Popular Culture

3 February 2003


Awards Season Arrives -- Pity
The Golden Globes have been and gone, and these prizes awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press (formerly 50 stringers who survived on hors d'oeuvres) mark the beginning of the annual pat-on-the-back season for the entertainment world. The problem, though, is the ubiquity of these awards have debased their value on an artistic level. For more, click here.

Tampa Beats Oakland, NFL Inc. Wins
American football lacks the camaraderie of rubgy, the true ruggedness of Aussie rules football, and the global standing of soccer (what the rest of the world means by "football"), but it has all of them beat when it comes to marketing. But the Super Bowl, the league's championship, has become polluted by the marketing and money-go-round that the final match has become. The true football fan doesn't much care, so long as the outcome is pleasing, and perhaps if the game is close. But the National Football League is creating a problem for itself with the side-shows it has established. Click here to read on.

Groundhog Predicts War in Six Weeks
Americans have a silly folk custom, celebrated (if that is the word) on February 2 -- Groundhog Day. When first told of it, many Britons can't quite believe that such a thing has survived. Americans are equally incredulous at the persistence of Morris Dancing. Still, folk wisdom (oxymoron) has it that if the groundhog comes out of his hole and sees his shadow, winter will last six more weeks, if he doesn't, spring is just around the corner. Saddam Hussein needs one of these. Click here to read why.