This egg shell art is truly stunning. InventorSpot has more pictures of these lovely, detailed art pieces by artist Ron Cheruka.
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Jill Harness's Blog Posts
This egg shell art is truly stunning. InventorSpot has more pictures of these lovely, detailed art pieces by artist Ron Cheruka.
Link
How cool is it to have a light up needlework project sold complete with the lights, wiring and battery to make it work? Way too cool, that's how cool.
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This is one of the strangest craft projects I've ever seen. Becky Stern says she plans to continue working on different segments of the MRI to see how her project will turn out.
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I have no doubt that this will probably upset the animal rights advocates out there, but at least it will provide a little more happiness to all of you Japanophiles. That's right, it is exactly what the title post indicates, a dalmatian operating a tricycle. Personally, I love Japan.
After a year of drug wars that have taken the lives of at least 6,000 citizens, Mexico opted to fight violence the way the Beatles preached -with love. Almost 40,000 people gathered together on Valentine's day to break the world record for most simultaneous kisses.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/14/international/i154153S00.DTL&feed=rss.bondage Via Weird Stuff News
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2009/02/14/international/i154153S00.DTL&feed=rss.bondage Via Weird Stuff News
If you like the roses above, or just forgot about Valentine's Day until all the roses were sold out, there's an easy to follow instruction guide for them over on Instructables right now.
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This is the winner of Craft Magazine's Valentine's Day craft contest and I love it. It's titled "My Heart Is Yours" and was created by Hine Mizushima. Some of the other winners are pretty cute too.
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If you love Star Wars as much as I do, you'll love Robert Saccenti's culinary creation, "He's No Guac to Me Dead."
If only Luke Chipwalker could stop by and help unfreeze him by gulping down all of that delicious lime-loaded guacamole. (He added extra lime juice to make it thick enough to stand like that.) It took him about a day and a half to get the creation together:
The body was created using a plastic torso I found at a used mannequin/store display shop downtown. It only went down to the top of the thigh, so I had to build out the rest of his legs to the knees using molded chicken wire. The hands were tough... If I knew used male mannequin hands would be so tough to find on a whim, I would’ve used eBay. Given that I was running out of time, one hand was made using one of those articulated wooden artist’s hands you can buy at an art store, and covered it in papier mache. The other hand, not nearly as nice, was foil covered in papier mache, and had to do for now. The boots were old work boot toes I cut and epoxied to the board. [...]
Emily made the guac with 50(!) avocados, garlic, cilantro, salt, pepper, a little onion, and lots of lime. We spread it on, hoped it would stick, and, well... behold: Han Solo in Guaconite.
http://www.withoutpapers.com/guacbowl09/GUAC_BOWL_09.html Via Al Dente
I just can't stop watching this hypnotic video of a cat mindlessly licking food from the man's fingers. It's so funny and yet, somehow disturbing.
Link Via Giggle Sugar
This is quite possibly the most ridiculous picture I've seen of a dog all day -and I see a lot of crazy dog pics. Seriously, he looks like he's ready to join a 1960's all-girl singing group. More pictures behind the scenes of the Westminister Dog Show are availible through the link.
Link Via Cute Overload
I adore this steampunk wedding cake, it's so classy, yet it looks so delicious. I'd love to see the outfits worn at a wedding with a cake like this too.
Link Via BoingBoing
Many people are aware that Harry Potter, The Anarchist Cookbook and Stephen King books have been banned from schools around the country, but as many civilizations have figured out, censorship is a slippery slope. It is pretty strange to consider Shakespeare has not only been banned from public schools over sexual themes, but that censored editions have been out since the 1700s.
*Note: Plot summaries may include spoilers. I know all you Neatorama readers are pretty intelligent, so I wouldn’t doubt if many of you have read these books. I’ve included the summaries to give an idea as to why the books may have been banned.
Plot: A soldier, Henry, on the Italian front meets and seduces a young woman, Catherine. Their relationship continues as he heals a knee that was injured in battle. By the time his knee is fully healed, Catherine is three months pregnant. Unfortunately, Henry has to return to the war and the Germans break through the Italian lines. The Italians charge the soldiers for treachery for letting the Germans defeat them. Henry escapes during another officer’s execution and runs away to Switzerland with Catherine. They live happily until Catherine gives birth to a stillborn and then dies in labor.
