Capture of Culture- The Internet's Own Boy

"To Aaron it was more important to play a big part in a small change than a small part in a big change, but SOPA was like a major part in a major change."




In an age where access and information is heavily guarded and traded, people have been finding ways to get around the government set boundaries of what is free on the internet. By the time he was a teen, Aaron Swartz was hacking away at codes and participated in seminars across the country in which he would discuss the importance of internet freedom. In his early twenties, Aaron became a founder of Reddit, which put him on the map as a pioneer of innovation. But, bored with being an entrepreneur, Aaron turned to politics. He worked with other researchers and internet activists to find ways to bring to light what the government was doing to the internet. Aaron was also concerned with loss of important information on the internet because companies would have monopolies on access. JStore, for example, was the leading collector of scientific research journals. Being able to get access to those articles meant you had to have a credit card to pay for them, or that you would have to live on a campus which had open access to their archives. Appalled by the idea that people would have to pay in order to gain knowledge that should be free, Aaron decided to do something about it. In the basement of MIT, Aaron set up a computer and began to download every article from JStore onto a hard drive. MIT had free access to JStore archives and with these articles downloaded Aaron had a chance to liberate the use of them by posting them to the web for free so that others could enjoy them. However, the FBI got footage of Aaron's hackings of JStore and threatened him. All of Aaron's actions became monitored, and he was threatened with jail time and loss of access to computers. Before he was officially indicted for his crimes, Aaron became a lead activist on capital hill, bringing to light corruption against free internet. He brought attention to the SOPA bill and helped spread information that changed the outcome of the vote, protecting the internet and her many users. After SOPA blew over, Aaron was still in hot water with the FBI and in 2013 he committed suicide. His story led to massive outcries of the people. He was the Internet's Own Boy, and everyone felt his loss.




I have to admit, I don't know much about internet politics, or politics in general to be honest, but what I do know is that the people who make the biggest changes for good are the ones that are often taken too soon. Aaron was able to accomplish so much in his short time. He was a champion of the cause of Freedom, and for that, he gets much admiration. It's scary to think that somewhere in a cubicle, a government official is reading this post because I talk about SOPA and Aaron Swartz. There is so much we don't know, and that prospect can be frightening.


Here is a link to the documentary-


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXr-2hwTk58&list=WL&index=1

Stream of the Week- Unbreakable

Sometimes a hero isn't from outer space.




In every comic book, there is a hero. For every hero there is a time at which he is unaware of his capabilities. Someone, somewhere, sometime found him and helped him become the hero he is in that literary present of a fantasy fiction. In real life, we don't usually see this things happen. But, for every hero we imagine, there must be one man who actually is one. Plagued with brittle bones and an unhealthy existence, Elijah Price spent his entire life absorbed in comics. Eventually his obsession led him to craft theories about the existence of real supermen, those stories had to be based off of something after all. After searching for a lone survivor in multitudes of accidents, Elijah stumbled upon David Dun, a security guard. David survived a train wreck without injury, in fact he was the only survivor. After hearing his story, Elijah invited him to visit his comic book store to share his theory and to ask if David had ever been sick or injured. If he had, this would greatly reduce the chances of David being the superhero he was looking for; superheroes just don't take sick days. His lack of sickness and injury led David's son to believe Elijah's theories, to the point where he was willing to test the limits of his dad's strength and invincibility. David's abilities increase leading him to begin to believe Elijah's theories which even prompt him to become a real hero through his actions.



This is not a superhero film. There is no intense action or wildly shot action scenes. It's about a sick man and a healthy man. That being said, there's no reason that it should not be viewed as a hero's story. I have often wondered about what sort of stories M. Night Shyamalan has been attempting to tell, and in this one I believe he theorizes about the abilities of men who think they are common. If you think you are weak, you will never try to be strong. What is very interesting in this film is the way Shyamalan integrates David's ability to see the actions of people he touches. It plays an important role in David's transformation to hero. It also shows how many villains there are among the "common", average, everyday people. In these scenes, Shyamalan differentiates the villains by giving them a color distinction which makes them stand out against the grayness of the background which has been desaturated. All of these factors help him craft a very important story.

Capture of Culture- Fed Up

You know you have a problem when the newest generation of children have a shorter life expectancy than their parents.




Childhood obesity and diabetes have swept the nation in the last few decades. More and more children are dying due to an increase in food related health issues. Government issues on food reforms are greatly altered by big companies like Coke and Pepsi. They have shifted the focus from weight issues being an intake problem to being an issue created by the actual victims of obesity. For years, the government and companies have promoted the idea that "through diet and exercise, you can solve your weight issues." However, through the course of this documentary, it has been concluded that the mantra of the government funded and researched plans is not entirely accurate. When fats were shown to have detrimental causes on the health of consumers, food companies responded by "cutting" their percentages of fats in products. Instead, they replaced them with sugar. Sugar, as explained through various tests, is actually more addictive than many drugs. It tricks the body into thinking it is more hungry than it really is causing overeating. One taste of sugar makes the body think it's getting more. Sugar has been added to every product. There is sugar in baby formula just so that we can condition these habits into younger generations cultivating them to be consumers. Marketing doesn't help either. Celebrities and cartoon characters sell products that entice children to eat more and more sugar. This makes it even more difficult for children to avoid these products because it goes against all of their previous training. There is a lot more to the obesity crisis than meets the eye.




