David Carr, Citizenfour & an Oscar for Edward Snowden (Laura Poitras & Glenn Greenwald)

••• today's entry continues here below •••

Salon calls it » "electric" and says that the film is receiving standing ovations. I bet.

That must be freaking them out .. talking to a person one day, who dies the next.

Uh, he actually died the evening of the SAME DAY .. as the Citizenfour interviews. Tho, they probably didnt hear about it 'til the next day.

(The Oscars air this Sunday .. Feb 22.)

David Carr wrote the book » The Night of the Gun (2009).

Notice how he also TAUGHT (Journalism) .. at Boston University .. which makes me think that he didnt know .. that he had cancer.

Indeed, this is the problem with many types of cancer .. that when physical symptoms appear, it's often too late.

But I thought that a person would always know .. before they got to the point of death .. that they would know that they had cancer.

Is it possible to die of cancer without even realizing that you have it?

» Citizenfour Wins the Oscar for Best Documentary!

Update - Feb 22, 2015. Citizenfour won the Oscar for Best Documentary! Here is Laura Poitras' acceptance speech. (Text.) (Photo.) The Atlantic.

The film's home is here. Trailer. Reviews at Rotten Tomatoes. The New Yorker.

This was her second nomination, but first win .. having been previously nominated in 2006 for My Country, My Country. Strong reviews. PBS POV. Trailer.

Congratulations are in order. Kudos.

I would be proud of that.

Especially when you consider all the various subtexts that come with the main theme.

And your previous persecution by the government only magnifies the accomplishment that much more.

It must feel pretty cool .. I would imagine.

For years I dated a Film school student at USC's world-famous Film school, in Los Angeles and Hollywood ..

.. where many industry contacts are always close by.

So I have a decent grasp of the power of the Oscar. Now you will live longer .. statistics say.

» Oliver Stone Shooting 'Snowden' for Christmas (Release)

It also looks like Oliver Stone is filming a new movie called » Snowden .. to be released Christmas day. Wow.

(I should probably re-word that heading title, no?)

Two-Year Retro Perspective » The Snowden Papers

It is coming up on two years since Edward Snowden enlightened the clueless public about just how far Big Brother has come with his over-sized ambitions into probing (dicking) we-the-people ..

.. in clear violation of the Fourth Amendment. And probably several others.

And two years out from anything gives you a broader perspective on pretty much everything.

And the thing I recognize most curiously about that time .. is the timing of his release.

I was actually in the middle of an entry on a similar topic. Snowden released his indictment on June 3rd or 4th, I think. While my entry is dated May 23rd. That's nearly two weeks prior.

So there seems to have been some timing involved. Some synchronicity, if you will. Because, clearly, I could not have known that he was going to release those papers on that date. He probably didnt even know himself.

Well, forget the date .. I did not know he was going to release the papers, period. I didnt know that anybody would. And neither did you.

I was writing about one thing, and then, with very little adjustment, it seems, I started writing about Edward Snowden and his Oscar winning revelations.

And I have had other curiosities with regard to timing. Seeming coincidences that call attention to themselves .. for one reason or another.

And I remember not wanting to write about the first topic .. that I wasnt ready for that yet. That I should be better informed.

But I somehow knew that that was the time. Even if I wasnt ready. You can research as you write. And as you craft your piece. And I do learn a lot that way, sure.

That entry quickly grew to 4 pages. Four BIG pages. Server-straining big.

[ Dude, you have a huge Wikipedia page. How does that feel? ]

The end. ■

Update May 13, 2015 » Dude, did you see this? Wow. Vindication. (Yet again.)

You must feel good about that.

I see the vote this way » Big Brother: 88; The Fourth Amendment & Edward Snowden: 338.

Dude, that makes you a player .. in the game. The Big Game. World stage. Changing the course of history .. at least, US history.

I like the cover of Citizenfour .. understated, muted, the informality of the collarless shirt.

Even the proportionality of the lettering.

Kudos to the designers.

I read somewhere that the government is planning to load up on cyber talent.

And the movies that are coming out .. exploring the topic.

Along these lines, I should probably mention » this. On the sukiness of the Cyber-Security bills in congress.

Did you see that Petraeus got off with a slap on the wrist?

As the credibility of our Justice system swirls down the drain another turn or two.

But that is how the system works » if you are on our team, the rules dont apply to you.

The rules that we use to trick-fuck people who we dont like.

But if our guys do it .. hey, shit happens, ya know?

I still think that his biographer (and lover) is hot.

(She woulda got more secrets from me. A lot more. Easily. So I am not unsympathetic toward the general.)

Even more than hotness .. she obviously a capable woman. And there nothing quite so satisfying .. as being with a capable woman.

No matter how hot they might be. Because capable women take better care of you. They are more capable in that area .. among other things.

I dont mind them letting Petraeus off like that. But the selective (and savage) trick-fucking is not cool.

Anyway, congrats on the Oscar. You deserve it. As you can see from the title of this entry. And probably more than one.

Say hi to Mr. Stone for me.

The end. (part deux) ■■

» Edward's NY Times Op-Ed on the Two-Year Anniversary of the Snowden Revelations

Update June 4, 2015 » Hi Citizenfour. I see you have posted an op-ed in the Times today, on the two-year anniversary of the revelations.

I think about you, sometimes, there in Moscow. I have had my own trials-n-tribulations to deal with this winter, but that hasnt stopped me from thinking about you from time to time, and how you changed the course of US history. (For the better.)

Sometimes, I can almost feel George Orwell looking over my shoulder, saying, "Didnt I tell you?"

Are winters in Moscow cold as shit? How do you stay warm? Hawaii to Moscow is some kind of climate change for you.

I went to Washington state, Seattle area and in November and didnt see the sun for six months.

After spending two years in Hawaii, I moved to the Seattle area, and even that was big change. We got there in November and didnt see the sun for six months.

Have you found a nice Russian hottie yet to keep you warm and tutor you in learning the language? Natasha? Tatiana? Olga?

Do you ever get to communicate with your old girlfriend?

Did you see this? That must make your sacrifice seem worth the trouble.

Dude, call me crazy, but right after I read about parts of the "Patriot" Act expiring, I noticed that the site started running faster, more responsive. Zippier.

Must be a coincidence.

It was a week after I posted my piece on Hitchcock's Notorious Key Shot that my web-hosting provider moved the site to a different server .. under strange circumstances that were never adequately explained.

Afterwards, when speaking to some of the support people about other things, I would fuck with them and ask » "So, do you guys still have me on the NSA server?" To which I would usually get a nervous chuckle.

But actually, I think the FBI takes care of this kind of in-country server monitoring.

That is a well-writen piece, well crafted .. not a word out of place.

Update June 25, 2015 » The French Justice minister, Christiane Taubira, says that France is considering offering Snowden asylum.

You can return to the exact spot from which the text in this entry originated .. see » here.

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