Do Americans Know More About Lohan than Pakistan?

Map from Lonely Planet

[The Lohan-Pakistan comparison is at the end.]

Declan Walsh is a Guardian reporter who's been in Pakistan for the last seven years.  Here are a couple paragraphs from an overview article he wrote for the Guardian on what's happening in the country December's Atlantic calls "The Ally from Hell."

But Pakistan is Afghanistan's neighbor as well as Iran's, India's, and China's. We need to know.  And reading a few articles like this will at least get you to know more than 90% of Americans. 

So I offer these excerpts of the article - emailed to me by a Pakistani friend - in hopes that you might be tempted to read the whole article. which is headlined:

Pakistan: bombs, spies and wild parties

After seven tumultuous years reporting from Pakistan, Guardian correspondent Declan Walsh reflects on the inspiring figures, the jaw-dropping landscapes, the deep corruption – and the day the Taliban came to town . . .

. . . Pakistanis swerve into heavy traffic without looking, don't stick to their lane or indicate, which makes it hard to predict where they are coming from or going to. Social graces are rare – horns honk, headlights are impatiently flashed – but social hierarchy is observed: hulking four-wheel drives (increasingly armour-plated) barge through the swarms of matchbox cars. Off to the side, the police are taking bribes.

But pull off the road and everything changes. Pakistanis are welcoming, generous and voluble. They insist you stay for tea, or the night. They love to gab, often with glorious indiscretion – national politics and local tattle, cricket scandals, movie stars and conspiracy theories. This is fun, and good for the business of journalism.

While Islam is technically the glue of society, you learn, the real bonds are forged around clans, tribes, personal contacts. To get anything done, the official route is often pointless – the key is sifarish, the reference of an influential friend. Journalists use sifarish a lot; occasionally they are called on to dispense it too. . .

and further down

When I arrived in 2004, Islamabad was a somnolent, reliably dull city. By night, the sons of the rich drag-raced their daddies' cars along deserted streets, swerving to avoid wild boar ambling from the bushes. Foreigners mocked the capital for its provincial feel. "Islamabad – half the size of a New York graveyard but twice as dead" went the diplomats' tired gag as white-gloved waiters served gin and tonic on manicured lawns.

Then the Taliban came to town. It started with the bloody siege of the Red mosque complex in July 2007, just before Pakistan's 60th birthday. Bullets zipped through the leafy streets; I dusted off my flak jacket. Then came the bombs: at markets, checkposts, the Naval headquarters, UN offices, the five-star Marriott hotel. Up the street from my house, Benazir Bhutto gave speeches from behind barbed wire, during a brief-lived house arrest. Weeks later she drove out to Rawalpindi, where she was assassinated.

Today the blasts have stopped, mostly, but the city is cloistered in concrete. Fortified walls rise over the streets, vehicles slalom through elaborate checkposts, hotel entrances resemble prisons with gold-buttoned guards. Embassies are retreating into a sandbagged, Green Zone-style enclave; the presidency and even ISI headquarters are similarly isolated.

I suspect people are more inclined to check out rock stars than Pakistan.   I did check Google Trends to see how many average hits Pakistan gets compared to Lohan.  It's not a pretty picture.

Click to enlarge and see clearly
 

Note that the scales for the two graphs are different.  I had to raise Lohan's graph so the level 2 on each would match.  Also note that Lohan goes up to 6 and Pakistan only goes up to 3.

We just got the last troops out of Iraq (or so they say.)  From Fort Bragg via a South African television website (for a different set of reader comments):

The war killed 4 500 US troops and at least 60 000 Iraqis. Obama said on Tuesday the war would cost more than $1 trillion all told.

 Those are the costs we know now.  How will having Mom or Dad gone for long periods affect their kids long term?  What about all the medical costs for the veterans?  And the costs for the families of the 60,000 dead Iraqis? 

We went into that war, in part, because people knew more about 'personalities' like Lohan than they knew about Iraq.  Pakistan isn't going away.  It behooves us to know more about it than we do, so we aren't cowed by DC experts with classified proof of the need to go to war. 

Of course I don't need to worry about regular readers at this blog.   But for those who got here accidentally to learn about Lohan's trip to Pakistan, please try to read the whole Guardian article before you read your Facebook wall.   And maybe the Atlantic article too.  Then link to them on Facebook. 

