"DISINFORMATION: THE COMPLETE SERIES"
Disinformation
The only hope that remains for this piece of twisted wreckage that we
used to call civilization is that, as globalization and homogenization
increase, the counter-cultural and transgressive elements of humanity
will increase in direct proportion. Judging from historical social
paradigms, this seems a forgone conclusion, but in this age of
political puppetry, consumerist plasticity and televised humiliation,
the situation can at times seem almost hopeless. Richard Metzger
created Disinformation in 1996 as a hex against corporate-owned media
conglomerates, a source of alternative news reports and a hub for new
science and the counter-culture. Disinformation's publishing arm has
delivered on this mission statement, publishing a handful of impressive
volumes of essays including You Are Being Lied To and Book of Lies,
collecting the works of disparate underground journalists,
philosophers, occultists and outsiders under the broad banner of
alternative media. The unparalleled popularity of this unique
enterprise eventually led to a Disinformation TV series on the BBC,
hosted by Metzger himself. Containing segments on such various taboo
topics as transsexuality, extreme underground pornography, Satanism and
mind-control conspiracy theory, the show also featured profiles of
underground figures such as Joe Coleman, Paul Laffoley and Genesis
P-Orridge. In an absurd scheduling strategy, the Disinformation series
was placed in a prime-time programming slot directly following Ally
McBeal. It lasted only four episodes, but was soon purchased by the
Sci-Fi Channel for broadcast in the United States. Apparently, the
network execs realized too late that the show they had purchased was
too obscene, bizarre and transgressive to ever actually air, and the
series was promptly shelved. This 2-DVD set compiles the four complete
episodes of the series, along with some unaired segments and a bonus
DVD of footage from the 2001 Disinfo.Con held in New York City. The
series itself is ridiculously entertaining and often riotously funny, a
postmodern redux of the prime-time news magazine format, moving rapidly
from the insane misanthropic ramblings of Brother Theodore; to footage
of a real family lighting their drunken, passed-out uncle on fire (from
the cult underground video Uncle Goddamn); to an in-depth
investigation of the inter-dimensional, time-travelling homoerotic
conspiracies of the so-called Montauk Project. It's all delivered by
Metzger in a mischievous, cocked-eyebrow tone that leaves you wondering
if any of it can be taken seriously. This DVD is a marvelous
opportunity to take an objective look at the forbidden science of
Radionics, followed by an extended interview with cultural theorist
Howard Bloom, right after Songs in the Key of Z author Irwin
Chusid introduces the video for "In Canada" by the flamboyantly awful
outsider artist B.J. Snowden. The second disc contains a series of live
speeches and interviews from Disinformation heroes like Adam Parfrey,
Kenneth Anger and Robert Anton Wilson, appearing on stage at the
Disinfo.Con. The speakers discuss the current state of culture and
media, and their various explanations, solutions and provocations for
maintaining a grasp on individualism and expression in the new aeon.
Along with Robert Anton Wilson's Maybe Logic, I would recommend
this as essential viewing for anyone interested in moving beyond the
borders imposed on all of us by the all-pervasive meta-programming of
modern media.
The only hope that remains for this piece of twisted wreckage that we
used to call civilization is that, as globalization and homogenization
increase, the counter-cultural and transgressive elements of humanity
will increase in direct proportion. Judging from historical social
paradigms, this seems a forgone conclusion, but in this age of
political puppetry, consumerist plasticity and televised humiliation,
the situation can at times seem almost hopeless. Richard Metzger
created Disinformation in 1996 as a hex against corporate-owned media
conglomerates, a source of alternative news reports and a hub for new
science and the counter-culture. Disinformation's publishing arm has
delivered on this mission statement, publishing a handful of impressive
volumes of essays including You Are Being Lied To and Book of Lies,
collecting the works of disparate underground journalists,
philosophers, occultists and outsiders under the broad banner of
alternative media. The unparalleled popularity of this unique
enterprise eventually led to a Disinformation TV series on the BBC,
hosted by Metzger himself. Containing segments on such various taboo
topics as transsexuality, extreme underground pornography, Satanism and
mind-control conspiracy theory, the show also featured profiles of
underground figures such as Joe Coleman, Paul Laffoley and Genesis
P-Orridge. In an absurd scheduling strategy, the Disinformation series
was placed in a prime-time programming slot directly following Ally
McBeal. It lasted only four episodes, but was soon purchased by the
Sci-Fi Channel for broadcast in the United States. Apparently, the
network execs realized too late that the show they had purchased was
too obscene, bizarre and transgressive to ever actually air, and the
series was promptly shelved. This 2-DVD set compiles the four complete
episodes of the series, along with some unaired segments and a bonus
DVD of footage from the 2001 Disinfo.Con held in New York City. The
series itself is ridiculously entertaining and often riotously funny, a
postmodern redux of the prime-time news magazine format, moving rapidly
from the insane misanthropic ramblings of Brother Theodore; to footage
of a real family lighting their drunken, passed-out uncle on fire (from
the cult underground video Uncle Goddamn); to an in-depth
investigation of the inter-dimensional, time-travelling homoerotic
conspiracies of the so-called Montauk Project. It's all delivered by
Metzger in a mischievous, cocked-eyebrow tone that leaves you wondering
if any of it can be taken seriously. This DVD is a marvelous
opportunity to take an objective look at the forbidden science of
Radionics, followed by an extended interview with cultural theorist
Howard Bloom, right after Songs in the Key of Z author Irwin
Chusid introduces the video for "In Canada" by the flamboyantly awful
outsider artist B.J. Snowden. The second disc contains a series of live
speeches and interviews from Disinformation heroes like Adam Parfrey,
Kenneth Anger and Robert Anton Wilson, appearing on stage at the
Disinfo.Con. The speakers discuss the current state of culture and
media, and their various explanations, solutions and provocations for
maintaining a grasp on individualism and expression in the new aeon.
Along with Robert Anton Wilson's Maybe Logic, I would recommend
this as essential viewing for anyone interested in moving beyond the
borders imposed on all of us by the all-pervasive meta-programming of
modern media.
