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samhexum

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  1. As Dr. Callie Torres on “Grey’s Anatomy,” actress Sara Ramirez broke barriers for bisexual representation on television. Now, she’s set to push the needle a bit further, as her “Madam Secretary” character Kat Sandoval will open up about her bisexuality on Sunday’s episode of the CBS series. Entertainment Weekly broke the news Thursday with an exclusive clip that showed Kat engaged in an emotional discussion with Jay Whitman (played by Sebastian Arcelus) about co-parenting her child as a bisexual woman. In the scene, the character also describes herself as “pansexual, fluid, non-monosexual” as well as “queer.” Ramirez opened up about Kat’s character arc in an interview with Build Series earlier this week. “It is exciting to, again, just share another lived experience, another version, that is not often centered in mainstream media,” she explained, as seen in the video above. “I think the context in which we’re having these conversations right now is just really exciting.” The Mexican-American star spoke about identifying as queer and bisexual off-screen in an interview this month for “Coming Out Stories,” a new video series produced by People and Entertainment Weekly. At first, Ramirez was concerned about the impact coming out would have on her career in show business. Over time, she said she felt “an organic, incremental urgency to use my platform to empower those who are a part of these communities that I’m a part of” after witnessing incidents of anti-LGBTQ violence, such as the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida.
  2. One brother was killed and another injured in Alabama when they tried to prevent their dad from committing suicide and a struggle ensued, officials said. The Blount County Sheriff’s Office said that the 21- and 23-year-old sons were shot Thursday night in Hayden as they attempted to grab a gun from their father, news station WBMA reported. The gunfire reportedly struck one man in the hand, with the bullet passing through and wounding his brother in the chest, according to AL.com. They were rushed to UAB Hospital in Birmingham, where one of the victims died overnight. The other brother is recovering from non-life threatening injuries, officials said. Authorities have not released the identities of the victims. No charges have been filed but investigators are questioning the father.
  3. The Houston Astros and reigning American League MVP Jose Altuve have agreed to a five-year, $151 million extension, according to multiple reports. The deal keeps one of baseball's most dynamic players with the reigning World Series champions long term. The All-Star second baseman had two years remaining on his deal before the agreement. It's the most money the Astros have committed to a player in franchise history. The previous most was a six-year, $100 million deal for Carlos Lee following the 2006 season. Altuve is the sixth player in major league history -- and second position player -- to get a contract averaging $30 million annually. The others areZack Greinke ($34.4 million), David Price ($31M), Miguel Cabrera($31M), Clayton Kershaw ($30.7M) and Max Scherzer ($30M). Earlier this year, Altuve said his desire was to remain with the only organization for which he has played. "I want to stay here," he said in February, according to the Houston Chronicle. "If we talk about the city in Houston, I love the city. If we talk about the fans, I love the fans." The 5-foot-6 Altuve has been one of baseball's biggest stars in recent seasons. He was the American League MVP in 2017.
  4. I had several of their albums. I liked their sound, but laughed when they released Making Love Out Of Nothing At All, because it sounded like EVERY song Jim Steinman ever wrote. The Meatloaf albums, the Celine Dion song, Bonnie Tyler, the Barbra Strident song (which I love)... they all seem to have the same structure. Steinman is credited as music producer of every selection on Bonnie Tyler's album Faster Than the Speed of Night(1983).[31] Steinman also wrote and composed two of the songs on the album: "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and "Faster Than the Speed of Night", the album's title selection. For a period in 1983, two songs written and produced by Steinman held the top two positions on the Billboard singles chart, with "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at number one, and "Making Love Out of Nothing at All", performed by Air Supply, at number two.[32] The second of those appeared on Air Supply's 1983 compilation albums Greatest Hits and Making Love... The Very Best of Air Supply, and was also released as a single. On the inner cover of the album, Steinman is also credited with being the "seductive female voice" speaking the words "I'd do anything for love, but I wont do that" on the song "Getting so Excited", the same words that would later become the title of a hit single Steinman wrote for Meat Loaf which was released ten years later. The soundtrack for the 1984 film Footloose included the song "Holding Out for a Hero", performed by Bonnie Tyler. Steinman produced the selection and is credited with composing the music Celine Dion's album Falling Into You (1996) included the song "It's All Coming Back to Me Now", written and produced by Steinman. He also produced, but not authored, two other songs on the album: "River Deep, Mountain High" and "Call the Man".[64] "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts[65] and won Steinman the award for BMI song of the year. "Left in the Dark" is a song by Jim Steinman from his only solo album Bad for Good. It gained more notice as performed by Barbra Streisand when released as the lead single from her album Emotion in autumn 1984. Streisand's rendition of the song is a power ballad which tells about experiences of a woman who finds out her partner has been cheating on her. "Left in the Dark" met with moderate commercial success internationally. The music video for the song was Barbra's first video intended for MTV. Filmed within three days in Los Angeles in September 1984, it was directed byJonathan Kaplan and included an appearance from Kris Kristofferson. The six-minute video portrays Barbra as a lounge singer entangled in a love triangle, with Kristofferson playing her partner.
