still not watching that much netflix in may. i really need to get a tv at my place!

"wonderland" - to be honest, i don't know how the hell this ended up in my queue. it is the tale of something that went down in LA years ago that i have never heard of and i've pretty much lived here my whole life. i guess i never heard of it because we have so much crap happen constantly that the news moves on quickly. i know there have been times i have seen traces of things in my area and never saw it in the news. or saw a news item and wanted followup but never heard any. well this film is the tale of something that went down and it's a little crazy in itself. the incident seems ripe for film but yet i can't say if the film was done well. i was enjoying its moments but i didn't enjoy every movement. there's something awkward about the whole affair and i can't put my finger on it.

"the boys of baraka" - a documentary of a program that existed in baltimore for the inner city at risk boys there. they send them to school during their junior high period in africa so that they stand a better chance in high school, to actually get an education, not drop out, maybe even not get involved in crime. it's an interesting approach. what makes the documentary is the timing of it. how were the filmmakers to know they were filming during a critical year in the program. after 1 year of filming various youth apply for the program and live in baraka, kenya. when they return home for summer break, the program is shut down due to the international situation of war and politics. this interested me because i can relate in some way. i wasn't an at risk youth in their situation, but that's the age when i did leave america to live abroad and returned a changed person for high school. of course it wasn't instant epiphany, goodness, and love. i was just becoming a teenager and full of angst, rage, hate, and all that goes on. like i wanted to fucking listen to anyone! i knew what the hell i was doing and what i wanted, or maybe not, but not to be like them, to do my thing, and hell if i die. what the fuck do adults know? alright, does that put you back into that mindset in life? well watching the documentary i became curious of the program and i hope that it didn't show the absolutely best parts of the program but rather the average or worst parts of the program. because i felt disappointed with the program. let's face it, these are black kids at risk and the program is probably run by white people. what did the white people think would help? send them back to africa? are you fucking kidding me? great if they get international experience. maybe this is the only chance in their lives to see another country. but i didn't see them getting the international experience. and all the teachers in baraka seemed to be white. seeing a local person was scarce, just off in the distance or carrying the boys' packs. perhaps a janitor or a brief welcome to kenya cultural lesson. then to send the kids home for 2 months summer break is really hard, perhaps even stupid. it takes awhile to break down a young kid like that. to get them out of the mentality of their environment, to make them care for the long haul. and then you go and put them back? they just went through culture shock and now you are doing it again. i didn't return home to america after my first year abroad. sure i hated living in another country. i didn't apply for it! but damn if i'm not grateful now. and damn it would've also failed if i got to go home every summer. but still, good film, makes you think about social conditions and poverty in this country and what we can do for whole neighborhoods in crisis. because it really isn't going to solve anything to help a few people in a whole neighborhood (or even larger area) where there are no opportunities or hope. they're just gonna get knocked down or sucked back in. if things go very well, they will succeed and get out of there, and then return home the prodigal son with resources to help the community. but by then they may be too out of touch. *sigh* it's all so hard to say, to solve such things.. but one must do something, one must be aware. like the saying goes, "think global, act local".

"the yes men" - pretty damn funny. you just have to watch it. i never of at least one of the guys before from being a film major, i just didn't know their name and realize what else they have done. i'm talking about the great switch of barbie/GI joe voiceboxes in toys. fucking brilliant! well take the genius behind that kind of thinking but apply it to people, not toys. make a parody website and when people treat you like you are the real deal, then keep going with it, but do it in person, not just online. see... something definitely worth watching.

"marlene dietrich: her own song" - i loved this because it was dietrich and her daughter wasn't full of hate that she's normally filled with. sure i knew most of what is mentioned and had seen most of the photos and footage. however, there were things i didn't know and things i had not seen before. but why no talk of dietrich's women and only focusing on a few men? perhaps because this was made by family. perhaps they didn't want to stir up certain things. perhaps others would get into a hissy fit if it happened.

"hype" - documentary on the side of the seattle scene most probably didn't know unless you were a part of it. if you only looked at mass media reporting on grunge then you need to see this. well maybe don't need to, but if you're a music fan then it's a good piece. i was not a grunge person, in fact i think it killed alternative music and good stuff has been far and few since then. but this shows that it was a scene just like any other city. and there's lots of bands doing their thing. there's good stuff out there if you look for it. and it's nice to show a community, even if it's scattered and people may not feel quite part of the community.. or even if you're bitter that your band wasn't one of the few plucked out and blown up as grunge.. or if you were one of those and you burned out.