So far today the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Judge Sonia Sotomayor have been just the Senate Judiciary Committee members' commentary and Sotomayor's speech. Her speech was so deep, articulate, and moving, with her narrative of how her Puerto Rican immigrant mother worked hard with her and her brother despite their low income. As for the senators, Republicans pressed Sotomayor with the usual "activist judge"/alleged racism, while Democrats had all sorts of hopeful and praising things to say. Heck, even South Carolina Republican Lindsay Graham decided to be nice for once.
There were also some celebrity guest appearances at today's session. When the newly elected Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) - yes, the former Saturday Night Live/Air America Radio star Al Franken, in case you've been living in a cave all year - began his remarks, Norma McCorvey (the Jane Roe of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case) hollered along with another protestor. Then, when another Democrat, Dianne Feinstein of my home state California, began speaking, another protestor yelled: "Her record--What about the unborn. Abortion is murder! Stop the genocide of unborn Latinos!" Then, SJC chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) actually had to remind the audience to remain silent for the rest of the session. I actually saw the Feinstein incident live on PBS (locally on the digital KQED World channel). Because I always wake up late during the summer, I missed most of the earlier senators remarks. The hearings started at 10AM Eastern, which is 7AM in the Pacific Time Zone. Unfortunately, 10AM is my average wake-up time when there's nothing to do during the day. I think I need to move to the East Coast if I want to keep my sleep schedule and political informacy.
But later during the afternoon on The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer (KQED broadcasts it live from Washington, that's why it's on at 3PM PT), I got to hear a condensed version of the session, but not Franken. You can watch Franken getting interrupted on the Washington Post website.
Tomorrow, I'll wake up early to watch Round 2 of the hearings.
13 July 2009
08 July 2009
These folks make the Parents Television Council look like Greek scholars
I've blogged about the Parents Television Council before. That organization has a reputation for its tough moral stance on TV and for "FCC complaint fraud", that is, recruiting "meat puppet" applicants to file multiple complaints about a certain indecent TV show. Targets have included the predictable usual suspects, exposed private parts (NYPD Blue in 2003, Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show in 2004, and Survivor: Gabon in 2008 - I'm not kidding, click the link and you know what's happening) and obscene words (Billboard Music Awards in 2002 and 2003, NYPD Blue and Golden Globe Awards in 2003, Live 8 in 2005, a lot more examples - darn it TV is PROFANE!)
And? PTC has been known for raising a ruckus about otherwise harmless instances on TV, such as recent Family Guy and Two and a Half Men episodes.
But? On Broadcasting & Cable I just came upon THIS rather giggly story:
So this organization, now the powerful, million-member, complaint-stuffing PTC, had to raise a "sensitivity" ruckus? When was the last time PTC went up in arms about "political" rather than "moral" or "language" correctness? I know that FCC targets words like the one that begins with F and rhymes with a bird species and another that begins with S and contains the sound of "it", but I've never heard of FCC targeting ethnic/racial/etc. slurs like "midget" or the one that begins with N and rhymes with a character from Winnie the Pooh.
If PTC has never brought up things like this, they're the scholars of the new millennium.
And? PTC has been known for raising a ruckus about otherwise harmless instances on TV, such as recent Family Guy and Two and a Half Men episodes.
But? On Broadcasting & Cable I just came upon THIS rather giggly story:
According to reports, the Little People of America has filed an official complaint with the FCC over the use of the term "midget" on TV.
"[P]eople with dwarfism find the word "midget" highly offensive," the group said last April when it complained about the use of the term on NBC's Celebrity Apprentice.
An FCC spokesperson was not available for comment at press time, but to regulate the term's use on broadcast TV, the commission would likely have to classify it as indecent or hate speech, over which it has regulatory.
So this organization, now the powerful, million-member, complaint-stuffing PTC, had to raise a "sensitivity" ruckus? When was the last time PTC went up in arms about "political" rather than "moral" or "language" correctness? I know that FCC targets words like the one that begins with F and rhymes with a bird species and another that begins with S and contains the sound of "it", but I've never heard of FCC targeting ethnic/racial/etc. slurs like "midget" or the one that begins with N and rhymes with a character from Winnie the Pooh.
