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☆ His Dreadlocks Shaved by Prison Guards, Rastafarian Man Turns to Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-13 | by ( Adam Liptak | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Damon Landor is a Rastafarian. When he started a five-month prison term for drug possession in Louisiana, his dreadlocks fell nearly to his knees. Mr. Landor was wary of the state’s prison system, and he kept a copy of a 2017 judicial decision with him. He presented a copy of the 2017 decision to a guard, who threw it in the trash. After consulting the warden, two guards handcuffed Mr. Landor to a chair, held him down and shaved his head to the scalp.

Persons: Damon Landor, Landor, Raymond Laborde, Mr Organizations: U.S ., Appeals, Fifth Circuit, Raymond Laborde Correctional Locations: Louisiana, Cottonport, La

☆ Opinion: The destruction of Gaza isn’t just physical. It’s psychological as well
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-05 | by ( Opinion Arwa Damon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +12 min

A child shrieks in pain in a medical tent at a field clinic in southern Gaza. It is the psychological obliteration: What makes the trauma different in Gaza is the sheer constancy of it. Trauma compounds trauma every single day; there is no respite, not even a brief one. Death and destruction are not unique to the war in Gaza, but the scale and the scope are, as is the intensity and ferocity. Arwa Damon leads an activity with children at one of the shelters where INARA provides services in southern Gaza.

Persons: Arwa Damon, Arwa Damon CNN I’m, We’re, I’ve, “, you’ve, she’s, mumbling, — “, it’s, won’t, Ahmed, ”, doesn’t, Benjamin Netanyahu, Netanyahu, Israel, ” Damon, Gazans, he’s, He’s Organizations: CNN, International Network for Aid, Relief, INARA, Twitter Locations: Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Egypt, Israel, Rafah, Cairo, people’s

☆ Opinion | Taylor Swift Needs to Become Other People
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-26 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Which are the 12 best songs — not just in absolute terms, but in terms of the whole (the album) being constructed out of the parts (the songs)? Which of these songs do they want to play live dozens of times on their upcoming concert tour? For a very different analysis of Swift, consider these comments on X from Katherine Boyle, an Andreessen Horowitz venture capitalist, repurposing a take she offered in 2023. In our cultural environment, Boyle argues, being prolific is everything: “You can’t cede ground to competitors. If Taylor writes 31 songs and 3 are memorable, she’s written three epic songs.

Persons: ”, Taylor Swift’s, Swift, you’re, —, Damon, Bruce Springsteen, Springsteen, Katherine Boyle, Andreessen Horowitz, Boyle, ” Boyle, Taylor

☆ Voters Think America Is Broken. Biden Needs to Meet Them Where They Are. - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Damon Linker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Seven months away from a rematch election pitting President Biden against former President Donald Trump, the incumbent is struggling. The question is why. It’s usually wiser to listen to what voters are saying — beyond the obvious concerns about the president’s age. The long-term trend tells a clear story: From the mid-1990s to late 2004, the level of satisfaction bounced around between 39 percent and 71 percent. They would reach a low of 9 percent satisfaction in October 2008, in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.

Persons: Biden, Donald Trump, Trump, Biden’s, “, Bush Organizations: Gallup Locations: U.S, Iraq

☆ Opinion | The Cure for What Ails Our Democracy
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( David Brooks | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What do we have to do to rectify this situation? Well, a lot of things, but one of them is this: More of us have to embrace an idea, a way of thinking that is fundamental to being a citizen in a democracy. That idea is known as value pluralism. It’s most associated with the British philosopher Isaiah Berlin and is based on the premise that the world doesn’t fit neatly together. We all want to pursue a variety of goods, but unfortunately, these goods can be in tension with one another.

Persons: Isaiah Berlin, Damon Organizations: University of Pennsylvania Locations: America, British, Berlin

☆ Galentine’s Day: How to love yourself
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-13 | by ( Allison Hope | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

This is the perfect year to ditch Valentine’s Day and lean into a less pressure-filled holiday. Born from the ancient, mystic sitcom “Parks and Recreation,” the “Galentine’s Day” episode first aired on February 11, 2010. She rebels against the traditional slog of Valentine’s Day and invents a day to rejoice with her girlfriends and celebrate herself. Galentine’s Day, which falls on the day before Valentine’s Day, is for you. “Just as you may give another person a Valentine’s day gift, write a heartfelt card, or spend quality time together, take these practices inward,” she said via email.

