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Tara TaghizadehColumns
The Anchor WarsTheir best anchors gone, now, their viewership bailing for Internet sources, US network news programs find themselves drifting. [2 May 2006] (more Global Graffiti) We Meet Again, Mr… Bond?Will audiences bond with the new blond bond? Or will this Bond bomb? [8 March 2006] (more Global Graffiti) What Keeps Me BurningWe've all got to die someday. 'Till then, why not light(en) up? [29 September 2005] (more Global Graffiti) Iran: Dancing in the SpotlightA joke among Iranian exiles is that since the revolution, Iran takes one step forward and three steps back. With Ahmadinejad's election, it appears Iran is doing this shuffle, again. [25 July 2005] (more Global Graffiti) Don’t Shoot the MessengerTaghizadeh defends Al Jazeera, the best source for news from and for the Arab world. [1 June 2005] (more Global Graffiti) Another Royal MessA tale of a man who will probably never be king and his bride, who couldn't care less if she were made queen. [30 March 2005] (more Global Graffiti) Iranian-American Like MePrudish by American standards, we are slightly wayward by Iranian ones; nationalistic according to Americans, we are politically aloof according to Iranian elders; culturally proud by Iranian measures, we are often considered snobbish by American interpretations. [19 January 2005] (more Global Graffiti) Crouching Tiger: The Republicans’ Duplicitous Position on IranAyatollah Khomeini's regime had, in effect, manipulated the results of the 1980 US elections by ensuring Reagan's victory. Such on-again/off-again, under-the-table 'I'll scratch your back, you scratch mine' politics continue to this day. [22 September 2004] (more Global Graffiti) The Politics of a PillIt's time the morning after pill was taken out of the pharmacist's closet. [28 July 2004] (more Global Graffiti) Presidential Showdown: “Southern Efficiency” vs. “Northern Charm”?In the 2004 US Presidential Elections, voters are faced with two northerners, but one is posing as an adopted southerner that everyone seems to have forgotten was adopted. Yet the façade of the 'northerner' vs. the 'southerner' and all the implicated strengths and weaknesses of those identities prevails, and history gives 'em each a 50/50 chance of winning. [26 May 2004] (more Global Graffiti) 15 Minutes of Less-Than Perfect, or Romantic, FameEerily mirroring the Internet's romance boom in the '90s, which saw the whopping rise of users flocking to matchmaking and personals websites, television has now cashed in on the demand-for-romance phenomenon by stepping in as matchmaker extraordinaire... with, more often than not, painful results. [7 April 2004] (more Global Graffiti) Reign of Doom: Iran’s Revolution Turns 2525 years later, the Revolution in Iran still reverberates; sending shockwaves through the bones of the exiled. [4 February 2004] (more Global Graffiti) The Kennedy Mystique, 40 Years LaterThe popular notion of the 'Kennedy curse' has preoccupied America for some time. [19 November 2003] (more Global Graffiti) Warning: You’ve Been Flash Mobbed!The Dadaists were doing this in Zurich in 1916 . . . [1 October 2003] (more Global Graffiti) Catch Them If You CanWhy would someone who obviously has enough talent to be hired by a venerable institution feel the need to ruin themselves, and more importantly, shame the institution with which they are affiliated? [7 August 2003] (more Global Graffiti) Remembering the Rat Pack: When “Cool” Was KingGlobal Graffiti -- Remembering the Rat Pack: When 'Cool' Was King -- We're amid a full-force revival of that 'make me a Martini and put on a Sinatra record' era of the Rat Pack years. [4 June 2003] (more Global Graffiti) Washington Watch: Greetings from the City of PowerMy attempts to take pictures of the barricaded street in front of the State Department are immediately stopped when a guard curtly informed me that photos are forbidden. [9 April 2003] (more Global Graffiti) You’re So Bleedin’ Bourgeois!No other conversation garners as much chit chat and enjoyment amongst not only the French, but most Europeans, as the plight of the frowned-upon bourgeoisie. [29 January 2003] (more Global Graffiti) San Francisco DazeThe myths of the Summer of Love, Haight-Ashbury, and the cafes and bars of North Beach where the Beats proved that anyone incapable of rhyming poetry was cool, continuously lure thousands who cling to the nostalgia the city offers so readily. [30 October 2002] (more Global Graffiti) Admit You’re Happy, DammitReceiving several queries from members who felt that they had been discriminated at their workplace for being 'too happy' (one can only imagine what happy feats incurred the wrath of their employers), Johnson also contacted the ACLU in efforts to curb happiness discrimination. [28 August 2002] (more Global Graffiti) Reviews
Hoax: Why Americans are Suckered by White House Lies by Nicholas von HoffmanVon Hoffman rings the death knell for the 'American Century', claiming that despite its current braggadocio and so-called victories in Afghanistan and Iraq, the US has failed in its effort to bring any stability to the region. [21 September 2004] 
Condensed Knowledge by Will Pearson, Mangesh Hattikudur, and Elizabeth HuntPearson and Maloney credit the success of both the magazine and the book to the original motto: that of successfully 'blurring the lines between education and entertainment'. [10 August 2004] 
Everyone Comes to Elaine’s by A. E. HotchnerHenry Kissinger once said that the best thing about celebrity is that when you bore people, they think it's their fault. But what happens if celebrities bore each other?" [27 April 2004] 
Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill by Jessica SternPerhaps the most telling sentence in the book is at the very beginning: 'Religious terrorism arises from pain and loss and from impatience with a God who is slow to respond to our plight, who doesn't answer.'" [24 February 2004] 
