Things to consider—

Since early 2011, Obama's been waging proxy war on Syria. Imported death squads masquerade as freedom fighters. The scheme's familiar. It repeats. It reflects US imperialism's dark side. In the 1980s, CIA-recruited mujahideen fighters battled Afghanistan's Soviet occupiers. Ronald Reagan called them "the moral equivalent of our founding fathers." He characterized Contra killers the same way. —Stephen LendmanFor over a century now US ambassadors have acted as fifth columns in the nations they are embedded in, their role chiefly to foster corporate and plutocratic power and coordinate machinations against any truly pro-democratic government.•••••"The dead end identity politics of SF Pride, which sells out a peace hero like Bradley Manning to curry favor with the American ruling class, is what I had in mind. The empire loves your tameness, irrelevance and cowardice, SF Pride. You don’t bother the American ruling class — a five foot two, 105 pound soldier does because he has a conscience and because he didn’t make comfort the guiding principle of his life...." —Randy Shields

A new film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby

 AMERICAN STUDIES, ARTS & FILM, BOURGEOIS VALUES, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CULTURE & CRITICISM, INEQUALITY  No Responses »
May 182013
 
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By David Walsh, wsws.org

Directed by Baz Luhrmann, co-written by Luhrmann and Craig Pearce, based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

F.S. Fitzgerald

F.S. Fitzgerald

“It’s not all rubbish,” cried Amory passionately. “This is the first time in my life I’ve argued Socialism. It’s the only panacea I know. I’m restless. My whole generation is restless. I’m sick of a system where the richest man gets the most beautiful girl if he wants her, where the artist without an income has to sell his talents to a button manufacturer. Even if I had no talents I’d not be content to work ten years, condemned either to celibacy or a furtive indulgence, to give some man’s son an automobile.” Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise (1920)

It is unfortunate that during the filmmaking process no one ever turned to director Baz Luhrmann and suggested that his interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925) was wrongheaded and likely to result in an artistic travesty. Continue reading »

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OpEds—War and Pain: Nothing New Under the Sun

 ANTI-CORPORATISM, ANTI-NEOLIBERALISM, ANTIWAR, ARTS & FILM, CULTURE & CRITICISM, HISTORY, IRAN, IRAQ, WAR CRIMES & CRIMINALS  2 Responses »
May 172013
 
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 By Gaither Stewart

An ancient war formation was nothing to laugh about. Imagine standing in a field with nothing but a sword, a spear and a shield against an advancing mass of men sworn to kill anyone in their path.

An ancient war formation was nothing to laugh about. Imagine standing in a field with nothing but a sword, a spear, and a shield against an advancing mass of men sworn to kill anyone in their path. 

The world goes round and round and human beings say and do the same things again and again. So that it seems there is truly nothing new under the sun. Man’s perplexing unchanging behavior and the ways of the world have again led me back to the ancient Greeks, just to take a look. And what do I find there? I find the same warmongers and pacifists of today, identical war parties and peace parties, arms industries and anti-war writers, the generals who predictably “just love war”, and, as one might expect, the same identical massacre of women and children as everyday in America’s wars, now conveniently called “collateral damages”. Continue reading »

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The Real Gatsby

 AMERICAN STUDIES, ARCHIVES, ARTS & FILM, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CULTURE & CRITICISM  1 Response »
May 162013
 
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The One-and-Owney

Great-Gatsby-Poster-014by DAVID ROSEN, Counterpunch

On Friday, May 10th, Warner Bros. released Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby.  It stars leading Hollywood talent, including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Joel Edgerton and Carey Mulligan.  During its 1st weekend release, it topped $50 million in box-office ticket sales; Iron May 3 pulled in $72.5 million over the 3 days. Continue reading »

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Eye on the Media: Shane Smith’s VICE is mix of old and new

 AMERICAN STUDIES, ANTI-CORPORATISM, ARTS & FILM, CAPITALISM & SOCIALISM, CORPORATE OWNED PARTIES, CORPORATE TELEVISION, CULTURE & CRITICISM, MEDIA CRITICISM, VIDEOS  No Responses »
May 152013
 
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Can Smith avoid the ideological barriers that come with associating with Big Media barons, and does it matter?


sSmithVICE56As the Guardian (UK) piece we reproduce below clearly explains, HBO has sprouted yet another promising series, this time under the aegis of Canadian producer Shane Smith, a man of idiosyncratic approaches to documentary filmmaking.  Smith’s signature is distinct, as the sample below can confirm, bold for mainstream producers, and it has already captured the attention of a prized demographic, the “younger market segments”, so he’s quickly becoming the toast of the industry.  Continue reading »

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