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March 5, 2001

News about news

Pollock's legacy

Friendly inspiration

Hungry for 'Hannibal'?

Archaeologist at work

News about news

On Jan. 29, the New York Times reported on news Web site links that allow users to read the "most e-mailed" and "most-viewed" stories. This has become an incredibly popular feature on Yahoo News, where the "most-viewed" stories tend to be breaking news and entertainment stories, while the "most-emailed content" tends to be quirky or odd stories. Arthur Asa Berger, SFSU professor of broadcast and electronic communication arts, said he thinks these features on news sites help confirm the public's growing interest in "news about news." "News about news enables us to speculate about all kinds of things, trends in society and the like. And it may be more engaging than the news itself," he said.

SFSU art Professor Whitney Chadwick discussed the life, work and legacy of painter Jackson Pollock on KQED-FM's "Forum"--hosted by SFSU English Professor Michael Krasny--on Jan. 18. She was on a panel alongside Ed Harris, director and star of the Oscar-nominated film "Pollock," and Bill Berkson, a poet, art critic and liberal arts professor at the San Francisco Art Institute. Pollock's unique style of "drip painting" was one of many topics discussed on the program. "It's very easy to imitate Pollock making drip paintings, but I think that no one else's drip paintings come out looking anything like a Pollock," Chadwick said. "To imitate what Pollock did is one thing; to make a Pollock is quite something else."

On Feb. 4, the San Francisco Chronicle Magazine ran a feature on Amy Tan, author of "The Joy Luck Club" and the recently published "The Bonesetter's Daughter." Tan credited SFSU creative writing Professor Molly Giles for helping her regain her spirit and inspiration after the death of Tan's mother and a close friend. Giles and Tan have been friends for about 10 years after meeting at an informal writing group led by Giles. "Molly's always been a great editor and friend," Tan said. "She's been my editor since my first attempts at writing. She read one of my first stories and said, 'Well, this is a story and this is another story and there's a third. Pick one and take it slowly.' And it became 'The Joy Luck Club.'"

A story in the Feb. 7 edition of the San Diego Union-Tribune discussed issues surrounding "Hannibal," the sequel to the 1992 blockbuster "Silence of the Lambs." The story, which was published before "Hannibal" hit theaters, speculated on possible plot twists and the film's large amount of graphic violence. SFSU cinema Professor James Kitses provided his viewpoint on the increasingly violent content in American films. "We read about serial killers every day. So Hollywood has to keep up," he said. "And this has led to a pattern of excess in the arts--movies that go way over the top."

SFSU anthropology Professor Karen Olsen Bruhns shared her experience as a consultant for the U.S. Customs Service in "An Hour in the Life: Archaeologists at Work," a recent article she wrote for About.com's archaeology site. Bruhns' job is to help U.S. Customs determine the authenticity of stolen and illegally imported precolumbian antiques. "When Customs stops a shipment, they need expert help in ascertaining that the items are indeed authentic and that their country of origin has laws which prohibit trafficking in ancient artifacts," she said. Recently, she helped identify fake artifacts imported from El Salvador and created a list of the stolen ceramics collection and stone work before they were sent back to El Salvador. "At the time, I identified all but a few pieces as authentic," Bruhns said.

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