Monday, October 26, 2009

Hello! Here we are with Monday links for you.

In art: I love the work of Andy Awesome and think it would look fantastic as a series of framed prints. Also fantastic is this image of space exploration over the past 50 years -- check out the huge original size for all the details.

Did you know that Albania has 750,000 abandoned concrete bunkers dotting the country? It's true, and a documentary is on the way studying what some people have done with these "concrete mushrooms," and what to do with them in the future.

Strong females apparently equal box office poison these days. Why is that, exactly?

Just in time for Halloween, you can visit the online Edgar Allan Poe Digital Collection at the University of Texas. Begone!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Jinnet,

Wow. The Women & Film article exhausted me. My spirit has finally been broken. I have nothing left, (well, ok, I have enough left to spew forth my strong opinions on the matter : P)

(In the spirit of the Halloween season), the following quote disembowled me and then strangled me with my intestines:

What women will go see, observers agree, are groups of women in comedies, a la "Sex and the City," "Mamma Mia!" and "He's Just Not That Into You." (Each of them, it bears noting, was based on a popular TV show, musical and book.) "Women like going out in groups to watch women interacting in groups," says Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst for Hollywood.com. "And they are very loyal. If they discover something they like, they tell their friends about it. Women were social networking way before Facebook."

Really? All women? All the time? And men do not exhibit these behaviors, ever? So, when the Hangover was a big hit, a comedy about a group of men, did men not discuss it with their friends? Are they not loyal to their favorite comedians?

I guess, essentially, it bothers me greatly that marketing research has the power to limit my choices. I think it hurtful to everyone when people so easily accept "men are this and women are that," theories. It's too confining. Perhaps, we should let artists make the films of their choosing without being so worried about the profit margin.