How the attempted assassination of Andy Warhol sparked an iconic Midnight Cowboy scene – Far Out Magazine

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

(Credit: YouTube / Far Out)

Every now and again, a film will come along that unwittingly encapsulates the zeitgeist of an era. With that in mind, it can certainly be said that very few works of art capture the sixties hedonistic slide into the seventies as well asMidnight Cowboy. There is one tale from the films backstory, however, that seems to crystalise the era in an almost mystically befitting sense.

Amid the movies boldly renegade artistic journey is a party scene, that does so well what so many other party scenes dismally fail at, it actually seems realistic. Whereby most depictions try to portray fun, in reality, fun is one of the last adjectives to come to mind when you consider most of the house parties youve ever been to. And I dont mean that in a humbug sense either, but very rarely does a party simply look like an Earth, Wind & Fire video, whereby upon entry you are handed a frilly umbrellaed cocktail and begin lightly shaking your hips while cheerfully chatting with a stranger.

Midnight Cowboysloft party scene has since become iconic for just that reason despites the aggrandised surrealism it is somehow a transportive depiction of how a kaleidoscopic drug-fuelled get-together of the sixties may have looked. Thus, it is no surprise that Andy Warhol had hand in it in an almost mythical sense, of course. He was the artistic numen of Greenwich Village in that area, so it is only natural that he spiritually presided over the scene even if he, himself, was recovering in hospital following an assassination attempt which just so happened to be another regrettable mainstay during the highly unsettled era.

While the film for the most part remains faithful to the James Leo Herlihy novel on which it is based while also flourishing the narrative with a seasoned vaunt of arthouse touches, the writer didnt give them much to go on for the party segment. The book simply said a party in Greenwich Village, production assistant, Michael Childers had other ideas, embellishing the scene with a cacophony of New Yorks decadent quintessence.

That was partly my idea, Childers remarked in a GQ interview. I was friends with Paul Morrissey, who did all the Warhol movies and so was obviously close with Andy, and wed hang out at Maxs Kansas City with him and Andy Warhol and The Velvet Underground crew, Debbie Harry, New York Dolls and all those crazy people. I brought John there for a couple of dinners with Paul, and one with Andy, and he was fascinated.

I said, Look! In the book, it just says, A party in Sues in Greenwich Village. Whats that? I said, Lets turn it into something completely Warhol. I had all the superstars in it Ultra Violet, International Velvet, Paul Jabara, Hollywood Blonde, Paul Morrissey, Joe DAlessandro, Taylor Mead, Patti DArbanville and Andy really wanted to be in it. Problem was that he was shot the week before by Valerie Solanas and we had to start shooting.

While Warhol recovered in hospital, bitterly disappointed to be missing out on being part of the movie, his cohort of Factory friends responded to the violence in the most late-sixties New York way there is they got high! The ultimate tribute to Andy Warhol comes from the fact that the film remains the only X-rated film to win an Oscar for Best Picture, and while he was tragically denied his cameo his essence is all over the key scene.

The writhing nudes, the swirling camera shots, weird dancing spaced-out people stroking the walls was not the result of some light, camera, action choreography, these actors were answering to a higher calling. The flamboyant cast of Warhols pals had thought that the best way to pay tribute to their chief would be to make it just like one of Andys Loft Partys, thus prior to the scene they all got wasted.

Brenda Vaccaro, who plays Shirley in the film, recalls the moment when they slowly began to descend / ascend onto the set:One girl came in with green nails, green hair and a stuffed monkey on her shoulder. She said, Im a tree, and this is my monkey. Seeking some respite from the mayhem, Vaccaro headed into her dressing room at Harlems Filmways Studio and found two strangers there, having sex: I said, Whoa! and got the hell out of there.

The hedonism got so out of hand that one crew member quit. Cinematographer Adam Holender recalls him walking off set, He felt his sensibility and religious beliefs were compromised.

What they managed to create with this unspooling of riotous heathenry is not only a fascinating arthouse sequence that permeates the narrative with a frisson of surrealism but also a tableau that predicted the forthcoming dirge of the seventies. The mindless violence that spawned it is in this sense also befitting. And finally, the fact that the scene remains among the canon of cinemas greats is a triumphant example of the vibrant explosion of art that came out of the tempestuous end to the sixties.

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How the attempted assassination of Andy Warhol sparked an iconic Midnight Cowboy scene - Far Out Magazine

From My Fair Lady to Grease 2: Guardian writers on their favourite movie musicals – The Guardian

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

The Gold Diggers of 1933

The Gold Diggers of 1933 is a film of quarters, and not just the giant coins that cover the chorus lines modesty. Four wisecracking kids are dying to make it on Broadway: Joan Blondell is a singer, Ginger Rogers a sex kitten, Ruby Keeler a sweetheart and Aline MacMahon has the jokes. But the shows they hustle into close before they open. As Rogers snarls, its the depression, dearie. But then Dick Powell changes their luck with catchy tunes and deep pockets. This is a bona fide pre-Code musical, so the talkie scenes burst with prohibition-busting backstage antics and a little Park Avenue farce, but the curtains open wide on four of the most outlandish numbers ever filmed, courtesy the kaleidoscopic visions of Busby Berkeley and what deadpan Ned Sparks calls: The gay side, the hard-boiled side, the cynical and funny side of the Depression! Vivacious economic optimism in Were in the Money and heartbreaking social commentary for the postwar generation in My Forgotten Man (blues vocals by Etta Moten) bookend the film. In between, the dazzling neon-lit magic of the Shadow Waltz competes with the cheerily vulgar surrealism of Pettin in the Park to stop the show. Pamela Hutchinson

So much has been written about Singin in the Rain that its easy to forget that its not just about the birth of the talkies. Talking is the least of it. Its about the birth of music on screen, the birth of the movie musical. Gene Kelly famously plays 1920s silent movie star Don Lockwood who falls hard for smart, pretty wannabe actor Cathy Selden, played by Debbie Reynolds. He gets her a job dubbing his conceited co-star, Lina Lamont, who turns out to have a terribly squeaky voice, but they have an even bigger and more revolutionary idea. Why not put music into these newfangled sound pictures? The musical is born. Cinema itself is reborn. Dons pal Cosmo, wonderfully played by Donald OConnor, gets a job as musical director and the cliches are true: the whole picture erupts with joy, and with wonderful songs like All I Do Is Dream Of You, Moses Supposes, Make Em Laugh and of course the indomitably romantic Singin in the Rain itself. Peter Bradshaw

Three years after the 1978 classic Grease, audiences returned to Rydell high for the yearnings and hijinks of a new class of seniors. The plot is a gender-swapped (and many say feminist) reprise of the original, with Michelle Pfeiffer in her first starring role as a cool-girl tough chick and Maxwell Caulfield as an egghead British exchange student. A critical and commercial flop upon its release, its since become a cult classic, with standout numbers like the 80s-rock-tinged Cool Rider and the infectious, none-too-subtle Score Tonight (set in what else? a bowling alley) living rent free in my head for decades. Directed by Patricia Birch, choreographer of the original Broadway and film versions, the ensemble dancing is exuberantly impeccable, and the costumes pitch perfect, particularly in the talent show. Sure, no one looks like an actual teen, but Grease 2 accurately captures the mercurial nature of adolescence, along with its strict hierarchies and codes and unrestrained horniness. With its 40th anniversary coming up next year, heres hoping that this under-recognized gem will finally get its due as the rare sequel thats superior to the original. Lisa Wong Macabasco

Its remarkable a film as luxy as My Fair Lady in 1964 the most expensive movie ever made feels so weirdly authentic. Top frocks, yes, and dazzling design, but also smog you can taste and the genuine sense at least two of the characters sleep in their tweeds. In some ways, this could be a bit of a downer. Our leading man is cor! a misanthropic phonetics professor in late middle age. His love rival is a wimpy stalker. The most appealing fella here is probably Wilfred Hyde-White, and hes pushing 400. Either him or Stanley Holloways alcoholic binman. But the film understands the problem. Viewed from today, the plot snobbish codger moulds spunky woman to his tastes; she melts looks dodgy. But it isnt. George Cukor always took his leading ladys side, and this is no exception. Rex Harrisons Higgins is indulged, but almost every lyric lampoons him. Theres two transformations here: the one in which a woman has a wash and learns to enunciate about Andalucia. And then one in which a man realises hes a nightmare. Eliza stays the same inside; Higgins is changed forever. Thats why the final scene feels like a rescue, not a coffin closing. Catherine Shoard

Bob Fosse brought a writhing, sweaty, bowler-hatted eroticism to the Hollywood movie-musical, but sex was only one part of the darkening, maturing influence he exerted over the genre. His opulent direction embraced the scripts literary origins in Christopher Isherwooods 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin, placing the film in a lineage dating back to War and Peace, another maximalist melodrama tracking a few individuals while history crashes down all around them. As Nazism threatens to crash the whooping, hedonism-numbed party of Weimar Germany lorded over by impish Joel Grey as the trickster-demon emcee the incandescent Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli, her performance earning one of eight Oscars total) shares a dalliance with British writer Brian Roberts (Michael York) that ends in tragedy, both for them and for Europe. Beyond the jagged modernist perfection of the sets, cinematography, costuming, choreography and acting, theres a canny intelligence undergirding the spectacle. Its all far too horny to be branded the thinking persons musical, but Fosse masterfully splits the difference between the two. Charles Bramesco

Theres music in the voices and ambient noises interrupting or screaming over each other in Nashville, the Sistine Chapel of ensemble movies. Robert Altmans grand old tapestry is about country musicians and the promoters, fans and wannabes who orbit them during concert celebrations for Americas bicentennial. The film is brimming with soulful ditties like Keith Carradines Im Easy and Ronee Blakelys My Idaho Home. But Nashvilles famously dense and democratic soundscape finds its melody in the hum of traffic and crowds and the carefully amplified flirting, bickering, scheming, yearning, hollering and political campaigning between them. Resonating just as loudly today as it did in 1975, Nashville is a comic and melancholic soundtrack to a nation divided between jingoistic patriotism and malaise. The 24 characters on its principal ensemble cast are like musical notes that complement and compete with each other. And throughout Nashvilles epic runtime, Altman patiently waits and searches for a way to get them all in tune. Radheyan Simonpillai

My strong feelings for High School Musical, a groundbreaking cable TV event if not technically stellar movie (the lip syncing? Its off), owe mostly to timing: I was 12 years old when it premiered in January 2006, the prime age to fall hard for its classic fitting in v being yourself stakes and even harder for Zac Efrons hair swoop. It was a pleasure to get absolutely steamrolled by Disneys correct calculation that hot jock + beautiful nerd + the plot of Grease + lunchroom choreography = generation-defining, inescapable hit. Watching HSM in its wave felt gravitational, enjoyably ridiculous; the first movie was earnest without being too sentimental, your unhinged scream at a rollercoaster drop turned into the ethos of a whole franchise (whose endearment is evergreen see: the very Gen Z meta HSM: The Musical: The Series starring one Olivia Rodrigo). But HSM is most beloved by me for its durability Ive seen it dozens of times, the soundtracks familiar beats of teenage melodrama slicking every rewatch, each one solidifying that you cant take yourself too seriously when growing up (or bopping to the top). Adrian Horton

