Whites, Gays, Viet Nam and Food

Some days, a movie just hits my brain exactly right.  The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia was that movie today.  It’s like Hoarders, Intervention and Locked Up all in one movie.  It’s a train wreck I can’t look away from.  I highly suggest it.

The Adonis Factor is a movie about gay men’s body issues.  It’s sorta a movie full of DUHHHH.  Lots of hot men, talking about their bodies. Blah Blah.

National Geographic: Vietnam’s Unseen War: Pictures from the Other Side is covering the Vietnam war from the Vietnamese perspective, photos and film.  It is interesting but also a lot of dead people pictures.  I knew it was coming, but I just hate seeing so many dead. 

Ingredients- A discussion of the food industry and how the lack of connection with our food is changing our lives, and not for the better.  We eat food that isn’t good, that is shipped and trucked and gross.  I thought I would enjoy this movie, but it is the same damn movie as Food, Inc, etc. 

Black, Latin American, Iranian, Silly and Crazy

How to Eat Your Watermelon in White Company A story about Melvin VanPeebles’ life.  Melvin is a black filmmaker who was raised in the United States and then moved to France in order to make movies and write.  It is a great story about a man who is both well known and not at all known.  He is the kind of man that lives his life to his own specifications, doing what he wants while loving the people around him. 

South of the Border is an Oliver Stone movie about the leaders of many Latin American countries which have been demonized in the US media.  I am of course focused more on how Oliver Stone uses his interpreters; including waving them over and expecting them to interpret while they are walking along the road.  It’s interesting how this movie explores how the Latin American leaders have been vilified in the media and their people seem to want them there.  One of them said “Now, the leaders of Latin America look like their leaders.” 

Frontline: A Death in Tehran is the story of Neda, a woman who was killed in Iran during the protests following the election.  It is very sad to watch her die, and then to hear about the aftermath.  Her boyfriend was arrested and jailed because he spoke out against the Iranian regime after her death.  Iran’s politics are very sad. 

Up next, Picture Me following the life of a model as she tries to make it in the world of high fashion models.  She seems like a well put together and intelligent woman, who knows that this isn’t a lifetime job, but more of a thing she can do while she is young.  It’s interesting that in the beginning, she is so excited about an $80,000 check, and by the middle of the movie she gets an $112,000 check and it doesn’t feel exciting anymore. You can see that she starts feeling like she is the cash cow for her and her boyfriend. It is a movie that shows how modeling is a fun job, but like any job you aren’t really appreciated for your whole self, but mostly for your body.  Many of the models said over and over they felt like robots.  

Rank is a discussion of the Professional Bull Riding association.  I am having a hard time with this movie because I can’t watch people get stepped on.  The fame goes to the riders, but the “bull fighting clowns” are really more athletic and amazing.  They put their lives on the line over and over.  I will finish this later, because I am not going to be able to finish it today. 

Two and 3/4 days.

We begin today with The Brandon Teena Story.  I have been avoiding this movie like the plague, because I know the story and I hate hearing about it.  So, I am watching it, and it just underscores how people are intolerant of the things they don’t understand.  The murderers seem so blasé about it.  “Oh, I raped her, I mean, had sex with her”.  The cops clearly don’t care…it’s disgusting.  “There was this negro sitting on the floor with a coffee table on its lap”.  Its? Negro? This is a story from the 1990’s, not the 1950’s.  Also, I think it is horribly sad that all the attention is focused on Brandon, and that we learn so little about the two other people that died that night, Phillip and Lisa.  While the reason they died was intolerance over Brandon’s gender identity, they are no less important, and no less dead. 

Next up today is The Garden about a group of farmers who worked a 14 acre field in the middle of

South Central LA.

  They were evicted when the city decided to sell the land that had been vacated for years back to the original owner.  The city council person worked with a community organizer to bring in a soccer field.  It’s crazy. 372 people worked in this garden. All of these guys remind me of my grandpa.  I can’t imagine what would have happened if he lived in a city and found a wonderful place to grow his food and they evicted him.  I think the saddest thing about this movie is the fact that the Black community organizer goes against the Latino farmers.  At one point she says that the farmers are “raping the community” because they have a farmer’s market.  This movie is heartbreaking.  That is all.

Next day…The Philosopher Kings is about janitors working at universities around the country. One of the rules I live by is “If you want to see the truth of a person’s personality, watch how they treat wait staff and janitors.”  This movie shows how many of them are very intelligent and insightful people.  Many of these people are so proud of the work they do, with good reason.  We should take the time everyday to thank the people around us, who work in obscurity.  I guess that how I feel is, if you see someone doing a job that you would never want to do in a million years, you should thank them.

Accelerating America  is about a school in Rhode Island where troubled kids can complete 2 grades in one year.  It allows kids who are behind to catch up to the other kids their age.  It highlights the lives of three kids, all who have messed up lives.  One has three brothers who are all in and out of jail, one whose family left her and moved to the Dominican Republic without even telling her they were leaving, and one whose father moved to New Mexico and wouldn’t give his son his phone number.  Two of the three have now graduated and are planning college, while one dropped out and had a baby.  It was interesting and sad, like most.

