Do you think that there is any significance to the fact that [i]Hollywood A-list[/i] actor, [b]Nicholas Cage[/b] is in both [b][i]World Trade Center[/i][/b] (Aug. 2006) and [i]Wickerman[/i] (Aug. 2006), and supporting [i]World Trade Center[/i] actor, [b]Maggie Gyllenhaal[/b], also has a forthcoming wide-release film to follow?

This probably will seem like a stretch, but perhaps this is a sign that the Hollywood [i]Box Office[/i] is being greatly impacted (more than they let on) by the quality of the modern home-theatre experience, and any consumer with the aptitude for the illicit distribution of popular media (such as pirated DVD’s). Could it be that [i]Hollywood[/i] has stooped so low in edging moral indecency, that they should boost ticket sales by pushing a high-budget film, depicting on a political front, the most devastating massacre of United States civilians in history? Maybe my radar is off-center. Maybe it’s not a question of ticket-sales to Hollywood film-makers, but the propagation of a political agenda.

“Political front!?”, you question? Then, to you I would ask: Where is the Hollywood A-List film, completed in so little time and in such grande fashion, which chronicles the leveling of New Orleans by [i]Hurricane Katrina[/i]? What is the title of the film, and did it sell millions of tickets? Does it shame the victims, or is it a definitive account of American Heroism; of the People of New Orleans and those who came from miles beyond miles, called by nature to react in an [b]apolitical[/b] catastrophe, pulled together, and helped so many brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors, homeless and other nameless victims to weather the storm? Did you buy the DVD? Did you enjoy the alternate endings?

Which film is a testament to American Pride, and which will act as a Trojan Horse for its misdirection?
My biggest problem with [i]World Trade Center[/i], the film, is the way the Marketing genius slipped it into our homes, right under our noses– deceptively, allowing little public debate over its production or National impact. Americans are encouraged to share opinion over the bane of Tom Cruise or Brittany Spears, yet the collective opinion of the American voice was hushed in the circumstance of [i]World Trade Center[/i].

[i][b]We, The People[/b][/i], so often afforded public venue to speak to our fellow man, so often weeks before rumors become fact, are encouraged to share opinion via televised news media, talk-shows and elsewhere, seem to have been deliberately robbed of our voice in this instance. I recall no discussion; no public opinion, and no time to think; to actually show support for, or put forth any opposition to the film. I know how much my neighbor loves or despises Paris Hilton, but I know nothing of whether he or she believes that the screening of [i]World Trade Center[/i] has come too soon, or at an inappropriate time.

is it a happy ending? what about all of the US Marines who are still in active duty, witnessing anything BUT a happy ending night after nght? which image do you really want in your mind to remind you of the attact we bore on our own soil on Sept 11, 2001– do you want to picture the image of a hollywood actor, a happy ending, and niceties– to help you brush it under the rug and shrug it off– or do you want to remember your anger– remember what was wrong about the deaths of so many innocent Americans, civilians, on Sept 11, 2001: men, women and children whose lives ended that day. are they being properly honored in the film? is your brother, or your aunt who died in active duty being honored by this film while it’s solicitation, in theatres and soon to come, DVD, etc– surely must line the pockets of “Hollywood”. Which image do you want to remember when you pay $4 at the pump for fuel?

[b]Misdirection[/b] is the key to manipulation. [b]Misdirection[/b] is the tool of those who wish to fool, corrupt, and use others for the fulfillment of their own will.

Americans, and those who believe in Freedom of Choice:
If you’re as unlucky as you can be– if the worst possible thing could happen does happen– and you eventually accept the fact that American quality of life, and American Freedom has not been affected by terrorism– if you can sleep at night more easily because you’ve been misdirected into seeing a happy ending, then you have already kissed your Freedom goodbye, and the freedom of your sons and daughters.

The moment you stop caring about your own Freedom, and the Freedom of your fellow citizens; the moment you pay for its very exploitation in the Media is the moment when that much of the Freedom has been taken away from the Citizens of the United States of America, and from us all.

When the Trojan horse was viewed as a peaceful offering; when past strikes upon them were overlooked because of that artful misdirection, what was the outcome?

