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