December 2010
11 posts
Daybreakers: Review
My friend Kait recommended this movie to me and I jumped at a chance to see this movie because this show fit the unwritten constitution of what I require in a movie. Oddly enough, this movie is surprising good. Without spending too much time summarizing the plot, the film follows a society in which most humans willingly become vampires for the chance for eternal life, the left-over humans...
Alice Caused the Boxer Rebellion
Watching the recent version of Alice in Wonderland makes me realize that Tim Burton was trying to make about three different films, or perhaps more likely, he was given the task of making a movie adaptation of Alice in Wonderland, but made the Wizard of Oz, but totally misunderstood that neither of these movies are action-adventure movies. Perhaps my main complaint about this movie is that what...
Jim Bryson – Where the Bungalows Roam
Every once in a while you randomly read something and you immediately act upon some random review, or in the case of Jim Bryson, it was after reading this from PopMatters:
“…they [the audience] had come to support local songwriter Jim Bryson on the heels of his excellent new record, Where the Bungalows Roam. That album’s exceptionally dry vocals create an intimate feel that recalls Wilco’s...
Optimism/Reactionism
Optimism:
I believe in the power of optimism, that as individuals with unique understandings of our universe it is important that when we feel alone or that our uniqueness is unsharable or even incomprehensible to those around us, that we must not give into group-think. By that, I mean that despite the pressure to agree with our peers, that on the best occasions, we should believe in our right...
Press Pause
When I think back to what I learned back in college about music, I remember my music professor bemoaning contemporary and modern popular music, it was short, plebian, and could not hold up to the value of “real” music. And beyond that, listening to music on a handheld device was a horrible way to experience music. Why not more public appreciation of moder or “classical” art music?
To me,...
Gap wants you to shut up
…and bend over too.
I buy a large portion of my clothes from the Gap, I admit to loving their aesthtic and clean look that seems less about wearing a complete and colorful ensemble than about zany shirts or selling sex more than shirts. But their latest line of women’s advertisements has been weird.
I can’t find the other ones but this is definitely the one that has been bothering...
What Every Guy Wants
With almost anything, describing something by what it’s not has inherent problems. Although this is an awesome repurposing of an ad in Maxim, there is something counterproductive about wanting the exact opposite. Not wholly, counterproductive mind you, but if women are objectified one way, then the opposite would (logically) be just as objectifying. I suppose the example would be, if you like...
Homophobia and Objectification
This is probably going to be one of the most controversial things I’ll post on y blog but a lot of recent mental thinking has led me to want to put my words down.
First I firmly believe in the rights of all people BECAUSE of their differences. Rights exist not only for freedom (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness). Rights are meant to protect us, to allow us to defend ourselves...
1950S AMERICANS DISCOVER SEX IS PLEASURABLE
Although I’m all for making sex even more fun and awesome, this commercial sure seems like it would run after they would put Beaver/Jan Brady to bed.
You may not believe me when I say this, but for a long time I have always believed that Asian couples were rather timid and never really engaged in sex. Call me old fashioned but it just doesn’t seem to be something they’d be into as something...
PJ Harvey - White Chalk
Whenever I listen to this album, I’m reminded of Emily Dickinson. It’s not that I think the narrative is the same. But the feel of the echo and the utter simpleness of the music reminds of a certain quality of Emily Dickinson that is all in her ability to set a certain mood. Perhaps, one of the things that I find absolutely fascinating is how much of an illusion a record can be. That the...
Musical Transference
A friend was surprised that I didn’t own any records. I can’t remember her exact words but she knew I loved music and the lack of records, for a moment, seemed to say something about me. I do like the idea that a room, a book, a magazine, a record can say something about what kind of person you are, but I try to think beyond the medium. I do have a preferred medium of media storage but to...