Tiffany repeatedly screamed, &#8220;Shakira, Shakira!&#8221; — which Shakira appeared to ignore.

Desean Terry, who portrayed former anchor Daniel

Wes Anderson Makes Short Stop To Revisit Roald Dahl – Deadline

Writer-director Wes Anderson had a summer specialty hit with Asteroid City, and now he’s back, in a miniaturized form. Here is the first trailer for The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar, a 39-minute film he adapted from a 1977 short story by Roald Dahl. Have a look above.

Described as an “extremely faithful” adaptation of the tale from The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, the pic centers on Sugar (Benedict Cumberbatch), a rich man who learns about a guru who can see without using his eyes and then sets out to master the skill in order to cheat at gambling. Ralph Fiennes plays Dahl, and Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley and Richard Ayoade also star. Anderson, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson are the producers.

The semi-short premiered out of competition at the 80th Venice Film Festival on September 1. Anderson was feted with the fest’s Glory to the Filmmaker Award during the Lido event.

Anderson previously mined Dahl for 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox, which was nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar but lost to the Disney/Pixar classic Up.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar will screen in select theaters starting September 20 before its starts streaming on Netflix a week later.

Writer-director Wes Anderson had a summer specialty

Entertaintment

The Last Hurrah: Movies About Final Journeys

I saved the best for last. Living (2022) is by far the best new release I’ve seen in the last decade. It’s a remake of Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s heart-breaking classic Ikiru (1956) and set in 1950s London (Ikiru (1956)). With brilliant direction by Oliver Hermanus, an astounding script by Kazuo Ishiguro and an Oscar-worthy performance by Bill Nighy, Living is one of the few movies that lives up to the original.

Bill Nighy plays Mr. Williams, a stodgy civil servant who is all about propriety and routine. He’s a widower who lives with his son and daughter-in-law and simply goes through the motions of life. In fact, he is so set in his routine that his coworkers can predict his every move.

When he learns that he has terminal cancer and has very little time left, he does something completely out-of-the-ordinary for him. He doesn’t show up at work. Instead he decides that he’s going to enjoy his final days. Mr. Williams is now enjoying every moment, allowing himself to have fun, meet new people and really connect with others and his surroundings. And he’s not about to shuffle off his mortal coil before making a significant impact on his community.

If you want to have a good cathartic cry, then Living is the movie for you. I can’t say enough good things about this movie. I first watched it when it premiered at Sundance and was blown away by the message, the story, the visuals and Bill Nighy’s powerful performance. It really instilled in me a new appreciation for life and what it means to actually live. In my original review I wrote: “It’s brilliant, heartbreaking and soul-reviving. It breathed new life into me.”

If there is one last movie I can recommend to you, let it be this one.

I saved the best for

Movies

C.I.A. Discloses Identity of Second Spy Involved in ‘Argo’ Operation

In the midst of the 1979 Iran hostage crisis, the C.I.A. began what came to be noted as one of the spy agency’s most successful publicly known operations: the rescue of six American diplomats who had escaped the overrun U.S. Embassy — using a fake movie as the cover story.

“Argo,” the real-life 2012 movie about the C.I.A.’s fake movie, portrayed a single C.I.A. officer, Tony Mendez, played by Ben Affleck, sneaking into Tehran to rescue the American diplomats in a daring operation.

But in reality, the agency sent two officers into Tehran. For the first time on Thursday, the C.I.A. is releasing the identity of that second officer, Ed Johnson, in the season finale of its new podcast, “The Langley Files.”

Mr. Johnson, a linguist, accompanied Mr. Mendez, a master of disguise and forgery, on the flight to Tehran to cajole the diplomats into adopting the cover story, that they were Canadians who were part of a crew scouting locations for a science fiction movie called “Argo.” The two then helped the diplomats with forged documents and escorted them through Iranian airport security to fly them home.

Although Mr. Johnson’s name was classified, the C.I.A. had acknowledged a second officer had been involved. Mr. Mendez, who died in 2019, wrote about being accompanied by a second officer in his first book, but used a pseudonym, Julio. A painting that depicts a scene from the operation and hangs in the C.I.A.’s Langley, Va., headquarters, shows a second officer sitting across from Mr. Mendez in Tehran as they forge stamps in Canadian passports. But the second officer’s identity is obscured, his back turned to the viewer.

The agency began publicly talking about its role in rescuing the diplomats 26 years ago. On the agency’s 50th anniversary, in 1997, the C.I.A. declassified the operation, and allowed Mr. Mendez to tell his story, hoping to balance accounts of some of the agency’s ill-fated operations around the world with one that was a clear success.

But until recently, Mr. Johnson preferred that his identity remain secret.

“He was someone who spent his whole life doing things quietly and in the shadows, without any expectation of praise or public recognition,” said Walter Trosin, a C.I.A. spokesman and co-host of the agency’s podcast. “And he was very much happy to keep it that way. But it was his family that encouraged him, later in life, to tell his side of the story because they felt there would be value to the world in hearing it.”

After Mr. Trosin heard Mr. Johnson and his family were visiting C.I.A. headquarters early this summer, he arranged to meet them. At the meeting, Mr. Trosin and his podcast co-host saw how much the C.I.A.’s recognition of Mr. Johnson’s work meant to his family and started looking for a way to tell the story on the podcast.

Mr. Johnson, 80, was unavailable to discuss his career on the podcast or with The New York Times because of health issues. Undeterred, Mr. Trosin dived into the agency’s classified archives.

Soon after dangerous operations, the C.I.A. often records secret interviews with the participants, to capture so-called lessons learned for its own, classified histories. In addition, for many storied officers, the C.I.A. records classified oral histories at the end of their careers. C.I.A. historians had done one such oral history with Mr. Johnson.

“We found out there was this prior interview,” Mr. Trosin said. “And at least portions of which could be made public.”

Thanks to the “Argo” movie, the C.I.A.’s role in the rescue of the diplomats, who were being sheltered by the Canadians, has become one of the agency’s best-known operations.

The C.I.A. museum, which has a tendency to dwell on the agency’s failures, features a display on the operation. Among the artifacts is a copy of the script — or at least treatment — of the fake movie complete with the Hollywood-esque tagline “A Cosmic Conflagration.” Also displayed are the business cards of the fake production company used as part of the cover story and the concept art for the movie, which featured drawings from Jack Kirby, the celebrated comic book artist who helped create the Marvel universe.

Like the painting, the museum display did not identify Mr. Johnson.

But C.I.A. officials said Mr. Johnson, an expert in languages and extracting people from tricky places, was invaluable to the operation.

At the time of the hostage crisis, Mr. Johnson was based in Europe, focusing his Cold War work on learning how to get in and out of countries that were not always hospitable to Americans.

When Iranian revolutionaries overran the American Embassy and took 52 diplomats hostage, six Americans working in the consular office escaped. They eventually ended up under the protection of Kenneth D. Taylor, Canada’s ambassador to Iran, and the C.I.A. began working on a plan to sneak them out of the country.

Mr. Mendez, who had worked with Hollywood experts to hone his tradecraft, came up with the plan to use a fake movie, which he named “Argo” after the story of Jason and the Argonauts, the ancient Greek heroes who had undertaken the arduous mission to retrieve the Golden Fleece.

While some C.I.A. extraction operations at the time used single officers, the agency decided that for the rescue of the six diplomats, two officers would be needed, said Brent Geary, a C.I.A. historian who has studied the agency’s history in Iran.

Mr. Johnson was fluent in French, German, Spanish and Arabic. He did not, however, speak Persian, the predominant language in Iran.

Dr. Geary said the agency had Persian speakers, but could not risk sending in someone who might be known to current or former Iranian officials. The belief was also that someone fluent in the local language could draw questions, and what was critical to the mission was having people with Mr. Mendez’s and Mr. Johnson’s skill sets.

“They had trained to get in and out of tight spots,” Dr. Geary said.

Even without Persian, Mr. Johnson’s languages came into use. Soon after arriving, Mr. Mendez and Mr. Johnson mistakenly ended up at the Swedish Embassy, across the street from the U.S. Embassy, which was occupied by the Iranian revolutionaries.

Outside the embassy, Mr. Johnson discovered that both he and the Iranian guard spoke German, and the two began talking. The guard then hailed a taxi and wrote the address of the Canadian Embassy on a piece of paper and sent the two fake movie producers off.

“I have to thank the Iranians for being the beacon who got us to the right place,” Mr. Johnson said in his oral history.

In the “Argo” movie, Mr. Affleck, portraying Mr. Mendez, is shown swiping Iranian forms that were needed to enter and exit the country. But in reality, it was Mr. Johnson who performed the sleight of hand to steal the documents. (Mr. Affleck did not respond to a request to comment.)

In his oral history, Mr. Johnson said the “biggest thing” was to persuade the diplomats that they could pull off the movie team cover story.

“These are rookies,” Mr. Johnson recalled in the recorded session. “They were people who were not trained to lie to authorities. They weren’t trained to be clandestine, elusive.”

But Mr. Johnson recounted that the six diplomats pulled it off, putting aside their nervousness and adopting the persona of a happy-go-lucky film crew.

The climax of the real movie — spoiler alert for a film that has been out for more than a decade — involves Iranian government officials reacting skeptically to the cover story, then realizing the “film crew” were American diplomats and chasing the plane down the runway. None of which happened.

In reality, there was simply one last security check as the group left the departure lounge.

“A couple of young Iranians, they’re patting people down as they went through,” Mr. Johnson recalled, noting that the diplomats were leaning into their parts, cracking jokes as they approached the checkpoint.

With that, the diplomats, Mr. Mendez and Mr. Johnson were through the last checks. In the oral history, Mr. Johnson recalled boarding and seeing the plane’s name painted on the side. It was named Aargau, and Mr. Johnson thought to himself, “What the hell?”

“After a bit, I forget when, I picked up The Herald Tribune and did the crossword puzzle,” Mr. Johnson said, adding, “One of the clues was Jason’s companions … Jason and the Argonauts.”

In the C.I.A. podcast, Mr. Trosin said the name of the plane and the crossword were simply coincidences.

“To be clear,” Mr. Trosin said, “this is not C.I.A. officers with excess free time just planting clues.”

In the midst of the 1979 Iran

J Balvin and Usher Show Off Their ‘Dientes’ in New Music Video

J Balvin’s new single “Dientes” has landed with a matching, neon-colored music video featuring guest artists Usher and DJ Khaled.

The EDM and reggaeton track “Dientes,” meaning teeth in Spanish, was made using an interpolation of Usher’s 2004 record-breaking hit, “Yeah!” The music video is set against lively city streets and bright indoor dance floors that place all three stars on center stage. Khaled even hits his signature, viral dance move atop a Dance Dance Revolution-looking video game.

Usher’s 2004 cover of Vibe magazine also regularly flashes on the screen (with the same “Cheating, Fighting and Getting High… Yeah!” headline) in reference to R&B artist’s career.

The track was produced by an impressive team comprised of Mura Masa, Fred Ball, DJ Luian, Mambo Kingz, Tainy, and Michael Brun, and is described as a “testament to J Balvin’s ability to reinvent and reimagine music while staying true to his Latino roots,” in a press release.

Balvin has not released a full-length studio record since his 2021 album “Jose,” which included hit singles like “Qué Más Pues?” with Maria Becerra, and “Un Día (One Day),” a song by J Balvin, Dua Lipa, Bad Bunny, and Tainy.

The Colombian singer has been credited for inspiring several of the rising and top reggaeton artists on today’s charts including Karol G, with whom Balvin recently shared a stage for Karol’s stadium trek in the United States. His music catalog boasts over 110 billion streams to date, recording the most number of streams in the history of Vevo.

Watch the video below.

J Balvin’s new single “Dientes” has landed

DCU

Review: The Penguin #0 – DC Comics News

104

Review: The Penguin #0

[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]

Writer: Chip Zdarsky

Artists: Belen Ortega

Color Artist: Luis Guerrero

Letterer: Clayton Cowles

Review by: Kendra Smart

Summary

The Penguin #0 gives readers a peek into the Penguin in his element and prime. The spotlight is on him as he maneuvers his way out of Gotham with a false death and into a normal life. Seems feasible, right? But in his absence, there is a definite squabble that Catwoman finds herself in the middle of as the descendants of Penguin and his many rivals come to pick the bones clean. Gotham is about to find itself with many more corpses.

In Memory

The cover that we get for The Penguin #0 is astounding indeed. Belen Ortega provides great artwork, coupled with Alejandro Sánchez’s color work. We get a scene for Catwoman, and even meet a new character this issue who is a robotic creation known as The Executor. The Executor is quite the pun given what happens this issue. Let’s jump right in.

Nom De Plume

The Penguin’s Iceberg Lounge has been a laundering site for many of those looking to make their money “clean”. It is an empire prized by many, and this is proven by the vultures coming to claim his bergs now that he is “dead”. The Iceberg Lounge is like Boardwalk on a Monopoly board, and everyone is gunning for it. Catwoman finds herself between Finbar Sullivan and The Yakuza, both of whom wish to lay claim.

Interrupted by The Underbroker and his associate The Executor, they insist, quite pointedly, that the will must be honored. That should settle things, but Catwoman has her own mess to clear when The Executor requests her help with finding Cobblepot’s next of kin. Of course, she is given a monetary incentive, but the problem is… they keep dying. Will Catwoman finish her mission or will she have to seek counsel from beyond the grave?

Positives

The Penguin #0 presents us with many high points. From the artwork to the story, new characters and fiendish foes, everything is executed splendidly. I loved every twist and turn, even when they were predictable. If Chip Zdarsky is giving us the type of story telling we can expect for this series… it heightens my anticipation ten fold.

Negatives

There really are none in The Penguin #0. Given that this is a zero issue, I expected a lot of fluff, but there was none. It was wonderful from panel to panel.

Verdict

With The Penguin #0, it feels like we are in for a wild ride. One that will explore Cobblepot on a different level then we have seen, and that is always exciting to a fan. Exploring the world of Gotham in a deeper way is always fun, but I also like that we get to see the stark, raw comparison of Metropolis and Gotham at their centers. Definitely a recommended pick up.

Score: 5/5

Images Courtesy of DC Entertainment.

104 Review: The Penguin #0 [Editor’s Note: This review

Comics

New metallic PS5 controllers and console covers have been revealed

Sony has revealed that it will be releasing three new DualSense and console cover colours, this time with a “smooth metallic finish”.

The three colours – Volcanic Red, Cobalt Blue and Sterling Silver – are due for release in the coming months, and all come under the name The Deep Earth Collection.

The controllers will each cost $74.99 / €74.99 / £64.99, while the console covers will cost $59.99 / €59.99 / £49.99.

The Volcanic Red and Cobalt Blue controllers and console covers will released on November 3, while the Sterling Silver ones will arrive on Jaunary 26, 2024.

Sony says pre-orders for all models will start on October 4.

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“While crafting this new collection of DualSense controller and PS5 console cover colors, we drew inspiration from the beautiful and powerful hues found in the depths of planet Earth,” Sony’s design team member Satoshi Aoyagi said. “We elevated the colors by adding a metallic finish for a touch of sophistication.”

Fellow design team member Leo Cardoso added: “Volcanic Red boasts a rich blazing red tone. Cobalt Blue, on the other hand, presents a deep shade of blue with intriguing hints of purple. Lastly, Sterling Silver showcases a classic aesthetic with a subtle blue undertone.”

Sony has revealed that it will be

'Unruly' wins Dragon Award Best Nordic Film

Festivals

MIA 2023 – First Guests Announced

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MIA 2023 – First Guests Announced

MIA | MERCATO INTERNAZIONALE AUDIOVISIVO Roma, Italy, October 9 – 13 2023

THE GLOBAL AUDIOVISUAL ECOSYSTEM TO MEET AGAIN IN ROME AT MIA 2023

Among the first confirmed speakers: Paramount’s Nicole Clemens; Sara Bernstein of Imagine Documentaries; Marge Dean of Skybound Entertainment; Waltz with Bashir director and author Ari Folman; Severance producer Nicholas Weinstock of Invention Studios; James Townley of Banija

Pictured: Gaia Tridente

Rome, September 12th 2023 – MIA | Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo returns with its 9th edition to be held in Rome from October 9-13, 2023 in its historic venues of Palazzo Barberini and Cinema Barberini. For this edition, MIA Digital platform will be active to allow registered attendees, live and remote, to access all sessions live and on demand.

MIA, directed by Gaia Tridente, is the most important industry event in Italy and one of the must-attend international marketplaces. It is focused on co-production, financing strategies and models, sales and distribution, works-in-progress, nurturing talent and project circulation.

Born in 2015, and grown thanks to the well-established joint venture between ANICA (Italian Association of Film, Audiovisual and Digital Industries), chaired by Francesco Rutelli, and APA (Italian Audiovisual Producers Association) chaired by Chiara Sbarigia, MIA is possible thanks to the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, ITA-Italian Trade Agency, with the contribution of Creative Europe MEDIA. MIA is also supported by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Italian Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, and the Lazio Region.

Unicredit is the Official Sponsor.

MIA got the patronage of Eurimages, the cultural support fund of the Council of Europe, also for the 2023 edition.

FIRST CONFIRMED SPEAKERS

Some of the most acclaimed and visionary producers, commissioners, buyers, distributors, executives, financing partners and talents worldwide will be discussing the opportunities and challenges of audio-visual production and distribution in today’s international content paradigm. Three women have joined the speaker line-up to be featured in 3 key sessions at the upcoming MIA: Nicole Clemens, Sara Bernstein and Marge Dean.

