Ted Talks

One thing I've been enjoying very much lately is a site called Ted Talks.

It takes lectures and talks from all over the world on all types of topics and collects them in one place. It talks about such serious topics as over population and global warming as well as simple ones on the place of love in our lives.

Looking at it from a media stand point, its uninterrupted information. Also, its great because people can get to lectures and talks that they would only get from attending a big college or by being lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. Now, they can hear all these lectures and its great to be able to have this great resource that is free to anyone with an internet connection.

Reddit

So, for a silly/informative time, you should give Reddit.com a look.

Reddit isn't new and chances are that people already know about it, but on the off chance that people don't I wanted to talk about it.

Reddit is a site where people are constantly posting new pictures and posting links to other news. Things can be rated up or down and you can check to see whats new or whats really popular at the time. There are tons of boards to look through.

This is how I've read most of the info on Wikileaks. I like it because it seems to accumulate all the articles in one place in order to get the best and most up to date information.

Give it a look!

Epic Mickey (and Oswald too)

We spoke a little about what video games can bring to the media and I wanted to talk about something I've been enjoying lately.

What I've been playing is a little game called Epic Mickey.

I'm a sucker for Disney, especially old school animation. Epic Mickey is supposed to be a game which highlights and brings up old animation characters that have been forgotten.

At the forefront of the game is Disney's first main character, a plucky rabbit named Oswald the Luck Rabbit.

Now, for what its worth, the game isn't perfect, but it definitely accomplishes what it set out to do: reintroduce people to Oswald again.

When Disney created Oswald, he was working for Universal. He went to the heads of animation to ask for more time and a raise for his staff. They then told him that they had stolen his staff away and was going to give him a pay cut.

He left the company and took a few animators that were still loyal to him to create what would later become Disney animation. Of course, we know the rest of the story, but the sad part was that, in leaving, Disney had to leave behind his character Oswald, since Universal owned the rights to him.

Years later, the Disney company decided that, in the memory of Disney, they needed to get the rights of Oswald back under Disney. They ended up making a trade with Universal and now Oswald is back in his rightful place.

This story is sort of told in Epic Mickey, however, its told from the Cartoons point of view. Oswald growing bitter and feeling forgotten as Mickey grows ever more popular.

In a strange way, this game has been really great to play since it gave me a story as well as a new character to care about.

Wikileaks

This is a simple post.

I simply want to talk about how I feel about the whole Wikileaks thing.

One the hand, I understand how some people may fear and dislike the actions of Julian Assange and his website. People see what he does as a potential for people to be hurt. More specifically, for soldiers and people who fight for our country to be hurt. They want to make the point that nobody should have the right to put anyone else in jeopardy, no matter what. I think this is a valid point and its true, nobody should have the right to do this, as well as understanding that Mr. Assange has a moral obligation to make sure his site would never do this.

However, I also agree with the other side of things. I believe in truth and justice and I've seen Wikileaks attempt to show more and more truth than most other places. Its important to have a way to keep our government in check. A site like wikileaks could be a good way to do this. Wanting to give people the cold hard truth about their gov't is a nobel aspiration. I like that its being compared to water gate (being called Cable gate) because of what that means. Daniel Ellisburg did the right thing years ago when he blew the whistle on what our gov't was doing. Now, Mr. Assange is doing the same, but with tons of world leaders and the things that they didn't have the right to do.

Honestly, as of now, my convictions are with truth and justice. I'd like to hope that Wikileaks and its leaders will have the moral fiber to know the difference between something that will get people killed and something that will bring light to dark actions