There are so many alluring entry-points into Mel Stuarts glorious adaptation of Roald Dahls Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a deranged Gene Wilder going for broke, endlessly appealing, if disgustingly unhygienic, scenes of sweet things, a plot structure that resembles a chillingly casual slasher movie but for annoying children that its easy to imagine it working without also being a musical (it was after all a captivating novel without telegraphed song breaks). But the delicate tonal balance of the story, from deliciously sweet to stingingly sour, works so well because of the music, a sprightly way of dishing up spoonfuls of salt to younger viewers. Dahl obviously hated the end product (he had a similar distaste for Nicolas Roegs equally thrillingly perverse take on The Witches) but it remains a wildly engaging and trippy adventure that manages, quite deftly, to combine awful kids enduring cruel and unusual, if arguably deserved, deaths (theories have since populated that compare Wonka to a deranged and inventive moralistic killer a la Jigsaw) with lively yet sparsely scattered musical numbers. Singin in the Rain could never. Benjamin Lee

Rarely has the title song from a musical eclipsed its source quite as cruelly as New York, New York. The film, directed by Martin Scorsese on the back of his Taxi Driver success, was a costly, grudgingly reviewed flop; the song, composed by Cabaret geniuses Kander and Ebb, worked its way swiftly into the American canon, made universally recognizable via Liza Minnellis original interpretation and Frank Sinatras subsequent cover. But the film, one of Scorseses greatest and gutsiest, deserved equal elevation. In 1977, audiences and critics werent sure what to make of a musical that married iridescent 1940s showmanship with ugly post-Cassavetes relationship drama, exquisitely acted by Minnelli and Robert De Niro as a warring musician couple who were never meant to be. But the tension between those two modes is the point, capturing the disconnect between glistening onstage chemistry and abrasive backstage turmoil. Its a shame the films failure dissuaded Scorsese from ever attempting the genre again: too long dismissed, it sings, swings and slings shots with the best of them. Guy Lodge

There is some debate as to whether the Coen brothers Homeric prison-escape comedy from 2000 is a musical at all, despite its T Bone Burnett-curated soundtrack of period-specific American folk, spirituals and bluegrass. Well I say: if jukebox musicals like Mamma Mia can get away with a load of Abba cuts, or or indeed Across the Universe can chuck in random Beatles songs, then I rest my case. O Brother, of course, benefits from the Coens at the top of their game: a ridiculously convoluted concept (reimagining the briefly mentioned film project from Preston Sturges Sullivans Travels); a terrifically charismatic performance from George Clooney (also at the top of his game) pulling the whole thing along; and of course the music, central to the plot, wonderful to listen to, and organised with scholarly rectitude. The 1913 tune Man of Constant Sorrow, keened through those hilarious beards, is the showstopper; but I really like the baptismal sequence built around Down in the River to Pray I dont think any other film-makers could have pulled that off. Andrew Pulver

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From My Fair Lady to Grease 2: Guardian writers on their favourite movie musicals - The Guardian

Oak Ridge Boy William Lee Golden tells his story in Behind the Beard – AL.com

Posted on June 10, 2021 by Danzig

Strangely enough, the nostalgic autobiography of an Oak Ridge Boy provides a cutting-edge look at whats going on right this second in the music world.

William Lee Golden recently published Behind the Beard, a memoir of his life from his childhood in Brewton, Ala., through the long grind leading to the Oak Ridge Boys breakthrough to big-time success, a series of divorces, his split from the band and eventual reunion, and his development of a family musical enterprise with The Goldens.

It is, by design, mostly a look back for the benefit of those who think fondly of the Oaks and who want to hear the inside story from the groups hairiest member. Itll be of interest mostly to fans who want to revisit those days in the early 80s when the Oaks, The Statler Brothers and Alabama regularly cracked the pop Top 40 with voices that were distinctly Southern, harmonies often rooted in gospel and songs that were usually, aside from Alabamas sultrier numbers, unimpeachably wholesome.

More on those bygone-era charms in a minute. In the last pages of the book, Golden reveals that the book was a project undertaken by the COVID-19 shutdown. But he also talks about the cost of that shutdown.

Early in 2020 the baritone was laid low by a respiratory ailment that left him bedridden for two weeks, in pain like hed never felt before, and that then required an ICU stay and further recuperation. A backup filled in for him as the Oaks continued to tour. Golden says thats standard procedure: Band members can step up to fill in for any of the four front men.

The whole band and crew depends on those concert dates. Our big money comes from concert performances, but the show must go on, in order for everyone to get paid, Golden says. I appreciated Michael Sykes covering for me. He helped save the show and they didnt have to cancel the concerts. Its a good thing they did the shows while I was sick, because just a few months later, almost every show for the rest of the year was cancelled due to the virus lockdowns.

He rebounded and was healthy for the remainder of 2020. His experience left him with an impression, right or wrong, shared by many who were bushwhacked by severe flu-like symptoms in early 2020: While I was told that I had the flu, a month after I got out of the hospital, we started hearing about the first cases of the Corona virus starting to hit the U.S. But I feel like I might have had it before anyone knew what it was.

As the shutdown fades into memory, the concert business is booming back to life, with new announcements coming every day. (The Statlers have ended their group touring days, but the Oaks have a full calendar from now through February 2022, and Alabama is back to playing arenas, with appearances Aug. 6 in Orange Beach and Aug. 7 in the Birmingham area.)

Golden says in the book that pandemic lockdowns canceled 100 Oak Ridge Boys concerts in 2020. While the hiatus was a godsend in that it allowed him to pursue some passion projects, he includes glimpses of how tough it was. One comes from fellow singer Duane Allen:

During our shutdown with the Covid virus, we had just 7 shows in 7 months. That was barely enough to pay our utilities. As a group, we said, We are not going to be able to have a salary. William told me, Duane, whatever you feel the Oaks need to do, I am there. We went through seven months without a full paycheck.

You see very few professional football or basketball players who are over the age of 40. They are usually long retired by then, writes Golden. Im more than double their age and Im still working hard! Of course, I love what I do, but Ive still got lots of bills to pay. If you go through 3 divorces, and get wiped out financially 3 times, youll find yourself working into your 80s too.

Financial considerations arent the only thing driving the concert industrys booming return to life. Theres also the hunger to perform. At 82, Golden says its still there.

But will the day come that the Oak Ridge Boys finally park the tour bus for the last time? Im sure it will. But for now, the bus still has a full gas tankand so do we, he says. We will continue as long as each guy can go. I can honestly say that we have never discussed what would happen if one of us couldnt go on. I plan to perform as long as I can, but if I couldnt perform, I would hope the group would go on without me, and I would expect them to.

2021 makes 40 years since Elvira became the groups signature hit. If a farewell tour is in the cards, Golden says, I hope that we make it a very long farewell.

Behind the Beard is, in its own way, a long farewell. Golden is open to a point about his faults and failings, from the infidelity that broke his first marriage to the hedonism that contributed to his firing in 1987. Its all told from the perspective of a man who has forgiven himself and moved on, so theres nothing titillating or controversial to be found. This is Behind the Beard, not Behind the Music.

The book, written with Scot England, is peppered with contributions from various friends, relatives and business partners, in addition to the other Oaks. The inclusion of other voices is undercut by their uniformity. These arent counterpoints or alternate perspectives, theyre tributes, ranging in tone from admiring to fawning. If you can overlook the sense that they were written to spec, they support the books thesis that Golden is a much-admired, well-liked man. If you cant, they make the book feel like a vanity project.

If Behind the Beard holds little to raise eyebrows, it does have its share of small delights. Golden writes at length about his idyllic youth in the Brewton area. He rather generously covers the Oak Ridge Boys long days of pre-fame struggle, when a frequently changing lineup of men scratched out a living on the gospel circuit. He gives these forerunners his respect, naming them and praising their work.

The book contains a cornucopia of photos, many showing a man who could have passed as a 70s movie idol before he decided to throw away his razor. Want to see the barefoot country boy, or the teen who aspired to the fame of hometown hero Hank Locklin? There they are. Want to see what his grandpas truck looked like after he rolled it? There it is.

Golden also gives some insight into the difficulty of the Oaks transition from gospel to country. It wasnt quick, it wasnt easy and it wasnt painless -- particularly as the band lost favor in the gospel industry and struggled for traction on the secular side. Hes similarly upfront about the setbacks along the way: Expensive divorces, the destruction of his home by a tornado, and other mishaps that show stardom doesnt guarantee a perpetual ride on easy street.

But even with our gold and platinum records and every kind of award, I am still not all that impressed with myself, he writes near the end. Thats why it took me so long to be talked into doing this book.

Behind the Beard is just that direct and is tinged throughout with the same self-deprecating humor. As he says right up front:

When you write your life story, and you decide to bare everything, its kind of scary. It feels a lot like getting naked in front of the entire world. Now that Ive committed to it, there is one thing going through my mind if I was going to get naked in front of everyone, I probably shouldnt have waited until I was 82 years old!

If nothing else, we can thank William Lee Golden for putting that image in our heads.

Behind the Beard can be ordered at http://www.williamleegoldenbook.com. The Oak Ridge Boys release their newest album, Front Porch Singin, on June 11.

Oak Ridge Boy William Lee Golden tells his story in Behind the Beard - AL.com

‘Grey’s Anatomy’: Don’t Worry, I’m Wearing Protection Best TV Quotes – TVLine

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Another Sunday morning, another bakery-fresh batch of Quotes of the Week!

In the list below, weve compiled more than a dozen of the weeks best TV sound bites, including moments both scripted and unscripted from broadcast, cable and streaming series.

This time around, weve got Clarices simple explanation for her (gruesome) chosen profession, more proof that Blair and Tiff are among Black Mondays most corrupt characters, a Greys Anatomy encounter between doctor and patient that gets awkward very quickly, and an extremely sobering moment from one of the weeks several enlightening Tulsa Massacre documentaries.

Also featured in this weeks roundup: double doses of Lucifer, Dark Side of the Ring and Ziwe, plus quotable moments from Station 19, Why Women Kill, A Million Little Things and more series.

Scroll through the list below to see all of our picks for the week, then hit the comments and tell us if we missed any of your faves!

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'Grey's Anatomy': Don't Worry, I'm Wearing Protection Best TV Quotes - TVLine

The Anatomy of a Great Pitch | Inc.com – Inc.com – Inc.com

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

In an elevator pitch, you have approximately 60seconds to get the recipient's attention. With an email pitch, even if you get someone to open your email, you have just 30. Here's what you need to include in those precious few seconds.

Research for attention

Attention is a scarce, expensive currency nowadays. Not everything grabs our attention anymore--what really hooks usare only those things that speak to our interest and appeal to our style/tone.

Researching what the other side thinks and likes, and how they speak, is crucial to your pitch being successful. When pitching a business, learn its pain and goals. If you're pitching a VC firm, use the same language that businesses in your niche used during a successful funding round. Above all, study the voice of the customer. It's what keeps any business running, both B2B and B2C. In the end, it's really B2P -- business to people -- and each target audience is different.

I asked Drayton Bird, former vice chairman and global creative director at Ogilvy how he successfully pitched Bentley. His response:

I worked with more than eight brands in the car business, and everyone I knew started out by selling cars. So, I just asked Bentley if the language they use when selling a car to a prospect is the same language used in the meeting with me today.

They said yes, and I suggested that's the tone we should use in your copy, and that got me the business. I won Bentley by asking a question I already knew the answer to because I've done my research.

Be clear

A clear message will always triumph over a complex pitch filled with jargon.

Skill to work on: Communication

Communication is fundamental because the next three skills will have less impact without it.Warren Buffett said it best: "If you can't communicate, it's like winking at a girl in the dark, nothing happens."

