A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
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Last year, when I complained "there doesn't seem to be a single public service announcement (PSA) in the field," I wrote "While there are no nominated PSAs, Apple's nominees are doing their best imitation of selling their products' features as services." The winner fits that description. It also made me tear up. I can see and feel how it won. Congratulations!
I telegraphed this entry in Randy Rainbow sings 'Dummy with the Wig On Top' plus the short form winners at the Emmys when I wrote "seeing the two presenters reminds me that I never wrote anything for Outstanding Commercial or the winners of Outstanding Promotional Announcement at the News & Doc Emmy Awards. It's on my to-do list." Follow over the jump for the News & Doc Emmy winners.
"Batman vs. Bateman" – Hungry Man and Highdive (State Farm)
"The Boy & The Octopus" – Hungry Man and adam&eveDDB (Disney)
"Brian Cox Goes to College" – O Positive and Special US (Uber One for Students)
"Flock" – Smuggler and TBWA\ Media Arts Lab (Apple Privacy)
"Heartstrings" – Smuggler and TBWA\ Media Arts Lab (Apple AirPods Pro)
"So Win." – Somesuch and Wieden+Kennedy (Nike)
80% of school shooters tell someone about their plans. But too often, people think they’re “just joking.” Always take threats of violence seriously. Watch and share our new PSA.
The comedians are funny people. The threats they are repeating definitely are not funny at all. Here's to their star power getting the message across.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominees, which are selling products, not just ideas.
Did you know that when you watch (or watched, depending on when you read this entry) today's Super Bowl, you'll probably see several Emmy nominees and probably an Emmy winner or two? You will, because you did last year and several of the years before that. That's thanks to the commercials and halftime show, which has been a repeat nominee going back as far as Beyoncé's Super Bowl XLVII halftime show, which won Outstanding Lighting Design/Lighting Direction for a Variety Special in 2013. I didn't cover that at the time, waiting until after I wrote Predictions vs. reality for Katy Perry at the Super Bowl in 2015 to post Conversations on the 2013 Super Bowl Blackout with Chad of the Hipcrime Vocab. Took me long enough. Speaking of Perry, her show won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lighting Design | Lighting Direction For A Variety Special and Outstanding Costumes For A Variety Program Or A Special. It's Katy Perry — of course she'd win for costumes!
As for Emmy nominees for Outstanding Commercial, those go back to at least 1998, the second year of the award, when Super Bowl ad American Express – Virtual Reality earned a nomination. Since then, Super Bowl ads have been regular nominees in the category. This includes the 2023 Emmy nominees for Outstanding Commercial with "Forever": The Farmer’s Dog 2023 Super Bowl Commercial and The Singularity (Extended) | Big Game Commercial 2023 | Squarespace being the Super Bowl ads nominated. Neither won, but at least they were nominated.
Climate activist Claire Vlases received the Earth Award from TIME on Tuesday after the 20-year-old helped secure victory in a landmark climate case earlier this year.
Vlases is one of 16 young plaintiffs who sued Montana for violating their right to a clean environment. In August, a judge ruled that Montana must consider climate change effects when approving fossil fuel projects. The court declared that Montana’s laws promoting fossil fuels violated constitutional rights.
In the absence of TIME announcing its Heroesof the Year, although Swift could be that, too, I'll take Vlases and her fellow plaintiffs as suitable stand-ins. Congratulations to them for their victory on behalf of kids and the climate!
It was a strange Thanksgiving for Sam Altman. Normally, the CEO of OpenAI flies home to St. Louis to visit family. But this time the holiday came after an existential struggle for control of a company that some believe holds the fate of humanity in its hands. Altman was weary. He went to his Napa Valley ranch for a hike, then returned to San Francisco to spend a few hours with one of the board members who had just fired and reinstated him in the span of five frantic days. He put his computer away for a few hours to cook vegetarian pasta, play loud music, and drink wine with his fiancé Oliver Mulherin. “This was a 10-out-of-10 crazy thing to live through,” Altman tells TIME on Nov. 30. “So I’m still just reeling from that.”
We’re speaking exactly one year after OpenAI released Chat-GPT, the most rapidly adopted tech product ever. The impact of the chatbot and its successor, GPT-4, was transformative—for the company and the world. “For many people,” Altman says, 2023 was “the year that they started taking AI seriously.” Born as a nonprofit research lab dedicated to building artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity, OpenAI became an $80 billion rocket ship. Altman emerged as one of the most powerful and venerated executives in the world, the public face and leading prophet of a technological revolution.
I think Altman does double duty as Innovator of the Year. Normally, I'd have given him first billing, but I realized I hadn't given Vlases and her fellow plaintiffs in Montana any attention at all, let alone what they deserved, so they got it instead. Priorities.
Follow over the jump for the videos honoring Lionel Messi and Padma Lakshmi.
Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special (Area) Being Mary Tyler Moore (HBO) Judy Blume Forever (Prime Video) My Transparent Life (Prime Video) Pamela, A Love Story (Netflix) Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (Apple TV+)
First, the theme: All of these are biographies, even My Transparent Life, the only one that is not about a public figure. The rest are about people important in pop culture and three of them tell the stories of television stars. If the Television Academy had nominated Moonage Daydream instead of My Transparent Life, then the entertainment biography motif would have been complete. Next, the numbers: Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie leads this field with seven nominations, followed by Pamela, A Love Story and Judy Blume Forever with two each, and Being Mary Tyler Moore and My Transparent Life with one each. I'm embedding the trailers for the nominees in that order, beginning with STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie — Official Trailer | Apple TV+.
Michael J. Fox is going back to his past and rewriting his future. Still is now streaming on Apple TV+
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The film, which will incorporate documentary, archival and scripted elements, will recount Fox’s extraordinary story in his own words — the improbable tale of an undersized kid from a Canadian army base who rose to the heights of stardom in 1980s Hollywood. The account of Fox’s public life, full of nostalgic thrills and cinematic gloss, will unspool alongside his never-before-seen private journey, including the years that followed his diagnosis, at 29, with Parkinson’s disease. Intimate and honest, and produced with unprecedented access to Fox and his family, the film will chronicle Fox’s personal and professional triumphs and travails and will explore what happens when an incurable optimist confronts an incurable disease. With a mix of adventure and romance, comedy and drama, watching the film will feel like … well, like a Michael J. Fox movie.
Song: "More Than a Feeling" by Boston
"The sad sack story is Micheal J. Fox gets this debilitating disease and it crushes him." "Yeah, that's boring." Well, this trailer was anything but boring and if it's an accurate depiction of the show, then it won't be boring, either.
Pamela Anderson defined a decade. Now she will define herself.
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In her own words, through personal video and diaries, Pamela Anderson shares the story of her rise to fame, rocky romances and infamous sex tape scandal.
This documentary is very much a reaction to Pam & Tommy. I hope it works for Anderson.
The radical honesty of the books by trailblazing author Judy Blume changed the way millions of adolescent readers understood themselves, their sexuality, and what it meant to grow up, but also led to critical battles against book banning and censorship.
With humor, sensitivity, and a healthy dose of adolescent cringe, JUDY BLUME FOREVER tells the story of the woman whose trail-blazing books changed the way millions of readers understand themselves, their sexuality, and what it means to grow up.
This clip shows how influential Judy Blume is and why she's an important subject of a documentary. I wouldn't be surprised if she earns Most Compelling Living Subject of a Documentary at this fall's Critics Choice Documentary Awards. While most people think of Blume as an author, she has an IMDB page, so she fits in with Michael J. Fox, Pamela Anderson, and Mary Tyler Moore, the subject of Being Mary Tyler Moore | Official Trailer | HBO.
Being Mary Tyler Moore, an HBO Original documentary, examines the extraordinary life, career, and legacy of the actress and activist. Directed by James Adolphus with Lena Waithe and Debra Martin Chase as producers, Being Mary Tyler Moore premieres May 26 on HBO and Max.
I have one word for David Susskind after watching that clip of him interviewing Moore — oink! I'm glad Moore handled him as well as she did.
I couldn't find a trailer on YouTube for My Transparent Life, but I did find My Transparent Life Premiere from The Hollywood Gazette.
The Hollywood Gazette interviews the cast and crew of My Transparent Life at the premiere in Westwood, CA on October 4th 2022.
On the one hand, I find it a bit odd that Prime Video doesn't have a trailer for this show. That bodes poorly for its awards prospects. On the other, if The Hollywood Gazette ever uploaded more videos, I might just subscribe to the channel.
Both the number of nominations and the experts at Gold Derby agree; Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is the favorite. Every expert is picking it to win and so am I.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the categories that include documentary or nonfiction special nominees.
CW/TW: Sensitive content. This film features real stories about body appearance that may be upsetting to some viewers.
8 in 10 youth mental health specialists say social media is fuelling a mental health crisis.* Join us on our mission to make social media a more positive place by taking a stand against its harmful design, so that platforms can be safer for kids.
This is the one nominee that isn't selling the product its sponsor makes. Instead, a beauty product company (yes, Dove is best known for soap, but its ads sell beauty as much as or even more than cleanliness) is pointing out that young people, particularly girls and young women, can have too much of a concern about a good thing. It's also pointing a finger at social media, the subjects of double Emmy winner "The Social Dilemma", double Emmy nominee "The Facebook Dilemma", and Emmy nominee "The Great Hack". Social control and misinformation are problems outside of politics.
This reminds me that I didn't acknowledge last year's winner, "Teenage Dreams" from Sandy Hook Promise. Here is the Twitter graphic from the Television Academy announcing its win.
Congratulations!
I also never wrote an entry about the nominees and winner of Outstanding Promotional Announcement at the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. That was National Geographic's "9/11: One Day in America," which also won Outstanding Historical Documentary. I didn't completely miss it, as I mentioned that it had six nominations in Emmy nominee 'My Garden of a Thousand Bees' for World Honey Bee Day, but I never followed up on that aside. Darn. Here is the Twitter graphic from Nat Geo Docs announcing both wins.
Congratulations! May I not be so busy as to miss this year's nominees.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominees in this category.
New dinosaurs. New habitats. New Season. Prehistoric Planet returns May 22 on Apple TV+...
Prehistoric Planet, from executive producers Jon Favreau and Mike Gunton, and narrated by Sir David Attenborough, combines award-winning wildlife filmmaking, the latest paleontology learnings and state-of-the-art technology to unveil the spectacular habitats and inhabitants of ancient Earth for a one-of-a-kind immersive experience. The series is produced by the world-renowned team at BBC Studios Natural History Unit (“Planet Earth”) with support from the photorealistic visual effects of MPC (“The Lion King,” “The Jungle Book”) applied to concept art created by Jellyfish Pictures (“The Book of Boba Fett,” “Spirit: Untamed”). Prehistoric Planet season two continues to bring Earth’s history to life like never before as the series presents new dinosaurs, new habitats and new scientific discoveries while taking viewers around the world in an epic five-night adventure. With new dinosaurs like the Tarchia, one of the largest Ankylosaurus, to returning fan-favorites like the Tyrannosaurus rex, and many more, Prehistoric Planet returns with an all-new season of prehistoric wonders.
Theme by Hans Zimmer and Andrew Christie for Bleeding Fingers Music. Original score by Zimmer, Anže Rozman and Kara Talve for Bleeding Fingers Music.
We sat down for an exciting chat with the producers of the second season of Prehistoric Planet on Apple TV+ to dig into the science behind the digital resurrection of these ancient animals.
That was informative and fun. I enjoyed the inclusion of prehistoric animals beyond dinosaurs and pterosaurs, who were the stars of Season 1. Mosasaurs, crocodylomorphs, turtles, mammals, and ammonites show how biologically diverse the terminal Cretaceous was. I also appreciated how the series didn't just present the latest science, but helped spur research that advanced the field of paleontology. Way to pay the field back beyond just popularizing it!
While I raved about the trailer and previews for season 1, my prediction that the series would receive multiple Emmy nominations still hasn't come true. Hans Zimmer took home two awards for its music at the Hollywood Music In Media Awards and it earned nominations at the Cinema Eye Honors Awards, Annie Awards, Visual Effects Society Awards, Television Critics Association Awards, and Hollywood Critics Association Television Awards, but no Emmy nominations. I hope that was because Apple TV+ decided to submit it to the News & Documentary Emmy Awards instead of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. If so, I'll be looking for those nominations in a couple of months.
Some were cautious forest dwellers. Others were fearful flyers. All of them were extremely squeezable. More cuteness to come. Prehistoric Planet Season 2 returns May 22 on Apple TV+...
Narrated by Sir David Attenborough, and featuring an original score by multiple Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer, the captivating exploration of ancient Earth will debut with five all-new episodes in a week-long event.
I hope these clips help earn some Emmy nominations. In the meantime, I plan on posting a tale of the Retail Apocalypse tomorrow. Stay tuned.
As I have since 2019, I begin my coverage of this year's Primetime and Creative Arts Emmy Awards, which the Television Academy announced earlier this week, with thenomineesforOutstandingCommercial. I'm featuring the two Emmy-nominated Public Service Announcements (PSAs) about gunviolence in general and school shootings in particular above the jump, beginning with past nominee and winner Sandy Hook Promise, whose nominated PSA this year is Teenage Dream.
Gun violence shouldn't be part of growing up.
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*** This video contains sensitive content related to gun violence that may be triggering for some viewers. ***
A new PSA from Sandy Hook Promise features survivors of school shootings reciting the lyrics of the popular Katy Perry song in hopes of preventing others from experiencing the same grief.
Normally, Sandy Hook Promise would have gun violence to themselves, but this year, Change the Ref joined them with Lost Class 1/3.
This year, 3,044 students won’t get the chance to graduate because they were killed by a gun. It’s time we pass universal background checks, so we can protect our students and make sure more of them make it to their graduation day.
By donating to Change the Ref, you’re helping in the fight against the gun violence epidemic. Change the Ref uses the funds raised to keep applying pressure to our politicians and policymakers through creativity, creating more campaigns like The Lost Class. Together, we can change the perception of guns in America and inspire change that will keep the futures of our students safe from guns.
In its own way, showing all those empty chairs and switching the audio between the commencement address and the 911 calls is even more effective than Sandy Hook Promise's PSA. Also, convincing a former head and current board member of the NRA to address 3,044 empty chairs is quite a feat. Democracy Now examines how that happened in Meet the Father Who Tricked Ex-NRA Head into Addressing 3,044 Empty Chairs for Gun Violence Victims.
The parents of a student killed in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School duped a former president of the National Rifle Association into giving a high school graduation speech defending gun rights in front of 3,044 empty white chairs — one chair for each student who could not graduate this year because they were killed by gun violence. David Keene, who still serves on the NRA board, thought he was giving a rehearsal speech for graduating students at the James Madison Academy in Las Vegas, but no such school exists. Video of the speech was turned into a viral video promoting universal background checks. The stunt was organized by the group Change the Ref, which was founded by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, whose son Joaquin was shot dead in the Parkland, Florida, massacre. Manuel Oliver says the video has led to an outpouring of support from across the U.S. “We need to do these more often, because it shows that the NRA, the gun industry and the gun lobby are not as powerful as they say,” he says.
This clip includes not only the commercial I embedded above, but parts of the other two videos in the series, so not only does it explain what's went on, but saves me the trouble of embedding them, too. Thank you.
Go behind-the-scenes of Prehistoric Planet with executive producers Jon Favreau and Michael Gunton for a closer look at how they brought this wondrous world to life...
Experience the wonders of our world like never before in this epic docuseries from Jon Favreau and the producers of Planet Earth. Travel back 66 million years to when majestic dinosaurs and extraordinary creatures roamed the lands, seas, and skies.
Jon Favreau and Michael Gunton confirmed what I wrote last week.
I was a big fan of "Walking with Dinosaurs," a sequel to which I mentioned in Infidel 753 and I talk fossils and this show looks like it will be a worthy successor to it. It's been 23 years since that aired and both the science and technology have advanced since then, so the depictions of the dinosaurs and other Mesozoic organisms will reflect both. Besides, I think every generation deserves its own dinosaurs, both real and fictional.
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By the way, all of these scenes are from the latest Cretaceous, indicating that this show is looking at different biomes on the Earth at the same time, unlike "Walking with Dinosaurs," which proceeded through the entire Mesozoic to show how the planet and is organisms changed over time. This makes it more like Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II, which examine different environments on the modern Earth. That's an interesting conceit and one I'm looking forward to watching.
Follow over the jump for videos that show how the series depicts the paleontological discoveries since "Walking with Dinosaurs" and supports those depictions with science.
An epic true story about majestic dinosaurs and the habitats they roamed. Begin exploring coasts, deserts, freshwater, ice worlds, and forests May 23 on AppleTV +
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Experience the world of dinosaurs like never before in this epic five-night event, from Executive Producer Jon Favreau and the producers of Planet Earth. Featuring David Attenborough, Prehistoric Planet streams on Apple TV+ May 23rd.
I was a big fan of "Walking with Dinosaurs," a sequel to which I mentioned in Infidel 753 and I talk fossils and this show looks like it will be a worthy successor to it. It's been 23 years since that aired and both the science and technology have advanced since then, so the depictions of the dinosaurs and other Mesozoic organisms will reflect both. Besides, I think every generation deserves its own dinosaurs, both real and fictional.
Apple TV uploaded five more previews, one for every night of the "epic five-night event." Follow over the jump to see those.
The world’s most extraordinary creatures like you’ve never seen them before in a five-night documentary event. Prehistoric Planet streaming May 23 on Apple TV+...
Experience the wondrous story of life on Earth… 66 million years ago. Prehistoric Planet arrives May 23 on Apple TV+...Experience the world of dinosaurs like never before in this epic docuseries from Executive Producer Jon Favreau and the producers of Planet Earth. With David Attenborough and accompanied by a breathtaking score by Hans Zimmer, Prehistoric Planet is a five-night documentary event coming to Apple TV+ May 23rd.
The only quibble is that Tyrannosaurus rex is a North American dinosaur and North America did not border the Tethys Sea. Instead, T. rex lived along the western shores of the Cannonball Sea, which split North America in half. Its Asian relatives like Tarbosaurus may have ranged to the Tethys, but not T. rex proper. I'mapaleontologist, so I know these things. Otherwise, this looks great. I fully expect multiple Emmy nominations. It, along with "Ted Lasso," might just be enough to get me to subscribe to Apple TV+, especially if I can do so without buying an Apple product.
This summer, experience the epic conclusion to the Jurassic era as two generations unite for the first time. Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are joined by Oscar®-winner Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in Jurassic World Dominion, a bold, timely and breathtaking new adventure that spans the globe.
From Jurassic World architect and director Colin Trevorrow, Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live—and hunt—alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.
Jurassic World Dominion, from Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment, propels the more than $5 billion franchise into daring, uncharted territory, featuring never-seen dinosaurs, breakneck action and astonishing new visual effects.
The film features new cast members DeWanda Wise (She’s Gotta Have It), Emmy nominee Mamoudou Athie (Archive 81), Dichen Lachman (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Scott Haze (Minari) and Campbell Scott (The Amazing Spider-Man 2). The film’s returning cast includes BD Wong as Dr. Henry Wu, Justice Smith as Franklin Webb, Daniella Pineda as Dr. Zia Rodriguez and Omar Sy as Barry Sembenè.
Jurassic World Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow, who steered 2015’s Jurassic World to a record-shattering $1.7 billion global box office. The screenplay is by Emily Carmichael (Battle at Big Rock) & Colin Trevorrow from a story by Derek Connolly (Jurassic World) & Trevorrow, based on characters created by Michael Crichton. Jurassic World Dominion is produced by acclaimed franchise producers Frank Marshall p.g.a. and Patrick Crowley p.g.a. and is executive produced by legendary, Oscar®-winning franchise creator Steven Spielberg, Alexandra Derbyshire and Colin Trevorrow.
I'm not expecting to learn anything from this movie, as it's first and foremost a piece of entertainment, but I expect to be watching it when it becomes available on Peacock, Amazon, or another streaming service.
That's it for today's entertainment special. Follow over the jump for the most read entries from the back catalog about entertainment during the blogging year that ended on March 20, 2022.
