-Robbie Heeger
Monday, March 16, 2009
Gone Fishin'
Hey there loyal readers! We're half way through our cognitive re-invigoration (spring break). Expect some fresh posts starting up next week.
-Robbie Heeger
-Robbie Heeger
Friday, March 6, 2009
Why Cowards Kill
High School opened my eyes to many things. But there were a select few topics that were “taboo” – topics that a teacher would dance around, be careful about, or simply disregard because they did not have the current education or breadth of knowledge to address all sides.
Darfur was one of those topics.
Oddly enough, my first exposure to the atrocities occurring in Sudan came from a T-Shirt. Student advocacy groups sold these T-shirts depicting a (supposedly Sudanese) individual crying out in tears and holding his hand up in defiance. Next to this picture were the emboldened words: “Stop the Genocide in Darfur.” As the groups sold more shirts, and the fad became more popular, it seemed as if our entire student body was in support of ending genocide in Darfur. However, simple T-Shirts sold under the pretense of “it’s money towards a good cause” reflected a lack of education on the subject. Even for my own sake, the T-shirts were the first exposure I had to the event and concrete education came only after a full spectrum of experiences. Something was wrong with this picture.
I went to rallies, attended youth group programs on Darfur, and eventually capped off basic education with a class my senior year surrounding US Foreign Policy, with time set aside to specifically focus on Darfur. The main lessons I took away were that (1) there is no debate around what is occurring in the region – the Sudanese government is fostering genocide – and (2) that the majority of the world is vastly undereducated on what is occurring in the region. We all accept that genocide reflects the worst of our species’ capabilities and if we label a situation under genocide, then it should end. What is uncanny about the situation is that if our society affirms that such atrocities as the holocaust will “never again” occur, why haven’t we stepped in and taken a role?
Unfortunately, it would take any commentator thousands of words to envelope the entire Darfurian circumstance into one piece, but there are some new developments out this week that reflect the intrinsic complexities of the situation. This Wednesday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The problem with this announcement and the ICC on a whole is that their lack of a policing force makes the warrant issued nothing more than an amplified “tisk-tisk” aimed at Sudan.
In my eyes this is depressing in more ways than one. For starters, the Sudanese Head-of-State will continue to operate in his country while murdering hundreds of thousands. Additionally, this means continued suffering for the 2.8 million refugees displaced by the genocide. Most prominently, this action affirms our world’s cowardly ways.
According to an excellently written Economist article, there are 108 countries that singed the Rome treaty, which then established the ICC. Therefore, it is on those countries to pursue the will of the ICC. Sudan did not sign the Rome treaty. Oddly enough, the United States also did not sign the treaty, but they have taken the bold step of – openly supporting the ICC’s arrest warrant. Lackluster and seemingly insignificant, the rest of the world – whether they signed the Rome treaty or not – seems to be following this trend of inaction.
This is a cowardly and irresponsible move by the nations of the world on a humanitarian ground. However, Economically and politically it makes sense. In this case, there is an opportunity cost to saving lives. Not only does it mean a complete regime change in Sudan, entailing committing peace-keeping and invasion forces, but it also entails a hit to the world’s economy.
Sudan happens to be one of China’s main oil suppliers. In response to the warrant, Sudan has deemed the action as a western ploy to demolish their oil industry, a tactic that if true, would only send the global economy into worse downfall. As shown by Wednesday’s near 150-point rise in the DJIA on the hopes that China would pass a stimulus bill of their own, the country’s effect on global economic standing is profound. This, combined with a lack of national interest to intervene with the Sudanese government, leads to inaction against genocide.
This is a fact that we must work to reverse. Regardless of the economic or political cost, genocide is an unprecedented level of human immorality that as a species we cannot simply accept. If the entire global community acknowledges it is wrong and nobody stands up to do something about it, then we embody the definition of cowardly. Yet being a coward in this situation brings about something worse than the label - it kills hundreds of thousands of innocent refugees.
-Robbie Heeger
Darfur was one of those topics.
