CrankyYank Vol. 32: On Happy Hill | Weaponized Ignorance | Tossing Floss & More

In the political advert “Role Models,” the Hillary Clinton campaign frames a devastating message against Donald Trump.

The one-minute video turns his words against him, with children watching as he makes fun of the handicapped and claims he can shoot someone on 5th Avenue and still be elected president.

These attacks on Donald Trump are, needless to say, effective. In some respects they write themselves; I’ve always said that Trump is his own, walking opposition research given how public he’s been with xenophobia, among other things.

The distinction has been made, and it’s time to pivot. Time to pivot away from negativity and focus on your message, your values, your plans. Secretary Clinton has some great ideas, particularly with your co-creation of the Democratic platform with Bernie Sanders and some of his supporters. The distinction between that and the GOP platform alone would give you enough fodder to point out how the Dems are the party of hope, achievement, and acceptance.

Building off of “love and kindness” is always a winning strategy. You can pepper in fact-checking and calling-out of Trump—but focus like a laser on how your policies will help transform a divided nation.

(Writer’s note: I’m developing an investigative piece on the Ukraine-based changes to the GOP platform. If you were involved in this process and can speak to what exactly happened, please e-mail me. All communication will remain confidential.)

 

I’m in the midst of a virtual blog tour for my eBook, Leaving Triscuit: Conscious Departures, Happy Homecomings, and I did an interview with Sherri Rabinowitz on her BlogTalk Radio show. We talked about a wide range of topics, including Pizza for Good, Triscuit and ARTvision Atlanta.

There are still slots available! Sign up today and help me get the word out. Meantime, here’s the book trailer.

Coming tomorrow: great reviews have come out of my blog tour so far. I’ll post some of the highlights—great thanks to all who’ve reviewed!

 

The epic series Animal Kingdom concludes its first season this coming Tuesday, and I’ve been all in since the beginning. Slow to get started, Kingdom is the first series in recent memory to actually deliver on all the teaser money that TNT spent pitching it to viewers. By about episode three or so, things picked up and the actors had time to flesh out the characters. Witnessing the internalized homophobia of Deran alone is a reason to tune in;

Is it perfect? No. Is it gripping? Most certainly yes. Does Ellen Barkin deserve an Emmy nomination? Again, yes. Scott Speedman has surprised me as another show anchor, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s nominated as well. But the series would be nothing without Barkin’s steely, mysterious portrayal of Smurf, the show’s matriarch from hell. The show is built around a delicious Oedipus Complex that will keep me watching for years to come.

Animal Kingdom has been renewed for Season 2, and hopefully many more to follow.

 

With a unique downbeat and some excellent groove-tastic production, Ariana Grande’s “Into You” is a winner of epic proportions. This will be added to my permanent workout routine.

 

John Noonan, former national security adviser for Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney, published a tweetstorm condemning Donald Trump’s rhetoric and childlike wonder of our nuclear weapons. If you haven’t seen the tweetstorm (which isn’t threaded but has since been Storyfied), you simply must.

 

After the death of Star Trek‘s Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin), his family has filed suit against Chrysler; I’ve operated this gear shift before and it’s super confusing (THR)… A recent collection of studies suggest that flossing ain’t all it’s cracked up to be (NYTimes). WATCH:

Maria Comella, a Chris Christie aide, has broken with the GOP to endorse Hillary Clinton; is this the first legitimate crack in the façade? (CNN)… The City of Brotherly Love has no fondness for dumpster pools (BillyPenn)… The panel on America’s Got Talent—heir-apparent to American Idol—was gobsmacked when a contestant shot an errant arrow (YouTube).

 

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As I was getting ready to leave my weekly barber appointment, Triscuit jumped in George’s race-car red barber chair. When I went to take her picture, George decided to wrap the smock around her and stage a goof-pic. I posted to Instagram and thought nothing of it.

Cut to a few days ago: a video producer for People.com sent me a message and said they’d like to use the pic on their website. I’m told it’ll go live on Monday, so I’ll post an update as soon as I know it’s up.

Triscuit has an agent in Los Angeles looking to license her nutty videos, based on the snow-faceplant video and footage of her munching the mail. When you figure in that I wrote a book inspired by her, she’s got more than her 15 minutes.

 

That’s it from me this week, Cranker Darlings. See you right back here next Thursday at 2.

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Will Pollock is a cranky New York City escapee living in Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist and author of two books (Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way. Sign up for the mailing list, follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram—and check out the book links below.

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