The Best Space Film Ever Done

If you follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed my rants about the movie Gravity (which my head insists on calling Graffiti for some reason) a while back. I didn’t like the film, but that’s not unusual with me and current Hollywood films. However, it then won the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation and I wondered if I had watched a completely different film than everyone else. Because really? A film whose only merit is its visual effects is considered an outstanding dramatic presentation? Weak story, no-dimensional characters, and a Perils of Pauline ending that is just a joke are apparently amazing cinema nowadays. You even have someone like James Cameron saying “I think it’s the best space film ever done…”

Weekly Linkroll

Summer has arrived in Vermont, at least for the weekend. Hot and muggy and time to clean the carpets? Yeah, don’t ask. But they’re mostly done, and I’m recuperating on the couch with a cold drink and links for you. Enjoy!

What Do We Really Know About Vampires?
From R.G. Emanuelle at Women & Words. House of cards, people.

Copyright and Using the Work of Others
A good reminder from Karen Gadient. Don’t be grabby and rude–a good philosophy to live by.

Hot pants, wobbly toning shoes, and the latest in skinny making fashion
Sam B. at Fit, Feminist, and (almost) Fifty on the scam of exercise fashion. Yoga pants and seaweed?

The Distress of the Privileged
The Weekly Sift dissects privilege and the folks who just want their dinner.

A Safer and More Caring Society
On the anniversary of the murder of Dr. George Tiller, we also mourn the death of Dr. Henry Morgenthaler, the man who succeeded in making abortion legal in Canada. The Belle Jar shares her thoughts in a beautiful essay.

25 Vintage Photos of Librarians Being Awesome
Hannah Meiklejohn shares a great collection of library pics that she reblogged from Flavorwire. Librarians rock.

Let me tell you a thing, about an amazing man named Patrick Stewart
LemonSweetie tells us about her meeting with Patrick Stewart. It’s gonna get dusty.

Casting Lord of the Rings, the gender swap and POC version
This is amazing. Sabrina Vourvoulias at Following the Lede recasts Lord of the Rings. My only question: where’s Gina Torres? She would make an awesome Aragorn, too. Or Boromir. Ooh, wouldn’t that be interesting?

A Transcript of Joss Whedon’s 2013 Wesleyan Commencement Speech
How could I not link to this? Joss Whedon’s commencement address at Wesleyan. Pretty cool. Although I learned that in Billie Jean King‘s commencement address at Williams College today, she played tennis with the audience. Wish I’d seen that!

 

Weekend Linkroll

Here we are again. It’s Sunday. I have coffee. Time for this week’s links.

The Believer – Interview with Maurice Sendak
A wonderful interview from last year. What a cool guy.

Homophobia is bad, says the AP. (Don’t get excited — it’s not what you think.)
I’ve always preferred heterosexist to homophobic, myself, but this doesn’t seem good to me. Of course, it’s the AP. We shouldn’t expect anything good.

Why are women scared to call themselves feminists?
This article only covers privileged white folk not wanting to call themselves feminists, but it still brings up some interesting points.

Men Against Assholes & Misogyny
Over on this tumblr, though, there are men proud to call themselves feminist. Kinda neat.

Don’t Mess with a Browncoat
Who’s the fake geek here, eh? Gorram sha gua, indeed.