I created Popularly Uncultured to be a popular culture type blog to express my opinions on trivial mattes. I definitely don’t claim to be an expert in everything happening in the realm of pop culture, but I do like to think I have my finger on the pulse of what’s happening in that world. That being said, I admittedly did not watch much of the Academy Awards this year because, simply put, I haven’t seem many of the films that nominated.
With that said, I’m on a mission to see every important film mentioned at Sunday’s Academy Awards and from here on out to see all films worthy of a Best Picture nomination. It is my duty as a pop culture connoisseur to experience what’s inspiring the public in today’s mediascape.
As for everything “important” that happened at The Academy Awards, I defer to Gawker.
Marvel and Sony have come to terms on an agreement that will bring Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Up until now, Sony has had full control of the character, with the original trilogy in 2002, 2004, 2007 and two rebooted films in 2012 and 2014. After the mediocre The Amazing Spider-Man films, Sony has decided yet again to reboot the character, letting Kevin Feige, overseer of the entire Marvel slate of films, take creative control. Ultimately, Sony will have final say in how Marvel used their character, but the potential for him showing up along side Marvel’s hero in any capacity is exciting.
Spider-Man will first appear in an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film, though which one has not been announced. Back in November, the Sony hacks revealed that a deal for Spider-Man to show up in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War was previously in place, but fell through. Speculation is that Spider-Man will still appear in Cap 3with this new deal.
Since Marvel began building their MCU, I’ve been fully on board with every movie they’ve introduced. While I wasn’t previously a comic book fan, these films got me interested to go back and learn more about these characters. The way Marvel has (relatively) grounded these character in the real world has be attractive to old and new fans across the globe. At this point, fans have a great deal of trust in whatever Kevin Feige decides is the next direction for the MCU, evident by the hundreds of millions previously obscure superhero franchise Guardians of the Galaxy brought in. I’m interested to see how Feige can reshape Spider-Man with a uniquely Marvel tone. Even more than that, I’m excited to see how a teenage Peter Parker (Spier-Man) will interact when up against superhero juggernauts like Tony Stark (Iron Man) and Steve Rodgers (Captain America).
According to The Wall Street Journal, a source close to the matter says Netflix is in the early stages of creating a live-action show based on The Legend of Zelda video game series. The premise of the show is basic to Zelda fans: ordinary boy (Link) saves a princess (Zelda) from evil forces while saving the kingdom of Hyrule and becoming a hero in the process. The tone of the show is described as a light-hearted Game of Thrones made for a family audience, as Nintendo’s games traditionally are. The project is in very early stages, not yet having a writer, and may be canned before it gets off the ground. Nintendo over the years has been super protective of its intellectually properties, especially after the uber-flop that was 1993’s Super Mario Bros. live action movie. It’s understandable that Nintendo would be hesitant to potentially shed a bad light on their characters especially now as they struggle to sell gaming consoles.
It seems only recently that Nintendo has been willing to license-out it’s characters for to other companies. The most recent Dynasty Warriors game, named Hyrule Warriors, featured the land of Hyrule with many of The Legend of Zelda’s characters such as Link, Zelda, Ganondorf, and Tingle. While the game’s skin was uniquely “Zelda,” the gameplay was classic Dynasty Warriors, a.k.a. not a real “Zelda” installment. Expanding past video games, Nintendo’s characters have been popping up in things like toys, candy, and board games.
Personally, as a big Nintendo fan and an even bigger Zelda fan, I’m glad to see Nintendo letting its lore expand past games. In my opinion, Nintendo’s mythology and characters can go toe-to-toe with any fantastical worlds like Disney or Nickelodeon. Its characters are varied and deep and speak very well to a child audience as well as adults. The only difference between Disney and Nintendo is the different mediums the two companies chose to pursue. Had Nintendo wanted to make cartoon shows and movies, I’d be willing to bet that a certain Italian plumber would have more resonance than a talking rat.
Television as we’ve known it for the past 60 plus years is coming to an end. The days of sitting in your living room, clicking the “power” button on the remote control, and taking in whatever shows are currently airing on your favorite networks will soon be coming to an end. Televisions have become little more than monitors these days with so many different devices hooked up that provide much better content than anything a cable company can provide. Apple is currently in talks with content producers to create a new web-based TV service that would allow users to subscribe to programs that they want to enjoy, rather than paying for hundreds of useless channels. For years Apple has been rumored to be working on some sort of television-related device or service, but all reports have not come to fruition.
