Monthly Archives: August 2020

Editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy by editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy.

Sleepy de Blasio strikes again!

Our editorial cartoonist Bill Roundy couldnt help being infuriated at the mayors ongoing reluctance to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists on the crowded Queensboro Bridge a bizarre public opposition to a project that Streetsblog even lined up the funding for!

You remember your history: First, the conversion of one lane of car traffic into a pedestrian path couldnt happen, the city said, until the completion of a roadway project on the upper level of the span. Then the city said it couldnt do the work because the lane would require a special security fence that would supposedly cost multi millions of dollars.

More recently, officials trotted out a new excuse: the work would require much more than a mere fence, but new designs for pedestrians at the entrance and exit of the bridge (though that appears unlikely).

To our cartoonist, the mayor first was stalling, now hes just being obstinate and for no reason, given that he has consistently said he wants the future of New York to be more about sustainable modes of transportation and less about the private car.

What better way to start that process to Utopia than by taking away a single lane from cars on a bridge that often has more cyclists and pedestrians on it anyway (albeit all crammed into the north outer roadway currently)?

All of Bill Roundys cartoons are archived here.

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A Roundy and a Roundy: Take the Money, Bill! - Streetsblog New York

Marvel's Empyre event sees the mutant island of Krakoa invaded by the Cotati - but the X-Men are finally working as a team against them!

This article contains spoilers forX-Men #11.

TheX-Men are finally working as a team. When Charles Xavier first founded the X-Men, he established a School for Gifted Youngsters. There, he taught his students to use their powers. Oddly enough, he doesn't seem to have done a particularly good job; he was usually more fearful of seeing Omega level mutants develop their powers than he was willing to encourage them to experiment. He even used his own psychic powers to impose telepathic locks that inhibited Jean Grey's own telepathy for years.

Xavier may have had the X-Men train as a team in the Danger Room, but even teamwork doesn't appear to have been high up on his agenda. Each X-Man learned how to use their own individual powers in battle, but Xavier didn't really encourage synergies - attempts to use powers in concept. When Cyclops took over as leader of the X-Men for a time while they lived on Utopia, he immediately demonstrated his strategic genius by getting some of his mutants to work together. Now, with the world's mutants living together on the living island of Krakoa, Cyclops and his fellow Krakoan Captains have decided to get their people cooperating again.

Related:X-Men: Gambit's Secret Power Everyone Forgot About

This week'sX-Men #11 is part of Marvel's "Empyre" event, with the plant-race called the Cotati invading Krakoa. They soon learned the scale of their mistake, because Cyclops and his other Captains had come up with several ways to unite different powersets in both offensive and defensive ways. The X-Men had then used Emma Frost's telepathy to flash knowledge of all these strategies into the relevant mutants' minds, ensuring the Krakoans worked together with maximum efficiency. Apparently these are still early days, and the workshopping mostly focused on Magneto's powerset; after "Empyre," the experiment can certainly be considered successful.

Magma, for example, had located a deep vein of magma on the sea bed near Krakoa. She triggered a volcanic eruption, bringing about 20 tons of liquid iron to the surface. Iceman then intervened, using his cryokinetic powers to cool the molten metal at speed. Naturally, the almost-instantaneous cooling led to the new chunks of metal being particularly brittle, which meant they were perfect for Magneto's purposes; he was able to form them into jagged javelins, scythes, and swords, which he used to tear through the amassed army of Cotati. He then tugged a few satellites down out of space for good measure, including a few secret military ones the humans were using to monitor Krakoa that the X-Men weren't really supposed to know about in the first place.

Jonathan Hickman's X-Men run has revitalized the entire range, and this battle tactic indicates the sheer potential of the new mutant nation. The X-Men may call themselves a team, but they've always tended to operate in isolation; no longer is that the case. Consequently, they are now far greater than the sum of their parts.

More:X-Men: The Brother of COLOSSUS Returns To Marvel Comics

Nightwing Just Became Joker's Son (in The Grossest Way)

Tom Bacon is one of Screen Rant's staff writers, and he's frankly amused that his childhood is back - and this time it's cool. Tom's focus tends to be on the various superhero franchises, as well as Star Wars, Doctor Who, and Star Trek; he's also an avid comic book reader. Over the years, Tom has built a strong relationship with aspects of the various fan communities, and is a Moderator on some of Facebook's largest MCU and X-Men groups. Previously, he's written entertainment news and articles for Movie Pilot.A graduate of Edge Hill University in the United Kingdom, Tom is still strongly connected with his alma mater; in fact, in his spare time he's a voluntary chaplain there. He's heavily involved with his local church, and anyone who checks him out on Twitter will quickly learn that he's interested in British politics as well.

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Marvel's New X-Men Are FINALLY Working As A Team | Screen Rant - Screen Rant

[This is an excerpt from Yahoo Sports free morning newsletter. Tap here to get the best sports news in your inbox every morning.]

Good morning, friends. You made it to another Friday. Thats cause for a medal these days. Reward yourself.

