Doug Benson Joins the Smoking Circle

[Sarah]

Listening sober to the conversation of people high on anything is painful, I find. 

[erika]

Same with people who drink. I find drunk people pretty loud, obnoxious and annoying. Or, on the other hand... they could be depressed or violent. That's always fun too.

And the smell...

I find that I am not a fan of alcohol. I don't have the stomach for it and as I just said, I find most drunk people very annoying. I think alcohol is dangerous, as well... Trust me, I've had fun with it and I love a beer now and then, but human beings abuse it.

On the other hand, at least for me, pot does little more than what Doug said in the movie... it makes things a little fun! It doesn't turn me into a different person as I've seen alcohol do on more than one occasion to many different people.

Yes, a goofy, immature stoner that you can pick out from a mile away is probably just as annoying as someone who is drunk.

I smoke every day, hold a good job with a lot of responsibility, talk about pot casually and without paranoia, and I believe very strongly that it should be legal. Most people don't know that I smoke unless I tell them... which I usually do because I'm not ashamed of it. It's not a religion, but maybe if more people spoke up that they smoked, the mass populace would realize that people are smoking this stuff and it's less harmful than alcohol.

And just like I can't drink, I realize there are people out there who can't really smoke because it makes them paranoid or whatever. But at least if they wanted to go have a drink, they can do so without being penalized for it.

Bunch of garbage. This whole thing being illegal and alcohol being eeeeverywhere. I've thought so since before I even smoked the stuff.

PS. Not everyone sounds like an idiot when they're high. Some can actually hold decent conversations and keep their shit together.

[ericluxury]

Doug Benson is a funny and I like the director Mike Blieden also, but Super High Me wasn't so good. Mainly because it got its structure from Super Size Me, which means uneventful hanging out and then peppy graphics to break things up and provide context. Kind of like a drama-free reality show version of Pop-Up Video. I enjoyed the stand-up and there were times when Doug was funny, but overall its faults were the same as Super Size Me's and stemmed from being a spoof of that movie, that it uses a boring structure to prove an obvious point (to the choir). I don't take anything away from anyone involved in the movie except Morgan Spurlock who provided it's reason for being.


I rarely smoke pot and don't really like listening to the conversations of those that do. But that said, it's insane that it is illegal. I think most reasonable people who aren't in the business of legislating or prostelizing their morality feel that way. No one needs to even prove that they are capable or responsible, government shouldn't be legislating victimless crimes on the basis of some people's morality. The part of the legalize pot argument that I've always disliked is the 'well alcohol and tobacco are more dangerous or annoying or whatever'. The people who press for these laws and anti-drug policies are insane people who are arguing that people who don't agree with them should go to prison. Either that or they are so scared that their 'perfect' children will someday lose their innocence (despite its inevitability) that they are hysterical. They are the problem, not alcohol.

[Chris L]

I might have an idea for the fan fiction contest now.

SUPER CALL ME

[erika]

Yeah but it's tough to swallow that your habit of choice, if you so choose to have one, is illegal when there's something out there that is way more dangerous, kills more people every year, and breaks up families the way alcohol does. There is no rational reason as to why pot is illegal... someone just decided to label it a "controlled substance".

I've had so many drunk people give me such judgemental looks when I say that I like to smoke pot. I mean, daggers in their fucking eyes. All while they're slurping down their fourth glass of expensive wine and right before they hop in their cars to drive home. It sucks and it's in my face constantly. It's hard not to think about it.

[PatrickChew]

At least now we know what's in Erika's "supercupcakes."

[masterofsparks]

What really cracks me up is when you meet a pothead whose clothing, tattoos, and other personal accessories are covered in things like potleaves and "420" who will very earnestly tell you the reason they think pot should be legal is because you can make really nifty rope out of it or something. It's like "Really? Nothing about smoking it?"

[samir]

Ericluxury nicely summed up how I also feel about it.
The movie itself didn't really grab me - I didn't see any motivation other than "Hey, let's just get high for a month"

[TremblingEagle]

I thought it was interesting because in the background you see a snapshot
of the continuing eroding of American civil liberties.

People always go on about how blah, blah, blah America is so free it's the bestest country in the world. UNLESS you want to pursue happiness in some particularly quirky way.

