FanFare

This week: another show from the void, but maybe not for much longer! The Tokyo Olympics proceed despite a spike in COVID cases, and the UK prepares to lift nearly all restrictions despite an uptick in cases over there. And Now: People On TV Mean "Fucking" (Olympics Edition). Main story (32 minutes): Housing Discrimination, its legacy in the US, how its effects are felt today, and what can be done to rectify it. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jul 26, 2021 - 6 comments

Another week in the void. We hear about two right-wing leaders and their failed COVID responses, that of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, who let an offer by Pfizer of 70 million vaccine doses pass without response. And Now: People On TV Lose Their Shit Over The Phrase “Hot Vax Summer.” Main Story: The experiences of Asian Americans, often held up as a “model minority” by people who would like other minorities to see their problems as their own fault, when, to no surprise, the true story is a lot more complicated than tends to be recognized. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 9, 2021 - 2 comments

Rewatch! Megalomaniacal, stereotypical Fu Manchu, played as an inscrutable pillar of evil by Christopher Lee, schemes to freeze the world's oceans, because that's the kind of thing a powerful Chinese person does in a movie adapted from a Sax Rohmer book. This is not one of the best episodes, to be blunt: the movie drags like a lead weight. Good luck everyone. Previously
posted by JHarris on Aug 22, 2020 - 2 comments

Rewatch! On Sunday: Some white guys search Africa for a lost heiress, who it turns out reigns over a native tribe as their goddess, apparently only because she's white. Get ready for the kinds of stereotypes that make making fun of the movie seem almost a duty. Previously [more inside]
posted by JHarris on May 1, 2020 - 3 comments

It's a little late, but here's LWT from 8/21:

• Steve Bannon loses his (official) position as Chief Strategist in Trump's White House, but the White Nationalist In Chief remains, and made more horrible remarks about the protests in Charlottesville. Two business councils advising the White House disbanded following the news as CEOs abandoned the President.
• And Now: Local News Answers The Question: "Should You Stare At The Sun?"
• Main story: Nuclear waste, and the United States' long-standing problems in properly disposing of it. YouTube (18m)
• And Now: Some Of The Actual Responses From Potential Jurors Excused From The Martin Shkreli Trial (see inside for a list)

Last Week Tonight is off until September 10. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 27, 2017 - 2 comments

• Violence in Charlottesville, where a Neo-Nazi drove a car into a group of counter protesters, killing one and injuring several others, after which Donald Trump refuses to admit that Nazis are bad. Oliver: "David Duke and the Nazis really seem to like Donald Trump, which is weird because Nazis are a lot like cats. If they like you, it's probably because you're feeding them."
• AND NOW: HIGHLIGHTS FROM ROBOCUP 2017, first without, and then vastly improved by Univision Deportes Commentator Luis Omar Tapia.
• Main Story: North Korea, the most dangerous rogue nation in the world, and its leader Kim Jong Un, whom Donald Trump seems to be personally insulted by, resulting in a dangerous exchange a couple of weeks ago between the two thin-skinned madmen. Last Week Tonight put together a helpful package of information on the country, revealing such facts that the accordion is the country's national instrument, and that video of US television programming, most notably NCIS, is smuggled into North Korea on USB drives. At the end LWT presents a special number by "Weird Al" Yankovich asking North Korea not to nuke us. YouTube (27m) - Metafilter

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Aug 19, 2017 - 8 comments

Week of 10/30:

• Regrettably, more on the 2016 Election, putting aside a story on Pirate Party making progress in Iceland, among others, to make room for it. OH WELL:
• The FBI finds a few Clinton emails in an investigation into oh god I can't believe I'm typing this Anthony Weiner, yes HIM again, Carlos Danger himself. Worth watching just for the footage of Biden reacting to the words "Anthony Weiner."
• And Now: The Stream-Of-Consciousness Musings of WCBS-2 Meteorologist John Elliott
• Main story: School segregation, and its surprising continued prevalence, not in the South, but in New York state. YouTube (18m)
• How Is This Still A Thing: Voting On Tuesday (It turns out to have started because, in the 1800s, people were expected to be spending Monday travelling to the polling place to vote.) YouTube (4m)

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Nov 6, 2016 - 2 comments

This week.... Iran may be about to make a deal over their nuclear program. Greece may default on loans and possibly exit from the Euro currency. South Carolina finally lowers the Confederate battle flag flying over their state capitol. Last Week Tonight offers, to any team with an offensive mascot costume, to replace it with one of their previously-made mascot costumes. And Now: Whoopi Goldberg Defends Ten Surprising Things. Main story: On lavish sports stations built using public money. (YouTube 19m) John Oliver makes an impassioned sports speech to convince cities to make teams pay for their own stadiums. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jul 13, 2015 - 6 comments

This week: Shootings in South Carolina. Russians plan "Patroit Park," a theme park for national military fans. The US $10 bill is being redesigned to include a woman's face. And Now: C-Span Callers Suggest Women For The $10 Bill. Main story: On the harassment of women on the internet. YouTube (17m) Last Week Tonight remakes an old AOL ad.
posted by JHarris on Jun 23, 2015 - 16 comments