Sunday, July 20, 2008

Something Neat

Whenever Dave is away, I find myself watching a lot of movies. Specifically, I watch the kind of movies Dave doesn't care for much, such as arty flicks or horror movies.

Last nights' choice -- Fast Food Nation -- was a meandering dud with too many characters, no narrative or focus, pointless cameos, and a miasma of smug, self-righteous indignance at the mass-processing meat industry. The movie weilded shock value with all the finesse of installing a light switch with a sledgehammer. While wearing oven mitts.

As for the highlight of the movie, it's a toss-up between Avril Lavignes' cameo as a dippy protester, or the final scenes' brutally honest footage of a packing plant kill floor. Seriously, those are the highlights.

Being so dissatisfied with the movie, I am not certain why I investigated the DVDs' Special Features afterwards. But I'm glad I did. It introduced me to a fascinating web animation called "The Meatrix", in which Leo, a pig, is approached by the enigmatic, black-clad cow "Moopheus", who invites Leo to see past the fiction we perceive the meat industry to be.

While the Matrix parody in itself is amusing, it also hits home how little we really know -- or want to know -- about where most of our meat really comes from. If you want to check it out, then Enter The Meatrix and give it a look.

(Note that while it is an animation, The Meatrix is actually quite explicit, and shouldn't be watched by small children, imho.)

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