They Make Good Films These Days (Just Not in Hollywood) - #23

The Act of Killing (2012)


Nominated for Best Documentary? It's sure to win, but that's it? Is that all? Why was this masterpiece not nominated for Best Picture? Why doesn't someone create a new category: Best Film of All Time?

If ever a film could literally save the world, this is it. That's not hyperbole. I mean what I say.

I really wish my best friend, the great filmmaker Venkatesh Veeraraghavan, were still alive to watch this with me.

It is the epitome of what all documentary film, all psychodrama, all humanity should aspire to be.

So Sayeth The King of Funny Faces!

Friday Night News Dump

Stillwater stabbing victim accused of keeping box of child pornography in basement

Published: Friday, June 22, 2012, 8:30 PM     Updated: Friday, June 22, 2012, 11:47 PM
By Seth Augenstein and Amy Ellis Nutt/The Star-Ledger 

STILLWATER — As murder victim Dennis Pegg was laid to rest at St. Joseph’s cemetery in Newton today, across town a defense lawyer for one of the accused filed an affidavit seeking to preserve Pegg’s belongings — including an alleged box of child pornography.

The request, submitted by attorney Daniel Perez, specifically cited a box containing "numerous Polaroid photographs of nude children and/or children involved in sexual acts."

Clark Fredericks, 46, has been charged with first-degree murder and two of his relatives claim he was molested by Pegg years ago when he was a Boy Scout and Pegg a troop leader. Robert Reynolds, 47, friend of Fredericks, has been charged with helping him kill Pegg and hiding evidence.

Perez’s request, according to the affidavit, was based on information provided to police after Pegg’s death by an unnamed individual (called "John Doe 1" in the legal notice), who says he, too, was molested by Pegg when he was a child.
More at NJ.com

This happened too.... 

LTTE: Public officials see ‘threats’ everywhere

Public officials see ‘threats’ everywhere

View full sizeAP Photo | MATT ROURKE

Warren County Sheriff David Gallant essentially says he “can’t tell” what a threat is anymore because of the rise of social media websites (“Threats to judges taken seriously in age of Facebook and Twitter, authorities say,” Feb. 24).

Oh, how easy it is for public officials to blame their own ignorance on some indescribable patina of mystification descending on us all by a strange new mysterious phenomena.

Blah, blah, blah. Bollocks, I say.

There’s no confusion about what a threat is. Look it up. This is a serious issue that needs to be clarified, quick.

Last week a man in Cincinnati was ordered by a judge to post a groveling apology to his wife on Facebook because of a previous post that said “all you need to do is say that you’re scared of your husband or domestic partner and they’ll take (your child) away.”

That’s political speech. A judge ordered a man around for it. Not an isolated incident.

Concerned citizens need to vent, but the Violence Against Women Act ensures an accused man will be punished even if the accusation turns out to be false.

In most cases, judges are immune from prosecution, even if their erroneous decisions profoundly harm families.

And if it’s in family court? The watchdog eye of the media is forbidden to ever know what happened.

This is pure insanity. If we are made to be afraid to vent by easily offended ignorant public officials, it’s time to have them removed from office.

ERIK ANDERSON

Independence Township

Published: Monday, February 27, 2012, 4:21 AM