Columbine: Understanding Why is a psychological autopsy of the Columbine massacre.  Really, nothing new comes out of it.  The boys were angry and wanted to make a point about bullying, combined with mental illness.  No shocker.

No End In Sight is about the Iraq War and the complete mismanagement and mistakes made by the administration in the beginning, including how the decisions made to disband the Iraqi Army and the Ba’ath Party caused the insurgency, because if they would have gone about that in a more reasonable manner they wouldn’t have ended up with tens of thousands of people without jobs, but with easy access to weapons.  As well, the administration was told about the caches of weapons that were available to the insurgents and did nothing. 

Fagbug.  A lesbian grad student in upstate New York who had a rainbow sticker on her bug had “u r gay” and “fag” spray painted onto it.  It’s a little self-serving, and when people tell her that they think she is making the story into more than it is she gets really upset.  She wanted the crime listed as a hate crime, which is a little much.  She is going on a cross country road trip to get support.  I hate shit like this, but at the same time it makes me want to find some way to have people support me on a long trip.  FagSB! The movie goes from being a good idea to just a one-sided bitch fest about how she isn’t being supported by the gays.  I think part of the problem is that she is comparing herself to true hate crimes, like people who are murdered.  Not so much lady…your car was spray painted.  Yes, it sucks. Yes it could be scary,  but you are making tooo much out of it.  Also, the fact that three people at hotels requested you move it isn’t really that big of a deal. 

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired is a discussion of the Roman Polanski case and his going AWOL to Europe.  The poor girl who he raped said that her life was ruined because of the media exposure, and that the actual rape was less distressing than the media exposure. While an adult having sex with a young girl is never acceptable, okay or something that should be tolerated the way that his case was handled was clearly wrong.  The judge wanted publicity, so continued to make decisions based on the media reports rather than the law. Not acceptable. 

Tuesday; Forgiving the Hot Earth and Humans

The Power of Forgiveness, a group of stories about people who are willing to forgive.  From North Ireland, to the Amish who forgave the man who shot many of their children, to a man who forgave the young man who shot his son.  Interesting stories about how people’s lives have been changed for the better by forgiveness. 

Everything’s Cool…global warming! Whooo hooo for happy movies! This is another movie that is trying to prove a point, but be “unbiased” by interviewing a few people on the opposite side.  It wasn’t bad, but also not the best thing I have ever watched. It basically is a rehash of every other climate change movie you have ever seen. 

National Geographic: Incredible Human Machine, can you guess what it is about? A day in the life of a human body, including what bones are made of, there are 45 miles of nerves, etc. etc.  It’s interesting, but as usual Nat Geo is a little dry.  They try to keep it interesting, but really it comes across as a Biology class.  If I was still in High School Biology, this would be an awesome movie.  Sadly, I am not in HS and this movie was boring.

Monday; Taliban, Lepers, Vinyl, Singers and Nazis

First up this Monday is Frontline; Behind Taliban Lines.  It is interesting to see how the Taliban works, and it seems like the group that this journalist got involved with are the Keystone Kops of the Taliban.  They can’t seem to get their shit together enough to figure out what to do.  I’m sure they can be violent and do great damage, but really they can’t seem to get themselves together enough to do any real damage.  It’s interesting that they all refer to the Americans/Coalition Forces as “the un-believers”. \

Triumph at Carville: A Tale of Leprosy in America.  Who knew there is a leper colony in America? In Carville, LA there is this hospital that has been operating for since the 1920’s working with people with leprosy.  It has been at the forefront of attitude and treatment of leprosy and is credited with finding the cure.  A lot of interviews with the employees, townspeople, patients and families of patients covering how the treatment and attitude toward the disease has changed over the years. 

Blue Vinyl is a diatribe against vinyl.  I get it, but nothing makes me dislike a documentary more than the holier than thou, this is bad and will cause cancer and we aren’t even going to try to present a non-biased argument at all.  Blarg. 90some minutes of preaching is annoying.

Next up is Afghan Star, which is following the contestants in an “American Idol” type of contest in Afghanistan.  One woman danced and uncovered her hair, and it was like she had flopped her tits out.  It was insane.  The song lyrics are also very silly, “The bend of your eyebrow is like the sting of a scorpion”.  I don’t know what that even means, but I can’t stop watching this.  I am waiting for the dancer lady to die.  Wow, they are showing old movies of Afghanistan in the 80’s when there was more freedom. That is very sad.

Inheritance is the very sad story of a woman who found out her father was a Nazi that was hung for war crimes, because he had been the commander of a concentration camp. This story is her going to meet one of the women that had been his “housekeeper” (read housekeeper as slave in his house”.  It is incredibly sad to see how one man destroyed not only his daughter and his wife (who committed suicide) but also the family of the woman he had held (her husband committed suicide as well).  All in all, WWII was a shit sandwich and we should be careful that we don’t go down that road again (that is a message to you teabaggers).

Friday: Jihad, the suburbs, and nerdy hip hop

I’m back! I took a loooong break from my documentary watching, but now I am back! The first movie today is The End of America, which is based on the book of the same name by Naomi Wolf.  I would recommend this movie if you don’t mind freaking out a bit.  She makes 9 points about how America after 9/11 is becoming a closed society and shows the parallels between America and Nazi Germany.  It’s a lecture based documentary, so it’s not thrilling, but it is very interesting. 

