Psycho

Lately, I have been working my way through the top 100 movies of all time. Last night I watched The Silence of the Lambs and it was absolutely phenomenal. Tonight’s movie was #29 on the list, Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Psycho is a classic black and white horror/suspense movie that was made in 1960. It is considered to be one of Hitchcock’s greatest works and is widely known for bringing a whole new level of acceptable violence and sexuality in films. Even though it is claimed to be one of the best movies of all time, I saw it very differently.

I thought Psycho was extremely long and it offered very little excitement. The movie spent an incredibly long time building up this exceptionally captivating plot, which I did enjoy till the movie killed off the main character ruining the entire plot. I went from being so wrapped up in this stunningly crafted story to feeling that I just wasted the past hour of my life. From there on the plot drearily dragged across the screen till the very end where it revealed the somewhat shocking twist. I should’ve been stunned at the sudden turn of events, but by then it was already too late.

On the flip side, I was impressed by Psycho’s musical score. It not only was a great addition to the movie, it was also able to increase the intensity of many of the scenes. This film also helped guide the movie industry to places it has never been to before. So while I didn’t enjoy the movie, I can respect how it has helped change the world.

Teaching to the Test

I came across this cartoon by Daryl Cagle which originally appeared on MSNBC.com that depicts a potential job employer interviewing a recent high school graduate. The interviewer asks the high school graduate how high school has prepared him for this potential job he is interviewing for. The high school graduate’s response shows a picture of a standard test answer sheet with the answer circles filled in.

I personally feel that this cartoon is trying to express that most public schools are not successfully preparing their students for the real world. This is because too often teachers have to “teach to the test” in order to get the funding that their school needs. Basically if the teacher’s classroom grades aren’t high enough, the funding from the government significantly declines. So to stop this from happening, the teachers teach the students exactly what is going to be on the test. Often times this causes the students to know what an answer is, but not fully understand the topic from where the answer came from. This is a horrible practice to allow. In the real world you aren’t allowed to just know an answer; you have to be able to understand the topics behind them. This practice causes students to have a deficiency of critical thinking skills which are necessary for future job employment. In my opinion standardized testing needs to be stopped. There are no benefits that students receive from it and the only benefit that the school receives is bragging rights over having the “smartest” students.

A Tax on the Stupid

I was recently read ABC's article entitled, "Mega Millions Fever: Tips for Buying Your Lucky Lottery Ticket”. This article, combined with a news video, tried to provide tips that would better the viewer’s odds of winning the lottery. Apparently ABC knows nothing about math, the lottery, and statistics, because the tips they provided are completely untrue.

The first tip they said is to pick your own numbers. They state that you have a greater chance of winning if you choose the numbers rather than letting the computer randomly pick the numbers for you. This is totally incorrect. Since the winning numbers are random anyway, it doesn't matter how the numbers were chosen.

Their second tip is to “do your homework”. They suggest going online and making sure the numbers you play have never won before. I going to assume that ABC didn’t do their homework because winning numbers are chosen completely at random. There is no combination of numbers that is overdue to be chosen.

The final tip they gave is to avoid lottery fever. When the lottery is high they suggest not go overboard with tickets because “the odds are still the same no matter how much you spend”. This is completely the opposite of the truth. Realistically, the more you buy the higher the chance you have to win.

Obviously ABC is trying to dumb down their articles enough to entice a less educated, more gullible audience. Instead of reporting on the news that is important to our country, ABC decided to encourage others to waste their money. There is only one tip that needs to be remembered before buying a lottery ticket and that is to not play the lottery.

The Death Penalty

I recently watched a video from the YouTube user ATXgambino entitled “Texas Death Penalty Video 2”. It is a pretty simple video with it only using a couple sentences and a string of photographs. It starts off by saying, “Texas Death Row Inmates.. Isn’t it MORONIC that our government kills people to show people that killing people is wrong?” After that it shows around three minutes of pictures of prisoners who are on death row while playing calming music. After the pictures, it ends by saying, “I’m not saying that these people don’t deserve to die. But WHAT IF ONE of them were innocent? What if it were YOU? Think about it…” It closes with an inmate giving us the finger while the screen says, “F--- The Death Penalty! And F--- it’s supporters!”

