Popular Culture

29 September 2003


George Plimpton Passes on at 76
When the title of this journal was selected, it was done deliberately to honor two things: Kensington in west London where a few extremely glorious years passed, and the Paris Review, a literary journal without rival. While the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will carry on, the future of the Paris Review fell into grave doubt last week with the passing of its editor, George Plimpton, at the age of 76. For more, click here.

PDA Distract Educrats More than Students
The Personal Digital Assistant is a piece of technology that is to the 21st century what the Swiss Army Knife was to the 20th; it does it all just adequately. High schools in America have largely banned the device from classes because of the text messaging capacity which will allow for cheating during tests. Such bans are the Luddite approach to the problem. Click here to read on.

The State of Science Fiction
The web is the natural medium for science fiction fans to exchange information, and this last week saw two of its anchor franchises go opposite ways, at least in the minds of those who care enough to write. On the down side, Brian Bellmont placed a rant against the handling of the Star Trek franchise on MSNBC. Pluswise (thank you Mr. Orwell), the BBC announced that Dr. Who would be making a comeback to a TV screen somewhen soon. Click here to read more.