Persons: CNN —, “, Amy Poehler’s, Leslie, —, aren’t, it’s, ”, Rachel DeAlto, Lauren Cook, Damon L, Jacobs, ” Jacobs, there’s, Allison Hope Organizations: CNN, Recreation, New Yorker Locations: New York, Los Angeles

☆ Opinion | Why Does the Right Hate America?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-06 | by ( Paul Krugman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

But is America beyond the political realm also in crisis? A recent essay by Damon Linker in The Times profiled conservative intellectuals whose writing, he argued, helps explain where the MAGA right is coming from. What struck me, reading some of their work, is the dire portrait they paint of the state of our nation. For example, Patrick Deneen’s “Regime Change” describes America thus: “Once-beautiful cities and towns around the nation have succumbed to an ugly blight. Do they have any sense, from personal memory or reading, of what America was like 30 or 50 years ago?

Persons: Damon, MAGA, Patrick Deneen’s Organizations: Times Locations: America

☆ Opinion | Get to Know the Influential Conservative Intellectuals Who Help Explain G.O.P. Extremism
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-04 | by ( Damon Linker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Some catastrophists take it a step further and suggest that officials might contemplate overthrowing liberal democracy in favor of revolutionary regime change or even imposing a right-wing dictatorship on the country. It includes respected scholars at prestigious universities and influential think tanks. That makes this a crucial time to familiarize ourselves with and begin formulating a response to these ideas. If Mr. Trump manages to win the presidency again in 2024, many of these intellectual catastrophists could be ready and willing to justify deeds that could well bring American liberal democracy to its knees. The essay set the tone of life-or-death struggle (and related imagery) that is common among catastrophists.

Persons: Trump, Michael Anton, Anton’s, Hillary Clinton “, ” Mr, Anton, Rudy Giuliani, Rush Limbaugh Organizations: Claremont, catastrophists, Republican, Claremont Institute, National Security Council Locations: California

While Woody Allen's film may be a reference point to “American Fiction,” direct comparisons are harder to come by for such a breezy but biting commentary. Directing a film, Jefferson says, wasn't necessarily a lifelong ambition. That “American Fiction” is hard to categorize, he says, might mean he's on the right track. “This being my first movie, I’m eager to find what my voice is,” Jefferson says. ___Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

Persons: Percival Everett's, Cord Jefferson, Jeffrey Wright, “ Monk ” Ellison, Cord Jefferson —, ”, ” —, Jefferson, Monk, Wright, John Ortiz, Aeschylus ’ “, —, ” Monk, Stagg R, Leigh, ” Jefferson, Black, Jack City, Annie Hall, Woody, Tracee Ellis Ross, Sterling K, Brown, Erika Alexander, Issa Rae, “ There’s, Larry Wilmore ”, Damon Lindelof, hadn't, “, Jake Coyle Organizations: TORONTO, Toronto, Gawker, MGM, Twitter Locations: Jack, ”, Tucson , Arizona, Tulsa

☆ The founder of the elite sex club Snctm is launching a new 'sensual' restaurant
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-29 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Damon Lawner, the founder of the sex club Snctm, is launching a new venture. Puzzle's owner, Damon Lawner, is best known for founding Snctm, a high-end, members-only sex club frequented by A-listers. Like, I have to tell them that," Lawner told the The Los Angeles Times. This status is open to just 13 people per year — and only one slot remains available, Lawner told Insider. Out of the London-based company's 41 locations, 22 have opened in the last five years, a spokesperson for Soho House told Insider.

