Call for Supreme Court Assassinations, Netflix Dying from "Mediocre" Show Problem?, Attempted Murder Not a Felony in Los Angeles? Arcade Fire Rages Against Tech Addiction, (The Five for 05/06/22)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
It’s Friday, so let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
After the Supreme Court leak earlier this week, a former journalist has called for Supreme Court assassinations:
Normally, I’d write this off as a one-off wacko, except:
A. This is a verified, “blue check” account.
B. An overwhelming number of people agreed with him.
and
C. Protestors are now gathering outside the homes of Supreme Court Justices, rather than just protesting at the court…which White House Spokesperson Jen Psaki refused to condemn on behalf of the Administration in an exchange with journalist Peter Doocey, according to the Washington Examiner:
He claimed that activists had published a map of the Washington metropolitan area "with the home addresses of the Supreme Court Justices" and asked if that is "the kind of thing this president wants to help your side make their point."
"I think the president's view is that there's a lot of passion, a lot of fear, a lot of sadness from many, many people across this country about what they saw in that leaked document," Psaki responded. "We obviously want people's privacy to be respected. We want people to protest peacefully if they want to protest. That is certainly what the president's view would be."
I don’t have any data to back this up, but if you were going to attempt to assasinate a Justice, it seems like that would be easier to accomplish at their home than in the halls of the Supreme Court building.
The call for a peaceful “national divorce” with red and blue states splitting into separate countries is growing ever louder, which I don’t believe is a workable solution (Nor a desirable one).
But the idea of encouraging a crazy person to murder a high ranking government official is terrifying…if for no other reason than a crazy guy killing a high ranking government official is how WWI started, and 20 million souls were snuffed out.
I can’t believe I have to say this part out loud…but we should all be able to agree it’s not acceptable to murder someone to change laws in a democracy…that’s what we have voting and running for public office for.
The national rage thermometer may have reached a fever pitch…but that doesn’t mean you and I have to.
It’s moments like this that I first started writing The Five to address…either we learn to live together again, or there will be blood in our own streets one day, sooner or later.
If that sounds romantic rather than horrific to you, it’s because you’re a moron. If you want to fight in a war, fly to Ukraine…they’re taking anyone who shows up and volunteers for the foreign legion.
Let’s keep armed combat off of our own soil…and it starts with dialing the rhetoric down.
[two]
If rock & roll is all about rebellion…apparently the new thing to rebel against is…staring at our phones rather than having human relationships.
At least that’s a big focus of the new Arcade Fire album, out today.
From The New York Times:
The antidote for the age of anxiety that this record proposes is relatively straightforward: to opt out of the flat and depersonalizing world of the digital rabbit hole and reinvest in IRL personal connection. “I wanna get wild, I wanna get free,” Butler sings on the subdued final track, accompanied by a pastoral-sounding 12-string guitar. “Would you wanna get off this ride with me?” The stakes feel a bit low, though, because I’m not entirely convinced he was ever on the ride to begin with.
Most of the most potent recent art about the agony and ever-diminishing ecstasy of being too online — Patricia Lockwood’s brilliant novel “No One Is Talking About This,” the last few albums by the British pop group the 1975 — has spoken the language of the internet vividly, with a specificity that suggests its authors are not entirely apart from the culture they’re critiquing, and that is precisely what makes their eventual protestations palatable. Arcade Fire’s depictions of our techno-dystopia, instead, feel more distant and diffuse.
Of course, it’s easier to make a piece of art about an ideal than to live it.
If you want to go beyond pop/rock about living in the real world and paying attention, I just started the book Stolen Focus: Why We Can’t Pay Attention, and How to Think Deeply Again. You can also start with the Honestly Podcast interview with the author. The podcast episode is titled “Your Attention Didn’t Collapse. It was Stolen.”
Take a listen to We by Arcade Fire:
[three]
Much digital ink and angst has been spilled over the recent demise of Netflix viewership (and stock price), but one take I hadn’t heard before is not that the streaming market is too crowded, but that Netflix has become too diluted with mediocre shows and forgettable made-for-TV-style-movies.
From NPR:
Here's another thing Landgraf said that day: "Brands [meaning networks and streamers] will become increasingly important as mediating filters for the overwhelmed viewing public." His thesis was that a brand a viewer trusts (like, say, FX or HBO) acts as a kind of Good Housekeeping seal that tells them that this show is worth their time. It's perhaps ironic how complicated streaming has been for the FX brand itself (just try to figure out what is on FX on cable versus FX on Hulu versus both versus FXX versus having FX beamed to the fillings in your molars).
