recent articles of note - large update {ICA BOSTON, Political Animals}

Christopher Hawthorn comments on Boston's new ICA. It is the first American building by New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (who will be at the ICA in early January to discuss the project.)

The Guardian UK looks at the political meaning of animated films featuring animals. The silenceof Bao Ninh. Mark Morford on America losing another war. The CBC looks at 2006: the year in books.
The Washington Post on Inequality. Eric Schlosser in the New York Times wonders if politics have diluted the food supply. Grayson Perry was interviewed in the Independent UK.
A.S. Byatt reviews Toril Moi's new book on Ibsen.
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Art Historian Robert Rosenblum passed away [NYT]
Martin Nodell, The Creator of the Green Lantern, Passed Away [CBC]
Nigel Kneale, British Science Fiction teleplay writer, Passed Away [Guardian UK]
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Canada's Top Ten films of 2006.
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Top Ten films of 2006.
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New Wonders from the Deep [CBC] - Marine Census 2006

Comedy's release

The man behind this site tipped me off to this edited version of Armando Iannucci's Tate Britain lecture. Its an excellent look at the state of comedy today (on both sides of the Atlantic) and how it fills a significant gap. The key quote regarding the gap is that: "This has come about for three reasons: politicians have stopped speaking to us properly, the media has stopped examining their actions in anything like a forensic way, and broadcast culture has become so watered down, so scared of fact, that people are less inclined to turn to anything other than entertainment for information." His lecture significantly discusses the anarchic spirit of comedy and the reason its presence is so widely felt in modern society.

Armando Iannucci is a comedy writer who has worked on such shows for British Television as The Day Today and I'm Alan Partridge. You can find his CV here. He occasionally writes articles for the Guardian UK and the Daily Telegraph. Some time last year one of his Guardian UK columns tipped me off to the genius that is Sean Lock and his amazing television programme15 Storeys High.

Recent Articles (Vinyl, Wobby, Comedy, Volvo)

Success with Vinyl[Telegraph UK]

Starbucks Gets Wobbly[in these times]

Iraqi Comedy [Seattle Times]

Volvo Estates are the Best[Ananova]

The Fairness Doctrine

The December 1, 2005 issue of the New York Review of Books has an excellent essay by Michael Massing on the current state of the American News media titled "The End of News". The paragraph below is the one that's been stuck in my mind for the past couple of weeks.

"An even more consequential, though much less visible, change took place in 1987, with the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine. Introduced in 1949, this rule required TV and radio stations to cover "controversial issues" of interest to their communities, and, when doing so, to provide "a reasonable opportunity for the presentation of contrasting viewpoints." Intended to encourage stations to avoid partisan programming, the Fairness Doctrine had the practical effect of keeping political commentary off the air altogether. In 1986, a federal court ruled that the doctrine did not have the force of law, and the following year the FCC abolished it."

Michael Massing's full essay can be found online here. The abolition of the Fairness Doctrine contributed greatly to the current political climate in the United States of America.