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Britney Spears quarantined with Jamie Lynn Spears

2020-05-07T08:41:00.000-07:00

Britney Spears spent two weeks quarantining with her sister Jamie Lynn Spears.

The 'Toxic' hitmaker - who has sons Sean Preston, 14, and Jayden, 13 with ex-husband Kevin Federline and is in a relationship with Sam Asghari - found it hard being in Los Angeles away from her loved ones, during the coronavirus so she travelled to Louisiana to stay with her younger sibling for a short time.

Jamie Lynn - who has Maddie, 11, from a previous relationship and Ivey, two, with husband Jamie Watson - said: "Britney was like, 'I want to come home, I don't want to be by myself out here,' because all of her family's pretty much here. So she was able to come home for almost two weeks or so.

"She was here for my birthday and for Ivey's birthday. But then, of course, she has her children and all that stuff and her home, so she went back to Los Angeles just a couple weeks ago.

"I think she went back with the intentions of like, this was only going to be another week or so, and then they added on more time [to the stay-at-home orders]."

The former 'Zoey 101' star admitted she and her household have been driving one another "insane" but she wouldn't have it any other way.

She told 'Entertainment Tonight': "We're all just trying to abide by the rules and do what we're supposed to do. Having our family has been the biggest blessing, too.

"I mean, we're driving each other absolutely insane, about things you wouldn't normally get mad about, but at the end of the day, at least we have each other, you know? That's been really fortunate."

Last week, Britney revealed she had accidentally "burnt down" her home gym after leaving a lit candle unattended and her sister claimed she has a "no candle" rule in place to prevent similar accidents at her house.

She said: "That happened so long ago, I think it might be fixed now.

"We don't light candles in our house, because I'm not good with candles. So literally, we just decided like, no candles. So I think that we can prevent any future fires."

Beanie Feldstein felt excluded because of her size

Beanie Feldstein felt excluded from certain roles because of her size.

The 26-year-old actress admitted that when she was younger she was constantly asked if she had ever played Tracy Turnblad in 'Hairspray' and she feels that people pigeon-holed her due to her curvy figure.

She told Variety: "The only thing I ever heard when I was younger, because I was chubby and I love to sing, was 'Have you ever played Tracy Turnblad?'

"I love 'Hairspray', but for some reason, I heard that so much growing up that it became a sore spot for me. Why can I only be this? I can be anything I want. What about the baker's wife in 'Into the Woods'? Or Winnifred in 'Once Upon a Mattress'? Or one day, Amy in 'Company'? What about all these other roles I would love to play, and why am I excluded from them because of my dress size or whatever it might be?"

However, Beanie is refusing to let her size define her and she is excited about her leading role in the upcoming 'How to Build a Girl'.

She said: "It's a triumphant story where this girl, who might be a bit bigger and is swimming in her hand-me-down clothing, gets to go on this sexy adventure and debunk all of those expectations of someone like her."

And Beanie feels lucky to have entered the acting industry at a time of "inclusivity", explaining: "I was especially lucky to be entering this industry at a time when things were growing at such a rapid rate and people were being welcomed in at such a rapid rate.

"We have so much farther to go with inclusivity, but that was happening when I started. I thought, why would I shut myself off from these opportunities just because I don't know if I can do them? I don't take it lightly, because I know how many talented people are out there."

Joanne Froggatt wants Downton Abbey sequel

The 39-year-old actress - who has played Anna Bates in the TV series and the movie adaptation - is keen to work on a sequel with her co-stars.

When asked about the possibility of a sequel, she told Collider: "It would be nice. I know there's definitely talk of a second movie, and it's lovely 'cause we wouldn't even be able thinking about it, if the first one hadn't gone down as well as it had.

"As long as we can keep the same level of standards and make it something that the fans want to watch, then why not."

However, Joanne concedes that the project may depend on whether the cast are able to fit the movie into their busy schedules.

She added: "But it depends on whether, logistically, it can come together or not. Everyone's off doing different things.

"Everyone's got different jobs, here and there, but none of them are happening, at the moment. We'll have to just wait and see, but it would be lovely to do a second one."

The 'Liar' star also revealed that the cast and crew were blown away by the "incredible" success of the first film.

Joanne explained: "It was incredible. I really don't think any of us, including behind the scenes and in front of the camera, expected it to do as well as it did, at all, by any standard.

"We hoped that people would want to see it, and we hoped it would get an audience at the cinema, but none of us dreamed it would be as popular at the cinema as it was.

"I'm so pleased that we achieved what we set out to do with the movie, which was to give all those fans of the show that bit of joy, and that sense of checking back in with all of their favourite characters, and that sense of nostalgia."

Sharon Osbourne's heartbreak

2020-05-07T08:34:00.001-07:00

Sharon Osbourne is "heartbroken" that her children suffered the same drug and alcohol addictions that their father did.

The 67-year-old television personality would have hoped her children - Jack and Kelly Osbourne - wouldn't go through the same things as their father, Ozzy Osbourne, did after seeing how much he struggled.

Speaking on a US show, she said: "We've had this family history with drugs, it's not a good one. I felt that they've seen their dad go through so much, my kids, that they won't touch it - well they did and it ended badly with each of them. It did break my heart."

Sharon spoke out in response to Dax Shepard's comments, where he said he would be pro letting his children do mushrooms "at one point".

In the podcast, Dax said: "I'm so glad you just said that because I was going to ask you the same thing. I am pro my children doing mushrooms at some point ... I do think ... well, there are a lot of different studies that have pretty conclusively shown that you have long lasting creative advantages, right. Like if you would've done mushrooms ... that lasts. So I guess yeah, I'm going to tell my girls to do shrooms and to smoke pot and to drink and to just don't do cocaine or opioids."

And Sharon responded: "Call me old fashioned, I don't like it. Not at all, not to just entertain yourself. If it's under medical supervision, fine."

Earlier this year, Kelly celebrated being two and a half years sober.

The 35-year-old star wrote on Instagram: "2019 has been one hell of a year. In many ways it has been amazing especially in terms of self-growth. In many ways it has been gut-wrenchingly difficult. However through all the good and bad it has been incredibly educational for me. I have come to the realisation that I constantly put the needs of others before my own. I allow myself to be put in situations that make me feel uncomfortable for fear of upsetting someone else. Not forgetting the amount of times I co-sign the bulls**t of others.

"With almost 2 1/2 years of sobriety under my belt I still struggle with confrontation (which was NEVER a problem when I was using) Well this all STOPS today. 2020 is going to be the year of me!!! It's time to put myself first, stop taking on other peoples shit and be the badass sober women I was born to be. #HappyNewYear I love you guys (sic)"

Brian May in 'relentless pain'

Brian May has been left in "relentless" pain after damaging his butt while gardening.

The Queen rocker paid a visit to hospital and was ordered to stay off his feet to recover after tearing his gluteus maximus - the main muscle of the hip that forms the buttocks - "to shreds" while pushing himself too hard at home.

Sharing a photo on Instagram in which his face was partially-covered with a mask, he wrote: "Reality check ! For me. No - the Virus didn't get me yet - thank God. Hope you're all keeping extra-safe out there.

"A decision to relax controls doesn't suddenly make the danger go away.

"But me ?? Yes, I've been quiet. Reason ? As well as getting over-stretched and harassed by too many demands ... I managed to rip my Gluteus Maximus to shreds in a moment of over-enthusiastic gardening.

"So suddenly I find myself in a hospital getting scanned to find out exactly how much I've actually damaged myself.

"Turns out I did a thorough job - this is a couple of days ago - and I won't be able to walk for a while ... or sleep, without a lot of assistance, because the pain is relentless.(sic)"

The 72-year-old musician told fans he was going to "go dark" from social media and take a "complete" break at home.

He said: "So, folks ... I need to go dark for a while, getting some complete rest, at home. Please, please don't send me sympathy - I just need some healing silence for a while. I'll be back - but I need the complete break. OK ? Thanks. Take care out there. Bri (sic)"

Despite his pledge to take a break, at the time of writing, Brian has since shared three additional Instagram posts.

Nikki Bella's pregnancy discomfort

Nikki Bella is feeling "very uncomfortable" after developing a haemorrhoid.

The 'Total Bellas' star is expecting her first child with boyfriend Artem Chingvintsev and was horrified to discover her "butt [was] bleeding" because of an enlarged vein in the anal area, common side effect of pregnancy.

Speaking on her 'Bellas Podcast' after her twin sister Brie - who is also pregnant - asked how her "butt's doing", she said: "Okay, first of all, I fixed it. Secondly, Brie, so what she's talking about - and you know what, anyone who's ever been pregnant is gonna feel me on this; at least I hope so - you guys, I got the biggest hemorrhoid. And it sucks.

"I went to the bathroom and I was bleeding. Thank god it wasn't the front - it was the back!

"And I'm like, 'Oh my gosh. My butt's bleeding. This is terrible.' And I woke up the next morning and I had a full, sticking out hemorrhoid!

"Imagine a dingleberry actually being a part of your skin. That's how it feels. I have something in between my butt cheeks that I can feel when I walk and it's very uncomfortable."

The 36-year-old former wrestler has been taking a bath every night to alleviate the pain and admitted she's growing increasingly "miserable" because of the hot weather and her growing frame.

She said: "I'm already kind of getting in the stage where I'm getting a little uncomfortable in my body.

"And now I have a hemorrhoid. And it's hot out. And it's just miserable, I'm not gonna lie."

Nikki also told her sister she is "not gonna be happy" if she has to deal with such discomfort during her labour.

Brie quipped: "All the beauties of being pregnant!"

Coronavirus lockdown: NZ to ease restrictions after 'stopping explosion'

2020-04-20T07:56:00.001-07:00

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern has thanked people for "stopping an uncontrolled explosion of Covid-19", as she announced an easing of lockdown.

The country has been praised for its quick and strict response to the virus, and will move from "Level 4" lockdown to "Level 3" late next Monday.

It means some businesses can reopen, along with some schools, while rules on local travel will be relaxed.

"We have done what very few countries have been able to do," Ms Ardern said.

New Zealand, which has a population of five million, has had 1,440 confirmed cases and 12 deaths.

Just nine new cases were announced on Monday. Seven of the deaths are linked to a care home in Christchurch.
What is changing in New Zealand?

The country introduced a state of national emergency on 25 March, and went to "Level 4" later that day.

That was four days before the first virus-related death in the country was confirmed.

The Level 4 lockdown meant people had to stay at home, except for "essential personal movement". Exercise was allowed locally, but travel was "severely limited".

Businesses closed - except for essential services - as did schools and public venues. All gatherings were cancelled.
Media captionPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing the lockdown in March

Level 3 allows some of those restrictions to be relaxed. Schools can open with "limited capacity", and businesses can open but not "physically interact with customers".

Gatherings of up to 10 people are allowed but only for weddings, funerals and tangihanga (Maori funeral rites).

Level 3 will last for at least two weeks, with a new decision on 11 May.

Separately, New Zealand closed its borders to almost all foreign travellers on 19 March - but that policy remains unchanged.
What did Jacinda Ardern say?

"We believe that decisive action, going hard and going early, gave us the very best chance of stamping out the virus. And it has," she said.

"We have done what very few countries have been able to do - we have stopped a wave of devastation."

Ms Ardern said the transmission rate - the number of cases each person with the virus passes it onto - is now less than half a person each.

When the transmission rate is below one, cases will decline and eventually die out.

"You, all of you, have stopped the uncontrolled explosion of Covid-19 in New Zealand," she said. "I couldn't feel prouder of the start that we have made together."

Walsall dad fined for son flouting lockdown

A father has been fined by police after his son persistently flouted the coronavirus lockdown rules.

The boy had been out three times in the Blakenall area of Walsall in the West Midlands before a police warning was issued to his father.

But as the father was unable to prevent his son leaving the house for a fourth time, West Midlands Police said it had "no option" but to issue a fine.

The force said the boy was also abusive to an officer on one occasion.

If he is found outdoors again the fine could be doubled and reach a total of £960, officers said.

"On at least three occasions [the boy] was with other youths and on one occasion he was abusive to the officer who tried to speak to him as he ran away," Sgt Stephen Pursglove, of Walsall Police, said.

"His father was spoken to and the regulations - the reason for them and the risks to all of us, especially the elderly and those with underlying health conditions - were fully explained to him."

Sgt Pursglove said that following the talk, the boy went out to meet with people who were not family members, which led to police issuing the fine.

He added: "While the vast majority are doing as they are asked, it is a pity we now have to put ourselves at risk dealing with those who do not."

SAS Who Dares Wins: Tony Bellew on a journey of pain, tears and discovery

As you may have read in the papers or have seen on social media, on Monday on Channel 4 you can see me join 11 other celebrities (I never class myself as a celebrity) on the hit TV show 'SAS Who Dares Wins Celebrity'.

For those who have not seen the show before, a team of former soldiers led by former Royal Marine Ant Middleton take a group through gruelling SAS selection training for over a week - though few make it that far.

Former footballer John Fashanu and The Only Way is Essex star Joey Essex are two of the celebrities in there with me at a base set in what felt like a punishing wilderness. It was actually the island of Raasay, just off the coast of Scotland.

You'll have to watch the programme to see how far I got in the process. What I can say is the whole thing is a torture and you find yourself looking in the mirror day after day, asking questions of yourself that you never thought you would.

The tasks you're asked to undertake include running face-first down a cliff face when your body and mind tell you not to and being submerged in the ice cold sea until one of you quits - and if the water doesn't break you, the heights and deadly drops you have to conquer might do.

Throw in what the military men label 'sickeners' - where you think you've conquered a challenge only to be told you have more to endure - and it's brutal. Honestly, what you see on television looks hard but when you are there, the challenges form part of a package that slowly debilitates you.

Your dormitory gets stormed in the middle of the night and you can't get a wink of sleep. When I got home I felt the after-effects as I spent around three weeks waking up sweating in the middle of the night and could feel myself looking for exit points in rooms at all times.

It was so intense and at one point emotions poured out of me when I was faced with a particular task which quite simply pushed me to my very limits. Some painful memories came flooding back.

My motivation for going in there was that after I retired from boxing, and with my ambitions ticked off by the age of 36, life immediately after retirement felt pretty hard.

I have always admired the men and women in the military so when I got the call I thought it sounded perfect. Then the apprehension set in. I just didn't want to go on and embarrass myself like some old has-been.

The night before, I was going to pull out. I'd be living off rations, deprived of sleep and I just thought I'm bound to go in there and be instantly perceived as a tough-guy boxer who should thrive in this environment when actually I'm not that type of person in day-to-day life.

Another boxer pulled out close to last year's show but as I'd given my word, in I went. I half expected there to be some kind of plush secret rooms for celebrities away from the cameras but I ended up sleeping for over a week in the same clothes. To put it mildly, I absolutely stank.

I'm a fussy eater so food was a problem. The best thing I had to eat in there was a rabbit, which we were shown how to skin and cook. As I put this column together I am about to eat fish and chips. It is safe to say I appreciate such treats a little bit more now.

But the military men tell you everything you go through in SAS selection is for a reason. The limited food, the lack of sleep - it's all for a purpose. When you're woken at 2am to stand outside for a horrible physical 'beasting', it is not because they want to see how long you can hold a weight up for, it is to shatter you, wipe you out and break you either there and then or during the next day's task.

I have always had certain trust issues, so when you're lumped into an environment like that with strangers and you have to rely on one another, it is tough.

I built rafts, constructed huts and faced the elements head on but on a deeper level I took so much from it.

I learned how unimportant a mobile phone is and when I got back home I ended up turning mine off for days.

Above all else, it brought home the importance of family. That is something none of us need reminding about given the current times we are living in. Ultimately, the most important thing we all have is within the four walls of our homes.

Trying to do right by your family is no easy task but being in situations where you miss them badly makes you want to be the best version of you when you're with them.

Hopefully you and your family can watch and share a few laughs while seeing me suffer over the coming weeks. It was without doubt one of the toughest - and best - experiences of my life.

Movie Theaters Are Included in the White House's Plans to Reopen America

2020-04-19T22:55:00.004-07:00

The White House has included movie theaters in Phase One of it proposed reopening plan. The Trump administration has announced a series of guidelines to opening the country in a set of phases. Movie theaters have been shut down since the middle of March and are hemorrhaging money by the day. Employees have been furloughed, executives are taking pay cuts, debt offerings have been put on the table, whispers of bankruptcy have been floating around, and more. Despite all of this, theaters are hoping to have their doors open by June 1st. With Donald Trump's new plan, some theaters, with some strict guidelines, may be able to open even sooner.

Each state is going through different things at the moment and it is up to the state Governors and local officials to decide when it will be safe to open businesses again. President Donald Trump announced his "Opening Up America Again" plan earlier this week, which includes a set of phases, each with different criteria, for states and cities to try and reopen. Movie theaters are included in Phase One if they meet these standards: "LARGE VENUES (e.g., sit-down dining, movie theaters, sporting venues, places of worship) can operate under strict physical distancing protocols."

