Kim Jong Un: The Unauthorized Biography (Amazon)
As a sucker for a good piece of despot propaganda, I don’t care about Trump’s dalliance with Kim – the “threat of nuclear war” that comes careening through our Twitter feeds each week. No, give me some grainy, repurposed footage of the Great Successor kissing babies while their mothers cry forced tears of joy in a courtyard of rowed devotees. Give me some pocket camerawork of an impoverished ghetto’s market. Give me some British narration over an intense orchestral simmer. Give me serene pan-outs of the mountainside – any mountainside – even though camera restrictions are so intense throughout the People’s Republic that most films about the country just show the same old mountain. Pretty much every film about North Korea is the same and yet I cannot get enough of it.The Vietnam War (PBS)
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s latest effort is meticulous and fascinating in many of the ways the pair’s previous documentaries have been, but there’s something about watching a contemporary interview with a veteran get spliced with actual on-the-ground footage of that same veteran in combat that speaks to that pivotal event’s enduring status as the battle that brought the horrors of war into America’s living rooms. Was America during that time more mad and tumultuous than it is today? Quite possible.Manny Machado Highlights (YouTube)
My team, the Baltimore Orioles, is reportedly considering a move of their star third baseman to shortstop next season, creating more offense on the left side of the infield and additional opportunities for Machado – who’s simply a wizard in the field – to execute double plays with his best friend, second baseman Jonathan Schoop. Machado’s a free agent next year, and if 2017 was the last season I’ll root for him at third, so be it. Least I can do is watch the way he’s handled the hot corner through his first six years in the league.– News Editor Chase Hoffberger
This article appears in December 1 • 2017.