talkpolitics | Entries tagged with documentary

The third installment of the sequal to Carl Sagan's famous blockbuster continues the electrifying journey through space and time, connecting with worlds billions of miles away and envisioning a future of science tempered with wisdom.

The visually stunning series feels like a top-notch sci-fi movie, except it delves into scientific concepts and discoveries, skillfully narrated by the beloved Neil deGrasse Tyson, who takes viewers on a wild ride with the Ship of Imagination. Enjoy the ride!

kiaa

Watch on YouTube

The question about Earth's shape of course is no question at all. Right? It isn't supposed to be at least. Well, turns out that's not exactly been the case for some time. Any sane person would be shocked to realize that this is even an issue, and yet, you'd occasionally hear someone claim the planet is actually flat for real; you'd see some Youtube vid claiming to have "proof", and then go viral. All in all, paradoxically, in our day and time of modern technology, scientific advancement and instant information (or maybe exactly because of the latter), people genuinely believing in the Flat Earth are getting more and more.

See, I'm generally a patient and tolerant person and I'd probably hear out anybody, regardless of their opinion on a certian subject. But at some point I'm starting to get too much of the bullshit.

( The final straw was watching Behind the Curve )

airiefairie

Watch on YouTube

luzribeiro

It was frightening at times, hilarious at others, unbelievable for most of the time. I kind of find it hard to believe that college students didn't know where Mexico and Canada are. But... who knows. Call it selective reporting if you like, or a true sample of the general public... I'd rather be interested to hear your suggestions about the reasons for this situation. If, as we've recently discussed here, the availability of leisure time and access to information should result in a more educated, informed, and critically thinking public, then why isn't that happening in reality?

A nearly hour-long video ahead. Watch at your own risk.

Watch on YouTube

( My suggestions for the particular US phenomenon )

mahnmut

"TRAILER | Who is America? | Mondays 10pm" (Watch on YouTube)

Some of you may've already watched the new parody/mockumentary, call it whatever you want, by always scandalous comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, the creator of Ali G, Borat, Brüno, Adm. Gen. Aladeen, etc. It's works like these that have made him one of the most famous comedians of our time. He's the master of fake characters which he puts in various real-life situations, essentially trolling people into doing and saying stupid things, while revealing their true character. It's essentially all about putting a mirror in front of society and making it have a long hard look at itself - and often what it sees there is not very pleasing.

Who Is America makes no exception. ( Read more... )

mahnmut

It's actually on-topic (documentaries). There's been an ongoing petition in favor of making a documentary about Pastafarianism. You know, the church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (You can't prove that he doesn't exist, can you now?)

Making a movie isn’t cheap, but today more than ever we need the story of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to bring sanity back into the world. Read about the film below, and hopefully you'll agree!

https://www.gofundme.com/pastafund

An Austrian activist has already set the precedent of forcing his authorities to allow him to put the typical pastafarian headwear on his driver's license. They can't stop us from professing our religious beliefs, can they? TEACH THE CONTROVERSY!!!

"We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it." - The Prophet Bobby Henderson

luzribeiro

...This one may've turned true. I'm talking of Idiocracy. Now in hindsight, and with Trump's ascent to power, it seems almost prophetic.

As one article says,

"Believe it or not, it’s been exactly 10 years since Mike Judge’s Idiocracy debuted here in the good ol’ US of A. The question, which we ask ourselves year after year, remains: Have we, as an American society in the year 2016, finally reached peak Idiocracy? Arguments have been made on both sides, though well-reasoned debates occur much less often than simple Tweets, movie quotes, or other protestations proclaiming the arrival of the Idiocracy and the downfall of utopian society after some flash-in-the-pan news headline. Then along came Donald Trump."

Mind you, the creator of the Idiocracy movie, as stupid as some of the jokes inside might have been (although that was obviously done on purpose), has admitted that the documentary might have even been a bit too optimistic at the time. http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/328609-idiocracy-creator-says-it-might-have-been-too-optimistic

Of course, Trump isn't the first idiot to occupy an office of importance (just think of Bush, and minor guys such as Ben Carson, Sarah Palin, etc etc). But the pattern has become quite visible at this point. Idiocracy started among the public, the media, and in ordinary life. Then it trickled up the food chain, and into politics. Now it reigns supreme in Washington. A government of the stupid by the stupid and for the stupid, run by con artists, designed for the swindled. From insane speeches and rallies to inept cabinet members.