If PTC has never brought up things like this, they're the scholars of the new millennium.
Did BET spit on Michael Jackson's grave? (updated 7/8)
http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.9401/title.2009-bet-awards-recap-the-dx-edition-
If these allegations against BET are intellectually true, the B should stand for Bastardly, because BET really screwed up the Awards Show while simultaneously trying to pay tribute to Michael Jackson.
First, as mentioned in HipHopDX, Lil Wayne & Young Money gave a crummy performance of "Every Girl", and Drake's ACL injury affected adversely his "Best I Ever Had".
Then Beyonce's performance of "Ave Maria" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREAWgRgviA) was found disrespectful by some Catholics...because Beyonce wasn't wearing the right clothes, and it wasn't the "right' occassion, it wasn't "spiritual enough", etc. (http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/2009/06/beyonces-ave-maria-disrespectf.html)
And finally, a lot of bloggers were mad and shit at BET for ruining what would've been a good thing:
- http://pittsindeed.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/dear-bet-what-the-fk-was-that/
But New Edition's tribute performance was alright - http://neonlimelight.com/2009/06/28/new-edition-performs-jackson-5-medley-at-bet-awards/
Ciara's pretty weak - http://neonlimelight.com/2009/06/29/ciara-performs-tribute-to-michael-jackson-during-the-2009-bet-awards/
Ne-Yo delievered a pretty good cover of "Lady of My Life". He later performed his own hit "She Got Her Own" with Jamie Foxx and Fabolous, and then he got Keith Sweat and a bunch of other 90s "New Jack Swing" stars on stage. - http://neonlimelight.com/2009/06/28/ne-yo-performs-tribute-to-michael-jackson-at-bet-awards/
there's also all this talk about Jamie Foxx messing up his attempt at a moonwalk and using the award show as a promotional opportunity for his own concert tour, a pretty selfish move right there.
On comments sections on articles hosted by such sites as MTV.com, HipHopDX.com, and all sorts of other blogs (maybe mine?) there's been mostly negative comments directed toward BET. But hey, this is the channel that the Parents Television Council targeted last year in its "Rap on Rap" report, and this is the channel that spends most of its broadcast day airing shallow rap/R&B music videos, cancelled mediocre sitcoms, trash movies, and religious programming the rest of the way.
Most ironic of all? The BET Awards had its highest ratings ever despite all this fiery buzz.
UPDATE (7/8/09): I knew this would happen. The Parents Television Council decided to condemn the award show, not only with their moral grounds but a lot of the bloggers' complaints about how crappy the show was (pointing out the Baby Boy skit, Lil Wayne's performance, etc.). I only found out about this today when I decided to take my rare swing by the PTC's site.
If these allegations against BET are intellectually true, the B should stand for Bastardly, because BET really screwed up the Awards Show while simultaneously trying to pay tribute to Michael Jackson.
First, as mentioned in HipHopDX, Lil Wayne & Young Money gave a crummy performance of "Every Girl", and Drake's ACL injury affected adversely his "Best I Ever Had".
Then Beyonce's performance of "Ave Maria" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kREAWgRgviA) was found disrespectful by some Catholics...because Beyonce wasn't wearing the right clothes, and it wasn't the "right' occassion, it wasn't "spiritual enough", etc. (http://blog.beliefnet.com/idolchatter/2009/06/beyonces-ave-maria-disrespectf.html)
And finally, a lot of bloggers were mad and shit at BET for ruining what would've been a good thing:
- http://pittsindeed.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/dear-bet-what-the-fk-was-that/
But New Edition's tribute performance was alright - http://neonlimelight.com/2009/06/28/new-edition-performs-jackson-5-medley-at-bet-awards/
Ciara's pretty weak - http://neonlimelight.com/2009/06/29/ciara-performs-tribute-to-michael-jackson-during-the-2009-bet-awards/
Ne-Yo delievered a pretty good cover of "Lady of My Life". He later performed his own hit "She Got Her Own" with Jamie Foxx and Fabolous, and then he got Keith Sweat and a bunch of other 90s "New Jack Swing" stars on stage. - http://neonlimelight.com/2009/06/28/ne-yo-performs-tribute-to-michael-jackson-at-bet-awards/
there's also all this talk about Jamie Foxx messing up his attempt at a moonwalk and using the award show as a promotional opportunity for his own concert tour, a pretty selfish move right there.
