Dylan Avery Grows Up, a Bit

Slate is doing a series of articles on the 9/11 conspiracy theorists, including Dylan Avery, the seldom heard from creator of the conspiracy nutjob movie our blog is named in honor of.

What does Avery think of 9/11 conspiracy theories now? He thinks that while orchestrating the attacks was beyond the scope of the Bush administration, there was "considerable foreknowledge" within the government so that it should have been able to prevent them. Why it did not is his new focus. "Where I am now is, I've whittled it down to a very basic statement that I think a lot of people can agree on: There was a cover-up of some kind," Avery says. "The only question is what they were covering up, how far [up] it goes, how deep it runs, and how many asses would be on the line if the truth actually came out."

He says he still "support[s] the movement," but he also acknowledges getting "sucked in" deeper than he should have been, into a "hardcore mentality that it was almost too easy to get into back then, because the war had just started and everybody was just so pissed off."

"It was easy to distrust everything," he says, "because there was nothing you could trust."

In honor of this momentous occasion, I will turn the comments back on. Behave.

Dylan, the King John Look Is Never In

The beret is next, I swear!

Update: The show he appeared on is appropriately named: Zero Info.

How's That Paperwork Coming Along, Dylan?

The Avery Foundation is still processing paperwork?

The Avery Foundation is still processing paperwork with the IRS. As soon as we can legally collect donations an announcement will be made.

The Avery Foundation is being created this year by Dylan Avery, writer and director of the Loose Change series of documentaries about the events surrounding the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, 2001. The Avery Foundation will donate funds to well-established charities who care for the First Responders and victims of 9/11 as well as all their families, by providing them much needed financial assistance.

It is now almost 7 months since Loose Change An American Coup was released. What's the holdup with the foundation?

Dylan Avery and Korey Rowe Interviewed

Dylan Avery and Korey Rowe are inteviewed at the "Treason" conference by ABC News. It is worth it just to laugh at Dylan's goofy haircut. In the second part Korey actually brings up all the money they have donated (yeah right) and then bizarrely claims the "Tea Party" movement originated in the 9/11 truth movement. Who says truthers don't have a sense of humor?

Deadbeat Dylan?

I spent an interesting hour on the phone last night with Matthew Brown. Matt was the executive producer of Loose Change 9-11 An American Coup; his name appears in the opening credits in between Korey Rowe and Dylan Avery. Matt shared quite a bit of behind-the-scenes information with me which I will cover in several subsequent posts. But I thought I would start with a discussion of the Avery Foundation. As some of you may recall, this was supposed to be a charitable organization that Dylan claimed would end up donating more to the first responders on 9-11 than Greenglass did with United 93 and Oliver Stone did with World Trade Center.

Well, you know where you can take that pledge; to the bank of broken promises, where Dylan's already overdrawn. But it gets worse. Matt mentioned that he had located a few high net worth individuals who were prepared to donate around $230,000 to Dylan's charity to get it started. That's right, almost a quarter of a million dollars, which could have been helping first responders as we speak. But, as you can probably guess, Dylan and Korey didn't get the paperwork completed to set up the charity, and the proposed donors found other places to give their money.

Up until recently, the Avery Foundation's website had a little note saying that they were in the process of filing the necessary paperwork; hilariously, it doesn't say that any longer. Instead, there's this:


Yep, Dylan and Korey are refusing to pay their executive producer the money he's owed from the sales of the DVDs. Incidentally, Matt mentioned that LC911AC has sold about 15,000 copies, about half of those to the Netflix DVD rental company.

I will have much more information to share over the next few days, but this was too delicious not to post on immediately.

Update: Microcinema Interational writes in the comments:

Please note that neither Microcinema nor writer-director Dylan Avery or producer Korey Rowe are associated in any way to www.theaveryfoundation.org. If you would like to visit the official website for The Avery Foundation, go to: www.theaveryfoundation.com.

Should you be interested in speaking directly to the President of The Avery Foundation, please write to: info@microcinema.com, Attention - Patrick Kwiatkowski.

