Incredible! No, scratch that; it’s more than incredible, it’s brilliant! What geniuses. A new study finds that Teen-rated video games contain significant amounts of violence and death.
NEWSFLASH: Video Games Found Violent
Posted by Ben on March 24, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/newsflash-video-games-found-violent/
Tetherballs of Bougainville by Mark Leyner (REVIEW)
You can heap praise upon books until you run out of clever adjectives and you’ve used up all the permutations of classic book review phrases you can think of, but the fact remains: when it’s all said and done (and discussed and written about and beat into the ground with a dead horse), there are […]
Posted by Ben on March 24, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/tetherballs-of-bougainville-by-mark-leyner-review/
Dead actors and living scripts
A theatre group in Britain is putting together a play in which the star role will be played by a dead body. Not an actor portraying a dead body, but an actual, real dead body. It sounds wicked brilliant. The play is called “Dead: You Will Be” and is looking to examine society’s attitudes towards […]
Posted by Ben on March 23, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/dead-actors-and-living-scripts/
Quotes in the news
Noam Chomsky, MIT Linguist and Anarchist: “Kerry is sometimes described as ‘Bush-lite’, which is not inaccurate. But despite the limited differences both domestically and internationally, there are differences. In a system of immense power, small differences can translate into large outcomes.” (The Guardian, March 20) Mel Gibson, on George Bush: “I am having my doubts, […]
Posted by Ben on March 22, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/quotes-in-the-news/
Gee That’s A Large Beetle I Wonder If It’s Poisonous…
…and many other weird and often irreverently profane band names, found on the The Canonical List of Weird Band Names. Which, yes, restricts the list to actual band names. Skimming the list, I recognized maybe 11 or 12 names, but I’m not too sure whether that’s a particularly good thing. It might be, it might […]
Posted by Ben on March 22, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/gee-thats-a-large-beetle-i-wonder-if-its-poisonous/
A Fish Story
According to none other than the US Tuna Foundation, the recent advisory issued by the FDA and EPA “Affirms That Tuna Remains a Safe and Healthy Food Choice.” The USTF’s objective and forthright press release goes on to note that the FDA/EPA release will now help to assure women that it “is safe to eat […]
Posted by Ben on March 21, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/a-fish-story/
The Noble Car
Fact: Every day, more people die from road traffic accidents than from drugs, war, and violence, combined. (via World Health Report 2002; comparisons based on estimates from 2001: daily deaths = 3200 road traffic, 1300 violence, 630 war, 186 drugs)
Posted by Ben on March 20, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/the-noble-car/
Adaptation
(2002) directed by Spike Jonze, starring Nicolas Cage, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep, Chris Cooper, and a few people as themselves, etc. Synopsis: A nontraditional, nested story (set of stories, actually) about a screen-writer, writer, etc. Promising, but. Review: Probably the worst well-done movie I’ve ever seen. The acting, for what it’s worth, is extremely on-target. […]
Posted by Ben on March 19, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/adaptation/
Reframing an old story
I’ve heard the story of Easter Island used many times as a cautionary tale. Recently, I’ve heard it used in a slightly different, and immensely thought-provoking, incarnation. Here’s the story, more or less: the people of Easter Island, quite obviously, were not born there but arrived there on boats. Liking what they saw—and being able […]
Posted by Ben on March 18, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/reframing-an-old-story/
Wednesday Rundown
U.S. plans to test more thoroughly for BSE (mad cow disease), but ignores recommendations that might help to prevent it. Now 500,000 cattle will be tested instead of 40,000, which was the USDA’s previous plan—but cattle will continue to be fed chicken and ruminant remains, as well as “high risk cattle tissue,” i.e., cow brains. […]
Posted by Ben on March 17, 2004
https://www.swordbilled.com/wednesday-rundown/