Tag: 01.24.06

Is “Anti-Religious” Speech On The Rise?

“First there was the controversy provoked by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in 2004, and now there is this censorious dismissal of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Both are testaments to a potent mood of intolerance towards expressions of religious faith in popular culture today. The artistic representation of religious conviction is frequently stigmatised with terms such as ‘fundamentalist’, ‘intolerant’, ‘dogmatic’, ‘exclusive’, ‘irrational’ or ‘right-wing’. As a secular humanist who is instinctively uncomfortable with zealot-like moralism, I am suspicious of the motives behind these doctrinaire denunciations of films with a religious message.”

Play-Driven… Is This Controversial?

“British theatre has been a broad church – and the result? Tension, perhaps, but for 50 years Britain has arguably led the world in producing top-class theatre-makers, whether they have made it with a pen or a pointy finger or a bit of both. But now, it seems, ‘the play’ – or at least, the model of a script, written by a playwright, directed by a director and performed by an actor – has had its day. Admittedly, those of you who have been to the theatre recently might be forgiven for thinking this prognosis a little premature, but judging by the hand-wringing of a procession of some of the nation’s leading practitioners, the play is dead – especially the well-made one.”

The Zen Of Wikipedia

“The site, which has more daily visitors than The New York Times and USA Today sites combined, is as much an encyclopedia as a social outlet. Wikipedia has many rules, but they’re all highly breakable. (One essay states: ‘Ignore all rules.’) This philosophy, which some describe as the site’s “essence,” doesn’t always inspire goodwill.”

Why Turkey Dropped Charges Against Its Most Famous Writer

Charges of “anti-Turkishness” had proven an embarrasment to the government. “There is surely some irony in that fact that you can now be prosecuted in Europe for denying a genocide and prosecuted in Turkey for asserting that a genocide took place. For a country that has long created fictions out of its own past, it is all the more fitting then, that it is a novelist who starts the dialogue about what really happened.”

The CW: It’s UPN + WB

The WB and UPN TV networks are shutting down this fall. In their place, a new channel – CW – aimed at “young ethnic” audiences will be launched. “By shutting down the two small networks that jousted over the same pool of 18- to 34-year-old viewers and joining forces to capture that audience, the companies are essentially bowing to the reality of an increasingly competitive marketplace, executives acknowledged.”

What The Pixar/Disney Deal Means

“In the complex and sometimes querulous dynamic between media and technology companies, such a move would no doubt raise questions about the ripples those ties can be expected to cause. For example, would Mr. Jobs view Disney as the preferred content supplier for future generations of Apple iPods and other hardware that distribute and play media products like songs and TV shows? And would Disney’s media rivals be less inclined to do business with Apple as it introduced new services because they would be abetting a competitor?”