Documentary Review: Wikirebels

Wikirebels is about a group of hackers, lead by Julian Assange, who started a website called Wikileaks.  Wikileaks is a site devoted to finding censored information and sharing it with the general public.  They believe in total freedom of the press and the unrestricted flow of information. 

The documentary begins by giving some background on Assange.  He grew up in Australia and became interested in hacking at a young age.  He was found guilty of minor hacking crimes around the age of 13, but he only had to pay minor fees.  He came to the U.S. and started Wikileaks.  The first 20 minutes of the documentary are about the site and their mission.  However, in 2010, Wikileaks made a serious name for itself when it released thousands of classified documents and video clips from the U.S. militrary during the Iraq War.  Included in these is a clip from a U.S. militray helicopter in which the captain fires on innocent civilians, and then fires on people that try to help them.  The classified material was released by Bradley Manning, a young officer in the war, who was disturbed by what he read and saw and believed the public needed to know.  He now faces charges of up to 52 years in prison.  Wikileaks is continuing to work on releasing classified information, despite some complications with rape charges brought against Assange in Sweden.  In the end, the documentary shows what Wikileaks is working on now, which is also classified, but this time, they are going to edit it to protect national security secrets.

The film does a lot of interviews, which advance the plot.  It follows key members of Wikileaks around, getting background on them and their role in the site.  In a way, the documentary is similar to a profile documentary, but it focuses on mutiple people.  I like how the organize it, by giving background, then showing wikileaks' big discovery, and then showing what they are doing now.

The dramatic aspects of the film were not too noticeable, although they did a good job when they cut back and forth between the helicopter footage and the interviews with the wikileaks personell.

The film portrays the dirty basements and beat up apartments that wikileaks is based out of very well, by shooting the interviews in cluttered, messy areas.  The film also uses rack focus shots very well throughout.

Although the first 20 minutes of the film are kind of slow, and some of the footage is low quality, I would still recommend this film for two main reasons.  The first is that it is an interesting portayal of an organization with a very interesting philosophy.  The second reason is that many people, even after wikileaks released the footage and information, still haven't seen or read it, and this film provides a nice summary. 

Here is a clip from the first couple minutes of the film:

Don't Blame the Sociopath with the Gun

In the tragedy in Newtown on Friday, there seems to be a clear culprit--Adam Lanza, the shooter.  However, blaming him for what happened is insensitive, illogical, and counterproductive to solving America's gun violence problem.  The real culprit in this massacre is our government and our society.

Gun control is a topic that few politicians are willing to discuss.  In the 2012 presidential town hall debate, the candidates were asked about gun control.  Obama, trying to appeal to conservatives, started by saying, "I believe in the 2nd amendment.  We've got a long tradition of hunting, and sportmen, and people who want to make sure they can protect themselves."   He then emphasized "the importance of parents, and the importance of schools," in preventing gun violence.  I don't want to burst your bubble Mr. President, but no amount of parenting or schooling is going to prevent sociopath with access to a gun from using it.  Romney began with: "I'm not in favor of new pieces of legislation about guns."  Politicians refuse to adress gun control in a serious manner because they believe it is political suicide.

However, not discussing it is societal suicide.  There have been too many instances in this country's recent history in which a mentally unstable person has gotten their hands on assault weapons, and the result is always the same; our leaders end up making tearful speeches and comforting the families of victims. But then, after a couple weeks or so, the whole incident goes into the back of their mind and they go on with bussiness as usual.  However, for the victims, and the families of the victims, life doesn't go back to being "business as usual."  For many of them, nothing will ever again be "bussiness as usual."

Society is also to blame for this tragedy.  In the U.S., and, to be fair, many places around the world, there is a stigma surrounding mental illness.  Mental illness is something people are born with, just like Sickle Cell Anemia and Systic Fibrosis.  If the mentally ill were able to get help as easily and as fearlessly as someone with Sickle Cell Anemia, it would vastly reduce the number of mass shootings in America.