  5. I can't wait for the very special season-ending cliffhanger, when Will is diagnosed with a brain tumor, which explains why he thought Cheyenne Jackson was Chris Potter. FOR MICHAEL: In Sunday’s “Family Guy” (9 p.m., Fox), Stewie is sent to see school child psychologist Dr. Cecil Pritchfield (guest voice Sir Ian McKellen), for a session which causes Stewie to reveal deep personal secrets. Stewie, via the show’s writers, told The Post how everything went. Here are some highlights. We know you get sent to the school shrink after an incident. On a scale of 1 to trying to kill your mom Lois, how bad was it? Oh, please, it was barely a 2. Remember when I used to plot world domination? Even those never got higher than, like, a 6. God, that feels like a lifetime ago. Do they still sell those “Damn you all” T-shirts? What was it like to work with Sir Ian McKellen? Did you have a lot in common with him? Working with Sir Ian was a dream come true. Well, mostly. In my dream we’re performing together on stage in London’s West End, not on this sinking ship they call network television. Sunday’s episode revolves around you. I’m guessing you’re fine with that — since you enjoy talking about yourself (and think just about everyone else is an idiot). The episode revolves all around me, it’s true. But all the episodes revolve around me. I’ll be honest: if I’m not in a scene, I don’t watch. Do you consider yourself a narcissist? Definitely not. You can ask anyone who’s close to me: my personal photographer, my spray tanner, my hype man, my ugly friend who I keep around so I look better by comparison, they’ll all tell you. What is the takeaway from Sunday’s episode vis-a-vis your personality? Am I being pretentious by using the term “vis-a-vis”? I hope people watch this episode and think, “Hey, Stewie’s a normal guy, just like me. Just smarter, wittier, with better abs and dreamier eyes. But, yeah, just like me!”
