Category Archives: Zeitgeist Movement

Its as immutable as a transaction on the blockchain: Nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, have permanently made their mark on art history. While the movement has some members of the arterati swooning at the notion of unwashed digital hordes laying siege to their domain, the reality is that the two worlds of high art and crypto are fated to become one and the same.

You might not have heard of Mike Winkelmann, but at least one art icon is ready to say he could rank up there with Pablo Picasso. The 39-year-old artist better known as Beeple has successfully forced his way into over a half-dozen different encyclopedia entries today after the sale of a career retrospective collage, The First 5000 Days, was auctioned off in the form of an NFT for a staggering $69.3 million.

The sale set numerous records and earned Winkelmann a number of highfalutin superlatives ones that are no doubt making NFT collectors and prospectors rub their palms: the third-most expensive piece sold at auction by a living artist, the first wholly digital NFT sale at Christies and the most expensive NFT ever sold.

Aside from bumping up the cap on multiple biggest-ever records, the $69 million price tag also marks a definitive point of no return. If there was an opportunity to wrangle the narrative, to alter the trajectory of the zeitgeist, it has long past. Beeple is now an artist of worldwide historical importance; Beeple is high culture. Beeple sold his work as an NFT; NFTs are the new medium of high art. The debate is over, and were merely left to wonder and worry over what it all means.

As Kenny Schachter, a self-described writer-artist-curator-teacher-dealer, told Cointelegraph:

Whether the fine art world likes it or not, this IS the fine art world now [] These are the people [that] are going to revolutionize the business they already have and change how people collect and what people collect. Its already happened.

The great irony, of course, is that the fine art world and the cryptocurrency world have more in common than not. While the gatekeepers of high art rush to defend what Schachter calls the last bastion of expression that hasnt been exploited by the media from corrupting NFT incursions, the existing NFT culture, ethos and tech might be how the last bastion maintains its elite status for generations to come.

Beeple is one of the largest natively digital artists and Christies one of the largest traditional auction houses, said Aaron Wright, co-founder of OpenLaw and the NFT investment group Flamingo DAO, of the auction. NFTs are no longer operating at the margin. They are moving to the heart of the art world.

Its a shift that not even longtime participants in the NFT space, such as collector and developer Nate Hart, have fully come to terms with. Just two years ago, Hart was attending hackathons and shipping indie NFT projects; now, hes being interviewed on nationally syndicated news programs about his collection.

The Beeple thing is pretty crazy to me. It doesnt strike me as something that would be placed among high art, but I have long expected some of the most elite NFTs like CryptoKitties #1 and/or CryptoPunk aliens would be in Christies or Sothebys eventually, said Hart. I have several NFTs that are worth 6 figures now and I wonder to myself, Am I a high-end art collector now?

That exact question has the established high-end dealers, collectors, gallerists and other art world banner carriers breaking into fits of apoplexy. Theres been a spate of grumblings disguised as think pieces from members of the art world both high and low: Georgina Adam broke out scare quotes while arguing that most established art world participants would be horrified by most of the art offered as NFTs; Brian Droitcour decried the majority of the listings on SuperRare as derivative dross and said that the wider crypto space is fundamentally pyramidal in nature; and prior to recanting some of his statements as stupid in an interview with Cointelegraph, Schachter combined Adams and Droitcours views, saying A lot of NFT art doesnt communicate much, nor have anything in the way of purpose other than its exchange value.

Art critic Blake Gopnik made his view especially clear in his interview with Marketplace:

No one, I hope, no one is saying these are timeless works of human creation and ingenuity, because theyre just completely trivial as artworks.

Adding on top of these qualitative arguments, anti-riot gear has recently been distributed to arterati gatekeepers in the form of accusations regarding the calamitous environmental impact of NFTs a tired old Gish gallop that the wider cryptocurrency world has been fending off for a decade-plus. The thing is, crypto can keep fending: Outsiders wildly underestimate the delight nerds take in composing rebuttal blogs.

If digital currency aficionados feel like theyve heard all this before, its because they have Itll be blockchain, not Bitcoin Its a fun experiment, but theres no staying power Its a pyramid scheme; the only value comes from greater fools. There are a few slight twists in terminology and use case (art instead of currency), but ultimately, its the same cocktail of long-debunked FUD.

Likewise, art world participants with a greater sense of nuance (or in possession of a financial incentive to welcome a new trend, take your pick) also spot cyclicality in these arguments from critics.

Noah Davis, a specialist in Post-War and Contemporary art at Christies who oversaw the Beeple auction, told Cointelegraph that the pearl-clutching response is not unlike the advent of Street Art as a blue chip collecting category, where the controversy surrounding the work of outsider artists like Banksy entering auction houses paradoxically legitimized the work.

A similar view comes from Damien Hirst, the iconic British artist who recently said he loved cryptocurrency and would be accepting it for a print run. When Hirst and the other Young British Artists forced their way onto the scene in the late 80s, critics launched similarly predictable, scare-quote heavy tirades, going so far as to write whole books about why Hirsts work was a sham. Today, hes one of the highest-grossing artists at auction ever.

Hirst told Cointelegraph that the critical dustup is a rodeo hes attended at least once before:

I havent heard a good argument yet for why this new crypto art isnt art and thats how it always starts, theres not really any doubt that Beeple, (Mike Winkelmann) is a fucking great artist and why not on a par with any of the great artists of history? I love it when something comes along that makes the small minded artworld get its knickers in a twist and mostly when that shit happens in my experience its not going away anytime soon.

The centimillionaire also teased an NFT project of his own, The Currency, which is set for release later this year a drop that will make him comfortably the highest-profile institutional artist to make the leap into the NFT art world.

Part of whats making the arterati so fussy is that NFTs as an art movement resist simple historical contextualization. Its not quite a semi-homogenous aesthetic trend like Pop art or Post-Internet, nor is it just a technological advancement like photography and it cant be easily lumped into an ideological movement like the Situationists or Dadaism. Its a loose, dynamic blend of ideology, art and technology. But despite the ever-shifting landscape, the critics sought and found in that slurry the necessary ingredients to set themselves dyspeptic.

In contrast, participants within the young movement are notably optimistic. NFT collector gmoney breaks down three key technical innovations:

I think there are a few things that are making blockchain art stand out as a movement. First is the artist being able to more directly interact with their collectors. Second, is the provable provenance of work, and the ability to get paid for that work. And third, is the 24/7 international market that is always open.

Combine those properties enabled by the blockchain with a free, open-source ethos and an aesthetic that tends toward a flashy and a more-is-more attitude, for better or for worse, as Hart puts it, and you have the outline of something at least vaguely resembling a fully-fledged artistic movement.

Critics, however, point out that barring the blockchain-based technological advances everything the NFT art movement is bringing to the table has been done before. Droitcour says there were experiments in digital ownership with the net art of the 90s, and multiple observers have noted that NFT artists are largely deploying well-trod forms artists have experimented with since digital art first emerged in the 1960s.

These gripes aside, most critics just dont like NFT art. Reason being: NFT art doesnt know how to put the pinkie out.

Descriptors include garish, cartoonish and comparisons to something youd see on the back of a van. It needs a little bit more critical engagement. Theres a more-than-faintly paternalistic belief that NFT artists need to open a few history books and learn about art-art if they really want to make a lasting historical impact.

Many of the above comments came from one critic in particular: Schachter. He, who describes himself as the most democratic person youll meet who has a position in the fine art world, has since walked at least some of them back, however, and now thinks that NFT art is primed for an institutional takeover.

All the people making fun of it are going to be putting it on their walls in 5-10 years, he told Cointelegraph.

Shachters about-face likely mirrors a conversion the rest of the art world is set to undergo. And how can they not? The crypto art market is rapidly approaching a half-billion dollars in sales, a growing percentage of the entire art market. If you want blockchain tech and blockchain new money, the existing cultural capital of blockchain art is a necessary stick.

The Ethers out of the ether, and nothings going to stuff it back in, said Schachter. There will be hyperinflation of prices with a few specific phenomena, but this is no way a bubble.

Wedding the two worlds will require a period of mutual education, however. Schachter is currently teaching a class at New York University on NFTs (it was set to be a history of furniture design, but the students demanded more timely material), doing a deep dive on the history of NFTs and NFT art.

He says he loves the anarchy, and the nihilism, I love the disruption of these people fucking the art world up and shaking it up, but he bemoans the lack of contextualization NFT artists have about their place in art history.

Some of these artists dont know who, you know, who Calder is, Giacometti, or Miro, or even the most well-known artists, he said. [] These people are artists, I dont care if they know who Basquiat is or not, if anyone makes something thats a visual means of self expression, its all valid. But if you want it to be art or call it art, crack a book.

Its an onus he puts on himself, NFT artists and the fuddy-duddy art world all at once all parties need to learn each others history and to adapt to the new technological world.

Covid accelerated the boring, stupid art world relationship with technology and advanced it 15 years in one year, he said. Theres simply no going back.

To help bring the worlds together, Schachter is curating Breadcrumbs, a show of NFT art that will be displayed at German gallery Nagel Draxler on April 9. A preview reveals hell be showing off Cryptopunks and Pepes as part of the pieces on display:

If there are battle lines between the traditional art world and the NFT art world, its clear where Schachter stands (even if he has lobbed grenades in multiple directions). When asked about Breadcrumbs, the curatorial theme wasnt subtle:

Its about giving a fuck-you to the art world, that this is art whether you like it or not.

Of the dozen criticisms Ive read, only one came close to getting it right.

In a piece for his publication, ARTnews president Marion Maneker portrayed the crypto hoards as barbarians, having successfully laid the financial doubters low and now roaming the lands for yet another city to raze a city that Maneker implies exists only in their imaginations.

