So we got our first shipment of Residence Life Cinema movies in the office today. It's kind of a neat program- you basically rent movies to show on your campus TV station (the one here is basically a video bulletin board that simulcasts the radio station) at your convenience. Cost is pretty good, too, about $100 a month per movie, a great deal when you consider what it costs to rent a film (and the rights to show it) for a theatrical viewing on campus.

Titles are a mixed bag of recent releases. Riding in Cars with Boys is currently playing, and we also have The One, K-PAX, The Musketeer, and some that are a little older (like The Insider, back when Russell Crowe managed his anger better).

We also have some short educational films that we show as well. Most are fairly typical titles- avoiding college stress, alcohol awareness, etc.- but there's one that just stands out.

Its title: Join the Crowd

Now I have no idea what this movie is about; for all I know it's about joining the crowd to stand against hate. But the title just smacks off all those social engineering films they showed our parents in high school to make them good Eisenhower Republicans. Is it any wonder we had the Summer of Love and the Me Decade after an all-out assult for normalcy?

Speaking of social engineering films, I highly recommend Mental Hygiene, a book by Ken Smith that provides not only a great compendium of films and synopses, but some history into the genre and the studios that made them.

If you're really wanting to get into it, though, point yourself over to Fantoma Films to get one of the three volumes of such movies they offer (this link goes to the social engineering volume, but there are also volumes on sex & drugs, drivers' ed, and "on the job"). And they're on DVD!