Get notified when your movie theaters open back up!

We'll let you know when your local theaters open so that you can start enjoying the cinemas once again.

The decision to reopen movie theaters in Phase One is still at a time when most employees are encouraged to work from home if possible, while citizens are urged to abstain from any non-essential travel. With that being said, opening up movie theaters during the first stage of the Trump administration's plan doesn't sound like the greatest idea, unless people live in a state that has not been hit hard by our current situation. State officials will have to gauge where they're at in order for everything to move forward.

By the time Governors and local officials feel that they can safely move into Phase Two, movie theaters "can operate under moderate physical distancing protocols," according to the White House. No specific time table has been offered, but this could very well meet the June 1st opening that many theater chains had hoped for. Some states, like Texas, could see theaters and other businesses open even sooner than that. Obviously, this will vary from state to state and it will have different outcomes, due to how volatile our current situation is.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is recommending everybody stay indoors and practice safe social distancing protocols until the middle of May, which is similar to other major cities across the Unites States. Under the White House's new plan, California would be able to try Phase One of the plan after May 15th, if Newsom believes it's safe to do so. With that being said, China tried to reopen theaters after a strict stay at home order and things started to worsen, leading to closures and staying indoors again. This will have to be a delicate balance for the time being and people will have to decide if they even want to go to a movie theater after all of this. You can head over to the official White House website to see more information on the different phases of the current plan to reopen America.

New Movies to Watch This Week: ‘Abe,’ ‘Selah and the Spades,’ ‘Sergio’

This time last year, audiences were buying tickets to see “Avengers: Endgame.” Now, pretty much the biggest new release — bypassing theaters and going straight to streaming, amid the turmoil caused by the coronavirus — is a movie called “Butt Boy.”

But don’t worry. Governmental leaders are starting to share plans about a reopening of movie theaters, and there are still lots of quality new releases making themselves available by streaming. So, while no new studio movies bowed this week, you can find treasures from festivals such as Sundance and Cannes, plus fresh fare for Amazon Prime and Netflix subscribers.

Here are all the new releases, with excerpts from reviews and links to where you can watch them.

Independent films, directly on demand:

A White, White Day (Hlynur Palmason) CRITIC’S PICK
Distributor: Film Movement
Where to Find It: Choose a virtual cinema to support
A muscular study of toxic masculinity set in one of the world’s more remote locations, “A White, White Day” debuted in Critics’ Week at Cannes, where Ingvar Sigurdsson won the best actor prize. He delivers an astonishing performance here, a display of locomotive determination and exasperated futility transformed into dangerous, unpredictable anger. I’m convinced that “A White, White Day” is the work of one of the most important voices of this emerging generation, arriving at a stage where we have yet to learn his language. — Peter Debruge

Abe (Fernando Grostein Andrade)
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Where to Find It: Rent on Amazon or iTunes
The home life depicted in “Abe,” whose Big Apple-based 12-year-old title character (played by “Stranger Things” trouper Noah Schnapp) is the product of a Palestinian father and an Israeli mother, skews awfully far from the ordinary. Family dinners, which bring together grandparents from both sides to rehash the religious and political disputes of their respective faiths and countries, are never less than awkward. But Abe has an idea, and an obsession. Abe loves to cook. He’s like Julia Child’s “inner child,” and has more “spirit” than Rocco DiSpirito. His dream is to use cooking to unite the two sides of the family, Jewish and Muslim (his parents consider themselves agnostic atheists, but their son wants to attend mosque and have a bar mitzvah, and he dreams of dishes that will combine the two sides of his heritage). — Peter Debruge

Butt Boy (Tyler Cornack)
Distributor: Epic Pictures
Where to Find It: Rent on Amazon, Google Play and other on-demand platforms
Nobody is going to watch a movie called “Butt Boy” in pursuit of sophisticated wit. That said, this feature spinoff from a prior sketch by the collaborative comedy-video team known as Tiny Cinema does manage to be just about the drollest execution possible of the most juvenile concept imaginable. Those inclined to be tickled by a one-joke bad-taste premise treated with an incongruous poker face will give this perversely well-crafted goof a leg-up toward immediate moderate cult status. — Dennis Harvey

Endings, Beginnings (Drake Doremus)
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Films
Where to Find It: Rent on Amazon, iTunes or other on-demand platforms
Daphne, who is played by Shailene Woodley in what is simultaneously her most realistic and least accessible performance yet, recently broke up with her boyfriend, moving back into her sister’s pool house. That split had something to do with a drunken one-night stand. And now, though she’s sworn herself to six months of sobriety and celibacy, Daphne can’t deny her attraction to two totally different guys, played by Jamie Dornan and Sebastian Stan. This result is like the mumblecore version of “The Philadelphia Story.” — Peter Debruge

The Quarry (Scott Teems)
Distributor: Lionsgate, Grindstone
Where to Find It: Rent on Amazon and other on-demand platforms
This Southern-set thriller from the director of “That Evening Sun” was set to premiere at the SXSW Film Festival, but pivoted to streaming instead.

The Sharks (Lucía Garibaldi)
Distributor: Quiver Disribution
Where to Find It: Rent on iTunes and other on-demand platforms
In its portrayal of a 14-year-old girl’s disturbing sexual awakening in a sleepy seaside town, Uruguayan writer-director Lucia Garibaldi’s debut feature suggests luridly violent dangers in tranquil waters — both figuratively and, per its title, literally — whilst sketching Rosina, its introverted heroine, in light, fragile strokes. The result is intermittently striking before settling into an overly familiar drift: The film’s icy-humid atmospherics trouble the memory for longer than its remote protagonist and stagnant storytelling, just enough to pique interest in Garibaldi’s future work. — Guy Lodge

Bad Therapy (Bill Teitler)
Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
Where to Find It: Rent on Amazon and other on-demand platforms
Alicia Silverstone and Rob Corddry play a married couple working with a counselor to repair their marriage in this straight-to-VOD relationship drama.
Lazy loaded image
Walter Murra and Ana de Armas in ‘Sergio’ Courtesy of Netflix / Karima Shehata
New to Netflix

Sergio (Greg Barker)
Where to Find It: Netflix
There is a Robert Frost poem called “Escapist – Never” which provides a frequent refrain in Greg Barker’s deeply admiring but drawn-out biopic of Brazilian diplomat and U.N. leading light Sergio Vieira de Mello. “It is the future that creates his present,” runs the penultimate line, and de Mello (played with persuasive charm by Wagner Moura) certainly does seem like a man whose present was shaped by the future. The man’s impact on world affairs does render understandable Barker’s rather starry-eyed approach, but in its unnecessary length and sentimental emphasis on the man’s romantic life, “Sergio” more often, intentionally and otherwise, evokes the “interminable chain of longing” of the poem’s celebrated last line. — Jessica Kiang

Rising High (Cüneyt Kaya)
Where to Find It: Netflix
Fact-based “The Wolf of Wall Street” won criticism from some quarters for seeming to revel in its protagonist’s sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle, while barely chiding him for the predatory, large-scale financial fraud that funded it. Cüneyt Kaya’s new “Rising High” offers a similar disconnect in its fictive tale of bold chicanery in the realm of high-end real estate, treating its heroes’ climb to ill-gotten wealth as a vicarious thrill ride, with scant attention paid to the victims they presumably bankrupt.

Selah and the Spades (Tayarisha Poe)
Distributor: Amazon Studios
Where to Find It: Amazon Prime
Students from Haldwell prep school graduate prepared for any career, particularly the Mafia. This exclusive boarding prep school is controlled by five factions, and senior spirit captain Selah (Lovie Simone) commands the Spades, the most criminal of the clubs that distributes kush, acid, cocaine, Adderall and tequila around campus. Writer-director Tayarisha Poe’s cold and stylish debut, commands attention. More specifically, Simone’s Selah seizes it. The film has more style than plot, but that style is terrific.
— Amy Nicholson

The Booksellers (D.W. Young)
Distributor: Greenwich Entertainment
Where to Find It: Choose a virtual cinema to support
This lovely and wistful documentary invites us to dote on the tactile mystery of old books — the elegance of the print, the pages that may be fragmenting, the colorful latticework bindings, the back-breaking size of certain old volumes. Young is a veteran film editor who leads us into grand and cozy old bookstores like the mysterious museums they are. “The Booksellers” is a documentary for anyone who can still look at a book and see a dream, a magic teleportation device, an object that contains the world.

Beyond the Visible – Hilma Af Klint (Halina Dyrschka)
Distributor: Zeitgeist Films, in association with Kino Lorber
Where to Find It: Choose a virtual cinema to support
Recently featured at the Guggenheim Museum, Klint was nearly forgotten by time. This documentary explores what was almost lost.

Bias (Robin Hauser)
Distributor: 1091 Media
Where to Find It: Rent it on Amazon, Google Play and other on-demand platforms
A deep dive into the subject of implicit bias and how it impacts human behavior.

Earth (Nikolaus Geyrhalter)
Distributor: KimStim
Where to Find It: Virtual screenings tied to Earth Day
The director of “Our Daily Bread” takes a satellite view of how homo sapiens are transforming their planet.

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Kenya Barris Talks Newfound Freedom, Rotten Tomatoes, and the Importance of Being Honest

2020-04-19T22:50:00.001-07:00

Two years ago Kenya Barris woke up to news reports that a politically-charged episode of his hit show black-ish had been shelved over creative differences with ABC, the network that produces and broadcasts the family dramedy. A few months later, Barris would announce his exit at ABC to ink a new production deal at Netflix. Since his departure, Barris has been open about his frustration with the limitations of network television and why he felt it was the right time to leave. This week he will find out if his risky move for creative freedom will be embraced by fans and critics. After a two-year absence, Barris is finally back on our screens with a new-ish family show, #blackAF.

The first show released by his production company as part of an overall $100 million deal with the streaming giant, #blackAF is within a vein that the creator of black-ish, mixed-ish, and grown-ish knows all too well. The veteran writer-producer has created another dramedy centered on a fictionalized version of his own family. Dubbing the show (formerly known as #blackexcellence) a more authentic version of his real-life family, Barris plays the Larry David–esque patriarch in this Curb Your Enthusiasm–style comedy about Hollywood, Black culture, and family.

The series costars Rashida Jones as family matriarch Joya, Genneya Walton as eldest Barris child Chloe, Iman Benson as 17-year-old narrator Drea, Scarlet Spencer as difficult middle child Izzy, Justin Claiborne as sensitive 10-year-old Pops, Ravi Cabot-Conyers as precocious Kam, Richard Gardenhire Jr. as youngest of the Barris brood Brooklyn, and Gil Ozeri as personal assistant Danny. Guest stars playing themselves include industry heavyweights like Ava DuVernay, Steven Levitan, Will Packer, Tyler Perry, Issa Rae, Tim Story, and Lena Waithe.

Unleashed as it were into the wild world of streaming, this new show, though familiar, does hit harder than what was previously allowed on linear network television. For Netflix, it appears no subject is off-limits, which was a blessing and a curse according to #blackAF’s creator and star. When we spoke to Barris, he was candid about his new terrifying jump to streaming, why he still reads reviews – and pays attention to his Tomatometer scores – and how he got DuVernay and Rae to crack jokes about him and their respective work for one of the series’ standout episodes.

Jacqueline Coley for Rotten Tomatoes: Tell us about #blackAF. Is this black-ish unleashed?

Kenya Barris: Yes, and no. It’s a family show about my family, so in that, it is like black-ish, but those were archetypes. This is more accurate — well, except for the mother of my children; she’s very different from what Rashida is doing. Rashida is a little bit more of a revolutionist. I’ve been doing family shows for a long time, but felt like they needed a reboot. With Netflix, it feels like we’re in this new era, in this new dawn, and what better place to try to reboot black-ish into a more authentic family. I made them functionally dysfunctional. And the notion behind it was to take out of my point of view, give the point of view of my daughter, and try and do it in a much more honest way.

At ABC, I love those guys, but they were terrified of talking about having any kind of success. They thought it could be ostracizing. I always felt the opposite. I felt like, in the time of Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Barack and Michelle [Obama], or Swizz Beatz and Alicia [Keys], the idea of wish fulfillment and aspirational things really resonates. At the core of it, it’s a human story; that was what I’m tapping into, or that was what we hoped. But it’s also so much scarier, because this was me and much closer to my real family — a rejection of this is a rejection of me in a much bigger way.

Kenya Barris and Rashida Jones in #blackAF SEASON 1 EPISODE 2

You’ve mostly worked in linear television. How was the switch to streaming?

Barris: It was terrifying. It honestly was. No ad breaks? Just streaming? I’m a fan of telling stories where in Act 1, you set the problem up, really explore it in the second, and resolve it in the third. And this was a completely different way of telling those stories. I really enjoyed it, to be honest with you. I enjoyed not having to focus on act breaks and commercials.

But at the same time, one of the things that I missed was, Netflix is an unbelievably free, creative environment. As much s–t as I used to talk about getting notes, there’s something to having “a partner” give you notes, even if you disagree with them. The freedom to make what you want is a place you want to be as creative person. But if it bombs, you can’t blame anybody else. [Laughs] I was like, Be careful what you wish for. But, it was a really, really good experience. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the show, but we’re proud of what we did. They let me do something that I’ve never done before. I’m so proud of the actors and the family that we put together and the kids and Rashida. But it was terrifying.

As your first show on a new deal with Netflix, this is a big swing as far as subject matter and tone. Was that a choice?

Barris: I wanted to be noisy. [Netflix] is doing 400 series this year. Not 400 episodes of television, 400 series. To stand out in that crowd was really important to me. I would like to say I don’t care what people think, but I care about the critics. In network television, you have your morning-after scorecard. You have ratings…that was like basically getting your grade on your test.

Netflix doesn’t really have that. All you really have is critics, and they’ll tell you if you make it or not. So for that, I knew I wanted to be loud. I wanted to try to be noisy and let it be authentic and personal. And know your lane — this is as close to my lane as I possibly can get. I let myself hang out there, but it makes it a lot scarier.

#blackAF SEASON 1 EPISODE 5

Let’s talk about episode 5. It talks about criticism and Rotten Tomatoes in general, but the first thing we have to know is, are you surprised by anything else besides Space Jam, which is discussed in the episode, being rated Rotten on the Tomatometer?

Barris: [Laughs] Not to be controversial, but — f–k it — I’m just gonna say it: I’m a huge Boots Riley fan. I think Sorry To Bother You got a 90-something percent. I’m like, Really? I’m with you until horse people. [Laughs] But my daughter argues with me about it, because she was like, “That’s the beauty of it.” We don’t get to do that often in our business … We [Black creatives] are not allowed to be open and fluid, have weird endings, and get those kinds of ratings. But still, I check the score.

At RT, we argue about scores all the time if that makes you feel any better. Will you be checking the score for #blackAF when it drops? Do you still care?

Barris: Absolutely. I care. Tyler thinks I’m crazy for caring, but I care. I care what white people are saying. I care what gay people think. I care what Black people think. I care what Rotten Tomatoes thinks. I care. Steven Spielberg put this article out, and he said if you believe any of it, you have to believe all of it, so he doesn’t read reviews. Good for him. I’m neurotic. I want to be liked, probably too much, but I definitely care. I think we need commercial success. There’s room for If Beale Street Could Talk and Moonlight, but there was also something special about Cosby. We have learned the whole story about the man now, but at the time it was special that he became what he did. The Cosby Show changed the trajectory of what we were in this world. That was the first time I ever saw my white friends want the same father that I had.

It’s one of the things that I was really always happy about with black-ish is that when we first came on, we beat or came close to beating Modern Family. And, that was a huge statement to the powers that be. A lot of things that came after were because of black-ish in some aspect. Not to toot my own horn, but they were kind of derivative of what we did. Other creators said, “Oh, why can’t I talk about my family? I could talk about my family, and I can be more specific.” People started seeing themselves reflected in things and that became the mainstream.

#blackAF SEASON 1 EPISODE 5

You brought in Tyler Perry for this episode to talk about the Rotten Tomatoes, and he doesn’t share your opinion.

Barris: I love that Tyler was like, “Oh, I don’t f–k with them Tomatoes.” I have people in my family, they enjoy his films, particularly my mom, my aunt, and some of my relatives. They get so much enjoyment from his movies — honest enjoyment, not just ironic or so-bad-it’s-good, just honest enjoyment. He opens up at box offices and does business, too. So why are those people’s opinion not as important as someone else’s opinion. Their opinion counts, too. Tyler puts a movie out that people enjoy. And because people or certain critics might not feel like it’s the most elevated form of comedy, he’s destroyed Black culture. There are people who really enjoy him, just as there are people who love Adam Sandler.

