Noteworthy News
Goes Wherever a Spider Can
I was going to comment on this earlier, but before I could, Major League Baseball changed their minds on this one. Personally, I think it would have been cool as all get out to have the bases with the SpiderMan 2 logo on them...but apparently baseball fans are outraged by this and protested so much it got pulled. Now, I've only got one thing to say to baseball fans on this one--what the heck were you expecting? Your sport is run by the biggest bunch of idiots around. They can't agree on a salary cap so that the big teams (evil Yankees) can buy championships while teams struggle. You've got a team in Montreal that is dying on the vine and has to play home games in Puerto Rico. You've got your championship's home field advantage decided by what is little more than a meaningless exhibition game in the middle of the summer. And you've got advertising on every other stupid object in the stadium--hell, Steinbrener is selling advertising on the Yankees' jersesy!!!--but yet you don't want to have SpiderMan 2 on the basepads to lend some drama to otherwise meaningless and lame interleague games (have I mentioned those have failed to really capture much interest?). And as cool as I think Spidey 2 is gonna be, I don't think it's been too hurt by this...it's still gonna make a jillion dollars opening weekend and it is going to absolutely rock. If the gazillion dollar ad tonight during
Friends didn't convince you of that...well, I just don't know what else to tell you. This movie is going to be great fun and I can't wait. And you can bet I'd rather see Spidey 2 three or four times rather than give overpayed guys playing a game any of my money.
Parents Angered Over Poetry Book
They teased this two nights ago on Channel 4's news broadcast here in Nashville and I was so intrigued to see what book was being protested or banned that I stayed up to the end only for it not to be included due to technical difficulty. I'm glad to see it final see the light of day. Part of me was just curious as to what this book was that was so horrible they had to ban it. Visions of "Catcher in the Rye" or "Farenheit 451" came to mind immediately, though we did get a teasing of a segment on the "DaVinci Code" and I thought it might be that. But it turns out to be a book called "The Black Poets" that contains offensive material and some objectionable words. Ya know, so does another important book that is considered a classic--"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." I do understand the parent's objections in relation to the ages of the children who could check this out. But I also wonder if this might not have been an opportunity for the parents in question to have a few moments in their child's life. You know, maybe read the book too and discuss it. Discuss why the language is used and why it offends the parental figures. Talk to the children. I remember when I was younger, I picked up my first Stephen King novel and my mom saw it and didnt' freak out, forbidding me to read it. She just told me that I was old enough to read it but there might be things in there that I'd want to talk to an adult about and that she and my dad would be happy to talk about it. Well, it was "Firestarter" and while there wasn't much that was too beyond me, I felt good knowing I could go to them and have an opportunity to share and talk. It reminds me a lot of how some Christians get about the Harry Potter books and their kids. Here's a shocker--I've read them and I'm Christian. I don't know any more about magic and how to use it than I do how to travel through time from watching
Doctor Who. The novels are about the choice between good and evil and how to make that choice. Harry chooses good and we see what happens. It's a great chance for parents to talk to their kids, get close to them, have some dialogue. Instead, we have people judge them without understanding them. Kind of like a lot of books on the banned books list. I honestly wonder if people who've read the books would want them banned. And it always amuses me that people want to ban "Farenheit 451" since that is censorship and banning books is what that one is all about!
Just for your own info, here's a
List of the 100 Most Banned Books. Celebrate your freedom...go read one. Now that
Friends is over, you should have plenty of time....
Speaking of which, as of this posting,
Friends is over...well, on the East Coast anyway. Last episode was pretty good..and was anyone really shocked that Rachel got off the plane? Didn't think so. Best line was Joey's "Has it always been purple in here?"
posted by Michael Hickerson at 5/06/2004 09:15:00 PM |
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