Review: Fallout 3

Still catching up. This one will be hard to find the negatives because I was overwhelming pleased with this game...

The positive three, the negative two.

Review: Batman- Arkham Asylum

So I am way behind in terms of doing some reviews of some interesting new media. Part of it was the completion of my thesis. Part of it was the completion of Georgetown. The End of LOST? Bermuda Triangle? Lots of reasons. But this is me catching up. 

The positive three, the negative two.

Review: Phantasy Star IV (Replay)

This was recently re-released on the Sonic's Ultimate Sega Genesis Collection for Playstation 3 (and it has so many games, I don't know what to do with myself). I remember this as one of my favorite games as a kid. It was lone, decent Sega Genesis RPG left to fend with the likes of Zelda, Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire on the Super Nintendo. This is an interesting take on the RPG genre. The travel and journey's on the map are done very similarly to Final Fantasy and Breath of Fire's "looking down from above" perspective. But the battle screen is done in first person, putting the player behind the characters. And that, coupled with decent battle music, makes for an exciting battle experience (and that's key in role-playing games, because you'll spend a good deal of the time in battle).

Here's the story:

Phantasy Star IV takes place in the year AW 2284 (1,000 years after the events of Phantasy Star II). It is the story of Chaz Ashley, a young bounty hunter, who along with his friends and allies, unwittingly becomes the savior of the Algol solar system. The story takes place on the planet Motavia, which has suffered through dramatic climate changes over the past 1,000 years.

After an event called the Great Collapse, much of the once-thriving ecosystem has been reduced to desert, and life has become difficult for the planet's inhabitants. To make matters worse, there has been a marked increase in the appearances of "biomonsters", strange and violent mutations of the normal plant and animal life.

Keeping these creatures under control is the job of "hunters" like Chaz and Alys, and it is during an investigation into an outbreak that the characters learn that the biomonster problem is related to the planet's ecological crisis. In truth, the planet is only reverting back to its natural desert state, which had been changed into an ecosystem more suited to human life by climate-changing technology thousands of years earlier. For reasons to be explained later, and relating back to the events of Phantasy Star II, this computer network suffers a system-wide malfunction, leading to the series of catastrophes throughout Algo.

Chaz and his allies connect the world's troubles to a man named Zio, whose aim seems to be nothing less than total annihilation - not only of Motavia but of the entire solar system. Their aim then becomes to defeat him in order to restore the computer systems maintaining Algo. However, it soon becomes clear that Zio is merely the vanguard to a much larger threat. Amidst great tragedy and struggle, Chaz and the others must eventually fight against an evil from time uncounted to restore peace to Algo once and for all.

Once again, we have a story where the people of the planet come from a fallen civilization elsewhere. In keeping with my method with Final Fantasy IV, I'll reserve judgment on the game (as my critiques would be remarkably similar with those voice in Super Mario RPG--all the RPGs back then had the same problems) and focus instead on some unique narrative features:

(1) Narrative scenes are done in an anime style- note the picture shown here. Text intermingles with multiple text boxes, making for a comic style appearance. The drawing style is also unmistakably anime. The main character Chaz, is also very nationalistic. He's dressed in his red and white like a Japanese flag.

(2) We have a Messiah- Like Final Fantasy IV, like Breath of Fire II and the Obama Candidacy, we have a "chosen one." At a certain point in the game, the characters journey to a Church of Espers ("Espere" is French for "Hope") where they worship a legendary magician (Lutz) who died 2000 years ago, but lives on in the Church to be passed on to the one "chosen" to carry the will and memory the magician. Very Calvinist. Predestination anyone?

(3) We have an absolute evil Devil, but no God- According to the story, there was a great spiritual being that split in two. For whatever reason, the good part "Le Roof" decided to leave, but left all sorts of stuff behind to kill off the evil part, "Dark Force." (This is also the same scenario seen in the Breath of Fire series and others. A true Satan, but humankind must defeat it with only the help of some weapons, etc. from God).

Oh, and the evil dude is apparently pentacostal. (a)It's a rapidly spreading church movement--there are numerous church's run by Dark Force's fall guy "Zio" but none by Le Roof. What up). And (b) these churchgoers faint in the spirit and speak in tongues.

Review: Final Fantasy IV (Replay)

I've recently been on kick of playing old (are they old enough to be called "vintage?") video games and I've come to one of the three or four games that dropped me into the role-playing game genre. In Final Fantasy IV (originally released as Final Fantasy II in the states), we several groundbreaking innovations that took place.

This is, as far as I can tell research-wise, the first game (released on Super Nintendo in 1991) that really made use of the big cast, epic storyline that would become a staple of role-playing games to this day. You also had the advent of "active" turn-based fighting. So you go to a special screen during battle and have dozens of decisions for how to fight (unlike other hack-and-slash role-playing games like Zelda, where you have only a handful but don't have a special screen), but while you're deciding, the enemy can still attack you. It doesn't sound too impressive today, but World of Warcraft, Dragon Quest, Star Ocean, Radiata Stories all owe homage to this game.

Here's a brief overview of the story:

The player takes the role of Cecil, a Dark Knight from the Kingdom of Baron, on his journey to save the world from the evil Golbez. Struggling to prevent Golbez from acquiring powerful Crystals, Cecil learns of his heritage and travels through three realms to battle Golbez's minions. His lover, best friend, and other warriors join him for the adventure.

Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its "Active Time Battle" system was used in six subsequent Final Fantasy games. With its character-driven plot, use of new technologies (such as Mode 7) and critically acclaimed score by Nobuo Uematsu, Final Fantasy IV is regarded as a landmark of the series and of the role-playing genre.

And if Wikipedia says it, it must be true. I should also note that this game remains so enormously popular to this day, that his spawned three re-releases and recent sequel that I hope to do a review of shortly. I'm going to have a difficult time not being biased in terms positives and negatives, so for this game, I'm going to focus on a typography of what's key in terms of the game.

(1) Redemption is a major theme.

There's a conversion! And it's better than the one in Left Behind (not hard). It's perhaps a non-religious conversion, but it certainly redemptive. During the course of the game, the protagonist Cecil Harvey must cease being a dark knight to become a paladin (a holy knight). During his time as a dark knight, he attacks a town called Mysidia. But once realizing his king is corrupt, he turns against him and in the midst of travelling to confront him, Cecil and his party are shipwrecked. The wreck leaves Cecil back Mysidia, where he is understandably not welcomed. But the elders warn him that if he's fighting evil with evil, he will have no success. So he's sent to an ancient monument on Mt. Ordeals where he will have to "part from his past" in order to gain the power of paladin. The monument tells him he must:

"Conquer your Darkness within! If you can't overcome your past self, the sacred power of Light will not accept you."