On comments sections on articles hosted by such sites as MTV.com, HipHopDX.com, and all sorts of other blogs (maybe mine?) there's been mostly negative comments directed toward BET. But hey, this is the channel that the Parents Television Council targeted last year in its "Rap on Rap" report, and this is the channel that spends most of its broadcast day airing shallow rap/R&B music videos, cancelled mediocre sitcoms, trash movies, and religious programming the rest of the way.
Most ironic of all? The BET Awards had its highest ratings ever despite all this fiery buzz.
UPDATE (7/8/09): I knew this would happen. The Parents Television Council decided to condemn the award show, not only with their moral grounds but a lot of the bloggers' complaints about how crappy the show was (pointing out the Baby Boy skit, Lil Wayne's performance, etc.). I only found out about this today when I decided to take my rare swing by the PTC's site.
02 July 2009
Former Chaboya Advanced Pre-Algebra teacher has been FOUND (updated)
From today's San Jose Mercury News
How sad. I urge everyone, ESPECIALLY Chaboya alumni, to pitch in and help. There was a citizen's search today according to a Craigslist.
I had Abinanti for math during the 2003-2004 year, when I was in 7th grade. He was a cool teacher, and since having him I've succeeded in math throughout high school. I got straight A's in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, and a 5 on the AP Calculus AB and BC exams.
Given his medical condition, if he's missing for so long (unless he found his way back home, in which case the search would be called off) I suppose he might end up like...(choke) Michael Jackson? (If you've been sleeping all summer, yes, the singer/acquitted child molester Michael Jackson is no longer with us.)
Tardy update (8/18/09): Abinanti was found alive on the evening of Friday, July 10 in Saratoga, specifically at a dry creekbed behind Jake's Pizzeria. A little league team eating dinner at the restaurant found Abinanti. Currently he's in hospital recovering.
Police re-issue urgent alert for missing Campbell man
By Lisa Fernandez
Mercury News
Posted: 07/02/2009 06:13:57 AM PDT
Updated: 07/02/2009 11:55:55 AM PDT
Campbell police have issued an updated urgent alert regarding a missing Campbell man with severe dementia who has not been seen for more than a day and who is likely wandering around without his medications.
Ross Abinanti, 63, was with his family Tuesday about 7 p.m. in downtown Campbell at a parking structure on North Second Street and Civic Center Drive when he somehow got separated from his group, police said.
He hasn't been seen since then and police suspect he probably hasn't eaten or had anything to drink.
Abinanti is described as a white man, standing 5 feet 7 inches tall and weighing about 270 pounds. He was last seen wearing a plain white baseball cap, a dark gray polo-style shirt with vertical stripes, khaki shorts, white socks and tennis shoes. He should also be wearing a medical alert bracelet with his name on it, and which also has a GPS unit for easy tracking.
On Tuesday, Santa Clara County Sheriff Sgt. Rick Sung said that the department's Star One helicopter crew from the Special Operations Unit was called out about 8:45 p.m. to search for Abinanti. Sung said authorities got a "ping" on the location on the bracelet at Interstate 280 and Meridian Avenue, but still had no luck finding Abinanti.
If anyone finds Abinanti, they should call Campbell police at 408-866-2101.
How sad. I urge everyone, ESPECIALLY Chaboya alumni, to pitch in and help. There was a citizen's search today according to a Craigslist.
I had Abinanti for math during the 2003-2004 year, when I was in 7th grade. He was a cool teacher, and since having him I've succeeded in math throughout high school. I got straight A's in Algebra I, Geometry, and Algebra II, and a 5 on the AP Calculus AB and BC exams.
