Wow, totally shocking that FOX News would distort the truth to magnify the fears of mouth breathing dumbfuck morons across America. I hope John McCain wins the election this November, just to finally prove once and for all how fucking stupid most of this country actually is. After all, FOX news is by far the most popular cable news outlet for American shitdicks, by more than double according to today’s Nielsen ratings. We deserve John McCain, who represents the aging, stale, wealth hungry, military idiocy of our country far more than Barack Obama. Fuck it.

This is a bit atypical of the bands that we generally choose for Synthesis Band of the Day. No horn-rimmed glasses, waifish broads with ugly indie-rock haircuts, ‘roid-bicep hardcore meatheads, striped sweater wussies or epic Dungeons & Dragons progressive metalheads. No, Phredley brings the funk-rock.

In my fledgling college days, back when tie-dye wasn’t as vomitous and my roommate’s constant Phish-Grateful Dead-Phish musical rotation didn’t drive me completely bonkers, I would have broken my left leg to check out a band like Phredley. Now bad photoshop effects kinda irk me, patchouli oil makes me want to hurl and hippie funk in general just pisses me off. But not Phredley. They’s alright.

Based around a brother-sister duo (Phred Brown on Vocals, Guitar & Horns; Alesha Brown on Keys & Vocals) and a rhythm section (Paul Loos, Drums & Vocals; Samuel Tobias Winn, Bass & Vocals) Phredley lays down funk that is far closer to the heart of nearby Detroit than that of longhair revivalists in Colorado or Vermont. And when they stray toward the pop side of the spectrum, it comes across more as radio-friendly than looking for a parking lot miracle. More importantly (for me at least), their lyrics hold water. With the aforementioned hippie-funk enthusiasts, it’s most often the lyrics that drive me to enraged hysterics; Phredley uses some clever (or nearly clever) turns of phrase. No, Phred’s not Leonard Cohen by any means, but in a sometimes poppy, sometimes rocky funk quartet, it works. Their track “The Truth About Capricorns” also has some pretty, Beatelesque, tonally complex passages. If you’re a big fan of Ben Harper/Jack Johnson/Maroon 5, or your ’70s R&B records don’t have much dust on them, do yourself a favor and look into Phredley.

A very compelling article from Seattle’s The Stranger (via Utne) on the 9 / 11 Truth Movement six years after WTC:

It’s inaccurate to refer to Truthers as conspiracy theorists because, as they’re quick to point out, many of them don’t have a theory. They only have questions. Some of them believe that the government is guilty of knowing about the attacks and simply allowing them to happen, others believe that the planes were remote-­controlled and no passengers died in the attacks, and still others believe that the Pentagon was hit by a cruise missile and no plane was involved at all. Many Truthers believe that Flight 93 couldn’t have crashed in Pennsylvania since the crash site is only 6 feet wide by 20 feet long. A radical few even claim that no planes struck the Twin Towers. The debate within the movement is intense and not always polite; some Truthers believe that denying that hundreds of air passengers died on September 11 is disrespectful and stupid.

And although a 2006 Scripps poll found that 36% of Americans believe the government was somehow responsible for 9 /11, getting that 36% to agree on exactly what this means has gotten perhaps more difficult than ever. What do you believe?

Brian De Palma’s Redacted(Magnolia Pictures) opens 11/16, and so far the right wing media is really STOKED on it:

“Brian DePalma ..should be ASHAMED. (Redacted) will incite young Muslim men, already steeped in hatred toward America and the West, to act on their hatred. If just one of those men straps on a bomb vest and murders people, that is on Brian DePalma.” Bill O’Reilly

“A case for TREASON” patdollard.com

Okay, I’m interested.

The film’s tagline:
“Truth is the first casualty of war”

Okay, really interested.

The Trailer:

Okay…wtf? That’s a pretty lackluster trailer. I know, negative space, disembodied voices…possibly intriguing to some, but it really doesn’t do anything for me. But judge not a movie by its trailer I suppose.

Redactedis a fictional story based on the true events that led up to America’s invasion of Iraq, and focuses on the trifecta of fucked: the media, the soldiers and the Iraqi people.

Centered around a small group of American soldiers stationed at a checkpoint in Iraq, REDACTED alternates points of view, balancing the experiences of these young men under duress and members of the media with those of the local Iraqi people, illuminating how each have been deeply affected by the current conflict and their encounters with each other.

Theres this movie floating around the internet lately that has most likely managed to piss off every single person who took the time to watch it. I felt it was well worth the time taken because it made me think, hard. Such a film offering alternate perspectives and identifying obvious problems is definitely a touchy subject and frightens lots of people away. I just saw this the other night, and it blew my mind to pieces. I showed it to a few people. Some kept an open mind, others did nothing short of shoving their fingers in their ears walking away saying “La lala lalalala.” For better or worse, Zeitgeist, The Movie will totally punch you in the balls.

For your consideration, a cause for concern.

Dont ask questions, just watch.