This conversation is from Hampshire, hence Lizz’s presence.  Don’t worry: I am less hated/hateful in Minnesota. And that is where I currently am!

Some (Girly? Intellectual? Both?) links for you:

* A recent New York Times piece about Nancy Meyers, and what it’s like to be a female filmmaker in Hollywood. I hadn’t realized how many movies Meyers was responsible for.  Here’s the bulk of her imdb credits:

Private Benjamin(1980) (Writer, Producer)
Irreconcilable Differences (1984) (Writer, Producer)
Baby Boom (1987) (Writer, Producer)
Father of the Bride Part (1991) (Writer, Producer)
I Love Trouble (1994) (Writer, Producer)
Father of the Bride Part II (1995) (Writer, Producer)
The Parent Trap (1998) (Writer, Director)
What Women Want (2000) (Director, Producer)
Something’s Gotta Give (2003) (Writer, Director, Producer (uncredited))
The Holiday (2006) (Writer, Director, Producer)
It’s Complicated (2009) (Writer, Director, Producer)
(I think Times’ review of “It’s Complicated” is a bit…bitchy.  “Female-specific indulgences?”   Come on, Manohla.)

* A frustrating piece from the March 2008 Atlantic by Lori Gottlieb. It’s called “Marry Him!” and it’s about how women should learn to settle rather than end up alone. Well–that is perhaps a bitter simplification. Read it and decide for yourselves.

* A much more interesting piece form the July/Aug 2009 Atlantic, by Sandra Tsing Loh. It’s called “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” and is about her divorce. I love the way she describes the weekly dinners she has with her female friends. It’s “Sex and the City” if it were set in real life, not HBO-land.

* A sorta recent piece in the Slate about Ayn Rand. The woman is FASCINATING. She was totally over the top. As the Slate puts it, “Her message was, think freely, as long as it leads you into total agreement with me.”

* Two fantastic old-favorite Starlee Kine segments from “This American Life.” The first one is from the episode “Break-Up,” in which Kine calls Phil Collins for advice on composing a break-up song. The second is from the episode “The Sanctity of Marriage.” Kine’s segment is about her parents bizarre marriage (and eventual divorce).