I have many many things to blog about. From movie reviews to impressions to World Cups of shame and doom and Murders so very foul. And also timelines of complex television shows. Though the last may just be only the one T.V. show. Whatever.
Anyway, to begin at the beginning, I watched 2 uber-violent films in one fantastic day. I was going to call this post a History of Ultra-Violence but then laziness got in the way of blogging and now there is too much to post. The two films are 300 and Apocalypto. The former has done brilliantly at the box-office and also created a stir regarding its depiction of Persians in the film. Apart from the cinematic merits of the film, on which consensus is divided, this controversy has kept the movie in the news and also reignited the old debate about political correctness at the movies. My opinion is this: When did we start to expect every film to deliver a nuanced representation of every character? When did cinema become the custodian of historical accuracy? And why must all movies be required to humanise the Other?
Having said all that, let me express how gratifying it was to watch those.glistening.abs.in.leather. Leather! Also - fun movie. Liked the cinematography.
Apocalypto was a good action/thriller type. The latter half was particularly exciting because it was an extended chase sequence in the Amazon. Mel Gibson can direct, but when it come to trying to make larger points about the present human condition, he should really think again. Especially if he's going to discredit himself by coming out as a bigot.
The murder in question is that of Bob Woolmer, at the World Cup. Abhorrent performance by our lovely team of over-pampered idiots notwithstanding, this is a new low. I can only hope that his killers will be found and punished. Cricket should take stock - Pakistani cricket should take stock - of whether it wants to win if people are going to literally die for it.
So the timeline was going to be for, surprise, Battlestar Galactica, but I think I will only very quickly enumerate the possiblities. When the colonials find Earth, what are they going to find? It could be that the show is set in the past, and the fleet's arrival is how the planet got populated. Or, they could find the Earth in the present and be (badly) surprised at how backward the 13th tribe technology is. Of course they could also find Earth at any point in between, but that is the least intereting option, IMO. The other option is to find Earth in the future. It could be a post-apocalyptic Earth, with nothing left on it. Or a superior society. Or a post -apocalytic Earth that has also been attacked by Cylons. Mindfrak!
Anyway, to begin at the beginning, I watched 2 uber-violent films in one fantastic day. I was going to call this post a History of Ultra-Violence but then laziness got in the way of blogging and now there is too much to post. The two films are 300 and Apocalypto. The former has done brilliantly at the box-office and also created a stir regarding its depiction of Persians in the film. Apart from the cinematic merits of the film, on which consensus is divided, this controversy has kept the movie in the news and also reignited the old debate about political correctness at the movies. My opinion is this: When did we start to expect every film to deliver a nuanced representation of every character? When did cinema become the custodian of historical accuracy? And why must all movies be required to humanise the Other?
Having said all that, let me express how gratifying it was to watch those.glistening.abs.in.leather. Leather! Also - fun movie. Liked the cinematography.
Apocalypto was a good action/thriller type. The latter half was particularly exciting because it was an extended chase sequence in the Amazon. Mel Gibson can direct, but when it come to trying to make larger points about the present human condition, he should really think again. Especially if he's going to discredit himself by coming out as a bigot.
The murder in question is that of Bob Woolmer, at the World Cup. Abhorrent performance by our lovely team of over-pampered idiots notwithstanding, this is a new low. I can only hope that his killers will be found and punished. Cricket should take stock - Pakistani cricket should take stock - of whether it wants to win if people are going to literally die for it.
So the timeline was going to be for, surprise, Battlestar Galactica, but I think I will only very quickly enumerate the possiblities. When the colonials find Earth, what are they going to find? It could be that the show is set in the past, and the fleet's arrival is how the planet got populated. Or, they could find the Earth in the present and be (badly) surprised at how backward the 13th tribe technology is. Of course they could also find Earth at any point in between, but that is the least intereting option, IMO. The other option is to find Earth in the future. It could be a post-apocalyptic Earth, with nothing left on it. Or a superior society. Or a post -apocalytic Earth that has also been attacked by Cylons. Mindfrak!