American Jihadist  follows a man from DC who converted to Islam and has fought with Islamic groups for most of his life.  He currently lives in Bosnia with his wife and kids.  It really makes it easy to understand how little things in life can lead you down a path that is against the norm. 

Radiant City is all about the sprawling of North America. It is interesting, because it is a Canadian movie but most of the information applies to Canada and the US.  It talks about how the suburbs are really destroying the fabric of life.  It’s sad to watch the kids who are scheduled everyday.  So, it’s sorta messed up because this entire documentary is fake.  Not ok. I dislike.

Nerdcore Rising…I enjoyed.  It is a big ole nerd fest, which I always enjoy.  Funny movie about a guy who is doing nerdy hip hop.  It’s pretty fun to watch.  The movie is entertaining and silly, which is about what it should be.  The hiphop is…ok. 

Secrets, Life, Prison, Voting

Secrecy is a movie about the US Government’s secrecy programs.  It costs almost 8 billion dollars to keep the secrets secret.  That seems like a decent place to do some deficit reduction, but that’s just me.  Movies like this make me hate the government.  I can’t even say much about it, because it just makes me crazy that the government will keep things hidden rather than admit things.  Even worse is when they say something is classified for security reasons and then it comes to light that it was just to hide their mistake. BLARG!

Up Syndrome is the story of two kids who grew up as best friends, and are now adults.  One of them is a man with Down Syndrome.  I am always afraid to start movies like this, because so often the person with the disability is treated like they aren’t a real person, but just their disability.  Instead, the director of the movie (who is the best friend) treats him like he is just another guy, making fun of him, teasing him, talking about women, doing all the things that guys do together.  The movie isn’t set up to exploit this man, but instead is just an honest account of their friendship.  You can sense the love that these two men have for each other, and while the movie drags a bit in places, it is a respectful portrayal of the life of a young man with Down’s syndrome and his relationships.  It is the coming of age story of a young man, graduating school, trying to find a job, enjoying time with friends, girlfriend dumping him; he just happens to have a disability.  I am impressed with how the documentarian did such a good job of making him into the guy next door, and his Down’s Syndrome is a piece of his life not the whole of it.  I think the most touching part of the movie is when Rene, the subject of the movie, is given the chance to drive for the first time, and he just laughs the whole time so clearly enjoying himself.  Rene’s dream was to be a cop, and so he is driving around this totally empty area and the director says “Look at you, crusin’ like a cop”, and the smile on his face is so amazing.  On a personal note.  I miss you Roy, Brandon and Carlos. 

Deadline is a story about the death penalty, using the Governor of  Illinois deciding to abolish the practice in his state as the start of the story.  It isn’t really an anti-capital punishment movie, but more about how it should be used more sparingly. Seriously, how did we elect George W?  There were more executions in Texas in five years (1995-2000) than there were in the entire United States from 1976-2000 (143). 

So Goes The Nation is a discussion of the ways that Ohio is an important state during Presidential elections.  The movie follows both sides during the 2008 election.  It’s a lot of blah blah politics blah blah.  It also shows how underhanded both sides are.  I should stop watching movies about the government, because right now I am getting annoyed.  Also, I get that you have to accept volunteers, whomever shows up, but the Democrats need to get more people that aren’t so freaky looking or socially awkward.  Wow, a Republican strategist just said they target the elite to get them to come to vote for Bush, and then those people will tell the people under them who to vote for.  Yep, Obama is the elitist! You know, it is so sad to me to watch young people screaming horrible things to each other, over a presidential election.  Something they really have no control over. I’m watching this movie like I don’t know who is gonna win. Seriously, I’m getting all excited that Kerry is ahead, and then I remember he didn’t win.

Death, Horse, Death, the Devil, and a CRAZY person

A Family Undertaking is a movie about home burials and taking care of our dead loved ones at home.  This movie is incredible.  I think that one man whose wife had just died and they were taking care of her at home summed it up the best, that having her in the home after she died was more helpful for the family to see that she was truly gone.  Another woman who lost her seven year old daughter in a car accident was talking about how her two sons were in the car when the accident happened, and after she felt that if her daughter’s body would have been taken to a funeral home, the boys would never have gotten the opportunity to understand and see that their sister had died.  Great movie, I highly recommend.  It’s making me want to go take the $465 course to become a home death practitioner. 

HeroinTown is a movie about a news story.  60 Minutes came and did a story about this small town and it’s horrible heroin problem.  This movie is in response to the 60 Min story, and yet it is really poorly done. It’s like they gave a camera to someone and said
“here, make a movie” and he did.  Not worth watching, didn’t keep my interest, I was ready for it to be done after 15 minutes, and then it kept going for another hour and seven minutes. It does make me a little melancholy for the Curben. 

Right To Exit is a movie about Dr. Kevorkian’s legal battle and time in prison.  He was a fascinating man, played the flute, spoke five languages, incredibly intelligent.  Good movie, I had just seen all the info before.

