a robot, i am not » Movies

the real-life Avatar

jritch — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 17:00:35 +0000

It was obvious the James Cameron’s latest blockbuster lacked originality but a far more spectacular (but less 3D) story occurred in Papua New Guinea. The Coconut Revolution details the world’s first eco-revolution where indigenous peoples successfully fought off the combined might of a giant multi-national mining corporation, paid mercenaries and two governments’ militaries. Awesome stuff.

Here’s a short 5 min. excerpt which I’ve watched,

And here’s the full thing (52 mins) which I have yet to watch,

Collapse, coming to a theatre near you… hopefully before things fall apart

jritch — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:54:47 +0000

As independent journalist Michael Ruppert sits in a chair, in a dark room, smoking and saying alarming things my remote desire for business as usual went up in the smoke from the end of his cigarette. I’ve seen Chris Martenson’s Crash Course a few times. I’ve seen the 45 minute version of it too. I’ve read and heard many things by Jim Kunstler, Albert Bates, Richard Heinberg, Rex Weyler, Dr. William Rees of UBC; the list goes on and on. However, until my face was melted by the 83 minutes of Collapse I hadn’t seen it all put together in one blazing and succinct package.

This is an intellectual horror movie first and foremost. If Ruppert’s claims have any validity, the relatively easy way of life enjoyed by Americans, Canadians and other beneficiaries of the current economic order is about to receive a major shock.

This is the most accessible and important introduction to the concepts and consequences of peak oil that I’ve yet to encounter. Subjecting friends to 3.5 hours of data filled powerpoint slides narrated by a former Fortune 500 VP of Finance (see The Crash Course linked above) was never really the best way to get other people to recognize the same problems I’m concerned about. I didn’t hear anything new from Collapse, but Ruppert is the kind of guy who takes multiple sources and can weave them into a relevant complex narrative, this ability is amplified by Director Chris Smith’s interviewing that was the basis of the film.

Ruppert recaps the basic information behind the Hubbert model of oil extraction, net energy, the problems with the Gwar field in Saudi Arabia and the role of cheap oil in everything from toothbrushes to food. I felt the balance between information overload and dangling a hook to seekers was just about right. I tried to play the mental role of the peak oil skeptic for most of the movie, what was Ruppert saying that could convince me if I was a tried and true Chicago school economist? Smith played the role of the audience in several scenes, calling into question Ruppert’s credentials and key aspects of his theories. The movie needed about 5 more minutes of scenes like this, I think it is important to portray Ruppert for who he really is but I left without learning how he planned to prepare for the coming transition. Also, I was curious to how the director felt about the issue of peak oil before and after making Collapse.

If Ruppert’s picture of peak oil missed anything, it was the possibility for demagogues to control a disheartened populace in a collapsing world. He spoke of the anger, the unrest, the revolution but didn’t get into a lot of indicators on how that anger could be channeled by nefarious influences. Nor, did Collapse tackle many specifics, especially in the way of infrastructure issues (see Reinventing Collapse by Dimitri Orlov for that piece)

Ultimately, Ruppert calls for a human revolution. The same conclusion anyone giving a serious look to the coming transition must reach. What does a human revolution mean? Collapse skirted around the issue but mainly for lack of time. I think that revolution means focusing on low scale, low energy technologies for the external world and focusing on the internal world through human technologies like meditation and entheogens. Ruppert calls out solar and wind energy as the only two alternative energy sources that can have immediate impact… and that’s encouraging because I’m going to grad school to build solar cells.

This is a movie without a mainstream audience, too intellectual for any regular movie goer and too alarmist for most academics. I don’t see it doing too well in theatres (although I hope the world can prove me wrong) but I do see it becoming a hit when it is released to DVD. I know I’ll be passing it along as a recommendation to anyone that is even remotely skeptical in the stability of our modern civilization.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Post tags: economic crisis, humanity, peak oil

the US of A tries to make a comeback

jritch — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 23:15:37 +0000

I really enjoyed the Wrestler, but a great movie is only made better by a great parody,

The Uncler w/ Uncle Sam and Alyssa Milano from Alyssa Milano

Bringing back old memories

jritch — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:36:52 +0000

It started in Vermont… Bennington, Vermont that is. My long time friend Tyler Pratt brought me along with his family to visit relatives and that’s where I bought my first comic book. I’m quite sure it was the year 1998 or 1998 when I saw it so beautifully there in the store. It was Thor #50. What blew me away was the artwork at first. And when I read it, the story captivated me. I had perused the old comics at my grandma’s house before, the old comics that belonged to my uncle Chris. Even though they were great old issues of Captain America and the Avengers, it was all just so hokey. But this Thor comic opened my eyes to the power of the graphic medium to tell complex stories.

Fast forward a few years and I had outgrown the serialized format, exploring DC’s Vertigo line and reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series. I Yahoo!ed (Google wasn’t as prevalent back then) and saw that he was releasing a “children’s novel”, Coraline, I thought it would be worth a pre-order via Amazon.com because it was at a price within the range of the money from my tips delivering pizza.

When Coraline came I decided to read a chapter a night to my parents, kind of a reverse bedtime story kind of thing. Most families might find this kind of strange but it was fun… and so worth it.

This movie brought back the first experience I had when reading Gaiman’s Coraline aloud so long ago. The imagery (in 3D), the imagination, the growing dread and the ever-present feeling that something is delightfully amiss. Unsetteling in a way that you can’t just quite put your finger on.

This was my first 3D theatre experience… somehow I missed MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D. I was shocked at how many previews for 3D movies led up to the start of our feature presenation. I think every movie that is under PG-13 next year is in 3D. But surprisingly the 3D part of Coraline wasn’t distracting.

Brilliant adaptations take a good story and make it accessible or bring your imagination to life without tainting the original imagery. This movie does both.

Henry Selick’s Coraline is visually intriguing while retaining all the important aspects of Gaiman’s original book. I could even remember each scene in the book (from my head) as it appeared in the movie and some of that credit goes to Gaiman for creating such a vivid world originally.

From the dancing mice to the “other mother”, every piece of the book remained and what little liberties Selick took, only made the story more appealing. I even heard a family behind me discussing the moral of the story after the credits rolled: how the alternative to your parents might not be that great. The point had transcended the written word and was now forever entered into the annals of film. A magnificent feat for the world that lives in Neil Gaiman’s head. Will we be seeing an American Gods movie sometime soon?

Coraline was the first truly refreshing film I’ve seen this year and I hope its not the last.

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Post tags: coraline, movie, neil gaiman, theatre experience