John Adams, Jr. (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was the second President of the United States (1797–1801). He also served as America’s first Vice President (1789–1797). He was defeated for re-election in the “Revolution of 1800” by Thomas Jefferson. Adams was also the first President to reside in the newly-built White House in Washington, D.C., which was completed in 1800. He is the first president to be defeated for re-election.

Adams, a sponsor of the American Revolution in Massachusetts, was a driving force for independence in 1776. He represented the Continental Congress in Europe. He was a major negotiator of the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and chiefly responsible for obtaining the loans from the Amsterdam money market necessary for the conduct of the Revolution. His prestige secured his two elections as Washington’s Vice President and his election to succeed him. As President, he was frustrated by battles inside his own Federalist party against a faction led by Alexander Hamilton, but he broke with them to avert a major conflict with France in 1798, during the Quasi-War crisis. He became the founder of an important family of politicians, diplomats and historians, and in recent years his achievements have received greater recognition.

Based on David McCullough’s bestselling biography, the HBO miniseries John Adams is the furthest thing from a starry-eyed look at America’s founding fathers and the brutal path to independence. Adams (Paul Giamatti), second president of the United States, is portrayed as a skilled orator and principled attorney whose preference for justice over anti-English passions earns enemies. But he also gains the esteem of the first national government of the United States, i.e., the Continental Congress, which seeks non-firebrands capable of making a reasoned if powerful case for America’s break from England’s monarchy. The first thing one notices about John Adams‘ dramatizations of congress’ proceedings, and the fervent pro-independence violence in the streets of Boston and elsewhere, is that America’s roots don’t look pretty or idealized here. Some horrendous things happen in the name of protest, driving Adams to push the cause of independence in a legitimate effort to get on with a revolutionary war under the command of George Washington. But the process isn’t easy: not every one of the 13 colonies-turned-states is ready to incur the wrath of England, and behind-the-scenes negotiations prove as much a part of 18th century congressional sessions as they do today. Besides this peek into a less-romanticized version of the past, John Adams is also a story of the man himself. Adams’ frustration at being forgotten or overlooked at critical junctures of America’s early development–sent abroad for years instead of helping to draft the U.S. constitution–is detailed. So is his dismay that the truth of what actually transpired leading to the signing of the Declaration of Independence has been slowly forgotten and replaced by a rosier myth. But above all, John Adams is the story of two key ties: Adams’ 54-year marriage to Abigail Adams (Laura Linney), every bit her husband’s intellectual equal and anchor, and his difficult, almost symbiotic relationship with Thomas Jefferson (Stephen Dillane) over decades. Giamatti, of course, has to carry much of the drama, and if he doesn’t always seem quite believable in the series’ first half, he becomes increasingly excellent at the point where an aging Adams becomes bitter over his place in history. Linney is marvelous, as is Dillane, Sarah Polley as daughter Nabby, Danny Huston as cousin Samuel Adams, and above all Tom Wilkinson as a complex but indispensable Ben Franklin.

Electronic commerce, commonly known as e-commerce, consists of the buying and selling of products or services over electronic systems such as the Internet and other computer networks. The amount of trade conducted electronically has grown extraordinarily since the spread of the Internet. A wide variety of commerce is conducted in this way, spurring and drawing on innovations in electronic funds transfer, supply chain management, Internet marketing, online transaction processing, electronic data interchange (EDI), inventory management systems, and automated data collection systems. Modern electronic commerce typically uses the World Wide Web at least at some point in the transaction’s lifecycle, although it can encompass a wider range of technologies such as e-mail as well.

A large percentage of electronic commerce is conducted entirely electronically for virtual items such as access to premium content on a website, but most electronic commerce involves the transportation of physical items in some way. Online retailers are sometimes known as e-tailers and online retail is sometimes known as e-tail. Almost all big retailers have electronic commerce presence on the World Wide Web.

Electronic commerce that is conducted between businesses is referred to as Business-to-business or B2B. B2B can be open to all interested parties (e.g. commodity exchange) or limited to specific, pre-qualified participants (private electronic market).

Electronic commerce is generally considered to be the sales aspect of e-business. It also consists of the exchange of data to facilitate the financing and payment aspects of the business transactions.

This text describes the essentials of electronic commerce–how it is being conducted and managed as well as assessing its major opportunities, limitations, issues, and risks. It is a clear, simple, well-organized book, and provides all the basic definitions as well as logical support. Using extensive, vivid examples from large corporations, small businesses, government and not-for-profit agencies from all over the world, it makes the concepts presented come alive for readers.

