The media is so pervasive it pays to understand how they impact life and values. Here's a list of what people say about movies, music, art, and books:

1. It’s art and it has nothing to do with morality or religion
   
2. It’s freedom of expression and no one should legislate what you can say or do
   
3. It’s just a song/movie – you don’t have to take it seriously
   
4. The story doesn’t have to make sense, as long as it’s a good read
   
5. There’s no real basis to the claim that the media influences people anyway
   
6. Who’s to say what’s right and wrong, good and bad, art and garbage? They’re all relative
   
7. They're all so worldly they corrupt your mind
   
8. You're spending too much money on stuff that does nothing for you

There are always extremes of course. But as someone who’s been in the advertising industry all my working life (and an ardent media consumer), I certainly appreciate how powerful the media is. It would be naïve to take the view that it’s harmless entertainment, or that you don’t have to take it “seriously.” (The media industry is worth billions - now that's serious!) Allan Bloom’s observation in his book The Closing of the American Mind: How Higher Education Has Failed, that "Nothing is more singular about this generation than its addiction to music" is spot on. It says a lot about how seriously this generation takes music. Or movies for that matter.

In an interview with David Neff, Movieguide reviewer Ted Baehr offered some common sense guide to constructive engagement with the media:

+ Understand the media in your life
+ Understand how people look at media at different stages of  development in their life
+ Know what your beliefs and values are and how they apply to what you are watching

And in the meantime, here I am waiting for the LOTR:ROTK (Extended Version) DVD.....

Finally saw Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me.
Funny, witty and absolutely subversive. It’s enough to steer you away from Micky D’s
for a  long, long while. I brought up the documentary during lunch the other day with my
partner and the new art director we had just hired. Mike who had spent almost 7
years studying and working in San
Francisco agreed it was a pretty
entertaining movie, and then said it was packaged with “Michael Moore’s brand
of investigative journalism.”  Er, I
haven’t seen Fahrenheit 911 yet, but I reckon that means the movie has more conjectures
than facts. Yes, there are enough alarming bytes in the movie that all fast food freaks
should take to heart before they take
another bite of reconstituted meat patty. But correlation is a different animal
from causation,
as I have always maintained elsewhere.  Anyway, Super Size Me did
hasten the death of McD's Super Size offering. It also brings to mind
Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed (written way back in the 60s) which
did for car safety what Spurlock is doing for nutritional health. That
in itself, is a worthy milestone.

PS: Talking about Nader, his
independent presidential run has been blamed for tilting voters towards
Bush. Countdown's just up ahead.......

Met Sook Ching's niece at Kinokuniya. I was standing at the cashier's with Ethan when we saw her and a friend.
"Hi, Uncle David. Buying another book?"
"No. Just a comic book."
It's true. (But what did she mean, "another book?") I was actually
looking out for Marjane Satrapi's sequel, "Persepolis 2: The Story of a
Return" but they didn't have it yet. Ended up with Marvel's 1602.

The PHASES Young Writer's Workshop went down well. There were kids age 12 to 16 (mostly homeschoolers) who diligently gave up 3 Saturday mornings to talk about writing. Thanks to Joanna who did her thing with the usual flair, and Grace who put the whole thing together. Besides the usual tips about grammar, interviewing and crafting a story, we had Ming who came by to talk about photojournalism -  showed off his amazing collection of digital photos too. The stuff he lugs around in his backpack! If those 8 to 11 kids are to be believed, they're looking forward to more writing workshops.

Visit Grace's blog for her account, complete with some nice photos here. Some of the kids have their pieces on the WRITE HERE WRITE NOW Blog and you can read them here. Good job, great fun.

PS: More original stories on Grace's blog here.

Persepolis. Now
this is a book to cherish. Marjane Satrapi’s coming-of-age tale set in
Iran during the early years of the Revolution is poignant and a
genuinely memorable account. There is the obvious comparison with Art
Spiegelman’s Maus, which is a well-deserved
compliment for this Alex Award winner. Like Maus, Persepolis has taken
the graphic novel genre to new heights. The story told in first person
narrative, monochrome with simple lines and uncomplicated panels is
straightforward enough, yet rich, and moving. Real fulfilling read. It
stirred all kinds of emotions as I was reading it last night.  If
you have not read it, get a copy soon. The fascist expression of
religion in Iran reminded me how easily Man becomes God when law
replaces grace. Made me think a lot about Malaysia.  