And on the mountain, Cecil fights himself. There are several ghosts of "sin" discussed in the confrontation. He doesn't allow his friends to help him fight, saying:

"This is my own fight! I must defeat him to amend for my past guilt."

There's also a plea for pacifism as well.

"To be a real Paladin, you must not fight now. Justice is not the only right in this world."

And at the end of the story, Cecil's brother, Golbez (who is the antagonist for much of the story), tries to destroy big bad guy Zemus. But Golbez, is unfortunately, a dark knight and can't do it. Cecil the Paladin is able to destroy him, with the help of prayers from earth (they call it "wishes" but everyone is going prostrate and reciting liturgy. I'm sorry politically correct translator--that's called a "prayer").

(2) Self-Sacrifice is a major theme.

During the course of the story, there are three major incidents of self-sacrifice.

(a) Sage Tellah uses a powerful spell to fight off Golbez (antagonist) and protect his friends, revenge his daughters death. He knows using the spell will kill him, and it does.
(b) Karateman Yang Fang Leiden destroys a cannon to save those who would have been killed by it's blast. He manages to survive (?) but for the majority of game we're pretty sure he's toast.
(c) Engineer Cid Pollendina basically performs a suicide bombing to save his friends from attackers. He also manages to survive (?).

The Lunarian FuSoYa (who wins the award for weirdest name) does get a little preachy near the end:

Zemus: "I will not perish as long as there is evil in the hearts of people."
FuSoYa: "Evil in our minds will never disappear...We are all both evil and good in our minds...So long as evil exists, so does good."

(3) Creation story:

Basically, we have the case of "really-smart-aliens-come-to-earth-and-some-are-really-bad-and-some-are-really-good" story plot. You'll find the creation story in here:

The Lunarians are a race of human-like wizards who came from a world destroyed which became the asteroid belt, and are identified by a moon-shape crest on their foreheads. They created the second moon that revolves around the world the story takes place on, resting until a time they believe their kind can co-exist with humans. The only known full-blood Lunarians are Fusoya, the guardian of the Lunarians; Zemus, a restless Lunarian who plans on destroying life on Earth so his kind, alone, can inhabit the planet; and Kluya, who is believed to be the first Lunarian to interact with humans. In fact, Kluya fell in love with a human, and had at least two sons with her: Theodor, whom Zemus corrupted and renamed Golbez; and the younger brother raised by the King of Baron as Cecil.

Review: New Media, New Politics: From Satellite Television to Internet in the Arab World

This semi-famous white-paper from 1999 confronts head-on the issues of censorship just hinted at in other publications (such as here, here, here, and here). There are three essential messages of this paper:

(1) New Media is still new and confined largely to the elite. But Internet is proliferation rapidly.
(2) Governments are struggling to exert censorship over new media.
(3) "The Internet holds the promise of allowing Arabs to dip into a vast sea of information that currently lies beyond their grasp" (Alterman xi).

Alterman could be accused of being overly optimistic that the new generation of Arabs, using New Media, will overcome any ills in their society. The internet certainly provided a great source of new information in America and many new tools for overcoming the ills in our society, but it also gave tools to pedophiles. Media is both glorious and fallen as Calvin would say.

Alterman notes the grounds for censorship in the Arab world. It is fascinating enough that I will quote it at length:

"There are generally four grounds for censorship in the Arab world today. The first has to do with the bounds of political debate. Whereas every Arab country has some degree of free debate, in each there are "red lines" that cannot be crossed. These red lines often have to do with Islamist opposition forces...The second and related taboo is criticism of a country's rulers or their families. From Morocco to Iraq, rulers may not be criticized by name in the domestic media (Alterman 46)

A famous example of the second taboo (that often results in censorship) was of the Moroccan leader Hosni Mubarak's sons. After a regional newspaper advertised an upcoming issue in which they would reveal details of the sons' personal corruption, the sons successfully sued the news organization to keep them from printing it. Then to add insult to injury, they sued the paper a second time for false advertising by promising a story they never delivered to the public (Alterman 46).

The third taboo has to do with writing of a religious nature that might cause undue dissension in a country. Islam is the majority religion in every country in the Arab world, but there remains disagreement within and between countries regarding what the proper practice of Islam requires. Within the generally acceptable bounds od discussion are debates over the nature of Islamic finance, cultural conflict with Western secularism and the role of women in the family and in the workplace. What are generally barred are discussions that seek to delegitimize Muslim groups or that incite violence against religious minorities. This is often a floating line, and it is most clearly crossed when Islamist partisans start tossing around the concepts of apostasy (ridda) or disbelief (kufr) to describe groups or individuals whose views they oppose. Whereas governments in the region often try to appropriate Islam to legitimize their own rule, they are vigilant in guarding against the possibility that some would use Islam to deligitimize either the government itself or groups in the general population (Alterman 46-47).

The third taboo is interesting because it relates so closely to the second. If the leader of your country IS your religious leader (ie. Iran), then what are you doing when you publish something that challenges that leader? Are you challenging politics or religion? In practice, it's often whichever has the worse consequences for the journalist (Doha Debates). Without separation of religion and state, a statement against a corrupt leader can be twisted easily into a statement against Islam.

The forth taboo has to do with social and sexual mores....The guiding principle seems in many ways not so much toban because of the nature of the materials themselves, but rather to ban those materials that are likely to cause (or have caused) offense among domestic clergy (Alterman 47).

But Alterman notes that censorship is perhaps a dying art. Because the internet proliferates and as literacy proliferates, people will be using the internet for information. "Censorship over the internet is ...perhaps the easiest to circumvent, becuase many of those who want to circumvent restrictions are more technically savvy than those who want to keep the restrictions in place" (Alterman 47).

Alterman predicts that transnational media is the future of Arab journalism because they can do hard-hitting reporting of multiple countries without having to answer to them. Off-shore media is large area of growth, with reporters on the ground in the Arab world, but supplying information to publications based in England and France, who are exempt from censoring laws (Alterman 73-74).

