If you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on Sunday, the Main Story was about UFOs. Yes, really. As you might imagine, this lent itself to a great deal of humor. That said, the focus was serious, dealing with the question of whether investigations into the issue have been substantive enough. While I agree with that point, I also think there have been some investigations that have more substantive that the show suggests. Regardless, it's a very entertaining piece. This is also where I again get to point out that when Oliver mentions (much too off-handedly, I believe, as just a name on a list...) the Army's Project Blue Book, I had an astronomy class at Northwestern taught by J. Allen Hynek -- who had been the civilian head of the project. The class was not about that, though he did devote two days to the subject. (Hynek was also the technical adviser on Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Spielberg even gives him a cameo close-up on the movie. It's in the final sequence when all the scientists are gathered in a semi-circle, and previously-abducted humans leave the ship. One of the scientists -- who looks exactly like an astronomer with with a gray goatee -- weaves his way through the crowd, steps forward, takes out his pipe, and gets a closer look. That's Dr. Hynek.) Three things I remember from the two days of UFO classes: One is that when he got a sense that the project was going to be closed down, Hynek made copies of material to take home so that he could later continue research on his own. A second thing is that he said that Project Blue Book was not allowed to be shut down until all cases were classified -- the problem for the government was that there were many still-open cases. So, what they did was classify those cases as "unidentified" and therefore could close down the project. And the third thing is that Hynek said he never came across a case that convinced him the UFO sightings were aliens -- but -- he said it is ludicrous to think that we are the only living beings in the universe. He said a whole lot more on the subject, as well as on astronomy in general, but after all this time, that's all I've got... And as a bonus -- I actually tracked down Dr. Hynek's scene, in Close Encounters of the Third Kind!! I'm sure there have been many people who've watched the movie of the years who have wondered, "Gee, that's a weird shot of just one guy pushing his way through, what is the point of that??!" Well -- now you know the point.
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This is a very interesting interview (and often funny) that Larry David did with Joe Scarborough for Morning Joe. It not only covers Larry's career, starting with floundering as a stand-up comic and briefly a writer for Saturday Night Live, but also has a lot of background footage about how his show Curb Your Enthusiasm is made. Most fun -- and surprising -- is hearing Larry talk about things in his life and career, and then seeing clips of Seinfeld for how they much later turned into episodes. Okay, a day late this week (under HBO's new "Thursday drop" schedule), if you missed Last Week Tonight with John Oliver this week, the Main Story was about healthcare, but specifically Medicaid. The report is terrific. Extremely interesting, largely about changes that have been made to the program, largely by specific states who administer it, all of which are creating hurdles for the people the Medicaid is meant to assist. And in some cases, essentially eliminating access. The piece is very detailed, information, galling, fascinating and often extremely funny. We interrupt this website for a Jimmy Kimmel Special. Our regularly schedule Main Story from Last Week Tonight will return tomorrow. This is because on Wednesday, in the midst of his criminal trial in Manhattan as he runs for president, Trump found the time to write a meltdown social media rant against Jimmy Kimmel for reasons known only to him. It dealt with the Oscars, which were five weeks earlier and from which most of the world had moved on. Before we go any further though, here's what Trump wrote -- Kimmel had a great response on Twitter. Replying to this post he wrote, “In fairness to our former President, many stable geniuses confuse me with Al Pacino.....” I’m sure he’ll say something about it on his show tonight. By the way, I responded with something all other respondents missed. I noted that starting all the way back in 1989, the Motional Picture Academy has not said "the famous and mandatory" (sic) line "And the winner is..." -- but instead have long been required to say, "And the Oscar goes to..." Apparently, it seems that the "very stable genius" hasn't noticed this change for the past 35 years! You read this and it's hard not to think, "This is the Republican nominee for president??" Putting aside the attempt to overthrow the government, the rape, the business fraud, the four other indictments, and the whole, y'know, fascism -- even on just this bizarre tweet alone and it's bewildering that there are people who not only don't think he's a malignant narcissist, has borderline dementia, and nuts, but actually think he's smart, a leader, hand-picked by Jesus and should be in charge of the safety and security of the United States and have responsibility for the nuclear bomb. I read a comment that Trump’s rant might have been prompted by a very funny piece Kimmel had done the night before where he used a chalk board to break down Trump’s infantile Gettysburg Wow! analysis. But the thing is, if you’re Trump and so upset that a guy had such a funny, scathing monologue breaking down your words in careful detail, why would you think that if you send a long rant, the guy won’t do the same thing again???! As it happens, I had recorded Kimmel's show that night because they had a guest on who I wanted to see -- but I also wondered if Kimmel would address Trump's tweet. Okay, actually I didn't wonder, I was absolutely sure he would. And not only, of course, did he, but Kimmel dove into Trump immediately. For almost 10 minutes (!), and it was hilarious and scathing. Watching it, I was reminded of the famous admonition about going after newspapers – never attack someone who buys ink by the barrel. Trump trying to go after Kimmel, who clearly relishes such things and is generally magnificent in how he responds, is the electronic equivalent of that. I was going to describe the monologue, but far-better is just watching the full clip. No need to scroll through to the find the part on Trump, he gets into it right off. It’s magnificent and touches every note, include some you don't expect. He even references (although subtly) the point I made about the Oscars long-since past "...and the winner is..." line. This is a maestro at work, who just loves what he's doing. If you didn't see Jon Stewart's day hosting The Daily Show, here's the opening segment. He covers Iran, Israel and Trump's election interference trial -- along with a debate of which of Trump's claims that he's more like Nelson Mandela or Jesus is the most accurate. It's thoughtful, pointed and very funny. This may be among their least-known, most improbable, and yet still funny material. Probably in the late-1950s, as their comedy career was booming, Mike Nichols and Elaine May took on a major challenge – make funny Public Service Announcements on behalf of national CPA Associations to remind people to file their taxes on time. In honor of Tax Day today, here are three of them. Hey, they took on death, in their classic and hilarious $65 funeral sketch here, so why not taxes?! (NOTE: Despite how the screen shot looks below, if you click on it, the video should run properly.) |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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