I am drawn to stories of injustice, especially those dealing with wrongful conviction. This story is about prosecutorial misconduct with an underlying theme of racism. The case in question here deals with the practice of one Texas District Attorney who orchestrated drug raids in poverty stricken black neighborhoods where they rounded up just about everyone in sight and then charged them with drug trafficking. They did this with little or no evidence.
I was seventeen when Patty Hearst was kidnapped. It was a sensational story that I followed like everyone else in the country. But my parents weren’t readers and neither was I at the time. So my version of the story came solely from the nightly news. This film gives a much more complete picture of what took place.
This book is a memoir written by the brother of the author of Running With Scissors, Augusten Burroughs. Unlike most people who have read Look me in the eye, I have not read Augusten’s book, though I probably will read it now. I give a lot of credit to people who see one author have a lot of success with a book and then decide that they have something to add and can do just as good a job. Frank McCourt’s brother wrote his own memoir after Angela’a Ashesbecame a best seller. I haven’t read it, but the book has done well. Some of the soldiers covered in Mark Bowden’s Blackhawk Down wrote their own book. One of the boat captains in the story A Perfect Stormhas written a couple of successful books. A lot of good books don’t make it because they can’t find an audience. So there’s nothing wrong with riding the coattails of another book.
I’ve been duped before by movie critics who apparently have never read the children’s story The Emperor’s New Clothes. So let me be the first to say it: the emperor is naked. He’s not wearing a stitch. If this movie doesn’t show an 80% drop in ticket sales by this time next week I’d be surprised. Film critics apparently can’t think for themselves. They all jump on a bandwagon and no one has the guts to jump off and say “wait a minute.” Here are just a few of the movies that I’ve been duped into seeing: Eyes Wide Shut, The Blair Witch Project, Open Water, Borat.
I’m not a fan of RAP or Hip Hop. Every now and then I’ll hear something I like. For the most part, though, I’m a smooth jazz and country fan. I’m also a fan of good stories, and this story of the short life of rapper Christopher “Biggie” Wallace is a good one.
Touching the Void tells the true story of two climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, who set out to climb one of the highest mountain peaks in Peru — the Siula Grande. The documentary is based on the book written by Joe Simpson.