Benefits alone (emotions like relief, status, or desire) can get the job done most of the time, as people buy (and accept pitches) for two reasons: to move away from pain, or get closer to desire. As humans, we justify emotional decisions with logic, and in general, emotions are stronger than logic in behavioral economics.

Pitching a content strategy promising great writing is a feature. The same pitch focusing on promising the buyer they'll become an authority in their space is a desire-driven-benefit (status).

Focus on selling the benefits, not the features, to increase desire. Also, to increase connection between seller and buyer in your pitches, use personal language like "you" and "you're,"and avoid "I" and "we" as much as possible.

Skill to work on: Psychology

Educating yourself on human behavior, consumer psychology, and behavioral economics will maximize your ability to influence, persuade, and pitch successfully.

Here are three books that helped me:

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

Influence by Robert Cialdini

Emotion will help drive prospects to allocate mental bandwidth into calculating the deal logically.But logic is necessary for an air-tight pitch. You sell certainty in an uncertain world. People don't necessarily accept the best pitches. They say yes to those they deem least risky.

People buy from people. You're pitching (selling) an idea, but what you're truly selling is "yourself."Even if the proposition is great, the pitch won't sell if the seller isn't trusted.To bypass the logical barrier, present a pitch with strong case studies, proven business models, and social proof like:

Celebrity endorsements

Media coverage

Loan approvals

Testimonials

LOI letters

Skill to work on: Sales

It shouldn't surprise you that the number one job billionaires and multimillionaires held before they accumulated wealth is in sales.

I've held a commission-only sales job for three years in my mid-20s, and I attest that it's the single most important skill I learned -- and it directly affected my copywriting business pitches.

Skill to work on: Negotiation

Improving this skill will make your pitches better, both verbally and in a written format. I recommend the book Getting to Yesby William Uri, and the wonderful Harvard Program On Negotiation.

Communication, sales, negotiation, and psychology are four pillars that helped me better implement attention, clarity, emotion, and logic in my pitches - landing nine-figure clients through cold emails and over Zoom. Use these tips to land your next big contract.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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The Anatomy of a Great Pitch | Inc.com - Inc.com - Inc.com

Its Time for the Emmys to Give Long-Running Broadcast TV Shows Like NCIS and Greys Anatomy Their Own Category – Variety

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Yes, its a reminder that the way audiences consume TV has greatly changed over the past five years. And yet, that focus on the decline misses something actually pretty impressive: Broadcast shows like NCIS (which just finished its 18th season), ABCs Greys Anatomy (17 seasons) and NBCs Law & Order: SVU (21 seasons) continue to have massive staying power and tremendous fan bases. And because they boast such large episodic libraries, theyre all among the most-watched acquired shows on streaming.

In the world of the Emmy Awards, however, these shows seem to no longer exist. The last time SVU received an Emmy nomination was in 2011, when Mariska Hargitay was included in the drama lead actress race an award she won for the show in 2006. Greys Anatomy last earned a nom in 2012, for drama guest actress Loretta Devine, who won that same category in 2011 (the shows last Emmy). And NCIS has earned only three nominations in its entire history, most recently in 2013 for stunt coordination.

Of course, its nothing new that Emmy voters tire of a series; ER went from 23 nominations in its first season to two in its final; Modern Family, once an Emmy juggernaut, landed just three nods last year, in its final season. (Animated series like The Simpsons at 32 seasons and variety programs like Saturday Night Live and the talk shows are exceptions, of course.) But the Emmy shift away from the broadcast networks is also a well-documented phenomenon that accelerated over the past decade. We know the stats: In 2010, ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox garnered a combined 215 nominations; last year, it was 121.

Among primetime scripted series, only three entries received five or more nominations last year, and they were all on NBC: The Good Place, This Is Us and Will & Grace. And ultimately, the only broadcast programs to win multiple Emmys were either out of primetime (Saturday Night Live) or specials (Live in Front of a Studio Audience and the Oscars).

The problem for the broadcasters is twofold. First, they collectively appear to have just one live-action primetime scripted series at the moment with any Emmy mojo, and its This Is Us which will end its run next year, after six seasons. But second, the biggest network trend coming out of this years upfront presentations franchise mania wont help when it comes to awards. Broadcasters are smartly leaning on expansive brands like the Law & Order, Chicago, FBI, NCIS and 9-1-1 worlds, and those lend themselves to longevity but not to awards.

Pundits are constantly wondering how to incorporate the broadcasters back into the Emmys fold. Just as the Oscars struggle with how to recognize fan-friendly films (and briefly introduced an ill-fated blockbuster category), the Emmys also have seen viewership fall as TV splinters into multiple niche offerings. In radio, songs that continue to get spins months or even years after release are put in a special category, recurrents. Perhaps theres a way for Emmy to recognize those workhorses TVs recurrents. A category where long-running shows get their due could be fun, and give a bit of attention to the SVUs and Greys of the world.

What’s on TV Thursday: ‘Gray’s Anatomy’, ‘Station 19’ on ABC – Los Angeles Times

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

During the coronavirus crisis, the Los Angeles Times is making some temporary changes to our print sections. The prime-time TV grid is on hiatus in print but an expanded version is available in your daily Times eNewspaper. You can find a printable PDF online at: latimes.com/whats-on-tv.

Manifest The consequences of Bens (Josh Dallas) actions test his marriage, sending Grace (Athena Karkanis) reeling in this new episode. 8 p.m. NBC

Station 19 Maya (Danielle Savre) addresses family issues and crew members run into a life-or-death situation on a response scene in the season finale. Jaina Lee Ortiz and Boris Kodjoe also star, and Chandra Wilson makes a guest appearance in her Greys Anatomy role of Dr. Miranda Bailey. 8 p.m. ABC

Beat Shazam (N) 8 p.m. Fox

Top Chef Tournament of tofu. 8 p.m. Bravo

Keeping Up With the Kardashians The End Part 1" (N) 8 p.m. E!

Beat Bobby Flay Chefs Dannie Harrison and Hiro Tawar; Food Networks Giada De Laurentiis and Marcus Samuelsson. (N) 8 p.m. Food Network

Christina on the Coast (season premiere) 8 p.m. HGTV

Mountain Men (season premiere) 8 p.m. History

Gordon Ramsay: Uncharted Ramsay explores the people, places and flavors of Norway. 8 p.m. National Geographic

United States of Al In this new episode, Al and Riley (Adhir Kalyan, Parker Young) suspect Art (Dean Norris) might be lonely and missing his late wife and try to play matchmaker for him. 8:30 p.m. CBS

Law & Order: Special Victims Unit While Fin and Phoebe (Ice Tea, Jennifer Esposito) make wedding plans, Benson and Rollins (Mariska Hargitay, Kelli Giddish) try to help a homeless single mother whos being trafficked, in the season finale. 9 p.m. NBC

Greys Anatomy Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) assumes a new role at the hospital, Jo (Camilla Luddington) makes a life-changing decision, and its Maggie and Winstons (Kelly McCreary, Anthony Hill) wedding day in the season finale of the medical drama. Chandra Wilson also stars. 9 p.m. ABC

Restaurant: Impossible Two Stops in Tennessee (N) 9 p.m. Food Network

Alone (season premiere) (N) 9:35 p.m. History

Clarice When Catherine Martin (Marnee Carpenter) heads to Carneys Point, N.J., to confront Buffalo Bills mother (Maria Ricossa), Clarice (Rebecca Breeds) tries to find her before she she commits a vile act. Michael Cudlitz, Devyn A. Tyler and Kal Penn also star in this new episode. 10 p.m. CBS

Law & Order: Organized Crime (season finale) 10 p.m. NBC

Rebel Rebel (Katey Sagal) uses every strategy she can think of to persuade a key witness to testify in the case against Stonemore Medical. Tamala Jones, John Corbett, Matthew Glave, Daniella Garcia, Abigail Spencer, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Jeff Doucette, Nina Millin, Leonard Roberts, Peter Paige and Tyee Tilghman also star.10 p.m. ABC

Everythings Gonna Be Okay (season finale) (N) 10 p.m. Freeform

Womens College Softball World Series James Madison versus Oklahoma, 9 a.m. ESPN; Georgia versus Oklahoma State, 11:30 a.m. ESPN; Arizona versus Alabama, 4 p.m. ESPN; Florida State versus UCLA, 6:30 p.m. ESPN

NHL Hockey The Boston Bruins visit the New York Islanders, 4:30 p.m. NBCSP; the Carolina Hurricanes visit the Tampa Bay Lightning, 8 p.m. USA

Baseball The Seattle Mariners visit the Angels, 6:30 p.m. BSW

NBA Basketball The Phoenix Suns visit the Lakers, 7 p.m. SportsNet

CBS This Morning (N) 7 a.m. KCBS

Today Alanis Morissette performs; remembering Princess Diana. (N) 7 a.m. KNBC

KTLA Morning News (N) 7 a.m. KTLA

Good Morning America Dylln Burnside; Michael Cimino. (N) 7 a.m. KABC

Good Day L.A. (N) 7 a.m. KTTV

Live With Kelly and Ryan Patrick Wilson (The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It); Olivia Holt (Cruel Summer). (N) 9 a.m. KABC

The View Wanda Sykes; Kim Fields. (N) 10 a.m. KABC

The Wendy Williams Show Hot summer deals from Morningsave.com. (N) 11 a.m. KTTV

The Talk Bradley Whitford; Michael Cudlitz; Jerry OConnell. (N) 1 p.m. KCBS

The Kelly Clarkson Show Seth Meyers; Katie Stevens; Lil Rel; the Wizard of Paws. (N) 2 p.m. KNBC

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Sofa Vergara (Americas Got Talent); Cam Anthony (The Voice); Wim Hof. (N) 3 p.m. KNBC

Amanpour and Company (N) 11 p.m. KCET; 1 a.m. KLCS

Conan W. Kamau Bell. 11 p.m. TBS

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Maya Rudolph; Christopher Meloni; 24kGoldn performs. 11:34 p.m. KNBC

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Jake Tapper; Billie Eilish. 11:35 p.m. KCBS

Jimmy Kimmel Live! Michael Che; Cillian Murphy; the Linda Lindas perform. (N) 11:35 p.m. KABC

Late Night With Seth Meyers Pete Davidson; Jodie Turner-Smith; George Saunders; Mario Duplantier performs. 12:36 a.m. KNBC

The Late Late Show With James Corden Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); Sam Smith performs. 12:37 a.m. KCBS

Nightline (N) 12:37 a.m. KABC

A Little Late With Lilly Singh (N) 1:36 a.m. KNBC

8 Mile (2002) 8:47 a.m. Cinemax

The Loving Story (2011) 8:55 a.m. HBO

Escape From New York (1981) 9 a.m. AMC

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019) 9:12 a.m. and 4:18 p.m. Starz

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone (2001) 9:28 a.m. and 10:45 p.m. Bravo

Ghost (1990) 10 a.m. Sundance

Flight (2012) 10:05 a.m. Epix

Dunkirk (2017) 10:15 a.m. HBO

Blood Father (2016) 11:30 a.m. Syfy

Drumline (2002) 12:05 p.m. HBO

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002) 12:30 p.m. Bravo

Ten Little Indians (1966) 1:15 p.m. TCM

21 Jump Street (2012) 1:30 p.m. Freeform

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015) 2 p.m. Nickelodeon

Basic Instinct (1992) 2:25 p.m. Cinemax

RoboCop (1987) 3:05 p.m. TMC

Tenet (2020) 3:55 p.m. HBO

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) 4 p.m. Bravo

The Nutty Professor (1996) 5 p.m. VH1

The Breakfast Club (1985) 5:45 p.m. BBC America

Moneyball (2011) 5:45 p.m. Showtime

Doubt (2008) 6:15 p.m. Cinemax

Boyz N the Hood (1991) 6:30 p.m. BET

Blackboard Jungle (1955) 6:45 p.m. TCM

The Lincoln Lawyer (2011) 7 p.m. Paramount

The Blues Brothers (1980) 8 p.m. BBC America

Beginners (2010) 8 p.m. Cinemax

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) 8 p.m. Epix

Dallas Buyers Club (2013) 8 p.m. Showtime

To Sir, With Love (1967) 8:45 p.m. TCM

Steel Magnolias (1989) 9 p.m. Encore

War Horse (2011) 9 p.m. HBO

Walk the Line (2005) 9:45 p.m. Cinemax

Arachnophobia (1990) 10 p.m. Epix

Dark Waters (2019) 10 p.m. TMC

Ant-Man (2015) 10:30 p.m. USA

Originally posted here:
What's on TV Thursday: 'Gray's Anatomy', 'Station 19' on ABC - Los Angeles Times

Trouble on streets of Dublin: Anatomy of a night that went wrong – The Irish Times

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Saturday was a beautiful sunny day and by the early evening there were more than 100,000 people socialising in Dublin city centre.

