Author: anwaryusef

Anwar Y. Dunbar is a Regulatory Scientist. Being a naturally curious person, he is also a student of all things. He earned his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Michigan and his Bachelor’s Degree in General Biology from Johnson C. Smith University (JCSU). Prior to starting the Big Words Blog Site, Anwar published and contributed to numerous research articles in competitive scientific journals reporting on his research from graduate school and postdoctoral years. After falling in love with writing, he contributed to the now defunct Examiner.com, and the Edvocate where he regularly wrote about: Education-related stories/topics, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Financial Literacy; as well as conducted interviews with notable individuals such as actor and author Hill Harper. Having many influences, one of his most notable heroes is author, intellectual and speaker, Malcolm Gladwell, author of books including Outliers and David and Goliath. Anwar has his hands in many, many activities. In addition to writing, Anwar actively mentors youth, works to spread awareness of STEM careers, serves on the Board of Directors of the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium, serves as Treasurer for the JCSU Washington, DC Alumni Chapter, and is active in the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Ministry at the Alfred Street Baptist Church. He also tutors in the subjects of biology, chemistry and physics. Along with his multi-talented older brother Amahl Dunbar (designer of the Big Words logos, inventor and a plethora of other things), Anwar is a “Fanboy” and really enjoys Science-Fiction and Superhero movies including but not restricted to Captain America Civil War, Batman vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and Prometheus. He is a proud native of Buffalo, NY.

A review of Hidden Figures

I recently co-wrote movie reviews with my brother Amahl Dunbar for Marvel’s Dr. Strange and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – both of the Super Hero and Science Fiction genres.  This review will switch gears slightly and focus on a film with more of a historical focus; Hidden Figures based upon the book Hidden Figures: The American Dream and Untold Story of the Black Women Mathematicians Who Helped Win the Space Race by Margo Lee Shetterly.  The film starred Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer and Kevin Costner.  Unlike the previous reviews which were done in a conversational format, Amahl and I will independently give our thoughts on what stood out to us about the film.

Amahl:  In terms of Hidden Figures, I was impressed with NASA mathematician Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer).  In the story, when IBM first delivers the computer to NASA, the engineers figured out how to assemble it, but they couldn’t operate it.  The computer was critical for expediting NASA’s space travel calculations.  Dorothy saw tremendous opportunity and acted on it.  She had the foresight to learn the programming language Fortran (Formula Translation), from a book at a local library.  When she demonstrated she could operate and program the computer, she was immediately promoted and transferred.  She also had the foresight to teach Fortran to the other female African American mathematicians thus ensuring their long term employment at NASA.  So I think her having the insight to see the opportunity in front of her and then the assertiveness to take advantage of it were huge and great teaching points.  These are two very important ingredients for success.

Hidden Figures is as culturally and historically relevant as all the seasons of the Cosby Show.  I can’t wait for it to come out on Blue-Ray.

Anwar:  As a Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) advocate and professional myself, a current challenge is getting African American students interested in STEM, and then empowering them to stick with it.  Recently at the kickoff for the Toxicology Mentoring and Skills Development Training program’s inaugural weekend, I had a discussion with the chair of the program and we discussed the difficulties in getting minorities involved in Toxicology (and other STEM careers).  At the same meeting one of the speakers noted that the majority of the time when minority students get discouraged and leave the sciences, they usually change their majors to one of the Humanities or the Arts.  This is not a knock on the non-science fields but instead in part is a reflection of how the sciences are viewed by students of color – especially for those who have no STEM professionals in their families – our case as children.  For me, this is the beauty of Hidden Figures.

Without giving away the plot beyond what my brother described above, Hidden Figures tells the story of Katherine Goble Johnson (Henson), Dorothy Vaughn (Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Monea) who all greatly impacted the Space Race of the early 1960s between the United States and the Soviet Union.  Each of the three leads played key roles in the United States’ mission to put a man in space – optimization of the space craft (Jackson), implementation of the IMB computer to expedite NASA’s calculations (Vaughn), and performing the initial critical calculations for the astronauts’ space travel (Johnson).  Taraji P. Henson’s portrayal of Katherine Goble Johnson seemed to be the main story line as she was central to working out the calculations for John Glenn’s orbit and re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere.

Hidden Figures is a valuable film in that it shows African American women portrayed in ways that we’re normally not used to seeing them in media.  While she’s most known these days for playing “Cookie” on Fox’s Empire for example, Taraji P. Henson’s role as Katherine Goble Johnson is arguably a more important as it depicts an African American woman performing complex mathematical calculations impacting NASA’s space missions.  Most importantly, the film highlights the contributions of African Americans to one of the United States’ most celebrated breakthroughs; manned space travel.  Unfortunately prior to the movie it wasn’t widely recognized who all contributed to John Glen’s mission – something that occurs often in US History when it comes to people of color.

Hidden Figures is a very important film to see particularly for young children who haven’t decided on a career path.  If they have an inkling of an aptitude for STEM, films like Hidden Figures can definitely help encourage them to pursue a STEM career.  A film like Hidden Figures would have been very valuable in my own youth though I was fortunate to have the pieces in place to allow me to pursue my own careers in Pharmacology and Toxicology – environment and mentors.  It’s not that way for every child/student.

Our Twitter handles are @amahldunbar and @BWArePowerful. If you liked this review, please do click the “like” button, leave comments, and share it. Please visit my YouTube channel entitled, Big Discussions76. To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right-hand column in this post and throughout the site, or add the link to my RSS feed to your feedreader. Lastly follow me on the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page, and on Instagram at @anwaryusef76. While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/sites I endorse which can be found on that particular page of my site.

The 34th annual WIAC-UNCF MLK breakfast celebration

On Monday Jan. 16, the Washington Inter-Alumni Council of the United Negro College Fund (WIAC-UNCF) hosted its 34th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Birthday Breakfast celebration in Greenbelt, Md.  The annual breakfast which attracts anywhere from 600 to 800 people, was started in 1980 and was originally the idea of then WIAC President and Paine alumnus Fred Thompson.  In addition to keeping with UNCF’s mission of raising scholarship funds for students, the event recognized two individuals for their community service contributions, and featured a notable keynote speaker.

The mistress of ceremony for the breakfast was Nikki Strong of WHUR who led a full program which opened with the singing of, “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, by all in attendance.  The historic Negro Anthem was followed by a series of speakers and musical selections such as that performed by guest gospel performer Capria McClearn.   The morning culminated with the recognition of this year’s award recipients and keynote speaker.  This year’s “Person of the Year” award recipient was Phil Freelon, founder and president of the Freelon Group which designed and constructed the Smithsonian’s new National Museum of African American History and Culture.  This year’s Grace Walker Phillips Youth Leadership Award recipient was Eunique Jones Gibson, a DC native and founder of the “Because of them, We Can” campaign. 

“Anytime history seizes you, it has to be a calling.  It has to be something that has chosen you.  The bible calls that a, ‘Cross to bear,’” said Reverend Dr. Grainger Browning as he discussed Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s realization and acceptance of his mission.  “No one picks up a cross to bear. You don’t choose a cross – a cross chooses you.”

This year’s Keynote Speaker was the Reverend Dr. Grainger Browning, Jr. of the Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, Md.  The theme of his talk was, “Hidden Figures who held onto the Dream,” where he outlined prominent African American historical figures who did great things and persevered leading up to and beyond Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous dream.

 “We provide over $100 million annually in scholarship assistance to students who attend UNCF member institutions, other Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and over 1100 other colleges and universities,” said Charles Thompson III, UNCF’s Area Development Director for Maryland, Washington, DC and Northern Virginia.  “There are two areas we consider, how well the student meets the criteria set by the donor for each scholarship but also demonstrated financial need.  Many of the students we help come from families whose income is below $25,000.”    

The MLK breakfast was sponsored by: the Prince George’s Chamber of Commerce, Prince George’s Community College, Southern Management Corporation, Wegmans, and Morgan Stanley.  Visit www.uncf.org/dmv to learn more about the organization and to make a donation.

Dr. Jonathan Mathis discusses Honor Your Future Now campaign

Late in 2015, I was approached with an opportunity to conduct an interview with Hill Harper regarding his collaboration with the National Honor Society and its “Honor Your Future Now” campaign.  I was subsequently given the opportunity to interview the director of the National Honor Society Dr. Jonathan Mathis.  The following is my follow up interview with Dr. Mathis.

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An interview was recently granted with Hill Harper to discuss the National Honor Society’s Honor Your Future Now Campaign, an effort to get young people, particularly those planning to go off to college, to think about their next steps.  A second interview was granted this time with the director of the National Honor Society, Dr. Jonathan Mathis.  In this interview Dr. Mathis, who has had a love for education his entire life, as well as helping students actualize their dreams, discusses the importance of families proactively planning for their student’s college education; particularly the all-important financial aspect.  He also discusses resources that the National Honor Society has made available to plan for college, not just for its members, but to all students.

Anwar Dunbar:  Hello Jonathan.  First, thank you for this opportunity to interview you and ask you some more questions about Honor Your Future Now.  As you know, I recently spoke with Hill Harper about the campaign. As the Director of the National Honor Society, what can you tell the audience about your organization and the campaign?

Jonathan Mathis:  I can start by giving a few words about Honor Your Future Now.  The National Honor Society and the National Association of Secondary School Principals are really excited about this particular campaign because the narrative is to encourage all students to envision their future selves, and to look at how we can help prepare middle and high school students to start thinking about college, their careers and a lifetime of success.  So for me this campaign is really important and special because we offer expert advice, programs and resources not only to our Honor Society members, but to a general, wider public audience that will focus on helping students to get to, and through college, including how they will pay for college.

AD: Just for a little bit of context here, I want to go back and ask you a basic question.  First I’m going to front it though, by saying that when I was in high school I wasn’t the most focused student academically, and I do remember having a National Honor Society Chapter at my high school (Hutch-Tech High School in Buffalo, NY).  For the readers, can you just briefly tell what the National Honor Society is as an organization?  Do you all have chapters at every high school?  What was it set up to do?

JM:  Sure.  For nearly 100 years the National Honor Society and the National Junior Honor Society have empowered students to excel at four key pillars: scholarship, service, leadership and character, with a fifth pillar at the middle school level – citizenship.  The National Honor Societies thus recognize and foster one million students each year to be engaged in their schools, to be empowered to lead change, and to be active in their communities, so when we look at Honor Your Future Now we’re not only talking to our Honor Society members, but to the broader public.  Let’s continue to plan for our future success now.  Let’s cultivate ourselves with experiences and resources that will celebrate who we envision ourselves to be.  There are 25,000 chapters active at the Honor Society and the Junior Honor Society level, at both the high school and middle school levels.

AD:  And just for the lay person, what are the requirements for joining?  Do you have to have a 4.0 grade point average (gpa), for example?

JM:  The national guideline is for students to have at least a 3.0 minimum gpa, and again to celebrate students within their school who have demonstrated scholarship, leadership, service and character.  At the middle level citizenship is important too.  We expect to see students inducted into the National Honor Society who are seen as leaders in their school community, and also in their external community.

AD:  Okay let’s circle back and focus on Honor Your Future Now.  What was the impetus for this campaign?  Why did the National Honor Society feel the need to start this?  It sounds like there’s a component to help students navigate college and it sounds like there’s a financial component as well.  Is there a need to help students navigate college?  Are there skills or values that have been lost?

