Cleveland celebrates

Yesterday there was a huge parade for the Cleveland Cavaliers basketball team for their come-from-behind win on Sunday of the NBA championship. It was the biggest event in the history of the city with a crowd estimated at well over a million people thronging the parade route that, because of the crush of people, took four hours to wind its way through the city and end at the downtown mall where a stage had been set up.
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The future of political satire is brighter than ever

With the retirement of Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert from their comedy shows, many of us feared the loss of sharp political satire. But while The Daily Show itself has struggled to find its footing with its new host, alumni Samantha Bee and John Oliver, and also Seth Meyers, have been terrific in picking up the mantle. Of the three, Bee is the most consistently funny but all are analytical and informative.
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Marco Rubio to seek re-election to US senate

To no one’s surprise, Marco Rubio has reversed himself and decided to run for re-election to his Florida senate seat. He had been strongly criticized for being an absentee senator and having the worst attendance record in that do-nothing body and in the past he had repeatedly expressed his disdain for the body. He had said that he would move to the private sector after his quest for the Republican nomination became just another road kill under the Donald Trump bus.
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Never trust initial reports of major events

I have not commented on the recent atrocity committed at the night club in Orlando by Omar Mateen that resulted in 50 deaths and an approximately equal number of injured. This is partly because of the sense of despair that these kinds of mass killings have become so common and nothing ever seems to get done about the easy availability of semi-assault weapons and high capacity magazines that enable even a single person to kill so many people in so short a time.
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John Oliver on Brexit

On Thursday, the United Kingdom votes to see if it continues to be part of the European Union or leaves, the latter position being known as ‘Brexit’, a neologism that is a combination of ‘Britain’ and ‘exit’. I don’t really know much about the pros and cons of the issue except that the worst elements of British politics like the political party UKIP want a vote in favor of Brexit.
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Cleveland goes wild

The people of Cleveland are delirious today as their basketball team the Cavaliers won the NBA championship beating the Golden State Warriors 93-89. One has to have lived in this city to really appreciate the powerful emotions that are coursing through them. The city has suffered from all manner of economic difficulties in the last half century or so and like so many people in difficult economic times, they seek escapism and validation and self-worth in sports, however ephemeral that may be.
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Foley artists and sound effects in films

I am fascinated by the way that films are made. There is so much going on behind the scenes to produce what seems so smooth and natural. I have posted many times about CGI and other visual effects but via David Pescovitz, I came across this short documentary about the production of sound effects in films. I had no idea that so much of the sound is added on later, and is not captured in real time by microphones that are hidden from the camera. In addition to getting the sound right, the timing is crucial.
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