FanFare

Breathtaking is a three-part British medical drama television series broadcast on ITV and available for streaming on ITVx. Based on a memoir of the same name written by Rachel Clarke covering the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK. The series was written by Clarke with Jed Mercurio and Prasanna Puwanarajah. It stars Joanne Froggatt and was directed by Craig Viveiros. [more inside]
posted by Erinaceus europaeus on Feb 23, 2024 - 2 comments

In this two-part series, we speak to a few people engaged in organizing and political education projects about their experiences trying to incorporate covid protections into their existing organizing work, wins and losses they've encountered, and why it's so important for the left to take covid seriously, even as the public health emergency comes to a close. In Part 1, we speak with Alex (beginning at 03:30), a student organizer at a university in the northeast US, and Reina Sultan (beginning at 54:30), a co-creator of 8 to Abolition. In Part 2, we speak with Becca (beginning at 02:30), Raia Small (beginning at 32:00), and Kelly Hayes (1:01:20). Part 1, part 2 (soundcloud links). [more inside]
posted by curious nu on Feb 24, 2023 - 2 comments

The first three legs of season 33 of The Amazing Race were filmed in February 2020... and then production was shut down due to COVID. The Race resumed 17 months later. [more inside]
posted by DevilsAdvocate on Jan 7, 2022 - 6 comments

A team directed by activist and artist Ai Weiwei films inside the hospitals, homes, and quarantine sites of Wuhan, the first city hit in the global COVID-19 pandemic. (Trailer; viewable via Alamo or Vimeo.) [more inside]
posted by progosk on Aug 27, 2020 - 3 comments

If you slept on it, Wyatt is still there for you. The Second Season is a must-watch if you want to think "What does 're-opening' schools mean in the middle of a pandemic?" HBO published all the episodes on Youtube in the wake of George Floyd's murder. Earlier Fanfare posts 1 and 2 [more inside]
posted by eustatic on Jul 12, 2020 - 0 comments

This week on Sawbones, we examine how Black Americans have received substandard care and fewer opportunities within the American medical system. Also, some guidance on how to protest as safely as possible in the face of COVID-19.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis on Jun 1, 2020 - 3 comments

Dan Brown meets Coronavirus. There's a submarine, Mecca and nuclear tick-tock, lots of hazmat and goofily stereotypical characters, but the pacing is fine, there's some real drama, plus some probably-solid science, and of course the whole thing is oh-so-topical: eerily prescient, even. [more inside]
posted by chavenet on May 15, 2020 - 3 comments

This week, coming to you once again from the Blank White Void of Sad Facts... we launch right in with the main story, regarding two groups harmed greatly by social isolation: the unemployed, and essential workers who cannot work for home and are particularly at risk. On YouTube. And Now: In Honor of Easter, Our Annual Fuck You to Peeps. Finally, good news: zoos letting animals visit other animals and aquariums, the Queen of England giving a speech to the nation while wearing a chromakey-friendly green dress, and success in the search for for that painting of cartoon rat erotica John Oliver was looking for two weeks ago! Also: Here's The Late Show with Steven Colbert's interview-from-home with John Oliver from a week ago. Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 [more inside]
posted by JHarris on Apr 14, 2020 - 6 comments

"Live from Zoom, it's somewhere between March and August." [more inside]
posted by rhizome on Apr 12, 2020 - 21 comments