Given his medical condition, if he's missing for so long (unless he found his way back home, in which case the search would be called off) I suppose he might end up like...(choke) Michael Jackson? (If you've been sleeping all summer, yes, the singer/acquitted child molester Michael Jackson is no longer with us.)
Tardy update (8/18/09): Abinanti was found alive on the evening of Friday, July 10 in Saratoga, specifically at a dry creekbed behind Jake's Pizzeria. A little league team eating dinner at the restaurant found Abinanti. Currently he's in hospital recovering.
30 June 2009
Arrested tagger also was involved in DUI in 2006 (updated)
From today's San Jose Mercury News: "Santa Clara police arrest man suspected in yearlong tagging spree". That man is Roman Kosulin, a 2006 graduate of Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, yes I mean that Monta Vista High School where the overwhelmingly overachieving Asian student body is driving away the white folk. Kosulin is currently unemployed.
Out of pure curiousity, I Googled his name and found this old case: In re Alex B., in which said minor (that's why last name was withheld) asserted that the police violated his Fifth Amendment rights. The appeals court said no. This case resulted from Alex getting arrested for a DUI after leaving a party hosted by Kosulin.
UPDATE (August 18): Next month, Kosulin is to serve a year in prison and pay $7,525 in restitution. If not for a plea deal, he would've served a maximum three years plus eight months.
Out of pure curiousity, I Googled his name and found this old case: In re Alex B., in which said minor (that's why last name was withheld) asserted that the police violated his Fifth Amendment rights. The appeals court said no. This case resulted from Alex getting arrested for a DUI after leaving a party hosted by Kosulin.
UPDATE (August 18): Next month, Kosulin is to serve a year in prison and pay $7,525 in restitution. If not for a plea deal, he would've served a maximum three years plus eight months.
29 June 2009
PTC's selection of facts
So out of pure curiosity during this boring Monday morning right after Dead Celebrity Weekend (Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Billy Mays), I decided to visit the Parents Television Council website, of the organisation that dares take a tough moral stance against all the curse words, sex scenes, shootings, and fights on TV. As of now, their biggest, latest pet peeve is over the "Bruno incident" from the 2009 MTV Movie Awards. PTC President Tim Winter considered that "a perfect example of why consumers should be able to choose and pay for only the cable networks they want, rather than being forced to pay for unwanted bundles of programming." He asserted that every cable consumer pays $0.80 a month for MTV, meaning that MTV makes $1 billion a year out of all cable subscribers.
So a flamboyantly gay movie character mooning a vulgar, homophobic rapper is enough to cry out about the abuse of consumers' money? That's not it! PTC named the Movie Awards the "worst cable show of the week" given the following examples in a "wall-to-wall trash-fest specifically targeted at young viewers":
- The Lonely Island medley performed by "once-respectable artists" LeAnn Rimes, Chris Isaak, and Forrest Whitaker. The Lonely Island is a comedy rap trio comprised of Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg (who hosted the Movie Awards) and writers Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. They make those "digital shorts" for SNL that later go up on YouTube, uncensored. I don't have cable, which is the reason I've seen this medley for the first time online, and unlike on SNL, Rimes, Isaak, and Whitaker all performed Lonely Island songs in a singing rather than rapping style, even accompanied by a choir and orchestra. The online version is edited the same way as aired, as evidenced by PTC's transcript, which showed that only the F-word in the song "Mother Lover" (originally by Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg) was bleeped. However, the songs "Jizz in My Pants" and "Dick in a Box" were all uncensored even though NBC bleeped those words out on its original SNL broadcasts; common practice of broadcast networks like NBC is zero tolerance for words like "Dick" and stuff like that...even at 12 midnight!
And then: "The expletives just keep on rolling with the introduction of the “WTF Award.” Presenter Hayden Panitierre explains, “I know most of you are wondering, what the [bleeped “f***”] is the WTF Award? For those of you living in a cave, WTF means, ‘What the [bleeped “f***”].’”" (Amy Poehler won that award for a scene from her film Baby Mama in which she tries to perform a pregnancy test over a sink. Poehler's pre-taped thank-you message to the awards show also had a lot of bleeped words.) This just shows PTC's bleep-phobia. Also: "The musical performances were also filled with profanities. Eminem’s rendition of “Crack a Bottle” kept the censor’s thumb on the mute button with lyrics like, “Kiss my butt. Lick the fumunda cheese from under my [bleeped “n*ts”]… It’s a must I redeem my name n haters get mushed. [bleeped “b*tches”] lust. Man they love me when I lay in the cut.”" Yikes. MTV really wants to annoy parents or corrupt our youth!