Nicole Clemens serves as President of Paramount Television Studios (PTVS) and Paramount+ Original Scripted Series. As President of PTVS, Clemens oversees a robust slate of shows for buyers across multiple platforms. Upcoming productions from PTVS include Taika Waititi’s Time Bandits and Billy Crystal’s Before, both of which will stream on Apple TV+, and Cross, which stars Aldis Hodge, for Prime Video. At Paramount+ Clemens ran point on the platform’s original scripted series, shepherding global hit series for Paramount+ such as Halo, The Offer, and the Star Trek franchises. In addition, Clemens recently executive produced the British drama Sexy Beast with Paramount Television International Studios for Paramount+, and oversaw the making of another British drama, The Gold, for Paramount+. Clemens will talk about her career and Paramount’s strategic production worldwide.

Sara Bernstein is an award-winning producer and President of Imagine Documentaries – the production company founded by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard. She leads the development and production of premium documentary feature films and series. Bernstein will give a keynote on his career with special reference to recent productions like Judy Blume Forever (Amazon Studios), Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman (Disney+), The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (Netflix). During her career Bernstein has garnered 11 Emmy wins, 33 Emmy nominations and 11 Peabody Awards, and the documentary features she has supervised have garnered two Oscars and 13 Oscar nominations.

Marge Dean Head of Skybound Entertainment’s Animation Studio, Emmy-winning animation industry veteran and President of Women In Animation, will keynote on the development and production of adult and teen animated content, including Invincible for Amazon Prime. Known for building both studios and animation pipelines, Dean has played a major role in shaping or reshaping entities including Columbia-TriStar TV, Warner Bros. Animation, Mattel’s Playground Production, Steve Oedekerk’s Omation, Technicolor Animation and Wildbrain Entertainment. Before joining Skybound, she served as Head of Studio at the preeminent anime distributor, Crunchyroll.

Additional names announced for MIA talks include Ari Folman, award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and animator, known for Waltz With Bashir (Golden Globe award for best foreign language film in 2009), The Congress and Where Is Anne Frank. Nicholas Weinstock, Founder and President of Invention Studios, who developed and produced the Showtime limited series Escape at Dannemora, which was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards, the hit series In the Dark, which ran for 4 seasons on Netflix and, most recently, the Emmy Award-winning Apple+ series Severance. James Townley, Chief Content Officer Development at Banijay, who will give a keynote on the development and creation of unscripted IP and the acquisition of formats and documentaries in the 21 countries around the world where the group has a presence.

Additional speakers will be announced in the coming weeks along with the full program of the market.

ADVISORY BOARDS AND SELECTION COMMITTEES

Numerous international professionals serve on MIA’s Advisory Boards and Selection Committees, among them: Andrea Scrosati, Group Chief Operating Officer and CEO Continental Europe, Fremantle; Francoise Guyonnet, Executive Managing Director TV Series StudioCanal; David Davoli, President of International, Anonymous Content; Anna Croneman, Head of Drama, SVT/Sveriges Television; Tinny Andreatta, Vice President Italian Content, Netflix; Helene Goujet, VP of Acquisitions and Editorial, HBO Max – Warner Bros Discovery Streaming Europe; Tesha Crawford, Senior VP global scripted Series, Universal International Studios; Simone Emmelius, SVP International Fiction-Co-production and Acquisition, ZDF; Maria Pia Ammirati, Head of Drama, Rai Fiction; Hans-Jørgen Osnes, Head of International Financing Drama, NRK Content; Frédéric Fiore, Founder & President, Logical Pictures Group; Alessandro Araimo, General Manager Southern Europe Warner Bros. Discovery; Naima Abed, CEO & Founder, Paradise City; Eva Åkergren, Producer, Nordisk Film Production; Claudia Bluemhuber, CEO, Silver Reel; Paolo del Brocco, CEO, Rai Cinema; Kevin Chan, Global Co-Head of Acquisitions, MUBI; Céline Dornier, Head of Film Investments, Logical Pictures; Eva Esseen Arndorff, CEO, TriArt Distribution; Massimiliano Orfei, CEO, Vision Distribution; Christian Beetz, Founder and CEO, gebrueder beetz film production; Chiara Messineo, Senior Producer and Director, Raw Film; Sabine Bubeck-Paaz, Commissioning Editor, ZDF/ARTE; Serge Lalou Producer, Les Films d’Ici; Ken-ichi Imamura, CEO and Producer, Studio IMAKEN; Fabrizio Zappi, Director, Rai Documentari; Antonio Grigolini, Head of Documentaries, France Télévisions; Matthieu Darras, CEO, Tatino Films; Cecilia Padula, VP Head Kids & Family Brands South Europe, Middle East & Africa, Paramount; David Levine, Founder and Executive Producer, Lightboat Media Ltd; Mounia Aram, Founder & Distributor, Mounia Aram Company; Yago Fandiño Lousa, Director of Clan TV and Head of Children Content, RTVE; Izabela Rieben, Producer Drama & Animation, RTS.

The full lists of members of the Advisory Boards and Selection Committees, is available on the MIA website.

HOSTED PROGRAM

Thanks to a combined execution of strategic relations at a European level, MIA will host the second edition of Spanish Screenings on Tour, one of the main initiatives of Spanish Screenings XXL, supported through the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan promoted by the Spanish Ministry of Culture and Sports through ICEX España Exportación and Inversiones, the Malaga Festival and the San Sebastian Festival. One of the goals of the initiative is to boost and provide new opportunities for the Iberian audio-visual industry, through its presence in internationally relevant markets, such as MIA.

MIA BUYERS’ CLUB

MIA’s program devoted to international distribution has been completely redesigned to better support the circulation of films, with a focus on theatrical distribution. In addition to screenings of completed films, during the Comin’UP sessions – a new program that offers sales agents an exclusive space where they can present buyers with previews of their films still in the works – exclusive scenes, excerpts or teasers of films that will not be released in theaters until 2024 will be shown. In addition, thanks to the revamped WIP C EU Soon program, European films in post-production and still without an international sales agent will also be shown. To support films and theatrical distribution, the Market Screenings also return: from previews to the latest films just seen at major late-summer festivals, MIA offers sales agents a strategic space for their market screenings

– END –

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WGA and AMPTP Talks Expected to Resume Next Week – IndieWire

A few weeks after the latest talks between the WGA and the AMPTP stalled out in late August, the two organizations are expected to resume negotiations on a new contract sometime next week.

In a statement Thursday, the AMPTP said that leadership of the Writer’s Guild of America, which has been on strike since May, reached out to the trade association and asked to set up a meeting for further discussion. According to the AMPTP, a specific date for the meeting has yet to be scheduled, but is being planned for next week.

“On Wednesday, September 13, the WGA reached out to the AMPTP and asked for a meeting to move negotiations forward,” an AMPTP spokeperson told IndieWire in a statement. “We have agreed and are working to schedule a meeting next week. Every member company of the AMPTP is committed and eager to reach a fair deal, and to working together with the WGA to end the strike.”

“The WGA and AMPTP are in the process of scheduling a time to get back in the room,” the WGA said in a statement to members on Thursday.

The guild is also meant to meet with a group of showrunners on Friday morning to provide an update on negotiations.

The WGA went on strike May 2, halting writing and development on guild-covered films and movies for four months. After almost 100 days without formal negotiation, the AMPTP and the WGA met on August 4 to discuss new terms for a contract. No deal was reached, and the two parties met again on August 11, and WGA leadership informed members that they had received a counterproposal that they were reevaluating.

The guild ultimately rejected the counterproposal on August 22, and in response, the AMPTP released the proposal publicly hours later. In a message to membership later that week, the WGA criticized the proposal as “neither nothing, nor nearly enough” and said they “will continue to advocate for proposals that fully address our issues rather than accept half measures like those mentioned above and other proposals not listed here.”

In addition to the WGA, SAG-AFTRA has also been on strike since July 14, leaving Hollywood movie and TV productions completely shut down for the foreseeable future. Currently, the AMPTP has not begun negotiations with SAG-AFTRA, instead focusing on ending the longer WGA strike.

A few weeks after the latest talks

Bill Willingham says Fables is in the public domain now

Congratulations, John Q. Public, you’re the proud owner of a new Fables comic book series.

After trying and failing to negotiate with DC Comics in good faith, Bill Willingham put his beloved comic book series Fables in the public domain. Fables ran on DC’s Vertigo imprint from 2002 to 2023, with the last issue releasing in 2022. In his must-read Substack post, Willingham explains that after 20 years of working with DC, the “honest men and women of integrity” who began the relationship were released “by a revolving door of strangers, of no measurable integrity.” As a result, whenever he needed to work with the company, DC would “interpret every facet of our contract in ways that only benefit DC Comics and its owner companies.” So he’s giving the comic to everyone by putting it in the public domain. DC Comics did not immediately respond to The A.V. Club’s request for comment.

Willingham explains he could not afford to sue DC and grew exhausted attempting to get “them to live up to the letter and the spirit of our long-time agreements.” Over the last 20 years, the company, he argues, consistently violated their agreements. He says DC failed to seek approval on new books or third-party releases and attempted to trick him out of ownership when they approached him about doing a 20th-anniversary book. The company also failed to protect the property from third-party releases, notably Telltale Games, which would “alter the characters, settings, history, and premises of the story.” DC was also under no obligation to pay him for third-party releases because the license wasn’t anticipated in their original agreement. And mirroring other entertainment industry labor disputes, DC failed to pay Willingham his royalties in a timely manner, leaving him to seek them out.

To be clear, Willingham says he cannot publish more Fables without DC, but the public didn’t sign any such contract. He continues:

If I understand the law correctly (and be advised that copyright law is a mess; purposely vague and murky, and no two lawyers – not even those specializing in copyright and trademark law – agree on anything), you have the rights to make your Fables movies, and cartoons, and publish your Fables books, and manufacture your Fables toys, and do anything you want with your property, because it’s your property.

Mark Buckingham is free to do his version of Fables (and I dearly hope he does). Steve Leialoha is free to do his version of Fables (which I’d love to see). And so on. You don’t have to get my permission (but you might get my blessing, depending on your plans). You don’t have to get DC’s permission, or the permission of anyone else. You never signed the same agreements I did with DC Comics.

We look forward to seeing everyone’s new Fables books, movies, and TV shows soon.

Congratulations, John Q. Public, you’re the proud

What to Watch

Is ‘No Doubt in Us’ on Netflix? Where to Watch the Series

Netflix subscription is required to watch on Netflix

Great news! “No Doubt in Us” is available to watch on Netflix USA!

Date Added: 31st December 2022

Want to keep forever? Try looking for ‘No Doubt in Us’ on Amazon (paid link)

History:

12/31/2022: 24 Episodes (2021)

09/14/2023: 2 Seasons (2022)

Description:

When an emperor accidentally switches bodies with his empress, the two must deal with the awkward fallouts as they learn to accept each other.

Certificate: TV-PG
Parental Guidance suggested

Year: 2022

Duration: 2 Seasons

Available Seasons: Season 1 (24 Ep)

Audio: Mandarin (Putonghua) [Original]

Subtitles: English, Spanish, French, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese

Episode Length: 13min

Cast and Crew

Director: Wang Fengbin

Cast: Xu Jiaqi, Zhang Jie, Su Shangqing, Qian Chen, Zhao Shuang

Production & Season Details:

Status: Returning Series”No Doubt in Us” is a TV show produced by Paper Plane Animation Studio, bilibili, Manman Comics, Lianshang Literature, 丹丹, CC and Zhulang. The show was originally broadcast on bilibili (China) and premiered on April 21st 2021. So far there have been 2 seasons (comprising of 48 episodes) of “No Doubt in Us”. The most recent episode aired on April 19th 2023 and more seasons are expected in the future.

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Available on Netflix USA!

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Awards

‘Nyad’ Helmer Talks Directing Annette Bening, Jodie Foster at Sea – The Hollywood Reporter

If you’re wondering whether long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad liked Nyad – where the titular character played by Annette Bening fulfills her dream of finishing the Cuba-to-Florida swim at age 64 – a good judge would be her real-life coach, Bonnie Stoll, played by Jodie Foster in the Netflix drama.

“Well, it has her name on it, so she loves it!” Stoll told the Princess of Wales Theatre at the Toronto Film Festival on Thursday night during a post-screening Q&A. Stoll stood in for Nyad, who was a no-show at the international premiere at TIFF after Telluride due to her membership in SAG-AFTRA, as were Bening and Foster due to their own Hollywood strike restrictions.

But the marathon swimming drama does little to dissuade its viewers that the true-life Nyad is 100 percent self-centered and driven or, as Foster’s Stoll tells her best friend in the film, she has “a superiority complex.”

The movie dramatizes Nyad who, in 2013, became the first person to swim the 110-mile distance from Cuba to Florida without the aid of a shark cage. It was her fifth attempt, and she completed a 53-hour swim through the dangerous open ocean that included overcoming sharks and poisonous jellyfish.

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi was without co-director Jimmy Chin in Toronto to present her narrative debut, where she heaped praise for Bening and Foster’s performances. “These actors have access to these emotions and craft and having that as tools for us to tell this story was incredibly helpful,” she recalled.

Stoll told the TIFF audience she spent much time with Foster but never offered advice about playing her role. “I never said a word about anything, until after I saw the movie. And from the first time I saw it, I was watching myself up there,” she recounted.

Vasarhelyi talked about making her and Chin’s first narrative film after winning an Academy Award for their 2018 documentary Free Solo about rock climber Alex Honnold. She also opened up about diving into dangerous waters for Nyad, with cameras rolling in a giant tank in the Dominican Republic.

“It was tough. We shot for 41 days, started shooting in a tank and I’ve never directed actors before, and I’m given a bullhorn and told to yell at Jodie Foster and Annette Bening across the water. To their credit, they were gracious,” Vasarhelyi remembered.

Nyad is produced by Andrew Lazar and Teddy Schwarzman and was developed by Mad Chance and Black Bear Pictures. The feature will hit theaters on Oct. 20 before launching on Netflix on Nov. 3.

If you’re wondering whether long-distance swimmer Diana

Music

How Tim Flannery, the Giants Coach, Got Back to Writing Songs

Night had fallen, spirits were moving and the songwriting baseball coach was rounding third base and headed for home. Twice in the autumn of 2020, doctors had advised a gravely ill Tim Flannery to say goodbye to his family. Both times, he declined to surrender.

The right arm that sent home so many San Francisco base runners during the Giants’ three World Series titles from 2010 to 2014 waved away a final coda.

The road back from the brink was as unlikely as the man himself. An infielder turned popular coach, Flannery was always something more. A musician who carried a guitar with him on the road, and a surfer who posed with a board on one of his trading cards, he could not help but stand out in the strait-laced world of Major League Baseball.

Having transitioned fully into philanthropy and songwriting in his baseball retirement — his foundation has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for anti-bullying causes — he had more people to help and more stories to tell. So giving in to a life-threatening staph infection was not an option.

Fate and Flannery eventually reached a standstill during his harrowing, three-month battle with the infection, but doctors still warned him that he might never walk again. He fell into sepsis and required two back surgeries to clear away abscesses and damaged tissue. He went home with a tube that sent antibiotics streaming into his heart. That was the easy part because his wife of 42 years, Donna, administered those doses.

Eventually, walker in hand, with his little granddaughter Jade riding shotgun on the crossbar, he cut a deal: 25 times up the driveway, slowly, 25 times back, painfully, and Jade would be rewarded with an ice cream sandwich.

On particularly productive days, she’d score two.

“I’ve definitely changed my life,” Flannery, 65, said on a recent afternoon at a neighborhood coffee shop near the beach, a familiar twinkle — life — back in his eyes. He had rehearsed for two hours earlier that day. Soon, he would nail down details for the next show with his band, the Lunatic Fringe.

“I’ve looked at moments and things a lot more clearly,” he continued. “And you do try to create good thoughts and try to remember, like, this moment right here. Because if I ever go back to that situation again, I want to try to bring as many good memories and good hallucinations as I can.”

His stay in the hospital was harrowing. “Vicious,” he said of time spent tied down so he did not harm himself or others. The hospital was two miles from his home, but each glance out his window brought more distortion. Not all his visions were awful. His friend Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, appeared by apparition. So did another friend, Jimmy Buffett.

The meaning of those particular visitations would come into focus later, convincing Flannery that they were no coincidence.

Authentic

Through more than four decades of baseball and music, first in San Diego and then in San Francisco, Flannery grew into a beloved player, coach and troubadour — a character — because of an endearing knack for leaving pieces of himself with whomever he met.

“Authentic,” said Flannery’s bandmate and producer, Jeff Berkley. “He is exactly who you think he is. He’s not trying to put on any airs. He’s not trying to be from Kentucky; he is from Kentucky. Until he stopped drinking, man, he carried moonshine around with him wherever he went. He’s a total hillbilly. He wears that term proudly. He’s probably the first woke hillbilly.”

Because Flannery felt some baseball people viewed his guitar suspiciously during his years in San Diego, he initially intended to keep that part of his life quiet when he agreed to coach for Bruce Bochy in San Francisco.

“I was going to come coach third and not let anybody in,” Flannery said. “I thought, ‘No one’s going to tear my heart.’”

But in 2011, his music came to the forefront when he founded the Love Harder Project in response to the horrific beating of Bryan Stow, a Giants fan who was attacked in the Dodger Stadium parking lot on opening day in 2011. With the foundation, which has a mission of anti-bullying and anti-violence, Flannery has helped raise around $100,000, mostly through shows with the Lunatic Fringe, to offset the Stow family’s medical costs.

“Hey, I hit nine home runs in the ’80s,” Flannery said. “I can’t just write a check.”

But he could write, and play, and sing.

