are belong to me. sigh. Under a cut for lynxreign
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ahahahahah.

Sometimes intuiting composition pleases me greatly.




(ok ok, I know it's not a pro shot, but you gotta admit, the visual circle works very very well).

my cat's just spent the last -hour- on my lap and purring.

you know my cat.

the End Times are nigh.

So as my post-class, postprandial, pre-work break, I thought I'd post some thoughts about Torchwood, the first season of which I've now seen.

As many of you know, I've been interested for a few years in developing a course about the modern epic, and the development of the antihero/neutral hero/roughdiamond hero (and simultaneously what seems to be an increasing interest in the geography/environment of the action).

So you might imagine that, when I heard that no previous Dr. Who experience was necessary to figure out Torchwood, I was interested.

It's so progressive! I'd heard. The lead is omnisexual! (or some such- I've seen this written a few places as well, fwiw).

Fascinating.

So I watched.

And, it is new, quite new, but not, I think, for the reasons most people assume.

The show is not "beyond orientation" as I'd been told. Jack is far from omnisexual. No, the characters on the show are mostly straight (Owen, Tosh, Gwen), and any action w/members of the same sex have decent (in the world of the show) explanations- from self preservation, to alien influence, to situational homosexuality. Ianto, I give you, may actually be bi (and as such is an enormous leap forward). Jack, however, is queer as a three-dollar bill, and I defy anyone (after S1- I've not see S2) to claim otherwise. He only cracks wise about queer sex, only kisses women strategically, and so is, well, gay.

And no one cares. Which is cool. Which is progress.

What a gay action hero becomes, however, is less of a development, than a new wrinkle in the neutral/roughdiamond hero. Han shot first, you know, and lord knows Jack does too, plenty. Jack's queerness may then be read as another "rough" element in this type of hero's character. He's not just a conman (as too was Han), but a queer conman. Overdetermined, much? In fact, by embodying the homosexual subtext of so many action heroes (Jack does crack wise about the Lone Ranger & Tonto in the most recent ep, I am told), Jack's character may be the most postmodern of classic types. His queerness, indeed, may be classic. His active queerness, of course, is quite new, even moreso than is his at times dangerous, self-centered raffishness.

What is really new, however, is the emotional life given to the action hero in Torchwood. This is truly newly broken ground, I think. Along w/homosexuality repressed right into the subtext, action heroes repress most or all emotions. Lust is the least repressed of all, and in that light, Jack's active sex life is mirrored by countless other action heros, albeit w/different orientations. The entire Scooby gang, Jack included, express a wide range of emotions. Consider the range of types of love allowed: love of parents, of spouses, of lovers, of friends- all are permitted onscreen, and even become focal points of different episodes. Fear, anger, frustration, doubt, distrust- all of these as well are allowed full play to the characters, and most uniquely, to Jack, the eponymous action hero at the center.

I'm not usually very invested in Monster-of-the-Week style sci-fi; however, I must say that I am curious whether S2 continues this trend. What becomes of an emotionally-enabled action hero?

Good lord. Too eery, esp as it -appears- to be a suicide.

Star British Chief Constable found dead

Srsly- read it- it's Sgt. Angel all over.

2005 Malay minidocumentary by some college students about veiling. Consensus is that it was scripted, but still I think an interesting piece.

I now have the best *headdesk* icon evar. Even if it's quoted out of context.

Thanks for the loan, earthensky (who I don't know at all, but said I could borrow the icon!)



(We all remember laughing at this webcartoon a few years back, right?)

Link swiped from Coilhouse, thanks, ladies. (Who aren't reading here, but that's ok).



10 minutes. You have the time. 1983 animated short, Skywhales. Feels a bit like a Miyazakified Inuit legend. I particularly like the end.

Just when we needed some good news:

Captain Kidd's abandoned ship is found.

AT&T says it has no plans to ape Verizon Wireless' move. "For us, what really defines true openness in wireless is giving people unfettered access to the things they care about," says AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel. "Real openness is something we've already arrived at and set the standard for."

Does it need commentary? No, probably not. Except to say that Verizon is "opening" its access to any CDMA device (though not GSM), and this is AT&T's response.

Myself, I give a hearty "lol" to all the wireless companies involved. "Open" indeed.

via Businessweek

Dear Proctor & Gamble,

As a longtime user of Cheer Dark Formula, when I opened my newest jug I was shocked to find that you had revised the scent.

I'm sure you did market research before changing your product, but I'm surprised that your studies indicated consumers would choose to smell like a field of cheap plastic flowers.

When I go to the grocery next I hope to find an unperfumed Cheer Dark, and if I don't, it's back to Woolite Dark for me.

I refuse to smell like a craft store accident.

No Regards,

NeoG

And you should too.

I bought 3 movies I've wanted for a long time for a total of 25 bucks.

Ok, so 2 I'd only been able to see this year: Fay Grim was released this year, and The Girl from Monday I had to wait for a netflix account to see.

