A Geek History of Time - Episode 150 - They Live is a Marxist Polemic, Not Anything Else Part I

Episode Date: March 19, 2022

So thank you all for coming to Cocktalk. He has trouble counting change, which is what the hands think. Wait, wait, stop. Yes. But I don't think that Dana Carvey's movie, um, coming out at that same time, was really that big a problem for our country. I still don't know why you're making such a big deal about September 11th, 2001. Fucking hate you.

Well, you know, they don't necessarily need to be anathema, but they are definitely on different ends of the spectrum. Oh boy, how do you say that? See, I have a genetic predisposition against redheads. So because you are one, yeah, combustion, yeah, we've heard it before. The only time I change a setting is when I take the hair trimmer down to the nether regions, like that's the only time. Other than that, it's all just a two.

I'm joking, I use feet. After the four gospels, what's the next book of the Bible? Acts. Okay, and after that, it's Romans. It's a chapter of the Romans. Yeah, okay, and if you look at the 15th chapter of Romans, okay, you will find that it actually mentioned the ability to arm yourself That's why worth it. This is a peak history of time. Where we connect nursery to the real world. My name is Ed Blaylock, I'm a world history English teacher in Northern California.

And I am now in, I don't know what week this is of home ownership, but my house is actually starting to look much less like a construction zone and much more like an actual livable home. I have. I have baseboards in a couple of rooms. Like they actually look like humans live in. It's quite a thing. The rooms that is not the baseboards. But you get what I mean. So that's the biggest thing I'm going on. Oh, and I fired up my lawn mower for the first time last weekend, which I was a little worried about because if you let him sit too long, all the gasoline in the tank,

you know, goes bad. And I wasn't sure how long this had been sitting before I got it. I inherited this lawn mower. And so I was afraid I was going to spend, you know, two hours just like completely cranking my shoulder out. And yeah, no, but I got it started after only about 15 minutes of cranking my shoulder out and started mowing my lawn. And yeah, lawn care is gonna suck, but it's worth it. So that's me and what I got going on.

Who the hell are you? Well, I'm Damien Harmony. I am a Latin and drama teacher up here in Northern California. And yeah, I have a battery powered lawn mower. You just plug in the battery overnight and then you just insert said battery into the lawn mower and you go,

which is nice because I have solar panels. So it's just free energy from this sun. You fucking eco-tope in. Yep. All right. So mostly because I didn't from this fucking ecotopian. Yep. Alright. So mostly because I didn't want to have to keep buying gas. Like it's a laziness thing. That big sense. You know what? And I'm I totally get that. Yeah. And that saves my shoulder for cranking something else out for 15 minutes. Trying to get it to start. Yeah. Wait. What? Huh? Yep. Okay. So it takes you all night. What you used to do all night. But yeah, that's why I'm so it's nice to see that you bought the Dorothy Appuente house. Yeah. But they're being people in the baseboards. Yeah. It's got bones. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's it's the house. Of course, dates to 1950, which I think I've mentioned before. For many times. And yeah, we discovered that the people that built it, I think, were convinced it was going to need to double as a fallout shelter. Because it's just everything. Like, the original baseboards were not put in with finishing nails They were put in with no shit carpentry nails. Oh wow Okay, yeah, that made like demoing anything in the house is a bitch

What you're counting though, so I think you would appreciate the good use of nails. Good use of me. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so Tap the tep-ton nails. Yeah nice. Nice. Nice. Thank you. Nice. I'm not even mad about that one. Yeah, yeah, so Tebtan nails, you know nice. Thank you. Nice. I'm not even mad about that one. Yeah, so All right, so I have been I've switched my curriculum for my For my drama class because I cannot reliably expect anything because we keep getting variants right as a result I can't have them up and around because social distancing, and I don't have a very high vaccination rate at my school.

Ooh, okay. Yeah, it's a thing. But so instead, I still want to teach them drama, so I started, I gave them a lecture on how cameras work and how you can frame shots, and what the terms are for movies and things like that. Oh, okay. All right. And then you give them a lecture on genres. Okay, right. Right. Yeah. Each class, a quiz, and the quiz was a one simple question. Okay. What genre do you want to study? Right. Okay. So went with majority opinion. Okay. And so we just finished the first week of them watching

a movie from a genre they chose instead of because the first time I showed them Buster Keaton's the general. I was like, let's look at a modem. And then I showed them modern times by Charlie Chaplin because let's look at posture and movement. And then the third time I was like, okay fine, we'll get a talkie. The great dictator. Okay, I figured it out. Now's a good time to show them an antifa movie. Yeah.

So, and then I was also talking about like, hey, with a movie you can make messages. And so I explained to them, like, look, this was 1940. What was going on in 41 and on and on and on and on the class turned into that Jerry Seinfeld skit from SNL but they but the not the not but but anyway so we watched that and and they actually had some respect for it and then they picked their own genres And so then I would bring a movie from home

But also I pull each kid up to the front of the class and say okay What streaming services do you have access to and what movie in this genre would you like? What kind of subgenre do you enjoy something? Okay, so I'm having them exploring and so This week was the first week of doing that. And then we took another quiz this Friday to do the same thing again. And they fill out a worksheet that analyzes the movie.

It looks at who the main characters are when it was done, you know, the basics. And then also what's the message? What are they trying to say? Okay. What emotions are being conveyed in, describe a scene and what emotions are being conveyed using the following criteria. Okay, yeah. And you had, I don't remember whether it was on Facebook

or in our chat group, but you had, you had emoted a little bit yourself about, you know, the challenge we always have of like, okay, like I'm walking them all, literally all the way to the river. Yes. I'm walking like all the way up to it and I'm reaching into the stream

and I'm holding it up to them. And like, you know, Kite is just, and Kite is just not getting it. Right. You know, so I know. They're drowning the horses. Yeah, yes. So still, so, oh yeah.

Yeah, but, but, so, so I'm, I'm, I I'm I'm I'm grooving on on what you're talking about here Because I've heard you already like mentioned what you've been doing and I'm excited So well and the reason I point this out is because I think fourth quarter I will end up reducing my class to just guess the emoji You know, I shouldn't laugh so hard, but I know exactly why you're saying that. Yeah, oh, and I told the kids that too. I said I've made this even easier. I don't know how much easier I can make it. Unless I give you guessed the emoji, I said, but frankly, I need to save something for fourth quarter. Unless I give you guessed the emoji I said, but frankly I need to save something for fourth quarter So See some days I wish I was in high school so I could be that a Serbic with my own kids. Yeah, that's okay. They still don't get it. Yeah, but anyway

So now I want to talk about something that cheers me up in 1983. Yes, Raudi-Raudi Piper was contacted by Vince McMahon To come over to the WF from the NWA's Min Atlantic territory. Okay. However, Raudi insisted first on finishing out his contract with Jim Crockett, the one in charge of the Min Atlantic territory, before jumping over to WWF. This also meant finishing up his run as a baby face, his baby a baby face in Mid-Atlantic, which culminated with a dog collar match with Greg the Hammer Valentine at Starcade in November of 1983. Okay. This is widely considered to be the first pay-per-view. Now this dog collar match was brutal. It was a violent match where in both men were tied to each other by a chain connected by dog collars around their necks.

tied to each other by a chain connected by dog collars around their necks. Now this is one of those ones where because it is a live art and because the planning for it is often up to the moment or the day of, good ideas can sometimes go badly. So these dog collars had sheep's wool on the inside, which it's soft. Right.