There will always be people in society, who, if they get the chance, will go on a rampage and kill innocent people.  It's societies job to keep guns out of their hands and to get them the treatment and help they need.  And as for our politicians, it's time for them to stop backing down, and start the conversation about gun control.  As Americans, we have to push for tighter restricitons on guns and better treatment for the mentally ill--because one gun related death is too many; and 26 is way too many. 

Flaws in my History Textbook

A couple weeks ago, I was reading my history textbook for class, when I came upon a startling, although not altogether surprising paragraph.  The chapter was about demographics and the "American melting pot."  The paragraph reads: "Until recently, the largest minority group in the country has been the African American population.  One in eight Americans is a descendent of these reluctant immigrants..."  Now, this quote in and of itself isn't that bad; it just struck me as a good way to begin pointing out some of the flaws in the book.  I thought I would give the quote before I outline the other flaws in the textbook.

1. The book often says ridiculous things, like the "reluctant immigrant" bit.  It seems out of touch with current society and culture, kind of like the ol' grandpa in the family that still calls homosexuals "fairies."  It was published in 2009, so the excuse of it being simply outdated doesn't really work. 

2. The book includes some statistics that are bound to change and doesn't acknowledge that the statistics are bound to change.  For example, when discussing women and minorites in Congress, it gives specific numbers of how many there are in the present tense with no asterisk or any acknowledgement that these numbers will change.

3. The book is wordy, unclear, and badly written.  One such wordy, confusing sentence reads as follows: "Nevertheless, bargaining, in the form of trading support on two or more policies or providing specific benefits for representatives and senators, occurs less often and plays a less critical role in the creation of presidential coalitions in Congress than one might think."  A textbook is supposed to make things clearer, not much more confusing.

4. Lastly, the textbook is dry, boring, uninformative, and its only insights are into the obvious.  Textbooks, as a general rule, are supposed to teach.  However, in this book I often find myself factchecking the book while reading, instead of actually learning. 

Now, after listening to me rant about how bad the book is, one might ask, "So what?" which I believe is an important question.  It's just a bad book, there are plenty of bad books out there.  What's the big deal?  I think the reason I have a problem with it is that it is an AP Textbook, designed to help students do well on the AP test--the cumulative, all-important test.  If all one's supposed to learn for this class can be learned from this god-awful book, then the way the curriculum is structured needs to be seriously reconsidered.

Lessons from Raleigh

        This weekend, my travel hockey team went to Raleigh, NC to play two games against the Raleigh Storm.  We tied both games 5-5, and 3-3.  Although they were just exhibition games, they got very intense.  They included a couple large scrums in front of the net and a lot of heavy hitting.  However,  as we were leaving, a we walked by a couple of the players from the other team.  They gave us high fives and told us we played well.  We talked to them for a little while and they said they would see us in a couple of weeks when they came up to play us.
        We left feeling satisfied with how we had played, but even more, who we had played.  One of the things that I love about hockey is that in general the people who play it are descent and kind, and they respect their opponent more than in most other sports.  I find it incredible that players can go at each other, often brutally for an hour and a half, and then afterwards, act like old friends.
      As we were leaving, they jokingly called after us, "We love you."  We laughed and called back.  But I realized that although it was a joke, it was kind of true.  Our mutual love for the sport creates a bond that can survive the vicious things we did to each other during the game.

Capturing the Fall

Here is my Capture the Fall Challenge Video



I focussed on how I usually spend my fall days, which is playing hockey.  I used the whole game expereience toincorporate shots of fall scenes on the drive, the sun as I was packing my bag, and shots from my porch as I was leaving.  There is one scene from the game.  I am #13 for white.

What SNL has Helped Me Realize

Last night, after homecoming, I was relaxing, rehydrating, and watching Saturday Night Live (SNL).  SNL opened, like it does after every presidential debate, with a satire sketch of the debate.  The sketch showed the candidates not answering questions, arguing over whose facts are right, and getting very agressive with eachother over trivial things.  Now, SNL may have employed some hyperbole, and while it was still amusing, it also made me think about the way this election is unfolding.

The presidential elections of 2004 and 2008, the only ones I can remember, candidates argued about the issues, used rhetoric to try and win votes, and even ran some attack ads on TV.  This year, however, the candidates have fought about their records on the issues, substituted rhetoric in place of serious answers at debates, and the attack ads have been out of control. 

