the hanslick girls | The Hanslick Girls

September 3, 2018

Act Like You’re There: Shedd Aquarium’s “Wild Reef” Exhibit

“Did we already look at the Great Lakes animals?” Gwen asked, glancing around. Shedd Aquarium’s unique architecture, designed around a rotunda that served as the hub, was both simple to navigate and easy to get turned around in.

“Yeah, that’s where the huge crabs are,” Dania said. “And the eel petting.”

“Eel petting was in the Australian wing,” Eleanor corrected.

“What about this one?”

Dania was pointing to a relatively bright room, off to the side of the main hall. Almost no signage indicated what the room contained, save for a two word title treatment affixed on the wall.

August 27, 2018

March To The Beat: Charles Stone III’s “Drumline”

“I want to count someday,” Gwen said, as the screen faded to black, “what percentage of sports movies end with a heroic freeze frame. It must be at least fifty or sixty percent?”

“Was that the end?”Eleanor asked, though the beginning of the credits answered the question for her.

“What else did you think would happen?” asked Gwen.

“I don’t know, some kind of post-win scene,” Eleanor said. “Something having to do with the relationship to Zoë Saldana.”

August 20, 2018

Shake The World: Jon M Chu’s “Crazy Rich Asians”

“I love this!” Dania said, pointing at the kaleidoscopic credits sequence that twirled across the screen. “All the animated stuff in the movie was really good.”

“Was there a lot of animated stuff?” Gwen asked.

“The phone sequence!” Eleanor said. “With everyone sending texts about Rachel. That was filmed fantastically. Such a good use of the medium. And the cut back to Rachel and Nick in the bar is perfect!”

“Oh, that’s how you spell Awkwafina,” Dania said, as the actress’ name flashed onto the screen.

August 13, 2018

Paint Her Deeper: Soolagna Majumdar’s “Marge Simpson Anime”

Gwen pulled the stack of letters out of their mailbox, and immediately caught sight of the yellowed envelope. A contrast not only due to its color and size, but also by its decoration: tiny stickers of a dinosaur, a fish, a llama, and a teddy bear surrounded their handwritten address. The package – the stamps indicated it had come from Australia – was addressed to Dania.

Near the bottom was a hand-drawn mouse creature, with a speech bubble reading “Do Not Bend Please.” Gwen flattened the package against the wall, soothing out the wrinkles that had formed after the envelope was shoved into their mailbox. The damage controlled, as much as it could be, she carried the mail into the house.

“Dania, you have a package,” Gwen called, dropping the package onto the center table of their living room. “Did you order something from Australia?”

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