On Friday night Bronwyn, Tim and I went to the New Zealand premiere of Universe Designed, a new Christian movie that attempts to prove that the universe, earth, life, and humans are not the result of random, undirected processes, but instead are created by a loving God. The subtitle of the movie sums up at least part of the movie's message nicely - “_Creation is an act, not an accident_”.
Devotion: Obedience or Betrayal is the newest entry in what could legitimately be considered a world-famous-in-New-Zealand subgenre of Gloriavale documentaries. The three-part series directed by Nicole Rittenmeyer, and executive produced by Dame Julie Christie, is frustrating to watch, and overall is a boring mess. Some producers live by the adage of “all attention is good attention”, but when the subject is a religious community in which children were sexually abused, that is a stance that commits a real disservice to the survivors.
Our first article in this week's newsletter is from Patrick, who has summarised a recent Nature article about potential underestimation of sea-level rise over the next 60 years. Patrick's article ends with a quote from Edison that, when I read it, seemed too good to be true. So, like any good skeptic, I jumped onto Google to see if there was any truth to the quote. It turns out that it's likely to be true, at least in broad strokes.
Louis Theroux's latest documentary, Inside the Manosphere, dropped on Netflix on March 11th. In it, Theroux hangs around a few notable influencers to see what's really going on.
As we've just had two weeks of school holidays, I've just spent a week in Australia. Sadly during that time a new set of Mormon missionaries were unable to visit me at home to try to convert me. But, don't despair, they've already messaged me again and we've arranged to meet on Saturday. At this point I'm not sure if they seriously think they have a chance to win me over, or if I'm just a sport for them - but I enjoy the conversations, so I'll continue to let them visit me at home and take a couple of hours of my time.
I've recently become aware of a controversy surrounding the discovery of Homo naledi, which was the subject of a Netflix documentary film: Unknown: Cave of Bones
And speaking of documentaries, there's recently been not one, but two short documentary series on streaming platforms about the Twin Flames Universe cult, each with three episodes.
For those who didn't manage to catch the Ms. Information movie about skeptic and scientist Siouxsie Wiles back when it was doing the Film Festival circuit a couple of months ago, the good news is that it's due for general release in cinemas from the 26th of October. Siouxsie has let me know that there's also a pre-release screening happening next week (on the 17th) at the Rialto cinema in Newmarket - you can book tickets for that showing at the cinema's website.
It's been a very busy week for me, with various things happening, including recording the latest episode of our Yeah… Nah! podcast in which we interviewed Dr Siouxsie Wiles and Gwen Isaac about the Ms. Information documentary we've recently covered. It's well worth a listen (in my humble opinion).
A New Zealand focused anti-vaccine “documentary” has recently been released, called Silenced. It focuses on broadcaster Peter Williams, as well as ex-GP Anne O'Reilly and sociologist Jodie Bruning, with much of the talk centering around COVID vaccination, the mainstream media and alternative treatments such as ivermectin. It also talks quite a bit about Dr Simon Thornley, past winner of our Bent Spoon award, although the footage the documentary makers shot of Thornley is not used in the documentary beyond a couple of silent clips, as apparently his lawyers recommended after filming that he shouldn't be a part of it.
We're now under two weeks away from our annual conference, being held in Wellington (25th - 27th November) - our first in-person meeting since the pandemic. We've got an exciting lineup of speakers, but the best part will be meeting up with fellow skeptics again and being able to share thoughts in person. I'm looking forward to it - you can find out more on the conference website. I hope to see you there.
Last week we found out about a new short documentary that has been produced - Believing is Seeing.
Last week Stuff Circuit, part of the Stuff media organisation, released their Fire and Fury documentary.
By which I mean I recommend watching a new documentary called “Gloriavale”, which focuses on the infamous religious group. I most definitely don't recommend converting to their religion and moving to the Gloriavale compound on the South Island. I went to a Film Festival viewing of the documentary yesterday, before general release to cinemas next week, and there was also a fascinating Question and Answer session afterwards with some of the filmmakers and subjects of the documentary. Here's the trailer:
It's me again, Mark, for a third week running - as Craig is unavailable to do the newsletter again. This time it's COVID, and I can't blame him at all for not wanting to write a newsletter while getting over it.
Last week some of our media engaged in an attack on Dr Siouxsie Wiles. Siouxsie, with her iconic pink hair, has been a leading voice globally, but certainly here in NZ/Aotearoa for a sensible, science and evidence-based approach to handling the Covid pandemic. (And, of course, Siouxsie will be familiar to many NZ Skeptics, having MC'd and spoken at our conferences in the past.)
An exploration of joy and meaning in a world without God
Vicki Hyde hands out this year's Bent Spoon and Bravo Awards
A documentary on faith healing that promised to scrutinise the practice demonstrated short-sightedness and has won for TopShelf Productions the 2001 Bent Spoon Award from the New Zealand Skeptics.
The Skeptics make their first-ever complaint to the Broadcasting Standards Authority.
Karekare beach is surrounded by high cliffs which shield my house from television transmissions so that I gain most of my media information from radio and print.
Shortly after our Wellington convention, Radio New Zealand presented a superb Insight documentary on NZCSICOP. This half-hour programme was broadcast on a Sunday morning on National Radio and rebroadcast the following evening. The producer was Colin Feslia, who will be remembered for having patiently taped the whole of our Wellington meeting. We have to admire the way he assembled the material into a coherent, interesting half hour of radio. It is an excellent introduction to the Skeptics.