Sometimes I don't get pop culture. Sometimes it makes total sense.

[rsadelle]

What are they talking about?
I really like The Killers' "Somebody Told Me," but I don't get it at all. Every time I hear it, I think it's about some kind of transgendered love triangle, but it's way too popular to actually be about that, right?

Thanks, Britney. Really.
Have you heard the latest things coming out of her mouth? And people think feminist thought has no relevance to today's world.

Another contender.
Remember Napoleon Dynamite and The Perfect Score? Well, last night we went to see Alexander. Somehow, we only end up seeing unbearably bad movies when it's Brad's turn to pay.

Let's set aside the politics and historical inaccuracies for a moment. I don't think I have ever heard dialogue that bad in a movie. Did no one read this script before they shot it? Did no one think, "Hmm, maybe we could make this sound just a bit better"? At one point, I said to Brad, "Can we fast forward to the killing?" And then there was killing, and it was horribly shot. The only good thing about the battle scenes were the camels the Persians had. That was cool.

When they were in India, I was totally distracted from the movie (not that I really wanted to pay full attention to it) by trying to figure out if they would have seen elephants before then. There are African elephants, after all. The Carthaginians used them. But then I remembered that Carthage was much, much later than Alexander, and I don't think there were elephants in Egypt.

The entire attitude toward homosexuality was totally historically inaccurate, and it irritated the hell out of me that Alexander grows up to be this rough and rugged leader while his lovers are so feminine. (Imagine that here I have gone off on an explanatory tangent about the societal construction of gender.) His relationship with Hephaistion is also ridiculously inaccurate. I don't know what was up with the tortured love affair thing; I think Oliver Stone is the only person who doesn't know that they would have just had sex instead of angsting about their love. And why is there nothing about Alexander setting Hephaistion up as a divine hero? Of course, if they had done that, the movie would have gone on until we all died of old age.

It really pisses me off that historical epics are so filtered through the lens of twentieth-century concerns. Like Prince of Egypt, Alexander is far too concerned with family drama. Sure, it was the Greeks who came up with the Oedipus story, but that doesn't mean that Alexander's twisted relationship with his mother is what drove the whole plot of his life.

And now, politics. Fair-skinned, blond, Western Alexander defeats the Persian army and rides into Babylon where the Persians cheer his arrival. Am I the only one who has a problem with this?

Pop culture Thanksgiving I.
Read what Rick Kushman's thankful for. He made me cry this morning.

Pop culture Thanksgiving II.
If you're looking for some good to do this holiday season, consider giving to Child's Play. Child's Play is a way for gamers and other geeks to donate video games, books, and a few other toys to any of five children's hospitals. Read the letters; they'll make you cry.

Thanksgiving.
I'm thankful for my job, my apartment, my coworkers, my family, my education, my health. I'm thankful for all of you. I'm thankful for Brad and my other meatspace friends. I'm thankful that the Donut Nook was open this morning. I'm thankful for an upbringing that made me into a strong, independent adult. I'm thankful for Once a Thief on DVD and official From Eroica With Love translations. I'm thankful for Amazon and Barnes and Noble and Collector's Ink. I'm thankful that no one in my life is in danger of dying in war this holiday season. I'm thankful for all of the people who work to make the world a better place for all of us to live in.

Comments

[rsadelle]

I don't know. I find Amazon clips to actually be not that helpful. They aren't really enough to give me a sense of the music.