I believe the problems with the United States' electoral process today stems from multiple things.  The first of those things is that candidates aren't forced to answer the hard questions during debates.  When they are asked a question about a particular issue, they simply repeat the part of their stump speech about that issue.  They make blanket statements such as Romney saying, "I know what it takes to..." and Obama saying, "We said we would go after Al Qaeda, and we did..."  These things are simply appeals to pathos that the candidates and their teams think will win them the election.  The American people need to speak up and demand that candidates answer the question asked of them at a debate, that they should not be able to move on until the candidate answers the question fully. 

Another issues in the electoral process currently is the Super Pacs and unrestricted money not tied to a campaign.  These Super Pacs spend almost all their money on attack ads, which has cause an unrelentless assault on the American people via the airwaves.  I can barely turn on my TV without hearing Obama, or Romney, or Tim Kaine, or George Allen, "approve this message."  Not to mention the content of the ads.  They employ the most blatant propaganda techniques to try and depict their opponent as a monster who is going to lead America back into the Great Depression.

It's time to get rid of the malarky (as Vice President Biden would say) that's weighing down American politics.  The American people need to realize that neither candidate has bad intentions for this nation, neither candidate is going to lead us back into the Depression, and especially that neither candidate is how they seem on the other candidate's attack ads.  The only way to change the way this election is going, and how future elections will go, is for the citizens of this nation to demand answers, and demand that the level of political discourse be raised above pointless squabbling.  Because, at least in my opinion, we're better than that.   

How the NHL Lockout Could be a Blessing in Disguise

The impending NHL lockout, which will be the second in the last ten years and the third under Gary Bettman as commissioner, has angered many fans of the NHL, including myself.  However, if the powers that be in the NHL were smart, this lockout could be a blessing in disguise.  Let me explain.

In 2004, after the lockout, the NHL decided changed the rules slightly to try and allow the highly skilled players to better use their offensive talent.  They legalized the "two-line pass," allowing for more explosive transitions from defense to offense.  They instructed referees to enforce a zero-tolerance policy regarding hooking, tripping, holding, and other stick infractions, allowing offensive players to have more time and space with the puck, and creating more power plays.  They also added the shootout at the end of regular season tied games to add some excitement to the games and showcase the skills of the league's budding stars. 

Ever since the lockout in 2004, the NHL has been growing in popularity.  This is partially because of the new rules allowing for more high-scoring games, but it's partially because of the sheer talent present in the NHL currently.  Now, I don't want to open up a huge argument over whose better than who, but I think we can all agree that the influx of players such as Crosby, Malkin, Stamkos, Ovechkin, the Sedin twins, Kane, Datsyuk, Nash, Brown, Girouz, Alfredson, and many more have made the game incredibly fun to watch. 

However, if the league doesn't act quickly, it could lose some of the stars that have increased the sport's popularity.  For example, on Januray 5th, 2011, Sydney Crosby, arguably the most talented player in the league currently, suffered a season ending concussion due to a hit by Victor Hedman of the Tampa Bay Lightning.  Another example came in the 1st round of the 2012 playoffs when Carl Hagelin of the New York Rangers through Senators captain Daniel Alfredson a vicious elbow, forcing him to leave the game early and sit the next three play-off games.  I've embedded the video of the hit:



After this year's lockout, the NHL must take steps to protect their stars.  That means cracking down hard on elbows to the head and hits with malicious intent.  Some argue that it is hard to tell whether there is a malicious intent in a hit or not, and so the league has been soft and inconsistent.  However, some hits are clearly malicious, such as the one I've embedded below of Boston's Zdeno Chara hitting Montreal's Max Pacioretty.  Chara was not suspended for the hit. 




If you watch it closely, you'll notcice how long the puck was gone before the hit was thrown, and what a vunerable position Pacioretty was in.

In conclusion, if the NHL wants to keep gaining popularity after this year's lockout, they'd better take some steps to protect the men who provide the popularity.

