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Optimus Prime talks about Sex & Drugs in his 4th report on SIFF
In his 4th report from THE SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL our man on the scene reviews two excellent docos. GRASS is an exceptional film, and one of Father Geek's favorites from the SXSW festival back in March. Classic Capra-like use of your opponent's own propaganda to turn the tables and win the argument. It's like watching WHY WE FIGHT (1943), or WAR COMES TO AMERICA (1945) were the Nazi's own great film footage and words are turned effectively against them... BRILLANT! We're not a family of smokers, but none-the-less this document is a powerful compelling testamony against the government's long war on this herb. GRASS (the motion picture) NEEDS to be seen by all elected officals.
With this set, I'll review two documentaries that cover two of my
favorite subjects. Sex and Drugs.
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
favorite subjects. Sex and Drugs.
Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes
A very well done documentary about the king of porn. The director of the
film Cass Paley, said after seeing Boogie Nights he was inspired to
uncover the real truth behind this fascinating person. Boogie Nights
(One of my favorite films of the 90's.) is very influence by Holmes' life.
Holmes came from an abusive family, left high school, and joined the army
at 16. He moved to Hollywood after his stint in the army. Being
uneducated, but blessed with something big, he could only turn to one
thing, porn. Porno films were in their infancy at that time. However
with the
help of Holmes they started to become mainstream.
Blessed with a 13" penis, he was destined to be a star. To get the
starring role in his first film, he only had to drop his pants for the
producer. His most
famous porno film, Johnny Wadd, was written on the back of an envelope and
made for $750. Soon the public was calling for more of these films about
the private dick, with the large dick. They started to crank them out, it
took a day to shoot, and they could have them in the theater in a week.
This whole time he was married to a nurse who he'd met soon after his move
to California. Nobody in the business knew she existed, and she
preferred it that way. Although she loved John, she didn't want to
be involved with that part of his life. She started to become more
of a mother figure, and they were no longer affectionate towards each
other.
The success started to get to his head. His manager created
elaborate stories about his personal life. John started to believe
these stories. Telling people he'd slept with 14,000 women, when it was
more like 1,000. The drugs and alcohol also crept into his
life. He latched onto a teenage girl, who moved in with him and his wife,
he'd drag her along to his drug deals, and abused her frequently. After a
successfully stealing a large amount of drugs from a mob boss. He was
forced into bringing the mob to his accomplices, he may or may not
have been involved in the Wonderland Ave murders. He was soon on the run
from the mob and the police. Once caught and declared innocent, he
went back into the porno films. But not nearly as successful as before.
Being a pioneer, he was one of the first actors to get an HIV test. It
came up positive. Doubling his drug use because of it, he was soon dead.
Although I laid out a lot of his life in this review, there are still
many facets to John's life. A lot of them being too disturbing to
go into here. This is a wonderfully made film. Without the standard use
of narration to carry you through the film. It's all interviews of the
people in John's life, his wife, manager, film directors, other porn
actors (including the great Ron Jeremy), his teenage mistress, his second
wife Misty Dawn, Larry Flynt, P.T. Anderson, and many others. He really
cut the interviews together well, telling Johns story through them. With
some very funny moments where people contradict events. Also intercut in
is clips of Johns films, using the porno films to fill in for Johns life.
There are also a few old interviews with Holmes, so we can hear it from
the man himself.
I'd never seen any of Holmes' films before. It was great to see where
P.T. was influenced and stole moments for Boogie Nights. My favorite
being John talking about how he blocked his own sex scenes, and then the
director saying that he never. Wadd is a great companion piece for Boogie
Nights, and I highly recommend it to anyone who can handle the strong
content.
Grass
Another very good documentary, following the life of marijuana in
America. Introduced to the states in the 20's by Mexican's who brought it
up. Soon it was declared unsafe, but was really a way to round
up and hassle Mexicans. A drug commissioner by the name of Anslinger was
the biggest opponent of the drug, without him who knows if it
would even be illegal today. With incredibly manipulative and
completely false propaganda he managed to make the drug illegal
throughout the country. He continued to fight it into the 70's, until his
death. Even
with Government research proving that marijuana was relatively harmless,
lies continued to be spread. These lies were broken into time pieces,
they formed the chapters of the film. #1: If you smoke it, you will kill
people. #2: You will go insane. #3: You will become a heroin addict. #4:
You will withdrawal from reality. #5: Bad things will happen, (but we
don't know what they are.) #6: You will be in the grip of Satan.
