I’m still obsessed with my eyes. My vision is improving but I find screen time exhausting for now. Hence, a less verbose than usual Saturday post. Do I hear cheering?

One comparison I neglected to make in my Psychedelic Surgery post was to this scene from A Clockwork Orange:

In two words: Aversion therapy.

A Clockwork Orange is near the top of my list of great films I have no desire to see again. It’s almost as disturbing as living through Trump 2.0.

A quick follow up to Jamie O’s fine post about the Charlie Kirk shooting. The legacy media calls Kirk an activist. Wrong again: He was a hater. But I deplore political violence even when the target is a deplorable Trumper. There are also practical reasons for moving on. MAGA is already transforming this creep into a Horst Wessell/Ashli Babbitt-style martyr, why help them?

The Magritte featured image is called The False Mirror. I’ve used it several times before, but it’s never been more relevant than today. The title even led to this week’s theme song.

Rosanne Cash wrote Mirror Image for her 1990 album Interiors. It’s an album full of highly personal songs written as her marriage to Rodney Crowell started to crack like a mirror.

I don’t have any covers of this week’s theme song, but I have these nifty numbers by Leon Russell and Pretenders to share:

I think we have room for this swell pop song from my misspent youth:

I was tempted to use it after The Temptations Psychedelic Shack on Thursday but decided to move on. Let’s all meet up on Cloud Nine:

Are you doing fine?

We begin our second act by skipping it altogether. It still gets a last word, which goes to Jimi Hendrix with the OG version of Room Full Of Mirrors:

We begin our third act with our favorite stolen feature.

Separated At Birth Casting Edition: We saw Malcolm McDowell strapped to a chair earlier. A few years later, he played HG Wells in the swell time travel flick Time After Time.

Do you have time for Cyndi Lauper? I would hope so.

Your Weekly Oscar:  We have OP’s version of one of my favorite Sinatra songs followed by the man himself.

Have I told you lately how much I love Oscar Peterson?

Best Of Letterman: Does the Insult Comedian believe that *this* windmill causes cancer? Discuss amongst yourselves.

Why Pete Townshend? Here’s why:

Saturday GIF Horse: Hit it, Pete.

Classic Movie Trailer: This week, a minor classic starring the great Ray Milland. The reasons for my posting the trailer are obvious.

Grading Time: I give X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes 3 stars and an Adrastos Grade of B.

Skeet Of The Week: It goes to Kurt Andersen, founder of the Separated At Birth movement such as it is.

The AI running the simulation was obviously trained on the Spy magazine archive, and has now regurgitated this fantastical sequel to a 1987 issue of Spy.Looking forward to the episode in which Gary Hart (88) and Donna Rice (67) reunite and become friends with the North-Halls.

— Kurt Andersen (@kurtandersen.bsky.social) 2025-09-10T14:21:42.083Z

Oy, just oy.

Toon Time: Another skeet: A cartoon about the recent racist fuckery engaged in by the Roberts Court.

— Mike Luckovich (@mluckovich.bsky.social) 2025-09-11T02:07:55.150Z

Let’s close down this virtual honky tonk with some more music.

Saturday Closer: Turtles, Mothers, and Flo & Eddie vocalist Mark Volman died this week at age 78. Here are The Turtles on The Midnight Special with their best known and loved song.

Mark was the big fella with the long tie singing harmony. Flo & Eddie also sang Happy Together when they were Mothers:

That’s all for this week. The last word goes to Ray Milland in X: The Man With The X-Ray Eyes.