300

I saw the movie "300" last night with a friend, and some of his friends - cool guys. Anyway, the movie is pretty good, even though it was panned by the New York Times. Now, I don't view films according to what is said in film reviews, but I thought that the review for "300" in the New York Times was surprisingly harsh. OK, so what: it's a big dumb action movie, with all the requisite muscle groups on chiseled display. It also takes liberties with what "Persian" really means (plus Xerxes I looks like a beefcake RuPaul with less swagger, but more jewelry). Also, I doubt Greeks back then were so Caucasian in appearance. The overall themese in the movie are wrong, too. It makes Spartans and Sparta out to be glorious defenders of "freedom." We all know, or maybe we should all know, that although Greece was the center of vibrant ideas of what democracy would later become, freedom was NOT for all. Kind of like....ehhhh....the United States of America, perhaps?

But, eh. It's escapist drivel, but fun escapist drivel.

That picture above kind of looked like the typical Persians in the movie, although Spartan soldiers - who lived their entire life as soldiers and were always in a fight - would look just as beat up and gnarly.