The Selfish Green
The Selfish Green was the opening event of Wildscreen 2004, a debate on the future of conservation led by Jonathan Dimbleby with Sir David Attenborough, Professor Richard Dawkins, Dr Jane Goodall and Dr Richard Leakey. Oh yes.
Why We Fight
Eugene Jareki's 2005 documentary about the US military industrial complex. Winner of the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize.
Dangerous Knowledge
In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.
Source: bbc.co.uk
The Enemies of Reason
▼ Watch Episode One: Slaves to Superstition
▼ Watch Episode Two: The Irrational Health Service
Miss Whiplash Goes to the Afterlife
80s Celebrity prostitute Miss Whiplash describes her out-of-body experience after a car crash. This probably shouldn't be as funny as it is. But it is. Like a lost Chris Morris sketch.The Genius of Charles Darwin - Uncut Interviews
Uncut Richard Dawkins interviews from The Genius of Charles Darwin. Some really wonderful, even life affirming stuff.
You can buy the full 3-DVD set of uncut interviews, over 18 hours, in the RichardDawkins.net store: http://richarddawkins.net/store/index...
Click to reveal videos.
Homer Groening Short Films
A Study in Wet
Two short films by Homer Groening. You can even see little Matt, Lisa and Maggie in "The Story". Lovely.
The Fog of War
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara is Errol Morris' electrifying 2003 documentary about the life and times of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara. It is one of the many anti-Iraq war films of the period, and in my opinion one of the best, and it has not dated one jot. The Philip Glass soundtrack is wonderful, and the archive materials are a real treat.
Tetris: From Russia with Love
"This is the story behind the fiendishly addictive game, a tale of high stakes, intimidation and legal feuds set against the backdrop of Cold War tensions between East and West."
- Watch - Tetris: From Russia with Love (Youku.com)
- Read - Magnus Temple interview
- Play - Tetris
documental
I just came across this website - documental. It's basically the site that I was trying to make here at The Froghall View - just links to all the best documentaries on Google Video.
documental really is awesome. It has everything I've posted over the past two months, plus many other, better films. In fact, I don't know what you're still doing here. Get over there and bookmark it.
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
- Series One 3 Episodes. Originally aired 2 March 2006 - 16 March 2006
- Series Two 7 Episodes. Originally aired 20 July 2006 - 31 December 2006
- Series Three 4 Episodes. Originally aired 5 February 2007 - 26 February 2007
- Series Four 7 Episodes. Originally aired 25 September 2007 - 19 December 2007
- Series Five 6 Episodes. 18 November 2008 - 24 December 2008
- Specials Screenwipe USA (2006), XMAS Screenwipe (2006), Review of the Year 2006, 2007 and 2008, Culture Show Special (2007), The Screenwipe Guide to TV (2008), plus Adverts.
spEak You're bRanes
As a perfect antidote to the rage induced by reading abysmally stupid comments posted on comment boards, why not join in taking the piss out of the very stupidest at spEak You're bRanes.They are mostly gathered from the typically heinous posts over at the BBC News 'Have Your Say' board, with a few other gems thrown in.
Don't read too much, though - it's funny for a while and then unbearably depressing. I'll never forget reading the chilling line-
"She should be slowly tortured to death by decent mums like us."
The Obama Deception
You may remember radio DJ and conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Alex Jones from the 'Bush did 9/11' documentary Loose Change. He's another loon, of course. He sees the US as the centre of the universe, and is both distrustful and ignorant of anything taking place off his own shores. This fucks up his world view and grasp of politics somewhat. Still, he has great talent as a documentary filmmaker, and his line of argument is often persuasive. Much like an American David Icke, he sees great patterns in the chaos of world events, yet lacks the ability to step back for a moment and realise that it is all bollocks.
It's very watchable stuff. However, if you've been daft enough to be convinced by Alex Jones and his ilk, I'd recommend watching some of the Adam Curtis documentaries, and realising that the truth is far more complex.
- Watch The Obama Deception on YouTube (1:53:40)
Gods of the New Age
This unintentionally hilarious 1984 documentary warns Americans of the dangers of Hinduism, and attempts to show how the west has been infiltrated by New Age practices that have Hindu tradition at their core.
It is two hours of laugh-a-minute nonsense, as the Reaganite Christian filmmakers go from silly (suggesting that yoga and meditation fads are corrupting decent American values) to ridiculous (lumping in Dungeons and Dragons and Star Wars as evil and heretical) to outrageously offensive (claiming that Hindu gods are in fact Christian demons).
Thoroughly recommended.
- Watch Gods of the New Age Online
- See the Amazon page (for Christ's sake don't buy it!)