There is tons of info in the film. Covering the varying laws that went
action, the kinds of people who were smoking it, and footage of music from
the different ages. The whole time really pointing out the stupidity of
the laws. How without any proof of it ever doing any
harm to anyone, it's illegal. The incredibly harsh penalties for just
possessing the stuff. How much money has been wasted on fighting a war
that can never be won. It kept going back to a speech that the mayor of
New York had made about prohibition. He talked about why should the
Government enforce a law, that the people do not want enforced. (50
million Americans have smoked dope.)
I felt it was an excellent documentary covering all these facts. Very
slickly put together, with great graphics, and stock film footage. It was
also a
very nice touch to have Woody Harrelson narrate it. My main problem with
it, is that it didn't cover the last 20 years. It ended with the Reagan's
just saying no. I wanted to know where the laws stand
today. Who's fighting these laws? (NORML) Who's still enforcing
them? (religious groups, politicians, alcohol and cigarette manufactures)
Why the
hell is hemp illegal at all? Maybe a suggestion as to what can be done.
It's almost like the film makers were saving this all for part 2. I hope
they make a second one.
I feel that this is required viewing. They should be showing this
film to politicians. We need to overturn one of the stupidest, most
useless laws on the book. Our body is our own. The Government should not
tell use how we can abuse it. How much of the tax payers money needs to
be wasted on continued persecution and prison space, for people that
simply want to get wasted?
Optimus Prime signing off.
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So, Grass is basically a Pro Drug propaganda piece?
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It's anti-war on hemp!
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I'm looking forward to seeing this documentary. I saw some clips of it on That Movie Show on FX and it looked really funny and clever. Now I admit to being a cheba monkey, but I think I speak for alot of people that weed needs to be leaglized. Hopefully this will be a good step in the right direction showing the rest of Americans that marijuana is not the evil drug it is made out to be. It's no worse than drinking. All I want is for people to think about 1 stat. NOT 1 PERSON HAS EVER DIED OF A MARIJUANA OVERDOSE. Think about it. Also, don't try to clump other drugs in with weed. This film is only about GRASS.
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Jun 11, 2000 3:25:08 AM CDT
Telling people he'd slept with 14,000 women, when it was more li
by playhouse
What a great quote. I love how blase it was. As if 1,000 is a common number. LOL Good stuff.
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I'll put in simple terms: We have alcohol, which often makes us violent. We have pot, which often makes us lazy. Take your pick: violent or lazy.
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akbose said: Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs. . . .
Okay genius, so your solution to this problem of people having to interact with the black market in order to obtain pot and being exposed to other harmful drugs is to keep it illegal so that said black market continues to exist and people must continue to seek it out when if given the choice they'd much rather go down to the local convenient store and pick up a pack of tokes. Nancy Reagan would be proud. -
Besides that, if it were legalized it would be legal for adults, not kids. It would be the same as alcohol, so just keep the kids out of it. It's a lame cop out argument. Pot will always be illegal for kids and teenagers, just like beer.
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I'm on Eyegore's side. It's an extremely weak arguement to say that we should keep weed illegal beacuse people who use it are more likely to go on to harder drugs. It's a moot arguement because I bet close to 100% of hard drug users drank alchohol before doing the drugs. Does that mean its a gateway drug? Is there such thing as a gateway drug? Maybe we should make alchohol illegal because it leads people to harder drugs. Would you like that? Idiot. Learn something about weed, take a toke
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"Long-term studies of high school students and their patterns of drug use show that very few young people use other illegal drugs without first trying marijuana."
That statement says absolutely nothing about whether or not marijuana is a "gateway drug" "A and B" does not mean "A implies B". An equally true, and equally meaningless statement would be: "very few young people use illegal drugs without first taking a dump when they get up in the morning"
"For example, the risk of using cocaine is 104 times greater for those who have tried marijuana than for those who have never tried it."