However, for the second night in a row, conviviality was swiftly overtaken by scenes of violence and multiple arrests as small groups of youths clashed with garda, with bottles thrown at officers.

This is not the outdoor summer many had envisaged.

So how and why did trouble start?

From early on Saturday evening there was a notable but discrete Garda presence in the city. Many businesses around South William Street, an area which drew large crowds on Friday night, closed early, citing staff safety concerns.

At St Stephens Green Garda vehicles pulled up shortly before 6pm with officers taking up position at the entrances. Shortly afterwards two young males carrying plastic bags filled with cans were denied entry to the Green, along with others as it quickly became clear that garda were trying to manage the number of people in the park.

Inside many people were quietly enjoying the sunshine.

There was also another more volatile crowd of youths who assembled quickly in difference parts of the city, taking over entire areas to have chaotic parties.

One of these areas was in Stephens Green.

Music was booming from near the parks shuttered bandstand where more than 100 youths were packed tightly together despite there being plenty of space around them.

Ambulance staff and three Garda public order unit vehicles, as well as a number of garda, looked on from a distance for a while.

This crowd was chanting Oggy! Oggy! Oggy! and jumping, which drew it tighter together.

As the noise and exuberance rose garda decided to move in, at about 6.15pm. They cleared everyone from this particular area of the Green, including those sipping smoothies on picnic blankets nearby.

The youths from the bandstand splintered throughout the park, but the message spread rapidly and could be easily overheard: Temple Bar next.

As this was happening, elsewhere in the city there was a relaxed, feel-good Saturday night atmosphere on the side roads off Grafton Street and Georges Street.

Near to pubs some people listened to music through portable speakers, while a busker on Dame Court drew a small but enthusiastic audience.

Some of these areas were relatively busy, but the drinkers generally appeared to stick to their own small groups and make some effort to socially distance.

People joined orderly queues for takeaway pints and the newly installed portable toilets.

Some bantered with the toilet attendants and garda who watched from the sidelines

Early on Saturday Temple Bar was relatively quiet with only a handful of people outside the Temple Bar Pub drinking pints and cocktails.

But from about 7pm hundreds of young people gathered down the lane in Temple Bar Square where businesses were primarily shuttered. Two male youths scaled a building, performing sit-ups and stunts atop the roof of Gourmet Burger Kitchen, exciting the shouting crowd below.

At 7.20pm a Garda van arrived and the Square was quickly drained of people. A handful of the scarpering youths hurled glass bottles at the vehicle, with passersby forced to duck out of the way of the missiles.

Up until about 8pm South William Street too had been quiet, home to mainly small groups of casual drinkers, while a couple of garda surveyed the street from outside Grogans Castle Lounge which was shut.

Within 20 minutes the atmosphere on this street had darkened. Large swathes of youths many recognisable from Temple Bar Square swarmed in quickly overwhelming those who had been on the street. Many of those who had been drinking on the street quickly left.

In tandem with the sudden arrival of the youths on South William Street, the Garda presence grew swiftly as the younger, more rowdy group took over the steps of Powerscourt Townhouse Centre and surrounds for an impromptu party.

Boom boxes were deployed, youths climbed on to pillars, others on to the boot of a car driving through, as well as on to bins and a businesss sign to dance and perform for their friends and the masses who were videoing below.

A recycling bin was set on fire in the middle of it all with young males every so often lifting the lid to pour in more alcohol.

When members of the public order unit lined up nearby, some of the crowd began to dissipate.

But a small number of mainly young males stood their ground for longer, dancing on the steps of the centre, eyeballing the garda.

Then the public order unit moved en masse along South William Street, forcing everyone to clear the area. Some youths threw bottles and other items over the heads of other young people directly at garda.

From this point access to many of the surrounding streets was restricted and cleared of people. Groups of garda moved on from South William Street to empty Exchequer Street then Grafton Street and Clarendon Street where many had been enjoying much quieter drinks.

Some people expressed anger and frustration at being told to leave. Outdoor summer! exclaimed one woman loudly on South King Street as a garda poured her friends drink down the drain.

A garda moving people on told this newspaper the centre of the city was being closed for the night . . . The best thing people can do is go home.

In a statement a Garda spokesman said members later came under fire from bottles and other missiles on South Anne Street from a group of approximately 200 youths at about 9pm.

Garda deployed soft cap public order units with shields and dispersed crowds along South Anne Street and Dawson Street, he said.

The force was dealing with an organised group of youths engaged in persistent anti-social behaviour and public disorder in the city centre, added the spokesman.

Garda arrested 19 people, including two juveniles, on Saturday evening for alleged public order offences.

See the article here:
Trouble on streets of Dublin: Anatomy of a night that went wrong - The Irish Times

Greys Anatomy Producer Reveals Season 17 Could Have Ended Differently for Meredith After COVID Battle – Us Weekly

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Thats a wrap. Season 17 of Greys Anatomy was anything but uneventful, and when it comes to Meredith Greys dramatic story line, things could have ended pretty differently.

The ABC shows season finale aired on Thursday, June 3, closing out a whirlwind journey as Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) healed from her lengthy coronavirus battle. In the last moments of the episode, Meredith walks out of a successful transplant surgery and declares in a voiceover, Im still alive.

Executive producer Meg Marinis, who cowrote the final episode, revealed that the ending fans watched wasnt the original one the team had in mind.

We initially wrote Merediths clap-out to be when she was discharged from the hospital, in Episode 1715, Marinis told Deadline in an interview published Thursday night. But we quickly realized that moment seemed like the end of the season, so we came up with the brilliant idea of Meredith escaping her own clap-out, which felt very Meredith Grey to us.

Earlier on in the season, Meredith didnt receive the traditional round of applause for cured patients after her months-long battle with COVID-19 was over. Instead, she was given the standing-O after she and Teddy (Kim Raver) performed a double lung transplant surgery.

So many people had struggled with Covid, and she didnt want to feel any different than anyone else, Marinis described of the emotional moment. So we decided to clap Meredith out of the OR instead, which felt like the ultimate victory to her journey this season.

Merediths final scene wrapped the season on a positive note. That shot of Meredith, in the OR Corridor, surrounded by her people, laughing and smiling in her scrub cap it gives me all the feels, the producer said. It gives me hope after such a hard year.

While it may have seemed to many longtime viewers that season 17 could be the medical dramas last, the network renewed it for an 18th season in May. Pompeo, 51, previously teased that theres no end in sight for the Greys team.

I gotta keep doing it, man, because were touching lives and making a difference, she said during a 2018 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Pompeo is ready to tell more of her characters story, but theres one doctor fans wont be seeing again next season. Jesse Williams, who played Jackson Avery for 12 seasons, announced his departure from the show last month.

My last day there, the crew and cast give me this incredibly thoughtful, moving custom box full of letters and memorabilia from each and every member of the family. Heartfelt letters and photos, he told Entertainment Weekly of his emotional exit. Ive got my original lab coat, stethoscope, and ID card, scrub tops and all these mementoes. It was really sweet. Im looking at it right now, its sitting on my countertop. Its really, really sweet personal stuff, anecdotes. It was really something. Im incredibly grateful.

Originally posted here:
Greys Anatomy Producer Reveals Season 17 Could Have Ended Differently for Meredith After COVID Battle - Us Weekly

‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘In Treatment’ And Pandemic-Related TV Are Exhausting But Necessary – HuffPost

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

In March, I had one of those taking stock of things moments when I least expected it. It was Month 13 of the pandemic, and somehow I was watching the 17th season of a TV drama that had become aggressively about the pandemic, in which the title character had contracted COVID-19. One indicator of the severity of her condition was measuring the physical distance between her and the ghost of her dead husband on a beach in her COVID-induced dreams. A year and a half ago, nothing in those sentences would have made any sense.

For most of this season of ABCs never-ending Greys Anatomy, Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), no stranger to perilous experiences, teetered between life and death while her fellow surgeons at Grey Sloan Memorial contended with the grim realities of the pandemic. The four major characters who have died over the course of Greys returned as ghosts in her dreamscape most prominently her dead husband, Ghost McDreamy (Patrick Dempsey). It says a lot about both Greys and the hellscape of the last 15 months that even its fan-service elements, designed to offset the exhausting experience of watching real life unfold in the universe of the show, soon did not feel escapist. The ghosts presence, especially the recurrence of Ghost McDreamy, usually meant bad news. After I briefly tuned out during the scene when the correlation between his proximity and Merediths condition became crystal clear, I hit the pause button to confirm that, yes, he did move significantly closer to her, yelled at my screen in frustration and then thought that my reaction comically encapsulated just how much the pandemic has broken my brain.

I have assiduously avoided most shows that have heavily incorporated the pandemic. Yet I find myself admiring the hell out of the few shows Ive happened to watch whose writers and producers specifically chose not to shy away from reality, even when their choices didnt always land. More than a decade after its original run ended, HBO revived In Treatment because the networks executives thought that viewers would need a show about therapy right now. Though the pandemic and the racial uprisings are not the sole focus of the characters therapy sessions, the effects of the isolation and burnout created by it all are always there, even in scenes where the characters dont explicitly discuss them.

Other approaches that various TV shows have taken ignoring the pandemic completely, acknowledging it for a few episodes and then letting it fade into the background, or mentioning it briefly and then placing the show in some vague post-COVID world are certainly valid. After all, weve craved escapism over the last 15 months. And on scripted television, its challenging to figure out how to depict major events while theyre still unfolding in real life.

But on shows like Greys and In Treatment, in which grief, trauma, loss and their repercussions are central to their emotional resonance, it would have been a disservice to ignore reality and to tell audiences its OK to look away. They also demonstrate how theres no one-size-fit-all approach: It has to be done in a way that makes sense for the show.

HBOEladio (Anthony Ramos) sees his therapist, Dr. Brooke Taylor (Uzo Aduba), via teletherapy sessions on HBO's "In Treatment."

