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Jesus Camp And Why You Should Fear God

[ Comments Off ]Posted on May 31, 2009 by admin in Popular Media

Sunday, May 31st, 2009

Or, why Jesus Camp will be your favorite new horror film.


Though the lady in this clip speaks in
tongues, her message of “Dubya
stands for WORSHIP” gets through.

Well, if God is the one highlighted in the film Jesus Camp, you should be afraid. Very afraid. I usually find it in poor taste to denigrate the faiths of others (admittedly, I’ve made an exception for Mormons and Scientologists), but in the case of Kids In Ministry International (the organization featured in the film), I don’t see how I can keep my mouth shut. From the opening scenes, in which the rather hefty, third-generation Pentecostal preacher Becky Fischer preaches about fasting while her gut seeks escape from her waistband, to the creepy scene in which a church full of children reaches out their hands and weepingly prays to a life-size cutout of George W. Bush, the rather even-handed documentary calmy reveals a horror of child indocrination into a politicized, bellicose form of Christianity that is only equalled by the stories one hears about the madrassas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. With no voiceover or commentary, the film paints a picture of an overweight, ignorant, and self-righteous group of people convinced that their militant, idioglottic (see Becky Fischer’s bizarre and convoluted rationalization for speaking in tongues) form of Christianity will save the world from itself, and probably within a generation. If you haven’t seen a chilling horror film in a while, Jesus Camp should be on your list. Because of the friend who recommended it to me (thanks a bunch, Sasha!) I think I’ll be having nightmares tonight.

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Mellodrama: The Mellotron Documentary

[ 1 Comment ]Posted on February 12, 2009 by admin in Music

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Whether you’re old enough to have listened to the Beatles and the Moody Blues when they were new, or if you’re into the Beastie Boys, or any of thousands of current artists in rap and pop, the music you listen to owes a lot to an instrument you may have never heard of: the Mellotron. [...]

Whether you’re old enough to have listened to the Beatles and the Moody Blues when they were new, or if you’re into the Beastie Boys, or any of thousands of current artists in rap and pop, the music you listen to owes a lot to an instrument you may have never heard of: the Mellotron. The Mellotron was “the original sampler”, using actual sounds on recording tape which were manipulated mechanically to alter pitch with a keyboard. Sounds barbaric by todays digital sampling standards, but part of the beauty of the Mellotron was the fact that the sound it made was NOT accurate; it tended to have a haunting quality all its own. Sunday is the world premiere of Dianna Dilworth’s Mellodrama: The Mellotron Documentary at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival in Missoula, Montana. The trailer is featured here, and I hope this film gets decent distribution. It looks very well done if the trailer is any indication.

Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes

[ 2 Comments ]Posted on August 18, 2008 by admin in Popular Media

Monday, August 18th, 2008

Buried Lyndon? Full Cardboard Jacket? A Boxwork Orange?

As a rather rabid Kubrick fan and generally mild-mannered obsessive-compulsive myself, I was riveted to the screen by Stanley Kubrick’s Boxes, Jon Ronson’s documentary about the thousands of boxes that Kubrick amassed as he did meticulous research for each film. Originally aired as part of the “True Stories” series that ran on Channel 4 in the UK, there are rumors of a US broadcast coming soon on the Sundance Channel. In the meantime, try watching the entire 49 minutes (Google Video) or in several parts on YouTube. At least, that is, until there’s a takedown notice. By the way, I’d give my left kidney to own a copy of the limited first run of The Stanley Kubrick Archives. At only $695.00, it’s quite a steal, as it includes extras like a twelve-frame film strip from a 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey which was actually owned by Kubrick. See more notes about the book on the Taschen web site. God I love Taschen.

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