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.
As I promisedtwice, it's time for the next installment in my coverage of the News & Doc Emmy Awards by examining The Sixth and the rest of the nominees for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. The Sixth on the sixth!*
Since it is the only nominee in this category with another nomination and that is for Best Documentary, I begin with THE SIXTH | Trailer from Change Content.
THE SIXTH (www.thesixthmovie.com) is a feature documentary produced in collaboration with A24. From Academy Award® winning filmmakers Andrea Nix Fine & Sean Fine, THE SIXTH takes you inside the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol through six personal accounts, including Rep. Jamie Raskin and MPD Chief Robert Contee. This harrowing yet hopeful film, is a powerful reminder that the fate of democracy is in all our hands.
This isn't the first time the News & Doc Emmy Awards recognized coverage of January 6th; for starters, CNN's 'Live from the Capitol: January 6th, One Year Later' won two News & Doc Emmy Awards in 2023. It is the first time I've covered a nominated documentary about the event, although it probably won't be the last. In the meantime, this is still my favorite to win this category, although it is facing worthy competition and isn't a guaranteed winner. After all, Good Night Oppy had six nominations and was my pick to win Outstanding Science and Technology Documentary two years ago, but lost to How to Survive a Pandemic. Something similar could happen here.
Follow over the jump to watch the trailers or the equivalent for the rest of the nominees in this category and another look at Best Documentary.
HappyAutumnalEquinox! As I wrote yesterday, I am finishing the nominations for Trafficked with Mariana van Zellerat the 2023 News & Doc Emmy Awards today. That written, the final nominination is merely making a cameo, as "VICE News Tonight has three nominees in Outstanding Business, Consumer or Economic Coverage, one of which I think will win, so I'm planning on the next installment of the series featuring them, not Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller." Without any further ado, here are the nominees for that category.
Outstanding Business, Consumer or Economic Coverage
Africa+ Black Snow: Nigeria’s Oil Catastrophe Bloomberg
Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller Stolen Cars National Geographic
VICE News Tonight The Price of Purity: Inside the Wellness Industry’s Controversial Supply Chains Vice
VICE News Tonight VICE News Investigates: Mafia Land Vice
VICE News Tonight Undercover in Guyana Vice
VICE News Tonight's three nominees all have nominations in other categories so long as I add the nominations for "Mafia Land" to "VICE News Investigates: Mafia Land"itself. Once I do this, "VICE News Investigates: Mafia Land"/"Mafia Land" has three nominations, including Outstanding Video Journalism and Outstanding Graphic Design and Art Direction: News, while both "The Price of Purity: Inside the Wellness Industry’s Controversial Supply Chains" and "Undercover in Guyana" have two each. "The Price of Purity: Inside the Wellness Industry’s Controversial Supply Chains" is competing with "Mafia Land" for Outstanding Video Journalism, while "Undercover in Guyana" is contending against Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller's "White Supremacy" and five other nominees for Outstanding Research: News. This is the only nomination for both Africa+ and Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller's "Stolen Cars." Based on the number of nominations, I expect "Mafia Land" to be the favorite so long as vote splitting with the other two VICE News Tonight nominees doesn't interfere.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the nominations for these episodes of VICE News Tonight.
["Amazon Mafia"] is another video I can recommend to my students. It's just as strong on the environment as In Real Life: Plastic Time Bomb, even if it's weaker on the science. It, like all the other nominated episodes of Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller, makes up for it by being strong on long-form investigative reporting and crime coverage. In fact, "Fish Pirates" earned a nomination for Outstanding Investigative News Coverage: Long Form as well as Outstanding Writing: News and I've already mentioned that "White Supremacy" has nominations for Outstanding Crime and Justice Coverage, Outstanding Editing: News, and Outstanding Research: News. I will try to get around to covering those categories, if I haven't already, and embedding their videos.
As much as 30% of our seafood has been caught illegally. Mariana searches for the fish pirates who make billions each year while destroying our oceans.
...
About Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller:
TRAFFICKED with Mariana van Zeller is an original documentary series that explores the complex and dangerous inner-workings of the global underworld, black and informal markets. Each adventure follows Mariana on a mission to follow the chain of custody of trafficked goods, understand how to obtain the contraband, or see the 360-degree view of the trafficking world from the point of view of the smugglers, law enforcement and those caught in the crossfire.
Watching this video reminds me that I've been blogging about overfishing since 2013, when I quoted an article about climate change that mentioned overfishing as an additional threat to biodiversity, then quoted another article that detected evidence of it in old restaurant menus from Hawaii. It's been a topic of Earth Overshoot Day and a theme of World Wildlife Day and especially WorldOceansDay. Most recently, I included a video about overfishing I show to my students in Whales and fish, two stories I tell my students. Today's entry fits well with my continuing coverage of this threat to the environment and the global food supply, which means it's another video I can recommend to my students along with "Amazon Mafia."
