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misscamManaging a new low, some vandals have destroyed the Gingerbread City in Bergen. Over 600 gingerbread houses, decorated by kids yesterday with the city to be put together this week. See, it's a non-profit activity aimed at children and children with developmental disabilities. It's been running for several years. People love it.
Pictures from previous years. You can see some of the destruction here.
That's just so utterly low I have no words. But people are pitching in to rebuild it, so I hope they manage.
Meanwhile, Hollywood, I have two pleas:
1) Please, please, please let British actors you cast either keep their accent (it won't bite, I promise!) or give them a dialect coach or something. Because listening to British actors not quite managing to sound American pains me and listening to them in their original accent would just please me. Rawr.
2) Please, please, please get American actors who are trying to do non-American accents some tutoring OR just have them do it all American and count on some suspension of disbelief. Because this half-half is bloody annoying. Also, throwing "ja?" at the end of a sentence does not make you German-sounding. Really. And The Swedish Chef is not a guide to Scandinavian accents. Really. And no, playing it like a stereotype that walked out of a tourist guide written by someone who has never visited the country does not make up for the actor utterly butchering the language.
... Yeah, I shouldn't get into that rant or I'll be here all day.
Meanwhile, they've cast Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie and oh my. Granted, the comic it's based on isn't exactly staying true to Nordic mythology to begin with, and I guess this kinda reinforces it. Because the Viking gods are generally depicted to be pale in colour, mostly because the Vikings were and we all tend to envision things based on our perspective, you know? The Vikings were no expcetion. So I did blink a bit initially, I must admit. (There's even a Black Viking trope, as I learned.)
But I found myself really warming to the idea and you know why? Because neo-Nazis are going to have a fit. They've always tried to hijack Nordic mythology for their own racist, hateful agenda - just as the Nazis themselves did. To say this displeases me is putting it mildly. That's my cultural inheritance they're twisting and getting associated with their shit.
So I shall sit right back and laugh and laugh and laugh and hey, the dude isn't bad looking either. Win-win!
Pictures from previous years. You can see some of the destruction here.
That's just so utterly low I have no words. But people are pitching in to rebuild it, so I hope they manage.
Meanwhile, Hollywood, I have two pleas:
1) Please, please, please let British actors you cast either keep their accent (it won't bite, I promise!) or give them a dialect coach or something. Because listening to British actors not quite managing to sound American pains me and listening to them in their original accent would just please me. Rawr.
2) Please, please, please get American actors who are trying to do non-American accents some tutoring OR just have them do it all American and count on some suspension of disbelief. Because this half-half is bloody annoying. Also, throwing "ja?" at the end of a sentence does not make you German-sounding. Really. And The Swedish Chef is not a guide to Scandinavian accents. Really. And no, playing it like a stereotype that walked out of a tourist guide written by someone who has never visited the country does not make up for the actor utterly butchering the language.
... Yeah, I shouldn't get into that rant or I'll be here all day.
Meanwhile, they've cast Heimdall in the upcoming Thor movie and oh my. Granted, the comic it's based on isn't exactly staying true to Nordic mythology to begin with, and I guess this kinda reinforces it. Because the Viking gods are generally depicted to be pale in colour, mostly because the Vikings were and we all tend to envision things based on our perspective, you know? The Vikings were no expcetion. So I did blink a bit initially, I must admit. (There's even a Black Viking trope, as I learned.)
But I found myself really warming to the idea and you know why? Because neo-Nazis are going to have a fit. They've always tried to hijack Nordic mythology for their own racist, hateful agenda - just as the Nazis themselves did. To say this displeases me is putting it mildly. That's my cultural inheritance they're twisting and getting associated with their shit.
So I shall sit right back and laugh and laugh and laugh and hey, the dude isn't bad looking either. Win-win!
no subject
Date: 2009-11-22 08:07 pm (UTC)I can see why the knee-jerk reaction to that casting choice, but in the end it's all fantasy and taking liberties is not the same as historical inaccuracies.
Plus, as you said, getting to see Neo-Nazis flip out over this might give us entertaining wank.