Feminist Feature: Legend of the Seeker's Inspiration

I've recently read a book called Women Warriors: A History by David E. Jones, which my students at school have chuckled at because clearly they have not even been exposed to the idea of feminism, of female warriors, or of ancient matriarchal societies.  Out here, it's typical for girls to go straight to the marriage life and pop out babies and be a dutiful wife, silent and complacent and in the kitchen.  Upon reading this book, I came across certain groups or individuals that reminded me of female warriors in television, books, and movies.  Some instances remind me of Legend of the Seeker.  In relation to the TV series and the books, these ancient warrior women are present in the development of the characters.

Here, Kahlan the Mother Confessor is killing the Sisters of the Dark, badassly.

What to look for in 2011: film pt 3

The Ledge
May 29 (limited)
Liv Tyler, Patrick Wilson, Christopher Gorham, Terrance Howard, and Charlie Hunnam star in this thriller revolving around religious differences of an atheist and a Christian. It comes to head when the Christian forces the atheist to rooftop to threaten both their lives: push off the one who has faith in the afterlife or not kill someone and kill himself to save a life. Needless to say this will be uncomfortable and cause decent discourse on the subject at hand.

Feminist Feature: Bridesmaids

First of all, we have a Paul Feig directed comedy co-written by Kristen Wiig.  How can you go wrong?  Its brilliance solely because of their names.  But now onto the feminist points at hand.

All-female casts are becoming more common.  It's not to say they never existed before Baby Mama because they totally did (Witches of Eastwick, anyone?), but they're appealing to a broader audience now with extremely funny ladies.  I've already written on Spring Breakdown and its underrated and misunderstood nature.  (It might have actually been my first post.)  Bridesmaids succeeded in even taking mostly unknown actresses to the general public and created a sweeping greatness that I've not seen in a comedy, well, since Baby Mama.  I've never laughed so hard in my life.

Celtic Corner: Bounding Main

Less Celtic and more maritime, Bounding Main takes traditional Irish, Canadian, and British ballads and shanties and transforms their simple folk melodies into haunting, intricate, tight harmonious tunes. You can hear them having fun in their music and know they're loving it, even if shanty singing doesn't make you rich! They've recently released a new album Kraken Up. Awesome title, right? It kraks me up too.

Happy Beginnings

Happy Endings has been airing two episodes at a time after the waning-in-laughs Cougar Town.  So why should you be watching through Cougar Town or tuning in so late to watch a comedy sure to fail due to its placement so late in the new episode season?  Simple.  It's brilliantly hilarious.  Your world will be bettered because of this show.  Okay, it's a comedy about six friends in a metropolitan area--three men and three ladies--how's it any different than any other comedies, especially those like Friends or Seinfeld?