The Iran-Iraq War 1980-1988

In September 1980, Iraq invades Iran. Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is convinced that now is the time to strike, since Iran is still shaken by its Islamic Revolution, and he expects victory within weeks. Instead, the conflict will last 8 years, cost hundreds of thousands of lives , threaten world oil markets, and draw the US into the Persian Gulf for good. It’s the last total war of the 20th century.

If you want an indication of what a land war in Iran might look like. Watch this.....Does nobody remember the Iran-Iraq War? It was 8 years of absolute hell on earth (1980 - 1988). The US funded, armed and trained Iraq. There was no quarter given. It was brutal (think genocide . ethnic cleansing, mass murder, deportation, chemical warfare, enforced disappearance and counterinsurgency). The war caused around 500,000 deaths (excluding numbers from the related Anfal campaign - another 50,000–100,000 dead), making it the deadliest conventional war ever fought between regular armies of developing countries. Most of the present-day leadership in Iran are veterans of the Iran- Iraq War. They have seen things that Trump cannot imagine.

Trump is either bone stupid or insane (maybe both). Iran will fight until the bodies are piled high. But we still have this ridiculous speculation on the part of even so-called progressive media in the West:

"Despite launching the attack on Iran, with Israel, the White House does not seem to have fully anticipated what was likely to follow. Iran had few good military options for fighting back, but attacking US bases, US allies and merchant shipping in the Gulf was the most obvious response – to try to impose costs on the west." - The Guardian

Iran will not surrender until the armed forces (a million people, including the special forces and security forces) are destroyed. It will be brutal in the same ways the 1980 - 88 war was. The Americans have clearly not considered this.

Day of the Triffids (1963)

After meteors enter Earth's atmosphere, blinding much of the planet's population in the process, plantlike creatures known as Triffids emerge from the craters and begin to take over. Military officer Bill Masen (Howard Keel), one of the few sighted people left alive, meets with other survivors in England and tries to find a safe haven from the vicious vegetation, as scientist Tom Goodwin (Kieron Moore) desperately seeks a way to defeat the leafy extraterrestrials.

"The Center Street Cut-Ups"

"The Center Street Cut-Ups" is the abbreviated title of the latest Third Mind Books original presentation, "HAVE A PLEASANT TRIP... 210 Center Street NYC 1965: the Cut-Up Life of William S. Burroughs," -- crafted with monocle at the ready by TMB founder & Ann Arbor eminence, Arthur S. Nusbaum with the assistance of Joe Provenzano (VP of Operations at Third Mind Books, and Nusbaum's protégé in life and literature). 

The focus, here as elsewhere is on WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS -- the Patron Saint-Demon of Third Mind Books -- and even more specifically, on a tranche of documents acquired at auction belonging to the painter, David Prentice. Prentice was a close, personal friend to Burroughs and his Papers document

document a very key time in the development of the Cut-Ups as both a literary technique and original philosophic contribution. 

The presentation was first delivered at the European Beat Studies Network Conference (ebsn.eu) in Paris, France in September of 2023, and was re-recorded with narration by the author in December of that same year.

Text & Narration by Arthur S. Nusbaum

Original Research by Arthur S. Nusbaum & Joe Provenzano

Paper/Research, PowerPoint & Film © Third Mind Books, 2023

Summer Storm - Tatsumi Hijikata (1973)

“A Summer Storm by Hijikata Tatsumi” primarily consists of the legendary Japanese dancer Hijikata Tatsumi's legendary performance shot in Kyoto in 1973, and is a tribute to this extraordinary talent. Now, thirty years later, it is still funny, sad, and infinitely gripping. Hijikata was the pioneer of the reputed Butoh dance. Butoh, performed in slow, unique movements by dancers, with their bodies painted white and bent-forward, is an antithesis of the traditional Western dance. As the only remaining footage in color of his performance, the film shows Hijikata as an eternal punker, rebel, and sufferer.

The Monumental and Domestic Architecture of Neolithic Scotland

Tristan Hughes goes on a road trip of a lifetime to discover more about the mysteries of prehistoric Scotland.

In Part one, Tristan heads to Orkney to investigate its astonishing 5,000 year old Stone Age remains.

In Part two, Tristan sees the beautiful carvings of adult red deer, the first animal representations in Scotland. This is just one of the remarkable finds in one of the most extraordinary prehistoric landscapes in Scotland: the magical and mysterious Kilmartin Glen.

In Part three, Tristan ventures across Scotland to investigate prehistoric skyscrapers - brochs.

