Category Archives: Chapter 8

Listing Beatles Songs, 21st Century Movies, and Frank DeFord Stories

Posted on June 11, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

For some reason, lists of things have been popping up in my reading over the last several days.  Here are several worth taking a look at: Beatles Songs Ranked From Worst to Best Vulture has put out a ranking of … Continue reading →

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Are ‘Contact’ and ‘Prometheus’ essentially the same movie?

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

  I recently saw the 1997 science fiction movie Contact on streaming for the first time, nearly 20 years after its initial release.  And as I watched it, I was immediately struck by how many ways it resembled director Ridley Scott’s Alien … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on February 28, 2017 by Ralph Hanson

How could have better design skills eliminated Sunday’s Oscar disaster? Oddly enough, the cards read by the presenters at the Oscars only list the winner in a reasonable sized type.  The name of the category is relegated to tiny type … Continue reading →

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An Unwelcome X-Men Mutation

Posted on October 6, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

I just recently rewatched X-Men: Days of Future Past and was struck again by what a good super hero movie it was. It handled the mythos and back story well, it had characters following consistent motivation, and it had characters … Continue reading →

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Taking a look back at the summer movie season

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

It’s been a rough summer for the movie industry, with a lot of big budget movies stumbling and barely making a profit, and the industry as a whole having its second worst summer since 2001. Vox’s Todd VanDerWerf has a … Continue reading →

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Some thoughts on Captain America, IMAX and 3-D

Posted on May 21, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

I went to see Captain America: Civil War yesterday at the IMAX theater in 3-D, in which Marvel continues to show that super hero movies can tell stories of personal and political substance. While I have enjoyed most of the … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on May 15, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

How did Google pass Apple to become world’s most valuable company? Bad question, because most of the time it isn’t – but Google is sometimes.  Investors bullish on Google/Alphabet’s future; wondering what Apple’s next big product will be. Why is … Continue reading →

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Trailer drops for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

Posted on April 7, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

OK, so I might have squealed.  Just a little.  

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Everyone’s Gone to the Bollywood Movies

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

NOTE: I wanted to update some of my Bollywood materials and examples, so here is a fresh post with some old and some new material. I generally show the following clip from Bollywood musical Mohabbatein in class as a way to get … Continue reading →

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The Original Cat Video … from 1894!

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Ralph Hanson

You all no doubt think you are of the “cat video” generation. You think your generation invented the short video of cute cats doing cute things. But you are wrong! Thomas Edison’s studios shot the first cat video back in … Continue reading →

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