Author Archives: taxel

The Barkley Marathons: Learning to Fail

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Watching tonight’s Friday Film, I appreciated how the main organizer of the marathons emphasized that they were as much a low-stakes opportunity to learn how to fail as a competition about pushing yourself to the limit to achieve success. The extremely high difficulty meant that there was no shame in choosing to drop out of the race. I really liked the observation the main organizer made that runners in the Barkley Marathons define for themselves what success is and can ignore anyone jeering at them for failing to complete the race. This is a skill that sometimes seem to be in short supply. Even more, I was struck by how so many people stayed after dropping out to wait for and support the remaining runners. After months of preparing for this race, they were able to let go of any frustration and focus their efforts on making sure others were taking care of themselves. It does seem, as the interviewed people said, that the races are a good character-building experience for the runners as well as a place to make friends.

I also really liked John’s story of coming back from a really low point in his life, though his circumstances were apparently more from bad luck than any failing on his own part. The moment where he got up from lying down in the water was truly admirable. The film director(s) did a good job organizing that part of the film especially.

The meaning of sports

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Those of us who haven’t been deeply involved in competitive sports find it hard to remember sometimes that sports are not just points on a scoreboard or numbers in the news. A sport can be a huge part of someone’s life, even when they don’t go professional. Today’s Rose Café really brought that across to me. I’ve generally thought of sports here at Cornell as being purely recreational, not very competitive with other schools, and maybe as a medium for friendships. Coach Tanasoiu’s presentation showed how the system here at Cornell extends beyond the sports themselves. Besides scheduling matches, recruiting players, and managing practices, coaches act as an additional advisor to help students get through their academic workload and suggest ways to manage their lifestyles here. They have to consider not just athletic ability but also components of team culture like ambition and work ethic, pushing players to their limits but also knowing when to let them rest. On top of all that, they have to fundraise to support their programs and manage their spending.

Overall, this session raised my respect for both college sports coaches a couple notches, especially at schools where they don’t have huge amounts of financial and clerical support.

Pitfalls in the jury system

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12 Angry Men does a good job of exploring issues in the court system from the 1950s that are still relevant today. From impatient or prejudiced jurors to unmotivated attorneys and false or misleading witness testimonies, there are many potential points of failure in a court case beyond the collection of evidence.

I had not previously considered that jury duty might include investigation and instead thought it was about a more passive absorption of arguments presented in court followed by a vote. While the characters in the film treated it that way at first, the situation quickly evolved into a full and thorough reexamination of all the evidence. I was a little confused before how juries could sometimes takes several hours to come to a decision, but this explains that.

I also noticed some phenomena in the film that remind me of my social psychology class. Throughout the film, the jurors’ judgements are clearly affected by those of others. In the first vote, two or three jurors clearly voted guilty after seeing that everyone else was, and the last holdout for a guilty verdict clearly felt pressure from being alone in that view. The jurors also exhibited confirmation bias when they did not notice the marks indicating that the woman witness wears glasses. Rather than looking for the disconfirming evidence calling her testimony into question, they focused on the presence of apparently confirming evidence that the defendant was guilty.

Overall, I enjoyed the film and I can see why it is so highly rated.

[Spoilers] What happened to individuality?

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As title indicates, this contains major spoilers.

 

Seeing as my previous post was so poorly received, I thought I might take another stab at this while not buried in work and exams. I’ve said before that I thought this movie was more interesting as a commentary on individuality than on power. Here’s a summary of why, based on what I still remember:

Most obviously, every direct physical conflict involving major characters is one between individuals. Even the mess of a fight that was the first encounter with agents in the sibling’s apartment was more a series of contests between two people than a group battle.

Next, each sister runs into trouble while expressing their individuality. Sunday subverts the unexplained “you’re supposed to be the one who believes.” Tuesday is trying to push back against pressure from her sisters when she is captured. Wednesday is shot while dressed as herself outside and while glaring at her killer with personality, immediately after being denied an epic jump that she has “trained for all her life.” Thursday has the inexplicably damaging skateboarding accident and the subsequent guilt of indirectly maiming her sisters. Friday takes agency of her own death and goes out with a dramatic monologue (rather uncharacteristic for the nervous one) to Thursday. Saturday is killed in the middle of expressing her love for her family in the peak of her subversion of the false persona she’s been building up for years. Finally, Monday dies for her love and her children, the only things setting apart “Miss Perfect” from the role they all share.

Also, the family is always shown as less a team and more a group of individuals (case in point, the siblings at home all but abandon Wednesday when a single agent appears at their door).

And of course, many of the things about power can be translated into points about laws and norms and government oppressing the individual.

I honestly still don’t like the film, but I’ll at least agree that you can get something out of it if you try.

What happened to the last 3 hours of my life?

