One Hot Scary Mess of a Halloween Mama by. The Rolling Bone
I’m
generally leery of PG-13 horror movies.
In an attempt to attract the widest possible audience they usually have
to water down the project; images that are too graphic, nudity or language that
is too profane all wind up on the cutting room floor in an attempt to pass the
censors, oftentimes leaving behind a toothless movie. Mama,
(2013) directed by Andres’ Muschietti and produced by Guillermo Del Toro tells
a story that wouldn’t require a stiffer rating, but it disappoints for what it decides to show. A modern ghost story with a very creepy
premise, Mama ultimately
becomes more of a CGI driven “creature flick” with an ending that
underwhelms. Muschietti shows promise,
and Del Toro’s fingerprints are evident, as the film does many things
right. Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty) leads a decent
cast including Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game
Of Thrones), but it isn’t poor acting that undoes the film. Despite a scary premise and some really
disturbing visuals, the chills just don’t add up in this film but, the movie
does entertain enough to mildly recommend it.
The
first scenes in the movie are shot using a color filter that renders the images
a dull and lifeless gray, and the first color we see is the red of a child’s
hat. This technique has become a
Hollywood staple since Schindler’s
List, but it works to lend an almost fairy-tale like feel to the films
earliest scenes. The movie begins with a frantic Father (Coster-Waldau) loading
his two frightened daughters into a car, and speeding away from a horrible
crime into snowy wilderness. Driving too
fast for the conditions, the man sends the car over a cliff where it plummets
into a snowy ravine. The trio wanders
the wilderness before finding a decrepit cabin that appears abandoned. Unfortunately for his daughters, the refuge
they have found will not shield them from the violence their father wishes to
commit against them; luckily, “Mama” will.
Five
years after that horrible day, two hunters stumble across the cabin and
discover the girls still alive. They
have become feral, and their odd mannerisms and movement indicate they have
modeled their behavior after “something.”
What exactly that “something” is becomes the focus of a psychologist
(Daniel Kash) who is assigned joint custody of the girls along with their Uncle
Lukas (Coster-Waldau again) and his rocker girlfriend Annabel (Chastain.) The Uncle just happens to be the twin
brother of their father, but Muschietti wastes the opportunity to explore why
that would be especially painful for the girls.
Muschietti misses the boat by not showing many of the sessions that Dr.
Dreyfuss (Kash) has with Lilly (Isabelle Nelisse) and Victoria (Megan
Charpentier) as the disturbed girls are the most genuinely scary element of the
movie. Instead the viewer is given most
of the girls back story through the dialogue of other characters, and we come
to find that a caretaker watched over the girls for the five years they spent
in the cabin. Dreyfuss becomes convinced that an actual woman, the “Mama” the
girls speak of, must have fostered the girls and enlists his secretary to look
for clues to her identity. When strange
things begin to happen in the house however, signs point to a less human kind of caretaker.
As the
movie progresses we are given the story behind “Mama” through Annabel’s dreams,
old news clippings, and the secretary’s conversations with Dr. Dreyfuss. The story is pretty compelling, and clues us
into “Mama’s” maternal instinct for the girls.
What doesn’t work is Mama’s jealousy over the character of Annabel. We are supposed to believe that the girls
have built a bond with Annabel, a reluctant Mother thrust into the role of
protector. The three actors just don’t
spend that much time together until the last third of the movie, and by that
time the movie has become a CGI “chase scene.” The movie wastes time with the
side story of Uncle Lukas, when it could have concentrated on the more compelling
story lines. The few spare scenes we see which are supposed to highlight the
reluctant mother angle just aren’t that effective, but the movie does have a
few scenes with great dialogue.
Explaining “Mama” to Dr. Dreyfuss the secretary tells him that “a ghost
is an emotion bent out of shape.” She
goes on to explain Mother’s hideous form, explaining that corpses left to the
elements begin to twist and change, but are “doomed to repeat until wrong is
right.” It’s the essence of the movie,
but Muschietti decides it’s not scary enough and tries to “special effect” it
the rest of the way.
Muschietti
does shoot many scenes right. The
opening credits roll as we see crayon drawings the girls have made while in the
cabin with “Mama,” and the pictures are definitely not right. In another scene the camera winds through a
darkened dollhouse, the tiny figures inside posed in menacing ways before
panning out to reveal the girl’s bedroom and an opening closet door. These scenes really build the suspense, and
with the masterful shadow work of “Mama,” Muschietti sets the bar rather high
for her actual appearance. He doesn’t
reach it, and hence deflates the entire movie in the process. The movie doesn’t have the worst CGI in the
world, but the director had a better movie on his hands before he went
digital. It’s worth a watch but, better
movies with similar themes are out there and for the record I’ll take “Ripley”
and the Aliens bitch anytime.
