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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 1d

I make the case for the Avatar movies and James Cameron: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2gl...

Why James Cameron's Avatar movies are underrated.

YouTube video by Cultural Logic

www.youtube.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 1d

I talked to my colleague Chris Lehmann about the government shut down as symptom of a deeper constitutional crisis www.thenation.com/podcast/poli...

The Deep Politics of the Government Shutdown

On this episode of The Time of Monsters: Chris Lehmann on racism, austerity and the Democrats finding courage.

www.thenation.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 2d

Why Steven Miller and Elon Musk are attacking the judiciary: www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump’s Minions Are Trying to Terrorize Judges Into Submission

Facing rebukes from the courts, Stephen Miller and Elon Musk are threatening the independence of the judiciary.

www.thenation.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 4d

Oh, I just missed the question, what was it?

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 4d

A short video about Kamala Harris' memoir and her critique of Joe Biden. www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8Dv...

What Kamala Harris Thinks about Joe Biden.

YouTube video by JeetHeer

www.youtube.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 5d

Even John Yoo, author of the "torture memos," understands that it's wrong to give a president to blow up ships just on his say so. Shame congress can't understand that. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Democrats Must Oppose Trump’s War on Venezuela

Trump's attacks on alleged drug boats are illegal acts of murder. But too many Democrats are shying away from calling the president out.

www.thenation.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 6d

Catherine Lucille Moore (1911-1987) wrote remarkably prescient and emotionally rich science fiction in the from 1933 to 1948 that challenged gender norms. In this video, I look at the career of this neglected master. www.youtube.com/watch?v=59vr...

The Best of C.L. Moore -- a neglected pioneer of feminist science fiction.

YouTube video by JeetHeer1

www.youtube.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 8d

I had a great @kenklippenstein.bsky.social about recent political violence and shootings and how they defies the easy ideological categories applied to them: www.thenation.com/podcast/arch...

Who Are the Shooters?

On this episode of The Time of Monsters: Ken Klippenstein on the complexity of political violence.

www.thenation.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 9d

Trump's lies about Antifa are crucial to his ideological crackdown www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Trump Is Lying About Antifa to Justify His Authoritarian Crackdown

Too easily dismissed as hyperbole, the Antifa myth is being used as a weapon to destroy domestic opposition.

www.thenation.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 9d

lwlies.com/in-praise-of...

The romantic listlessness of Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master

As this Thomas Pynchon-inspired drama turns 10, its portrayal of post-war malaise still has an undeniable allure.

lwlies.com

Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

My review of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER, with a look at the influence of Thomas Pynchon on the movie and a response to criticisms of the movie for historical anachronism. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaWr...

The Politics of ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER and VINELAND.

YouTube video by JeetHeer1

www.youtube.com

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

I'm the wrong person to ask since I love Finnegans Wake.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

It has violence but not gratuitous. It's the violence of actual fraying reality.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

In a strange way, the movie inverts the novel's point. Vineland registers the loss of the 1960s moment. OBAA, made at a time of renewed activism, is about how the 1960s never died, are an underground current finding new springs to pop out of. "In 16 years, not much had changed."

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

Beautiful.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

8. Maybe some billionaire could refrain from their usual hobbies -- reviving eugenics, upholding an unjust status quo, unspeakable crimes on private islands -- and throw some money at PTA to give the world an 8-hour adaptation of GRAVITY'S RAINBOW, with the light-bulb in claymation? One can dream.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

7. PTA has covered 33% of Pynchon's 9 novels. Why stop there? The most practical next one would be CRYING OF LOT 49. BLEEDING EDGE would be timely and 21st century. SHADOW TICKET would let PTA cover the one decade of 20th century he hasn't dealt with: the 1930s. Lots to do.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

Would certainly be more practical than Mason & Dixon!

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

6. A good example of this Pynchon-esque storytelling is the ultra-powerful rightwing cabal in ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER: the Christmas Adverturers Club. That's not in Vineland but it really feels like something Pynchon might have thought about but forgot to put in.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

5. Dana Stevens of Slate was on to something when she said Anderson was doing "Pynchon fanfic." He's trying to do a filmic distillation o the narrative as trying to do movies that feel Pynchon-esque.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

4. A faithful adaptation of anything by Pynchon is hard to do: the prose is dense, the plots profusely convoluted, the characters bafflingly motivated. PTA has gotten around this by mostly eschewing direct translation, preferring to borrow very select stories & moods.

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

3. So the PTA Pynchon filmography to date has been: The Master (2012, not an adaption but inflected by V. from 1963); Inherent Vice (2014, fairly faithful from the 2009 novel of the same name) and One Battle After Another (2025, inflected by Vineland from 1990).

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

2. In 2014, PTA described himself as “a gigantic Pynchon fan” & “I’d long had this dance in my mind where I’d be thinking about doing Vineland or Mason & Dixon. But those would have been impossible tasks.” he's been able to achieve this "impossible task" a few times is by doing a loose adaptation

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

1. Someday there will be a proper essay on the "Two Tom Problem" -- Thomas Pynchon's influence Paul Thomas Anderson. Here are a few notes that might spark thought. ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER is the third time PTA has done a Pynchonesque movie & there might be more on the way. TP + A(ction) = PTA

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Jeet Heer @jeetheer.bsky.social · 10d

I'd highly recommend seeing ONE BATTLE AFTER ANOTHER just on it's merit, it's a terrific roller coaster ride of a movie with a car chase that already feels like an all time classic. But it is also the most perfectly timed movie I've ever seen, feeling like it's ripped straight from the headlines.

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