John Hughes is Dead

Awww man, not that he made anything good in the last decade but John Hughes is now dead, age 59, from a heart attack.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prolific film writer and director John Hughes, whose credits include the '80s teen films "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off," died of a heart attack while walking in Manhattan on Thursday, his spokesman said. He was 59.

Hughes also made Macaulay Culkin a star, writing and producing the three "Home Alone" movies. His spokesman said Hughes was visiting friends in New York when he died.

In the last decade, Hughes had largely turned his back on Hollywood to run a farm in northern Illinois. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Nancy, two sons and four grandchildren.

While I was not a fan of the Home Alone movies, what child of the eighties can say they didn't enjoy one of the first movies we saw to show being a"bad" kid, got you the girl? I loved The Breakfast Club movie and still own the DVD!

Family Guy

I was reading the news this morning having my coffee, and I read that Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, has been given $100 million dollars to keep the popular cartoon going!

Do you watch Family Guy?

MacFarlane, 35, is creator and executive producer of "Family Guy," Fox's top-rated prime-time 'toon (yes, even more popular than "The Simpsons"), one of the all-time best-selling TV-on-DVD titles, and a show that spearheaded the digital-download video phenomenon.

So it's no wonder the studio recently served up a $100 million production deal to keep their "Family" man happy. MacFarlane also is at the helm of the Fox 'toon "American Dad!" and is working on a "Family Guy" spin-off series, "Cleveland."

"In all honesty, my representative said I could get that much money and I didn't stop him," MacFarlane said. "Can I spend a hundred million dollars? No. I'll spread it around a much as I can."

Spreading the wealth? Clearly, MacFarlane is an Obama man. He did some campaigning for the Democratic presidential candidate, and even took a shot at the Republican competition on "Family Guy."

Note how CNN takes a stab at him for supporting Barack Obama.

The guy is definitely a winner. Not that many people have been that successful with a cartoon, and it has taken lots of hard work and sacrifice.

Despite the amount of wealth he has acquired, he still sounds "down to Earth." When asked how the $100 million could change his life, Seth replied, "Nothing I can do can really live up to that amount of money on a daily basis, so my view of it ... (is that) I gave them all of my 20s, which are irretrievable. (I put my) heart and soul into that show, and, in turn, they give me $100 million. I think that's fair. One of those is replaceable, the other isn't."

Who Killed The Electric Car?

As I read the news about the auto makers industry needing a possible bailout, I cannot help but recall this DVD I watched awhile back.

If you have any doubt that we should have had electric cars already, and have wondered whether the idea of cars fueled by electricity has been swept under the rug by the very companies who need help now, take a look at this DVD.

Who Killed The Electric Car? is a great documentary, and you will nejoy it if you are looking for info on this fascinating topic.



Here is the brief description I read before watching it:

In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline. Ten years later, these futuristic cars were almost entirely gone. What happened? Why should we be haunted by the ghost of the electric car?

Do yourself a favor and educate yourself about elecric cars, why we should already have them and how they were swept under the rug so Hummers could be sold.

Lots of cameo appearances by movie stars who owned prototypes of the cars and loved them! Martin Sheen, Mel Gibson and more.

Get your copy of Who Killed The Electric Car? today.

Reagan's War

Last night I decided to watch In the Face of Evil - Reagan's War in Word and Deed.

Due to my age, I was not really following politics during the Ronald Reagan presidency, but have seen many people talk good about him, and other people talk about him in a very negative manner. he battle against "evil" seems startlingly similar to what is happening right now in the world, except instead of "communism," the enemy of our time is "terrorism." As I watched it, I pointed out numerous times, "sounds like this year" or "they're still doing it." People like George Bush Sr. and Henry Kissinger are indeed still wielding influence in this country.



Here is the description I read before viewing this DVD.

Two time award winner for Best Documentary of 2004, In the Face of Evil: Reagan's War in Word and Deed is about a man and nation's courageous journey through the heart of darkness and how that journey inspires us today. This film is not a traditional biopic of Ronald Reagan, but a hard-hitting exploration of leadership and moral courage. Based on Reagan's War, Peter Schweizer's acclaimed bestseller, In the Face of Evil, pits the brutality of totalitarian communism against Reagan s inflexible passion to see freedom s light shine on all the people of the world. The film s timeless lessons inspire us as a call to action. Ronald Reagan's legacy gives us courage to stand tall despite our enemy's harshest aggressions and to never waver in the face of evil.

As usual, this DVD is filled with old footage, countless clips from old speeches, and military footage.

