Countdown To Christmas
Dec. 6th, 2008 10:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexsarllAm finally getting in the festive spirit, I think - I'll put the decorations up in a minute and then this evening it's Soul Mole. But in the meantime, think of this as Newsnight Review only with better comics coverage, or The Culture Show if that weren't just a sad comment on how far Lauren Laverne has fallen:
I must have visited the British Museum after dark before, but if so I've forgotten how much that suits it - with some galleries closed, no school parties and that sense of being hunkered in, you feel much closer to the past. Which leaves some areas almost too much - the Egyptian room in particular. Dropped in last night with an eye to catching the 'Statuephilia' works (and please, can whoever called it that be the subject of the next of the current series of press witch-hunts?), although the only one of which I was specifically aware was Marc Quinn's solid gold Kate Moss. Which, for the biggest gold statue made since the days of the Pharoahs, of an iconically beautiful woman in a more-than-suggestive position, is curiously inert. The Gormley angel on the way in is, well, the Angel of the North but smaller, so cheers for that, and Ron Mueck's giant head is a nice special effect misrepresented as art. I've not heard of Noble & Webster before, but their rather ghoulish piece is worth a look - and I won't say more than that because I think the surprise of the gradual recognition is a big part of its effect (skip the brochure description until after, if you go). The real stand-out, though, is the Damien Hirst. He's in my favourite room, which helps, and he's worked with it, almost snuck his gaudy skulls in to those bookcases which line that Enlightment room like it's the ultimate gentleman's study, which in a sense it is. For all the media fuss around him, Hirst does impress me in a way few of his generation manage - because for all that I couldn't tell you what the best of his work makes me feel, for all that I doubt he could either, it makes me feel something, something vertiginous and important. And that's what art is for, and why he'll be remembered and his work treasured after the hype and his peers are consigned to the art history books and back rooms.
Even if you didn't know about the lead times, it would be obvious that the conclusion of Marvel's Secret Invasion was plotted some time before the result of the US election. When Civil War ended with Captain America imprisoned, and teams of murderous villains enlisted by the US government to hunt heroes who refused to apply for licenses...well, I'm not saying it was the subtlest commentary on the Bush regime, but it worked. To now have Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, promoted from heading one of said approved villain teams to overall responsibility for superhuman affairs by the President himself...well, I could see Bush doing that, or McCain, or even Hilary. But Obama? Doesn't ring true. Doesn't chime with how America feels now. And I think that could hurt the story in the long run.
Nor is that the only problem with the issue. First off - am I seriously meant to care that the Wasp is dead and Mockingbird is resurrected? Really? And before anyone even half-thinks that's a gender issue, Jessica Jones' fear for her baby is possibly the most powerful thing in this issue, so drop it.
As for the evil Illuminati meeting at the end - it's a great 'whoah!' visual, but really, what would get these people sitting down together? Loki is a god(dess) of chaos, so could team up with any of these as individuals - but beyond that, Osborn is a white-collar crook, Cheney turned up to 11; The Hood is just that, a street hood; Doom and Namor are foreign dictators, but the former did just kill the love of the latter's life; Emma Frost is a good guy now, albeit a wonderfully catty one. I've always had this problem with supervillain team-ups, though. As a rule, superheroes share fairly similar goals - most often, they're about preserving the status quo. Whereas villains, leaving aside the goons who just want money - their goals all involve upsetting the status quo in different ways, so where's the common interest? Obviously there's always the short-term alliance with backstabbing planned by both parties for down the line, and bonkers as that may seem, it has examples in real history - the Nazi-Soviet Pact, for instance, or the Respect party. Bendis promises that an upcoming one-shot will make matters clearer, and telling it from Emma Frost's POV is a good start given her presence at the table is the most puzzling of all, but he's going to have his work cut out.
Apparitions gets more splendidly mental by the week - even knowing that last night's episode would feature demonically-possessed foetuses at an abortion clinic didn't prepare me for the magnificence of one disability rights campaigner (possessed by demons) spiking another DRC's medicine with 'unholy water' made from abortions in order to have him conceive the Antichrist with a woman who was being forced into slutting around by the voices of unborn demons in her head. And next week - Father Jacob has a gun! Fvck knows why.
Switched over for Star Stories (which still hasn't recaptured the charm of the first series) just in time to catch the end of a documentary about Health & Safety officers, and find myself in an awkward position. The show ended with the most stereotypical H&S bore you could imagine - think Steve Coogan's "in 1983, no one died" character, minus the verve and spontaneity - talking about how it was absurd to say Health & Safety culture had gone too far when people still had accidents; as far as he was concerned, and he said this explicitly, Britain would not be safe enough until there were no accidents. Now, this guy is at best horribly misguided, and clearly in need of a nailgun enema, right? But, he was upset to read a newspaper column in which he was being savaged by Richard Littlejohn. Health & Safety bore. Littlejohn. How do we resolve this so that they both lose?
Then, having abandoned Star Stories, instead watched The Devil's Whore, which really seemed to pick up this episode, possibly because we've got to the bit where it becomes clear that Oliver Cromwell was not in fact a hero of democracy but a hypocrite, an oathbreaker and a racist war criminal.
I love the Dexy's brass joy and heartfelt yelps of the Rumble Strips, and 'Back to Black' is one of my favourite Amy Winehouse songs, but the former covering the latter? Bit of a car crash, TBH.
I must have visited the British Museum after dark before, but if so I've forgotten how much that suits it - with some galleries closed, no school parties and that sense of being hunkered in, you feel much closer to the past. Which leaves some areas almost too much - the Egyptian room in particular. Dropped in last night with an eye to catching the 'Statuephilia' works (and please, can whoever called it that be the subject of the next of the current series of press witch-hunts?), although the only one of which I was specifically aware was Marc Quinn's solid gold Kate Moss. Which, for the biggest gold statue made since the days of the Pharoahs, of an iconically beautiful woman in a more-than-suggestive position, is curiously inert. The Gormley angel on the way in is, well, the Angel of the North but smaller, so cheers for that, and Ron Mueck's giant head is a nice special effect misrepresented as art. I've not heard of Noble & Webster before, but their rather ghoulish piece is worth a look - and I won't say more than that because I think the surprise of the gradual recognition is a big part of its effect (skip the brochure description until after, if you go). The real stand-out, though, is the Damien Hirst. He's in my favourite room, which helps, and he's worked with it, almost snuck his gaudy skulls in to those bookcases which line that Enlightment room like it's the ultimate gentleman's study, which in a sense it is. For all the media fuss around him, Hirst does impress me in a way few of his generation manage - because for all that I couldn't tell you what the best of his work makes me feel, for all that I doubt he could either, it makes me feel something, something vertiginous and important. And that's what art is for, and why he'll be remembered and his work treasured after the hype and his peers are consigned to the art history books and back rooms.
Even if you didn't know about the lead times, it would be obvious that the conclusion of Marvel's Secret Invasion was plotted some time before the result of the US election. When Civil War ended with Captain America imprisoned, and teams of murderous villains enlisted by the US government to hunt heroes who refused to apply for licenses...well, I'm not saying it was the subtlest commentary on the Bush regime, but it worked. To now have Norman Osborn, aka the Green Goblin, promoted from heading one of said approved villain teams to overall responsibility for superhuman affairs by the President himself...well, I could see Bush doing that, or McCain, or even Hilary. But Obama? Doesn't ring true. Doesn't chime with how America feels now. And I think that could hurt the story in the long run.
Nor is that the only problem with the issue. First off - am I seriously meant to care that the Wasp is dead and Mockingbird is resurrected? Really? And before anyone even half-thinks that's a gender issue, Jessica Jones' fear for her baby is possibly the most powerful thing in this issue, so drop it.
As for the evil Illuminati meeting at the end - it's a great 'whoah!' visual, but really, what would get these people sitting down together? Loki is a god(dess) of chaos, so could team up with any of these as individuals - but beyond that, Osborn is a white-collar crook, Cheney turned up to 11; The Hood is just that, a street hood; Doom and Namor are foreign dictators, but the former did just kill the love of the latter's life; Emma Frost is a good guy now, albeit a wonderfully catty one. I've always had this problem with supervillain team-ups, though. As a rule, superheroes share fairly similar goals - most often, they're about preserving the status quo. Whereas villains, leaving aside the goons who just want money - their goals all involve upsetting the status quo in different ways, so where's the common interest? Obviously there's always the short-term alliance with backstabbing planned by both parties for down the line, and bonkers as that may seem, it has examples in real history - the Nazi-Soviet Pact, for instance, or the Respect party. Bendis promises that an upcoming one-shot will make matters clearer, and telling it from Emma Frost's POV is a good start given her presence at the table is the most puzzling of all, but he's going to have his work cut out.
Apparitions gets more splendidly mental by the week - even knowing that last night's episode would feature demonically-possessed foetuses at an abortion clinic didn't prepare me for the magnificence of one disability rights campaigner (possessed by demons) spiking another DRC's medicine with 'unholy water' made from abortions in order to have him conceive the Antichrist with a woman who was being forced into slutting around by the voices of unborn demons in her head. And next week - Father Jacob has a gun! Fvck knows why.
Switched over for Star Stories (which still hasn't recaptured the charm of the first series) just in time to catch the end of a documentary about Health & Safety officers, and find myself in an awkward position. The show ended with the most stereotypical H&S bore you could imagine - think Steve Coogan's "in 1983, no one died" character, minus the verve and spontaneity - talking about how it was absurd to say Health & Safety culture had gone too far when people still had accidents; as far as he was concerned, and he said this explicitly, Britain would not be safe enough until there were no accidents. Now, this guy is at best horribly misguided, and clearly in need of a nailgun enema, right? But, he was upset to read a newspaper column in which he was being savaged by Richard Littlejohn. Health & Safety bore. Littlejohn. How do we resolve this so that they both lose?
Then, having abandoned Star Stories, instead watched The Devil's Whore, which really seemed to pick up this episode, possibly because we've got to the bit where it becomes clear that Oliver Cromwell was not in fact a hero of democracy but a hypocrite, an oathbreaker and a racist war criminal.
I love the Dexy's brass joy and heartfelt yelps of the Rumble Strips, and 'Back to Black' is one of my favourite Amy Winehouse songs, but the former covering the latter? Bit of a car crash, TBH.
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no subject
Date: 2008-12-06 12:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-12-06 03:37 pm (UTC)