Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
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30
May
2010
An American Legend; Hopper Dead at 74
Few actors in film can say they’ve worked with the likes of six decades worth of stars ranging from James Dean, John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Peter Fonda, right up to Keanu Reeves and Kelsey Grammar. Dennis Hopper was one of those few. A true American legend of film has passed away yesterday due to complications from prostate cancer at his home in Los Angeles surrounded by his loved ones.
Dennis Hopper has an explosive but rocky start to his career. Hopper started in the mid-50s doing bit roles on television until his first major film role had him opposite of the All-American actor himself James Dean (whom Hopper was an immense fan of) in Rebel Without a Cause in 1955 and again in Giant in 1956. After James Dean’s fateful accident and death later in 1956, Hopper’s reputation as a “loose cannon” become apparent when he clashed with director Henry Hathaway on the set of From Hell to Texas when Hopper effectively refused to take directorial instructions from Hathaway for roughly 80 takes over several days. From this point on, Hopper’s career seemed almost doomed.
After studying under Lee Strasberg at the infamous Actor’s Studio in New York, Hopper caught a break when his (then) mother-in-law helped get him work with her close friend John Wayne. Hopper is known to have accredited the famous cowboy actor with saving his career with his roles in The Sons of Katie Elder and True Grit which launched Hopper back into the spotlight. During this time, Hopper also got a supporting role in Cool Hand Luke as well opposite Paul Newmann.
24
Oct
2009
Chris McCandless – A Reflection
Most of us live our lives tightly woven in the embrace of modern society. There are people like me who do manage to get away a few weeks in the year to the wilderness and throw off the shackles of technology and the conveniences of indoor plumbing and soft memory-foam beds, but even I am guilty of punching the clock and watching the world go by. Chris McCandless was an idealistic young man who shook off his shackles for good and set out to find himself and ultimately meet his end in the place he held so high.
Many of you will have probably read the Jon Krakauer book or seen the Sean Penn docu-drama film “Into The Wild” and know the general basis for this article while some of you may be reading about this for the first time. This amazing story (the film being based on the book) chronicles Chris McCandless from his comfortable suburban life and University education and follows his travels across America. Having given all of his money to charity, abandoning his 1970s Datsun B210 after it (and nearly he) was washed away in a flash flood, he set forth to his ultimate destination of Alaska. It was his ambition to live a period of solitude in the Alaskan countryside before returning to his life in society. Chris had no survival experience, very little money, and no means to get there. But that wouldn’t stop him.
Chris, renaming himself to Alexander Supertramp (a direct reference to the 1908 book The Autobiography of a Super-Tramp by William H. Davies), would make his way on foot to the far North. Along his way he would take any opportunity for exploration that he would encounter, almost always going into dangerous situations (such as canoing down the Colorado River into the Gulf of California) with very little preparation, experience, and equipment. For a time he worked in South Dakota in a grain mill where he began to prepare for his final destination and acquiring hunting and meat preservation tips from local hunters and friends. Having prepared, at least in his eyes, for his “Alaskan Odyssey,” he set for Fairbanks, Alaska where he bought a Remington Semi-Automatic .22LR (with 400 rounds), some very basic camping supplies (such as a sleeping bag, cooking pot, etc.), and a book on the local Alaskan flora and fauna.
27
Jun
2009
He’s Dead, Get Over It
If you use Facebook, you’ve by now noticed that four out of five of your friends mentioned Michael Jackson in one way or another, most of which are respectful of his death. He touched children, and that deserved respect? When did we as a society get to the point where if you’re a pop singer you can molest little boys and still have the love of the entire world?
It sickens me, it really does. Yeah, he had a great musical career and has millions of fans (I’m not one of them, his music sucks to me), but that’s not reason enough to overlook the deeds he did. Apparently it was enough for courts to overlook, because “oh my God, Michael Jackson is in my court room!” or “wow, I can’t believe I’m on the jury of my idol, he’s innocent for sure!”
