Author: Gloria Cote

Categories
Health

Grief Movies For Kids – The New York Occasions

Grief Films For Children - The New York Times

There’s no way to gloss it over: the pandemic has plunged the world into a crisis of grief. It caused the deaths of over 290,000 people in the United States, including many grandparents and parents. According to a study by the United Hospital Fund, 4,200 children in New York state alone lost a parent or caregiver to Covid-19 between March and July. (These were the latest available numbers on the death of the parents from Covid.)

For every family who lost a loved one this year, regardless of the cause of death, the pandemic has prevented them from properly mourning their loss. And now the holiday season has arrived, which can be a cause of grief, especially for children.

Children who lose a parent are at greater risk of permanent mental health problems, including anxiety and depression. To support a grieving child, one needs to normalize their feelings and give them tools to cope with – but talking about death can sometimes feel overwhelming. Parents and children may both be reluctant to have conversations that create difficult emotions, but it is important that parents provide opportunities to recognize their child’s feelings.

Film can be a gift in these times. Often times, a film about death can provide just enough space for productive discussion. Providing examples of the loss of others can help children feel less isolated in their own bereavement. Watching a character in a movie can make the child think about their own journey of grief and the tools they may be able to cope with.

The films below, suitable for children ages 6 and up, provide helpful ways to explore death and the emotions associated with it, as well as a chance for parents to talk about loss. Contents that could be disruptive to young children are noted.

109 minutes; Rated PG; available on Disney +

Based on the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), this colorful, Oscar-winning Pixar film follows 12-year-old Miguel’s journey to the land of the dead. There he reveals family secrets and learns that the dead continue to exist in the memory of the living.

118 minutes; Rated G; available from Amazon.

After a young boy named Alec and a horse were washed up on a desert island by a shipwreck that killed Alec’s father, the orphaned boy and the animal soon form an inseparable bond. The couple is rescued, and Alec is determined to turn “The Black” into a racehorse with the help of an old trainer. Alec’s connection with the horse brings him comfort and helps him deal with his grief for his father.

107 minutes; Rated PG; available from Amazon.

After her mother dies in a car accident, 13-year-old Amy (played by a young Anna Paquin) is sent from New Zealand to Canada to live with her father. She adopts a nest of abandoned goose eggs, and when they hatch she is responsible for teaching the goslings’ survival skills – including flying south for the winter. While Amy takes on the role of mother for the goslings, she can mourn her own mother. Please note: the car accident is shown in the opening sequence of the film.

100 minutes (subtitles); available from Amazon.

After her mother dies, 6-year-old Frida has to move from Barcelona to the countryside to live with her aunt, uncle and younger cousin. The young girl soon struggles with grief and her place in this new family. The film is often presented from Frida’s point of view, with overheard conversations and waist-high camera angles, and is based on the director’s personal experiences with loss.

128 minutes; Rated PG-13; available from Amazon.

Conor’s mother is seriously ill and the 13-year-old struggles with anger, sadness, guilt, and expectant grief. To deal with all the overwhelming emotions, Conor (Lewis MacDougall) conjures up a monster who offers three fables and then demands one of him – it has to be his ultimate truth. MacDougall gives an authentic performance as a boy who learns to face the truth even though it is contradicting and complex. Please Note: There is some property demolition, physical bullying, and verbal abuse.

103 minutes; Rated PG; available on HBO max.

In this feature of the Japanese animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli, Anna is sent by her foster mother to bring relatives at the seaside into the fresh air after an asthma attack. There she ventures into an abandoned mansion and discovers a new friend, Marnie, who may or may not be her grandmother’s ghost. Anna is then forced to grapple with feelings that she has avoided because of the loss of her family.

98 minutes (subtitles); Rated PG; available from Amazon.

The matriarch of a family in China is diagnosed with terminal cancer, but no one told her. The family gets together one last time under the guise of a grand wedding, but it really is a goodbye. The film is based on the personal story of the writer and director Lula Wang and shows profound cultural differences in attitudes towards death and grief.

Categories
Entertainment

Evaluation: Discovering Hope in an Unfinished Pam Tanowitz Premiere

Review: Finding Hope in an Unfinished Pam Tanowitz Premiere

On Saturday, the Joyce Theater broadcast a premiere by choreographer Pam Tanowitz, who started the program with the words: “It’s not really finished yet.”

