Thoughts on Pop Entertainment - Random

I almost never know what's in the movie theater these days - movies don't seem to advertise on billboards the way they used to.  So I just found out that the new Star Trek movie Into Darkness was in theaters, when my friends sent me a text this weekend, asking if I would like to join them to see it.  I had the little boys with me, so I was very reluctant to take them to a general audience movie without previewing it for inappropriate content.

It's amazing how your point of view shifts when you are a parent.  I remember when the wasband and I were newly married, we were discussing a new movie, Steve Martin's remake of Father of the Bride, with the father of a large family.  He asked us whether the movie was as clean as the old, Spencer Tracy version. 

"Um, yeah, I think so."

He was smart enough to preview it anyway.  There was apparently some condom conversation in there.  This had slipped past our consciousness.  Didn't register.

I was pretty sure Star Trek was not going to cut it, considering the 2009 movie.  I LOVED the new cast, and really would have liked to bring my kids to see it, so I was very aware how inappropriate it was for the children, even the teenager; especially the teenager.  But holding out hope, when my friend suggested I go take the kids on my own, I asked, "Clean?"

Her answer, "Well, yeah, except for maybe one scene," was accompanied by a still from the film of a very scantily dressed woman.  I guessed as much - if they had to throw an underwear scene in the first movie, it was no big risk to assume there would be a similar scene in subsequent movies.

But here is what hit me when I saw the still: "Considering how quickly women's undergarment fashions shift, why in the world would you dress a woman ostensibly from the 23rd century in lingerie that looks like it is straight from a 20th century Victoria's Secret catalog?"  I guess this thought didn't hit me with the previous movie, since I was more concerned with how they covered that actresses entire body with green paint, and were still able to keep it from rubbing off onto her "costume".

(considering how much spam hits I have been getting from unsavory "referral" sites, this post might set me over the brink to where I will need to move this blog to a new address...not that content really has anything to do with who these sites spam, as far as I can tell.)
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On the other hand, I just found a great TV series on DVD, that we have been borrowing from the library.

Meerkat Manor is a clever idea turned into a very appealing, engaging show:  a "reality show" featuring a colony of meerkats, using film taken as part of a 10-year Cambridge study of these African desert animals. It goes beyond the "Wild Kingdom" nature shows, by giving a handful of the animals names, and investing them with a labeled character trait, and using intense naration to build suspense.  The first season is great, after that they seem to be a bit repetative - after all, these ARE meerkats, and they keep doing the same things they always do.  But this is really a great family show, give me more like this!

I was gonna write a lot more.  Oh well, later.

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