Stow, now 54, sustained a serious brain injury in the attack and today lives at home in the Santa Cruz area with his parents. He is taking memory and mobility courses at a local community college and learned on Father’s Day that he was going to be a grandfather.

“Flan was one of the first to come to the forefront and help Bryan out. It was just amazing,” said Ann Stow, Bryan’s mother. “And he’s been that way throughout Bryan’s journey. Flan and Donna are such an important part of our family.”

In all, the Love Harder Project has raised around $360,000 in Flannery’s ongoing battle against bullies and violence.

Air and Water

Despite what some advised early in his career, Flannery was never going to choose baseball over music.

“Like having to choose between air and water,” he said. “I’ve got to have both.”

Though Flannery mostly was raised in Anaheim, Calif., his family came from the hills of Kentucky. His uncle, Hal Smith, was a catcher who smashed a three-run homer for Pittsburgh in the eighth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. Had the Pirates’ bullpen held the 9-7 lead, Smith would have been a hero. Instead, the Yankees tied things up and Pittsburgh’s Bill Mazeroski won the game and earned immortality.

Smith, who played 10 seasons, regularly carried a Gibson J35 guitar with him on the road. When Flannery signed professionally at 19, he followed suit.

Flannery’s first manager, Roger Craig, told him to focus on baseball rather than playing the guitar, but the instrument remained his constant companion. Kids were born — Daniel now is 37; Ginny, the mother of Tim’s three grandchildren, is 35; Kelly is 32 — and the guitar was there for all of it.

“If it was a crazy day, having that guitar mellowed him out,” Donna Flannery said.

Flannery always stood out from his baseball peers. His 1988 Fleer baseball card featured him holding a surfboard.Credit…Fleer

Another uncle, George, convinced Flannery that playing music wasn’t enough and that he needed to record his songs to tell the stories of his family’s life. Among them is “Pieces of the Past,” a tribute to Flannery’s preacher father, Ragon, who was dying of Alzheimer’s. Jackson Browne and Bruce Hornsby performed on that recording.

On his musical journey, Flannery has opened for Buffett and Emmylou Harris. The Grateful Dead’s Weir entered his life during the benefits for Stow, and Walker, the outlaw country legend and longtime hero of Flannery’s who wrote “Mr. Bojangles,” befriended him during the San Francisco years as well.

“The great thing about the Bay Area, one of the greatest blessings, is I found a place where they understand you can be an artist and still coach third,” Flannery said.

Playing Through Pain

When the pandemic struck and the world closed, Flannery retreated to a getaway he calls his “treehouse” in the mountains north of Santa Barbara.

At his cabin, there is no electricity, no phone service and the water comes straight from a well. The staph infection that nearly killed him started, he believes, as he was building cages to protect the potatoes, corn, tomatoes, okra, spinach and assorted other vegetables he plants there.

“You’ve got to put everything in cages, because there’s animals,” said Flannery, who retired from coaching after the 2014 World Series but stayed in baseball, doing television analysis, through 2019. “I’ve never done any of that stuff because I never had summers off. Somehow, I got cut, or the soil got in.”

As an old ballplayer, when the back pain attacked, he figured he would just play through it.

“I took four Advil, drank a huge cocktail and usually I’d polish that off with a bottle of wine to kill the pain,” he said of his nightly regimen.

But one afternoon he fell asleep, hard, on the deck, waking up only because it was dinner time for his dog, Buddy. Stubborn as his master, Buddy nudged and licked Flannery until he came to. If not for that, Flannery said, he thinks he would have died right there. Instead, the two somehow drove to his San Diego-area home, where Tim collapsed and was taken away by paramedics.

As he was recovering in early 2021, Susan Walker phoned one day. Her husband, Jerry Jeff, had died from cancer in October, and she invited Flannery to perform at a celebration of life in Luckenbach, Texas, that June. At the time, he couldn’t even sit up to play his guitar, but he was determined to make it.

The memorial concert was Flannery’s first gig after regaining his health, and both of the men Flannery felt had visited him in the hospital, in spirit only, played a part. Weir, who was scheduled to be in Luckenbach before travel issues kept him away, phoned just before Flannery went onstage. And Buffett, who died this month, was there in person.

“Hey, you look just like Tim Flannery, only older,” Buffett teased.

The old coach played, at Susan’s request, a Walker original entitled “Last Song” and a tribute Flannery wrote for his friend, “Last of the Old Dogs.”

“I think I kind of stunned people,” Flannery said. “I don’t know how it happened, and it was all beyond myself. When I came off, the whole crew had tears in their eyes.”

Donna Flannery said she finds her husband to be “a kinder person these days, nicer to everybody.”

As one of the lines in a song of his goes, kindness lives on the other side.

And so the man who was told to leave his guitar at home and focus on baseball has instead hung up his spikes. And he will keep trying to make the world just a little bit better.

“When I play, I pray before each show that the great translator, the holy spirit, shows up and changes everything I say and turns it into whatever people need and stick it in their hearts,” Flannery said. “And a couple of days later, when you start to hear back from people, yeah, there’s a reason why I’m playing.”

Night had fallen, spirits were moving and

Docs

The Essentials of Writing a Science Fiction Film Review for College Students Features Film Threat

Science fiction is a genre that transcends boundaries, exploring the realms of the future, space, and technology. It challenges our perceptions of reality and invites us to imagine different worlds and possibilities. As college students, writing film reviews not only allows us to appreciate this fascinating genre but also hones our analytical and critical thinking skills.

However, writing such reviews or essays can sometimes be challenging due to various factors like time constraints, balancing multiple assignments, or finding the right words to articulate our thoughts. In such scenarios, some students might opt to pay for essays online. There are numerous services available where students can hire professional writers to craft their essays, ensuring quality content delivered within deadlines.

Understanding the Science Fiction Genre

Science fiction is a broad and diverse genre that often incorporates speculative, futuristic, and fantastical elements. It explores themes such as advanced technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universes, and extraterrestrial life.

In science fiction films, these themes are often used to comment on current societal issues or speculate about the future of humanity. For example, films like “Blade Runner” explore questions of artificial intelligence and what it means to be human, while “Interstellar” delves into space exploration and its potential consequences.

Notable sci-fi films like “Star Wars,” “The Matrix,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey” have had a significant impact on popular culture and the film industry. They’ve pushed the boundaries of visual effects, storytelling, and thematic exploration, setting the bar high for future films in the genre.

The Role of a Film Review

A film review serves several purposes. It provides an analysis and evaluation of a film, discussing its strengths and weaknesses. It offers potential viewers an informed opinion about whether they might enjoy the film or find it worthwhile.

Unlike a film summary, which simply recounts the plot, a film review delves deeper. It examines various aspects of the film, including the plot structure, character development, cinematography, and thematic content. It also often includes the reviewer’s reaction to the film and their interpretation of its meaning.

Preparing to Write a Science Fiction Film Review

When preparing to write a science fiction film review, the first step is to select a film. Choose one that interests you and that you feel you can analyze in depth.

Next, research the film. Try to understand the director’s vision and intent behind the film. Look up details about the film’s production, such as how certain special effects were achieved or how the film was received by critics and audiences.

This process is akin to seeking custom writing help, where a writer delves deep into a subject to provide a comprehensive and insightful piece. In both instances, thorough research and an understanding of the subject are crucial for producing a high-quality result. Just as custom writing help can assist in creating a compelling essay or report, your research will aid in crafting a well-informed and engaging film review.

Finally, watch the film actively. This means paying attention to more than just the main plot. Take note of the film’s visual style, how scenes are shot, the performances of the actors, and any recurring themes or symbols. These notes will be invaluable when you start writing your review.

Components of a Science Fiction Film Review

A comprehensive science fiction film review includes several key components.

Start with an introduction that provides a brief synopsis of the film, and mentions the director’s name, and the release date. This sets the stage for the reader and gives them basic information about the film.

Next, analyze the plot. Discuss the story arc, how the narrative builds to a climax, and how it resolves. This examination should go beyond mere description and delve into how effectively the plot is constructed and conveyed.

Character analysis is another crucial aspect. Discuss the portrayal of characters, their development throughout the film, and how they contribute to the overall story.

In the realm of science fiction, visual effects, and technological aspects play a significant role. Analyze these elements and discuss their effectiveness and their contribution to the world-building in the film.

Identify the themes and messages of the film. What does the film convey about society, humanity, or our future? How are these themes expressed and explored?

Finally, share your personal opinion and rating. Was the film engaging? Did it succeed in its goals? Your subjective perspective adds a unique touch to the review.

Writing the Review

When writing the review, structure is key. Begin with an introduction that captures the reader’s interest, followed by the body where you delve into your analysis, and conclude with a summary of your thoughts and your rating of the film.

Maintain a balance between fact and opinion. While your perspective is important, grounding your points in the film’s content is crucial for a credible review.

Use persuasive language to convey your viewpoints. Your goal is not only to inform but also to persuade the reader of your perspective.

However, if you find yourself overwhelmed with multiple assignments or struggling to articulate your thoughts effectively, you might consider the option to pay someone to do an assignment. Just like hiring a tutor, this can provide you with expert assistance and ensure that your review is well-structured and insightful.

Reviewing Your Work

Once your review is written, the work isn’t over. Proofreading and editing are crucial steps to ensure your writing is clear, concise, and free from errors.

Don’t underestimate the value of feedback. Have your peers or mentors review your work. They can provide valuable insights and point out any areas that might need improvement. This feedback can be instrumental in refining your review and developing your writing skills.

Conclusion

Writing a science fiction film review is an enriching experience that not only deepens your understanding of the genre but also enhances your writing skills. As you navigate through this journey, remember that your reviews can inspire others to explore this exciting genre. Happy reviewing!

Science fiction is a genre that transcends

Tech

Nobu Malibu Sued Over Sexual Harassment Claim; Third Lawsuit Since 2019 – The Hollywood Reporter

Hollywood hotspot Nobu Malibu was sued Sept. 13 by a Jane Doe plaintiff who alleges hostesses are “subjected to an intense pattern and practice” of sexual misconduct from supervisors. According to a review of court documents by The Hollywood Reporter, the lawsuit contains similar claims as at least two others filed against the Malibu location of the restaurant since 2019.

Nobu didn’t respond to email and phone inquiries for comment. The restaurant was founded by chef Nobu Matsuhisa, Robert De Niro and producer Meir Teper. Since opening in 1994, it’s become a hub for Hollywood power players, and the brand has expanded to include 56 locations across the world and a hotel chain.

The trio of lawsuits claim sexual advances and groping from supervisors after which management neglected to properly respond to the alleged misconduct to prevent retaliation from the employees’ supervisors.

The Jane Doe plaintiff who filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court seeks at least $500,000 and punitive damages. She claims sexual assault and battery, gender discrimination and negligent hiring, among several other claims. In addition to Nobu, she names in the complaint a bar manager named Marcus whose surname wasn’t disclosed. The lawsuit states that his “patented and favorite move was to approach the hostess stand, walk closely behind the female hostesses, and lightly fondle their buttocks before they had the chance to avoid his advances.”

On one occasion in 2021, Marcus allegedly approached the plaintiff in the back office, restrained both of her hands and kissed her neck. He was fired in early the next year after several hostesses reported him for sexual harassment to Nobu management, which was allegedly aware of his pattern of misconduct, the complaint claims.

“Because Marcus was fired so quickly — relative to Plaintiff’s complaint, not his history of sexually inappropriate conduct toward female Nobu hostesses generally — it seemed to Plaintiff that NOBU management was well aware of Marcus’ harassing conduct, but willingly tolerated the conduct so long as no one complained, or complained too loudly or insistently,” the complaint states.

In the wake of Marcus’ termination, Nobu human resources directed hostesses to sign a form as an acknowledgment that they were satisfied with its investigation into their complaints in an effort to secure a “blanket ‘get out of jail free’ employee concession,” according to the plaintiff. Under duress, the staff signed the document despite the firing failing to address the “bigger issue of the less visible sexually aggressive conduct of customers and other managers and co-workers,” the lawsuit claims.

The retaliation the hostess alleged came in the form of management staff, many of whom were friends with Marcus, blocking her from being assigned to the more desirable weekend night shifts, which were given to newer hostesses in a manner that deviated from the restaurant’s long-standing scheduling procedure. Nobu supervisors were also accused of “passive inaction” for allowing Marcus to repeatedly frequent Nobu, “willingly placing their female employees at risk for revictimization and emotional distress,” the complaint says.

Going back to 2012, Nobu has been sued for sexual harassment and retaliation in three other lawsuits. The allegations portray the restaurant as turning a blind eye to allegedly hostile work environments.

In a complaint brought in 2020, a sushi chef alleged that another chef would regularly approach him from “behind while Plaintiff was serving food and grab Plaintiff’s butt” on top of engaging in other inappropriate touching and making crude comments. The chef who filed the complaint claimed he was fired in 2020 amid closures forced by the COVID-19 pandemic after reporting the harassment to human resources. The chef claimed he was the lone lead sushi chef who was not rehired and that the restaurant was looking for more employees in his former position. That case was dismissed in 2021 after it was moved to arbitration.

In another lawsuit filed in 2019, which settled the next year, a kitchen worker accused the restaurant of sexual harassment, gender discrimination, retaliation and negligent hiring, among other claims. She alleged that she was continuously subjected to groping and sexually suggestive comments from her supervisor, who frequently walked behind her to press “his genitals against [her] buttocks,” according to the complaint. While management responded to this worker’s complaints to human resources by “separating” the two for a brief period of time, it proceeded to place them together again, which led to the resumption of the supervisor’s alleged misconduct, the lawsuit claimed. This worker said that she was informed that she would be fired if she continued to complain and that “Defendants have since continued to retaliate against her.” That case settled in 2020.

Additionally, Nobu was sued in 2012 by a former employee for wrongful termination, sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. The case settled the next year.

Hollywood hotspot Nobu Malibu was sued Sept.

‘Seven Veils’ Writer-Director Atom Egoyan Working With Amanda Seyfried – Deadline

SEVEN VEILS

Director: Atom Egoyan
Screenwriter: Atom Egoyan
Logline: Atom Egoyan and his Chloe star Amanda Seyfried reunite for this knotty psychodrama about a young theatre director forced to re-examine her own trauma while working on a remount of Salome.

Panelist: Atom Egoyan (director/ writer/ producer).
First Screening: September 10, 3:45 p.m. EST, Princess of Wales Theater.
Key Quote: “I had a really great relationship working with Amanda on Chloe, and that was 15 years ago, and I thought, Wouldn’t it be interesting to have Amanda play this role and investigate what it means to now take this story back.’”

Click above to watch the panel video.

SEVEN VEILS Director: Atom EgoyanScreenwriter: Atom EgoyanLogline: Atom Egoyan

Entertaintment

EXCLUSIVE: Kanye West and Bianca Censori chow down on KEBABS while sitting on a park bench in Berlin after waiting in line for food – as his ‘wife’ continues to wear nude outfit in public (and she finally cracks a smile!)

Kanye West and his ‘wife’ Bianca Censori are showing no signs of ending their months-long European vacation anytime soon, which has been filled with controversy thanks to her revealing outfits and their outrageous public antics.

The odd couple – who have been holidaying in Italy throughout August and into September – were pictured standing in line at a kebab shop in Berlin, Germany on Thursday, with Bianca wearing yet another eyebrow-raising ensemble.

Kanye, 46, who also goes by ‘Ye,’ had his face covered balaclava-style with a piece of black fabric, while Bianca, believed to be 28, showed off her large cleavage in a Spanx-assisted garment, as they stood in line with the general public for the roasted meat treat.

The Yeezy architect paired her flesh-colored ensemble with closed-toed, see-through heels. Her short, dark locks were parted to the side and combed to barely brush the tips of her shoulders.

Censori opted to wear only dainty, silver ear cuffs on the left side to allow her revealing outfit to be the main focal point as she explored the city with the performer.

EXCLUSIVE: Kanye West and Bianca Censori chow down on KEBABS while sitting on a park bench in Berlin after waiting in line for food – as his ‘wife’ continues to wear nude outfit in public (and she finally cracks a smile!)

She also easily slung a large, black bag over her shoulder to hold items she needed during the daytime excursion.

Kanye continued to sport an all-black ensemble – similar to what he had been wearing while in Italy – and once again chose to wear a pair of black socks rather than comfortable shoes.

At one point, Bianca even smiled to photographers as they waited patiently in line among passers-by who seemed to take no notice of her striking outfit.

Later the pair, who were accompanied by a team member, sat on a public bench to chow down on their lunch from Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap – a popular spot for hearty chicken kebabs in Germany’s capital city.

The couple sparked controversy earlier this month when they were spotted enjoying an amorous moment on a water taxi in Venice, with West exposing his bare buttocks in front of gawking tourists.

Images of the couple showed the American rapper seated at the back of the river taxi while his Australian so-called bride placed her head in his lap.

Venezia Turismo Motoscafi, the company that rented the boat to West and Censori, have since spoken exclusively to Daily Mail Australia and confirmed the couple are ‘no longer welcome’ aboard their boats.

In its statement the company condemned the pair’s bawdy activity, while confirming it was ‘completely unaware’ what occurred on the boat the photos were made public.

That’s put a smile on her face! Kanye’s ‘wife’ Bianca appeared to be delighted to grab some lunch from Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap – a popular spot for hearty chicken kebabs in Germany’s capital city

Nothing to see here: Kanye and Bianca were pictured standing in line for a kebab order while on holiday in Berlin, Germany

Taking a look: The couple were spotted looking through a phone that West held in his hands as they patiently waited in the long line

Getaway: Bianca showed off her large cleavage in a Spanx-assisted garment, as they stood in line with the general public for the roasted meat treat

‘On board, the driver had to keep a lookout for traffic and did not see these obscenities. If this had happened, he would have immediately disembarked and reported the transgressors to those in authority.’

