Popular Culture

9 June 2003


SARS? Mad Cow? Quit Whinging!
Marcus Gee is a journalist with the Globe and Mail, a great paper from the great city of Toronto, and a few days back, he gave the developed world a shot between the eyes about disease and the complaining that the rich world does over diseases that most people in the Third World won't live long enough to get. For more, click here.

Lechter and Finch Top AFI Villain and Hero List
When it comes to talk provoking lists, the American Film Institute has managed to create some good ones. The AFI's 100 best films of all time ("Citizen Kane") was great, but its most recent, "Best Good Guys and Bad Guys," may be better. Hannibal Lechter ("Silence of the Lambs") was the worst human in film, while Atticus Finch ("To Kill a Mockingbird") was the best. The arguments of whether these were the right choices are trifling compared to the insight they offer into the human soul. Click here to read on.

NBC Wins Olympic Rights -- What a Shame
For $2.2 billion, the National Broadcasting Corporation has purchased the rights to televise the next two Olympics and to put out the Games on the internet as well. While this may be a milestone in money, and in new media, one is concerned that the coverage of the Games will be the same as NBC has provided in recent years. Focus on the athlete's personal life is not sport, it is gossip. And there are people at the Games who are not American citizens -- not that one could glean that by watching NBC. Click here to read more.