There's a new NY Times documentary called Page One...I haven't seen it myself, but it might be cool.

Magnolia Pictures and Participant Media have partnered to purchase U.S. rights to Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times, a documentary that takes a behind-the-scenes look at the venerable national newspaper. Magnolia will release the film theatrically this year with a concurrent social action campaign driven by Participant.Page One had its world premiere Sunday evening at the Temple Theatre as part of the festival’s U.S. documentary competition program. The film goes inside the newsroom in 2010, capturing a tumultuous year of journalism.

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Susan Klos of Big Time Picture Company has been a great friend to C&L along with her brother John all these years we've been hosting video. Because of their help we've had one of the most successful blogs out there and now Susan has just finished a great achievement. Her new movie is premiering this weekend and it's well worth the effort she put into it. I saw her early cut of it and if you're in the area, I'd suggest you make the time to see 'Lost Angels' because Skid Row is home to many unfortunate souls.

Friday, June 25 7:45 PM
Saturday, June 26 1:45 PM

Regal Theater
downtown at LA Live
800 W. Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90015

Free screening. Tickets are first come, first served.
(Theater has 300 seats)

Directed By: Thomas Napper
Producer: Agi Orsi
Executive Producers: Gary Foster, Joe Wright, Susan Klos
Writer: Christine Triano
Narrated by: Catherine Keener

Here's the premise:

Director Thomas Napper's empathetic, but tough-minded documentary invites us into a part of Los Angeles that many choose to ignore-downtown's Skid Row. As we meet the distressed area's residents, including a former Olympic runner, a transgendered punk rocker, and an eccentric animal lover and her devoted companion, their remarkable stories paint a multifaceted portrait of life on the streets. There are undeniable problems-mental illness and addiction are common themes-but there is also hope and a surprising sense of community. Passionate, polemical, and generous in spirit, Lost Angels finds a unique vitality to life on Skid Row and a stirring humanity in those who live there.

UPDATED: Linda Milazzo writes:

I attended the screening that Friday, accompanied by Jamie Romano, my friend and Skid Row advocate, who collaborated on my original article. What Jamie and I witnessed on screen that evening was the authentic portrayal of the Skid Row community that the THE SOLOIST had dismissed. LOST ANGELS is an astonishing no-holds barred truth-fest; drenched in character, dipped in honesty, and steeped in heart. Every resident glossed over in THE SOLOIST is meticulously recaptured in LOST ANGELS through their stories and their visions of Skid Row.

Finally we meet the real people. We learn their names, their histories, their demons and their delights. Thomas Napper fills every frame with the realities of Skid Row. His lens shines the light on a people and a place too many choose to turn away from. He gives them his camera and they give him their confidence, their respect, and their truth. The result is an invitation, not an invasion, into their community of compassion, revelation and love...read on

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Kinsey film pushes the religious right's buttons!

Check out this debate between Kristi Hamrick from "Focus on the Family" and Rev. Debra Haffner from the "Religious institute on Sexual morality."

Video

Hamrick: Kinsey embraced the mind of the sex offender. His research was a fraud!

Haffner: Kristi knows most of that is not true. He broke a silence in America about sexuality!

from AmericaBlog

Religious right to seek legislation to punish Hollywood? Today's Washington Post reports on the radical right's attack on the new movie about Kinsey. What the Post fails to report is that the freaks have been trying to smear Kinsey for at least ten years. They hope that by undermining the father of the sexual revolution they can undermine sex itself. Kind of a large point to miss, but oh well.

In any case, check out this little admission from Robert Knight, the chief anti-gay bigot of the religious right. Sounds like they now want to get laws passed by Congress that somehow punishes Hollywood every time it makes a movie the religious right doesn't like.

I'm serious folks, it's time to strike back, hard, against these little Hitlers.

Robert Knight, director of the conservative Culture and Family Institute in Washington, said evangelical Christian and Roman Catholic groups also want to bring to bear the political clout they demonstrated in the presidential election.

"Just as Reagan was not content to contain communism but announced a rollback, pro-family organizations are not content to protest the latest outrage anymore, but will seek legislation and will punish sponsors of lewd entertainment," he said.

Knight acknowledged, however, that some opponents of the Kinsey film may be reluctant to try to punish its distributor, Fox Searchlight, owned by conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Votergate: The Movie

Video

Diebold machine's taken to task!

DownWithTyranny!: McCain's latest stunt backfires...badly. Some observers believe the real motive for the Psychogeezer's latest gimmick is to keep Sarah Palin from spending another moment of unscripted time in public. But count on McCain - if he shows up for the debate - to try and work his surge-centric attack on Obama's judgment into every answer, no matter what the question. Some of us remember a time when McCain always called for withdrawal of troops.

