'Songs from the Hole' leads arts and culture documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards

I promised the next installment of my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards as today's Sunday entertainment feature, so I'm resuming with the nominees for Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary.

Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
Amblin Documentaries [Nedland Films | National Geographic]
The Merchants of Joy
Dial Tone Films [Amazon MGM Studios | Dial Tone Films | Artists Equity | Boat Rocker Studios | Matador Content | Epic Magazine]
The New Yorker at 100
Netflix [Netflix | Marshall Curry | Apatow]
Songs From the Hole
Netflix [Cocomotion Pictures | Question Culture | Impact Partners | Artemis Rising Foundation | Netflix]
Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan
Delirio Films [MPS LEGACY PRODUCTIONS | SOFA Entertainment | Mass Appeal | Diamond Docs | MRC]
Tiler Peck: Suspending Time
Great Performances
Late Autumn Productions, LLC. [THIRTEEN Productions LLC]
WE WANT THE FUNK!
Independent Lens
Firelight Films [ITVS]

Songs From the Hole leads with four nominations, WE WANT THE FUNK! sits in second with two nominations, and the rest have this one nomination. On that basis, I consider Songs From the Hole to be the favorite. I'm also embedding Songs From The Hole | Official Trailer | Netflix first to reflect its number of nominations.

Songs from the Hole is an innovative documentary/visual album composed by JJ’88, a musician incarcerated at 15 and serving a life sentence. Told through first-person narration and lyrical journal entries, the film explores his identity and untangles the complex emotions stemming from his crime and the loss of his brother.

In addition to Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, Songs from the Hole earned nominations for Outstanding Writing: Documentary, Outstanding Art Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Music Composition: Documentary. This moving trailer shows why it is competing in all these categories.

On another note, Songs from the Hole reminds me of Art & Krimes by Krimes, which also straddled the line between Arts and Culture and Crime and Justice. It won, so that's another good sign for Songs from the Hole.

Next, the trailer for WE WANT THE FUNK! with two nominations, Soul, Afrofuturism, & Black Empowerment in FUNK Music ?? | Independent Lens | PBS.

“WE WANT THE FUNK!,” a syncopated voyage through the history of funk music, spans from gospel, soul, highlife, and early jazz roots, to its rise and impact on new wave and hip-hop, as funk music has been transcendent for creators and listeners alike. Revolutionary moments in the movement are captured in James Brown's dynamism, the extraterrestrial funk of George Clinton's Parliament Funkadelic, transformed girl group Labelle, Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, and other influential musicians of the genre.

"Gotta have that funk!" This probably won't win either of its nominated categories, the other being Outstanding Sound: Documentary, but it sure looks like fun.

Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story | Official Trailer | National Geographic is the first of the nominees with one nomination in alphabetical order.

JAWS @ 50: THE DEFINITIVE INSIDE STORY is the authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Alongside Steven Spielberg, JAWS @ 50 charts the extraordinary journey from Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel to one of the most iconic films ever made. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the documentary uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.

This also looks like lots of fun. I also think it's nominated at the wrong Emmy Awards. I think it would have done better at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards; Hollywood loves a good show about itself!

Of all the trailers for the next film, "The Merchants of Joy" Trailer by majorfilmevents had the best description, which was enough to overcome its less flashy preview image.

In the city that never sleeps, five families hustle each winter to turn sidewalks into holiday outposts. The Merchants of Joy follows these Christmas die-hards as they source, sell, and safeguard a family tradition at risk. It's a warm, grounded portrait of pride, grit, and the joy they bring—one tree, one customer, one season at a time.

This also looks like lots of fun and leans into culture more than art, which is probably why it wasn't nominated for Outstanding Business and Economic Documentary. Those can be fun, too, but they're more about the money. This is more about the joy of the season. Ho! Ho! Ho!

The next trailer stays in the Big Apple, The New Yorker at 100 | Official Trailer | Netflix.

For the first time, The New Yorker opens up its offices to Academy Award-winning director Marshall Curry, allowing unprecedented access to its newsroom at a pivotal moment for all media, offering a rare look at what it took to publish a century of intrepid journalism, generation-defining fiction, and unforgettable cartoons.