We’re heading towards an Internet-run media society pretty quickly. More and more people, new home/ apartment owners especially, are turning away from traditional television cable and looking for other ways to fill their media needs. At this point in my young life, I find myself filling my free time with YouTube content above anything else. I just don’t have time for the slow pace of cable. When I have time to myself, I like to watch what I want to watch, not what my cable provider has on for me at that time. With the Internet chock-full of shows and short videos that speak to me, why would I waste time watching something “just because it’s on”? When I do turn on my TV it’s usually for a sports game or some background noise while I’m paying more attention to something else I’m doing. YouTube, HBO Go, Netflix, and Hulu Plus offer an all around better experience than archaic cable providers cannot duplicate or match and at a cheaper price.
It’ll be interesting to see what Apple does with its [rumored] service. Hopefully Apple can take what it did to the music industry with iTunes and translate that into TV content. I’m looking forward to a future void of soap operas and Jerry Springer cluttering my mid-day relaxation.
The FCC has redefined what it means to offer broadband Internet for services within the United States. In 2010, the standard for broadband was set at 4 Mbps download speed and 1 Mbps upload. Today, most service providers offer well above that, but consider it premium service. The Internet of today is much different than it was in 2010, with bits upon bits of content stacked on every webpage. With the FCC’s new plan, 25 Mbps download speed with 3 Mbps upload will be the new standard by which service providers can call themselves broadband. With this new definition, the FCC has found that around 55 million Americans- 17 percent of the population- do not have access to broadband. The FCC wants to redefine services providers as agents of a “telecommunication service” making it more of a utility than a informational service. The United States, despite being the country that invented the Internet, is currently 26th in the world in Internet speeds, just above Romania.
Also, on Feb. 26, the FCC will vote on a new net neutrality proposal that will ban providers from throttling or changing service based on what information users want to access on the Internet.
There are few things in life I believe are more sacred than access to information. The Internet, or, more specifically for the every day users, the World Wide Web, holds all the information we as humans have ever conceived. From things as monumental as quantum physics, to something as trivial as Kim Kardashian’s new haircut. Every bit of it should be free to the public at a reasonable rate. While I am happy to see the FCC stepping in to save the Internet from private companies who’s intentions would be to lock it down only for them to dictate what information can be seen, my enthusiasm is curbed because the FCC is a government run organization. I’m no crazy Tea Party “the government wants to enslave white people” sympathizer, but I am a little bit weary of any one entity having so much power over all that information. Right now as it stands the FCC only plans to regulate the Internet to ensure providers maintain a better experience for their users. But, as the Internet ages, who knows where the industry will go. Every media company in the past has eventually fallen to big money providers, e.g. film, phone, radio. Hopefully the government stays true to the American people, and hopefully the Internet is the media outlet to buck the trend.
If you want to test your Internet speeds, click here!
Wow. Microsoft just announced their latest foray into the “face computing” technology market and it’s a step above notable entries Facebook’s Oculus Rift or Sony’s Project Morpheus. HoloLens was described by Microsoft’s presenter as the most advanced holographic computer the world has ever seen. HoloLens aims to change computing as we know it. It’s the first fully untethered holographic computer, something that you can wear on your head and take with you everywhere. Microsoft says HoloLens can process terabytes of data through its many censors on the unit all in real time. It takes augmented reality a step father, by allowing the user to interact with 3D objects HoloLens projects. Essentially, anything can be a canvas to create.
image credit: Wired.com
Impressions from reviewers have been generally good. The press conference saw a user of the HoloLens putting together a quadcopter in augmented reality space. She used various tools from a virtual toolbox, selecting each my tapping her finger on them much like she would have a mouse and cursor. The virtual model was then rendered in reality using a 3D printer. While a bit rough around the edges, this demo showed the potential applications and usefulness of this device.
I apologize if it sounds like I’m trying to promote the product. In reality, I never interact with anything Microsoft branded other than my Xbox, as I’m sure is the case with many other people. I’m deeply ingrained in my Apple-centric lifestyle, but I need to give Windows props where it’s due. While the device is larger than the failed Google Glass, I believe HoloLens will succeed because it’s fully aware that it is a big hunk of computer on your face.
I created Popularly Uncultured to be a popular culture type blog to express my opinions on trivial mattes. I definitely don’t claim to be an expert in everything happening in the realm of pop culture, but I do like to think I have my finger on the pulse of what’s happening in that world. That being said, I admittedly did not watch much of the Academy Awards this year because, simply put, I haven’t seem many of the films that nominated.
The Trivial Matters 