More than a year ago, in a post titled “The Nipple Exposed,” I wondered why our public morality has grown increasingly prurient in its fascination with open displays of nipples.
Category: Spleen
The category, Spleen, is for posts that make us angry.
Dissing the Oscars – Wrap Up
I feel so dirty, like I’ve been watching porn against my will. Now it’s time to step into the shower and wash away that disgusting feeling that comes from watching a multi-billion dollar industry laud itself on making record profits during the most significant economic recession since Academy Awards were instituted.
Dissing the Oscars – Up
At last I look at the 10th and final film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar by the esteemed Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Up, an animated feature film from Disney’s Pixar Studios.
Dissing the Oscars – An Education
Lone Scherfig’s An Education is the 9th of the Best Picture nominees I consider as I gear up for the Academy Awards this Sunday March 7th. Like another nominee, The Blind Side, this film is based on a true story (Nick Hornby’s adaptation of Lynn Barber’s memoir).
Dissing the Oscars – The Hurt Locker
The worst review I could find of Kathryn Bigelow’s The Hurt Locker comes from Variety. Nevertheless, it is better than the best review of The Blind Side (I am still incredulous that The Blind Side has been nominated in any category).
Dissing the Oscars – The Blind Side
The Blind Side is the fifth Best Picture nominee I consider in my quest for the worst movie review of an Oscar contender. I have to confess that I made a mistake when I wrote about Avatar, suggesting that it might win an award for the most heavily dissed film. The Blind Side is the clear winner.
Dissing the Oscars – Avatar & District 9
In my continuing quest for negative reviews of 2010 Best Picture Academy Award nominees, I turn now to the science fiction nominees. First up is James Cameron’s Avatar, the Rupert Murdoch financed 3D sci-fi extravaganza that has grossed more than $2.46 bn as of this writing.
Dissing the Oscars – Up In The Air
This is the second in a series that looks at reviewers who diss the Best Picture Oscar contenders. While Jason Reitman’s Up In The Air, starring George Clooney and Vera Farmiga, has received favourable attention from both the New Yorker and The New York Times, not all reviewers see it as Oscar worthy.
Bill C-32, education fair use video
You know you are dealing with really conservative people when they lobby for legal provisions more stringent than those proposed by the Harper Conservatives. Bill C-32 is a case in point.
Dissing the Oscars – Precious
With the approach of the Academy Awards ceremony on March 7th, I’ve decided to take a look at films nominated in the Best Picture category. Watching a whole batch of commercial American films is a bit like locking yourself overnight in a candy factory.
Vancouver McDonald’s Olympics 2010
On Friday February 12th, 2010, the Vancouver Winter Olympics officially began. While half the sentient universe was watching the opening ceremonies on TV, I was reading a book.
Do you believe in evolution?
There’s a facebook group called: We can find 1,000,000 people who DO believe in Evolution before June.
A Lesson in Humiliation from David Bezmozgis
Born in Riga, Latvia, in 1973, Bezmozgis came to Toronto with his parents when he was six. His collection of seven stories is, according to one reviewer, loosely autobiographical and presents us with a series of vignettes from the point of view of his fictional alter-ego, Mark Berman.
Tofu Pies – Weapons of Mass Instruction
MP Gerry Byrne thinks that throwing a pie at a public servant falls within the definition of terrorism. This brilliant suggestion came after Fisheries Minister, Gail Shea, got a cream pie full in the face while speechifying in Burlington, ON on Jan. 25th.
Polarized Discourse at Christmas
Why have our conversations become so polarized? Think of the news this year. Think of how the stories have lined up depending upon the source.