Today in documentaries I wish I hadn't watched...

Zeitgeist: The Movie

Calm your proclamations external or internal that I am a day late and a dollar short, I know the movie was released in 2007, it just took me a while to get up the nerve to get back in touch with my inner conspiracy theorist. But now that I have allowed myself to fall back into the endless, fruitless task of pondering the depth of the American government's (and the world's) evil, read my thoughts on a film that while not completely believable (nothing but the things we research and find out by our own enterprise should be believed, usually) manages to serve as a thoroughly thought provoking documentary that addresses some issues surrounding 9/11, organized religion and American political, financial and societal systems. Take heed, if you are not allowing your mind to be provoked, they've already won. Who are they? Oh, I think you know!

  Zeitgeist: The movie, which Netflix summarizes as "Peter Joseph's exploration into the controversial links between organized religion, global financial markets and the international power structure", begins with a mildly frightening examination of the foundations of Christianity. The ideas expressed in this segment of the film are troubling since with light research done without typing "similarities between Jesus and Egyptian/ancient gods" reveals that these gods went through many of the same trials as Jesus, were sometimes born in the same manner as Jesus (even on the same date as Jesus), and are tied to the zodiac and its symbols like...Jesus. But no worries, I won't be ranting about the subject of whether Jesus exists or not or whether Christians are a bunch of judgemental loonies (not saying that they are, conversely, many devout Christians are amazing insightful people.) To be honest, my thoughts on religion are very complex, they shift daily, and I'm no theologian. Furthermore, I don't, for whatever reason, feel comfortable making any claims about religion, Jesus, God,  my divine legs, face, or lips on the Internet, so I won't. Except, maybe I'll go on one of my world famous (or at least, blog famous) tangents....right....now.....

Have I mentioned how extremely attractive--no--divinely attractive I am? I should be illegal. If Horus (a god whose story (birth, death, god-like acts) is eerily similar to that of Jesus') were around today, he would give up his day job of basking in the sun's rays and lapping up the adulation of his worshippers to take me out for a steak dinner at J. Alexander's just to lay his bird-eyes upon the magnificence of my countenance.

See what I did there? I shifted your thoughts with conceited proclamations that may or may not be true. I'm being suggestive. I should have a news network.

Anyway...outside the treacherous million mile deep pit of religious discussion, Zeitgeist is a movie that examines the acts of the government in our financial system, our international relations, and our very lives. Zeitgeist takes the well trodden road of revealing secret plots surrounding America's involvement in international wars like all documentaries of this type by suggesting government execution of sinister war maneuvers, exposing the ways in which presidents of years past have manipulated international relations to the point of inciting attacks on American soil, and just might succeed in causing anyone who comes across the film to fear any man that drinks his coffee from a solid gold cup in a Capitol Hill cafeteria.

The specifics of the film are important, and  Peter Joseph makes many good points, but I won't rehash the specifics here other than to state that the ideas presented in the film seem well researched and are presented in a less crackpot fashion than Michael Moore fare. My fear, however, with films of this type is that an impressionable mind (I possess one of those by the way, mine is just so amazing that it is impressionable for mere moments before my amazing research techniques and penchant for disbelief of anything and everything fed to me through screen mediums (screen mediums is what I call anything with a screen. I am speaking to you from a screen medium. Aren't I clever? And cute? Also, how do you like this parentheses within parentheses action? Want more of it? Too bad!) causes me to take everything I may have witnessed with a large hypertension inducing grain of salt) might just take the ideas presented in this film as truth and spew them with reckless abandon to even more impressionable minds, which would be a tragedy.

When I view a documentary like this it serves only to make me more vigilant, discerning and critical of a government that seems to be inept at best and purposely detrimental to American prosperity at worst with only their own gain in mind. With that said I charge you to view this film with an open intelligent mind, and then I challenge you not to hold it as your doctrine, not as your guide to secret American history, (although it would be a good conversation starter at a place like, oh...say the Republican National Convention since many of the politicians placed under a microscope in these films brandish an elephant on their festive buttons)  but use Zeitgeist as a proverbial fire to place under your complacent ass.