Review: Arab Mass Media

The essential message of William Rugh's updated study of the Arab world (he wrote the foundational book "The Arab Press" in the 1970s), is the government shapes the media and, to a certain extent, the media shapes the government. This is particularly interesting in the Arab world because, while the Arab countries share numerous similarities, the environments can be vastly different as a result of the government in place. (and I would add, it can also be different depending on the amount of internet penetration. Compare Lebanon and Saudi Arabia).

The mass media play a larger role than other forms of communication in the daily lives of people everywhere, but especially in the Arab world. These media are consequently regarded by politicians and governments as having great political importance. In fact, the acquisition and distribution of news has been seen for a long time as a vital political function in society because the news items may have political impact very quickly on large numbers of people...The way government and society deal with this institution (mass media) is significant for an understanding of that government and society as well as of the mass communications process. (Rugh xiv)

Rugh spends much the book updating the information he'd obtained for "The Arab Press." Whereas the press and the media were perhaps less developed at this time, the number of type of communications outlets has proliferated so that even the poorest Arab countries have television stations etc. By the late 70s all Arab countries not only had their own television stations but their own magazines and newspapers) (Rugh xiv-xv). As in his previous work, Rugh uses a typology unique to the Arab world to characterize the ways in which media operate. The four categories are:

(1) The Mobilization Press- (Syria, Libya, Sudan) The press system where "the ruling group is aggressively dedicated to revolutionary change, and it has managed to eliminate all real organized public opposition domestically, but requires active support from the media to help achieve its stated goals and combat its declared enemies" (Rugh 251).
(2) The Loyalist Press- (Bahrain, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE) is seated in countries where a "more traditional political system prevails; all are monarchies except Palestine, which has been dominated overwhelmingly by one man. No significant opposition exists, but the government, more satisfied with the status quo than intent on change, is content with passive acquiescence from the public and does not require the press to generate action" (Rugh 251-252).
(3) The Diverse Press- (Lebanon, Moracco, Kuwait, Yemen, Iraq) it takes place in a "political environment where the public expression of a variety of opinions and viewpoints, including criticism of the government, is possible, and where the regime does not intervene to suppress all open dissent" (Rugh 252). The government may occasionally take action against a news outlet, but it is rare and done primarily through the courts.
(4) The Transitional Press- (Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia) this press system is a "mixed system in which the largest circulation print media are controlled directly by the government but smaller ones are owned by private individuals or parties, and they have some latitude to criticize those in power" (Rugh 252). The government does try to restrict them at times, but it uses the courts as well and relies on journalists' self-censorship.

These types of press systems aren't an accidental bi-product of political realities, but an object of political calculation (Rugh 254). According to Rugh, the biggest indicator in determining the nature of the relationship between the press and the government is the diversity of press publications. In every Arab country, some media will be in complete support of government policy (Rugh 252). The essential function of the diverse press which allows it to have the freest press in the Arab World (Morocco Lebanon, Kuwait) is the existence of a genuine opposition to the ruling party which can function openly. If no public opposition is allowed, it follows that the press will be in uniform voice (Rugh 253).

Interestingly, the most tightly controlled media (radio and television) are the media which have given the Arab public the most freedom. Because while the media in their country may not aire any news about local government, another country within airwaves may be willing.

Review: Twilight

Okay, just to be clear here: I'm reviewing the book, not the movie. I haven't seen the movie, but I use the pictures because it brings more hits. True story.

Now, I approached this book with a bit of trepidation. After all, what would I tell people if I actually liked it? Twilight has earned the rap of being a girl's book and more specifically a tween girl's book. However, as a writer in the fantasy genre and some one who's been fascinated with vampire books for a long time (recent evidence), I thought it was worth a read.

So here are my thoughts:

(1) This book does for chicks, what a sword and sorcery book does for dudes. If you read any typical sword and sorcery book, it has some very typical elements: the young orphan raised in isolation; he discovers he is "special" and is sole person who can save the world; and in the process he will save damsels in distress, fight alongside buxom but ferocious female warriors and become unbelievably powerful (the late Robert Jordan is perhaps the epitome of this in his endless Wheel of Time series).

Now Twilight has some similar elements: a girl from a place things are boring and normal; she has an emotionally sensitive relationship with her parents that isolates her; she comes to a place where she is "special" and every boy at school wants to go out with her (including the boy genetically geared to destroy her); she will bravely, for love, put herself in dangerous situations where people fight for her because she is so special.

(2) Once again, we have secular vampires. The religious elements of vampirism have been taken out (the fear of the cross, holy water, etc) which leaves them as a sort of social group. In the book, they are balanced by a native Indian tribe who have been there for centuries (and who, I suspect, are werewolves). Thus the vampires become a marginalized part of society, largely through the actions of some bad apple vampires who hunt and kill people.

(3) The vampire elements are a backdrop for a romance story. Stephanie Meyer claimed that her inspiration for Twilight came from reading Pride and Prejudice. You can see the elements there: the forbidden love, the social danger, the major subplot of family relationships, and even the comedic elements (Bella can't play sports to save her life, and for someone who likes to hang out with bloodthirsty vampires, she tends to hurt herself a lot).

So to answer the broader question: "Did you like the story?" I liked parts of it, but then again, I wasn't the audience for this book. This isn't a book for people who like vampire/fantasy stories, it's for people who like romance stories. My favorite plot line was not the love relationship between Bella and Edward (which was the main plot), but the subplot of Bella's relationship with her father, Charlie. Neither Bella nor Charlie are good at expressing emotion yet throughout the story you see Charlie attempting to show his love for her in his own way (putting chains on her tires while she was asleep, etc.)

The Unvampiresque Vampires of Dead Until Dark

Review:

Dead Until Dark

So I just finished reading the book Dead Until Dark, by Charlene Harris. As a fantasy fiction writer, I try to keep up with the hot trends in books, movies, television etc. and True Blood (which is based on Dead Until Dark) has been getting quite a bit of press. If you've watched an episode, it's easy to see why. You've got sex, you've got murder and you've got...well, more sex.