I am a sportswriter. That means, by law, Im supposed to be able to thunder down with instant Hot Takes on any sports subject imaginable:The Astros are cheating dogs! James Harden cant win the big one! Tom Brady will flounder in Tampa Bay! Tiger Woods will win the Masters again!You get the idea.

But right now? Right now, friends, I have no Hot Takes. I have no takes at all. (Tip: beware anyone who claims theyve got this all figured out. They dont.) In these literally unprecedented times, I have no idea which way the wind will blow next. Its unsettling.

To recap a remarkable last 48 hours: Wednesday night, multiple NBA teams walked off the floor to protest in the name of social justice. Teams all across the sporting universe joined them, from the WNBA to MLS to baseball to football. There was talk that NBA players would scuttle the entire playoffs. We were already in uncharted territory, and that would require a whole new map.

Thursday, NBA players apparently decided to keep going with the playoffs at some as-yet-undetermined future date, possibly Saturday. But wait! Multiple NFL teams still halted practice, baseball teams again refused to take the field, and then hockey jumped in the scrum, canceling all of its Stanley Cup playoff games for the night.

Which way is up? Which way is forward? Who knows?

The principle driving all this is at once both sadly straightforward and infinitely complex. Black players and their allies are pushing for social justice in a country that all too often fails to deliver on its great promise.

Strange days indeed. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images)

It's amazing why we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back, Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Tuesday, and thats the heart of it right there: an entire segment of Americans who feel unwelcome, unloved, unsafe in their own country.

But how do we get from here to a racial utopia? Thats the question weve wrestled with as a country for centuries, and a few postponed basketball games arent going to solve the problem.

This is an immensely dispiriting situation, from any angle. Nobodys happy. Nobodys winning. A whole lot of people arent even bothering to listen. All this back-and-forth can be healthy like a relationship, a society can only advance when it brings its pain out into the open but 2020 is asking all of us to find emotional reserves weve never tapped before. Some are rising to the challenge, some are turning their backs on it all, but nobody's enjoying this.

As sports fans, this all mucks with the very foundation of our fandom: the calendar. Right up until 2020, we could count on enjoying our favorite sports, whatever they might be, at the same time every year: the Super Bowl in February. March Madness in, well, March. Baseball and the Masters in April. NBA and NHL playoffs in June. College football and the NFL in September. And so on, a comforting sameness every year.

Not anymore. Almost nothing is where it should be in the calendar. On top of the uncertainty about whether games will be played because of COVID-19, we now add the uncertainty of whether games will be played because of political protest. Its part of a deeply unsettling 2020 thats left us all adrift. (Its going to take us a long time to recover from this years assault on our mental health, but thats a story for another day.)

Bottom line: I dont have any answers. I have opinions, just like you, but no certainty. So we keep pressing onward, hoping for resolution, hoping to get people to listen to points of view other than their own, hoping theres not another shaky cellphone video this weekend that sets progress back once again.

Story continues

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Sports protests: An evolving situation with no hot takes - Yahoo Sports

UsBBC OneUs (Photo: Colin Hutton/BBC)

Tom Hollander and Saskia Reeves take on the roles of Douglas and Connie in this adaption of David Nicholls beloved 2014 novel. It follows the soon to be separated couple and their distanced son as they take one last trip as a family, inter-railing across Europe.

A spin-off from Doctor Foster, this new series from Mike Bartlett focuses on Anna (Victoria Hamilton) who now goes as Belle as she builds a new life in Manchester. Moving into a house split into four levels, she meets an intriguing cast of characters, played by the likes of Alison Steadman and Adrian Lester.

Another big name comes to the small screen as Steve McQueen (12 Years A Slave, Widows) recounts the experience of Londons West Indian community throughout the 70s. Each episode tells a different story, one of which is that of Leroy Logan, a Met police officer who developed anti-racist policies for the force, who will be played by John Boyega (Star Wars).

Hugh Laurie plays a politician who finds his life both professional and personal targeted by his enemies. Timely and sharp, the four-part series written by David Hare (Collateral) explores the grey area between political duty and morality and how far one should go to achieve power.

An unlikely reunion for Fleabag and her Hot Priest, as Phoebe Waller-Bridge joins His Dark Materials as John Parrys daemon. Both are being tracked by aeronaut Lee Scoresby in the second, darker series of the Philip Pullman adaption, while Lyra continues to investigate the meaning of Dust alongside her new companion, Will.

Perhaps a triggering series for any young people vying for a place on a graduate scheme, this series set in Londons world of finance follows a group of wannabe investment bankers hoping to secure a permanent job. Expecting professionalism, they enter a world of sex, drugs and ego and must decide whether the raucous industry is really for them.

Between 1978 and 1973, serial killer Dennis Nilsen murdered at least twelve young men and boys before having sex with their corpses. David Tennant steps into his shoes for this disturbing but brilliant true crime series, focusing on the arrest and subsequent trial of the killer known as the Muswell Hill Murderer.

The so-called honour killing of Iraqi Kurdish woman Banaz Mahmod is the catalyst for this drama, with Keeley Hawes as the detective who was awarded for her investigation into the 20-year-olds disappearance. Mahmod had already told the police of her familys plan to kill her, simply because she had left her abusive husband for another man.

