Written By: Daniel Kwak Research By: Jesus Miguel Palomares Edited By: Ben Albers Managing Editor: Kirk Strohman Despite the amount of behind-the-back trash-talking and whispered secrets passed along in e-mails between friends, we feel at ease because our electronic correspondence is secure, right? While most take solace in the fact that their e-mail accounts can [...]

Written By:  Casey E.R. Sanders Researched By:  Moorisha Bey-Taylor Edited By:  Stephen Robbins Managing Editor:  Mary Anne Nash Every week, Animal Planet airs the reality television series “Whale Wars.” The show chronicles the missions of the radical environmental group Sea Shepherd as they attempt to disrupt the Japanese whaling fleet from the hunting of minke [...]

American motion picture studios have a bipolar reputation. There is the glamorized but satisfying notion of Hollywood as being a delightfully messy mixture of high-powered fast-talkers, gonzo auteurs who will do anything for their art, sleazy agents, stylish stars, and the distinct possibility to dreams may very well come true. However, there is also the doleful realization that movie studios are almost all merely one branch of multinational corporations, those unappealing guys who combine all the worst qualities of bureaucracy, economics, and salesmanship. Movie studios are big businesses, and while making movies often involves art, entertainment, and attractive distillations of cool, they also have to keep an eye on profit margins and bottom lines.