Carlos Castaneda: Enigma of a Sorcerer

This DVD takes a look at the best-selling, controversial author who sold over eight million books in seventeen languages. He wrote, ostensibly, about his experiences with a Sonoran Nualle, holy man, named Don Juan Matus. Carlos is portrays himself in the books as the hapless, hallucinogenic drug imbibing, student trying to understand the magical powers Don Juan uses to make plants come to life and other miracles in these "reports", which earned him a PhD from UCLA in 1970.

It was, in fact, the pedigree of UCLA, with forward written by the Anthropology Department Chair, that gave the books legitimacy. Just as Timothy Leary used his status as a Harvard professor to give hallucinogens credentials, Castaneda parlays his student status into the type of love, power and attention he wanted. Like Leary, he wanted to impart knowledge of the nature of reality. From many of the reports in the DVD, he really did believe his own story.

But, unlike Leary, and more like Steve Glass, the subject of Shattered Glass, the National Review writer who made up his stories, or, more recently, Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces who had to go mea culpa on Oprah... Carlos made it all up. There is no Don Juan.

To me, it's like saying there's no Santa Claus. I mean, I took an entire course on this guy in college. I read all his books, many times, thought about them and what his exchanges with Don Juan meant. Yes, we all had to consider the notion that these far out stories were made up, but, you want to believe there is some proof for what we all know is true.

Someone on the DVD discusses the idea that, like Santa Claus, it almost doesn't matter if Don Juan was a real man. He is a "fictive reality", meaning, so many people understand the concept of this individual it sort of creates it's own reality. No, no. This guy was more like the David Koresh/Jim Jones/Charles Mansons, it's not about enlightenment. It's about ego, and feeling the thrill of minions of women to fuck, women who truly love and believe in them. It's exploitation and that's what Carlos Castaneda was about.

Like the worst of the users of this world, the Jerry Falwells and Jim Bakers, he used good solid spiritual concepts to lure in his victims. They were "new age" concepts, instead of traditional bible stuff, but, it's basically the same thing. Taking truth and beauty and twisting it to your own gain, living a life surrounded, ultimately, by pain and lies. You should hear what all these people who closely surrounded Carlos in his little Sorcerers Circle say about him, "what a relief it was, when he died!".

I want to end on something positive, which is one of the biggest lessons of the books. Even if they were lies, and that's pretty much proven in the DVD by a guy who traced Carlos' writings along with other things being published at the time, the concepts are valid and here's one I've lived by. Don Juan tells us that death is always over our shoulder. Each day we need to keep somewhere in the back of our minds that we must use our time well because our life could end at any time.

If today were your last day, could you really say you've lead your life freely, honestly and without fear? Or have you made a million little compromises and told a million little lies and towed the line and did what you were supposed to, assuming you'll have plenty of time at the end to do what you really love, be with someone you really love, be who you really are?

In2Movies

Can't these guys at Warners, much less Microsoft, come up with one original idea? Warners new fake P2P movie download service stole my whole concept here. I just had to go grabbing up the blogspot domains, and now I do indeed have:

In2Movies

In2Music

N2Movies

You get the picture... I think I nabbed up a few similar names. But, I've been using this concept of being into stuff, or in2 stuff, or N2, or Nto.... for a long time.

When I googled IntoFilm, it actually came up with tons of stuff on the little sister website, to this one, IntoFilm. I found out that Intervision, IntoFilm and IntoTune are all traded on Blog Shares, some blog stock exchange thing that I didn't even sign up for... and I'm trading up! Now that I'm actually directing my readers there, I hope to see my stock price spike! My little blog has had over 20,000 hits in the little over a year of it's existence and all the linkage is starting to pay off as I write for more and more websites and work with more and more internet companies. More to come on that.

Make sure to check out my main blog:

Intervision

Havoc

Anne Hathaway trades in her Princess Diaries image for what I'm going to call Crash for kids. Crash showed the relationship between adults of different races in LA today. Havoc takes this to the teens, adds a cohesive plot and even more sobering ramifications to consider. The excellent Hathaway takes us to the heart and soul of a disaffected Pacific Palisades teen, showing the workaholic and alcoholic parents, the blow jobs for the wannabe boyfriend, the desire for anything that feels real and the ability to put it all in perspective for herself and protect herself.

Every social force is more apparent when you look at it through the eyes of the young people. We see an entire culture of white high schoolers more gansta than the east side teens. When 50 Cent was asked about the fact that most of his albums are sold to white suburban kids he replied, "Those kids want the boogeyman, they want to be scared and they're willing to pay $18.99 to do it". It really makes you wonder who's buying into the bling image.

