“They lied to Congress, they perjured themselves, they concealed the fact they had a major blowout from offshore drilling.”
– Greg Palast
In his latest book, Vultures’ Picnic, investigative reporter Greg Palast jumps ass deep into the one percent’s favorite combustible lubricant. Armed with a miniature recording device, condoms, mosquito repellant, K-Y Jelly, a 3.4-ounce flask of Felipe II, and his trademark fedora hat, Palast travels from Alaska to the Amazon, and from Louisiana to Liberia to expose the dirty business of crude oil, and those who make indecent fortunes from it.
During the course of his investigations, Palast uncovers the incestuous relationships between the petroleum corporations and the governments they control, and how human and environmental carnage, corruption, coup d’états, and cover-ups are ultimately considered a cost of doing business by these toxic bedfellows.
[Caution: You may feel violated after reading this interview — but at least you’ll know a few of the names of the motherfuckers that are screwing you.]
In a wide-ranging interview, SuicideGirls’ political contributor David Seaman talks about today’s top issues with former Louisiana Governor and current GOP 2012 presidential contender Buddy Roemer, who, during his 40 year plus political career, has served both the Democratic and Republican parties.
Gov. Roemer sounds off on Barack Obama, NDAA, SOPA/PIPA, censorship, government corruption, Ron Paul, and how he is not an “isolationist” as Mr. Paul is. Plus, Roemer also shares his views on the Occupy Wall Street and Tea Party movements.
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David Seaman is an independent journalist. He has been a lively guest on CNN Headline News, FOX News, ABC News Digital, among others, and on his humble YouTube channel, DavidSeamanOnline. Some say he was recently censored by a certain large media corporation for posting a little too much truth… For more, find him on G+ and Twitter.
“After September 11th I sat in my house for a year and was scared.”
– Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks gets treated like a living comedy legend by nearly everyone in the world, deservedly so, except by studio executives looking at the bottom line. Brooks is releasing his seventh feature as director, Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World, through Warner Independent Pictures after Sony dropped it because of their fear.
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World is the hilarious story of what happens when the US Government sends comedian Albert Brooks to India and Pakistan to find out what makes the over 300 million Muslims in that region laugh. Brooks, accompanied by two state department handlers and his trusted assistant, goes on a journey that takes him from a concert stage in New Delhi, to the Taj Mahal, to a secret location in the mountains of Pakistan.
“…The Supreme Court, with whose opinions I’ve not always agreed, declared that corporations are people and that money is free speech.”
– Al Gore
Since being elected president in 2000 (look it up if you don’t remember), Al Gore has forged a career as a public speaker. The movie of his speech about the climate crisis, An Inconvenient Truth, won an Oscar for best documentary. The former vice president also serves as the chairman of Current TV, a next generation news service he cofounded. The cable network features political programming with hosts like Cenk Uygur and Jennifer Granholm. It offers an alternative to the ultra right wing Fox News, and serves as a breath of fresh air when compared to the staid but supposedly balanced CNN.
Gore presented the network’s latest programming, anticipating the 2012 election cycle, to the Television Critics Association on Jan. 13. The critics must have reminded Gore of his days facing the White House press corps. We get the scoop on Snooki, so we’re not letting any fancy guys in suits get off easy.
Perhaps Gore is still a politician at heart. He took questions from critics but you might say he was filibustering to keep the conversation revolving around his talking points. Yes, he brought up the climate crisis on his own. Check your cable listings for Current TV and below for Gore’s thoughts on news coverage, Occupy Wall Street and the upcoming election.
“My goal is to have six films that take place in wildly different areas of the country with different social strata and just come up with a little box of movies that are just a snapshot.”
– Steven Soderbergh
Early on in his career everyone knew that Steven Soderbergh was an innovative and brilliant filmmaker. But no one had any idea that he would eventually have such an effect on the business side of making films. Bubble is the first film in a series of six that will be shot on high definition video and be released on three platforms at once, theatrical, DVD and to air on HDNet.
Bubble is about three people who work at a doll factory in a small town in rural West Virginia. One is an older woman named Martha [Debbie Doebereiner] who obviously has a crush on a young factory worker named Kyle [Dustin James Ashley]. But when a young and sexy single mother named Rose [Misty Dawn Wilkins] comes to work to the factory Martha doesn’t like her…
“I wasn’t like a Yoko Ono, with a controlling scary thing going on but i was definitely consulted and involved.” – Kate Beckinsale
Big surprise! Underworld: Evolution is a good film. This is a rare case of a sequel being much better than the original. This second film takes off nearly exactly at the end of the first. Now that the death dealing vampiric Selene [Kate Beckinsale] and the hybrid werewolf/vampire Michael [Scott Speedman] have defeated the evil leader of the vampires, they must stop the founder of the vampires bloodline from releasing his twin brother, the first werewolf, from his prison.
I got a chance to talk with Kate Beckinsale in New York.
“I’ve picked up a reputation as an actor’s director, which is great.” – Wes Craven
Back in ’70s Wes Craven turned the movie world on its ear with horror films such as Last House on the Left and The Hills Have Eyes. He had even greater success in the ’80s with A Nightmare on Elm Street. But unlike many of his contemporaries who have fallen on hard times and made crappy film after crappy film, Craven has had great success in the past 10 years with the Scream franchise and his first mainstream thriller, Red Eye.
Red Eye is a very tense movie that eschews all the trappings of a traditional thriller. Lisa Reisert [Rachel McAdams] hates to fly and moments after takeoff her seatmate, Jackson Rippner [Cillian Murphy] reveals the real reason he’s on board: He is an operative in a plot to kill a rich and powerful businessman and Lisa is the key to its success.
I got a chance to talk to Craven about the extra packed DVD of Red Eye, the new remake of The Hills have Eyes and much more.