Except when you're wrestling, oh god, it abrains. You sweat into the sheep's wool and it regularly rubs against the soft tissues of your neck. Oh god. And so the amount of pain goes up, not down. Oh no. So that night they rubbed their next raw

and that wasn't the worst part. The chain was a weapon that each man employed. And since both guys were tough guys, they wrestle stiff with the chain that's 15 feet long. I don't know if there's a way to use a chain without being stiff to be perfectly honest. Yeah. But Greg Valentine wrapped it around his fist and clubbed Roddy Piper in the left ear throughout the whole match. And both men choked each other with the chain.

Well, I mean, like you do. Yeah. Now as a result of this match, Roddy Piper comes to the WWF in 1984, two injured to wrestle. Oh shit. Instead, he ends up being a manager for a couple of heels. Dr. D, David Schultz,

who is famous for slapping the shit out of John Stossel at the end of 1984. Right. And Paul Ornd end of 1984. Right. And Paul Orndorf. Okay. Mr. Wonderful. Now, in so doing, Roddy Piper was also given control over victory corner, which would be renamed Piper's Pit in January of 1984.

Oh, okay. All right. A few weeks later, Hulk Hogan would defeat the Iron Sheik for the WWF title. So now you have a loudmouth heel who can't, therefore, won't wrestle and taginizing. I am a real American. Now fairness, he was still coming out to I of the Tiger at that time because he was in Rocky 3. Right, right. And you didn't have to worry about licensing because wrestling was kind of a under the under the radar. Yeah, kind of. Yeah. Now in the debut episode of Piper's Pit, Piper claimed quote, I will not pull no punches because it's

Roddy Roddy Piper. I mean, he is a fairly uneducated man classically like he drove out of school. I think about 13. Yeah. In Saskatoon or Saskatchewan rather. Yeah. And in this show, it was a way to take advantage of Roddy Piper's promo ability while he was still healing from Starkid. And this is also a way to let you tag in eyes and build up heat with various wrestlers, especially Hulk Hulk. I love how when you said he was still healing up, it took you a second to realize H.E.A. Yeah, not H.E. Yeah. But while he was healing, he was healing. He was healing.

Well, yeah. Now, this allows him to show his verbal dominance and give the fans a chance to look forward to him getting his just desserts. In wrestling, they often say that you have to talk people into the building. Oh, OK. By the summer, he was wrestling full time again. And almost immediately, he was at the center of the rock and wrestling storyline. But he also had other feuds going on too and the whole time he continued to use Piper's pit to antagonize whichever wrestlers he feuded with or just to build up

heat in their own feuds. Okay. So he would very often like he was he was what was called the heater for other feuds. Okay., you're feuding with great Valentine He would talk shit on you so you'd have to go prove yourself against great great Valentine Okay, okay, you're feud and then he would you know, he'd be heating up his own feud. Let's you in him fight right Okay, yeah, and it worked it worked so well now on what was arguably the most famous episode of Piper's pit Piper interviewed Jimmy Superfly snooker and during that episode Piper tried to make Snooka, quote, feel at home by by bringing up bananas, coconuts, and mocking his Fijian heritage. And it was racist as fuck.

Okay. After Snooka accused Piper of insulting him, Piper smashed a coconut shell over Jimmy Snooka's head. And after that, he proceeded to throw him around and show a banana down his throat before fleeing for a back door, escaping a furious Jimmy Snooka. Which, I mean, admittedly, if you piss off Jimmy Snooka, that's probably the best thing to do.

I don't care what a tough guy you are. Oh, you run. Yeah, you run. Yeah, you run. Now, this segment itself was taped March 28th, 1984 for airing in local St. Louis markets that weekend to help build up the plan's Piper Snooka series of matches in the Keel Auditorium in May.

So it's a big West tour. Okay. And the segment did not air nationally until the weekend of June 9th, 1984, after which the feud was then expanded. Okay. And that would you very often do that. You try it in a local market that really appreciates wrestling.

If it's getting really good reception, then you take it nationally. Okay. This is right when when Vizwick Man is invading other territories. Yeah. Now on Piper's pit, he would also interview Cindy Loper and Captain Luel Bano. An angle was made wherein Wendy Richter and the Fabulous Mula, two woman wrestlers, were supposed to fight to determine who was right, Captain Luhal or Cindy Lopper. So they're fighting on behalf of the team. Okay, okay. Now after the brawl to end it all in July 1984, Captain Luhal Bano and Cindy Lopper

reconciled, which angered Rowdy Rowdy Piper. Okay. Piper continued to antagonize and at the war to settle the score in February of 1985. So what we're saying here is the titles of these events were cribbed from, well from boxing, because you know, yes. Oh yeah. Okay. Vince McMahon's dad had started as a boxing promoter. Oh, okay. So boxing programming happened in these buildings anyway.

Okay, yeah, that's true. That's a good point. Because you say both of those titles and I immediately think of, you know, the thriller and thriller in Manila, Rumble and Jungle. Did I ever tell you about the time I did comedy and this gal came up to me afterward and was very flirty, very drunk and clearly wanted to take a redhead for a spin.

I wouldn't have in any of it. Did I tell you about this? I think she talked about this ayahuasca retreat shoes in. Oh yeah. Her uncle was like a 14th generation ayahuasca and shaman of some sort. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And she just she thought she was hit

and made some real knowledge. She's like, you have to be humble in the jungle. And I of course was like, well, I could get laid here really easily, or I could be a smart ass. And you being you. You can see my like bodypiper so much. Yeah, so. Ernie Ladd used to say, I'd rather fight a man than make love to a woman.

And Roddy Piper would always say, I'd rather smoke a cigarette than fight a man. And I'd rather, I clearly would rather just make jokes about, you know. It literally anything. Yeah, yeah. So it's amazing that anybody has ever found me worthy of meaning. But anyway, so at the war to settle the score, which apparently was needed after the brawl to end it all did not live up to its name. In February of 85, Hulk Hogan comes to the defense

of Cindy Loper. Okay, this was at a point where Hulk Hogan and that whole crowd were permeating MTV. That's exactly right. Popular culture, they were showing up on cartoons, on Saturday morning. Yep. And so I have, I actually have. This is one of those places where I actually have recollections of those interactions. Those events. He's just started to wait where the yellow and red. Yeah.

Hulk Hogan is like prior to this, he would wear white trunks or blue trunks. Yeah. Now he's starting starting to really brand the yellow and red. Yeah. And really it's really nascent, but it's growing. Yeah. Yeah. So this leads to a match between Piper and Hogan that ends in disqualification. Now you can't have a match ended disqualification. Well, but you have to have the match ended disqualification because we can't let this end now. Who wants to settle the score? Oh, you could get a sudden score.

This leads to the very first WrestleMania. Okay. Piper continues to build heat for other people. Yeah. During Andre the Giants feud with Big John Stud, Piper interviewed him, setting up for their match, the match between Big John Stud and Andre the Giant. Andre the Giant had never been body slammed,

except like I've watched videos and get him body slammed, like 15 times prior to hopefully doing it at WrestleMania three. Yeah. Matter of fact, Hulk Hogan had done it two years prior. Yeah. But I mean, Harley race had done it. There's several people who did it.

Yeah, yeah. But Piper claimed that he, so the thing was if you can body slam under the giant, you win. And if you could body slam, big John stud, you win. So it was just a body slam match. Who could get that match off? And whoever won would win $15,000. Okay.

Right, it was Duffle bag. And WWF Duffle bag for us. Full of cash, yeah. So Piper claims that he could body slam under the giant, which leads to under the giant, picking up a body Piper one handedly, setting him on a table and then just throwing him. No, that's something to sell right there.

Yeah, you better. Yeah. So here's the thing, here's Piper's genius. After Andre leaves, Piper gets back on the mic, builds more heat. And he responded indignantly and said, Andre, do you want to fight? You do not throw rocks at a man who's got a machine gun. Oh, holy, wait, holy shit. The balls on that guy.

