Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Wednesday, and time for another post in the Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge hosted by Long and Short Reviews. If you’d like to participate in the challenge, you can find the list of topics for 2023 here. If you’re interested in reading other people’s responses to this week’s topic, you can do so here.
A Documentary I Liked
For this week’s post, I had to do some serious thinking. There are so many documentaries that I have watched over the years that I have found utterly brilliant that we’d be here all year if I were to list them all. What I decided was that I would cheat a little and give three documentaries I liked.
1 Pompeii: The Last Day (BBC 2003)
Set in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, presented in exquisite detail and soaked with historical facts and insights, this docudrama provides an in-depth look at the events leading up to the infamous eruption of Mount Vesuvius in October 79 AD.
It follows the people of Pompeii and shows how their lives, in an instant, were suddenly and irrevocably shattered by the catastrophe. It shows the sudden onset of the eruption, capturing the stark horror of the people as they started to realise the magnitude of the disaster.
The docudrama provides a wealth of details surrounding the eruption, introducing the science behind the volcano’s activity and the various signs of an impending eruption that the people of Pompeii failed to recognise.
I have always been fascinated by the disaster of Pompeii and how the city completely vanished in a day. It gives me “The Lost City of Atlantis” vibes – only in real life.
2 Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts (2019)
This documentary showcases the life and career of Brian Michael Firkus, better known by his drag persona Trixie Mattel. The film explores Firkus’ early life in a small town in Wisconsin, how he discovered drag, and his rise to fame on the reality competition RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The documentary offers a glimpse into the world of drag performance, revealing the creative and technical aspects of the art form (and it really is an art form – these wonderful people have such talent, and I envy their creativity). It also delves into the behind-the-scenes struggles that go hand in hand with being a drag performer in the entertainment industry, like developing and maintaining a persona, dealing with criticism, and managing personal relationships. Of note is Trixie’s relationship with fellow drag performer Katya (Brian McCook), who quit their newly produced TV show due to a mental breakdown (among other issues).
The documentary lets us see how hard drag performing is and that it’s an incredible art form that helps showcase a performer’s myriad talents like singing and songwriting, for example, in Trixie’s case.
I loved this documentary, especially the parts that focussed on mental health recovery.
3 Outward Bound: Colonizing Mars (2017)
This is a half-hour documentary video by Isaac Arthur, a science educator and futurist on YouTube (he was elected president of the National Space Society in March 2023).
On his YouTube channel, Arthur shares videos ranging from space colonisation to transhumanism, and I can’t recommend his stuff enough. If you love futurism, science and technology, you’ll find something intriguing and entertaining to watch there.
In particular, the video “Outward Bound: Colonizing Mars” captured my imagination. I love science fiction, and one of my biggest dreams would be to visit a Martian colony (but only if it’s 400 years from now and the settlement is thriving, and I can get there via the USS Enterprise D).
Anyhoo… in this video (as in all his videos), Isaac shows us how we might be able to build a sustainable colony on the red planet using actual science and technology. He discusses gravity, habitats, and robots while explaining why we might need to spread ourselves out through the solar system and become an interplanetary species.
(Just as an aside, and totally apropos of nothing, if humans stay on Earth, then one dino-killing-sized asteroid impact… and we’re wiped out… yes… yes I do have an existential crisis every night thinking about this and similarly horrifying probable future events…).
Well that’s me… another post down. 33 weeks, if you can believe that.
I can’t wait to find about some of the documentaries all of you like. I love a good documentary; I’m such a visual learner that I learn more from a great doc than most anywhere else. That’s one of the numerous reasons I love Isaac Arthur’s videos. His content is incredibly engaging.
Anyway, thank you, as ever, for reading this week’s post. It really means the world.
Until next time,
George
© 2023 GLT
Categories: life, Wednesday Weekly Blogging Challenge
GEORGE L THOMAS 
I haven’t seen any of theses yet, but they sound great.
I’ll talk about documentaries with you anytime. 🙂
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oh, well I am going to have to check out both the Pompeii and Mars ones – thank you!
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You’re welcome!
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Interesting that you mention Terra being wiped out by an asteroid and Tanith’s was on Vesuvius, a super volcano like Yellowstone can do the same.
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Yeah, I once watched a documentary about super volcanoes when I was a kid and it scared me silly. It caused a bottleneck in the human population, leaving only 10,000 left across the planet. It makes you realise how scarnaturerw can be.
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The one on Pompeii sounds fascinating.
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I love learning about Pompeii. They’re discovering new things all the time out there. So interesting.
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