“Now I can say I have been in a real war zone,” he said, and gave a mock swagger.

July 30, 2006 8:10 PM

Beirut Postcard
posted by jne1813 (12 comments total)

its the chronic, what? cles of narnia.
posted by subaruwrx at 9:35 PM on July 30, 2006

Yes, tis a verra nice article on at the New Yorker. Pretty pictures...that snooty guy on the logo.

What of it? I mean, why should we care?

How about some bullet points for those of us who don't want to read the whole article to know what the hell you're talking about?
posted by nyxxxx at 9:38 PM on July 30, 2006 [1 favorite]

Ummm, maybe the FPP means "postcard" in the sense of "here's how it is for one family in Beirut these days"? And maybe the idea of the minimalist FPP is that if you can stop snarking long enough to read at least the first page of the article, you'll decide for yourself whether you care -- as opposed to being told to care? And if you don't care, why even bother telling us you don't? We don't care that you don't care, in case you care.

Being inquisitive and doing your own thinking pays big dividends sometimes. Being lazy and snarking, not so much.
posted by pax digita at 9:48 PM on July 30, 2006

I think its kind of a coincidental twist. cute reading, but... Wow. A well off family evacuates Lebanon? What about all the millions who are left homeless now? Id like to see a piece done on some displaced lebanese companies or professionals who have lost everything, not just some family who missed summer in their favorite vacation spot.
posted by subaruwrx at 9:56 PM on July 30, 2006

Id like to see a piece done on some displaced lebanese companies or professionals who have lost everything, not just some family who missed summer in their favorite vacation spot.

I was reading about some guy who's resturant biz was ruined because of the massive oil slick (you heard about the oil slick right, caused by israelis hitting an power plant?). He said it sucked.
posted by delmoi at 11:08 PM on July 30, 2006

By the way a couple of days ago I saw a Government PSA encouraging kids to learn to read. You know, standard fare. Anyway the strange thing was all the video was clips from the Chronicles of Narnia movie. Talk about pretty blatant government being in bed with the evangelical machine (which produced the movie)
posted by delmoi at 11:10 PM on July 30, 2006

delmoi writes "By the way a couple of days ago I saw a Government PSA encouraging kids to learn to read."

Wow, pretty horrific that in 2006 it's necessary to advertise literacy. I'd imagine illiterate people already know how big of a disability it is./derail.

Meanwhile, I thought Disney produced the movie, not evangelicals. Not that they're not huge fans of it. Funny though, because for me growing up in a christian family the Narnia stuff ended up turning me on to other fantasy novels, not reinforcing any religious ideas I was getting loaded up with.
posted by mullingitover at 11:33 PM on July 30, 2006

I think disney just distributed the movies, they were produced by some group that did other christian movies, IIRC. Anyway.
posted by delmoi at 1:22 AM on July 31, 2006

Pardon my continuing the derail, but anything that gets kids reading C.S. Lewis can't be all bad. Of course, if they grow up to think critically, that might be a case of unintended consequences.
posted by pax digita at 5:44 AM on July 31, 2006

This 'fact' piece, "The battle for Lebanon", also from the New Yorker, but published today, is also worth a read.
posted by grahamwell at 6:26 AM on July 31, 2006

your tax dollars at work - sick.
posted by specialk420 at 9:22 AM on July 31, 2006

By the way a couple of days ago I saw a Government PSA encouraging kids to learn to read. You know, standard fare. Anyway the strange thing was all the video was clips from the Chronicles of Narnia movie. Talk about pretty blatant government being in bed with the evangelical machine (which produced the movie)

The Ad Council partnered with Disney/Buena Vista, the Library of Congress on those PSAs (with Walden Media), but I'm not sure what sneaky evangelical message you think they send. Watch here.

Walden Media's founder is connected with the evangelical community, but I think you're just being paranoid here -- the books have been popular for generations, and that makes the movie tie-in perfect for a literacy campaign. *shrug*
posted by dhartung at 3:23 PM on July 31, 2006