| Words strike with force
Jewish wisdom teaches that words are like arrows. Why, the ancient rabbis ask, would words be regarded as arrows rather than, say, swords? Because, they answer, when a person takes a sword out of its sheath, if the person changes his mind, he can return it before it does any damage. However, an arrow once it is released from the bow cannot be returned, no matter how much one would like. Words, like arrows, have the power to inflict irrevocable harm, and once they are spoken cannot be retracted. .
Blacks also are longtime critics of rap, hip-hop, forum shows
If an outcry over offensive language directed at black women sank Don Imus' radio career, why haven't black people complained about black rappers who use similar language? Well, they have, but relatively few people listened to their cries for a stop to the words and images depicted in rap and hip-hop music, said a panel of black scholars and activists who participated in Wednesday night's town hall discussion of "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?" at Case Western Reserve University. Mark Anthony Neal, a popular culture professor at Duke University, said a generation of hip-hop aficionados has criticized the negative aspects of the music almost from the beginning. "It's not like no one has been having these conversations," he said. But Joan Morgan, former executive editor of Essence magazine and author of "When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost," said she was angry because some celebrities garnered all the media attention in the wake of the Imus affair, while informed hip-hop activists were ignored by mainstream media.
The World of Yiddish Theater in France
Dr Pnina Rosenberg is the art curator in the Ghetto Fighters' House Museum and a lecturer in the Oranim Academic College, Israel. She has published widely in the fields of art during the Holocaust and recently on Yiddish culture in Interwar France. Her publications include L'art des indésirables: l'art visuel dans les camps français (L'Harmattan: Paris: 2003); “Mickey Mouse in Gurs: Graphic Novels in a French Internment Camp", Rethinking History, 6 (3) (2002)."Art During the Holocaust", Encyclopaedia Judaica, (2006). "Estranged Life: The Life Immigrant Jews in Interwar Paris as Reflected in the Oeuvre of Yosl Cukier", Khulyot – Journal of Yiddish Research 9 ( 2005). e-mail : danielro@oranim.ac.il
[In the Yiddish theater] no raising of the curtain, no three knocks on the stage, and not even the opening lines, can announce the beginning of the play, for the temperament of the audience is such that, despite the opening lines, they cheerfully continue their conversations.
The cultural ingredients of a twisted mind
Human beings are compelled to make sense of the world. We search for the cause behind the effect, the motive behind the act. With understanding, order can be restored. Without it, chaos threatens. In trying to make sense of the massacre at Virginia Tech, various culprits -- gun culture, media violence, the "system" -- have been deemed culpable. It is true that more restrictive gun laws would have made it harder for Seung-Hui Cho to obtain his weaponry. But so, too, would stricter control on those like Cho who've been diagnosed with mental illness. For the past 40 years, the psychology industry has promoted keeping the mentally ill in the community, not in institutions. Does this tragedy suggest rethinking the idea? Finally, should those who want stricter gun control also push for stricter control on the media? .
Bruce at home with Slovenian housemates
Basketball hunk Bruce Angelo Quebral of "Pinoy Big Brother" has learned to adjust and feel at home with his Slovenian housemates despite the distance and separation from the PBB house and his rumored "special someone," housemate and former beauty queen Wendy Valdez. Bruce, of Cainta, Rizal, is nicely fitting in with the rest of the "Slovenian Big Brother" housemates as shown in their activities in the hit reality television show's Slovenian edition. The former varsity cager managed to mingle with the Slovenians even if some of the housemates struggled to talk to him in English and despite a brewing tension among the rest of the residents. He even displayed the Filipino trait of compassion as he tried to uplift the morale of a female Slovenian housemate nominated for eviction by the rest of the group.
ROBOTECH COMING TO MOBILE PHONES
For over 20 years, science-fiction and anime fans have watched from the sidelines as the battle for Earth raged in the skies above. Now, Airborne Entertainment opens the cockpit and offers up the controls for the ultimate ROBOTECH gaming experience in Robotech: The New Generation, coming to mobile phones this May in the best shoot-em-up game ever to be available throughout the U.S. carrier galaxy. The long-awaited mobile iteration of the perennial favorite anime series combines strategic behavior and character selection with classic top scrolling gameplay. Featuring 20 distinct levels, five environments and three playable VERITECH ALPHA fighter ships, Robotech: The New Generation is sure to engage the hard-core fan as well as the casual gamer. For over 20 years, ROBOTECH has helped to lay the groundwork for animes acceptance outside its native Japan, earning a distinction as one of the greatest science fiction epics of all time.
Jamie Kennedy
JAMIE KENNEDY (Justin Schumacher, age 32) An actor with a unique view and offbeat sensibility, Jamie Kennedy skyrocketed to fame with a groundbreaking performance and scene-stealing rants in Wes Craven's Scream and Scream 2. His portrayal of Randy Meeks, the video-store-clerk-turned-horror-hero with a knack for pop culture, secured him a place in the annals of horror movie history. He has gone on to work with some of Hollywood's biggest names, including George Clooney, Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin, and Will Smith. Kennedy will next be seen in April 2007 starring in Kickin' It Old Skool which he was also a producer on. Kickin' It tells the tale of a 12 year old break dancer who in 1985 hits his head performing at a talent show and as a result is comatose for 20 years. He awakens to find out he is a grown man who thinks like a young break dancer in the 80's.
It's the women, not the bachelor, that keeps show going
NEW YORK - "The Bachelor" reality franchise hit the jackpot this season with Andy Baldwin, a real-life Dr. McDreamy.
Baldwin - a 30-year-old doctor, Navy lieutenant, humanitarian and triathlete - is the perfect guy with perfect teeth, and a houseful of wide-eyed, marriage-minded women competing to be his one and only.
But it's not Baldwin or his predecessors who capture the show's overwhelmingly female audience. Rather, it's the catfights, blatant scheming, tears and rejection. Those irresistible dramatic elements have managed to keep the series afloat, observers say, despite declining ratings, an embarrassing track record of failed romances and the indisputably sexist premise.
"This is voyeuristic viewing," said TV historian Tim Brooks. "You can just sort of sit and watch, "Oh, I don't like her' and "Boy, I hope she gets hers' and that kind of thing.
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