Archive for the ‘Michael Moore’ tag

Everyone’s favorite Hussein

So… anyone on Facebook recently might have noticed something different about my name. I’ve decided to take a different middle name for the time being. I know what you’re thinking… “but David, you can’t do that!?” Well, I just did.
It’s amazing the sort of stigma a name can have, I got three or four different messages from friends literally within twenty minutes of changing my name. While that’s quite nerdy, it’s also alarming to think of how people’s thoughts can be manipulated by simply using the “H word”. A friend asked if I had become Muslim, another if I hated America and my roommate said that I should probably move out if I was going to blow anything up.
All the comments were jokes, but there is something wrong with our wold view if one of the most common names on the planet gives us nothing but terrible thoughts.
So until further notice, on the internet, I’ll be DHH. If you do a simple Facebook search you’ll see I’m not the only one. There is a certain person in the spotlight who was blessed with this name and if I can do anything to help remove the stigma associated with it I’m in.

A friend and I finished work on a local commercial last week, it’s for a sister station of The EDGE, and turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. If you don’t know who MC Magic is then you’re probably not the target demo of this spot. It’s slated to air on MTV Tr3s… which I only recently found out existed.

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There is an interesting story about how I came to work on this spot, but that is for another day. Some people who read this may not think it’s an interesting story as much as they think it’s an aggravating one :|

I saw a few movies since I posted last. The first is The Bicycle Thief, a classic Italian film that focuses on how a small action can impact someone in ways one can only imagine. It’s age shows but there is a very powerful plot in there if you’re ok with classic cinema. Another is Hearts and Minds, it’s a documentary on Vietnam… sort of a 70s version of Fahrenheit 911, only much better. It does have a bias but I didn’t find it heavy handed, a lot of the material in there applies to today just as it did then. It does a good job of reminding people how the Vietnam War started and that colonialism is just as terrible as it ever was. The last is Rattle and Hum, an amazing rockumentary (yes, it’s a word) about U2′s Joshua Tree tour. I loved Coldplay: Live 2003 and it definitely owes a lot to this film. It follows U2 around the US and has stunning performances from two different concerts. Both, interestingly enough, are in places I’ve been: Denver’s old McNichols Area and Tempe’s Sun Devil Stadium. OK, maybe that’s not interesting but I thought it was cool.
I highly recommend all three films, the first two are in the Criterion Collection and the third runs on MHD quite a bit.

I’m out for now, take it easy
David Hussein Hildreth

P.S. Tomorrow I will have lived in Arizona 2 years.

I’m about ready to leave the country

I got ahold of a screener copy of Michael Moore’s latest film SiCKO today. It’s is almost undeniably his best. Most who have heard something about it might say that it is about America’s 50 million uninsured citizens. It isn’t, no it’s much worse than that. The movie is in fact the story of the other 250 million people who have health insurance. From the nightmares of denied policies to 9/11 rescue workers and the free healthcare systems of the rest of the 1st world. Sicko paints a bleak and disheartening picture of the American healthcare system, I highly recommend seeing it.
Although Michael Moore’s style of documentary is becoming more and more popular, i’m not so sure that is a good thing. Moore wants people to trust him, and when they see his movies they expect the truth and a certain amount of fairness. You hear all the time about how conservative fox news is or how liberal the washington post is but in the end most journalists at least try to stick to the basic rules of journalism. Give both sides of the argument and don’t give an opinion unless the page heading reads op-ed. Michael Moore doesn’t even have to pretend to stick to any rules.
I like most of his movies but i definitely take them with a grain of salt. For example in the beginning of the movie Moore makes a big point of a ranking of the world’s healthcare systems. America is like 37th or something awful. Later in the movie he takes some people to Cuba where they receive free healthcare, no questions asked. Moore shows cuba to be these people’s savior, yet on that same list that he touted earlier Cuba is listed behind the US in quality of care.

My little foray into vinyl is going well. I now own half a dozen albums and am having a lot of fun searching record stores for more. The simple act of shopping for records is a lot more enjoyable that i thought. There are a few good stores around Tempe but there are many more awful ones. My current little collection includes albums by the beatles, led zeppelin, radiohead, u2, elton john, and dolorean. Pretty eclectic selections but i’ll fill in the holes along the way. The A side of the magical mystery tour is lame, but other then that i like em all, it really is amazing how different they sound on vinyl.

In other news i get to head home here in two weeks, I am so excited. I am weary of the plane ride, this little fear of flying is really starting to becoming a problem. I’ve never had a bad experience on a plane and use to like flying. Who knows what is wrong with me.

My first entry to the Heinz contest has been posted. Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/contests_layout?name=TopThisTVChallenge&v=nbmPPJcg8vE&goto=588

I’d write more but it took me a week to just write that much.
David Hildreth