This wasn’t a confession of negligence or an excuse for over-planning, though Ms. Tanowitz, who was one of New York’s most sought-after choreographers before the pandemic, has been remarkably busy lately, doing video dancing for both the New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater.

Rather, Ms. Tanowitz’s words were self-explanatory in the manner of an artistic statement. The title of the new work is “Finally unfinished: Part 1”. This was the second half of the 35-minute event, which was available on request through December 26th, coupled with another recently published work, “Gustave Le Gray, No. 2”. ”

What we have here are parts, parts, versions, recycled matter. A program note shows that “Finally unfinished” is based on choreographic material from works that Ms. Tanowitz previously presented at Joyce. “Gustave Le Gray, No. 2” is related to “Gustave Le Gray, No. 1” which was created for the Miami City Ballet and the Dance Theater of Harlem last year (and slated for the City Ballet 2022 schedule) .

And there is already a “Finally Unfinished: Part 2”. It is a website, a “digital box of curiosities” (funnily designed by Jeremy Jacob like a cut-and-paste scrapbook with stop-motion animation) that brings together some of Ms. Tanowitz’s inspirations for dance.

The livestream event is also a kind of scrapbook. It’s an event in the Merce Cunningham sense of combining old pieces in a new order for a new occasion and space.

The “unfinished” deal with titles and texts is a view of the continuity of a choreographer’s life. For Ms. Tanowitz, the distinction between works is possibly less important than their common origin as filament that she and her employees keep turning. “It’s never finished for me,” she says, referring to each piece, but also the process and practice of dancing. At the moment, the humility of testifying is a sign of hope.

But if their work is one piece to them, that doesn’t mean the pieces are all the same. The first, “Gray, No. 2”, which is set on a Caroline Shaw score, which is itself a revision of a Chopin mazurka, is a highly ordered composition for four people that quietly absorbs in its changing configurations, with a dancer often swings to a new position The whole group moves. The work resists the buoyancy, a feeling of weight or fatigue, which the dancers eventually no longer resist and sink to the ground.

However, this is not the end of the program. Because the much wilder and fragmented “Finally unfinished” begins when a camera follows Melissa Toogood’s cool fire into the wings. Soon enough the dancers – seven of them now – will be walking into the aisles, seats and the balcony. And this theater, which was dark and empty for most of this year, is enlivened by elegant, eccentric, brilliant dance.

This is Joyce’s second experiment in live streaming. (The first, in which seven dancers at a time recorded Molissa Fenley’s grueling solo “State of Darkness,” was in October, and recordings are available until January 10th.) Not everything that distinguishes itself as cinematography is less of a work for the camera as a substitute for being in the theater. In fact, it is a love letter to what Joyce was and should become again.

In the score for “Endlich unfinished”, which lies between confusing and loud contributions by Dan Siegler and Ted Hearne, there is a recording of the stage manager’s instructions (“Go, Victor!”) And announcements during a Pam Tanowitz dance performance in 2014 at Joyce . (“Please turn off your electronic devices” is poignant when you hear about an electronic device that gives you the only access to the factory.)

The costumes that Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung designed for previous Tanowitz plays at Joyce are also related to the theater, reproducing the red curtain, chair upholstery, and less stylish carpeting. It’s all loving mockery that pokes fun at the Joyce’s frumpiness while respecting her story as an essential home for dance: the tactile, personal experience for which this digital version is a placeholder.

At the end of the performance, the dancers look out onto the stage from their seats to represent the missing audience. This captures in a picture what “Finally unfinished, Part 2” says in words: “This is not the end. Return to learn more. “

Pam Tanowitz dance

Available until December 26th, joyce.org.

Categories
Business

Ladies’s soccer set viewership data in 2020, paves approach for growth

Women's soccer set viewership records in 2020, paves way for expansion

Orlando Pride midfielder Bridget Callahan (22) shoots the ball during the NWSL soccer game between the Orlando Pride and the Washington Spirit on October 5, 2019 at Explorer Stadium in Orlando, FL.

Andrew Bershaw | Icon Sportswire | Getty Images

Women’s football had a great 2020 even in the middle of a pandemic, thanks to broadcast and streaming deals that brought the sport to more viewers than ever before.

Finding viewers outside of a dedicated core fan base and delivering games on a handful of consistent platforms will be key to further growth in 2021. Women’s sport is a feel-good story, but the next phase is about hitting the hard numbers, attracting new broadcast partners and corporate sponsors.