Since In Treatment is about therapy, naturally the characters anxieties and fears take center stage. The revival follows a similar format as the shows original run, from 2008 to 2010, but with several welcome changes most notably, a more diverse cast and an acknowledgment that for people of color, therapy is especially stigmatized and hard to access. Dr. Brooke Taylor (Uzo Aduba) sees three patients whom viewers follow from week to week. Each weeks final episode is about Brooke herself, who gets visits from her friend and AA sponsor Rita (Liza Coln-Zayas).

Brooke lives alone in a sleek but cavernous house that was designed by her father, whose recent death shes struggling to process, on top of everything else in the world.

Day in and day out, I feel like all these people are looking to me to tell them what to do about this moment we are in, she tells Rita. I dont know what to tell them! I dont know what to tell myself!

Sometimes the shows topicality is overly blunt and direct, like when one of the patients, a white man, decries cancel culture and complains about having to learn what he can and cannot say.

But it mostly works. Its tricky to pull off a TV show about therapy, in which an entire episode usually takes place in one room with two characters. In the case of Brookes patient Eladio (Anthony Ramos), a home health care aide quarantining with the wealthy family who employs him, hes not even in the same room because he sees Brooke via teletherapy sessions. Its the combination of Ramoss riveting performance and the staging and framing of his episodes that makes Eladio this seasons most compelling patient. We see him both on Brookes laptop screen and in his room, where he often rotates his laptop, or gets up and moves around the space. In Treatment takes the staginess of its format and turns it into an advantage, rather than a gimmick or a distraction. And perhaps it works even more now, when many of us have spent a lot of time looking inward, alone with our traumas.

ABCDr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) watches over Dr. Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo), who has COVID-19, on ABC's "Grey's Anatomy," which has devoted much of its current season to exploring the pandemic and racial uprisings.

While the pandemic is the context on In Treatment, its the text on Greys, which has depicted the events of the last 15 months in unflinching detail. Grey Sloans surgeons have felt burned out and hopeless about their profession as they watched patient after patient die of COVID-19. Theyve run low on protective equipment and ventilators. Theyve had to treat patients who are COVID deniers and anti-maskers, and have frustratingly wondered how to even make a dent in the centuries of racial inequities in health care. The show has incorporated last summers racial uprisings and the surge in anti-Asian racism, and devoted specific episodes to illustrating the disproportionate toll of the pandemic on Black women and Native communities.

The shows dialogue on these issues can get heavy-handed, telling instead of showing, which Greys is prone to doing. But theres not much of a way around it, and it would have been strange for a major medical drama set in the present day to ignore the biggest health crisis in a century.

As grim as this season has been to watch, it all makes sense for Greys. Throughout its 17 seasons and counting, it has made a point of piling on tragedies and perilous situations, unrelentingly putting its characters (and us viewers) through the wringer.

I cant believe Im saying this, but there have been times this season when Greys could have leaned even more into real life. All season, Dr. Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson), Grey Sloans chief of surgery, has been burned out, which I wish the show had explored in more detail. Bailey, already carrying the weight of being a Black woman, watched her mother die of COVID-19 when it spread through her nursing home. Several of her colleagues, including her friend and former mentee, contracted COVID-19. One of her colleagues was murdered. And she has had to lead her staff through a crisis that has pushed everyone to their limit. She deserved more than the handful of scenes that she got.

As more people get vaccinated and start to move into something resembling post-pandemic life, we need to remember that weve experienced a prolonged period of deep trauma, which were only now beginning to process. That processing will look different for everyone. As much as I admire what these shows did, I doubt Ill want to revisit them in the months and years to come, just as I dont want to revisit the darkest days of the last 15 months.

But maybe well want to take stock of how much these times have changed us and, yes, broken our brains. Maybe well want to remember the ways we
documented what was happening, and these shows that chose to try to capture this strange and precarious time will become a time capsule.

Calling all HuffPost superfans!

See original here:
'Grey's Anatomy,' 'In Treatment' And Pandemic-Related TV Are Exhausting But Necessary - HuffPost

Anatomy of an Incarceration: Sweatbox | MadaMasr – Mada Masr

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Anatomy of an Incarcerationis a multi-part series that focuses on different aspects of prison in Egypt by Abdelrahman ElGendy who spent more than six years behind bars, from October 6, 2013 at the age of 17 until his release on January 13, 2020, at the age of 24.

Abdelrahman was moved back to Wadi al-Natrun prison. Come visit him there.

I scribble the line over and over on small shreds of paper from my notebook followed by my mothers number, my handwriting messy and hard to decipher. When I have more than twenty, I scrunch them into tiny skewed rectangles, and rush to the barred window.

I press my forehead against the metal mesh and squint, the diamond-shaped slits digging into my forehead. Numbness spreads over my eyebrows; I rest my hands on either side of the window to relieve the pressure. My cuff-mate, Moaz, shouts in protest as I absentmindedly yank his arm while raising mine.

The police truck slows down, and I instantly shove two of my messages through the slits to fall at the feet of a passerby. Deliver this to my mother please, brother!

I keep repeating this for the next thirty minutes, until civilization fades, people cease to pass by, and Cairo turns into a distant shadow behind us.

Their looks have never ceased to hurt me: the wariness, the hesitation to even look up, or worst of all, their firm stares forward, not acknowledging my existence. Like a punch to the guts, I realize that I stood in their shoes one day many years ago as a kid and acted the same I gazed up at the pairs of eyes staring from behind the barred windows with the metal mesh, and daunted I turned away with the first eye contact.

Who would have thought?

I throw the remaining scraps to the ground and fall back on the dirty bench. I grab my small towel from my pocket where I had stuffed it, dry the pouring sweat, and fight the nausea. Its Ramadan and we are fasting, which elevates the normally nightmarish trip with my car sickness into an unbearable torture: a sizzling hot transport vehicle, suffocating over-crowdedness and agonizing dehydration. A suffering that never seems to end.

A sweat-box, as British prisoners lingo accurately coins it.

Swallowing, I feel my dry throat itching for water, and I close my eyes and fantasize about the moment this day ends and I settle back on my tiny farsha in the cell. As I feel myself nodding off, I shake my head and try to regain focus I cannot sleep yet.

Phase two awaits.

I nudge Moaz, and we hurry towards the locked steel door. Some of our friends are already standing while one, Mostafa, is calling out to the guard outside. I bend and squint through the metal mesh and whisper: Hes not budging yet?

Still ignoring me, he scratches his beard, thinking.

Deciding to kick it up a notch, we start knocking on the door and raising our voices.

WHAT! he finally flings the metal cover open from his side.

My friend starts with the usual prison opener Where are you from?

He hesitates, then says: Gharbiya,

No way! Where in Gharbiya?

Toukh.

Mostafa and I instantly repeat the iconic Egyptian response: The best people, man the best people,

Then Mostafa hurries: Were homies then! Im from Kafr al-Zayyat! I hold back my laughter as he details where he lives its a lie. I know he comes from upper Egypt.

I join in: We didnt catch your name.

The same hesitation, then: Ali.

Amm Ali, we were abruptly moved from Tora and our families will go crazy worrying about us, why dont you lend us your phone for a couple of minutes so we can let them know where we are?

He smirks, he knew where this was going from the start.

It would be very risky, and definitely illegal. I could get in a lot of trouble for that, he says with an implicative gruff tone.

I promise you wont regret it, I retort in a similar voice, while Mostafa grabs two packs of local cigarettes from his bag.

He shakes his head: No no, those wont do,

Expected. I nod to Mostafa and reach into my pocket, taking out two Marlboro packs, and watch as amm Alis pupils dilate greedily. Bingo.

I drop them to the ground and with the side of my foot slide them under the door.

Now were talking, his smile widens to reveal crooked yellow teeth and wrinkles around his bulging eyes as he bends down to pick them up.

He eyes me as he takes out his phone: Five minutes only, you understand?

Sure, amm Ali. You will have it back in exactly five minutes, I reassure him, and Mostafa nods in earnest to back me up.

The small black phone slides from below the door. I crouch quickly and shout an apology as I accidentally almost dislocate Moazs shoulder one more time.

Our friends start crowding around us. We call for order and explain that each of us can only use it for a single minute. There are more than twenty-five of us, we have to make do.

I press the faded buttons, the noise and bickering are sucked into the background as I put the phone to my ear. My mothers voice shoots straight to my heart: warming, melting, soothing.

I quickly update her on the situation, learn when they are coming to visit me, hang up and pass the phone to Mostafa, asking him to be in charge of arranging the turns.

Moaz and I decide to sit on the ground between the scattered bags. He takes out his Quran from his pocket and starts to read in a low melodic recital. I fall into one of those derealization moments: I am imprisoned. I am handcuffed. I am in a transport truck. I spent more than an hour throwing scraps of paper out of windows and negotiating with a jailer just to deliver one line to my mother.

I am exhausted.

I wiggle a few inches forward, then lay back and rest my head on Moazs thigh, taking the usual sleeping position of handcuffed prisoners: head on thigh, left handcuffed hand across my chest and on my right shoulder, Moazs right handcuffed hand resting beside it. Its the most comfortable position prisoners have managed to come up with through trial and error and countless twisted numb arms.

Taking in the scene, my heart softens as I look at our friends scattered around the tiny windows, watching the street.

I know the turmoil bubbling inside them; I have experienced it for years.

Their countenance screams of longing, their eyes yearn to everything they are robbed of: the passing cars, walking down a street, standing at a kiosk with a couple of friends, smoking a cigarette, looping your arm through that of your loved one on a Nile-side stroll, or simply seeing the sun without bars obscuring it.

You marvel at things that remind you of home, car brands you see for the first time, that untaken left turn that you know leads to your beloved house

I inhale deeply, and immediately regret it. Laying on the ground, that close to the benches, the putrid smell of urine makes me gag. Some stains are still glistening, perhaps leftovers from the transport ride right before us, others form dark splotches with an intense reek, making you wonder how many years ago someone must have left his malodorous mark down there.

I pull my towel over my face my sweat is a more welcome smell than prisoners piss.

Relaxing, I let Moazs soothing voice combined with the steady vibration of the truck engulf me, lulling me into a state of limbo where I am neither asleep nor alert. He strokes my hair within the range of motion the handcuffs allow him to and continues his recital. His voice is melting butter, golden utterances thawing against my eardrums. The heat feels like its radiating from my own skin. Minutes pass as random memories float before my eyes: laying on my back on the basketball court at night watching the stars, rides in the school bus and the hysterical laughter with every stunt we boys pull on the girls, breathing the fresh air on our lovely balcony

A sudden bang and shouting at the door burst my dream bubble. I curse.

Hey! Wheres what-his-name who took the phone! The guard snarls.

I shout from my place: What do you
want, amm Ali?

Its been fifteen minutes! You promised youd return it after five! He shouts back.

Sorry, we need it a bit longer. Go file a complaint. I pull the towel back over my eyes as he bangs the porthole shut. He knows he cant do anything about it. If any officer finds out he gave us his phone it would be the end of him, and he knows we can lie through our teeth to exact maximum vengeance.

The fine line between the moral and immoral has become too hazy and intangible for me when it comes to dealing with guards and officers. I bribed him, smoothly lied to him, and now I am blackmailing him.

Not the slightest guilt.

My head throbs as I resettle into a sitting position. We are getting closer to Wadi al-Natrun prison. Ten minutes later, I ask for the phone back. I eye it with longing, resisting the temptation to make a last call to my mother, listening to her voice for one more minute before being utterly deprived for two weeks until her next visit. I cant though, it would make the others feel Im taking undue liberties. Amm Ali grunts angrily as I slide the phone back, but doesnt say anything.

