Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, Halloween is around the corner and to celebrate Parallax Views is welcoming back Chris Alexander of Delirium Magazine to chat about the joys of horror! In addition to Delirium Magazine, Alexander has also been an editor-in-chief for Fangoria, a writer for Rue Morgue, and an editor for the official magazine of the rock band KISS. He's also a filmmaker whose cinematic efforts include Blood for Irina, Queen of Blood, Female Werewolf, and Blood Dynasty as well as his upcoming feature, produced as part of Full Moon Feature's Deadly Ten project, Necropolis: Legion. On this edition of the show, Chris tells us about his abiding love of not only horror but also rock 'n' roll and how the two are intertwined. From the we delve into a number of topics with a special focus on the history of independent film producer Charles Band and his studio Full Moon Features. Charles Band and Full Moon have created such iconic horror, sci-fi, and fantasy franchises as Puppet Master, Demonic Toys, Evil Bong, the Gingerdead Man, and many, many more. Chris also tells us about Full Moon's latest venture, The Deadly Ten, which will allow fans to watch the making of 10 Full Moon movie in real time for free via the internet. CHECK OUT FULL MOON'S DEADLY TEN! ALSO BE SURE TO CHECK OUT FULL MOON FEATURES STREAMING! SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, Texas-based activist Tiffney Lee Billions of We the People Organize and Billions TV joins us to discuss the fatal police shooting of Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson as well as the broader problem of police misconduct in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Billions has tirelessly sought to raise awareness of police brutality in the Dallas-Forth Worth area by closely following and cataloguing multiple cases in the area. During the course of her activism she has visited the crime scene of the Botham Jean murder, come into conflict with the Dallas Morning News, and appears to have recently been monitored Dallas PD at an event designed to raise awareness of police misconduct. Although this may seem like a regional issue, Tiffney and I argue that the policing problem in Dallas-Forth Worth are an example of a broader crisis facing America as a nation. Much like the murder of Botham Jean by Dallas PD officer Amber Guyger, the fatal police shooting of 28 year-old Ft. Worth, Texas resident Atatiana Jefferson has sparked outrage in the Lone Star State that's garnered national attention. Atatiana was babysitting her 8-year old nephew Zion when she heard noises outside her home during the early morning hours of October 12th, 2019. Likely alarmed by the possibility of an intruder, Atatiana, as per the testimony of her nephew, pulled out a handgun and pointed it at the window. A voice yelled out, “Put your hands up! Show me your hands!” Seconds later a shot was fired. Those were the final moments of Atatiana Jefferson’s life before she was terminated from this mortal coil. Ft. Worth officer Aaron Dean arrived at Jefferson’s home for a police welfare check after a neighbor had called a non-emergency number to report that the front door of Jefferson's home was open. He did not, as far as we know, announce his presence. Two days after the fatal incident, on October 14th, Officer Dean resigned from the Dallas Police Department and was arrested on charges of murdering Atatiana Jefferson. Coupled with the murder of Botham Jean on September 6th 2018, the deadly shooting of Atatiana Jefferson has raised serious concerns about police misconduct in North Texas and America as a whole. In this conversation Tiffney dissects both the Botham Jean and Atatiana Jefferson cases and offers her critique of how local police and media handled said cases. Additionally, she explains why members of the Dallas-Fort Worth community see these incidents as being part of a broader, systemic problem that demands immediate reforms within DFW police departments. CORRECTION: In the intro I state "shot were fired" at Atatiana Jefferson. Officer Dean fired a single shot that fatally wounded Jefferson. SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, journalist, whistleblower, and former Anonymous associate Barrett Brown joins us to discuss misconduct by police and press in Brown's hometown of Dallas, Texas. Dallas police have come under heavy scrutiny since the shooting death of Botham Jean, in his own apartment, by police officer Amber Guyger. Guyger lived in the same building and says she mistakenly entered Jean's apartment thinking it was her own. According to Guyger she believed that Jean was an intruder and fatally shot the 26-year old Harding University alumnus and PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant. Guyger has since been convicted for Jean's murder and sentenced to a 10-yea prison sentence. Barrett Brown Brown, a recipient of the National Magazine Award during his time with The Intercept, covered the murder of Botham Jean for the local press outlet D Magazine. While covering Botham Jean's murder he has been critical not only of the Dallas Police Department, but also the city's local press. Since then a Facebook account going by the name "Wesley Taylor, Jr." made a bomb threat directed towards D Magazine for publishing Brown's columns. Moreover, this person has harassed Brown's girlfriends and made threats directed at U.S. Democratic Presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke. In the following conversation Brown discusses all of this and Dallas PD's response to the bomb threat. Trey Garrison aka alt right personality Spectre Additionally, Brown and I discuss how journalist Trey Garrison (real name: Norman Asa Garrison III) wrote for major city publications while living a double-life as the alt right personality "Spectre". Under this alias, Garrison became a notorious Twitter troll and host of the white nationalist podcast Third Rail. As Spectre, Garrison promoted #DayOftheBrick which encouraged harassment and physical violence against journalist. Under his Garrison byline, he wrote a column for the Dallas News entitled "Why I Don't Want Diversity in My Neighborhood" that was republished by the alt right outlet American Renaissance. Dallas Morning News Coverage of the Guyger Trial Brown argues that, all of these things, taken together display misconduct and lack of reflection on the part of both the Dallas police department and the city press. Moreover, he believes that these issues in Dallas represent a microcosm of a broader national issue that points towards an urgent need to reform media and police institutions in America. Barrett Brown and Julian Assange At the beginning of the show, Brown addresses his recent Twitter ban and the controversial comments he has made concerning Julian Assange. Barret and I have a frank discussion about his approach to criticizing Julian Assange and how his anger towards Assange has often manifested in admittedly outlandish statements on his part. SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM  

Victor Salva on the set of Jeepers Creepers 2 On this edition of Parallax Views, the second in a two-part exposé of convicted Hollywood pedophile Victor Salva. Salva is perhaps most famous for writing and directing the Jeepers Creepers (2001-2017) franchise and the Disney movie Powder (1995). Before making his big break, however, the low-budget horror movie Clownhouse (1989). Salva was convicted of molesting that film's 12 year old star, Nathan Forrest Winters in 1988. Despite this, Salva has maintained a career in Hollywood and his latest feature, Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017), was given a theatrical rerelease for the Halloween season this year. In part one, CSA (Childhood Sexual Abuse) survivor Nathan Forest Winter joined us to tell his story of abuse perpetrated by Salva, the process of healing, and his upcoming documentary 7he 6oy. In part two, Connar Frazier, the director of 7he 6oy, joins us to discuss Nathan's story and Victor Salva further. Connar also discusses how their documentary, 7he 6oy, came about, their experiences making it, and more. Additionally, the intro to this episode features a very brief clip of testimony from Brian McHugh, Nathan's co-star in Clownhouse, that Connar has offered to us as a Parallax Views exclusive. 7he 6oy Available October 31st, 2019 SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, the first in a two-part exposé of convicted Hollywood pedophile Victor Salva. Salva is perhaps most famous for writing and directing the Jeepers Creepers (2001-2017) franchise and the Disney movie Powder (1995). Before making his big break, however, the low-budget horror movie Clownhouse (1989). Salva was convicted of molesting that film's 12 year old star, Nathan Forrest Wintters in 1988. Despite this, Salva has maintained a career in Hollywood and his latest feature, Jeepers Creepers 3 (2017), was given a theatrical rerelease for the Halloween season this year. In part one, CSA (Childhood Sexual Abuse) survivor Nathan Forest Winter joins us to tell his story of abuse perpetrated by Salva, the process of healing, and his upcoming documentary 7he 6oy. In part two, Connar Frazier, the director of 7he 6oy, will join us to discuss Nathan's story and Victor Salva further. Nathan Forrest Winters in Clownhouse (1989) Nathan Forrest Winters today 7he 6oy Available October 31st, 2019 SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, a founding member of the Stop the War Coalition and author of How the Establishment Lost Control (Zero Books, 2017), joins to discuss his new book The British State: A Warning (Zero Books, 2019). As the chaos of Brexit rages on, Chris and I discuss the mythology of the British state and its role in propping up the status quo. Chris begins by discussing how the mythology of the British state is underpinned by a belief in gradualism. This is to say that the state exists to slowly bring about progress towards liberal freedoms. Chris argues however that the British state, even viewed from a left wing perspective, has a darker history that has supported the Establishment by repressing dissidents, particularly the working class. From there we discuss a number of different topics from the Establishments maneuvers against the Labor government of Harold Wilson, the rise of neoliberalism under Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and New Labor, why the Left needs to consider the role of the State even if victories are made by figures like Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders in the future, and much, much more.   