Rating: Summary: Interesting waste of time... Review: I bought this DVD when it first came out as I'm a fan of products put out by Disinfo.com. The DVDs are largely a mixed bag with the first DVD containing the original uncut TV shows. These probably couldn't be shown on non-cable stations as the content is pretty graphic. Some of the segments are plausible but others are a total joke and you knid of wonder if they stuck them in there to see if you can really discern valid counter culture items from complete mental wankery. 2 segments that stuck out as totally bogus are the Mind Controlled Sex Slave and teenage Satanists. Both of those segments also feature a hack former-CIA/FBI agent who acts official but doesn't realize how dumb he looks in front of the camera. The teenage Satanists are largely a bunch of kids who believe they actually have some sort of mystical power and associate the meaning of their religion with "being evil and hating god". (That must be the Slayer denomination of Satanism, I don't know.) The Mind Controlled Sex Slave makes a plea to the Queen of England to return the love child she had with Ronald Reagan. If you ain't laughing at those 2 segments then nothing's funny. Also, another funny segment is the one with "Mr. Awesome" who is a Guinness book video game record holder and Playgirl model. The segments with Joe Coleman, the trans-genders, and robotic sex machines are interesting. Richard Metzger, the host, comes across as vain and self-centered while he enjoys seeing himself on camera. Still, be that as it may, at least he doesn't annoy the viewer so much. The second disc has clips from the Disinfo convention featuring various speakers on the podium. Some of the hosts have pretty interesting lectures and others are boring. I found it amusing how the participants come off like "We are the counter culture, everyone else is a sheep!" Creative minds - yes. Leaders of a new counter culture movement - no. Anyway, if you like counter culture stuff you'll enjoy these. Bring some friends and have a laugh or a deep thought.
Rating: Summary: Richard Metzger is a genius! A Midnight movie classic is bor Review: i have long heard of this TV show from my British friends and even saw a few of the episodes on tape, but nothing could prepare me for how utterly fantastic this DVD is! this has to be one of the wildest things ever put on TV anywhere at anytime! it's no wonder the sci fi channel people had a problem with it. i even had a hard time with some of it (tranny segment is not for the squeamish and neither is the porno spot). 1 of the better segmnents (and they are all great) is the repeating one about the trailor trash 'jackass' type videos of a guy called Uncle God Damn this is one of the funniest things I have ever seen in my life (please Mr. Metzger and co, relaese this as a home video, it'll sell millions of copies). This is a 2 disc set, packed with material and features Kenneth Anger, Marilyn Manson, Robert Anton Wilson, Genesis P-Orridge and Joe Coleman (and many others). this DVD is a cult classic, like John Water's Pink Flamigoes or other messed up classics. this is the kind of thing you will show all yoiur friends. hint hint -toke up before you watch, too! also this is almost 7 hours long and a great value for the money. in some ways this has the same feel as the Office or Cub Your Enthusiam with Larry David. I mean it's subtle and you have to pay attention. but do toke up for your own good I warn you. 100% genius.
Rating: Summary: so shocked... can't sleep. Review: i just played this dvd for the first time...and i only watched the first episode so far.. just the first...but i can't sleep now, or watch anything, .. can't turn on the tv.. can't ... can't go on living like nothing happened... i was just so shocked.. i mean i know of so many conspiracies that will totally shock you. and i know of so much about this world...but nothing could have ever prepared me for this.. the shock value is worth 1000 dollars, ..i feel like i can't go on living without making sure everyone has seen this.. and this is just the first episode... i'm worried if i see the rest i'd go crazy,.
Rating: Summary: It's NOT the Complete Series Review: I saw some of this on Channel 4 in the UK (when it was called Disinfo Nation). There's NOTHING of series 1, except a Howard Bloom interview and there's only some of series 2. Disappointingly, the emphasis is on sleaze and there's one interview, with the founder of the unamerican.com website that I enjoyed on the original series that's missing here.
To my recollection, virtually all of this was screened on UK tv, with the exception of the Brice Taylor interview (you can't libel the Queen in the UK, I suppose), the Uncle Goddamn stuff (well done Channel 4!) and the operation sequence on the Girls of Karen Black woman.
What weakens this is the extremely soft line of questioning by Mr Metzger, especially to Ms Taylor. After she says that the Queen stole her baby fathered by Ronald Reagan he asks: "If the Queen is watching this, what message would you like to give her?" AS IF! There's a snowball's chance in hell that the Queen would watch trash like this!
It's funny in bits, e.g. the extremely fat young Satanist describing how he'd managed to summon Asmodeus, Grand Duke of Hell. Sounds impressive, but it turns out that Asmodeus manifested as a mute bit of solid looking mist, which presumably blew away after a while. Pathetic. Some former FBI special agent expert (retired) pops up to advise the viewer that "Satanism and Christianity don't mix". That's about as profound as it gets.