Two packs of Marlboro and you dare complain, you fucker, I mumble.

The guys at the windows call out that we are nearly there. Moaz and I get up and dust off our clothes with our free hands, then make our way back between the sleeping bodies and strewn luggage to pick up our bags. Others are shuffling on the ground doing the same.

As the truck screeches to a halt, I throw my backpack over my free shoulder, bend and lift my large duffel bag with the free hand, then we both carry our remaining bags with our cuffed hands, trying to balance them as best as we can.

The locks clang loudly from the outside, and the door opens. I ignore amm Alis glares as I step down into the furious heat. Sweat runs down my back and chest and my T-shirt is clinging to my body under the rough prison-issued navy-blue convict outfit.

Waddling like penguins, we head towards the small gate. I cant believe its the same walk we took on the welcome party day, that parade from hell upon our arrival. We move back and forth each semester, sit for our final university exams in Tora compound, then travel back to our original prisons. Now, we go through the routine absent-mindedly: enter prison, lift our hands to be uncuffed, finally break free of the catholic marriage we were forced into for several hours, prepare for the search process by the guards, place packs of cigarette in our pockets for them to find and silently slip into theirs while turning a blind-eye to our little contraband luxuries: a small pillow here, a nail clipper there, a shard of a mirror maybe, or even miraculously, an earphone.

I drop my bags to the ground and sit on one to catch my breath. A guard yells.

The officer waves at him to let me be. Those are not newcomers! Theyre our children! He scoffs loudly. I laugh back and cry inside.

We are their children. I sigh as I bury my face in my stinking towel again and press my palms against my eyes.

Home sweet home.

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Anatomy of an Incarceration: Sweatbox | MadaMasr - Mada Masr

The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack – BBN Times

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Data breaches at major organizations are continuously raising cybersecurity concerns.

But, understanding the anatomy of a cyber attack can help in finding methods to potentially reduce the impact of cyber threats.

A data breach at Cathay Pacific Airlines Ltd compromised the data of 9.4 million customers.The compromised data included personal information, credit and debit card details, passport details, frequent-flier programs, and historical travel information. The attack is considered as the biggest airline data breach. And, the customers feel betrayed as the officials disclosed the attack seven months after finding out the unauthorized access.

Similarly, many organizations are attacked for sensitive data or ransom. And, hackers are consistently working on new malware and cyber attack techniques to find loopholes in current cybersecurity standards. Hence, every organization is prone to cyber threats. To prevent these attacks, organizations must first understand the anatomy of a cyber attack, and the motives behind it.

The first part of the anatomy of a cyber attack is reconnaissance. Hackers usually start by researching and gathering information about the target organization. They look for network ranges, IP addresses, and domain names. And, hackers also search for email addresses of key players in the organization such as CFOs, IT professionals, and CTOs. If the hackers fail to find the email addresses of key players, then they identify vulnerable employees by sending phishing emails. Next, the attackers scan for vulnerabilities in the network, which is a long process, that sometimes, take months. After they get an entry to the organization via network vulnerabilities or employee email address, attackers proceed to the next phase.

After getting access to the network, a hacker proceeds to infiltrate the organizations network. But, to access the network freely, the attacker needs access privileges. Hence, attackers use rainbow tables and similar tools, which help them in stealing credentials to upgrade their access to administrator privileges. Now, hackers can access the entire network, and go through the network silently. Then, attackers are free to obtain sensitive information for selling on the internet or encrypt the data to demand ransom. Sometimes, hackers may also alter or erase sensitive data for reasons beyond financial gain.

The next phase of the anatomy of a cyber attack is expansion. Hackers intrude all systems on the network using malicious programs. Malicious programs enable attackers to hide in multiple systems in the organizations and regain access to the network even after being detected. Additionally, hackers no longer require higher access to infiltrate the network.

Hackers proceed to hide their tracks to mask the origins of the attack. Additionally, the attackers safely place their exploit in a system to avoid getting detected. The main purpose of obfuscation is confusing and disorienting the forensic experts. For successful obfuscation, hackers use various tools and techniques such as spoofing, log cleaning, zombied accounts, and Trojan commands. Cybersecurity experts generally consider obfuscation as the final stage of the anatomy of a cyber attack.

To effectively protect your organization from cyber attacks, it is essential to understand the motive behind cyber attacks. The motives of a hacker can help find flaws in the anatomy of a cyber attack. For example, the WannaCry ransomware was recently used to attack several hospitals and GP clinics all over the United Kingdom, whichcost the NHS almost 92m. The attackers exploited a leaked NSA tool to attack vulnerable Windows systems and encrypt sensitive information. Furthermore, the attack canceled over 19,000 appointments. Similarly, ransomware is used by attackers to encrypt vital information and extort ransom in exchange for decrypting data. Another reason could be cyber terrorism to create fear among the masses. Alternatively, major cyber attacks can also serve as a distraction for something darker behind the curtains.

To protect the organization, business leaders such as CIOs and CTOs need to hire skilled cybersecurity professionals. Cybersecurity experts spend years in researching and studying the anatomy of a cyber attack, and they know how to prevent or at least minimize the impact of cyber attacks. Cybersecurity experts can maintain the security standards in your organization through multiple steps and measures such as follows:

Organizations have to realize that even after following all the security protocols, hackers can still attack their networks and systems. With the help of cybersecurity experts, organizations can analyze the anatomy of a cyber attack to find flaws in the attacks, and exploit the weaknesses to reduce the damage. Various organizations only plan for protection from cyber threats, completely avoiding recovery mechanisms, which can lead to dire consequences in case of an attack. For example, Google is shutting down Google+ due to a data breach that compromised 500,000 user accounts in 2015. But, Google announced that they became aware of the breach during March and June 2018. Learning from the example of Google, organizations should know the importance of minimizing the damage. To reduce the damage from cyber attacks, organizations should consider the following steps:

Artificial intelligence is playing a pivotal role in cybersecurity. Machine learning has the ability to analyze the anatomy of a cyber attack, and learn from the behavior patterns of malware. Moreover, artificial intelligence can automate threat detection and data recovery mechanisms. Hence, AI-powered applications can find security threats and implement recovery strategies more efficiently when compared to software-based solutions. And, big players such as Microsoft, Google, Palo Alto Networks, Fortinet and Cisco Systems are already developing cybersecurity solutions using artificial intelligence and machine learning. With the exponential development of artificial intelligence, numerous security software have started adopting machine learning to provide more effective cybersecurity solutions.

Likewise,blockchain technology has the potential to improve cybersecurity. Blockchain can effectively detect a data breach, and disrupt the process that forms the anatomy of a cyber attack. With blockchain, organizations can distribute their data over the network, which will simplify the process of data recovery. And, the changes in data would be transparent. Hence, if the data is altered or deleted, tracking the changes will be an easy process. Furthermore, multiple cybersecurity firms are working on developing blockchain-powered security solutions for mainstream applications. For example, Acronis, a cybersecurity organization, is applying blockchain technology to generate a cryptographic hash, that is unique for every data file. The hash can be used to verify the authenticity of every file. And, it is almost impossible for a hacker to compute the cryptographic hash. Thus, AI and blockchain are revolutionizing the cybersecurity landscape.

Although the technology and methods to fight cyber attacks are getting better, hackers are also developing their techniques to execute stronger attacks. And, with new malware and ransomware being developed, these attacks can lead to bigger data breaches than any weve seen before. Hence, organizations need to become aware of the anatomy of a cyber attack to be able to tackle cybersecurity issues better.

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The Anatomy of a Cyber Attack - BBN Times

The Grey’s Anatomy Cast Member Fans Want Off The Show Immediately – Nicki Swift

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

According to our survey, there is one character that fans overwhelmingly want to leave the show stat: Dr. Owen Hunt, played by Kevin McKidd. There is no doubt that Owen contains multitudes he's been around so long he's basically a fixture of the program, but his storylines are increasingly more boring and to be frank, he's kind of a jerk. This is likely why 23.39% of people want him gone. Also up there? Titular character Meredith Grey and Dr. Miranda Bailey, with 14.29% of respondents voting each of them out of the hospital.

Jackson Avery, who left the show in 2021, had 17% of people hating on him and wanting him to leave, which means they already got what they wanted. Oddly enough, there were still some fans who wanted Derek Shepard off of the show, even though he died in Season 11. There were 19% of people who wanted April Kempner off of the show, too, though she left in Season 14. Maybe they're talking about the lingering mentions of them? Who knows.

In any case, it's clear that the next big character death or write-off, in fans' minds, should be Owen Hunt.

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The Grey's Anatomy Cast Member Fans Want Off The Show Immediately - Nicki Swift

1.1: What is Chemistry? – Chemistry LibreTexts

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Learning Objectives

Chemistry is the study of matterwhat it consists of, what its properties are, and how it changes. Being able to describe the ingredients in a cake and how they change when the cake is baked is called chemistry. Matter is anything that has mass and takes up spacethat is, anything that is physically real. Some things are easily identified as matterthis book, for example. Others are not so obvious. Because we move so easily through the air, we sometimes forget that it, too, is matter.

Chemistry is one branch of science. Science is the process by which we learn about the natural universe by observing, testing, and then generating models that explain our observations. Because the physical universe is so vast, there are many different branches of science (Figure (PageIndex{1})). Thus, chemistry is the study of matter, biology is the study of living things, and geology is the study of rocks and the earth. Mathematics is the language of science, and we will use it to communicate some of the ideas of chemistry.

Although we divide science into different fields, there is much overlap among them. For example, some biologists and chemists work in both fields so much that their work is called biochemistry. Similarly, geology and chemistry overlap in the field called geochemistry. Figure (PageIndex{1}) shows how many of the individual fields of science are related.

There are many other fields of science, in addition to the ones (biology, medicine, etc.) listed

Alchemy Is in No way Chemistry!

As our understanding of the universe has changed over time, so has the practice of science. Chemistry in its modern form, based on principles that we consider valid today, was developed in the 1600s and 1700s. Before that, the study of matter was known as alchemy and was practiced mainly in China, Arabia, Egypt, and Europe.

Alchemy was a somewhat mystical and secretive approach to learning how to manipulate matter. Practitioners, called alchemists, thought that all matter was composed of different proportions of the four basic elementsfire, water, earth, and airand believed that if you changed the relative proportions of these elements in a substance, you could change the substance. The long-standing attempts to transmute common metals into gold represented one goal of alchemy. Alchemys other major goal was to synthesize the philosophers stone, a material that could impart long lifeeven immortality. Alchemists used symbols to represent substances, some of which are shown in the accompanying figure. This was not done to better communicate ideas, as chemists do today, but to maintain the secrecy of alchemical knowledge, keeping others from sharing in it.

In spite of this secrecy, in its time alchemy was respected as a serious, scholarly endeavor. Isaac Newton, the great mathematician and physicist, was also an alchemist.

Alchemy and the ACS (American Chemical Society)

While watching the video below and answer the following questions.

Questions

The study of modern chemistry has many branches, but can generally be broken down into five main disciplines, or areas of study:

In practice, chemical research is often not limited to just one of the five major disciplines. A particular chemist may use biochemistry to isolate a particular chemical found in the human body such as hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells. He or she may then proceed to analyze the hemoglobin using methods that would pertain to the areas of physical or analytical chemistry. Many chemists specialize in areas that are combinations of the main disciplines, such as bioinorganic chemistry or physical organic chemistry.

