politics

Byte-sized

| cgkinnett

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Recently, I saw a listicle recommending the best one season binge-worthy series across several streaming platforms and I thought that this would be a great idea for podcasts too! So today we’re going to go through a couple of one season shows that span several genres. In the article Alternate Reality Podcasts, we covered several immersive storytelling/narrative podcasts whose production values were pretty stellar. Rabbits, The Message, TANIS, these have all been out for a couple of years now (and scale way above one season where TANIS is concerned) so what is new out there for our byte-sized attention spans? Lots!

Where to begin?

Let us start with horror. There are three podcasts I have in mind for this genre and they are all very different. First, we dive back into Halloween. Not just the holiday, but the phenomenon of the movie itself and the ethos created by the villain Mike Myers. The podcast is called Halloween Unmasked (The Ringer) and is hosted by Amy Nicholson. Listeners can tell right from the first few seconds of the first episode that Nicholson is a massive fan of John Carpenter’s work and her enthusiasm is unable to be missed. At some point within the first episode, I checked the playback speed because she was speaking so fast, it was set at regular, she was just speaking with such enthusiasm that she almost couldn’t keep up with herself. Once you get past that, this series is chock-full of interesting movie history that every film buff should have an awareness of. From tiny production details that make you smile upon rewatching the original to psychoanalysis of what someone who witnesses trauma goes through, this podcast will have you binge listening instantly – and if you’re really brave, you’ll listen to it at night while walking through your neighbourhood alone. My favorite episodes are three (the psychoanalysis one) and four (covering the Final Girl trend now seen in every horror film).

Next up is The Horror of Dolores Roach (Gimlet). Sounds promising, right? Horror is right there in the title. Man are you right! This tale is disgusting and disturbing on all the right levels. Imagine a modern day, politically correct, Sweeny Todd, whose main character is a woman of color who has just gotten out of jail after a long sentence. Dolores’ integration back into society does not keep her as “above board” as she wants. With a stellar voice cast that includes Daphne Rubin-Vega and Bobby Cannavale, we are taken through a gentrification allegory unlike any I’ve heard so far. The character development that occurs in the eight-episode run arches rapidly but is very well done and their morality is called into question as some pretty creepy decisions get made, causing the level of crazy to elevate quickly. Cannavale’s character welcomes Dolores into his home as soon as she shows back up in the neighbourhood and you have that feeling of “this guy is being a little tooooo nice.” It doesn’t take long for both Dolores and the listener to question where his motives lie. While the timeline of events feels a bit hasty at times, it makes you pause to think, how far would you go for love?

One more terror-ific cast to check out is Dr. Death (Wonderly) which chronicles the career and lawsuits of one Dr. Robert Henderson who is – or rather was- a spinal surgeon in Dallas, TX up until just a couple of years ago. This man was obstinately determined to continue in surgical pursuits even after several patients had become paralyzed after they let him operate on them. The show focuses on the mistakes and oversights which occurred right before and right after one of his colleagues finally calls him out on his malpractice. There are human, medical, and legal aspects to this show and each of them is as compelling as the last. How could someone have such disregard for those who trusted him, how had it never happened before, and what is going to happen to the communication and legal standards between major institutions like hospitals and the transparency they sometimes lack? Henderson’s case is ongoing and journalist Laura Beil is still reporting and creating up to date episodes, keeping the public informed as to the proceedings. Listening to this show provokes so many questions.

Now let’s take a total left turn: art history! Last Seen (WBUR and NPR) is produced in part by the Boston Globe and covers one of the most infamous art heists ever. With eight episodes out at the time of typing this and more to come, listening to Last Seen takes you into the world of art which is not always as accessible as a podcast might be. In 1990, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum was burgled in the wee hours of a mid-March morning. In a scene straight from a movie, the thieves disguised themselves as policemen to gain entry to the museum and then proceeded to tie up the guards and cut from the frames $200 million worth of art. There have been zero arrests and zero recoveries in this case and the agents at the FBI who have been working on the case for almost 30 years now have stated that they believe the original perpetrators to be deceased. But the mystery still remains as to where the paintings are and what has really happened in the intervening decades. You don’t have to be a fan of capital “a” Art or a well-versed historian to be interested in this mystery. There is plenty of intrigue to be had in these captivating episodes.

