Blog

And This, 007, Is Called An iPod…

“When the engineers at Apple originally designed the iPod, it’s doubtful they thought of their gizmo as a potential security risk. But in corporate and military circles, that’s exactly what the digital music player has become. Circles like Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MOD), which last week added the iPod to its list of restricted devices.” At issue is the ease with which an iPod user can download information of any kind (not just songs) from other machines.

What Makes Chicago More Deserving Than Toronto?

“Last night Chicago threw a spectacular party to celebrate the opening of Millennium Park, an extravagant and stunning waterfront development that features two flamboyant new creations by celebrated architect Frank Gehry… And in a few years, another Great Lakes city hopes to celebrate its first Frank Gehry building. That city, of course, is Toronto. But Gehry, who was born here but left at the age of 18 for Los Angeles, recently he made it clear that Toronto has no right to consider itself architecturally on the same plane as Chicago… The problem with his home town, in his view, is that the mindset is too conservative, too timid, too restrictive.”

America’s New Culture War, As Viewed From Britain

“If it is true to say in the run-up to the 2004 presidential election that America has never been more politically divided, then it is equally true that the battle for control of the country’s cultural landscape has never been more bitterly fought… Ironically, the push for more controls on what is shown [on television] is coming largely from right-wing, religious politicians and organisations who have long argued that market forces should prevail in every aspect of society: education, healthcare, social services – everything except broadcasting, it seems.”

Not To Mention The Whole Spelling Issue

The English language as we know it today has deep roots in both Latin and Greek, and that dual history can sometimes cause conflicts, especially when two different words develop independently over the centuries to mean the same thing in two different English-speaking cultures. For instance, North Americans use the Latin-based word “quadriplegic” to describe an individual who has lost the use of all four limbs; in the UK, the common form is the Greek-derived “tetraplegic.” So, who cares? Well, linguists do, especially since many such idiomatic expressions have begun to gradually vanish from several Western languages.

CBC Chief Dodges Flying Memos

The new chief of the CBC’s English-language TV division has had a rough first week on the job, as he seeks to distance himself from a controversial memo which recommended privatizing large chunks of the public broadcaster and splitting the TV channel into three specialty networks. Richard Stursberg insists that, while he may have been involved in discussions which touched on the subjects contained in the memo, he does not support any of its proposals, and wants to use his position to strengthen the CBC’s regional presence, and to make it “more Canadian” in general.

A Direct Theatrical Assault on Guantanamo

“British judges rarely inject themselves into politics. Even more rarely do they directly attack foreign governments. But on Nov. 23, 2003, Lord Justice Johan Steyn, Britain’s third-highest ranking judge… delivered a blistering attack on what he saw as the ‘arbitrariness’ of the detentions and procedures involving international individuals held by the United States military at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba… At the time, the judge had no idea that, in less than six months, his words would be turned into the moral center of an intensely provocative, artfully conceived and rapturously reviewed piece of modern political theater, written, rehearsed and produced all in a matter of weeks.”

Is Political Comedy Being Reborn, Or Just Getting Shrill?

In a time of unusual partisan divide in the U.S., it’s no big surprise that some comedians are increasingly bringing their personal politics into their acts. But whereas political comedy has historically been focused on general themes so as not to appear to be overwhelmingly targeting any one ideology of individual, the new generation of political stand-ups are exceedingly personal. On the left, Janeane Garofalo and Al Franken rail against President Bush and the neoconservatives they believe pull his strings. On the right, Dennis Miller uses his CNBC talk show to ridicule the Democrats’ lack of toughness and original ideas. But is it still comedy, or just a new method of attacking the opposition?

A New Generation Of Iraqi Art, Heavy On Despair

“The war in Iraq has been especially disillusioning for young Iraqi artists, many of whom believed the American promises of freedom. As the old order fell, they sat in their cracked-window studios and at paint-splattered easels and dreamed of an Iraqi renaissance.” But the despair which is now gripping the ‘liberated’ Iraq is overwhelming any thoughts of such a rebirth of culture, and the work of an Iraqi artist is now likely to reflect “the mayhem of a suicide bomb, the agony of a mother who has unearthed the dusty bones of her son, the confusion of his country today.”

Dogged By The Pursuit of Perfection

The brilliant career of conductor Carlos Kleiber could have been even more memorable, says Harvey Sachs, had the man been able to tolerate even the smallest error. Time management is perhaps a conductor’s most important skill, and while Kleiber was adored by his musicians, his tendency to pounce on minutiae often made it difficult for performances to gel in a larger sense. “His maniacal perfectionism and the sense of desolating frustration that overwhelmed him when his goals were not met must have had something to do with his increasing isolation.”