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This is the first Rose Scholars event I’ve been to that I would have left midway if I didn’t need a post for the week. It felt like an amateur was given a huge budget but very little supervision to make a movie out of whatever they wanted. The storyline was mediocre, but the execution was absolutely terrible. Poorly-used cliches and one-liners as well as a “rule of cool/drama” approach to realism turned this film into as much of a flaming heap of garbage as the literal burning trash thrown in halfway through.

Cliches-

  • Friday is the smart but socially anxious one (how has she even acted as Karen for so long?)
  • “Identical” siblings can mimic each other perfectly (down to the biometrics the bracelet presumably collects)
  • Get shot anywhere and you’re dead…
  • …except if you need to die a more dramatic death later
  • Hit literally anywhere? Instant bloodstains on your face (ex. everyone leaving the crashed car)
  • Wednesday hanging off a cliff/building as antagonist slowly approaches
  • Armed patrols always in ready position with gun ready to fire
  • Fall unconscious? You’ll be fine when you wake up (Thursday after Friday bomb)
  • “I did it for love…and I’m pregnant too” (though this one would have been ok by itself)
  • The pompously mysterious “I know your secret” coworker
  • The government is lying to cover up something really horrible
  • Not suffering makes dying ok
  • Monday’s babies are most important (in giant tank in the middle of the other babies)

Realism issues-

  • Unexplained “Federation” replacing modern countries
  • No one is suspicious that you cannot visit people who are in “cryosleep”
  • No one is suspicious about signs of activity in room when “Karen” out?
  • Why does their grandfather know how to mess with the bracelets (without any visible change, even)?
  • Seriously, how did the government keep the truth a secret for 20+ years- the septuplets are 30 and couldn’t have been more than 10 in the flashbacks- when any random agent’s bracelet has access to the entire system?
  • Servers destroyed-> systems still working
  • Friday can do whatever she wants on systems that she should know nothing about
  • Kind of nitpicky, but most of the displays are clearly meant to look cool but would not actually be useful
  • Smoke grenades do not affect Thursday and Friday breathing
  • Agents fail to surround buildings they are storming
  • Saturday seems to start liking Adrian for no reason
  • Thursday somehow can get away from Monday and change and clean up when Monday still alive and still has the gun
  • Main antagonist not nearly personable enough to be a successful politician and the general public apparently hate her policies too (enough to attack the CAB agents without question as Wednesday runs)
  • No one questions Adrian hanging around the “cryosleep” room after handing over Thursday even when he’s probably not supposed to know the truth
  • “cryosleep” machine seriously resource intensive despite supposed shortage
  • likely “concussions” only last for a few seconds
  • Going through wall of hidden room leads to empty building

Contradictions-

  • “We have to tell each other absolutely everything” -> turns out was hiding relationship (how is so much missing time not suspicious?)
  • “we are working for a better tomorrow”-> shoot random civilians because they’re kind-of-not-really in the way
  • “we need to keep this quiet” -> send tens of armed soldiers running into a civilian building and shoot smoke grenades in the middle of the day
  • Wednesday shot in the head-> “she died by falling”

Other things-

  • Creepy, oversized fetuses
  • Awkwardness/forcedness of everything with Adrian (from his introduction to scene at septuplets’ apartment to scene at his apartment to Thursday threatening him in the car)
  • Saturday shot in head from back-> head sent backwards
  • Wednesday’s holographic punching bag
  • Thursday can operate the “cyrosleep” machine without any user permissions
  • Skateboarding accident somehow leads to losing part of a finger
  • Agents find button to hidden room immediately (clearly know its there)
  • Sudden background music changes

 

I see where Magdala was coming from with the “power” angle, but the film’s failings completely overshadowed any message I got. There are so many movies and even real-life stories that illustrate power and its methods much more effectively.

 

That’s not to say the film was all bad. There were a couple scenes I liked, like Friday’s last scene and Saturday’s reveal of her virginity (changing the image she’s build up until then) and her willingness to sacrifice it to better their chances at survival. But yeah, generally did not like the film and probably would have walked out at the impromptu finger surgery if this wasn’t part of Rose Scholars.

Reactions on Forrest Gump

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I’ll admit that I wasn’t expecting all that much from Forrest Gump after having been disappointed with North by Northwest and, to a lesser extent, The King’s Speech last semester. However, I’m glad that I chose to attend today’s film because Forrest Gump definitely deserves to be called a masterpiece. I’m struck by how complete a picture it manages to present of Forrest’s life in just a couple hours. The Vietnam storyline and the follow-up with Lieutenant Dan and Bubba’s plans could easily have been its own movie, as could the story of Forrest and Jenny, but I don’t feel at all like either was shortchanged. With some added background and characters, even the football arc could become a film on its own. My only complaints about the film are really quite minor. I cringed a little bit at the repeated “run, Forrest, run” line, but I do think running is an important motif in the story. Similarly, I was a little annoyed with Jenny’s portrayal as being so hopeless on her own, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it unrealistic (just biased in showing the worst moments of her life).