If this risk assessment is based on your "logic" from the first statement then it is just as meaningless. Having read some studies on this subject however, I know that for all of their faults most studies at least display a basic grasp of the fundamentals of logical implication, so I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here. That said, I have yet to see a study that adequately defines, much less experimentally controls, the myriad other factors that influence drug use.
"Using marijuana puts children and teens in contact with people who are users and sellers of other drugs."
Which is exactly why it should be legalized. If it were sold along with cigarettes at the local Circle K, then users of marijuana could avoid dealing with sellers of other, more dangerous, drugs. Plus it would have the added bonus of putting them in contact with the people they _really_ need: the users and sellers of doritos and other tasty snacks.
with humpy love,
humpmonkey -
The war on drugs has been a failure of epic proportions. Give me a week to ride around and scope out most any neighborhood in the country and at the end of that time i'll give you 10 bucks and send you to the local stop and rob for a gallon of milk and i'll leave at the same time to buy a rock of crack cocaine.I'll be setting in your driveway with the rock when you get back.We spend billions of dollars to fight the stuff and its easier to obtain than a gallon of milk. In a lot of places its much easier snice many dealers trying to avoid the steady parade of people coming to their houses will deliver the stuff to you.Try to find a store that will bring you a gallon of milk.Any law that the public does not support is uninforceable.The need for altered states of consciousness is as old as mankind. Many Anthropologists believe that the reason man stopped being hunter/gatherers and started farming was to grow the gains necissary to brew alcoholic beverages like beer.As for marijuana being a gateway drug the lies that have been fed to our children about the drug do more harm than good. The first time they see someone at a party smoking joint and having a good time and nothing bad happens they think to themselves all the horror stories they have heard are bullshit and that maybe they have been lied to about other drugs as well.I still remember watching two documentaries one on prohibition the other on the war on drugs.one showwed federal agent breking into the speak easys the other them breaking into crack houses.Then they showed them tromping through the back woods of rural Kentucky burning moonshiners stills. The next one showed them tromping throughh the same kentucky hills burning marijuana fields. Both spawned violent gangs.prohibition didn't work then and it doesn't work now.
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It's bad enough there's a cottage industry of substance abuse rehab centers in this country. Example:Personally I don't want people higher than a kite while they are working on the assembly line operating heavy equipment or building the next airplane I may fly on forcing companies to require daily urine tests if marijuana would be legal. I could just imagine instead of employee's taking their 5 minute work break to smoke a cigarette it'll be a joint and when they come back into the office not only will they be flaky and useless, but stink like SHIT! Not to mention a possible risk to themself but others. I can see the insurance rate shooting right throught the roof on this one. I hate THE SMELL OF THAT DAMN CRAP! Geeez, some people just don't get the big picture. Now I'm definetly gonna KNOCK your ass out!
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"Kayo, know any companies where one can drink BOOZE on break?" >>> I have personally seen people sneak a snort of booze during their break/lunch (pour some into their soda pop can and smoke a joint in their car during their break/Lunch time. There are companies that state: You the employee can do all the boozin,pot smokin,etc. you like but you will be subjected to random spot (drug) check for substances during work time and if detected terminated immediately and rightfully so. >>>>
"Comment: So Kayo: you sincerely believe that if pot becomes legal people will start smoking it on their breaks at work?" >>>Your naive if you think people won't. AND IT'S ONE MORE THING EMPLOYERS DON'T WANT TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH IN TERMS OF A SUBSTANCE THAT CAN AND IS ABUSED BY PEOPLE IN ANY SOCIETY. Just look at Russia with one of the highest male vodka alcohol fatality rates in the world. Maybe if you stayed clear headed long enough you would be able to deal with the day to day realities of life instead of seeking an escape through booze.pot, etc. Something tells me you don't operate a business and have to pay into workmans compensation. The employers rates go up everytime an employee gets hurt on the job so by all means let them show up to work in a marijuana daze or with a alcoholic hangover. I rather they didn't show up at all or not come to work for me period since they will be of no productive use what so ever. Nobody wants a bubble brain working for them.