‘In addition, there was a third person on board the taxi, who accompanied Mr. and Mrs. West, who obstructed the captain’s view to the stern in any case.’

The third person was a woman who has been pictured chaperoning West and Censori during their Italian holiday.

The company went on to denounce the couple’s explicit display, saying: ‘We completely dissociate ourselves from such acts and behavior.

‘Mr. West and his wife will certainly no longer be welcome on board our company’s boats,’ they added.

Venezia Turismo Motoscafi is one of Venice’s leading private navigation companies, boasting an impressive array of celebrity clientele, including Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

A Venice police source has also told MailOnline.com, ‘There are standards of public decorum that have to be followed by tourists and locals alike and any breaches are severely punished.’

‘The images of West with his trousers down while in a taxi as he and his partner crossed the lagoon were seen all over the globe.’

Standing in line: Passers by appeared to unfazed by the odd couple despite their bizarre attire – with Kanye wearing a balaclava-style cloth around his head

Refreshing: After giving a rare smile, Bianca was seen quenching her thirst with a watermelon juice box

Make a wish: Kanye’s lady was seen blowing a dandelion while waiting in line for lunch

Busy trip: The couple previously enjoyed a scandalous getaway in Italy from August through September before heading to Germany

‘You could clearly see his trousers were half down and we have received complaints from people who witnessed it. Now we have identified the driver of the boat and we will be asking him what he saw as well,’ the source continued.

‘The images show the couple clearly in a state of intimacy and if the local prosecutor decides to press charges then we will notify the couple, most probably through the relevant embassies.’

‘The offence being investigated is acts contrary to public decency which is punishable by an administrative sanction.’

The water taxi incident was not the first incident that has frustrated locals, with Censori donning various revealing ensembles during the trip.

She recently was spotted wearing a pair of fitted, nude-colored leggings as well as high heels. However, in place of a top, she could be seen holding a purple pillow to her chest on a public outing with West.

Pictured: Mustafa’s Gemüse Kebap is a popular spot among tourists and locals for hearty chicken kebabs in Germany’s capital city

Worth a smile: Bianca appeared be looking forward to her lunch as she stood by Kanye’s side

Same style: Bianca appears to be wearing very similar clothes on their months long trip

Sharing is caring: At one point, Bianca gave her juice box to Kanye for a quick sip

Rapper’s delight: Kanye is seen slumped on the street as he waited in line for the popular snack

Happy at last: Bianca was almost unrecognizable with a smile (if it wasn’t for her unmistakable outfit)

Body language expert, Judi James, told DailyMail.com earlier this month after analyzing their interactions that Kanye is ‘dominating and controlling’ Bianca.

‘Either these two are creating some bizarre form of performance art in a bid to gain attention and publicity or this is Kanye doing what looks like an extreme version of what he has been accused of before – dominating his partner and controlling her wardrobe choices,’ she expressed.

In June, the couple traveled to Tokyo and James explained that at the time, Censori’s ‘smile was wide and her eye expression looked excited.’

‘She even sat slightly in front of Kanye and closer to the camera, whereas recently she has been seen walking behind him, making him look like the leader and the one in control.’

Despite their rather scandalous stay in Italy, the couple appeared to be in good spirits as they enjoyed time in Germany.

‘Controlling’: Body language expert, Judi James, told DailyMail.com earlier this month after analyzing their interactions that Kanye is ‘dominating and controlling’ Bianca

Passing the time: Bianca was seen blowing on what appeared to be a dandelion as she stood next to the Heartless rapper

Making a statement: The Yeezy architect paired her flesh-colored ensemble with closed-toed, see-through heels

Enjoying the weather: Bianca was also accompanied by a mysterious woman and the pair were seen briefly stepping out into the warm sunshine

Rest time: While Bianca stood in the lengthy food line, West was seen taking a seat on the sidewalk to stay in the shade

Observation: In June, the couple traveled to Tokyo and James explained that at the time, Censori’s ‘smile was wide and her eye expression looked excited’

However, a friend close to Bianca recently expressed worry and informed DailyMail.com that she, ‘is stuck and her friends are trying to save her, but no one can because of the blockades Kayne has put up [around her].’

‘Everyone is extremely concerned. This isn’t who she is. She is an incredibly outspoken and lively person who is never one to keep her mouth shut. But she has no one right now and it is scary,’ the source continued.

The insider mentioned the singer’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, and how he allegedly influenced her fashion choices during their relationship. The former couple’s divorce was finalized late last year in November 2022.

‘Kanye is trying to make Bianca into a radicalized version of Kim – almost like Kim 2.0. The difference is that when Kim was with Kanye he was respected in the fashion world. He has since lost this respect.’

Kanye West and his 'wife' Bianca Censori

Movies

Tiffany Haddish Is Being Called Out For Her Behavior Toward Other Celebrities At The 2023 MTV VMAs

Tiffany repeatedly screamed, “Shakira, Shakira!” — which Shakira appeared to ignore.

View Entire Post ›

Tiffany repeatedly screamed, "Shakira, Shakira!" — which

Bradley Olivier and Solomon Cupido deliver one of the best bromance pairings in SA film with ‘Frankie en Felipé’

Bradley Olivier and Solomon Cupido deliver one

MCU

Secret Wars Director Contender Breaks Silence on Rumor He’s In the Running

One MCU director didn’t confirm a rumor that he was in the conversation to direct Avengers: Secret Wars, although he didn’t deny it either.

The open directing chair for Marvel Studios’ Avengers 6 is arguably the biggest blockbuster director gig on the market right now, with rumors hinting that the film will bring the biggest cast of A-list stars and characters of any comic-book movie ever.

This includes big names like Black Panther‘s Ryan Coogler potentially being in the running to direct the highly-anticipated sequel. But as Secret Wars’ development gets closer, it’s inevitable that more MCU filmmakers will be top picks in the minds of fans to direct the massive ensemble, which is currently set to release in 2027.

MCU Director Addresses Avengers: Secret Wars Rumor

Marvel

On September 8, X (formerly Twitter) scooper CanWeGetSomeToast shared a rumor indicating that Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy is a potential candidate to direct Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Secret Wars.

With Deadpool 3 set to feature “a huge ensemble” led by Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, the scooper noted that Levy’s experience with the MCU and Stranger Things would set him up perfectly for Avengers 6:

“With ‘Deadpool 3’ looking like it’ll lead right into ‘Avengers: Secret Wars,’ don’t be surprised if Shawn Levy is also in the running to direct it

‘Deadpool 3’ is going to be a huge ensemble as it is, and ‘Secret Wars’ will be even BIGGER. His experience with the huge ‘Stranger Things’ cast only helps, and working with the MCU is more like TV anyways. He’d be a great fit.”

Additionally, when Levy spoke to Entertainment Tonight (ET) about the rumor, he would neither confirm nor deny that the rumor was true, possibly teasing toward the latter:

ET: “There’s a big old rumor out there that when you’re done with ‘Deadpool,’ then it might be ‘Avengers.'”

Levy: “I read that rumor, and that’s all I’m gonna say.”

Amidst the numerous rumors regarding Avengers 6‘s director, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige shared in November 2022 that “there’ve been no conversations” about who will take that job just yet.

Will Shawn Levy Direct Avengers 6?

Considering the excitement building up for Shawn Levy’s work on Deadpool 3 along with his past experience on projects like Free Guy and Stranger Things, he would seemingly be a great candidate to take on this immense job.

And with Levy also pulling an MCU first by serving as a producer on Deadpool 3 along with his directing duties, it’s clear that he’s putting all the energy he can into making his only Marvel Studios project to date the best that it can possibly be.

For the time being, Avengers 6 is only in its earliest stages of production while Marvel works more heavily on its predecessor, Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, which will be set up in the more immediate future by some key Phase 5 projects.

But should Levy wind up actually taking on the position of director for what should be the biggest movie in the MCU’s nearly 20-year history, and if Deadpool 3 is successful before that, he’d certainly have plenty of favor from all those waiting for the film to happen.

For the time being, Avengers: Secret Wars will debut in theaters on May 7, 2027.

DCU

Event Spotlight – Batman Unmasked

Batman Unmasked is the UK’s first event of its kind, an unprecedented collection of Batman memorabilia from the character’s long and storied history. Iconic items from across the comics and films were all on display like a museum of the Bat. This is the perfect way to celebrate Batman Day and the 15th Anniversary of the release of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. Furthermore, there’s plenty for Bat-fans of all ages to interact with. I had a good long rummage through all the treasure, and this is what I saw.

The entire space from the outside was decorated like a beacon to Batman. It’s one part museum and one part interactive immersion space. The area downstairs is an atmospheric recreation of the Batcave where a mighty, eight-screen Batcomputer shows newsreels from when the Tumbler was in Trafalgar Square, and a glowing podium around rocky cave walls where one could imagine Batman standing, ready to go forth and dispense justice on Gotham City.

We also get that and the creepy insight into the Joker’s insanity in “The Joker Room”, which I’ll leave for you to discover on your own visit.

The majority of the Batman Unmasked venue serves as both a museum and a sale space. After the airy and welcoming cave, you’re greeted by the immense motorcycles used by two different Bat-men. Their costumes loom over you, tall and imposing, and their gadgets are laid out for all to see. These are not replicas. Each item has a card saying it was used or worn by the many actors who have played Batman, and in which film it featured.

The event showcased props from all the way back to Michael Keaton’s first legendary appearance in Batman ’89 to his action-packed return in The Flash in 2023. I do mean it when I say sale space. Each item is for sale, but unless you have a Clooney-esque Bat Credit Card, it’s out of the price range for many of us regular citizens.

After the truly terrifying Joker Room, you get the final main hall where the cowls of every Batman are on display, next to the costumes of multiple Jokers. Some of Lego’s finest stand side by side with Nintendo Switches loaded up with Arkham City.

The floor mural of a detailed map of Gotham City is almost lost in its crowning jewel, the Comic Book Library. The shelves are full of single issues, facsimiles, and trade paperbacks from across Batman’s history. Sealed issues of Batman: Fortnite are also there, next to this week’s release of Batman: Gargoyle of Gotham #1. Trades of Year One and The Long Halloween can be found alongside the Dan Jurgens’ run of Batman Beyond and the numerous crossovers with Scooby-Doo and the Ninja Turtles.

This library is the true, genius MVP of the event. Most of the general public will be lured in by the grand scope of the Batcave and Joker rooms, and gawk at the details of the costumes and gadgets. They’ll have their fun looking at the Lego or playing Arkham, but the fact the event ends with the comics is incredibly important.

Most people who love the movies will get to leave with new Batman reading material of their own, bringing fresh readers to the comics. At the same time, for an enfranchised fan such as myself, the very newest releases are right there among true Bat treasures.

Batman Unmasked is an event like no other. This is the first pop-up of its kind, and they’ve done everything to make sure it’s rightly unforgettable, starting with the magic of the movies and then leading us to the masterful comic-book storytelling that made it all possible. If it goes well this year, then it’ll come back bigger, better, and Battier.

Entry to Batman Unmasked is the hottest ticket in town and the show’s only on from September 15th-17th, so you need to check it out for yourself right here!

86 Batman Unmasked is the UK’s first event

Comics

Disney Dreamlight Valley: All Haunted Holiday Star Path Duties

Disney Dreamlight Valley‘s Star Path duties haven’t always been particularly tricky to figure out, but that seems to be changing with the new Haunted Holiday Star Path. For the first time since the game’s launch, the Star Path duties consist of riddles instead of exact explanations of what to do. As such, we’ve compiled a list of the duties alongside their solutions below.

All Haunted Holiday Star Path duties and how to complete them

Six of these duties will be available to you at any one time. After completing one, you’ll be assigned a new one.

Bond with your animal companions – Pet your companion the listed number of times
Break some rocks – Break the listed number of mining nodes
Build stuff – Craft items the listed number of times
Catch a fish popular in Arendelle – Fish up the listed number of Herring
Catch a fish whose name rhymes with “harp” – Fish up the listed number of Carp
Catch a rainbow-y fish – Fish up the listed number of Rainbow Trout
Catch some fish whose name rhymes with “dream” – Fish up the listed number of Bream
Chat with a pint-sized space ranger – Have the listed number of daily conversations with Buzz
Chat with the king of the jungle – Have the listed number of daily conversations with Simba
Chat with the villager’s best dealmaker – Have the listed number of daily conversations with Ursula
Chat with the woman from the willow – Have the listed number of daily conversations with Mother Gothel
Collect some shoreline shellfish – Collect the listed number of any of the shellfish on Dazzle Beach
Complete Dreamlight duties – Complete the listed number of Dreamlight duties
Craft a potion to boost your mining abilities – Craft a Miracle Pickaxe Polish or Even More Miraculous Pickaxe Polish
Cook meals that would never make the cut at Chez Remy – Cook the listed number of 1-star meals
Cross some items off your regal to-do list – Complete the listed number of Dreamlight duties
Dig for special crystals underground – Mine the listed number of Vitalys Crystals
Do Goofy’s favorite pastime – Catch fish the listed number of times
Eat an ALMOST perfect meal – Eat the listed number of 4-star meals
Engage in Scrooge McDuck’s favorite hobby – Obtain the listed number of coins
Fish for something with claws – Fish up the listed number of Lobster or Crab
Fish for something small in size and name – Fish up the listed number of Shrimp
Gather what’s needed to make Anna’s favorite treat – Forage for the listed number of cocoa beans
Get some especially shiny rocks – Collect the listed number of shiny gems
Get some very valuable rocks – Collect the listed number of gems
Give a sea witch her favorite thing – Give Ursula her favorite gifts the listed number of times
Give a tiny chef his favorite gift – Give Remy his favorite gifts the listed number of times
Give a very grouchy lion his favorite gift – Give Scar his favorite gifts the listed number of times
Give an exceptionally unexceptional villager a favorite gift – Give Mirabel her favorite gifts the listed number of times
Give different villagers a sugar rush – Give the listed number of villagers candy
Give the valley’s finest loot player his favorite gift – Give Kristoff his favorite gifts the listed number of times
Impress a wizard with something he loves – Give Merlin his favorite gifts the listed number of times
Increase your coin “collection” – Obtain the listed number of coins
It’s better to give a gift than to receive – Gift the listed number of gifts to any villager
Hang out with a villager who says “WAKKK!” – Spend the listed number of minutes hanging out with Donald
Harvest Olaf’s nose – Harvest the listed number of carrots
Harvest something sweet – Harvest the listed number of sugarcane
Harvest this iron-rich leafy green – Harvest the listed number of spinach
Make conversation with a very speedy princess – Have the listed number of daily conversations with Vanellope
Make perfectly mediocre meals – Cook the listed number of 3-star meals
Make small talk – Have the listed number of daily conversations with anyone
Make small talk with an ice queen – Have the listed number of daily conversations with Elsa
Mine blue stones with a watery name – Mine the listed number of Aquamarines
Mine for a lime-green gem – Mine the listed number of Peridots
Mine of an orange gem – Mine the listed number of Citrines
Pick red flowers that grow only in the Peaceful Meadow – Pick the listed number of red daisies
Pick the fruits that put Snow White to sleep – Forage for the listed number of apples
Spend some time with someone on the villainous side – Spend the listed number of minutes hanging out with Mother Gothel or Scar
Spend time with a legendary villager of the wind and sea – Spend the listed number of minutes hanging out with Maui
Spend time with a pint-sized sheriff – Spend the listed number of minutes hanging out with Woody
Spend time with classic friends – Spend the listed number of minutes hanging out with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, or Scrooge
Spend time with the sorcerer’s apprentice – Spend the listed number of minutes hanging out with Mickey
Stuff your face with second-class meals – Eat the listed number of 2-star meals
Take a picture of a sea witch’s house – Take a picture of Ursula’s house
“Uproot” the Forgetting – Remove the listed number of night thorns
Whip up some of your finest chef creations – Cook the listed number of 5-star meals
Work a shift at the restaurant – Serve the listed number of villagers at Chez Remy

For more on Disney Dreamlight Valley, check out our comprehensive guides hub.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors.
GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Festivals

“I’d Rather Save My Family Than Save Face” – Deadline

“People find that hard to believe that I was never really paid very much money for any of the jobs I’ve done,” Sopranos actress Drea de Matteo said about her decision to post racy content on subscription site OnlyFans. “People think I’m f***ing made of gold, and I’m not. I’ve worked job to job.”

OnlyFans started in 2016 and quickly gained notoriety as a place people could view NSFW content. Celebrities who have embraced the platform include Denise Richards, Cardi B, Bella Thorne, Tyga and Chris Brown.

De Matteo told Fox News Digital that her own decision to join sprang from a production slowdown during the pandemic, what she says is a loss of work due to her vaccine stance and, above all else, a desire to take care of her kids.

“Things have changed in the last three years. My kids have always been my No. 1 focus,” she said. “I’ve turned down tons of jobs in the past just to be with my children because their dad [musician Shooter Jennings] is on the road, and he’s not around as much.”

As for judgements others may have about her work on OnlyFans, De Matteo is pragmatic.

“I just don’t care. I don’t. I’d rather save my family than save face.”

She continued, “I know some people have said some nasty things about me having joined OnlyFans. But, you know, the way we see it in this house is mommy’s a warrior, not accepting defeat.”

Defeat was a very real possibility. At 51, she says, her agent dropped her and because of her vax stance, she had a hard time getting work and almost lost her home over it.

“I guess you could say I was a bad girl because I did not follow the rules a couple of years ago. So, I don’t want to be at the mercy of mandates or strike or anything like that ever again.”