In contrast to Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story, this documentary is nominated at the right Emmy Awards. The voters here are mostly journalists and this is a story about journalism. A lot of them are also based in New York. As I'm fond of writing about awards shows, electorates matter. Also, this trailer has the most views of any nominee in this category, 652,263 to 267,831 for Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story and 119,879 for Songs from the Hole. People are watching, which is a good sign and makes me think that this is the most likely to win in an upset.

I couldn't find a trailer for Sunday Best: The Untold Story of Ed Sullivan, so I'm sharing Inside Edition's segment, New Documentary Examines the Legacy of Talk Show Host Ed Sullivan.

A new Netflix documentary, "Sunday Best," looks back at how Ed Sullivan fought to showcase Black performers at a time when discrimination was rampant on TV. Sullivan featured stars like James Brown, The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and Dionne Warwick. On December 14, 1969, the Jackson 5 made their network television debut on the Ed Sullivan Show. Andrew Salt and his son Josh are the executive producers of the documentary. They spoke with Inside Edition.

This does show why this is an important documentary, but Inside Edition's reporting replaces the voice of the documentary that would be expressed in the trailer. That written, I can see why Inside Edition is interested; Ed Sullivan was on CBS, which is owned by the same parent company as Inside Edition. It's not just news and entertainment value that's driving this.

The final trailer I'm embedding today is Tiler Peck: Suspending Time | Official Trailer | SFDFF.

A world premiere documentary, Tiler Peck: Suspending Time offers a raw and deeply personal look at one of ballet’s most celebrated artists as she faces a career crossroads.

Following a series of life-altering events — a major injury, a pandemic, a personal loss — New York City Ballet prima ballerina Tiler Peck is forced to reckon with the unknown and reimagine her relationship to dance, to her body, and to herself.

Directed by Alex Ramsey, the film follows Tiler over the course of six years of her life, through rehearsal studios, stages, and quiet moments of reflection, as she fights to return stronger, not just as a prima ballerina, but also as a choreographer and creative force. Featuring original work by Peck alongside choreography from Alonzo King, William Forsythe, George Balanchine, and Christopher Wheeldon, the film blends vulnerability and resilience with artistic brilliance.

This documentary pushes a boundary one might not expect, between arts and culture on one side and science and technology, which covers health, on the other. STEAM in action! Also, I used to live in Bakersfield, so I feel a connection to Tiler Peck, enough of one that I can understand why she'd leave.

Follow over the jump for the other categories in which Songs from the Hole and WE WANT THE FUNK! earned their other nominations plus a retrospective continuing my examination of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Erik of Retail Archaeology asks 'What Is Going On At Target?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Change of plans — I'm postponing the next installment of my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards until tomorrow for the Sunday entertainment feature, so stay tuned. In its place, I'm returning to Company Man asks 'Target - The Rise and Fall?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day with Erik of Retail Archaeology asking What Is Going On At Target?

In this episode of Retail Archaeology we take a look at Target.

I found the AI summary more informative.

Retail Archaeology explores the history of the Target Corporation, from its roots as the Dayton Company to modern retail shifts. The video examines store operations, grocery section changes, the partnership with CVS, and the evolving presence of boutique departments like Ulta Beauty within Target locations.

Erik actually did a better job at researching and presenting the history of the Dayton Company and its transition to Target Corporation than Company Man. I don't think I've ever seen Erik being a better historian than Company Man Mike before. I've also never seen him delve into politics as deeply as in this video, which the AI summary missed. I'm being a good environmentalist and recycling what I wrote on Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day for my reaction.

[T]his is the first time I've seen Company Man Mike list DEI initiatives, or rather their abandonment, as contributing to a company's problems. I'm not surprised, as my wife and I shifted our shopping from Target to Costco because the former abandoned DEI. We did the same for Amazon: "My wife and I have decided to cut back on our Amazon purchases and will re-evaluate our Amazon Prime membership when it expires this summer. Jeff Bezos rolling over for Hoover Cleveland pissed us off."* Our disappointment extended to Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon. Target should have realized that knuckling under to Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump would have had a major effect because of their customer base, the people like me who call the company "Tar-zhey" and declare "between Walmart and KMart, I shop at Target." Now I'm shopping at none of them.
...
*This is the mirror image of "Losing Identity, Alienating Core Customers, [and] Negative Publicity" in Company Man wonders 'Cracker Barrel - The Rise and Fall?' A tale of the Retail Apocalypse and consumer pressure, all of which upset conservatives.

