Category Archives: Movies

Denying the Denialists? and Bros

Posted on Thursday 20 October 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Just time for one Reading today, then some comments about seeing a movie in a movie theater for the first time in nearly 3 years.

Posted in Meaning, Movies, Politics | Comments Off on Denying the Denialists? and Bros

Today’s Headlines, 8 Sept 2022

Posted on Thursday 8 September 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Queen and empire; Religious employers against health care; Republicans making fun of sick people; Lebanon as America’s future under Trumpers; MAGA invokes 1st century BC; Another lame right-wing movie; Why American lives are getting shorter; The indefensible claims of “2,000 … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Links & Comments, Movies, Politics, The Gays | Comments Off on Today’s Headlines, 8 Sept 2022

Greatest Fictional Deaths

Posted on Friday 22 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate posted this long list and several sidebar articles/interviews on Wednesday. (I’m guessing they compiled it a while back and waited for a relatively slow news day to post it.) Slate, Dan Kois, 20 July 2022: The 50 Greatest Fictional … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Narrative, Personal history | Comments Off on Greatest Fictional Deaths

Fiddler on the Roof

Posted on Thursday 7 July 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Over the past couple evenings we’ve watched the movie version of a musical I had never seen before, in any form: Fiddler on the Roof. I was aware it was a big-hit musical, back in the 1960s or ’70s, in … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Music, Social Progress | Comments Off on Fiddler on the Roof

LQCs: Foley Unreality and Fist Fights

Posted on Wednesday 29 June 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

The New Yorker, Anna Wiener, 27 Jun 2022: The Weird, Analog Delights of Foley Sound Effects Subtitled: “E.T. was jello in a T-shirt. The Mummy was scratchy potpourri. For Foley artists, deception is an essential part of the enterprise.”

Posted in Aesthetics, Movies, Narrative | Comments Off on LQCs: Foley Unreality and Fist Fights

LQCs: Bad Map Projections; Worldle; Banned Books

Posted on Wednesday 4 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve commented a few times about map projections, and how projections of the entire globe are invariably misleading in one way or another, because there’s no accurate way to map a spherical surface onto a flat map. Inevitably there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Cosmology, Films, Movies | Comments Off on LQCs: Bad Map Projections; Worldle; Banned Books

Movie Notes: Belfast; Licorice Pizza

Posted on Monday 7 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Having given up on visiting movie theaters any time in the near future, we’ve been catching up on Oscar Best Picture nominees in the past couple weeks via Amazon Prime, at $19.99 a movie. Weekend before last, Belfast; yesterday, Licorice … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies | Comments Off on Movie Notes: Belfast; Licorice Pizza

Links & Comments: Narrative Shortcuts, Fantasy Worlds, Arabic Numerals

Posted on Thursday 30 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Sunny but chilly today; we’ve had rain for much of the past two weeks, and now we’re in for a week or so of sun. We did a 34-minute walk, though Robinson Drive and around on  Skyline and back to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Economics, Movies, Narrative | Comments Off on Links & Comments: Narrative Shortcuts, Fantasy Worlds, Arabic Numerals

Ls&Cs: Theocrats, School Boards, Libraries, Shocked Parents; The Sound of Music

Posted on Monday 20 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

How shocked parents are fighting back against school boards and public libraries; how other parents respond; how and when abortion became so important to the Christian right; and about the usual Republican gerrymandering. With an endpiece about The Sound of … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Links & Comments, Movies, Personal history | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Theocrats, School Boards, Libraries, Shocked Parents; The Sound of Music

Link and Comments: From McCarthyism to the Assault on the Capitol, via 1951 SF movies

Posted on Saturday 27 February 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate: What UFOs and Joe McCarthy Have to Do With the Assault on the Capitol. Who knew?

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Movies, Politics, Skiffy Flix | Comments Off on Link and Comments: From McCarthyism to the Assault on the Capitol, via 1951 SF movies