I will be the first to admit that I listen to far too much political content via podcasts. At one point this summer I stopped and counted what my weekly episode intake was and it was over 12! That’s too many. At a certain point, Rachel Maddow and the fellas at Crooked Media all come back to the same points. Underdog (Beto vs Cruz) (Texas Monthly), however, is not a nightly update on what our current disastrous state is. Instead, we get a close examination of a race which captivated the country: that of the Senate race between Beto O’Rourke and Ted Cruz. This podcast, produced by Texas Monthly, goes on the road with the underdog of the race, Democratic Congressman O’Rourke and examines how his campaign was run and what was so different about the momentum felt this year as opposed to years past. Texas has been deep red for almost 30 years and even high profile candidates like Wendy Davis have fallen short of beginning the shift to purple or blue. It is really nice to listen to something that is in the political sphere without having people yelling at you about national catastrophes and instead focus on the smaller, more personal aspects of a campaign. Despite the fact that the election is over, I would still encourage people to listen to this show. There is an excitement felt through the speakers and while hope is present, so is reality. The last episode in the season is a follow-up the day after election day. You can hear the heartbreak but you can also hear the determination. Refer to Presidential for further political listening that has nothing to do with the current political state.

Lastly, to tie it back to the first recommendation, Amy Nicholson and Paul Scheer have been going through AFI’s top 100 films of all time in the podcast Unspooled (Earwolf). After watching each movie, the two talk about what it is that makes each title qualified to be on this list. You can listen in order of episode or skip around to titles that you are more familiar with because each episode is self-contained. Yes, as the list goes on they begin to make connections between the films and the qualities they exhibit in getting on the list, but I don’t think that would diminish your listening experience.

No matter what your interest, there are so many great podcasts out there. With binge listening in mind for a lot of these, there is so much content to lose yourself in. Your ears will thank you.

 

Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press

| cgkinnett

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Hey there, lovelies! As reported last week, SXSW was in full swing and my Film badge was being put to full use. Now that the festival is over and I’ve had time to reflect on everything I saw over the course of the week, I realized that what I watched more than anything else was documentaries. There were so many of them and on such a wide range of topics. Out of all that I saw, I think that the most interesting and the most relevant by far was Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press. Award winning investigative documentarian Brian Knappenberger, known for The Internet’s Own Boy and We Are Legion helmed the project. The thumbnail photo for Nobody Speaks shows Hulk Hogan who is, admittedly, not someone whom I would want to watch a documentary about. However, do not let this deter you for there is something much bigger about this film and what it represents for the free press in our country.

In 2012 Gawker Media published a sex tape of Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea) and Heather Clem. Apparently, Clem’s husband likes to film her with other men and watch it back. To each their own, ya know. Anyway, upon the posting of this video, Hogan sued Gawker for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional harm, among other things. The back and forth shown through court clips and interviews with Gawker editors shows how crazy this case was. In the end, Hogan ended up winning and was awarded $31 million which was roughly $100 million less than what the jury had come back with. Gawker did not have this kind of money and filed for bankruptcy last year.

What’s the big deal, you ask? Well, as the story unfolds, we learn that Silicon Valley billionaire Peter Thiel helped fund the case against Gawker. The site had published several unflattering stories about Thiel over the years and he had built up a grudge against the media outlet. He poured millions of dollars into Hogan’s defense allegedly without Hogan knowing who he was or why he was doing it. What is utterly terrifying about this is that there was a man who had a grudge against a digital print outlet, who used his resources to his advantage, and took a step into the legal world that until now no one else had done. This opens up the opportunity for other private citizens and/or corporations to do the same, meaning that if there is a magazine, newspaper, any sort of periodical that prints something that someone doesn’t like there is now precedent for them to take it upon themselves to facilitate a take down.

