Photo of heavily armed soldier-looking men pointing guns at Native American protestors sitting on the ground

Monday, February 20, 7 PM - 9 PM

Facebook Event

Northwood High Building
2231 N High St., Columbus, Ohio 43201

Noted Columbus Photographer, Bob Studzinski , will be sharing his photographs and experiences while on assignment at Standing Rock. Come join us to learn more about Standing Rock and what we can do support the water protectors.

Cartoon girl character in a cape

For years, Nintendo publicly dragged its feet about entering the mobile games market. It had dominated mobile gaming in its own way for decades, with the Game Boy and its descendants up to the current 3DS and the upcoming hybrid Switch, leaving a museum’s worth of failed competitors in its wake. (Including, notably, the Nokia N-Gage, which was a combination portable gaming console and cell phone. It seems ironic now that the thing failed.)

Why go through the trouble of entering another market when you define the one you’re in?

But two years ago, after years of investor pressure, Nintendo finally announced a partnership with Japanese mobile game giant DeNA to produce games for iOS and Android using its biggest names: Mario, Animal Crossing, and Fire Emblem. (The ridiculously popular Pokémon Go wasn’t part of this; it was developed by Niantec working directly with The Pokémon Company.)

Aside from some stunning cinematography, special effects and scenery, this U.S.-China co-production lensed, according to IMDB.com, on location in Qinqdao and New Zealand (!) is more about cashing in on the growing international audience of the PRC and USA. The use of Real 3D and IMAX 3D is what The Great Wall is really all about - not a story or, heavens’ forbid, character development - although to be sure, there is a hidden propagandistic message about Beijing’s military might and policies. Put your brains into neutral and the 3D glasses on to watch this vapid but eye-popping big budget picture which, at $135-150 million USD, is reportedly the most expensive movie ever made in what had once upon a time been the People’s Republic of China.

 

In 2017, what better way is there to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution than by screening the movies those momentous events inspired? For the next 10 months, the L.A. Workers Center and HollywoodProgressive.com are co-presenting a monthly series of classics by the giants of early Soviet cinema: Sergei Eisenstein, V.I. Pudovkin, Alexander Dovzhenko, Dziga Vertov and Esther Shub. The monthly film series called “Ten Films That Shook the World” screens features and documentaries about Russia’s Revolutions in 1905 and in February and October 1917, culminates November 7th on the exact 100th anniversary of the storming of the Winter Palace.

 

The Soviet cinema of the 1920s and early 1930s arguably produced the greatest political films ever made. Indeed, as a cinematic trend these Red Russian reels are among moviedom’s leading trends and movements, such as German Expressionism, the French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism, Hollywood’s Golden Age, etc. The fiction and nonfiction motion pictures screened in the “Ten Films That Shook the World” series are among the finest works of art created in all human history.

 

Those of us who consider it disgraceful to have a giant statue of Robert E. Lee on his horse in a park in the middle of Charlottesville, and another of Stonewall Jackson for that matter, should try to understand those who think removing one of these statues is an outrage.

I don't claim to understand them, and certainly don't suggest they all think alike. But there are certain recurring themes if you listen to or read the words of those who think Lee should stay. They're worth listening to. They're human. They mean well. They're not crazy.

First, let's set aside the arguments we're not trying to understand.

Pages

Subscribe to Freepress.org RSS