Culturally Speaking #34: The Olympic Kickoff Edition
By Sarah Stodola
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So
the Olympics kick off tonight. Not much hype around the whole thing this
year. I'm afraid that perhaps in this case, the terrorists did win. I
know plenty of people who you couldn't pay to go to the Games this year,
and all because they are worried about terrorism (and yet, many of them
still live in New York). Which is really, really a shame...
At least the ladies are helping out by offering themselves up to Playboy and FHM for this month's covers. You know bin Laden is hating that (and I guess this isn't cultural...well, yes it is...but I think these have to be the most flat-chested covers ever for both magazines).
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I have never ever felt sorry for the French, ever, until I read this article. And now, all of a sudden, it's like they're the aging rock stars of countries; once the best thing on earth, the envy of all, now wrinkled and looking quite silly in those rocker outfits that only the very young and very cocky can hope to pull off.
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The Big Lebowski as high culture? Go to the Lebowskifest and decide for yourself. The real life Dude is going to be there and everything...
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Ted Turner's call for breaking apart the media conglomerates in The Washington Monthly:
"Unless we have a climate that will allow more independent media companies to survive, a dangerously high percentage of what we see--and what we don't see--will be shaped by the profit motives and political interests of large, publicly traded conglomerates. The economy will suffer, and so will the quality of our public life. Let me be clear: As a business proposition, consolidation makes sense. The moguls behind the mergers are acting in their corporate interests and playing by the rules. We just shouldn't have those rules. They make sense for a corporation. But for a society, it's like over-fishing the oceans. When the independent businesses are gone, where will the new ideas come from? We have to do more than keep media giants from growing larger; they're already too big. We need a new set of rules that will break these huge companies to pieces."
First he gives a billion dollars to the UN, then this. It's enough to make you forgive him for turning the entire country into a sea of Braves fans.
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Necessity is the mother of invention...Yet more artists get creative in order to defeat Bush. In addition to the big names that are putting on anti-Bush concerts etc., we've got some truly grassroots stuff going on in the arts communities across the country this election.
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Dinner at the Gates house, a first-hand account...What we find out is that Bill Gates is a very rich, very tasteful nerd.
* * *
The New York Times goes Hollywood...
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Perhaps
Google is
trying too hard not to offend anyone? Apparently, they pull
all "negative ads." I'd like to hear more from Google's
end on this.
Click here for the last Culturally Speaking.
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Sarah Stodola is the Managing Editor of Me Three. She can be contacted here.
©
2004 Me Three