We just got back from seeing Brave. That was a pretty, pretty movie. And I was happy with the story; it's a fairy tale, and that's what I wanted. And because I'm familiar with how fairy tales (and cartoons) work, I was braced for the scene where Merida thinks her mother is gone, and was crying that she wanted her mum back, and only cried a little bit.

It’s more like illustrated radio more than animation.

Somewhere (I dunno, it's hot and I'm sleepy) there is a nice essay or blog post suggesting that in the US, TV writers & actors were drawn from radio but in the UK (and maybe Europe in general), they came from theater. And that made a huge difference in how the medium was used and developed.

It might have been a Lawrence Miles blog post now that I think about it. Or something he linked to, maybe. Hm. I'll see if I can dig it up.

he sees it as a tale of how the optimism of youth gets corrupted by financial markets.

Dave White made a similar argument on the Linoleum Knife podcast. (And Alonso's take was sort of "I don't disagree, but I still didn't like the movie much," FWIW.)

Somewhere (I dunno, it's hot and I'm sleepy) there is a nice essay or blog post suggesting that in the US, TV writers & actors were drawn from radio but in the UK (and maybe Europe in general), they came from theater. And that made a huge difference in how the medium was used and developed.

And then there's a whole other aspect of British comedy developing from radio shows: The Goon Show, Beyond the Fringe, Hitchhiker, even The Mighty Boosh.

Oh, certainly. I think the thesis was that in US TV, in general, visuals have often been treated as a supplement the dialogue instead of the primary communication. There are definitely exceptions on both sides.

And even with something like Hitchhiker's I think there was some effort made to make use of the visual aspect (like in the Guide entries, I believe there are added jokes in the on-screen graphics).

I can't believe how cracked out and just plain awful Mirror Mirror was. And once the credits started rolling I thought the torture was over, and then Snow White began starring in a Bollywood movie.

I'd read that it was a conventional woman ... I dunno, pussy-shaming an outre guy into becoming sheeple.

someone in my twitter feed loves "Magic Mike" because he sees it as a tale of how the optimism of youth gets corrupted by financial markets.

I finally saw Magic Mike (after many travails) and can see both of those opinions. It was good! Could have used more stripping.

Aw. Ernest Borgnine died. I loved his work and he seemed like a genuinely sweet guy.

link

Could have used more stripping.

Heh.

We got three free passes to the theater because the second half of The Avengers was projected too high (the top eighth of the frame was gone), and I'm thinking Magic Mike might be what I use mine for.

Could have used more stripping.

Egads, yes. And the ending drives me nuts. Why not have his furniture be the catalyst for change instead of a girl ?

What I always loved about Ernest Borgnine was his eyebrows. I saw him in some schlockfest where he got possessed by the devil, and the only makeup change they did was to twist his eyebrows out. I tell Hubby he's got Ernest Borgnine eyebrowse, but he only pouts at me.