Documentaries I've watched on SPRWORD

Simply Raw: Reversing Diabetes in 30 Days - This film followed a group of Type 2 and Type 1 Diabetics through a 30 Day Raw Vegan Diet at a spa. One by one we watch how this diet transforms their health and life.


Thin - This film follows a group of young women who have eating disorders. It is filmed at Renfrew Center in Florida. A deep dark look into the mind of an anorexic and bulimic. This film takes us from their entry into the facility until they are sent home. We get to see what happens behind these closed doors and their closed doors.


God on the Brain - This was about how people with frontal lobe disorders seem to be more prone to believing they are having religious experiences. They spoke of how some saints of the past may have suffered from this as well as people of today.


Secrets of the Occult - This film was about how the Occult was once popular and then lost its charm during the witch hunts but found its resurgence again in the 1960s. It goes into the lives of Aleister Crowley and Madame Blavatsky.

Cool Documentary Link

I found a cool site that has a bunch of documentaries to watch free on-line.  Some of these are not available to watch on Amazon or Netflix.  Check it out.
http://www.sprword.com/index.html


Today was W1D2 of my Couch to 5K challenge (C25K).  The running part isn't as awful as I thought it would be, however I am going slow.  Tomorrow is a rest day.  I also added some weights. It is tough to get to the machines, but I managed to get on.

I've only finished one book so far this month.  And it was a book I started last year.  But I'm reading!

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead

Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead is a documentary film by Joe Cross.  Joe was an overweight 40+ year old man with a rare auto-immune disease.  He decided to go on a juice fast for 60 days.  Now, this is not unheard of, but the way he did it was unique.  Joe is from Australia.  He spent the first half of his trip (30 days) in New York City, a place where there is a fast food place (or two or ten) on every street corner. He spent the 2nd half of his trip driving cross country.  He packed his blender in his trunk and bought his veggies and fruit on the go.

Along the way Joe meets Phil in Arizona.  Phil is also overweight and surprisingly suffers from the same rare auto-immune disease that Joe suffers from.  Sometimes fortune is set up.  Joe offers to help Joe and gives him his number in Australia.

Phil eventually can't take it anymore and calls Joe.  Joe comes back to the states and helps his new friend jump start his program.

The first half of the documentary deals with Joe and his journey, the second half deals with Phil and his journey.  This is a very inspiring story.  Even if you're not in to juicing, fasting or dieting it will give you cause to smile.

Led Zeppelin DVDs

July was Led Zeppelin month. Some of you may know that I am a Led Zeppelin fan, and a very big Jimmy Page fan. I can't get enough of that man, I've been in love with him for 39 years, since he ws 28 years old (I was 4). Handsome never dies!

For those who have been under a rock for the past 40 years, Jimmy is the one in the middle, the raven haired beauty.

Led Zeppelin - The Song Remains the Same

I actually haven't watched this one in about 20 years, but it is one of my favs. This is the concert filmed July 27-29 1973 at New York City's Madison Square Garden. Intertwined with this concert footage, is the fantasy scenes for each member as well as some candid footage. We also get to see a glimpse of young Scarlet Page, Jimmy's first child.

The Story of the Yardbirds

This DVD goes through the creation of The Yardbirds to the creation of 'The New Yardbirds' aka Led Zeppelin. We get to see some vintage footage of the group featuring Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page (not all in at the same time). To see a young Jimmy Page always makes me smile. I enjoyed hearing the bluesy sounds of the band before they 'sold out'.

Led Zeppelin - Videobiography

A 2-disc DVD showing concert footage from various concerts. There are some cool clips that I've never seen. Some interview clips are weaved in as well. Nothing really new here for fans. A chronological trek through the life of Led Zeppelin. Of course, I watched the whole thing, it is hard not to.

A to Zeppelin - The Story of Led Zeppelin

A pretty shotty put together documentary, however, any chance I get to see the band perform is worth my time. Not too much in the way of interviews with the band, which I enjoy I think more than the live concert footage.

