Our Reader Comment of the Week Award goes to Bob Champ, whose thoughts on the Academy Awards remind us of what Hollywood can be at its best, and what it is at its worst, which is all too often the case these days: I’m just glad the Academy didn’t hire some bozo comedian to host the show. The In Memoriam segment was hampered, for tv viewers, by the roving camera, which should have focused on the images of the departed actors and actresses. I do think that Queen Latifah did a good job singing "I’ll Remember You." The highlight of the night for me was seeing Sophia Loren. She looked, well, like what she is, an aging woman; but the way she stood with her hand on her hip was classic. How they lured her to take part in the show I haven’t the slightest idea. And why did Cuba Gooding, Jr., have to make an ass of himself in talking about Robert Downey, Jr.? Every other actor who talked about a fellow actor turned his talk into a tribute. But Gooding went off on some kind of race thing that made him look ridiculous and out of place. I
Monthly Archives: February 2009
Lenten Tradition Has Multiple Benefits, Essay Notes
Author and scholar David Mills knows from experience why it’s good to give something up for Lent each year.
‘Fireproof’ Shows How to Avoid Preachiness, Cliches
Fireproof might make some viewers uncomfortable at first, but the film has real emotional power and good sense, Mike D’Virgilio writes.
‘Big Hollywood’ Relieves Academy Awards’ Emetic Qualities
Reading the ‘Big Hollywood’ live blog during the televised Academy Awards ceremony made it possible to get through the program without experiencing too strong a bout of flulike symptoms, S. T. Karnick writes.
‘Slumdog Millionaire’ Too Good for Oscars?
Tonight Hollywood tells us once again what we should like—and they might just get it right, S. T. Karnick observes.
Reader Comment of the Week Award
Our readers submitted some very good comments this week, with some interesting substantive discussion. The best, I think, was the following, from R. J. MacReady, commenting on slasher films: Your point about making the audience complicit in the inhumanity of the killer’s conduct is very astute. It reminds me of Hostel. That movie is structured to do basically the same thing. The first half of the movie focuses on debauchery and de-humanizing sex. It’s the kind of titillation we expect in horror movies, and it’s shot in a way comforts us in the familiarity of the exploitation. Then, about half way through, it turns that objectification on the heroes of the movie. Demonstrating the slippery slope from meaningless sex to fetishism to extreme degredation and finally torture and death. The movie has its flaws, but in the end, it’s holding up a mirror to the audience (just as you posit Friday the 13th did) to show them that THIS is where the road they are on leads. This is what objectification does. And it makes the audience ask themselves, would YOU like to be dehumanized? Those that aren’t too busy shouting, "DUDE! CHAINSAW!" anway. Sadly, just like Friday the 13th,
Catholics Revive Indulgences
Dismayed by what conservative church members see as a loss of understanding of a central Christian doctrine, the concept of sin, the Catholic Church has been reviving the practice of indulgences. The church’s controversial return to a doctrine that fell out of favor in recent years has important social and cultural consequences that will by no means be limited to the Catholic Church but will in fact affect us all.
Opera Is All Around
Opera music, though often seen as daunting, intimidating, and an elite taste, is actually much more accessible and heard much more widely in popular culture than most people realize. So says an interesting and rather amusing article in the Chicago Tribune. And here are videos clips from the article author’s ten favorite opera in pop culture moments. Anything that gets more people interested in opera is a good thing, in my view. Here’s a Simpsons moment from the author’s list: —S. T. Karnick
Cable Woes Mark Change from TV Mentality to Web Culture
Among the luxuries taking a beating from the recession is a service until recently thought by most people to be close to a necessity: cable television. Subscriber growth among big cable systems fell significantly in the last quarter of 2008. The three biggest systems—Time Warner, Comcast, and Charter Communications—were hit particularly hard. In fact, Charter filed for bankruptcy protection after losing more than 75,000 subscribers in one quarter. The Dish Network satellite system lost 10,000 subscribers in the third quarter. Verizon’s fiber optic cable service is doing well, however, as consumers switch from a cable mentality to a Web viewpoint. Advertising Age quotes Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt as observing, "people, typically young people, are saying, ‘All I need is broadband. I don’t need video.’ And obviously they are already saying they don’t need wireline phone." —S. T. Karnick Are you ready to drop cable TV and move exclusively to Web viewing? Have you done so already? Comment here.
‘Sports Illustrated’ Swimsuit Issue Sales Down
Sports Illustrated‘s annual swimsuit issue sold fewer copies during its first day on newsstands yesterday than last year’s edition. Clearly the recession is starting to force people to forego essentials as well as luxuries. —S. T. Karnick
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