I recently read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley in my English class. The main premise of the book is that 600 years in the future children are genetically created in test tubes, and raised in labs to be conditioned for predetermined jobs and lifestyles so that they will always be happy in their position. The characters don't seem to be aware of how much control the government has over them. It releases only the information it wants to and keeps the population on a steady diet of entertainment and "soma" which is a drug that acts like alcohol, but leaves no side effects. Huxley's world seems terrifying to anyone reading the book today, but if we look at the world around us, we're not far off of his predictions. We praise the modern industrialists (Oh, Ford!) and are kept entertained by carefully regulated products approved by the government and big corporations (the feelies). We no longer live in a democratic state, but rather a capitalist society, our health bought and sold for a few grams of sugar.

Stream of the Week- Remember Me

Don't worry Robbie, you don't have to be sparkly to be an obsessive romantic.

Tyler was a truly broken individual. His brother died at 22 and broke his family to pieces, leaving Tyler a boy with no ambition or drive. Whenever he could Tyler wrote to his brother in a journal leaving him snippets of his life which seemed mundane for so long. Until one night Tyler was arrested for getting in a fight outside of a bar. He mouthed off to a cop and landed in jail until his rich daddy sent in a $450 an hour lawyer to bail him out, just like he always would have. Not present, but there enough to fulfill his duties. Tyler and his roommate felt that their arrest had been unfair, and in retaliation, Tyler's roommate suggested that he introduce himself to the cop's daughter who went to college with them. Just a bet; a bit of fun. But, Tyler's introduction to Ally led to the most beautifully inspiring string of events for Tyler to tell his brother about. Ally swooped into Tyler's life, helping him clean up piece by piece the little broken bits of him scattered around New York. She too came from a difficult past, and when Ally got scared she showed up on Tyler's doorstep and found her home and solace. Together, they managed to push themselves forward, but it was too happy. Ally had to find out about the incident with her father sooner or later. When she did, Ally was heartbroken and alone. Tyler was left in shambles and on top of everything, his favorite person his 11 year old sister gets attacked at a sleepover leaving him devastated and mortified for her. This event brings his separated family together as they ban together to support his little sister, Ally included. Everything is temporary.

God, if you ever need me to cry on que, show me the last ten minutes of this film, and I promise to sob from deep within my soul. There is something beautiful about that whirlwind type of romance that gets to my core and hollows me out. I believe it. I believe that Tyler and Ally existed. It's not perfect because nothing can be, but what's important is that they felt something, and I felt it too. Maybe it's cliché, but I won't forget this film for a very long time.

Capture of Culture- Journey to Planet X

What happens when scientists become sci-fi film makers?

Eric and Troy have been producing short film after film in their spare time using whatever equipment they can get. Their films have always revolved around their personal interest in fantasy and science fiction genres, but their production value has lent itself to making them appear cheap and campy. With their newest project, Planet X, the pair planned to up the production value and take their film to the next level. Eric is super laid-back. His interest in the projects stems from his desire to generally have a good time, where as Troy is very focused on making the project as successful as they possibly can. The documentary follows their entire process, from getting their original script storyboarded to having a casting call, from green screen filming to final editing and screening. Their investment into the project led to an enthusiasm among the cast and crew to make the project the best that it could be. The journey is really more about Eric and Troy than it is about space crafts and the increase in technology's power. Eric and Troy went from making small six-minute projects to hosting a full cast and crew in their small greenroom. The advancement of small time filmmakers lends itself to infinite creativity and Eric and Troy just want in on it.

I have never claimed to be a filmmaker. Goodness knows I don't put enough thought into my videos to even call them film, but anyone can appreciate the amount of time and effort these two have put into their project. And though we are spoiled by blockbuster animations and acting, what these two have achieved is really monumental for amateur filmmakers. No one would've thought ten years ago that a filmmaker could post an ad on craigslist to find an animator to help finish their film or that two guys and a camera could produce something so large scale for such a small amount of production value. The responses to their film were mostly comments of amusement and humor. They made the film to be serious, but because of the violence and the amateur quality of the special effects and actors, it came across as a humorous stab at sci-fi. In this way, I think we have appreciate more of the home grown, backyard, guerilla films that take the bare minimum of what technology has to offer and produce a full scale project. I say keep filming. The world could use more fun films made by people who thoroughly enjoy what they're doing.

Stream of the Week- 9 to 5

"You can't tell me not to do m&ms."