Erik agrees that Target made a dumb move by abandoning DEI. He also passed along that the boycott seems to be winding down because of the new CEO. Good. I've only shopped at Target once since Black Friday. That was because my wife was unable to physically shop at Costco for three months and she has the membership card, so I went there when I was in the neighborhood. Listening to Erik listing the lost sales revenue and stock value makes me think that Target has been punished enough and has learned its lesson. I certainly hope so.

Erik also mentioned the failure of Target Canada, which I referred to in Company Man explains 'Walmart - Why They're Hated' for Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day. I am still planning on writing about it, which connects to Bright Sun Films 'Bankrupt - Hudson's Bay Company,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Department Store Day through Zeller's. That's a topic for another day.

'Underdogs' earns four News & Doc Emmy Award nominations

Happy Flashback Friday on Arbor Day! As I promised twice, I'm resuming my coverage of nominees at the News & Doc Emmy Awards. Today, I'm examining Underdogs, which earned more nominations than Secrets of the Penguins, yet didn't receive a nomination for Outstanding Nature Documentary. In fact, it may be the most nominated documentary not to earn an Outstanding Documentary category nomination this year. I'll confirm if that suspicion is true as a contintue my coverage, but right now I'm sharing Underdogs | Official Trailer | National Geographic.

Hold on to your binoculars, folks, as Nat Geo gets up close and personal with the outcasts of the animal kingdom in UNDERDOGS, narrated by Ryan Reynolds. From their hidden talents to their unconventional hygiene choices to their unsavory courtship rituals, UNDERDOGS celebrates the unique behaviors of the animals who don’t usually get to be the stars of the show. From Reynolds’ Emmy® Award-winning Maximum Effort and Emmy and BAFTA Award-winning Wildstar Films (a Fremantle company), NationalGeographic’s UNDERDOGS premieres June 15 at 9/8c, simulcast on ABC, and will be available to stream the next day on Disney+ and Hulu. Each episode of the five-part series showcases a different aspect of the underdogs’ bizarre mating strategies, surprising superpowers, deception, dubious parenting skills and gross-out behaviors. UNDERDOGS features a range of never-before-filmed scenes, including the first time a film crew has ever entered a special cave in New Zealand—a huge cavern that glows brighter than a bachelor pad under a black light thanks to the glowing butts of millions of mucus-coated grubs. All over the world, overlooked superstars like this are out there 24/7, giving it maximum effort and keeping the natural world in working order for all those showboating polar bears, sharks and gorillas.

That was as funny as it was informative, thanks to the writing and Ryan Reynolds' narration. Speaking of which, this series aired during the eligibility period for this September's Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Reynolds could earn a nomination for Outstanding Narrator then, just like Angela Bassett did for Good Night Oppy. May he be so lucky. His wife Blake Lively wasn't; her narration for Secrets of the Penguins was eligible last year, but her competition was too stiff; she wasn't going to beat any of them out for a nomination.

Enough speculation about nominations that haven't happened yet. Time to examine the nominations that have.

Outstanding Writing: Documentary
Bring Them Home / Aiskótáhkapiyaaya
Thunderheart Films [WETA-TV]
2000 Meters to Andriivka
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Associated Press]
Songs From the Hole
Netflix [Cocomotion Pictures | Question Culture | Impact Partners | Artemis Rising Foundation | Netflix]
The Stringer
Netflix [A Netflix Documentary | An XRM MEDIA | VII FOUNDATION Production | LinLay Productions]
Underdogs
Wildstar Films [Maximum Effort | National Geographic]

The trailer alone demonstrated that Underdogs deserved this nomination. Unfortunately, I doubt it will win this award. It's competing against 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, Songs from the Hole with four nominations including Outstanding Arts and Culture Documentary, and The Stringer, also with four nominations including Outstanding Investigative Documentary. I expect grit will win over wit.

Outstanding Graphic Design: Documentary
Antidote/Kill List
FRONTLINE FEATURES | PBS [Passion Pictures | Bellingcat]
The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets
Texas Crew Productions [Peacock Original | New York Post Entertainment | G Unit Film & Television, Inc.]
The Ride Ahead
LikeRightNow Films
Titanic: The Digital Resurrection
Atlantic Productions [National Geographic]
Underdogs
Wildstar Films [Maximum Effort | National Geographic]
In Waves and War
Studio AKA [Netflix | Actual Films]

This is likely to be Underdogs' best shot to win, but it faces a tough competitor in Titanic: The Digital Resurrection. Either way, National Geographic would win.

