adaptations

A Random Find: Ancient and Early Medieval Persian or Iranic Women’s Clothing

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I randomly ran into a collection of recreations of Persian or Iranic women’s clothing from different eras, from ancient times to a few hundred years ago. Below are the five oldest outfits.

Tumblr Non-West Hist Persian Iranic 2nd Millenium BC
“Second Millennium B.C. From the collection of Ph. Ackerman”
Tumblr Non-West Hist Persian Iranic Elam
“Elam. 3rd millennium B.C. – Silver vase found at Marvdasht – Iran Bastan Museum”

They seem to be images of modern interpretations based on artwork of various kinds: statuettes, carvings, reliefs, paintings, and drawings.

Tumblr Non-West Hist Persian Iranic Achaemenian
“Achaemenian II”
Tumblr Non-West Hist Persian Iranic Parthian
“Parthian II. Statue found at Harta – Baghdad Museum”
Tumblr Non-West Hist Persian Iranic Sassanian
“Sassanian period I (224-652 A.D.). Silver plate – Walter Art Gallery in Baltimore”

 

Aren’t they fascinating? The images clearly come from a print publication, but apart from that I unfortunately don’t have any source information.

I don’t know much about these eras and areas, but I can’t escape the impression that these recreations may be relatively old and, perhaps, not entirely reliable. For instance, the Sassanian dress seems very polyester-like (too shiny). On the other hand, a lot of the draping looks very plausible. It would be so interesting to read an analysis on each outfit by the researchers / creators.

I’ve long been into early history, specifically of textiles and clothing, usually the older the better. Sadly, it’s an area that we tend to have very spotty evidence. I’m so glad digitization and the Internet help get more information out to interested audiences. There are so many more sources and preserved fragments than many may realize, and now we get to see them!

Images found via Non-Western Historical Fashion on Tumblr.

Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.

Trailers for Solo: A Star Wars Story

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Another Star Wars franchise singleton movie is about to hit the big screen: Solo: A Star Wars Story opens May 25, 2018. Here’s the first trailer (from February):

Solo: A Star Wars Story Official Trailer by Star Wars

And the second (from April):

Solo: A Star Wars Story Official Trailer by Star Wars

I’m not entirely sure what to think on the basis of the trailers. Alden Ehrenreich sure ain’t got Harrison Ford’s charisma, but perhaps that’s because we are only seeing very short snippets. It’s also impossible to tell how big of a part Donald Glover’s Lando Calrissian will have; I hope the writers are not only using him for a quick and dirty “this is how Han got the ship now bye” scene. Emilia Clarke’s Qi’Ra seems both competent and charming. And I believe this is the second time my fellow Finn Joonas Suotamo gets to portray Chewbacca on his own (without coaching by Peter Mayhew).

Solo: A Star Wars Story | “190 Years Old” Clip by Star Wars

Yay, Joonas!

Like with Rogue One, the special effects and directing look stunning, so at least there’ll be that. Here’s hoping the writing will also work.

Two more weeks!

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Our Top 5 MCU Movies to Date

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Roxi tweeted a question, and we have answers!

https://twitter.com/frankencastIed/status/984754927351287808

 

Eppu here. My top five Marvel Cinematic Universe movies to date are:

  1. Black Panther
  2. Spider-Man: Homecoming
  3. The Avengers
  4. Captain America: Civil War
  5. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

My honorable mention is a tie between Ant-Man (which surprised me positively but ultimately won’t make the list due to the annoyingly large serving of ham for a villain) and Thor: Ragnarok (Jeff Goldblum was a fun villain but he shouldn’t overshadow the rest of the fantastic ensemble).

