Torture Bill Rant

There is a new version with a background score pending that makes this rant work a lot better. Check back.

Maybe goes on a shade long -- but I can't deny the anger is justified, and I'm glad to hear a rational argument contained within the rage. Impressive stuff -- GL!

Side Note: Please check out my latest pod, LLOYD KAUFMAN crosses that line. Thanks!

did I just watch the old version or the new version? because the version i watched needs to be edited down, less will be more in this presentation.... dont say the same thing 2 or 3 times.... but otherwise very good. i gave it a greenlight the way it was but thinik about editing it a little more to take some stuff that is redundent out. In fact not only is it redundent buts it says the same thing more than once :-)

rocks! artfully, emotionally, and rationally.
says it about fear and anger and politic
not a single repetition from this should be cut, nor added
this is the best thing i've seen in a very long time
and i've just spent hours being very informed
watching Chomsky vids on youtube
this is compact and complete
and if you think there's more it should say,
think again
this should have been me, or you, or many
this is what peoples' media is about
thank you Plisko!
thanks for the emotional release,
but even more so for reminding me there is here a focus
in these times, and from my perspective, outrage is all day every day.
if you wonder what is the biggest outrage to patriots worldwide
it is here, at home, and scarier than terrorists ever could be.
thanks

Thanks guys for the compliments. This new version has the sound score underneath. There is another that I uploaded that has a slightly different sound mix but it is pending over the weekend. The repetitions in this piece were a deliberate experement. Kind of like a song with a chorus. I appreciate the feedback about that. It was all an attempt at a Dennis Leary, Sam Kennison, Heavy Metal, kind of rant with a performance art kind of feel. That and my head was exploding at the time. . . .

Ha! This was a great rant. I particularly enjoyed the spinning camerawork and ominous music. Next time I suggest trying a light on the camera so you don't get those dark video zones though, but maybe they add to the piece... I'm undecided on that part. The rant was on the mark if you ask me. Let me know how you liked my pods when you get time. And make sure you VOTE this November to save the Constitution from the thug-in-chief. -zen

This is a rant not a video, as a film maker this is an insult to film making. It's like throwing paint on a canvas and calling yourself an artist.

Can you say insightful? Any way of getting this on Fox News? Bravo.

Sorry about all the versions. I was trying to get it up quickly because it is an urgent current event subject and it was Friday afternoon. I've basically been trying to finish it online and I think some nice Current staff person has been putting stuff through during his or her weekend off (thanks Twilight if that's you). I think the sound mix is finally finished now. I was hoping my tweaks would overwrite each other as they waited in the queue to be posted. I guess they didn't or, should I say, their announcement didn't. The mix is the only real change at this point since the 9/29 version that added the sound track.

About the lighting zen: I thought it might be more edgy to go with a really raw, primitive, reality look, like I was pushing someone backwards by their collar as I talked. I thought the changing light might add an additional sort of "Jeckle and Hyde" kind of visual look as I went round and round. Not that all my crazy faces aren't disturbing enough. . I kind of scare me. . . lol The video egg compression really steps on that lighting effect but the goal is to eventually see it displayed in full quality.

I loved the concept. Very powerful. The soundtrack added all the umph this piece needed to get on TV. Good Luck.

You make a great point about the terrorists' best tool being fear, but the reality is that most Americans do not care whether those prisoners are tortured or not. It's not about Bush and the Congress but about Joe Q who is more than willing to support those elected officials on this. Without that support they wouldn't do this.

It's time for people everywhere to start grabbing Joe Q by the scruff of his neck and force him backwards while explaining very sternly to his lazy ass that there is no clear definition of "enemy combatant" in this bill except that they are people who are not part of an army and wish to do the country harm. The evidence of this harm can also be secret so that not even Joe's lawyers can see it.

How long before good o'le Joe Q is doing something or saying something that someone thinks is "helping the terrorists?" How long before someone shows up with secret evidence, that Joe Q can't see, that proves he is an enemy combatant?

Make no mistake. A national crisis just occured and most Americans didn't even notice it. God help us all if the supreme court doesn't stop this thing in it's tracks.

I am saying the same thing--I AM NOT AFRAID. I am not terrorized. I don't respond to pressure from terrorists like Bush or his buddy Bin Laden. They can piss up a rope as far as I am concerned. I am not afraid. I will continue to speak out loudly and openly. I will continue to call a terrorist a terrorist. When I joined the military, I swore an oath to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic. That was under the Nixon regime. And I did what I could to shed us of Nixon. That was how I fulfilled my oath. Now my oath requires that I resist George Bush and protect the constitution from him.

wow Good topic, I like the way you shot it, the music was very good. This has to air!

What an excellent video! We need more made in revolt of the new torture allowed. BRAVO patriot! BRAVO!!!

Let us see more of these video's about torture soon! Visit link

I'm sorry but i cant help but notice the video piece that looked identical to yours that was chosen immediately for air play a day ago (concerning the deaths of the amish children in PA.) was also a stark reminder of what makes it on air at current.tv as I see it.

