Dicey Digital Diversions
The Federal Trade Commission recently issued a report titled Virtual Worlds and Kids: Mapping the Risks, that examined 27 virtual online worlds. The sites the FTC talked about included digital playgrounds such as Build a Bearville, IMVU, Neopets, Runescape and Second Life. And, if you know anything about online video gaming, you will have immediately […]
Boston Teen Party
Kids are stepping it up in Boston. A panel of 14 teens recently started pointing to some contemporary music and telling their peers, “watch out for this junk.” And their list of noxious tunes included well-known hits from artists such as Lady Gaga and rapper T-Pain. It all started with the Boston Public Health Commission […]
Star Pressure
A while back I spouted a bit about director Roman Polanski, his 30-year-old sex crimes, and the celebrities who rallied together demanding that he be exonerated. Well, a tiny tidbit of side news about that ongoing saga popped up recently. And I thought it was interesting … in a non-Polanski way. OK, that may sound […]
Lying Liars’ Lies, Part Deux
I know we talked a little about lies in a recent blog, but here’s another little tidbit from a different angle. A new study from the Josephson Institute of Ethics suggests a strong connection between dishonest teens and dishonest adults. If you make a habit of lying or cheating in your high school years, the […]
Bah Humbugging Good
Ebenezer Scrooge is one of the most delightful grumpy old men there’s ever been. Seriously. Can you think of any better? Why even the old codgers from The Muppets or Fred Sanford from Sanford and Son couldn’t hold a candle to the gloriously irascible old coot from A Christmas Carol. Part of it, of course, […]
Reason in a Godless Subway
We all know that today’s media, in its many forms, can impact society. That’s what the whole premise of advertising is based on, after all. Well, now a coalition of atheist groups is hoping that advertising will help them in their own cause. They’ll soon be posting a month-long run of ads in New York […]
Going With the Crowd
The movie-going experience is dead. Or so I’ve heard. And looking at the growing number of home theaters in the U.S., skyrocketing ticket prices, easy movie downloads and recent Pew Research numbers—showing that a hefty 75% of respondents would rather wait for the video than venture to the cinema—one might think it’s true. But I […]
Beatles In My Ears and In My Eyes
A few weekends back, the Fab Four rang out in my house in all their remixed and reanimated, digitized and repackaged glory. That’s right: I was one of mooing masses who quickly ran out and bought (for the second, no, third, wait, fourth time) my favorite Beatles albums when they hit the store shelves in […]
Blowing Kisses to Polanski
It’s complicated. He’s a genius. C’mon, it was 30 years ago. She’s forgiven him! He’s 76, for crying out loud!! You’ve probably heard, somewhere in the news, that director Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland this past weekend when he showed up to accept a Lifetime Achievement award at the Zurich Film festival. Why? Well, […]