May 7, 2025

HAHA:

More like this, please.

Posted at 7:49 pm by Glenn Reynolds 130

CAN’T TRUST THEM: Yet Again: FBI Botched, Changed, Then Withheld the Results of Its Congressional Baseball Shooting Investigation.

“Botched.”

Posted at 7:00 pm by Glenn Reynolds 75

BEAUTY IS NOT ALWAYS IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER:

More from Dana Loesch: “As part of a likely-partially taxpayer-funded temporary art installation, a giant bronze statute was erected in Times Square. The promo materials call it a ‘nod to Michelangelo’s David.'”

The bronze heifer in the square isn’t even remotely comparable. There is not devotion to such anatomical accuracy. Nothing to convey feeling, either for the viewer or on behalf of the subject. The attempt is nothing more than cheap sentiment on size masquerading as some vague, body positivity motif. We’ve had centuries of celebrating what society today would consider “plus-sized women,” in fact, it was a defining feature of Renaissance art as such women were considered more healthy, wealthy, and powerful. Pretending that such a celebration of the female form is new is historical illiteracy and an excuse for bad art. Pretending that obesity means the subject is undeserving of the dignity of definition is laziness.

The woman in the square has no defining features beyond her hair. Her body’s position suggests nothing, there are no defining details on her pants, presumably denim, nor on her arms. Her face is plain, expression, dead. She looks frumpy, dumpy, and made of marzipan.

No Renaissance master would dare render an object of reverence in such an offensive manner.

Read the whole thing.

And don’t forget how we got here:

In the 30s, Moscow ordered the CPUSA to promote ugly civic art in order to demoralize Americans and make them more susceptible to Communist propaganda.

He mentioned for no reason.

No reason at all.

Posted at 6:12 pm by Stephen Green 151

THE IMPORTANT THING IS THAT BIDEN GOT HIS PHOTO-OP:

Posted at 5:36 pm by Stephen Green 62

LOL. MILKING THE LAST BIT OUT OF THE ACT.

Posted at 4:34 pm by Glenn Reynolds 138

CHRISTIAN TOTO: Celebrities: Trump Will Destroy the World!

The 2024 election saw a galaxy of stars support Vice President Kamala Harris. For every Trump-backing Zachary Levi or Hulk Hogan there were dozens of A-listers backing a leader who feared talking to Joe Rogan.

The word salad spinner lost, badly, to President Donald Trump all the same. Even left-leaning news outlets suggested how little celebrity endorsements matter in the Age of Trump.

Now, some of the most notable names in entertainment warn President Trump will destroy the country, if not the planet.

Is anyone listening? Or caring?

Good question, but for most people, the answer seems to be No.

Posted at 3:50 pm by Stephen Green 108

ONE SOLUTION MIGHT BE THE RETURN OF IN-CLASS ESSAYS:

The full story is behind a paywall but these excerpts tell most of it:

For higher education, “AI’s takeover [is] a full-blown existential crisis.”

“College is just how well I can use ChatGPT at this point.”

“I think we are years — or months, probably — away from a world where nobody thinks using AI for homework is considered cheating.”

“It isn’t as if cheating is new. But now, as one student put it, ‘the ceiling has been blown off.’ Who could resist a tool that makes every assignment easier with seemingly no consequences?”

“Massive numbers of students are going to emerge from university with degrees, and into the workforce, who are essentially illiterate.”

“The humanities, and writing in particular, are quickly becoming an anachronistic art elective like basket-weaving.”

“Many teachers now seem to be in a state of despair.”

“Every time I talk to a colleague about this, the same thing comes up: retirement. When can I retire? When can I get out of this? That’s what we’re all thinking now.”

Sad.

Posted at 2:48 pm by Stephen Green 419

PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS: Disney to open theme park in Abu Dhabi after abandoning diversity push.

Disney is to open its first Middle Eastern theme park in a country where homosexuality is illegal after the US media giant watered down its diversity policies.

The company has unveiled plans to open a new resort in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, which it said will be “authentically Disney and distinctly Emirati”.

Disney’s decision to build a resort in the Arab country suggests a significant change in outlook at the entertainment giant, which has long prided itself on its LGBTQ+ friendly stance. Homosexuality is outlawed in the Emirati capital and punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

In 2022, the UAE banned Disney’s animated Buzz Lightyear film from cinemas over a same-sex kiss.

DEI programmes scaled back

The company was previously locked in a long-running legal dispute with Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor, over controversial state laws restricting the teaching of sexuality in schools.

Disney criticised the bill, dubbed [by its critics, particularly the DNC-MSM –Ed] “Don’t Say Gay”, prompting Mr DeSantis to strip the company of its right to self-govern its Walt Disney World park, which it had held for more than 50 years.

Of course, it’s not like Disney hasn’t bellied up to authoritarians before; as CNBC reported in 2020: Disney under fire for ‘Mulan’ credits that thank Chinese groups linked to detention camps.

Disney is facing backlash after the final credits for its latest film “Mulan” thanked government entities in Xinjiang, the province where Muslims have faced human rights abuses.

