Entertainment & Edu-tainment

Edutainment = Feeling-based learning through Entertainment. 

See Toying with Death | The Power of Suggestion

Movie Magic and Unconscious Learning | Brainwashing in America

Role-Playing Games & Popular Occultism

See also Moral relativism and Cultural Depravity

   Home ~ News Index ~  Articles  

January 2010

Movie Alert: Avatar could tempt millions to accept “Ancient Wisdom”: "Avatar has a strong shamanistic, spiritual component and a message that clearly portrays the mystical and the goddess spirituality." See Is Earth our Mother?

December 2009

 Outrage over the computer game which glorifies suicide bombing: "A computer game in which players assume the role of a suicide bomber and try to kill as many men, women and children as possible has provoked outrage.... Players move a terrorist of Arab appearance along a busy street to get as close as possible to the most civilians. Players of Kaboom adopt the role of a suicide bomber who must try to kill as many civilians as possible They then click their mouse and the bomber opens his coat to reveal grenades strapped to his body before exploding in a shower of bloody limbs. The more men, women and children are injured, the more points the player receives." See Moral, Spiritual & Cultural Corruption

November 2009

Smash "Twilight" sequel enters record books: "The 'Twilight' sequel scored the third-biggest opening weekend of all time at the North American box office on Sunday, as millions of young women swooned over the complex love triangle involving a high school girl, a vampire and a werewolf.... Exit-polling data in North America indicated that women accounted for 80 percent of the audience and half the audience was under 21. ... 'New Moon' revisits the dangerous romance between high school student Bella Swan... and vampire Edward Cullen.... Reviews were largely scathing.....

    "...the stars have become sex symbols whose real-life romances with each other... have long been gossip-column fodder." Please discourage your children from seeing it! Read our review: Twilight Obsession

October 2009

Christian Music? Not so much: "...many of these people know perfectly well that what they’re putting out there isn’t fit for Christian consumption. They don’t care! One excuse they use is that in today’s market CCM has to be edgy to make it to the top of the charts. Truth is, many in the Christian music industry are driven by greed." See Popular Music with Pagan Roots

March 2009

Stealthy gamer Gazillion aims for gazillions with Marvel, Lego deals [You may need to copy & paste the url: <www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_11928516?nclick_check=1>: "Gazillion Entertainment... announced deals with both Marvel and LEGO... in a the lucrative market of so-called 'massively multiplayer online' (MMO) games. The goal is to replicate and surpass the success of Blizzard's popular 'World of Warcraft'.... Gazillion's strategy is to focus on pre-teens and young teenagers first. As players grow up, Gazillion hopes to move them to other games it would develop.... The online game industry, he said, has recorded double-digit growth despite the recession." See Role-Playing Games & Popular Occultism

Game for 6-year-olds pushes same-sex marriage: "...even children can download and play a free trial version of The Game of Life, the first game ever created by Mr. Milton Bradley in 1860. ...the game invites players to choose a spouse, regardless of the potential spouse's sex. ...

     "'My daughter noticed right away (even before I did) and clicked on one of the girls instead of one of the men and then asked, 'Mom, how come I can marry a woman?' And then that led into a lot more questions that, quite frankly, I was not ready to talk to my 6-year-old about.'... 'I went back to the web site and left a very respectful review of the game just stating that this kind of thing should be left out of kids' games, and the Shockwave.com administrator removed my post, stating it was inappropriate.'" See Cultural Corruption

February 2009

Kids learn that killing is fun at the army's lethal new theme park: "The Army's new recruitment tool lets high-tech video game centers desensitize, condition, train and even enlist America's youth.... The video kicks in with a roar of rotors. ...'Enemy on the right!' 'Look out, RPGs straight ahead!' Bad guys are shooting at me from the alleys, the shadows, the rooftops, but I am wasting them. One after another, they get caught in my crosshairs and -- bam! -- their bodies lift and sprawl in haphazard death. We're slammed by an IED and momentarily engulfed in flame. My hand is getting numb from the rifle recoil, but my lizard brain has taken over." See Toying with Death

Scientists ask: Is technology rewiring our brains? "Do all those hours spent online rewire the circuitry? Could these kids even relate better to emoticons than to real people? ... While violent video games have gotten a lot of public attention, some current concerns go well beyond that. Some scientists think the wired world may be changing the way we read, learn and interact with each other." It does. See Toying with Death

Edu-tainment. Chill out, parents: "The $3.3 million study... found that youths use online networks to extend friendships, acquire technical skills, learn from each other.... In what researchers call 'hypersocial' behavior, media at the fingertips enable teens to always be connected. And instant messaging, text messages and Facebook have changed dating as well: Couples 'telecocoon,' creating a full-time intimate community even while physically apart....

     "Teens view adults lurking online as awkward, creepy and violating trust, researchers found....The study found that youths perceive erecting barriers — like limiting computer time — 'as raw and ill-informed exercises of power.' And teens, being teens, develop 'workarounds,' ways to subvert those barriers."

      No respect for parents? No submission to authority? Kids simply teach each other to do as they please? See Don't conform to the ways of the world

November 2008

Teen Vampire Film, 'Twilight': Based on the first of a series of novels by Stephenie Meyer, "Twilight" cost just $37 million to make, yet performed at the box office like a comic-book property driven by special effects, thanks in large part to a core audience of enthusiastic -- if not crazed -- teenage girls. The movie's draw led to a disappointing debut for Walt Disney Co.'s computer-animated "Bolt," which also was vying for family-entertainment dollars. ....Basking in the glow of "Twilight" box office, Summit announced on Saturday that it would begin production on a sequel, called "New Moon," also based on one of Ms. Meyer's books." See Toying with Death

 

'Twilight' Barely Sips at Juicy Vampire Genre: "Edward is, as he explains to Bella patiently, the vampire equivalent of a vegetarian. ...he and his family restrict their diet to animal blood, though they still consider the human variety a treat to die for. ... Edward clashes with the slavering scion of a carnivorous vampire family... for the custody of Bella's soul. 'Twilight' has targeted the collective soul of teenage America, and will surely have its way."

 

Outrage over the computer game which glorifies suicide bombing : "A computer game in which players assume the role of a suicide bomber and try to kill as many men, women and children as possible has provoked outrage.... The Suicide Bombing Game, which is freely available to all age groups on the internet, ‘devalues human life’ and should be banned. Players move a terrorist of Arab appearance along a busy street to get as close as possible to the most civilians.... The more men, women and children are injured, the more points the player receives." See Toying with Death

June 2008

A Planet Without People: "It's appalling all right.... Few major studio releases are so thoroughly pro-death, so deeply anti-human. We have arrived at a strange moment in American pop culture when movie-goers spend two hours in the theater being informed that we all deserve to die.

     "The 'happening' is millions of men, women and children killing themselves, usually in creative ways....The genocide, we are told, is condign punishment for our ecological crimes. The conceit extends a metaphor Al Gore proposed in his 2007 Nobel lecture: If 'we have begun to wage war on the Earth itself,' why wouldn't the Earth fight back? By the end of the film, the dwindling band of survivors... repents, and is thus spared hideous death." See Green Lies and Saving the Earth

March 2008

Mind Games: Dungeons & Dragons Immersed Players in Another World: "...Dungeons & Dragons, you see, is all in your head.... D&D is role-playing first and foremost, not roll-playing. One participant, the dungeon master, controls the world through which the characters move. He describes the players' surroundings, decides when they are going to be attacked, tricked or trapped by some monster or magic spell....

     "There was never any earthly reason why devotees of the game should have dressed in armor or doublets or strapped on swords.... But the game did have a way of immersing its participants in another realm. A skilled dungeon master could, with little more than the spoken word, draw a small group of players into his world so completely that, for hours at a time, its members would see and feel the landscape.... They might even begin to talk in the voices that they imagined their characters to have. D&D is, like videogames today, deeply escapist." See Toying with Death

January 2008

Sex in Video Game Makes Waves Through Industry : "A new, best-selling video game, Mass Effect... allows the characters to engage in explicitly graphic sexual intercourse. Some game experts and pro-family analysts say Mass Effect is marketed to young kids and presents a moral danger.... The game is rated 'M' for mature, as are many video games, and was banned in Singapore last year, though the decision was later reversed. Mass Effect has sold over 1.6 million copies since its release in November 2007. The game scored "Best RPG" in the 2007 Spike TV Video Game Awards, and it has been nominated for Game of the Year....