Tyler Perry opens up doors for Shonda [Rhimes] and me, for Barry Jenkins, and so many others. The only color Hollywood really cares about is green. And, he has the greenest story in Hollywood. He deserves to do his movies and be celebrated just as much as Adam Sandler. He knows his audience. He entertains them, and he’s opened so many doors for people of color. Why take away his success? Why marginalize his success because it’s not for you. That’s where Rotten Tomatoes and those other aggregators have a hard time accurately evaluating our work. It’s hard because I feel like many white male reviewers are afraid. They feel like if a female-driven movie or an LGBTQ movie or a Black movie comes out, they can’t rip on it. They think, I’m not going to be the guy who says something bad about this. Then at the same time, because Tyler Perry’s the whipping boy, he’s the one guy that they’re comfortable taking a swipe at, and I have a problem with that.

#blackAF SEASON 1 EPISODE 5

In that same episode, you had a Zoom call with a ‘fictional’ Ava DuVernay, Tim Story, Lena Waithe, Will Packer, and Issa Rae — a.k.a. some of the biggest names in Black Hollywood. How did that come about? Did they have input in their ‘characters’?

Barris: I wrote it, and I gave them a little bit of a pitch when I sent it. My pitch was Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer could be on a show together. And, Jerry could joke, “Sorry I didn’t blow something up, Michael.” No one would think any less of Michael Bay or Jerry Bruckheimer for that. They’d say, “They’re bosses and that’s how they talk in real life.” They can be self-deprecating with their work and never think less about each other. Why can’t we do that? Here’s the exact group of people responsible for a lot of entertainment on television right now. Especially, in a cultural sense. Why do all our calls have to be something that’s like, “Between you and me…” Why can’t people see us actually have the conversations that we have and know that we’re critiquing our work, too, just the same way everyone else is critiquing our work.

How honest do you think creatives are with each other, publicly or privately, if you could give them a grade?

Barris: I think it’s probably a B. The one thing that I really appreciate about us is that we show up for each other. Black Panther is a great example of us showing up for each other. Black Panther was an amazing movie. Ryan Coogler is going to go down as one of the best filmmakers in the history of cinema. But, one of the things that helped that movie is that we showed up for him. In addition to everyone else showing up, because it was a great movie, we showed up for him. And it was the same thing with Girls Trip. That first weekend, in droves, and our people showed up with their girlfriends. And then boom, next thing we see is white girlfriends showing up doing the same thing. When things cross over and become mainstream, and it allows everyone else to be a part of it. It doesn’t feel so niche.

That’s something that we do, and it’s important that we continue to do it. As far as celebrating sort of publicly, actually, I think we get an A. I think that privately the conversations are always a little bit scarier. You can have them with your close peers, and sometimes it’s a little bit harder to sit through, because you don’t want to have say something that makes someone feel like you’re not being supportive. But we’re getting better. The calls, that episode, the willingness of people who have active careers to do things like this shows that we’re getting better. I’m a huge Jordan [Peele], but after Jordan did Us, I was seeing articles saying like, “He’s Hitchcock.” And I was like, I think even Jordan would be like, “That’s a little bit quick.” There’s a positiveness to us being embraced like that, but we have to put in the work. We have to be respected in terms of the general notion of what it takes to really put those 10,000 hours in.

I just watched Unorthodox on Netflix, and I’m like, Why can’t we [Black people] have this? Black people get, like, four stories to tell. White people have like a million options. With [Unorthodox], that story was such a niche story, but it was told so well, someone bought it and people support it. I’m like, Why can’t we tell more of those stories? Why can’t we get stories that feel outside of what people are used to hearing from us?, because that’s how we actually grow…culturally and within the industry.

#blackAF SEASON 1 EPISODE 7

Since you do read reviews, do you have a favorite critic?

Barris: Emily Nussbaum did a great New Yorker article on me, and she kind of changed my career. She embedded with us for a few days and she really got it. She’s also like a TV fanatic. I am always interested in what people like her have to say. I get it. Some people don’t like what I do, and I am OK with that, but I am also not going to pretend it doesn’t bother me. I get it: I’m not for them. But that’s that needy part of me, because I want so badly for them to like my stuff.

Many creatives feel that way. Quentin Tarantino was awarded Best Original Screenplay last year by New York Film Critics Circle, and he spent half his acceptance speech talking about one of the members who has hated every movie he’s made, but Tarantino loves his writing. And this is a man with multiple Oscars and nothing to prove.

Big Hero 6 And Other Underrated Movies To Watch On Disney+

Disney+ has made it a lot easier for you to revisit some great movies, which is one of the main allures of having so many streaming services available. We know how tempting it is to watch Tangled for the 400th time, but it’s time to watch something new. It is time for you to broaden your Disney+ horizon. The streaming platform contains plenty of underrated movies, like Big Hero 6. These underrated movies have been neglected for too long. It is time for them to go on your what to watch on Disney+ playlist.

My definition of underrated are movies that are enjoyable but maybe received harsh reviews or poor box office results, or only have a cult following or just are not discussed among the great films of their genre. One reason or another these movies haven’t been anointed in the great movies hall of fame.

Big Hero 6

In Big Hero 6, Hiro (Ryan Potter) is a boy genius who builds microbots to gain entry into the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. After tragedy strikes, Hiro teams up with his brother’s robot health companion Baymax (Scott Adsit) and they hunt for a dangerous masked man who now has Hiro’s microbots. Hiro upgrades Baymax’s software and teams up with his friends to form a new super group.

Why It’s underrated: Big Hero 6 is a really good animated film, both in terms of plot and animation, and it’s a very entertaining Marvel Comics adaptation. Hiro and his friend’s quest feels very similar to many of the Marvel Cinematic Universe origin stories. Despite Big Hero 6 being an easy film to place in the world of Marvel and Disney, it just doesn’t receive as much attention from either fandom.

Hercules

Disney’s Hercules follows young Hercules (Tate Donovan) as he discovers that he’s half-man and half-god. He then needs to take a hero’s journey to prove himself worthy of living among the gods. Hercules voice cast includes James Woods, Susan Egan, Danny DeVito, Rip Torn, and Bobcat Goldthwait.

Why It’s underrated: When people mention the best Disney animated films, they’ll mention Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, Little Mermaid, and many more, but Hercules is rarely mentioned. It’s almost like Disney fans forgot this brilliant movie. Hands down Hercules has one of the best Disney soundtracks and it’s nearly criminal that more people aren’t still singing “Go the Distance,” “The Gospel Truth,” and “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love).”

Thumbelina

Thumbelina, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s book of the same name, follows a tiny girl named Thumbelina (Jodi Benson) and the Prince of the fairies Cornelius (Gary Imhoff) as they try to find their way back to each other. Thumbelina’s voice cast includes Gilbert Gottfried, Carol Channing, John Hurt, and Charo.

Why It’s underrated: Many of you reading this probably went “what the heck is Thumbelina?” And there lies the issue, Thumbelina doesn’t receive nearly as much attention as other animated films created in the 90s. This is probably due to the bad reviews, box office failure, and not the best soundtrack. Also Thumbelina is very bizarre in comparison to Cinderella, but if you can accept the strangeness, then Thumbelina is one enjoyable ride from start to finish. Personally, it’s one of those movies I’ve seen far too many times and still enjoy its ridiculous plot.

A Goofy Movie

Worried about his son Max (Jason Marsden)’s future, Goofy (Bill Farmer) plans an impromptu road trip and fishing trip for them. This ruins Max’s plans to get close to his crush Roxanne (Kellie Martin), so he lies about being friends with singer Powerline (Tevin Campbell) and taking this trip to perform with him.

Why it’s underrated: Besides a cult following, A Goofy Movie is basically ignored by the world of Disney animation fans. Maybe fans seem to forget about this movie because Goofy is seen as more of Mickey’s silly sidekick than a charismatic character. It is unfortunate that The Goofy Movie is not more popular because the plot is relatable, heartwarming, and the music is top notch. It is pop music at its finest.

Frankenweenie

Tim Burton adds his own signature style to this remake of a 1984 short film. Frankenweenie, a homage to Mary Shelley’s classic Frankenstein, follows young Victor Frankenstein (Charlie Tahan) as he reanimates his dog Sparky (Frank Welker). The Frankenweenie voice cast includes Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, and Winona Ryder.

Why it’s underrated: Tim Burton clearly uses influence from his other films, like Edward Scissorhands and The Nightmare Before Christmas, when developing Frankenweenie. This is definitely not Burton’s best film, but it should be more in the conversation when discussing his great movies. His style and themes aren’t necessarily family friendly, but the fact that he was able to turn the story of Frankenstein into a family friendly film is a great accomplishment. It’s probably still a little too complex and dark for young kids, but it works for older children and families.

Togo

Togo follows Leonhard Seppala (Willem Dafoe) and his sled team led by Togo as they try to complete the 1925 serum run to Nome. They face dangerous winter conditions to try to save lives. They need to get this serum to Nome in order to help stop an epidemic

Why it’s underrated: Possibly because Disney+ is still so new, people haven’t discovered the truly great original content on the service. This movie is one of them and very worth watching. Togo pulls you in as both an action adventure film and as a story of a spirited dog who forms an unbreakable bond with his human and animal family.

A Bug’s Life

Flick (Dave Foley) doesn’t quite fit in with his ant colony, but when dangerous grasshoppers threaten its survival, Flick is the only hope to save it. In A Bug’s Life, he must gather a motley crue of bugs to try to save his people. The voice over cast includes Kevin Spacey, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Hayden Panettiere.

Why it’s underrated: A Bug’s Life may have suffered from not being Pixar’s first film because it completely got overshadowed by Toy Story and then movies after it like Monster’s Inc. and more recent films like Coco.The film had the winning Pixar formula (great animation, interesting characters, a compelling storyline, etc.) to become another hit franchise, but somehow, it just didn’t.

Life With Mikey

In Life with Mikey, Michael J. Fox plays a former child star who becomes a talent agent. Mikey (Michael J. Fox) hasn’t quite grown up and relies heavily on his former glory to get by, but one day, he meets a young pick-pocket named Angie (Christina Vidal). He sees acting potential in her and becomes her mentor. They both end up helping each other and forming a family that they both need. Nathan Lane and Cyndi Lauper also appear in Life with Mikey.

Why it’s underrated: During Life with Mikey’s 1993 release, critics didn't love it. It also wasn’t much of a hit with the general public. However, I don’t quite get why, because Life with Mikey is a fun, endearing movie that’s a coming of age story for both Angie and Mikey. This movie isn’t going to change the world, but it’s a cute story, and sometimes that’s all you want out of a film.

Meet The Robinsons

Meet the Robinsons follows 12-year old orphan Lewis (Jordan Fry) who sets out to invent a memory-grabbing machine to learn more about his birth mother. While presenting at the school’s science fair, a mysterious man with a bowler hat (Steven Anderson) sabotages his project. Then Wilbur Robinson (Wesley Singerman), a kid claiming to be from the future, brings Lewis along for the adventure of his life.

Why it’s underrated: I would bet that a lot of people have never even heard of Meet the Robinsons. It’s a rare Disney animated film that happened to slip under the radar, which is a shame because this is actually a really good animated movie. Meet the Robinsons has an unexpected but very intriguing plot and a whole bunch of wacky characters. If you haven’t seen this movie yet, it’s time for you to meet this unique futuristic family.

Sister Act 2: Back In The Habit

Whoopi Goldberg returns to fake nun life in Sister Act 2, the sequel to the hit original. Deloris (Whoopi Goldberg) rejoins her former nun sisters to help a school from being closed. She must help a group of misfits’ students find their voice. Sister Act 2’s cast includes Kathy Najimy, Maggie Smith, and Lauryn Hill.

Why it’s underrated: Sister Act 2 was nowhere near as popular as the first film It grossed less money and received harsh reviews. Sister Act 2 may not be as good as the first one, but this one has just as many memorable musical moments, mainly due to the cast of talented young singers led by Lauryn Hill.

Tuck Everlasting

Tuck Everlasting is a romantic drama between 15-year-old Winnie (Alexis Bledel) and Jesse Tuck (Jonathan Jackson), a boy who can’t age. It’s the story of the burden of immortality and first love. Tuck Everlasting’s cast includes Ben Kingsley, Sissy Spacek, Victor Garber, and William Hurt.

Why it’s underrated: Tuck Everlasting is a sweet romance story that seems to have gotten overshadowed by a lot more flashier and beloved tales of young love, like A Walk to Remember and Bend it Like Beckham. Tuck Everlasting fairy-tale-esque quality and chemistry between Alexis Bledel and Jonathan Jackson should fulfill your need for yearning and doomed first love.

Oliver & Company

Oliver & Company is Disney’s twist on the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist. An orphaned kitten named Oliver (Joey Lawrence) meets a group of dogs, led by Dodger (Billy Joel) who teaches him his streetwise ways. One day Oliver meets Jenny (Natalie Gregory) who wants to adopt him, forcing Oliver to choose between the new family he’s made and a potential one. Oliver & Company’s cast includes Bette Midler, Richard Mulligan, and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Why it’s underrated: Oliver & Company did very well at the box office, but it is another filmed with mixed reviews. Despite the strong box office numbers, the film isn’t mentioned as much as other films released by Disney in the 80s and 90s, which is a shame because it has a great voice cast and it’s another animated movie with a very catchy, fun, and memorable soundtrack.

Antrum and 12 Other Cursed Movies That Will Make Your Skin Crawl

2020-04-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

Horror films thrive on their aura of danger, and whether you’re in a darkened theater surrounded by strangers or in your basement rec room with all the lights turned off, the experience can be heightened by the mere suggestion that something might be “off” about the movie you’re watching. It’s a concept that’s so compelling that Shudder recently premiered an entire docuseries dedicated to it; it’s called, rather appropriately, Cursed Films.

In honor of the most recent addition to the canon — the faux documentary Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made — we’re going to pay a little tribute to the “found footage” horror movies that tricked people into believing their authenticity, as well as those urban legend-like “cursed” films that earned sinister reputations because of the unfortunate, disturbing, and sometimes tragic events that were allegedly attributed to them.

But they’re only movies, right?

Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made (2019) 75%

What better way to kick things off than with a movie that is a perfect Venn diagram of both concepts – “found footage” faux-real horror and supposedly cursed films. Antrum purports to be a documentary about a lost 1970s film that was only screened twice, because everyone who watches it dies. The movie opens with an 8-minute documentary detailing the curse around the film, then shows you the “film” itself, which is about two young kids who attempt to dig a hole to Hell to save their recently deceased dog. The filmmakers do their best to make the movie-within-a-movie look authentically ’70s to help sell the whole façade. The fact that Antrum’s release was preceded by rumors and word of mouth among hardcore horror fans (much like the way the controversial 2011 A Serbian Film grew a reputation well before it was ever screened publicly) lent the movie an air of real mystery. Some eager horror buffs even tried to track the “original” Antrum down, believing it to be real.

Antrum is a nice try, but in the age of advanced search engines, it’s hard to fully convince people that a film with a supposed body count of 60 could truly have been “lost.”

Snuff (American Cannibale) (1976)

The concept of a “snuff” film – a movie depicting an actual murder – basically started in 1971 when Ed Sanders, the author of a book about the Manson Family, asserted that Charles Manson and his followers had filmed their killing spree (no footage was ever found). Then, just a few years later in 1976, husband-and-wife directors Michael and Roberta Findlay made a cheap exploitation film called Slaughter about an actress and her director who are murdered by a Manson Family-esque clan in South America. Grindhouse film distributor Allan Shackleton bought the film, changed the title to Snuff, and released it under the pretense that it depicted the real murder of the main actress (the tagline was “Filmed in South America…Where Life is Cheap!”). This kickstarted an obsession with snuff films, although none have ever been conclusively unearthed.

The Manson Family connection and the fact that people still believe in the existence of snuff films even today and really sell this one.

Poltergeist (1982) 85%

Perhaps the most famous “cursed” movie of all time, the original 1982 Poltergeist, about a suburban family terrorized by a supernatural presence, climaxed with a scene in which the mom (JoBeth Williams) is dragged into a partially dug-out pool and is surrounded by skeletons – the reveal being that the housing development in which they live was unscrupulously built on top of a graveyard. The rumor was that the film crew had not only used real skeletons, but had desecrated graves themselves to get them. Mysterious and untimely deaths of some of the actors in the trilogy, including young Heather O’Rourke (who played the abducted little girl Carol Anne), who died at the age of 12 due to a congenital intestinal issue, and Dominique Dunne (who played oldest sibling Dana), who was murdered by a jealous boyfriend at the age of 22, led to the urban legend that the ghosts of the unwitting skeletal “co-stars” had cursed the films and everyone who worked on them. It’s flimsy, because clearly major players like Williams, Craig T. Nelson, director Tobe Hooper, and producer Steven Spielberg walked away unscathed.

