Aliens are learning from us,

Just watched awesome crapumentary on Shamans, consciousness and ancient cultures. It explored the interconnection between location of ancient worship with the effects on the brain and how that helped develop human consciousness, which gave us more complex temples of worship and a shift in types of worship. It travels through time and space, from the ancient caves used by the first shamans, to Mexican and Egyptian pyramids to laboratories of today where altered states of consciousness are induced and studied. What made the movie better than others in the subject is the actual scientific studies they performed in these places. They studied brain waves during recreation of ancient ceremonies and showed how ancient temples, including the pyramids were built to help induce altered states of consciousness. They didn't talk much about the use of Ethnogens which i considered a missed opportunity, but the show did a great job with just the science. Also, it ends with an interesting note, maybe the alien visitation theories have it backwards, they didn't help us build the pyramids, we were able to do that on our own. They are here to study/Learn from us?
Check it out (51min):

Is It Worth It?

I just finished watching "Manufactured Landscapes " (4 out of 5) It's a documentary, or crapumentary as my cousin says, about the work of photographer Edward Burtynsky. His photographs focus on the landscapes created by our civilisation, the three gorges dam, a strip mining operation, ship breaking region in India. It was a visually impacting film because it shows how we are changing the world. Aside... for some reason the phrase feels empty, we are always changing the world, what it should be described at is, the global impact of humans. After i finished watching the movie, my cousin challenged me on what i got out of it, which was, is it worth trying to stop the change?
I want to use change because using destruction will skew the argument. I got thinking while watching the movie, is this not what were supposed to be doing? Why is it bad the "urbanization of China" which is their goal? To have china be 70% urban, 30% agrarian. Is sucking up all the oil really a bad thing in the end? During the construction of the Three Gorges Dam, a lot of historical sites were destroyed, and neighborhoods that have existed for almost 100 years in shanghai are being destroyed and replaced by high-rises. Why not? What is wrong with continuing on our course? I read yesterday that Brazil has almost destroyed it's Atlantic rain forest. Yes, all that Bio-diversity is gone, but so what? I'm not being facetious here, it's just... the Dodo disappeared, are we worse off?
I'm honestly at a crossroad thinking about this now. I think the environmental movement has being going strong for two decades? more? I really don't think they have accomplished much.
I hope I'm just being pessimistic.

Longest Movie in the world

Sindbad and the Eye of the "Fucking" Tiger (1977 G): I swear i know i have been in movies that have felt longer but this one i will remember. I can't turn it off either, i just want to see them turn fucking Kassim back from a baboon and get it the fuck over with. Oh and the monkey is done in claymation... the whole fucking time, at no point do they use a real monkey. That takes balls. It's not a horrible movie, it's just loooooong. I just realized, it's like playing God of War with no fighting. I have the computer on, reading and now blogging and i still can't wait for the movie to finish. One thing, the chicks are hot, cute and there was a nip slip. Rated G, I love the old days.

Movie Time

Wolverine (2009): It met my lowest expectations. It earned it's PG-13 rating harder than any Disney movie could. That what this movie was, marvel combined w/ Disney. It wasn't a horrible movie, the action sequences were OK, the actors performed OK, the special effects were decent, but that is the problem. It could of had so much potential w/ what it had to start with. The problem was the fucking script. Horrible dialog and story. No Spoilers but they pretty much decided to make shit up on the go and somehow felt that the more they threw in the better it would be. Well they figured that wrong. I think that the director just didn't know what he was working with also. Not that he was a bad director, just that he misread what the character of wolverine is (rated R at least) and how to present his story. Well there's a sequel coming. Probably will see it and again hope for an improvement, but prepared for failure.

Youth Without Youth (2007): This movie was awesome. It's based on a novella by Romanian writer Mircea Eliade and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. I was watching after having some onh and it just sucked me in. Plot: Old humanities professor decides to commit suicide. On the way he gets hit by lightning (something I've always wondered about) and mutates into the man of the future (less cheesy than it sound). He gains incredible memory, de-ages to 35, and is able to absorb knowledge directly from books oh and limited telekinesis. He also stops aging and so begins to take up his life's work again. Locating and discovering the origins of language, culture and consciousness. Something i can really relate to. He experiences his adventure starting in 1940 at the beginning of the war. He gets hit on by beautiful women and ends w/ one that suffered another lightning strike and now becomes possessed by people form the past starting with a Buddhist scholar from ancient India and moving backwards. This gives him the opportunity to complete his research. He is also partially insane, talking to himself and having metaphysical discussions with his double that appears in mirrors. There is always a price for everything.

The 7th Voyage of Sindbad (1958): The effects are claymation, the main actors are white, and everything else about the movie looks cheesy but it kicks ass. Crazy action, romance, morals... everything a good movie needs. It exceeded my lowest expectations. :-)