Louie and Elmo explain why you should get vaccinated.
More:
“Sesame Workshop, the Ad Council, COVID Collaborative and CDC Launch New PSAs About COVID-19 Vaccines,” press release
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Seasame Street feels hopeful about vaccinations.
More:
“Sesame Workshop, the Ad Council, COVID Collaborative and CDC Launch New PSAs About COVID-19 Vaccines,” press release
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When they filmed or taped TV situation comedies, producers found that studio audiences often didn’t laugh in the right places. Sound engineer Charley Douglass developed the Laff Box, and editors used it to “sweeten” sitcom soundtracks with “canned laughter.” Over the last 10 years, the laugh track has disappeared almost entirely. Cheddar explains why.
More:
“The invention of laughter: Charley Douglass and the laff box,” Valentina Palladino, The Verge
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On the shelves of Retail America, it began to look like Christmas the day after Halloween. The perfume and electric shaver ads began appearing a few weeks later. Try to dig yourself out of the blizzard of consumerist frenzy.
(more…)
Joe Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris may not guarantee him the presidency, but it makes Maya Rudolph a shoo-in for Saturday Night Live guest slots. A Washington Post video.
More:
“Maya Rudolph created a memorable Kamala Harris impersonation on SNL, and fans desperately want her to return,” Michael Cavna Washington Post
“Maya Rudolph: the unambiguous winner of the Kamala Harris VP pick,” Oliver Milman, The Guardian
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U.S. President and reality TV personality Donald J. Trump performed his State of the Union address on Tuesday. He called it “The Great American Comeback,” and it all seemed to come back to re-runs of 1950s television Westerns. Mr. Trump outlined midcentury America’s whitest historical myths, and his reference points were all TV shows he saw as a toddler, Wyatt Earp (ABC TV, 1955 to 1961), Davy Crockett (ABC TV, 1954 to1955), and, with a nod at inclusion, Annie Oakley (syndicated from 1954 to 1957). He glorified How the West Was Won (MGM 1962 and MGM Televison, 1976 to 1979), seemingly reducing the genocide of Native Americans to some kind of divinely-ordained case of eminent domain. A reference to the Alamo (Disney 1955) overlooked the fact that Crockett and his comrades were illegal aliens in 1836, and some of them enslaved other human beings.
When Americans say “God Save the Republic,” we’re not not talking about the Republic Pictures Western fantasy films of Tex Ritter, Gene Autry, and Roy Rogers. So Happy Trails, pardner. Only 270 days left before the presidential election. Saddle up.
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Image (“Trump on TV, with apologies to piñatero Dalton Avalos Ramirez“) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Responding to a a subpoena, former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III will testify in open hearings of the House Judiciary and House Intelligence committees on July 17th. A notorious straight-arrow, he is not expected to divulge anything about his investivation of Russian involvment in the 2016 election and White House obstruction of justice that was not in his 448-page final report. That has not stopped President Trump from trash-talking him. Perhaps it is the thought of square-jawed Robert Mueller, decorated war hero, former Assistant Attorney General and FBI Director, testifying on television, in a Brooks Brothers suit, with all America watching, that is rattling our Reality TV President.
More:
“Robert Mueller to Testify to Congress, Setting Up a Political Spectacle,” Nicholas Fandos, New York Times
“Chad Pergram: Media coverage of Mueller testimony will be ‘off the Richter scale,'” Victor Garcia, Fox News
“Why do Democrats want to talk to Mueller if they know he won’t talk much?” Amber Phillips, Washington Post
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President Trump agreed to allow Robert Mueller to testify before the House Judiciary Committee until he didn’t. What changed his mind? The thought of square-jawed Robert Mueller III, decorated war hero, former Assistant Attorney General and FBI Director, testifying on television, in a Brooks Brothers suit, with all America watching, and becoming an instant TV star. That would really rattle our Reality TV President.
More:
“Trump Doesn’t Want Mueller To Testify Because It’ll Get Media Coverage,” Nicole Lafond, TalkingPointsMemo
Related:
“House Republicans want Mueller to testify despite Trump opposition,” Kyle Cheney and John Bresnahan, Politico
“AG Bill Barr believes special counsel Robert Mueller should be allowed to testify,” Katherine Faulders and Mike Levine, ABC News
“Trump’s Opposition to Mueller Testimony Poses a Test for Barr,”Charlie Savage and Katie Benner, New York Times
“Trump ‘no conceivable basis to stop Mueller from testifying,’ according to legal experts,”Alex Henderson, Salon
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Image (“Trump’s Worst Nightmare”) by Mike Licht. Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.
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President-for-now Donald Trump put in a prime-time Oval Office appearance on Tuesday in a futile effort to explain away his federal government shutdown, which locked-out 800,000 federal employees and denied services to millions of U.S. taxpayers. Stephen Miller’s sulfurous script was dark with fear-mongering, untruths, and racism, but the delivery by Mr. Trump, a former Reality TV personality, was unconvincing, even though the tale followed many of his long-time personal falsehoods. In a jaw-dropping display of audacity, Mr. Trump claimed he wanted to stop a humanitarian crisis on the Mexican border, a crisis he exacerbated by refusing entrance to asylum seekers and separating children from their families.
Fact-checkers and bookmakers are still busy counting up the president’s counterfactual assertions.
More:
“Trump tried to play a normal president on television. The result was very strange.” Alyssa Rosenberg, Washington Post
“Trump Gets Instant Fact-Check From Fox News’ Shepard Smith After Oval Office Speech,” Matt Wilstein, Daily Beast
“The cascade of false claims as Trump makes his case for a crisis on the US-Mexico border,” Marshall Cohen, Priscilla Alvarez, Geneva Sands, David Shortell and Jeremy Diamond, CNN
“Trump Appeals for Wall, Citing Misleading Statistics of Crisis and Crime Along Border,” Peter Baker, New York Times
“The U.S. Doesn’t Have a Border Crisis. Trump’s Campaign Does.” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine
“The real crisis is that Trump has no idea what he’s doing,” Matthew Yglesias, Vox
“Gamblers Made $270,000 Betting That Trump Would Lie a Bunch in His Address,” River Donaghey, Vice
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Crusader Rabbit, Series 1, Episode 15, “Crusader vs the State of Texas,” 1950. Directed by Alexander Anderson, co-written by Mr. Anderson, Hal Goodman, Arthur North, Lloyd Turner, and Jay Ward. Voice actors: Lucille Bliss (Crusader Rabbit), Vern Louden (Rags the Tiger), Roy Whaley (narrator). The cartoon series was the first produced for the small black-and-white television screen rather than movie theaters.
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