The mindset of the video’s producer is very clear, but its execution was lacking. Three minutes of flashing random people’s faces in the video gets old fast. I didn’t really understand that aspect of the video. How is that supposed to persuade me to joining their cause? The producer also used calming, relaxing music to try and coax people to feel sympathy for the prisoners. It seemed like the producer decided that if they couldn’t win people over with logic, they would try to use music instead. Now I will go on to the main point that the author was gunning for. The government isn’t “killing people to show people that killing people is wrong”. The government is killing people who have killed innocent individuals. Maybe it would have been a more fair argument if the user would’ve included a picture of the innocent person whose life was lost, next to the murder who took it. Finally, ending the video by showing an obscene gesture and using foul language made the video lose what little credibility that it already had.

Bad Education?

I recently read Sylvia Biu’s article entitled, “Homeschooling is a Bad Idea” on examiner.com. As I read, I was infuriated by some of the claims she tried to make about disadvantages of homeschooling. The article was extremely unprofessional and completely biased. Not only did she not include any sources to back up her position, it seemed like she also did no background research on the topic she was writing about. This could quite possible be one of the worst articles I have ever read by any news organization ever.

Starting off, Mrs. Biu declares that parents have to be a “previous honor student or a genius” in order to give quality education to their children. This is completely untrue. Many homeschoolers use very strict curriculums that clearly lay out everything the child will be taught for the day. Parents don’t have to be geniuses or honor students in order to successfully teach their child, they just have to be able to follow what’s already been planned out for them.

Mrs. Biu continues by saying that homeschooling is only for “severely disabled children or those otherwise unable to attend school for whatever reason”. It is very difficult to make me mad, but when I read that statement, I was extremely offended. Yes, homeschool is an excellent substitution for some disabled children, but it shouldn’t and doesn’t stop there. Homeschooling is an exceptional education method and while it might not be for everyone, it definitely works for a lot of people.

Next, Mrs Biu declares that homeschooling is “retarding a child by isolating him from the outside world”. Not only did she just bash all homeschoolers, she also used a word that offends many of special needs individuals. Homeschoolers are not social introverts. Many homeschoolers have a very active, thriving social life and are not shy at all. They participate in sports, go to dances, and have friends just like everyone else.

Following that she says that homeschoolers are missing the classroom experience and are losing out on being “challenged and encouraged by other students’ curiosity”. Homeschooling allows children’s natural curiosity to thrive. While public schools have to cater to the masses, homeschooling can focus on each child’s educational needs. If a child is struggling with a certain subject, they have the ability to stop and focus on that subject till they have completely mastered it, before moving on.

The next point Mrs. Biu makes is completely irrational. She says that schools are excellent monitors for abused and neglected children and homeschool children have no such oversight. It seems like she is try to infer that homeschooling parents like to beat their children. The only difference between homeschool families and public school families is the education method.

Her final point is that homeschoolers aren't learning healthy life habits. She continues by incorrectly assuming that homeschool children are taught in their pajamas in the middle of the afternoon. This is one of the biggest misconceptions there is about homeschooling. Homeschoolers do NOT just sleep all day and lazily decide when they want to start school. Many homeschoolers have an extremely strict schedule that they adhere to everyday.

I was homeschool my entire life until I reached college and I am, by no means, an idiot or even a social reject like this author tries to portray me as. It blows my mind how someone could write such an article and yet know nothing about it. It’s things like this that gives homeschooling a bad reputation.

Here is the article if you would like to read it for yourself: http://www.examiner.com/brooklyn-parenting-in-new-york/homeschooling-is-a-bad-idea

No Laughing Matter

This editorial cartoon by Bill Richards was posted in The Red and Black on April 17th, 2007. The cartoon portrays Virginia Tech’s logo on a black background with the “T” replaced with a smoking gun. This was just a day after the horrific school shooting which took place at Virginia Tech which killed 32 people and left 25 others wounded. Many readers were infuriated with this cartoon as it seemed to be joking about one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. At first I was also horrified when I saw this cartoon but after further consideration I feel that the cartoon’s artist made a vast error in the interpretation of his work. I believe the artist was trying to infer how Virginia Tech changed from a very prestigious school to a murder scene overnight.

