This evening I witnessed something I?d recently read about in Newsweek, on the occasional blog and had heard about from a friend who had experienced it as well: Widespread laughter echoing across a darkened, sold-out theater during and after a preview for the drama Brokeback Mountain, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as star-crossed cowboys [...]

You know the lines between reality and fantasy are more blurred than ever when a major pollster starts soliciting public opinion on a fictional presidential race. But that?s just what John Zogby has done (after being hired by MSNBC) in advance of a live ?debate? to be held tonight between Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) [...]

My survey is now closed, thanks to all those who participated. Selected results are being posted here over the course of the next week, along with a small contest. Thanks!

?Stephenie spends a night all alone [at camp]. First castaway to do that, right?? ? SurvivorSucks message board post by Mersaydeez, Feb. 20, 2005. .Survivor: Palau premiered Feb. 17. The just-completed Survivor: Palau has been one of the series? most compelling seasons. For better or for worse, it has also has been one of the most [...]

The big news leading up to last Sunday night?s prime time festivities was the much-hyped outing of a Simpsons character, as succinctly explored by Christine below. Yet given all the hype, those turned off by the idea of a gay-marriage-themed episode complete with coming out party could simply tune out. Plus, Patty Bouvier isn?t exactly [...]

(Note: The following only vaguely refers to the secrets of Million Dollar Baby. Unless you’re a mind-reader or can solve every CSI episode before the agents do, you can proceed freely.) Who is Keyser Soze? What is Rosebud? What?s The Crying Game got up its skirt ? er, sleeve? Lots of movies get marketed, in part, on [...]

Should Howard Dean be named chairman of the Democratic National Committee? That is the critical question on the minds of many Democrats these days. It?s like the race for the presidential nomination all over again. Washington party leaders ? particularly House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, incoming Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and 2004 presidential nominee John [...]

Do you remember “The Cosby Show”? “Family Matters”? What about ?Frank?s Place”? A student in Georgetown University?s Communication, Culture and Technology master?s program ? from which I graduated ? is conducting a thesis survey regarding audience demographics and feelings toward African-American comedies from the 1960s to today. If you have five minutes to [...]

(Warning: This entry may contain spoilers for those aged 10 and under.) As the evolutionary battle rages on three entries below, here’s an overview of a lighter, fluffier evolution: that of Santa Claus. (The background info here is based on a 2003 Georgetown University lecture by Mark Peterson, Ph.D.) Similar to the creationism vs. evolution debate and [...]

Last week, Congress scuttled legislation that could affect every American. Yet thanks to the media’s steadfast refusal to cover the political process in-depth – and their focus instead on a naked desperate housewife and angry NBA stars – you may not have heard why. The bill would overhaul the makeup of the U.S. intelligence community – [...]

(Hello again. Forgive the lack of entries the last month or so?political journalism is insane come election time. Speaking of which, having read the last few posts, I think it’s high time to change the subject away from something so many find so distressing. With that in mind?) This past weekend I attended the American Studies [...]

What happens to someone who is indefinitely cut off from the life they knew? Will they change in their new environs? Will they remain the same? That is the philosophical question at the heart of the mind-blowing, Swiss Family Robinson meets Jurassic Park drama that is Lost, which premiered Wednesday night on ABC to both rave [...]

Smarty Jones, eat your heart out. If you thought the media went berserk covering the Triple Crown this spring, just tune to a national news network for more of the same. As Stephen J. Farnsworth and S. Robert Lichter write in their exhaustively researched The Nightly News Nightmare, coverage of U.S. presidential elections is getting more negative, [...]

Last weekend I visited my aunt, a Massachusetts resident and teacher, and the conversation inevitably turned to the presidential race. She soon made a comment that struck at the heart of media framing, or the idea that the media repetitively emphasize certain angles of a story, which in turn causes the public to see facts [...]

Something’s a bit fishy about this new batch of Survivor contestants. Another battle of the sexes? Less than two years after the last, back in the Amazon? Is it really that simple? Photos and video released by CBS show that Survivor: Vanuatu’s tribes will indeed be split by gender as their contest begins. And granted, 99 [...]