skreidle | Impromptu movie night @ Latebra

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Impromptu movie night @ Latebra

Went to Latebra early evening, watched Bowling for Columbine. I don't think I'd ever seen a Michael Moore movie before (nor read any of his books), and I really liked it--I'd like to see more, and perhaps even read some of his books. Amusing, informative, and biased in a direction I agree with. :) (The message seems to be that thought Americans have a lot of guns, gun ownership isn't the problem--Canada has more guns per capita than we do, and yet have almost zero gun violence. Fact is, the U.S. has over 30x the gun deaths annually of the first runner-up, and no simple explanation for it. It isn't violent games or movies, it isn't Marilyn Manson, it isn't lack of religion--those are conditions existing in every developed country, and yet.. neglibible gun violence there. Guess we're just violent--or scared, because the government and media tell us to be.)

Update: Yeah, yeah, biased, propaganda, faked stuff, etc. I still like what I saw, and would like evidence from the opposition.

Then we had dinner at about 9pm, of rissoles and sausage. Mmm, meat.

We were then called to the TV, where they were showing Tomb Raider on SBS--I think we saw about half of it, as it was over awfully quickly.

Next, dessert, which included some caramel & vanilla ice cream that I'd brought, made into iced coffee.

After that, Jillian and I started watching Pirates (which has an upcoming sequel! O_O!) on Kit's computer, which was very choppy and bad, so it was stopped about 6 minutes in. Instead, we watched The Guru, which I was hesitant about at first--didn't sound very good from the description at IMDb, but I gave it a try, and quite liked it. Funny, romantic, and with a cheesy, happy ending that pleased me greatly.

Finally, Jillian and I talked flight for a while, and I headed home. :)

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that being said... i despise michael moore, he just adds more propaganda to the mess. and much of his stuff isn't actually true, or at the least not as true as he would have you believe. maybe he's doing no worse than the other side, *shrug*, but i can't stand him anyway.

He's quite an entertaining character, and a lot of his information is true, with reasonable opinions behind it. What have you seen/read of his?

i've seen lots of the tv show he had... what was it called? was it tv nation?

and i've read pieces of downsize this.

Don't know--as I said, I've never seen/heard/read anything of his before.

i guess the real distinction is as you said... biased in a direction you agree with. i disagree with most of his points, his attitudes, and damn near all of his public statements.

try googling his name, oscars, documentary, and fake or fraud or soemthing. a lot of people had a real problem wiht him winning in the documentary category when a good portion of his footage is staged bullshit.

I was amused by what I've heard and read about his Oscar acceptance speech.

The only points of his that I've heard about--from this one movie--are about gun control/violence and welfare, which seem like reasonable opinions, given at least partial validity of his documentation.

I get the feeling that if I were to Google such things, I'd find a lot of questionable facts biased against him, trying to counter his questionable fact-finding.

while you were amused, i was incensed.

we'll just agree to disagree.

and so far as googling... yes, you're right. but the problem people had was with the fact that he won for documentary, the good sites refer a lot to his setup shots mroe than arguing the points. i feel that that's a fair argument.

I hear the crowd was pretty evenly split for and against his opinions, and for and against the appropriateness of espousing them on the Oscars stage, not to mention for and against the rights of the rest of the crowd to cheer or boo their opinions. Must've been interesting, but the Oscars folks wouldn't give the rights to the clip for him to include it in the DVD extras.

umm no. Micheal Moore is a lying prick. He re-edits his information and clips to make himself look good instead of presenting the facts. It's PROPAGANDA in it's worst form. It presents itself as truth - when it's really a cleverly disguised pack of lies.

His disinformation does NOT help make his case, it only serves to further polarize the masses.

dig through my old posts, I mentioned this before.

Examples?

What I saw today was clearly propagandized, but featured plenty of legitimate information, not to mention clever/entertaining editing.

matt posted several links back when debates were going on -- and if nothing else, it WAS wrong for him to win 'best documentary' when he wasn't documenting.

i haven't seen BfC yet, but i won't be able to watch it without a freaking SALT LICK.

you = my hero

start here -
http://www.livejournal.com/users/weeping_angel/101610.html - Read the links contained there

then go here

I read a couple of the links there and they all seem to be saying about the same thing. I did NOT read all of them so i will not vouch for their veracity -

But a few prime examples - he changed a Bush/Quale campaign add to fit his purposes, He edited a speech/ interview with Charlton Heston to make him look like a fanatic (as opposed to using what he ACTUALLY said which was fairly reasonable)

I don't know but that kind of freehand with the truth just irks the historian in me.

Come on Scott, you are a fairly smart guy - even you should be able to recognize bullshit when you see it. just do some research.

Oh and Moore's defense about his "truth indiscretions" - was "When does comedy have to be accurate?"
He doesn't present his BS as comedy - he presents it as fact. He presents himself as representative of the "facts" yet he is willing to alter timelines of PUBLICLY DOCUMENTED events to make some thing more "dramatic". His disregard for the truth and fact are inexcusable.

Here:

http://www.americasdebate.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1861&st=30

and here:

http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html

and here:

http://www.redeemernews.org/news/2003/10/22/Features/Bowling.For.Columbine.Filled.With.Inaccuracies-538097.shtml

that enough for you?

michael moore is no better than the rebublican propoganda machines he's always whining about.

So much sound and fury over such a litle thing.
I agree with you that it was a good movie, and I think the point it made, that the reason we have so much gun violence in the states is probably something worth looking into instead of blaming guns or some other silly thing, is one that bears hearing. But "how DARE he distort the truth in any little way!"
Puh-leeze.

yes "How DARE he" exactly - a documentary is supposed to be an impartial ppresentation of the facts - when the facts and information have been editied to fit the directors vision - it no longer fits the definition of documentary.

Moore's arrogant attitude and cavalier attitude toward the facts do little to actually further or support his cause.

There is no such thing as an impartial presentation of the facts.

Heh.. you should read through the hardylaw.net files. This was "[distorting] the truth in any little way" in much the same way as a hammer and subsequent glue distorts a crystal vase a little bit. I'd say his main fault is continuing to claim that it's a documentary and his intend wasn't to mislead the viewers with his filming/editing style.

That said, he's a masterful film editor, quite entertaining, and I agree with what you see as the point made.

The thing I don't understand - if Moore is this lying propaganda master, what is the overall message we should be taken with by his movies?

If he's shoving this untrue agenda down our throats, what does the movie lead us to conclude? I watched it, knowing about the re-edits and odd statistics, and I didn't see him damning gun ownership or personal freedoms, I saw him damning gun violence. What's wrong with that?

It is only fair to at least read Moore's response to the critics of his movie, linked here:

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/

(deleted comment)

I believe I know Kate through my sister Shauna (

idoru), or at least from a mutual group of friends from our high school (TJ). And I went to Cornell, as you've probably noted. :)

Megs is a bit longer story. When leaving Cornell, I needed someone to care for my ferrets until I moved out of my parents' house in Manassas, VA, and I found this in Misty (

electricsoup) in Centreville, VA. I became friends with Misty and her friends through movie nights and parties at her house; it was there that I met Sarah Scott. Last winter, Sarah Scott had a ski weekend at their house on Wintergreen Mountain in VA, and I met Megs there.

That do it for you? :D

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Impromptu movie night @ Latebra

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