Daily Archives: August 15, 2022

Approximately five years have passed since the violent persecution of Rohingyas by Myanmar authorities led to the consequent influx of refugees to Bangladesh. The government of Bangladesh has generously provided the Rohingyas safety and sanctuary, at a time when the anti-refugee sentiment was at its zenith in much of the European countries and the neighbouring countries of Bangladesh had turned their back on the Rohingya's plight.

The protracted inhabitation of the refugee community in Bangladesh has triggered a slew of detrimental consequences on the country, however, the country remains unswerving in supporting the community.

It seems that the international communities have grown visibly apathetic towards Rohingya's predicaments, as other pressing international crises in Afghanistan and Ukraine had transfixed world attention, consequently leading them to disregard the anguish of one of the most persecuted communities of the world.

In this context, the funding to sustain the Rohingya refugees has considerably dwindled, further amplifying the onus of sheltering and sustaining the community largely on Bangladesh. This is evidently at odds with the "burden-sharing principle" that is supposed to underpin the response of the world community towards the crisis.

The funding for the Rohingya crisis is framed, under the framework of the Joint Response Plan (JRP), a scheme that is renewed every year, and projects the financing to sustain the Rohingya refugees. The plan is spearheaded by Bangladesh and the country mobilises approximately 136 partners, of which 74 represents Bangladeshi organisations.

The JRP for 2022 has sought more than US$881million to support around 1.4 million people, including refugees and host communities.

However, the fund mobilisation of the preceding years had been dismal, on the heels of a concatenation of international crises Covid-19 induced economic stagnation, paralysing supply chain disruption, and the crisis in Afghanistan. The fund for humanitarian assistance that hovered around 72 and 75 percent of the aggregate spending the first three years since 2017, had diminished to 65 percent in 2020, with increasing apathy towards the Rohingya refugees, as the crisis continues to get obscured by the international community.

The lack of funding has impeded the distribution of food, basic health care and other support that the Rohingya community acutely needs. Besides, the Cox's Bazar region, that hosts the majority of the refugee community people, is distinctly vulnerable to climatic disasters, escalating the imbroglio of the refugees as well as the host communities.

Furthermore, the world is reeling from the repercussions occasioned by the pandemic, the after-effects of which still continue to reverberate in the form of paralysing inflation across the world. This is coupled with the prolonged Ukraine war, which has left the global supply chain in shambles, further worsening the predicament of developed and developing countries alike.

Bangladesh's economy is also grappling with this condition. In keeping with the world market, the economy of the county has endured skyrocketing inflation and economic woes. Besides, the general economic condition of the country doesn't bode well, as the graduation from the Low Developed Country (LDC) status will be accompanied with a litany of challenges.

In this context, sustaining Rohingya for an indefinite period isn't a plausible prospect for Bangladesh, as funding from the donors is poised to decline further in the future, thus putting more strains on Bangladesh's economy to solely fend for Rohingya.

Besides, the memories of gruesome persecution of the Rohingyas coupled with their deplorable living condition, meager resources and chronic unemployment has made Rohinyas distinctly prone to crimes and arguably enhances their susceptibility to radicalism. This has profound ramifications for the Cox's bazar region, which has been historically plagued by crimes, drug-trafficking and illicit trade.

Experts contend that the plunge in the funds will further exacerbate the perils of human trafficking, gang violence, drug-related crimes, domestic violence and early marriage, and will expose the Rohingya youths to the impulses of radicalism. Averting this consequence will require ensuring proper education and involving the Rohingya community in income-generating activities.

In the context of their prolonged deprivation in the camp, severed from their ancestral habitation, a spontaneous movement has recently gained traction among Rohingyas termed as "Go-Home Movement" which indicates Rohingya's heightened awareness and aspiration for a sustainable and dignified repatriation.

Thus, in the context of dwindling international funding and withering attention for the Rohingya refugee crisis, only two options might mold international response in resolving the crisis either, to further enhance support for the Rohingya in order to ensure the community safe and dignified life in the camp, or to mobilise international pressure in a manner to compel the Myanmar authorities in ensuring conducive condition for the repatriation of refugee, in accordance with zeitgeist of "Go-Home Movement".

However, the first option is not sustainable, given the sheer number of Rohingyas currently inhabiting Bangladesh, which is one of the most populated countries of the world and plagued by its own sets of challenges. Besides, the "Do No Harm" principle, one of the cornerstone norms underpinning international refugee governance, will be transgressed, as prolonged fostering of the refugees at the cost of host population will evidently elicit dissatisfaction from the host community. And this might sharpen the rifts between the refugee and the host communities.

Besides, the protracted crisis will deteriorate the security situation in the region. In this context, the second option which entails swift international action in pressurising the Myanmar government is more prudent and will yield sustainable solutions to the crisis.