Now for its competition in its two nominated categories.
Outstanding Investigative News Coverage: Long Form
FRONTLINE Afghanistan Undercover PBS FRONTLINE, The Associated Press, SITU Research Crime Scene: Bucha PBS Caught on Camera, Traced by Phone: The Russian Military Unit That Killed Dozens in Bucha The New York Times Trafficked with Mariana van Zelle Fish Pirates National Geographic VICE News Tonight Above the Law: Investigating the Louisville Metro Police Department Vice
All of the nominees except "Above the Law: Investigating the Louisville Metro Police Department" have another nomination, so I can't use that to handicap the category. Both of Frontline's nominees, "Afghanistan Undercover" and "Crime Scene: Bucha," and the New York Times' Caught on Camera, Traced by Phone: The Russian Military Unit That Killed Dozens in Bucha are also nominated for Outstanding Research: News, a category that I expect Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller's "White Supremacy" will win. Normally, I'd forecast based on the lack of other nominations that "Above the Law: Investigating the Louisville Metro Police Department," one of VICE News Tonight's 28 nominations, would be the least likely to win, but the video views say otherwise.
Continuing on, here is the other nominated category for "Fish Pirates" as well as one of two nominations for "Cocaine Queens."
Outstanding Writing: News
60 Minutes The Lost Souls of Bucha CBS 60 Minutes Pathogen X CBS 60 Minutes Platform 4 CBS Fault Lines The Killing of Shireen Abu Akleh Al Jazeera International USA Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller Cocaine Queens National Geographic Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller Fish Pirates National Geographic
60 Minutes has three nominated segments, two of which have two nominations, "Pathogen X" in this category and Outstanding Hard News Feature Story: Long Form and "Platform 4" in this category and Outstanding Edited Breaking News Coverage. "Cocaine Queens" also earned a nomination for Outstanding Editing: News. Using page views to break the tie, I'd say "Platform 4" with 700,899 views is in the lead to walk away from the podium with this award.
That concludes today's installment of this series. Return tomorrow as I plan on looking at the remaining nominations for Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller. Stay tuned.
Previous posts about the 2023 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
I first wrote "the dessert bananas people eat are threatened by fungus because of the unintended effects of growing monocultures of clones" ten years ago, and I haven't stopped warning my students about it since. It's right up there with bees as a story I tell my students, although I write about bees a lot more here than bananas. The last time was 2021 and the time before that was 2014. The latter was an audition for a video to show my students instead of "The Top Banana" trailer, and it failed. They decided that they liked the more fun teaser for a documentary that never happened than the more informative Seeker video. I didn't even try the Business Insider video. I'm planning on trying again with Bananapocalypse: Why Bananas May Go Extinct by Vice News.
Being apart of nature, food can also be endangered. Counter Space explores those who are protecting and perfecting the foods we love.
This excerpt is from season two of Counter Space and was filmed in 2022.
I'll get back to my readers about my students' reactions to this video in a month or two. Stay tuned.
As I promised yesterday, I'm continuing coverage and commentary on the News & Doc Emmy Awards as the Sunday entertainment feature with the nominees for Outstanding Science, Technology or Environmental Coverage.
Outstanding Science, Technology or Environmental Coverage
In Real Life Plastic Time Bomb Newsy Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller Amazon Mafia National Geographic World’s Untold Stories The Brain Collectors CNN VICE News Tonight Where Protecting the Environment Gets You Killed Vice VICE News Tonight ‘They’re Watching Us’: Inside the Company Surveilling Millions of Students Vice
This is the only nomination for each of these stories, so I have to use other criteria to handicap their odds of winning, such as views on YouTube and actually watching them. I begin with In Real Life: Plastic Time Bomb by Newsy, now Scripps News.
Less than 10% of plastic waste ends up recycled, and studies show much of what does go in the recycling bin can actually end up in landfills. In this new episode of "In Real Life," we explore how we can plug the gaps in the global recycling system and travel to Malaysia to see the real impact of the world’s un-recycled waste.
This is a video I can recommend to my students, as it serves as examples of all four of Commoner's Laws: Everything is connected to everything else; there is no away; there is no free lunch; and nature knows best. It's even the right length at 22 minutes, the minimum duration for video extra credit.
This is one of two nominations for Newsy. The other is In Real Life: The New Death, which earned a nomination for Outstanding Soft Feature Story: Long Form. Neither is widely watched. In Real Life: Plastic Time Bomb has 4,167 views while In Real Life: The New Death has even fewer, 2,499 views. That doesn't bode well for either of their chances of winning.
