Film, media and art links
Obituary for Frank Devine, 1931-2009. Remembering him. I am saddened by his death, as I had enjoyed his writing for many years.
Putting perhaps too much effort into interpreting the lyrics of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song Californication.
Why Torchwood is pro-American and Russell T. Davies is up there with Joss Whedon.
GM does a beefcake ad, then it decides not to.
About life with a young and hip Martin Amis.
About 1939, Hollywood’s greatest year.
How the son of a kosher butcher built a Hollywood career as a great Latin lover.
Appreciating Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, 20 years on.
In praise of President Obama’s book Dreams from My Father and a suggestion that the President re-read it.
Now Cohen has changed his satiric targets some commentators have changed their tune. About what PC reveals about the PC.
About journalists not getting what seems fairly clear: I want new pundits. Governor Palin’s resignation is perhaps less surprising given what she had previously said about the pressures involved: the media reportage seems to have been dominated by preconceived narratives. A practising journalist on the role of the mainstream media in the anti-Palin frenzy and the mainstream media’s blatant double standards in dealing with Gov. Palin: Democrats scoffed at her "politics of personal destruction" line, but it's a maxim they originally popularized, and one they will undoubtedly trot out again the next time it happens to one of their own. … On the contrary, to me the entire Sarah saga revealed that it wasn't only the traditional media's business model that is broken. Our journalism model is busted, too. … What I am saying is that we simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin, and for me, the real loser in this sordid tale is my chosen profession. … If being "liberal" now meant sympathy for the Democratic Party, and being conservative implied sympathy for Republicans, all those liberal newsrooms across the country were gradually going to alienate themselves from about half their readers.
That this might pose a problem never dawned on the men and women who controlled the media - even as it drove their right-of-center readers and viewers away in droves. When I tell my friends working in places like The New York Times that they created Rush Limbaugh, they respond with shock and disbelief. But it's obvious to me that it's true, even as the anointed sages of the Old Media solemnly denied that an animal such as "liberal bias" existed at all. … He then segued into an even uglier line of attack, arguing that it's irresponsible to bring a handicapped baby into the world. This is not "pro-choice," it's pro-eugenics. It's also creepy and illiberal, and reinforces conservatives' worst fears about Democrats and the issue of abortion.
Putting perhaps too much effort into interpreting the lyrics of Red Hot Chili Peppers’ song Californication.
Why Torchwood is pro-American and Russell T. Davies is up there with Joss Whedon.
GM does a beefcake ad, then it decides not to.
About life with a young and hip Martin Amis.
About 1939, Hollywood’s greatest year.
How the son of a kosher butcher built a Hollywood career as a great Latin lover.
Appreciating Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, 20 years on.
In praise of President Obama’s book Dreams from My Father and a suggestion that the President re-read it.
Now Cohen has changed his satiric targets some commentators have changed their tune. About what PC reveals about the PC.
About journalists not getting what seems fairly clear: I want new pundits. Governor Palin’s resignation is perhaps less surprising given what she had previously said about the pressures involved: the media reportage seems to have been dominated by preconceived narratives. A practising journalist on the role of the mainstream media in the anti-Palin frenzy and the mainstream media’s blatant double standards in dealing with Gov. Palin: Democrats scoffed at her "politics of personal destruction" line, but it's a maxim they originally popularized, and one they will undoubtedly trot out again the next time it happens to one of their own. … On the contrary, to me the entire Sarah saga revealed that it wasn't only the traditional media's business model that is broken. Our journalism model is busted, too. … What I am saying is that we simply didn't hold Joe Biden to the same standard as Sarah Palin, and for me, the real loser in this sordid tale is my chosen profession. … If being "liberal" now meant sympathy for the Democratic Party, and being conservative implied sympathy for Republicans, all those liberal newsrooms across the country were gradually going to alienate themselves from about half their readers.
That this might pose a problem never dawned on the men and women who controlled the media - even as it drove their right-of-center readers and viewers away in droves. When I tell my friends working in places like The New York Times that they created Rush Limbaugh, they respond with shock and disbelief. But it's obvious to me that it's true, even as the anointed sages of the Old Media solemnly denied that an animal such as "liberal bias" existed at all. … He then segued into an even uglier line of attack, arguing that it's irresponsible to bring a handicapped baby into the world. This is not "pro-choice," it's pro-eugenics. It's also creepy and illiberal, and reinforces conservatives' worst fears about Democrats and the issue of abortion.