Well, Now that I finished the Halloween Challenge I can get back to doing this.
One of the current exhibits at the Seattle Art Museum “City Dwellers: Contemporary Art From India” a selection of contemporary art from all around India. Most of it’s photography but all of it is a fascinating commentary about the fusion of progress and tradition in modern Indian society.
What has been the figure head of the Exhibit is “India Shining V” of “Ghandi with an iPod by Debanjan Roy. I think what can be perceived as tacky (it’s virtually shellacked in a bright Red) was done on purpose to shock the viewer as a less than subtle commentary on the “India Shining” marketing slogan… it does grow on you after a while.
For this week’s selection I learned why you need to plan ahead when going to Scarecrow’s. I had decided to do Swashbuckler films this week but it had been a long day so even though I had a list of recommendations I pretty much stuck to what was on the Swashbuckler shelf… all two shelves of it and none of the films on the actual list there.
The first film I watched “Seven Seas to Calais” I picked just because I liked the name. It’s pretty much a highly romanticized cliff notes version of the career of Francis Drake starting with his famous voyage and ending with the Spanish Armada. With the plot to rescue Mary, Queen of Scots, thrown in for good measure. It wasn’t bad but hardly memorable either. Being a fan of Elizabethan history and having seen better and more serious versions of these events frankly it was hard to take the whole thing seriously.(For example they never said WHY any one was supporting Mary, Queen of Scots.) For the most part it was a matter of sitting back and enjoy the fight scenes… Also trying to find humor in the history of the potato. (apparently it was the name of a Native American princess that our point of view character found himself with. )
The next film, Cutthroat Island, I heard of in fact I’d seen bits of it at some of my favorite video stores after it came out. I had heard it was one of two movies trying to bring back the genre (now that I think about it, I’m a little hazy about that second movie, even if it existed or not) with no success. While I had heard it was a failure I had not heard just how much of a colossal flop it had been. I went in expecting something I could enjoy far more that i enjoyed slogging through Seven Seas. Instead what I got was a by the numbers attempt at a blockbuster involving a standard Pirates hunting for gold plot that is about as predictable as it sounds. The numerous action scenes and gorgeous location shots really couldn’t save the film from it’s painful script, bad acting and flat characters.(though to it’s credit I thought the cinematography was pretty decent)
Unfortunately because of a few loose ends in the continuity, Michelle, Hsin and a few other individuals won’t be talking about their experiences until next week at least!
I’ve been participating with the Webcomic Underdog web cartoonist group and it’s been an enjoyable network to be a part of. What makes things more interesting is I participated in one of the first group activities, which consists of a group poster where all of the artists provide art of their characters to create a collage of a Halloween party. It just got posted.
Anyway Michelle got Hsin to take her in Monday’s strip. You can see them up on the top balcony. I plan to refer to it a few more times next month. Anyway go take a look and see what you think.
I had originally vowed I wouldn’t use “Thriller“ in my playlist, and if I bothered to plan ahead a little bit I probably would have. But hey whatever I may think of Michael Jackson I am a fan of director John Landis’s work and Vincent Price’s voice over forgives much.