Blowing Smoke: The History Of Reefer Madness



I feel sorry for anyone who thinks the government means well and is looking out for our best interests. At least as far as my own country goes. I'll spare you my opinions of our present day issues, but today, we're going to talk about propaganda. Anti-Marijuana propaganda of the post-prohibition 1930's. An utterly ridiculous movement pushed mostly in film. We had a lot of those for a lot of years. Too many if you ask me. Today, I'm going to touch on not the first, but for some reason, the most famous anti-Marijuana propaganda film. Yep. It's Reefer Madness time!

Now, I don't fault anyone for not being hip to something they've never partaken in. Even to this day, we have people that are very much unclear about many things pertaining to marijuana. And yes. This is a very long time ago, but this is still pretty insulting. A movie which frantically preaches against something for one reason, while giving another. A very different one. All this fuss over something nobody even attempted to do their homework on. In order to direct American citizens into the loving arms of alcohol, the government stoops to telling horror stories about the pot. Very preachy stories. In this particular one, we begin with a rather lengthy warning to read through, followed by some community members getting lectured in a parent-teacher meeting. Marijuana has become a problem as of late, and since it grows wild everywhere, it's hard to keep the desired level of control over the plant and those hip to this "ghastly menace", which they actually call it.

That's right. Ghastly menace. They don't even call crystal meth that, nowadays. In fact, this movie actually portrays the effects of marijuana more like meth than pot. Even going to far as to push the idea that people who are high are highly dangerous and either insane or on their way. This story is of a tragedy involving two clean cut highschoolers who got burned badly after getting too close to the ghastly menace, forever altering their path in life.

Bill and Mary are sweet on each other, and they like to have tea on the back porch after playing tennis. These two couldn't possibly have a more squeaky clean existence as they gently joke around with one another. Things quickly shift after their friend Jimmy introduces them to pot dealer, Jack. Bill is invited to Jack's pad where he finds a bunch of crazy reefer addicts who like to play the piano and dance while laughing like fiends. Bill decides this is for him and has himself a joint (marijuana cigarette), which, of course, immediately gets him hooked, making him say stuff like "Let's go Jack, I'm red hot!" Bill's life begins to suffer as he spends more and more time at his new friend's pad. Bill's best girl tracks him down, but instead of getting through to him, Mary is also lured into the spider web that is marijuana.

Mary gets stoned, and would have probably never stood a chance, even if things hadn't ended as tragically as they did. What I mean is that, once high, Mary is fondled and molested by some weirdo, and as a beyond fried Bill walks in and sees this, a fight breaks out which a gun is quickly brought into. The gun goes off, Mary is accidentally shot and killed, and after the knocked out Bill comes to, he is informed by the reefer addicts that he had just killed his girlfriend while blacked out. And how is he to argue? Bill can't remember anything. Unfortunately, the tragedies have only begun, as the guilt-ridden Bill, among others, are repeatedly reminded why it's best to stay clear of the ghastly menace!

Well, shit! They makes quite an argument, don't they? It almost seems like they have an ulterior motive. So, what we have here, above all, is 68 minutes of non-stop wrong, sprinkled with dishonesty and ignorance. Fake news, if you will. I'd be lying if I said I didn't chuckle a couple times but I've always found it odd how Reefer Madness would eventually stumble upon such cult status as one of the more recognizable bad movies. It's not completely worthless, but at best, worth very, very little. This film is also not the first of it's kind, contrary to what some may think, but if there is a worse one of these out there, I've yet to see it. What's really sad is that there's probably a whole generation of young people out there who can say that all they know about this era is what they saw in Reefer Madness. No, not all of them were retards. 3/10



#Review

Leave Franco Alone!

Hollywood needs to leave James Franco alone. Ever since the sex scandals started, any woman out to get something has been able to ruin the career of any male actor just by coming out and saying something. True or not, once it's said, the damage is done.

I'm a James Franco fan, so it bugs me that a loveable guy like him is being kicked out of all these stupid circles just because women are out to get him. Why do they wait until such arbitrary moments? Why is everybody scheming these days? He can't attend the oscars, but I guess that's for the best. I swear, those things are getting more and more ridiculous each year. They were built on Harvey Weinstein's donations, and now they act all self-righteous about it.


