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Posts categoriezed as film

My new favorite GIF

My new favorite GIF published on No Comments on My new favorite GIF

The Film Sack podcast discussed Dazed and Confused this week, so I watched it again…for something like the 20th time. And this GIF was the result:

So many potential uses. 
(What’s the Film Sack podcast, you ask? What, have you been living under a rock? Go here, and enjoy.)

Links!

Links! published on No Comments on Links!
  • Pat Robertson declares that just as every other country to accept homosexuality and gay marriage has failed, so shall the U.S. One wonders exactly how Robertson defines failure, given that Denmark legalized civil unions in 1985 and many other countries have embraced gays as equal to a similar or greater extent since. They seem to be doing all right…
  • Rich Swier of Tea Party Nation declares that anti-gay bullying is simply peer pressure of the helpful variety also used to discourage immoral behavior such as drug abuse. Because all of us look back with fond memories on those helpful schoolyard bullies who guided kids away from developing addictive habits via tough love. Or as Ed Brayton put it more succinctly, “What an asshole.”
  • 51 floats had their tires slashed before Chicago Pride Parade on Sunday. Almost all, however, were repaired in time and made it into the parade anyway. So sorry, vandals…the show must go on.
  • Thoughtful piece from Brian Palmer at Slate asking why, in light of the recent Supreme Court ruling that laws banning the sale of violent video games to children are unconstitutional, we are so much more willing to expose children to images of violence than sex.
  • Elizabeth Weingarten, also at Slates, is cautiously optimistic about the fact that heroine Merida of Pixar’s upcoming Film Brave has curly hair, but notes that generally curly-haired women in films tend to be of the nerdy variety who (if they are major players) inevitably seem to get some makeover that involves a serious encounter with a flat iron by the end of the film. I hadn’t considered this as I was too busy being over the moon about how well Pixar had rendered said curly hair. But she has a point– let the curly girls stay curly. Some of us actually (gasp) prefer it that way!
  • PZ Myers is less than impressed with a recent Salon article touting health benefits as offering legitimacy to male circumcision.  Have to say, so am I. This is a practice that is on its way out in the United States, so that eventually hopefully even the “But he will wonder why he doesn’t look like his dad!” argument will die a natural death due to public bafflement and derison.
  • All Star Trek series are apparently going to be streaming on Netflix starting in July. Wow….I might have to work through the entirety of TNG, just because.  

The perfect comment on Pixar’s new film

The perfect comment on Pixar’s new film published on 2 Comments on The perfect comment on Pixar’s new film

I’m happy that Pixar is finally producing a film, to be released next year, with a female protagonist. I am, really. I’m also in shock that it has taken this long…but anyway. Here’s the plot synopsis:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane)

Dingwall? Seriously? Anyway, originally Merida was to be played by Reese Witherspoon, but she had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict. So instead they got Kelly Macdonald, which is actually Scottish. That’s good as well, considering the fact that in How To Train Your Dragon the fact that all adult characters were Scottish whereas (I think) none of the children were drove me up the wall. But also, I could not possibly agree more with this remark:

while I’m thrilled that they’re finally making a movie with a female protagonist (and director, for that matter), I really, really wish they hadn’t made her a princess. I mean, yes, knowing them it’s going to be an awesome movie, she’ll kick all sorts of ass and subvert all sorts of princess expectations. So did Mulan, and she ended up just another sparkly dress-up doll in the Disney Princess line (to which Disney has already confirmed Merida will be added). I mean, Pixar practically specializes in unexpected heroes. An old ragdoll. The monster in your closet. A trash-compacting robot. A rat who likes to cook. Ed Asner. Surely they could’ve come up with something for their very first female protagonist other than princess. I’ll still see it, and I’m sure I’ll love it, but still. 

 Indeed. Also since he describes himself as a “Pixar fanboy,” I assume that means he’s male.