video screenings

Floyd Merit · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 30

also mentioned in the meeting today was the possibility of holding video screenings. this is a great idea; one that is so simple to set up and execute that we should consider it whenever we have a hole to fill in the events schedule.

below is a list of appropriately themed documentaries and films i have compressed down to suitable size already. please respond with any additional suggestions you may have and i'll take the responsibility of aqquiring the item.

DOCUMENNTARIES

point of order - the famous mash-up of the army-maccarthy hearings. this would be a great dicussion piece given that it's editorial bent comes off as unintentional comedy knowing as we do now about soviet infiltration of the state department.

uncle saddam - a campy send up of saddam shot and directed by kids in the hall alum, scott thompson's boyfriend.

rated r: republicans in holywood - a moderately interesting docuumentary of republicans in holywood. asks the question, "is vince gallo just fakin' it for the controversey?"

nobody listened - a rapid and relentless indictment of the castro regime, exposing it as not merely leftist, but stalinist. white subtitles are a bad choice, but narration is in english.

our times - covers a woman's ultimately symbolic candidacy in the 2001 iranian election. youngsters place their misbegotten faith in the phoney reformer, kahtami. not quite red meat for the foreign policy hawks, this film's value lies in offering a window into what christopher hitchens described as the "as if" day-to-day eexperiece of a pro-democracy people under a clerical regime. sort of veers off in the last half hour to follow a woman's frustration living in a doctrinaly male-ominated culture. farsi is a very pretty language.

commanding heights, parts 1, 2 and 3 - in three parts, this very long documentary follow the rise and fall of communism to the eventual victory of free markets over planning. note to sef: aqquire heaven on earth as well.

michael and me - larry elder makes the same mistake as many do of mistaking bowling for columbine for an anti-gun piece. moore's aim was instead to exploit the columbine tragedy to paint american culture as congentitally paranoid and violent. still, elder's misapprehension leads him to an extremely thorough and well-constructed defense of second amendment rights.

gay republicans - may not be popular, it is what it sounds like. it is however very fair and allows it's subjects to present themselves. the results aren't comforting for party loyalists. the movie follows four lcr members through the 2004 election as they deal with the federal marriage ammendment. the gay republicans who are competent and intelligent feel fundamentally betrayed and cleave from the party. the ones whostay are self-charicatures and hard to take on a personal level.

a question of justice - a fairly apolitical documentary about violence in venezuela, the film nonetheless can't avoid the shadow of chavez. the first story told is of a libertarian activist who is slain in the antichavez marches in caracas.

mao - an a & e biography of mao. hard to perfume that pig.

michael moore hates america - the tender little movie which defied everyone's expectations; first by being released, second by being no where near as rancorous as its title suggests. personally, i'm more in agreement with horowitz's point of view, but i'm not going to fault the fimmaker for being a nice guy.

voices of iraq - 500 camcorders are distributed throughout iraq and the footage which returns is so riveting. the full gamut of reaction to the liberation, occupation and insugency is expressed in the words and through the cine-eye of the iraqi people. an especially notable moment comes when some former prisoners of saddam's abu graihb laugh off the scandal, saying that "these guys go to quatar and pay 1000 dinar to have a girl laugh at their peepees."

the power of ideas - a biography of milton friedman.

FEATURES

stalag 17 - pro-capitalist anti-fascism. A rare breed indeed and a theme one would hope to see more of. Allied forces are interned in a German POW camp. Every escape attempt is thwarted ruthlessly, regardless of the secrecy of their planning. It is surmised that there is a spy amongst them. Suspicion falls on a POW who's only offence is is running a black market within the camp. His pursuit of rational self-interest through free trade is regarded as evidence of his collusion with the enemy, but when suspicions turn to mob violence and ostracism, it comes to be in his rational self-interest to ferrit out the actual traitor.

logan's run - late 70's anti-communist sci-fi kitch. gotta love it. hot aussie chicks in blousy tunics. best of all is the giant chrome robot doing the precient george galloway impression. "FISH, PLANCTON AND PROTIEN FROM THE SEA!"

the squid and the wale - Not so much a great film as an excellent case study of how progressives tend to destroy their childrens' souls. Watching the interview included with the DVD reveals that the filmmaker didn't so much create anything as he simply transcribed his own family experience. Corespondingly, the film comes to a wafer thin conclusion. After an hour or so of documenting how his parents' babyboomer narcisism turned he into an ego-suppressed mysogynist and plagarist and his brother into a preteen alcholic and pervert, the only transformation his character makes is toward not blaming his mom for the divorce so much anymore. His tendency to take his dad's side was clearly portrayed as an arbitrary choice to begin with and his rancor toward his mom, affected. The protagonist clearly felt compelled to choose sides because his mother and father had all along misparented him as an equal and adult "friend" to whom they'd speak too frankly about one another's sexual affairs and personal worth. Clearly the filmmaker has not come to a complete and detatched conclusion about the object represented in the film. I reccomend seeing this movie, and if you know of a young couple force-feeding their children tapia and NPR, be sure to call Child Protective Services.

the incredibles - pixar's semi-objectivist masterpiece.

the path to 911 - with the censored footage reincorporated...because i'm a fricken dork!

so that's what's immediately available. like i said, suggest something and i'll aqquire it.

also, if anyone has any idea where i can get a hold of my nicaragua please let me know.

Gwen Kilby · Joined: 29 Mar 2007 Posts: 8

Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West

Robbrail · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 18 Location: Northern California

Why don't we stream the Republican Debates live on May 3rd? I know http://www.politico.com/debate/ is hosting the live streaming, maybe we could figure out a way to get it into Second Life for those who would like to gather and watch it.

It goes from 5pm-6:30 pm SLT, next thursday. If we can't figure out how to do it live, maybe we could rebroadcast it at 7pm-8:30pm SLT, and talk about what we like and dislike as a group.
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Anytime you want to hear the latest on the Republican Party of SL goto
http://slrepublicans.blogspot.com/

Floyd Merit · Joined: 01 Apr 2007 Posts: 30

very astute idea. i'll look into how to do that.

UPDATE:
i think i may know how to do it.

http://www.pickle.com/politico/120/509073

http://www.politico.com/debate/