There is a variety of reasons why the artist wasn’t able to successfully portray his thoughts. His first mistake was drawing a cartoon about a tremendously fresh, sensitive subject. If he would’ve waited just a little while, people wouldn’t have had such a harsh reaction to it. The second problem is that he posted this cartoon in Virginia Tech’s school newspaper. This school just went through an extremely traumatic experience where they lost many friends. This school needed support and sympathy, not cartoons about the tragedy. The final mistake that the artist made was that he didn’t consider how others would interpret his illustration. It seems like he didn’t even think about what he was drawing at all. All he needed to do was reflect back on his finished work before he published it to avoid this whole incident.

To Infinity and Beyond

It’s a movie with action, passion, and even heartbreaking moments that are all tightly woven into one remarkable masterpiece. Furthermore, it has been deemed a perfect work of art by many; this movie could be none other than Toy Story 3. Toy Story 3 is the final chapter in the 15 year-old Toy Story saga created by Pixar. It has captivated audiences with its visual appeal, astounding dramatic scenes, and nostalgia blasting elements.

Since the first premiere, over 15 years ago on November 22nd, 1995, audiences have fallen in love with the friendly and well-designed computer animated graphics. As Christopher Null, the founder of filmcritic.com, stated, “Toy Story, the first completely computer-animated movie ever, is fresh and funny, and it takes the state of animation to a heretofore undreamed-of level”. When Toy Story 2 came out on November 24th, 1992, it was even more visually stunning than the first. Finally, on June 18th, 2010, the high point of graphic excellent so far was reached as Toy story 3 far surpasses any computer animated movie made. Pixar’s attention to detail and ability to create magnificent animations that look astoundingly realistic yet have such a fresh appearance, help to draw audiences of all ages right into the action. For example, Pixar did an impressive job creating lighting, especially the shimmer of Lotso’s fur. But a movie with remarkable visual appeal is nothing if it doesn’t have a strong plot.

It goes from happy, to sad, to angry, back to happy, and finally leads up to the grand finale which will have you weeping like a baby. The plot takes you through an emotional rollercoaster but still is able to gently keep the flow of the movie going. One way that Pixar achieves this is by creating characters that people will connect and fall in love with. In Toy Story 3 they bring back all the old favorites, such as Woody, Buzz, and Jess, while also creating new batches of beloved characters, like Lotso, Ken, and Peas-in-a-Pod. Pixar also did an incredible job with carefully thinking out the perfect mix of action, comedy, passion, and sentimentality.

This movie did a fantastic job bring a wave of nostalgia over the audience. By sticking with the old style of toys, such as etch-a-sketch, Mr. Potato Head, and Slinky Dog, it allows people to be able to think back to their childhood days when they played with those very same toys. Also this movie brings back nostalgia by having the same art voice actors and art form throughout the progression of movies. The movies are years apart, but seeing one of them will remind you of the others. Also because the movies are years apart I feel like I grew right up with Andy and can reflect on when I was younger playing with similar toys. Finally, the movie did a great job with fitting perfectly with the past movies while still keeping the story flowing very well.

Toy Story 3 will be forever known as one of the greatest movies ever made, in fact the entire Toy Story trilogy will go down in history. This movie reshapes the animation business forever and truly set the bar high for other production companies. With the amazing visuals, awesome plot, and the nostalgia aspect, to me, this movie really did go to infinity and beyond.

Apple's Accident

Above is Apple's Commercial entitled "Accident" which was released in August of 2006. It starts off with two people on the screen: One, a boring looking middle-aged business man in a wheelchair, represents a PC and the other, a younger, more popular type person, represents a Mac. The PC starts to explain that he fell off his desk when someone tripped over his power cord and that’s the reason he is so badly damaged. The Mac responds by saying that his power cord is magnetic and when pulled it will just fall off. Then the PC sees his life flash before his eyes and he starts to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

This commercial bugs me for a couple of reasons; one of the main reasons is because it uses a string of fallacies to promote their product. The entire commercial is an attack on the PC which is an ad hominem argument. Apple spent more time focusing on the “failings” of the PC rather than talking about their own product. They also had a slippery slope argument when Apple insinuated that if you buy a PC you will trip over its power cord which will make the PC fall on the floor which will seriously damage the PC and cause it to completely stop working. Finally, I feel like Apple is begging the question when they try to convince their audience that their charger is better without showing any proof of their claim.

