 Starting the 4th season of BARRY on HBO MAX this past Sunday, I was reminded of the genius of one of our best character and supporting actors of the past 30 years. To give a little background, BARRY is a show about a hitman and ex-military soldier who tries to change his life by taking an acting class. The show is not one of my favorites but is completely watchable due to its bingeable 30-minute episodes and is loaded with memorable characters like Anthony Carrigan’s NoHo Hank and Henry Winkler’s Gene Cousineau. But one of the key supporting characters is Monroe Fuches, a sociopathic and manipulative handler who organizes hits for lead character Barry Berkman while engaging in a long-term schizophrenic relationship with him. Who else could inhabit this complicated character other than the indominable Stephen Root? According to IMDB, Stephen Root has been in 273 television shows, movies, and has voiced many different cartoon characters. Starting out mostly doing guest appearances on television shows like ROSEANNE and HOME IMPROVEMENT or having small parts in movies like BLACK RAIN, Stephen is the story of a person who worked his way to respectability. The first things I specifically remember him in was as Captain K’Vada in STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION covered in Klingon makeup. Another early performance was as the school counselor Gary Murray in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER. Working around the edges of Hollywood for years in bit parts, Root finally landed a part in a wonderful mid to late 90s TV show, NEWSRADIO, as Jimmy James, the often hilarious and ruthless owner of the radio station. With an ensemble cast loaded with talent (Phil Hartman, Dave Foley, Andy Dick, Joe Rogan, etc.), this show brought Root’s talents out into the spotlight. So why is it that an actor like Stephen Root who has never really been the lead actor in any film or television show come to my attention? There are three primary reasons for my adoration of him. First, Stephen Root can do almost any role. Do you need him to be a frightening cult leader? See THE EMPTY MAN. Due to an expressive and emotive face, he can be intense and hilarious within seconds of any scene. His character Gus Lacey in THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS is a great example of his intensity or playing the real-life corrupt Department of Justice middleman Gaston Means in the television show BOARDWALK EMPIRE with a perfect Carolina accent whose opinions greatly fluctuate depending on your money and influence. He can also tear at your heart while simultaneously being hilarious like he was with one of his most famous characters and present-day meme Milton from OFFICE SPACE.  STEPHEN ROOT AS MILTON IN OFFICE SPACE Second, Stephen Root does every type of genre (Comedy, Mystery, Psychological, Historical, Drama) and every type of television show (Comedy, Thriller, Science Fiction). In fact going over his incredible IMDB profile, I have seen him in at least 70 different productions. He works with some of our best directors including memorable cameos with the Coen Brothers (In movies like OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, and THE LADYKILLERS). Director and creator Mike Judge has used him for some of his most famous and significant roles including the aforementioned Milton and as the voice of Bill Dauterive, the fat and depressed neighbor to Hank Hill during the 13 seasons of KING OF THE HILL on FOX. Kevin Smith has used his talent in RED STATE, JERSEY GIRL, and the recent animated reimagining of He-Man in MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE: REVELATIONS. He even has had memorable comedy roles in Ben Stiller films like DODGEBALL: THE TRUE UNDERDOG STORY where his character Gordon becomes an unbeatable player when his rage is triggered. Third, when Root shows up in any production, it automatically brings a smile to my face. Despite the incredibly diverse number of characters he plays, there is still an aspect to his performances that makes him easily identifiable. He can mask and hide himself in any role but because it is Stephen Root, I still recognize the actor behind the character. Was I happy to see him appear in the awful BOOK OF BOBA FETT? Hell yes. His appearance as Bill Krogstad in CEDAR RAPIDS immediately brought that surprisingly solid movie some extra reputation points. Hearing him voice the corrupt and ruthless sperm whale Jeremiah Whitewhale in the brilliant BOJACK HORSEMAN allowed a one-note character to have much more depth than he probably deserved. There is just no way you can possibly hate Stephen Root. I hope that this short analysis will help you appreciate an actor who is never the lead character, but always a supporting one. A gentlemen who can improve almost any production just by showing up for a handful of minutes. And if you are not familiar with Stephen Root, just watch a movie or television show on your streaming services or inside a movie theater. It won’t take long until he pops up again.  Stephen Root in OH BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
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There are a couple of personal updates that need to be given before diving headfirst into this topic.
First, I have come across some problems with publishing my book. Like always, I did lots of research on which self-publishing independent publisher to hire. The first publisher turned out to be an internet conman. In the publishing industry, there are lots of fraudulent websites, scam artists, and individuals willing to take advantage of a person’s artistic creation. Luckily, I figured out what was happening to me before submitting my manuscript and losing control over it. This mistake cost me 300 dollars. I moved onto another publisher back in December and as of April, they are SLLLOOOOWWWWLLLLLYYYY finishing the final round of copy editing. This has been incredibly frustrating, but I hope to get a professionally edited book in my hands soon that I can review and then release for publication. Second, I started a Twitter account back in February and was building up a nice contact list by following some of my favorite people online like Danny Elfman, Michael Malice, Glenn Greenwald, Tom Luongo, Matthew Stafford, etc. There was a part of me that took Elon Musk for his word regarding his passionate restoration of free speech on Twitter. Unfortunately, this “faith” turned out to be misguided mainly for two reasons. First, as the Twitter Files have shown, the US Government can impact the Twitter algorithm at its convenience. Meaning that Twitter has mutated into a fascist entity, a private company that operates under the control of the government. Twitter’s censorship is still active and ongoing throughout the world. Second, Elon Musk is a monopolist. Think about the three most famous companies he has created. They were ideas that had no particular competition at the moment of initiation (PayPal) and the other two require government subsidies or contracts (Space X and Tesla) to be profitable. Recently, Elon Musk decided to shadow ban all links on Twitter to Substack due to that platform’s new feature called Substack Notes which works in similar ways to the Blue Bird. The ban also prevented liking, replying, and retweeting anything from that platform. This has led to an online war between Matt Taibbi who has one of the most popular Substack’s called RACKET NEWS and Elon Musk who hired him to release the Twitter Files. This divorce led to Taibbi leaving the Twitter Files journalism project. To stand in support of the individual journalists on Substack who need Twitter and other social media platforms to feature their work since for many, this is their primary form of income, I deleted my Twitter account yesterday. This is the second time I have done this (I had a Twitter account from 2010-2014 but got bored and deleted it). I am done with this platform. Twitter can fuck off once and for all! So here is an updated list of what the Expert of Some does not use. The Facebook Family: (Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp) Amazon Google (YouTube): I use open-source replacements which can play YouTube videos without the ads or having to log in. TikTok Apple LinkedIn (Account is on pause and will likely be deleted soon) The only major tech company I am linked to is Microsoft due to my family’s requirement of Microsoft Office for work and school plus my own usage of the Xbox platform. Here are my current social media websites MeWe Locals & Rumble (Both owned by Rumble): Username - Mister Blasty Telegram: Username - @MisterBlasty Substack I wanted to use a couple of other platforms for promoting my upcoming book. But there weren’t many options that were appealing. I tried both writer and novel social media platforms GoodReads and WattPad but they just lacked the features I wanted. After investigating, I found a new platform called Counter Social started by a hacker called The Jester. Here is why I am going to remain on this website and start promoting my blog and novel there. First, they have no algorithms, no advertising, no tracking of any sort. The platform has more options available if you pay for a subscription. The content is also a wonderful check on many of the social media websites that I read. MeWe and Substack are more independent but loaded with individuals and groups of all political leanings that have been expelled from mainstream and social media for rejecting the US government’s narrative by telling the truth. The Rumble Family and Telegram are a little more conservative and libertarian. Counter Social is a proudly liberal website. I don’t want to find myself inside of a “bubble” so meeting new friends on this ideologically opposite website is my new form of self-promotion. The liberals here are still anti-war and have a certain amount of concern for human rights and the Constitution. My biggest problem so far is that their hatred for the “right” appears to have reached genocidal levels. I had this problem on Twitter constantly. Unfortunately, many of these people are filled with a frightening rage. In fighting the right wing, many of these individuals on Counter Social believe that they are fighting Hitler, Mao, and Stalin who now takes the form of the orange man Donald Trump. It is a bizarre delusion and misguided. Also, I find them much more intolerant of opinions they do not support than the individuals I talk with on conservative sites. They flat out reject anything that goes against what they believe. My fascination and interest in trying to understand this mindset is what keeps me on there. So if you want to try it out, please add: ExpertofSome to your friends’ list and we can dive into the craziness together. For now, I will remain with these five social media websites. My intention is to have a medium amount of success promoting my blog and book without using any of the trillion-dollar tech companies. I want to put my money where my mouth is. I am opposed to all forms of censorship, moderation of content, and propaganda. It is time to stop using the platforms that are promoting these ideals. Until next week! A couple of months back, I wrote a blog about the incredible things that have occurred over the past few years. That blog is here. Due to the length of that blog, my evaluation of COVID-19 and the events of the past three years got pushed to the sidelines. My illness which struck me in February forced me to delay this blog for over a month. But as events continue to escalate in urgency as time passes by, lots of interesting things have occurred on the geo-political scene that needs analysis. This blog will give a short summary on each of these events before digging into the main event, the COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates that have so corrupted and divided our society.
GOODBYE UNIPOLAR WORLD AND THE AMERICAN DOLLAR AS THE RESERVE CURRENCY. HELLO MULTIPOLAR WORLD AND BRICS! Do you remember the happiness you felt when the Berlin Wall fell? The unprecedented joy you felt that the most dangerous country in the world, the Soviet Union, had begun its irreversible decline. After Christmas Day 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist as the old hammer and sickle red flag of death was replaced by the Russian Republic’s Red, White, and Blue flag. The world seemed like it was moving on from a tremendous evil that had engulfed it since World War I. The world felt more positive and hopeful. There was even a famous song exploring the ecstasy and joy of these moments. We were, “Watching the world wake up from history.” But the destruction of the Soviet Union also gave the United States the chance to lead the world by example. After December 25, 1991, the world became unipolar influenced and economically run by the United States. For a decade of mostly peace (Minus the first Persian Gulf War in 1991 and the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia from 1991-1999), the 1990s felt refreshingly pleasant. Then, September 11, 2001, happened. The one part of the world that still preferred to not be part of the new unipolar world struck us in a tragic terrorist attack that killed almost 3000 people. They saw this as a revenge attack for two particular things: One – Our never-ending support for Israel and the endless supply of weapons that allowed them to confiscate Palestinian land and create a nightmarish police state over the Palestinian people. Two – Our invasion of their land with military bases and the establishment of authoritarian regimes through many Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Our foreign policy decisions and our new bullying attitude towards the world finally caused some brutal blowback. Not too long after this, the sociopaths took over inside the United States. Freedom started to fade domestically shortly after with the PATRIOT Act being the first of many successive authoritarian laws. The United States, in control of the global financial system, began sanctioning any country that operated outside the rules that it had established. This behavior has led to an inevitable backlash between two of the United States’s biggest rivals, a rejuvenated Russia and China. A few years back, they established the BRICS economic system (BRICS means Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa). The system ties each country’s currencies into a basket of commodities. The soon to be largest populated country in the world, India, quickly became the valuable third member. The fundamental reason for the creation of this alternate system was because of the belief that the United States enforcement of sanctions on anyone who disagreed with American policies on global issues was destabilizing and dividing the world. So, with this new multipolar world being established, are we winning the battle? Based on recent news, the answer is no. Here are a few countries already engaging in trade outside of the United States dollar. Mexico Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey Malaysia This has all escalated rapidly in the past couple of weeks. As these countries start to unload their dollars, the money starts to flow back into the United States. Our leaders have been able to keep inflation under control for years due to two reasons: One – Being able to make consumer items outside the United States for cheap. Two – The dollar being the reserve currency meant that almost every country in the world had a significant reserve of them. Now that these countries are opting out, hyperinflation may very well be on the horizon. THE END OF THE AMERICAN EMPIRE After 32 years ruling the world economically with mixed results and establishing an empire 125 years ago after inheriting territory from the Spanish after the Spanish-American War, our own hubris and lack of empathy for other foreign nations mixed with the selfish influence of the globalists and the sociopaths they picked to rule over us, the amazing capitalistic and freedom loving American experiment appears to be coming to an end. Despite this, the collapse of an Empire does not necessarily lead to disaster. The collapse of the Soviet Union was mostly a positive experience for Russians after the brutal economic decline of the 1990s wore off. The fall of the 3rd Reich helped turn Germany into a peaceful and innovative global economic power. The fall of the Japanese Empire led that nation to become one of the leaders of the world in technology and engineering throughout the 20th Century. But the decline of empires can also lead to brutal authoritarian dictatorships. The fall of the Tsar led to Lenin and the even more brutal Soviet Union. The hyperinflationary events and the incompetence of the Weimar Republic led to the rise of Adolf Hitler. Our problem is that American culture has become significantly authoritarian, and it is on the rise throughout the world. One of the main problems is that we have never grappled with the aftermath or understood the rise of Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union under Lenin and Stalin, or Chairman Mao of China without romanticizing them as cartoon characters to be mocked and scorned for their racism and genocidal natures. Using