Persons: Damon Lawner, —, Lawner, isn't Organizations: Snctm, Service, Los Angeles Times, Soho House Locations: West Hollywood, what's, Lawner, Soho, London, Vicente

☆ Where Presidential Hopes Go to Die - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Gail Collins | Bret Stephens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

But speaking of forest fires, shall we get to that latest Trump indictment? Gail: We’re obviously in history-making territory — first former president indicted in a criminal case brought by the federal government. And this one, which involves trying to stash away official papers he’d been told were government property, is certainly a classic Trump combination of shocking and stupid. That may be about as close to a slam dunk, legally speaking, as we’re ever going to get in a case like this. Bret: The second thought is that a special counsel appointed by President Biden’s attorney general is bringing a criminal case against the president’s presumptive opponent in next year’s election.

Persons: Gail, We’re, he’d, Bret, I’m, ” Gail, Jack Smith, Trump, Biden’s, Damon Organizations: Georgia

☆ Trump’s Indictment Puts Us Into Uncharted Waters - The New York Times
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-08 | by ( Damon Linker | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

That’s especially true in our era of stark partisan polarization and intense negative partisanship. That Mr. Trump would be running against an opponent with persistently low approval ratings who will be 81 years old on Election Day 2024 only makes a Biden-Trump matchup more uncertain. Mr. Trump is not a standard-issue politician who happened to run afoul of corruption statutes. God Bless President Trump.” It’s likely that tens of millions of our fellow citizens agree with the sentiment. To most Americans, such a reaction to news of Mr. Trump’s indictment seems unimaginable.

Persons: Trump, He’s, ”, Jim Jordan, ” It’s, Trump’s Organizations: White, Biden, Trump Locations: United States of America, Ohio, America

☆ Opinion | Put ‘Succession’ in the TV Pantheon
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Ross Douthat | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +5 min

Then, too, the show’s judgment on elites can be read in two distinct ways, one more left-wing and one more right-wing. This consciousness came with varying levels of self-delusion, and none of these shows fully forgave their protagonists in the end. But the possibility of redemption existed for them at least notionally, and I think that’s why “Succession” seems like such an outlier among its peers. I think this critique is partially fair, and that, along with the strengths I described above, there is a savage superficiality to some of the characterizations in “Succession” that’s beneath the psychological level achieved on other famous TV dramas. When it comes to the desire for redemption and honesty and love, though, I’m not sure “Succession” is as barren as Phillips seems to suggest.

Persons: Kendall Roy’s, Logan, Tom Wambsgans, Roy, Naipaul, ”, Damon Linker’s, Brian Phillips’s, Tony Soprano, Walter White, Don Draper, There’s, Hank, Peggy Olson, I’m, Phillips, Shiv Roy, Shiv, Tom Organizations: “ Locations: Swedish

☆ Outside Hollywood Studios, Writers Make Their Case
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Brooks Barnes | Nicole Sperling | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

This corporate greed has got to go!”Similar scenes of solidarity unfolded across the entertainment capital. The streaming giant, for instance, has become known for “mini-rooms,” which is slang for hiring small groups of writers to map out a season before any official greenlight has been given. Because it isn’t a formal writers room, the pay is less. Writers in mini-rooms will sometimes work for as little as 10 weeks, and then have to scramble to find another job. (If the show is greenlit and goes into production, fewer writers are kept on board.)

☆ ‘Mrs. Davis’ Review: Algorithm and Blues
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( James Poniewozik | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The pilot introduces Simone (Betty Gilpin), a sister in a remote Nevada convent who has a sideline exposing dishonest magicians. Besides leaving her time for her hobby, convent life lets her avoid the reach of an omniscient A.I. Davis” in America, “Mum” in Britain, “Madonna” in Italy and so on — has not given up on Simone. Simone, Mrs. Davis believes deep in her code, is the one person equipped to carry out a mission: to find and destroy the Holy Grail. Simone agrees, hoping the quest will be a means to Mrs. Davis’s unplugging.

