A Change Has Gotta Come
I’ve been quiet because sometimes social media doesn’t feel like the ideal place to work through the inequities strangling our culture. I’ve been quiet because I don’t want a comment on Facebook or Twitter to make me feel that I’ve done my part. I’ve been quiet because I want to receive the best information I can about how this 40something lady can be of use before I start adding my voice to the conversation. But my quiet has nothing to do with my dissociation from the injustices coming to our attention. I pray we all can take action on the (cellular, systemic) levels on which true change can take place–and I join my heart with all who are already lending their bodies and voices to this struggle, as well as with the many who have lost their loved ones, their lives, their faith.
Jingle This
In the midst of tackling a seemingly unsurmountable mountain of end-of-year work, I keep flashing on the orange cinderblock walls of my junior high school principal’s office. For a kid who did okay in school, I spent an awful lot of time in the principal’s office–no surprise, probably. Combine hormones with a deeply ingrained mistrust of authority, and I was born to be an 8th grade teacher’s nightmare. Also no surprise that I keep flashing on that pocket of purgatory right about now. My malaise: the holidaze.
Starch, Schmaltz and ‘The Imitation Game’
“The Imitation Game” may be released by The Weinstein Company but it feels pure Miramax, Bob and Harvey Weinstein’s first production company. This is not a condemnation of the film. Rather, it is (mostly) a commendation: In their 1990s Miramax glory days, the Weinstein Brothers – though so reportedly controlling that Harvey earned the nickname “Scissorhands” – produced a steady stream of high-caliber, relatively high-grossing projects that, with unapologetic gloss and just enough edge, recalled the golden era of mid-twentieth century Hollywood. (That is, if movies from that era had focused upon heroin addicts, slackers, gangsters, and various emissaries of the queer community).
Certainly this account of Alan Turing, the cryptologist who helped win World II only to commit suicide after being persecuted for homosexuality, has all the makings of a prestige biopic. It’s about a lone wolf defeating seemingly insurmountable odds with a series of heart-rending victories and defeats. It boasts expertly paced, lavish direction by Norwegian hotshot Morten Tyldum. Benedict Cumberbatch, that nerdy hunk known for portraying smart-alecky problem solvers (Julian Assange, Sherlock Holmes), stars as Turing. Keira Knightley, the thinking man (and woman)’s dream girl, plays Turing’s fiancé, Joan, whose big brains are overlooked because of her gender. And, despite the complex subject matter, it is not so cerebral that we don’t laugh and cry. If I sound, oh, a tad cynical, rest assured that it’s only a tad. Continue Reading →