Beginning with a comprehensive introduction to E-commerce, the book explores internet marketing, B2B and C-commerce, E-marketplaces and internet consumerism, E-government, mobile commerce, auctions, security, electronic payment systems, and strategy and implementation to launch a successful E-commerce business.

Written by experienced authors who are well-versed in real-world practices, this book will prove invaluable for managers and professional people in any functional area of business; as well as those in government, education, health services, and other areas that can benefit from a knowledge of e-commerce.

“Sex and the City” edged out “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” to claim the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office overseas.

The romantic comedy earned an estimated $38.2 million from 40 markets during its second weekend, and has racked up $91.3 million to date.

“Crystal Skull,” meanwhile, has accumulated $326 million internationally, thanks to a $36 million weekend in 60 territories. It had been the top choice overseas for the previous two weekends.

“Kung Fu Panda,” which replaced “Sex and the City” atop the North American box office, also debuted at No. 1 in nine overseas markets with an animated $20.7 million. The Jack Black comedy grossed a stunning $9.2 million in Russia, and $7.5 million in South Korea.

“Sex” broke out in 25 fresh markets after its limited opening last weekend. It finished No. 1 in 13 of the new territories, with Australia ($7.7 million) leading the pack.

“Crystal Skull” might have been hurt by the launch of the European Cup soccer championship season. Nonetheless, “Crystal Skull” held well in France, Spain, Germany and the U.K., where it tallied $5.6 million for a market total of $65.2 million.

Other foreign totals: “What Happens in Vegas” ($107.9 million), “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” ($102.2 million), and “Iron Man” ($249 million).

There was a moment near the end of “Kung Fu Panda” so satisfying, so achingly adorable, that I wished I’d been secretly taping so as to immediately put it up on YouTube for the world to see.
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Sorry, Jack Black — you were great and everything, but that final scene was cold stolen. The thief: my son, just a few weeks short of his third birthday.

As the credits rolled, he sprang from his seat, flashed into the aisle and began to whip himself into a jaw-dropping exhibition of kung fu fury.

Feet planted, his torso twisted and his tiny limbs whirled, locking arms and hands into holding positions that would arch the eyebrow of David Carradine himself.

Thrilling though it was, I had to wonder for a moment whether I’d made a terrible mistake.

Had I been too trusting? Are we blindly marching our kids into these animated movies with little regard for the subject matter or material? Was I too dense to consider whether “Kung Fu Panda” — a martial-arts film, by rights — was even meant for the little ones?

Not really. This is going to generate letters, but I knowingly and willfully allowed my toddling son to watch the original “Star Wars” some months back — if he could handle Darth Vader and a cantina full of creepy extraterrestrials, surely he could take cute and furry critters engaged in a little choreographed pugilism.

There were reasons to be wary, of course, that go beyond the PG rating of “Panda” (most animated features are G). The combat is fast, furious and carries on throughout, with every blow landing more emphatically than the last. The villain’s destructive bent is forceful, sinister and intimidating. And the mysticism is a little over even my former-hippie head.

If I had thought this all wasn’t going to make an impression on him, the roundhouse kick he nearly planted on an exiting toddler certainly proved otherwise.

In fact, it was a little bit frightening.

Hu!

For his preschool teachers next week, that is.

Ha!

And for the folks who were trying circumnavigate the whirlwind performance as they made their way up the aisle. Not to mention his mom, who had vetoed this moviegoing choice before I cunningly turned it into a writing assignment. (The young women behind us, swooning over the cuteness of his demonstration, seemed to share my harmless-fun view.)

So why did it all make me feel so … proud?

Well, partly because if that kick in the direction of the exiting toddler had connected, it would’ve been pure accident. In fact, every move was in the direction of no one; there was no target, no intent, and no menace in these attacks.

And I’ll take some of the credit for that.

See, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only wacky dad in America who woke up Saturday morning, downloaded Carl Douglas’ 1974 one-hit disco wonder “Kung Fu Fighting” (don’t bother with the movie soundtrack version; the original’s better) and showed off a series of martial-artsish dance moves throughout the house.

And to be sure, this ill-thought-out display — done purely in anticipation of a family outing to see “Panda” — was rewarded with a tiny punch in the groin.

This, grasshopper, is a “learning moment.”