I do not like the "good versus evil" attitude he had, and I can see it in the world today. He used the word "god" and "let us pray" way too much to be a President. If he wanted to be a priest, he should have went that route in his career, and not chose politics.

I had to chuckle hearing him refer to himself as a "liberal democrat" though, I bet that speech makes all the Republicans tense up. yes, your hero Ronnie Reagan was a "liberal" until he flip flopped on his party, and decided to drive America into the military industrial complex it is seated in now.

Uncounted: The New Math Of American Elections

With the excitement building over the upcoming Presidential Election on November 4, 2008, I decided to give Uncounted: The New Math of American Elections a viewing last night.

Here's the brief description I read before I sat down to watch it...

Filmmaker David Earnhardt takes a close look at the state of America's electoral process and presents unnerving evidence that fraud at every level is disenfranchising voters across the nation. Featuring candid interviews with election officials, journalists, statisticians, computer programmers and others, this persuasive documentary also examines the scandals surrounding the 2004 presidential election.

All I knew going into it, was that the documentary was about elections, and the counting of votes using electronic voting machines.

If you are unfamiliar with the controversy surrounding electronic voting machines, the company Diebold, and the 2004 election, you really should check this one out. Diebold received so much negative publicity regarding the voting machines bugged with problems, they have since changed their company name to: Premier Election Solutions Inc.



I understand why the country has begun moving towards electronic voting machines, however, I do not understand why there is no paper trail. The company behind the machines, in this DVD, is Diebold, the same company who makes ATM machines. ATM Machines keep an internal auditable log and can be traced. Why should our voting machines, made by this same company, be unable to be audited or counted if there is an issue. Essentially, once votes are cast, there is no proof of them and no way to verify or count them afterward in the event of a problem.

Electronic voting machines should print out a paper, showing all your votes, you should be able to look that over, and then drop that in a ballot box. Not have it all stored in memory on a machine, that has proven to fail. I am concerned more than ever that the Republican ties to the companies who make these voting machines, has in fact, been used to "flip votes" in favor of Republican politicians. Why would I think that?

The man, Clint Curtis is in the documentary, who was employed to write software for these voting machines blows the whistle in this DVD. He became aware something was wrong when his employer wanted him to make the "vote flipping" part of the software source code to be hidden or non-traceable. He voiced his concern, and was told, "you don't understand, this is to flip the election in Florida." Now, if you remember Florida was the state that basically gave George Bush the 2004 election. If he had not won Florida, there is a chance the entire election would have come out differently.

Other examples of clear vote fraud, is shown in a town where only 800 or so people voted, yet Bush was given 4,200+ votes from that precinct. Something a little strange going on? Certainly, and this DVD will open your eyes to the blatant voter fraud taking place in our modern elections.

Why do electronic voting machines not give us a paper trail? Something we can count afterward? Voting machines are built to the exact opposite of standards that ATM machines are manufactured to. ATM machines can be audited and every bit of info or transaction leaves a record so someone can analyze the machine and its numbers if there is ever a problem. Why would a company, that builds such systems, go out of their way, to make voting machines hold no record, keep no trace or trail of events? There is only one reason, to hide what is going on inside.

In this documentary, you see public officials who have been fired for making inquiries into these voting machines, and you can see many of the connections between certain politicians and the company who makes the machines and more. Bruce Funk is locked out of his office, an elected official, while Diebold denies him access to the machines so they can edit the software and remove the "flip virus." This is an amazing inside look into what is going on in America regarding the vote counting process.

I will leave you with the description from the box:

UNCOUNTED is an explosive documentary that shows how the election fraud that changed the outcome of the 2004 election led to even greater fraud in 2006 - and now looms as an unbridled threat to the outcome of the 2008 election. This controversial film examines in factual, logical, and yet startling terms how easy it is to change election outcomes and undermine election integrity across the U.S. Noted computer programmers, statisticians, journalists, and experienced election officials provide the irrefutable proof.

UNCOUNTED shares well documented stories about the spine-chilling disregard for the right to vote in America. In Florida, computer programmer Clint Curtis is directed by his boss to create software that will 'flip' votes from one candidate to another. In Utah, County Clerk Bruce Funk is locked out of his office for raising questions about security flaws in electronic voting machines. Californian Steve Heller gets convicted of a felony after he leaks secret documents detailing illegal activities committed by a major voting machine company. And Tennessean entrepreneur, Athan Gibbs, finds verifiable voting a hard sell in America and dies before his dream of honest elections can be realized.

UNCOUNTED is a wakeup call to all Americans. Beyond increasing public awareness, the film inspires greater involvement in fixing a broken electoral system.

You should watch this before the upcoming election if you have concerns regarding electronic voting machines.

