“Star Trek just may find itself on the leading wave of a zeitgeist shift--away from bleak, brooding blockbusters and toward the light. ‘In a world where a movie as incredibly produced as The Dark Knight is raking in gazillions of dollars, Star Trek stands in stark contrast,’ Abrams says. ‘It was important to me that optimism be cool again’” (story)
Man, why didn’t I see the application for this one? A Tourism Queensland campaign has awarded Brit Ben Southall a six-month contract to do little more than laze in the sun, snorkel, and write a weekly blog about the experience of being a “caretaker” of an Australian tropical island. (story)
I found “Where Are You in the Movie?” An interesting take on lifespans. If a movie started on the day you were born and stretched over your lifespan, find out where you'd be in that movie. Yesterday was my birthday, so I made a visit. At Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, I’d be at the parade.
30 Rock’s “central tension remains the tug of war between Fey's Liz Lemon and Jack Donaghy. Their head butting doubles as an argument about the viability of liberal ideals and the allure of a pragmatic, colder-eyed conservatism—and it's remarkable how often the show sides with the latter….The show, ever slippery, is poking simultaneous fun at the flimsiness of Liz's liberal values, at Jack's callous hawkishness, and at the way both perspectives collude to make the world a worse place” (Slate nails why I like this show).
“New research into the idea of ‘maternal gatekeeping’ shows how attitudes and actions by the mother may promote or impede father involvement” (USA Today)
“Common Sense Media is dedicated to improving the media and entertainment lives of kids and families. We exist because media and entertainment profoundly impact the social, emotional, and physical development of our nation's children. As a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization, we provide trustworthy information and tools, as well as an independent forum, so that families can have a choice and a voice about the media they consume.”
10 of the Most Irritating Phrases in the English Language
According to a study reported in Scientific American, a group of children as young as 5 years were able to predict the outcome of elections in another country, based only on photos of the candidates (story).
I’ve mentioned Wordle before. It’s a website that takes a collection of words and turns them into an image, giving prominence to the most frequently-used words. There’s a Wordle of my book, The Anchor Course, here. Well, the satire site Tom-in-the-Box created a few Wordles using what they insist are sermons from various churches. Funny stuff.
To Drink or Not to Drink: “Even in denominations and traditions that championed prohibition and railed against those who drink, smoke, or chew (or go with those who do) many leaders see such restrictions as inappropriate today.” Eric Reed explores the contentious issue of alcoholic beverages in “Trouble Brewing,” Leadership Journal.
The nation is getting more conservative on abortion, primarily because men are getting more conservative on the issue. This article reaffirms my conviction that Barak Obama was elected in spite of, not because of, his radical record on abortion policy. (story)
“As Putnam says, ‘more people are very religious and many are not at all.’ And these beliefs have become ‘correlated with partisan politics.’ ‘There are fewer liberals in the pews and fewer unchurched conservatives.’ The political implications are broad. Democrats must galvanize the ‘nones’ while not massively alienating religious voters -- which is precisely what candidate Barack Obama accomplished. Republicans must maintain their base in the pew while appealing to the young -- a task they have not begun to figure out. But Putnam regards the growth of the ‘nones’ as a spike, not a permanent trend. The young, in general, are not committed secularists. ‘They are not in church, but they might be if a church weren't like the religious right….There are almost certain to be religious entrepreneurs to fill that niche with a moderate evangelical religion, without political overtones.’ In the diverse, fluid market of American religion there may be a demand, in other words, for grace, hope and reconciliation -- for a message of compassion and healing that appeals to people of every political background. It would be revolutionary -- but it would not be new” (Michael Gerson, commenting on Robert Putnam’s forthcoming book).
“The question of evil and where it lurks has been largely ignored by the scientific community, which is why a recently released study titled ‘The Spatial Distribution of the Seven Deadly Sins Within Nevada’ is groundbreaking: Never before has a state’s fall from grace been so precisely graphed and plotted.” (story)
“ ‘Multitasking is a myth,’ Ms. Gallagher said. ‘You cannot do two things at once. The mechanism of attention is selection: it’s either this or it’s that….People don’t understand that attention is a finite resource, like money. Do you want to invest your cognitive cash on endless Twittering or Net surfing or couch potatoing? You’re constantly making choices, and your choices determine your experience.’” (NY Times)
The Independent reports on studies that find links between mental illness and creativity. Toward the end of the article, studies show the link between depression and comedians, too.
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