Rasputin in a Dress

Today's Top 10 at interest.co.nz points to Adam Curtis' latest doco, All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace. The featured vid, accurately explained featuring Bill Phillips' MONIAC, is actually part 3 of another Curtis doco, Pandora's Box.

Part 1 of part 1 of All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace is here, and focuses squarely on New York's Rasputin in a Dress, Ayn Rand. Parts 2, 3, 4, 5 here. Two more episodes to look forward to soon.

Sax and violins

What with the Atlas Shrugged movie being a leaden crock of shit, gotta throw a libertarian a bone. Frank Miller's Martha Washington Goes to War is a much better adaptation of Rand's turgid Atlas Shrugged novel, featuring the right balance of satire and violence, as well as positive schizophrenic and ethnic minority role models:

That's what I call a bums on seats kind of story.

Atlas Bombed

They also make bad movies. Russell Brand's execrable Arthur remake and Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2: Rodrick Rules are considered far superior movies compared with Atlas Shrugged Part I, at least according to Rupert Murdoch's critic aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Even PJ O'Rourke is having difficulty finding something kind to say about the pool of libertarian vomit:

But I will not pan “Atlas Shrugged.” I don’t have the guts.  If you associate with Randians—and I do—saying anything critical about Ayn Rand is almost as scary as saying anything critical to Ayn Rand.  What’s more, given how protective Randians are of Rand, I’m not sure she’s dead.

I hope Part Two features a zombie Ayn Rand theme. It could only improve the viewing experience.