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story.  Lee Atwater was a Republican campaign manager who worked for many, many candidates, and was the guy who came up with many of the dirty tricks that the Republicans use still.  He seems like the kind of person I have no respect for, he didn’t actually believe in the Republicans ideals, he just did it to make a name for himself.  He is Karl Rove’s mentor.  He used a opponents mental health history and said that he had been “hooked up to jumper cables”.   He was the architect of the “Willie Horton” ads, and changed the face of politics to this day.  Interesting movie, very well done.

Alive! Is Michael Jackson Really Dead?  This is a crazy movie.  I enjoy conspiracies, but this one is silly.  Things like the fact that the autopsy has the name “Michael Joseph Jackson” but his name is really “Michael Joe Jackson”.  Seriously.  This movie is messed up, with no real details but just questions and things like “Elvis lived in Graceland, MJ lived at Neverland”.  Seriously, crazy! She is adding meaning to his dancing, like making it into sign language. HA! Ok, she just used the Weekly World News as a source.  This movie is BS!

Pot, Pimp, Passing on

Square Grouper is a movie about the South Florida pot trade, focusing on three stories of groups of people that were caught smuggling.  It gets to the point where you have seen one of these drug smuggling movies, you have seen them all! Not really all that interesting, but filled some time.

Katt Williams: Nine Lives is a back stage look at Katt Williams, that he didn’t seem to be involved in the making of.  It ha some good interviews with people, but it seems to be light on facts, it’s kinda like a behind the music without the musicians. J  I think Katt Williams is one of the best comedians to come out of the US in the past 20 years, and this movie really didn’t give me any more information than I had before I watched it.  It did make me laugh though.

Frontline: Facing Death is a very well done look at people facing end of life decisions, and the difficulty that surrounds making those choices.  Frontline always does a good job of presenting an even story on hard issues.  This is a well done film, and the families that they profiled were very strong when facing hard choices.  I know that it would be difficult for people to say yes, it’s time to take them off the machine, but people should really think about that more.  When your mother is old, has Alzheimer’s and is on a ventilator, she doesn’t want you to give her a tracheotomy.  Trust me. 

God, Iraq, Coffee and Jail

You know how sometimes, you have no motivation to do anything, even something as simple as finding and watching documentaries? Ok, well that is my life this last week.  I watched a lot of The Event, and the Daily Show, and Law and Order. 

A few docs made it; Selling God which is a funny and smart look at how churches use marketing tactics to get more people into the pews.  It is clearly biased against evangelicals, so you know I enjoyed it. :D

Iraqi’s Hired Guns is a NatGeo doc about Iraq.  Nat Geo loves Iraq! It’s your typical Iraq movie, talking about contractors working in Iraq.  It is a little odd to me how this show explains in decent detail how to make an IED called an EFP Explosive Formed Penetrator.  Thanks NatGeo!   

Hot Coffee is a great movie about the civil judicial process and how the media uses half-truths to convince people that capping civil judgments and having strict Tort Reform is the way to go, when it really harms people.  This movie made me a little sick, because for example, the woman who spilled McDonald’s coffee on herself, that was the butt of many jokes about frivolous lawsuits…that woman had third degree burns all over her inner thighs from the coffee.  She had to have skin grafts, and only sued after McDonalds refused to pay for her medical expenses.  Great movie. (this is available on HBO but not Netflix, so sue me).

Next up is After Innocence about people who were convicted of crimes and then exonerated after DNA evidence was tested.  Some of these guys were exonerated, but their records weren’t expunged and so they still have to say they were convicted of a crime, even though they were released because there was evidence they didn’t commit the crime.  That’s messed up. Holy crap, the guys who are released are given no services like parolees get.  Just the money in their accounts and their property.  Messed. Up. You know, I just keep watching movies about how embarrassed Americans should be.  Seriously.

Polka, Jesus, Videogames and Whine

Up first today is The Man Who Would be Polka King.  It’s about a man named Jan Lewan who was a polka star in PA, and who ran a ponzi scheme.  Old people lost a ton of money, but I mean, I’m sorry to say this, but who invests money in a polka band and gift shop? I mean…common sense people. Jan is a pretty amazing individual, just so full of himself and how important he could be.  Now he sits in state jail. Oh…something bad is about to happen…yep…four months after he went to jail he got stabbed, but lived.  The victims that he conned all say that the guy didn’t stab him enough since he lived.  WOW, people hate him. 

The next movie up is For the Bible Tells Me So, about the view of homosexuality by the Christian Church.  So far, the best quote was from Jimmy Swaggart, he of the prostitute hiring and lying, “I have never seen a man I would want to marry, and if one of them looks at me like that I will kill him and tell God he died.” This movie is really good.  They seem to be fairly balanced…although they are somewhat pro-gay I will admit. They point out that many Biblical literalists collect interest on investments, which is against God.  Oh, this is going to be fun for me, thank you movie for yet another awesome comeback! There is a woman who rejected her lesbian daughter because of the advice of her church, and because of her learning from Focus on the Family.  The daughter then killed herself, and the woman realized how much she had missed by rejecting her daughter. 

Now playing is Playing Columbine, which says that it is a discussion about a video game called “Super Columbine Massacre RPG!”. It was a Role Player Game where you are the shooters in Columbine.  The movie touches on this topic, but really focuses more on how society blames video games and television etc, for the violence and school shooting.  It is an interesting movie, a little heavy handed with the message, but since I agree with it I like the movie.