The parents are interested in their own upscale image and protecting their kids, but, hey, these poor rebellious kids have no war to protest, at least not one they're being drafted for so, got to rebel against something, or at least make it look like you are. Was college protest ever serious, or do white kids just pose, as they do in this movie? They go downtown like it's some kind of reality show attraction... but then find that, in some ways, the hispanic community, rife as it is with poverty and drugs, is actually very family oriented... something they lack.

Wedding Crashers

The opening scene finds our amazingly romantic protagonists, Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn, haplessly watching a venomous couple and their noxious lawyers trade barbs. Turns out they crash Washington weddings on the side. Not, as director David Dobkin explains, in an exploitive way, but in an innocent, idealistic way. It's a 35-year-old man coming-of-age story. Well, it does point to some of the hypocrisies of our times, but, I wouldn't draw too much social commentary from this rather predictable Hollywood big-name film.

We all know that, in the end, despite the odds of ever finding true and lasting love in this use it before you lose it world, they'll find their (filthy rich) dreamgirls and happiness ever after. It's lighthearted and mildly entertaining. The commentary track with Vince and Owen is typically lame, the actors never have anything to say except stuff like, "Well, I did feel a bit awkward touching Jane Seymour's tits because, well, she's Jane Seymour." Directors are much better, and Dobkin's track does add a bit to a pretty lame film.

We do see the insides of the Kennedy-like family our crashers end up marrying into. Behind the touch football is real anger and aggression and sadness and pain and darkness. All the stereotypes, from the batty, bigoted granny to the boozing, trampy wife (yes, Jane Seymour), are represented. The men in this film come off pretty golden. Oh well, made by guys, with very high paid guys, for high paid guys to take their dates too. I'd say dream on, except these guys are laughing all the way to the bank.

The Chumscrubber

Think of Desperate Housewives meets South Park. Marc Cherry's take on the suburbs was supposed to be a morphing of Sex In The City to, basically, sex in the suburbs. Less Cul-de-Sac and more Cult and Sack, this film has an even darker tone and covers not just the secret lives of housewives but goes into the lives of the kids they and their self-absorbed husbands bring up. If you're expecting a chick flick because it features some staples of the genre, Glenn Close and Rita Wilson, think again. The violence is stark and seems to come out of nowhere.

If you really want to see the stark reality of disconnected people living in Utopias of manicured lawns and Ionic columns, check out The Ice Storm or American Beauty. This film has none of the whimsy, the characters are all a bit too weird. It's not enough to make the lawns recognizable, the people have to be genuine. I couldn't find one character in this film that felt real to me. The extremities were believable in The Graduate but, Jamie Bell (from Billy Elliot) is no Dustin Hoffman and doesn't portray the irony as well.

Director Arie Posin, a first-time director, helps us understand some of the pointless nuances, making the DVD at least less of a waste of time than a trip to the theater would have been. I did like the fact that the film covers a wide range of characters and perspectives and weaves them together well. I happen to like watching the suburbs held up to ridicule so for me, I'm not sorry I ordered it on Netflix. But, unless you're a disaffected youth, I wouldn't buy this one.

Flight Plan

Isn't Jodie Foster worried about being typecast? I just saw her in this movie, except it was called Panic Room. She played the same frenzied, devoted yet somehow brilliantly protective mother. I realize we need heroines and maybe Jodie feels the need to play them since her career was earned by playing a child prostitute in Taxi Driver and that role led John Hinckley to shoot Reagan.

She's always felt the weight of that and roles like the strong yet sleazy bar hopper led to her first Oscar in The Accused. Once she managed the strong, professional, sleaze-free Oscar winning role, Clarice, she pretty much made a career out of it. This very standard, predictable thriller was literally made for her and gosh, it's hard to refuse Brian Grazier, who has so beautifully resurrected the Sid Vicious look, but, really, I'd like to see her choose more meaningful projects.

Into The Blue

In Nassau, there is a land of enchantment and underwater amazement that, for only a few hundred bucks a night can be yours. It's called Atlantis, where the equally amazing Jessica Alba is stationed in this scenic aquatic thriller. According to director John Stockwell, on this just released DVD, it was quite the international big budget film, including special effects from India and actors and lots of real sharks from the Bahamas. It's an interesting look into the world of modern treasure hunters in the Caribbean, searching for the $6B worth of real life treasure that actually resides there.