  6. My favorite:
  7. No thanks. I much prefer Sylvia's version.
  8. THE most ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS song The Petshop Boys have ever done:
  9. Well, you still have a chance with ONE of them, but I bet you'd have to fight Katherine Ross for him.
  10. [continued] EXTREME HUNTRESS Also on the council is Olivia Opre, a TV personality and former Miss America contestant who received Safari Club's top prize for female hunters, the Diana Award. Opre, who co-produces a competition called Extreme Huntress, has killed about 90 different species on six continents, bringing home some 150 animal carcasses. Many are stuffed and mounted in her house, she told the British newspaper The Telegraph in 2016. "I'm tired of hearing the words 'trophy hunter'," she told the paper. "We're helping to preserve wildlife; we hunt lions because we want to see populations of wildlife continue to grow." Opre, who did not respond to messages seeking comment, has previously recounted killing a hippo, buffalo, black rhino and lion, all in Africa. She said in the NRA's Women's Leadership Form newsletter published last year that she and another Diana Award winner, Denise Welker, had "shed tears over her appreciation for life in all its forms." Welker also has been appointed to the conservation council. She shot and killed an African elephant from just five paces away, according to a blog post on the Safari CIub-affiliated site, Hunt Forever. Included was a photo of a smiling Welker posing next to the carcass of the big bull, a large bullet hole visible between its eyes. She also has hunted animals across the U.S., in Mexico, New Zealand and Cameroon, posting photos of herself with a dead leopard, eland and Greenland musk ox, according to a post she wrote on Hunt Forever three years ago. On the website scout.com, Gayne Young wrote that he hunted elephants with Denise, her husband, Brian, and hunter and tracker Ivan Carter in Botswana in 2013. Carter — a British citizen who runs a non-profit anti-poaching initiative alongside his guide business — also was appointed to the conservation council. He is a Rhodesian-born professional hunting guide who resides in the Bahamas. On social media postings, he has said banning elephant imports does not reduce how many elephants are hunted, and wrote an article after the infamous shooting of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe declaring that anti-hunting forces were on the march. "This event and the subsequent events have been the 'Twin Towers' of the hunting world — our 9-11," he wrote in a 2016 article, deploring airlines' move to stop accepting hunting trophies as air cargo. He proposed fighting back in a war of public opinion, with hunters as infantrymen, organizations like Safari Club International as generals and the pro-hunting media as "a machine gun that can spew thousands of bullets into the opposition's fighting force." In an interview with AP on Thursday, he described himself as a conservationist first and a hunter second. He said he did not have a problem with the council's membership skewing toward trophy hunters. "They are what makes the wheel turn in the form of bringing big dollars" to conservation, he said. Without trophy-hunting revenue, the governments of African nations will turn over conservation land to private interests for development, he said. "The business model doesn't work with the closure of lion and elephant imports," he said. The Fish and Wildlife Service declined to provide information on Thursday on whether any appointees to the advisory committee had applied for or received import permits for animal trophies over the last year. Agency spokesman Gavin Shire suggested filing a Freedom of Information Act request for copies of the permits, a process that can take years. ANIMAL EXPERTS One of two non-hunters named to the board is Terry Maple, a former director of the Atlanta zoo. Legally importing rare live animals also requires government permits issued by Fish and Wildlife. Maple helped write "A Contract with the Earth," a book by Newt Gingrich making the politically conservative case for environmentalism. The other is Jenifer Chatfield, a zoo and wildlife veterinarian professor who has family ties to the exotic animal trade. The book "Animal Underworld: Inside America's Black Market for Rare and Exotic Species" accused her father, John Chatfield, of diverting zoo animals to the private market, where they would become pets or stock private hunting ranches. In one 1997 instance — reported by the AP — the elder Chatfield ended up in possession of endangered lemurs and pronghorn antelopes that were to have gone to a zoo in Indiana. Simultaneously, Chatfield listed lemurs and pronghorn antelope for sale in a publication called "Animal Finders." An investigation of the zoo director's activities resulted in his expulsion from the American Zoological Association. Chatfield denied any wrongdoing at the time. He did not respond to a request for comment from the AP on Thursday. The Chatfield family since has moved to Dade City, Florida, where they operate a facility housing nearly 200 exotic animals that state business records show Jenifer partly owns. In 2013, Florida Fish and Wildlife officials cited the farm for improperly storing kangaroos after one escaped, then died after being tranquilized and shocked by sheriff's deputies. According to the state's report, Chatfield initially denied that the kangaroo was his — but accepted responsibility after the fish and wildlife inspector proposed DNA testing. The inspector noted that Chatfield was unable to say how many kangaroos he currently had. Though Jenifer Chatfield is a part owner of the exotic animal facility and was present at the time of the kangaroo escape, state wildlife officials did not cite her for a violation along with her father. She did not return messages seeking comment.
