Arts

For almost 15 years, environmental activist Patterson Clark has been one of the U.S. National Park Service volunteers who go through forests and remove invasive plants. Because he knew how destructive these plants can be, killing their native host trees, increasing soil erosion, and causing major damage to streams and other wetland areas, Clark had already developed an antagonistic relationship with them.

“One day, when I was pulling a plant, I thought, how can I change my relationship with this plant so it’s not just eradication, taking something’s life?,” he wondered. “Since then, I’ve been harvesting plants, rather than just killing them. Some people who volunteer to pull weeds are called warriors. I don’t consider myself a warrior, I’m more of a gatherer.”

The artist, graphic editor and self-described “weed gatherer” now gives these plants a new life.

“When I first work with a plant, I call that prospecting,” he said. “I’ll sit with the plant, study its nature, cut it, bring it back into the studio, and then start running tests on it to see if it’s good for pigment [or] paper [or] other kinds of fiber.”

White mulberry produces paper

Over the years, Clark has developed a fondness for some of the weeds, like white mulberry.

“It offers paper, the strongest, whitest paper, pretty good lumber, fuel, [and] ash from that fuel is used to create a chemical used to break down the inner bark to make paper,” he says.

That’s a multistep process that takes long hours of work, and a lot of patience. Clark estimates it takes 20 minutes to cut down the plant, 30 minutes to steam it, five minutes to strip the bark, three hours to scrape it, an hour to cook it, 20 minutes to wash it and another hour to beat it. Then, he molds the sheet and lets it dry overnight. He’s rewarded with a stack of unique papers that have become art.

Bushes offer colors

Clark extracts the inks he uses in his paintings and prints from a variety of invasive vines and bushes.

“I take some ivy leaves and put them in ethanol,” he explains. “That’s how we get the green ink. Multiflora rose, the stems give us red ink. Bush honeysuckle, the inner bark provides an aqua color. And the leatherleaf mahonia, the inner bark of that, put it in ethanol, creates a fluorescent yellow color.”

Each print Clark creates includes all the plants he’s collected.

“I also include the landscape where these plants came from,” he says. “Sometimes I will include a volunteer pulling plants, or a tool used to process the plants, but all of these are part of the design.”

Creating art

Clark uses a computer to create his designs.

“I still use digital techniques in this work to expedite the process. Any tool or device that allows me to consume more weeds is good in my book,” he says. “The more weeds I consume, the more space I create for the return of native plants and native animals. So, it’s an environmental practice.”

He cuts his design into a block of wood by laser. Then, he applies his plant-based ink onto the block and presses it onto the handmade paper, repeating the process for each color.

Clark also makes frames for his prints from foraged plants, which attracts a lot of attention and admiration when he shows them in art exhibits.

“I do appreciate the compliments,” he admits, “but one thing I have heard some concern about is the archival quality of these prints. Some of the pigments that I use will last for a long time. Some of the brighter colors, however, if put in really bright light, will eventually fade a little bit. So, I encourage people who buy a print to put it in low light or keep it in a folio. That’s how I’d like these things to be treated.”

With his artistic treatment of invasive species, Patterson Clark is turning them into something that is actually valued.

 

 
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When the propaganda film, “The Founding of an Army,” hit theaters in China recently, the reaction wasn’t quite what the ruling Communist Party might have hoped for.

Instead of inspiring an outpouring of nationalism and self-sacrifice for the state, it was roundly mocked for trying to lure a younger audience by casting teen idols as revolutionary party leaders.

Viewers more used to seeing the idols play love interests in light-hearted soap operas responded to the film by projecting “modern-day romantic narratives on the founding fathers of the nation,” said Hung Huang, a well-known social commentator based in Beijing. “It was hilarious.”

Limiting Western influence

While China’s resurgent Communist Party once pushed its policies on an unquestioning public, it now struggles to compete for attention with the country’s booming entertainment industry and the celebrity culture it has spawned.

“Chinese people are increasingly ignoring party propaganda and are much more interested in movie stars, who represent a new lifestyle and more exciting aspirations,” said Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

President Xi Jinping, who will cement his authority with his expected endorsement to a second five-year term at this week’s national party congress, has placed a priority on stamping out too much Western influence in Chinese society in part so the party can dictate the values the youth should embrace.

Authorities have responded by taking aim at everything from gossip websites to soap opera story lines to celebrity salaries. Instead of selfish, rich stars, the state is promoting performers who are all about patriotism, purity and other values that support the party’s legitimacy.

​Party values vs. youth interests

The results have at best been mixed and at worst ham-fisted and out of touch.

One problem is that the party’s values often clash with what young Chinese want to watch, according to Hung. Among the more popular shows watched by Chinese youth are those that center on palace intrigue, martial arts fantasies, high school romances or single, independent women.

