June 29, 2004
London

I know that I haven't been posting for a while. That is all about to change since I will be going to London for the month of July. Starting next Friday, you will see quite a bit of posting about my experiences in London.

I will be taking two classes with CCSA in London. One class is on photography and the other is on international e-commerce. So, there will be quite a bit of pictures and talk about privacy issues in the month ahead. If you are interested in a postcard from London or Scotland, drop me an email and I'll send you one. I'll be there from July 8th to August 9th.

Posted by shawn at 11:43 PM
Fahrenheit 9/11 - Initial Thoughts...

I saw Fahrenheit 9/11 at Newport on the Levee via a private screening setup by Cincinnati for John Kerry. I came out of the film with a mixed feelings. There were some excellent nuggets of gold in the film, but they were surrounded with quite a bit of sensational crap.

Some of the good stuff... (in no particular order)

  • The attempt by the media and government to instill fear via vague "terror" warnings and color-coded threat advisories.
  • The more obvious connections between the Bush family and Saudis.
  • That real men and women are dying in Iraq.
  • Congress isn't sending their own children to war. We only have one congressman who has a son in the military.
  • Our military is built upon the backs of minorities and the poor.

    Some not so good...

  • Presenting that war would be different if Bush was not the president. War is an ugly thing and people die not matter who makes the decisions. If Gore would have become president and sent troops somewhere, there would be civilian death too.
  • Use of the make-up scenes to make Bush and his gang stupid.
  • What the hell where the old ladies in the film for? They weren't experts and had no freaking idea what they were talking about.
  • Acting like the Iraq people are not better off now. I didn't agree with the war, but at least now they have the freedom to protest against the government. If they say bad things about the government, the people aren't going to disappear like the did under Sadam.

    Overall, I feel like Fahrenheit 9/11 is a film that most people should go see. BUT, please look the film objectively. Some of the content is good, but some of the content is just a load of crap. Research what you take back from the film before you believe it as the gospel.

    Posted by shawn at 11:24 PM