I still need a copy of Amateur, and perhaps a copy of No Such Thing.

Why all these films, you say? & why so cheaply?

Hal Hartley. I've subjected a few of you to his work, but he's an underrated auteur. In the past, I'd say that he dealt w/similar subject matter to David Lynch, but did so in a way that respected his audience more. Now I'd say that while Lynch seems stuck in a several-theme loop, Hartley continues to develop and deepen his craft.

You want a deeply thoughtful consideration of monsters in the modern world? No Such Thing

You want a dystopia where the insurance companies have secretly taken over America, and even the sex you have (or don't) is part of your economic value? A movie in which the body is so valuable to humanity, it prevents the hero from saving himself, while at the same time, the body is implicitly utterly devalued in society? Girl from Monday

You want explorations into the construction of authorhood? into the formation of fame and notoriety? Amateur or Flirt or Henry Fool

You want the awful revelation that terrorism is both real and a horrible construction? Fay Grim

Click the links for Wikipedia. HF & FG are conceived as a set, but don't necessarily need to be seen that way.

But rent one. See one. Those of you I've already infected, go get another. Fay Grim is really his finest yet- GfM is a strong and scary story, but FG has it all- style, suspense, a razor sharp plot...just go.

Don't go see the pablum out for post-Thankgiving drool-mopping. Get a Hartley film.

Yes, yes, you've seen my ranting. You know I emailed Gaiman in thanks for his public apology for the "educational" promo kit we all got in our work mailboxes.

But, seriously.

Take a look at The Onion's review. Granted, the Onion is known for hating films, but this one the review hates in a particularly pro-crit fashion. Someone was taking notes in college English class!

Now, for the humor, and the rest of the plot, see this. [For Beowulf, I shouldn't have to give a SPOILER warning, right? Cuz everyone knows the story? Well, not THIS story...]

Best, alltime BEST line of that last review?

(It's a giant gold barbie-crotch and IT'S COMING TO GET YOU!!!).

I noted, as I passed the billboard yesterday, that someone at Pepsi had not done their homework.

Rocket City for Pepsi

Taste of Rocket City

The slogan doesn't matter, except insofar as they id'd this town as Rocket City. (And the ad was definitely for Pepsi).

The important, sad part? The design featured, prominently, the Space Shuttle.

Um, except Rocket City has nothing to do w/the Space Shuttle. The Rocket Jockeys are all down in FL and TX. Rocket City specializes in unmanned space tech.

I feel bad for the poor slob in NY or CA who thought that billboard design was clever.

and I wish him luck getting a new job. I hear Disney's hiring...

For fans of children's lit, hedgehogs, and/or animation, check this out:

It's a bit old, but I hadn't run across this story yet:

Those w/WaPo access- do check out the story of the 75-yr old AF-retiree and animal rescue volunteer who walked into her local ComCast office and destroyed the office equipment w/a hammer, thus registering her disappointment w/their customer service.

The article is priceless, as is the story itself.

I particularly love how her husband was along w/during each of her store visits, and just sort of stayed out of her way. After 45 years of marriage, he recognized inevitable when he saw it, I guess : )

Go read it.

Heads up on this article.

Big new finds in the Celebes Sea. (Pronounced seLEbes w/the e's all schwas. A Celebesian woman told me so. It's in Indonesia. Best coffee around. Better than Timor. Go find some.)

Ahem.

So, go look. Only prelim photos so far, but one includes a baby squid (*pokes* panjianlien). And you know there'll be more cool pix once they work out how many of their specimen are new species.

Shakespeare in Love??

Really?

Someone, please explain this to me.

It sounded beyond ridiculous from the beginning. But, perhaps I was wrong, I thought, and so I netflixed it.

How could this thing be popular?

I can't say I've ever seen something so precious before. It may have created its own category, only to then jump the shark in it. Truly, the alpha and omega in its class.

From the desperate plot-parallels to the overly-careful cuts, the entire thing was painful. The historical inaccuracies go w/o saying, and in a film this frightful, seem almost a lesser sin.

Someone, please, explain why this movie is so popular?


ETA: otoh, perhaps this movie is -so- bad that it provides the perfect opportunity for audience-participatory mockery a la Rockey Horror. -That- might have potential.

So earlier today I was putting ironing away in the closet, and the cat curled up inside as I was doing so, unbeknownst to me.

I made the discovery later, when Ellie went bananas running back & forth between me (in the office) & the closet door.

What's that, Lassie? Timmy's down the well?

So I dutifully released the cat (who, it should be noted, did not look concerned at all), while the dog looked on, relieved.

I find it odd, therefore, that Ellie just rushed me to the closet door again, CERTAIN that the cat was still trapped within it. I let her in, so she could sniff around & reassure herself that the cat was Not, in fact, still in there.

She seemed puzzled.

This must be some aspect of Dog Psychology w/which I'm unfamiliar.

In the name of research, a question:

what's the little toothbrush/Hitler mustache called? (I know it has a name, but I can't for the life of me remember.)