Category Archives: Popular (and unpopular) culture

A List Of Musicals I’ve Seen Live

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Ampersand

So I was chatting with Myca earlier today, and he mentioned seeing Amelie The Musical and wanted to know if I’d like the Playbill. No, I said, I don’t collect Playbills; but the conversation made me regret that I haven’t … Continue reading →

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“Minions” may beat “Lava” for most sexist kid’s movie of the year

Posted on July 13, 2015 by Ampersand

“Lava,” as I hope you don’t recall, is the animated short that accompanies “Inside Out,” the otherwise wonderful new Pixar movie. As I’ve said before, some cartoonists draw women as “visual aliens”; men are allowed to be earthy and funny-looking … Continue reading →

Posted in Cartooning & comics, Feminism, sexism, etc, Popular (and unpopular) culture, Sexism hurts men | Comments Off  

I Disagree With People On Tumblr About Dr. Horrible And About The Minimum Wage

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Ampersand

I disagree with people on Tumblr: Is Dr. Horrible A Sexist “Nice Guy” Narrative? I disagree with people on Tumblr part 2: Why We Should NOT Abolish The Minimum Wage

Posted in Class, poverty, labor, & related issues, Economics and the like, Men and masculinity, Minimum Wage, Popular (and unpopular) culture | Comments Off  

Enough with the torture scenes, please

Posted on May 18, 2015 by Ampersand

A scene from “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” in which Captain America and Black Widow are trying to get information from a bad guy: Jasper Sitwell: Is this little display meant to insinuate that you’re gonna throw me off the … Continue reading →

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TV and Movies I’ve Watched Lately: The Slap, Dear White People, Time Lapse, Tinker Bell And The Legend Of The NeverBeast, Sarah Conner Chronicles, The Hobbit

Posted on March 12, 2015 by Ampersand

The Slap. The first episode of the American TV show made me recall something Gore Vidal once wrote: “Bad books on writing tell you to “WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW”, a solemn and totally false adage that is the reason there … Continue reading →

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“Tribes” by Nina Raine

Posted on March 8, 2015 by Ampersand

(Spoilers ahoy!) I saw a performance of “Tribes,” the award-winning play by British playwright Nina Raine, today. It was good, but… is there a word in English for “something so good that it becomes actively frustrating that it wasn’t better“? … Continue reading →

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Red Pills and Ants

Posted on January 19, 2015 by Louise de Rênal's Left Shoulder

Recent events at a blog that rhymes with Shmetal-Moptimized reminded me of the existence of sociobiology and of people who imagine that human beings – and ants and bonobos and every other species — are driven primarily by biological imperatives, … Continue reading →

Posted in Anti-feminists and their pals, Conservative zaniness, right-wingers, etc., Economics and the like, Feminism, sexism, etc, Fiction, Gender and the Body, Homophobic zaniness/more LGBTQ issues, literature, Men and masculinity, Popular (and unpopular) culture, Rape, intimate violence, & related issues, Sex | Comments Off  

Let’s discuss the Into The Woods movie!

Posted on December 31, 2014 by Ampersand

(Spoilers ahead! Also, the above image collage was swiped from ArtInsights Magazine.) I saw Into The Woods on Christmas, as part of my annual “Chinese food & a movie” Christmas tradition. Some thoughts: 1) Johnny Depp played the Wolf as … Continue reading →

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Because White People Represent All Humanity While Non-White People Are Weird And Distracting

Posted on April 17, 2014 by Ampersand

An interview with Ari Handel, the co-screenwriter of the movie “Noah,” asked him about the movie’s all-white casting. Handel’s answer really captured a lot that is wrong with how Hollywood thinks about race: Q: While there’s a lot of diversity … Continue reading →

Posted in Popular (and unpopular) culture, Race, racism and related issues | Comments Off  

Ten movies (or more) I’ve seen ten (or more) times

Posted on April 11, 2014 by Ampersand

David Neiwert created this meme on Facebook, and it seemed like a good way to waste time to me. :-) 1. City Of Lost Children (1995) 2. Duck Soup (1933) 3. Passion Fish (1992, an obscure gem) 4. Mulan (1998) … Continue reading →

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