by Mike Shea on 2 March 2004
Citing subjective judgments of "indecency" and using meaningless beaurocratic terms like "zero tolerance", Clear Channel yanked Howard Stern off of their stations. This is but a taste of what the FCC has in mind for the rest of their new War on Free Thought. Write the FCC and tell them to stand down. Don't let a moral minority decide what you are allowed to hear.
DUMB MOMENTS IN SCIENCE!
BELCOURT, N.D. - A young scientist says cat drool appears to be cleaner than that of dogs. link.
I have a new article on Moleskinerie called A Novice's Guide to Writing.
Its disappointing when the author of a great science fiction book, Enders Game, turns out to be such an asshole.
Great drama is 90% heart and 10% substance. Check out these dramatic Mario Brothers movies. Here's Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
In case the real life fear-mongering propaganda isn't enough for you, there is a new government approved anti-terrorism TV series.
The same day that a study titled Video Games Make Kids Fat, Violent, Swedish, Rock Star Games announced Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for release in October on the Playstation 2. I'd take a bat to the head of the blonde, meatball eating idiot who wrote that article if I wasn't so tired from eating these cheetos.
The release of a new Grand Theft Auto during an election year will bring up some interesting debates about free speech in our entertainment. We can expect spineless megacorps like Wal-Mart to react by not selling it and we can expect Nazis like Joe Leberman to protest it tirelessly. Every time a game like this is released, we see groups come out of the woodwork to fight for Orwellian-style censorship laws. Why don't they simply work to educate parents? Why should I have to suffer for the least-common-denominator of an unsupervised seven year old kid?
People should be able to make and sell any game, any book, and any movie they want as long as the creation of that product doesn't itself commit a direct crime against another person.
On the other hand, there is no better advertisement than controversy as the "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them" T-shirt maker can attest to. If laws don't get passed and idiots like Wal-Mart don't self censor, an act as bad as government censorship when you have companies that large, controversy equals higher sales.
Its too bad not every politician can speak this directly.
I hate the Oscars but its nice to see Return of the King win 11 Academy Awards. Yes, its all just Hollywood self-fellatio but the awards mean the fantasy genre has stepped into the mainstream. Lets hope we DON'T see a Dark Tower movie. Even King has stated that tying such wonderfully imagination-bound characters to live people would be a disaster.
Even with this good news, the Oscars are still a joke. Kill Bill was the most original and entertaining movie last year and it wasn't up for anything. Hollywood forgot about Tarantino as soon as Pulp Fiction got stale. I am glad he hasn't changed. Kill Bill is as original and fun as Pulp Fiction was.