FanFare

This week, Rudy Giuliani sued for defamation of two Georgia election workers, dinged for $148 megadollars, and went right back to repeating the claims that got him successfully sued outside the courtroom. The main story: Elon Musk, the good and bad. A bit of good (getting the big automakers to care about EVs), but a whole lot of bad. On Youtube (31 minutes). And Now: People On TV Do Not Understand This Holiday Dessert (fruitcake). And finally, this is the end of Season 10 of Last Week Tonight. There is a look back at some episodes, and talk about some stories that didn't happen because of the (necessary!) writer's strike. Thanks for watching along, see you when Season 11 starts. [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Dec 18, 2023 - 12 comments

A writer famed for his biographies of geniuses turns his pen to cover the impetuous, vainglorious and obsessive CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, X (nee Twitter) and NeuraLink. [more inside]
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul on Sep 20, 2023 - 6 comments

From a New York Times investigative reporter, this “authoritative and devastating account of the impacts of social media” (New York Times Book Review) tracks the high-stakes inside story of how Big Tech’s breakneck race to drive engagement—and profits—at all costs fractured the world. The Chaos Machine is “an essential book for our times” (Ezra Klein). [more inside]
posted by gentlyepigrams on Feb 15, 2023 - 2 comments

This week... Elon Musk has been running Twitter for three weeks now and it hasn't been going great. And Now: People On TV Have Some Thoughts On Thanksgiving Foods. Main story: the World Cup comes to Qatar, a nation with some serious problems. A million people are coming to a tiny nation that casually threatens journalists, a nation that will now simultaneously host a plethora of human rights abuses and the world's biggest soccer tournament. On Youtube (25 minutes). And Now: People On TV Interrogate The Important Question: Do You Say Pecan Or Pecan. Finally, this is the last episode of Last Week Tonight for the season, and so we return to AI image generation, along with a whole bunch of clowns on unicycles. "Why do unicycles exist?" Why, indeed.
posted by JHarris on Nov 21, 2022 - 3 comments

This week.... Heidi Klum dresses as a worm in an awesome costume. Lula defeats Bolsonaro (YAY). Elon Musk takes over Twitter, which knowledgable people describe as "a nightmare built on sticks that might fall apart at any time," and he just fired half of the employees. Main story: Election subversion, trying to change the outcome of elections after they take place, a tactic that looks like it is coming to the United States in a couple of days, due to misinformation spread by conservative media. On Youtube. (33 minutes) Ends with a nice clip of Nick Offerman.
posted by JHarris on Nov 7, 2022 - 4 comments

"Part memoir and part joyful romp through the fields of imagination, the story behind a beloved pseudonymous Twitter account reveals how a writer deep in grief rebuilt a life worth living. Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is two stories: that of the reclusive real-life writer who created a fictional character out of loneliness and thin air, and that of the magical Duchess Goldblatt herself, a bright light in the darkness of social media." Real But Also Not Real: An Excerpt From Becoming Duchess Goldblatt [more inside]
posted by MonkeyToes on Jan 23, 2021 - 2 comments

This week, the return of YYN: from a deranged mascot to the top of the FBI [more inside]
posted by dnash on Nov 15, 2018 - 15 comments

Act 1: The NRA is a Cult

Act 2: Alt-Right Killers

Doug Bruce Ruined Colorado

[more inside]
posted by numaner on Mar 8, 2018 - 1 comment

After Andrea is attacked by a stranger in Mexico City, she just wants to figure out who the guy was. Investigating this question drops her right into the middle of one of Mexico's biggest conspiracies.
posted by latkes on Dec 18, 2017 - 12 comments

After landing a dream job at a powerful tech company called The Circle, a woman wrestles with whether the firm's 24/7/365 connectivity agenda represents a brave new world in which "Knowing is good, but knowing everything is better" or a horrifying breach of individual autonomy and privacy.
posted by carmicha on May 3, 2017 - 5 comments

Steven and Amethyst take Peridot to Funland!
posted by Small Dollar on Jul 20, 2016 - 14 comments

It's an old story. Two people date, they break up, they both go on Tinder. And on Tinder, one of them stumbles across an incredibly creepy photo, taken inside the apartment they used to share. Super Tech Support to the rescue. Plus, the return of Yes Yes No. [more inside]
posted by jazon on Jun 16, 2016 - 8 comments

This week....

