Letter to the Editor submitted to The Atlantic July 2, 2008 • Nicholas Carr says that Google is making us stupid.[1] The ubiquity of the Internet, he argues, is leading to a change in the habits of information acquisition, a change in the norms of information processing, and an accompanying change in the very structure of our way of thinking. The very strong implication of the article is that this is a “bad thing,” leading to the demise of what he calls “deep reading”. But deep reading requires its complement, deep writing – deep writing requires facts, and the article has,…
Comments closedTag: Book Reviews and Cultural Commentary
JUNE 13, 2007 – Don’t get me wrong – Ocean’s Thirteen[1] is not a great film. But it’s not as bad as many critics have painted it. And if you’re a progressive critic of a North America run by Bush and Harper, it has moments that are, well, wonderful. I won’t give the story line away – which is just as silly, improbable and complex as in the previous Ocean films. But what do you say about a film that refers favourably to Emiliano Zapato, leader of Mexico’s great revolution? What do you say about a thief who goes to…
Comments closedAPRIL 19, 2007 – There are few words to describe the movie 300.[1] One that comes to mind is awful. Some are seeing it as the next Lord of the Rings. But if racism and imperialism were implicit in Tolkein’s work, in 300 these are explicit. The movie portrays a “brave group of free white” men holding the line against a slave-holding empire where the emperor is … Black! “We are fighting “for all Greeks and the promise this country holds” we are told at one point. But wait a minute. This “brave group of free white men” are from…
Comments closedJANUARY 27, 2007 – So, we renew our membership at Alliance Atlantis, to secure free parking for the year and a 15 per cent discount at Il Fornello’s – and we get a free DVD – “Lucky Number Slevin.”[1] Unlucky us. I’ve trolled the Internet, and checked out a few of the reviews. It’s supposed to be a “film noir” thriller. A movie that makes you think. It’s a movie that makes you think that our society is really sick. The gratuitous violence is non-stop. But that seems to, now, go without saying in what passes for “entertainment” from the…
Comments closedAPRIL 11, 2006 – The tiny space of Bathurst Street’s best bookstore could barely handle the overthrow crowd of more than 100 people March 30, there to help Grace-Edward Galabuzi launch his new book. Canada’s Economic Apartheid: The Social Exclusion of Racialized Groups in the New Century,[1] is a revised and updated version of a study which, when it was released, sparked a much-needed debate on racism in this country. “Between 1980 and 2000” said Galabuzi, “there has been a 361 per cent increase in poverty for racialized groups in Toronto. “Too often we think of racism as something experienced…
Comments closedAPRIL 10, 2006 – Two of the best films of the last year are now available on DVD. Crash, directed by Paul Haggis and with an all-star cast including Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock and Matt Dillon – is a very fine exposé of the racism which permeates modern U.S. society. For viewers from racially profiled Toronto with its creeping economic apartheid, there is no question that its message resonates here as well. The film won three Oscars, and mostly deservedly-so. But when viewed side by side with the really great DVD released this month – it’s pretty clear that one…
Comments closedJANUARY 6, 2004 – The $80-million Civil War era drama, Cold Mountain, is being praised as the movie of the season. But behind the lush production and excellent acting performances is a disturbing and profoundly reactionary message. The central characters are a white soldier in the Confederate Army (Inman, played by Jude Law) and his romantic fixation, a white preacher’s daughter named Ada (played by Nicole Kidman). Separated by war, each survives the terrible war years by focussing on their love for each other. Ada struggles to keep her farm going in Cold Mountain after the death of her father,…
Comments closedAUGUST 4, 2003 – Here’s the thing. I did see the Rolling Stones — in the summer of 1975. This year I gave their July 30 “SARSstock” appearance In Toronto a miss. For those of us who attended their 1975 concert, it was already clear that the Stones, 29 years before SARSstock, were well past their “best before” date. They were, and are, a travelling corporation, not a travelling rock band. Not all the concerts of 1975 and 1976 were like that. There were great concerts, and there was a gang of us in Toronto who took them all in.…
Comments closedJANUARY 8, 2001 – Journalists seem to love Charlie’s Angels. Toronto’s Eye magazine calls the film “100 per cent boredom free.” Now magazine admits that the film is a little exploitative of women. But not to worry – it’s very fun exploitation. “More fun than any other movie this year.” Really? Force of circumstances took me to a screening of the film. There is no question – it really does exploit women. And fun? – only if you like unrealistic fight scenes, impossible exploits and can see past the layers and layers of stereotyping. Perhaps we should swallow hard and…
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Is there space for peace?
Published December 24, 2008 by Paul Kellogg
Letter to host of “Q,” submitted to CBC, Dec. 24, 2008 • You opened your Christmas Eve show with a flashback to 1968, the Apollo 8 flight, and the astronauts reading selections from Genesis, the first book of the Bible, while floating in space. “Peace on earth” you speculate could be brought a wee bit closer if we told the Apollo 8 story every Christmas, helping us to see our earth in green and blue perspective. Many of us remember that flight like it was yesterday. Many of us, as children, were enthralled by the space program, by NASA, and…