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"Smashing Telly is a hand edited collection of the best free, instantly available TV on the web. ~~Not 30 second clips~~ (now with added clips, good ones) of a dog on a skateboard, or the millionth person to mime the Numa song, but classic clips and full length programs, with a focus on documentaries and non fiction. Smashing Television, not Gimmick Television.

Each entry is like a postcard, a short piece of text which describes a moving picture."

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June 22nd, 2009 32 comments link to (permalink) posted by david

This is a permanent post for Smashing Telly readers to suggest new items in the comments.

tags: suggestions

32 responses so far »

Josh : Jun 22, 2009 at 3:38 pm

Nice timing on this post, though I'd be surprised if you hadnt come across this one.
Full length movie, available in HD, spectacular arial shots, poignant message.
http://www.youtube.com/homeproject
Enjoy.
J
Mjohnson : Jun 22, 2009 at 3:46 pm

Shortish video showing police brutality in the UK against climate change activists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/21...

Please say something. Animated film.

http://vimeo.com/3388129

Did you do this one? You should if you haven’t, The Story of Stuff.

http://www.storyofstuff.com/
hntrnyc : Jun 22, 2009 at 3:59 pm

As I mentioned in a previous comment, perhaps you could post an all-time fave list of your cherished shows/series? There must be a wealth of material that some of us may have missed and we could add our own suggestions.
Tim : Jun 22, 2009 at 4:02 pm

Do a blog entry on this site: http://www.filmsforaction.org Here is a snapshot from their about us: "Films For Action is a non-profit group and website featuring over 400 of the best indy-media documentaries and videos you can watch free online. In addition to over 100 documentaries, which I know many other sites also cover, we also feature a wide variety of short films, PSAs, presentations, and short tv/video clips that we hope will inspire action on the issues covered. New videos are added regularly on a wide variety of activist issues, selected with an emphasis on ideas, information, and perspectives not covered by the mainstream media.

We don't add every video we find. We only add films that meet our standards for quality, production values, accuracy, and/or it's overall contribution to the "marketplace of ideas" – which we believe is essential to a thriving and functioning democracy.

A sampling of topics include: activism, corporations, big media, sustainability, permaculture, community building, climate change, peak oil, globalization, empire, human and animal rights, media literacy, big ideas, politics, government, economics, society, food, education, solutions, the big picture, consumerism, drug prohibition, elections and democracy, culture, indigenous issues, terrorism, war and peace.. you name it.

We try to cover the full range of issues that don't get adequately covered by mainstream media. A quick glance at some of the videos under our big media section is proof enough to why this is so important.

Another nice feature of the site is that it is not drowning in obnoxious blinking ads that seem to cover a lot of the video directory sites we've come across."

They also have a widget that let's you easily add hundreds of the best socially-conscious videos to your blog or website in minutes: http://www.filmsforaction.org/blogdetails/?num=27...

Cheers, thought you might dig it. – Tim
david galbraith : Jun 22, 2009 at 6:46 pm

Ok – you've persuaded me – will do my top 10 tv nostalgia and everyone can posts theirs
david galbraith : Jun 22, 2009 at 6:47 pm

Ah yes, good one – only reason I haven't posted it is I haven't found the time to actually watch it yet.
david galbraith : Jun 22, 2009 at 6:48 pm

I like the story of stuff – should def post that, thanks.
Jonathan : Jun 24, 2009 at 2:04 am

Jon Ronson is good for documentary and for some reason plenty of his stuff is available full length online. Did I see the one about Stanley Kubrick on your site?

Anyway here's some links:

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=jon+ronson&...

The David Icke one is good.

YouTube is full of the Big Brother one is kinda funny/sad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2vwQf7BEGU
Jonathan : Jun 24, 2009 at 2:17 am

Ooh the big brother video just made me think you should have a section for conspiracy theories (perhaps it could find a home between politics and pseudo science?).

Here's a really well made one to get you started:

http://video.google.com/videoshare?docid=-4943675...
Tim : Jun 24, 2009 at 3:37 am

Saw you deleted my suggestion. I guess you thought it sounded spammy. Sorry about that. I genuinely thought you might find some good documentaries from there to feature on your site. As far as my personal favorites, I like "Orwell Rolls In His Grave" – it is about the problems of media concentration and why independent media is so essential to a functioning democracy. Cheers~
http://www.filmsforaction.org/film/?Film=89&T...
PeteShambler : Jun 24, 2009 at 5:11 am

If I can recommend a music one, the Germs clip from the first Decline of Western Civilization has always stood out to me, both as the best part of its movie, and as a strong short in its own right. Of any of the groups highlighted in the series, they– particularly Darby, but their fans included– are the only ones that seemed genuinely damaged beneath the surface.