  11. A new U.S. advisory board created to help rewrite federal rules for importing the heads and hides of African elephants, lions and rhinos is stacked with trophy hunters, including some members with direct ties to President Donald Trump and his family. A review by The Associated Press of the backgrounds and social media posts of the 16 board members appointed by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke indicates they will agree with his position that the best way to protect critically threatened or endangered species is by encouraging wealthy Americans to shoot some of them. One appointee co-owns a private New York hunting preserve with Trump's adult sons. The oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., drew the ire of animal rights activists after a 2011 photo emerged of him holding a bloody knife and the severed tail of an elephant he killed in Zimbabwe. The first meeting of the International Wildlife Conservation Council was scheduled for Friday at the Interior Department's headquarters in Washington. Council members aren't being paid a salary, though the department has budgeted $250,000 in taxpayer funds for travel expenses, staff time and other costs. Trump has decried big-game hunting as a "horror show" in tweets. But under Zinke, a former Montana congressman who is an avid hunter, the Fish and Wildlife Service has quietly moved to reverse Obama-era restrictions on bringing trophies from African lions and elephants into the United States. Asked about the changes during a congressional hearing Thursday, Zinke said no import permits for elephants have been issued since the ban was lifted earlier this month. The Fish and Wildlife Service said permits for lion trophies have been issued since October, when imports from Zimbabwe and Zambia were first allowed, though they could not immediately provide a number for how many. A licensed two-week African hunting safari can cost more than $50,000 per person, not including airfare, according to advertised rates. Advocates say money helps support habitat conservation and anti-poaching efforts in some of the world's poorest nations, and provides employment for local guides and porters. In a statement last year, Zinke said, "The conservation and long-term health of big game crosses international boundaries. This council will provide important insight into the ways that American sportsmen and women benefit international conservation from boosting economies and creating hundreds of jobs to enhancing wildlife conservation." But environmentalists and animal welfare advocates say tourists taking photos generate more economic benefit, and hunters typically target the biggest and strongest animals, weakening already vulnerable populations. There's little indication dissenting perspectives will be represented on the Trump administration's conservation council. Appointees include celebrity hunting guides, representatives from rifle and bow manufacturers, and wealthy sportspeople who boast of bagging the coveted "Big Five" — elephant, rhino, lion, leopard and Cape buffalo. Most are high-profile members of Safari Club International and the National Rifle Association, groups that have sued the Fish and Wildlife Service to expand the list of countries from which trophy kills can be legally imported. They include the Safari Club's president, Paul Babaz, a Morgan Stanley investment adviser from Atlanta, and Erica Rhoad, a lobbyist and former GOP congressional staffer who is the NRA's director of hunting policy. Bill Brewster is a retired Oklahoma congressman and lobbyist who served on the boards of the Safari Club and the NRA. An NRA profile lauded Brewster and his wife's five decades of participation and support for hunting, and his purchase of a lifetime NRA membership for his grandson when the boy was 3 days old. Also on the board is Gary Kania, vice president of the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, a group that lobbies Congress and state governments on issues affecting hunters and fishermen. Zinke described the purpose of the council as representing the "strong partnership" between federal wildlife officials and those who hunt or profit from hunting. Council paperwork said the panel's mission was "to increase public awareness domestically regarding conservation, wildlife law enforcement, and economic benefits that result from United states citizens traveling to foreign nations to engage in hunting." In its charter, the council's listed duties include "recommending removal of barriers to the importation into the United States of legally hunted wildlife" and "ongoing review of import suspension/bans and providing recommendations that seek to resume the legal trade of those items, where appropriate." In a letter this week, a coalition of more than 20 environmental and animal welfare groups objected that the one-sided makeup of the council could violate the Federal Advisory Committee Act, which requires government boards to be balanced in terms of points of view and not improperly influenced by special interests. The groups said they nominated a qualified representative, but Zinke didn't select him. "If Trump really wants to stop the slaughter of elephants for trophies, he should shut down this biased, thrill-kill council," said Tanya Sanerib, a spokeswoman for the Center for Biological Diversity. "The administration can't make wise decisions on trophy imports if it only listens to gun-makers and people who want to kill wildlife." CONNECTIONS TO TRUMP Among Zinke's appointees is Steven Chancellor, a longtime Republican fundraiser and chairman of American Patriot Group, an Indiana-based conglomerate that includes a company that supplies Meals Ready to Eat to the U.S. military. According to Safari Club member hunting records obtained in 2015 by the Humane Society, Chancellor has logged nearly 500 kills — including at least 18 lions, 13 leopards, six elephants and two rhinos. In early 2016, records show Chancellor filed for a federal permit to bring home the skin, skull teeth and claws from another male lion he intended to kill that year in Zimbabwe, which at the time was subject to an import ban imposed by the Obama administration. Later that same year, Chancellor hosted a private fundraiser for then-candidate Trump and Mike Pence at his Evansville, Indiana, mansion, where the large security gates leading up the driveway feature a pair of gilded lions. Chancellor did not respond to a phone message seeking comment on Thursday. In the fight to win approval for imports of lions from Zimbabwe, Chancellor was represented by Conservation Force, a non-profit law firm in Louisiana. It was founded by John Jackson III, a lawyer and past Safari Club president who also has been appointed to the advisory council by Zinke. Chris Hudson, a lawyer and past president of the Dallas chapter of the Safari Club, also was appointed. He made headlines in 2014 when the club auctioned off a permit for $350,000 to kill an endangered black rhino in Namibia. Hudson later joined with Jackson in providing legal representation to the winning bidder, who sued Delta after the airline refused to fly the rhino's carcass back to the United States. 'HUNTING LIFESTYLE' Appointees include professional hunters. Peter Horn is an ex-vice president of the Safari Club International Conservation Fund and a vice president for high-end gun-maker Beretta. He runs the company's boutique in Manhattan, where well-heeled clients can drop as much as $150,000 for a hand-engraved, custom-made shotgun. Horn wrote in his 2014 memoir that he co-owns a hunting property in upstate New York with Trump Jr. that has a 500-yard range "put together" by Eric Trump. The AP reported last month that the Trump sons were behind a limited-liability company that purchased a 171-acre private hunting range in the bucolic Hudson Valley in 2013, complete with a wooden tower from which owners and their guests shoot at exploding targets. Horn did not respond to a message seeking comment. Trump Jr. also is friendly with another member of the advisory council — hunting guide and TV show personality Keith Mark. He helped organize Sportsmen for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign and recently posted photos on his Twitter page of himself with Trump Jr. and Zinke, standing before an array of mounted big-horn sheep and a bear. "I see the world from a hunting lifestyle," Mark told the AP, adding that he has no preconceived agenda for his service on the conservation council. "It's the most pure form of hands on conservation that there is. I will approach all decision-making with my background." Also named to the board is Cameron Hanes, a celebrity archer who advocates for trophy hunting. In a podcast last month, he said hunting allows animals such as elephants to "have value." But while supportive of African trophy hunting as an aid to conservation, he said he is more interested in North American wildlife management and sees the council as a way to represent hunters' interests. He said he hopes to take Zinke out to the archery range. "We're trying to make that happen," he said. "If you have somebody's ear, you want to tell them what's important to you." Hanes also said he knows Trump Jr. and has been speaking with him about hunting for "quite a while."
  12. Would you prefer a Hammer? An enormous space rock could crash into Earth by 2135 because NASA’s spacecraft — designed to protect our planet — will not be able to deflect it, scientists have warned. NASA’s Hammer (Hypervelocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response) craft is meant to be able to steer huge rocks away so they will not crash into Earth. The Hammer craft is also able to destroy asteroids with nuclear bombs, but this is not the preferred option because of the possible disastrous consequences. But scientists have ruled the craft “inadequate,” saying it will not be able to redirect the asteroid named Bennu. In a new study, published in Acta Astronautica, academics who work alongside NASA’s scientists concluded that “using a single Hammer spacecraft as a battering ram would prove inadequate for deflecting an object like Bennu.” Kirsten Howley, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, said using the small Hammer spacecraft could have “dire consequences” on Earth. Asteroid Bennu is as wide as five football fields, weights approximately 174 billion pounds and is 1,664 times as heavy as the Titanic. Bennu has a one in 2,700 chance of striking Earth on September 25, 2135, according to the Metro. NASA’s Hammer craft is just 29 feet tall, weighing almost nine tons. Scientists have estimated the asteroid could release as much as 80,000 times more energy than the Hiroshima bomb. She said: “The study aims to help us shorten the response timeline when we do see a clear and present danger so we can have more options to deflect it. “The ultimate goal is to be ready to protect life on Earth.” The team ruled that blasting Bennu could be NASA’s only option to keep Earth safe. Hammer was devised by top experts, including NASA, the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and two Energy Department weapons labs, according to Buzzfeed. Scientists plan to present the asteroid-blasting system at a conference for asteroid experts in Japan this May.
