Gasland

[PANZERCATWAGON]

has anyone else seen this movie? hadnt heard about these problems until yesterday im ashamed to say. not that id expect you to know about the problems in my town either but still im always quite shocked when i watch or read about things like this

i never really know how to interpret these movies. part of me believes its easy money and renown for the film maker. then other parts of me cant ignore the evidence they put forward. sure you can skew it but at some point surely there must be some substance of truth at least. and thats really i suppose how it shocks me the most

i do admire the guy though. cant really help it. someone that can stare at a cheque for a hundred grand and put it down is either really stupid or really honorable. though i do find it hard to tell the difference sometimes

[{LAW} Gamer_2k4]

I haven't seen it, but rottentomatoes likes it, so it must have SOME merit:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gasland/

[Horve]

I haven't seen it but I will post here anyway

[FliesLikeABrick]

I bought it but haven't watched it yet

[PANZERCATWAGON]

well you lot are certainly completely useless



at any rate i thought it was a good movie i would suggest you give it a shot

[Boblekonvolutt]

It suffers from the same problems as so many of these damn soul searching documentaries. The fact that dirty energy is dirty is not a life altering realization, and the best way to bring this message to the public is probably not via in depth analysis of the tragic fates of people and playing on the emotions of the viewer.

Given that it's a full length movie, the fact that so little was actually presented felt unjustified. Close shots of streams with the generic lead man telling you "What about the streams?! Won't somebody please think of the streams!?" is just a waste of time in my opinion. Maybe even insulting, as if the viewer didn't know that screwing with nature without knowing what you're doing might not be the greatest idea.

In short: Interesting question, but the movie would be better if it was 30 minutes long and without the stylized crap.

[FliesLikeABrick]

I just watched it finally, and I can say that Boblekonovolutt has his head firmly up his ass.

The point isn't about the details of the stuff you tried to make it out to be.

One of the most important points is that the regulators turned a blind eye to fracing, starting with the legislation in 2005 and the loophole explicitly for fracing being exempt from all of the transparency rules that other industries need to deal with.

The biggest problem, and it scares the crap out of me, is that these companies are getting away with putting the onus of proof on individuals who cannot protect themselves or prove that they're being harmed.  The fact is that these companies are injecting horrible, deadly, toxic chemicals into the ground.  They are asked "how do you know this is safe?" and then they turn it around to say "well how do you know it isn't?"

They shouldn't be allowed to pull that shit.  When a company is proposing to do anything like this, they should absolutely be required to disclose what they are doing and prove it is safe.

I'm all for government non-involvement, but in this case the government (state, and federal) are going out of their way to let companies get away with things that potentially endanger the well-being of thousands of locals, with fallout that expands to millions of people as contaminated water and food are distributed.

The fact is that this kind of behavior and turning-a-blind-eye will inevitably lead to things happening which are horrible for the environment and people.

Boble, you really must not have listened to the movie at all if you really summarize it as voiceovers of "what abou the streams..."

[Blacksheepboy]

I dunno I hate documentaries 'cause how do we know? We have to take the documentaries word for it, hence why I, as a rule, take documentaries with a grain of salt.

[Boblekonvolutt]

I just watched it finally, and I can say that Boblekonovolutt has his head firmly up his ass.

I've read this post - finally, and I can say that FliesLikeABrick has his head firmly up his ass.

I don't think you quite understood the point of my post. Saying that dirty energy is dirty doesn't mean it's okay.I don't agree to the way of filming that follows one person around as he discovers things. The whole movie feels like a sales pitch, because it's heavily edited and done with an over the top deep, dramatic voice. Unlike his real voice. After seeing a dozen of these soul searching documentaries I'm starting to get allergic to it, and it simply feels very cheap.

I did like the comedy parts, though. Like early on, "But a man came to the door. He spoke to me hastily, and he was nervous. He handed me a jar. I said, "whats this?" He said "it's bad stuff". I said "what do you mean, bad stuff"? He said "that's about as bad stuff as you can get."

I might not be able to relate, though. It wasn't news to me, so I could watch it and judge fairly what parts weren't needed at all. And I don't see any way at all to defend that it was over 100 minutes long. It did not need a 10 minute chase for flammable water, it didn't need 30 people talking about their health issues from it, etc. Arguing that the documentary was poorly made is hardly ignoring the problems with natural gas.

[Mangled*]

Derp.

Anyway, what are any of you going to do about it then? Nothing. You were born into a society where you're not supposed to care enough about any problem unless it directly affects you. A society where you're content with being ripped off on an hourly basis, content with being an economic slave whilst being told you're free and the world is at your feet. A society where people who don't conform to believing that everything is how it should be are automatically deemed lunatics or liars.

[FliesLikeABrick]

Boble, so because of the style of the movie, you're disregarding any valid points he may make?


Mangled, I fully intend to write to senators and representatives in the states impacted by this lack of oversight and voice my opinion on the injustice being done to the people who live in these areas and how the intentional blind eye the Bush Administration turned to fracing is about as corrupt as a modern government can be - and how this is a clear sign that the officials who allowed this to happen are fully intend on protecting the large companies and not the people of the United States.

[Boblekonvolutt]

Arguing that the documentary was poorly made is hardly ignoring the problems with natural gas.

Boble, so because of the style of the movie, you're disregarding any valid points he may make?

Flab, trolling? Surely you must just be unable to read.

[FliesLikeABrick]

Arguing that the documentary was poorly made is hardly ignoring the problems with natural gas.

Boble, so because of the style of the movie, you're disregarding any valid points he may make?

Flab, trolling? Surely you must just be unable to read.

Admittedly I didn't get enough sleep last night and spent too little time reading your posts


He was indeed rather dramatic in his "I'm an independent filmaker" kinda way, but I generally try to not let that take away from what they're saying if it makes logical sense and doesn't seem like they're spinning crap in a partial truth kinda way. (I wish I could remember the name of a few documentaries I've seen or tried to watch lately which were so clearly spinning things in a not-quite-true way just to push an agenda)