Last movie for today is Odds of Recovery about some lady who had a bunch of surgeries.  Ok, so I am not a fan.  I don’t like movies with no spoken narration but rely on short sentences to move the story.  I also am not a fan of the camera work in this movie, because it rarely is focused on a person, but is mostly on other things.  I am really not a fan, it seems like she is just focused on whining about her doctors.

crazy, death, iraq

First up today is Frontline: The Released about how mentally ill inmates get better treatment in jail/prison than they do when they are released, which causes a cycle of criminal behavior.  In the 70’s the government closed a lot of mental instructions, for preference of “home care”.  The problem is that the home care never materializes, so prisons have become the new mental instructions.  So many people have no help with their mental health problems and we are making them criminals instead of getting them treatment.  This movie makes me miss the place I lived when I was 18, the Curben.  I was surrounded by people with serious mental illness most days, and I miss that sometimes.  Sometimes I think that I should go try to work with the homeless mentally ill, because it is always interesting.

Moving on in a frontline sort of day to Frontline: Post Mortem about death investigations in the US and the lack of standardization.  Pretty decent movie, here it is in a nutshell.  Some coroners don’t know what they are doing, there is a lot of corruption, there is no standardization, and no real qualifications.  Interesting movie, but not a lot to say about it.

(in here I had a three hour Intervention break)

Three Soldiers is the story of three soldiers who committed suicide in Iraq.  Operation Iraqi Freedom has had the highest levels of suicide in Army history. The families say they can’t believe that their loved one committed suicide, and the army says that the people who had the most severe mental health issues would be unlikely or unable to seek treatment.  While this movie is about a serious topic, it is not a well made movie.  The stories switch back and forth with no segues and it gets a bit confusing after a while.  Also they say it is about three soldiers, but really it is about two, with two others mentioned briefly.

Food, Flights and Colonists

It’s been a few days, but I have had to lay of the docs for a few.  The subject matter of most docs, or at least the ones I find interesting, is sadness.  I have been a little too sad in my own head, so I have been watching bad tv instead. :D 

Yesterday though, I did watch a couple.  The first was called I Like Killing Flies about a man who runs a tiny restaurant in NYC.  He has like, over 500 menu items, and the movie just discussed his deciding after 25 some years to move to a different location.  It was interesting, and the people were freaks.  He would throw people out of the restaurant if they were a party of more than four.  It was funny.

Second, I watched Super Carrier which was discussing the USS Eisenhower after it had been retrofitted, and was getting certified for combat.  It talked a lot about how carriers work, and how they fling the jets off and catch them when they come back.  There is also some accident footage, which was creepy.  One guy got sucked into an engine, and lived! Wow!

The last one was Jamestown, which was discussing how the Jamestown colony was founded, and what happened to the settlers, and who their mysterious leader was.  It was…um…very scientific.  Zzzzzzzzzzz Makes me sad when I realize how little I care about history. 

Hippies, haters, debt

Commune is the first movie of the day.  Ha, I love it when semi famous people show up in movies as a participant. Peter Coyote is in this, because he lived on the commune for a while. I think that what this movie does a good job of showing is that sometimes, what is good for an individual is not good for anyone who is dependant on that individual.  This was a very well done movie, showing both the good and bad of communal life as realized by Black Bear Ranch.

I decided what is better after a movie about peace loving hippies than to go directly to Blood in the Face, which is about White Power idiots.  So far, I have heard an old fat white guy say with pride “We are more Nazi than the Nazis”.  A German immigrant saying “We should send the foreigners back to Africa where they belong”.  Um….it’s sad when you are so stupid you don’t even know what you are saying.  It is amazing to me as I watch this movie how few white racists are educated and well to do.  It is so easy for people to blame their issues on others, and these KKK/WAR/ANP people are just blind.  Blaming everyone but themselves for their place in society. Ok, during the KKK wedding, the reverend said “Bless them in Jesus name, the youngest son of God the Father”.  God had other sons? I need more information! “Why can people want to save the whales, but not the white race?” Because no one is persecuting and killing white people en masse.  “You don’t see dogs going outside of their species, why would people?”  Well see sweetie, dogs are the species, and they mix breeds all the time.  In humans, that is our species and our races are breeds so to speak so your argument is retarded. Oh, hey, that’s Micheal Moore doing one of the interviews, this must have been damn near his first movie. 

Moving on to the next movie, it is called I Want Your Money and it’s a tea-party movie.  Socialism is bad, because if you give people the same things, everything will stop working.  Oh my hell, it’s like a giant love story to Ronald Regan.  For real people, he wasn’t THAT great of a president. “A recession is when your neighbor loses his job, a depression is when you lose yours.”  So, what if you are the neighbor? So, the movie while a big ole love affair with Regan and hatin’ Obama, it is saying that W did a bad job…so I guess I can agree with that. :D  Ok, this movie is clearly a bunch of white rich guys, with the occasional rich black guy thrown in, complaining about being taxed.  I hate taxes too, but I think that when you start saying that American corporations are here to help the people, I call Bullshit!

