Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

The Avengers: S.H.I.E.L.D.

Patti's Comments:  I loved the film, we need Heroes! But love this discussion of the law as it relates to SHIELD even more. Geeks of the World Unite!

Excerpt from Law and the Multiverse: (click for entire article)

Last weekend, Marvel’s blockbuster for 2012 came out in North America. The Avengers appears to be on track to shatter box office records both domestically and internationally, and with good reason: it’s an awesome movie.

In the next few posts, we’re going to discuss some of the legal background of various aspects of the movie. We’re going to start with how exactly S.H.I.E.L.D. could work, but there will be more to come in successive posts. There are spoilers to follow, though if you haven’t seen the movie by now, what are you waiting for? We discussed the basics of S.H.I.E.L.D. and international law over a year ago, so it might be worth taking a look at that before jumping in here.

There are two basic questions. First, what exactly is S.H.I.E.L.D.? In the comics the acronym has stood for a variety of things, and over time it’s been portrayed as both a national and an international force. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe— the continuity formed by Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and now The Avengers, it stands for “Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division,” which Agent Phil Coulson admits is a terrible name and is quickly abandoned from common use in favor of the acronym itself. The implication in the movies leading up to The Avengers is that S.H.I.E.L.D. is some kind of U.S. paramilitary force. The word “Homeland” suggests some connection with the Department of Homeland Security, and it would be somewhat weird for an international organization to have that word in title.

Prolific 92-Year-Old DVD Bootlegger Sends Thousands of Films To Troops Overseas

Patti's Comments:  Love This!!!!

Excerpt from Geek O System: (click for entire article)

When you think of pirates and bootleggers, there’s typically two places your mind might go: Punk kids, or vast organizations of bootleggers, all with thick accents. Hyman Strachman is neither of those, instead, he is a 92-year-old World War II veteran. He is however, probably one of the worlds foremost bootleggers. For eight years, Stachman has been running a pretty impressive bootlegging operation from his apartment, copying thousands of first-run movies, and sending them to U.S. troops overseas. Hardly some punk kid.

Over the course of his bootlegging career, Strachman went from burning the DVDs on his own personal computer to purchasing a $400 rig that would let him copy 7 at a time. Amusingly enough, Strachman does not actually torrent or download the films himself or anything, but rather buys them from a local bootlegger, and then proceeds to bootleg said bootlegs. Though his methods may seem a little roundabout, his record is impressive; he’s sent at least 4,000 boxes of DVDs, free of charge, to soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Matlin Discusses Overcoming Disabilities

Excerpt from Daily News: (click for entire article)

Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin was in Memphis Thursday, April 19, to discuss overcoming disabilities.

Her appearance was at a fundraiser for Baptist Memorial Hospital for Women’s Newborn Intensive Care Unit (NICU), held at the Hilton Memphis, 939 Ridge Lake Blvd.

Matlin, who lost her hearing when she was 18 months old, became the youngest actress and the only deaf performer to win an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her screen debut in “Children of a Lesser God.” Her numerous television appearances include “Seinfeld,” “The L Word,” “The West Wing,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Sesame Street,” “Celebrity Apprentice” and “Dancing with the Stars.”

Top 10 Underrated Disney Villains

Excerpt from Listverse: (click for entire article)

Disney has produced a number of fantastic and diabolic villains – Maleficent, the Evil Queen, Ursula, Jafar, Scar, Gaston, Pete, Hades, etc. The list goes on. But while there are many popular ones, some villains are often forgotten and are not as publicized as much as others. This list contains ten Disney villains who deserve some more attention and appreciation. Please note this list contains spoilers for the films that most of the villains are from.

People w developmental disabilities star in own stories

Excerpt from Vimeo: (click for entire article)

The experiences of those with developmental disabilities is the focus of interactive stories created by Touching Stories. The only group in the US making multisensory story kits, this small two-woman non-profit writes stories about those with physical and mental disabilities, then creates tactile kits so this community can feel, see, hear and smell each component of THEIR story. Caregivers can learn to perform their stories for people in their day programs. Sadly, they can only reach a few care providers in the Denver area. Your $5 donation can help them create a training program to reach hundreds of care providers and people with disabilities around the country. You have to see these amazing tactile story kits to believe them!