The film had already generated controversy after its lead actress, Liu Yifei, recently expressed support for police crackdowns in Hong Kong, spurring talks of boycotts on social media.

That sentiment only increased after it came to light that Disney filmed scenes for the “Mulan” movie in China’s Xinjiang province, where Beijing is accused of detaining more than 1 million Uighur Muslims.

After releasing “Mulan” on Disney+, eagle-eyed viewers noticed a “special thanks” in the film’s end credits that named eight government entities in Xinjiang, including the public security bureau in the city of Turpan, where the country is allegedly operating more than a dozen “reeducation” camps.

Or as America’s Newspaper of Record noted that year:

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll 73

THEY SHALL NOT GROW POSTMODERN: Netflix now streaming ‘deeply moving’ and ‘immersive’ WWII documentary with rare footage.

Netflix is now streaming a documentary with newly restored archival footage that promises to be one of the most immersive films ever made about World War II.

Colourised film and rare interviews tell the story of ordinary peoples’ lives during Germany’s bombing of Britain between 1940 and 1941.

With VE Day approaching this Thursday (8th May), now is the perfect time to brush up on some vital history, and Netflix’s new film Britain and the Blitz won’t disappoint.

Actually, it does disappoint — its narrative is rather weak; there’s not much new you’ll learn about England during the Blitz beyond themes explored in dozens and dozens of documentaries and dramas about this period:

While the documentary does showcase some fascinating slices of life — like the class divide between north and south when Eric moves to Coventry and clashes with the local kids — it also feels like a missed opportunity not to give more historical context or explore these stories through a wider lens.

For example, the evacuation effort initially included plans to send children to Canada, America, and New Zealand, until one of the ships was destroyed, killing 260 people in the process. That kind of background could have added a deeper emotional layer to Eric’s storyline, but it’s completely overlooked.

There’s also a slightly odd inclusion around the Communist Party, who are briefly shown as the plucky underdogs trying to undermine the government. Yet the film never acknowledges that they only supported the war after Russia was invaded, which feels like an important omission if you’re trying to be historically accurate.

Visually, the documentary is well-edited for the most part, with archival footage and photographs effectively used — but it’s constantly undermined by the musical score. I’m not sure whose idea it was to add a pulsating, overly dramatic soundtrack like we’re in a Hollywood action flick, but it really doesn’t work.

Moments that should land quietly are drowned out by soaring orchestral swells or over-the-top sequences that make you feel like Tom Cruise is going to rush on screen. At one point, when we’re told St. Paul’s Cathedral avoided being bombed, a choral score kicks in on cue, clearly designed to heighten the moment emotionally — but it just feels forced. Once you notice moments like this, it’s hard to unsee. Sometimes less really is more.

That’s perhaps the best summary I can give of Britain and the Blitz overall. There are some interesting anecdotes, and the first-hand accounts do help ground the documentary emotionally. But the narrow focus, stylistic overreach, and lack of broader historical insight all hold this back from being truly memorable.

It’s not an outright bad documentary — but compared to so many others on this subject, it sadly slips into forgettable mediocrity.

Like earlier Netflix documentary series World War II From the Front Lines (narrated by former Star Wars actor John Boyega, a man who truly loves his fanbase), 2025’s Britain and the Blitz’s newsreel footage is massively reprocessed. It’s been reformatted to the 16X9 aspect ratio, cleaned up, colorized, sharpened, and over-processed. As I wrote last year about the earlier documentary:

The classic 1970s Thames Television WWII miniseries “The World at War” used the footage of the Imperial War Museum and numerous other stock footage libraries to tell the history of WWII as had never been explored on television before. However, because film restoration technology was somewhere between non-existent and in its absolutely infancy, the black and white newsreel footage “The World at War” used was most assuredly the real thing, and not digitally processed and colorized to a fare-the-well. Because of the role of the battlefield cameraman, the footage was rarely as “in your face” as something shot by Hollywood for a dramatic war movie, but it was believable because it was real.

In contrast, “World War II: From the Front Lines”takes wartime footage that was much more competently shot than footage from the previous war, and massively overcooks the processing, often to absurdly surrealistic ends, with shots that seem almost psychedelic in the end result. Even more so than Peter Jackson’s reworking of WWI footage, it might make this material more palatable to 21st century audiences, but at the cost of diluting the original footage that’s somewhere at the base of the producers’ digital processing.

This trailer gives only a hint of how much processing has been slathered over some of the shots seen during the Netflix miniseries, but it does highlight another issue with the footage. As with Peter Jackson’s WWI documentary, “World War II: From the Front Lines”recomposites the original 4X3 footage into the widescreen 16X9 aspect ratio used by most 21st century HDTV sets, to make the footage that much more appealing to Netflix viewers, with little care that 1940s-era audiences would not have viewed footage in this screen format[.]

The same can be said of Britain and the Blitz:

Still though, could be worse — far worse. AI is now allowing for still photos to be animated, a technology that will end very, very badly:

Posted at 2:22 pm by Ed Driscoll 117