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Pop culture dispatches from the Great Lakes

Author: Christopher Walsh

Cage Match: Trespass vs. Gone in Sixty Seconds

February 6, 2015 by Christopher Walsh Leave a Comment

Two of Nicolas Cages roles face off and only one can win

Nicolas Cage. We love him; we hate him; we keep coming back for more. Cage Match is a new monthly column that pits two blindly-picked Nicolas Cage films against each other.

We aren’t here to dissect or review these films in their entirety – only their Cage-acity. Jason and Chris watch two Nic Cage films and are each assigned one to argue that it reigns Cage Supreme. The three categories they assess are: Cage of the Mind, Cage of the Body, and Cage of the Soul.

Two Cages enter; one Cage leaves.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Films Tagged: Angelina Jolie, Cage Match, Cage Supreme, Gone in Sixty Seconds, Nic Cage, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Trespass

Getting Swept up in the Oncoming Storm: Doctor Who Series Eight

August 22, 2014 by Christopher Walsh 3 Comments

Peter Capaldi as the Doctor with his companions Clara and Danny

Hello, Whovians! The eighth series of Doctor Who begins tomorrow with a brand new Doctor, and more than a few of us at the Recorder are excited for its return. Karen and Chris sat down to talk about the upcoming series and what they hope (or dread) to see.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Television Tagged: Doctor Who, Peter Capaldi, Steven Moffat

Wonder Woman Suits up for Justice

August 8, 2014 by Christopher Walsh 3 Comments

Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman posing with a sword on what appears to be volcanic terrain

Last week, Zack Snyder released the first picture of Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. The online response has ranged from praise by fans to snarky declarations of the death of sexism to outright rejection. Do we like what we see? [Read more…]

Posted in: Comics & Graphic Novels, Films, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Tagged: Batman v Superman, Dawn of Justice, Gal Gadot, SDCC, Wonder Woman, Zack Snyder

The Fault in Our Star Wars

May 4, 2014 by Christopher Walsh Leave a Comment
Writer/Director/Producer J.J Abrams (top center right) at the cast read-through of Star Wars Episode VII at Pinewood Studios with (clockwise from right) Harrison Ford, Daisy Ridley, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew, Producer Bryan Burk, Lucasfilm President and Producer Kathleen Kennedy, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Mark Hamill, Andy Serkis, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, Adam Driver and Writer Lawrence Kasdan.

Copyright and Photo Credit: David James.

Last Tuesday morning, the Star Wars team announced the cast for Episode VII. Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker will once again take us to a galaxy far, far away, joined by John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. Nerds and news outlets met the news with excitement (John Boyega!), amazement (Max von Sydow!), confusion (Adam Driver?), and a healthy dose of pushback for the dearth of women and people of color. Two female actors have been cast, including a returning Princess Leia, and two people of color have been cast, one of whom (Oscar Isaac) often plays or passes as white (Llewyn Davis in Inside Llewyn Davis, Prince John in Robin Hood, Orestes in Agora). Even if they add the rumored “major female role, which will likely be filled by an actress of mixed race,” the weight of the cast will still be heavily white and male.

This is a problem; I wish to be clear about that because many men disagree. Trawling the comments of any of the articles critiquing the race and gender disparity, you’ll find many voices in support of the critiques and many voices declaring it a nonissue, the latter often from white men. The chorus to their silencing tactics and eye-rolling is:

“Who cares?”
“What’s it matter?”
“Why is this even a thing?”

[Read more…]

Posted in: Films, Sci-Fi/Fantasy Tagged: diversity, fake geek girls, JJ Abrams, representation, representation matters, Star Wars, Star Wars Day, women

Shedding Light on an Unfairly Darkened Age: Nicola Griffith’s Hild

March 28, 2014 by Christopher Walsh Leave a Comment

Andrew and I recently finished Nicola Griffith’s Hild. We shared are thoughts on the book in an email conversation.
book cover with a young Anglo-Saxon woman
Chris: Fiction about the Middle Ages can be a very mixed bag of idealized medievalisms and anachronistic pageantry. Knights gallivant across countrysides regardless of a historical tradition of chivalry in that country, dressed in armor shining bright despite the technology or preferred protection of the time. Honor and such are paramount. I love the Middle Ages, but reading historical fiction set in the time period can be a considerable chore given how many authors opt to write what feels medieval instead of what is medieval. Such is gloriously not the case with Hild.

[Read more…]

Posted in: Books and Literature Tagged: Anglo-Saxon, Hild, Middle Ages, Nicola Griffith, review

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