Exactly. He said that to Andre the fucking giant? I mean, I've seen that, you know've seen that finger stabbing, floored face, just like transported with Celtic rage. Right. From a Canadian. From a Canadian. Well, but you know, Scotts Canadian.

Yeah, yeah. But I mean, I've seen that clip. I don't know how many times. Yeah. I didn't ever realize that the intended target of that vitriol could not be missed. Could, well, one, could not be missed. Two, could probably get hit by a 30-cal

and look at it and go, whatever. Can I do tickles? Yeah, that stings, boss. And then just like a wreck you. Yeah, I mean, we're talking about a man who would rank 117 beers in one sitting. Yes. Yeah, because that's how many he needed to. Yes.

So now we all know how WrestleMania went. And from there, Piper stayed very relevant and near the top of the card. And one of the main reasons for this is because he never cleanly lost a Hulk Hogan. Or, frankly, anyone for that matter. And another reason was because of Piper's pit. He could talk people into the buildings. So after another year of antagonizing the faces of the company, he turns on Paul Orndorf, blames him for the loss, and he then attacks the Haiti kid. Now I'm going to use a term now that still applies to wrestlers, but little people, they're little people who are wrestlers, they were called major wrestlers.

Yeah, okay, great. But Haiti kid was just one such individual. Okay. You can guess what color he was being called the Haiti kid. Yeah. Okay. So now in. And so this is 84? This is 86.

86. 86. Now keep in mind in WrestleMania one, Hulk Hogan was on a tag team against Rowdy Piper and Paul Orndorf with, oh, not outlaw Ron Bass, Cowboy Bob Wharton, Randolph Stadd. But he was against those two. You know who Hulk Hogan's tag team partner was.

No, I don't remember. Oh, he and Dave Grohl have something in common. Dave Grohl will fight them. This man will pity them. Oh, Mr. T. Yes. Right. So Roddy Piper goes and and basically abducts the Haiti kid

from the ring during a match of little people Drags him over to Piper's pit and ask the Haiti kid if he's friends with Mr. T This is yes He's something well then you're gonna look like him and he shaves his head into a mohawk so that he can look like him Half of Roddy Piper's heat was being racist At least half like the shit that he did in LA against the Guerrero family at least half. Like the shit that he did in LA against the Guerrero family, some Barros, Pontches, it was a very different time and it was cheap ass heat but it worked really well to and and he would get his ass kicked out. Wow. Yeah so he

shaved him to look like Mr. T because at WrestleMania 2 by the way Mr. T was was starring in the 18th at the time. Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. And Roddy Piper. Yeah. Roddy Piper went to the sets to antagon the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Roddy Piper. Yeah. Roddy Piper went to the sets to antagonize him. They had a film crew, it was all planned. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, yeah, yes, K-Fabe, but also of all the people,

like, like, I just keep thinking my admiration for Roddy Piper's physical courage. Yeah. Just continues to expand as you say this because speaking of other people, I would not want to be antagonized. Like even fake antagonizing. Right. Mr. T is pretty close to the top of that list.

Now here's the thing though. Because Mr. T is at least 30 pounds lighter than Roddy Piper. Really? Mr. T is at least 30 pounds lighter than Ronnie Piper. Really? T's only about 220. At this time, Ronnie Piper is about 238 to 40. Really? Yeah. And Piper gets up to about the 250s when he's at his peak, I think, of wrestling.

Okay. But yeah, remember, all the wrestlers, they look relatively small compared to each other. But they are compared to ordinary, but their space marines compared to normal human beings. Yeah, okay, this is true. All right, good point. He turns on Paul Ornorff, he shaves the Haiti kid, all of this to get ready for his boxing match against Mr. T at WrestleMania two.

Now in the boxing match, Roddy Piper was like, I gotta protect the business, I can't lose to Mr. T and he kind of goes into business for himself. And there's some question out. Roddy Piper is not a reliable narrator by any stretch. Yeah. But he does. Nobody in wrestling is a reliable. It's very true.

I mean, not like all of these people have their own... They're all carnies. Well, yeah. They're all carnies. It's the best way to put it. Yeah. But, you know, they all have their own egos on top of everything else. Yes.

Because if you're a pro, you're a pro. You're a pro. You're a pro. You're a pro. You're a pro.. It's the best way to put it. Yeah, but you know, they all have they all have their own their own Egos to do on top of everything else because if you you know, can't sell your ego, what do you what do you got? Yeah, so He goes into business for himself kind of starts a natural like it's clear that T is a little confused by what's going on And then starts defending himself. It's a messy match. Right. Piper's like, that's kind of the point. So he continues Piper's pit beyond WrestleMania two.

Now from April of 86 to June of 86, he takes a leave of absence. I think it was to heal something up. Okay. When he returned officially in August, he did so as a face. He'd been gone long enough. People respected him. Okay. Now he's gone away and he's come back. Okay. Now at this point, a few other heels took over hosting their own TV segments. There were several heels hosting their own TV segments. For a little bit, magnificent

Don later known as the rock Morocco. He was the original rock. Oh, okay. Magnificent Don Morocco hosted something called the body shop. And, okay. Magnificent down Morocco hosted something called the body shop. And he also did a series of skits called Fuji vice. Wow. With Mr. Fuji. Cheaming. It was a different time. It was a beautiful time. Just the extent to which the shit is so corned. Oh my God. Like you've seen like the Polish wedding party that they had for Ivan Putsky and the food fight that it turned into and the polkaing that was happening. Oh, it was great.

And don't get me started on the slammy awards. We're in Hacksaw, Jim Duggan and the King Harley race fought during the entire thing and they went into catering and there was a giant fish there and one of them smashed the other over the head with it. And they actually did a fish slap. Oh yeah, they did a fish slap. Oh yeah.

And let's leave aside also the Vince McMahon stand back performance where he's saying stand back and all the wrestlers were were yeah, I'll show you that Oh my god, okay, good god almighty. There's an okay. There's another guy who hosted his own talk show named Adrian Adonis And Adrian Adonis had given up his leather jacket. There's a signature leather jacket and he gave it to Roddy Piper There's a signature leather jacket and he gave it to Roddy Piper. Oh, and Roddy Piper starts wearing a leather jacket and so it's like, oh, you're a heel, I'm a heel. Here you go. And Adrian Adonis started wearing leg warmers, faded pink tights, dying his hair blonde, wearing eyeshadow, rouge, dresses, moumous, a sun flower hat, and he was the host of the flower shop.

I don't think you can get very much more homosexual panic than that. No, you really can't. Like, like friends didn't get gay panic as that. No, they did. They were subtle compared to this. Wow. Adrian and Gail. And Piper came back.

And by the way, later in Piper's career, he ends up having kind of the same storyline with gold dust, with a different take. Okay. It's still the same gay panic. Okay. Again, most of Piper's career is getting really, really shitty heat really well.

Okay. Um, Piper comes back and he delivers a notice that Piper's pit would be back and that the flower shop would not be. He also wrestles his Hulk Hogan's tag team partner in Toronto. And a couple weeks later during Piper's pit, Adrienne Donnis and his manager at the time, Jimmy the mouth of the South Heart interrupted Piperiper's pit accompanied by Cowboy Bob Arton or a Cowboy Bob Art Orton, a long time ally of Rodney Piper's who now was wearing a pink cowboy hat. Okay, it spreads. Really? Yeah. And...

Yeah. And they came on to challenge Piper to a showdown, the flower shop versus the Piper's pit. Okay. At the end of September 1986, this airs and it's a 10 minute back and forth from both sets, which are literally right next to each other. Adriana Donis was a master at being a heal. He acted flustered. He gave Piper a perfect foil because Piper was very, very quick. And Donis would just react and react and react and be so, so, quote, this is Piper. I am doing this for one reason.

