culture

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What's In and Out for 2009
 What's In and Out for 2009 
OPINION
Jan 1, 2009 2:36 PM CST

What's In and Out for 2009

A new year, a new inane list of trends that are sure to look dumb by December

(Newser) - The New Year is here, and that means it’s time to clean out the cultural wardrobe. Hank Stuever of the Washington Post offers his annual take on things that are so last year, and others sure to be cool in the next 12 months:
  • Out: LOLcats
  • In: “Garfield
...

The Best of the Bush Years: Cultural Edition
The Best of the Bush Years:  Cultural Edition
glossies
Dec 14, 2008 4:57 PM CST

The Best of the Bush Years: Cultural Edition

Newsweek picks most emblematic TV, music, movies of last 8 years

(Newser) - The Bush years have been their own little era, sparking artistic dissent and encouraging elaborations on new national themes. Newsweek had its top critics pick the piece from their field that seems most indicative of this decade:
  • American Idol: "Like Dubya, the show makes a virtue of its unflagging
...

How Cereal Shaped America
 How Cereal Shaped America 
OPINION
Dec 14, 2008 10:01 AM CST

How Cereal Shaped America

Charting the evolution and influence of the grain-based breakfast

(Newser) - We might be eating hockey pucks for breakfast if a 19th-century kitchen accident hadn’t turned John Kellogg’s “barely edible” biscuits into today’s far-tastier flakes, Ian Lender writes in Mental Floss. “The cereal flake is the perfect consumer product,” he says, looking at how cereal...

Google Unearths 3D Ancient Rome

Users can surf city streets of 320 AD

(Newser) - Google Earth is providing users the opportunity to surf the streets of Ancient Rome via a 3D virtual reconstruction of the city as it was in the 4th century. Users can "enter" the Forum, stand in the sands of the Colosseum, or swoop over any of 6,700 buildings...

Gay Marriage Vote Highlights Calif. Divides

Urban, coastal areas generally oppose Prop. 8; less-populated inland areas support it

(Newser) - California’s looming referendum on gay marriage is highlighting the cultural divide between coastal and inland regions, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Polls show 37% of voters in coastal counties supported Proposition 8—which would amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage—in a June poll, while 54% in...

Pop Culture Battles Fundamentalists in Gaza

Western imports ease daily stress, but fuel the fundamentalists' ire

(Newser) - Culture is the quiet battleground in Gaza, where Jennifer Lopez pouts on CD covers beside religious paperbacks on store shelves, the New York Times reports. Combating daily food shortages and feeling isolated, Gazans escape with soap operas, sitcoms, and music—homegrown or imported from the West. But recent incidents—from...

Officials Worry About Staying Power in Gustav Tales

Those who partied in New Orleans could influence evacuees to remain next time

(Newser) - As the thousands who rode out Hurricane Gustav in New Orleans boast about the hardy, and sometimes boozy, camaraderie to neighbors who paid in frustration for following evacuation orders, authorities are hoping those tales won’t keep residents from heeding warnings next time around, the Christian Science Monitor reports. “...

The Internet Is Killing Our Rock Stars
The Internet Is Killing
Our Rock Stars
opinion
Aug 9, 2008 10:57 AM CDT

The Internet Is Killing Our Rock Stars

Piracy, iTunes bad news for the bastions of US culture

(Newser) - The Internet is killing the two cultural exports that most define America: music and movies, Elizabeth Lee Wurtzel writes in the Wall Street Journal. Gone are the days of the old-fashioned rock star and the seminal album, replaced by one-hit wonders and an iTunes audience that craves singles. Gone, too,...

The Weirdest Sporting Events
 The Weirdest Sporting Events 
Jul 29, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

The Weirdest Sporting Events

How oddballs compete, from pole-sitting to goat polo

(Newser) - If curling strikes you as a strange sport, you've obviously never heard of wife carrying or bottle kicking. The London Times explores the weirdest pastimes from across the globe:
  1. Wife-carrying, Maine, USA: Wives hang on for dear life as husbands tote them through an obstacle course, upside-down. Winners receive the
...

Russia Goes After Emo
 Russia Goes After Emo   
Jul 24, 2008 3:55 PM CDT

Russia Goes After Emo

Fearing for teens, Duma debates legislation to outlaw fashion, monitor websites

(Newser) - Fearing a threat to the wellbeing of its youth, the Russian Duma is going after what it sees as Public Enemy No. 1—emo.  Lawmakers are debating legislation to ban all signs of emo culture—an offshoot of punk music—from schools and government buildings, the Guardian reports. Lawmakers...