OK, You Hate Congress, But Are You Still Voting For Your Own Congress Member?

In a recent show, Morning Edition reporter Andrea Seabrook talked to Cincinnati voters about Congress.

None had anything good to say.  Here's how it begins:

ANDREA SEABROOK, BYLINE: These days, when I stop people in the street, there's this thing that happens all the time.
I'm a reporter with NPR in Washington. Anyone interested in talking about Congress?
BILL BELLMAN: Congress - there's nothing good to say.
SEABROOK: People's instant reaction to the mention of Congress is: Ugh, what a mess; there's nothing good to say.

Here's the audio.





She asked all these people how they felt about Congress, but SHE DIDN'T ASK:


 "Are you going to reelect your own Congress Member?"



That seems to be the key problem.  All the other guys are bad, but we like our own Congress Member.

Let's remember that the people in Congress got more votes than the other candidates, so the people to blame for Congress are those who voted for the winning candidates and those who didn't vote at all.  

I've been voting against my Congress Member for 30 years, so, while you might say I've been ineffective, at least I'm not part of the group that's responsible for re-electing Don Young.  But people like me need to work harder to retire the problem Congress Members.

Of course, you can pull all the dandelions you want, but more still pop up.  Getting rid of bad Congress Members and reelecting new bad ones isn't the answer. We need to plant Congress with representatives who promise NOT to take pledges that restrict their votes and promise to work constructively with ALL the other Congress Members for the public, regardless of threatened political consequences.  Better yet, there should be negative political consequences for being a hack and good ones for being a mensch. 

Not all incumbents are problems.  When they campaign, make them demonstrate how they worked with others, how they bucked the party when its dictates weren't for the good of the public, how they advanced, rather than blocked, needed legislation and confirmation of appointed officials, and how they did NOT play brinksmanship with the US budget and our country's credit rating.  

Hold all candidates to reasoned cooperation. (Ask them how many members of the other party they had over to their home for dinner this session.) Hold them to voting for the long term benefit of the United States (and the world) and not to voting based on how they think it might affect the next election cycle. (Did they vote against needed legislation or to add toxic amendments so the other side had to vote no?)   Their only pledge should be to vote for the needs of the public, not of their party, not of the lobbyists and their clients. 

Do your homework.  Check out your representative and senators.  Here are some websites that give you information.  Check different perpsectives:


Vote Smart
The Washington Post's The US Congress Votes Database
Don't know who your congress person is?  Who's My Rep?     My Senator?
Big Marine Fish's Friend or Enemy of Fish?
C-Span's Researching Your Members of Congress
Congress Link's How Influential Is Your Member of Congress?
The American Conservative Union's Congressional Ratings
National Journal's Vote Rating 2010
ACLU's Congressional Scorecard
The Hill has Lists of Ratings from Different Groups for Each Lawmaker

Then ask your representative to explain his votes.

When you find a good candidate, you need to give her some money and some time.  

Or, if there are no good candidates, run yourself. 

AIFF 2011: Skype Chat from Holland With Best Animation Winners

All the animated films I saw were good in some way.  This was the category I tried to know best and I've gotten some video on most of the film makers whose films were in competition.  I had this conversation with Ru Kuwahata and Max Porter Dec. 7 (Anchorage time).  They were delightful to talk to and they give us a sense of the life of serious animators.  They are currently in Holland on a grant for animators.



Ru lived in Anchorage for a couple of years as a child when her father, who worked for Japan Airlines, was located here.  She clearly was disappointed that she couldn't be here for the festival, but they promised to submit what they are working on now when it's done in 2013.

And you can see the film that won Best Animated Film at the Anchorage International Film Festival last week.

North Korea's Kim Jong-il Dead

From Thai Visa:

PYONGYANG (BNO NEWS) -- The Supreme Leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il, died of physical fatigue on early Saturday morning, state-run media announced on Monday afternoon. He was 69 or 70 years old.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim died at around 8.30 a.m. local time on Saturday. It said he died of physical fatigue during a train ride, but gave no other details.