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Let the Manifesto begin: You all sound like a bunch of selfish kids wanting their cookies without having to sneak it out of the cookie jar. Just because YOU don't want to look over your shoulder everytime your buyin', sellin', or smokin' your stuff, doesn't mean it's the best thing for society. We all have this belief that what's good for "me" is good for everyone else. But it's not. We're all individuals, we all act different, think different, or enjoy different kinds of movies. Some diets work on some people and some don't. Some people can smoke for 80 years and not get cancer and some get it without ever taking a puff. So in a case like drugs it all comes down to what will harm society the least... and keep your selfish "I-want-to-smoke-it-without-going-to-jail" feelings out of it. Yes, some people could handle it being legalized but sometimes we all have to be treated like a classroom full of kids. Remember how when one bad kid ruined the field trip for the rest of us. That's what keeps more laws on the books and more being made everyday. The idiots who ruin it for the rest of us! I didn't need some idiotic law to tell me to wear a seatbelt! Or a law preventing me from drinking and driving. Laws are for the people who just can't figure things out on their own... The Space Monkeys of our society (to use a Fight Club reference). Thanks to the seatbelt law, there are thousands of really stupid people alive today and continuing to reproduce. :-) Heck, I wish Lawn Darts were still around.... but noooo some losers had to ruin that game for the rest of us! Well tobacco kills more people than Lawn Darts ever did, hell... 20,000 people a year are killed by drunk drivers, and of course there's handguns (Protected by an out-of-date document written over 200 years ago... when they still had muskets.) So I guess if I threw a Lawn Dart at a burglar entering my house, I would be the one going to jail? ha! What does all this mean? Forget drugs! Legalize Lawn Darts again!!!! Seriously.... We all know that if people want to smoke pot they can go and, as one poster already mentioned, "in 10 minutes" find the stuff. (I have crack dealers in front of my downtown loft and I'm sure they have a branch near you.) Just like if minors want to drink, they'll drink. The smart ones won't get caught! We keep these laws for the idiots who would abuse the system and not figure things out on their own. Just think of all the new laws they would have to create if drugs were made legal. Look at the bigger picture instead of the small little "I want it now" world you live in. Laws is not the answer... Education is the key! We have to educate for generations (not years) and then let down some of these idiot barriers (laws). Wipe out the stupid gene first so that one day we don't need any laws. We'll just trust in everyone else to do the right and logical thing. Legalizing drugs is not logical at this time... and it's your selfish "I want it while I'm still alive" attitude which is the problem. True visionaries think of the effects things will have long after their gone. Education is the only answer right now. Society, in general can't even handle one drug on the market (alcohol) I don't think giving them something to mix it with is the answer. If you want to smoke it... go do it. It's not against the law until you get caught. You're all just a bunch of whiners. I don't let any government law keep me from doing something I want to do. I've got the parking tickets to prove it! :-) When I'm not writing manifesto's there's lots of things I'm doing that I don't think would better society if they did. But I don't run around whining so that I can one day do it in the streets! It takes an idiot to beleive everyone wants to do what they do. Also, there's 270 million people in this country the last time I checked. Minus the kids, "50 million who have" is still a long way from a majority. Even so, just because "everyone's doing it" does not make it right. History has shown us that. Prohibiton didn't work because people had freedom and it was taken away. If we never had all these laws to begin with than we might be a more evolved society (we'll never know). But because we are a society based on laws and we have a butt load of idiots running around, then we have to slowly educate ourselves off of them. Just like weaning you off your mother's teat. Just get over it and let's, for once, evolve past violence... racism... lawn darts... and drugs. They are an avoidance. They are an end. They are not a solution. I'll end with two quotes, one from me and one from an unknown: "It's easier to do the wrong thing than to do what's right." and "Evil thrives when good people do nothing." And if you have a small enough mind to instantly think I'm religious... THINK AGAIN!!! Now what's the latest on LOTR???
