Entertainment
New Film: Pope Michael
“Pope Michael” Trailer from Pope Michael Documentary on Vimeo.
Looks entertaining, in the kind of way which has allowed me to enjoy the wacky, quaalude-driven world of William S. Burroughs.
The Book of Eli
Modern Hollywood did it. They manufactured an intelligent, mainstream movie dealing with Christianity, without it being ham-fisted, trite, campy, demeaning, or relativistic.
That’s all you need to know about The Book of Eli before you see it.
No links in this article, no analysis. Don’t read any reviews, and don’t get into conversations about the movie with your friends or colleagues. Go see it as long as violence doesn’t offend and the kids have a babysitter.
Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
As loyal readers remember, I posted in glee over the the release of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Plus, let’s face it: Jane Austen’s novel just isn’t for boys. Poignant social commentary and criticism? Certainly. Masterful, aesthetically pleasing English? You bet. But entertaining to a modern member of the lesser sex?
Not even remotely, and Seth Grahame-Smith had to know this coming in. PPZ works at a superficial level because it combines elements men care not one iota for (feminine social absurdities long dead and buried) with what they can’t get enough of (the dead no longer buried). Grahame-Smith knows his audience, and he plays to us throughout.
If the overall concept of this novel sounds absurd, let me assure you that it is. Unfortunately, Grahame-Smith misses combining these elements in an effective way, and the absurdity fails to become believable. Scenes involving zombie attacks or the warrior-nature of the heroines are poorly intertwined with Austen’s plot, and the reader can’t help but sense that he (or maybe, she) is reading two novels.
Grahame-Smith retained about 80% of the original as I understand it, and I think this is the problem. If the author had taken more liberty with the original story, perhaps there would be more continuity between the two tales. As it stands, I wouldn’t blame the average, red-blooded American male for feeling hoodwinked by PPZ, since – in the end – he just did what he’d never do otherwise: he read Pride and Prejudice.
What’s more, these are some of the most uninteresting zombies ever fashioned. Where do they come from, and why? What about their level of cognitive and physical function? The author never really approaches these questions, leaving the zombies as little more than weird, interludical props: they spring up suddenly in a sentence or two, are dispatched by page-end, and then we’re back to women fretting over hats.
Despite my criticisms regarding the weakness of this work, I can’t help but recommend it… to Lit Nerds like yours truly, who share my penchant for mashup.
Otherwise, approach this one at your own risk: where zombies are in play, your brain is always on the line.
Postscript: My negative thoughts on this work will in no way keep me from reading Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
Battlestar Galactica‘s Weird, Dylan Referencing Ending (No Spoilers)
Just before Starbuck commits to the action leading to the ultimate climax of the series, Starbuck mutters aloud, “There must be some kind of way out of here.”
I blinked. Nobody phrases it like that, except for Dylan. But why would Dylan appear so blatantly in a science fiction plot? I shrugged and kept watching.
And sure enough, as the scene fades away in the series’ final episode, Hendrix’s version of “All Along the Watchtower” plays in the background.
It’s a weird and discordinant allusion. But then again, the final episode was weird and discordinant.
The best I can do with it: “But let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.”
Coolest T-Shirt Ever? Indeed. Mad I Never Wear T-Shirts Anymore? You Bet.
Dylan riding next to Hendrix, as the wildcat did growl…
For a biblical/spiritual explanation of “All Along the Watchtower” (posted previously), from one of our many great teachers around here:
For All You Children of the 80′s
When you beat Glass Joe (from Paris in the original game, if I remember correctly), croissants fly around the screen. Heh.
This is the first game that makes me care about the Wii.
And Now, Some John Hiatt…
“Ethylene” is one of those songs I’ve been listening to for the better part of ten years now, and it never gets old.
Then again, the good tunes never do.