News Satire Roundup: April 22nd-April 26th

Sunday, April 22 – I liked John’s point on the ongoing Michael Cohen story – the question everyone’s asking is, “Will Cohen flip?”, not, “Does Trump have anything to hide?”  Next, we talked Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, who’s repeatedly claimed to be a geologist but isn’t (also featured:  Trump’s failure to convince us he knows what the interior is.)  The main story looked at the Iran deal, which is in danger of breaking down if Trump doesn’t renew it next month.  As usual, John pointed out details of the deal that Trump appears to be twisting for the sake of his own narrative, as well as the details he’s outright lying about.  John also noted the potential fallout of dissolving the deal, the worrisome hawks that Trump has advising him on this issue, and the dwindling likelihood of accomplishing anything in talks with North Korea if the U.S. backs out of a deal it made with another country just three years ago.

Monday, April 23 – Looking at an E.coli outbreak in romaine lettuce, Trevor admitted he hadn’t even known there were different kinds of lettuce and decided it must be a white people problem.  Strong piece on Trump lying about what Trevor called his “origin story”:  getting on the Forbes list back in the ‘80s after overestimating his worth by $95 million.  Trevor pointed out how this goes beyond just lying, that it was a concerted effort and that Trump then used it to get loans his success hadn’t warranted.  Oh, and that this origin story was a big contributor in getting him to the White House.  Roy looked at a couple stories about racists who don’t think their actions are racist, like a town mayor arguing that someone spraypainting “Kill n*****” on the house of the town’s one Black guy might not be a hate crime.  I enjoyed the guest, Tracy Morgan.  In addition to a lot of jokes, he championed kindness in the wake of mass shootings.

Tuesday, April 24 – I loved Trevor’s impression of a golf commentator describing five Black women getting kicked off a golf course for playing too slowly:  “Looks like we’ve got a race war on the fourth hole…”  There was a good story on Emmanuel Macron’s visit to the U.S., and his talent for giving Trump what he wants to hear; I especially enjoyed his “impressed” reaction to Trump showing him the phone in the Oval Office.  Michael gave a report on a workers’ clash between strippers and “startenders” whose bars block the stages and intercept the dancers’ tips; I laughed at Michael’s plan to equip the strippers with long-handled church offering baskets.  Political writer Jonah Goldberg was the guest.  He lost me when he praised civil rights as one of America’s best achievements, then, a few minutes later, warned about the danger of “identity politics” – what does he think the Civil Rights Movement was about?

Wednesday, April 25 – After a quick look at Kanye West doubling down on his Trump love, it was onto the allegations about Trump’s VA Secretary pick, Ronny Jackson.  With everything from illegally supplying people with opioids to wrecking a government vehicle while drunk on the job, it seems Jackson being entirely nonqualified for the position may be a moot point.  I loved Trevor’s response to Trump’s “no one has the exact experience of running Veterans Affairs, so there’s no point in finding someone with any experience” so-called logic.  Two guests tonight, the first of which was Christina Hendricks, talking Good Girls.  I liked what she said about not necessarily gravitating to strong characters but instead finding the strength in them.  The second guest was Ricardo Roselló, Puerto Rico’s governor.  He discussed how the U.S. has let the island down and how Puerto Ricans in the U.S. are going to rally in the midterms.

Thursday, April 26 – I laughed at Trevor wondering who Kevin Hart’s agent is, that he even “appeared” in Meek Mill’s prison release.  He also touched on Bill Cosby’s conviction (finally!) and North Korea’s “concession” to shut down a nuclear test site, not mentioning that the site was no longer usable.  Next was Trump’s bizarre, rambling call-in tirade to Fox & Friends, where he ranted so long about so many things that even the hosts were uncomfortable and had to cut him off, citing that, as the president of the United States, he must have more important things to do.  The news that Michael Cohen will be pleading the Fifth led to a series of past Trump comments on the Fifth Amendment, all discussing the “you wouldn’t use it if you weren’t guilty” angle and calling it our worst amendment.  Author James Forman Jr. was the guest, examining mass incarceration and the need for criminal justice reform from within Black communities.

Live from Lincoln Center: Sutton Foster

This is the first of four hour-long concerts on PBS from big-name Broadway stars.  I first heard about them last fall, they were recorded back in December, and now, they’re finally airing.  I’ve been waiting quite a while for these, and I’m very happy they’re starting up at last.

