In this episode we detail the rise of detached "who's winning and who's losing" political analyses that reduces high stakes life and death issues to fodder for ESPN-style navel-gazing. With guest Jack Mirkinson.

Episode 229: Sociopathic 'You Got To Hand it To 'Em' Punditry and the Rise of Politics as Sport

Like many things, there used to be a bipartisan consensus that in a disaster, you help as many people get through it as quickly and safely as possible. In the past 20+ years, though, we’ve seen a shift in how the right responds to climate catastrophes — including building out a robust selection of conspiracy theories from chemtrails to Flat Earth. Will Menaker from Chapo Trap House joins us to discuss right-wing conspiracy theories about the weather, the climate, and whether we’re living on a discworld.

Our guest is Will Menaker, host of Chapo Trap House. Their Movie Mindset series returns in October for spooky season, and you can also buy their new Year Zero comic book here: https://badegg.co/products/year-zero-1. 

Want even more Panic World content? Like ad-free episodes, bonus episodes, and access to our Discord? There’s still a week left to get your first month for just $0.50 by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PanicWorld. Enter “PANICYEAR” at checkout for 90% the first month.

And if you want to see this conversation on video, ⁠Panic World is now posting episodes to YouTube!

PANIC WORLD: The Big Dumb Weather Conspiracy with Chapo Trap House

In light of recent revelations about legendary Tennessee sheriff Buford Pusser, we delved back into the Walking Tall cinematic universe with the final entry in the franchise to date, the Kevin Sorbo vehicle WALKING TALL: LONE JUSTICE (2007). In this entry, the stick-wielding sheriff moves from the rural south to big-city Dallas. PLUS: We investigate the National Review's list of the best conservative movies.

PATREON-EXCLUSIVE EPISODE - https://www.patreon.com/posts/659-into-pusser-140245478

PREVIEW - #659 - Into the Pusser-verse

Three films in this year’s NYFF lineup explore the intersections of quotidian life and the arts, following artists whose efforts to make time and space for their creative passions are thwarted or frustrated by the grind of the everyday. In Kent Jones’s Late Fame, adapted from an Arthur Schnitzler novella, a once-upon-a-time New York poet (and now a postal worker) is intoxicated by the sudden attentions of a coterie of twentysomething wannabe poets. In Kelly Reichardt’s The Mastermind, set in the 1970s, an aimless art-school dropout executes a comically sloppy heist at a local museum, as if seeking escape from his banal, bourgeois family life. And in Lucio Castro’s Drunken Noodles, an art student spends a summer in New York, having a series of serendipitous and erotic encounters around painting, poetry, and writing. Each film dwells in how both the making and consuming of art can force life into a pace incompatible with that of the modern world.

Last Sunday at NYFF, Jones, Reichardt, and Castro joined Film Comment editors Devika Girish and Clinton Krute for a conversation exploring the temporality of cinema versus the other arts, the challenge of being a working artist, and the exquisite craft behind their new films.

Stealing Time, with Kelly Reichardt, Kent Jones, and Lucio Castro

Sitting in New York, not much happening. Sitting in Cleveland, not much happening. How about we go to Florida? We discuss Jim Jarmusch's breakout film STRANGER THAN PARADISE (1984), a film that heroically swan against the current of Reagan-era culture and politics.

Join us on Patreon for an extra episode every week - https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus

OTTAWA - See Luke take part in a live podcast recording at Press Forward's Future of Independent Media Summit on Friday, October 3 - https://press-forward.ca/introducing-the-2025-future-of-independent-media-summit-in-ottawa/

NEW YORK - See Will present Plan 9 from Outer Space and sign copies of his book Ed Wood: Made in Hollywood USA at Metrograph on Thursday, October 9 - https://metrograph.com/film/?vista_film_id=9999004527

" 'Protect Empathy at All Costs. And Live Groovy Lives.' An Interview with Jim Jarmusch" by Bilge Ebiri - https://www.vulture.com/article/jim-jarmusch-father-mother-sister-brother-interview.html

#660 - Missed Connections

Roger Waters joins the show to talk about Gaza, the UN, free speech & what he wants the president of Colombia to do. Plus, he reacts to the latest crackdowns on speech, the war in Ukraine, & why some musicians are such cowards when it comes to Israel. 

For the full discussion, please join us on Patreon at - https://www.patreon.com/posts/patreon-full-140151702

But first, we're joined by Vaniya Agrawal & Hossam Nasr, two former Microsoft workers who helped pressure the company to bar the Israeli military from using Microsoft services to spy on millions of Palestinian civilian phone calls made each day in Gaza & the occupied West Bank & stored in Microsoft’s vast Azure cloud computing platform. But there's more work to be done, as Microsoft continues to collaborate w/Israel in other ways. 

Of course, we can't leave you hanging on Trump's deal so we will ALSO be joined by Mouin Rabbani & Craig Mokhiber who will break down what's really happening in Gaza.