50 Favorite Magazines
 50 Favorite Magazines 
Jul 16, 2008 12:19 PM CDT

50 Favorite Magazines

From popular to niche, selected for being fun and instructive

(Newser) - From US Weekly to a quarterly for Godzilla enthusiasts, the Chicago Tribune's list of 50 favorite magazines both entertain and take readers to new places. The list includes:
  • NME: A rock and roll crystal ball, this UK music mag forecasts tomorrow’s megastars
  • Seed: Science never looked so glossy or
...

Is Web's 'Long Tail' Really a Tall Tale?
 Is Web's 'Long Tail'
 Really a Tall Tale? 
ANALYSIS
Jul 14, 2008 4:23 PM CDT

Is Web's 'Long Tail' Really a Tall Tale?

Harvard prof questions theory that Internet fuels boom for niche commerce

(Newser) - The "Long Tail" theory of the internet—that the Web's boundless democracy is enabling a boom in niche culture and commerce—is coming under fire just as its author releases the paperback version, Farhad Manjoo writes on Slate. After reviewing data that should back Chris Anderson's theory, a Harvard...

Chinese Museums Confound Western Expectations

(Newser) - These days China feels "both older and newer than any place on the planet," writes  New York Times art critic Holland Cotter. And nowhere is that tension more palpable than in the country's museums, which use antiquities from the millennia-old civilization in service of a rising world power....

'I'm Left of Nic,' Carla Confesses

Still, 'I'd vote for him,' she gushes

(Newser) - They may look like an always-happy couple, but France's First Lady Carla Bruni has confessed she doesn't agree with husband Nicolas Sarkozy's right-wing politics. She's not alone. Just a year after his election, polls have shown Sarkozy is the most unpopular president in six decades, reports the Daily Telegraph. "...

Proms' Glitz Blitz Captivates UK Teens

High schoolers embrace pricey US tradition, but some blast 'ghastly import'

(Newser) - Parents and traditionalists alike are feeling the pinch as expensive American-style proms migrate to the UK, the Wall Street Journal finds. Teens crave the stretch limos and extravagant gowns seen in US shows like The O.C. and My Super Sweet 16. But some educators criticize the trend, including one...

World's Weirdest Festivals
 World's Weirdest Festivals 
TRAVEL
Jun 11, 2008 1:39 PM CDT

World's Weirdest Festivals

Oddball traditions say plenty about a culture

(Newser) - Forget museums and street markets. To truly understand a culture, travelers should take in its bizarre traditions. From fire walking to tomato hurling, Travel and Leisure looks at the world's most off-the-wall celebrations.
  • Lopburi Monkey Buffet in Thailand: Each November, Lopburi's residents lay out a feast to appease the city's
...

Online Gaming Boom Outpaces Real-Life Critiques
Online Gaming Boom Outpaces Real-Life Critiques
OPINION
May 31, 2008 1:14 PM CDT

Online Gaming Boom Outpaces Real-Life Critiques

Cultural attitude toward virtual world reflects antiquated view

(Newser) - The dizzying growth of the video game industry continues to alarm cultural Luddites, writes Tom Chatfield for the Prospect, but the critics are trapped in video gaming’s past. They haven't adjusted to the development of social, team-based gaming worlds, treating games “as an odd mix of the slightly...

Save the Spurmo: Straight, Single Men Face Extinction

Marriage threatens herds of single men

(Newser) - Are you a straight, proud, unmarried man over 30? Then you're part of a dying breed, writes Tad Safran in the Times UK. Dubbed "Spurmos," these endangered bachelors drink in increasing isolation as friends succumb to marriage, wine racks and child-rearing. Having roamed in great herds in their...

Rome's New Mayor Vows to Raze Renowned Museum

'Post-Fascist' Alemanno wants to destroy Meier building

(Newser) - Only a few days into his mandate, Rome's new right-wing mayor has sworn to dismantle a state-of-the-art museum designed by American architect Richard Meier, reports the Times of London. Gianni Alemanno called the Ara Pacis museum, built 2 years ago to house a peace altar from the Augustan period, "...

77% of US Moms Breast-Feed
 77% of US Moms Breast-Feed 
Apr 30, 2008 7:07 PM CDT

77% of US Moms Breast-Feed

Percentage highest in survey's history; rise greatest among African-Americans

(Newser) - About 77% of new mothers breast-feed, the highest percentage since the CDC began taking surveys 20 years ago. The agency cites public-awareness campaigns about its health benefits for the rise, noting that only 60% of mothers breast-fed in 1994, the AP reports. Changing cultural attitudes that accommodate the practice also...

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