In the summer of 2020, the National Women’s Soccer League was the first U.S. professional sports league to return to activity, breaking its attendance records by nearly 300%. The first and last games of the Challenge Cup, which were the only ones to be shown on CBS and not on the subscription service CBS All Access, drew 572,000 and 653,000 viewers, respectively, on par with an English Premier League game that week and Major League Baseball Game on TBS broadcast in the same time slot. Last year’s NWSL final, which aired on ESPN, only drew 166,000 viewers.

Company sponsors also got on board. The NWSL signed contracts with Verizon, Google and Procter & Gamble before the Challenge Cup.

“The league has done strangely well,” said Lindsay Barenz, VP of Business Development for the NWSL, during the pandemic.

Multi-year partnerships with CBS Sports and Amazon Twitch were “game changers,” added Barenz. For regular playing time, CBS showed some games on its main network, 14 on the CBS Sports Network and the majority on CBS All Access. Twitch would stream all of the games internationally and a handful of free games domestically.

Even as more sports leagues returned to competition in the fall, the NWSL averaged 383,000 viewers for its fall series games, which aired on CBS. According to the league, the games, which were also streamed globally on Twitch, averaged just over 732,000 live views, and the most watched hit hit 1,000,000.

These deals came after the U.S. women’s national team won the 2019 Women’s World Cup and sparked new interest in the sport. In previous seasons, most games could only be streamed online, be it on Google’s YouTube, on teams’ websites or on Verizon’s go90. TV coverage for a handful of major games jumped between Fox Sports’ secondary channels and Disney subsidiary ESPN in various years. And NWSL’s multi-year contract with A&E Networks to broadcast games for life failed when A&E left in 2019, one season earlier. The NWSL only reached another TV deal after the World Cup when ESPN recorded 14 remaining games between ESPNews and ESPN2.

The NWSL was difficult to follow for avid fans and difficult to stumble upon for potential fans. The new rights contracts should ensure consistency and high quality production for the coming seasons.

Then the pandemic hit.

It was far from clear that women’s football could save the year, but it probably helped to be the first to come back with little athletic competition. The NWSL’s month-long Challenge Cup, played in a “bubble” in Utah, began June 27, two weeks before the men’s Major League Soccer returned and a month before the National Basketball Association launched its bubble at Disney World.

When it comes to growth, there is a tradeoff between maximizing sales and reaching the widest possible audience. Under the current contract, most NWSL games are only available through CBS Sports Network or CBS All Access, which are paid subscription services.

But the choice was “part of maturing as a league,” said Barenz. “Part of the maturity of our fans is that there is an economic exchange of values ​​to get access to our games.”

In order to get access to all games in other leagues like the Women’s National Basketball Association and male colleagues, a paid subscription is also required, Barenz emphasized. The NWSL, the longest running professional women’s soccer league in the United States, is now entering its ninth season (as the WNBA will hit its big 25).

Alyssa Naeher # 1 of Chicago Red Stars hits a loose ball during an NWSL soccer game between the Chicago Red Stars and the Orlando Pride at Orlando City Stadium on September 11, 2019 in Orlando, Florida.

Alex Menendez | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images

Go international

A new business model could help increase more broadcasters’ interest in women’s football. This is where the startup Atalanta Media comes in.

Atalanta acquires media rights for smaller women’s sports leagues and offers them to broadcasters free of charge, along with fully produced games. In return, the company retains sponsorship opportunities so that it can also make money. This fall, Atalanta partnered with NBC Sports to bring the FA Women’s Super League, England’s premier women’s league, to a US audience for the first time.

Atalanta aims to break the frustrating stalemate between skeptical investors and leagues in dire need of more investment.

Broadcasters want “more evidence” before buying the rights themselves, said Esmeralda Negron, co-founder of the company and former professional footballer. “But there is no proof of that [women’s soccer has] has never been available week after week on premium channels. “

“If we don’t do that,” Negron said of buying the rights to leagues like WSL, “it wouldn’t be available.”

With the Atalanta partnership, NBC Sports will broadcast 50 WSL season games from September 2020 through Spring 2021, either on the NBC Sports Network channel, the NBC Sports app, or the NBC Sports website.