Theaters to be equipped for those with vision, hearing disabilities

Excerpt from the Chicago Tribune: (click for entire article)

Hundreds of movie screens in Illinois will be equipped with technology to help residents with hearing and vision disabilities, under a settlement announced Wednesday by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

As part of the settlement, Kansas City, Mo.-based AMC Theatres will provide personal captioning services and audio-description technology at all of its Illinois movie theaters, which include 460 movie screens. The services will be available by 2014 at nearly all theaters and at all listed showings.

Before the settlement, 21 of the 246 movie theaters in Illinois offered closed captioning and 10 offered audio description.

Auti Angel, Star of ‘Musical Chairs,’ on Being Disabled in Hollywood

Excerpt from The Daily Beast: (click for entire article)

“Hello, my name is Auti Angel and I’ll be your angel for today.” This is a line I use quite often, even at auditions, where I use it as my slate. It’s a great icebreaker.

Breaking into the entertainment industry as a Hispanic female has been challenging for me. Add disabled to the mix, and my work has been cut out for me.

As a young girl, I saw the struggles my father faced as a Hispanic actor and martial artist in the early 1980s. Back then, Hispanic roles were few and far between, and if you did land one, more often than not it was a stereotypical one. My father, for example, played Gina’s killer in Scarface. Yes, Scarface is a great film, but it also portrays Latinos as drug lords and people who commit vicious crimes. Most of us know that these characters aren’t real, but these were the roles given to Latino actors. It wasn’t until Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver (1988) and Antonio Banderas in Take the Lead (2006) that positive images of Latino males started being shown on the big screen.

Two Documentaries on Bullying Take Different Approaches

Excerpt from The New York Times: (click for entire article)

I was bullied. From the third-grade boys who twisted my name up until I hated the sound of it, to the sixth-grade girls who wrote the mean notes about my glasses and braces and left them, quite purposely, for me to find, every time we moved when I was young, I found myself marooned in a new school where I felt neither safe nor happy. If I’m honest, I’d still prefer not to talk about it. What kind of kid was I, after all, that so many other children saw me as a target? How uncool can I possibly have been that I took it all so very seriously, when I should have just brushed away what was obviously unimportant?

Over a quarter of a century later, I’m still blaming myself.

That’s one of many things the current movement against bullying intends to change, but in spite of what may seem like an overwhelming onslaught of anti-bullying messages, it’s an uphill battle. How can we reach children who bully because they feel bullied at home (or for a hundred other reasons), their victims and the children around them? What about adults who believe, overtly or secretly, that bullying is either inevitable, or survivable, or not that big a deal?

'The Mentalist's Tim Kang Lauches Film Project to Promote Child Abuse Awareness

Excerpt from Talk Movies World: (click for entire article)

A new film project launched in January by actor Tim Kang is being praised by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) for the awareness it will bring to the issues of abducted and sexually abused children. Kang is best known for his role in the CBS hit drama "The Mentalist" as the fan favorite character California law enforcement investigator "Kimball Cho."

Kang announced in January that his new film Production Company, One Shoot Films, had launched a short film competition. Story ideas for the competition will address the real life crimes of child abduction and sexually abused children. The competition is open to new and emerging writers and directors. The winning screenplay will be produced by One Shoot Films and submitted to U.S. and International film festivals.

An estimated 800,000 children are reported missing every year in the United States which equates to 2,000 missing children each day. It is also estimated that 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 10 boys will be the victims of sexual exploitation before they reach the age of 18.

We Can End the R-Word in Movies and TV

Excerpt from Bella Online: (click for entire article)

March 7, 2012 is international Spread the Word to End the Word Day. In an effort to ban one word from everyday life, movies and television shows, individuals and organizations are speaking out about the effects of hate language on the safety, well-being, and opportunities of children, teens and adults with developmental delays and intellectual disabilities.

As citizens, customers, family members and neighbors, people with intellectual disabilities are encouraging all efforts to eliminate the use of this hate language from thoughtless neighbors as well as bullies in their environment. I believe we can make a stronger effort to raise awareness in the media, audiences and advertisers so that respectful language is substituted for hate language.

I am frustrated going to the movies with my son and being ambushed by the R-word when we are just settling in with our popcorn. When it happens, I go to the ticket booth and demand a refund. Using hate language in a movie does mean you are condoning the use of those words. Movies are vehicles for spreading the hate language among those who take on the language and attitudes of characters they admire or want to emulate - and many adolescents do identify with characters that the hate language fits. We have no lack of evidence that children, adults and the elderly also identify with characters who use hate language as part of their depiction of toughness or being 'cool.'