I see quite a bit of Captain America on my list. I didn’t think I’d be team Cap. I have to say, though, there’s an appeal in stories of someone trying to re-gauge their moral compass in a fast-paced, fast-changing world they’re scrambling to understand. (Hold on. That sounds like I might be… middle-aged?!? *LOL*)

Our Fav MCU Movies Poster Collage Sm

 

Erik here. My top five are:

  1. Avengers
  2. Black Panther
  3. Captain America: The First Avenger
  4. Captain America: The Winter Soldier
  5. Spider-Man: Homecoming

All of these movies have a clear and relatively straightforward narrative concept which is backed up by excellent design, direction, and acting. They are also all definitively superhero movies, unlike some of the other Marvel movies which are heist capers, space operas, or character studies that happen to have superheroes in them. As a whole, I think Marvel’s cinematic corpus is stronger for having the variety, but the movies I like best are the ones that face the superheroism of their main characters head on. (Also, as much as I appreciate Iron Man’s role in getting the Marvel Cinematic Universe started and holding the first couple of phases together, there’s only so much Tony Stark I can take at one sitting.)

We suspect our lists will look quite different after this summer (with AIW now and Ant-Man and the Wasp due in July), but we’ll see.

Want to chime in?

Images via IMDB: Ant-Man. The Avengers. Black Panther. Captain America: Civil War. Captain America: The First Avenger. Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thor: Ragnarok.

In the Seen on Screen occasional feature, we discuss movies and television shows of interest.

Avengers: Infinity War Opens This Friday and There Are Trailers

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Good grief, I’ve completely lost the track of time—here in the U.S., Avengers: Infinity War opens this Friday (April 27, 2018). Eeeeek!

Here’s the first trailer (from November, 2017):

Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War Official Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

The second trailer (from March, 2018):

Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War – Official Trailer by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

And, finally, a tv spot from early April:

Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War — Chant TV Spot by Marvel Entertainment on YouTube

I know virtually nothing about the Infinity War, except that it involves the infinity stones and that Thanos is (in some form or another) pulled from comics. (I was an X-Men reader in my youth, and even though my sister read some Spider-Man, those were translated and published very spottily back home.)

However, it looks like we’re possibly in for quite a treat. I cannot see a mashup of all of the super-and-super-adjacent-heroes being anything but a Learning to Work Together story, at least to some extent. The setting of AIW also looks a lot like the setting for The Avengers, which I liked quite a bit (even despite its Smurfette-action). There’s nothing quite like repelling a force with unknown capabilities more numerous than yours to have our heroes pull together.

I’ve liked the Russo brothers’ Community episodes and previous Marvel Cinematic Universe movies from well enough to a lot, so I doubt I’ll be disappointed in the directing. The same more or less goes for dynamic screenwriting duo Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely: the Captain America movies The First Avenger, The Winter Soldier, and Civil War are at the top end of their work even if I’d prefer a lower amount of testosterone in my superhero stories.

One thing’s sure: it will be fabulous to see people from the Black Panther again (especially Okoye and Shuri!). I’m also curious to see how they’ll integrate the Guardians of the Galaxy characters. And we know already that there will be humorous quips!

Tumblr Daily Marvel Heroes Open Wakanda1Tumblr Daily Marvel Heroes Open Wakanda2Tumblr Daily Marvel Heroes Open Wakanda3

Images: When you said we’re going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world gifs via Daily Marvel Heroes on Tumblr.

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Call for Help: Where Is Miss Sherlock?

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I saw Bay Alden tweet-share a trailer for a gender-swapped version of Sherlock Holmes set in modern Japan. It looks fascinating, so I had to dig up more. Here are the trailers I found:

MISS SHERLOCK Official Promo Trailer (HD) HBO Asia Original Series via JoBlo TV Show Trailers

MISS SHERLOCK – Japanese TV Series Trailer #2 via Seven on YouTube

MISS SHERLOCK – Japanese TV Series Trailer #3 (Official Trailer from HBO Asia) via Seven on YouTube

The show is co-produced by HBO Asia and Hulu Japan. The official description reads:

“MISS SHERLOCK pays homage to the classic by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Holmes, with bold interpretations of the iconic characters, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson. MISS SHERLOCK is set in modern day Tokyo and both lead characters are Japanese women – Dr. Wato Tachibana, a surgeon recently returned from a volunteer doctors’ mission in Syria and Sara Shelly Futaba, an investigation consultant to the police department who solves bizarre and difficult cases. Throughout the series, the pair solves mystery after mystery with Miss Sherlock’s extraordinary observation and reasoning skills.”

Miss Sherlock premiers on April 27, 2018.