But of course, if you go to www.theaveryfoundation.com, it redirects to the same page as www.theaveryfoundation.org.

Update II: Well, they fixed that. Of course there going to have some work to do to fix Google, which will show the Avery Foundation here for awhile.

Et Tu, Adolf?

Some definite laugh-out-loud moments in this one. Quite a bit of profanity in the sub-titles, but absolutely perfect for the subject. Hat Tip: dwlan in the comments.

Those Wonky "Truthers"

A perhaps overly-sympathetic article on the creeps:

At first glance, the scene outside last week's 9/11 Film festival resembled that of any other big, protest-oriented event. Truther organizations such as the Northern California 911 Truth Alliance and Project Censored crammed the lobby of Oakland's Grand Lake Theater, setting up tables with books; DVDs; "Wake Up and Smell the Fascism" bumper stickers; rubber stamps with the slogan "9/11 was an inside job;" pictures of Hendrix, John Lennon, and Mahatma Gandhi; and "Deception dollars." Middle-aged white guys with long hair and tie-dyed shirts milled around the room, greeting each other like old friends. It looked and felt like a typical crowd of rabble-rousers — at least until you listened in on their conversations.

Yep, the grey ponytail crowd was apparently out in force, with David Ray Griffin speaking and several dense films on the agenda. And one bit of lighter fare:

Wednesday night wound up being the cool, hip-hoppy half of the festival and Thursday the nerdy, academic half. The main draw on Wednesday was the world premiere of Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup, the latest of a series made by twenty-five-year-old director Dylan Avery. His films, which feature slick hip-hop soundtracks and VH1-style editing (the new one is narrated by actor Daniel Sunjata) mark the apex of popular success for 9-11 conspiracy-theory material. According to producer Korey Rowe, it is the most downloaded movie in the history of the Internet. During the post-screening discussion, no one challenged Avery's premise that 9-11 was planned and coordinated by the US government, or that the World Trade Center collapsed because of a controlled demolition, rather than a plane crash or fire damage. Instead, audience questions ranged from basic (i.e., "Why do you call the film Loose Change) to specific ("Why was Obama included in the closing of this film?"). Cleary, Rowe and Avery were preaching to the converted.

We also get a new theory:

"Dr. Griffin, regarding the reason for taking down World Trade Center 7: One theory is that it was an 'SCIF' — a Secure Controlled Intelligence Facility. This theory holds that the key CIA agents who were responsible for 9-11 were told to come to World Trade Center 7 for a debriefing that afternoon, and WTC 7 was taken down for the purpose of killing these CIA agents, thus covering up key evidence. What is your opinion of this theory?"

Actually, SCIF stands for Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, but otherwise the theory seems only to lack one little thing: evidence.

Rob Breakenridge MP3 Up

Scroll down a bit for The World Tonight Redux and you'll see the episode there; right click and save link (or target) as to download the MP3 file.

One thing that hit me as I hit the sack last night was that Dylan is full of crap on his response to my first issue, which was the bit about the Defense Department and defense industry people on the plane. If he is not indicating that it's suspicious that those folks were on the plane, that he's just showing that the planes were light on passengers, then why does he highlight those particular passengers?

And as it happens this is not one of those things you need to watch Loose Change 9-11 American Coup to see. You can watch Final Cut here and start it at 38:16, and see how Dylan shows us where the hijackers were located. Then he shows us where Barbara Olsen was seated, as well as employees from Boeing, Raytheon, the Department of Defense, Lockheed Martin, American Airlines, the Navy, Army and "other government agencies". Is there any doubt what he's doing there? And, aside from Daniel Sunjata's narration, there's no difference as far as I can see between FC and AC on this point.

Debate with Dylan Tomorrow Night

Note: This post will remain up top until Thursday night. Some newer posts may appear below.

Rob Breakenridge is providing the radio bandwidth on AM 770, Calgary, on Thursday, September 10, at 8:00 PM Mountain Time, which is 7:00 Pacific, 9:00 Central and 10:00 PM Eastern Time. For those of us not fortunate enough to live in the frozen tundra, you can listen live here. I have never actually debated Dylan before; we were scheduled one time, but it ended up being Jason Bermas instead.

