Ocelopotamus

News, culture, and politics. Not necessarily in that order.

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Entries Tagged as 'Media'

Jonesing for Doctor Who

April 2nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Jonesing for Doctor Who · Culture, Doctor Who, Lit, Media, News, Science Fiction, TV

Season 3 of Doctor Who is off to a great start, premiering on the BBC this past Saturday night to an appreciative 35.9% of the UK TV audience. Episode 1, “Smith and Jones,” served up rhino-headed aliens called The Judoon, a hospital on the moon, and of course the debut of the Doctor’s new companion, […]

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News Roundup: Supreme Court, Python,
and Gromit Edition

April 2nd, 2007 · 1 Comment · Advertising, Apple, Blogs, Business, Climate Change, Comedy, Culture, Film, Fringe, Health, Human Rights, iTunes, LGBT, Media, Music, Nature, Neo-Futurists, News, Politics, Supreme Court, Torture, Travel, TV

The Supreme Court rules that the EPA has the authority — and the responsibility — to regulate greenhouse gases. Carl Pope of The Sierra Club says: “Today’s ruling is a watershed moment in the fight against global warming … The ruling is a total rejection of the Bush administration’s refusal to use its existing authority […]

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Raising Issues with Tissues: Greenpeace Infiltrates Kleenex Ad Campaign!

April 2nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Raising Issues with Tissues: Greenpeace Infiltrates Kleenex Ad Campaign! · Activism, Advertising, Business, Climate Change, Media, Nature, Politics, Video

One more post in honor of April Fool’s day — here’s Greenpeace pulling a pretty good activist prank. Kimberly-Clark, the makers of Kleenex, are responsible for clear-cutting irreplaceable old-growth forests in order to make their tissues. Meanwhile, there’s this Kleenex ad campaign where people are asked to sit on a blue sofa, artistically placed on […]

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News Roundup: “An Exceptionally Heavy
Spaghetti Crop”

March 31st, 2007 · 3 Comments · Activism, Apple, Business, Climate Change, Comedy, Culture, Factory Farming, Feminism, Film, Food, Health, HIV/AIDS, iTunes, LGBT, Media, Music, News, Politics, Science, Tech, TV, Video

Here’s a little smorgasbord of items I wanted to blog this past week, and didn’t get the chance to. Because unlike spaghetti, time to blog doesn’t grow on trees! John Nichols of The Nation asks whether we’re nearing an “Impeachment Moment,” noting that the I-word is finally being discussed — if not exactly embraced — […]

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Brzezinski on Iraq: Escalation Is “A Nonstarter.”

March 29th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Foreign Policy, History, Media, News, Peace, Politics

The April issue of Harper’s Magazine has a lengthy transcript of remarks by Zbigniew Brzezinski speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Feb. 1. Brzezinski was the National Security Adviser in the Carter Administration, and is currently a professor of foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University. I’m no expert on Brzezinski, and reading over […]

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News: The Hidden Cost of Margarine

March 27th, 2007 · 4 Comments · Adobe, Climate Change, Comics, Culture, Internet, Media, Music, News, Performance, Politics, Science, Software, Tech

• Orangutans may be extinct within five years, thanks to a soaring demand for palm oil leading to the destruction of their forest habitat. This situation needs to be addressed in product labeling somehow, so consumers can know that they’re buying sustainable, “orangutan and rainforest-safe” palm oil. Via this DKos diary. • Here’s a fascinating […]

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Last Week’s Three Best Video Kerfuffles

March 26th, 2007 · 5 Comments · Climate Change, Culture, Film, Human Rights, Media, News, Politics, Torture, TV

I don’t know what was in the air last week, but it was a banner week for jaw-dropping altercations, smackdowns and ruckuses (should that be ruckae?) caught on video. Here are the three that made a biggest impression on me. 1. Boxer vs. Inhofe vs. Gore. Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe is one of those guys […]

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The Two Faces of the Tribune

March 20th, 2007 · Comments Off on The Two Faces of the Tribune · Chicago, Media, News, Politics

Media Matters calls out the Chicago Tribune on its Clinton/Bush double standard: We’ve previously detailed the bizarre Bush-era tendency of major newspaper editorial boards to disregard principles they held dear during the Clinton administration. The Chicago Tribune, for example, editorialized in 1998 that Clinton should resign because his statements about the Monica Lewinsky matter would […]

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News: Three Rings, No Waiting

March 19th, 2007 · Comments Off on News: Three Rings, No Waiting · Books, Culture, Food, LGBT, Lit, Media, News, Politics

• Karl Rove may be facing a subpoena this week if he doesn’t agree to appear before the Senate to testify in the fired prosecutors scandal. The chairman of the judiciary committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy, wants White House officials on the record, under oath. The final decision on putting on the agenda subpoenas is mine,” […]

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The McCain Candidacy in a Nutshell

March 19th, 2007 · 1 Comment · HIV/AIDS, Media, News, Politics

This particular incident just so perfectly captures the essence of John McCain, 2007. A reporter asked him for his opinion on using government funds for “contraceptives” (i.e., condoms) as a means of HIV prevention. McCain needed to dispatch an assistant to find out what his position was, and help him remember what positions he might […]

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News: Wear Sunscreen

March 16th, 2007 · Comments Off on News: Wear Sunscreen · Apple, Books, Climate Change, Culture, Internet, iTunes, Language, LGBT, Media, Music, News, Politics, Science, Tech, TV

Worldwide, the winter of 2006-2007 has been the warmest since record keeping began in 1880, according to a new government report. A variety of desperate schemes to save the planet from global warming are being considered by NASA and other organizations — including a man-made volcano that spews sulfur into the atmosphere; a “sun shade” […]

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Mistakes Were Made, 2007 Edition

March 15th, 2007 · Comments Off on Mistakes Were Made, 2007 Edition · Comedy, Media, News, Politics

It’s starting to look like we won’t have Abu Gonzales to kick around much longer — even the Republicans are beginning to pile on. Now we’re being told that even Bush is “not happy with” Gonzales, which is a little like my foot being angry at my big toe, but there it is. This bit […]

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