UPDATE 9:10pm - from Reuters:

By David Chance

SEOUL | Mon Dec 19, 2011 12:45am EST

(Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died of a heart attack while on a train trip, state media reported on Monday, sparking immediate concern over who is in control of the reclusive state and its nuclear program.
A tearful television announcer dressed in black said the 69-year old had died on Saturday of physical and mental over-work on his way to give "field guidance."
Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il's youngest son, is seen as the leader-in-waiting after he was appointed to senior political and military posts in 2010.
North Korea's official KCNA news agency said the elder Kim died at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday (6:30 p.m. EST on Friday) after "an advanced acute myocardial infarction, complicated with a serious heart shock." Kim had suffered a stroke in 2008, but had appeared to have recovered from that ailment. . . [continue here]

From Wikipedia:

Soviet records show that Kim Jong-il was born in the village of Vyatskoye, near Khabarovsk, in 1941, where his father, Kim Il-sung, commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade, made up of Chinese and Korean exiles. Kim Jong-il's mother, Kim Jong-suk, was Kim Il-sung's first wife. Kim Jong-il's official biography states that he was born in a secret military camp on Baekdu Mountain in Japanese Korea on 16 February 1942. Official biographers claim that his birth at Baekdu Mountain was foretold by a swallow, and heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow over the mountain and a new star in the heavens. In 1945, Kim was three or four years old (depending on his birth year) when World War II ended and Korea regained independence from Japan. His father returned to Pyongyang that September, and in late November Kim returned to Korea via a Soviet ship, landing at Sonbong (선봉군, also Unggi). The family moved into a former Japanese officer's mansion in Pyongyang, with a garden and pool. Kim Jong-il's brother, "Shura" Kim (the first Kim Jong-il, but known by his Russian nickname), drowned there in 1948. Unconfirmed reports suggest that five-year-old Kim Jong-il might have caused the accident. In 1949, his mother died in childbirth. Unconfirmed reports suggest that his mother might have been shot and left to bleed to death.. . [More here.]

And the New York Times weighs in with a lengthy piece.

Only 24% of college graduates know the First Amendment prohibits establishing an official religion for the United States.

That's a finding from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI).  

A comment (6:47pm) on Immoral Minority  led me to ISI's website with a civic literacy test.

First, a random sample of 2,508 American adults of all backgrounds was surveyed, allowing comparisons to be made between the college and non-college educated. They were asked 33 straightforward civics questions, many of which high school graduates and new citizens are expected to know.

 The average score was 49% right answers.  College professors got 55% right.

Of the 2,508 People surveyed, 164 say they have held an elected government office at least once in their life. Their average score on the civic literacy test is 44%, compared to 49% for those who have not held an elected office. (From additional finding.)

But don't gloat too much.  We don't know what level office they held and the 49% - the average - got an F grade from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI) which created the test.

One of their major findings was:   College Adds Little to Civic Knowledge.

Red flags are starting to wave for me.  One of the agenda items of the Right has been bashing American colleges and universities - because they've strayed from traditional Western Civilization curriculum and added women, non-whites, and studies of sexuality beyond the missionary position.   Colleges are places where people are supposed to learn how to think independently.   If the quality of this year's roster of Republican presidential candidates is any indication, independent thinking is not a quality conservatives want in the people who vote.

Just like No Child Left Behind was designed for public schools to fail by setting up a testing system that makes it very hard for schools to pass so they can imprint in people's minds that public education as a failure, there appears to be a similar agenda for the college level.  For K-12, this destroying trust in public education is designed to get the public to vote for school vouchers and move public money into private schools.

It appears that part of the motivation of this test is to show that US Colleges are failing.

Is ISI part of this?  I started checking. 

The ISI declares itself "The Home of American Intellectual Conservatism."

A Katherine Forrest, in 2006,  had the same sort of suspicions I'm having and posted Exposing the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.   

ISI's  veneer of objectivity and rationality disappears completely when you find their college rating pages. (You have to look carefully to find at the bottom of each page this note: 

"CollegeGuide.org is a project of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Inc. - www.isi.org"

They list ten "Exceptional Schools" and ten "Train Wreck Schools." 

What the train wreck schools seem to have in common is courses on gay and feminist themes and other evidence of what ISI sees as far left ideological intolerance. Here are some examples:


#1 Train Wreck School, Wesleyan University:

". . .Wesleyan has been hollowed out by curricular decay and campus politics. Key requirements can be checked off by a vast array of questionable courses like “The Biology of Sex” (the textbook is a sex manual), “Key Issues in Black Feminism,” and “Queer Literature and Studies.” There is little intellectual diversity in the classroom or elsewhere. Shakespeare is optional for English majors, as is study of the American founding and Civil War for history majors"

 #3 Train Wreck School, College of the Holy Cross:

". . .The sole required religion course need not cover Jesuit, Catholic, or even Christian content: Islam or Buddhism will do. . ."