Is there a way back from this point? And how?

danieldemarko.livejournal.com

After watching this movie produced by BBC and Shaista Aziz "A nation divided? A Charlie Hebdo aftermath", the first thing that came into my mind, was that France is not what you know from the social media and movies. Unfortunately not. France is a country strongly divided into one biggest french speaking, born in France and looking french group and another french speaking, born in France and looking completely different from what society must know. Here I would like to clarify something that one of the main problem to me is the understanding of the words "strong nationalism and chauvinism" while you have EU and globalization. It is like living in 18st centuries. As you can see on the movie, the problem with the nation is rooted back in the beginning of 20st century, when France was colonizer or even further more when France was colonial empire. As we know from the history Senegal, Morocco, Madagascar, Mauritius, Réunion and the Seychelles ( probably this is one of your dream place to go), Egypt, French Tunisia, Ivory Coast, French Sudan and many, many others countries. Do you know that the official secondary language in those countries is french? Who made this language official? Everyone knows why we need colonies, so I think it is useless to explain in my article.

( Read more... )

underlankers.livejournal.com

So, in the light of the US bombing of the Drs. Without Borders facility in Kunduz, it's worth noting that this is far from the worst or the most large-scale war crime the US Army has committed in Afghanistan.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/26/kill-team-the-documentary-the-army-doesn-t-want-you-to-see.html

This documentary concerns an organized war crime committed by a group of people including someone with the bitterly ironic and unfortunate in this context name of Morlock commiting a war crime as a team with a temporarily effective coverup. In shades of Vietnam and World War II, the war crime included mutilations of enemy dead.( cut for length )

And if the answer to this last question is no, then what can be done about these crimes? How should accountability work and be enforced?

I don't have full or complete answers to these questions but I hope others smarter than I do.

mahnmut.livejournal.com

Well, seems like the Ugandan constitutional court has just annulled a tough gay law that had been adopted earlier this year, and caused quite an uproar in the freedom-loving West. Albeit the ruling wasn't justified on the fact that this law is cruel and immoral in principle - instead, it was merely brought down due to a stated technicality ("[The Constitutional Court] ruled that the bill was passed by MPs in December without the requisite quorum and was therefore illegal"). So, seems like they're not saying anything about the constitutionality of the human rights abuse that is the law in question, just that it wasn't adopted via the proper procedure. That's nice, you know...

Some have already jubilantly asked the rhetoric question whether this doesn't constitute a rare moment of sanity, or just a temporary setback for an otherwise consistently violent and stunningly reactionary anti-gay agenda, which is sure to hit back with a vengeance pretty soon.

That said, my coming across the following documentary happens to be just timely:

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( Surprise-surprise... The land of the free home of the brave deploys some insanity spreaders )

luvdovz.livejournal.com

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Who takes the most important decisions in EU? The answer should be: the states and the government leaders. But behind the scenes in Brussels, thousands of lobbyists are trying to influence politics - and often not in the healthiest of ways.

The EU does have a shady face too, a world of politics where decisions are formed outside the official conferences and parliament discussions. It's the shady world of lobbyism - the hordes of secretive "advisors" attaching themselves to the rulers - nameless people who in most cases remain anonymous, who are never elected by anyone, and yet exert enormous influence.

( Read more... )

ddstory.livejournal.com

OK, it's alternate history month. So here's a question. Do certain brilliant and/or remarkable persons bear crucial significance for the various twists and turns of history, or do they just happen to be the right people showing up at the right time? I mean, if there's a certain set of processes going on in a society, is the emerging of a great leader, or great thinker, or someone else who changes the course of history in a profound way, just an inevitable consequence? Or does it really take an extraordinary combination of genius, a nose for doing the right thing, and the charisma to make lots of people believe you and follow you - to steer events in this direction or the other? Or maybe it's a combination of the two - in that case, what's the ratio?[Poll #1883954][Poll #1883955][Poll #1883956]

hikarugenji.livejournal.com

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/07/19/157047211/six-policies-economists-love-and-politicians-hate

There was a very interesting Planet Money episode last week where they came up with six economic suggestions that they were able to get a panel of economists to agree on (from conservative to liberal, republican to democrat, libertarian, etc.) The full description is above, but in short:

1. Eliminate the mortgage income deduction
2. Eliminate the employer health-care deduction
3. Put corporate income tax at 0 (i.e. don't tax the money that corporations reinvest in their company, only tax it when it pays out to shareholders/etc.)
4. Eliminate the income tax and payroll taxes entirely and replace it with some sort of progressive consumption tax
5. Tax carbon emissions
6. Legalize marijuana (as a start?)