1. The guy chosen for immediate airplay was much better looking than you. Sorry to put it so bluntly, but if he had voiced this pod you have here, I can't help but think it would have been immediately picked for airplay (BOO! Media perception!).

2.The pod that was chosen concentrated on a stereotyped liberal view of gun control which is not agreed upon by a majority of Americans. This being despite the fact that many people view the federal government as ignoring international law in addition to the U.S. Constitution on the "war on terror". The 2nd amendment was established to prevent goverment from doing such things whether you choose to think this way, or not.

3. Other than the message itself, the pod was identical to yours in term of filming, technique and message delivery. Copycat. Copycat. Copycat!

I am getting tired of 'pretty people' being the only ones capable of presenting media to a mass audience especially on Current, where that trend is supposed to be challenged by the very concept of the network. DUH!

I hope this pod makes the air (once again), for the content, and not how the reviewers perceive the messenger's appearance.

This piece is MUCH MORE RELEVANT than the same old "guns kill people, not people killing people" hyberbole that has made the democratic party the disconnected joke it is today. Listen to any speech by Al Gore on the 2nd Amendment to try and see through the (sad to put it this way) Californian bias of these pod selections, you can do better, and Current.TV will suceeed from this effort. We are not only an American audience, but worldwide. Stop thinking inside this 'small box' that exists where this network is based! We all don't have the luxury if living where you do! (or to coin my Dad 20 years later, "grow up").

-zen

Well Zen, I'll admit it is certainly discouraging to see something so similar get a fast track when this pod has to fight for relevence like the rest of them. It makes me wonder what I'm doing here.

I'll admit I'm not a pretty boy but I'm not as bad as I made myself come out. I was deliberately making things as raw and unvarished as I could to enhance the urgency and anger. If that's holding it back then someone doesn't get it.

I guess maybe I just didn't pick a relevant enough topic. . . . .

Let the community decide. Here's the link:

link

I have had a word with some people at Current and I am now satisfied that there was no conspiracy going on at their end regarding that other rant.

I have no information at all if that rant was influenced by this one or if it was an unfortunate coincidence but, at very least, I am glad that the bar has been raised and maybe future rants will become more than just a static talking head. There is a lot more potential in this medium than that.

Hi,

I’d just like to add my own comment, since we’re discussing what I did.

… and I guess this is more for Zen.

First to suggest that either of us was the first to use this camera technique is absurd. It’s been used dozens of times by dozens of people in one form or another. What are you going to do when you don’t have a second person to do the camera work?

There were some subtle differences, but I agree the basic format was similar, but to say that I copied this... didn’t happen.

Zen, I do appreciate the compliment, I’ve never been called pretty before, even metaphorically.

Regarding my content… you can choose to agree or disagree, but I don’t think it’s a joke; dead children are dead children. To attempt to trivialize the commentary because you don’t agree with it is bad form. You can say I’m an idiot for believing that if there were no guns then people wouldn’t be shot. You have every right to call me an idiot, and you should exercise that right, you won’t be the first.



Plisko…

I liked what you had to say will green light it once I finish this. Other countries have similar laws which they can call on to arrest without warrant, and hold without representation. Those countries include Canada and the U.K.

I encourage everyone who agrees with who you had to say to give it a green light. If they don’t, don’t. And while they’re at it, they can watch mine and decide what they want about what I had to say.

I just hope we can all get along, I think we’re fighting for the same thing.

Mcinnis,

I think you are right that neither of us is introducing a new technique. I think we just brought it to this medium with equal timing and it had an unfortunate appearance.

An interesting thing in all of this is that we are discussing different parts of the constitution but they are related. My part deals with people's right to fair treatment by their government and the part you are discussing is the right intended to make sure the people have the tools to take their government back if it doesn't treat them fairly.

Both of these constitutional protections result in people getting killed while they are in place and both of them have people proclaiming that we would be safer without them.

I find that ironic.

Powerful piece. Really makes me angry. Sad thing is- some people believe that those prisoners deserve to be subjected to torture without realizing what that incurs.
I'd GL a hundred times if I could.

I really loved this. Good job. We all need to do something about our country.

a_Mcinnis, first, I will give you a lot more stock than I did previously because you chose to address my comments directly. My views on gun ownership are strictly my own, I do not own a gun, but am familiar with their operation and proper use. I am a liberal/progressive politico who think guns in the hands of a responsible person are no more dangerous than an automobile. So in that regard, I am pro-2nd amendment.

The problem I'm having with some pods I see lately is this bias in my eye of the culture of beauty that surrounds media journalism, and it is for this reason my photo is shown with a bandanna over my face, and you will probably never see me in my own pods as an on-camera journalist. I'll be the first to admit, I have a face made for radio.

That being said, your pod, while very close in style and form to pliskos does stand on it's own, and perhaps I panned you harshly because of this problem I am having with watching what gets picked for TV and what does not. I'll give the example of another pod which I absolutely hated, and was pleased to see knocked out of the top 10 by my pod, and pliskos in the last 2 days. It is now a "picked for TV" pod now that it was bumped off the front page, why? I have no idea whatsoever. You'll often hear me say, "maybe I need to start profiling wanna be fashion mavens to get a piece on the air".

