003: Star-Fuckers

On this episode, Jesse makes the case that the third point of "The Poison Pyramid," which should be readily designated for the dumpster, is the worship of the Celebrity. Matthew makes the case that this is just a shiny, distracting feather to something that rides upon a much larger, deeper and more worrisome creature.   Mentioned In This Episode: Robert Rauschenberg, American Artist, Dies at 82 - Obituary by The New York Times "How a 94-Year-Old Genius May Save the Planet" - Newsweek: David Shield's Remote: Reflections on Life in the Shadow of Celebrity Ty Burr's Gods Like Us: On Movie Stardom and Modern Fame   The Strange Power Of Celebrity - Tom Ashbrook's On Point Featuring Ty Burr Thomas Schatz's The Genius of the System: Hollywood Filmmaking in the Studio Era   Paul McDonald's Star System: Hollywood's Production of Popular Identities   "Clown Genius" - Scott Adam's Blog   "How Dilbert's Scott Adams Got Hypnotized by Trump" - BloombergBusinessweek On Matt's Comments About How "Trump Rick-Rolled the Nation," Here Is How Rick Astley Got Rick-Rolled Himself: "Rick Astley on the First Time He Was Rick-Rolled: "I Kept Thinking, 'What Is This Idiot Doing?'" - People Magazine Tim Heidecker with Adam Curtis and How Trump Operates as a Click-Monster Jake Halperin Commentary on NPR: Tom and Katie, Zeus and Hera: David Giles' Illusions of Immortality: A Psychology of Fame and Celebrity Don DeLillo's Mao II: A Novel "How Much Do We Love TV? Let Us Count the Ways" - New York Times: "Americans Check Their Phones 8 Billion Times Per Day" - Time Magazine Who Said It: Presidential Hopeful Donald Trump or 'Idiocracy' President Camacho? - Jason Bailey's Flavorwire   Idiocracy star Terry Crews will reprise his role as President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho in a series of ads targeting current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, Buzzfeed reported. John Lennon's Comments on The Beatles Being "More Popular than Jesus" Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers: The Story of Success Excerpt from David Foster Wallace's Commencment Address at Kenyon College in 2005: This Is Water: Some Thoughts, Delivered on a Significant Occasion About Living a Compassionate Life:   Little Brown and Company's Book Printing of David Foster Wallace's This Is Water   "Here Is the Scandalous Father John Misty Interview You've Been Waiting For" - Pitchfork Magazine   Father John Misty and Zane Lowe go in-depth on his new album, Pure Comedy. - Interview on Youtube Genius prodigy-pianists are becoming all-too-common: "Virtuosos Becoming a Dime a Dozen" - New York Times