  13. NORTH POLE, Alaska — Time has run out for one of the last remaining Blockbuster Video stores in the country. Kevin Daymude, general manager of the Blockbuster in North Pole, said the store will close in April. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that the store had a loyal following but too few customers to keep the doors open. About 40 people waited outside the doors on Tuesday for the store’s liquidation sale. Customers bought stacks of movies, which were marked $5 to $15. Daymude says the Fairbanks Blockbuster Video store, which will be one of four remaining in Alaska after the North Pole closure, is safe for now. Blockbuster’s website lists three open locations outside of Alaska. Two of those are in Oregon and one in Texas.
  14. FAMILY GUY often pokes fun at its own network. Another favorite example of that came in an episode of DUCKMAN, an underappreciated animated show starring Jason Alexander that ran on the USA network. At the time, WINGS had rather recently gone into syndication, & USA was running it seemingly 28 hours a day. Duckman is watching TV when he sees a promo: Over the network logo, a voice says "wings, wings, wings and wings will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you..."
  15. Jeffrey Dean Morgan He just gave birth. Ving Rhames He's the voice of Arby's. (He's got the meats!) Terry Crews He'll sue you if you grope him inappropriately. I saw Rhames centuries ago in an off-Broadway production of Short Eyes when he was an unknown. Esai Morales was the draw for me. Michael O'Keefe was the other known name. Apparently Laurence Fishburne was in it, too, which I didn't realize. Anyhoo... The Vingster was in fantabulous shape back then. He wore an open sleeveless denim vest throughout, showing off great arms and a v-shape he must've lost rather quickly. At one point he had his back to the audience and dropped his pants (and my jaw), showing off a rather magnificent ass. STAGE: 'SHORT EYES,' BY PINERO, IN REVIVAL By FRANK RICH FOR the Second Stage revival of Miguel Pinero's ''Short Eyes,'' David Jenkins has designed a wraparound set that envelops the audience in the clammy, cinder-block environment of a New York House of Detention. And, after a while, we really do feel that we're in jail. By the time the inmates erupt in an irrational cataclysm of vigilante violence, the audience is squirming uncontrollably, afraid to watch the bloodletting and yet unwilling to look away. When the play ends a while later, a theatergoer may be torn between a desire to applaud and the urge to rush home for a cleansing shower. A decade after its premiere, Mr. Pinero's quasi-documentary prison drama remains mostly strong stuff. What makes ''Short Eyes'' live is not its dramaturgy, which is lumpy, but its refusal to trade in the sentimental preachments that usually attend theatrical treatments of its subject. As the author unblinkingly portrays the seaminess of jailhouse existence, so he presents his characters in the round: Most of the inmates and guards are both victims and victimizers, and Mr. Pinero, himself a former inmate, neither apologizes nor pleads for any of them. The closed world the men inhabit has its own strict, baroque moral code, albeit one in jarring conflict with the official system of justice outside. The play's action is sparked by the arrival of a new prisoner who violates that code - an accused but possibly innocent child molester named Davis (Michael O'Keefe) and soon nicknamed ''Short Eyes.'' Though the other inmates tolerate every other kind of antisocial behavior, they are unified in their scorn for criminals of Davis's particular degenerate stripe. But as that scorn boils over into blind hatred, Davis seems almost beside the point. In passing judgment on a child molester, the men are eventually forced to confront their own beastliness and self-hatred. On the way to his Dostoevskyan conclusion, Mr. Pinero vividly records the diurnal rituals of a tight, interracial fraternity. With their idiosyncratic slang, inverted ethics and unflagging scatology, the inmates often seem like feral cousins of the salesmen in ''Glengarry Glen Ross.'' Or so they do up to a point. In addition to its expected verbal and physical brawls, ''Short Eyes'' offers fairly graphic simulations of masturbation, urination and an attempted homosexual rape. Even so, one usually feels that Mr. Pinero is providing a matter- of-fact rather than exploitative picture of the way things are. When first done in New York - originally at Riverside Church, then at the Public and the Vivian Beaumont - ''Short Eyes'' featured ex- convicts among its performers. The Second Stage's version can't entirely recreate that raw authenticity; sometimes, especially in Act I, the work's edge of danger is blunted. In most other respects, Kevin Conway's staging doesn't depart significantly from the first. Mr. Conway has done a solid job - from the opening image of a solitary inmate soulfully smoking a cigarette to the taut final inquest. The atmospherics are well served not only by Mr. Jenkins's set, but also by the menacing shadows of Marc B. Weiss's lighting design. Yet it would be hard to argue that this production gives audiences who have seen ''Short Eyes'' (or its effective 1977 film version) a real reason to see it again. In fact, it's rather odd that the Second Stage, which champions revisionist treatments of neglected contemporary plays, would mount a standard version of a fairly recent hit. First-time visitors to ''Short Eyes,'' of course, need not worry about suffering from dej a vu. While Mr. Conway's cast, like the original one, has its mumblers, it also contains some expert players. The best include Esai Morales as ''Cupcakes,'' the dayroom's androgynous sex object; Reggie Montgomery as a quixotic Muslim fanatic; Ving Rhames as the brawniest inmate, and Richard Bright and John Bentley as white authorities who are in varying degrees prisoners of their charges' skewed world view. Larry Fishburne makes the pungent most of the longest comic monologue, an almost surreal sexual fantasy about Jane Fonda. As the brutalized title character, Mr. O'Keefe is more openly deranged than his predecessors, but his interpretation doesn't diminish the mystery surrounding Davis's culpability. His frightened, pasty face at times breaking into creepy, involuntary smiles, the actor suggests a man who has long since lost the ability to distinguish reality from hallucinations - or to judge his own guilt or innocence. So terrifying is this spiritual death sentence that the corporeal violence of ''Short Eyes,'' grueling as it is, finally comes almost as a relief. SHORT EYES, by Miguel Pinero; produced in association with Tony Kiser; directed by Kevin Conway; JuanPaul Calderon MorrisonBari K. Willerford IceLarry Fishburne OmarVing Rhames LongshoeDavid Patrick Kelly El RaheemReggie Montgomery PacoArnaldo Santana CupcakesEsai Morales NettRichard Bright DavisMichael O'Keefe AllardJohn Bentley
  16. SUCH BEAUTIFUL, ROMANTIC LYRICS:
  17. Or was it CHEERS actor Kevin McHale? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ZsfdovGzw
  18. Matt Damon is moving his family to Australia — in part because the liberal star’s fed up with President Trump. Damon, 47, reportedly has purchased a property in Byron Bay, New South Wales, according to Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph. The home’s next door to a place owned by Chris Hemsworth — with whom Damon recently appeared in “Thor: Ragnarok.” A source exclusively tells Page Six: “Matt’s telling friends and colleagues in Hollywood that he’s moving the family to Australia” because the activist actor disagrees with Trump’s policies. The president’s frequently butted heads with liberal Hollywood A-listers including Meryl Streep. The source added, “Matt’s saying the move will not impact his work — as he will travel to wherever his projects are shooting. He’s also telling friends he wants to have a safe place to raise his kids.” Damon has four children with wife Luciana Barroso. Perhaps Damon’s also allowing some of the controversy to die down after he had topublicly apologize for insensitive comments he made about the wave of sexual assault allegations shaking Hollywood. He said on an ABC movie show that the #MeToo allegations should be judged on a “spectrum of behavior.” But he then told NBC’s “Today” of the remark, “I really wish I’d listened a lot more before I weighed in on this. Ultimately, what it is for me is that I don’t want to further anybody’s pain with anything that I do or say. And so for that I’m really sorry.” Damon and best bud Ben Affleck‘s production company this week said it would adopt “inclusion riders” in stars’ contracts, after Frances McDormand spurred the trend from the stage at the Oscars. Either way, it looks like Damon’s cleared his schedule for the big move Down Under: He’s producing a film version of Agatha Christie’s “Witness for the Prosecution” for Affleck, 45, to star in — but besides a cameo in the upcoming “Ocean’s 8” that’s wrapped, Damon has no major projects lined up as an actor. His last film, “Downsizing,” was a critical and financial disappointment.
