Bollywood Jesus

Today on the list: How human beings could have made the universe, the movement to move Tony Blair’s memoirs to the crime section, the Social Security con and the Bollywood movie … about Jesus.

On a regular basis, Truthdig brings you the news items and odds and ends that found their way to Larry Gross, director of the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A specialist in media and culture, art and communication, visual communication and media portrayals of minorities, Gross helped found the field of gay and lesbian studies.

The links below open in a new window. Newer ones are on top.

Marijuana’s true potency and why the law should change The U.S. war against marijuana has failed and actually threatens public safety and rests on false medical assumptions. Guest columnist John McKay, Seattle’s former U.S. attorney, argues why the laws against marijuana should be changed.

Doomed banks Nouriel Roubini, aka Dr. Doom, has been making headlines arguing that one of the consequences of the ongoing crises of capitalism is that more than 400 banks on the “critical list” may go bust this year.

Looking for Tony Blair’s memoir? Try the crime section Facebook protest group takes time to ‘reclassify’ the former prime minister’s memoirs in British book shops.

Bringing the war home Both Bush and Obama have attempted to minimize or ignore the costs of the war in Iraq. But Americans, a majority of whom now oppose the war, are no longer allowing themselves to be fooled. At long last.

We’re Being Conned on Social Security — How We Could Easily Raise Benefits or Allow People to Retire Earlier They just want to steal our money.

Cover story The first printed books came with a question: What do you do with these things?

The Post-Modern Ear Towards the end of the 19th century, and in the wake of Wagner’s achievement in Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal, the musical language which had been common property of Western composers since the Renaissance, underwent a crisis.

Jesus Christ, the Bollywood Version Monty Python was condemned for irreverence, Mel Gibson was castigated for violence and Martin Scorsese got into trouble over the sex scenes. But the pitfalls of portraying Jesus have not deterred Bollywood from an ambitious and expensive project to recreate the life of Christ … .

Revalorizing the Trades For the 10th-anniversary issue of The Chronicle Review, we asked scholars and illustrators to answer this question: What will be the defining idea of the coming decade, and why?

‘American Universities in a Global Market’ The status of the United States in the international higher education ecosystem — and, particularly, whether it is losing its longstanding place atop the global pecking order — is a topic of escalating discussion and, in some circles, hand-wringing.