Update: Call-in numbers: 1-800-563-7770, or 403-974-8255 for those in the Calgary area.

Thanks Again to Rob Breakenridge!

Definitely the one talk show host who I feel knows as much about 9-11 Debunking as I do. I loved the way he would not let Dylan evade his questions. Dylan caught me by surprise by telling me to interview the people who provided the dust samples; fortunately he overreached by citing the guy who swept some dust into a ziplock bag, giving me the opportunity to insist that was not a chain of custody.

I will find out if an MP3 is available.

Dylan's Other New Film

Obviously we're covering Loose Change 9-11 An American Coup a lot around here, but Dylan's also going to be featured in this film being released on Saturday as well:



Wow. Just wow. A fictionalized 9-11 Troof film that's even more offensive than the "documentaries".

Loose Change 9-11 An American Coup Review: Part I

I obtained a "screener" copy of the new film from a media source who will go unnamed. In general, the film is something of a retreat to LCII, in that it goes back to pushing conspiratorial interpretations of Flight 77 and Flight 93, two aspects of 9-11 nuttery that were downplayed in LCFC. It's a lot to go through in one sitting, although fortunately most of the conspiracy theory stuff we've covered in the past.

Daniel Sunjata's narration is generally an improvement over Dylan's nasal twang, but it does not improve the "skeptical" comments that are sprinkled throughout the film; for those you really do need the snarky, kid-voice.

Here's my basic outline of the film:

Reichstag Fire
Pearl Harbor
Operation Paper Clip
Manhattan Project—Compartmentalization
Nuremberg Trials
JFK Assassination
Gulf of Tonkin
My Lai
WTC Construction
PNAC
9-11 Commission
Bin Laden denies responsibility
Fatty Bin Laden tape
Pre-2004 election video of Bin Laden
2006 Bin Laden tape
Hijackers not devout Muslims—drinking, lap dances, and hookers
Collins information about Hanjour
Able Danger
Atta attempt to get a loan for crop-dusting
Al-Ghamdi had flights scheduled for after 9-11
67 previous intercepts within 10 minutes
No prediction of airplanes into the buildings
Plane into Pentagon Drill too unrealistic
Amalgam Virgo
Haitian AIDS patient to fly airplane into Tindall AFB
OBL on cover of Amalgam Virgo plan
FBI has no records of this game
Wargames on 9-11
Booker Elementary—Bush saw first strike. Stayed at Booker despite being a target
Vigilant Guardian, Inputs into the screens.
Global Guardian?
Northern Vigilance
Pentagon
All Flight 77 hijackers set off metal detectors.
Flight 77 unusually light
Suspicious people on the plane, defense, and other government
Squawk hijack code not given
Hanjour should have dived into the top of the Pentagon.
Flight controllers thought it was a military plane.
Section hit was lightly occupied, recently reinforced. Important budget information lost.
No visible damage from the wings
Titanium engines.
No serial numbers.
No impact damage to the lawn
No videos show 757
The exit hole in C Ring is not explained
Mineta—50,30,10
Collapse of South Tower, 10 Seconds
North Tower collapse 10 seconds
WTC-7 collapse
Other fires
One Meridian Plaza
Lots of stuff in here recycled from earlier versions
Path of greatest resistance
NIST report
Not modelled after initiation
No tests for explosive residue
Jeanette McKinlay—weird music
Jones—red and gray chips
Red=aluminum and iron oxide
Carbon, Oxygen, Silicon, Aluminum and Iron. Carbon is in superthermite. Carbon gives explosive force to thermite.
Says a lot of energy released and explodes.
Nano thermite? Iron microspheres? Wait a minute!
Suddenly they find the iron microspheres.
Freefall speed—10 seconds
Concrete dustified
Molten metal exceeding 2000 F
Fires did not get put out until December
Need to sever core columns
Smoke at base of South Tower
Squibs (similar to earlier versions)
Turner Construction—ties to NIST and Bush
Fireproofing work on the North and South Tower.
Marvin Bush—Securacom
Jones: How did they use nanothermite; I can’t explain everything.
Debris shipped overseas and sold.
Bill Manning Fire Engineering mag complained.
Flight 93 "allegedly" crashes
Debris 6 miles away
Cockpit separated?
No jet fuel found in wells in area
Mint condition bandanna, Driver’s licenses.
WTC-7
OEM
Test status of fire alarm system that morning.
Freefall speed
Steel shipped off
Sulfidation
NIST-WTC-7
105-foot freefall
Barry Jennings and Michael Hess
Death of Barry Jennings
WTC-7 barely damages surrounding buildings
Smedley Butler reveals plot of a coup against FDR. FDR later makes deal with plotters to stay in power.
Appeal for new investigation.