THE BRITISH STATE: A WARNING AVAILABLE FROM ZERO BOOKS SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, it's Halloween season and that means horror movies are all the rage. Although until recently dismissed as "low-brow" entertainment by some segments of society, horror movies have proven time and time again to be huge profit-makers that can reliably make financial returns. In fact, Hollywood titans like Oliver Stone, Peter Jackson, Sam Raimi, and James Cameron first cut their teeth in filmmaking through the world of horror. And it shouldn't be any wonder why since audiences can't seem to get enough of a good ol' fashioned scare coupled with the fact that such films can be produced on tight budgets and even tighter production schedules. Although low-budget horror has, due to it's financial viability, proven popular since the early days of cinema, an even lower-than-low-budget emerged in the 1980s thanks to the VHS boom. SOV (Shot-on-Video) horror are the fright flicks made on a micro-budget, sometimes for as little as a couple thousand dollars, that represent the underground of the horror genre. SOV horror has developed a cult fandom since its heyday in the 1980s with VHS What are the trials and tribulations that go into making movies on such a shoestring budget? And who are the people who make such movies? Joining us on this edition of Parallax Views to answer those questions is Todd Sheets, who has been making SOV horrors and micro-budget terrors for over 30 years. The conversation begins with Todd and I hashing out what constitutes a micro-budget movie and how Todd was mentored in the art of shoestring movie-making by the American-Canadian filmmaker David Decoteau. From there we discuss the difficulties Todd making what he considers his first "real" movie, 1993's Zombie Bloodbath. Specifically, he relates how he and his crew had to make the movie during the Great Flood of 1993 that devastated the Midwestern United States! Todd Sheets' VHS-era terrors From there, Todd and I discuss armchair movie critics. Specifically, Todd talks about some of the harshest, nastiest experiences he's had with critics and trolls over the years. On the other hand, Todd also notes that he has disowned many of his earlier efforts due to his belief that those movies don't meet quality standards. That being said, Todd argues that some critics go over the line into the realm of personal mean-spiritedness that lack basic human decency. In this regard, Todd relates a particularly callous trolling incident that targeted an actress, namely 80s scream queen Linnea Quigley, in one of his movies. Todd Sheet & Scream Queen Linnea Quigley From there we discuss the trials and tribulations of his two latest labors of love. We start by talking about last year's Bonehill Road, a throwback werewolf creature feature with practical effects and an inventive plot twist. Todd says that he'd always wanted to make a werewolf movie and how Bonehill Road marked his first foray into crowd-sourced funding through Indiegogo. Additionally, he tells us about some of the difficulties of making the film, how he achieved special effects, and how a company that thought the movie was Satanic almost kept Bonehill Road from seeing the light of day. Bonehill Road Los Angeles Premiere Poster Todd and I begin to conclude the conversation by discussing his latest wild feature, Clownado, which mixes the killer clown genre repopularized by the IT remake with elements from SyFy's so-bad-it's-good hit franchise Sharknado. Todd notes, however, that the origins of Clownado's script predate both by over a decade. And finally Todd illustrates the just how hard low-budget movie-making can be with the story of a exceptionally grueling night of shooting for the movie where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. Killer clowns + a killer tornado may prove more deadly than Killer Klowns from Outer Space in Clownado! We wrap up with the now almost mandatory "Parallax Views positive note" where Todd talks a little about why he keeps making micro-budget movies. During this final portion of the conversation Todd mentions some of his other features like Violent New Breed, House of Forbidden Secrets, and Dreaming Neon Purple. Despite all the trials and tribulations Todd has had both in life and in filmmaking, he says that the positive experiences he's had through filmmaking, the friends he's made along the way (including the legendary comedian Rudy Ray Moore aka "Dolemite"!), and the fans who've enjoyed his work have been a blessing. Even if you're not a fan of the horror genre this is an episode of Parallax Views you won't want to miss as Todd discusses the highs and lows of micro-budget filmmaking! SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, the American poet Louis Untermeyer once wrote that, "Poetry is the power of defining the indefinable in terms of the unforgettable." In the case Peter Dale Scott, however,  that quote may be worth modifying "the unforgettable" in that quote to "the unspeakable". Scott, a Professor Emeritus at UC Berkeley, is perhaps best known for his non-fiction prose which conceptualizes a parapolitics or deep politics that occurs alongside and parallel to everyday politics. For many decades now Scott has tirelessly investigated the nature of U.S. power as it relates to drugs, oil, and war. This has led him to write a number of thought-provoking articles and books that cast a critical eye on intelligence agencies, the American defense industry, and Wall Street among others. For some this may sound like an intellectualization of conspiracy theory and, indeed, Scott has played a pivotal role popularizing the now common