These awards have little to no merit these days. Nomination pictures include "Get Out" and "The Boss Baby". Oh my GOD... Talk about illuminati with an agenda to push... Get Out was OKAY. It's not a fucking achievement, for fuck's sake... I don't know why they're trying to hard to push this black thing so much. And Boss Baby? That cements it. There are no standards in these awards now.

My favorite movie of 2017 didn't even come to most theaters, and that was "Brawl on Cell Block 99". Next best of 2017 is "Logan", and we wont see those up for any good nominations.

Oh Oscar, you bastard! Leave old Franco alone! It's not like he would have won an oscar for being Tommy Wiseau. The Room couldn't lead to anything Oscar-related, right?

Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror (1981)

I actually like the zombies in this movie more than any modern zombie movie. Even if the effects aren't considered good by some, they have certain feel and look to them that's just unique and creepy. Even with the way they move and the incidental music in the background.

Definitely a great zombie movie that also includes incest and zombie nipple eating.

What's the second best shark movie? Jaws 2 or Deep Blue Sea?

I think the easiest way to explain the differences between Jaws and Deep Blue Sea is that Jaws has an Oscar winning score from John Williams, whilst Deep Blue Sea has an LL Cool J song where he declares that "His hat is like a shark fin" (What does that even mean?)

Here's the trailer for Deep Blue Sea 2.

Do you believe in the paranormal?

And everything that comes under the umbrella of paranormal like ghosts, extraterrestrial life, unidentified flying objects, unexplained phenomena, psychic abilities, conspiracy theories, haunted houses, demons, cryptids etc.. ?

I for one believe in all this stuff. I have a rather large collection of books from everything to U.F.Os/alien abductions to unexplained phenomena to conspiracy theories. A lot of people out there are (rightfully) sceptical, and might consider those who do believe to be weirdo's or something 😄 However, I really am fascinated by it all, and I feel there is just to many stories/reports/evidence out there for it to be all made up in my opinion.

As the tagline for The X-Files goes: "The Truth is Out There" ....

Anyone a believer?

How good is your computer?

I'm working on something that's almost 10 years old. When I go to certain webpages, the computer hums loudly, because it can't handle the javascript. I can't play games, and I think the thing is finally starting to crap out. Everytime I start it up, I pray that it works. I do a rain dance just to make it turn on, because sometimes, it really doesn't want to.

I haven't even been able to use Unity to try to develop any games lately, because my computer wont run that program anymore. Also, I can't watch some videos on here, because the video gets fucked. I think I might need a new computer soon... I hope old Betsy can last me a few more months.

What do you browse the net with? Desktop or mobile? How good is your device, and what else does it do for you?

Pom Wonderful Commercials

Can someone explain these to me? Specifically:

2018 TE Black & White Challenge Progress Thread



Welcome to the 6th annual Black And White Challenge. This is also the 2nd one to be featured on Trash Epics. This is the place to make your spot. Again, new rules, this year. We're doing a point for every minute. Anything black and white counts. Movies, TV shows, serials, shorts. Tinted films count, as well as movies that are partially in color as long as it is outweighed by the B&W. Beginning January 1st at midnight. Ends when January ends.

I'll be adding cool shit to the Trash Epics Theater all month. So, keep an eye out for that.

Questions & comments --------> https://trashepics.com/post/9/178/

A Cornucopia of Cujos

February Challenges

Anybody got anything in mind for February? Black History month? Valentines Day & love themes? It's a short month, so we don't have as much time.

If nobody has anything better, I'll host a love week from Feb 11-17, like @Amon suggests here https://trashepics.com/post/128/7/ , using his criteria. It could lead for a fun week. I'll probably just watch My Bloody Valentine '81 and '09, because I can't think of much else relevant, but I guess movies with "Kiss" in the title might count, so that opens it up a bit... to porn maybe. ☹️ Not sure. Maybe I'll watch "Valentine" with David Boreanaz again, even though it probably still sucks.