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Blog Friday, August 29, 2008 // Blog home »
Document your story »



You don't have to turn on the TV or head to the theater to watch great documentary filmmaking. There's lots of great pieces right here on iReport.com that show off the power of citizen journalism. These well-produced videos show the human side of a story and tie the story topic together into a compelling piece.

For a prime example, user gmmacdonald is on a world tour of drought-affected places. The geography professor put together a fantastic video that we hope will be the first of many from him. If you're into locally focused feature stories, ChiKiiTV has taken a look at marijuana use among typical suburban mothers. DANR's video about a Confederate flag in his town struck a chord with readers. Or, if you're into a good nature show, BriCzar roams Kenya with his camera and gives an up-close look at animals and their plight. JamesAmerson, on the other hand, took a look at the lives of animals at a zoo hit hard by Hurricane Katrina.

To cover breaking news with a slightly humorous twist, GLMarinerEd produced one video about a gripping Great Lakes rescue with booming music from Def Leppard. Documentaries have also been done in the virtual world of Second Life, including a piece about voice messages inside a 3-D bottle and the mystery of a saloon that half-disappeared. After Black in America aired on CNN, bradbailey put together a video documenting being Black in Hollywood. And finally, on the lighter side, you might enjoy a look at Comic-Con through the lens of lamichaela's on-scene footage or ChrisMorrow's numerous interviews.

Got a story to tell, or did we miss something? Tell us about it. And don't forget to submit your short political film to the iReport Film Festival.

Posted by nsaidi // 3 weeks ago
Category: creative, personal_story
4 Comments

August 06, 2008

3 weeks ago

<object width="464" height="388" classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000"><param name="movie" value="http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf?96d0a705" /><param name="flashvars" value="key=64ad536a6d" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed width="464" height="388" flashvars="key=64ad536a6d" allowfullscreen="true" quality="high" src="http://www2.funnyordie.com/public/flash/fodplayer.swf?96d0a705" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>
See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

August 06, 2008

3 weeks ago

PARIS HILTON RESPOND JON MC CAIN

August 06, 2008

3 weeks ago

well i used to watch the wwe because i thought that it was entertaining and i had never watched it when i was a teenager. Then the months went on as a watched and the brutality just got worse.

people burning themselves, laying tacks on the canvas, and real blood being drawn.

so i stopped watching. i didn't want to give them ratings. then a saw the Brent Hartman documentary and discovered some of the behind the scenes. The falseness and the long trails away from home. it reminded me of gladiator days of Rome, where people would want a show where people killed themselves.

so as i was trying my best to try to write to one or two of the stuntmen to retire i saw a banner ad.

wwekids.com

i was shocked and appalled. I could not believe that people with children themselves would want to promote something that is just pure blood lust and sexual deviance.

so i started groups on myspace and cafemom.com to try to stop this.

i figured if the men and women stuntmen want to kill themselves and let some depraved adult watch then fine. but do not bring your children into it r other children into it. and why are they starting now? is it because they know that parents are weak? or that some cannot control what is brought into their house?

i know that their are parents that bring their children into the arenas, and that is bad. it should be illegal. that kind of violence should not be watched by children. some children cannot even handle the new batman movie. it is really the choice of the wwe cooperation to stop parents at the door with children.
so my quest is that the wwe stop marketing to children and stop allowing people celebrities or anyone of any kind to have children attend the show.
i think this matters.

August 29, 2008

10 hours ago

My thoughts re: Borak Obama:
I just finished watching the unbelievable acceptance speech of Borak Obama and I have been completely speechless. I felt just as though he was talking to me, as he spoke of doing community service work, and growing up with a single parent. The only difference was while I was growing up there was no such thing as welfare or food stamps, so my mother worked as a waitress and a hostess for the Ritz Carlton in Boston, as well as many other jobs to raise me. My father lived in NH and although I did see him occasionally he was not helping my mother financially.
I learned all of my values from both parents, as my mother taught me about the evryday things such as cooking and digging for clams and having clams and corn on the cob every fri. night in the summer.
My father always taught me about doing the "Right thing", as he said. He was the youngest to graduate from Northeastern University at the age of 19 with a law degree. This is what I am sure gave me the incentive to continue my education by going to college. Unfortunately, due to not having any financial aid as I grew up, I ended up getting married at the age of 21 to my High School Swweetheart.
13 yrs. later he walked out the door and then I ended up raising my daughter on my own, just as my mother had. It was only then that I decided to go back to school and entered North Shore Community College, after 25 yrs of not being in school. I ended up graduating with a gpa of 4.0 as I graduated with a Criminal Justice Degree. I then went on to U.Mass./Boston to obtain my Bachelor's in Criminal Justice. Unfortuantely, my dad took sick with Alzeimer's Disease, and as I ended up being his caretaker along with my stepmother, and watched a 6 ft. handsome man end up in a nursing home with one of the most debilitating diseases that there is. It was then that I had gotten accepted into Lesley University and finally graduated with my Bachelor's Degree in Social Work at the age of 61 yrs. old. I had been working with adolescents @ risk for over 15-20 yrs., as well as working in halfway houses for woman and children. I had also worked with battered woman, so I definitly knew all about community service. I had won a Scholarship from both NSCC and awards from U.Mass./Boston for doing all the community service that I had done. I had also won faculty awards @ both schools for High Achievement, as I had graduated with a 4.0 from NSCC and a 3.95 from U.Mass./Boston. I had also received a 3.95
from Lesley University.
Unfortunately, however, I am now stuck with $62,000.00 in student loans which I will never be able to repay, as since I have graduated I have been discriminated against due to my age. I also have a disability that I have had since my daughter was born, and never realized how much it was interfering with my school work until I was @ U.Mass./Boston where I was sent to be tested. This was held against me as well on many positions.
Borak Obama's speech gave me an enourmous amount of Hope for Change for the country! When his speech ended I began crying uncontrollably for the first time in my life. To think that perhaps things will be different for my 7 neices and nephews and 3 grandchildren!!!!!!
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