Michael and Us

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PREVIEW - DuffyGate Revisited w/ Luke LeBrun Sep 06, 2021

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PATREON BONUS - https://www.patreon.com/posts/duffygate-w-luke-55808939 With Will on a temporary hiatus, Michael and Us is pleased to welcome Luke LeBrun, editor of my journalistic alma mater PressProgress, for a chill discussion of media coverage in Canada's ongoing federal election. With that behind us, Luke and I turn to a decidedly low-stakes political scandal from the already forgotten Harper era (colloquially known as DuffyGate), recount some old war stories from our days covering Canada's many right wing think tanks, and talk about one our country's most ignoble institutions: the Senate. Watch CBC's The Rise and Fall of Mike Duffy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK2CD7P6yrM Follow Luke on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_llebrun https://pressprogress.ca/

PREVIEW - Richard Seymour on Afghanistan and the British Establishment Sep 01, 2021

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PATREON BONUS - https://www.patreon.com/posts/55643199 Just as the American media has turned on Joe Biden following the announcement of withdrawal from Afghanistan, the British media has given a rapturous reception to Tony Blair as he's waded back into the discourse. Luke talks to writer and author Richard Seymour about the British establishment’s crack-up over Afghanistan, its inability to quit Blair, the storied history of liberal justifications for war and empire, and other issues raised in his recent essay “Disaster Liberalism.”

PREVIEW - #264 - All That's Solid... Aug 30, 2021

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PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/55508789 Our Superdelegate patrons have selected Paul Thomas Anderson's much-loved parable about American capitalism, THERE WILL BE BLOOD (2007), and we drank it up. PLUS: the state of the Canadian election, and memories of eccentric characters from our university days.

#263 - Sculpting in Time Aug 29, 2021

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Andrei Tarkovsky's debut film IVAN'S CHILDHOOD (1962) sends us into a discussion about poetic cinema, memory, Russia, and what it means to be a national filmmaker. PLUS: Spike Lee's flirtation with 9/11 truth, and check-ins with two reactionary celebrities.

PREVIEW - #262 - Al Gore Lives On My Street Aug 23, 2021

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PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/55227370 Al Gore changed the way millions of people think about the climate crisis, but a full 15 years after the intended wake-up call of AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH (2006), the crisis is worse than ever. We look back at the documentary and analyze why Gore's brand of neoliberal environmentalism hasn't worked. PLUS: the Canadian election, The Sopranos, and tales of small-town political corruption.

#261 - Money Never Tweets Aug 20, 2021

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In 1987, Oliver Stone introduced the world to a man who was not your daddy's capitalist: Gordon Gekko. We revisit WALL STREET to consider the strengths and limitations of its distinctly New Deal Liberal perspective on American capitalism; to marinate in the particular left-liberal Boomer perspective of Stone; and determine once and for all if greed is, in fact, good.

PREVIEW - #260 - Reality Bites Aug 16, 2021

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PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/54951772 You've probably seen the show. But you probably haven't seen the movie. We put ourselves through Jerry Springer's one and only feature film vehicle, RINGMASTER (1998), and have emerged with a clearer sense of what the king of trash TV thought he was doing. PLUS: we've both been watching reality TV lately, and are more than eager to share our findings!

#259 - Oliver's Twist (w/ Anders Lee) Aug 13, 2021

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In 1994, the most vilified member of the Reagan administration tried to stage a political comeback, and it almost worked. The documentary A PERFECT CANDIDATE (1996) follows Oliver North's attempt to unseat Democrat Chuck Robb as a Virginia senator, and captures the political currents in both Virginia and the United States as a whole. Pod Damn America and Redacted Tonight's Anders Lee fills in for Luke to discuss. Follow Anders Lee on Twitter - https://twitter.com/andersleehere Follow Pod Damn America - https://twitter.com/andersleehere

PREVIEW - #258 - What The Bleep Is This Shit!? Aug 08, 2021

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PATREON EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/54650386 It was Homer Simpson who said, "What is mind? No matter. What is matter? Never mind." This aphorism is much more useful than anything in WHAT THE BLEEP DO WE KNOW!? (2004), the pseudo-science docu-fiction movie that blew a lot of minds during the Bush era. We analyze the film's brand of hokum, which exists somewhere between The Secret and Scientology. The Superdelegate patron class forced us to watch this one, gang!

#257 - Rank Punditry Aug 06, 2021

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With an election looming in Canada, we decided to look back on a time when Justin Trudeau's father received his punishment at the hands of the Canadian media. The National Film Board of Canada documentary HISTORY ON THE RUN: THE MEDIA AND THE '79 ELECTION (1979) chronicles the unusual media landscape that led to a nine-month interruption in Pierre Trudeau's long tenure as Prime Minister. We discuss how media shapes and responds to election narratives, how things have changed since 1979, and the unusual Trudeau/Joe Clark/Ed Broadbent election. PLUS: rank punditry about Justin Trudeau's chances.

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