So, Jessica Alba, who was even better hip hopping her way through Honey, is the sweet, principled Shark trainer who finds a boatload of treasure and a planeload of coke right next to each other. A lot of shark-chomping and action all over treasure hunting equipment ensues but, it's hard to do more than just enjoy the great bodies and beautiful fish.

Pix/Dis Done Deal

Anyone got a crown for Jobs? Who's gonna play him in Shrek 3? Will he unite his kingdom? Will he inspire us toward greed or creativity? Hopefully the latter. While still being the driven, anal control freak he always has been, he has developed, over the years bigger vision and lately has shown a far simpler, gentler side. He's about all we have right now to lead us out of the mire so, do it right Steve. Just like you've been doing, holding firm on price, going for innovative, original style, function and value. Good luck! You want to be the next Walt Disney? Go for it. Stick to what you love and believe in and leave a great legacy. Just don't focus so much on the technology that you forget what Walt was all about. He was about happiness and dreams and fun. Your kids are still young, let them guide you.

Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room

In the heyday of its hubris the trading floor of the gargantuan room full of the most macho men in Houston had two long staircases. One led to Lay and the other to Skilling. They were known as the two smartest guys in the room. These were two men, born poor, who were going to rule the world by being the smartest guys in the world. And for a while, they came pretty close. They ran the seventh largest company in the country, Enron

They certainly had California on a very short leash. During the days of wild expansion and wealth we had no energy. We had rolling blackouts and paid exorbitant prices for electricity. The power plants had plenty of capacity to make power, but they were being constantly told by Enron, who bought and sold their power, to shut down or ship energy to the desert. Enron was doing this to drive down supply, thereby allowing it to increase prices exponentially. With thirty billion dollars of high tech wealth going to Houston, the bubble did indeed start leaking.

And what happened to California? George W., Ken Lay, Schwarzenegger and Michael Milken, four staunch deregulators, had a secret meeting shortly before the Gray Davis recall and, the rest is history. Previously, natural gas and electricity were regulated heavily by state and federal governmental agencies. This changed largely as a result of political clout on the part of Enron by virtue not only of its size and deceptive appearance of profitability, but Ken Lay's relationship with the Bushes.

They were also able to use their power to get permission to use what they call mark-to-market accounting which allows them to, essentially, post self-proclaimed imaginary profits. This is what allowed Enron to post quarter after quarter of profits that never really existed. They were losing money on power plants in India and bad arbitrage bets while posting profit. The accounting got pretty creative, to say the least. And we all know what happened to Arthur Anderson, who traded scruples for fees.

Thousands of people who lost their jobs and pensions worked for a company whose motto was "Ask Why". Had those employees asked a few more questions they might have realized that the company they worked for had no real way to make money and was, in fact losing money as analysts raved, and people bought and Lay and Skilling and Fastow secretly sold. The one analyst who did question Enron was fired because of his questions.

The lawyers who approved all this and looked the other way were never asked too many questions, they just said, we'll make some tougher laws. And they did. Sarbane Oxley has been a very lucrative source or revenue for lawyers and accountants. Will that protect us?

The film, according to its director Alex Gibney, is not just about a few bad men. It's about the allure of money. It about how easy it is to bluff and buy everyone: the people who worked there, professional stock analysts, governments, the media.... everyone! We're all so impressed by people who exude confidence and money. It's all about appearance. We've become so lost and superficial.

We're a nation imbued constantly with information, seemingly so sophisticated and well informed. But we've lost our true source of knowledge, our inner guides that would have asked simple basic questions. It was only after Bethany McLean at Fortune started asking questions and pointed out that the emperor had no clothes, and Enron had posted years of phony profits, and manipulated the seventh largest economy in the world from raging profitability to near bankruptcy that people finally clued in.

Meanwhile Lay, Skilling and Fastow made off with hundreds of millions of dollars that are now sitting in offshore accounts that will never be found. They were indeed smarter than the regulators who sought to control them and analysts who examined them. Being smart and unethical can get you pretty far, as I'm sure Milkin told Lay at the secret meeting. They may do a few years at tennis jail but, they'll live the rest of their lives in luxury. They won't even feel guilty. That's the dark side of the American dream, as Gibney called it, the belief that money is enough of a goal, enough of a measure of worth.

Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price

The title says it all: Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price. The worlds largest corporation is known for its low prices. Without those, all the ludicrous propaganda (and they are sure laying it on thick now) in the world could not build a retail company to that size. People shop there, in the billions, to save money. But what is the cost? The cost is countless towns across this country that have either no downtown or no town, at all, wiped out, left with an empty box store and empty promises. The cost is countless Chinese women and girls working twenty hours at a time at a sewing machine. The cost is making widow Walton and the four kids five of the richest people on the planet.

Walmart uses harassment and intimidation to prevent unions from forming at their sites. There is no unionization at any Walmart, except in Germany, because their government actually protects its citizens from corporate exploitation. There is an atmosphere of secrecy, lying and paranoia pervasive throughout the company. Ex-managers told about the techniques they were forced to use to cheat the workers. But, no current Walmart employees would talk.

Workers are systematically demeaned and demoted. Discrimination runs rampant and blatant. Women and minorities have barely scraped the lowest rungs of management. Workers are typically forced to work off the clock, for free. They refuse to pay overtime. They keep the weekly hours so low that workers must stay on public assistance.

Walmart externalizes its costs not only through making the state pick up the cost of its health care, but from the enormous amount of direct subsidy it has received from states and innocent towns that welcomed them with open arms. Walmart comes in like stealth and cuts incredibly favorable deals based on glossy promises with town councils before the Chamber of Commerce even knows what's happening. Rarely do they even find out the subsidies Walmart got.

There are problems in their parking lots, which seem to attract crime since they are large, dim and not monitored. Walmart spends its money protecting the merchandise. Once you pay for the stuff, you're on your own. Again, this costs a town in police time that the taxpayers have to pay for.

I commend Robert Greenwald for making this film, which is part of a movement to stop Walmart. He's doing a thankless job, and could be making lots more money doing other types of films. He is shining a bright light on a huge social problem.

I wish he made it easier to glean the facts. I think filmmakers, who usually focus on entertaining, often underestimate the statistics and facts that are so important to educating people about social issues. While involved in the anti-nuke movement in the 80's, facts were a huge part of the dissemination and education. I really wanted to have a place on this DVD I could go to and find out exactly how much the Waltons have, and how the revenues flow in the company. Greenwald said he went to great pains to make sure every statement was supported by research, but they came in two-second bursts between lots and lots of personal whining, and frankly, as sympathetic as I am, it was too much.

I think he should have done a bit more than mock the company and tug our heartstrings with idyllic visions of small town life. He does a disservice by appearing too biased and should have taken a more intelligent approach, offering real argument to points that Walmart could legitimately make in its own defense, such as the fact that it takes those on the lowest rungs of society and gives them at least some minimal leg up. Had he made the facts more central, I would have mentioned them here and they would become much more a part of the conversation.

I haven't been to a McDonalds since watching Super-Size Me and this film isn't exactly making me want to run to my nearest Walmart, which, fortunately, is not in my town. That's OK, Walmart probably wasn't that upset about losing Palo Alto. They prefer to exploit the poor. Whether they buy there, which they do, or work there or sweat their life away making the crap we all need so desperately... the poor are at Walmart... and are paying a very high price.

Steal This Movie!

This incendiary title, a twist on the title of Abbie Hoffman's primer, Steal This Book!, on how to live freely, and for free, in an unfree world, would have ruffled a lot more feathers in a post-Napster world. And watching the 1999 film and its commentaries, I can only imagine what would have been said had the film come out a few years later, after Bush's election and his little Son of Vietnam excursion.

I recently reviewed another Robert Greenwald film, Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War On Journalism and will soon review his upcoming feature, Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price, and his 2003 documentary Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War. But, now I know what turned Robert Greenwald from a very average Hollywood director into a man willing to use his skills to make socially important films. It was his love for his children... and Abbie. Abbie's ideals, and how he lived his life, inspired many. And, thanks to Greenwald, will continue to do so.

Despite the title of his first film, the unforgettable, not to mention unforgivable, Xanadu, Greenwald was no Orson Wells and his film was no Citizen Kane. Yet, two decades later he took a real life stab at Murdoch, the Hearst of our day. How did he transition from being a cog in the Hollywood machine, to taking on Murdoch, Bush and Wal-Mart? His daughters were reaching the age of awareness, early twenties, and he realized they knew very little about what happened in the sixties.

That's surprising in a way. We're talking about the Baby Boomers the huge population bubble was young, idealistic and vibrant, not to mention loud, then. They refused to fight the war of their parents, changed the world, opened up jobs for women, opened up homes for blacks. We questioned authority, questioned assumptions. We wanted more than the dark, violent reality of our parents.