☆ ‘Mrs. Davis’ Review: A Nun’s Anti-AI Crusade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Magic of the presto-chango variety always depends on distraction, but the distractions are the magic of “Mrs. Davis,” which throughout its exhilarating mix of comedy, action, obscure movie references and gothic-Catholic sleight-of-hand mounts a very plausible and therefore disturbing premise: God isn’t dead. He is just less influential than an algorithm. The algorithm is known as Mrs. Davis—or “Ma’am” in the U.K., or “Madonna” in Rome—and is the all-seeing, all-knowing, not-quite-all-merciful manifestation of artificial intelligence to whom humanity has plighted its troth in this eight-part manifestation of real intelligence from creators Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof . Mrs. Davis is, was and ever shall be—unless a heretical nun named Simone, aka Lizzie ( Betty Gilpin ), can win the bet she has made with the omniscient formulation that she calls “it” and find the Holy Grail, on which occasion Mrs. Davis has agreed to self-destruct.

☆ ‘Mrs. Davis’ Review: A Sci-Fi Nun’s Anti-AI Crusade
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Betty Gilpin Photo: PEACOCKMagic of the presto-chango variety always depends on distraction, but the distractions are the magic of “Mrs. Davis,” which throughout its exhilarating mix of comedy, action, obscure movie references and gothic-Catholic sleight-of-hand mounts a very plausible and therefore disturbing premise: God isn’t dead. He is just less influential than an algorithm. Mrs. Davis Begins Thursday, PeacockThe algorithm is known as Mrs. Davis—or “Ma’am” in the U.K., or “Madonna” in Rome—and is the all-seeing, all-knowing, not-quite-all-merciful manifestation of artificial intelligence to whom humanity has plighted its troth in this eight-part manifestation of real intelligence from creators Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof . Mrs. Davis is, was and ever shall be—unless a heretical nun named Simone, aka Lizzie ( Betty Gilpin ), can win the bet she has made with the omniscient formulation that she calls “it” and find the Holy Grail, on which occasion Mrs. Davis has agreed to self-destruct.

☆ HBO is No. 1 as 14 TV insiders rank the streamers where they want to sell shows: Apple's a big spender and 'there's a sheen when you're a Hulu show,' but there's 'fear in the air' at Netflix
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Elaine Low | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

"It's definitely been not the most exciting and robust year," said one TV agent at a major agency. Around 70 people at HBO and HBO Max have been let go this year, and their comedy development teams have merged. While WBD doesn't break out streamer-specific figures, it said on Thursday's earnings call that HBO Max, HBO, and Discovery+ have a combined 94.9 million subscribers, ensuring that any show on HBO Max has the chance to get a lot of eyeballs. They'll also take smaller swings in the genre department, do things at a lower budget," said the second TV agent. Echoed the first TV agent: "You pitch and sell to them if no one else wants it."

☆ Bob Iger needs to fix Disney's 'Star Wars' problem
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Travis Clark | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

He said then that a movie-a-year strategy for "Star Wars" was "too much, too fast." But Disney might have slammed on the brakes a little too hard: The only "Star Wars" movie to be released since then has been "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," in 2019. And now, there isn't a "Star Wars" film on the theatrical release calendar until 2025. It's unclear if Iger foresaw a six-year wait, at least, when he said back in 2018 that "Star Wars" movie output would slow. But Lucasfilm hasn't made any public commitment to any of them as the next stage of "Star Wars" on the big screen.

☆ 14 TV insiders rank the streamers where they want to sell shows now as Apple TV+ closes in on HBO Max amid turmoil at Warner Bros. Discovery
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( Elaine Low | Lucia Moses | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

☆ ‘Star Wars’ movie in development from 'Watchmen' showrunner and 'Ms. Marvel' director, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Stefan Sykes | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A new "Star Wars" movie is under development with a pair of buzzy names already attached, according to media reports. Damon Lindelof, showrunner for "Lost," "The Leftovers" and "Watchmen," is co-writing the new Lucasfilm movie, with Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy of "Ms. Marvel" signed on to direct, according to media entertainment site Deadline. But the upcoming feature marks the first "Star Wars" film set for theaters since 2019's "The Rise of Skywalker." "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" was a massive success for the franchise, grossing $1 billion at the global box office. Other "Star Wars" film projects from Taika Waititi, Rian Johnson and Kevin Feige have yet to be officially announced by the studio or given release dates.

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