YouTube Obsession

Sometimes you just wanna hear a whiny little dude talk about movies and tv shows and their cultural impact on politics.

Skip Intro makes videos perfect to put on in the background as I answer emails at work. They’re informative and entertaining. Not to mention they usually revolve around bashing neoliberal entertainment.

I never watched The West Wing but through channels like Skip Intro and Chapo Trap House, it baffles me how this show still manages to have a choke-hold on the libs.

Like I get it, we all watched cringe TV; the original CSI was must-watch TV for me my family. Like, we would sit down as a family and watch CSI every week. Re-watching recently, it’s very clear to me that CSI has really fucked up politics. I don’t base my view on the world from a TV show, let alone a show from 20 years ago!

Anyway! Watch Skip Intro’s stuff!

Watching

This commercial played at the beginning of my VHS copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I cannot think of either without thinking of the other. They are forever entwined. So much so, that when I took my partner to see the 35 anniversary re-release of the 1990 movie I played this video on my phone before.

Seeing TMNT on the big screen was absolutely amazing¹ . It is such a beautiful movie that captures the wettest NYC has ever been on film. Hearing Raphael shout “DAMN!” at the top of his lungs in a theater gave me goosebumps. I cried (just a little) when Raphael is acting like an actual angry teenager and Splinter says “I have tried to channel your anger but more remains.” He does not lecture Raph for being emotional, he just offers wisdom and support. Better parenting from a rat than most boomers.

This movie has an adult look and is clearly before it was turned into the extended kid’s toy commercial the sequels would become. It could have easily verged into “wink-wink this is a silly premise of a movie innit folks?” but instead made TMNT a better movie than it by all rights had any business being. Shredder, a character that could have been treated as a joke, is presented in the most menacing way. The feeling is intense when he finally comes out to face the turtles himself.

In fact, before the movie, there was brief director commentary showcasing some cut scenes from the production. One scene shows Shredder training some of the Foot initiates, easily defeating them from a seated position. I’m glad they cut this, going into the final fight not knowing Shredder’s abilities is so worth the wait and all the build-up.

Obviously, it’s hard for me to be objective about this movie but I think it’s easily the best comic adaptation of it’s time. Better even than Batman 89 because it presents a real and alive NYC. The turtles (despite most of them having SoCal surfer accents) feel like real citizens of New York. Not to mention the actual immigrant story that lives at the heart of the film.

All I ask is that if you see this movie; Just be in awe of it. Watch it with the knowledge that it is still one of the most successful independent films of all time. This was not made with studio influence and it shows. And it still made shit tons of money because it is GOOD!

**

We also went to see the 10 year anniversary re-release of Hideki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla in theaters² .

Shin Godzilla was actually the first Godzilla film I had ever seen in 2016 and, well, I was seeing it for Anno more than anything else. And it definitely has some very clear Anno-isms: Fascination with names of governmental departments, self-preservational interests of said governmental departments and their overall ineffectiveness. Oh and when the Evangelion music drops, I always get goosebumps.

I liked the film then and I love the film now with more Godzilla movies under my belt. Few Godzilla movies really present Godzilla as an animal to the level that Shin does. Shin removes any anthropomorphization of Godzilla and truly elevates him to an unstoppable and unknowable force of nature, unfeeling and mostly unaware of the world he tramples. Terrifying.

It’s also interesting to re-watch Shin with the knowledge that Anno and Higuchi are essentially venting their frustrations over the slow governmental response to the Fukushima disaster. It’s obvious that they are pissed off at the older generations clinging to power in the government (A very relatable feeling). There is a shot where Satomi Ishihara’s character is speaking with an American senator on a plane. We never see the senator’s face but there is a very clear and lingering shot of his old, liver spotted and mummy-like hands as he chastises her for her political maneuvering. It’s the perfect reflection of the gerontocracy that prevents any real change.

There is a hopeful message of the younger generations eventually, through new ways of thinking and anti-hierarchal teamwork come together to thwart Godzilla. It’s a great movie, my third favorite Godzilla movie overall.

Reading

Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America By Abraham Riesman ties in stories from all over the WWF/WWE history centering on the titular McMahon. A lot of the information and stories will not be very surprising or new to fans of wrestling. What Ringmaster does try to equate the values of the McMahon to the rise of the MAGA movement. In this argument Riesman is entirely successful.

It’s easy to equate a literal carnival barker to the current president. Many people have done that already, not to mention Trump’s well documented friendship with the McMahon family. However, Riesman does a good job of showing how the myth of the American individual and, ultimately, fear drive people into the the arms of a system that can both alleviate and feed that fear: Capitalism. Ruthless, cutthroat capitalism. It is the one economic system that allows us to put a literal value on our success. Daddy isn’t proud of you? Well Daddy can’t argue with the seven digit bank account, that’s in the books.

Vince McMahon has a lot of daddy issues. That’s why he hires big men for his shows.

Other Notables

** As a life long hater of northern Indiana and believe nothing good comes from there, I’ve always found the Jonestown story fascinating. Love seeing another perspective on the cult.

** More strange shit in space!

** Elephant Graveyard delivers another, almost meditative video deconstructing the Rogan-sphere.

1  I’m told that I actually saw TMNT at a Drive-In movie when I was 4. I do not recall this.

2  2025 is Year of the Movie^TM .