Sports Comedy the First Hit "Conservative" Movie?! Major Magazine Busted for AI Chicago Mayor Pins Blames"Right Wing Extremism" , Did Sitcom Laugh Tracks Just Die? (The Five for 12/01/23)
Plus, Mad Max Prequel looks epic, Mainstream Hollywood produces "Christian" movie ("The Chosen" Effect?), Pioneering Irish folk/punk musician dies.
Hey, welcome to The Five.
A LOT to get to here…so lets dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Woah. Conservative website The Daily Wire has been venturing into entertainment…for the most part, and the only project I’ve seen was quite underwhelming. Terror on the Prairie, a western starring ex-Mandalorian star Gina Carano and Cowboy Cerrone—one of my favorite UFC fighters of all time—was not well written, acted or directed. It wasn’t horrible, but in a streaming ecosystem where we’ll never get to all the good projects out there…Terror on the Prairie is one to skip. As my friend John Cole Born, a working artist and musician who knows a thing or two about creating a good product, put it “if you were going to cast two MMA fighters, you should have done a shoot-em-up action movie rather than a western.”
The Daily Wire has produced other fictional films (in addition to documentaries) and I haven’t seen any of them.
But this Lady Ballers looks like a film roughly in the vein of Dodgeball and The Ringer (a 2005 comedy about a guy that bets on the Special Olympics)….and the market hasn’t had a sports comedy like that in a few years. Plus several YouTube star cameo just in the trailer…and maybe an appearance by Elon Musk? seem to be giving this thing some buzz.
But the thing that may really sell the movie is…the pushback is happening online.
From Out Magazine:
It’s a well-known fact that Right Wingers cannot make good art and don’t have a sense of humor, and The Daily Wire is reminding us all of that with the new preview for its first feature-length “comedy” film Lady Ballers.
“In a world where women’s sports is being trans-formed. The Daily Wire calls ‘foul’ with the most triggering comedy of the year,” the trailer for Lady Ballers starts. “If you can beat them, join them.”
The premise of Lady Ballers seems to be that any out-of-shape 50-year-old white man is, by nature of being a man, a better athlete than any woman could ever hope to be. You see, women are just factually bad at sports, this movie states.
It follows a high school basketball coach who gets his old team of guys who peaked in high school together to dominate a women’s basketball league and other women’s sports.
It takes the false idea that anywhere at any time a cis man can claim he is a woman and enter any women’s sporting event. But the fun doesn’t stop there. It goes even further, saying that when cis men do that, they become unstoppable forces on the field.
Just one note of editorial here…male-to-female transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox hid her biological gender from opponent Tamika Brents…and broke Brents’ skull. So yeah, I would call that an example of a trans woman being an “unstoppable force in the field.”
Brents was unaware that she was fighting a biological man, was likely forced into retirement from the catastrophic injury. Lest anyone claim the injury was exaggerated by a made up due to anti LBGTQ+ sentiments, Brents is married to a woman.
I’m not sure how I would cover this movie if I was the editor for Out Magazine, but this is a classic example of the Streisand effect, named after Barbara Streisand—who sued a photographer for taking a picture of her house…and in turn generated news coverage in every major paper in the country…ensuring that the whole world saw the picture of her house she was trying to take out of circulation.
Although, I’m probably giving too much credit to OUT for being ideologically pure here. Considering the publication is owned by a larger media conglomerate, it’s possible (probable?) that OUT doesn’t care that much if they drive viewers to Lady Ballers…as long as their own ad revenues rise in the process.
It’s also worth noting that a movie about a biological man playing in a women’s basketball league is not a new idea, with Juwana Mann releasing in 2002 to zero controversy.
Despite the fact that The Daily Wire trends on Twitter for politics every couple of weeks…the brand isn’t known for ANY successful fictional film (not counting documentation) despite releasing a handful (maybe 5 or 6?) so far.
