Jen and Tim contextualize the band that ruled Nixon’s America, The Carpenters, for Todd Haynes’s early dollhouse biopic, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story.
If you’re curious, you can watch the Pet Shop Boys’ head-scratcher of a longform music video,It Couldn’t Happen Here, at the Internet Archive. It looks like it was ripped from someone’s VCD copy of a Hong Kong laserdisc, but it still has plenty of bops!
Jen and Tim welcome reproductive rights expert Mellie to discuss an exhaustive documentary on A BIG COMPLICATED ISSUE: Tony Kaye’s overview of abortion in the US, Lake of Fire.
“The people at the table,” says Forget today, “beat this monkey over the head with a hammer until it died. Then they cut the top of its head off and ate its brains.” As an animal-lover, she found the film deeply disturbing and asked to leave. Mr Schwartz said no and when Feese also tried to go, he forced her to sit down, grabbing her chair and spinning it aggressively towards the screen.
via The Guardian
Schwarz was disciplined, but with only a 15-day suspension without pay.
Tim and Jen struggle to make sense of one of the most persistent cultural artifacts of 9/11, Loose Change, as well as the lasting damage done by the Bush administration.
The Astrologer had a theatrical run from at least 1976 through part of 1977, but was considered lost for many years. It eventually resurfaced in 2021 on YouTube. Paramount appears to have a copyright claim on the picture (amazing that they’d even want it), but that doesn’t mean it can’t be seen if you know where to look.
The story of auteur Craig Denney is as mysterious as it is surprising. Jim Vorel has a good rundown at Paste Magazine. Long story short, Denney made a bold play for notoriety, only to disappear sometime in the 80s. No one knows when he died, if he’s actually dead, or even his real birthdate! And that’s just the start of the confusion! From the article:
Denney’s friend and associate Arthyr Chadbourne (who plays business manager Arthyr in the film) has disputed these figures, suggesting instead at L.A. screenings/Q&As that Denney was notorious for exaggeration and self-aggrandizing. As Chadbourne reportedly said then, “Craig was wonderful with hype. Everything was millions … you should read some of the things we used to send out to investors.”
Jim Vorel, Paste Magazine
Vorel’s article draws from this well-researched piece by Sean Welsh over at Matchbox Cine. Did Craig Denney fake his death? Where the hell did he get all his money? Which of his claims about his life were true? Was he even as successful as he claimed he was?
Jen and Tim welcome back Mike Rosen so he can carve up Joss Whedon like the turkey he is and also to discuss an affectionate satire of the slasher genre.
Jen and show MVP Mike Rosen dissect some disgusting works by a disgusting person, Jonathan King. That’s right, he won’t go the fuck away! Hear the whole episode at our Patreon and get access to more than 50 bonus episodes!
If you can stomach it, here are our earlier episodes about Jonathan King’s revolting outsider works: we looked at the original Vile Pervert in episode 009, and the unasked-for sequel in episode 38!
The Silent Scream is an especially pernicious example of pro-life propaganda. Reproductive justice activist Mellie Macker guests to dissect the mendacious thinking behind this ghoulish artifact.
