The Realist Archive Project (previously) is now complete.
The Realist, edited and published by Paul Krassner, was a pioneering magazine of "social-political-religious criticism and satire" in the American countercultural press of the mid-20th century. Although The Realist is often regarded as a major milestone in the underground press, it was a nationally-distributed newsstand publication as early as 1959. Publication was discontinued in 2001.
posted by Joe Beese
on Nov 9, 2010 -
6 comments
GBH was a seven-part British television drama written by Alan Bleasdale [previously1] [previously2] shown in the summer of 1991 on Channel 4. The protagonists were Michael Murray (played by Robert Lindsay), the Militant Labour leader of a city council in the North of England and Jim Nelson (played by Michael Palin), the headmaster of a school for disturbed children. The series was controversial partly because Murray appeared to be based on Derek Hatton, former Deputy Leader of Liverpool City Council - in an interview in the G.B.H. DVD Bleasdale recounts an accidental meeting with Hatton before the series, who indicates that he has caught wind of Bleasdale's intentions but does not mind as long as the actor playing him is "handsome". [more inside]
posted by KokuRyu
on Aug 29, 2010 -
22 comments
Russian Satirical Journals of 1905. MeFi's own
peacay presents a selection of the amazing images produced after the lifting of censorship in Russia following the
1905 Revolution: "For a few brief months the journals spoke with a great and unprecedented rage that neither arrest nor exile could silence. At first their approach was oblique, their allusions veiled, and they often fell victim to the censor’s pencil. But people had suffered censorship for too long." Much more available at
Beinecke,
USC, and
Wisconsin.
posted by languagehat
on Aug 6, 2010 -
8 comments
Cow Clicker is a Facebook game about Facebook games. It's partly a satire, and partly a playable theory of today's social games, and partly an earnest example of that genre. [more inside]
posted by Joe Beese
on Jul 22, 2010 -
22 comments
“There is one line in ‘Zero Hour!’ where a stewardess says, completely seriously, ‘The life of everyone on board depends upon just one thing: finding someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn’t have fish for dinner,’ ” Mr. Abrahams said. “That was the essence of the movie. We just repeated the line. We didn’t have to change a thing.”
Airplane! (known in Australia as
Flying High!)
turns 30 [more inside]
posted by crossoverman
on Jun 28, 2010 -
186 comments
This past Spring, Duke University hosted concurrent exhibits that featured curated images of satirical political cartoons. Fortunately, the exhibits are free to enjoy from the comfort of your bed/couch/desk chair. From the Nasher Museum of Art, there is
Lines of Attack: Conflicts in Caricature, comparing pieces from as early as 19th Century France to post 9/11 US. From the Perkins Library, we get
Abusing Power: Satirical Journals, an exhibit of 19th and early 20th Century pieces from around the world.
posted by Ufez Jones
on Jun 10, 2010 -
3 comments
If you look at that video of Mohammad Sidique Khan [one of the 7/7 bombers] recording a video for his nine-month-old daughter, when he thought he was going to fight and die in Afghanistan, he was saying, ‘You and your mum are the best thing in my life, and I’d love to watch you growing up and learning to speak.’ And you realise that he’s making a pretty soppy speech from a middle-of-the-road Hollywood movie. He’s the ‘good dad’. And in his head he is. And that doesn’t preclude him going out and doing something violent. You do bad things not because you think they’re bad, but because you think they’re good — unless you’re a nihilist. British satirist Chris Morris discusses his first feature film
Four Lions, which is a comedy about Islamist suicide bombers.
Trailer.
Clip, concerning peroxide. Audio interview with Morris about the film,
Part 1 and
Part 2.
posted by Sticherbeast
on Apr 6, 2010 -
47 comments
Satire has long been part of discourse, with
written records going back to the Ramesside Period of Ancient Egypt, and two primary classifications of satire
originate with the Roman satirists Horace and Juvenal. Other notable
historic figures have also been authors of significant satire, but
not always with much appreciation.
News satire furthers the awkward stance with public, as
the public may read satire as an outrageous truth, and be angered instead of amused. The Daily Show, and Jon Stewart in specific, ranks well in
the fractured world of current news programming, and the show was noted in the New York Times as "
a genuine cultural and political force"
(previously), but you don't have take their word for it.
Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism studied the content of The Daily Show for an entire year (2007), providing interesting (if slightly dated) details on the show. That year included their
much-viewed coverage fo the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. And in
poll results published July 24, 2009,
Jon Stewart was voted America's most trusted newscaster, apparently filling the position
previously held by Walter Cronkite. But is it because Stewart is
one of the few journalists willing to ask the hard questions or
has America been won over by "cheap laughs"?
posted by filthy light thief
on Nov 6, 2009 -
54 comments
Dudes! Did you see the library they've got here? Dude, they've got the latest computerized catalog system—just roll right up to a terminal, type in your search terms, and it gives you a list of titles and call numbers, plus a little map to show you where they all are. Fucking Dewey decimal, man. It's tight. (SLMcSweeney's)
posted by l33tpolicywonk
on Sep 8, 2009 -
80 comments
