Quality interweb mischief from Jared Bridges
When it comes to film, bears usually end up in a metaphorical role. Think about Bart the Bear, who played in such films as The Edge, and Legends of the Fall. Bears are typically portrayed as the powerful adversary who lurks just beyond in the tree line. The protagonist must muster up what strength he … Read more
Anthropologist Grant McCracken picks up on a changing trend in the programming of prime–time television: Prime time TV is, as we say, episodic. Each show was supposed to be free standing and one-off. No prior knowledge was presumed. If we had seen the show before, great. If not, never mind. Narrative constructions like Rockford Files … Read more
Pardon the Seinfeldian expression, but what’s the deal with all the corpses on television these days? It’s almost as if sex stopped selling, so now cadavers are all the rage. Just flash a semi-decomposed body on the screen and the viewers will flock. Shows like Bones, CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: New York, CSI:Mayberry, Law & … Read more
A while back, I noted the similarities between Fox’s House (pretty much the only television show I watch with regularity) and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes. In Tuesday’s episode, the producers/writers bent over backwards to show the connection. It may have slipped the notice of the casual observer, but surely didn’t slip by us here … Read more
If you’re a chess geek, or a wanna-be chess geek like me, I recommend the DVD Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine. It’s a documentary of the 1997 controversial rematch between world-champion grandmaster Garry Kasparov and IBM’s “Deep Blue” computer. Kasparov handily defeated the supercomputer in 1996, but in ’97, Kasparov lost the match in … Read more
I haven’t done a DVD roundup in a while, so here are a few quick reviews of films I’ve seen in the last few months: On a night when you’re feeling really comfortable, successful, and like you’ve got everything together, put Hotel Rwanda into your DVD player. Two hours and two minutes later, you’ll emerge … Read more
What happens when a “good Southern Baptist girl” from Texas begins to look beyond the narrowness of her upbringing and see the world for how it “really” is? A PBS documentary shows that cookie-cutter liberals are made, not born.
A belated, brief, review of Revenge of the Sith followed by a few thoughts.
While Star Wars is currently the rage when it comes to all-things-Lucas, there have been rumblings in the background once again about Indiana Jones IV. Christianity Today’s movie website picks up on reports that the film is close to production. I’ll believe it when I see it. The Indiana Jones trilogy, The Temple of Doom … Read more
Although I don’t watch a great deal of television, I’ll have to admit I’ve recently become addicted to Fox’s House. If you haven’t seen it (perhaps you’re one of those Amazing Race watchers), it’s about an eccentric-genius physician who solves medical mysteries that would stump the average M.D. Dr. House generally isn’t too fond of … Read more