“When you Change the way you look at
Things, the Things you look at Change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer
Explain it to Me by. Jack Scharber
It
begins with a helicopter camera shot of a yellow Volkswagen bug driving along a
windy road through the Rocky Mountains. Inside the tired old vehicle is a
relatively normal family man, husband, father heading north to a resort hotel for
a job interview. The eerie music of a funeral march accompanies the unfolding
scene; is it there possibly alerting the viewer that you will have to own up to
pay for what humanity has done? Who or what has died? Suddenly you are no
longer following the vehicle but have gone right off the road and over the
cliff into your subconscious.
The film
is the cult classic Stanley Kubrick version of Stephen King’s name making
novel, The Shining. What the brilliant
documentary Room 237 attempts to do is pull in a variety of theories about
the overall central theme of the film into a narrative of a disruptive
mind-bending nature. Unsettling, puzzling, outlandish and interesting, these
scenarios make the film that much more confusing, coupled with the fact that
Kubrick was a notorious recluse who often times played the Svengali with the
audiences’ imagination; his intentions are hard to find. However, these film theories
have some credence, that if like the believers, you too have viewed the film
over a half a dozen times and are willing to go off the main road in search of
answers.
The
documentary Room 237 touches upon the belief by Bill Blackmore that the
film was Kubrick’s attempt to discuss cinematically and allegorically the
genocide of the American Indians by the white European settlers of incursion
and the resulting bloodbath and slow goodbyes that followed; this theory is
reinforced by the subtle product placement of Calumet Baking Powder cans in the
storeroom (Calumet is a traditional Native American smoking pipe, used to
signify a treaty or pact), there are
also the multitude of Native American motifs that hang throughout the hotel and
the fact that the Overlook Hotel was built upon a large Native American burial
ground.
He's not talking about ObamaCare
In
addition there is the “far-out” theory by Jay Wiedner that the film was nothing
more than Kubrick’s attempt to tell the general public that he helped NASA fake
the Apollo 11 moon landing; the evidence of course being that Danny wears an
Apollo 11 sweater in the film, the fact that the moon is roughly 237,000 miles
away from earth (Room 237) and the deal with the devil or witch that
Nicholson’s character makes in the film is all an allusion to Kubrick’s own
deal with a shadow government and all of which takes place in room 237 (Moon
Room); take into account Jack’s speech to Wendy about obligations and
contracts??? Head scratching questions
abound.
Film
theorist Geoffrey Cocks believes that the film is about the holocaust of the
Jews by the hands of Nazis in WWII because Jack’s character uses an old Eagle
typewriter (which is a German company) with a large 42 on it (1942 being the
year of Hitler’s final solution). The
documentary also discusses the fact that there are unmanageable scenes within
the Overlook Hotel that deal with the “impossible window” of the Overlook
manager’s office, where no feat of architectural engineering could result in
what is shown on screen. This is
coupled with the fact that the young boy Danny’s big-wheel rides throughout the
hotel often make no sense at all; he goes from the main level of the hotel on
the first ride to one level higher on his second ride and then somewhere in
between for his third and final ride (could this be symbolism for his
subconscious?) and all of this from a director who was known in the business as
a perfectionist. What was Kubrick trying
to tell us?
Note
the amazing use of colors throughout the film (the Gold Room, the Red, Black
and White bathrooms, the walls of blood coming from closed elevator doors) all
of which supports the belief that it could be a brilliant director’s alchemical
formula for messing with the viewer’s mind and subconscious. It is a little
known fact that Kubrick had studied
subliminal images at the offices of Madison Avenue advertising executives
before filming the movie. Why? Rattle your brains with the realization of
asking this strange question: why is Jack reading a Playgirl magazine in the lobby of the hotel before he meets with
the hotel manager for his job interview? What the hell does an issue of Playgirl have any business in a lobby
anywhere? Is this the dentist episode from Seinfeld?
Why does it appear that people are turned into suitcases through the use of a
lap-dissolve? Could that be a reference to the extermination of the Jews, the
Native Americans or both?
Is the
film Stanley Kubrick’s solution how to escape the nightmare of the past by
retracing your steps and erasing the past footprints as we navigate the
labyrinth that is this mortal coil? There is also the fact that a labyrinth never existed in the King
novel. Why did Kubrick incorporate one into his film? Then there is the
enigmatic character of Bill Watson in the film; a minor character that speaks
only 2 lines, but why was he there at all to begin with? Was he a metaphor for
the real shadow government that is in charge? Is he the silent manager of a job
interview who never speaks but only takes notes? Are we supposed to view the
film as one theorist suggests, forwards and backwards, through the process of superimposed
film projections; are you kidding me? All of these theories take host in the
excellent documentary Room 237; because like the film,
its’ fans and theorists, insanity isThe
Shining on film. However, you must always realize that you can get out
of the maze. You simply have to trust your own instincts and you might go a
little mad in the process, but it is well worth it; consider it a contractyou've made with the director.
Malaise into Middle Aged Family Man by.