I'm not trying to be the nicest guy in the world. I think that you looking like that for my sport is absolutely silly So he's not calling him a gay But he's you know pointing out something that's demonstrably true. You look ridiculous, but it's very coded. He said quote. I don't want my children watching this idiot now he's doing the and need a Bryant thing. Yeah. He's hitting that homophobia button real hard. And of course, by the end of the segment, cowboy, Bob Wharton, Don Morocco, Ann Adriana, Donnis, all attack Piper with a flower pot.

Okay, destroy his sets. They, they misused a chair. Back then they didn't know how to hit people. Chairs exactly. Oh, and they put makeup all over Rowdy Piper's face and they shoved the flower down his mouth. Oh, that's that's that's coded as hell. Yeah. Now the whole time, the crowd chanting, Roddy, Roddy, Roddy. Oh, okay. They wanted to make his comeback. Now this feud continues violently and bloodly and with plenty of injury angles to go with it. Piper's knee had been the target of the assault with the chair and so he was on a crutch,

which then he used to threaten folks who tried to stop him from wrestling. So he'd come down with the crutch. He'd be like, you can't wrestle and he'd like swing it at them. And then he, you know, yeah, he also shattered Adonis's elbow, K. V. And revenge. So now Adrian Adonis is in an arm's link. Okay, there's a ton of mocking and interfering and heater fudes that

happen. Okay, until he hosts Hulk Hogan and Andre the giant on Piper's pit in January of 1987, which of course sets up Andre's heel turn And the match of us. Okay, three So he has he has Hulk Hogan on and he gives them this giant Award for being champion for like four years at this point or three years at this point, yeah four years at this point, 84, 85, 86, 86, yeah four years at this point. And Andre gets a, Andre first gets a trophy and it's pretty big, you know, and it's for being undefeated for 15 years. He had been undefeated for 15 years, but it's wrestling. Yeah. And then

Hogan gets an even bigger trophy and it just kind of sets up that jealousy and stuff like that. So that gets their feud going, and eventually you see what happens. Now, the Piper Adonis feud continues to heat up throughout the winter, and in March of 87, Roddy Piper gives his final Piper's pit, which was a really emotional appeal to the fans, and it was a really good promo, and it didn't really do much to promote anything except for the fact that he was going to retire. Oh, okay. Now the match at WrestleMania between Roddy Piper and Adrian Adonis would be Raudy Roddy

Piper's retirement match. There's WrestleMania 3 in Detroit. It was a hair versus hair match. Okay. This ends up launching the next phase of Brutus Beefcake's career because he becomes known as Brutus, the barber. Oh, okay. Because Brutus Beefcake had been turned on by his teammate,

by his stable essentially, which was Jimmy Hart. Oh, wow. And Greg Valentine and Dino Bravo. Basically he screwed up, they abandoned him. Okay, given the one like the one-arm salute and so he comes back to get back at Jimmy Hart by interfering with Ronnie Piper's match against Jimmy Hart's other guy Adrienne Adonis. Okay, okay. But Piper was entering into the next phase of his career too. He wanted to become an actor. Right. And that's really what this episode is about. They live. They live is a Marxist

polemic no matter what the anti-Semites say. Okay. So, after WrestleMania 3, he goes and films his first movie. Hell comes to Frogtown. Oh, that was first, wasn't it? In which Rady Rady Piper plays a character named Sam Hell, a nomad who got captured by an organization of warrior nurses, the closest thing to a government in his region of the world, who revealed that they located him by tracking the trail of pregnant women left in his wake. It was that kind of movie. Their original plan was to use him as breeding stock with their collection of fertile women. But this was the group

that captured the group captured by the mutants. Right. And with their own attempts to capture the women failing, the group presses by the mutants. Right. And with their own attempts to capture the women failing, the group presses Sam Hell into service as a mercenary. And he has to infiltrate the mutant amphibious city frog town and steal the women back. It's an intensely 80s post apocalyptic schlock film. Oh, and schlong film because Sam Hell is first forced to wear an electronic protective

cod piece that will explode if he disobey or tries to abort his mission. And since he already had numerous samples of his reproductive material, he was far more expendable than the women themselves. Wow. To aid him in his mission and make sure that he follows the plan, he's paired up with one of the nurses. Spangle. Plate by Sandal Bergman.

Really? Uh-huh. Wow. And then, yeah, and in aggressive garden name, sent, uh, sentanella. Okay. Eventually, he and Sparkle fall in love and when they reach Frogtown everyone involved in the rescue is captured. The Frogs is second in command is a guy named Bull because of course who torches who tortures Sam Hell and attempts to remove the cod piece for its technology. Meanwhile a

slightly drug spangled is forced to work as a slave and dance for the Frogs commander Toti orOTE. Nice. Who was being dealt weapons by the father of one of the women that Sam Hellen slept with, played by William Smith. Conan's dad. Oh, shit, really? Wow. Named Count Sautom.

Spangle has to dance for him in the notable quote, Dance of the Three Snakes sequence. Soon Spangle finds herself at the mercy of the aroused commander, and however, with the cod piece now removed, both finally removed it with a chainsaw, but it then blew up and killed him. The escaped Sam Hell rescues her, along with a group of fertile women. A really fun fact about this movie is that the composer, David Shapiro,

is the follower of the Gish Galloping debate team from junior high hero in his own mind, Ben Shapiro. Bullshit. Dead serious. I don't know how that could be any more poetically appropriate. Right? Like, okay. So Sam Hall has obviously found true love, but he also has to come to grips with the fact that for the good of the world, he'll have to impregnate a lot of different women.

Besides his new love, Spangle, whose job it was to ensure that he did exactly that. But that's not really the main movie I'm here to talk to you about today. Yeah. The main movie I do want to talk to you about is a product of John Carp and your meeting Rodney Piper at WrestleMania three and deciding to cast him in, they live. And before we do, I'm going to pause it so that you can watch the trailer to Hell Comes to Frog Town.

Okay, now we're back. Yeah. Yeah. So, my level of respect for Sandel Bergman has an actress, has increased by an exponential amount. Uh-huh. Because we're gonna get them out and you're gonna get them all pregnant. Ha-ha-ha-ha. Delivered without so much as a twinkle in her eye.

Like, no, no, no. I mean, this patient. I am committed. I am 100% committed to the reality in which I am performing. Wow. She is a professional. She is. It really was a different era.

You know, the other thing that struck me watching that was was the remarkably good animatronic like the practical effect on all the frogs. Actually, I have walked past that movie and I'm going to date myself here by saying this, but I walked past that movie so many times in the video stores. and I always look at it and be like, no, and just keep walking, because, you know, I just look too stupid for words. And, you know, looking at the cover hood, I was like, oh, yeah, no, the effect on this

are going to have to be just, no, garbage. But that actually, the production values on that are remarkably high. Yeah, especially for that time. Yeah. Yep. Like there was real money and real serious effort put into that stinker. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so now oddly enough, now I'm looking at it like, you know what?

I kind of actually want to watch that. Like, I don't, but I do. Right, no, I understand completely, that's a moth to a flame kind of. Yeah, like train wreck. Like, I have to look, but I kind of don't want to, but I must. All right, so that was his big screen debut.

