Pelican Press

The ‘Saturday Night Live’ Photographer Who Has Captured Every Host Since 2000 The ‘Saturday Night Live’ Photographer Who Has Captured Every Host Since 2000 Mary Ellen Matthews was trying to make the cast of “Saturday Night Live” look funny. Bouncing around a studio in Lower Manhattan in cowboy boots last week, she lobbed suggestions at four cast members like the leader of an improv troupe. “Group hug!” “How about a trust fall?” “You guys are all about to start a race: ready, set, go!” Her camera clicked away as James Austin Johnson squatted on a stool and flapped his arms like a duck. He bit into an everything bagel, while Ego Nwodim tossed her bagel (cinnamon raisin) overhead. Since 2000, Ms. Matthews has been the official photographer for “S.N.L.,” where she is responsible for visually sumptuous and conceptually nutty images that manage to transmit the show’s sense of humor without the luxury of dialogue. Her signature contribution is called a bumper: TV jargon for the portraits of “S.N.L.” hosts and musical guests that bookend the show’s commercial breaks. She is the reason anyone has ever seen Edward Norton inserted into an Edward Hopper painting, or a tableau of six Larrys David attempting to ****** in a lightbulb. But that day she was working on a promotional photo shoot for an apparel company, one of several brands that have been eager to collaborate with the show for its 50th-anniversary celebrations. She could tell things were going well when some crew members gathered around a monitor to giggle at its display. “Oh, that’s hilarious,” she said, reviewing a series of images of Devon Walker and Michael Longfellow being wheeled around like freight on a green metal dolly. “Good job.” If the 50th-anniversary hoopla for “S.N.L.” is foregrounding many of its flashiest stars, Ms. Matthews is among the team members whose impact far surpasses their name recognition. By her count, about 4,000 of her bumper photographs have made it to air since she took over the job from her mentor, Edie Baskin. She will release 272 pages’ worth of them in a book, “The Art of the SNL Portrait,” out March 4 from Abrams. It documents the depth of effort that goes into images that viewers glimpse for exactly three seconds each. And it showcases Ms. Matthews’s ability to capture some of the world’s most photographed people looking hammier, freakier and generally ******* than they tend to appear anywhere else. How does she manage that? “Her whimsy is infectious,” said Scarlett Johansson, who, each of the six times she has hosted “S.N.L.,” has been photographed by Ms. Matthews. According to the actress, Ms. Matthews exhibits an ease on set that tends to spread to her subject. “I think that’s why she’s so successful at her job, and getting the best out of some of the most famous people in the world,” Ms. Johansson said. “There’s so many different types of personalities that she’s photographed, and she’s always able to coax the playful side out of them.” Wrestling With Alligators (and Presidents) The next day, Ms. Matthews offered an annotated tour of Studio 8H, whose tight hallways are lined with her portraits. We passed images of Timothée Chalamet, who asked to be photographed in Central Park (“That was a lot of security”), and Maya Rudolph, who recreated several images of her mother, the singer Minnie Riperton (“I’m going to cry, I love Maya so much”). Ms. Matthews had little trouble getting Kim Kardashian to pose in head-to-toe fuchsia while standing in a plexiglass display case. But she confessed to being surprised when Helen Mirren was game to squeeze a taxidermy alligator into a headlock. “She got down on the ground and wrestled that alligator,” Ms. Matthews said. Capturing these images is portraiture’s equivalent of the 100-meter dash. As soon as Ms. Matthews finds out who is hosting an episode, she reads their most recent interviews to brainstorm visual vignettes that either extend or subvert the way they present themselves to the world. She draws inspiration from famous photographs, paintings and album covers: One famous bumper places Amy Poehler and Tina Fey on the cover of “Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits.” She then enlists colleagues from the prop and costume departments to procure the necessary umbrellas, Mozart wigs, rubber chickens or live poodles. “The day before, or the morning of, I’m like: ‘Can I add this? Can I do this?’” she said. “‘I wanted to put Justin Timberlake in a Renaissance painting,’ or something like that.” On Thursday afternoon, she gets about an hour and a half to photograph each subject at Studio 8H, often over the din of a band rehearsing nearby. She takes several hundred photographs with the help of three assistants and then narrows them down to six or seven final selections in her office. (She makes the final picks herself.) She uses Photoshop for any necessary tweaks, like the unicorn ***** she added to a white horse that was carrying Dwayne Johnson. The final bumpers are sometimes ready as little as 15 minutes before air. Some are straightforward shots of a celebrity looking glamorous or pensive. Others play on the subject’s public perception. “This one was a challenge,” Ms. Matthews said, indicating a picture of Donald J. Trump from when he hosted “S.N.L.” in 2015, during his first bid for the presidency. She photographed him spritzing his famous bouffant with a bottle of Trump-branded hair spray. “I kind of had to push him into that,” she said. “I was like, ‘Just give me one spray,’ and we got it.” Stepping Into the Pressure Cooker That hair spray bottle is among the keepsakes in Ms. Matthews’s office on the 17th floor of 30 Rockefeller Plaza, alongside a thank-you note from Stevie Nicks and a large framed photo of the rapper Jack Harlow with a stick-on mustache. This is not where Ms. Matthews ever expected herself to be sitting. She picked up photography as a child from her father, who worked in marketing but kept a darkroom in their basement in Madison, N.J. He held photography competitions among Ms. Matthews and her four older siblings; she remembers winning one with a picture of a flagpole. After college at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, she moved to New York and worked as a publicist for TVT Records, an independent label. “I was taking pictures of bands like crazy, and I wasn’t really doing my job that well,” she said. She either got fired or quit — she says she can’t quite remember — but that same day got a voice mail message about a job as the assistant to Ms. Baskin, the original photographer for “Saturday Night.” She got the job in 1993. Ms. Baskin taught her how to produce striking images within the pressure cooker of “S.N.L.” and passed along in her signature vibrant, hand-tinted style. When Ms. Baskin departed the show around six years later, Ms. Matthews said, she was initially nervous to graduate to the top job. “I didn’t know what my visual language was going to be,” she said, or how it would differ from Ms. Baskin’s. She settled into an approach that scans as a richly colored fever dream, mixing poppy lighting and surrealist elements with greasy pepperoni slices and other quotidian signifiers of New York City. She tweaks her setup from year to year, sometimes trying a slow shutter and color gels, other times experimenting with animations. She nitpicked some details of her work even as she showed it off. An adage from Lorne Michaels, the show’s creator and producer, helps keep her perfectionism at bay, she said: “It’s on air because it’s 11:30, not because it’s ready.” Mr. Michaels keeps several of his favorite bumpers pinned to a board in his office on the ninth floor at 30 Rock. “The bumpers are probably the least appreciated part of the show,” he writes in the book’s foreword, “but anyone who knows the show knows how much they mean.” Mr. Michaels, rumored to be stingy with praise, adds of Ms. Matthews, “Mary Ellen is both an artist and a star.” Alligators Revisited Ms. Matthews has long wanted to compile a book of her work, and the show’s 50th anniversary felt like the right occasion. In January of 2024, she visited her friend, the photographer and book editor Alison Castle, at her home in upstate New York, where the two printed out hundreds of photographs and sorted through them while drinking pinot grigio. Painful cuts had to be made, Ms. Matthews said, including the Helen Mirren alligator-wrestling photo. (“A big disappointment,” she said.) One section of the book shows off the bumpers that Ms. Matthews took during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Instead of a celebrity host, she photographed her dog, Daphne, wearing a shower cap in the bathtub of the apartment they share in the East Village.) In another, John Mulaney reflects on the experience of being dressed up by Ms. Matthews as Nancy Reagan, Lou Reed and Patti Smith. Her subjects seem to agree that she has a knack for making others comfortable, especially while taking cast members’ head shots shortly after they are hired. She captures each young comedian for posterity at what is probably the most anxious moment of their professional lives. (The photo never changes during a cast member’s tenure, despite many requests to the contrary.) “She’s digging us out of the trash, and putting us in this new space,” Mr. Johnson, known for his impersonation of Mr. Trump, said. Only occasionally is it Ms. Matthews who needs to be calmed down. She said she had gotten jittery when photographing Paul McCartney in 2010. “He must have sensed something, because I was getting my camera ready and he said, ‘You know, my wife was a photographer,’” she said. Ms. Matthews relaxed a little as they chatted about Linda McCartney, who died in 1998. The resulting image is one of the quietest in the book, and also one of the most arresting. Mr. McCartney is pictured in ****** and white and looking directly into the camera, his left hand raised in a simple peace sign. Source link #Saturday #Night #Live #Photographer #Captured #Host Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

MSC 2025: Scholz rejects far right, upholds Ukraine support – DW (English) MSC 2025: Scholz rejects far right, upholds Ukraine support – DW (English) MSC 2025: Scholz rejects far right, upholds Ukraine support DW (English)******* Chancellor Rebukes Vance for Supporting Party That Downplays Nazis The New York TimesEurope tries to regroup in aftermath of Vance’s Munich takedown EURACTIVUS Vice President JD Vance meets ******* far-right leader as he criticizes ‘firewalls’ in Europe The Associated PressVance jokes about Greta Thunberg as he goes scorched earth on European censorship Fox News Source link #MSC #Scholz #rejects #upholds #Ukraine #support #English Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Using Ted Danson in ‘A Man on the Inside’ as Fashion Inspiration Using Ted Danson in ‘A Man on the Inside’ as Fashion Inspiration Kirston wore YMC jeans, loafers from The Row, a red shirt from Everlane and a tan jacket from Marni. This outfit, it turned out, was selected to get me to mimic her style. When she shops with actors, she not only invents a back story for each piece of clothing (“Your character’s wife got you this for Christmas”), but also wears items that would work on their characters. Our first stop was Buck Mason, where Kirston suggested a dark navy herdsman shawl cardigan ($298) and tan chinos ($158). “You can just upgrade your look,” Kirston suggested, which I immediately rejected. She had me slip on a $498 ****** corduroy jacket, but it still was not Charles enough. “You don’t want to feel like you’re in a costume,” she warned. Yes, I assured her, I did. I wanted to wear the costume of a grown-up man. We stopped next door at J. Crew, where she suggested I look at some less crucial items for a reasonable price, such as a blue button-down. But before we committed, she wanted to take me to Ralph Lauren. It’s where, along with Ted Baker and Paul Smith, she and Ted Danson bought a lot of his character’s clothes. Immediately, the store felt right. It’s less a store than an adulthood theme park, where, within a few steps, I could go from dining with Graydon Carter to horseback riding with Graydon Carter to teaching a literature class with Graydon Carter. In the more formal, more expensive, Purple Label section of the store, Kirston picked up a gray-blue blazer and light gray flannel pants that she said she would buy for Ted Danson. But when I put them on, she said I looked like a “P.E. teacher at graduation.” Source link #Ted #Danson #Man #Fashion #Inspiration Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