Its not about the art. Its not even all about the money, he wrote. [] Its about toppling what many of the crypto advocates consciously or unconsciously see as the last bastion of a remote, opaque and gnostic high culture.

Maneker, who has an astonishingly long resume (he used to work for three different publications with New York in their title), implied that the notion of a removed, elitist art world was absurd, using largely unattributed quotes as his tool to do so just a step up from scare quotes. Having read his resume, Im not falling for it.

Snobbery aside, Maneker ultimately started down the right psychodynamic diagnostic route, but he simply came to the wrong conclusion. Barbarians dont always raze, and they dont always topple; in fact, theres good historical evidence that sometimes barbarians are lovers rather than fighters. And similar to ancient Rome, the art world can be proficient at folding outsiders into the flock.

Bitcoin and crypto folks joke about the Citadel, a dystopian future where theyve become a permanently entrenched neo-aristocracy after taking down the legacy financial system. The Citadel will need art and inhabitants will need a way to feel important. The barbarians dont want to burn the Last Bastion; they want a ticket in.

Right now, the art world wants cryptos money; soon, after a few more years of snobby scare quotes, theyll want the art too. The Citadel and the Last Bastion will become one and the same, and fine art and NFTs will complete their matrimony. The two already insufferable communities are fated to have horrible ideological babies that will no doubt deserve the guillotine, and the cycle will begin anew.

Water pours from the sky, and yet, the oceans never fill. Blockchain and art are both formed from a twin destructive/regenerative energy the kind that delights artists like Hirst:

Picasso made infantile art when he was a grand old man, Cy Twombly sells paintings for millions that look like scribbles, who the fuck knows. Who knows whats next? Whats relevant. Lets let the people who havent been born yet decide.

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Storming the 'last bastion': Angst and anger as NFTs claim high-culture status - Cointelegraph

Members of the royal family on Christmas Day 2017. Photo / AP

Welcome to the weekend.

Settle down with a cuppa and catch up on some of the best content from our premium syndicators this week.

Happy reading.

When Prince Harry's wife, Meghan, referred to the British royal family as "the Firm" in their dramatic interview with Oprah Winfrey, she evoked an institution that is as much a business as a fairy tale.

It is now a business in crisis, after the couple levelled charges of racism and cruelty against members of the family.

The New York Times looks at how for all the familial drama, Harry and Meghan's story is also about workplace conflict and what happens when a glamorous outsider joins a hidebound family business.

ALSO READ: The 'invisible' pact binding the UK royals and their tabloid tormentors A tale old and new as another royal wife breaks free For UK, Meghan and Harry interview resurfaces issues of race and royal tradition UK politicians tread carefully in minefield left by Harry and Meghan's interview

After an earthquake and tsunami pummeled a nuclear plant about 20km from their home, Tomoko Kobayashi and her husband joined the evacuation and left their Dalmatian behind, expecting they would return home in a few days.

It ended up being five years. Even now a decade after those deadly natural disasters on March 11, 2011, set off a catastrophic nuclear meltdown the Japanese government has not fully reopened villages and towns within the original 20km evacuation zone around the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. And even if it did, many former residents have no plans to return.

The New York Times looks at how ten years on residents are readjusting to places that feel familiar and hostile at once.

ALSO READ: A village erased: Japan still rebuilding 10 years on Ten years after Fukushima disaster, this nurse may be the region's best hope Japan's nuclear ghost town - and the people who never left

Earlier this year Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic and the leader of the country's largest grassroots opposition movement, was detained at the airport upon returning from five months of recuperation in Berlin, following an assassination attempt using a Soviet-developed nerve agent. He was charged and later sentenced to two-and-a-half years in jail.

The intended message was clear: after years of handicapping and intimidating opposition groups but reluctantly accepting their existence, Putin had lost patience. No longer would Navalny and his followers simply be suppressed. Now they would be silenced.

After eras of prosperity and patriotism, Russia's president is now ramping up repression to hold on to power. The Financial Times reports.

Like a scene with somebody smoking in a pub, it has became apparent that none of the rom-coms from the 1990s and 2000s would be made today.

This is not a plea to cancel anything from the days when woke was what you did when you stopped sleeping. Instead it's clear rom-coms are a time capsule, storing attitudes of when they were made, for studying, and gawping at, later.

The Times looks at how these rom-coms reflect a very different, often cringeworthy age.

When newcomers discover Robinhood, and decide to use the zeitgeist US trading platform to punt around in stocks, many of them have questions. Chief among them, it seems, is "what is the stock market?".

Along with "what is the S&P 500?". But what Robinhood's army of untrained investors lacks in market knowledge, it more than makes up for in enthusiasm and impact.

A few months ago, these so-called retail traders were a quirky sideshow in US stocks. They ended up piggybacking on a historic rally in equities that has now been running for nearly a year.

The Financial Times looks at how the growth of retail trading is forcing mainstream investors to take note.

ALSO READ: GameStop shares whipsaw in echo of January frenzy Warren Buffet's stark warning about bonds Are markets really rigged?

With a population of about two dozen that relies on a subsistence life, fishing pike in the summer and hunting moose in the fall, Birch Creek operates like numerous villages in Alaska, with no road access, no running water and no neighbours for miles. But despite the natural isolation the coronavirus had still managed to find its way in.

The New York Times looks at how there's a rush to deliver vaccines to these remote locations.

Trauma at a young age can be a path to extraordinary lives, says British author Matthew Parris, and it often arrives in the form of the "five horsemen of the childhood apocalypse".

Jane Clifton of The New Zealand Listener looks at how childhood trauma shapes extraordinary people.

As the pandemic forces parents into an impossible juggling act between career and childcare, two in five working mothers have taken, or are considering taking, a step back at work, a survey found.

The proportion of fathers looking to reduce their workloadswas 10 percentage points lower among the nearly 400 respondents.

The Financial Times looks at how the knock-on effects of school closures are disproportionately hurting working women.

ALSO READ: What do we like about working from home? Opinion: Do young people really need the office?

For a visitor who was on the island of Oahu in 2019 when a record 10.4 million people visited Hawaii, returning to Honolulu nearly a year after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic is breathtaking.

At Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, souvenir shops and nearly all food vendors have closed. In neighbourhoods around the state's capital, restaurants and bars, tour operators and travel agencies have shuttered permanently, and many that remain appear to be shells of the popular jaunts they were before the pandemic. Hotels with skeleton staffs. No tourist-filled buses blocking the entrances to attractions. Plenty of room to move on sidewalks without bumping shoulders.

Before Covid, 'tourism was at this point where everything was about tourists.' With the one-year anniversary of travel's collapse, Hawaii, like other overtouristed places, is hoping for a reset.

The New York Times reports.

In just a matter of weeks, two variants of the coronavirus have become so familiar that you can hear their inscrutable alphanumeric names regularly uttered on television news.

B.1.1.7, first identified in Britain, has demonstrated the power to spread far and fast. In South Africa, a mutant called B.1.351 can dodge human antibodies, blunting the effectiveness of some vaccines.

Scientists have also had their eye on a third concerning variant that arose in Brazil, called P.1.

The New York Times looks at how the first detailed studies of the so-called P.1 variant show how it devastated a Brazilian city.

ALSO READ: How a Holocaust survivor showed up for a vaccine and charmed a hospital 'At your age, it's the vaccine or the grave' How employers can reduce vaccine hesitancy

On February 18 Facebook purged Australian news articles from its platform. Articles from Australia's largest media outlets, the Sydney Morning Herald, 9News, the Australian, the Guardian Australia and public broadcaster ABC were among them.

It was a shock protest move by Facebook against the News Media Bargaining Code the Australian Government is introducing that will require Facebook and Google to pay Australian news outlets for the privilege of running links to their articles.

The news ban turned out to be short-lived but it was incredibly disruptive.

Peter Griffin of the New Zealand Listen looks at how while Facebook may end up paying news companies for content, it has shown Australia who's boss.

ALSO READ: How do Silicon Valley techies celebrate getting rich in a pandemic?

Read the rest here:

A royal bombshell and other premium stories you may have missed this week - New Zealand Herald

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Just when you thought the exhausted mafia film genre had nothing new to offer, here comes the brand new Mafia Inc.

Set in Montreal and based on a true story, the Sicilian-mafia drama -- which stars veteran Italian actor-writer-director Sergio Castellitto -- has a 100 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Beginning March 12, Cleveland Institute of Arts Cinematheque is offering the film through its virtual screening rooms.

Also beginning on March 12, the Cinematheque is screening a different type of disaster movie. Norways The Tunnel is a high-concept film following Christmas travelers, trapped in a tunnel due to a tank truck explosion, attempting to escape a fiery hell. Naturally, a raging blizzard hinders the arrival of first responders.

Virtual screening rooms continue to offer movie lovers a safe way to view first-run films online during a pandemic. Half the proceeds from the virtual films go back to the local theater. Costs vary for each film, which is accessible for either 48 or 72 hours.

