Monthly Archives: May 2020

It's a banner moment for Dear Evan Hansen Tony winner Ben Platt. Last week he debuted his concert film, Ben Platt Live From Radio City Music Hall. 19 June marks the release of season two of Netflix's The Politician, in which his politically inclined character will face off against Judith Light and Bette Midler. And Platt is still recording and releasing music while holed up in Los Angeles. Here, he tells us about all of his forthcoming projects.

What was going through your mind when you walked out on stage at Radio City Music Hall and saw the sold-out crowd?It felt like an arrival, like the culmination of a lot of things. So many different factors from over the ten or 12 years I've been working as an actor and a singer came together at once and it was a little overwhelming, especially at a space that I associate with the Tonys. It's such a sacred room. It felt like I was in the right place at the right time, and it's really where I really wanted to be. On top of that, it was kind of like a Bart Mitzvah, because my family and all of my friends from different walks of life Evan Hansen and high school and The Politician came together in that one show. I'm so grateful there's this fantastic home video of it now.

Was the idea of playing Radio City terrifying, or were you all in from the start?It was only terrifying in a good way. It never scared me to the point that I didn't want to do it, but it gave me the right kind of butterflies, the kind that make you want to chase after it. It felt like the right next challenge, because I had just done the tour, with stops at places like the Beacon, and each of those steps felt scary in a good way and really prepared me to take on this room. But certainly, the day of, it was very scary to walk into the theatre and think that I'm not here as part of some larger telecast, I'm here to play my own show.

How did you come to work with Alex Timbers as director of the concert film?I wanted him from the start. I love his work on stage and how he make things on stage work on camera. I love his David Byrne piece [American Utopia], I love his John Mulaney special [Kid Gorgeous], I love Moulin Rouge! He creates such great evenings and experiences. I knew I wanted someone who had that crossover of live theater and can make it feel intimate on camera. He was very enthusiastic and protected my vision and didn't want to mess with the live experience in any way. He just wanted to make sure it was filmed in the right way. He did a fantastic job.

Was the Radio City show very different from the tour before it?We upped the production a little bit to fit the space in the practical sense. It's a little bit bigger, and there are a few more lights. I got an extra string player. More so, it was having to earn our place in such an amazing venue and rise to the occasion of playing of Radio City that added a new energy to the show. It was very purposeful that we did the tour before this show, because we really honed the show and figured out exactly how it should flow and what stories I should tell. We had such a solid foundation that I was able to go out and fly, instead of having to worry about specifics.

Who was your choreographer and how were your dance moves developed?There actually was no choreographer. I knew that I wanted to dance in the way that I dance when I'm out with my friends. I wanted it to seem like we were all dancing together, so there was no plan for the choreographed moments. In rehearsals over time, the amazing backup vocalists and I found these moments where we all just naturally wanted to move together, so we leaned into those. I don't ever get to dance or move as myself, so I'm excited for people to get to see that aspect of it.

Your show The Politician comes back June 19. Were you affected by the Covid shutdown and what can we expect from this season?We shot it from October through about February, and luckily, we got in under the wire. There was one outstanding scene left to do, and that's been turned into a very Covid-like FaceTime scene that worked really, really well.

This season is all about going head to head with Judith Light's character in a senate race for New York. It's all about Manhattan, and the aesthetic of the show is much more East Coast. It's gotten more adult and sharper and focused, because the kids are in their twenties and it's a real political race.

On top of all that, Bette Midler and Judith Light are giving incredible performances. Judith is always spectacular, but it's really special to see Bette Midler give this all-in comedic performance on screen. It's been a minute since we've gotten to see her do that and she's every bit as good as she always has been. There is one musical moment in the show and both Bette and Judith are there. Singing with them present was really special.

You're still putting out new music. What is it like to write songs over Zoom and FaceTime?It's really tough. It took a while to get used to. There's so much that you miss in terms of the in-person energy and the vibing with people and hearing the nuances of the sound that people are making. I found I can't do it with new collaborators. I've tried a few times and it's too arduous. But if you have an existing dynamic with someone you're already comfortable with, it's not so difficult to translate that to FaceTime. It's a learning curve, for sure, but we adjust and hopefully music is one of the few things we can get done in this time.

I just put out a song that Finneas produced that we wrote over Zoom. Naturally, when we get on these sessions, we make something that speaks to the moment now. But I'm trying to write things that will live beyond this. As we all must have faith in, this is temporary and it will pass, so I'm trying to write songs that will live on.

This article was originally published on our lovely sister site TheaterMania.