Although it’s the movie everyone cites when talking about curses, a lot of the supposed connections are pretty thin. Plus, more of the actors and crew survived unhurt than didn’t, and a lot of the “deaths” beyond the two young leads were simply age and explainable illness.

The Blair Witch Project (1999) 87%

Horror is a great way for young talents to break into the business because, often, what you don’t see is scarier than what you do, so it’s a godsend for indie filmmakers with more creativity than budget. The Blair Witch Project came about at exactly the right time – exploiting the still nascent “world wide web,” it managed to cultivate its own urban legend of supposedly lost cam footage that was recovered after a group of young filmmakers went missing. The conceit of it being filmed on the fly covered over the fact that you don’t really see much of anything, and the clever use of sound effects and the overall naturalistic performances by the lead actors made you think, just for a second, that maybe this was the real deal. Of course, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 came out around a year later to confirm that, yes, this was indeed just a cheesy horror franchise at its core.

It may have lost some luster since, but at the time? It really had people convinced. And the execution – from the early websites to the film itself – was nearly perfect.

The Omen (1976) 85%

Strap in for this one: Producer Harvey Bernhard claims that the initial idea for the seminal horror classic The Omen came from an advertising exec named Bob Munger. Munger suggested that a movie about the Antichrist would be cool, but that no one should actually make it because “the devil was at work and he didn’t want that film made.” He may have been right. Just a month before filming was to start, lead actor Gregory Peck’s son committed suicide. As he flew to the set, Peck’s plane was struck by lightning, and then executive producer Marc Neufeld’s plane was also struck by lightning on his way to the location. The hotel Neufeld and his wife were staying in then got bombed by the Irish Republican Army. The crew hired a small plane to do some aerial photography, but it was given to another client at the last minute; that plane crashed on takeoff and killed everyone on board. Filming a zoo sequence, the young boy playing the demonic Damien apparently upset the baboons so much they started freaking out, so an animal wrangler was called in to help; the next day, he was mauled by a tiger and killed. But perhaps the most chilling result of this “curse” was what happened to special effects supervisor John Richardson. One of his big FX sequences in The Omen was one in which a character is decapitated by a sheet of glass. While working on his next movie in the Netherlands, Richardson and his assistant were involved in a car accident, and his assistant was — you guessed it — decapitated. Legend has it the accident occurred near a street sign that read “Ommen, 66.6 km.” But it’s all coincidence, right?

It’s hard to write all of this off as coincidence. Even when people discount some of it – like the existence of the Dutch street sign – there’s a lot more that’s been verified.

Cannibal Holocaust (1980) 65%

Not long after Snuff, another film came under fire for allegedly depicting actual murders – and it was an early example of “found footage” horror, to boot. This Italian cult movie was built around the idea that it was footage discovered after an American film crew disappeared in the Amazon rainforest and were killed and eaten by indigenous cannibals. The gore was so intense and realistic that a few days after the movie’s premiere, Italian authorities confiscated the film, director Ruggero Deodato was charged with obscenity, and he was eventually slapped with a murder charge when it was suggested Cannibal Holocaust was, in fact, a snuff film. Although it was later proven that none of the actors were killed or harmed, the film does depict scenes of intense animal cruelty that were real. Fun fact: the fake documentary the crew was working on was called The Green Inferno, which would be the title adopted by director Eli Roth for his 2013 homage to Cannibal Holocaust.

The rough, grimy cheapness of the film and the addition of actual animal butchery make this feel almost like the real deal.

The Crow (1994) 82%

What’s unique about the “curse” of The Crow is that it isn’t so much about the film as it is an extension of a curse that is believed to have haunted martial arts icon Bruce Lee and his family for generations. Of course, the 1994 horror-tinged comic book adaptation is infamous due to the tragic death of star Brandon Lee, Bruce’s son, who died after a prop gun misfired and a projectile struck him. The film was hampered by setbacks and accidents – the set was destroyed numerous times, most notably by a hurricane that struck its North Carolina filming location – but in general, the problems seem to have been caused mostly by the fact that it was low budget and behind schedule, and corners were cut a little too recklessly. Some even claim that the Chinese mafia assassinated Bruce and Brandon, which is eerie when you think about the fact that Bruce Lee’s last film, Game of Death, seems to predict this. In that movie, Bruce’s character is a martial arts actor who is shot by an assassin posing as one of the stunt crew. Also, the biopic Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story anthropomorphizes the supposed family curse as a physical demon that haunts Lee his whole life, and at one point in the film, the demon goes after a young Brandon. Dragon was released in 1993 – a year before The Crow.

The idea of a Lee Family Curse is compelling, and it fits in with the whole mystical aura surrounding Bruce. But dig deeper into the on-set events of The Crow, and it all appears to be more a case of negligence and unprofessionalism than a sinister hex.

The Exorcist (1973) 83%

If the Devil really does exist, he seems to spend an awful lot of time on film sets. Before The Omen tempted fate with each shooting day, William Friedkin’s The Exorcist experienced its own unnerving incidents. Telling the story of two priests battling a demonic presence that has taken hold of a young girl named Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair), the film is an undisputed classic of the horror genre, and some of that may have to do with the notion that the film itself was actually possessed. Things got off to a rocky start when the MacNeil family home set – where much of the action takes place – was destroyed by fire. The only room that was untouched by the blaze…was Regan’s. In addition, almost all of the actors suffered injuries during the filming, and televangelist Billy Graham even claimed that “there is a power of evil in that film, in the fabric of the film itself” and suggested that simply projecting it was like opening a door for demons. The movie held its premiere in Rome, during a violent thunderstorm. One attendee even passed out and broke her jaw, later attempting to sue the production because she blamed subliminal messages for her tumble.

Some of the spookiness experienced on set and at early screenings was likely psychosomatic, but the movie still carries a heavy creep factor regardless.

Rosemary's Baby (1968) 96%

Why not complete Satan’s own personal trilogy with a supposedly cursed movie that pre-dates both The Omen and The Exorcist? Rosemary’s Baby is rightly credited with redefining the horror genre by taking it away from the campy cobwebs and castles of the old Vincent Price days and legitimizing it as a “real” grown-up art form. Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes star in the story of a young mother-to-be who moves into a New York apartment building that also happens to house a Satanic cult. Producer William Castle – who was infamous in the 1950s and 1960s for promoting all sorts of gimmicks like floating skeletons and rumbling theater seats in an effort to sell the “reality” of his horror movies – believed that real witches had cursed the set. The film’s composer suffered a nasty fall shortly after the movie wrapped and died after being comatose for several days. Castle himself fell ill with painful gallstones that required surgery. And, of course, director Roman Polanski’s wife at the time, actress Sharon Tate, and their unborn child would fall victim to the Manson Family a year after the film’s release.

It’s easy to think of anything Satan-related as tempting fate when it comes to curses or bad mojo, but most of these incidents seem loosely connected at best.

Faces of Death (1978) 25%

Just as The Blair Witch Project came along at the perfect time to take advantage of early internet, the legend of Faces of Death is largely a product of the early 1980s VHS boom. Before Blockbuster, video stores were small (often seedy) mom-and-pop stores, and Faces of Death was one of those creepy little oddities you’d find on one of the dust-covered shelves. Allegedly depicting “real” deaths, it served as a badge of honor for anyone who was actually able to get ahold of a copy and watch it. Although the film does contain some real footage – like newsreel clips from an accident where you can see paramedics cleaning up the remains of a cyclist who had been struck and killed by a truck – it was almost entirely faked by writer and director John Alan Schwartz. Yes, even the infamous scene where a table full of diners appear to kill a trapped monkey and then eat its brains.

If you don’t catch on immediately when you’re introduced to the movie’s “medical professional” host, “Francis B. Gross,” you’ll catch on during sequences like the “real” shark attack that somehow has footage from the shark’s POV as it eats a diver. Did it get a cinematography credit?

Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) 58%

The film version of the classic horror and sci-fi television series let four different directors adapt a classic episode: “Kick the Can” by Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark), “It’s a Good Life” by Joe Dante (Gremlins, Innerspace), “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” by George Miller (The Road Warrior, Mad Max: Fury Road), and “Time Out” by John Landis (Trading Places, Animal House). Although some claim the movie is cursed, it’s really just that there’s a sense of morbidity around it because veteran actor Vic Morrow (father of Jennifer Jason Leigh) and two young actors playing Vietnamese children were killed in an on-set accident during Landis’ segment when a helicopter that was part of a sequence recreating the Vietnam War crash-landed on them. None of the other directors experienced any bizarre or unexplained incidents, and all continued to have successful careers. But the tragedy hung a dark shadow over Landis and lends the movie a creepy, all-too-real feel.

Again, this was one horrible, tragic accident caused by director negligence. The rest of the film (and filmmakers) got on fine with no curse-related incidents.

Central Maine summer entertainment season on hold?

2020-04-19T22:26:00.000-07:00

Under normal circumstances, Mike Miclon would be busy this time of year.

This is when the artistic executive director of the Johnson Hall Performing Arts Center would be putting together the lineup for the free 10-week summer concert series in Gardiner’s Waterfront Park.

But with new coronavirus cases being reported daily across the state, it’s not clear that any kind of live summer entertainment will take place this year in central Maine.

On Tuesday, Gov. Janet Mills extended Maine’s state of civil emergency through May 15, which gives her the authority to continue using executive powers to extend restrictions on businesses and public gatherings to slow the spread of coronavirus, which causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

Public officials are starting to consider how those restrictions may be lifted, with no indication of when it would be safe to do so. And without that kind of determination, organizations planning summer entertainment are now in limbo.

On Thursday, the Gardiner Main Street board of directors canceled the Greater Gardiner Riverfest, which takes place the last weekend of June. It marks the start of the summer concert season in Gardiner.

“In those 10 concerts, we see about as many people as we see in 50 shows (at Johnson Hall),” Miclon said. “People are so thankful for it. It’s free; it’s good, and it’s a tradition now.”

While they are free to the public, they are not free to put on. Johnson Hall secures sponsorships to pay the performers and the costs of putting on the outdoor performances.

Miclon is not quite ready to write off the whole summer yet. He said he’ll make a decision in early June, rather than string out the process over weeks.

“I’m hopeful we’ll be able to do some,” Miclon said. “But even when the government or the state says, ‘All good!’ I think the post-traumatic stress will keep people from going out,” he said.

One option might be four concerts in August, he said, but it’s clear now it won’t be a full season.

“It’s a really scary time,” Julie Richard, executive director of the Maine Arts Commission, said.

While some performers may have the ability to try online performances, many organizations don’t have that same kind of option, she said.

“You can do some things online, but as far as major ticket sales or major gatherings, no,” Richard said. “From everything I’ve been hearing, this is really not going to be over until we a have vaccine of some kind or a treatment of some kind. And nobody wants to put a time frame on that.”

The impact of widespread closures is already being felt in the performing arts community.

Americans for the Arts, a national arts advocacy organization, has been gathering data about the impact of coronavirus via a national online survey for arts and cultural organizations. In Maine, as of April 7 — the most recent information available — 134 organizations have completed the survey. Of that number, 89% of organizations have canceled events, resulting in $708,225 in financial losses.

Some organizations across the region have already posted notices on their websites announcing the cancellation of upcoming shows and performances.

At the end of March, Waterville Creates! advised it was suspending public programming at the Waterville Opera House, Railroad Square Cinema and Common Street Arts.

“Because everything we do is designed to bring people together in celebration of creative expression, this decision has impacted every aspect of our organization — from programming and staffing to marketing and development,” the statement reads.

The majority of the organization’s staff was furloughed because of the cancellations of its programs and the loss of revenue that resulted. That’s expected to last until programming can be resumed.

On Thursday, Dawn McAndrews, the producing artistic director of the the Theater at Monmouth, Maine’s only professional summer repertory theater, said via email that the organization’s board and staff are weighing options for the summer.

“In the meantime,” McAndrews wrote, “we have paused ticket and subscription sales until we have updated recommendations from the CDC as well as guidance from state and federal governments. This pause allows us the most flexibility as we continue to monitor the evolving situation. Our greatest concern is the health and well-being of our patrons, staff, artists, and most importantly, our community.”

In South Paris, the Celebration Barn, which offers immersive physical theater training, has canceled its 2020 programming. That includes workshops, residencies and performances.

The Maine Arts Commission started its outreach efforts at the end of March, letting both individual artists and performers as well as organizations know what resources are available for them, including local and state artist relief funds.

Richard said the organization is working to fast track grants to help organizations that are dealing with shutdowns and the instant loss of income. It’s also offering webinars, teaching tools and organizational tips that can help people.

“We don’t have a crystal ball, and we don’t really know what’s going to happen,” she said.

Community Might Get a Movie After All

The hashtag #SixSeasonsandaMovie is now frequently used by fans of lots of different TV shows who hope for success for a given show, but it actually had its origins with NBC’s Community. That ensemble sitcom was cancelled after just five seasons before it eventually got its sixth season through the short-lived Yahoo! Screen streaming service, but there’s never been much movement about a movie. Things are looking up, however, for the future of Community. In addition to recently being added to Netflix, many Community creatives have gone on to great things (Dan Harmon and Rick and Morty, and Joe and Anthony Russo have directed some of Marvel’s biggest movies). Joel McHale (who, earlier this week, was the host of the Tiger King reunion special) was asked about the possibility of a Community movie, and his response was, “There’s way more rumblings than there used to be. Alison [Brie] tweeted that she got a phone call from Sony. They still haven’t called me; maybe Matthew Lillard will take over. But I would say there’s a better chance than there’s ever been.” It’s not yet known if the Community movie has been written yet, or who might direct, or who indeed from the cast would return for it.

STEPHEN KING’S VAMPIRE EPIC ‘SALEM’S LOT RESURRECTED AS MOVIE

Dozens and dozens of Stephen King novels and stories have been adapted as movies, especially from the first 20 years or so of his career. Yet, while this period is very well represented on film, two of his biggest novels from that time were only ever adapted as TV mini-series, not as movies. The Stand is currently in the works as a new mini-series for CBS All Access, and we can now confirm that ‘Salem’s Lot is also in the works as a movie. ‘Salem’s Lot (short for Jerusalem’s Lot, hence the apostrophe) was a vampire novel in 1975 that became a two-part CBS mini-series in 1979 starring David Soul and directed by Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Poltergeist). New Line Cinema has hired screenwriter Gary Dauberman to direct their adaptation of ‘Salem’s Lot from his own screenplay. Dauberman made his directorial debut last year with Annabelle Comes Home (Fresh at 65%), and as a screenwriter, he worked on films like Annabelle, The Nun, and both IT and IT: Chapter Two. Presumably, the next step we will hear about will be the casting of the human male lead and the Austrian vampire leader Barlow.

FIRST IMAGES FROM DENIS VILLENEUVE’S DUNE SURFACE ONLINE

With the movies originally scheduled for April, May, June, and most of July now being pushed back because of COVID-19, the marketing strategies for the movies scheduled for later in 2020 are also facing new challenges. Many of these movies will probably end up being pushed back to 2021, but one film that appears to be standing its ground is Warner Bros.’ new adaptation of (the first half of) Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel Dune. First adapted to film by David Lynch in 1984, Dune is a sweeping epic with dozens of characters, which lends itself well to having a huge star-driven ensemble cast, and that’s what the new Dune (12/18/2020) from director Denis Villeneuve (Arrival, Sicario, Blade Runner 2049) promises. Vanity Fair got the scoop on the first cast images, which include our first glimpses in character (in order) of Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Oscar Isaac, and Jason Momoa, among others.

JENNIFER LOPEZ TO STAR IN ANOTHER TRUE CRIME STORY AS THE GODMOTHER

Sometimes movie stars who do biopics bear a striking resemblance to the real life personalities they portray, and sometimes they don’t. Let’s start this story with this mugshot of Colombian drug lord Griselda Blanco Restrepo from 1997 when she was 54, so you can quickly see where we’re going with this, because Jennifer Lopez is now attached to star in The Godmother, the biopic about the life of Griselda Blanco. The film is being produced by STXfilms, the same company behind Lopez’ recent hit, Hustlers (also based upon a true crime story), and it will be directed by Reed Morano (I Think We’re Alone Now, The Rhythm Section, TV’s The Handmaid’s Tale) from a screenplay by William Monahan (The Departed, Kingdom of Heaven).

LEONARDO DICAPRIO OFFERING WALK-ON ROLE IN MARTIN SCORSESE’S NEXT FOR CHARITY

Martin Scorsese’s next film as director, the serial killer true story Killers of the Flower Moon, is currently experiencing some issues with its budget, which is rumored to be in the $200 million range. Paramount is possibly getting nervous, and both Apple and Netflix are being seen as streaming options. While all that continues to get figured out, the film’s stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro are now partnering with an organization called the All-In Challenge to raise money for charities like Feeding America, Meals on Wheels, No Kid Hungry, and World Central Kitchen. Donors will be entered for a chance at both a walk-on role in Killers of the Flower Moon, as well as a trip to the film’s eventual world premiere.