The first eight WSL games on NBC Sports Network had an average of 63,000 viewers, and the most viewed game reached 100,000 viewers, according to the network. A network manager told CNBC how important it is to tie women’s football to Premier League coverage in order to raise awareness. Given that the US games usually air weekend mornings (given the time difference) and are in an unknown league, this is a good place to start.

NWSL match ball during the 2020 NWSL College Draft at the Baltimore Convention Center on January 16, 2020 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Jose Argueta | Getty Images Sports | Getty Images

Next year

2021 will bring new tests and possibilities. As more sporting leagues prepare to return for the full season and people get more outdoors to do, women’s sports can become more difficult to interest. However, if the Tokyo Olympics go as planned, a strong performance from the U.S. women’s team could also raise awareness of football at the club level.

Next year the NWSL plans to host the Challenge Cup again, followed by a full season. What was originally conceived as a means of saving the year has become valuable property.

The league is also adding teams, including a Louisville club that will play in 2021 and a Los Angeles team that will join the following year. LA club Angel City FC will be majority-owned by women and will be supported by all-star investors like Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and actress Natalie Portman.

There are also growth opportunities in existing deals. The goal of women’s football is likely to be to show more games on flagship networks like CBS and NBC, not just their sports networks or apps.

“Premium broadcasting plays an important role in enhancing the visibility and profile of leagues and players at the club level,” said Negron. “That never really happened on the women’s side.”

Women’s football needs to benefit from its increased visibility this year or else it risks losing its hard-won momentum. As Negron said, “Audience is what drives everything in this sport.”

Categories
World News

Tesla to switch Condominium Funding and Administration within the S&P 500

Tesla to replace Apartment Investment and Management in the S&P 500

Tesla will replace Apartment Investment and Management Co. in the S&P 500 if the electric vehicle company joins the index before trading begins December 21, S&P told Dow Jones Indices on Friday.

Tesla is also included in the S&P 100, replacing Occidental Petroleum in that index.

S&P Dow Jones Indices announced on November 16 that Tesla would join the S&P 500. The size of Tesla – the largest company ever to be included in the benchmark index – prompted the index provider to seek feedback from the investment community on whether to add Tesla all at once or in two separate tranches.

S&P Dow Jones Indices eventually chose the former and announced on November 30th that it would add Tesla to its full float-adjusted market capitalization on December 21st.

“In making its decision, S&P DJI took into account the wide range of responses received, including the expected liquidity of Tesla and the market’s ability to absorb significant trading volumes that day,” said the index provider. Tesla’s inclusion in the S&P 500 is based on closing prices on Friday, December 18, which coincides with the expiration of stock options and stock futures, which should make it easy to add due to the high trading volume, S&P said.

S&P Dow Jones Indices has not yet announced the weighting of Tesla in the index.

There are currently over $ 11.2 trillion in net worth compared to the S&P 500, with roughly $ 4.6 trillion of the total indexed funds making up. This means significant portfolio adjustments will have to be made to make room for Tesla.

According to Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at S&P Dow Jones Indices, $ 80 billion in Tesla stock must be bought by index investors. He pointed out that trading volatility could be exacerbated by Tesla’s not being a member of the S&P 1500, S&P 400 Midcap, or S&P 600 Small Cap indices.

Fund managers who need to buy the index will try to buy Tesla as close to the December 18 closing price as possible. “It will likely be one of the largest tight buy markets ever,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment strategist at Bleakley Advisory Group.

– CNBC’s Patti Domm contributed to the coverage.

Subscribe to CNBC PRO for exclusive insights and analysis as well as live business day programs from around the world.

Categories
Health

Alzheimer’s Researchers Examine a Uncommon Mind

Alzheimer's Researchers Study a Rare Brain

While they waited for Aliria’s body to arrive, Dr. Villegas and the staff each other their demands with: freezers checked, sterile gloves, iodine, cell culture medium, tissue preservative mixed and done. The brain bank frequently sends tissue to its staff overseas, and within a few days samples from Aliria’s brain are being examined in Germany and California, as well as Medellín.

Every brain donation does not begin in a hospital morgue, but in a large and well-stocked funeral home. The arrangement allows researchers to remove the brain and quickly take it one block away to their dissection laboratory, after which the family can proceed with a funeral or cremation.

Aliria’s autopsy began at 11:30 a.m. three hours after her death. The senior team members of Dr. Villegas, Dr. Aguillon and Johana Gómez, a biologist dressed in plastic overalls, masks and face shields, took precautions required by the pandemic while a medical student, Carlos Rueda, took notes.