“While the government could once dictate to young people what they should value and how they should lead their lives, they find themselves completely without the tools to do that now,” she said.

In the 1970s, the state was able to promote people seen as paragons of youthful devotion and selflessness, but Hung said that no longer works because young Chinese — like their counterparts in the West — now prefer to follow celebrity gossip and have the tools with which to do so.

Just this month, teen idol Lu Han, also known as China’s Justin Bieber, announced he had a girlfriend, triggering a flood of shares, responses and 4 million “likes” within a few hours that briefly crashed the country’s popular Weibo microblog service.

A recent commentary in The Global Times, a party newspaper with a nationalistic stance, railed against such celebrity worship, saying China had now surpassed the West in that regard.

That was likely a reason the government-backed China Alliance of Radio, Film and Television moved last month to cap the pay of actors, whose salaries had hit historic highs as young Chinese and a burgeoning middle class increasingly spend on movie tickets and goods.

​Gossip sites closed

In another move earlier this year, authorities closed 60 popular celebrity gossip and social media accounts and called on internet giants such as Tencent and Baidu to “actively propagate core socialist values, and create an ever-healthier environment for the mainstream public opinion.”

The tension between popular culture and state propaganda isn’t new in China. In the 1980s, Deng Xiaoping’s lieutenants railed against spiritual pollution. But it has gained new traction since Xi came to power in 2012 and officials began a wide-ranging crackdown on perceived societal ills from corruption to dissent to — now — entertainment.

“Xi Jinping has been advocating a revision to traditional, Confucian moral standards,” Lam said. “The definition of what is vulgar or morally problematic has been inflated and expanded so that it has become all-encompassing.”

Shows about the pursuit of great wealth and luxury that used to be tolerated under Xi’s predecessor, aren’t anymore.

The government has demanded that broadcasters “resist celebrity worship” and limit the air time dedicated to film and TV stars.

“The party does not want these entertainment programs to compete with news programs and ‘morality shows,’” said Jian Xu, a Chinese media research fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

The government has also tried to shape some celebrities into party-sanctioned role models.

Thanks to their wholesome image and uplifting, patriotic lyrics, the TFboys, China’s first home-grown boy band, have risen to fame because of “political opportunities” they’ve been given, Xu said. The band is pursued by adoring fans and has performed twice on the coveted Lunar New Year gala hosted by state broadcaster China Central Television; it has also been promoted by the Communist Youth League.

Stars deviating from the party’s image of purity and moral acceptability, however, have been punished. In a high-profile drug crackdown in 2014, authorities publicly chastised a succession of celebrities caught using drugs, including Jackie Chan’s son, Jaycee Chan, and singer Li Daimo, forcing them to apologize on state television.
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Autistic children often have social difficulties. They tend to linger on the edges of social groups at school and have fewer friendships than those without the condition. But that can change, if their classmates understand them and give them a chance. As Faiza Elmasry tells us, an Australian mother wrote and illustrated a children’s book to help kids do that. Faith Lapidus narrates.
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The Fox News Channel says the company knew a news analyst planned to file a sexual harassment lawsuit against Bill O’Reilly when it renewed the popular personality’s contract in February.

The New York Times reported Saturday the company renewed the TV host’s contract after he reached a $32 million settlement with the analyst.

In a statement, 21st Century Fox defended its decision because it said he had settled the matter personally. It also said O’Reilly and the woman had agreed the financial terms would be kept confidential. 

The company says O’Reilly’s new contract had added protections that allowed Fox to dismiss him if other allegations surfaced.

O’Reilly was ousted months later when it was revealed Fox had paid five women a total of $13 million to keep quiet about harassment allegations.

The news analyst’s allegations included repeated harassment, a nonconsensual sexual relationship and the sending of gay pornography and other sexually explicit material to the woman, according to people briefed on the matter who spoke to The New York Times.

The settlement was by far the largest of a half dozen deals made by O’Reilly or the company to settle harassment allegations against the host, according to the newspaper.

It was reached in January. In February, 21st Century Fox granted O’Reilly’s a four-year extension on a $25 million-a-year contract. In April, it fired him.

O’Reilly has called his firing from the Fox News Channel a “political hit job” and that his network’s parent company made a business decision to get rid of him. He also has said his conscience was clear in how he dealt with women. O’Reilly could not be reached for comment Saturday.

The most-watched figure in cable TV was dismissed by 21st Century Fox nine months after the company removed its founding CEO, Roger Ailes, following harassment charges. The 77-year-old Ailes died in Palm Beach, Florida, last May.

The company said it has taken numerous steps to change its workplace environment.

“21st Century Fox has taken concerted action to transform Fox News, including installing new leaders, overhauling management and on-air talent, expanding training, and increasing the channels through which employees can report harassment or discrimination,” Fox said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “These changes come from the top, with Lachlan and James Murdoch personally leading the effort to promote civility and respect on the job, while maintaining the company’s long-held commitment to a diverse, inclusive and creative workplace.”