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Ben Platt: Singing with Bette Midler and Judith Light in The Politician new series was really special - WhatsOnStage.com

Nigerian startups have been invited to apply for the first Lagos Urban Innovation Challenge, which offers solutions to critical urban issues access to a virtual accelerator and support worth over US$10,000.

The Lagos Urban Innovation Challenge, which is being run by Utopia in partnership with Skoll Foundation, Lagos Innovates, Future Africa, the Mansueto Institute for Urban Innovation, Business Insider and Rain Tree, aims to promote solutions that can help solve critical urban issues in Lagos.

Early-stage startups and social entrepreneurs with solutions that can shape the Lagos of the future are encouraged to apply by May 31, with winners gaining access to a virtual urban accelerator, over US$10,000 worth of resources, and access to a support network from the challenge partners.

The Lagos Urban Innovation Challenge is looking for ideas that can help solve critical urban issues in Lagos, under themes such as energy, food and water, gov-tech, mobility, infrastructure, and public health and safety.

Its almost inevitable that critical infrastructure will need to be built to support Africas urban future. We are super excited to be supporting the entrepreneurs putting in the work now to build the future Africa deserves, and putting us on the path to a new model of urban growth, said Emmanuel Adegboye, managing partner of Utopia Lagos.

Shaping Lagoss urban future will require innovative approaches and collaboration between government, citizens, innovators and corporates.

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Startups invited to apply for $10k Lagos Urban Innovation Challenge - Disrupt Africa

Erin Eagles says she doesn't miss the drive to her Saint John office and sees no rush to give up working from home.

After weeks of practice, she has figured out the best place to video conference with clients is a tidy corner of the basement playroom.

There, the lighting is fine and her family won't come looking for a snack.

However, she says, her eight-year-old can be a distraction.

"There's a constant little pull," said Eagles, a financial adviser with Sun Life.

"Mostly from my daughter because if she knows I'm here, she wants my attention."

People who make a living off commercial real estate, and those who study that market,are waiting to see what workers like Eagles will choose to do next.

She's one of thousands of New Brunswickers who have learned to work from home because of COVID-19.

She's had enough time to master the transition. She's seen the good and the bad.

Some predict the good will win out and that many will decide to abandon their commute at the expense of New Brunswick's downtowns.

Business development analyst Ben Champoux saidyou'll see a change in Moncton.

Normally, he said, some 20,000 people from nearby communities such as Riverview, Dieppe, Shediac and Bouctouche, drive into the city for their jobs.

Those 20,000 workers are the reason why the downtown bars and restaurants thrive.

But in the past two or three months, Champoux said, most of those people have had to stay home and some, who managed to work there, have discovered they like it.

"This is very anecdotal, but I talk to friends on a regular basis and they're all telling me that they're as efficient as they used to be.

"Frankly, they're even more productive because they don't have to spend so much time in a car every morning and night. They don't have to take an hour to find a restaurant and eat. They can eat very quickly at home.

"And now they're seriously wondering, 'Do I really need to be physically back downtown and driving half an hour in the morning and half an hour at night, or could I spend it with my spouse and my kids?'"

Champoux saidit's not a question of whether people will choose to stay home, but a question of how many.

Across the province, some big employers said they're taking a slow and cautious approach getting people back to work.

Assumption Life said 98 per cent of its downtown Moncton workforce was able to do their jobs from home by the end of the week of March 16.

The company said it was a seamless transition that took less than 48 hours to execute.

"This current situation is showing us that working from home could be an option, depending on the role and responsibilities of each employee," wrote Thomas Raffy, director of communications.

Raffy said the company is working with the building's management company to come up with a multi-stage plan to get workers back into the tower.

That plan, he said, will also consider the daily feedback from employees on "how they're doing at home, how they're balancing their work and their personal lives, and how they perceive their return to work."

J.D. Irving Ltd. said thatacross its operations in Canada and the U.S., it had 2,800 employees working from home while its mills and offices were being reconfigured to reduce the risk of COVID-19.

Those preparations included the production of some 30,000 signs to guide people on where to sit and stand to maintain physical distance.

The company said nearly 3,000 face masks were provided to workers in the mills.

Bathrooms had to be changed and workstations have all been equipped with disinfectant wipes and sanitizer.

"The whole time, on the forest products side, from Lake Utopia to Irving Tissue in Moncton, not a single case of COVID, not a single layoff," said Mary Keith, vice-president of communications.

Now the company has mapped out its plan to bring them back.

"It's almost harder than sending them home," Keith said.

At 300 Union St., workers have started to reoccupy the 12-storey building, one floor at a time.