JM:  You know, you bring up a great question.  There’s been some new research that we commissioned here at the National Honor Society that led us to find that 50% of college-seeking students worry that they’ll be unable to pay for their college education, so when you hear that statistic alone we start to wonder; How can we dismantle the myths?  How do we provide additional resources?  We also found that 40% of the students said that they still need help trying to figure out how to apply for scholarships and 33% of students said that they would need more information just about the process.  Based on that research we developed the additional programming and resources that begin to share this pertinent information, especially at this time of year when most college-seeking students are finding out whether or not they’ve been accepted to their school of choice, and how they may be able to finance their education.

So, for example, we know that Jan. 1 is the opening of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA), and we encourage students to complete that application and submit their FAFSA as soon as possible because the professionals in the field know that those federal dollars are packaged on a first come first serve basis.  So if we want to help students to address these gaps in information and their concerns about financing their education, we really want to engage families and students as early as possible.  Therefore, providing that expert advice and information can help alleviate many of those concerns.

AD:  Is the Honor Your Future Now Campaign focused for the most part on the financial component or were there other points that you all wanted to address?

JM:  Well, just one other piece about the financial component. On our Honor Your Future Now website, we talk about what students need to think about in terms of being a leader in their school and a successful student. But as we think about this time of year, the conversation in schools across the country is how do you prepare to enroll in college, so we provide timelines for the various academic years and, as we think about college, we offer information in three ways.  We ask students and families to think about their own resources first.  Second, we’re encouraging them to get financial aid by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and things of that nature.  Third, we ask students to consider ways to decrease costs.

So when we say consider your own resources, we help provide information around savings accounts and 529 college savings plans and, for our National Junior Honor Society members, the National Honor Society has introduced an outstanding achievement award that could provide students with a savings account.  When we talk about financial aid we’re really getting students to understand the: need-based aid and the merit-based aid, and how to go about completing the FAFSA and to secure the grants, the loans and the federal work study, and the merit based aid.

When we’re talking about reducing college costs, we’re really talking about that pillar of scholarship, to say consider taking the advanced placement and the dual enrollment paths to limit the amount of time and money needed to complete the degree.  Right now we’re highlighting those things because of the time of year, but the Honor Your Future Now Campaign is really talking about a lifetime of success.  How can I become a leader in my community?  In what ways can I give back?  In what ways can I serve?  And given the timeliness of the conversation, we’re really excited about the opportunities and  the resources that we’re providing about getting to and through college.

AD:  You know, I just read something about that in a book called Smart is the New Rich by Christina Romans.  She recommended going through an accelerated program so students could finish early, thereby cutting the costs.  Is that what you were referring to?

JM: Right. Schools may offer a dual enrollment program.  So typically, you’re completing your high school diploma concurrent to your entry level college courses.  You may hear of it described as dual enrollment, early enrollment and concurrent enrollment, or early college-high school where you could potentially earn an associate’s degree before you graduate from high school.

AD:  Okay.  Does that sum up the message you wanted get out to the masses?

JM:  Yes, and it goes to your previous question about what other resources this campaign offers.  We really just encourage students and parents to plan early, think about the potential of a lifetime of success and what we can do now to really bring to light our future selves.  So when you visit the website, of course you’re going to find great information about how to charter a chapter if the school doesn’t have one; we also want to be sure that we’re equipping students to dream big and giving them the resources to make those dreams a reality.

AD:  Jonathan, I’m going to ask you one more question.  I asked Hill this, but as someone who has been as involved with education as you have been, and now overseeing the National Honor Society, in terms of getting today’s students to be successful, i.e. the Millennials, do you think they face any unique academic challenges?  Are there things that are different from when we were coming up in the 80s and the 90s?

JM: You know, I think there is a mix of challenge and opportunity.  When we think about the access to technology and the access to resources such as this website, that might not have existed for us.  I remember when I was looking for scholarships, I was sitting at the public library on snow days or professional development days for teachers.  If I had that day off, I would go look for scholarships.  Now for example, for our National Honor Society members, we just developed a search tool where they can have access to thousands of scholarships that they can apply to based on the pillars.  Those things didn’t exist for us.  So there’s a great deal of accessibility, but the question becomes now, how do we ensure that students who have access to a great amount of information are able to really decipher it in terms of what they need to do to execute those plans, and to achieve those goals, and how do they put it into action?  And when we look at the wide numbers of students to counselors in schools, we want to begin to help students make sense of the information they have access to.

AD:  Do you have any closing words?

JM:  I just want to encourage families and students to take advantage of the Honor Your Future Now campaign and to truly begin to plan for their future success now, and to take advantage of the resources. So continue to ask the questions and seek help to make it all possible.

AD:  Well thank you, Jonathan, for this wonderful opportunity to get this extremely important message out.

JM:  Thank you, Anwar.  I really appreciate your time this afternoon.

AD:  I have one last question concerning your background.  Being director the National Honor Society is a very impressive accomplishment with a far reaching impact.  Were you an educator who slowly worked your way up?  Or did you just happen to drop into this capacity by chance?

JM:   You know, to make a long story short, I always used to play school as kid so I’ve always loved what school looked like.  Professionally, I began my career working in college admissions, and then I served in a post-secondary institution, and then in a secondary school.  I served as the director of college counseling for a charter school, and I also served as an admissions counselor and a multicultural recruiter.  I spent a lot of time doing induction programs for new students.  I completed a Ph.D. in Urban Education Policy with a focus on this conversation we’re having around access and success for students, so my career has been and will continue to be around getting students to and through college.  It’s what I’m most passionate about, and you know, playing school as a kid and growing up on colleges campuses, I know few other places as well as I know colleges and high schools, so it’s truly a pleasure to serve in this capacity.  But it’s been my career and it will continue to be; helping students actualize their dreams.

To learn more about the resources for college planning discussed by Dr. Jonathan Mathis in this interview Honor Your Future Now.  Also see the National Honor Society’s infographic which describes the three components of paying for college.

To learn more about the resources for college planning discussed by Dr. Jonathan Mathis in this interview, visit Honor Your Future Now, and the infographic for the steps to applying to college.

If you enjoyed this interview, please share it, and leave any thoughts and comments below.  If you’d like to receive my most up to date content as it gets published, please subscribe.

 

A review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

My brother Amahl Dunbar of the Swamp Media Group (producers of The Space Detective), and I recently wrote our first movie review for Marvel’s Dr. Strange.  As promised at the end of that piece, we’re back to review the latest installment of the Star Wars franchise; Rogue One: A Star Wars Story directed by Gareth Edwards.  The following is our discussion and analysis of Rogue One.  Please be advised that if you haven’t seen the movie yet, this may spoil it for you.

Anwar:  First off bro welcome back for our second review, this time of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  We were children when Episodes IV-VI were produced and thus go way back with the Star Wars franchise.  I’m going to further date us and say that in addition to seeing the original movies, we also played with some of the original toys made by Kenner – the action figures, ships, and vehicles.  That was a great time to be a child.  We were also young enough and of sound mind when the prequels were produced – Episodes I-III, and recently the continuation of the series with Episode VII: The Force Awakens.  Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is interesting conceptually in that it isn’t officially one of the “Episodes”, but instead is in itself a prequel which chronologically takes place between Episodes III and IV.  Do you have any opening comments or thoughts?

Amahl: Yes.  The tone of Rogue One was set early in the film when the Mother of the key character was killed off as you’ll describe.   That let the audience know that this was going to be a serious story in the Star Wars universe.

Anwar:  Okay so in terms of what Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is about, it takes place after Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith, where we got a glimpse of the early stages of the Death Star being constructed.  By the way in terms of storytelling, at least in the movies, the Star Wars films never really mark time, like Star Trek does.  We only know that the story is taking place, “Long ago in a galaxy far, far away,” the hallmark intro of the films which was omitted from this one in addition to the crawling introductory passage.

Going back to the story, at the end of Episode III, we got glimpses of Emperor Palpatine, Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin looking on as the Death Star was being built.  Rogue One starts with Imperial Director Orson Krennic (Ben Mendhelsohn) traveling to the planet Lah’Mu to re-enlist the help of engineer Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) to help finish construction of the Death Star.  Erso who hoped to disappear into a life of agriculture and his wife Lyra (Valene Kane) who is murdered during the confrontation, have a daughter named Jyn who escapes, and is found by their ally Saw Gerrera (Forest Whitaker).

Fifteen years later, Jyn (Felicity Jones) grows up and is a prisoner of the Empire.  She is rescued by Cassian Andor (Diego Luna) of the Rebellion and his reprogrammed Imperial Droid K-2SO (Alan Tudyk) and is asked to help find Saw Gerrera who himself is sought out by an Imperial pilot named Bohdi Rook (Riz Ahmed).  Rook was actually sent by Galen Erso to reveal that the Death Star was built with a built in vulnerability.  Under orders from the Rebellion, Jyn and Cassian travel to the once Jedi- home world of Jedda where the Empire is extracting Kybar Crystals which were used to power the Jedi’s lightsabers but are now also going to be used as the power source for the new Death Star.  There on Jedda, Jyn finds Saw Gerrera, and learns her father’s secret about the Death Star setting the stage for the remainder of the story which involves some familiar faces and some hallmarks of the Star Wars franchise.

So that’s the basic premise of the film without completely giving away the second half of it which I’m sure Lucas Film will appreciate.  Darth Vader does appear, and in terms of the significance of the name “Rogue One”, you’ll have to see the movie, but it is cleverly woven into the script and story.

Okay bro.  With all of that being said, do you have any thoughts on the movie?  What stood out to you about?  The story?  The dialogue?  The imagery?  The visual effects?  One of the things that stood out to me was the diversity of the cast ethnically, and in terms of the protagonist being female in addition to many of the Rebel leaders and even pilots and soldiers.

Amahl:  What stood out to me was how much Rogue One reminded me of playing the Star Wars video games whether they be of the action or adventure genre – avid gamers understand the difference between the two.  Whenever the main characters (and the audience) went to a different planet for example, there was either a person of interest to contact, or a location to be sabotaged, robbed or disabled.  Also, the martial arts action star, Donny Yen (IP Man trilogy), plays a blind Jedi with no light saber.  If anyone in a Star Wars movie should’ve wielded a light saber, it should’ve been Donny.  That’s like putting Bruce Lee or Jackie Chan, in a Star Wars movie without a light saber.

Anwar:  Interesting.  In terms of your reference to video games, Rogue One did remind me of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic which completely sucked me into its world back in 2004 when I was in graduate school.  Hours would blow by when playing that game.  Early in the game, your party escapes from the planet Taris just before Darth Malak’s Leviathan ship destroys it, and in Rogue One, Jyn’s party escapes from Jeddha after the Death Star unleashes its initial deadly blast.

I had to see Rogue One twice to take in all of the minute details and remember all of the names.  It was similar to some of the other movies in that it started off with a character from humble beginnings who ends up being the main protagonist.  It had more of a dark, gritty, and tough feel about it as Jyn starts off as an adult as a prisoner of the Empire.  Cassian is a spy whose main job is gathering intelligence at any cost, and in some instances assassinating targets.  In this regard it really felt like what’s happening in our world now.  I was surprised that Saw Gerrera didn’t last longer in the story.  Speaking of which, I liked how they showed him inhaling that drug through his gas mask showing that the years of opposing the Empire had taken a toll on his soul and spirit causing him to have to self-medicate.