Roger Waters is a singer, songwriter & musician, best known for being a member of the legendary rock band, Pink Floyd. He's also an outspoken activist for peace, a free Palestine & several other causes that get him in trouble. 

Vaniya is an organizer w/No Azure for Apartheid & ex-Microsoft worker who was terminated for protesting at Microsoft's 50th anniversary keynote event, where she disrupted a panel of current & former Microsoft CEOs including Bill Gates, Satya Nadella, & Steve Ballmer. Since then, she has continued organizing w/NoAA to apply pressure on Microsoft executives to meet workers' demands. Most recently Vaniya was arrested twice last month for participating in encampments on Microsoft campus, & occupying the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith at Microsoft's global headquarters. 

Hossam Nasr is the co-founder of No Azure for Apartheid & a former Microsoft worker. He worked at the company for 3 years before being fired in October last year for organizing a vigil on Microsoft campus for the Palestinians killed in Gaza. Since then, he has organized w/NOAA to pressure Microsoft to end its relationship w/the Israeli military & confronted executives at company events. Most recently Hossam was arrested twice last month after participating in the Liberated Zone encampment on Microsoft's campus & the sit-in at Brad Smith's office.

Mouin Rabbani is a researcher, analyst & commentator specializing in Palestinian affairs, the Arab-Israeli conflict & the contemporary Middle East. He has among other positions previously served as Principal Political Affairs Officer w/the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria, Head of Middle East w/the Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, Senior Middle East Analyst & Special Advisor on Israel-Palestine w/the Int'l Crisis Group. Rabbani is Co-Editor of Jadaliyya & a Contributing Editor of Middle East Report.

Craig Mokhiber is an American former United Nations (UN) human rights official & a specialist in international human rights law, policy, & methodology. On October 28, 2023, Mokhiber stepped down as the director of the New York office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). In his final letter to High Commissioner, he harshly criticized the organization's response to the war in Gaza, calling Israel's military intervention a "textbook genocide" & accusing the UN of failing to act.

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Roger Waters on Gaza, the UN & Israel’s Final Battle + Trump's Gaza Plan & Microsoft Victory

Greetings Horror Sickos,

Listener, please light a circle of candles and begin to scrawl out the ancient sigils in salt, and begin the accursed chant … “Let’s All Go to the Lobby, Let’s All Go to the Lobby, and Grab Ourselves a Snack”

That’s right! Spooky season is upon us and to inaugurate another edition of Ghoulvie Screamset Horrortober, Will Massacre and Hexa Deni are back with a selection of abominable and morally ruinous films.

First up, in Return of the Living Dead (O’Bannon, 1985) an assortment of punks, working stiffs and slobs accidentally expose themselves to zombie gas and help bring out the nuclear bombing of Louisville, Kentucky in this documentary about a real thing that actually happened. This hilarious and goofball horror film asks two existentially terrifying questions: What if you could feel every second of being dead? And, do you want to PARTY????

Then in The Blob (Russell, 1988), a sci fi classic gets a grisly and unforgettable remake that features Kevin Dillon playing an motorcycle riding bad boy who smokes cigs, wears a leather jacket and has to save the small town that rejects him for being too cool from a giant blob that digests and dissolves everything in its path.

This episode is free, but the rest of Ghoulvie Screamset Season 3 will be paywalled!

MM43 - Punks & Bad Boys

We watch and discuss the FINAL DESTINATION series.

oin the Patreon now for an exclusive episode every week, access to our entire Patreon Episode back catalogue, your name read out on the next episode, and the friendly Discord chat: patreon.com/theimportantcinemaclub

Send us stuff like zines, movie-related books, physical media or memorabilia c/o Justin Decloux, Unit 1010, 3230 Yonge St, Toronto, ON, M4N 3P6, Canada.

Subscribe, Review and Rate Us on Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-…ub/id1067435576
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Check out Justin's other podcasts, THE BAY STREET VIDEO PODCAST (@thebaystreetvideopodcast), THE VERY FINE COMIC BOOK PODCAST (www.theveryfinecomicbookpodcast.com) and NO SUCH THING AS A BAD MOVIE (@nosuchthingasabadmovie), as Will's MICHAEL AND US (@michael-and-us).

#443 - The Final Destination Series Is Here To Remind Us We Can Die At Anytime

Will interviews Los Angeles reporter Memo Torres, whose site L.A. TACO shifted from covering food and culture in the city to some of the most indispensable and horrific coverage of ICE raids available. Memo tells us about what happens to people when they get kidnapped, covering the horrors of fortress America, and practical advice for those who might find themselves in ICE’s crosshairs.

Read more at L.A. TACO: https://lataco.com/ 

And follow Memo Torres on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/el_tragon_de_los_angeles/?hl=en

UNLOCKED: ICE is Coming to a City Near You feat. Memo Torres

A podcast about culture, politics, and our crumbling world. Hosted by Luke Savage and Will Sloan.

Exclusive subscriber-only episodes: https://www.patreon.com/michaelandus/overview

#660 - Missed Connections

Michael and Us