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Angelina Jolie as Maleficent
A First Look at Angelina Jolie as Maleficent
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Try Hara Hachi Bu to Help with Your Weight Loss Resolution
Lots of people resolve to lose weight throughout a given year, and they try all sorts of diet to do so. I’m not going to debate the merits of losing weight here, but if that’s your thing, I have a very practical suggestion to help. It is a lifestyle called hara hachi bu, from the Japanese island of Okinawa, home of the largest populations of people aged over 100 (centenarians).
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Food, Inc. (full documentary)
If you eat food and you have never seen this documentary, you should.
Even if you’re vegan, this film is of relevance to you for many reasons, including the Monsanto conspiracy to dominate the world soybean market.
The film may be about America’s food industry, but a lot of it isn’t different around the western world, and a lot of it goes around the entire world because the US food exports pretty substantial amounts of food each year. Besides, those that control America’s food system don’t stop at the borders. Greed and crime have no borders.
If the video is a bit slow to load, please pause for 2-5 minutes while you do something else, then come back and viewing should be fine unless something is wrong with the source site.
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In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation’s food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won’t go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults.
Featuring interviews with such experts as Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation), Michael Pollan (The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto) along with forward thinking social entrepreneurs like Stonyfield’s Gary Hirshberg and Polyface Farms’ Joel Salatin, Food, Inc. reveals surprising—and often shocking truths—about what we eat, how it’s produced, who we have become as a nation and where we are going from here.
Aside from all the insights I’ve gained on the topics of the documentaries I have presented on this site in the past couple of weeks, I have to say I’ve also gained a lot of insight into how people manipulate others in an organizational way. I’ve heard about bribing, having friends in high places, and such, but seeing it in action is something else. The Monsanto manipulation is the perfect example in this film. It’s disgusting enough people do it on their own, but when they find and collaborate, it’s a whole new level of crime as far as I’m concerned, somewhat similar to manslaughter (accidental or in the moment) and murder (premeditated).
It’s really tragic our justice system doesn’t have any punishment that is suitable for the crimes these people are doing.
Sharkwater, Dispelling Myths About the Shark (full documentary)
What do you think of when you think of the shark? A fearsome monster? A man eater from the ocean? Something that should be killed if seen from land?
If you’re like most people of the world, that’s generally what you would think of when you think of a shark. However, sharks are nothing like that. It’s all man-made myth!
Sharks are rather shy, intelligent and have incredible senses. They avoid people if they can, actually being afraid of people, and often know better than to eat people despite how people resemble the seals they actually eat. They eat the only way they know how, and most are not like the way they are portrayed in movies like Jaws. Furthermore, they have a huge environmental impact by being at the top of the food chain, controlling populations of other species below them so all the phytoplankton in the oceans which generate oxygen for us to breathe are allowed to do just that. We are destroying our future just by letting a bunch of fishermen slaughter all these sharks because some people in China believes eating their fins bestow good health and miracle cures, and are willing to pay a ton of money for them.
Sharks are absolutely remarkable creatures which have survived hundreds of millions of years, virtually unchanged, while the world around it has or has become extinct. They were here 150 million years before the dinosaurs! Come see how amazing they truly are, and how they are being hunted to extinction by greedy people who only take their fins and throw the rest of the animal away. Sharkwater will show you all of this, with remarkable cinematography in a captivating adventure that has won 31 major international film awards.
More of the world needs to see this film. I hope you will watch it if you have not, and/or tell other people about it!
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This full-length online version is of good quality, though not the same as a DVD version, obviously. But if you can’t get access to the DVD, this will do. This also has English and Chinese (not sure which form) subtitles. If it gets stuck loading when you play it, please pause it for a few minutes while it loads and come back. You should be fine, then.
Synopsis
For filmmaker Rob Stewart, exploring sharks began as an underwater adventure. What it turned into was a beautiful and dangerous life journey into the balance of life on earth. Driven by passion fed from a lifelong fascination with sharks, Stewart debunks historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as bloodthirsty, man-eating monsters and reveals the reality of sharks as pillars in the evolution of the seas. Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes you into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world’s shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.
In an effort to protect sharks, Stewart teams up with renegade conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Their unbelievable adventure together starts with a battle between the Sea Shepherd and shark poachers in Guatemala, resulting in pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, mafia espionage, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges, forcing them to flee for their lives. Through it all, Stewart discovers these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey, and how despite surviving the earth’s history of mass extinctions, they could easily be wiped out within a few years due to human greed. Stewart’s remarkable journey of courage and determination changes from a mission to save the world’s sharks, into a fight for his life, and that of humankind.
The Cove, Japan’s Dirty Dolphin Killing Secret (entire documentary)
Each September to February, a nasty dolphin hunt takes place off the coast of Japan in a little village called Taiji (tai-jee), where most of the 20,000 dolphins and porpoises killed off Japan are done annually. The Cove, winner of multiple international film festival awards including Oscar for Best Documentary in 2009, exposes what goes on in Taiji and how Japan manipulates little bankrupt countries to support its whaling cause and empire through the International Whaling Commission (IWC). Courageous to film undercover, inspiring and shocking to watch, this film is having some effect on public awareness of the issues, from brutal senseless killings to mercury poisoning in the food and fraud by selling worthless dolphin meat as expensive whale meat. You might also learn a thing about being coy and manipulative in empire building, as well as dedication and heart in pursuit of a cause through Ric O’Barry and others’ efforts to expose this annual massacre.
Despite all the public praise and awareness this film has been getting, the issues raised could always use a little more attention because they’re still killing dolphins in Taiji as I write in October. Well, this little site of mine gets some decent attention, so here is the movie in case you haven’t seen it. Thanks to whoever uploaded the entire thing on Tudou in high quality, and even added English and Japanese subtitles, where it needs to be known!
Synopsis
Academy Award® Winner for Best Documentary of 2009, THE COVE follows an elite team of activists, filmmakers and freedivers as they embark on a covert mission to penetrate a remote and hidden cove in Taiji, Japan, shining a light on a dark and deadly secret. Utilizing state-of-the-art techniques, including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, the team uncovers how this small seaside village serves as a horrifying microcosm of massive ecological crimes happening worldwide. The result is a provocative mix of investigative journalism, eco-adventure and arresting imagery, adding up to an unforgettable story that has inspired audiences worldwide to action. THE COVE is directed by Louie Psihoyos and produced by Paula DuPré Pesmen and Fisher Stevens. The film is written by Mark Monroe. The executive producer is Jim Clark and the co-producer is Olivia Ahnemann.
Please come back later if you’re not catching news of this at a time when you have 90 minutes to spare and watch. You can spend 90 minutes doing a lot of worse things in life.
The Cove’s website for more information on the film and cause.
Take part in helping save the dolphins as promoted by The Cove.
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