My opinion on [URL=http://my.opera.com/jsabarese/blog/show.dml/373989]the forthcoming American Hollywood film, World Trade Center[/URL], has finally been further developed. I just noticed a moment ago only the second advertisement for the film since the first i saw, when i wrote [URL=http://my.opera.com/jsabarese/blog/show.dml/373989]my first entry on the subject[/URL] — almost exactly one week ago today. It’s that very time-lapse which helped me to see part of what bothers me about this film.

Okay, hear me out. Consider the following, and see what you think about it after doing so:
[LIST]
[*]We’ve got a film w/ Hollywood A-List actor, Nicholas Cage, coming out soon. Why aren’t there advertisements all over about this film?
[*]Is there a particular reason why the approach to advertising the film has been rather low-key?
[*]Is the advertising approach a bit surpressed? (meaning– is it only my imagination that the ads have been infrequent, or is it truly not in high-rotation?
[*]Assuming the ads are being supressed, why is there a recognition for a need to do so?
[/LIST]

my own feelings on the matter are like this: if there’s nothing wrong or offensive about this film, then why hide it? it reminds me of someone going, uninvited, to a party with the intent to cause trouble. then, only after denying his appearance was in fact to stir trouble, he proceeds to do so anyway! is there an analogy there?

sooner or later, i’ll figure out how i feel about this, and have a much more easy time at writing about it. for now, it’s just at that “it bothers me” stage, and i’m still not quite sure why– so that’s why my commentary on the matter may seem a bit disjointed and unclear.

As much as the media exploits the human condition on a daily, if not per-second basis (or perhaps to more accurately pinpoint at least one specific vein of the Media, the advertising agencies of popular culture), i couldn’t help but feel particularly insulted when i first saw a TV commercial for the upcoming film release [i]World Trade Center[/i]

i could go on about this topic, but i want to just get it up here so i can look at it, and i’ll add more later (i actually had a full page written but took a break only to come back later to find i was logged out and i failed to copy paste the text into notepad for later retrieval– so it was lost).

A particularly offensive issue is the fact that Nicholas Cage is playing a lead role. We should ask ourselves, what is the point of this movie? If the film is supposed to ignite a feeling of solidarity amongst the citizens of the United States; if the film truly has purpose other than raising millions of dollars for Hollywood stars, why then do we need to deal with a Hollywood A-List actor in the lead role?

Isn’t it enough on the way to the bank to walk on the hearts of the many who lost loved ones on that tragic day? Must it be made so obvious that ticket sales are being solicited based on Cage’s “star-power”? It’s so affecting, that i’m not even sure yet what else to say about it.

i’d like to some others’ input on this issue.

of the two Wikipedia excerpts listed below, which celebrity description sounds to you more like the work of someone who has contributed something positive and meaningful to our society? which of these women would you rather your daughter look up to as a role model? which of these women’s music has your daughter probably never heard, or even heard of before, and Which of these women, if either, are in her music collection?

Labelle, Patti

In 1974, however, learning of a cult following, the women changed their looks again now adorning space-like, rockish and uniforms, they began to sing about sex, space, politics, and things that many funk and rock bands were singing about at the time — but with an exception; no female groups had dared up until now to broach this type of controversial material. Their following had grown so much that in October of that year, they were the first African-American contemporary act to perform at the Metropolitan Opera House. That December, they released their greatest record, Nightbirds, featuring their breakout hit, “Lady Marmalade”, which hit #1 on the Hot 100 in 1975, helping Nightbirds to go platinum. It was as far as they got as success couldn’t ring twice, although their subsequent albums, Phoenix and Chameleon were hailed by music critics as experimental and groundbreaking.

Patti LaBelle. (2006, July 15). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:05, July 19, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Patti_LaBelle&oldid=63882158.

Aguilera, Christina

Later in 2000 Aguilera first emphasized her Latino heritage, following the Latin pop trend of the time, by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. It reached the top thirty on the Billboard 200 and number one on the Latin album charts, and in 2001 it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for “Best Female Pop Vocal Album”.

The majority of Stripped was co-written by Aguilera (who had recently signed a global music publishing deal with BMG Music Publishing), and was influenced by many different subjects and music styles, including rhythm and blues, gospel, soul, ballads, pop rock, hip-hop and jazz. The album was not received as well as her debut by most critics, and Aguilera’s vocals were overlooked as she began to cultivate a more sexually provocative image. After the release of the album, she took part in photoshoots for magazines such as Maxim, Rolling Stone and CosmoGirl!. Many of these photographs featured her nude or semi-nude. She denied that this change was a matter of publicity, claiming that the image better reflected her true personality than did the image she cultivated back in 1999. It was during this time Aguilera referred to herself as “XTina”, stating that it was a “reflection of her darker self”.