But hold up. Apparently, PTC is making this look worse than they really seem. I watched Eminem's performance at the awards show, and it turns out you'd either have to be a super-skilled lip reader or look up the lyrics yourself to know what was muted out...and why can't the PTC distinguish between "bleep" and "mute" for crying out loud? Such prudes. The entire Movie Awards ceremony as seen on TV is available on MTV.com. Although PTC asserts that the "musical performances" are peppered with rancid language, the other major performer, Kings of Leon, had no cuss words at all in its performance of "Use Somebody". And then there's a comedic song "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions" by Samberg and Neil Diamond. That song uses only one use of "hell" and no other profanities.
PTC's press release notes that the show was rated "TV-14-DLSV", meaning (according to the official TV Parental Guidelines) unsuitable for children under 14, with pointed advisories regarding suggestive dialogue, crude language, sexual situations, and violent scenes. So what did it expect, total and cordial decency? Rather, PTC tests its shock value on certain parents: "MTV believes this content to be appropriate for a 14-year-old". That's the same argument it put forth when it asked its members/others to file FCC complaints against an episode of Family Guy back in March.
And did PTC even bother to care about which movies won at the awards ceremony? Based on Wikipedia's article about this year's awards I decided to see what PTC thought about the winners. Here's what PTC thought about Twilight, which won "Best Film" this year: "Twilight emphasizes chaste romance, loyalty and devotion between those in love, and an understanding of the need for acceptance of family and those who are different. Essentially a traditional Gothic romance updated for the 21st century, Twilight may not be to every parent’s taste; but its lack of sex and foul language and its (mostly) restrained violence make it an inoffensive choice for the romantically-minded teenager." (PTC also publishes Rod Gustafson's "Parenting and the Media" column; Gustafson differs in opinion though.) Robert Pattinson won "Best Male Breakthrough Performance" for his role in Twilight as well, and Twilight also won awards in "Best Kiss" and "Best Fight". And Ashley Tisdale won the Female counterpart of that award for her role in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, a PTC Seal of Approval winner. Heath Ledger wins posthumously for "Best Villain" in The Dark Knight, which PTC would rather rate closer to an R than the MPAA's "PG-13". And yet ANOTHER PTC Seal of Approval bearer gets high honors at the Movie Awards: Miley Cyrus's song "The Climb" from Hannah Montana: The Movie won "Best Song" at the awards, knocking out "Decode" by Paramore (Twilight), "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire), and "The Wrestler" by Bruce Springsteen (title track of a film). Shouldn't PTC have acknowledged those facts as well? No, there's this "cable choice" thing to push, and deceptively hiding potentially "cheerable" items will advance PTC's agenda.
I have pointed out other instances where PTC has cherry-picked facts to suit its pro-cable choice, anti-MTV/BET/FX/any cable channel that dares show TV-MA rated programming even after 10 p.m. agenda. For example, PTC has been silent regarding BET's syndication of Smart Guy, a show that it twice named among the best shows of the year. In April 2008, PTC released a report criticizing BET for playing rap music videos out of concern over misogynistic and other negative messages. It also refuses to point out that Seal of Approval-awarded movies have been shown on FX before alongside those 10pm-and-later TV-MA dramas that oh-so-frequently are the object of PTC's grievances. And I'm browsing PTC's "Worst Cable Content" archives and spot yet another one: MTV's DJ & the Fro, a revival of Beavis and Butt-Head that has the titular character humorously commenting on YouTube videos (B&BH did the same for music videos back in the 90s; it was a target of rather silly moral controversy as well because one five-year-old boy killed his two-year-old sister with fire, and his mother blamed B&BH's "pyromania".) PTC's scathing criticism on the show graphically quotes everything the PTC deems sleazy, and asserts: "It is worth mentioning that this show is on every weekday at 5:00 p.m. ET, just early enough for school-kids to tune in before Mom and Dad get home. If this show is the voice of the new generation (as it purports to be), then society is in trouble." (italics & underline theirs) So now MTV is out to get kids to burn their siblings to death again in the 2010s (it's 2009 for crying out loud!) Well not so fast: MTV rates the show TV-14, so I guess that parents who believe their teenage children should be sheltered from all things evil till college should be the only ones concerned here.
