Linkspam is enjoying the sunshine
Dennis Hartley at Hullabaloo gives us a run-down of recommended movies about nuclear war. Among the usuals (Dr. Strangelove, On the Beach) is a small film called Miracle Mile, starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. Huh: never heard of it.
Apparently Fortune magazine commissioned this cover [Big JPG] and then decided not to run it. I simply cannot imagine why.
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So Bitch talks about the failtastic comments they got as a result of a post last week about cultural appropriation of Native attire/imagery. Further links in the post.
The History Channel has made a documentary history of the US, called America: the Story of Us. However NPR's culture blog Monkey See points out that it's really the story of Some Of Us; the majority of the commenters interviewed for the documentary are male, and of the women, all but four are faces from the entertainment industry, not historians or public intellectuals. Linda Holmes, the NPR blogger, doesn't comment on the content of the documentary itself, but I suspect we'll get a lot of the Great Men theory of history; the History Channel doesn't have a great resume for subaltern studies, after all.
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The second part of Tim Gunn's review of superhero costumes is available.
Remember last week when I posted a link about a historian whose very successful wife bashed his competition online? Well, I was wrong. It was the historian himself, one Orlando Figes, and, like
legionseagle, I am forcibly reminded of MsScribe blaming her live-in nanny. I cannot imagine life is going to be comfortable in the Figes household for a while.
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In other news, I went to see How to Train Your Dragon last night. Which, you know, it's not really a catchy title. And yet, I really enjoyed it. It's cute and funny, the character design is really well done, and it works very well as a Hero Story. We even got a real sacrifice at the end. Which is not to say that it wasn't also a bit predictable and sexist in fairly standard ways, and the plot logic didn't always hold together. But it was really really enjoyable, beautifully drawn, and the scenes with Hiccup and Toothless swooping through the air, and when they gave Astrid a ride, were just lovely. And I think America Ferrera may have a career in voice work, as well as her acting: she was great.
I want a Toothless of my very own: when I went home and petted TNG, I had to admit that having a pet who could fly would be pretty awesome. Also, Toothless is smarter than TNG (and less neurotic).
However I don't understand why it was in 3D (and why I had to pay $3 extra per ticket); it really didn't need to be.
So, I recommend it. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than anything I've seen in the theaters in the last few year, really. It didn't piss me off with plot- or character-related stupidity, it told a relatively small story well, and it had some totally adorable dragons, who were both cute and fierce at the same time. I'm glad to see the movie's continuing to do so well.
... and I couldn't help but think about Temeraire crossovers as I left the theater. Heh.
I also saw DW 504: "The Time of Angels", and had a lot of fun. Although it was SCARY omg. Cannot wait to see what happens next. River was right on the edge of being Too Awesome, but then dialed it back. And I loved her shoes. And Amy was great, as well, with the "not a clinger" bit and then pausing on the skip.
Sea Patrol gave us and took away a new CO. And RO is sweet on Bomber, which I think is adorable, since RO is pretty bad at relationships (and so, I think, is Bomber). I was mildly amused at the end of the UST-dance between Kate and Mike, which seemed rather OTT compared to the family-friendly nature of the rest of the show (none of the sailors ever get STDs from whores in foreign ports, for instance), but was reminded that this is Australian television, after all. And now of course they get to dance around the fraternization regs for the next few episodes, oops. I will be interested to see how they resolve this: either Flynn goes or the relationship ends--or MacGregor goes, I suppose--there's no way to continue on like this.
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ION, I finished most of my painting this weekend, yay. Although I basically ruined my cargo pants, which are now spotted with primer and paint all over them. Ah, well: it's not like I wore them to work anyway. And I did a lot of running (13 miles in three days, woot), and had yummy dim sum and saw a high school play, and basically was pretty productive.
Crossposted from DW, where there are
comments; comment here or there.
Apparently Fortune magazine commissioned this cover [Big JPG] and then decided not to run it. I simply cannot imagine why.
*
So Bitch talks about the failtastic comments they got as a result of a post last week about cultural appropriation of Native attire/imagery. Further links in the post.
The History Channel has made a documentary history of the US, called America: the Story of Us. However NPR's culture blog Monkey See points out that it's really the story of Some Of Us; the majority of the commenters interviewed for the documentary are male, and of the women, all but four are faces from the entertainment industry, not historians or public intellectuals. Linda Holmes, the NPR blogger, doesn't comment on the content of the documentary itself, but I suspect we'll get a lot of the Great Men theory of history; the History Channel doesn't have a great resume for subaltern studies, after all.
*
The second part of Tim Gunn's review of superhero costumes is available.
Remember last week when I posted a link about a historian whose very successful wife bashed his competition online? Well, I was wrong. It was the historian himself, one Orlando Figes, and, like
legionseagle, I am forcibly reminded of MsScribe blaming her live-in nanny. I cannot imagine life is going to be comfortable in the Figes household for a while.
*
In other news, I went to see How to Train Your Dragon last night. Which, you know, it's not really a catchy title. And yet, I really enjoyed it. It's cute and funny, the character design is really well done, and it works very well as a Hero Story. We even got a real sacrifice at the end. Which is not to say that it wasn't also a bit predictable and sexist in fairly standard ways, and the plot logic didn't always hold together. But it was really really enjoyable, beautifully drawn, and the scenes with Hiccup and Toothless swooping through the air, and when they gave Astrid a ride, were just lovely. And I think America Ferrera may have a career in voice work, as well as her acting: she was great.
I want a Toothless of my very own: when I went home and petted TNG, I had to admit that having a pet who could fly would be pretty awesome. Also, Toothless is smarter than TNG (and less neurotic).
However I don't understand why it was in 3D (and why I had to pay $3 extra per ticket); it really didn't need to be.
So, I recommend it. Frankly, I enjoyed it more than anything I've seen in the theaters in the last few year, really. It didn't piss me off with plot- or character-related stupidity, it told a relatively small story well, and it had some totally adorable dragons, who were both cute and fierce at the same time. I'm glad to see the movie's continuing to do so well.
... and I couldn't help but think about Temeraire crossovers as I left the theater. Heh.
I also saw DW 504: "The Time of Angels", and had a lot of fun. Although it was SCARY omg. Cannot wait to see what happens next. River was right on the edge of being Too Awesome, but then dialed it back. And I loved her shoes. And Amy was great, as well, with the "not a clinger" bit and then pausing on the skip.
Sea Patrol gave us and took away a new CO. And RO is sweet on Bomber, which I think is adorable, since RO is pretty bad at relationships (and so, I think, is Bomber). I was mildly amused at the end of the UST-dance between Kate and Mike, which seemed rather OTT compared to the family-friendly nature of the rest of the show (none of the sailors ever get STDs from whores in foreign ports, for instance), but was reminded that this is Australian television, after all. And now of course they get to dance around the fraternization regs for the next few episodes, oops. I will be interested to see how they resolve this: either Flynn goes or the relationship ends--or MacGregor goes, I suppose--there's no way to continue on like this.
*
ION, I finished most of my painting this weekend, yay. Although I basically ruined my cargo pants, which are now spotted with primer and paint all over them. Ah, well: it's not like I wore them to work anyway. And I did a lot of running (13 miles in three days, woot), and had yummy dim sum and saw a high school play, and basically was pretty productive.
Crossposted from DW, where there are
comments; comment here or there.