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In Twisty 'Only Murders In The Building,' True Crime Makes Good Neighbors
In Twisty 'Only Murders In The Building,' True Crime Makes Good Neighbors
In Hulu's Only Murders in the Building, two veteran comedians bring to the table the clearly defined personae that they've firmly entrenched in the public mind: Steve Martin often plays men who are self-impressed, even pompous, and a bit uptight, while Martin Short plays smarmy show-business phonies turned up to 11.
At first, the actors slot easily, even predictably, into their respective roles: Martin is Charles, a washed-up actor living off the royalties from his old cop show, and Short is Oliver, a flailing theater director who hasn't had a hit in decades.
Both men are infatuated with a true-crime podcast, and when a mysterious death occurs in their Upper West Side apartment building, they decide to start a true-crime podcast of their own.
Given that premise, you'd be forgiven for expecting something broader and more manic — and maybe, when it comes to the subject of podcasting, more than a little out-of-touch — than the series ends up delivering. Certainly the opening minutes of the first episode seem to meet those expectations — there's Martin walking down an UWS street in a porkpie hat while we hear his voice reading a gravid and overwritten bit of narration. There's Short, in a flashy purple jacket, narrating his own over-the-top thoughts on life in New York City.Article continues after sponsor message
It probably won't click until midway through the first episode that those two monologues — and a third one, delivered by another neighbor, Selena Gomez's Mabel — are offered as parodies of a kind of portentous narration often found in true-crime podcasts.
It's only one of several clues that the series is more savvy, more in on the joke, than you might expect.
There's the name of that podcast they love, for example: All Is Not OK In Oklahoma. That's a solid bit of business. There's the fact that both Martin and Short are modulating their usual performances to play up the humanity of their characters. Martin's Charles is plenty uptight, and can be arrogant, but mostly he's a sad and lonely man who has a difficult time connecting with others. Oliver is exactly the kind of smarmy show-biz phony Short's made a career out of ridiculing, but he's dialed way, way down here. Short's a legend, and of course can be hilarious when he's going big, but as Oliver, he finds the jokes, instead of lunging at them.
Another thing the show gets right is Gomez' Mabel, who often functions as a cool, sardonic foil, undercutting Martin and Short's whole "clueless uncle" vibe. The grounded energy her character brings, to say nothing of the secrets she's keeping, help propel the series along.
Sure, Only Murders in the Building makes the process of conceiving, making and launching a podcast look hilariously easy — Oliver's recording technique of waving a mic in the general direction of his subject, for example, would get him a stern talking-to by any real producer, and the less said of the notion that a man of Oliver's background could so quickly get up to speed on the ins and outs of equalizing, compressing and balancing multiple audio tracks, the better.
But they're shortcuts and workarounds made for the sake of the story, and they can be forgiven, because the story works. As their amateur murder investigation deepens, the twists keep piling up, the herrings get redder and redder, and everyone, even the murder victim, gets a backstory that ties neatly (but not too neatly) into the main plot. Of the eight episodes (out of ten) screened for critics, most feature a moment or two of dreamlike surreality, and instead of throwing off the tone, such passages deftly layer in emotions the characters aren't yet prepared to express in dialogue.
In the end, Only Murders in the Building isn't the wacky farce suggested by its stars and plot, and that's a good thing. It's more muted, more real, and it's shrewdly knowing about who its characters are, and what they want. It's also very funny, which isn't particularly surprising — but it features grounded, satisfyingly nuanced performances from Martin and Short, which is.
https://www.npr.org/2021/08/31/1030965679/in-twisty-only-murders-in-the-building-true-crime-makes-good-neighbors
Pentagon denies, criticizes viral reports that US left service dogs in Afghanistan
Pentagon denies, criticizes viral reports that US left service dogs in Afghanistan
In the closing days of America's longest war, conservative activists, politicians and animal lovers raised alarms online that the U.S. was not evacuating its service dogs.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon denied that any dogs that had worked with the U.S. military were left behind in the country while acknowledging that a series of social media posts about nonmilitary evacuation of Kabul pets caused confusion.
"To correct erroneous reports, the US military did not leave any dogs in cages at Hamid Karzai International Airport, to include the reported 'military working dogs,'" said Eric Pahon, a spokesman for the Defense Department.
Animal evacuation efforts go viral, misinformation abounds
On Aug. 27, Kabul Small Animal Rescue, an animal welfare group that has tended to animals injured or displaced during the war in Afghanistan,posted on Twitter that it was trying to evacuate animals in the cargo hold of planes leaving Kabul's airport.
The animals were being flown out as part of the group's "Operation Hercules," a crowdfunded effort in the country. That work had been going on days before the viral images began circulating.
An older social media post from the group described the animals as "dogs and cats left behind as people flee" in Kabul. It made no mention about the animals being service animals or contracted to work with the U.S. military.
KSAR, an affiliate of SPCA International, did not immediately return requests for comment.
