Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2013. Show all posts
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
(TV) True Detective: The Show That Refuses To Drop The Ball
While everyone knows that True Detective is a great show and in my opinion one of the greatest debut series in the history of television, I would say the best thing about this show is that it has the uncanny ability of never dropping the ball. Most shows, even the great ones, drop the ball when it comes narrative and characterization for an episode
Take for example the this week's installment on the back of easily one of the best tracking shots I've ever seen on television or even on the silver screen in one of the most pulsating episodes you'll ever watch.
Everything was great in the last episode and it could have served as an excuse to take a break in the narrative and reflect on what took place in the last episode the tension in a show that has refused let us off the hook and has demand our attention from day one. However, Cary Joji Fukunaga and Nic Pizzolato, respectively the director and writer/creator of True Detective, used episode 5 to provide more tension and increasingly unsettling revelations about our two protagonists, Detective Rustin Cohle and Marty Hart. In this week's episode, we knew that Cohle was as dark as it gets and his partner was not that far behind in the morally bereft stakes but I wasn't expecting Detective hart to execute a handcuffed suspect.
That murder confirmed to me that Hart is decisively a darker character than Cohle for the same reason Walter White was decisively the most evil character in a show populated with cold-eyed hitmen, ruthless drug-lords and Neo-Nazis: both character could rationalize their evil acts no matter how destructive they are. Both Hart and Cohle are world class liars exemplified by their bullshit story they sold to Gillborough and Papiana which we learn later in the episode would come back to bit them hard and fast as Cohle learns through a murder suspect on a unrelated case that "the yellow king" is still out there.
In this episode we also learn why Gillborough and Papiana are interviewing both Cohle and Hart as they suspect wrongdoing on Cohle's part during the Dora Lange investigation and even may suspect Cohle may have played a parts in subsequent murders that similar to the Dora Lange case. this episode has set up an very interesting dynamci as Gillborough and Papiana look for an angle on Cohle via Hart, Hart do his best not to incriminate himself for his own sins during the Dora Lange investigation.
The show also made a slight flashforward from 1995 to 2002 as we see the effects of the intervening years on Harts' children and his relationship with his wife Maggie. Him and Cohle are still close and Maggie even sets him up with someone. this episode was great because this seamlessly execute storytelling elements that would ruin most shows such as hallucinations (mostly Cohle's), character narration and the frequent jumping through time periods but this only seems to enhance the storytelling in True Detective.
In sum, the only flaws I can point to about True detective is that it has three episodes left and the cast will change for the season as the show is fantastic as it is with its' bonafide Hollywood quality leads, direction, writing and in generally the best mis en scene you'll ever see on television as True Detective is another great testament of the power sound and image.
Monday, December 30, 2013
(What's Dope?) Terms and Conditions May Apply: A Sobering Look At Privacy (or the lack of it) in the US
Terms and Conditions May Apply is a very interesting film as it is very deceptive but in a insightful and sobering way as it opens with an innocuous act we all overlook when we sign up to use a service online but after watching this, we should become avid readers of the terms and conditions page before we mindlessly sign up to them. Most of our total ignorance comes from our trust of companies such as Google and Facebook to the point that we treat them we treat them like public goods instead of what they are, faceless corporations looking to make a buck by way of a profit.
These services are free and nobody is against these services being free but a problem presents itself when we are faced with the reality, as Terms and conditions May Apply shows, that if companies such as Facebook and Twitter aren't after your money, they're after something a lot more valuable and precious, your right to privacy. If we were to take this view, then the Terms of service agreements which may read like tax code but are essential reading if you value not having your privacy breached on a daily basis.
The film then goes from the cumbersome topic of the terms of service agreement we all ignore when using a service online to the wider issue of the continual dissolution of fourth amendment and persistent violation of privacy in general across the globe. The film also delves into the industries such as the surveillance technology industry that have benefited from the anti privacy climate in the US since 9/11 and the privacy denying policies that have become law since, the still controversial Patriot Act (2001) a prime example. The about face turn in the narrative was a little disorienting simply because I wasn't expecting the film to look at the wider political context.