Heres a look at new and current films streaming this weekend through Cinematheque and Cleveland Cinemas:

Brooklyn Castle

A decade after it was first released and perhaps capitalizing on The Queens Gambit popularity, Emmy Award-nominated Brooklyn Castle is getting re-released. The documentary features five chess team members from an inner-city junior high school, which has won the most national championships. (Cleveland Cinemas)

Lost Course

Chinese documentary Lost Course chronicles a fishing villages eight-year journey toward a grassroots democratic movement. While ousted local officials were illegally selling land, the newly elected officials turned out to be just as corrupt. (Cinematheque)

Mafia Inc

Despite the fact the mafia movie genre has been poked and prodded to death, every now and then theres a fresh take. This is the case with the brand new Mafia Inc, which is set in Montreal and based on a true story. The Sicilian-mafia drama -- which stars veteran Italian actor-writer-director Sergio Castellitto -- has a 100 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (Cinematheque)

Night of the Kings

Night of the Kings tells the harrowing story of a new arrival at an Ivorian prison who, in an attempt to stay alive, must spin an all-night tale. Director Philippe Lactes newest movie is Ivory Coasts official submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film category. (Cinematheque)

The Inheritance

Based on his experiences in a West Philadelphia radical collective, filmmaker Ephraim Asilis newest project is The Inheritance. Honoring generations of pioneering Black writers, musicians and radicals, the comedy revolves around an African-American man who opens his recently inherited grandmothers house to artists and activists. (Cinematheque)

The Tunnel

For those folks looking for a different type of disaster movie, Norways The Tunnel could be the answer. The high-concept film followers Christmas travelers trapped in a tunnel due to a tank truck explosion. Naturally, a raging blizzard hinders the arrival of first responders. (Cinematheque)

Women Composers

After realizing her repertoire consisted almost exclusively of music composed by men, Leipzig pianist Kyra Steckeweh began searching for pieces written by women. The result is new documentary Women Composers, which is receiving an apropos release date during Womens History Month. Steckeweh discusses the music and lives of Frances Mel Bonis and Lili Boulanger, as well as Germanys Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel. (Cinematheque)

STILL SHOWING

Acas, My Home

Acas, My Home tells the poignant and poetic story of a Romanian family with nine children who after living off the grid for nearly two decades in the Bucharest Delta must move to the city after their home becomes part of a new nature preserve. Radu Ciorniciucs documentary has a 100 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (Cinematheque)

Another Round

Booze is good is the simplistic premise put to the test of four unhappy high school teachers in new film Another Round. Director Thomas Vinterbergs (The Celebration) comedy-drama finds the characters testing out a prominent psychologists theory that human beings would be more creative, happier and relaxed with a constant level of alcohol in their blood. (Cinematheque)

Blizzard of Souls

The horrors of war reach new depths in the Blizzard of Souls, which is Latvias official submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film. Based on a semi-autobiographical novel by Aleksandrs Grns that was banned in the Soviet Union for 60 years, the detailed historical drama follows a wide-eyed teens journey from farm boy to hardened WWI soldier. (Cinematheque)

Collective

Recently named Romanias official entry for Best International Feature Film at the 2021 Academy Awards, Alexander Nanaus gripping documentary Collective delves into the fallout from the Bucharest 2015 Colectiv nightclub fire, which killed or injured more than 200 people. Weaving together accounts from whistleblowers, newspaper reporters, government officials and burn victims, the impressive piece of investigative journalism uncovers deadly corruption within Romanias healthcare industry. (Cinematheque)

Coming Home Again

Director Wayne Wang (Chan Is Missing and The Joy Luck Club) based his new film Coming Home Again on a New Yorker essay about a first-generation Korean-American man who returns to his San Francisco home to care for his ailing Korean mother. (Cinematheque)

Days of the Bagnold Summer

Based on Joff Winterharts graphic novel, Simon Birds new film Days of the Bagnold Summer finds a bored, British teen deep into heavy metal who must spend his six-week vacation in England with his single and lonely librarian mom. Belle & Sebastian provide the soundtrack. (Cleveland Cinemas)

Dear comrades!

Russias official submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film is Dear comrades! The black-and-white historical drama, which includes some dark humor, is about a 1962 massacre of striking factory workers in a small Russian industrial town. (Cinematheque)

Falling

Academy Award-nominated actor Viggo Mortensen makes his directorial debut in new film Falling, which finds a headstrong and independent father -- struggling with early stages of dementia -- forced to leave his rural farm and stay with his son in Los Angeles. The drama stars Mortensen, Lance Henriksen and Laura Linney. (Cleveland Cinemas)

A First Farewell

Featuring non-professional actors, A First Farewell exposes Chinas Muslim Uyghur minority. The story follows three Uyghur elementary school children in a rural farming community who are forced to adapt to Chinas Mandarin-language educational system. (Cinematheque)

Food Club

Foodies will enjoy Danish film Food Club, which follows three mature women -- girlfriends since elementary school -- who find their lives transformed when they take a cooking course in Italy. (Cinematheque and Cleveland Cinemas)

F.T.A.

Obscure documentary F.T.A. was the lefts answer to Bob Hopes USO tours. Filmed during the height of the Vietnam War protests, the recently-restored movie documents Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland and a troupe of entertainers traveling stateside and through Southeast Asia presenting an anti-war musical-comedy revue to soldiers. (Cinematheque and Cleveland Cinemas)

The Good Traitor

During WWII, Henrik Kauffmann was Denmarks ambassador to the U.S. Director Christina Rosendahl brings his story to life in new feature film The Good Traitor. When the Danish government surrendered to Nazi Germany in 1940, Kauffmann, who was living in Washington, D.C., declared himself the only true representative of a free Denmark. (Cinematheque)

Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman

Known as the father of the American Arts and Crafts movement, Gustav Stickley (1858-1942) designed and manufactured furniture, published The Craftsman magazine and founded Craftsman Farms, which is a forerunner to the farm-to-table movement. Herb Stratfords new documentary Gustav Stickley: American Craftsman includes interviews and archival materials. (Cinematheque)

Identifying Features

Director Fernanda Valadezs impressive film debut, Identifying Features, which won an Audience Award in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, revolves around a Mexican mother trying to discover the fate of her adolescent son who left home to cross the U.S. border. The suspenseful drama has a 100 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. (Cinematheque)

Just Dont Think Ill Scream

Director Frank Beauvais eclectic debut movie, Just Dont Think Ill Scream, is a collage film that strings together clips from B-movie and 70s horror flicks to create a tortured monologue to mirror the filmmakers post-breakup blues. (Cinematheque)

Keep An Eye Out

Cult director Quentin Dupieux (Rubber and Deerskin) is back with his own unique, bizarre and absurd take on 1970s police procedurals. The dark comedy Keep An Eye Out stars Benot Poelvoorde (Man Bites Dog). (Cinematheque)

Lapsis

Examining modern life in a gig economy, Lapsis is about a middle-aged man who in order to earn money to care for his sick brother takes a job laying fiber-optic cable through remote, dangerous terrain for an advanced new computer network. The film, which is written and directed by Deborah Winger and Timothy Huttons son Noah Hutton, is nominated for a 2021 Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay. (Cinematheque)

M.C. Escher: Journey To Infinity

Robin Lutzs new documentary M.C. Escher: Journey To Infinity delves into the life and legacy of Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, whose surreal, psychedelic bland-and-white drawings bridged the worlds of art and mathematics. The film includes surviving family members with Graham Nash providing voice over. (Cinematheque)

Meeting the Beatles In India

In 1968, Paul Saltzman -- who was studying transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi -- unexpectedly crossed paths with the Fab Four. Now the Emmy Award-winning Canadian filmmaker has turned this experience into new documentary Meeting the Beatles In India, which is narrated by Morgan Freeman and includes never-before-seen personal photos. (Cinematheque)

Minari

Director Lee Isaac Chungs Minari, which stars Steven Yeun (Walking Dead), is a touching, tender, semi-autobiographical work about a Korean immigrant family that relocates from California to a farm in rural Arkansas during the 1980s. Currently boasting a 99 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the film is the winner of both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at last years Sundance Film Festival. (Cinematheque)

My Darling Supermarket

Grocery store employees -- better known as essential workers in 2020 -- are featured in new documentary My Darling Supermarket. Filmed prior to the pandemic, the Brazilian movie follows the joys, struggles and dreams of employees working in a large Sao Paolo supermercado. (Cinematheque)

My Little Sister

The official Swiss submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film is My Little Sister, which has a 100 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The drama finds a once brilliant playwright -- who no longer writes -- returning to her craft when her famous stage actor twin brother is diagnosed with leukemia. (Cinematheque)

My Rembrandt

Both discriminating art lovers and neophytes will enjoy the entertaining -- and amusing -- new film My Rembrandt. Boasting a 100 percent critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary not only tells a series of entertaining true stories about the recent acquisition and disposition of Rembrandt paintings, but also exposes a hidden world of elite European art dealers, art museums and art collectors. (Cinematheque)

Nasrin

Jeff Kaufmans new documentary Nasrin spotlights Nasrin Sotoudeh, who is currently a political prisoner serving a 38-year sentence. The portrait of the Iranian human rights lawyer -- who has fought for the rights of women, children, LGBT prisoners, religious minorities, journalists, artists and death row inmates -- is narrated by Olivia Colman and features interviews with filmmaker Jafar Panahi, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi and journalist Ann Curry. (Cinematheque)

Notturno

Selected as Italys official submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film, Gianfranco Rosis documentary was filmed over three years on the borders between Iraq, Kurdistan, Syria and Lebanon. The movie tackles everyday lives impacted by civil wars, dictatorships, foreign invasions and ISIS. (Cinematheque)

The People vs. Agent Orange

New documentary The People vs. Agent Orange explores how the toxic chemical was employed as a defoliant during the Vietnam War, as well as how it continues to be used by the American timber industry today. The film focuses on the crusade of two women -- an American and French resident -- trying to stop the use of Agent Orange, which causes deformities, disabilities, disease and death. (Cinematheque)

Preparations to be Together for an Unknown Period of Time

A romantic drama that gets turned on its head, director Lili Horvts Preparations To Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time tells the story of a successful stateside Hungarian neurosurgeon who after starting a relationship with a doctor at conference returns to Budapest to continue the relationship. The movie is Hungarys official submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film. (Cinematheque)

The Reason I Jump

Winner of the Audience Award for World Cinema Documentary at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, The Reason I Jump follows five autistic people from around the globe who lack the ability to speak. Jerry Rothwells documentary is based on the acclaimed book by Naoki Higashida. (Cleveland Cinemas)

Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words

For those fans of Ruth Bader Ginsburg who dont feel its soon after her death last year, Freida Lee Mock has a documentary for you. Ruth: Justice Ginsburg In Her Own Words tells the improbable story of how Ginsburg -- who couldnt get a job despite tying first in her graduating law class and making Law Review at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools -- became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. (Cleveland Cinemas)

Safer at Home

Heres a thriller that maybe hits a little too close to home during a pandemic. Director Will Wernicks Safer at Home explores what can happen when friends decide to have a socially-distant friendly Zoom party. However, it turns out COVID-19 isnt the scariest thing during a pandemic when a night of music, games, drinking and drugs goes terribly wrong. (Cinematheque)

Songs My Brothers Taught Me

While director Chlo Zhaos third feature film Nomadland is currently attracting Oscar buzz, her 2015 debut, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, is worthy of viewing. Shot on location in South Dakotas Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the film provides insight into troubled Native American life while following two teens who react differently to the death of their rodeo father. (Cinematheque)

Stray

Elizabeth Los imaginative new film Stray is a mostly wordless documentary that follows a stray dog living in Istanbul alongside other homeless canines, as well as Syrian refugees. In addition to the feature, theres an exclusive Q&A with Lo. (Cinematheque and Cleveland Cinemas)

Test Pattern

Shatara Michelle Fords debut feature, Test Pattern, taps into the zeitgeist touching upon everything from health care inequities, the #MeToo movement, policing and race in America. The award-winning feature focuses on the relationship between a young Black woman and her white boyfriend as he drives her in search of a rape kit after she is sexually assaulted by another man. (Cinematheque and Cleveland Cinemas)

Til Kingdom Come

Director Maya Zinshteins new documentary Til Kingdom Come explores the unlikely ties between an impoverished coal-mining town in Kentucky and Israel. Specifically, the film follows the Bluegrass State pastors and their Evangelical congregants who believe the Jews are crucial to Jesus return. (Cleveland Cinemas)

To the Ends of the Earth

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawas (Cure and Pulse) latest project is the black comedy To the Ends of the Earth, which stars J-pop icon Atusko Maeda. A Japanese TV reporter takes her travel show to Uzbekistan, where while searching for a mythical fish her life quickly unravels into a self-discovery journey. (Cinematheque)

Two of Us

Frances official submission for the 2021 Oscar for Best International Feature Film is Two of Us, which follows two elderly women who have been neighbors -- as well as secret lovers -- for decades. Their decision to relocate to Rome and live openly is met with unexpected consequences. Viewers can view a pre-recorded, post-film discussion between writer/director Filippo Meneghetti, star Barbara Sukowa and international film icon Isabelle Huppert. (Cleveland Cinemas and Cinematheque)

True Mothers

Japans official submission for this years Oscar for Best International Feature Film is True Mothers, which is a heart-wrenching story about a married couples struggle to keep their adopted child after his birth mother arrives in the picture. (Cinematheque)

Un Film Dramatique

French filmmaker ric Baudelaire gave 21 suburban Paris middle schoolers a video camera to capture not only trials and tribulations associated with their maturation but also their perspectives on current socio-political concerns such as ethnicity, discrimination, immigration and elections. The result is new documentary Un Film Dramatique, which was produced via the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize. (Cinematheque)

Variety Lights

Newly-restored classic Variety Lights, which was co-directed by Federico Fellini and Alberto Lattuada, finally makes its Cinematheque debut. The 1950 film -- featuring plenty of small-time performers -- shows what happens to a traveling vaudeville troupe when a beautiful and ambitious young dancer joins the fun. (Cinematheque)

What Happened Was

Tom Noonans directorial debut, What Happened Was, which won the top prize at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival, was recently restored. The film depicts the awkwardness associated with first dates when two lonely co-workers spend an uneasy Friday night together. (Cinematheque)

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Mafia Inc. and The Tunnel top this weeks streaming movies at Cleveland Cinemas and Cinematheque - cleveland.com

University of Arkansas

Lisa M. Corrigan,

Award-winning author Lisa M. Corrigan, director of theGender Studies Programand professor in theDepartment of Communicationin theFulbright College of Arts and Sciences, has won the 2021 Outreach Award from the Southern States Communication Association.

The award will be presented in April at the yearly meeting of the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA) Convention.

The award "honors SSCA members who have made significant contributions to the profession by facilitating the success and access of under-represented populations or the integration of specific groups of students, professionals, or scholars into the communication discipline or professional organizations."

Corrigan has been a member of SSCA for 14 years and has served the association in many roles. In 2016, she served as the chair and planner of the largest division of the organization Rhetoric & Public Address at its annual convention. She has also served the Cleavinger Undergraduate Honors Conference for many years.

In 2018, she was awarded the association's John I. Sisco Excellence in Teaching Award.

And in 2019, she helped to create SSCA's new standing committee on Diversity, Equityand Inclusion. Consequently, she has been appointed to serve as a member for the committee's first term.

Of the award, Corrigan said, "I'm honored and humbled to receive this service award for my career-long commitment to inclusion, equity, diversity, and access, and to serving underrepresented groups here at the University of Arkansas, in the city of Fayetteville, across the state of Arkansas, and in the field of communication more broadly."

Corrigan is also an affiliate faculty member in the U of A's African and African American Studies Program and the Latin American and Latino Studies Program.

Her first book, Prison Power: How Prison Influenced the Movement for Black Liberation received the National Communication Association's 2017 Diamond Anniversary Book Award and 2017 African American Communication and Culture Division's Outstanding Book Award, making Corrigan the first U of A professor to win these awards.

Her second book, Black Feelings: Race and Affect in the Long Sixties, was just published in 2020.

Her newest edited collection, titled#Me Too: A Rhetorical Zeitgeist, will be availablein June from Routledge.

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Director of Gender Studies Wins Outreach Award From Southern States Communication Association - University of Arkansas Newswire

A Milwaukee teacher, in 2009, called one of her students up to the front of the classroom for playing with her hair. Timidly, the young Black girl walked to the front of the room. The teacher claimed it was a distraction to the class, and with a pair of scissors cut off one of her braids. The little girl walked back to her seat while her classmates laughed, and the teacher mocked her by asking if she was going to tell her mother. She cried at her desk.

Later, when her mother found out, she took the issue to the school. According to reports by WISN and the Journal Sentinel, the teacher was charged with disorderly conduct and fined $175. In the reports published about the incident, the name of the young girl was used in several outlets, but the teachers name was not mentioned once. There was no follow up report on if she was fired or taken off paid leave.

Since then, both Milwaukee and Dane counties have passed their own versions of the CROWN Act (Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair). The legislation aimed to make workplaces more equitable and stop targeted hair discrimination, which is often overlooked but is still present today, especially for Black women. In January 2021, The CROWN Act was passed by the Milwaukee legislature in a unanimous vote. Dane County passed the CROWN Act as local ordinance which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Wisconsin Fair Employment Act.

Milwaukee Countys version may extend to businesses registered or operating inside the county. Dane County passed a version which only applies to operations using county resources, which drastically limits where the law is enforceable. Meaning, there are businesses in Dane County to whom the law does not apply and may still have dress codes which discriminate based on hair because they do not utilize county resources.

Rep. LaKeshia Myers co-sponsored the legislation and believes it is a crucial step toward equity in the workplace. She said that the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, but there is not adequate legislation that bans discrimination for hair. A lawsuit in 1976 is the sole protection for natural hair but only specifies afros as a protected style. Where enforceable, the CROWN Act added twists, braids and dreadlocks to the list of protected styles. It also protected against dress codes which labeled these styles as unprofessional and against company grooming guidelines.

As Black people, our natural hair textures must not be weaponized and used as a tool of rejection when seeking or maintaining employment, Myers said. With changing demographics and values we must evolve our policy to reflect and protect the people it represents.

According to a study by Doves CROWN Coalition which surveyed 2,000 participants Black women are 80% more likely to change their hairstyle to adhere to a dress code or societal expectations. Black women are also reported to be 30% more likely to have a grooming policy that is specific to their natural hair textures. Following suit, Black women are 1.5 times more likely to be sent home because of their hair styles. In the Good Hair Study by Taborah Johnson, of the 4,163 men and women surveyed, Black women recognize the social stigma against textured hair and have the highest levels of social anxiety about their hair. According to the study African American Women, Hair Care, and Health Barriers, 60% of Black women wore their hair chemically straightened at some point and 41% had been embarrassed by their hair.

According to Hair It Is: Examining the Experiences of Black Women with Natural Hair, Hairstyles have historically represented social class and political stance. This has translated to the separation of Black features from European features as a lower level of social status or class regardless of their economic situation. Black hair has not escaped this notion of vulgarity, said Johnson. Black hair continues to be seen as wild, untamed and frightening. While the view of Black hair had not much changed, it is evolving. The sense of community surrounding styling hair remained an intrinsic part of the Black community.

Jermaine Jones, the owner of The Barber Academy in downtown Racine and barber, said barbershops meant a lot to the community. Customers come in if it is just for a haircut, or if its just to talk, says Jones. Its like a meeting ground where you can feel comfortable The shop is not only a place to talk, but a place for networking. According to Jones, people who work at fortune 500 companies might come in and have an appointment right after someone who works at McDonalds. They are always talking about their lives and help promote Black excellence, and of course provide the most recent styles.

In ancient Africa and in some cultures today, social, marital status and age are represented with hair. In some cultures, as the most elevated portion of the body, hair is believed to help with divine communication. Therefore, in many cultures styling is done by family or those who are close to them to protect their spirituality. Socialization was common whilst styling hair, similarly to the barbershops of our modern day.

