On one level President Bush's Sunday night speech was unremarkable. It was a simple declarative address on what has been accomplished in the war on terrorism and what remains to be done. But on another level, it was stunning. In framing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (as well as the other actions in the war on terror) as a noble cause and a great success, the speech sounded shockingly unfamiliar, given the wholly different themes regularly projected on television newscasts. Bush reported how Fedayeen and terrorist scum have ambushed our soldiers. They've killed civilian aid workers at the UN;... continue reading
If children read anything in the newspapers any more, it's still the Sunday comics section, that inviting spread of colored cartoon art, that staple of Silly Putty advertising. One of the industry's best-known cartoonists is Garry Trudeau, the envelope-pushing baby boomer creator of "Doonesbury." He's now delivered controversy again with his signature. He sent to his syndicate a Sunday strip with a new topic: masturbation. "There's a new study that suggests regular masturbation prevents prostate cancer," says one of the strip's characters, the oh-so-relevant Reverend Scot Sloan. A few panels later, slacker Zonker arrives to announce "self-dating prevents cancer." Trudeau... continue reading
In the minds of the national media elite, Alabama is a strange place that erupts in the news only when some backward action happens. Perhaps it's an abortion clinic bombing, a remembrance of past segregation and racist violence, or some rerun of the strange ways those Bible-thumpin' Christians act. Enlightened journalists no doubt still chortle at the memory of the 1960s singer-satirist Tom Lehrer worrying about when "Alabama gets the bomb." The state's Chief Justice, Roy Moore, brought the national media circus to town by plopping a granite monument of the Ten Commandments in the middle of the state's top... continue reading
The New York Observer's Joe Conason is out with a new tome called "Big Lies," one of those "lies" being the Myth of the Liberal Media. In doing so he has now joined The Nation's Eric Alterman in claiming that the news media are not as liberal as they are, which is undoubtedly true. The suggestion, however, that the news media do not tilt to the left, is just not serious thinking. Or, if it's coming from those who would consider themselves serious thinkers, it's just not intellectually honest. I don't know if Al Franken is a joke or a... continue reading
We know the ideal of sexual purity and a clarion call for abstinence are seen by Hollywood as ... quaint. In some Tinseltown circles it's even dangerous. Miramax recently released another in a series of Catholic-bashing movies, "The Magdalene Sisters," which takes the regrettable story of Ireland's Magdalene laundries, where young women who were sexually active, pregnant, or even just too flirty were consigned to hard labor. Predictably the movie turns it all into a broad-brushed propagandistic vision of a church pulsing with pure evil. That is hardly the cultural predicament for young American women today. They not only are... continue reading
New York City is billed as the center of American sophistication, the apex of American artistry, a magnet for those who want to join the avant-garde, the enlightened, the cognoscenti, the intelligentsia, or any other vaguely artistic and intellectual word that could apply. It is the natural home for something called the "New York City Fringe Festival." Now in its seventh year, this festival of off-off-Broadway productions has a well-worn mainstream of strangeness. Read the program, if you dare. "The Semen Tree" promises "A lively song about a 'flasher' and jazz-inspired dances of guilt and self-identity offer a multi-dimensional look... continue reading
The Arnold Schwarzenegger candidacy may become a classic contest for activists to decide whether they are Republicans or conservatives first. Republicans are urging everyone to jump on the bandwagon, to "wake up and smell the Arnie," to take the pragmatic step that will guarantee the ouster of incompetent Gov. Gray Davis. But what do conservatives gain for this leap of faith? This movie star's campaign still is not presenting any concrete positions, conservative or liberal. He would like to be seen as a fiscal conservative, but Schwarzenegger has signed no anti-tax pledge nor offered any spending cuts or bureaucratic reforms... continue reading
I thought Hollywood was supposed to be a place that celebrates a bold artistic vision. A film that challenges the staid, calculated studio system is usually admired. But boldness and independence are not winning Mel Gibson many admirers in the usual critical corners. He is making and privately financing a movie about the passion and death of Jesus Christ. Cultural movers and shakers like "spiritual" films - but only to the extent that they either either mock orthodox faith, or celebrate unorthodox faiths. In 1988, "The Last Temptation of Christ," which among other things depicted Judas as a victim and... continue reading
The headlines everywhere are focusing on the California recall election, and everywhere you turn you're hearing a reporter focus on the "wacky" or "circus" element. But to what extent are the media accurately reporting the electoral madness coming out of that goofy state, and to what extent are they feeding on, and advancing, the silliness? California's budget is some $110 billion, making it the world's fifth-largest economy (it recently surpassed France), and it's in shambles. The state's in real crisis, with an anticipated deficit this year of $38.2 billion, enough to sink most countries. And what is the press focusing... continue reading
After 40 years as a TV critic, Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle recently retired with some warm words about television, but also some tough ones: "The creeping coarseness of TV programs has pushed much more than a litany of vulgar words into polite society. And with each September season, broadcast TV's no-no's tumble in the rush to catch cable's anything-goes. If harping on that along the way made me a blue-nose, I wear the banner proudly." Everyone who watches more than a few minutes of television a day has noticed the way cable TV is driving our mass culture... continue reading