Fighting for Bin Laden

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

This one is truly bad-ass. Since it's so new, it's kind of in fragments, all of which are interesting.

It starts of by highlighting the fact that Pakistan may in fact be harboring Al Qaeda, despite claiming that they're working with the US gov to stop terrorism. This part also shows how the US government is hiring a private Afghan army to help them do some fighting.

The next part looks at the drone war; the use of drone planes to spy on and destroy enemies from the skies. These planes, in case you're not aware, are unmanned aircraft that have the ability to destroy small targets from many miles away. Since the Obama admin., the use of these types of planes has skyrocketed.

The third part is an interview with author Steve Cole. This guy knows tons about everything to do win Osama Bin Laden. He brings up an interesting point: Osama's organization attacked the twin towers in hopes that the U.S. would pull out of Afghanistan and the Middle East. Clearly that plan failed. Maybe the US shouldn't have been there in the first place? I don't know.

The last part is the longest and most awesome. Report Najibullah Quraishi actually chills with a loyal band of fighters who are loyal to Bin Laden. He has to go on a 3 day hike, and think's he's about to die a few times. The leader is super sketchy, and the guy never really knows when he's allowed to be filming. This small group of fighters are pretty loyal to the entire Allah cause. They're even training children to fight.

9/10

One Night in Bhopal

Check it out, I think this writeup explains this doc the most effectively:

"The Bhopal disaster (also referred to as the Bhopal gas tragedy) is the world’s worst industrial catastrophe. It occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of hundreds of thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths. Others estimate that 3,000 died within weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). Indian Government controlled banks and the Indian public held 49.1 percent ownership share. In 1994, the Supreme Court of India allowed UCC to sell its 50.9 percent share. The Bhopal plant was sold to McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. UCC was purchased by Dow Chemical Company in 2001.Civil and criminal cases are pending in the United States District Court, Manhattan and the District Court of Bhopal, India, involving UCC, UCIL employees, and Warren Anderson, UCC CEO at the time of the disaster. In June 2010, seven ex-employees, including the former UCIL chairman, were convicted in Bhopal of causing death by negligence and sentenced to two years imprisonment and a fine of about $2,000 each, the maximum punishment allowed by law. An eighth former employee was also convicted but died before judgment was passed."

Total carnage.

8/10

The Vice Guide To North Korea

Watch The Vice Guide To North Korea

This is about a white guy going to North Korea to film a documentary. I was surprised at how much shit he gets to see and film. The most bomb part is in part 3, The Grand Mass Gymnastics and Artistic Performance Arirang which celebrates Kim Il Sung's birthday.

8.628/10

The Spill

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This is a sick one about BP Oil, and how many time they've fucked up... If you think Exxon is bad, think again. These guys had a list of disasters a mile long, all of which happened before the big spill. Deaths, safety violations, environmental disasters. BP had enormous growth via financed acquisition which created huge tension between operations and the shareholders, ultimately ending in disaster a few times over.

7/10

Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Lagos

Watch Louis Theroux: Law and Disorder in Lagos

On the streets of Lagos, it is not the police who wield power but gangs of fight-hardened young men known as Area Boys. Louis spends time with several outfits, joining them as they patrol their turf, clash with local rivals and keep the peace in a brutal and haphazard fashion. The main income for the Area Boys is an arbitrary and unofficial form of taxation, extracted from local businesses and commercial drivers. Louis gets to know the rich and glamorous Area Boy leader MC, a former street youth himself, who has now become a friend of the most powerful men in the city. Taken under MC’s wing, Louis experiences the top levels of the Area Boys’ world from the inside, complete with a tour of MC’s grand residence and extensive shoe collection, and ending in a chaotic mini-riot with gunshots, blood and mayhem.

On the side of the law, Louis Theroux rides with KAI, the government’s Kick Against Indiscipline paramilitary task force, as they storm different city districts. With bulldozers and arrest warrants, KAI use their own strong-arm tactics, and are in their way as feared as the Area Boys.

In Law and Disorder in Lagos, Louis Theroux wrestles with life in a world in which the forces of law and the forces of disorder are not always readily distinguishable and nothing is quite what it seems. Definitely Louis' most badass one yet, I feel like he's in danger for the vast majority of this film.

7.9/10

Bloomberg: Game Changers

A new Bloomberg original documentary series.

This is a such a recent series that not all of the episodes have aired, but each show tells the history of some of the most influential leaders of our world.

This series is both relevant and incredibly interesting.

Watch:

1 - Mark Zuckerberg

2 - Steve Jobs

3 - Jon Stewart

more to come...

War Child (The Story of Emmanuel Jal)

Watch War Child

Press Play:

Emmanuel Jal was born in Sudan during a war, grew up with war, and fought in four battles as a child soldier. The above song 'Emma' is about an aid worker that smuggled him from a village in Sudan to Nairobi, Kenya and took care of him until she died in the 90's. There he became a well known hip hop artist and escaped the slums.



The film follows Jal to Kenya and through Sudan visiting places he passed through as a child. It includes footage of Jal as a kid (who is never seen without his Asterix shirt) that was taken from an earlier film. As you follow his story, you also learn the story of Sudan as a whole.

I don't even like hip hop, but i can't ignore the power of this music:

from song above:
now i cry myself to sleep
in my dreams i often weep
my children are hungry, my back in pain
and still they come to rape again

Also, check out Emmanuel on TED.com

8.8/10

Inventions That Changed the World

Jeremy Clarkson, the Top Gear legend, hosts this BBC series about some of the most important inventions that completely reshaped our world.

The five episodes in this playlist talk about the gun, the computer, the jet engine, the telephone, and the television.

Beginning with the gun, Jeremy reveals that successful attempts to create ever more lethal weapons have not only shaped the world but led directly or indirectly to all of the following: the industrial revolution; the production line; cowboy films; street lighting; the car exhaust pipe and the development of trauma medicine.

Other inventions covered in the series include: The computer, without which we couldn’t fly planes, drive cars or even run our dishwashers;

The jet which plays a key part in our weather, mass tourism and outbreaks like SARS;

The telephone which was invented by mistake by a man trying to make a humming telegraph. The telephone has not only changed the way we do business but also led to the development of the Internet;

The television which was invented by two men with wildly different visions: John Logie Baird, a Scotsman, and a 14-year old American Mormon, Philo T Farnsworth, both died unrewarded but their invention, Jeremy reveals, helped win the Battle of Britain.

Throughout the series Jeremy gives his own passionate and witty take on some of the inventions and inventors that he believes have helped change the course of history.

Lots to watch, but really interesting to think about the effects single inventions have had on our entire planet and way of life.

8.5/10

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