• Cold open, without an audience, in which John Oliver discusses the shooting in Orlando. YouTube (2m)
• Hillary Clinton becomes the Democratic Party's presumptive candidate for US President, and gets involved in a Twitter scuffle with Donald Trump. Part 1 - Part 2 LWT provides a GIF of a vomiting Abraham Lincoln.
• And Now: People on Television Asking You to Imagine Things
• Main story: Retirement plans and how many people are charged fees far exceeding what they expect. (Here are LWT's print-out certificates of Elf Spotting and Financial Planning.) It ends with a piece offering LWT found to be the best, simplest way to manage your 401K: low-fee index funds, and gradually moving money from stocks to bonds over time. YouTube (21m)

[more inside]
posted by JHarris on Jun 15, 2016 - 6 comments

Leslie Miley went from being a college dropout to Twitter's only black engineer in a leadership position. So why did he quit? And what does it have to do with ketchup? Plus a new Yes Yes No involving the manosphere and Star Wars.
posted by radioamy on Jan 21, 2016 - 6 comments

On this week's episode, a new Yes Yes No, and we revisit our "Undo, Undo, Undo" segment to find out listeners most cringeworthy accidental messages. [more inside]
posted by the_querulous_night on Dec 10, 2015 - 19 comments

Rukmini Callimachi covers Islamic terrorism for the New York Times, and she seems to have access that other reporters just don't have. Part of the way she gets that access is by communicating with Islamic extremists online. She talks to PJ about how she communicates with her sources. Also, a new segment called "Super Tech Support." In this installment, Alex tries to figure out why it's so f@#*ing hard to cancel a Handy subscription.
posted by radioamy on Jul 23, 2015 - 9 comments

Other sections of MetaFilter have their own official Twitter Accounts - shouldn't FanFare have its own, too? [more inside]
posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome on May 24, 2015 - 4 comments

A man starts a Hulk parody account of a friend on Twitter. Is it funny, unoriginal or just STRAIGHT UP IMPERSONATION? [more inside]
posted by Shmuel510 on Mar 18, 2015 - 4 comments

This week: US Congressman Aaron Schock redecorates his office with a Downton Abbey theme. Argentina President Cristina Fernández catches flack for affecting a stereotypical Chinese accent on Twitter. Radio Shack files for bankruptcy and Last Week Tonight prepared a farewell message (YouTube, 3m), on their behalf. The main story: "Prescription drugs. The only ovals that can bring people in the Seattle area joy anymore." Marketing to doctors. (YouTube, 17m) And Equador president Rafael Correa calls out social media users who insult him on national television. John Oliver, in a helpful gesture to help Correa thicken his skin, provides his official Twitter handle, @MashiRafael, so internet users can directly insult him. That's right everybody: Last Week Tonight is back.
posted by JHarris on Feb 10, 2015 - 11 comments

A chef who loses his restaurant job starts up a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family.
posted by mathowie on Nov 2, 2014 - 15 comments

The NFL is embroiled in controversy for their handling of player Ray Rice's assault on his wife. ISIS prompts yet another American military intervention in Iraq (2m). Olive Garden comes under fire from activist hedge fund for poor practices, including not using salt to boil pasta water to prolong pot life. Scotland votes on independence from the United Kingdom (15m). Newscasters misidentify photographs as selfies. A record of companies misappropriating Twitter hashtags and memes to try to look important and socially-conscious, featuring the hashtag #WeUnderstandThatAsCorporateEntities​OurPresenceInCertainDiscussionsIsNotAlwaysRequired​SoWeWillStriveToLimitOurActivities​ToJustSellingyouShit.
posted by JHarris on Sep 15, 2014 - 9 comments

Japan ends its pacifist military stance. Warren G. Harding wrote naughty letters to his mistress. (YouTube) Obama goes on a tour of the nation. Main story: Income inequality and the estate tax. (YouTube) FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke is a hypocritical bastard. The CIA tries, and fails, to improve its public image.
posted by JHarris on Jul 14, 2014 - 9 comments