De Matteo played Adriana the first five seasons of The Sopranos. After Adriana became an informant for the FBI, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) ordered her killed. Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt) murdered her in a memorable episode, but de Matteo returned for two episodes in season 6. She won an Emmy for the role in 2004.

After The Sopranos, de Matteo appeared on shows such as Desperate Housewives and Sons of Anarchy, among others.

“People find that hard to believe that

Film

Why National Cinema Day Matters in 2023 and beyond

August 27th marks the second year of an all-day cinematic event for the price of a $4 ticket for any film of the chosen. The Cinema Foundation, President Jackie Brenneman, expressed the success of the first National Cinema Day and welcomed everyone to join the movie-going experience.

“We look forward to gathering at the movies and celebrating an exciting slate of new releases and classics, from beloved family favorites and outrageous comedies to thought-provoking dramas and thrilling adventures,” said Brenneman. “Let’s all go!”

Whether you enjoyed Barbie, Oppenheimer, or even the re-release of Jurassic Park, there is an offering for movie-goers of all ages and interests.

The one-day event brings delight at the movies for discounted admission plus applicable taxes hosted by over three thousand cinema chains and thirty thousand screens worldwide. Marlo Marketing Vice President Collen McCormick Blair has expressed that Showcase Cinemas is excited to participate again to celebrate movies to the movie-going experience and that National Cinema Day is an excellent reminder.

“There is nothing like the experience of seeing a film on the big screen the way it’s meant to be seen and at Showcase Cinemas,” said McCormick Blair. “We know that people want and need to go to the movies from the freshly-popped popcorn and comfy reclining seats to the huge screen, immersive sound, and most importantly, the sense of community, and you simply can’t recreate the experience of going to the movies from your couch.”

Team member of the National Association of Theatre and The Cinema Foundation has said that last year, in Fandango’s consumer survey of more than two thousand United States tickets, cinema chains noted the reasons moviegoers would likely buy tickets for the next National Cinema Day based on the affordable pricing ability to see a specific movie they’ve been wanting to see, time with loved ones, being a fan of a particular movie franchise, and delightful activity for their weekend.

National Association of Theatre Owners President and CEO Michael O’Leary expressed the power of movies to bring people together to share in the joy, the thrill, the magic of storytelling told on the big screen, and National Cinema Day is a celebration of movie fandom and uniting the role that movie theaters play in communities.

This nonprofit would use data and collaboration to promote and expand the cinema industry, with the primary goal to ‘‘advance the moviegoing experience to develop a future of diverse workforces and moviegoing communities through research, education, and philanthropy,’’ expressed clearly on the National Cinema Day.org.

Following a second time from last summer’s National Cinema Day, this year on Sunday, Marlo Marketing Vice President said one final thing about the excitement around new films over the past year and this summer’s blockbusters such as Barbie and Oppenheimer.

“Maybe they’ve been on your list, but you haven’t had a chance to go yet, and this fun initiative is the perfect reason to head over to your local cinema,” said McCormick Blair. “National Cinema Day is a wonderful way to celebrate these great films and remind people about the magic of the movies, all while encouraging movie-going.”

Published on 08/27/2023 at 11:00 PM EDT
Last updated on 08/27/2023 at 11:00 PM EDT

August 27th marks the second year

Hulu + Live TV Deal: Get 30% Off Three Months of Streaming Ahead of the October Price Increase

Disney has dropped the price for Hulu + Live TV, giving cord-cutters a rare opportunity to save on live TV streaming. Right now, new and eligible returning subscribers can get three months of Hulu + Live TV for $50 per month, which is $20 down from the standard monthly subscription price of $70 per month. That’s 29% off the usual price and you’ll also get Disney+ and ESPN+ included for even more streaming options.

The limited-time deal is available through October 11 and it comes at the perfect time as Hulu is set to raise its prices on October 12. The Live TV base plan will soon cost $77 per month with the increase. You’ll get access to more than 90 live TV channels, including local ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox stations, plus Hulu’s entire library of on-demand television shows, movies and Hulu Originals.

Hulu’s well-timed trial comes amid Disney’s ongoing contract dispute with Spectrum Cable and parent company Charter Communications, which has seen customers lose access Disney networks including ESPN, ABC, FX and Freeform. Charter suggested that it might be ready to drop Disney’s TV networks from its programming lineup altogether, but Hulu could win over customers with the new offer, as those channels are all part of the Hulu + Live TV plan.

Just in time for the return of football and fall, Hulu + Live TV is one of the best live TV streaming services for watching the 2023 NFL season without cable because it comes with nearly every channel you’ll need for an every game — minus Thursday Night Football, which is exclusively broadcast on Prime Video.

The Hulu + Live TV streaming deal is open to new subscribers, as well as anyone who previously had a Hulu account but has not been a subscriber in the past month. From Only Murders in the Building and The Bear to The Little Mermaid and Ahsoka, check out all the best new TV shows and movies you could watch on Hulu and Disney Plus with your new streaming service.

RELATED CONTENT:

Disney has dropped the price for Hulu

What to Watch

Is ‘The Silicon Valley Revolution: How a Few Nerds Changed the World’ (aka ‘Die Silicon Valley Revolution: Wie ein paar Freaks die Welt veränderten’) on Netflix UK? Where to Watch the Series

Great news! “The Silicon Valley Revolution: How a Few Nerds Changed the World” is available to watch on Netflix UK!

Date Added: 14th September 2023

Known expiry dates are shown above as well as on the Last Chance page.

Want to keep forever? Try looking for ‘The Silicon Valley Revolution: How a Few Nerds Changed the World’ on Amazon (paid link)

History:

15/08/2021: 1 Season (2017)

01/08/2023: Removed from Netflix

14/09/2023: Streaming Again – 2 Episodes (2017)

Description:

Today, Silicon Valley is home to tech companies that are worth billions. But their beginnings were ad hoc, chaotic and revolutionary.

Certificate: Suitable for ages 12 and up

Year: 2017

Duration: 2 Episodes

Available Seasons: Season 1 (2 Ep)

Audio: German [Original]

Subtitles: German, English, French, Polish, Portuguese, Ukrainian

Episode Length: 52min

Cast and Crew

Director: Jan Tenhaven

Production & Box Office Details:

“The Silicon Valley Revolution: How a Few Nerds Changed the World” was produced by WDR/Arte and was originally released on February 4th 2017.

RATINGS:

IMDB rating 7.5/10

The Movie Database rating 70%

Average Rating Average rating 56.25%

LISTS:

DISCUSS ON…:

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Want to keep forever? Why not rent or buy ‘The Silicon Valley Revolution: How a Few Nerds Changed the World’ from one of the online services below?

Awards

Hollywood Studios Face Extinction Unless They Retool – Deadline

Will the Hollywood studio become extinct?

One hundred years ago, Louis B. Mayer unfurled his grand idea to mobilize “all the stars in heaven” for his filmmaking adventure. His dream factory, once prolific, now seems adrift amid the economic debris of streamerville and linear TV.

The studio system still has its advocates, one of whom, Francis Coppola, attempted to re-invent the studio on three occasions. He’s still trying.

His intriguing, if bizarre adventure, is told in a gripping new book by Sam Wasson titled Path to Paradise, vividly chronicling how the director leveraged his two great movies into an assembly line of cinema.

Well, almost. Coppola’s effort to orchestrate the genius of The Godfather and Apocalypse Now into an enduring filmmaking enterprise was defeated by two realities: The eccentricity of his management style and the frailty of his infrastructure.

Zoetrope was to be owned and run by creatives who were dedicated to the art of cinema. Though defeated three times, Coppola was back in Venice last week with cuts from his latest film, Megalopolis, and with a re-edited print of his 1982 romantic musical One From the Heart – the show that bombed.

The completed $140 million Megalopolis (Coppola’s own money) will shortly be offered to worldwide distributors, hopefully pumping new energy into the Zoetrope brand.

Will he succeed? Says a cautiously optimistic Wasson: “It’s time for Hollywood to embrace a new kind of studio system and Francis has the right idea: With the proper infrastructure, talent and new technologies, his concept ensures a balance of risk and security for filmmakers plus quality product for audiences.”

Skeptics might argue that the timing of a new studio would confront a traumatic moment in the movie market, if not the entire range of platforms.

As a hungry young filmmaker in the early 1960s, Coppola churned out a succession of ambitious low-budget films like You’re a Big Boy Now and Rain People. Linking with his friend George Lucas, Zoetrope secured the backing of Warner Bros to develop further indie films like American Graffiti.

When Warners read the scripts and viewed the cuts, however, Coppola was told his green light had blinked to red and he had to repay the development costs ($300,000). “We don’t want to make hippie pictures, we want to make ‘audience movies’ like Love Story,” said John Calley, the studio production chief.

Twenty years later, the determined Coppola decided to channel the mythic success of The Godfather into a re-energized Zoetrope dream. But the plan quickly capsized amid the anarchy of Apocalypse Now – the 1979 classic whose production calamities are vividly recounted in Wasson’s book. The movie reflected the emotional unraveling of its director as well as its central character, Col. Kurtz, played by Marlon Brando.

Marlon Brando in 1979’s ‘Apocalypse Now’

Given his paychecks of $1 million a week, Brando showed up on location almost 100 pounds overweight. He’d also disdained reading the script and spent most of his three-week gig closeted with Coppola, struggling to invent his lines.

Apocalypse received rave reviews, giving Coppola the impetus for yet another Zoetrope revival, this one entailing acquisition of an aging studio facility in Hollywood to be run principally by friends and fans. They knew little about studio management.

Coppola’s movie obsession at the time was a Las Vegas musical titled One from the Heart based on an original screenplay by Armyan Bernstein. Conceived initially on a modest budget, Coppola decided to design an expansive $23 million musical requiring construction of ambitious Vegas sets – the actual Vegas was only a short flight away.

But his vision was to create an innovative experiment in “live cinema” – a sort of electronic filmmaking that enabled him to shoot complex takes in one sweeping set-up, thus saving time and money without sacrificing quality.

After a disastrous first screening at the Radio City Musical Hall, Hollywood’s power players distanced themselves from Coppola and his $30 million debt, and declined even to distribute the film. “Coppola is a national resource without the resource,” said Barry Diller, then chief of Paramount.

“Hollywood seemed wiling to reject not just Coppola’s movie but the entire concept of his ‘studio of the future’ — they’d be in better shape today had they listened.” writes Wasson. “The studios wanted Coppola to go back to being a director-for-hire, and not mess around with their business plans.”

In keeping with this mandate, the innovative filmmaker turned out a succession of rather conventional films such as Gardens of Stone, Peggy Sue Got Married and Dracula (a box office success). Coppola also directed a series of small films (Tetro, Youth Without Youth) fostering his precept of electronic cinema.

They failed to find an audience. His other ambitious scheme to shoot a 16-hour experimental film titled Elective Affinities based on a novel by Johan von Goethe was never realized.

Before writing Path to Paradise, Wasson wrote several well received books including The Big Goodbye about the making of Chinatown and The Oral History of Hollywood, co written with Jeanine Basinger. He book drew on the American Film Institute’s vast library of tapes recorded by Hollywood’s most revered stars and filmmakers.

Does Coppola fit into that great galaxy? Wasson would file an enthusiastic “yes,” and Coppola himself shows signs of out-living his naysayers.

Will the Hollywood studio become extinct? One hundred

Music

57 Best Gifts for Teen Boys in 2023, From Gamers to Athletes

As much as you love and understand the young people in your life, one fact remains certain: Tracking down the best gifts for teen boys—and presents for teenagers in general—is not an easy task. Just like when you were in your teen years, kids these days have their own language, interests, and culture. (Example: What the hell does “rizz” mean, and why do I keep hearing it?) We’re here to make it seem like you have your finger on the pulse, even if you’re still unsure what TikTok is.

Our top picks

Best Overall: Ugg Neumel Chukka Boots, $140
Best on Amazon: TMY Projector Set, $66
Best for Gamers: Homall Gaming Chair, $100
Best for 13-Year-Olds: Govee RGBIC LED Strip Light, $15
Best for 14-Year-Olds: SunTime Star Projector, $35
Best for 15-Year-Olds: Treywell Indoor Basketball Hoop, $33
Best for 16-Year-Olds: Apple AirPods Pro (2nd Generation), $219
Best for 17-Year-Olds: Yogibo Max, $299
Best for 18-Year-Olds: Timex Weekender Watch, $34
Best for 19-Year-Olds: Fujifilm Instax Mini 40 Instant Camera, $93

Teens and tweens change with the times, of course, but at a certain level they all love a good DIY kit or comfy hoodie, just like you did. And if you’re hoping to get a little more personal with your gift giving, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel—just go with what you know they’re already interested in. Do you have a gamer in your house? LED string lights and a light-up keyboard are safe, smile-making bets. Know a star athlete? A sporty backpack or field-ready sunglasses are some of the best gifts you’ll find. Supporting a fledgling social media star? Some threads from Urban Outfitters will do the trick.

The next time you’re in the market for the best gifts for teen boys, don’t go it alone; this gift guide is here to help. (Oh, and plenty of these picks also make great gifts for tweens, presents for teenage girls, not to mention gifts for men in general. There’s no age limit on a great watch or pair of shoes, after all.) Stop scrolling through endless pages of Amazon search results—these are the only gifts for teenage boys you need to know about.

All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

As much as you love and understand

Disney Shuts Down Metaverse Unit as Part of First Wave of Layoffs

Docs

Disney Slams ABC and Station Sale Reports as ‘Unfounded’

Disney has responded to reports claiming the company is in early talks to sell its ABC network and TV stations, saying the company “has made no decision” on it yet.

“While we are open to considering a variety of strategic options for our linear businesses, at this time The Walt Disney Company has made no decision with respect to the divestiture of ABC or any other property and any report to that effect is unfounded,” the statement reads.

Conversations regarding the potential sale have been swirling since the summer after CEO Bob Iger revealed the company’s intention to be “open-minded and objective” about the future of Disney’s linear TV holdings, which include broadcast network ABC as well as FX, Disney Channel, Nat Geo and Freeform, among others.

Nexstar moved to the top of the bidders list when earlier this week, Tom Carter, a former Nexstar executive who now serves as senior advisor to CEO Perry Sook and the board of directors, told a crowd at the BofA Securities Media, Communications and Entertainment Conference that the company could buy Disney’s stations with “little friction” and hinted at a potential opportunity to do so “depending on how things fall out.”

Bloomberg reported that Byron Allen is also among those interested in a sale. The media mogul’s Allen Media Group has already invested over $1 billion in the last three years to acquire 27 NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox affiliates. He also purchased the Black News Channel for $11 million. His last move to acquire majority stake in Paramount’s BET channel fell through when the company decided to withdraw plans to sell.

Disney has responded to reports claiming the

Two easyJet passengers were caught by a cabin crew member having sex on the flight to Ibiza

Global

Mother’s horror as her son goes viral for having sex in an easyJet plane toilet with a woman ‘he’d only just met at the airport’ – before emerging to applause from other passengers

Piers Sawyer was celebrating his birthday when he joined the Mile High Club
His mother says the ’embarrassing’ video is ‘not something a mum wants to see’

By Mark Duell and Stewart Carr and Natasha Anderson

Published: 12:52 EDT, 14 September 2023 | Updated: 18:49 EDT, 14 September 2023

A mother is left horrified as her son goes viral for having sex in plane toilet with a woman ‘he’d only just met at the airport’ on a flight to Ibiza.

Piers Sawyer, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, and an unnamed woman were caught in the act by cabin crew member who opened the door to expose the duo.

The pair were met with applause and cheers of ‘top girl’ as they wandered shamelessly back to their seats.

Now, his mother has told The Sun she was shocked as the ’embarrassing’ footage of her son was shared by pals and even discussed on ITV‘s Loose Women.

She said that although it is ‘not something a mum wants to see’, she doesn’t think the pair ‘were doing anyone any harm’ and claims the steward ‘shouldn’t have just opened the door’.

Two easyJet passengers were caught by a cabin crew member having sex on the flight to Ibiza

The couple who had sex in the toilet emerged to whoops and cheers on the Easyjet flight from Luton to Ibiza

There was no hint of blushing as the pair walked down the aisle of the plane to their seats, while thrilled passengers cheered them on

Piers took a ‘party plane’ to Ibiza with his friends last Friday to celebrate his 23rd birthday, his mother has revealed.

She told The Sun that the ‘single lad’ and his friends ‘were all just having a good time in the airport’ when he met the woman he would later join the so-called Mile High Club with.

‘You’re aware these things are going to happen at the holiday destination but you don’t expect it to happen on the flight,’ she told the newspaper.

‘You just don’t think about stuff sometimes. Yes it’s embarrassing but I don’t think they were doing anyone any harm.’

She says her son ‘doesn’t want to talk’ about the incident and suspects that he ‘probably just wants to forget it’.

Footage recorded on the flight showed passengers whooping and screaming with delight when the cabin crew member opened the door to expose Piers and the woman having sex.

The video taken on the flight from Luton appears to show the duo were in no mood to stop early, with the man promptly shutting the door again so they could continue.

A second clip sees them waving their arms defiantly with no hint of blushing as they walk down the aisle of the plane to their seats, while thrilled passengers cheered them on.

An EasyJet spokesperson told MailOnline the flight was met by police when it landed on the Spanish party island and the duo were led away.

Those in the rear seats who watched the situation unfold appeared to find what was happening hilarious and could be seen watching opened mouthed. One woman was heard screaming ‘Oh my f***ing God’, before asking her friend if she had videoed what happened.

But the cabin crew member seemed unsure how to respond and could be seen in the clip holding his head in the hands after catching the couple in the act.