Get your copy of UNCOUNTED: The New Math Of American Elections before the election.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

At the time of writing this entry, I have only blogged two DVDs, and I recommend this third one as much as the previous documentaries.

Earlier this week, I didn't feel like watching any more Alfred Hitchcock, although I enjoy his work, I felt like watching something to do with those nasty big corporations, that run the world. You know, like Enron.



As you can see by the image above, I chose, Enron: The Smartest Guys In The Room. If you have not seen it, are interested in this type of stuff, you may want to give it a look.

Quoted from description...

Based on the best-selling book of the same name by Fortune reporters Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind a multidimensional study of one of the biggest business scandals in American history. The chronicle takes a look at one of the greatest corporate disasters in history in which top executives from the 7th largest company in this country walked away with over one billion dollars leaving investors and employees with nothing. The film features insider accounts and rare corporate audio and video tapes that reveal colossal personal excesses of the Enron hierarchy and the utter moral vacuum that posed as corporate philosophy. The human drama that unfolds within Enron's walls resembles a Greek tragedy and produces a domino effect that could shape the face of our economy...

Listen to phone calls of stock traders cheer on California fires, as people die, so they can increase profits. You won't believe your ears. See, Enron controlled the energy markets, and by bringing down California power, during "Black Outs," the value of energy stocks would increase, this allowed them to fluctuate and manipulate their stocks and ultimately the cost being charged to the public. Americans were ripped off for millions, you must see this.

To quote Jeff Shannon, from Amazon:

The corrupt and closely-guarded mismanagement by Enron executives (including Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, later placed on criminal trial) is revealed through such heinous concepts as "Hypothetical Future Value" (a way of reaping fortunes based on false profit projections) and the use of offshore "shell" companies to hide the massive losses that eventually toppled the company (along with the venerable Arthur Anderson accounting firm) and left 20,000 employees jobless. As a maddening portrait of hubris and white-collar crime, Enron transcends political and corporate boundaries by showing how smart and powerful men grew blinded by greed and brought ruin upon themselves, along with thousands of otherwise innocent victims. For better and worse, it's a perfect double-feature with eye-opening 2004 documentary The Corporation.

While many documentaries like to portray corporations, as big bad things, America will never be without them. It is best to educate yourself on them, and be aware of what is going on in the modern business world.

The Weather Underground

After hearing so much about the Weather Underground and William Ayers in the latest mud slinging from the McCain Palin campaign, I decided to watch a DVD that I had intended on watching months ago.

I just finished watching The Weather Underground Documentary, and encourage all who are interested in some great historical footage and info about the radical 60's group known as The Weathermen, or The Weather Underground.



The description I read before watching said...

A sobering documentary about a group of 1960s "committed freedom fighters" known as The Weather Underground. A radical offshoot of the Students for a Democratic Society, the Weathermen didn't just march or sit in; they rioted and bombed -- not to change the American political scene but rather to destroy it. The organization was part of a global trend of revolution that sprang from the belief that not acting against violence is violence.

While I was somewhat familiar with The Weather Underground, I always enjoy a good documentary and this one is worth watching. It featured lots of old video clips of student protests, riots, things on fire, and more. It covered how the organization started out as a student group, and morphed into something much darker. But it also shows how there are in fact roots of revolution in America's history and I think all Americans should watch this.

Maxed Out

Despite being an avid horror movie fan, I have become addicted to documentaries lately, especially social and political ones.

So considering the latest financial crisis looming, I decided to finally check out the DVD Maxed Out.

Maxed Out takes viewers on a journey deep inside the American style of debt where things seem fine as long as the minimum monthly payment arrives on time. Shocking and incisive Maxed Out paints a picture of a national nightmare which is all too real for most of us.Runtime: 87 mins

While I could gather what it was about from the title and brief description alone, it did provide a peek into some aspects of American debt that I was not aware of. Such as the average American household has at least $9,000 in credit card debt. As well as a brief hint into credit or debt related suicides in the population.

I already knew a few things this DVD seeks to inform the viewer of. How could most of us not be aware that most Americans are behind on bills and credit and debt are both sky high at this time in our nation's history? That most people will never pay off their credit cards before they die, and the majority of citizens have credit card debt, hence the title Maxed Out.



Maxed Out does include some entertaining clips of the major credit card company lobbyists and spokesman before congress and you can clearly see the influence they do have. You are briefly informed about Bush and the bankruptcy reform, but I felt it could have went a little more into real estate debt. However, I do understand this documentary was focused on credit card debt as opposed to the economic crisis facing America today.

I recommend this DVD to anyone interested in financial issues related to society, and or debt in general.