Oddly enough, my first exposure to the atrocities occurring in Sudan came from a T-Shirt. Student advocacy groups sold these T-shirts depicting a (supposedly Sudanese) individual crying out in tears and holding his hand up in defiance. Next to this picture were the emboldened words: “Stop the Genocide in Darfur.” As the groups sold more shirts, and the fad became more popular, it seemed as if our entire student body was in support of ending genocide in Darfur. However, simple T-Shirts sold under the pretense of “it’s money towards a good cause” reflected a lack of education on the subject. Even for my own sake, the T-shirts were the first exposure I had to the event and concrete education came only after a full spectrum of experiences. Something was wrong with this picture.
I went to rallies, attended youth group programs on Darfur, and eventually capped off basic education with a class my senior year surrounding US Foreign Policy, with time set aside to specifically focus on Darfur. The main lessons I took away were that (1) there is no debate around what is occurring in the region – the Sudanese government is fostering genocide – and (2) that the majority of the world is vastly undereducated on what is occurring in the region. We all accept that genocide reflects the worst of our species’ capabilities and if we label a situation under genocide, then it should end. What is uncanny about the situation is that if our society affirms that such atrocities as the holocaust will “never again” occur, why haven’t we stepped in and taken a role?
Unfortunately, it would take any commentator thousands of words to envelope the entire Darfurian circumstance into one piece, but there are some new developments out this week that reflect the intrinsic complexities of the situation. This Wednesday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. The problem with this announcement and the ICC on a whole is that their lack of a policing force makes the warrant issued nothing more than an amplified “tisk-tisk” aimed at Sudan.
In my eyes this is depressing in more ways than one. For starters, the Sudanese Head-of-State will continue to operate in his country while murdering hundreds of thousands. Additionally, this means continued suffering for the 2.8 million refugees displaced by the genocide. Most prominently, this action affirms our world’s cowardly ways.
According to an excellently written Economist article, there are 108 countries that singed the Rome treaty, which then established the ICC. Therefore, it is on those countries to pursue the will of the ICC. Sudan did not sign the Rome treaty. Oddly enough, the United States also did not sign the treaty, but they have taken the bold step of – openly supporting the ICC’s arrest warrant. Lackluster and seemingly insignificant, the rest of the world – whether they signed the Rome treaty or not – seems to be following this trend of inaction.
This is a cowardly and irresponsible move by the nations of the world on a humanitarian ground. However, Economically and politically it makes sense. In this case, there is an opportunity cost to saving lives. Not only does it mean a complete regime change in Sudan, entailing committing peace-keeping and invasion forces, but it also entails a hit to the world’s economy.
Sudan happens to be one of China’s main oil suppliers. In response to the warrant, Sudan has deemed the action as a western ploy to demolish their oil industry, a tactic that if true, would only send the global economy into worse downfall. As shown by Wednesday’s near 150-point rise in the DJIA on the hopes that China would pass a stimulus bill of their own, the country’s effect on global economic standing is profound. This, combined with a lack of national interest to intervene with the Sudanese government, leads to inaction against genocide.
This is a fact that we must work to reverse. Regardless of the economic or political cost, genocide is an unprecedented level of human immorality that as a species we cannot simply accept. If the entire global community acknowledges it is wrong and nobody stands up to do something about it, then we embody the definition of cowardly. Yet being a coward in this situation brings about something worse than the label - it kills hundreds of thousands of innocent refugees.
-Robbie Heeger
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
"Spanking" A Nation
The days of Sir and Ma’am are long gone.
Mr. and Mrs. in the rear-view mirror.
Even “Please” and “Thank you” are frighteningly beginning to go out of style.
At what point in time did it become appropriate or even socially acceptable for these elderly salutations/niceties to be dropped and replaced by comparatively condescending, and disrespectful first names. I am thoroughly aware this is not a travesty by any means. My contention with this seemingly meaningless culture shift however, is what it more largely symbolizes. As we enter into the technology era it seems as though, with the overly conservative greetings, other courtesies and means of politeness have also been wrongly kicked to the curb.
Having the potential to be the most hypocritical piece I will ever write, today I am addressing the failure of the baby boomer generation in raising a responsible, respectful, and appreciative American youth. As in any case, one side is never completely at fault for an issue, and in this particular case that rule holds true. Coupled with “feel-good, politically correct” parenting, a lack of accountability on part of American teenagers has lead to what I deem to be among the United States top issues (a bold statement considering the mounting concerns already facing newly elected President Obama).