Mariana travels to the Amazon to track down the criminal networks behind a slew of killings and the illegal destruction of the rainforest.
This is another video I can recommend to my students. It's just as strong on the environment as In Real Life: Plastic Time Bomb, even if it's weaker on the science. It, like all the other nominated episodes of Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller, makes up for it by being strong on long-form investigative reporting and crime coverage. In fact, "Fish Pirates" earned a nomination for Outstanding Investigative News Coverage: Long Form as well as Outstanding Writing: News and I've already mentioned that "White Supremacy" has nominations for Outstanding Crime and Justice Coverage, Outstanding Editing: News, and Outstanding Research: News. I will try to get around to covering those categories, if I haven't already, and embedding their videos.
"Amazon Mafia" is nearly two orders of magnitude more popular on YouTube than either of the In Real Life videos with 272,137 views. That's more popular than Where Protecting the Environment Gets You Killed, one of two nominations for VICE News Tonight in this category alone and 28 nominations overall, with 204,354 views.
Around the world, environmental activists are being murdered in growing numbers. They die for defending the land from multinational corporations and governments seeking to exploit natural resources for profit. One of the deadliest countries for environmentalists is Colombia -- a key front in the struggle against climate change.
This video covers very similar territory to "Amazon Mafia" — investigative reporting on crime and the environment in South America, particularly the Amazon rainforest. As such, they are likely to compete with each other more intensely than other nominees in this category. "Amazon Mafia" is more popular and comprehensive, while this report is more focused. It depends what the Emmy voters want, and electorates matter.
Millions of students across the country are being monitored by surveillance tools in the name of school safety. VICE News investigates Gaggle, a company that uses artificial intelligence and human review to detect danger signs in the content kids create on school-issued accounts and devices. Gaggle says it helps schools prevent tragedies and some educators have praised its ability to flag kids in crisis, but critics warn of a potential impact to LGBTQ+ students and increased interactions between kids and law enforcement.
I find myself unable to blog about the shooting at Oxford High School and its ongoing fallout. It's too fast moving and too close to home, literally. I might get to it later, but then again, I didn't blog about the Larry Nassar scandal until 2019.* It may be a while.
Almost two years later, this still hits close to home. Even the door signs are the same as the ones where I work. That's uncanny, but I probably should have expected it. I'm in the same county as Oxford. I'm sure it hits home in other ways for other Americans, as it's about what's happening here, not overseas where America is having an effect, but not an effect directly on Americans. This is affecting Americans.
Also, the video's use of graphics makes the entire video look better produced than its competitors for this award, including "Plastic Time Bomb," which also had good graphics. That helps. Between the subject matter and the better graphics, I think this report can overcome the slightly lower viewership, 202,440 views, than "Amazon Mafia" or "Where Protecting the Environment Gets You Killed."
CNN does not have a video upload of its nominee on YouTube, but it does have World’s Untold Stories: The Brain Collectors on its website. Sorry, no embed and no stats. It is a well-told, if quiet, scientific detective story, but I don't know if it has the emotional impact of "'They’re Watching Us’: Inside the Company Surveilling Millions of Students," which is my pick to win. The best thing it has going for it is that CNN has a constituency that Newsy and Vice don't have, and National Geographic might have for documentaries, but not news. Again, electorates matter.
I'm taking a short break from this series to observe the 22nd anniversary of 9/11 tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Previous posts about the 2023 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
I am resuming my coverage of the News & Doc Emmy Awards with the nominees for Outstanding Health or Medical Coverage.
Outstanding Health or Medical Coverage
Fault Lines A Toxic Feed: Social Media and Teen Mental Health Al Jazeera International USA This Is What a Post-Roe Abortion Looks Like The New York Times VICE News Tonight Beyond Fentanyl Vice VICE News Tonight Cuba’s Healthcare Crisis Vice VICE News Tonight Post-Roe America Vice
Not only is VICE News Tonight's "Beyond Fentanyl" the only nominee with another nomination, VICE News Tonight has two other nominees in this category, comprising three of the show's 28 nominations. Based on that criterion, I expect "Beyond Fentanyl" is the favorite to win this category. Vote-splitting among the other nominees from VICE News Tonight might impede its path to the podium, although that could also affect "Post-Roe America" as it contends with This Is What a Post-Roe Abortion Looks Like by The New York Times. Finally, seeing Al Jazeera International USA reminds me that Al Jazeera America's final Emmy nominations were what got me interested in the News & Doc Emmy Awards in the first place.
Now for the other nomination of "Beyond Fentanyl."