Those are, of course just broad-brush impressions. Under the Reichstag Fire incident, which leads off the film, Dylan claims that historians now believe that the Nazis secretly entered the basement of the building and dowsed it with gasoline, and that Van Der Lubbe ignited the fire with his shirt. But other historians believe that the Nazis were caught by surprise by the Reichstag fire and actually worried that it was the anticipated revolt by the communists. Here's a terrific first-hand account of the blaze by a British reporter:

I am sure that he meant this seriously and was not just putting on an act. Both Hitler and Göring then still feared the possibility of a Communist coup. With six million votes at the last elections and a large number of adherents in the trade unions the Communists were still a formidable power. And they had in the past tried to capture power by coups - just as the Nazis had.

Dylan also claims that Hitler and Goring stopped by the Reichstag fire and executed some communists that same night. This is a new claim on me; Van Der Lubbe was indeed executed months later after a trial, but three other communists who were charged in the case were found not guilty, and I have found no other indication that anybody else was summarily executed.

There are a few claims that I'm going to have to bone up on. One is that there were reports that the cockpit detached from the rest of Flight 93. Steven Jones claims that after they researched the red and grey chips, a fellow scientist suggested that they search for iron microspheres; it's certainly my impression that the iron microspheres came up earlier than the red and grey chips in Jones' "work".

On the need to sever the core columns, I never tire of pointing out that if the core columns were severed at the bottom, then how did the "spire" (those same core columns) remain standing for a few seconds after the rest of the building collapsed.

In a lot of ways, Loose Change 9-11 An American Coup is really Loose Change II Recut Director's Cut. Final Cut seemed to back away from the "No-Big Boeing at the Pentagon" theories, while American Coup highlights them again. Ditto with Flight 93. The Barry Jennings' interview is as bad as John Schroeder's for confused timelines; I'll have to put together a transcript for that.

The Best Decision Dylan Ever Made

Was to sit back and let Jason be the spokesman for Looser Than Words. Now that Jason's off doing his own thing, Dylan's doing the radio interviews. Badly.

He was on with WRIF talkers Drew and Mike the other day. Dylan spends much of the time griping about what a pair of immature jerks they are; only a twenty-something would bother whining like that. I see he's back to "No-Planer" status, denying Flight 77 hit the Pentagon and that Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville.

Hat Tip: Temecula (at the JREF Forums).

Dylan Logic

Well I am back from my 2 week annual training for the National Guard, practicing setting up detention centers for troofers of course, and am getting caught up with things.

I listened to the interview with Dylan Avery that Pat posted below, and am still shaking my head at this exchange with the host at the end.

Dylan: I would disagree with you, especially when 17 members of the Bush administration signed a document in September 2000 calling for a new Pearl Harbor and saying if they got it, they could advance their military and stage multi-theater wars.

Mike: But they didn't actually call for it. The wording in the document. You are talking about the Project for a New American Century right?

Dylan: Process yes, "the process of transformation is likely to be a long one, absent a catalyzing and catastrophic event." Of course they are not calling for it.

Mike: You just said they were. And that is where you have to be careful with the wording of how you say things.

Dylan: (sigh) You understand what I am saying Mike.

Mike: I do...

Dylan: The fact that 17 members of the Bush administration a year prior...

