just one voice from the rabble
Thank goodness for a good man like Mr. G to remind silly me it’s That Time Of Year again. I’ve been too busy cooking and child-raising to write a proper post on the subject.
For now, feminists will have to be satisfied with gnashing their teeth over the rank misogyny of a TV show that portrays a woman entirely owned by a man, to whom she refers to as ”master.”
Hat tip to the Lonely Conservative for info on a new movie: 2016. The trailer begins with a dramatization of Dreams From My Father, and it looks to be most interesting, indeed:
The producer’s name, Gerald R. Molen, looked familiar to me. Sure enough, here is his recent missive over at Big Hollywood: “Oscar-winning Producer of ‘Schindler’s List’ Slams Obama, Salutes Breitbart.”
Ah.
I wonder if it will be widely released, or more limited like Atlas Shrugged?
Speaking of the Lonely Conservative, both she and Political Junkie Mom have been nominated for a place in the “Top 25 Political Moms” contest, over at a new-to-me website called Circle of Moms.
Please, do go and vote for them, as well as Jenny Erikson, Michelle Malkin, or any others you fancy. You can vote for as many as you like, once every day.
The contest features bloggers from both sides of the political spectrum, and frankly . . . the right side could use a little help at the minute. Perhaps us right-wing-extremist-mommy types are too busy with shootin’ practice and doomsday-prepping to frequent the Circle of Moms. I dunno.
Oh, and it’s not too late to nominate additional blogs, although they will of course be handicapped with fewer days to garner votes. Hmm, I’ve got somebody in mind. Time to go!
UPDATE: Well shoot. Missy S, Zilla, and AHLondon: I fully intended to nominate you guys, but the site wants emails, first names, and some other info. I wasn’t sure if you’d approve, or (in some cases) what your first name is. So please get over there and add yourself to the list. Add yourself right this minute!
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Absorbent and yellow and porous is he . . .
SpongeBob SquarePants!
If nautical nonsense be something you wish . . .
SpongeBob SquarePants!
Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!
Or . . . maybe not. Study: SpongeBob Causes Attention Problem in Kids.
Tartar sauce! If that’s true, we’re in trouble in this house. My kids weren’t just raised on SpongeBob, they were steeped in it:
The younger at 18 months.
Must so many people insist on conducting studies of dubious utility? Holy fish paste, I bet we can just skip the scientific studies and stipulate that TV is not generally not good for human grey matter. We could probably even agree that the more “frenzied” fare is worse than calmer stuff.
But why, pray tell, does the study target SpongeBob specifically, while the contrasted educational show is generic: “a truncated episode of a realistic Public Broadcasting Service cartoon about a typical US preschool-aged boy?”
Furthermore, why is PBS featured as the purveyor of highbrow, educational stuff? Don’t they know that PBS is responsible for introducing poor, helpless, innocent preschool children to . . . Boohbah?!? (I dare the uninitiated to click the YouTube link and watch. The whole. Thing. Triple dog dare.)
Are Squidward’s tenticle-prints all over this so-called study? Or is a larger evil behind the libel . . .
But seriously now. Like most shows, SpongeBob has lived past its expiration date. The new stuff is sadly unfunny. Yet, who can deny the comedic genius of episodes like Shanghaied, Frankendoodle, and Idiot Box? How about Hooky, Life of Crime, or No Free Rides?
If you aren’t familiar with any of this, well, barnacles. You should be. And for the record, SpongeBob is neither rude nor crass. Annoying, maybe, but that’s just part of the charm of this sweet and terribly naive We don’t see many Grown-Up Movies in the theater anymore, mostly because most of them stink. You end up wishing you had skipped the movie and gone home after dinner.
Our kind hostess here in Memphis offered to mind the boys, though, and you can’t look that gift horse in the mouth. You pick a movie and go.
We picked Super 8. It was awesome. Go see it.
If you want a proper movie review, go here or here. Unfortunately, a Google search reveals that I am not first with the following description, but oh well. Here it is anyway:
Super 8 is about a very angry E.T.
Think original Alien, in which folks get picked off by The Very Scary Thing, combined with E.T., in which kids help a poor alien find his way home.
scary
plus cute
This combo works. Best movie I’ve seen in years. Impeccable thriller pacing meets in-depth character development, falls in love, and has a baby. The baby is Super 8.
Plus, comic relief is sprinkled throughout, which means that folks who don’t like the intensity of thrillers can catch their breath. So even if sci-fi thrillers aren’t normally your thing, go see it.
Requisite objective criticism: Yeah, yeah, an Air Force guy is The Bad Guy. You won’t like this movie if that offends you.
See you fine folks in Kansas.
The People’s Republic of China. I don’t give ’em much thought. But China keeps popping up lately, so I’m gonna share this stuff in a really shoddy, stream-of-consciousness-style post.
China Item #1: My older is building a model of The Great Wall for Multicultural Day at school. Someone Who Shall Remain Nameless had this to say: “Well, who’s making the model of the forced labor camps?”
Yeah, yeah, I know. But I mean, you know. The Great Wall is one of the wonders of the world, so there’s no harm in learning about it. Actually, more’s the harm in the way a school will micromanage your time by dictating that your child accomplish time-intensive, yet mostly-useless projects which cannot be completed without serious parental intervention.
I could write a book on the harm in that.
Turns out that The Great Wall was mostly accomplished through forced labor anyway, so . . . our son is making the model of a forced labor camp.
China Item #2: Via Pileus comes news that the Chinese government recently restricted the use of time travel on TV shows. I guess they won’t be showing Back to the Future on Chinese TV anytime soon . . .
Although this type of “guideline” might have prevented some of the worst Star Trek plots from surfacing, you gotta wonder what the Orwellian Chinese State Administration for Radio, Film & Television was thinking on this one.
Obviously, they were thinking about how much they hate that weird time loop thing that inevitably occurs in a time travel plot–you know, the past ends up as contingent on the future as the future is on the past, and your linear-minded brain just has to deal with it.
China Item #3: Via Insty comes news that the Chinese real estate bubble may be popping. After watching this video at By Design’s place a couple of weeks ago, I am hardly surprised:
The experts and the central planners will sort out an economy quite nicely, will they not?
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