The Bachelor host Chris Harrison talked to an audience of more than 200 students in Wallis Annenberg Hall about the shows efforts to improve diversity, including having its first Black bachelorette Rachel Lindsay in 2017. (Toms Mier | Daily Trojan)

Chris Harrison, host of The Bachelor and other shows in the franchise, discussed diversity and the behind-the-scenes of the reality television series to an audience of more than 200 in Wallis Annenberg Hall Monday.

Two minutes before Harrison was set to arrive in a Wallis Annenberg Hall classroom to speak about his career and experience with the ABC reality television show, the event was relocated to the auditorium to accommodate the influx of audience members. The event was hosted by Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism associate professor of professional practice Mary Murphy for her journalism class titled Entertainment, Business and Media in Todays Society.

One audience member said that despite loving the show, she has noticed a lack of people of color on it. She said she roots for the people who look like her just so she can see them on television more. She asked if the producers are conscious of this and if more representation can be expected in the future.

Harrison said the show casts people from across the country and focuses on their potential storylines, but he admitted that it did not do a good job at assembling a diverse cast when it first started in 2002. He claimed that representation has improved in the franchise.

It was incumbent on us to change that narrative, and we have done that, Harrison said. Over the last several years, we have taken great strides in trying to make you feel more represented. While I would love to only make great social statements and really change the world, I cant just do that because we have to stay on the air or Im not making a social statement to anyone.

Harrison also explained that many of the people behind the cameras are of different races and sexual orientations.

Representation in the franchise came up again when another student asked about the likelihood of casting a gay bachelor. Harrison ultimately said that he does not know if or when it would happen.

Harrison said he doesnt believe The Bachelor changes culture but that the show has evolved as culture has changed. He brought up Rachel Lindsay, the first African American bachelorette in the shows 13th season, and Demi Burnett, the first contestant to have a same-sex relationship on the franchise in the fifth season of Bachelor in Paradise as examples of the shows evolution.

You have to take it as it comes because then its organic and then it feels right, Harrison said. When you try to force things is when it backfires on you We took that step in that we had our first African American, but I didnt look at her and go, So happy shes Black. Im happy that shes a badass woman, and oh by the way she also happens to be African American.

When discussing the line between actual reality and reality made for television, Harrison emphasized that the contestants are real people who he and the producers care about, drawing parallels to his experience as a father of two teenagers.

You kind of have to take your hand off the wheel and let stuff happen, Harrison said, explaining the true reality aspect of The Bachelor.

None of what the contestants say, he said, is ever scripted. However, the producers create environments and moments that force contestants to deal with each other.

Throughout the entire event, which went overtime because of the large number of audience questions, Harrison made inside-jokes that referenced the most recent seasons of The Bachelor franchise and joked with the audience.

It was really cool to see him, because were so used to seeing him on camera, said Maggie Morris, a junior majoring in journalism. And for him to be in person so down to earth, it was great.

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'The Bachelor' host talks diversity in the franchise - Daily Trojan Online

Our sense of the world and our place in it expands by the hour. This 21st-century jungle is incomprehensible in its complexity and fullness; the Earth is saturated with people and information. Just think about how much stuff is out there, from scientific and medical discoveries, books written, works of art created, the 500 recordings of Elgars Cello Concerto the inordinate documentations of our collective pasts, and the continuous stream of current inventions is overwhelming.

We also have so many things in every shape, size, colour and form conceivable, and for every purpose imaginable. And many of these things are designed not to last. Mobile phones are downgraded through a process called upgrading the companies that do it have admitted it!

But what about a thing that does last and is intended to? Do we understand the weight or value of a timeless thing? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge, where is the knowledge we have lost in information? wrote TS Eliot in 1934. If he felt that then, I wonder what he would be saying about us now.

Classical music is a grand and beautiful dialogue between instinct and intelligence

I believe that people still want to feel, and to be moved. They want to communicate with loved ones better and we all want to feel we are not alone in the world. Even though more and more young people seem content in the worlds of their phones adults, too I meet plenty more still committed to community and to the enriching experience of creating something collectively. Yes its an effort, but that effort is the sacrifice that seals lasting bonds and allows for deeper, more profound and lasting experience.

But I am not bemoaning the present and lusting after the past. The amassed insights, information and resources at our disposal now give us phenomenal potential for a conscious and deliberate shaping of the directions we wish to go in. I believe we have a better opportunity than ever before to reacquaint ourselves with all the most enlightened areas of our past and develop a deeper relationship with the profound intelligence of our intuition. Classical music sits in a very interesting place in this evolution of humankind: it is a grand and beautiful dialogue between instinct and intelligence.

