2012: The Year in Awesome

 Pop Culture  No Responses »
Dec 282012
 

Let’s do this.

  • Best movie I saw: Lincoln–Finally, an epic movie about the American legislative process! Spielberg’s analysis of the nation’s most celebrated president as a calculating power broker stands apart from other biopics because it retains a sharp focus on one of Lincoln’s signature achievements: the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. It’s tempting to descend into hagiography with this kind of subject matter, but Tony Kushner’s script mostly resists those impulses and instead gives us a Lincoln who can be equally charming, brooding, and resolute. The acting is superb all around, but Tommy Lee Jones deserves an Oscar for his portrayal of a powerful and acerbic abolitionist senator.
  • Best book I read: Redshirts by John Scalzi–This novel opens as a parody of every pulpy science fiction television show you’ve ever seen, but it gradually becomes something much more thoughtful and, for lack of a better word, meta. It’s an examination of the nature of storytelling and how it shapes both reality and our imaginations. Scalzi’s experiences in writing for television inform this book and gives the reader a peek into the pleasures and frustrations of the creative process. It’s also a deeply funny book that is grounded in an abiding love for the genre.
  • Best album I heard: Bloom by Beach House–When this album was released, I tweeted that it sounded like the soundtrack to an unproduced Cameron Crowe movie. Crowe agreed with me, so I must be on to something. Beach House has a knack for simple opening riffs that quickly explode into walls of sound. A lot of dream pop albums tread into monotony after the second or third track, but Bloom never gets boring. I’m expecting great things to come from this band in albums to come.
  • Best TV show I watched: Game of Thrones–This year offered another embarrassment of riches on the small screen, but Game of Thrones managed to present a second season that outdid its first in terms of scope, tension, and sheer fun. Things are going to hell in Westeros and, across the sea, an exiled princess is grooming her young dragons for war. The show balances multiple storylines without skimping on material or becoming self-indulgent. Peter Dinklage is even more assured as the scheming Tyrion, but Maisie Williams is astonishing as Arya. She imbues her character with traumatized maturity that few other actors her age could convey. She is a talent to watch in the coming years.

Don’t Cry For Me, Hollywood

 Disability, Movies, Pop Culture  1 Response »
Nov 282012
 

Over at ThinkProgress, Alyssa Rosenberg takes issue with a reviewer of the movie The Sessions, a sex comedy based on the life of Mark O’Brien. O’Brien spent most of his life in an iron lung as a result of polio; the movie depicts O’Brien’s efforts to lose his virginity with the assistance of a sex surrogate. The reviewer in question wishes that the movie would have focused more on the fragility and despair that must be inherent in O’Brien’s life. Rosenberg disagrees:

But I don’t think The Sessions is a movie about a man learning to cope with a disability—in fact, it’s a movie about a man who’s coped very well with the limitations in his mobility for years. The film explains those arrangements because it assumes that an able-bodied audience will be interested in how Mark gets around and makes a living. But it’s emphatically not about him coming to terms with the fact that he has to use an iron lung, or hire an aide, or even that in a power outage, Mark could be in considerable danger. Instead, The Sessions is a sex comedy with Mark’s experience with polio as the reason he never lost his virginity.

I haven’t seen the film yet, but Rosenberg makes a key point. Not every movie featuring a person with a disability has to be a story about struggling against the odds. Those of us who have lived with disabilities for years don’t typically perceive our own lives in such terms. We’re too busy with the prosaic details of our own lives, whether it’s going to school or hanging out with friends or trying to get laid. Our disabilities are sometimes the furthest things from our minds, particularly when we enter the realm of sex. When I’m having sex, I’m not thinking about my tenuous grip on this mortal coil. I’m thinking, “Hey, I’m having sex! This is awesome!” And when my partner has to reconnect my vent tube after accidentally disconnecting it with her foot (I’ll let your imaginations run wild here), I don’t curl up into a fetal ball and bemoan my fate. I simply thank my partner and get back to whatever we were doing. Because that’s how real life works.

Most people without disabilities (including those who work in Hollywood) have difficulty grasping how a disability can be anything other than an epic struggle that is by turns both tragic and inspirational. But there’s no reason why people with disabilities can’t be featured in sex comedies or science fiction thrillers or crime capers. We can be just another feature of the pop culture landscape rather than the go-to source for feel-good tearjerkers. Perhaps The Sessions is a signpost on the road to the movies I’m imagining.

 

The Force Is Strong In This Rodent

 Geeking Out, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Oct 302012
 

When news of Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm and plans to film Episode VII showed up in my Twitter feed, I seriously contemplated the possibility that I may have stumbled into some strange alternate universe. Having assured myself that wasn’t the case, I then recoiled in horror at the thought of Mickey Mouse being digitally inserted into the Episode IV cantina scene in future re-releases. But as fellow geek John Scalzi notes, new ownership could breathe new life into the franchise. Lucas hasn’t exactly proven himself indispensable with the last few Star Wars movies and Disney certainly has the wherewithal to attract top-flight talent to work on Episode VII.