O’Reilly hosts his “No Spin News” podcast on his website, www.billoreilly.com, contributes to Glenn Beck’s radio program on TheBlaze and continues to write books in his best-selling series of historical “Killing” books, including his newest release, “Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence.”
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Millions of children the world over dream of visiting Disneyworld. But Sean Baker’s heartbreaking film The Florida Project, throws light on those living in dire poverty in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle in Orlando.

The film underscores the social divide in America through the eyes and lives of children. The film follows precocious 6-year-old Moonee and her friends, roaming around in the sweltering Florida summer months.

They live in cheap motels like the “Magic Castle,” and receive little to no supervision from their single, underemployed or unemployed mothers.

Baker said he wanted to reveal the darker underbelly of an America that barely subsists.

 

WATCH: An America of Poverty Subsists Alongside the Glitter of Disney World

“My co-screenwriter brought this topic to my attention and the fact that there are families with children living in budget motels outside what we consider ‘The happiest place on earth,’ a place for children, and that juxtaposition obviously grabbed me,” the filmmaker said.

Inspired by Little Rascals

Baker says he was also inspired by the Little Rascals, the comic shorts about a gang of children getting into trouble in the 1920s and 1930s. The series was set against the Great Depression, depicting poverty through the life and resilience of children.

Baker says, Brooklynn Prince, who plays the boisterous Moonee is the present day Spanky McFarland, one of the main characters in Little Rascals.

Moonee’s childlike pranks verge into serious offenses. 

“Spanky was the quintessential little rascal, and I said, ‘We are not going to move forward unless we find him’ and one day, Brooklynn Prince walks in the room for the audition and she has all the wonderful cuteness, the wit, the absolute hilarity,” Baker said.

The motel manager, Bobby, is the only character played by a big star, Willem Dafoe. Bobby is the only one who can barely supervise these unruly kids. He is both the disciplinarian and a protector of these children.

Baker says Dafoe’s character was inspired by a real low-budget motel manager in Florida.

“When Willem Dafoe was actually cast, he wanted to understand the world as much as we did,” Baker said. “He wanted to understand his character, so he actually came a week early from production, before we even needed him, and he interviewed this gentleman, he interviewed others. I think he absorbed, he started to develop his character by being there and understanding the situation. And then, one day, he comes to the set and he has this spray tan on, he had all kinds of accessories he chose building this Florida man as his character.” 

Putting life in danger

Bria Vinaite inhabits Moonee’s infantile mother, Halley. She loves her daughter and tries to stay positive. But she is unable to get a job or any kind of child support and slowly crumbles.

To survive, she ends up becoming a sex worker, unwittingly putting her life and her daughter’s life a risk. Vinaite says she drew from real-life women who have fallen by the wayside.

“You have a daughter you have to take care of, a roof to put over her head, food, and then, on top of that, you have to take care of yourself. And I feel like in her situation, her concerns are not even important to her. It’s about Moonie. And it’s just so admirable that she doesn’t give up even till the very end,” Vinaite said.

During one of the film’s screenings, she says she was approached by a European fan, who told her how European countries provide social support and free day care for children of single unemployed mothers. Not here, she says.

“It makes you wonder: What is wrong with the government, for them not to care for such drastic situations that really mold these children, their whole lives? No child should have to experience that,” Vinaite said.

Vinaite says before she was cast for the role she had no idea that there were single mothers living day to day, hand to mouth, one step from homelessness.

“(Filmmaker) Sean (Baker) had flown me out for an audition to the area, drove me around where we would be filming and introduced me to some of the women, who lived in these motels, and I remember I went back to my hotel room and I started crying because I was so shocked,” she said.

Newcomers

Baker found Vinaite, a newcomer, on Instagram. He says he wanted new people who would give authenticity to the story. He definitely succeeds.

Both Vinaite and Brooklynn, who had never acted before, deliver tour de force performances. As the film turns darker, young Brooklynn emotes such pain as Moonee, she might earn an Oscar nomination.

“I cry at the end, too; like on the screen,” Brooklynn said. “I cry. I cried just watching it and I’m like Brooklynn! You have mascara on!”

Moonee’s childlike optimism is tested by the stark reality that an uncaring society will ultimately decide her fate. But ultimately, Moonee finds refuge in her childlike perception of the world.
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Millions of children the world over dream of visiting Disney World. But Sean Baker’s heartbreaking film “The Florida Project,” throws light on those living in dire poverty in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle in Orlando. The film underscores the social divide in America through the eyes and lives of children. VOA’s Penelope Poulou spoke with director and cast.
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Another actress has accused U.S. movie producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually assaulting her, the latest of some 40 women who have alleged sexual harassment and assault spanning decades.