Now Current has a large format to fill out, but I'm frankly tired of pods on guys who airbrush record boxes, and people who spray paint clothing and call it fashion. These pods seem to make it on air constantly, while serious topics and journalism get ignored. This is a trend I'm trying to buck with my own pods. I'm not a 'hater', I'm just concerned that Current is becoming another MTV, E! television, or whatever flash in the pan network passing for infotainment these days, with the sort of pods they keep picking. Staff picks make me sick sometimes.

If Current is truely about the democratization of media, they will stop what I see as a flawed process for picking stories and take a long hard look at what it is they are picking for airplay and why they pick it.

A pretty face, a handsome man, a killer ride (car) seems to be what I'm seeing on Current more and more, and less and less of the serious stuff that sets this network apart from everything else.

So, long story short - yes, the steadicam footage both you and plisko shot, while looking pretty much the same to my eye, could be completely coincidental - and there may very well be lots of rant pods that utilize this technique. But deep down inside I can't help but think Current looked at your pod, and in addition to it's relevant and 'current' message said to themselves, "now there's a face you wouldn't mind looking at on TV".

The beauty of expression and the freedom to do so is we can agree to disagree on the criteria for picking a pod for airplay. But I'm seeing a serious problem lately with what gets on, and what fights to get to the #1 slot, sitting there for almost a week and just now gets picked for airplay (Surfers against sewage is a perfect example of this, and it finally got picked for airplay). Do we need more fashion pods? Someone at Current thinks they do.

zen

Plisko, your rant filming technique may very well have inspired a new way for people to present future rants at Current, 'the plisko rant technique' as it were. :) Kudos to you for being the first one I've seen to use this here, it added emotion and fright to the ominous tone of the message you presented, well done sir. -zen

New, shorter, version uploaded at Current's request. It should appear by Monday or sooner if some nice Current staffer sees it over the weekend.

Stay Tuned. . .

Sweet! You get my email over the weekend bro?

-zen

absolutely brilliant. thank you. posted it on my website immediately.

GL with the new version my friend. This is a great pod.

-zen

Zen- While I find myself having a hard time disagreeing with you in princible, I'd like to think (hope!) much of the pretty people bias doesn't exist here. I think the guy got lucky with choosing something still raw and dripping with topical emotion and a staffer jumped on it out of fear it would lose it's impact if not acted upon quickly. I don't see his being chosen as anything more than that personally.

That said, I have to agree it's pretty inconceivable for someone in this medium NOT to take a look around and appreciate the work of their peers, and more to the point, those you might be compared to. I know if it were me and I saw a piece that was almost- identical to mine already in a catagory I wanted to upload to, I'd wouldn't bother unless I could alter it enough not to draw THAT kind of comparison. Call that artistic pride or a competitive nature, either would be applicable and certainly enough to send me back to retooling before upload.

Leann I hope you are right, and that my preconceptions are incorrect. I am only speaking on what I have seen here at the website, and more importantly, what I have watched at the Current TV channel. Much of the content is wonderful. I love the stories that are serious and well done. Some stories have inspired me, made me cry, made me think, and opened worlds to me that I did not know existed.

And then there's the other pods, which I don't get, don't understand, and feel trivializes the more serious stuff. To be fair to Current, this is a new medium we are all trying to feed, a democratization of media journalism that simply did not exist a year ago. And while there is obviously a need for them to fill categories like Style or Fashion, it seems weird to me that a pod on a serious political issue, or religious topic is competing with these sorts of stories.

Maybe I'm too dramatic in my perception of media and the culture of beauty I feel surrounds it, but since news is now a 'product' to sell 'advertising space' I think it's very true to some degree. I wonder to myself if a Walter Cronkite would ever be an anchor at the CBS newsdesk today when you look compare his looks at age 30 to someone like Matt Lauer on FOX today?

I plan on examining this issue in a pod in the future, but there are a lot of angles to cover to keep it as middle of the road as possible and allow the viewer to decide if it's true or not. Thank you for your kind words and thoughtful commentary. I like Pliskos work, and I really hope it makes it on air - it's a good message.

-zen

Uploaded yet another version that adds an animated graphic to the ending to punctuate it and add a bit of production value. That will overwrite the one I uploaded Saturday that was never posted because of the weekend. It should hopefully appear soon.

Feedback on the new version when it arrives is appreciated.

A little goofy, but very effective. People need to think about what's happening to this country and whether our tactics differ from those of dictators we've deposed. When the President warned that Saddam Hussein was "torturing his own people," he wanted us to think that he was outraged by it, when all along he just wanted to be the one to do it.

Goofy? Wow are we watching the same pod?

OK. Finally the complete revised version is up for review.

Enjoy

Congrats on being picked for TV! This is a great pod! -zen

You made it! Congrats -- and well deserved!

Congrats!!! Well deserved. Love the shorter version.

wooooohoooooo CONGRATULATIONS!!

Congrats. Nice video