JAMES GUNN CLAIMS NO DELAYS FOR THE SUICIDE SQUAD AND GOTG 3

The current COVID-19 pandemic is causing so many films to be delayed and events to be cancelled that there is a strong argument to be made that the only real news these days is when something is not delayed or cancelled. That’s exactly why we’re drawing your attention this week to this update from director James Gunn, who said that there is “no reason” for his next two films to be delayed in any way. Those films are, of course, The Suicide Squad (8/16/2021) and his return to Marvel with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Of course, there is some irony in Gunn saying that the release date for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 won’t be delayed since there isn’t currently a release date for the film in the first place.

THE GREEN HORNET AND KATO TO REBOOT CLASSIC CHARACTER

There is a long tradition in comics of heroes having the word “green” in their name. The two big screen adaptations we’ve gotten of said heroes (both in 2011, by the way), Green Lantern and The Green Hornet, they were both critical and box office disappointments. (One has to wonder if this is the reason that when the Green Arrow debuted on The CW a year later, it was just called Arrow.) Sony Pictures was the studio behind The Green Hornet, but this week, Universal stepped in instead to acquire the film rights to a reboot project they are now calling The Green Hornet and Kato, ostensibly to focus on the martial arts aspects of the Green Hornet’s sidekick (who literally can do side kicks). As a new project, The Green Hornet and Kato will not feature Seth Rogen or Jay Chou, and it will likely not share that film’s comedic elements, either. The producers also prominently mentioned the Green Hornet’s car, the Black Beauty, so it’s possible the movie might have a lot of “automobile action” as well.

HELLRAISER REBOOT GETS NEW PRODUCTION COMPANY

It’s worth noting that enough time has now passed that we’re over a decade past the reboots of horror franchises like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) and Friday the 13th (2009), and A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) turns 10 this year. Heck, Halloween was rebooted, then given a sequel, and then the franchise got started all over again in 2018 (with two more coming). While all that has been going on, another popular franchise that has been quietly awaiting its own reboot is Hellraiser. That said, we may finally get the Hellraiser remake that promises to reboot the whole franchise with the news this week that Hellraiser is now being developed by Spyglass Media, the company behind the 2011 remake of Footloose. For their Hellraiser reboot, Spyglass has hired director David Bruckner, who recently premiered his film The Night House at Sundance in January. No specifics about Bruckner’s plans for Hellraiser were given, except that his approach was described as “loyal, yet evolved.”

Coronavirus live updates: Europe crosses 100,000 deaths as some U.S. cities protest to end lockdowns

2020-04-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Europe surpassed 100,000 coronavirus deaths across the continent on Sunday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally. Italy continues to hold the highest European death toll, followed by Spain, France and the United Kingdom.

Meantime, in the United States, governors across the country criticized President Donald Trump's expression of solidarity with those protesting various state-issued stay-at-home orders, saying his comments are "dangerous" and "don't make any sense."

Shake Shack to return $10 million in small-business loan money

Shake Shack founder Danny Meyer and CEO Randy Garutti announced just before midnight Sunday that the company had been able to access additional capital needed "to ensure our long term stability" and would return the $10 million it was granted through the CARES Act.John Locher / AP

Shake Shack, one of several large restaurant chains that secured federal loans through the coronavirus stimulus law meant to help small businesses, said Sunday night that it is giving all $10 million back.

The New York-based hipster-favorite burger company is among more than a dozen companies with revenues in the hundreds of millions that are reported to have received money from the Paycheck Protection Program, or PPP, which set aside $349 billion in the stimulus law called the CARES Act to help small businesses keep their workers on the payroll.

Less than two weeks after it started, the program has already run out of money.

In a statement Sunday night on LinkedIn, Danny Meyer, Shake Shack's founder and CEO of its parent company, CEO Union Square Hospitality Group, and Randy Garutti, Shake Shack's CEO, said they had no idea the money would dry up so quickly, and after they were able to secure separate funding last week, "we've decided to immediately return the entire $10 million" so restaurants that "need it most can get it now."

The federal agency that oversees nursing homes announced new transparency measures Sunday requiring the disclosure of coronavirus cases to patients' families and public health officials.

Speaking at a White House briefing, Seema Verma, administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, called the new policies "important" and said they will support a nationwide effort to track the virus and slow its spread.

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"As we reopen the United States, our surveillance effort around the virus will begin in nursing homes," Verma said.

It wasn't clear when the new reporting system would take effect. In a memo Sunday, the agency said it would be put into place "very soon."

One of the new policies instructs nursing homes to report cases directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention so the federal government can start collecting data on COVID-19 cases and deaths in nursing homes.

A second measure tells the homes to "inform residents, their families and representatives of COVID-19 cases in their facilities," the agency said.

The two policy changes come in the wake of reporting by NBC News that families with loved ones in nursing homes complain that they are "in the dark" about COVID-19 cases in long-term care facilities. The homes have also faced criticism from Democratic lawmakers and public health experts who have said the federal government should have been tracking COVID-19 cases from the beginning of the outbreak.

Las Vegas Strip could reopen next month with extensive safety measures, Wynn Resorts CEO says

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said Sunday that the Las Vegas Strip could reopen late next month with extensive safety measures in place, including thermal cameras and social distancing requirements at the company’s hotels.

In a report published on the company’s website, Maddox said parts of the state’s economy could reopen earlier in May with reduced occupancy, mask requirements, temperature checks and a ban on large gatherings.

If virus-related benchmarks like increased testing capacity are met, he said, the Las Vegas Strip could potentially reopen in mid to late May.

“I understand that if we incrementally reopen, we might have to pull back if a spike in cases occurs that jeopardizes our healthcare system capacity,” he said. “However, the only way to cross this river is one stone at a time.”
David Bowie bassist Matthew Seligman dies of virus complications at 64

Matthew Seligman, who played bass for David Bowie, died of coronavirus complications on Friday. He was 64.

His longtime friend and fellow musician Thomas Dolby shared details about Seligman's death in a Facebook post, saying he suffered a severe hemorrhagic stroke on Friday. He had also been in an induced coma for two weeks after testing positive for coronavirus in St. George's University Hospital in London.

Dolby posted a photo of Seligman with lyrics from his song "I Love You Goodbye."

Seligman joined Bowie during his 1985 Live Aid performance and played bass on the soundtrack for his 1986 film "Labyrinth." He was also a member of the '70s rock band the Soft Boys.

Reese Loggins, a 10-year-old boy from High Point, North Carolina, who's battling leukemia at Duke University Hospital, looked outside his window and found a surprise birthday gift hanging in mid-air.

Because of visiting restrictions and social distancing guidelines, his parents wanted to make the day extra special for Reese. It was the second birthday he would spend in the hospital.

“It’s been really tough,” said his mother, Michelle Loggins. “The closer his birthday got, the more he was talking about biking, how much he misses biking around.”

The morning of Reese's birthday last Wednesday, construction crews used a crane to lift a bicycle gift up to his fifth-floor window, sang "Happy Birthday" and displayed a banner atop a nearby building that read, "Happy 10th Birthday Reese.” Then nurses and other staff entered Reese’s room and sang "Happy birthday."

Coronavirus cases in Peru top 15,000, second highest in Latin America

LIMA — Peru reported over 15,000 cases of coronavirus Sunday, the second-highest tally in Latin America, as the disease continues to ravage the economy of the world's No. 2 copper producer.

The crisis has paralyzed Peru and left millions without jobs. The central bank has said the economy had been "severely affected" temporarily by simultaneous supply and demand shocks.

Peru recorded its first coronavirus case on March 6 and took 25 days to reach 1,000 cases. It took only 14 more days to reach 10,000 cases on April 14, according to a Reuters tally. Peru has reported a total of 15,628 cases and 400 deaths, the health ministry said.

In Latin America, only Brazil has more cases.

Broadway star Nick Cordero has leg amputated

Tony Award-nominated actor Nick Cordero has had his his right leg amputated after suffering complications from the coronavirus, his wife says.

Amanda Kloots on Instagram wrote late Saturday that Cordero “made it out of surgery alive and is headed to his room to rest and recover.”

Cordero had been treated with blood thinners to help with clotting in his leg, but his doctors had to stop the treatment because it was causing internal bleeding.

Kloots on Sunday posted an Instagram promising that the couple "WILL dance again."

As U.S. surpasses 700,000 confirmed cases, conservatives protest coronavirus restrictions

2020-04-18T22:20:00.002-07:00

Conservative groups across the United States organized protests to local restrictions this weekend, even as the country surpassed 700,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Saturday. The demonstrations, which have bubbled up in Maryland, Utah, Texas, California, Arizona, Washington and Colorado, come as several governors have taken steps to gradually reopen their states and ease restrictions — some of which kicked in this weekend.

Meanwhile, President Trump made inaccurate claims about the United States’ coronavirus testing in comparison to other countries during Saturday’s White House briefing, where he also complained at length about media coverage and criticism of his administration.

Here are some significant developments:

There are now more than 2.3 million cases of coronavirus worldwide, with over 160,000 deaths. Nearly 39,000 people have died in the U.S. from the virus.
Aerial snapshots of people flocking to a reopened beach in Jacksonville, Fla., made waves on the Internet on Saturday, spurring #FloridaMorons to trend on Twitter.
Vice President Pence traveled to Colorado on Saturday to address the graduating class of the Air Force Academy, where cadets sat eight feet apart on the parade field known as the Terrazzo, in front of the academy’s famed chapel. No guests were allowed.
Deaths in Spain surpassed 20,000, while a spike in cases pushes Japan’s emergency medical system to the brink.
A federal judge in Kansas temporarily blocked the state from limiting the number of people at religious gatherings to 10 people after two churches filed a lawsuit this week arguing that the governor’s policy violates their religious freedom, paving the way for in-person church services Sunday.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is a rising star for Democrats and a target for Republicans

On Friday afternoon, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) sat at a table draped in black.

With a sign language interpreter behind her, she delivered a sober update on the coronavirus outbreak in her state, urging residents to stay off the roads and away from gas pumps.

Then she sounded a note of optimism. “This is a moment in time,” she said. “It is not the rest of our lives. This is a moment in time.”

Songs, praise, and no mention of Trump: Global Citizen’s virtual concert celebrates front-line pandemic workers

A star-studded assembly of musicians, health experts and global leaders came together Saturday night for a virtual charity concert to support the World Health Organization’s coronavirus relief efforts, singing inspirational songs and broadcasting their support for front-line pandemic workers from their homes.

Organized by Lady Gaga and the advocacy group Global Citizen, “One World: Together At Home” was a marked contrast to the combative news conferences and citizen protests that dominated the news all week. Performers praised medical workers and food employees for putting their lives on the line. They promoted social distancing and urged unity in a time of crisis. Nobody mentioned President Trump.

“What I’d like to do tonight, if I can, is just give you permission to, for a moment, smile,” Lady Gaga told viewers before launching into a rendition of “Smile,” the jazz standard popularized by Nat King Cole.

The event drew millions of viewers from around the world and helped raise money for the WHO. The Trump administration recently suspended funding to the organization, arguing that the agency is unwilling to hold China accountable for its missteps in the pandemic.

There were intimate performances from a bevy of pop stars, including the Rolling Stones, Billie Eilish, Kacey Musgraves and John Legend, who delivered a poignant cover of “Stand By Me.”

Former first ladies Laura Bush and Michelle Obama made an appearance, calling on people to remain resilient during the crisis.

“During this difficult period of physical separation, we’ve never been closer,” Bush said. “Not just in our great country, but tonight we stand with the people in the world.”

Amid the messages of hope and optimism, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter paused to note how black Americans, who make up a large part of the essential workforce, have been disproportionately affected by covid-19.

“This virus is killing black people at an alarmingly high rate here in America,” she said.

“Please protect yourselves. We are one family,” Beyoncé added. “And we need your voices, your abilities and your strength all over this world.”

Protest planned to reopen Maryland draws caravan of vehicles to downtown Annapolis

A caravan of cars, trucks and motorcycles swarmed the streets of Annapolis on Saturday, demanding an end to coronavirus-related restrictions in Maryland, while a group of the state’s Republican politicians encouraged Gov. Larry Hogan (R) to reopen the rural areas they represent first, even if the harder-hit urban centers need to remain shut down to prevent the spread of the virus.

The protest and the push from politicians come as groups around the nation have become more vocal in recent days about prodding state governors to reopen for business. At the same time, the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus continues to increase.

The region recorded 73 additional deaths as of Saturday morning, and the number of fatalities is now nearing 900. The number of infections has surpassed 23,000.

Pence delivers Air Force Academy commencement address to cadets sitting 8 feet apart

Vice President Pence on Saturday addressed the Air Force Academy’s Class of 2020, speaking solemnly about the coronavirus pandemic at a significantly scaled-back ceremony.

“We gather at a time of national crisis,” Pence told the 984 senior cadets before him on the academy’s parade field, called the terrazzo, with each of them sitting eight feet apart.

“America is being tested,” Pence said. “While there are signs that we are making progress in slowing the spread, as we stand here today, more than 700,000 Americans have contracted the coronavirus and, tragically, more than 37,000” have died.

A Ketogenic Diet for Beginners: The #1 Keto Guide

2020-04-06T11:40:00.003-07:00

A keto or ketogenic diet is a low-carb, moderate protein, higher-fat diet that can help you burn fat more effectively. It has many benefits for weight loss, health, and performance, as shown in over 50 studies.

That’s why it’s recommended by so many doctors.

A keto diet can be especially useful for losing excess body fat without hunger and for improving type 2 diabetes.

Here, you’ll learn how to eat a keto diet based on real foods. Get started with our visual guides, recipes, meal plans, and simple 2-week Get Started program. It’s everything you need to succeed on keto.

What is a keto diet?

The keto diet is a very low-carb and higher-fat diet. It’s similar in many ways to other low-carb diets.

While you eat far fewer carbohydrates on a keto diet, you maintain moderate levels of protein intake and may increase your intake of fat. The reduction in carb intake puts your body in a metabolic state called ketosis, where fat, from your diet and from your body, is burned for energy.

You can quickly learn more about the basic ideas behind the keto diet in this video course:

The “keto” in a ketogenic diet comes from the fact that it allows the body to produce small fuel molecules called “ketones.” This is an alternative fuel source for the body, used when blood sugar (glucose) is in short supply.

When you eat very few carbs or very few calories, the liver produces ketones from fat. These ketones then serve as a fuel source throughout the body, especially for the brain.

The brain is a hungry organ that consumes lots of energy every day, and it can’t run on fat directly. It can only run on glucose – or ketones.

On a ketogenic diet, your entire body switches its fuel supply to run mostly on fat, burning fat 24-7. When insulin levels become very low, fat burning can increase dramatically. It becomes easier to access your fat stores to burn them off. This is great if you’re trying to lose weight, but there can also be other, less obvious benefits, such as less hunger and a steady supply of energy (without the sugar peaks and valleys we can get from high carb meals). This may help keep you alert and focused.

When the body produces ketones, it enters a metabolic state called ketosis. The fastest way to get there is by fasting – not eating anything – but nobody can consistently fast forever.

A keto diet, on the other hand, also results in ketosis and can be eaten indefinitely. It has many of the benefits of fasting – including weight loss – without having to fast long-term.

What’s the most important thing to do to reach ketosis? Avoid eating too many carbs. You’ll likely need to keep carb intake under 50 grams per day of net carbs, ideally below 20 grams. The fewer carbs, the more effective it appears to be for reaching ketosis, losing weight, or improving type 2 diabetes.

Counting carbs can be helpful at first. But if you stick to our recommended foods and recipes you can stay keto even without counting.

You should also avoid low-fat diet products. A keto diet should be moderately high in protein and will probably be higher in fat, since fat provides the energy that you are no longer getting from carbohydrate. Low-fat products usually provide too many carbs and not enough fuel from protein and fat.

What can you drink on a ketogenic diet? Water is the perfect drink, and coffee or tea are fine too. Ideally, use no sweeteners, especially sugar. A splash of milk or cream in your coffee or tea is OK, but beware that the carbs can add up if you drink multiple cups in a day (and definitely avoid caffe lattes!). The occasional glass of wine is fine too.

How low carb is a keto diet?

The fewer carbs you eat, the more effective it seems to be for weight loss, appetite suppression, type 2 diabetes, and more. A keto diet is a very strict low-carb diet, containing less than 20 grams of net carbs per day, and tends to be highly effective.

Keto benefits: Why eat a keto diet

The benefits of a ketogenic diet are similar to those of other low-carb and higher-fat diets, but it appears to be more powerful than liberal low-carb diets. Think of keto as a super-charged, low-carb diet, maximizing the benefits. However, it may also increase the risk of side effects a bit.