Much like Moncton, Saint John has been missing its commuters as many as 16,000 per day.

Full occupancy of the JDI headquarters puts 800 people in the city centre.

Jeff Yerxa has 90,000 square feet of office space soon to open in Fredericton's downtown and he said he's not worried he'll find takers for the third of the building that isn't yet leased.

He's the president and CEO Of Ross Ventures and once pitched his proposal for 140 Carleton as "Fredericton's sexiest building."

"It looks largely finished on the outside but the inside is still under a fair amount of construction," said Yerxa, who declined to say who is moving in.

"We don't anticipate the first tenants taking occupancy there until late summer, possibly early fall."

Yerxa said he's watching the impactof COVID-19 on workers, and he thinks their reaction to working from home is mixed.

"There's people who went home to work and loved working from home and there's people who went home to work and hated working from home.

"Then there's the other side of the equation, which is the employers. So there's employers who sent their staff home and found some of them very productive, possibly more productive working from home. And of course, the opposite is true, too.

"I don't think the need for office space is going to disappear."

Alexandra Allen thinks demand won't disappear, but she wouldn't be surprised to see it quickly soften.

As senior manager of the economic intelligence unit for Turner, Drake and Partners, she leads the team that runs the company's semi-annual survey on more than 38 million square feet of office and industrial space across Atlantic Canada.

She saidrecession drives change. Employers go looking for savings by reducing their footprints.

In the 90s, she says private offices were swapped out for cubicles.

Then the 2008 downturn drove the trend toward open and collaborative spaces, also known as "bullpens."

Allen said the post COVID recession will give some employers no choice. They'll have to keep their workers at home so they can save on rent.

"It will be a survival mechanism," she said.

She said tenants can't rush for the exits because they often sign multi-year leases.

However, early indicators of a weaker market would show up as added incentives offered by the landlords, such as cash inducements to get tenants to move in, Allen said.

"Then as vacancy creeps up, the next thing is that rental rates will have downward pressure on them. First, you'll see stagnation, then actual downward shifts."

Allen said she'll be looking for early downturn indicators in the next survey results due out in July.

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Back to the office: Now, later ... never - CBC.ca

In his 1998 book, An Introduction to the Hong Kong Legal System, Peter Wesley-Smith, the former Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Hong Kong, wrote:

At bottom, law is dependent upon politics. In one sense it is a rationalisation of a political event, a transformation of a state of affairs brought by force into a situation governed by law. The constitution reflects and sustains victory on the field of battle. It is, nevertheless, legitimate, for it is in fact obeyed and accepted as such by most of the Regimes inhabitants.

Wesley-Smith touched on something of fundamental importance to our political life in Hong Kong we, like the worlds liberal democracies, believe in government by the consent of the governed. When the organs of governance and law enforcement have lost their legitimacy and the trust among a significant proportion of the population, it becomes extremely difficult for them to implement even the simplest of policies not to mention a law which is seemingly against the values the population believe in.

Beijing knows that it will never command such legitimacy. That is why the Chinese government has finally decided to act on its own, without consent and without consultation. In a new draft law, whose extended title is on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to safeguard national security, Beijing is seeking to allow its own national security organs to set up agencies in Hong Kong.

It will also allow the Chinese government to legislate, unilaterally and bypassing Hong Kongs own legislature, to stop activities in four areas namely any acts deemed to split the country, subvert state power, organize and carry out terrorist activities and to interfere with Hong Kong affairs by foreign and external forces.

Under the new draft laws stipulations, the territorys Chief Executive must also report regularly to Beijing on matters relating to national security.

The global health crisis through which we are now living has disrupted the political landscape once again. The crucial effect of Covid-19 on the political situation is twofold. First, the pandemic prevents protesters in Hong Kong from gathering in huge masses although it is still likely that they will continue to take to the streets anyway. Second, Sino-US relations have sharply deteriorated Beijing is likely to benefit from being the first-mover, manoeuvring quickly to enact the national security law.

Words failed me when my friend asked me how I felt about this unprecedented move. These feelings never come together in just a single day or following a single event it made me look back and recount what my sentiments were at different milestones that shaped Hong Kong into what it is today.

We have been where we are now before. In 2003, the then Hong Kong government proposed the National Security (Legislative Provisions) Bill, one which would require the islands administration to fulfil the obligations set by Article 23 of the Basic Law, the territorys de facto constitution. The Article in the Basic Law requires Hong Kong to legislate on its own to ban any act of treason, secession, sedition and subversion against the Regime.

