Mr. October!

Oh yes, I don't question the artists' sentiments. They most certainly are as critical or contemptuous or cynical of society as expressed by their art, or at least of the aspects of society about which they choose to lampoon. No, my doubts are with the audiences who I suspect are not nearly as empathetic as they'd like…

I often wonder if the bleak, dystopian sentiments expressed in those sorts of art were actually shared by a significant percentage of the population, or was it more so the element of curiosity which attracted people's attention? Did readers actually possess shared experiences with the unfortunate characters of these…

Television is the reason. Commercials and advertisements in the 40's into the 50's were relatively simple, straightforward, almost crude entities. But in the 50's into the 60's advertising agencies began aggressively employing and exploiting all the rapidly developing research into human psychology. During WWII there…

I think you might have asked: "They have only two songs called "Californication"?!

Morgan's wang?!…

Oh yeah, a very, very weird, wild tune…

Zappa, later on, mid to late 80's, was increasingly bored playing certain "hits" so he started playing them faster and faster as he rushed to get to the tunes he really wanted to play, but on most of his early-mid career stuff there's a certain relaxed confidence which, for me, elevates the music to truly transcendent…

I tend to gravitate to their darker, more sinister leaning tunes. They have a supernatural ability to summon such compelling and irresistible forces from the deepest depths of the human psyche. It's Gothic, Medieval, and primordial all at once. "Throwing Stones" is a great example.

I emphatically and enthusiastically agree with every one of your examples. But even more so than the two Zep tunes you've listed I'd include "Achilles Last Stand." The version on the Led Zep DVD recorded at Knebworth in 1979 is absolutely astonishing. A studio recording created from multiple guitar overdubs is…

"There are Black Irish in Ireland, and cheap bastard Jews in Scotland." - confused bigoted copycat commenter (me)

Is he really? I've never read anything denigrating him or his work, so I guess that's what I'm going to Google right now…

Very fair and largely accurate description of Ken Burn's subsequent work. It seems to require increasing amounts of stamina to stay fastened to some of his later productions, whereas The Civil War was absolutely riveting. Errol Morris is less a chronicler of human history and much more a presenter of uncommon human…

Ken Burn's Civil War series was a work of artistic genius. Not only were all the narrations and voice-overs immensely compelling but the visual density and richness was staggering. Through very little actual live action it managed to vividly and viscerally reanimate a major event in US history, and introduce new…

Ah, of course. How silly of me.

My one friend believed that Mystery Science Theater 3000 was ad libbed. I realize originally it might have been, but fairly quickly they began scripting their quips, especially once it had moved to the Comedy Central channel. But my delusional and stubborn friend clung to his personal fantasy, and I would mock him…

It's a Matter of Trust… in your anti-psychotic medication.

From Wikipedia:

Blah blah blah… You are trying desperately to convince yourself of something which you know to not be true. You are a horny horn dog with sex on your puny, rickety brain… Ha!

I wish you were right, but tragically you are not. Hilary is the Democratic Party Machine candidate and that's the way it's just gonna be. There's no mysterious under estimated Democratic dark horse this time, pardon the pun. There simply isn't any unrecognized sleeping giant waiting to be roused and prodded to…