Outstanding Editing: News
Caught on Camera, Traced by Phone: The Russian Military Unit That Killed Dozens in Bucha The New York Times Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller Cocaine Queens National Geographic Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller White Supremacy National Geographic VICE News Tonight Battle for the South of Ukraine Vice VICE News Tonight Beyond Fentanyl Vice
This category contains two more of VICE News Tonight's nominations, although this is the only nomination earned by "Battle for the South of Ukraine." All of the rest have at least one other nomination. In addition to the nomination for Outstanding Health or Medical Coverage earned by "Beyond Fentanyl," "Caught on Camera, Traced by Phone: The Russian Military Unit That Killed Dozens in Bucha" garnered a nomination for Outstanding Investigative News Coverage: Long Form, Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller's "Cocaine Queens" earned a nomination for Outstanding Writing: News, and Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller's "White Supremacy" has the most, including Outstanding Crime and Justice Coverage and Outstanding Research: News for a total of three. I've already predicted "White Supremacy" will win Outstanding Research: News and I expect it's the favorite to win Outstanding Editing: News, too. It also has the most nominations among the field for Outstanding Crime and Justice Coverage, although ABC's "X / o n e r a t e d – The Murder of Malcolm X and 55 Years to Justice" with two total nominations might give it a run for its money.
More than 100,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2021, the worst year on record. The newest wave of the overdose crisis involves man-made chemicals, including animal tranquilizers, that are being combined with fentanyl to make street drugs that are deadlier and more addictive.
With access to an undisguised fentanyl dealer, Beyond Fentanyl looks at how drugs like “benzo dope” and “tranq” are ravaging North American communities and how U.S. policy affected the latest flood of synthetic street drugs.
Drug deaths nationwide hit a new record in 2022. 109,680 people died as the fentanyl crisis continued to deepen, according to preliminary data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Eight states saw drug deaths continue to surge by nine percent or more, with the greatest increases of 21 percent coming in Washington state and Wyoming.
Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said it's troubling that deaths continue to rise despite the end of disruptions linked to the COVID pandemic.
"That's a very very high level of overdose deaths," Volkow told NPR.
"One could have expected that as many of the challenges imposed by the COVID pandemic were resolved, we would see a deep dive in the number of overdose deaths. It's concerning we have not seen that."
The chiefs of major Hollywood studios reportedly met Wednesday as writers, actors, and others in the entertainment industry continue to strike.
I was guardedly optimistic last month, when I wrote "While I still think these strikes are not ending any time soon, there is at least some progress." Well, the writers guild rejected the producers' offer, the producers didn't make a more acceptable counter-offer, and the talks ended. Now the producers are figuring out what to do next and it might be a PR effort to sway the viewers instead of more negotiations. They're counting on what I have writtenmanytimes.
The studio executives are counting on that and hoping they can turn it against the writers and actors. What they might get are a bunch of (mostly conservative) people hoping in a fit of spite that Hollywood collapses instead. Be careful what you wish for; you might get it.
Michael Jamin has been writing for television since 1996 with credits including Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill, Just Shoot Me, and Wilfred. He's been on strike with the WGA Union since May 2023. Jamin joins Samir Ferdowsi and Dexter Thomas live on Twitch to discuss the impetus and progression of the strike, and gives an inside look into the life of a Hollywood writer.
Just like EVs for auto workers, AI is a pressing technological issue for actors and writers. WelcometotheSingularity where the main effect is losing jobs to robots, not everyone becoming cyborgs or the machines enslaving or killing off humanity. Audie Cornish of CNN explored that topic and more in Hollywood’s Hot Strike Summer, again from last Thursday.
For Labor Day — the unofficial end of summer and the official holiday celebrating the American worker — we are checking in on the state of the striking actors and writers demanding more from the studios they work for. When the Writer’s Guild of America (WGA) and Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) went on strike earlier this year, no one was sure how long the first dual strike in over 60 years would last. Six weeks later both unions are still on the picket line. This week we speak to industry insider, Franklin Leonard, about the state of the strikes and how this could change the way Hollywood works, and how we watch movies and TV.
All that podcast episode needed was visuals. If it had them, I would have made it my featured video.
All this talk of AI indicates that I need to explore that issue on its own. The Singularity is an apocalyptic scenario, after all, and is right on topic with the overarching theme of this blog. I promise I'll get to that after examining another possible SAG-AFTRA strike, this time against video game producers. Stay tuned.
Outstanding Recorded News Program
60 Minutes CBS The Circus Showtime Nightline ABC Sunday Morning CBS VICE News Tonight Vice
60 Minutes is the defending winner but it's not the nominee with the most nominations at these awards. That honor goes to VICE News Tonight with 28 nominations. VICE as a whole earned 30 nominations, second only to CNN with 42 (which would have been 45 before Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain disappeared from the list of nominees). 60 Minutes has eleven nominations, Nightline has eight, Sunday Morning has two, and The Circus has just this one. While VICE News Tonight has far and away the most nominations, with 22 reports nominated in 16 categories, compared to ten segments nominated in eight categories for 60 Minutes, I still think that 60 Minutes remains the favorite to win. In addition to my thinking and feeling that 60 Minutes is the better show, despite the greater number of nominated segments from VICE News Tonight, the former has earned a reputation for excellence over multiple decades spanning two centuries, while VICE is a newcomer. I think that counts for something among the journalists, documentarians, and others who belong the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and will be voting on these awards. Remember, electorates matter.