Conscious Entities
This blog-style website about consciousness is full of sharp, insightful analysis of new ideas in psychology, neuroscience and philosophy. It is run by a chap called Peter Hankins who is perhaps the smartest and most interesting person I have come across on the web.
This website a must-see for anyone interested in understanding consciousness.
In addition to Peter's highly readable articles, he has provided many pages of background information about all the leading thinkers in the field, run-downs of all the major schools of thought, and enough introductory information to engage any layperson in this fascinating and exciting subject.
Daniel Dennett: Ants, Terrorism, and the Awesome Power of Memes
A fantastic clip of Dennett talking about Meme Theory.
Also:
Dennett's 2007 speech for Atheist Alliance International
Dennett makes some interesting points here, and fans will enjoy seeing him do his usual schtick of bold evolutionary hypothesising and down-to-earth philosophy. I would have enjoyed this more if the audience in the room weren't clearly a bunch of self-congratulatory intellectual narcissists.
www.sciencestage.com
www.sciencestage.com
Visions of the Future
Michio Kaku's cheery and optimistic vision of the future is laid out in his 2007 BBC4 documentary. It's a brave new world with strong appeal for Star Trek fans and teleologists, with enough disturbing undertones to keep you misery junkies happy.
- Episode One - The Intelligence Revolution
- Episode Two - The Biotech Revolution
- Episode Three - The Quantum Revolution
Unfortunately for anyone who has derived some sort of solace from Kaku's bright ideas, he's a total loon. See for yourself.
Brain Story
Susan Greenfield's eminently watchable introduction to neuroscience. Full of interesting bits and bobs, if a bit slow and BBCish sometimes. Enjoy.
- Episode One - All in the Mind
- Episode Two - In the Heat of the Moment
- Episode Three - The Mind's Eye
- Episode Four - First among Equals
- Episode Five - Growing the Mind
- Episode Six - A Final Mystery
Adam Curtis Documentaries
Watch the greatest documentary films you'll ever see.
1984: Inquiry: The Great British Housing Disaster.
1988: An Ocean Apart. Episode One "Hats Off to Mr. Wilson” (concerning the process by which the United States was involved in the First World War).
1992: Pandora's Box examined the dangers of technocratic and political rationality. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series.
- Watch episode 1 - The Engineer's Plot
- Watch episode 2 - To The Brink of Eternity
- Watch episode 3 - The League of Gentlemen
- Watch episode 4 - Goodbye Mrs Ant
- Watch episode 5 - Black Power
- Watch episode 6 - A is For Atom
1995: The Living Dead investigated the way that history and memory (both national and individual) have been used by politicians and others.
- Episode One - On the Desperate Edge of Now
- Episode Two - You Have Used Me as a Fish Long Enough
- Episode Three - The Attic
1996: 25 Million Pounds a study of Nick Leeson and the collapse of Barings Bank. Won the Best Science and Nature Documentary in the 1998 San Francisco International Film Festival.
- Watch - 25 Million Pounds
1997: The Way of All Flesh tells the story of Henrietta Lacks, the "woman who will never die". It received the 1997 Golden Gate Award.
- Watch - The Way of All Flesh
1999: The Mayfair Set looked at how buccaneer capitalists were allowed to shape the climate of the Thatcher years, focusing on the rise of Colonel David Stirling, Jim Slater, James Goldsmith, and Tiny Rowland, all members of The Clermont club in the 1960s. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series or Strand in 2000.
- Episode One - Part One | Part Two
- Episode Two - Part One | Part Two
- Episode Three - Part One | Part Two
- Episode Four - Part One | Part Two
2002: The Century of the Self (BBC Two) documented how the rise of Freud's individualism led to Edward Bernays' consumerism. It received the Broadcast Award for Best Documentary Series and the Longman-History Today Award for Historical Film of the Year. It was released in the US through art house cinemas and was picked as the fourth best movie of 2005 by Entertainment Weekly.
- Episode One - The Century of Self
- Episode Two - The Engineering of Consent
- Episode Three - There is a policeman in my head he must be destroyed
- Episode Four - Eight People Sipping Wine
2004: The Power of Nightmares (BBC Two) suggested a parallel between the rise of Islamism in the Arab world and Neoconservatism in the United States in that both needed to inflate a myth of a dangerous enemy in order to draw people to support them. It received the BAFTA Award for Best Factual Series in 2004.
- Episode One - Baby It's Cold Outside (20/10/04)
- Episode Two - The Phantom Victory (27/10/04)
- Episode Three - The Shadows in the Cave (03/11/04)
2007: The Trap - What Happened to our Dream of Freedom (BBC Two - working title Cold Cold Heart), a series regarding the modern concept of freedom.
