Popular Culture

Here is an idea we can all rally around:

This idea is not original, but at the moment I can’t find where I saw it. We need to take back the word ‘martyr’. When a suicide bomber blows himself and 10 kids up on a bus, the ten kids are the martyrs not the crazy bomber. When an Iraqi voter gets killed for walking out of the polling place–he is a martyr for democracy. (I think that was the case I originally saw). We should avoid martyr status for evil people.

Of course, this is of little practical value unless those who are currently in the habit of engaging in suicide-bombing adopt it, but it is a good idea nonetheless.

An Excellent IdeaPost + Comments (3)

Dear Matt,

I respect you, so I am sincerely asking you take a deep breath.

‘24‘ is a fictional television series. That means it is made up, and is intended to be broadcast for entertainment purposes. This made me giggle:

If you can really get the bad guys to fess up in 90 seconds by putting a bullet in someone’s knee, then Bauer should be torturing people all the time and not pussyfooting around with all this satellite surveillance, deception, etc. But now all of a sudden what was a great idea Sunday night doesn’t even seem to be on the table. If only CTU would abandon these liberal pieties and start organizing some death squads, then we could lick this problem.

You know why Jack Bauer shot one guy and not another? Because it was in the fricking script.

I hate to have to say this, but based on the tone and tenor of your previous posts, it may be necessary. At any rate, I think you need to know- Kiefer Sutherland really didn’t shoot anyone. It was all fake- so when you get done analyzing 24, please don’t call the California State Police with information about some gruesome shootings you saw on television.

Up Next- Matt discusses the Grinch that Stole Christmas and the effectiveness of Neighborhood Watch Groups during the Holiday seasons.

BTW- Happy Blogiversary!

Ahem…Post + Comments (3)

Kind of fitting that today, on the day I belatedly celebrated this blog’s third anniversary, that blogs, blogging, and the blogosphere were featured prominently in a primetime network television show. Granted, blogs were mentioned briefly in August on the Dead Zone, and blogs have been discussed by newscasters hundreds of times, but this was different.

Why was this different? First, it was the West Wing, a multiple Emmy winning juggernaut on MSNBC and not just some run largely unknown cable show which reaches more early adopters and has a higher geek quotient than network television.

Second, unlike the way blogs are treated normally- as a curiosity or a novelty- watch how news types and news anchors sort of choke on the word blog, as if it is some foreign disease- blogs and the blogosphere were written into the dialog as if everyone knows what blogs are. In this episode, rumors about CJ’s sexuality were being discussed as the opposition to the Bartlett White House was fighting a marriage amendment to the budget bill. CJ and other characters frequently referenced blogs, with the press secretary stating that “rumors are all over the blogosphere.”

As the Instapundit stated a little over two years ago:

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. And you will like it!

Props to Bill Quick, who coined the term blogosphere.

Another First for the BlogospherePost + Comments (2)

What is the world going to do when Bob Barker dies/retires? He has been the most dependable person in my life- every morning for 35 years I knew where he would be. He has outlived two announcers, (I am not sure who the current announcer is, but the old ones were Johnny Olson and Rod Roddy), numerous games, and what seems like hundreds of showcase showgirls.

Just a ThoughtPost + Comments (4)

Since I started using My Yahoo! several years ago, this is the longest running most emailed picture of the day I can remember. It was originally up on the 10th of November, and it is still one of the most emailed.

Figures.

Just an ObservationPost + Comments (8)

The Economist has an interesting article about the downfall of Dan Rather and on blogging and the mainstream media in general, and for once it is an article that is neither a snide dismissal of weblogs nor a breathless ovation spouting absurd blogger triumphalism.

Blog Related ArticlePost + Comments

If there is a government agency I find more useless and more offensive than the loathesome FCC, I am hard pressed to name it. With that in mind, let me state something that I think is being overblown in this whole MNF/Desparate Housewives dust-up.

It is not just holyrollers and bible thumpers who found the introduction offensive. My mother found it offensive. I found it offensive. Normal people all over the country found it offensive for a variety of reasons.

My mother found it offensive, stating: “Even though I was alone, I felt uncomfortable. And besides, what kind of athlete would leave his team-mates on the field just to hook up with some slut?”

I found it offensive because it was so stupid and over the top and so unnecessary. Why? Why? MNF is a franchise- it is how I make it through Mondays- knowing MNF is around the corner. Why did they need to cheapen this, knowing full well there are millions of kids watching? IN other words, I was not offended by the skit itself, but I was pissed off that they would air it because I knew the reaction it would create.

I don’t know what these execs are thinking sometimes. Why must the always heapen good ideas with something unnecessary, and why is taht something unnecessary usually something so tawdry?

I have issues with infidelity- it pisses me off. It is easy enough to get divorced, and if you aren’t married- break up with the person. In short, infidility infuriates me. I simply can not watch movies or shows that contain or are centered around cheating. In fact, I remember watching about 20 minutes of Unfaithful with Diane Lane before turning the movie off in disgust. A year later, I saw Diane Lane’s character in Under the Tuscan Sun going through a painful divorce, and all I could think was: “Good. I am glad you hurt. You deserve it for cheating on your husband in Unfaithful, you bitch.”

At any rate, back to my point I watched the Horse Whisperer this afternoon for the first time (side note- Chris Cooper is the quintessential American actor), and I loved it. Until they turned the whole damn story into an issue of infidelity. Why?

Monday Night Football is a solid product. So could the Horse Whisperer have been a solid product. Why ruin them?

This, of course, does not mean I condone the nanny-state mentality of the FCC, but I want my fellow readers to understand that both sides in this case are wrong from my perspective.

Hollywood and the FCCPost + Comments (2)