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  • in reply to: reactions to the Eagles game #78696
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    They’ve lost to Foles and Keenum.

    Without Wentz, the Eagles are not the Eagles. So, who is the clear favorite to win the NFC now? I would think ANY team that gets in the playoffs, could win the NFC now.

    Strange year.

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    in reply to: Project censored…CIA/Journalism.. #78622
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    “…Ever since its inception in 1947, the CIA has been covertly working with Hollywood. But it wasn’t until the mid-1990s that the agency formally hired an entertainment industry liaison and began openly courting favorable treatment in films and television. During the Clinton presidency, the CIA took its Hollywood strategy to a new level—trying to take more control of its own mythmaking. In 1996, the CIA hired one of its veteran clandestine officers, Chase Brandon, to work directly with Hollywood studios and production companies to upgrade its image. “We’ve always been portrayed erroneously as evil and Machiavellian,” Brandon later told The Guardian. “It took us a long time to support projects that portray us in the light we want to be seen in.”….

    ….The long relationship between Affleck, a prominent Hollywood liberal, and Langley seems particularly perplexing. But the mutual admiration has paid off handsomely for all concerned. According to The Guardian, during the production of The Sum of all Fears, the 2002 Clancy thriller starring Affleck, “the agency was happy to bring its makers to Langley for a personal tour of headquarters, and to offer [the star] access to agency analysts. When filming began, [CIA liaison] Brandon was on set to advise.”


    ……As Hollywood became increasingly embedded with Langley following 9/11, CIA employees often saw their public-affairs colleagues giving various celebrities personalized tours of the headquarters. “I can’t tell you how many times this happened,” recalled the former CIA officer John Kiriakou. He would regularly bump into a parade of Hollywood types, including Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck. He often wondered why these actors were allowed to walk around a top-secret facility. “Because he’s going to be playing a CIA guy in a movie? That’s the criteria now? You just have to be a friend of the agency and you can come in and walk around? In the meantime, people who are undercover are having to walk through the halls with their hands over their faces because these people aren’t cleared. It’s insane.”…

    ….
    …When people ask Baer what he thinks is the best film made about the CIA, he tells them to watch HBO’s The Wire. “It’s the same mindless bureaucracy and politics and ambition,” he explained. “All the other crap you run into in a police department, you run into in intelligence.”…


    …As the war on terror endlessly grinds on, and the surveillance state continues to insert itself into every aspect of American life, it will be interesting to see whether Hollywood finally begins to take a more critical look at the national-security complex. But recent trends are not encouraging. With few exceptions, Hollywood has long functioned as a propaganda factory, churning out jingoistic revenge-fantasy films in which American audiences are allowed to exorcise their post-9/11 demons by watching the satisfying slaughter of countless onscreen jihadis. This never-ending parade of square-jawed secret agents and bearded, pumped-up commandos pitted against swarthy Muslim madmen straight out of central casting has been aided and abetted by a newly emboldened CIA all too happy to offer its “services” to Hollywood.

    link:https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/07/operation-tinseltown-how-the-cia-manipulates-hollywood/491138/

    in reply to: Project censored…CIA/Journalism.. #78617
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    …note what the dude said about Super Hero films, Marvel films, etc.

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    in reply to: Why The Poorest County In West Virginia Has Faith In Trump #78613
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    They are tired of promises not kept by politicians. But at the same time if a politician tries to tell them the truth, that politician loses their vote..

    ==============

    They elected a Billionaire Democrat governor. Who, after the election announced he was switching to the Rep Party. Nobody batted an eye. Duplicats, Replicants, doesn’t matter.

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    in reply to: google hires 10,000 more censors #78612
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    I can’t escape believing that we are now officially done.

    And I just don’t know what to do with that….

    And voting every couple of years doesn’t patch the hole in my soul.

    ==================
    Well i think you know i agree. I mean if you look at the trajectory of politics coupled with what environmental-science is telling us…well.

    Of course there is always the possibility that we are just…wrong. 🙂 So there’s some hope in ‘that’. We know we could be wrong.

