By: Matthew Hoy

In my senior year of high school, I pirated a film for the first time. I had lost my copy of the 2001 stoner comedy “Out Cold,” figuring that since I already owned it there was little harm in nabbing a digital copy.

The next four years were filled with downloading movies, TV series, complete discographies, software and video games. I filled hard drives at a prolific rate, housing terabytes of illegal media in small black containers.

I credit this period with my education in film. Piracy provided a democratization of artwork that I had never encountered, enabling me to amass a vast collection of films and cinema knowledge.

My passion brought me to Los Angeles and led to jobs in the film industry. There I encountered struggling young hopefuls who shared my love of piracy and the film executives who cursed it.

I saw in that divide the true nature of the piracy argument — the wealthy producers vs. a bunch of kids who wanted to watch their movies.

I maintained this worldview until a few weeks ago, when I heard actress Geena Davis speaking about gender disparity in film.

It is an issue that has always bothered me and is easily explained by Hollywood’s need to appeal to the rapidly expanding foreign market.

As Steven Soderbergh explained at the San Francisco International Film Festival earlier this year, appealing to the foreign market requires tropes that have damaged the overall quality of cinema.

The first, and most demonstrable, is that global cinemas want films with little dialogue, preferring special effects and action scenes to tamer, more thoughtful fare.

The second is that they demand characters who are one-dimensional and familiar. For women this means scantily clad eye candy whose only job is to look good and provide the male protagonist with a prize.

Davis made this argument  then took it in an unfamiliar direction, citing decreased media revenues as the source of Hollywood’s collective overreaction toward big budget monstrosities and their sequels.

Indeed, international box office revenues jumped from about $10.6 billion to more than $21 billion from 2001 to 2010, while global media sales and rentals, which peaked in 2004 at about $57 billion, fell to about $43 billion by 2010.

Some of this decline can be attributed to the movement from physical media to cheaper digital alternatives like Netflix. But, while impossible to quantify, piracy’s effect on sales is estimated to measure in the many billions of dollars annually.

Davis’ assertion that this has led to the film industry relying more heavily upon the international market is easy to see in effect. Every year is the “year of the sequel.” Hollywood executives talk at length about the importance of films with international appeal. We can even see that films with African American casts won’t get made because executives are afraid foreign markets won’t find them American enough.

This shift in importance would have happened anyway, but it has been exacerbated by the rapid decline in media revenue, itself accelerated by piracy. It was enough to inspire me to uninstall BitTorrent and ask my friends to do the same. I’m not saying that piracy has caused these adverse effects. I’m just saying that it really hasn’t helped.

By: Roy Aker

University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler and members of his delegation returned from their tour of China on Sunday after signing academic partnership agreements with 10 top-ranked universities in Greater China.

Of those 10, the Confucius Institute and National Yang-Ming University were the only two renewing existing agreements.

The agreement is intended to “establish cooperative academic relationships” between the University and institutions in Greater China, according to the agreement text. Based on funding and interest from the institutions involved, this could include student and faculty member exchanges and joint activities. 

Even though the agreement doesn’t require a student exchange, Global Programs and Strategy Alliance communications director Jennifer Schulz said she expects many of the universities will participate in one.

The agreements went into effect immediately and can be re-negotiated and renewed every three years.

According to the University’s Storify account, which was updated throughout the trip, the renewal of the agreement with National Yang-Ming University focused on the University of Minnesota’s “nationally ranked strengths in informatics and nursing scholarship.”

Schulz said Yang-Ming wants to exchange more students with the University and potentially share research programs. The agreements will make it easier for faculty members and graduate students from both schools to collaborate on research, she said.

Students at one of the new partner institutions, Shanghai’s Jiao Tong University, presented Kaler with a gift — a caricature of himself.

“He loved it,” Schulz said.

Dr. Date,

I think my girlfriend is cheating on me. My friends told me they saw her out with another guy and they were getting pretty comfortable together. How do I bring this up to my girl without sounding like I’m accusing her?

—Cheetah, The Cheated

Cheetah,

The fact that you’re concerned about your tone is already a good omen! Most guys would bust down her door in the middle of the day, frothing at the mouth, screaming “J’accuse! J’accuse!”

You’re miles ahead, Cheet.

As long as you’re as sensitive as you appear to be, you’ll be fine. Just tell your girlfriend that you’re feeling worried because your friends saw her out with another guy. She’ll fess up or explain, and yeah, maybe she’ll cry, but that’s not your fault. Don’t worry too much about how you sound — just be honest.

The crazy thing about life is that sometimes things really aren’t how they appear! For all we know, this is a Sid/Cassie situation and the other guy is a gay Scottish rugby player! You just don’t know. You’re smart to realize that you should be respectful and non-combative about this.

