Ted Kaczynski is most famous for both being the most prolific serial bomber in US history and for writing the Unabomber Manifesto – a political-philosophical tract that was published by major newspapers and by the FBI. This week I take a look at the life of Ted Kaczynski and conduct a philosophical analysis of Industrial […](Read more...)
Today I am joined by old friend Pearse Redmond to review and discuss the Netflix TV series American Vandal, a mockumentary that satirises the true crime genre. Pete Maldonado is a student at a high school in California who starts making a documentary about a fellow student, Dylan Maxwell, who was expelled for graffitti-ing dicks on 27 teachers cars. He soon finds that Dylan is probably innocent, and he and his co-producer Sam set out to find the true culprits and figure out what is really going on.
Stephen and Joyce Singular join me in the first hour for a discussion of the genre bending documentary Casting JonBenet. Produced by Netflix and directed by Kitty Green, the film employs a novel approach to true crime documentaries: using an open casting call Green interviews Boulder area actors as they prepare for the roles of John and Patsy Ramesy and other major figures in the case, interspersed with some reenactments, and their own theories as to who committed the crime. We begin by discussing our overall feelings of the film and the merits and disappointments of this unique approach.
As promised, we come to Programmed to Kill, an earlier, and equally important book from Dave McGowan, of Weird Scenes Inside Laurel Canyon fame. I summarize his thesis and in the full talk give my analysis and commentary based on the numerous other analyses I’ve read regarding related material. We look at the strengths and weaknesses of his book, as well as the crucial connection to Hollywood, which created a whole new entertainment genre surrounding ‘lone gunner sickos’….or are they really lone gunners?
Frequent guest Brian Heiss joins me for an in depth discussion of the current state of the media, and their continued legacy of manipulation and deception. We begin our conversation by dissecting the bogus news story that OJ Simpson is set to make a reality TV show with Casey Anthony. Brian and I discuss now the genesis of this story is a TMZ article that determined that an OJ reality show was actually impossible to make at this current time.
“Do roses know their thorns can hurt?” – a quote attributed to JonBenét Ramsey from Lawrence Schiller’s Perfect Murder, Perfect Town
Shawn Helton
21st Century Wire
It’s been nearly 20 years since the cold-blooded murder of JonBenét Ramsey shocked America.
