• Can the Batkid story get any more heartwarming? Why, yes — yes, it can. “Batkid Gets His Own Theme Music Thanks To Batman Composer Hans Zimmer” [PopWrapped]
• Rex Reed rails against the 3D Hunger Games, and opts to see Catching Fire in 2D. Minor point: Neither film has been offered in 3D.
This man is paid — we can presume paid very well — to write about movies. Maybe it’s time he stepped aside and made room for someone who is capable of being factual about movies when it’s the facts that are being discussed.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, of course. But no one is entitled to their own facts.
“Up In Smoke: Catching Fire, Second Installment in Hunger Games Trilogy, Is a Tired Rehash” [New York Observer]
• I’m gonna go ahead and presume that my moving here had something to do with this. “UK Is The Most Social Media-Savvy Country In The World [INFOGRAPHIC]” [AllTwitter]
• Why do some people only seem to realize how ridiculous these poses — and the attitude behind them — are when it’s men doing the posing? “Photo Shoot: Men Posing Like Motorcycle Models” [Doublemesh]
Tacked onto the _Observer_ review:
“CORRECTION: An earlier version of this review was unclear, and to some readers implied that the reviewer saw the first Hunger Games movie in 3D. That was not the case. The Observer regrets the ambiguity.”
No mention of how neither movie is even available in 3D, however.
They also completely eliminated the bit where he says he “opted” to see *Catching Fire* in 2D, as if he were offered another option.
The poses are security exploits into the human cognitive system. They bypass much of conscious thought to produce a visceral response.
I’m trying to picture what pictures of men would look like in poses that
said the same things as these women. Not just “Look what a hunk I am”
but “F**k me.” I can’t really do it.
The photo below might count. I honestly don’t know.
I apologize in advance.
http://bmunchausen.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/burt_reynolds3.jpg
Having just finished all the episodes of “Archer” currently available on Netflix, I am highly amused by this picture.
Totally NOT SFW site: check out rentboy dot com (it is written out like that so the image doesn’t load…Disqus is too helpful sometimes). There’s loads of pics that are blatantly “f**k me”. Male gaze-appropriate, of course, but, well, that doesn’t put me off. I’m weird like that.
You and Daniel are right about the intent. But used in the same way as the motorcycle type, what would such pictures sell? And to whom?
Well, they wouldn’t be in the same category as the motorcycle thing…it isn’t assumed that the woman fondling the bike is the rider of the bike…she’s more like an accessory for the bike.
OTOH, if, let’s say, the ad was a Tom of Finland pic come-to-life with a bare-chested hunk in leather chaps over some worn denims…the assumption would be that he is the rider of the bike and *you, too* either look like that or fuck that (or both) if you ride the bike. It still is in the context of our society, even though the image would be homoerotic.
They are still for the “male gaze”.
Having the men cross dressed ups the ridiculous considerably. Of course, to some me, having the women cross dress would up the sexy factor, so maybe that’s not really an answer.
Rex Reed has always been a fatuous ass. For my entire adult life he’s been my anti-critic: anything he recommends I avoid, any thing he pans I know is worth seeing. Add this 3D thing is a pretty egregious bit of carelessness, on both his part and his editor.* But I’d be careful with the “factual” thing. Just about every film critic I’ve ever read has made some sort of factual error from time to time. It happens, and it’s hardly representative of the problem with Rex Reed.
* Also, I could see that he might have misremembered having seen “The Hunger Games” in 3D. It’s certainly an obvious candidate for a 3D conversion. And that, having misremembered, in his mind he really did “opt” to see “Catching Fire” in 2D, if only by making sure that the screening he saw was not listed as being a 3D presentation.
MaryAnn – I’ve responded to the photo at my own blog: http://elizaphanian.com/?p=5344 I’d be interested to know your thoughts.
Rex Reed is still around?
And working?
As a film critic?