Amahl: Absolutely, Forrest Whitaker’s character Saw Gerrera was very interesting.  They could’ve done a flashback scene showing why he needed full prosthetic legs or the abdomen prosthetic.  That was a nod to the prosthetics Darth Vader needs to stay alive.   In the Star Wars universe, if you need prosthetics the audience is usually shown why the prosthetics are necessary.  Also, all prosthetics are not created equal.  Darth Vader’s robotic limbs look high end and state of the art.  Saw Gerrera’s robot limbs looked like they were bolted on from the Sanford & Son junk yard.

Anwar: That’s a good point.  When the scene opened up showing him years later and focusing on his legs, I thought we were about to see something like General Grievous.

Consistent with Episode III, there wasn’t a strong Jedi presence in this movie as most of them were killed off except for Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi who is alluded to by Bail Organa (Jimmy Smits) during the film.  It was also interesting that the movie took us to Mustafar and we got to see how Darth Vader’s organics are sustained.  It was kind of eerie to see.

Did you have any favorite characters?  I think my favorite characters were K-2SO and Director Krennic.

Amahl:  The cameos were great for those who caught them.  There were many including Bail Organa as you mentioned.  I didn’t have any favorite characters, but I also enjoyed the droid character, K-2SO.  This droid was wonderfully unpredictable and stole every scene he was in. You never knew what he was going to do or say.

Anwar:  What are your thoughts on the visual effects?  I was impressed by how they CGI’d Grand Moff Tarkin (Peter Cushing and Guy Henry), Princess Leia (Carrie Fischer and Ingvild Deila), and some of the other characters.  In the final battle of Scarif, I think they also CGI’d the Red- and Gold-Leaders who were actually in Episode IV: A New Hope during the Rebel assault on the Death Star.   I also thought it was cool that they showed us the two thugs that confront Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi at the Mos Eisley Space Port in Episode IV as well – Dr. Cornelius Evazan and Ponda Baba.

Amahl:  The overall visual effects of this installment were focused on size and scale.  The director and production artists showed just how large buildings or massive explosions look at the ground level, or points of view from ships and satellites.  The explosions seen from the Death Star’s point of view let the audience know just how destructive and unnecessary weapons of mass destruction truly are.

Anwar:  In terms of storytelling, I really like seeing conflicts between villains and enjoyed the rivalry between Krennic and Tarkin.  The writers also showed us that Darth Vader never seemed to fully buy into the power of the Death Star – something we are shown in Episode IV where he warns Tarkin and the others that, “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force,” just before he uses his force choke again as Admiral Motti who belittles Vader for his belief in his “Ancient religion”.  I love that scene.  Oh and Vader uses the choke again in this movie.

Amahl:    Yes exactly Anwar, from a story telling point of view,  characters like Jar Jar Binks would’ve had no place in Rogue One.  This story was too serious for the buffoonery of characters created for children.

Anwar:  What did you think about the ending?  Rogue One leaves off with Princess Leia receiving the plans.  I would have preferred to have the ending a little more open ended and left to the imagination such as Jyn and Cassian transmitting the plans and wondering if they were actually received by the Rebellion – something to that effect.  That’s just me as a writer.

Amahl:  For me the cameo by a digital Leia was too much.  It was kind of like eating a dessert that’s too sweet.   Instead of showing the face of the digital double, they could’ve used an actual human body double with the white hood draped over her face.  Or do an over the shoulder shot (an OTS shot), showing the classic Leia double bun hair style.

Anwar:  Agree.  Speaking of Carrie Fisher, I’d like to dedicate this review to her and her mother Debbie Reynolds who both passed away recently.  Carrie Fisher was an icon.  She was most known for her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars and was a fixture in many of our childhoods, but she played in a lot of other notable films as well, and she will be missed.

Okay bro I guess that wraps it up.  It’ll be interesting to see if Lucas Film generates any further backstories for us, or if all of the new productions will simply move us forward from Episode VII.  We should try to reconvene and review Hidden Figures – not a Super Hero or Sci-Fi film, but instead and historical piece involving the contributions of a group of black women to Astronomy which is an important story.  After that it’ll definitely be Spider-Man: Homecoming.  Based on the trailer, it looks like it’s going to be great.

What’s your twitter handle just in case other enthusiasts want to follow and interact with you?

Amahl:  It’s @amahldunbar.

Anwar:  My Twitter handle is @BWArePowerful .

Thank you for taking the time to read this review. If you enjoyed this review, you might also enjoy:
• A review of Marvel’s Black Panther
• A review of Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok
• A review of Marvel’s Spider Man: Homecoming
• A review of Marvel’s Dr. Strange
• A review of DC’s Justice League
• A review of Blade Runner 2049

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JetBlue discusses initial findings from book vending machine program part two

Earlier this year I was granted a second interview with JetBlue regarding its book vending machine program.    JetBlue piloted the program and an associated study in southeast Washington DC seeking to determine whether or not making books more readily available to neighborhoods like Anacostia would increase the reading skills of children living there.  The following interview with Icema Gibbs of JetBlue was previously unpublished as it was conducted and finalized just before the Examiner shut down its operations.  At the time of the interview, Jet Blue was embarking on the second year of the vending machine study (see part one) in addition to expanding it into other cities such as Detroit.

During the summer of 2015, JetBlue and Random House partnered together on a study as part of the airline’s “Soar with Reading” Campaign.  The study looked at whether or not increasing the availability of books to residents in “Book Deserts” could reverse the low reading levels and perceived lack of interest in reading typically associated with lower income neighborhoods.  On June 9, 2016, Jet Blue granted interviews to discuss the initial results from the Book Vending Machine study with Dr. Susan Neuman who has conducted extensive research on ‘Book Deserts’ across America, and Icema Gibbs, JetBlue’s Director of Corporate Responsibility.  In part one, Susan Neuman discussed the initial findings of the program.  In part two, Icema Gibbs also discusses the study findings in addition to Jet Blue’s plans to expand the Soar with Reading Program into Detroit, MI.

Anwar Dunbar:  Hello, Icema.  It’s really good to talk with you again.  I asked Susan a bunch of questions, but I have one main question for you.  Is it true that you all are expanding ‘Soar with Reading’ into other markets?

Icema Gibbs:  You know all things equal, I think it would be our objective to expand as much as we can, but we just don’t have the budget to make it a year round program or to expand it beyond one city at a time.  Right now, we are going back to Anacostia with the vending machine component; our most successful location.  As you discussed with Susan, this time we’re testing the outcomes of the children, and we’re going to do that at a “Counterfactual” site and at the church, and really do a deep dive into trying to figure how what we’re doing makes an impact on the education of the child; their vocabulary and so forth.  We’re not abandoning the city we were in initially, but we’re spreading the program this year based on customer and crew member feedback to a new city, Detroit, where they will have an abundance of vending machines.

We’ll be there starting in July.  At the end of June, we’re having the kick-off celebration in Detroit and we will be in five locations there.

AD:  I asked Susan about which books were in the vending machines in Anacostia, and she said that you all were very particular about putting books with African American characters in the machines in terms of content and on the covers.

IG:  That’s absolutely a goal.  We worked with Random House to help us with this initiative so we’re using their roster of books.  Yes, we did consciously try to put as many books with children of color on the covers because you might have a diverse group of characters in the book, but if you don’t see it on the cover you might not know that.  We thought it was important for the kids to be able to see everybody that looks like them on the cover of the books, even more so this year.

AD:  With these being Random House books, do you have some of the titles handy?  I know Jack and Annie from the Magic Treehouse aren’t African American (laughing).

IG:  Sure.  No they aren’t African American, but they were very recognizable pictures in the airports.  And it has really helped people become more aware of the program because kids had a chance to see Jack and Annie, characters they are very familiar with.

So I don’t know if you know how we operated the vending machines, but we changed them every two weeks.  The host has to be really on top of what’s going on and continue to rotate the books regularly.  There are also different age groups.  Examples of titles for age four to five included:

So we have quite a few diverse titles which reflect diverse characters.  Christopher Grant is one of our writers and he wrote ‘Taking Flight’.  We have quite a few books that will speak to all demographics.

AD:  And these are all published by Random House?

IG:  Yes.

AD:  Susan talked about there being a lot of blaming the parents regarding the child’s reading level.  Her interpretation of the data generated is that making the books available is a major component to a child’s learning to read in lower income areas.

IG:  The reason that we wanted to form an Education Advisory Board is because we fly planes really well, and in terms of customer service, we’re probably the best in the business.  We do great things with our customers and we treat our crew members really well.  We don’t profess to be educational experts however.  We know what we read in the papers, but we convened an advisory board with Susan, who is really leading that charge, because we needed to understand some of the myths and what to look for.  We knew that parents wanted good things for their children.  You kind of know that regardless of wherever you are.  We knew that given an opportunity people would enjoy having free books.

Now when we talk about Anacostia and the lessons learned, it’s clear to me that people didn’t believe the books were free.  We had to put out signs that said, ‘Free Books’, because families thought there was a catch to it.  Parents were interested in getting books for their children and they were interested in reading with their children.  They were very interested in helping their children create libraries.  Thus, some of the stereotypes that you may have heard or read were dispelled by our study.  We did not see a parent who said, “No, I don’t want to you to read, don’t take a book,” or, “Reading is not important.”

We heard the comments of people standing in line.  We saw the parents going into the grocery stores who might have been going in to get some milk and said, “We don’t have time on the way in, but let’s stop on the way out.”  There were just so many people interested in obtaining books and in that geographic area, there were no books for them to purchase.  So for us to have been able to give out the books that we did through the vending machines really said that people were interested.

AD:  Yes, that’s definitely an important myth to dispel.  Susan and I discussed this – you all are of the opinion that the store proprietors should take on a leadership role in terms of stocking more books, but are there also roles for our elected officials and government?

IG:  I don’t know that there is a message here for our lawmakers and elected officials.  More so, I think that we have to look at offering opportunities and I don’t know if that stands with the lawmakers.  So it goes back to, “I own a business.  I care about my community.  Can I see if I can get some discounted books to put in my store?”  How do you make that happen?  When we first started this program with the vending machines, you were talking to some of your peers and the pushback we got so adamantly from one young lady was that there are libraries and that this is not necessary because there are libraries.  We talked with her a little bit further and expressed that we love the libraries.  We’re not competing with the libraries, but at the end of the day you give the book back at a library and these are books to keep.  Children who have the books to keep have a tendency to read them over and over again and to read them to other people.

It helps children to continue to build their vocabulary and gives them a conversation point when they go to school, or over the summer when they see their friends, especially if they’ve picked up the same book.  We saw that in the church where the kids would say, “We love this book…,” and finishing the sentences and just hearing about a book they had already read.  We were pleased with all of those types of situations that happened during the course of our time in Anacostia.