Where it’s been banned: Published in 1929, this novel caused trouble immediately. Boston banned the magazine it was originally published in, claiming the story was too sexual. Italy banned the book because of its portrayal of the army’s retreat from Caporatto. The Nazis burned the book in 1933. In 1939, Ireland banned the novel. In modern America, plenty of school districts have banned the publication for sexual content.
Source | A Farewell to Arms on Amazon
Plot: The book’s plot uses the same story line as Tarzan. A couple of civilized people, Bernard and Lenina, enter a primitive society and bring a “savage” back into their modern society. The difference here is that these “civilized people” live in a futuristic world filled with castes, happy drugs, sex without reproduction and euthanasia. Love, sadness and families have become obsolete, as well as self-expression and exploration.
The Tarzan in this piece is the son, John, of an ex-civilized woman who now lives with the “savages.” John was raised with family, love and Shakespeare. When they return to the city, John becomes a spectacle for society types and even Lenina starts finding him interesting. John begins falling in love with Lenina even as he is disgusted with the modern world and her role in it. John finds he cannot escape this world and eventually kills himself to discontinue playing his role as a tourist spectacle.
Where it’s been banned: This text is one of the most frequently banned books in literary history. It was banned in Ireland the year it was published, 1932. Multiple school districts have restricted access to this book because the atheistic people in the futuristic society it depicts take drugs and have promiscuous sex to avoid emotional connections. There are a lot of people who try to compare this book to our modern society, but if that was accurate, would we still be banning it from school?
Source | Brave New World at Amazon
Plot: A teenage boy, Holden Caulfield, runs away to New York after being expelled from reform school. The book is a first person narrative and over the course of the story, you learn about his brother’s passing and how that has affected his present state of mind. Throughout his adventure, he drinks, smokes, hits on adult women, gets beaten up by a pimp, is hit on by a past teacher and deals with many other activities that a teen shouldn’t be going through. He constantly complains about other people his age, calling them “phony” or stupid. The novel explores Holden’s psychological need to grow up after his brother’s death. It also does an excellent job depicting his desire to protect young children from becoming adults.
Where it’s been banned: In 1960, a teacher was fired from her job for requiring her eleventh grade class to read the book. Between 1961 and 1962, it was the most censored book in high schools and colleges. This novel has been banned in schools throughout America for being anti-white, blasphemous, profane, racist and overtly sexual. How anything can be racist and anti-white, I don’t know.
Update: I meant this statement as how the book can be racist against both blacks and whites at the same time, which is what the people condemning the book seemed to imply. Personally, I don't think you can be racist against your self and persons of other races at the same time, I think it makes you more of a person hater than a racist. Although I'm sure many readers would still like to disagree with this.
Completely unrelated but interesting: many murderers read Catcher In The Rye shortly before committing their crimes.
Source | The Catcher in the Rye at Amazon
Plot: Considered to be the first modern erotic novel, there are quite a few naughty bits in this book, if you want to read a bit, there’s an excerpt on the Wikipedia page. The story revolves around a young country girl who must leave her village due to poverty. She is forced to work at a brothel, but escapes with her true love before she loses her virginity. When her love is forced to leave the country, she has to take on a variety of male “acquaintances” in order to survive.
Where it’s been banned: This book was monumental to both English and American obscenity standards. A year after the book was released, John Cleland and the publisher were both arrested and charged with “corrupting the king’s subjects.” They subsequently stopped publishing the novel, but it still managed to become popular thanks to pirated editions circulating the country. Cleland attempted to clean up the book and republished it in 1750, but he was arrested again, although this time the charges were dropped. The book continued to be published underground and in 1963 there was an obscenity trial against a book seller carrying the novel. Although the defense lost, it helped to shift public opinion about obscenity laws in Britain. In 1970, the unabridged book was legally published for the first time.
Over in the states, the book was banned for obscenity in 1821. In 1963, a publisher tried to re-release the book under the title John Cleland’s Memoirs of A Woman of Pleasure. The book was also banned under this title, but the publisher, G.B. Putnam, challenged the ban. The Supreme Court ruled the novel did not meet the standards for obscenity. This was the last book to be banned by the US federal government.
Source | Fanny Hill - Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure at Amazon
Plot: Set in 1930, it tells the tale of a Tom Joad, a recently paroled murderer, and his family of farmers. The group is forced to leave their home in Oklahoma that has fallen victim to the dust bowl storms. They hope to find better luck in California, though on their way out West, they constantly run into other families hoping for the same luck.