Bob Geiger:Bush asleep while Iraqi fraud funnels millions to al-Qaeda

David E's Fablog: Albert Brooks explains it all for you

The Satirical Political Report: Cheney asserts a link between Saddam and Mortgages of Mass Destruction

LAist: Michael Moore is giving away his new movie

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Minnesota Independent, Youtude, Women's Lens, Just a Moment of Miscellany,

I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities.

One of the overriding themes of last night's sneerfest was the trumping and dismissal of Barack Obama's qualifications as a community organizer for years in Chicago. I understand the need for Republicans to tout their own expertise -- though the snideness put me in mind of the movie "Heathers" personally --but this line of attack just seems to fly in the face of the larger Republican narrative that it shouldn't be the government doing everything for you. If you believe that, it would seem that community organizers would be something to laud. Especially since Sarah Palin's own foray into politics was being the President of the PTA in order to have a voice in the educational standards of her children. Or am I being just too logical for Republican minds?

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The trailer to Oliver Stone's upcoming film about President George W. Bush, draws on his "heavy partygoer" days.

CBS:

The movie appears to portray the young Mr. Bush as a beer-drinking, hard-partying screw up who looks chastened during a lecture from his father, George H.W. Bush.

"If I remember correctly, you didn't like the sporting goods job," the elder Bush says in the trailer. "Working in the investment firm wasn't for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn't exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior."

Though Stone's depiction seems sure to draw some criticism, Bush has "openly admitted to past drinking problems" and to having done "things as a youth that he was not proud of." Despite a few appearances that could plausibly suggest otherwise, Bush has long claimed to have gone "cold turkey in July 1986" and not had a drink since.

Also, you may recall a couple of weeks back when two members of the cast of Stone's movie, including Josh Brolin, the actor playing "W," were arrested following a bar fight in Shreveport, Louisiana that apparently began after "a couple of good 'ol boys" taunted Brolin and co. with a "few profanity-laced barbs about Stone, his politics and the reported anti-Bush tone" of the film.

I took the kids to see Wall-E this weekend, and it struck me as a surprisingly layered work for a G-rated kids movie, something for which Pixar should be congratulated. It's also a cautionary tale, both ecologically/environmentally and for American passive consumerism. Set 700 years in the future, Earth is uninhabitable due to the amount of garbage (stacks of garbage reach as high as the skyscrapers) and humans live on an orbiting space station, waiting for Earth to come back to life. The space station itself is a Vegas-like cruise ship rendered only slightly more extreme than in reality, and the humans recline in floating lounges with TV screens in front of them, junk food in a slurpy cup easily available. In this environment, humans have become fat, weak and dull, unable to see anything around them but the screens, and isolated from each other.

Even if you don't have young children, the message alone--done with quite of bit of subtlety--makes the movie worth seeing. Don't miss the blending of themes from Hello Dolly!, 2001, and Brazil within the soundtrack.

Informed Comment: The real question is, would John McCain be good for women?

Feministing: Weekly feminist reader

Greatscat! Priorities, priorities...

Hammer Of The Blogs: Stop Apologizing

The Satirical Political Report: The true story of the Democrats' 2008 "color wars.'

HOLY CRAP: Which Senator lives and loves with D.C. Satanists?...Trying to find something that will stick...Israelis argue over Hagee...'Personhood' begins at fertilization...Repuglican Supreme Court Justices in Wisconsin see nothing wrong with Pastor's call to kill homos...Jesus endorses Obama...Hagee gets ovation at AIPAC...Can Obama get 40% of the evangelical vote?...Is the war in Iraq a U.S. Crusade for Christ?...Al Quada mastermind questions terrorism...Bill Maher's movie on religion coming soon...Balancing faith and doubt

It’s been a while since we last heard from the American Family Association and its endless efforts to boycott companies that bother the group. As long-time readers may recall, every once in a while, Wildmon and the AFA will draw headlines for attacking a group or company for being insufficiently “pro-family,” though most of their complaints come across more as bizarre rants from extremists than anything else.

The targets from recent years include, but are by no means limited to, Wal-Mart (for promoting “Brokeback Mountain” DVDs), Target (for not having Salvation Army bell-ringers during the Christmas season), Ford Motor Company (for purchasing ads in gay-oriented publications), and the movie “Shark Tale” (which the AFA believed was intended to “brainwash children” into accepting gay rights). Last year, the AFA was particularly bold when it tried to block U.S. troops’ access to adult materials.

This week, the AFA decided McDonald’s is the new national scourge.

The “problem,” if you want to call it that, is the company’s vice president of communications, Richard Ellis, who has joined the board of directors for the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. In an “action alert” sent to supporters yesterday, the AFA’s Wildmon expressed his outrage.

According to McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner, McDonald’s will aggressively promote the homosexual agenda. In remarks on McDonald’s Web site concerning the company becoming a member of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), Skinner wrote: “Being a socially responsible organization is a fundamental part of who we are. We have an obligation to use our size and resources to make a difference in the world … and we do.”

Regardless, I hope McDonald’s has the good sense to ignore the AFA’s complaints.