James Frey's Blog

from The Free Press

It is not the road to serfdom that awaits—but the steep downward slope to the status of a peasant in ancient Egypt.

By Niall Ferguson

“WHAT RAY BRADBURY FAILED TO ANTICIPATE IS THAT HIS NATIVE AMERICA—AND INDEED THE WESTERN WORLD—MIGHT TURN AWAY FROM LITERACY VOLUNTARILY,” WRITES NIALL FERGUSON. (BFA VIA ALAMY)

He wanted above all . . . to shove a marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeon-winged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned dark with burning.” —Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451

It’s hard not to be impressed by Ray Bradbury’s prescience.

[ click to continue reading at The Free Press ]

from Deadline

By Ted Johnson

C-SPAN‘s Ceasefire, the new series designed for civil conversations among partisan opposites, is landing at a moment when there is a real ceasefire, a first phase of a peace agreement reached to end hostilities in Gaza, while there are few signs of an end to the political discord at home amid the government shutdown.

The show is one of the major initiatives from Sam Feist, the longtime CNN executive who once oversaw a highly successful series, Crossfire, that, by its very title, sounds like the polar opposite.

The intent of Ceasefire, Feist said, is to show that “Republicans and Democrats can have a civil conversation. We don’t have to hate each other because we have a friend or family member who voted differently. That is at the heart of the show.”

He added, “Conflict is not the goal. It is just the opposite. Conversation is the goal, and if there is the opportunity for compromise, great.”

[ click to read full article at Deadline ]

from CBR

By  Katrina Yang

Timothy Olyphant is most known for playing two TV lawmen in addition to starring as Cobb Vanth in the Star Wars series The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. The actor also took part in Alien: Earth by lending his voice. As prolific as Olyphant is, a few movies are bound to be overlooked. The star played a father figure in a 2011 sci-fi flick, in which he was tasked to protect and guide one of the last remaining Lorien, who escaped their home planet to Earth. Based on the No.1 New York Times bestseller of the same name, I Am Number Four tells an angsty coming-of-age story.

The movie follows an alien named John Smith as he becomes attached to life on Earth while trying to figure out his own destiny. Budding romance meets bigger-than-life problems and emerging friendships; the movie has all the right markings to start a successful YA movie franchise. However, it didn’t receive the level of attention required to launch a franchise when it was released.

I Am Number Four didn’t seem like the kind of movie that would secure a cult status in 2011, but over the years, fans kept coming back, asking for a sequel. In fact, the movie has all the markings to start a successful YA sci-fi franchise. Alex Pettyfer’s John Smith (Number Four) is an alien on the run, having lived among humans for most of his life and having to run from those hunting him and his kind. The film revolves around the experience of being an outsider, different from everyone else. As a hunted alien, John Smith wasn’t allowed to be fully integrated into a community. He struggled with growing powers and a deeper desire for connection. I Am Number Four is a film that can easily resonate with young audiences today. Not to mention, the movie perfectly sets up a sequel. Unlike humans, who can fall in love multiple times in life, a Lorien mates for life. While on the run, John Smith falls in love with Sarah, a local photographer in Paradise, Ohio, and has no choice but to stay to face the threats. Teaming up with an unexpected ally, Number Six, John Smith is on the verge of discovering the true extent of his power. Teaming up with his new friend Sam, a shape-shifting dog, and another legacy like him, the team is on a mission to locate other legacies to defend the last bloodline.

[ click to read full article at CBR ]

from Page Six

By Carlos Greer

The “Wednesday” star had a crowd at a sexy Brooklyn event, including Austin Butler and various “voyeurs, submissives on chains, daddies in leather and sex workers,” cackling out loud at an erotic “fart-filled” poem by James Joyce. 

Buscemi stepped to the podium at Laura Desiree’s Eros Unbound night at the Red Pavillion in Bushwick, and, after thunderous applause, read one of Joyce’s love letters to his “dirty little f–kbird,” a.k.a., “my sweet little whorish Nora.”