[Sarah]

For the record, "high on anything" included being drunk.

In any case, I don't give a hoot if people smoke pot and think it's far less dangerous than alcohol--even though I don't smoke and do drink.  I just know that when I'm not under the influence of anything, talking to people who are--whether the influence is alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, Oxycontin, or other--is almost always a bore.

[erika]

Samir I'm disappointed that that's all you took from it. Like Eric, I assume you have a dislike of those who smoke pot and talk about it too much, and maybe that marred your vision of the movie.

One thing the movie did was show was how some really fucked up things are going on in California. The country is falling apart and the DEA is spending thousands (millions?) of dollars busting legal pot shops in California.

During one bust, someone yelled "GO BUST A METH LAB, YOU COWARDS". I think that says it all. They're busy busting up something that has been deeemed legal by a US state... because it's an easy target.

[ericluxury]

Samir I'm disappointed that that's all you took from it. Like Eric, I assume you have a dislike of those who smoke pot and talk about it too much, and maybe that marred your vision of the movie.

Um, no. I explained that pretty clearly. The movie had laughs, but they were sparse and didn't build (not that they should, they were just Doug being funny in life rather than comedic setpieces). Most of it was spent hanging out with people as they talked without having much to say. That's fine, its life. But a bunch of peppy graphics and facts intersperced with dull footage doesn't make for an interesting movie. Especially when they are saying an obvious points to the choir (will a movie about pot that examines the subject in that manner be seen by people who aren't already pro-pot or pro-Doug? No). Its the exact problem that Super Size Me had, except that Super Size Me had more interesting places to go (like slaughterhouses and places where tastes are manufactured [though that could have been just in the Fast Food Nation book, the two blend in together in my mind]).

As a fan of Doug and Mike Blieden, I wanted to like the movie, so no I don't think I just don't like pot-smokers or listening to them talk about pot and thus didn't care about it. Please don't be condescending. I think that an interesting movie about pot and legalization of pot could be made and a dvd of Doug doing stand-up would be great, but mixing the two and putting it into Morgan Spurlock's movie-making formula made Super High Me not that movie.

[erika]

I'm sorry I worded that wrong, Eric, I didn't mean to offend or make it seem that you weren't looking at the movie objectively. I realize that's how it came out.

But for Samir to have watched the movie and walked away with nothing more than "oh he smoked pot for a month" disappointed me and made me think that he might dislike pot smokers in general. The movie, even though it might have failed, actually did have a point to make. There was more motivation there... it was hidden in a cloud of pot smoke, but it was there.

[samir]

But for Samir to have watched the movie and walked away with nothing more than "oh he smoked pot for a month" disappointed me and made me think that he might dislike pot smokers in general. The movie, even though it might have failed, actually did have a point to make. There was more motivation there... it was hidden in a cloud of pot smoke, but it was there.

That's not quite what I meant. I took a few things from it - as a law student, the whole California vs. Feds thing was pretty interesting. But often it felt more gimmicky, like the "Does pot make you more psychic? Oh, no it has no effects whatsoever" stuff. In that respect, the conclusions seemed a little muted to me. And as Eric said, I just didn't think it was very funny. Although I enjoyed hearing PFT say "Fuck".

I don't have anything against smokers, no. In my (limited) experience, people I've met who're super pro-legalisation aren't as articulate as you are about it. As Brian said earlier, most of the people I've encountered are the annoying overzealous types.

[John Junk 2.0]

I've had so many drunk people give me such judgemental looks when I say that I like to smoke pot. I mean, daggers in their fucking eyes. All while they're slurping down their fourth glass of expensive wine and right before they hop in their cars to drive home. It sucks and it's in my face constantly. It's hard not to think about it.  They're after me!  They're all out to get me!  Why do they all hate me so much?  What'd I ever do to them?  I can hear their thoughts and they're thoughts of mellow-harshing hatred!  I feel like a fucking aeroplane is about to crash into this building but at least that'd be a relief from their dagger-eyes!  They think I'm a terrorist I know it.  I'm going to be arrested any second.

Woah!  You sound paranoid. Have you been smoking pot?