Week of January 23. Oh, America.

This week was all about my outrage over an unjust system. Which system you ask? Just about all of them. But I guess without an unfair world, we wouldn't get those great documentaries about wrongfully convicted criminals, the Too Big to Fails and photos of people holding signs with words on them, would we. Onward to cool shite.

1) Paradise Lost: The Documentary Series

I saw the first of these three documentaries when I was in college. It was for a class called "Magic, Religion and Science Since the Middle Ages." Ah, liberal arts college. We watched this doc because we had been discussing the "Satanic Panic" that occurred in the middle and southern parts of America in the 80s and 90s. Satanic cults. Remember them? It was its own witches of Salem, it's own McCarthyism. Anyway, this documentary is famous, I'm sure you've seen it, but HBO just released the third installment. Seventeen years later, the West Memphis three, who were at the time teenagers accused of mercilessly killing three 8 year old boys in some sort of Satanic ritual, walk free, so clearly innocent of the crime it's mind-boggling that the case dragged on for so long. And the way it "ended" is also pretty messed up, but I won't give the whole thing away.

2) If They're Too Big to Fail, They're Too Big to Exist

David Stockman on Crony Capitalism from BillMoyers.com.

As I was watching this man, David Stockman, talk about his book "Crony Capitalism" on Bill Moyers, I was ready to accept him as the second coming of Christ. Everything he said was so on point and pragmatic, yet dramatic at the same time. So I looked him up and discovered that he had served under Reagan as his Budget Director and was at the time a staunch supporter of the principles of supply side economics. That said, I believe in redemption, especially the redemption of brilliant people who can be turned around to use their intellectual powers for good, and I believe Stockman fits that bill. You know, not unlike Paul the Apostle -- dude, I'm just saying. I think the best leader for the country right now may well be a reformed republican. Like Lyndon Johnson for instance, a Texan democrat who certainly straddled the line, was probably the only president who could have gotten a Civil Rights bill passed in the 60s. Perhaps what we need is a politician who knows how speak the language of the opposition on the deepest level. Now is the time for Stockman to get back into politics, this time, fighting the good fight. And maybe pair him up with Ralph Nader. This clip is a little long, but engaging and worth the watch.  


3) PBS American Masters: Phil Ochs

I oscillated between watching this and the Giants game. This was more interesting to me, but I felt I needed to be informed about the Giants too, since the whole country was watching that. Do you know Phil Ochs? He is the second greatest American songwriter (self-proclaimed). He did in earnest what Bob Dylan did on the surface -- write topical and political songs that he hoped would lead to action. He never reached Dylan's fame no matter how hard he tried, but he is an exceptional talent. Here is a clip of one his most famous songs. (Spoiler alert) he committed suicide at the age of 35, but had already accomplished a great deal. That seems to be the way with many great artists.


4) This New York Magazine Intelligencer on French vs. American Kids

Don't shoot the messenger, but from what I've seen in Manhattan, this feels quite true. I was raised by French parents and see how well adjusted I am? I know, life's totally unfair 'sigh'.