So why did Greenwald, a boomer himself, need to make a film in order to educate his kids? Because, despite the flowing skirts and highly embroidered tops on every young girl today, this is no Age of Aquarius. That embroidery comes from Chinese children paid pennies and the flower children of yesterday now have mow & blow Mexicans tending their flowers. Despite its size and ideals, not to mention television coverage, we are talking about a lost generation.

I guess the days of white kids fighting for social justice are over. Did they ever really care? Or did most just want to avoid the draft? It's the latter, which is why the anti-war movement shriveled up after they brilliantly went to the lottery method of drafting. Yes, we still have people out there today, helping the poor to vote, going on missions, etc. We'll always have people who do care about social justice, but will we ever have someone with the courage and creativity of an Abbie Hoffman? I don't know.

The man had a genius for promotion that would dwarf Steve Jobs and Bill Gates combined. Did he use it like they did... to build his own personal empire and ego? No, he went into the lions den, took beating after beating, lived underground, barely seeing his young son, america, for six years. He never looked to make a cent off his considerable fame. In fact, he gave the money he made from selling the film rights to one of his books to the Black Panthers.

There are a handful of men who have really affected me, inspired me, meant something to me in my life: Jerry Garcia, John Lennon, Ken Kesey, Tim Leary, Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman. Of these, I sometimes think I love Abbie best of all. He was the truest and purest revolutionary and understood that it was not really about the art and the words and the fun. Those were the methods, the instruments, and without the underlying goal of social change, it was without true meaning. The first three are artists. Tim, a teacher. Jerry Rubin, I love him, but by the time I interviewed him in 1979, he was about money. He complained about Lennon being holed up in the Dakota but, when I asked him what he was doing to promote change, he turned it back on me, saying, essentially, protest is for college kids.

Abbie never had any other purpose but protest and guerilla theater. He started his career as a freedom fighter in the south registering black voters and getting his head bashed in. And, that's pretty much how he ended up. He called himself a professional defendant. A victim of manic-depression, his career as defendant, refugee and orphan of America took its toll, ultimately resulting in his suicide in 1989. He paid a high price to illustrate for America the corporate interests that control our society.

Who do we look to today? Accidental tourists like Hank Barry, Shawn Fanning and Bram Cohen did challenge the powerful control of the media but they want nothing more than cash and control themselves. How many more have to die in Iraq before someone shows some awareness, principals and courage? Will we ever see people like Abbie Hoffman again? If not, the world is a far sadder, dimmer place for the loss.

Abbie Hoffman was unique. His charm was his uninhibited freedom and courage. No one stopped Abbie from speaking his truth, ever. And, we all knew it wasn't just his truth. It was THE truth. The truth no one wanted to face about this country: what we are, what we do , what we stand for. Abbie made us look at that gritty reality as he threw cash at greedy stockbrokers and surrounded the Pentagon for a levitation. He did it in a colorful, almost lighthearted way... to bring people in. He had all the right goals and all the right methods... and he truly changed the world for the better. His life should serve as an example for all of us.

Globes Embrace Liberal Values

Hollywood has spoken. First, the Guilds, then the Globes and I'm sure the Oscars will follow suit. What is it that Hollywood is telling us by its selection of films to reward this year? Felicity Huffman said it best last night, "As actors we are taught to shed our skin, but sometimes we need to find out who we really are. This is for all those men and women who risk alienation and ostracism and live their life on the margins in order to be who they really are".

She was talking to her fellow artists, most of whom know that individuality and authenticity can carry a high price. These artists are also well aware of the fact that 98% of their fellow artists live in relative obscurity and poverty, paying the true price of being an artist.

No one talked about Titanic the straight love story because it was real clear why Cameron got the Oscar, and everything else, that year. The film was a massive achievement by Cameron. No one thinks that about Ang Lee. Heath and Jake hate the guy's guts and have actually come out and said, publicly, that the guy can't direct his way out of a paper bag. He abandoned them, barely talked to them. You could see Heath, an amazing actor (check him out in Lords of Dogtown, you can't even recognize him), just uncomfortably smirking his way through Ang's accolades as his acting was overlooked.

So, what is it about Brokeback, Capote, Transamerica, Good Night and Good Luck, Crash and Walk the Line? These are all stories that help us embrace liberal values of tolerance. Capote was gay, Cash a drug addict and alcoholic. They both emerged as authentic and original artists, but walked the line, living always a hair's breath away from being a freakish outsider. Morrow stood up to the powers that be of his day, and put everything on the line to do so. The non-biopics are filled with characters that illustrate what people have to face these days in order to stand up and be someone a little different and what challenges our tolerance.

