Film, culture, history
Watching Gods and Generals feels more like a reading a history book than watching a movie. I don’t mean because the film is so long (the version I saw was three and a half hours. *), nor is it because there are so many words thrown across the screen. Continue reading “Gods and Generals: Review”
In the Spongebob Squarepants film, Patrick looks at the icons on his underwear and realizes that he indeed worships the Goofy Goober. He and his friend Spongebob are not only fans of the fictional peanut, they live for him.
The more I read the news, the more I see accusations that we “worship” Jefferson, or at least hold him in too high esteem. One came from British pop-historian who teaches at Columbia. Now, there’s a guy who writes for the Arizona daily star who makes a similar assertion.
Is nationality the fruit of a family tree?
The Cherokee have voted to exclude those who are not on the 1906 Dawes Roll from their tribe. Yahoo News emphasizes the fact that the some descendants of slaves will lose their Cherokee “citizenship.”
Continue reading “What is a Cherokee? (updated 12 September)”
It has been ten years since a small group of men hijacked a few planes and flew themselves into buildings. Their cause appears to have been a religious one.
But we forget that millions of other people with the same religion don’t fly planes into buildings. More significantly than that, other men flew themselves into buildings afterwards, and their cause was not a religious one. Continue reading “Does religion cause war?”
If you had enough money to buy a nice sports car, a small summer home, or to have a second hand language lesson, which would you choose?
Obviously, someone who went to a recent auction chose the language lesson. But that’s not all they bought. Continue reading “Napoleon’s 93,125 Euro (£80,636.90) English lesson”
In film school, we usually learn to shoot without dialogue. Historians nostalgically look back to the silent era. Purists, like Hitchcock, have complained that today’s movies are too talky.
But aren’t we a bit hard on dialogue? Even Eisenstein, the famous Russian formalist known for his silent “montage”, saw it’s uses.
I read yet another article on how Americans “can’t read maps,” and aren’t being “international” enough.
I don’t see why we should censor ourselves to please China’s autocracy. Continue reading “Who do we make movies for anyway?”
When in Rome, thank God you’re English.*
When in Rome, shouldn’t you do as the Romans Do?
Well, Hanmer Warrington didn’t think so. Continue reading “When in Rome”
Lies, more lies, and false statistics.
Sure, the average American spends more money than the average Angolan. But does that make America rich?
Do you have an irritating colleague that makes people cry? A boss who pushes you around, but when you complain she says she’s just “unwinding” or “having fun”?
Well, bullies are nothing new. In fact, Stephen Decatur Junior and his friend Joseph Bainbridge were bullied. Continue reading “How did they deal with bullies in the old days?”