Although it might look like nothing more than a giant iPod, the release of the Apple iPad is being hailed as nothing short of revolutionary. But exactly what sort of a revolution will this be? This Los Angeles Times preview talks about how book publishers, newspapers, and magazines alike are looking to the iPad for salvation. To be sure, the iPad might bring daily reading to a generation of young Americans that is as familiar with newspapers as it is with record players and typewriters. But it is also alarming to think that iPads could eventually replace books. It is a well established fact that the medium, as one sociologist famously put it, affects the message. We have seen this with newspapers and the Internet. Just compare the New York Times print edition with any one of its blogs—almost always, the writing in the former is stronger, more complex, and more information. So yes, iPads may revive reading for a generation that now spends only seven minutes a day engaged in the activity, but in so doing, will it also ruin reading? … And yes, I recognize the irony of saying such things on a blog.
Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Will the iPad Revive or Ruin Reading?
Saturday, January 30th, 2010Twilight: New Moon Is All Hype and No Bite
Friday, January 8th, 2010
Only one thing could make The Twilight Saga: New Moon sound interesting to a twentysomething guy like me: vampires. And so, hoping for some larger-than-life, man-versus-monster clashes à la Van Helsing and Underworld, I ventured out to the theaters last weekend.
But New Moon failed to live up to even these low expectations. There was only one bona fide fight scene between vampires and werewolves and it is only mentioned in conversation—never actually shown to viewers. The only vampire-on-vampire violence comes in the end and the only damage is some broken marble steps. The closest vampires come to sucking human blood is when the lead character gets a paper cut—with dramatic slow motion shots of the drop of blood crashing to the white carpeted floor. They aren’t even real vampires—having some time ago turned from human to animal blood.
Instead the movie dwelled endlessly on pressing pre-teen dilemmas, such as, Will the hot werewolf kiss me or kiss me not? Apparently this is enough to hold a tween audience rapt for the duration of the movie. Like the pre-romantic experiences of its teen viewers, New Moon jerks awkwardly from the first tender explorations of desire to blind, unbridled love to premature maturity. So we never get that kiss, but a few minutes later there is a marriage proposal from a centenarian vampire to his runway teen girlfriend—does anyone else find the age gap creepy?
The main plot starts—after about 20 minutes of cinematic throat-clearing—when the Robert Pattinson character, Edward Cullen, suddenly skips town. Bella goes into deep emotional hibernation, sitting in a curled up fetal position for months. She finally snaps out of her damsel-in-despair routine by chasing adrenaline highs—like hopping on some stranger’s motorcycle or racing another motorcycle into a rock. Each time, the ashen visage of Edward materializes out of thin air to warn Bella against her recklessness. At first, Bella finds this haunting troubling, then she welcomes it—so much so that she plunges off a cliff just to get another fleeting glance.
Last of the Matadors?
Monday, November 9th, 2009
Catalonia is considering a ban on bullfighting, according to the New York Times. At first it might seem a classic clash between cultural conservatism and political correctness. But this story is full of twists and turns. While it is true that animal rights activists are among those calling for the ban, they have an unlikely ally: Catalan nationalists who see bullfighting as an imposition of Spanish culture on their fiercely independent province, dating back to the dreaded Franco days. Here’s another twist: in the Catalan region of southern France, bullfighting is a cause de celebre among nationalists because the sport is illegal in Paris.