I'm planning on continuing my coverage of the News & Doc Emmys with the nominees for Outstanding Live News Program tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Previous posts about the 2023 News & Documentary Emmy Awards
Liam and Olivia repeated as the most common baby names in the U.S., and Theodore joined the top 10 for the first time. But apparently, parents of newborns don’t talk about Bruno...
Liam was the top name among newborn boys for the fifth straight year, while Olivia has been No. 1 among girls for three consecutive years.
Liam has been in the top 10 annually since 2012, while Olivia has been in the top 10 every year since 2001.
The only new entry in the top 10 was Theodore, which came in at No. 10. James and William switched places, with James taking over the No. 5 position while William dropped one spot to No. 5.
For boys, Noah remained at No. 2 for the fifth consecutive year. It topped the list for four straight years before being supplanted by Liam in 2017. Before becoming the top name for girls in 2019, Olivia was No. 2 behind Emma for five consecutive years.
And Bruno? The name did improve somewhat, rising from No. 710 in 2020 to No. 664 in 2021.
I'll add that Mateo, the name of Jane's son in "Jane the Virgin," continued its rise to fifteenth in 2021 from twentieth in 2020, 26th in 2019, and 37th in 2018. Meanwhile, Jane slipped a bit, falling to 265 after peaking at 261 last year, while Xiomara, the character's grandmother's name, continued gaining in popularity, rising to 551 from 652 in 2019 and 606 in 2020. Considering the show ended its run on the CW in 2019, these names serve as testament to its continued popularity.
The most obvious example of entertainment influencing rising names is Raya, the title character of "Raya and the Last Dragon." "Encanto" won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film, but Raya won the hearts and minds of parents last year.
When debris from the 2011 tsunami in Japan started washing up in North America, scientists knew they had a mystery—and a potential environmental disaster—on their hands.
In this episode of Weathered, we explore a “mass rafting event” that carried colonies of invasive species across the Pacific, revealing ominous new changes in how our oceans function.
On of my students gave a presentation on this subject years ago and showed photos of the fishing dock, motorcycle, and other debris to the class. I thought this story served as a good example of "Everything is connected to everything else," one of Commoner's Laws, as well as an unexpected consequence of the triple disaster. Radiation isn't the only threat traveling across the Pacific because of what happened 11 years ago.
Today is Apophis Day, when I report on the perils of space. In particular, I concentrate on potential threats from asteroids, as the asteroid Apophis will fly by Earth twice on this date, first in 2029 and again in 2036, hence my name for the day. Since I like some hope along with my DOOM, I also write about possible solutions. On that note, watch How NASA Plans to Save Earth from Asteroids | The Space Show by Vice News.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test is NASA's first test of a "kinetic impactor" that could one day be used to save Earth from an incoming asteroid. Andy Rivkin, an asteroid expert with The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, explains how to smash into giant space rocks and possibly save human civilization.
The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission looks promising. Preparations should be well under way by AsteroidDay, so I expect that I will be writing about the mission again at the end of June.
One of the main reasons asteroids rank so highly among doomsday scenarios is the discovery that an asteroid impact caused the extinction of the non-avian dinosaurs. Dinosaurs and disaster — that's a combination that attracts attention! Harvard University reported a new finding about the Origin of the Armageddon causing comet.
A new theory from Avi Loeb and Amir Siraj explains the origin of the comet that killed the dinosaurs
So a big comet nucleus made of carbonaceous chondrite, not a stony asteroid, hit the Earth 66 million years ago. That shows both the blurriness of the boundary between comets and asteroids and that comets are as big a threat as asteroids. I'll keep that in mind for future posts about asteroids.
Follow over the jump for two more videos reporting the latest news about asteroids.
Right when we thought 2020 couldn’t get worse, ‘Murder Hornets’ made their big U.S. debut. But are murder hornets as ‘murderous’ as their nickname suggests?
Asian Giant Hornets are responsible for up to 50 deaths a year in Asia, especially in Japan, which has been dealing with the problem for thousands of years. But it takes multiple stings to kill a person. But the real victim and biggest concern is the already declining honeybee population. Murder hornets were first spotted in Washington State in December, and beekeepers there are terrified.