Talking about comics, here are two graphic novels to avoid:

Matrix Comics: The
compilation of comics that first appeared online came in an awful
paperback (they didn't have a hardcover edition) with poor binding.
Came apart the very next day.

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Vol 2: Has
the man run out of inspiration? Alan Moore has done us all a
disservice with this poor, poor, sequel. What began as an ingenious
first volume became a trashy sham to milk a clever concept. I know what
they say about sequels, but *sigh* hope springs eternal……..

I can’t say it was the best organised international
conference, but the Asia Pacific Family Dialogue was among one of the most
enlightening.

Supported by the Ministry of Women, Family and Community
Development (Dato’ Seri Sharizat’s ministry) the 3-day meet saw nearly 900
participants from a number of countries convening to draft a declaration on
family. It will be presented at Doha International Conference for the Family,
as a follow-up to the UN
resolution on marriage and family life last December. 

What’s interesting is the fact that this series of regional
Family Dialogues is the brainchild of academics and NGOs backed by the Mormon
Brigham Young University.
Yup, the Mormons. Endorsed by the UN, this initiative gave birth to the World
Family Policy Center
(located at Brigham Young) “to
promote a positive, pro-family culture and counter the growing threats to
religion and international family stability.”

It’s hard not to notice that some of the carefully researched
findings of the WFPC and their education activities were driven by a faith-based
position. Seeing how other religious expressions have been squeezed out of the
public square in this Muslim nation, you can imagine my amazement when I found
out who the primary speakers were. I mean, you have researchers and experts in
sociology, health, psychology, and bioethics from Brigham Young, Catholic
organisations, and Focus on the Family sharing the same platform with NGOs from
the Asia Pacific region, and a sprinkling of Muslim academics.

One participant from Singapore
voiced surprise at a presenter’s paper detailing Catholic education and
faith-based initiatives for the preservation of family in the US. “Although we all agree religion is important, you won’t be
able to talk openly about it in a public forum like this in Singapore,
what more an international one,” she said.

What would I give to see more of this interaction! In times
as precarious as ours, all that stands between social breakdown and sanity
could well be the family, so the panelists tell us. You just can’t dodge the
implication of their research, and they were mighty impressive. The family is at stake. Seems to me, we all
have a lot to learn from one another dealing with a
cancer that respects no boundaries or beliefs.

Drop in at my blogspot site for more.

Court
pressed to shed light on freedom of religion

A Christian convert who can't register her marriage because
she was once a Muslim demands her constitutional right

By Carolyn Hong

KUALA LUMPUR - When Ms Azlina Jailani wanted to get married several years
ago, her life got complicated with court hearings and whispers behind her
back.

The Christian convert could not register with the Registrar of Marriages
because she is legally a Muslim.

In Malaysia, where a Malay is constitutionally also a Muslim, such
complications are not new.

But increasingly lawyers say the country has to set clearer ground rules to
govern all religious conversions.

Both Ms Azlina and her lawyer declined to be interviewed as her case is
before the civil court.

She is seeking a declaration that she is free to practise the faith of her
choice, and have the word 'Islam' dropped from her identity card.

The normal procedure would be to apply to the Syariah Court for approval,
often a lengthy process.

Ms Azlina is trying to avoid this by falling back onto the constitutional
guarantee on the freedom of religion.

Islamic and constitutional law professor Shad Faruqi told The Straits Times
that there is a legitimate reason for requiring legal approval for conversions -
prevent Muslims from evading the law by leaving their faith when caught for a
religious offence.

Religion also carries a particular significance in Malaysia because of its
implications for ethnicity, he said.

Former National Mosque imam Pirdaus Ismail said that as Islam has a special
status in the Constitution, the country's laws are designed to protect the
sanctity of the religion and its followers.

'However, the laws are implemented with a spirit of tolerance,' said the Umno
Youth executive member.

