Timeshredder's New Writeups

Batwoman (person)

2009-11-28T19:07:27Z

She began life as one of the few superheroes to appear after the Golden Age of Comix but before the Silver Age got underway. She came about because of the reactionary politics and homophobia of the 1950s—- but when they remade her for the twenty-first century, she became the most prominent lesbian in mainstream comics, actually inheriting DC Comic's namesake title.¹

"That's not Batgirl..." thinks hardboiled detective Renee Montoya, when the character makes her second debut. "That's a Batwoman! Hot damn!"

In 1954, Dr. Fredric Wertham published Seduction of the Innocent, a sensationalistic attack on comic books which made headlines and turned the conservative psychiatrist into the toast of the PTA circuit. Among his many charges: comic books encouraged homosexuality and sadomasochism.

Batman and Robin, in particular, were "a wish dream of two homosexuals living together."…

Paranormal Activity (review)

2009-10-31T21:35:06Z

While you lay sleeping, things in your house move. You're certain they were somewhere else the day before.

As you lay in uncomfortable half-sleep, voices sound in your hallway. Footsteps fall just beyond the bedroom door. When you check the hall, no one is there.

You finally return to fitful slumber. Someone stands over you. Staring. For hours.

You catch this all on camera. The distant movement. The noises. The person standing, apparently not in a right mind.

Paranormal Activity has been creeping around in variant forms since 2007, and recently received its big-screen release. Some consider it the scariest movie of all time. As I write this is has just become the most profitable one, thanks to its very small budget and terrific gross. I found that it fell short of the hype, but it does provide a moderately disturbing experience and raises some uncomfortable thoughts about how well we know the…

Zombieland (review)

2009-10-10T11:48:36Z

In the wake of a global zombie pandemic, a motley crew of survivors—- over time—- bands together. We're in the latest spin on George A. Romero and, if the film lacks originality, it succeeds at being frightening, funny, and (at times, needlessly) gory, in the manner of an amusement park dark ride. Indeed, it runs exactly like a thrill ride. It lacks the social relevance and originality of Night of the Living Dead, and it's nowhere near as satiric and clever as Shaun of the Dead. Zombieland works if one approaches it on its own tongue-in-cheek terms.

Originally scripted as a tv series pilot, this zombie-apocalypse version of the cozy catastrophe could have been an exploitative disaster. Even with the frequently witty script, Zombieland might have remained a minor hit, enjoyed by a niche audience. The film owes a good deal of its success to the overall direction and the stellar performances.…

The Last House on the Left (review)

2009-10-03T18:00:16Z

To avoid fainting, keep repeating "It's only a movie... It's only a movie...."

A pair of teenage girls encounters a group of brutal, sadistic killers, led by a maniac named Krug.¹ After Krug and his deranged band torture, molest, dismember, and kill the girls, they take refuge in the titular home: occupied, as fate would have it, by the parents of their principal victim.

The parents-- one of whom is a doctor-- uncover the identity of their unexpected guests.

Wes Craven announced his presence to the world with this film, which he wrote and directed. He took his inspiration, believe it or not, from Ingmar Bergman's Jungfrukällan (The Virgin Spring), itself based on an ancient folk ballad. Craven gives the plot new, if repulsive, life, and ushers in an age of boundary-pushing horror and so-called torture porn. I leave individual readers to decide whether this constitutes a good thing. Audiences…

Moxyland (review)

2009-09-03T00:49:57Z

She only installed it this afternoon, snuck in undercover with security, so it's the first time I've seen it in the flesh. It's gruesome, red, and meaty, like something dead turned inside-out and mangled, half-collapsed in on itself with spines and ridges and fleshy strings and some kind of built-in speakers, which makes the name even more disturbing: Woof & Tweet.

I don't understand how it works, but it's to do with reverb and built-in resonator-speakers. It's culling sounds from around us, remixing ambient audio, conversations, footsteps, glasses clinking, rustling clothing, through the systems of its body, disjointed parts of it inflating, like it's breathing, spines quivering (166-7).

In the Cape Town of the near future, the lives of four twentysomethings—- an obnoxious, narcissistic blogger, a sponsor-augmented artist, an artistically-inclined activist, and a corporate hacker—- find their lives entwine as each faces the…

Paradise City: Degrassi Goes Hollywood (review)

2009-09-01T13:44:39Z

"Degrassi kids just have this honesty that Hollywood kids lack."
--Jason Mewes.

Back in the '70s, a sitcom called Happy Days hit it big. The sanitized portrayal of teen life in the 1950s, despite its family-friendly tv sensibility, initially featured some real issues, moderately touching moments, and something that was almost—- but never quite—- an edge. Despite the stylized plots and characterizations, the show's early episodes had some grounding in the Eisenhower era. Fonzie, the hood with a heart of gold, was still a hood; he had a difficult past and some definite criminal associations.

As the show grew in popularity, it changed. The plots grew even more contrived; the characters, cartoonier. Real historical references largely disappeared, as the show increasingly referenced its own in-jokes and popularity. This incarnation of the show gained even greater fame, but over time, the changes, the sitcom…