- Episode One - Fuck you Buddy (11/03/07)
- Episode Two - The Lonely Robot (18/03/07)
- Episode Three - We will Force you to be Free: (25/03/07)
2009: Curtis provided another mini-documentary for Charlie Brooker and his new current affairs programme Newswipe, this time focussing on the rise of "Oh Dear"-ism
2009: July 2 saw the release of a new mixed media documentary, called It Felt Like A Kiss.
- Watch the trailer
2010: Curtis provided a third mini-documentary on paranoia and moral panics for the fourth episode in the second series of Charlie Brooker's Newswipe.
More to come.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Robin Cook fights Evil
A total gem of a find on YouTube.
In the media, the Conservatives had already begun to try and declare it a victory, claiming that Scott had exonerated the Government. In their press pack, they included dull sounding, inoffensive extracts from the report. For now, they had successfully avoided media scrutiny. Before the parliamentary debate, Tory MPs had been fully briefed on how to defend themselves against the findings. The Scott Report was only made available to the Labour party through Robin Cook, then shadow foreign minister, who had been given only two hours, directly before the debate, to scrutinise the report under Tory supervision, where he was expressly forbidden to make any copies.
Robin Cook and a team of researchers read the entire 1800 page report, then he walked into parliament, and battled the entire Conservative party single-handed for an hour.
We miss you, Robin Cook.
Unfortunately only half of it is here. Especially because Neil Hamiltion stands up a bit later, which is always good for a laugh.
John Major declared that a no vote would be a vote of no confidence, and an aye would exonerate the Governement. The Government won 320-319.
Read the Wikipedia article
Read the House of Commons debate 26th February 1996:
Read some shitty BBC On This Day thing.
If anyone could tell me where to get a PDF of The Scott Report, I would be very grateful.
Red Nose Day 2009 - Best Bits
Thank goodness for YouTube. I got to watch all the best bits without the gumph. What I really could have done with was a list of links to all the good stuff. So here it is.
Mitchell & Webb, Armstrong and Miller
Outnumbered
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant: The Office - The Opera
Robert Webb does Flashdance
Radio 4 Presenters Stand-Up
Tell me if I've missed anything worth watching. Little Britain can fuck right off.
Street Fighter: The Later Years
We like this. People who didn't waste their childhood may not.
Here's the rest of the parts:
Fox News celebrates inauguration day, showers Obama with shit
Fox News, the home of evil, has predictably begun its four-year plan of slinging shit at Obama and hoping something sticks. Here they are:
1) Spinning the closure of Guantanomo Bay (affectionately known as 'Gitmo' in Foxland) as a bad thing.
9/11 Families Outraged by Obama Call to Suspend Guantanamo War Crimes Trial
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/21/families- 2) Implying that during the few days of transition between governments, Obama's staff has been hopelessly wandering around the Whitehouse like a load of teenagers on work experience, trying to find the forms that they need to fill out and getting lost on the way back from the coffee shop. And it comes with a paternally reassuring, wild west themed headline:outraged-obama-suspend- guantanamo-war-crimes-trials/
Bush Appointees Holding Down the Fort While Obama Nominees Await Confirmation
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/ 3) Having a pop at Obama for stumbling the oath:21/bush-appointees-holding- fort-obama-nominees-await- confirmation/
Obama, Chief Justice Roberts Stumble in Recitation of Presidential Oath
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/01/20/chief- Before recognising that it was actually Chief Justice Roberts fault (yeah- the other dude said the wrong thing, and it messed Obama up 'cos he was all like "whoa - that's not the thing" but he'd already said the thing, so, he, like, stopped saying the thing.) in a rather catty tone, and slipping in the marvellous line: "Obama then repeated the oath in the incorrect order. His presidency is unaffected, however."justice-roberts-officiates- inauguration/
Biden Takes Shot at Roberts for Flubbing Presidential Oath
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/01/ 21/biden-takes-shot-roberts- flubbing-presidential-oath/
4) Finally, getting their dicks out and swinging them around the room, pissing all over goodness and decency, fornicating with demons and swearing allegiance to the wicked one, the tempter, the dark lord of the pit...
Five Reasons Americans Should Be Concerned About Hamas
Including:
3. The Deck Is Stacked Against Israel
Despite an enormous advantage in firepower, intelligence and military training, Israel is the underdog in this conflict — there is enormous pressure on Israel not to attack Hamas.
So, why should you care? Because Hamas and other Islamists throughout the world view Israel as a warm up for the greater foe– the United States.
Despicable. Also an article on the front page "Give Bush Credit for Keeping Us Safe". Lovely.
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