The Children of Broadway

As little as fifteen years ago, Times Square and Broadway was entrenched in filth and corruption that only New York City could produce.

Today, these areas serve as a commercialized beacon of prosperity for all who come to visit.

Nothing demonstrates this shift from shady to squeaky clean than the rencent shift in content of shows on Broadway.

The Great White Way has always been the most commercialized form of theatre that money can but, but these days, it seems as if Broadway shows have begun to stoop lower and lower to attract the largest audience base with the least amount of thought.

While the controversial and explicit theatrical experience is by no means obsolete, the theatre industry seems to have discovered where the money is: suburban moms and their frolicking children.

Perhaps beginning with "The Lion King" and other Disney musicals, such as "Beauty and the Beast," the Disney-fication of began.

"Wicked" shortly followed after, as well as Mary Poppins, followed by "The Little Mermaid."

The most recent examples of blatant adaptation for mass participation are "Spiderman: The Musical" and "Shrek: The Musical."

Broadway's recent trend toward "kid-friendlyness" is not what upsets me. It is the lack of creativity with which producers are developing shows.

If Broadway wants to get out of the rather circuitous slump of lame adaptations, she need to start putting out fresh material that resonates with the times.

Downloading Copyrighted Material

Liza might be facing prosecution for illegally downloading by Paramount/Dreamworks Pictures.

First of all "several" movies and albums is about seven, not 30. My suggestion is, that if she suspects that her actions should remain "under the radar," she should be a prudent illegal downloader. It is my understanding that only large production companies only pursue high-profile downloaders, as infrequent downloaders are not worth prosecuting.

Liza states that "we all know what uTorrent and these types of programs are being used for"
1. I have no idea what uTorrent is
2. If I had to wager a guess, I would assume that uTorrent has no legitimacy, Liza took a risk in employing it, and that she indeed, deserves to be prosecuted

Sexual Corruption in Our Government's System

Albany was in an uproar this week after Eliot Spitzer resigned in the midst of a call-girl scandal, only to be succeeded by David Paterson, the first African-American, blind governor of New York, who also happens to have conducted his own extra-marital affairs.

America has a long and shameful history of sexual corruption in politicians, and this has become even more evident in the past decade starting with Monicagate and most recently evident in the sex scandals of the 2006 general elections for Congress, as well as the multiple resignations of state senators over sexual incidents.

These scandals are disturbing and completely unwelcome as America struggles to navigate todays complicated global system. However, corruption in . In most of these cases, politicians indeed break the law in their actions. The question is, if a politician conducts himself immorally but not illegally, does he have to answer to the public in addition to his mother, wife, and children?

I notice as a write this that I refer to a state senator as "he." If we approach this issue from a feminist angle: Would a woman senator be as persecuted by the public if she cheated on her husband as a male senator is, how would the public's response be different?

The Infringement of Technology on College Students

Michael Wesch, a cultural anthropologist, reveals his startlingly accurate research about the daily activities of a the average college student. "A Vision of Students Today" displays an disturbing set of bad habit evolved from technological advances that almost every college study I know exhibit.

Creative camera-work hauntingly presents the current problems and personal vices large class sizes, irrevelance of readings, expensive textbooks, student debt, and the prevalence of technology in the life of the college student today.

The information did not shock me, but to see all the statistics at once was overwhelming. I can honestly say that most of those trends apply to me and my friends, and that the shameful nature of some of them had not occurred to me until that moment...

I highly recommend that every college student view this, not that these behaviors needs to be corrected, but that students be aware of such behaviors:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

Facebook Fiasco

The latest in a series of Facebook scandals involves one 18 year old Canadian university student and his ill-fated Facebook study group.

When Chris Avenir, an engineering student at Ryerson University, assumed the role of administrator of a Facebook study group to help stressed out students decode their cryptic problem sets, I doubt he thought that he would be facing 147 counts of academic misconduct and expulsion.

The fact is, the study group was a venue for student to offer tips on homework problem, some of which were meant to be done independently.

Students claim that the same type of study help takes place every day during in person study groups, but these meeting are not broadcasted on the world wide web.

This goes back to the old adage: if you are going to do it, at least do not post in on Facebook.

I give you, homework advise is a pretty benign form of . But toe the line in anyway on the book of Face, and if your endeavor becomes accrues more and more attention and membership, as the Ryerson study group is, you are asking for trouble.

I do however, believe that a certain misunderstanding exists between the two generations involved in this conflict. The professor and the Ryerson Administration genuinely feel as if an online cheating ring is being operated; Avenir and the other study group members believes truly that he is helping his fellow students in a way that is simply an extension of her normal social interaction within Facebook. While technically the University is in the right, I believe that the root of this problem and any similar future incidence is today's generation's all encompassing, blase utilization of Facebook to integrate all aspects of life.

New Technology to Revolutionize the Current Conception of the Computer

Recently, the NY Times featured an article about the newest avenue of computer technology: screens activated by sound and voice. Citing the wii and the iPhone as the first taste of what is to come.

Personally, and I am a technology traditionalist, I am completely comfortable with my mouse and my clicking finger manipulating my work.

Additionally, I can only imagine how buggy the technology will be in the first few years.

Any impact on higher education, while it would not occur for awhile, would depend on the . What would the Swem library be like if everyone was dictating their 15 page research paper to their school computers instead of typing. Instead of the pseudo-soothing sounds of keys typing, the sound of stressed- out student voices would be deafening.

This technology is very interesting an innovative, but it does not have any practical purposes yet. All they have developed presently is the manipulation of images with a touch screen. I believe, however, that any advancement is advantageous. However, it does not seem to be marketable anytime soon.