Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Madeleine vs McLuhan

In which I pretend to identify the socio-economic discrimination that underlies all forms of censorship, but really I'm just taking the piss out of Ben Affleck.

And, hey, guess what: I got a postcard today. That's right, not an e-mail or a post on a holiday blog, but a proper bit of carboard with a photo of a San Francisco cable car, and a purple-inked message (slightly defaced by over-enthusiastic postmarking) from my parents telling me about their Maupin stalking (although by now they're a few steps further on their round-the-world shenanigans, probably here). Every time I receive an example of this superannuated mode of communication, I wonder whether it's the last.

Also, this just in from the Graun:

"Ofsted inspectors found 49% of secondaries were rated no better than 'satisfactory', which is no longer deemed good enough."

And I thought exams were getting easier to pass...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Splash out on a hardback"

Heh.

(Sorry)

Rimshot said...

I assumed the ban was due to Casey Affleck's acting (or lack thereof).

FirstNations said...

Seattle and the surrounding area are a test market, and so I've seen a few trailers for the movie opening here. Given the regions' politics (moving towards life imprisonment for short-eyes offenders) 'Gone Baby Gone' isn't expected to do very well.

Spinsterella said...

"Saw John Waters' "This Filthy World" the other day, where he says that if a seven year old has heard of The Naked Lunch s/he is old enough to read it. Not sure I entirely agree..."

Good point from a normal CIF-er.

I read The Naked Lunch when I was 17 and I didn't have a clue what it was all about.

V. good piece tim.

PS - FN, I don't know what a short-eyes ofender is but that still made me laugh.

Geoff said...

It will forever be seen as the "Maddie" film. And Affleck will donate the profits to children's charities.

Anonymous said...

on the subject of ofsted (close to my heart at the mo because the school of which i'm chair of govs just had it), every child - as in lake woebegone - must now be above average.

Tim F said...

And I thought all you Telegraph chaps were pure-minded incorruptibles, Shane.

Yes, Rimshot, the notion of Ben Affleck's less talented brother is slightly disturbing. Like Frank Stallone, or Joey Travolta.

I would have thought it would have tapped into the Zeitgeist, FN - the local burn-the-witch brigade could have fun booing the baddy...

Thank you, Spin. Although I don't know what 'a normal CIF-er' looks like. Maybe he's got short eyes?

Or to his wigmaker, Geoff.

Rivergirlie: I think the problem is that the notional average intelligence has leapt upwards since Prince Harry left school, thus making it more difficult to keep up.

patroclus said...

So 'satisfactory' now means 'unsatisfactory', just like 'black' used to mean 'white'?

llewtrah said...

Didn't a film get pulled a few years back because of 9/11? The film had an airliner crash into a skyscraper (the similarity was coincidental).

Tim F said...

It's a parallel universe gone mad, Patroclus.

Yeah, there were several like that, Llewtrah. A Jackie Chan spectacular was canned, which is always a shame. And they needed to reshoot big chunks of Superman as well.