    At any rate, the challenge is to find/construct meaning even if we are right. To find/create reasons for caring and reasons for ‘fighting the good fight.’ Even if the ship is sinking. I have come to love Malraux’s quote. It always causes me to smile:

    “The greatest mystery is not that we have been flung at random between this profusion of matter and the stars, but that within this prison we can draw from ourselves images powerful enough to deny our nothingness.” Les Noyers de l’Altenburg: Andre Malraux

    bash on, regardless
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    in reply to: TB #78598
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    in reply to: this article has new info in it on the trade-up for Goff #78597
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    “The Rams had tried to trade up in the draft the
    prior year, after scouting Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Titans held the top two spots and wouldn’t budge.”

    So would we rather have either of those two – or goff?

    I would take Goff out of all 4, personally. (#4 being Wentz.)

    ============

    I might take wentz over goff, but I’m not sure. tough call.

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    in reply to: this article has new info in it on the trade-up for Goff #78590
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    “The Rams had tried to trade up in the draft the
    prior year, after scouting Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota. But the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Titans held the top two spots and wouldn’t budge.”

    So would we rather have either of those two – or goff?

    in reply to: Browns release Britt…and now, Patz sign Britt #78588
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    I’m sick of Pittsburgh being good, and I’m sick of Cleveland being bad.

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    I miss Robert Woods. I want him back.

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    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78521
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    Billy whats your take on this article from WSW’s website:

    wsw:http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/12/07/pers-d07.html

    excerpt: “…It is evident that a significant faction of the ruling elite has concluded that Trump must go, in one form or another.

    There is not, however, an ounce of democratic or progressive content to this campaign. The conflicts in Washington are conflicts within the ruling class, pitting the Trump administration—which is increasingly relying on far-right and fascistic forces—with powerful elements of the military and intelligence apparatus with which the Democratic Party is aligned….” see link

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    in reply to: Sullivan #78517
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    Is there a single free-agent signed under McV that has disappointed?

    A single draft choice thats disappointed?

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    Well remember, they drafted fairly well before. The problems before were free agency.

    So that’s not just McVay, that’s McV + Snead. One of the benefits of continuity.

    And in fact a lot of guys from before this year are coming through…it;s not just the starters. So it’s not just So it’s not just Tru, Joyner, Longacre (to an extent), Tree, Barron, Donald, Brockers, Saffold, Brown, Hav, Higbee (to an extent), Austin (to an extent), Goff, Gurley, Zuerlein, Cooper, and Hekker, it’s also guys like Hager and Littleton and Brown and Cody Davis etc.

    And yes they had a great draft this year and the best free agency signings as a group that I can remember.

    Short version: agreed.

    ============

    Yeah the drafted well enough before but this time they had no first rounders and no multiple 2nd or 3rd rounders (i think?) as opposed to snisher years. Plus, the free agents under McV. Not a dud among them. No jarod cooks, etc.

    If they can duplicated that offseason one more time
    they are set for a title run.

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    in reply to: Sullivan #78513
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    Is there a single free-agent signed under McV that has disappointed?

    A single draft choice thats disappointed?

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    in reply to: The Millionaire Next Door #78512
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    Now do the “poor person next door” 🙂

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    in reply to: fires, air quality force Rams to cancel Weds. practice #78477
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    This is feeling more and more like a road game as they have to adjust their practice and will be facing a loud hostile stadium of Eagles fans. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.

    Eagles: 55

    Rams: 3

    ==============

    Exactly PA. I wish this game was in Philly.

    In fact, i wish the rams would just move to Philly and change their colors to green and white.

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    in reply to: rankings and ratings week 14 #78472
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    I loved Wade’s early move of Joyner to safety. He’s an ok CB, but i think his skillset can be special at safety.

    Just seems like Wade knows what to do with players.

    Also, aint it fuckin great to have a group of WR’s with good hands. I include Kupp in that group.

    Is there ANYTHING thats gone wrong this year?