A good example of how idiotic these fans are is Hitler. I’m not saying that this pedantic little jackass killed nine million people in mass genocide, but both men did something horrible to defenceless people who had nobody there to protect them. Hitler was a brilliant industrial leader who took Germany (democratically, mind you) from essentially a third world country after post WW1 hyper-inflation and the Great Depression and turned it into a world power in only six years. So we can overlook mass genocide because Hitler helped out Germany and effectively the entire world with his technological programs? No, he tried to wipe out an entire race of people and killed or enslaved anyone that didn’t fit his ideal view of what a person should be.
So why Michael Jackson? If you do anything to a child, you’re sub-human in my book. These kids don’t know what goes on when an adult touches their special areas and are taken advantage of in the worst of ways. If you can overlook that fact and cry over his death, then please stay away from my children and from all play grounds and elementary schools, because that’s the kind of mentality that he had. Jackson is now paying for his sins for all eternity, and I take solace in that.
1
Feb
2009
Passchendale, Paul Gross, & The Canadian Image
The First World War is something that has been virtually overlooked when it comes to mainstream media, whether it be novels, television shows, video games, and of course movies. Very few high-budget films have been made about the war, specifically about the Canadian perspective of the war, so when Passchendaele was announced I was tickled pink as a History enthusiast and student and a Canadian myself.
But it seems to me that movie producers need templates to make a good movie. Without a good base of movies or video games that today’s audience can respond to, it’s essentially like plowing through new territory. Paul Gross who produced, directed, and starred in this Canadian epic (the most expensive Canadian movie ever made with a price tag of $16-20 million CAD), is one of these people. Now don’t get me wrong, Paul Gross is a good (not great, but good) actor and knows the media industry well enough that he could essentially pull this movie out of thin air, but the movie itself suffers in many parts. I’m not going to sit here and rip the movie apart, mind you, but I will point out a few reasons why this isn’t exactly Oscar material.
I’ll warn you now though, if you haven’t seen the movie and would like to, stop reading now! This review/whatever you want to call it will contain a few spoilers, such as the ending scenes and the ongoing sub-plot.
19
Jul
2008
Parents, Please Take Some Responsibility
It’s as much of a hot-button issue as Iraq and poverty today, and that’s the morality of children declining. It seems that every other day that some politician is blaming Family Guy or Jack Thompson is crying over Grand Theft Auto IV, but do they really have the right to do that?
Everything has a rating these days, whether it’s a blockbuster movie, a TV show, or a video game, and there are many more fail-safes in place too. Movie theatres and video game retailers are obligated to verify the age of their patrons and virtually every modern TV has the V-Chip, yet we still constantly hear about movies, games, and shows destroying our youth. Not only are people complaining, but there are lobbyists and politicians trying to outright ban such forms of entertainment for everyone.
If I was twelve years old and I wanted to go see The Happening in theatres (which is rated 18+ if I’m not mistaken) and I tried to go alone, the theatre would deny me that. Hell, even if I went to see a 13+ movie I couldn’t, and sure, as a kid that’s going to tick me off. What’s a little sex and violence on screen, right? How could that hurt my little twelve year old mind? Kids are impressionable and will want to emulate whatever they see to some degree or another, and that’s no different for teenagers and sadly a lot of adults as well, but the adults aren’t in question here. If I wanted to see The Happening at age twelve, I’d need a parent or an older sibling to take me to the theatre and sit through the movie with me; it’s simply the way it is here. If I wanted to go buy GTA4, again, I couldn’t do it on my own, I’d need someone who’s over the age on the ESRB rating (that little black and white box on the cover) to buy it for me.
This is extremely common these days, and this is why the lobbyists and Jack Thompsons of the world are screaming bloody murder. But it’s not the software developers or the movie producers’ fault that kids are being exposed to this no more than the local liquor store can be held responsible for kids getting their older brother to buy them booze. It’s the parents fault that their kids are hitting each other with folding chairs and coming home drunk at 15, and nobody elses. ‘Ole mom ‘n pop are perhaps the most hipocritical and niave people on the face of the planet when they demand that Family Guy gets cancelled and Grand Theft Auto is pulled off the shelves.