We’re not saying that during this election year there needs to be books in every retail outlet, but we want community leaders to stand up and say, “We need books in our community.”  We want churches and educators to talk to proprietors and tell them that we need books and they need to be reasonably priced.  They can’t be so high priced that you can’t afford them.  Everyone has smart phones and smart devices, and that’s also a way to get books, but they’re also relatively expensive. So how do you get equal access for everybody?

We found that many people didn’t have equal access to books, but when they did they enjoyed reading them and would come to get them.  When we sent out text messages people were able to opt into our program and we would text them that we were putting in new books and having reading sessions.  They would come to our locations and participate with us.  The parents were engaged in the education of their children, and they were engaged in taking books that they were able to choose.  It wasn’t a handout.  The kids were especially excited about being able to pick a book that they wanted.  It was really interesting last year for us – there was nothing better than seeing the light on the faces of the children who were able to select books and build their own library.

AD:  Another piece to this which goes beyond the scope of what we’re talking about is who actually owns the stores in the neighborhoods we’re discussing.

IG:  To be clear though, a business can be anything.  I think we first think of larger outlets, but if you are a barbershop or a hair salon, you could have books there as well.  You probably already have magazines and you can also invest in books as well, especially if the books are inexpensive.  If you can sell sunglasses you can also sell books.  So you’re right about who might own the retail outlets, but in all of these communities we should have access to books.  One thing I took for granted is that in most communities if you go into $0.99 stores, you can buy books.  I thought all $0.99 stores were alike, but in some areas they sold books and others they didn’t.

IG:  I have the locations where we’ll be in Detroit.  Are you interested?

AD:  Yes.

IG:  We will be at the following locations: the Northwest Activities Center, the Samaritan Center, the Matrix Center, Patton Park, and Rosedale Park Baptist Church.

AD:  Okay, very good.  I’m sure they’ll be very happy to have you guys there.  Do you have any closing comments?

IG:  We’re very happy about ‘Soar with Reading’ this year and we hope you’ll be able to come out and see it.

AD:  Okay, well if you let me know in advance, I can put it on the calendar.

A special thank you is extended to JetBlue for allowing me to capture their important effort and study.  If you liked part one of this interview, please share it, and leave any thoughts and comments below.

 

 

 

JetBlue discusses initial findings from book vending machine program part one

Earlier this year I was granted a second interview with JetBlue regarding its book vending machine program.  JetBlue piloted the program and an associated study in southeast Washington DC seeking to determine whether or not making books more readily available to neighborhoods like Anacostia would increase the reading skills of children living there.  The following interview with Dr. Susan Neuman of the University of Michigan was previously unpublished as it was conducted and finalized just before the Examiner shut down its operations.  At the time of the interview, JetBlue was readying the second phase of the vending machine study in addition to expanding it into other cities such as Detroit.

During the summer of 2015, JetBlue and Random House embarked on a study as a part of the airline’s “Soar with Reading” campaign.  The study looked at whether or not increasing the availability of books to residents in “Book Deserts”, could reverse the low reading levels and perceived interest in reading typically associated with lower income neighborhoods.  On June 9, 2016, JetBlue granted interviews to discuss the initial results from its Book Vending Machine Study headed by collaborator, Dr. Susan Neuman, who has conducted extensive research on book deserts across America, and Icema Gibbs, JetBlue’s Director of Corporate Responsibility.  In the first interview Susan Neuman discusses the program’s initial findings.  In the second interview Icema Gibbs also discusses the study findings, in addition to Jet Blue’s plans to expand the Soar with Reading Program into Detroit, MI.

Anwar Dunbar:  Hello Susan.   The last time we spoke, you all had started the book vending machine program in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington, DC.  A year out from starting that program what have you found?

Susan Neuman:  So just to recap last year, we did put book vending machines in high traffic areas based on our previous work.  So we asked, ‘Where do people go and where might they hang out with one another?’  At the same time we picked what we call “Counterfactual” sites; sites where there were a lot of people who would walk back and forth, but just in different areas.  We put the book vending machines at: a Shop Rite, Saint Matthews Memorial Church, and then a Wellness Center/Salvation Army.  Our job as researchers was to do was to examine how these machines were used, how often they were used, and the effects on those who used them versus the people at the counterfactual sites which did not have the vending machines.

There was a tremendous outpouring of interest from people who saw these vending machines.  They know how to use them because vending machines are a part of our society, so it wasn’t hard to do.  We found that people really used them, and in eight weeks’ time, 27,000 books were downloaded, used and selected.  We also noted some very interesting conversations between the parents and their children, or maybe the grandparents and children including, “Which books did you choose?  Why did you choose this particular topic?”  We also overheard lots of other interesting discussions including, “Oh my gosh, this is so needed.  We needed this in our community.”  So the vending machines were really used towards the end of August when school was looming ahead.  We found that there were even waiting lists and waiting lines.  People would stand in long lines in order to get books.  So it was a tremendous success, in terms of participation.

At the same time we found that parents and caregivers recognized the titles of books more frequently, so they were able to identify children’s books.  And that’s really important, because when you go to a library it’s often hard to know which books to get.  They knew titles which are especially important for the counterfactual areas.  And they reported reading more to their children.  So, in short, those were the effects.  We saw no damage and no problem at all with the machines.  They were pristine at the end of the experiment and they showed how much the people cared about books.

AD:  That’s interesting.  Yes, a natural concern would be what would happen to the machines once they’re put into certain areas.  I want to ask you about the counterfactual sites, but first an obvious question would be which books did you all supply at the locations?  Were they the Magic Treehouse?  Harry Potter?  Chronicles of Narnia – something like that?

SN:  There were a wide variety of books that Random House collected and donated.  I’m sure some of them were overstocks.  But JetBlue really made an effort to make sure that there were multicultural titles – titles with lots of African American authors as well as main characters.  Many of these books had African American characters on the cover and that was really important because we wanted children to be able to identify with characters that could be important to them.  The other thing that we found was that it wasn’t just the very early education age groups who were interested.  That was the assumption that we had – that books would be picked out that were solely for babies and toddlers, but that wasn’t the case.  Even the teenagers would use the vending machines and they would download a sizable number of books.  So that was very heartening.

Regarding the counterfactual sites, we picked areas that we thought were high traffic – not terribly close because we didn’t want to see any type of bleeding, if you know what I mean.  One of the sites was a CVS Pharmacy.  One was close to the metro station.  Another, I believe, was a 7-Eleven.

AD:  Did you say bleeding?  What’s the context for that in this instance?

SN:  Well, what I mean by bleeding is that the same people could go to counterfactual sites and the vending machine sites and we didn’t want that to happen, especially in a place like Anacostia.  What you find is that people traffic around a particular area – they lived around Main Street, for example, and that was a key traffic area.  We tried to pick a place that wouldn’t be a key traffic area – somewhat removed so that we wouldn’t get responses from the same person in different areas.

AD:  So the significance of the counterfactual site is that it was your control site?  What’s the significance of that name?

SN:  It was.  It was like our control group.  We don’t call it a control group because control indicates more control.  We basically call it counterfactual – similar to a neighborhood, but did not have vending machines there.

AD:  And so did you all test a certain number of weeks or did this go on throughout the school year as well?

SN:  Just the summer.  We were interested and concerned about the “Summer Slide”.  You’ve probably heard about that, but generally kids who live in poor areas – their scores go precipitously down because there’s just a lack of resources.  What we had noted in our previous year was that Anacostia is a little bit like a book desert – there aren’t resources for children when libraries are closed.  Interestingly we found that this particular population did not use the library a lot.  We suspected that was because libraries have fines and that patrons are worried about paying those fines.  That was another real benefit of providing books and giving them a great deal of choice.  The book titles would change every two weeks so we got lots of repeaters.  A lot of people who would come back and use the vending machines over time.

AD:  So you said that you had a questionnaire.  Was it designed to gauge how the experience was or were you looking to measure something?

SN:  We were looking to measure a couple of things.  Number one was: who they were, their reading habits, and how many books they had in their home.  By in large the population is very predictable.  They don’t have very many books in their home – less than 25 books typically.  It’s a small number and so our questionnaire was basically interested in finding out more about them.  They wanted to read and they just did not have books.  There was a separate questionnaire that was designed to determine whether or not they recognized book titles.  Recognizing book titles is an indicator that they are paying attention more to children’s books and children’s literature.  And that is likely to enable them to select a book for their kids.

AD:  So what’s the conclusion for this work thus far?

SN:  I think the conclusion is that if you put books in they will come.  We want to convince proprietors that if they begin to stock books, people will buy them.  We can’t make that presumption because we gave books to them in this instance, but our preliminary findings indicate to us that people really do care about reading, and it debunks the notion that parents don’t care about this for their child, and they don’t want to read to their children.

What we’re arguing is that there are structural inequalities in certain areas and neighborhoods preventing parents from doing what they really want to do, which is to help their child, and I think that’s a very important message.  There’s a lot of blaming of parents that, “They don’t do this, they don’t do that.  They don’t talk to their children.”  All of this very deficit language and we’re trying to convince people that it’s not true.  How can you read a book to child if you don’t have one?  So what we’re saying is that if they have books, they will read them.  That should provide proprietors with an indication that maybe they should stock some books for a change and see if parents will buy them.  I predict that they will because they care deeply about their children and they want their children to succeed.

It was very interesting, Anwar, just an anecdote.  We did a lot of interviewing and we asked parents, “What would you like to see if we were to do this again?  What would you like to see more of?”  They said, “We’d like to see more workbooks in these vending machines.”  I thought that was fascinating because many of us say, ‘Well, workbooks aren’t terribly great for children,’ but it shows us how much parents care.  They want workbooks because they want their child to be ready for school.  And if you can highlight that, I would really appreciate that because there’s a lot of blame going on which I think is very detrimental to these families and it’s unfair.

The other thing is that this year we’re now looking at child outcomes.  We are now going to be back in Anacostia in the coming year and we’re doing a study to compare children’s vocabulary over the summer to see whether we can stall the summer slide.  If they have books will their vocabularies at least stay stable or will it grow over the summer when it generally goes down?  That’s what we’re specifically looking at this year.

AD:  In this last set you asked them how using the machines went, but you didn’t do any scoring in terms of rating their reading level or their ability to spell.  Is that correct?

SN: No, we didn’t do that last year.  Last year we focused on the parent.  This year we really want to focus on the child.  It’s a three step process.  First we documented that there’s a Book Desert.  We then said, ‘Okay if you change that Book Desert what happens?’  We found that parents will use the book vending machines and get books for their children.  This year we want to see what the impact will be on child outcomes.

AD:  I have two more questions.  It sounds as though you think the proprietor is the person to court here in terms of reversing this trend.  Should government elected officials have a role in this in terms of allocating more money for this type of effort?

SN:  Yes, of course we do think that.  You know there’s a new opportunity to learn language in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) law.  I hope that Icema will begin to do this, but we would like to see that opportunity to learn focus on having access to books.  There’s all of this talk about digital access and stuff like that, but the good old book is how children begin to read.  So yes, we’re hoping to affect the opportunity to learn language with the new ESSA law.  And yes, we are trying to convince proprietors to step up because JetBlue can’t do this forever.  Proprietors have got to begin to stock books and recognize that people will buy them.

AD:  My last question is – are you all going to publish your initial findings in an academic journal in multiple parts, or are you going to wait and publish everything together?

