I’m breaking my (unintended) blog silence by posting something about a woman who has been demonized by both sides of the political spectrum for doing what she considered to be right. Cindy Sheehan officially announced her resignation as the face of the anti-war movement yesterday morning. She was in a difficult place, fighting for justice for not only her son but all who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan while attempting to remain as unpartisan as possible. I have not supported her methods 100% of the way but her letter shows that she remains a fighter for peace and justice and I admire her for her strength and determination to reach a common good.
Technorati Tags: cindysheehan, iraq
Words cannot describe this powerful movie. Some scenes were so hard to watch I almost turned the movie off and threw my computer across the room. The movie makes a very direct and real statement about overcoming racism and racist beliefs from the point of view of a reformed white supremacist. American History X is the kind of movie you need see in your lifetime, it’s that important.
Technorati Tags: movies
Trainspotting is about the lives of Scottish heroin addicts. Sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, the movie is a little hard to understand for the inexperienced at some points because drunken Scottish accents slur.
The movie has original cinematography and a nice soundtrack. I wouldn’t recommend it for the squeamish, especially if you’re afraid of needles. Along with heroin though, there is fecal matter literally thrown around.
The story and the characters offer a sad (and sickly humorous) look into the life of an addict. The narration gives a sort of messed up voice of conscience, especially while the main character is transitioning off or back on to addiction.
For example, at the beginning of the movie, he decides to go cold turkey. He’s got all his supplies ready and has boarded the door shut, Then takes two valium just so he’s ready. However, he can’t wait until the valium kick in so he rips down the boards off his door and goes to find another hit. It’s very sad but the narrator is there to justify everything in a completely irrational way.
4/5
Technorati Tags: movies, trainspotting
My dad sent me a 1 month trial for Netflix last week and, not planning to eventually upgrade and pay for the service, I decided to go for the full on 4-disc-at-a-time monster package. I got my first movies yesterday and decided that I will milk this month for all its worth and try to watch at least one movie every day for the trial.
The first movie I watched was Fast Food Nation and I started watching it at about 9:30 last night. When I first heard of the movie, I assumed it was a documentary but soon realized that this was a fully produced film with actors and the whole ensemble.
The movie was obviously a critique of the fast food industry but the narrative covered many important social topics in the United States, the most obvious being illegal immigration. I was really surprised at the slaughterhouse scenes because, I’m assuming, they used real meat. The memorable parts were not any witty dialogue or the fact that almost half the movie was in spanish but rather the images of cows being killed. The last scene in the slaughterhouse was so gruesome, I felt sick while I was watching it.
3/5
Technorati Tags: fastfoodnation, movies
The Internet prides itself in being inherently anti-establishment. The users on digg think they have it all figured out and can bring the political system to its knees. Reddit prides itself on being a more intelligent digg and yet still has all of the same characteristics. However, by creating these lofty ideas of themselves users on sites like digg and reddit can lose touch with the original goal of expanding their knowledge and get caught up in the grassroots mob mentality of the Internet.
Let me provide my favorite example. A fringe Democratic presidential candidate from Alaska is invited to a debate hosted by MSNBC. This candidate is unprofessional in his tone and presentation and yet gives frank answers to issues that many other politicians beat around the bush about. The video is posted on Youtube and the social news sites go wild despite the fact that this man is clearly not presidential material.
This obsession goes out of control with spinoff posts like, “___ omitted from NBC poll because he was rude” or “Get ___ on Myspace’s movers and shakers”. It is evident to anybody on the outside that these people have lost site of their purpose for promoting the man in the first place. They are more obsessed with themselves and how they perceive they can influence people than the content they are displaying. It’s all too easy to get caught up in the mob mentality of sites like digg, thus proving that the self proclaimed athiest-knowitalls of the Internet are not as smart as they thought.
Technorati Tags: digg, reddit, socialnetworks
Here’s a video of Barack Obama speaking to supporters at the California Democratic Convention. I was there… they led us around back so he could come out to thank us for our support. We ended up standing there for almost 45 minutes because he was running late and he only spoke for a few minutes. Sorry for the low quality.
Technorati Tags: barackobama, california, democraticconvention, democrats, election08, sandiego