Initially, the raunchy image had a negative effect on Aguilera in the U.S. While the video for “Dirrty” became a huge hit on MTV, it disappointed on the U.S. singles chart. However, the single was a huge hit worldwide, reaching number one in several countries.

Christina Aguilera. (2006, July 19). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 01:08, July 19, 2006, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christina_Aguilera&oldid=64571482.

Shoveling Sterilization (or Shoveling sH!t?). What do i mean by that? It’s a rather complex concept i’ve developed based on my perception of media influence on popular culture and, therefore, popular culture’s influence on the population, and therefore, the population’s influence on the Future of Mankind. I want to make sure that my reader is at least somewhat in tune with my idea, so in order to pull your thinking into the realm of my idea, I’ll provide for you my own definitions of Sterilization and Evolution, realizing of course that my concept will rest greatly on my own definition of these terms

Sterilization, i believe, is the less abstract of the two terms, and therefore more likely to be understood by a greater number of people. What is Sterilization? My thoughts are that it is the absolute cleansing. Something which is sterile is devoid of all influence of matter or mind. Obviously, to be completely and utterly without influence of matter is a question of physics, an uncertainty which should not influence our perception of the meaning of it. For all intents and purposes, in essense, it has been cleaned.

What about evolution? Again, for the intent of this study, when I think of evolution in this circumstance, i am not thinking of the question of the origin of human beings as living, breathing vertibrates– if we were put here by some inexplicable higher power, or if instead we started out as frogs and somehow, throughout many years of frogs with wings, and birds with hands have turned out to participate in such activities, quite un-frog-like, as broadcasting radio waves into the sky in hopes that someone “out there” might hear our call. That is not quite the Evolution, all encompasing as it may seem, that enters my mind when i’m thinking of my concept, but more precisely Evolution as a moment or epoch of time– meaning, for example, as one might accurately report that the personal desktop computer experienced a major “evolution” throughout the latter half of the 1980’s, and on into the early 1990’s– its evolutionary period. I’d rather take it one more step toward the abstract, and try to imagine it as a current state of change, as something in a current state of being, for example, the ways in which we use the Internet are evolving– right now, at this second, but neither i nor you could put your finger on just what part of it is evolving– it’s an intangible, simply by the vey nature of time itself. That is my “evolution” herein– the prerequisite, of course, to any other form of evolution. In truth, it is probably irrelevant to the theory of my proposed concept which of my previous, stammeringly poor descriptions of Evolution you choose to regard.

([ ::sigh:: my god– do i ramble too much!!])

Okay, what does it mean to shovel sterilization? well, to be honest, i just thought it was a catchy title, but it actually works very well to aid in my explanation. What i mean is, i don’t go around saying “darn it– there they go with that sterilization shoveling again!”. But, again, we know what it means, right? The idea, as i see it, is that someone, somewhere, is heaping sterilization upon me, or you, and / or all of us! Does anybody remember Hitler?

I wouldn’t be so crass to say that there is a Hitler behind some grand plan, as was the case in History, and i realize this is kind of Cynical, but i believe that, in general, the things that we think about– which are put there by the media (oh, you don’t think about media stuff? then, let me see you go one full day without thinking a thought which was placed in your mind by the media. you’ll never do it!) - those thoughts are being sterilized. how? through some kind of slow process of making us believe what is true, what is real, what is now, and what we should strive to be in the future, and most terrifyingly, what we should encourage our children to be– your child’s child, and so on.

now you want me to prove it, right? you want me to back that up with something, dont you? Okay, i’ll do that. I’ll provide some images to help to support some of my concept. As you’re viewing them, i’d like for you to think about such things as With the purchasing power (i.e. the impressionable teenaged, and pre-teen boys and girls– who are probably white) for music CD’s in mind, what do you think is catching the interest of this market? How can they be most easily “sold”?. You’re thinking i’m going out on a limb, right? Just stick with me for a second…

Consider this. If after 100 years of being force-fed the artwork (audio CD’s being a certain, albeit heavily produced, artwork) of artists who aren’t really artists, what kind of culture will the society at large depend upon? what will happen to the true artists? the songwriters? the live music performers– the bob dylans, or even the — hmph, even now i can’t think of any non-perfect-looking popular artists. can you?