The team removed the brain relatively easily, though the process is always complicated, with connective tissue that needs to be carefully severed. Dr. Villegas then extracted the pituitary gland and olfactory membrane, structures of interest to Alzheimer’s researchers, from deep within the skull. The group took samples of skin, tumor, and vital organs before leaving the remains of their famous patient, on whom so much research hopes were tied, for cremation.

Within minutes, the group came together again in the Brain Bank Dissection Lab, a room no bigger than a walk-in closet, down the street. It was almost 1 p.m. and Dr. Aguillon put Aliria’s brain on a scale. It weighed 894 grams, just under two pounds – significantly less than a healthy brain. Mr. Rueda started photographing it on a rotating platform, on which a three-dimensional image was created, while Dr. Villegas told and Dr. Aguillon typed.

Categories
Politics

Meet the Electoral School’s Largest Critics: A number of the Electors Themselves

Meet the Electoral College’s Biggest Critics: Some of the Electors Themselves

“You happened to ask people if they would be a voter,” said Justin Sheldon, a lawyer suing on behalf of Mr. Wright. (Mr. West was prevented from appearing on the Virginia ballot because of the program.)

Those seeking to reform the system have recently seen hope in the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, an agreement in which states agree to only send voters for the candidate who wins the referendum.

So far, 15 states and the District of Columbia have voted to join, representing 196 votes. The pact, which has worked its way through state houses for more than a decade, would go into effect if states with 270 voters agree, enough to rule the race.

Ms. Baca, the electoral college skeptic, backed the Colorado deal, which was passed by lawmakers last year and voted in a referendum in November. But she says that’s not enough.

“We have to go much further,” she said, noting that the electoral college was set up by the constitution and is therefore difficult to circumvent. “We have to change the constitution and let democracy work as we have told other democracies it should work.”

In 2016, Ms. Baca, who is also a former state lawmaker, received her largest platform to date to position herself on the electoral college.

That year, Mr. Trump lost the popular vote to Ms. Clinton by nearly three million votes, but won the electoral college and became president. With the help of a Colorado voter Michael Baca, then a Jamba Juice employee in his early twenties who had nothing to do with Ms. Baca, she began recruiting Republican voters to switch her votes from Mr. Trump. They became what the electoral college calls “unfaithful voters,” people who do not vote for the winner of the majority of the votes in their state.

Categories
Business

HBO Max Plan Makes WarnerMedia Chief A Hollywood Villain

HBO Max Plan Makes WarnerMedia Chief A Hollywood Villain

LOS ANGELES – When Jason Kilar took office as CEO of Hulu in July 2007, some competitors thought the streaming service was so likely they called it the Clown Co. Yet Mr. Kilar, armed with the belief that there was a better way to watch TV, and the support of two powerful corporate parents – NBCUniversal and News Corp – confiscated himself and his team from an empty Santa Monica office and got to work . He covered all the windows with newspapers and made the point that naysayers should be ignored.

“Sometimes in life blocking out outside noise is really good,” he said in a recent interview.

Hulu didn’t fail, and 13 years later, Mr. Kilar (the first syllable rhymes with “heaven”) is the CEO of WarnerMedia. Suddenly he has a lot of noise that he has to ignore.

This month Warner Bros. announced that its 17 films planned for 2021 – including big budget offerings like “Dune” and “The Matrix 4” – will be released simultaneously in theaters and on the company’s difficult streaming service, HBO Max . The move orchestrated to address the ongoing challenges of the pandemic Decades of precedents for the way the movie industry does business and drives Hollywood into a frenzy.

Powerful talent agents and theater managers have publicly blown it up. Perhaps most importantly, some of the high profile filmmakers who worked with Warner Bros. – and whom the studio plans to work with again – were harshly critical. Christopher Nolan, whose “Tenet” is just the latest of his films released by Warner, told The Hollywood Reporter, “Some of the greatest filmmakers and stars in our industry went to bed that night before they thought they were working for the biggest studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service. “

Denis Villeneuve, the director of “Dune,” wrote in Variety that “Warner Bros. may have killed the” Dune “franchise.” (“Dune” only covers half of Frank Herbert’s novel. It was planned that Mr. Villeneuve would complete the science fiction story in a sequel.) Neither Mr. Nolan, nor Mr. Villeneuve, or most of Hollywood was off been told of Warner’s plans before they were announced.