When they get to California, they find the farmers have bound together to exploit the massive amount of laborers offering their services. When workers begin to unionize, the Joads work as strike breakers and end up involved with a bloody strike, forcing Tom Joad to kill again. In the end, practically all of the family’s actions prove to be pointless as they are starving and homeless in California.
Where it’s been banned: Published in 1939, this Steinbeck story caused an uproar as soon as it was released. These days, the book seems to be fairly mild, with a few references to sex and some minor curse words, but the book was quite racy for its day. Kern county was one of the first places to ban the novel as they were insulted by how Steinbeck depicted their citizens. It was immediately burned by the East St. Louis library, banned from Buffalo, New York and Kansas City. Since then, it’s been banned in many high schools -mostly for bad language. A parent in Burlington, North Carolina said, "book is full of filth. My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord's name in vain and has all kinds of profanity in it."
Internationally, the book has had trouble too. In 1953, Ireland deemed the book obscene and banned it. In 1973, eleven publishers in Turkey were charged for “spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state.” Why Grapes of Wrath would be seen as unfavorable to Turkey, I have no idea. If you do, please tell me in the comments.
Source #1, Source #2 | The Grapes of Wrath at Amazon
Plot: Lady Chatterley’s husband has become paralyzed and impotent. She struggles to remain faithful to him, but ends up having an affair with the gamekeeper. The novel covers her struggle to live only mentally, although she proves to need physical stimulation as well.
Where it’s been banned: The Penguin Books 1960 British publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was one of the first novels tried under England’s 1959 obscenity law. This law gave publishers the right to release racy books, as long as the work was of literary merit. Penguin was found not guilty and the novel was legally available in England for the first time. The trial was later turned into a BBC show known as “The Chatterley Affair.”
Conversely, Australia not only found the book to be legally obscene, but also banned publication of a book depicting the British trial called The Trial of Lady Chatterley. A copy of the book was smuggled into the country anyway and published underground. Many people read the book and it eventually led to lesser censorship of books in the country.
Lady Chatterley's Lover at Amazon
Plot: Humbert Humbert, is invited to move in with a woman who wants to sleep with him. He is about to say no, when he sees her 12 year old daughter, Lolita, playing in the yard. The woman discovers his ulterior motive and plans to send Lolita to boarding school but she is hit and killed by a car. Humbert tries to drug the Lolita to have his way with her, but she instead seduces him.
Humbert becomes Lolita’s guardian and falls in love with her although she has very little interest in him. She escapes his guardianship by making plans with another pedophile. Humbert tries to find Lolita and her abductor, but gets nowhere. Two years later, a married and pregnant Lolita contacts him requesting money. He brings her money and tries to get her to leave with him. She refuses. She does, however, give him information on her abductor and Humbert tracks down the man and kills him. Humbert goes to jail, where he writes a novel called Lolita.
Where it’s been banned: The book was released in 1955 and received little attention until author Graham Greene sang its praises in an interview with The London Times. After reading the statement, the editor of the Sunday Express replied that the book was “sheer, unrestrained pornography.” That’s when the book was banned in Britain and all imported copies were ordered to be seized by the customs department. By December 1956, France followed suit, although both countries repealed the ban in 1959. Argentina and New Zealand both banned the book in the following years.
Surprisingly, the book wasn’t criticized as much in America, in fact, in its first three weeks available it sold over 100,000 copies.
Source | Lolita at Amazon
Photo Via florian.b [Flickr]
Of the Radcliffe Publishing list of the top 100 books of the past century, almost half have been challenged by schools, many are banned in whole countries. Here’s a few banned titles that just may surprise you:*Note: Plot summaries may include spoilers. I know all you Neatorama readers are pretty intelligent, so I wouldn’t doubt if many of you have read these books. I’ve included the summaries to give an idea as to why the books may have been banned.
A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
Plot: A soldier, Henry, on the Italian front meets and seduces a young woman, Catherine. Their relationship continues as he heals a knee that was injured in battle. By the time his knee is fully healed, Catherine is three months pregnant. Unfortunately, Henry has to return to the war and the Germans break through the Italian lines. The Italians charge the soldiers for treachery for letting the Germans defeat them. Henry escapes during another officer’s execution and runs away to Switzerland with Catherine. They live happily until Catherine gives birth to a stillborn and then dies in labor.
Where it’s been banned: Published in 1929, this novel caused trouble immediately. Boston banned the magazine it was originally published in, claiming the story was too sexual. Italy banned the book because of its portrayal of the army’s retreat from Caporatto. The Nazis burned the book in 1933. In 1939, Ireland banned the novel. In modern America, plenty of school districts have banned the publication for sexual content.