—Dr. Date

Dr. Date,

I just graduated college and am ready to move into the real world. There’s one problem, my love life in college wasn’t great. I’m not a virgin, but I’m still a novice when it comes to bedroom gymnastics. How do I improve my game so non-college girls don’t think I’m lame in the sack?

—Aspiring Gymnast

Aspiring,

Don’t worry about it, Gymmy! Here’s a wild thing about the world: Not every college graduate has had tons of sex! A lot of people don’t swipe their v-cards until well into adulthood. Even more people swipe their v-card and then lose their wallet, so to speak.

There’s one weird, old tip that will make you excellent in the sack, no matter how experienced or virgy you are. And no, I’m not going to make you enter your credit card number to get it! Here it is: communication. You can read her body language and pick up on her signals; you can also just ask her what she likes — and tell her what you like, too. Whatever you do, keep the channel of communication wide open, whether it’s through dirty talk or verbose foreplay. The great thing about being two adults is that you can create a safe space together where you can explore — in fact, it will probably be a much more comfortable set-up than what most people have in college. Plus, older women know what’s up sexually — their experience might compensate for yours.

A parting word of confidence: I think you’ll be surprised by how much you already know. If you’re not sure, do a little research. Look up cunnilingus on WikiHow, bra. Also look up how to take off a bra, bruh. Then be yourself and go forth and multiply.

—Dr. Date

Dr. Date,

My boyfriend and I have been dating for four years. Earlier this summer, we talked about him proposing on the 4th of July under the fireworks. But the weekend came and went, and we’re still not engaged. I’m worried he might have got cold feet. Do I bring it up to him or just wait and see?

—Almost Married

Almost,

I smell cold feet, but who can be sure! Maybe he just wants to surprise you. Maybe he couldn’t find the right ring. Either way, bring it up!

—Dr. Date

Any guy out there wanna have a Nicholas Sparks movie marathon? I’ll provide the tissues!

—Promised a movie marathon with my roommates who all have boyfriends

Girl in Purple Hula-Hooping on the Mall,

You did things with a hula-hoop that I didn’t know were possible. Including being thoroughly captivating.

—Wondering what else those hips can do

Boys who live on 22nd and Como,

Thank you for playing DJ for the whole neighborhood. I like to think you are personally serenading me from your balcony through my window. Thank god you have good taste in music.

—Neighborly Love

PS: Play some Beyoncé, please.

Is there anyone that would cuddle on a contractual basis? Like I buy you chipotle and you make me feel like I’m not alone in the world for an hour or two? Anyone care to negotiate?

—Unknown

Jenny,

If at any time you want to trade in your strapping boyfriend for a chubby nerd, I would be willing to audition for the chubby nerd role.

—Chubby Nerd

President Mike Schmit,

Can I be your Monica Lewinsky?

—A secret admirer wanting to get into politics

To the boy dancing and singing to himself while rollerblading across the bridge today,

Rock on bro, rock on. Your jazz hands were unreal.

—Unknown

The last two girls that I’ve been interested in were tango dancers, but I have two left feet. Are there any girls at the U that need a remedial dance partner for the summer? I’ll cover costs in exchange for a few lessons!

—Unknown

To the girl who was Snapchatting herself on the treadmill,

You were cute enough to begin with, but the faces you were making into your phone were downright adorable. Snapchat with me?

—Guy who had just run 5 miles and wishes he could have stuck around longer

By: Trent M Kays

Last Saturday, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crash landed at San Francisco International Airport. Plane travel is often considered the safest form of transportation; however, the occasional mishap does occur, and it normally gives flyers a short pause. Fortunately, there was minimal tragedy caused by the crash with the death of only two individuals. While all death is certainly tragic, the consequences of the crash could have been much worse.

Social media has given rise to the rapid dissemination of information about tragic and life-changing events around the world. From coup d’états to crime to violent protests, often all you need to do is log onto your favorite social media site and you can get a handle on the situation. The speed and reach of social media is not something to be dismissed or underestimated. Despite this, I was surprised to see a picture of a downed commercial airplane zoom across my Twitter feed. I am accustomed to seeing shocking images via social media, but there was something about seeing a smoking downed airplane that made me queasy.

David Eun, an executive at Samsung who was on the flight, tweeted: “I just crashed landed at SFO. Tailed ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I’m okay. Surreal…” A photo of the airplane he was on with smoke billowing out and the tail missing followed his tweet. People were trailing off in the photo, heading to the terminal. It’s certainly a “surreal” photo, or it feels surreal to me. It reminds me of the fragile nature of the machines we rely on.

