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Category: In the News

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Happy Feet Goes Home

Posted by: Kelly Buchanan

When I last wrote about Happy Feet (the intrepid emperor penguin who took an extended vacation in New Zealand while recovering from a very long swim and a belly full of sand and twigs), he was being pampered at the Wellington Zoo while fans from around the world watched and waited to see what would …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Celebrating Labor

Posted by: Kurt Carroll

It’s Labor Day, the September holiday that is seen by many as the end of summer.  Many of this blog’s regular readers are probably at a cookout right now or enjoying one last visit to the beach.  These seem to be two common ways to celebrate the holiday honoring American labor.  If you have not …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Hunting and Badger Culls in England

Posted by: Clare Feikert-Ahalt

The English are, generally speaking, a fairly genteel group of people.  Hunting in England is now relatively uncommon, with fox hunting (very controversially) legislated against in 2007.  Even owning a gun is rather unusual and involves a long and highly regulated process.  I definitely noticed a huge contrast when I first moved here – during hunting season deer …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Happy Feet Not So Happy

Posted by: Kelly Buchanan

Shrek died last month.  Not green ogre Shrek – he’s still happily living in Ogre Swamp as far as I know – but Shrek the sheep.  Shrek became a celebrity in New Zealand after he was found in 2004 after six years of avoiding being shorn by hiding out in a cave in the hills …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Violence, Censorship, and the Human Centipede II

Posted by: Clare Feikert-Ahalt

In a related theme to gruesome, violent ads (commercials) being removed from programming in the UK, as described in my previous blog post, the UK has censored an entire film (movie).  The Human Centipede II has failed to get a certification (rating) from the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). The BBFC is an independent, non-governmental …

Ornate red and ivory wall decoration, with plaque and symbols

Glee and The Mechanic: A Bad Romance?

Posted by: Clare Feikert-Ahalt

In my morning perusal of the newspapers the other week I came across an article saying that the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the UK’s independent regulator for advertising in the media, has banned two film (movie) trailers for the movie The Mechanic, one of which was aired during the show Glee. The ASA has a …