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Friday, January 08, 2016

Wild Card Picks: Making A Decision...


Making a Murderer is a great series. I binged watched it on New Year's Eve, and it was the best New Year's Eve I've had in right around a decade. I advise you watch it, too. However, I'd give you the same (spoiler-free) advice before watching Making a Murderer that I'd give you before tackling any story framed as a docu-anything that's only being told from one side. A side that almost has to have an angle or agenda, or they simply wouldn't have a show...

And that advice, which I give to you as someone who has been burned more times than I'd like to admit, and not someone who thinks they're just the smartest Ted in the room (I'll be resuming that role next week), is this:

Swallow a ginormous grain of salt before you start watching, and then sit back and enjoy the ride. Then, when the ride is over, and you feel like you're high on knowledge and ready to take on the world? Don't act like an expert. Because you aren't one. You're more informed than you were, there's no doubt. Mostly because you probably didn't know anything going in. But even now, you only have half of the story, at best. And at worst, you've been completely conned (knowingly or otherwise) by a skilled filmmaker with a less than genuine agenda (see: Oliver Stone). That won't mean it wasn't entertaining (see: JFK). But just because something looks well researched and well intended once it's slickly packaged for a mass audience, doesn't mean that's necessarily the case. A stance no decent documentary filmmaker could fault you for taking, seeing as that very refusal to believe what you're told to be fact is more or less what keeps that genre in business...

I still very much recommend that you check out Making a Murderer, don't get me wrong. And I'm not saying you should look at these filmmakers in particular with a jaundiced eye. I'm saying you should ALWAYS look at EVERY documentary filmmaker that way. Or anyone with a cause. Or anyone who is just trying to aggressively change your mind, really. I mean, Hell. Isn't that what they're doing to you by the very nature of their work? Because yes. Yes it is...

What I'm trying to say is, I have no clue if Making a Murderer will end up ringing true. But I do know that it's one of the most entertaining crime-docs that I've ever seen. So there's always that. And that, is really all we can ask for. Well, that and justice. But let's not get too greedy...

Enjoy your weekend, my damies. And I'll catch you next time...

Wild Card Picks
Kansas City Chiefs (-3) @ Houston Texans

Pittsburgh Steelers (-2) @ Cincinnati Bengals

Seattle Seahawks (-4.5) @ Minnesota Vikings

Washington Tedskins (+1) vs Green Bay Packers


Last Week: 9-7-0

Overall: 129-110-9 (.538)


#BAGSMUNMAN

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