The Rolling Bone
Lightning Bolt, Pearl Jam’s 10th
studio release, certainly has a thunderous opening. The first three songs on the album, “Getaway,”
“Mind Your Manners,” and “My Father’s Son” belong firmly in the “hard rock” end
of the spectrum of Pearl Jam’s 22 years of music. The album however makes a departure as the
remaining nine songs find the band taking the foot off the gas pedal and exploring
a more diverse musical landscape. “Pendulum” showcases an atmospheric sound
more reminiscent of a Pink Floyd album, while “Sleeping By Myself” has a
country feel and features Eddie Vedder on the ukulele. It’s an odd mix of songs sonically, but while
the musical vehicle changes throughout the album, Vedder stays on point
thematically with love and mortality as his favorite subjects. Like Lennon once imagined a world without
Heaven or Hell, Vedder opines on our stubborn insistence in Faith, and Love as
our ultimate salvation.
“Getaway,” the album’s opening track
begins with a riff eerily similar to Weezer’s “Hash Pipe,” and puts the
listener on notice; this is going to be a rock album. The lyrics to the song
find Vedder visiting a topic he will touch on throughout the album. “But I
found my place and it’s all right/we’re all searching for a better way/get this
off my plate it’s all right/I’ve got my own way to believe.” He is stating a
case for personal Spirituality over formal Religion: “And if you want to have to pray it’s all
right/ we all be thinking with our different brain.” It’s not the message that Vedder
disapproves of, it’s the messenger that gets under his skin. Like a man who’s
dinner has been interrupted by the Jehovah’s Witnesses at his door for the last
time he intones, “For God’s sake, mine is mine and yours won’t take its place/
Now, make your getaway.” Vedder
continues down this path on the album’s second track, “Mind Your Manners.” The
song opens with a riff that would make you think you shuffled to a Rage Against
The Machine track by mistake. Gritty
opening aside, the song ultimately reminds of “Spin the Black Circle” or
“Blood” from the band’s own back catalog by its conclusion. It’s as angry as we find Vedder and company
on the album, from the staccato opening riff to its punk rock sing-along
ending: “Go to Heaven/That’s swell/How do you like it/Living in Hell?” The song
questions our willingness to wage war for a God that ultimately might not
exist: “May not live another life/May not solve a
mystery.” Vedder completes his
theological treatise in the song “Infallible” by concluding that society is
missing the entire point of religion: “Keep on locking your doors/keep on just
as before/Pay disasters no mind/didn’t get you this time.” It’s not that God chooses to spare some, he
is saying, but rather we are choosing not to help one another: “Of everything
that’s possible/in the hearts and minds of man/somehow it’s the biggest
thing/that keeps slipping through our hands.”
On an
album as diverse as Lightning Bolt, the song “Pendulum” stands apart
from the other 11 songs as the band’s boldest experiment. It begins with
an echoed organ effect that swims out of the speakers like a Cold war submarine
on the ocean floor before picking up a guitar line reminiscent of Urge
Overkill’s “Girl You’ll Be a Woman Soon” amidst some interesting percussion.
It’s a sparse arrangement, hearkening back to earlier work on Ten, most
notably “Oceans” and the intro/outro of “Release” and “Once.” The lyrics are
pretty depressing, as Vedder’s trademark baritone paints a portrait of true
melancholia that shows the band has come full circle from his days as surfer
turned rock star. The difference being that these more accomplished musicians have
achieved an organic sound on “Pendulum” they only previously scratched the
surface of. The ocean muse he frequently sings to is fully realized with this
track. It’s the albums low point philosophically as Vedder tells us “We are
here then we go.” The song only speaks
to only one half of the pendulum swing however; the rest of the album finds
Vedder rising above his usual “dust in the wind” sentimentality. Mortality be
damned, he is saying elsewhere, it’s who we spend our precious time with that
really matters.
This idea is expressed most vividly on the
song “Sirens,” which also happens to be the first single from the album. Musically, the track sounds similar to the
songs on Pearl Jam’s last album Backspacer. It’s a mid-tempo number without a truly
memorable chorus, but the words seem to be among Vedder’s most confessional and
it has a great guitar solo that sounds like Prince and the Revolution are
sitting in for thirty seconds. The song
finds Vedder once again pondering his own mortality: “Hear the sirens/hear the
circus so profound/I hear the sirens more and more in this here town.” A Rock
musician approaching middle-age, Vedder has become acutely aware that the end
can come at any time, but having outlived some of his contemporaries, he’s
learned that Death is the easy part.
It’s the lives we leave behind, the grief that is sure to come and how
we ultimately are remembered by those we’ve loved that’s the struggle. “Want
you to know that should I go/ I always loved you, held you high too.” The line borders on the edge of Hallmark
territory, but Vedder sings it so earnestly it comes across as genuine; the
dysfunctional love he so brilliantly captured early in his career. Who would believe the Voice of Grunge has
become a family man? “Just to know we’re safe, I am a grateful man,” he sings,
adding “I didn’t care before you were here” and “All things change, let this
remain.” It’s a powerful song and an obvious song to lead with as a single but
not very indicative of the album as a whole.