The Asian Giant Hornet is the biggest known hornet in the world. The hornet can grow up to 2 inches long with a curved stinger long enough to puncture a bee suit.
They can grow as large as 2½ inches and can slaughter a colony of thousands of honeybees in a matter of hours. And their sting? It's one of the most painful known to humankind. Vespa mandarinia, dubbed by The New York Times as "murder hornets," are the nation's latest invasive species, and correspondent Luke Burbank talks with entomologists and a beekeeper about the threats these insects pose and what's being done to keep them from establishing themselves in the U.S.
For the sake of the bees, I hope Chris Looney and the people who work with him at the Washington state Department of Agriculture succeed in preventing "murder hornets" from becoming established. Bees have enough problems.
As the Environmental Media Association Awards page states, "The EMA Awards honor film and television productions and individuals that increase public awareness of environmental issues and inspire personal action on these issues." Here are the nominees along with my comments on them.
Feature Film
Aquaman (Warner Bros.)
Isle of Dogs (Twentieth Century Fox)
This reminds me of the 2017 field of "Moana" and "Okja." The first just showed the beauty of nature, while the second actually explored an environmental issue. "Okja," the more serious nominee, won. I think the same will happen here with "Isle of Dogs" beating "Aquaman." Just the same, "Aquaman" is getting surprising recognition for its themes, as it was also one of the Coffee Party Entertainment Awards movie nominees for 2018 for examining politics in film.
As I predicted, "Isle of Dogs" beat "Aquaman." Congratulations!
Documentary Film
Above and Beyond: NASA's Journey to Tomorrow (Discovery Channel)
Eating Animals (IFC Films)
Living in the Future's Past (Vision Films)
Unlike the past two years, when “An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power” and "Jane" were clear leaders, I don't see a prohibitive favorite in this field. I'd root for "Above and Beyond: NASA's Journey to Tomorrow" but I suspect "Eating Animals" has the edge.
I called that one, as "Eating Animals" narrated by Natalie Portman won. Congratulations!
Television Episodic Drama
The Blacklist "General Shiro" (Sony Pictures Television)
"The Blacklist" was nominated two years ago and won last year, so I'm not surprised that it repeated. I am surprised that it was the only television drama nominated, so of course it has already won. Maybe I should start watching "The Blacklist."
Yeah, no surprise there. Maybe next year, "The Blacklist" will be nominated against "Chernobyl" and have a shot at losing instead of winning unopposed. Just the same, congratulations!
Television Episodic Comedy
Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)
The Good Place "Don't Let the Good Life Pass You By" (NBCUniversal)
Saturday Night Live "Season 44, Episode 3" (NBCUniversal)
Of all these, only my favorite fantasy television series "The Good Place" is really an episodic comedy. The others are variety shows, talk in the case of "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee" and sketch in the case of "SNL." I think the variety shows have an edge, as "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver" won two years ago for Coal, which got him sued, and "Adam Ruins Everything" won last year, but that won't stop me from rooting for "The Good Place."
I half called it, as "Full Frontal With Samantha Bee," a variety series, won. I don't know which episode earned the show's nomination, but I guess Bee's segment about the Green New Deal would be a good candidate. Congratulations!
Reality Television
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown "Bhutan" (CNN)
Jimmy Kimmel Live! "Kids Explain Climate Change" (ABC Studios)
One Strange Rock (Nutopia Ltd for National Geographic)
I missed that one entirely, as the "VICE" episode "Engineering Earth" won. Just the same, congratulations!
Children's Television
Cousins for Life "Hot Dog Day Afternoon" (Nickelodeon)
Mission Force One "Sea Change" (Disney Junior)
Peg + Cat "The Compost Problem" (PBS Kids)
No Sesame Street? I'm surprised. Other than that, I don't have a dog (or a hot dog) in this fight, but my gut says to root for "The Compost Problem."
That was a complete guess based entirely on the title and it being on PBS, but it ended up being right. "The Compost Problem" episode of "Peg + Cat" won. Sometimes, it's better to be lucky than to be good. Just the same, congratulations!
Overall, I called 4.5 out of 6 or 75% of the winners. That's pretty good. But enough of me.
I wish one final congratulations and good job to the creators of "Isle of Dogs," "Eating Animals," "The Blacklist," "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee," "VICE," and "Peg + Cat." You all deserved your awards. May your shows inspire people to take action about the environment.
That's it for this week's Sunday entertainment feature. See you all tomorrow!
Doomsday prep is bigger than ever, and it's all thanks to the one percent. Thomas Morton reports.
I'm not that sure that the couple from Georgia being interviewed are from the richest one percent, but they have enough spare cash to afford one of these bunkers.
This isn't the first time the news media have looked at the doomsday bunkers of the well-to-do. Last year, CNN showed its audience This doomsday bunker costs $3 million.