How ******** cartels and ******** criminal networks are moving ‘******** of the sea’ through ********* ports How ******** cartels and ******** criminal networks are moving ‘******** of the sea’ through ********* ports ******** organized crime networks and ******** cartels are using ********* ports to trade highly lucrative fish bladders for the precursor chemicals needed to produce fentanyl, according to a memo from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). It said organized criminal networks transport the fish — called totoaba — from the West Coast to China, while the chemical precursors to make toxic drugs are sent through ********* ports. The report from the CBSA, first obtained by Radio-Canada through a freedom of information request, said Canada is being used as a “transit point” for the ******** product — though the quantity of fish passing through Canada and the amount of fentanyl precursors being exchanged for it, were not included in the report. The document, originally published in French in October of 2024, says, “******** organized crime, in collaboration with ******** cartels, facilitates the illicit movement of totoaba. Illicit wildlife trafficking networks are of a poly-criminal nature and engage in serious criminal behaviour.” WATCH | How it works: Poly-criminal groups refer to networks that traffic more than one illicit commodity, such as counterfeit goods or illicit drugs. The CBSA report indicates that a new criminal network known as the “Dragon Cartel,” comprised of ******** and ******** nationals, has been created to deal specifically with totoaba trafficking. The seven-page document says western ports are a target, and that “people in Canada regularly engage in the illicit import, export and breeding of protected species.” Luis Horacio Nájera, a ******** journalist who has investigated cartel activity, said the Vancouver port, in particular, is vulnerable to criminal activity because it connects the West Coast ports of Manzanillo and Los Angeles to Asian and European markets. WATCH | The unlikely connection between fish bladders and a deadly drug: “As the world is globalized, organized crime is also globalized,” he said. “This is kind of the strategic point for doing this exchange of ******** goods, and they found the opportunity, the possibility and the infrastructure to do these ******** trades in Vancouver.” A 2023 press release from the U.S. Treasury Department also found Vancouver has become a “strategic” post for the Sinaloa cartel in the distribution of fentanyl. $80K per kilo The totoaba is an endangered fish species living in the Gulf of California off the west coast of Mexico. The species can reach two metres in length and has been the subject of massive levels of poaching for several years. But the fish are mainly known for their swim bladders, which sell for such high prices they’ve been dubbed “the ******** of the sea.” Totoaba swim bladders are sold on the ******** ****** market for use in traditional cuisine, medicine and cosmetics, and can sell for as much as $80,000 per kilogram. The rare product is so lucrative some types of porpoises have been pushed to the brink of extinction, illegally killed off in droves as poachers attempt to extract the fish from them. Nájera said ********* authorities will face an uphill battle cracking down on the totoaba trade because of the huge amount of cargo passing through ports, combined with the difficulty of identifying illegally traded bladders amid other legal fish products. Cargo terminals at the Port of Vancouver, taken July 2023 from a helicopter. Cargo terminals at the Port of Vancouver, taken July 2023 from a helicopter. (Gian Paolo Mendoza/CBC) “It is hard because this is not ********, right? ******** is usually packed solid. It’s easily identifiable at some point. This is fish — and how do you know which fish is this or that?” he said, adding the CBSA may need to invest in specialized training and infrastructure to identify smuggled products. “When you have a container full of tilapia or octopus or whatever among these cargoes, you can smuggle these totoaba bladders.” According to the CBSA report, totoaba swim bladders are often smuggled alongside frozen fish and squid. And while often transported in coolers and backpacks, criminal networks are expanding their methods to include smuggling them in gasoline tanks, spare tires, and hidden vehicle compartments. Spotlight on fentanyl from Canada The revelation comes at a time of heightened political attention on the flow and production of fentanyl from Canada. U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly raised the drug coming into the U.S. as justification for sweeping tariffs, which are on hold for now. In response, Canada has appointed a fentanyl czar in a bid to bring the already low percentage of the deadly opioid smuggled south into the United States down to zero. Canada has also recommitted to a previously announced $1.3-billion border security plan that includes reinforcing the 49th parallel with new choppers, technology and personnel and said it will designate cartels as terrorist organizations. Totoaba is illegally fished in the waters off the west coast of Mexico. Totoaba is fished illegally from the waters of Mexico’s west coast. (Guillermo Arias/AFP) Figures from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show seizures of the highly toxic drug along the ********* border are relatively low compared to other countries. The agency seized 19.5 kilograms of fentanyl at the ********* border last year, compared to 9,570 kilograms at its border with Mexico. Fentanyl has had a devastating impact on both the U.S. and Canada. Over 49,000 Canadians have died of overdoses from toxic drugs since 2016, the same year B.C. declared the toxic drug crisis a public health emergency. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the drug killed more than 74,000 Americans in 2023. While there is renewed focus on the distribution of fentanyl from Canada, Nájera said it’s difficult to quantify what portion of the fentanyl components are being diverted to other international markets once they’re traded. “Those chemicals coming from China, some of them may stay here in Canada, but I’m sure a significant amount of them go all the way back to Mexico to the port of Manzanillo or to the area of Los Cabos.” According to the Brookings Institute, economic ties between China and Mexico have expanded rapidly, with trade between the two countries reaching $100 billion US in 2021. Source link #******** #cartels #******** #criminal #networks #moving #******** #sea #********* #ports Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Three Israeli hostages freed after dispute threatened Gaza ceasefire – CNN Three Israeli hostages freed after dispute threatened Gaza ceasefire – CNN Three Israeli hostages freed after dispute threatened Gaza ceasefire CNNA Closer Look at the 3 Hostages Freed by ****** The New York TimesIsrael begins freeing 369 Palestinians after captives in Gaza released Al Jazeera EnglishHamas frees 3 more hostages in exchange for more than 300 prisoners as part of ceasefire deal with Israel Fox NewsPhotos show moment hostages handed over to troops, Sagui Dekel-Chen with wife The Times of Israel Source link #Israeli #hostages #freed #dispute #threatened #Gaza #ceasefire #CNN Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Hegseth, Vance embarrass themselves on international stage Hegseth, Vance embarrass themselves on international stage Rachel Maddow reports on Trump defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Vice President Vance making ill-considered remarks on the U.S. position on Ukraine and negotiations with Russia, and subsequently having to walk back those remarks. Michael McFaul, former U.S. ambassador to Russia discusses with Rachel Maddow. Source link #Hegseth #Vance #embarrass #international #stage Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Most Energetic Cosmic Neutrino Ever Observed By KM3NeT Deep Sea Telescope – Hackaday Most Energetic Cosmic Neutrino Ever Observed By KM3NeT Deep Sea Telescope – Hackaday Most Energetic Cosmic Neutrino Ever Observed By KM3NeT Deep Sea Telescope HackadayObservation of an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with KM3NeT Nature.comAn unusual ghost particle is spotted by a deep-sea telescope in the Mediterranean The Associated PressScientists detect record-breaking ‘ghost particle’ in the Mediterranean Sea CNN‘Ultrahigh Energy’ Neutrino Found With a Telescope Under the Sea The New York Times Source link #Energetic #Cosmic #Neutrino #Observed #KM3NeT #Deep #Sea #Telescope #Hackaday Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Welcome to the moon! Firefly's Blue Ghost lander reaches lunar orbit (video, photos) – Space.com Welcome to the moon! Firefly's Blue Ghost lander reaches lunar orbit (video, photos) – Space.com Welcome to the moon! Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander reaches lunar orbit (video, photos) Space.comNASA Sets Coverage of Firefly’s First Robotic Commercial Moon Landing NASAFirefly’s Blue Ghost Lander Bids Farewell to Earth on Its Way to the Moon GizmodoThe Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Is Now Orbiting the Moon, Taking Dazzling Photographs YahooFirefly’s Lunar Journey, Pandora’s Exoplanet Quest, and Cosmic Signals: S04E36 iHeartRadio Source link #moon #Firefly039s #Blue #Ghost #lander #reaches #lunar #orbit #video #photos #Space.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Unifil peacekeeper injured as convoy attacked in Lebanon – BBC.com Unifil peacekeeper injured as convoy attacked in Lebanon – BBC.com Unifil peacekeeper injured as convoy attacked in Lebanon BBC.comLebanese army helps to control demonstrators after UN peacekeeping force convoy comes under attack YahooUN commander injured as Lebanese protesters torch car near Beirut airport Al Jazeera EnglishLebanon: UN vehicle torched as Hezbollah supporters protest DW (English)Lebanon president vows punishment for attackers of UN peacekeeper Voice of America Source link #Unifil #peacekeeper #injured #convoy #attacked #Lebanon #BBC.com Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Lathlain Park: Phone tower approved to replace antennas on Perth Football Club grandstand roof Lathlain Park: Phone tower approved to replace antennas on Perth Football Club grandstand roof A 30m telecommunication tower will be built next to Lathlain Park to hold the antennas due to come off Perth Football Club’s grandstand ahead of a proposed redevelopment. Source link #Lathlain #Park #Phone #tower #approved #replace #antennas #Perth #Football #Club #grandstand #roof Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Best Buy launches a huge laptop ***** for Presidents’ Day – I’ve picked the 12 best deals from $159 Best Buy launches a huge laptop ***** for Presidents’ Day – I’ve picked the 12 best deals from $159 A big part of this weekend’s Best Buy Presidents’ Day ***** is its vast array of laptop deals. I track offers across all sorts of devices here at TechRadar and some I’ve found at the retailer today are the best I’ve seen in weeks. You can check out my 12 top picks below, including discounts on cheap Chromebooks and record-low prices for premium Microsoft Surface devices. • See the full Presidents’ Day ***** at Best Buy The real highlight for me is this brand-new five-star-rated Microsoft Surface Laptop for $749.99 (was $999.99). It started at $899.99 earlier in the week and has been slashed multiple times to reach this new low price. Our expert testers think it’s the best laptop you can buy as it’s a powerful and modern machine that boasts a Snapdragon X Plus processor and 16GB of RAM for high performance and handy all-day battery life. Storage is a little underwhelming at 256GB, but that’s enough for the essential files and applications you need. You’re also spoilt for choice if you want a more basic and cheaper option. The one I think is best in this price range is the Acer Chromebook Plus 515 for $279 (was $399). This efficient and great-value laptop uses the less demanding ChromeOS so you can eke out better performance and battery life with cheaper components. It’s still well-built, though, with an Intel i3 processor and 8GB of RAM that are best suited for light use such as general browsing and everyday tasks. You can read more on both of these laptops and the rest of my top picks from the Best Buy Presidents’ Day ***** below. These offers should remain available for the rest of the weekend and through Monday until the end of the retailer’s ***** so you’ve only got a few more days to secure a bargain. Best Buy Presidents’ Day laptop ***** – the 12 best deals More deals from the Best Buy Presidents’ Day ***** Apple: up to $300 off MacBook, iMac & iPad Appliances: up to 40% off major appliances Cameras: up to $400 off Sony & Canon Gaming: up to 40% off PC gaming Headphones: up to $170 off Beats & Bose Health: Dyson, Shark, and Philips from $64 Kitchen: up to $100 off Ninja & Keurig Laptops: devices from $159 Phones: Galaxy S25 series from $299 Smart home: up to $100 off Ring, and Blink Smartwatch: up to $230 off Samsung & Apple Soundbars: up to $340 off Sonos & JBL Tablets: Apple, Samsung, and Fire from $64.99 TVs: up to $1,200 off LG, Hisense, Samsung Vacuums: $200 off Shark, Dyson, and more Source link #Buy #launches #huge #laptop #***** #Presidents #Day #Ive #picked #deals Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

