Upward Spiral #4 – The Sound of My Voice, Cults and Corruption
In our fourth episode we discuss the film The Sound of My Voice, and the issues therein, including cults, the nature of history and rationality. With your usual co-hosts Ken Vallario and Eric Duffy, expect wild tangents, but there will be no spoilers in this episode, but as always Byron King will deliver another excellent [...]
Upward Spiral – #1 – Slavery and Freedom
In our first episode we explore the themes Slavery and Freedom in response to our recent viewing of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Co-hosts Ken Vallario and Eric Duffy, with special guest star Byron King. Also featuring a surprise visit from Downward Spiral co-host Geoff Feder. Enjoy!
Confession of Gender Prejudice
Watch the video below. I believe it is one of the most important speeches of our time. I want to confess a few things, to get them off of my chest, to do what this speech inspired me to do. First, I want to confess that I came to this issue because of what the [...]
A Hero Rises – Follow Up
The practice of philosophy demands we put down our thoughts, even if they are raw, in order to get beneath them to the deeper insights. It is a wasteful art, and this cannot be helped. And the reason I point this out, is to defend the reason why I would return so quickly to what [...]
The Dark Knight Rises – A Critical Analysis of Context
I went to a morning show of The Dark Knight Rises last Friday because it had not been 12 hours since the massacre in Colorado, and I was afraid if I went that evening there might be copycats. Having been the victim of random and senseless acts of violence I was well aware of how [...]
Full Retard
The following clip is interesting for a lot of reasons, besides the absolute hilarity…but that’s my point, much of the hilarity arises from the collision of subtexts at such a high rate that it is impossible to keep a hold of just what taboos are being broken, and hence it becomes transcendental comedy. The actors [...]
Movie Review – A Dangerous Method
It is often the case when we think about Freud and Jung that we project backwards our ideas about what it means to be a doctor, what it means to provide treatment, as the world in which we live, at least in theory, has very rigid notions about how we are to relate to medicinal [...]
Movie Review – Melancholia
Last night I was feeling melancholic…this is rare these days…I am usually a happy ole chap…but I am familiar with the feeling…I have swum in its waters enough in my life to know when my feet are wet. After my family went to sleep I decided to put down my work and look for a [...]
The Carnage of Law
After watching this hilarious and dark and serious film I was compelled to point to it as a great exemplification of a feeling that is particular to our time, in the way that existentialism was particular to the early 20th century. In this film you will encounter something that has become a norm, when people [...]
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – Review
Anybody who knows me well knows that I love stories about redemption. But, as the world descends into madness the nature of redemption is changing radically. After seeing the American version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo movie I was inspired to share my thoughts. And those thoughts are basic…it’s a wonderful rendering of [...]
The Dark Heroes Journey…
In this preview of the upcoming final work in the impressive Christopher Nolan Batman series where moral ambiguity seems to be the real issue at hand, we see signs of an attempt to deal with the political struggle we are now engaged in, in the stead of more archetypal tensions. Nolan’s capacity for moral complexity [...]
Che-os…
This is the first 7 minutes of a film I watched last night called Visioneers, starring Zach Galifianakis…It was a pretty radical and somewhat exhilerating flick…I give it 5/5 lightning bolts..Akbar
Akbar’s Comic Relief #3 – Greatest Review of Star Wars Ever!
What you are about to watch is first, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen, and second, it is my first experience of seeing something directly made for the internet that rivals the quality of the theatre experience. Thirdly, it is an incredible commentary on the art of story making, and works as a [...]
Net Work – An unseen film
I recently received an email from our friend Emil, and he enthused about a film called Network, so like all us humanoids do, i youtubed the hell out of it, and after watching this clip, and without watching the whole movie i decided to post. I will watch it all soon, but what i’ve seen [...]
A Case for Censorship!!! Akbar says enough!
In my continuing efforts to alienate myself completely from my fellow artists I have decided to try and make a case for censorship. And I want to clarify what I mean first of all by referring to an article that compelled me to write this. The link below contains an article about a new movie [...]
Backlash Blues – Akbar addresses the Globatron Backlash!
Backlash Blues Lyrics (Langston hughes, Nina simone) missing additional commentary by Simone Mr. Backlash, Mr. Backlash Just who do think I am You raise my taxes, freeze my wages And send my son to Vietnam You give me second class houses And second class schools Do you think that alla colored folks Are just second [...]
Founding Fathers
This is a partial film review, as I have yet to complete the John Adams HBO series but I have been so impressed by it that I have decided to declare it as a stunning success, and a must see for anyone looking for film-making at its finest. It is as fascinating, enlightening and unsettling [...]
Akbar’s Art Movie Reviews #1 – Max
Max – A fictional portrayal of Adolf Hitler as a young artist and a Jewish art dealer played by John Cusack. I give this movie 4 out of 5 lightning bolts, as an art film. First, it is important to note that the structure of the film is rather like a caricature, and those of [...]
Freedoms…
Journeys, frank speech, values, tricksters, collisions, confrontation, darkness, dangers of leadership, thin lines, roles…mortality, choice, presence, beauty, shadow…