Three female employees are tired of being constantly sexualized, looked over, and berated by their male chauvinist boss. After a particularly bad day, Judy, Violet, and Doralee all get together to complain about their boss Frank Hart. While together, they each fantasize about how they would kill him. The next day, however, Violet accidently uses rat poison  in Hart's coffee. Thinking that she actually killed her boss, Violet goes into a panic and attempts to cover up her tracks, but the body of her boss is no where to be found. The next day Hart walks into the office as if nothing had happened. Doralee, Judy, and Violet are beyond relieved, but after gossiping with each other in the bathroom over their confusion with Hart and the coffee incident, Hart finds out about their almost murder. He attempts to use it over them, but in retaliation the girls kidnap him and tie him up in his house while his wife is on vacation. They find a way to blackmail him, but the paper trail proving his guilt is still being processed by the companies computers so their small weekend kidnapping turns into a four week hostage situation. In his absence at work, Doralee, Judy, and Violet find ways to improve the work environment of the office making up for the lack of compassion and common decency in their boss. Their ideas increase employee contentment and productivity making their office a shining jewel in the companies crown. They tip the balance of justice so that everyone is treated fairly by management again.

I always love a good girls take over film. The interaction between Judy, Doralee, and Violet is fantastic. It shows what it's really like to work in a male dominated office jungle full of unfair policies and practices. Some of their best work came from trying to make it easier for women to both work and have a family which greatly increased productivity in the office. They also instituted an equal pay incentive, which if it would have lasted, would have been a huge leap for women in the workplace (we still earn about 78 cents on every male dollar earned). It's important to remember that a workplace is more than just a job, it's a place of people.

Capture of Culture- Showrunners:The Art of Running a TV Show

What you love for 45 minutes each week someone spent 6 years trying to make.

 

TV is a growing industry as more and more serialized shows are popping up on the networks. Millions of people tune in each week to watch their favorite show putting a ton of pressure on the guys responsible for making it. A Showrunner is the guy with all the answers on set; (s)he is the writer, the producer, the man with the checkbook, and has the production company on speed dial. He makes every decision and is responsible for getting another episode out each week. It's a job with many titles and many responsibilities that 100% of the time burns out those who are worthy of it. Shows like Lost, Fringe, Leverage, and Spartacus all take hundreds of hours to write, produce, and edit and the Showrunner is present for every stage. They form personal relationships with their scripts, often writing the shows themselves, and still find the time to be the loudmouth on set who is directing all the action. The most important part of any production is not the outcome, but instead the work invested in the project. Shows like House of Lies and Boardwalk Empire don't run on audience love alone, but rather on the amount of work put in and the people propelling it forward. In this way a Showrunner may just be the most important person on set.

As with every documentary, I have a new found respect for anyone with enough salt for that kind of job. It appears to be grueling and unrewarding, but without them my Netflix cue would be completely empty. Showrunners throughout the film all give the consensus that it is a job you love, but hate all at the same time. The personalities best suited for that kind of job have to be able to use both their right brain and left brain extensively at the same time causing it to be so demanding that it often can't be done for long. Regardless of the success of a show, you must know that somewhere there is a writer on his third donut and fourth cup of stale coffee sleep deprived and giddy over the next installment of your favorite show.

Stream of the Week- 50 First Dates

Adam Sandler makes a woman fall in love with him every single day. I know; I'm as shocked as you are.

Henry was content spending his life as they guy that tourists spent a wonderful week with before going home back to their lives away from Hawaii. He had a new girl every week. That was, of course, until he met Lucy. The first time he met her, he saw her at a diner building a volcano from her waffles. He got her talking. He started coming back every day to talk to his Lucy, only every day he had to reintroduce himself because Lucy never remembered him. After a tragic car accident, Lucy lost her short-term memory making her think that she was reliving the same day every day. Her routine never varied and her father and brother made sure that everything was reset so it would match the day she thought she was living. But, Henry messed everything up by falling in love with Lucy. At first he would have to create new and different ways to meet her every day, but after a while he devised a plan to tell her what had happened through video and explained who he was so that the two of them could continue on as they had the day before, and the day before that, and so on. For a man who seemed to never commit, she was perfect. But, Henry really did fall for Lucy. He stopped caring about the fact that it was the same every day and settled for just seeing her and being with her every day. Lucy woke one morning to realize, though, that she didn't want to hold Henry back from chasing his dream which was to sail to Alaska. No matter how much he loved her, he wouldn't be able to be happy if he didn't chase it, so Lucy broke it off and erased him from whatever evidence of her life before. However, love seems to always conquer.

I'm not a Sandler fan, but I found Henry Roth to be entirely charming. His demeanors appeared to be one of a man who really was in love with his girl. There is this beautiful scene where Henry sings to Lucy about their time together. In that moment, all emotions get tugged on at once. You're sad, and happy; you're charmed and repulsed; you're jealous and supportive of Lucy. Everyone loves Lucy and that is an amazing thing to be every day.