Spotify Loses Big $ Learning Celebrities Can't Podcast, Can American Prisons Fixed by...Chess?! Indiana Jones 5 Hated by Critics, Loved by Audiences(The Five for 06/30/23)
Hey, welcome to The Five.
I’m sad to report that the most recent audience survey revealed that…the readership doesn’t care about new music nearly as much as I do.
Well, I suppose the tail end of this issue is more a journal to myself than anything else. But, people who read this publication do love Zach Bryan…so, don’t quit reading without scrolling to the bottom.
With that being said, let’s dive into Culture & Commentary.
[one]
Slow. Clap.
Maybe the best headline of the year to date.
In 2020, Spotify’s stock spiked on the news that Meghan Markle and Prince Harry signed an exclusive deal with the streaming platform.
But when the deal fizzled last week, the leader of one of the biggest global talent agencies, whose business is increasingly focused on audio, said he wasn’t surprised.
“Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent,” United Talent Agency CEO Jeremy Zimmer said over coffee at La Majestic during the Cannes Lions advertising festival.
Zimmer’s comments reflect the new conventional wisdom in podcasting. Out are A-list celebrities and big-budget audio narratives. The new audio talent is endemic to the medium, and has more in common with talk radio or daytime television personalities than with Windsors.
As much as I’d love to comment here..what else is there to say?
Instead, I’ll just ask you to read that quote one more time.
Turns out Meghan Markle was not a great audio talent, or necessarily any kind of talent
People who’s main claim to fame is being famous may work in reality TV land…but it’s not enough to keep the attention of an audience in an audio-only space.
[two]
That’s…a big number.
The Post Millennial reports:
Recent state enrollment data from New Jersey has found that the amount of students in the public school system who are non considering themselves to be "non-binary" has skyrocketed over 4,000 percent during the past four years.
In the 2019-2020 school year, a mere total of 16 students identified with such a label, according to enrollment figures from the New Jersey Department of Education. Now, that number has ballooned to 675, marking an excess of a 4118 percent increase for the 2022-23 school year.
As this massive increase of so-called "non-binary" kids in the school system has gone on, leftist politicians in the state have been expressing their views that parents should be kept in the dark about any feelings a child may have in regard to their gender or sexual preference, especially when it falls out of the norm.
Following a new policy passed by a school district last month saying that it will consult parents on anything which could have "a material impact on a student's physical and/or mental health," New Jersey Democrat Attorney General Matthew Platkin filed a lawsuit against the rule, arguing it "discriminates" against so-called ‘LGBTQ’ pupils by mandating teachers to "out" them to the parents without first receiving permission of the child.
Democrat state Governor Phil Murphy expressed his support for the attorney general’s legal action.
New Jersey is not the only state where such marked upswings in children identifying with such a concept have been observed in recent times. Maryland’s largest public school district, for instance, observed a drastic 582 percent increase of students in Montgomery’s County Schools labeling themselves as “gender nonconforming” in a short two-year period, per student surveys.
There are a LOT of things I don’t write about or deep dive into with opinions, because I’m not qualified, including: vaccine controversies, climate change, some elements of macroeconomic policy…and yes, gender non-binary status.
But it’s pretty hard for me to swallow the idea that “non-binary” students naturally skyrocketed 4000% outside of massive social and societal elements coming into play.
On a practical level, this raises a whole host of questions about restrooms in school, locker rooms, fairness in P.E. (there’s a reason we separate sports by gender—if you throw a “non-binary” biological female into a boy’s basketball game, chances of injury go way up) and health class (no matter what you label yourself, you were born with certain biological traits that require specific medical care).
I’m not an educator (although I was a college prof at one point), but it seems like this greatly impacts the logistics of K-12 education.
[three]
Rumors of the demise of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny have been…greatly exaggerated?
The final outing of Harrison Ford’s famed archeologist (and this is surely it—Ford is 81 years old, a good age to bow out of action roles, regardless of one’s physical condition) got torched at the Cannes Film festival and from early critical reviews…but bounced up today (opening day for the film).
So far, audiences adore it, and critics who are posting positive reviews…posted those later that the early storm of negative reactions.
