Movie theatre marquee advertising The Hateful Eight

Mass Infantilization Plaguing Movies #TBT

Movies, TBT, , , , , ,

A. O. Scott, the venerable, initialed movie reviewer and societal critic for the New York Times, wrote an article a few years ago on a disease he saw plaguing movies entitled “Open Wide: Spoon-fed Cinema.” Scott’s diagnosis: “Forty is the new dead” for cinema as mass infantilization engenders profit at the box office, while stealing profit from culture and the soul. I have thought a lot about this article off and on since its 2009 printing. Initially, I agreed Scott’s diagnosis was a chronic condition of Hollywood. Now I believe it to be a seasonal affliction. […]

READ MORE

Police wearing face masks to protect against influenza

Still Sick Despite Flu Vaccine?

Public Health, , ,

Every flu season I hear someone say, “I received my flu shot, but I’m still sick!” Usually it is simple crankiness caused by not feeling well, but often others will comment they skip the cheap or free flu vaccine every year because they do not want to waste time on an ineffective vaccine. Sound like someone you know? Maybe even you?

Hold up there overreact-er. Vaccination is what made influenza (the scientific name for the flu) a seasonal annoyance. Before you take the path of least disease resistance, read about why you should vaccinate, how the flu vaccine is made, and what you should do with your new knowledge.  The flu shot is not a panacea, but your flu symptoms are not likely caused by a bad flu shot. […]

READ MORE

Milwaukee’s Lead Legacy: A New Wisconsinite’s Observations of His Adopted State

1 CommentNew Wisconsinite, Public Health, , , , , , , , , ,

The square for Lead (Pb) on the periodic table.When you move to a new place there are things you think about because you know they will change (mailing address, insurance coverage and cost, and, if you are me, local elected officials).  There are other things you don’t think about because they are part of a cultural background and as a stranger in a strange land you don’t know they change (Every one eats at a Friday fish fry, Neighborhoods set days/times for Trick-or-Treating, and, if you are not me, local elected officials).  One thing I never considered when moving to Milwaukee was that my tap water might not be safe to drink.

It’s not.  My tap water has lead in it.
[…]

READ MORE

The painting The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838 by J. M. W. Turner. The painting depicts an idealized white galley ship being pulled from the right side of the painting by a dark tugboat. On the left of the painting is a red and yellow sunset.

Skyfall as Art #TBT

Geek, Movies, TBT, , , , , ,

Skyfall, the 23rd official Bond Film, has opened to the typical Bond fanfare, but also continues the attempt of the Daniel Craig era to create serious film-as-art. While Skyfall’s predecessors Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace took the serious rather than campy route as well, Skyfall surpasses them as art.  This is largely because of of an Academy Award winning Director – Sam Mendes – and another star laden cast, but mostly Skyfall achieves this status because it prominently features and uses artwork to advance the plot. Paintings, the oldest visual medium, are used to heroic effect in Skyfall and frame Skyfall AS art. […]

READ MORE

In Defense of Vaccination #TBT

1 CommentPublic Health, TBT, , , , ,

Vaccines

Whenever anyone says they are anti-vaccination the first image I think of is this one:

The photo is reductionist, of course, but it’s also powerful.  Powerful because it encapsulates the current anti-vaccine debate: Vaccines cure and prevent deadly and debilitating diseases and yet are viewed as an olde tymey relic.  For pro-vaccine advocates vaccination’s benefits are established history and to argue otherwise is as incomprehensible as arguing against the Holocaust.  For anti-vaccine advocates there’s a mountain of “evidence” and the wisdom of mothers and fathers with first-hand “experience” and “logical” caution.

I use quotation marks, because I am pro-vaccination; this post is in defense of vaccination: a scientific, humanitarian, and moral position. […]

READ MORE