Frontline: the Card Game, which is about credit in the United States.  I have to say that the former CEO of Providian is pretty ballsy to say “Yep, we just wanted to add fees so that we would make more money”.  I mean, at least he is telling the truth. I have such a brain crush on Elizabeth Warren. People throw around the “this will destroy America” phrase so often it has lost meaning.  Restricting credit card fees is not going to destroy America, it is just gonna piss off the banks.

Confessions, executions and bombs

I had to finish watching the abortion movie this morning.  Nothing like dismembered fetus parts first thing in the morning to really get you moving!

Second I watched Frontline: The Confessions which explains the case of the “Norfolk Four” who were four men who were browbeat into confessing to gang rape and murder, even though their DNA didn’t match and the person who actually committed the crime said over and over he did it alone.  Sigh.  It’s amazing how people don’t understand why someone would falsely confess…I get it.  I know that I would say whatever someone wanted to hear if they had me in a room annoying me for eight hours. 

Next up is Sacco & Vanzetti was a famous case of two men being convicted of murder when there was no real case against them.  The two men were Italian anarchists and they were not given most of the rights that are supposed to be given to people in American courts.  They were branded as Communists (kinda like if you get called a Muslim now) and convicted and sent to death, and the conviction was based almost completely on false evidence and racism.  Granted, it took place right after World War I, but it still happens now.  The jury foreman’s friend stated that he thought that they might be innocent, and the foremen replied “doesn’t matter, we should hang them anyway”. 

To Die in Jerusalem is about two young girls killed in a suicide bombing in Israel.  They look very similar, but one of them is the suicide bomber, and one a victim.  This movie is very sad, talking to both parents and friends of the bomber and the victim.  Their injuries were mirror imaged, and their faces look so similar that when one father was looking at a picture of the two girls, he pointed out the wrong one as his daughter.  As you see both families struggling to understand the death of their child, you can see why there is such a struggle for peace.  There is no communication, no way for the two sides to see anything but the ugly of the other side, and it is depressing. Something as simple as two people having coffee, two people who live 30 miles apart, but separated by ideology and borders, takes 4 years for them to finally meet, and then only via satellite.  Even during this opportunity for the two mothers to come together, they couldn’t find any common ground.   

Dysfunctional Drugs and Abortion

Today I watched a lot of Intervention for the first half of the day.  I just needed something that would pass the time while I did some other things, so that Intervention is it!  

I then went to watching a movie called October Country which is about a very dysfunctional family.  It’s pretty slow…a dad with PTSD, mom who allows everyone to walk on her, sisters who have all had babies early, and now those babies are having babies.  These dysfunctional family movies are never interesting to me, it’s always just like watching home videos.  The people never learn, they continue to make the same mistakes, and it is just annoying.  Sigh, not much longer till this one is over. Note: This family needs to see and understand toothpaste, toothbrushes and dental appointments.

America’s Drug War: The Last White Hope is a movie I have seen before.  It is a report on the way that the government uses illegal drugs to punish the poor.  It’s a pretty good movie, and it goes through how the drug war is a dangerous and expensive war that is doing nothing. 

Moving on to Unborn in the USA, which I am only 2 minutes in and I already would like to let the director know that he needs to speed up the background music.  I am falling out asleep here. Oh my hell, we now get to watch a pro-life training, including a fun discussion of how to witness to a woman who was raped and had an abortion, including a handout called “What if she was raped??”   I might throw up. The people who protest and yell at people who are going into the abortion clinics make me angry.  Perhaps I should start yelling at people when they go into churches.  I understand the anti-choice folk’s perspective, but it doesn’t make me think they are fair. There was one woman who had seven abortions, and now is blaming the abortions for her medical problems.  Really? I am seriously pro-choice, and I think that if you have had seven abortions, there is something really, really wrong with you.  Also, you can’t blame your breast cancer on your abortion, just because you had both doesn’t mean they are related and you regret your abortion. 

Nat Geo

Happy Monday!  Last week was not great, there was some work stress, and some medical stress, but now I am back and ready to go! 

I decided today will be a National Geographic day.  So everything watched is a NatGeo show!

Camp Leatherneck is another movie about Afghanistan.  I know that it is important to see the war in action, but these movies are always the same.  Look, it’s tough. Look at us winning hearts and minds, go team.  I like the war movies that aren’t national geographic because they are normally less formulaic. 

Science of Evil is discussing evil and how it is portrayed throughout the world.  They discuss Jeffery Dahmer getting baptized, and how that was controversial due to him being considered such evil.  It also talks a lot about Africa and how normal people are sometimes driven to evil actions by circumstance.  I think that is a very valid point that is often forgotten in the discussion of evil, that people can be drawn into it very easily.  They also interviewed the man who ran the Stanford prison experiment in the 70’s which showed how quickly people can become both accepting of abuse and abusive when given power or lack of power.  They also discuss mapping of our brains when making decisions that can be considered evil.  For example, if you see a bleeding woman by the side of the road should you help even if it will ruin your fancy suit.  (Um, no, suit isn’t as important as woman’s life for me at least). 

Inside the Body Trade  is all about the market for organs, both legal and illegal.  There is much ado about how in china many people get organs from executed people, which I don’t think is right to do without telling the person who is being executed, but I also don’t see it as a big thing to get upset about.  I guess that if someone was to offer to pay off my student loans and pay for grad school, I would give them one of my kidneys in a hot second. 

