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Jan 11, 2025 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
The Continental CongressHighly opinionated cultural commentary from a 30-year Hollywood veteran trying to save the theatrical movie business from itself. As bad as you think things are in Hollywood, I've seen it up close and personal, and it's worse. No thanks
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Jan 10, 2025 | 
graboyes.substack.com | George Washington |Robert Graboyes
Paid subscriptions ($50/year or $5/month) really help, but we love free subscribers, too!Anticipating the Inaugural, we used Grok (X’s A.I. tool) to ask 47 deceased artists to do portraits of all 47 presidents. Some images are exactly what Grok generated. Others needed edits for color, texture, etc. For maybe half the images, we specified the artist beforehand (e.g., “Portrait of Jefferson in the style of Warhol”).
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
EPISODE ONE: PREDATOREPISODE TWO: THE FIRMThe Continental Congress is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
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Nov 11, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
I’ve loved movies since I was a kid. My parents tell me it started when I was five. I was a “hyperactive” child, what the experts called “ADHD” back in the 70’s, which is to say I was a pretty normal American boy. But in the context of the public education system, my particularly actue inability to sit still, be quiet and focus for long stretches of time was highly disruptive.
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Nov 4, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
Director Harold Becker’s coming-of-age military drama ”Taps” was released in 1981, when the Fall of Saigon and the end of our misadventure in Vietnam was still only six years in our past… a little more than one Presidential election cycle under the bridge and downstream.
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Oct 7, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
On September 18th, popular X-denizen and good friend to your humble essayist, Kurt Schlichter reposted a link to the opening credit sequence of “WKRP In Cincinatti” on the 46th anniversary of its network premeire. I probably watched that sequence ten or fifteen times in a row that afternoon and the sense of nostalgia was nearly overwhelming. The experience got me thinking about other sitcom intros from the period and how they were something of an art form in their own right.
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Oct 1, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
Much of the last ten years in Hollywood can be summarized as the victory of data over common sense. It often seems like the more data the industry collects, and it is collecting more than ever thanks to the streamers and their algorithms, the less we actually seem to know. Case in point… I remember being shocked when I read this article in Variety which quoted a UCLA study that suggested young people don’t want romantic relationships or sex in the movies and TV shows they watch.
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Sep 24, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
Rick Beato is a musician, songwriter and rock producer with a very popular YouTube channel in which he analyzes popular music in a way that appeals both to amatuers like me as well as aspiring professional musicians.
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Sep 16, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
And so, finally, we come to Part 3, the final installment of a short mini-series in which we have been discussing some of the reasons why the transition from the theatrical movie model to a streaming model has had a catastrophic effect on the quality of the movies Hollywood actually produces. Part 3: The Death of Hype. Every Sunday morning I ride my bike fifteen miles down Venice Blvd here in Los Angeles.
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Sep 4, 2024 | 
thecontinentalcongress.substack.com | George Washington
Here at The Continental Congress, I only opine on things about which I’m passionate. As a result of that golden rule, the emotional reactions I have to cultural artifacts, be they books, movies, games or politics, often bleed deeply into my essays. As an essayist, I wear my heart on my sleeve. It’s not for everyone, but it’s the only way I know how to do it, and it’s the only thing that keeps me coming back to this keyboard, week in and week out.
