Review: National Geographic: Wicked Pirate City

Wicked Pirate City tells the story of the rise and fall of Port Royal, Jamaica — home of the original Pirates of the Caribbean — which catastrophically sank in an earthquake in 1692. An expedition team of archaeologists and scientists dive to the underwater site for the first time in 20 years, to create an accurate 3-D computer model of the ruined city. To bring Port Royal to life, historical experts dig deep into the world's archives to piece together the fascinating story of Port Royal's most swashbuckling character, Sir Henry Morgan, whose life is inextricably linked to the fortunes of the town. Alongside the unfolding diving expedition, Morgan's story is retold in high-quality action drama, seen through the eyes of a fictional privateer, Thomas Blakeway.

I loved the subject for this documentary! It was very interesting, and something I didn't knew much about before I saw it. I didn't know that the British government cooperated with pirates only to harm Spain, I was honestly a bit surprised over that. Well may it have been other ethics in the 17th century, but cooperating with criminals have never hit me as something a monarch would do. So wrong could I take, because that was exactly what they did – at least for a period, before it ended eventually. But when the British governor at Jamaica banned the french government was ready to take over the lucrative business.

I must also say that I really liked the concept for this documentary, and hope they will use it for others in the future. I loved to follow the story about Blakeway, parallel with the excavation team, and I think they had done a very good job making the story about him believable. Another thing I really liked and was new for me seeing in a NGC documentary, was internal conflict in the team of archaeologists. It may have just been acting, but I did the work for me. I thought it was a very nice touch, because you feel that you're coming a lot closer on the portrayed people when its showed some real feelings.

On the negative side, I have to mention it is a bit long. One and a half-hour to be prosily. But they use their time well, and does surprisingly enough, not repeat them self annoyingly often like it's standard for NGC-programs of this length. Still, it was a little boring in the end to be honest. One and a half-hour, is simply half-hour too long for me to find it meaningful to watch.

Over all, a great documentary I recommend. I was very in doubt wether I would give it a 4 or a 5, but I think I will have to end on a very strong 4, and a highly recommendation.

65 poorly summarized TV-shows

1. In Mythbuster, two guys bust myths.
2. On TV-Shop, you can buy stuff you see on TV.
3. MacGyver never dies, and always wins.
4. In House, it's never lupus.
5. In Jersey Shore, Situation tends to make a situation.
6. In Big Brother, there isn't no big brother.
7. In Desperate Houswives, it isn't only the houswives who is desperate.
8. In Gossip Girl, also boys gossip
9. In Bones, they find corpse, solve mysteries and can't decide who to fuck.
10. In Australian Idol there is no idols
11. In Two and a half men, it's in fact only one man.
12. In CSI: Miami the riddle is solved when Horatio is squeezing his eyes together and looks mysteriouse into the camera. Prefferably with afternoun sun in his face.
13. In Dexter, a small redheaded child escapes from his mischievous older sister by killing the terrible people of Miami's society.
14. In Dancing with the stars, there are no stars. Only people with a dead career, dancing with people with no career.
    
15. In Hard talks, they talk hard.
16. In Judging Amy, theres a judge, and shes named Amy.
17. In Law and Order, DUN DUN.
18. Dr Phil isn't a doctor.
19. The Simpsons is about The Simpsons
20. In Stargate: Universe, everything is completely original.
21. In Border Control, theres little control, and much border.
22. In How I met your mother, the audience learns how...
23. In Family Guy you remember that time when
24. In Ladette to Lady, it's just sluts that become cock teasers.
25. Men vs. wild is about drinking piss.
26. In Survivors, everyone survives.
27. Dr Who is about a guy loves his sexy box
28. In Brothers in arms, no one is brothers, and they are over all pretty bad armed.
29. Ghostbusters is about four guys bust ghosts.
30. In Medium, an annoying woman wearing large has visions and is on the taxpayers payroll.
31. On O'Reilly, you can't explain that.
32. On Happy Days, a man who takes excessive pride in his appearance hangs out in the men's restroom.
33. In Firefly, there is no firefly.
34. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is about Buffy who slays preconceived notions of woman's role in male-domin-ated society.
35. Dirty Jobs is about jobs which are dirty.
36. Supernatural - two guys bust supernaturals
37. Top Model is like poop; the lightest floats to the top.
38. The Walking Dead - the dead walk
39. In Cheers there is a bar and people say cheers to each other
40. Housewives of NYC/Orange County/Miami/Atlanta/New Jersey: Women screaming and yelling and getting drunk
41. In The secret life of american teenagers, there is no secrets.
42. Friends. That's about it.
43. In Fringe, the killer is always from another dimension.
44. The Muppet Show - some guys open and close their hands.
45. Lost is about some people who got lost, but not really
46. In Brothers and sisters there is exactly that, and their families.
47. In Mr. Dressup, Mr. Dressup Dresses up.
48. In Shit my dad says, a dad says shit. And a lot of other stuff.
    