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    in reply to: fires, air quality force Rams to cancel Weds. practice #78471
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    Alden Gonzalez
    ESPN Staff Writer

    Rams will gauge the air quality at the facility on Wednesday to decide whether they need to practice elsewhere on Thursday. And they pretty much have a place in mind if that’s the case. A Wednesday walk-through, which will take place near their facility, isn’t a big deal for them. That’s what Wednesdays have basically become for them anyway, with several veterans taking rest days midweek. They’re in pads on Thursdays. That’s the big one for them.

    ======

    I’m hoping the pollution, smog, and carcinogenic air in LA become
    kinda like the “12th Man” for the Rams. Home field advantage. Ya know.

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    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78462
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    WV,

    I do this too often. Get a bit carried away with the discussion, and I think I come across in too harsh a manner at times. Sincere apologies. We’re all on the same team here.

    Regardless, found this article about great places to retire in Europe. Portugal sounds really good to me.

    I didnt think you came across as harsh at all, BT.

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    in reply to: shape of water #78457
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    I guess what i like best about this team is the balance, we have all been talking about. Good offense. Good defense. Good special teams.

    I mean that is soooooo important. Sooner or later a great playoff run is going to include going up against…oh, a team like the 99 Tampa Bay Bucs. A team that WILL shut down your offense. And to win a game like that ya need — a good defense, and good special teams.

    Ya know.

    This team looks like its shaping up to be able to win in various ways. High scoring or low scoring.

    Another interesting thing about this team is it has never once really laid an egg.
    I dunno what that means. Does that mean something?

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    Uh…Rams are mammals.

    It’s Nittany’s job to say that, but he’s probably drunk in a gutter somewhere.

    =================
    Echidnas are Mammals.
    Echidnas lay eggs.
    Thus, Rams can lay eggs.

    And you call yourself a teacher.

    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78431
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    And, speaking of colluding with Israel, The Intercept has this article as well:

    https://theintercept.com/2017/12/05/michael-flynn-jared-kushner-israel-settlements-trump/

    =============

    Yeah, the Israel thing is infuriating. Israel has colluded with every president and almost every senator for decades. Its just not called colluding. Cuz…..its Israel.

    Its spawning some weird contortions out on the internetz:https://forward.com/opinion/388867/jared-kushner-was-right-to-collude-with-russia-because-he-did-it-for-israel/

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    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78427
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    WV,

    If you get the time, would be interested in you fleshing out what you mean by that media split (Dem versus Rep) a bit more.

    It may well be I’ve just misread you. Wouldn’t be the first time. Won’t be the last.

    Regardless, hope all is well.

    =============

    What i mean is simply the “Fox-News/Rightwing-Radio/Washington Times…MSM’. Which of course is nothing more than propaganda for the Corporotacracy.

    And. the “MSNBC-NYTIMES-PBS/NPR…MSM” part of the media. Also fulfilling propaganda function. Also providing the grease for the Corporate killing machine.

    Yes, I see a difference between the two MSMs. Just like i see a difference between the Dems and Reps. But they both fulfill the meta-mission of greasing the corporate-killing-machine. Neither part of the Meta-MSM fosters discussion outside the usual dem-rep-PRO-corporate-shared-reality-tunnel.

    Neither of the MSM’s wanted a Bernie or a Jill anywhere near the Presidency. Neither of the MSM’s ever offer any non-corporate-capitalist solutions. Neither of the MSM’s ever question American exceptionalism or american good intentions or the white-washed sanitized version of history….blah blah blah.

    Its not like either Fox or PBS ever had Howard Zinn come on as a regular weekly guest expert, right?

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    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78426
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    Another example of a difference that matters. To me, this is outrageous and scary stuff….

    “…The Trump administration is considering a set of proposals developed by Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a retired CIA officer — with assistance from Oliver North, a key figure in the Iran-Contra scandal — to provide CIA Director Mike Pompeo and the White House with a global, private spy network that would circumvent official U.S. intelligence agencies…

    =============

    Well, that was predictable in my view. I (and others) think there is a split in the deep-state. A fracture, in the deep-state…concerning Trump. Trump ‘gets that’. Otherwise why would he want a separate intell force? He knows there’s an ‘anti-trump’ contingent in the ‘Intell community’.