Keto and weight loss

Turning your body into a fat-burning machine can be beneficial for weight loss. Fat burning is significantly increased, while insulin – the fat-storing hormone – levels drop greatly. This appears to make it far easier for body fat loss to occur, without hunger.

More than 30 high-quality scientific studies show that, compared to other diets, low-carb and keto diets result in more effective weight loss.

How the Keto Diet Works

The ketogenic diet is a high fat, moderate protein, low carbohydrate eating pattern, which differs from general, healthful eating recommendations. Many nutrient-rich foods are sources of carbohydrates, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains, milk and yogurt. On a keto diet, carbs from all sources are severely restricted. With the goal of keeping carbs below 50 grams per day, keto dieters often consume no breads, grains or cereals. And, even fruits and vegetables are limited because they, too, contain carbs. For most people, the keto diet requires making big shifts in how they usually eat.

Why does the Keto diet restrict carbs?

Carbs are the main source of energy for our body. Without enough carbs for energy, the body breaks down fat into ketones. The ketones then become the primary source of fuel for the body. Ketones provide energy for the heart, kidneys and other muscles. The body also uses ketones as an alternative energy source for the brain. Hence, the name for this eating pattern.

For our bodies, a ketogenic diet is actually a partial fast. During a total fast or starvation state, the body has no source of energy. Thus, it breaks down lean muscle mass for fuel. With the keto diet, the ketones provide an alternative source of energy. Unlike a full fast, the keto diet helps to maintain lean muscle mass.

Plus, there are both short-term and long-term health risks for all people associated with the keto diet. Short term health risks include flu-like symptoms. For example, upset stomach, headache, fatigue and dizzy spells. This is called the “keto flu.” Some people also report trouble sleeping. Cutting back on high-fiber vegetables, fruits and whole grains also can increase risk for constipation. Often keto dieters must take a fiber supplement to help stay regular, but this should be discussed with a health care provider.

Long term health risks of the keto diet include kidney stones, liver disease and deficiencies of vitamins and minerals. To limit carbs, many nutrient-rich vegetables and fruits are cut out. Thus, intakes of vitamin A, C, K and folate usually are low.

The high fat nature of the keto diet is very controversial. A considerable body of research has shown that diets high in saturated fat may increase the risk for heart disease and other chronic health problems. The risk that keto dieters might be taking with regards to their long-term cardiovascular health has not been fully studied.

What the Science Tell Us About the Keto Diet

The keto diet has been used to help manage epilepsy, a disorder characterized by seizures, for more than 100 years. More recent studies are evaluating the keto diet as an alternative dietary treatment for obesity and diabetes. Research findings on the benefits of the keto diet for these health conditions are extremely limited. Studies on effectiveness of the keto diet were conducted with small groups of people. And, most of the research about Alzheimer’s disease relies on research done on lab animals. To fully assess the safety of this eating pattern, more research is needed. Plus, studies must be done on the long-term health effects of the keto diet.

Body mass index and individual metabolic rates impact how quickly different individuals produce ketones. This means that on the keto diet, some people lose weight more slowly than others — even if they are following the same exact keto diet plan. For this group of people, the keto diet can be frustrating and may impact their motivation for making healthy dietary changes. Plus, many people are not able to stick with the keto diet and gain back the weight after returning to their previous pattern of eating.

The ketogenic diet is quite restrictive. Research supports this eating pattern for epilepsy when managed along with a health care team, since its treatment can be very complex. However, with regards to the keto diet as a tool for weight loss and other health benefits, the jury is still out.

What Is the Keto Diet and Does It Work?

A recent survey of registered dietitians named the low-carbohydrate keto diet yet again as the most popular diet in the United States. Powering this diet is fat, and loads of it — all the way up to a hefty 90 percent of one’s daily calories.

Its fans (and marketers) feed social media with before and after photos, crediting the diet for life-altering weight loss or other effects. They swirl butter into their coffee, load up on cheese and eat lonely burgers without their bestie: the bun. Staples like whole grains, legumes, fruit and starchy vegetables are being largely pushed off the plate as devotees strive for ketosis — when the body begins to burn fat instead of glucose as its primary energy source.

“America is in a state of carbophobia,” said Whitney Linsenmeyer, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The diet is hailed for dropping pounds, burning more calories, reducing hunger, managing diabetes, treating drug resistant epilepsy, improving blood pressure and lowering cholesterol, as well as triglycerides, the major storage form of fat in the body. People have reported improved concentration, too. “We see pretty dramatic benefits,” said Dr. William Yancy, director of the Duke Diet and Fitness Center.

First, a word: Choosing an eating plan or an approach to eating is very personal. Everyone’s body, tastes and background are unique. The best approach to food intake is one in which you are healthy and nurtured and which matches your social and cultural preference. If you want guidance, it’s recommended you consult with a registered dietitian.

What is the ketogenic diet?

A “typical” ketogenic diet consists of at least 70 percent of calories derived from fat, less than 10 percent from carbs and less than 20 percent from protein. The ketogenic diet, long used to treat epilepsy in children, calls for 90 percent of daily calories to come from fat, with the amount of protein or carbs varying as long as it’s 4 grams of fat for every combined 1 gram of carb and protein, according to the American Epilepsy Society. That can mean chowing down on a lot of cheese, butter, eggs, nuts, salmon, bacon, olive oil and non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, greens and spinach. For the arithmetic-challenged, apps and online programs can do the math for you. (No matter what, the keto diet is vastly different than the USDA dietary recommendations of 45 to 65 percent of one’s total calories to be carbohydrates, 20 to 35 percent from fat and 10 to 35 percent from protein.)

The goal of the ketogenic diet is to enter a state of ketosis through fat metabolism. In a ketogenic state, the body uses primarily fat for energy instead of carbohydrates; with low levels of carbohydrate, fats can be converted into ketones to fuel the body.

For ketosis, a typical adult must stay below 20 to 50 grams of net carbohydrates — measured as total carbs minus fiber — each day. Crossing that threshold is easy: a thick slice of bread adds 21 carbohydrates, a medium apple 25 and a cup of milk 12. “It’s very restrictive,” said Carla Prado, an associate professor and director of the University of Alberta’s Human Nutrition Research Unit. It’s not just bread and soda that are on the outs but high-sugar fruit and starchy veggies like potatoes, as well as too much protein. Also, dieters have to be on high alert for hidden carbs, often invisible to the eye, yet coating that seemingly keto-friendly fried cheese.

Can I lose weight on the keto diet?

Yes. Certainly in the short-term, it appears that way. For the first two to six months, there’s evidence that a very low-carbohydrate diet can help you lose more weight than the standard high-carbohydrate, low-fat diet, according to a new literature review of low-carb diets by the National Lipid Association.

“By 12 months, that advantage is essentially gone,” said Carol F. Kirkpatrick, director of Idaho State University’s Wellness Center, and lead author of the new literature review.

After that, weight loss seems to equalize between those two popular diet regimens. She said keto was best used to kick-start a diet, before transitioning to a carb intake that you can adhere to for the longer term.

How long does it take to see results on the keto diet?

For some, it’s the promised land of diets. Instead of cringing through carrot sticks, they can fill up guilt-free on chorizo with scrambled eggs. Indeed, some evidence suggests that people feel less hungry while in ketosis, and have fewer cravings.

“That’s why it’s become so popular for the general population,” said Dr. Mackenzie C. Cervenka, medical director of Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Adult Epilepsy Diet Center. “Because once you are in ketosis, it’s easy to follow.” Usually, it takes between one to four days to enter the state, doctors say, but it depends on many factors like activity level: a runner, for example, may sprint there faster than a couch potato.

The keto diet appears to deliver fast results: The first pounds may seem to slip off. That can be seductive but it’s likely water weight. Then, dietitians say, it’s back to energy in minus energy out. You can absolutely gain weight on any diet if you’re consuming 5,000 calories a day, according to Dr. Linsenmeyer, who is also director of Saint Louis University’s Didactic Program in Dietetics.

“It’s not like it is going to magically alter your metabolism to where calories don’t matter anymore,” she said. And when resuming the carbs, that water weight returns.

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PUBG's New Unicorn Bikes Are Incredibly Dangerous

2020-04-03T11:11:00.002-07:00

PUBG's week-long April Fools event has given players the option of playing in a fantasy RPG alternate reality, but it's still a dangerous place to be.

April Fools' Day 2020 brought a big change to the landscape of PlayerUnknown's BATTLEGROUNDS, and one new vehicle in particular has been proven to be extra deadly for unsuspecting players. Video game companies are no strangers to pulling elaborate April Fools' Day jokes, whether it's Rockstar Games adding snow to Red Dead Redemption 2 and Grand Theft Auto V or companies like Capcom turning all of their popular Street Fighter characters into cats, but this year PUBG players were treated so something even bigger.

For April Fools' Day 2020, PUBG fans were able to experience a vastly different type of battle royale, one which was slightly less militaristic and far more mystical. For a limited time, PUBG is offering players the chance to play in a fantasy version of the game, complete with item and vehicle re-skins and RPG-like crafting systems. However, it appears like one of those new vehicles is far deadlier than it's innocent theme suggests.

As posted to Reddit by user u/DropDeddBlue, it doesn't look like it takes much for one of PUBG's unicorn motorcycles explode, evidenced by the video embedded below. After simply landing wrong and doing a few midair spins (nothing out of the ordinary, as proficient PUBG motorcycle enthusiasts already know) suddenly the bike bursts into flames and explodes, killing half of the player's crew. Check it out:

With players now being given the ability to use new magic and melee items, PUBG's unicorn bikes may not be most deadly new addition to the battle royale game, but the actual level of deadliness provided from a few simple spins is still surprising. Players will want to take note of the above video if they get on one of PUBG's new motorcycles in the future, lest they risk end up suffering the same fate.

However, it's worth noting that this April Fools' Day event, while fun and lighthearted, isn't exactly what players have been asking for when it comes to new PUBG updates. Specifically, players have been asking for an in-depth developer message describing how the company will move forward against PUBG cheaters in the future, and many have voiced concerns that time spent developing this mode could have probably been better spent fulfilling requests fans have been making for months. The company has promised their message on anti-cheat is coming soon, and in the meantime players still have a few days left if they want to dive into a fantasy version of PUBG... just don't crash into a unicorn.

PUBG’s Team Deathmatch Mode Offers A Much-Needed Training Ground For Newcomers

The new Team Deathmatch mode can lower the entry barriers for PUBG and help the game attract new players by offering them a training ground.

The recent Team Deathmatch mode for PUBG could be the salvation the game needs in 2020. The mode was added last week, and the player response has been overwhelmingly positive. It’s not something completely new for the IP, though. The free-to-play portion of the game, called PUBG Lite, was treated with a similar, but distinctly different Team Deathmatch variant at the end of the last year.

The scale of the mode was smaller, while the maps were completely original and created specifically for that matter. Still, it was a nice addition to the game, and it’s surprising that it took the developers so long to introduce Team Deathmatch to the major PUBG client. According to SteamCharts, the game saw the highest player count in almost two months on February 19, the day when the mode was released. It didn’t affect the steady decline drastically, but the long-term impact might help the game avoid losing its player base. And most importantly, Team Deathmatch can effectively attract new players who are currently being turned down by the complexity of the game.

'Contagion' advisor on film similarities to coronavirus, blasts those not following guidelines: 'People need to wake up'

2020-04-01T12:12:00.001-07:00

For weeks now, viewers have responded to the growing coronavirus pandemic by revisiting Steven Soderbergh's 2011 thriller Contagion, which tracks an eerily similar respiratory disease originating from bats in China that wreaks havoc across the globe. The film has become so popular that its distributor, Warner Bros., recently announced that Contagion currently ranks as their second-most streamed property, following only the massively popular Harry Potter series. In the wake of its second life, the film's cast members, bold-faced names like Matt Damon and Kate Winslet, were even recruited to record COVID-19-relatetd PSAs.

It's jarring to watch (or re-watch) the film now — terrifying in its reality-based relevance and seemingly prescient nature, especially in imagining a worst-case scenario for our current outbreak. It's also slightly comforting, if only that the coronavirus isn't as horrific, fast-acting and deadly as MEV-1, the virus conceptualized by Dr. Ian Lipkin, who last week revealed to Lou Dobbs that he himself has tested positive for COVID-19.

Another scientific advisor on Contagion, Tracey MacNamara, tells Yahoo Entertainment that the film was a warning shot that should not be ignored.

"There are many people who have been sounding the alarm for many, many years about the threat of emerging infectious diseases, almost all of which have been zoonotic [transmitted from animals to humans]," said MacNamara, former chief pathologist at the Bronx Zoo who played a pivotal role in investigating 1999's West Nile virus outbreak and is currently a professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Western University in California. "Up until now, we have dodged the bullet. We haven't really been impacted by these pandemic changes. That has changed."

Contagion, MacNamara says, "showed how quickly the virus can spread, we're seeing that now. They showed you how a virus can spread, from the Chinese cook to Kate Winslet [who plays a CDC scientist who becomes infected]."

Soderberg and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns recruited advisors like MacNamara and Lipkin because they "wanted to create a film that was very much based in science," the professor says. They discussed plausibility, what would or wouldn't happen in real life. MacNamara helped nix an early idea that the film's virus would originate in race horses, since the animals could be vaccinated. "And I think that's why the movie rings so true," she says.

MacNamara, who is now involved in efforts to combat the coronavirus, didn't parse words when it came to her frustration over Spring Breakers and other Americans ignoring warnings not to attend large gatherings and to practice in social distancing, a term that may feel new in 2020, but was used by Laurence Fishburne's CDC officer in Contagion.

"People need to wake up. This is a time where the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," she says. "I'll be more blunt: Stop being so stupid and selfish, because your behavior is going to kill people."

Over 3 million Americans delinquent on child support could lose stimulus checks

2020-04-01T12:10:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON — An estimated 3.3 million Americans with overdue child support debt could lose cash payments of up to $1,200 in the new coronavirus stimulus package, which penalizes delinquent parents.

About 5.8 million custodial parents were owed child support but just 2.5 million received it in full in 2015, according to a comprehensive Census survey that was re-released this year and provides the best available data, which experts say is unlikely to have change much.

That leaves 3.3 million who are overdue. Not all will qualify for money — income thresholds max out at $99,000 for an individual or $198,000 for a married couple — but many who are otherwise eligible and might be desperate for cash will see their payments intercepted.

Many will lose the money entirely. Non-custodial payments overdue on child support owe an average of $21,000, according to a December 2019 government report.

Owing back taxes or student loan debt won't be a problem for those seeking stimulus checks, but past due child support will be penalized as long as the information is properly reported by states to the Treasury Department. Once the payment is intercepted, the department is tasked with facilitating the transfer of the money to the entitled custodial parent.

Under a federal program, state child support agencies share information with the Treasury Department on who is behind on obligations so the agency can snatch the money from income tax rebates or other payments.

The U.S. government also tries to force child support payments in other ways, such as denying passports to delinquent parents who owe more than $2,500.

Ryan Ellis, a lobbyist and expert on tax policy, said the 3.3 million figure of those who are delinquent probably hasn't changed much since the Census survey, which reflects the best available data on the matter.

"Large social indicators like this change over time, but not quickly," he said. "A data study from a few years ago is a pretty reliable snapshot of where the numbers are today."

Florida governor issues stay-at-home order after weeks of resistance

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday issued a stay-at-home order for the entire state as it grapples with a rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak.

The order goes into effect Thursday at midnight and will last for at least 30 days, DeSantis said at a briefing on Wednesday. DeSantis said at Wednesday's briefing that the order would limit movement within the state. Unless residents are pursuing “essential" services or activities they should stay indoors, he said.

DeSantis had been previously criticized for refusing to implement statewide social distancing guidelines, particularly as beach-goers and students on spring break continued to gather in large groups. DeSantis refused to close the state's beaches even as other states were shutting down schools and nonessential businesses.

Florida has the fifth most cases of any state in the U.S. reporting nearly 7,000 coronavirus cases and 87 deaths, according to the state health department. When the state surpassed 5,000 cases, DeSantis continued to balk at a stay-at-home order. Other states that crossed that threshold, such as California, New York and Washington, issued sweeping mandates.

Related: Stay-at-home orders across the country: What each state is doing — or not doing — amid widespread coronavirus lockdowns

The governor had previously said it was up to the local officials to close nonessential businesses and beaches, saying earlier this month "no matter what you do you’re going to have a class of folks who are going to do whatever the hell they want to."

DeSantis had also dismissed concerns about frolicking beach-goers.

"These are our neighbors who may need to go out there, clear their head," DeSantis said at a March press conference after the sight of sunbathers soaking up rays caused widespread criticism. "Because a lot of people are on edge now."