49. In Smallville a whiny teen grows up to be a whiny Man of Steel
50. In Prison break, some guys break out of a prison. Only in the first season though, after that is has fuck all to go with prison breaks.
51. In Mad men, they aren't especially mad.
52. In Glee, they don't stop believing
53. Antiques Roadshow is a show on the road about antiques.
54. Cupcake Wars, where people have wars over cupcakes
55. In Man vs Food, you watch why americans are fat
56. In Cash in the Attic, they sell trash from the attic for a selfish cause.
57. In Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, they give homes with high maintenance cost to poor people.
58. On Deadliest Catch, fishermen yell at eachother and fall overboard when ratings drop.
59. In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, a group of teenaged mutant ninja turtles go around and beat up aliens.
60. In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, it's actually not so sunny at all.
61. Magic School Bus is about a never-ending field trip on a school bus that is magical.
62. In Grounded For Life, Eddie does something shady and wears an awesome shirt.
63. In every episode of South Park, it is implied that one or more celebrities are gay. Later Kenny dies.
64. The Good Wife knows her husband has sex with other women, but won't cheat on him herself
65. In the Office, people work in an office, while there is a fly-on-the-wall film crew make a documentary for eight fucking years about a group of quirky co-workers, who encounter obstacles mostly caused by their other quirky co-workers.

Review: National Geographic: The Angel Effect

Yesterday, I saw a documentary named «The Angel Effect», produced and aired of National Geographic Channel. I did not have so high expectations to be honest, after have been disappointed about the other documentaries from NGC lately (see other reviews, and you will see what I mean), but this one turned out to be one of the best documentaries – if not the best, from NGC I've ever seen.

A survivor of 9/11, an astronaut and a hole diver - all survived dramatically different traumatic events, only to tell shockingly similar stories: each had extraordinary experience, feeling a mysterious presence that they believe guided them to safety when they needed it the most. But what were these strange presence? Can they be explained? The devout call them guardian angels or divine encounters - others encounter a kind stranger. Could they have been angels? Phantoms? Or were their minds just playing tricks on them? Dubbed the "Third Man Factor," hundreds have reported this mysterious phenomenon - and now, science is taking a closer look, zeroing in on the location and the mechanism in the brain they believe may be responsible for these visions.

The documentary takes two different approaches to the phenomenon; a scientific explanation, delivered by a scientist who has done research on this field for several years, and a orthodox priest that I got the impression didn't had studied the phenomenon closely, but gave general answers to how angels are seen in orthodox Christian faith. In other words, I think the religiose approach suffered greatly from that it partly didn't get as much time as the scientific perspective, and partly from under-qualified interview objects. That is also the only bad thing to say about this documentary.

Because even if it was a little unbalanced, it was a great watch. It goes detailed in to the phenomenon and goes to great length to understand what is happening in the brain, and why. It also made me plunder on that if it's something that we have left behind from the pre-humans through the evolution; which else abilities have the majority of us lost?

The documentary had perfect length, was entertaining and very informative. Great combination, and if it hadn't been that it was a little unbalanced as previously mentioned, I would have given it a 6 out of 6, but I'm going for a very strong 5 out of 6, and I can without doubt recommend it.

