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Post by Deleted on Nov 28, 2016 6:23:24 GMT
That looks fascinating.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 10, 2016 18:00:44 GMT
Watched the OJ: Made in America mini-series. Fascinating look at the rise and fall of an American hero turned villain. His success made him a black who wasn't black, and he lived very much like a white celebrity in the exclusive neighborhood of Brentwood. It was interesting re-watching the events we lived through as they unfolded, and catching up on what The Juice has been up to since he was convicted of kidnapping (for yelling "nobody leaves the room!") and armed robbery (for trying to take back his sports mementos). This conviction by a mostly white jury is perceived as retaliation against his exoneration for the vicious murder of his wife and her friend by a black jury.
OJ is in a Nevada prison and will be eligible for parole in September 2017.
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Post by bjd on Dec 10, 2016 18:54:46 GMT
My Canadian brother-in-law used to be a policeman. I was in Canada during the OJ Simpson murder trial and remember him watching the televised trial and saying "He's going to walk."
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2016 20:23:27 GMT
My mother said the same thing, and I agreed. Even though it is likely that he was guilty as sin, there was absolutely no proof of it.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 10, 2016 21:07:40 GMT
The prosecutors made some big blunders - like trying the case downtown instead of in Santa Monica (where the likely jurors would be less sympathetic), and asking OJ to try on the gloves (over latex gloves and after the blood-soaked gloves had dried and shrunk), and his very expensive defense team was brilliant in the same sleazy dishonest way the Trump campaign was brilliant. Got the job done.
He WAS found responsible for the deaths in a civil suit later. The hefty fines meant he lost much of his fortune and possessions, including the sports memorabilia that ended up being his downfall
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Post by htmb on Jan 19, 2017 14:18:52 GMT
I found this quite interesting, even though it's almost two hours long and I didn't understand some of the French. I came across it by accident on YouTube and was able to vicariously enjoy a trip up the Rhône and back. The last twenty minutes features white horses of the Camargue, and even shows a small herd as they are escorted through the streets of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer and across the Petit Rhône by ferry.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 4, 2017 23:43:16 GMT
I thought that Gimme Danger by Jim Jarmusch was an absoutely fascinating and informative documentary about Iggy Pop. I learned much more than when I saw the documentary about Janis Joplin (also excellent), but of course that is perhaps because there is less information about Iggy Pop out there if you are not looking for it. He is amazingly articulate and lucid, especially when you consider the creepy skeletal body that he inhabits and all of the drugs that he has taken. Just about everybody from his past has already died, some of them in their 20's and others in their 50's. And how long is he going to last? From seeing the movie and how reasonable he sounds, maybe he will continue for quite some time.
I was totally astounded at how normal he and the Stooges looked at the beginning of their career and also near the end there was a display of all of the bands they have influenced over the years that was equally incredible.
In any case, I found that the way Jim Jarmusch did the film was quite pleasant and playful -- a bit of animation and quite a bit of clever editing but mostly just the real documents. The movie made me feel somewhat older that I expected, because most of his life is only about 5 years ahead of mine, so when he talked about the 70's and 80's I felt totally contemporary.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 5, 2017 5:46:35 GMT
Htmb, the birds at 1:35--1:36 in that documentary are incredible! And thanks for the heads-up about Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer ~ wonderful aerial shots & fun to see the horses going through the town.
Kerouac, I was iffy about seeing that documentary, but your review convinced me that I will like it.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2017 11:22:04 GMT
I went to see two documentaries in the last two days, so this really must be documentary week for me after seeing Gimme Danger.
Lumière! is awesome, which is a word I never use. It is a compilation of 108 films by the frères Lumière and their associates. They made 1422 films between 1895 and 1905, most of which have been lost. The length back then was limited to 50 seconds, so it is absolutely amazing to see everything that they could manage to fit into some of these films. The documentary was made by Thierry Frémaux, director of the Lumière Institute in Lyon. He has also been the 'general delegate' in charge of the Cannes Film Festival for the past few years but with the express promise that he will never be obliged to give up his job in Lyon. Anyway, all of these films are all the more fascinating when explained, and there are all sorts of things to learn along the way. For example, the first film ever of the employees leaving the Lumière factory is not the one that is always presented. There are three different versions because Louis Lumière made remakes already even as he was inventing cinema. The street scenes of Lyon and Paris are amazing, as are the world scenes when he sent his staff out to film the world. I imagine that this film will be showing up on television quite regularly over the coming years, and anybody interested in cinema should see it.
