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Recovering... and watching docs...

 
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jefflewis



Joined: 21 Nov 2005
Posts: 1485

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 5:40 pm    Post subject: Recovering... and watching docs... Reply with quote

Well I finally had my hernia-fixing surgery operation the other day, thanks to Obama's Afforable Care Act I was finally able to get health coverage and finally able to make an appointment to take care of this stupid problem that's been afflicting me since last July! Basically this sort of hernia is quite common in men, happens randomly, due to a weakening in some abdominal muscles you suddenly find that your abdominal innards can easily shift out of place in uncomfortable ways! So it's been quite a few months of trying to work around that... and, finally, getting the operation where they stitch a piece of plastic mesh into your muscles to help hold everything in place as it's supposed to be! An amazing modern medical procedure, they just knock you out with anaesthetic, two hours later you wake up and it's all done! But I've been off my feet for a few days recuperating at home, not moving very much... just stuck on my couch watching movies on my laptop and sleeping random hours all night and day.

Some recent movies that I watched (all documentaries) -

The Art of Rap -
This was pretty entertaining but not as insightful as I'd hoped... it's Ice-T walking around NYC and Detroit and LA, doing quick interviews with rappers to get their opinions on inspiration and working methods etc. It COULD have been a lot better, if they actually talked a little more in-depth... SOME of them do, but most of them don't. Very nice bits with KRS-One, Kool Keith, Dr. Dre (in 27 years in the business, Dr. Dre says there are only a couple times he has EVER spent 2 weeks out of the studio. In 27 years! That's a work ethic. No wonder he's the best.), Snoop, Eminem, Immortal Technique, Q-Tip, B Real, and many many others.

Style Wars -
This was GREAT, I'd meant to see this for years. A 1983 documentary about graffiti on the NYC trains in the early 80s, with great footage of the trains and the city and the culture of the time. Really fun and cool, such a period piece, a really wonderful document of a place and time just before it all changed/disappeared.

Kevin -
This was very weird, to scroll thru the list of Netflix documentaries and see a movie about this guy Kevin Gant, whom I had sort of become friends with at the Austin Texas open mics in 2000-2001. I was like, whaaaat?! THAT guy? I KNEW that guy! There's a MOVIE about HIM?!?! He was just a random weird guy at the open mics, and there were a LOT of random weird people at those Austin open mics... and in fact the movie is pretty pointless, it is just a portrait of this guy, I can't imagine who else but me would be interested.
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jefflewis



Joined: 21 Nov 2005
Posts: 1485

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 7:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Also, another documentary I just watched:

I Need That Record! -
Documentary about independent record stores in the US, how they have all been closing down in the past ten years with the rise of "big box stores" like Walmart, and of course internet stuff. It could have been more interesting, but it was still okay. As usual, Thurston Moore and Ian Mackaye and Mike Watt all make the expected appearances talking about how they love and miss indie record shops, I mean everything about this movie is predictable and exactly what you would imagine, but I still found it enjoyable enough. Also nice interview stuff with Lenny Kaye and Glenn Branca. There was some good footage of some cool looking record shops in different parts of America (some of which I've been to! Like Grimey's in Nashville, and Reckless Records in Chicago, etc). , and of course as you would expect plenty of depressing footage of these stores going out of business, tearful owners dismantling the racks and leaving the well-loved shops boarded-up and empty, not knowing what they will do with their lives next. I WISH this movie had more specific stories from Thurston, Watt, MacKaye, etc, about their adventures touring the country and finding records in weird shops, that's what I thought the movie would have. A film maker with a bit more time and money and vision could have made a better movie on this topic.
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Dav
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Joined: 30 Oct 2005
Posts: 2890
Location: Rennes, France

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 8:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I have watched quite a few docs about street art, the one you talk about ring no bell, i got to look for it. The bansky doc called exit through the giftshop was interesting. Isnt about him at all but is an interresting reflection about fame. I enjoyed it for that.
One doc that was really good was "the house i live in" about drugs. Has really interresting reflection around drugs problems, like the slow motion holocaust analysis by david simon, a ewesome writer/journalist from Baltimore. His two books, "the corner" and "baltimore" are amongst the best things i ever read. Good analysing of drugs problems in the usa and intelligent ways to deal with it. He also the guy begind tje two awesome tv shows , the wire and treme (post katrina in nola. Anyway i really enjoyed the house i live in.

Ive just watched a great philip k dick doc on you tube. Ill try to find the name of t if anyone is interested. Im a huge k dik fan.


I also enjoyed a doc about cia mind control experiments. That one got me upset but was intersting.


An american dog, a doc about the writer James Ellroy was also really interesting. I guess you got to line his book to enjoy it. Maybe it might give people the will to read him. Hes quite a character. His books are really dark but great, especially the american tabloid ones covering american history from 50 to 70s. 3000 pages but i like big thick books.
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jefflewis



Joined: 21 Nov 2005
Posts: 1485

PostPosted: Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh yes, I totally loved Exit Through the Gift Shop, great documentary - and if you liked that you really have to watch Style Wars, it's like the same movie but from 30 years earlier! Here's the old trailer for it -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6GbbFXxNpw
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misshelenc



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 943
Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK

PostPosted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 12:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Exit was great, amazing blag by that bloke, haha.
And I read Ellory too, American Tabloid is cracking, I will try and hunt down the documentary one day when I have more time.
I really like the food documentaries best, and I like Micheal Moore too, but I think my favourite one of all is blackfish. Documentaries are great, I watch a lot of them on the television and the radio does some good ones too. I like to learn a lot.
I am also really glad that you have been operated on at reasonable cost and are on the mend! Great news, I remember you mentioning it before and I was thinking it must be coming up soon. Get well soon and I hope the pain isn't too bad. It looks like there are plenty of distractions anyway.
xxx
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jefflewis



Joined: 21 Nov 2005
Posts: 1485

PostPosted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks! Blackfish, I haven't heard of that one, I'll have to look into it...
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misshelenc



Joined: 23 Nov 2007
Posts: 943
Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK

PostPosted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's okay I hope you are feeling much better now, being immobile is really hard. Blackfish is amazing, I try and watch it regularly, maybe it wouldn't be your thing but it's mine. I think it's available on glow gaze x
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