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The Popular Arts Post: Film, Poetry, Roleplaying, Music and Literature
Went to IMAX for the first time last week to see "300". As the thread on RPG.net suggestsit really isn't good at all (my summary is probably on the last page). Also recently saw The Notorious Bettie Page. Visually cute, it included some excellent thematic considerations and then utterly failed to elaborate on them.
Unitarian service last Sunday was poetry, readings and folk music. As is my norm, I selected Unitarian poets and authors, specifically, Horatio Alger, Ambrose Bierce, ee cummings, and Kurt Vonnegut Jnr.
Easter Sunday was spent, as per last year, playing GURPS Bunnies & Burrows. The Fellowship of Talor journeys in the eleventh scene for HeroQuest. Have managed to convince![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
imajica_lj to run Call of Cthulhu in the near future.
Went a bit nuts on the weekend buying music: Johnny Cash, Velvet Underground, Hawkwind, Gang of Four, Devo, China Crisis, Eels, Elysium. No one can claim I don't have a variety of tastes. Have made a start on the small moutain of books sent to me by Ticonderoga; a seven-part space opera by Kevin J. Anderson. Also should mention that my review of Blackbeard: The real pirate of the Caribbean is available in the latest issue.
Cocktail party for Friday night is shaping up very nicely indeed.
Unitarian service last Sunday was poetry, readings and folk music. As is my norm, I selected Unitarian poets and authors, specifically, Horatio Alger, Ambrose Bierce, ee cummings, and Kurt Vonnegut Jnr.
Easter Sunday was spent, as per last year, playing GURPS Bunnies & Burrows. The Fellowship of Talor journeys in the eleventh scene for HeroQuest. Have managed to convince
imajica_lj to run Call of Cthulhu in the near future.Went a bit nuts on the weekend buying music: Johnny Cash, Velvet Underground, Hawkwind, Gang of Four, Devo, China Crisis, Eels, Elysium. No one can claim I don't have a variety of tastes. Have made a start on the small moutain of books sent to me by Ticonderoga; a seven-part space opera by Kevin J. Anderson. Also should mention that my review of Blackbeard: The real pirate of the Caribbean is available in the latest issue.
Cocktail party for Friday night is shaping up very nicely indeed.
no subject
Personally, the anachronisms, historical inaccuracies, and other such details of 300 don't particularly bother me. I do get annoyed by this in some movies (Gladiator, I'm looking at you), but only if the material is being presented as 'real'. At no time in watching 300 did I ever think this was supposed to be an accurate portrayal of a historical event: it was clearly meant as myth. Thus, nearly naked Spartans, lack of phalanx tactics, and so on, didn't concern me.
What did bother me about 300 is that it wasn't very entertaining. It creaked along its pedestrian course without ever really engaging me on any level beyond "ooh! pretty pictures!", on the apparent assumption that spectacle trumps substance (which, given the high ratings it is getting from many people, seems to be a valid assumption).
no subject
Well, I like myth, because it is supposed to give "structural connection" with the thinking of the people at the time (which 300 almost did well with the demands of "the Gods").
But yes, a lot of my dislike is due to the lack of entertainment. Minimal plot, minimal characterisation, terrible dialogue and unconvincing scenery.