Mr. Kilar, 49, called the targeted criticism “painful” and added, “We clearly have more work to do in managing this pandemic and the future alongside them.” But he’s spent his career cracking down on entrenched systems and was somewhat prepared for the outrage.

“There is no such thing as a situation where everyone will stand up and applaud,” he said. “That’s not how innovation works. This is neither easy nor should it be easy. When trying something new you have to expect and be ready with some people who are not familiar with change. That’s okay.”

Mr. Kilar’s boss, John Stankey, the managing director of Warner’s parent company AT&T, also defended the strategy, calling it a “win-win-win situation” at a recent investor conference.

Serious and approachable, Mr. Kilar, who took over WarnerMedia in May, acts more as an avid doer than a ruthless disruptor. Both the childhood stories he tells about returning home from school in Pennsylvania to see “Speed ​​Racer” and the enthusiasm he shows for upcoming projects – he named the adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “In the Heights ”“ life-affirming ”- seem purposeful in distracting the growing narrative that he is the evil villain at the center of a conspiracy to dismantle the act of going to the theater to watch a movie. (In the email exchange after the interview, he shared a list of films he paid to see in theaters before the pandemic stalled things and wrote, “I have a few in theaters my most transcendent experiences. “)

Mr Kilar has positioned WarnerMedia’s decision to release films in theaters and streaming in response to the fighting caused by the pandemic, which has closed the majority of American theaters and caused most studios to postpone release until next year . (A notable exception to the delay is Warner’s “Wonder Woman 1984,” which hits theaters and HBO Max on Christmas Day.) He also referred to the decision as “a” Accommodation for the audience that has got used to watching movies in their living room.

But Mr Kilar joined WarnerMedia just two months before HBO Max’s lackluster debut, and it’s his job to make the service successful.

There are serious challenges. HBO Max is more expensive than other streamers ($ 15 a month) and has been criticized for not having “must see” content. (The miniseries “The Flight Attendant” caused quite a stir recently.) Marketing has puzzled customers trying to tell the difference between it and platforms like HBO Go and HBO Now. The total number of subscribers is 12.6 million, well behind Netflix (195 million subscribers worldwide) and Disney + (87 million). Only 30 percent of HBO subscribers signed up.

Additionally, AT & T’s balance sheet has nearly $ 170 billion in debt, which leaves some in Hollywood to wonder if the company can invest enough in content to achieve its goals.

So it helps that beneath the veneer of “Ah, shit, I’m just a Pittsburgh kid” is a relentlessly ambitious manager who wrote a well-read manifesto on a Hulu blog in 2011 that criticized the television business – and most likely played it played a significant role in landing his current job. In his short time, Mr. Kilar has restructured WarnerMedia, laid off around 1,000 employees and started to free the company from decades of fiefdom.

Economy & Economy

Updated

Apr. 11, 2020, 6:16 pm ET

Some employees appreciate his clear direction and focused approach, while others rub against his lack of respect for Hollywood tradition. He has become known for sending long emails, often late at night or on the weekend, to explain his thoughts.

“If you wanted to design an executive for this time on paper, Jason Kilar is the ideal person for the job,” said Jeff Shell, executive director of NBCUniversal, in an interview. The two met last year when they signed a deal on the Warner-produced and channel-licensed series of films “Harry Potter”.

“While he is known to be a technology expert,” added Shell, “I believe he has both a respect for content and a relentless desire to follow where the consumer is going. It was refreshing to see him do such a bold thing. “

Mr. Kilar had never run an organization the size of WarnerMedia or dealt directly with talent and other artists in his previous work experience.

For example, Mr Kilar was positive when asked before Mr Nolan’s public criticism how he believed the filmmaker, a fierce defender of theatrical experience, might react to Warner’s move.

“I think he would say that this is a company that is so dedicated to the storyteller and fan that they stop at nothing to make sure they go as far as they can to both the storyteller and the fan to help, “said Kilar.

Oops.

Mr. Kilar admits the company should have been more sensitive to how its announcement would be received by actors and filmmakers. “A very important point – something I should have made a central part of our original communication – is that we are thoughtfully approaching the economics of this situation with a guiding principle of generosity,” he said. This blind spot in dealing with creative talent could indicate Mr. Kilar’s emphasis on serving the audience above all else. When announcing “Wonder Woman 1984” he wrote a memo in which the word “fan” or “fans” was used 13 times. Its most recent to announce the 17-picture deal was titled “Some Big 2021 News for Fans”.