One example is the hairstyles of the Fulani tribe, which was largest nomadic tribe in the world. Their hairstyles were brought into the modern zeitgeist. They braided their hair into what looks like modern dreadlocks. Some young girls decorated their hair with beads and cowrie shells. Another example is the Hiba tribe of Northwestern Namibia. Teens wore dreadlocks or braids that covered their faces to symbolize they have entered puberty. Married women and those who had recently given birth wore headdresses and women who are ready for marriage tied the dreads back to reveal their faces. Men wore a single braid to show they had not married. When their status changes, they put a covering over their heads never to show the tops of their head again in public apart from funerals.

In Ancient Egypt wigs were worn as a status symbol. Only the wealthy and powerful were permitted to shave their heads and decide when they were to wear hair. With the harsh sun and extreme heat, it was a luxury to know you would have shade to protect the top of your head from burning. Wigs adorned fine lace and jewels to further represent their high class.

Europeans and slave traders knew the cultural importance of hair, which was why many who were captured and forced into slavery were shaved before being transported to another country. Those who were not shaved may have braided rice grains into their hair according to Judith Carney in her book Black Rice. This might have proven essential to survival on the brutal journey many people did not survive. It is also corroborated by the presence of rice from Africa that was not seen in the Americas at the time until the transportation of African slaves.

Descriptions of slaves who ran away to find freedom had their descriptions posted including their walk, demeanor and hair styling. The term wooly was often used according to Slave Hair and the African American Culture in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. When a freedom-seeker was captured, barring they were not killed, might have had their head shaved along with the physical torture to discourage running away again.

Having been treated as disposable, deformities were not uncommon for slaves. Often, while their hair was generally matted and knotted due to the poor conditions, hair styles were one of their sole forms of self-expression, according to Slave Hair. It was also a mode of survival and health. According to I am Not My Hair: African American Women and Their Struggles with Embracing Natural Hair, those who worked in the fields might have worn rags to protect themselves from the sun and those who worked in the house might have mimicked the style of the enslavers by wearing wigs, straightening or shaving the head to hide their natural curls.

According to Slave Hair the testimony of Black people made it clear some of the communal aspects of hair care survived the twentieth century, but these tend to be associated with attempts to make African American hair resemble that of whites. One relaxant which was common was a combination of eggs, potatoes and lye. Malcom X was one of many who endured the painful application of this mixture. Other forms of relaxant and straightening were also used. Roger Wilkins, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, had his hair greased with Vaseline e

very night by his grandfather, then placed a stocking around the straightened hair overnight so it would hold its shape. He did this from the time he was a child all the way through college because he did not wish to be known as a wooly head.

During the Black is Beautiful movement in the 1960s, the afro became a symbol of self-acceptance and simultaneously an attack on white-supremacist norms. Symbols such as the fist and the peace sign adorned the handles of picks and were enforced by idols such as Angela Davis. According to a 1960s Newsweek poll, nearly 70% of northern Black people and 40% of southern Black people under thirty approved of afros, whereas before nearly all straightened their hair or styled against its natural growth.

During this time, Milwaukee was one of the most segregated cities in the nation. The Inner Core, a section of neighborhoods that was located on the North side of the city, housed nearly all of Milwaukees Black population. Between the years 1950 and 1960 the Black population had grown over 186% and the size of the Inner core had not increased. According to the study the Inner Core North, A Study of Milwaukees Negro Community, most jobs held by Black men was in physical labor like construction and smelting, and Black women held jobs in communications like phone operators. Of the 62,458 Black people who lived in Milwaukee, only 30 were barbers and 26.3% of the non-white population were living in poverty. This made it difficult to prioritize hair care when basic needs were not able to be met.

Milwaukee is still one of the most segregated cities in the US. However, the CROWN Act may contribute to solving this issue, according to Myers.

This does not mean attitudes towards natural Black hair and the Black identity will change over-night. Two days before the CROWN Act passage, a group of concerned parents called out the Cedarburg school Board and district Superintendent on permitting racism in their schools. The mothers biracial child would receive traditional shirts from his father who lives in Tanzania but was bullied because the style was different than typical US clothes. Now he is fearful of wearing anything that expresses his heritage and actively covers his hair and other identifying features that make him a target for bullying.

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A Brief History of the Twists, Knots and Kinks of Black Hair in Milwaukee - Milwaukee Magazine

W

e are in the midst of a historical throwback. Until recently, the period following the turn of the millennium was frequently dismissed as a pop-culture graveyard strewn with low rise jeans, rhinestones, peek-a-boo thongs and poorly blended hair extensions. Barring a few acclaimed artefacts, the Noughties were considered by many to be a culturally unremarkable time to be alive, and any evidence of the era largely documented on bubblegum pink Motorola Razrs was better forgotten. Over the past couple of years, though, this has all started to change.

References to Noughties pop culture are becoming increasingly commonplace in the mainstream. Gen-Z (those born between around 1996 and 2010) are said to glamorise the era: binge-watching Friends, wishing they could have been teenagers at the time, and resurrecting its most dreaded clothing trends under the label of Y2K fashion. For millennials, internet meme spheres are awash with clips from Big Brother, Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Peep Show. This has only geared up during the pandemic; last month, we even got a Tracy Beaker special, which set social media alight.

But as we reminisce about the Noughties, we are also reckoning with it. In 2019, we saw the release of a seismic three-part documentary series on Jade Goody, the reality star who lived her twenties in front of the camera from her Big Brother debut to her death from cervical cancer in 2009. In December, the BBC aired the four-part series Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story, which charted the evolution of celebrity culture from the year 2000. And last month, Framing Britney Spears, a New York Times documentary on Spearss mental health crisis and the subsequent Free Britney movement, sparked widespread conversation around the more morally dubious aspects of Noughties media production.

So why, in the early 2020s and in the midst of a pandemic, are we suddenly reflecting so intently on the turn of the millennium, and what can be learned from our current fascination with the Noughties?

Zeitgeist culture is dominated predominantly by people in their twenties, says Tara Joshi, presenter of Twenty Twenty, a podcast focusing on early Noughties pop culture. Joshi tells me that in essence, people love to indulge in the pop culture of their youth, and now, the children of the Noughties are old enough to influence mainstream culture.

Joshis theory also chimes well with the 20-year-rule which states that mass-market pop culture and fashion operate in cycles of around 20 years. As described by Simon Reynolds, author of Retromania: Pop Cultures Addiction to its Own Past: the 1970s saw Grease and Happy Days stoke nostalgia for the 50s, and 1990s rock and hip hop borrowed and sampled heavily from the music of the 1970s. Millennial nostalgia is part of the same trend, and its bang on schedule.

This makes Noughties culture profitable, says Joshi: Theres a booming nostalgia industry. She points towards the deluge of TV shows, fashion trends, articles and Facebook pages geared towards 1990s kids in the 2010s. This has been in force for a long time. But now, in particular, during a time when the future feels unwieldy, theres something quite nice about sinking into the past.

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Independent Culture NewsletterThe best in film, music TV & radio straight to your inbox every week

This is something streaming platforms in particular have capitalised on. Pre-pandemic, streaming platform BritBox launched, marketing itself as the home of British boxsets, while Friends and The Office were the most streamed shows on Netflix. As content production slowed down during the Covid-19 crisis, viewers were provided with more bingeable nostalgic comforts; Netflix acquired the first two seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians (shot in 2007-8) in June last year, and Amazon Prime added every episode of Paris Hilton and Nicole Richies The Simple Life the following month (which aligned nicely with promotion for This Is Paris a new documentary focusing on Hiltons life and rise to fame).

But these forces have also given rise to some more critical reflections on Noughties culture. Samantha Stark, director of Framing Britney Spears (which broke Sky Documentaries viewing records in the UK), tells me that she thinks the Covid-19 pandemic was part of the reason the documentary got the green light. Since there is so little happening off the internet that we could film, we were looking for stories that could be based in archival footage, she says.

Stark also tells me that both #MeToo, and the widespread conversations weve seen around mental health in recent years, offered the makers new and interesting lenses through which to analyse the media of the Noughties. Liz Day [a senior editor at The New York Times, who came up with the idea for the film] wanted to look back at this woman who was vilified by the media through a 2020 lens She suspected if we pulled out and gave context to the misogynistic media coverage, our entire view on Britney Spears would change. Boy was she right.

When I started interviewing people with first-hand experience working with Britney, I realised she was a creative woman who was very in control of her career and business as a young person. A mother who was going through a custody battle, possibly experiencing postpartum depression while essentially being stalked by dozens of men on a daily basis. A performer who made millions of dollars jumping through fire in Las Vegas but was deemed incapable of making basic decisions in her own best interest. There is a lot there to reframe.

A bodyguard for Britney Spears holds back paparazzi photographers in 2003

(Getty)

Stark adds that, just as many Noughties kids are bringing their nostalgia into the film and TV industries as adults, there are others who were deeply wounded by the decade and want to explore those scars. People like me who were teenagers when Britney rose to fame people who witnessed the mean-spirited coverage of Britney as peers, she says. Ive been doing a lot of re-examining lately about how this affected my development, and how it must have affected the development of the people around me of all genders. Now that were a lot of the people in charge of the media, I think we want to do things differently.

As documentarians, journalists and industry insiders reckon with the era, it is clear that some things have changed. The BBCs Celebrity: A 21st-Century Story documents paparazzi upskirting the act of taking pictures under another persons clothing without their consent which was recently made illegal under the 2019 Voyeurism Act. Meanwhile, reflecting on Noughties media, journalist Sirin Kale emphasised the change in attitudes towards women in an article for The Guardian last week: The past was a different country. I hope that we never go back.

As a result, a new trend has emerged, where Noughties tabloid journalists and paparazzi photographers issue public apologies for their behaviour. Last month, infamous celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton, who sold T-shirts wishing death on Spears in 2008, apologised on Good Morning Britain. Hilton said: I regret a lot or most of what I said about Britney, as Im sure Piers [Morgan, former editor of the News of the World and now ex-presenter on Good Morning Britain] would if he were here.

Similarly, Stark says: I talked to several journalists who didnt make it into the documentary who did feel remorseful, who said I wish I wasnt so callous in the way that I framed her, or I wish I wasnt trying to crack mean-spirited jokes here just to get praise on my writing.

Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace attends a Big Brother wrap party in 2006

(Getty)

But former Big Brother 7 contestant Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace (who made the front pages after feuding with fellow housemate Nikki Grahame) says that mere apologies do little to reverse the damage done to people who are, for the most part, still alive today.

I couldnt believe how some publications could print completely false stories; guys who Id only meet once saying Id slept with them and that I was wild and crazy in bed, people who I had considered friends selling stories about me. I couldnt comprehend how tabloids could print such stories without checking if they were true or considering what effect it would have on my life.

Perez Hilton personally apologised to me, she adds. But people will still believe what was written at the time. Even if people like Dan Wootton [former News of the World journalist, and current executive editor of The Sun] and Perez Hilton later say stories were untrue, the damage has been done. Thats how the world works. An apology isnt enough, it also needs a change in behaviour.

Horgan-Wallace isnt convinced that tabloids have changed their ways particularly in light of the ongoing media circus surrounding Meghan Markle, who on Monday discussed for the first time the role that it played in her mental health crisis. It seems as if members of the royal family have become their new victims, she says. They dont tend to respond or defend themselves.

Joshi agrees that discussions around the damaging media practices of the era too often risk drawing a line under problems that are far from resolved. Sometimes it can all be a bit self-congratulatory. We often discuss how the press treated women in the early 2000s, even though its not that far removed from how theyre treated now just the way it manifests is different. She points in particular to the treatment of trans women in British broadsheets and tabloids, and also the reality TV stars of today. As Kale wrote: The sickness of the 2000s hasnt dissipated entirely but it has mutated.

Paris Hilton is swarmed by paparazzi in 2008

(Most Wanted/Shutterstock)

And of course, the media practices that did change didnt do so because we all collectively woke up one day and decided they were bad. Matthew Suarez, a former LA paparazzi photographer and author of Paparazzi Daze, tells me that the reason for the fall of the paparazzi industry was, quite simply, the rise of social media. I remember once when Jessica Simpson ruined an exclusive set of photos I took My boss had called me to tell me they already had a couple of sales and it was going to be $30,000 or more. Three hours later, Jessica Simpson tweeted a selfie. Magazines cancelled the buy and went for the free picture posted on Twitter. As Suarez describes, the shift away from paparazzi photography was largely about profit a force that still governs much of the journalism we read in 2021.

Many of the journalists who profited the most from this culture continue to work today. They include powerful men like Morgan and Hilton, who have climbed the ladder and made millions as a direct result of exploiting primarily young women and girls like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Jade Goody, Kerry Katona, Katie Price and dozens of others. Meanwhile, nearly all of the biggest Noughties tabloid stars have suffered intensely with mental health problems and addiction, and struggled into their thirties. In this light, it feels patently clear: the conversation around Noughties media isnt just one about the decades gone by. The dominant structures of the era, and their repercussions, are still playing out in real time.

From rose-tinted nostalgia to criticism of the millennial media, it seems as if were going to be talking about the Noughties for some time. As both Joshi and Stark point out, pop culture is increasingly being shaped by Noughties kids, who are ready to romanticise and reckon with the media of their childhoods in equal measure. The pandemic has only given us more space to do so. But amid our reflections on the turn of the century, we shouldnt lose sight of the through lines between the past and the present. As we know by now, hindsight is 20:20.

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Nostalgia, remorse, and terrible tabloids: Why were all suddenly talking about the Noughties - The Independent

The difficult second album is a trope that has captured artists into its deadly grasps for decades. There have been countless occasions that musicians have delivered debuts that lead to them being hyped to the hilt, talked about as future Glastonbury headliners and then after all the bluster has lifted them to the heavens to fall and fail to replicate the same magic. All before disappearing straight back into obscurity. Im looking at you, Klaxons.

In truth, its often not an artists fault that their first album sees them hailed as the messiahs here to save music. Equally, theres little they can do about avoiding it and are better set to go with the flow. Theres been plenty of their bands who were blessed never to receive it in the first place. A lack of hype means an increase in freedom, and it allowed many bands to prosper, lightened by removing the weight of expectation around their necks.

Some of the most beloved artists of all time didnt truly find their voice until their second album, and their first album, no matter how flawed, allowed them to work out who they are. As their debut record hasnt been heralded as the saviour of music or another hyperbolic title on those lines, which usually works as a death penalty, then their sophomore attempt sees them explode and finally receive the praise they deserve.

This feature is celebrating ten artists who didnt have an Arctic Monkeys-style rise to fame and had some time cutting their teeth in relative obscurity before their second album saw them hit the heights they have maintained ever since. These ten albums are the exceptions to the difficult second album rule and show why the sophomore album is the finest talent indicator.

Nirvana, up until 1991, were a relatively obscure band entrenched in Seattles ferocious rock scene. If you were outside of that scene in the North West Pacific, chances are you had no idea Nirvana existed, and you were likely unaware of their 1989 debut,Bleach.

ThenNevermindchanged everything. Their major-label debut remains a masterpiece that transcended music, becoming a zeitgeist cultural phenomenon, sending shockwaves across the globe in the process. Every aspect of the pioneering record was unprecedented, all the way from the challenging themes that the band tackled on the LP to the most controversial facet of the record; the album sleeve.

Whilst sonically, youll find an ocean of purists who preferBleachtoNevermind, the latter lit up the world. Nirvana gave millions a reason to believe that the world was changing in the right direction, with Kurt Cobain steering the revolutionary ship to a place of tolerance and armed with decade-defining anthems.

Radiohead were an anomaly in the 90s and beyond. Theyve never succumbed to trying to fit in with the crowd, and The Bends confirmed that there was nobody else around like this Oxfordshire quintet. Theres plenty of grungey angst on this album, but it wasThe Bendswhen Radiohead set themselves apart from the rest of the growing alternative rock scene.

People were crying out for Radiohead to make Creep 2.0 and Pablo Honey was a strong effort, but nothing to suggest that they would grow into the band they are today. They shied away from doing what was expected of them and delivered an iconic record that stands up with anything theyve made since.

Fake Plastic Trees may well be one of the bands best songs, and its place on this record is cherished by all. Equally, Bones and Street Spirit may well be other songs to challenge the Radiohead piles top.

The second album from Bob Dylan saw the young folk singer assert himself as a writer and singer and as the captain of the New York scene. He would later be labelled Spokesman of a Generation a title he repudiated.

WithFreewheelin,Dylan created one of the most iconic records of the 1960s, and its presence can still be felt to this day. The album isfull of classic Dylan moments, and through his clever lyricism, it firmly shone a light on the singers growing songwriting ability. Dylans self-titled debut had only included two original songs. Eleven of the thirteen tracks onFreewheelinare Dylans own.

Dylan proved on this record that he wasnt just another young troubadour to come out of Greenwich Village, and its time everybody took notice of his magical prowess.

While the brand of indie rock that they pioneered was critically acclaimed, they never achieved the level of mainstream success that their sound duly deserved, but that was never what Pavement cared about. Their sophomore effort,Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain, is one of the truly great alternative albums of the last 30-years, and few have been more influential.

The Portlanders were the antithesis of the grunge era, and their delectable melodic songs were created for a different part of the brain than the more abrasive grunge sound. Whilst bands like Nirvana became the talk of the town, the sound that Pavement made had to fight the hard way to be recognised like it is today.

Tracks like Cut Your Hair and Gold Soundz are archetypal serotonin-boosting indie anthems, which should be on prescription from the NHS. The album shows off Stephen Malkmus knack for writing an infectious song that immediately plunges itself into the listeners veins and stays there for eternity.

Amy Winehouses talent seemingly knew no bounds after she burst onto the scene with her staggering debut albumFrankin 2003, but it was on the seminalBack To Blackthat landed the late singer her iconic status.

The record stood out like a welcomed sore thumb in a pool of vanilla-pop and manufactured fakes, where her authenticness shone through like a beacon of light.

The popular musical landscape pre and post Back To Black are two different beasts, with flocks of major labels trying to mould signings into becoming the next Amy Winehouse. Over a decade on, nobody has come close to recapturing what Winehouse did to makeBack To Blacksuch a triumph and one of the last true timeless records.

Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree as a collective are national treasures. Their ascendancy to this status arrived off the back of the rich successes ofParklifeandThe Great Escape.However, without Modern Life Is Rubbish, their iconic legacy may never have happened, andwho knows if Oasis would have ever had any challengers to their throne.

Their debut album,Leisure, isnt the sound of a band anyone could describe as a voice of a generation and didnt signify that Blur were anything but just another indie band with a couple of strong singles, but not much else more. Modern Life Is Rubbish made people take Blur seriously and the kaleidoscope of genres that they travelled through on the record.

It was a bold and adventurous risk that saw them run a mile away from their comfort zone, a modus operandi that Albarn continues to live-by today.

Thriving at the top of the music industry since their emergence in the early-1990s,Daft Punkbuilt the foundations of their music as part of the bustling French house movement and didnt look back.

It wasnt until their sophomore albumDiscoverythat forced everyone to notice everybodys favourite French robots.

The album spawned hits like One More Time, Digital Love and Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger, which would all define the noughties. Daft Punk achieved that rare balance of managing to be both a hit with critics and a chart-topping anthem that saw Daft Punk become the messiahs of modern music.

