STAR WARS BITES THE BIG ONE!

Movies | southpaw - 11:14am May 21, 1999 PDT (# 605 of 611)

Reading this thread is like watching Crossfire. The sides are diametrically opposed to each other, and must, for reasons of survival, disagree on every point. To agree would be to undermine your own relevance and reason for being. Funny.

To me, the interesting thing about the hype for the movie is that most of it really hasn't come directly from Lucas. Most of it is media organizations and news services, desperate to fill air time, all reporting how much hype there is. Most news organizations don't report news anymore, they just re-report it over and over and over. That's why so many anchors and "reporters" today seem like little more than teleprompter reading mannequins and models--that's all that's needed. So, the trailer comes out and someone reports (really reports) that people are going to see Meet Joe Black and walking out after the trailer. And then the wire services get a hold of that and it goes out all over the wires, and then all of the newspapers all over the country grab hold of it and run with it. And then all of the TV shows go with it and, of course, broadcast it like we haven't already heard it 50 times. And then, finally, weekly hack sheets like Time magazine "report" it for the benefit of, well, whoever depends on sources like Time for news. Then inevitably, someone starts a thread of news off of that by noting that EVERYONE is "reporting" about this trailer thing, and they report that, WOW!, the hype is just off the charts for this thing. And then it starts up again, and the cycle starts again and before long, this is the most hyped thing ever! And meanwhile, all Lucas did was put a drop of blood in the ocean and the sharks went into a frenzy. I'd be shocked if the guy's spent five bucks on advertising for this thing. Kind of seems a little unfair to blame him. I mean, I know he would have hyped it if he had to, but he didn't have to because the media and word of mouth did the job for him.

The Conyers shooting: Littleton II?

Media | Susan Kelly - 09:51am May 21, 1999 PDT (# 19 of 29)

There is an entire witch's brew of factors that lead to mass murder on an ever more frequent scale.

The culture of high schools is ONE factor, certainly one that has gotten less attention than the so-called easy solutions that rely heavily on one's political ideology.

The extraordinary ease in which these kids got their hands on deadly weapons is certainly ONE factor.

The violence in media is ONE factor.

But I tend to believe that all of the above, plus more, are mere reflections of the American culture that has long considered killing to be the solution to problems. Violence in movies, while more graphic, is certainly not new. The very earliest films contained gunfights. Tell me how many steps it is from Roy Rogers using his gun to settle disputes, albeit if "only" to shoot the gun out of the hands of the bad guy, to high school kids resorting to the same solution.

The culture of America is reflected in our high schools. We have long separated ourselves along racial, economic, geographical lines. Even in our "play" we choose up sides and try to pummel our opponents into submission. Go see the next NFL game in your town and watch the crowd if you don't believe that.

So why are we suprised when kids do the same damned thing?

Book Sluts & Literary Lounge Lizards

Books | Kelly Scott - 12:02pm May 20, 1999 PDT (# 16 of 50)

I'm more of a serial monogamist than a ho. Oh, sometimes I'll play the field and have a couple affairs going at once, and I currently have a standby I call upon for a quickie on the weekends. And like Jimmy Carter, I'll confess to committing adultery in my heart countless times as I've lusted after one book while reading another. But in my true heart, I'm a one-book man. I form strong, sloppy attachments, dotingly insisting they're the only one for me, spending hours in their company, holding them close, staring at them with earnest wonder. But alas, no matter how honorable my intentions, it never lasts, and the time inevitably comes for us to part ways, sometimes as friends, sometimes wondering whatever brought us together in the first place. And then it's on to the next one that stikes my fancy, a little older, a little wiser, and always hungrier for more.

I'm spent.