What saith you Mr. Clark?

"LittleBigPlanet," described by review Web site IGN.com as an "instant classic," has been pulled from warehouses after it was noticed that one of its music tracks contained words from the Islamic holy text, the Quran.

The move is a blow to the Sony PlayStation game, seen as the console's first launch of an icon to match Nintendo's ubiquitous Mario, in which rag doll character Sackboy negotiates a lavishly designed world of platforms and challenges.

"We're sure that most of you have heard by now that one of the background music tracks that was licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Quran," a statement on the game's Web site said. |CNN|

Item: In virtue of what, exactly, might Muslims be offended? Ignorant Americans like me want to know! Is quoting the Quran blasphemous in the same way that depicting the prophet is blasphemous, or is this more of a robot-armies-attack-while-shouting-allahu-akbar type situation? CNN does not relate.

Predictably: The situation has created a speculative LittleBigPlanet bubble. At least I assume it's speculative. I invite anyone who disagrees to explain the fundamentals of the market to me.

Better than legos; or, More research than CNN saw fit to do:

Yesterday a reader sent us a link to a music file containing the two offending phrases, which can be found here. Hit the jump for the translation of the offending phrases.

The words are:

1- In the 18th second: "كل نفس ذائقة الموت" ("kollo nafsin tha'iqatol mawt", literally: 'Every soul shall have the taste of death').

2- Almost immediately after, in the 27th second: "كل من عليها فان" ("kollo man alaiha fan", literally: 'All that is on earth will perish').|Kotaku"|

A final note regarding our linguistic practices: Can't speak for anyone else, but I like seeing the wikitastic XxxxxYyyyyyNnnnn convention grow in prominence.

Political aesthetics

I sometimes think that liberal individualism is something like the intellectual and moral equivalent of the best modernist design — spare, elegant, functional — but hard to grasp or truly appreciate without a cultivated sense of style, without a little discerning maturity. National Greatness Conservatism is like a grotesque wood-paneled den stuffed with animal heads, mounted swords, garish carpets, and a giant roaring fire. Only the most vulgar tuck in next to that fire, light a fat cigar, and think they’ve really got it all figured out. But I’m afraid that’s pretty much the kind of thing you get at the Committee on Social Thought. If you declaim the importance of virtue loudly enough, you don’t have to actually think.

Wilkenson

Put it on toast

You know what consistently surprises me about Top Chef? The apparent unanimity of taste among the judges. The last thing you expect to find, especially at the highest levels, is conformity of aesthetic opinion. Think about painters. It's uncontroversial to say that Van Gogh, Picasso, Rubens, Matisse, O'Keefe, Rembrandt and Vermeer were all great painters. Imagine, though, being shown one painting by each and then being asked to pick a winner. Do that to a panel of expert judges and what you'd expect is a debate. So what gives with Top Chef? There's some back and forth between the judges, but rarely any sharp disagreements. How can it be so easy for the judges to agree on a winner to each challenge? Honestly, I suspect that the producers play a larger role than is acknowledged.

Also, I think Marcel gets a raw deal. Yes, he's kind of annoying. On the whole, though, he strikes me as less of an asshole than the median Top Chef contestant.

Addendum: And, of course, ten minutes after I post this debate breaks out. Go figure.