But I have to admit, I've always liked a good vampire story. I'm the kid that grew up reading Stephen King and Anne Rice (I was actually forbidden to read Anne Rice, so I would sneak the books out of my mothers bedroom or read chapters at a time at the local bookstore). I plowed through Salem's Lot while in grade school and then Dracula while on a family trip one heart-racing summer not long after. Dead Until Dark itself isn't brilliant. It's basic pop fiction fare: lots of dialog, little description, a fast-paced plot that ends in about 300 pages. What is brilliant is the world she creates. Because Harris departs from the traditional vampire lore in some very interesting ways:

(1) Vampirism isn't demonic position, it's a virus. In the traditional Der Vampir/ Dracula story, the vampire is a human person who's been possessed by a demon. One of the key arguments for staking Dracula in the book is that by killing him, they were freeing his soul from imprisonment by a demon. The demon possession is, thus, why vampires can't stand holy water or crosses. Holy water was used in Dracula and Salem's Lot to destroy the vampires living space. The cross fended them off. In Dead Until Dark, this is not the case. Vampires can go to Church, can touch crosses, no problem. Religion is taken off the table and vampires become the new persecuted social group. They have a virus which "they can't help" and they "just live a little differently" than everyone else. In the book, the integration of vampires into mainstream life is equivalated to the early days of the civil rights and, clearly, the gay rights movement.

(2) Vampires still break cultural taboos, but just as much as humans. Its perhaps hard to understand in today's culture. But in the 19th century when Dracula was published, vampires epitomized all the taboos of 19th century life: cannibalism, sexuality, isolation (they weren't part of a local community), and anti-Christian (they couldn't go to Church and were in fact deadly afraid of Christian artifacts.) The vampires of Dead Until Dark are still cannibalistic, they need blood to survive, but they have an artificial blood they can drink: "True Blood." And many show restraint in terms of their blood-sucking habits. Humans, by comparison, burn down vampire homes, conduct kinky sex regularly and have a serial killer on the loose. The book doesn't portray vampires as morally better than humans, but they're certainly not portrayed worse. And that's the point.

(3) Vampires aren't completely animalistic and humans don't always act, well, humane. One of the key frightening points of Dracula is the understanding that a person as wise as Dracula could become a slave to animal desires, losing reason, cultural restraint (as mentioned earlier), sympathy. In Der Vampir, Dracula, and Salem's Lot that holds true. Humanity does eek into Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles and it certainly does in Dead Until Dark. But by putting the context of the story into a murder mystery, we get to see one of the worst sides of humanity: the serial killer. Just a brief glimpse over the bios of John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy (here), and Jeffrey Dahmer is enough to make your blood run cold at the inhuman nature of what they did. This is incredibly ironic that Harris would use that contrast, as the original medieval legends about werewolves and vampires are believed to have originated from serial killers.

Role of Media in Islam

Reviews: Essay, “Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media,” “Reporting Islam,” and “Muslims and the News Media.”

This post will be a review of the three different works I’ve sampled in the past two weeks. All of them are so interrelated that it makes sense to summarize them together.

“Local Contexts of Islamism in Popular Media”

In this essay, Lila Abu-Lughod talks about the degree to which Egyptian television serials in the past two decades have shaped Egyptian perceptions of Islamism, the piety movement. She notes that Egyptian television serials work differently from other nations. Egyptian serials run day-after-day for a maximum of 30 episodes and then they’re finished. And often these serials run through the nation’s religious authority, al-Azhar. She notes that in the early 90s, there were few depictions of Islam (or Islamism) in television serials. “All that viewers could see were people for whom religion was taken for granted as part of their identity and that sometimes offered solace in times of personal trouble. Piety was seen only among the elderly” (Abu-Lughod 8). But then in 1993, a new policy was announced that Egypt would try to combat terrorism (which was happening through Islamism) through media. Since then serials have begun to appear which show Islamists as swindlers, thugs, etc. In the famed “boy-loses-his-way” storyline, serials tend to have the boy drift toward Islamism which will put him in even more trouble.

For a time, there was outrage from Islamists in Egypt, especially the rural Upper Egypt. Because many Islamists were from rural areas. Well, post-9-11, a serial was released set in Upper Egypt in which the rural people are tempted to join Islamism. They don’t expressing that they don’t do that because “I’m a Sa’idi” (Abu-Lughod 17)! Thereby framing Islamism as criminal activity and Upper Egypt as an honorable place. She notes that the essential movement of television serials has been toward depicting religion as culture (Abu-Lughod 15-16). This narrative does accentuate differences between traditional Islam, Islamism and Coptics (which is perhaps negative), but those differences are made to see culture and perhaps, relative.

This is an interesting essay, because this is a case where there is a good Islam and a bad Islam, but the media gets to tell us which is which.

“Reporting Islam”

This book is the culmination of a study on the depictions of Muslims in British media. Not surprisingly, the British media doesn’t come out well, for numerous reasons.

(1) Lack of Muslims in newsrooms- if newsroom culture lacks someone who can be a “normal” Muslim model, it’s difficult for the media to determine what Islam is if there’s no model.
(2) Lack of knowledge about Islam- the people in the newsrooms know little about Islam, the most they know is what has been mediated, likely by others who know little about Islam.
(3) Increase in poverty, prison-rates among Muslims- this is perhaps a bit self-perpetuating. In Britain, if Muslims are increasingly criminal and lower-class, society and depicted that way, society to a certain extent keeps it that way (Poole 20).

Interestingly, the study found that depictions of Islam on a local level (ie. The story on the local Ramadan, etc) tended to be far more positive than those on a global level. On both levels, they’re the same religion, but are depicted differently in the two narratives (Poole 258). As a result, Poole notes that discourse is closed between the British and Muslims. The media conditions have resulted in defensive constructions of identity on the part of the Muslims (Poole 18), while simultaneously created the British continue to put Muslims into a presumed narrative.

“Muslims and the News Media”

This was the most helpful resource by far. In this book, Gary Bunt has a chapter foreseeing the information revolution in the Islamic world. He notes that the internet is a tool proliferating through the Islamic world, making freedom of speech and expression more possible even in authoritarian regimes (Bunt 160). To certain extent, the internet is still just a tool of the elite and the government. The governments of some countries have seen the internet as a tool to better survey possible dissidents. But of course it hasn’t worked that way and the internet is a growing force, expanding quickly beyond elites (Bunt 153).

Governments have applied the Internet as a means of observing ‘dissident’ activities online. However, sophisticated encryption programs have made control of many aspects of the Internet more problematic for government agencies in Muslim (and other) contexts, for example in censoring email exchanges…States have been under attack from opponents, including hackers/crackers of varying grades of proficiency (including Muslims) seeking to compromise governmental online interests – for example through changing content of websites or accessing ‘confidential’ databases. These ‘Muslim hackers’ range from individuals to highly organized groups, not all operating with ‘Islamic’ agendas in mind (Bunt 160).

And the internet has allowed differing interpretations of Islam a virtual space to discourse. Indeed, internet skills have grown so important to Islam that they are now being taught in Islamic seminaries.