From the creator of Luther, we can expect murder, secrets and maybe even ghosts from this new series. Russell Tovey (Flesh and Blood) plays Nathan, a man desperate to leave a terrible secret in the past. Its all going well until an old friend shows up and sparks a chain of events that will reveal all.

Based on JG Farrells 1978 novel, this World War II drama focuses on the Webbs, a British family living in Singapore at the time of the Japanese invasion. Boasting a cast including Charles Dance and David Morrissey, the series promises to be witty, satirical and entirely watchable.

Pushed back because it was considered too rude to air before 10pm, Adult Material is a no holds barred look behind the cameras of the porn industry. Starring Hayley Squires as veteran actress Jolene Dollar, the series pits her against anti-porn activists and explores the effect of free content on the business.

A reboot of the 80s gentle drama, recounting the lives of vets living and working in the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales. It coincides with the 50th anniversary of the release of the novel the series is based on, written by real life vet James Herriot.

There was originally going to be an accompanying theatre piece to this series, offering viewers a chance to get involved in the drama like never before. That part will now air on Sky Arts as a livestream instead, while the series itself features Jude Law and Naomie Harris whose characters discover a mysterious island inhabited by protective outcasts.

Julia Stiles returns as Georgina Clios (now Ryland), who calls this outing the most ambitious series yet. Leaving the French Riviera behind for Italy and Argentina, Georgina has made a name for herself in the world of art restitution and is determined to leave the her less than savoury past behind. Knowing her, it wont last long.

The final series of Skys thriller follows the Worth family back to their roots in Liverpool, leaving the Canadian town of Little Big Bear forever. Unsurprisingly, theyre less than welcome in their hometown and soon find themselves the target of Merseysides most notorious and violent gang led by bulletproof king pin Michael Ryan (Ian Hart).

Nicole Kidman has once again teamed up with Big Little Lies showrunner David E Kelley for this new psychological drama about a woman whose high-profile life falls apart after the disappearance of her husband (Hugh Grant). Based on Jean Hanff Korelitzs novel You Should Have Known, the series questions whether the perfect life really exists.

Aldous Huxleys novel is modernised into a futuristic series imagining a utopian society free of hunger and violence and where people are connected via Indra, an artificial intelligence system. Those who read the original work will know all is not as it seems, and that utopia doesnt quite stretch as far as the Savage Lands.

Perhaps the most anticipated drama of the season, series four of Netflixs royal series will introduce Gillian Anderson as Margaret Thatcher and Emma Corrin as Princess Diana. As well as the 1981 Royal Wedding, well also relive the Buckingham Palace break-in, the magnificence of Concord and the birth of Princes William and Harry.

Hilary Swank plays Commander Emma Green, the astronaut in charge an international crew embarking on a dangerous mission to Mars. Less about space and more about human connection, Emma finds herself distracted by the husband and teenage daughter she left on Earth.

The international drama set in just one police interrogation room returns with four more suspects. Guest stars are yet to be announced, but with David Tennant and Hayley Atwell cast in the first series, theyre sure to be impressive.

You may recognise the name Ratched as the cruel nurse from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest, intent on making her charges lives as difficult as possible. Sarah Paulson takes over the role from Louise Fletcher in this series led by the dark character, taking place at the very beginning of Ratcheds employment at an Oregon psychiatric hospital.

Netflixs answer to Downton Abbey? Possibly. This period drama is based on Julia Quinns bestselling series of novels, exploring the ruthless world of high society in Regency era London. Produced by Shonda Rhimes, the cast boasts Derry Girls Nicola Coughlan and none other than Dame Julie Andrews as narrator Lady Whistledown.

Henry James 1898 novel The Turning of the Screw serves as inspiration for this long-awaited follow up to horror series The Haunting of Hill House. Set in the English countryside, the story follows a nanny who moves to Bly Manor to look after a pair of orphans. Once there, the house slowly starts to reveal its spooky history and the spooky entities who still roam its halls.

Another sweary superhero show to add to the ever-popular genre, The Boys was Amazon Prime Videos runaway hit of 2019. Imagining the shows heroes as less than perfect celebrities is a welcome spin, and season two promises even more gory, bombastic action.

A remake of Channel 4s excellent 2013 mystery series, Gone Girl author Gillian Flynn tells the story of the secret deadly message hidden in the fictional series of comics known as Utopia. It comes down to a group of misfit nerds to stop the nefarious plans being carried out, finding themselves hunted by ruthless killers who have been ordered to put a stop to their investigations.

Another spin-off, this time from zombie series The Walking Dead. Taking place in Nebraska ten years after the apocalypse, the action focuses on two teenage girls who are part of the first generation to only know life alongside the undead. After a catastrophic event changes their lives forever, the pair set out on a quest which will see them leave the safety of their compound for the first time.

After eight episodes of the Star Wars series, were still no closer to discovering Baby Yodas (real name The Child) backstory. Thats the main hope for the second set of episodes, though theres also the excitement surrounding the confirmed appearance of the franchises most famous Mandalorian, Boba Fett, to look forward to.