  19. THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS ETERNAL LOVE… Anderson Cooper and his longtime boyfriend, Benjamin Maisani, have called it quits, Page Six has confirmed. “Benjamin and I separated as boyfriends some time ago,” Cooper, 50, said in a statement Thursday. “We are still family to each other, and love each other very much. We remain the best of friends, and will continue to share much of our lives together.” The Daily Mail reports that Cooper has been getting cozy with a 33-year-old Dallas doctor named Victor Lopez since splitting from Maisani. The site adds that Cooper has flown down to Dallas no fewer than five times since December to see the doctor. The pair have even appeared together in photos celebrating Mardi Gras and lounging in hotel rooms. Lopez’s Instagram account has since gone private. Despite splitting, the CNN host and Maisani were photographed this week leaving their Greenwich Village home. Architectural Digest also photographed the couple at their shared Trancoso, Brazil, compound back in 2016. They discovered the trendy town while on vacation some years ago. A request for additional details wasn’t immediately returned.
  20. The second solo album by ABBA's Frida: Side 1 "Shine" (Kevin Jarvis, Guy Fletcher, Jeremy Bird) – 4:39 "One Little Lie" (Simon Climie, Kirsty MacColl) – 3:44 "The Face" (Daniel Balavoine, Kirsty MacColl) – 3:40 "Twist In The Dark" (Andee Leek) – 3:43 "Slowly" (Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson) – 4:34 Side 2 "Heart Of The Country" (Stuart Adamson)– 4:38 "Come To Me (I Am Woman)" (Eddie Howell, David Dundas) – 5:04 "Chemistry Tonight" (Pete Glenister, Simon Climie, Kirsty MacColl) – 4:56 "Don't Do It" (Anni-Frid Lyngstad) – 4:37 "Comfort Me" (Pete Glenister) – 4:28 2005 remaster bonus tracks "That's Tough" (Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Hans Fredriksson, Kirsty MacColl) - 5:03 "Shine" (Extended Mix) (Kevin Jarvis, Guy Fletcher, Jeremy Bird) - 6:31
  21. Every time I see one of her KFC commercials I want to barf. Because she dropped the second 'A' in Barbara?
  22. Anl Airbnb host is finally getting help from the company after a college student rented her property and caused nearly $20,000 in damage. Chelsey McGovern said it was a nightmare she been dealing with since Feb. 2. “I should have listened to the red flags that were going up,” McGovern said. “It was a single male, needing a place for one night and was wondering how early he could get in there.” McGovern said, on that night, she called police multiple times after learning that the renter was throwing a big party with hundreds of guests. “Every time I called police, I called Airbnb because I didn’t know what to do,” McGovern said. “Eventually, they told me that I needed photographic evidence that there were more than 50 people at the house.” The home, in the 200 block of West Wildwood Drive, is just four houses down from McGovern’s property. She has video footage of several youngsters going in and out of the home. After it was all over, she learned the destruction caused by partygoers resulted in $18,868. “He peed on the bed,” McGovern said. “It looked like they were just smashing Jello shots against the wall. They were putting out their cigarette and marijuana joints on the walls. They broke furniture. The floor was just sticky with this stuff called jungle juice. It was bad.” McGovern has homeowner’s insurance, but it didn’t cover the type of damage that was done to her property. She turned to Airbnb, which offers a $1 Million Host Guarantee. The company said most cases are resolved within a week of submission, depending on the severity of the case. Though McGovern said it seems her calls fell on deaf ears, the company finally responded to her with an apology in the following statement, which was released Tuesday: “Our original handling of this case did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves and we apologize to our host for the delay; the host is receiving our full support under the $1 Million Host Guarantee program. We have zero tolerance for disruptive behavior and permanently banned this guest from our platform, and have reached out to law enforcement to offer our assistance with their investigation. There have been over 300 million guest arrivals in Airbnb listings to date and negative incidents are extremely rare.”
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