Prescient Satire

link to original

Drawn by Barry Blitt and published as satire to "show it as the fear-mongering ridiculousness that it is," every aspect of the work perfectly captures the Obama legacy.

An open letter to Fareed Zakaria from the People's Cube

Zakaria wrote or said something along the lines of taking glee in the demise of the white male. I think. One of the writers at the Cube satirizing that statement extending it by writing about the demise of white women. Zakaria not understanding the Cube is a satire site complained on his CNN show he is being bullied by extreme conservatives.

Oleg Atbashian, the owner of the People's Cube breaks out funny mode and gets real to challenge Zakaria directly, by reversing Zakaria's charges, challenging his position, his status, his place in the world, his reason for living, his existence. He does lay it on thickly bringing up past but hardly forgotten grievances for illustration to upturn Zakaria like an hourglass. Both arguments are from immigrant perspective; one soft and fluffy, intellectual, and guiding and the other hard and heavy as chiseled marble.

It's fun.

And the comments are immediate. They look like part of the article. The commenters there really do play along with the satirical tone of the place save for this unique item. They add their own.

The first commenter: I must say, this morning when I heard Fareed refer to TPC as a "minor news site" I was terribly offended and had to be hospitalized for a number of hours. Fortunately there was no permanent brain damage or anything so I can resume spewing hate tomorrow morning. (according to my doctor) I look forward to reading your upcoming letter to the sensitive Mr. Zakaria when my health returns in the spring.

The People's Cube

Bowie tributes

The David Bowie tributes made me realize how much more important his music is than I had previously imagined. I did not know how engrained so much of his music is that failed to cross my consciousness, and a long time went by. My own i-Pod has songs on it that were there when I  bought it, songs from an album named Low. There's also Changes, Hunky Dory, Let's Dance, twenty-one songs that I didn't load.

The Brits put up things that I didn't see the usual places. The Young Ones quoting, "Ashes to ashes, funk to funky, we know Major Tom's a junkie." I never heard of that before. Flight of the Concords, Bowie in Space, making references that I haven't heard before. Bowie, Kenny Evert Boys Keep Swinging, that for some reason The Brits enjoyed but not pointed to here. TheSundaeLunch's own tribute. 

The best of all is Bowie with Geravis. 

This got me right to my heart. I pick friends because they're like this. Not this good, and not this evil, of course, not this talented, but this silly and this impulsive.

And I keep being surprised. Deeply surprised, like how could I be such an idiot by not knowing of this talent this whole time? Recently at John's funeral reception by the open door to an expansive terrace overlooking a park, a very old man, a tall creaky wrinkled, dry, crispy old man with long teeth with spaces between them and a bit yellow, and callow spotted skull who I've seen hanging around for decades and know simply as Bob and I have no idea of a last name, I have no idea his connection, I don't know him at all, where he comes from, who he is, but I've seen him repeatedly at different parties and functions, he sticks out by his age and his height and his looming presence and goofy face, spoke only very briefly, and I had no idea whatsoever the old man can bang out songs like that, and do that at a funeral. He set the musical tone for the whole place and he decided we are having fun. As if all those previous parties and finally a decent piano.

Others elsewhere tap on the table while waiting for dinner at a restaurant, without any alcohol nor any pot or anything just a willingness to be silly and unafraid of being told to shut up, establish a rhythm and melody and flesh out a made up song on the spot. Silly things like singing "Whip It" with made up emetic lyrics on the spinning teacup ride, and then the female companion, friend of a friend, is reminding of that at every subsequent encounter for the rest of your life. They sing in the van or the taxi to the radio and by being silly encourage everyone else to join in, they put on their voices and have as much fun as they can contrive and IF they can be kept off politics, and IF nobody is harmed as Gervais is here, then honestly spontaneous creative fun doesn't get better than this. 

"There’s been a literal and physical punching."

Top satire at ricochet by John Gabriel, The Mean Streets of Mackinac Island written in the style of 40's detective pulp, Dixon Hill if you're familiar with the STNG story line. John let's you know it's a joke by the title, by the first sentence and by hilariously incongruent photographs. True story: John Yob, aid to Rand Paul claims Rich Beeson, deputy campaign manager for Marco Rubio punched him at a Republican conference at (fairyland) Mackinac Island. Facts are clouded because parties were drunk.

If you're interested, and who isn't? [yob, beeson, mackinac]

It does look like a nice hotel for a weekend if you can take a level of saccharine so aching your teeth are set on edge. John Gabriel's tale is a hard-bitten detective short story with Disneyland pictures and a lingering scent of cotton candy.

Tennessee logo

Cost a lot of money for not much at all, but that's government for you. Government didn't draw the logo, they used collective money to pay a firm to do what any employee could have done right there at their government desk in thirty seconds of a regular working day.

It's Believable

Good satire needs two qualities: It has to sound authentic enough to be believable, and it has to be something the reader or listener actual wants to believe.

Winner.

MSNBC Anchor Resigns; Admits to Spreading “Lies on Behalf of Obama” 

The article appeared on the National Report website.  National Report is an Onion wannabe.  Readers who don't know it's a satire site want to believe the MSNBC anchor actually said this:

“I have spent my entire professional career working toward a position based on false pretenses.  I have worked hard to obtain a position with a major news network and expected to be reporting on serious issues.  Instead, I am handed Pro-Obama scripts and asked to be a mouthpiece for the administration.”

Except she didn't say that.  Readers believed that she did, even after National Report added a few lines at the bottom of the article that should tip off any reader that it isn't a real story. Didn't work. Commenters still believe that it's true, even after even after other commenters try to point out that it never happened, that the story is false.

Well done, National Report.  Article here.

German artist, Oliver Bienkowski, lights up facade of U.S. Embassy

And it is not nice!

How embarrassing. He is depicting our president with his hat backwards!

The Conservative Tree House

Is this exorcism racist?

Australia

Say, what do you think of this political-type video. A bit long, another ad, NSFW due to the swears, and we see Julian Assange entering the political sphere provocatively, interestingly to me, and very oddly indeed. He doesn't look so unattractive. And I read people remarking on his singing, smart people too, suspicious always, and yet they apparently do not catch his obvious lipsynching, unless they do and they are just putting me on.