parlance idea of the "deep state" for American audiences. Scott's approach to these matters, however, prove to be much more hard-nosed than the American right and Donald Trump's crude appropriations of these concepts. Scott's interest in history and deep politics has not just been limited to his prose writing though. These issues also greatly inform his poetry, particularly Coming to Jakarta: A Poem About Terror which deals with the Indonesian massacres and U.S. involvement in said atrocities. What sets Scott's political poetry apart from his political prose is quite simple: the personal element. In a great number of ways Scott's work, in both poetry and prose, have been committed to what the Catholic theologian and social activist Thomas Merton referred to as "raids on the unspeakable". What does it mean to investigate the unsettling aspects of U.S. policy, particularly in relation to war? What kind of trauma does it incur to bear witness to history in its fullness? And how are we, as citizens living in the U.S., implicated in these matters? Scott's poetry, and especially Coming to Jakarta, may provide a few answers or at least the clues to them. In this conversation, Professor Scott joins us, alongside Freeman Ng, to discuss their new book Poetry and Terror: Politics and Poetics in Coming to Jakarta. Peter discusses his family life, thoughts on deep politics, experiencing a dark night of the soul, and more in this thoughtful conversation. SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, Kollibri terre Sonnenblume, author of Roadtripping at the End of the World, joins us to discuss the climate crisis and his recent piece "The Teachable Moment of the Greta Thunberg Phenomena", which responds to the provocative six-part report "The Manufacturing of Greta Thunberg – for Consent: The Political Economy of the Non-Profit Industrial Complex" by investigative journalist Cory Morningstar. This is not, however, an attempted takedown of Greta Thunberg or the phenomena she has sparked in regards to climate activism. Kollibri finds a great deal of inspiration in Thunberg, but argues that we must guard against her message being co-opted by those seeking to only make gestures about climate change and take half measures in response to it. Indeed, Thunberg herself seemed to express this same sentiment in her now famous "How Dare You!" speech delivered at the 2019 UN climate change summit in New York. Additionally we discuss politics, the environmental movement as a whole, the Green New Deal, generational difference between boomers, Gen X, and millennials, the media, and much, much more! SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM

On this edition of Parallax Views, Stuart Wexler, author of America's Secret Jihad: The Hidden History of Religious Terrorism in the United States (Counterpoint Press, 2015), joins us to uncover a far-right anti-Semitic movement known as Christian Identity and what he argues is its often overlooked role in stoking violent hate crimes and white supremacist terrorism across the United States for decades.  First, however, Stuart relates an uplifting story about how students of his Government and Politics class at Highstown High School drafted The Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act. In this amazingly inspiring story, Stuart's student lobbied social media and Congress to the point that they gained enough support for the bill to end up on President Trump's White House Desk. President Trump then signed that bill into law. Put another way, these young students made history.  Stuart Wexler and His Students From there we pivot into a lengthy conversation about Stuart's excellent book America's Secret Jihad: The Hidden History of Religious Terrorism in the United States. Stuart details the origins of the Christian Identity movement and its peculiar interpretation of the Bible. In addition to noting its apocalyptic, millenarian nature, Stuart explains how Christian Identity's adherents believe in a variation of a discredited theory known as British Israelism, which argued that the English are the true descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Furthermore, they hold that those generally understood to be Jewish by mainstream society are, in actuality, bearing false witness and belong to a "serpent seedline" they describe as "The Synagogue of Satan". Put in layman's terms, Christian Identity's adherents believe that Jews are demonic entities.  Despite the admittedly fringe nature of these beliefs and the movement itself, Stuart makes the case that Christian Identity's extremist orientation has left a trail of violence in its wake dating back to the days of Civil Rights. He also describes how the movement eventually came under greater scrutiny in the 1980's through the activities of The Order (aka The Silent Brother or Bruder Schweigen) and The Covenant, The Sword, and The Arm of the Lord. Moreover, Stuart argues that Christian Identity's fingerprints and presence can be found in or around the periphery of historical events such as the Ole Miss race riots of 1962,the siege of Ruby Ridge, the Oklahoma City Bombing, and possibly even the Atlanta Child Murders. Stuart also argues that today the traces of Christian Identity extremism can be found in the recent Pittsburgh and San Diego synagogue shootings. SUPPORT PARALLAX VIEWS ON PATREON! WHERE YOU CAN HEAR... PARALLAX VIEWS THE WEEK THAT WAS CURRENT EVENTS PROGRAM