The Man Who [Told] the World

I've always been the kind of person that likes to look at life from different points of view. Occasionally, I find people who like to show them to me. The latest eye-opener has been Current TV's program, Vanguard. What a great show! They are putting together stories about things that I never knew about or that have been overlooked by the mainstream media and treating them with the care and attention that they deserve. To get a taste of what they're up to, check out this video in which one of their correspondents gets waterboarded!



Craziness! Another, albeit much less serious, view of our modern world comes courtesy of Sophie Blackall, an artists from Brooklyn whose creations are based on the missed connections she reads on the New York craigslist. Check out here art here.

"The actions of the intelligent, rationally antirational man may be the greatest danger" -Sol Yurick

Wow. I actually wrote on here two days in a row! Not that this is anything especially long, but I was just thinking: How can America produce technological advances like this and people like this? Also, lol at this:

The Onion Never Ceases to Amaze Me

I found this thanks to Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish.

Potholes to the Rescue?

This is an interesting opinion about public services and what they could mean for our way of life, courtesy of Matthew Yglesias. Highlight:

"...you could really go nuts with this stuff. Smaller buses could run more frequently. Libraries could stay open longer. Playgrounds could be better-maintained. Not as 'stimulus' but as a permanent decision to say 'hey, we’re a rich country, we should provide public services at a reasonable level.'"

Kicking Ass and Tallying Votes

Greetings from the land of continued unemployment. Since we last spoke I have been to Disney World. It really is the most magical place on Earth. I don't get how I, at 21, can be just as excited to go on Star Tours or The Haunted Mansion as when I was 6. Mind-blowing but true.

Speaking of getting your mind blown, I watched Street Fight last night. Now, if you're asking why I would blog about this, then a) you need reading glasses, and b) I'm not. Street Fight is a documentary about the 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, New Jersey that pitted the 4-term incumbent Sharpe James against the young, vibrant city councilman Cory Booker. I love to watch documentaries, but it is rare that one of them amazes me like this one did. Street Fight is one of the most important films made in the past decade.

Although it follows what most people outside of NJ (heck, even outside of Newark) might deem an insignificant political race, the movie is about so much more. It is a look into the changing social, political, and racial lives of American people. By following around these two very different candidates, producer, director, cinematographer, and editor Marshall Curry has given this country the kind of gritty look in the mirror that it needs. It is not the glossy, airbrushed cover of a magazine. It is a portrait of this nation in all its grimy, underhanded nakedness. Everyone in America needs to see this movie now.

Did you miss me?

The end of the semester kept me so busy I could barely think. Bah!! Thankfully I'm done now, though. I spent very little time focusing on stuff other than schoolwork but a few things did pique my interest.

I have loads of thoughts on this topic, but I'll spare you the details. To say the absolute least, I'm super excited about Obama's movement towards building a national high-speed passenger rail system. Listen to him talk about it here. This is going to be a great way to create skilled and unskilled jobs and could be the springboard for a great leap forward for domestic tourism possibilities, both of which are excellent stimuli for the economy. If you don't know what I'm talking about, dig it:



It's gonna be awesome!

Second, I have been listening to a TON of the Avett Brothers lately. Just listen to "Colorshow" and tell me it's not beautiful music. I dare you! They're playing at my favorite venue in NYC (Irving Plaza) in June and I want to go really, really badly. Yes, the South has totally rubbed off on me...

Lastly, I have really rediscovered my passion for a great movie lately. It had been a while since I watched any movie and just in the past few weeks I have watched some really good shit. It started when I was gearing up for my wine project and I watched Sideways. I had forgotten how much I really liked that film Then, I rewatched American Beauty. The first time I saw this it struck me so powerfully that I went out and bought it. I hadn't seen it since. I can understand why (because it's really, really, really messed up!), but I also wonder why not because it's such a great film in every aspect. However, this does not take the cake in my recent viewings.

After neglecting my Netflix for about two weeks while I was doing schoolwork I finally sat down and watched Chinatown. All I can say is: wow! That is one of the greatest scripts ever. Period. My mind was officially blown.*

So yea, that's basically what I've had on my mind lately, although thoughts of graduation and leaving Columbia have started to take over the last few days.

*Side note: I saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine today and it got me so amped for blockbuster season, because I also love to watch movies where shit just blows up.

Wow

This plan sounds very interesting! However, it's quite late right now and I have things to do tomorrow so more thoughts coming soon...

Obama unveils high-speed passenger rail plan

Injecting Some Art into These Rough Times

I hate to be a downer, but everyone obviously knows that the world is in the grips of a very serious recession. I stumbled across this today and I think it's a pretty cool spin on the whole situation. Apparently the New York Times has set up a photoblog of sorts documenting what's going on all over the world. The cool part? All the pics are submitted by readers. Some really nice (albeit depressing) shots in there. Check it out here.