Category Archives: Popular culture

Hysteria over obesity

May 31, 2008 – 11:20 pm

Before winter set in here in Melbourne, I picked up my daughter from creche.
The carer said, “She didn’t eat any lunch, but she ate all the afternoon tea, which was nachos.”
I was curious. “What was lunch?” I asked.
The carer sighed. “Salad,” she said. I gave her a wry look.
“Yes,” she said, interpreting my wry look [...]

By Legal Eagle | Also posted in Feminism, General, Media, Motherhood | Comments (14)

Aerials (or what we’d do to the alien)

May 22, 2008 – 6:44 pm

I’ve long thought that this track, from System Of A Down’s 2001 album, Toxicity, gives a pretty fair assessment of what would really happen if an alien turned up on Mother Earth. Forget intergalactic war, universal exploration a la Star Trek or even the Mars Attacks! account where the invaders are immune to nuclear weapons [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Music | Comments (0)

I’m sorry, Big Brother is objectively crap

May 16, 2008 – 6:35 am

Kim over at LP is engaged in an interesting but - in my view - ultimately fruitless discussion of the relative merits of Big Brother. Unfortunately, this is by the by. Big Brother may be socially illuminating, an interesting commentary on class, a reflection of broader Australian cultural trends, etc. I do not quibble with [...]

By skepticlawyer | Comments (29)

‘We’ve all come to look for America…’

May 15, 2008 – 8:08 am

As I mentioned over at Catallaxy, I’m one of those erstwhile lefties who decided that I didn’t want to visit the USA as a callow youth, and then - despite my politics shifting as time passed - I never got around to it. Last week’s conference was my first visit, and wasn’t the best introduction, [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Events | Comments (4)

The Devil went down to Georgia

May 2, 2008 – 9:53 am

I’ve always liked the classic fiddling number, The Devil went down to Georgia - made famous by the Charlie Daniels Band and covered by just about everyone else in country music. This version by alt metal band Primus really takes the biscuit, though, in part through some very clever animation.

By skepticlawyer | Comments (1)

Would the last one to leave please turn out the lights?

December 20, 2007 – 10:07 pm

Apparently, Will Smith aspires to be the biggest male lead in Hollywood, and I am Legend is essentially a Will Smith star vehicle. It’s a very effective star vehicle, too - he curbs his natural cockiness and portrays ‘the last man on earth’ and his steady mental disintegration with consummate skill. Unusually for Hollywood, it [...]

By skepticlawyer | Comments (53)

Phantasms

September 14, 2007 – 7:39 pm

Every now and again, something from your past pops up out of your breakfast cereal and gets you thinking.
Last night I was chilling out with a few cold ones when an email from a good mate in the Australian Skeptics landed in my in-tray. The mate wanted me to tell him my version of an [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Literature, Skeptics | Comments (132)

Jonathan Mills is a pretentious git, but The Bacchae is great

August 18, 2007 – 12:33 am

When Australian Jonathan Mills was appointed Director of the Edinburgh International Festival, arguably the world’s most high-powered arts job, not a few locals were shocked and a wee bit pissed off.
Watching his excruciating ‘interview’ (billed as ‘conversations with artists’, supposedly designed to illuminate The Bacchae, or rather, the National Theatre of Scotland’s innovative production) yesterday [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Events, Literature, Religion | Comments (8)

‘Stop blogging and do something!’

August 6, 2007 – 8:59 am

Relatively recently, Legal Eagle wrote an excellent piece on the horrors of management ordained ‘work retreats’ and ‘team-building’ activities. Like most lawyers, I’ve encountered a few of the things too - and the apparent enthusiasm with which work colleagues treated them always worried me. Dubious ‘trust exercises’ and loopy attempts at group psychological therapy… not [...]

By skepticlawyer | Also posted in Events | Comments (12)

Would you believe, this big?

February 27, 2007 – 2:41 pm

I’m not usually a fan of lowering the tone around these illustrious parts, but since Clinton is in danger of possessing Rafe’s Gould thread, I thought I’d produce a bit of low-brow entertainment for y’all. This involves little more than Google, a few pictures and Photoshop.
Most examples of BDS (Bush Derangement Syndrome) out there are [...]

By skepticlawyer | Comments (37)