Humanitarian and Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, recently gave a speech at a High School addressing the effects of how kids are being raised in today’s world. He discussed the hardships that teenagers will face as they enter into the real world, lacking some central lessons that seem to no longer be taught. Below are the morals that he believes are being under-supplied.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
And my personal favorite,
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
At the root of all these issues a main theme can be rather easily diagnosed, one I have personally witnessed and - at times - fallen victim to: a strong sense of self-entitlement. The icon of today’s society, a cell phone, will serve as the means through which I can hammer in my point. I ask this:
When did it become commonplace for kids to own the same expensive smart-phones that their parents do? When did free phones become the ones that are undesirable? When did it become socially acceptable to constantly be texting or checking e-mail during a conversation? When did it become necessary to be in touch with your friends and family at every hour of the day?
The rhetorical answer to the questions above is simply and unquestionably: recently. If I, a member of this spoiled and poorly raised youth, am aware of the implications of the direction our society is heading, I wouldn’t even want to know what my 85 year old grandfather thinks of us.
Aside from an increase in their voter participation (a certain positive), America’s youth is on a slippery slope and more than ever in need of a metaphorical “spanking.” Lessons that have been taught to children for centuries have somehow fallen by the way side. Parents are doing their kids and this country an incredible disservice by not teaching our nation’s future their “pleases and thank you’s,” by not instilling within them boundaries, and most importantly by not telling them “no” every once in a while.
Parents need to take an immediate stand and renew the teaching of what was once known as a common upbringing. No favor is being bestowed upon my generation by being given everything we should have to work for in life.
Save us!
-Ricky Frias
Mr. and Mrs. in the rear-view mirror.
Even “Please” and “Thank you” are frighteningly beginning to go out of style.
At what point in time did it become appropriate or even socially acceptable for these elderly salutations/niceties to be dropped and replaced by comparatively condescending, and disrespectful first names. I am thoroughly aware this is not a travesty by any means. My contention with this seemingly meaningless culture shift however, is what it more largely symbolizes. As we enter into the technology era it seems as though, with the overly conservative greetings, other courtesies and means of politeness have also been wrongly kicked to the curb.
Having the potential to be the most hypocritical piece I will ever write, today I am addressing the failure of the baby boomer generation in raising a responsible, respectful, and appreciative American youth. As in any case, one side is never completely at fault for an issue, and in this particular case that rule holds true. Coupled with “feel-good, politically correct” parenting, a lack of accountability on part of American teenagers has lead to what I deem to be among the United States top issues (a bold statement considering the mounting concerns already facing newly elected President Obama).
Humanitarian and Founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, recently gave a speech at a High School addressing the effects of how kids are being raised in today’s world. He discussed the hardships that teenagers will face as they enter into the real world, lacking some central lessons that seem to no longer be taught. Below are the morals that he believes are being under-supplied.
Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!
Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.
Rule 3: You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.
Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.
Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called it opportunity.
Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.
Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parent's generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.
Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they’ll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.
Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.
Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.
And my personal favorite,
Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.
At the root of all these issues a main theme can be rather easily diagnosed, one I have personally witnessed and - at times - fallen victim to: a strong sense of self-entitlement. The icon of today’s society, a cell phone, will serve as the means through which I can hammer in my point. I ask this:
When did it become commonplace for kids to own the same expensive smart-phones that their parents do? When did free phones become the ones that are undesirable? When did it become socially acceptable to constantly be texting or checking e-mail during a conversation? When did it become necessary to be in touch with your friends and family at every hour of the day?
The rhetorical answer to the questions above is simply and unquestionably: recently. If I, a member of this spoiled and poorly raised youth, am aware of the implications of the direction our society is heading, I wouldn’t even want to know what my 85 year old grandfather thinks of us.
Aside from an increase in their voter participation (a certain positive), America’s youth is on a slippery slope and more than ever in need of a metaphorical “spanking.” Lessons that have been taught to children for centuries have somehow fallen by the way side. Parents are doing their kids and this country an incredible disservice by not teaching our nation’s future their “pleases and thank you’s,” by not instilling within them boundaries, and most importantly by not telling them “no” every once in a while.
Parents need to take an immediate stand and renew the teaching of what was once known as a common upbringing. No favor is being bestowed upon my generation by being given everything we should have to work for in life.
Save us!
