Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Illness and Linguistics

I’ve spent the last week and a half laid out on the couch. I wish I could say this was a good thing. In reality, it just sucked. All I had the energy to do was surf the web and watch movies. On the upside of that, I can definitely recommend All About Eve, anything ever directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and almost anything written by Billy Wilder; I once would have said any Billy Wilder but then I saw Seven Year Itch. Most of the new movies we rented were crap including, sadly, the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (though The Island was a fun bit of escapism).

Before my debilitating illness, I was going to do a thoroughly insightful and thought provoking post on my inexplicable love of critical theory. Though the mood is gone, there are still a few links I want to put down in wax so that I don’t forget them.

First, is Daniel Chandler’s Semiotics for Beginners. For those baffled by post structural linguistics, this is a most excellent place to start. He really does an excellent job of covering all of the bases and even provides something of a textual analysis cheat sheet. Yes, Virginia, the site has apparently been there since time immemorial, but it’s new to me damn-it!

As I got ready to blog the second of them, Dougie Bicket’s Kiss of the Panopticon, I discovered (much to my horror) that it was gone! ACK! This thing was a really well done survey of all things “cultural theory.” Well, here’s a link to an older version so that you can get the idea. I really hope that he gets it back up.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you watched Marnie yet? I think it's Hitchcock, but it's also Connery, and a very interesting film about sex and control. Not the same kind of movie as Secretary, but fascinating nonetheless, especially considering the era. Have you seen Secretary? "Who is submitting to whom?" is a captivating theme for movies.

DVD's of TV shows come with the Bonus Feature of crack inside. I watched the entire library of Smallville (seasons 1-4) and couldn't stop. What makes a thing a guilty pleasure? What makes a thing a guilty pleasure worth experiencing? These are the questions that should be on talk radio.

Justin W. McGregor said...

Oddly enough, Marnie was the picture I was thinking of when I wrote the bit about Hitchcock; it was the last one I watched before coming back to work. I’ve got “Dial M for Murder” waiting on me when I get home. I’ve not seen Secretary, but I’ll definitely put it on my to-see list. I’ve also not gotten into Smallville. Not for lack of wanting, but our local video store only stocks a handful of TV series and I haven’t decided when to make the move to Netflix (though I know that move is coming).

I’ve actually made a resolution not to get hooked to a series until it’s already out on DVD. Fox's mistreatment of Firefly pretty much clenched that for me.

Anonymous said...

I am mad at NBC for screwing up Ed so that it can't be released on DVD. A great series, shelved, because of a lack of foresight.

I was a Netflix member, but cancelled because I wasn't watching the movies. However, the delivery was faster than I expected, the packaging was more convenient than I expected, and it was worth the money then (had I bothered to watch the movies), and has gotten a good bit cheaper since. Needless to say, if you'll watch the movies, I highly recommend the service.

I have more to tell about Secretary, but I'll wait until you've had a chance to see it, and choose a more private forum.

Anonymous said...

Billy Wilder also wrote "Some Like it Hot" and "The Apartment" which make him lose feminist points as well as for "The Seven Year Itch," as they were all sexist sexist movies...think about "Sabrina" too...although I actually enjoyed that one. *grin*

Anonymous said...

Go here:

http://www.myspace.com/kenpersons


and listen to the song that plays (it may take a moment to load). Tell me, should nostalgiarizing be a word? I think so, because to me, that's what the song is. Peace.