Media Criticism - Movies - IDFAHITWA

A contemporary tale of suburban revenge, I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore is a violent comedy in the same vein as God Bless America or Super, wherein an average person, plagued by a monotonous and unfulfilling life is suddenly upended by a proverbial "final straw" which sets them on a path of violence and revenge, ultimately leaving them a changed person with a positive outlook on life - and a body count.
 

Media Criticism - Technology - Outernet

As of 2015, it was estimated that roughly 60% of the world's population doesn't have consistent access to the internet. Political policy in many eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, China, Tunisia, and Turkmenistan regulates internet access heavily, often screening all date through their networks with keyword and keystroke trackers, as well as having the administrators of internet cafes and other public networks to forfeit network information. According to the most recent estimates in 2012, only about 13.5% of the African population had Internet access, with 2/3 of that overall online activity being generated in South Africa, which accounts for only 5% of Africa's total population. With poor infrastructure as the norm throughout most of continental Africa, as well as rolling blackouts in areas that have power and the high cost of internet services in Africa, consistent access to the internet is reserved for the wealthy in developed areas.

As access to Internet services is nonexistent in most areas, strictly regulated in others, and simply expensive everywhere else, people have been searching for alternatives to the Internet, and for solutions for expensive ISPs, non-compatible infrastructure, and geographical isolation. Enter Outernet, a Chicago-based startup focused on creating a portable, sustainable access point for people who cannot access the internet. The company created an indiegogo page and raised over $700k, nearly 250% of their funding target, to create the Lantern, a portable, rugged, solar-powered "short wave radio for the digital age."
 Outernet functions as a sort of "offline-internet," with a cache of information at its core, including thousands of Wikipedia articles, Encyclopedias, How-To videos, and much more. Their start-up product, The Pillar, was a basic solar-charged receiver designed to be users' access point to Outernet; however, technical flaws led to a redesign, resulting in The Lantern. The Lantern, originally designed to be shaped like an actual lantern and function much like a Wi-Fi hotspot, also ran into design flaws and has since been designed into a more rugged, compact shape, roughly the size of a large calculator. Demand for the Lantern is high and has caused shipping back-ups, but consumers can still purchase a DIY kit version of the Lantern for $99USD.
  The Lantern DIY kit uses a Raspberry Pi computer and connects to Outernet satellites via a satellite dish. Users in North America and most of Europe need only a 20-40 inch satellite dish to connect. The Outernet crew intends to use a large array of small cubesats to increase broadcast coverage and decrease satellite receiver size, to the point that a satellite dish is no longer necessary and can be replaced by a receiver that fits in the user's pocket.  The Outernet system doesn't use the same network(s) as the Internet. Rather than using vast networks with two-way traffic -upload and download-  Outernet administrators and users can upload files to the Outernet filecast system via the internet, which are then broadcast to the Immarsat I4 satellite constellation, then routed down to Outernet receivers. Information, no matter the format, is broadcast as radio waves and transmitted to the receivers. Users can then connect Wi-Fi enabled devices to the Lantern or DIY receiver to view information.

   The Outernet doesn't operate like the Internet does, with IP adresses and web pages, but rather different categories of information that are broadcast to the receivers via the Outernet network. Broadcasts are divided into three categories: The Queue, Sponsored Content, and the Core Archive. Users can upload information like local news and weather, books, as well as personal files, emails, etc. Users have access to uncensored content from anywhere in the world, and since Outernet only broadcasts one-way, users can browse vital information from anywhere on earth, completely anonymously.

Ref: http://www.southgatearc.org/news/2017/january/reverse-engineering-%20the-outernet.htm#.WKyZjfkrJEY
       http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-29593734

Media Criticism - Lifestyle - Dosie's Pub & Grill

     Since Columbia County overturned a 71-year-old prohibition on alcohol in 2014, several businesses sprung up to capitalize on the newly liberated alcohol, including two liquor stores and two bars. The longest standing alcohol-selling business (not counting the American Legion, as it existed prior to the lifting of the prohibition) is Dosie's Pub and Grill. Part bar, restaurant, pool hall, dance hall and night club, Dosie's offers a warm and inviting atmosphere with great food and great music. Tucked into the corner slot of the Jackson Street strip right down from ________ Gym, Dosie's serves American Pub style foods, like made-to-order burgers, chicken wings, fried pickles, specialty fries, catfish baskets, good old fashioned steaks, and a few off-menu regular-inspired items like Frank-n-Hot Sauce, for only the hardiest of wing eaters. The bar serves classic import and domestic beers at $4 and $3.50 respectively, while a bucket of six will cost you $22 and $13 respectively, so catch them at Frank's Happy Hour, from 4-6 on Mondays. Among the usual beers and liquors found in a bar, Dosie's offers many in-house drinks inspired by patrons and staff, like the "J-Baby," "Blue Mo-Fo," and "Jolly Jack."