Yeah, yeah. Unfortunately, I cannot find it on any streaming services. That's probably for the best. Yeah, geek timers, if you can, Hell comes to Frogtown, let us know. Anyway, I'm sure it's gotta be somewhere on YouTube. Like Barry someplace on the news. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, Tibetan sometimes. Yeah something is, yeah. Yeah, I don't know, Tibetan, sometimes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So now they live, back to they live. Yes. So he meets Roddy Piper at WrestleMania 3. Right. That he being John Carpenter. Yeah. They live is described as a scathing indictment of capitalism

and Reagan's economic policies through the 1980s. Okay. And it is that. And later I'll also talk about the attempted co-opting by right as dipshits and how wrong they were. Okay. But really, it's, they live as more than just an indictment of the Reagan era. It's a Marxist polemic against Reaganism.

It is a decided, it's not just Reaganism's wrong. It is a Marxist take on why Reaganism is wrong. Okay. And it's a profaring fourth of what Marx said needed to happen in order to create a workers paradise. They live is a movie of form. It's a movie form using the lens of historical materialism through which Piper's character, John Nada, Nada is Spanish for nothing before

he could be any of us. And through John Nada, the audience, is better able to understand class relations and social conflict as well as provide a clear dialectical perspective to view the need for social transformation, via working classes awakening from their opiate induced apathy to rise up against the capitalists and overturn the system in favor of communism. Okay. Yes. Piper's character, John Nada, who is only referenced by name in the credits. Oh, yeah, that's true.

He is our, which again, strengthens the, this is all of us. He is our vessel through this movie. He is, and look at the symbolism here, he is an out of work laborer, and you're gonna like this, who has his own tools. Oh. He says that. Yeah.

He's also got a name that is, you know, a carbon copy name that literally means nothing as in he's not special, and he must could be him. He also doesn't even have a first name. Like, he's in the credits, just listed as Nata. Later on, it was a scribe to him that his name was John Nata by, you know, later talks. Oh, okay.

Carpenter basically said that, and there's an extensive backstory to the character, and there's a little backstory to the character, and there's a little bit in the writing as well, but largely it's the Roddy Piper element. Carpenter basically asked Roddy Piper to come up with a full backstory for this character, but not to share it with anyone ever. This keeps Nada as an everyman. He could be any of us, which is a very Marxist

proletariat choice to make. Okay. Now anyway, John Nada or Nada shows up to town specifically Los Angeles as an out of work drifter. And he walks across the train tracks. We see a train go by. This is a nod to industry and it's a chance to show that he came from literally the wrong side of the tracks. Well, it's also stepping over the threshold and the hero's journey. Absolutely. Incidentally, it is really fun to listen to the John Carpenter and Roddy Piper commentary. Oh, I'm sure. Holy shit, it's good.

Ha, ha, ha. Now, what's great about it is that Piper points out that John Carpenter hired the homeless folks for the day and made sure to feed and pay them. So all the homeless people you see in that homeless camp or actual homeless people, and he doesn't just give them free food, he pays them for their work. Nice.

So you find that out in the commentary. Very cool. Anyway, the first dialogue that you see is where John Nata is talking with the unemployment office. Okay. So he knows where to go to try to find work. He shows up looking for work. Okay.

He says that he worked in Denver. Center of the city, the country, you know, kind of a, and every place, everybody can kind of, it's kind of like how Red Dawn took place in the middle of the country. Yeah, you know, so I'm from the middle of the country, right? It's nice every town. He says he worked there for 10 years and then things just dried up. Now this is 1987. Yeah. So, or 86 is when it's filmed. The social worker is thoroughly unimpressed. She's a bureaucrat who's probably heard it a hundred times.

This really had the vibe of that episode of DS9 that we watched. Yeah. And she lets him know that there's nothing for him in LA right now either. And so he is a worker who cannot get work. Okay. And then we see him walk past a street preacher who is speaking of some group of folks who have all the power, who have quote,

taken the hearts and minds of our leaders. They have recruited the rich and the powerful. They have blinded us to the truth. Why do we worship greed? Because outside the limits of our sight, they're feeding off us, perched on the top of us from birth to death, our owners, our owners. They have us, they control us. They are our masters. That's yeah, okay. Yeah, pretty, uh, Pretty clearly that's Kapital. Yeah, exactly. Kind of language going on, man.

And he sees clearly what's going on. The street preacher, Wally's preaching. Did I mention that he's blind, by the way? Yeah, because Andy. Because obviously. Yes. And while he's preaching, the police show up, the agents of the state.

Yes. And then we cut to a TV through somebody's window, I think it is. And it's a clip of Mount Rushmore and a bald eagle. And then we cut back to John Nada's homeless existence. Okay. So the next morning he goes looking for work. He talks to the foreman and tells him, I got my own tools.

And he's very polite the whole time. The foreman says, well, this is a union job. So NADA specifically says, can I please speak with the shop steward? Which he knows how this works. He is a worker who knows how it works. And he's pro union. He's not like, oh, just work under the table.

He's like, well, I'd like to talk to the shop store then. Okay. So the guy running the job was like, well, it's a union job. So he's like, well, then I'd like to be part of the union. Yeah, I am a worker. And we then see him working and we're introduced to who's going to be his friend in the movie Frank Armitage. Okay.

Played by Keith David. Yeah. Who I always mix up with David Keith, even though they look nothing alike. Because you in names. Yeah, Jesus Christ. It is hard being me. I got to tell you, George. It's just... Well done. Thank you. Well done. But here in this scene, by the way, you see what I'm talking about with the wrestlers, like Roddy Piper is a small wrestler for wrestlers in the 80s. Yeah, yeah. You look at him in this movie and he's a fucking tree. Oh, yeah, no, he's an ogre. Yeah, yeah. And he is. Yeah. I mean, he is what you expect to

have work to look like. Yeah. With a little bit more hair. Anyway, here's the interesting thing about Keith David's character. Frank Armitage is the same name as the pseudonym for the screenplay writer Whose real name was John Carpenter? Armitage was because John Carpenter didn't want to claim sole credit for something that his future wife and Roddy Piper had collaborated so thoroughly on Okay, so he lifted the name Armitage from the Dunwich Horror a story by And Roddy Piper had collaborated so thoroughly on. Okay. So he lifted the name Armitage from the Dunwich Horror, a story by HP Lovecraft.

Yes. That Lovecraft, who regularly had characters driven mad by discovering hidden truths and horrors. And who is also like so racist. True. So incredibly. Like, yeah. But that wasn't why I- And who is also like so racist? True. So incredibly. So incredibly.

Like yeah. But that was a lot of work. But yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Oh, Ray Nelson. I read the story actually. It's only like eight pages long. So I have now increased the amount of fiction that I've read that's not Star Wars books by like 35%. I understand I'm broken. So Ray Nelson is the creator of the propeller beanie hat. Yeah. Yeah, which he had invented as a

tenth grader in Michigan while being an active member of early sci-fi fandom. Nelson has then gone to the University of Chicago to study theology and then in Paris to study more where he seems to have met almost every luminary in the middle of the 20th century. All right. He met Jean-Paul Sart, Boris Vian and Simone Dubovier, as well as Alan Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, William Burrows. Wow. Also, Michael John Morkock, which I love the name, but this is a guy who was smuggling Henry Miller books out of France, which had been banned due to pornography and obscenity laws.

Oh, yeah. So, this guy is just at the locus of all kinds of kinds of stuff. So, he starts, Ray Nelson starts doing cartooning and writing for fanzines. And in 1963, he published 8 o'clock in the morning, November of 1963. Okay. It's just a weird coincidence. Actually, it had nothing to do with the JFK assassination. Yeah.