The online translations of al-Qaradawi [a Qatar-based religious scholar] into other languages, and the reproduction of his materials on affiliated websites, have been extremely influential, particularly following 11 September. His website statements on jihad, denouncing the targeting of civilians as contrary to Islam, were quoted in the international press (Bunt 160).

And finally Bunt notes that authoritarian control is much more difficult in an internet age. The ability to speak out against an interpretation of Islam is more difficult when you need a printing press or a television studio to spread the message than when you only need an iPhone (Bunt 159-161).

How reporting in Arab states is eerily similar to reporting on evanglical Christian campuses

Review: The Doha Debates

I know this sounds far-fetched. But similarities are striking between the struggles a journalism student faces on an evangelical Christian campus and a working journalist faces in the Arab media. The "ah-ha" moment came during a viewing of the Jan 31 2006 episode of the Doha Debates, "This House believes that Arab media needs no lessons in journalism from the West."

Arab media expert and academic Marc Lynch noted in the debate that Arab media in the last few years had improved leaps and bounds. And said that while the Arab media in a given state can't cover their own state, they're remarkably good at covering neighboring states. The host, Tim Sebastian took him to task:

TIM SEBASTIAN: They do the easy things, they criticise other people. You'll never get an Arab station criticising its own leadership on its doorstep, do you?

MARC LYNCH: That's true but if you look at the range that's out there, if you want to find someone criticising Qatar , just go to Abdallah's station, it's easy enough to do.

TIM SEBASTIAN: That's the point, you have to go somewhere else. It's easy to throw stones over the wall and then escape, isn't it?

MARC LYNCH: The difference is that in the past, nobody could criticize Saudi Arabia because there was no place to do so. Now there is, and if anyone wants to criticise Qatar , there's a place to do it.

TIM SEBASTIAN: But it's neither in Qatar nor in Saudi Arabia.

MARC LYNCH: Does it matter? These are pan-Arab debates for pan-Arab audiences. Does it really matter where the studio is located?

TIM SEBASTIAN: But isn't the point of journalism to act as watchdogs on your own turf?

MARC LYNCH: I think that's the next step. The next step has to be local media, local media which takes on the hard problems and holds local leaders accountable. Al Jazeera cannot do that, Al Arabiya cannot do that (Doha Debates).

Let me list some of the similarities:

(1) In Arab Media, you can criticize other countries, but it gets more dicey when it comes to criticizing your own government. In Christian schools, you can talk about scandals on other schools no problem, but when it comes time to report on your own Christian school, it also becomes problematic. This becomes especially true if the Arab state/Christian school helps fund the news outlet.

The difference here of course is quality of response. The stakes are higher in Arab media, where you can be detained, or in some cases assaulted and killed (Doha Debates). In the meantime, Christian Schools face prior restraint, news outlet closing or expulsion at worst.

(2) In Arab Media, it's perceived as easier to write an opinion piece critiquing something in government than a news story because in a news story, people either don't want to be quoted or you'll find yourself perpetuating governmental spin. In Christian schools, many of which are private institutions that can fire on the spot, professors don't want to be quoted. Because they don't want to get fired. So it's easier to write an opinion piece critiquing the school.

(3) In Arab Media, journalists at times practice self-censorship for their own safety, and oftentimes because they don't want to be perceived as "hurting" their country (Rugh; Ayalon). In Christian schools, journalists at times also practice self censorship because they don't want to make waves with their professors/other students or perceived as hurting a "Christian brother."

I'm sure I'll find more...

Review: The Arab Press

For the basic themes of this book, read this, then subtract two decades.

That said, “The Arab Press” is the original study of press in the Arab world. Rugh notes in this book, which looks across sixteen Arab countries, that the press in the Arab world reflects and takes the shape of the country it’s in.

There is an intimate, organic relationship between the media institutions and society in the way those institutions are organized and controlled. Neither the institution nore the society in which it functions can be understood properly without reference to the other.

This is certainly true in the Arab world. The news media there, in fact, are particularly interesting in this regard because of the roles they have played during the third quarter of the twentieth century as most of the Arab countries gained their full independence and developed their own national institutions (Rugh xxvi).

The main thesis of Rugh’s book is that arab news organizations take the shape of, and reflect the country their in. It’s hard to generalize about Arab press because there are some countries with significantly freer press than others.

The Four Models of Journalism make an interesting appearance in this book however (though they’re slightly altered). Rugh asserts that, in the arab press, there are four basic press models:

(1) Authoritarian-

“the media support and advance the policies of the government, which controls the media either directly or indirectly through licensing, legal action, or perhaps financial means. The regime allows the media some discussion of society and the machinery of government, but not of the people in power” (Rugh 25).

This system arises from the assumption that truth arises not from the masses, but from the elite few. This press model is perhaps similar to public relations model in the United States, though in the U.S. few people would consider this legitimate journalism.

(2) Libertarian- holds that

“the media must be completely free of government controls and provide the consumer with sufficient objective information and variety of opinion so that the consumer can make up his or her own mind. The libertarian media are both an outside check on government—the watchdog function—and a vehicle for what Milton called a “free and open encounter” of ideas which should help reasoning people distinguish truth from error” (Rugh 26).

This press model is perhaps most similar to the American model of the press. Multiple, competing viewpoints. Objective, independently verified facts as a foundation.

(3) Social Responsibility- formed in response to the libertarian model, Rugh said this model has had a harder time taking hold in the Arab world in it’s pure form for both cultural and economic reasons. There are segments of society that didn’t have either the funds or the reputation to create their own press in the 20th century that was strictly their viewpoint. They had a better chance of being heard in the libertarian model.

This is the party press. The press with a bias, presented openly and delivered unapologetically. The press has a social responsibility to back a certain viewpoint (Rugh 26). This model corresponds with the European model of the press.

(4) Totalitarian- this is press model that perhaps isn’t even worth consideration in American, but overseas, it is.

“Under the totalitarian system, all information media are centrally controlled by the government, whether they are in private or public hands, and unapproved foreign or other competing media may not be distributed at all in the country. Unlike the negative controls of an authoritarian media system, which merely restricts anti-regime content in available media, totalitarian controls are intended to force the media into a positive, active role of agitation and propaganda within an overall scheme to mobilize the population. Most importantly, while the authoritarian system generally is concerned only about mass media and outward obedience and allows free speech in private, in the totalitarian system, the rulers attempt to control all aspects of a person’s life, demanding an individual’s positive, active commitment in public and private to their goals” (Rugh 27).

