Good Documentaries v. is that a doc?

[THECATINTHEHAT]

That sounds awesome!

On a similar theme here is an audio documentary explaining The History of the Amen Break and one explaining The History of the 303.

 

[Chatative]

Horizon: Black Holes - What Are They?

I don't expect to have much in the way of real understanding of such things but I do read a lot and do watch a lot (not all documentaries (mostly documentaries - especially recently - admittedly) but watch a few uni lectures on PooToob too which are surprisingly accessible usually). It's just something that's always fascinated me and just like to wonder about. Like trying to picture things even if I can't actually describe them in any meaningful way. They make sense in my own head and that's good enough for me :D

Will watch that this afternoon.

Keeps the mind sharp considering baffling concepts like these. Definitely something of interest to me too - I used to do a lot of stargazing & would always watch the TV programmes about space. I really regret a) dropping Chemistry as soon as I could & b) not taking any Sciences at Advanced Higher. I went for Arts type stuff instead when the Sciences were always what I was best at. To be honest, if I could afford it, I'd probably go back to University & do something... Physics would most definitely be near the top of the list.

It was at a Liquid club .

Say no more.

Happy to say the one here closed down but I think it's just re-opened under a different name.

 

[spudgun]

Just watching the Bukowski documentary on NetFlix "Born into this world". Lapped his stuff up as a teenager and since then I'd always remembered him as a bit of a boastful, self-mythologising numpty, but you can see in the doc it actually all came from a pretty vulnerable place and he's a lot more likeable than I thought he would be.

 

[Shambles]

I have a shitload of Bukowski docs and interview footage. Binged on them a few years back cos have read the odd book, seen a few films, never really seen the man himself. Fascinating character. I have 4h of... dunno what you'd call it but it's not a doc and it's not exactly an interview - more like home movies with guidance. Very candid. Can't recall what name I have it under but found it on a very obscure site years ago. There's a few standard docs which use segments of it. He drinks a lot throughout. Oddly enough.

 

[spudgun]

Yeah I remember thinking back then "Jesus, how can this guy have drank so much and remained so prolific and lived so long". Now it doesn't seem so implausible to me.

It's worth checking out if you can find it to stream (Bono [that's Bono Vox] does appear as a talking head lauding him, but then so does Tom Waits).

.....Now though there's just been a clip of him on his sixth bottle of wine, kicking his wife on the settee and calling her a whore with real venom. Not exactly a total dude, but whom who drinks that much is?

 

[Shambles]

There's no doubt he was an arsehole at times too. Not defending some of his character traits, as you say, booze does horrible things to good people. There's much to dislike about the man but suspect that's largely the booze. Billy Burroughs and Hunter Thompson weren't exactly pleasant to those around them much of the time but lawdy could they write. Bukowski is very much in that mould I'd say.

What impresses me most about him is that he is a drunken bum - a violent, aggressive drunken bum at that - but the beauty of his poetry beggars belief. How can something that glorious and sensitive come from a man who looks and acts and drinks like that? If ever there was something to prove the "don't judge a book..." Bukowski is it.

 

[spudgun]

Indeed

NSFW:

Bluebird

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.

there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?

 

[Shambles]

Today I are mostly been watching Stephen Fry's Planet Word. Missed it when it was on but got through it all today. Probably don't need to add much - it's Stephen Fry exploring language. If you also happened to miss it when it was on you should probably do something similar to wot I just done did.

(not necessarily all in one day - apparently some people have 'things' to do)

Was also quite pleased that with one exception (mainly cos I've never read any of it so no idea what I think of it) we apparently like the same authors. I'm more cultured than I thought. Or he isn't. Latter makes no sense so go me.

 

[Shambles]

Lotsa dox today but is now maths night so have some maths. Also some socio-economic and environmental stuff in there too. Is quite an interesting mix.

High Anxieties - The Mathematics of Chaos

Not just another retelling of how Chaos Theory came about and what it is - although there is that too - but more about real world effects with a focus on economic and environmental matters. Who said maths is irrelevant to daily life.

 

[Inflorescence]

Today I are mostly been watching Stephen Fry's Planet Word. Missed it when it was on but got through it all today. Probably don't need to add much - it's Stephen Fry exploring language. If you also happened to miss it when it was on you should probably do something similar to wot I just done did.

(not necessarily all in one day - apparently some people have 'things' to do)

Was also quite pleased that with one exception (mainly cos I've never read any of it so no idea what I think of it) we apparently like the same authors. I'm more cultured than I thought. Or he isn't. Latter makes no sense so go me.

One down..that really is rather fascinating. Thanks for recommendation and the link to that website too.