Perhaps most disheartening wasn’t the crash itself but the reaction of some traditional news media. A reporter on CNN expressed disbelief that passengers were tweeting photos. Of course, news outlets like CNN traditionally held the domain over such news and regulated what viewers watched. This isn’t the case anymore. What does it matter that photos were tweeted? The old paradigm has changed.

We see this change enacted over and over. The Arab Spring turned protestors into citizen-journalists tweeting for freedom. The protestors were able to give insight into areas that traditional reporters couldn’t. That’s good. It’s a hallmark of 21st century society that citizens are both witnesses to history and participants in it. The photo that Eun tweeted shocked me, but I’m thankful that I saw it.

Along with access to information, social media has created a new way of thinking and communicating. Is it now the responsibility of citizens to broadcast tragedy so it may be recorded? Was it Eun’s responsibility to post a photo of his downed airplane? Of course not. People are entitled to their own choices. However, would the impact of this airplane crash have been lessened had Eun not tweeted a photo? I’m not sure.

There have been many other plane crashes, but not many of them have been as broadcasted by people who were once on those planes. It’s a rarity for so many to survive, so it’s particularly unusual to see photos from surviving passengers. Considering how much social media has changed our interaction with news, I can’t imagine not seeing photographic evidence of a plane crash on Twitter. That’s one of the great things about Twitter: it shows you things you would never have seen 50 years ago.

The airplane crash was terrible, and it will certainly give me bad dreams and pause the next time I fly. However, I know that this is how information is accessed in the 21st century. It is fluid, fast-moving and uncensored. It is often unverified, at least until it shows up on your local news station. The role of the citizen is now to create raw information, and social media is the citizenry’s greatest tool to do so. I can only hope that traditional media will curate and verify. 

By: Ronald Dixon

As we ended our first month of summer vacation, the federal student loan rate doubled from 3.4 to 6.8 percent. This means that for future loans we will need to spend twice the amount on interest payments as we begin to pay back the thousands of dollars needed to obtain our diplomas.

Thankfully, though, there is a shimmer of hope.

The congressional inaction that led to this increase may be corrected retroactively if Senate democrats keep their promise to propose their own solution. However, the rate increase will continue to harm the vast majority of college students if Congress does not act soon to pass legislation.

This is especially important when considering the fact that student debt has a negative impact upon the economy and the lives of future graduates.

As the total debt for all college students exceeded $1.1 trillion not too long ago, recent graduates are delaying basic life steps. These include obtaining a car, renting a house and starting a family. Not only could this have a psychological impact upon young adults, but it also prevents these recent graduates from spending, which naturally depresses the economy.

There are many solutions to the student loan dilemma. One potential fix is to bring down the rate to 0.75 percent, the same rate that big banks pay and what Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been recently promoting.

Another option would be the partial forgiveness of debt via the Student Loan Fairness Act, a bill that requires students to pay 10 percent of their income to student loans but forgives the rest after a decade.

Finally, opening up several debt options to students that they currently do not have, such as refinancing or bankruptcy, could give them the flexibility that may allow them to get back on their feet.

Whichever option, or several options, they choose, Congress needs to act now to prevent more harm to college students as well as the rest of the economy. Additionally, retroactive legislation is the fair solution to correct Congress’ inaction.

By: Daily Editorial Board

The June 15 Minneapolis Democratic-Farmer-Labor convention ended without endorsement and visibly weakened the party.

The convention was not without its antics. One of two leading candidates, Councilwoman Betsy Hodges, led a walk-out after the fourth vote, making a quorum doubtful. Rumors of dubious actions — which convention leader Mark Andrews described as “questionable back-room tricks” — only reassured the benefit of having no official DFL endorsement. Without an endorsement, however, the election now has at least some diversity of candidates.

Though there is ranked-choice voting (RCV) come Election Day, the city convention only has a single endorsement after a candidate brandishes 60 percent of delegates’ votes. Candidates who do not prevail at the convention are expected to abide by the endorsement, or risk turning the party against itself or disrespecting the decision of delegates. This is largely why local elections are decided on the endorsement.

RCV, which began in the 2009 city elections, could ensure an array of candidates if used in future DFL conventions. It would leave the party more organized than what we’ll see with the nearly dozen candidates on the ballot in November. This year there was no primary because of RCV implementation, and with so many candidates, it might take vote transfers from among the top three or four finishers before a victor is found with a majority of preferences.

The DFL convention set up the Minneapolis mayoral race to be an exciting, albeit bitter election. An endorsement coming from a chaotic city convention would benefit no one. This is the first Minneapolis mayoral race without an incumbent in decades.  Ultimately it should not be delegates deciding such an open election, it should be voters.