Now two categories I covered in 'Secrets of the Penguins' leads Outstanding Nature Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Earth Day.

Secrets of the Penguins is in very good company, including 2000 Meters to Andriivka with six nominations including Best Documentary, which is my pick to win both that award and this category. Also, this is one of two nominations for Pangolin: Kulu's Journey, which missed out on a nomination for Outstanding Nature Documentary.

Underdogs might be more deserving than Pangolin: Kulu's Journey and as deserving as Secrets of the Penguins, but I still think 2000 Meters to Andriivka is the favorite to win Outstanding Cinematograpy: Documentary.

Secrets of the Penguins deserved this nomination, but I doubt it will win. Instead, I think it's between Turning Point: The Vietnam War with five total nominations and Love + War with four nominations. Both are also nominated for Best Documentary. The sounds of combat would probably impress the journalists and documentarians, possibly even more than the sounds of nature or music. If the entertainment professionals in the Creative Arts Emmys were voting, they might give WE WANT THE FUNK! the advantage. Not here; electorates matter.

I think the same of Underdogs' chances for Outstanding Sound: Documentary. Given the competition in its categories, it has an apt title.

Despite my pessimism about its awards chances, I will recommend Underdogs to my students as a documentary they can review for extra credit. Welcome to blogging as professional development.

Follow over the jump for a retrospective continuing my examination of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

Storied explains 'How English Took Over the World' for English Language Day

Happy Talk Like Shakespeare Day and English Language Day! I'm celebrating by sharing Otherwords on PBS Storied explaining How English Took Over the World.

How did English become the most spoken language on the planet, and why are there so many varieties of English?

Dr. B underplayed the role of British colonialism in her explanation, concentrating instead on American economic and cultural power helping to dethrone French as the language of diplomacy. Still, it works.

Storied uploaded the above on April 20, 2023, the same week as English Language Day. I'm also returning to 2023 for National Day Calendar's Talk Like Shakespeare Day | April 23.

William Shakespeare (April 1564-April 23, 1616) is the author of some of the world’s most celebrated plays and poems. In 2016, we honored the 400th anniversary of the Bard’s death. What better way to celebrate his life and art than to speak like the poet and playwright.

It was about time I embedded National Day Calendar's video for today.

Since today is a Throwback Thursday, I'm making this entry a retrospective. Follow over the jump for the most active posts on Instagram about holidays during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

'Secrets of the Penguins' leads Outstanding Nature Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards for Earth Day

Happy Earth Day! As I promised thrice, I'm celebrating today by examining the nominees for Outstanding Nature Documentary at the News & Doc Emmy Awards.

Outstanding Nature Documentary
Katavi: Africa's Fallen Paradise
Nature
PBS [THE WNET GROUP | TERRA MATER STUDIOS | SHIBUMI FILMS | ARTE | WDR]
The Last Rhinos: A New Hope
Sixty-Six Media Inc. [ABC News Studios | Lincoln Square Productions | National Geographic]
Secrets of the Penguins
Talesmith [National Geographic]
Shark Whisperer
Netflix [Netflix | Boardwalk Pictures | Underdog Films]
Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion
Nature
PBS [RHYTHM PRODUCTIONS, LLC | THE WNET GROUP

Secrets of the Penguins leads with three nominations for Outstanding Sound: Documentary and Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary in addition to Best Nature Documentary, followed by The Last Rhinos: A New Hope with two nominations, the other for Outstanding Music Composition: Documentary, then the Nature episodes "Katavi: Africa's Fallen Paradise" and "Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion," and Shark Whisperer with just this one.  I'm sharing the trailers in this order, beginning with Secrets of the Penguins | Official Trailer | National Geographic.

On the twentieth anniversary of National Geographic’s Academy-Award Winning “March of The Penguins”, SECRETS OF THE PENGUINS changes everything we ever believed to be true. From the Emperor Penguins’ revelatory bonds of friendship to the gritty resolve of Gentoos and Rockhoppers, and the astonishing ingenuity of the migrant penguins that reached deserts and far beyond, their incredible traditions and societies echo ours in ways we never dreamt possible – until now. For over two years, BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning wildlife cinematographer Bertie Gregory collaborates with world leading scientists, using cutting-edge camera technology and unique access to capture three world-first episodes that resonate with our lives like never before. The three-part series is executive produced by National Geographic Explorer-at-Large and Academy Award®-winning filmmaker James Cameron.

