Two stand-ups

Stewart Lee on Skins



Russell Brand On Newsnight

Avatar: The Last Airbender (cont.)

me
You know what I think when a western martial arts related film and animation is set in a snow covered setting? I think, "Oh boy, there is going to be some allegory related to Tibet" - and this constant reference and inflation of some of the worst orientalism...

...I have to say, the fidelity to the martial arts movement sequences are incredible

V
Yeah, it's a good show, but your commentary on it is terrible.

me
Haha

V
There are references but they aren't dogwhistles, and they don't fit into any consistent or substantive or meaningful narrative.

Aang's son in the new series is named Tenzin and his monk tutor is named Gyatso, but this doesn't really mean anything, since the Fire Nation is so over-the-top Japanese. They are so aggressively Japanese: visually, culturally, symbolically, linguistically... I mean, the derive their power from the rising sun? They are ruled as a feudal empire? Their names are orthographically almost Japanese: Azula, Sozen, Ozai, Iro...

A 'Sozin's Comet' moment - a beautiful illusion

I was particularly struck by the scene in which Azula loses her mind, and in a state of paranoia cuts locks of her hair. "What a shame," Azula hears a woman's voice and and sees her mother's image in the mirror: "You always had such beautiful hair," the image laments...

"Even YOU fear me." Azula says coldly, resentfully.

"No; I love you Azula, I do," her mother's image responds, and clasps its hands together in benediction...

GoT on HBO

Not promising. There are two executions in the first 15 minutes of the show, there's no economies of scale in the violence, and it reeks of desperation to create this grim dark atmosphere for the show.

The screen writers for this show are terrible. For one, the physical direction is awful. Twice, the prologue Nightwatch characters have come across a suspicious circumstance in the woods and they draw their swords, but these are very short weapons and i would imagine they'd be useful only in very close combat. So why would you even bother, if you could see all around you?

Is having a sword drawn meaningful preparation? Or is this just a trope? Like the police office drawing his gun as he investigates the suspect's house?

Ugh, part of me want to skip the TV series and just reread to the books. But I'll be on watch for two scenes: 1) Ned's fevered dream about the Tower of Joy and 2) Maester Aemon's Reveal.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

V: The show's internal consistency, long story arcs, and inventiveness with its basic premise illustrate a lot of love and care on the part of its creators

They cared enough to pay this kind of attention to detail.

Still in the dark

The Springtime of Peoples

R: As all good things in the Middle East, Springtime started with a noble cause and ended up a tool of regional politicking. This is not a revolution anymore, its everyone settling scores.