, is even worse. i’d rather read moe’s posts than watch this shit. she can at least write. this? it’s like watching the kids in the streets in fishtown. crafty but gross and dark portent.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I’ve read some of the fazillion comments & posts about this… =so, hey, I’ll make it fazillion + one. I LOVE JEZEBEL — they fill a major void and they are so smart — but they messed up a little here. They might have some good thinking behind the things they said in that interview but they did come off a little half-baked without the luxury of explaining their thoughts in writing.
I felt bad for Moe. It couldn’t have been an easy forum to talk about what have to be really complex feelings.
I still love them though.