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Simply put no one should ever go to work stoned.Not only is it dangerous for you and your coworkers.Its a waste of dope.But seriously the urinalysis tests given by companys today do not tell if a person is under the influence of drugs at the time the test is given.THC the active ingredient in marijuana takes from 24 to 48 hours for the body to process.No one is still stoned a day after smoking a joint.Companies have a right to know whether or not their employees are under the influence of drugs on company time.If they can come up with a device that will tell them that I think they need to install one at the front door of every buisiness in the country and test all employees every time they enter the building.But what I did at a party last Saturday night is no ones buisiness but mine.
As for drug users being unproductive our Drug Czar Barry McAffrey wrote an article and had it printed in many of the nations newspapers.In it he stated that contrary to popular belief most of the drug users in this country don't live in the slums.Most of the people who use drugs live in nice houses,drive nice cars and have good jobs.He was giving out this information as justification for more manditory drug testing.As usual old "bust em & put em in jail" Barry missed the point of his own article.If most of the people who use drugs live in nice houses and have good jobs and basically dont allow them to ruin their lives are drugs really as bad as the government would like us to believe?Isn't it more likely that there is a small minority of people out there that shouldn't do anything that alters their view of reality.That as soon as these people find something that makes their pathetic lives seem not so terrible they latch onto it with the death grip of a drowning man to the exclusion of all else.For these people anything that can be used as an escape can become an addiction.Whether it be drugs,alcohol,gambling,role playing games,listening to heavy metal music,surfing the web,worshipping at your local church ,or vegging out in front of the TV.Isn't it just possible that those of us that like to lie in bed late at night,smoke a joint and watch an old Marx Brothers movie aren't going to wind up lying in the gutter with needle tracks in our arms next week.Just food for thought. -
...but are you a "true visionary?" Anyhow you point out that "Prohibiton didn't work because people had freedom and it was taken away." Kind of like mary jane, which was not made illegal by the feds until i believe 1937 (or thereabouts, reference materials are not at hand). Also you use fatality as a criterion for what should be banned. How many deaths has weed been the primary cause of, in the same way that cigarettes kill through cancer or booze through liver disease. I think you'll find the answer is zero; and I don't imagine smoked weed to be the primary carcinogen in too many cases of lung cancer.
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Your argument is non-existent jtronx. I think you read what you wanted to read. I'm sorry my manifesto gave you the impression that I was using death as a reason to keep "drugs" illegal. I was on the Lawn Darts tangent at that point and was not referring to drugs at that time. I was merely pointing out that the Government/FDA has a quick trigger finger on laws when deaths are involved, yet certain products seem to have Diplomatic Immunity. That's why I didn't specifically refer to(or should I say "reefer" to) death and drugs. Something can still be wrong even if it doesn't kill you. Heck, I'm sure if scientists looked hard enough they'd find health benefits to smoking crack. But I follow logic more than I follow death rates or health statistics (corporate money is behind most health studies). Some things aren't logical. As I previously mentioned... Racism, violence, the MI2 plot, and drugs (in any form - alcohol, cigarettes, even No-Doze) are not logical. They are crutches and do not help us evolve. Anyway, if 1937 is the date of drug prohibition then you've further proven my point... Because I'm pretty sure VERY FEW OF US REMEMBER THE 1930's and when it was legal. Therefore, generations of people don't know that freedom. So, the only safe way to get back there is "Education". Mmmmmkay... If you don't educate and change a particular pattern of thinking then all hell will break loose when you lower the idiot-barriers. You'll have people who can't handle or will take advantage of the freedoms they've just been given and run wild. It might not be you... but maybe your neighbor. And they'll again, ruin it for the rest of us. So be patient and let's educate. It may take a while... evolution is a slow process, but think of the laws we could get rid of! And you're right jtronx... I am angry. It's like when someone's kicking your seat in a theater. The longer you wait, the more aggressive you'll be when you finally say something. Well, I've never "Talked Back" so the aggression shows. I apologize for the angry tone. I tried to add humor, to lighten the mood, but I guess it was lost. Well "I'm much better now". My goal is to now get my messages under 10,000 words. Thank you Talk Back! And THANK YOU Al Gore for inventing the Internet. ;-)
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It is a shame that this film left out the last 20 years. But I guess with the escalation of the war on drugs under Bush and Clinton, it would take an entire movie to accurately chronicle the government's recent stupidity.
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