This spec spot for New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) from young, up-and-coming, unsigned director Keef takes us through the city to see assorted people getting around town in various makeshift ways to presumably avoid the high gasoline prices that go with driving a car. The modes of transportation range from a unicycle to a pogo stock to a bike, to one man carrying another on his back to a gent bouncing on a giant ball to even a woman on a pair of stilts.
Some of the commuting means are a bit unwieldy such as a full grown woman trying to peddle a kid’s tricycle. All the action unfolds to the lyrics, “I’ve Got a Brand New Pair of Roller Skates,” as we see an MTA subway train making its way through the city. A super reads, “MTA. The easy way to get around.”
A parting shot shows the last woman mentioned now walking, carrying the tiny tricycle over her shoulder.
Keef directed the spec piece via Quixotic, New York, teaming on the project with editor Matt Shapiro of Crew Cuts, New York.
Supreme Court Seems Likely To Uphold A Law That Could Force TikTok To Shut Down On Jan. 19
The Supreme Court on Friday seemed likely to uphold a law that would ban TikTok in the United States beginning Jan. 19 unless the popular social media program is sold by its China-based parent company.
Hearing arguments in a momentous clash of free speech and national security concerns, the justices seemed persuaded by arguments that the national security threat posed by the company's connections to China override concerns about restricting the speech either of TikTok or its 170 million users in the United States.
Early in arguments that lasted more than two and a half hours, Chief Justice John Roberts identified his main concern: TikTok's ownership by China-based ByteDance and the parent company's requirement to cooperate with the Chinese government's intelligence operations.
If left in place, the law passed by bipartisan majorities in Congress and signed by President Joe Biden in April will require TikTok to "go dark" on Jan. 19, lawyer Noel Francisco told the justices on behalf of TikTok.
At the very least, Francisco urged, the justices should enter a temporary pause that would allow TikTok to keep operating. "We might be in a different world again" after President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20. Trump, who has 14.7 million followers on TikTok, also has called for the deadline to be pushed back to give him time to negotiate a "political resolution." Francisco served as Trump's solicitor general in his first presidential term.
But it was not clear whether any justices would choose such a course. And only Justice Neil Gorsuch sounded like he would side with TikTok to find that the ban violates the Constitution.
Gorsuch labeled arguments advanced by the Biden administration' in defense of the law a... Read More