SciFi Weekend: Star Trek News; The Arrowverse; Jessica Jones Showrunner Leaving for Warner; Man In The High Castle Trailer; Veronica Mars; The Affair; Big Bang Theory; Timeless; Foundation Trilogy; Hugo Award Winners
August 26, 2018 — Ron Chusid
It is another slow week with only one new science fiction show airing which I’m watching (Killjoys). While fun to watch, I don’t find that a show worth reviewing episode by episode as I do with some genre shows. There was one season finale with The Affair, but I don’t see much point in writing about that here except for one brief comment. I was surprised that such a major character was killed off, but many have speculated that it came down to Ruth Wilson complaining about not receiving equal pay with its male lead. Tonight is the season finale of Sharp Objects, but I will wait until after I see the finale to comment on the show. While no shows to review this week, there have been some items of interest.
With limited new news, I’ll start by going back to something interesting we learned about Deep Space Nine. I never did like the ending of the series, and I believe that this is the consensus of Star Trek fans, even if this story claims that the ending was well-received. Regardless, we learned at the Las Vegas Star Trek convention that the ending could have been far worse. From ComicBook.com:
Speaking during a panel at Star Trek Las Vegas, Behr revealed that he really wanted the series finale to call back to the popular season six episode “Far Beyond the Stars,” revealing that the entire story of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was actually the dream of science fiction writer Benny Russell.
“I did pitch to [executive producer] Rick Berman that the final episode would end up with Benny Russell on Stage 17 at Paramount, wandering around the soundstages, realizing that this whole construct, this whole series, that we had done for seven years, was just in Benny’s head,” Behr said (via Trek Movie).
But Deep Space Nine is just one television series in the Star Trek franchise, and Behr’s dream ending could have had major implications for the rest of the franchise as well.
“That is how I wanted to end the series. And Rick said ‘Does this mean The Original Series was in Benny’s head? Does this mean Voyager was in Benny’s head?’ I said ‘Hey man, I don’t care who is dreaming those shows, I only care about Deep Space Nine and yes, Benny Russell is dreaming Deep Space Nine.’ He didn’t go for it,” Behr said.
In “Far Beyond the Stars,” series lead Sisko finds himself experiencing the life of Benny Russell, a black science fiction writer in 1950s America. Russell imagines Deep Space Nine as a story he’s trying to sell, but struggles with the racism of the era. In the end, this is revealed as a vision sent to Sisko from the prophets in the wormhole near Deep Space Nine. In reality, it’s a powerful episode about what science fiction is for, what it is capable of, and why who writes it matters.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. There’s a documentary planned for release later this year titled What We Left Behind that will feature the cast and creative team that worked on the show looking back on the time they spent, the stories they created, and the legacy of the series.
I totally agree with Rick Berman on this one. It was fine to have an isolated episode in which things were possibly a dream, or for some series like St. Elsewhere to be a dream, but do not end the series in this manner when Star Trek extends far beyond this series.
TrekMovie.com has some quotes from Gates McFadden, including answering questions regarding the news of a new Star Trek series staring Patrick Stewart:
No, we haven’t [heard anything], and I am sure Patrick will fill us in sometime. I have no idea if we are in it, or if it is just Patrick or what. We will all find out, but it is just so cool, though. It is very exciting. Again, I am always blown away by the fans, who have loved the show and Roddenberry’s vision for so long and through so many different series, and they have all been so wonderful. I am as excited as everybody else.
Tyler Hoechlin will be reprising his role as Superman in the upcoming seasons Arrowverse crossover, and Lois Lane will be introduced (along with Catwoman, as previously announced). From Deadline:
The three-night crossover event kicks off with The Flash on at 8 PM Sunday, December 9, followed by Arrow at 8 PM December 10 and capping off with Supergirl on December 11. For this year’s crossover, The Flash and Supergirl will swap time slots. The Flash normally airs on Tuesdays and Supergirl on Sunday. Arrow airs in its regular Monday night slot.
Hoechlin’s Superman will appear in all three episodes. This year’s crossover will also include the first appearance of Batwoman (Ruby Rose).
The Flash will return with new episodes on Tuesday, October 9 at 8 PM ET/PT on The CW, followed by Black Lightning (which is not technically part of the Arrowverse) at 9 PM. Supergirl premieres the next week on Sunday, October 14 at 8 PM, followed by Arrow on Monday, October 15 at 8 PM. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow will return on Monday, October 22 at 9 PM. The as-yet-untitled crossover event will from Sunday, December 9 through Tuesday, December 11.>
I09 has a story on the rise of the Dark Night on the upcoming season of Gotham.
We might see a big improvement in the DC based television shows while there has been a huge loss for the Marvel shows. Melissa Rosenberg, creator and showrunner for Jessica Jones, is leaving Netflix and moving to Warner Bro Television. From The Hollywood Reporter:
In a competitive situation, the Jessica Jones creator and showrunner will depart the Netflix Marvel drama after season three and move to Warner Bros. Television with an overall deal. Sources say the indie studio outbid Netflix for Rosenberg’s services in a deal that ultimately is worth in the eight-figure range. Ultimately, Rosenberg was ready to do something different and was ready to move on to new projects though Netflix is said to have courted her to stay.
Under the multiple-year pact, Rosenberg will create and develop new projects for Warner Bros. TV. She is currently focused finishing up the previously announced third season of Netflix’s Marvel drama Jessica Jones. A return date for the Krysten Ritter-led Marvel Television drama from ABC Studios has not yet been determined. A new showrunner would take over for Rosenberg should Netflix renew Jessica Jones for a fourth season. Rosenberg will remain credited as the show’s creator and executive producer.
Amazon Prime has released the season three trailer for The Man In The High Castle (video above). The synopsis:
Season three of the Emmy award-winning The Man in the High Castle finds Juliana Crain (Alexa Davalos) grappling with her destiny after seeking safety in the Neutral Zone. Realizing that their fates are intertwined, she works with Trade Minister Tagomi (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) to interpret the mystery of the last remaining films. Meanwhile, as tensions between the Reich and the Empire continue to rise, Joe Blake (Luke Kleintank) returns from Berlin and is sent on a diplomatic mission to San Francisco, where he and Juliana reunite and come to a turning point in their relationship. Also in the new season, Obergruppenfuhrer John Smith (Rufus Sewell) finds himself celebrated by Nazi high society, but political forces are closing in as North American Reischsmarschall Lincoln Rockwell and J. Edgar Hoover plot against him. Helen (Chelah Horsdal) takes drastic action to protect her family while they struggle with the aftermath of Thomas’ death, and Smith learns of a shocking and ambitious new Nazi program that has personal and global ramifications
Hulu is planning a reboot of Veronica Mars, with Kristen Bell reprising the title role.
Apple has picked up a ten-episode series based upon Isaac Asimov’s Foundation trilogy.
We have more news on the Timeless movie planned to wrap up the series. The two-part episode will air in December, with production starting in October. The full cast will be returning. TVLine has more on the planned writers and director.
The Stone Sky by N.K. Jemisin has won the Hugo Award for best novel. Wonder Woman has won for Best Dramatic Presentation–Long Form and The Good Place: “The Trolley Problem” has won for Best Dramatic Presentation–Short Form. The Verge has a full list of nominees and winners.
ABC is planning a biracial reboot of Bewitched.
I’m sure everyone who cares knows by now, but I feel I should include the news that The Big Bang Theory will be ending after this season. Fifty million dollars was not enough to entice Jim Parsons to stick around for another two years.
Posted in Science Fiction, Television. Tags: Arrow, Batman, Batwoman, Bewitched, Black Lightning, Foundation Series, Gotham, Hugo Awards, Jessica Jones, Jim Parsons, Killjoys, Kristen Bell, Krysten Ritter, Legends of Tomorrow, Patrick Stewart, Science Fiction, Sharp Objects, Star Trek, Supergirl, Superman, The Affair, The Big Bang Theory, The Flash, The Good Place, The Man In The High Castle, Timeless, Veronica Mars, Wonder Woman. No Comments »
SciFi Weekend: The Big Bang Theory Wedding; Anson Mount on Star Trek Discovery; George Kirk Is Still Dead; The Expanse Cancelled By Syfy And Other Renewal/Cancellation News; 12 Monkeys; Bafta Awards
The wedding of Amy and Sheldon occurred on The Big Bang Theory last Thursday. TV Line discussed the episode with Steve Holland:
TVLINE | You mentioned when we spoke last week that Meemaw’s “cameo” was cut for time. Was there anything else you had to lose?
Usually our scripts come in at about 40, 45 pages. This one was about 65 pages. [Laughs] We spent the week [of production] paring it back. There were some jokes here and there that we lost, but I think the episode is stronger for it. We knew we weren’t going to skimp on the vows. We knew we weren’t going to skimp on the wedding. Some of those cuts were painful, but anything that wasn’t servicing [the central story] fell by the wayside.
TVLINE | What was the most painful cut?
Probably the Meemaw phone call. It was a lovely moment. That was a hard one. But it was 35 seconds in a script that was [already] five or six minutes long.
TVLINE | How and when did it come up with the idea to have Mark Hamill be the officiant?
When we first started talking about the wedding, it had come up that maybe one of Sheldon’s friends could get him a surprise officiant. And Mark was the first name on the list, so we reached out to him to see if he’d be interested. We didn’t have a script at the time, so [he] really had to take a leap of faith and trusted that we were going to do right by him… He was the nicest human being you could ever imagine.
TVLINE | Will we see much of Sheldon and Amy’s honeymoon when we pick back up next season?
I don’t know. We have some overall conceptual thoughts about next season, but we haven’t nailed down any of the specifics. But it’s certainly possible. It’s something we have talked about as an option.
More on the wedding last week.
In this exclusive, unaired clip from last night’s season finale, the happy couple gets one last gift from #StephenHawking. 💕 #BigBangTheory pic.twitter.com/xgpU7G7Wpw
— The Big Bang Theory (@bigbangtheory) May 11, 2018
Another cut scene with a tribute to Stephen Hawking was released on Twitter. I really think they should have made an expanded episode for the wedding.
