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About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 25, 2012)
ArtT'&ulture aced&clackam as. edu The Clackamas Printy Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 Student ponders technological growth By Isaac Soper Arts & Culture Editor We live in an age that the only limit to our invention seems to be our imagination. W hat was science fiction 50 years ago is just science today. Hell, what was science fiction five years ago is realized today. Although I foresee socioeco nomic collapse before the invention o f time .travel, string theory shows that we are well on our way. | I was born in 1989. T he first time I used a computer, I was in grade school (Apple II, a color similar to m y pasty white legs with a beautiful 5 1/4” floppy disk and a green screen with neon green text). The first video game I can remember playing was “Super Mario Bros./Duck H unt” dual cartridge on the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was a place where typing skills paid off much faster than m y D Nealian cursive writing skills, which are about as good today as they were in third grade. In fact, I was told that I would use cursive for the rest o f m y life, I guess they a book, to looking it up on Yahoo, to W ikipedia A sliding scale from credible to what Wikipedia was five years ago —I no sources and open to all for editing. Information that was once kept in books, on records, in file cabinets, in mailbox es, in movie theaters and 20-sided dice has been digitized, compressed and formatted to our hard drives, to make our lives easier and more organized; sleeker, sexier and smaller. Every bell and whistle has been replaced with an ultrabright LED and a floppy drive playing the “Imperial March.” W hat is the benefit to this “digital age” we are bom into? Sure, we have instant access to information via the Internet, the ability to communicate with someone thou sands o f miles away through various mediums and the ability to download anything ever digitally created for free, I mean for 99 cents via iTunes, what does it matter? These technological advances take away the reason for us to leave the comfort o f our own homes, let alone our couches. I can watch a movie instantly on Netflix, download a video unnecessary thing to cany around with you, because if you really needed to make a phone call, you could use a pay phone or by God, wait until you get home. A few days ago, I misplaced m y cell phone; it felt like the end o f the wond to me. I was worried that m y friends would assume that I was either an asshole or dead, since I don’t use Twitter and I’m rarely on Facebook. For years now, we’ve had access to cell phones that include other programs so that we don’t have to wear cargo pants and an army jacket with a hundred pockets to lug around my rotary dial phone, a calculator and a few board games or a Sega Genesis. This may all be very convenient,, but dare I ask, what happens when it all gets taken away? W hat if the SOPA internet censorship law passes and free information becomes a thing o f the past? If we are put into a “digital dark age,” in which we’ll only be able to access what seems acceptable to a government standard? W hat happens if that massive solar flare occurs and all o f the. electronics on e arth are fried? I don’t think th a t we 11 all die’ I remember being 15 without a cell phone, while all o f m y friends had them. I thought that it was so stupid, an C-3P0 commented about R 2-D 2,1 have been known to make mistakes ... from time to time. lie d to m e a b o u t th a t a n d w h o “discovered A m erica.” . . T he Internet has been both helpful and detrimental to our society. We’ve gone from having to read something in Red Tails flies out o f history By James Duncan Design Editor K Despite what I was expecting, as it was produced by George Lucas, and bis last few films were just okay at best, “Red Tails,” was good. I was surprised by the depth o f the characters and gripping story. “Red Tails” stars a number o f excellent actors including Nate Parker, Terrence Howard, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Oyelowo and Tristan Wilds. Their bril liant performances bring to life the char acters on the screen and though there are a few moments where the acting gets a little thick, they can easily be forgiven. “Red Tails” was able to capture me almost immediately with explosions and the beauty o f World War II aircraft, mov ing on to take us through the struggles and triumphs o f the Tuskegee Airmen, who were the first group o f African American pilots to serve in the LIS Army Air Forces. T he program was meant to be a failure from the beginning b ut because the brass set the bar so high for applicants, they only got the best o f uie best. By the end o f the war the Tuskegee Airmen became one of « J K SB ..a the most highly decorated groups in ’the US Army Air Forces. They were, even responsible for the first surrender because of only aerial attack! T hé story follows a g roup. o f the Tuskegee Airmen through their lives in the war. Marty ‘Easy’ Julian (Parker) and Joe ‘Lightning’ Little (Oyelowo) are the main focus o f the movie, while all the characters play a major role in the overall look and feel; they face their victories, losses and the death o f friends, but that is only oart of what makes “Red Tails” so good.There is also a heaping serving of W W II dog fight ing action, complete with an evil Nazi bad guy and flak! “Red Tails” holds you . all thé way through. While some moments are leh amazing than others and some o f the story feels a little contrived in parts» overall this movie keeps the viewer involved by balancing the “chaka chaka” o f machine guns and the voices o f the characters, find ing that balance o f action and drama that makes a good W W II movie. Thefe.are awe inspiring, edge-of-your-seat moments. You will find that when the pilots meet die inevitable end o f most W W II pilot, you care. By the end o f Red Tails I cried. ^Trails End S a lo o n ^ ^ ^ ^ l l 3 2 0 Main S t Oregon Ci(y 503-656-3031 on Blues Therapy / v<iLh Rae GordoT^ W ednesdays^ JANUARY Thursdays wS». 2» R & nu* ^ T_ , V Friday & Saturdays f u r i^ r dee Blues Bar an d Grill O regon's B est Blues Venue IBy Cascade Blues Association