Mr. Kilar says that commitment to the customer caught on during a childhood trip to Disney World. As his story tells, Mr. Kilar, the fourth of six children, was impressed with the company’s attention to every detail, from the pristine landscaping to the lack of gum on the sidewalk.

“It moved me in a way I had never done before,” he said.

From there, Mr. Kilar became an expert on all that Walt Disney has to offer. He read the biographies, searched the libraries for more material, and eventually got an internship with the company after drawing a comic when his letters got no response. He was most interested in Mr. Disney’s entrepreneurship, a quality that Mr. Kilar defines as “the relentless pursuit of better ways.”

He sees a direct line from this childhood obsession to his decision, as head of WarnerMedia, to take streaming to a theatrical level.

The broader film industry is not that romantic. Mr. Kilar’s main mistake, according to the city, is not the deal itself – after all, filmmakers have been doing business with Netflix for years – but rather the nerve of ignoring the other stakeholders in the company’s decision. He’s still seen as an outsider discussing revolution but maybe really just trying to endorse a stalled streaming product that needs to get subscribers quickly to get Wall Street approval.

“There are some things to talk about and talk about and talk about, but that doesn’t necessarily change the outcome,” Kilar said. “I don’t think this would have been possible if we’d spent months and months talking to every voter. At a certain point you need to lead. And run with the customer in mind and make decisions on their behalf. “

Categories
Health

Covid-19 exams for passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise in Singapore

Covid-19 tests for passenger on a Royal Caribbean cruise in Singapore

Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas cruise ship docked at the Marina Bay Cruise Center in Singapore on December 9, 2020.

Rosanna Lockwood | CNBC

SINGAPORE – The Singaporean passenger who tested positive for Covid-19 on board a cruise ship subsequently tested negative for the disease, according to the Singapore Ministry of Health.

The passenger, an 83-year-old man, was aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas, which embarked on a round trip to the city-state with no stopover on December 7th. The ship was forced to return on Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule, after the passenger underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on the cruise ship that was positive for Covid-19.

PCR tests have been widely used to detect cases because they are accurate in their diagnosis, but it takes hours for results to return.

“His original sample has since been retested at the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) and found negative for (Covid-19) infection. A second fresh sample tested by NPHL also came back negative,” said the Department of Health Health said Wednesday evening, adding that another test would be done the next day to confirm his Covid-19 status.

On Thursday afternoon, the Ministry of Health announced that the passenger did not have Covid-19.

“The sample taken from the individual this morning was negative for the virus. This follows two Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests performed yesterday by NPHL, one on retesting its original sample and the other on a fresh sample yesterday, which was also negative, “said the Ministry of Health in its daily preliminary update of Covid-19 cases in the city-state.

“We have lifted the quarantine orders of his close contacts, which had previously been quarantined as a precaution during the ongoing investigations,” added the Ministry of Health in its statement.

The passenger was taken to the National Center for Infectious Diseases at 2:30 p.m. Singapore time on Wednesday, according to the Singapore Tourism Board.

The tourism authority added that all 1,680 passengers and 1,148 crew members on board had tested negative for the virus prior to the ship’s departure. Passengers and crew members who came into close contact with the person concerned were isolated while other passengers were subjected to mandatory tests before they were allowed to exit the Marina Bay Cruise Center, where the ship is docked.

In a separate statement, Royal Caribbean said that the entire crew will be subjected to PCR testing on Thursday while the ship is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

A cruise with 4 nights that should start on Thursday has been canceled, said the cruise operator.

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the world Travel and tourism sectors this year, including the cruise industry.

Singapore’s “Cruise to Nowhere” program is an attempt to increase demand for travel amid the pandemic. In order to participate, cruise lines must obtain a mandatory safety certification and undergo an audit before they can begin sailing.

Only two operators, Royal Caribbean and Genting Cruise Lines, sail from Singapore under this program.

Categories
Business

How baseball playing cards turned one million greenback different funding

How baseball cards became a million dollar alternative investment

Packs of 2019 Topps cards spread out on a table.

