Showing posts with label essays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label essays. Show all posts

Sunday 21 February 2021

Nerd Church - Popular Vs Pretentious: I Read Martin Scorsese's Essay So You Don't Have To

 


Why are popular films, and popular media in general, somehow seen as unworthy?

Who decides what counts as Art anyways? 

Cos being asked to locate the grand-high judge of all things artsy films would not have me running to call Martin Scorsese (...who would totally take my call, because let's face it, I'm awesome and stubborn as a mule persistent.)


'Popular Vs Pretentious: I Read Martin Scorsese's Essay So You Don't Have To' against a crinkled brown-paper background


In a pretentious burst of overly-descriptive prose, Martin Scorsese's essay in Harper's Magazine was published this week to the irritation of many fans of superhero blockbusters and popular films.

Why? 

Well, Scorsese previously ran his mouth about Marvel movies in 2019, and it seems that even in this current piece about the artsy Italian director Federico Fellini, he couldn't resist some entitled barbs at films that people actually like watching.

It's titled, 'Il Maestro: Federico Fellini and the lost magic of cinema' because... why not? I guess?


Wednesday 4 October 2017

Month in Review(s) - September 2017

September was a mixed bag.



But then, that's life I suppose! Still, it was my birthday month, so there's that at least ;)


(I ate soooo much pizza and chocolate cake!!!! 🎂🎂🎂🍕🍕🍕😁)









2017 September calendar pic





Wednesday 20 September 2017

Wednesday 31 August 2016

Month In Review(s) - August 2016

August. Ahhhh, August.





(I can't resist a happy-dog-in-sunglasses pic!)




August was actually a pretty good month for me.

Despite how difficult my anxiety made it, I came out as sexually fluid; and that felt great ;)






Blog-wise, less impressive stats than last month. But they were still pretty damn good :)

Over 4k page-views this month, reaching over 25k page-views over-all!!!!!!!!!!! XD I mean - wow! 25k!!!!!! XD XD

(Actually I've now reached over 26k, but 25 is such a round and shiny number, lol!)

And I now have over 950 followers on Twitter.

Things've stagnated a little on BlogLovin' - but still trotting along with a handful of new followers this month :)



And shameless plug time!

The Bookish Diversity Link List 2016 is up and running.

Be sure to check it out, and let me know if you find anything I can add! (It's easier when people help me, lol.)




Kids




The Bone Sparrow by Zana Fraillon - contemporary, magic realism





Young Adult



Switched by Amanda Hocking - fantasy, paranormal* (*ish)





Adult









Graphic Novels




Limbo, Volume 1 - fantasy*, horror*, crime* (*ish)
Kilala Disney Princess, Vol 1 - young adult, fantasy, manga, fairy tale, media tie-in






Thursday 25 August 2016

Comics Wrap-Up - And She Thinks She's Made Of Candy






Graphic Novels




This week I reviewed cotton-candy sweet Disney Kilala Princess, Vol 1 (UK - USA ).





This is a re-release of an old, very popular, series from Tokyopop (for whose resurrection we are all very thankful,) and is uber-cute!

You can read my review here.






Single Issues





I've just finished reading Sun Dragon's Song #1 by Joyce Chng and Kim Miranda - I'll be writing a mini-review of this beautifully-illustrated comic soon :)

(Why a mini-review and not a big, grown-up, full-blown, review? Because it's 24 pages long - a mini-review will be enough, methinks!)






Other Stuff




This week I reviewed the non-fiction book Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life by Liesa Mignona (Ed.) (UK - USA).








This is a fantastic and beautiful book - not just about superheroes, but about the people who use them for hope, inspiration, and strength.




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Panels - one of the best Comics-devoted blogs/websites out there - is closing. Instead there will be a comics section to their sister site, Book Riot.







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Saturday 20 August 2016

Review Time! - Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life By Liesa Mignona (Ed.)








Title: Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life

Editor: Liesa Mignona

Genre: Non-fiction, Essays

Amazon: UK - USA





A few starting notes:

I received a free digital review copy of this book via NetGalley. NetGalley provides review copies from publishers in exchange for fair and honest reviews.

Frequent readers of this blog will be aware that yours truly is a nerdgirl extraordinaire with much-love for the superpowers and the capes.