The video has been shared widely on social media, with one user joking: ‘Ryanair would charge extra.’ Another added: ‘Hope that wasn’t the pilot.’

The incident happened on an easyJet flight from London Luton to Ibiza last Friday (file image)

An easyJet spokeswoman told MailOnline: ‘We can confirm that this flight from Luton to Ibiza on September 8 was met by police on arrival due to the behaviour of two passengers onboard.’

The identity of the couple is not known and it has also not been confirmed whether any arrests were made in Ibiza.

Bedfordshire Police, which is responsible for policing at Luton Airport, confirmed to MailOnline that it was not involved in the response.

Section 71 of the Sexual Offences Act 2004 states that it is illegal to have sex in a lavatory to which the public has access.

GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index SAG-AFTRA WGA

Trending

GLAAD Rallies With Queer SAG-AFTRA and WGA Members

Media watchdog GLAAD released its Studio Responsibility Index on Thursday, using its annual ranking of queer representation in mainstream films to stand with striking unions SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild of America.

Convening in-person at the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center’s Ed Gould Plaza in Hollywood, leadership from both show business unions, queer talent and GLAAD CEO Sarah Kate Ellis spoke of the dangers that work stoppages from the strokes pose to inclusive storytelling.

“The fight for worker empowerment and the fight for authentic LGBTQ plus representation in media is all part of the same struggle,” said Duncan Crabtree Ireland, chief negotiator for the actors union. Crabtree Ireland’s profile has risen significantly since he appeared alongside SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher at their fiery strike announcement press conference in July. He took the GLAAD event as a moment to make the personal political.

“I’m here on behalf of our 160,000 members who are actors and other types of media artists. I’m also here as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, and as a father of five,” he said. “It’s been so heartening to watch my kids grow up seeing the authentic and nuanced representation of the full human experience in media that, frankly, as someone who grew up in a different era and in a different part of this country, I rarely saw on movies or television.”

Crabtree Ireland concluded that it was essential that such content “continues to enter the production pipeline, and that diverse performers and writers are able to get back to work.”

As the strikes drag closer to the five-month mark, reports of financial hardships and evictions for entertainment workers have been widespread. The press conference’s setting provided a needed dose of reality for what was at stake. The Ed Gould Plaza provides emergency shelter, mental health treatment, housing, and substance use and recovery services for the Los Angeles community, the LBGTQ Center’s communications head Phillip Picardi said.

Other notable speakers included WGA vice president Michele Mulroney, co-chair of SAG-AFTRA’s national LGBTQ Committee Jason Stuart, JJ Wienkers-Alvendia and Spiro Skentzos of the WGA LGBTQ+ writers committee, and actor-writer Alexandra Gray (who, along with Stuart, revealed they had availed themselves of the Los Angeles LBGTQ Center’s services at one point in their lives).

This year’s Studio Responsibility Index tracked 10 distributors (some major corporations with multiple film labels) who released movies in 2022. They include A24, Amazon Studios, AppleTV+, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Paramount Global, Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Walt Disney Company, and Warner Bros. Discovery. A total of 350 films were surveyed, and only 100 of those included an LGBTQ character.

Here are key findings from the full report, and below find a graphic snapshot:

Over half (57%) of LGBTQ characters clocked in at under five minutes of screen time.

GLAAD counted 292 LGBTQ characters across the 100 LGBTQ-inclusive films. Of those characters, 117 (40%) are characters of color. While LGBTQ characters increased in films over the previous year, the number of LGBTQ characters of colorremained static (39% or 11 of 28 in 2021 films)

Of the 292 LGBTQ characters counted, 163 of them were men, 119 were women, and 10 were nonbinary. Seven of the women characters and six of the men characters were transgender.

21 of the 100 inclusive films (21%) GLAAD counted included bisexual characters. This is up from two films in the previous index, though Gallup polling shows bisexual+ people make up 58% of the community.

12 of the 100 inclusive films (12%) GLAAD counted included transgender characters.

11 LGBTQ characters (4%) were counted with a disability.

Only one of those characters (<1% overall) portrayed someone living with HIV.

Pictured above, from left: Alexandra Grey, Vittorio Wyatt Gray, Jason Stuart, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, Michelle C. Bonilla, National Latino Committee, Dalila Ali Rajah and Haviland Stillwell.

Media watchdog GLAAD released its Studio Responsibility

Tech

‘One of the Most Hated People in the World’: Sam Bankman-Fried’s 250 Pages of Justifications

At the end of a 15,000-word Twitter thread he never posted, Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, offered a blunt assessment of his predicament.

“I’m broke and wearing an ankle monitor and one of the most hated people in the world,” he wrote. “There will probably never be anything I can do to make my lifetime impact net positive.”

He added: “And the truth is that I did what I thought was right.”

After Mr. Bankman-Fried was arrested, charged with fraud over FTX’s collapse and placed in home detention in December, he wrote hundreds of pages of sometimes rambling self-justifications, ranging from childhood memories to mathematical calculations.

In a draft of his unsent posts, which he formatted as a series of tweets spanning roughly 70 typed pages, he criticized some of his closest colleagues, interspersing his arguments with photos from his high school years and stock images of popcorn and a garden maze. Every few pages, a key moment in the narrative is accompanied with a link to a music video by Alicia Keys, Katy Perry or Rihanna.

Once a prolific poster on Twitter, now known as X, Mr. Bankman-Fried, 31, labeled the thread “a draft of a draft of a draft of an idea” and included links to 29 other files about FTX. One document, titled “Inception V2,” is a lengthy attack on the company’s bankruptcy lawyers, featuring a screenshot from the 2010 Christopher Nolan movie. A separate link pulls up a spreadsheet listing Mr. Bankman-Fried’s Amazon orders from 2021.

The roughly 250 pages of documents, which have not been previously reported, provide a window into Mr. Bankman-Fried’s mind-set during the eight months he spent in home detention before a judge revoked his bail in August. The writings also offer new details about his possible legal defense beyond what his lawyers have revealed in court, shedding light on how he may justify his actions when his trial starts on Oct. 3.

Prosecutors have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a scheme to funnel FTX customer funds to a hedge fund he founded, Alameda Research, so that his companies could make venture capital investments, buy real estate and donate to politicians. He has pleaded not guilty and faces decades in prison if convicted.

During his house arrest, Mr. Bankman-Fried sent the documents to Tiffany Fong, a social media influencer who has a YouTube channel about the crypto industry. Ms. Fong shared them with The New York Times.

“He liked that I don’t work for anybody,” she said. “He thinks I can just sort of come to my own conclusions.”

A representative for Mr. Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

In several documents, Mr. Bankman-Fried blamed Caroline Ellison, his former girlfriend and onetime lieutenant, for helping to cause FTX’s implosion. He described her as ill equipped for the job he gave her as head of Alameda, claiming she had cried during a meeting with him and refused to institute trading strategies that would have protected his businesses from a market crash.

“She continually avoided talking about risk management — dodging my suggestions — until it was too late,” he wrote in a document titled “Alameda’s Failure to Hedge.” “Every time that I reached out with suggestions, it just made her feel worse. I’m sure that being exes didn’t help.”

In the Twitter draft, Mr. Bankman-Fried also criticized Sam Trabucco, who was co-chief executive of Alameda. Mr. Trabucco and Ms. Ellison didn’t get along, the document said. And while Mr. Trabucco had good instincts for risk management, Mr. Bankman-Fried wrote, he “was in the process of quiet quitting” by late 2021.

Mr. Trabucco preferred to spend his time “going on dates with a ton of guys while sailing around the world on a boat,” Mr. Bankman-Fried wrote. Then he linked to a music video, “Cheers (Drink to That)” by Rihanna.

Ms. Ellison and two of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s other top advisers have pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to testify against him. A fourth pleaded guilty this month without promising to cooperate. Mr. Trabucco has not been charged with any wrongdoing.

Lawyers for Mr. Trabucco and Ms. Ellison declined to comment.

Once hailed as a trustworthy force in the loosely regulated world of crypto, FTX imploded in November, costing customers billions of dollars and devastating the industry. After his arrest, Mr. Bankman-Fried was granted bail and allowed to live with his parents, who are longtime law professors at Stanford, in their home in Palo Alto, Calif. They got a German shepherd named Sandor to act as his guard dog.

For months, Mr. Bankman-Fried entertained guests like the author Michael Lewis, who is finishing a book about him, as well as several reporters.

Few people had as much access as Ms. Fong, the influencer, who had struck up an online rapport with Mr. Bankman-Fried before FTX failed. Ms. Fong visited him at his parents’ home more than 10 times, she said, and recorded conversations with him that she may eventually release.

During house arrest, Mr. Bankman-Fried spent much of his time in the study, Ms. Fong said, where he played computer games, set up a chessboard and sometimes slept on the couch. Most days, she said, he worked on his legal defense, recording thoughts about the case on hundreds of pages of Google documents. Mr. Bankman-Fried also told her that his family was installing a pickleball court for him in the yard.

Mr. Bankman-Fried gave Ms. Fong the documents in late January. It was not clear what he expected her to do with them. Ms. Fong, who lost money in the collapse of the crypto company Celsius Network, said she sympathized with FTX’s victims and was skeptical of many of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s claims. She sent one document to a former Alameda engineer, Aditya Baradwaj, who responded to her with a point-by-point rebuttal to Mr. Bankman-Fried, noting that Alameda’s hedging would have been “irrelevant” if FTX hadn’t misused customer money.

In the draft Twitter thread, Mr. Bankman-Fried traced the growth of his businesses from his childhood in Palo Alto to the penthouse he bought in the Bahamas near FTX’s headquarters. He recalled meeting Mr. Trabucco at a math camp, where his future colleague sneaked out after curfew to bake cheesecake brownies, and he described his early admiration for Ms. Ellison, calling her “wicked smart.” He also inserted some personal photos, including one that shows him holding a shirt that Mr. Trabucco had bought him in high school.

An image of Mr. Bankman-Fried from high school that he included with a handful of personal photos from his youth in the draft of an unpublished Twitter thread.

In another section, Mr. Bankman-Fried posted a link to a document he wrote in 2019, “Tonight We Are Young,” an account of a conference in Taiwan where he interacted with Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, the founder of the Binance crypto exchange. (He also included a link to the “We Are Young” music video by Fun.)

“Tonight was a night about booze and women and lasers and loud, booming music, but there was an odd microclimate that seemed to follow me,” Mr. Bankman-Fried wrote. “I walked by CZ a few more times, and each time he broke eye contact with his eye candy and embraced me: People were thinking about us, a lot.”

In November, Mr. Zhao’s posts set off a run on deposits that helped prompt FTX’s implosion. A Binance representative did not respond to a request for comment.

Some of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s documents elaborate on arguments that his lawyers have made in court. In files titled “Inception V2,” “Inception V3” and “Inception Evidence,” Mr. Bankman-Fried claimed that Sullivan & Cromwell, the law firm overseeing FTX’s bankruptcy, constructed the narrative that he misappropriated user funds.

“They’ve played it incredibly well,” he wrote. “Were it not destructive to just about everything I care about in life, I would tip my cap to them.”

A Sullivan & Cromwell spokesman declined to comment. Prosecutors have argued that Mr. Bankman-Fried’s claims about the firm amount to “innuendo.”

Across several documents, Mr. Bankman-Fried also dissected his history with Ms. Ellison, writing that their relationship ended “the same way most of my relationships end.”

“They want more intimacy and commitment and public visibility than I do,” he wrote in the thread, “and I feel claustrophobic.”

In another document, he said Ms. Ellison had refused to hedge Alameda’s aggressive trading strategy, despite his urging. At one point, he recalled, he sent her a message that amounted to “the meanest thing I’ve ever said to her.” (He said he no longer had a record of the message.)

“If Alameda had hedged, it would have remained solvent and prevented the entire unhappy story,” he wrote.

His concerns about Alameda heightened in spring 2022 as he packed for a trip to Washington, Mr. Bankman-Fried wrote in the Twitter draft. A group of employees including Ms. Ellison was frantically discussing a possible deficit in the firm’s accounts. Mr. Bankman-Fried was only half-engaged, he wrote, but had heard enough to realize that the conversation centered on an account labeled fiat@ — the vehicle that regulators have said FTX executives used to redirect customer funds into other projects.

“I had heard that name before, but I’d never really known exactly what it was,” he wrote.

When she pleaded guilty, Ms. Ellison said she and Mr. Bankman-Fried had conspired to shore up Alameda’s finances with customer money. He has denied misusing the funds.

“As a general matter, I don’t lie,” he wrote in a document titled “Truth.” “It’s something that I believe fairly strongly in.”

At the end of a 15,000-word Twitter

‘Bye Bye Tiberias’ Director Lina Soualem On Tracing Her Mom’s Legacy – Deadline

BYE BYE TIBERIAS

Director: Lina Soualem
Logline: Years after leaving her Palestinian village to pursue an acting career in France, Hiam Abbass (Succession) returns home with her daughter, filmmaker Lina Soualem, in this intimate documentary about four generations of women and their shared legacy of separation.

Panelist: Lina Soualem (director), Hiam Abbass (subject).
First Screening: September 11, 6:45 p.m. EST, Scotiabank Theater.
Key Quote: “It wasn’t so much a discussion rather than a need to open the door. It took us time to accept that we were both going on this path. It was also difficult for me, as for her, to open this door, but I was trying to make her trust me and understand that it was vital for me to understand and know more about her path and the paths of the women in our family, so I could myself find my place in this family and in the story of this lineage of women.” – Lina Soualem

Click above to watch the panel video.

BYE BYE TIBERIAS Director: Lina SoualemLogline: Years after

Entertaintment

18 Dark Fall Hair Colors to Inspire Your Next Dye Job

Now that the weather is finally cooling down, the search for dark fall hair colors can officially begin. As for what colorists are saying about the seasonal shift?

“This fall we will be seeing many enriching adjustments to hair color,” Lauren Mildice, hair colorist at Chicago’s Maxine Salon, tells Glamour. “Blondes will find balance and depth through the addition of caramel, honey, and pumpkin spice ribbons throughout hair, and strawberry blondes will now transition into rich deep copper shades like auburn.” Everyone’s going darker for the season. And since you’re reading this, chances are you’re considering it too.

Of course, natural brunettes are sure to have fun in the fall as well. “Brunettes have choices,” Mildice continues. “They can go from neutral to spectacular, including exciting combinations of mahogany, plum, and caramel-chocolate browns. This season it’s time to rev up our leftover summer hair!”

As for redheads? According to Shvonne Perkins, master colorist and lead educator at home hair color maker Madison Reed, red-hair mania isn’t going away any time soon, and apple-cider-inspired cowboy copper is predicted to be one of the biggest shades for fall. “This hair color shifts the bold copper shade we’ve been seeing everywhere to a more muted copper,” she says.

Ready to join the dark side? See 18 expert-approved dark fall hair colors ahead, and get ready to screenshot.

Now that the weather is finally cooling

Movies

Thank You For Coming Witnesses a Full House Audience at TIFF’s Gala Premiere

Published By: Dishya Sharma

Last Updated: September 14, 2023, 22:09 IST

Thank You For Coming will release worldwide on October 6. (Photo Credits: Instagram)

Thank You For Coming had its premiere at 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.

Ektaa R Kapoor and Rhea Kapoor’s much-anticipated release, Thank You for Coming, is being highly appreciated across various international diasporas. The producer duo have many reasons to celebrate ahead of the official Indian theatrical release of their film. Thank You For Coming is the only Indian selection this year to have a Gala Premiere at 2023 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on September 15th and 16th. With an early screening held at TIFF, the film has already started garnering positive early reviews, boosting the confidence of the entire Thank You For Coming team.

The shows on both days at TIFF, held at Roy Thomson Hall and Royal Alexandra Theatre, have sold out all their tickets. The shows are houseful, with select seats being held for allotment at the venue, which too is high in demand as audiences eagerly anticipate this must-watch chick flick that addresses women’s sensuality in a quirky way.

Speaking about the excitement of the TIFF audience and the anticipation for the Gala Premiere tomorrow, director Karan Boolani shares, “The response Thank You For Coming is receiving is quite overwhelming for me. It’s an absolute honour to debut at TIFF with your first film, and now that I am here and see the eagerness of people to watch our film, it’s a feeling I can’t even put into words.”

The entire team, including Bhumi Pednekar, Shehnaaz Gill, Kusha Kapila, Dolly Singh, Shibani Bedi, producers Anil Kapoor and Ektaa R Kapoor, and director Karan Boolani, will be attending the Gala Premiere in Toronto.

Produced by Balaji Telefilms Limited and Anil Kapoor Film Communication Network Pvt. Ltd, directed by Karan Boolani, and written by Radhika Anand and Prashasti Singh, “Thank You For Coming” will be released in theatres worldwide on October 6th, 2023.

Dishya Sharma

Dishya Sharma, Chief Sub Editor, is part of the entertainment team at News18. She eats, sleeps, and drinks entertainment. While Indian films have fuel…Read More

Published By: Dishya SharmaLast Updated: September

‘NSync’s new song ‘Better Place’ will be in ‘Trolls’ movie

For longtime ‘NSync fans, a new song in the upcoming “Trolls” movie might just be all they ever wanted. All they ever needed, yeah.

The official “Trolls” Twitter (now X) account confirmed on Wednesday that the upcoming November movie will feature new music by ‘NSync, a day after the group reunited at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards. DreamWorks shared an almost three-minute trailer set to the new ‘NSync song, “Better Place.”

“Just let me take you to a better place / I’m going to make you kiss the sky tonight,” the group sings in the clip, which teases whimsical road trips and family reunions. The trailer also features a snippet of the band’s 1996 hit “I Want You Back.”