If you walk into Dosie's on a weekday, you will see your typical hometown bar. You can hear the clack of billiards over country music twanging from the stage speakers. TVs adorn the central column of the space, broadcasting sports news. The usual crowd of regulars sit in their usual seats at the bar, eating their finely tuned personal orders and watching "The Big Game" on the bar's monstrous main TV. The wall sports a massive mural of a lone woman standing atop a rock near an expansive sea, watching a ship sail into a sunset, part of Dosie's nautical theme, accompanied with ship's wheels on the server's podium and anchors on the walls. On Mondays, Dosie's often hosts a pool tournament, drawing competitors from bar regulars, college students, and locals.

On weekends, the main lights go down, the blacklights come up, and Dosie's becomes a hotspot for locals, hosting parties and events for live musicians, including DJs, hip-hop artists and rock bands. The bar's maximum capacity of 250 persons is often pushed to its limit during club nights, with steady door traffic all night. Most weekends, Dosie's hosts DJ Drewster, a local DJ that always draws a crowd. Other artists include TR1LL B1LL, CS Dubb and Lucid Lions. The night life at Dosie's is active, with a quarter of the space reserved as a dance floor directly in front of the stage. The party starts at 10 and always runs -including the kitchen- until the bar closes at 2 A.M. 

Media Criticism - TV - Black Mirror

In a time of ever-increasing technological advancement and incorporation of such advancements into our daily lives, we've begun to wonder about the extremes of these technologies. What if our obsession with social media were multiplied, so that your online profile is more you than you? What if your online ranking affected your offline life? What if hackers What if you had the technology to block someone from your life, not just your online profile? What if the government could change what our eyes see? What if we didn't have to die, but could live in an online social hub after our bodies expire?

What if we couldn't handle it?

As its name suggests, Black Mirror changes the way we see ourselves and our technological surroundings. Our society has grown to obsess over gossip and petty "news" via social media, to hoard likes and followers, and to further and further integrate technology into our daily lives, to the point that we've developed technology to augment our perception of reality. With these norms, social expectations and the increasing potential of technology to viscerally affect our lives, Black Mirror points out the one thing that advertisers, social media, and the world at large doesn't talk about: What could go wrong? How could these things be exploited, corrupted, or used against us?

Each episode of Black Mirror is a self-contained story, though some episodes reference events from others, suggesting that the events may exist in the same fictional universe but not necessarily within the same time frame or location. Each episode also centers on one specific part of our society: social media, political scandals, normal social interaction, life with a spouse, etc. Each of these has been modified by Black Mirror's near-future dystopia. Where typical science fiction's theme of a dystopian land usually includes cities reduced to rubble and an oppressive fear of radiation, Black Mirror's destruction and fear exists only in the mind.

Black Mirror Season 1 Trailer

Ref: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/black-mirror/episode-guide/series-1
        http://www.businessinsider.com/black-mirror-predictions-reality-2016-10

Media Criticism - Music - Brasstracks

Where the majority of music producers will create unique tracks over basic default drum sounds before later filling in live drums, one new music duo is changing the sound and production of music by doing just the opposite. Native New Yorkers Ivan Jackson an Conor Rayne are the two minds behind Brasstracks, a new music group that use live horns and drums to shape the image of their music. From brass renditions of hit songs like Rihanna's "Four Five Seconds" and Jay Z's "Encore," to compositions completely their own, Brasstracks brings new life to the world of music and producing. A powerful duo of funky brass and drums -drums that this writer can only describe as fascinating, Ivan and Conor brought themselves to fame with a slew of collaborations with artists like Goldlink, Grandtheft, Anderson .Paak, Chance the Rapper, and more. Their style makes every song sound like a party -even the sad ones- and their producing skill has put them a position to work with big names in the mainstream music industry. Brasstracks instrumental "Say U Won't" is a perfect showcase of both the array of brass that Ivan brings into each song and Conor's drumming technique and skill. Over-ear headphones are most definitely recommended.

Since Brasstracks put out their first brass...track... on YouTube, thousands of comments said nearly the same thing: "This sounds like a Chance the Rapper song." Common themes through Chance's music are horns, piano/organ, and choirs, much like Brasstracks. Chance's upbringing on the streets of Chicago and in a black church greatly shape his unique sound, with a soulful vibe that matches the flow of Brasstracks seamlessly. The similarities are obvious and wonderful. 

Through the magical channels of twitter, Brasstracks and Chance were brought together to collaborate for Chance's latest album, "Coloring Book."