#5 got some disagreement from the libertarian leaning economist although it seemed to be because he wasn't sure it could be priced fairly -- he seemed to agree with the basic concept of the federal government trying to take a proactive stance against pollution.

Of course none of these are politically viable but they're interesting to think about. Apparently on a future episode they're going to talk to some political strategists about these ideas and see if there would even be any theoretical way any of them could be politically viable.

meus-ovatio.livejournal.com

Perhaps some of you have seen the independent documentary film The Elephant in the Living Room. It is a documentary-type film about exotic animal ownership in the United States. I won't go into the details of the movie, since I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has Netflix and wants to stream it. I will warn you, however, that for certain mileages of people out there, the movie will ruin your day. My personal reactions to elements in the film included: light-headedness, horror, disgust, anger, profound sadness and an indescribable feeling that I don't know what to do with.

About exotic animal ownership: What I find ridiculous about a lot of the lax laws in this country about exotic animals, is that is is harder to bring in fruits, vegetables or grains across the national borders, than it is to find say, a lion. This strikes me as terribly off. Why is it that we have very little issues with protecting our agricultural bio-integrity, but when it comes to freaking lions, it's all "controversial".

Florida is currently the new home of thousands of exotic snakes, destroying, altering and generally screwing up the eco-system. Why? Because evidently we care more about the sanctity of our amber waves of grain than we do our own wildlife, or our own children.

Me, personally, feel that if people insist on keeping exotic animal ownership legal, we should not respond in any way to loose exotic animals. If we want to allow them (whether or not we own them), the next time a lion gets loose, you're on your own. They will get out, they will eat your babies, and we wouldn't spend a dime of public money protecting anyone from logic.

What say you?

ddstory.livejournal.com

How Beer Saved the World (+imdb)
Blurb: "Did you know that beer was critical to the birth of civilization? That’s right – beer.
Scientists and historians line up to tell the amazing, untold story of how beer helped create math, poetry, pyramids, modern medicine, labor laws, and America.
It turns out beer is responsible for, like, all the greatest things on earth. Learn more about what beer did for you."

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC8SdkufNBo
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdkqatEtVXg
Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkoXGfXkgAk

Sorry Discovery Channel, but as significant beer might be for the development of humanity, that's not all there is to civilizations! Don't forget toilets with running water! This piece of... bubblerish (I've just invented a new word if you hadn't noticed), is just one huuuge infomercial in favor of the beer industry! Have you seen any other scientist ever mentioning beer as a foundation factor for empires and preserver of humanity? Yes? Where? Frankly, I was expecting something more sober!

( Actually I'm kidding )

stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com

Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.Thomas Jefferson

Yes. I know this video by filmmaker Jason Russell has been discussed before. However, it was done in the context of the Invisible Children’s Fund only. An American is exploiting an unfortunate situation for his own financial and personal gain once again. There are no surprises there.

What still hasn’t been discussed is the content of the video and what it hopes to achieve. This video is ½ hour long and can get tedious to watch. I have watched it so you don’t have to. I will summarize it under the spoiler.

In a nutshell:

It starts by exhibiting the power of social media
Jason Russell dotes over his son
Jason Russell explains his film making background and his trip to Uganda
He chronicles the trials and tribulations of Jacob, his Ugandan friend, and the Ugandan people
He then talks about the atrocities of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army
He promotes a call to action to arrest Kony and bring him to trial before the world court
He takes credit for having 100 military advisers deployed to Uganda by our government
He hawks his action kit and bracelet. He also calls on celebrities to participate.
He designates April 1 as the day to litter the world with posters and leaflets
He sets an expiration date of the end of 2012 to complete this mission

Even if the cause he solicits is legit, it is a plan of action for finding your lost pet, not for bringing ~~revenge~~ justice to an international criminal. The numbers and enthusiasm of Jason Russell's followers is frightening. What is even more frightening is that this video is being presented as news and not the empty infomercial that it is. It is even being considered for an Academy Award.