The trailer was also shared on the family film’s Instagram, where fans shared their excitement in the comments.

“I do not care if this is a kids movie I’m going,” Instagram fan @x.x.brujita.x.x wrote.

“Ok who is telling the kids their parents will be more excited at this movie than them?” replied @leslierev2807. In a second comment, they wrote, “I’m shaking. It’s CONFIRMED ITS OFFICIAL OUR BOYS ARE BACK.”

“Omg.!!! I’m literally crying ???? 22 years later finally.!! I can’t wait.!!!” added Instagram user @pequel1421.

Before the “Trolls” song, ‘NSync — composed of Chris Kirkpatrick, Lance Bass, JC Chasez, Joey Fatone and Justin Timberlake — had not released music since their Christmas album in 2002.

Over the years, the group has reunited for public appearances including their Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony in 2018. At Tuesday’s VMAs, the group came together to present Taylor Swift with the award for pop video.

Fangirling, Swift told the group, “I had your dolls.”

The recent ‘NSync reunion and release has social media fans pining for reunion tour dates. While the band hasn’t revealed any tour plans yet, it seems something is afoot.

In an Instagram video posted Wednesday, the group’s five members lip-synched to an audio clip from “Friends.” The singers exchanged lines of Jennifer Anniston and Matt LeBlanc’s characters asking each other if they knew about an undisclosed matter.

“I can’t tell you until you tell me what you know,” “Trolls” star Timberlake mouths.

“Well, I can’t tell you what I know,” Fatone says.

It’s unclear what exactly the “Bye Bye Bye” singers are planning, but fans in the Instagram comments say they are ready to spend their “grown up money.”

“My mom isn’t in charge of the budget this time just tell me when and where so I can count how many pick up shifts I need to pay for it,” wrote @smoochmyash.

“Give me a tour so the 13 year old me can heal,” replied @thathippieislit.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before ‘NSync and their fans are together again. In any case, ‘NSync devotees can watch “Trolls: Band Together” in theaters Nov. 17.

For longtime ‘NSync fans, a new

DCU

DC Harley Quinn Spin-Off Kite Man Series Reveals First Trailer

Summary

Kite Man: Hell Yeah! is a spinoff of the popular Harley Quinn series, featuring the character’s saucy adventures, violence, sex, cursing, and dark humor.
Kite Man, also known as Charles “Chuck” Brown, is a lesser-known villain from Batman’s rogues gallery who uses kite-inspired weapons.
The character has appeared in other TV shows and movies, including Batman: The Brave and the Bold and The Lego Batman Movie, and may have a chance at a live-action treatment in the future.

Harley Quinn invites us to fly high to live the adventures of Kite Man in the first trailer for the new DC animated series, Kite Man: Hell Yeah!, coming to Max 2024.

The fourth season of the popular series starring Kaley Cuoco is coming to an end, and even though the future of the main show remains a mystery in the midst of the construction of a new DCU, a spin-off story is coming to the small screen. Kite Man was introduced in the first season of the animated series, with the character trying to get Ivy’s romantic attention. He has appeared several times since, earning some popularity among the fans, which was probably the reason why he has been chosen to star in his own spinoff.

The first trailer for the show, titled Kite Man: Hell Yeah! was released on Thursday. Check it out below:

Just like the Harley Quinn series, the trailer prepares the audience for a story full of violence, sex, cursing, and a lot of dark humor. The show stars Matt Oberg as Kite Man, Cathy Ang as Golden Glider, James Adomian as Bane, Kaley Cuoco as Harley Quinn, Lake Bell as Poison Ivy, Giancarlo Esposito as Lex Luthor, Wanda Sykes as Queen of Fables, and Michael Ironside as Darkseid.

Who’s Kite Man?

Warner Bros. Television Distribution

Kite Man, also known as Charles “Chuck” Brown, was created by the writer Bill Finger and artist Dick Sprang in 1960, first appearing in Batman #133. His name, although he is a villain, was inspired by the popular Peanuts’ character Charlie Brown, since he was commonly seen carrying a kite. As his name indicates, Charles uses kite-inspired weapons to commit his crimes, and flies around with a giant kite attached to his suit back.

Despite being part of the Caped Crusader’s wide gallery of enemies, Kite Man is rarely taken seriously, especially because he is a character who has always contributed a lot of humor to the stories in which he appears. Something that he also did in the Harley Quinn series, and will continue to do in his own show.

On television, the character has previously made an important appearance before the Harley series, joining the animated show Batman: The Brave and the Bold, in addition to having a special cameo in the children’s series DC Super Hero Girls. On the big screen, Kite Man appears in the acclaimed The Lego Batman Movie, and was also considered by James Gunn to be part of his 2021 film The Suicide Squad, although he was ultimately not included. But now that Gunn is the co-CEO of DC Studios and will be introducing many new characters to the franchise, he may get a chance of getting a live-action treatment.

Summary Kite Man: Hell Yeah!

Comics

Final Fantasy Fans Are Getting Even More FF7 Rebirth Information Next Week

Fans eagerly awaiting the release of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, the second part in the FFVII remake trilogy, were treated to a new trailer during today’s State of Play. The trailer depicted a variety of elements such as the introduction of Cait Sith, a demonstration of the various colored chocobos’ and their unique abilities, Cloud’s ability to make Segway’s look stylish, and more.

Straight after this news, Tetsuya Nomura tweeted that there is even more FF7 Rebirth news coming very soon. During the upcoming Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix plans to host a stage show as well as offering test play.

“Hello everyone. This time we made a trailer to show the great variety in the game world, so please take a look. We’re getting ready to offer test play and a stage show at TGS next week, so you can look forward to seeing that too. Keep supporting us!” – Tetsuya Nomura #FF7R

— FINAL FANTASY VII (@finalfantasyvii) September 14, 2023

“Hello everyone. This time we made a trailer to show the great variety in the game world, so please take a look. We’re getting ready to offer test play and a stage show at TGS next week, so you can look forward to seeing that too. Keep supporting us!”

Tetsuya Nomura, September 14, 2023

With Tokyo Game Show beginning September 21, fans only have a week to speculate as to what information will be provided. With many story elements being altered from the original title, anything is possible, and that is very exciting.

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth releases on February 29, 2024, exclusively for the PlayStation 5 console, and eager fans are able to preorder it now.

About the Author

Priscilla Wells

Priscilla is a weekend editor and freelance writer for Prima Games. She is an Australian living in the United States with her family. Priscilla has grown up playing video games, and most often plays her PS5 and Nintendo Switch consoles.

Fans eagerly awaiting the release of Final

Hollywood, CA - July 31: Someone carried a sign that asked, "AMPTP?? More Like AMPTP-POO!!," while joining members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA), members of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), to picket in front of Netflix headquarters, in Hollywood, CA, Monday, July 31, 2023. Entertainment's largest guilds have come together, during disputed contract negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Festivals

California Senate Approves Unemployment Pay for Striking Workers

The California Senate voted on Thursday to grant unemployment benefits to workers who are on strike. The bill passed with a 27-12 vote.

The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA have each expressed support for the bill. If approved by Gov. Gavin Newsom, the bill would take effect on Jan. 1.

Dozens of unions have lined up in support of the bill, while the California Chamber of Commerce and more than 130 business groups have expressed opposition.

Only New York and New Jersey currently extend unemployment benefits to workers on strike. The California bill, authored by Sen. Anthony Portantino, would grant benefits once a strike has lasted at least two weeks.

“Let’s inject a modicum of stability into the conversation,” Portantino, a Democrat, said on the Senate floor on Thursday. “When somebody goes on strike, it’s not a romantic thing… It’s hard to go through it.”

Sen. Brian Dahle, a Republican, argued that the bill would essentially require businesses that pay into the unemployment system to subsidize labor actions.

“This is the most crazy thing I have ever seen,” he said. “This is a labor dispute, not an unemployment dispute… This is a horrible bill. This is a bad idea.”

The opponents have also argued that unemployment is designed for workers who lose their jobs, not those who are withholding their labor as a bargaining strategy. The Chamber has suggested that the bill may conflict with federal law, which requires that claimants are “able to work, available to work, and actively seeking work.”

Joely Fisher, the secretary-treasurer of SAG-AFTRA, spoke in favor of the bill at a rally at Paramount on Wednesday. She said she was offended by the argument that unemployment is intended only for those who are willing to work.

“I am ready, willing and able to work,” Fisher said. “I am desperate to work.”

The bill passed through the state Assembly on Monday on a vote of 59-18. Newsom has not indicated whether he will sign the legislation.

A similar bill failed in the state Senate in 2019, falling two votes short of passage.

The California Senate voted on Thursday to

Film

Queer Eye Drama? Karamo Says Antoni Invited Only Tan France to His Bachelor Party

Is there beef among the Queer Eye dream team? Well, that kind of depends on the level of your parasocial relationship with this particular group of coworkers.

On September 14, the emotional makeover series’ culture specialist, Karamo Brown, appeared on drama-monger Andy Cohen’s Sirius XM radio show to promote his daytime talk show Karamo when he got unexpectedly candid about avocado—sorry, food and wine—expert Antoni Porowski’s recent bachelor party. “I wasn’t invited,” Brown told Cohen.

For those not caught up on the Queer Eye gang’s personal lives, Porowski is engaged to his boyfriend of three years, Kevin Harrington. However, despite playfully egging on relationship rumors with Jonathan Van Ness as recently as 2022, Tan France was allegedly the only member of the Fab Five to score an invite to Porowski’s singlehood send-off. Supermodel Gigi Hadid was also in attendance.

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Though interior designer Bobby Berk previously shared with Cohen that he did not attend the event, Brown confirmed that it wasn’t a scheduling conflict that caused Berk’s absence. After joking about “the shade of it all,” the 42-year-old told Cohen, point blank, “Bobby was not invited, I was not invited, and Jonathan was not invited.” He added, “Just Tan was invited. The shade.”

When Cohen said that Berk made it sound like he simply wasn’t able to “make it,” Brown continued, “No. Listen, I’m all about being real and being up-front. We weren’t invited.”

Whether attempting to quell feud rumors or sharing his honest feelings on the subject, Brown went on to defend Porowski’s guest list, saying, “When it comes to events like that—like family things, weddings—it costs money, so I don’t take offense to it.” Brown then went even further, saying that while he assumes the Fab Five will be invited to the wedding, he wouldn’t mind if he wasn’t because of “costs per plate.”

Is there beef among the Queer Eye

Ethan Hawke’s Imaginative Flannery O’Connor Biopic – IndieWire

Ethan Hawke’s “Wildcat” has an intriguing fixation with artistic process. The actor-turned-director casts his own daughter, Maya Hawke, as Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor, in another film about a real artist’s life — “Blaze” was about a country musician; “Seymour: An Introduction” followed a classical pianist — with an unconventional and alluring narrative structure. However, despite Maya Hawke throwing herself headfirst into the part, her father’s attempts to capture O’Connor’s mind, body, and soul end up feeling incomplete.

The opening scene takes the form of an old, black and white movie trailer in a 4:3 aspect ratio — appropriate for “Wildcat’s” 1950s setting — for a salacious thriller about a rebellious young woman (played by Maya Hawke) who scandalizes her conservative Catholic mother (Laura Linney). It exists entirely apart from the movie’s narrative, but it seems to inform Hawke’s directorial mission statement, as he aims to translate a tale of literary process, and spiritual contradiction, into cinematic language.

The film’s real opening scene (in 2.35:1 widescreen and cold, muted colors) takes the form of a handheld point-of-view shot, of an imagined criminal holding a character at gunpoint. It quickly becomes apparent that this is a figment of O’Connor’s creative imagination, as she goes back and forth on the criminal’s dialogue, and the scene repeats itself and extends past its organic endpoint. The gun goes off and, as if in reaction to her own creation, the real O’Connor’s head snaps forward, toward her typewriter, in frustrated disappointment. The very first time we see her — crooked teeth, awkward glares from behind thick spectacles, and a determined disposition punctuated by doubt — she can barely get a sentence out without questioning her creative impulses.

This is the baseline from which Hawke begins telling O’Connor’s story, one in which the gloomy, the obscene, and the macabre collide head first with her Catholicism, and her family’s expectations for a young Southern woman from polite society. Much of the plot unfolds in her hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia, where she’s diagnosed with Lupus — the same disease that claimed her father’s life — and where she most struggles with her identity and her politics, given the overt clash between her artistic instincts and the diametrically opposed veneer of her folksy local community.

Ethan Hawke’s dramatization of these conundrums is unconventional. They take the form not of conversations, but of fictitious cinematic vignettes: brief snippets of stories as imagined by O’Connor, and influenced by details and people she sees around her in the real world. She pictures herself and her mother in key roles in nearly every story — Maya Hawke and Linney appear in each of these tales — a flourish of repetitive casting that makes for distinctly cinematic depiction of literary self-projection. The way director Hawke shoots these scenes (with an untethered, floating camera, compared to the stillness with which he films reality), imbues them with a sense of unpredictability, as they barrel towards increasingly absurd revelations about each character, accompanied by O’Connor’s poetic voiceover.

At one point, “Wildcat” essentially becomes an adaptation of “Parker’s Back,” a short story by O’Connor in which lust and Christian belief collide in ways that feel familiar to the writer’s life. However, this reflection only goes so far, re-establishing the parameters of a spiritual dilemma that seldom takes new forms or presents new challenges as the film goes on. O’Connor’s romantic subplot, with her university professor Cal Lowell (Philip Ettinger), feels similarly stifled, appearing as a mere check-list item meant to sketch out the boundaries of her celibacy-until-marriage beliefs, but without playing a central role in the emotional agony toward which the movie frequently gestures.

This agony comes to a head in a deeply felt (and painfully embodied) scene of bedside confession, in which Maya Hawke’s full-throated performance as the conflcted author verges on moving. However, Ethan Hatwke’s camera inadvertently lessens the impact of this and other scenes to which his daughter fully commits. His close-ups are edited, first and foremost, for their function, and their dialogue, rather than what they might reveal through silences, and when the question of mortality begins to loom over O’Connor, he introduces a flourish so beautifully conceived that it accidentally breaks the movie. About half way through, he presents spaces familiar to the audience (and some unfamiliar ones, like cemeteries) but defines them through the physical absence of O’Connor, using empty spaces where a person ought to be.

It’s a moving example of the genuine thought he puts in as a director (and as a co-writer with Shelby Gaines) to how to wordlessly express the inexpressible specter of death. However, rather than following up on this emotionally effective thread, he chooses this moment, of all moments, to flash back and introduce a topsy-turvy narrative structure, portraying a time when O’Connor’s physical presence isn’t at odds with this emptiness, and he never fully returns to this cinematic dichotomy.

It’s a bold idea that feels wasted, and when O’Connor is finally able to approach some kind of spiritual reckoning, it’s one that takes neither direct nor oblique form — it’s presented neither in the literal dramatic terms of O’Connor’s linear narrative, nor in her imaginative purview — but rather, in the form of rote implication, as the film practically ends in medias res just as it starts to get interesting.

Given the formal flourishes found in this ending, it isn’t hard to trace its cinematic inspirations: the films of Paul Schrader, with whom Hawke collaborated on “First Reformed.” But where Schrader’s hints of climactic splendor are built on spiritual torment, Ethan Hawke’s depictions of the same never truly reach their emotional zenith. “Wildcat” is too tame in its portrayal of suffering to let its Catholic undertones sing or take powerful cinematic form, resulting in a work where paradoxes are half-baked dilemmas that seem too conveniently solved, and life itself is something that happens far off-screen.

Grade: C+

“Wildcat” screened at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. It is currently seeking U.S. distribution.

Ethan Hawke’s “Wildcat” has an intriguing fixation

What to Watch

One Piece Renewed for Season 2 at Netflix

Picture: Netflix

One Piece will be setting sail again! Netflix today has confirmed that the show will be returning for “more” episodes, expected to be in the form of at least a season 2.

In a renewal confirmation video released alongside the news of the renewal, Eiichiro Oda (creator of the manga and an executive producer on the show) had the following to say:

“To the Straw Hat Grand Fleet: What did you think of Season 1 of the live-action ONE PIECE? I spent a long time working on it with Netflix and Tomorrow Studios. It seems people around the world have been enjoying the show, which makes the hard work from the production team truly worth it.

To everyone who’s been a fan of ONE PIECE for years, and to those who experienced ONE PIECE for the first time, thank you so much.

Two weeks after the launch, I just received some great news. Netflix has decided to renew the show! The adventures of Iñaki and the live-action Straw Hats will continue onward!

It’ll still take a while to get the scripts ready, so please be patient.

From here on, it seems to me the Straw Hats will need a great doctor… We will see!”

Episode count for season 2 and additional story details for the new season will be shared later.

Interestingly, Netflix doesn’t use the word season 2 in its renewal announcement (similar to how The Sandman was renewed for “more episodes”), suggesting that while it’s expected a new season is on the way, exactly how it looks is unclear. Given the nature of the show, it could easily be split into different formats such as movies, self-contained story episodes, or something longer. Without further clarification, it’ll just be known as season 2 for now.

A second season renewal has looked likely with the relatively strong performance (more on this in a second) and the two interviews Tomorrow Studios have done with Variety and Deadline over the past week. In their Variety interview, Marty Adelstein (CEO) stated, “We’ve got scripts ready,” clarifying that should filming get underway quickly, the show could return “within 12-18 months”.

In another interview, the team said they hope for 12 seasons.

As Oda clarified in the above statement, there’s still writing work to be done, and naturally, with the ongoing strikes taking place with no end in sight. Any production will likely not happen until 2024 when the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes are resolved.