Finally, if RCV is to be used, the DFL should fully commit to maintaining organization and implement the voting method in conventions. 

By: Cody Nelson

Months after the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party endorsed attorney Jacob Frey, he and incumbent Diane Hofstede are still vigorously but quietly campaigning to represent the University of Minnesota area on the Minneapolis City Council.

Though Frey nabbed the party's endorsement in May, he’s working on building the name recognition necessary to unseat Hofstede, who vows to run a “robust campaign” like she has in past years.

As the 2013 election nears, Frey is tapering off his work schedule at Minneapolis law firm Halunen & Associates to campaign for the Ward 3 seat.

He instead favors spending more time at his Nicollet Island-area home, which now serves as campaign headquarters for the more than 600 volunteers working on his campaign.

Meanwhile, seven-year incumbent Hofstede is simultaneously campaigning and working full time as a City Councilwoman for the University’s Marcy Holmes and Dinkytown neighborhoods.

Her campaign is different. As a “public servant,” Hofstede says she's always very involved with constituents — not just during the election cycle.

“For me as a policymaker, the most important part of that is going out and talking with the community,” she said. “Campaigning and door knocking are things I do all the time.”

Pick up Wednesday's Minnesota Daily for a full look at both campaigns and how the race affects University students.

By: Jace Frederick

Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams both had the opportunity to be the first Gophers player taken in the NBA draft since 2004.

But after 60 selections in the June 27 draft, all 30 teams passed on the two forwards.

“You kept hearing names being called and you’re waiting for yours, but it never happened,” Mbakwe said. “It was frustrating. … Obviously you think that you’re probably better than some players who were drafted.”

Now Mbakwe and Williams face a difficult path to making NBA rosters.

Both will play with the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers for the Orlando summer league.

Williams said Philadelphia was the only team to contact him after the draft. Mbakwe said he received several calls but felt the 76ers were a good fit.

Philadelphia appears to be in rebuilding mode. The team traded away its starting point guard Jrue Holiday on draft night and likely won’t be resigning center Andrew Bynum.

“They have a new GM coming in,” Mbakwe said. “Their roster’s kind of broken up. … They like the way I play and they have some open spots.”

Mbakwe sees advantages to rejoining his teammate of four years in Williams.

“We know how to push each other and get each other up,” he said. “It’s kind of nice going through this process with somebody who’s going through it with you.”

Mbakwe said he may consider joining a different team for the Las Vegas summer league, depending on how Orlando goes. Not every NBA team is represented in Orlando, so different opportunities could present themselves in the Las Vegas league.

Mbakwe was projected to be a second-round selection by numerous mock draft websites, while Williams’ stock appeared to lose steam as the draft neared. He was projected to go undrafted in many mock drafts.

Going undrafted isn’t necessarily a death sentence for NBA hopefuls. Players such as Ben Wallace, John Starks and David Wesley went undrafted before having long, successful careers. Undrafted forward Udonis Haslem played a large role on the Miami Heat team that won the NBA championship last month.

Former Gophers center Colton Iverson, who transferred to Colorado State following his junior season in 2011, was drafted 53rd overall by the Indiana Pacers, then acquired by the Boston Celtics via trade.

Only first-round selections are guaranteed NBA contracts. Second-round selections and undrafted players must earn spots on rosters through the NBA summer league and team training camps.

“There’s no pressure,” Williams said. “I’ve just got to go out there and play my game, show them that I know what I’m capable of doing, and I think everything will end up fine.”

By: Jace Frederick

Trevor Mbakwe and Rodney Williams both had the opportunity to be the first Gophers player taken in the NBA draft since 2004.

But after 60 selections in the June 27 draft, all 30 NBA teams passed on the two forwards.

Now Mbakwe and Williams face a difficult path to making NBA rosters.

Both will play on the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers’ summer league team, the Pioneer Press reported Sunday.

Mbakwe was projected to be a second-round selection by numerous mock draft websites, while Williams’ stock appeared to lose steam as the draft neared. He was projected to go undrafted in many mock drafts.

Going undrafted isn’t necessarily a death sentence for NBA hopefuls. Players such as Ben Wallace, John Starks and David Wesley went undrafted before having long, successful careers. Undrafted forward Udonis Haslem played a large role on the Miami Heat team that won the NBA championship last month.

Former Gophers center Colton Iverson, who transferred to Colorado State following his junior season in 2011, was drafted 53rd overall by the Indiana Pacers before being acquired by the Boston Celtics in a trade.

Only first-round selections are guaranteed NBA contracts. Second-round selections and undrafted players must earn spots on rosters through the NBA summer league and team training camps.