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Another Valentine's Day Massacre
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Rants
- Hits: 1472
I don't have a TV, I don't watch the news, so I never see how these things unfold.
Helicopter circling, "Live Coverage" - ongoing, second-hand eyewitness reports of the massacre, another disgruntled student inspired by the media coverage of countless other schoolyard shootings just like it. Unbelievable. And before the week is out there will be another copycat killing, for which the networks and grubbing journalists covering it are 110% responsible. It is impossible to see how this news impacts anyone other than the friends and family of the victims, and I seriously doubt any of them would want to learn of this via the news. The "News" - if you believe it - exists only to serve it's own ratings.
For a idea of how the media adversely affects mental health and encourages people to act out on their worst impulses, read Time Magazine on the spike of suicides that followed the publicity of Robin Williams suicide. (Link: http://time.com/5137194/robin-williams-suicide-rate/).
Local news outlets for a long time have not published suicides, aware that they created copycats. That National News agencies can livestream schoolyard shootings with full knowledge of the copycats it will inspire - every schoolyard shooting since the Stockton School Shooting in 1989 can be argued is a copycat, and the blame laid squarely on the media's doorstep. This isn't news, it's first degree murder.
Jenny Hanivers
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Ideas & Questions
- Hits: 833
In the same league as "Fiji Mermaids", a Jenny Haniver is a modified skate or ray that's been taxidermied to resemble a mermaid, dragon, etc...
Read More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenny_Haniver
My Political Leanings
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Miscellany
- Hits: 1395
Took the quiz at https://www.politicalcompass.org/test
Clearly I'm still far too moderate and reasonable.
The Dekalog
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- Written by: Rod Boyle
- Category: Film
- Hits: 862
So following a Nicholas Cage film-fest, in which I watched "Vengeance" - by Joyce Carol Oates (Never, ever, read her. Even if the book is 10 times as good as the movie it's just not worth it), "Raising Arizona", and "Con-Air" and "Face / Off" - I mean, I did some research, but if either of those last 2 movies are on your list of "10 Best Movies starring...." then your career's gone down the toilet. That said, "Raising Arizona" was good, and the scene where he gets punched in the car - the expression - well, it's pure Nicholas Cage. And "Face / Off" starts good, Nicholas being Nicholas, but falls apart pretty shortly thereafter, John Travolta is no worthy foil in the end, and, really, the only reason to watch a Nicholas Cage movie is to watch Nicholas being Nicholas, so just let him off the leash and lets get on with it, shall we?
Anyways, it's been a while and I wanted to revisit some more intelligent film-making. So I began to re-watch "The Dekalog" by Krzysztof Kieślowski (Red, White and Blue, La Double Vie de Veronique). It's been a while. And it holds up even better than ever - the small, insignificant, unrecognized ordinary miracles, no frame, word out of place, yet every scene is a masterpiece - the reality, economy of the dialogue, the subtle hints and symbols, it's a masterpiece in episodes - one by one or all together. And maybe now - being older, I'm getting more out of it because I can bring more to it, but, sorry Nicholas, this is film-making, this is acting.
Link: Wikipedia on The Dekalog (warning: Spoilers - just download it!)
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