-Ricky Frias
Monday, March 2, 2009
America's Manliest Sport Gets A Little Less Manly...
I don’t even think Perez Hilton, his royal-gossip-highness himself, could keep track of the young NFL off-season.
We’re only a month removed from Super Bowl XLIII, three days from the start of free agency, and already the NFL feels more like a soap opera than a sports organization.
There’s a reason people keep themselves busy during the afternoon.
Jay Cutler has broken off communication with the Broncos after rumors surfaced that they had cheated on him with Patriots gun slinger Matt Cassell, who has since publically announced his relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs, who parted ways with longtime off-and-on sweetheart Donnie Edwards, who in between flings with the Chiefs got cozy with the San Diego Chargers, who have been trying to work things out with LaDanian Tomlinson, who used to make my head spin with his plethora of jukes on the field but now makes my head spin from his drama off the field.
And did you hear about the Bucs releasing franchise legends Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn? Ugh, they were so cute together!
And it looks like Ray Lewis might be back on the market, ladies!
So much drama! I’d be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t like gossip (Isn’t it everyone’s guilty pleasure?), but this is getting out of hand.
Yet not everyone is trying to work it out with old flames. Spring must be near! New love is most definitely in the air . . . Well, either that or the taboo r-word has forced a lot of penny-pinching owners to cut ties with their priciest players.
And I thought a girlfriend was expensive?
The Redskins inked Pro Bowl DT Albert Haynesworth to a seven year, $100 million contract, presumably because of how he performs in the sack!
As mentioned earlier, the Kansas City Chiefs, looking for a new signal caller with some experience but not too much experience, shipped a second round pick to New England for LB Mike Vrabel and the highly coveted Matt Cassel. Hope they don’t mind his high-maintenance franchise tag, which guarantees the young QB at least 14.65 million bucks!
Veteran linebacker Keith Brooking, fresh off being dumped by the Falcons after spending his entire football career in the Peach state, found love again in Dallas. The Cowboys, upon finding instant chemistry with Brooking, have apparently decided to work out the money situation later.
And of course the Bucs picked up bad boy Kellen Winslow. Being a childhood Tampa Bay fan, I can only relate my disappointment here to the time I found out my kiddie crush in Pam Anderson, who I watched religiously on Baywatch, was seeing Kid Rock. You never really recover from something like that.
And the new batch of freshmen for every team to prey on hasn’t even arrived yet! A yi yi. Until then, I’m going to have all kinds of fits sorting out the rest of the free agency period. This season can’t begin any sooner.
With Love,
-Ryan Waring
We’re only a month removed from Super Bowl XLIII, three days from the start of free agency, and already the NFL feels more like a soap opera than a sports organization.
There’s a reason people keep themselves busy during the afternoon.
Jay Cutler has broken off communication with the Broncos after rumors surfaced that they had cheated on him with Patriots gun slinger Matt Cassell, who has since publically announced his relationship with the Kansas City Chiefs, who parted ways with longtime off-and-on sweetheart Donnie Edwards, who in between flings with the Chiefs got cozy with the San Diego Chargers, who have been trying to work things out with LaDanian Tomlinson, who used to make my head spin with his plethora of jukes on the field but now makes my head spin from his drama off the field.
And did you hear about the Bucs releasing franchise legends Derrick Brooks and Warrick Dunn? Ugh, they were so cute together!
And it looks like Ray Lewis might be back on the market, ladies!
So much drama! I’d be a hypocrite if I said I didn’t like gossip (Isn’t it everyone’s guilty pleasure?), but this is getting out of hand.
Yet not everyone is trying to work it out with old flames. Spring must be near! New love is most definitely in the air . . . Well, either that or the taboo r-word has forced a lot of penny-pinching owners to cut ties with their priciest players.
And I thought a girlfriend was expensive?
The Redskins inked Pro Bowl DT Albert Haynesworth to a seven year, $100 million contract, presumably because of how he performs in the sack!
As mentioned earlier, the Kansas City Chiefs, looking for a new signal caller with some experience but not too much experience, shipped a second round pick to New England for LB Mike Vrabel and the highly coveted Matt Cassel. Hope they don’t mind his high-maintenance franchise tag, which guarantees the young QB at least 14.65 million bucks!
