The 2002 documentary by Alexandra Pelosi is a time capsule into an era of simpler cons. It is telling that none of the dirty tricks used against John McCain by Bush were surfaced in the documentary. Also obvious was the party loyalty that McCain displayed when endorsing Bush. Worth a watch.
Month: July 2019
Fourth Observations
I drove in from OC to Santa Monica. I took the Five Freeway North to the Ten East. This is the most active 4th of July, in my thirty odd years of living in Southern California. A journey of 45 miles of freeway was garlanded in fireworks, 40 miles were lit up. The other five were smokey. It was brazen, mortars in air. Bombardment. People along the freeways look to be having a great time with fireworks out in Los Angeles and northern Orange County. Glorious drive. I love this.
Media diet
News:
Lately I’ve been reading the Wall Street Journal, haphazardly because I have a two month subscription for one fiat dollar. My other news sources are journalists like Michael Tracey, Glenn Greenwald, and various and sundry other twitterers. I read antiwar.com for foreign policy news as well.
Movies at home:
I recently bought X-Men: Days of Future Past on a streaming service. I got the Rogue Cut which expands the plot in the dark future by adding Rogue, and a rescue of her in order to replace Kitty Pryde who had been grievously injured by the Wolverine. This movie uses the trope I find most fascinating: pinpointing a moment that leads to a future we’d preferably not live in. Bryan Singer presents that future in Days of Future Past by starting in a New York City, presented as an open air prison in the literal sense, thoughtfully contrasting to our present reality’s neo-liberal caraceral affliction in New York City.
Podcasts:
I really like Part of the Problem, a podcast by Dave Smith. He is culturally a Jewish New Yorker, and a comedian by trade. Smith’s unique interest in current events, culture, news and libertarianism’s most consistent school of thought have made him the equivalent of Jon Stewart during the Bush years. Smith, like Stewart, has a comedic point of view with a role that requires him to comment on the news of the day.
Check him out in conversation with Michael Malice, another podcaster worth checking out:
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