What I like most about Terms and Conditions May Apply is that it doesn't let companies such as Facebook and Twitter off the hook regarding their role in the persistent violation of the privacy rights of their users. The film is especially tough on Facebook and Google from its Privacy policies which have very little to do with privacy and their rather lousy treatment of the data of their users from warehousing data to allowing third parties (i.e. governments, spy agencies) access it.
I also like how it reveals the industrial strength hypocrisy of the heads of both Facebook and Google as the film does a great job of showing both Eric Schmidt and Mark Zuckerberg's indifference or outright disregard of the privacy rights of their users stressing the desire for a more "open society" but publicly state their anger (or blacklist magazines in Schmidt's case) when their privacy is breached pretty much how their respective companies the privacy of users on a daily basis.
My favourite moment of the film is when Cullen Hoback, director of the feature, tracks down Mark Zuckerberg to his home address and basically ambushes the Facebook CEO with the camera rolling as he walks hastily down the street doing his best to shake Hoback off his tail then stops to ask him Hoback to turn the cameras off.
This may seem unfair and a gross but entertaining breach of Zuckerberg's privacy but as Hoback spends the whole film demonstrating, tracking down Zuckerberg and getting in his face about his constant interview dodging is nothing in comparison to his companies rather disheartening practices regarding to the privacy of their users.
All in all, Terms and Conditions May Apply is as dope a film about the state of privacy online and beyond you can get and if you don't watch this film and don't look at Google and Facebook in a different light, nothing ever will.
Check out the trailer Terms and Conditions May Apply trailer here
You can also the film's site here
(Note To The Reader) New Segment: Cause For Concern
As part of our new direction in 2014, we will add a new weekly segment entitled Cause For Concern that will report on issues that in the near future that might become a cause for concern for everybody. From potential market crashes, political tension, hazardous social trends to the excesses of modern corporate power with wide ranging effects, Cause for Concern will be your first port of call to make sure readers are aware of the trends and practices that matter in our world and affect all of us.
Cause for concern will be up on the blog next week Monday. Be sure to check it out,
Thanks for reading,
Alex Clarke
Editor
The Carnage Report
Wednesday, December 25, 2013
(Note To The Reader) bye to 2013 and hello to 2014
2013 has been a year of change for the carnage report and 2014 will be no different as we will take a new direction as we attempt a new approach that will lift us over the average culture blog. We have been using the same generic segments you can find on any blog on the web but in 2014 we will use original segments that represents an idea rather than a topic.
With our recently established What's Dope? segment, we look to bring the best of modern culture to your attention and check put for yourself and in 2014, we will add new segment entitled "The Why" attempting to answer the most important in journalism and life in lieu of recent events of the week.
We will also add a new segment entitled The Wasteland which will dedicated to covering TV with an original and refreshing take. Its title is taken from a brilliant biting speech about the state of television in America made by Newton N, Minnow which is still serves as a ample starting point for any criticism to be made about modern television anywhere across the globe never mind the US.
We also have a segment in the works for those among you who want to get something or want to learn how. it will appeal to the independent spirits among us and those looking ot get inspired so stayed tuned to the "Note to the Reader" Segment that will go up in the next few days
2013 was a good year for The Carnage Report and we made a lot of progress but 2014 will be the year where we distinguish ourselves from every other blog as we look not just to entertain or provide something for you to read but to actually provide content that you can make use of in your life and ideas that enrich your experience reading this blog.
Thank you for reading us this years and we hope you stay with us throughout 2014.
All of us at The Carnage Report wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Alex Clarke
Editor
The Carnage Report
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
(What's Dope?) World Star Hip Hop: Life on Skid Row
For a site that's infamous for reveling in the lowest common denominator from scantily clad "WSHH Honeys", brutal scraps ranging from chaotic schoolyard rumbles to vicious street fights and other graphic acts of human cruelty, Worldstarhiphop, for once bucked its 8 year trend of capitalizing the darker side of human nature in the urban space.
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