5x5 video challange

2. a. Driving to hockey practice.
    b. Getting out of the car.
    c. Walking into the rink.
    d. Chilling with teammates.
    e. Getting ready in the locker room.

3. Originally my plan for my 5x5 was to use footage of animals in my yard, but I shot that on my dad's video camera, and I counldn't figure out how to get that footage into the editors.  Eventually I decided I would have to abandon that and use a small soni point and shoot with a video feature.  I filmed my ride to hockey practice and edited it when I got home.  I used the Wevideo editor, which was pretty easy and efective.  I caught a couple snags trying to figure out how to get my footage into the editor, but I discovered some helpful video tutorials that I watched.  The last problem is that I still can't figure out how to embed the video in my blog.

4. I think my 5x5 has turned out alright, although next time I think I should do a test run with the camera before I shoot the real footage.

3rd blog post assignment

I read "World Without Walls: Learning Well With Others" for our "What do you want to learn more about?" assignment.  Here's what I thought:

1. The article first tells a story about an 11 year-old girl who has created a community service minded organization that gets it's ideas from the readers of her blog.  The author, Will Richardson, then discusses the new age that we live in.  He calls it the Collaboration Age.  He thinks that schools and teachers need to embrace social media and other online forums or learning centers.  He thinks that teachers should be the connectors to knowledge for the kids, not the sole supplier of it.  He concedes that there are safety issues, but he says that for the kids of today, having classrooms that utilize social media and the internet is a necesity.

2. "Welcome to the Collaboration Age, where even the youngest among us are on the Web, tapping into what are without question some of the most transformative connecting technologies the world has ever seen." This quote really embodies the message of the article.  Richardson says that the age we live in is helping us to collaborate, not making us socially inept like some people would argue.  He also mentions that even the youngest of us are tapping into the web, which is one of the, "most transformative...technologies the world has ever seen."

3. I found it surprising that Richardson, who says he is a teacher himself, is so critical of the tradition methods of teaching, and wants teachers to simply help kids acccess the information that is out there, not try and relay all that information directly to them. 

4. I think that utilizing blogging and the internet is very important, and connected learning definetley has a place in CAP, but I also think hands on learning is equally important, and that cannot be overlooked.

5. I am interested in TV studio production, using the headsets and switchers.  I think hands on learning is more important when it comes ot TV production. 

Link to annotated article

Moive Review

Finding Drama in Newfangled Movie Making by A. O. Scott

This movie review is about a documentary on newfangled and new high-tec equipment. It is published by The New York Times. The review starts with the writers opinion on the movie, which is very complimentary. He then details the elements of the plot, but doesn't give away to much, partially because it's a documentary. He doesn't talk very much about cinematic aspects, although the movie itself is about movie making. It is a casual and excited tone that makes the reader want to go and watch the movie.

I think that our movie reviews should be more free form. We should have to include a section on each of the three aspects of film, but other than that we should be able to focus on a basic plot summary and what we liked and didn't like. We can also include a section on how we could use some of the movie's cinematic techniques in class.

My annotated review

Hi, I'm Max.  I am a 10th grader in the CA Program at Blair HS.  Outside of school I play hockey a lot. I've been playing since I was 7.  I play on a travel team that plays four times a week and on Blair's team which plays twice a week.  I also tutor have tutored a 2nd grader in reading for the past 3 years.  I am very interested in TV studio film production, and a little interested in video editing.  My experience in video is limited to the class that I took 2nd semester last year.  My two favorite video projects that I have done have both been in the studio.  One was an Interdisciplinary project in which we filmed short movie reports as if they were news programming.  It was my first experience with working on head sets, with the "switcher," and video graphics.  My next favorite project was just a couple weeks later in the news studio.  We created fake news shows and filmed them in one day.  In these two projects I got to be the director, technical director, camera man, audio manager, talent, and floor manager.  I think a couple ways we can use the blogs this year are:

• We can use the blogs to share information for group projects.
• We can post ideas for new film projects on the blog and Mr. Mayo can read them.
• We can use it to turn in homework so that we can save paper and not have to worry about losing our homework.
• We can post questions that we have about homework or projects and classmates or teachers who see it can answer the questions.

Dangler