Veteran linebacker Keith Brooking, fresh off being dumped by the Falcons after spending his entire football career in the Peach state, found love again in Dallas. The Cowboys, upon finding instant chemistry with Brooking, have apparently decided to work out the money situation later.
And of course the Bucs picked up bad boy Kellen Winslow. Being a childhood Tampa Bay fan, I can only relate my disappointment here to the time I found out my kiddie crush in Pam Anderson, who I watched religiously on Baywatch, was seeing Kid Rock. You never really recover from something like that.
And the new batch of freshmen for every team to prey on hasn’t even arrived yet! A yi yi. Until then, I’m going to have all kinds of fits sorting out the rest of the free agency period. This season can’t begin any sooner.
With Love,
-Ryan Waring
Friday, February 27, 2009
Too Much Negative News or are Things Really This Bad?
I have a challenge for you. Go on any major news organization’s website. Be it the Wall Street Journal Online, The New York Times, BBC, or CNN – I challenge you to find me a positive story surrounding the economy.
It is not as easy as it seems, or at least as you think it should be.
Right now the Dow Jones Industrial Average is hovering just over 7,000 points, reaching new lows for the millennium with each day it falls. Announced just today, national GDP has fallen by 6.2% in the last quarter, one of the largest drops in history. The US government also announced today that it would take a 30-40% share in the failing bank, Citigroup. The list of stories about our troubled economy goes on for pages, while positive stories are few and far between at best.
In my last post I stated that I have an “arsenal of media” that I turn to for a daily dose of information. As the past six months have dragged on, these various institutions have covered the complete collapse of our country’s financial markets with clarity and consistency. However, over the past week, the media seems to be losing hope on our troubled world. There is an utter lack of progress occurring somewhere, and I (the lonely, typical reader of these publications) am left wondering if it is a lack of coverage or if things are really this bad?
The conclusion I have come to is that both sides spark this situation. There is logic in putting the bad news out first. It has a greater impact on readers; it is news that presents a clear and present danger for millions of Americans. Most of all, it is the news that is affecting our world right now. Positive economic coverage around the globe is mostly limited to small, isolated occurrences of hope – a luxury the vast majority of the world does not get to experience. There are simply no news stories surrounding occurrences that would bring widespread and immediate relief to the millions of money-crunched citizens.
This leads me to the fact that things really are this bad. Every industry has been affected by this crisis. Each household is finding themselves with less money available for spending each month, but where the most concerning news, and at the same time most promising, is coming from is the solutions side. Undoubtedly, I believe that a new sector of innovation called “green technology” will carry the private sector out of this crisis. While the Obama administration works to clear up regulations and the financial market, the world’s largest sink of cash flow remains in energy. Oil companies are one of the few who continue to have large profits during the downturn of the economy, and whoever can find the replacement technology for an ancient industry will reap incredible profit margins.
While the solutions may sound great, innovation and infrastructure makeovers take incredible amounts of time. Worse yet, the collapse of broken financial systems can move at the speed of light, while the solutions to those problems move more like a beached whale. This crisis has prompted an unfortunate paradigm. What has taken mere months to destroy will now take incredible investment, restructuring and time to rebuild. So yes, things really are this bad, and it is going to take a long time to rebuild what to lifetimes to create.
-Robbie Heeger
It is not as easy as it seems, or at least as you think it should be.
Right now the Dow Jones Industrial Average is hovering just over 7,000 points, reaching new lows for the millennium with each day it falls. Announced just today, national GDP has fallen by 6.2% in the last quarter, one of the largest drops in history. The US government also announced today that it would take a 30-40% share in the failing bank, Citigroup. The list of stories about our troubled economy goes on for pages, while positive stories are few and far between at best.
In my last post I stated that I have an “arsenal of media” that I turn to for a daily dose of information. As the past six months have dragged on, these various institutions have covered the complete collapse of our country’s financial markets with clarity and consistency. However, over the past week, the media seems to be losing hope on our troubled world. There is an utter lack of progress occurring somewhere, and I (the lonely, typical reader of these publications) am left wondering if it is a lack of coverage or if things are really this bad?