DR Congo: M23 rebels seize second airport – DW (English) DR Congo: M23 rebels seize second airport – DW (English) DR Congo: M23 rebels seize second airport DW (English)DR Congo M23 rebels enter city of Bukavu BBC.comRwanda-backed rebels advance into eastern Congo’s second major city of Bukavu, residents say The HillRwandan-backed M23 rebels enter Bukavu in eastern DRC The GuardianCongo rebels say they have entered Bukavu after seizing airport Reuters Source link #Congo #M23 #rebels #seize #airport #English Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Kennedy turns flying start into 100m win in Adelaide Kennedy turns flying start into 100m win in Adelaide Sprinter Lachlan Kennedy, middle-distance star Peter Bol and Olympics discus bronze medallist Matt Denny all won at the Adelaide Invitational. Source link #Kennedy #turns #flying #start #100m #win #Adelaide Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A Closer Look at the 3 Hostages Freed by ****** A Closer Look at the 3 Hostages Freed by ****** ****** freed three more Israeli hostages on Saturday in a ceremony marked by some of the same provocative theatrics used by the ************ militants in previous releases. It was the sixth round of a tense series of hostage-for-prisoner exchanges that are part of a 42-day cease-fire deal between Israel and ****** that went into effect last month. ****** agreed to incrementally release 33 of the nearly 100 people who were taken in October 2023 and have still not been accounted for. In exchange, Israel is to free more than 1,000 Palestinians held in its jails and partially withdraw from Gaza. Here’s a closer look at the three civilian male hostages, including an Israeli American, who were released on Saturday: Sagui Dekel-Chen Mr. Dekel-Chen, an Israeli American who had played for Israel’s national basketball team, was 35 when he was taken from Nir Oz, a kibbutz in southern Israel close to the Gaza border where militants abducted more than 70 people in the ******-led attack on Oct. 7, 2023. He is a father of three, and his youngest child was born during his captivity. Mr. Dekel-Chen worked as national coordinator for the British branch of the Jewish National Fund and with his wife, he converted buses for new uses, such as for mobile classrooms. Mr. Dekel-Chen’s family was very active in advocating a cease-fire deal. His father, Jonathan Dekel-Chen, a history professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times critical of the Israeli government for not bringing home the hostages. In August, he told the Times that he and other members of the Nir Oz kibbutz would not participate in an official government ceremony then being planned to commemorate the Oct. 7 attack. He said they were “appalled by the idea of this government creating a ceremony that would distract from their culpability.” The hostage’s mother, Neomit Dekel-Chen, and some neighbors were also captured in the Oct. 7 attack. She escaped from an electric cart that was heading toward Gaza when an Israeli military helicopter shot at the militants, according to an account she gave to Israeli news media. Mr. ***** was 45 when he was abducted from Nir Oz along with one of his two brothers, Eitan, who was visiting for the weekend. Iair worked in construction and Eitan worked as a teacher. Mr. ***** was born in Israel and raised in Argentina. He returned to Israel as an adult along with his parents and siblings, according to their mother, Ruth Strom. They are part of a large Argentine community on the kibbutz, including other families awaiting the return of hostages. Eitan ***** has not been slated for release in the first phase of the deal, and Ms. Strom has said that she was anxious that Iair would have to leave his brother behind. Their father, Itzik *****, said in December 2023, after the Israeli military mistakenly shot and killed three hostages who had fled their captors in Gaza, that Israel must reach a deal even if it means freeing prisoners designated as terrorists. “The most important thing isn’t to defeat ******,” he said in an interview. “The only victory here is to bring back all the hostages.” Mr. Troufanov, a Russian Israeli dual citizen who was 27 when he was captured, was visiting family in Nir Oz on Oct. 7. His father was killed, and his mother, grandmother and girlfriend were taken hostage but released during the cease-fire in November 2023. Mr. Troufanov, who lived with his girlfriend in a Tel Aviv suburb and worked at a company owned by Amazon, was seen in a video released by ************ Islamic ****** — the second most powerful militant group in Gaza after ****** — in November of last year. He appeared weary, with an untrimmed beard and bags under his eyes, and spoke of a lack of food and water. In October, Mousa Abu Marzouk, a senior ****** official, told Russia Today that he had spoken to Islamic ****** about Mr. Troufanov and that ****** would give priority to him in any exchange of hostages and ************ prisoners “in honor” of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Source link #Closer #Hostages #Freed #****** Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Layoffs to hit IRS as DOGE targets tax collections – The Washington Post Layoffs to hit IRS as DOGE targets tax collections – The Washington Post Layoffs to hit IRS as DOGE targets tax collections The Washington PostUS IRS prepares to lay off thousands of workers, sources say ReutersIRS employees accept OPM federal worker buyout; How the 2025 tax season may be affected USA TODAYDonald Trump to lay off thousands of IRS employees as Elon Musk’s DOGE begins auditing MintI.R.S. Expected to Lay Off Thousands The New York Times Source link #Layoffs #hit #IRS #DOGE #targets #tax #collections #Washington #Post Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Smooth Chino overcomes nightmare afternoon for trainer Indianna Weinert to provide her with her biggest win Smooth Chino overcomes nightmare afternoon for trainer Indianna Weinert to provide her with her biggest win Late bloomer Smooth Chino was just moments away from missing a run in the $250,000 Magic Millions 3yo Trophy (1200m) but fortune shone on Indianna Weinert and Austin Galati, giving them their biggest wins. Source link #Smooth #Chino #overcomes #nightmare #afternoon #trainer #Indianna #Weinert #provide #biggest #win Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Book Review: ‘Nesting,’ by Roisín O’Donnell Book Review: ‘Nesting,’ by Roisín O’Donnell NESTING, by Roisín O’Donnell “Nesting,” Roisín O’Donnell’s gripping debut novel, contains all the twists and turns of a classic thriller; but its heroine, Ciara, isn’t trying to solve a mystery or a ******* — she’s a housewife struggling to cut ties with her abusive husband. Ryan is “the type of man who other women sneak glances at,” when he’s acting the part of the loyal, hard-working father on the beach or at the playground. In the privacy of their home, he terrorizes Ciara, and she knows she has to leave. But where can she go? Ciara lives in Dublin amid a housing crisis in 2018. She has no friends, because Ryan cut her off from them; and she can’t flee to her mother and sister in England, because Ryan will not grant her permission to take their daughters, aged 4 and 2, out of the country. And with what money? Ciara has none and no way to earn any. When they married, Ryan insisted Ciara quit her job as a teacher, claiming she couldn’t work in Ireland because she didn’t speak Irish, which Ciara later learns was a lie. Where will Ciara and the children sleep, if not in Ryan’s home? How will they buy groceries, if not with the money that Ryan doles out to her? Ciara isn’t sure she’s even capable of thinking for herself anymore. “For years, she has been cut off from the world,” she realizes. “Her head floods with that uneasy feeling of having lost track of her own mind.” That Ciara’s struggles are endured by so many victims of domestic violence makes them no less suspenseful than the travails of a detective or assassin or spy. “Nesting” is tense and propulsive from the very beginning, when Ciara learns she is pregnant. She has tried to leave Ryan before, when her younger daughter was just a few weeks old, but didn’t manage to stay away for long. This time, Ciara bolts on instinct, grabbing laundry off the line and buckling her children into her car without much of a plan. While she waits for subsidized housing, Ciara secures temporary emergency lodging through city services in a rundown hotel: one room for their soon-to-be family of four with no hot plate to cook on and no fridge for their groceries. The front desk warns her that she’ll be kicked out if she fails to check in before 8 every night, or if the hotel reaches full capacity. Ciara also manages to find a teaching job, but it’s on a probationary basis, and she’s not always able to prepare for class because of sick children and pregnancy complications. “Leaving is one thing, but staying away is another,” a victim of domestic violence tells Ciara. She knows it would in many ways be easier to give up and return home. After all, Ciara reminds herself, Ryan has never actually hit her. His abuse comes in nearly every other form — emotional, financial, ******* — but home also means pasta bakes, bath toys, warm laundry, even happy memories with Ryan that Ciara is unable to shake. She isn’t sure what is worse for her daughters in the long term: living in a cramped hotel room, or growing up believing that the way their father treats their mother is normal, and OK. Aside from a heavy-handed side plot about vulnerable hatchlings that I found distracting and contrived, “Nesting” is immersive and emotional. I rooted for Ciara as she scrambled to find stable housing, keep her job and make new friends. I agonized as she tried to potty-train, breastfeed and celebrate Christmas all in one drab and tiny hotel room. And I raged at Ryan’s endless mind games and predations, especially when he and Ciara face off against each other in court. Ciara is desperate for full custody, but unable to articulate the extent of Ryan’s abuse to a judge because she is still processing it herself, which gives Ryan an opening to exploit Ciara’s trauma and financial precarity. He argues that she is unhinged and irrational for raising their children in an unsafe situation and demands his parental rights as a father. But he shirked his parental duties when Ciara still lived at home, and she finds it impossible to imagine that he will be capable of caring for their children during the overnight visits he is fighting for. Will he unintentionally harm them? Or will he intentionally harm them to get his revenge if Ciara won’t agree to get back together? Is it safer for them to reunite? Like every worthy thriller, “Nesting” keeps the reader guessing until the end. It is rare and refreshing to read a satisfyingly suspenseful novel that exists in such a domestic sphere: a quiet world of Duplos and nursing bras, day cares and playrooms, instead of dark alleys and underworlds. NESTING | By Roisín O’Donnell | Algonquin | 384 pp. | $29 Source link #Book #Review #Nesting #Roisín #ODonnell Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off. A Tiny Press Took a Big Risk on Experimental Books. It Paid Off. A few years ago, the translator Jeremy Tiang was browsing in a bookstore in Singapore when he came across an unusual book of stories. Written in ******** under a pen name, the book, “Delicious Hunger,” drew on the author Hai Fan’s 13 years fighting in the jungles of Malaysia and southern Thailand as a guerrilla soldier with the Malayan ********** Party. Tiang knew it might be hard to land an English-language publisher for a story collection from a Singaporean author writing under a pseudonym. But there was one publisher, a small press in Britain called Tilted Axis, that was known for seeking out subversive, experimental works in translation. Tiang submitted a sample, and Tilted Axis snapped it up. Tiang’s translation, released in Britain last fall, won an English PEN Translates Award, becoming the first book from Singapore to win the prize. Publishing it in the United States proved more difficult. “Delicious Hunger” was submitted to 29 American publishers, but none made an offer. So Tiang was elated when he learned that Tilted Axis is expanding its footprint to North America. “Delicious Hunger” will go on ***** here this June, one of nearly 20 titles from the Tilted Axis catalog coming out in the United States this year. The first batch arrives this month. “I don’t know that the book would have found its way into translation or into the U.S. or U.K. distribution without someone like Tilted Axis to give it a platform,” said Tiang, who has translated more than 30 books from ******** into English. “All too often it’s small, scrappy presses that take these risks, and they pay off.” Since its founding a decade ago, Tilted Axis has gained a reputation for bringing out a wide range of groundbreaking, genre-defying literature in translation. With only eight employees working part-time on a tight budget, it has published 42 books translated from 18 languages, including Indonesian, Thai, Vietnamese, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Eastern Armenian, Kazakh, Kannada, Bengali, Uzbek and Turkish. Publishing works from languages, regions and subcultures that have long been overlooked, they face little competition from ******* houses, which tend to gravitate toward established trends and books with a proven market (see Scandinavian noir and Japanese healing fiction). Perhaps for that reason, Tilted Axis has carved out a unique literary niche, and has caught the attention of critics and prize juries, landing major awards and winning acclaim for writers who were unknown in the Anglophone world. “There are so many different forms of literature that people don’t even know exist because we don’t have access to them,” said Kristen Vida Alfaro, Tilted Axis’ publisher. “Every translation from different parts of the world has the potential to give you not just a different perspective, but a window into an entirely different imagination.” At a moment when nationalism and isolationism are rising in both Europe and the United States, the window that literature can provide into other cultures feels essential, Alfaro said. “What we publish, and who we are and the community that we’ve created, it’s exactly what this climate is trying to eradicate,” she said. With its emphasis on overlooked languages and narratives that often have a ****** or feminist bent, Tilted Axis has helped to transform the landscape for translated fiction, which makes up just a small fraction of the work published in English, and remains heavily Eurocentric. The number of translated titles released in the United States has hovered around just a few hundred titles a year for much of the past decade. “Literature from Asia was generally ignored before specialist publishers like Tilted Axis,” said Anton Hur, whose translations include the Tilted Axis title “Love in the Big City,” Sang Young Park’s novel about a young gay man’s romantic escapades in Seoul. Translators and authors say Tilted Axis is also helping to transform the field of translation — bucking longstanding conventions around not only what gets translated, but who gets to translate, and how. For decades, the profession was dominated by white translators who came from academic backgrounds. Tilted Axis often hires translators from the global south, many of whom grew up steeped in the language and cultures of the books they are working on. Ten of their translators published their debut translations with the press, and several more first-time translators have books under contract. Tilted Axis put translators’ names prominently on its covers from the start, well before it became more common. It also gives them a cut of royalties and sub-licensing deals, which is still not the standard. Its small staff includes several translators who collectively speak more than a half dozen languages. To draw more people into the field, Tilted Axis has organized translation workshops, including two programs in London last year that focused on Vietnamese and ********* literature. It published a book on the art of translation, which explores the way colonial legacies have shaped literary translation, and features essays from 24 writers and translators. The anthology, “Violent Phenomena,” is now taught at university translation programs in the United States and Britain. “What translations get published, who gets to translate, all these issues are still a huge problem,” said Khairani Barokka, a writer who also translates from Bahasa Indonesia into English, and who contributed to the anthology. The ******** writer Yan Ge said she was surprised to find an English-language publisher for her novel, “Strange Beasts of China,” a surreal story about an amateur cryptozoologist who studies otherworldly creatures. Since its release in China in 2006, it had never drawn any offers from Western publishers. When Tilted Axis released the translation by Jeremy Tiang in 2020, it drew admiring reviews and comparison to works by Jorge Luis Borges and Italo Calvino. Tilted Axis embraced the novel’s weirdness, and helped her find “space where I can exist as a writer in the English language,” Yan said. “They don’t try to shoehorn anything to fit into this imaginary English reader’s taste,” she said. “They respect how it’s done in its original language and how it relates to its own cultural values.” The novelist and translator Thuận, who writes in Vietnamese and French and lives in Paris, had published seven translations of her books in France before any of her fiction made it into English. In 2022, Tilted Axis published her English-language debut, a translation by Nguyễn An Lý of her novel, “Chinatown,” which unfolds in a single unbroken paragraph and takes place on a stalled Metro in Paris, where a Vietnamese woman gets lost in her past. Thuận, who was born in Hanoi during the Vietnam War, had long wanted to see her books in English — not only to reach more readers, but to counter stereotypes about Vietnam that persist in Western literature and film. At an event held by Tilted Axis in London last September to celebrate “Elevator in Sài Gòn,” Thuận’s latest English-language release, a mostly young crowd packed into Libreria, a small bookstore near Brick Lane, occasionally posing questions in Vietnamese. Speaking through an interpreter, Thuận described how having her work released in English has taken her fiction in new directions, and gave her an idea for her new novel, “B-52,” she said. “When I learned that my books would be translated and published by Tilted Axis Press in English, I immediately had the idea for a war novel for Anglophone readers,” she said. “There’s still very little written from the perspective of North Vietnamese on the topic, and I believe the Americans still don’t understand the war if they don’t understand how North Vietnamese people experienced the war.” From the start, Tilted Axis stood out for its unconventional taste and willingness to publish quirky, boundary-pushing work. The press was co-founded in 2015 by the translator Deborah Smith, who made a name for herself when her translation of Han Kang’s novel, “The Vegetarian,” won the International Booker Prize. It was Smith’s first full-length translation, and the first English publication of a novel by Han, a Korean novelist who won the Nobel Prize for literature last year. Its first books included Prabda Yoon’s surreal, postmodern short story collection “The Sad Part Was,” translated from Thai by Mui Poopoksakul, “Panty,” Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay’s erotic novel about a young woman’s ******* awakening in Kolkata, translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha, and Hwang Jungeun’s fantastical novel “One Hundred Shadows,” about a rundown neighborhood in Seoul whose residents’ shadows detach from the ground and rise, translated from Korean by Jung Yewon. Within a few years of its founding, the press caught the attention of prize committees and foreign publishers. In 2022, Tilted Axis had three of its books on the longlist for the International Booker Prize, and won with Daisy Rockwell’s translation of Geetanjali Shree’s “Tomb of Sand,” a formally daring Hindi novel about an elderly woman who won’t get out of bed. Still, surviving as a small press has often been a struggle. To fund its translations, the press, a nonprofit, often relies on grants. The budget is so tight that its eight employees all have other jobs. Even its publisher, Alfaro, who took over when Smith left in 2022, works part-time at a publishing house specializing in art and children’s books. Alfaro hopes the press’s fortunes will improve this year with Tilted Axis’ expansion into North America, which will give them access to a much larger market. Until now, Tilted Axis has had to license its translations to American publishers to get its books into the United States, and just nine of its titles were acquired. Now that it can sell directly through American bookstores, Tilted Axis is bringing out a mix of new books and older works that never landed a U.S. publisher. The first batch of 11 titles arriving this month offers a sampling of the press’s stylistic and geographic range, with works like “Again I Hear These Waters,” a collection featuring poetry by 21 Assamese writers, translated by Shalim M. Hussain; “I Belong to Nowhere,” a poetry collection by the Dalit feminist activist Kalyani Thakur Charal, translated from Bengali by Mrinmoy Pramanick and Sipra Mukherjee, and Hamid Ismailov’s novel “The Devils’ Dance,” translated from Uzbek by Donald Rayfield. Ismailov, who fled Uzbekistan under threat of arrest in 1992 and settled in Britain, originally published “The Devils’ Dance” in Uzbek on Facebook, chapter by chapter, after finishing it in 2012. A sample translation caught the attention of Tilted Axis, which published it in 2018. The novel — which interweaves the story of the Uzbek writer Abdulla Qodiriy, who was executed in 1938 during Stalin’s purges, and the historical novel that Qodiriy was unable to finish — became the first major literary work from Uzbekistan to be translated into English. Its success led to the translation of several more of his books. Ismailov credits the press with “giving voice to the silenced, making the unheard heard, and supporting banished writers from all over the world,” he said in an email. “To this day, I remain banned in Uzbekistan as a writer, as a name,” Ismailov said. “Tilted Axis was bold enough to publish my work.” Source link #Tiny #Press #Big #Risk #Experimental #Books #Paid Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Visionary Artworks Plumb the Mysteries of Creativity Visionary Artworks Plumb the Mysteries of Creativity Scott Kerr, a fifth-generation art dealer in St. Louis, didn’t know what to expect last year as he was crossing the Mississippi River into East St. Louis, a once vibrant city in Illinois with a large ****** population that never recovered economically after the civil unrest of the 1960s. Kerr was responding to an unsolicited email from a man named Lincoln Walker, who was hoping to get an appraisal of paintings by his father, Abraham Lincoln Walker, a house painter by trade who died in 1993. He had spent his spare hours during his last three decades in his basement, consumed with making art. The younger Walker, 62, an auto mechanic who goes by Link, guided Kerr to a tractor-trailer on his property. There, he opened up the back doors to reveal a trove of more than 800 artworks filling racks and stacked deep on the floor. “I was just mesmerized by what I saw,” Kerr said of the dark, phantasmagoric paintings, many with abstracted faces and forms materializing out of flowing evanescent brushstrokes and textured surfaces. “As soon as I looked at it, I was very confident that this was a major body of work.” So far, many in the art world seem to concur. Last November, at the Art Dealers Association of America’s Art Show in New York, Andrew Edlin, a specialist in self-taught artists, organized a presentation of Walker’s work. (Kerr, whose gallery McCaughen & Burr, now represents Walker’s estate, has teamed up with Edlin.) Edlin’s booth sold out, he said, with paintings bought by prominent collectors including Beth Rudin DeWoody, founder of the Bunker Artspace in West Palm Beach, Fla.; the New Museum board president, James Keith Brown; and the artist Brian Donnelly (a.k.a. KAWS). Walker’s first solo New York gallery show opens Feb. 22 at the Andrew Edlin Gallery, with about two dozen paintings priced from $10,000 to $85,000. Several more works by the artist will be at the Outsider Art Fair, which Edlin owns, from Feb. 27 to March 2 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan. During a preview of Walker’s paintings at his gallery, Edlin described one untitled 1980 canvas as a cross between the work of the Surrealist Max Ernst and the Romantic painter and poet William Blake. “I don’t know if that’s hell or purgatory,” Edlin said. He believes that Walker must have looked at other artists as he was teaching himself to paint, comparing some of his neighborhood scenes of ****** life to expressive figurative painters such as Benny Andrews and Ernie Barnes, and Walker’s more desolate landscapes to Surrealists like Giorgio de Chirico and Salvador Dalí. Yet Walker’s influences remain largely unknown. “There’s this inherent mystery about the work of a lot of ‘outsider’ artists that get discovered posthumously because they didn’t necessarily write or talk about it and aren’t around to tell people about it,” Edlin said. He noted that it’s typical for someone other than the artist to get such work into the public eye, citing the stories of two acclaimed self-taught artists. Henry Darger’s landlord rescued his work and Martín Ramírez’s psychiatrist shared his. Edlin acknowledged that the term “outsider art” is controversial, with many in the art world rejecting the differentiation between trained and untrained artists. “The nomenclature is very loaded politically,” said Maxwell Anderson, president of the Souls Grown Deep foundation, which promotes ****** artists from the American South. “When you look at our website, you won’t find the following phrases: ‘self-taught,’ ‘outsider,’ ‘vernacular.’ We just want it to be seen as art.” But Edlin believes that the outsider art category does have a distinct culture. Such artists working hermetically “don’t have career aspiration, it’s just not part of the equation,” Edlin said. “I’ve always felt like there’s something to being un-self-conscious that is liberating in the creative process. They’re creating their own worlds.” Walker certainly never sought attention for his paintings. “He never cared if anybody ever saw one of them; that was just not his thing,” said Link, who was adopted by Walker and his wife, Dorothy, as an infant and inherited his father’s work when his mother died in 2013. Link said he carefully stored the paintings for years, but after he almost died during the coronavirus pandemic, he decided it was time to do something with them. He said he sent inquiries out to the art world, and Kerr was the only one to respond. “My mom wanted to get his paintings out there,” Link said. “We all knew how good he was. I want to make his name great.” Dorothy Walker, who was a social worker, had some of her husband’s paintings exhibited at a street fair and at a local gallery in the mid-1970s — and, according to Link, would yell at her husband when he didn’t show up for these events. In 1995, with the help of Lou Brock, a baseball Hall-of-Famer whose wife was close to Dorothy through their church, she got Walker a posthumous retrospective at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. A 1995 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about the exhibition noted that Dorothy showed some of her husband’s paintings in 1974 in Seattle, where they were critiqued by Jacob Lawrence, arguably the most famous ****** artist at that time. (Link said an uncle on his mother’s side was a professor at the University of Washington, where Lawrence taught, but doesn’t know if his father ever met Lawrence.) There was also a 2013 show of Walker’s work at 10th Street Gallery, in St. Louis, Mo. Born in 1921 in Henderson, Ky., Abraham Lincoln Walker moved in his youth to live with his aunt and uncle in East St. Louis, which was once home to creative luminaries including Josephine Baker, Ike and Tina Turner, and Katherine Dunham. In the 1995 article, Dorothy said that as a child, her husband had been an evangelical inspirational speaker at the Church of God in Christ in Mounds, Ill. Link said he could remember his father going to church only once. “But he was real religious,” Link said. “I’d come downstairs, he’d be on his knees praying. Some of his paintings might be what he pictured as the afterworld, as hell or heaven.” Walker had a thriving house-painting and wallpapering business, and first tried making art in the early 1960s, when Dorothy asked him to bring home a catalog of murals. When she selected a tree with apple blossoms to hang over the living room couch, Walker balked at the $25 price, instead painting the image himself. “He had the ability to look at something and duplicate it, if he wanted to,” Link said. He would play in the basement while his father painted before and after work and all weekend long, listening to Bill Cosby on 8-track or jazz albums by Count Basie or Miles Davis, a contemporary of Walker’s who was also raised in East St. Louis, just blocks from the Walkers’ home. On lunch breaks from work, Walker would drive around the neighborhood with his sketch pad, often drawing one of the abandoned burned-out houses there. Link said that his father never went to an art museum, though he did keep the family’s set of encyclopedias in his work space — a possible source for early works from the 1960s, where Walker was learning the fundamentals of anatomy and composition and experimenting with styles such as Cubism. By the 1970s, Walker had developed his own moody palette and dystopian style of painting narratives unfolding around him. These scenes became increasingly psychedelic and abstract in the 1980s, in works where he moved paint across his canvases in huge swaths. Link said he used putty knives, all kinds of brushes, newspaper, plastic wrappers — whatever was at hand. Walker quit smoking and drinking after the sudden death of a close friend, Link said, and subsisted mainly on juiced vegetables for the last 15 years of his life. According to his wife’s account, Walker would fast periodically, and then would have visions. “As he progresses more to abstraction, I think he’s referencing a response to a spirit world,” Kerr said. “From three feet away you would think a painting is a complete abstraction, until you get up on it and there are just a thousand different faces in the work.” Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director at the New Museum, said he was struck by how Walker used “frottage,” a technique of rubbing a textured surface and teasing out imagery within the pattern. It has a long history in art, most famously with the Surrealists, including Ernst, who said he was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci. “Did Walker just develop it on his own? Maybe. Did he learn it? Probably,” Gioni said. “With the great self-taught artists, you are always confronted with this strange phenomenon that they had a knowledge of art and techniques. It suggests they were certainly less isolated than we think.” Beth Marcus, who lives in Boston and collects contemporary and self-taught artists, bought two Walker works in November. What really interested her were the large brushstrokes in his later works that looked like they had been applied with house painting tools. “It reminded me of Gerhard Richter and Ed Clark,” she said, “who used squeegees in their work.” Walker’s relationship with reality and fantasy fascinates Katherine Jentleson, senior curator of American art and curator of folk and self-taught art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. “My favorite of his paintings have abstracted human forms emerging from almost geologic matter, like continents breaking apart and something very cosmic,” she said. Jentleson has committed to acquiring at least one painting for the High Museum from Walker’s exhibition at Edlin. While a lot self-taught artists she exhibits had exposure to canonical art, whether through museums or magazines or television, she said that in terms of scholarship, “I think we have to be more broad in what we think of as being relevant influence on their art.” Many experiences in Walker’s life could have had “an interesting bearing on the lyrical quality of his brushstrokes or otherworldly realms he appears to be dipping into,” Jentleson said. “Very rarely is an artist, especially in the latter half of the 20th century, truly going to be outside of culture, in the way that Jean Dubuffet imagined.” Dubuffet was the midcentury French artist who promoted the idea of “art brut” as pure, naïve talent. For Donnelly, the artist who bought five of Walker’s paintings, the works can stand on their own visual power without connecting all the art historical and biographical dots. “I love learning about artists,” he said, “but there’s so much there in the painting, it’s nice not to have it all laid out for you.” Source link #Visionary #Artworks #Plumb #Mysteries #Creativity Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Armed Bandits in Brazil Pursue New Loot: Ozempic Armed Bandits in Brazil Pursue New Loot: Ozempic Around 10:30 p.m. on a Friday in late January, David Fernando, a pharmacist, was working behind a counter at a drugstore in São Paulo when a man walked up to him and flashed a gun. “He asked for money from the register and medications from the refrigerator,” Mr. Fernando said. These days, pharmacists in São Paulo — Brazil’s largest city — know exactly what thieves mean when they say “medications from the refrigerator.” They’re after Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, the injectable weight-loss drugs many Brazilians covet but that most can’t afford, in a country obsessed with body image but where obesity is on the rise. The thief made off with five boxes, each of which typically holds a month’s supply and costs 700 to 1,100 Brazilian reais, or about $120 to $190, while the average monthly income is about $300. Though the armed robbery unnerved Mr. Fernando, 36, it was not exactly a surprise. The same pharmacy was held up for the same drugs twice in late 2024, he said. Now a security guard is posted outside. Four blocks north, another pharmacy has taken even greater precautions after a police officer interrupted an Ozempic robbery in August, resulting in a shootout that left an older woman injured. On a recent afternoon two armed guards stood watch, one inside the front door and the other near a back room where the refrigerated weight-loss drugs are kept. While a smattering of media reports show thieves are after Ozempic elsewhere in the world — including late-night break-ins at pharmacies in Michigan, and in Santiago de Compostela, Spain — Brazil has become a prime global hot spot for criminals coveting the hugely popular weight-loss drugs. São Paulo, in particular, has become a nexus because it is by some measures Brazil’s richest city with many wealthy neighborhoods where plenty of pharmacies stock the drugs because enough people can afford them. And these days thieves have little problem finding buyers on WhatsApp and Facebook groups. The targeting of pharmacies has left workers fearful and has led some stores to reduce their supply of weight-loss drugs. The robberies are “definitely a growing trend,” said Pedro Ivo Corrêa dos Santos, a police chief in São Paulo State’s Department of Criminal Investigation. Pharmacies are often easy targets, the police chief added. “Many operate 24/7, storing the product in a fridge with no real security, only protected by the pharmacist,” he said. A New York Times analysis of a São Paulo State database found that robberies of pharmacies in which Ozempic, Wegovy or Saxenda were stolen jumped notably in the last three years, from a sole recorded episode in 2022 — four boxes of Ozempic taken from a single drugstore — to 18 robberies in 2023, and 39 last year. The numbers are almost certainly undercounts, since about half the reported robberies did not specify the medications taken. RD Saúde and Grupo DPS, two companies that own pharmacy chains in São Paulo where many of the robberies have taken place, declined to comment. Many independent pharmacies say they no longer keep the drugs in the store. “Anyone who stocks Ozempic can’t work in peace,” said Wilson Martins, the manager of Farma O Imperador, an independent pharmacy in western São Paulo. “People ask ‘Do you have Ozempic?’” he added. “No, we don’t. And that way, we don’t get robbed.” Customers who want one of the weight-loss drugs now must order it in person and make an appointment to pick it up. But for good measure, Mr. Martins, 72, still keeps a leather-sheathed machete behind the counter. Some criminal gangs have been robbing trucks making wholesale Ozempic deliveries, Mr. Corrêa dos Santos said. One gang that the police dismantled last year included employees of a transport company. Drug producers and distributors must report losses of medications resulting from crimes or other reasons to Anvisa, the Brazilian agency that regulates food and drugs. Its figures show that 4,770 Ozempic injection pens were stolen or lost in 2023 and surged to 8,220 pens last in 2024. The rash of robberies of weight-loss drugs comes amid soaring sales of the medication in a country where achieving a finely tuned body is revered and that, like many countries, is growing fatter. The percentage of adults in its largest cities considered obese increased to about 24 percent in 2023 from nearly 12 percent in 2006, according to a Health Ministry study. Several Brazilian celebrities have spoken publicly about using Ozempic or similar drugs, including singers Luiza Possi, Wesley Safadão and Jojo Todynho. “The wave of thefts began when social media started openly discussing the drug, particularly as celebrities and influencers showcased dramatic weight loss,” said Renata Gonçalves, the head of a union of pharmacists for the state of São Paulo. Even Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, said during his campaign in 2024 that he “took a lot of Ozempic” and lost about 65 pounds, and pledged to make the drug available for free. “Rio will be a city without chubby people anymore,’’ he said. In Brazil, Ozempic sales grew from $27.5 million in 2019, to $621.6 million in 2023, the last year for which complete figures were available, according to IQVIA, a global provider of health care data. (The Brazilian market still pales in comparison to the United States, where sales totaled $30.3 billion in 2023.) Rodrigo Lima, who has worked for pharmacy chains for two decades and is now head of operations for Ultrafarma, a São Paulo-based chain, said other high-cost pharmacy products have been targeted in the past. But the high cost of Ozempic, he said, has “sparked a huge demand for these items, leading to specialized gangs with an eye on that slice of the market.” While it’s fairly easy to sell and buy stolen weight-loss drugs on the web, criminals may not be able to ensure buyers about the quality of the drugs once they are taken out of cold storage. Several pharmacists in São Paulo repeatedly stressed that just a few hours at room temperature renders the medications useless. “They take the medications out to the car in a trash bag,” said Andrea Lima, the manager of a branch of the Drogaria São Paulo chain where a policeman foiled an attempted robbery last May. “How long do they leave it in the trunk?” Ultrafarma’s strategy, said Mr. Lima, has been to install better security cameras and reduce stock in company-owned stores. One Ultrafarma store that was robbed in 2023 has gone even further, said Leandro Rodrigo Santos, the store’s manager. It no longer keeps Ozempic in stock so customers have to order it and have it delivered to their home. But even that has risks. Wellington Vieira, chief of a Rio de Janeiro police division that investigates consumer-related crimes, said the agency had received reports of groups who order multiple boxes of Ozempic to a home and then pull a switcheroo. When a delivery worker arrives, two people answer the door. One tries multiple times to pay with an invalid credit card, while the other accepts the package and switches out the real Ozempic for a counterfeit version. When the purchase is eventually canceled, the delivery worker unknowingly returns to the pharmacy with the fake medication. Ozempic bandits may soon confront a force more powerful than the police: economics. Novo Nordisk’s Brazilian patent for semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, expires in 2026, and pharmaceutical companies are racing to get approval to produce generic versions that will almost certainly cause prices to tumble. For now, some pharmacists are turning to a higher power for protection. Elis ******* Peixoto manages a pharmacy in eastern São Paulo that has so far gone unscathed. “In the name of Jesus,” she said, “we will not be robbed.” Source link #Armed #Bandits #Brazil #Pursue #Loot #Ozempic Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Book Review: ‘Jesus Wept,’ by Philip Shenon Book Review: ‘Jesus Wept,’ by Philip Shenon If the abuse crisis darkens much of this book, it is because the crisis has darkened the church, causing millions to leave. Disputes over homosexuality, priestly celibacy and birth control also appear so often that the reader might think that sex (the word or derivatives appear some 400 times in 514 pages of text) is the main preoccupation of the modern church. Weary Catholics may agree. Pope John wanted the ******** council to recognize Roman Catholicism as a “church of the poor,” but John Paul II and Benedict did everything in their power to crush the post-council spiritual movement called liberation theology, with its centerpiece “option for the poor” and millions of followers; they connected it to Marxism and communism. Shenon highlights models for those who embraced the theology’s work, however, like Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, assassinated by a right-wing death squad as he said Mass. He also recognizes the weight of papal teaching documents meant to guide Catholics — but goes too far by categorically proclaiming “Humanae Vitae” (1968), Paul VI’s prohibition of birth control, “the most consequential encyclical of modern times.” What of “Populorum Progressio” (1967), which declared that the economy of the world should serve all people and became a touchstone for government authorities, seminarians and political dissidents aiming for structural change in impoverished Africa and Latin America? Or John XXIII’s “Pacem in Terris” (1963), which definitively positioned the church in the modern debate on human rights that helped end the Cold War? Or Francis’ “Laudato Si’” (2015), which made climate change a central issue of church social teaching and helped bring forth the Paris Accords? Shenon repeats a story about Jorge Mario Bergoglio (later Francis), that during the Argentine junta’s repression against presumed leftists in the 1970s, he denounced two slum worker priests who were captured and held in a torture center. He fails to add that one of the priests, Franz Jalics, issued a statement in 2013 saying that they “were not denounced by Father Bergoglio” and the suspicion was ”unfounded.” (The other priest, Orlando Yorio, died in 2000.) Pope Francis is 88. Whether the next conclave will elect a candidate committed to ******** II or swing back to traditionalism is unknowable. Francis, for one, appears sanguine, occasionally referring to an aspirational successor, Shenon notes, who would take the name John XXIV, honoring the pope who let the fresh air in 60 years ago. JESUS WEPT: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church | By Philip Shenon | Knopf | 590 pp. | $35 Source link #Book #Review #Jesus #Wept #Philip #Shenon Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A Quick, Quiet Trip to Belarus Signals a Turn in U.S. Policy A Quick, Quiet Trip to Belarus Signals a Turn in U.S. Policy The senior American diplomat slipped quietly into Belarus, a police state run by a strongman reviled for decades in the West, traveling by car across the border for meetings with President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko and the head of his KGB security apparatus. It was Mr. Lukashenko’s first meeting with a senior State Department official in five years, and the start of what could be a highly consequential thawing of frozen relations between the United States and Russia’s closest ally. The below-the-radar American visit to Minsk, the Belarusian capital, on Wednesday came just a day after President Trump had a long telephone call with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. Both events signaled Washington’s departure from a yearslong policy of trying to isolate leaders out of favor in the West because of their repressive policies and the war in Ukraine. After talks with Mr. Lukashenko, Christopher W. Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of state, and two other American officials drove to a village near the border with Lithuania. There, courtesy of the Belarusian KGB, three people who had been jailed — an American and two Belarusian political prisoners — were waiting to be picked up. As darkness fell, the Americans and the freed prisoners drove back across the border to Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital. Speaking outside the U.S. Embassy there on Wednesday evening, Mr. Smith hailed the successful completion of what he called “a special operation,” describing the prisoners’ release as a “huge win and a response to President Trump’s peace through strength agenda.” The next step, Mr. Smith told a gathering of Western diplomats on Thursday in Vilnius, according to people who attended, is a possible grand bargain under which Mr. Lukashenko would release a slew of political prisoners, including prominent ones. In return, the United States would relax sanctions on Belarusian banks and exports of potash, a key ingredient in fertilizer, of which Belarus is a major producer. The people who relayed Mr. Smith’s account of his talks in Minsk spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a confidential meeting. Mr. Smith himself has not publicly disclosed whom he met with or what was discussed, and the State Department did not respond to questions about those details. Belarus, which usually gloats over any sign that it is breaking out of its isolation, has also been mostly silent, though an anchor on state television, Igor Tur, introduced a note of mystery, suggesting that Mr. Smith was not the real leader of the American delegation and that a more senior official also took part. Franak Viacorka, the chief of staff to the exiled opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who has long called for toughening of sanctions, said: “We are very grateful to President Trump that he managed to move things forward.” But, he added, sanctions should be eased only when “Lukashenko stops repression and new arrests” and “releases all political prisoners, including top figures.” Viasna, a human rights group that keeps a tally of political prisoners in Belarus, put their number this week at 1,226. Mr. Lukashenko has in recent months released more than 200 of them, including two Americans set free since Mr. Trump took office, but opposition activists say that even more people have been arrested during the same *******. Tatyana Khomich, a sister of one of Belarus’s most prominent political prisoners, Maria Kolesnikova, welcomed the American outreach to Mr. Lukashenko. “The past pressure strategy has failed to release political prisoners, halt repression or change the regime’s behavior,” she said. Mr. Smith also steered Belarus policy during the Biden administration, and started tentative discussions last year with U.S. allies about easing sanctions, but until this week he had never traveled to Minsk to meet Mr. Lukashenko. That “direct diplomatic approach could yield concrete results, including the release of individual prisoners or even a broader amnesty,” Ms. Khomich said, while loosening Belarus’s dependence on Russia and “preserving some leverage for the U.S. and E.U.” An American-led drive to isolate and bankrupt Mr. Lukashenko under the Biden administration produced a raft of Western penalties. The sanctions on potash cut an important economic lifeline for the Belarusian ruler but handed a windfall to Russia, another big producer, as global prices spiked. Some Belarusian potash continued to reach global markets via Russia, instead of by the previous, cheaper route through Lithuania. Artyom Shraibman, a political analyst who fled Belarus after a brutal crackdown on protests in 2020, said Western sanctions had little impact because of Russia’s expansive support for Mr. Lukashenko. But a release of prisoners in return for relaxing sanctions, he said, would “mean they have finally been used with some effect.” “This would be definitely a positive development for the prisoners themselves, their families — and potentially for solving broader issues of the relationship” between Belarus and the West, said Mr. Schraibman, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. How to deal with Mr. Lukashenko has vexed Western policymakers for decades. A master at maneuvering between East and West, and silencing his critics at home, he took power in 1994 and has won seven increasingly dubious elections in a row, most recently in January, when he claimed 87 percent of the vote, his biggest landslide yet. In 2005, the U.S. secretary of state at the time, Condoleezza Rice, denounced Belarus as the “last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe” — though that was before Mr. Putin consolidated his autocratic control of Russia. Dispirited by the longevity of Mr. Lukashenko, now 70, his exiled opponents, like Mr. Putin’s, have often sought solace in rumors that he was seriously ill. But Mr. Smith, briefing Western diplomats in Vilnius, reported that Mr. Lukashenko showed no sign of ill health and seemed confident and in full control, several of those who attended said. Beginning a decade ago, efforts to isolate Mr. Lukashenko gave way for a time to engagement, amid signs that Belarus wanted to avoid becoming too dependent on Moscow, the country’s increasingly overbearing neighbor. While heavily reliant on Russia for deliveries of cheap oil, which he needed to keep his faltering economy afloat, Mr. Lukashenko resisted pressure from Mr. Putin to fully implement a 1990s agreement to form a “union state” that he feared would reduce Belarus to a province of Russia. Mr. Lukashenko appealed to Mr. Putin, who rushed in security advisers to help restore control. Vicious repression followed, with mass arrests and torture of detainees. Less than a year and a half later, Mr. Lukashenko allowed Russia to use his country as a staging ground for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with an abortive thrust south from Belarus toward Kyiv. Mr. Smith, according to diplomats who attended his briefing, said the primary U.S. goal was to secure freedom for more political prisoners. He said he had asked Mr. Lukashenko whether he was ready to scale back repression and was assured that he was. Another important aim, Mr. Smith told the diplomats, is to give Mr. Lukashenko some breathing room outside Russia’s orbit of influence. Piotr Krawczyk, a former head of Poland’s foreign intelligence service who worked with the first Trump administration on loosening Russia’s grip on Belarus, said Belarus was “part of a wider American approach toward Russia.” The United States is “confronting Russia in Ukraine, in Africa, in the oil and gas sector, and in several other strategic areas,” he said. “Negotiating with Belarus creates additional leverage for the U.S. to signal to Russia that they should be more attentive to American arguments.” Mr. Shraibman, the exiled analyst, said a big question now was how the Kremlin would react to any rapprochement between Belarus and the West. Many Russian officials “would likely panic at the prospect,” he said, but “there is no quick or easy way for Belarus to distance itself from Russia given Moscow’s economic dominance over the country.” He added that it was unlikely that President Trump “has any particular interest in, understanding of or a plan for Belarus.” Even so, he said, the “Trump factor certainly creates some momentum, as everyone, including Lukashenko, tries to impress the U.S. president and compete for his attention.” Source link #Quick #Quiet #Trip #Belarus #Signals #Turn #U.S #Policy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

‘S.N.L.’ Weekend Update: An Oral History of 50 Seasons ‘S.N.L.’ Weekend Update: An Oral History of 50 Seasons MICHAELS Because Chevy said his own name and because it was popular, he was the first person to emerge. Subsequently, it’s where most people broke out: Gilda Radner, John Belushi, and to this day it continues. [When Chase left], I thought, You can’t follow Chevy. Any other guy doing it would be seen as a reaction to him. Jane was my first choice. JANE CURTIN (anchor, 1976-80) I’m a good cold reader. It was easy for me to look into the camera and spew things without going over the top because I had done commercials. At that time, there weren’t many female anchors, and they were all very ambitious and driven. There was a brittleness to them because they had to compete with the men. So I thought, well, I’ll do that. Dan [Aykroyd] just appeared — I guess they thought we needed more people there — and I thought, Oh, great, company. I trusted Dan. The chemistry was there just from watching him work and being in sketches with him. MICHAELS “Jane, you ignorant *****” was a parody of “60 Minutes” at the time. CURTIN This was the ’70s, and it was an interesting dynamic that men and women had. It was not unusual to have a response that pointed — but not exactly that direct. I never assumed anybody would use it that way without the other person thinking it was funny. If they’re not using it in jest, then they’re an ******. After five seasons of “S.N.L.,” there was plenty of cast turnover and creative burnout, and Michaels was contemplating his future. On the May 10, 1980, broadcast, Franken performed a satirical Weekend Update commentary, “A Limo for a Lame-O,” that mocked the NBC president, Fred Silverman, for the network’s poor performance. The fallout from this segment is sometimes cited as a reason Michaels and Franken departed “S.N.L.” at the end of the season. Source link #S.N.L #Weekend #Update #Oral #History #Seasons Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Uncertainty About Economic Policy Is Hampering Business Decisions Uncertainty About Economic Policy Is Hampering Business Decisions It is an axiom heard countless times in business school lecture halls and on corporate earnings calls: Uncertainty is bad for business. The U.S. economy is about to test that proposition like never before. The first weeks of the second Trump administration have been a dizzying whirlwind of economic policy moves: A spending freeze was declared, then rescinded. Federal programs, and even entire agencies, have been suspended or shut down. Tariffs have been threatened, announced, canceled, delayed or enacted — sometimes in a matter of days or even hours. Measures of economic policy uncertainty have soared to levels normally associated with recessions and global crises. Business leaders — many of whom cheered President Trump’s election victory, expecting lower taxes and reduced regulation — have been left shaking their heads. “Your guess is as good as mine what’s happening in Washington,” said Nicholas Pinchuk, chief executive of the automotive toolmaker Snap-on. “So far what we’re seeing is a lot of costs and a lot of chaos,” Jim Farley, the chief executive of Ford Motor, told investors at a conference in New York this week. “It’s like your head is spinning with what’s coming down — you just never know,” said Chad Coulter, founder and chief executive of Biscuit Belly, a chain of breakfast restaurants based in Louisville, Ky. Yet for all their concerns, the three chief executives say that they are pushing ahead with planned investments and that they feel good about their prospects. So do many of their peers: Measures of business confidence soared after the election, and while there are hints that gleam has dulled to some degree, business leaders, as a group, remain upbeat. A gauge of small-business sentiment from the National Federation of Independent Business ticked down in January but remained higher than in any month in the Biden administration. “You’ve really got a battle between greater business optimism and greater business uncertainty, and they’re kind of opposing forces,” said Nicholas Bloom, a Stanford University professor who has studied how uncertainty affects the economy. But even business leaders generally sympathetic to the new administration warn that confidence could fade if the turmoil in Washington doesn’t calm down relatively quickly — especially if Republicans seem to be struggling to reach deals on their legislative priorities. For many members of the National Federation of Independent Business, the priority is preserving a small-business tax break that is set to expire at the end of the year, said Jeff Brabant, the organization’s head of federal government relations. “We’re in February and people are optimistic and they’re giving the new governing regime a chance,” Mr. Brabant said of the prospects of a congressional agreement to extend the provision. “If we get to the fall and we get to October, November, and there hasn’t been a deal, that’s when, I think, people would start to get very nervous.” The Costs of Uncertainty Economists in recent years have tried to study the effect of uncertainty with academic rigor, developing measures to assess the phenomenon over time and across countries. Their research has consistently found that uncertainty makes businesses more reluctant to hire and invest, and leads to lower sales — beyond the policies’ own impact. “Uncertainty itself is harmful to business activity,” said Steven J. Davis, a Stanford economist who has studied the issue. When rules change, even in harmful ways, businesses can typically adapt, he said. But when it isn’t clear what the rules will be, businesses can find themselves in limbo. Kim Vaccarella is discovering that firsthand. Her New Jersey-based company, Bogg Bag, makes brightly colored totes, which are manufactured in China and sold at Target, Bloomingdale’s and other stores. New tariffs on imports from China could add $2.50 to the wholesale cost of each bag, a significant increase for a product that typically retails for $55 to $100. Ms. Vaccarella recently traveled to Sri Lanka and Vietnam to explore shifting some of her production there — but it is hard to make such a big decision when trade policies are changing weekly. “It’s just one of those tricky places to be in, with, you know: How do we move on from here?” she said. Economic policy uncertainty has risen sharply since the election, according to an index developed by Mr. Davis, Mr. Bloom and Scott Baker, an economist at Northwestern University. The recent rise has been unusual: Past spikes have been associated with recessions, financial crises or other global developments. “Traditional uncertainty shocks happened after negative world events,” Mr. Bloom said. “In this case, it’s almost like a deliberate move to surge uncertainty.” That makes it hard to predict how businesses will respond. It is possible, Mr. Bloom said, that they will bet on an easing of uncertainty and will focus on the potential benefits of a Trump presidency. He noted that investors appeared mostly unconcerned by the torrent of news out of Washington: Measures of financial market volatility have generally been docile since Mr. Trump took office. But executives are likely to be cautious about making long-term investments, Mr. Bloom said — particularly those that are hard to reverse, like moving a factory, or that take a long time to pay off, like investments in research and development. Pulling Back Mr. Pinchuk, of Snap-on, said he already saw signs of caution among customers, which include both auto repair shops and individual mechanics. They are less interested in buying big-ticket items like tool storage boxes and diagnostic computers that cost thousands of dollars and can take years to pay off. Instead, they are buying less expensive items that they can pay off quickly. “When we talked to them, we could tell that they weren’t going to want to embroil themselves in a three- or four-year payment scheme,” he said. “They prefer to use whatever resources they have to buy stuff where they say, ‘OK, I’ll pay it off in 15 weeks, and then after 15 weeks, I’ll do it again if things are still good.’” In response, Snap-on has shifted to making more lower-cost items, Mr. Pinchuk said, and it has adapted to uncertainty in other ways, like moving materials and inventory into place as a hedge against potential tariffs. “We try to prepare ourselves so that we’re not completely caught with our pants down,” he said. Other companies are doing the same. Imports surged at the end of last year as companies sought to get ahead of tariffs. To economists, such decisions illustrate uncertainty’s costs: Companies are making decisions that wouldn’t make sense in a normal business environment — buying inventory before they need it, changing long-planned production schedules — to prepare for government policies that might or might not ultimately take effect. In that way, uncertainty is like a tax, distorting decisions and making the economy as a whole less efficient. It could be a while before the full costs of that tax become clear. Slower hiring and investing should, in theory, show up in economic data, but it could be hard to distinguish the impact of uncertainty from ordinary fluctuations, or from responses to other global developments. The U.S. economy’s recent strength may help cushion the blow. As long as sales are strong and the economy seems stable, businesses are likely to keep hiring and investing, said Gregory Brown, a finance professor at the University of North Carolina. “Policy uncertainty might lead you to dial back some of that investment, but it’s probably not going to bring you to a dead halt,” Mr. Brown said. If Americans respond to uncertainty by pulling back on spending, however, that could have a ******* effect. Measures of consumer sentiment soared after the election, particularly among Republicans, but have recently dipped. In surveys, consumers express concern that tariffs will lead to higher prices. Mr. Coulter, of Biscuit Belly, said he worried about the impact of specific federal policies: what the administration’s immigration crackdown could mean for finding workers, what tariffs could mean for construction costs, what a failure to control the bird flu epidemic could mean for egg prices. But more than that, he worries that the onslaught of news, and fear of what it all could mean, will keep customers at home. “People in times of uncertainty just kind of hunker down, and they hold on to their money because they don’t know what’s going to happen the next day,” he said. “I think there’s just a lot of confusion. No one really knows what’s going to happen next.” Jordyn Holman and Jack Ewing contributed reporting. Source link #Uncertainty #Economic #Policy #Hampering #Business #Decisions Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Tramell Tillman of ‘Severance’ Gives Himself a Performance Review Tramell Tillman of ‘Severance’ Gives Himself a Performance Review This interview contains spoilers from Season 2, Episode 5 of “Severance.” It’s hard to imagine Seth Milchick being late for anything. The manager of the “severed” floor in Apple TV+’s darkly satirical workplace thriller “Severance,” Mr. Milchick, as he is mostly known, is the consummate company man. He is a silky-voiced, coldhearted enforcer and is punctilious to the point of menace. Much less is known about the actor who plays him, Tramell Tillman. Before “Severance,” his résumé consisted mostly of minor TV roles and theater. So when he agreed to meet on a recent weekday afternoon at Manhattanville Coffee, near his apartment in Upper Manhattan, I couldn’t help but half expect him to be waiting for me there, hands folded on the table, wearing a mouth-only smile that barely cloaked his disappointment that I hadn’t shown up earlier. Instead something much more charming, less android-like, had happened: Tillman had gone to the wrong Washington Heights location of Manhattanville. He texted: “I’ll come to you.” Ten minutes later, he blew in the door, apologetic as he unwrapped himself from a thick scarf, ski cap and tan utility jacket. “My bad,” he said. “It’s been a crazy week.” One got the impression it had been a crazy few years for Tillman since the debut of his breakout role in “Severance,” a disturbingly allegorical sci-fi series that follows a group of workers who have had their consciousness “severed” into discrete work and home selves. The show was an instant cultural phenomenon, and a critical darling, when it premiered in 2022 — a particularly claustrophobic time for many, when distinctions between home and office life were rapidly collapsing. The show returned for Season 2 last month to a ******* role for Milchick — the new head of Lumon Industries’ “severed floor” — and more rave reviews: The New York Times’s chief TV critic, James Poniewozik, called it “the most ambitious, batty and all-out pleasurable show on TV,” praising Tillman in particular for his charisma as the show’s “cheerfully menacing manager.” But with new responsibilities come new difficulties, and Milchick is showing signs of losing his grip. In Episode 5, which premiered this week, Milchick is given his first performance review as the new department chief, which doesn’t go as hoped. Not only is he criticized for his paper clip usage, he must also navigate racial microaggressions. As he grapples with his own frustrations, a more human side begins to peek through. “You see Milchick finding his voice this season,” Tillman said. In person, Tillman, 39, looked both older and younger than the character he plays. Gone were the Afro, sideburns and mustache; at the cafe, he wore short hair and a full beard flecked with gray. Like Milchick, Tillman has impeccable manners, though he smiles a lot more — with his full face — and he laughs easily and doesn’t seem the type to self-flagellate in the mirror. “I’m more loose, relaxed,” said Tillman, who grew up in Largo, Md., the youngest of five, but has called New York City home for the past decade. “And Milchick is very upright, straight.” As snow flurries began to dot the sidewalk outside, Tillman discussed his inspiration for Milchick, his character’s motivations and the odds that we might see more of his sick dance skills in Season 2. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. How much did you know about Milchick when you took the role? It was extremely vague — all they said about him was that he is an enthusiastic company man. So that can either give me intense anxiety or give me the thrill of my life. Fortunately, it gave me both, and I was able to really sink in and kind of bring all these colors to this guy. I didn’t want him to be just some random guy who pops in and out. I wanted him to have some kind of fun, some pizazz. What questions did you have about him? One thing I wanted to understand was, what is the town of Kier like? I presume that Milchick grew up in Kier — is it racially diverse? And if it’s not, is race a thing? I remember asking Ben [Stiller, the director and executive producer] — I said, “There’s nothing in the script that suggests that he is specifically ******, but you specifically wanted a ****** actor to play this role.” So my question was: “Milchick is ******. Does he know that he’s ******?” And that started a rich conversation around race, and the leadership that we see in this corporate structure that is predominantly white. Here is a young man who’s rising in ranks, or wanting to rise in the ranks, and he doesn’t have a lot of people that look like him in leadership positions. So what we see in Season 2 is how they reward Milchick with these paintings, and we start going on this journey of him being othered by the board in order to make him feel as though he is inferior. We see that in Episode 5, when he asks Natalie (Sydney Cole Alexander), a fellow ****** employee, about her experience when she received similar paintings [in which Lumon’s founder, Kier, is “inclusively recanonicalized” as ******]. When he’s first introduced to the paintings, he doesn’t have the opportunity to respond organically. He has to respond in a way that is pleasing to the board, because they’re listening. And with Natalie, you see that look between the two of them where it’s like, “They’re watching, so keep it together.” It’s testing them. And it’s him trying to reach out to her, to try to understand: “I just found out you got this too. What’s your response to it?” And she does not engage. We also see Milchick get his first performance review this week since becoming manager of the severed floor. A number of petty, racially coded complaints are raised. Have you ever been accused of using too many big words? No! It’s the littlest thing — it’s insane! But it’s so funny. Have you ever worked an office job? I’ve had many, but not as a manager. I worked at a nonprofit organization as an administrative assistant. I worked in the development office. I worked as an abstinence educator. I worked as a communications director, so I definitely had the corporate office job experience, and I draw from that a lot. Would you be a good manager? I don’t know if I care enough to be good manager. I think I would do enough just to get the job done, but I don’t think I would be the type of manager who’s exceeding expectations and quotas. I think I’d be very much like Mark [played by Adam Scott]. How do you flip into Milchick mode? My hair and makeup definitely help. One thing I am adamant about is I tie my own ties. I tie my own shoes. I tend to shine my shoes as well. Before I even get into costume, I get up two hours before I’m scheduled to be picked up and I meditate. Milchick is a character that is very controlled, and in order for me to get to that point, because that is not who I am naturally, I definitely have to tap into my breathing. And also tap into the fact that here is a young, ambitious ****** man with the name Seth Milchick. I don’t see that this guy had a lot of fun — I think he sat alone at the lunch table in school. Is Milchick good or bad? I love the fact that it’s complex. And because it’s complex, it allows me as the actor to take him in many different directions. One thing that is very clear is that he is loyal — maybe loyal to a fault — but he’s committed. How did you get into acting? I’m the youngest of five — my mom worked in government in D.C., and my dad worked for Amtrak. I was incredibly shy as a kid. The only time I liked performing was by myself in my little room. It was a way to let go and release and escape. And once I had the courage to admit at 10 years old that I wanted to be an actor, I was told I’d never make it, that I needed to go into medicine or law, or business or technology or science. I was studying to become an orthopedic surgeon at one point. Were your siblings interested in the arts? My older sister and I used to dance in front of the church, which was not entirely supported. A ****** boy dancing, liturgical dance, to Kirk Franklin, “My Life Is in Your Hands,” or “I Believe in You and Me,” by Whitney Houston, was not something that was celebrated. Boys were not meant to be soft or delving into the arts. What’s a skill you have that you haven’t had the chance to showcase onscreen yet? I haven’t sung yet. That would be fun. I love to sing. Will we see more of Milchick dancing in Season 2? You’ll have to wait and see! Source link #Tramell #Tillman #Severance #Performance #Review Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]