May 30, June 6, 2004

After nearly a decade of hints MTV has finally decided the timing is right to launch the nation's first gay network, LOGO, on Feb. 17, 2005. It will likely be carried as a basic cable channel in major markets, reaching 10 to 14 million homes. Viacom music channel execs aren't the only ones convinced gays are cultural cash-cows. Philadelphia has unveiled an ad campaign that specifically courts gay travelers. A 30-second commercial ends with the motto, "Come to Philadelphia. Get your history straight and your nightlife gay." And Rosie O'Donnell is planning to launch another magazine—only this one will target gay families. The new mag has tentatively been named R Family. [Reuters, 5/25/04; Associated Press, 6/2/04; FoxNews.com, 5/25/04]

"It's the music, man." That seems to be the message from consumers eagerly awaiting the new release from R&B artist R. Kelly. Despite the fact that Kelly currently faces 14 counts of child pornography that could put him in jail for 15 years, his star continues to rise, and "Happy People," the current single from his forthcoming album, is climbing the charts. Explaining the artist's staying power amid sordid criminal allegations, an anonymous music marketing exec says simply, "Nothing makes people forget all that negative noise like a big ol' hit. People are like, 'R. Kelly did what? That's terrible. I love his new song! Try not to do it again.'" [Entertainment Weekly, 5/28/04]

QUOTE: "There's a deeply held notion in our society that women of color, no matter how old or young, are loose, that they're just generally asking for it. That attitude isn't just restricted to the black community—it's pervasive. And people who can make those kinds of statements are just helping perpetrate more violence against women." —Andrea Smith, co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence, commenting on the public's embrace of R. Kelly despite accusations that he had sex with a 14-year-old girl—on videotape [Entertainment Weekly, 5/28/04]

QUOTE: "MTV teaches our kids to be narcissistic, greedy and shallow. It's all about the b--ches, the hos and the bling-bling." —talk-show host Bill Maher, in a panel discussion on media excesses, regarding the music network's damaging influence on its young viewers [The Week, 5/14/04]

If you’ve wondered about the meaning of frayed red yarn bands appearing on the wrists of celebrities, wonder no more. The $26 Red String bracelet is a symbol of adherence to a Jewish mysticism movement called Kabbalah. Madonna is emerging as chief evangelist, reportedly “converting” the likes of Britney Spears, Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher, David and Victoria Beckham, and husband, Guy Ritchie. Roseanne Barr and Sandra Bernhard are also tagging along on a wave Rabbi Immanuel Schochet calls "not just a cult, but a dangerous cult." The Toronto-based scholar of Jewish philosophy and mysticism is convinced the Los Angeles Kabbalah Center (which serves as headquarters to 50 centers worldwide) is "distorting Kabbalah ... taking some of our sacred books and reducing it to mumbo jumbo, all kinds of hocus pocus.” Rabbi David Wolpe of L.A.’s Conservative Sinai Temple agrees, stating, “Red threads and magic bottles of water don’t change people. To the extent that deep spiritual truths are put in a blender and served as superficial pablum—it’s a disservice to a great tradition, and it’s no better than snake oil.” [USA Today, 5/25/04]

Evangelicals are the group of Christians most likely to demonstrate “fruits of faith” in their lives, according to The Barna Group. A new survey correlated respondents' faith with 19 lifestyle activities. Evangelicals, representing 7% of the adult population, were most likely to discuss spiritual matters, volunteer, exhibit media discernment and compliment or encourage others. Atheists and agnostics, comprising 12% of U.S. adults, also stood out as “notably divergent from the national averages” as the group most likely to recycle, but also to visit adult-content Web sites, get legally drunk and engage in unmarried sexual intercourse. As for the majority, whose faith-based activities fall somewhere in between, the report's title sums it up well: “Faith has limited effect on most people’s behavior.” [The Barna Group, 5/24/04 stats]

QUOTE: "My generation is discontent with dead religion. ... We don't want to show up on Sunday, sing two hymns, hear a sermon and go home. The Bible says we're supposed to die for [our faith]. If I'm going to do that, this has to be worth something. Our generation wants a tangible expression of God who is there." —28-year-old Cameron Strang, founder of Relevant media, which publishes Relevant magazine and its accompanying Web site [New York Times, 5/16/04]

QUOTE: "At home, the job of a president is to help cultures change. The culture needs to be changed. I call it so people can understand what I'm talking about, changing the culture from one that says, 'If it feels good, do it, and if you've got a problem, blame somebody else,' to a culture in which each of us understands we're responsible for the decisions we make in life." —President George W. Bush, speaking to religious writers and editors at the White House [Christianity Today, 5/28/04]

QUOTE: "To be very honest, with some of the religious things going on in the news—everything in the Catholic Church—I thought that somewhere there should be a positive statement that religion has a good place, and has good people." —Garry Marshall, director of Raising Helen, commenting on why he got involved with the film [Thunderstruck.org, 6/1/04]