For $3 million you could have a fully loaded bunker converted from a nuclear missile silo in Kansas. Developer Larry Hall explains why the units are sold out.
When Vox wrote about the rise and fall of the American fallout shelter, which I embedded in Vox on nukes for another fake doomsday, it may have been premature. These are fallout shelters with style!
*I know I promised "something about the GoldenGlobes," but I when I saw an opportunity to get back to this blog's roots, I took it. I'm still in a somewhat serious mood. Don't worry; I'll get to it.
Raddatz herself noted that that Vice had swept its nominated categories. She would know, as she also presented the trophy for Outstanding Video Journalism News.
Zack Caldwell foreshadowed Reeve's sentiments, again stating that exposing the alt-right was the best way to stop them and their ideas.
Dick Cavett presented the statuette for Best Story in a Newscast with more than a touch of drama and humor. Honestly, I was amazed to see that he's still around, let alone that he's still as sharp as ever.
As for Reeve, I'm glad she maintained her composure in the face of Cavett's slightly silly introduction and praised the other women on her production team, especially the one who made her interviewee cry.
Reeve noted that the report aired only 18 hours after the last interview wrapped, so it was only fitting that Tom Clancy thanked Reeve and the rest of his crew. Based on the speed and quality, he and the rest of the editing team deserved this award.
The team from Vice News Tonight: Charlottesville -- Race and Terror, winner of the Emmy Award for Outstanding Breaking News Story in a Newscast, presented at the 39th Annual News & Documentary Emmy Awards.
Four members of a militant white supremacist group from California have been arrested on charges they traveled to Virginia last year to incite a riot and attack counterprotesters.
Since there will be no second Paul Manafort trial, it looks like I'll be following this one instead.
In the meantime, stay tuned for more coverage of the News and Documentary Emmy Award winners. I expect the next installment will be about "Life, Animated," which beat both "Chasing Coral" and "Putin's Revenge" for Best Documentary.
I mentioned that I would write about last August's Weimar moment in Charlottesville in Putin and Trump-Russia at the Emmy Awards last month. I then forgot about it until I reposted the entry at Booman Tribune and noticed that I had written "'The Wounds of War' and 'Cries from Syria' are probably the toughest competition, as both have four nominations each, tied for the most nominations for any single entry with 'Charlottesville: Race and Terror' by Vice News Tonight" and "I'll be looking more at this category when I examine the nominees about Syria and Charlottesville." It's time to follow through with an examination of "Charlottesville: Race and Terror" by Vice News Tonight, which is nominated for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast, Best Story in a Newscast, Outstanding Video Journalism: News, and Outstanding Editing: News.
Competing against "Charlottesville: Race and Terror" for Outstanding Coverage of a Breaking News Story in a Newscast are "BBC World News: Fierce Fight for Mosul," "CBS News: Las Vegas Massacre," "Live Coverage of Hurricane Harvey" by The Weather Channel, and "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt: Las Vegas Massacre." Mass shootings, hurricanes, and Syria dominated the news last year, so it's no surprise they dominate the nominations and I plan on writing about all the nominees about them. However, this is the only category in which any of the four competing entries earned a nomination, so I think Vice News Tonight did a better job of producing "Charlottesville: Race and Terror."
On the other hand, the nominees for Best Story in a Newscast all have nominations in another category. "Anderson Cooper 360°: Kids for Sale," "CBS This Morning: U.S. Air Force Academy Sexual Assault," and "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer: Libya Slave Auction" are nominated for Outstanding Investigative Report in a Newscast, while "World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline: The Unwanted" has a nomination for Outstanding Hard News Feature Story in a Newscast. Still, none of them also have nominations outside of these two categories other than "Charlottesville: Race and Terror," so I suspect it has the inside track.
"Charlottesville: Race and Terror" finally runs into one of the other entries with four nominations in the field for Outstanding Video Journalism: News, where it is competing against "60 Minutes: The Wounds of War," which is about the Syrian Civil War. That makes for an intriguing match-up. The other nominees in this category include "BBC World News America: Fight For Raqqa – Darren Conway," CNN's "Global Warning: Arctic Melt," and "Vox Borders," none of which have other nominations. Yeah, I think this contest is between Charlottesville and Syria.
The competition for Outstanding Editing: News appears just as stiff, as Al Jazeera International USA's "Fault Lines: Heroin's Children" has two other nominations for Outstanding Science, Medical and Environmental Report and Best Story in a Newsmagazine. The other nominees, "50 Years of 60 Minutes" and fellow "VICE News Tonight" reports "Battle for Marawi: On the Hunt for ISIS Militants" and "Libya: Intercepting Migrants," only have nominations in this category. My take is that the contest for this award is between Charlottesville and opiates/opioids.
