Category Archives: arts

through red red red glasses

Here’s a chuckle: Maoist movie reviews. Disney and Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life” has as good side and a bad side. The good side is that it portrays the successful collective struggle of the apparently weak oppressed and exploited (in this … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, politics | Leave a comment

twelve good algorithms and true

“Jury Service” is an amusing transhuman story by Charlie Stross and Cory Doctorow.

Posted in futures, prose | Leave a comment

it just occurred to me—

is Liv Tyler the world’s most famous bastard?

Posted in cinema | 1 Comment

Orthanc and Minas Ithil

Anyway, I saw The Two Towers yesterday, and I must say some puzzling liberties were taken with the plot. The transformation of thirty Rangers (and Arwen’s brothers) riding from Rivendell into hundreds of anonymous Elf archers walking out of nowhere-in-particular … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, prose | Leave a comment

teeming, with orcs

Straight Dope Message Board – If LotR Had Been Written By Someone Else!? (ten pages so far; I’ve only looked at the first and last, but those are quite good on the whole) Update: The entries have been more neatly … Continue reading

Posted in fandom, prose | Leave a comment

matters not reported in the Red Book of Westmarch

Ever wonder about the economy of Middle-Earth? Like: What do Rangers eat, where do their children sleep, and how do they pay for their beer at the Prancing Pony? What do the goblins of the Misty Mountains eat between dwarves? … Continue reading

Posted in economics, prose | 4 Comments

some spine, man!

This week KTEH showed a Lovejoy episode in which the owner of a splendid collection of Jewish antiques is made to crawl for having acquired it by bartering food and supplies to the ghetto of Cracow during the war. Heaven … Continue reading

Posted in cinema, economics | Leave a comment