The Intelligence Estimate

Apparently I'm not well loved in Canada.

Does anyone remember the carefree days when I posted this video parody of a trilogy of movies that was largely ignored by mainstream film goers?



It is based on the Qaatsi Trilogy of movies by Godfrey Reggio. The movies are loosely labeled as documentaries with incredibly broad topics like War or Technology or Wasting My Time or Phillip Glass Needs A Paycheck. (We've HEARD that chord already...for like 10 minutes? What else you got? Oh, an arpeggio? Shocking! Didn't see that coming!) The movies have no conventional narrative but rely on images shown repeatedly in different speeds to make their point. And what is the point? Well, let me ask my Canadian friend Mr. Jiggjoepanto...if that is his real name...and I PRAY that it is! "The Qatsi films clearly show how North American culture destroys other cultures, and rapes the planet daily. It's well past time to take our heads out of our asses about this."

Clearly he is quite passionate about these films and the "issues " they supposedly raise. However, I was a little late in arriving at his opinion because he started out his letter by announcing that, "There are many humorous homages to Reggio/Glass on YouTube that are well done. Yours is pathetic garbage." How do you argue with that? You cannot refute such a strongly reasoned treatise and it is mere folly to do so. (Clearly those years on the debate team are now paying off huge dividends!) I bow to your superior intellect and simply read on.

"Each of us has the power right now to make positive change, yet you waste your gift making crap like this. Snap out of it."

I guess there is a compliment in there somewhere. He supposes that I have gifts to waste and am not simply a bored Netfilx subscriber with a camera desperately trying to make some artistic use of the 6 wasted hours I spent on the trilogy. That's something I suppose.

I'm not mad at him for his opinion. I agree that America is an overbearing, short-sighted, monolithic man-child of a nation, and that we are continually raping and pillaging at a rate that would do the Vikings proud. I'm not even mad at him for liking the Qaatsi Trilogy. He liked it, I didn't. There is nothing I can do to change that opinion in a movie that runs minute and a half.

No, what burns me about Mr. Pants (or Jiggy Dawg as the people who have been berated by him like to refer to him) is that he lashed out so vitriolically about a movie posted on a FREE site. Even if you hated it, at least it was FREE AND NOT SIX HOURS LONG! He was out nothing but his time...90 seconds. And apparently he was going to use that time for something much more important. So I feel like I owe it to the world to apologize to the world for tying up the valuable time of Jiggyjoe. I'm sorry. I'd hate for it to be found out that we were deprived of a cure for cancer because I had to shoot my mouth off about a pretentious piece of cinematic tripe.

Labels: Canada, Feedback, Film Making, Movies, Qaatsi Trilogy, YouTube