But you can't mention shit happening in November. No, we're in 1963 without bringing that up. Yeah, no, it's true. It's a five-page story, but everything that was in that story is put onto the screen in Carpenter's movie. And the character's name is George in the story but beat for beat this whole thing is the same. So in 1986, Ray Nelson and Bill Ray collaborated to bring the comic NADA to the pages of another anthology called Alien Encounters. So now

comic book as well. Okay. Two years later, 88 Carpenter picks it up as a movie. So now back to Frank Armitage. Frank, Roddy Piper's new friend, a fellow worker, and a black fellow. He takes Roddy, or he takes Nada to find shelter, and this place is called Justiceville, where there's food, and it's a homeless camp. Okay. This is what Mark's called, the Lumpin Proletariat. Lumpin Proletariat. Okay.

This is a specific subdivision of the proletariat that would play no part in the eventual social revolution, kind of because they've been down so long. So far they've been rendered impudent. This is the kind of place that frankly inspired the writers of that DS9 episode with the game rebel riots, right? And Frank introduces Nata to a guy named Gilbert who's fixing a chair. So he introduces him to another man who's fixing something for some time.

All workers. Gilbert immediately seeks to put nod at work helping others with his own tools. Now over at Camp Dinner, Frank shares that he has a wife and kid in Detroit or kids in Detroit. Now, if ever there's a city that showed America's declining safety net, which John Carpenter was specifically calling attention to through his critique of Reaganism.

It was Detroit in the late 80s. And he goes on, he says, quote, haven't seen them in six months. Steel mills were laying people off left and right. They finally went under. We gave the steel companies a break when they needed it. Know what they gave themselves? Raises. The golden rule. He who they gave themselves? Raises. The golden

rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. They close one more factory. We should take a sledge to one of their fancy fucking foreign cards. There you go. There is so much in there. There is so much workers, proletariat, factories, management, unions. We gave the factories a break. All of this stuff. It reminds me of what you talked about when you were talking about The yellow peril with battle tech. Yeah, the relationship between unions and businesses in Japan compared to over here. Compared it. Yeah and well and and you know the other thing that's kind of depressing to think about here is These are the like almost word for word. This is the kind of stuff

you hear on Twitter. Nowadays, from people talking about, you know, the proportion of salary between you know, a worker on the line and the CEO of the corporation. And you know, CEO of a corporation, and CEO of a corporation fails and gets kicked out, they get, you know, they get some more. They get millions of dollars in severance. Yeah. A worker screws up, they get kicked out on the street and if they're lucky, they're gonna get

unemployment benefits. Right. And Cobra. Yeah. They won't even get benefits extended. Yeah. So I mean, it's, and if anything, the disparity we know has only gotten worse since then. That's true.

So it's, we talk about being in late stage capitalism. It's like, we're like, are we in like, afterward stage capitalism, like not the last chapter, but like, no, no, now we're getting into the reference pages. Like, yeah. I mean, I like when do we get into the bibliography of capitalism? Like, the book is over. Right. But there's still numbers on the pages.

It feels like people are still being encouraged to pull up on the stick when the plane has crashed into the mountain. Yeah, or people are being told to sit still and stop complaining. It's not even pull up on the stick. It's like, no, no. The pilot gets to handle the controls. Stay in your seat. Right. And it's rude to keep screaming like that. And put down the fire extinguisher. Yeah, you're not rated to that. You are not rated to, yeah.

Like, yeah. You know, so, and the thing is what I find, as we talk about this right now, what I find interesting is there were plenty of people who were doing satire, who were doing, you know, scathing critiques of reganomics at the time. And they've been doing it ever since. And like I have to wonder, what is it in the mindset of the political establishment that has allowed a patently flawed idea like supply side economics to stay dominant for so long. White evangelical nationalism? Well, okay, I know that we're going to be talking about that soon with a guest. But I think there's gotta be something more to it

than just, that is the tool they've used. But I'm talking about country club Republicans. I'm not talking about... So I would say there's a thing in wrestling where if you are a certain gimmick, you K-fave that in real life as well, okay, and it gets to the point where You truly believe your own hype Okay, so I think there's a layer of that. I think okay large thick like Pink Panther commercial

It this is interior insulation layer that kind of thick, like pink Panther commercial, this is interior insulation layer, that kind of thick, dummy thick with three C's, layer of believing their own hype. And those are the ones who are what, was it, who was it that called them that? Useful idiots was that Lenin he said useful idiots Yeah, yeah, yeah, sounds like a Lenin kind of thing. Yeah, cuz I don't think McCarthy said that

No, no, yeah, no, McCarthy. Curthy wasn't sorry, oh yeah,. And I know that Harrison was much more into transcendentalism. And I don't think Star had any idea. But I think Lenin is the one who's on there. Yeah, yeah. Nice, so. Thank you. Nice.

All right, so Frank goes on and he says, quote, the whole deal is like some crazy kind of game, some kind of crazy game. Only everyone is out for themselves and looking to do you in at the same time. Now, I found a critic of Marxism, George Monbiot, MLNBIOT, who discussed it at length and out of wreckage in 2017.

He's a British writer, so I don't know how to pronounce his name. Okay. And he's known for his environmental and political activism, and he writes weekly for the Guardian. Monbiot. I'm just going to say Monbiot has a long history of political activism, which seems to just be in his blood. His parents were both politically active

as were some of his grandparents. Okay. And more to the point, George himself is an investigative journalist and he's been all around the world and he's now persona no grata in seven countries. Oh wow. Yeah, as well as being sentenced to life imprisonment

in absentia in Indonesia. Okay, well okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Beyond just the fact that how awesome would it be to be able to like say that as part of how you introduce yourself at a cocktail party?

I have the Desens of the process. Like like, like, yeah. You know, like some shrimp? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I can't go back to Indonesia. Right.

Because they wouldn't let me ever leave. Have you ever been to Bali? No, no. I've been sentenced to life imprisonment there in absentia. Yeah. Well, actually, are these croutons? Yeah. Have you been to Bali?

Yes, I have. I had to leave rather suddenly, and I can't ever go back. Yeah. Oh, hey, can't pay. Yeah. You know, can't pay. To go to the beach. As I suddenly get very midnight in the garden of good evil there. But you know, like I want to find out if we can find an excuse to have

this guy as a guest because like, you know, you've heard Bishop in me making jokes or seeing Bishop in me making jokes about seeing that's why we can't go back to Lichtenstein. Right. You know, and being idiots about that stuff. No, this guy literally no shit. Yeah. And that's why I can't go back to Indonesia.

Like, yeah, how do you, okay? Yeah. Well, he's also been in places such as Brazil, Indonesia, of course. East Africa, where he was shot at, beaten up by military police, shipwrecked, and my favorite, he had been stung into a poisoned coma by hornets. What? So, so I don't need like, I mean, obviously I need to read some of his journalism, but yeah, I'm less interested I need to read some of his journalism, but

I'm less interested right now at this moment. I'm less interested in his journalism than I am. And just like, no, no, I need you to do a hunter-ess Thompson, like, autobiography. I need, I, you know, we were, you know, an hour out of Barstow when the drugs took hold. I need your version of that story. Right. Yeah. Wow. Okay. He also was once pronounced clinically dead in law, where general hospital in Northwestern Kenya, having contracted cerebral malaria.

And that might explain why he made the decisions that led him being stung into a poisonous coma by horn. Yes, I will. Thank you. Okay, so judgment might be slightly impaired after that. Also, Monbiot was attacked by security guards while on protest, who allegedly drove a metal spike through his foot, smashing the middle metal tarcell bone. I knew that would get you. the middle metatarsal bone. I knew that would get you.

You know, it's funny that that's the one that gets me and not the hornets. Right. Like I hear the hornets and I go, ugh, but the one that actually makes my gorge rise is that one. In 2008, he made an unsuccessful attempt to carry out a citizen's rest of John Bolton while in Wales.