#5 Train Wreck School, University of California Santa Cruz:

Bastions of fanatical political correctness include feminist studies and also American studies, where representative courses include “Sexual Identities,” “Social Unrest,” and “Criminal Queer.” Santa Cruz boasts that it offers more than a hundred courses each year that focus entirely on race and ethnicity. It might save time simply to count the courses that don’t. The once-tiny Santa Cruz College Republicans chapter has simply disappeared, although there is a libertarian group, Slugs for Liberty. “This is a very liberal campus,” says a student, “[and] religion does not play a role.”

 #6 Train Wreck is Duke, which actually gets high praise for liberal but fair faculty and the quality of research and many programs.  But it gets slammed for:

". . . the infamous lacrosse case of 2006, when an African American stripper falsely accused three Duke lacrosse players of rape—and eighty-eight Duke professors rushed to condemn the innocent students in the Chronicle of Higher Education. As one student tells us, faculty and administrators are still fixated on “race, gender, and class.” In the wake of the “rape” charade, Duke adopted a new, draconian sexual misconduct policy that “can render a student guilty of nonconsensual sex simply because he or she is considered ‘powerful’ on campus,” warned the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. "

 #7 Train Wreck is Bryn Mawr.

"History majors are not even offered—much less required to take—a basic Western civilization class. Many of the college’s humanities courses are dedicated to feminist issues and the politics of victimhood, such as “The Sociology of AIDS” covering the “social construction of AIDS”; “Anxious Masculinity” (an English class); and “African Childhoods,” which provides a “gendered perspective . . . Concerning indigenous cultural practices such as initiation ceremonies and sexual orientation.” Radical groups predominate on campus, presenting a feminist “May Hole” instead of a May Pole, and celebrating Wiccan Sabbats."

#9 Train Wreck is Occidental College.

“Gay Rights in the Era of Obama and Google”

That’s the title of a real, core curriculum course at this urban school, where President Obama went for two years and awakened his political consciousness. Students could find an excellent liberal arts education by carefully picking their courses, if they don’t mind immersion in an almost exclusively liberal, largely intolerant school.

Their study methodology includes frequent references like, "says a faculty member."


What's the common theme for the  top ten "Exceptional Schools"?   Basically, conservatism, marked by traditional curriculum (mostly dead white male authors on the reading list, I'm guessing), religion (Christian) and/or military heritage.

1.  Princeton University -

". . . Of all the elite colleges, Princeton is the least politicized. Issue-driven organizations are diverse and mostly high-minded, and chaplaincies of many denominations are active and faithful. While the faculty overall leans left, most keep their views out of the classroom. The school makes room for the excellent James Madison program, a conservative institute dedicated to American political philosophy. . ."

2.  University of Chicago  -

". . .While some departments are slanted politically, this doesn’t seep into the classroom; students of a wide range of views describe the atmosphere as comfortable and open-minded. Strong disciplines include economics, social thought, political science, and the hard sciences. Chaplaincies are strong here, and opportunities to savor the fine arts abound. The gritty [code for "black"?] neighborhood surrounding the school doesn’t encourage much urban adventure: crime is a real issue. . ."

3.  University of the South

". . .Faculty lean to the left of students—a largely conservative, southern lot—but classroom bias is rare and free discussion the rule. Students form close, lifelong friendships in the charmed, safe isolation of Sewanee’s campus, and alumni are fiercely loyal. Religious life on campus is strong, extending well beyond the school’s official, high-toned Episcopalianism. . . ."

4.  US Military Academy

". . . The discipline and focus imparted through the school’s rigorous Military Program help form many future business leaders. West Point’s core curriculum is excellent, and the art, philosophy, and literature (APL) major provides an in-depth study of Western civilization. History and government majors are particularly strong, focused respectively on military history and the American tradition. . .  Following our tradition of an apolitical military, the school keeps overt ideology out of the classroom, and students avoid partisan politics. Student debate, writing, and arts opportunities are strong. Religious life of many varieties thrives, with several historic chapels and talented choirs."