Frankly, I thought disc 2 was junk, and I would have slung it out were it not for talks by Adam Parfrey (good, but a bit brief) and Robert Anton Wilson (an old man, but he at least appears to have acquired some wisdom along life's journey).
The cover art sums up this package. It shows Mr Metzger trying to look cool with his raised eyebrow and lit cigarette. However, he doesn't look cool and this DVD isn't cool either. But it does have its trashily enjoyable moments, admittedly.
Rating: Summary: low budget, quackery, on par with Weekly World News Review: I was expecting something truly counter-culture. I hoped to see outrageous people and things. Something funky and cool. Here is what you get: --Low budget --Poor production --Dull, unoriginal content --Unstable, ungroomed social outcasts being interviewed who swear there that time travel is possible and that they did it or they were abducted by aliens, or that they drew blood from Jesus on the cross blah blah blah --Farcical pseudo-science --Loser teenages who call themselves satanists (yawn) --Pathetic conspiracy theories that are not even original or thought-provoking COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!!!
Rating: Summary: Very Mixed Bag Review: I was very disapointed with this DVD set. I'd never seen the show, but I'd bought the companion book of interviews over a year ago and really enjoyed it. Sadly, I found most of the episodes of the TV series to be silly and boring - a deadly combination. I do have to say that the Robot Sex sculpture/animation segment was brilliant though, and almost worth renting the whole set. If not for the second disk with videotape from the Disinfocon speakers, this whole set would be a waste. Even these are a mixed bag, but there are some cool pieces in there. Especially Grant Morrison's speach on Chaos Magic. My advice would be to rent it if you must see it or, I'll sell you my copy...
Rating: Summary: This movie is off the wall awsome Review: If you haven't seen or heard about this movie than you need to buy it. It is funny and weird all at the same time. An all around must have movie.
Rating: Summary: find the others Review: Is Disinformation trash or treasure? Insanity or genius? Low brow entertainment or pointed social satire? I don't have the answer to any of these quandries but, unlike most any other dvd, this dvd demands the viewers' participation by asking these kind of questions.
This dvd dissects human nature, focusing on the what is typically considered unconventional behavior, and hangs it up for display allowing the viewer to make their own opinions about the material. Ranging from some truly hilarious moments (the clearly mad "Brother Theodore", the happy satanist in the satanism segment, Outsider music, Rocket Boy), to the utterly pathetic Mister Awesome (who is like a character straight from a P T Anderson movie) and the Montauk project. What makes this dvd really worth the purchase is the thought provoking and sometimes inspirational material from Paul Loffoley, Duncan Laurie, the surveilance camera players, Genesis P. Orridge, Howard Bloom, Douglas Rushkoff and Grant Morrision. Are these individuals crazy or is there more to reality than our jaded, cynical egos will let us believe.
The second disk, consisting of a number speeches, may be considered boring by some, but perhaps only to those who have the dimished MTV attention spans this disc is intended to address. As a personal observation, the second disc led me to believe there is a dark subtext to the disinfo society. The prevelance of Magik, Aleister Crowley, symbolism (a devils head, 666, pentagrams)and Joe Colemans closing words of "I'll see you all in hell" force me to consider that this is no yacht club, but in fact the nature of the society is closer to an occult. But reguardless of your beliefs and predisposition to this kind of material there is some truly interesting stuff on this disk and it's attempts to not only entertain, but also inspire is compendable and should be a template for more mediums in the arts.
Rating: Summary: The REAL "Reality TV Show" Review: OK, I'm not as cool as the others on this page..I found out about this DVD by aimlessly surfing the net one snowy Sunday..but I have become instantly re-enlightened by watching this show. If you've ever seen "Real Sex" on HBO, then imagine the same format and intent, but retitled "Real Weird". This is a TV show that shows us how weird we really are underneath those uniforms we wear every day. I have to say that the lecture by Grant Morrison should be required viewing by everyone, and then, as he says: Go Out And DO IT! Since I had no previous exposure to P-Orridge, Morrison, Metzger et al, I'll say, as an outsider, I'm hooked. Watch this DVD!
Rating: Summary: Psychic TV Review: This DVD distills the best of the infamous Disinfo Nation show from UK Channel 4. Imagine RE: Search, Apocalypse Culture or Simon Dwyer's Rapid Eye books turned into a TV showcase and you've got the idea. Most of the segments are played for freakshow-style laughs (teenage satanists, robo-porn) but host Richard Metzger wedges some nicely-packed head-explody in too; segments on Genesis P-Orridge, Howard Bloom, Grant Morrison and other "counterculture luminaries" will likely give these important thinkers a wider audience; those who buy the DVD on their names alone will be lavishly rewarded by the 2nd disc, which contains hours of incredible speeches by Metzger's Mutants, and those who are suckered in by the permabaked low-brow laughs of Rocket Boy and Uncle Goddamn may find themselves with a suprise on their forebrains. In all, six hours of fun for Higher Evolutionary Mutations everywhere.
|