2020 is truly shaping up to be the year of the spin-off. This offspring of crime series Power follows Tariq St. Patrick after he killed his own father in the sixth season finale. Attempting to balance university with keeping his family safe and finding a way to get his mum out of jail, Tariq is spinning a lot of plates and you can put money on the chances of him dropping one.

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The best dramas to watch on TV this Autumn, from The Crown to Des - iNews

My profession, psychology, began demonizing traditional childrearing in the late 1960s. I was in graduate school at the time and on fire for the promise that the proper use of psychological principles could perfect the raising of children and thereby usher in the social utopia we (young boomers whose heads were enveloped in clouds of youthful idealism) thought possible, even imminent.

Children could be reasoned with. Punishment damaged self-esteem (the supposed brass ring of a good life). In the ideal family, parents and children ruled equally. Time-out which takes the all-time Parenting Boondoggle Award would correct all misbehavior. Children should be given lots of choices and allowed to express their feelings freely. Those are but a sample of the new psychological parenting narratives. Unfortunately, American parents fell en masse for this revisionism and child mental health has been in a tailspin ever since.

The propaganda boiled down to if your parents and grandparents did it, dont do it. One of the upshots of this was what I call yada-yada discipline the attempt to discipline by dialogue, through persuasive appeal to a childs inherent irrationality and self-centeredness.

Two grandparents recently shared the story of their 4-year-old male grandchild who was expressing his feelings freely by wetting his pants whenever the urge arose.

He didnt see the point of stopping whatever he was doing to use the toilet, they said.

Indeed, he didnt see the point because the point was a dull attempt on his parents part to talk him out of it. Yes, they occasionally became frustrated enough to send him to his room, which bothered him none because his room was an entertainment complex, a perfectly suitable place in which to spend a few minutes, even hours. To further demonstrate his disregard, he would often wet his pants on the way to his room, leaving tiny puddles of urine in his wake.

After several attempts, a pediatrician was unable to come up with a remedial drug. A therapist also came up empty-handed. Just prior to reaching the end of their wits, said parents read, in their local newspaper, a column written by a certain renegade psychologist that set forth a cure to spontaneous lazy boy bladder leakage disorder (SLBBLD).

From that point on, the lazy boys parents did three simple things: first, when he wet his clothes, he washed them in a bucket of soapy water; second, if he left a puddle on the floor, he wiped up the puddle and then washed the entire floor; third, when his labors were done (to his parents satisfaction) he spent the remainder of the day in the bathroom and was in bed immediately after supper.

What drugs and therapy had not moved was cured in one day. As I write, he is no longer a lazy boy. Far from it, in fact. He is a fully functioning adult who is neither beset with bathroom phobia nor haunted by nightmares of bucket monsters chasing him down labyrinthine corridors.

The moral to the story is the moral to many a parenting story these days: If your parents and grandparents did it, then (with the obvious exceptions) you should follow their example.

Some things never change, among which is common sense.

Family psychologist John Rosemond: johnrosemond.com, parentguru.com.

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When it comes to discipline, some things never change - Statesboro Herald

Since the beginning of the Broadway shutdown on March 12, two questions have been on every theater lovers lips. To the first and most pressing onewhen will theaters reopen?we still have no firm answer, though several productions are optimistically selling tickets for performances in early 2021. To the secondwhat will become of the Tony Awardswe now have the very beginnings of an answer, but one that raises a host of smaller questions in its wake.

Since so many of this year's scheduled Broadway productions never got to open, there had been speculation that the Tonys would be scrapped entirely this year, and that potential nominees would be bundled in with next years crop.But on August 21, the Tonys announced that the 74th annual awards, honoring achievements in the abbreviated 201920 Broadway season, would indeed be presented in a digital ceremony this fall. That seems like the right decision; to do otherwise would have penalized shows that opened earlier this season. But where will this years Tonys take place? And when? And how? Those are things we dont yet know. (Additional information, including a date and platform for the awards ceremony, will be announced soon, the press release promised.)

The Tony Awards Administration Committee, which makes rulings about eligibility and other questions, is set to convene later this week for the third and final time this season. In terms of its normal work, the committee will be considering only three productions that openedsince the last time it met: My Name is Lucy Barton, A Soldiers Play and Grand Horizons. (The new cut-off date has been established as February 19, 2020; Girl from the North Country and the revival of West Side Story, which opened after that but before the March shutdown, have been deemed ineligible because not enough nominators were able to see them.) But this is no normal season. Will the unprecedented nature of the season lead to changes in the rules that ordinarily govern the Tony nominations?

With that in mind, please join us in a deep dive into the weeds. Here arenine of the main questions that remain, as of now, unanswered.

Asnoted above, the Tonys timetable is still amystery:All we know for sure is thatthe ceremony will be in the fall. But the Tony nominations usually follow closely on the heels of the final Administration Committee meeting, sothosemightbe announcedas soon asnext week. Traditionally, there are about five weeks between the nominations and the ceremonya period usually packed with lobbying from the nominated shows' producersbut this year's gapcould easilybe shorter or longer.