So a flamboyantly gay movie character mooning a vulgar, homophobic rapper is enough to cry out about the abuse of consumers' money? That's not it! PTC named the Movie Awards the "worst cable show of the week" given the following examples in a "wall-to-wall trash-fest specifically targeted at young viewers":
- The Lonely Island medley performed by "once-respectable artists" LeAnn Rimes, Chris Isaak, and Forrest Whitaker. The Lonely Island is a comedy rap trio comprised of Saturday Night Live cast member Andy Samberg (who hosted the Movie Awards) and writers Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. They make those "digital shorts" for SNL that later go up on YouTube, uncensored. I don't have cable, which is the reason I've seen this medley for the first time online, and unlike on SNL, Rimes, Isaak, and Whitaker all performed Lonely Island songs in a singing rather than rapping style, even accompanied by a choir and orchestra. The online version is edited the same way as aired, as evidenced by PTC's transcript, which showed that only the F-word in the song "Mother Lover" (originally by Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg) was bleeped. However, the songs "Jizz in My Pants" and "Dick in a Box" were all uncensored even though NBC bleeped those words out on its original SNL broadcasts; common practice of broadcast networks like NBC is zero tolerance for words like "Dick" and stuff like that...even at 12 midnight!
And then: "The expletives just keep on rolling with the introduction of the “WTF Award.” Presenter Hayden Panitierre explains, “I know most of you are wondering, what the [bleeped “f***”] is the WTF Award? For those of you living in a cave, WTF means, ‘What the [bleeped “f***”].’”" (Amy Poehler won that award for a scene from her film Baby Mama in which she tries to perform a pregnancy test over a sink. Poehler's pre-taped thank-you message to the awards show also had a lot of bleeped words.) This just shows PTC's bleep-phobia. Also: "The musical performances were also filled with profanities. Eminem’s rendition of “Crack a Bottle” kept the censor’s thumb on the mute button with lyrics like, “Kiss my butt. Lick the fumunda cheese from under my [bleeped “n*ts”]… It’s a must I redeem my name n haters get mushed. [bleeped “b*tches”] lust. Man they love me when I lay in the cut.”" Yikes. MTV really wants to annoy parents or corrupt our youth!
But hold up. Apparently, PTC is making this look worse than they really seem. I watched Eminem's performance at the awards show, and it turns out you'd either have to be a super-skilled lip reader or look up the lyrics yourself to know what was muted out...and why can't the PTC distinguish between "bleep" and "mute" for crying out loud? Such prudes. The entire Movie Awards ceremony as seen on TV is available on MTV.com. Although PTC asserts that the "musical performances" are peppered with rancid language, the other major performer, Kings of Leon, had no cuss words at all in its performance of "Use Somebody". And then there's a comedic song "Cool Guys Don't Look at Explosions" by Samberg and Neil Diamond. That song uses only one use of "hell" and no other profanities.
PTC's press release notes that the show was rated "TV-14-DLSV", meaning (according to the official TV Parental Guidelines) unsuitable for children under 14, with pointed advisories regarding suggestive dialogue, crude language, sexual situations, and violent scenes. So what did it expect, total and cordial decency? Rather, PTC tests its shock value on certain parents: "MTV believes this content to be appropriate for a 14-year-old". That's the same argument it put forth when it asked its members/others to file FCC complaints against an episode of Family Guy back in March.