BleedingCool.com has a guide for for those interested in seeing every moment possible of coverage of next week’s wedding of Prince Henry of Wales and Meghan Markle of Suits. Television coverage starts at 4 am on BBC America, with BBC America devoting more time for coverage than the BBC.
StarTrekMovie.com shows how Anson Mount is turned into Captain Pike for season two of Star Trek:Discovery.
Last week I quoted Jennifer Morrison refer to George Kirk’s “supposed death” in the 2009 Star Trek movie. She later clarified that she was just joking and wrote on Instagram, “I have no idea what they are planning for the next Star Trek. I’ve never talked to anyone involved with the project. I’m excited to watch and see how it turns out just as much as all the other fans.” So he might have never died, he might have died and is coming back, or there will be some timey wimey stuff going on.
Den of Geek summarizes what else is known about Star Trek 4.
We received a lot of news about television renewals and cancellations this week. From a science fiction perspective, the biggest cancellation is of The Expanse. There is talk of trying to get another network to pick it up but Ars Technica discussed why this might be difficult, as well as why it had problems at Syfy. At least there are the novels to find out what happens next.
The one show which so far has been successful in finding a new home was Brooklyn Nine-Nine. After talk of it being picked up by Netflix of Hulu, NBC wound up taking it.
Fox has cancelled The Last Man On Earth, with talk of Hulu possibly picking it up. Otherwise we will never know what is going on with those people who were underground.
Lucifer was cancelled with a huge cliffhanger, causing Fox to once again frustrate genre fans.
Timeless received a reprieve after being cancelled last season and remains on the bubble. Eric Kripke says it could go either way. NBC has renewed The Blacklist.
The other major bubble show is Agents of SHIELD with no word yet from ABC. (Update: SHIELD has been renewed for a thirteen episode season). It came as no surprise that ABC officially cancelled The Inhumans. It was pretty much assumed that it would not be returning.
The CW Network has renewed The 100 and iZombie. They also announced new series including reboots of Charmed and Roswell.
Syfy has released the above trailer for season 4 of 12 Monkeys, which returns June 15. All eleven episodes will be shown over four week. Three episodes will air on each Friday for the first three weeks of the season. The two-part season finale will be on Friday, July 6.
The Bafta TV Awards were presented today. Winners include Peakey Blinders for Drama Series and The Handmaid’s Tale for International. The full list of winners can be found here.
As regular readings might guess from the scarcity of the usual comments on the week’s shows, I remain seriously behind following last weekend. Hopefully I can get caught up for some of the season finales coming up imminently.
Posted in Science Fiction, Television. Tags: 12 Monkeys, Agents of SHIELD, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, iZombie, Lucifer, Mark Hamill, Peakey Blinders, Star Trek, Star Trek Discovery, Stephen Hawking, The 100, The Big Bang Theory, The Blacklist, The Expanse, The Handmaid's Tale, The Inhumans, The Last Man On Earth, Timeless. No Comments »
SciFi Weekend: Late and Abbreviated Wedding Edition Including Star Trek News, Renewals for Westworld & The Handmaid’s Tale, And How To Find Out If Thanos Killed You
May 7, 2018 — Ron Chusid
There have been reports for a while that Star Trek 4 will include Chris Hemsworth reprising his role as the father of Captain Kirk, despite being killed in the first J. J. Abrams Star Trek movie. Jennifer Morrison might have given away how that can happen while at a panel where she was primarily speaking about her role on Once Upon A Time. From ComicBook.com:
However, her moderator was Star Trek: Voyager star Garrett Wang and Wang began by referencing Morrison’s role as Winona Kirk, the mother of James T. Kirk, in the opening scene of 2009’s Star Trek movie.
Wang said, “As an actor, I think it is incredibly difficult to play the role of a mother who just gave birth to James Tiberius Kirk, knowing that your husband is 36 seconds away from death, basically…”
And that’s when Morrison interrupted and corrected Wang’s statement, saying “Supposed death,” and then smiling to add, “Just saying.”
A reunion between James Kirk and his father is not the only Star Trek related reunion lately. Star Trek: Discovery has begun filming season two, with Jonathan Frakes directing the second episode. He was joined on the set by Star Trek: The Next Generation co-star and eventual on-screen wife, Marina Sirtis.
Two excellent genre series are currently showing their second season. Not surprisingly both Westworld and The Handmaid’s Tale have also been renewed for a third season.
This week is both a late and abbreviated version of SciFi Weekend. This has been posted continuously every week for over ten years and I was not going to entirely skip a week, but it was also complicated this week as I did not have much time to either watch any of the past week’s shows or read very much on line. That does not mean I did not think of genre. I wore the Star Trek cuff links in the picture above for my daughter’s wedding while my nephew, who also officiated the wedding, wore the Yoda cuff links. The groom wore ones with Darth Vader. There was also a Welcome Reception the night before the wedding which occurred on Star Wars Day (May the Fourth…) and this was reflected at the event. Finally, my speech at the wedding included brief references to Tolkien, Wakunda, Star Wars, and I quoted the great Jewish philosopher Leonard Nimoy in wishing that the newlyweds Live Long and Prosper.
There is another big wedding to come this week. TV Line spoke with, Steve Holland, the showrunner for The Big Bang Theory about Sheldon and Amy’s upcoming wedding.
Finally, while I won’t give any specifics or numbers, I don’t think it is a real spoiler to say that there were many deaths in Avengers: Infinity War. There is a web site to tell you whether you lived or died entitled Did Thanos Kill Me?
Posted in Science Fiction, Television. Tags: Avengers: Infinity War, Discovery, J.J. Abrams, Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, Star Trek, Star Wars, The Avengers, The Big Bang Theory, The Handmaid's Tale, Westworld. No Comments »
SciFi Weekend: Star Trek Discovery Season 2; Rebooting Gotham; Steven Moffat on Dracula And Other Doctor Who Related News; Mark Hamill On The Big Bang Theory; The Spy
April 22, 2018 — Ron Chusid
Production on Star Trek: Discovery season 2 started in Toronto on April 16. TrekMovie.com has an excellent rundown of what is known about the season so far. This includes some new cast members, which indicates that we will see two additional star ships (including The Enterprise as was shown at the end of season one, and Section 31):
Anson Mount – Captain Christopher Pike of the USS Enterprise, he’ll be in at least the first two episodes of the season.
Alan Van Sprang – Leland is the head of Section 31, introduced in a bonus scene that was originally attached to the end of the season one finale. Based on what Van Sprang said at WonderCon, he’s expected to recur throughout the season.
Tig Notaro – Chief Engineer Denise Reno of the USS Hiawatha, guest staring in an unknown number of episodes.
They also have come comments on the theme of the second season:
Theme of season two: Science vs Faith
The showrunners have said a few times now, on After Trek, and then at WonderCon, that theme of season two is “science versus faith.” Aaron Harberts explains:
What is the role of serendipity versus science? Is there a story about faith to be told? Leaps of faith. We are dealing with space. We are dealing with things that can’t be explained and you have a character like Michael Burnham who believes there is an explanation for everything. And it doesn’t just mean religion. It means patterns in our lives. It means connections you can’t explain.
Harberts also talked about how the tone of the show will change in season two:
[Season one] was an interesting season because it was set against the backdrop of war. One of things we are looking forward to in season two is a tone that we can now be in a more exploratory phase and a more diplomatic phase – maybe a bit more of a Trekian chapter
Last week I, and multiple other sites, repeated a story based upon apparently incorrect information from a Discovery staffer claiming that the differences between the Enterprise in the season one finale and the original show were due to legal reasons. CBS has subsequently issued a statement stating that the changes were done for creative and not legal reasons:
CBS TV Studios does, in fact, have the right to use the U.S.S. Enterprise ship design from the past TV series, and are not legally required to make changes. The changes in the ship design were creative ones, made to utilize 2018’s VFX technology.
The art that was used in the 2019 calendar is ‘concept art,’ which was completed long before the VFX process is completed.
Last week I also noted that Star Trek: Discovery was nominated for a Peabody Award. While they did not win, other shows which I have previously discussed in SciFi Weekend were among the winners– The Handmaid’s Tale, Better Call Saul, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The full list of winners is available here.
Gotham will be drastically changed after the fourth season finale according to a report at ComicBook.com:
The Season 4 finale, which follows the ever-popular Batman: No Man’s Land story from the comics, will alter the entire reality of the series. Everything we know about Gotham will change, and an entirely different Batman prequel series will rise up in its place.
According to executive producer Danny Cannon, “A Dark Knight: No Man’s Land” will change the fabric of Gotham‘s DNA, and serve as a reboot of the show’s story.
During an exclusive interview with ComicBook.com, Cannon mentioned that the finale would bring a “cataclysmic event” to Gotham. Knowing that “No Man’s Land“ was the title of the Season 4 finale, this wasn’t much of a surprise, but we asked him to elaborate.
“Like I said, the catastrophic event, the cataclysmic event that happens in the last three episodes not only will change Gotham,” Cannon continued, “it not only combines so many characters that you don’t think will cooperate with each other, but it changes the face of Gotham forever, so that season five, it’s almost a reboot and a different show.”
“Our characters have reached a maturity now, our characters are so well defined and that’s why I think as writers, that’s right about the point when you want to change people’s perception of them,” Cannon clarified. “The [term] ‘reboot’ means, just when you thought you knew people, something else will happen, and just when you thought your Season 5 would be like Season 4, Season 5 is completely different. New characters and old characters that have changed. It’s a complete [departure], and the city has changed too, new characters on a new landscape.”
Steven Moffat has revealed minimal information about plans for a reinvention of Dracula:
While speaking to Graham Norton on his BBC Radio 2 show, Moffat had a few words to say about his new adaptation. He confirmed that he and Gatiss will tackle the project “in a Sherlock-y way” though there will be one important difference between them: Dracula won’t be brought into the modern day.
“But not in exactly the same way. We’re not modernizing it or anything, but we are doing a version of Dracula.”
In other news related to the Doctor Who/Sherlock universes, Entertainment Weekly reports that David Tennant was considering the staring role on Hannibal:
“I met [Hannibal executive producer] Bryan Fuller a couple of times, and we talked about it,” says Tennant. “But I think they quite wisely chose Mads Mikkelsen, I think he was a perfect choice for it, and I think he did things with that character that I wouldn’t have managed, so I think the right man got the job.”
Considering how well he played the villain on Jessica Jones, I’m sure that Tennant could have also done an excellent job as Hannibal.
Sort of tying in Sherlock with Star Trek news, Benedict Cumberbatch revealed that he spilled secrets about filming Star Trek Into Darkness with Stephen Hawking.
Season eleven of The Big Bang Theory will conclude with the wedding of Amy and Sheldon. Guests include Laurie Metcalf as Sheldon’s mother and Courtney Henggeler reprising her role as his twin sister Missy. Jerry O’Connell has been cast as George, Jr. Besides bringing older versions of the cast of Young Sheldon, Wil Wheaton will be present. The most exciting addition to the guest list is Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker). There is no word as to what his role will be on the episode.
Noah Emmerich of The Americans will continue to be a spy even after his current show is off the air. He will be staring in a limited run series on Netflix entitled, The Spy:
Written and directed by Gideon Raff, creator of the Israeli drama Prisoners of Waron which Showtime’s Homeland was based, The Spy tells the story of legendary Israeli spy Eli Cohen (Baron Cohen). Eli Cohen lived in Damascus undercover in the beginning of the ’60s, spying for Israel. He managed to embed himself into Syrian high society and rise through the ranks of their politics until he was uncovered by the Syrian regime, sentenced to death and publicly hanged.
Emmerich will play Dan Peleg, a charming, rumpled and brilliant Mossad trainer. He is wise, wary and stubborn, and has a tendency to blur the boundaries between the personal and professional. He has conflicted feelings about Eli (Baron Cohen), and is tormented by a mistake he made in the past.
I’m still hoping for a Stan and Oleg spin-off of The Americans.
Posted in Science Fiction, Television. Tags: Batman, Benedict Bumberbatch, Better Call Saul, Bryan Fuller, David Tennant, Dracula, Gotham, Hannibal, Homeland, Jessica Jones, Jim Parsons, Mads Mikkelsen, Mark Gatiss, Mark Hamill, Science Fiction, Sherlock, Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond, Star Trek Discovery, Star Wars, Stephen Hawking, Steven Moffat, The Americans, The Big Bang Theory, The Handmaid's Tale, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, The Spy, Wil Wheaton, Young Sheldon. No Comments »
SciFi Weekend: Stephen Hawking, Scientist & Genre Star; The 100; Martin Freeman on Sherlock; Alexis Bledel on A Handmaid’s Tale; Double Renewal For Eric McCormack–Will & Grace & Travelers; The Americans; Nathan Fillian To Reprise Firefly Role; Saturn Award Nominees
Stephen Hawking died last week leading to recognition not only from the scientific community, tributes from many in actors due to his many appearances on genre television. He was the only historical figure to play himself on Star Trek. In the video above from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Hawking played cards with Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Data in the holodeck. Syfy Wire has several tributes to Hawking from the cast of multiple versions of Star Trek. More at TrekMovie.com.
Sheldon Cooper met Stephen Hawking on The Big Bang Theory in the clip above. TV Line has tributes from the cast of The Big Bang Theory. IO9 has additional television cameos.
The 100 ended last season with major changes, and a quick glance of the future. An extended trailer for the the fifth season has been released, showing a new enemy to contend with. The 100 returns on April 24.
It has been a huge question as to whether Sherlock would return considering how the careers of both stars have taken off. It does not sound encouraging that Martin Freeman will want to return after he said that it wasn’t fun anymore in a recent interview:
In a new interview in The Telegraph, the Black Panther actor was asked if there were any talks about a fifth season of the BBC fan favorite.
“Not massively,” the Dr. Watson actor said. “Um… I think after series four [it] felt like a pause. I think we felt we’d done it for a bit now. And part of it, speaking for myself is [due to] the reception of it.”
Martin, the article explained, was referring to 2017’s fourth season which seemed to struggle to continue building on fans’ expectations of previous outings.
“To be absolutely honest, it [was] kind of impossible,” he explained. “Sherlock became the animal that it became immediately. Whereas even with [the U.K. version of] The Office, it was a slow burn. But Sherlock was frankly notably high quality from the outset. And when you start [that high] it’s pretty hard to maintain that.
“Being in that show, it is a mini-Beatles thing,” he concluded. “People’s expectations, some of it’s not fun anymore. It’s not a thing to be enjoyed, it’s a thing of: ‘You better f—ing do this, otherwise, you’re a c—.’ That’s not fun anymore.”
The Handmaid’s Tale returns to Hulu on April 25. Entertainment Weekly interviewed Alexis Bledel:
This season, we get to learn a lot about Emily’s life from Before. Was her backstory something you’d thought about before this episode?
Yes, I loved filming Emily’s flashbacks. [Executive producer] Bruce Miller and I had talked about what her pre-Gilead life might have been like even before I started working on the first season. I think much of her worldview is informed by her previous life as a professor of cellular biology. Life in the Colonies is a last stop. Emily does not have a great deal of hope for a future there; she knows her days are numbered.
Marisa Tomei costars with you in the second episode. What was that like?
It was amazing to work with her; she’s someone whose work I admire. We had these incredibly dark, dramatic moments to play out that she brought so much depth to.
I keep thinking/wondering what’s worse: life as a Handmaid or living in the Colonies?
Being forced to exist in either Gilead or the Colonies threatens to destroy a person’s soul in different ways. Handmaids are forced to follow an extremely limiting set of rules to comply with the mandates of the Gileadean regime, including the horrific monthly ceremony. Anyone in Gilead would be terrified to be sent to the Colonies. Everything from the soil the unwomen turn over to the water they use to wash is toxic in the Colonies, so a person’s health begins to rapidly deteriorate as soon as they get there. They know they will die there, all the while forced to do hard labor without decent food to eat or clean living conditions.
We are going to be seeing more of Eric McCormack on television next year. NBC has renewed the Will & Grace revival for a second season, and is extending it to eighteen episodes. Fewer people might be aware that Eric McCormack also stars in an excellent Canadian science fiction series called Travelers. The first two seasons were broadcast on Showcase and later shown on Netflix–although once I discovered this show I wound up downloading episodes rather than waiting for it to be available on Netflix.
Travelers has been renewed for a third season, and McCormack will be directing the first episode. However, instead of airing first on Showcase, the show will be shown exclusively on Netflix. I wonder if this was a case of Netflix saving the show if Showcase was not going to continue it, or (I suspect more likely) Netflix has business reasons and the power to take it over.
Travelers is technically a time travel show but the series takes place entirely in the present, with people from the future taking over the consciousness of people at the moments they were to have died. The characters must deal with not only their mission to save the earth , but also must deal with the personal lives of the bodies they take over. I won’t give specifics for those who have not seen it, but the second season ended with major changes for everyone, making fans eager to see a third season.
The Americans returns for its sixth and final season on March 28. FX has released the above official trailer.
Earlier in the week I had this post regarding a social credit system in China which sounds like something out of Black Mirror. It is also reminiscent of Majority Rule, an episode of The Orville.
Storing the contents of one’s brain provided for a fascinating story on Altered Carbon. A company is claiming that they can store the contents of your brain, but there is a huge catch.
Nathan Fillian is going play himself on an upcoming episode of American Housewife, and will be suiting up as Captain Malcolm Reynolds of Firefly.
Posted in Science, Science Fiction, Television. Tags: Alexis Bledel, Altered Carbon, Black Mirror, Black Panther, China, Eric McCormack, Firefly, Jim Parsons, Martin Freeman, Nathan Fillion, Science Fiction, Sherlock, Star Trek, Star Trek Discovery, Stephen Hawking, The 100, The Big Bang Theory, The Handmaid's Tale, The Orville, Travelers, Will and Grace. No Comments »
All We Hear About Is Trump, But The Resistance Is Winning (So Far)
February 22, 2017 — Ron Chusid
If you feel that all we hear about these days is Donald Trump, you are right. Due to a combination of factors including his breaks with conventional norms and his own use of social media, Donald Trump is dominating the news more than is usual for a newly-elected president. His impact on the media extends beyond the conventional news. Farhad Manjoo even found a way to measure this:
Consider data from mediaQuant, a firm that measures “earned media,” which is all coverage that isn’t paid advertising. To calculate a dollar value of earned media, it first counts every mention of a particular brand or personality in just about any outlet, from blogs to Twitter to the evening news to The New York Times. Then it estimates how much the mentions would cost if someone were to pay for them as advertising.
In January, Mr. Trump broke mediaQuant’s records. In a single month, he received $817 million in coverage, higher than any single person has ever received in the four years that mediaQuant has been analyzing the media, according to Paul Senatori, the company’s chief analytics officer. For much of the past four years, Mr. Obama’s monthly earned media value hovered around $200 million to $500 million. The highest that Hillary Clinton got during the presidential campaign was $430 million, in July.
It’s not just that Mr. Trump’s coverage beats anyone else’s. He is now beating pretty much everyone else put together. Mr. Senatori recently added up the coverage value of 1,000 of the world’s best known figures, excluding Mr. Obama and Mr. Trump. The list includes Mrs. Clinton, who in January got $200 million in coverage, Tom Brady ($38 million), Kim Kardashian ($36 million), and Vladimir V. Putin ($30 million), all the way down to the 1,000th most-mentioned celebrity in mediaQuant’s database, the actress Madeleine Stowe ($1,001).
The coverage those 1,000 people garnered last month totaled $721 million. In other words, Mr. Trump gets about $100 million more in coverage than the next 1,000 famous people put together. And he is on track to match or beat his January record in February, according to Mr. Senatori’s preliminary figures.
