They Loki
Today in Methane-Breathing Space Zombies
2016, just before the election: They Live and the secret history of the Mozilla logo:
One of my most popular posts of all time.
"I'm going to draw a line through 1930s agitprop, Ronald Reagan, methane-breathing zombie space aliens, the Mozilla logo, Barack Obama and the International Commiunist Conspiracy. It's a long walk, so please stick with me."
I ended with, "In this upcoming presidential election, please vote against the methane-breathing zombie space alien."
Reader, my supplication did not work.
2016, just after the election: Bubble Failure:
I wore my They Live costume, including the "MAKE AMERICA OBEY AGAIN" hat, and some guy -- in San Francisco, at a DNA Lounge synthwave event -- thought I was not joking and straight up admitted that he voted for Trump.
And another guy told me I was "brave" for wearing it, and that he threw away his vote for some third candidate whose name I don't even recognize any more, "Because Hillary? Is like corrupt? Or something?"
When I heard that 9.7% of San Francisco voted for Trump, I was puzzled, because does San Francisco even have that many cops?
"Please point me at software that will replace all the faces in a video with skinless, methane-breathing space zombies."
Nobody did. As a team, you have all failed me, and us all.
2018: Real-life Hoffman lenses. It's a start.
2019: Halloween, Night Five:I dressed as a centrist.
"See, my dress shirt isn't white, it's actually light purple! That's how you can tell I say things like 'socially liberal but fiscally conservative' and 'I'd really like to meet Elon Musk some day'."
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
"Fact-checking" as Capitalist Kayfabe
Tech isn't interested in fact-checking because all content is profitable, whether accurate or intentionally inaccurate. In fact, misinformation is demonstrably more popular and profitable and their financial bottom line is symbiotic with the spread of dangerous misinformation.
These people are not bound by duty or honor or obligation to the better good. They're completely anti-political and anti-ideology. Their only purpose is the accumulation of power and profit. This is the cumulative result of hyper-capitalism, profit unbound by morality.
Facebook and Twitter are unwilling to check Trump or put an end to weaponized misinformation because both are immensely profitable to them.
Our economy rewards destruction and unhealthy behavior. This pandemic and crisis are crystallizing it, but it's been at work for decades.
The "fact check" move on Trump was an impotent gesture because Twitter needed to do something to handle the PR hit and date Trump's critics. Facebook is a Right Wing fever-dream cesspool and embraces it for profit. [...]
You're watching a professional wrestling match. Trump and Twitter and Facebook are all symbiotic and all interested in the same pursuit: dismantling democratic government as an impediment to profit and power. All gestures to freedom or reform or whatever are just fake punches.
Previously, previously, previously, previously, previously, previously.
John Carpenter Announces Release Dates for "They Live" Sequels:
"Believe it or not 'They Live' was always my most spiritual film, and these long-awaited sequels will make that clear" the 72-year-old director said in a surprise Instagram Live video. "Yes, it's about learning to see the ideological distortions underpinning consumerism, but it's also about learning to giggle in the autumn breeze, to smell the moonlight on a midnight beach, to dance like nobody's watching you through your television."
"Obviously, none of this would be happening without Amazon Studios," Carpenter added. "Seriously. Like, it's literally impossible for mid-budget artists to tell stories to a mass audience without the involvement of companies like Amazon."
Picking up immediately after the 1988 film -- in which (spoiler!) Nada and Frank's high jinks revealed a race of elite alien overlords to humanity, "They Laugh" and "They Love" will follow a fresh cast of human characters as they compartmentalize the implications of their servitude and learn to live and grow alongside their extra-terrestrial masters.
"They Laugh" will follow Kumail Nanjiani as a milquetoast comedian competing on an alien talent show for a lucrative sponsorship deal, while "They Love" is planned to center around a plucky career alien's romantic entanglement with two working-class Franco brothers. Andy Serkis slated to play all of the aliens. [...]
Some high profile celebs have been freaking out about the announcement, including Chris Evens, Miley Cyrus, and Slovenian philosopher and pop culture analyst Slavoj Žižek: "These are the sequels for which I would have sold to a witch the left tit of my grandmother," said Žižek in an artfully shot black and white Patreon vlog. "To live, within ideology, is, I think, to be enslaved to the fetish of collective false consciousness, but to live, laugh, love? This, I think, reminds me of sandals at the beach, and of kissing in the rain, and so on."
Centrist
