Sultans and Scarves
Three weeks ago, an Egyptian Muslim mother and wife, four months with child, was stabbed to death in Dresden, the civilian city bombed to the ground by the allies during World War II. She was stabbed in full view of her son and husband, and when her husband rushed to...
Ahmedinejad, The U.S., and The Iranian Elections
It’s an easy enough lie to digest. Ahmedinejad is a nutcase. Look at him, he’s been wearing the same jacket for years, ever since we ever laid eyes on him. He’s unshaven, looks kind of gruffy. He exhudes an informal, almost clumsy air and doesn’t seem like much of an...
Tele-Vision
Sit down. Tune in, and grab a beer. See what you might otherwise miss. Give us 30 seconds - and with one blank frame every thirty - we’ll put you up into a deep hypno-idiotic state during which you’ll be up to 25 times more susceptible to The...
Batman Falls Victim! The Joker Didn’t Do It – Morrison Did!
I am sick of Grant Morrison. My exposure to comics has lessened over the years. I’ve been living in Egypt, so unless I download the occasional scan or buy the trade paperbacks from Amazon, I don’t get to read as much as I used to. Still, when I travel, I...
Foundations of A Broadcast-Based Financial Compensation Model for Digital Media
As a listener – as audience – I am driven towards media that I like. I am infotropic, so to speak. Some data, some information, some inherent artistic or intellectual order manifests to me through songs, books, movies, and various other forms of media. Wanting this information is as basic...
WorldMapper: Take A Look At The World…
In case you haven’t run into it, WorldMapper is an absolutely wonderful resource. It is, to quote the blurb, “a collection of world maps, where territories are re-sized on each map according to the subject of interest. 366 maps and PDF posters will be finished by February 2007.” – It’s...
Get Carter…
I’m no big fan of Jimmy, and I’ve always had trouble with some of the formulations reached under his Camp David negotiations with the late Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat – who I’m also not a big fan of… “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” certainly didn’t get a second glance from...
From Ali G. To Borat – It’s STILL Not Funny…
I first saw an Ali G. show years ago. I laughed. I didn’t laugh much, but I did laugh once, as I ‘got’ the joke, and then something spectacularly simple happened; I no longer found it funny. Sacha Baron Cohen was, and continues to be, a one trick pony; 1...
What’s Wrong With Alan Shore?
Well, initially, nothing. Season 3 of Boston Legal, however, has put the character in grave danger. There are two reasons, not one, for why Alan Shore had been such a fascinating character in The Practice, and in the first episodes of Boston Legal. He had been (as he yet continues...
Wargames
[after playing out all possible outcomes for Global Thermonuclear War] Joshua: Greetings, Professor Falken.Stephen Falken: Hello, Joshua.Joshua: A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess? Strangely powerful movie, having just re-watched it. It’s lost none of the power it had...