Lightning
Bolt is said to have been recorded at two different intervals by the band,
and that may in part explain the album’s lack of cohesiveness. “Sirens,” “Let
the Records Play,” “Swallowed Whole” and “Future Days” all sound similar to the
material on Backspacer. “Let The
Records Play” has the band celebrating Vinyl once again, this time in the guise
of a man who does his spiritual healing by drinking and listening to records.
The lyrics are largely forgettable, but the song does catch Mike McReady and
Stone Gossard in prime form and what may best be described as a Stevie Ray
Vaughn tribute. “Future Days” reminds somewhat of “Just Breathe” from the last
album, and has the singer once again optimistic about love, “I believe, cuz I
can see/our future days, days of you and me.” The song lacks the power of
“Sirens” or “Just Breathe” however, and as an acoustic ballad; it leaves the
album on a much lighter note than it began; perhaps that’s the point. Pearl Jam have a catalog full of greatest hits
and those looking to find one here are sure to be disappointed, but that’s not
to say the album is disappointing. It offers a world-wearied look, and perhaps
a realization that while rock music has changed lives it hasn’t changed the
world.
Something in the Mist
by. Jack Scharber
Frank
Darabont’s 2007 bleak, disturbing and entertaining horror film adaptation of
Stephen King’s novella The Mist confounds all Hollywood and
mainstream expectations. The film gives viewers’ hints at what was to come in
his smash television series The Walking Dead. It had come after The Shawshank Redemption
and The
Green Mile, both of which were Stephen King adaptations as well; the
film was saddled with the embodiment of post 9/11 fear that featured an
ensemble cast that would become a trademark of Darabont’s style. The film
defied all of the happy-ever-after endings that had become the Hollywood
trademark; it was a breath of fresh air and it was released on Thanksgiving
weekend. Remember, we too have much to be thankful for.
The
film took on both the religious right and the dovish left. There were race
relations between a strong black man and the characteristically strong white
leading man. Spooky whispered government research was being conducted on a
mountain nearby the small New England town, when after a natural storm, a
strange supernatural mist began coming down the slope. Army trucks raced to the
shore, but to combat what? The power lines were dead, the phones were down and
the town’s only grocery store had become the town hall. Chaos abounded. One
thing was clear; there was something
in the mist.
Marcia
Gay Harden believed, “It’s death.”
We
the viewers, first got our sneak peek into the mist through the backdoor of the
grocery store, the backdoor being a metaphor for one’s subconscious. However, there were still some things you had to take
on faith. We began to ask like Thomas Jane’s lead character, “What they hell
were those tentacles even attached to?”
Ladies
and gentlemen, the weird had been let loose; get prepared.
“Now
do you see? Now do you believe?”
“You
scare people badly enough, you can get’em to do anything.”
Politics
and religion, but what about big business?
At
the end of the film, after a group of five made a bold run for it in an old 4x4
escaping both radiation acid spewing spiders and dinosaur large Mantises, the
truck ran out of gas. They’d gone as far as they could go. With one gun left
and only four bullets, decisions had to be made. What if the mist was
worldwide? What if there was nothing left to run to? What would you do then?
So, Thomas Jane’s character made the only sane choice he had left, but he like
all of us had to live with it; live with all of his or her, yours or mine past
actions and choices, despite the awful consequences. Because believe me, often
times, the monsters of our own creation.
Happy Halloween.
Greetings
ladies and gentlemen of the ever expanding disgruntled consciousness within the
tethered ball that is the Earth to the moon; this is long-time shadow navigator
TheloniusRonscpiacy,
back from the front lines of the ongoing global war against the oppressors (who
come in the guise of corporatocracy,
oligarchy and plutocracy); where the battle lines of the ends justify the means
and the bottom lines are always for the almighty dollar. To be bluntly honest, it
feels quite uplifting to be back among the attention deficient masses. I am therefore
once again back to bring more political fuel to the fire, being that there
isn't enough global warming to raise the critical mass to a boiling point just
yet; we are still frogs, simmering in the bubbling gelatinous stew of our own
filth. I've witnessed some pretty
horrifying things in my years, from the birth of the sickening phenomenon of
the Jersey Shore to the running of the Minnesota Vikings
organization and their arm twisting of state legislators and smoking taxpayers held
hostage in the threat that they would ever leave town (looking at their track
record, it's fortunate you won in London, because you may just have had to stay there); current owners accused
of fraud (where you and I would be serving time and
since when can you get almost a billion dollars’ worth of financing without a
credit or background check?), but there are things that are taking shape in
Syria that are equal parts horror and equal parts, "I told you so."
Ladies and
gentlemen, for the many who have no idea that this is happening, they are raising
severed heads and dancing around like strung-out meth addicts throughout the
Al-Qaeda held rubble reduced town
squares of Syria (that’s right, severed heads).