Former actress Heather Kerr told a news conference Friday that Weinstein attacked her during a private meeting in 1989 when she was in her 20s.

“He said that if he was going to introduce me around town to directors and producers, he needed to know if I was any good. He kept repeating that word,” Kerr said.

Kerr, who is now 56, said Weinstein then unzipped his pants and forced her hand onto his genitals. She said that Weinstein told her that “this is how things work in Hollywood,” and that all actresses who had made it did it this way.

“I was frozen with fear,” said a tearful Kerr, who appeared on the 1980s sitcom The Facts of Life.

Rape allegations

Also Friday, the Los Angeles lawyer for an Italian actress who has accused Weinstein of rape say it has had a “humongous impact on her life’’ and she is extremely scared.

Attorney David Ring said his client, who has not been named, has given Los Angeles police detectives a description of sexual assault and rape, which the actress said took place at the Los Angeles Italia film festival in 2013.

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Police department said it had opened a criminal investigation into Weinstein, who is also under criminal investigation in New York and London because of similar allegations.

Weinstein’s attorneys have released a statement saying, “We deny any allegations of nonconsensual sex, though obviously can’t respond to anonymous allegations.”

This was the second statement from Weinstein attorneys saying their client has not participated in nonconsensual sex.

Emmys disciplinary process

In another development Friday, the Television Academy, which bestows the Emmy awards, said it has voted to begin disciplinary proceedings against Weinstein. The academy’s board of governors said a hearing has been set for November, in which the group could terminate the producer’s membership.

News about Weinstein broke two weeks ago, when The New York Times and New Yorker magazine both published exposes of the legendary producer, citing allegations that go back as far as the 1980s.

Since then, Weinstein has been fired from his production company, and has been thrown out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and stripped of various other honors.
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We’re on the job with the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending October 21, 2017.

We have some excitement this week, as a new remix results in a huge rebound for a song that was already a hit.

Let’s open in fifth place, where Taylor Swift dips two slots with “Look What You Made Me Do.” She’s been busy in London.

On October 14, she was spotted shooting a music video. Taylor was all over the place: in a double-decker bus, in a taxi, and on a bike on the Millennium Bridge. She also hosted a listening session in her London home for her upcoming “Reputation” album – the rest of us will have to wait until it drops on November 10.

Number 4: Logic Featuring Alessia Cara & Khalid  “1-800-273-8255”

Logic treads water in fourth place with “1-800-273-8255” featuring Alessia Cara and Khalid.

This song has gone double platinum in the United States, moving two million units…and that’s just the beginning. Latin superstar Juanes has added his voice to a bilingual remix of the suicide-prevention single.

Number 3: J. Balvin & Willy William Featuring Beyonce “Mi Gente”

Speaking of bilingual songs, how about ”Mi Gente”?

Colombian singer J Balvin and French DJ Willy William already had a sizable hit with “Mi Gente,” and now Beyonce has added her voice to the remix…propelling it from 21st to third place. Sales proceeds go to hurricane relief efforts in Mexico, Puerto Rico, and other affected Caribbean islands.

Number 2: Post Malone Featuring Savage “Rockstar”

Post Malone and 21 Savage rack up a third straight week in the runner-up slot with “Rockstar.”

That’s here on the Hot 100: in Australia, the song enjoys a third consecutive week at number one. It holds off Camila Cabello’s “Havana,” which has yet to make the Top 20 here in the States.

Number 1: Cardi B “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves)”

Yes, Cardi B is your Hot 100 champ for a third week with “Bodak Yellow (Money Moves),” and yes, that’s a big deal.

The Hot 100 chart has been around since August, 1958…and this is the first time a solo female rapper has held the title for as long as three weeks. Congratulations, Cardi B!

The chart never sleeps, so be sure and join us next week!

 
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The newly refurbished USS Constitution is taking its first spin under sail in three years.

Friday’s joyride from Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston to Fort Independence on Castle Island will celebrate the U.S. Navy’s 242nd birthday and the 220th anniversary of the iconic vessel’s maiden voyage.

The world’s oldest commissioned warship will fire a 21-gun salute in the waters off the fort, and its cannons will boom another 17 times as it passes the U.S. Coast Guard station — the former site of the shipyard where the Constitution was built and launched in 1797.

It will be the warship’s first sail since October 2014.

The ship earned its nickname “Old Ironsides” during the War of 1812 with Britain.

 
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Harvey Weinstein is now facing criminal inquiries in three cities after an Italian actress told Los Angeles detectives the disgraced film mogul raped her in a hotel room in 2013.

Police confirmed Thursday they are looking into the woman’s allegations, and her attorney said he would give additional details about them at a news conference outside a downtown Los Angeles courthouse on Friday afternoon.

The unidentified woman is an Italian model and actress, according to an announcement of attorney David M. Ring’s press conference. In addition to talking to detectives, the woman and Ring spoke to the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, telling them Weinstein bullied his way into her hotel room, refused to leave and raped her.

Sallie Hofmeister, a representative for Weinstein, said in a statement that Weinstein “unequivocally denies allegations of non-consensual sex.”

The Los Angeles investigation comes after announcements last week by police in New York and London that they are taking a new look at allegations involving the Oscar-winner. New York police are taking a fresh look for complaints involving Weinstein and the department has encouraged anyone who may have information about abuses by the producer to contact the department. London police are investigating allegations of sexual assault against him made by two women.

More than 40 women have accused Weinstein, 65, of harassment or abuse. Actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Lupita Nyong’o have all accused Weinstein of harassment, while actresses Asia Argento and Rose McGowan have accused the film mogul of raping them.

Nyong’o accused Weinstein of several incidents of harassment in an op-ed piece published by The New York Times on Thursday, including a 2011 incident in which she said the mogul tried to give her a massage at his Connecticut home. She refused, instead giving the mogul a massage and leaving when he said he wanted to take off his pants, Nyong’o wrote.

The stories of harassment and abuse dating back decades has left to the total downfall of a producer who once ruled Hollywood’s awards season with a string of contenders including “Shakespeare in Love,” for which he shared an Oscar, and films such as “The King’s Speech” and “Silver Linings Playbook.”

Since The New York Times published its initial expose on Oct. 5, Weinstein has been fired from the company he co-founded, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the producers guild has initiated his expulsion. Honors conferred by Harvard University and the British Film Institute have been rescinded, and several Democratic lawmakers have donated political contributions they received from Weinstein to charity.

Ring said in a statement Thursday that the breadth of accusations against Weinstein compelled his client to speak to police.

“My client is grateful to all the courageous women who have already come forward to finally expose Weinstein,” Ring said. “These women may not have realized it, but they gave my client the support and encouragement to hold Weinstein accountable for this horrible act.”

 
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The Los Angeles Police department says it has opened an investigation into movie producer Harvey Weinstein after someone made allegations of sexual assault.

The LAPD announced the news via Twitter Thursday.

A police spokesman told the Associated Press that the department interviewed a possible sexual assault victim who reported an incident that occurred in 2013. The investigation is ongoing, and he could not answer any questions about when the interview or incident took place.

Weinstein has recently been fired from his production company and is under investigation in New York and London because of similar allegations.

Weinstein statement

Weinstein’s attorneys have released a statement saying, “We deny any allegations of nonconsensual sex, though obviously can’t respond to anonymous allegations.”

This was the second statement from Weinstein attorneys saying their client has not participated in nonconsensual sex.

Meantime, Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o has added her story to those of about 40 other women who say Weinstein sexually harassed them or attempted assault. In a piece published in The New York Times Thursday, Nyong’o says Weinstein met with her on several occasions, pressured her to drink alcohol, and pressured her for sex in exchange for help with her career.

Employee statement

And a group of anonymous staffers from the Weinstein Co., which fired its co-founder over the allegations earlier this month, published a joint statement Thursday expressing support for the women who have come forward and stating they were unaware of Weinstein’s alleged behavior as a “serial sexual predator.”

Weinstein Co. staffers sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of their contracts. The joint statement notes that even it, the statement, violates the nondisclosure agreement.

“We all knew that we were working for a man with an infamous temper,” the statement said. “We did not know we were working for a serial sexual predator. … We did not know that he used his power to systematically assault and silence women.”

The statement goes on to disavow any enabling of Weinstein’s behavior and express support for the women who have come forward, “many of whom we count among our own friends and colleagues,” it continued. “We see you, we admire you, and we are in this fight alongside you.”

News about Weinstein broke two weeks ago, when The New York Times and New Yorker magazine both published exposes of the legendary producer, citing allegations that go back as far as the 1980s.

In addition to being fired from his company, Weinstein has been thrown out of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and stripped of various other honors.
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Los Angeles police say they are investigating a possible sexual assault case against Harvey Weinstein — the first involving the producer in the city.

Police spokesman Sal Ramirez says the department has interviewed a possible sexual assault victim who reported an incident that occurred in 2013.

He says the investigation is ongoing and he could not answer any questions about when the interview or incident took place.

Police in New York and London are also investigating the fallen movie mogul over allegations of sex abuse in those cities.

“Mr. Weinstein obviously can’t speak to anonymous allegations, but he unequivocally denies allegations of non-consensual sex,” his representative Sallie Hofmeister wrote in a statement.

Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment or abuse by more than three dozen women, including several top actresses including Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.

He was fired from The Weinstein Co., the film company he co-founded, earlier this month after several harassment incidents were detailed in The New York Times. Additional allegations, including from three women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them, were included in a subsequent article by The New Yorker. Two of the women, including Italian actress Asia Argento, were named while the third accuser wasn’t identified.

