Copy & Pasted From Someone’s FB Post

The Anonymous Manifesto

“Professional” sports is nothing more than an elaborate distraction that generates billions of dollars for the elite. Nothing is at it seems or appears. Any perceptive person would realize that last nights loss was not entirely predicated on the 2 fumbles alone by Williams. There was the sudden ineptness from Alex Smith and the offensive play calling in several crucial situations, one that initially comes to mind is when they essentially needed 20 yards for Akers range and squandered it on 3 terrible plays in a row. If Kyle Williams called for the fair catch then why didn’t he move a muscle when it is protocol on a well coached special teams team to get out of the way? The spin on this is that he is a young player and made a bone head mistake, that is what will make it believable for the masses to accept. Harbaugh has a low tolerance for mistakes as we saw in the New Orleans game when he stopped passing to Crabtree after dropping crucial passes. Why would he continue to leave Williams in the game after his first folly on the biggest stage in his coaching career? The 49ers defense forced a fumble close to the NYG goalline towards the end of the game that would have been called in any other game but the refs blew their whistles like crazy before the play even ended thus making the play “unchallengable”?

These are rhetorical questions I ask to prove a point that nothing added up and nothing is as it seems. Vernon Davis said it best after catching his game winner against New Orleans “This is how we rehearsed it”. If you can’t read between the lines- the hits are real, the runs are real, the throws are real, but the games are predetermined based on money and people much richer and powerful than any of us. As long as there are billions of dollars placed on sports wagers across the world this will never change and the sport will never be pure. It starts from the college level where athletes feel under paid and under appreciated. The ones that have proven to be able to “play the game” make it to the next level. It’s entertainment and they are entertainers. Joe Sixpack has something to look forward to after withering away his other 5 days of the week at a job that doesn’t pay enough, his wife that’s cheating on him with someone on facebook, and his diabetic fat kids that lower aims tests and tighten seatbelts every year. Distraction is key and implemented so Joe stays content, doesn’t wake up and smell that the coffee is laced with shit. Why? Because he’ll realize he’s underpaid, quit his job and progress to something possibly greater in life. This isn’t what the elite want. They want you fat, broke, married with children, posting from your android, playing videogames, worshiping actors and “athletes”, arguing about religion, politics, you name. It’s a dog and pony show. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Williams is nothing more than a pawn just like many of you. Wake up and smell the napalm! Stop being pawns and become the Kings that you can be. Stop contributing to the bullshit predicated on appearance and things you cannot control. Looks for substance, look for genuineness, look for whats real and right in front of you! In conclusion what I am telling you is real and my purpose is pure. I cannot reveal who I am or where I’m from but what I can tell you is that I am not a Latina girl from Fresno that made her way through UCLA working at Starbucks as my profile would indicate. Yet many people blindly accepted my friend request and believed I was this girl from Fresno because of a facade put on through pictures, materialistic hobbies, various comments and interests. I apologize for deceiving anyone, for it was not my intention. My intention was to educate and encourage those who are intelligent enough to grasp this elaborate rouse. You deserve the truth even though many people that I know believe you don’t. Be who you are, don’t blindly trust and accept people predicating your judgments and opinions on materialistic bullshit. Focus, be aware, and be leaders. Be doers, not spectators. Being upset after a game is like being upset if Hulk Hogan had lost to the Ultimate Warrior. You get me? Get it? Got it? Good.

Sundance 2012: Me @ The Zoo_ Review

This is one of the movies that stood out in the catalog. To me, anyway. I’m familiar with Chris Crocker—known mostly for the “Leave Britany Spears Alone!” youtube hit—and I love him, so I just HAD to see this. I missed a Sundance screening that I could have seen for free simply because it conflicted with the Me @ The Zoo_ showtime. There was absolutely no way I was gonna let myself miss this.

I haven’t seen most of Chris Crocker’s videos, but I’ve seen enough to form a positive opinion of him. I was familiar with his situation—of how he lives in a very small town in the South, where everyone hates him because he’s gay. He was bullied all through middle school, so for his own safety, he skipped high school. In the documentary, Chris said that he had to be home schooled throughout his high school years, but that this was a difficult situation because his grandma, with whom he lives, had to work. In the Q&A, Chris announced that he dropped out in 8th grade, so I assume the home schooling thing didn’t really work out. Regardless, Chris Crocker remains an intelligent, creative young man with a good heart. The documentary filmmakers portrayed him as such, using clips of Chris’ videos, youtube video responses, and footage the documentarians filmed themselves.

Documentary is a tricky, often misunderstood and criticized genre. Most people assume that a documentary is supposed to be objective, which is far from the truth. Most people also believe that a documentary should be factual. Again, not exactly. Documentaries that deviate from these normatives are considered “bad” or “biased”. Well, what you actually see in a documentary is how the director him/herself views the subject, giving any documentary an obvious slant. John Grierson, one of the first filmmakers of the genre, defined the documentary film as “a creative interpretation of reality.”* Documentaries are subject to editing, subject to the director’s bias and storytelling. Werner Herzog, known for faking stuff in his documentaries, believes that his films tell the “ecstatic truth.” What’s in the final cut don’t all have to be “factual”; some scenes and dialogues can be staged so long as the filmmaker’s deeper message is delivered.