This is in the same overall series as Secrets of the Whales, Secrets of the Elephants, and Secrets of the Octopus, all of which earned nominations at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. That, and its award-winning producer and director, bode well for its award chances at these Emmy Awards.

I'm recycling from Spectacular nature films nominated at the 2025 Critics Choice Documentary Awards for the next nominee.

I couldn't find a trailer for The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, but I did find 66-Day Fetus Of Northern White Rhino Marks A Moment Of Hope For A Species On The Brink from IFLScience, the next best thing.

There are just two northern white rhinos left in the world: Najin and Fatu, a mother and daughter pair. They can’t continue the species alone, but a world-first attempt was made to bring a new northern white rhino calf into the world using frozen samples, in vitro fertilization (IVF), and a surrogate southern white rhino.

That surrogate was called Curra, and the successful world-first attempt at this kind of cross-species IVF was achieved by BioRescue, an initiative developing advanced reproduction technologies for saving critically endangered mammals. Jan Stejskal was one of the people who had just landed in Kenya to check on the status of her pregnancy when they received a worrying call: Curra was sick, and it was happening fast.

They’d never get to check if she was pregnant, as she died within an hour of falling ill. The team would later learn that this was the devastating outcome of a chain of unfortunate events. First, there was the shift in El Niño, which caused very heavy rains. Then, those rains washed away the top layer of soil in Kenya, resurrecting mummies that had been stored in the ground for centuries. Inside those carcasses was Clostridia bacteria that can live for 500 years, and that bacteria releases an extremely powerful toxin that can kill a rhino in just 60 minutes.

It was a devastating loss for the BioRescue team and even more so for the guardians who had cared for Curra and the other rhinos on the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. There came, however, just one small glimmer of hope.
During an autopsy, the team found a 66-day fetus. It was a male northern white rhino, the last seen since the death of Sudan in 2018. There was nothing that could be done to save Curra or the developing fetus inside her, but it was proof that this kind of IVF was possible – something that had never been proven before.

This story of loss and hope is explored in the new National Geographic film, The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, which premieres Aug. 24 at 8/7c and streams next day on Disney+ and Hulu.

No wonder this earned an EMA Award nomination. I hope it gets nominated at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards next year.

I got my wish!

Now for the Nature episodes, beginning with Katavi – Africa’s fallen Paradise | Terra Mater Studios (Official Trailer) by Terra Mater Studios.

Southern Tanzania. The powerful local tribes of hippo, lion and crocodile struggle for survival while defending their turf from intruders. Only the oldest crocodile matriarch remembers 90 years ago when a similar event occurred…

This allegorical tale offers a fascinating insight into how an animal society can be affected by a changing climate, and how this situation requires new strategies and changed behaviors from everyone to battle despair and to create hope for the future of their lineage…

Yes, this is a Nature episode, but PBS didn't make this trailer, so it looks and sounds distinct. On the other hand, PBS did make the next one, so it's definitely my idea of a Nature promo, Nature | Willow: Diary of a Mountain Lion - Preview from New Mexico PBS.

A unique, non-invasive, mountain lion study uses a giant network of trail cameras scattered throughout Montana's Sapphire Mountains over a decade to piece together the life story of a female mountain lion. This film weaves clips of mountain lions and their complex interactions with each other and the rest of the forest world into a story about life and death that contains never-before-captured events and behaviors at every turn.

National Geographic and Nature on PBS — all this category needs is a Netflix nominee, and it has one in Shark Whisperer | Official Trailer | Netflix.

From the Academy Award®-winning director of My Octopus Teacher comes Shark Whisperer, a provocative and visually arresting documentary that dives into the murky waters of modern conservation, where science, activism, and spectacle collide.

At its center is marine conservationist and social media lightning rod Ocean Ramsey, whose viral videos of swimming freely with sharks have sparked global fascination—and fierce debate. Driven by a desire to leave the cage and decode shark language up close, Ocean strives to connect with these predators on an unprecedented level— hoping to challenge the negative perception of sharks. To her supporters, she’s a fearless advocate giving a voice to misunderstood predators. To her critics, her mission blurs the line between saving the planet and seeking the spotlight.

Through intimate character study and breathtaking underwater cinematography, the film explores the tensions between advocacy and ethics, media influence and ecological integrity. With insight from marine biologists, indigenous knowledge holders, and fellow conservationists—both supportive and dissenting—it paints a nuanced portrait of a polarizing figure and the broader questions she provokes.

This is not just a story about sharks. It’s a story about how we choose to tell stories—about nature, ourselves, and what we’re willing to risk to be heard.

I think the video description is a fair depiction of the subject matter, so I'm not as conflicted about its nomination as I was about Encounters. I was pleased and relieved Science Fair won instead. While I'm rooting for Secrets of the Penguins and The Last Rhinos: A New Hope, in that order, I wouldn't be nearly as perturbed as I would have been if Encounters had won Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary two years ago if Shark Whisperers wins Outstanding Nature Documentary. Fortunately, the metric I use, views of the trailer, favors Secrets of the Penguins over Shark Whisperer; the latter has 454,462 views, while the former has 5,449,091 views. The penguins have the people!

Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for Secrets of the Penguins and The Last Rhinos: A New Hope plus more of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards from the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.

The Marsh Family sings 'He's Very Unwell'

For today's Tuneful Tuesday, I'm sharing the Marsh Family singing "He's Very Unwell" - Marsh Family parody of Chuck Berry's "Never Can Tell" from Pulp Fiction.

The issue of Christian nationalism and claims to righteousness for US military action has surfaced in a few stories this week, so we decided to merge them together in one song. We had to pick something from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack (1994), because that’s the movie script that’s been in the media spotlight since being bizarrely parroted in a prayer service at the Pentagon led by the US Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth. Although we were sorely torn by “Son of a Preacher Man” (a better song), in the end we plumped for the iconic twist track that features the smooth moves of Uma Thurman and John Travolta in a café running a dance contest, and is titled “You Never Can Tell” (though often referred to as “C’est La Vie”). The track was written by Chuck Berry while he was in federal prison and finally released in 1964.

The verses gave us the chance to poke some fun at three circling stories: Pete Hegseth’s language and attempt to render a Samuel L. Jackson monologue, amidst his hawkish attitude and celebration of violence and vengeance in the Iran war; Donald Trump’s posting on his Truth Social account of a ridiculous picture of him in a Christ-like pose, before backtracking and claiming he thought he was a doctor; and the deepening chasm between the White House’s discourse and policies and the Christian ethos explained by the Pope.

Ha! This is exactly what Pete Hegseth, Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump, and JD Vance deserve!

That's a wrap for today's brief entertaining entry. Stay tuned for the next episode of my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards with the nominees for Outstanding Nature Documentary on Wayback Wednesday, which falls on Earth Day.

Hemp regulation and marijuana legalization updates for 420 Day

Happy 420 Day! I'm returning to the theme of marijuana legalization today with a reversal of the trend. PBS NewsHour explains How a small law change could have a huge impact on the U.S. hemp industry.

Tucked into the legislation that ended the longest government shutdown in U.S. history was a provision to change the definition of hemp. It was a small tweak involving minute measurements, but one that could have a huge impact on the booming market for hemp products. Jeffrey Brown reports from Kentucky.

That's a bummer, both for the users and the farmers. I'm going to offer some rare faint praise for Rand Paul, which is that I generally don't agree with his principles, but at least he has some, and this time I actually approve of how he's applying them. May he and others succeed in loosening the regulations on hemp.

Not all developments on legalization are bad. Two states are considering legalizing marijuana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. I begin with CBS 58 in Milwaukee reporting State Democrats announce new marijuana legalization proposal.

Supporters of legal marijuana in Wisconsin have announced a new effort at the state Capitol.

The racial disparity in enforcement is enough to make me support this bill, although I agree that making medical marijuana legal would be a good first step that might actually pass. Some of the commenters mentioned that the bar and tavern owners opposed legalization. Considering that Wisconsin is the drunkest state in the union and seems proud of it, I'm not surprised.

I close with WJACTV asking When will PA legalize recreational marijuana?

PENNSYLVANIA (WJAC) — Is this the year that Pennsylvania lawmakers legalize the recreational use of marijuana?

Governor Shapiro continues to push for it, but it is still not certain if the legislature will approve it.

State Representative Scott Conklin recently spoke about the fact that all but one of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states have already legalized marijuana. So, will it happen here?