Argento told the magazine that in 1997 Weinstein forcibly performed oral sex on her at a hotel in France when she was 21 years old.

Weinstein, 65, resigned from the board of directors of his former company earlier this week. He has not been seen in public since last week.

The Oscar winner has been expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Producers Guild of America has started the process of expelling him.
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Invasive plants can kill their native host trees, increase soil erosion and cause major damage to streams and other wetland areas. That’s why the National Park Service is asking volunteers to remove these invasive plants; so native plants have a chance to grow. VOA’s Faiza Elmasry reports on one volunteer, Patterson Clark, an artist, graphics editor and environmental advocate who is bringing a reduce, reuse and recycle ethos to his removal technique. Faith Lapidus narrates.
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Actress Mayim Bialik says she’s “truly sorry for causing so much pain” with her New York Times opinion piece that critics suggested put blame on women who’ve accused movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Bialik wrote in the piece published Friday that she makes choices to be “self-protecting and wise,” like dressing modestly and not acting flirtatiously. She later added that nothing “excuses men for assaulting or abusing women” and women should be able to wear whatever they want and act however they want.

Bialik addressed the backlash in a Facebook Live interview with the Times on Monday, saying she regrets it “became what it became.”

She said Wednesday on Twitter that “what you wear and how you behave does not provide any protection from assault.”
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Pop star Demi Lovato, singer-songwriter Shawn Mendes, rockers The Killers and grime artist Stormzy are set to perform at MTV’s EMAs in London.

 

MTV’s European music awards will also feature performances from Kesha and Camila Cabello. Rita Ora is due to host the Nov. 12 ceremony at London’s SSE Arena, Wembley.

 

MTV said Thursday that awards presenters will include “Game of Thrones” actress Natalie Dormer, teen star Madison Beer and actress Sabrina Carpenter.

 

Taylor Swift leads the race with nominations in six categories, including best video for “Look What You Made Me Do.” Other multiple nominees include Mendes, Ed Sheeran and Kendrick Lamar.

 

Winners are selected by fans across the continent.

 

The EMAs, held in a different European city each year, were last held in London in 1996.
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Singer Jason Aldean and other stars honored victims of a mass shooting at a country music festival in Las Vegas instead of accepting awards at the CMT Artists of the Year show Wednesday night. 

The format of the show pivoted to focus on victims of the shooting, as well as those recovering from hurricanes and wildfires, with a night of somber tributes, inspirational anthems and voices lifted in harmony. 

Aldean, who was on stage at the Route 91 Harvest Festival when the shooting occurred Oct. 1, stood side-by-side with the night’s other award winners, including Luke Bryan, Florida Georgia Line, Chris Stapleton and Keith Urban, to dedicate the night to music fans. The honorees did not accept awards or give speeches as usual, but some chose to perform or other musicians performed in their honor. 

“We’ve been tested beyond our worst nightmare these past few months,’’ Aldean said during the live broadcast from Nashville, Tennessee. “Heartbroken doesn’t even begin to describe how some of us feel. But we have proven time and again in this country that we have the power to overcome anything that threatens our way of life, or our freedom. We dedicate this night to you and everyone who has experienced loss or tragedy in the last few months.’’

Aldean closed out the night with a defiant and rollicking group performance of “I Won’t Back Down’’ by Tom Petty with Urban, Stapleton and Little Big Town.

Andra Day kicked off the awards show with her anthem “Rise Up,’’ in a beautiful harmony duet by Little Big Town. Then Lee Ann Womack, Danielle Bradbury and rapper Common joined them for a performance of “Stand Up For Something.’’

“On this night when we usually celebrate a year of music, we also want to celebrate a year of incredible human spirit, the spirit we see in our fans every night,’’ Stapleton said. 

“So in some small way we want to thank you for your resolve and perhaps lift your spirits for just a moment,’’ Urban said. 

The names of the 58 victims from Las Vegas were listed during an in memoriam segment, along with the names of Petty, Gregg Allman, Glen Campbell, Don Williams and Troy Gentry.

Other performances including Bryan singing his single “Fast,’’ and Stapleton singing his song “Broken Halos,’’ a song that he’s dedicated to victims of the Vegas shooting. 

The Backstreet Boys sang Florida Georgia Line’s emotional ballad “H.O.L.Y.’’ and Keith Urban performed a jazzy version of his song “Blue Ain’t Your Color.’’

Phillip Phillips added some blues licks to Sam Hunt’s mega hit “Body Like a Back Road,’’ which was named song of the year by CMT.

Near the end of the night, Bryan took a moment to honor his friend Aldean. 

“It could have been any one of us standing on that stage two weeks ago,’’ Bryan said. “It’s a nightmare that nobody should have to face. Jason has responded with dignity, care, respect and, some ways, defiance. And we all proud of him, especially me.’’
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Human Flow by internationally acclaimed artist and activist Ai Weiwei, highlights the plight of refugees around the world. The Chinese dissident is not the first to make a documentary about the displaced, but his film captures the flow of humanity on a planetary scale. 

Ai filmed in 23 different countries in 40 different refugee camps where people fleeing war, environmental crises and religious persecution were staying. His goal is to show that the flood of refugees has global repercussions.

“You are forcibly robbing this human being of all aspects that would make human life not just tolerable but meaningful in many ways,” says a voice in the documentary.

According to the film, over 65 million people in the world today have been forcibly displaced from their homes. Using cameras attached to drones, Ai Weiwei records humanity’s movement from up high. 

Ai, a renowned artist known for his massive art installations with social and political connotations around the world, is an unassuming, soft- spoken man with a thoughtful expression. Sitting opposite me in one of the studios of the Voice of America, he snaps my picture on his iPhone along with many others he has taken that day of people and exhibits on VOA’s hallways. I feel like an art installation. I ask him what prompted him to make a film about human flow.

“It was serendipitous,” he responds.  

An unexpected opportunity

While vacationing on the Greek island of Lesbos with his family, Ai saw a boat full of refugees approaching. He started filming immediately on his phone.

Known for his political activism against communist China, his imprisonment, torture and subsequent exile, he lives in Berlin now and one would hardly believe that anything could take the Chinese dissident by surprise. But as he relates, filming and living with refugees in makeshift camps was unlike anything he had experienced before. 

“We have been hearing about the refugees all the time in the news. But to see a real group of people come down is very different. You see the children, the women, and you see those elderly people and they are tired, they are frightened, they basically risk their lives, give up everything, to come to just try to find safe conditions. Even though I grew up in a communist society we didn’t see these kinds of things happen. So, for me it is a shock, and I think it’s an opportunity to learn about what really happened. “

Human Flow shows masses fleeing wars, religious persecution, and environmental disasters.  At times his film feels like another one of his enormous art installations, with humanity playing a dual lead, both as a massive organism and as single individuals staring into a camera. The effect is more visceral than intellectual and that is exactly what Ai Weiwei wants to convey.

“We wanted to build an understanding about human flow. Human flow as always happens in human history. In many cases, it is part of our humanity and our civilization,” he says.

Stemming the flow

But the social anomaly of our times, says the filmmaker, is the effort by countries to stem that flow by preventing refugees from crossing borders and integrating into new societies.  After a harrowing sea voyage and days of walking, many refugees from the Middle East make their way to northern Greece, only to be stopped on its border with Macedonia. 

“Over seventy borders have built up their fences and walls and have forbidden any refugee to pass through. So, by doing that, they are really not only stopping  the life line of those refugees to try to find a safe place, even just temporarily across the border and go to another location, but are also putting them in extremely dangerous conditions.”

Ai talks about human smuggling and sex trafficking of a very vulnerable population, mostly of women and children.

At a refugee camp in Turkey, he films an exasperated doctor trying to take care of the young. He points to a baby: “two months old, and born here but he didn’t have any vaccinations.” The deplorable health conditions are one of the many problems plaguing the stateless. A man stands knee high in mud, looking at a cemetery filled with drowned refugees, relatives and friends. He hides his head in his hands and sobs.

A warning for the future

Ai Weiwei warns if we don’t save those people from displacement, entire generations — born without identity, prospects for a better life or a country — will be vulnerable to extremism and radicalization.

“I think, if you see so many children growing up under these conditions, in this 65 million people, now it’s getting much bigger, with 420,000 refugees added from Myanmar, how will these children behave, when they grow up, after they have seen how their parents have been badly treated, unfairly treated, the world watching but doing nothing. What kind of image would remain in their minds?”

Ai Weiwei is very critical of Europe and the United States for lacking empathy, leadership and vision about the refugee issue. He sees the elections of ultra-right governments in Europe and of Donald Trump in the US as dire for refugees worldwide.

“It certainly requires global leaders and also every citizen to be involved to solve the problem,“ he says, warning, if this does not change, no one’s future is safe.
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Years before Elvis Presley became the King of Rock and Roll, the story goes, he lived in a small house up a hill from his elementary school in northeastern Mississippi and played with other kids in a nearby field. Fans now have a chance to buy that old home and land.

The white, wood-frame house and more than 16 acres (6 hectares) of adjoining property are part of an upcoming celebrity auction that includes everything from actress Marilyn Monroe’s dresses to Michael Jackson’s dark fedora.

Want the Army uniform that Tom Hanks wore while filming “Forrest Gump?” It’s in the sale. What about Whitney Houston’s see-through, acrylic piano or the umbrella with a parrot-shaped handle that Julie Andrews carried in “Mary Poppins?” Or Hugh Hefner’s 1973 BMW, purchased with Playboy profits, presumably?

