skandalon

An especially disturbing section of the book delves into a lawsuit brought against Eli Lilly by survivors of a rampage by Joseph Wesbecker, who was the company’s worst nightmare: a Prozac user who went on the rampage in 1989 with an AK-47. Fortunately for Eli Lilly, the 1994 trial was concurrent with the O. J. Simpson trial, the facts were carefully manipulated, a secret settlement was made between plaintiffs and the drug company even as the trial continued, and Prozac avoided a warning label about possibly violent or suicidal behavior. All the particulars of this remarkable legal travesty are laid out here.

✖ Via The New York Times: “Exploring a Dark Side of Depression Remedies” by Janet Maslin, June 29, 2000.

The quote above is an excerpt from the review of the book Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil and Other Antidepressants With Safe, Effective Alternatives by Joseph Glenmullen, M.D. (383 pages. Simon & Schuster). On the same subject, read also “Papers indicate firm knew possible Prozac suicide risk” by Tom Watkins, January 3, 2005:

An internal document purportedly from Eli Lilly and Co. made public Monday appears to show that the drug maker had data more than 15 years ago showing that patients on its antidepressant Prozac were far more likely to attempt suicide and show hostility than were patients on other antidepressants and that the company attempted to minimize public awareness of the side effects. (more)

Previously on Skandalon: Eli Lilly and Co.

• Sep 03, 2010 link notes tagged: technology rampage lawsuit antidepressant drug Prozac depression suicidal suicide homicide violence psychiatry pharmaceutical science industry capitalism individuation

Unlike, say, her performance at the Grammys, which was a perfect fusion of spectacle (a nine-months-pregnant woman rapping in a see-through dress) with content (Maya’s fervor was linked to the music), the video for “Born Free” feels exploitative and hollow. Seemingly designed to be banned on YouTube, which it was instantly, the video is set in Los Angeles where a vague but apparently American militia forcibly search out red-headed men and one particularly beautiful red-headed child. The gingers, as Maya called them, using British slang, are taken to the desert, where they are beaten and killed. The first to die is the child, who is shot in the head. While “Born Free” is heard in the background throughout, the song is lost in the carnage. As a meditation on prejudice and senseless persecution, the video is, at best, politically naïve.

“The video was more than fine with me,” Jimmy Iovine told me later that night. Despite Maya’s efforts, he had seen it. “I didn’t even have a blink.” A canny showman, Iovine knew that the video would get attention, that Maya would get her visa (which she did) and that all the noise was good for business. He has a long history of driving record sales with violent imagery: in the 1990s, Interscope was home to Death Row Records, where Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Tupac Shakur made millions rapping about all things gangsta. Iovine also appreciates the outrageous: Interscope’s biggest artist is Lady Gaga, who has melded big-time theatricality with disco-based pop, a kind of love child of Elton John and Madonna.

✖ Via The New York Times: “M.I.A.’s Agitprop Pop” by Lynn Hirschberg, May 25th, 2010

Excellent article by Lynn Hirschberg and a great follow up on the “Born Free” music video controversy.

[UPDATE - August 16th, 2010] Apparently, M.I.A. didn’t like the article by Lynn Hirschberg:

MIA is upset about a New York Times Magazine cover story about her, so she tweeted the phone number of the piece’s writer, Lynn Hirschberg.

“917.834.3158 CALL ME IF YOU WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT THE N Y T TRUTH ISSUE, ill b taking calls all day bitches ;)” she wrote.

Because MIA presented the number as her own, Hirschberg has been deluged with calls from fans wanting to hook up with MIA. (The Huffington Post: “M.I.A. Freaks Out At ‘New York Times,’ Tweets Reporter’s Phone Number”, June 2, 2010)

• Jun 08, 2010 link notes tagged: art video music pop culture mainstream entertainment industry consumption critic integration representation revolution simulacrum loser lost violence contradiction controversy media

technology communication iphone object node network ecosystem ecology industry apparatus data vizualisation diagram representation

✖ Via Ben Millen: iPhone Taxonomy

“These are not maps in any conventional sense, but rather diagramatic representations of the interconnected space of technology, capital, instrumental value, exchange value, social and environmental impact that surround the device. The first diagram focuses primarily on the physical device, and the existence of the device as an object in our world. The second examines the placement of the device with respect to the individual and society.” (more)

About Ben Millen:

“Ben Millen is a Canadian industrial designer and engineer. He is a graduate of the Environmental Design/ Industrial Design master’s program at the University of Calgary and holds a degree in Systems Engineering from the University of Guelph.” (more)

First spotted via Kottke

• Jun 07, 2010 link notes tagged: technology communication iPhone object node network ecosystem ecology industry apparatus data vizualisation diagram representation

animal catastroph disaster industry nature news oil technology bp

✖ Via Boston.com / The Big Picture: “Oil spill approaches Louisiana coast” April 30th, 2010. AP Photo/The Sun Herald, William Colgin

“Two brown pelicans and a flock of seagulls rest on the shore of Ship Island as a boom line floats just offshore Thursday, April 29, 2010 in Gulfport, Miss. Several hundred yards of boom line has been set up on the north side of the island to try and contain the oncoming oil spill. Crews are placing the boom in different areas on Coast waterways to help protect against an approaching oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico.” (more)

The photo is related to the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion.

• May 03, 2010 link notes tagged: animal catastroph disaster industry nature news oil technology BP

A lot of the people who read a bestselling novel, for example, do not read much other fiction. By contrast, the audience for an obscure novel is largely composed of people who read a lot. That means the least popular books are judged by people who have the highest standards, while the most popular are judged by people who literally do not know any better. An American who read just one book this year was disproportionately likely to have read ‘The Lost Symbol’, by Dan Brown. He almost certainly liked it.

✖ Via The Economist, “A World of Hits”, Nov. 26, 2009

Very interesting article offering a critic of the “long tail” model developped by Wired editor Chris Anderson. The article was written last November. By now, Avatar has become the second highest grossing film of all time, just behind Titanic (1997). In the summer of 1998, a few months after the success of Titanic, the relative failure of Godzilla had some analyst wondering if the “blockbuster era” was coming to an end. At the time, Peter Bart (then Variety’s editor-in-chief) offered a good portrait of the situation in his book The Gross (Amazon link).

Previously on Skandalon: First feedback from audience and critics for James Cameron’s Avatar

• Jan 10, 2010 link notes [via] tagged: art technology communication mass crowd Consumption marchandise popular blockbuster best-seller industry America audience ressource statistics