Monday, May 14, 2007

That awful Michael Moore movie

So I finally put my money (or my Netflix queue) where my mouth is, and after years of criticizing Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, I decided to actually see the film. Having a degree in film, and another in marketing, I was prepared for a masterful piece of propaganda that would steer the unprepared mind to Moore’s perceived outcomes. But instead, I was greeted with crap. Simple crap. This is the kind of half-assed propaganda that appeals to a Deaniac or Air America listener, but event the casual observer could pick up the bullshit and contradictions. This was not masterful it was hackey; and hackey makes me angry.

Wow! Sometimes a movie has such effrontery, such malice, and fills me with such revulsion that my own words are not enough to describe it. I'll quote Chris Hitchens masterful review of this "film":

To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of dissenting bravery.

The rest of his review is brilliant and certainly worth reading.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

"Top" Stories?


This is what I'm greeted with at the top of my newsfeed... Someone at Reuters should examine how they rank top stories. Isn't there a war or goat-rape or election generating news somewhere?


Friday, January 26, 2007

Goat Rape

O, I wish I was in Dixie!
Hooray! Hooray!
In Dixie Land I'll take my stand
To live and die in Dixie
Away, away,
Away down south in Dixie!

Northwest Florida Daily News: Authorities investigating goat’s death


Here's some excerpts to tempt you to read the story:

  • "A female goat might have been sexually assaulted and killed Saturday ..."
  • "...no evidence ... of a ritualistic animal sacrifice..."
  • "Semen was found inside the goat..."
  • "...the incident ... would be a felony because the animal died..."

O, I wish I was in the land of cotton
Old times there are not forgotten
Look away! Look away!
Look away! Dixie Land.