At a time when the funds for the Rohingyas are dwindling, and when the international community has grown evidently disinterested in safeguarding the community, the sustainable course of action that the international community should undertake is the safe and dignified repatriation of the Rohingyas through international mechanisms. This will eliminate one of the pressing refugee crises of the world. If the world community however fails to resolve the crisis, the grievances and dissatisfaction among the new generation of the refugee community will pester, making them uniquely exposed to crime and radical overtures, thus destabilising the whole region.

The author is an international affairs researcher, currently affiliated with the Central Foundation for International and Strategic Studies (CFISS). His research interests include South Asian Security, Regionalism and Political Economy.

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The clock is ticking on the Rohingya crisis - The Business Standard

Kings and Queens have always been shapers of society; King Tut shaped the Egyptian tourist industry, King Henry VIII worked wonders for the turtleneck trade, and The Acid King, Augustus Owsley Stanley III, defined the counterculture movement. Anyone from a long line of Augustus-es is bound to have some bearing on society, but in the tumbling dominos of culture, the third fellow in this long line of Kentuckian politicos presented a pivotal moment of diegesis that set pop culture on a different trip. This is the weird story of the wests wayward rock n Walter White.

The long and the short of it is that Augustus Owsley Stanley III brewed LSD so pure that Owsley is actually listed in the dictionary alongside the definition: An extremely potent, high-quality type of LSD. Tom Wolfe, the novelist who once wrote: The problem with fiction, it has to be plausible. Thats not true with non-fiction, coined this phrase. You could argue that Wolfe was the proto-voice of a generation and that he, along withKen Kesey, Jack Kerouacand other notable contributors, helped to give rise to pop culture. But every engine of influence needs fuel, and that was where Stanley III stepped in.

Before he became the chef behind a thousand epiphanies and crafted the sound of the Grateful Dead, he went against his family history of entering government and became a professional college drop-out. His window wouldnt arrive until 1963 when he was 28 years old. But before then, he was an Air Force pilot, a ham-radio operator, a broadcast engineer, a father and a twice divorcee. He was also a sporter of a Fu Manchu moustache that welcomed so many ladies he may as well have called it his Foof Manchu Muff Duster, a multiple petty-crime felon, and a student of Russian, French and ballet.

With a CV like that, do you think he was able to support himself as a professional dancer for long? Nada, his niche was yet to be foraged, but importantly, a point which has sadly almost become a footnote in his wildly unravelling life, he was also a geniusand that can help even the most vagrant of vagabonds.

In 1963, that vivacious intelligence led him to become a student at Berkley, and that was a critical year in our cultural history. You see, it seems very un-1960s-like to mention admin, but in 1963, the patent for LSD expired, and a lot of the culture thereafter spun out from that tie-dye three years where mind-bending was basically legalised. It wasnt just the hippies at it either. The CIA, an organisation that has seemingly welcomed more well-manicured arseholes than every one of Hugh Hefners pool parties combined, were dabbling in its kaleidoscopic properties to such an extent that they gave 297mg of it to an elephant called Tusko. Tusko died.

Stanley IIIs time had come. He took acid in 64 for the first time and heard The Beatles the following week. Stanley IIIs future seemed to be standing in his spinning vision, jangling the lab keys. He learned everything he needed to know about the synthesis of this potent danger in three weeks and was not the type to sit around wondering what best to do with that knowledge. If he were alive today, however, it would be here that he interjected and said that his aim in the lab was not to brew substances that got you high but to obey the transfiguring principles of alchemya notion that only someone who was high could understand.

Thus, it is clear from this imagined interjection that a collision of contributing factors occurred during this period: acid, music, and the bullshit to go along with it. Stanley III was a ready-made scion of the counterculture. However, a fourth tributary would join this trifectahis roommate and girlfriend at the time was Melissa Cargill, a skilled chemist and heir of the uber-wealthy Cargill-Macmillan family. How such a thing could happen is a mystery of fate. The result was that they had the know-how, funds, connections, and get-out-jail cards to make a real go at blowing the minds of a generation.

In fact, when they were selling cheap methedrine to raise funds to enter the acid trade, their bathtub lab was busted, but Stanley III was able to hire the vice-mayor of Berkley, and charges were dropped. There are many questions about the lax drug enforcement during this time and why it took three years for legislation to be passed making the substance that Charles Manson and many others who stepped one toke over the line dabbled in to a debauched degree illegal. However, well get onto those clandestine CIA mysteries later.

Off the back of this legal windfall, Stanley III, who was nicknamed Bear as a teen because of his premature production of short and curlies, set up the Bear Research Group. As such, he could attain acid-making technology under the guise of science. Thereafter, asSteely Dan would one day sing, On the hill, the stuff was laced with kerosene, but yours was kitchen clean. This ballet dancing drop-out was now making the most pristine acid in the west (and the world, for that matter).

Thanks to Ken Kesey, a generation of creatives had been swayed toward the technicolour ways of acid. Many of these were all on the same bus: a multicoloured wanderer called Furthur. This near-mythical vehicle travelled through the unfurling expanse of America and its consciousness. It contained Kesey, Wolfe, and Neil Cassidy (the actual driver in KerouacsOn The Road), and these guys were after the best acid around. It was only a matter of time before the Merry Pranksters (as they were known) careened into a big mad Bear and crowned him The Acid King.

These tripping folks would pull up at various spots around the country and have picnics. Therein, Kool-Aid containing acid was served up, and the spun-out folks in attendance would take in a band bashing out rock n roll. Their journey was a vehicle for the counterculture, and one of the bands absorbed in the gatherings was none other than the Grateful Dead. Stanley III met the Dead at one of these picnics and told them he knew just as much about sound engineering as he did about acidthen he was in the band.

Shortly after, the music world would all be tripping out on Owsleys Acid. He even supplied The Beatles during theMagical Mystery Tour. Thus, there are no surprises about the origin of I Am the Walrus. Bands were tumbling down the rabbit hole of his renegade possibilities, but his drive to pursue the power of alchemy sustained and spread into his sound work. As the Owsley Foundation States: Owsley essentially recorded every artist that ever played through a sound system that he built.

Thus, his sonic journals helped to develop the general sound of an entire generation of musicians. With the likes of Miles Davis, Johnny Cash, Jefferson Airplane, Fleetwood Mac, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, the Flying Burrito Brothers and 80 other massive artists in his roster, it isnt far-fetched to say that it was Stanley III who defined the sound and minds of a generation. He was the puppet master making the marionette of counterculture move in weird ways.

And through it all, he still had to keep brewing. During his time on the acid run, Stanley III is believed to have produced at least five million doses of some of the finest wall-shifting tabs to grace the market. Moreover, he didnt just enjoy the dealers boon of administrative oversight. Once criminality was imposed in 1966, Stanley and Cargill simply shifted production to a lab in Denver, Colorado, and began brightening the daydreams of counterculture kids once more.

Their new headquarters were stationed across the street from Denver Zoo, and tales are bountiful in the regions subterranean realms of old acidheads staring agog at a gibbon or some other higher simian and having evolutionary epiphanies whizz into their addled minds. All the while, funky gibbons looked on, wondering why a hippy with swirling eyes was delivering a brown spine extension to their flared pantaloons and watching them peel a banana with their feet. It was as if the Maharishi himself had ceased being a fraud and manufactured a miracle before their googly eyes.

A short trip away from this head-spinning simian hotspot, youd find Hunter S. Thompson playing golf also while on Owsley Acid. But Thompson would also provide a cautionary talehis golf swing was reportedly explosive if not smooth, and his third drive was solid and long. Still, if he missed a putt, he would fling his club into the nearest body of water and proceed to blast the ball home with the 12-gauge shotgun he carried in his golf bag. He would later turn that shotgun on himself.

And that is a critical denouement that defies all the fun. You watched that high of the hippie thing descend into drug depression, Joni Mitchell once said. Right after Woodstock, then we went through a decade of basic apathy where my generation sucked its thumb and then just decided to be greedy and pornographic. In short, a generation of peace and love had stepped one toke over the line, and the fate of their revolution was dower after that.

Stanley III was finally arrested for his dealings in 1970. He remained in prison for two years. Therein, he learnt another trade. This time it was metalwork and jewellery-making. It seemed like the music scene had sobered up when he was released. As he stated: I found on my release from jail that the [Grateful Dead] crew, most of whom had been hired in my absence, did not want anything changed. No improvements for the sound, no new gear, nothing different on stage. They wanted to maintain the same old same old which under their limited abilities, they had memorised to the point where they could sleepwalk through shows.

The world was harsher now. He ventured on tour and found cities falling into some comic book dystopia. The prelapsarian dream of the sixties lay in ruin, like a long-forgotten civilisation that the History Channel will say was built by aliens and abandoned centuries from now, failing to mention his forsaken bathtub where it was all born. The zeitgeist, now, was one of gritty tumult and grimy turmoil. A barren field of dirt had supplanted flower power. Opiates had replaced opulent excesses, and the only ubiquitous munificent bounty that money couldnt buy was poverty. Sometimes you eat the Bear, and sometimes the Bear eats you.

In 1982, Stanley III believed a thermal cataclysm would render the Northern Hemisphere climatologically uninhabitable. As ever, he was always just trying to look a little too far ahead. Nevertheless, he moved to Australia and found himself a suitable realm. It was in the bush, where the only highways were imaginary. Here, he made his jewellery and would frequently fly back to the states, where he sold pieces of wearable art to Keith Richards and the likes at backstage bashes.

All the while, he continued to advocate an all-meat diet claiming that humans are born carnivores. And he lived happily with his wife, Sheilah. He met her when she was a clerk at the Grateful Deads ticket office. He lived a happy life out there until he died in a head-on collision in 2011. The bulk of his legacy, however, had died four decades earlier. Hunter S. Thompson was right when he lamented that his incarceration marked the death of the 1960s; it happened in 1970.

Theories are rampant about why his drug dealing was allowed to go on for so longwere the CIA aware that such exposure to LSD would curtail the movement? Theres no concrete evidence for any of these claims, so I wont go on. Theres nothing concrete about anything in his Rorschach blot of an existence. Thus, the mystery goes on, just like his indelible impact on culture and sound. That much is concrete, and theOwsley Stanley Foundationhas the tapes to prove it.

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Augustus Owsley Stanley III: The sound engineer who kickstarted the counterculture movement - Far Out Magazine

Shailene Woodley has never been shy about sharing what shes passionate about. The Emmy-nominated actor developed a passion for environmentalism at a young age. This manifests in a lot of different areas of her life. It makes the Big Little Lies alum very conscious of where she sources her food from and fuels her interest in herbalism. She even got arrested for protesting the Dakota Access pipeline back in 2016. Due to her love of nature, the actor earned the label of hippy early on in her career.

But hippy is hardly the only label used to describe Woodley. Fans of the Endings, Beginnings actor have also coined her way of life a crunchy granola lifestyle. This is due to some of the more unorthodox rituals that Woodley has put in place. The Divergent alum has spoken openly about everything from making her own tinctures, to eating clay, to suntanning her nether regions.

But what does Woodley think about her various labels? The Secret Life of the American Teenager alum revealed that they used to bother her early on in her career. However, as shes gotten older, shes embraced her hippy label with open arms. While speaking to The Guardian, Woodley got candid about this shift.

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I mean, Iusedto get offended by that, Woodley admitted. But now Im just like, Great, you want to call me a hippy? So many things about the hippy movement were f****** beautiful, Im all about it. Continuing on, Woodley shared that shes seen the shift in how environmentalism has slowly become a major part of the zeitgeist.

When I was talking about these things 10 or 15 years ago, it was before people knew what environmentalism was, Woodley explained. The most environmental thing you could do then was recycle. There wasnt a lot of narrative around these things. Soofcourseyoure going to be ostracized in some way, be labeled as other, because its not mainstream. Now? Every single f****** influencer or model or CEO is talking about this! Look, I dont take offense at being called The Hippy of Hollywood if it means one or two people are going to learn some things.

RELATED: Shailene Woodley Wore Almost No Makeup in 1 of Her Movies: It Added a Lot to the Film

And it seems that people are indeed learning from Woodleys lead. This is particularly true of the actors that she works with. Theo James, who starred opposite Woodley in the Divergent movies, shared that he learned to be more conscious of where his meat was sourced from. Clearly, Woodleys passionate nature is rubbing off on some of her peers. It seems that embracing her hippy label was the right move for the actor.

RELATED: Shailene Woodley Eats Clay, but How Much Does She Consume?

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Shailene Woodley Used to Get Offended When People Called Her a Hippy - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Netflixs coming-of-age teen dramedy Never Have I Ever is entering its third season with the premiere dropping on the streamer this Friday. It follows the trials and tribulations of American Indian high-schooler Devi Vishwakumar (played by Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) and her circle of friends attending Sherman Oaks High.

Of those close-knit friends are Fabiola and Eleanor, played by Lee Rodriguez and Ramona Young respectively. The two were recently in Phoenix to promote the show and answered some questions about the changing tide in female teen culture, the young men who affect that, and how their characters are changing the landscape of social acceptance.

There hasnt been a shortage of coming-of-age shows in the past 40-plus years. From Happy Days to The Wonder Years to every conservative parents worst nightmare, HBOs Euphoria, these programs hopefully give truthful insight into the current generations slice of life. Never Have I Everfits into a place between heavy drama and situational comedy.

Both Rodriguez and Young agree that their show is an apt representation of their zeitgeist.

I think there's a lot of like modern-day elements that are incorporated, says Rodriguez. And I know when Mindy [Kaling] first created the show, she really wanted to set it in modern times. And there are elements of that in our show in Season 3; there's like a lot of like texting, phone, DM stuff. So, that's very relevant.

Kaling is an actress, writer, director, and producer who shot to stardom on the popular American sitcom The Office. In 2020, she created Never Have I Ever alongside executive producer and writer Lang Fisher. The idea was to create a coming-of-age story that loosely resembled Kalings life as an Indian American teenager in Boston. It was praised for breaking stereotypes often depicted in popular media about that culture.

Although Fabiola and Eleanor are there for Devi, the partial personification of Kaling, they have their own personal arcs. For instance, Fabiola is a gay student trying to make her way through school. Rodriguez, 22, who came out publicly in 2020, says one of the things she loves about playing Fabiola isnt that shes openly gay; its how shes not stereotyped because of her identity. The actress says her experience was unlike her characters.

For me personally, I was clueless in high school, she explains. It wasnt until after high school where I was like, You know what, it is OK for me to, you know, like more than one gender. In high school, I just didn't think about it. And so, yeah, Fabiola is ahead of me personally. I wish I would have been more, I don't know, where I questioned myself a little bit more.

For Young, who plays Eleanor, the question isnt about her characters sexual orientation shes straight. Its what to wear to school every day. As the levelheaded one of the group, she keeps the peace, but her wardrobe can sometimes be flamboyant or distractingly colorful right down to the accessories. The question might be that with all the sartorial distractions, is it a diversion from something more personal?

Young, 24, says her character is just creative, but sometimes her clothes do define her mood. I think in Season 1, actually, there's an episode where Eleanor gets really depressed, and instead of dressing up, she wears all beige.

I wouldnt think too deeply about it, Young adds. I think most of that comes from the creative mind of Glinda [Suarez], who's a genius costume designer. Sometimes, she'll be like, 'I put this piece on you because it symbolizes this scene and this moment.' So, she does all of that. And I just get the joy of wearing all this awesome stuff.

Behind the adolescent drama of Never Have I Ever, there are strong female characters. Prominent still is how they deal with the males in their lives. The adult characters find themselves navigating through traditional cultural relationship tensions with the opposite sex. While the youngsters, in between math and English studies, have to contend with puberty, too.

Devi is a tad insecure with her once-womanizing boyfriend Paxton (Darren Barnet), who is also a fellow student. While the series other prominent male character, the academic-minded Ben (Jaren Lewison), harbors feelings for Devi himself. The males in the series lean heavily on their female counterparts for support, but they also seem to be the cause of all the problems.

With the #MeToo movement and the fight for womens rights currently at the forefront of American politics, what message does this send about toxic masculinity and gender roles in the modern age? Young is quick to defend the show.

I think there is a lot of development and growth happening in both the female and male characters, says Young. I know, like maybe Fabiola and Eleanor are far from perfect and the same with Ben and Paxton; we're all just figuring it out.

Now that Season 3 is a wrap, both Rodriguez and Young are free to perform in other projects. While Young is having the time of her life doing shorts, and venturing out into writing, Rodriguez says she will continue acting and delving further into her music career. Lee is one of the most talented musicians I have ever heard in my whole life, says Young.

Rodriguez is also an environmental activist who finds the recent Supreme Court rulings against the Environmental Protection Agency disappointing, saying, It does get a little depressing, but I mean all you can do is keep fighting and keep using your voice.

For fans of Never Have I Ever, there is good news and bad news about the future of the show. Young says, Were going to do our fourth season its going to be our fourth and final.

There is no word on when that season will air. But all episodes of this upcoming season are scheduled to start streaming on Friday, August 12.

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Never Have I Ever Co-Stars Visit Phoenix, Talk About Their Netflix Hit Teenage Dramedy - Phoenix New Times

Anne-Marie Duff is extremely precise. Ask her a question, and she will take great lengths to make sure her delivery is spot on, pausing for epochs to get a phrase exactly right. Even though shes famously shy, the beam of her concentrated attention makes our conversation in a central London hotel feel intimate despite taking place in one of those artificial environments where actors gather looking sleek and shoot-ready. Sure, all actors have to inhabit the moment, but not many do that in an interview. Then again, she does have plenty to concentrate on: were here to talk about Bad Sisters, the new Sharon Horgan drama specifically, why its so strikingly good.

Thats Sharons writing, isnt it? Duff says. Shes so brilliantly irreverent and funny, and cheeky. And, at the same time, full of emotional truth and compassion, and sometimes devastating heartbreak. All in a breath. If she had her way, Duff would talk exclusively about other people and how great they are. Were chatting while shes glammed up for our photoshoot, giving off a doughty, thats-the-job vibe, conveying that this level of groomed isnt really her scene. Throughout, she manages to get at least 50 paeans (to the whole cast of Bad Sisters, Shameless, the rest of her CV, plus people doing things nothing to do with her Steve McQueen, Lena Dunham, Suranne Jones) under the wire, however much I try to wrestle the topic back to her.

But I must insist on talking about her performance, which is the beating heart of the show: her character, Grace, is widowed at the start, and the story then goes backwards into the coercive abuse of her marriage and the siblings who may have offed her husband. While the other four sisters have a tight, hilarious caper dynamic, Grace is isolated, this diminished, reduced individual. We dont even know who she really is. Shes just an opaque version of something. That was the tricky thing, desperately trying to make her feel like a real woman. Its like shes underwater. Wheres the fifth sister? Shes down there, beneath the waves.

Domestic abuse has been a longstanding cause for Duff since 2006, when she played a woman escaping a violent relationship in Born Equal, directed by Dominic Savage. I had been in touch with Womens Aid and visited refuges at that time. Id spoken to women who had been in violent scenarios, but also very coercive scenarios. It was fascinating talking to women about shame how one of the prison bars is that you cant admit youve married someone who treats you that way. Because then who are you?

Bad Sisters is plainly not the first show to dramatise the topic, but the scenario four sisters very close, one set apart, her isolation ever more intense somehow gives it a power and palpability Ive never seen before. It looks like it was no picnic to film, either, because the others get all the laughs. I felt very isolated at times, actually, on the shoot, Duff says. I would go Hi girls as they went in to do a scene without me. It was perfect in a way, because thats how coercion works. Socially, it wasnt fantastic. In terms of being a storyteller, it was great.

It sounds like hell, but storytelling is way more important to Duff than socialising, and fiction more bearable than fact. Youre inside of a character and youre being told what to say and theres relief to that. The unpredictability and uncertainty of the real world is terrifying. If youre in a play, you know where you are. Even if youre going to die, you know youre going to die.

The show is set in Ireland, and though Duff, 51, was born and grew up in London, both her parents are Irish. Her accent is pitch-perfect and she is proud of her dual nationality, flexing her EU passport and insisting her son has a Celtic sense of humour. She trained at the Drama Centre London, which closed down in 2020. Students used to nickname it the Trauma Centre, because everyone was so horrible. There, they told her she could forget being a lead because she was too much of a runt. It was like an abusive relationship you could be thrown out at any time, you could do a show and be told it was the worst thing theyd ever seen. You were always saying: Please love me, please love me. Which then made the outside world seem much easier. Everyone was suddenly so supportive.

But the wider culture has changed, too. Training used to have this principle of destroy to create. Youth was a state of masochism: Ill do whatever it takes to make me a great artist. Now, young people will say: Ill only do this emotional scene so many times, I need to protect myself. Shes not calling young actors snowflakes; its way more complex than that, the uneasy power dynamics of the creative industries crisscrossing the unspoken impact of class.

I come from a very working-class background, says Duff, so Ive always had that little feeling of Who should an actor be? Who deserves to be one? Nevertheless, it used to be that if you wanted something badly enough and worked hard enough, youd be able to find it somehow. But now it feels that, for a lot of very working-class young people, theres a lack of belonging inside things. She describes this dense irony that norms have changed for the better, but access has changed for the worse so theres a reactionary narrative that young people are all so entitled and full of self-belief. For a lot of disenfranchised people, that is bullshit.

She feels the same about the #MeToo movement, which seems to be making great strides in stamping out misogyny, but we both know if Trump hadnt groped and Harvey [Weinstein] wasnt on his decline, #MeToo wouldnt have happened. There were things that conspired to allow that to happen. So yes, lots of things have changed. But then look at whats just happened across the Atlantic [the overturning of Roe v Wade]. Its teeter-totter time. It feels very flammable.

Duff graduated from drama school in 1994 on a Friday, and was in rehearsals for a stage show on the Monday. She has been working nonstop, more or less a few blocks of unemployment but mostly by choice. Having a baby, whatever ever since. So you couldnt call Shameless, in 2004, a big break, since shed already been working for a decade, on stage in London and on screen mainly in Ireland. Plus, it came after The Magdalene Sisters, a stunning film about the notorious Catholic laundries in the 60s, and that felt like the point my life changed, Duff says, because Id done something on screen that was so important and so valued.

Shameless was a terrific show; huge (It hit the zeitgeist) and it was a sweet spot in as much as I was at the beginning, and the beginning is always delicious. Because you can paint whatever fucking panorama you want. Its like the beginning of a love affair. So in that way, it was glorious. I was at the start of the meal. (Technically it was also the beginning of a literal love affair, since she married her co-star James McAvoy; their son was born in 2010, and they divorced in 2016.)

It turbocharged her recognition, which she didnt care about at all, and put her in a new league for roles. Her next was as Elizabeth I in the BBCs The Virgin Queen (eat that, Trauma Centre its definitely the lead). She remembers wryly: There was an article in Vogue asking: Why are they letting working-class people play royal family members? I kid you not. Ray Winstone had not long before played Henry VIII. It was really Get off my land.

She has always come across as a good-politics person, without shy of an anti-violence against women campaign in 2007 saying anything very political. From a personal point of view, it would be so that it doesnt influence the work youre asked to do. Because if you define yourself as something, then people cant lose you in something else. In terms of public opinion, I know people find it quite annoying when actors start aligning themselves politically. But not in Ireland, of course, where theatre is a very political beast. Here, youre an entertainer. Youre a player. Thats all youre here for. Youre paid for that. Shut up and do your thing.

For the first time, while filming Bad Sisters, she thought she might like to direct. But it would be a play directing on film is all about the team, youre much more of a captain of a ship. When youre in a rehearsal room, its all about people communicating with each other, and that is the language that Im fluent in. But I hate the thought that one day everyone would hate me. This happens to directors it has to. It would be wonderful to see her direct: it feels as if she has a lot to say that a player cant. But sure, some people would hate it.

Bad Sisters is on Apple TV+ from Friday 19 August.

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The real world is terrifying: Anne-Marie Duff on sisterhood, survival and Shameless - The Guardian

Armie Hammer was having a great run. His career was on the uptick, his movies were hits and he was touted to be Hollywood's 'Golden Boy. However, a slew of allegations calling the actor out for his violent sexual fantasies involving rape and cannibalism, brought everything down like a house of cards. The 'Call Me by your Name' actor's auntCasey and two of his accusers appear in a new documentary titled 'House of Hammer'which sheds lighton the disgraced actor's claimed violent sexual fantasies and dark family background. Accusers Julia Morrison and Courtney Vucekovich discuss their allegedly violent interactions with him in a new trailer for the documentary.

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Hammer made headlines as allegations of violence and emotional abuse surfaced. The documentary will also focus on thealleged coverup of abuse charges dating back five generations of his family. 'House of Hammer,' a three-part Discovery+ documentary digging into the Hammer family's "sinister secrets that money and power couldn't hide forever," chronicles the now-disgraced actor'slife of alcoholism, alleged BDSM, and adultery. You dont just wake up and become this dark controller, abuser, a narrator said in the eerie video. This behavior is deep-rooted.

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Courtney Vucekovich is the inventor of the app FLASHD that offers on-demand beauty services. Through the FLASH app, Dallas residents may book "glam squads" for hair, makeup, and photography. Simply give us the time and location kickback and let our technology do the work. Our beauty pros will arrive with all the products, tools and tricks to have you looking and FEELING your best, the description says. She also helps as a foster coordinator at Paws In The City, a Dallas-based animal rescue center, according to her LinkedIn profile. She also received her bachelor's degree in mass communications from the Texas Tech University in 2011. Vucekovich has 25.6K Instagram followers.

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Hammer announced his divorce from Elizabeth Chambers in July 2020. Vucekovich apparently dated the actor from June to August the same year, and he was spotted in a handful of her Instagram photos. She made allegations regarding his behavior during the relationship and made analogies to the cannibal allegations in a series of interviews broadcast on January 14, 2021.

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Vucekovich met Hammer through mutual acquaintances in June, and they hit it off right away. Speaking on her relationship, as per Daily Mail, she said, 'He's a very charming, intense human being. But once you start talking to him, he's pretty aggressive right from the start. Not violent, but just sexually aggressive in the way he speaks.

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Vucekovich claimed that he was really into saying he wants to break one of your ribs and eat it. Like barbecue it and eat it.Furthermore, Vucekovich stated that Hammer's strange conduct was so extreme that she entered into a 30-day intensive treatment course for trauma and PTSD immediately after their split to deal with their "warped" relationship. She was unable to confirm whether the screenshots circulating on Instagram were genuine, but she stated that they did not surprise her.

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Julia alias Jelly Morrison, a young Brooklyn-based writer and artist, caught Hammer's eye when she was highlighted as a talent on the Instagram of Sarah Bahbah, a visual artist with 1 million followers. In a series named 'For Arabella,' a photographic study of a toxic relationship, Bahbah's photos of her included captions like 'Lost in Existential Thoughts.' Hammer's initial conversation with Morrison began in 2017 with, "Hello, I hope this finds you well. So Im writing because the images from For Arabella are amazing and I was wondering if there was anywhere to see it in Los Angeles."

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Morrison ignored this message until she was informed by a woman she met while working on a film at USC before the lockdown that Hammer was following her. She discovered the text and contacted him. "Whats more ubiquitous and of the zeitgeist than a horny rich dude sliding into a girls DM?" she said sarcastically. A DM is an InternetSpeak term for a Direct Message. Morrison never met Hammer face to face, but they had a genuine chat. This went on for a while, but It faded out after a few frightening turns, and she answers the second part of her own question here, "An NFT of that girls DM is utterly zeitgeisty. Morrison revels in "a moment in time, like Jackson Pollock drips paint on a canvas. Own a part of internet history, and the first NFT minted within the #MeToo Movement."

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Following the uproar, Hammer backed out of a number of high-profile projects, including the Broadway production of 'The Minutes.' A 24-year-old woman named only Effie accused the actor of raping her in 2017 around two months later, the texts were uploaded. Hammer allegedly attended a rehab center shortly after to address drug, alcohol, and sex issues. He has kept a low profile for the majority of 2022, and was last spotted working at a luxury resort in the Cayman Islands.

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'He wanted to break one of your ribs and eat it': Women describe Armie Hammer's sick requests in new docu - MEAWW

Mindy Kalings Never Have I Ever continues to embrace the rashness of teenage lives with the sobriety of a culture that never stops demanding.

Still from Never Have I Ever Season 3

In a scene from the third season of Netflixs unlikely hit Never Have I Ever, Devi (Maitreyi Ramakrishnan) is on her way to consummate her relationship with Paxton when she is sat down by her cousin, Kamala. You shouldnt do something on someone elses schedule. You should do it when youre ready, Kamala says to which the narrator, a delightfully cheeky John McEnroe says But Devi, like most teenagers didnt know what she was ready for. Devi and Paxton end up not doing it on the night but this little sequence exemplifies the hilarious contradictions most teenagers grow up with. There is a sea of life-lessons floating around and yet you somehow just manage to stumble out of bed, hit a million things during the day and somewhat groggily make it back, bruised on the inside. The third season of Never Have I Ever confronts serious, more intimate problems than before and it continues to do so with the airy quality of a desi wedding no one remembers a week after it has happened.

The third season begins where the second left off. Devis dream of dating the hottest guy in school has come true as both walk in through the high school door with stares, envious glares bouncing off of faces and the odd professor even spilling his coffee. Its paradise. But even in paradise, Devi slowly learns, there is judgment, ridicule and suspicion. Just why is Paxton with Devi, becomes the central theme of the first half of this new season. It subtly points to body-image issues and a certain lack of self-awareness that manifests as robust but undeniable doubt. Devi begins to question her relationship, not because it looks or feels unsound but because to her it feels too good to be true. It doesnt help that Paxton is an understanding, caring boyfriend who is prepared to step back, make amends for previous mistakes and of course, do it while looking hot as hell.

This new season has interesting sub-plots that graduate to a somewhat level playing field alongside Devis life. Bens continued obsession despite having a girlfriend of his own, Eleanors newfound love in a warm-hearted school simpleton, and Fabiolas continued brush with adolescence and acceptance are all interesting arcs that are given ample time to bloom into their own little stories. The series has also quietly become the epitome of perfectly placed pop-culture references from Bridgerton to a nod to fellow NRI nightmare, Netflixs Indian Matchmaking. I guess it helps a platform with a giant catalogue that its shows have begun to refer its own creations as identifiers of the zeitgeist.

The series also continues its tradition of honouring Indian cliques, and exhibiting rituals in a manner that feels neither half-assed nor devout. Few shows have made Indian culture as palatable without the smirk of condescension, and the fact that Devi herself is alien to her heritage, makes the learning process seem real. McEnroes somewhat divisive narration has also bloomed into a cunning narrative tool, the punchline that exists outside the silly, often messy world of the show. These are after all teenagers, who have little idea of who they want to be.

Not everything has always worked for a series that can often also start to drag. Teenage comedies are fertile ground for reckless experiments, but even though Never Have I Ever is restrained, owing to its immigrant heritage, it can oversimplify things for the sake of movement. Devi and Paxtons break-up for example, is as instantaneous and unconvincing as the shows parade of hot Indian men. Devi fumbles her relationship more than she grasps it with any sort of clarity, and it is largely due to the flattening of Paxtons psyche, a man so magnetically flawless it seems unbelievable that he exists. Its far too convenient and linear in a forgettable way and you can see the shows desperation to race past the relationship to get to the awkward, post-breakup bits where the tension it has willingly and so adequately portrayed can return to the fore.

Never Have I Ever isnt as politically intuitive as maybe Sex Education, but it does have the charms of frivolity, done with a touch of subcontinental sensitively. These are teenagers with aspirations, half-baked ideas of the world and a lifetime of love and loss to look forward, which is why they often function with the nonchalance of learned machines that though grieving at one point, know they will eventually get out of it. It is in essence, a far-cry from how Hindi cinema or Indian families for that matter view personal relationships. A wretched, almost painful characteristic embodied so perfectly by Devis mother, played by the reliable Poorna Jagannathan. The series though middling in its humour, can often feel seminal in what it says about brown kids, families and immigrant cultures waiting to be absorbed by the land they continue arrive in without ever quite reaching.

The author writes on art and culture, cinema, books, and everything in between. Views expressed are personal.

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Never Have I Ever Season 3 review: Still one of the best teen comedies out there - Entertainment News , Firstpost - Firstpost