Cultural Culture Popular Theory

The opening four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony have to be the best known four notes in all of music. Like the Mona Lisa or "To be or not to be," they have descended from the upper reaches of high art to become a permanent fixture in popular culture. .

Research finds that culture is key to interpreting facial expressions

The University of Alberta study reveals that in cultures where emotional control is the standard, such as Japan, focus is placed on the eyes to interpret emotions. In cultures where emotion is openly expressed, such as the United States, the focus is on the mouth to interpret emotion.

Across two studies, using computerized icons and human images, the researchers compared how people from Japanese and American cultures interpreted images, which conveyed a range of emotions.

"These findings go against the popular theory that the facial expressions of basic emotions can be universally recognized," said Dr. Takahiko Masuda a U of A professor in the Department of Psychology. "A person's culture plays a very strong role in determining how they will perceive emotions and needs to be considered when interpreting facial expression"

These cultural differences are even noticeable in computer emoticons, which are used to convey a writer's emotions over e-mail and text messaging.

Heroes of a different sort

Parody Press Comics has announced the upcoming release of Hewoes #1, a comic book satire of NBC's popular superhero drama, Heroes. The title is written and illustrated by longtime comics veteran Bill Maus and will ship with two different covers, a "Good Hewoes" cover and a "Bad Hewoes" cover. "When cheerleader Klair Bendit discovers her weird flexibility powers playing Twister and her dad's secret project involving strangers from around the world, the fun begins," said Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Don Chin. "Bill Maus has a keen eye at poking fun at pop culture, and his art style on this book is much in the vein of the classic Mad Magazine satires, complete with grey tones and square word balloons." "Hewoes introduces readers to the enigmatic Pastrami brothers, Internet Weathergirl Sniki Sanders, constipated Japanese office worker Hewoe, and Mohinder Night Shalaman, who is trying to make sense of the whole thing while a berserk hairdresser named Styler is on the rampage!" said Maus, from his studio in Virginia Beach, Virginia.

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.

New and Noteworthy: Former Apple General Counsel may be charged ...

Former Apple General Counsel may be charged Ars Technica reports that the SEC may take action against Apple's former General Counsel Nancy Heinen. "While backdating of stock options isn't necessarily illegal, in this case it does appear to have been done illegally. In particular, Heinen is alleged to have approved the forging of documents involved in the backdating of the options. Rather unsurprisingly, forged documents make backdated options illegal, so Ms. Heinen may have a hard time mounting a defense." More.

Apple's ex-CFO settles with SEC Meanwhile, it looks like former Apple CFO Fred Anderson is settling with the SEC, but admitting no wrongdoing. CNN reports "Anderson agreed to a fine of about $150,000 and to repay option gains of about $3.5 million under the settlement but won't admit to any wrongdoing.

Avril Lavigne, The Best Damn Thing

If you've heard the second single, the driving cheerleader-pop of "Girlfriend," you know what you're in for: 12 tracks of relentless, hooky rock-pop — relentless is the key word here, as even the power ballad breaks ("When You're Gone," "Innocence" and "Keep Holding On") don't slow the tempo down much. Fortunately, there isn't any filler to bog down the proceedings. Lavigne has found another standout sonic niche with The Best Damn Thing. (Sony BMG) .

Historian talks anti-imperialism

Cultural historian Jackson Lears explained the importance of America's anti-imperialist tradition Thursday night at the Silver Center in a lecture titled "The Anti-Imperial Tradition," sponsored by Steinhardt's Department of Culture and Communication Studies.

Lears is this year's visiting scholar for the Phyllis and Gerald LeBoff Distinguished Visiting Scholar Program, which brings "the world's most prominent scholars, writers and creative thinkers" to Steinhardt, according to the department's website.

He spoke about America's long tradition of anti-imperialist thought and about the relevance of this mind-set to contemporary foreign policy. He called for the creation of a a "useable past" that would create a solid doctrine of anti-imperialism.

"It may be invented," said Lears, who teaches a Steinhardt seminar called "Fictions of Modernity." "But it would emphasize restraint, war as the last option and concrete, particular thought as opposed to sweeping, abstract universalisms."

He spoke for about an hour, locking eyes with various people in the audience while criticizing "neo-conservative pundits and apologists for empire," like New York Times columnist David Brooks.