One answer to this question is clear:Since all three of the seasons scheduled musical revivals are ineligible (West Side Story, Company and Caroline, or Change), there will be no award this year for Best Revival of a Musical. Five scheduled revivals of plays also didnt open, but that leaves four play revivals: enough, if only barely, to populate a category for Best Revival of a Play. Heres where things get tricky: According to the Tony rules that govern the Best Show categories, if there are only four eligible nominees then the category automatically shrinks to three nomineesunless the difference in votes between the third-highest ranked show and the fourth-highest ranked show is ten percent or less. Will one of the four potential nominees (A Soldiers Play, Betrayal, The Rose Tattoo or Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune) be left in the cold? Or will the committee decide to waive that rule this year?

Of the four new musicals that opened in 2019-2020, only one, the lukewarmly received The Lightning Thief, had an original score. But the Tonys permit nominations in this category for original music in straight plays as well, for which at least six productions this season would be eligible. Will the committee choose to err on the side of generosity and leave the category as is, at the risk of harming the awards reputation? Will it decide to give the award to one of the potential nominees by acclimation, as it did when Sunset Boulevard hadthe sole new book and score in the shockingly thin 1994-1995 season? Or will it eliminate the category entirely, as it did in the 198889 season when faced with the alternative of nominating the scores for the flops Starmites, Chu Chem, Welcome to the Club and Legs Diamond? If we were betting folk, wedput our chipson the last option.

As things stand, only two nominees are eligible: Moulin Rouge!s Aaron Tveit and The Lightning Thiefs Chris McCarrell. As with Best Score, this leaves the nominators with a decision. They could have a category of two, like the Best Actress in a Musical category in 1995. They could just give the award to one of the two (read: Tveit) outright; they could also reverse course on an earlier decision and fill out the category by bumping Tinas Daniel J. Watts and/or Jagged Little Pill's Sean Allan Krillup to the leading actor category. (Both of these options would ordinarily be against the rules, but the rules can be flexible in an emergency if the Administration Committees oversight group, the Management Committee, decides there is good cause to do so.) Or they could drop the category, as they did for both Best Actress and Best Actor in a Musical back in the weak 1984-1985 seasonand perhaps make Tveit and McCarrell eligible for Best Featured Actor (which is what happened to many leads in 1985, and which is the category they would be in anyhow if they hadnt been bumped up to leading status in an earlier rules decision).

Ordinarily, the categories for Costumes, Set, Lighting and Sound of a Musical have at least four or five nominees. This year, however, there are only four eligible musical productions, which would mean automatic nominations for everyonesomewhat defeating the prestige involved. The administration committee could leave that in place, which would be great news for, say, The Lightning Thief. Alternatively, it could thin the lanes to two or three nominees in each race. Another option might be to drop the split, for this season alone, between musicals and playsa split that has only existed since 2005, after alland put all the productions in one category. (The same logic might apply for Best Director, though in that case the split dates back to 1960.)

David Byrnes concert show was not submitted by its producers for Tony contention, though it has been widely expected to receive a Special Tony Award for merit. Given the situation, howeverand if enough of the nominators and voters saw it anyhowmight the Tonys decide its an eligible musical after all? The answer here is: almost certainly not. But it would make several of the categories more interesting if they did.

If the Tonys hew to their ordinary rules, then the race for Best Play will be the most straightforward, since ten new plays are eligible and only four that had been scheduled to open are not. That translates into fine, fat categories of five nominees for Best Play, its attendant acting awards andif the nonperformance categories are not combined (see above)Best Costumes, Set, Lighting and Sound of a Play. Expect big hauls for Slave Play andThe Inheritance.(The categories for featured performances in musicals, which usually have more than enough candidates, may end up with only four nominees apiece this year.)

Now we move into a very tricky area for the Tonys: not the nominators and administrators, but the voters. Two years ago, the Tonys instituted a new system to ensure that the pool of more than 800 Tony voters had actually seen all of the nominated productions; voters had to visit a special portal and provide proof of attendance for each show. That system might prove very exclusive this year, however, since a larger proportion of the voters might not have seen all of the nominees in many of the categories. (They might have been putting off seeing Jagged Little Pill, for instance, on the assumption that they would have plenty of time to do so before voting in May.) Enforcing the existing standards strictly might limit the voting pool significantly; dropping it, on the other hand, would tacitly acknowledge that the voters were judging work they hadnt seen.

