The Mumpsimus Blog

Jesse James, myth-making and pop culture

10 septiembre 2011

Posted by Ian Chadwick in What I'm reading now, Book & film reviews, Social values

In the 2007 movie, The Assassination of Jesse James, we get to see a nascent American pop culture in a collision between its pop star (James) and a displaced fan (Ford), in an episode eerily similar to the fatal collision of John Lennon and Mark David Chapman. The difference, aside from the century between events, is that, for a while anyway, Ford...

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Tags: Jesse James, heroes, myths, movies 0 Comments

Myth, storytelling and modern writing

25 julio 2011

Posted by Ian Chadwick in What I'm reading now, art, culture and reviews, Book & film reviews, Personal reminisence, Language use and abuse, Social values

Back in 1949, Joseph Campbell, a follower of Carl Jung, wrote a book called The Hero With a Thousand Faces. It traced the story of the 'hero's journey' through the world's mythology, showing how every major tale, regardless of culture, shared common elements and archetypes. It detailled 17 quintessential steps along the mythic...

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Tags: literature, novel, writing, mythology 1 Comments

Why are the endings of some TV series so bad?

19 diciembre 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Personal reminisence, Book & film reviews, art, culture and reviews

The Sopranos was a great TV series, but the ending was, at best quixotic, at worst unfulfilling and frustrating. Lost was also a great TV series, but the ending was flaccid and annoyingly religious.

We just watched Flashforward (on DVD) and while we loved the series through 21 episodes, the ending episode was, like with so many other American TV...

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Book launch for The Gift, November 14

03 noviembre 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Social values, Collingwood life, Book & film reviews

Local author Christine Cowley is having a book launch for her new work, "The Gift: "Sharing Your Life Lessons with the People You Love Most." It's a terrific book, about how readers can create something to give to loved ones and friends, and leave a lasting memento.

Susan and I had the honour of reading through one of the...

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Tags: Christine Cowley, The Gift, library, museum, books 0 Comments

Darwin and the Barnacle compared with Creation

18 octubre 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Science, Book & film reviews, Uncategorized

Earlier this year, we got a DVD copy of Creation, the film about Charles Darwin and his family life as he struggled to come to grips with his ideas about evolution. It's a touching, emotional film about the man inexorably linked with the theory of evolution (played brilliantly by Paul Bettany) as he wrestled with competing issues of faith and...

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Tags: Darwin, Creation, barnacle, evolution 0 Comments

Transformers: Revenge of the (yawn) Fallen

19 septiembre 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Book & film reviews

Picked up a previously-viewed copy of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen movie at Rogers last week. Thought it would be a fun, action-filled but light movie for weekend watching. We had seen the previews and both of us thought it would be entertaining. We both like sci-fi, and action films. Seemed like the perfect mix of the two.

It was...

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Tags: Movie reviews, Transformers, snoresville 4 Comments

Gunless, a Canadian western

07 septiembre 2010

Posted by Ian Chadwick in Personal reminisence, Book & film reviews

Last night we watched one of the most entertaining films I've seen in years: A Canadian western called Gunless, starring Paul Gross of Passchendale fame.

Gunless is the story of the stereotypical American gunfighter - The Montana Kid - who flees a group of vigilantes and ends up riding across the border into a small Canadian frontier village...

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