The word subversion was at first removed from the Article, but it was reintroduced following the Tiananmen protests of June 1989, during which some one million Hong Kong citizens went onto the streets to protest for democracy, the day after a major typhoon struck the city of Hong Kong. Ever since, this Article has proven to be a crucial flashpoint of controversy between those supporting democracy in Hong Kong and those promoting closer ties with Beijings authoritarian system. Subversion can be interpreted in many different ways.

The proposed security legislation in 2003 caused considerable controversy and triggered a massive demonstration, consisting of half a million people, in the city on July 1. Two months later, the Bill was withdrawn by the then Chief Executive.

Even as a kid, I was in awe at the power of the ordinary people of Hong Kong in unity, as showcased through peaceful, non-violent demonstrations. I have felt the same power on June 4 every year since, at Victoria Park, where hundreds of thousands of Hongkongers light up their candles and reaffirm their determination to bring democracy to China. What I didnt realise, at that time, was that Article 23 had always been there, and the matter had to be resolved sooner or later whether by deliberation or by coercion.

Just over ten years later, in 2014, Hong Kong once again impressed the world with peaceful civil disobedience against the proposed changes to the electoral system. This would have limited those capable of voting for representatives of the citys Chief Executive. The protest gained its name, the Umbrella Movement, from the use of umbrellas to protect oneself from the pepper sprays by the police. The use of teargas against the protesters was a direct provocation for many to go onto the major highways and begin an 80-day long occupation.

To me, the occupation area was a political utopia without the disturbance of power and the tides fortune which exist in real-world politics. Of course, the movement was short-lived, but through the protests we reaffirmed our beliefs in democracy, freedom and equality.

The introduction of the so-called Extradition Bill in 2019 has caused the gravest damage not only to the long-cherished values of our city and to the principle of One Country, Two Systems, but also to almost every aspect of the economy and society. It has also made Beijing even more determined to tackle unrest with whatever means possible, including new and ever more punitive legislation.

As a medical student, I find that the most appropriate analogy for the unrest since last June is an infection. The bill posed threats directly to the rule of law, the freedoms that citizens enjoy, and to economic activities by inciting fear much like the pathogen that directly damages different organ systems. The protesters resisted these threats with determination and with different degrees of violence like our immune system. The bill was then withdrawn following months of protests and clashes, but the failure of the government to respond to the demands from the protesters has led to persistent protests and clashes which themselves have mutilated all facets of the Hong Kong society much like the hyper-inflammatory status and the cytokine storm caused by our immune cells.

I am empathetic towards the protesters regardless of the violence they have used there were no other possible ways to change the governments mind. The government must be held accountable for introducing the Bill and the police for inappropriate use of force.

But who should be responsible for the damage to the public facilities and normal socioeconomic order, the desecration of the rule of law, the disrespect or even physical attacks towards people with diverse political stances (especially towards those from the mainland)? How can we count the cost for the harm done to every one of us psychologically, when violent clashes filled our TVs, newspapers and our smartphones every day? I cannot find an objective and impartial answer for myself and I was torn by these questions on a daily basis.

In any case, it is now certain that Chinas parliament will pass the draft security Bill into law on May 28. So, what am I concerned about?

In 2015, the world was shocked by the sudden disappearances of five employees of Causeway Bay Books, one of whom, Lee Bo, disappeared within Hong Kong itself. The bookshop was notable for selling political books that were deemed a threat to national security and hence were banned in China. Will disappearances like this become normal, once Beijings national security agency reaches Hong Kong? Will people be arrested on June 4 memorials, commemorating the Tiananmen Square massacres, simply because they call for an end to the Communist Party dictatorship?

The legislature in Beijing will be able to enact national security laws circumventing the Legislative Council in Hong Kong. The laws of mainland China are known for their ambiguity and room for (potentially very wide) interpretation. Without the scrutiny by the local legislature, the enacted law will most probably be much worse even than the bill proposed in 2003.

Unfortunately, it is almost impossible for Hong Kongs citizens themselves to demand the reversal of Beijings decision. The Umbrella Movement in 2014 terminated the electoral reform itself, certainly, but Beijings resolve that future reforms will come, by coercion if not by consultation, remains in force. It has always been a matter of if and not when.

What can we do about it then? During the anti-extradition protests last year, a worrying number of protesters had come up with the philosophy that goes if we burn, you burn with us much like a scorched-earth strategy, a guarantee of mutual destruction. Defending the freedoms and values of Hong Kong is not a stage for revolutionary heroism.

