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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