published by Jonathan on Sat, 04/15/2006 - 23:04
From an article on abcnews.com:
The more sexual content in television and magazines that teens are exposed to, the more likely they are to have sexual intercourse at an early age, a new study says. The University of North Carolina study, published in today's issue of the journal Pediatrics, concludes that white adolescents who view more sexual content than their peers are 2.2 times more likely to have sexual intercourse by the time they are 14 to 16 years old. "Some, especially those who have fewer alternative sources of sexual norms, such as parents or friends, may use the media as a kind of sexual superpeer that encourages them to be sexually active," the study authors state. And, as similar past studies have noted, "one of the strongest protective factors against early sexual behavior was clear parental communication about sex."
The article goes to discuss various limitations of the study, chicken-or-egg arguments, etc.
published by Jonathan on Sat, 04/15/2006 - 22:53
Today we also watched Eddie Murphy's remake of The Nutty Professor (1996,PG-13) (Screen It! Review). From Wikipedia:
A 1996 remake starred Eddie Murphy as nice university professor Sherman Klump, suffering from severe obesity. He invents a miracle weight loss potion so he can seduce the girl of his dreams.
This was loaned to us by a friend from our small group after he and our preacher were fondly reminiscing about all the fart jokes. Yes, we have an interesting preacher. I give it 3 out of 5.
published by Jonathan on Sat, 04/15/2006 - 20:30
Today I finished watching Princess Mononoke (1999,PG-13) (Screen It! Review). From Wikipedia:
Princess Mononoke...is a Japanese animated film by Hayao Miyazaki and was first released in Japan on July 12, 1997 and in the U.S. on October 29, 1999 in select cities and on November 26, 1999. It is a jidaigeki set in late Muromachi period of Japan, and centers on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who need its resources, as seen by the outsider Ashitaka. "Mononoke" is not a name but a description that might be rendered in this context as 'spirits', making the title of the film "Princess of the Spirits/Spirit Princess."
I have watched too much Japanimation, but what I've seen I've liked (and that includes this one). The first time you see an animated head go flying from a body is kind of strange. The conflict between humanity and nature was interesting too. I give it 4 out of 5.
published by Jonathan on Tue, 04/11/2006 - 22:00
On Saturday night we watched Spanglish (2004, PG-13, ScreenIt! review). I really enjoyed it. It hit that same spot that reading The French Lieutenant's Woman and watching The Age of Innocence did. I give it 5 out of 5.
published by Jonathan on Sat, 04/08/2006 - 22:56
Click here to watch The Daily Show's take on the study (see previous blog posts here and here) that showed prayer didn't help the recovery of heart patients.
Jon Stewart: "So, a stunning result that shows no matter what anybody does, over half the people that go in for heart surgery in this country develop significant complications. Hey, know what we should be praying for: Better heart surgeons."
and
Jon Stewart: "But a study that shows prayer actually does more harm than good. Come on! I'm hard pressed to imagine that's got any real world application. Or wait." [Bush speaking January 23, 2006, at Kansas State University] "I am, uh, sustained mightily by the fact that, uh, million of citizens, for whom I'll never get to thank personally, pray for me." Jon Stewart: "So that's what went wrong!"
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