Cheers to Ben for loaning it to me. Eye opening and mouth closing. If you live in a country that doesn’t have Blockbuster or Netflicks, I’ve heard it’s also available via torrent download.

An experienced filmmaker who recently finished a stint as a visiting lecturer at the Beijing Film Academy, Siok Siok’s credits also include being an executive producer for Discovery Channel programming as well as directing Boomtown Beijing, a fantastic documentary that followed the lives of four common Chinese during the leadup to the 2008 Olympics (see my interview with Siok Siok from last year).

Much like Boomtown Beijing, Twittamentary wont be focusing on its subject directly, but rather intends to break the topic down to its fundamental human elements. In a recent interview with WebProNews, Siok Siok explained: “The film explores the idea that Twitter accelerates serendipity. When lives intersect at an ever-increasing speed, great stories happen at an astonishing rate. We want to tell these wonderful stories. All the rest of it, the themes and the topics are just part of the great backdrop.”

The documentary’s Web site has issued a general call for submissions (whether written, videoed, recorded or otherwise) that tell “the most fascinating thing that happened to you because of Twitter”. The gathering of submissions will culminate in a 24-hour global event this September in which all Twitter users can submit new stories, as well as vote and comment on those Twitter stories (twories?) contributed by others. The best submissions will be weaved into the fabric of the film.

Though no official release date has been set for the film, it is expected to be available, online (and with a Creative Commons license), in the first half of 2010. Be sure to check out Twittamentary.com for the latest information. You can also follow Siok Siok on Twitter @sioksiok

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As with his breakthrough film, “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” follows Spurlock’s personal journey to dig around an issue that has been ingrained in the collective consciousness of North Americans, but that very few people devote any real thought to.

Also like his first documentary, this film offers up all of Spurlock’s goofy animations, simplified explanations and common-man commentary – plus it’s got a kickass Mortal Kombat style video game face-off between Spurlock and bin Laden.

I really liked it. I’m a fan of Spurlock largely because, unlike the overly presumptuous and incendiary documentarian style of his contemporary Michael Moore, I feel his method of “I don’t know, so I’m going to go take a look” brings the watcher a lot closer to the subject matter.

Whereas Moore’s films make you feel like he, and only he, is revealing some great conspiracy to you, Spurlock seems to put a lot more of the responsibility on the shoulders of the viewers to educate themselves and make their own decisions.

“Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden” follows Spurlock as he travels to Egypt, Morocco, Israel/West Bank, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Pakistan in a bit of a mock attempt to find Osama Bin Laden. Of course, American’s #1 most wanted is never found, but that wasn’t the point, was it.

The journey shows his target audience, your average American, that despite the fear that the likes of CNN and Fox News instill in us all about the Muslim world, we all want peace, love and understanding.

It also helps illustrate, in a much more constructive manner than blowing up a bus of innocent people, the seminal causes that lead to terrorism – namely poverty, government corruption and malicious foreign intervention.

Like Spurlock’s fantastic TV show “30 Days”, “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” isn’t meant to give all the answers and come out with a neatly packaged solution. It’s meant to raise questions and make people consider their preconceived notions about things.

I read the AP review by Christy Lemire of the movie and gotta say, she’s a bit lame in her analysis – essentially scolding Spurlock for making the movie on the grounds that it took him away from Alex, his pregnant wife, for so many months. Seems pretty weak to criticize a movie on the premise of a personal matter between the director and his wife, no?

I think Lemire’s argument is that it’s stupid for Spurlock to travel to these places and put himself in harm’s way for no “real” purpose – an argument that she might be better directing towards the largely US military forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ultimately, in my opinion, “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?” succeeds at doing what it set out to – paint the Muslim world with a bigger brush. Somewhat ironically, the only time Spurlock seemed to actually be in physical danger was when he tried to interview some Israelis. Them old Jews like to push.

