Chris and Randall discuss the last 99 episodes before taking a little hiatus of perhaps a couple of months. 

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Our most popular episodes

Total downloads:

ep6: Modernism vs. Post-Modernism
ep7: PUNK ROCK
ep15: 1980s comedies - part 3 of 3 - John Hughes and late 80s
ep2: Hipster Hollywood in the 60s
ep3: Science fiction TV shows we're watching
ep20: Chris' latest obsession or Youtube music in the time of COVID-19
ep4: Randall introduces a new genre: Bonkers Sci-Fi
ep24: Generation X growing old with radio
ep11: Stand up favorites new and old
ep19: Randall hates on J.J. Abrams

First 7 days:

ep94: What is Generation X humor?
ep96: 21st century music bio-pic with guest Bill Gucwa
ep95: How to sell NFT art
ep99: The Vietnam War movie as apologia for empire
ep82: The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
ep91: The abstract moment
ep97: Q & A with Jerry Leibowitz — Professional Animator, Underground Comic Creator, and Graphic Designer
ep90: The road to modernism
ep62: The arts & entertainment of the Fourth of July
ep80: Turkeys that are so bad they're good

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Topics discussed include: 

How to be a guest
advertising on Facebook
Generation X
Randall's love of Marcel Duchamp
Herbert Marcuse
ep30: Does art influence the public mind?
Harry Potter
A Christmas Carol
Star Wars
Science Fiction
Comedy
stand-ups
ep8: PRESIDENT TRUMP IS A STAND UP, or the aesthetics of President Trump
Taika Waititi
Thorstein Veblen
ep41: Candy as entertainment
live performance

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recorded June 15, 2022

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Visit us at https://chrisandrandall.com/

Randall asserts that (US-made) Vietnam War movies nearly universally serve to exonerate US conduct in the war — a war whose purpose is only to oppress indigenous people, further colonialism, and expand empire. 

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Vietnam movies discussed include: 

The Green Berets (1968)
Coming Home (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Go Tell the Spartans (1978)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
First Blood (1982)
Platoon (1986)
Good Morning; Vietnam (1987)
Hamburger Hill (1987)
Gardens of Stone (1987)
Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Hanoi Hilton (1987)
Born on the Fourth of july (1989)
Casualties of War (1989)
We Were Soldiers (2002)
Rescue Dawn (2006)

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Topics discussed include:

US empire building
The Phoenix Program
What would a good Vietnam movie be like? 
The CIA as an outgrowth of Nazi intelligence
Reinhard Gehlen
Operation Paperclip
Mỹ Lai massacre
Wannsee Conference
Côn Đảo Prison
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
American Sniper (2014)
The Card Counter (2021)
Top Gun: Maverick (2022)
Bertolt Brecht's distancing effect
wars run by the CIA
Missing (1982)
Paths of Glory (1957)

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https://www.militarytimes.com/off-duty/movies-video-games/2018/03/29/military-times-10-best-vietnam-war-movies/

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Quotes from this show:

I would call it a moral get out of jail free card because if every soldier in every war is really just an innocent chap who accidentally signed up for the wrong thing and now got stuck with a bunch of bullies who don't know any better, it really reduces the entire nation's moral culpability in a war because now it's just a bunch of good guys and bullies. —Chris

These movies are trying to excuse the US' behavior in Vietnam. —Randall

We gotta do bad things because the people we're fighting do bad things. You can literally justify anything with that moral equivalency. There's no point in having law, order, civility, or even a Geneva Convention if you're just going to tell hero stories. —Chris

Our hero has the right to morally transgress because the villain is always so bad that the rules of civility exempts our hero from having any rules of civility. —Chris

The CIA is the missing character in a lot of these movies. —Chris

Every other kind of genre there's a moment of catharsis and realization that you can be a better person, but you can't do that with a country. You can't tell a story about a nation becoming a better person. Every time you make a war movie you're always going to end up with this false pat on the back. —Chris

Is there anything the US could do that the US people would be ashamed of? —Randall

Almost every one of our war movies are in some sense a perverse rationalization for violence. —Chris

Why are they made at all? They're glorifications of going to war. —Randall

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Background reading:

How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States by Daniel Immerwahr

The Phoenix Program: America's Use of Terror in Vietnam by Douglas Valentine

The CIA as Organized Crime: How Illegal Operations Corrupt America and the World by Douglas Valentine 

Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson

A True History of the United States: Indigenous Genocide, Racialized Slavery, Hyper-Capitalism, Militarist Imperialism and Other Overlooked Aspects of American Exceptionalism by Daniel Sjursen

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recorded June 12, 2022

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Visit us at https://chrisandrandall.com/

Chris and Randall talk psychedelic music with musician Robert Ciccone.

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Topics discussed include: 

origins and influences
LSD
The Grateful Dead
Jefferson Airplane
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Jimi Hendrix Experience
Tomorrow Never Knows
Brian Wilson
Pet Sounds
Rubber Soul
Smile
Good Vibrations
Monterey Pop
What is the connection between LSD and Psychedelic Music?
White Rabbit
stereo technology
Led Zeppelin
The Who
fashion
Grace Slick
Altamont Free Concert
The Doors
Vanilla Fudge
The 13th Floor Elevators
Love
The Left Banke
Walk Away Renée
Light My Fire
Cream
Santana
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band
Buffalo Springfield
Miles Davis
Break On Through (To the Other Side)
The Rolling Stones
Tony Bennett
Hair
Jesus Christ Superstar
Godspell
the end of the era
Woodstock
Whole Lotta Love
King Crimson
Velvet Underground
MC5
The Standells
Embryonic Journey
Frank Zappa
I am the Walrus
Astronomy Domine

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Rob's 5 indispensable Psychedelic albums:

Are You Experienced
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
Magical Mystery Tour
After Bathing at Baxter's
Live/Dead

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recorded June 6, 2022

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Visit us at https://chrisandrandall.com/