While not the first lecture on hitting, this one took on some extra gravity (even if delivered in a slightly higher voice). We are not practicing “hitting” kung fu, I advised — we are practicing “pretending” kung fu. Kung fu is like exercise, I explained. Or dancing. Or what basketball used to be.

This all seemed to sink in.

The movie itself was redemptive, too: The violence is painstakingly bloodless and cartoonish; not even the hardest blow sends up a cringe. The bad guy is vanquished by a lovable panda whose victory one-liner brings a belly laugh to every seat in the theater. And the movie’s only discernible death is one of the most peaceful passings in cinema history — if we all went this way, the medical industry would be out of business.

The other reason I’m not feeling bad today is that I know I’m not alone. That theater — and assuredly hundreds more like it — was packed with kids hovering below 3. One father, sitting a few rows up and trading actual karate-chops with his entire brood, made me feel especially self-righteous.

And no, my son wasn’t the only little one who was kung-fu fighting in the aisles when the lights went up. The truth is, they just about all were. Just so happens that when my guy got to whirling and chopping, all the kids who were nearby stopped, retreated and watched in awe.

Hu-ah! That’s my boy.

Now excuse me while I go ponder whether we can fit the dojo’s bill into the family budget. Hey, maybe as a movie-choosing parent, I tend to run on the too-early side — but this kid, I’m telling you, is only a few sessions short of expert timing (JOSH L. DICKEY, AP Entertainment Writer).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – J.K. Rowling stressed the crucial importance of imagination during a speech Thursday at Harvard University’s spring commencement, saying, “We do not need magic to transform our world.”

The “Harry Potter” author also spoke about the benefit of failure, recalling the humiliations of her time in poverty before her career took off with her string of novels about a bespectacled boy wizard.

Before the speech, some members of Harvard’s class of 1936 paid tribute to Rowling by carrying brooms during an alumni procession.

President Drew Gilpin Faust also welcomed witches, wizards and Muggles — non-magical people in Rowling’s books — to the commencement. Faust noted that there was a larger number of young children than normally expected for a Harvard graduation and that she knew she was the just “the warm-up act.”

Rowling, who was given an honorary doctor of letters degree, urged the Harvard grads to use their influence and status to speak out on behalf of the powerless.

“We do not need magic to transform our world,” she said. “We carry all the power we need inside ourselves already; we have the power to imagine better.”

Imagination gives one the ability to empathize with others, she said.

“Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation,” Rowling said. “In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity; it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”

Rowling described a low point seven years after graduating from college, when she was a poor single mother.

“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are ever after secure in your ability to survive,” Rowling said. “You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity.”

She called such knowledge “a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.”

The 50-year-old “Basic Instinct” star provoked outrage in China after suggesting the recent earthquake in central Sichuan province may have been the result of bad “karma” because of Beijing’s rule in Tibet.

French fashion house Christian Dior dropped Stone from its Chinese ads after she made the comments in May during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview.

Stone, who walked the red carpet in Shanghai last year, will not be invited back soon, Shanghai International Film Festival spokeswoman Tang Bing said Wednesday.

Tang said film festival organizers sent Stone a letter protesting her remarks and demanding an apology.

Stone has said she was “deeply sorry” for causing anguish and anger among Chinese people, and offered to take part in quake relief efforts.

The Hollywood actress previously impressed festival organizers with her charity work and her appearance last year, and her comments came as a surprise, Tang said.

“She showed her affinity for the Chinese people and her affinity for Shanghai. She didn’t say any bad things,” said Tang.

The Shanghai festival is scheduled for June 14-22.

Stone’s Hollywood publicist didn’t immediately return an after-hours call Wednesday seeking further comment.

Chinese have also lashed out at Western media for allegedly biased coverage of China’s crackdown on anti-government protests in Tibet in March. Beijing says Tibet is historically part of China, but many Tibetans argue the region was virtually independent for centuries.

Stone’s film credits also include “Total Recall,” “Sliver,” “Casino” and “The Mighty.”

John Adams (HBO Miniseries)

The Chronicles of Narnia is a series of seven fantasy novels for children written by C. S. Lewis. It is considered a classic of children’s literature and is the author’s best-known work, having sold over 100 million copies in 41 languages. Written by Lewis between 1949 and 1954 and illustrated by Pauline Baynes, The Chronicles of Narnia have been adapted several times, complete or in part, for radio, television, stage, and cinema. In addition to numerous traditional Christian ideas, the series borrows characters and ideas from Greek and Roman mythology, as well as from traditional British and Irish fairy tales.

