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You Know Who Predicted The Grimmer Aspects Of ChatGPT?

Philip K. Dick, of course. And it's called the "rhetorizor." - Salon

A Saxophonist Has Accused One Of Black Panther 2’s Stars Of Sexual Assault

Musician María Elena Ríos made the claim. "'It’s very difficult to talk about the emotional abuse and the abuse of power of a sexual predator who is loved around the world for playing a character in a movie such as Tenoch Huerta,' Ríos tweeted on Saturday." - Los Angeles Times

A British Member Of Parliament Says Local People Need To Be Consulted About Cuts To The BBC

Paulette Hamilton, MP for Birmingham, is not having it. "If they're going to take away without consultation, without actually speaking to anybody, just saying they're going to move the money elsewhere, it's just not good enough ."- BBC

It’s Time To Discuss ‘Black Swan’ Again

In the 2010 movie. Natalie Portman "was dancing for up to eight hours a day by the time shooting rolled around. During one significant scene, where the ballet director, Thomas, encourages Nina to push herself to the limit, Portman channels a lifetime of pressure." - Far Out Magazine

Actor Rosamund Pike Has Had It With The So-Called Wellness Industry

Pike: "This idea that it’s no longer enough to be healthy and we have to be 'well' is something that needs to be interrogated. Yet it’s so seductive because it’s in pursuit of things that people are ashamed to want, like youth, beauty and fitness." - The Observer (UK)

A Tony Award Winning Director’s Speech Was Bleeped As He Tried To ‘Reclaim’ A Word

Michael Arden, best director for his revival of Parade, said he was often called "the F-word." (The NYT wouldn't print the word either.) Then "he drew raucous cheers as he reclaimed the slur, making clear that he was now one with a Tony." - The New York Times

Joseph Fiennes Says Harvey Weinstein Tried To Bully Him

After Shakespeare in Love, Weinstein pressured Fiennes to sign a five-movie contract. "The actor claimed he was effectively threatened by Weinstein that if he did not comply with the offered deal, he would not work in Hollywood again." - The Observer (UK)

Days After Playground Stabbings, Annecy’s Film Fest Opens On Defiant Note

Annecy's mayor: "The best response to this tragedy is to live even more forcefully and more intensely. ... With this conviction art and culture celebrates life, and enables us to change the world to make it a better place." - Variety

Author Lorrie Moore Says She Simply Has To Be Cruel To Her Characters

Moore's new noves "is also, as always with Moore, very funny, with plenty of opportunities for her trademark gallows humour." - The Guardian (UK)

In These Tonys, Two Nonbinary Actors Made History

Alex Newell became the first out nonbinary actor to win a Tony, for their performance in Shucked - "and less than an hour later, Some Like It Hot star J. Harrison Ghee became the second for their lead performance as a musician on a journey of gender discovery." - Washington Post

Belgium’s Africa Museum Is Finally Rethinking Its Relationship To The Congo

For good reason. "The museum traces its origins back to when King Leopold II set up the International Exposition of 1897. As part of that, 267 Congolese men, women and children were taken by force to Belgium and exhibited to the public ... on the site where the museum stands." - BBC

And The Tonys Go To

Kimberly Akimbo for new musical, Leopoldstadt for play, and Topdog/Underdog for play revival. The whole list is at the link. And Ariana DeBose hosted it all without a script. "In the end the telecast aired without pickets, without scripted banter and without a hitch." - The New York Times

Tony Nominees On The Co-Stars Who Made Them Better

Corey Hawkins was nominated "for leading actor in a play alongside co-star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The duo played brothers in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. 'We had to trust each other implicitly, because there’s no other lifeline on that stage.'" - Variety

The Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Story Is Almost Certainly Not Factual

Indeed, the story is now, thanks to an LA Times investigation, famously ridiculous - which is completely unlike all the other "product" movies this summer, of course. - The New York Times

Hannah Gadsby Is Australian, And Sometimes, Her Aussie Comedy Doesn’t Translate

At least not to the U.S., where sincerity is important. "To make sense of this, allow me to explain the Australian cultural phenomenon that is the elegantly simple 'yeah, nah.'" - Slate

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