That said, Chris Moukarbel and Valerie Veatch, directors of Me @ The Zoo_, present a favorable view of Chris Crocker. As a kid, Chris was bullied in his homophobic town, so he was forced to stay at home all day with a video camera as his only friend. Through his myspace page and youtube channel, Chris has made thousands of fans and enemies alike. His life has been threatened. Someone created a video game in which the user can physically abuse a cartoon Chris Crocker, and no doubt, thousands have played it. Chris, who has always dreamed of being a celebrity, embraced his gaining popularity and exploited it as he took on the ridiculous personas his critics have characterized him as. For example, he took the obsessed Britany Spears fan to a new level, recording a video of himself saying the now infamous statement: “Britany Spears is a natural treasure. Who cares about 9/11?” To me, this was obviously a joke—an exaggeration, one of the many 9/11 jokes created since it was no longer “too soon” to make fun of the historic event. Chris’ timing, uploading the video on the anniversary of 9/11, might be considered tasteless, but it was a joke nonetheless, and ppl like me laugh at things like that. Chris’ mom is an Iraq War vet, and he has so much love and respect for her that anyone who knows this would know Chris was just being a controversial comic.**

In the Q&A, Chris admitted that he shouldn’t have created the 9/11 video. It went viral, and he lost many fans as a result. I guess most ppl just don’t have Chris’ humor (and mine). The Chris that I saw in the Q&A corroborated the directors’ characterization. Chris IS a nice guy. Chris IS very self-aware. Chris IS very witty. Chris IS intelligent. He makes a living out of his popularity, even though he’s not too relevant anymore. But the present Chris is a lot more mature than the Chris who became an internet celebrity. He won’t ever do another offensive 9/11 video. He wants to go back to school and he wants to help LGBT youth who face the similar bullying he suffered as a kid.

I loved this movie and I gave it the highest rating in the audience ballot. HBO picked up the film and will show it in the spring. If you have HBO, make sure to watch it. 5/5 stars

*With this definition, many fictional films can be considered “documentaries.” A friend once described John Carpenter’s They Live as a “good documentary.” I agreed. :)

**I’m not saying 9/11 was connected to Saddam in anyway. But certainly, 9/11 made Bush’s Iraq War possible.

Sundance 2012: V/H/S Review

My first thought was: This movies reminds me of Trash Humpers. Yet somehow, I didn’t think to ask the directors if they were inspired by Harmony Korine’s film. Anyway, if you’ve seen Trash Humpers, then you have an idea of what this movie is like. It’s all found VHS footage. It differs from Korine’s in that it’s a horror anthology. There’s the wraparound—a group of really awful dumbfuck assholes who go around filming videos of themselves destroying shit, having sex with a woman unaware there’s a camera recording, and one really fucked up one in the beginning. I don’t wanna say much about it except that it involves a woman and her boobs exposed. The director of this bit did a really good job making you HATE the characters. The other short films are VHS tapes the dumbfucks find in a house they break into. The first one is awesome. It involves a group of friends—not unlike the guys in the wraparound—who go out drinking one night and lure a couple of women into their motel room where they plan on filming sex with a hidden camera. Well, one of the chicks is pretty weird from the get-go, but they take her along anyway cuz she keeps telling the guy w/a hidden camera that she likes him. Things do not go well in the end. The next bit is about a couple on a road trip in Arizona. It’s pretty scary until it ends in a cliche. The third bit, my least favorite, follows a traditional slasher storyline. In this one, the video camera in the story line is used to make the serial killer “scarier” or rather, more supernatural-like, but the actual effect this had on me is quite of an annoyance. I understand that the filmmaker was trying to be creative with the found footage premise, but it missed the mark for me. It took away some potential amazingness of the movie. The fourth bit is about a couple in a long distance relationship skyping. It’s filmed entirely on laptops. Makes you wonder why it’s supposedly on a VHS tape (more on this later). The last film happens after the wraparound is over, which is weird, but I guess you can leave it at poetic license. The director explained in the Q&A that they made this choice because this is the bit that has the best ending, which is true, but the wraparound narrative really suffers as a result. Anyway, this bit has the best special effects, which made it fun. It’s about a group of friends—more tolerable than the other groups of friends so far in the movie—who go to a Halloween party but find the house empty. The ending is really good, like I said.

As a whole, I think the premise of the film—found VHS footage—didn’t really work, which is why I rate it 3.5/5 stars (I go by the Netflix rating, which means I’m between “liking this” and “really liking this.”) Along with the skype bit, some of the other bits appeared to have taken place in the digital era. So why are these videos in VHS? The director speaking for the group said that it was because the world of the snuff film collectors in the wraparound prefer stuff on VHS to make them more underground and inaccessible. They could easily upload these films online, but they choose not to because they don’t want everyone to see them. Sounds like an explanation pulled out of a bullshitter’s ass. Most of the short films don’t even look like they’re being played on VHS tapes. The one about the couple on a road trip, for example—it’s way too crisp to be on a VHS tape. But this big inaccuracy aside, the anthology is pretty good. It’s worth watching. I think most horror fans will like it. Just don’t focus too much on the inaccuracies of the gimmick.