Month: March 2010

Brian Edwards watches:

The Iranian film industry has a long and illustrious tradition of high-quality dubbings.

In the post-Revolution era, and the ensuing rise of censorship, dubbing has evolved to become a form of underground art, as well as a meta-commentary on Iranians’ attempt to adapt, and in some way lay claim to, the products of Western culture. A single American film like Shrek inspires multiple dubbed versions—some illegal, some not—causing Iranians to discuss and debate which of the many Farsi Shreks is superior. In some versions (since withdrawn from official circulation), various regional and ethnic accents are paired with the diverse characters of Shrek, the stereotypes associated with each accent adding an additional layer of humor for Iranians. In the more risqué bootlegs, obscene or off-topic conversations are transposed over Shrek’s fairy-tale shenanigans.

Darshak Sanghavi doesn't think hand sanitizers work very well:

[W]e need to be realistic about what Purell can do to fight flu in the home and in public. To begin, the influenza virus mostly spreads via tiny droplets in the air (for example, from sneezes)—not by dirty hands or surfaces—which limits the role of Purell. It probably wouldn't matter even if flu transferred though hand contact, which is how most cold viruses spread. Though Purell kills them in the lab, hand sanitizers don't stop their spread in the real world. The average child touches his or her mouth and nose every three minutes, and both adults and children come in contact with as many as 30 different objects every minute. Even hospitals can't get staff to use Purell before seeing patients; it's impossible for day care staff, parents, or teachers to wash a child's hands 20 times each hour.

(Image: Creepy hand sanitizer ad from CopyRanter)

For some reason, Toby Lichtig feels compelled to finish books:

As a reviewer, I don’t have the option of not finishing books (the least I can do is read every word – especially if I’m then going to be unkind). But the compulsion is just as prevalent in my leisure reading. I often have several unfinished books sitting by my bed, staring at me accusingly.

I don’t have the will to put them away until I’ve finished them. It’s a sort of a pact: master me and I will release you. Maybe I hate the idea of missing out on some wonderful potential saving grace in the last sentence. Maybe I’ve got an unhealthily acquisitive relationship with culture. Maybe I’m just a bit weird.

This syndrome (Obsessive conclusion disorder?) is all the more exasperating when I think of how few books we get to read in a lifetime. 3,000? 4,000? And that’s for bookaholics. It doesn’t feel like many.

Via David Luban, Colbert's farce becomes O'Reilly's reality. See if you can tell the difference between a parody of McCarthyism and the real thing.

In last weekend's NYT magazine Jonah Lehrer pondered research finding an upside to depression:

To say that depression has a purpose or that sadness makes us smarter says nothing about its awfulness. A fever, after all, might have benefits, but we still take pills to make it go away. This is the paradox of evolution: even if our pain is useful, the urge to escape from the pain remains the most powerful instinct of all.

Ronald Pies counters. As does Therese Borchard. Leher follows up on his blog. Twice:

One of the most challenging aspects of studying depression is the vast amount of contradiction in the literature. Virtually every claim comes with a contradictory claim, which is also supported by evidence. I tend to believe this confusion will persist until our definitions of depression become more precise, so that intense sadness and paralyzing, chronic, suicidal despair are no longer lumped together in the same psychiatric category.

Easthampton, Massachusetts, 9 am. Not that long ago.

Tyler Cowen flags a study (pdf):

Not only has poverty fallen in Africa as a whole, but this decline has been remarkably general across types of countries that the literature suggests should have different growth performances. In particular, poverty fell for both landlocked as well as coastal countries; for mineral rich as well as mineral poor countries; for countries with favorable or with unfavorable agriculture; for countries regardless of colonial origin; and for countries with below or above median slave exports per capita during the African slave trade. Hence, the substantial decline in poverty is not driven by any particular country or set of countries.

Now with auto-captioning:

Tom Ricks replies:

What could be more imperialistic than invading a country pre-emptively on false premises and then leaving many years later in a selfish, callous and clumsy manner?

Staying forever, while your own country goes bankrupt. I guess it depends on whether we're talking about early-stage imperialism or late-stage neo-imperialism. But again, in some ways, I suspect this debate is immaterial. Whether Tom is reluctantly happy or I'm self-hatingly frustrated in the years ahead may make for some interesting debate, but it won't affect the outcome.

The US will not have fewer then 50,000 troops in Iraq under Obama. 

And, if, as I fear, the sectarian divides get worse rather than better after these elections, we may have to keep even more there, under Tom's rationale. There's certainly no prospect of an actually functioning post-sectarian government in the wings, even if seven years of occupation, a trillion dollars, hundreds of thousands of Iraqi deaths, thousands of US and allied fatalities, and tens of thousands of servicemembers with brutal disabilities and PTSD have brought us a lively, if also corrupt, set of elections.

Cheerful, aren't I?

Adam Wilson collects thirty great beginnings.