The conclusion I have come to is that both sides spark this situation. There is logic in putting the bad news out first. It has a greater impact on readers; it is news that presents a clear and present danger for millions of Americans. Most of all, it is the news that is affecting our world right now. Positive economic coverage around the globe is mostly limited to small, isolated occurrences of hope – a luxury the vast majority of the world does not get to experience. There are simply no news stories surrounding occurrences that would bring widespread and immediate relief to the millions of money-crunched citizens.
This leads me to the fact that things really are this bad. Every industry has been affected by this crisis. Each household is finding themselves with less money available for spending each month, but where the most concerning news, and at the same time most promising, is coming from is the solutions side. Undoubtedly, I believe that a new sector of innovation called “green technology” will carry the private sector out of this crisis. While the Obama administration works to clear up regulations and the financial market, the world’s largest sink of cash flow remains in energy. Oil companies are one of the few who continue to have large profits during the downturn of the economy, and whoever can find the replacement technology for an ancient industry will reap incredible profit margins.
While the solutions may sound great, innovation and infrastructure makeovers take incredible amounts of time. Worse yet, the collapse of broken financial systems can move at the speed of light, while the solutions to those problems move more like a beached whale. This crisis has prompted an unfortunate paradigm. What has taken mere months to destroy will now take incredible investment, restructuring and time to rebuild. So yes, things really are this bad, and it is going to take a long time to rebuild what to lifetimes to create.
-Robbie Heeger
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
A Lobster Recommendation: The TED Speaker Series
Each day our leaders make statements that fall somewhere along the lines of: “today’s unique challenges require unique solutions for our world." The TED speaker series provides the platform for these new ideas that will fuel the future.
I first encountered the TED series in an environmental science class this past year. The specific talk focused on the applications of green roof city planning in eastern countries. I was hooked from its onset. The information was raw, innovative and informative, and I walked away with a sense of optimism and understanding of the technology. As I view more and more of these short seminars, I find the TED series to be an integral source of information. TED has earned a spot in the arsenal of media I use in an attempt to stay on top of the changing world.
TEDx, a speaker series tour presented by TED, will be on the campus of USC March 23rd and is sure to bring a full line up of talented and informative speakers. The best part about the TED series is their extensive online video archive. Nearly all of their lectures are online, with speakers ranging from big time names like Al Gore, to the most unknown scientists and executives from countries worldwide.
To see a full list of the TED lecture archive, click here.
For USC students interested in TEDx, click here.
-Robbie Heeger
I first encountered the TED series in an environmental science class this past year. The specific talk focused on the applications of green roof city planning in eastern countries. I was hooked from its onset. The information was raw, innovative and informative, and I walked away with a sense of optimism and understanding of the technology. As I view more and more of these short seminars, I find the TED series to be an integral source of information. TED has earned a spot in the arsenal of media I use in an attempt to stay on top of the changing world.
TEDx, a speaker series tour presented by TED, will be on the campus of USC March 23rd and is sure to bring a full line up of talented and informative speakers. The best part about the TED series is their extensive online video archive. Nearly all of their lectures are online, with speakers ranging from big time names like Al Gore, to the most unknown scientists and executives from countries worldwide.
To see a full list of the TED lecture archive, click here.
For USC students interested in TEDx, click here.
-Robbie Heeger
Monday, February 23, 2009
A New Pitch from the Movie Industry
If there’s one benefit to a national crisis, it’s that it forces people to act smarter.
When gas prices climb to record highs, people drive smarter. They buy fuel-efficient cars, ride their bikes, use public transportation, and, whether they know it or not, care about the environment. The same goes for the recession. When the economy goes bad, people get smarter about impulsive purchases. They are less willing to get suckered into buying a certain company’s product. As a result, that company makes a better product.
I guess US Weekly was right all along. Celebrities really are like ordinary people.
Out of fear that the recession would cut ratings for the Oscars, the Academy gave us a better product. The 81st Annual Academy Awards either afforded viewers genuine entertainment or it did one hell of a job concealing its smarm. The most prestigious award show in the world underwent an extreme makeover that changed an unnecessary, but entertaining presentation into a must see performance.
