THE INTERNETS OWN BOY: THE STORY OF AARON SWARTZ (2014)

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The untimely death of this incredibly gifted young man paved way for this fascinating documentary about Aaron Swartz, an internet programming prodigy and information freedom fighter.

He was 26 years young when he took his own life and this film shows his journey from talented child to a very conscientious hactivist. A life is like a flame, it will burn out when it burns out, there is no set time limit and sometimes if that flame burns ever so bright it is likely extinguish early. The intensity dictates it.

There is no doubt that Swartz affected many and rallied the people to question and change laws pertaining to the internet, which he believed should be a free open source for everyone, not just those with money.

His friendship with the internet creator, Tim Berners Lee, who gave the internet to the people and made no money form selling it, informs a lot of his perspectives as far as accessibility goes.

He was one of the founders of openlibrary.org, a website dedicated to the sharing of books, publicly, online so everyone has a chance to read many previously unavailable books. He was an ambassador for the freedoms stated in the constitution that have been fenced off by the government due to some outrageous, outdated internet laws.

In 2011, Swartz was indicted by the federal government for the downloading of 20 million pages of free documents (from JSTOR, a non-profit organization that allows libraries to free up space by digitizing their works); he plugged into the M.I.T. servers and attained these documents with the purpose of making them publicly available, for free.

How does one get indicted for obtaining free documents? The government went after him hard in a time where online piracy and hacking was creating a lot of problems for them and consequently decided to make an example of this young pro-free activist. The charges against him were incredible and he was facing jail time of up to 35 years with a $1 million fine attached.

The pressures on Swartz were too much and in January 2013, he tragically took his own life.

This is an important film that demands to be seen in order to understand the war that is going on in cyberspace and reality.

His light burnt very brightly and influenced change and discussion on the nature of public freedoms.

An important watch.

BUY THE DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

4/5

JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI (2011)

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Meet Jiro Ono, an 85 year old master sushi chef at his exclusive restaurant in Tokyo, Sukiyabashi Jiro.

This shokunin, Jiro is an 85-year-old master chef living in Tokyo with a restaurant that is exclusively dedicated to the culinary creation of the perfect sushi. He has two sons, Takashi who now owns his own sushi restaurant in the Roppongi Hills and Yoshikazu, the eldest, who will eventually take over from his father.

This restaurant is really exclusive, seating only 10 people at a time and having a 3-month reservation period. It has been awarded 3 stars by Michelin, the highest rating possible and is held in such high esteem by many including the acclaimed French chef, Joel Robuchin, who states that he wishes he had Jiro’s exquisite sense of smell.

Jiro spent his life dedicated to perfecting the art of sushi making, seemingly having no hobbies, not really wanting to take holidays and defining himself by his work. His obsession is clearly the most important part of his world. His attention to detail is astonishing.

We see his son, Yoshikazu visiting the fish markets and the level of criteria that must be met to find the perfect fish is astounding. These chefs are not mucking about.

Directed with love and respect by David Gelb, this is truly enlightening into the world of this genius. The music, featuring the likes of Philip Glass, Max Richter and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, is brilliant; classical music to suit the depth of this man’s dedication to perfection.

This is what Gelb had to say about the use of music:

“In hindsight, I think it works because Philip Glass’s music is kind of a metaphor for Jiro’s work ethic, because it’s repetitive but it also builds on itself and escalates, and it’s the same with Jiro’s work. Because every day he’s going, he’s doing the same routine, and trying to do everything exactly the same, but just reaching for that one step of improvement, and I feel like the music’s doing the same thing, so they match perfectly.”

A beautiful insight into the workings of one of great masters and his tireless craft.

BUY THE BLU RAY DVD HERE

DOWNLOAD THE FILM ON iTUNES HERE

3.5/5