Ask questions of your government, cast blank stares at those who seem to think the federal government is full of well meaning, affable men who also happen to be bajillionaires who think of the rights, lifestyles and struggles of the poor and just-making-ends-meet that comprise the bulk of American society. I charge you to take off your blinders and be an active, question asking, letter writing, forward thinking person of this society, because your brainpower is needed and your efforts to be an active participant in the dealings of your government will be appreciated by the entitled yet lovable brats that will inherit this world.

About now, after reading this amazing mind blowing blog post, you're wondering why I titled this rant of epic and well written proportions "Today in documentaries I hadn't watched..." and the answer to that is, old creepy footage of dead eyed politicians doing bad stuff and images of the carnage of war and greed and hopelessness make me sad. Plus, it made me think. I'm an American, I don't like to think. Just kidding, I, like many Americans, love thinking. Yet I can admit that I like to spend my days enjoying lighter fare--however--the light stuff doesn't garner such long, well written and thought provoking posts like this. So thank gosh for documentaries that present palatable fear mongering!!!

In other news, have you seen Dark Knight Rises yet? If you haven't, don't. It was horrible.

Peacy Weacy!!

Anger on the 'net

So I'm a pretty even tempered girl, at least that's what people never tell me, but today I lost my well tempered cool.

I went to a website which I will not name so that it doesn't get any traffic (like I need to worry about that because no one will even ever read this :)) But anyway I went to this website and there was a post about the BEAUTIFUL Naomi Campbell, and the site owner said something moderately racist which I let slide because that's this guy's MO, but then someone comments underneath "Someone, bring this monkey back to the zoo."

WTF? I don't understand how people can be so mean and insensitive. Racism is so played out and ignorant. I can find about a million reasons to hate someone and believe me none of them ever involve some one's skin color because that stuff does not matter, nor does it have anything to do with the content of a person's character.

I wonder when the day will come where I don't have to be insulted by association. Whenever there's a picture of black person, famous or not, on a website that is not predominately black one must be prepared to read the ignorant comments made by the backwoods shack-dwellers of the world. It's tiring.

What's more, I can't help but comment. So I left an expletive filled comment below the racist one, though what use is it? There is no use because for my words to have any effect they have to be read and interpreted and retained by a rational and intelligent human being, two words that fail to describe ANYONE who's prejudiced.

I wish that we could focus on the important stuff like all these zany wars and human trafficking and ending pollution. I wish I didn't have to worry about seeing the word "NIGGER" emblazoned across the ad-laden pages of a website frequented by bored neanderthals, I wish I could smack the racists and show them the light.

Alas, that will never happen, so I guess I have to continue being a strong beautiful black woman who gets her value and worth from within herself, because I learn more and more everyday that I can't expect to get any real genuine consistent appreciation from anywhere else:(

"Boohoo!!" Right? "Stop crying" right? Is that what you're thinking? Well you know what I say to you? You're right. I'm gonna stop crying because there's no use. I have to be happy and ignore all the horrible aspects of the world because focusing on the good is so much better. Now let's take a moment to think of all the people who surround us--the people that are of different cultural backgrounds and religions etc. Think of them and appreciate them, or hate them because of their perceived character flaws-- because they are people with feelings and goals and hopes and dreams and loved ones and bad habits and murderous intentions--all of this exists independent of their melanin or lack thereof. Think about it.

Yay for Postive Body Image!!

...Is what I wish I could say when I look at my pre-spruce-up state or even  post-spruce-up state in the mirror. Like most women I am not immune to becoming fixated on some aspect of my physical self that I cannot change without a disposable bank account and a penchant for plastic surgery.

Fixation on the imperfections of various parts of my body seem to change with the wind, for example, one day I'll think my baby toenail is too symmetrical (yes I know what that means, I'm trying to be ironic--I think!) then the next day I've forgotten about my toes and now think my knuckles aren't as graceful as I wish they were and that's when I know I am hung up on these things because I'm a lunatic woman who's too obsessed with her looks. And then I decide to break-up with myself because I'm horribly superficial.

After deciding to talk things over instead of kicking myself directly to the curb, I ask myself "why do I let these stupid things bother me? Why do I ever let myself feel subconscious while gazing upon a photograph of myself  I took an hour before because if I looked that good then how could I possibly be living up to such amazingly hard to reach astronomical standards now?" So I decide to stop and say to myself, "*e*u*i*a" <<that's me disguising my incredibly long and hard to pronounce first name>> I say, " you are beautiful, and if nothing else you are as beautiful as you are going to get. Work with it, use it to secure favorable blog reviews, and then chuck away all thoughts of physical appearance in situations in which beauty and outter appearance hold no weight. So pretty much I could stop thinking about my looks and how people perceive me when I went to bed every night--just kidding.

