It is a reasonable assumption that many readers of the Conducive Chronicle or students around the world enrolled in some type of college social science class featuring elements of post modernism are familiar with the concept of modernity. Modernity has been both categorically and lexically challenging to define since the term is immensely expansive. Subsequently, [...]

In the midst of the George W. Bush Administration, science writer Chris Mooney’s The Republican War on Science (Basic Books, 2005) noted an increasing trend: the rejection of science by a growing number of Republican Party members, not just on evolution, but on topics as varied as stem cell research, the hole in the ozone [...]

Tens of thousands of volunteers across the U.S. and Europe passed out free books to celebrate World Book Night. For a struggling industry World Book Night may have seemed like an ingenious marketing ploy.  But to the volunteers and the readers, these books were a lovely gift. For one special day, volunteers gave out books [...]

The widespread stereotyping and discrimination against people who are single has long gone unrecognized, unnamed, and unchallenged. I call it SINGLISM. I have done a lot of battling of singlism in my own writing, but now I have help from 28 other people who have contributed to my new book, “Singlism: What It Is, Why [...]

The opening scenes of Hanna and Jane Eyre, both eponymous female-driven films currently in wide release, couldn’t be more different. Hanna, played by Saoirse Ronan, is calm and in control. She stalks a deer in a sun bathed and snow covered forest. Jane, played by Mia Wasikowska, is upset but driven as she flees the [...]

Last week, we talked a little about how to give a great presentation. But what if you’re not giving a talk, but hosting one? Maybe you have donors coming to speak about why they support your work, or students wanting to learn about careers in philanthropy. Maybe you’re throwing a book launch party for your [...]

I read an obvious and overused clichéd critical reference that ended up telling me absolutely nothing about the new film Love and Other Drugs. I have yet to meet anyone who actually likes these types reviews or those quick phrases on movie posters and ads that say things like “You will laugh. You will cry. [...]

Disney’s princess plots are more predictable than a woman’s period. Girl is oppressed (by magic, evil villain, or station in life), girl decides to challenge adversity, girl meets vagabond boy en route, cue adorable magical or animal sidekick, boy and girl conquer evil villain, boy and girl marry and the live happily ever after. The [...]

The Social Network, the film that tells the tale of the founding and rise of Facebook, has taken a lot of flack from feminist critics since its release on October 1. The film and its screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin, have been accused of creating and promoting misogyny, of pigeon-holing women into hyper-stereotyped roles in which they [...]

Names like Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Earl Hines come to mind when one reviews the list of great jazz musicians. The back streets of New Orleans French Quarter gave birth to jazz and seemingly bequeathed it to male musicians. From its inception, the jazz arena was a ‘man’s world’, but the tables are slowly [...]

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi is currently serving his third stint in power. Berlusconi is a fitting example of the problem with this so-called gerontocracy, rule by the elderly, particularly in Italy, where corruption and cronyism are almost as widespread as pizza and pasta. A recent article in Time reports on proposed changes to the Italian criminal justice system that if made into law would alleviate Berlusconi from current charges of tax-fraud and corruption. Reporter Stephan Faris writes, “the country’s crop of political players hasn’t been updated since the early 1990s, when a series of corruption and Mafia scandals upended the electoral landscape.”

This fall finds us in the middle of the sixth season of Showtime’s popular and award winning series Weeds. Since the Botwin family fled Agrestic, the fictional Los Angeles suburb where they lived during the first three seasons, the evolution of the show has been a hot topic among critics and audiences. What started as [...]

It’s long been said that the first casualty of war is the truth. When it comes to the tragic Pat Tillman story, truer words were never spoken.

George Clooney isn’t just a bona fide movie star. He may be the last American matinee idol. In a time when most U.S. leading men are either fading (Jack Nicholson), aging (Al Pacino), strange (Mel Gibson), selective (Tom Hanks) or forever adolescent (Tom Cruise), Clooney still shines with the kind of looks and charisma that [...]

   I waited to compile my list of the top 10 Rock Albums of the last decade because I didn’t want to publish my list at the same time everyone was publishing theirs (at the beginning of the year). While it is virtually impossible to include everyone on the list that deserves to be on [...]

There is something to be said for realism. I had such an interesting discussion with some of my fellow film-going friends that revolved around the last believable action movie we had seen. Unfortunately, we either all drew a blank, or we named a movie that was at least a year old. This discussion took place after [...]

Celebrities, here’s a tip worthy of the Playboy Advisor: If you consent to a documentary biography, make sure you hire a pal to direct. After making Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel, the only remaining to-do items for director Brigitte Berman is to nominate her subject for the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of [...]

Want to see something really scary? Forget Independence Day, 2012 or any other Hollywood horror story. This summer, Countdown to Zero should land on your Top Ten list. The cast includes such international stars as Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev and Tony Blair. The doomsday plot? Unless the world acts quickly, time will run out on [...]