Led Zeppelin - DVD

Another 'official' DVD. This one was produced by Jimmy Page, and is a 2 disc DVD set. It contains live concert footage of the band spanning the years 1969 to 1979. The recording of the DVD includes performances from the Royal Albert Hall (1970), Madison Square Garden (1973), Earls Court (1975) and Knebworth (1979), plus other footage. Bootleg footage from some of the concerts is interspersed with the professionally shot material. This DVD is purely concert footage, no interviews. Lots of long sets, and a great solo by Jimmy Page (White Summer). Also the Special Features are a treat. There is one special feature that shows the band in their early days performing in France. You could see the French are being polite, some are covering their ears. This was real early, maybe 1969, before they became the rock gods they are.

Mario Lanza Documentaries

If you are not into opera or classic movies, you've probably never heard of Mario Lanza.

Mario Lanza (January 31, 1921 – October 7, 1959) was an Italian American tenor and Hollywood movie star who enjoyed success in the late 1940s and 1950s.

He has done a handful of movies, some of the most memorable ones are "The Great Caruso" and "That Midnight Kiss".

I love to read and watch things about famous people, and since I'm a Mario Lanza fan, I was happy to hear of a more recent Documentary that was a special feature on the movie "The Toast of New Orleans".

The documentary "Singing to the Gods" was very accurate according to my knowledge. There is a book by the same name, although I have not had the pleasure of reading it yet, but it is on the TBR short list.

"Singing to the Gods" was produced in 2005. Like most documentaries, it touches on his childhood, his rise, his movie career, his singing career, his personal life and tragedies. Interviews with the people who knew him, including one of his daughters and his personal trainer. It was well produced & well put together. When I watched it, I didn't think much of it. I thought it was an accurate portrayal of Mario Lanza.

A few days later I watched "Mario Lanza: The American Caruso", this one is the 1983 documentary (I even watched in on VHS, talk about retro!) Placido Domingo was the narrator.

I'll start by pointing out the parts I enjoyed:

1) I liked the scene where Placido showed us Mario Lanza's childhood notebook, and how he was looking for a 'stage' name at a very young age. How he came up with Mario Lanza (his birth name was Alfred Arnold Cocozza). He took his mothers name - Maria, and masculinized it, and then used her maiden name. I thought that was pretty cool and something I had not known about him.

2) I liked hearing all of his children talk about their parents.

3) I enjoyed the candid shots of the family.

4) The were accurate about his title "The singing truck driver". He was never actually a truck driver, he occasionally backed up the truck near his father's store, but for years they called him that and that is a fallacy.

Now, what I didn't like:

1) I adore Placido, but he should stick to singing and not speak in English. Is accent was so thick, I could hardly understand what he was saying (and I live in THE BRONX), Spanish accents are like second nature, but even I couldn't get all of his words.

2) The started the documentary with his movie career and showing clips. I didn't mind this so much, but it was a half an hour before they got to his childhood, and that was so brief, if you blinked you would have missed it.

3) And the part that got my goat!!!!!!! That he was killed by the mob....C'MON!
They were saying he died of a heart attack, which I believe is false, I believe he really died of a pulmonary embolism caused by his Phlebitis. His Phlebitis is a well known fact, and he having a pulmonary embolism from it is not hard to believe. The conspiracy theories made me angry. That the nurse was paid by the mob to do something to his IV that would make it appear that he had a heart attack.

Mario died in a weight loss center that used a twilight sleep and IV feeding to induce weight loss. Mario had done this time and time again with success. And although his rapid weight fluctuations could have very well caused a heart attack, I doubt it.

So the whole mob story just ticked me off. Why does it have to be the mob? Because he was an Italian American? Why can't he just have died, young and tragically?

See, now I'm in rant mode. LOL!

So the break down is:
Singing to the Gods gets 4 out of 5 stars
Mario Lanza: The American Caruso gets 2 out of 5 stars.