It's not the conch from Lord of the Flies
They are the severed heads of those who helped the Assad
regime in its ever growing list of acts of medieval barbarity, reminiscent of a
season of Game of Thrones; but at least they don’t have to suffer through
Joffrey. Hundreds of miles away in their
command posts within Tel-Aviv, Israeli
generals must be wearing smiles of mixed pride and growing fear. All of
this is happening under the watchful and supposedly reproachful eyes of the UN
Security Council; isn't that threatening, shame on you, shame on you 100k dead,
stop that, quit that. Assad, you should be ashamed of yourself.
Poor kid is gonna be typecast for life.
Where the meek UN Secretary General Ban
Ki-Moon announced on September 16th, that there was “no doubt” Sarin nerve gas was used in Syria. But I ask, used
by whom? As I continue to dig, there is the gnawing impression (like a dog with
a chew toy) that the rebels themselves, led by numerous Al-Qaeda members may have been behind the nerve
gas attack; nerve gas attached crudely to warhead components. Do they sell
warhead launchers on the black market version of Craigslist and why would the Assad regime use chemical weapons when
it would only bring military intervention? What would the regime currently with
the military upper-hand have to gain by doing something as reprehensible as
that? Stay tuned; details continue to emerge as the world spins slowly out of
control and the terrorism of the 21st century continues to spread like a zombie
apocalypse as the shift in the global economies that have been opened up via free
trade have left a growing majority without opportunities for employment and
thus young people throughout the world, especially those living in third world
countries, where they currently see no future or just the omnipresent military
presence of global superpowers and as a result are easily led down the path
into destruction and chaos. This scenario has now been played out in a shopping
mall in Kenya the past week through the acts of a small group of Somali
terrorists who had taken hostages in protest against the Kenyan government's
military intervention in Somalia. Threats of more continued bloodshed abound if
Kenya doesn't stop meddling, and unless Somalia can get their economy up and
running in a hurry, more violence and life taking is sure to follow.
In the
United States of Surveillance we call it the long goodbye, turned disgruntled
employee, turned spurned ex-lover into the crazy lone gunman, so back to home
grown messes of our own; another week goes by and another mass shooting, same
as it ever was. This
time, the mass shooting took place only four miles away from the White House in
a Navy Yard. The alleged shooter, mentally disturbed Aaron Alexis, killed
thirteen people with a sawed off shotgun and an automatic weapon. Was he just
yet another in a long line of disgruntled former employees? A disgruntled
former lover of someone who is currently employed at the naval yard? Or someone
under the mind-control activities of a nefarious shadow government network group
of plutocrats who was triggered by a key word or was it simply something that
Kanye West said and how did he get weapons into a highly secure area? Many
questions are yet to be answered.
During the
past few months of my ongoing investigation into the degenerate dealings of the
shadow governments apparatus of its' many antennae reach into every aspect of
our lives, I stumbled upon a mind blowing, possibly only coincidental
truth. For instance, Iraq, Syria, Libya and Iran all remain
holdouts to joining the WTO (World
Trade Organization); can it be that is why we are involved or threatening
to involve ourselves militarily into their civil
wars? These primarily strict (considered stone-age by western
standards) Islamic countries do not practice Usury as a result of Islamic
law. Could it be, that it isn't a Jihadist
war against the Western world, but a struggle to remain independent and
outside of the reach of the WTO and IMF?
If they're not within the WTO, then
the banksters cannot get their greedy
hands on their money; it's as simple as that. All of this happens
under the umbrella of the watchful eye of the BIS of Switzerland (Bank for
International Settlements) which in and of itself could be nothing more
than a front for what were formerly known as the Knights Templar, morphing
into the Freemasons and operating behind the hidden hands of the Illuminati.
But then again, this is all just speculation; but it sure is damn interesting isn't it?
2:
the lending of money with an interest charge for its use; especially:
the lending of money at exorbitant interest rates
3:
an unconscionable or exorbitant rate or amount of interest; specifically:
interest in excess of a legal rate charged to a borrower for the use of
money
In the
months and days ahead, keep your eyes and ears open for more news about the TPP (Transpacific Partnership) which is
nothing more than another in the long line of free-trade agreements (NAFTA,
CAFTA, etc., etc…) that sound good in title, but do nothing more but open up
slave wages for corporations to make more money. How long until social media is
used to unite the workers of the world to demand and get living wages? Imagine
what Karl Marx would've done with Twitter. Proletariat beware.
Kick’em When They’re Up, Kick’em
When They’re Down
Here's Bachmann!!!!
Now onto
another, some may say "mentally disturbed" individual, and no, I'm
not talking about myself. It appears
that there are echoes through the chambers of Congress that Minnesota's own
Representative Michelle Bachmann may have fired a staffer who had seven children
with an eighth on the way on Christmas Eve, all during the height of her
campaign for President in 12'. How’s
that for Christian family values? Then again, we don’t know what that staffer
allegedly did either. However, there is also the rumor that she used the Stuart
Smalley technique
of self-affirmation on the advice of her limp wrist-ed husband Marcus to decide
on whether or not she should run for President. All of these details are just
tidbits of allegations stemming from a disgruntled former staffer's tell-all
e-book, which should be evidence enough of its fringe benefits. But I will let all of you decide upon that and all of
this is occurring while the House Ethics Committee and the FBI slowly plod
along with an investigation into her campaign finance irregularities. Once
again, the reality sometimes trumps the make believe.