The Chronicles of Narnia present the adventures of children who play central roles in the unfolding history of the fictional realm of Narnia, a place where animals talk, magic is common, and good battles evil. Each of the books (with the exception of The Horse and His Boy) features as its protagonists children from our world who are magically transported to Narnia, where they are called upon to help the lion Aslan to right some wrong in the world of Narnia .

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [Blu-ray]

C.S. Lewis’s classic novel The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe makes an ambitious and long-awaited leap to the screen in this modern adaptation. It’s a CGI-created world laden with all the special effects and visual wizardry modern filmmaking technology can conjure, which is fine so long as the film stays true to the story that Lewis wrote. And while this film is not a literal translation–it really wants to be so much more than just a kids’ movie–for the most part it is faithful enough to the story, and whatever faults it has are happily faults of overreaching, and not of holding back. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe tells the story of the four Pevensie children, Lucy, Peter, Edmund, and Susan, and their adventures in the mystical world of Narnia. Sent to the British countryside for their own safety during the blitz of World War II, they discover an entryway into a mystical world through an old wardrobe. Narnia is inhabited by mythical, anthropomorphic creatures suffering under the hundred-year rule of the cruel White Witch (Tilda Swinton, in a standout role). The arrival of the children gives the creatures of Narnia hope for liberation, and all are dragged into the inevitable conflict between evil (the Witch) and good (Aslan the Lion, the Messiah figure, regally voiced by Liam Neeson).

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe [Blu-ray]

Less engrossing than its 2004 predecessor National Treasure, Jon Turteltaub’s busy sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets is nevertheless a colorful and witty adventure, another race against overwhelming odds for the answer to a historical riddle. Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage), the treasure hunter who feverishly sought, in the first film, the whereabouts of a war chest hidden by America’s forefathers, is now charged with protecting family honor. When a rival (Ed Harris) offers alleged proof that Gates’ ancestor, Thomas Gates, was not a Civil War-era hero but a participant in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Ben and his father (Jon Voight) and crew (Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger) hopscotch through Paris, London, Washington DC, and South Dakota to gather evidence refuting the claim. The film is most fun when the hunt, as in National Treasure, squeezes Ben into such impossible situations as examining twin desks in the queen’s chambers in Buckingham Palace and the White House’s Oval Office, or kidnapping an American president (Bruce Greenwood) for a few minutes of frank talk. Helen Mirren, the previous year’s Oscar winner for Best Actress, wisely joins the cast of a likely hit film as Ben’s archaeologist mother, long-estranged from Voight’s character but as feisty as the rest of the family. Returning director Turteltaub takes excellent advantage of his colorful backdrops in European capitals and the always-eerie Mount Rushmore, and oversees some wildly imaginative sets for this dramedy’s feverish third act in an audacious and completely unexpected, legendary setting. If National Treasure: Book of Secrets doesn’t feel quite as crisp and unique as its predecessor, it is still ingenious and wry enough to laugh a bit at itself. –Tom Keogh

National Treasure 2 – Book of Secrets (Widescreen)

Five days after the end of the Civil War, John Wilkes Booth and another man, both members of the Knights of the Golden Circle, enter a tavern and approach Thomas Gates (Ben Gates’ great, great grandfather). They produce a diary containing an encrypted message, and entice Thomas, a well-known puzzle solver, to decode it. Thomas recognizes the message as using the Playfair cipher and begins to translate it. While he does so, Booth leaves for Ford’s Theater to assassinate President Lincoln. Thomas solves the puzzle, a clue to a treasure map, and realizes the men are still loyal to the Confederate cause and have a sinister motive for finding the treasure. Unfortunately, he realizes this too late. The Confederate man pulls a gun on him, threatening to shoot him if he does not hand over the diary, however he is distracted from Thomas when chaos erupts in the bar over news of Lincoln’s assassination. Thomas rips several pages from the diary and throws them in the fireplace. The gunman shoots him and attempts to retrieve the pages, only succeeding in saving a small piece. The dying Thomas gasps, “The war is over,” but the man disagrees, stating, “You’re wrong about that, the war has only just begun,” and rushes from the bar. With his final breath, Thomas tells his young son, Charles Gates, “The debt that all men pay.”