Included in the documentary is the absolutely incredible Maeshowe. Maeshowe (or Maes Howe; Old Norse: Orkahaugr) is a Neolithic chambered cairn and passage grave situated on Mainland Orkney, Scotland. It was probably built around 2800 BC. In the archaeology of Scotland, it gives its name to the Maeshowe type of chambered cairn, which is limited to Orkney.It was not only constructed for contemporary spirtual and social reasoning. Maeshowe was intended to last forever, giving us an indication for a conceptual relationship to time held by the builders of Maeshowe.

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV

Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV is a 2023 documentary film by Amanda Kim about video artist Nam June Paik. The film traces the life of the artist from his privileged childhood in Japanese-occupied Korea up until his death in 2006. The films uses archival footage, interviews with fellow artists who knew him best and written letters to personal friends John Cage and others narrated by Academy Award-nominated actor Steven Yeun.It premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival before being acquired by PBS Films and Greenwich Entertainment as an episode of American Masters. Click on the above image for the full film.

Arise! - The Church of Subgenius

A brain-crushing collage of music and video presented in the form of a religious recruitment video. The topics covered (in deadpan narration) are basic psychology, the origin of the human race, spiritualism, religious dogma, UFO's, the end of the world, and the group's figurehead, J.R. "Bob" Dobbs.

The Church of the SubGenius is a parody religion that satirizes better-known belief systems. It teaches a complex philosophy that focuses on J. R. "Bob" Dobbs, purportedly a salesman from the 1950s, who is revered as a prophet by the Church. SubGenius leaders have developed detailed narratives about Dobbs and his relationship to various gods and conspiracies. Their central deity, Jehovah 1, is accompanied by other gods drawn from ancient myth and popular fiction. SubGenius literature describes a grand conspiracy that seeks to brainwash the world and oppress Dobbs's followers. In its narratives, the Church presents a blend of cultural references in an elaborate remix of the sources.

Ivan Stang, who co-founded the Church in the 1970s, serves as its leader and publicist. He has imitated actions of other religious leaders, using the tactic of culture jamming in an attempt to parody better-known faiths. Church leaders instruct their followers to avoid mainstream commercialism and the belief in absolute truths. The group holds that the quality of "Slack" is of utmost importance, but it is never clearly defined. The number of followers is unknown, although the Church's message has been welcomed by college students and artists in the United States. The group is often compared to Discordianism. Journalists often consider the Church an elaborate joke, but some academics have defended it as a real system of deeply held beliefs.

Oils on the Water (1985)

Here's the entire Oils on the Water concert from Goat Island in Sydney Harbour from 1985. I was 16 when this was broadcast. I had been listening to Midnight Oil for over a year. I had been introduced to them by a girl I had a brief thing with, and we went on to become lifelong friends (its been over 40 years now anyway). Midnight Oil changed reality for me. Prior to hearing their music I was a good little colonial boy. When I was 12 I wrote a 10 page essay on Winston Churchill, from an admiration. When I was 15 I won a school writing prize for a story about nuclear war being conducted like a cricket match. That change was largely due to the 1982 Midnight Oil album 10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. Songs like US Forces taught a generation of Australians about the history of their nation that was not being taught in school. I was told in school that Aboriginal Australians were an "evolutionary dead end" and they would die out. It was only a matter of time. My discovery of Midnight Oil was the beginning of my awareness. It was shown on national television and broadcast in stereo simulcast on Radio JJJ - it was the 10th birthday for the station. Enjoy and think of Rob Hirst the drummer who died yesterday.

The Mindscape of Alan Moore (2003)

"Escape the limitations of your origins" - Alan Moore
The Mindscape of Alan Moore is a psychedelic journey into one of the world’s most powerful minds; chronicling the life and work of Alan Moore, author of several acclaimed graphic novels, including “From Hell,” “Watchmen” and “V for Vendetta.” It is the only feature film production on which Alan Moore has collaborated, with permission to use his work. Alan Moore presents the story of his development as an artist, starting with his childhood and working through to his comics career and impact on that medium, anarchism, and his emerging interest in magic.

Be Here To Love Me - A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2004)

Directed by Margaret Brown, Be Here To Love Me chronicles the often turbulent life of American singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. The film includes interviews of Van Zandt's immediate family and contemporaries such as Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle and Guy Clark, along with "home movies, old TV performances and, especially, mid-Seventies footage originally filmed by James Szalapski for his outlaw country documentary Heartworn Highways.