U.S.A.! U.S.A.! vol. 135

Let’s get something straight: nobody involved in the principal anti-Gunn campaign was genuinely concerned about his tweets - at least, not some jokes he made years ago. These were members of the alt-right who hate the things Gunn tweets about Donald Trump. They’ve almost certainly made more offensive jokes than Gunn in their lives - hell, so has Trump, while holding the office of president. Gunn grew out of his edgelord phase into a more mature, empathetic filmmaker, while Trump supporters continue to cheer at their boy's sexual assault jokes and savor his racist invective. They hate that Gunn is no longer one of them, hate that he criticizes their beloved president, and hate that he’s a successful filmmaker - and their first instinct is to get him fired...One of the most visible advocates for Gunn’s dismissal, men's rights activist and all-around garbage person Mike Cernovich, has a history of running social media campaigns to ruin the careers of his (usually left-wing) enemies. Also on record as being genuinely, not-jokingly pro-rape, he was (predictably) heavily involved in GamerGate back in 2014, stalking and threatening game developer Zoe Quinn and making money off his newfound proto-alt-right fans in the process. Last year, he had MSNBC contributor Sam Seder fired thanks to a campaign that revolved around years-old joke tweets (although the network shortly reconsidered after Cernovich had been placed in context). Along with fellow anti-Gunn crusader Jack Posobiec, he was a loud proponent of the ludicrous “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory, itself invented to discredit the Clintons as members of a child sex ring. Even now, they’re trying to label actor and Trump critic Michael Ian Black as a pedophile simply because he tweeted about pizza. 

James Gunn’s Firing Sets A Worrying Precedent

Alt-right Internet abusers just scored a win.

Negation Aspiration vol. 117

previously on Negation Aspiration

‘The discovery of the black sarcophagus in Alexandria sparked interest the world over, and amongst friends was immediately picked up as a symbol of hope. People were given an opportunity they’re often denied in recent times – to picture a brighter, more optimistic future in which the earth is blighted, torn apart and consumed piece by piece at the hands of furious immortal Egyptian gods. The potential to unleash this curse upon ourselves by opening the sarcophagus offered a degree of control over our lives which, in the current political and financial climate, we’re so often denied. ‘Many felt let down when the dark and extremely cursed sarcophagus was pried open to reveal only skeletons drenched in raw sewage, which is weird because skeletons are inherently pretty awesome. However, I stand true to the hope we were promised, and deeply believe that by consuming the skeleton juice in the form of a carbonated high caffeine energy drink that we can still have the opportunity to enter an era of unending darkness and despair. I’m so glad to see others backing the petition, and sharing in my mission to rapidly bring about the end of all things.’

People want to drink the red liquid from newly-opened 4,000-year-old sarcophagus

let people drink the red liquid from the dark sarcophagus

США.! США.! объем 134

Now We All Know What Putin Has on Trump

Negation Aspiration vol. 116

Mystery over contents of six foot tall ancient Egyptian sarcophagus discovered in Alexandria

Negation Aspiration vol. 115

Crimes against nature. What can they be? Ironically, the list is always socially determined, not naturally. Because nature itself is criminal in its essence. Laws of nature are necessarily broken – through mutation – in order that nature, in the form of evolution, can subsist through time. I mentioned human architecture. There is insect architecture. Insects create architecture. Mud dauber wasps create beautiful multilevel nurseries, larval high-rise apartments, which they fill with paralyzed spiders to feed their children. Are they artists? Do they break the laws of nature? Perhaps we are, in fact, mud daubers. Perhaps our buildings are not crimes against nature, but constitute nature itself. Perhaps we come full circle.

David Cronenberg: I would like to make the case for the crime of art

NERRRRRRRRD! vol. 70: RIP Steve Ditko

Steve Ditko 1927-2018

BY MICHAEL DEAN JUL 6, 2018

Steve Ditko, the comics artist whose vision brought Spider-Man and Doctor Strange to life, passed away at his New York City home on June 29th, 2018. Stan Lee, in his credits for The Amazing Spider-Man, called the artist “Swingin’ Steve Ditko” (issue #10) and later “Scowlin’ Steve Ditko” (issue #27), but if you had to choose one adjective to attach to Ditko’s name, it might be “Uncompromising.”

Negation Aspiration vol. 114

Tokyo Sarin attack: Aum Shinrikyo cult leaders executed

We Are The Sprocket Holes vol. 335 / Negation Aspiration vol. 113 / U.S.A.! U.S.A.! vol 134

Certainly, we have to embrace such an apocalyptic time, because the alternative is hand-wringing inertia, and that’s perfect for those in power. Whenever there’s any kind of enormous global shakeup, there’s bound to be paranoia and insanity, but out of earthquakes come opportunities. Even Trump’s fierce arrogance and distaste for his fellow man is good. It’s revealed how many people and politicians share such a view, and our exposure to such hypocrisy is healthy.

We need to be pushed out of our comfort zones – of complacency, and, for most of us in the west, an easeful life. I’m not advocating physical pain, but I do believe mental pain can be a way to stimulate and reset the brain.

Nicolas Winding Refn: our times need sex, horror and melodrama

Awwww Yeah vol. 87

Doctors warn women against putting wasp nests in their vaginas

U.S.A.! U.S.A.! vol. 133

While Lynch did not vote for Trump, you can see how the mind behind the grotesque screaming baby of “Eraserhead” and the sociopathic id-monster that is “Blue Velvet” ’s Frank Booth (“Baby wants to fuck!”) would regard the President with a detached aesthetic fascination. And therein lies the problem with Lynch’s comments. They are irksome not because they endorse Trump—as numerous headlines falsely declared—but because they represent the privileged position of distance. Lynch, needless to say, is insulated from, and perhaps oblivious to, the most cruel and backward of Trump’s policies.

Donald Trump’s America and the Visions of David Lynch