The 168 Turnaround: Profanity, Outrage, and Crazy Prom Girl

THIS WEEK: May 15 – May 21, 2011

BEDTIME BANTER: Rhyming children’s books are a dime a dozen, but as long as they help your child fall asleep, their overabundance is not really an issue.  Then again, sometimes kids will just not fall asleep, which may explain the massive popularity of the tongue-in-cheek children’s bedtime story, Go The F—k To Sleep.  Funny thing is, the book has yet to be published; in fact, the only reason anyone knows about it is because a PDF version was leaked onto the internet, and then went viral.  Go The F—k To Sleep, written by novelist Adam Mansbach, features cutesy rhymes laden with profanity, such as, “The cubs and the lions are snoring,/ Wrapped in a big snuggly heap. / How come you can do all this other great shit / But you can’t lie the fuck down and sleep?”  Clearly, it’s not really a book for children, or—admittedly—even for all parents.  To each their own.  For more info, click here.

NAZI JOKES: Some things you just shouldn’t say in public—like anything disparaging about Jews or Israel, or, conversely, anything that casts Hitler in a sympathetic light.  Common sense, right?  Not so.  Not for Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, anyway.  At a Cannes Film Festival press conference for his new film, Melancholia, Von Trier tried to amuse the crowd by explaining his parents’ ties to the Nazi regime.  Trouble was, he abandoned all sense of tact and class, and got himself banned from the festival (click here for more).  Here you can watch the director quickly dig his own grave and then proceed to jump in and bury himself:

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CARRIE:  Stephen King’s first novel, Carrie, is once again being adapted for the silver screen.  You’ll of course remember the 1976 adaptation, directed by Brian De Palma and starring Sissy Spacek and John Travolta.  But then there was The Rage, the 1999 sequel, which was followed by a second adaptation of King’s novel in 2002.  And here we are again, this time with news that MGM and Screen Gems have hired playwright Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Spider-man: Turn Off The Dark) to write an adaptation that is closer to the novel.  Those who know me, know that I’m a fan and (dare I say it) constant reader of Stephen King.  With that said, however, Carrie is certainly not King’s best novel (or even among his best), and certainly not one in need of (another) adaptation.  Ah well—so goes the crazy train.

HOLY SHIT: Vancouver punk band Living with Lions has stirred up a lot of trouble for the Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings (FACTOR).  The organization, which is partially funded by the federal government, helped the punk band release their latest album, Holy Shit.  The problem is with the artwork featured in the album’s liner notes, which depicts Jesus Christ as, of all things, a turd.  Because of the increasing public outcry (not to mention the stern words from Heritage Minister James Moore), FACTOR is assessing whether some form of action needs to be taken, which sounds a lot like closing the barn doors after all the horses have escaped.  Had the organization asked my adivice, I would have told them to never trust a band that titles its album “Holy Shit”—that’s just bad business.  For more info, click here.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK: Marriage Proposal
Marriage proposals on YouTube are a dime a dozen, but here’s one that I like for two reasons: 1) it’s a unique approach; and 2) it involves going to the movies, which I love.  For those keeping track, this video has officially gone viral.

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The 168 Turnaround is a week-in-review column, a place for me to reflect on the week’s most interesting pop culture news items.  If it mattered to me or I think it might matter to you, then it will be here.  If I’ve overlooked an important news item, or if you have a comment or question, please leave a response below.  Thank you for reading.