Sincerely,
until next time,
TheloniusRonscpiacy
To end on
a cultural note and one of much less dire circumstances and to that which
fits more easily into the purview of what it means to be a media
addicted mind of the 21st century; editor and blog creator, yours truly Jack Scharber, has viewed a couple of films
recently, one not so good, the other not too bad and in the
process been turned on to a relatively new cable television show as well,
imagine that and I don’t even have cable.
Let me
begin with the television show, the HBO breakout controversial hit, GIRLS.
It is an everyday Halloween circus filled with tricks and treats and a decent enough
soundtrack set in hipster-ville New York City, with this age group's more
realistic Sex in the City young ladies trying to make ends meet. They
navigate their young careers and manage to maintain healthy sexual
relations with whomever they feel pulled to like an aphrodisiac magnet at
that particular moment; like last call at a bar on a Saturday night. Cheers to
creator Lena Dunham for showing the
world those real looking women can be just as crass as young men on a
construction site; but didn’t Bridesmaids do that already?
Of
the last film, it was 2002's relatively disappointing The Sum
of All Fears;the film came after the game changer to end all game
changers, 9/11. It starred Ben Affleck
(watching the film, who would've thought he'd go on to a successful career
directing; it’s hard to erase the image of him as O’Bannon in Dazed
and Confused; proof once again of perseverance and hard work; then
again who would've thought Tom Hanks in Bosom
Buddies would be an award winning actor/producer? i.e., look for Captain
Phillips) and the always entertaining, seemingly typecast Morgan
Freeman (if only they could get his voice for GPS navigation devices). The film
was pre-Snowden,
pre-Assange,
pre-Chelsea Manning and pre-Argo. The scenario was that of a Neo-Nazi Xenophobic Eastern European plutocrat
of the 21st century, who feared headscarves and Jewish ghettos as much as the current
residents of the EU (in that way it is sort of prophetic) got his slithering
anti-Semitic hands upon a nuclear weapon, all of which ironically fell into his
lap via Israel's YomKippur war of 73’ with their eternal
enemies in Lebanon and the surrounding area. The bomb was then put into a
cigarette vending machine (smoking truly does kill) placed in the parking
ramp of a sports stadium where the President was to be watching America's love
affair with unintelligent athletes making way too much money fumbling over a
piece of leather; putting Bane of the Dark Knight Rises to
shame for only detonating the field of a football stadium (what a wuss).
The whole film spiraled out of control into a "B" movie with a
modestly large budget and once again Jack Ryan saved the world; all in a day's
work for a low level CIA analyst. Now, if
only Edward Snowden could say the same
thing; can you say disgruntled?
Ladies and gentlemen, Theona Donther back from the front lines of opposition against the oppressive nature that is the modern day Corporatocracy with news to unnerve and unsettle your addled mind and in the process, hopefully to entertain before we all get sucked into the ether of space. With the fading of the summer winds comes the depressing realization that the hope and change of the once bright star of Barack Obama has faded right along with it. One can hear it rustling in the drying and decaying leaves of the coming autumn. With his grip ever so tightening around the reins of power and his reluctance to be what he promised on a brilliant night no so long ago in Denver of 08', he, like almost all politicians before him, only said what he needed to say to get himself elected and then continued on to do the bidding of those who gave him the most money; ie., banks and insurance companies. Another sign that our President of the United States of Surveillance is nothing more than a puppet, who's a great public speaker, is the fact that his Mortgage Fraud Task Force (you can't make this up) has yet to produce any criminal indictments; zero, zilch, nada. Bang up job Obama, take a bow. Instead, the once promised closing of Guantanamo is not going to happen, the ending of the war in Iraq and the distancing ourselves from Afghanistan has been replaced once again with the drums of war; this time they are banging a-gong for Syria.With the possible created media truth of Syrian chemical attacks of Sarin Nerve gas upon civilians and rebels outside of Damascus, information that was leaked via Internet video on 8/21, the handle that had been flushed on 9/11/01 continues to swirl the region and the rest of the world down with it. Apparently, there isn't enough toilet bowl cleaner in the world to get us out of this mess.
Unsurprisingly, lock step in tempo, both political parties are in full support of the United States of Surveillance's military intervention into a region that can simply be described as "utter chaos." While crusty old Senator John McCain warns that to do nothing would be "catastrophic." How much better will our presence make it? Are we only going to be adding gasoline to a brush fire? Is it not a civil-war that they should be handling themselves? But, I would suppose, as long as the WASP's in power in Washington have the Sunni's and the Shiites fighting against one another, what the hell do they care? Car bombs will continue to be detonated every couple of days; business as usual. As a result, need to be nervous Israelis have been emptying the shelves of gas masks in preparation for the inevitable. How long until the Arabs in the Middle East decides to point their oil-stained fingers at Israel for the reasons behind all of their problems? There is always a scapegoat to be had. In the 21st Century, it is commonplace to take no responsibility for one's situation; it is always someone else's fault.
