boxing is a metaphor

boxingisametaphor: Is it fair to pick on Joss Whedon? Probably...

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 19:39:00 -0700

Is it fair to pick on Joss Whedon? Probably not, but yesterday, I was reminded of the wonderful metaphorness of the magic = drugs arc from Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s season 6.

Don’t do it, Will! Drugs are bad.

Reblogging because Willow’s addiction to magic = drugs is another interesting example of a fucked metaphor. See, during Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s prudish WB days (ie: Seasons 4-5), Willow was also really into magic — but that’s because it was a metaphor for her dawning feelings for Tara.

Of course, it’s not like you can post a memo at the beginning of the show when you change the metaphor from lesbianism to drug addiction. Though come to think of it, that probably would have helped.

You don’t have to use vulgar language to grab the...

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 12:24:41 -0700

You don’t have to use vulgar language to grab the consumer’s attention and sell your product. Just use metaphor! [via and thanks to Sophie.]

So last night I watched The Edge, starring Anthony Hopkins and...

Wed, 25 Mar 2009 13:13:30 -0700

So last night I watched The Edge, starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin, for the first time. And I feel like there were a bunch of lessons I learned from David Mamet’s super-Mamet-y script, but here was the important one:

Fighting a bear = being a man.

Get to work, fellas.

I can’t find the full last scene of Tipping the Velvet on...

Sat, 21 Mar 2009 15:38:00 -0700

I can’t find the full last scene of Tipping the Velvet on YouTube. This is the first half of it, where we’re given a song and dance synopsis (literally, har har) of Nan’s emotional history with both Kitty and Flo.

After this Nan’s given a bouquet of flowers on stage. She pulls one red rose out and wavers between throwing it to Nan or Flo. We know Nan “loves Flo best” when she tosses the rose and it ends up in Flo’s satin-gloved hand. Kitty rushes out of the theatre, understanding the symbolism. And, yes - the flower is a symbol, but the giving of it is a metaphor.

As heavy handed as this is, I far prefer it to confrontational or soppy “I love you!” scenes.

Is it fair to pick on Joss Whedon? Probably not, but yesterday,...

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:55:58 -0700

Is it fair to pick on Joss Whedon? Probably not, but yesterday, I was reminded of the wonderful metaphorness of the magic = drugs arc from Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s season 6.

Don’t do it, Will! Drugs are bad.

On the one hand, the metaphor here is obvious: Michael talks in...

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:24:00 -0700

On the one hand, the metaphor here is obvious: Michael talks in the narration about being alone after he’s jumped into the ocean miles away from land. On the other hand, the entire scene is executed damn well, and they refrain from using painfully obvious wording, ie. one man is an island or swimming jargon. Especially evocative is the music, which is Jessy Greene’s “Time Bomb,” which has a mid-90s retro appeal to my ear.

Bravo, Burn Notice, for taking your visual playfullness to a metaphorical level.

This entire movie is an incredibly pretentious metaphor.

Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:01:50 -0700

This entire movie is an incredibly pretentious metaphor.

Death Cab for Cutie “Cath…” Sometimes, the...

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:33:20 -0700

Death Cab for Cutie “Cath…”

Sometimes, the absence of metaphor is just as jarring. The music video is not a medium known for subtlety, but have we lost all faith in the people’s imagination? This isn’t an interpretation of the text—this is transliteration. Don’t worry that you didn’t get it when you merely heard the song as music and words. This three minute whack over the head should help.

qwantz.com - dinosaur comics - March 09 2009

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:40:05 -0700

qwantz.com - dinosaur comics - March 09 2009

This blog could easily devolve into weekly Dollhouse recaps and...

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:33:04 -0700

This blog could easily devolve into weekly Dollhouse recaps and an in-depth study of Watchmen. It’s all a metaphor for something, baby.

Even the New York Times has its metaphor woes

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:15:00 -0700

From this week’s After Deadline (my favorite NYtimes.com feature):

My colleague Adam Bryant, an editor in Business, notes that business writers tend to reach for metaphors to try to make complicated aspects of finance and economic policy more accessible. It’s the right instinct, but as Adam says, problems can arise when we mix and match metaphors in a single sentence or paragraph.

