owlbeer | Entries tagged with documentarylove

Alex Gibney, you, sir, can make a documentary.

I saw Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr Hunter S Thompspon at the film festival last night, and it was awesome.

I now really want to see Taxi to the Dark Side. I'm almost, maybe, thinking about taking time off work to see it as they only have day showings left. :(

( Stargate Atlantis: Broken Ties )

Anyway, I should go out and procure food and caffeine. Oh, withdrawal headaches they are awesome.

Dark Knight tomorrow!

Also, finally, OJamas! Heee. I just find the phrase hilarous and fun to say. Also, they're cool pajamas.

Current Mood: amused

I had a very eh day at work today, and to be honest, I can't see the next, oh, six weeks getting any better. (Just, who the fuck thought I could take over her job for six weeks. Honestly). However, I got home and there was beer, curry, LJ and The Daily Show, and I'm feeling a lot better. More relaxed anyway.

Stuff Tali Has Enjoyed Recently:

- I watched The Corporation last night, and wow that was scary/depressing/fascinating. An awesome documentary actually and I definitely recommend it. I also borrowed the 2-disc set from my friend with the ridiculous amount of extras, which I'm really looking forward to getting into.

- I also located DVDs of Blackpool aka Six Hours of David Tennant and his Scottish Accent. Guh. I liked it, and the musical aspects were really well done, but there's something that held me back from really loving it, and it might be Sarah Parish, who while I have no doubt is an excellent actress, vaguely annoys me. But, David Tennant was wonderful and Scottish. Mmmm.

- I finally saw The Bourne Ultimatum over the weekend too, and I really enjoyed it. No travel-sickness! I don't know if the camera work was gentler on this movie compared to The Bourne Supremacy, or if I was just used to it, but it didn't annoy me nearly as much. The movie was just paced wonderfully too. David Strathairn is awesome. *nods* (And he narrated a series on the US Supreme Court! *loves*)

- West Wing tribute video with clips from blooper reels and interviews and it made me totally nostalgic and feel like I really need to catch up on S6-7 and have a West Wing marathon. (link via

dianora2

- Finally, I stumbled upon Stephen Colbert's interview with Charlie Rose on YouTube, and OMG love! I don't think I actually have seen him intreviewed when not in character, and while Charlie Rose kind of annoyed me as an interviewer, the interview was awesome. He's so softly spoken and polite, and intelligent, and adorable! I already had a pretty high estimation of the guy before seeing this, but it still went up.

Between him and Jon Stewart, I, just, yeah. <3!

Current Mood: relaxed
Current Music: The Decemberists - The Perfect Crime #2

1. There was no Daily Show tonight. :( However, C4 did play the Tom Cruise is in the closet episode of South Park instead. So awesome. I love that ep an insane amount, and it was Emmy nominated, which is just hilarious.

2. The Wellington Film Festival just ended and I managed to get to four films, which is four more than last year. Go me!

Helvetica which was a documentary about the font of the same name and really fascinating.
Manufacturing Dissent, another documentary but this one about Michael Moore and his manipulation of facts in his films, made by people who were actually fans. It was interesting, but I thought their case was a little flimsy. They made some good points certainly, but I walked out thinking 'well, you've told me I shouldn't trust Michael Moore, why should I trust you guys?'
Death at a Funeral which was a hilarious British comedy starring Matthew MacFadyen, Keeley Hawes and Alan Tudyk (Wash! And he holds a leaf at one point, and I totally muttered 'I am a leaf on the wind' to myself in the theatre). It was awesome.
The Long Goodbye which was a 1973 Robert Altman movie. I just basically wanted to see another Altman film, and I liked this one quite a lot. Elliot Gould was pretty damn awesome in it.

3. Muse has announced Australia dates, but no NZ ones yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, even if they just come to Auckland, because I would totally fly up there to see them again.

4. I'm pimping out S3 Dr.Who to some friends of mine and last night we watched '42' through 'Blink'. Oh, show. Could you rock more? I was just blown away all over again by the last three especially.

5. Relatedly, this Dr Who vid is rather incredible. Muse + Dr.Who = Much love. And the editing is very effective. (Clips through all of S3. Link via

slodwick).

6. Some of those bandom boys are awfully pretty ... I did not just say that.

7. Snowball scene in 'Inauguration'. (Link via

musesfool). Oh, West Wing. I love this scene so much and it even gave me a crazy Toby, CJ/Danny bunny. WTF?

8. Finally, I'm reading Hunter S Thompson's Fear and Loathing on the Campiagn Trail '72 because it's been a while since I've read some non-fiction, and well, I'm a political geek. This quote gave me chills:

"It was a nervous thing to consider: Not just four more years of Nixon, but Nixon's last four years in politics - completely unshackled, for the first time in his life, from any need to worry about who might vote for him the next time around. .... When he stands at his White House window and looks out at an anti-war demonstration, he doesn't see dissenters, he sees criminals." (Fawcett Popular Library, 1973, p393)

... yeah.

Hmm, and here was me thinking I didn't have a lot to say. Should really be in bed though, as my day tomorrow is very meeting-tastic. How did I get a job that required me to attend all sorts of meetings? Honestly. Craziness.

Current Mood: hyper
Current Music: New Order - Crystal

Oh, I love Jon Stewart. I just watched this interview he did with Bill Moyers and just, so much love. It's a very cool and really quite in-depth interview and has clips of some of the best recent Daily Show moments. He just, makes so much sense and it is not afraid to say what's going on behind everything, and just, yeah, I love him.

