hyperreality

In the first hour JP Sottile joins me to break down the recent Trump-Putin Summit in Helsinki. We start off with Trump’s recent reversal on comments he made stating that Russia didn’t interfere with the election. JP and I then get into the press conference itself and pick apart some of the major takeaways. JP talks about Bill Browder and Putin’s allegations about him and Hillary Clinton. We also talk about the strange “dry mouth” that Trump appeared to have during the presser and explore Trump’s possible health problems.

James Evan Pilato is our latest guest as we dissect the 2009 Disney UFO adventure Race to Witch Mountain.  We start off looking at Disney as a corporation – its long standing interest in UFOs and extraterrestrials, the connections to government agencies and their recent takeover of the fantasy genre.  We then get into Race to Witch Mountain itself – a strange blend of a kids’ movie, a love letter to the UFO culture and an homage to spy thrillers especially Enemy of the State.  Next, we examine the deliberately hyperreal natu

Adam from Themes and Memes is our guest to talk about the 2015 action comedy American Ultra.  We start by trying to define this film, which is an intense mixture of cartoonish ultra violence, CIA covert operations, romance, comedy and horror, looking at the dissociating nature of this blend.  The intentions of screenwriter Max Landis and the director Nima Nourizadeh are discussed and we ask whether they were reaching out to the CIA or trying to flatter them by making MKULTRA seem cool to stoners and young people.  We go on to look at the prominen

From Hoax Busters Call:

In the latest of our Homeland reviews, Tom and I tackle the latest episode, ¨Better Call Saul.” In true form to this season, the fifth episode completely resets the original storyline and refocuses our attention to the evil Russians. Tom and I discuss this development and how it plays out in the episode. From the bombing of General Yusuf’s plane, to the hack, to the revelation of Alison being a double agent, it is now all about the Russians.

From ClandesTime:
In this conversation Pearse and I took a few detours and rambled all over the place, but mostly talked about the concept of hyperreality – the condition of a consciousness that cannot distinguish between the real and the simulated.  We show how Homeland does this but also consider the question of why: why would the CIA be interested in using this effect that shows like Homeland have on their audiences?  What is the advantage for the CIA in hyperreality?

From ClandesTime: