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‘Poor Things’ a rich cinematic feast

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

Who would have guessed that Greek fantasist Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Lobster,” “The Favorite”) was the new James Whale? His latest piece of darkly comic, sexually twisted whimsy is called “Poor Things,” featuring a great Emma Stone of his award-winning 2018 semi-historical effort “The Favorite,” sporting a long shock of J-horror black hair, as a Victorian-era female creature that a mad scientist brings back from the dead by diabolical means. It’s “The Bride of Frankenstein” without the groom.Stone’s she-monster Bella Baxter is the brainchild of Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). She just calls him “God” for short. Godwin is a recluse with a horribly scarred face and the son of a monstrous father, who mistreated him terribly as a child. But Godwin has nonetheless become a brilliant surgeon and scientist who gives hilariously gruesome lectures at a university and hires a student named Max McCandles (Ramy Youssef) to take care of Bella and teach her things.Godwin, Bella and Mc...

How Erick Fedde expanded his pitch arsenal in Korea to get back to the big leagues with the Chicago White Sox

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

Erick Fedde journeyed to the Korea Baseball Organization with the goal of making it back to the major leagues.“It was somewhere I felt I could work on all my new pitches and get the ball every fifth (or) sixth day there and throw a ton of innings and prove what I had,” Fedde said during a video conference call Thursday.He proved it — and then some — by earning KBO MVP honors in 2023.The right-hander officially agreed to a two-year, $15 million deal with the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday. Reports of a deal first surfaced on Dec. 5.Fedde, 30, said the opportunity with the Sox means “everything.”“I had that terrible taste in my mouth about the way my career ended up in the major leagues (in 2022 with the Washington Nationals), and going to Korea, it could be the last taste I ever had of it,” Fedde said. “I really didn’t want that to be how my career ended in the major leagues, and luckily I’m able to pitch well and get ...

Fox Nation to stream Boston Tea Party reenactment

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

This Saturday marks a Hub-centric national celebration with the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party – and it’s all being streamed on Fox Nation.This infamous Tea Party came about when, fed up with England’s “taxation without representation,” patriots took to the harbor and dumped tons of tea into the sea rather than see it being taxed.  It was the first volley fired in what would become the American Revolution and make the United States an independent, king-free nation.“They do do reenactments every year. But I think this is a big deal. I mean, it’s 250 years,” said Molly Line, Fox News’ Boston-based correspondent who will be anchoring the streaming platform.“These American heroes, a lot of them still remain nameless today, sent this message not only to show the King of England but to fellow patriots all across the colonies. They’re the ones that stirred this pot that eventually boiled over into a revolution.“And now 250 years later, this is a grand reenactment, a tribut...

Moore: DC out to destroy America’s tech titans

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

Nothing exemplifies America’s tech industry dominance in the global economy more than the meteoric rise of what is now being called the “Magnificent Seven” stocks — Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia and Tesla. These companies single-handedly account for nearly all the gains in the stock market this year. They — which is to say we as American shareholders who own them — have a net worth of nearly $10 trillion.Think about it. None of these gazelles are Japanese, German or Chinese. All seven are American companies. They are globally dominant. They are innovators nearly unrivaled in human history. Amazingly, you would think their best years are behind them, like an aging baseball player. No. They are getting stronger, not weaker.As a consequence, they are keeping the 401(k) and retirement plans owned by more than 100 million Americans in the green.These are the General Motors, Standard Oil, J.P. Morgan and U.S. Steel of the 21st century.Yet, here’s t...

Early: Task force renamed to keep pace with drug crisis

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

When our office initially formed the Central Mass. Opioid Task Force in 2015, we were focused on combatting the opioid epidemic and reducing heroin overdoses.Since then, the epidemic has changed, and our understanding of its root causes has changed and expanded, as well.Over the years, the opioid epidemic evolved into a polysubstance crisis. The emergence of fentanyl continues to wreak havoc on our society as it leads to record-high overdose deaths. After the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a drastic increase in mental health and trauma-related challenges in individuals of all ages.It was paramount that we pivot, respond to these evolving trends, and drive harder at addressing and understanding the root causes perpetuating this deadly overdose crisis.We recently renamed our task force the Prevention and Support Network to be more inclusive of all the work we’re doing.So many people with mental health challenges and trauma can find themselves stuck in a vicious cycle of using substances...

