Mixtape for Autumn 2016

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The Me Conspiracy

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Alex Jones: The King of the Selfish Idiots I HAVE AN ADMISSION.  I despise the concept of conspiracy theories. Now, I'm not saying I despise rigorous, intellectual, critical thought.  Quite on the contrary, I believe that critical thinking skills are exactly what is missing in the minds of most conspiracy theorists. An article featured on Salon goes into some detail about this very issue. I recently got into a hell-born deathmatch spicy debate with my father ( whose views can be readily consumed at his blog: "From the Outhouse," natch ), who is a fairly-moderate conspiracy theorist himself.  Meaning, he doesn't buy into the faked moon landing mumbo-jumbo or the more heart-on-sleeve rhetoric about the Boston bombings being an inside job, but he does call into question the unseen who are harnessing powers across the globe.  I think he's a 9/11 Truther, too. It's mystifying to me.  Not specifically my dad, of course.  I think he's a very smart gu
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Senator Robert La Follette

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Senator Robert La Follette A survey in 1987 asked Americans to name the best U.S. senators, based on their accomplishments.  Senator Robert La Follette took first place (tying with Henry Clay).  This is striking, given the vast unpopularity he faced when, in 1917, he was one of six members of the Senate to vote against President Wilson’s call for a declaration of war against Germany.  This of course, being the same Woodrow Wilson who, just the previous year, ran on the slogan, “He Kept Us Out Of War.”  So strong was the reaction to La Follette’s anti-war stance that President Roosevelt, a fellow liberal, called for his expulsion from the Senate and a Texas judge said that he was a traitor who ought to be shot.  Though, to be fair, Texas. In the run-up to the war,  organizations throughout the world were pre-emptively standing against the possibility of war.  Many of these groups were socialist organizations or labor unions, among others, desperate to prevent a wa
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#90: "Goodfellas" (1990)

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Martin Scorcese's "Goodfellas" is the next film on the list of movies I'm watching this year to broaden my horizons.  Obviously, this film is iconic.  Shortlisted in gangster films with the likes of The Godfather, it is the kind of movie that people stare at you when they find out you've never seen it. At an expansive 2 1/2 hours, it's a surprisingly quick story.  Taking place over the course of thirty or so years, we follow the lead character (who is certainly not a protagonist), Henry Hill.  Portrayed marvelously by Ray Liotta, he is a witty, short-tempered and overly-confident child in a man's body. The funny thing about this movie is how it paces the first half in this throwback style, then breaks the mold in the third act, making the arguments and the violence unsettling and unpredictable. It's a terrible kids movie.
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