Superheroes are more than just characters to me - like books in general, they are a lifeline.

This book - about how superheroes can be real-life heroes too - was calling out my name.





Premise:

Superheroes can be a huge part of our lives - in this compilation, contributors from Neil Gaiman, to Jodi Picoult, to Leigh Bardugo, write about what superheroes mean to them.




Best bits:

I dare anyone to not find something here which speaks to them.

Whether you're a superhero fan or not, you will find one essay at least, among the many here, which shows how the deepest meanings can be found in the pop culture we drink in every day, often without giving it a second thought.

And it will serve as an explanation, I hope, to all of the people who look at cosplayers, comic-conners, and fandom, with disdain.

There are reasons we love this stuff. Heroes matter.








Those of you already converted to all things labelled 'Marvel' and/or 'DC' will love this book. It's a celebration of the things we love, by others who love them too.

This book shows that superheroes are as versatile as their readers - often fun and light-hearted, with a variety of traumas and complexities in their histories, who, at the end of the day, are human. (Yes, superhuman counts as human too.)

And, as most of the contributors are already writers of a pretty high calibre, the whole thing manages to flow pretty damned well.

I read it straight-through, but the beauty of an essay book is that it's easy to dip in-and-out of. If you don't connect with one essay, just find one that's more interesting to you :)





Not so great bits:

OK, so, there were superheroes discussed here which won't be known to the general public (i.e. the non-nerdy,) and there were a couple that left even me wracking my brains for reference-points.

I managed to muddle through, but readers who are less knowledgeable on all things hero may wind up skipping the odd essay here and there.

And, obviously, when given a book with this amount of voices you aren't going to agree with all of them.








The essay about Wolverine promoting 'real' masculinity? Yeah... I wasn't a fan. Especially as 'real' masculinity here seemed to involve promoting violence. Just not my thing, pal, sorry.

For people who dislike such things, I should mention that there's swearing.

Also, this book deals with a lot of issues which people may find themselves coping with.

Including (but not limited to): bereavement, mental health problems, sexual abuse, child abuse, and a huge amount of family issues.

It's all handled very well, but I thought that I'd give you the heads-up: this is a beautiful book, but it deals with some very hard subjects.





Verdict:

Any fans of superheroes (or those who want to understand the proper care and maintenance of your nerd,) will find a beautiful and inspiring collection of personal experiences.

Sometimes, superheroes are real heroes too.













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Thursday 11 August 2016

Comics Wrap Up - Gallons of the Stuff


TV Trailers


Here's Netflix's trailer for their adaptation of Marvel's Luke Cage:





Looks pretty cool. Unfortunately, I still don't have Netflix.

And before everyone starts going 'it's only x-pounds per month' let me remind you that I don't have a lot of money. And the money I do have goes on books. 

Luckily, since I live in my parents' house, I mooch off of their Sky+ a lot ;)





Graphic Novels



This week I read Vertigo's First Offenses (UK - US) which is more an anthology of single issues than a graphic novel, but I'm totally putting it in this section (because I feel like it dammit!)




So, like I said, this is made up of single issues. 5 series starters from Vertigo's versatile range of devil-may-care comics:
  • The Invisibles #1
  • Fables #1
  • Preacher #1
  • Sandman Mystery Theatre #1
  • Lucifer #1



My favourites had to be... Preacher #1 and Lucifer #1.

Both are kind of based in subverted religious iconography - so I really don't know what that says about me! But they were pretty damned good, and I may read more of these series in the future.

All in all, a good little selection - and it really shows the quality of the Vertigo imprint :)







Other Stuff




I've just finished an excellent essay collection - Last Night, A Superhero Saved My Life (UK - US) - edited by Liesa Mignona, about how superheroes make a difference to every-day life. It's great.





I'll be reviewing it soon :)






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I also kind of binge-read all of Linda Sejic's Blood Stain series on DeviantArt - not as convenient as waiting for the collected volume (read my review of vol 1 here) but like the crazy-a*s fangirl dedicated reader that I am, I read the whole thing :)

I also managed to scare my cat (the fluffy white boy-cat, Jango, in case you're familiar with my cats) by laughing at it at a random moment.




And I managed to succeed in being exceptionally awkward and tagging a random instead of Linda on Twitter! (I need the Coffee God now Linda... please?)






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