Joseph Kony has passed his prime on the world stage. He has had his Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame and is reputed to be in the Congo with a force of a couple hundred instead of the 30,000 that is implied in the video. I was happy to see the New York Times bring it into perspective.

This is a massive oversimplification of a difficult problem. The proposal smacks of the First Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993. Something like this illustrates the complexity of a military intervention in a nation dominated by a weak government and rampant human rights violations imbedded in its culture.

What's more, the message ignores lessons we should have learned from Iraq and Afghanistan. After the myth of weapons of mass destruction was debunked in Iraq, the justification for military action was to bring Saddam Hussein to justice. Also, the premise for Afghanistan was to bring Osama bin Laden to justice as well. After the passing of 10 years, the death of thousands of American troops and a couple trillion dollars later we have learned the true cost of these missions.

For all the outrage that is directed toward the American media and the mainstream media in particular, at least there is a code of conduct that tempers it. With all the claptrap about left leaning and right leaning bias in media, it beats the living crap out of the douchebaggery that is presented in this video. I know I have the option to go to BBC or al Jezeera for an alternate view of the news, but as news goes, I can respect that the American press can rise above this trash.

I can only hope that the KONY2012 type videos don’t become the standard lens through which we view our world.

telemann.livejournal.com

Who Do You Think You Are, a genealogical show that features celebrities and sports figures, highlighted Reba McEntyre recently, and it was a painful journey.

( History as lived in our collective family stories )

telemann.livejournal.com

The documentary shows quite clearly that many of the "citizens for tort reform groups" are nothing but astroturf organizations funded in large part by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and or even private companies such as R. J. Reynolds (Karl Rove worked as a lobbyist for RJR in Texas and was the main political force for Texas tort reform). You have a very powerful business industry using large amounts of money to tilt the legal system their way.

Everyone (or most everyone) knows the story about the 79 year old woman (Stella Liebeck) who spilled McDonald's hot coffee on herself and then sued for millions. The case became a laughing matter for many comics and was the seemingly start of a national debate on preventing "frivolous" lawsuits where obviously the person filing was looking for "jack-pot justice." That's the PR the business community wanted you to believe. The realty of the case was a lot nuanced than that.

( More behind the cut )

ddstory.livejournal.com

Found this mentioned in that same book by Michio Kaku (Physics of the Impossible) that I talked about recently. Some Dr Michael Persinger found that there's a neural center in the right half of the brain which, when stimulated with electromagnetic waves, causes the subject to feel an alien presence.

"Persinger reports that at least 80 percent of his participants (working with the Koren Helmet) experience a presence beside them in the room, which ranges from a simple 'sensed presence' to 'God'."

Wikipedia - God Helmet

Here's the relevant excerpt from a documentary which deals with this discovery:

( VIDEO )

Dr Persinger went on as far as to create the so-called "God helmet", a device which, when put on the subject's head, could stimulate said neural center and cause the subject to hallucinate, and feel that someone else was in the room with them. The scientist interprets this as some kind of "division" (or breaking of the symmetry) between the two halves of the brain, a disruption of the links between them and thus, each half starts to perceive the other as an "alien" entity. Ghost, poltergeist, angels, even God. Depending on the cultural background of the particular individual who's being examined.

( Some possible implications )

Credits & Style Info

Monthly topic:
Post-Truth Politics Revisited

Dailyquote:

"The NATO charter clearly says that any attack on a NATO member shall be treated, by all members, as an attack against all. So that means that, if we attack Greenland, we'll be obligated to go to war against ... ourselves! Gee, that's scary. You really don't want to go to war with the United States. They're insane!"

(edelsont)

May 2026

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Talk politics.

A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods.

Entries tagged with documentary

Friday on topic: The space Odyssey continues

Behind the Curve

Friday on topic. Some tribute to an exceptional lady

Friday (kinda) on-topic. Your brain on public schools

Is this America?

Offtopic: Petition

While we're about documentaries

Did France deserve what it happens? Is this just the beginning?

A bit old but worth repeating in the light of Kunduz:

Of God's freedom envoys of death, and some lecturing on civilization

EU's black box

What if X wasn't born?

(no subject)

Laws and freedom.

Yo ho hooo! And a pint of beer!

Hail to the Press

Who do you think you are?

Tort reform - "catapult the propaganda" (George Bush)

The God helmet

Credits & Style Info

Links

May 2026

Summary