The movie doesn’t presume to give answers to the problems in the Middle East, but it does make clear that the last thing the people of these countries want is a larger foreign military presence there. As simple and straight-forward as that seems, that’s most certainly not the way things are going.

So Elvis, what’s so funny about peace, love and understanding? Our inability as members of some of the richest nations in the world to not encourage and spread those three simple principles, but instead promote (both internationally and domestically) war, hate and ignorance – well, how can you not laugh at that?

If you want to watch “Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?”, you can download the torrent here, and you’ll also need the subtitle file from here (just slap it in the directory where the movie is). Or, if you live in a country that you can rent and buy it – you should do that.

Well, it’s been a year and a half and I’m happy to report that this little garden down has caught up (or soon will in regards to the light rail) on all counts.

The one that I’m most thrilled about is that we’ve finally got a feckin’ movie cinema that plays more than dubiously dubbed duds. You see, I am a movie addict. Hell, I paid my way through college by working at Blockbuster Video, and would have happily worked there for the free rentals.

Coming to China with its complete lack of respect for anti-piracy laws was just a little piece of heaven, and I’ve amassed enough videos to easily restock my former employer’s shelves.

However, as much as a dodgy copy of Hollywood’s latest and greatest for a buck puts a smile on my face, I absolutely love going to the cinema. Even here in China, where you have to put up with the guy behind you giving a play-by-play to his buddy on his mobile, I still crave it.

The fact that Suzhou didn’t have a cinema that played English-language films (in English) crushed me when we moved here. I couldn’t believe it. Dalian, which wasn’t much bigger and likely doesn’t have many more foreigners, had at least three big modern cinemas that regularly ran Hollywood hits with their original English soundtrack.

But, as I said, Suzhou’s caught up – some time ago actually, I was just asleep at the wheel. The new(ish) Suzhou Science and Cultural Arts Centre features a state-of-the-art IMAX-equipped cinema that routinely plays the 20 Western films the country allows in each year.

And the best part? It’s cheap! A regularly priced seat is only 50 RMB (about $7) and the cinema is no stranger to the seemingly universal law of half-priced Tuesdays.

Located way out on the north-eastern side of Jinji Lake, it’s a bit of a hike to get there, but checking out the cinema’s site, they list a number of buses (as well as the coming light-rail) that will take my ass from the city centre out there.

From the site:

Buses
Take No.26 at Suzhou Railway Station and transfer No.219 to Suzhou International Expo Centre ??
No.812 and No.219: North Suzhou Bus Station to Suzhou International Expo Centre
No.47: Suzhou Panmen Scenery Area to Suzhou International Expo Centre
No.108: South Suzhou Bus Station to Suzhou International Expo Centre
(It’s 3 minutes’walk from Suzhou International Expo Centre to SSCAC.)

Others
No.206, No.2, No.100, No.28 bus and Jin Ji Lake-sightseeing bus

Light Rail Transit
Light Rail No.1: Renmin Road to Suzhou International Expo Centre

SSCAC Regular Bus
Totally 45 buses each weekend drive you to Cineplex of SSCAC,and the stations are as follows:

1.Xin Yi Ke Suzhou Clinic (Ganjiang Road, Feng Huang Street)
2.Wusa Road
3.North Branch of Soochow University
4.Auchan
5.Rainbow Walk
6.SSCAC

Frequency:
11:00-20:00 one for each hour,route: Xin Yi Ke Suzhou Clinic-SSCAC (on board only)
13:00-23:30 one for each hour,route: SSCAC-Xin Yi Ke Suzhou Clinic (alight only) Last bus switched from (23:00 to 23：30)

Surroundings
Suzhou International Expo Centre,Jin Ji Lake Emporia,Times Square,The Shilla Suzhou,Genway International Hotel,Suzhou Industrial Park Administration Centre

So, off to see 10,000 BC tomorrow, and probably going to catch National Treasure next Tuesday (good or bad, it’s $3.50 for a cinematic experience!).

The site’s got showtime listings as well.