For many theater lovers, who rarely get to see Broadway theater except on the annual Tonys telecast on CBS, this is the really important question. Its also, unfortunately, the question we have the least information about. Giving out the awards themselves is easy enough: Other awards showsthe Obies, the New York Drama Critics Circle, the Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Desk Awards, the new Antonyo Awardshave already given out their prizes online, and you can watch those ceremonies here. But the most exciting moments of the Tonys, for many viewers, are the musical numbers from nominated shows. Its hard to know how that part would be accomplished in a satisfying way. First of all, there are only four potential musical nominees this year (plus American Utopia). Yes, the broadcast could easily also include numbers from shows that were supposed to open this year and will instead be part of next seasons crop. But assembling such numbers in a way that would showcase them at their best would be extremely difficult: A number like Moulin Rouge!s Bad Romance simply doesnt fit in Zoom boxes. In theory, casts could be gathered, quarantined, rehearsed and filmed on stagebut the logistics would be a nightmare and the expense would be prohibitive, especially since the numbers would not be fulfilling their usual function of trying to generate ticket sales for the shows in question. Under the circumstances, we lean toward expecting a relatively modest virtual ceremony in October or Novemberjazzed up with numbers that can be performed more or less solo and pre-recorded effectivelywith a larger Broadway special of some kind to follow, months down the road, once the Street is open for business again.

As we await the answers to these questions and others, it is worth remembering what Broadway did manage to offer this season: ten new plays, four new musicals, four play revivals, a memorable theatrical concert and many glimpses of exciting things to come. Theres a lot to celebrate, and we look forward to doing just that with this years Tony Awards, in whatever new forms they assume.

RECOMMENDED:Our day-by-day roundup of the best theater, opera and dance to stream online

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Nine Burning Questions About the 2020 Tony Awards - Time Out New York

One of the very few perks to life in lockdown (and boy, do you really need to look for the silver linings) has been that we've all had a lot more free time to dedicate to that stack of unread books on the nightstand. And as 2020 is officially the year of the staycation, we thought we'd bring you our faves from this year's releases, from gritty thrillers to far-flung fantasy to big idea non-fiction.

1The City We Became: A Novel (The Great Cities Trilogy Book 1)

This innovative modern fantasy epic by the author of The Fifth Season takes place in a version of New York City very much like the one we know except its alive. In Jemisons world, cities have souls, and The City We Became is the story of the human incarnations of the Big Apple as they fight to defend the metropolis they love from an otherworldly, Lovecraftian horror.

2Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America; Essays

Playwright and columnist R. Eric Thomas debut collection of personal essays explore big themes of race, sexuality and religion that authors have been grappling with for years and manages to make them funny. With the trademark wit and insight that made his Ellecolumn Eric Reads the News so popular, Thomas recounts some of the most formative, hilarious experiences of his childhood and young adulthood, before turning his wry-yet-hopeful eye to the future.

3The Glass Hotel: A novel

Mandels previous novel, Station Eleven, followed a disparate group of characters through the outbreak of a global plague, then caught up with the remnants of human society decades later. Her latest book may feature fewer apocalypses but is no less sprawling in scope, beginning with one fateful evening at the Hotel Caiette in British Columbia, and tracing the echoes that reverberate through several characters lives over the decades that follow.

4Antkind: A Novel

One of the greatest screenwriting minds of all time takes his shot at the literary with the sprawling, funny, mind-warpingAntkind.Much like he did withBeing John MalkovichandAdaptation,Charlie Kaufman gets very meta in this novel that also invokes the films of Judd Apatow and the surreal, speculative workof Philip K. Dick. With just about every single one ofAntkinds 720 pages, youll be testing your own mind, and getting another rare and exclusive glimpse into Kaufmans (and laughing all along the way).

5The Answer Is . . .: Reflections on My Life

Game show host Alex Trebek has been a beloved part of the American cultural canon for more than 30 years, and when he revealed in 2019 that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, the public responded with unanimous messages of love and support. Trebek says this memoir was written as a kind of thank you to those unwavering fans; each chapter takes its title from a Jeopardy!-style question, and includes never-before-shared stories from Trebeks life and his time on the show.

6Blacktop Wasteland: A Novel

Billed as Oceans Eleven meets Drive, this gritty modern noir follows Bug, a former getaway driver who earned a reputation as the best wheelman on the East coast. Hes trying hard to go legit, but as a Black man living on the brink of poverty in the rural South with a family depending on him, the promise of one last job is all too alluring, and so he agrees to take part in a heist which could change his life for good or be his undoing.

7The Vanishing Half: A Novel

The Vignes sisters are identical twins, and were once inseparable. But when they ran away from home at the age of sixteen, their lives diverged. Ten years later, one of the sisters passes for white, with a husband who has no knowledge of where she comes from, and the other sister lives in the same community they once tried to escape. And then their daughters paths cross. The Vanishing Half weaves together elements of family saga and social commentary to ask the question: what makes us who we are?

8Mexican Gothic

Noemi, a society girl living in Mexico City in the 1950s, receives an alarming letter from her cousin, Catalina, claiming her husband is trying to poison her. What follows is a richly imagined take on the Gothic fiction genre, complete with a baroque remote mansion, a complicated and brooding male lead, and a mystery in dire need of solving.

9Smoke & Mirrors: How Hype Obscures the Future and How to See Past It

Were living in a time of technological marvels, but all too often, the lofty claims and bombastic headlines surrounding new advances tend to obfuscate or oversimplify. How many times over the last few years have we heard that robots are coming to take our jobs?Through chapters on everything from healthcare to energy to artificial intelligence, science writer Gemma Milne makes the argument that hype is a dangerous tool when it comes to shaping human progress, and that we all need to be able to think critically.

