Antitechnological and anticapitalist propaganda?

Raking in around 300 million worldwide, Wall-E was one of the few animated movies seen in this summer of superhero blockbusters. Though many think that the movie is not of the same quality as the other Pixar movies, Wall-E is still a hit and a great love story for the family. I do know a couple people who did not really enjoy the film, but I was surprised when I read an article by Gennady Stolyarov II, who actually seems to have a deep hatred for the movie and the ideas behind it.

In WALL-E: Economic Ignorance and the War on Modernity, Stolyarov describes Wall-E as blatant "environmentalist, anticapitalist, and antitechnological propaganda. The author feels that the film presents several situations that are not only impossible in reality, but they also present disturbingly incorrect ideas about our society. Click the following link for the article http://mises.org/story/3037.

I do have to admit that while I was watching Wall-E I was a bit surprised about how apparent and in your face several of the movies underlying messages were. It is not hard to see that there is a definite environmentalist message and it is hard not to relate the BnL company with WalMart, but for some reason I was not nearly as disturbed by any of this because most of it worked so well in the story. Though there is a point to some of what the author says, I feel that he/she is reading way too much into the movie. It is obvious that he went into the movie with their own notions of the world and when the movie presented another view, the author took it upon himself to take some scenes of the movie and jump to drastic conclusions about intent. I also find it hard to call a movie where the main heroes are robots completely antitechnological, but oh well. The article is still an interesting read and though some parts of the article seem to contradict the others, it is definitely worth reading.

Newsweek

I still need to get this week's Newsweek, but i may have chosen the wrong topic for this magazine because, at least in last week's edition, they refuse to talk about the Olympics. They only talk about the election, the green movement, oil, war, and other important things like why Anne Hathaway left her boyfriend...

Movie Post : 02

Kung Fu Panda

Very entertaining and the fight sequences were so well done that i actually found myself forgetting that it was an artificial world of nonexistent 3d animals that i was watching. Unlike many animated movies I watch,I found the voice acting and casting to be very well done in this movie. I usually get pulled out of a movie because the voice actors usually have such a recognizable voice and I apply it more to the actual actor and their previous roles, than the character I am watching at that moment, but i didn't feel that way in this movie. The voices fit very well with mostly all of the characters.


I would have to say that the aesthetics of every shot were the most appealing part of the movie. The lighting and the mood it set was perfect for every scene.

Wall-E
I loved this movie. The Incredibles is still my favorite PIXAR film, but wall-e was still a very entertaining film to watch. I will delete or update this later. I have to run.

Favorite character: M-O

Olympics Watch: Day ?

The Olympics are starting to get interesting. I have been watching some of the trials and reading up on some of the heartbreaks that have already occurred. For instance just this past week two athletes broke their legs during training. Shayla Worley of the U.S Olympic gymnastics team broke her leg while training on the balance beam. Abby Wambach of the U.S women's soccer team broke her leg during an exhibition with Brazil. I can’t help, but feel incredibly sad for both of these athletes because their Olympics dreams were cut so short. They dedicate years of training to be mentally and physically ready to represent their counties, only to miss the chance because of one terribly unlucky moment in time.

On a more positive note there are a few inspiring stories like that of 41yr old swimmer Dara Torres, who has qualified with some of the best times in her events and shows that age will not hinder her. She won the first of her nine Olympic medals in 1984 and is looking to bring home a couple more at Beijing.

That six pack is unbelievable.

Movies Post : 01

This is completely off topic, but since I'm on right now i really don't see a reason not to.
I have been watching an unbelievable amount of movies this summer and I'm going to write about some of them. It most likely will not be a deep look into any movie and will probably just be me saying i hated or loved a movie. These things are easy to delete so it may at least keep me posting. I may try to talk about movies with some sort of animation or CG to keep it relevant to the field.

First movie i will talk about later will be...

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Preview of my thoughts:
I could not believe what I was watching and the I found half of the effects and a good part of the movie to be annoying and unnecessary.

A final note for today

Wall-E is coming out soon. I have no idea what to expect, but the visuals in the trailer look great. I just hope it has a solid story because that is by far the most important part.

I am probably going to delete all of this later.

Finally!

It has been a long time. Well i finally started noticing that information and ads about the Olympics where all around me already. It was only last night that i realized that the label on coke bottles were made to look like the logo of the Olympics. I also saw my first promotional spot on television, but apparently they have been on for weeks now on NBC. I have yet to read this week's Newsweek though.

Update(2:56am): It was really only 10 or 11.

Asked 20 people and not one knew when the olympics are. Too tired.
I will update later.