Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom. | | | | Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell in FX's "The Americans". Both EMMY nominated for leading roles in a drama.
(FX) | | | | | | “Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom.”
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| | rantnrave:// I love SACHA BARON COHEN. Now more than ever. Why? Because I think comedy is the media growth engine. Why? Because the world is in a s****y place and we need comedy to uplift our moods and minds. He's not a stand-up. But he is a comedian. His films and skits are performance art. He never breaks character. From ALI G to BORAT to BRUNO and on and on. In the NATIONAL LAMPOON documentary DRUNK STONED BRILLIANT DEAD, BILLY BOB THORNTON explains that when he was a youth the magazine taught him that “Through humor, you can tell the truth.” And The Lampoon's TONY HENDRA argued that "It’s the job of a satirist to make people in power feel uncomfortable.” Sacha may be the great social satirist of our times. Maybe the greatest in the U.S. And he's British. I pretty much bet the farm that his new SHOWTIME show, WHO IS AMERICA? is a masterpiece. It's already ready ruffling the feathers of the likes of SARAH PALIN and ROY MOORE. And oh, DICK CHENEY. But knowing Cohen's work. This won't be partisan. He’ll take the piss out of both sides. And he’ll reveal truths about subjects, people and us through comedy and a host of characters. Politics may be broken, but politics is not the problem. It's the people in office and they've devolved into bought and paid for, unself-aware caricatures who chase after fame, money, and power. And that's why they are susceptible to ridicule and satire. They reveal themselves. I am beyond excited. And a cool anecdote, and I could be wrong, but this seems to be the first unannounced show drop on television. A la BEYONCE album drops. Leaks got out a few days early. But there was no promo or press that I could see. Very cool innovation for TV... Speaking of moods. I use comedy to lift mine. On a bad TRUMP day (every day) I watch comedies from ADAM MCKAY, TODD PHILLIPS and others. Or my favs, MIDNIGHT RUN and THE IN-LAWS (1979 version). YOUTUBE is also a great place for clips and best of reels. SEINFELD is one of the great comedies. And JULIA LOUIS-DREYFUS is one of the great actresses and comedians. TV breeds familiarity. I've never met her but am a big fan. And while she's much younger, she reminds me of my Mom, who loved watching her shows and made her laugh during her last years fighting cancer. Julia had her own battle with cancer, and I'm so happy to hear she is doing great and the new season of VEEP (run and executive produced by my high school classmate and creative, comedic genius DAVID MANDEL) is starting production soon... The best curator and editorial voice in music, for my money, is MusicREDEF's MATTY KARAS. On Wednesday night, we went to see HENRY ROLLINS interview music industry legend SEYMOUR STEIN. I grew with Seymour's children. His ex-wife was a close friend. He's a great storyteller and witnessed the rise of pop and rock. And was deep in it. Matty gives a great, quick overview of the evening. If you want to be the future of the music business, know the history. Get Seymour's book if you want more... OZARK is one of the best NETFLIX ORIGINALS by a mile. The EMMYS granted a wish/hope I sent TED SARANDOS a few days ago. JASON BATEMAN was nominated for lead actor in a drama. He deserves it. He's one of those actors that does great character work in drama and comedy but often not the lead. He nails the role of cartel money launderer MARTY BYRDE. He's greedy, scared, calm, loving, decent and corrupt all at the same time. It's a role of nuances. As is the show. I'm rooting for him. Just started watching advances of season 2 and it's even better (no spoilers)... Also nominated for lead actress in a drama series is KERI RUSSELL for THE AMERICANS. I've been a fan for a long time, but this performance is on another level in another universe. She is remarkable. As is the series. And the timing of the series, about Russian spies in the U.S. during the REAGAN years, is as timely as it is awesome. When an actress gets a role that has the arc that this does, it's a blessing. When they deliver beyond even high expectations, that's hard work and talent. She deserves it. By the last season, the actress you know is unrecognizable. Dark, cold, disillusioned, reflective and in shock. Please run and watch this show. Or at least if you already have, rewatch the last season. She is an A-List actor now. And deserves every bit of the accolades... Happy Birthday to DANY LEVY, GREG BETTINELLI, TONYA DEGANCE, DAVID BEILINSON, ANNABEL LUKINS STELLING, and CINDY CHARLES.
| | | - Jason Hirschhorn, curator |
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| It took plastic cocoons and anti-anxiety pills, bravery and providence to save the soccer team. “So many things could have gone wrong,” said one official. | | |
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| A behind-the-scenes account of the most important company on the Internet, from grad-school all-nighters, space tethers, and Burning Man to the “eigenvector of a matrix,” humongous wealth, and extraordinary power. | | |
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| Artificial intelligence promises ever more control over the highs and lows of our emotions. Uneasy? Perhaps you should be. | | |
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| Mike Picarella wanted to protect a co-worker at HSBC from being humiliated by their boss. He didn't expect his own life to be destroyed in the process. | | |
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| The unsavory cast of Bitcoin's biggest beneficiaries. | | |
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| NATO is still capable of moving forward even when without U.S. leadership, but there are limits to what it can achieve. | | |
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| The amazing oral history of "Yo! MTV Raps" by Fab 5 Freddy, Ed Lover, Doctor Dre & others celebrate the 30th anniversary concert in New York City. | | |
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| By disrupting Birthright and Jewish summer camps, they’re becoming the new face of the Jewish left. | | |
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| As hate groups have surged, so has the number of extremists trying to escape. | | |
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| The mantra about the best way to respond to online abuse has only made it worse. | | |
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| The years since 2008 have seen a global crackdown on offshore finance. Yet a few places have doubled down on offering secrecy to the super-rich. Among these, one tiny Caribbean island might be the worst offender. | | |
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| These ideal board members are often not big names and they usually don't have big egos. They are solid, steady, and worth their weight in gold. They come in male and female varieties and across the racial and ethnic spectrum too. | | |
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| NATO's former Supreme Allied Commander on why government of, by and for people will win again | | |
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| Since last September, the last-man-standing battle royale has been played by more than 125 million people. | | |
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| At home and abroad, Trumpism is replacing Reaganism. | | |
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| An internal report found that Miami-area police commanders in Biscayne Park, Florida, pressured officers to make false arrests to look good for leaders. Former brass deny the allegations, which resulted in the indictment of the former chief. | | |
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| How Forrest Lucas -- the little-known millionaire whose company name is plastered on the home stadium of the Indianapolis Colts -- wields power, propaganda, and even Sharon Stone to protect Big Agriculture. | | |
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| In 1932, the Soviet Union sent one of its best agents to China, a former schoolteacher and counter-espionage expert from Germany named Otto Braun. His mission was to serve as a military adviser to the Chinese Communists, who were engaged in a desperate battle for survival against Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists. | | |
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| To put it mildly, news media has been on the sidelines in AI development. As a consequence, in the age of AI-powered personalized interfaces, the news organizations don't anymore get to define what's real news, or, even more importantly, what's truthful or trustworthy. | | |
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| Who is going to win the Scooter Wars? Startups like Bird, Lime and Spin have invaded dozens of U.S. cities with their tech-savvy scooter fleets in the last few months. Investors are pouring hundreds of millions into the scooter companies with the hope that the best-capitalized scooter company will win. But as the prior Rideshare Wars demonstrated, money alone is not enough. | | |
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| Drake's commercial success soared when he owned his bankability and stopped chasing accolades. | | |
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| | | | | | | one of the great hot summer day songs... |
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