Others in the legislature are not supportive of the idea, for various reasons, including one of the most heard about --- marijuana's possible link to harder drugs.

Raising revenue is one of the most cited reasons by Governor Shapiro and other backers to legalize.

Envisioned as a new cash crop in Pennsylvania, farmers paying a fee, growers’ licenses, tax on sales, all bringing in money, with the Department of Agriculture providing oversight.

I think Pennsylvania is a better bet than Wisconsin, but it's not a sure thing.

That's a wrap for today's sort-of holiday. Stay tuned for a Tuneful Tuesday post featuring the Marsh Family tomorrow, followed by the next episode of my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards with the nominees for Outstanding Nature Documentary on Wayback Wednesday, which falls on Earth Day.

'Sally' leads Science and Technology Documentaries at the News & Doc Emmy Awards

Instead of exploring fiction for today's Sunday entertainment feature, I'm celebrating the best of nonfiction in television by beginning my examination of this year's 47th News & Documentary Emmy® Awards Nominees with the nominees for Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary, as I did last year.

Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary

Critical Condition: Health in Black America
NOVA | GBH [A NOVA Production | Firelight Films]
The Memory of Darkness, Light, and Ice
Metamorph Films, LLC
Operation Space Station
NOVA | GBH [A NOVA Production | Blink Films | France Télévisions]
Sally
Muck Media [Story Syndicate | National Geographic Documentary Films]
Titan: The Oceangate Submersible Disaster
Netflix [Netflix | Diamond Docs | Story Syndicate]

Sally leads this field with three nominations as the preview image shows, Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary, Outstanding Direction: Documentary, and Outstanding Art Direction / Set Decoration / Scenic Design: Documentary. The rest of the nominees for this category have only this one nomination. On this basis, I'm considering Sally to be the favorite for this award. Time to watch the trailers to see if they confirm my impression, staring with SALLY | Official Trailer | National Geographic Documentary Films.

Sally Ride became the first American woman to blast off into space, but beneath her unflappable composure, she carried a secret. Revealing the romance and sacrifices of their 27 years together, Sally’s life partner, Tam O’Shaughnessy, tells the full story of this complicated and iconic astronaut for the first time. From National Geographic Documentary Films, SALLY is directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Cristina Costantini.

That was inspiring. I'm looking forward to announcing any Emmy Awards it wins in June, Pride Month.

I'm going through the rest in alphabetical order by title, beginning with NOVA: Critical Condition-Health in Black America from WLRN Public Television and Radio.

Researchers examine the causes of racial health disparities, and why Black Americans are nearly twice as likely to have chronic diseases than whites.

Why? Poverty and racism. Just because it's obvious doesn't mean it's not worth examining. The details matter.

Next, The Memory of Darkness Light and Ice – Official Trailer - February 2025 by Metamorph Films.

If the ice sheet covering Greenland melts, global sea levels would rise 21 feet, profoundly impacting our planet. How, why, and when could this happen? Scientists have recently found lost sediment from a forgotten secret sub-ice Cold War base in the Arctic that holds clues about a time when the Greenland Ice Sheet had receded. THE MEMORY OF DARKNESS, LIGHT, AND ICE is a 60-minute documentary film about the discovery of this precious sediment core, which holds the key to crucial science around the melting Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and the future of sea level rise across the globe.

Watching this trailer reminds me that I showed Chasing Ice to my students last week and this is week is Earth Week, making this a good movie to recommend to my students. Welcome to blogging as professional development. It also makes me think that it's the strongest competitor to Sally. Last year, I thought that the "Hunt for the Oldest DNA" episode of NOVA on PBS had the strongest science of all the nominees, but didn't have the best chance of winning. Surprise, it won! That could happen here.

The second nominated episode of NOVA is "Operation Space Station: High-Risk Build." Watch its official promotional video from NOVA PBS Official, How Astronauts Avoided Disaster Building the International Space Station | NOVA | PBS. The field for this category wouldn't be complete without a NOVA episode, and this year's slate has two. Good showing for NOVA!

A dangerous spacewalk, a toxic leak, and a breathtaking view of Earth.

Astronauts faced a life-threatening challenge during construction of the International Space Station.

Sitting in sunlight to evaporate the ammonia serves as a good example of one of Commoner's Laws, "Nature knows best." Environmental content in space!

Like National Geographic and NOVA on PBS, this field wouldn't be complete without a Netflix documentary. This year's entry is TITAN: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster | Official Trailer | Netflix.

The deeper you look, the darker it gets.

Titan: The OceanGate Submersible Disaster examines CEO Stockton Rush’s quest to become the next billionaire innovator and the doomed underwater endeavor that called into question the price of ambition in the depths of the ocean.

The Titan submersible’s ill-fated journey to the ruins of the Titanic dominated headlines in June 2023, yet the shocking decisions that led to the disaster have never been revealed like this before.

This could just as easily have been nominated for business documentary as for science and technology. It's also Sally's chief competition for its journalistic value and public interest; the trailers for both have more than two million views, with Sally slightly ahead. In contrast, the trailers for the rest of the nominees have several thousand views at most. I still think Sally is the favorite, but now I have a better grasp of its chances.

Follow over the jump for Sally's other two nominations and some of the most read entries about the Emmy Awards last year.

'Bankrupt - Sbarro' by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Today's brief evergreen educational entry features the latest episode in Bright Sun Films series Bankrupt - Sbarro.

Since it started in New York in the 1950's, the Sbarro fast food chain had grown to well over 1,000 locations, many of which inside of shopping malls. The chain became a staple in casual, Italian food and was one of the most recognizable shopping mall institutions in America. However, by the 2010's, the brand would ultimately declare bankruptcy... twice. Join me to find out why.

I last examined Sbarro in 2020's Company Man examines the rise and decline of Sbarro, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, the next to last Retail Apocalypse post before COVID-19 being declared a global pandemic. I hadn't gotten into the habit of taking screen captures of Company Man Mike's reasons for the company declining then, so I'm making up for it by sharing his list from six years ago.


Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films concentrated on the 2007 sale of the company to a private equity firm, followed by the Great Recession and the general decline of malls. As I wrote six years ago, "Sbarro's dependence on malls was helpful until the Great Recession but is hurting the chain now, as more than half of their stores have closed since the company's peak." Private equity taking over the company the first time couldn't have come under worse circumstances. On the other hand, the current private equity ownership has been good for the company so far, expanding it out of American malls to other countries and into other locations. Good news.

On the other hand, Jake had very little to say about the rest of Company Man Mike's list, mentioning ingredient costs first and briefly. He had very little bad to say about the food itself, confining his stale remark to the brand, and only briefly citing consumer comments about the product. For critiques of the food, I plan on turning to Weird History Food, which I featured in The rise and fall of Boston Market, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday, but not today. I'm running late because of the field trip I ran, so I'm going to be a good environmentalist by conserving that resource to use later.

Speaking of conserving resources, I missed two Facebook shares about the Retail Apocalypse in Bloomberg Television explains 'How Gen Z Is Bringing Back The Mall,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, so follow over the jump for them.

SciShow on 'Here's Why Personality Tests ALWAYS Work*' for Flashback Friday

Happy Flashback Friday! Today's evergreen educational entry begins with SciShow explaining Here's Why Personality Tests ALWAYS Work*.

If you've ever done a personality test or read a horoscope and thought, it seemed scary accurate, you may have fallen for something called a Barnum Profile. There's a psychological trick that makes us all vulnerable to personality tests, so let's get into the real science behind personality testing.

When I search this blog's back catalog for personality, I found that I discussed personality types using the Big Five or OCEAN — Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism — or personality disorders. Here's what I wrote about my personality type results in We reveal ourselves on Facebook.

My results showed that I was liberal (duh), well organized, reserved, trusting, and calm. About the only one of those findings that surprised me was the reserved one. I generally test out as mildly extraverted on Myers-Briggs, so being labeled as the equivalent of introverted was inconsistent with that. Then I looked at the list of most reliable liked pages for each trait and discovered why. The pages for reserved included RPGs, Anime, Manga, Role Playing Games, and Video Games. I may not like all the pages with those exact names (although I like the suggestions for those pages), but I do like pages about all those topics, so I can see why my results came out that way. Seriously, what these pages tell me is that I am a geek, but not all geeks are reserved.

More than a decade later, I stand by both the personality assessment and my mild criticism of it.

That's a wrap for flashing back to a topic I haven't explored on this blog since the first half of last decade. Follow over the jump for another look back, a retrospective of the most read posts featuring videos from SciShow during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.