Category Archives: movies

When life feels like ‘Groundhog Day’

Posted on April 7, 2013 by oddmanout215

I was biking through a school-free drug zone, on my way to a temp job, cultivating bad habits. Not overtly bad habits — Marlboros and meth, and so on — but rather those drab little habits meant to ensure the … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, humor, Iraq war, life in the big city, mainstream media, movies, Philadelphia, pop music | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Cruising mean streets in the popemobile

Posted on March 23, 2013 by oddmanout215

The mainstream media love big, easy stories — natural disasters, inaugurations, papal elections. The election by the College of Cardinals of Jorge Bergoglio was a softball lobbed right over the plate, and the media knocked it out of the park. … Continue reading →

Posted in fiction, mainstream media, movies | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Throwing truth to the lions

Posted on February 26, 2013 by oddmanout215

There’s no such thing as the simple truth. The goodness of the good guys is always exaggerated by the media. History is written by the victors. From Laura’s Miller’s review of The Myth of Persecution: How Early Christians Invented a … Continue reading →

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Bits and pieces, Oscar night

Posted on February 25, 2013 by oddmanout215

We all know the Academy Awards are more about commerce than art, that the best picture award rarely goes to the film that deserves it. But how is it that a film can win for best picture but not best … Continue reading →

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In guns we trust

Posted on December 20, 2012 by oddmanout215

Frank Rich says America’s love affair with guns is something that will have to be chipped away at; that guns… …have always been intrinsic to the very idea of America and “freedom” – enshrined in our Constitution’s Second Amendment (however … Continue reading →

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‘Get a job’ easy to say if you’ve got one

Posted on May 13, 2012 by oddmanout215

Paul Krugman recently noted a close resemblance between Ben Bernanke’s famously lame prediction about the economy — “I think as those green shoots begin to appear in different markets and as some confidence begins to come back that will begin … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, movies, unemployment | 1 Comment

Attention, Marxists

Posted on April 27, 2012 by oddmanout215

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Zizek on OWS: Where to next?

Posted on April 26, 2012 by oddmanout215

Bill O’Reilly recently denounced liberal economist Robert Reich as a communist, and Reich responded to this absurd charge by challenging O’Reilly to debate him. The debate I’d like to see, which will never take place, would be between O’Reilly and … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, history, humor, movies, Occupy Wall Street, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

No mercy from bailed-out BofA

Posted on April 15, 2012 by oddmanout215

In the not-so-distant past, one of the most reviled characters in American popular culture was the landlord who threw families into the street if they couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage on their homes. Think of Lionel Barrymore as Mr. … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, movies, Obama, Occupy Wall Street, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

One word for you, young man: ‘Prisons’

Posted on April 12, 2012 by oddmanout215

The “too-big-to-fail” bank Wells Fargo received a $37 billion bailout from the government after playing a major role in sparking the 2008 collapse of the housing market. Now the bank is bigger than ever and investing heavily in one of … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, Great Recession, humor, movies | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments