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Cass Milne

@cassmilne

I was on the veranda of a vast estate, a palazzo of some fantastic proportion. @cass_milne on Twitter. https://letterboxd.com/Cassmilne/ My Substack, Unconscious Corridors: Signals Through Culture https://cassmilne.substack.com/

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16.01.2025
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Latest posts by Cass Milne @cassmilne

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Queens of Suffering and Miracle Mets: Catholic Noir in Bad Lieutenant Bad Lieutenant, Directed by Abel Ferrara, 1992

The Mets as a secular church. Harvey Keitel as a fallen believer. And a city where miracles only happen in baseball. I wrote about Abel Ferrara and Catholicism. An essay for anyone already pining for Opening Day.
cassmilne.substack.com/p/queens-of-...

19.02.2026 07:12 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Lyrics

The lyrics of "Whip It" are disjointed and nonsensical. (121 For example, its central theme revolves around the ability to solve one's problems by "whipping it"; other lines include motivational statements like "go forward, move ahead" and "it's not too late" [121 Casale wrote the lyrics, which were intended to satirize American optimism. He took inspiration from communist propaganda posters and Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, a 1973 novel that contains satirical limericks about capitalist can-do clichΓ©s. 131 Casale incorporated lyrics that would sound like motivational clichΓ©s if taken out of context. 14] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Dave Swanson interpreted the lyrics as being "an observation...on the struggles of the
common man, woman and mutant." [15]

Lyrics The lyrics of "Whip It" are disjointed and nonsensical. (121 For example, its central theme revolves around the ability to solve one's problems by "whipping it"; other lines include motivational statements like "go forward, move ahead" and "it's not too late" [121 Casale wrote the lyrics, which were intended to satirize American optimism. He took inspiration from communist propaganda posters and Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon, a 1973 novel that contains satirical limericks about capitalist can-do clichΓ©s. 131 Casale incorporated lyrics that would sound like motivational clichΓ©s if taken out of context. 14] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Dave Swanson interpreted the lyrics as being "an observation...on the struggles of the common man, woman and mutant." [15]

Mothersbaugh offered a different
interpretation of the lyrics, saying they were written in the form of a subtle pep talk for United States President Jimmy Carter during
the 1980 presidential election. The members of Devo supported Carter and feared the Republican candidate Ronald Reagan would win the election. 16] Mothersbaugh jokingly once said in an interview: "Come on Jimmy, get your shit together". (17) Huey notes that despite the song's novelty, there are violent undertones in the lyrics. He describes the process of whipping it to solve one's problems as "a sardonic portrait of a general, problematic aspect of the American psyche: the predilection for using force and violence to solve problems, vent frustration, and prove oneself to others". (12]

Mothersbaugh offered a different interpretation of the lyrics, saying they were written in the form of a subtle pep talk for United States President Jimmy Carter during the 1980 presidential election. The members of Devo supported Carter and feared the Republican candidate Ronald Reagan would win the election. 16] Mothersbaugh jokingly once said in an interview: "Come on Jimmy, get your shit together". (17) Huey notes that despite the song's novelty, there are violent undertones in the lyrics. He describes the process of whipping it to solve one's problems as "a sardonic portrait of a general, problematic aspect of the American psyche: the predilection for using force and violence to solve problems, vent frustration, and prove oneself to others". (12]

Like, this is what DEVO had to say about Whip It, lol

31.01.2026 21:48 πŸ‘ 20 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

"32 live performances of Sonic Youth’s 'The Diamond Sea' plunderphoniclly orchestrated by John Oswald (of Grateful Dead 'Grayfolded' fame) – providing two distinctly new experiences of the classic track from Washing Machine."

04.02.2026 20:41 πŸ‘ 68 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 7
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Just finished. Delillo's short, clipped, and staccato sentences containing a great sense of rhythm propel the pace masterfully. The analytical style plus haywire lyricism creates a surreal juxtaposition that ushers historical footnotes into a grander narrative of hyper-reality.

01.02.2026 16:50 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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Sister Irene O'Connor's Fire of God's Love is going down a storm here today!

First authorised reissue of this holy grail since 1976; the album restored and remastered. Sincere, soulful, and unconsciously psychedelic.

reissue made with loads of love: monorailmusic.com/product/fire...

23.01.2026 14:22 πŸ‘ 8 πŸ” 2 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 5
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Horoscopes, astrological signs, Ouija boards, Christ like imagery of pizza being served at a last supper like gathering, along with the virtues of Eastern and Native American mysticism clash with vampiric, satanic, and other darkly occult like allusions.

21.01.2026 22:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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The Golden Fang drains the counter culture through a vertically integrated scheme that foments despair, traffics heroin, and provides rehab facilities with the addition of dental services to recovered addicts.

21.01.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Doper’s memory along with images of fog, desert dust, pot smoke, and the choice to employ ubiquitous dissolves that bleed scenes into one another conveys the hazy nature of the hippy lifestyle. Nostalgia also plays a huge role, and its sway is as narcotic as any drug.

21.01.2026 22:55 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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#InherentVice
SortilΓ¨ge is aware of truths she couldn’t know, and one character who exists outside of doc's head mentions her in the final dream-like scene but Doc breaks the fourth wall by looking directly into the camera , signaling that the ending and SortilΓ¨ge may be imaginary.

21.01.2026 22:54 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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#Pynchon Many have speculated that Sortilège is an incarnation of Doc's mind and intuition, providing him with a platonic sisterly quality he does not get from his relationships with other women in the age of free love. She is an oracle for the decaying era of counter culture.

21.01.2026 22:52 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Inherent Vice (2014) Inherent Vice and the Dual Soul of the California Ideology Many have speculated that the Inherent Vice’s narrator SortilΓ¨ge (Joanna Newsom), is not an actual flesh and blood being, but rather an incar...

boxd.it/cKFGP3
I argue that Inherent Vice is the stronger Pynchon adaptation while emphasizing how obverse and reverse forces existing within individual’s souls reflects the duality of our flawed world, and that internal contradictions lead to the decaying of all things.

21.01.2026 13:43 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Pere Ubu

17.01.2026 17:43 πŸ‘ 24 πŸ” 10 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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R.I.P to Bob Weir, one of the most unusual rhythm guitarists in rock. I saw him once do an excellent version of the Beatles Tomorrow Never Knows with the back up of Wilco in Nashville, and I owe him something because my Dead Head parents named me after one of his songs.

11.01.2026 00:04 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of High and Low (1963) Akira Kurosawa’s place in the cannon is so secure that it is easy to take him for granted. He is best remembered for samurai epics set in Japan’s feudal past but High and Low is a skillfully made adap...

boxd.it/czh9af
I laud Kurosawa's stunning blocking and spacing, while exploring how he viewed hatred, resentment, and inner emptiness as their own forms of poverty. I also make connections to Fritz Lang's M and Bong Joon Ho and David Fincher's modern procedurals.

10.01.2026 23:31 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

he looks like a faded guy from an 80s punk band getting upset at Zorak

06.01.2026 19:40 πŸ‘ 704 πŸ” 73 πŸ’¬ 25 πŸ“Œ 1
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all time great email reply, rip

06.01.2026 17:31 πŸ‘ 112 πŸ” 29 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 1
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of My Neighbor Totoro (1988) My Neighbor Totoro is quietly subversive for the way it depicts a world without villains or the strains of violence typically found in both Western and Japanese animation. Hayao Miyazaki eschews formu...

I explore Miyazaki's quietly subversive world without heroes and villains, and laud the translucent ardor of his water color palette.
boxd.it/cufDLh

06.01.2026 20:26 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Satantango (1994) With the possible exception of Roy Andersson's The Living trilogy, no directors oeuvre feels more like the end of the world than the work of Bela Tarr. Satantango is essentially a cathedral to moral d...

R.I.P BΓ©la Tarr (21 July 1955 – 6 January 2026)
boxd.it/bZBxjr

06.01.2026 16:32 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Persona (1966) In the absence of meaning we wrestle with identity, but what if there is no self? Perhaps our personas are mental projections made up of our hopes and fears. The idea of a fractured self sounds schizo...

I engage with Bergman's themes of fractured identity and dream logic while connecting its influence to Lynch's Mulholland Drive and Altman's Three Women.
boxd.it/cr84uJ

04.01.2026 18:13 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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It remains one of the wildest things in the world that Disney paid late-career Hunter S. Thompson to write despairing columns about the sickening depravity of American empire and, to a slightly lesser extent, Skip Prosser's Wake Forest. www.espn.com/page2/s/thom...

03.06.2025 21:50 πŸ‘ 380 πŸ” 73 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 25

smoking marijuana and reading my manga in this ball

03.01.2026 22:27 πŸ‘ 562 πŸ” 59 πŸ’¬ 23 πŸ“Œ 0
Official Trailer - WALKER (1987, Ed Harris, Richard Masur, Marlee Matlin, Alex Cox)
Official Trailer - WALKER (1987, Ed Harris, Richard Masur, Marlee Matlin, Alex Cox) YouTube video by Trailer World

I recommend people watch WALKER by Alex Cox. Forgive the trailer, they had to market it somehow, but it’s a minor miracle that Universal Pictures even theatrically released such a strong indictment of US foreign policy in Latin America at all. It’s on Internet Archive

youtu.be/XImi7fT7-J0

03.01.2026 14:48 πŸ‘ 101 πŸ” 30 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 4
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Wanda (1970) The line three hamburgers no garbage on them is worth the price of admission alone. Director Barbara Loden's Wanda challenges our assumptions of what type of people can be the subject of the stories w...

A character study of people living on the edge that becomes a deglamorized crime film--call it Bonnie and Clyde by way of Bresson. The line three hamburgers no garbage on them is worth the price of admission alone.
boxd.it/cpmpfv

03.01.2026 17:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Sansho the Bailiff (1954) Perhaps the greatest film of all time, but too heart wrenching to watch regularly. In Sansho the Bailiff humanist ideals are challenged by a cruel world. Brutal practices such as slavery and having on...

boxd.it/cokDr3
I engage with the themes of elemental nature, transience, and the importance of humanism and mercy in Kenji Mizoguchi's painterly Sansho the Bailiff.

02.01.2026 21:42 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of The Conformist (1970) Young director Bernardo Bertolucci's time as a disciple of Pier Pasolini and Sergio Leone, along with Italian cinema's openness to experimentation certainly aided his ability to create this highly sty...

boxd.it/cl4P5f
I dissect Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist, and give nods to its psychological understanding of Fascism, the alienating nature of Mussolini's architecture, and praise the sophisticated cinematography that would influence the Godfather films.

31.12.2025 07:46 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Black Narcissus (1947) "Color consultants" working for Technicolor used to advise, or rather yet, regulate how filmmakers could stylize their films, preferring a more natural look--but directors Powell and Pressburger went ...

boxd.it/chiARZ

28.12.2025 06:44 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of M (1931) M is a film with no central protagonist and rather it presents a story about a single antagonist versus society's systems of justice. Director Fritz Lang built the essential tropes of both the police ...

boxd.it/cfH05n

26.12.2025 23:30 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of Slacker (1990) Robert Bresson's L'Argent is a clear influence on Richard Linklater's Slacker, specifically in its episodic nature, schematic structure and use of interconnected characters. There is no central protag...

boxd.it/cczfcP

24.12.2025 04:48 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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A β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜…β˜… review of L'Argent (1983) This loose adaption of Tolstoy's "The Forged Coupon" follows a minor act of forgery that creates an avalanche of spiritual malaise, destroying innocent lives in the process and exposing the capitalist...

boxd.it/caWVmZ

22.12.2025 19:45 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0