SN:  Yes, we have one article coming out already in Urban Education, which is about the Book Desert.  We’ve submitted this year’s project to a journal and we’re waiting to hear back from the periodical.  We will definitely be putting the third phase into a journal when it’s done.  That’s what Academic’s do (laughing).

AD:  Okay, well there will definitely be people who will want to read about this work, track the timeline, etc.

SN:  Well, you always have good questions.

AD:  Thank you, Susan, and I definitely appreciate being able to help you all get the word out about this important effort.

SN:  Thank you, Anwar.

In part two of my interview with JetBlue, Icema Gibbs discusses the expansion of the book vending machine program into other markets in addition to what local proprietors can do to make books more readily available to their patrons.  If you liked part one of this interview, please share it, and leave any thoughts and comments below.

An astronomer looks for the Christmas Star 2016

hypatia-of-alexandria_121216From the Dec. 9-11, the Friends of the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium hosted their final weekend of 2016 titled, “Science and the Christmas Star.” Each day of the weekend there were showings of the show titled: An Astronomer Looks for the Christmas Star.  The program was created in house by the Friends, and focuses on the phenomenon of the Christmas Star which according to biblical texts led the three Wise Men to the baby Jesus Christ in the manger.

Friday Dec. 9 was member appreciation night where all members were admitted for free.  There were standard showings of the program on Dec. 10 and 11.  Following each showing, Friends’ board of director, astronomer Jennifer Bartlett, Ph.D. portrayed Hypatia of Alexandria.  Her portrayal featured of a monologue where she argued for an alternative explanation for the Christmas Star.  Following Michael Molnar’s, The Star of Bethlehem, she argued that the “star” was a powerful horoscope including the lunar occultation of Jupiter in Ares at dawn on April 17, 6 BC.

“The mystery of the Christmas Star has been a mainstay of Planetariums for years during the Christmas Season,” said Friend of the Arlington Planetarium, co-creator and co-narrator of the program, Dr. Alice Monet.  The program itself discussed the potential explanations for the Christmas Star; a planetary conjunction, a comet, a supernova, or what is more believed in nonscientific circles, a Miracle.

The Friends will host special events at the David M. Brown Arlington Planetarium one weekend every month until the end of the school year. Each weekend will be geared towards increasing STEM education/awareness for all ages and will feature a specific theme.  For more information, visit the Friends’ website.  The theme of January’s weekend will be: Citizen Science & Astronomy.

The 2016 Michigan-Ohio State game, the Big Ten officials and the College Football Playoff

This post was originally going to strictly be my reaction to the 2016 Michigan-Ohio State game, but I missed the emotional wave in the aftermath of it in terms of the news cycle. I’ve thus decided to craft a piece just touching upon the results of that game and also giving some reaction to the four teams selected for the 2017 College Football Playoff (CFP).  Oh what a ride it’s been.  By the way if you don’t have loyalty to a school or aren’t privy to the world of College Football as one of my buddies who watched the game with us wasn’t, this may all may make little sense to you.  I am admittedly a proud University of Michigan alumnus, so if the tone of this piece sounds biased, it probably is.

I’ll start with the 113th football game between the University of Michigan Wolverines and the Ohio State University Buckeyes on Nov. 26, 2016.  First off, the only good news about my Wolverines’ 30-27 loss was that our program is officially back and was in position to win that game unlike the majority of the games in the last 10 years.  The bad news is that we of course lost the game.  It was a great game which went down to the wire.  The hard part for the Michigan faithful was how the game was lost.

As a scientist, I’m a pragmatist first and foremost and I thus like to deal with the facts and try to minimize emotion which – very difficult to do in something like this. Though I was disappointed with the outcome game, most of my Tweets centered around what our team did that contributed to the loss.  The three turnovers involving our quarterback Wilton Speight definitely helped Ohio State and its paltry passing attack remain in striking distance.  That said without Speight in that game playing with a broken collarbone, our offense probably would’ve struggled as it did the previous week in our 20-10 victory over Indiana.

One of those turnovers, a pick 6 was due to a blown blocking assignment by our offensive line. Up 10-7 later in the first half, the second turnover was a miscommunication between Speight and our Center on Ohio State’s goal line which probably would’ve given us another 7 points and a firmer grasp on the game.  The third turnover was clearly a throw Speight thought he could make and was picked off.  This is not all to pile on Wilton because I am a fan of his and I think he’s going to have a great senior season for us assuming he stays healthy.

Now the other issue with our offense which has been there all season, was our inability to get first downs and kill the clock at the end of big games. From my vantage point, our running game this year was efficient, but not explosive, and we weren’t able to move the chains with our ground game in many key situations.  I Tweeted about this after the game too.  This is what led up to the punt debacle in the 2015 Michigan State game, in addition to this year’s 14-13 loss at Iowa.  It also reared its ugly head against the Buckeyes.  Championship teams have to be able to close out their opponents, and I’m hoping this is something Coach Jim Harbaugh will drive home with his future rosters.

As I watched the game at Buffalo Wild Wings in the suburbs of Buffalo, NY I pondered that when both Michigan and Ohio State are competitive, these roller coaster ride-type games tend to happen. In addition to our turnovers, Ohio State’s kicker missed two field goals and the Buckeyes also went for a fake punt of which they didn’t get the first down.  It was odd as Coach Urban Meyer didn’t seem to know that it was going to be called.  At least he acted that way on the sidelines.

Despite our turnovers, our defense came to play and sacked Ohio State’s elusive quarterback J.T. Barrett quite a few times much to my surprise (because of his mobility). For the most part the Buckeyes weren’t hurting us through the air, but with occasional gashes via their ground game.  Early on with the way we were moving the ball, the way our defense was playing, and the way their offense was playing, it looked as though we would take and maintain a firm control of the game.

20161209_123308Enter the Big Ten officiating crew assigned to the game. This is where people who read this are going to diverge in terms of their opinions.  Legendary University of Miami and Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson said it best in ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary The U when reflecting on a Hurricanes’ trip to play Notre Dame in South Bend.  That game ended with a call by the referees ruling a University of Miami wide receiver’s touchdown a fumble though he was clearly down.  Jimmy Johnson stated, “I tried to tell the guys that you can’t leave a game like that in the hands of the officials on the road against Notre Dame.”  Unfortunately, that’s exactly what Michigan did.

That being said, even when on the road should officials be expected to be as impartial and objective as possible? In my mind the answer is yes, but many of calls in that second half suggested otherwise.  The facemask penalty on one of our offensive lineman where we would have made the first down was tough, and I’ve rarely seen that call made on an offensive lineman.  Many of the pass interference calls on Michigan’s defensive backs were very suspicious as well, especially since Ohio State’s players were clearly doing the same thing.  Those calls clearly bailed out Ohio State’s less than proficient passing game that day steadily advancing them up the field and building their momentum.  The penalty on Coach Harbaugh was odd too.  Did he get emotional?  Yes absolutely.  Is it something other Coaches have done before?  Yes absolutely.

Michigan was able to put a lot of pressure on J.T. Barrett that day who in some instances tried to stay in the pocket and find receivers down field. In some instances, he was able to run away, but many wondered after the game if several holding calls were missed by the officials.  And then finally there was J.T. Barrett’s fourth down conversion which was clearly in the hands of the officials in terms of where to properly spot the ball – always a judgement call especially if their isn’t conclusive video evidence to overturn it.

The fan base you were a part of dictated whether you thought J.T Barrett made it or not. By eye, and from the camera angle we were watching on TV, it looked as though his feet crossed the marker but the ball didn’t.  When the play went under review by the officials, a part of me held out hope that Ohio State wouldn’t get that first down, but I suspected that the call would stand which is exactly what happened.  My personal opinion was that those officials weren’t going to reverse that call in that stadium whether it was the right or the wrong call if for no other reason than for fear for their lives.  That first down of course set up Curtis Samuel’s game winning touchdown scamper into the end zone in the second OT period.

Aside from a Buckeye fan named Tom who was watching the game with a group of Ohio State fans and who was a gracious winner, the Buckeye fans were smug and obnoxious, and defended that fourth down call (and all of the officiating) with tremendous conviction and sarcasm. Shortly after the game it leaked out that the officials who worked the game had Ohio State roots and were basically biased.  One official was previously fired by the Big Ten.  The thought that something like this could happen was infuriating, and if it’s true, the Big Ten conference and President Jim Delaney should draft some new rules to ensure that this type of thing never happens again.  The ultimate losers from this type of ineptitude were the student athletes.

Based upon the imbalance and nature of the penalties called, it would’ve made sense that there was a bias inherent in the officiating crew. It was some of those calls which made Coach Harbaugh irate.  He was particularly fired up in the postgame press conference which I would’ve been too if I genuinely felt like my team got cheated, and if an official said that he, “Would’ve penalized the Coach if it were a basketball game.”  Weeks later even after being fined, Coach Harbaugh was steadfast in his position which I applaud him for especially if his kids were legitimately cheated.  If the loss was crushing for us fans, it must’ve been exponentially worse for the players some of whom hadn’t beaten Ohio State their entire time at Michigan.

* * *

20161209_123241The loss left the Wolverines and the fan base in that nebulous space of needing other teams to lose to make it into the playoff – namely Clemson or Washington. It was the same position we were in at the end of the 2006 Michigan-Ohio State game – the 103rd meeting which featured players including: Chad Henne, Michael Hart, Troy Smith and Ted Ginn, Jr.  The teams were ranked numbers one and two in the nation in that game.  After the Buckeyes took an early two touchdown lead by going with a spread offense they hadn’t used all year, we battled back, but the game was ultimately decided by a terrible helmet to helmet personal foul on our then linebacker Shawn Crable who hit Troy Smith as he went out of bounds late in the game giving Ohio State an automatic first down.  That was in Bowl Championship Series (BCS) era and ironically it was Coach Urban Meyer who aggressively lobbied for his Florida Gators get into that National Championship game against Jim Tressel’s Ohio State Buckeyes, who they eventually blew out 41-14 – something that was fun to watch as a Michigan fan.

By the way in recent times Ohio State always seems to get a lucky bounce here and there. In the 2002 season where they went undefeated, several things fell their way.  They didn’t have to play Iowa that year who also went undefeated until they themselves were defeated in the Orange Bowl by Pete Carroll’s USC Trojans.  Michigan had to play both Iowa and Ohio State that year.  In our match up with the Buckeyes in Columbus that year, wide receiver Braylon Edwards’s would be touchdown reception was nullified due to an offensive pass interference call against Chris Gamble.  That play was our best chance to score a touchdown in that game which the Buckeyes went on to win 14-9.  And then there was the National Championship game against Miami in the Fiesta Bowl which turned on a controversial pass interference call in overtime which gave Ohio State new life and helped them towards their victory 31-24 victory.  Does this all sound familiar?

The debating and haggling over who is deserving of postseason play is actually quite amusing to listen to when it’s not your team. For the 2004 BCS Championship game for example, the BCS had to pick two teams for from three potential undefeated schools; USC, Oklahoma, and Auburn.  I specifically remember Auburn’s then Coach Tommy Tuberville agonizing and pleading for his team to be selected, and then lamenting about it afterwards when his Tigers were left out of the Nokia Sugar Bowl.  That’s just one example and it continued to happen year after year from disappointed coaches and fans almost like a ritual.  What’s also funny is it took another 10 for a playoff to be created.  Again it’s funny when it’s someone else’s school but when it’s yours its quite nauseating and can be angering as well.

