Taking a break

Over the past week, I’ve discovered something very important: scandal-blogging is exhausting. My brain needs a brief diversion. For all of you who need a break as well, let me warmly recommend a surreal site called Positive Movie Reviews, run by a friend of mine who shall remain nameless. Let me also warn you that ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

Over the past week, I've discovered something very important: scandal-blogging is exhausting. My brain needs a brief diversion. For all of you who need a break as well, let me warmly recommend a surreal site called Positive Movie Reviews, run by a friend of mine who shall remain nameless. Let me also warn you that the humor in the reviews is of a decidedly bizarre nature, and may not be appropriate for those of you with an emotional maturity greater than thirty years of age. For a sample, here is an excerpt from a review of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace:

Over the past week, I’ve discovered something very important: scandal-blogging is exhausting. My brain needs a brief diversion. For all of you who need a break as well, let me warmly recommend a surreal site called Positive Movie Reviews, run by a friend of mine who shall remain nameless. Let me also warn you that the humor in the reviews is of a decidedly bizarre nature, and may not be appropriate for those of you with an emotional maturity greater than thirty years of age. For a sample, here is an excerpt from a review of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace:

As a film critic, I think it’s my job to tell it like it is, not to “get involved” in the process. After all, my readers expect balanced, tough-minded reviews that aren’t tainted by some kind of behind-the-screen shenanigans. So in the interest of full disclosure, I am admitting here that I wrote a letter to George Lucas two years ago, when it first came through the grapevine that he was making a new Star Wars film, to give him my two cents’ worth. What I wrote was basically that although it would be impossible to improve on Return of the Jedi, I had a few minor suggestions. First, play up the Ewok aspect, but change the Ewoks to some comically slow-witted species that speaks heavily accented English. Second, drop the Force mumbo-jumbo and the action and spend more time discussing the political economy of a galaxy far, far away, a long time ago. Third, for God’s sake, don’t skimp on the fart jokes this time! I can’t say for sure whether my letter had an effect, and it’s possible that Lucas would have come to these fine conclusions entirely on his own, but I want to point out at least for me, this movie satisfied all my wants and hopes.

Go check it out — if you dare. UPDATE: If movie reviews don’t float your boat, go check out David Adesnik’s literary deconstruction of the Harry Potter series. It turns out they’re all about sex [So that’s why fundamentalists don’t like the series–ed.]

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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