Hey Karina –

I enjoyed the J of A analysis. Love the idea of Joan as object of defiance of Hollywood mythology. Nice!

Am I mistaken, or have I seen that photo somewhere before?

I appreciate the comment on the podcast about the spiritual experience of watching film; while I didn’t react as strongly to the baby/ceasefire scene in Children of Men, I thought it was incredibly powerful. Had I seen it on the big screen as opposed to my 14″ wide flatscreen from across the living room, I may very well have wept. I’ve actually cried at the most insane things in the movies: the first view of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park (I was channeling a childhood/dad/bonding visit to the Museum of Natural history thing), the ending of City Lights always kills me, but apropos of this thread, I cried during the God-speaking-from-theBurning-Bush scene in The Prince of Egypt. And I’m not religious. I comment in more detail on this for the Film and Faith Blogathon at my blog, The Last Palace. (http://lastpalace.blogspot.com/2007/11/from-platos-cave-to-ikes-church.html)

The AMNH as spiritual. I think I can see it… is it the whole Web of Life thing that seems to be their slant now? Or is it the sense of the cosmic span of time and the somber majesty of these dead ancient animals? I think that was it for me. When I was a kid, before the exhibits went multimedia and interactive, it was all just dusty dinosaur bones mounted in various poses, and the museum used to be much quieter and emptier. I would stare and stare at the skeletons and try to imagine them with flesh on, moving and breathing. It was ultimately a hopeless endeavor. Which is why I think seeing the first CGI dinosaurs on the screen had such an emotional impact on me. It was the ultimate little kid wish fulfillment (of course I also got sucker-punched by John Williams’ music).

[...] monologue about actresses who play joan of [...]