The no-win scenario mess of death, destruction and diabolical actions of the Syrian situation has left some 120k dead in two years according to U.N estimates, and now furthered by the news that Sarin nerve gas has been used by the Assad regime upon his own people, the rabbit hole darkens and the forces of evil continue laughing in hysterical joy and wonder. More people have died as a result of their civil war than almost double the number of U.S lives in the Vietnam War. Another sign that everything is continuing as planned for the powers that be, former US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, is the newly appointed ambassador to Egypt because everything went so well in Syria. He will be holding hands with future Dictator General al-Sisi of Egypt, helping to wash and tear gas the streets clean of any threat to their power.
"I don't look nervous, do I?"
You can't make this stuff up. Just follow the chaos and bloodshed and watch for their footprints; they're everywhere. The only ones who will profit from the crisis in the Middle East will be oil producers, oil speculators and security contractors. A perfect nexus of the Geo-political axis of evil......and so the world spins.
Great Britain has just pulled out of any military intervention in Syria, once again reaffirming the fact that there seems to be very little that is "Great" in Britain anymore; one need look no further than the vomit inducing boy group One Direction to confirm proof of that. Unable to help in any way whatsoever, the British must still be tired from Wimbledon and the summer Olympics of 12'.
In a story that I cannot but seem to find never going away, the George Zimmerman trial boldly highlighted a diminishing majority of society's views towards young black males. Viewpoints brought about largely in part by the rap-hip-hop stereotypes and nightly news' constant repetition of the "wanted" young black male. In a glaring stark contrast of the gap of reality, Mark Zuckerberg, twenty-something billionaire creator of Facebook is revered and vilified for his enduring trademark hoodie, while Trayvon Martin was identified as suspicious because he was wearing one. One's a billionaire entrepreneur, the other, another young black man dead from a gun-shot. This begs the question, how many young black males are killed by guns each year? How many young white men? What can be done to stop it? http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/02/11/dewayne-wickham-on-blacks-and-gun-violence/1906819/
On a side-bar, other than the Beastie Boys, does or will Rap-Hip-Hop music ever have an enduring artist or artists whose creative careers will span thirty years? Can you see someone in the genre on stage performing their craft into their fifties or sixties, gold chains and blinged out grill with a busted hip and arthritis? Hell, even into their forties? Is it even possible? Will the genre ever have the Rolling Stones, a Bob Dylan, a Van Morrison, a Willie Nelson, or a Prince? What does that say about the culture? Then again, the genre hasn't been around for more than 30-40 years, so we may have to wait for another 20 to find out. But currently, are they nothing more than NFL running backs, used for 3 years and then discarded for the next best thing?Where did Nelly and Missy Misdemeanor Elliot go?
This has been Theona Donther reporting for the Global Outrage of an Educated Man.
The power of greasy food draws a crowd
Greetings, this is Jack Scharber, creator and editor of the Global Outrage of an Educated Man, here to make an honest confession. I know I don't speak for everyone, I can only speak for myself, but while all of this is going on, the frightening hedonistic juxtaposition of a trip to a State Fair is the world I have inhabited. While parts of the world can't get enough clean drinking water, while some die of starvation and poor educations; no jobs, no futures, only more bombs and bloodshed, my wife and I gorged ourselves on funnel cakes, foot long corn dogs, steaming hot apple dumplings with ice cream, a smore, some calamari, a tall Icee, some deep fried shrimp, a baby root beer, some deep fried strawberry shortcake, a small sarsaparilla (non-Sioux City), a pina-colada smoothie and some bacon flavored ice cream all in a span of five and a half hours, and all of which after we received free tickets from total strangers inside a mini-van in the slow line to the parking lot within the fairgrounds. Praise be, why again as a nation are we so overweight? Will-power is a terrible thing to waste.
cherry
So, dignified ladies and gentlemen, in order to get in shape for next year's State Fair, it's going to take all fall and winter of mornings with hundreds of crunches, push ups and long walks with the dogs through the neighborhood of Northeast Minneapolis to make it happen. Here's to being fortunate enough to having been born in a country that makes the rules as we slowly slide down into the sewer that is our excess. But I will make the confession, I am no better than anyone else. Cheers.
Ladies and gentlemen, the wind keeps on blowing, the world keeps on spinning and I continue to observe, legs sometime poured in concrete in awe inspiring amazement of it all. Each green new leaf that wanders its way onto my path continues to enlighten and enliven me; I witness further signs that truth and consciousness are awakening in this quickening of a chaotic universe we inhabit. All of this and more at times batters my wearied mind, numb from the salutations and conflagrations of potent worry and doubt I struggle on; sidelined no longer, we all must struggle on and remain ever vigilant, ever aware of the dangers and immense sunrise possibilities that linger around every street corner or waving fields of golden wheat.
