rob.nester

So, I don't really have cable television at the moment. Even when I did have cable, I never had the IFC Channel, so I missed what I consider to be one of the most important documentaries about American media in a number of years.

Let me start by saying that I like movies. In my younger days I worked at a video store. I loved the job; don't get me wrong, I hated it on certain levels too. By and large, I loved the exposure to movies. With the luxury of unlimited rentals I do have to say I indulged. I had seen a lot of movies however, long before working in a video store. My parents and I had ran through the majority of stock at almost all of the local independent video stores in our town by the time I was a senior in high school. With all this movie watching, I never thought about a very vital facet of movie production: the rating.

This Film Not Yet Rated, directed by Kirby Dick explores both the lack of transparency on the part of the MPAA in the assigning of movie ratings and for the lopsided nature in their views of sex, especially between heterosexual and homosexual or male versus female pleasure, and their views on violence.

I was completely unaware that the members of the ratings board for the MPAA were kept anonymous. The logic put forward for this by folks such as Jack Valenti and Joan Graves is that they must keep these decision makers free from pressure. I wonder if they think that the Supreme Court, members of Congressional Oversight Committees and other folks who have far more weighty decisions should be shrouded in anonymity? If so, it really makes me wonder about this world.

Oh, and if you should happen to rent this film, you can't really return it without watching the deleted scenes. They are great; Kevin Smith's discussion of Clerks receiving an NC-17 rating is funny. One of the most important deleted scenes however, is when Kirby Dick discovers that the MPAA has pirated his film

After talking with Joan Graves, who assures him that no one at the MPAA has a copy of the film, Mr. Dick receives a follow up phone call three days letter from Greg Goeckner, MPAA Lawyer, who states that he did in fact make a copy.

So, if I understand this correctly, the MPAA via it's lawyer, made an unauthorized copy of a copyrighted work. According to the MPAA website, and I quote "[m]anufacturing, selling or distributing motion pictures or television programs without the consent of the copyright owner is illegal".

Wonder when they'll send themselves a court order?

• I can navigate public transit. This is vital considering my van has been put out to pasture, or "it's gone to live with a nice family who has a farm" as I am fond to say. Also, I wouldn't want to have to drive with the folks up here. Is it just me or does it seem to follow that in a Train Vs. Car battle the train always wins? If so, why do Boston drivers attempt to cut off the T on a near daily basis.
• You can talk to someone on said means of public transit without coming off as creepy. Thank god, seeing as I'm too outgoing to be a wallflower. Today I met a screen writer on the way back to Clevland Circle who told me she started out writing a sad script only to discover that the characters kept cracking jokes. I thought it sounded wonderful.
• Guitar Center is now known as "Happy Funtime Land" in my book. Is it bad that I spent two hours in there yesterday?
• On any given day there is something to do here which is either: a) free, or b) very cheap. I took the C line to Copley Plaza, came up from the station and more or less walked into a concert on the square sponsored by 92.9 WBOS.
• Free newspapers (The Phoenix, The Dig) are often more interesting than the ones you buy (Boston Globe, Boston Herald)
• Baratunde Thurston is one of the more humorous writers I've read in a long while. Go read his stuff at his website or on Huffington Post
• You see signs you'd rarely, if ever, see in the South. Ones such as the one pictured here would rarely elicit more than a smattering of honks. This one, a block from Copley Plaza cause a near cacophony of horns as afternoon traffic whizzed by.