So tomorrow is Thursday. But not just any Thursday. It's the beginning of NBC's Thursday fall lineup. You know what that means...
More tepid episodes of "The Office." Yeah, okay, enough with Jim and Pam already. Christ.
More episodes of the hotness that is Tina Fey, the bastardismo that is Alec Baldwin, and the mental train wreck that is Tracy Morgan, in the show that is "30 Rock."
A new season from those scrappy underdogs over at "Community." Initially I wasn't a huge fan of this show, but it really grew on me. That paintball episode. Brilliant.
All new episodes from "Parks and Recreation," undoubtedly the best show on NBC's lineup, featuring a great cast, hilarious writing and Aubrey Plaza as April the ravenous underachiever. Man I love this show. It's shows like this one that give me hope for the future of the network.
Some new bullshit show called "Outsourced."
Guess I won't be seeing you 'till November, Baby.
Really, NBC? You're pushing "Parks and Recreation" back to mid-season just so you can launch another sitcom about people talking on phones all day? Do you have any idea how eagerly I've been waiting for more DJ Roomba? So this is how you treat your loyal viewers, eh? Conan has taught you nothing? Well then, good day, sir.
Over the past few months I’ve developed a profound respect for Fox News’ Glenn Beck. Lately the stream of consciousness-esque meltdowns on his show have been captivating both in their stunning originality and their complete rejection of reality. Like any fun-loving anarchist, I subscribe to the belief that destruction is also a form of creation. This conviction has led to the realization that Beck himself is actually a performance artist; he’s presenting the viewer with an unflinching glimpse into the hyperbolic tsunami of Right-Wing schizophrenia that is Glenn Beck, in what we can only hope will be five acts.
Act I was the launch of “Project 9/12” and Beck’s sudden thick-voiced mancrying jag that dispersed as suddenly as it appeared. Act II was the racist accusation heard ‘round the world. Act III saw Beck (hereafter refered to as “Maestro”) dousing an intern with water from a gas can and threatening to light him ablaze (and also seemingly sending the intern into hypothermic shock). We are now in Act IV of what will surely be remembered in Humanities textbooks for generations to come as “NeoCon: Deconstructed.” Highlights so far include uncovering the secret far-left “OLIGARHY,” and last night’s revelation that Leftist propaganda cleverly disguised as art has been haphazardly strewn about the Rockefeller Center for decades… and we’ve never even noticed it!
This latest topic is fascinating. The only problem is that if you’re not familiar with actual reality and context of the art mentioned in, around, and not even close to Rockefeller Center, you might not fully grasp the genius of this piece. But before we go into that, let me just be clear on my intent here; I am in no way attempting to correct or criticize the Maestro’s stunning piece. I am absolutely not worthy of such a daunting endeavor. My intent here is merely to provide the reader with a “cheat sheet” of sorts, a brief dash of reality and context meant to enhance the beauty of the Maestro’s madness.
First off, here’s a video of the segment in question:
Maestro has established that Rockefeller (although he's not sure which one) was a capitalist, but that the actual center is full of Pinko-Commie-Fascist “artistic” depictions. He began his in-depth analysis with a look at the main entrance to One Rockefeller Plaza, an intaglio carving called “Industry and Agriculture,” created in 1937 by Carl Paul Jennewein.
According to the Rockefeller Center Web site, the carvings represent “the commercial activities of industry and agriculture, depicting universal activities, not individuals. One figure holds a shovel [not a hammer], symbolizing industry, while the other holds a scythe and gestures to shafts of wheat, representing the harvest, or agriculture. It is a straightforward interpretation of workers and their work, a common Art Deco theme. The figures are strong and idealized, signifying the roots of prosperity in America and promoting its work ethic.”
Next up is “Youth Leading Industry,” a 1936 bas-relief created by renown sculptor Antilio Piccirilli. This isn't all Piccirilli’s know for, either; he and his family carved the statue of Abraham Lincoln for the Lincoln Monument.
Maestro’s pretty dead-on with this one. I will say though that it was actually Piccirilli’s nephew, not his son, that was killed in WWII. But other than that, yeah. This is a relief of a fascist ideal, and most scholars agree that Piccirilli depicted Mussolini holding the reins. But is it Progressive, as Maestro says? ‘Fraid not. Here’s what The Daily Kos’ CatM had to say about it: “Mussolini's fascism was anticommunist and antisocialist. Mussolini described socialism ‘as a doctrine that was already dead.’ It fostered nationalist sentiments, opposed democracy, protected the class system, promoted militarization of a nation, and opposed free press and trade unions. The ‘Third Way’ fascists thought of themselves as combating liberal institutions. Does this sound progressive? Further, it illustrates that you cannot simultaneously be communist and fascist.”
“Swords Into Plowshares,” a gray and gold relief by Lee Lawrie, was third.
According to the Rockefeller Center’s Web site again, this piece is one of three Lawrie made as an “appeal for world peace.” And while Maestro does indeed mention the name “ISAIH,” he moves on before exploring the significance of “ISAIH II IV.” Specifically, the Biblical significance:
Isaiah 2:4 (New International Version)
He will judge between the nations
and will settle disputes for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Also, the statue Maestro compares “Swords and Plowshares” to didn’t show up until almost forty years later. It was a gift to the United Nations, in hopes that the United Nations would indeed ensure that nation would not take up sword against nation ever again.
And for the coup de grace, Maestro rallied against Diego Rivera’s infamous mural, “Man at the Crossroads.”
It’s true that the mural was commissioned by (Nelson) Rockefeller to be in the lobby of 30 Rock. But when it was first created, it didn’t actually have a lot of the stuff Maestro mentioned. No Rockefeller by the STD. No Leon Trotsky, no Karl Marx. Controversy reportedly arose when Rivera added Lenin and the communists into the mural. When Rockefeller saw this, he flipped out and ordered Rivera to change the mural. Rivera refused and Rockefeller had the mural hidden and eventually destroyed. The extras that Maestro referred to didn’t actually show up until Rivera recreated the mural in Mexico City. The picture of the mural that the Maestro is analyzing was never a part of Rockefeller Center, it was a recreation.
So what’s the one common denominator that irrefutably and invisibly links Rockefeller propaganda to the Leftist/Communist/Socialist/Pinko/Free-Love/Eldercide/Nazi/STD-ridden/Indoctrinating Democratic party? Why, Van Jones, of course. Magic.
Act IV is turning out to be absolutely incredible, folks. Beyond my wildest expectations. Keep tuned in to see history in the making. Because once all the sponsors disappear, Act V is inevitably soon to follow. I’m envisioning a fatal hunger strike in the beginning, and Rupert Murdoch commissioning a 200-foot memorial statue of the Maestro copulating with a Holstein cow placed atop Mount Rushmore to wrap things up. It should be glorious.
