November 28, 2011

So I watched CBC's Marketplace for the first time in my life. This is actually a great show. It reminded me a lot of What's Your Beef? A show that was on when I was a kid that pretty much tested how things work and what the manufacturers claim to be a 'top notch product' is put to the test by everyday consumers to see if it really is as good as the manufacturers and companies claim. I think that show might have been on CBC as well. Anyway, there was a really insightful piece on Internet connections and how fast they really go. This struck a chord with me because I have always wondered what exactly it is I'm paying for when my Internet connection is hardly functioning and I'm shelling out an extra $30 a month for Ultra High Speed Internet with Rogers. There really are so many other things to factor in besides the fact that you're paying for this intense Internet speed. For instance, maybe there's more than one person sharing your connection, which can bring the speed down by half. Maybe your area of the city isn't update yet with the newest connections that fully utilize and optimize your Internet experience, and then there's the actual website that you may be streaming or downloading off. It too, maybe not be up to par with the gigantic speeds at which your Internet is capable of. I have downgraded my connection after seeing the episode. I have noticed a little bit of a slowdown in Internet service but not so much that I'm contemplating spending the extra $30 a month just to see a slight adjustment in speed. Nice try, Rogers! Thanks, Marketplace!

I re-watched Super Size Me this week. I really don't think it's as eye-opening or groundbreaking as everyone made it out to be when it was released. Ya, I get it...if you do absolutely NOTHING, don't walk anywhere and eat McDonalds to the point of throwing up three times a day...what do you think is going to happen? What do you think is going to happen if you have zero exercise and eat healthy food three times a day to the point of upheaval? Maybe the effects won't be as drastic as the fast food diet, but it's still a terrible idea. I think a stronger documentary would have been to eat only McDonalds as your main diet but exercise daily, go on a muscle building regime and see what the outcome is. Because although McDonalds food is total garbage and not something that I tend to eat on any regular basis, it still is loaded with calories and protein (in the meat) that is essential to building muscle and being healthy. Maybe he should reshoot the doc and try that out, and then blame McDonalds for making people fat. McDonalds doesn't make people fat...it's just that lazy people who don't care enough to make proper meals will flocks to the nearest fast food restaurant to get their meals, and those are the same people that are too lazy to make meals as are the people who are too lazy to exercise or try to do anything besides get off the couch.

Okay, so The History Channel has literally lost ALL credibility. Chris Terry, if you're reading this blog, you need to update your list and take The History Channel off of it. I sat through an episode of Swamp People followed by Big Shrimpin' followed by a show about Transport Trucks on deadly roads. I was sitting there waiting for something like Ancient Mesopotamia to come on or something chronicling World War II. It is not to be found anymore. The channel has become total nonsense. I remember in high school I would put the History Channel on when I wanted to learn something. It's insane that they're allowed to even string the sentence together: 'Coming up next on The History Channel: men shooting crocodiles with crossbows!' GIVE ME A BREAK. I'm not being cynical. I urge everyone out there reading this to flick on The History Channel right now. You'd get a better education watching Jersey Shore or porn.

November 7, 2011

Politics and what's going on in the world ...like no my insular, tiny world of living in Toronto and going to school ..but there REAL world, the big picture, is almost completely lost on me..and my generation. I sat down and watched 60 Minutes this week and it was complete gibberish. I feel like I'm so far behind on the happenings of the world it would take me months and months and probably after-school tutoring just to get a clue. 60 Minutes had a Republican lobbyist who spent the last four years in prison for being apart of some gigantic scandal in Washington. I could hardly tell you more. Everything they referenced on the show was completely over my head. I now know what it feels like for someone who can't speak English to come to Canada and try to have a conversation with one of us. Brutal.

What do you get when you have director Martin Scorsese directing a documentary on your bands concert as well as history. Give up? A masterpiece. The Last Waltz had The Band play a concert with many, many special guests including Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond and Van Morrison. The documentary is 90% concert footage and 10% history and archive. The cinematography is devastatingly gorgeous, the feeling and vibe of the concert rings throughout the entire piece and is enough to move even the most hardened hipster into a state of awe. Though the filmmaking techniques that employed are powerful and beautiful they are never intrusive and leave room for total immersion into the experience of the concert.

