77. FROM ONE SECOND TO THE NEXT

xzavier, a spinal cord injured boy, dependent on a ventilator for life.  he was crossing the street with his sister when he was struck and dragged when a texting driver ran a stop sign.  100,000 deaths a year from texting, and growing.  martin from indiana was texting when he hit and killed 3 children of an amish family, as they moved along the road in their buggy.  the text?  "i love you" to his wife.  debbie from vermont, brain injured, struck by a teenager who was texting and driving.  in just a second of time, lives forever altered.  pain for the injured; pain for their families; pain for the distracted driver.  don't text and drive.  directed by werner herzog, the film is powerful in it's 45 minutes.  i cried the entire time.  the message is simple.  when driving, put the phone away.  don't become one of the "regular" people from this film who's life is horribly changed by texting and driving.

76. THE ANONYMOUS PEOPLE

12 step life.  can people in recovery share that they're in recovery?  has the tenant of anonymity hurt these people?  being anonymous doesn't mean being secret.  bill and dr. bob started the most successful addiction treatment process in the world.  the film encourages changing the message from, "i am an addict", to "i am a person in long term recovery".  the film shows history and attempts to show that the message could be better shared with the world, and the disease could lose stigma only WHEN the message stops being anonymous.  the film makes the point that if hiv had stayed "anonymous", there never would have been the funding, research and organization to make the difference we've realized in the past 30 years.  the director advocates that public awareness will go far in making the public as a whole understand addiction and recovery.  faces and voices of recovery was a grassroots effort that eventually spread nationwide to change the language and image of addiction and recovery. people in recovery need to be proud of their recovery and speak out about the pride of recovery. recovery is cool.  it's not weakness.  it's an illness without a cure, but it has a solution.  even with this powerful message, that i have a personal interest in,  the film is pretty dry and it took me 3 nights to get through the hour and a half; i just couldn't watch it longer than 30 minutes at a time!  however, make history; don't silent..  become part of the solution.

75. DARK GIRLS

racism.  we generally think of it as black/white.  but what about black women facing the "paper bag test"; if she is darker than a paper bag, that's too dark.  what about a little dark skinned girl of a more fair skinned mother saying, "i don't want to be called black".  what about dark skinned women being called ugly,  tar baby, etc by other blacks?  there is racism within the african american community regarding the level of dark skin.  men in the film state a particular preference for light skinned or dark skinned women.  young adults are reminded not to marry someone darker than them so as to make the race stronger and better by marrying lighter skin.  these women discuss so much pain;  thinking they are less valuable as the skin is darker.  women who don't want to have a dark baby.  and, this isn't just an issue in the united states, but even in predominantly black countries around the world.  skin lightening cream was a 43 million dollar industry in the year the film was made.  dark girls rise!

74. JOAN RIVERS: DON'T START WITH ME

joan rivers died yesterday at the age of 81.  this movie was filmed when she was 75, and trying to jump start her career.  she seemed quite desperate, and professed to taking anything that came her way.  she's brash for sure.  like south park, there doesn't seem to be anything off limits to her comedy act.  her career has spanned 50 years, yet she still seems filled with self doubt.  she makes a comment that if she had managed business better, she wouldn't still have to do this.  she also admits to a lavish lifestyle that requires continued income to sustain.  i don't know that i learned too much about her that i didn't know, but it's pretty fascinating to be with her behind the scenes, sharing successes and failures.  yes, she still has failures.  we learn toward the end of the film that she won her season on celebrity apprentice, thus kick-starting her career and making her very happy.  joan rivers was a comic icon and paved the way for women....a fact she both relishes and condemns.  and that might just sum up joan rivers.