My top 3 of Eurovision Song Contest 2011

The coolest twins in Europe, formed this years contribution from Ireland. Jedward became more then just to musical brothers, it's a phenomenon. They became celebrities after comming to the semi-final in X-Factor in Ireland with the song "Ice ice baby". With their characteristic hairstyles, they are easy to recognise. It's a shame that these two energy bombs didn't do better.




Ukraines contribution for Eurovision Songcontest 2011, was without doubt the most suprising one. Unlike most of their East-European neighbour countries, they had a contribution strongly inspired by Western European music. The song was calm and beautiful, that said, the best part, was the scene show. See the video for your self, but prepare to be amazed by how talented the artist who accompanies the singer on stage, with her live production of art - produced solely with sand. Amazing!




Each year, someone makes a point of that Israel isn't counted as European country anymore. That said, they was recognised as a part of Europe in the 70s. Anyway, they have more in common with the European countries then they have with their arab neighbours. Besides, we can all imagine what would happen if they were expected to arrange a song contest with Iran or Libya for that matter...

This years contribution is a former winner of the contest; Dana International. Her catchy song "Ding dong" didn't make it to the final unfortunately, but should have in my opinion. The whole song becomes a little humorous if you have in mind that the artist is a former male, a so called "shemale".

46 poorly summarized movies

(The picture is of Halle Berry)

1. In Harry Potter a group of 3 misfits go to school for 7 years.
2. In Taken a young girl is taken.
3. In Primer two dudes travel through time, rent a storage locker and trade stocks.
4. In Fight club people go to a cub to fight and a schizo get punched.
5. In UP a group of people float away in a house.
6. In Lord of the Rings there's a lord with a ring. Some time after that, a dark wizard explodes with rage because he lost the jewellery
7. In the Hangover some 3 guys try to figure out why a naked asian man is in their trunk with a hangover and a tiger.
8. In American History X a skinhead goes to jail.
9. In Ghost Buster ghosts are busted.
10. In Hannibal Lecter an old guy has lunches.
11. In Inception a few persons are dreaming while dreaming in a dream in a dream in a dream to tell another guy he should sell his company on a plane.
12. In The Usual Suspects Kevin spacey is Kaiser Soze.
13. In The Wrestler a man pretends to get punched. At the end he does an impression of a fountain pen.
14. In V for Vendetta a shadowy freedom fighter known only as "V" uses terrorist tactics to fight against his totalitarian society. Upon rescuing a girl from the secret police, he also finds his best chance at having an ally.
15. In Schindler's List a couple of people die
16. In A Million Dollar Baby a girl get her ass kicked.
17. In Due Date Iron Man and some hairy guy ride in a car.
18. in Batman, some clown trolls a guy in a bat costume
19. In 12 Angry Men there's 12 men but only one are actually angry.
20. In Mission Impossible a man goes on an impossible mission.
21. Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas is about fear and loathing in the Nevada region.
22. In Milk, a gay guy gets political and shot
23. In Die Hard, a cop tries to reconcile with his estranged wife.
24. In The Walking Dead the director explore the relationship between people and zombies. It turns out that people and zombies don't get along very well.
    
25. Toy Story tells the story of some toys.
26. In Aliens there are some aliens.
27. In The Wizard of Oz a girl and her dog get lost and stop for directions
28. In Forrest Gump a guy sits on a bench.
29. In 6th Senses we see that the guy was a ghost the whole time.
30. in Tenacious D two fat rockers have an awesome trip and kicks the devil's ass
31. In American Pie there are no pie
32. In There Will Be Blood there was some blood.
33. In Requiem For a Dream people do drugs
34. In American Psycho a guy kills people
35. In The Dark Knight, a serious man is dressed as a bat.
36. In Roundhouse, many people are kicked.
37. In Back to the Future, some whiny kid with the shakes goes to the past, then back to the future.
38. In Swordfish, Halle Berry shows her boobs.
39. In To Kill a Mockingbird, a retard kills a guy and a black man gets framed.
    