Tell me this isnt amazing:

And the end of my week left me with yet another trip into the silly with The History Channels: When Aliens Attack. Amazing. The show pretty much takes the movie Independence Day and turns it into a real event. Begging important questions like: say, if aliens really do attack, will our missles and rockets be strong enough to break through their force fields? This is of course backed by interviews with countless experts spewing their knowledge on just how powerful these force fields may be. It was extremely entertaining and probably one of the least enlightening experiences of my life.

October 17, 2011

So, I watched Daily Planet. I've been scolded by my roomate numerous times for not have partaken in the glory that is this show, but from the episode I watched this week I must say this is pure entertainment fodder passed off as scientific insight. This particular episode delved into what they call a flycycle ..a half bike half plane that I guess is an ecofriendly soloution to...airplanes? Whatever. I couldn't find any video's to show you exactly how stupid the concept is, however, I think this does it justice: FLYCYCLE <---click that sucker. I must say though, the show does have a way of grabbing you with its smooth camera flows, its nice looking host and the quick pace of the entire show. I guess it's a hybrid between entertainment and discovery.

I decided to check out the doc Gimme Shelter because I'm a pretty big fan of The Rolling Stones (their earlier stuff, that is). I was totally blown away by this documentary that follows the band on tour as we see deals being made and how concerts are arranged. It ends in chaos with them playing a show that has Hell Angels as security guards. Someone tries to climb onto the stage, fires a gun in the air and is stabbed and killed. Movies like these where it totally transforms your expectations of what you expect to see is one of the reasons I want to be a filmmaker. It's devastating to watch and clearly an exemplary and essential piece of filmmaking history.

Here's a trailer type video that shows the scope of the concert:

I also watched Life After People on The History Channel. What is this? I don't understand why both The History Channel and The Discovery Channel have lowered their standards so much in the last year. It used to be educational programming around the clock and now it's congested with this stuff. And what's worse is how it sucks you in! What started as me scoffing at the stupid show ended with complete fascination and immersion in it. The show chronicles the days/weeks/months/years after humans have died off and society starts to crumble. The first few months are interesting because they're decent facts and estimates of what will actually happen. I'd say shut it off at the thirty minute mark though, after that; hilarity ensues.

Check this out, the comments are super funny too:

Thursday, September 29, 2011

60 Minutes on CBS recently featured the two prolific comedians Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of Comedy Central's most long running show South Park. The two recently garnered critical acclaim for their hit Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. A religious satire with both huge heart and laughs. I had the pleasure of going to see the musical this summer with my girlfriend in New York. The show is currently sold out from now all the way into next summer and picked up nine Tony awards this year. I have followed closely the careers of Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the last ten years and have seen many interviews through YouTube as well as on TV, but this 60 Minutes interview was of extremely high caliber and represented the two fairly and insightfully. Besides YouTube clips this is the first 60 Minutes I have watched and it definitely won't be the last as it is very well informed writing.

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I have just recently re-watched Michael Moore's critically applauded Bowling for Columbine. Though the documentary has a very strong emotional impact, since reading many claims of Michael Moore's manipulation with words to help sway opinions in his documentaries I can't help but take in all of his work with a grain of salt. A good example is his interview with Matt Stone of South Park. Directly following Moore's interview with Stone he plays a cartoon short on the History of Violence that very closely resembles the style and animation of South Park. Matt Stone is on record saying he was asked by Michael Moore if they would be interested in making the short in which they refused because they did not agree with the politics of the documentary, and then he goes and pretty much plagiarizes their work. The nerve!

Whenever I find myself listlessly flicking through channels on the television unable to find anything to watch, it's always the Discovery Channel that comes to my rescue. This week it was How Its Made. This show has the ability to stop me in my tracks every time I flip to it. After a few seconds of being on this channel I am hopelessly mesmerized by outstanding technology creating things that I had never even given a second thought about how they are made, from lacrosse balls to hammers, it blows my mind watching the process and meticulous attention to detail that goes into each created product.

Until next time, keep it real. Stranger things have happened.