Sam Rega

Interest in collecting and in values ​​has grown steadily over the past decade, and prices went up really faster sometime around 2016 or 2017. With the outbreak of the pandemic earlier this year, card collecting reached new heights. These individuals were largely driven by people in their thirties and forties collecting at a young age and were at home revisiting their card collections.

Then came ESPN’s release of the Michael Jordan documentary series “The Last Dance”. Auction houses and eBay saw an increase in Michael Jordan cards and memorabilia, followed by even greater interest in basketball cards and beyond.

“It brought back nostalgia. It brought back memories of the greatness of Michael Jordan, and his maps and memorabilia grew. And in our industry, it’s definitely one case where rising tides raise all boats,” said Ken Goldin, Founder and CEO of Goldin Auctions said CNBC.

A 15 card pack of Panini Chronicles basketball tickets for the 2019-2020 period.

Sam Rega

As sports cards increase in value, many collectors collect high value collections as part of a diversified investment portfolio. What sets this era apart from the previous one is the recognition that these cards are a legitimate alternative good. Alt, a Silicon Valley startup founded by Leore Avidar, aims to create clarity and security for alternative assets, especially sports cards.

Collectors and investors see a bright future for sports cards. Card companies are aware of their past mistakes and collectors have more information than ever before. If growth continues, Leore Avidar expects records to continue to be broken.

“I’ll say we’ll see our first $ 10 million card in the next two years,” Avidar says.

Check out the video above to find out why sports cards are a popular alternative.

Categories
Business

The Week in Enterprise: Getting Vaccines From Right here to There

The Week in Business: Getting Vaccines From Here to There

Move on, toilet paper: dry ice may be the next hot commodity in the pandemic economy as the first vaccine to become available will have to be stored at freezing temperatures. Here’s what you need to know for the week ahead in business and tech and keep warm out there. – Charlotte Cowles

Facebook has grown too big and accused it of monopolizing its field, according to the Federal Trade Commission and over 40 states that sued the social media giant. The government said Facebook had suppressed competition by wiping out some rivals and acquiring others (such as Instagram and WhatsApp) and called for the company to be liquidated. The antitrust allegations are facing an uphill battle. Facebook pointed out that all of its acquisitions were approved by regulators at this point, arguing that the FTC couldn’t change its mind years later.

It is at this time that all the companies that wanted to go public this year finally take the plunge. And for Airbnb, it seems to be working pretty well, despite the pandemic taking a big bite off the travel business. The company’s shares exceeded expectations on Thursday, the first day of trading, with Airbnb’s market cap valued at $ 100.7 billion – the largest of the generation of “unicorn” startups that include Uber and Lyft . The offer raised $ 3.5 billion, making it the largest IPO in 2020. The DoorDash delivery service went public last week with similar success.

Mastercard and Visa no longer allow their cards to be used on the adult Pornhub website, which has reportedly featured videos of child abuse and rape (millions of other legal videos of consensual sex are also shown). Visa said it will also suspend payments from its network to MindGeek, the parent company of Pornhub, until an investigation into their relationships is completed. Pornhub said earlier this week that it made changes to block non-consensual content.

Less than a week after the Democrats proposed a $ 908 billion stimulus package drafted by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, the White House countered Tuesday with a $ 916 billion alternative. While the price tags on the two bills aren’t far from each other, the similarities usually end there. One key sticking point: the Trump administration’s proposal does not provide federal funding for additional unemployment benefits and instead offers one-time stimulus checks of $ 600 – half the amount provided by CARES earlier this year. It is impossible to say whether Congress will strike a middle ground before the end of the year when the current relief provisions like the eviction moratorium and additional payments for the unemployed expire.

Several industries are preparing for the spread of coronavirus vaccines, but the logistics are tricky. The first vaccine expected to be available, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, has to be stored in freezing temperatures – which requires many cooling systems and rapid transportation. Several airlines, including United, Delta and American, have volunteered their empty planes (which are now standing around due to the impact of the pandemic on travel) for dispensing of cans. And Walmart said it is preparing more than 5,000 of its stores for the vaccine by stocking up on freezers and dry ice.

The cancellation of some federal student loan debts is a cornerstone of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s economic policy. But Democratic leaders are now urging Mr. Biden to take executive action off up to $ 50,000 in debt per borrower once he takes office. That’s a far cry from its original promise to legislate to cancel $ 10,000 per borrower. The difference establishes the first major conflict between Mr Biden and the more liberal wing of his party.