Website Wednesday
Two things written about in the news this week perked up my ears, and no, one was not the death of Michael Jackson. (Note: I just edited this sentence; it was a mess. I guess that's what happens when you post in the wee hours of the morning.)
One was China saying that the U.S. dollar was still the world currency. When I heard this I thought: Wow. The Chinese are telling the world economic community what the world currency should be. On a provincial level it’s like a tough guy who eats at this neat diner where the owner is always getting harassed by some obnoxious customers. The tough guy doesn’t want the owner to get discouraged and stop making his great food so he waltzes up to the bullies and tells them: Back off. The owner is quite grateful and keeps on cooking, the bullies are smart enough to listen to the tough guy and the tough guy gets to enjoy his food. OK, I know that story is stupidly simplistic but there was a time the U.S. used to be able to blow its own horn: We’re the greatest. Our currency is the best. Now only the lunatic fringe toots that horn. Thank goodness China is heavily into U.S. currency.
But the second item is even more bizzaro: Russia and the U.S. are friends again. And, we’re going to be “allies” regarding our stepped-up invasion of Afghanistan. Now I know that in the U.S. if history occurred before you were old enough to understand it; it really didn’t exist. Using that fact, for a lot of Americans, history stopped in the late 1970s. Only a handful living in caves are old enough to remember back any further. OK, I’m being sarcastic but Americans are horrible with their own history and abominable with world history. So how can we expect them to remember our century-plus old troubled relationship with the Soviet Union? You can say: This is Russia now, not those communist pig dogs. However, those “communist pig dogs” were our BBFs during WWII. Josef Stalin the biggest mass-murderer of the last century (sorry, kiddies, Hitler is a neophyte compared to Papa Joe) sat with Churchill and Roosevelt beaming to the world in photo ops.
Were we that naive to believe Papa Joe was the saintly bouncer of babies? Of course not, but we needed him to attack Hitler from the East. Pragmatism always trumps morality.
I understand that. But then what is the pragmatic reason for U.S. policy makers to reach back into the archives of past alliances and drag Russia to the center stage? Isn’t the East - China, India, etc. - the future? And why are we revisiting Afghanistan with the Russians? Didn’t we learn from their past mistakes in that region? I’m just asking.
But moving on to Website Wednesday I’m also going to pull something from the past. Remember I talked about the greatest of past movie reviewers on Monday? Well, I’m going to stick with movies today because I think I found a movie reviewer who has a real flair for words and movie criticism.
Take a look at: http://cinema-pedia.com/
First, the really bad news: this is a dated site. It’s no longer maintained and posting stopped in 2008. So don’t go looking for the trailers to play or any current movie news. But do read the reviews.
Take a look at the beginning of Vantage Point’s review: Wow. What can I say? After all the hype and lovely marketing it's clear that what lies beneath here is an empty shell. The "eight points of view" angle is essentially a lie. The depth and complexity hinted at in the trailer is forsaken. This isn't anything close to a time shifting mindbender like Memento or even a solid whodunit in the manner of Usual Suspects.
This guy/gal takes you right into the review; hits you with his “thumbs up or down” immediately and goes right into the cognizant reasons for them. You can’t ask for more.
Or, The Other Boleyn Girl: The Other Boleyn Girl pretends to be a serious historical romance, but it's really just a bodice-ripper, a cheap Harlequin paperback dressed up in frilly clothes. Imagine skit night at the Renaissance Faire and you'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on here.
I like The Other Boleyn Girl, it’s a good movie to watch while knitting lace, but that review is right on.
It’s pretty sad to think that whoever started this site decided to quit. He/she has a real flair for critical writing with popular appeal. He’s left us to wade through a lot of dreck out there for movie criticism but also a lot of hope that we still have great movie critics waiting in the wings.
Two things written about in the news this week perked up my ears, and no, one was not the death of Michael Jackson. (Note: I just edited this sentence; it was a mess. I guess that's what happens when you post in the wee hours of the morning.)
One was China saying that the U.S. dollar was still the world currency. When I heard this I thought: Wow. The Chinese are telling the world economic community what the world currency should be. On a provincial level it’s like a tough guy who eats at this neat diner where the owner is always getting harassed by some obnoxious customers. The tough guy doesn’t want the owner to get discouraged and stop making his great food so he waltzes up to the bullies and tells them: Back off. The owner is quite grateful and keeps on cooking, the bullies are smart enough to listen to the tough guy and the tough guy gets to enjoy his food. OK, I know that story is stupidly simplistic but there was a time the U.S. used to be able to blow its own horn: We’re the greatest. Our currency is the best. Now only the lunatic fringe toots that horn. Thank goodness China is heavily into U.S. currency.
But the second item is even more bizzaro: Russia and the U.S. are friends again. And, we’re going to be “allies” regarding our stepped-up invasion of Afghanistan. Now I know that in the U.S. if history occurred before you were old enough to understand it; it really didn’t exist. Using that fact, for a lot of Americans, history stopped in the late 1970s. Only a handful living in caves are old enough to remember back any further. OK, I’m being sarcastic but Americans are horrible with their own history and abominable with world history. So how can we expect them to remember our century-plus old troubled relationship with the Soviet Union? You can say: This is Russia now, not those communist pig dogs. However, those “communist pig dogs” were our BBFs during WWII. Josef Stalin the biggest mass-murderer of the last century (sorry, kiddies, Hitler is a neophyte compared to Papa Joe) sat with Churchill and Roosevelt beaming to the world in photo ops.
Were we that naive to believe Papa Joe was the saintly bouncer of babies? Of course not, but we needed him to attack Hitler from the East. Pragmatism always trumps morality.
I understand that. But then what is the pragmatic reason for U.S. policy makers to reach back into the archives of past alliances and drag Russia to the center stage? Isn’t the East - China, India, etc. - the future? And why are we revisiting Afghanistan with the Russians? Didn’t we learn from their past mistakes in that region? I’m just asking.
But moving on to Website Wednesday I’m also going to pull something from the past. Remember I talked about the greatest of past movie reviewers on Monday? Well, I’m going to stick with movies today because I think I found a movie reviewer who has a real flair for words and movie criticism.
Take a look at: http://cinema-pedia.com/
First, the really bad news: this is a dated site. It’s no longer maintained and posting stopped in 2008. So don’t go looking for the trailers to play or any current movie news. But do read the reviews.
Take a look at the beginning of Vantage Point’s review: Wow. What can I say? After all the hype and lovely marketing it's clear that what lies beneath here is an empty shell. The "eight points of view" angle is essentially a lie. The depth and complexity hinted at in the trailer is forsaken. This isn't anything close to a time shifting mindbender like Memento or even a solid whodunit in the manner of Usual Suspects.
This guy/gal takes you right into the review; hits you with his “thumbs up or down” immediately and goes right into the cognizant reasons for them. You can’t ask for more.
Or, The Other Boleyn Girl: The Other Boleyn Girl pretends to be a serious historical romance, but it's really just a bodice-ripper, a cheap Harlequin paperback dressed up in frilly clothes. Imagine skit night at the Renaissance Faire and you'll have a pretty good idea of what's going on here.
I like The Other Boleyn Girl, it’s a good movie to watch while knitting lace, but that review is right on.
It’s pretty sad to think that whoever started this site decided to quit. He/she has a real flair for critical writing with popular appeal. He’s left us to wade through a lot of dreck out there for movie criticism but also a lot of hope that we still have great movie critics waiting in the wings.
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