Comics Are for Everyone: Less Capitalism, More Telepathy Please

Comics Are for Everyone: Less Capitalism, More Telepathy Please

Recently, I dived back into reading comics (thereby neglecting my movie watching) and my collection of comic examples has become crazy huge, so today I’ll celebrate my 300th blog post (seriously, 300! 280,000 words! But who’s counting?) with an extra-long comic edition. And if you think “I can skip this one, I don’t care about comics”, please give it try anyway, maybe you’ll see that it doesn’t always have to be about superheroes.

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The Daniel Quinn Files: Ishmael (5)

The Daniel Quinn Files: Ishmael (5)

Last time, we arrived at the end of the myth we tell ourselves about the origin of mankind. That we are working through a constantly progressing development which makes us better and better until humans, the top of the species, will be able to control everything. But Ishmael promised to tell a different story, a story about knowledge of having a way to live which we deny even exists. I’m not sure how much of a “secret” this is anymore, but I still like that part because it goes beyond what we think is there, uncovering what is right in front of our eyes.

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The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant (2015)

The Revenant is a breath-taking movie, a visceral experience that not many movies can provide and while it may not be super-deep (as some critics accuse it to be), it resonated deeply with me on a pure emotional and symbolic level. Leonardo DiCaprio gives a great performance, but then he always does, so a real surprise for me was Tom Hardy. His performance is impressive in the many layers he finds for his character and put him on my radar (where DiCaprio has been for a while already). But no review could ignore the director Alejandro González Iñárritu because the movie is really noteworthy for its amazing filming style. The incredible long takes, the beautiful shots of snow and forests and mountains and horizons, the savageness of many scenes and at the same time the courage to analyze how we depict others as savages. Emmanuel Lubezki must be one of the greatest cinematographers of our time and he would just with this movie and Children of Men alone (and I loved the similarities like the blood on the lenses). The score by Ryuichi Sakamoto (and many others) is great, even the visual effects work quite well for such a seemingly naturalistic movie. I loved it and wasn’t bored for a second of its 152 minutes, even if not that much happens.

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Noah (2014)

Noah (2014)

Noah is a movie that has a certain fascination with it, but ultimately fails, but mostly ideologically. Cinematically, it is often impressive but also gets lost in CGI and awkward plot threads. It has an unusual protagonist that is very hard to like, which makes it a perfect role for Russell Crowe. The movie is… I don’t know, it certainly has its appeal and you can see some of the interesting thoughts that went into it, also not trying to make it a dumb faith-movie (it really isn’t) and treating it simply as a compelling story. But for whatever reason, the movie doesn’t really work. As a fan of Darren Aronofsky this is hard to watch even if you see his touches here and there. But in the end, my biggest problem with the movie is its message, which I’ll further analyze below.

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Behind These Castle Walls, Part II: Pinocchio (1940)

Behind These Castle Walls, Part II: Pinocchio (1940)

For the second movie in my Disney series we get to the second animated full-length feature which is Pinocchio, released in 1940. I’d say as a movie it’s not as well known as some of the other Disney movies, while still pretty popular. Just as Snow White it is a well-made movie with great animation and interesting, creative set pieces. The story, based on a novel, was changed significantly and is at least as problematic as Snow White’s, in my opinion. While many themes are similar, some new ones are also introduced. But let’s get to the analytical details of this one, it won't be short.

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Book Report - 2004 Edition: Building Temples, Cheering and Getting to the Final Sentence [2004 Week]

Book Report - 2004 Edition: Building Temples, Cheering and Getting to the Final Sentence [2004 Week]

I was tempted to write about music this week because the albums from this year were so important to me. But then I thought again about the books from 2004 and I wondered if I will ever have a year with at least three books that really mean a lot to me and that have something to say that fits here. So, welcome to the 2004 Book Report!

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Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011)

Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011)

Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (I’ll never fully get used to those semi-part names) is, well, an entry in the Twilight series and I’m not surprising anyone by saying it’s not great. It’s silly and boring and too long and weird. I haven’t seen the last part of the series but it didn’t really matter, I had no problem getting into the story, which mostly comes from the fact that there is a minimum of story. Enough people wrote about this movie, too, so I don’t need to get into the whole abortion/pro-life debate, also because I find it somewhat boring. I feel the movie is more ambiguous about it than most angry people say and it fits that it raises question it doesn’t want to answer. Just like its incredibly passive main character Bella, the movie is very good at whatever.

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Comics Are for Everyone: 2012 Edition - Occupying Jokers, Transgender Aliens and the Web of Life [2012 Week]

Comics Are for Everyone: 2012 Edition - Occupying Jokers, Transgender Aliens and the Web of Life [2012 Week]

As I mentioned before, 2012 had a lot of comics in it and I read many of those. So I thought today I spent some time flipping through more than 1,000 issues to see what is noticeable in those comic books. What, you say that’s crazy? Too much? You’re right, actually. I’ll try to focus on which current events were portrayed in some of those comics and also look at some interesting messages regarding humanity. So, the usual.

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