 

[mydrugbuddy]

Today I are mostly been watching Stephen Fry's Planet Word. Missed it when it was on but got through it all today. Probably don't need to add much - it's Stephen Fry exploring language. If you also happened to miss it when it was on you should probably do something similar to wot I just done did.

(not necessarily all in one day - apparently some people have 'things' to do)

Was also quite pleased that with one exception (mainly cos I've never read any of it so no idea what I think of it) we apparently like the same authors. I'm more cultured than I thought. Or he isn't. Latter makes no sense so go me.

I think i have that burned to DVD somewhere, i was so impressed with it that i wanted to keep it for posperity. Wouldnt mind watching it again, it'll hopefully still be on i-player for a while, otherwise I'll have to try to find the DVD somewhere amongst the many shoe box fulls of burned dvds that i have.

 

[Shambles]

^ Linky wasn't to iPlayer and pretty sure it's not on there at the moment. Link is to one of the video sites we are allowed to link to - whole series is on there.

One down..that really is rather fascinating. Thanks for recommendation and the link to that website too.

Couldn't really ask for a better match than Stephen Fry and a documentary series on language really. I enjoyed all the episodes - sweary one being a bonus cos it has Brian Blessed swearing profusely which is always worth a watch. I did actually know about the analgesic effects of sweariness but there were a few other sweary snippets I was less aware of. The last one on written language is also good.

I don't really look up stuff on Daily Motion - not for any particular reason, just doesn't come up often. Feel free to dig up some documentary treasure on there - if only to break up my frequent wall of posting here 8)

Hallucinogen Honey Hunters - Hunting Mad Honey

Imagine a VICE drugs doc without any of the hyperbolic hipsterism and you have this. Almost more of a mini travelogue piece cos is mostly just an interesting lil doc about a Nepalese village who happen to be big on "mad honey". For a moment I sensed an entrepreneurial opportunity then found out the source of the honey and maybe not. Mad is one thing, highly toxic is quite another and there's a fine line. I don't even need to guess which side I'd end up on 8)

 

[Vurtual]

Found these two docs on that DocumentaryList.net site (ta Shambles). Britain BC (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qZo0_YaBhc) and Britain AD (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLpgVEfy4mQ).

Both by Frances Pryor (the ginger one off of time team). Britain BC looks at prehistory in britain from stone age to the celts. Britain AD looks at after the romans buggered off (the dark ages). I'm sure i probably watched them when they were on years ago, but i didn't remember if i did (probably didn't have channel 4 then).

Well interesting - the main thing i got from it was the origins of british people: i'd known before that the previous idea of celtic invasion was actually adoption of celtic culture and there wasn't much/any physical invasion (the genes of british celts are shown to not be heavily linked to european celts). I wasn't so aware that the same thing may apply to the saxon 'invasion' - that we weren't really invaded at all and anglo-saxons are just romano-british (welsh?) people who adopted the saxon language and culture (the invasion idea was added later by christians (bede) keen to break links with earlier british celtic church). It seems hard to believe what with the english language (and being called angle-ish), but britain AD makes quite a good case - apparently the english language itself contains evidence that it was modified by celtic speakers into the language we know (something about word order). It sort of fucks up any 'aryan blood' ideas about germanic people and anglo-saxons (if they were mongrel welsh people all along) (spoken as a welsh mongrel)

 

[Shambles]

Found these two docs on that DocumentaryList.net site (ta Shambles).

Technically not from that Metanoia linky you posted but one of their productions so ta, Vurtual

Counter-Intelligence

A bit lengthy but fairly exhaustive as a result, seems a bit more grounded in some version of reality than some of the more exotic tinfoilery out there. AFAIK, none of the claims made are even especially controversial but when put together in such a way it does all add up to a fairly damning case.

And not a documentary but as it happens to be their latest inclusion and some may not have seen it before...

How TV Ruined Your Life

One of Charlie Brooker's finest hours (actually three of his finest hours).

 

[Chatative]

If you like your conspiracy theories I suggest you read this website: [B]http://www.debunking911.com/[/B]

Absolutely fantastic explanation of the many of the conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11. I actually read up a lot on it out of interest because I found it fun finding flaws in the supposed theories.

I was amazed at how idiot some clearly extremely intelligent people are... they are the worst offenders. They have enough expert knowledge to sound like they know what they are on about but inevitably they overlook something, ignore something or just don't see the bigger picture.

Conspiracies theories are kind of like religion... they are used to explain things people don't understand.

The one I found amusing was the fact people said there was no plane in the footage of the plane hitting the Pentagon. Do they even realise that car park cameras circa 2001 run at like 2-3 FPS? :D

 

[Shambles]

Kewl - thanks. Maybe not right now though cos am all 9/11'd out I think. The conspiracy-debunking stuff has traditionally been appalling so would be good to have something that doesn't just end up making even the most outlandish conspiracy ideas seem more likely than utter drivel.