    He doesnt trust a large part of the deep-state’s intell-community. He wants a group he can trust. So, he privatizes an intell-group.

    Now for me, its more “King Kong vs Godzilla” stuff. I am appalled at the monstrosity of the CIA. They are godzilla to me. A torturing, lying, enforcing subsystem of the Corporotacracy. So i dont get quite as upset about Trump creating a ‘different’ hideous, lying, enforcing, torturing thing. Trumps intell-system and the Establishment Intell systemy — King Kong vs Godzilla. Both, non-democratic hideous subsystems.

    Will Trumps private-cia be worse than the establishment-cia, Billy? The films i posted about are about Indonesia — the place where the CIA participated in the extermination of a million labor leaders, artists, academics, chinese, and ‘communists’. The CIA provided many of the names to the death squads. Goodyear benefited from the slave-labor of many of them before they were butchered.
    Will Trump’s group be worse than that?

    Maybe. But my point is, when a system is as bad as the CIA, i dont get all that upset about ANY alternative to it.

    Btw, who killed more humans in his first year as Prez – Obama or Trump? I dont know the answer to that. I really dont. Does anyone know?

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    Avatar photowv
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    I guess what i like best about this team is the balance, we have all been talking about. Good offense. Good defense. Good special teams.

    I mean that is soooooo important. Sooner or later a great playoff run is going to include going up against…oh, a team like the 99 Tampa Bay Bucs. A team that WILL shut down your offense. And to win a game like that ya need — a good defense, and good special teams.

    Ya know.

    This team looks like its shaping up to be able to win in various ways. High scoring or low scoring.

    Another interesting thing about this team is it has never once really laid an egg.
    I dunno what that means. Does that mean something?

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    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78412
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    But, again, if the cumulative effect of presenting the mountains of horrible, odious shit committed by the GOP and the political right, versus the smaller mountains of odious shit committed by the Dems and the political center, results in folks seeing the Dems as the lesser of two evils . . . well, I think that’s accurate, fair and definitely helpful.

    =============

    Ok, but i dont think the Dem-MSM presents the Dems as “the lesser evil”. And i dont think the Rep-MSM presents the Reps as “the lesser evil”. If the two corporate-MSMs told the american people “both parties are destroying the poor and the biosphere and both parties are supporting wars and atrocities and torture, etc…but one of those horrible hideous corporate parties isnt as bad as the other” — well, if they said THAT, I’d be fine with it. That would be accurate. King Kong and Godzilla. Smallpox and the Black Death. John St.Clair and Greg Robinson.

    But the two MSMs dont do that. The each have their agendas. The Rep-MSM slams the Dems and holds out the Reps as the good guys. The Dem-MSM slams Trump and holds out the Dems as the good guys. THAT is all propaganda. THAT is not ‘lesser evil’ stuff. Zn voted for Hillary but he knew what she was. He voted for her as a ‘lesser evil’ strategically, which is fine. But the MSM does NOT present the corporate parties in ‘that’ light.

    And so what “I” see is the Dem MSM attacking reps and offering up the Same Ole Sorry Ass Dems as alternatives. I do NOT see the Dem-MSM offering up any planet-saving alternative.

    I just dont take the MSM seriously as a ‘news’ media. Its a propaganda machine for the corporotacracy/empire/deep-state. Its a Lie-machine. Drenches us in lies of commission and lies of omission. I dunno much about North Korea media, but i doubt North Korean media is any more effective as propaganda than the american MSM.

    ….btw, i know that you and me and zn and the other ‘leftists’ would agree on almost ALL the practical, do-able, incremental capitalist POLICY decisions. Ya know. The real-world stuff. We’d all support better regulations on pollution, better health care systems, etc etc etc. We dont have to agree on some of this ‘big picture’ stuff to know we agree on specific policy stuff.

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    in reply to: Can we beat the Eagles ? #78411
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    “The Rams have the NFL’s fourth-hardest remaining schedule these last four weeks, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, which compiles the rankings based on opponents’ win percentages. The Seahawks are eighth, the Saints are 20th, the Eagles are 21st, and the Vikings are 24th.”

    from Alden Gonzalez http://www.espn.com/blog/los-angeles-rams/post/_/id/36718/sean-mcvay-on-eagles-rams-this-is-what-you-love-about-the-nfl

    And…as my son points out…that INCLUDES THE 9ers!

