A convenient film

So, summer is here with a vengeance and things are heating up all over the fuckin place.

Europe and the western US are experiencing record temperatures and even though summer in NYC has been mild, (until today) thousands of people are without power due to increased power usage. I am nervous every time I enter the subway for fears the power is going to cut out in the middle of a tunnel.

And unless you live under a rock you know how hot things are in the Middle East. My workload at Democracy Now! has increased dramatically due to all the fresh footage of destroyed Lebanese cities, Israeli aerial attack video (you know, the video that looks like 1980's video games), westerners boarding cruise ships in order to escape the violence, and of course the dead.

Yup, everything seems pretty much hopeless. And just when you think things couldn't get worst, I paid $10.75 for Al Gore to tell me how much MORE fucked things are.

I went to see 'An Inconvenient Truth' a few weeks back. I must admit I went with very low expectations, and I was pleasantly surprised by a well produced informative presentation on Global Warming.

BUT (insert paragraphs of hate)

Yes, you knew that was coming. The film fails in several ways so let me articulate.

First of all, is this a film about Global Warming or about our almost president? Gore uses this film to redeem himself and his family in several ways. One is his almost presidency. If he felt so strongly about how he got cheated, why didn't he stay and fight? If only Mexico's López Obrador had been around earlier to set an example. But to come out and talk about it now. Well Al, this is just sour grapes, and even though I didn't vote for you, you let us all down. Just watch the opening scene in 'Fahrenheit 9/11' when Gore shut down all the complaints coming from Florida. What a wuss.

But it does not stop there. Gore continues to pat himself in the back. After you watch the film, you might come out believing he came up with the term 'Global Warming' just like he invented 'The Internet'. What Gore 'Conveniently' leaves out is that Occidental Oil funded his dad's and his own political career. Oil, you ask? Isn't that the substance that once refined and combusted in an automobile engine produces the gas most people (including Gore) blame for the before mentioned 'Warming'. Now why leave that our worldly saviour? It's time you come clean like solar power.

OK - let me hate some more on Gore's film.

So you finish the film and you think to yourself how lucky you are because, since we are so fucked you just might get laid. Not so fast, your date says. Before the movie ends, Al lays out a whole bunch of solutions. IN THE CREDITS!! Apparently Gore felt that even though Global Warming is a looming global disaster, that will take more than a World War II era type effort in order to save our sorry butts, that spending 25% of the film talking about himself was ok. The other 74% explaining Global Warming and about 1% on solutions. Of that 1%, 99.9% of the solutions presented are market based solutions. I.e. Buy a hybrid car (he owns a Lexus hybrid, NICE!) buy energy efficient appliances, and the list goes on.

Wait a minute, isn't the problem directly related to our voracious appetite for widgets and fast cars? Isn't capitalism what got us here in the first place? This is the one issue that no one wants to talk about. We need a complete lifestyle change. It's not about buying ourselves out of this mess, it's about making some hard motherfuckin life changes, and for starters we need to throw out capitalism. I'm sorry if I sound like a damn commie, but there's not nice way to say it. And for the record, I am not a commie.

But in the end Al and the so called progressive film studio that put out the film, Participant Pictures are capitalists at heart and 'Truth' is a profit driven endeavor. If it was truly an altrusitic act, the parties involved which include millionares such as Laura David (aka Seinfeld creator Larry David's wife) ex-Ebay president Jeffrey Skoll and Gore himself, would give the film away as a public service. I mean, if enough people don't see this film, we're screwed, right?

Well, I decided to something I knew from the get go wouldn't work, but I had to waste 30 minutes on something. It was either that or do my laundry so I decided to go commando for an extra day. I wrote Participant almost exactly what you read above without all the hate, curse words and sarcasm and they just passed the buck to Paramount, the distributor.

And by now you are sick of my negative ranting, so you better watch for yourself and decide. If you don't want to pay $10.75, you can download it through the magic of Al's own internet. But I highly recommend David Attenborough's BBC special 'Can we save planet Earth' Part 1 and Part 2.

On the bright side of things, I am officially hired as a TV producer at Democracy Now! SUCKERS!! haha, just kidding. I am lucky to be accepted into such a team of smart, talented and committed individuals. TV Land, watch out!

have a great weekend

love//the_stimulator