documentary of the activist

With growing mistrust and disappointment of the mainstream media, activist documentarians are picking up the slack with varying degrees of balance, bias, and entertainment value.  Here are a few in the spotlight of late, some of which I've seen (and recommend), others that I want to see.

Fahrenheit 9/11 - Michael Moore's philippic against all things Bush chases many rabbit trails (e.g., belaboring Bush family connections to Saudi Arabia), but hits the mark squarely in its unblinking examination of the human costs on both sides of the Iraq war.
 
Supersize Me - Morgan Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald's food for 30 days, becomes very ill, and teaches us all some important lessons about the politics of nutrition.

Control Room - An inside look at the al Jazeera cable news network that examines the reasons for its sharp contrasts with U.S. media coverage of the Iraq invasion and the U.S. military's treatment of the news media in general - including some especially candid conversations with U.S. military press officers.

The Corporation - With interviews of CEOs, activists, experts, and academics, this film explores the history of corporations and their ascendance as the dominant institution of our time.

Outfoxed - An unflattering investigation of FOX News and corporate media control in general. Says Eric Shawn, FOX reporter: "It's unfair, it's slanted, and it's a hit job. And I haven't even seen it yet."

i'll be yelling at you...in a loving way :)

the words of my coach.

so...about a month ago, i told you all of my interest in running in a half marathon. well, as of last saturday, judy and i are enrolled in runtex university's half marathon training program. not only will this kick me into shape, but hopefully i will now exercise with more structure and regularity.

the group works out together two days per week - 7am (early!) long runs on saturday and more intense, drill-oriented workouts on tuesdays at 6:30pm (hot!). we have survived two group workouts - not too bad. so...this past tuesday's workout was described as a "fitness assessment." i was a bit nervous about what this entailed, but judy assured me it would be no big deal. then, when our coach informed us we would be running a 2-mile time trial...ok, so really should be no big deal. but, she didn't mention that we would run a mile to a school track, do drills, then run over to another neighborhood where we would then race 2 miles. oh, and then run a mile back to runtex for stretching. it was definitely a good workout!

so...the 2-mile time trial. the point of doing this was to get an evaluation of our current fitness level. apparently, 2 miles is the optimal distance to test your fitness level. This is because your body begins to go through some significant changes when you are running on the edge of your capacity for 1.5 miles. If you run the time trial at a hard effort, then in the final half mile you will probably feel that you are very close to your limits. This feeling is your body working at it's maximum level of oxygen consumption when it begins to accumulate lactic acid. How well your body clears this by-product of the exercising muscles is a clear determination of your current fitness. All this is science speak for saying the 2 mile time trial takes you closest to your limits while still allowing you to run hard. (that's all info from the coach!)

ANYHOW...i am really excited about this group and should be in super shape for the Motive Bison Half Marathon here in Austin in November.