Yesterday, I saw Et les mistrals gagnants, about hospitalised children. There is no narration or commentary. We are just shown how six year olds get along with their lives, no matter what condition they're in. Naturally, there is cancer, but there is also a child waiting for a kidney, but they can't operate yet because his heart is not all that great either. Another child has his skin rotting off and wears protection everywhere because his epidermis is thinner than tissue paper and anything can tear it. Doesn't stop him from playing with the others, though. A little girl wears a Tinkerbell backpack at all times because it contains the electronic equipment that is keeping her alive. Obviously there are some heartbreaking moments although no information is given about specific conditions or chances of survival. One smiling little boy tells the camera "when I die, I won't be sick anymore!" while another one seriously tells the adult "it's not hard for me, but I know it's hard for you." There is also one who says "I really like morphine because it makes the pain go away and I tingle all over." And the main point is that being sick doesn't stop them from being happy. Devastating.
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Post by tryeu on Feb 8, 2017 18:35:06 GMT
Has anyone watched anigma? it's a bbc documantary i think. i just can't found it online
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 8, 2017 19:32:49 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 8, 2017 20:26:46 GMT
Lumière! ~ I MUST see it! Really, looking at the trailer made the fact of moving pictures magical all over again. I confess that I was mildly glad that I don't understand French as I watched the trailer for Et les mistrals gagnants. Still, it looks like a beautifully made and worthwhile documentary. tryeu ~ is this by any chance the documentary you're looking for? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Station_X_(TV_documentary)It is on youtube in four parts. This is the first one, and the other three can be accessed from the youtube sidebar:
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Feb 9, 2017 20:49:46 GMT
We watched a Netflix documentary about volcanoes and their impact on local culture etc...Stunning images but it did wander about quite a lot...
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Post by onlyMark on Feb 10, 2017 5:34:52 GMT
Just watched that and I have a new hero. The person who built the world's first programmable computer. A Post Office man called Tommy Flowers.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 10, 2017 5:47:07 GMT
Oh, interesting! That is on my to-watch list, as the only thing I know about it is from the fiction series, The Bletchley Circle.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2017 19:58:17 GMT
Today I went to see Le Concours by Claire Simon, perhaps the best documentary maker in France. Last year she made The Woods about the Bois de Vincennes (Le bois dont les rêves sont faits) and this time it is about the Fémis, the most rigourous cinema school in France. Claire Simon was one of the selection team for 7 years, so she has intimate knowledge of how it works, how unfair it often is, and how unfair it must remain, simply because there is no other way. It starts with about 1000 applicants vying for one of the categories -- filmmaking, editing, distribution, production, etc. And in the end only 6 are selected for each division. First there was a 3-hour essay about an excerpt from an obscure Japanese movie. And then it starts getting tougher. One of the screenplay tests requires a film outline to be completely prepared in 7 hours. Students who want to go into distribution have to explain exactly how they would select and defend films in small town cinemas, and obviously not the blockbusters.
It is both hilarious and heartbreaking because the students are filmed as they present their motivation to the various selection committees, which are not at all pitiless, because many of them were standing in front of the same committees 10 or 20 years earlier, and they have not at all forgotten how it feels. There is the bartender who is shaking like a leaf because he has been working 12 hours a day 6 days a week to earn the money to buy his equipment, a young Chilean who exudes the confidence of the priviliged classes, an Italian who talks about having found god in cinema as he interviewed fishermen and was hynotised by their use of nets, a young man with such an intense desire that he cannot even finish a sentence coherently, a young woman who absolutely sparkles with enthusiasm for the profession even though her project is fuzzy... Each time you see the deliberations of the 6-person jury from each branch of the profession. They laugh, they bicker, they say extremely pertinent things and sometimes they just have a gut feeling for or against someone. On a couple of occasions, the opinion of one member is so intense in support of a dubious applicant that the others simply cannot go against it. And they also talk about how unfair it all is. They have to choose a variety of candidates for the good of the school and not just necessarily the "best" ones. At one point they joke about "we need an Arab, a black person, a poor person, a rich person..." But that's not how it works.
There are also scenes of the staff taking telephone calls ("sorry, you're not on the list") and the applicants crowding about the front window day by day as the lists of the accepted applicants are posted. Sighs of relief, tears... Many applicants go through this torture 3 years in a row.
The film could have been about any sort of competition, but Claire Simon was in her element here, and she did a brilliant job.
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Post by Kimby on Feb 18, 2017 3:09:50 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 18, 2017 3:48:55 GMT
I haven't seen the documentary, but remember the event as though it were yesterday.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 18, 2017 5:38:25 GMT
I remember how incredible it all seemed at the time. Who would have ever believed that the same thing now happens several times a year?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 7, 2017 21:39:50 GMT
Just watched that and I have a new hero. The person who built the world's first programmable computer. A Post Office man called Tommy Flowers. I thought it was Alan Turing. He broke the cipher/code for the infamous Enigma machine that the Germans had designed He worked out of Bletchley with a team of three other men and a woman. I went to see Kedi: Nine Lives:the Cats of Istanbul.A delightful treatise on the beloved cat population and the people who care for them (and, there are lots!!!).
