#Number 49, The Week That Was

First up, Maureen Dowd needs to stop bashing everyone in the administration. Ok, now onto the week that was…

Materialists rejoice, frugalists it’s time to move aside.
You have a mission – to save our economy! Who cares if you’re in debt or your house is in foreclosure. Bah humbug! You have a higher calling folks – the nation’s retailers and industries are counting on you. The era of thrift and a return to values, whatever that means, didn’t last so long, did it? That’s according to the WSJ camp. The folks over at NYT think otherwise…

And while I don’t fancy reliving any scenes from The Gangs of New York, a trip to Manhattan's Lower East Side Tenement Museum offers a lesson on the difference between what we want and what we need - and how good most of us still have it!

Italy’s Sleazminister gets smacked in the face.
I’m wondering why it took so long? In a country rife with corruption, double standards and philandering as an encouraged marital practice, someone finally had enough of Berlusconi's misdeeds and punched his lights out. While I’d never encourage or incite a violent act, Italy’s Primeminister has kept the country in a twilight zone and made it a laughing stock of the Euro zone. Time to find another punching bag perhaps?

A case of Tigeritis
Two weeks on and we’re still writing about Tiger. Poor old Tiger. Sleazy old Tiger. He’s not a superhero: he’s human, like anyone else. The illusion he created has been shattered, and like the most virtuous girl in school who does something very nasty/lascivious on Prom Night, rebuilding the brand might almost be impossible. So why not let him bow out gracefully and get his act together – Act II, Scene I – Tiger Makes a Comeback as Golf School Instructor, or something like that. Leave the poor guy alone. In fact, if the media and the peanut gallery put that much effort into the unfaithful acts of Mark Sanford and Co, they’d probably be no Republicans left to fight the health care bills in Congress. Except Joe, but no one wants him anyway.

Waists may turn to blubber, but what about your brain?
David Rock warns of the neurological effect social media excess can have on our brains. Too much affects the area of the brain that governs impulse control - the same area affected by compulsive eating. Sadly, social media nor junk food provides the nourishment we need to maintain our health, let alone flourish. Despite the incessant flow information that we think we need, the constant interruption caused by social media is creating so many distractions that train the brain to operate at a substandard level. The result? Our brains our turning to mush…We're reading less and what we do read doesn't promote a deeper knowledge - the kind that instigates debate, reflection or critical thought. Yep, “garbage in, garbage out."

Celluloid Rules: When 3D Rocked London
Hollywood thrives in harsh economic times. We count on a flick as an attainable escape from our daily struggles. Right now, the 3D craze is giving consumers reason to turn off the DVD player and go back to the cinema. Ten years in the making and costing a whopping $425m to create, Avatar, the first big-budget live-action release to be shot in 3D opened in London this week - and the rest of the planet is buzzing in anticipation. What's next!? Tim Burton doing a 3D Alice in Wonderland? Oh...he is actually. See you at the movies!