Tag: Audre Myers

Midweek Myers Movie Review: Hidden Figures (2016)

The Portly Politico26 Comments

We’re back with another movie review from Audre Myers, who is tossing in reviews of her favorite flicks whenever the mood strikes (or whenever I e-mail her asking her to contribute something).

She offers up her review of the 2016 film Hidden Figures, about three black women “computers” working for NASA.  It was a darling of the critics for its frank depiction of segregation.

Unfortunately, some its iconic scenes—like the lady having to walk half-a-mile to use a segregated bathroom—are Hollywood hogwash.  The segregated facilities were abolished in 1958—three years before the films setting—and while there were segregated restrooms in one part of NASA’s facilities prior to that year, they were unlabeled.  Katherine Johnson, one of the titular “hidden figures,” unwittingly used the whites only bathroom for years, and ignored the one complaint that was ever issued without any further escalation.

These inaccuracies—perhaps dramatic artistic license?—don’t mean segregation wasn’t real—it certainly was—but it seems that NASA was not exactly the hotbed of segregationist sentiment that the film depicts.  That makes sense—an organization reaching for the stars probably isn’t all that concerned about such earthbound issues as skin pigmentation.  Besides, there are plenty of alien species we can discriminate against in the distant future.

With that, here is Audre Myers’s review of 2016’s Hidden Figures:

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Lazy Sunday CLXVI: More Movies, Part XXX: Midweek Myers Movie Reviews, Part I

The Portly Politico5 Comments

At some point I’m going to dedicate a Lazy Sunday to something less lazy than looking back at movie review, but The Portly Politico is rapidly turning into a film review website that occasionally plops out some Right-wing Truth nuggets, so why not embrace destiny?

Doing that is a lot easier when you have awesome contributors.  I’m fortunate to have one of the best:  Audre Myers.  She always delivers, often when I need her most!  Lately, she’s been contributing some excellent film reviews, which I run on Wednesdays (when available) as Midweek Myers Movie Reviews.  Here are three of her choice morsels for your (Turkish?) delight:

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments:

Suspend…

The Portly Politico6 Comments

After putting out my appeal for contributors last week, Audre Myers immediately answered the call.  Within a couple of hours, I had a piece from her in my inbox—and what a fun piece it is!

Audre is a woman of many talents and interests; one of those interests, I’m happy to report, is Bigfoot.  While I’m not going to claim that Bigfoot exists, this site is pro-Bigfoot, in the sense that any musings about our aloof cryptozoological friend will always find a welcome home here at The Portly Politico.  I even floated the idea of Audre doing a regular post about the hairy beast, but she said he’s been quiet lately.

Until now, it seems!  Idaho has more than potatoes, Mormons, Californians, and Mariella Hunt—it might also have a muscular man-ape roaming about!

With that, here is Audre’s piece, in which she will ask you to “Suspend…”:

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Call for Submissions: Write for The Portly Politico!

The Portly Politico6 Comments

As my private lessons empire grows to gargantuan heights, I find that getting in time to write—and to write well—is increasingly scarce.  I’m more than willing to pull some late nights slamming out blog posts, but I’m not afraid to ask for help.  Indeed, that’s what I’m doing today.

I already have two excellent contributors:  Ponty and Audre.  Ponty contributes fairly regularly, especially as we’ve been rattling off our lists of the worst and best films; he also pitches in some occasional video game reviews and some photography from time to time.  Audre will pretty much write whenever I ask her to do so, but she has her own blog and is a regular contributor to Nebraska Energy Observer, so I don’t want to lean on her too much (although she knows she is welcome to submit to this blog any time, on any topic).

Of course, Son of Sonnet submits poetry when I commission a piece, but his work commitments are making it more difficult for him to focus on his craft.  That’s unfortunate, but he always has a home here.

I’m looking for posts on virtually any topic—politics, religion, culture, art, music, movies, books, slice-of-life, human interest, history, opinion, etc.  This blog is mostly non-fiction and the occasional poem, but I’m open to publishing short works of fiction, especially as we enter the spooky season.

At this time, the blog doesn’t generate enough income for me to pay for contributions, but I will gift any contributor an entry-level subscription to my SubscribeStar page (assuming I can figure out how to do that).  I may offer a small “bonus” of $5 each month (paid via Venmo) for the contributor with the most views.

So, in other words, the compensation isn’t the greatest.  But, hey, if I’m not making any money, then can you really complain?  And I’m actually a pretty good writer—ding!

But if you’re looking to get your work out there and need an outlet, I’m happy to work with you to make that happen.

My guidelines are fairly simple:  

  • Submit proofread pieces in *.doc or *.docx format, or in the body of an e-mail
  • Include a title, as well as any formatting notes
  • Make sure hyperlinks to referenced websites are working properly (and preferably are already embedded in your text)
  • Again, proofread before submission; it saves me a great deal of time
  • Posts should be around 600 words, minimum, but may be longer; exceptionally long posts might be split into two parts

Also, this blog is a conservative one, and while I don’t mind hearing from other perspectives, I’m inclined to accept only pieces coming from a broadly Christian conservative or traditionalist worldview.  Of course, video game and film reviews are a different matter (usually), but I’m not looking to give progressives another outlet.  Y’all have plenty of those already, and I’d rather not amplify wickedness any more than necessary.

That said, weird stuff is always appreciated.  It’s up to you to figure out what that means.

If you’re interested in contributing, leave a comment below; visit my “Contact” page; or e-mail me.

Midweek Myers Movie Review: Finding Neverland (2004)

The Portly Politico47 Comments

It is perhaps a sad commentary on our times—or on my own twisted imagination—that when I saw the title of the film Audre Myers‘s reviewed this week, I thought it might have something to do with Michael Jackson’s troubled, unusual relationships with minors.

Fortunately, that was not the case (which would have been quite incongruous for Audre), and instead she offered up a lovely review of what sounds like a lovely film.

There seems to be a whole genre of these films now, something that might be called a “whimsical biopic.”  They tend to focus on harmlessly eccentric Brits who lived quirky lives and created memorable children’s book characters or the like.

Well, I’m all for them.  Give me a rose-tinted view of historic Britishness any day!

With that, here is Audre’s review of 2004’s Finding Neverland:

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Midweek Myers Movie Review: King Kong (1933)

The Portly Politico22 Comments

Good ol’ Audre keeps delivering the goods with these film reviews.  Of course, all these movie reviews make me wonder if I should just morph The Portly Politico into a film review blog—maybe re-brand as “A Portly Night at the Movies” or something.

But there’s just too much other good stuff to bloviate about.  Still, there’s something magical about a good movie, and few movies are quite as magical as 1933’s King Kong.  There’s something whimsical—completely captivating—about this film:  the stop-motion Kong; the iconic scenes; the mighty ape fighting a Tyrannosaurus Rex.  It’s all so… cool!

So I was thrilled when Audre—quite out of the blue!—contributed this review of the film.  She captures that whimsy and magic and adventure so beautifully here.  And for a woman obsessed with Bigfoot, well, it makes sense she’d like movies about giant apes.

With that, here is Audre Myers’s review of 1933’s King Kong:

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Midweek Myers Movie Review: The Jolson Story (1946)

The Portly Politico5 Comments

We’re nearly through the end of the our lengthy countdown of the worst films ever.  With Ponty’s pick in the books, there’s just my pick to go on Monday.

Fortunately, Audre Myers is back again with some midweek levity and positivity, moving away from the acerbic wit of negative reviews.  The object of her praise this week is 1946’s The Jolson Story, the slightly fictionalized account of the life of Al Jolson and his insatiable appetite for applause.  There’s also a poignant love story, one that doesn’t quite turn out as we’d hope.

But I’ll leave that to Audre.  Here is her review of The Jolson Story (1946):

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Midweek Myers Movie Review: The Lion in Winter (1968)

The Portly Politico30 Comments

As Ponty and I have been going through the worst movies ever, it seems like a palette cleanser is in order.  Too much of a good thing is a problem, but too much of a bad thing is probably worse (by definition, I suppose it is!).

Thanks to good ol’ Audre Myers, we have a reminder that plenty of good—indeed, great—things have been imprinted on celluloid.  Not every film is a woke stinker with a strident “strong female character” who lacks any flaws or shortcomings.

Indeed, this film demonstrates how really to write a “strong female character”—and it was released in 1968!  I thought those philistines were still dragging women to their caves by the hair back then.  Well, they don’t come much stronger than Eleanor of Aquitaine; portrayed by the hyper-patrician Katharine Hepburn, 1968 Hollywood would run circles around Brie Larson.

Well, enough of my pontificating.  Here’s Audre Myers’s—our own “strong female character” here at TPP—and her exquisite review of 1968’s The Lion in Winter:

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Audre’s Worst Horror Movie

The Portly Politico23 Comments

As Ponty and I have been rolling through our worst films, we encouraged Audre Myers to submit a review or two for the worst films.  In true Audrean fashion, she slammed out this hilarious, insightful review in no time.

That put me in an extremely mild quandary—when to publish this gem?  Ponty and I are about halfway through our back-and-forth countdown, but it’ll take us at least another eight weeks to finish the series.  I thought briefly about holding off and publishing Audre’s pick for Worst Horror Movie as a surprise for loyal readers.

But how can I withhold Audre’s comedic genius for that long?  More practically, I worried I might lose the e-mail thread—ha!  So I decided to publish Audre’s post now. Think of it as a halfway point reward.

I won’t reveal the title of Audre’s pick yet.  You’ll have to read on to see her choice (and, if you still want to after reading her review, to watch the film—she provides a link to the full thing on YouTube!):

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Lazy Sunday CXLVIII: More Movies, Part XVI: Movie Reviews, Part XVI

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After weeks of reblogging posts about my friends, both real-life and virtual, I’ve decided to go back to another well-trod road for Lazy Sunday posts:  my many, many reviews.

Readers might ask why I title these “More Movies, Part [Insert Roman Numeral Here]: Movie Review, Part [Insert Same Roman Numeral Here]”—or, more likely, you didn’t notice until just now.  Either way, I have to offer an explanation:

When I originally started reblogging movie reviews on Sundays, I thought I might end up featuring other posts related to films that were not movie reviews.  Then I realized that pretty much the only times I write about flicks is in the context of movie reviews.

So, maybe one day I’ll do a Lazy Sunday with my rare, non-review movie posts (like this one).  For today, though, I’m just going to pick up where I left off with “Lazy Sunday CLI – More Movies, Part XV – Movies Reviews, Part XV“:

Well, there you go—back to the movies!

Happy Sunday!

—TPP

Other Lazy Sunday Installments: