It was a year of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the world of Arts and Entertainment. At the movies, “Shrek 2”, the story of a large green ogre out-muscled the latest instalment of Harry Potter, boy genius of the dark arts, to become #1 in the hearts of our children. That’s bad right? … No that’s good! The big green ogre is the good guy. Meanwhile, “The Passion of Christ” was the big stir at the theatres in the hearts and wallets of millions of adults. That’s good right? … No, by all accounts I have heard, it was pretty ugly in a gorious way. Elsewhere, a video game called “Halo 2” breaks opening day sales records for all mediums of entertainment. In fact, if you can believe the hype, it’s one day sales of US$125,000,000 eclipses (by a longshot) the single day receipts of the top selling movie, book and record album combined. Now that’s got to be good, right? … No, that is very, very bad – Halo 2 is actually one of the more violent shoot’em-up war games. Did I mention it stole it’s sales record from another not so angelic video game called “Grand Theft Auto.” Rounding out a record breaking year in the world of Arts & Entertainment is Dan Brown’s blockbuster novel, The Da Vinci Code, which has far outstripped previous bestselling record holders with no less than 12 million copies sold worldwide (despite the fact that it has yet to enter paperback). Don’t ask. Yes, the Catholic Church figures prominently in the plot, but considering it was accused of doing much of the plotting that’s not necessarily a good thing.
Jan 01