But, on Wednesday, as the state's cases continue to rise, the governor said "it makes sense to do this now" after President Donald Trump announced earlier in the week that the administration is extending its social distancing guidelines another 30 days. DeSantis, a Republican and Trump ally, said he took that as a "signal" from the president that this need to be done in the state.

DeSantis had previously said he would issue the order if the administration made the recommendation. Trump said at Tuesday's coronavirus taskforce briefing that DeSantis "knows exactly what he’s doing" when asked about the governor's hesitance.

DeSantis "has a very strong view on it," Trump said. "So unless we see something obviously wrong, we're going to let the governors do it."

The order also comes after the president on Tuesday projected a grim 100,000 to 240,000 deaths in the U.S., even with strict mitigation efforts.

DeSantis has been under fire from local media and officials throughout Florida for resisting taking sweeping measures.

"Coronavirus is killing us in Florida," read the headline of a Miami Herald editorial last month that blasted DeSantis' response. "Act like you give a damn." The Herald noted that DeSantis did not join a bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers in appealing to the federal government for more help.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, criticized the Florida governor's response as "much too slow" in an interview conducted on Tuesday. Biden also warned that Florida would "become an increasingly dangerous place" unless the state adopted stricter guidelines.

Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who has been critical of DeSantis, praised his decision in a statement Wednesday.

"When I called for this stay-at-home order nearly two weeks ago, there was a reason. It was necessary to flatten the curve and save lives," she said. "I said then I would stand with the Governor when he issued the order, and I do so now. Thank you, Governor, for making the right call. Together, we will fight this virus and preserve the state we love."

Who Are the Voters Behind Trump's Higher Approval Rating?

Justin Penn, a Pittsburgh voter who calls himself politically independent, favored Joe Biden in a matchup with President Donald Trump until recently. But the president’s performance during the coronavirus outbreak has Penn reconsidering.

“I think he’s handled it pretty well,” he said of the president, whose daily White House appearances Penn catches on Facebook after returning from his job as a bank security guard. “I think he’s tried to keep people calm,” he said. “I know some people don’t think he’s taking it seriously, but I think he’s doing the best with the information he had.”

Although Penn, 40, said he did not vote for Trump, his opinion of the president has improved recently and he very well might back him for a second term.

Across the country, the coronavirus has sickened more than 150,000 people, cost millions their jobs and tanked the stock market. Yet the president’s approval ratings are as high as they have ever been, despite what most agree to be his slow performance dealing with the crisis, as well as his record of falsehoods about the virus, his propensity to push ideas and treatments that contradict expert advice, and his habit of lashing out at governors on the front lines.

While public perceptions are fluid in a crisis, a notable twist in polling at this point is that independents are driving Trump’s bump in approval, and some increased Democratic support is a factor as well. Gallup called that “highly unusual for Trump” in reporting its latest survey, which was released last week and showed Trump’s approval rating at 49%, equal to the best of his presidency.

While Republicans’ views of Trump were flat — a sign they had already topped out — approval by independents rose by 8 percentage points from early March, while Democratic approval was up by 6 percentage points.

Polling experts said that it was normal for the country to rally around a president during a national crisis, and that Trump’s dominance of the airwaves alone was enough to sway a slice of voters who don’t normally tune in to politics.

“There are people who haven’t even heard Trump that much, while the rest of us have been obsessed,” said Matt Grossmann, director of the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research at Michigan State University. “Those people are paying attention and seeing Trump a lot.”

Every modern president has seen their approval surge after significant national crises, although those bumps have diminished in size in recent administrations, as the country’s politics became more polarized. President Barack Obama gained just 7 points after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. The rally-round-the-flag effect is also often fleeting. President Jimmy Carter’s approval nearly doubled in 1979 when Iran seized American hostages, but as the crisis dragged on for more than a year, Carter’s approval plummeted and he lost reelection.

Interviews with about two dozen independent and Democratic voters, most of whom said they “somewhat disapproved” of Trump in a poll last year by The New York Times and Siena College, showed that some now expressed more positive views of him. Their numbers were small, consistent with what pollsters say is by historical standards a modest bump in approval for a commander-in-chief during an emergency.

Kathleen Mathien, an independent in Maricopa County, Arizona, said that she did not vote for Trump, but that her opinion of him had risen during his White House appearances to talk about the virus.

“He’s not one to be bullied,” she said, adding that she also saw flashes of empathy, a trait many critics find lacking in Trump.

Mathien, 64, a designer of cabinetry, explained that she doesn’t closely follow politics and finds it difficult to get a true understanding of candidates beyond the “smoke and mirrors” they project. “It’s so hard sometimes to vote if you don’t know who the real person is,” she said. Undecided as of now, she said Trump has a chance to win her vote.

Last week, a Monmouth University poll showed the president’s overall approval at 46%, an improvement driven in part by higher Democratic support. Patrick Murray, director of the university’s Polling Institute, called the shift by some Democrats “microscopic in polling terms.”

“Any other president and we would expect those job ratings to swing by more than 10 points because of the situation,” Murray said.

Trump’s ratings lag far behind many of the nation’s governors, who have seen a sharp increase in their approval ratings as they rush to contain the virus. Unlike Trump’s, their approval ratings do not show the same level of partisan divide.

More than 7 in 10 voters in states with a significant number of coronavirus cases gave their governor a positive review in the Monmouth survey. Even in states with the fewest reported cases, 61% of Americans said their governor was doing a good job.

Still, small shifts in Trump’s approval could make a difference in a close-fought general election. A Washington Post/ABC poll this past weekend showed Trump improving on a 7-point deficit against Biden a month ago to reach a near tie with the former vice president, 49% to 47%.

“President Trump has broken through the narrow range of 42 to 46% approval where he’s been for the last two years and indeed for much of his presidency,” said Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster. “It’s an open question whether those people who are changing now would actually vote in a different way in November. Some of the independents may. I doubt that many of the Democrats will.”

Anna Greenberg, a Democratic pollster, said, “I would be a little careful in whether it translates into something permanent,” adding, “The challenge for Trump is that he’s inconsistent.”

Disney Extends Closures For Disneyland, Walt Disney World Parks; Will Pay Workers Through Mid-April

2020-03-29T23:21:00.000-07:00

Disney is extending the shutdown of its U.S. theme parks in Anaheim and Orlando, saying Friday that Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice. It also said it would “extend paying hourly parks and resorts cast members through April 18.”

“While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains The Walt Disney Company’s top priority,” the company said in a statement, adding that it is following in line with direction “provided by health experts and government officials.”

Disney previously shuttered Disneyland and California Adventure in Anaheim, Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando and Disneyland Paris Resort on March 14 as the COVID-19 pandemic worsened. At the time, the closures were through the end of March, meaning the parks would have re-opened Wednesday.

The move to keep the parks closed indefinitely comes after NBCUniversal on Tuesday said it was extending the closures of its Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal Orlando Resort and their respective CityWalks, with a target reopen date of April 19.

Here’s Disney’s full statement today:

While there is still much uncertainty with respect to the impacts of COVID-19, the safety and well-being of our guests and employees remains The Walt Disney Company’s top priority.

As a result of this unprecedented pandemic and in line with direction provided by health experts and government officials, Disneyland Resort and Walt Disney World Resort will remain closed until further notice.

The Walt Disney Company has been paying its cast members since the closure of the parks, and in light of this ongoing and increasingly complex crisis, we have made the decision to extend paying hourly parks and resorts cast members through April 18.

CBS To Air Garth Brooks And Trisha Yearwood Isolation Concert Special

With most of the nation sheltering in place because of the coronavirus outbreak, CBS said today it will air an isolation concert special featuring Garth Brooks and wife Trisha Yearwood on Wednesday, April 1.

The primetime special titled Garth & Trisha: Live! will feature the award-winning artists performing live from their home recording studio known as Studio G.

“We’re seeing how big things can be when we all do them as one. In addition to the special, we and CBS will donate $1 million to charities to be determined, combating the COVID-19 virus,” said Brooks and Yearwood in a joint statement.

“With Garth and Trisha coupled with the power of broadcast television, anything can happen, making this an event not to be missed,” added Jack Sussman, CBS’ executive vice president of specials, music and live events.

CBS describes the special as “an intimate concert for viewers looking for the comfort and shared joy of music during this difficult time.” It is produced by Horse of Troy Productions, Inc. The network says the special will involve a minimal crew practicing social distancing and will be filmed with extensive safety precautions in place.

Coronavirus: All the Celebrities Who Have Tested Positive for COVID-19

Looks like Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande were right to caution their fans about the coronavirus pandemic: Everyone who is able to stay home amid the spread of the COVID-19 virus should do so. Not even your favorite celebrities are immune. Since Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson confirmed their diagnoses in Australia, the question became a matter of when other famous faces would come down with the virus next, not if. Even Heidi Klum, who says she could not get a hold of a test, revealed she’d been experiencing symptoms.

Here’s every celebrity who’s said they tested positive for coronavirus:

Idris Elba

“This morning I tested positive for Covid 19,” he captioned a video on Twitter on Monday, March 16. “I feel ok, I have no symptoms so far but have been isolated since I found out about my possible exposure to the virus. Stay home people and be pragmatic. I will keep you updated on how I’m doing 👊🏾👊🏾 No panic.”

Sabrina Dhowre

On March 21, Elba’s wife, Sabrina Dhowre, revealed she also tested positive for COVID-19.

“As soon as I heard that Idris was potentially exposed, I was on my way anyway and I wanted to be with him. I think that’s an instinct as a wife; you just want to go and take care,” Dhowre told Oprah Winfrey for Oprah Talks COVID-19 on Apple TV+. “We didn’t change the way we interacted. I could have made a decision to put myself in a separate room or maybe stay away, and I’m sure people are making those decisions; they’re tough decisions to make. But I made the decision to want to be with him and still touch him.”

Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson

Hanks first shared the news on Instagram that he and his wife tested positive for coronavirus last week. “We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too,” Hanks wrote in his initial post. “To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.”

The couple—who sign each post with “Hanx”—have been keeping us updated every step of the way.

According to new photos from March 27, Hanks and Wilson have returned to L.A., looking happy and well.

Olga Kurylenko

The Quantum of Solace actor revealed she has tested positive in an Instagram post on Sunday, March 16. “Locked up at home after having tested positive for Coronavirus. I’ve actually been ill for almost a week now. Fever and fatigue are my main symptoms. Take care of yourself and do take this seriously,” she wrote in the caption.
Sophie Grégoire Trudeau
Chris Jackson

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s office reported last week that the P.M.’s wife, Sophie, has tested positive for COVID-19. “She is feeling well, is taking all the recommended precautions and her symptoms remain mild,” Trudeau’s office said in a statement. Justin Trudeau is currently taking doctors’ advice by undergoing 14 days of isolation.

Rudy Gobert

NBA player Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz tweeted last week that he had tested positive for COVID-19. In his original post, he apologized for touching every microphone and recorder in front of him at a media event earlier this month as a joke.

He has since shared his progress on the official NBA Twitter account, saying he is feeling “a little better every day.”

Donovan Mitchell

Gobert’s Utah Jazz teammate Donovan Mitchell has also tested positive. In an interview with Good Morning America on Monday, Mitchell said he is “asymptomatic.”

“I could walk down the street. If it wasn’t public knowledge that I was sick, you wouldn’t know it,” he added. “I think that’s the scariest part about the virus—you may seem fine, be fine, and you never know who you may be talking to, who they’re going home to.”
Callum Hudson-Odoi

The Chelsea soccer team player tested positive for COVID-19 last week. “As you may be aware I had the virus for the last couple of days, which I have recovered from,” he said in a video posted on Twitter on Friday, March 13.

“Thank you for all your good wishes,” he wrote in the Tweet. “As I said in the video I’m feeling good and hope to see you all soon!!”

Kristofer Hivju

Kristofer Hivju, known for playing Tormund Giantsbane on HBO’s Game of Thrones, revealed on Instagram that he’s tested positive for COVID-19 and will be self-isolating at home “for as long as it takes.”

“[My family and I] are in good health,” he wrote in the post’s caption. “I only have mild symptoms of a cold. There are people at higher risk for who this virus might be a devastating diagnosis, so I urge all of you to be extremely careful; wash your hands, keep 1,5 meters distance from others, go in quarantine; just do everything you can to stop the virus from spreading. Together we can fight this virus and avert a crisis at our hospitals. Please take care of each other, keep your distance, and stay healthy!”

Rachel Matthews, who voiced the character of Honeymaren in Frozen 2, announced on her Instagram Stories that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and has been in quarantine for the past week. “Unsure of what the next step is (been getting mixed info so will keep you posted) but obviously will remain in quarantine until told to do otherwise,” she wrote. “I’m feeling better, but I will be posting some info that I hope will be helpful to some. Please feel free to reach out and ask me any questions.”

She continued, “I really would love to help in any way I can. Again, let’s please be mindful of our decisions—now is the time to be smart and responsible. Let’s take care of one another!!”

Here’s the Deal With Chris Harrison‘s ‘Bachelor’-Worthy Dating History

2020-03-28T01:06:00.005-07:00

Rammstein Says Hospitalized Singer Has Tested Negative for Coronavirus

2020-03-28T01:02:00.001-07:00

Countering reports in the German newspaper Bild that Till Lindemann, lead singer for the industrial-metal band Rammstein, has been diagnosed with coronavirus, the band posted on Facebook Friday that he actually tested negative for the disease.

“Yesterday evening Till Lindemann was admitted to a hospital on the band’s doctor’s advice,” says the statement on the group’s page. “He spent the night in intensive care but has been moved as he is feeling better. Till has tested negative for the coronavirus.”

The German publication reported that he had been in critical condition with pneumonia in the intensive care unit of a Berlin hospital, but updated its story to say that Lindemann “is currently feeling better and his life is no longer in danger.”

The newspaper has not updated its story since the band took to social media to deny the coronavirus diagnosis, which was widely picked up by media around the world.

Rammstein formed in 1994 in Berlin and released its debut album the following year, with a lineup that has remained intact since then. The group’s most recent album for Universal Music, and first in a decade, titled simply “Rammstein,” came out in 2019 and was the bestselling album of the year in the band’s home country. The album peaked at No. 9 in the United States.

Inside the Chinese dating apps exploiting the loneliness of India’s men

2020-03-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

“Find a girlfriend in a week,” said the ad. Raju Ansari, a shopkeeper in Delhi, was on Facebook to beat nighttime loneliness when that promise popped up on his timeline. The smartphone app’s logo flashed a heart, half blue and half red. Love was in the very name of the app being advertised: L’amour.

Ansari was hooked. The download button on his phone took him to Google’s Play Store, where L’amour appeared to be heavily recommended, with a 4.2+ rating, 10 million-plus downloads and sixth position among the “top grossing” apps.

The promise kept building. When he opened the app, he was greeted by photographs of women so attractive, he would have been thrilled to hear from any one of them. To his wild surprise, he heard from several. Their messages began pouring in the moment he signed up, each one more flirtatious than the last.

“I have never chatted with anyone on a dating app before.”

“Are you the one I am looking for?”

“Say something.”

He tried to respond, but the app informed him that he first needed to buy a subscription for Rs199—which he did right away. As a paid member of L’amour, he was now able to respond to messages, but he noticed, strangely, he was no longer getting as many as before. He was, however, now flooded with audio and video calls from women.

“Ayesha very interested, and she wants to talk to you.”

“Mia is calling, don’t miss out on her.”

“Ipshita is inviting you to a video call.”

He couldn’t answer any of them, even though his subscription was supposed to “unlock chat restrictions” and “unlock voice and video calls.” Now, he says, he was being told by the app that to receive a call on L’amour, he would have to pay more.

For another Rs350, he could buy 1,599 diamonds, the app’s internal currency, and start video chatting.

Now wary, he looked up reviews of L’amour. The internet is filled with them, most of them containing the word “fake.”

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Why Interracial and Interethnic Dating Is The Best

2020-03-13T11:18:00.002-07:00

It's been about 53 years since Loving v. Virginia allowed interracial and interethnic relationships to be out and open without the fear of being imprisoned (or attacked) simply because the person you love is different from you. The percentage of interracial married couples rose from 7.4 to 10.2 in 2016 and that number will likely continue to rise. Just ask the royals. With the concept of identity being more diversified in 2020, it's important to know what the words interracial and interethnic really mean. Race essentially means a grouping of people that have similar genetic traits and interracial means a joining of people from two opposite races. Ethnicity, usually encompasses a shared culture which can contain music, art and traditions. When someone from two different ethnic cultures join in a union, it's called an interethnic relationship.

As a cisgendered hispanic man from Puerto Rico, my experiences dating have always contained components from interracial or interethnic spaces. Even dating a fellow Puerto Rican can have ethnic differences depending where they or myself come from. Dating into different races and ethnicities has always been something I believe in not only for personal growth, but to help break down stereotypes and associations out there. Here are the reasons why interracial and interethnic dating are the best. Besides, who wants to date someone that looks like them?!

