http://festival.sundance.org/2006/wa...2&category=DOC

wow I just watched this.. and wow felt bit disturbed .. its a chinese director's thought to america and its like a slide show. it will offend americans as i was offended..

interesting. and somewhat true.

Talk about the most annoying music known to man.

I found it interesting that the main theme was bigger is better. The video showed all these cities that were bigger than New York. But those places were close to being slums. Here is my point, bigger is not always better. NYC seems to be in better condition. Then the point was "China has more people, China is better." I don't think more people means China is better. I have read some nasty articles about how the poor live in China. It makes our poor look like middle class citizens.

Seeing how those factories are and knowing what I knowabout China's economy, I compare China to how the US was around 1890-1910. The industry grew by leaps and bounds while the workers got crapped on.

But in support of the video, they do make the point that the trade deficit is huge. I don't see how blaming Bush comes into play since the trade deficit was huge under clinton. I feel that if the US pushes for free trade World wide, we will only lose more jobs overseas. But I guess that is the consequence of a free market society.

It's just stupid, there's nothing new or interesting there. It's just an internet flash slideshow some 16 year old made in his basement about how China is good and America is incompetent.

Not surprising pro-China propoganda gets a sundance nod but if you did the same thing about America and how bad China is then you'd be condemned.

Originally Posted by Doody

I found it interesting that the main theme was bigger is better. The video showed all these cities that were bigger than New York. But those places were close to being slums. Here is my point, bigger is not always better. NYC seems to be in better condition. Then the point was "China has more people, China is better." I don't think more people means China is better. I have read some nasty articles about how the poor live in China. It makes our poor look like middle class citizens.

Seeing how those factories are and knowing what I knowabout China's economy, I compare China to how the US was around 1890-1910. The industry grew by leaps and bounds while the workers got crapped on.

Doody my friend you could not be more accurate.

From: XXXXXXX
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 11:58 AM
To: 'mrligon@iandn.com'
Subject: Hahaha America
Importance: High

Dear Mr. Ligon,
I am writing after viewing your film “Hahaha America” on the internet and would like to extend to you an invitation to come and visit me in China so I may show you the true face of China not the fabricated façade shown to the world. Your video is the most misleading collection of well framed shots and carefully edited tripe I have seen since I screened Chinese propaganda from the Cultural Revolution.

In your attempt to belittle and berate the country you reside in you have committed an egregious error in comparing apples to oranges. A fair comparison not playing to the fallacies of logic you employ would compare accomplishments to accomplishments and error to error.

I humbly invite you to bring your camera and film the distorted beggars on the street and homeless mentally ill of Guangzhou that have no assistance from the bankrupt Chinese welfare system.

I exhort you to film the common Chinese man, woman and child as they freely defecate and urinate on the sidewalks with no shame in one of the most prosperous and educated cities in China.

I plea for you to record for the Sundance Film Festival the mountains of trash discarded out of windows and piled into corners of streets left to rot as there is no system for the removal of rubbish.

I beg you to accompany me to video store after video store awash in thousands of pirated DVD and CD titles and film this as evidence of China’s commitment to stamping out the theft of intellectual property.

I ask that you record on video a due diligence investigation at any number of factories where the workers are exposed extraordinary levels of mercury and arsenic at their jobs where they work 29 days a month, sleep in company barracks and get paid $50 US dollars a month.

I now demand that you film the waste and filth of the Pearl River and the test results on the water showing the levels of mercury, arsenic and other heavy metals and carcinogens that are at levels 500 times greater than what the WHO has declared unsafe.

With this small beginning we can explore the myriad of crime, corruption, and downright lack of respect for other people and the world they live in that is endemic to the psyche of China and the mainland Chinese people.

Best regards,
Xxxxx Xxxxxxx

Sorry for double posting but this really pissed me the off and I wanted to vent publicly the email I just sent this Mr. Ligon.

Good job, Bulldogg.

Yeah, I'm impressed bulldog.

wow that was propaganda.. made me believe in his words.. wow propaganda is power. heh. hope that guy get what he deserves..

Originally Posted by JulesLee

wow that was propaganda.. made me believe in his words.. wow propaganda is power. heh. hope that guy get what he deserves..

You know it isn't about propoganda or getting what he deserves. If you want to throw together a nationalistic puff piece then go ahead.

But if to judge it, it is a stupid internet cartoon that's not even worth the time it takes to watch it. The fact that "sundance" would even recognize its existance is proof positive that institution has no credibility when it comes to judging filmmaking.

You can attack my beliefs all you want if I can say "wow, that's an interesting an innovate means of expression"; I am a big fan of German Expressionism and Soviet Montage films.

But this is just stupid. Maybe sundance would be interested in watching the "End of the World" or "Numanuma" sketches? (old farts go to ebaumsworld.com to see what I'm talking about )