10Such a Fun Age

A young woman of color is accused of kidnapping a white child in a supermarket at the outset of this Booker-longlisted novel. Things only get worse for Emira, the babysitter, when the childs mother Alix tries to make things right by taking to the internet, igniting a series of events that feel both gripping and inevitable.

11If It Bleeds

In addition to churning out one doorstopper of a novel per year, preternaturally prolific horror writer Stephen King is also a master of short-form suspense. His latest collection comprises four characteristically original, unnerving novellas, including the titular If It Bleeds, which functions as a standalone sequel to Kings 2018 thriller The Outsider, which wasrecently adapted into a chilling miniseries by HBO.

12The Paper Girl of Paris

The YA debut of Mens Healths own deputy editor Jordyn Taylor, The Paper Girl of Paris unfolds over two timelines. In the present day, 16-year-old Alice inherits an apartment in Montmartre that has been locked ever since the Second World War. And in the 1940s, a young socialite named Adalyn experiences the first spark of resistance during the Occupation. Part mystery, part love story, The Paper Girl of Paris is a timely novel about coming of age and doing the right thing.

13Utopia Avenue: A Novel

This kaleidoscopic tale of sex, drugs and rocknroll focuses on the fictional band Utopia Avenue and their stratospheric rise in the late 1960s. There are very few genuinely greatbooks about music, and it takes a novelist of David Mitchells talents to satisfactorily capture the ineffable thrill of a live gig. Utopia Avenue is a love letter to a specific time, and a specific kind of band and for Mitchell fans, its also full of Easter eggs that place it firmly in the wider, deeply strange shared universe of his other notable works likeCloud Atlas andThe Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.

14A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom: A Novel

Ambitious doesnt even begin to describe this novel, which starts out as the story of a family in Biblical times before taking the reader on an epic journey across continents and through centuries, ending in the year 2080. With the introduction of each new character and setting, Boynes thesis becomes increasingly clear: everything (and everyone) is connected, and history will be doomed to repeat itself unless people start to figure shit out.

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The 14 Best New Books of 2020 - Men's Health

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN A new art exhibit opening this week will ask artists to take this moment of "unprecedented turmoil" to imagine a better future for Brooklyn.

"Brooklyn Utopias: 2020" debuted Thursday at the Old Stone House and Washington Park in Park Slope, bringing back an exhibit 10 years ago by asking artists to explore how the borough has changed the last decade and where it can go from here.

"Together, these artworks investigate the possibilities (or limitations) of art in creating a better world by addressing complex topics such as gentrification and environmental justice," Old Stone House writes in a release. "The artists experiment with creative ways to engage with and care for local communities- fostering a greater collective spirit, even with current social distancing measures."

The exhibit includes a mix of indoor, outdoor and virtual art installations that Brooklynites can visit either in-person or online.

The outdoor installations shouldn't be hard to miss. They include a text-based piece on the front of the Old Stone House, posters promoting environmental activism and a garden collaboration that explores the connection between textile crops and enslaved labor.

Inside, exhibits will explore rooftop farming, threats of discrimination and displacement to immigrant communities and redevelopment of iconic spots like Admiral's Row, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Domino Sugar Factory. The indoor gallery will be accessible by appointment-only to help with social distancing.

But even those who don't stop by in-person can participate in the exhibit.

The online programming will include a virtual indigo-dyeing tutorial from the garden exhibit and a webinar about health and justice this Friday. Brooklynites can also submit their own photos of "Brooklyn Utopias" by using the hashtag #BrooklynUtopias2020 and by tagging @oldstonehousebklyn.

WHAT: Brooklyn Utopias: 2020 invites artists to consider differing visions of an ideal Brooklyn. Participating artists explore how the borough has changed over the past decade, and if/how it can serve as a model for urban and American living on a national scale in a time of unprecedented social, political and environmental turmoil.

In 2020; a tense national election season, COVID-19, and the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd and others, have brought heightened attention and a sense of urgency to Brooklyn's persistent socioeconomic and racial inequities. Brooklyn Utopias: 2020 responds to our current moment with artworks that suggest a Brooklyn Utopia, especially in the COVID era, must include a safe, healthy and affordable physical environment that nurtures the borough's diverse communities and landmarks. It also demands a greater collective spirit and the rejection of "unhealthy levels of independence" in the words of artist Jody Wood, who has created a virtual Independence Treatment Center to mitigate this condition.

WHO: Participating Artists: Asah Boston, Elan Cadiz, Fontaine Capel, Nate Dorr and Nathan Kensinger, Diane Exavier, Tamara Gayer, Amir Hariri, Human Impacts Institute, Anna Lise Jensen, David Kutz, Robin Michals and Lynn Neuman, Jan Mun, Iviva Olenick, Rochelle Shicoff, Jody Wood, Ezra Wube, Betty Yu

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New Exhibit Asks Artists To Imagine The Ideal Brooklyn - Park Slope, NY Patch

Living in Community: 13 Projects That Promote Shared Spaces

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Due to population growth and an increase in urban density and real estate prices, architects and urban planners have been pursuing alternatives for new spatial configurations for settling and housing in the cities. The multiplication of shared housing and workspaces isan example of how the field of architecture is adapting to new ways of living in society.

