StarSuckers

Starsuckers is a feature documentary about the celebrity obsessed media, that uncovers the real reasons behind our addiction to fame and blows the lid on the corporations and individuals who profit from it. Made completely independently over 2 years in secret, the film journeys through the dark underbelly of the modern media. Using a combination of never before seen footage, undercover reporting, stunts and animation, the film reveals the toxic effect the media is having on us all and especially our children. Chris Atkins presents Starsuckers as a series of five lessons on fame in the modern world: how children are persuaded that fame is something they want, how television and the media reinforces the importance of celebrity and the efforts to attain it, how the mind and body reinforces our need to follow the activities of well-known people and strive to join their number, how the press became addicted to celebrity coverage, and how the art of promoting fame has led to celebrities and their handlers controlling the press instead of the press having say. Along the way, Atkins demonstrates how celebrity news with no basis in fact gets into print, why newspapers will run press releases almost verbatim, how parents will eagerly sign away the image rights to their kids, how certain mass scale charity events end up helping the performers far more than the causes they designed to support, and how publicists keep accurate but unflattering stories out of the news.

Monday, August 9, 2010

A Public Apology

An Apology for my Indiscretions: With so much talk of 1st Amendment Rights and freedom of expression these days, I got to thinking how wrong it was of me to "unfriend" people from my FB page simply because they dont agree with my positions on any given issue such as war, etc. I have also deleted a posts that I thought were "poking fun" at me such as the comment suggesting it was time for me to "take my meds." I acted on impulse and in retrospect it was wrong of me to do so. I want to make a public apology for myself in so doing and to reassure everyone that because I am a staunch believer in 1st amendment rights and oppose censorship,... it will not happen again. I encourage healthy debate and you cant do that by banning those with opposing views. Feel free even to poke fun of me here. I can handle it. Honest I can....without meds. (For the record, I am on not on any prescription drugs) Lol.