I thought it was interesting how Forrest, supposedly inferior to others because of his IQ, was generally happier than “normal” people like Jenny and Lieutenant Dan (until he brought happiness into their lives). That, among other things, fit well with the famous “life is like a box of chocolates” idea, and I appreciated the message of acceptance/tolerance that was baked in there. It did feel, though, like Forrest went beyond what people would expect of a “stupid” person in his philosophical monologue to Jenny’s grave. Maybe that’s my own unconscious prejudice speaking; I don’t claim to know exactly how IQ relates to the ability to philosophize. However, if Forrest’s monologue means that he isn’t actually “stupid” then the movie changes from being a symbolic struggle against prejudice towards “stupid” people and becomes a little bit like Forrest’s individual struggle against his mislabeling as “stupid,” which then suggests that there really are “stupid” people and really weakens the message of the movie. Or maybe I’m just overthinking this. Forrest’s monologue is certainly a powerful one that brings together Lieutenant Dan’s and Forrest’s mom’s ideas about destiny, and taking it at face value (that Forrest is “stupid”) might instead mean that being “stupid” really doesn’t mean anything because even “stupid” people are just as capable of doing everything as “normal” people are.

Forrest Gump now beats out Pather Panchali as my favorite film I’ve seen at Rose House, and I hope everyone else enjoyed it as much as I did.

Secrets in the Basement

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It was interesting to hear from Professor Blalock about the history behind West Campus housing and efforts by early Cornell administrators to distance itself from institutions like Harvard and Yale that provided education only for rich white protestant men. For example, Ezra Cornell did not want to have dorms on campus because he wanted students to interact with the local community (though there was a women’s dorm for “safety”). I was particularly struck by Prof. Blalock’s story about dorms at Yale that had smaller servant quarters attached to larger bedrooms that modern students now fight over. It makes me appreciate the motto of “any person, any study” a lot more and less ironically.

That said, our tour through the tunnels and the war memorial room was the more exciting part of the event, revealing the “secrets” of Rose House. My favorite part of the tour was hearing Professor Blalock’s stories about the part of the tunnel immediately under the House Professor’s apartment. Apparently the tunnel is a great spot to practice baseball but a terrible place to have discreet conversations, as the lack of sound insulation means everything is audible in his apartment. Other highlights included learning about the Quill and Dagger society and multiple doors screaming their protests at staying open too long.

At risk of sounding a little crazy, I’ll just add this in here- the basement system would work really well as the set to a horror movie/game or murder mystery. Dim the lights, put some grime or blood spatter  on the walls, and add some strategically placed messages and you’ve got quite an chilling atmosphere, complete with cheery and unsuspecting prospective victims milling around obliviously aboveground. If there are any amateur filmmakers here, well, there’s an idea. Be careful though, it may be easier to get down there, but it’s just a bit harder to get out…

 

Note: there doesn’t seem to be a category for this yet

Community at the Chili Cook-Off

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The weather was mostly cooperative today for the Ithaca Chili Cook-Off; it was sprinkling a bit, but warm enough to permit standing still outside for a few hours. The walk down to the Commons and especially back was a bit of an adventure in itself (my condolences to anyone who has to carry a backpack up that hill AND the slope every day), but it was definitely worth it. I was surprised to see not just restaurants giving out chili samples but also institutions like Cayuga Medical Center. The people asking if we’d registered as voters and the people walking around selling cornbread for to pay for healthy snacks in schools really brought it across to me that this event, for better or worse, brings the community together, and everyone knows it. There was a feeling of quiet togetherness you can only get in a smaller city like Ithaca, a subdued sense that this kind of get-together was completely natural. It was nice, given the divisive nature of the current political climate.

On the subject of the food, I personally would have enjoyed a bit more heat. That said, my friends insist my tolerance for spice can only be a mark of insanity, so it might have been for the better that the chili at the event was a bit mild. My personal favorite sample was probably the one from the Statler, but the most interesting one was definitely the chili calzone.

Overall, I enjoyed myself and am looking forward to returning next year with my wallet to maybe buy some cornbread.

Bitcoin and blockchain: bubble or big idea?

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At today’s Table Talk, we discussed cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology with Ty. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin have been all over the news recently, so it was nice to get a better idea of what they actually are. An especially important takeaway from this session was the difference between Bitcoin (a cryptocurrency) and blockchain (the technological setup moderating and securing cryptocurrencies). The blockchain model of data storage/transfer is potentially applicable to many other fields, while Bitcoin and its fellow cryptocurrencies are less flexible. Even if Bitcoin proves to be a bubble, which seems very possible given its lack of actual buying power to lend credibility to its supposed value, the blockchain schema may survive to form the basis of some other new technology.

 

What does everyone think? Is Bitcoin a bubble? What about other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum?