The Bubble Genius Bob & Chez Show, 1.3.13

First Show of 2013; New Year, Same Republican Insanity; The Fiscal Cliff Deal; The Reaction from the Left and the Right; The Poorest Workers and the Bush Tax Cuts; Democrats Should be Very Afraid of Chris Christie; Republicans Allow Violence Against Women Act to Expire; No One Wants to Hear About Gun Control Anymore; Our Tolkien Fracas; and much more. Brought to you by Bubble Genius and the BobCesca.com Amazon Link.

Listen and subscribe for free on iTunes

Download the mp3 (55 minutes, 23mb)

Listen on your smartphone via Stitcher.com

The Gore-y Details

As expected, it didn't take long for Fox News to hone in on the apparent hypocrisy of Al Gore promising to build a completely independent journalistic outlet in Current TV -- one with liberal ideals to spare -- then selling out to the highest bidder. O'Reilly went on a tear last night against Gore, bringing up the above as well as the thoroughly predictable right-wing attack line that he sold Current to an "anti-American" network in Al Jazeera and, to top it all off, made sure the deal was closed in time to capitalize on 2012 tax rates.

Yesterday over at the Banter I ran down the details of the sale and dropped more than a few hints regarding my opinion of the whole thing. I think Gore did sell out and he deserves to be taken to task for that. He walks away from the deal with Al Jazeera with more than one hundred million dollars in his pocket while the network he worked to create from the ground up and professed an unyielding dedication to gets shuttered and its hard-working staff gets thrown out on their asses. The insanely wealthy country of Qatar, meanwhile, regardless of its politics or culture, buys itself a very big foothold in the American market, and everyone pretends that it's just business being business.

Al Jazeera makes a good news product and no one is saying it doesn't deserve a voice in the United States or that it's up until now been treated entirely fairly by U.S. distributors. But the way this deal went down comes off as a little unseemly. Of course no laws were broken, but there's a difference between illegal and simply not all that right. This falls into the latter category.

Listening Post

I finally got around to seeing Cosmopolis last night and I have to give David Cronenberg credit -- he was willing to stay unmercifully faithful to the story's source material. I've already raved about Don DeLillo's 2003 novel that spawned the movie; I thought it was a prophetic near-masterwork the first time I read it and I still think so. Cronenberg kept intact most of DeLillo's powerful and poetic but at times frustratingly indecipherable dialog and the result is a movie that's definitely not for everyone.

One of my favorite things about the film was the decision to create a collaboration between long-time Cronenberg scorer Howard Shore and Metric for the soundtrack. Basically, Shore composed most of the music and Metric "translated" it into actual musical pieces. The outcome is something truly interesting and unexpected: subtle orchestration transformed into often eerie electronic and steely propulsions that befit the film's tale of technology descending into absolute nihilistic chaos.

Here's the movie's closing theme, which is the only really pronounced track used in the film that you can hear Metric frontwoman Emily Haines singing on.

This is Long To Live.

TV's Arab Spring

Today's column for the Daily Banter takes a look at the sale of Current TV to Al Jazeera.

Here's the opening shot:

"When I heard the news yesterday afternoon that Al Jazeera had bought Current TV my first reaction was probably a lot like anyone who inexplicably deigns to follow the ins and outs of the media: wow. Everyone knew Current was on the block, but the reality of Al Jazeera, the Qatari government-owned network that’s admired and reviled in equal doses around the world, suddenly gaining the very big footprint in the United States that’s eluded it up until now by displacing the low-rated but fiercely independent network started by Al Gore — well, that’s one of those 'holy crap' moments media watchers live for."

Read the Rest Here

Listening Post

This is one of those songs that barely missed making the 25 Best list from last year.

From Cloud Nothings, it's Stay Useless.

An Offer They Can't Refuse

During the second leg of my flight home today, from Dallas to L.A., I managed to crank out a quick piece -- one inspired by Chris Christie's "holy shit" news conference earlier today, the one in which he pretty much threatened to have John Boehner and the House Republicans whacked.

Here's an excerpt:

"The fact that an attack this visceral came from Christie is what makes it so damaging. Sure, Christie’s never been one to mince words but that’s part of what’s made him such a political powerhouse and star within his party. The thing is, though, it’s Christie’s willingness to put country and the actual governing thereof over partisan politics when the situation demands it — as in when he effusively praised President Obama’s initial response to Sandy — that’s made him a political star in general, irrespective of party. People like Christie. He commands attention and respect from both sides of the aisle and is that unique figure in American politics who can call out childish antics in Washington with plainspoken anger and have that criticism be truly withering and resonant. I may not love Chris Christie’s policies for the most part, but there are times I can’t help but like him."

Read the Rest Here

Listening Post

Appropriately, here's Beach House's brand new video for New Year.

I'm in transit today, heading back from South Florida, through Dallas and on to L.A. Regular posts begin again tomorrow with things really picking up next week. Got a lot of Banter stuff to catch up on and I'm trying to balance a whole lot of projects so that the machine can start winding up here again.

See you all tomorrow.