SpongeBrain?
I didn’t need a scientific study to know that my children don’t respond to all animated shows the same way. But now I’ve got one. Research published in the medical journal Pediatrics Monday indicates that fast-paced animated programs have different—read: negative—effects on young viewers compared to slower-paced ones. Researchers at the University of Virginia divided […]
When Grandma Gets Inked
Once upon a time, back in the stone age, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, everyone knew tattoos were bad. Tattoos were what bikers and other on-the-fringe, not-mainstream folks got. Getting inked wasn’t, simply put, something nice, “normal” people did. Then, well, the ’90s happened. And like lots of things, tattoos […]
Do You Trust This Woman?
Listen up, corporate America: 89-year-old Betty White is your best bet if you’re trolling for a celebrity endorser. That’s according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll that asked 2,012 Americans about whether they would trust a company more or less if its products were endorsed by certain celebrities. White scored the highest, with 86% of those […]
Oh Be Careful Little Eyes What You See
Here’s a paragraph I didn’t write, but I certainly could have: I see a lot of movies for my job, and at almost every R-rated offering, I see someone trot in holding the hand of a toddler, or I hear that child’s telltale wail after the violence begins. Sometimes I can’t hear the child once […]
Media Habits of a Grown-up
Here’s a question I’ve been pondering this week: How do our media habits change as we get older? It’s a question that was spurred by a conversation I had with a friend a couple nights ago. My friend Brent is in his mid-30s and is a video game aficionado. Whenever we get together, I always […]
Friendly Fire
In my spare time, I enjoy jamming a bit on my electric guitar—as well as reading about others who share that interest. And as I was perusing the September issue of Guitar World recently, I came across a question-and-answer interview with Chris Rubey, lead guitar player for the popular Christian metalcore band Devil Wears Prada. […]
Bye Bye, Blockbuster
The once omnipresent movie rental behemoth Blockbuster Video isn’t, technically speaking, dead. But for many of us, it may as well be. Last weekend, I noticed that the particular Blockbuster store my wife and I used to rent videos from had closed. (I say used to, because since having three children, we simply don’t have […]
Jennifer Aniston and the New F-Word
Earlier this week I sat (or, more accurately, suffered) through the new movie Horrible Bosses, a dark comedy about three guys who decide they’ve had enough of their despotic supervisors—so much so that they begin plotting to kill them. One of those bosses is an insatiable nymphomaniac named Julia, played by Jennifer Aniston, whose every […]
Kids, Violence, Porn and the Supreme Court
Earlier this week, the United States Supreme Court struck down a 2005 California law banning the sale and rental of video games depicting the “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being” to minors. (Editor’s note: The video gaming industry already has its own ratings system, but it does not carry […]
The Finals and Me, Me, Me
Generally speaking, Plugged In doesn’t wade into the happenings of the sports world. Occasionally, though, something happens in that realm that’s worthy of our scrutiny. And a story that played out earlier this week offers a fascinating example of a trend that’s increasingly prevalent in our culture, the trend toward narcissism. Like millions of others […]