Sunday, September 27, 2009

I watched Dor last night.

It is an amazing movie! Om Shanti Om introduced me to Shreyas and I can't believe it's taken this long for me to see him in another movie. He was so cute!

Of course the female actors were amazing as well.

Go see Dor! Netflix has it...

A sweet scene from the movie:

Saturday, September 19, 2009

Barney Fife was the best cop ever!

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Funnier people than I think so.

And I'm sure he was better than the Ropers!

I want this as a poster. The picture, don't care about the words. It takes a special kind of cop's kid to idolize Barney, and I'm just that crazy.

ETA: In light of the link at FWD/Forward (love ya'll!), I'm looking at some of my older posts for ableist language. I'm not going to remove it - life is a learning process, and you have to see where you've been to see how far you've come. (Or something cliched like that.)

If I was writing this post today, I'd replace "crazy" with "that cop's kid." "Weird" might work as well, but I like the repetition aspect. In fact, when writing this (before finding FWD), I'm sure I grappled with word choice. "Crazy" was the cheap, easy way out, and I apologize if it offends anyone drifting over from FWD and finding themselves so bored they're willing to read my ramblings.

Barney Fife forever!

Saturday, September 05, 2009

Sex in movies - Crash vs. Amélie

These are just some thoughts.

I saw Crash for the first time on Monday in Culture, Identity, and Politics anthropology class.

It is very interesting, with a few flaws, but overall it is emotionally draining. (Plus family drama and first day back drama... tears everywhere!)

It's rated R, and it should be - the language and subject matter are mature. It's also probably rated R because of the nudity. (All female.) We see one woman's breasts while she's having sex with her partner. And earlier, we see a painting of a nude woman, full frontal nudity. The nude scenes and sex just seemed to be in there because they could. (Though the sex scene is important, we don't need to see her boobs.)

I really think Bollywood has changed my viewing of movies, which is why I'm bothering to think about this. Plus, it was during school, and nudity with the teacher in the room? Never mind it's college, and I'm the youngest in the class at 21, there's still a feeling of discomfort.


I saw Amélie this spring in French 2020. I'm watching it again in French 3301 (conversational French - the textbook is about conversation using cinema). There are some sex scenes and some boobies, yet it doesn't feel explicit. I remember reading that it has an R rating here because of those scenes, while it has a U rating in France.

The sex and nudity in Amélie feel natural, while those in Crash seemed designed to shock. This probably has a lot to do with the differences between French and American culture, especially our Puritan background.

Of course, the Bollyfan in me squirmed internally at the sex/nudity in Amélie as well as Crash, but intellectually, I can see the difference between the two.