China’s Lost Girls, which is about girl babies in China.  First of all, Lisa Ling needs a better stylist.  Her jeans are U-G-L-Y she ain’t got not alibi! First story is about Marissa, a Chinese girl that was abandoned at three days old and adopted to a couple in Atlanta.  I think this couple is doing the right thing, they are taking her to Chinese dance lessons and take her back to China.  It is interesting to me how the people of China are put in such horrible positions, give up or kill your child, or be fined thousands of dollars.  So horrible. Chinese men better start enjoying man sex, because there are 13,000 more boys than girls in China now, and that is only getting worse. In 2020 they believe there will be 40,000,000 men who can’t find wives because there are no women, which can cause all sorts of increases in crimes against women. It was heartbreaking to watch American couples come to pick up their new child the looks on their faces is pure joy, and the babies are screaming and looking terrified.  One family who has an older daughter that was adopted from China went back and put up a poster in the park where she was found that said her daughter was safe and loved in the United States.  The Chinese people were so conflicted, some were saying that they were happy for the girl, but many were saying how sad there are that the girl will not be proud of China.  It’s a catch 22, but I do think that parents in the United States are better than a box in a park. Now, what is happening in China is that the single children are getting spoiled and fat, unlike what is happening here in America, where parents have multiple children who get spoiled and fat.

Inside the Embassy; Ambassadors is all about being an Ambassador.  I would love to be an ambassador, or at least in the foreign service.  This movie is sorta like watching a grade school movie, and not super informative.  It totally feels like a movie I would have made for a history class, but with better interviews.  I just can’t get into this information, because it seems like a movie about people who want to show how cool they are. 

Ballet and Guns

Only When I Dance is a great movie about two kids who are growing up in the slums(sorta) of Rio and who only have the chance to get out via ballet/dancing.  I think that this kind of movie is great, but it also sets up people for the idea that all you have to do is work hard in one thing and you will be a great success.  Except, of the two main characters in this movie, only one is having success.  The other is stuck in Rio with loans to pay and no way to make money except for teaching dance.  Sad for the one who is stuck, happy for the kid in NYC following his dream.

The End is about the East End in London, and the gangs that run it.  The movie is a little slow, plus it was filmed in black and white, which is an artistic choice I do not like.  The weirdest thing is listening to these old white guys with English accents who are all dressed pretty nicely talking about stabbing people and getting nicked by the cops.  I wish often that I was British, because I like the way they speak.  I think I am going to try to start using the word nicked more.  Ok, so halfway through the movie, all of a sudden it becomes born again gangsters.  English people are weird, and by and large super polite.  Criminals who say things like “It’s not the immigrants fault they have taken over the East End, they could afford to live there right?”

Crime, crime, crime.

Argggggggggg! I keep losing the power on the computer, so I have to keep re-writing this!

First movie of the day was The Art of the Steal, about the change of hands of the Barnes Collection, one of the largest and most impressive collections of early modern and impressionist art.  Basically, the state and city stole this collection, doing exactly what was clearly described as what NOT to do.  Very sad to see someone’s wishes completely ignored by people who decide what THEY want is best, no matter what evidence to the contrary is available. 

Second I watched ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ, I mean Future by Design.  I really thought I would be very interested in this movie; about a man who has been designing for the future since the 50’s…integrating environmental factors into the design.  I wish this movie was even close to interesting, but it was not. B O R I N G

The Power of Forgiveness is about Karla Faye Tucker, a woman who was executed in Texas for murder.  She gained a lot of public attention because she found Jesus in prison and then a bunch of evangelical Christians all wanted her sentence to be commuted to life since she had changed with the lord.  I wasn’t impressed with this movie, it was all god and very little information about her.  It was short, so that’s good.

Aileen Wuornos: The Selling of a Serial Killer.  This movie is about the making of a documentary about Aileen Wuornos and how her lawyer and adopted “mother” were making money off of her story of being a killer.  It is interesting to see the perversion of the justice system in action.  If not for money, I doubt anyone would know nearly as much as they do about this woman.  It seems like her lawyer, the police, everyone just wanted to make a buck and their name from this case, and no one really thought about the woman who actually committed the crime, and who was sorta screwed by everyone involved. 

Frontline: The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan talks about the ancient and current practice of Bachi Bazi, which is using young boys for sex and dancing.  Apparently, among the commanders of the Northern Alliance, it is important to have a boy.  It is a symbol of status to have a little boy you can use as you wish. I am amazed by the fact that pedophilia is rampant all over the world.

Frontline: Death by Fire.  Today has been a big day for the crime doc, and a big day to see how no matter how much you think that good wins, it doesn’t. This doc is about a man in Texas who was executed for setting his house on fire and killing his three daughters, except for the part where he didn’t actually do it.  Fire science showed that the fire that he was supposed to have set was actually not set.  Seriously, we need a wake up in this country, because since the man was in Texas, the governor wouldn’t even give him a 30 day stay to figure out if the science was correct or not, he just got killed.  Sad.

bad movies, good music and trees

So…I can’t remember what I watched yesterday morning, because it was a busy day, so hopefully if I see it again I will remember, but if not, oh well!  That is the problem with watching so many docs everyday…I am having a hard time keeping them all separate in my mind.  I have had to start writing the blurbs as I am watching, or directly after so as to not mess them up. 