The house, land and other memorabilia are part of an online auction set for November 11 by GWS Auctions, a Southern California company which specializes in the sale of items including estates, fine art and celebrity collectibles.

More than 150 items will be auctioned in all, including other items linked to Presley — his private jet, a 1957 pink Cadillac, a boat named “Hound Dog,” a television he shot up at Graceland and a two-bedroom mobile home from his Circle G ranch.

There’s also a radio once owned by President John F. Kennedy; a dress, nightgown and jumpsuit owned by his late widow, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis; Reese Witherspoon clothing from the movie “Legally Blonde;” and a 1993 Jaguar owned by the late model Anna Nicole Smith.

GWS Auctions owner Brigitte Kruse said all the celebrities’ items have been authenticated in various ways.

“Their possessions are rare, but beyond any monetary value, fans place an emotional value on owning something that came in contact with their idols,” she said.

In the case of the Presley house, Charlene Presley, a relative by marriage, said the structure was initially built by the singer’s father, Vernon Presley, and uncle next to the small home where Presley was born in 1935. That birthplace is the focal point of a park and museum that draw thousands of visitors annually to Tupelo.

The newer house was moved to higher ground about a half-mile away from Elvis’ birthplace around 1942, and the singer and his mother, Gladys Presley, lived there for a time, Presley said.

 

“This house is a house that Elvis and Gladys lived in and he went to school at Lawhon School in the third grade,” she said. “She would walk him to school down this street and around to Lawhon.”

The adjoining property was a playground for Presley, who swam in the creek, played and hunted on the land, according to Presley.

The executive director of the Elvis Presley Birthplace Foundation, Dick Guyton, said five shotgun-style homes — named for their long, narrow design — once stood in the area where Presley’s birth home is still located. But Guyton said he doesn’t know what happened to any of the four other structures, meaning he can’t vouch for the house that’s coming up for sale.

“We don’t have any way to authenticate it,” Guyton said. “We don’t know that that particular house is one that sat here by the birthplace.”

Kruse said members of the Presley family and a longtime employee of Graceland and Elvis Presley Enterprises have certified all the Presley-related sale pieces.

How much might someone pay for a little house that would normally be worth a few thousand dollars at most? Who knows? But the Presley jet sold for nearly $500,000 in May before it was cleaned up and anyone had located its engines, the auction company said.

Located within a short walk of Presley’s birthplace, the land includes a tract that was going to be developed into a cemetery for Elvis fans more than a decade ago. The project never panned out, and no one has lived in the house for years.

“There’s never really been anything like this,” Kruse said. “It will be interesting to see what this one does.”
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Diana Ross will receive a lifetime achievement honor at next month’s American Music Awards and will celebrate with a performance on the broadcast next month.

ABC and Dick Clark Productions announced the honor Wednesday. It’s the first time the AMAs have given out the award since 2006, when it was presented to Sting. Previous winners include Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Michael Jackson.

 

The 73-year-old Ross tells The Associated Press of the honor: “It took a lifetime to get here, I’m not going anywhere … It’s been a wonderful journey for me of joy and much appreciation.”

 

The Motown legend and former Supremes singer has performed at the AMAs several times and hosted the show twice.

 

The AMAs will air live on ABC from Los Angeles on Sunday, Nov. 19.
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Amazon Studios says it has accepted the resignation of its top executive, Roy Price, following sexual harassment allegations made by a producer on the Amazon series Man in the High Castle.

Price was put on leave last week and had not been expected to return. An Amazon spokesman confirmed the resignation Tuesday. Albert Cheng, who had been Amazon’s COO, will be the interim chief.

The accusations against Price came in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal that is roiling Hollywood. Producer Isa Hackett charged in an account published in The Hollywood Reporter that Price had repeatedly and crudely propositioned her following a 2015 event in San Diego.

A steady stream of women have gone public with accusations against Weinstein after reports by The New York Times and The New Yorker about the misconduct claims of others. But it has spread beyond that disgraced executive, with women across the world saying they’d been harassed through the social media thread “me too.”

Hackett said in a statement Tuesday that she was pleased that Amazon had taken steps to address the issue.

“An important conversation has begun about the need to create a culture in our industry which values respect and decency and rejects the abuse of power and dehumanizing treatment of others,” she said. “This is truly an opportunity to find a better way forward, and ultimately toward a balanced representation of women and minorities in leadership positions.”

Hackett said in her account on Price that he propositioned her during a cab ride, saying, “you will love my [slang for penis].”

She said he persisted at a company party even after she told him she was a lesbian with a wife and children, even standing near her and loudly saying, “anal sex!”

She wrote that she told Amazon executives about it, and the company brought in an outside investigator. She said she hadn’t seen Price at Amazon events involving her shows, which also include the upcoming Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.
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