Source | A Farewell to Arms on Amazon
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Plot: The book’s plot uses the same story line as Tarzan. A couple of civilized people, Bernard and Lenina, enter a primitive society and bring a “savage” back into their modern society. The difference here is that these “civilized people” live in a futuristic world filled with castes, happy drugs, sex without reproduction and euthanasia. Love, sadness and families have become obsolete, as well as self-expression and exploration.
The Tarzan in this piece is the son, John, of an ex-civilized woman who now lives with the “savages.” John was raised with family, love and Shakespeare. When they return to the city, John becomes a spectacle for society types and even Lenina starts finding him interesting. John begins falling in love with Lenina even as he is disgusted with the modern world and her role in it. John finds he cannot escape this world and eventually kills himself to discontinue playing his role as a tourist spectacle.
Where it’s been banned: This text is one of the most frequently banned books in literary history. It was banned in Ireland the year it was published, 1932. Multiple school districts have restricted access to this book because the atheistic people in the futuristic society it depicts take drugs and have promiscuous sex to avoid emotional connections. There are a lot of people who try to compare this book to our modern society, but if that was accurate, would we still be banning it from school?
Source | Brave New World at Amazon
Catcher In the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Plot: A teenage boy, Holden Caulfield, runs away to New York after being expelled from reform school. The book is a first person narrative and over the course of the story, you learn about his brother’s passing and how that has affected his present state of mind. Throughout his adventure, he drinks, smokes, hits on adult women, gets beaten up by a pimp, is hit on by a past teacher and deals with many other activities that a teen shouldn’t be going through. He constantly complains about other people his age, calling them “phony” or stupid. The novel explores Holden’s psychological need to grow up after his brother’s death. It also does an excellent job depicting his desire to protect young children from becoming adults.
Where it’s been banned: In 1960, a teacher was fired from her job for requiring her eleventh grade class to read the book. Between 1961 and 1962, it was the most censored book in high schools and colleges. This novel has been banned in schools throughout America for being anti-white, blasphemous, profane, racist and overtly sexual. How anything can be racist and anti-white, I don’t know.
Update: I meant this statement as how the book can be racist against both blacks and whites at the same time, which is what the people condemning the book seemed to imply. Personally, I don't think you can be racist against your self and persons of other races at the same time, I think it makes you more of a person hater than a racist. Although I'm sure many readers would still like to disagree with this.
Completely unrelated but interesting: many murderers read Catcher In The Rye shortly before committing their crimes.
Source | The Catcher in the Rye at Amazon
Fanny Hill or Memoirs of A Woman of Pleasure, John Cleland
Plot: Considered to be the first modern erotic novel, there are quite a few naughty bits in this book, if you want to read a bit, there’s an excerpt on the Wikipedia page. The story revolves around a young country girl who must leave her village due to poverty. She is forced to work at a brothel, but escapes with her true love before she loses her virginity. When her love is forced to leave the country, she has to take on a variety of male “acquaintances” in order to survive.
Where it’s been banned: This book was monumental to both English and American obscenity standards. A year after the book was released, John Cleland and the publisher were both arrested and charged with “corrupting the king’s subjects.” They subsequently stopped publishing the novel, but it still managed to become popular thanks to pirated editions circulating the country. Cleland attempted to clean up the book and republished it in 1750, but he was arrested again, although this time the charges were dropped. The book continued to be published underground and in 1963 there was an obscenity trial against a book seller carrying the novel. Although the defense lost, it helped to shift public opinion about obscenity laws in Britain. In 1970, the unabridged book was legally published for the first time.
Over in the states, the book was banned for obscenity in 1821. In 1963, a publisher tried to re-release the book under the title John Cleland’s Memoirs of A Woman of Pleasure. The book was also banned under this title, but the publisher, G.B. Putnam, challenged the ban. The Supreme Court ruled the novel did not meet the standards for obscenity. This was the last book to be banned by the US federal government.
Source | Fanny Hill - Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure at Amazon
Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Plot: Set in 1930, it tells the tale of a Tom Joad, a recently paroled murderer, and his family of farmers. The group is forced to leave their home in Oklahoma that has fallen victim to the dust bowl storms. They hope to find better luck in California, though on their way out West, they constantly run into other families hoping for the same luck.
When they get to California, they find the farmers have bound together to exploit the massive amount of laborers offering their services. When workers begin to unionize, the Joads work as strike breakers and end up involved with a bloody strike, forcing Tom Joad to kill again. In the end, practically all of the family’s actions prove to be pointless as they are starving and homeless in California.