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Not only co-working and co-coliving facilities, but mixed-use buildings, flexible spaces, and temporary installations are also associated, each in its own way, with the idea of sharing spaces. In an intervention under the pilotis of MAR (Rio Art Museum), for example, Estdio Cho raises a question closely related to living together: "What if we refused to accept the idea that in order to live together we would have to lock ourselves behind walls and avoid the danger we believe to be living outside, the frightening threat of others?

Following, we have gathered13 projects around the world, including mixed-use buildings, temporary installations, co-workings, and co-livings, which promote shared spaces in different ways.

"Concordia Design is a mixed-use building containing co-working spaces, an event venue, a food hall, a caf, and a rooftop terraceon Sodowa Island in Wrocaw, Poland. The project is a renovation and extension of a 19th-century listed building, retaining the faade of the existing building and adding a contemporary extension to create a focal point for the neighboring park and a destination that will enhance the experience of the island for visitors."

"The new unit of SESC - a complex set of recreational facilities and services - that will occupy the headquarters building of the old Mesbla, found on the corner of 24 de Maio Street and Dom Jos de Barros Street, downtown So Paulo, is an exemplary problem of transformation in the built urban heritage."

"Forming the nucleus of the Werksviertel-Mitte district, an urban regeneration plan on a former industrial site, the 7,700m2 mixed-used development located close to Munichs East Station stands out with its bold and expressive art faade featuring five-meter-tall verbal expressions found in German comics."

"Oasis Terrace is a new generation of community centers developed by Singapores Housing and Development Board to serve its public housing neighborhoods. It comprises communal facilities, shopping, amenities, and a government polyclinic. The gardens play more than just an aesthetic role in the community; they are a collective horticultural project. By bringing residents together to plant, maintain, and enjoy them, the gardens help nourish community bonds."

"Due to increasing water levels which occur several times a year, no permanent structure or object can be placed on the riverbanks. Under the main theme of the competition topic of 'Adaptable City,' the project focused on revitalizing the 7 km long riverbank area through ephemeral programmatic injections to experiment with the inclusion of this waterfront public space to the city, enhancing the east-west connection through the river."

"Invited by the Museum of Art of Rio(MAR) to create an arena for the public programming, debates, and performances during the period of the exhibition 'If you don't fight you die - art democracy utopia,' we set ourselves to provoke the very limits of the museum with the public space. We imagined a set of bleachers and platforms that transformed the act of occupying the pilotis of the museum in a gesture of crossing of walls and activation of the public space."

"Urban Bloom is an experiment in urban space and activities taking precedent over a designs intention or infrastructures needs. The only need here was for freedom, and the intention is joy. Urban Bloom renews, and invigorates, urbanism in fact, the original location was a parking lot. Transformed into an ideal urban garden, and constructed entirely from artificial means, it is a project for a city that emphasizes people."

"According to many studies, the coworking phenomenon is intrinsically associated with the urban lifestyle. The density and diversity of people and opportunities that a big metropolis produces, encourages the apparition of places where its fundamental purpose is sharing creativity. This is why it seemed natural for us that our spaces paid tribute and were inspired by great cities."

"Sinergia Cowork originally started as a real estate development project, with 32 offices and 4 rental meeting rooms. Just another operation inside a recycled space that in its history workedascarpentry, mechanical workshop, movie studio, and warehouse. The offices function as a Cowork: A recent concept in contemporary office spaces, where the user inserts himself into a heterogeneous collaborative environment that enhances his work and social skills."

"The refurbishment of this typical warehouse space provides a simple open working space for a group of independent professionals from the architecture world and neighboring disciplines. It has been designed to propel them in developing their work in a transparent manner, sharing ideas, and stimulating potential collaborations."

"The Dutch hotel group The Student Hotel, which provides a unique co-living and co-working hybrid, has just opened its first two student-only Campus properties in the Marina and Poble Sec districts of Barcelona, Spain. The property features communal spaces, such as swimming pools, gaming zones, open and closed seating areas, as well as quiet study rooms to encourage connectivity and exchange while providing enough space for learning and development."

"Contemplating care between generations, a family comprising of two households decides to build a house together. While the younger couple already lives in the city, the grandparents live in the countryside and are keen to move back to the proximity of urban amenities."

"Treehouse is a 72-unit co-living complex in the heart of the Kangnam, the start-up hub of Seoul. Composed of micro-studios and micro-lofts, it is designed for single professionals and their animal companions. Treehouse is centered by an interior garden that is lined with collaborative work areas, relaxing lounge spots, communal kitchen, laundry, and pet baths."

This article is part of the ArchDaily Topic: How Will We Live Together. Every month we explore a topic in-depth through articles, interviews, news, and projects. Learn more about our monthly topics here. As always, at ArchDaily we welcome the contributions of our readers; if you want to submit an article or project, contact us.

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Living in Community: 13 Projects That Promote Shared Spaces - ArchDaily