Chemists at work

The American Chemical Society (ACS) has designed a series of videos illustrating the different fields that a chemist could pursue. Please watch this 2 minute and 23-second video and answer the questions below:

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1.1: What is Chemistry? - Chemistry LibreTexts

Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and …

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Immerse yourself in the composition, structure, properties and reactions of matter, especially of atomic, elemental and molecular systems. Experience a challenging but nurturing environment and take courses in analytical, biological, inorganic, organic and physical chemistry.

Undergraduate and graduate students perform original research in a number of different areas of chemistry, from theoretical and experimental physical chemistry to organic synthesis, nanomaterials and biochemistry.

The Department of Chemistry is located in the Center for Science and Technology (CST) on the eastern edge of campus.

The department is equipped with state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities and an outstanding technical support staff. Available instrumentation includes the following, to name a few:

Other support services include the Chemistry Stores, an on-campus source for commonly used laboratory supplies and chemicals, and electronics and glass blowing shops, where highly specific research equipment is designed and fabricated. The Science and Technology Library offers an outstanding collection of scientific literature and electronic resources.

There are many career possibilities for a chemistry major. Chemical, drug and oil companies are certainly options. Here are some others:

Learn more about all your options by speaking with your advisor.

A team of A&S chemists are working to develop a superconductor that could store vast amounts of energy and make the electrical power grid much more efficient.

Chemist Davoud Mozhdehi is working on an autonomous synthetic material that could create what he calls smart plastics.

Researchers are investigating a nanoparticle that could 'disguise' itself for entry into the brain.

REU grant draws students from around the country for summer research.

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Department of Chemistry in the College of Arts and ...

Hannah-Jones tenure case costs UNC Chapel Hill a noted chemistry faculty candidate – Inside Higher Ed

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Whether or not Nikole Hannah-Jones joins the faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may soon be answered: today is the deadline she set for the universitys Board of Trustees to grant her the tenure she was initially offered or face legal action.

Either way, the university may have already lost out on another coveted recruit: Lisa Jones, an associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences whom Chapel Hills chemistry department has long sought to woo away from her current job at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, says shes not interested in working somewhere that spurned Hannah-Jones.

According to Chapel Hills chemistry department, Jones wrote to withdraw her faculty candidacy, calling the recent news that the board had deferred Hannah-Joness tenure, despite faculty and administrative backing, disheartening.

It does not seem in line with a school that says it is interested in diversity, Jones wrote of the boards action. Although I know this decision may not reflect the view of the schools faculty, I will say that I cannot see myself accepting a position at a university where this decision stands. I appreciate all of the effort you have put into trying to recruit me but for me this is hard to overlook.

Chapel Hills chemistry department wrote to the universitys chancellor, Kevin Guskiewicz, about Joness withdrawal in a letter that has since been circulated online, saying the dire repercussions of the Hannah-Jones case are impacting our ability to recruit and attract a diverse and talented faculty person. The department said it workedhard for two years to recruit Jones, a Black chemist who is renowned for her work in structural proteomics by leveraging tools in biochemistry, analytical chemistry and biophysics.

Joness letter of withdrawal is a reflection of what our nations minority scholars will be saying about the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill as they search for job opportunities or consider if this university is still the right fit.

Hannah-Jones retweeted a copy of the departments letter to Guskiewicz, writing, Ive never met this sister, Dr. Lisa Jones, but the solidarity shown me by Black women in particular during this crucible is something I will never forget.

Jones declined an interview request but shared a statement saying that shed come to wonder if UNC Chapel Hill would be "conducive to the achievement of my academic aspirations, which include promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. While I have never met Ms. Hannah-Jones, as a faculty member of color, I stand in solidarity with her and could not in good conscience accept a position at UNC. This situation is indicative of a broader issue within academia where faculty of color face several obstacles and are less likely to gain tenure."

In closing its letter, the chemistry department urged the board to hold a vote on Hannah-Joness tenure case immediately, or further compromise everything we value and represent.

Chapel Hills Faculty Executive Committee sent a similar request to the board last week, but Mimi Chapman, committee chair and Frank A. Daniels Distinguished Professor for Human Service Policy Information, said Thursday that she hasnt heard anything from the trustees. Meanwhile, Chapman said shes heard from many faculty members united in their outrage about the Hannah-Jones tenure deferral and in concern about their own programs ability to recruit and even retain talented faculty members going forward.

All you can do is infer from their actions, and they do not seem to have the faintest idea about the impact of their actions on a public research university, Chapman said of trustees. We are one of the top five research and public institutions in the country. Just think about the pandemic -- we had people here working on the vaccine, people working on therapeutics before other people were in other places. So for them to imagine that you attract that kind of talent in the midst of this kind of scandal -- what do they think? Do they think people in medicine dont care about what happens in journalism? Thats not how we are as a community.

Chapman continued, You cant have the things that they champion about our university without accepting all of it. It all works together, were part of a whole. Thats what a university means.

Thus far, Chapman said, she wasnt aware of another specific withdrawn faculty candidacy, beyond Joness. But given the long faculty hiring cycle, she said it was possible the Hannah-Jones case could affect recruitment and retention next year, or even longer term. Chapel Hill, where faculty salaries are relatively low compared to private peer institutions, is always at risk of poaching, she added.

The university said it had no updates Thursday evening about the boards intentions for Hannah-Joness tenure dossier. That dossier, which the board declined to vote on earlier this year, reportedly for political reasons, is now back with the board.

Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur Foundation genius grantee, co-led The New York Times Magazines 1619 Project re-examining the role of race and racism in the nations history. It was widely praised among readers, journalists and academics but became a lightning rod among many political conservatives who continue to allege that it promotes false, unpatriotic narratives about what the U.S. is as a nation.

The Assembly reported that the board experienced some high-placed lobbying against Hannah-Joness appointment, in the form of the Hussman School of Journalism and Medias biggest donor, school namesake and Arkansas media mogul Walter Hussman Jr.

I worry about the controversy of tying the UNC journalism school to the 1619 project, Hussman reportedly wrote in a now-ironic December message to Guskiewicz and at least one board member. I find myself more in agreement with Pulitzer prize winning historians like James McPherson and Gordon Wood than I do Nikole Hannah-Jones.

Hussman reportedly wrote in another email to administrators that he didnt like Hannah-Joness contention that Black Americans fought the civil rights battle largely alone, as long before Hannah-Jones won her Pulitzer, courageous white southerners risking their lives standing up for the rights of blacks were winning Pulitzer prizes, too.

Hussman has since said that he did not think he was pressuring Chapel Hill to act a certain way regarding Hannah-Jones, who was ultimately offered a five-year contract without tenure as the Knight Chair in Race and Investigative Journalism.

But thats apparently how it felt, at least to Susan King, dean of the journalism school. She told The Assembly that I felt worried enough about Walters repeated questions challenging our hiring of Nikole Hannah-Jones as Knight Chair and his subsequent call to at least one other donor that I asked for help from others in the administration.

Last week, Hannah-Jones and her legal team gave the trustees until today to vote on her case or face litigation. I am obligated to fight back against a wave of anti-democratic suppression that seeks to prohibit the free exchange of ideas, silence Black voices and chill free speech, she said at the time.

If Hannah-Jones does get tenured and join Chapel Hill, shed be just one of 32 tenured Black women professors out of 1,384 tenured professors total, according to federal data from 2019, the most recent year for which these figures are available.

Julian Vasquez Heilig, dean of the University of Kentuckys College of Education, whose ongoing research shows there was little to no change in faculty diversity from 2013 to 2017, especially at large research institutions and despite many initiatives to this end, said he wasnt surprised Jones had cold feet about Chapel Hill now.

Theres a real chilling effect because this community of scholars is small, especially within disciplines, he said. Even when questionable treatment of a scholar of color doesnt make national headlines, he said, news still travels through the graduate and fellowship cohorts
and various affinity groups that function as what Heilig called formal and informal information networks.

At Chapel Hill, he said, they were will willing to give [Hannah-Jones] a five-year contract but they werent willing to let her do that work in a secure, independent way, with the academic freedom that tenure ensures. This is a long-standing problem that higher education has for faculty of color and women, and we struggle with racial, ethnic and gender diversity. Just look at the numbers.

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Hannah-Jones tenure case costs UNC Chapel Hill a noted chemistry faculty candidate - Inside Higher Ed

Mets’ chemistry keeps team afloat amid injury adversity: ‘We just have a great vibe, honestly, in the clubhouse’ – Yahoo Sports

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

James McCann Marcus Stroman fist bump 6/6

The Mets came back from an 0-2 hole to split this past weekend's four-game series with the Padres, capped by a 6-2 win Sunday at Petco Park in San Diego, and RHP Marcus Stroman sees a common theme as New York stays atop the NL East at 29-23 amid injury adversity.

"We just have a great vibe, honestly, in the clubhouse," said Stroman (5-4, 2.41 ERA), who pitched 6 2/3 innings and yielded San Diego (36-25) to one unearned run on four hits. "It's truly an internal clubhouse and we never get too consumed or care about anything that's happening outside on what's happening in the clubhouse. Everyone allows each other to be unique, to be the individual. Whatever anyone needs to do to put themselves at the highest level, we're very open to that. We don't try and say, 'You can't do this or can't do that.'

"Everyone's one. It's one big family. Everyone wants to see each other excel, each and every time, and that's all we're concerned with. Like I said, this is one of the best teams I've played, as far as camaraderie. It's a blessing to come to the clubhouse every day."

LF Dominic Smith, who gave the Mets a 2-0 lead with a solo home run in the fourth inning, echoed Stroman's sentiments when discussing an animated celebration players used from the dugout on big hits.

"I think all of us, we're trying to make a push," Smith said. "We're a brotherhood and we try to pick up everybody, we support everybody and I think at the end of the day we just try to just support each other and that's why we have so much fun out there."

Three and a half games ahead in the division, the Mets close out a nine-game road trip Tuesday and Wednesday, a two-game set against the Baltimore Orioles (21-38).

"For me, it just shows how brave these guys are," said manager Luis Rojas. "And we have a ton of adversity, right? And then this is our first trip to the West Coast, and all the difference. I mean, every team goes through this. But at the same time that we're going through injuries and all the uncertainties, the guys are able to stay consistent with the game that we've been playing, right, to win games.

"... Pitching and defense has been the formula. We stay in all games and we can have some big innings here and there, but scoring a lot of runs hasn't been our thing, right? So pitching and defense is a thing that I'm the most proud of. Guys are not shying away, regardless of what our lineup is. Pitchers are attacking. The guys are on their toes, making plays. And there are some guys that are coming with the bat. We saw (James) McCann hit another homer today.

"So that's the one thing that I'm proud of, just how brave these guys are and how consistent they stay with the formula that's worked for us to win games. And they trust it. We're just going to keep moving forward with our head up. We have a day off. It's always good to win before a day off. It's a great feeling. I know, for the team, it is. So we have our day off, we'll rest and then we'll see Tuesday. We're hoping that (Jonathan) Villar might be in our starting lineup. That'll be a win, too."

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Mets' chemistry keeps team afloat amid injury adversity: 'We just have a great vibe, honestly, in the clubhouse' - Yahoo Sports

Oil companies are going all-in on petrochemicals and green chemistry needs help to compete – Salon

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Global oil consumption declined by roughly 9% in 2020 as the pandemic reduced business and pleasure travel, factory production and transportation of goods. This abrupt drop accelerated an ongoing shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy.

