Contest: Make Your Own "The Deep State is Actually Kind of Awesome" Video
The New York Times made a hilarious version. Can you produce a more representative entry? A few hours with iMovie could win a prize
The New York Times this week published a video editorial so unintentionally funny as to be nearly spoof-proof, titled, “It Turns Out the Deep State is Actually Kind of Awesome.” Walter Kirn and I do a full Mystery Science Theater treatment in the new episode of America This Week, so I won’t spoil the suspense, but it’s inspired, a combination of Paul Verhoeven, Orf, and Goebbels.
If video humor were my bailiwick I’d do this myself, but since it isn’t, I thought I’d offer a prize for the best alternate version of “The Deep State is Actually Kind of Awesome.” Meet Ted McFriendly. He likes Star Trek, Cocoa Puffs, and drives a General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper Drone. He can shoot the testes off a Chinese disinformation agent from space… You should follow your own heart, but ths is the kind of rich material with which you’d be working.
I don’t want anyone spending a ton of time on this. It should be doable with found footage and voice-over. Submissions to taibbi@substack.com. Prize of $1000, and we’ll publish the winning entry here on Racket with a write-up and a Q&A. I’m not going to paywall the results and I’m not trying to make money off this; I just thought it might be funny, and a way to coax out some lurking talent in the Racket community. If no one feels like bothering, that’s okay, too.
More coming today, in a more serious vein.
I love this line in the NYT's video: "Trump's teaching us to expect the worst from people in government."
No, sweet cheeks, the people in government are teaching us to expect the worst from the people in government. They need no help from Trump.
OMG just watched the NYT video -- while not funny, indeed unintentionally hilario. Also, NOT the Deep State. (Which they would be killed if they actually filmed.) At least Ali Velshi brings the Kenyan-Canadian narrative perspective. #TGIF