If you really want to ponder the meaning of brands, think about Netflix, and in particular the reporting that Kim Masters did recently for The Hollywood Reporter. For a while, when it was launching Orange is the New Black and Stranger Things and Bojack Horseman, Netflix seemed like it had a brand promise for viewers just like the one Landgraf was talking about — not about the specific type of show, but about quality control.
But as Masters writes, once Netflix started blowing up the quantity of stuff they were making, that's when the people in her story suggest the streamer began to struggle in ways that would eventually hurt the business. Netflix is still a powerful brand, obviously, and it still makes terrific work. But that terrific work sits alongside a lot of undifferentiated stuff, and that makes the promise to viewers about original programming quite different.
Apparently NPR wasn’t the only outlet to note the mediocrity of Netflix originals this week, as Variety referred to (some movie I’ve never heard of) as “the latest example of blank-check bloat.”
Personally, I buy into this theory, as I have lower trust in the quality of shows on Netflix than HBO Max or Paramount+, both of which produce far less original content…but also far less mediocre content.
[four]
The man who attempted to murder comedian Dave Chappelle in Los Angeles this week will not face felony charges.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office filed four misdemeanor charges on Thursday against suspect Isaiah Lee after the onstage attack of comedian Dave Chappelle during his set at the Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday. This follows the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office announcing earlier in the day that it declined to pursue felony charges.
City Attorney Mike Feuer said his office has filed charges of battery, possession of a weapon with intent to assault, unauthorized access to the stage area during a performance and commission of an act that delays an event or interferes with a performer.
“This alleged attack has got to have consequences,” Feuer said, in part, in video footage posted to his office’s official Twitter account after the charges were filed.
This instance continues the trend of DA’s in major, coastal cities dramatically under-charging criminals.
If attempted murder isn’t a felony…what is? Successful murder, and that’s it?
The attacker used a knife, but even if he’s found guilty, will still be legally eligible to buy a gun, and try again.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop-culture roundup.
I wasn’t sure if Game of Thrones viewers would return for the HBO Max prequel House of the Dragon after the disappointing GOT final season…but holy cow, that’s this is how you drop a teaser that gets fans talking.
Catch it starting in August.
If you like Star-Wars-y things even a little, you’re gonna wanna watch the Obi-Wan Kenobi trailer, and catch it on Disney+ starting May 18th.
Related: since May 4th is a holiday-ish thing for Star Wars…you can read about the time NPR had a Star Wars radio drama, if you like.
OK, this is cool. I’ve been pretty apathetic towards the latest Marvel streamer, Moon Knight, but my interest has been piqued (at least a little) after learning there are QR codes placed in the background of the show…that you can scan with your phone (pause, point your phone at the TV), to reveal secret messages.
There are a bunch of Star Trek shows out right now (all on Paramount+). The latest, a prequel to the original 1960s show, is getting really good reviews.
Quantum Leap, a show about alternate dimensions or something, is getting a reboot. The original was on in the late 80’s or early 90’s or something (I could Wikipedia real quick, but nah), apparently I was old enough to watch it but too young to remember the plot.
On NBC this fall.
Penn Badgely, aka Dan Humphrey on the mega-hit show Gossip Girl, is most famous for playing an angsty, introverted teenager trying to survive high school.
He’s gonna do that again…but in podcast form. With other people’s true stories.
From the AP:
In each episode, Badgley narrates a listener-submitted story in the first person, about that often turbulent time. Some are funny, some cringe-worthy, others are sad. He’s then joined by co-hosts — and co-creators — Nava Kavelin and Sophie Ansari to chat with a guest about their own experience. Guests so far include Badgley’s former co-stars Leighton Meester from “Gossip Girl” and Victoria Pedretti from “You.″ Drew Barrymore and Rainn Wilson also visit. The podcast includes a score and animation that the hosts will share online.
MUSIC NEWS: Rapper Kendrick Lamar, who won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, hasn’t released a new album since 2017. Lamar announced a new album to release next Friday, 05/13…but there could be more to the story.
Based on a photo Lamar shared on social media, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers may be a double album…and a book of some sort?
NEW MUSIC: In addition to the aforementioned Arcade Fire record, there are a couple of other notable releases week.
The first comes from Jack Harlow, the Louisville, KY rapper quickly ascending to true superstar status:
Apple Music | YouTube Music
And Lady Gaga dropped the first single from the Top Gun: Maverick sequel, which feels like it could have been on the original 1980’s soundtrack…and it feels like the first big hit single of summer.
Apple Music | YouTube Music
Until the next one,
-sth