I haven’t seen the film yet, so I have nothing to comment…except to say that any sequel that comes THIS much later than the original (Raiders of the Lost Ark hit theaters 41 years ago) is bound to be controversial.
I’m still optimistic, as James Mangold is in the director’s chair (Ford v. Ferrari, Walk the Line), but I’ve found my buddy Dan Buffa is write more times than not, and his review headline reads “The Greatest Hits Disc is broken.”
If you’re on the fence on this one…there’s at least hope you might like the final adventure of Henry Jones Jr.
[four]
In the U.K., an experiment is underway to use chess to teach life skills to prisoners.
The BBC reports:
The Ministry of Justice says chess trains players to think before they act and provides transferrable skills that can help them find a job so they don't commit further crimes when released.
A recent documentary series, Through the Mirror of Chess: A Cultural Exploration, examines the game's impact on culture, art, science and sport.
Filmmaker Howard Burton said under the right circumstances, the game has "considerable social benefit" to a large number of people.
Meanwhile, back at the prison, Nathan sits back in his chair, thoughtfully hovering a black knight just above the board.
He is back in prison after spending time inside over Christmas and says chess is helping him get back to who he was.
"I lost my way in life," he said. "I had my reasons.
"Playing chess is part of normal life, so if you lose your way out there, in here, doing this, can make you feel like you're normal, and not a criminal."
Last October, HMP Hewell represented England in an annual prison tournament held online, playing inmates in 45 other countries.
Considering the prison recidivism rate in the U.S. is over 60% in some states, this seems like a solid program to test out in the U.S.
Unfortunately for prisoners, the Woke Agenda that dominates much of the conversation…forgot about them. The political left may talk a big game about institutionalizing so many people (particularly young minority men), but when was the last time you saw a major political figure (Republican or Democrat) advocating for better outcomes for those who are already incarcerated?
The political right, to balance this out, tends to lean more towards punishment. Neither side focuses enough on helping criminals re-enter society with the skills and mindset not to wind up back behind bars.
Since we’re on the subject, I encourage you to read this article on the 24/7 solitary confinement in the Colorado Supermax Prison, which some have described as a more brutal place than Guantanamo Bay, where we kept the 9/11 conspirators.
[five]
The pitch for Joy Ride is…perfect. It’s Brides Maids + Crazy Rich Asians.
So in for this one. In theaters July 7th.
Yeeeeees. The Lincoln Lawyer returns to Netflix. Based on a Michael Connolley novel, the film version (starring Matthew McConaghay) was decent, but page-to-screen mysteries normally work better in a TV format, with 10+ hours to unpack the twists and turns of the whudunnit.
Part 1 drops July 6, with the second installment of Season 2 releasing August 13th.
Although I have quite a bit of superhero fatigue, this looks interesting. St. Louis native James Gunn is now heading up the DC Universe, and is kicking off with a Superman reboot that features relative unknown David Coronsweet (Hollywood on Netflix) and Rachel Brosnahan (Midge in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) in an origin story that Variety calls “largely a workplace origin story.”
Coronswet is 6’4” and I must admit, it warms my heart to see tall actors cast. It’s often difficult for those of above-average stature because a tall person in a scene can “throw off the balance” of the shot…but for Superman, being tall is more a feature than a bug.
It’s pretty rare for this outlet to cover video game news, but a probable remaster of Red Dead Redemption is the exception to the rule.
NEW MUSIC
It’s probably too much pressure on the listener to christen Maggie Antone the next big sound in the vein of Zach Bryan and Tyler Childers, but her debut single…is sharply written on verses of sharp wit.
High school football is among the most overdone topics in country music, but the Virginia native finds a fresh narrative here, and pulls in the mountain music sounds of her home state.
Calling it now…Maggie could be big. Oh yeah, and she calls herself “Trailer Swift.” Bonus points for self-deprecating humor and cleverness.
Jenny Lewis (best known for the 00’s indie act Rilo Kiley) pairs up with mega producer Dave Cobb (Jason Isbell, Bruce Springsteen, A Star is Born soundtrack with Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga) for her first country music project. Lewis maintains a good bit of her indie influences here, on a breezy, upbeat set of songs that, lyrically, divese into fairly morose topics.
Until the next one,
-sth