Jonathan Nolan - Person of Interest

These atomic powers and super suits are like guns, maaaan. And those super science types, they're, like, working for the government, dude. So we gotta stop them from taking our powers and make sure that we're free to save lives and serve justice, you know what I mean? They take our powers from us and we're lookin' down the barrel of a freakin' police state! I mean, whose side are you even on?!

"Somebody said we should go on strike if they mess with us like this. Does anybody else think that's a good idea?"

History is the nightmare from which we cannot awake. That's what they say, anyway. For Captain America, these words are twice as true. He is a dream born of nightmare. Living in the world of here, he remains there, serving the kingdom as a paladin in a world of dark illusions. History is a long told lie in which truth struggles to be born. Luckily there is a soldier out there guiding us to freedom.

"Keep your satisfaction to yourself, sadist."

Cut free from the oppressive straps of hypocrisy and cowardice. Technology will not keep you safe. Not in the jungle. You can't trust anyone out there in the jungle. To survive the jungle you must become the jungle, become the creeping vines and the mud walls and swallow up your enemies. Ideology is the enemy of truth. And truth can only be found in the mind. 

"You may scream. There is no shame."

Come on in, we have no tea. You are in the house of an evil mind now, a theatre of misery, cruelty, and violence. The sword style of this house is empty. Nothing can defeat it because it isn't really there. We stand among the unfurnished interiors, all design, no content. Remember that this is the point. The emptiness is the depth. Remember and disappear.

"Don't think about winning or surviving. Be prepared to die. Risk everything, and you might have a chance."

The man in the wheelchair is shot by a pervert kidnapper. He lay poisoned by the future. Later, when the threads of then and now entwine and leave the present seemingly tied, the student will show that the open hand can injure just as well as the closed fist. Is this why the big guy up there won't cut him some slack? 

All we can say with certainty is that a baleful song haunts the valley of death. We'd better look after that cough.

"Why has Apocalypse been awakened in an unfinished state of organic coherence?"

Born of destitution and sickness, he arises from the cold womb, from ice as hard as the grave of his long lost mother. This is Captain America. Living between two worlds - worlds of war and inequality; for him, every period is an ever present now. He's seen it all. He's seen it all and continues to stand, a sentinel of liberty, fighting so that no one else need ever be born from ice.

"Got your master race right here, pal!"

No browns or reds allowed on set. Tonight, we are in Michael Mann territory. We are at the intersection of music videos, gangster movies, and critical literature. We are in the swirling, pastel vortex of Hollywood becoming. If one does what Michael Mann does enough times, one will become as Michael Mann is.

"Did it ever occur to you, to try to work for a living? Take down your own scores?"

In what way did humanity persist within the camps? In what way after? What lessons are to be learned? Why did we ever do this? And why does it seem so likely that we one day will again?

It's a bundle of laughs over at the Xtinction Agenda this week. Transform yourself into an anthropomorphized animal nationality and pull up a seat. Today, Vladek will tell us his story.

"I've just gotta write this conversation down before I forget it!"

For their image to be carried swiftly around the globe, many have paid a terrible price and many will again. Dignity, privacy, humanity, everything for sale just so long as a person in line at the grocery store knows their name. 

Fame and celebrity name a ritual act, a sacrifice. They are the keys to the kingdom, a means of ascension. But also a gateway to omnipotent madness.

"For someone who calls himself Mr. Sensitive, that was totally tactless."

 “What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you: 'This life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable times more' ... Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.”