Roger Ebert, Richard Roper and everyone else is commenting about what a strong slate of films has been made this year. It's been a year filled with relevant, social commentary coming out full force from Hollywood. So, what's going on? In the early 70's, after more than enough years of war and Nixon, Hollywood (via Bob Evans) finally figured out that the public was refusing to go see the mindless drivel the studios were putting out, and started to react. A spate of rebel films made by radical directors ensued and we saw many years of good movies.

Now it's 2006. We've had six years of lies and war and flag-waving bigotry. We've got Alito and Roberts and and a tow the line, deaf dumb and blind Congress supporting a trio of zealots isolated in the Oval Office. If anyone thinks this is not related to what we see Hollywood supporting and rewarding, think again... and don't forget Weeds... about the soccer mom/drug dealer... she won too! I mean really, once the revolution gets to the suburban housewives... you know they've really stepped over the line.

Unprecedented and Outfoxed

Both of these films have been on DVD for a few years. Unfortunately, and expectedly, they received very little attention from the press, film or otherwise. I would like to highlight both of these very important films this weekend. Tomorrow is Martin Luther King Day. We don't celebrate dead soldiers, we're not sending up fireworks proclaiming our freedom. This holiday should at least shake us a little from our somnambulism and make us think about what King stood for, what he tried to tell us about our country and our freedom.

Unprecedented is a look at the 2000 Presidential election that led to the appointment of George Bush to the position of President of the United States. It follows the chain of events starting with election eve when we saw unprecedented confusion about the winner of that election. Earlier that day, Gore was projected the winner, with many question mark states going to him. Florida was also projected to go to Gore. All the major networks were forecasting Gore. That is, until Jack Welsh, president of GE, which owns NBC, went into the studio, put his hand on the shoulder of the man who projected the winners and said, "You know, I think it's time we called Florida for Bush".

The film takes a much closer look at the players and irregularities. Even with such glaring coincidences as having the candidate's brother as Florida's Governor and the chief election official in the state being an active campaigner, at least, for Bush, the American public and even Al Gore himself, with the whole party in tow, just rolled over like it was some kind of soccer match.

In fact, I take that back, soccer players would be screaming foul. When the US bombs and subverts our enemies, or, our friends, as we just bombed Pakistan today, the people take to the streets in protest. I just saw them today, there's always lots of footage of foreigners out there shouting about fucked up US policy. Well, you know, there were people protesting in Washington when Bush was inaugurated, not many, but certainly enough to warrant news coverage. However, the media, en masse, ignored it.

I guess it would be naive to think that more information, better, more accurate reporting, would make any difference. Yet, the film does shed more light on what the Republican leadership in Florida did to insure his brother's election. I mean, it's not like Florida is exactly known for encouraging blacks to vote, intimidation and disenfranchisement of black voters went on throughout the south since slavery was abolished. There was a huge effort to get out the black vote in Florida in the years leading up to 2000, because many local elections were unexplainably going to Republicans.

But, come on, they took 92,000 people off roles and refused to allow them to vote. Were these 92,000 random people? Not exactly, they paid a company $400,000.00 to ascertain who should be deleted. Ostensibly, they were removing felons. When other states have done this in the past, it cost a fraction of the price. But, then again, they weren't getting the smart sort the Republicans were going for. They knew it would come down to Florida, and, they had to make sure Florida would go to Bush. When you consider the fact that Bush won Florida by a margin of less than 600 votes, it just shows how much Bush had to subvert the electorate to get that win.

And, I'm not even going to get into the computerized voting, but, let's just say that throughout the south election results from computerized voting have been going to many republicans who were not the true winners. There was no way to prove it. The machines leave no paper trails, there is no way to examine the tallies because the makers of these machines will not let anyone look at their technology. But, in all cases, the exit polls pointed to different winners. And, they were all considered upset elections, in that all prior polling projected a Democratic winner. The companies that conduct these polls threw up their hands in disgust and quit. Ever hear any news stories about all this? Me neither.

The film was made by Joan Sekler and Richard Perez in 2002, well in time to warn us, yet, two years later, we reelected Bush. How did we lose our democracy not once, but twice, to same liars? Well, that gets us to the second film, Outfoxed.