In recent weeks, we have printed sentences about …

… a stew of programs, some with warts and all.

… assets that are hanging over a bank and need to be purged.

… acquisitions that are absorbed and then molded into a giant.

… unplugging a stoppage by shoring up something.

You get the idea.

meganwest: Regardless, all of the photo research that this...

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:52:35 -0800

meganwest:

Regardless, all of the photo research that this article required brought me to my new favorite game that I’d love to share with you. It’s called “Nicolas Cage.” Unlike my associate, Gladstone’s game, this one isn’t complicated or Facebook-related (also, it’s fun).

Here’s how you play:

Step 1: Get a screengrab from a Nicolas Cage movie. Doesn’t matter what movie or how much facial hair Nicolas Cage has.

Step 2: Think of a line of dialogue, [Two Sentence Maximum] for Nicolas Cage. This line must, in your opinion (A) sum up the movie and (B) be just retarded enough that it might actually be a real line from a Nicolas Cage film.

Step 3: Superimpose that line over the picture.

Step 4: That is the entire game.

[link]

Not only is this an excellent game, but Gone in 60 Seconds is AWESOME (and by awesome, I mean awful) when it comes to the whole stealing cars/sex metaphor. Click here for the best clip from the movie.

I haven’t read the book, so I couldn’t possible know...

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 09:23:28 -0800

I haven’t read the book, so I couldn’t possible know what they’re trying to say with the cover.

What Dreams May Come - The Hunt For The Worst Movie Of All Time - Videogum

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:04:42 -0800

What Dreams May Come - The Hunt For The Worst Movie Of All Time - Videogum:

When Robin Williams dies, he actually runs down a TUNNEL towards a LIGHT. Get it? That’s how you get to heaven, dummy.

Bless Videogum, doing the good work of pointing out the best metaphors so I don’t have to suffer through that movie again to bring them to you. There’s something very meta about that, too.

The first two X-Men movies, directed by openly gay Bryan Singer,...

Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:23:44 -0800

The first two X-Men movies, directed by openly gay Bryan Singer, are pretty explicit about the concept of mutant powers being a metaphor for homosexuality.

Then Brett Ratner took over the X-Men universe.

And Rogue, along with several other mutants, took the mutant cure.

This isn’t a bad metaphor. This is a fucked one.

We say something has “jumped the shark” when it...

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 14:39:10 -0800

We say something has “jumped the shark” when it passes its peak (and often, when it’s reached the oh-dear-god-please-put-it-out-of-its-misery stage). Why?

Because the Fonz literally jumped a shark, and that was the end of Happy Days.

Megan makes a fine point regarding the anti-metaphor. So I have...

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:43:22 -0800

Megan makes a fine point regarding the anti-metaphor. So I have provided an additional example.

My brother enjoys the conceit of this blog but emailed me with a...

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:28:00 -0800

My brother enjoys the conceit of this blog but emailed me with a suggestion: feature an anti-metaphor.

A non-metaphor example would be, as they say, ”instructive,” no?

This is not a metaphor. Or, perhaps, it functions as a metaphor for The Treachery of Images. Or an image of the treason of images?

Ouch. I don’t know. But really it’s just a semiotic fart.

Mary Shelley’s monster. A mascot for the metaphor, maybe,...

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:04:57 -0800

Mary Shelley’s monster. A mascot for the metaphor, maybe, but don’t hold it against Mary. She wrote her Frankenstein as a campfire story, on a bet from two of the most immature boys in British literature, Lord Byron and her husband, Percy. She knew her audience.

I once had an English professor tell me, “The monster stands for many different things.” There. Now you don’t have to waste four years in university.

"To me, there’s nothing freer than a bird, you know, just flying wherever he wants to go. And,..."

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 15:54:00 -0800

““To me, there’s nothing freer than a bird, you know, just flying wherever he wants to go. And, I don’t know, that’s what this country is all about, being free. I think everyone wants to be a free bird.””

- Ronnie Van Zant, spoken during an interview while fishing.

‘Cause we needed clarification on birds being free.