Where it’s been banned: Published in 1939, this Steinbeck story caused an uproar as soon as it was released. These days, the book seems to be fairly mild, with a few references to sex and some minor curse words, but the book was quite racy for its day. Kern county was one of the first places to ban the novel as they were insulted by how Steinbeck depicted their citizens. It was immediately burned by the East St. Louis library, banned from Buffalo, New York and Kansas City. Since then, it’s been banned in many high schools -mostly for bad language. A parent in Burlington, North Carolina said, "book is full of filth. My son is being raised in a Christian home and this book takes the Lord's name in vain and has all kinds of profanity in it."
Internationally, the book has had trouble too. In 1953, Ireland deemed the book obscene and banned it. In 1973, eleven publishers in Turkey were charged for “spreading propaganda unfavorable to the state.” Why Grapes of Wrath would be seen as unfavorable to Turkey, I have no idea. If you do, please tell me in the comments.
Source #1, Source #2 | The Grapes of Wrath at Amazon
Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D.H. Lawrence
Plot: Lady Chatterley’s husband has become paralyzed and impotent. She struggles to remain faithful to him, but ends up having an affair with the gamekeeper. The novel covers her struggle to live only mentally, although she proves to need physical stimulation as well.
Where it’s been banned: The Penguin Books 1960 British publication of Lady Chatterley’s Lover was one of the first novels tried under England’s 1959 obscenity law. This law gave publishers the right to release racy books, as long as the work was of literary merit. Penguin was found not guilty and the novel was legally available in England for the first time. The trial was later turned into a BBC show known as “The Chatterley Affair.”
Conversely, Australia not only found the book to be legally obscene, but also banned publication of a book depicting the British trial called The Trial of Lady Chatterley. A copy of the book was smuggled into the country anyway and published underground. Many people read the book and it eventually led to lesser censorship of books in the country.
Lady Chatterley's Lover at Amazon
Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
Plot: Humbert Humbert, is invited to move in with a woman who wants to sleep with him. He is about to say no, when he sees her 12 year old daughter, Lolita, playing in the yard. The woman discovers his ulterior motive and plans to send Lolita to boarding school but she is hit and killed by a car. Humbert tries to drug the Lolita to have his way with her, but she instead seduces him.
Humbert becomes Lolita’s guardian and falls in love with her although she has very little interest in him. She escapes his guardianship by making plans with another pedophile. Humbert tries to find Lolita and her abductor, but gets nowhere. Two years later, a married and pregnant Lolita contacts him requesting money. He brings her money and tries to get her to leave with him. She refuses. She does, however, give him information on her abductor and Humbert tracks down the man and kills him. Humbert goes to jail, where he writes a novel called Lolita.
Where it’s been banned: The book was released in 1955 and received little attention until author Graham Greene sang its praises in an interview with The London Times. After reading the statement, the editor of the Sunday Express replied that the book was “sheer, unrestrained pornography.” That’s when the book was banned in Britain and all imported copies were ordered to be seized by the customs department. By December 1956, France followed suit, although both countries repealed the ban in 1959. Argentina and New Zealand both banned the book in the following years.
Surprisingly, the book wasn’t criticized as much in America, in fact, in its first three weeks available it sold over 100,000 copies.
Source | Lolita at Amazon
Am I the only one that remembers it’s Black History Month? I we finally have a black president, but does that mean we don’t have black history month anymore? Last I checked, it’s still on the calendar. If you do want to celebrate black history month, you may enjoy watching a few great films regarding race and our society. I know everyone thinks of Malcolm X, Amistad and The Color Purple when they think of African American films, but here are five great movies that tend to get overlooked.
Bulworth
The Basic Plot: A white senator [Warren Beatty], sick of politics and life in general, takes out a life insurance policy on himself and hires a hit man to whack him. Since he doesn’t care what happens to him, he starts speaking to people about the truth of politics, for example, if you don’t donate money to your representative’s campaigns, they won’t represent you. In the process of exposing Washington corruption, he finds a new interest in life when he falls for a beautiful black woman from Compton [Halle Berry]. Now he needs to avoid the hit man, win his lady and deal with the media frenzy his new “campaign tactic” has created.
Why Was It Underrated: People either thought it was going to be a stupid movie about a white senator pretending to rap, or they heard about the politics of the movie and were turned off. Either way, this movie is constantly listed as one of the top underrated films of the 90’s.
