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# Newsletter - doesn't contain much about sheds
b3ta.com/newsletter/issue537/

QUESTION: What documentary films have you enjoyed recently? Last night I watched This Film Is Not Yet Rated.
(I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:17, archived)
# 1ST LOL
Cheers Rob

Last night I watched Your Mum Through The Curtains

Hard-hitting documentry about life in an old folks home
(I helped save b3ta! Richard Shitheels, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:18, archived)
# Star Wars.
Edit: Cheers for the newsletter!
(I helped save b3ta! Smallbrainfield, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:18, archived)
# Nice one Rob
I saw Bill Maher's Religulous the other day. Preaching to the converted somewhat but it's a whole lot better argued and enjoyable than Dawkins.
(I helped save b3ta! Photoshop Bitch 2014 edition, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:19, archived)
# I liked the Dawkins book
it was like a very pedantic FAQ on how to argue with someone religious, "and if they say this... say that"

Which is not what I would personally do, as I'd just avoid the subject rather than have a row, but bits of it pop into my head when I hear the arguments played out day in day out in the media, internet etc.
(I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:22, archived)
# which one of his books was that?
or all of them?
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:25, archived)
# God Delusion
the famous one that made lots of people angry. I did then go on to read a couple of the others. Greatest Show on Earth was mostly going yay evolution is fab.
(I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:27, archived)
# Dawkins can get a little tedious.
At least he's not too militant. I met a chemistry prof who thought that Dawkins was being far too lenient and would have anyone subscribing to a belief system shot.
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:27, archived)
# Sam Harris springs to mind.
And Christopher Hitchens.
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:34, archived)
# Anal Lesbians XVI
(I helped save b3ta! Je suis un vagabond is an unfunny, up your own arse middle class knob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:20, archived)
# Roman lesbians? Two serving girls, one amphora
(I helped save b3ta! drimble he'd been white, he'd been black, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:38, archived)
# Cave of Forgotten Dreams by Werner Herzog
About the oldest known pictorial art ever found
www.imdb.com/title/tt1664894/
(I helped save b3ta! hekim 66 ɐŹ‡Ęš’ ŹžÉ”nā„² uooW, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:21, archived)
# That looks really good
I used to love Herzog's stuff when I was a bit younger and more artilly inclined.
(I helped save b3ta! Photoshop Bitch 2014 edition, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:23, archived)
# It's where art began - totally mind blowing
A must see for any artist :)
(I helped save b3ta! hekim 66 ɐŹ‡Ęš’ ŹžÉ”nā„² uooW, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:26, archived)
# wow - the pictures are good
just googled it and I just assumed cave art would be, you know, primitive and crap.

But it's not. It's good.

www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&cp=13&gs_id=1&xhr=t&q=chauvet+caves&safe=off&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1676&bih=899&ix=i9&ion=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&authuser=0&ei=HUAAUOrTNuTT0QWD6fCGBw
(I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:37, archived)
# So good you'd think they must be modern
32,000 yrs old is mind blowing
(I helped save b3ta! hekim 66 ɐŹ‡Ęš’ ŹžÉ”nā„² uooW, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:44, archived)
# cheers for the mention rob, but you spelled my bloody name wrong again :(
:P
(I helped save b3ta! Ham o' Shatner -.-- --- ..- .-. / .- .-.. .-.. / --. .- -.--, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:22, archived)
# sorry shanter
(I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:25, archived)
# ANSWER: Threads.
I say 'enjoyed', but I really mean 'sat there staring into space, taking in the full horror'.
(I helped save b3ta! Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:25, archived)
# Fuck... I saw that about 4 years ago and lost an awful lot of sleep.
It is quite literally the scariest film I've ever seen in my life, because that could happen. And nearly did.
(I helped save b3ta! Bourbon Fox Bourbon is a moron, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:52, archived)
# Gasland was pretty interesting.
Piqued my interest originally when I heard of Fracking. Sadly no Battlestar Galactica involved.
(It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday!It's my b3taday! Christian's Bolt and Ski, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:26, archived)
# I've watched that
can't say I'm looking forward to being able to set fire to my water
(I helped save b3ta! rob, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:29, archived)
# cheap way of running a car, mind
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:31, archived)
# Needs more sheds
On the other hand, I've been watching a load of documentaries on history and the bible. It's about ten years old now but Finkelstein and Silberman's three-part documentary based on "The Bible Unearthed" was very good. I also saw a History Channel documentary the other day that said things like "Scholars believe these tunnels were built in 6000BC. But could they have been built ten thousand years earlier, before traditional scholars believe history was built?", and follow that up with "These tunnels could have been built in 16,000BC. Were they made by aliens fighting over Earth's resources?" That was brilliant. Unfortunately I can't remember what it was called, but that's not really important. Any History Channel documentary now will ask the same insane questions and answer them with "Sure, why not?", justifying it with some idiot who is an "expert in alien technology" or some such.