I thought that our best chance of getting in the playoff was Washington and not Clemson losing their championship game. The winner of the Big Ten Championship game between Wisconsin and Penn State seemed to be inconsequential to the whole thing, especially since Ohio State was said to be a lock.  Penn State had beaten them in conference play and they wouldn’t be the conference champion under any circumstance and still make it into the playoff – something that felt very unsettling.  That said, that week leading up to Selection Sunday the committee actually divulged that the margin of separation between Michigan and Washington was very, very slim giving us all some hope.

20161207_190251It wasn’t meant to be though. Probably after hearing all of the talk about their weak non-conference schedule, Washington came out and played inspired in the Pac-12 Championship game against Colorado.  The Huskies got some luck too as Colorado’s starting quarterback Sefo Liufau hurt his leg when getting sacked in the first quarter and missed the rest of the first half.  He was just getting hot when he was injured too as he gashed the Huskies for a long quarterback scramble.  When he re-entered the game he clearly wasn’t the same player as he threw several costly interceptions.   Washington went on to win 41-10 making it difficult for the committee to not seed them in the playoff.

The next night everyone’s eyes turned the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game between Clemson and Virginia Tech. Led by Deshaun Watson, Clemson controlled the game for the most part but was challenged late by Virginia Tech though they held on to win 42-35 locking up their spot in the playoff along with Alabama and Ohio State.  With both Clemson and Washington winning, the chances of Michigan getting in now looked even more slim.

Adding insult to injury, Penn State rallied as their offense exploded propelling them to a 38-31 victory over Wisconsin. In the aftermath of that game, the commentators on all of the networks, most notably ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit were now speculating that Penn State should get into the playoff over Washington and Michigan, which made me sick to my stomach.  That CFP committee clearly had a more difficult job now.  The camera took a panoramic shot of the committee that night who all seemed to look on with great focus and potentially dread about which teams to leave out.  I’d forgotten that former Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice was on the committee but she was there nonetheless looking on.

20161207_190123That next morning I woke up with no expectations and expecting my Wolverines not to be selected. When the announcement was made starting at noon, the teams were steadily announced on my Twitter feed.  Alabama was seeded number one followed by Clemson at number two.  Ohio State was seeded at number three while Washington was seeded at number four.  The two matchups would thus be Washington vs. Alabama and Ohio State vs. Clemson.  Michigan remained at number five in the CFP rankings and was selected to play number twelve Florida State in the Orange Bowl.

None of the commentators discussed the poor officiating in the Michigan-Ohio State game as though the Buckeyes won it cleanly and without controversy. Maybe that was a media thing to save face for everyone and present the appearance of fair play across the board.  Only Skip Bayless kept championing Michigan’s cause.  Jason Whitlock also spoke up about what happened in Columbus.  Still feeling some residual contempt about what happened after the announcement of the teams, I tweeted about the officiating in Columbus and was confronted by another Tweeter named Ron.  He was probably an Ohio State fan because he rebuffed me and talked about how the officiating in the game was fair and how Michigan should’ve just, “Played through it.”  He also got off a jab at our coach calling Jim Harbaugh, “Cry-baugh.”  I wished him luck with his team and discontinued the back and forth as it wasn’t going to lead anywhere.

* * *

In terms of the playoff itself, ESPN’s Todd McShay said it best when he said, “This is more of an invitational than a true playoff.” By that he meant that in a true playoff, participation is judged simply by record and not voting, and not a weight of evidence approach by a committee – one of the paradoxical hallmarks of big time college football.  For those unfamiliar with the history of Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) college football, the current playoff (only two years old) was preceded by the afore mentioned BCS where only the top two ranked teams could compete for the championship.  Before that it was strictly polls where the coaches and media voted on the national champion which was absurd.

Eventually an eight team playoff should be created. Everyone is already clamoring for it.  Under that format, the Power 5 Conference champions would theoretically get automatic bids, and three “At Large” teams would be seeded similar to the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments.  Under such a scenario my Wolverines would’ve made it in this year.  However, as ESPN’s Mark May stated, “In an eight-team playoff, the number nine and ten teams would feel left out, so there’s always someone who is going to be left out and unhappy.”  If Michigan were not in the top eight, I think I could live with that though.

Until then we have a four team playoff and this year that consists of Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State and Washington. A lot of Big Ten fans root for the conference when getting into postseason play.  I’m torn between rooting for Ohio State this year because of the way that they got in and that they didn’t win the Big Ten championship.  I am hoping that they carry that paltry passing game into their matchup with Clemson in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31 and get destroyed, though I predict it may be a shootout.

The last time however the Buckeyes made it into the playoff, they shocked everyone and defeated Alabama to win the 2015 the National Championship. In the Chik-fil-a Peach Bowl, I’m hoping that Alabama crushes Washington (similar Michigan State last year) to corroborate the Huskies’ weak strength of schedule.  That’s all wishful thinking though, and we’ll have to see how it all plays out ultimately.

Mostly though I’m hoping the Wolverines end the season with a victory and make short work of the Florida State Seminoles in the Orange Bowl on Dec. 30. If that happens and some of the teams in the playoff lose, we’ll leap over them in the final rankings.  In addition to playing in the Orange Bowl, it would also be a small consolation prize I guess.

In the after math of our loss to that team from Ohio, and the seeding of the playoff, I pondered that this is only year two for the Jim Harbaugh regime in Ann Arbor. While it’s disappointing that with the talent we had this this year that we didn’t make the CFP, it’s also important to keep in mind that neither Nick Saban or Urban Meyer won National Championships in their first two years at Alabama or that school in Ohio.  A solid College Football program takes time to build in terms of recruiting players, developing them, and getting them the game experience.  I predict that will happen for the Michigan Football program.  Fair and objective officiating ensuring a level playing field will help out as well.

While I wasn’t happy about what happened in the Columbus last month, this post was meant to be partially humorous. When watching these games, I have to remind myself that it’s entertainment and the student-athletes are 18 to 22-year-old young adults who are still developing, going classes and trying to figure out life.  I try to remind my friend Alim Gaines about his whenever Michigan loses.

These student-athletes are also unsalaried amateurs which is something we debated at Buffalo Wild Wings during the game with our friend Hestin Brown. Alim’s brother Raheem was there watching the game as was my brother Amahl who was sporting his “Michigan Brother” t-shirt.  Alim was steadfastly rooting for Michigan while Raheem whom I sometimes refer to as “Urban” Gaines was rooting for Ohio State.  Hestin was new to the College Football world but decided to root for Ohio State who he perceived as the underdog.  He also tormented me and Alim as he continually speculated about Jim Harbaugh leaving Michigan to coach his former quarterback at Stanford Andrew Luck – now with the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts.

Most importantly there are more serious events taking place in our world. The Monday after the game, there was actually a small Terrorist attack on Ohio State’s campus which was probably partially overshadowed by the CFP happenings.  My condolences go out to the families who were affected in that incident, and while we get upset that our favorite college teams don’t do this or do that, it’s important for all of us to keep perspective.  Happy Holidays and GO BLUE!!!!

Thank you for taking the time out to read this blog post.  If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and or leave a comment.  To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right hand column in this post and throughout the site.  Lastly follow me on Twitter at @BWArePowerful.  While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/sites I endorse which can be found on that particular page of my site.

A review of Marvel’s Dr. Strange

As described in my bio for the Big Words Blog Site, both my brother, Amahl Dunbar, and I are “Fanboys” and have a love of science fiction and superhero feature films such as those produced by DC and Marvel.  In addition to having an abundance of books in our home at an early age, we both developed a love for comic books.  These books were important tools for both of us continuing to learn how to read, speak, and even to think, imagine, and ponder subjects like science.  While I ventured away from this love in high school when basketball became my love, and then later salsa dancing, Amahl never strayed from it.  He even started exploring the worlds of animation and visual effects, and eventually contributed to the production of the film The Space Detective produced by the Swamp Media Group.

His sticking with it actually allowed me to come back to the comic book/science fiction world in my early 30s when he turned me on to DC’s classic graphic novel, Kingdom Come, written by Mark Waid; featuring the brilliant illustrations of Alex Ross.  I loved that book and had never seen anything like it.  Amahl also shared DC’s The Watchmen with me prior to the movie adaptation.  I also have a copy of the Dark Knight Returns which I’ve yet to read because of my busy schedule.

Over the years we’ve developed a ritual of watching these movies, sometimes independently and sometimes together, and then convening afterwards to discuss what we saw and thought of that particular film.  Our debriefing sessions are either in person or on the phone, but we have them nonetheless.  We’ve thus decided to try our hands at conducting our very first movie review for publication.  The movie is Marvel’s Dr. Strange starring Benedict Cumberbatch.  The following is our candid review, thoughts and reflections on Marvel’s latest film.

Anwar: Well Bro, I’ll start this off and we’ll just see where it goes.  As you know, when we were younger, I was more of a DC guy and was heavily into Batman and the Justice League International.  G (our best friend Gabriel Smith), was more of a Marvel guy.  In fact, I remember him always going on and on about Captain America.  You were kind of a jack of all trades with knowledge of both the DC and Marvel universes, and amazingly, you sat in the middle with knowledge of both.  I’m saying this to say that aside from Spiderman, who was heavily featured in numerous TV cartoon series throughout our youth, and even The Electric Company back in the 70s and early 80s (snippets with real life actors), much of what I know about Marvel and its characters today, I’ve learned through their movies.  And I love The Avengers films.  I would say Robert Downey, Jr., as Tony Stark/Iron Man, is my favorite character.  Indeed, their entire cast of actors and characters is stellar.

I’d heard of Dr. Strange and seen images of him, but I didn’t really know what to expect when I walked into the theatre other than the fact that there would probably be an Easter Egg at the end of the movie – a hallmark of the Marvel movies, in addition to cameos by Stan Lee.  We both saw the movie, but can you give an overview of the story?  To any readers, if you haven’t seen it yet, you might want to stop reading here.  This might spoil it for you.

Amahl:  Sure.  Marvel’s latest film offering is Doctor Strange, a blend of Jedi-style sorcery, with world shifting special effects. Benedict Cumberbatch leads an ensemble cast as Dr. Stephen Strange, an elite trauma surgeon who becomes a magic wielding superhero.  The film has the typical hero’s journey similar to The Matrix or Harry Potter.  Cumberbatch is smart not to play Dr. Strange in the same way that Robert Downey, Jr. plays Tony Stark.  The mature cast seemed specifically chosen for their ages and educated appearances.

Dr. Strange’s photographic memory and speed reading ability allow him to move through his sorcerer training at an accelerated rate.  If you’ve ever met someone who can speed read or has a photographic memory, you realize how special they are because they can operate at almost a computer-like level.  These two attributes allow Dr. Strange to quickly become a powerful sorcerer.

The role of the mystic teacher is brilliantly played by Tilda Swinton, as The Ancient One.  She steals every scene she’s in with clever philosophy, comedy, and good hearted unpredictability – the unpredictability that’s required to keep adult students, like Strange, interested in learning.  Swinton’s Ancient One is as good a science fiction mentor as Morpheus, Yoda, or Obi Wan Kenobi in the Matrix and Star Wars franchises.  She takes her mentorship one step further than other mentors by telling Strange and the audience exactly what he needs to do to be great versus good.

