The American Culture http://stkarnick.com/ Your home for essential cultural news and expert analysis, by S. T. Karnick. en Copyright 2008 Wed, 07 May 2008 13:21:08 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2ysb5-20051201 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Tops Half-Billion Dollars in Sales in One Week Grand Theft Auto IV has achieved sales of over $500 million during its first week. Will the nation survive?
]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/05/grand_theft_auto_iv_tops_halfb.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/05/grand_theft_auto_iv_tops_halfb.html Wed, 07 May 2008 13:21:08 -0500 Cheap Chic Customers are flocking to big-discount clothing stores such as Steve and Barry's, and celebrities are lining up to endorse them. Is it a welcome rejection of materialism and slavery to fashion, or simply making a virtue of limited expectations in relatively tough economic times?

 Actress Amanda Bynes showcasing her new “Dear” line available at Steve and Barry's stores

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/05/cheap_chic.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/05/cheap_chic.html Commerce Fri, 02 May 2008 12:24:21 -0500 Best-Selling Book Shows Market Power of Christian Media A strange, spiritually infused novel by a troubled Oregonian tech representative has hit the best-seller lists, thanks to plenty of free publicity in Christian media outlets. But it may be a very un-Christian book.

  Garage warehouse: William P. Young, left, author of The Shack, helps publishers Brad Cummings and Wayne Jacobsen pack books for shipping.

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/05/bestselling_book_shows_market.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/05/bestselling_book_shows_market.html Thu, 01 May 2008 14:35:55 -0500 Lifetime Network Pursues Homosexual Audience The Lifetime TV network is pressing forward with a campaign to lure a younger, more urban, more homosexual audience, giving the lie to the notion that American homosexuals are endangered by widespread oppression.
Publicity photo for Lifetime TV show 'How to Look Good Naked' 
]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/lifetime_network_pursues_homos.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/lifetime_network_pursues_homos.html Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:55:11 -0500 Mel Gibson to Star in Crime Drama For the first time since 2002, actor Mel Gibson will be the lead actor in a new movie. Gibson has signed on to star in Edge of Darkness, a crime thriller based on a 1985 BBC miniseries.

Mel Gibson, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin, and Joaquin Phoenix in 'Signs' 

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/mel_gibson_to_star_in_crime_dr.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/mel_gibson_to_star_in_crime_dr.html Movies Wed, 30 Apr 2008 15:43:16 -0500 Obama Move Suggests Limits to Acceptable Black Americans' Hatred of Whites Finally suggesting that there are some boundaries to acceptable hatred of white people by black Americans, Sen. Barack Obama has cut his ties with his controversial former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright 

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/obama_move_suggests_limits_to.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/obama_move_suggests_limits_to.html Politics Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:26:43 -0500 'Grand Theft Auto IV' Game Tackles Serious Ideas, Issues The latest installment in the Grand Theft Auto video game series takes on an interesting subject: immigration and the American Dream.

 Image from Grand Theft Auto IV video game

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/post_124.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/post_124.html Games Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:25:27 -0500 Miley Cyrus, Unprotected Celebrity The embarrassing Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair photo shows the value of public relations people—and why investing real money makes people more careful about what they do.

Miley Cyrus in Vanity Fair photo shoot 

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/miley_cyrus_unprotected_celebr.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/miley_cyrus_unprotected_celebr.html Mon, 28 Apr 2008 17:43:56 -0500 Fallon to Host NBC's 'Late Night' Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon reportedly will take over Conan O'Brien's spot as host of NBC's Late Night next year.

Jimmy Fallon (r) and Justin Timberlake as Bee Gees on 'Saturday Night Live'

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/fallon_to_host_nbc_late_night.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/fallon_to_host_nbc_late_night.html Television Thu, 24 Apr 2008 22:35:28 -0500 ABC News Personalities Lambasted for Asking Real Questions of Democrat Presidential Candidates A truly fascinating measure of the hegemony and absurdity of political correctness is the liberal elites' furious reaction to ABC news personalities having asked the two ultraliberal remaining candidates for the Democrats' presidential nomination a few mildly challenging questions.

Accused assailants Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopolous, both of ABC News 

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/abc_news_personalities_ed_for.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/abc_news_personalities_ed_for.html Fri, 18 Apr 2008 18:18:05 -0500 TV Networks' Audiences Slow to Return After Writers' Strike The media industry publication Advertising Age reports that viewers are not returning in hoped-for numbers to the TV shows they watched before the writers' strike interrupted the television season, even though new episodes are airing.

The Advertising Age article suggests that the convergence between broadcast and cable TV audience levels may be even greater than in recent years. This bodes well for audiences, as it  further undermines the power of the big networks and portends a possible increase of consumer choice as competition makes the networks more resonsive to their audiences' preferences.

This won't necessarily bring on a Golden Age of Television, as long as the most popular cable and broadcast networks are owned by a small cartel of media conglomerates, as they are today. Nonetheless, anything that further breaks up the networks' oligopoly is good for the public at large. Something good may thus come from the writers' and producers' mutual greed.

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/tv_networks_audiences_slow_to.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/tv_networks_audiences_slow_to.html Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:01:24 -0500 The Great George MacDonald Fraser George MacDonald FraserThe late British author George MacDonald Fraser (who died this year), was one of the great writers of our time. His humor, his courage, and above all, his classical liberal philosophy and willingness to challenge the politically correct orthodoxy of our times make his writings a tonic for those who understand and respect the tradition of liberty in Western society.

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/the_great_george_macdonald_fra.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/the_great_george_macdonald_fra.html Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:08:16 -0500 Absolut Radicalism A new ad campaign for Absolut vodka shows open hatred for the United States.

Absolut vodka ad 

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/absolut_radicalism.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/absolut_radicalism.html Tue, 15 Apr 2008 10:45:06 -0500 Why Academe Leans Left—And What Can Be Done About It TAC correspondent Michael D'Virgilio points out that the American right has abdicated real involvement in education and left it to liberals and Marxists to form the minds of the nation's citizens. Could anything be stupider?
 Campus leftists
]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/why_academe_leans_left.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/why_academe_leans_left.html Mon, 14 Apr 2008 09:07:18 -0500 The Ghost of Stalin in a New Staging of 'Macbeth' A new production of Macbeth shows that innovative stagings of classic plays sometimes work superbly, and that a rare occurrence of an anti-statist point of view makes for an enlightening and exhilarating experience.

 Patrick Steward evokes the ghost of Stalin in 'Macbeth'

]]> http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/post_123.html http://stkarnick.com/blog2/2008/04/post_123.html Theater Fri, 11 Apr 2008 14:58:24 -0500