Why You Should See It: It is damn funny to see someone tell movie executives they wouldn’t be criticized about decency standards if they just made better movies. Aside from the humor though, there are some great political points about what happened to the leaders of the black community, why so many black youths enter gangs and more.
More: Bulworth at Amazon | Wikipedia
Bamboozled
The Basic Plot: An African American television writer [Damon Wayans] is criticized one too many times by his white “not racist” boss [Michael Rapaport] for not being street enough. As a way to get back at his condescending boss, he proposes a modern day minstrel show, complete with black actors in black face. Amazingly, the show not only is approved by the executives, but becomes a nation-wide success leading to legions of fans running around the streets in black face. As you could guess, things could only go downhill from there…
Why Was It Underrated: Some people found the whole concept rather offensive, completely ignoring the fact that it was a satire created by a black man. Other people simply don’t look to Spike Lee for humor, though if they did, they may be pleasantly surprised.
Why You Should See It: It’s a funny movie filled with some of the best, biting satire of the last century. You’ll find yourself laughing awkwardly and not believing your eyes at points of the show. At the same time, you’ll realize that the show isn’t much of a stretch for modern television.
More: Bamboozled at Amazon | Wikipedia
Men of Honor
The Basic Plot: The true story of the first African American U.S. Navy diver. Carl Brashear [Cuba Gooding Jr.] must not only struggle to become a diver, but to live through the harassment and racism of his fellow trainees and the trainer [Robert DeNiro] determined to see him fail. In the end, he not only wins the respect of other soldiers, but manages to become the first black diver and the first amputee diver.
Why Was It Underrated: Maybe it was Cuba Gooding Jr. - after all, a lot of people consider him to be about as “black” as Colin Powell. Maybe it’s diver-discrimination and people would much rather see a movie about black fighter pilots than a black diver. Whatever the reason, this moving film received little attention, especially when compared to the George Lucas Tuskegee Airmen film, Red Tails, expected to come out sometime this year.
Why You Should See It: This is a touching story showing the ugliness of racism and the strength of the human spirit. I know it sounds kind of cliché, but it is a good movie depicting how many obstacles we can pass when we set our hearts to doing something.
More: Men of Honor at Amazon | Wikipedia
Dead Presidents
The Basic Plot: Three young black men are recruited to join the Vietnam War. After serving duty, the three friends all end up back home in New York. After finding it difficult to adjust to modern society outside the army, the group sets up an armored car heist. The ensuing action is not to be missed.
Why Was It Underrated: Between Menace II Society and their later works like American Pimp and From Hell, this fantastic film directed by the Hughes brothers seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. Additionally, many people didn’t know how if this movie was a heist movie, a Vietnam flick or a statement about racism in America. Since people often like their movies to be easily classified, this may have been the film’s downfall.
Why You Should See It: Although on the surface, it appears to be a heist movie, this film highlights important issues facing black veterans of the Vietnam War and the continuing racism they experienced when they returned home to a country still wrought with civil rights injustices. This early Hughes Brother’s film is a great display of their talent and a promise of the good things to come.
More: Dead Presidents at Amazon | Wikipedia
Higher Learning
The Basic Plot: When three kids from all walks of life start attending college together, they start encountering racial tension and personal problems like finances and personal insecurities. The main African American character [Omar Epps] is a young African American track star without an exceptional mind. The main female character [Kristy Swanson] is date raped and joins a feminist group to cope with her demons. She begins to become attracted to another woman [Jennifer Connelly] in the group. The main white character [Michael Rapaport] has a hard time fitting in with anyone until a group of white supremacists accept him as one of their own. Rape, racism, sexuality, education and more are all touched upon in this intense film depicting reality on college campuses across the nation.
Why Was It Underrated: Many critics found the characters to be a little stereotypical, but when there are so few movies actually exploring these roles in depth, is that really a problem? Another reason it may be underrated: how many people expect a deep-thinking movie to involve Tyra Banks?
Why You Should See It: There is an all-star cast in this film and it does an excellent job depicting relationships of all types –student/teacher, woman/man, woman/woman, white/black and more. Additionally, it’s one of the few college movies that moves beyond grades, booze and money and depicts a student’s path to self-discovery.
More: Higher Learning at Amazon | Wikipedia Do you think I missed any? If so, please let me know in the comments.
Urban camouflage is a fantastic new art form. Weburbanist has a wonderful collection of a variety of fantastic examples of modern and somewhat pointless camo.
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