But is there ever really enough?
This was worth hosting for sure. It’s footage like this that makes a library grand.

Unofficial Michael Moore Media

A fellow student of mine went to Michael Moore‘s presentation here at San Francisco State Monday night, and she filled me in a bit on some of the events that took place.
There were about 4,000 people in the gym and at least another 1,000 outside that couldn’t get in. Michael was late starting the show inside because he took some time to talk to the folks outside first.
Michael put on a little quiz show routine where he invited a Canadian (supposedly with a low GPA) and several Americans (supposedly with high GPAs) down from the audience to participate. He asked the Canadian questions about the United States (who’s the President and some basic geography questions, etc.) and then some geography questions about other parts of the world like Iraq and Afghanistan. The Canadian got everything right. He then asked the high gpa American students about Canada and the same geography questions about Iraq and Afghanistan — none of which they could answer correctly.
He went on to cite a few studies of Americans from 18-24 years of age where the subjects didn’t seem to know where many other countries in the world were physically located. He made the point that if we were going to be at war with countries such as Afghanistan and Iraq, we should probably know where they are on the map.
At one point, he asked the audience to get together and decide who they’d like him to call up on the telephone while he was there. The audience wanted him to call the President of SFSU, but nobody knew his phone number. So their next choice was mayoral candidate Gavin Newsome. Luckily Mayoral candidate Matt Gonzales was in the audience, and he had Newsome’s personal cell phone number handy.
The audience didn’t like Newsome, and Michael asked them why. The audience filled Michael in on the “Care Not Cash” situation, which takes General Assistance payments away in exchange for “services,” many of which have yet to be completely specified (although the payments would cease immediately).
(A Judge has already thrown this legislation out, by the way, on the grounds that it’s illegal to take this money away from people, even if the voters voted it in.)
Michael then called up Newsome and said something along the lines of “I’ve heard about this ‘Care Not Cash’ thing and it seems like you don’t really care at all.” He mentioned the Getty family and said something like “we all know that you’re a Republican in Democrat clothing…I’m in front of an audience of thousands of people right now (he then held up the phone so audience could make noise)…hear that? That’s a whole lot of votes that are not going to be voting for you, Gavin.”
Then he switched his tone of voice to a cheerful one and said “Ok thanks! Have a nice day!”

Kevin Norton donated a truckload of Michael Moore movie clips to my Michael Moore archive.
I haven’t even had a chance to look at these yet, but I thought I’d let you know they were up there.
He’s also included a ton of
MP3 clips too! These are named very nicely and include: 1996_radiofreela, 60minutes, after the oscars, bill maher, boulder-CO, an interview in belfast, ralph nader rally, university of toronto, and webzine.
Enjoy!

Michael Moore is at San Francisco State in the Gym tonight at 7pm.
I’m going to try to make it, but I might not. I’ve got a ton of blogging and homework to do and my good camera is busted anyway, so it wouldn’t come out that good if I filmed it. And it’s kind of frustrating for me these days to go to events I can’t film. So I’ll probably skip it.
I have a feeling I’ll get to meet Mike in person someday anyway, if I’m patient (and do my homework, and eat my vegetables 🙂
Just wanted to make sure you knew about it.

How to Deal with the Lies and the Lying Liars When They Lie about “Bowling for Columbine”

One thing you get used to when you’re in what’s called “the public eye” is reading the humorous fiction that others like to write about you. For instance, I have read in quite respectable and trustworthy publications that a) I’m a college graduate (I’m not), b) I was a factory worker (I quit the first day), and c) I have two brothers (I have none). Newsweek wrote that I live in a penthouse on Central Park West (I live above a Baby Gap store, and not on any park), and the Internet Movie Database once listed me as the director of the Elvis movie, “Blue Hawaii” ( I was 6 at the time the film was made, but I was quite skilled in directing my sisters in building me a snowman). Lately, my favorite mistake is the one many reviewers made crediting the cartoon in “Bowling for Columbine” as being the work of the “South Park” creators. It isn’t. I wrote it and my buddy Harold Moss’s animation studio drew it.
I’ve enjoyed reading these inventions/mistakes about this “Michael Moore.” I mean, who wouldn’t want to fantasize about living in penthouses roughhousing with brothers you never had. But lately I’ve begun to see so many things about me or my work that aren’t true. It’s become so easy to spread these fictions through the internet (thanks mostly to lazy reporters or web junkies who do all their research by typing in “key words” and then just repeat the same mistakes). And so I wonder that if I don’t correct the record, then all of the people who don’t know better may just end up being filled with a bunch of stuff that isn’t true.
Of course, it would take a lot of my time to contact all these sites and media outlets to correct their errors and I think it’s more important I spend my time on my next book or movie so I just let it ride. But is that fair to you, the reader, who has now been told something that isn’t true?
With the unexpected and overwhelming success of “Bowling for Columbine” and “Stupid White Men,” the fiction that has been written or spoken about me and my work has reached a whole new level of storytelling. It’s no longer about making some simple errors or calling me “Roger” Moore. It is now about organized groups going full blast trying to discredit me by knowingly making up lies and repeating them over and over in the hopes that people will believe them