I agree to an extent with your religion comparison - the lack of knowledge and understanding is a big part of much and many a conspiracy theory. It's complicated by the fact that historically conspiracy-type behaviour and action is often at the heart of reality too. There is no doubt the world is run on conspiratorial lines (in the simple and straightforward understanding of what a conspiracy is) but somewhere between there and Alex Jones there is a spectrum of shades of truth and fiction. I mostly like wondering about exactly where that line is drawn in various instances. As with all things, never black and white. It's not all paranoid fantasy, it's also not all Truth (apparently if you capitalise the word it's more true than standard truth). Shades of grey as ever.

 

[Chatative]

In my opinion, a significant number of conspiracy theories have some element of truth behind them but are blown out of proportion.

*Certain* governments even use conspiracy theories to draw attention away from what they are really doing. I mean the US stirred up all the UFO Mania to hide the flights over the USSR.

UFOs: The Secret Evidence ... it might even still be on 4oD.

Certainly shades of grey surrounding the truth of the theories.

 

[Shambles]

I'd say probably the majority have an element of truth to them - what that element is buried in amongst all the... more exotic elements is another matter and a tricky beast to pin down. I am rather partial to a good tale though and the labyrinthine elaboration of some of the better developed theories is just brilliant. Certainly also mostly bollocks but that's not really the point. Actually, not sure if "bollocks" is even the right word. I suspect in many cases the basic fact of certain things is perfectly true, the way those facts are interpreted seems more open to conjecture of varying degrees of insanity to me. It's increasingly hard to absolutely rule out anything given how fukked up some of the stuff governments and such people eventually own up to - there's such a mishmash of information, misinformation and disinformation it's hard to tell where tinfoilery ends and actuality begins at times. I suspect this is deliberate but that probably makes me somewhat conspiratorially-minded.

 

[Vurtual]

Shambles: That counter intelligence doc is good isn't it? All the other ones are worth a look too (except maybe the obama one, s a bit dull) they have some really cool interviews collected together (chomsky, bill blum, michael parenti in a lot of them). They've all got good stuff in (i think there's quite a bit about eddie bernays in the 'human resources' one, and stuff about gladio in another). It scratches the itch of internet zeitgeist-style genre (which i'm a sucker for), but you actually learn stuff you can take away (not like the usual youtube fare where you end up feeling dirty when you suss out they're christians or randians or something).


^I agree that most wacky conspiracy theories are used by the state as disinformation to hide real stuff in plain sight. There was some cia documents released recently from the 60s about how they would increase the use of the term 'conspiracy theorist' as a pejorative term as a way of helping the warren commision along with it's covering up.

The real conspiracy i think is that most of the bad stuff isn't even hidden - we know how the power of the world is controlled by the western corporate elite through the UN, IMF, WTO, world bank, BIS, bilderberg etc. How they run it is largely out in the open, everyone knows about it and goes along with it ('it's just how things are dear boy'). Thinking that there's some secret hidden element behind the scenes that is really in total control of what seem like random events is a fantasy which the people with the actual power would love for us to believe; because in reality is not actually possible to have such total control in such a complex system (RAW's snafu principle of course - but everyone believing it makes them easier to control (because you're defeatist if you think the rothsefeller-lizards control it all perfectly).

I think the biggest conspiracy in history is 20th century use of public relations/marketing/mind control to push people towards some ideas (individualism, consumerism) and away from others (socialism) - in the early part of the 20th century american elites worried that socialism/communism was a better ideology for common people than capitalism could offer, and so would win out in the end. Their answer was to increase consumerism, entertainment, and distractions to compensate (dumb down). Over time the constant denigration of left wing ideas through the media organs of the capitalists (along with left wing papers being bought up/put out of business ) seems to have eradicated large parts of the left. To see proof that this was a real policy look at Operation Mockingbird in europe, which shows how the american state department basically infiltrated and funded the left in europe and pushed them away from the left and towards 'new labour'-type capitalism

 

[maxalfie]

Technically not from that Metanoia linky you posted but one of their productions so ta, Vurtual

Counter-Intelligence

A bit lengthy but fairly exhaustive as a result, seems a bit more grounded in some version of reality than some of the more exotic tinfoilery out there. AFAIK, none of the claims made are even especially controversial but when put together in such a way it does all add up to a fairly damning case.

And not a documentary but as it happens to be their latest inclusion and some may not have seen it before...

How TV Ruined Your Life

One of Charlie Brooker's finest hours (actually three of his finest hours).

Watched the Counter-Intelligence documentary earlier after seeing it mentioned here. Found the whole thing very interesting especially the bloke who referred to himself as an 'economic hitman', think that was the phrase. Was well worth watching, thanks for the heads up.