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Stephen Schaefer’s HOLLYWOOD & MINE

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

To have staying power in showbiz you need to keep stretching. At least that seems to be the plan for the versatile, Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick.  She scored opposite George Clooney in a smart drama (‘Up in the Air’), sang beautifully in a trio of ‘Pitch Perfect’ comedies and has subverted her usually sunny cinematic presence with her current, emotional abuse drama ‘Alice Darling.’  Next: Directing (and starring in) ‘The Dating Game.’  Kendrick spoke with the HERALD about ‘Alice’; here are excerpts from that conversation:Anna Kendrick as Alice in the thriller, “Alice, Darling.” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)Q: I see that you spent your fall making your directing debut with ‘The Dating Game’ and you are also producing and starring. It’s an incredible but true story about serial killer Rodney Alcala. Your character Cheryl Crawford ‘wins’ a date with, we discover, this madman.  It sounds terrific and has been sold around the world already. Was that a dream come true time? S...

‘Boston Strangler’ stars give voice to women who cracked the case

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

A notorious serial killer in the early 1960s, the Boston Strangler terrorized the city, sexually assaulting and strangling 13 single women.Now, “Boston Strangler,” a new film streaming Friday on Hulu, re-examines the case from the perspective of the two women who broke gender stereotypes and cracked the case.Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon) battled the male, white establishment in their daily paper, the Journal American, the police department and the legal system to draw attention to what was happening on Boston’s streets..“I discovered these reporters were first to discover and actually gave him his name,” writer-director Matt Ruskin offered.Noted Knightley, “This is a revisiting, an interesting way of telling the story of a serial killer from the point of view of these two women. It’s really fascinating that you have such a famous case and the two women who coined the phrase ‘the Boston Strangler’ have been completely erased from that hi...

Editorial: Dem spending lit spark that ignited SVB collapse

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

Let the blame games begin.The dust is still setting on the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the 16th largest in the country. Its Friday shuttering forced the government to take over, leaving the fate of almost $175 billion in customer deposits to hang in the balance.It’s the biggest bank collapse since the 2008 financial crisis.Whose fault is it?Pols being pols, the answer is: the other guy.Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.,  said in a statement Sunday that the SVB situation is “a direct result of an absurd 2018 bank deregulation bill” signed by Donald Trump, adding that Trump and Republicans “learned nothing” from past financial crashes,” as Newsweek reported.Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren agreed, writing in the New York Times that SVB was one of many banks that lobbied Congress to pass the bipartisan bill, which scaled back parts of the Dodd-Frank Act. “No one should be mistaken about what unfolded over the past few days in the U.S. ...

Strom: For progressives, SVB collapse is about politics

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) is a disaster. How big a disaster is not clear. But for America’s social-justice elites, the size is directly related to its effect, not on our overall economy but on their political allies.At the very least, the stockholders are out close to 100% of their investments. Depositors with accounts that exceed the $250,000 FDIC-insured limits are getting a government “backstop.” But there’s no guarantee that will stop the potential contagion effect where similarly situated banks are destabilized by depositors moving their assets to safer institutions.We don’t know the fallout. But we know for sure that a lot of people are being hurt, and many will never recover.There are lots of things to be said about the whole affair and innumerable bad guys to point fingers at. One thing is coming into focus already that may or may not be relevant to the collapse but at the very least is striking: SVB was very woke.It was heavily into Environmental, Social and...

Dear Abby: Coming out creates tension between friends

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

Dear Abby: A dear friend, “Lorraine,” contacted me because her daughter “Gabby” came out to her as bisexual and Lorraine knew I had experience with “this type of thing.” My daughter is bisexual.Lorraine was repulsed by her daughter’s revelation and upset that Gabby expected her to be supportive and wear pride stickers, etc. My friend didn’t understand why she needed to be proud, and she told Gabby that even if she were a murderer she would still love her, and that was all that was important. I’m mortified and unsure how to handle this.We fly my daughter’s flag outside her window. We wear pride gear and celebrate Pride Month with her. I tried explaining to Lorraine that we are supporting our daughter’s courage to come out and be comfortable and proud of who she is. When I said it, Lorraine snorted! Although we have been friends for many years, I never realized she felt this way.I’m struggling with whether to brea...

Topless protestor crashes Junos, as Weeknd wins 5th award with album of the year

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

EDMONTON — A wildly unpredictable Juno Awards unfolded on Monday as a topless protester charged the stage, leading to some feisty words from Avril Lavigne, while an absent the Weeknd emerged as the top winner this year.With a few twists and turns, Canada’s biggest celebration of music did away with its typically tame proceedings shortly after the broadcast got underway. Lavigne was interrupted by a topless woman who leapt on the stage wearing pasties with paint on her that read “land back” and “save the green belt,” a reference to Ontario’s decision last fall to open a protected area of land for housing.The pop-punk princess appeared blindsided by the crasher and proceeded to swear at her, demanding she get off the stage. The person was quickly escorted away by security.Unfazed, Lavigne moved on to introduce a performance by Punjabi-Canadian singer and rapper AP Dhillon.She returned later to accept this year’s fan choice award with a few choice wo...

Lula meets with Indigenous in Brazil’s Amazon, pledges lands

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

RAPOSA SERRA DO SOL INDIGENOUS TERRITORY, Brazil (AP) — On his first trip to Indigenous land in the Amazon rainforest since taking office, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed support for creating new territories for those communities, but stopped short of announcing any demarcations.Wearing white cap and dark shirt in the heat, Lula addressed some 2,000 Indigenous people who painted their faces, wore traditional feather headdresses and sang songs to welcome him Monday to the Raposa Serra do Sol region bordering Venezuela and Guyana. He said he wants quick demarcation of their lands “before other people take over, invent false documents” to claim ownership rights. That has been a common occurence throughout Brazil’s history, which prompted the start of demarcation processes over a half century ago. “We need to quickly try to legalize every land whose (demarcation) studies are almost finished so the Indigenous can take the land that is theirs,” Lula said at t...

Why another high inflation report may not cause Fed to hike

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The government inflation report being released Tuesday is expected to show that price acceleration in the United States remained chronically high in February, putting the Federal Reserve in an unusually tough position. The Fed had been considered sure to raise its benchmark interest rate by at least a quarter-point when it meets next week. Many analysts even expected an aggressive half-point hike if Tuesday’s report for February pointed again to elevated inflation. But that was before last weekend’s two major bank failures and a series of emergency measures that the Fed unveiled to try to bolster confidence in the financial system.With bank share prices cratering Monday and fears of further financial instability roiling markets, most economists now expect the Fed to pause its rate hikes next week to avoid causing any further instability at a delicate moment for the banking system.At the same time, inflation continues to run far above what the Fed wants....

Silicon Valley Bank’s demise disrupts the disruptors in tech

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse rattled the technology industry that had been the bank’s backbone, leaving shell-shocked entrepreneurs thankful for the government reprieve that saved their money while they mourned the loss of a place that served as a chummy club of innovation.“They were the gold standard, it almost seemed weird if you were in tech and didn’t have a Silicon Valley Bank account,” said Stefan Kalb, CEO of Seattle startup Shelf Engine, during a Monday interview as he started the process of transferring millions of dollars to other banks.The Biden administration’s move guaranteeing all Silicon Valley Bank’s deposits above the insured limit of $250,000 per account resulted in a “palpable sigh of relief” in Israel, where its booming tech sector is “connected with an umbilical cord to Silicon Valley,” said Jon Medved, founder of the Israeli venture capital crowdfunding platform OurCrowd.But the gratitude for the deposit guarantees that will allow thousands of tec...

Alleged racist remarks at Orange County elementary school prompt protests

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 15:00:33 GMT

Family and supporters of a 10-year-old girl who was allegedly the target of racist remarks by another student have been protesting outside an Orange County school. While they say school officials are not treating the incident seriously enough, there were others at the protest unhappy about how the girl’s mom has handled the situation.  Jasmine Harris claims her daughter, Paris, who is Black, was subjected to a racist comment earlier this month by a fellow student, a 10-year-old Latino boy, at Santiago Elementary School in Santa Ana. "The principal called me while I was at work, she told me that at lunch...Paris was just playing with her friends...and this little boy just came up to her, swinging a jump rope at her, trying to hit her, telling her, ‘Go back to work, you slave,’” Harris told KTLA.  She says that she got even more upset with school administrators when she asked what they planned to do about the situation and officials said they could not tell her what wou...