Disguised my fucking hear out. Right. So on our way back to the movie. But everything that he, that, that, our image says in that, in that bit, sounds like Monbiot's critiques. Okay. So the next scene is a wonderful juxtaposition

of capitalism and its effects. The homeless are watching TV and they're watching an ad because somebody strung up a TV, you know, they're watching an ad about press on nails and about how, you know, I normally don't get to do anything when I've got these on. And now I get to do activities, but she's like playing tennis or some shit. And then the signal gets hacked and this first 20 minutes is some of the most obvious exposition that there is and here's what the signal hack says. Quote, our impulses are being redirected. We are living in an artificially induced state of consciousness that resembles sleep and then there's a homeless guy who cuts in complaining about the signal being hacked,

who later on it turns out was a sellout. And then he was in a tuxedo. Quote, The poor and the underclass are growing. Racial justice and human rights are non-existent. They have created a repressive society and we are their unwitting accomplices. Their intention to rule rests with the annihilation of consciousness. We have been lulled into a trance. They have made us indifferent to ourselves, to others. We are

focused only on our own gain. Please understand, they are safe as long as they are not discovered. That is their primary method of survival. Keep us asleep, keep us selfish, keep us sedated. And this leads to everyone getting headaches until the same guy changes the channel. And not a tracks the blind street preacher at that time to the church and then heads off to work the next day. And then we cut back to the signal hack because it bounces back in.

Quote, they are dismantling the sleeping middle class. More and more people are becoming poor. We are their cattle. We are being bred for slavery. Now, this raises not as suspicion as he investigates that instead of heading to work. And we have the discovery scene. And we see on the wall of the church, quote, they live, we sleep. That's right. Okay. Now what's awesome about all this is that the casting is very much a mosaic ethnically. So again, it's it's giant carpet. You're really really infusing this. Also Booker T. Washington's picture is at the head of

the church. Okay, okay, cool. So anyway, Gilbert's talking about more than just a localized movement. It sounds a lot like spreading a revolution and in uniting workers everywhere. Okay. Nada runs into the blind street preacher who then feels not as hands and he says, eh, you're a working man. Here it's the revolution. A qualified offering not other revolution doing due to his working man's status. Okay. Oh, he feels his

hands, feels his face, then feels his hands. And he's like, okay, we've got a revolution going. Now Frank offers him advice, which is mind your own business. And not us is, I'm gonna do what I'm gonna do. He actually has a very rhodi piper-esque line and the thing is rhodi piper's lines. A lot of them were rhodi piper's lines. Yeah. Which is why Carpenter was like I'm not taking full credit for writing this. And it was because piper kept a book of cool quips for most. You do not throw a lot of man armoured machine gun, right?

That's good, yeah. Yeah. You know, staying in the middle of the road is a worse place to be. Oh nice. You know, still have that. Yeah, yeah. So that night,

Roddy Piper, Nata watches the police raid, which also destroys the homeless camp, and it's meant to seem over the top. Yeah. It isn the top. Yeah. It isn't today. No. Like all of this, it goes right back to what I think we need to codify our rules.

Rule number one, now here we are in episode 150, finally codifying the rules. Rule number one, a theory of intent don't mean dick. Yes. Right. Rule number two, I would say it's probably something long lines of, satire is dead. Or. And we are fucking its corpse. Jesus Christ.

You're not wrong. I can't take credit for that. That's of course for Penny Arcade, but yes. And it was actually talking about the sequels to Dune and Herbert, but I think it still kind of applies here. Sure. I would say maybe instead of Satire's dead, maybe something along the lines of Satire never survives past its own time.

Yes, I can definitely agree with that. Yes, Satire has a very short half life. Yes, yes. So, you know, you get to see Ferguson 30 years earlier. Yeah. Yeah. So, I think that's where I want to end it. Okay.

Because then we get to juxtaposition of more commercials and more about the homeless. Yeah. And then we really get into the horror plot of it. So here's the setup. Yeah. So now you know a lot of what's going into it. And frankly, it's just, it's a bit long to just to just, of course, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. But okay, so far, have I convinced you that they live as a Marxist-Polimic? So far, I think you make a strong case. I mean, certainly all of the metaphors line up, the framing definitely lines up. You know, and I think I think what's interesting, or what, maybe not what's interesting,

but what occurs to me is it's very interesting that, you know, Reaganism was this incredibly cold-war driven kind of ideology. It was, you know, have you ever seen the movie, the president's analyst? No. Okay. And now I'm totally forgetting the name of the actor who plays the main character, but the main character is a psychiatrist.

Who winds up getting selected. He finds out in the first scene of the film, he finds out that one of his patients who's been with him for nine months or something is actually CIA operative. Oh, they're sizing him up. And they've been sizing him up. And it's like, okay, no, you win.

Right. You know, you're going to, you know, the president needs to have somebody to talk to, the president. You know, we want to make sure that he is on an even keel because he's got his thumb on the body. Why did this come out? In the early Kennedy administration, it was before Kennedy's assassination. Oh my God. It's heavily implied that the president in question is Kennedy.

Oh, okay. If I'm remembering, right? So anyway, he winds up becoming the president's analyst. And then after his first session or two with the president, he then gets kidnapped by another one of his patients, who was a KGB agent who had gotten wind of the fact that they got wind of the fact that he was being groomed by the CIA. And then it turns into this kind of back and forth of, and the message they were trying to make in the film actually gets kind of delivered by the KGB officer

who says, you know, don't you see, as time goes on, we're drifting more in your direction and you're drifting more in our direction. You know, we're inevitably going, you know, right now we're seeing one another as these two opposite ends of a spectrum, but we're really moving toward one another. You see more and more social programs in the West, and you see us doing stuff with our economy that's more and more capitalist. doing stuff with our economy that's more and more capitalist. You know, and the reason I bring that up is because I, as an adult looking back on it,

I have really gotten this strong sense that thatcherism and Reaganism and that whole movement was a right-wing knee-jerk reaction to that idea. Super rubber banding against the welfare state. Yeah. And Nixon saying we're all Kenzians. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Nixon for God's sake.

The man who is slightly to the left of Obama. Yeah. Fuck. God damn over to the window. So. But I bought window. So, but- I bought a pit trap, but whatever. Yeah, it's nice. And that broke me.

The over to pit trap. But, you know, and so we're what we're looking at is the artistic slingshot back in the other direction. From, I'm also going to point out, this is a Marxist polemic coming from an American director. Yeah, very true. And so I think in the historiography of the Soviet Union, I think one of the things that gets overlooked, or the historiography of communism, I think one of the things that gets overlooked is the one large scale,

you know, leninist experiment that anybody's ever done was Russian. And there are aspects of how that turned out that you can't erase the Russianness from them. Yeah, it existed in a culture. In a culture. That was also reacting to it. It was reacting to its own baggage of having been invaded by literally fucking everybody

in the world. Right. And everything, and all of the other stuff that goes along with that. And so an American espousing Marxist, Lennonist, whatever, whichever is communist kind of ideology you're talking about is going to have a different set of resonances. Cultural assumptions. ideology you're talking about is going to have a different set of Resonances cultural assumptions cultural assumptions

that tie into that and and so the criticism Like a Soviet filmmaker criticizing Reaganism would hit on Very very or we would probably hit on the same things because the targets are all very obvious But would hit on them from a different angle with a different emphasis and and with a different Yeah, with a different context behind it from what I've seen of Soviet I do not disagree I'm gonna just dial it in a little bit more from what I've seen of a Soviet movies criticizing American Ideology behaviors practices and whatnot from Stalin on forward, is that they really hit on how

goddamn racist our country is. Because one of the things that is very under-sung is when we talk about the Great Migration, we talk about a lot of black people who were from the South out West, settled in what we know as Pasadena now, and stuff like that. And then you had a second glut of immigration or migration into Richmond and Seattle, the port towns, because World War II. But another part, another giant leg of the Great Migration was Chicago and New York