Now for the part that I need help with. Does anyone know whether Miss Sherlock is available outside Japan? If so, are English subtitles available? I did find a mention (repeated elsewhere) that it can be viewed in the U.S. only via the HBO Go streaming app, but I haven’t found a confirmation by HBO or Hulu.

Anyone?

This post has been edited to correct a typo.

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.

A Science-Fictional Personal Transportation Drone Is Almost a Reality

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On Twitter, CNET shared a video of test flight footage of an apparently functional, autonomous passenger drone. Take a look at it here:

The model is called Ehang 184. There’s a longer test flight video on EHANG’s YouTube channel:

EHANG 184 AAV Manned Flight Tests by EHANG on YouTube

There’s been some buzz—quite understandably, too, for the drone looks pretty neat—but the vehicle doesn’t seem to have been ready for the international market quite as soon as some western news outlets have reported. It sounds like the battery life is still rather limited, too. Fortunately the limitations of the current tech do not have to restrain a science fiction writer—just think of how much cell phone batteries have improved in the last ten years alone.

My goodness, it’s exciting to be living now! 🙂

The Visual Inspiration occasional feature pulls the unusual from our world to inspire design, story-telling, and worldbuilding. If stuff like this already exists, what else could we imagine?

Fahrenheit 451 Reboot Trailer

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The rebooted Fahrenheit 451 trailer is out:

Fahrenheit 451 (2018) Official Trailer ft. Michael B. Jordan & Michael Shannon | HBO on YouTube

This new movie adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s novel is by writer, director, and producer Ramin Bahrani. The flick stars Michael B. Jordan (lately appearing e.g. in Black Panther and Fantastic Four) and Michael Shannon (e.g. The Shape of Water, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Man of Steel). It’s set to come out May 19, 2018.

My first snarky comment solely on the basis of the trailer is “Do you think this movie has something to do with fire?” and the second “My goodness, so many men doing man things—where are the women?” Then again, I know that trailers always lie, and that may be the case here. According to IMDB, at least, the cast does have a number of women, including Sofia Boutella, whom I remember from Kingsman: The Secret Service. It remains to be seen how much of a role they’re given. And I hope Michael B. Jordan is given space to show his depth.

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Geeky, Feminist Motivational Posters for the International Women’s Day

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Due to a post-winterstorm blackout a week more than two weeks ago, I’m still catching up on my Internet reading, so I only saw these awesome, nerdy motivational posters now after the International Women’s Day. It was worth the wait, though:

Tumblr Risa Rodil Poster Shuri Improved
Risa Rodil on Tumblr.

“Just because something works doesn’t mean it can’t be improved.”

Referring of course to Shuri from the movie Black Panther. As another tinkerer, I wholeheartedly agree! 😀

Tumblr Risa Rodil Poster Successful Woman Herself
Risa Rodil on Tumblr.

“Behind every successful woman is herself.”

The posters are by letterer, illustrator and designerd Risa Rodil. She posted them on Tumblr in honor of the International Women’s Day (March 08).

Visit Risa Tumblr post for more geeky feminist posters. And while there, look at the rest of her work – such a distinct, lively, whimsical style. I especially liked this library poster:

Tumblr Risa Rodil Poster When Doubt Library
Risa Rodil on Tumblr.

“When in doubt, go to the library.”

Find more about Risa on her website, including where to buy her designs.

Images by Risa Rodil via Tumblr: Shuri and successful woman. Library.

This post has been edited.

Out There is an occasional feature highlighting intriguing art, spaces, places, phenomena, flora, and fauna.

Texts from Shakespeare Characters: Do You Bite Your Thumb at Us, Sir?

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This panel from a slew of Texts from Shakespeare Characters totally cracked me up:

Tumblr Texts from Shakespeare Characters Do You Bite Thumb

random Capulet loser: [thumbs up emoji]

phone owner, NOT a Capulet loser: “Do you bite your thumb at us, sir?”

An insightful combination of Shakespeare and modern tech and culture. Dare I say it: thumbs up!

Image: Texts from Shakespeare Characters from SparkNotes’s SparkLife, found via Abbie A. Aaronson on Tumblr

Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.