5.  Pepperdine University -

"This well-heeled, large university that overlooks the beach is affiliated with the Churches of Christ, and remains remarkably true to the entrepreneurial aspirations of its founder and namesake, George Pepperdine. It aims at cultivating a pragmatic graduate who infuses Christian values in a life of leadership. Pepperdine’s interdisciplinary curriculum is strong; its three-course core sequence, Western Heritage, takes students briskly from 30,000 B.C. up through the present. . ."

6.  Baylor University - "the world’s largest Baptist university'
7.  Providence College - " Dominican friars (Aquinas’s order) who are serious about Catholic education"
8.  Texas A&M - "Originally an all-male military academy (it still has a large, influential corps of cadets. . . conservative churches and chaplaincies are thriving"
9.  Gordon College - "New England’s only traditional, Evangelical Christian liberal arts college"
10.  Christendom College -

"Instead of political correctness, there is an absolute expectation of Catholic orthodoxy; debates on campus are among Republicans, anticapitalist agrarians, libertarians, paleoconservatives, and monarchists. Shared premises make such disputes more fruitful."

I'd also note that while there were three colleges I noted on the Exceptional list that had been all male, the Train Wreck list has two all female schools.  


But does all this make the test invalid?  As with No Child Left Behind, you can set up a test that doesn't necessarily have questions that are critical to being good American citizens.  Or a scoring system that guarantees failure.  Some of the questions are clearly important.  Others, while identifying significant points in American history, aren't necessarily indicative, overall, of whether the American public gets an F in civil literacy.  These folks like traditional education, so they make up a test and use a traditional grading scale of >90%= A etc.  But what makes these 33 questions the key ones that lead to the F for the average American?

And I still have trouble with their finding that "College Adds Little to Civic Knowledge" because:

The average score among those who ended their formal education with a bachelor’s degree is 57%, or an “F.” 

Who picked the 33 questions?  Look, I can criticize the low quality of American colleges as well as anyone.  My students complained regularly about the amount of work I expected of them.  And, just in case anyone is wondering, I did way better than the average on the test.  But it was a subject I know a lot about and covered a lot of history I lived through. 

I  agree that Americans know way too little about how government works.  I don't necessarily agree with ISI's reasoning why.  I'd argue it has more to do with the annual assaults on school budgets for the last 40 years or the emphasis on research which focuses faculty attention away from teaching.  Or the overemphasis on college education and away from vocational education.

I would guess that I could pick some 20 somethings in Anchorage who could come up with a similar test, focused on critical modern technical literacy, which the people at ISI would fail. 

If you are interested, you can take their test here.  How well will you score?

Brilliant Stairs to Kitchen Homicide - Imaginations Pushing the Ordinary

I'm a sucker for things that cause my brain cells to shift.  So here are a few links to websites that do that.

For example, stairs are pretty straightforward.  Almost all are basically the same.  There is some variation, like spiraling staircases, but the idea has pretty much been exhausted, right?

Well look at the 20 sets of stairs offered at Mdolla to remind you that there's always a new way to conceive of something we take for granted.  Like these on the right.

I don't think you could legally put these in a house in Anchorage. 






  Divine Caroline makes us revisit logos to make sure we've seen the whole logo, like the images in the empty spaces in this logo for the Pittsburgh Zoo.  There are 15 examples, some I see every day, but don't really see, like the hidden symbol in the Fedex logo.  Do you know what's there?








A Crazy Bag of Hammers gives a sampling of these ordinary objects bent-wired into about 20 mini-dramas like this apparent kitchen homicide.


And it's well worth your while to go to Bent Objects itself for more and varied brain candy like a poster for any billionaires planning a protest.

Don't Mess With My Stereotypes - The "All American Muslim" Ad That Lowe's Pulled

[UPDATE 6:50pm:  Ha!  Too good to be true.  See the first comment.  So what was the ad they removed?]

Does anyone not know that Lowe's pulled an ad on the tv show "All American Muslim" because a Christian group in Florida had a letter writing campaign protesting it?

I first thought they were simply protesting that Lowe's supported a show with positive views of American Muslims. But now I've seen the ad itself.

I can see why they would want it pulled. It plays to all their stereotypes about evil Muslim terrorists and then dashes them. Can't let people see such powerful hate antidotes.

