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. :)

Little bit on work, a lot on Michael Moore

Successfully pulled assorted cables by myself today, including a 100-foot run through non-empty 3/4" conduit with a run that wandered as drunkenly as we may presume its installers to have been, in order to traverse 30 feet of hallway. Tomorrow, going in at 2pm. Woo!

---

As you may recall, I made a post last night praising one Michael Moore, which received quite a backlash of negative commentary, backed by links and explanations. Having perused the majority of these links' content, I concede that he is, in fact, narcissistic, highly biased, and a hypocrite and propaganda artist of the highest order, producing very, very clever half-truths presented as fact. That said, he's quite skilled at presenting his opinions in an entertaining, semi-convincing fashion, and I don't hate him for what he's done--I still intend to see/read more. However, I agree that Bowling for Columbine was only a shadow of a real documentary, and had it been presented as a video opinion essay, much of the subsequent ruckus would've been avoided. Instead, he maintains his moral high ground, and looks the fool vs. the evidence.

Links:
weeping_angel:

HardyLaw.net: BfC: Documentary or Fiction? (This site has, by far, the most detailed and comprehensive analysis.)

cwob.com: Quacking for Columbine

LarryElder.com: Michael Moore Madness: BfC: Michael Moore Fraud Links. (Looks to be a good set of sites, which I haven't visited.)

dotgirl:

America's Debate.com: forums

[Also linked to HardyLaw.net]

College Redeemer: BfC Filled with Inaccuracies

macguyver:

Michael Moore responds. (Note that this rebuttal is covered by one of the other links, with a point-by-point reply from an opposition member.)

David also offers the following comment:
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?

---

Of course, while browsing the web with Jillian after seeing BfC, we happened across a Moore-sponsored site called Bush in 30 Seconds, which is pretty amusing if you dislike some of Bush's policies. Basically, the results of a video contest with the goal of "summing up" Bush in a 30-second video spot. Some quality entertainment there. ;)