Over 100 years later, Ben Gates is telling his great-great grandfather’s story at a conference on Civilian Heroes to great acclaim until black market dealer Mitch Wilkinson shows one of the eighteen missing pages of John Wilkes Booth’s diary, with Thomas Gates’ name on it, convincing everyone that Thomas was the mastermind behind the Lincoln assassination. Ben sets out to prove the innocence of his great-great grandfather.

Using spectral imaging, Ben discovers a cipher pointing to Édouard Laboulaye hidden on the back of the diary page. He travels to Paris, where he finds a cryptic clue engraved on the torch of the scale model of the Statue of Liberty on the Île des Cygnes in Paris, referring to the two Resolute desks. Ben heads to Buckingham Palace, seeking out the closer of the two desks. With the help of his friend Riley Poole and estranged girlfriend, Abigail Chase, he is able to sneak into the Queen’s office to find an ancient wooden plank hidden in the desk. He is then pursued by Wilkinson, who, having broken into his father Patrick Gates’ house, has cloned Patrick’s cell phone in order to track Ben’s whereabouts. Wilkinson eventually obtains the piece, but not before Ben manages to photograph the symbols carved into the plank.

At Ben’s insistence, Patrick reluctantly asks his ex-wife, Emily, for help in translating the mysterious glyphs. She does so, but points out that some of the glyphs are partial, leading Ben to conclude another plank must be hidden in the other Resolute desk, which is located in the Oval Office. With the unknowing help of Abigail’s new love interest, who works for the White House, Ben and Abigail coax their way into the office to see the desk, where Ben discovers that the second plank is missing. However, he does find a stamp bearing the seal of the Book of Secrets. According to Riley, the Book of Secrets contains documents collected by Presidents for Presidents’ eyes only, covering such controversial subjects as the JFK assassination, Watergate, and Area 51.

To find the location of the book, Ben causes the President’s birthday party to be held at Mount Vernon by booking all other approved locations. When Ben sneaks into the party, he convinces the President to follow him into a secret tunnel under the House where he confronts him about the book; the President sympathetically warns Ben that his actions will be interpreted as an attempt to kidnap the President, confirming a conclusion Ben and his companions have already reached; Ben is now wanted for committing a federal offense. Appealing to the President’s well-known love for history, Ben convinces the President to reveal the location of the book (which turns out to be in the Library of Congress). The President also tells him to read page 47 as well as the information he needs. In the book, Ben finds a picture of the plank from the desk and a note saying that President Coolidge found it in 1924, had it destroyed, and had the Mount Rushmore monument built to hide the treasure.

At Mount Rushmore, Ben, Riley, Abigail, and Patrick meet Mitch, who has kidnapped Ben’s mother. Mitch provides a clue to the entrance of a cave containing the legendary native American city of gold, Cíbola. Despite several traps they manage to find the city, but rising flood waters force them to leave. In the last room before the exit, a mechanism requires one person to stay behind while the others could leave. Mitch forces everyone to let him go first, but rising water forces him to be the last person left. Ben tries to help him out, but Mitch cannot come to Ben without the door closing. Mitch decides to sacrifice himself and allow the others to escape the flooding cavern, and Ben agrees to give him credit for finding the treasure. Ben clears his family’s name with the discovery and is cleared of all charges when the President tells everyone that Ben saved his life after the door to the tunnel closed accidentally. Ben also ensures Mitch receives joint credit for the find. The President then asks Ben about what he read on page 47 of the Book of Secrets, to which Ben replies: “It’s life-altering”.

Well, most of them did. A SATC review featuring a photo of “Cynthia Nixon (right) w/Lesbian Partner” alerted us that we’d stumbled into the land of the rightbloggers, where blockbuster movies are not mere entertainments, but fronts in the culture war.

In her epic “Hags And The City” tirade, TV commentator Debbie Schlussel told readers that the “sleazy and low-class” central characters “look like female impersonators in drag,” are “pigs in skirts” and, worst of all, serve as “Delphic oracles to far too many American women.”

While the Oracle at Delphi spoke for Apollo, apparently Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte speak for “America’s feminists and the phony mainstream media” who, Schlussel said, give their message “the kosher seal of approval,” thereby covering an extra theological base.