Anwar:  Interesting.  What stood out to you about the film?  For me much of the imagery and special effects reminded me of Inception, starring Leo DiCaprio – with the moving and shifting scenery and landscapes.  The costumes and the whole sorcery piece reminded me of the movie The Last Airbender.  I also recognized some of the characters from Spiderman: The Animated Series from the late 1990s such as Mordo, portrayed by Chiwetel Ejiofor and Dormammu, voiced by Jonathan Adams, the ultimate antagonist of the film.  I really liked the travel through the dimensions, and seeing Dormammu initially was definitely pretty scary with the two ominous eyes in space-time looking on.

Amahl:  I think you hit several of the main points.  What stood out to me is how these sorcerers were presented, and knowing that Dr. Strange would eventually join the Avengers or help them.  Again, these sorcerers were portrayed kind of like the Jedi.  Dr. Strange was likened to Obi-Wan Kenobi without a light saber.  Their manner of dress had an Asian nod to it.  They were not just sorcerers, but also martial artists as well.  Typically when you see Dr. Strange, he’s always wearing his red cloak.  Seeing him without the cloak, underneath it looks like a Jedi-like costume.  So there was a lot of thought given to what they were going to wear and how they were going to be perceived – not as Harry Potter-type sorcerers or like witches and wizards from other franchises, but a very specific kind of a warrior-sorcerer look.

Anwar:  I had to get used to seeing Benedict Cumberbatch as a hero because I’m used to seeing him play a villain, such as when he played Kahn in Star Trek: Into Darkness, or playing some kind of high-ranking government operative/spy/politician.  It was similar to when I first saw Robert Downey, Jr. portray Tony Stark/Iron Man.  It was like, ‘Wow.  Robert Downey, Jr. is a hero.’  I was used to seeing him play so many other things – especially in the 1980s in comedic teen movies like Weird Science, and then later as a villain in US Marshals.

Amahl:  Absolutely.

Anwar:  I also had to adjust to watching Cumberbatch exhibit humor.  In every Marvel movie there’s usually huge element of humor in their scripts, though I wasn’t used to seeing Dr. Strange being absent minded at times, and trying to be funny and witty.  I won’t give it away, but his solution to stopping Dormammu was definitely creative, and funny.

Not long ago, we also talked about the fact that in the comic books, Dr. Strange has more of a Latino or Asian look.  Is that correct?

Amahl:  Some friends of mine who know more about the Marvel Universe than I do, told me months ago that the character is supposed to be Latino, which gives a whole new perspective to viewing the film – knowing that the character in the comic book is Latino versus the character in the movie being European or British.  That’s not to say that the movie wasn’t good – it would’ve just given the movie a completely different spin – seeing that character played by Michael Peña who was actually in Antman or Philip De Blanc – any good looking Latino actor – it would’ve given a completely different vibe to the movie.

Anwar:  As I was watching the film, I noticed that The Ancient One told Dr. Strange that The Avengers were the guardians of the non-mystical world and they themselves were the guardians of the mystical world, and I was in fact wondering if this particular story would fold into the upcoming Infinity War.  As per usual Marvel gave a nice Easter Egg during the credits and it turns out that it is going to be a part of the larger story that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is constructing – they’re all going to come together at some point and they’re all going to fight Thanos, I would imagine.

Amahl:  There’s also a shot of the Avengers’ Mansion at the beginning of the movie.  I think the movie opens with Dr. Strange in surgery where he practices medicine.  In the following scene when they show him getting ready to go to the party, there’s a push-in shot in the city and you see the Avengers’ Mansion in the mid-ground.  It’s not in the foreground, nor in the background.  It’s in the mid-ground and it’s large enough for you to see it.  And that push- in shot goes into Strange’s apartment and it shows that he actually lives close to the Avengers’ Mansion.

Anwar:  As per usual with these little details, I completely missed that.  Okay Bro, I think that wraps up this review.  You have a lot of experience working with visual effects, and you’re currently working on your own Superhero trailer right?  How long have you been doing that?

Amahl:  Well, I have been working on a Justice League trailer probably for about two years in my spare time.  Most of it has been during mornings and early afternoons before I go to work while I’m either eating breakfast or lunch.  During those times I figure that the 10-15 minutes that I’m actually eating is time that I can do this; it’s the best time for me to work on it.   It involves ripping footage from DVDs, organizing the footage, and editing it down to shots.  I’ve had to figure out which shots from these movies to use – the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, the Michael Keaton Batman movies, some of the latest Christian Bale Dark Knight movies, and finally Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman television series.

I’ve taken shots from each of these movies and shows, and I’m going to try to tell a narrative through a trailer.  The trailer could also be viewed as a “Visual Treatment”.  A “Treatment” in Hollywood is basically a description by paragraph of what a movie or TV show would actually be.  You can view this trailer as a treatment – of what my ideas would be for a Justice League movie.  I’ve included some of my own visual effects, and there is also some 3-D animation so that every shot that you see isn’t directly pulled from a movie.  Some of the shots have actually been edited or enhanced to further tell the narrative that I’m going for.

Anwar:  When it’s completed it will be on your YouTube channel?

Amahl:  Absolutely.

Anwar:  And will people be able to access that through you Twitter page?

Amahl:  Yes, the links will be available in places where people can easily see them.  I’m actually looking forward to connecting with some Comic Book stores here in the Buffalo area and saying, ‘I’m a local artist and I think you would find this very interesting.  Here is the link.  If you like it, share it with your customer base.’

Anwar:  Making trailers is actually a pretty big deal on YouTube.  There are people making trailers and videos about their favorite franchises just for the hell of it, and sometimes leading up to the release of the next movie.  A lot of fan trailers were made leading up to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, for example, and that’s very impressive.

Amahl:  Absolutely.  If fans have their own episodes or even make their own movies, this is a new way for them to show their appreciation for the franchises.  It’s not just, ‘I’ll buy a movie or I’ll buy a t-shirt or I’ll buy a DVD collection of the show,’ but fans can show their appreciation of the franchise by making their own short videos.

Anwar:  Well Bro, I guess that wraps it up.  Hopefully, there are some readers who enjoyed this.  Star Wars: Rogue One is actually coming out in a couple of weeks.  We’ll have to reconvene and talk about that one after we see it as well.  What’s your twitter handle just in case other enthusiasts want to follow and interact with you?

Amahl:  It’s @amahldunbar.

Anwar:  I also have a personal twitter handle, but I’m trying to grow a following for Big Words so I’m going to offer up @BWArePowerful.  If you’ve read this review and like it, please do leave comments and I’ll respond.  It could be something as simple as saying that you enjoyed our discussion.  Thank you and we’re signing off.

Thank you for taking the time read our review.  You may also enjoy:

• A review of Marvel’s Black Panther
• A review of Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok
• A review of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming
• A review of Marvel’s Dr. Strange
• A review of Hidden Figures
• A review of All Eyez on Me

If you’ve found value here and think it would benefit others, please share it and/or leave a comment. To receive all of the most up to date content from the Big Words Blog Site, subscribe using the subscription box in the right-hand column in this post and throughout the site or add the link to my RSS feed to your feedreader. Please visit my YouTube channel entitled, Big Discussions76. You can follow me on the Big Words Blog Site Facebook page, and Twitter at @BWArePowerful. Lastly, you can follow me on Instagram at @anwaryusef76. While my main areas of focus are Education, STEM and Financial Literacy, there are other blogs/sites I endorse which can be found on that particular page of my site.

Swamp Media Group discusses release of Space Detective film part two

This article is part two of my interview with the Swamp Media Group regarding the upcoming release of its new independent film, Space Detective.  In part one, founders Antonio “Tony” Llapur and Matt Sjafiroeddin discussed how they started the Swamp Media Group, their backgrounds and love for Science Fiction (Sci-Fi), and finally, their full length production, Space Detective.  In part two, Antonio and Matt continue their discussion of Space Detective, in addition to lessons learned, and future creative aspirations.

Anwar Dunbar:  So Matt, you said Space Detective is a Noir story?

Matt Sjafiroeddin:  Yes, it’s very Noir, a very classic conventional Noir.

Antonio Llapur: Film Noir was a movement in cinema in the 1940s and 50s to make dark films.  The themes are usually dark and involve a femme fatale – a lady who is going to screw over, or do harm to, or mess up the life of the protagonist which is usually a cop, district attorney or detective.  So Space Detective literally took all of the elements and added outer space and aliens – it’s pretty much a Humphrey Bogart movie from the 1940s – like The Maltese Falcon or The Big Sleep, a Sam Spade or a Phillip Marlow movie; along those lines.

14291715_10154466227454603_5502618745684795128_nWe added this crazy element of it being in the future, essentially in a galactic community.  So rather than our story taking place in some hard-boiled American city, it takes place on this space station called ‘Carina Dawn’ which is floating out in the middle of nowhere close to the Carina Nebula, which is a real Nebula by the way.  It’s like a domed Las Vegas-like pleasure center. We re-interpreted and inverted the tropes of the Noir detective movies and put it in an outer space environment much like what Ridley Scott did with Blade Runner; that involved detectives and took place in Cyber-Punk reality.  But Space Detective isn’t as dire as Blade Runner.  Space Detective is a hilarious fun movie.  It’s serious and it’s funny, and there are all kinds of crazy things going on in it.

MS:  There’s also a lot of mystery going on because the Space Detective is human and he’s in this galaxy, a galactic community of aliens.  He’s a rare breed because humans haven’t been spread out in the galaxies.  There’s a mystery about him.  Why is this human out here in the middle of the galaxy?  He’s got these weird, special alien powers, and so one question is where did he get those powers from?  Some of the questions are answered by the end of the movie and some of them are left unanswered for possible follow up stories, just to keep people interested.  So there’s the possibility of this movie moving forward in other serials, or other sequels, or even a television show that we hope people will be interested in.

13007160_10154091556354603_8070129816005573364_nAL:  But the basic plot of the movie is that Shiro (the protagonist) gets a phone call from his ex-girlfriend.  She says, “Come back to Carina Dawn.  I need some help getting away from my gangster husband.  He’s not good.”   And essentially that’s it.  He’s going to help this girl get away from her gangster husband and he gets mixed up in a crazy plot involving space terrorists, mobsters and the fate of the galaxy.

AD:  Tony, give me the name of the Nebula again.

AL:  It’s the Carina Nebula.  It’s actually pronounced Car-I-na, but we pronounce it Car-EE-na.  So what we did for the special effects is went on the Hubble website, and I downloaded a bunch of their free use images.  Their policy is, “Use whatever you want, but just make sure to give us credit for it.”  I think Hubble is the greatest thing in the universe.  Our Nebula is actually based on a Hubble image.  We basically photo-shopped in some of the colors, which allowed us to include some semi real geography.

AD:  That’s really interesting because you guys know that whenever a Sci-Fi movie or show comes out, whether its something like Prometheus or The Martian, there are always Sci-Fi groups who rip the science in that particular production.  Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson does a lot of that.  So it sounds like you did your research on what’s known about our natural world and universe in the production of Space Detective.