Filmed in Lincoln Center’s Appel Room (a very lovely, rather intimate space,) this series is promoted as four concerts centered around each performer and their musical history, something like the music that makes them up.  That was definitely evident in this first concert; while some songs were performed simply for fun and without preamble, others were obviously significant to Sutton Foster herself, both professionally and professionally.

She paid clear tribute to her career, although a bit less than I necessarily would’ve expected.  Early on, she did a nice medley of several numbers from her Broadway stage credits:  “Not for the Life of Me” (from Thoroughly Modern Millie, of course,) “NYC” from Annie (one of her earliest Broadway shows, where she appeared briefly as the young would-be actress just arrived in the city,) and Little Women’s “Astonishing.”  The concert also featured the wonderful “Gimme, Gimme” from Thoroughly Modern Millie, but to my surprise, Foster didn’t actually sing it.  Instead, she brought out another former Millie and gave her the big number while Foster provided a counterpoint with “I Got Love” from Purlie.  If there’s one thing I learned about Sutton Foster from this concert, it’s that she’s an incredibly generous performer.

In fact, she had several guests onstage over the course of the hour.  She also brought out Megan McGinnis, who played Beth in Little Women and who Foster called one of her dearest friends, and the two of them shared a beautiful duet – not “Some Things Are Meant to Be,” as I was hoping, but still incredibly lovely.  The evening’s final guest was Jonathan Groff, and having seen his Broadway Miscast performance of “Anything Goes,” I was prepared for how over-the-moon he’d be to be sharing the stage with Foster.  They performed a pair of really cute numbers together, and he even cajoled her into dancing a little.

Other numbers had a different sort of personal connection for Foster.  To commemorate her youthful dreams of singing at Lincoln Center, she performed a song she earmarked for herself back then, Jason Robert Brown’s “Stars and the Moon.”  She dedicated a breathtaking rendition of John Denver’s “Sunshine on My Shoulders” to her late mother, and she closed out the show with a medley centering on the theme of optimism (led by “Cockeyed Optimist” from South Pacific,) as a point of inspiration for her newly-adopted daughter.  In between, she mixed in a handful of other numbers, mostly old standards:  Kander & Ebb, Cole Porter, old-school Sondheim (she did “Everybody Says Don’t,” which I adore,) and the like.

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I was a little surprised at how restrained Foster was, in both voice and manner.  I’m used to her Broadway roles – via cast recordings and Tony performances – where she’s played many exuberant characters and put her belting to excellent use.  Not that she can’t be subtle, of course, but when I think of Sutton Foster, I think “big voice.”  Here, though, she was very controlled, unleashing her belt at key moments but letting most songs build slowly.  Even with powerhouse numbers like “Astonishing” – and, since that one was part of a medley, she came in at the end of the song, when it’s at its zenith – she reeled them out with care, singing them in ways I’ve never heard them sung.  I don’t know if it’s the smaller venue, or not being in character, or what.  I wouldn’t call it a bad thing, although I am very fond of her belt – at any rate, it was definitely hearing her in a different light.

Favorite Characters: Erik Stevens a.k.a. Killmonger (Black Panther)

Marvel has stepped up their villain game quite a bit in the last year, after having mostly so-so baddies with a few strong exceptions (i.e., Loki, the Winter Soldier.)  The past year, though, they’ve been pretty on point (i.e., Hela, Vulture) none more so than Killmonger.  Definite Black Panther spoilers ahead.

One of the first things you notice about Killmonger is how highly capable he is.  His big plan in the movie is very multifaceted, a chain of interconnecting events with each step leading him closer to his goal.  His black ops training taught him how to strategize, with a particular emphasis on toppling governments.  As such, he knows how to find weaknesses to exploit, how to play different sides against each other, and how to come at a problem in both large and small ways, eroding it down until he gets what he wants.

Another important aspect of Killmonger is his determination.  His father was radicalized by what he saw in America, and that’s a philosophy Killmonger inherited, especially when his father was killed.  As a result of that radicalization, Killmonger became single-minded on his goal, and he spent most of his life building up to the events of the movie.  This is demonstrated most starkly in his hundreds of ritual scars, each representing a kill from his military or mercenary work, all in anticipation of challenging Wakanda’s hero for the throne.  But this determination and drive carries into every aspect of what he does.  Any other desire Killmonger has, everything else in his life, gets washed away in the wake of that obsession.  When Klaue tries to stop Killmonger by threatening the life of his girlfriend/accomplice, Killmonger shoots her himself rather than let that stop him.  Nothing gets in the way of the cause he’s given his life to.