But what is their message? Schlussel didn’t focus long enough to inform us, but some clues could be gleaned from her ravings. “Because they dined in glamorous places, wore trapezoid shaped clothes and $1,000 fancy high heels,” wrote Schlussel, “this somehow made their low-brow, savage behavior, ‘classy.’” So perhaps the message is that the rich can get away with things that the rest of us can’t. Schlussel also said that the inclusion of Jennifer Hudson in the film was meant to “answer the complaints over the years by Black America, that there were no Black women in this fashionable pay cable TV gang of hos.” Add tokenism to the film’s sins. Finally, “If you’ve ever called men pigs or chauvinists or decried their alleged collective behavior toward women, but yet you like this movie, you’re a hypocrite.” SATC is an affront to feminism! Schlussel’s argument seems based on race, gender, and class issues normally addressed by Women’s Studies professors. We hope this doesn’t get around or Schlussel may never appear on Fox News again.

“That sleazy yet hallowed HBO television series ‘Sex and the City’ is now in theaters as a feature film,” wrote longtime culture scold Brent Bozell at Human Events, “and the cultural elites are having a religious experience.” Apparently having failed to score a ticket to this Black Mass, Bozell attacked the original series for its failure to promote marriage: “What this feminist phenomenon didn’t have and didn’t need, apparently, was a woman who would choose to marry young… The series could have been called ‘Sex and the Skittish’ for all the phobias about the boredom and lost independence of married life.” As if that weren’t bad enough, SATC also turned girls into sluts, as Bozell showed with an ABC News story about a 14-year-old who, influenced by the show, had sex and Cosmos till she saw the error of her ways and became Mormon. The precocious teen said, “It wasn’t Sex and the City’s fault,” but Bozell corrected her: “Hollywood can certainly argue that it didn’t make the naughty people act on their naughty impulses. It merely told them it would be glamorous and liberating to do so.” Personal responsibility, it would seem, stops at the cineplex’s edge.

Sex and the City – The Complete Series (Collector’s Giftset)

Kay S. Hymowitz of the City Journal did see the film, and seemed to have enjoyed it, but yet retained an annoying (for her and for us) feeling that the right message wasn’t being promoted. For Hymowitz, it was actually the series that spoke truth to promiscuity: “In the opening credits of the TV show, the pleased-as-punch, fashion-forward Carrie gets splashed by a New York City bus — symbolizing the characters’ inevitable comeuppance in each episode,” she wrote. “In the movie, though, there is no splashing.” We hoped at first that last word was a misprint, but alas, Hymowitz was lamenting the film’s four-way happy ending: “Lacking the urbane and witty realism that made the series television gold,” she wrote, “Sex and the City is simultaneously sentimental love story and starry-eyed liberation fantasy.” Love and liberation! Well, there’s always the director’s cut DVD.

National Review Kathryn J. Lopez didn’t mind the happy ending, but was concerned for the souls of the audience with whom she shared a midnight show of SATC: “They’re delighted — cheering — when nice-girl Charlotte tells [Mr. Big] off, curses the day he was born, hits him with her shopping bags,” she reported. “Mr. Big was one of the last people in the City who needed to be told off.” Worse came after the showing: “‘Oh my God, but he’s soooo cute,’” said one “gal… referring to the decision of Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) to leave the (soooo cute) guy who loves her because she loves herself more. The next thing I heard was, ‘F*** you, b**ch’ as a group of girls were annoyed someone else got the first cab.” Lopez worried that the swooning, swearing girls were missing the film’s “cultural lessons.” But like Debbie Schlussel, she wasn’t clear about what those were: after writing that “Sex encourages lust for the designer labels and ‘booty calls’” and “the self-conscious lesson Carrie sends us off with is to feel free ‘to write your own rules,’” she concluded that “the deeper message of the film is that it’s not hooking up but true love and marriage and children they want.”

Maybe she just enjoyed the film, but couldn’t leave it at that: for her, SATC was “an important cultural contribution” that had to be stuffed into her preconceptions like a size-6 foot into a size-5 shoe. Perhaps sensing this, Lopez later elaborated on her review, providing a reading list of conservative authors (“Michael and Harriet McManus do a good job of presenting the practical drawbacks of cohabitation”) that probably actually tell the story she wanted SATC to tell — and will tell if she has anything to say about it. “We all have a role to play in cultural renewal,” she wrote. “Even Sarah Jessica Parker, even if she doesn’t know it.”

In conservative paradise, you won’t have to see movies at all: just read the morality lectures based on them, and be culturally renewed. Coming next: Kung Fu Panda presages a religious awakening in China, The Strangers argues for strict interpretation of the Second Amendment, and the new Indiana Jones movie teaches a valuable lesson about the evils of Communism. (Oops — they beat us to it.)

Sex and the City – The Complete Series (Collector’s Giftset)

Persepolis