14
Jun
2008
Canadian Bill C-61, Going Too Far?
Most people by now have heard about the RIAA, the Recording Industry Association of America. For those of you who haven’t, it’s a trade group representing the American recording industry (that is to say music). The RIAA’s purpose of existence is to prevent downloading of illegally obtained music (such as through Torrent sites or P2P programs like Ares and Limewire), but they have a notorious reputation of going too far. The RIAA has no jurisdiction in Canada, so while old deceased ladies in the United States are being taken to court (Source), Canadians were able to download music, use their iPods without worries, and copy their purchased CDs to their computers.
That’s all going to change with Bill C-61, the introduction of the Canadian DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). Not only will downloading your music for free be illegal (understandably), but Canadians will lose rights to being able to record television shows, rip their purchased CDs and DVDs to their computers and iPods (coverting CDs to mp3s or DVDs to avi), and even posting family photos taken by a stranger. Yes, that’s right, if you ask that friendly Japanese couple at Peggy’s Cove to take a picture of you and your wife with your own camera, that couple owns the right to that image.
This harsh set of restrictions is the brainchild of Industry Minister Jim Prentice and Canadian Heritage Minister Josee Verner. The bill, which had been first introduced late last year but delayed (largely in part due to the publics repulse) will impose a $500 fine per violation of downloaded or infringed copywritten materials, that is to say for every mp3 you’ve downloaded or taken off of your favourite CD, it’s going to cost you $500. More staggering is the $20,000 fine per violation for making available copywritten materials, such as uploading to a website or having available on a P2P client program.
As with a lot of new legislature since the election of the Conservative government, Bill C-61 comes as a direct result of American pressure and American interests, and goes far beyond American restrictions on the subject. In layman’s terms, C-61 sets to limit our privacy, freedom of speech, consumer rights, and will put a serious strain on education and libraries with the digital locks that will be placed on virtually all digital media (movies, music, television, etc.).
11
Mar
2008
Bear Grylls, You’re a Moron
People who watch survival shows (no, Survivor doesn’t count) will undoubtedly know who Bear Grylls is, but for those of you who are out of the loop, let me entertain you for a moment. There’s a show on the Discovery Channel and the Outdoor Life Network called Man vs. Wild, hosted by the afore-mentioned, who is an SAS (Special Air Service, the British special forces) veteran and thus a survival expert. Now, I’ll start off by saying that I don’t doubt, even in the slightest, the abilities of the SAS or its members past and present, but Bear Grylls…
There’s another Discovery/OLN show known as Survivorman, and this show is hosted by a fella named Les Stroud (who coincidentally lives very close to where I’m originally from, local boy!). As far as I know, Les has no military training, but being from Northern Ontario and a hands-on survival expert, he knows his stuff.
So now that the introductions are out of the way we’ll move on. Both shows will show you ways to survive in dire situations (your plane crash lands in the Canadian north, you get lost in the Amazon, etc.), and both guys bring something good to the table, but Bear Grylls isn’t in this to inform you, he just wants his pay cheque and popularity. Les Stroud does the show 100% solo, all on-location fliming is done by him (he carries 60 pounds of camera gear with no additional supplies for survival) while Bear Grylls has a camera crew “in the wild” (and I’ll go into why that’s quoted later). This is important because what Bear Grylls shows is all theory, he’s not actually practicing survivalism since he’s surrounded by a camera crew and producers, Les Stroud however only has a satellite phone that he can use if there’s an emergency, otherwise he’s isolated 100% for a 7-day period.
This all becomes very evident with the showmanship of the two men. Mr. Grylls is a showboater, he’ll do some big jump or dramatic scream when he’s clearly in no danger (see below, which will also explain “into the wild”) while Les Stroud will simply show you what he’s trying to do and usually not take any stupid risks, but when he does do something stupid or makes a mistake, he’ll man up and tell you… Grylls acts like it’s the only right way to do things.