This is the PR Model on steroids. This is the Stalinist USSR. This is 1984. Thankfully, this has few homes in the world today, but in previous imperialist days, the Arab media saw this press model in their homes.

Review: The Press in the Arab Middle East

Press freedom was problematic in the Arab world for much of the 19th and 20th century. Press censorship wasn’t just legislated and economically motivated. Many times the harshest censor was the press itself.

Culturally, many Arabs saw freedom of expression as a weapon that could either be used beneficially or destructively. Rafiq- al-Maqdisi, a Syrian author, told the following story to illustrate it’s destructiveness:

It happened in 1908, following the restoration of the Ottoman constitution, in the Banyas district of the province of Ladhiqiyya. An angel walking from the town to the country met a villager on his way to Banyas, who asked him:
“What is new in town?”
“Freedom has been declared.”
“How come?”
“Our lord the Sultan has restored the constitution and imparted freedom.”
Whereupon the villager shouted at the top of his voice: “The world is free then!” and immediately grabbed a stick and started beating the angel for the world had become free! (Ayalon 132)

Ayalon’s history of the Arab Press makes the case that the Arab press was largely progressing along the western world’s path, albeit a century or two behind (Ayalon 249) until the fall of the Ottoman Empire which sent it back to tabula rosa. Ayalon proposes that the Arab press has always been a step behind the western press because of the religio-cultural obstacles that had to be overcome for press freedom. She noted that even among the most educated arab journalists, there is a desire to self-censor to protect their country (Ayalon 136).

This self-censorship is perhaps rooted in religion. Before the rise of news publications in the Arab world, the primary means of communication happened through the mosque (Ayalon 4). The mosque was not just a place for religious devotion but a locale to learn about current events. Well, with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, the people who took charge of countries in the Arab world, appeal to their constituents religious beliefs—but depicting themselves as faithful religious people. Those elected officials then at once affirm press freedom as long as it “obeyed the law” and also largely supported or disapproved of the press according to their whims. Since these officials were seen in the same role as religious leaders – those who traditionally gave the news anyway – the concept of writing copy which might be in opposition to them was an obstacle for journalists (Ayalon 126).

Culturally, not only was critical journalism itself seen unfavorably, but any type of journalism was viewed negatively (Ayalon 221).

One serious disadvantage in being a journalist was the low public image of the occupation, which remained so throughout much of the period under consideration. When Jurji Zaydan joined al-Muqtataf as an administrator in 1887, his father’s reaction was, typically, strongly adverse. He wanted his son to study something more ‘decent,’ such as medicine or law. Still an amorphouse activity, journalism had none of the prestige of either of the other two professions (Ayalon 221).

The job seemed odd. It required no special certifications, it was denounced by religious leaders and it dealt with words and opinions.

Overall, Ayalon admits that the idea of a free press assimilated slowly into the Arab world and said the press faced numerous cultural and religious obstacles perhaps not faced in the West.

Review: Modern Arab Journalism by Noha Mellor

Noha Mellor’s book attempts to map the research gap of Arab Journalism. Through the course of the book, she notes empty areas of academic research: the social practices of Arab Journalists and the local/national Arab media as opposed to pan-Arab media. She also refuted the generalization of Arab media as a unified entity, viewing it instead as a diverse array of press models in a diverse culture.

Hybridity is a key concept in the understanding of this book. Hybridity is flows from the idea of globalization. When Arab countries encounter a force like McDonalds they don’t always (often?) react by forming a picture perfect western McDonalds. In hybridity, a culture forms their own style of fast food restaurant (Mellor 9-10). This is especially true in regards to journalism. Over the past two decades, increased western presence in Arab countries, along with the proliferation of cell phones and internet have given Arab countries unprecedented access to Western Journalism.

One of the key social practices adopted from the American model press is the idea of the objective reporter (Mellor 127). Acting as what Mellor, calls a “truth investigator,” arab journalists in numerous countries go in search of a set of facts (Mellor 123). What is perhaps less adopted from the American Model press is the idea of quoting numerous sides of an issue to find the truth. For example, Mellor notes that there are no arab news organization – at least none that she cites – that publish stories critical of Islam (Mellor 133). In this way, Arab Journalism is perhaps more easily identified with the openly-biased (by Western standards) style of the press used in European countires. But even there, the comparison still perhaps falls short. Numerous factors, such as the proliferation of Arab dialects used in news organizations, the medium and the country in question make Arab Journalism problematic to pin into a given slot of typology (Mellor 142-143; 91-92).

Mellor’s book also notes the problem of studying Arab Journalism in a pan-Arab manner. Perhaps the most well known Arab News Organization, Al-Jazeera, is not even universally supported by the Arab League. Many countries within the League dislike the idea of a media entity questioning the practices of their government (Mellor 86).

Mellor notes that the idea of a unified Arab people wipes away “any diversity in language, interests, goals, history, alliances, social problems and concerns…Furthermore, such a generalized view of the ‘Arab Public’ disregards the nuances and complexities brought about by the increased immigration of Arabs to the West and the enlargement of the Arab diasporic communities there” (Mellor 77). In addition, while the pan-Arab media may inadvertently push for Arab unity in their use of MSA Arabic (a form of pan-Arab Arabic that is standardized, and perhaps watered-down), the very laws of individual countries make that problematic (Mellor 82). Vernacular Arabic is at times radically different from MSA Arabic—so much so that one can’t comprehend the other (Mellor 91-92). So if the law includes that the official language of a given country, and the official state communitications is in vernacular, that makes pan-Arabic satellite channels and MSA Arabic publications largely unreadable in given Arab countries.

Largely implied by the diversity of vernacular Arabic languages, is a diversity of opinion on the press. While it may have at one time been fair to characterize all Arab media the mouthpiece of the government, with press freedom largely downtrodden, Mellor makes the case that the press is increasingly complex. The advent of news blogs and online news organizations makes prior-restraint more difficult. It’s easier to find a publisher if he has a printing press in his house, then if he goes from internet café to internet café uploading news content.

Review: Super Mario RPG (Replay)

Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars is a game I played as a kid. It came out for the Super Nintendo in 1996, made piles of dough, spawned several sequels (none of them very good) and to this day is considered one of the best games of all time.

Since I've been studying media theory, I notice things in the media of my youth I'd never noticed before. So I'm playing through some of these old games and I think there will be a paper (book?) some where in the future about the media messages in these games.