Perhaps the international community may press China with all possible means (especially economic) without causing harm to the lives of ordinary Hongkongers. Some have even suggested that Donald Trumps White House should remove the special socioeconomic status of Hong Kong established in the United StatesHong Kong Policy Act as a retaliation against the regime and to Chinas economy. But this is both myopic and, frankly, rather childish: Beijing must have considered such move as a worst-case scenario before going ahead; and it is the ordinary citizens in Hong Kong that will suffer the most if the US treats Hong Kong the same as the Mainland.

Sadly, most of the pressure placed on China from the international community is transient and remains at the verbal level, in part because Hong Kong is of decreasing importance as a middleman between China and the West in trade; and also because Hong Kong, along with its future, has long been a bargaining chip on the gaming table between the two superpowers.

What has happened since last June, and more recently last week, has caused me constant bewilderment what has gone wrong with Hong Kong? As my friend and I were sharing remorse and sighs, I started to recall what Lee Kuan Yew said in an interview when he visited Hong Kong in 1992:

[I]fdemocracy plus free market produces a prosperous Hong Kong, then that is a challenge to [Chinas] systemChina will not tolerate a Hong Kong which is made into a separate community or society from China. Once you have separate elections to identify separate group interests, you create a distinct identity separate from the mainland

Why have they agreed [to preserve Hong Kongs way of life for 50 years]? Because they think Hong Kong is a superior model? No. They have agreed because economically Hong Kong is of value to themPut it in another way, after 50 years, do you think the Chinese will allow Hong Kong to be different from Guangdong?

Much to my regret and sadness, Lee Kuan Yew was right.

The author is a former pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong and is now a medical student in the United States.

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Authoritarian China will never tolerate a free Hong Kong - Reaction - Reaction

By: Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: May 27, 2020 1:57:18 pm The Tianwen-1 mission will lift off on a Long March 5 rocket, a launch system developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). (Image: Aynur Zakirov/Pixabay)

Chinas space program is now slated to achieve a new milestone. In July, the country will launch its first Mars mission, the Tianwen-1, which is expected to land on the Red Planets surface in the first quarter of 2021. The success of the mission will make China the third country to achieve a Mars landing after the USSR and the United States.

Named after the ancient Chinese poem Questions to Heaven, the Tianwen-1, an all-in-one orbiter, lander and rover will search the Martian surface for water, ice, investigate soil characteristics, and study the atmosphere, among completing other objectives.

The Tianwen-1 mission will lift off on a Long March 5 rocket, a launch system developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), from the Wenchang launch centre, and will carry 13 payloads (seven orbiters and six rovers) that will explore the planet. The missions launch in July was confirmed on Sunday by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which has been working on the project since 2016.

As per a report in the Air and Space Magazine, the Chinese mission will be the first to place a ground-penetrating radar on the Martian surface, which will be able to study local geology, as well as rock, ice, and dirt distribution. Two candidate landing sites have been identified, one of them being Utopia Planitia, according to Space News.

Chinas previous Yinghuo-1 Mars mission, which had piggybacked on a Russian spacecraft, had failed after it could not leave the Earths orbit and disintegrated over the Pacific Ocean in 2012.

The Chinese mission is expected to take off in late July, around the same time when NASA is launching its own Mars mission the ambitious Perseverance which aims to collect Martian samples and bring them back to Earth in a two-part campaign.

Also in Explained: What InSight has told us about Mars so far

Previous Mars missions

The USSR in 1971 became the first country to carry out a Mars landing its Mars 3 lander being able to transmit data for 20 seconds from the Martian surface before failing. The country made its second and Mars landing two years later in 1973.

The second country to reach Marss surface, the US, holds the record for the most number of Mars landings. Since 1976, it has achieved 8 successful Mars landings, the latest being the InSight in 2019 (launched in 2018).

India and the European Space Agency have been able to place their spacecraft in Marss orbit. Indias Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan was able to do so in September 2014, almost a year after its launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh.

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Why Mars exploration

After the Moon, the most number of space missions in the Solar System have been to Mars. Despite being starkly different in many ways, the Red Planet has several Earth-like features such as clouds, polar ice caps, canyons, volcanoes, and seasonal weather patterns.

For ages, scientists have wondered whether Mars can support life. In the past few years, Mars missions have been able to discover the possible presence of liquid water on the planet, either in the subsurface today or at some point in its past.

This has made space explorers more curious about whether the planet can sustain life. Newer NASA missions have since transitioned from their earlier strategy of Follow the Water to Seek Signs of Life.

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Explained: What is Tianwen-1, Chinas Mars mission? - The Indian Express