Media

For a writer, it can be frustrating to slave over a story and then watch it flop online, slipping into a site's bottomless archives, practically unread. And watching something you write go viral is always a kick, even if it's an off-hand blog post. So it's hard not to keep an eye toward social contagion when conceiving a piece. And for publishers, noting which articles garner page views (and ad revenue) can mean sink or swim. Fortunately there's a new piece of research to guide us in taking over the Web. Read More

If you believe recent news reports linking the Internet to depression, you might decide to unplug or confront that friend who spends too much time on Facebook. But not to worry, when you look more closely this news is media hype weakly connected to the actual research being cited. While we all want to know what our emerging culture of simulation is doing to us, this research says nothing more alarming than depressed people do depressing things online—despite the alarming headlines. Read More

Japanese women are lavishing sexual fantasies on, bringing cute gifts to, and blogging sentimentally about a young man who has confessed to raping and killing a British woman. Online fan clubs have sprung up for Tatsuya Ichihashi, who has dominated Japan's headlines for nearly two years. Read More

Some movies have a gravitational pull. Take Godfather for example. I've watched it ten times the most recent of which involved mindlessly channel-surfing across Al Pacino's stoic face. The next thing I knew two hours had passed and the laundry was fast wrinkling in the dryer. We loved The Godfather for showing us intelligence behind the violence. Why do we love Juno?

We loved Juno so much that we turned a simple, low-budget story about a pregnant teen into an overnight box office sensation and Oscar winner that remains within the heart of the zeitgeist and is frequently cited by smart people making interesting points. How did this happen? Read More

This is what it's come to: Rahm Emanuel, who works in the White House, called a planned attack ad by Democrats on Democrats "f--king retarded," and it's the second word people are offended by? Is anyone else confused by this? It's cool for a guy working in the White House to use the F-word, but the R-word is off limits? We've passed through the looking glass, folks. Read More

Satoshi Kanazawa (not pictured) wrote a blistering blog post last week entitled British Newspapers Make Things Up. Guess what? British media may not be alone.

Psychological Science recently published a fascinating new study on jealousy. I was interested to read Newsweek's 1300-word article covering the research by their science editor, Sharon Begley. But part-way through the article, I thought, Huh, that's not what I recall the study saying. Read More

Can an assertive, feminist, biracial woman find true love? And, if so, what will this love look like? A journey into (and out of) the shadow of materialism, feminism, and self-absorption and a search for true love. [A Book Review]

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Since none of the other PT bloggers seem to have mentioned it yet, I thought PT book lovers and Amazon customers might like to know that Amazon has (temporarily, I hope) pulled thousands, if not tens of thousands, of books from its site over a dispute with one of the biggest publishers in the nation. Plus, what to wear on Valentine's Day.

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People who identify as either liberal or as conservative are likely to think that they hold moral beliefs and the opposing side does not.  That’s a basic disconnect which can kill meaningful conversation.  Read More