Sliding in under the wire
Wow I have not posted once this month. The slow death of LJ makes me sad but given 99% of fannish activity seems to have moved off of it it's difficult to see how to bring it back to life. Also I seem to have lost the ability to produce fannish works to post anyway!
I was in London last weekend for my now traditional annual trip to The Globe. This year it was The Merchant Of Venice and in a sign of how sensibilities have changed since Bill's day I left thinking, "Wow, what a bunch of racist dicks, I hope they all promptly died of smallpox." Jonathan Pryce was a subtly sympathetic Shylock, everyone else was a massive tool. I think it's the only Shakespeare play where I feel guilty about finding anything about it amusing or entertaining, as if by doing so I'm complicit in it's Anti-Semitism as, let me make this clear, nearly every single character is a horrible, awful, racist.. Jessica's an ingrate too.
Before the Globe we went to the Tate Modern and saw the restored Rothko and accompanying, awe inspiring, video on how the graffiti was removed. We rushed back to view the Rothko again to make sure we couldn't see a trace of ink and I may have accidentally triggered an alarm...
What else? Let's see. My last cinema visit was to see Wild Tales which was loads of fun. Haven't been to see Age of Ultron yet but plan to this weekend. I've watched Saudi Arabian film, well actually, the only Saudi Arabian film, Wadjda. It's a lovely film centering on an 11 year old girl, her all female school environment and her relationship with her mother. It's essentially about women in Saudi Arabian society and treads a very fine line for the censors where women's discrimination is silly and banal highlighting how utterly stupid and pointless it is.
I have been ploughing through my books and recently read a very interesting book about Israeli gay cinema. The films of Eytan Fox, which I quite enjoy, were heavily criticized as being inherently conservative and while I don't quite agree with all the author as it was verging on 'this is the right way to be Gay!' at times, it was interesting to have my perceptions challenged. I have also read the delightful The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman which I highly recommend if you like Cabaret and have a sick sense of humour!
I was in London last weekend for my now traditional annual trip to The Globe. This year it was The Merchant Of Venice and in a sign of how sensibilities have changed since Bill's day I left thinking, "Wow, what a bunch of racist dicks, I hope they all promptly died of smallpox." Jonathan Pryce was a subtly sympathetic Shylock, everyone else was a massive tool. I think it's the only Shakespeare play where I feel guilty about finding anything about it amusing or entertaining, as if by doing so I'm complicit in it's Anti-Semitism as, let me make this clear, nearly every single character is a horrible, awful, racist.. Jessica's an ingrate too.
Before the Globe we went to the Tate Modern and saw the restored Rothko and accompanying, awe inspiring, video on how the graffiti was removed. We rushed back to view the Rothko again to make sure we couldn't see a trace of ink and I may have accidentally triggered an alarm...
What else? Let's see. My last cinema visit was to see Wild Tales which was loads of fun. Haven't been to see Age of Ultron yet but plan to this weekend. I've watched Saudi Arabian film, well actually, the only Saudi Arabian film, Wadjda. It's a lovely film centering on an 11 year old girl, her all female school environment and her relationship with her mother. It's essentially about women in Saudi Arabian society and treads a very fine line for the censors where women's discrimination is silly and banal highlighting how utterly stupid and pointless it is.
I have been ploughing through my books and recently read a very interesting book about Israeli gay cinema. The films of Eytan Fox, which I quite enjoy, were heavily criticized as being inherently conservative and while I don't quite agree with all the author as it was verging on 'this is the right way to be Gay!' at times, it was interesting to have my perceptions challenged. I have also read the delightful The Teleportation Accident by Ned Beauman which I highly recommend if you like Cabaret and have a sick sense of humour!