This includes Trump dominating conversation beyond the news. He is everywhere on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, and Reddit. He comes up elsewhere:
It wasn’t just news. Mr. Trump’s presence looms over much more. There he is off in the wings of “The Bachelor” and even “The Big Bang Theory,” whose creator, Chuck Lorre, has taken to inserting anti-Trump messages in the closing credits. Want to watch an awards show? Say the Grammys or the Golden Globes? TrumpTrumpTrump. How about sports? Yeah, no. The president’s policies are an animating force in the N.B.A. He was the subtext of the Super Bowl: both the game and the commercials, and maybe even the halftime show.
It is impossible to ignore Trump. His impact has been seen in many areas already, but probably the most on immigration. This excites the haters on the right, and is met with appalled criticism from others. The New York Times is not exaggerating in writing, Mr. Trump’s ‘Deportation Force’ Prepares an Assault on American Values.
Probably the most fearful narrative about Donald Trump is that he is an authoritarian, in Putin’s mold. There has been increased attention paid to George Orwell’s 1984 and other books about authoritarianism. Jonathan Chait has looked at these fears:
The prospect that President Trump will degrade or destroy American democracy is the most important question of the new political era. It has received important scholarly attention from two basic sources, which have approached it in importantly different fashions. Scholars of authoritarian regimes (principally Russia) have used their knowledge of authoritarian history to paint a road map by which Trump could Putinize this country. Timothy Snyder, Masha Gessen, and other students of Putin’s methods have essentially treated Putinization as the likely future, and worked backward to the present. A second category of knowledge has come from scholars of democracy and authoritarianism, who have compared the strengths and weaknesses of the American system of government both to countries elsewhere that have succumbed to authoritarianism and those that have not. Their approach has, more appropriately, treated Trump’s authoritarian designs as an open question. Trump might launch an assault on the foundations of the republic. On the other hand, he might not.
What are the signs of impending authoritarianism? Trump has rhetorically hyped violence, real or imaginary, committed by enemy groups, while downplaying or ignoring violence or threats from friendlier sources. He said nothing about a white-supremacist terror attack in Canada that killed six people before denouncing a knife attack a few days later by an Islamist radical in France that killed nobody. He quickly directed a government program on countering violent extremism to focus exclusively on Muslim radicalism and stop work halting white-supremacist terrorism. Just as he urged his campaign crowds to rough up protesters, he treated news that pro-Trump bikers would patrol his inauguration not as a threat to create chaos but as a welcome paramilitary force. “That’s like additional security with those guys, and they’re rough,” he gleefully told reporters. Trump’s rhetoric follows a pattern of politicizing violence, simultaneously justifying stringent government action against enemies he has designated while tacitly justifying vigilantism by extremists sympathetic to his cause.
Since his election, Trump has obsessively fabricated a narrative in which he is the incarnate of the will of the people. According to his own concocted history, he won a historically large Electoral College victory, and would have also won the popular vote if not for millions of illegal votes. He has dismissed protesters against him as paid agents, denied the legitimacy of courts to overrule his actions, and, most recently, called mainstream media “enemies of the people.” This is an especially chilling phrase to hear from an American president. Totalitarian dictators like Stalin and Mao used designation of a political figure or a social class as an “enemy of the people” as a prelude to mass murder.
Fortunately, while Trump has done many undesirable things, the talk of the loss of American democracy remains only talk. Checks and balances on the presidency still work. We are seeing the start of a strong anti-Trump protest movement. While far too many liberals were willing to ignore Hillary Clinton’s extremist positions on American interventionism, with many even defending her positions on Iraq, Libya, and Syria, and ignore her views on restricting civil liberties which are nearly as far right as those of Donald Trump, the left (and others) are already forming a resistance against Trump. Chait notes that, at least for now, the resistance has the upper hand:
It is worth noting that, so far, normal political countermobilization seems to be working quite well. “The Resistance,” as anti-Trump activists have come to be known, has already rattled the once-complacent Republican majorities in Congress, which Trump needs to quash investigations of his corruption and opaque ties to Russia. Whatever pressure Trump has tried to apply to the news media has backfired spectacularly. His sneering contempt has inspired a wave of subscriptions that have driven new revenue to national media, which have blanketed the administration with independent coverage. Popular culture outlets, rather than responding to Trump’s election by tempering their mockery, have instead stepped it up, enraging the president.
The most plausible (to me) mechanism by which Trump might ensconce himself in power was laid out by Matthew Yglesias three months ago. The scenario Yglesias described would be one in which Trump used the authority of the federal government to compel large firms to give him political support. Companies that opposed him, or who even refused to offer support, might be punished with selectively punitive regulation, while those that played ball might be rewarded with lax enforcement of labor, antitrust, or other regulation.
So far there is no evidence such a scenario is playing out. To be sure, Trump is attempting, sporadically, to bully the private sector. But the effort has backfired. Firms whose leaders make favorable statements about the president have seen their stock get hammered. A long list of prominent CEOs has openly criticized Trump. The reason for this is obvious. Trump’s supporters may have disproportionate power in the Electoral College, but his opponents have disproportionate power in the marketplace. Firms cater in their advertising to the young, who overwhelming oppose Trump, rather than to the old, who strongly support him.
If Trump has a plan to crush his adversaries, he has not yet revealed it. His authoritarian rage thus far is mostly impotent, the president as angry Fox-News-watching grandfather screaming threats at his television that he never carries out. The danger to the republic may come later, or never. In the first month of Trump’s presidency, the resistance has the upper hand.
Posted in Blogs & Social Media, Civil Liberties, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, News Media. Tags: Barack Obama, Civil Liberties, Donald Trump, Facebook, George Orwell, Hillary Clinton, Iraq, Libya, Syria, The Big Bang Theory, Twitter, Vladimir Putin. No Comments »
SciFi Weekend: Timeless; Legion And Other Wednesday Genre Shows; Doctor Who; Renewal And Returning Show News; A Sci-Fi Explanation For Donald Trump; Oscar First Thoughts
Timeless started out the season as an entertaining time travel series, even if not the most significant genre show on at present. As it approaches its season (and possibly series) finale, the show has gotten even better as the Rittenhouse backstory progressed, and the series moved on from its initial formula. Screenrant looked at Why Everyone Needs To Be Watching This Time Travel Show.
TV Line spoke with producers Eric Kripke and Shawn Ryan about Timeless:
TVLINE | How would you preview the finale?
SHAWN RYAN | I’m proud of the finale. It answers a ton of the questions that we’ve raised. We’ve had a pretty good plan from the beginning of the season. There are things that happen in the finale that we had plotted out in our first couple weeks in the writers’ room back in June. We’ve known for a while that we were going to make 16 episodes this season, so we were able to plan for that and build to this…
TVLINE | The last episode left off on quite a cliffhanger, with Rufus in very dire straits. How that will play out in the finale?
ERIC KRIPKE | It’s not so much about whether Rufus will live or die, because — spoiler alert! — he lives. He’s one of our main characters and a popular one, and we’re not going to kill him. So as long as there’s a Timeless, Malcolm [Barrett] has a reasonable amount of job security. It’s more about the storyline that it leads to. Rufus is unable to pilot the lifeboat alone because he’s wounded, and so he needs some help, which comes from some unexpected places, and it kind of turns the story into a new direction, and then turns again.
I think the show’s gotten better and better the more we’ve focused in on and doubled down on the characters. The thing I’m most proud about in the finale is that it’s really a character piece. So many finales, especially the genre shows, are just about people running around and fighting, and ours really digs down to the thematics and the character issues that our people have been facing all year. It’s a uniquely thoughtful and emotional finale, and I’m really proud of it because of that.
TVLINE | How much did not knowing whether the show was renewed or not impact the finale and how you chose to end it?
RYAN | It did not have a great impact. We had a story that we wanted to tell from the beginning. We’re moving forward optimistically. We think there will be a Season 2. I’ve been in a situation before on Last Resort, where it was clear as we were making Episodes 10 and 11 that the show wasn’t going to continue, and we chose at that point to write what was essentially a series finale for Episode 13 to give closure. I think there are a lot of reasons for optimism for a Season 2. We’ll find out in two or three months. We’ve always set out to tell this one-season story that then would provide a launching point for a Season 2, but that would answer a lot of things, and I think we did it. We didn’t have any conversations where we were pulling out ratings and trying to do the math. We’re just writers, and we told the best story we could. So we’ll let the chips fall where they may.
KRIPKE | When you write these things, you plan for success. You just sort of have to, and whatever happens happens. But you write it as if the show’s coming back, because I think doing it any other way, you’re compromising the story you set out to tell.
Legion remains one of the more intriguing shows of the last couple of years, and is already being compared to recent greats like Mr. Robot and West World. It deals with mental illness and an unreliable narrator as in Mr. Robot. While it might not be a major feature of the show after the premise is established, it handled time jumps far better than West World. While the themes are quite different, it also raises comparisons to Noah Hawley’s recent work on Fargo, in which Hawley adapted another universe in his own way. Uproxx interviewed Noah Hawley:
When you first got the material, what was going in your head in terms of how you wanted this to look?
When I sat down to write it, there was nothing specifically contemporary about it, but I don’t think I assumed it wasn’t a contemporary story. Then, I guess we talked about, since the movies jump from decade to decade, should we be in there somewhere? Then it just seemed to me like the subjectivity of the show gave us this opportunity to create a reality and I don’t know why, I just found myself drawn to these ’60s movies, British ’60s movies; Terence Stamp movies and Quadrophenia. There was a sense of the young punks and these are a band of outsiders and there is that sense of teenage rebellion that exists in this thing. In a modern day sense I think we’re over that and yet there’s something about that period in us that makes something familiar unfamiliar.
It started with just thinking like, “Well, let’s embrace the brutalist architecture and let’s not have any cars, because cars date something, so then if you’re in a reality without cars, where are you when you’re outdoors?” We shot on this University of British Columbia campus where there were no cars allowed. Then the hair and the costumes, this idea of the track suits that they’re in and all of that was a process of figuring out what it was and then the music plays into that as well. This idea, as I said to our composer Jeff Russo, that the show should sound like Dark Side of the Moon, so he went out and he bought the patch cord synthesizer they use in the show.
It is this mixture of visuals and the sound and music of it that’s trying to create something that’s not about information but that’s about experience.
Yeah. It’s almost a ‘60s vision of what the future would look like.
Right. Some of the elements seem futuristic and some of them seem dated, but I wanted there to be a certain whimsy to it as well, and a playfulness. I always loved about that genre and genre in general was the pure inventiveness of it and the way like a science fiction story. The example I give is Battlestar Galactica, the remake. It’s the Cylons who have God. It takes God and it takes robots and it creates something completely new. It’s not something that you would do in a drama. It’s something you would only do in a genre and so what are the genre elements that will allow us to take a show that would work as a dramatic story, two people in love, trying to define themselves rather than being defined by society and it turns it into something that I hope every week there’s something that blows your mind a little…
David alone has, in theory, an infinite number of powers. You get a bunch of these other characters with their own abilities that seem to, for the most part, be your own creations, so you can give them the powers to do whatever you want. What was that process like of figuring out, for instance, what Syd can do?
For me it was about creating characters and saying, what makes a tragic love story? A tragic love story is about people who want to be together but can’t be together for one reason. If they physically can’t touch then that creates this seemingly unleapable obstacle. Then it became about her having a power where she couldn’t be touched, and obviously I think there are characters in comic book lore who have different versions of, “If you touch me, something happens.” I took the creative license to say, “Well this is my version of that.” The danger with a character with a hundred issues of mythology is you’re always turning around and realizing you can’t do something because someone’s going to get mad or it’s going to conflict with what they know and it’s going to be confusing.
It just seemed more and more that I could take David and take this multiple personality disorder that he has in the comic and I could create a sort of metaphorical version of that, which is not to say we won’t ultimately realize that’s what he has, but it’s to say that that’s not what he’s diagnosed with in the show. Then to surround him with characters of my own invention so that I’m not hamstrung about what stories I can tell.
There has been a recent TV trend of unreliable narrators. How do you keep the audience from looking at the show as a puzzle to solve?
You have to solve the mystery. The narrator has to become reliable. It’s a lot to ask an audience to take a perpetually unsatisfying journey where it’s like you’re never going to know for sure. It’s another thing to say, “We’re going to take a character out of confusion into clarity and an audience out of mystery into clarity.” That’s the goal of it which is to say, there’s a contract and you watch that first hour and you like, “I don’t know. There’s a devil with yellow eyes and there are these other elements that I’m not sure what they mean, but I trust the filmmaker and I know that I’m going to understand it eventually.” You do. It becomes clear by the end of the first year what’s going on.
Before this era of peak TV, The 100 might have been the top genre show on of the night. Now it shares the night with Legion, The Magicians, The Expanse, and Arrow. The 100 really deserves more attention than I’ve been paying to it, but TV Line does have some comments on the revelations in Wednesday’s episode.
Spoiler TV reviewed last week’s episode of The Magicians in the aftermath of Alice’s death.
Plus information from the producers on Arrow here and here.
Vox has more on The Expanse.
Although they have no inside information, and the decision probably won’t be made for several months, the odds makers seem to like Tilda Swinton as the favorite to replace Peter Capaldi on Doctor Who. Chris Chibnall will be making the actual decision, and says it will be made in the traditional way:
We’ll cast the role in the traditional way: write the script, then go and find the best person for that part in that script. You couldn’t go out and cast an abstract idea.”
He adds: “The creative possibilities are endless, but I have a very clear sense of what we’re going to do, without even knowing who’s going to play the part.”
Steven Moffat says that Chibnall did try to convince Peter Capaldi to stay. He also says he does not plan to write further episodes of Doctor Who for a while after he leaves as show runner. He seems to have thrown all his ideas into Doctor Who the last several years, but perhaps he will come up with something new down the road.
Odds are looking good that The Big Bang Theory will be renewed for two additional seasons.
Fox has renewed Lucifer for a third season.
I gave up on Once Upon A Time a while back, and from the ratings it looks like many others have too. The producers are talking about wrapping up the current narrative at the end of season six, and possibly rebooting the show in a different direction for a seventh season.
Fox is considering a reboot of Firefly, but only if Joss Whedon is on board. That makes perfect sense. I question if there is any point in rebooting the show, as opposed to leaving it as a brief , but excellent, old series. I really see no point in having someone else do a reboot.
Netflix has announced that Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returns on May 19.
Outlander returns in September. The production is moving to South Africa, which might be a stand-in for Jamaica.
Goliath has been renewed for a second season.
The Flash deals in multiple parallel universes, including the one in which Supergirl takes place. Screen Rant explains the most important Earths in the CW multiverse. This got me thinking after hearing Donald Trump’s comments on what appears to be an alternative Sweden…
It increasingly looks like the best explanation is that Donald Trump and his top aides have been replaced by their counterparts from an alternate universe in which there have been terrorist attacks in Bowling Green, Atlanta and Sweden. Also, in their universe, Barack Obama really was a Muslim born in Kenya, and scientists never did figure out the connection between human action and climate change. Presumably orange skin and that hair are also commonplace there too.
I’m still racing to catch as many of the top Academy Award nominees as possible by next Sunday. Looking at the favorites, at this point I enjoyed La La Land and am okay with Emma Stone as Best Actress, but I would not pick it as Best Picture. Based upon what I’ve seen so far I’d go with Arrival, but not expecting a science fiction movie to win, I’d also pick Lion above La La Land. It would be a toss up with Manchester by the Sea, depending upon whether I want a more upbeat or downbeat movie. Casey Afflect is justifiably a strong contender for Best Actor.
This could change by next week. My immediate goal is to at try to get in Hidden Figures, Fences, and Moonlight before the awards.
Posted in Donald Trump, Science Fiction, Television. Tags: Arrival, Arrow, Chris Chibnall, Doctor Who, Donald Trump, Emma Stone, Fargo, Firefly, Goliath, Joss Whedon, La La Land, Legion, Lucifer, Mr Robot, Noah Hawley, Once Upon A Time, Outlander, Peter Capaldi, Science Fiction, Steven Moffat, Supergirl, The 100, The Big Bang Theory, The Expanse, The Flash, The Magicians, Timeless, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Westworld. No Comments »
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SMHS Home
A biannual publication of the GW School of Medicine & Health Sciences
Homing in on Health Equity
Educational Series Sets Faculty Up for Success
By Katherine Dvorak
Health is commonly considered a fundamental human right. So is freedom from inequities due to differential access to quality care. That’s why health equity has been a key element of the George Washington University (GW) School of Medicine and Health Sciences’ (SMHS) strategic goals for many years. Now, a five-month series aims to further health equity education among educators and health care providers while also fostering a shared understanding of the issues.
“We want to set people up for success and give them the tools to facilitate discussions on how we talk about race, power, and privilege in the classroom in a way that has both educators and students feeling safe and feeling included in the discussion,” says Maranda Ward, EdD, MPH, assistant professor of clinical research and leadership at SMHS, the creative mind behind the series.
The Department of Clinical Research and Leadership is sponsoring the five-month series, which began in September and will continue through January 2020.
The series, Ward says, will help attendees understand the importance of teaching about the social, environmental, and structural factors that threaten health equity; create inclusive policies and practices to address the challenges of health equity; and seek out equitable and sustainable institutional and community partnerships to advance health equity.
The idea for the series, Ward says, stemmed from a desire in the health sciences division of SMHS to create recommendations for faculty on addressing health equity in the classroom.
“It’s not enough to create recommendations for the curriculum if the faculty and staff don’t feel comfortable and confident with these topics,” she says. “We want to make sure faculty are empowered to be proactive in these discussions.”
Ward says the series is open to the GW community and the public, and adds that the series is streamed through WebEx; sessions are archived online.
Topics addressed include health disparities within and across important U.S. populations; root causes of health disparities in teaching and research; and how to talk about race, power, and privilege in the classroom.
“We want to make sure faculty are empowered
to be proactive in these discussions.”
“I created an external review committee of professionals and they weighed in on priority areas,” Ward says about how the topics were chosen. “We knew that when we’re talking about disparities, we need to talk about key populations to ensure people have the data around disproportionate health outcomes in U.S. populations. We also knew it would be important to show faculty and staff how to facilitate these discussions. You can have all the data you want, but you have to be comfortable talking about these issues.
Speakers for the series include Ward; Abby Charles, MPH, senior program manager at the Institute for Public Health Innovation; Karey M. Sutton, PhD, director of the American Association of Medical Colleges Health Equity Research Workforce; and Howard Straker, EdD, MPH, PA-C, director of the PA/MPH program and assistant professor of physician assistant studies at SMHS.
Ward adds that the January session will be longer in order to have more hands-on activities and discussions, ensuring attendees are able to take what they learned and the resources offered and put them into practice.
That session will also include “voice equity,” Ward says, through a panel discussion featuring community members who will talk about the work they are conducting related to health equity and projects happening on the ground where they live.
“Community partnerships are extremely important when it comes to health equity,” she says. “There are a lot of ways to talk about academic community partnerships. You can’t do this alone.”
Her goal for the series is for SMHS faculty to have a “renewed sense of urgency around understanding why this is important and having the agency and capacity to act, and enact change.”
Fall 2019, Features
Medicine + Health is a publication of the SMHS Office of Communications & Marketing
Email: smhsnews@gwu.edu
© Copyright 2010- | All Rights Reserved


Wikipedia Summary
Portrait of horror fiction writer, Howard P. Lovecraft, 1915The Lovecraft Monument
(1890-08-20)August 20, 1890
Providence, Rhode Island, USA
March 15, 1937(1937-03-15) (aged 46)
Swan Point Cemetery, Providence, Rhode Island
Lewis Theobald
Humphrey Littlewit
Ward Phillips
Edward Softly
Short-story writer, editor, novelist, poet
Dark, Fantasy, Gothic, Horror, Science fiction, Weird
Literary movement
Cosmicism
Sonia Greene (1924–1926)
Now all my tales are based on the fundamental premise that common human laws and interests and emotions have no validity or significance in the vast cosmos-at-large. To me there is nothing but puerility in a tale in which the human form—and the local human passions and conditions and standards—are depicted as native to other worlds or other universes. To achieve the essence of real externality, whether of time or space or dimension, one must forget that such things as organic life, good and evil, love and hate, and all such local attributes of a negligible and temporary race called mankind, have any existence at all. Only the human scenes and characters must have human qualities. These must be handled with unsparing realism, (not catch-penny romanticism) but when we cross the line to the boundless and hideous unknown—the shadow-haunted Outside—we must remember to leave our humanity and terrestrialism at the threshold.
H. P. Lovecraft Letter to Farnsworth Wrigth (July 27, 1927), in Selected Letters 1925–1929 (Sauk City, Wisconsin: Arkham House, 1968), p.150.
Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born at 9 a.m. on August 20, 1890, at his family home at 454 (then numbered 194) Angell Street in Providence, Rhode Island.
His parents were Winfield Scott Lovecraft, a traveling salesman for Gorham Manufacturing Company, a large silver-plate and sterling company and Sarah Susan Phillips Lovecraft whose eccentric and sheltering behavior likely profoundly contributed to Lovecraft’s shut-in nature in adulthood. When Lovecraft was three his father had a mental break in a hotel room in Chicago of which the cause is not certain but evidence suggests that it was paresis, a form of neurosyphilis. He was brought back to Butler Hospital, where he remained paralyzed and comatose for five years before dying on July 19, 1898. Lovecraft’s early childhood despite showing profound intelligence (reciting poetry at age two, reading at age three, and writing at age six or seven) was marred by frequent sickness and was withdrawn from school after attending for only a year due to illness. He was raised by his mother his, two aunts and his grandfather – businessman and industrialist Whipple Van Buren Phillips.
At the encouragement of his grandfather he consumed many classic tales such as Arabian Nights, which he read by the age of five; it was then that he adapted the pseudonym of “Abdul Alhazred, The Mad Arab” who later became the author of the cursed Necronomicon. His interests in the Arabian were discarded in favor of the Greek mythology, gleaned through Bulfinch’s Age of Fable and children's versions of the Iliad and the Odyssey.
The earliest known work “The Poem of Ulysses” (1897), is a paraphrase of the Odyssey in 88 lines of internally rhyming verse. His grandfather fostered and interest in the weird and gothic, by entertaining Lovecraft with off-the-cuff weird tales in the Gothic mode. Due to his physical and perhaps mental illness Lovecraft spent much of his time alone reading and learning independent of a formal education. By eight he had discovered science, first chemistry, then astronomy.
He began to compiling journals that contained scientific articles made by using gelatin and special ink to copy the original namely, The Scientific Gazette (1899–1907) and The Rhode Island Journal of Astronomy (1903–07), which were distributed amongst his friends. When he was finally able to enter high school he developed several long-lasting friendships with boys of his age and made his first appearance in print in 1906, when he wrote a letter on an astronomical matter to The Providence Sunday Journal. He began writing columns for several papers.
In 1904 his grandfather died, and mismanagement of his estate left his family in a poor financial situation, and they were forced to move into much smaller accommodations from their lavish and comfortable Victorian home. Losing his home was incredibly hard on the sheltered adolescent Lovecraft and apparently contemplated suicide.
In 1908 just before his graduation from high school, he suffered a nervous breakdown that forced him to leave school without graduating and blocked his acceptance to Brown University. Not achieving his goals in education were sources of great shame to Lovecraft in later years, although he was thought to be a formidable autodidact.
From 1908 to 1913 Lovecraft falls disappears from history, mostly pursuing his interests in astronomy and poetry. During this period and due to the cramped and isolated nature of his living circumstance he unhealthily close relationship with his mother, who was still suffering from the trauma of her husband’s illness and death, and who developed a pathological love-hate relationship with her son.
Lovecraft broke his silence in a 1300 word letter in the Argosy mocking the pulp writer Fred Jackson whose love stories were intermingled with the weird tales and science fiction:
To such as these are the fictions of Jackson well suited; but these, methinks, are not the average readers of The Argosy. The latter prefer, I am sure, a sprightlier sort of story, where acts of valor are more dwelt upon than affairs of Venus. For mine own part, I have ever preferred the Aeneid of Virgil to the Ars Amatoria of Ovid. Apart from the mere choice of subject, let me venture to describe the Jacksonine type as trivial, effeminate, and, in places, wane. The author remarks the costumes of his heroines with the minute attention of a mantua-maker and describes the furnishings and decorations of their apartments like a housewife or chamber-maids
HP Lovecraft The Argosy
Readers and fans of Fred Jackson were incensed and responded in kind:
If he would use a few less adjectives and more words which the general public arc familiar with than labyrinthine, laureled, luminary, lucubration, and many others… I get sore at people like H. P. L. I will pay his fifteen cents a month if he will quit reading Argosy. Jackson is great… I am a cow-puncher, and certainly would like to loosen up my .44-six on that man Lovecraft. Yours for luck. Excuse pencil, as ink is scarce at the Bijou Ranch.
Argosy Reader The Argosy
Lovecraft retaliated with a poem mocking Jackson and his fans:
What vig'rous protests now assail my eyes?
See Jackson's satellites in anger rise!
His ardent readers, steep'd in tales of love,
Sincere devotion to their leader prove;
In brave defense of sickly gallantry,
They damn the critic and beleaguer me…
Scrawl on, sweet Jackson, raise the lover's leer;
'Tis plain you please the fallen public ear.
As once, in Charles the Second's vulgar age,
Gross Wycherly and Dryden soil' d the stage,
So now again erotic themes prevail,
However loud the sterner souls bewail…
The debate continued with Lovecraft responding primarily in mocking heroic couplets. Lovecraft was noticed by Edward F. Daas who was president of the United Amatuer
Edward F. Daas, President of the United Amateur Press Association (UAPA), a group of mostly amateur writers from around the country who wrote and published pulp magazines. Edward Daas invited Lovecraft to join the UAPA, and Lovecraft did so in early 1914.
Later Lovecraft became President and Official Editor of the UAPA, and served briefly as President of the rival Nation Amateur Press Association (NAPA). According to a quote by Lovecraft being offered membership to the UAPA may have been the only thing that prevented his disappearance from a public eye:
"In 1914, when the kindly hand of amateurdom was first extended to me, I was a close to the state of vegetation as any animal well can be ... With the advent of the United I obtained a renewal to live; a renewed sense of existence as other than a superfluous weight; and found a sphere in which I could feel that my efforts were not wholly futile. For the first time I could imagine that my clumsy gropings after art were a little more then faint cries lost in the unlistening world."
It was in the amateur world that Lovecraft began writing after abandoning fiction writing in 1908. Lovecraft published thirteen issues of his own paper, The Conservative (1915–23), as well as contributing poetry and essays to many other journals. W. Paul Cook and others, noting the promise shown in such early tales as "The Beast in the Cave " (1905) and "The Alchemist" (1908), urged Lovecraft pen fiction again, which resulted in the writing "The Tomb" and "Dagon" in quick succession in the summer of 1917.
The one test of the really weird is simply this—whether or not there be excited in the reader a profound sense of dread, and of contact with unknown spheres and powers; a subtle attitude of awed listening, as if for the beating of black wings or the scratching of outside shapes and entities on the known universe’s utmost rim.
H. P. Lovecraft Supernatural Horror in Literature, November 1925
Joshi, S. T. (1996). A Subtler Magick: The Writings and Philosophy of H. P. Lovecraft. Borgo Press. pp. 22, 41–42, 76–77, 107–108, 162, 229, 230. ISBN 1-880448-61-0.


According to a study conducted by the BBC, the standard IQ test neglects to take into consideration multiple other aspects of intelligence, rendering it inaccurate and biased.
The seven individuals selected for the study.
Photo courtesy of BBC.
The experiment selected seven individuals, all outstanding in their respective fields of expertise, and put them through a series of ‘intelligence’ tests. Apart from the IQ-type tests, which produced predictable results, creativity was also assessed by using a test developed in the 60s: “Name as many uses as you can for a sock in 10 minutes.”
The results saw the creatives, which included dramatist/critic Bonnie Greer, doing comparatively well. For the subsequent test on creativity through visual idea, the dramatist came out on top. And when it came to measuring flexibility and all-round intelligence, she tied with quantum physicist Seth Lloyd.
So what exactly sets dramatists like Bonnie ahead of the pack? Well, we know Speech and Drama lessons have their fair share of benefits, but how do they actually improve one’s intelligence?
Divergent thinking and creativity
The ‘alternative uses’ test is a measure of divergent thinking and values one’s ability to tap on their creativity, originality, and practicality. Robert Sternberg, from Tufts University, Boston, maintains that creativity is an essential aspect of one’s IQ. He says, “Creativity was a tool for the high flyers – the Einsteins, the Darwins, the Newtons. But now the world has changed so much that creativity is now a vital part of intelligence for everyone.”
In Speech and Drama lessons, students practice divergent thinking in their encounters of the portrayal of life from different viewpoints, and are encouraged to generate and explore the many possible resolutions to the material that is covered, thereby expanding their worldview.
Fluency and expressive ability
Creative drama also improves a child’s ability to communicate and express themselves. Through regular discussions, writing scripts, and performing, children are able to become more fluent, learn how to communicate effectively, and build up their vocabulary in a welcoming environment.
Furthermore, through articulation and enunciation practices, they are groomed to craft more eloquent and creative responses, and learn to engage audiences in a natural manner.
When it came to the emotional intelligence portion of the test, the study saw Bonnie doing comparatively well understanding the emotions of others.
Emotional intelligence can be said to cover five main areas: self-awareness, emotional control, self-motivation, empathy, interpersonal skills. Skills such as these developed in our formative years often provide the foundation for future habits later on in life, and will benefit children not just academically but holistically too.
Drama is an excellent catalyst for the development of a child’s EQ, or emotional intelligence. Through speech and drama lessons, students become more dialed in to the emotional signals of others, which in turn strengthens their ability to connect better in relationships.
All these invaluable skills are within reach with both English and Chinese Speech and Drama courses at your child’s disposal, at Crestar Learning Centre and the Chinese Bridge Language School respectively.


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Brian Price is an award-winning screenwriter who has worked with major studios, television networks, and independent film producers from around the world. As an instructor, he has taught screenwriting at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and the Brooks Institute, among others, and is a proud member of the prestigious UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television screenwriting faculty.
Since we first arrived on the planet, we’ve been telling each other stories, whether of that morning’s great saber-toothed tiger hunt or the latest installment of the Star Wars saga. And throughout our history, despite differences of geography or culture, we’ve been telling those stories in essentially the same way.
Because there is a RIGHT way to tell a story, one built into our very DNA.
In his seminal work Poetics, Aristotle identified the patterns and recurring elements that existed in the successful dramas of his time as he explored precisely why we tell stories, what makes a good one, and how to best tell them.
In Classical Storytelling and Contemporary Screenwriting, Brian Price examines Aristotle’s conclusions in an entertaining and accessible way and then applies those guiding principles to the most modern of storytelling mediums, going from idea to story to structure to outline to final pages and beyond, covering every relevant screenwriting topic along the way.
The result is a fresh new approach to the craft of screenwriting—one that’s only been around a scant 2,500 years or so—ideal for students and aspiring screenwriters that want a comprehensive step-by-step guide to writing a successful screenplay the way the pros do it.
"The insights in this volume could be provided only by an author like Brian Price, himself an experienced creator of narratives and a respected writing educator. In accessible language he explains why, millennia after his death, for contemporary dramatic writers Aristotle is more relevant than ever. Here is no pie-in-the-sky philosophical preaching but a hands-on guide to buttress storytelling craft for writers both new and experienced."
RICHARD WALTER, Associate Dean
UCLA School of Theatre, Film, and Television
Brian's Blog
For speaking engagements and media inquiries, please contact Brian:
brianpricescreenwriting@gmail.com
© 2018 by Brian Price created with Wix.com


Court Orders City Officials To Find Funds To Keep Schools Open
By Susan G. Foster
At the urging of the Massachusetts Board of Education and the local teachers' union, a state Superior Court judge has issued an injunction that forces school and town officials find enough money to keep the Lynn Public Schools open for a full 180-day year as required by law.
The action came this month after officials of the 12,000-student system outside of Boston warned state education officials that they did not have enough money to meet their payroll through the end of the school year. They asked permission to end3the year early, the first district in Massachusetts to make such a request in three years.
As of late last week, however, it was uncertain whether the city's mayor, who also serves as chairman of the Lynn School Committee, would seek a loan enabling the district to resolve temporarily its financial problems.
Terry Zoulas, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Education, said Lynn officials filed an appeal immediatly after Judge Peter F. Brady issued the injunction on May 17. That appeal, he said was denied. The court's action compels city officials to seek either a short-term loan or an advance on next year's state-aid payment, according to Mr. Zoulas.
$2.6 Million Needed
Lynn school officials notified the state department of education earlier this month that as of last Friday the district would not be able to meet its payroll obligations and requested permission to close the schools early. District officials said they would need an additional $2.6 million to keep the schools open until June 22, their scheduled closing date.
The state board denied the school district's requests and then asked the state attorney general to seek an injunction that would require the 12,000-student system to continue operating.
In a separate action, the Lynn Teachers Union also filed suit, charging that the district's attempt to close the schools before meeting the terms of the state's compulsory attendance law would violate the teachers' contract.
Proposition 2 Cited
Lynn school officials contend that the district's financial problems are directly related to the spending limitations placed on the state's cities and towns by the enactment of Proposition 2 in 1980. That law placed restrictions on the amount of revenue that could be raised through property taxes and at the same time stripped local school committees of their authority to levy taxes and establish their own budgets.
A Shrinking Budget
In 1981, former Mayor Kevin White threatened to close the Boston Public Schools for financial reasons, forcing the state to take legal action similar to that in the Lynn case, according to a spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Education.
Prior to the enactment of Proposition 2, the Lynn school district's budget was about $29 million, acel5lcording to George F. Laubner, superintendent of schools. Since then, the school has had to operate on a budget of $24.2 million, he said, and the city council has approved a level-funded budget for the next school year.
"The school committee feels that is inadequate to meet the needs of the children in the city," said Mr. Laubner.
State officials have acknowledged the problems facing many school districts because of Proposition 2, but they also noted that the situation in Lynn is the result of a number of factors.
Local Politics A Factor
According to Mr. Zoulas, the school district's problems are the result of a conflict between the school committee and the city council over spending, the city's failure to raise local property assessments to 100 percent to raise tax revenue, and generally poor management on both sides.
"It's not a case of the state not fulfilling its obligation, but a town not providing adequately for the schools," Mr. Zoulas said. "They have a lot of problems that are not just limited to keeping the schools open," he added.
Of the school district's $24.2 million operating budget, according to state and local school officials, about $19 million comes from the state and only about $5 million is provided through local property taxes.
In an interview conducted prior to the court's order, Mayor Antonio Marino charged the school committee with "deliberately overspending" its budget and said that he was reluctant to take a $2.6-million loan because it would set "a bad precedent."
"I can't borrow money in violation of the law," he said. "I cannot do that in good conscience; every department in the city would overspend and that would circumvent the law."
"Borrowing doesn't get you out of this mess," the mayor added. "You still have it next year."


Udall: Dems will need to ‘blow it’ to lose New Mexico in ’20
by: RUSSELL CONTRERAS Associated Press
Posted: Oct 8, 2019 / 12:41 PM CDT / Updated: Oct 8, 2019 / 12:41 PM CDT
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall, D-New Mexico, left, pins replacement medals to All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman Edward Paul Torres during a special ceremony at Isleta Pueblo, N.M., Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. Sen. Udall presented the medals to Torres and former Isleta Tribal councilman Diego Lujan, not seen, both veterans of the Vietnam War, after he found out the men were never presented with their earned military medals. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras)
ISLETA PUEBLO, N.M. (AP) — Democrats would have to “really blow it” to lose New Mexico, the nation’s most Hispanic state, to President Donald Trump in 2020, Democratic U.S. Sen. Tom Udall said.
In an interview with The Associated Press last week, the state’s senior senator said Democrats still have a strong advantaged over Republicans in New Mexico next year’s general election. But he said the GOP is expected to work hard to try to capture the state and that Democrats must not be complacent.
“When we have a nominee, that nominee will need to have a strong and robust ground game and get-out-the-vote operation in New Mexico,” said Udall, who has not endorsed a Democratic candidate. “The nominee will need to spend time in the state and not take it for granted.”
Last month, Trump visited Rio Rancho, New Mexico, and vowed to win the state in the presidential election.
“You all look much better than you did three years ago. … You’re doing better than any other state,” Trump told a cheering crowd, taking credit for the state’s oil boom. “How do I lose New Mexico?”
Trump lost New Mexico to Democrat Hillary Clinton by eight percentage points in 2016. However, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, as a Libertarian, captured more than 9% of the state’s vote — giving Republicans hope they may be able to flip the traditionally Democratic state in 2020.
Republicans have not won New Mexico since 2004, when President George W. Bush prevailed over Democratic U.S. Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Nearly half of New Mexico’s 2.1 million residents identify themselves as Hispanic or Latino — the highest ratio in the nation, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, a Republican who soundly defeated Democrats in two elections, said she believes the president could carry the state in 2020.
Martinez has urged Republicans to campaign in areas with large populations of Hispanic and Native American moderate voters.
“It’s very clear to me that the president can win New Mexico but he’s got to go places where Republicans usually don’t go,” Martinez told Fox News days after Trump’s visit to the state.
Follow Russell Contreras on Twitter at http://twitter.com/russcontreras
More Your Local Election HQ Stories
by Kaley Green / Jan 16, 2020
AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The United States Mexico Canada (USMCA) trade deal passed in the Senate on Thursday morning.
This comes on the heels of Wednesday's hard-fought Phase One trade agreement with China.
WATCH LIVE: House transfers articles of impeachment to Senate
WASHINGTON (WFLA) – The U.S. House is set to vote Wednesday to send the articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate for a trial.
The vote comes after a month-long standoff between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) over the articles. The House voted to impeach President Trump for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress in December. After the vote, Pelosi said she wouldn’t send the articles to the Senate until McConnell ensured there would be a fair trial.
Michael Bloomberg announces plans to hire more than 100 Texas organizers by end of the month


Call for Nominations for CJFE International Press Freedom Awards
In dozens of countries around the world, journalists regularly face obstacles in order to get the news out. Whether the threats be judicial, physical or otherwise, these dedicated and principled individuals continue to work tirelessly - often risking their lives - so that the news media remain free. In recognition of their courage and determination, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) bestows two International Press Freedom Awards every year. In 2000, CJFE honoured journalists from Colombia and Iran. The winner of the award will be a journalist/media outlet who/that: * reports on human rights issues or other issues, or from regions or countries, not often covered by other media; * demonstrates a commitment to human rights by reporting without bias, sexism, racism, etc.; * has not won a major press freedom award from another organization; * will benefit from international exposure due to the difficulty/threats caused by their work; * has overcome enormous odds simply to produce the news; * and has taken personal risks or suffered physical reprisals for working as a journalist When making a nomination, please send biographical information on the journalist/media outlet, along with samples of the nominee's work and contact details. Each award consists of a framed plaque and cash prize of CDN$2,000. They will be presented to the winner at a ceremony in Toronto on 8 November 2001. Submissions must reach CJFE by 31 July 2001 For further information or to submit a nomination, please contact David Cozac at CJFE, 489 College Street, Suite 403, Toronto, Ontario M6G 1A5 Canada, tel: +1 416 515 9622, fax: +1 416 515 7879, e-mail: cozac@cjfe.org.
Journalism Fellowship Gala media releases type-media_releases


Thread: !!!!!!! PORTUGAL !!!!!!!
joseelias
Re: !!!!!!! PORTUGAL !!!!!!!
“us Celts get a little aggressive at times”
Man, who doesn’t?… The Portuguese performed probably one of the most violent acts of mankind history in a worldwide scale… Intercontinental slave trade at a massive scale…
But that does not mean a nation is bad. Sometimes mistakes are made to learn with them…
About the media I believe that the British (not only them) are hostage of bad information and especially misinformation – although I’m completely republican I think it’s a disgrace what happens around the royal family with all the paparazzi…
And that’s a pity because when people abuse freedom of speech the first step it’s taken to reduce the liberty of the people, as those wishing to control information will have an argument to do it and the support of the majority… But this is a long discussion not very suitable to TE forums too…
But again regarding football, I believe you should be supporting Portugal… It’s better to be beaten by a world champion than by a looser team… :-)
In Portugal when, we are beaten by someone who became champion, we look at it as fate, as the “fado”. That team was meant to be champion in that moment and nothing could have stopped it so we had bad luck crossing it.
Herve,
Unfortunately I could not see the Brazil-France game as the transmission of the world cup is being dominated by the “pay-tv mafia” and only some games are shown on open channel… :-(((
But the emotion the few minutes of the penalty kicks has, beats any emotion a game with only one goal can give… ;-)
Figo, Deco, Ronaldo and Pauleta (is this name familiar to you?…) will teach the Bleus what a football game is all about… But at the end, may the best… Portuguese team win!
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'Furo' run extended through July 12
In Furo, a pair of dancers performs against the backdrop of a video installation set in a Japanese bathhouse.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
By popular demand, Furo, the dance-video event created by Japanese video artist Tabaimo and choreographer Ohad Naharin, will continue to run at the purpose-built Furo pavilion at the Tel Aviv port through July 12. In Furo, a pair of dancers performs against the backdrop of a video installation set in a Japanese bathhouse. This repeats every 45 minutes with a new pair of dancers each time. What makes this different is that audience members are invited to come and go at will during the performances. The performers are members of Batsheva Dance and Batsheva ensemble. To date, some 10,000 people have seen the show which was supposed to close June 30.


HomeTV ShowsThe BacheloretteHannah Brown Searches For Love on The Bachelorette Beginning May 15
Hannah Brown Searches For Love on The Bachelorette Beginning May 15
03/13/2019 mj santilli The Bachelorette 1
At the end of last night’s dramatic season finale of The Bachelor, host Chris Harrison announced that the contestant who would star in the 15th milestone season of The Bachelorette would be Hannah Brown. After the big introduction, Hannah met a few of her suitors and even (awkwardly!) handed out a rose to one of them. The Bachelorette premieres early this year–on Monday May 13.
Check out all the details of The Bachelor’s surprise conclusion in our recap.
The Bachelor Season 23 Finale Part 2 Recap and Live Blog
Sidenote: Will there or won’t there be an American Idol finale on Monday May 20? A one hour edition of Bachelorette followed by the two hour finale at 9?
Hannah Brown caught the eye of Colton Underwood early on during the 23rd season of The Bachelor, showing him and all of America what Alabama Hannah is made of – a fun country girl who is unapologetically herself.
After meeting Colton’s family in Denver, Hannah was left shocked when he unexpectedly ended their relationship that same evening. Returning home gave Hannah the time to reflect and heal from her breakup, gaining an understanding of her desire to be deeply loved.
Now, with a newfound sense of self and a little southern charm, she is readier than ever to find her true love, when she stars in the milestone 15th season of The Bachelorette, premiering Monday May 13 (8:00-10:01 p.m. EDT), on the ABC network.
Born and raised in Tuscaloosa, Hannah, 24, attended the University of Alabama, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in communications. She went on to become Miss Alabama USA in 2018 and used her platform to help others. Hannah became an advocate for those suffering from depression and anxiety, something she battled with during her teenage years.
Now working as an interior decorator, Hannah enjoys helping transform people’s houses into homes. Having grown up in a loving home of her own, Hannah looks up to her parents as an example of the kind of love she wants one day. Whether she is running around with her two golden retrievers, taking over the dance floor or belting out country tunes, Hannah enjoys living life to the fullest. All that is missing is someone who will choose her every single day.
Additionally, viewers will celebrate 15 seasons of romance with Chris Harrison as he hits the road with Bachelor Nation super fans, revisiting some of the most memorable dates and unforgettable moments from The Bachelorette history, leading to a Bachelorette reunion like no other with special surprises along the way, on Bachelorette Reunion: The Biggest Bachelorette Reunion in Bachelor History Ever! a two-hour special airing MONDAY, MAY 6 (8:00-10:01 p.m. EDT).
The Bachelor Season 23 After the Final Rose Results and Live Blog
Billboard Update – Chart Date 03/16/19


No Morality, No Government
I received this in my email and thought it worth sharing in the wake of our Fourth of July service and celebrations.
From recent reporting by Todd Starnes of FOX News:
Sen. Sanders deemed Vought unsuitable for office because he [Vought] believes that salvation is found alone through Jesus Christ. He [Sanders] said someone with that kind of a religious belief system is 'really not someone who this country is supposed to be about.'
Bernie Sanders doesn't have a clue of what he's talking about. Thankfully, other Senators rebutted their colleague from Vermont:
Sen. James Lankford warned that Sander's comments [come] 'dangerously close to crossing a clear constitutional line for how we evaluate qualifications for public service.'
'The First Amendment is crystal clear that the federal government must protect every American's right to the peaceful and free exercise of religion," the Oklahoma Republican said. 'We cannot say we have the free exercise of religion and also require people to practice their faith only in a way that government officials prefer.'
From 1775 to 1797, George Washington served as the chief military and political leader of the new United States of America. Celebrated as the "Father of his Country," Washington stated in his Farewell Address of September 19, 1796:
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity. Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labor to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness-these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens."
Washington cautioned that the "one who labors to subvert a public role for religion and morality cannot call himself a patriot." * Bernie Sanders' recent statements certainly fit Washington's warning.
John Adams, our second President, amplified Washington's tenet: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
The carcinogenic of Secularism - Christianity's chief competitor - thrives in the absence of instruction about America's Godly heritage. Secularism metastasized in America when the U.S. Supreme Court removed prayer and the Bible from public schools in 1962-1963; likely the most spiritually destructive event in the nation's history.**
Leftist Bernie Sanders advanced a European-style socialistic platform in his campaign for president in 2016. Government-run healthcare, higher taxes, ubiquitous government interference and regulation, open borders, and a cradle-to-the-grave Welfare state: That is Sander's vision.
As to America's heritage, he would be well served to peek at the 13 original State Constitutions before he makes a complete idiot of himself.
Pastors and Christian leaders were instrumental in the founding of America:
Plymouth, Massachusetts, Pilgrims' Pastor Rev. John Robinson
Providence, Rhode Island, Rev. Roger Williams
Barnstable, Massachusetts, Rev. John Lothropp
Exeter, New Hampshire, Rev. John Wheelwright
Boston, Massachusetts, Rev. John Cotton
Hartford, Connecticut, Rev. Thomas Hooker
Add signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States:
John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian pastor.
Hugh Williamson had been a pastor earlier in his career, before becoming a doctor.
Robert Treat Paine served as a military chaplain.
Lyman Hall was a minister prior to the Revolutionary War.
Francis Hopkinson was a church music director and edited a famous American hymnbook.
Roger Sherman, wrote the doctrinal creed for his denomination in Connecticut.
Benjamin Rush, pioneered Sunday School in the United States and founded the country's first Bible Society.
James Wilson, trained as a clergyman in Scotland, became an attorney who taught students the Biblical basis of civil law.
Add more pastors to the first Congress:
Frederick Muhlenberg was a Lutheran pastor elected the first U.S. Speaker of the House. He was the first signer on the Bill of Rights.
John Peter Muhlenberg was a Lutheran pastor, who became a General, and then U.S. House and Senate member.
In 1784, 1785, and 1787, Congress passed the "Northwest Ordinances" - drafted by Thomas Jefferson. The purpose of the legislation was to arrange a method by which new states would be admitted to the Union. Three to five states could be carved from the "Northwest" territory, which eventually broke into five states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Part of the legislation read, "No person, demeaning [conducting] himself in a peaceable and orderly manner, shall ever be molested [harassed] on account of his mode of worship or religious sentiments."
Of particular interest is Article Three of the 1787 Northwest Ordinance, "Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged."
A generation later, April 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and political scientist, set sail with Gustave de Beaumont for the United States, to study America. "From Sing-Sing Prison to the Michigan woods, from New Orleans to the White House, Tocqueville and Beaumont traveled for nine months by steamboat, by stagecoach, on horseback and in canoes." ***
As a result of de Tocqueville's observation, he published his two-volume work, Democracy in America, in 1835 and 1840. What do you suppose immediately caught the attention of the Frenchman?
"Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there, the more I perceived the great political consequences resulting from this new state of things. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite directions. But in America, I found they were intimately united and that they reigned in common over the same country.
"[Religion in America] must be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief. I do not know whether all Americans have a sincere faith in their religion - for who can search the human heart? - But I am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to the maintenance of republican institutions".
Secularists, like Bernie Sanders, don't have a clue as to the Christian history of America. They have usurped the culture and now loom large over Big Business, public education, universities, government, Hollywood, arts and entertainment, and TV executives and media: i.e., the cultural mountains of influence.
There is good news in America. Gideons and Rahabs are beginning to head toward the public square. Hold onto to your seat because it's going to be a bumpy ride, for somebody's values are going to reign supreme.
American Renewal Project
* Daniel L. Dreisbach, Reading The Bible with the Founding Fathers
** goo.gl/Wf49bV. Also, consider that the lone dissenter, Justice Potter Stewart, said this in 1963, "It [the Abington School District v. Schempp ruling] led not to true neutrality with respect to religion, but to the establishment of a religion of secularism."
http://www.history.com/topics/alexis-de-tocqueville/print