You Learn How To Be More Empathetic

Often times, we don't have the concepts of race or culture at the top of our thoughts and it's easy to forget what privileges we navigate the world with. When you're dating someone from a different race, you're able to see the difference in privileges in real-time and can have a better understanding. Instead of reading about someone who has experienced a form of racism on the news, when it happens to our partner, it hits home and can help us empathize on a whole new level. It lessens our own individual fragilities and lets us look at the world through our partners eyes. It won't make you understand what your partner goes through on a daily basis as if you were living in their shoes, but it will help you understand and (hopefully) learn to be more sensitive.

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Barb Was Right! Bachelor Peter Weber and Madison Prewett Are Done Dating After Two Days

2020-03-13T11:15:00.001-07:00

The news comes after Peter's mom was vilified for saying the relationship wouldn't last, and his brother continued to rail on Madison on social media.

It's been almost as eventful a post-"Bachelor" week than that ridiculous two-night, four-hour season finale that saw Peter Weber show just how wishy-washy he can be, and his mother Barb become the breakout star -- albeit villain -- of the season.

It turns out the woman, who said live on national television that all of Peter's friends and family knew a relationship wouldn't work with his "final girl" choice, Madison Prewett, was right. Barb took a lot of heat for saying this relationship wouldn't last before, but it ended quicker than anyone would have guessed.

Just two days after the explosive finale that saw Peter propose to Hannah Ann Sluss and then break up with her because he couldn't "give his whole heart" to her -- because he was still hung up on both former "Bachelorette" Hannah Brown and Madison -- and then have Chris Harrison fly Madison out for "After the Rose" where the two fought with Peter's family and decided to take it one day at a time.

One day. Two days. That's all she wrote.

Well, not really. Actually, Madison had plenty to write on Thursday night as she (hopefully) brought this whole messy, messy saga to an end. Seriously, we need all of these people to just go away and stay away. Except for Hannah Ann. Her, we like.

"I have learned the importance of acceptance, forgiveness, and grace," Madison said of her time affiliated with "The Bachelor" franchise. "As Peter and I have decided to go our separate ways, I am confident that we will both move in the direction of our purpose and never forget that God has a plan in all things."

"I will always love and respect him," she continued, referring to Peter. "I am convinced our paths were meant to cross and we are both better because they did."

Peter also posted a statement via his Instagram page, where he said that he "learned so many lessons" from the women who were a part of his season.

Speaking directly to Madison, he wrote, "Thank you for your patience and unconditional love. You’re the epitome of a woman who carries herself with grace, stands by what she believes in, and loves whole heartedly. That love is something I feel so grateful to have felt and will take a piece of that with me always going forward."

Peter then shared some words for the woman he jilted so bad, Hannah Ann, telling her he takes full responsibility for the failings in their short engagement and telling her, "you set an example for women everywhere a couple nights ago. You are such a strong, confident woman and you deserve all the love in the world."

The breakup comes after Peter's brother, continued to rail against Madison on social media following the finale.

"This is reality TV," one of his followers wrote, defending him from criticism. "They portray everyone and everything how they want for views and drama. Everyone needs to hop off and get a grip. If you think this is exactly how it went down then you need a reality check." He responded to that comment writing, "Dude facts. Half these people don't even have the slightest clue as to how far Madi is from what the TV shows."

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The coronavirus epidemic has made dating even more complicated

2020-03-13T11:08:00.000-07:00

Sajmun Sachdev, a 36-year-old single woman in Montreal, was messaging with a promising match from the dating app Hinge. The guy had two desirable traits: a six pack and a job. And he’d asked her out — the only guy to do so in months. But one thing was worrying her: He had joked that he didn’t know if his headaches were from a concussion he got in China recently or a symptom of covid-19, the illness caused by the new coronavirus.

Excuse me. Did you say you’ve been in China recently?!

Conveniently, he canceled their date, claiming he was too busy and hasn’t tried to reschedule. Sachdev was relieved. “I’m not sure that this is totally worth it,” Sachdev recalled thinking, in a phone interview last week. “There must be someone else I can meet.”

Now, coronavirus fears have further complicated this hotbed of flakiness. Dating apps are serving up reminders to wash your hands; profiles and first messages are full of coronavirus references; one dating coach suggested ways to avoid touching during that initial greeting. For many, the fear of the coronavirus is real. But in dating, it’s hard to know when people are using it as yet another reason to discard one another before they’ve even met.

“I don’t think anyone really wants to rush meeting in person, given everything,” says Meghan Lloyd, a 28-year-old woman in San Francisco who’s been in a few suspiciously drawn-out conversations, without being asked out. “We’re just chatting longer than is usual.” She’s also hesitant to meet up, asking herself: “Do I like this guy enough to risk catching coronavirus?”

Being well-traveled, like Sachdev’s match, is usually something singles brag about in their dating-app profiles, noting how many countries or continents they’ve visited, or suggesting that you help plan their next trip. Now Hinge profiles say things such as: We should match if you haven’t been to Italy. Comedian Nicole Byer, who hosts the “Why Won’t You Date Me?” podcast, tweeted that she’d been talking to a man on Tinder who unmatched her after she said she’d been traveling.

Other daters use the prospect of self-quarantine as a chance to get sequestered with someone. “Let’s meet before the Coronavirus gets really bad” says one Hinge profile, where the dater touted himself as “fully stocked” with Purell and items from Trader Joe’s.

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How can the keto diet affect cholesterol? Safety and risks

2019-09-12T08:18:00.001-07:00

People who follow the ketogenic, or keto, diet eat high amounts of fat, moderate amounts of protein, and minimal amounts of carbohydrates. Some evidence suggests that following this diet can affect cholesterol levels.

Specifically, the keto diet's daily allowances for fat, protein, and carbohydrates are as follows:

fat: 55–60% of the day's total macronutrients
protein: 30–35%
carbohydrates: 5–10%

Some studies suggest that the keto diet can lower levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL), or "good," cholesterol but raise levels of low density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. For this reason, the keto diet may not be appropriate for everyone.

For example, healthcare professionals may advise that people with high cholesterol do not follow the keto diet.

In this article, learn more about the keto diet and its effects on cholesterol. We also describe safety considerations.

What does the research say?

a woman about to eat nuts as part of her keto diet to lower cholesterol
Eating a keto diet may affect cholesterol levels.

An older study in the Annals of Internal Medicine divided participants into a keto diet group and a low fat diet group.

Throughout the study, people in both groups lost more fat mass than fat free mass. Their LDL cholesterol levels did not change, however.

Those in the keto diet group lost more weight, had more significant reductions in triglyceride levels, and had higher HDL cholesterol levels. HDL levels tend to rise when people replace carbohydrates with saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats.

It is important to note that the researchers only followed the participants for 6 months. As a result, it is not clear whether or how their cholesterol levels changed later on.

The authors mention that in previous studies, researchers have found conflicting results.

For example, they refer to one study in which participants who had followed the keto diet for 2 months experienced an average rise in LDL cholesterol levels of 0.62 millimoles per liter (mmol/L). Another study showed a decrease of 0.26 mmol/L in LDL cholesterol levels after 6 months.

A further study monitored people who had followed either the keto diet or a low fat diet for 1 year.

This was a follow-up study to a previous project. The results of the earlier study had suggested that the keto diet leads to more weight loss and healthier cholesterol levels in people with obesity after 6 months.

The researchers note that after 1 year, participants following the keto diet still had lower triglyceride levels and higher HDL cholesterol levels than those following the low fat diet. They also found that people in both groups lost the same amount of weight, on average.

However, given that all the participants in these studies had obesity, the results may not apply to people without it.

More recent research has continued to arrive at conflicting results. Research from 2016 observed a rise in LDL cholesterol and a decrease in HDL cholesterol linked with the keto diet.

A paper from 2018 reports the opposite, suggesting that the keto diet could raise HDL cholesterol levels.
Risks of the keto diet

A person on a keto diet may experience headaches, weakness, and muscle cramps.

Some people following the keto diet may experience:

    weakness
    headaches
    constipation
    muscle cramps
    blood pressure changes
    the keto flu

The keto flu is a collection of minor, short term symptoms that some people experience when they start the keto diet. These symptoms include:

    nausea
    vomiting
    headache
    fatigue
    dizziness
    sleeplessness
    difficulty tolerating exercise
    constipation

Safety considerations

Several studies have suggested that the keto diet can affect cholesterol levels.

When people consume low amounts of carbohydrates, the liver produces fewer triglycerides, which may be involved in raising HDL cholesterol levels.

However, the keto diet may raise LDL cholesterol levels in some people. As a result, the diet may not be appropriate for everyone.

It may not be suitable, for example, for people with fat induced lipemia. This condition leads to very high levels of fat in the blood.

If a person with fat induced lipemia follows the keto diet, their triglyceride levels may continue to rise, which may result in pancreatitis. Generally, people with lipemia must follow a low fat diet.

People who want to lose weight should speak with a doctor to identify a suitable diet.

When considering recommending the keto diet, doctors must weigh the risks with the potential benefits, which can include rapid weight loss, reduced triglyceride levels, and increased HDL cholesterol levels.

The Ketogenic Diet Is Getting Its Own Podcast Thanks to SlimFast

2019-09-11T11:59:00.001-07:00

Listen up! Hollywood’s favorite wellness trend is getting its own podcast.

“KetOMG!,” brought to you by SlimFast Keto, breaks down the ins and outs of the ketogenic diet and answers your burning questions about the diet that Hollywood celebrities are crazy about.
The main source of energy in the low-carb, high-fat food plan is fat — approximately 75 percent of your calories come from fat while the rest come from protein and carbohydrates. Subsequently, this will make you feeling fuller longer.

Experts also weigh in on the keto diet and lay out all the facts you need to know — like how intermittent fasting goes hand in hand with the food plan.

Vanessa Hudgens attends Harper’s Bazaar celebrates the 6th Annual ‘ICONS BY CARINE ROITFELD’ as part of Spring Summer 2020 New York Fashion Week on September 6, 2019 in New York City. Kristina Bumphrey/StarPix/Shutterstock

And that’s not all: The podcast will get you cooking up a storm in the kitchen. Three simple meal ideas will be given to help you stay focused throughout the week.

Not convinced yet? Celebs like Brooke Burke, Kourtney Kardashian and Vanessa Hudgens swear by the popular diet.

To learn more about the ketogenic diet and the podcast, listen to all six episodes of “KetOMG!,”launching September 13 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, iHeartRadio and Stitcher.

Ketogenic diet criticised by medical experts

2019-09-03T22:48:00.000-07:00

What is the keto diet?

The ketogenic diet has surged in popularity following a recent trend towards low-carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins and Paleo diets. A keto diet encourages its followers to forgo nearly all carbohydrates - no pasta, no fries, no pizza! - and avoid excess protein.

The result? A very high-fat diet. The drastic reduction of carbohydrate intake, relying predominantly on calories from fat, puts the body into a metabolic state called ketosis.

Ketosis supposedly makes the body more efficient at burning fat for energy - hence, keto's claim to fame as a weight-loss wonder was born.

The diet is said to have gained traction after the "failure" of popular low-fat diets "to curb the obesity epidemic and its associated increase in type 2 diabetes," says the report.

Examples of keto staples include shellfish and fish, nuts, meat and poultry, eggs, cheese, coconut oil, avocado, spinach and broccoli.
Is the keto diet effective for weight loss?

Despite the hype and plethora of success stories, the answer is far from 'yes'.

A meta-analysis of 32 controlled-feeding studies found that fat loss and energy expenditure were actually greater with low-fat diets instead of keto diets. Researchers also found keto to be associated with less than a kilogram of additional weight loss over low-fat, high-carb diets.

"This difference may not be clinically significant," says the report.

Furthermore, the foundation of successful weight loss is expending more energy than consumed to create a caloric deficit. This is the basic fact of weight loss, and proves true regardless of the individual's diet.

"Any diet that results in weight loss does so because it reduces calorie intake. The ketogenic diet, when used for weight loss, is no different," says the report.
Is the keto diet effective in treating type 2 diabetes?

One well-publicised study says yes, the keto diet is beneficial for those with type 2 diabetes - unfortunately, there is a 'but' coming.

The report says to treat these findings with caution - the group was self-selected, and "received intensive technological and behavioural support not offered to the control group". This indicates that the popular study may not have been a fair test.

"A meta-analysis of randomized long-term studies comparing the ketogenic diet with low-fat diets for weight loss reported no difference in glycemic control among persons with type 2 diabetes.

The Keto Diet May Not Be for Everybody, but Noom Is Right for You

2019-09-03T22:00:00.003-07:00

The ketogenic diet, more commonly known as the keto diet, is one of the most popular diets in the world — but while so many people have tried it as a means to hit their health goals, not everyone has found success with it. Keto is a low-carb, high-fat diet that allows only 20 to 50 grams of carbs per day into our meals, as opposed to the average 225 to 325 grams. This low-carb intake leads the body to create ketones to use as fuel, burning fat and shedding weight instead of maintaining it. Is this really a realistic method?

A big problem with keto is that it tends to be unsustainable. For many, it isn’t a realistic lifestyle change that will have any sort of permanence. Having such a strict diet that involves constant meal planning, prepping and calculating is overwhelming to the point that it can take over your life and your mental wellness. This is especially the case for vegetarians and vegans, since keto revolves heavily around meat. It also may mean that the second we decide to give keto a break, all of our progress will be almost immediately lost.

While keto’s goal is to get us healthy, it can actually sometimes do the opposite. Side effects can include blood chemistry imbalances, dehydration, crankiness, constipation, dizziness, nausea, fatigue and bad breath. That’s because not everyone is going to thrive off the same exact type of diet. We need something specifically customized for our own body, mind and lifestyle — and that something is Noom.

Noom is an app-driven diet program that sets us up with a personalized plan made just for us, because not everyone fits into the “average” — and that’s not a bad thing at all! Everyone and every body is unique, which is why every plan on Noom is unique too. To get started, new users just have to take a 30-second evaluation, answering simple questions about our measurements, lifestyle and goal. We’ll then be given a date for when we can expect to reach our goal, motivating us even further to get started.

Millennial And Gen-X Travelers: Need Another Measles Shot?

2019-09-03T09:47:00.002-07:00

Destination: Bulgaria. It's a small country in Eastern Europe, often overlooked by American tourists. But my husband's father grew up in Bulgaria, so it's long been on our travel list.

It's also on the list of countries with recent measles outbreaks. Bulgaria has had almost 800 cases this year, according to the World Health Organization.

In California, where I live, four of the five outbreaks that occurred this year were linked to international travel. Most of those travelers were infected in the Philippines or Ukraine, which have been experiencing severe outbreaks, and 37% of cases overall were imported from Europe. New measles infections continue to be reported, with California at 67 cases as of Aug. 28.

The measles virus is highly contagious. If someone who is sick visits a popular tourist site and coughs, or rides the subway and sneezes, the virus can live in the air for two hours after they leave. If people who lack immunity and are unvaccinated pass through the same space, 90% of them will get sick.

That's why the travel nurse at my health center wants to check on my vaccination status before I leave for Bulgaria. This is routine for Gen Xers and millennials born in the '70s and '80s, because when the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine (MMR) was first introduced in 1971, scientists recommended just one dose. But, over the years, they noticed some kids still got measles. It wasn't until 1989 that public health officials changed the guidelines to two doses.

But a lot of people who are now in their 30s and 40s, like me, aren't sure if they ever got the second dose.

So my travel nurse recommends I go to the lab to get a blood test to check my immunity. It's a basic test that looks for antibodies to measles, and should come back positive or negative — yes or no.

But my results come back "borderline." In other words, maybe I'm immune, but maybe I'm not.

"The blood test is imperfect," says Dr. Art Reingold, a professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Berkeley. "If you have antibodies, then we're pretty certain you're immune. But if you don't have antibodies you may still be immune, but your antibodies are not detectable by the test."

So it's possible I got a false negative. There's just no way to know for sure.

"I know a lot of people who would say that's a good reason not to do testing," Reingold says with a laugh. "Because you get these results. You don't know how to interpret them. People worry."

So now what? My doctor suggests getting another dose of measles vaccine. It's safe. But when I look into it, it turns out, there are some possible side effects listed in adults that don't occur in babies: Some studies have found that 25% of women and teenage girls get "acute arthritis" one to three weeks after getting the vaccine.

That would be right in the middle of my trip, right when my husband and I are due to arrive at Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

I imagined lying on the beach, meditating on the rolling waves — wracked with joint pain.

"That would suck," I tell my husband, as we talk it through.

"Yeah," he replies. "But wouldn't it be more of a bummer to get measles?"