Doolittlesaw the Pixies given some large airplay among indie radio stations and seemingly announced the groups arrival into the mainstream thanks largely to the irresistible, Here Comes Your Man.

The single helped lure countless ears on the record, who were then blown away by the Pixies sonic display on offer.

Their quintessential loud-quiet shifts that they perfected on the album would see the band influence countless other artists. Without this record, who knows the musical route that Nirvana, Radiohead, the Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer would have travelled upon. It also marked out Black Francis, Kim Deal, Joey Santiago and David Lovering out as some of Americas finer songwriters.

Phoebe Bridgers 2017 debut,Stranger In The Alps, arrived with little fanfare. Although the singer-songwriter still provided a keen sense of self and a clear talent for songwriting, the record failed to land especially when put next to her sophomore record,Punishers huge impact.

The timing ofPunishercoincided with everyone being locked in their homes, and it served as the perfect pandemic soundtrack.

The records hard-hitting, cuttingly personal collection of deeply evocative sounds announced Bridgers as a star. Her slow rise to the mountain top of alternative music has taken years of gradual steps, including a collaborative album with Bright Eyes Conor Oberst but this album shines brightly. The experiences improved her as a writer, which flooded out onPunisher. Bridgers has now set herself an Eiffel Tower sized bar, and all eyes remain on her to see if she can reach it once more.

Lamar didnt waste any time when it came to making his second record which was released just a year after his 2011 debut. Arriving off the back of his independently released debut after the rapper was quickly snapped up by Interscope Records, who provided him with a big budget to create magic with andGood Kid, MAAD Citysees Kendrick scale everything up.

The album saw Kendrick graduate from the underground to the mainstream, which he did with ease. Lamar refused to waver his integrity, but his growth as a songwriter and storyteller is clear for all to hear onGood Kid, m.A.A.d City.

The added production value and brutally honest autobiographical lyrics make it one of the ultimate hip-hop records from the modern era.

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From Kendrick Lamar to Bob Dylan: 10 sophomore records that were better than their debuts - Far Out Magazine

Want to learn more about beer but dont know where to start? Podcasts are a great way of gleaning information from the experts and tapping into your inner brewmaster, for free and on your own time.

But with so many choose from it can be difficult to hone in on one that delivers consistent episodes relevant to your interests. Too many start off strong then dissipate into the podcast graveyard.

Luckily, weve done the leg work for you, and sifted through the archives to bring you some of our favourite beer-based podcasts for when you want to delve deeper into the world of brewing, or just enjoy some banter with some like-minded beer aficionados.

From industry insights with expert guests and guided tastings to tips on home brewing and beyond, theres something for everyone.

Scroll down for a look at some of the best beer podcasts out there

Whos the host: Volunteers Ant Fiorillo, Matt Bundy and CAMRAs senior communications manager Katie Wiles

Top featured guests: Beer writers and industry gurus Pete Brown and Roger Protz

Best for:Tapping into the beery zeitgeist and the days most pressing issues

Website: camra.org.uk/podcast

Last year CAMRA launched its very first podcast,Pubs, Pints & People, which aims to offerconversation on hot topics in the world of beer and cider, while also shedding light CAMRA and its longhistory. Each week the team willdig into the archives each week and discussingstories and interesting news from past issues of CAMRA publications, including itsWhats Brewingnewspaper which has been published since 1974.

Each episode is 30-minutes long and includes two interviews from prominent members in the beer community.The first episode features a chat with David Bremner about Robinson Brewerys collaboration with Iron Maiden, and Ben Watson from Beavertown Brewery about the role of a sensory taster.Other topics covered include women in beer, diversity in the industry, home brewing and beer writing, with special guests Pete Brown and Roger Protz.

Whos the host: Jamie Bogner and John Holl on

Top featured guests:Matt Brynildson from CaliforniasFirestone Walkers, Julie Verratti of the Denizens Brewing Co. in Maryland

Best for:Those who make and drink great beer

Website: beerandbrewing.com/podcasts

From the people behind the Craft Beer and brewing Magazine, this podcast is focused squarely at the art of brewing beeras well marketing and the industry at large.

Every week the pair talk to professional brewers and industry insiders about the technical side of brewing, offering advice and tips for getting the most out of your homebrew, while highlighting key trends in the world of beer.

There are 175 episodes, and counting, to get stuck into, with dozens of in-depth discussions with (US) brewers on everything from managing a business during a pandemic and sour beers to smoked beers and foraged grains.

Whos the host: John Rubio,a graphic designer and self-confessed rabid beer nut, alongside friends Grant, Laura and Mike.

Best for:Informal beer tasting with puns a plenty

Website:thebeerists.com

The Beerists is an independent podcast out of Austin in Texas that has an impressive 468 episodes under its belt, making it one of the oldest and most extensive podcasts out there.

Its focus is on tasting beers, with its panel hosts, friendsJohn, Grant, Laura and Mike, tasting through five beers each week and offering tasting notes and insights on how to train your palate, along side plenty of whimsical banter and frivolity.The team lists the beers theyll be trying, so its easy to go out and get the beers before listening if you want to taste along.Every beer is given a rating ofbuy, try, sigh, die a refreshingly simple method of sifting the wheat from the chaff.

Whos the host:Jonny Garret, a London-based beer writer, author, and filmmaker and 2019 UK Beer Writer of the Year, plus regular guest slots.

Top featured guests: Beer writerWill Hawkes, James Calder of the Society for Independent Brewers

Best for:UK-based industry insights and beer chat

Website: goodbeerhunting.com/gbh-podcast

Managed by beer writer Jonny Garret, Good Beer Hunting is an insightful podcasts offering a deep dive on topics relevant to the industry supported by relevant interviews with some of the industrys most influential figures, including brewers, marketers and writers.

Jonny is unafraid to tackle the big issues in his effort to balance the culture of craft beer with the businesses it supports, and examine the tenacity of its ideals, with recent topics including gender equality and diversity. In a recent episode hosted by Beth Demmon, Stephanie Grant discusses her experiences of working as a black woman in the beer industry, and theevolution of the Black is Beautiful movement.

Whos the host: UK beer drinks Steve and Martin

Top featured guests: Ken Grossman, founder and owner of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Best for:Down to earth beer-based banter

Website: beeroclockshow.co.uk

Reliably consistent, the Beer OClock Show has been releasing onto the airwaves since 2012, debuting with a show featuringAdnams Southwold Bitter. Since then, Steve and Martin have covered every conceivable facet of beer, evolving to produce their weekly Hopinions podcast which relies on interaction from their some 12,000 Twitter followers.

Their latest episode seesMartin & Steve chatting with Ken Grossman, founder and owner of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co about its iconic Pale Ale, building breweries and the companys future.Recent discussions, alongside the pairs regular featured beer tastings, include diversity in the industry, the impact of Covid, changing drinking habits and the challenges facing independent bottle shops and brewers.

Whos the host:Brewbound editorJustin Kendall and Jess Infante

Top featured guests: Ad Age assistant managing editor E.J. Schultz and Rabobank analyst Bourcard Nesin.

Best for:Easily digestible industry updates and expert insights

Website: brewbound.com/category/podcast

Brewbound is a US-based B2B publication covering every corner of the beer industry.Drawing on its considerable connections in the US beer industry, the Brewbound Podcast publishes content on a bi-weekly basis,featuring interviews with beer industry executives and entrepreneurs, along with news analysis and commentary.

With 95 episodes and counting, its a rabbit hole of information to mine for the beer-enthused, with a reliable schedule of new podcasts released every other week, making it well worth following. Recent topics include a break-down of Super Bowl beer adverts, and Ubers$1.1 billion deal to acquire Drizly.

A few more beery podcasts for you to explore, which didnt quite make our top five but are definitely worth a listen.

Hosted by Adam Batstone, a shareholder of the The Craufurd Arms in Maidenhead, The Beer & Pubcast is managed by the British Beer and Pub Association, which represents the interests of the UK beer and pub industry. It started off strong, with some great historical recordings available, but hasnt posted a new episode since April of last year. Still worth checking out, and hopefully it will soon return to our playlists.

Website: beerandpub.com/beer-and-pubcast/

A Womans Brew is a podcast hosted by two beer-loving women (Joanne and Tori) on a mission to get more people drinking and talking about great beer. Each week the pair will talk you throughbeer styles, their favourite breweries while also offering beer tasting tips, beer traditions and more from the world of craft beer.Joanne is a Cicerone Certified Beer Server, passing her exam with a 97% pass rate, and is now building her own beer school Love Beer Learning to help other women discover beer, build their confidence in beer tasting and amplify their voices in the beer community.

Website: https://awomansbrew.sounder.fm

Steal This Beer is a US-based podcasts hosted by Augie Carton, Founder of New Jerseys Carton Brewing, and John Holl, Senior Editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine. Their aim? To get tothe bottom of the days most pressing craft beer issues with help from opinionated brewer friends, know-it-all barkeeps, and smarmy industry insiders. In addition to plenty of chat, each week a guest is invited to bring two beers on the show with them, which are tasted blind by theAugie and John from black glasses discussesensues.Episodesdrop every Monday with the pair already racking up more than 300, giving newlisteners plenty to delve into.

Website: stealthisbeer.com

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Six of the best podcasts about beer - The Drinks Business

Future State: Superman Worlds at War proves that the motto "Truth, Justice, and the American Way" isn't dated - in fact, it's timeless.

Warning! Spoilers ahead for Future State: Superman Worlds At War #2!

The criticism that Superman is not relevant in today's world is about as well-worn in the collective comics zeitgeist as his classic motto: "Truth, Justice and the American Way." Writers have constantly attempted to reinvent Superman - removing the trunks over his tights, turning him into a reluctant hero with Christ-like undertones (possibly overtones). In Future State: Superman Worlds of War, writer Phillip Kennedy Johnson doesn't changethe hero's old motto so much as reframe it, thus revealing a fundamental truth about the values of the Man of Steel.

In the uncertain future of DC's Future State, Superman's secret identity is public knowledge; he has left Earth for parts unknown. In his absence, Smallville has become part-tourist trap, part-holy ground as some buy Superman merchandise sold on the sidewalk while others read and revere his Daily Planetarticles as quasi-religious texts. Acolytes swapstories and share the moments when each of them were saved by Superman. In Future State: Superman Worlds of War #2, written by Johnson with art byMikel Jann, a young teenagetraveler to the town, Sadie, becomes disillusioned with the literal hero worship. She claims that Superman didn't save her - Clark Kent did, with a simple article chronicling the life and death of an old Metropolis citizen.

Related: Future State: Superman's Final Sacrifice Is His Most Heroic

Edgar Watters was no one special by comic book standards: a pianist whoserved in World War II, became a figure in the civil rights movement of the 60s, ran for public office multiple times and lost, started a scholarship in his son's name, and ultimately died poor and homeless. But Clark Kent, true to heroic form, sees the good in him and chooses to rememberWatters not at his lowest moments, butat his highest -and through his values. "I call upon each of us to remember this man," Kent writes in his article. "Remember him...by the life he lived and be striving to live as he did. By protecting those in need. By demanding truth from our leaders, and justice from our courts. By leaving great works for those who follow us." This is the new Truth, Justice, and the American Way - or perhaps, in so many words, it isn't new at all. This is what Clark Kent has meant since the beginning, and the fact that the motto is read by a child is no accident.

The phrase "Truth, Justice and the American Way"was first heardin the Adventures of Superman radio drama series in1942.At the time, theUnited Stateshadjust suffered a surprise attack at Pearl Harbor, dragging Americans into war when they had only just recentlyemerged from the Great Depression. Morale boosts were sorely needed, and so comic book heroes spent their issues fighting German, Japanese and Italian enemies while promoting American values, and Superman was no exception. In this instance, the values were anti-fascist, anti-Communist (the US andSoviet Union both knew their alliance wouldn't last after the war) and wildly pro-American. Superman's motto faded out of use until the perceived threat from the USSR and their satellite countries became significant. Then it followed him like a loyal sidekick wherever and whenever he went...until the 70s.

Americans' opinions of their own country soured over the course of the Vietnam War. A seemingly-endless conflict combined with a growing anti-war movement left Superman - the red and blue Boy Scout who often serves as DC's analogue to Captain America when itcomes to patriotism - in an awkward situation. Suddenly, in the eyes of the new generation, "The American Way" stood for fighting unwinnable wars, anti-Communist paranoia, and out-of-touch leaders. There was no way around it: Superman represented the establishment (the very same institutions the civil rights movement was fighting against). When the Watergate scandal ultimately ended in a disgraced president's resignation, superheroes attempted to distance themselves from the government. In Captain America #175, the titular hero infamously fought a villain in the White House strongly implied to be Nixon himself. While Superman's writers didn't create any similarstories so drastic, they nevertheless knew that Superman had to change,and so didhis motto.

As the Man of Steel fought fewer Communists and more corrupt government officials, his motto was slowly phased out. The last Superman on film to say the phrase in itsentirety was Christopher Reeve in 1978's Superman, and even then Lois reacted with a joke. In 2006's Superman Returns, editor Perry White asks his staff "I wanna know: does he still stand for truth, justice...all that stuff?" In 2017's Justice League, Supermanstarts a fightagainst villain Steppenwolf with"I believe in truth...but I'm also a big fan of justice." Only in comics does the full line occasionally resurface, such as in a 2019 issue penned by longtime DC writer Tom King. However, while Superman may rarely say "The American Way," he still means it.

Related: Superman Is Stuck In An Endless Cycle Of Death And Resurrection

"By demanding truth from our leaders and justice from our courts" is self-explanatory enough, though this variation certainly pulls no punches when it comes to implicating the government in any potential misdeeds. Still, the demand is important: it turns Superman's old motto from an internal passive belief system and personal moral code into a general call to action. When Sadie reads those words, Clark Kent is instructing her (and the reader) to be a force for good in the world and carry on his legacy.

Finally, the matter of the final sentence: "By leaving great works for those who follow us." In the context of Future State: Superman Worlds of War #2,Superman has departed Earth but left behind a following of people who not only admire him, but will help others as he did.For Clark, "The American Way" means and has always meant to leave behind a better world for the next generation - and inspiring others to do the same - even if the benefactors willnot live to experience it. Clark saw the sacrifices Edgar Watters made for the sake of his son and other children like him. To Superman, passing on knowledge, experience and virtues to those who follow usis The American Way, and there is no higher calling.

Next:How Superman Has Been A Moral Goal For Decades

Ultimate Iron Man: A Forgotten Story Gave Tony His Weirdest Armor Ever

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Superman Just Turned His Controversial Motto Into An Inspiring Demand - Screen Rant

By: TJVNews.com

As the New York City mayoral race heats up and the crowd of candidates continues to see exponential growth, it now appears that a group of high powered developers and professional real estate tycoons and jumping into the mix.

Before placing a glaring spotlight on the objectives of these developers, it is noteworthy to examine those on the other side of the race.

A large percentage of candidates that have thrown their proverbial hats in the ring embody the political philosophies of the progressive movement . As such, they have the financial backing provided by left leaning and liberal donators as well as organizations that subscribe to their agenda. The proof in the pudding can be seen in the fact that the PACs that are keeping them afloat are generating unheard of amounts of cash.

In addition, these candidates also have their ground game honed into a science, with highly successful voter outreach and are staffed by grassroots organizers who come with vast experience in creating solid ties with an already sympathetic media.

These candidates want to defund the police, staunchly oppose gentrification of any kind, impose stiff taxes on the middle class, promote the goals of political radicalism through their unyielding support of the Black Lives Matter movement and Antida, keep our schools closed while pandering to the UFT and preventing job growth and economic recovery by preventing businesses such as Amazon from coming to New York.

At this juncture, such pro-business developers as billionaire Stephen Ross, who put his money behind Hudson Yards and other spectacular ventures are now taking the lead in committing tens of millions of dollars in an effort to persuade moderate Democrats to vote in the June primary. In an e-mail sent to like minded colleagues, Ross (who is the chairman and founder of Related Companies), placed a strong emphasis on his belief that the winner of the Democratic primary for mayor in June will decide if NYC will rebound or languish.

Of course, Ross wants to convince those in ear shot of his letter that a pro-business mayor would strive to magnify the power of capitalism and thusly, would thwart attempts to keep the woke, cancel culture generation that are wedded to a Bernie Sanders style of economic socialism from destroying what remains of this beleaguered city.

While not supporting a particular candidate so early in this horse race, Ross wrote in his e-mail that, This is truly the most important election of our lifetime and in NYCs history. Fortunately, we can do something to change the future course of the city we love.

Ross remains acutely aware that the future of his Hudson Yards which is the largest private development in American history, on Manhattans West Side is inextricably tied to the citys economic recovery. And so do the people he is writing to in order to solicit generous donations to his PAC.

Yet and still, Ross, who is also a major investor in Equinox and has held a fundraiser for former President Trump in 2019, remains a pariah to the media and the enigmatic Deep State. Anyone is who a white, heterosexual businessman will surely be viciously targeted by the media as the ultimate bogeyman. Anyone who supports the growth of business through real estate or in the financial sector will now become cannon fodder in the current political zeitgeist. An unbreakable bond of support exists between such organizations as the Democratic Socialists of America (who unapologetically threw their full throated support behind AOC and ran a list of candidates who did remarkably well in the last election) and the powers that be in government and the fourth estate.

Even though Wall Street has exhorted their employees to choose a party affiliation in order to counteract the colossal strength of the far left in the Democratic party and to tip the balance in the upcoming election, their road to a possible victory will be an arduous one to say the least.

Ross, however, is not alone. James Dolan, the head of Madison Square Garden, has created his own super PAC in order to provide support to moderate, pro-business Democrat. An effort was recently made by venture capitalist, Lisa Blau to persuade Republicans to switch parties so they could vote in the Democratic primary.

While their motives may be laudable, the fact is that Ross and his acolytes can donate hundreds of millions of dollars into the coffers of their preferred candidates, but it wont make lick of difference.

What stands as impediments to their objectives? Firstly, these developers have dismissed the power of the media by refusing to connect with local media outlets, be they print or electronic. Lets just remember that political neophyte, Bob Turner, a cable executive from Queens won a congressional seat as a Republican over a decade ago, thanks to the invaluable help of local media such as the Jewish Voice newspaper who consistently propped up his campaign as he battled a well funded opponent.

Their cavalier attitude towards supporting community and ethnic newspapers will be their tragic demise. Also, it is important to remember that these developers have all but ignored the fact that their community outreach is essentially non-existent.

This translates into a ground game that is totally feckless, unless they enlist cadres of volunteers to register voters, to knock on doors, to engage in daily phone banking, to send out snail mail material and thrice a day e-mails explaining their positions on the issues. They also need to have their representatives play a participatory role in local town halls, at houses of worship, schools and community centers.

Without the essential assistance of local media and intensely engaging the diverse communities that make up this city, then any amount of money will not achieve favorable results.

Wake up, Mr. Ross!! Now is the time to take the bull by the horns, to reorganize your priorities and to speak to the people who will cast their votes and ultimately save this city.

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Where Are Developers & Real Estate Titans Going Wrong in Efforts to Yield Favorable Results in the Upcoming NYC Mayoral Primary? - The Jewish...