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4kvKUfeFpc

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zj9t56tXcCM
david galbraith : Jun 24, 2009 at 8:24 am

The place I have been putting conspiracy theory stuff and false memes is: FEBL. I should perhaps also re-categorize. But yes you are right, amateur conspiracy theories films are an important internet phenomenon to dissect – the intellectual equivalent of pornography, based upon human desire and fantasy rather than fact.
david galbraith : Jun 24, 2009 at 8:27 am

This is great – am kicking my shoes off to sit back and watch it right now.
david galbraith : Jun 24, 2009 at 8:30 am

Oops, sorry about that Tim, was not deliberate, I assure you.
Mark : Jun 25, 2009 at 12:33 pm

not sure if you can post these but I have been re-watching the Cosmos series on Netflix Instant watch. It is so wonderful!
Adam : Jul 4, 2009 at 6:55 pm

I would love to read your thoughts on any of the Louis Theroux series, particularly his latest set of hour-long mini documentaries for the BBC.
tonny : Jul 6, 2009 at 10:31 pm

Any of these pieces from chunnel.tv re: Iran. They have as many as 6 more in this series on the way. It's a side of things you rarely get a chance to see

http://chunnel.tv/news/869/culture-of-martyrdom-i...
http://chunnel.tv/news/885/girls-vs-boys-irans-in...
http://chunnel.tv/news/909/smells-like-teen-spiri...
Ford : Jul 7, 2009 at 8:43 pm

Current events are always interesting social commentary:

http://www.oneandother.co.uk/
dan : Jul 13, 2009 at 8:07 am

Can I suggestan an old Channel 4 equinox report on ecstasy and the underground techno music scene from the early 90s?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-83249681...
bob : Jul 21, 2009 at 3:56 pm

yes very sad. im followed around non stop and iv got microwave attack maddness. id tend to defend consipriacys with the idea of freedom of thought, and be less immediatly dismissive towards people who attempt to present a differeing view point, but this is just sad. mayb its MI5s microwave set on 'prick'
bob : Jul 21, 2009 at 3:56 pm

yes very sad, "im followed around non stop and iv got microwave attack maddness".

id tend to defend consipriacys with the idea of freedom of thought, and be less immediatly dismissive towards people who attempt to present a differeing view point, but this is just sad. mayb its MI5s microwave set on 'prick'
david galbraith : Jul 22, 2009 at 2:15 pm

Thanks dan – i think that makes a good pick with the summer music festival season and the secular change of the narcotic du jour to liquor again.
Dan Westlake : Jul 23, 2009 at 11:34 am

http://www.bbc.co.uk/adamcurtis

Here is a preview of Adam Curtis's new film but the whole thing will be up in a few weeks.
david galbraith : Jul 23, 2009 at 1:38 pm

yeah – I've been trying to post something about it – but all the previews seem to be uk only. If anyone can find something, let me know.
Dan Westlake : Jul 25, 2009 at 10:20 pm

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=1045891...

Jean Michael Basquiat being interviewed by Glenn O'Brien on an early edition of the notorious NYC, Downtown, art scene, cable TV show 'TV Party'. It has a different vibe to 'Cylists Special' but maybe evokes an historical time and place just as much. The whole Premier Episode is apparently also available to view online but is preceded by adverts and I don't like adverts.
Dan Westlake : Jul 29, 2009 at 12:23 pm

and something else entirely…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nplemK3Y4ns

What is interesting here is that this short montage probably contains all the archive clips ever available of George Best in flow where as now every-time a top flight professional footballer steps on the field of play it will be filmed.
Mean Mister Mustard : Aug 1, 2009 at 10:57 pm

This echos the Dubai post of a few months ago, but here is a respected investor, Hugh Hendry, walking through a Chinese city and pointing out all the empty buildings and asking who holds the half billion in liabilities these behemoths have.
http://www.investmentpostcards.com/2009/07/29/hug...
Dan Westlake : Aug 11, 2009 at 12:35 am

Not that your asking me but Theroux is a shallow publicity seeking narcissist. I enjoyed watching his early shows (Weird Weekends etc.) as a somewhat guilty pleasure but always felt slightly uneasy that I was being implicated in the voyeuristic exploitation of easy targets. I also very curious about what Theroux's attitude to his victims really was. I brought his book (The Call of the Weird: Travels in American Subcultures) hoping to find out and did. Given the book format where he had every opportunity to demonstrate at least some real journalistic curiosity in, or even understanding of, his subjects he demonstrates a complete lack of interest in anything other than their superficial strangeness.
Denys : Aug 31, 2009 at 5:00 pm

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=-4...

This is a music documentary about the punk band Crass.

'Crass were an English punk band, formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularized the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism. The band both utilised and advocated a "Do It Yourself" approach, producing sound collages, graphics, albums and films. Crass also criticized and attempted to subvert the dominant culture with messages promoting feminism, anti-racism, anti-war, and anti-globalization.'

They are also infamous for releasing the 'Thatchergate' tape – a recorded conversation with Ronald Reagon concerning the sinking of the HMS Sheffield during the Falklands War.
Dan Westlake : Sep 2, 2009 at 11:38 pm

is smashingtelly deceased?
Dan Westlake : Sep 5, 2009 at 10:53 pm

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=380236215...

This is an amazing documentary on Jacques Vergès the French lawyer who defended, among others, Algerian militants, Palestinian high-jackers, a Khmer Rouge leader, a Holocaust denier, a Nazi war criminal and international terrorist Carlos the Jackal. (French with English subtitles)
Ric : Sep 6, 2009 at 10:40 pm

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-727780...

This is an amazing and slightly surreal documentary on well guys and dolls. Emphaiss on the dolls

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June 22nd, 2009 32 comments link to (permalink) posted by david