Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.Robert Louis Stevenson

January 2014

  • The Worth of a Movie

    Vinny Bruzzeze is a new Hollywood discovery, not the heart throb kind, but the kind that can show producers and other bosses how to make money by suggesting plot or character changes based on movies which have historically succeeded at the box office. A former professor of statistics he has found a way to analyze scripts by comparing their various parts to those of successful movies in the past. He gets paid about $20,000 a script, and now has a track record, so much so he is thinking of applying his trade to Broadway and to TV. To many, to movie producers certainly, being able to ascertain the financial success of a picture is desirable, sought after, good for the companies involved and of course therefore seen as good for the society. But what does that say of the impact the movie may have, will create? Of the values it puts forth, of the general tenor it will contribute to, of the way it will participate in the overall fabric of the culture and help move it either towards the good or not? The worth of a movie is not in how much profit it makes, the worth of a movie is in whatever iota it can help us be a better world. Although by today’s standards, such statements make me naïve, it remains that if there’s truth in them,naïve or not that truth would still stand.

  • Good News About Inequality

    The pre-meeting report of The World Economic Forum, that sought after yearly gathering of 700 high powered decision makers, politicians and others in Davos Switzerland, states that worsening income inequality is the risk most likely to cause damage around the globe in a next decade. The report clearly called the widening gap between rich and poor and the squeeze it places on the world’s middle classes in developed economies as clearly a global risk in 2014. For the third straight year income disparity topped the list of the five most likely global risks over the next decade. The other risks were extreme weather events, unemployment and underemployment, climate change and cyber attacks. That some of the world’s global leaders recognize the importance of income inequality has got to be one of the best news the trend has seen since it was first identified.

  • Christian Values and Policy

    In a Fort Worth hospital Marlise Munoz lies brain dead and on life support while her husband and parents argue with the state of Texas about letting her go. Because she is pregnant, the hospital refuses on the ground that the law in Texas keeps them from it in order to protect the unborn. Critics says the hospital is misinterpreting the law, but the fact is there is a law in Texas as in about 12 other states, preventing medical personnel from cutting off life support to pregnant women. As any observer of the culture can attest, such laws represent the Christian beliefs and Christian values of those we sometimes call the Christian right. Miles away in Los Angeles the county board of supervisors just voted to re-include the cross on the city’s seal. The seal represents the San Gabriel mission and its advocates say that the cross is part of the mission, a truer historical representation. But Zev Yaroslavsky , a supervisor who voted against the inclusion says “It’s not just about history, it’s about the cross and to say anything else is disingenuous.” In 2004 the cross had been removed when the ACLU threatened to sue the city over it. While critics of the cross maintain it is unconstitutional and does violate the separation of church and state, its supporters believe that as part of the mission reinstating the cross will pass the test should it be challenged in court. The values of one religion, whether or not that religion is that of a majority, ought not to inform the laws applying to other Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and non-believers.

Subscribe and Be Notified of New Posts

* indicates required

Intuit Mailchimp

We will never sell or share your information, we promise.