Fantastic stuff.

Edit: Part 1 of the Bible Unearthed, "The Patriachs": www.youtube.com/watch?v=t440bxhn1qA It's in three parts.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:27, archived)
# I don't tend to watch documentaries for precisely these kinds of reasons.
That and it's really difficult to check their sources.
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:37, archived)
# The History Channel ones are amazing though
It genuinely is once every few minutes "Most scholars believe [something sensible] but could it be [something batshit insane]?" They then assume the latter, and move on. By the end of it you've got some weird inverted pyramid of lunacy, each level more absurd than the latter.

I'm sure they're deliberately satirising these people rather than buying into it...

"The Bible Unearthed" is a genuine documentary, though, made by genuine archaelogists who genuinely know about archaelogy in Israel (one is professor at Tel Aviv and the other I think either in Belgium or one of the Ivy League universities) and are building genuine arguments, even if like all arguments in the ancient world they're necessarily made of assumption and uncertain conclusions. At least they're aware of it...

(Edit: Silberman is at Uni. Massachusetts Amherst. So not Ivy League. Still, knows what he's talking about.)
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:53, archived)
# I did start watching it,
but after 15 minutes it had barely said anything and I gave up.
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:05, archived)
# Hmm
Swap to the History Channel ones then. (Or read the book of the Bible Unearthed. I think you'd find a lot to argue in there -- and there is a lot to argue; they're building an argument from interpretation the same as anyone -- but it is worth it, I reckon.) They do say a lot in 15 minutes. None of it is technically accurate and it might rapidly give you apoplexy, but I find that kind of thing entertaining, myself.


Edit: Also, I've watched through Neil Oliver's History of... series recently (so far as I know he's got Ancient Britain, Celtic Britain and, I dunno, Bronze Age Britain or something), and they're also very good.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:12, archived)
# best ancient history book I read lately is this
www.amazon.com/History-Begins-Sumer-Thirty-Nine-Recorded/dp/0812212762
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:17, archived)
# Hmm could be interesting
Maybe I'll dig out a History Channel documentary on Sumerian civilisation. I'm sure that aliens and pyramids must be involved somewhere.
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:24, archived)
# oh god Zechariah Sitchin and Planet Nibiru
don't get me started.
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:26, archived)
# the documentaries i'm finding at the minute all feature erich von daeniken :(
it's like we're still in 1973. i want *fresh* crazies to entertain me by telling me how the nazca lines are an ancient airport
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:33, archived)
# well look up Sitchin then,
he's still active as far as I know.

Or go to a green festival, they're a hoot.
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:37, archived)
# haha that sounds quite entertaining
though i'm not sure i'd survive it. i'll definitely look this guy up if he's extremely irritating and fond of misrepresenting "evidence" to back up his "theories"
(I helped save b3ta! boris the spider, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:39, archived)
# oh and this guy too
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gavin_Menzies

I picked up 1421 in Blackwells once, looking for something on ancient Chinese history. Read the back, put it down again. Just nuts.
(I helped save b3ta! Moon Girl Technologies horrendous beanbag, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 17:57, archived)
# Paradise Lost 3 and We Were Here
were the last two I watched.

Both pretty interesting, though I knew the outcome of Paradise Lost 3 before watching it so it wasn't as gripping as watching the first 2 where I knew nothing of the case.
(I helped save b3ta! monkeon schmonkeon, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 16:42, archived)
# I thoroughly enjoyed watching PJ20, ta
(I helped save b3ta! mediocre ha ha ha, you're reading this, Fri 13 Jul 2012, 18:37, archived)