“Why do people get so agitated about linguistic misuses and even about changes in the language? Is English in a bad state? Are things getting worse? These questions have been made topical by Lynne Truss’s bestselling Eats, Shoots & Leaves and by the spate of books (and a television show) on similar themes by authors hoping to benefit from her success.”
Blog
America – Closed Society?
“Why is American culture, and the American intelligentsia in particular, so closed off from what’s happening in the rest of the world? Why do we still need Paris to tell us what’s going on (if we still even listen to it)? If anything, the situation is more dire than it used to be, when instability or repression in Europe supplied us with a steady stream of émigrés who acted as a bridge back to their former world. Susan Sontag used to play a similar role, but she no longer does, and no one’s taken her place. The more we impose our image on the world, it seems, the more foreign the world becomes.”
Cork Is For Culture
Cork, Ireland is about to be crowned the new European Capital of Culture. It’s the smallest city to win the title. “An ambitious programme of more than 230 events and projects range from the international to the idiosyncratically local, from Relocation, the pan-European theatrical collaboration which will transform the city centre in the summer, to celebrations of the late rock guitarist and local hero Rory Gallagher, and of the Corkonian passion for Gaelic football and hurling. Meanwhile hundreds of needles have already been clicking for a mammoth textile project, the Knitting Map, the pattern incorporating CCTV street images and satellite imaging.”
Rushdie: Horrified At Lack Of Official Criticism Of Sikh Violence
Author Salman Rushdie, who had to go into hiding after being the subject of a religious fatwa, says he’s dismayed to see the response of official Britain to the death threats against a Sikh playwright in Birmingham. “It has been horrifying to see the response. It is pretty terrible to hear government ministers expressing approval of the ban and failing to condemn the violence, when they should be supporting freedom of expression.”
Lobbyists Push Culture Crusade
The Parents Television Council is a self-appointed lobbyist for their brand of broadcast “morality.” “What stands in the way of their success? Oh, not much: Just the seemingly irreversible trend that has all of American culture becoming cruder and more explicit. Then there are the passionate defenders of the First Amendment and the equally passionate defenders of the free market, who argue that people must want sex and violence since they sell.”
Christmas – Land Of The Reruns (But Why?)
Why do TV networks revert to reruns over the holiday season? They say it’s because no one’s watching. And yet, according to the numbers, viewership is down only about 5 percent. And maybe that’s because there’s not much new on. So why not try to win those audiences with fresh shows?
Freaking Out Over Language
For 15 years now, the Modern Language Association has seen its annual year-end conference dominated by “skirmishes between old-school traditionalists and the increasing powerful new breed of postmodernists, multiculturalists, feminists and queer-theory advocates.” But “the circus is looking pretty threadbare, and the ones trying to do the freak show aspect of it are looking silly now.”
Lit Love – The Age Of Literary Magazines
There are more than 1000 literary magazines currently publishing. “That is more than at any time in history. Most of the magazines are geared toward specific audiences, with average readerships of 2,000 and annual budgets under$10,000.”
New Reality: Political Documentaries After The Election
Political documentaries abounded before November’s elections. So what’s happening to the documentary makers since then? “Political documentaries are not going to come to an abrupt halt because of the re-election of George Bush. If people were motivated to make films because of their concern with the policies of the first administration, it’s hard to argue that those concerns were allayed on Nov. 2.”
The Video Game And The Painting (What You Can Learn)
A new video game that combines PacMan with a Mondrian painting has caught the attention of the art world. “Why is Pac-Mondrian attracting more art types than gaming types? Maybe it’s because Pac-Mondrian has more to say about Mondrian’s painting than about Pac-Man. In fact, it qualifies as a coherent interpretation of “Broadway Boogie Woogie.” The inventors don’t say so, but if you play the game you’ll probably discover some features of the painting that you never knew were there, and some that aren’t there at all.”