Tag: television

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CHAPTER 3
DENAISSANCE

Reverse-engineering the West

But what of those decadent ages in which no ideal either grows or blossoms?
Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution. (more…)

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None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

A vast majority in American society remain confident in so-called First Amendment values. (more…)

How does she know that “11 Inches of Snow in Minnesota” is my porn star name?

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Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

Third commercial break

There’s another spot from GM, and after that is an ad for Pillsbury Plus Yellow Cake. It has pudding in the mix! Nom nom nom . . . (Speaking of annoying piss-ants, Saddam Hussein ordered his nuclear weapons researchers to buy 550 metric tons of it, according to anonymous sources in the Pentagon. (more…)

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Part 1 of 2 (Part 2 here)

My young heart suddenly sank like Ted Kennedy’s car at Chappaquiddick on November 18, 1978. I discovered that the Star Wars Holiday Special was being shown on TV — but that it had aired the day before! (more…)

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I would be lying if I said I try to avoid pop culture, because it really doesn’t take much effort. When you are young, you pick stuff up from being around other young people, and if you are a parent, you pick stuff up from your kids. But I’m old and have no kids, and I find that if you don’t listen to the radio in the car and only watch Turner Classic Movies, it is actually quite easy to completely lose touch with pop culture. I’m perfectly happy having no idea who the latest singers and teen heartthrobs are. (more…)

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Culture-Critiquing Sitcom Mogul Norman Lear Finally Gives Up the Ghost

It took 101 years, but television producer Norman Lear — who probably influenced American culture more than any other single figure in the 1970s — finally decided last Tuesday that it was time to die. (more…)

Michael Tirrell James

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I recently wrote about the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and his then-mysterious “adopted black son” whose existence Johnson only ever referenced for entirely cynical reasons. In 2019 he claimed before Congress that he had asked his adopted black son what he thought about slavery reparations and that he was against it. This was the first time he had ever mentioned having a black son, nor does it appear in any of his official biographies. (more…)

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It aired for only one night in 1990 to an audience of merely a few thousand people on a subscription satellite TV channel that no longer exists before being quickly forgotten, but since being rediscovered in the Internet era, Heil Honey, I’m Home has since achieved a sort of mythic status as one of the most politically incorrect TV show in pop-culture history. (more…)

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Part 2 of 2 (Part 1 here)

My Problem with “Anime”

What I hate most about anime is the word “anime” itself, because the term was invented as a con to obscure the fact that you are simply watching a cartoon. It’s not “anime.” They are cartoons from Japan.

The term “action figure” was coined in the 1960s by the inventor of GI Joe, because he knew if he called them “dolls” — which is what they were — no boy would want to play with them. (more…)

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People under the age of 55, to the extent that they know who Linda Blair is at all, know her for one thing: her iconic Oscar-nominated dual performance as the 12-year-old child Regan MacNeil and Supreme Master of Evil, Satan, in the legendary 1973 horror film The Exorcist.

People over the age of 55 know Linda Blair for two things: for playing Satan in The Exorcist and for the slew of scandalous made-for-TV movies she was in during the mid-1970s. The most explosive of these was Born Innocent, owing largely to a scene depicting a brutal lesbian rape which many found more horrifying than anything in The Exorcist. (more…)

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It’s June, and what was once Bride Month is now Pride Month. So that means it’s time to celebrate, everyone! Mothers and fathers only get one day each every year, but 175ers get 30 days — and surely that must be faaaabulous! (more…)

Jonathan Meades

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“Everything builds on something that existed before you, and without the concrete that is beneath your feet, you’re lost, aimless, and atomized.” — Jonathan Bowden

A decade after his untimely demise, Jonathan Bowden continues to be a cult figure on the Dissident Right famous both for his political oratory and the incisive nature of his cultural analysis. (more…)

Lizzo

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Melissa Viviane Jefferson, better known by her stage name of Lizzo, is the biggest black celebrity in the world. By “biggest,” I mean in the sense that she would be able to displace the largest volume of water were she to dive cannonball-style into a swimming pool. (more…)