In addition to the Bollea v. Gawker case, Nobody Speaks also shines a light on the purchasing of one of Nevada’s most notable newspapers, the Las Vegas Review Journal, by the Adelson family. While you might not know the name off hand, the Adelsons are big in the gaming world and are apparently quite corrupt and shady (shocker, I know). The reporters and staff of LVRJ were told that their paper had been bought but not by whom. Good idea…try to hide something from a whole newspaper staff. The reporters start digging and soon unearth the truth of their acquisition. Penning an expose on the matter, they go to print without a green light and then many of them resign, principles and ethics still intact.

What brings these two storylines together, you ask? Apparently there is a connection between Thiel and the Adelson family: they both make huge contributions to the Republican party and most recently, Donald Trump. The significance of this is that Trump is very publicly against mainstream media and honest reporting of any kind and these two stories are instances where men saw an opportunity to influence/shut down a media organization whose ideals they didn’t agree with. While there is enough material for both of these stories to stand on their own, for they are both majorly important, they are tied together with what seemed like a hasty Trump through line. I say hasty because there was video of rallies and press conferences that are incredibly recent. Like since he’s been in office recent.

Towards the end of the film we begin seeing, through still images and voiced over short video clips, the ties that all of these men have with each other. This sort of made the ultimate message about how things lead back to Trump. I think the doc could have been a lot stronger if they had stuck to highlighting these terrifying cases and how they can potentially effect our future. This is my only complaint.

Netflix has reportedly purchased the film however when you search the title you’re not able to click on the result. I don’t know if that just means it is not yet available or what. Whatever the case, you should find a way to watch this documentary. It is incredibly important and impatiently relevant.

 

 

 

 

Veep

| cgkinnett

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In sticking with last week’s theme, I would like to once again talk about a light hearted politically based piece of entertainment: HBO’s Veep. With all of the really heavy articles and interviews and tv segments, all of the blogs and podcasts and tweets, we need a bit of a reprieve. To cure this political hangover I highly recommend watching a couple of episodes in a row and laughing ’til your face hurts. In a less toxic environment than what currently makes up our reality, Vice President Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dryfus) and her staff show us what it is like to be the second in command. All the ups and downs of the position play out in stunning comedy as the team navigates “safe” ice cream choices and tries to keep on top of pregnancy rumors. Those two things do happen in different seasons but the gamut of how-could-this-go-wrong situations that continuously present themselves to this team are phenomenal.

There are plenty of jokes about the job of Veep…it’s a runner up position, they don’t get to do anything, they’re just waiting around to become number one…but it is really interesting to get insight into the job. Sure, there are shows like West Wing and House of Cards that put a president in the core of their cast. Not Veep. In fact, it is a running joke through the show that we don’t actually ever see the Prez or indeed learn his name (at least not yet and I’m in season three of five). Here we get to see the nonstop duty that this position is and also how a woman(!) is handling it. Meyer’s team of Amy, Dan, Gary, Mike, and Sue make the office run as smoothly as they possibly can. And while this isn’t always achieved, it shows the human side of these people. Sometimes, the phone call that you’ve been waiting for happens right after you’ve put your phone in a phone bowl at a wedding. Sometimes, you walk through a solid glass door and end up looking like you’ve just attended an Edward Scissorhands meet and greet.

I like this aspect of it.

Just as with last week’s recommendation, Veep also focuses on the human side of politics. We get to see an even keel of victories and failures and this coming from an office that is very frequently overlooked.

Each of the core characters that make up the Veep staff add to the comic genius that plays out every time something goes wrong. Holy moly stuff goes wrong a lot. For example, from the get go we learn that the big issue that Meyer plans on tackling while in office is Clean Jobs which is a stance against oil for clean energy jobs and technology. First big thing that goes wrong is that POTUS (as he is very frequently referred to) wants someone from oil to be in on this initiative. Things like this continue to happen over the course of the season and the series as accomplishments are marred by hiccups all the time. It makes for great satire on what has become a really depressing subject.

To close, I was listening to an interview a while back with Tony Hale and he was talking about how much they film in proportion to how much actually makes it to the screen.While the show has some really amazing writers, the cast itself is pretty crazy in their takes. With comic genius going for several straight minutes, I have cried laughing several times. So if you need a reprieve from the depressing headlines, cure your woes with some Veep. 

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