stand-out viewing for the [this one is going to be real half-hearted because it was so fucking boring and slow and frustrating and i've just wrapped up my fourth novel in five years and i'm tapped out creatively and there was just not much new stuff or new-to-me films that really caught my eye] of March.
A word of advice to all authors: Stay away from Goodreads. Ostensibly, Goodreads, owned by Amazon, is a place where authors can interact with their readers, but from its earliest days, those interactions have proven fraught and inflammatory. It’s almost never a good idea for authors to respond to any reviews of their books, but when the reviewers consider themselves to be small fry just trying to share their thoughts with their online friends, the result can be even more volatile than a testy letter to the Times.
Six people, including two children aged seven and two, were murdered, possibly with a mattock (a hand tool similar to a pickaxe and is used for digging and chopping) and several other farm tools. All six were dealt blows to the face, neck, and head, shattering jawbones, smashing skulls, and shredding the flesh of some. Two of the victims, Viktoria Gabriel and her mother Cazillia Gruber, received the most brutal treatment, also showing signs of strangulation. All six bodies were decapitated.
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The Blade 2 review makes for a shocking read today, not merely for the lewdness of the prose, but the fact that the barely-literate doofus horndog who wrote it was once a formidable presence in the world of online journalism. This was a man feared by studios, courted by such marquee filmmakers as del Toro, Quentin Tarantino, and Peter Jackson, and championed by respected legacy film critics like Roger Ebert and Leonard Maltin. The Times of London called him “the most powerful independent voice in movie criticism since Pauline Kael.” He was given book deals, television gigs, and unlimited access to films-in-progress. This guy had power.
This guy. The “you’re fingers are wet” guy.
It isn’t often that British police officers in their early 20s are invited to the FBI’s elite Behavioural Science Unit at Quantico, Virginia, or count the legendary profiler Robert Ressler as a personal mentor. Even some of the most reviled murderers of the 20th century felt respect for Harrison’s craft. For Ted Bundy, this was the “guy who gets inside our heads”. After returning to the UK sometime in the 80s, Harrison applied his newly mastered trade for the common good, working for police forces around the UK. Not many could comb the depths of a killer's psyche quite like him. “Why are you so cold and heartless?” Peter Sutcliffe, better known as the Yorkshire Ripper, pleaded during a particularly intense encounter. “You seem completely indifferent to me. I’m scared of you.”
Paul Harrison’s garlanded CV had one major flaw: It was almost entirely fabricated.
If Steinbeck’s poor Americans think of themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires, do Gotham’s mad think of themselves as temporarily restrained supervillains? Would I be only one missed dose away from dressing in purple and robbing a bank? I used to keep my struggles with mental health quiet, but the logic of comic books requires them to be sewn into your costume or tattooed onto your skin.
Control Your Narrative made headlines when they announced their 'Rage Room', a VIP experience where fans could pay to enter a room with their most hated member of the CYN roster and say whatever they wanted to them without repercussions, with the idea being to challenge 'keyboard warriors' coming to their shows. The show also began with EC3 ranting about taking back control as a man kneeling in the ring with a bag over his head, an image reminiscent of extremist groups from around the world. Later on, a wrestler named Man Bun Jesus makes a joke about seeing a lizard person in the bushes of Florida, referencing the David Icke conspiracy theory that is deeply rooted in anti-Semitism.
The whole promotion seems like the dream of a Facebook uncle who complains about 'cancel culture'. Control Your Narrative is clearly influenced by Fight Club's 'Project Mayhem', though they have failed to grasp the work's messages on the dangers of toxic masculinity, proto-fascism, and the creation of cult-like followings. Whilst some may find some cringe-humor in the debut show, from being hosted in the back of an Orlando bar with some poor production value (even by independent wrestling standards) to just the bizarre nature of it all, CYN is a troubling addition to the wrestling ecosystem.
Wastewater surveillance gained popularity during the pandemic as state and local health officials demonstrated how they could detect the coronavirus in their community’s sewage systems before residents developed symptoms.
“I remember the exact date and time I killed a man,” said a man who told me he had killed a man. The only other people I know with this kind of recall are lovers. And people who have won lotteries.
Trump wants his fans to foot the bill for a new plane that would let him pretend he’s still the president.
Films such as The Heartbreak Kid and I Shot Andy Warhol remain unavailable on any platform but a new initiative is aiming to change that
They’ve spent thousands upon thousands of dollars on fuel at a time when gas prices are through the roof, to more than $4 a gallon.
But the end goal of this rolling protest remains fuzzier than ever: On the face of it, it's about ending all vaccine mandates and repealing the national emergency declared about COVID-19, but protesters are focused on a wide mishmash of grievances. Some in the convoy are beginning to lose patience, and some of their supporters are becoming disillusioned with how it’s playing out, with few tangible results.
The situation is also a challenge to navigate for a tougher-to-categorize but increasingly popular type of writer often described as anti-anti-Trump. These journalists are exemplified by former Guardian and Intercept reporter Glenn Greenwald, whose stance one might define as … contrarian anti-woke civil libertarianism?
These commentators believe that “elite” circles in American society are dominated by a destructive conformity on questions of cultural politics (racial diversity, LGBTQ inclusion, etc.) as well as foreign policy. They view the American government and military as an engine for international oppression and exploitation that is fueled by surveillance and propaganda. They are sickened by the hypocrisy of the elites who operate this imperialist machine while purporting to believe in enlightened values of tolerance and freedom, and believe that much of the opposition to Trump is the result of cultural snobbery and groupthink rather than substantive consideration.
Because much of what they perceive as brainless anti-Trump tribalism revolves around overheated “Russian asset” conspiracy theories, Greenwald and others like former Rolling Stone staffer Matt Taibbi have found themselves purportedly carrying out a project of opposition to criminal imperialism by arguing that Russia—the world’s most brazenly criminal imperialist state—isn’t as much of a problem as hysterical anti-Trump liberals claim it is. But now here (in March 2022) is Russia engaging in some transparently criminal imperialism.
A short-term immersion in this corner of the media shows that the run-up to Russia’s aggressive move was characterized by a few themes.
I joined Truth Social. Why do I feel like the only one?
Should it matter that a bunch of 14-year-olds on TikTok aren’t in on the Bateman joke? How can you even tell? Just like any co-opted trend or meme or hand gesture that is taken on by trolls and adapted to become something vicious, if you say something hateful enough times, even while pointing at it with a smile, the hate becomes the point. And to ignore the origins of the aesthetic - tied heavily to the rise-and-grind “sigma male” identity previously associated with male dating coaches and wannabe investment bankers - would be foolish. To a generation of men online, American Psycho was more than a satirical take on excess – it was a bible for true development. And now, as a fresh audience tackles the character with an arsenal of new platforms and groupthink, Bateman’s illusory gaze is everywhere.
In January, Günseli Yalcinkaya documented the rise of the “sigma bro” in DAZED, riffing out a laundry list of Instagram accounts like @billionairebullclub and @entrepreneurshipfacts. These accounts have flourished by capturing the sigma male aesthetic - something originally devised by a far-right activist to describe “an introverted alpha male who likes to play by his own rules” - and focused it in on itself. It’s content parodying itself for those in the know, and inspiring idolisation for those who aren’t. Patrick Bateman’s voice, image, and values are just as equally used to mock a brand of male archetype we’ve seen too much of as they are used to encourage that same, old, tired visage to a generation of young people who might not be in on the joke.
