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Open Thread

by BooMan
Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 05:37:36 PM EST

What's on your mind?

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Open Thread | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: Open Thread (none / 1)

Impending sleep?

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 05:47:04 PM EST

TV Series (none / 0)

Wrll, I meant to post an open thread earlier in the evening, but we spent the last couple hours watching the last episodes of the Sopranos (season 5) on DVD, so I did not get close to the computer...

Now that's a great TV series. It's interesting to notice the political messages that are inserted in some of the series. The Sopranos are pro-Bush (they are scared of the nucular bomb and keen to kick Arab ass), which makes for a mixed message, as everything in that series (they are the heroes, but they are bad). We went through "Six Feet Under" just before, and I was amazed to have a discussion on peak oil in one of the episodes, which must have played some time in 2004 or so (and thus filmed even earlier), when it was really below the radar.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 06:33:30 PM EST

Re: TV Series (none / 0)

I like The Sopranos, too. I loved them saying they'd make short work of bin Laden. The writer certainly has a sense of humor. It was actually in the news when that happened -- "Mobster is Republican."

My favorite HBO series is Deadwood. Have you watched that one yet? It took me a few episodes to really get into it, but it quickly became my favorite show and I don't normally like westerns at all.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 06:50:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: TV Series (none / 0)

Nope, i have not heard of it. Should I be on the lookout for it?

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

by Jerome a Paris (etg@eurotrib.com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 07:26:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: TV Series (none / 0)

Definitely. The dvd of the first season just came out. Since you watch the Sopranos, I'm assuming you're not averse to "strong" language. Still, it can take an episode or two to adjust. If you watch it, let me know what you think.

Most of the stuff about the town and events is based on historical records. The writer has been taken to task about the language, though, because the cuss words he uses weren't in use back then. He's defended it as artistic license, saying if he used the actual words, it wouldn't portray the times since what was scandalous then isn't now.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 07:41:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: TV Series (none / 0)

I once told a lady lawyer I was dating that the reason i was so addictted to watching Law and Order was that at least in the series the criminals got caught and got punished unlike real life. She never went out with me again.

alohapolitics.com

by Keone Michaels on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 11:36:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Violent TV (none / 0)

The US has been in the grip of a wave of violent crime and military TV for the past few years. Programs like CSI, Crime and Punishment and a host of imitators can be seen every night on the major broadcast networks. This week the ultra gory "24" came back for another season. Unlike the days of "Dragnet" these shows make a point of showing lots of blood and gore, plenty of dissected bodies and lots of violence and torture.

I don't know if this is to keep up the fear mongering in the US or a way for people to deal with their fears, but it is too prevalent to just be a random pattern.

It seems to me this has a negative affect, making people more stressed and fearful. Have you ever seen a real dead body? How about a real crime being committed? How many do you see each day on TV, in contrast?

Do other countries have this same type of TV fare (and movies)?

Policies not Politics
---- Daily Landscape

by rdf (robert.feinman@gmail.com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 06:58:41 PM EST

Re: Violent TV (none / 0)

You're right about it being a noticable trend on primetime, etc., but it's my feeling that entertainment reflects the culture. Lots of people have worried about violence over the years, not just on television, but in plays, stories, music and, for all I know, cave drawings.

But it's been studied to death (pardon), and it's never been shown that violent entertainment causes violence. From everything I've read and experienced, I'd say entertainment definitely falls in the "dealing with fears" category.

News, advertising, and political rhetoric, however, I'd say fall in the fear-mongering category. People know the difference between what's "real" and "imaginary." Or at least the difference in the sources. If a filmmaker shows you frightening scenario, it won't at all have the same effect as a politician telling you it could happen or a newscaster telling you it has happened.

I've watched New York get blown up countless times in movies and it never affected me. I watched the towers fall on the news and cried. It's not the images that matter, or how "realistic" they are -- it's whether they're "real" or not.

And I don't know if this gives my opinion more or less weight, but my answer would be yes to both your questions.

Also, I'd say Britain is the reigning champ of a certain type of realistic gore. They have really well-done crime dramas -- usually procedurals -- but they can be more graphic than anything I've seen over here. That said, I haven't watched any tv other than the US and Britain.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 07:59:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Violent TV (none / 0)

24 is not just about spreading fear, it's also about justifying torture and wiretapping.

by Metatone (metatone [a|t] gmail (dot) com) on Wed Jan 18th, 2006 at 03:48:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

My problem with Oui (3.00 / 4)

Over on Booman Tribune Oui posted a diary attacking Pat Lang's piece on Iran and the Holocaust conference. He then added a comment with multiple links attacking Israel from a site entitled Revisionist History with the question added on 'Is this antisemitism.' Well gee, if the name of the site didn't clue him in then perhaps a glance at some of the stuff there would have -
http://www.revisionisthistory.org/talmudic.html

http://www.revisionisthistory.org/wwtwo.html

Just two weeks ago Oui linked to this crap and when I objected said that some people might object to the anti-Zionism [sic] and said that he saw it as just another 'Jewish point of view.'

Eventually he apologized but now he's done it again. At the very least Oui is clearly incapable of distinguishing between honest criticism of Israel and that motivated by racism. Or he doesn't have any problem with racism, or he is a racist himself. I don't know which it is.

What I do know is that I find it highly objectionable to have white supremacist sites linked to as reliable sources and that even if he is simply unable to recognize the difference between racism and criticism, he is completely unreliable as a source on anything dealing with Israel, Jews, Zionism, or antisemitism. It also happens to make him a perfect poster child for the canard that criticism of Israel equals antisemitism or that those who criticize it are either indifferent to antisemitism or racists themselves.

by MarekNYC on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 07:20:11 PM EST

Re: My problem with Oui (none / 0)

As far as I know, Oui is Jewish. I must say I don't always understand his diaries. It could be a question of "lost in translation."

by Ben P (wbp@u.washington.edu) on Wed Jan 18th, 2006 at 12:48:03 AM EST
[ Parent ]

For Your Harassment (none / 0)

.
I gave you a 0 rating.

The diary and topic is on Iran and propaganda, I take serious offense against your personal attack on my integrity through manipulation and call of racism and anti-semitism.

"Treason doth never prosper: what's the reason?
For if it prosper, none dare call it treason."

▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY

by Oui on Wed Jan 18th, 2006 at 10:05:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: For Your Harassment (none / 0)

I was disturbed, Oui, that you did in fact link to several pages of a site that is clearly antisemitic, negationist, racist.

Do you need to do this? Isn't there enough to denounce Israel without looking in places like that?

by afew (afew(a in a circle)eurotrib_dot_com) on Wed Jan 18th, 2006 at 10:46:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Jane takes top medals in Paris

Jane Goodall, the world-renowned primates expert, said on Tuesday that the growing debate in some quarters over the origins of humanity is "much less important" than working to save the planet. The 71-year-old Goodall spoke during a ceremony by UNESCO honoring her life's work, which the U.N. organization's chief said has altered the basic understanding of apes and humans.

Goodall received the 60th Anniversary Medal of the U.N. Educational Scientific and Cultural organization. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was later presenting her with France's prestigious Legion of Honor.
~~~~~
~~~~~
Dressed in a Chinese-style shirt and carrying a stuffed monkey she calls "Mr. Ape," Goodall said that she always considered Darwinism and evolution as a "perfectly sensible way of understanding human beings." "I grew up in a Christian family believing in God," Goodall said. "For me, there's never been a conflict between science and religion."
~~~~~
~~~~~
Juma Mwapacho, the Tanzanian ambassador to France, attending the ceremony, thanked Goodall for her devotion to the understanding and preservation of his country's primates. "To us, she's the embodiment of a good Tanzanian," Mwapacho said. "She's a protector of ecology."

by melvin on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 07:37:19 PM EST

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Happy New Year everybody!

Hey Booman,
I need to edit my one and only diary but am getting an error saying I cannot edit the diary because it is "in show mode". Is there a way to get around this error message?

Thanks for any help.

Cheers,
Hrothgar.

Hrothgar

by Hrothgar on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 07:47:56 PM EST

Re: Open Thread (none / 0)

Happy New Year to you as well!

I checked your diary, and it's in the archives, meaning it can't be edited and no comments added at this point.

Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes

by Izzy (izzy at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Jan 17th, 2006 at 08:08:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: thank you !!! (none / 0)

Just to say that I consider those open threads as a very good idea. Nothing groundbreaking in my post, but sometimes it's worth just saying "well done, thank you". This is extended to Colman, Jérôme, and all the front-pagers who initiate these open threads.

And it take this opportunity for a warm thank you to Fran and the quotes I've been copying into my quote book since I am with ET. These are really life enhancing. Having a bunch (more than 500 actually for myself) that speak to you is very helpful when you are going through tough times.

When through hell, just keep going. W. Churchill

by Agnes a Paris on Wed Jan 18th, 2006 at 03:35:20 AM EST

Open Thread | 17 comments (17 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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