Things

So, as you may (or, more probably, may have not) noticed, I haven't written on this blog in a while. There are two primary reasons for this: First, I felt that my next post should be about the trip that I went on to study the Holocaust in Germany and Poland, and I have not felt ready to approach the subject in a  particularly public way. Second, I have been incapable of deciding what I want the content of this blog to consist of. That said, I have come to the embarrassingly, glaringly obvious conclusion to write about whatever comes to mind: my day, thoughts about media I am consuming, ideas that I find interesting, etc. Thus, some of this might be interesting to you and some of it might be horribly boring. Feel free to just ignore whatever you're not interested in!

As many of you know, I recently moved to New York City a summer internship. Exciting times! More on that in my next post, I think. For now, here are some quite short reviews of media that I have lately consumed instead of writing on this blog.

Books!

1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Magicians, a circus, romance, and turn-of-the-century deliciousness. 
2. Chime by Franny Billinglsey. Early 20th century, slightly supernatural, with a strong and interesting and beautifully crafted female lead. 
3. Henry the IV part 1 and As You Like It by William Shakespeare. History and comedy and normal Shakespearean stuff. (A couple of my friends and I are attempting to read lots of Shakespeare this summer and discuss it together, so I see lots of Shakespeare in the horizons of my summer reading). 

Film!

1. The Avengers, the box-office-record-breaking Joss Whedon comic book film, in no way passes the Bechdel test and is slightly overrated but is generally enjoyable (particularly when see in 2-D). Pros: Relatively kick-ass lady Avenger and a Hulk who is actually interesting. Cons: Iron Man, lengthy and flashy, and only three named female characters with any sort of speaking role.  
2. Snow White and the Huntsman, an almost good retelling of the classic fairy tale. Pros: somewhat kick-ass, dark, Grimm-like retelling that was clearly inspired by super cool fantasy and medievalish things. Also, a lady wears armor. Cons: Fairly two-dimensional characters (Snow White--and yes, they actually call her this--was particularly disappointing in this respect), poorly constructed mythology (the rules and boundaries of the magic were poorly defined and often magical things happened purely because they fit conveniently for the plot), and it seemed like it was generally just a mash-up of Joan of Arc, Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and the Robin Hood with Russell Crowe (I know, I know, that mash-up sounds like it would be great, right? Trust me, though, it didn't work). 
3. Thor, whose villain Loki is central to The Avengers and whose titular character, in addition to being an alien Norse god, is also an Avenger himself, is not a great film, but it is perfectly enjoyable entertainment. Pros: Thor trying to navigate American culture is thoroughly entertaining, and from Asgardian characters we can generally expect lines like "Do not mistake my appetite for apathy!" to be bellowed loudly and aggressively. Cons: Kenneth Branagh seems to be a big fan of the canted angle. 
4. Wild Target, released a few years ago, is a perfectly quirky British comedy starring Bill Nighy, Emily Blunt, Rupert Grint, Rupert Everett, Martin Freeman, and other actors you'll recognize from British things. Need I say more?

Music!

1. Of Monsters and Men, an Icelandic band that my iTunes has categorized as alternative rock. I cannot stop listening to their CD. Click here to watch an interestingly animated music video for their song "Little Talks."
2. The soundtrack for Where the Wild Things Are, which was primarily done by Karen O and the Kids. To me, the soundtrack just perfectly fits the film.   

Internet Things!

1. My favorite Youtubers, John and Hank Green (aka the Vlog Brothers), have a relatively new channel called CrashCrouse. On the channel, John teaches a survey of world history and Hank teaches a survey of biology in really interesting, accessible ways. Additionally, for all you Austen fans out there,  Hank has started producing the Lizzie Bennet Diaries, which is a contemporary video blog adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.
2. The Mary Sue, a feminist website devoted to women in geek culture. The site covers everything from politics to science to science fiction and it is wonderful.

Alright, time for you to go do more interesting things. But first, let me know in the comments what books, TV shows, movies, music, internet things, etc. you've particularly liked or disliked recently! I always love to discuss.