But outlets like OUT pushing back, paired with some negative social media attention, may actually be what makes Lady Ballers succeed…because there’s nothing that elevates an entertainment product quite like outrage. Time and time again, it’s been proven that consumers, who otherwise wouldn’t care, will pay money to see what all the fuss is about.
“I don’t care what you write, just spell my name correctly.”
-P.T. Barnum.
[two]
New Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is facing pressure around the cities increasing level of violence (15 shot this week alone, 29 shot over Thanksgiving weekend) and overwhelming number of illegal immigrants that are drawing resources away from poor and working class locals.
In October, a low income area lost their youth football team when the football field became a migrant shelter.
As space and public resources are further strained…and common spaces like sports facilities, parks…and even schools are reaching the breaking point.
So, who’s to blame for all this? Well, obviusly, in a city that hasn’t seen a Republican mayor elected since 1927…it’s “far right wing extremism” causing all the issues, according to Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Mayor Johnson also blamed the 'far right' for Chicago's ills during Tuesday's press conference.
'What we've seen is a very raggedy form of right-wing extremism,' the woke Mayor said. 'Everyone knows that the right-wing extremism in this country has targeted democratically run cities and quite frankly and they have been quite intentional about going after democratically ran cities that are led by people of color.'
The city of Chicago, my homebase for nearly 15 years (longer than I meant to be there) is a large, complex machine, and I’m not one to overly simplify multifaceted issues. However, one thing is certain…Chicago is the product of a singular political party.
That includes the many good things about Chicago. But it’s an absurd cop-out for the Mayor of a city run by a century of Democratic policies to blame “right wing extremists” in a city where Trump won just 2% of precincts in 2016. It’s not a perfect statistical analogy to say Chicago is 98% Democratic, but it’s not too far off.
Last Friday, I put Amanda and the girls on the train to Michigan, so she could spedn time with her best friend in Michigan. On the way out of Union Station, I was walking down a side street with a construction fence on one side. I passed a narrow alley where a guy was lingering with wraparound sunglasses, a face mask, beanie and his hood up. (It was cold, but not *THAT* cold).
I passed him, and realized what I had witnessed. An older gentleman, maybe 5’7” and 70 years old, was walking the other way. I made a turnabout, and stepped into they alley, nose-to-nose with a guy who was clearly a would-be mugger.
”Hey man, you OK,” I asked the mysterious alley dweller. “Yeah, I just thought I was going to throw up” he replied in an obviously altered “Batman voice.” I asked why his face mask was still up if he was going to vomit, and he quickly turned and walked down the alley to parts unknown…probably to jack the next guy for his phone, wallet and watch.
Now, at this time, I had one “weapon” to defend myself…a Rayovac flashlight stuffed in my pocket that I figured I could clock someone with, if need be. I did have two pistols locked in a safe in my Honda…but that was nearly a mile away.
Previously, I would have been legal to carry a gun in Chicago under these circumstances, but Illinois refuses to recognize any other states’ concealed carry permits.
The fact that I stand 6’6” probably saved me (and the old guy) a stick up, beating (or worse) that day. Take away the intimidating stature, and I would have been left with two options:
A). Get mugged
or
B). Be convicted of a felony
I’m going to choose
C). Just stay out of Chicago.
The city is desperately short on beat patrol officers, and will also charge regular civilians with weapons violations that the D.A.’s office won’t prosecute anyone for a gang shootout where hundreds of rounds were fired, and one gang member died.
Brandon Johnson is wrong…it wasn’t “right wing extremism” I faced last week…it was common, violent crime…from a criminal, likely as not, had probably been let off for prior offenses.
Which means people like me, who had previously spent money in Chicago, are taking our dollars elsewhere (and residents are taking their lives to other states). Which results in less revenue to cover the expenses of an increasing number of migrants stretching the local ecosystem beyond it’s breaking point.
Mayor Johnson can’t just “boogeyman” his way out of this one. Chicago as it stands, is the result of fringe left policies, not far right extremism. Policies that previous Democrat Mayors, like Rham Emmanuel and Richard Daly, rejected.