The Rat Pack: Neon Nights With the Kings of Cool by Lawrence J. Quirk and William SchoellThese guys were the first to embody the definition of "cool," and no entertainer since has managed to successfully emulate or capture their powerful allure. [11 November 2003] 
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill BrysonWhile providing tremendous insight into the history of science and the study of the world at large, Bryson's most interesting observations lie in his fascinating description of said scientists and their peculiarities and obsessions. [9 October 2003] 
What Liberal Media? The Truth About Bias and the News by Eric AltermanThe image of the 'hack,' the gruff, curmudgeonly, cigar-chomping, semi-alcoholic journalist of yesteryear who battered away mercilessly on his typewriter and rubbed everybody the wrong way (especially the societal elite who saw no profession as unworthy as journalism), has all but vanished. [24 July 2003] 
Boonville by Robert Mailer AndersonCharming, gentlemanly, sharp as a tack, and hysterically funny, leaving us with the question: how about a sequel?" [30 April 2003] 
Old Gods Almost Dead: The 40-Year Odyssey of the Rolling Stones by Stephen DavisDeserves a spot on every bookshelf (Stones fan, or no Stones fan). And to the gentlemen of the Rolling Stones we have this to say: Thanks, and for our sake, please keep rockin'. [19 February 2003] 
In the Hand of Dante by Nick ToschesEvery so often, literature's long-forgotten greats make a comeback and entrench themselves within popular culture. This time, it's Dante Alighieri. [23 October 2002] 
Digital Hustlers: Living Large and Falling Hard in Silicon Alley by Casey Kait and Stephen WeissServes as a diary of the main players involved in the heyday of New York's Alley. [2 October 2002] 
The Psychology of the Sopranos: Love, Death, Desire, and Betrayal in America’s Favorite Gangster FamGabbard (a professor of psychology at Baylor College of Medicine) delves into the psyches of the Sopranos, and explains why the nation has become seduced by a show about the 'misadventures of a middle-aged thug.' Doesn't sound so odd, really. How many people, after all, refer to 'The Godfather' as an all-time favorite movie?" [16 September 2002] 
What Lamb manages brilliantly is to show us what happened to Vietnam after the American War (as it is referred to by the Vietnamese). [7 August 2002] 
A Great, Silly Grin: The British Satire Boom of the 1960s by Humphrey CarpenterSatire's audiences have always tended to come from the very section of society that is being satirized. [17 July 2002] 
Bad Fads by Mark A. LongCollege students are often credited with the more bizarre fads which seem to have all been popularized briefly, then forgotten as soon as another trend hit the scene. 
The Sex Pistols: self-titledAs the Pistols geared up for the release of 'God Save the Queen', scores of youths, scattered around Europe and elsewhere, sensed the imminent revolution: They dismissed David Bowie and Gary Glitter as bourgeois, listened to 'Anarchy in the UK', and as the last act of defiance, wore safety pins on their school uniforms. 
Paper Moon by Joe David BrownThe book, published in 1971 (originally entitled 'Addie Pray') caught the interest of Hollywood and renowned director, Peter Bogdanovich, who made Brown's story into an overwhelmingly successful film, starring Ryan O'Neal and his daughter, Tatum, and called it 'Paper Moon'. The rest, as they say, is history. [27 June 2002] 
Alice Guy Blaché: Lost Visionary of the Cinema by Alison McMahanAs the Lumieres and Melies were developing the cinematic art, a woman by the name of Alice Guy Blaché arrived on the scene and established herself as the first woman filmmaker. [12 June 2002] 
Star Wars: Episode II—Attack of the Clones (2002)So in a post-September 11th world replete with conflicts from Afghanistan to continuous Palestinian-Israeli disputes, the lines between good and evil often seem blurry, and the cut-and-dry antics of galactic warriors instill a sense of hope, a realization of what morality should be. Who would've thought that the likes of Yoda, Obi Wan Kenobi and Chewbacca would serve as heroes for a celluloid generation whose sense of a world order would become crystal clear as a result of a few fictional characters?" [24 May 2002] 
You Know Better by Tina McElroy AnsaThough definitely Southern in tone, 'You Know Better' delves into core problems currently plaguing the African-American community across the country. Never mind that Mulberry is a small-town; the issues addressed are rampant from New York to Chicago to Los Angeles. [13 May 2002] 
Seek: Reports From The Edges of America & Beyond by Denis JohnsonFrom modern-day hippies, to war-weary Africans, to a Kabul under Taliban rule, to Christian biker rallies, Denis Johnson offers glimpses of how the other half lives in a collection of essays. [3 May 2002] 
Pakistan: In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan by Mary Anne WeaverA brilliant and insightful account of an important nation that is in the midst of a serious identity crisis. [8 January 2002] 
The Lantern Bearers by Ronald FrameRonald Frame creates an eerie story rapt with betrayal, envy and obsession. [1 January 1995] 
Ambling into History: The Unlikely Odyssey of George W. Bush by Frank BruniBruni's description of Bush paints a fragmented character who 'struck different poses at different times': the average student with a quick temper, prone to too much drinking and partying, who years later summoned enough ambition to win the race for governor of Texas, and whose loyalties lay with his family, pets, his beloved Texas ranch, baseball, and a slew of devoted friends who painstakingly championed his cause. |
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