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Arguments with Silence: Writing the History of Roman Women

Amy Richlin

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Book

Women in ancient Rome challenge the historian. Widely represented in literature and art, they rarely...

Gaz Coombes recommended The Man Who Sold The World by David Bowie in Music (curated)

"Who hasn't had the discussion of favourite Bowie albums? And I always go for this one. There's so much behind it in terms of knowing that just weeks or months before it, Bowie had met Mick Ronson and you know that this is a very new relationship and what Bowie had just come from. And it's kind of like the birth of The Spiders From Mars. It's quite complex in a way and I feel everything around it and the importance of that record. I guess that at the time this must have been quite a mental album for people to hear; it must have been quite insane. You know, like: 'What the fuck has Bowie done?' It's this really dark, fucked-up record and that plays a massive part in how I feel about it. I feel the same way about 2001: A Space Odyssey which I saw again the other day for the first time in about 15 years. And I wonder how it must've been for people when they saw it first time around. Sci-fi back then was kind of cheesy, low-budget B-movie shit and suddenly this movie comes out that's a complete change in direction with this seriousness, and gravitas, and coldness and it's not very inviting. And that's how I feel about The Man Who Sold The World. It was Bowie's 2001 at a time when people weren't used to that or ready for that. There's the darkness and the depth and, of course, there's the beauty. 'After All' is a beautiful song and very tender. It's like the birth of so much really."

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Momentum by TobyMac

9.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Album Watch

In 2001, dc Talk frontman tobyMac released his first solo project, Momentum. For the artist, also...

Cartagena

7.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

Tabletop Game

Cartagena takes as its theme the famous 1672 pirate-led jailbreak from the fortress of Cartagena....

Awix (3310 KP) rated Ikarie XB-1 (1963) in Movies

Jun 23, 2019 (Updated Jun 23, 2019)

Ikarie XB-1 (1963)

1963 | Sci-Fi

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

One of those movies which has clearly been influential but remains relatively little-seen, certainly in the original version. XB-1 and its crew (mostly good-looking young people, a few rugged old character actors, and a fairly dreadful robot prop) blast off for Alpha Centauri but must come to terms with the strains of long-haul spaceflight and various dangers (radiation, dangerous derelicts, and so on).

Arguably the missing link between Forbidden Planet and 2001: A Space Odyssey (yes, that's a bold claim), with a strange mixture of pulp SF tropes but also downbeat psychological realism. Notably good and interesting sets, photography, and a memorable avant-garde musical score too. The story is a bit episodic and not exactly pacey, but the rest of the film makes up for this.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Operation Avalanche (2016) in Movies

Jan 11, 2020

Operation Avalanche (2016)

2016 | Comedy, Drama

6.5

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Yet another found footage movie, yet another film about the faking of the moon landings (these must surely outnumber films assuming Apollo 11 really happened by a considerable factor). An ambitious young CIA agent cooks up a plan to save NASA by fabricating footage of a successful moonshot.

Doesn't sound very promising, but just about pulls it off due to obvious knowledge of its subject and an unexpected level of technical proficiency - the team get the expertise they need by stealing it off the set of 2001 (a witty touch, but very well-executed). A bit larky most of the way through, which makes a third-act shift into a much more serious mode difficult to pull off, and not particularly original, but watchable and with some very nice moments.