Thanks to Gryphen for posting it.

Esther Hong: Transformation of Canvas

There's a little art gallery next to the entrance of the UAA library and it had a wonderful exhibit when I went by yesterday: 

Transformation of Canvas.

I didn't get the title at first. 

I just knew it was cool.










The one above is from the one just to the left.

I just fell in love with the texture, the designs, the muted colors, the imagination, and the perseverance.

Then in the center of the room I saw this canvas covered 'bench' with a video screen of two hands pulling off threads from  . . . a piece of canvas.  And there were pieces of canvas and the little tool she was using there for me to do the same.  And that's when I got it.  Transformation of canvas.

December 16 is the last day of the exhibit.  That's today.  Friday.  At UAA near the entrance to the Consortium Library.  Parking is free on Fridays.

Winter Roads Make Winter Trails All That Much Better

It began snowing about October 30, and I've been able to get in at least twice a week workouts shoveling new snow. I don't remember so much snow so often. The result is that our street is getting narrower. Some of us have been able to carve out parking spots, but most of the street space is now three to four foot high berm - five or six feet wide. People are parking creatively.






After ten days of film festival, I was ready to for bit of a walk, so I took some books back to the UAA library.  Here's the biketrail/sidewalk cut out of the snow. 

Driving the last few days has been as bad as I can remember. (It could be dementia that I can't remember that well.)  The car rattles along the street.  Walking across it was easy to see why.  Lots of random ice humps.  I guess the heavy snow followed by warm followed by cold again allowed for some artistic freezing designs.  And terrible driving conditions. 

The snow plow guys must be exhausted and frustrated.  They've done a pretty good job getting our street cleared, but not picking up the snow.  And now the streets are awful. 










But walking the bike trails on campus is going off into a winter wonderland.

AIFF 2011: How Could A Zombie Musical That Cost "a lot less than" $50K Win Best Feature?

[We saw the last part of the movie again Wednesday night (after seeing the winning shorts).  The visual and audio quality of the movie was significantly better, and the story was clearer.]





This blog is called "What Do I Know?" because a basic theme is the question that underlies everything we know - "How do we know what we know?"  A variation of that theme is:  "How do what know what is true and what is good?"   These are questions that people ask themselves too seldom.

So, when we talk about 'the best' film, there are lots of underlying assumptions about what each of us means by best.  In 2008 I outlined my criteria, as best I could, and related them to movies in that festival.  Let me pull the four headings out now and see if they help me explain why this film is a worthy winner.

Example of Interesting Lighting

Ink diffusing across the screen

• Technical Quality A continuum from.. shaky...no problems..very good..innovative. 

Some films have a combination of more than one of these which makes it harder to judge.  In a movie, good sound makes up for poor video.  Think of Blair Witch Project or home-made YouTube footage of police confrontations.   Dead Inside had a few technical issues I noticed - the voices in the musical numbers were sometimes too low compared to the instruments and the music itself might have been a bit louder.  There were a couple of spots that seemed unintentionally out of focus.  But there were also many great shots throughout.  They played with the light and dark and color.  With spaces and shapes.  The make-up of the zombies would have been good for a high budget film, but was incredible

Max and Harper

for this very low budget movie. I'm not sure what the spreading inky images signified, but I like them.  They told us, in the opening scenes, that something supernatural was coming.  (Good, Steve, you don't think we got that from the zombies walking through the desert in the opening scene?)
And I like the editing.  The transitions worked for me and the background music and sounds helped a lot.

• Content -
  Content is probably the most variable issue, since what interests me may not interest you.  But any story, done really well, no matter the subject, will capture any one. And while for most movies the narrative is key, great  movies that intentionally leave the narrative fuzzy or have no narrative, can offer important alternative ways to use film.  (And if you want to push this further, not having a narrative becomes itself another narrative.)  But this is far riskier to pull off. 
  