QUOTE: "Why on God's green earth do these girls subject themselves to such a punitive, anti-feminist and downright degrading system? ... In the end, it seems that so many girls find themselves partying, f---ing, conforming, and (mostly) ignoring why they are at college in the first place for rather unsatisfying reasons: Their mothers belonged to that sorority, they want to fit in, they want to make a big school seem smaller, their friend is rushing, they want to meet new people. Unfortunately, no one seems to be paying attention to the fact that women in sororities almost universally earn worse grades, suffer more alcohol-related injuries and deaths, behave more pornographically, experience more eating disorders, and act more prejudicially than anyone else on campus! Every parent of a college-bound daughter should read this book." —Sacha Zimmerman, in her review of Alexandra Robbins' new book Pledged: The Secret Life of Sororities, which offers a devastating critique of sorority life [New Republic Online, 5/28/04]

Think one—young—voice can't make a difference? In the last several weeks 11-year-old Ella Gunderson has become a poster child for modesty after sending a letter to Nordstrom, chastising the department store chain for its lack of wholesome choices in teen and tween fashion. She wrote, "I see all of these girls who walk around with pants that show their belly button and underwear. Your clerks sugjest [sic] that there is only one look. If that is true, then girls are suppost [sic] to walk around half naked." Ella's letter found a sympathetic ear in executive vice president Pete Nordstrom, who promised to encourage purchasing managers to offer a wider selection of teen fashions. Since writing her letter, the shy Catholic girl has appeared on the Today show and CNN. [Seattle Times, 5/21/04; Catholic.net, 5/27/04; CNN's American Morning, 5/28/04]

A new study by the Centers for Disease Control indicates that fewer teens are having sex than 12 years ago. In 2003, 47% of high school students reported having had sexual intercourse, compared to 54% in 1991. The percentage of students who reported having had four or more sexual partners also decreased, from 19% in 1991 to 14% in 2003. [CDC, 5/20/04 stats]

Internet dating, once the province of the desperate and creepy, has gone mainstream. Jupiter Research reports that 17.2 million people looked at online personal ads last year. A whopping 2.5 million people paid to place such ads. [Sojomail, 5/26/04]

Last year Match.com launched "Match Mobile," a service that now has 67,000 profiles of (mostly young) people interested in connecting with someone. Once a cell phone user finds a profile that interests them, the two can begin to correspond via instant messenger. Dodgeball.com offers a variation on this concept: users create "crush lists" of the site's opposite-sex profiles. When a guy is within 10 blocks of a woman, she gets a message telling where he is. [FoxNews.com, 5/27/04]

From Glamour magazine’s dating dictionary term of the month—Bling Fling: an affair with a guy whose money is the main attraction. A readership poll found that 48% of women and 38% of the men thought wealth made a date more attractive. [Glamour, 5/04]

With "virtual" alternatives replacing everything from sex to religious services, it should come as no surprise that a video game designer would eventually introduce virtual drugs into its storyline. One popular online text-based game, Achaea, now includes a virtual drug known as gleam. Designers have intentionally mimicked the process of addiction to drugs in the real world. When a character ingests the drug, he's quickly hooked. Matthew Mihaly, CEO of Acheae's publisher, says: "What we wanted to do with gleam was we wanted to see how the player base would react to something that's pretty bad. It's really nasty. We didn't tell them it's addictive." [Wired News, 5/25/04]

Dartmouth Medical School researchers have discovered that junior high school students who watched movies that depict alcohol usage were three times more likely to try drinking than those who didn't have that exposure. [Newsday.com, 5/26/05 c&e]

Men ages 18 to 34 are a very desirable demographic for TV advertisers. And the broadcast networks are losing them in droves. Neilson Media Research reports that the group's prime-time viewing has fallen 13% from last season. What are they watching instead? The transformation of motorcycles and cars on cable. Jessie James' Monster Garage (Discovery Channel) blazed a trail many imitators have followed. Among them are American Chopper (also on Discovery), Pimp My Ride (MTV) and Ride with Funkmaster Flex (Spike). Not surprisingly, the Speed Channel has also fielded two shows: Tuner Transformation and Dream Car Garage. [AdAge.com, 5/31/04; USA Today, 5/25/04; Time, 5/31/04]

QUOTE: “I don’t want to have a drink and have someone whip out a camera phone and [have] Disney getting it. It’s not worth it! I don’t want to risk my career for a night of having fun.” —teen actress Lindsay Lohan, accepting her studio-given responsibility to set the right example for her young fans. (But what was that same studio thinking when they “allowed” her underage Mean Girls character to down shots during a party scene?) [Seventeen, 6/04]

Britney Spears is heading East—but she's going to have to pack some extra clothes. Culture ministers in China have approved the pop star's upcoming tour on the condition that they inspect her wardrobe ahead of time. Spears has been told that she can't show "too much" skin, and that her outfits will face "strict reviews." [BBC News, 6/1/04]

QUOTE: "What are the lies we tell ourselves? What are the blind spots of our age? ... It might be something simple—something as simple as our deep down refusal to believe that every human life has equal worth. ... For me, that is it; and for me, the proving ground has been Africa. Africa makes a mockery of what we say—what I say—about equality. It questions our pieties and our commitment—because there's no way to look at what's happening over there, and its effect on all of us, and conclude that we actually consider Africans as our equals before God. No chance." —Bono, lead singer of U2, using his influence to challenge the University of Pennsylvania graduating class of 2004 to reexamine the platitudes that shape so much of what we believe about the world [U2achtung.com 5/25/04]