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.