I sense a whole new trend in Hollywood posters these days. I guess, with technology, commercial art has also been evolving huh? Sheesh, but why am I telling you this even? It's a given.

There has been a shift towards minimalism, white or open spaces, dominant typography, digital and manipulated photography, rather old school but refreshing illustrations, and best of all, courageous (or risky?) non-depiction of lead stars. If they do get pictured on the poster, they're barely recognizable.

To make the long story short, check out some of the latest Hollywood movie posters around. Notice the trend:



The Coen brothers' Burn After Reading and Sideways lookalike Bottle Shock beat the the long-standing style in poster design. Illustrations and typography! Open spaces! See? No stars' heads!



Photography over celebrity. Here are posters of murder romanticizing Wanted, the non-Eric Bana sequel The Incredible Hulk, and my favorite poster these days Hancock. I don't know about you, but I didn't recognize Angelina, Edward Norton and Will right away.



White spaces and near-minimalism in Beastie Boy Adam Yauch's documentary Gunnin' for that #1 Spot and TV adaption-sequel-sequel-sequel The X-Files: I Want to Believe.

Sana lang the good ol' days of floating heads will be over soon, no! Nakakasawa. Like that downmarket Iron Man poster. Come on! Those guys gotta be more creative than that.

I didn't. This was such a surprise.


"Head with Red Shadow" by pop art master Roy Lichtenstein displayed in Gagosian Gallery, NYC.

credit: nytimes.com

Call me just another critic of "Sex and the City." You'll hate me for this.

For years the show has been running, both female and male fans around the world devoured its episodes and with that, even the values they represent. And what values? Clothes, bags, whirlwind relationships and promiscuity. Sad. There's so much more to a woman than that. In fact, they shouldn't define a woman at all.

And now the movie, one that concludes surrendering to the commitments and maturity Carrie, Charlotte, Samantha and Miranda have eluded from for so long. There's no need to add to Colleen Carroll Campbell's article on the movie adaptation's "fairy tale ending," when three of the four main characters end up happily married after decades of you-know-what.

"For all their pretensions to envelope-pushing, the movie's producers apparently could not improve on the age-old answer to a woman's romantic yearnings: the very ideal of traditional marriage so often disparaged by the series. Even the promiscuous, materialistic fashion plates of 'Sex and the City' ultimately succumb to the desire to direct their erotic energies into something more enduring than one-night stands and shopping sprees. They want, as most women do, the kind of lifelong love that can survive wrinkles and stretch marks and the dowdier duds of old age."

Let's just say it's all effective marketing, with a box office high being reached. But what a market! It's a pity really that women feel they are empowered by a show that depicts a world where estrogen rules while reason is undermined. There's no point, no purpose. The characters are all feelings and emotions and with hardly any mind work.

But then again, some people call it a mere "representation." A representation of a social revolution that has weakened suggestion and valued the explicit. Are there no bounds anymore?

Maybe I'm too young to be picking holes in this film since the critics we hear from are decades older while the young adults don't really have much to say. After all, "Sex and the City" is more tame than how the traditionals think it is, we say. And that's what's miserable. This generation has not only evolved into an attention-deficient, visually-triggered, Googling, digitalized, loosely relativistic group of people, but one whose sensibilities are lowering to a level where almost everything is tolerated.

To end, here's another worthy quote from an article by Kevin Ryan:

Sex in the City has conditioned this generation of women to imitate them by giving sex away, swearing like the Sopranos and wearing freak-show adornments. But it just won’t work. Men use women like that, but they won’t love them.

Art Studies 190 - Aesthetics
Loved that the class has many different, interesting people and depth of art analysis - sarap! Like a big mug of frappuccino.
I honestly didn't read most of the required readings in this class. I didn't think they were worth it, too ideological. To survive, I just listened carefully, reported the topic assigned and submitted the papers. Tapos okay naman. Kitams? Safe and intact pa ko. Sometimes talaga, we don't have to risk it.

Speech 100 - Introduction to Speech Communication
Loved that our prof used a different method of teaching, that is, she didn't teach at all. In a good way, fortunately. I was exposed to social science researches and more communication theories, but this time I loved it. I would rather not have memories of my Comm Theory class which I almost flunked, but Speech 100 made me see the darned theories in a whole new pink light.

Journalism 122 Layout and Design
Loved this class for itself. For heck's sakes, it's layout and design. Two of the most lovable words in the English language. Thanks to the inspiring creations of artist Leonardo Sonnoli, it somehow became my fate. Loved the people too. Nothing like having your beloved friends around, and the Internet at your fingertips in one room, three hours a week.

Photojournalism
Loved that it's so practical and laid back. I enjoyed exerting every effort and finishing every requirement. Although I realized in the end that I don't want to be snapping scenes for a living, it's a timely endeavor. It's easy, which makes it a difficult art, if you think about it.

Journalism 151 Advertising
Loved the class and the people, hated the topics. I don't like advertisements, much less advertising. Feels good that I still pushed through with the course after wavering a bit about continuing. What saved me was the work. It was awesome creating the projects and with different people. It was a team class and everyone felt the support of everyone.

Communication Research 101
Loved that our research group was solid and hardworking, and that our professor was beautiful. It was a lot of hard work but when you have inspiring groupmates and a role model for a teacher, every burden is automatically transformed into something sweet. Naks.

Philosophy 171 Ethics
Loved that it's a Philosophy course. Period. Odd that I'm a journalism major with 12 units of Philosophy history. It wasn't wasted. I've had great professors so far, the tame and brilliant ones. I don't think I'm going to take anymore. Too risky. The subject matter can most of the time be dangerous, especially if taken in my university. It was awesome spending days and nights trying to penetrate the minds behind moral philosophy.

Half-psyched for next semester. Half-afraid too.