The onlookers were “a true mix of actors, writers, voyeurs, submissives on chains, daddies in leather and sex workers,” according to our source. 

We’re told Butler arrived solo and hung out in a banquette with Buscemi’s girlfriend, Karen Ho, the entire night. Author James Frey, who has also participated in the naughty event, was among the sold-out crowd and was seated near Ho and Butler.

[ click to continue reading at Page Six ]

from Deadline

By Jake Kanter

Ridley Scott, a filmmaker not known for pulling his punches, has issued a withering assessment on the health of Hollywood output right now.

The Gladiator and Blade Runner director argued that the industry is “drowning in mediocrity.” So much so, Scott revealed that he has taken to re-watching his old films.

Scott made the comments during an interview reflecting on his career at BFI Southbank in London on Sunday. Metro and Yahoo! were among those reporting the Oscar-nominated director’s remarks.

“The quantity of movies that are made today, literally globally – millions. Not thousands, millions… and most of it is s**t,” he said. Scott added that films are too often “saved” by digital effects because they haven’t got a “great thing on paper first.”

[ click to continue reading at Deadline ]

from Consequence

The 42-year-old German drummer has been prolific both as a recording artist and instructor

by Jon Hadusek

Anika Nilles has been announced as RUSH’s drummer for their upcoming reunion tour, which will mark the band’s first shows in 11 years, and first concerts since the passing of the legendary Neil Peart in 2020.

Rather than tap a well-known name to fill Peart’s shoes, RUSH opted for a relative unknown in Nilles, a 42-year-old German virtuoso who comes from a family of drummers. Add it to the long list of major bands touring with new people behind the kit.

The RUSH gig is undoubtedly her most notable professional drumming endeavor to date, following a stint in Jeff Beck’s live band for his European tour in 2022.

Meanwhile, Nilles has been a prolific YouTuber since the early 2010s, garnering millions of plays on her content, which includes clinical instructional videos, as well as her own original music with her backing band Nevell. She has released two full-length albums, Pikalar (2017) and For a Colorful Soul (2020), appearing on the cover of Modern Drummer in June 2017 to promote the former.

[ click to continue reading at Consequence ]

from The Sunday Times

A book by two French authors that challenges a longstanding academic consensus is being published in Britain next week

by Ben Spencer, Science Editor

Science and religion have never been easy bedfellows. As Thomas Jefferson put it in 1820, priests “dread the advance of science as witches do the approach of daylight”. Five centuries of scientific breakthroughs — from Galileo to Darwin to Crick and Watson — have eroded our belief in the divine. 

But now, according to a new book, a “great reversal” is under way. Science, its authors argue over 580 pages, has come full circle and “forcefully put the question of the existence of a creator God back on the table”.

In a striking challenge to the academic consensus, two French authors, Michel-Yves Bolloré and Olivier Bonnassies, argue that the latest scientific theories lead to only one logical conclusion: an all-powerful deity created the universe and all life within it.

[ click to continue reading at The Times ]

from RealClearScience

By Ross Pomeroy

It’s a common refrain: the world is more stressful, and humans are more stressed, than ever before. Commentators implicate a variety of causes: political instability, economic uncertainty, social media, inequality, declining religion, and splintering family dynamics.

And this isn’t just armchair pathologizing. Based on the Negative Experience Index from their World Poll, analytics firm Gallup in 2022 declared the “World Unhappier, More Stressed Out Than Ever.”

Ever? Can this possibly be true? Over the two-decade life of the World Poll, sure. But the human race has endured world wars, famine, and plague in the past thousand years. Tens of thousands of years prior, humans scraped out an existence as nomadic hunter-gathers. Food, shelter, and health were rarely guaranteed. Surely such a life must have been more stressful than today’s… 

[ click to continue reading at RCS ]