Second Life and Cloverfield

Here are a couple of new-ish things that have caught my interest lately:
1) Second Life, a 3-D virtual world created by its users, which they "inhabit" via their avatars. I think there must be the opportunity for me to make a lot of money from this somehow, but I haven't figured it out yet.

2) The viral marketing campaign for Cloverfield, a soon-to-be-released movie about a giant monster attacking Manhattan, told from the perspective of recordings made on personal video devices (think 9/11 news coverage meets Godzilla meets Blair Witch Project). "Cloverfield", by the way, may or may not be the actual title, and there is some speculation that it may be a Godzilla remake, though I doubt it. The roar, which I admit is Godzilla-esque, sounds like a foghorn slowed way down. For this reason, I wonder if it is perhaps a remake of, or inspired by, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which was itself adapted from Ray Bradbury's short story, The Fog Horn (the story is about a huge dinosaur, the last of its species, mistaking the sound of a fog horn for one of its own kind). The movie has one of the most intriguing trailers ever, generating rampant speculation and a whole lot of buzz. Like many others, I hope the movie lives up to its trailer. More on this tomorrow. (Who knew my blog topics would include American kaiju?)

Smart People Talking

There's a radio show on NPR that has a game segment called "Things You Should Have Learned in School But Probably Didn't". Hardly anybody receives a classical education these days, so we have to go out and get the education we should have had for ourselves (plus, we should always be learning. As my grandmother says, "As the years go on you have to fight against the shrinking of your world"). Listening to wise and learned people in conversation is a fun part of this endeavor. Two of the smartest people I've ever met, Bill Bennett and Chuck Colson, converse for our listening pleasure about culture, religion, education, and politics at this link: http://billbennett.townhall.com/talkradio/Show.aspx It's worth listening to. Click on the link for November 13.

The Resolve Note

My friend Jonathan, who perhaps comprises one-third to one-half of my readership, has a blog worthy of consideration by those who have an interest in commentary on the culture and the journaling of life experiences and reflections by a thoughtful Christian man. It's called The Resolve Note (www.theresolvenote.blogspot.com ). (Jonathan, you need to tell me how to post a permanent link, because I've looked around and haven't found the way to do it.)

"Closing of the American Mind" 20 Years Later

I've heard again and again about Allan Bloom's "The Closing of the American Mind" and sort of got the impression that it was a classic not to be missed (I confess that though it is on my reading list, it has never made it to the top). However, Thomas West's review of said book in the Claremont Review of Books takes Professor Bloom to task for several profound errors. Those who have any idea what I'm talking about at all will be interested in the article. Here is the link: http://claremont.org/publications/pubid.664/pub_detail.asp