MediaMenu

These listings cover television programs up to Thursday, June 13th.

Greetings, TV viewers!

The Whyville Book Hour on Wednesday is the MediaHour choice this week. But there is also a lot of great earth science this time -- geology, seismology (about earthquakes), and geography. Get into it!

Want some clams? Watch the show-of-the-week, then talk about them with me and other citizens (including other City Workers, if they're available) at the Greek Theater, over in City Hall. You'll find that the Theater makes discussions pretty easy, since City Workers are able to direct people's movement and behavior, when we need to, and keeps everyone's chat bubbles from overlapping too much. We meet for MediaHour on Wednesdays from 6:30pm and 7:30pm Whyville Time (that's the same as Eastern Daylight Time).

If you see the show, then come and really take part in the meeting, you'll get up to 50 clams from City Hall... you like that?

Everyone is welcome to write to me what you and your parents think: Y-mail me, the MediaWiz of Whyville!

And now... the Media Menu!

Friday, June 6

"Book Club Of The Air For Young Adults" (http://www.kpcc.org -- streaming audio 5-5:30pm ET, 2-2:30pm PT) Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli will be discussed by a live in-studio group of middle school students and also by kids calling in by phone. Log on www.kpcc.org and click on the "Live KPCC" link. The station's site also provides an opportunity to hear the archived edition of the program which will be put on the web after the broadcast. Also, read the book so you can participate in the Media Hour on Whyville, June 11th.

Saturday, June 7

"Post-Impressionists: Van Gogh and Gauguin" (A&E Network, 1-3 pm E/P) This is a documentary about two struggling artists, Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin and their "Studio of the South of France". Their collaboration lasted only 9 weeks and revealed their radically different approaches to painting, but proved critical to the development of each artists' work, identity, and destiny, and produced works that helped set the stage for much of modern art.?? Also log on to two visually rich websites http://www.biography.com/features/postimpressionists/vangogh.html and http://www.biography.com/impressionists.

Sunday, June 8

"60 Minutes" (CBS, 7-8 pm E/P) This newsmagazine contains 3 reports: "Zion's Christian Soldiers" -- Israel may have no bigger supporters than America's Christian Right, but some Jews believe there is a hidden agenda. "Martha Stewart" -- a profile of the domestic diva, whose future is now in jeopardy because she has been indicted for securities fraud. "Debate" -- how high school debating can instill confidence and motivation in inner-city students.

"Michael Palin's Travels: Around The World In 80 Days" (Bravo Network, 7-8 pm E/P) This is a fabulous geography lesson. It's based on Jules Verne's classic novel, "Around The World In 80 Days", where the challenge was to circumnavigate the globe fighting the clock. In Victorian times, there were no jets to make the journey easy. Nor were there any for actor/writer Michael Palin who wherever possible chose the same antique transport as Jules Verne's fictional hero, Phineas Fogg.?? The voyage begins in the Reform Club in London, then goes to to Paris, Venice, Suez, Dubai, the Strait of Hormuz, Bombay, Madras, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, California and a dash across America. The program's website http://www.palinstravels.co.uk/static/7 has cool stuff with the feel of Indiana Jones' adventures.

Monday, June 9

"Assignment Discovery" (Discovery Channel, 9-9:30 am E/P) This is a documentary for taping and taking to school. With attention shifting away from Iraq back to Afghanistan it's time to chart the history of U.S. involvement there -- from the time of the Soviet invasion to civil war between ethnic tribes to the rise of the Taliban and Osama Bin Laden. This program also reviews the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the historical claims to the land made by both sides.

Tuesday, June 10

"Bloodlines: Technology Hits Home" (PBS, 9-10?? pm E/P -- check local listings) This program explores how science and the courts are defining the ways Americans deal with the ethical, legal and social dilemmas created by technologies such as cloning and genetics testing.?? It's accompanying website travels through time and explore the history of genetic and reproductive technology in terms of ethics, commerce and law. http://pbs.org/bloodlines

"Below the Volcano: Mount St. Helens" (Travel Channel, 9-10 pm E/P) This is a documentary about the volcanic site of Mount St. Helens in Washington State. Twenty years ago, its cataclysmic blast took the lives of 57 people and destroyed everything in its path. (Also watch the program Friday, June 13 about how a volcano destroyed the ancient Roman resort city of Pompeii.)

Wednesday, June 11

"Whyville Media Hour/Book Discussion" (http://www.whyville.net -- click on Greek Theater in the bus menu, 6:30-7:30 pm ET, 3:30-4:30 pm PT) Here's an opportunity to say what you think about Maniac Magee, Jerry Spinelli's novel about a brilliant, homeless 10 year-old.

Thursday, June 12

"Journey to the Center of the Earth" (Discovery Channel, 9-11 pm E/P -- repeats June 14 at 3pm E/P) This documentary presents a modern scientific description of events in Jules Verne's classic adventure novel, "Journey To The Center Of The Earth". Verne's journey was fiction, but the Victorian explorers in that book "discovered" more than they realized. Compare the fascinating revelations of modern earth science with Verne's astounding insight.

Friday, June 13

"The Private Lives of Pompeii" (A&E Network, 9-11 pm E/P, TV Rated PG) Parents should view this documentary along with children 13 and under because some historical information shown about Roman resort-city life is disturbing -- in the same way that modern daytime soap opera story-lines are. The Romans lived well before everything got buried in volcanic ash, but they were not always polite to one another in the midst of their luxury. Through dramatizations and computer graphics, this program offers a look at the people who lived and died in Pompeii, buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. Fictionalized characters grounded in historical fact include an ambitious freed slave??and??the son of an aging aristocrat.?? The website companion website is
http://www.channel4.co.uk/history/microsites/H/history/rome/pompeii4.html.

"Sound and Fury" (PBS, 10-11?? pm E/P -- check local listings) This documentary takes viewers inside the world of the deaf to witness a painful family struggle over the cochlear implant, a controversial medical device that can help deaf people regain hearing. Is this a medical miracle or a threat to deaf culture? At the companion website you can learn more about deaf culture and how to spell your name with sign language. http://pbs.org/soundandfury/

"Julius Caesar" (A&E Channel, 8-9 pm E/P)?? This is a documentary about a person whose very name is a synonym for "ambition". As a general in the Roman army, he turned his military victories into political power and
created a colossal empire.?? But to his countrymen, Caesar was an upstart, a gambler, and a tyrant. He destroyed the Roman Republic -- where leaders were elected -- and paved the way for the rule of emperors??-- who murdered their way into office.?? There's an interesting webside available at http://aetv.chtah.com/a/tA$4K8GADspiuANTI0pAL7aq-46/aecl1 which mentions, among other things, Caesar's epilepsy.