So, we’ve had a ton of suggestions as to what to do for the next roundtable, from Roz Chast’s new book to the Claremont X-Men to Mad Men. I have considered all the suggestions carefully, weighed the pros and cons, and decided on the next one true roundtable topic.
(Drumroll.)
Joss Whedon!
Okay, so no one actually suggested that we do a roundtable on Joss Whedon. But! I am morally certain lots of folks are interested in him, and I would like a better sense of his virtues and weaknesses.
In short, I am a not especially benevolent dictator, and I say Joss Whedon it is.
Unless no one will write about Joss Whedon, in which case we’ll have to pick something else, or shutter the blog, or take drastic measures. So! If you would like to avoid that horrible fate, whatever it is, say you will write about Joss Whedon in the comments, or email me or contact me psychically if you are able to do that.
Update: There seems some interest in this from folks who haven’t written here before, so I should probably explain that HU is an all volunteer endeavor, alas; we have no ads, no funding, and no one gets paid. So, if that does not dissuade you, we’d love to hear from new folks!
I’d love to be in your Joss Whedon roundtable. I’m @teenmethuselah on Twitter, and I write comic book, music & movie reviews for Destroy The Brain (see the website link above). My experience with Whedon includes but is not limited to; Firefly, Buffy, Dollhouse, The Avengers, Titan AE, Dr Horrible, Cabin In The Woods and Fray, which I’d love to discuss in particular.
Great! I have your email; I will send you organizational updates as they happen. Thank you!
As a possible jumping off point for other writers, here’s a link to one of the more interesting pieces I’ve seen about Buffy, from way back in the day: http://www.salon.com/2003/05/13/spike_buffy/ (The point is mostly contained in the last four paragraphs.)
Thanks! You’d be welcome to participate if you’d like Graham; feel free to email me (myname at gmail)
I’m a bit constrained by work. But if you need someone to pitch in I might be able to help. I’m pretty intimately familiar with Buffy, Angel, and Firefly (the tv, not the comics derived from the shows). And I’m at least passingly familiar with most of the rest of his work.
I think we’ve got a bunch of folks…so I don’t think we’ll need more…unless you really want to, of course!
While I won’t be writing anything for the roundtable, I just saw a video on youtube and thought it might be interesting to some of those who will be writing about Joss Whedon. It’s a short video (the presentation is annoying, but the information is pretty great) about composing movement in film, using exclusively examples from Kurosawa…except, Joss Whedon (Avengers) gets to be the modern foil to Kurosawa’s genius (The Seven Samurai), in composing totally pointless and dull shots with no movement that matters! It’s pretty funny. Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doaQC-S8de8
The section that contrasts the two scenes begins at 4:10.
Can’t wait for the roundtable!
Bryce! I love you, man, wherever you are. Thanks for commenting.
And that video is really funny. I just rewatched the Avengers for work. It is not a good film.
I disagree; I think it’s excellent, and the sequel (Age of Ultron) even better.
The first Avengers was acceptable, the second frequently boring and generally underwhelming. And I have a pretty low bar when it comes to action movies.
I guess I could go with “acceptable”. I like watching Downey, Ruffalo, and Johannson; some of the quips were entertaining; some of the action sequences were enjoyable to watch.
I wrote about it here, fwiw:
http://splicetoday.com/moving-pictures/the-last-avengers-review
The Marvel movie formula is getting really old in just a matter of years. The product is probably still better than most of the shitty superhero comics coming out nowadays though. Hopefully Batman vs. Superman will be better…
It would have been fun to see Edgar Wright doing Ant-Man. On the other hand, it’ll be just as much fun to see him do his next whatever, and he already did a superhero film anyway
Right back at you, Noah! Woo HU!
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