How well is ONE PIECE performing on Netflix?

The show has been featured as the number one English language show in both weeks it has qualified for the Netflix top 10s. Between August 27th and September 10th, it picked up 285.80 million global viewing hours, which breaks down to 37.8 million views (completed viewing equivalents). Viewing hours rose 4% in week 2.

Despite the performance thus far, as we covered on our top 10 report for September 10th, One Piece is currently tracking below Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, meaning that the show is unlikely to hit the Netflix all-time top 10 list.

We’ll soon be adding One Piece to our mega-list of shows that have been renewed for new seasons, currently sitting at well over 100 shows from around the world.

We’ll be keeping our season 2 guide for One Piece updated in the coming months and years on any and all developments.

Are you looking forward to another season of One Piece on Netflix? Let us know in the comments.

Picture: Netflix One Piece will be setting sail

Awards

Jason Kilar Joins Roblox Board of Directors

Jason Kilar, who exited as CEO of WarnerMedia after Discovery’s acquisition last year, has been appointed to the board of directors of online game platform Roblox. Kilar’s appointment to Roblox’s board was effective Sept. 13.

Kilar is entrepreneur and executive who has led media and entertainment companies for more than 15 years.

“Jason Kilar is a well-respected leader in the entertainment and media industry, and his experience in the space is of value to the Board as Roblox continues to scale globally,” David Baszucki, chairman and CEO of Roblox, said in a statement.

Kilar, in a statement, commented, “I am honored to join Roblox, a company I have long admired and cheered from afar as they leaned into the future. Roblox is changing the way people come together and changing how creators can create delightful experiences for them. I am excited to join the board and do all I can to help bring Roblox’s vision to life.”

On the Roblox board, Kilar joins Baszucki, lead independent director Anthony Lee, and board members Gregory Baszucki, Christopher Carvalho, Gina Mastantuono and Andrea Wong.

Kilar also serves on the boards of Wealthfront and Opendoor Technologies. Kilar holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jason Kilar, who exited as CEO of

Music

Sufjan Stevens: “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” Track Review

On the second single from Sufjan Stevens’ upcoming album Javelin, the singer-songwriter pleads for something that we all want: unconditional love. The spare guitalin of the introduction might recall a younger Stevens, like the one who yearned over lost adolescent romance on 2005’s “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades Is Out to Get Us!” Back then, he sounded naively hopeful that love would soon return. Eighteen years later, patience has worn thin. “Will Anybody Ever Love Me?” hardly sounds lonely, though: Stevens dramatizes a far-reaching feeling of desperation with a sound that’s bright and expansive, carefully assembling each new instrumental voice—gentle piano, warm strings, a trio of backing singers—like fire logs waiting to ignite. “Tie me to the final wooden stake, burn my body, celebrate the afterglow,” he sings, searching for any feeling as intense as the ache of longing.

Correction: The stringed instrument Stevens plays on “Will Anyone Ever Love Me?” is a guitalin, a type of lute; it is not a banjo.

On the second single from Sufjan Stevens’

Docs

Unveiling the Unforgettable 10 Gems of Gambling Cinema Features Film Threat

Gambling has long been a source of high stakes, mystery, and curiosity. It is hardly surprising that this compelling world has made it to the big screen, where filmmakers have captured the excitement and drama of casinos and high-stakes gambling.

The gambling industry is thriving, with many excellent games and establishments available in many states. Nowadays, choosing casino bonus codes for Michigan online casinos and establishments in other states is a tough choice, as there are plenty of excellent deals one can pick from.

In this article, we examine the memorable 10 movies that epitomize the thrill of a high-stakes wager and the appeal of the casino floor.

The Color of Money (1986)

Fast Eddie Felson, a seasoned pool hustler, adopts a gifted teenage protege in the captivating story “The Color of Money”. The movie delves into the complexities of the world of the hustler, where each decision and wager has an impact. This movie goes deep into the psychology of gambling and the quest for perfection, with strong performances by Tom Cruise and Paul Newman.

The Gambler (1974)

The focus of “The Gambler” is Professor Axel Freed, who suffers from a severe gambling addiction. Axel is caught up in risky loan sharks as his debt problem worsens. The devastating nature of addiction and the effects that gambling may have on a person’s life are also topics covered in the movie.

Rounders (1998)

A skilled poker player named Mike McDermott is followed on “Rounders” as he explores the unregulated high-stakes poker industry. Mike is divided between being loyal to his friend and having the chance to succeed because of his passion and drive to win.

Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

“Ocean’s Eleven” portrays a heist unlike any other with a star-studded ensemble. The goal of Danny Ocean and his group is to heist three of Las Vegas’ largest casinos at once. The movie displays the appeal of the casino industry and the careful preparation needed to carry out a huge strategy.

The Hangover (2009)

As a group of friends wakes up in Las Vegas with no recollection of what happened yesterday, “The Hangover” takes us on a truly crazy journey. In the middle of their frantic search for the prospective groom, the movie shows the audience the opulent casinos and the unpredictable nature of casino life.

The Cooler (2003)

Bernie Lootz is a character in the movie “The Cooler” who has a supernatural capacity to curse gamblers. Bernie, who works at a casino, is torn between his obligations and his feelings when his life takes an unexpected turn. In this movie, the idea of luck, both good and bad, is explored, as well as how fate and chance coexist in the realm of gaming.

Casino Royale (2006)

James Bond enters our list with “Casino Royale”, in which he engages in a high-stakes poker match against Le Chiffre, a known funder of terrorists. This movie offers a unique and intriguing perspective on the casino industry by fusing the sexy elegance of Bond with the gripping suspense of a game of poker.

Casino (1995)

Martin Scorsese’s “Casino”, a masterwork that immerses audiences in the heart of Las Vegas in the 1970s, was bound to appear on this list. The story of Sam Rothstein, a casino owner, and his tumultuous connection with the mafia is followed in this grand crime thriller. Casino creates a vivid and indelible depiction of the gambling industry through its engrossing plot, real events that the movie is based on, breathtaking acting, and Scorsese’s great direction.

Croupier (1998)

“Croupier” follows Jack Manfred, a writer who became a croupier, and brings us inside a casino. Jack is sucked into a dangerous web of deceit as his involvement in the gambling industry grows. This movie offers a distinctive viewpoint on the gambling sector and the hazy boundaries between fact and fantasy.

The Hustler (1961)

Fast Eddie Felson, a skilled but destructive player, competes against the illustrious Minnesota Fats in the pool hustler movie “The Hustler”, showcasing the brutal world of pool hustlers. The movie explores the sacrifices people are prepared to make in order to succeed, capturing their tenacity and perseverance as they try to find atonement via gambling.

The Glitz, Glamour, and Gambles of Film

The 10 movies we’ve chosen as the best examples of gambling in cinema in this article provide a window into the complex world of casinos, highlighting the attraction, peril, and complex dynamics that make gambling such a compelling topic for filmmakers.

Gambling has long been a source of

Global

Edmonton using $5M from province to clean and upgrade transit stations – Edmonton

The city is using a one-time grant from the Government of Alberta to make Edmonton transit stations safer and cleaner.

The $5-million grant will be used to renovate two vacant cafes near or in Edmonton Transit Service LRT stations and convert them to work stations for officers or outreach teams.

The money will also be spent on “system-wide improvements to LRT stations,” the city said, including more frequent cleaning, upgrades to more than 700 doors and windows to prevent property damage, and approximately 25 new security cameras.

The former Three Bananas Café at the south end of Churchill Square will be turned into a deployment hub and work space for city peace officers, transit peace officers (TPOs) and the Edmonton Police Service Transit Community Safety Teams (TRACS).

Right now, there are three teams — each one with seven police officers — that work in LRT stations and other transit hubs.

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“EPS TRACS officers and TPOs have been working together for several months,” said Insp. Angela Kemp, an officer with EPS’ Crime Suppression Branch. “We still have work to do, but our presence is beginning to make a positive impact on transit safety and we will continue to keep our efforts up.”

Click to play video: 'Edmonton once again increasing safety and security measures on public transit'

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Edmonton once again increasing safety and security measures on public transit

In 2024, another former café inside Central LRT Station will be renovated and turned into a work space for the Community Outreach Transit Team (COTT), which pairs transit peace officers and outreach workers.

It’s a partnership between the city and Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society.

“When vulnerable people turn to transit spaces, COTT offers a compassionate approach focused on solutions,” said Robbie Kaboni, manager of COTT Outreach Workers, Bent Arrow Traditional Healing Society.

“This permanent station will create a space to build on established trust, helping bridge people to outside supports.”

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Click to play video: 'City of Edmonton completes major upgrade of Stadium LRT Station'

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City of Edmonton completes major upgrade of Stadium LRT Station

Other work around LRT stations:

Improve visibility between Southgate LRT station and neighbourhood, including landscaping improvements. “A new art installation will improve vibrancy,” the city said.
Enhancements of MacDonald Drive between 100 and 101 streets — including painted benches, picnic tables, lighting and planters — will improve the space around Central LRT Station.
Improved lighting and design elements will be added to improve overall appearance and reduce vandalism at Corona and/or MacEwan LRT Station.

The Alberta Transit System Cleanup Grant is a one-time provincial grant to help transit systems in Edmonton and Calgary.

“Safety is a shared responsibility, and this investment is a blueprint for how we can work together,” said Mayor Amarjeet Sohi. “Each of these projects will make a tangible difference, and also reflects the collaborative work happening across the transit system.”

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“We’re working every day to improve the experience for Edmontonians,” said Duane Hunter, director of transit safety with the City of Edmonton.

“These investments are helping us accelerate and expand work that is already underway, and most importantly, reflect what we’ve heard from communities, businesses and other partners.”

Click to play video: 'Edmonton city councillors react to transit safety report'

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Edmonton city councillors react to transit safety report

&copy 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

The city is using a one-time grant

Trending

One Piece Renewed For Season 2 At Netflix – Deadline

Netflix has picked up a second season of One Piece, its hit live-action adaptation of Eiichiro Oda’s best-selling manga.

The announcement comes shortly after the series wrapped its second week at No. 1 in Netflix’s Top 10 with another dominating performance internationally. It debuted August 31 on the streamer.

Based on Oda’s manga title, One Piece follows the otherworldly adventures of Monkey D. Luffy (Iñaki Godoy) and his pirate crew as they explore exotic islands and endless oceans in search for the ultimate treasure “One Piece” to become the next Pirate King.

The Straw Hats are played by Mackenyu (Roronoa Zoro), Emily Rudd (Nami), Jacob Romero Gibson (Usopp) and Taz Skylar (Sanji).

The cast also includes McKinley Belcher III, Morgan Davies, Aidan Scott, Vincent Regan, Jeff Ward, Craig Fairbrass, Langley Kirkwood, Celeste Loots, Alexander Maniatis, Ilia Isorelýs Paulino, Chioma Umeala and Steven Ward.

Steven Maeda and Matt Owens serve as writers, executive producers and showrunners. Oda, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements also executive produce.

One Piece is produced by Tomorrow Studios and Netflix in partnership with Shueisha.

Netflix has picked up a second season

Tech

Microsoft Surface Pro 10: everything we know so far

Microsoft’s October 12 Surface showcase is just around the corner and with it will come tons of announcements of brand-new devices, from PCs to laptops to tablets and more. One possible reveal is the next entry in the Surface Pro series of tablets, the Surface Pro 10.

The Surface Pro 8 helped to breathe new life into a series that was mostly content with very little change across the board (possibly barring the Surface Pro X), and the Surface Pro 9 continued on with some strong spec updates and a slightly updated aesthetic design. That said, there are high hopes that the Pro 10 will innovate even further, or at least be a clear and strong improvement over its predecessors, becoming one of the best 2-in-1 laptops.

There isn’t much we know so far, except the fact that unlike the Pro 9, it’ll most likely only have a single configuration, a 13th-Gen Intel CPU, or it’ll have both the Intel and ARM versions with the latter delayed until 2024. There also seems to be a report spreading about an 11-inch version of the Pro 10 launching with the 13-inch, which would serve to compete with Apple’s own iPad variants.

Now that we know some of the basics, let’s take a look at what else the Surface Pro 10 has to offer.

Microsoft Surface Pro 10: cut to the chase

What is it? The new Microsoft Surface Pro tablet
When is it out? Rumored sometime in late September or October 2023
What will it cost? Most likely starting at $1,299

Microsoft Surface Pro 10: Release date and price

Microsoft is well-known for its rigid annual release schedule when it comes to the Surface Pro series, which is usually the third quarter of every year since 2013. Naturally, the only time this was broken was in 2020 thanks to the pandemic’s long-reaching impact on the supply chain and labor causing manufacturing delays.

The main Surface Pro 9 model was released in October 2022 along with the Surface Pro 9 5G and, judging from rumors and a special September Microsoft event for journalists in New York City that’s coming up, we could see it as early as September 21. If not, then it’ll most likely be sometime around October 12 after the Microsoft event debuts.

As for pricing, there’s no official word and rumors are sparse at best. The most we can do is judge based on previous trends, which have seen the price go up with every release. The base Surface Pro 9 model started at $999.99 / £1,099 / AU$1,649 and the 5G version was $1,299.99 / £1,299 / AU$2,599 (with more RAM). Most likely the base version of the Pro 10 will start at $1,299.99.

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Surface Pro 10: Design

The 13-inch Pro 10 will most likely sport the same 2880 x 1920 resolution and PixelSense Flow touch display with a 3:2 aspect ratio as the Pro 9 did, just like the Pro 9 carried that over from the Pro 8. It’ll most likely have the same smooth and rounded edges, along with the kickstand and attachable Type Cover keyboard that’s always sold separately.

But what’s way more interesting is a report from Windows Central that alleges the Surface Pro 10 will feature two models, the standard 13-inch version and an 11-inch. It’s similar to what Apple is doing with its own iPad Pro, which could mean that Microsoft is trying to compete directly with its tablet rival.

According to that same report, “The 11-inch Surface Pro is codenamed Luxor and will be similar in shape and size to that of the Surface Go, albeit with slimmer bezels like its larger sibling. Of course, the 11-inch Surface Pro will also be more powerful, with a better 120Hz display.”

Windows 11 got an update back in 2022 with a new tablet mode for devices 11 inches and under. One of the new features makes the taskbar minimize from view when an app is open, while the other auto opens the app to full screen to better emulate Android and iOS tablets. There are plans for even more tablet optimization updates into 2024, which would also explain why Microsoft wants to ship out an 11-inch device.

Surface Pro 9 on a desk with someone drawing art using a stylus — (Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft Surface Pro 10: Performance

Currently, there are no hard reports on what to expect when it comes to specs and performance for the Surface Pro 10. Amidst some conflicting rumors, there aren’t even any confirmations of whether the Pro 10 will use both ARM and Intel variants again as with the Pro 9, though we can assume it’ll be packing at least a 13th-generation Intel chip.

Unfortunately, the next-gen Qualcomm’s Snapdragon processors that would have been perfect for the Pro 10 aren’t coming out until December 2023 or sometime in 2024, far too late for the next Surface Pro. This also backs the idea of an Intel-only configuration or a delayed ARM version, since we still have no confirmation of an ARM variant as of now.

Microsoft’s October 12 Surface showcase is just

‘Dora And The Fantastical Creatures’ Short To Play Before ‘PAW Patrol’ Sequel – Deadline

It’s a Dora like you’ve never seen her before — in complete CGI animation. Nickelodeon is relaunching the famed Latina explorer in new animated theatrical short, Dora and the Fantastical Creatures, exclusively in theaters on Friday, Sept. 29 preceding the Spin Master Entertainment/Nickelodeon Movies/Paramount picture, PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie.

The new CGI animated preschool series of Dora will debut in spring 2024 on Paramount+ stateside. Internationally, Dora will stream day-and-date on Paramount+ and air on Nickelodeon channels in all markets where available.

In Dora and the Fantastical Creatures, Dora (Diana Zermeño) and Boots (Asher Spence) embark on an incredible adventure to the land of alebrijes, the most magical and colorful creatures in the rainforest. There, they must band together against Swiper (Marc Weiner) to save the beloved alebrijes and their Copal Tree Celebration. The short film also features: Anairis Quiñones as Luna Arcoiris; Danny Burstein as Sol; and Kate del Castillo as Ale. Following the debut of Dora and the Fantastical Creatures, additional Dora content will also be available across Nickelodeon platforms, Paramount+ and Noggin.   

The short is produced by Nickelodeon Animation in Burbank, Calif. William Mata is directing from a screenplay by Alejandro Bien-Willner and a story by Bien-Willner and Sean Gill. Production is overseen by Eryk Casemiro, Executive Vice President, Global Animated Series, Nickelodeon. Miriam Ritchie and Marielle Kaar serve as Nickelodeon’s Executives in Charge of Production for the short. Dora the Explorer is created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner.

Joining the cast of Dora and the Fantastical Creatures in the new Dora series are additional voice actors, including: Anairis Quiñones as Map and The Fiesta Trio’s armadillo; Maria Canals-Barrera as Abuela; Danny Burstein as Grumpy Old Troll, and The Fiesta Trio’s frog and marmoset; Katarina Sky as Backpack; Donovan Monzon-Sanders as Tico; Tandi Fomukong as Isa; Quintún Muñoz as Benny; and Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken.   

Similar to Viacom’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which cleared $1 billion in retail merchandise sales for calendar year 2023 alone and saw its latest animated feature grossing over $162M WW and counting, Dora the Explorer is another big brand for the entertainment conglom racking up several hundred millions of dollars annually in merchandise. There was a live-action movie back in 2019, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, which minted over $120M WW.