Friday, August 28, 2009

Well, it's about time!



The Michael Jackson death-hoax conspiracy theories are starting to spread on the Internet. At last!! Check out the story here.

Actually, I'm kind of surprised that it took so long for this conspiracy theory to get going. I do have something of a fascination for this since my book on the cultural history on conspiracy theories and conspiracy theory films should be available from McFarland publishing by next year. So now I'm looking forward to reading more of how this particular theory will grow and play out in cyberspace. Will it have the sort longevity as the Elvis is alive or the government-was-behind-the-9/11-attacks conspiracy theories?

Although my favorite cyberspace conspiracy theory is still the one being spread by a small handful of Apocalyptic religious nuts. These are the folks who believe that the third Antichrist is none other than...Arnold Schwarzenegger!! Just google that one and check it out.

As someone who was called the "Antichrist" on the Culture Wars radio show (Returning on September 10, only on WSPC radio), I am kind of partial to all the Antichrist conspiracy theories.

Billy Ray is Da Man!!!


This article about Billy Ray Cyrus is a couple of days old only because I just ran across it by accident. I haven't made it a point in a while to keep up on all of Billy Ray's comings and goings. But I do love this article about him coming to his daughter's defense after she was criticized for dancing too close to a pole at the Teen Choice Awards. Apparently in the demented, perverse minds of all the country's concerned "family advocates" and media critics, the pole suggested strip clubs or some such nonsense.

Papa Cyrus, of course, disagreed and defended Miley in an Entertainment Tonight interview. Nice going!!
But now I wonder if he's still on the advisory board of a bunch of censorious, reactionary morons like the Parents Television Council, the kinds of people who would notice things like this in the first place and get outraged over the sleazy degradation of America's wholesome childhood and traditional family values.

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Oh, mother! Blood!!



This is a quick link to more fascinating studies confirming the genetic roots of evil, violent, and antisocial behavior: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090804090946.htm Psychos, it seems, are born.


Nowhere does it mention media use, video games, and horror movies. There are some cool supplemental articles too.

The big monkey movie.



Out of a good summer, the only thing to suffer on this end has been the upkeep of this blog. A million apologies!!!

Although some of my travels – which I’m kind of using as a feeble excuse for not always managing the blog the way I should have – did give me some interesting things to ponder…and to remain amazed by how right I am about my ideas about media and audience interaction.

For example, I was so glad to have wonderful bonding experiences with my 4.5 year old nephew…over films like Peter Jackson’s King Kong. As a matter of fact, watching that film over and over again with him (at his request: “I love this movie, Uncle Barna, I want to watch it every day!) created the best sort of relationship that can exist between uncle and nephew: a favorite uncle can always be counted on to show you fun films your parents would never let you watch.

But my nephew’s ongoing requests to see the film – with its many frightening and violent scenes – whereas he avoids other entertainment that upsets him, demonstrated how active even a small kid can be in controlling what he knows he is capable of handling and censoring his own viewing choice when material becomes too intense to handle.

In the words of the genius George Carlin: “If you want to help children, leave them the fuck alone!” They’re not made of glass and they don’t need to be locked away in a cabinet to be kept safe.