Please take a look at the photos below.  I hope that you can give me the benefit of the doubt here– i realize that this probably looks a lot like many other comparisons you’ve seen drawn before, but i feel that my point– about the sterilization and evolution– and the future, may be a bit different– maybe not. I also realize that this idea isn’t very well hashed-out yet. it just popped into my head today as i was watching Ray Barone dancing to the song “Lady Marmalaude“– the Patti Labelle version, as i’d prefer it– without all of the gratuitous, superfluous melodic embellishment that our modern “R&B” singers are so hung up on. I thought to myself– now that’s cool! that was a great song, and it represents a time and a place very well, not to mention what it represents for black women in music, and in America in general– there’s a ton of references goign on in that song! and, to think that it is all taken away had you never known, or heard of Patti Labelle , or known anything about disco, or the 1970’s– if it had all been sufficiently steralized out of the system, so we can think only about warm and fuzzy thoughts, and pretty young white girls, and nothing risque, or encouraging, or fascinating, or at all potentially harmful, etc., etc., …

Thank you for stopping by! I invite you to contact me in regard to this article if you’d like. just use the Yahoo ID. i will read it, and probably respond.

— “…ha ha. yeah. and i just sit in the tourbus and write songs all day, and i think about the problems of the world. i think about the poverty of many of my latin brothers and sisters– the sickness, the hunger… i think about war in the middle east, and then i cry. it’s at these moments when i wrote many of my top ten singles…”

- this is the part where we learn about love, kindness, caring, relationships, acting on impulse, vanity, shock value of vulgarity, lust, … oh wait!, are we talking about musicians, or actresses, or… models, ??!!?

- a guy could learn a lot from a girl like this. hell, a girl could probably learn a lot from a girl like that!… ahem… what was the point? … oh, yes… valid art being sterilized

— “…if i ever catch that punk-ass little white girl who’s singin my song all dressed up like a ho, i’m gonna smack her upside the head so damn hard for puttin her theivin’ fingers on my music, she’ll be stingin so bad that her whole damn songwriting team going to feel it!..”

When a Graphic Designer thinks of Vector Graphics software, Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand would probably come to mind. These two products are among the most commonly used, widely referenced, vastly documented in texts and freely accessible Educational materials such as on-line Tutorials, Tips, Tricks, and even User Community Forums. And although Macromedia Freehand and Adobe Illustrator are such popular vector graphics design applications, and they do share many similarities, to lose one or the other would certainly devestate a large population of the graphic design community– no matter which one were to go. This brings me to my issue at hand– since Adobe’s acquisition of Macromedia, now what once were two products which essentially competed against each other, are now owned by the same production suite software giant, Adobe, likely most popular for the PDF document format reader, Acrobat, or the industry standard in Digital Image Editing, Photoshop.
Having just searched Google for a simple Freehand Tutorial on Creating Extruded Text, i was again reminded of the Adobe Acquisition when i followed the URL to the old Macromedia learning center where so many quality, free tutorials reside, and instead of the familiar Macromedia logo as appeared for so many years, the Adobe “A” now towers over the viewport leaving no secrets about any corporate mergers. Since the Adobe logo has only recently appeard there, propagated throughout the Macromedia pages, i decided to click on the Products button of the now slightly different header-navigation menu. I was amused to see the mixture of Adobe and former Macromedia product names listed side by side; viewed expectantly as if to watch the boys and girls standing in line-up on the playground were perhaps a bit unnerved to be forced so close to each other as to be assembled together in a single, liner formation. As i looked closer, i noticed that one of the popular kids were missing from the lineup– Macromedia Freehand was not there!
I captured an image of this listing, not only to have a historical documentation of Adobe’s first incarnation of a new product list, but to aid in support of this very text. I recommend that any users of these products take a look at the lineup and see if any of your favorites are missing, Macromedia or Adobe– doubtful, but maybe there’s still time to petition that they remain in production!

I also found it remakable to consider what Adobe has chosen to include in the Products dropdown main-menu, and what is listed in this complete alphabetical product list. Will this list change over the next few weeks as Adobe gets feedback from its loyal customers, and will Macromedia customers petition for the continuance of their favorite products? Only time will tell.