40. In The Fast and the Furious Paul Walker has a Corona.
41. In Blade Runner, a guy has no blade, and does not run that much.
42. In Tommy Boy there's a fat guy in a little coat.
43. The Shawshank Redemption is mostly about pin-up girls.
44. In Shaun of the Dead, a man tries to sort his dead-end life out and ends up at the pub
45. The Labyrinth is about David Bowie being cool.
46. There was no elephants in Elephant.
    

Top 10 Best Sci-Fi TV-Shows

#1 The X-Files
For several seasons - over 9 years, has X-Files made people all over the world want to believe in the paranormal and in extraterrestial life.



#2 Star Trek: The Next Generation
Captain Kirk and his team lead Star Trek: The Next Generation into a number one in the Sci-Fi community. Over 17 years, have they travelled through space and sometimes time, to protect the needs of the many.


#3 Doctor Who
BBC produced Doctor Who has since 1963 fascinated and reqruited hordes of fans all over the United Kingdom. A special christmas edition was made last year, and more a probably to come from this moneymilk producing cow!


#4 The 4400
4400 missing people, some missing for decades, shows up at the same beach - at the same time. Who obducted them in the first place? What was their purpose? And why are they releasing them now? The start on an excellent show that blowed minds.


#5 Fringe
A crazy professor with a dark past, recruited on a closed top-security psychiatric institution, a shady arms dealer and a secret division of in the FBI. Spice this mix up with an ongoing war against another dimension and some high-tech terrorists, and you have Fringe. The show is in it's third season, and still running strong. Hopefully they will launch a season 4.


#6 Babylon 5
Not many sci-fi shows can show to a IMDB-score over 8. Babylon 5 is one of the few. With a score on 8,3 still 13 years after their first episode aired on TV, it says alot. It takes a great show to build a fanbase over only six years, that is strong enough to pull something like that off. Babylon 5 obviosly has it; the famous x-factor every producer is looking for.


#7 Futurama
This cartoon show has found its way to many geek hearts, with good help from the notoriously selfish and psychopatic robot Bender and the other characters working at the spaceshuttle company sometime in the future.


#8 Smallville
Ever wondered how it was for superman to grow up? Smallville has the answere. Follow superman, or Clark Kent, as he grows up with his adoptive parents. As you can imagine, nothing is regular about Clark Kent, and especially not his teenage years. Who else can tell they have had to save the world several times before they where 20? Or even after.


#9 Heroes
Take a bunch of normal people, give them super powers. See what happens. Wonder how it will go? The producers of Heroes have made a TV-show with their theory.


#10 Lost
A group of people is stranded on a island after a plan crash. Starts regulary, and through season 2 its obviouse that the producers is taking some kind of psychidellica. Becames good entertainment though.

Review: National Geographic Inside Outlaw Bikers: Hells Angels

National Geographic channel has made several of documentaries about different biker clubs. This one, is build up around an ATF-investigation that in fact flopped in court. They base the story mainly on the ATF-agent in charge of the undercover operation and an informant that was a part of the team. They have also managed to get interviews with different members of Hells Angels.

I got early an impression that the documentary was more a cover up for the ATF then a reliable source of information. Having spent millions of dollars on a undercover operation, trying to get Hells Angels members in Arizona behind bars, and then the whole thing flopped. I guess some people feel the need for finding someone to blame, and especially the ATF-agent that leaded the operation gave me a strong impression of having his own motives for taking part in this documentary.

That said, I was very impressed that they had managed to get actual members and officials to speak with the camera on. Media often tend to portray them as hardcore criminals, and maybe they are, but they came really well out of the interviews in this documentary. Though, I think National Geographic misused the whole opportunity with these interviews. Instead of focusing only on this ATF-operation, they could have had a broader perspective on the Hells Angels.

I knew a little about Hells Angels before I saw this documentary from media coverage, and I did not learn anything knew at all.

This documentary was a big disapointment. It was not especially boring to watch, and it was perfect length, but their sources was not especially convincing, and it was a great deal of undocumented claims about the group. All in all, it was a straight forward 2. Not recommended, but not horrible enough for a 1.