     "'This is about money,' Ruse said. 'This isn't about a First Amendment debate....It's putting elements in its games which they think will help them sell more games. They don't care about what they're doing to kids." See Toying with Death

 

Tolkien's Virtual World Takes Off (8-28-07): "The Lord of the Rings Online has enjoyed explosive growth since its April unveiling. And it'll probably keep doing so—if it remains true to Tolkien's vision ... In the game, players create avatars based on characters from the books—hobbits or orcs, for instance—to pursue quests and battle monsters in an expansive virtual world.... Anderson's team has proven adept at the dealmaking crucial to extending multiplayer games around the globe." See Role-Playing Games & Popular Occultism

November 2007

October 2007

September 2007

July 2007

While persecuted Christians refuse to compromise truth -- even at the cost of their lives, more comfortable and complacent Christians would rather win popularity than please God.

    The next link shows the confusing new meanings behind Biblical words. The world's corrupt values are fast undermining faith and slandering God's truth. Afraid to take a stand, "Christians" leaders bend over backwards to make the Bible acceptable to postmodern skeptics. As in Old Testament days -- the two opposites (church & world) are merging into an unbiblical global community. Many point to some supposed "biblical principles" (such as kindness, service, noble causes...) to justify this unbiblical compromise. See The Church Walking with the World  

 

Christian? Tightrope Walking THE SIMPSONS MOVIE: "The Simpsons movie is a hilarious, witty, engaging big-screen version of the TV series. In between the edgy humor is a heartwarming, uplifting story about love, kindness, forgiveness, and redemption. [Not Biblical redemption!] ... Ned Flanders, the most Christian [What does that mean in this context?] character in the Simpsons universe, plays an important, positive role in helping the family.... Despite this strong Christian [?], moral content, however, the movie has some negative content that goes too far at times. This content includes foul language and edgy humor... challenging Bart to ride naked on his skateboard, two homosexual policemen who kiss, cartoon violence, a joke about marijuana...." [Ted Baehr, 7-26] See God's holy people craving unholy entertainment  then read the next two links:

 

Movieguide Mission Statement: "Good News Communications is a ministry dedicated to redeeming  the values of the mass media according to biblical principles by influencing media executives to adopt higher standards imbued with Christian and traditional family values, and by informing and equipping moral people... to make wise media choices based on the biblical worldview."

      But true (in contrast to politially correct) Biblical guidelines clash with the world's mass media. See Don't conform to the world and Separation

 

Film festival boasts high profile judges for films questioning faith: "[The] Festival... is offering one thousand pounds as a first prize to young film makers if they can explain what makes people passionate about their religion.... The Insight Festival aims to encourage the use of moving image creativity to promote community cohesion and understanding; to offer a platform for creative people of different cultural and faith backgrounds to explore and communicate the phenomenon and potency of faith [Politically correct, unifying, community building religions?] using contemporary moving images; and to encourage dialogue, communication and insight between people of different faiths...."

Written in the 1820s, almost two centuries ago, the message below may seem narrow and absurd to Christians today. We forget that Jesus called us to walk His narrow road with Him! No matter how far the Church drifts from its Biblical moorings, God's call and guidelines remain the same. Like it or not, this is an important warning:

 

The Christian and the Theater: "When you return from the playhouse [now it's TV, movies, etc.].. have you any taste for prayer, for reading the Scriptures, or holding communion with God in any sacred exercise? ... How common is it to find in the language of the theater the most unqualified profaneness, and even blasphemy! How often are mock-prayers and irreverent appeals to the Majesty of heaven, exhibited on the most trivial occasions! How often is the dialogue interspersed with such unchaste expressions or allusions as cannot but grievously pain the ear of modesty... Piety and virtue are made to appear contemptible; and vice, in the person of some favorite hero, is exhibited as attractive, honorable, and triumphant." God's Way versus our ways

 

'Ratatouille': A four-star rat: "This is an animated movie that's been made for adults, although kids probably will enjoy it.... Remy [an ambitious rat] realizes one day that he has a gourmet nose and a taste for life's finer things.... He is guided in his unlikely quest by Gusteau's ghost.... The occasional appearances of Gusteau's ghost allow Bird to teach his audience a thing or two about cooking while the chef explains it to the rat."

      Within a Biblical worldview, this guiding "ghost" would be a demonic spirit guide. See Movie Magic & Unconscious Learning and the first two links below.

June 2007

RATATOUILLE: A Recipe for Success [By Josh Climo with Dr. Ted Baehr]: "'It's a PIXAR film. That kind of says it all,' says Patton Oswalt, who voices the main character, Remy [the gourmet rat].  '[Remy] is all the way committed to what he loves,' Oswalt tells MOVIEGUIDE.... "Despite his mousy complexion, Remy is a positive role model for kids. 'He believes and has faith and doesn't give up.'" But the focus of his love is gourmet food! The object of his faith is himself, not God. Don't believe those who look for Christian messages in self-seeking pragmatism. See the next link:

 

Edu-tainment. Ratatouille: In the Pursuit of Happiness (Ted Baehr): "'Ratatouille' [by Pixar]... opens with Remy the rat narrating his story.... When the mistress of the farmhouse where Remy's colony resides tries to blow them off the face of the earth with her shotgun, they all get carried away on the river, into the sewers to Paris.... When Remy wakes up after his harrowing escape, he is talking to [his hero, Auguste Gusteau] who died recently. [Notice how this parallels guidance by demonic spirit guides]

      "Remy recognizes that Auguste is a figment of his imagination, but his internal dialogue leads him straight to Gusteau's famous restaurant.... Remy teams up with the new garbage boy Linguini, who may be Gusteau's heir, to take the culinary world of Paris, and Skinner, by surprise. The villains are set against Remy and Linguini....

      "'Ratatouille' is a near great movie. It does have some issues, however. Linguini is plied with enough wine to get him drunk, the rats are not only difficult to embrace, but they also steal when told not to do so.... However, there are many mentions of moral principles to counteract this, and the overall storyline is very pro capitalist, pro individual and supportive of the gifts that the individual has.

      "...there is a reference to Heaven. [What does heaven imply in this amoral context?]

      " The real Christian theology comes in the fact that the movie makes it clear that anyone can be a chef, although not everyone can be a great chef. Thus, like the divine meritocracy instituted by the Declaration of Independence, the movie strongly suggests that all people are created equal by God, who grants everyone the right to pursue personal happiness while they pursue their individual service to God's divine authority." Does this sound like "Christian theology" to you? The "Christian" label sounds like a deceptive justification of lawlessness, crudity, and immorality to me! See The Power of Suggestion

 

 

Video games: A psychiatric disorder? The telltale signs are ominous: teens holing up in their rooms, ignoring friends, family, even food and a shower, while grades plummet and belligerence soars. The culprit isn't alcohol or drugs. It's video games, which for certain kids can be as powerfully addictive as heroin... A leading council of the nation's largest doctors' group wants to have this behavior officially classified as a psychiatric disorder...

      "...her 17-year-old son, Michael, was a video addict. Over nearly two years, video and Internet games transformed him from an outgoing, academically gifted teen into a reclusive manipulator who flunked two 10th grade classes and spent several hours day and night playing World of Warcraft.... 'We went to therapists, we tried taking the game away. 'He would threaten us physically. He would curse and call us every name imaginable.... It was as if he was possessed.'...

     "Overuse most often occurs with online role-playing games involving multiple players." See Role-Playing Games & Popular Occultism

 

May 2007

April 2007

March 2007

February 2007

For previous links, see Entertainment-2000-02, 2003-04, 2005-06

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