AL:  Yes, a little bit.  We tried to do that.  Let’s face it, it’s a silly space movie-cartoon. You’re going to hear lasers when they’re flying in space. We obviously know that sound doesn’t work in space, but we don’t care.  We grew up watching Star Wars movies and when we can throw something at someone and it’s legitimate, I think it lends something to the movie and it enriches the universe a little bit.  I understand Dr. Tyson’s frustration when he sees something and he says, “Obviously that constellation isn’t there that time of the year”, whatever – and I think that’s cool that he does that.  I don’t hate on him for it.

Matt’s like that too.  I’ll want to do something because it looks pretty and he’ll say, “That planet won’t have rings around it for this reason, this reason and this reason,” and I’ll say, “Dammit Matt.  Curse you and your Vulcan logic (laughing).”

carina-dawnMS:  I’m really big on astronomy, so while making this movie I did want to make sure some of the science was on par. I’ll watch science fiction movies and I’ll say, “Wait a minute, that’s not how that happens.”  But making a movie and telling a story, there are certain things you just have to bend sometimes, like sound in space for example.  If you watch Star Wars movies when the ships are fighting each other in outer space and you do it with no sound, it’s boring.  There are just certain rules you have to bend sometimes in terms of telling the story.  But if you try to keep things as scientifically accurate as possible, then people will enjoy it.  People like Tyson will enjoy it if he knows this and that don’t happen.  He’ll at least know this is right and that’s right.

AL:  But don’t get me wrong.  I wanted to experiment with some stuff with sound too.  In certain parts I’ll say, “Let’s make this a little more realistic.  Let’s make it muffled.”  I’m a big fan of Battlestar Galactica, the new show.  They tried to do stuff like that – muffle the sound when the ships were out in space, but that didn’t work with Space Detective either because it’s so bright and colorful and cartoony that it begged for those engines and those super loud explosions in space.  It was like it said, “No, please treat me silly”.  But things like the nebula and having the movie take place geographically on the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy, we incorporated into the back story.  We tried to give it some semblance of reality, but ultimately we just want the audience to have some fun with it.

AD:  Yes you can really see how all of the effects come together in the trailer.

AD:  You used real life actors in the movie, and from the snippets that I’ve seen, it has a really unique look.  Has this technique been done before, or are you pioneering this look?

11988413_10153727330919603_2828824418057083117_nAL:  Oh yes, this is all us, man.  That’s something that we cooked up.  There’s a similar technique they use called roto-scoping where they will trace over actors to creates an animated look.  We didn’t do that.  We did everything in camera.  We put makeup on our actors – almost kabuki style.  The style of film is very striking – we shot it in front of a green screen and then we put that in the computer and processed it a little bit.  We adjusted the contrast, the black and white levels, but its still actors and we didn’t change it that much.  We’re just doing a visual crunch, if you will, on their images.  We use a lot of puppets too.

MS:  It’s funny because some people look at it and it reminds them of Sin City.  And it is like Sin City in space, a detective film which is really dark and Noir.  They say its funny because Sin City is one of the inspirations for this movie, and the actual Sin City comic book illustrations are really high contrast black and white whereas if you watch the movie it’s more shades of gray.  So it’s unusual that people will look at this and say, “Oh, it looks like Sin City in space”.  Making it in this particular style allowed us to get away with so much.  I built a lot of the props and-.

AL:  What do you mean you built a lot of them?  You built all of them.

MS:  Okay yes, I built all of them.  In this black and white style I was able to get away with a lot because I built a lot of things with cardboard and trash bags, but it doesn’t look like it.  That’s one of the things about a lot of the Indie Sci-Fi films being made out there. They’re really expensive to make which is why a lot of Indie film makers make dramas and comedies. When they do make Sci-Fi it actually looks like it’s made out of cardboard and trash bags. What’s unique about our movie is that it doesn’t look like it was made of cardboard and trash bags and in actuality, it is. We were able to get away with so much and cut so many corners that that square turned into a circle, and people are really going to enjoy it I think.

AL:  I was more in charge of the visual effects so I did a lot of computer imaging and it allowed me to get away with a lot too.  Like I said, Amahl Dunbar, who created the 3-D animation of our ships, was able to populate one of the scenes with hundreds and hundreds of characters in the background.  The fact that he didn’t have to render different textures and colors and shading, saved him a lot of time and he was able to do the work of ten dudes.

MS:  Yes, a lot of Amahl’s 3-D models and spaceships are awesome.  When you do special effects, a lot of time is taken up with the skins of it – making sure it looks metallic, making sure there are proper shadows, reflections, etc.  But with this movie we didn’t need any of that.  We just needed it to be black and white and that’s it.  Amahl was able to make designs and not worry about making shadows or reflections.  We just needed the baseline model and it works.

14390665_10154492658709603_2194268707253942364_nAL: Yes, so to describe the visual aesthetic of the movie, everything in Space Detective is black and white – high contrast black and white with no shades of gray.  And then the rest of the movie is literally splashed with color.  However, it’s splashed with purpose so anything that generates energy in the universe, that’s a color.  If you see a laser gun, the beam is going to be a bright orange or a blue.  If you see an exhaust from a ship, it’s going to be a bright color.  If you see lights on buildings, they’re each going to be different colors.  The movie has its own unique look.  I remember Matt mentioned the Sin City comic book because I was obsessed with that comic book, especially in college.  I grew up worshipping Frank Miller and his work.  One of the first comics I ever read was Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, for God’s sake.  Anyway, the color has a purpose in it.  Everything found a purpose, not just to cheat, but man did it help us cheat.

MS:  The movie ended up being more colorful than we realized.  It was one of our biggest concerns when we started – if it was going to be black and white and hurt people’s eyes.  Now we’re at a point where we realize how colorful it is.

AL:  There was a French movie called Renaissance which did a similar thing with black and white, and it’s hard to watch.  They don’t have any color in it.

MS:  But that was all animated and they had no live action actors.

AD:  So ballpark, your goal for releasing Space Detective is the next month, two months, half a year?

MS:  We are having our world premiere at the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival in January 2017.  We’re so thrilled about it.  It’s so exciting.

AL:  I really think we have something special and the festivals are really going to enjoy us and want us to be a part of them.  It’s a really unique movie.  It’s a different kind of movie.  The story is fun.  It’s intriguing and it’s funny.  The characters are rich and original and look completely different than anything you’ve ever seen.  It sounds amazing – thanks to the music that Matt’s older brother, Marcus, composed for it.

12260_10153822145274603_7895615237706236118_nMS:  My brother, Marcus, is a classically trained musician.  He played in the Las Vegas Philharmonic.  He has been in bands since he was a kid, and he’s got two decades of recording experience in studios.

AL:  He’s a great rock and roller.

MS:  He really elevated this movie in terms of sound, and a lot of people will tell you that half of a movie is what you hear, so my brother is really responsible for half of this movie.  He helped to record all of the dialogue.  He helped to create all of the sound effects and he helped compose all of the music.  It’s just fantastic.  The quality of the audio and the music is just so amazing that it really elevates this movie to professional levels I think.

AL:  Yeah, and as the director and the producer, it really makes Matt and me look good.  Matt plays the main character Shiro, and it really looks cool when he’s beating up a bad guy and leaping through the air.  I’m like, “Oooh, that’s cool.  We’ve made a real movie here.”

AD:  I’ve heard that before about films and their scores/soundtracks.  I watched a documentary where James Horner discussed composing the music for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn.  He described how some of the most memorable films are perfect marriages between the film and the music, and so what you remember is the two together and not separately.

I know that you probably already have sequels in mind, but I won’t ask you about that.  Discuss the major learning points in the production of Space Detective?

MS:  I learned that we could make a feature film. To be honest, I learned what it means to be a producer.  I went through college learning all kind of things and you know what an actor, writer, and editor do, but it’s hard to know what a producer does.  I’ve learned that a producer produces, and that’s what I’ve been able to do over the years whether it’s been producing practical effects, make up, wardrobe or anything like that.  Just to get things done as the producer, you have to be on the ball and get it done.  That’s probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is how to produce.

tony-directingAL:  I agree with Matt.  We learned that we can do it.  I was always scared of directing growing up.  I would say, “I can’t come up with all of these shots.  I don’t know what I’m doing.”  But I actually do know what I’m doing.  I’m pretty good at it, and Matt’s pretty good at it.  I’ve learned that I think directing is probably the hardest thing that anyone can possibly do.  It is the playing soccer of art making.  It is all about endurance.  It is all about not giving up.  It’s about trying to con your friends into doing insane things, and then trusting them.   It’s about leadership and a lot of other things.

MS:  I think the biggest thing we learned is that we can make a movie on our own for freaking nothing.  We can do it ourselves and we can make it look good.  So I try to think that if we can do it on our own with nothing but chicken scratch, imagine what we could do if someone gave us a real budget, a multi-million dollar budget.  You can imagine what we could do with the actual resources to get things done.

AL:  And I’m not even talking about Marvel money, or Batman and Superman money.  I’m talking about ten million bucks (laughing).  I mean what could I do with ten million bucks?  I could change the world with ten million bucks.  We could change movie making with that, and yeah, I’m not going to lie, I think one day Matt and me should be able to tackle a Batman movie or something like that because hey at the end of the day, it’s just more expensive and it’s just the same stuff we did with Space Detective.  There’s a bad guy, some colorful villains and there’s a town that he has to protect.  And there’s a crap-load of special effects going on in there.  We can handle that.

AD:  Is that what you would like to tackle some day?  A Batman movie?

AL:  Sure, a Batman movie, an X-Men movie, any of those.  We’re both comic book nerds so we love that genre.  Anytime one of those big movies comes out, we’re there.  We’re like excited 11 year olds.  That’s not to say that we’re not influenced by other things.  I’m a big George Lucas fan.  He’s my hero.  I love Akira Kurosawa. I love Terry Gilliam. Orson Welles – I was just reading a bunch of articles today on Citizen Kane.  It’s the 75th anniversary of its release and it’s probably my favorite movie.  That being said, capes and laser guns are where it’s at man.  It’s so much fun and I think those types of movies and those types of stories are great mirrors on society and humanity.  They show the things that we can accomplish in the future, or things that we can do today as far as – I’m just rambling, but I just think that popular entertainment is more important, more artistic than people give it credit for.  And with Space Detective, I think we tried to make a popcorn film that would reflect that kind of movie.

space_detective_poster_a_webAD:  Well gentleman, thank you both for this interview.  I look forward to seeing Space Detective and your future productions.

AL:  Thank you, Anwar.  This is our first interview.

MS:  Thank you, Anwar.

AD:  No problem guys.  I suspect it will be the first of many interviews that you will do, and I’m honored to be a part of the first one.

Visit the Swamp Media Group website to learn more their current projects and upcoming productions.  Thank you to the Swamp Media Group for generously sharing their trailer, and or the photos used in this post.

Thank you for taking the time to read this interview. If you enjoyed it, you may also enjoy:

• A review of Solo: A Star Wars Story
• A review of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
• A review of Marvel’s Avengers Infinity War
• A review of Marvel’s Black Panther
• A review of Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok
• A review of Marvel’s Spider-Man: Homecoming
• A review of Marvel’s Dr. Strange

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