Archive for the ‘Pop Culture’ tag
Eastern Promises: Violence and Horror in Film
Eastern Promises is the latest film directed by David Cronenberg and stars Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, and Armin Mueller-Stahl.
Cronenberg has a bizarre repertoire of films with a flair for the grotesque. Not only are his movies often graphically violent, but they serve as veritable meditations on the effects of violence, both emotionally and bodily. [...]
Vatican Blasts "Golden Compass" as Godless and Hopeless
That is the headline from Reuters earlier this week. Calling for a boycott of the recent film based on the controversial trilogy, His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman, the Vatican statement elaborates: “when man tries to eliminate God from his horizon, everything is reduced, made sad, cold and inhumane”. Also according to Reuters, [...]
The Golden Compass Lost Its Direction
Hi folks,
I just posted a few comments on the Pullman movie over at my department’s new blog which you can see right here.
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Golden Compass Tanks at the Box Office
It’s a dud, folks. I went to see it today and it’s just not that good of a movie. Aside from Pullman’s atheistic agenda, this movie is mostly a bore. Seemingly, not many folks are rushing out to see it. Check this out. It only made about 9 million bucks [...]
I Agree with Philip Pullman…
… about one thing. And that is that stories teach. They, in fact, often teach more effectively than any other method I could name.
Here is what the controversial author of The Golden Compass (vol. 1 of His Dark Materials) had to say when accepting an award for it in 1996: [...]
Facebook Is the Future
If you haven’t figured out the significance of the whole internet social networking phenomenon, here’s an article from TIME mag that will help.
Why Facebook Is the Future – TIME
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Pullman’s "The Golden Compass"
Many of you have seen the spectacular preview for the upcoming movie, The Golden Compass, which is based upon the novel by Philip Pullman of the same name.
The Golden Compass is the first volume of the well-known and rightfully controversial His Dark Materials Trilogy. I’ve read the books and expect the movies to be [...]
Pandora Radio
Check out Pandora Radio. I’d tried it out once before but quickly forgot all about it.
It’s commercial free internet radio where you get to customize the playlist.
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Born Into Brothels
Don’t let the title of this amazing documentary film confuse you. This is not a movie about prostitution. It is a movie about real children. Amazing children.
Originally planning to reveal the plight of women in Calcutta, India, documentarian Zana Briski found herself unexpectedly charmed by the children of prostitutes who were literally [...]
The Value of Shock Value
Can horror films serve a useful purpose? Jeffrey Overstreet thinks so. And I agree. Oh most horror films are probably, at best, merely entertainments for adrenaline junkies. Rather, most of them are harmful gore-fests that desensitize the viewer to human suffering and feed a broken sadistic appetite to see people cut [...]
