An article in today's Age is a pertinent and timely reminder to the many young adults who struggle with file-sharing entertainment.

The download dilemma
The Age, 9th June 2011

"As we continue to freely download shows before they hit our screens, TV networks, studios and ISPs ponder the implications.

Nick (not his real name) is a 25-year-old Melburnian who works in information technology. Though he watches very little free-to-air television and doesn't subscribe to pay TV, his repertoire of TV programs is thorough and up to date.

He gets all his TV shows free via the internet.

Monday is download day as most of his favourite shows - animations such as Family Guy, American Dad!, Bob's Burgers - premiere in the US the day before.

Nick is, of course, a pirate and knows it. His motivation isn't a grudge against the wealthy studios and corporations that own the film and TV business. He recognises, too, that he is jeopardising the livelihood of content creators.

He consumes TV this way because he doesn't like ads, doesn't want spoilers on websites or fellow fans to ruin his watching and finds one-stop shopping to be very convenient, akin to visiting the library to stock up on one's weekly reading roster.

A few months ago, he received his first ''takedown'' notice from his internet service provider. The letter stated that someone associated with his internet protocol address had downloaded copyright content through a peer-to-peer service.

Nick considered the letter to be a ''hassle'' rather than a threat, but after receiving a second letter he found an alternative way to access programs. This method, he says, cannot be detected.

According to the statistics on film and TV piracy, Nick is the rule rather than the exception. The Intellectual Property Awareness Foundation recently found that close to 70 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds ''regularly participate'' in film or TV piracy activities...."

Click here to read the full article on The Age's website.

Article by Cameron Spink

A Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Noreen, has received the death penalty for allegedly blaspheming both Muhammad and the Quran. The facts indicate that Asia was dobbed in to the local Muslim cleric when she would not convert to Islam.

The Pakistani district court has sentenced Asia to be hanged for her crime against section 295-C & 295-D of Pakistan's "blasphemy" laws. Such laws are reported to be prone to misuse by those wishing to settle grudges against minority groups, such as Christians, who make up approximately 2% of Pakistan's population.

Although the death penalty has never been actually under the "blasphemy" charges (in 974 occurances) there is still great cause for concern for Asia. She could still face significant jail time, like Zaibunnisa, who spent 14 years in jail despite it being held that there was "no evidence".

In this case there are similar signs of corruption. The district judge ruled out any possibility of the charges being false, even though the facts suggested that "reasonable doubt" (to use a western legal term very liberally) existed. What is more there is undisputed testimony as to mitigating factors to which the judge dismissed without hesitation.

It seems that there is a great fear, even in the Pakistani judiciary, of the extremist mob who can manipulate public figures merely by the power of numbers. Last year Rashid Emmanuel and his brother were killed outside the courts when the mob got wind that there was expert evidence exonerating them from the "blasphemy" charges. In another act of violence a judge was killed after he acquitted a "blasphemer".

There are various other incidents of Islamic extremism overwhelming justice and due process. This means, for Asia, regardless of what happens inside the courtroom she may very well have the death penalty over her head for the rest of her life. We must play that she is successful in her appeal to the Lahore High Court and get involved by signing the petition demanding her release.

http://www.compassdirect.org/english/country/pakistan/28345/

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/family-leads-outcry-at-blasphemy-death-penalty-2135011.html

http://au.christiantoday.com/article/christian-woman-sentenced-to-death-in-pakistan-for-blasphemy/9541.htm

http://www.smh.com.au/world/outcry-over-death-sentence-for-blasphemy-mother-who-offered-farmhands-water-20101112-17pri.html

Article by Cameron Spink

While Animal Kingdom is basically devoid of morality it does display a great insight into the humanity of man. Animal Kingdom tackles human nature at its barest and the result is a gritty movie that ticks all the right boxes.

As a critic of Australian films Animal Kingdom is a breath of fresh air. The plot and characters of the movie are based on real-life people and events but it takes a cinematic approach with the sort of attitude “just because we can’t confirm it happened, doesn’t mean it didn’t”. Much of the drama of this film centres around historical speculation and, as such, this movie can only be treated as a movie. Despite this, Animal Kingdom offers diverse characters in the Melbourne gangland jungles in a movie not dissimilar to The Departed.

A fantastic article appeared last week on Relevant Magazine's website. The authors, Jake and Melissa Kircher, contend that the media has distorted the image of love and sexuality (IMHO they are spot on the money). They challenge us to not be shaped by culture but to shape it.

Does Media Distort Love?

Jake and Melissa Kircher (Relevant Magazine), 12th April 2011

"The Love Delusion

Adults should be able to tell the difference between over-romanticized love and healthy, realistic love. But in actuality, peoples’ lives are beginning to just echo the stories they see onscreen. The problem is, movies usually end just as a relationship is beginning.

As people consume the media’s view of love, it’s becoming more common for relationships and marriages to be primarily based on a desire for happiness and personal fulfillment. When these feelings fade, people think love is gone and become an emotional train, moving from one lover or spouse to the next. It’s become such a problem that some have begun to refer to this mediated view of romance as “emotional pornography”—insinuating that popular expressions of love and romance rewire the brain in ways that recall the damage done by visual pornography. Just as visual pornography sets up unrealistic expectations for sex and physicality, the media’s fanciful stories of love wire consumers to expect Hollywood-style kisses in the rain and constant, epic moments of dramatic love. How can real life compete?...."

Click here to read the full article and add your comments.

Article by Cameron Spink

An article in today’s Age, by Samantha Brett, asks the question as to whether soul mates actually exist? Whether "the one" is just around the corner? This is a remarkable view for a secular approach. If, indeed, we are just particles and chance plays the predominant role in our evolution then soul mates cannot exist as, from this worldview, there is no real argument for love.

While atheism does not ascribe to such a concept as each individual person having "the one" completely compatible person for them, this wide-spread belief that the right person does exist conforms to a person’s innate fear that they will be alone at the end of their lives. This fear transcends all supposed logic and science that intelligent people, who debunk the idea of a deity, have no qualms believing in. It can only be wishful thinking that there would be a harmonically-matched partner out there and, what’s more, the world would provide them with such a system to meet that person.

Article by Cameron Spink

“Rise, and rise again. Until lambs become lions.”

Ridley Scott's cinematic version of the exploits of Robin Hood has arrived and it is the most deeply unsatisfying movie this year. While past Robin Hood movies are based on the book by Howard Pyle this movie throws the iconic book and myth out the window completely and forges its own way. This is fine, in principle, but the onus is then on the production crew to provide the viewer with a satisfying alternative. Unfortunately this movie does not deliver.