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Post by bjd on Mar 8, 2017 8:30:02 GMT
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Post by patricklondon on Mar 8, 2017 8:31:14 GMT
Just watched that and I have a new hero. The person who built the world's first programmable computer. A Post Office man called Tommy Flowers. I thought it was Alan Turing. He broke the cipher/code for the infamous Enigma machine that the Germans had designed He worked out of Bletchley with a team of three other men and a woman. Bit more complicated than that. Turing devised a mathematically theoretical concept of a universally-capable computer before the war, and when put to work on how to defeat the seemingly-endless capacity of Enigma to change codes, worked out computational ways of doing so, and machines (more like endless mechanical adding machines) to try to keep up with those changes. As this became more and more complicated and demanding, he came up with the idea as to how to do the job electronically rather than mechanically, and thereby create a machine and a control system that could be adapted for a whole range of different tasks (all the meta-layers from plain binary code up to computer control "languages"), i.e., the universal computer he had envisaged. But Flowers was the electronic engineer who could make it work in practical terms (IIRC, the idea of "packet switching" on which internet communication depends was his). (And of course the whole system depended on armies of people doing the donkey work with the individual messages, and then interpreting them in relation to all the other bits of information they had, so as to spot militarily significant patterns - a message ordering Lt. X to such and such a place only seemed important if you already knew from other sources that Lt. X was an expert in building airfields, for example). Here's a whole lot more about the extension from breaking Enigma into the development of Colossus (to deal with a different coding system and network the Germans were usingMy blog | My photos | My video clips"too literate to be spam"
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Post by Deleted on Mar 8, 2017 15:01:56 GMT
Thank you good people for that information.
I had viewed another biopic about Alan Turing aside from The Imitation Game, CODEBREAKER, and it laid the same claim.
This leaves me even more proud to be Polish!!!
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Post by patricklondon on Mar 8, 2017 18:21:52 GMT
Thank you good people for that information. I had viewed another biopic about Alan Turing aside from The Imitation Game, CODEBREAKER, and it laid the same claim. This leaves me even more proud to be Polish!!! Turing has a more interesting personal story, and there's no doubt he was a key figure in thinking through and guiding the process of racing to keep up with the changing Enigma codes. But the film-makers do like to reduce things to their bare essentials - "breaking Enigma" wasn't something to do be done once by the superhuman effort of a heroic handful, but something that needed doing over and over again, by both hard thinking and experimentation and gathering as much in the way of German codebooks and equipment as possible. And then the Germans were using more than one system in more than one way and constantly changing that too. And on top of all that, what could be read needed a whole lot of contextual understanding of what they were all about. That rapidly grew to thousands of people, in listening stations up and down the country and at Bletchley collating everything with tons of pencils, paper and index cards, for hours on end. In some ways, that massive organisational effort - and the fact that no-one talked about it for nearly 40 years afterwards - seems even more heroic to me.
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Post by rikita on Mar 9, 2017 14:37:44 GMT
the trailer alone had me close to tears ... so where can i watch it, preferably with subtitles and without dodgy illegal streaming/downloading sites?
(because that is why i am often hesitant to look into this thread - that i get interested in movies/documentaries i might not be able to watch ...)
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Post by Kimby on Mar 9, 2017 15:31:39 GMT
I don't know if this is technically a documentary, but we watched Heart of a Dog last night. It's a stream-of-consciousness ramble with Buddhist sensibilities through the life and death of director Laurie Andrrson's rat terrier Lolabelle, with side trips to her mother's death, her dreams, and traumatic incidents from her childhood.
Not sure how I feel about it. Our real-life saga of dying pets is more riveting at the moment.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2017 15:37:42 GMT
I actually went to a Laurie Anderson concert in Paris many years ago.
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Post by rikita on Mar 10, 2017 8:33:08 GMT
i'd like to watch this one, even though it is probably quite sad ...
about a young man who came to germany from Latvia as a six year old, grew up here and at first integrated very well, but his family never got asylum status but at first were just ignored though the fear of being deported and the fact they were not allowed to work did cause depressions in his parents. at 18 the police came to deport his family, but the mother attempted suicide and the father was arrested for resisting, so wadim was deported by himself, without his family, into a country he had not seen in 12 years and where he didn't know anyone. he tried to return to germany but was deported again, while his parents finally get the permission to stay in germany, but he is not allowed to even travel to germany anymore. at 23 years old he comitted suicide ...
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Post by bixaorellana on Mar 10, 2017 23:55:05 GMT
Good grief, Rikita -- I'm terminally depressed just reading the description!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 11, 2017 5:29:46 GMT
Unfortunately, the same thing has happened in France a number of times. Babies born in Algeria or Morocco or Tunisia or Senegal, etc. but raised in France. Some of them were even snatched out of their classroom in front of their friends and hauled to the airport. This was mostly under the Sarkozy government, but it has not ended completely. Not only documentaries but feature films have been made about being stuck in the "home" country, not speaking the language and being blocked from returning to Europe.
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