While the media in this country, in general, turn a blind eye to the corporate forces that effect what we are shown and told about, and how it is covered, it gets even more egregious than that. This is the subject of Robert Greenwald's film, Outfoxed, which turns the light on Rupert Murdoch. This man's media holdings are unbelievable. It absolutely boggles the mind that one man, a blatant zealot, no less, is allowed so many media outlets. He owns over 100 cable channels, nine satellite broadcasting networks, a major movie studio, 175 newspapers. Frankly, I can't even remember it all, but News Corp's holdings are beyond extensive. I would estimate a fifth of all US media is Murdoch, an Australian.

And, if you think this is some kind of neutral, benign ownership... think again. Fox News was allowed three years to operate as a fairly traditional news outlet. It was successful and trusted, and in 1988 that trust was completely subverted. At that point, Murdoch started to implement an autocratic leadership style that dictated exactly what was run on the channel. He sent daily memos telling staff what stories to run and how to run them. Anyone working for him that countered the right-wing extremist views he held, was fired.

What makes all this so dangerous is that the shows run on Fox network do not look like the unabashed propaganda they are. They are formatted to look and feel very much like real news shows and many, many people believe that is exactly what they are. It's not like they run a little banner throughout the 24/7 propaganda day saying this is really opinion. Quite the opposite. Their motto is "fair and balanced". The film had interviews with a number of past employees speaking to the methods used to make the extremist right-wing swill seem like real reporting, such as putting up seedy looking, unqualified shills to present mildly liberal, if weak, views.

Yes, it's hard to believe there are people stupid enough to buy all this, but there are. I'm sure Bush owes many, many votes to Rupert and gee, what a coincidence that US law, changed under Bush, now allows him even more media outlets to own. And we are talking exponential numbers here. The amount of media outlets that can be owned by one company went from a handful to hundreds.

The Republicans (and the Democrats) are working hand in hand with the huge conglomerates in charge of 98% of our media outlets to keep ownership in as few hands as possible. The goal is to concentrate the power in the hands of a very few, extremely wealthy, and powerful individuals who will work very hard to keep the status quo. So, if you ever ask yourself why the media did so little to challenge a clearly unfair Presidential election, or why Copyrights, originally for seven years, now last for over 75, or why our news coverage is so different from the rest of the world's.... now you know. Will you do anything about it? Will you start getting more of your news from the internet? Will you start blogging about the problems, or write to your Congressperson or FCC Commissioner about these issues?

I hope so. Do it for MLK, who had some dreams about fairness and equality and democracy. They're still dreams. Anyone who thinks that the interests of the massive majority of average people who work hard and vote are in control in this country today better get a clue and start looking at what is really going on. Take a look at the films of Robert Greenwald over the past few years and educate yourself. I assure you, it will be quite an eye-opener. Let's do something unprecedented and refused to be outfoxed by a cadre of individuals who love the power we've turned over to them while playing the thought-provoking Mariah Carey on our iPods.

The Island

This film was such a box office disappointment that Michael Bay had to take twenty minutes out of his commentary to explain. According to him, it's Warner, who had the domestic marketing rights. Apparently, they tried to sell it as an intelligent sci-fi mystery. Have those guys never even heard of H.L Menken, who said you can never lose money underestimating the taste of the American public?

The film did much better internationally, where it was marketed as "a typical Michael Bay action film". He also said that, with DVD sales, he still expects to make a profit. A lot of the expense did show up on the screen: beautiful crane shots, mile long sets, elaborate tank rooms, I'm sure Scarlett took a big cut.

I found the film quite thought provoking. At first I thought it was a spin on 1984, how a future society would operate when Big Brother has even more control. Then we find that the social structure is more complex, and hasn't really changed much from the way it operates now. While organ-carrying poor disappear off the streets in China today, tomorrow we can look forward to the rich having their own personal clones to provide organs, babies, or whatever parts might be needed.

The CEO in charge has no problems with inventory, he made them, he strips them for parts... no moral problems there. The middle becomes a standard thriller and at the end, it falls apart, even by Bay's own admission. I love any film that makes people think about the information they are being given and helps them develop a more questioning attitude. This film brings up issues about cloning, organ donation, immortality, ethics, media, mind control, economic inequality and what that entails.

It also, for me, brought up issues about religion, heaven and hell. You see how the clones are led to accept their dreary, mind-numbing lives by the promise of a bright future once they win the lottery to paradise. They try to make sense out of the random nature of who is rewarded and who is not. Despite the senseless, illogical nature of their world, they don't revolt or even question.