  
  There's a vague continuum for me that roughly goes from bad to good:

Disrespectful ...Boring...good story....original...currency...high positive impact
  Bad...................................................................................................................Good

Writing The Story As Part of the Story

This film has a narrative and themes, though after one viewing there are still  loose ends for me.  I saw the overarching theme as a variation of the Orpheus story. A lover (Wes) goes to extremes to get his love (Fi - pronounced Fee) back. In this case a ghost takes over Fi's body and Wes has to figure out how to oust the ghost and help Fi reclaim her body.  Another theme is the difficulty of creating a work of art/literature.  Fi is a writer with writer's block.  We watch her sit, fingers at the keyboard, writing, then erasing.  But the story she's writing seems to be the script in the movie.  Emily (the ghost who takes over Fi's body) tries to write Fi out of the story.  I think that basically Fi was writing a zombie script and I'm still not sure about the relationship between the zombies (Max and Harper) and Fi and Max [Wes. See I'm still a bit confused.]  They are the same actors and sometimes we have Max with Fi.

I haven't thought through all the possible themes, but I'm sure with enough time I could come up with half a dozen that the film makers never even thought of.  In some cases that's part of what good art does - allows, even pushes, the audience to think and to gain insights into their own lives reflected in the art.  

• Use of Medium. Movies combine sight and sound and movement, verbal and non-verbal messages.  The best movies are those that take advantage of the medium completely.  They tells stories you can't convey as well in other media.

Three photos on wall

This is a very visual movie, but it's also very auditory. After all, it is a musical. This is not an adaptation of a book.  This was conceived as film (or the digital components that make up film today.)  One device I liked was the use of three photos on the wall.  When we first see it, we see Fi in the left hand frame reaching out, Wes in the right hand frame reaching out to Fi, and the two hands not quite touching in the middle frame. (Symbolic of the main theme.)  Throughout the film we see these photos, but sometimes they change or the characters move into the frames and act out the story in the background on the wall. 

[Note:  The photos are saved frames from clips of the movie taken during the showing.  I didn't have the dvd to carefully pick my examples from.  You'll see them again in the video.]

• Whole Package. Even with weaknesses here and there, a film could pull it off by doing some things so well that the problems don't really matter. 

It's the whole package that had audience members smiling in amazement at the end of this.  This was truly an independent movie, the kind that film festivals are all about.  It is ridiculously ambitious.  It's conventional enough to be accessible to most viewers, yet it breaks rules to make a film that's not your every day cookie cutter film.

And one has to acknowledge that one of the wonders of this film is that its budget would have been used up in less than a minute on a major Hollywood set.  The  budget factor is something I've written about before in evaluating movies.  Just as in diving and skating, where you can get more points for trying something more difficult, film makers, in my scoring system, get more points for doing more with less.  It's like including miles/gallon in evaluating a car.  One could argue convincingly that Kinyarwanda or The Wedding Party or Inuk should have been best picture.  They were all good movies.  And they each had their emotional tugs to claim the prize.  And with different judges any one of them might have won.  And people might criticize the selection of The Dead Inside.

But I give the judges  a lot of credit (as did others I talked to) for recognizing how much this film did through improvising with almost no money.  (I said to Travis after seeing the film, "This was great for a movie under $100K."  He laughed and said, "Way under."  I then said, "This was great for a movie under $50K."  He laughed and said, "Way under.")

I don't want anyone to think this wasn't a very good movie that got the award because it cost so little.  It was a very good movie.  The film makers had to be creative.  It was all done inside their apartment, with the exception of the opening scenes in the desert.  There were five people involved in the production. (More in post production.)  They found ways to tell their story with the budget they had.  And I haven't mentioned the music much.  There's a whole musical in here - a very credible one.  As I listen to bits of it on a couple of clips I took during the showing Saturday, I realize how good it is and how important the music and sound is to the movie.

I don't think I exaggerate when I say that most people (pretty much everyone I talked to) were surprised that The Dead Inside won best picture, but happily surprised.  It's the kind of thing that should happen at film festivals.  One could make a movie about this.  This is an important film maker, early in his career.  Whether this is the peak or just the early signs of greatness remains to be seen. 

Here are some clips from the film.  These are intentionally crooked and include much more than the screen so no one will think I'm trying to bootleg the film.  And since I only took a few random shots without knowing what was coming, it's, well, random.  But it gives you a hint at the film that's different from the trailer which you can see here.

The video offers some illustration of the points I made - that this is a musical with good music, there are good visuals, the inky blobs, the zombie makeup, and bit of how they go in and out of the three pictures over the bed. 


The actors - who sing the original music themselves - are Sarah Lassez and Dustin Fasching.  The music is from Joel Van Vliet.  The film has a strong website that gives some background of the characters.