    Which probably makes the upcoming three game stretch the worst in football.

    ============

    And the 49ers with Garrapolo may be a lot different than the 49ers without Garrapolo.

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    in reply to: Can we beat the Eagles ? #78410
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    My God, almost all of you sound like the French General Staff after Dunkirk. Surrender monkeys!

    Rams, 51-7.

    Yeah, I’m off my meds.

    =============

    Exactly Ozone. Nothing says French Surrender Monkey like
    avocado on toast.

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    Avatar photowv
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    PS — dont know if you know who Don Blankenship is, BT (he’s from my neck of the woods), but this i think reflects ‘the situation’ now, in the USA.

    He’s running for Senate 🙂

    link:http://grist.org/briefly/convicted-coal-baron-don-blankenship-is-running-for-u-s-senate/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

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    Avatar photowv
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    Well i agree its a bad thing, among the gazillion bad things Trump is and will continue to do.

    But (and i ‘think’ you agree) Trump was just a symptom or reflection of the long trend, the long Dem-Rep Corporate trend.

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    “…An American inequality gap that first began to almost imperceptibly widen in the 1970s has, by now, reached Grand Canyon proportions. Before it hits its ultimate moment, it may make the nineteenth-century version of a Gilded Age look like an era of moderation. Since 1980, stunningly enough, the share of national income of the richest 1% has doubled. If all that American wealth hadn’t gushed upward, if it hadn’t produced a raft of billionaires, as well as hordes of multi-millionaires and millionaires, with so many interests to protect, we would never have experienced such prodigious top-down funding of elections; the building of a 1% democracy, that is, would have been inconceivable. If the Republican Party hadn’t been sold to the Koch Brothers and the Democratic Party hadn’t gone all neoliberal on us, can you really imagine working class voters putting their faith in a billionaire to make America great again for them? I doubt it.

    Similarly, if this country hadn’t been pursuing its never-ending war on terror so assiduously and unsuccessfully these last 16 years, while Washington was being transformed into a war capital, the national security state was rising to prominence as a kind of shadow government, and the funding of the US military hadn’t become the only truly bipartisan issue in Congress, Trumpism would never have been conceivable. In our American world, The Donald’s tendency toward authoritarianism is often treated as if it were a unique attribute of his. To believe that, however, you would have to overlook the growth in this century of a distinctly authoritarian spirit in Washington. You would have to ignore what it meant for the national security state to be ever more embedded in our ruling city. You would have to forget about the American intelligence community’s development of an historically unprecedented surveillance machinery aimed not just at the world but at American citizens as well….”
    http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/42768-unfounding-father-why-we-need-to-stare-at-you-know-who

    in reply to: Robert Reich on the Russia investigation #78387
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    Ha. …I have recurring “off the grid” dreams. Ya know. Living in a tiny-house, growing my own food, solar/wind energy. Maybe an intentional community.

    If i were younger….

    Now for the love of God, would you go watch those two documentaries I posted about
    : Act of Killing and the look of silence. And watch the directors cuts. And the commentaries by W. Herzog. He said — and i agree totally — we will never see anything like those films again. Ever.

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    You think those documentaries would cheer me up, or depress me to the brink of suicide?

    =============

    Watch the ‘bonus features’ of Look of Silence. Then watch that film. Then watch Act of Killing. (even though the Act of Killing film came first).

    I have never seen anything like these films. Your jaw will drop open, again and again. And for different reasons. And you will become a huge fan of Mr Joshua Oppenheimer.

    …oh, and there are weird surreal scenes of dancing girls and a giant fish…and they are dancing in front of a big lake…the lake happens to be the lake formed by the volcano that almost caused the extinction of humans 70,000 years ago. The great ‘bottleneck’ i think its called.

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Viewing 30 posts - 6,571 through 6,600 (of 12,592 total)