And did PTC even bother to care about which movies won at the awards ceremony? Based on Wikipedia's article about this year's awards I decided to see what PTC thought about the winners. Here's what PTC thought about Twilight, which won "Best Film" this year: "Twilight emphasizes chaste romance, loyalty and devotion between those in love, and an understanding of the need for acceptance of family and those who are different. Essentially a traditional Gothic romance updated for the 21st century, Twilight may not be to every parent’s taste; but its lack of sex and foul language and its (mostly) restrained violence make it an inoffensive choice for the romantically-minded teenager." (PTC also publishes Rod Gustafson's "Parenting and the Media" column; Gustafson differs in opinion though.) Robert Pattinson won "Best Male Breakthrough Performance" for his role in Twilight as well, and Twilight also won awards in "Best Kiss" and "Best Fight". And Ashley Tisdale won the Female counterpart of that award for her role in High School Musical 3: Senior Year, a PTC Seal of Approval winner. Heath Ledger wins posthumously for "Best Villain" in The Dark Knight, which PTC would rather rate closer to an R than the MPAA's "PG-13". And yet ANOTHER PTC Seal of Approval bearer gets high honors at the Movie Awards: Miley Cyrus's song "The Climb" from Hannah Montana: The Movie won "Best Song" at the awards, knocking out "Decode" by Paramore (Twilight), "Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire), and "The Wrestler" by Bruce Springsteen (title track of a film). Shouldn't PTC have acknowledged those facts as well? No, there's this "cable choice" thing to push, and deceptively hiding potentially "cheerable" items will advance PTC's agenda.
I have pointed out other instances where PTC has cherry-picked facts to suit its pro-cable choice, anti-MTV/BET/FX/any cable channel that dares show TV-MA rated programming even after 10 p.m. agenda. For example, PTC has been silent regarding BET's syndication of Smart Guy, a show that it twice named among the best shows of the year. In April 2008, PTC released a report criticizing BET for playing rap music videos out of concern over misogynistic and other negative messages. It also refuses to point out that Seal of Approval-awarded movies have been shown on FX before alongside those 10pm-and-later TV-MA dramas that oh-so-frequently are the object of PTC's grievances. And I'm browsing PTC's "Worst Cable Content" archives and spot yet another one: MTV's DJ & the Fro, a revival of Beavis and Butt-Head that has the titular character humorously commenting on YouTube videos (B&BH did the same for music videos back in the 90s; it was a target of rather silly moral controversy as well because one five-year-old boy killed his two-year-old sister with fire, and his mother blamed B&BH's "pyromania".) PTC's scathing criticism on the show graphically quotes everything the PTC deems sleazy, and asserts: "It is worth mentioning that this show is on every weekday at 5:00 p.m. ET, just early enough for school-kids to tune in before Mom and Dad get home. If this show is the voice of the new generation (as it purports to be), then society is in trouble." (italics & underline theirs) So now MTV is out to get kids to burn their siblings to death again in the 2010s (it's 2009 for crying out loud!) Well not so fast: MTV rates the show TV-14, so I guess that parents who believe their teenage children should be sheltered from all things evil till college should be the only ones concerned here.
21 June 2009
China, Iran, 20 years apart, same cause
June 4, 1989: Various college students and some ex-Communist Party members and others clash with the Chinese military after nearly one and a half months of protest for democracy. Soldiers wound and kill thousands and thousands of people. An uncooperative, secretive government prevents an exact number from being calculated. The academic and human rights community hasn't figured it out yet. As of today, the People's Republic of China has yet to become fully democratic, still, and it still downplays or bluntly denies the extent of the Tiananmen massacre.
June 21, 2009: Upset over the election of anti-Semitic, homophobic, anti-American, bigoted, nutty dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, thousands of Iranians take to the streets of Tehran despite warnings from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Like the 1989 Tiananment protests, the military intervenes with firing squads and all that, and within a day there are 19 confirmed deaths and 150 unconfirmed.
June 21, 2009: Upset over the election of anti-Semitic, homophobic, anti-American, bigoted, nutty dictator Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, thousands of Iranians take to the streets of Tehran despite warnings from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Like the 1989 Tiananment protests, the military intervenes with firing squads and all that, and within a day there are 19 confirmed deaths and 150 unconfirmed.
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