On Saturday hundreds of white nationalists, alt-righters, and neo-Nazis traveled to Charlottesville, Virginia to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally. By Saturday evening three people were dead – one protester, and two police officers – and many more injured.
“VICE News Tonight” correspondent Elle Reeve went behind the scenes with white nationalist leaders, including Christopher Cantwell, Robert Ray, David Duke, and Matthew Heimbach — as well as counter-protesters. VICE News Tonight also spoke with residents of Charlottesville, members of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Charlottesville Police.
From the neo-Nazi protests at Emancipation Park to Cantwell’s hideaway outside of Virginia, “VICE News Tonight” provides viewers with exclusive, up close and personal access inside the unrest.
That's a scary look at what a Weimar moment looks like in 21st Century America.
CNN also has a nominee examining Charlottesville. "The Morning After Charlottesville" from "State of the Union with Jake Tapper" on CNN is contending for Outstanding News Discussion & Analysis. Competing against it are "Special Counsel Appointed to Oversee Trump-Russia Investigation" from "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC, "All In America: Chicago" from "All In with Chris Hayes" on MSNBC, "NFL Town Hall: Patriotism, The Players and The President" from "Anderson Cooper 360o" on CNN, and "High Alert: North Korea" from "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on ABC. Here is one of the segments from the show CNN has uploaded to YouTube: Charlottesville mayor's full CNN interview.
Charlottesville, Virginia, Mayor Mike Signer discusses with CNN's Jake Tapper his city's reaction to the violent clashes between white nationalists and counterprotesters.
Good for you, Mayor Signer.
I'll return tomorrow with more about the nominees for the News and Documentary Emmy Awards. Stay tuned.
Feature Film Ferdinand (20th Century Fox) Downsizing (Paramount Pictures) Flint (Sony Pictures Television for Lifetime) -WINNER Geostorm (Warner Bros. Pictures, Skydance, and Electric Entertainment)
I'm encouraged that the EMA found four feature films to nominate; last year, they nominated only two, "Moana" and "Okja." I am also encouraged that I mentioned all of them already while covering other awards shows. I listed "Ferdinand" among the top animated films on National Science Fiction Day and noted its nominations at the Golden Globe Awards, PGA Awards and Oscars, so it was a quality nominee. "Downsizing" turned out to be a box office disappointment, which I thought was a shame, as the movie had a serious environmental message. I'm glad the EMA nominated it. I think the EMA was scraping the bottom of the barrel to nominate "Geostorm." I thought it should have been nominated for a Razzie or two. Still, I suppose it had a serious environmental message buried under all the bad science.
As for the winner, I listed "Flint" among the nominees at the 2018 Critics' Choice Television Awards but did not comment on it. When I reported the WGA Award winners, I realized what I was missing, writing "'American Horror Story: Cult' was the sole speculative fiction in Long Form Original, but lost to 'Flint.' Hey, that's a show I should blog about!" Yes, I still should. Instead, I'll congratulate the TV movie on its EMA Award and NAACP Image Award for Queen Latifah and note that it's nominated for an Emmy Award as Outstanding Made for Television Movie. I'll give it the blog entry it deserves when I write about that category.
Documentary Film Third Industrial Revolution (Viceland) Jane (National Geographic)-WINNER Ghost of The Mountains (Disneynature) Happening: A Clean Energy Revolution (HBO Documentary Films and The Redford Center)
I wrote an entire entry about "Jane" being the best documentary not nominated at the 2018 Oscars, so of course I'm thrilled that it won this honor. It deserved it, especially against the relatively obscure competition it had. Just the same, I now have more movies I can recommend to my students as extra credit films they can watch. As for "Jane," I predicted that "both 'Jane' and 'Abacus' will be eligible for News and Documentary Emmy Awards this fall, where they will be favored in their categories." Both are nominated for those awards, so I will write more about them in the near future. In the meantime, congratulations!
Follow over the jump for the television winners and a video of the awards ceremony.
Former House Speaker John Boehner speaks about why he now supports the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana and Kevin Murphy, Acreage Holdings CEO, explains how the investment company is working to further the legal cannabis industry.
The Minority Leader of the Senate is making it official the day before 4/20: He’s down with legal weed. In an exclusive interview with VICE News, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) confirmed he is putting his name on legislation that he said is aimed at “decriminalizing” marijuana at the federal level. For Schumer, this is a shift. While he has backed medical marijuana and the rights of states to experiment with legal sales of pot, what he is proposing is a seismic shift in federal drug policy. “Ultimately, it’s the right thing to do. Freedom. If smoking marijuana doesn’t hurt anybody else, why shouldn’t we allow people to do it and not make it criminal?” Schumer said.