While I disagree with both aforementioned Mayors on partisan issues (gun policy, for example), there’s no doubt in hindsight, that both men ran the city as competent, visionary CEO’s.
I suppose we can’t blame Johnson alone for this. The voters of Chicago, when faced with rampant crime from previous mayor Lori Lightfoot’s policies, elected a Mayor in the same vein, highly lax on crime. The ones who voted against it mainly voted with their feet, fleeing to the suburbs, or to Nashville, Indiana, Miami, all destinations popular with Chicago expats.
“Democracy is the idea that people know what they want, and deserve to get it, good and hard.”
-H.L. Menken
[three]
It looks like a recent show cancellation…may be ushering in the end of the sitcom laugh track.
With the recent news of How I Met Your Father’s cancelation, things are not looking good for a device that used to be instrumental to the sitcom form, the laugh track. How I Met Your Father, which was canceled after only 2 seasons at Hulu, told the story of a tight-knit friend group’s attempts to navigate romance and modern life, framed as a story told by protagonist Sophie (Hilary Duff) to her young son. The series took its lead from its hugely successful predecessor, How I Met Your Mother, which aired on CBS for 9 seasons from 2005-2014. Despite the promising start, How I Met Your Father season 3 will not happen.
HIMYF played things safe, seeking to reproduce the original series’ success with a similar central concept, numerous in-universe references, and even a similarly conventional sitcom device, the laugh track. However, the TV landscape has shifted drastically since 2005, and an attempt to carry a classic sitcom’s success over to streaming didn’t end well for Hulu. The laugh track doesn’t match the tone and pace of modern mainstream TV comedy. While the convention has been tied to the sitcom for almost the entirety of the form’s existence, the laugh track is no longer essential to the medium, and may well be on its way out permanently.
Friends and a handful of other vintage sitcoms still hold up with laugh tracks, but often shows used the tool to cover for lazy writing. However, well written shows actually hold up with the laugh track removed. Seinfeld would have to be edited differently, but the jokes still land without an auditory prompt for the audience to laugh.
It’s an interesting contrast to Two and a Half Men, a show that…could very well be a drama about addiction and depression when the laugh track is removed. The dialogue and acting just don’t hold up without the audio prompts…
While The Office is often credited for being the show that ushered in the beginning of hte end of the laugh track, it’s worth noting that the true pioneer here was the short-lived Fox sitcom Arrested Development, which grabbed audiences with a laugh-track free half hour back in 2003. If you’ve never watched this comedic gem, it’s worth throwing in your Netflix queue.
[four]
This week, one of the (previously) great publications of American life was busted for not just AI writing…but creating fake AI writers as well.
Sports Illustrated, now run as a website and once-monthly publication by the Arena Group, at one time was a weekly in the Time Inc. stable of magazines known for its sterling writing. “Its ambitions were grand,” said Jeff Jarvis, author of “Magazine,” a book he describes as an elegy for the industry.
On Monday, the Futurism website reported that Sports Illustrated used stories for product reviews that had authors it could not identify. Futurism found a picture of one author listed, Drew Ortiz, on a website that sells AI-generated portraits.
The magazine's author profile said that “Drew has spent much of his life outdoors, and is excited to guide you through his never-ending list of the best products to keep you from falling to the perils of nature.”
Upon questioning Sports Illustrated, Futurism said all of the authors with AI-generated portraits disappeared from the magazine's website. No explanation was offered.
Futurism quoted an unnamed person at the magazine who said artificial intelligence was used in the creation of some content as well — “no matter how much they say that it's not.”
Sports Illustrated said the articles in question were created by a third-party company, AdVon Commerce, which assured the magazine that they were written and edited by humans. AdVon had its writers use a pen name, “actions we don't condone,” Sports Illustrated said.
“We are removing the content while our internal investigation continues and have since ended the partnership,” the magazine said. A message to AdVon wasn't immediately returned on Tuesday.
