Projects
TURNING INFORMATION INTO ACTION
The turmoil of 2020 is pushing people to action. Our communities - large and small - are in desperate need of our help. From local municipal issues to statewide concerns and national politics, our voices must be heard. Educating ourselves is only the first step.
The Effects of Complexity in Legal Persuasion
A thesis project exploring the relationship between linguistic complexity and rhetorical persuasion. Using data from oral arguments given before the Supreme Court, I use regression analysis to determine whether the highest American judiciary is convinced by plain language.
BATTLE OF THE STREAMERS
A few arrived early: Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu first launched VOD services over a decade ago. Today, the services would appear primitive. Netflix’s online library was little more than an afterthought compared to their hulking DVD rental business that was finally threatening the behemoth Blockbuster. Amazon’s foray into VOD was just another tentacle emerging from the Bezos hivemind. And, well, who had ever heard of Hulu?
These players built up their armories slowly, growing their libraries, building partnerships, and beginning to explore original content. It was all happening at the right moment. Internet access proliferated and computers embedded themselves in our homes, phones, wallets, and watches. DVDs sales dwindled. Cable viewership started to stumble. Customers wanted choice and control. SVOD services gave them exactly that.
It took some longer than others to pick up their bayonets and join the fight. HBO leapt into the game in 2010. CBS and Showtime followed suit a few years after. Niche services, from AcornTV to Shudder, tried to carve out a piece of the expanding pie. All the while, the opportunities grew. AT&T and YouTube rushed to build vMVPD offerings and transfer the economics of cable to the digital space.
Mergers not seen since the Golden Age of film studios came to define a modern entertainment era. With heavy pockets and a new mantra – ‘Content is King’ - the stage was set: the war was now beginning.
November 2019 saw two giants enter the area: Disney+ and Apple TV+. Disney burst onto the scene with comprehensive offerings and established brands. Their numbers ballooned and, within months, they were positioned as one of the major players. Apple TV+, in no rush and with no limits on expenditures, has taken a more methodical approach. With subscriber numbers hardly north of 10M, despite plenty of freebie programs, they’re lagging behind the competition.
As the landscape grows more crowded, the competition only becomes more intense. Quibi attempted to establish themselves by differentiating on style. The on-the-go model might have been more successful… if everyone hadn’t been stuck at home during COVID-19. HBO Max, long touted for its huge Warner Bros library, emerges to strong initial reviews. NBC’s Peacock will soon join the fight with a variety of tiered offerings for customers growing weary of paying for another service.
The war is far from over. It’s only getting started. More fighters will join. Some will exit early. Others will find value in the supply chain. If nothing else, it’ll mean plenty of new TV for us to watch.
A Glance at Stephen King in Film & Television
Stephen King cemented his legacy as a legendary storyteller on the strength of his nearly 100 novels. His stories have taken on second lives through the eyes of countless filmmakers, including Brian De Palma and Stanley Kubrick.
The Warner Bros. franchise IT has been the most recent success. The two films, in total, grossed more than $1.1 billion worldwide on a projected production budget of only $126 million. As of writing, Doctor Sleep is currently playing in theaters with a more tepid response. Streaming platforms had joined the party in recent years with Netflix’s 1922, Hulu’s anthology series Castle Rock, and HBO’s upcoming series The Outsider.
Although King has expressed his dissatisfaction with some adaptations, the steady stream hasn’t slowed. Only 7 years - and none consecutively - have passed since 1976 without the premiere of another of King’s adapted projects.
King supports young filmmakers using his work as inspiration. The author keeps a list of available stories whose rights can be purchased for just a buck: his Dollar Babies. Check it out!
THE SYSTEM ISN’T BROKEN. IT WAS BUILT THIS WAY.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, cities across American have erupted in protests demanding sweeping changes. The protests ask for accountability. Reckless officers, steeped in a culture that paints every interaction as a battle between good and evil, turn to excessive force at a moment’s notice. Unannounced raids turn to gunfights and Breonna Taylor dies. Cries for relief go unanswered and George Floyd chokes to death on the street. A child’s plaything becomes grounds for murder and Tamir Rice is gunned down. A few demands are obvious: charges and prosecution against cops who murder innocent citizens, an end to qualified immunity, and independent review boards to curb police misconduct, and widespread body camera use.
These changes, though, are Band-Aids. They’re necessary reforms to fight back against the deep injustices of the U.S. police system. They’re obvious and pressing concerns. They must be enacted. And, yet, they sidestep a more fundamental issue: What is the purpose of policing?
Policing purports to be a tool of public safety. Cops enforce laws, catch criminals, and keep our communities safe. That’s the tagline, at least. The reality of policing is a much darker story that develops less from the public interest and more so from the capitalist interests of a ruling class. Police misconduct is only a symptom of a system built to control anger from the working class, to reinstate legal slavery after the 13th Amendment, and to advance political interests.
The idea to “Defund the Police” has gained support as protests continue. It may sound like a cry to abolish public safety. It isn’t. Police are overworked and underprepared. They’re tasked with responding to issues of violence, mental illness, homelessness, sex work, school misconduct, and border patrol. It’s absurd to force a single decentralized, overmilitarized entity to handle that load. How can the same organization that responds to calls of armed robbery also handle the realities of widespread homeless? The call to “Defund the Police” is a demand that bloated police budgets be redistributed to social workers, education funding, and new agencies that are specifically trained to handle the jobs that are unfit for police.
Consider Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow, Alex S. Vitale’s The End of Policing, and Ava DuVernay’s film 13th for more.
Worth the Wait
Queuing Analysis of Florence’s Premiere Pizzeria
Report on stochastic customer management and shift scheduling at one of Tuscany’s most popular pizza restaurants.