Today’s first flight of fancy is The 50 Worst Movies Ever Made.  YAY! This is silly, it’s a countdown of the worst movies.  Troll is only number 48, so this could really get bad.  Oh wow, the title doesn’t lie.  These movies are b a d! Firebird 2015 looks funny…and set so close to now.  Ok, Xanadu is not a bad movie.  It is an awesome movie.  I need to check when this movie was made, because all of the really bad movies are from the pre-2000, and there have been some really bad movies made since then.  The winner for worst movie?? The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.  I think I will have to agree with them on this. 

Next up is Who Is Harry Nilsson (and Why Is Everyone Talkin’ Bout Him?).  Harry Nilsson is a songwriter/singer who wrote some of the most beautiful songs from I remember from when I was growing up.  I think this movie is something like a “Behind the Music”.  It is so amazing how many songs this man wrote! It’s like every song I am thinking “really? This one too?”  This is one of the best docs I have seen in a while.  Close to two hours long but really engaging. 

National Geographic: Climbing Redwood Giants is another National Geographic movie.  They are always interesting and beautiful, but I get a little bored with the lack of action.  The trees are amazing of course, I miss Northern Cali.  Hell, I just wish the PNW.  All in all, it’s a national geo movie and it’s good if you are looking.  Note: People who climb the giant redwoods are nuts! “After a nasty day of bushwhacking, Faye declares victory”…hahahaha. The redwoods are growing faster than humans are removing them! YAY!

I had a bad afternoon, and then watched Hoarders. :D

politics, porn and death

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Harry Potter gets Hammered.

Sorry I haven’t had time the last few days to watch movies, plus I had a staff meeting, then Memorial Day.  Today, I am starting off with We are Wizards which is about Harry Potter fans.  Rock on.  Ok, so Harry and the Potters is a “Dragon Rock” band, and they sorta suck, but Draco and the Malfoys rock. :D  I love me some Harry Potter, but I don’t get the people who make it into their life.  This movie is interesting, but they keep cutting in old film clips, and it is distracting and doesn’t make any sense.  I am a little let down by this movie, because it seemed like the filmmakers didn’t really want to go too in depth about anyone, which they should have.   I would have voted for the lady that made the “Is Harry Potter Leading our Children to Witchcraft” movie.  She’s a nutter, and I would love to hear more about her!

Second movie of the day is Beer Wars. So far so good, who knew that there so much competition in the beer world of the United States.  Beer is declining, but only for the major brewers (Coors, Bud, and Miller).  Small breweries are booming, as is imported beer. Makes sense since Coors, Bud and Miller are nasty. This war has been going on since 1970. It is interesting to see the different small brewers who have .0002% of market share, but are running at full capacity in order to keep up with their orders. Budweiser spends $800,000,000 a year in advertising, and $300,000,000 on sponsorships of events, including sponsoring the Presidential debates.   Anhauser Busch bought Rolling Rock and then shut down their brewery and moved it.  Wrong.  They own like 84 different small brands…some they don’t even mark as theirs.   This movie just made me a little sad.  I would love to be doing what I love every day, and to be passionate about building a business.  I was for a while, but that ended, and now I need something else.  Beer isn’t the thing, but I need a purpose.  Grad school should help for a while, but the people in this movie are so passionate, and I would like that back. 

I just watched a commercial for a toilet, a minute and a half of my life wasted on a commercial for a fancy toilet with a remote.  Why the fuck would a toilet need a remote???

Abuse, God, Drugs and more Drugs.

Yesterday I didn’t post anything, I watched two movies, one called Awful Normal about a woman who goes and confronts the friend of her father that sexually abused her.  It was good that the woman and her family were telling the story, but the execution of the movie was only so so.  It felt like a therapy project more than a movie for distribution.  I also thought it was odd that in the end, she hugged him and forgave him, which I just didn’t get.

The second movie yesterday was The God Who Wasn’t There about a man’s journey to find his atheism after growing up a fundamentalist Christian.  Not bad, some interesting interviews, but nothing to write a blog about.

Actually, that’s not fair to either of these movies, they were both pretty good, I was just distracted yesterday.  I am thinking about applying to grad school so I was working on that rather than paying attention to the movies.  Bad me. 

Today however, I can’t seem to get the Amazon to work, and Netflix is blocked, so today may be an all Law and Order day. J

HA! I found a work around, Hulu.  Although they have a SHIT-EYE selection of documentaries, so we are starting off with American Meth narrated by Val Kilmer.  Wow, I learned something new about meth, that some addicts will drink trucker pee they find in bottles on the road thinking that if the trucker does meth, that they can recycle some of the active ingredients.  WTF????  Decent movie for yet another “OMG, Meth is bad” doc.

Since I have limited access today, I have moved on to American Drug War which I am pretty sure I have seen before, but am watching again because I don’t remember it and it wasn’t rated.  Ok, now that I am twenty minutes in, I have totally watched this before.  It is a good one, just another discussion of the drug war.  Man, seems like everyone with a camera wants to make drug war stories. 

Detroit 187 is where I went...booo! It's another bad cop show, but not as entertaining as Law and Order.