Yeah, and you've got I mean you've got their own Renaissance and you have Detroit. Yeah, you've got you know the all this industry What most people overlook is the third one which was a fuck ton of black farmers moved to Russia Yeah, and Russia was all too happy to have them because they need the people which was a fuck ton of black farmers moved to Russia. Yeah. And Russia was all too happy to have them because they need the people. They killed off all the Kulaks, which, in fairness, the Kulaks weren't necessarily doing

right by the peasants either. Yeah. But, but yeah, they needed, they needed farmers and black people in Russia. I mean, there's that wonderful, you know, it's this wonderful thing that I've listened to several times and I forget exactly who does the voicing. I don't think it's actually Paul Robson himself. I think it's somebody else, but it's Paul Robson going out and against the senator. And oh my god, like, oh, yeah,

no, I've heard it. And it's it's it's it's scathing. It's wonderful. Well, it's, God, like, he's got it. Oh, oh yeah, no, I've heard it and it's, it's, it's scathing, it's wonderful. Well, it's, yeah, no, yeah, his, his, oh, yeah, Robeson's words are amazing, but it's, is it James Earl Jones, Ray? It is James Earl Jones reading it, yeah. That's a very good job. Oh, well, of course, cause it's, I mean,

it's that baritone of his, my God. But it's, it's, it's really fun, cause it's like, wait, who's really in charge here? Oh. Because ropes and owns and eats the guy's lunch so easily. Which I love. Yeah. But in the guy being a senator, but there was a lot of black migration to the Soviet Union. And as a result, I think in many ways, there was an effort by Soviet cinematography to, at

once appeal to the folks who'd come over, but also they're getting their stories from the folks who'd come over. Yes. And so there's a lot of effort to point out like y'all talk about freedom You've got this really shitty second-class citizenship. I mean you even just look at the kitchen debates and you know Nixon finger in the chest of Krischchef. Thank you I was gonna say Chicheska. I'm like no

Romaniac and later yeah, but anyway, so he and we will wave bye bye right, but they're arguing over a woman's proper place yeah that whole thing and so he's like no we respect our women we let you know that they work their equals and Nixon's like no we respect our women because you know we make all these fancy tools for them to not have to work so they can stay home and it's like sweetie You are not making the points you think you're making you don't you know you're you're not winning the way you think you're winning

Yeah, you know and what's what's interesting is There's a little bit there's obviously some truth in in cruise jives point there but there's also some self-serving E-E lighting of Some fact. Oh, absolutely. Because post-World War II the Soviet Union Did say to an awful lot of women they didn't say it to as many women as we did as percentage of their population, but they did still Push women to go back home and start to have a baby's. Yeah push women to go back home and start having babies. Yeah. Yeah. We don't need you to be barefoot, but we do need you pregnant. Well, we need, we need citizens. You know, and there's two ways to get

the thing you want. Yeah. You can either subsidize the thing you want or tax the thing you don't. Yes. So America made it unbearable for women to be able to work still through a mass media campaign aimed at gilding them into staying home so that the men could get those jobs. Yes. In fairness, I think if you go and fight for a country, you should be able to expect a job when you come back. Yeah. And.

But there are other ways to get that. Exactly. You don't have to steal from Mary to pay Peter. Yeah. But the Russians, the Soviet Union, what they did was you would get a medal if you got 10 kids. Yep.

That's different than get in there and start popping them out. And here's the other thing. Like, you can still work, but keep popping them out. Yeah, but there's great level of recognition, I think, of just exactly what a taxing thing being pregnant actually is. Like, you've done this enough times. We're going to give you an award that you're going to get to wear on your chest. Anytime you go anyplace fancy.

You spent nine years being pregnant. You spent, yes. You spent, actually, it's longer than that. But yeah, you just spent at least nine. Yeah, you spent a minimum of nine years in a state of waiting for a human to literally come out of your body. So thank you for that.

Here's a medal because you're a hero. Yeah. You know. Yeah. And I would also point out that since Russia lost about 27 million people in World War Two, many of which were men. Yeah. The, the, yeah.

They didn't have the same pressing issue with, you know, Ivan comes home and needs a job because Ivan didn't come home. And the job still needs doing. The job still needs doing. Right. So we need, we need Ivana to be doing it. Yeah. So anyway, so, so, yeah, to listen to the kitchen debates, listening to Nixon's side of

it, he is such a petulant little bitch. Um, because he's just like he lost the point. He's just like he lost the point. He's just like he lost the point. He's just like he lost the point. He's just like he lost the point. He's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point.

But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point.

But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. But he's just like he lost the point. you didn't clean your shoes when you came in. It's like we were talking about how to fold a napkin. Yeah. What's your doing?

Yeah. So anyway, okay. So yeah, it sounds like I'm making the argument that it is in fact a Marxist polemic, not just a diatribe, not just an appeal to Marxism, but an actual polemic. Polemic, yeah. No, definitely. So what's your reading that you could recommend to me?

What am I reading that I could recommend to people? I don't have anything up in my queue right now. I can, I can solidly recommend. I wish I could. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to be reading. But between working on my house and grading you know, grading student work. I don't have anything. Yeah. How about you though? Well, I'm going to recommend everybody put this in their like to buy Q.

Okay. It's not coming out until I believe August of this year. But it's called all the frequent troubles of our days. But it's called all the frequent troubles of our days, the true story of the American woman at the heart of the German resistance to Hitler by Rebecca Donner. And it's about this woman from Wisconsin who went back to Germany, became a spy, and essentially worked kind of similar to like the White Rose Society. I forget exactly what they were called. She gets sentenced to death, or no, she gets sentenced to forced labor white rose society. I forget exactly what they were called. Yeah. She gets sentenced to death. Oh no, she gets sentenced to forced labor for six years.

Oh wow. Okay. Hitler specifically steps in and personally says no. I want her dead. Oh. And she gets guillotine. Oh. So shit.

It's about her life. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. So by Rebecca Donner. So I mean, it sounds amazing. I haven't read it yet Kind of a downer ending, but boy howdy, but like I read the the cheat she put up a twist stream Okay, a various documents that came from it and just you know good publicist yeah, but it was I was like Oh, I'm gonna read that so I recommend that people put it on their August list.

Okay, very cool. For reading books, so. All right. Well, where can we find you on social media? I can be found on the social medias at EH Blaylock on Twitter and all as Mr. Underscore Blaylock on TikTok and as Mr. Blaylock with No Underscore Blalock on TikTok. And as Mr. Blalock with no underscore on Instagram, we collectively can be found at Geek History of Time

on Twitter and at www.GeekHistoryOfTime.com on the internet. And where can you be found? Well, if anybody wants to come at you with this isn't Marxist, this is Engelsist. I don't know if Engelsism is actually a thing, but if anybody wants to angle illsism. Nice, if anybody wants to come after your dialectic materialism, where would they find you? Well, I've put milkshakes out in the yard. Oh.

No. You could find me at duh harmony on Twitter or Instagram. You could also find me at duh harmony one, I think, on the TikTok, where I'm telling some masterful jokes. No, he's not, he's telling some terrible, terrible, horrible puns, and he has hashtag all of them. By the way, if you wanna look for him on TikTok, all you gotta do is look for the hashtag,

How I Torture Ed. Yes, so. Because, fuck you. It's all the boost up this show. Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so that's where you can find me. So for a geek history of time, I'm Damien Harmony. And I'm Ed Blaylock.

And until next time, the workers should own their tools.