^^^That my readers was a random rambling tongue-in-cheek digression the likes of which you shall never see produced by a sensible young woman ever again!!

Getting to the point of this post, self image is a very important aspect of our inner selves and with some people, particularly young women, it's a cause of heartache and depression and has lead many women into drastic methods to fix what they don't  like through surgery and such. Instead of focusing on our few imperfections (believe me, they're tiny) focus on things about ourselves that we do like, every woman should be taught by their mothers that to feel good about themselves--exude confidence and play up the assets. If you didn't know- now you know- once again, be confident, play up the assets, but most importantly, be more than your looks for Pete's sake.

Believe that you are worth about a million percent more based on what's inside of you. The things that make you smile and the things you say that make others do the same, the way you talk friends down from ledges after the stocks plummet or the way you speak to homeless people who corner you at the gas station, we are all people with these insides full of quirks and glory and happiness and meanness and hopes and dreams and expectations, we're so full of all this great stuff that someone's gonna love and they can't see any of it with their eyes.

BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MEDIA'S ROLE IN STOMPING ON OUR SELF IMAGE???!!! 

Good question bolded red words, the media has its fist so deep down our throats that its knuckles are splashing around in last night's oxtail soup. We can't escape it the media! It invades every pore of our society--so much so that I'm being a sellout just by using this blog engine powered by Blogger owned by GOOGLE to write about the negative affects of media and our attachment to it.

I watch celebrites glitter and shine as they traipse down plush red carpets, I follow gossip rags and salivate at couples I would give one article of clothing to be one half of, I do it all!!! Forwhy? Because it's so damn entertaining! It takes the mind off things that are probably not as entertaining, but a billiioncajillionvermillion times more fun, meaningful, productive and satisfying than watching this week's episode of HOW DA HELL DID DAT GUY DO DAT?! on insert three letter network name abbreviation here.

I'm not talking about movies, they are the technically under media's expansive shroud but you watch the right film, that movie is a piece of art, it makes you think, it makes you appreciate the movie itself--the actors, the way it was made--the cinematography, the lighting, the editing etc. (see this post of mine, it's not as in-depth as I could have gotten but you get the gist) So I'm not really referring to movies but I am referring to some of the tripe we watch that is unforgiveably laced with an onslaught of advertisements/mind control. Now I can't completely bash advertising because I know it's neccessary to sell products and keep the economy (especially this one) running, but we are shown a lot of commercials.

For instance, advertisments are full of impossibly beautiful women and men. Celebrities look so perfect that it seems like they could break under the weight of our direct stares with their symmetrical, beautiful glowing faces! Sadly most human beings who are womb-built are not perfect and perky and smooth. Anyway, now that I'm on my high horse, I'll say it,  I came across a website full of photographs of normal breasts. That's right real boobs, not the impossibly round saucers stuck to the chests of almost every woman bounding across our television/movie screens; normal, beautiful, big, small, even, uneven, real, breasts. It was a wonderful site and if I didn't want to appear to be peddling pictures of naked breasts, I would post the link. If I one day get comments and someone asks for the link, after a long and painful screening process I will provide you with it at the price of an open mind.

The site made me (as I often do) think about how media warps the minds of men and women everywhere in regard to their self-image. They see themselves as less than an image of the human body that is not only rare, but attainable only through extreme means while failing to be the actual, attainable, real standard of beauty. It's all a farce, and it's effing our heads beyond repair.

The challenge is to enjoy the media outlets since we can't hide from them (and we kinda don't want to) while keeping in mind we are beautiful men and women of content and thought and shining soul.

Before you turn on the television to become the sponge the media seeps into as I do when I watch the tube, remember you are wonderful just the way you are, all the imperfections, large feet (I wear a size 10! A size 10!! Jeez! I know! Yes I'm a woman!!) and thin eyelashes. Because goshslammit, like me, you look good. Don't get it twisted.

Now if only I could glue this blog post to the back of my eyelids so I can stop all the obsessing.

PEACY WEACY!!