Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Taking the First Amendment too far?

After reading the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's article about the recent recall elections in Wisconsin, I scrolled down to the comments.  What I saw was extremely disappointing.  Both sides of the issue posted comments and most of these comments were slanderous, rude, and garbage.  They did not have facts to back their claims and they were not even polite.  There are about 350 of these comments.  Let's read a couple:
The rottenness that is the demorat party can no longer be denied, you have to be morally bankrupt to vote for this party of marxists. Lies and deception are there only outputs, why even have a debate with such rottenness. Its nice that the urinal/sentanal can join in the rottenness.
This one is obviously from a conservative who insults the newspaper for reporting the news.  Here's one from the other side:
MEpublicanism is a social disease sure to ruin America. Death to the tea party!
I would wager that the amount of comments added to this article would be much less if jsonline.com used real names for commenting, like the Facebook comment system.

After seeing an "infographic" on Mashable.com and having a discussion about it in one of my college communications classes , the battle between online anonymity and transparency rages inside of me.  In this case anonymity is provoking behavior from "adults" reading and reacting to the news that many would expect from troubled children.  I would argue that if those commenting were accountable for their actions--at least by putting their names on their expression--JSOnline and other websites may get a decent dialogue going in the comments.  Sure you would still have a couple nut-jobs who don't care what others think, but it sure wouldn't be the majority like it is now.

There are many good comments on many JSOnline articles, but whenever a political article is written, this happens.  This one time is not an isolated occurrence.  I'm all for the First Amendment right of free speech, but I don't think our founding fathers had this in mind.  I think transparency is the obvious answer to this problem.

What do you think about this issue?

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

The Harry Potter APOCALYPSE

Read my paper, The Harry Potter Apocalypse on how Harry Potter is apocalyptic from a Christian perspective.

The AMAZING SPIDERMAN Teaser Trailer!


Monday, July 18, 2011

This is it: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 Review

July 14 was an anxious day.  I was watching earlier Harry Potter films all day and doing what I could to look for a job.  I was excited because that night I would get to see the final Harry Potter film at midnight with my wife.  It all started in 6th grade (2000) when I read the first four Potter books in under two weeks.  I never really got into reading until then.  Then the films started that next year.  I was there the day the first one came out.  I was first in line with my friend.  I was there for the first (or second) day or midnight showing for all 8 Harry Potter films.  This is a big deal for me.

Enough about me, what about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 (say that 5 times fast)?  Being the most talked about film this year, HP7.2 lived up and exceeded the hype.  The acting was free from hiccups that has riddled the young actors for years.  The older actors (Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, and more) were great.  All the actors delivered the action and emotion that was necessary to make this film near-perfect.

One element of the film-making that really impressed me for the second time in a row was the pacing.  Part 1 was meant to be a slower, anxious feeling film.  Part 2 was almost the opposite: a fast-paced action film loaded with emotion, well-placed humor, and answers to questions building since the first installment.

This film stays true to the book and will please both fans of the just the films or both films and books.  The film wasn't perfect, but I'm not going to complain.  How can you complain when [spoiler] Molly Weasley calls Bellatrix Lestrange a bitch and then kills her?  It's just awesome.  Ron and Hermione's kiss also did not disappoint.  The years of built up emotion released in the amazing on screen kiss.  I got shivers.  The feeling I got when this film was finished is still lingering: joy.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is rated PG-13 and runs 130 minutes.  This film is a lot of action, death, and scary scenes and a little language.  Just know this before you show your kids or kid siblings this flick.  I gave Part 1 ten ramheads out of 10.  This one was better even than that.  I give Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 10 ramheads out of 10.