First the back ground. There's no underestimating the power of a story. Anyone who's played video games knows there are A LOT of bad storylines out there. I'm the guy who reads "Cyrano de Bergerac" for fun in the evenings so I'm a bit of a story snob. I can stand a certain level of bad dialogue (of which this game is guilty--more later), but I cannot stand story that lacks basic plot structure, a good idea, etc.

Wikipedia has a pretty good summary of the story:

The game begins with Mario entering Bowser's Castle to rescue Princess Toadstool. During the battle, a giant sword crashes into Bowser’s castle and sends Mario, Peach, and Bowser flying in different directions and shatters the Star Road, breaking it into seven fragments. Mario finds his way back to the Mushroom Kingdom, where the mushroom chancellor insists that Mario recover the princess, then discover the purpose of the giant sword.

Mario leaves the Mushroom Kingdom to aid a new friend of his named Mallow, to regain his frog coin from a raptor thief named Croco. When Mario returns, he finds that the kingdom is overrun by creatures claiming to be part of the Smithy gang. He then goes into the castle and finds the first boss in the game, a giant sword/spring like creature named Mack. When he defeats him, he finds a mysterious Star Piece and takes it, hoping to find out more about it later.

During Mario’s search for the princess, he meets a star spirit, who takes control over a doll named Geno, who joins Mario. He tells Mario that the Star Piece is a part of the shattered Star Road, where the star spirit resides. He must find all seven of the shattered pieces of Star Road in order to repair it, which are held by members of the Smithy gang. Mario agrees to help Geno in his search.

Mario eventually finds Bowser, trying to reassemble his forces; and the princess, as she is about to be forcibly married to a character named Booster. Bowser and Peach then both join Mario’s party and help look for Star Pieces.

When they have most of the Star Pieces, they learn that the last one is held in Bowser's Castle, which they return to and discover that the giant sword is a gateway to Smithy's factory. They defeat Smithy and use the Star Pieces to repair the Star Road.

Positives:
(1) Intertextuality- the Super Smash Bros. series or Kingdom Hearts series ring any bells? That's because they're some of the best selling video games of all time. What do they have in common with Super Mario RPG? They're intertextual. To see my paper on the use of this in Kingdom Hearts, click here. In Super Mario RPG, we have an appearance from one of the bad guys of Final Fantasy II (IV) who is accompanied by music from the game. There's also a classic mid-90s appearance of the "Power Rangers." Remember them? Prepare to laugh. In Super Mario RPG, they appear as bad guys (which means Mario gets to do what we all would like to do--kick their ass) and are called the "Axem Rangers." They have color-coded costumes, etc.

(2) Interactivity- this is one of the first role-playing games to mix up the turn-taking system and the slash-and-hack system. In this game, you are rewards for pressing buttons at the right time during battle. It adds to the experience and makes a it a forerunner for how games are generally done today.

(3) Geno (left)- first of all, Geno is one of the two original protagonists thought up for this game. Unfortunately neither he, nor Mallow appear in future games. In this game, we have something, my old friend Terry Mattingly would cause a religion "ghost." He's a doll, sent by a higher order to make sure everyone's prayers are answered essentially. They de-religion it pretty heavility, replacing prayers with "wishes" and never naming who sent him. But as I'll show in future posts, Square-Enix does like to throw religious/ethical messages in their games.

Negatives:
(1) Bad Dialogue-seeing a trend here? Bad dialogue is infectious and it takes over most every game. Now granted this game is marketed to kids and it is still superior to dialogue in later games. Yes Sonic, I'm talking about you.

(2) Gameplay-The gameplay was mostly good. But there were a few parts of the game where accomplishing the tasks before you were really hard. This was an early attempt at navigating someone around a 3-d landscape and Square-Enix/Nintendo just weren't there yet.

(3)Bowser- getting Bowser on your team at first seems like just such a cool thing, but the fact is it makes little sense. The Bowser we're accustomed to doesn't cry on command and throw temper-tantrums. Granted this is a tongue-in-cheek game with some gratuitous corniness, but Bowser is over the top and his level of involvement isn't warrented by the story. His motivation makes sense. The "hey-buddy" nature with which he treats Mario and Toadstool (basically his archenemies) is not.

Review: The Watchmen

I know there was a lot of hype. I really did have high hopes for this one. As a fan of the graphic novel, I recognized that there was alot the movies would not be able to do (just for sake of time and sensibility). I think my problems come down to whether the movie ought to have been made--the same question the Washington Post raised the day before it's release.

As a rule, movies based on movies stray to far from their original narrative. In this case, the Watchmen didn't do too bad, but it was to the detriment of the movie. What seems cool and exciting in a graphic novel seems...well, kind of slow in a movie. In the graphic novel, the flashbacks are gripping and immerse you in the book. But on set, you just want the action to start. So here it is: the positive three and the negative three:

Positive
(1) It's true to the book- I'd wondered how they were going to spin a book that doesn't have a true antagonist. (spoiler alert: The "bad" guy of the movie never really stopped being good. He just a realized that "save billions" he would have to "kill millions.") It a bit of a statement for moral relativism.
(2) The visuals are stunning- I mean it. If you put screenshots of the movie next to panels from the graphic novel, it is stunning how they recreated these scenes.
(3) The characters are well played- I really did think they'd try to make Night Owl a more attractive protagonist. But they allowed him to be the regular Joe portrayed in the novel. Rorschach is creepy. Silk Spectre is hot. All is as it should be.

Negative
(1) It's true to the book- as I said earlier. Being true to the book really held back the pace of the plot.
(2) The visuals are stunning- so the gratuitous violence and sex are not held back. Now mind you, Alan Moore is the sick dude who had the graphic rape of Batgirl by Joker in Killing Joke, but even the graphic novel was more staid. Did we really need to see the bones coming out of the guys' arms? How about when Dr. Manhatten splats a guy and his body parts are left hanging from the ceiling (not even in the book)? And then of course you get the sex scenes and yessir, it's all there.
(3) The characters are well-played- at least those who appear. The Minuitemen make only a brief appearance and the entire pirate sideplot is gone. Sidebar: The sideplot really helps the viewer understand what the heck is going on in the story. Without it, the ending seems a bit ambiguous.

Grade- C+

Review: Sonic Unleashed

So Mimi and I bought this game a couple weeks ago and I just completed it yesterday. Here's the review.

