Well, dear readers, I have been in a documentary phase for the last few months. That is interesting to me as I have never been in a documentary phase before. Oh, I’ve seen a few in my time, but I don’t seek them out and it’s not my favorite thing to watch. And of course, as with fiction films, there are good documentaries, bad documentaries, and inept documentaries. One of my favorites and perhaps the first one I ever saw was Point of Order, about the McCarthy hearings. That was and is a completely riveting film from start to finish. For fun, I looked up “famous documentaries” and came upon Rotten Tomatoes top 100 documentaries. Now, sites like Rotten Tomatoes and the imdb are populated by mostly nincompoops, but what are we to think of a list of the top 100 documentaries that, with the exception of ONE title, are all from the year 2000 and on, and the one exception is from 1994. That probably tells you all you need to know about Rotten Tomatoes and their age base. Note to age base: Documentaries have been made since the beginning of film. Try watching a few of them, you might learn something. Funnily, a lot of best-of documentaries list the recent Man on Wire as the number one of all time. Really?
In any case, I caught up with two more last night. The first was kind of a bed partner to Citizenfour, the wonderful film about Edward Snowdon’s whistleblowing. This follows three other people who were persecuted by the government for their whistleblowing – it’s powerful stuff and I just recommend watching it, so you can really see the kind of world in which we live. It’s not pretty. I mean, why do we even have a constitution if certain government agencies do nothing but ignore it and get away with it? Just watch – it’s called Silenced. The second one wasn’t very good but it IS a good subject – the Internet’s impact on how we get news and how that news is spread. It’s called The Thread and is about the Boston Marathon bombing and how certain websites like Reddit were responsible for making suppositions about who the guilty parties were and now the mainstream media, desperate to seem with it and current, picked up on all of those unsubstantiated and ultimately incorrect suspects. There’s one shocking clip of Matt Lauer berating the police for not focusing on someone who was named on Reddit. I mean, Matt, really? That clip marks you for who you are forever. In the end, they found the guilty parties, but do you think anyone ever apologizes to those who were thrust into the media spotlight because of the mob mentality (and I use the word mentality lightly), hysteria-induced idiots on sites like Reddit, who ruined people’s lives or caused pain? Of course not, because most of them are pimple-faced teenagers with no moral center, and who think it’s a game and fun. There is no mainstream media that can be trusted anymore, because they get most of their information from the Internet. Just go to Facebook anytime anything happens and you’ll see a trial not by jury but by Facebook, you’ll see people being called guilty until they’re proven innocent – hey pinheads, it’s the other way around in this country. And the kind of smirking people who run Reddit and Buzzfeed just make it all worse. They take no responsibility for any of it, but it’s sites like those that have turned the world into a completely mad place. While it’s not that well made, and doesn’t make its points strongly enough, it’s still an important topic waiting for a filmmaker who really explores it.
Prior to all that, I got about nine hours of sleep, which was great, then I got up and did some writing and e-mail answering, and then I had to mosey on over to Woodland Hills for lunch with Sami and her mom at Lucille’s Smokehouse Barbecue. I’d eaten at another branch of Lucille’s and had really not liked it at all – first of all, it’s just pretend barbecue, but yesterday’s lunch was quite okay – I had the tri-tip salad – just about three ounces of meat with greens, tomatoes, avocado and peppers in a very light tomato vinaigrette – it was very good. I also had one biscuit, also good. Sami and her mom split a rack of ribs that they seemed to enjoy. It was a very fun lunch – I hadn’t seen them in three weeks so it was nice to catch up and I think we’ll try to see each other more often from now on.
Then I picked up one package and came home. I then spent over two hours making a list I had to make – it was time consuming but it’s done now. Then I sat on my couch like so much fish and watched the two documentaries. At some point I drove over to Gelson’s and got a little of their seafood salad from the salad bar – just a bit of it for a snack. I came home and ate it all up.
Today, I really must make a show order and now that we finally have our guest star, Andrea Marcovicci, I can. Then I’m having lunch with our very own Kay Cole, but not at Sweetie Pie’s. Then I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, then come home. I may also have to go proof a printed copy of the Welcome to My World vocal selections at some point – once I approve it, then I should have them by Friday or Saturday and we can ship ‘em out. Do let me know if you’re getting one and want it signed.
Tomorrow, I still think there’s something going on but I don’t remember so hopefully someone will confirm – I always tell people now, they MUST confirm with me the day before. I think I have to see something over the weekend – hopefully I’ll remember what.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, make a show order, have lunch, hopefully pick up packages, start writing the commentary, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could make a documentary on any subject, what would it be and why? Mine would be about LA, but I’m afraid it would have to be about ten hours long. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, where I shall have a documentary dream.