On Sunday, an image posted to Twitter by the veterans organization Veteran Sheepdogs of America shows some animals in crates in front of a damaged military aircraft. The post says the aircraft is at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
And on Monday, the president and chief executive officer of American Humane, an animal welfare group, wrote an open letter criticizing the military for allegedly leaving behind animals that had worked with the U.S.
The crate image and others were shared online by pundits and lawmakers critical of the broader U.S. withdrawal.
"Infuriating. Biden stranded Americans. He stranded our allies. Now, he’s stranded our loyal K-9 warriors," Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote on Twitter, posting American Humane's letter.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y. tweeted a similar sentiment: "Really sad & heartless! The Biden Admin did not only abandon our citizens and Afghan partners. They abandoned dozens of service dogs too."
Conservative activists further rallied around the fate of military animals, circulating images and memes and starting a hashtag on social media.
Pentagon: US military did not leave dogs in cages
The Defense Department, however, denies that any military service dogs or contracted animals were left behind in the country.
"Photos circulating online were animals under the care of the Kabul Small Animal Rescue, not dogs under the care of the U.S. military. Despite an ongoing complicated and dangerous retrograde mission, U.S. forces went to great lengths to assist the Kabul Small Animal Rescue as much as possible," Pahon said.
He noted the "priority mission was the evacuation of U.S. citizens, SIV and vulnerable Afghans," not animals.
The Defense Department further cited "customs regulations" as a hurdle in evacuating the "stray dogs" from the country. The department did not deny the authenticity of the viral image but did contest that the animals had worked with the military in any capacity.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2021/08/31/service-dogs-afghanistan-pentagon-denies-report/5664405001/
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The Hawaii National Guard’s Covid Task Force Is Extended Through December
The Hawaii National Guard’s Covid Task Force Is Extended Through December
State officials had planned to shut down the Hawaii National Guard’s pandemic task force in September.
The Hawaii National Guard is staying on the front lines of the fight against Covid-19 until the end of the year as the highly contagious delta variant causes a surge in cases in the islands. It’s a reversal after Hawaii officials announced in June that the mission would wind down and likely end in September.
The current task force is made up of about 550 soldiers and airmen after several troops began demobilizing as Hawaii leaders loosened travel restrictions during several months of relatively low case counts. It’s not clear yet whether the guard will attempt to call more troops back up amid surging cases.
“Based on the current rise in Covid-19 infections, the Hawaii National Guard Leadership assessed that we would likely need to continue our support to the Counties and State of Hawaii in their efforts to mitigate Covid-19,” Brig. Gen. Moses Kaoiwi, the task force’s commander, said Tuesday in a press release.
The mission was extended until the end of December.
Federal funds for the deployment were set to expire in September, but Gov. David Ige asked President Joe Biden to extend funding through December, the press release said.
“The federal government is paying for it, so that’s good news for the state, and it just continues to keep us at the availability to the governor and the mayors,” Col. Amy Arfman, deputy commander of the task force, said in a phone interview.
Guardsmen on the task force have bolstered the efforts of the Hawaii Department of Health and other agencies throughout the pandemic.
Troops have continued doing thermal screenings at airports along with rapid swab tests and vaccination efforts, working on Covid-19 mapping and contact tracing, conducting public health outreach for at-risk communities and helping distribute personal protective equipment, Afrman said.
“We are also postured to assist the state and city and county in any way within our abilities that they request,” said Arfman. “So right now the leaders are working really hard to make sure they’re utilizing all the resources they have available to them in the best possible way to help the people of Hawaii.”
Hawaii health officials reported 565 new cases on Tuesday for a total of 57,235. Those included 370 on Oahu, 100 on the Big Island, 70 on Maui, 17 on Kauai and eight residents diagnosed out of state. There also was one new coronavirus-related death, raising the total to 565.
Most cases in Hawaii are attributed to the delta variant, a mutation of the virus that spreads faster and infects more children who were far less impacted by previous strains.
Arfman said that neither military nor civilian officials are sure how the guard’s operations may shift or change to address the more aggressive nature of the variant.
“We’re in constant conversation to analyze those sorts of things, looking at statistics and science, to make sure that we are adjusting as appropriate,” said Arfman. “As far as the specifics for that, I think the leaders of the state, and the community are still working through that.”
The extension of the mission comes as the National Guard has been stretched thin across the country. Guardsmen have also continued to perform other missions such as responding to natural disasters and deploying to conflict zones around the world.
Most recently Hawaii Guardsmen have participated in battling wildfires on the Big Island.
They also were among those deployed to Washington, D.C., in January provide security for Biden’s inauguration. Many of those soldiers had been in Afghanistan less than a year earlier.
After the inauguration several of the Guardsmen tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning to Hawaii. This week the Pentagon announced that with the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine, Covid-19 inoculation will now be mandatory for military service members.
The military has stayed largely quiet on infection rates among personnel in Hawaii, but at least one Hawaii Guardsman, a 53-year-old assigned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, died of COVID-19 in November.
https://www.civilbeat.org/2021/08/the-hawaii-national-guards-covid-task-force-is-extended-through-december/