U.S. government forecasts show that oil use for transportation, industry, construction, heating and electricity is declining and will continue to drop in the coming years. This trend has enormous implications for the oil industry: As the International Energy Agency observed in 2020, "No oil and gas company will be unaffected by clean energy transitions."

Many of these companies are trying to make up losses by boosting production of petrochemicals derived from oil and natural gas. Today roughly 80% of every barrel of oil is used to make gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, with the rest going into petrochemical products. As demand for petroleum fuels gradually declines, the amount of oil used for that "other" share will grow.

This makes sense as a business strategy, but here's the problem: Researchers are working to develop more sustainable replacements for petrochemical products, including bio-based plastics and specialty chemicals. However, petrochemicals can be manufactured at a fraction of the cost. As a biochemist working to develop environmentally benign versions of valuable chemicals, I'm concerned that without adequate support, pioneering green chemistry research will struggle to compete with fossil-based products.

Pivoting toward petrochemicals

Petrochemicals are used in millions of products, from plastics, detergents, shampoos and makeup to industrial solvents, lubricants, pharmaceuticals, fertilizer and carpeting. Over the next 20 years, oil company BP projects that this market will grow by 16% to 20%.

Oil companies are ramping up to increase petrochemical production. In the Saudi Arabian town of Yanbu, for example, two state-owned companies, Saudi Aramco and Sabic, are planning a new complex that will produce 9 million metric tons of petrochemicals each year, transforming Arabian light crude oil into lubricants, solvents and other products.

These changes are happening across the global industry. Several Chinese companies are constructing factories that will convert about 40% of their oil into chemicals such as p-Xylene, a building block for industrial chemicals. Exxon-Mobil began expanding research and development on petrochemicals as far back as 2014.

The promise of green chemistry

At the same time, in the U.S. and other industrialized countries, health, environmental and security issues are driving a quest to produce sustainable alternatives for petroleum-based chemicals. Drilling for oil and natural gas, using petrochemicals and burning fossil fuels have widespread environmental and human health impacts. High oil consumption also raises national security concerns.

The Department of Energy has led basic research on bioproducts through its national laboratories and funding for university BioEnergy Research Centers. These labs are developing plant-based, sustainable domestic biofuels and bioproducts, including petrochemical replacements, through a process called "metabolic engineering."

Researchers like me are using enzymes to transform leafy waste matter from crops and other sources into sugars that can be consumed by microorganisms typically, bacteria and fungi such as yeast. These microorganisms then transform the sugars into molecules, similar to the way that yeast converts sugar to ethanol, fermenting it into beer.

In the creation of bioproducts, instead of creating ethanol the sugar is transformed into other molecules. We can design these metabolic pathways to create solvents; components in widely used polymers like nylon; perfumes; and many other products.

My laboratory is exploring ways to engineer enzymes catalysts produced by living cells that cause or speed up biochemical reactions. We want to produce enzymes that can be put into engineered bacteria, in order to make structurally complex natural products.

The overall goal is to put carbon and oxygen together in a predictable fashion, similar to the chemical structures created through petroleum-based chemistry. But the green approach uses natural substances instead of oil or natural gas as building blocks.

This isn't a new concept. Enzymes in bacteria are used to make an important antibiotic, erythromycin, which was first discovered in 1952.

All of this takes place in a biorefinery a facility that takes natural inputs like algae, crop waste or specially grown energy crops like switchgrass and converts them into commercially valuable substances, as oil refineries do with petroleum. After fermenting sugars with engineered microorganisms, a biorefinery separates and purifies microbial cells to produce a spectrum of bio-based products, including food additives, animal feed, fragrances, chemicals and plastics.

In response to the global plastic pollution crisis, one research priority is "polymer upcycling." Using bio-based feedstocks can transform single-use water bottles into materials that are more recyclable than petroleum-based versions because they are easier to heat and remold.

Reducing the cost gap

To replace polluting goods and practices, sustainable alternatives have to be cost-competitive. For example, many plastics currently end up in landfills because they're cheaper to manufacture than to recycle.

High costs are also slowing progress toward a bioeconomy. Today research, development and manufacturing are more costly for bioproducts than for established petrochemical versions.

Governments can use laws and regulations to drive change. In 2018 the European Union set an ambitious goal of sourcing 30% of all plastics from renewable sources by 2030. In addition to reducing plastic pollution, this step will save energy: Petroleum-based plastics production ranks third in energy consumption worldwide, after energy production and transport.

Promoting bio-based products is compatible with President Biden's all-of-government approach to climate change. Biomanufacturing investments could also help bring modern manufacturing jobs to rural areas, a goal of Biden's American Jobs Plan.

But oil company investments in the design of novel chemicals are growing, and the chasm between the cost of petroleum-based products and those produced through emerging green technologies continues to widen. More efficient technologies could eventually flood existing petrochemical markets, further driving down the cost of petrochemicals and making it even harder to compete.

In my view, the growing climate crisis and increasing plastic pollution make it urgent to wean the global economy from petroleum. I believe that finding replacements for petroleum-based chemicals in many products we use daily can help move the world toward that goal.

Constance B. Bailey, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, University of Tennessee

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

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Oil companies are going all-in on petrochemicals and green chemistry needs help to compete - Salon

Titans QB Tannehill taking advantage of OTAs, building chemistry with new players – WKRN News 2

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

Nashville, Tenn. (WKRN)- Organized team practice activities, or OTAs, are useful for many reasons, especially when it comes to getting familiar with new faces on the roster.

The Tennessee Titans have plenty of new additions this year, specifically on offense. And while OTAs arent mandatory, quarterback Ryan Tannehill is on the practice field, getting familiar with his new targets.

The more that we can cover now, the better were going to be. There is a lot we can take in and learn during this time of the year, said Tannehill. We dont have a game were preparing for so we are trying new things offensively. The quarterbacks are able to try new things and those young guys, rookies are able to take in a lot of information.

Whether it be Dez Fitzpatrick or Racey McMath, Tannehill said the rookies have made a good first impression.

Tannehill added, We have a bunch of young, talented guys. They are tall and athletic and can make plays on the football, so were excited about what they bring to us physically, and its good to see them coming out everyday and competing.

Josh Reynolds is also a new face in the wide receivers room, and right now it looks like he will be playing opposite of AJ Brown on Sundays. Tannehill took some extra time working with him this week, and will put a little extra emphasis on building that chemistry.

As I learn the way he moves and his range and speed, those little moments, when we get those one-on-one times together are going to be huge as we head into training camp. If we can sneak some reps in here this Spring, it will help us down the road, said Tannehill.

And while Tannehill wasnt able to get in any extra work with some of the veteran players this past Spring, he has been keeping close tabs on tight end Anthony Firkser, and is optimistic about what hell be able to contribute this upcoming season.

He just needs to stay on track with what he is doing, hes been working extremely hard. Before I got here I was watching tape on him, and hes been working extremely hard. Now he needs to continue that and keep getting better, said Tannehill.

OTAs will continue throughout next week, with Titans mini-camp happening June 15-17 at St. Thomas Sports Park.

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Titans QB Tannehill taking advantage of OTAs, building chemistry with new players - WKRN News 2

Braskem Honored to Receive Responsible Care Awards by the American Chemistry Council – PRNewswire

Posted on June 7, 2021 by Danzig

PHILADELPHIA, June 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --Braskem (B3: BRKM3, BRKM5 and BRKM6;NYSE: BAK; LATIBEX: XBRK) ("Company"), the largest polyolefins producer in the Americas and leading producer of biopolymers in the world, announces it has been named a multiple 2021 Responsible Care awardee by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) for the Company's Outstanding COVID-19 Response Efforts and excellent Facility Safety performance. Responsible Care awards recognize outstanding and innovative work among chemical companies on their journey towards safe chemicals management and performance excellence. Five Braskem production facility sites throughout the U.S. received Facility Safety Award Certificates of Excellence including; Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Neal, West Virginia., Seadrift and Oyster Creek, Texas, as well as the Company's Innovation & Technology Center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

"Braskem is honored to be a Responsible Care Facility Safety Award recipient as this is a true testament to our team's continuous commitment to health, safety, and the environment," says Susan Gluodenis, Braskem Global Quality Leader. "I am proud to be a part of an organization that holds these principles at the utmost importance and I look forward to continuing improvements in operations and enhancing our safety efforts."

"Being honored with both awards demonstrates Braskem's willingness to push the limit of what's possible to protect our team, surrounding communities, and the environment, especially while presented with the unprecedented challenges associated with successfully navigating the COVID-19 pandemic. We are immensely grateful the ACC has recognized Braskem, for the tremendous efforts of our teams across the U.S.," says Brian Hughes, Braskem U.S. Quality Assurance and Responsible Care Coordinator.

ACC Outstanding COVID-19 Response Efforts Award

In 2021, the ACC developed its new Outstanding COVID-19 Response Efforts Award recognizing exemplary efforts from ACC members and Responsible Care Partner companies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Fifteen ACC member companies and four Responsible Care Partner companies received this award.

Braskem deployed a range of measures across its manufacturing plants in Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia to secure the supply of essential grades of polypropylene polymers for the production of respiratory masks, protective medical gowns, and other protective material. In parallel, Braskem positioned 'live-in' manufacturing teams in both West Virginia and Pennsylvania operating in isolation for 28-days to help ensure the health and safety of its team members who were working as an essential service throughout this crisis to keep these key supply lines running.

ACC Facility Safety Award

The ACC awards member companies with significant achievements in employee health and safety performance. Braskem and 50 companies received 2021 Facility Safety Award Certificates.

Braskem aims to operate in a responsible way to achieve quality product and results. Responsible Care has helped Braskem enhance performance and improve the health and safety, and it is our intention to continue achieving our goals of meeting these expectations. The ACC awards recognize ACC members and partners on an annual basis.

The ACC announced the awards at its virtual 2021 Responsible Care & Sustainability Conference & Expo. To learn more about Responsible Care, visit https://responsiblecare.americanchemistry.com/.

ABOUT BRASKEM

With a global vision of the future oriented towards people and sustainability, Braskem is committed to contributing to the value chain for strengthening the Circular Economy. The petrochemical company's almost 8,000 team members dedicate themselves every day to improve people's lives through sustainable chemicals and plastics solutions. Braskem has an innovative DNA and a comprehensive portfolio of plastic resins and chemical products for diverse segments, such as food packaging, construction, manufacturing, automotive, agribusiness, healthcare and hygiene, among others. With 41 industrial units in Brazil, the United States, Mexico and Germany, and net revenue of R$52.3 billion (US$13.2 billion), Braskem exports its products to clients in more than 100 countries.

Braskem America is an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Braskem S.A. headquartered in Philadelphia. The company is the leading producer of polypropylene in the United States, with six production plants located in Texas, Pennsylvania and West Virginia, an Innovation and Technology Center in Pittsburgh, and operations in Boston focused on leveraging groundbreaking developments in biotechnology and advanced materials. For more information, visit http://www.braskem.com/usa.

Braskem on English social media:www.facebook.com/BraskemGlobalwww.linkedin.com/company/braskemwww.twitter.com/BraskemSA

SOURCE Braskem

http://www.braskem.com

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Braskem Honored to Receive Responsible Care Awards by the American Chemistry Council – PRNewswire