An unnecessary film
Incomplete
Having already tackled the world of the White House, “”West Wing”” creator Aaron Sorkin’s decided to turn his cinematic guns on an even more significant institution: Facebook. Wait a minute – Facebook? According to the Los Angeles Times, Sorkin is at work on a screenplay about how the ubiquitous social networking site was invented. While this could well prove to be surprisingly watchable – the site’s origin story is famously convoluted and controversial, with several people claiming credit for it -ÿwe’ve got to say, we’re pretty sick of hearing about Facebook. For bringing his considerable verbal smarts to telling the story of a site that doesn’t require any verbal skills whatsoever, Sorkin gets an Incomplete.
A premature obituary
Fail
When the Chicago Sun-Times’s longtime sports columnist, Jay Mariotti, resigned Tuesday “”to pursue other opportunities,”” he couldn’t resist indulging in a bit of doomsday speculation. The reason he left, he told the Chicago Tribune, was that the future of journalism “”sadly is not in newspapers.”” He went on to compare the business to a sinking ship: “”I don’t want to go down with it.”” The rise of Internet news – not to mention the blogging world – has indeed given newspapers a run for their money, but media critics have been warning of the death of print media – along with books – for years, and they’ve shown no signs of disappearing. Plus, all major newspapers have a major online presence. What was stopping Mariotti from keeping a foot in both industries? There are legitimate reasons to worry about the future of print media, but Mariotti’s glib, unwarranted pessimism merits a Fail.
A groundbreaking event
Pass
With all the predictable hoopla over the Democratic nomination yesterday, it was easy to miss the most notable thing about it – for the first time in the nation’s history, a black American had been nominated the presidential candidate of a major party. Whether or not you think Barack Obama should be president, it’s impossible not to be moved by the pride and elation his campaign has aroused around the nation. Considering that only 50 years ago Obama wouldn’t have even been permitted to drink from the same water fountain as former rival Hillary Clinton in many parts of the country, his nomination is a truly remarkable step forward. For transcending the ugly legacy of the past, Obama’s supporters get a Pass.
Editorials are determined by the Wildcat opinions board and written by one of its members. They are Andi Berlin, Justyn Dillingham, Lauren LePage, Lance Madden and Alisa Wilhelm.