I saw this at SIFF tonight. Great film about a really interesting character. Great parts on his being embedded with the Hells Angels, his running for sheriff in Aspen and covering the ‘72 McGovern campaign.

I’m surprised he lived as long as he did, but wish he was around to comment on the current politics.

In fairness, I didn’t watch the whole thing.

It’s really tough knowing that my tax dollars fund this government.

While I like to think of myself as fairly informed, watching this I sure realized there is so much I don’t know about the early stages of the war.

It would seem as though they were ill-prepared to the point of absurdity, sending too few people with little in the way of resources and almost no preparation. Ignoring the significant body of work done by intelligence agencies and the advice of military commanders who had run post-conflict zones in the past makes me think that the few people in charge wanted a descent into calamity.

This combination of arrogance and cronyism seems to characterize this administration and will certainly leave a difficult job for the next one to clean up.

A great follow-up to ‘Guns, Germs and Steel’, this book takes a really solid, straightforward look at issues (primarily environmental) that caused the downfall of past societies. This is interesting in and of itself, but the author really succeeds relating these collapses to issues we face today.

The second last chapter in the book is a great read in itself, describing the interplay between big business and the environment and describes how individuals can make a difference.

http://www.luntzspeak.com/graphics/LuntzResearch.Memo.pdf

This is really quite something. A memo by Republican strategist Frank Luntz advising readers how to manipulate language and prolong the global warming “debate”.

“The scientific debate is closing [against us] but not yet closed. There is still a window of opportunity to challenge the science.”

.. later ..

“You need to be even more active in recruiting experts who are sympathetic to your view..”

Sound science indeed.

I suppose a lot of what happened with the Lennons in 1969 was in Canada (most famously the Montreal bed-in), but I was surprised to see so much in Canada. Really cool to see the meetup with Trudeau and John speak about Canada “it’s right next to the other place..”

A ton of awesome footage, especially of an interview with a right wing cartoonist who does his best to get under Lennon’s skin.

I like to think I’m a pretty tolerant person and that I can accept people’s right to their beliefs. These kids don’t have a chance though. Shamed and outright lied to they’re completely manipulated from birth. I found that really tough to watch.

In the pinnacle of hypocrisy, the camp director condemns her “enemies” (in her view all Muslims) for indoctrinating youth with messages of violence and later asks her audience who would be willing to die for Jesus to a crowd of emphatic cheers.

For me, the most interesting part was about 12minutes in. The movie’s featured children are being home schooled in ””science”” by the mother who briefly discusses how global warming isn’t anything to worry about. Since when did the church have anti-regulatory branch? The kids later take a break to watch a pro-creationism DVD where some anti-Bill-Nye ridicules the idea that we could have evolved from a primordial sea (“goo” to him).

Also interesting to see Ted Haggard on there before the whole gay sex and crystal meth thing broke.

I don’t know how christianity in America has become so distorted. Faith has nothing to do with condoms, embryos and climate change. Doing good by your neighbor has nothing to do with forcing them to adhere to your values.

Children shouldn’t wear camouflage, be forced to confess their “sins” to an audience of hundreds or “discover” at five years old that they’re searching for something more out there.

While a bit quirky (probably Williams more than anything) it doesn’t have anything really fanciful / interesting.

Someone previously was spot on in saying that it tries to be deep and fails.

Only 8 minutes. An aspiring film maker takes a look at stereotypes of black women in America. Most interestingly she recreates a 1950s experiment where black children are presented black and white dolls and are asked which they prefer.. most choosing the white one.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=17fEy0q6yqc

Having already seen Manderlay (a follow up) this film was kind of a let down to know how it would all evolve.

Both films were done in a really unique style reminiscent of a theatrical production. They are set on a white canvas and use a minimalist set that allows the entire town to be captured in one frame.