Also, talking of Bill Moyers, he's also done an awesome hour and half documentary on the media pre-Iraq War called Buying the War which I watched last night (yay for PBS streaming). If you're at all interested in US politics and media and how they relate, I really recommend it.

Moving away from politics, I watched the Keira version of Pride and Prejudice again last night, and I've watched it quite a few times now, but the sheer prettiness of it strikes me every time. The movie has its faults, but the cinematography and the way it's shot is just gorgeous. Keira, Rosamund Pike and Matthew MacFadyen don't exactly hurt it's pretty factor either. ;) Honestly, it just makes me want to cap and icon and I don't get the urge that often. (Though saying that I wish I did, because wow do my icons need an overhaul).

Finally, a moment of self-pimping, kinda. Some workmates and I decided it would be fun to take a digital photo a day for a year and upload it to a Flickr account (I know this isn't an original idea - it's been around a while) and we started a couple of months ago. Mine are here if anyone's curious. I'm quite proud of some of them, but others are the result of me still not quite knowing how to focus my camera properly.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Blondie - One Way or Another

I'm still up because well, sugar, but also because I wanted to finish watching the third part of Newswar. It's a PBS documentary about journalism in the US and how things like the web have impacted on it, and it has covered the Libby case and the sale of the LA Times, and The Daily Show and it's just fascinating for a media/politics geek like myself. I can't wait for the fourth part.

Actually, in general, I really can't recommend these Frontline documentaries enough, and the fact that they put them up online is so cool. The full list is here and I personally have watched 'The Lost Year in Iraq,' 'The Dark Side' and 'Rumsfeld's War (yes, you might be sensing a theme) and they've all been awesome.

Also, I ended up watching the first 5 episodes of Alias S1 with my friend tonight, who wanted to watch a slightly trashy TV series (I tried to get her to watch BSG, which admittedly is far from trashy, but alas stories of spies seduced her) and ... eh. Every time I watch the show again I find more and more to pick at. There's still some things I love a lot about the show, and to be honest it's been a long time since I've really loved it, but it just seems to have lost something for me. *shrugs*

Current Mood: geeky

I just finished watching The Filth and the Fury, a documentary about the Sex Pistols, and it was fairly damn awesome. The Richard III clips were particularly cool. I must admit I didn't know a lot about them before I sat down, just that they were the birth of the punk rock movement, but the documentary really was rather fascinating. I knew they were seen as rebels, but fuck, one guy referred to them as the 'antithesis of the human race.' Dude.

I still think Gimme Shelter is the best music documentary I've seen (shush, I am horribly biased), but this was up there, and yeah admittedly, I haven't seen that many music documentaries. If anyone has any recs, I'd definitely be interested.

And I have no Sex Pistols songs. Damn.

Also, go C4 for actually playing some music documentaries.

Current Mood: curious
Current Music: The Rolling Stones - Paint it Black

I kept meaning to post for the last couple of weeks and just never quite got there. I meant to at least post about the US elections and Rumsfeld's resignation and all sorts of things, because really if I have an obsessive fandom at the moment that's not the Rolling Stones, it's US politics (Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert included), but no, that didn't happen.

I also haven't been watching a lot of TV (as really, there is nothing on here) but I have been reading TWoP re-caps and the like for VMars, Grey's and Studio 60. Not so much BSG (trying to stay kind of spoiler free) and House (really not sure why, it may have to do with the House re-capper). I have been reading posts on the flist though. Supernatural really did eat fandom, huh?

However, the last ep of House involved Hugh Laurie, Robert Sean Leonard and John Laroquette on a road trip!? There is no bad there. I still have ridiculous love for Laroquette's one episode appearance in TWW. Ridiculous love. I may have to watch that ep today.

I usually go for a wander around town on Saturday and track down a coffee, but the weather is a little iffy and I'm already hyper due to the chocolate I had for breakfast (yes, I know, believe me, I know). Honestly Wellington, I love you really, and I don't regret my move for a second, but your climate? Can suck rather hard some days. It's November!

I ended up staying up till 4:30am last night, because this wiki ate my brain. (link via

polonius). It's about tropes used in TV and to some degree anime and it was in turns hilarious and fascinating and I just couldn't stop clicking the links. Damn you internet.

Also due to the internet's wonder I got to see the documentary Jesus Camp last night. Yeah ... I may have yelled at the TV a lot. Just OMGWTF. They're just kids!

Finally, Casino Royale needs to be out here now. 7 December is too far away.

Current Mood: optimisitc
Current Music: Bob Dylan - Shelter from the Storm

Do you know what's a very jarring experience? Watching Crash (which having now seen, I think totally deserved its Oscar win) and then flipping the TV back on and being accosted by John Travolta and others 'acting' in The General's Daughter. Gah.

I also just finished watching Iraq for Sale,* which is a documentary about the private contractors used in the Iraq war and which I totally recommend, and it's put 'Sweet Neo-Con' in my head. I love the Stones (heh, no really, could you tell?) and I love the beat to this song and while I appreciate the sentiment of the lyrics, Mick has done so much better ... but now I can't stop listening to it!

* Yeah, there were a lot of DVDs in my evening. It was good, and I even had company, but I make my life entirely too complicated sometimes. Hence the annoyed mood.

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Music: Rolling Stones - Sweet Neo-Con