The positive three, then the negative three...

Positives:
(1) It works- This is, truly, the first Sonic game since the Sega Genesis that has controls and gameplay that match up. And if I can say so, this is probably the first Sonic game since then that feels like a Sonic game
(2) Dark Sonic- The addition of the "dark" Sonic character actually adds intrigue to the game. It's not all running-really-fast-and-hoping-you-don't-fall-off-the-ledge-into-the-lava. With the dark sonic character, the time constraints are far less and you have more time to explore the levels. I must say though, this plot device seems very similar to the one used in Zelda: Twilight Princess...
(3) Extensive world- there are so many secret missions in this game, it's ridiculous. And there are numerous extra doors you can open up in the temples as well (I know, Temples. That sounds like Zelda too.)

Negatives
(1) The dialogue- the powers that be haven't realized yet that there was something glorious about having a silent Sonic on the Genesis. Because when Sega tries to do dialogue it kind of...falls flat. In all fairness, the dialogue is trying to reach out to what is still Sonic's target audience--kids. That said, I think even kids will find the dialogue stilted and corny.

(2) Chip- so the new character they introduce is this fairy like thing named Chip. He sucks. He does nothing for you. He's only a plot device not used until the last five minutes of the game. He's supposed to "Light Gaia" to the "Dark Gaia" we have to confront in the game. That being the case, I'd wager on Dark Gaia anyday.

(3) Limited ally appearances- I suppose the limit on Sonic allys in this game is to combat the hodgepodge they threw at us in "Sonic Heroes" (you only encounter Amy Rose and Tails in this game). But how can you have a game that goes across the entire planet and never end up on the Floating Island with Knuckles. Seriously the game would have been alot cooler.

Grade- B

Revolutionary Road:Three Basic Reasons Why This Movie Sucked

I went and saw this with my wife and some friends. It was a mistake. I knew this going in. But trying to be a dutiful husband/friend made me suffer this time. Given the chance I would have run for the door. Here's why:

(3) It's Kate and Leo...again- guys, remember how you got to hear girls swoon for months after Titanic about how hot Leo was? Girls, remember swooning for months after Titanic. It's that without the Titanic or the swooning. In a word, boring.

(2) When did the suburbs become so awful? Basic theme of the movie: suburbs=bad, city=good. The suburbs make too easy of a target. Let's see they played up the "isolation" theme, the "pretending perfection" theme, the "infidelity" theme (we did get some intensely R-rated sex scenes in the process). Sorry ladies and gentlemen, the problems the couple had in the suburbs would probably have still been there in the city.

(1) It's Mad Men without any of the things that make it good- we get to see the dark side of the 1950s/1960s, but without any of the characterization to make it interesting. The way they do characterization in this movie is by have people get upset and hit walls. Folks behind this movie should watch Jon Hamm's portrayal of Don Draper for an episode and see what characterization looks like.

Alice in Wonderland: A Review

So I recently re-read Alice in Wonderland, a book I haven’t read since childhood. Coming back to the novel now, I’ve noted a few things:

(1)Influence of Opium- it never seemed odd to me as a child that Alice struggled with being “too big” and “too small” throughout the course of the novel. And the only way Alice could attempt to regulate her size was by eating cakes and drinking certain potions. The problem of course is that her size is in continuous flux, so she has to keep taking potions and eating the cakes. Some scholars seem to think Carroll (actually known as Charles Dodgeson) had an addiction problem to opium.

(2)Use of the genre “Literary Nonsense”- yes it’s actually a genre. All the characters in the book use lines of reasoning that make little sense, but all are too stubborn to re-think their reasoning (perhaps a subversive statement about 19th century Britain?). One of my favorite passages from the book:

“I’m beginning to think that Mad Hatter is quite mad,” said Alice.
“Of course,” said the Cheshire Cat. “I’m mad, you’re mad, we’re all mad.”
“Well, excuse me,” Alice said indignantly, “but how do you know I’m mad?”
“If you weren’t mad, you wouldn’t be here.”

Madness was also a key subject of Dodgeson’s life. He suffered from epilepsy and mental disorders for most of his life and was, at times accused of madness. Also, his mother died of an inflammation of brain while he in his first semester at Oxford University.

(3)Integration of English school lessons- I recognized on this reading, just how many lessons are given through the course of the novel. Some have noted that these lessons were meant for young 14-year-old Alice Liddell, for whom the book is presumably named. Of course they also say there was a problem with Dodgeson’s relationship with young Alice. It’s worth noting that not to many books about little girls talk about their breasts. Alice in Wonderland does.

The Happening

Why 'The Happening' Is Happening

I've been told by numerous friends that "The Happening," in a word, sucked. I'm going to tell you why I disagree.

5. The Cinematography - Always M. Night Shyamalan's strong suit, the cinematography in the movie was darn near amazing. His use of camera angles in capturing just the right image is brilliant. Case in point: The folks entering Princeton, NJ see ladders rising into midair and dead people hanging from the trees. The image is so shocking and so disturbing, but mainly because you can't see the ladders leaning against the trees. The image of the misplaced ladders is so disturbing next to the dead folks it struck the theater silent.

4. "The Happening" isn't for Genre Pigeonholing - Folks I think try to put movies in different genre's they don't always fit. This movie, along with many Shyamalan films, don't fit well in traditional genres. As in "Signs" and "The Village," the main story isn't in the horror, but in the relationships. The wonderfully complex love relatonship between Wahlberg and Deschanel serves as the main story while the world being destroyed by plants (not that scary when described this way) is just back story.

3. Zooey Deschanel - 'Nough said. She's been described on imdb.com as an actress reminiscent of the oldtime actresses of silent movies who showed in thei face what they could say in audio. With her vibrant blue eyes, and innocent face she captures the camer and perfectly characterizes her freaked-out newly-wed character.

2. The "Shyamalan Surprise" - Shyamalan is perhaps best known for the surprise he puts in at the end of each movie. ie. Sixth Sense: Bruce Willis is actually a "dead people," Signs: All the bad stuff happened to save the son's life from evil aliens, Lady in the Water: the main character isn't the "Guardian," he's a healer. In "The Happening"? The Great American Northeast was not destroyed by terrorists but by -- wait for it -- plants. Talk about attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

1. The Actors Actually, Well, Act - Ive seen alot of trite and rehashed dialogue in my day. Seeing a movie where the screenwriter (a) makes use to description to fuel a scene and (b) makes use of silence in an artful manner, is refreshing.