American Culture Pop

There is no gainsaying that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), once perceived as small bands of activists, have, in the wake of the collapse of Communism, which exposed poverty and opened up countries once off limits to these groups, and improved communication via television and the Internet, gained global prominence since the 1990s. In their book The New Global Brands: Non-Government Organizations in the 21st Century (2005), authors Nathalie Laidler-Kylander and John A. Quelch raise several important questions: To what extent should NGOs cooperate with national governments and multinational corporations (MNCs) if doing so will advance their missions? Where is the line between cooperation and co-optation? How can they balance operational and advocacy efforts? There are others, but the first two are crucial in the context of Bangladesh .

The Beatles and Philosophy

The Beatles and Philosophy, a collection of essays by philosophy experts (many of them university professors, all of them Beatles fanatics), is a new and sometimes tedious example of the latter. An entry in the "Popular Culture and Philosophy" series of books, which is now 25 volumes deep, The Beatles and Philosophy exploits the Fab Four's weakness for populist consciousness-raising by aligning their work to that of Kant, Heidegger, Aristotle, and a host of other great minds that don't necessarily have much to do with the band's music.

A major problem with the collection is that it addresses the Beatles' lyrics only—understandably, seeing as there's no way to discuss Nietzsche and overdubbing with a straight face—an approach that inevitably treats the band as a one-dimensional unit.

Gold Rush Goes Hollywood Announced By AOL

AOL announced that Gold Rush is making its return this fall, exclusively on AOL. As with the original, “Gold Rush Goes Hollywood" is co-produced by legendary TV pioneer Mark Burnett. The groundbreaking interactive game lets players turn their pop culture smarts into real gold. The original Gold Rush attracted nearly 11 million users and five blue chip sponsors.

Why we must address both economics and values

From the 1970s through the mid-1990s, poverty policy was among the nastiest battlefields in the national culture war. Left and right slugged it out over why people were poor and how (or whether) to help them. Conservatives generally enjoyed the upper hand in these debates by focusing on individual-level causes of poverty, like family breakdown, drug addiction, and poor work habits -- pathologies said to be enabled by government largesse. This story line struck a chord with the American public, helping ensure the demise of the federal welfare entitlement and the introduction of strict work requirements in 1996.

But since then, a structural understanding of poverty has come back in vogue, fueled by more awareness of globalization and dead-end jobs. Popular books like Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed and Beth Shulman's The Betrayal of Work have drawn a fresh picture of the poor -- as mostly hardworking Americans who can't make ends meet through no fault of their own.

Microsoft and NAMCO BANDAI create video game history

18 Apr 2007 : Microsoft Corp. and NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. today made video game history by announcing the first-ever Xbox 360™ “Pac-Man" World Championship, presented by Quiznos. From April 25 to May 9, fans of one of the world's most beloved video games of all time will compete on the classic arcade game via Xbox LIVE® Arcade on the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system, evolving “Pac-Man" gameplay from the local pizza parlors and arcades of the '80s to the Xbox 360 and its online gaming community with more than 6 million members. The top finalists from participating countries around the world will be flown to New York City for the finals on June 5, with the winner being crowned the Xbox 360 “Pac-Man" World Champion by Toru Iwatani, the creator of “Pac-Man."

Since launching in 1980 in Japan and in 1981 around the world, “Pac-Man," its host of ghosts and the famous “wakka wakka wakka" sound have become global pop culture icons.

It's only game of solitaire as turtles go on missions

Superhero and cartoon characters have become integral parts of the electronic entertainment industry. Around the world, youngsters and guys who can't get dates spend countless hours in front of their computers and video-game systems.
With this in mind, I salute the meld of pop-culture characters and Silicon Valley with a look at some...
Comics plugged in
TMNT
(Ubisoft for Xbox 360, rated E+10, $49.99)
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have returned not only to the silver screen in a new computer animated film from Warner Bros. but to the video game realm, in a third-person action game. A single player controls each of the four green warriors and works through 16 missions loaded with acrobatic conundrums and packs of thugs ready to beat the heroes back into the sewers.

Call for understanding of the reform process

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani yesterday called for “the correct understanding" of the reform process “which must be comprehensive and deep and not partial nor intermittent".
Addressing the seventh Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade at Ritz-Carlton in Doha, HH the Emir said the main reason for “the democratic incapacity" in the region was due to the lack of correct understanding of reform.
“There can be no economic reform without political reform, which must be supported and guided by social reform," he stressed.
Following are excerpts from the address of HH the Emir:
I welcome you all to the Doha Forum on Democracy, Development and Free Trade in its seventh session. Since its first session, your forum has passed through a period of time which, I consider enough to review the progress of the basic issues with which the forum is concerned.

Move over Britannica, here's Encyclopedia Iranica

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- The Christian concepts of heaven and hell originate in Iran. The Jewish holy Talmud is littered with Iranian words and ideas. And some Iranians cherish the Israeli city of Haifa as a sacred place.

"Today more than at any other time we need to keep our Iranian culture alive," Iranica's director Ehsan Yarshater told an audience of 350 Iranians at a fundraiser in Dubai last month. The glitzy dinner, concert and auction raised $100,000 for a project that will take a total of $20 million -- and another decade or so -- to finish.