Word: showness
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...gets distracted - in a send-up of the grail quest - by the hunt for something called Snappy Cola. The second story, "Gran'pa Greenbax and the Eternal Smile," focuses on a miserly frog who must confront his thirst for riches when he finds himself the subject of a Truman Show - like plot. In the final story, "Urgent Request," a mousy, ridiculed office assistant puts her faith - and money - in an unsolicited e-mail purportedly concocted by a desperate Nigerian prince. (See the top 10 graphic novels...
...most surprising result so far might be that Latin America's leftists have abandoned their usual line of accusing Washington of meddling and are lamenting that it hasn't done enough. "Do something, Obama. This is in your hands," Venezuelan firebrand Hugo Chávez groaned on his television show. The Obama Administration argues it has taken action by cutting off military aid to Honduras and revoking the diplomatic visas of several officials. But U.S. conservatives have argued against more punitive steps, saying Zelaya was a menace who had to be taken down. The coup was launched as the leftist leader...
...anxieties: mass extinction, proliferating nukes, global flooding, swine flu, bird flu, peak oil, economic collapse. The end of the world has long been the subject of a popular genre of TV, books and movies. Now, in the 21st century tradition of fear as entertainment, it has its own reality show. In Discovery's The Colony, 10 volunteers are barricaded in a warehouse, without running water or electricity, to simulate surviving after the end of civilization. The band of engineers, handymen and medical professionals (the magazine columnists, I assume, have long since been eaten) fends off "gangs" (played by actors), filters...
...Colony's scenario, a pandemic did us in. But, the show helpfully notes, it could have been "human conflict, nuclear bombs, natural disasters, chemical and biological warfare. Without warning, the world as we know it can come to an end." Until it does, enjoy the show...
...what Shark Week's makers and their show-biz peers have always known: the sexier threat is the improbable but unknown one. You are more likely to die by drowning or from melanoma induced by the beach sun. But that one-in-a-million chance of being done in by a primeval predator from the murky depths--that's the threat with teeth...