Mike: But this is a very good example of conservative thinktank policy. They do this all the time. They write papers all the time.

Dylan: But that is my point, is that the people who wrote this paper calling for a new Pearl Harbor...

Mike: But they weren't calling for it! Read it again. They weren't calling for it.

Dylan: OK, Mike, but you are distracting from the main point.

Well apparently they were calling for it, but they weren't calling for it.

Dylan's New Trailer

The usual "jet fuel can't destroy the towers" argument. And a match couldn't possibly burn down a mansion, either. I love that he's back to "no identified wreckage of Flight 77"; in Final Cut, he showed lots of pieces of the plane.

Oh, well, at least he isn't going LIHOP again.

Update: Listen to Dylan pull a hissy fit when a radio show host asks him why Alex is not part of American Coup:

Because It Feels So Good When He Stops?

That's the only explanation I can come up with for this video.

Hat Tip: dwlan in the comments.

Loose Change the 97th Cut

The latest trailer:



I like that Microcinema's logo is an empty chair; how appropriate is that? I'm not sure if the narrator in this particular segment is Sunjata; if it is, wow, they should go back to Dylan, because that is the least dramatic voice I've heard on any of these nutbar videos.

Note the accelerated video of the collapse of the North Tower; he does that twice so I assume it's intentional. There are some indications we'll get new stuff in the video; Steven Jones' red and gray chips look likely to get a workout. But so do squibs and the BS about how we need video of Atta getting on the plane.

And I still don't get the 9-22 release date; am I the only person baffled by that decision? Maybe the problem is that they know if it's released before 9-11 it will get extensively duped and so the Avery Foundation won't be able to pursue its charitable mission? So they're hoping to hook the suckers in after the 9-11-09 Festivities?

Another "Fictional" Troofer Film

This one features Dylan Avery (shown briefly at about 1:37). Looks like a good cure for insomnia.

Yet Another Loose Change Movie

Dylan promises to donate some of the money to the first responders. Of course earlier he said that he would donate more than the creators of United 93 did, a claim which conveniently disappeared down the memory hole.

Loose Change, the Fifth Cut

Good lord, it never ends:

Dramatically narrated by Daniel Sunjata, currently starring on FX’s critically acclaimed “Rescue Me” as Franco Rivera, “Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup” explores historical events that reshaped the world – from the Reichstag Fire in 1933 that catapulted Hitler to dictatorship - to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964 that led to the Vietnam War. The film leads the audience through a roller-coaster of pivotal history before delving into the largest event of all - 9/11. The film analyzes the steps America took in the aftermath of the disaster, and the suspicious events that followed.

Filmmaker Dylan Avery’s vision and hope is for those affected by 9/11 to receive the answers they seek. He asks for a fundamental call to action, as displayed in the previous “Loose Change” films, and supports the 9/11 truth movement by seeking honesty and clarity from those who have covered up actual events. A topic that inspires passion among many, the producers are actively seeking celebrities to be a voice for those whose questions have remained unanswered to date.

For some unknown reason, they are releasing the film on 9/22/09. At least, that is the current projected release date; we all know that Dylan seldom meets his deadlines. Here's Dylan and Sunjata on the Jack Blood show (MP3 file) to discuss the latest iteration.

Update: Listening to Dylan now. Some things are pretty clear; Dylan's other projects didn't pan out. He hints but does not directly say what's been pretty obvious to me; he made Loose Change not to be a 9-11 conspiracy guy but to be a filmmaker. You can sense this when he talks about how he was done making 9-11 CT films after Final Cut. Also note how he dances around the reason for the lack of success with FC; as we said at the time, it was more of a LIHOP film, but obviously he doesn't want to acknowledge that so Blood helps him out by saying the film was "more accessible".

My advice to Dylan remains the same; if he really wants to be a filmmaker he's probably got enough experience that he could get into a film school, which is what he should be concentrating on.

Update: Unsecured Coins has an announcement as well:



Update II: The news has electrified the Loose Change forums; so far there's one thread on the new movie with one comment:

Sound like a whole new angle on Loose Change.