movie poster with young adult woman in pretty summer dress blowing a bubble gum bubble

13 Going on 30 Redux; or: Happy Girls Don’t Do Careers

So last night I saw 13 Going on 30 on DVD, and while I enjoyed it, the movie left me in something of a funk. It took me a little while to figure out why. After all, the movie was funny, Jennifer Garner was really terrific – what a shock that this is her first big comedic leading role in a feature! – and the tone at the conclusion was uplifting....

 · Laura Lis Scott
Promotional poster for Aeon Flux

Women kicking button in “Aeon Flux”

Warning: Spoilers. (Not much, but hey, I warned you.) So I saw Aeon Flux on DVD the other night. Given the mediocre reviews and lack of box-office love the film, um, enjoyed, I really didn’t expect much. I wanted to see it mainly because of the production design I saw in the commercials. And because of Charlize Theron. And (okay okay) because I’m something of a scifi nut. What I didn’t quite expect was the heart of the story being driven by female characters....

 · Laura Lis Scott

Is there really so little talent in the world? (And does Hollywood have it all already?)

In doing some catch-up on the Web 2.0 conference that happened a couple of weeks ago, I came across Kaliya’s round up, where she remarks upon the rather inane statement made by television mogul Barry Diller: Dumbest thing said on the stage: Bary Diller dismissed the idea that citizens with blogs and video editing software were major threats to the entertainment industry. “There is not that much talent in the world,” Diller said....

 · Laura Lis Scott

Mainstreaming Chaos

People love “Top” lists – Top 100 Movies of All Time, Top 100 Novels, 100 Most Powerful People, 100 Richest People, Billboard’s Top 100 Songs, Top Grossing Blockbusters … In a mainstream culture, being in the “top” is something of an honor. On the web, there have been recent “Top” lists, too. Two in particular have received a lot of attention: the Technorati 100 and, more recently, the Feedster 500....

 · Laura Lis Scott