Documentary Reviews

Whenever the sewing machine acts up, there's two things you can do - fight it or leave it. I fought it a couple of times over the weekend before finally deciding to give up and try another day. Which means that there is no fun crafty post today.
When Alex and Coco go for their nightly walk, I turn on netflix and find a documentary to watch (while knitting so at least a little bit of craftiness is happening). Here are a couple of the latest ones I've watched:

• A Man Named Pearl: Incredibly inspirational! A story about a man living in a very depressed small town in South Carolina who decided to be a topiary artist. His 3 acre garden is now the main attraction in Bishopville. I loved his gentle way and how he tries to connect with kids. I really wish I could bottle his seemingly endless energy. 
• Holes in my Shoes - The Jack Beers Story: This man, who grew up in a tenement in New York, was living proof that if you work hard enough, you can do anything. That, and luck favors the prepared. He was a teenage bodybuilder who made money showing off his prowess, he started welding and become an engineer working on Rockefeller Center and the Empire State building (among other buildings), worked on the Manhattan Project where he invented a machine that cut one part of production by 80%, and became an actor later in life. Plus, he was still able to rip a phonebook in half at 94! Incredible life story!
• The Great Happiness Space: A very depressing film about women who pay men ("hosts") to "hang out" with them. This Japanese film will definitely raise your eyebrows - half way through the movie, it's revealed that the women who pay for this "service" work in the sex industry themselves. Just a horrible cycle of misery. But, I did wind up watching the whole thing...
• Ai Weiwai: Never Sorry: The Chinese artist who is working hard to make the Chinese government more transparent and who was behind the Bird Nest for the Beijing Olympics is featured in this film. As a westerner, it was difficult to watch this movie - I honestly could not believe the abuse this man puts up with at the hands of the Chinese government; however, he does go out of his way to push his government's buttons. I came away from this movie very grateful for the freedoms we have here. A must see for everyone - we do not want to go backward giving up too many of our freedoms!! For the outside of one of his exhibits, he has 5000 backpacks representing the 5000 children killed in the Sichuan earthquake - it is a very haunting image.  
• The Parking Lot Movie: A goofy movie about what happens when you have highly educated dudes working as parking attendants and the abuse they put up with from the seemingly "better" class of folks who park at the lot. If you work in the service industry, you will definitely relate to these guys. 

Be the change you want to see in the world! (or something like that) Gandhi ~ JCoy