Are these clones really any different from the average person today? I don't think so. Most people have routine lives and are very happy to have them. I see very few people who question the prevailing view of those around them. We may quibble about minutia but few question the basic assumptions presented by the mainstream media or our friends & neighbors. We all live for that week we can go to the island while we work away the other 51 weeks.

Content Is King

In the eighteenth century the huge demand for cotton led to the enslavement of many, who were needed to get that soft stuff from it's prickly pod. We still want clothes, and gadgets and cars, and people will always accumulate this stuff. But the capacity to consume this stuff pales by our ability to consume information and entertainment.

So, the previous predominant COMDEX has been gone for two years, maybe forever. What's the big, big show now? CES, consumer electronics, and what was that really all about? Content and it's delivery. Google wants in. We now have them selling CBS catalog, sports and jumping into the fray looking for user generated content, paying producers 70% of the take. Try getting that from a record label or studio. It's what Indieflix charges, but they put you on CDs they sell through the mail. Movielink allows movie downloads via the web, but not if you have a Mac, and they deal only with the studios and sell only stuff copy protected by Netcos.

Google will allow an optional copy-protection feature and will accept content from all comers. Will they pre-screen everything in order to make sure there's no copyright infringement? Cause, that's quite a job, they'd have to look at every frame to make sure T-shirts, art on the walls, snippets of songs, stock footage, etc. contained in the film is not by someone other than the filmmaker. Magnatune and the other music websites do this and haven't been sued out of existence.

In a few years, the content you'll be able to find, buy & sell on Google will certainly be as good as the average TV show is now, probably much better. Best of all, we will be able to take a more active role in searching for appropriate content instead of channel surfing through a random and limited selection of channels.

Producers Reward Production

It sounds axiomatic, but, in reality, the very exclusive 2.000 member Producers Guild of America usually awards big budget, high grossing movies. However, after being battered by the internet and seeing Netflix grow more than any studio, the PGA today nominated a roster of films that clearly show an awareness of where and how to profit in the film industry.

Nominated for best picture, by the newly expanded Guild (grown by 20% last year) are Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain," United Artists and Sony Pictures Classics' "Capote," Lionsgate's "Crash," Warner Independent Pictures' "Good Night, and Good Luck" and 20th Century Fox's "Walk the Line." The latter was made for $29M and three of the others were under $8M in production costs. Aside from the low budgets, we are seeing thought-provoking art films and again, biopics. And, mark my words, message is in. These films were mostly labors of love, they have behind them the heart wrenching stories of how they came to fruition.

This story will not get much attention, but, I think it's one of the biggest stories of the year. This marks a clear shift in philosophy from a very powerful group of people. 2005 will be seen as a pivotal year in the film industry. Just as Evans turned Paramount around in the late 60's by making relevant, rebellious films, the producers of today are sending a clear message that the business model is changing and they are looking to this (indie) section as the best road to profitability.

The music and and film industries are predicated on the massive hits needed to sustain fixed costs. In the past, the blockbusters were seen as the only real profit centers and increasingly became the focus of LA. Now that they've seen a year where only indie studios or indie arms of major studios are profiting at all, they understand that you can't subsidize the tech houses forever, the magic of Toy Story and Monsters is over.

Hey Steve, and Peter, you can't make it look any more real! It's so real I almost forget the gum on the floor, OK? There is a limit to what the American public will pay to watch the special effects and photo-real animation. It was truly incredible that the PGA formerly nominated The Incredibles over films like Lost in Translation, which is by a Coppolla for god's sake.

So, in a year where King Kong crashed, the PGA saw the light. They now understand that big budget films are risky business and are largely responsible for year-end losses and massive cost cutting at every studio this year. When you can bet on a smaller film and double your return, thoughtful, plot-driven films which still bank on major brands like Ray Charles and Johnny Cash start to look a lot different to producers.

Hollywood is driven from the top down. If your film doesn't get financed, it doesn't get made. The only way to change things is to vote with your dollars, and we have. We've turned away from Kong and to lots of very nice stuff from Netflix. If you want us in the theaters now, you'll have to offer more than $5. popcorn. We now want IMAX, one of the very few bright spots in the theater business.

There will always be people wanting to come out for an experience, but not the experience of cranking your neck back, looking over someone's head in some uncomfortable chair, watching commercials, getting hearing damage so you can be the first one on your block to see some very entertaining and maybe very beautiful and meaningful but nonetheless, average, film.

Average is looking better to the PGA every day as average films are getting better and better every day.