Ladies and gentlemen, with each new edition, with each passing breath in an ever growing pollution immersed world, the global commons of the Internet is where the Global Outrage flourishes and continues to fight against tyrannical rule. The summer is fading fast and with it the old guard, the old standards, the old ways of thinking. That this is all taking place has already been written in the book of intuition behind your closed eyelids. You feel the intensity of deja-vu, knowing that what is happening has happened before and is therefore, somehow inevitable.
Whatever you can think of is possible, because if it were not possible, it couldn't be thought of. Have I just blown your mind?
Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations, you are now one step closer to the realization of your true potential. Star children, tired parents, arise and become the bright beacons of light our distant ancestors dreamed us to be.
We once built pyramids, let us build something more than the next smart phone. We are all potential bursts of energy. We are not to be consumed by the products they sell us.
We are more than numbers on spreadsheets or instruments of investments. We are sunflowers.
Awaken and hear the nearly forgotten call of your inner-selves. Trust your gut instinct. It is the only thing that is keen to the awareness of the earth's movements and the cycles of development.
Ladies and gentlemen, become once again hip to the realm of possibilities that you once believed when you were children. However, before you believe that you can send checks, cash and whatever attempt you may have to buy yourselves out of this confounding, disturbing mess and into the Promised Land; this won't stop the Outrage from happening. This can't stop the water from flowing; but, it can help to further our existence and the continued struggle against all that is evil in this world; the tyranny of evil men.
In year of our lord 1912, in the United States of America, one of the world's largest corporations' was headquartered in Gary, Indiana. That corporation was U.S. Steel. What was once a booming industrial mecca of hope and middle-class idealism is now nothing more than an empty shell of a ghetto that bleeds poverty into the surrounding towns. The automobile industry in America was once headquartered in Detroit, Michigan.
Notice the comparison when industry packs it in and towns are left to fight amongst the rubble. Change is inevitable, no matter how much you want your country back.
Detroit is $18billion in debt and has filed for the largest municipal bankruptcy in the country's history. The United States of Surveillance is $16trillion!!! In debt and in denial; it's too bad Detroit can't just print their own currency, because that seems to be the catch all solution for the geniuses in Washington.
psy·cho·path(sk-pth)
n.
A person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behavior without empathy or remorse.
Could you say that this sometimes, more than most, defines the actions and behavior of our beloved government that has become the United States of Surveillance?
"Too bad I don't look like George Clooney, the media would love me."
Ladies and gentlemen, the military tribunal trial of PFC Bradley Manning went on without much fanfare, flashbulbs or utterances from the mainstream corporate owned media octopus. The young geeky looking man made Julian Assange a household name amongst informed and concerned households. But then again, this comes as no surprise to this educated man. Edward Snowden is just Bradley Manning 2.0, and Snowden has President Obama behaving like a popular high-school chick who's not going to attend the party if you know who is attending. "Scrap the Summit in Moscow, I've got to do my hair."
"I can't believe you made out with him?!"
I have to believe that somewhere, somehow, some of you are saying "who cares?" If it doesn't fall into my back yard or land in front of me in traffic, or doesn't concern my child's after-school activities schedule, what value is it to me? All he did was help to expose and uncover the many atrocities our beloved United States of Surveillance was committing in the name of nation building; all the while we've got a nation here at home that needs rebuilding, before we all get foreclosed on or crushed under the crumbling debris of our decaying infrastructure. Just continue watching the bouncing ball.
Instead, each one of you may be thinking that I will simply continue on as before. Distracted, like a sheep led up the hills and down to the valleys below; ride the roller coaster, follow the Dow Jones, the S&P; too bad most of us aren't seeing the returns on all of those all-time highs; pity how that happens.
Ladies and gentlemen, the birth of the royal baby HRH Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge was deemed more important than the trial of Bradley Manning, and he may well be. But, somewhere John Brown is turning in his grave. For all I can guess, he may be the future King of England or the Anti-Christ, it's all perspective, it's all depending on where you're coming from. Read the book, The Anti-Christ and a Cup of Tea to get a better idea of where my addled mind is coming from, if you have the time. http://www.amazon.com/The-Antichrist-Cup-Tea-Cohen/dp/0966279301 He was born on a full moon, 7/22= 11. A new beginning; do your own research, look into it. Nothing is coincidence.
In an historic game changing event, a Netflix online only series, House of Cards, made television history with 9 deserved Emmy nominations. The first time ever an online only series was nominated. The rugs are being pulled. The automobile is just being introduced and the horse and carriage of old television patterns are being replaced, set aside, except for the boneshaker hipster dufus riders of Portlandia and neighborhoods near you. Go listen to Vampire Weekend as you pedal through traffic. As a sign of the times, character development is once again vitally important in content, not just the newest haircut of the moment. This is the new golden age of television. No wonder were obese, because I for one can't stop watching Breaking Bad.
But remember, that this is all just temporary; we are just only passing through. So lighten up people, lighten up.
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