海角大神

鈥淐aine鈥檚 Arcade鈥� first popped up on my Facebook newsfeed on Monday, with endorsements like: 鈥渙ne of the most beautiful, incredible things I have seen in a long time. I cried my eyes out.鈥�

I clicked and watched the 11-minute film, tears swamping my guarded cynicism as a 9-year-old boy created an arcade made from cardboard boxes in the front section of his father鈥檚 autoparts store in East LA 鈥� his very own small business. 聽

Then I let out mental fist-pumps when hipster filmmaker Nirvan Mullick organized a flash mob to bring little Caine Monroy some customers. I tagged my own subsequent post of the film 鈥淏est. Thing. Ever.鈥� Nuanced, right?

By the time something makes it to my Facebook newsfeed, I know I鈥檓 already a bit behind the 8-ball on a trend. I wondered how long it would take mainstream media 鈥� so driven by Internet trends 鈥� to pick up the story: Days? Hours? Is this the next Kony 2012?

By Thursday afternoon, most of my immediate family members had seen the video and exchanged gushing emails, texts, and Facebook mentions with comments like 鈥渞estores my faith in humanity鈥� and 鈥渆vidence that God exists鈥� (literally) and 鈥渞eminds me of something we/you would have done as kids.鈥�

On Thursday, too, the isolated corners of the Monitor鈥檚 newsroom were abuzz discussing 鈥淐aine鈥檚 Arcade.鈥� Not the Fox mole writing for Gawker. Or Ann Romney the stay-at-home mom vs. Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen. Or charges against George Zimmerman. Or North Korea鈥檚 impending rocket launch. Or talks with Iran. By the afternoon, the Monitor鈥檚 National News editors were discussing the next 鈥淐aine鈥檚 Arcade鈥� story angle.

We 鈥渟erious news organizations鈥� sometimes complain about the ways in which crowd-controlled web currents and Google traffic trends dictate our coverage. Veteran journalists have been known to grumble that they鈥檙e at the whim of the lowest common denominator 鈥� Internet fads driven by fleeting public curiosity.聽

But the Caine鈥檚 Arcade phenomenon 鈥� and the mainstream media coverage that has followed 鈥� makes me happy to be at the whim of the web this time. America chose right with this trend.

That鈥檚 because the 鈥渢rivial鈥� trend we鈥檙e covering this week doesn鈥檛 look like a TMZ-derivative. Nor has it inspired ire a la the Kony 2012 backlash. And I鈥檝e seen no self-righteous finger wagging at us for covering such 鈥渇luff.鈥�

Studies indicate that news consumers want the positive stories 鈥� spotlighting hope, highlighting progress. While 鈥淐aine鈥檚 Arcade鈥� flirts with 鈥渇luff,鈥� its evolution from web trend to news topic bears noting. Its emergence speaks to the symbiotic relationship that 鈥渨e the people鈥� have with 鈥渢he new media landscape.鈥� Public interest fuels the news cycle, which, in turn, feeds public interest.

For all our crusty journalist complaints about the new era of news coverage, Caine Monroy made the virtual front page for all the right reasons. The film recalls universal threads of a great American story: ingenuity, hard work, goodwill, community.

The Caine鈥檚 Arcade phenomenon is more than an opiate to distract from 鈥渂ad news.鈥� It provides another example of how the crowd-sourced web-based world can inform media coverage. And better yet 鈥� how the social, viral nature of Web 2.0 inspires action.

Interconnected youths fomented Arab Spring uprisings via Facebook and Twitter. A Change.org petition helped bring the Trayvon Martin case into the light. Online rage encouraged Bank of America to recall its plan to charge $5 monthly debit card fees.聽

And Caine Monroy now has more than $100,000 in a college scholarship fund.