Goldwein & Towner: Social Security can’t grow its way solvent

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

In just 10 years, Social Security will be insolvent. Some politicians think we can ignore the problem or grow our way out of it — but that’s a recipe for disaster.Without action, the law calls for an immediate 23% across-the-board benefit cut upon insolvency. That’s a $17,400 cut for a typical 67-year-old couple retiring in 2033 and an even more devastating cut for current low-income retirees.Politicians would be clamoring to avoid this cut in a more normal world. Democrats would be focused on how to get more revenue into the system. Republicans would advocate for bringing cost growth under control. And both would demand we act soon to stave off this potential crisis.Sadly, the real world is far more dystopian. In the State of the Union address earlier this year, President Biden declared Social Security should be “off the books” for discussion. Former president Donald Trump has similarly promised not to touch Social Security.In a recent Republican presidential campaign, Gov. Ron DeS...

‘Monster’ multilayered & magnificent journey

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

Japan’s Kore-eda Hirokazu, a multiple Cannes award winner for his films “Like Father, Like Son” (2013) and “Shoplifters” (2018), now brings us his latest Cannes 2023 award winner “Monster,” a multi-perspective tale about two 5th graders who find shelter from the emotional storms of school, teachers and parents by playing alone together after class. For the first time, Hirokazu had no hand in writing the script. Instead, he collaborated with Yuji Sakamoto, whose award-winning screenplay has been compared to the 1950 world-wide art house hit “Rashomon.” Also noteworthy, “Monster” was the last film scored by the great Ryuichi Sakamoto (“The Last Emperor”).The story begins when widowed, working-class single mother Saori Mugino (a radiant Sakura Ando, “Shoplifters”) notices that her elementary school age son Minato (Soya Kurokawa) is behaving strangely and surmises that the culprit is his school teacher Hori (the talented Eita Nagayama). She believes that the teacher physically att...

‘Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget’ a delight

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

Aardman Animations and its partners brought us “Chicken Run” 24 years ago, a smash hit, stop-motion film conceived by Aardman founders Peter Lord and “Wallace and Gromit” creator Nick Park.The film tells the story of an egg farm in Yorkshire, where the chickens, led by the defiant hen Ginger (Julia Sawalha) and combative American rooster Rocky Rhodes (Mel Gibson) band together to fight farmers Mr. and Mrs Tweedy (Tony Haygarth and Miranda Richardson) and escape their POW-camp like surroundings.This new film “Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget” is another Aardman production, directed by Sam Fell (“ParaNorman”) with a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick (“Chicken Run”), John O’Farrell, “Chicken Run”) and Rachel Tunnard (“Military Wives”). Beginning where the previous effort ended, at a bird sanctuary, we find that Ginger (Thandiwe Newton, “Westworld”) and Rocky (Zachary Levi, “Shazam!”) have had a daughter named Molly (Bella Ramsey, “The Last of Us”), who is as rebellious and combative...

Dear Abby: He loves her – as a side chick

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been involved with a man I met online. We texted and talked for months before we met. He told me he had a lady friend he goes fishing with. He said she was just a friend. On our first Valentine’s Day, he gave me a teddy bear that said, “I love you.” I started developing deep feelings for him, but he then informed me that he loves her.I tried several times to walk away, but he kept pulling me back. I don’t know if he doesn’t want to hurt her or if he just loves having two women in his life. I know about her, but she doesn’t know about me. Should I contact her and let her know? What is the right thing to do? — Two-Timed in North CarolinaDear Two-Timed: The right thing to do is to walk away from this person — and stay away. He lied to you when he told you his fishing buddy was just a friend. Now that you know their relationship is more than that, run!Dear Abby: My parents announced during their recent visit that they are...

A US pine species thrives when burnt. Southerners are rekindling a ‘fire culture’ to boost its range

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:38:19 GMT

WEST END, N.C. (AP) — Jesse Wimberley burns the woods with neighbors.Using new tools to revive an old communal tradition, they set fire to wiregrasses and forest debris with a drip torch, corralling embers with leaf blowers. Wimberley, 65, gathers groups across eight North Carolina counties to starve future wildfires by lighting leaf litter ablaze. The burns clear space for longleaf pine, a tree species whose seeds won’t sprout on undergrowth blocking bare soil. Since 2016, the fourth-generation burner has fueled a burgeoning movement to formalize these volunteer ranks.Prescribed burn associations are proving key to conservationists’ efforts to restore a longleaf pine range forming the backbone of forest ecology in the American Southeast. Volunteer teams, many working private land where participants reside or make a living, are filling service and knowledge gaps one blaze at a time.Prescribed fire, the intentional burning replicating natural fires crucial for forest health, re...