The courts have seen several high-profile conversion cases recently. Earlier
this year, a court heard a custody battle for two young children converted to
Islam by their father after he became a Muslim. Their mother remained a
Hindu.

The couple was awarded joint custody but daily care was given to the mother
who must, however, bring the children up as Muslims.

Another recent case was that of four Muslims in Kelantan who renounced Islam
after the Syariah Court ordered them to stop following deviationist teachings.
They were subsequently jailed for violating this order.

Conversions from Islam, while few in number, have thrown up painful issues
for Malaysia where religious differences often cause family and community
rifts.

Reluctance to discuss this taboo subject has left uncertain how the
constitutional guarantee of the freedom of religion applies to Muslims.

'We need the law to step in to provide clarity,' Prof Shad said.

Ms Azlina's case, to be heard by the Court of Appeal on Thursday, is seen as
an opportunity for the court to shed light on the constitutional provision on
religion.

'So far, there hasn't been any definitive pronouncement by the court on its
application to Muslims,' said lawyer Malik Imtiaz Sarwar who represented the
four defendants in the Kelantan apostasy case.

That case ended in the Federal Court without a clear indication on this
issue, and he is applying for a review.

Jo wants to know about homeschool. Said she
didn’t like the way Malaysian schools are so exam oriented she didn’t want her
child to go through them. The kid’s hardly one; I nodded that it’s never too
early to start asking questions I suppose.  There were the usual queries: science labs (“I’m
hopeless at chemistry”), curriculum, etc. But the main thing was, how much
would it cost her? A decision to homeschool would decide her career path, and
she hoped her husband would earn enough for her to quit her job. Well, Jo’s a
writer and I’m sure she’ll find a way to work from home.

Lots of
people are concerned with doing the right thing, but they just can’t help
thinking more pragmatically about where their next meal’s coming from at the
same time. Also, you wonder if it isn’t okay settling for ‘second best’ because
you don’t want to miss out on the good things in life. That’s natural, and I too
struggle daily, living as we all do between what is and what is to come, in a
state called, ‘in the meantime.’ The late Allan Bloom said, "Reason cannot establish values, and its belief that it can is the
stupidest and most pernicious illusion."

So, on
what grounds are values made?

Sook Ching and I have been invited to
participate in the 3-day Asia Pacific Family Dialogue at Times Square Hotel
Oct 11 – 13 as special rapporteurs. Great excuse to get away from the office
for a few days! The dialogue is one of a series of regional forums aimed at
collecting information on the state of the family in this part of the world for
submission to the Doha International Conference for The Family. The programme’s
choc-a-bloc with talks and plenary sessions involving speakers from several
parts of the world.

I was privileged to be a forum moderator at
the last International Family Convention in 2001, and I think I’m going to
enjoy this one too (well, some of the sessions at least). Sure, not everything’s
going to inspire - I remember one featuring a presentation by a professor from
Denmark which was a lesson in patience – but it’s the networking I look forward
to. That, and the exchange of ideas with so many who share similar concerns for
the preservation of family values and human dignity. 

A Youth Forum will be held concurrently and
I have asked if 14-year old Ethan could join in. Well, they’re not objecting
and so for one homeschooling teen, this is going to be an interesting excursion.
He gets to file reports as well. And what about 12-year old Elliot? He says he’ll
keep our neighbours company while we’re out. 

Renee Olstead. 15 years old, and what a
voice. I‘m listening to her titular album produced
by David Foster and telling myself this girl is the real thing, and only 15! Stand-out
arrangements, bluesy numbers, and soulful tunes that belie her youth. Some of the standards sound
way beyond her age and experience (“Is you is or is you ain’t my baby” and “Midnight
at the Oasis”) and while listening to “Someone to Watch Over Me” I couldn't help but
see Mimi Rogers in half light in my mind, (Ridley Scott’s movie of the same title,
incidentally with Sting performing this track too).

Visit Renee’s website and watch her video clip –
the come-hither look on “Someone to Watch Over Me”  is a little out of
place, but never mind that. I’m a sucker for jazz standards and this is an
impressive debut. If Renee sticks to her craft she can only get better.