two movies on DVD: Stranger than Fiction and An Inconvenient Truth. The first was a really engaging film that (nerd alert!) tackled dimensions of the simulacra. What is real and what is made up? Where do the real and the simulations merge? Are they still real then? Was Howard Crick real in the first place? Hehehe. Mind-melter, but very entertaining. I think the writer was the same one who did Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. So
for those of you who like stories like these, I'm sure you'll stay awake through this one. Though the ending was a bit off, I enjoyed the "chase" all throughout. A lot of moviegoers were a bit disappointed about the ending too. But I wasn't THAT bothered. Ok na siya for me. What else I liked: the cast! Maggie Gyllenhaal, Will Ferrel, Emma Thompson (yey!), Queen Latifah and Dustin Hoffman. Ang saya!
Now, An Inconvenient Truth: COMPELLING! This is another film that people MUST watch. And I mean all people. Of all races, of all classes, of all educational backgrounds. EVERYONE! The issues Al Gore presents in this documentary are going to seriously affect everyone, the same way we all contributed to the impending catastrophe. Think about it: if not
hing is done to keep the Earth's temperature from rising to 3 degrees, polar ice caps will melt, most coastal nations will be under 20 feet of water, the world map will have to be re-done and we will all have to deal with massive displacement, loss of livelihood, waste and disease. The polar ice caps and (super thin) atmosphere kasi act as mirrors that reflect the sun's rays and keep the Earth's temperature stable. Kaso because of the green house gasses, numinipis yung atmosphere, lalong umiinit, and di nakakayanan ng ice caps yung heat. (I'm not sure if I explained that properly). Those gasses come from burning fossil fuel, vehicle emissions, garbage, etc. This causes massive shifts in climate -- hence, climate change.And while some places are experiencing extreme cold, others are experiencing extreme heat also. The sun tries to cool down by evaporating water from the sea (did yo
u know that the Aral Sea in Russia is all but dried up? The Colorado River is drying up too!) it also inadvertently sucks moisture out of the land, hence drought. It just proves again how everything is connected. Al Gore really knows his material. Scientists all over the world were consulted, and actual before and after photos were shown...the effects were astounding!Think about it: it took the Earth hundreds of thousands of years to reach a certain manageable temperature, which we were experiencing in the early part to middle of the last century (1900s to 1980s). But it only took the last two decade to raise that temperature nearly 200% (I think! This is why everyone has to watch this talaga). If
we don't change our ways we'll all be frogs sitting in a flask of slow-boiling water, not realizing that we're slow-cooking in our own fire. But the good thing about this documentary is that it insists we can still do something. What we did to the Earth in the last hundred years may not be reversible, but we can achieve a stable temperature again if we all work together. He points out the last big thing the human race did to avert a catastrophe: the healing of the Ozone layer. Because nations acted to ban CFCs, the Ozone layer is actually healing! See? That's good news, right? We can still do something! So now, I feel I have a mission. I guess it's because I know that no matter how small my actions may be compared to the rest of the 6.7 billion people in the world, that's still one person doing something about the crisis. The first step is to create awareness. I know I have resources for that, it's just a matter of harnessing those resources and and making these work. So now, it begins.