And white they’re at it, I wouldn’t mind seeing Pixar do an Indiana Jones film

Helping Paws

 Disability, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Oct 252012
 

Here’s a cute video from Sesame Street featuring a new character named Brandeis, who wants nothing more than to be a service dog.

I’m betting kids will love Brandeis. And if they learn a little bit about disability in the process, even better. Let’s hope Brandeis has the chance to interact with kids with disabilities in future episodes.

Spy Story

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Oct 122012
 

Enjoy the weekend. And if you haven’t seen the first season of Homeland, you really should check it out. I’m halfway through it and it’s one of the most compelling TV shows I’ve encountered in a while. The writing is brilliant and Claire Danes is excellent as a troubled but gifted CIA analyst. All those Emmy awards are well-deserved.

Make It So

 Geeking Out, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Sep 282012
 

Brian Phillips has a great essay at Grantland commenting on the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Money quote:

It’s obviously the case that the great subject of almost all American television — family — is also at large on the bridge of the Enterprise. Like The West Wing, the show offers a fantasy of smart friends working together and supporting each other that’s designed to make you want to join them. When you’re a skinny 13-year-old who’s scared a third of the time and bored another third, the idea of roaming the constellations with Captain Picard, whom adventure follows like a shadow and who always knows what to do, will obviously have a certain appeal.

Those sentences nicely capture my own reaction to the show. While I was already a Trekkie, I didn’t feel much affinity for the environs of the original show. But the NCC-1701/D seemed like the kind of place where a smart kid in a wheelchair could do okay for himself. The entire ship seemed to consist of gentle curves and slopes, implying that nothing was off-limits to a set of wheels. Medical care was always readily available and perhaps Commander Data could be my PCA when he was off-duty. Perhaps even Captain Picard would take notice of my potential and support my application to Starfleet.

Or so I imagined. And still do, sometimes.

Whovian

 Geeking Out, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Aug 312012
 

Enjoy the long weekend. I’ll likely be plopping myself in front of the telly tomorrow evening to catch the Dr. Who season premiere. In past years, I’ve waited for the DVD sets, but the hype for the show has reached such heights that avoiding spoilers will be difficult. I’m hoping for plenty of Daleks and at least a couple scenes featuring Karen Gillan in a short skirt.

Better Than An Axe To The Head

 Books, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Aug 022012
 

Any review or commentary regarding Game of Thrones and the subsequent books in the series is almost certain to mention sex. Violence and cruelty permeates almost every chapter, but it’s the sex that gets the attention and, occasionally, the condemnation. Author George R.R. Martin has this observation on our bipolar attitudes regarding sex and violence in popular culture:

I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a penis entering a vagina, and I get letters about it and people swearing off. To my mind this is kind of frustrating, it’s madness. Ultimately, in the history of [the] world, penises entering vaginas have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure; axes entering skulls, well, not so much.

I’m guessing that the libidinous Tyrion will be one of the few characters left standing when the series reaches its conclusion. But given Martin’s history of executing main characters, I’m hesitant to place any bets.

Thanks to BoingBoing for the link.

Milking Middle-Earth

 Movies, Pop Culture  No Responses »
Jul 312012
 

Peter Jackson has made it official: we’re going to get a Hobbit trilogy, just as Tolkien intended.

Wait, what? Three movies based on one book? Or is Jackson going to tack on all of The Silmarillion? If so, he may be the only person on Earth who actually finished The Silmarillion. I was skeptical of adapting The Hobbit into two films based on The Hobbit; three seems too invite way too many scenes of Gollum hissing to himself in the dark about hiss preciouss. I’m all for a Hobbit movie, but can’t we get one really great movie and maybe some extra scenes on the Director’s Cut DVD? I really don’t need to see how Elrond and Galadriel hooked up that one time while they were both at Valinor High.

It Came From Comic-Con

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Jul 172012
 

Another Comic-Con has come and gone and I was largely content to read the updates from the comfort of my desk (although attending the Firefly cast reunion would have been worth the trip). A few things previewed at the Con that I’m particularly anticipating:

  • Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic–I’m looking forward to the inevitable issue portraying a day in the life of a deeply cynical stormtrooper.
  • Revolution–J.J. Abrams returns to television with a series about a world in permanent blackout. I expect lots of sweaty, attractive people saying cryptic things to each other.
  • Elysium–Neal Blomkamp, director of the superlative District 9, tells another tale of the disenfranchised, this time in a future dystopian setting. But will we get anything as cool as District 9‘s battle mech sequence?
  • The Hobbit–Duh!

Anything catch your interest?

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