The most substantial change was the presentation of the nominees. This time around, the Academy candidly lauded not just the winners, but all the nominees for their prodigious contributions to cinema. In the production categories, the traditional olio of gimmicky awards was supplanted by a deliberate order which gave a handful of like categories to a single pair of presenters who explained how each sequential step was essential to the making of a movie. The tactic really gave each element of film a sense of purpose. In the four acting categories, five cinematic legends who had previously been honored with an award introduced a single respective nominee in detail. Even when Alan Arkin mistakenly presented “Seymour Philip Hoffman” for best supporting actor, each tribute was sincere and powerful. Except maybe when Meryl Streep was introduced by the lifeless and fried corpse puppet of Sophia Loren in what I can only take as a tribute to Weekend at Bernie’s. That, I thought, was tasteless.
Oh yes, despite its shift from a comical show to one taking a more serious approach, the Oscars still kept some yucks. I had my doubts about the industry’s second best vampire slayer hosting the award show, (seriously, Van Helsing over Buffy?) but Hugh Jackman delivered, most notably when he admitted to not having seen The Reader but still choreographed an unrelated song and dance to it. I also loved Jack Black’s bit about voicing animated films for Dreamworks and then using that salary to bet on Pixar to win the Oscar, even going so far as to celebrate when Wall-E beat out his Kung Fu Panda. Ben Stiller gave a spot on impression of Joaquin Phoenix’s rapping epiphany. I must admit, however, that I was a little disappointed he didn’t get so into character that he tumbled off stage when exiting.
Nothing detracted the show from its core focus, however. The industry knew that with the recession only getting cozier it needed to deliver a reason for people to keep going to the theaters. This Academy Awards, more than ever, could dictate the success of the movie business on a macroscopic scale. By promoting the different elements of film as art instead of entertainment, the awards show emphasized the subversive facets of the world’s most influential medium. It didn’t tell us that cinema was important. It showed us why.
-Ryan Waring
When gas prices climb to record highs, people drive smarter. They buy fuel-efficient cars, ride their bikes, use public transportation, and, whether they know it or not, care about the environment. The same goes for the recession. When the economy goes bad, people get smarter about impulsive purchases. They are less willing to get suckered into buying a certain company’s product. As a result, that company makes a better product.
I guess US Weekly was right all along. Celebrities really are like ordinary people.
Out of fear that the recession would cut ratings for the Oscars, the Academy gave us a better product. The 81st Annual Academy Awards either afforded viewers genuine entertainment or it did one hell of a job concealing its smarm. The most prestigious award show in the world underwent an extreme makeover that changed an unnecessary, but entertaining presentation into a must see performance.
The most substantial change was the presentation of the nominees. This time around, the Academy candidly lauded not just the winners, but all the nominees for their prodigious contributions to cinema. In the production categories, the traditional olio of gimmicky awards was supplanted by a deliberate order which gave a handful of like categories to a single pair of presenters who explained how each sequential step was essential to the making of a movie. The tactic really gave each element of film a sense of purpose. In the four acting categories, five cinematic legends who had previously been honored with an award introduced a single respective nominee in detail. Even when Alan Arkin mistakenly presented “Seymour Philip Hoffman” for best supporting actor, each tribute was sincere and powerful. Except maybe when Meryl Streep was introduced by the lifeless and fried corpse puppet of Sophia Loren in what I can only take as a tribute to Weekend at Bernie’s. That, I thought, was tasteless.
Oh yes, despite its shift from a comical show to one taking a more serious approach, the Oscars still kept some yucks. I had my doubts about the industry’s second best vampire slayer hosting the award show, (seriously, Van Helsing over Buffy?) but Hugh Jackman delivered, most notably when he admitted to not having seen The Reader but still choreographed an unrelated song and dance to it. I also loved Jack Black’s bit about voicing animated films for Dreamworks and then using that salary to bet on Pixar to win the Oscar, even going so far as to celebrate when Wall-E beat out his Kung Fu Panda. Ben Stiller gave a spot on impression of Joaquin Phoenix’s rapping epiphany. I must admit, however, that I was a little disappointed he didn’t get so into character that he tumbled off stage when exiting.
Nothing detracted the show from its core focus, however. The industry knew that with the recession only getting cozier it needed to deliver a reason for people to keep going to the theaters. This Academy Awards, more than ever, could dictate the success of the movie business on a macroscopic scale. By promoting the different elements of film as art instead of entertainment, the awards show emphasized the subversive facets of the world’s most influential medium. It didn’t tell us that cinema was important. It showed us why.
-Ryan Waring
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