In recent decades, and for far too many years, Arabs and Muslims have been routinely victimized when portrayed in films (and even mainstream documentaries). Those who unknowingly or knowingly write, produce, or direct such racist, jingoist, and racially discriminatory content need to be challenged by those of us in this and affiliated industries.
We should not take our cues from the public. Rather, we should set the non-prejudicial tone for the public in every instance. As American film and video producers, we have a high obligation not to participate in advancing apartheid paradigms or anti-Arab apologist propaganda. Whether we like to admit it or not, public actions and policies are affected by the way we characterize groups and individuals in our work. Why trample those toward whom we may not have an affinity, to whom we may be indifferent, or about whom we may not know anything, just because we can?
I encourage fellow Jews and all others not to tolerate or accept the types of Anti-Arab and anti-Muslim stereotypes that we have seen for so many years, and to voice our opposition to such whenever it rears its ugly face.
Louis Gedo
FaunaVision and Missing Link Studio
Flushing, NY
Long Time No Ski
Long Time No Ski
It was a pleasant surprise after all these years to see the Olympic skiing glyph in Part 4 of your Retrospective series (April 2002, pg. 20). The caption did not mention that this image was produced at the Motion Picture Project of Information International Inc. It was based on an earlier Winter Olympic games. Art Durinski created this 3D treatment of the 2D glyph; rendering and animation were probably by Gary Demos. My recollection was that this image was just a test, but never made it to broadcast TV.
To view another TV-themed image made at triple-i "on spec," visit http://www.accad.ohio-state.edu/~waynec/history/tree/images/iii1.JPG.
Craig Reynolds
Growth-Stunting Bugs
"How to Grow-Not!" (April 2002, pg. 2) was a great article about the need to innovate CAD products. You forgot one major issue as part of the price war paragraph, which reads "...develop products and technologies with greater functional capabilities, for which users would be willing to pay a higher price."
I would add that vendors should make sure that software works as advertised. Many bugs are included with every new version that is released-which is not good for keeping customers happy.
If a company produces many different software titles and one of them doesn't work well, then people might be discouraged from buying another title from that company. And if people don't buy the other titles, the company won't try to innovate because "people are not spending the money."
Stephen Galayda
HydraForce
Lincolnshire, IL
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