I personally feel that this is a very poorly thought out commercial. Because Apple’s products can sell themselves, Apple should’ve focused on their own products rather than trying to deface the products of others. If they did that, I would have so much more respect for them. But because they have already decided to take their company in this direction, I feel that they have already lost all of their integrity.

Imitator or Innovator?

On August 9, 2011, Apple's Siri software was released to the world. It became an overnight, worldwide success and is now widely known for its ease of use, realistic personality, and comical responses. Five months later, rumors have surfaced that Google's secret Project X team has been working nonstop to develop their own Siri type search tool called Majel. Majel is named after the voice for the Star Trek federation computer and will be able to control more complex actions such as apps and the device. Google is under a storm of attacks which claim that Google is just copying Apple and they are just being imitators and not innovators. I believe that it is Apple who is the imitator on the other hand, and let me explain why. Apple never came up with the idea for Siri, they didn't even make Siri. Siri was originally an application, made by a 3rd party, which was supposed to be available on both the Apple app store and the Google market place. Apple bought Siri, claimed it as their own, and just threw it into their phones. They weren't innovative at all; they just used money to expand their products. Google, on the other hand, has had voice capabilities built into their phones long before Siri was even in the planning phase. Although it is little known, android phones have the ability to send text, set alarms, and browse the web through voice communication. Siri copied Google and now Google is trying to regain the sales that are rightfully theirs. Google has been the innovator the entire time and Apple just tried imitating them.

Tooning Out Education

I analyzed Gary Varvel’s cartoon which appeared in unionleader.com on May 2, 2006. It’s a pretty simple cartoon, a teacher, I assume this because of the blackboard in the background, is talking to the parents of a student. The teacher is enlightening the parents on all of the sporty aspects of the school, while the parents are asking about why their child is failing. I feel with this cartoon, the artist is trying to convey the problem with the education system of today. It seems like he is trying to express that schools are focusing too much on athletic programs rather than spending their resources on what they are supposed to be doing, educating the leaders of the future. You can clearly see this drawn out by the teacher telling the parents all about the athletic department of the school instead of the educational programs. The look on the teacher's face shows that he seems to be more excited and proud of all the athletic programs the school has instead of focusing on his job, the students.

But I also believe this artist has included a double meaning in the cartoon by having the parents complaining to the teacher about their child’s grades instead of confronting their child. It reminds me of this cartoon by Daryl Cagle:

While teachers do have a big part in the education of their students, it is ultimately up to the students to keep their own grades up. Going back to the original cartoon, I feel that Gray Varvel was also trying to show that parent’s often blame teachers for their children’s problems. With this simple cartoon, the artist was able to effectively and concisely express his views of today’s flawed educational system.

SOPAthetic

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

–First Amendment of the Bill of Rights, 1789

Imagine a world whose freedom of speech is suppressed. Essentially taken away by the government. By the same government that forbidden the inhibiting of free speech in 1789. That is exactly what the government today is trying to do with SOPA. SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act and is designed to prevent the spreading of copyrighted material on the internet. I’ll admit that seems like a good idea in theory, but if this bill passes then the government will have the ability to take down any website that has any form of copyrighted material. If you upload your favorite song to YouTube, then the government would have the option to completely shut down the site. If your five year old daughter draws a cute picture of Mickey Mouse and you share it with your friends on Facebook, the government could remove Facebook from the web for good. If we allow the government to have their way, they will be able to censor basically anything that they don’t want the public to see. Even though this bill has been delayed, we still need to voice our opinions. Massive companies, like Google and Wikipedia, are already on board by encouraging others to contact their state’s representatives. If you haven’t already, then please contact your representatives or otherwise we might be faced with a world where freedom of speech is suppressed.