I’m sure this is just the beginning of the story…perhaps the backlash will scare other major publications away from similar tactics.
[five]
As always, let’s head into the weekend with a pop culture roundup…
Millie Bobby Brown was offered a stack of cash for a Stranger Things spinoff film, but she elected to turn down the money for the opportunity to take on more exciting projects.
Looks like that bet paid off. Damsel will hit Netflix sometime in 2024…
Eight years after Mad Max: Fury Road, there’s finally another entry into the franchise about a post-apocolyptic Australia. The 2024 entry into the anthology, Furiosa, stars Anya Taylor Joy (The Queen’s Gambit, Peaky Blinders) and Chris Hemsworth (Avengers, Netflix’s Extraction).
This is a prequel, telling the backstory of a character Charlize Theron (Monster, Snow White and the Huntsmen) first played in 2015, alongside Tom Hardy (Inception, The Dark Knight Rises). There are scripts for two more Theron/Hardy movies in the Mad Max universe, but considering that creator George Miller is 78 years old and taking nearly 10 years between movies…he’s going to be directing at age 98, unless he learns to work faster (or, you know, dies of natural causes). I’m a big fan of this franchise, so that bums me out.
The Book of Clarence is…an odd one. Set around a guy who’s impersonating Jesus to make a quick buck, only to realize the real Jesus is really…well, Jesus, Son of God.
It sounds like a bad Evangelical film from the 1970’s, but this is a stacked cast including LaKeith Stanfield (Knives Out, Straight Outa Compton), James McAvoy (Atonement, X-Men: First Class), David Oyewelo (Selma, Lawman: Bass Reeves), Benedict Cumberbatch (Dr. Strange, The Imitation Game) and R&B star Teyana Taylor (Hulu’s White Men Can’t Jump remake, Entergalactic).
Typically, if that much talent is attracted to a project…take note. It’s interesting here that, from the trailer, Hollywood may have just made a pro-Christian film…call it the Chosen effect, I suppose.
Catch it January 12th in theaters…I will be.
[re-play]
Despite the fact that Ridley Scott’s Napoleon is being panned by critics, I want to make the case that you should check out the worst-rated movie Ridley Scott (Gladiator, The Martian) ever directed—it sits at an abysmal 40% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Released in 2005, Kingdom of Heaven was treated by the press as an allegory for the war in Iraq (it wasn’t), and unfairly caught in political crossfire. The film was also cut WAAAY down (1 hour 17 minutes was trimmed for the theatrical release), and even Orlando Bloom hot off Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean couldn’t bring enough star power to save this historical epic, centered around Jerusalem during the Crusades, from flopping.
The director’s cut, released on DVD, is not only a great movie in it’s own right…but also shows important history around a city that’s currently at the center of world events, Jerusalem.
If you’ve got some lazy time over the holidays…I highly recommend giving this one a spin.
[music re-play]
On Thursday, Shane MacGowan, the tragic singer of folk/punk pioneering act The Pogues died. Macgowan forged a new sound in the early 80’s when he combined the sounds of late 70’s punk (like The Clash and The Ramones) with the traditional sonics of his Irish heritage. The result was a “punk” band that incorporated tin whistle, traditional Irish percussion, banjo and even cittern (a stringed instrument you may have seen at a RenFair).
In a time when the punk movement was all about youth culture, MacGowan collaborated heavily with The Dubliners, a 60’s Irish folk group. The whole thing was strangely wonderful, and produced a handful of global hits. However, just when The Pogues were set to truly break through on a major tour opening for Bob Dylan in 1988, MacGowan’s alcoholism and drug use essentially ended the band.
Still, Rum, Sodomy and the Lash (1985) and If I Should Fall from the Grace of God (1988) are two albums every passionate music fan should give a spin…if only because there was just one band that could combine punk power chords with English Sea Shanties and mediaeval instrumentation…
Until the next one,
-sth