Hitler in entertainment as a one-off psycho does not help individuals understand why he existed and was elected in the first place. This is a failure not only of Hollywood but history teachers in general. The society that these individuals came out of were ripe for these authoritarian leaders to take control over. Blaming fascism on a political party is not diving into the root of why these regimes exist. The real culprit has always been the people and the culture of a specific era. If you lack responsibility for your actions, or push for impossible “equality”, or allow government to ban and control human behavior, the people running these institutions will take this power without hesitation. This is the mindset that needs to be fixed if we want to avoid our own authoritarian nightmare in the future. THE FIRST EXAMPLE OF PURE AUTHORITARIANISM IN THE UNITED STATES – THE COVID-19 LOCKDOWNS, MASK MANDATES, AND mRNA SHOTS One of the things that Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his famous book THE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO did was prove how authoritarian the Soviet Union was. The “truth” was whatever the Communist government told you that it was. Anyone who thought outside of this “truth” was quickly labeled as ‘mentally ill.” The other aspect which can not be emphasized enough is that the Soviet people turned on each other and would often rat or report their neighbors to the authorities for seemingly innocent thoughts. If arrested, trials were already decided against your interests. The criminal had to accept the charges against them and confess their crimes to have a chance of escaping the Soviet Industrial Prison Complex. This always seemed incredible to me. How could a civilization slide into this de facto type of authoritarianism? How could the Russians have been this stupid? After the second week of March 2020, I no longer ask myself this question. Because our society has proven to be no more evolved than the average scared Soviet citizen in the 1930s. Here is a brief rundown of some recent facts. The United States has a “Censorship Industrial” Complex that has taken over social and the legacy media. Like the Soviets, any information that falls outside the government narrative is becoming increasingly blacklisted and removed from the internet. This whole new government agency came into existence because of COVID-19. Masks are effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19 If you questioned this during the height of the masking fiasco, you were likely blacklisted or removed from YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, or any other large technology company. It was a lie promoted by our public health officials based on no actual evidence. This lie became so ridiculous, that even mainstream news organizations discuss the disaster that was mask mandates (After fighting these facts for two years), I still see people walking down the street by themselves wearing a mask. The fear created and the persistent lying continues to have an impact on a certain segment of the population. The mRNA Shots will end the pandemic. The shots are “safe and effective.” The shots must be mandated. This topic is the one issue that led to more censorship and ruined more lives than any other. Many individuals lost their careers by not going along with this narrative. Many naïve people died taking these dangerous biological agents posing as vaccines. This censorship is still very much present. Here is a search for “mRNA vaccine dangers” on DuckDuckGo. It will link to a few websites including the CDC explaining the confirmed side effects. But these articles downplay the impact and continue to enforce the idea that these shots are necessary for the fight against COVID-19. Natural immunity is not as effective as COVID-19 immunity Another lie supported by our government and tech companies to help benefit Pfizer. While not 100%, natural immunity and recovery from COVID-19 lasts much longer than the Covid-19 vaccine per multiple scientific studies. Finally, Lockdowns will stop the spread in two weeks. Online teaching will keep your kids educated. The damage that has been done to this country is immeasurable. All because a few pharmaceutical companies, the tech companies that supported this propaganda, and our government were only interested in their own bottom lines and the accumulation of power over the goodwill of the people. This leads to the inevitable and obvious question that we need to ask ourselves as Americans. “With a new censorship industrial complex thriving and awash in taxpayer dollars (Doing research for this article was very difficult as the ‘preferred’ stories that the government wants me to see still are dominant with every type of search), how can we be sure that this won’t happen again? Our government has already shown that it can lock our society down. And like many of the scared Soviets, shaming people online or calling for their death or financial ruin was probably the most distressing aspect of the COVID mania of 2020-2023. What have we become? Why are we so divided? Because at this present moment, the United States is heading towards a dark place. Let’s hope we survive it with minimal damage to our society. |
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October 2024
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