It’s a cause that’s both deeply personal and much larger than himself.  Back when he was still just Erik, he was raised by a secret Wakandan prince working as a spy in the U.S.  Erik’s father told him stories of the beautiful, shining Wakanda while at the same time growing increasingly incensed at the oppression he witnessed around him.  When Erik’s father stole vibranium with the aim of bankrooling a Black American revolution, he was killed by Wakanda’s then-king, Erik’s uncle and T’Challa’s father, and Erik was left in America so Wakanda would never have to find out how their prince betrayed them.

So, Killmonger’s quest is personal, avenging his father’s death by seizing the throne and taking up the mantle of the Black Panther that killed him, as well as gaining power over that glorious country that turned its back on him as a child.  But there’s so much more to it.  In Killmonger’s view, Wakanda abandoned, not just him, but Black people across the diaspora.  Wakanda has so much technology and power, but in hiding itself from the world, it’s shut its eyes to the suffering in neighboring African countries, in America, and all over the globe.  When he becomes king, Killmonger plans to ship vibranium weapons across the world, enabling all Black people to overthrow their oppressors.

The important thing here is that Killmonger isn’t wrong about the problem; Wakanda is amazing, but given the ravaging effects of systemic racism around the world, it’s also awful to think of all the help Wakanda could offer but chooses not to.  By the end of the movie, T’Challa recognizes the truth of this and opens Wakanda’s technology and resources to the world.  So Killmonger’s point is spot-on – it’s his plan, to establish a new Wakandan empire that crushes all former colonizers underfoot, that’s off.  He can’t rebuild by coopting a cruel and broken system and simply changing the names of the oppressors.  That’s what T’Challa realizes and Killmonger doesn’t.  Killmonger is so fueled by his anger, by his desire to burn everything down, that he can’t see any path to healing.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1951)

Okay, good – the whole “green mist” thing was an invention for the movie.  I didn’t want to believe I’d forgotten such a big plot point!  While I get why the film wanted a unifying thread connecting the various vignettes, I don’t think the book needs it.  This is an enjoyable adventure yarn, and although it doesn’t have as well-formed a plot as many of the other books in the series, the characters serve it well and it offers up a number of memorable sequences.

Stuck in the country with their insufferable cousin Eustace, Edmund and Lucy are thrilled to find themselves transported to Narnia once more (less thrilled to do so with Eustace in tow.)  There, they meet up again with Caspian, now king of Narnia and leading a sailing expedition to seek out a number of lords who’d been forced to flee during Caspian’s uncle’s usurpation.  Along the way, they have a number of strange and fantastical adventures.

As I said, there’s no mysterious malevolence building to a climactic battle here, and there’s no driving plot beyond Caspian’s search to find the seven lost lords.  And really, that’s okay.  It’s not the type of book that needs it.  All it really needs is the characters, the Dawn Treader, and the series of adventures they encounter during their journey.  I wouldn’t call it the best book in the series, but for me, it’s one of the most memorable.  Vignettes like the Dufflepuds, the golden statue, and the dragon stuck with me years after my mom first read me the book and I first saw the old-school BBC miniseries. Even before checking out the more recent film, I still had crystal-clear remembrances of, say, Lucy reading the Magician’s book and Reepicheep in his coracle.

And Eustace being a colossal pain, because yeesh.  It’s funny – when I compare him with Edmund in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, he’s obviously not as bad.  As Edmund remembers here, he did some horrible stuff in that book, whereas Eustace’s main crimes are basically having no imagination and generally being a self-centered complainer.  However, as big as Edmund’s actions were, and as much as Lewis doesn’t pull any punches with him, it is pointed out that he’s at least partially under the thrall of the White Witch, and even apart from that, his never personality never grates as much as Eustace’s does.  That said, he comes by his character development honestly in this book, and I buy where he ends up compared to where he started.  I’m looking forward to rereading The Silver Chair to get reacquainted with this version of Eustace with Pole.

There’s nice variety in the little tales here, adventure and intrigue with moral lessons mixed in and a little humor for good measure.  I like the sense that while, yeah, there’s the whole thing with the lost lords, this is mostly about Caspian, the Pevensies/Eustace, and the crew exploring uncharted waters because they’re there.  Great spirit of exploration and the seeking of knowledge for knowledge’s sake.  (Side note:  I would’ve appreciated the mention of more Narnians in the crew.  I get that there are still a lot of Telmarines in Narnia, but Caspian is king to all and it would’ve been nice to see more of a mix, to get a glimpse at how the various peoples of Narnia are coming together more under Caspian.)

Warnings

Brief thematic elements and some scary scenes.