Blue Eyes Designs

A public condemnation of Bush’s Iraq war and his potential plans for the future.

Don’t sit up straight!

(Shamelessly stolen from Digital Analogue.)

Stranger than Fiction is one of the first and best original movies out of Hollywood in a long, long time. I’m serious. E and I caught the last showing after work last night and it was so very, very good.

Will Ferrell has finally been cast in a role that allows him to show off more than his ability to be a crazy cheerleader. Fiction has a simple but elegant story with small cast of rich and powerful characters. It’s not a laugh-a-minute riot, but it’s not a slow, cerebral flick, either. It’s the common ground between mainstream comedy and the likes of I <3 Huckabees. It has the opportunity to walk down the existentialist path, but it pulls back to a more humanist, and more visceral end. Everything’s not happy-go-lucky, but there’s hope.

I can’t speak for many others, but I have to admit that during times of drama in my life, I can’t help but think that I’m living in some sort of story, be it film, play, or novel. It sympathizes with the insecurities that people feel in their lives, and is a subtle reaffirmation that we are not alone. There’s a great series of scenes in which Harold Crick (Ferrell) is trying to determine whether his life is a comedy or a tragedy. Who hasn’t wondered that? Especially when they’re feeling that it’s the latter.

I think everyone should see this movie. We need to deliver a message to Hollywood that smart, carefully-crafted movies will have an audience. E and I both noticed that the advertisements for Fiction played up the humorous side of the film, which is OK. I hope that it’s a successful tactic for getting people to come for dessert and stay for the meal, so-to-speak.

I recently recived a link to this video via email. It’s an hour and a half of critical analysis of what happened leading up to, during, and immediately after the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Loose Change (2nd Edition)(Google Video)

I have always been a little skeptical of the offical story of the events of 9/11/01, but I don’t have nearly enough faith in the government’s abilities to organize and execute a massive conspiracy, especially one involving so many civilians, without word getting out.

I have to admit, however, that the makers of this video do bring to light some very valid contradictions to the offical story. Using interviews taken that day, compared to interviews from later, the opinions of experts in a varity of fields, and the footage itself, they paint a picture that’s far more complex than men with box cutters.

A lot of the “mysterious circumstances” the video posits could probably be explained by much more… mundane reasons that just haven’t been discovered or considered. But some, such as the Pentagon crash site, and the Pennsylvania crash site just can’t be explained away.

Do I believe the official version of the events of that day? No. Do I believe that this government/financial conspiracy theory is all there is to the story? No. I believe that the truth lies somewhere inbetween. Much like a Pearl Harbor for the twenty-first centry, I would not be surprised if the government used the knowledge of impending attacks to its advantage, but I don’t think they have the wherewithall to plot and execute this whole ordeal.

You should watch this movie. Everyone should watch this movie. Not because I feel that everyone should believe it, but because everyone needs to question what happened that day. We need to plant that seed of doubt across the country so that someday, we can be more critical of ourselves.

I have two days on campus to lay the lighting on this show and it’s fucking flunk day. The first possible day they could do it. I’magonnakillsomeone.

On the upshot, at least I’m here for my last flunk day….