Music comes from so deep inside that its able to speak ancient truths in our modern language. Like learning how to deal with heartbreak, or how to trust things that are not going to be discovered more truthfully through an equation or formula or data. Music can tell facts of our humanity that may seem imprecise, but are actually as precise as its possible to be because they can only be what they are. This of course is old wisdom, but old never means its less.

The teaching and sharing of music is important because, put simply, music is important. Before it was notated, codified, refined, studied and given names, it was a gift from the depth of one persons soul to another, or the capturing of a moments emotion, or a lifetimes devotion to a god, or simply improvised expression and a means of communication.

It is the art of all the things we cant see or touch. It is feelings and thoughts, offerings of generosity, vulnerability and openness. It addresses us, communicates and passes invisible things from people creating sound to people receiving sound. It has the power to capture us, to make us feel many complex things. It can lift us high into optimism and accompany us during feelings of hurt and pain. The making of music can be described as healing, invigorating, exhausting and all-consuming. It brings millions together through the basic act of listening and thousands together through the act of making melody, rhythm and harmony in the practice and service of collective expression.

So what about education? My duo partner Alexei Grynyuk studied in Kyiv with a strict teacher who was the ultimate authority what she said was how it was going to go. He then came to study at the Royal Academy [of Music] and was shocked to discover there could be dialogue in learning, and that he could determine the answers to questions himself. Watching Alexei teach now is basically an entire series of questions. He is uninterested in forcing an idea on a student, unless that idea is that they must think for themselves.

For Socrates, the role of a teacher was akin to that of a midwife, implying that you have something within you that only requires bringing forth. French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas said that teaching is the presence of infinity breaking the closed circle of totality. In other words, through education, are we trying to open windows into worlds you would never dream of yourself? Interacting with, and ultimately embracing, the other or that which is radically different to you.

Is education preparing us to become units of production taking up our place in the workforce? Or is education simply, as we often experience now, a process of giving systematic instruction? The Matthew Arnold notion of passing on the best of whats been thought and written in our culture.

Music and education can be a tricky combination. Music, so unquantifiable and very difficult to test. So reliant on creativity, individuality, freedom and expression, and the untidy messiness of life. Education is so often experienced as something more structured, controlled and systematic.

We are all accustomed to hearing that music teaches empathy, coordination, concentration, cooperation, how to listen while expressing something, how to express ourselves more confidently, how to be definitive while staying flexible, how to communicate and relate. We hear that it improves confidence and personal satisfaction, it boosts all-round academic attainment and lifts morale, our physical and spiritual wellbeing are affected, our sense of achievement and ownership over something is nurtured.

We hear about the opening up of our creativity creativity in problem-solving, in thought, in how to make it through a day that bit better or that bit more easily it addresses the releasing of blocked channels in our minds and our hearts, our ability to trust and stay resilient and positive, even when things dont go our way, even when nothing goes our way. We know it can also give us early exposure to the idea of professionalism, in our attempt to make it through a difficult piece in front of our friends and teachers (and keep a straight face when something goes wrong), or in how to set up the hall, and try to make sure the Christmas concert lasts two hours instead of four!

I have learnt more about the pieces Im playing from critiques of sp,e four-year-olds than from years studying with learned professors

Learning an instrument demands learning how to practise. Practice itself can teach us uncommon discipline, persistence and patience. We know that caring for our instrument teaches us responsibility. That technical work and accuracy, playing in tune, coming in on time, paying attention to accents, dots, crescendos and sound production all while trying to express something collectively teaches us loud and clear about balancing opposites and staying afloat.

Music can teach us about meaning. Music fires the imagination in young minds. On some occasions, I have learnt more about the pieces Im playing from critiques of four-year-olds than from years of studying with learned professors.

Musics power is born out of its social practice and the art of creation and interaction. It is conversation.

Music teaches us about our connections to the thoughts, feelings and voices of those from other countries and eras. It puts us in the mind and space of those who seem to experience lives very far from our own. It allows us to strip away all that separates us and urges us to see and feel what unites us. Ultimately our biggest challenge on this planet is to understand, empathise and elevate one another in pursuit of our common humanity. There is no greater challenge or reward.

This is an edited extract from a speech Nicola Benedetti gave to the Royal Philharmonic Society on 5 November. Watch her full speech here.

The rest is here:
Nicola Benedetti: 'Music is the art of all the things we can't see or touch. We need it in our lives' - The Guardian

Deaf Havana dont play songs from Meet Me Halfway, at Least anymore. Thats ok, though. The novelty and simplicity of songs like Friends Like These will never be forgotten standing suspended in time as a memento of the era in which we didnt care if a song was well-written, as long as it had the right balance of screaming and melody.

I had a chat with Deaf Havanas guitarist Matt Veck-Gilodi all about it. Not being in the band at the time, but being the brother of the vocalist, hes in a position to give what I call an insiders outside opinion on the whole thing.

The album that kickstarted their career, released in October 2009 during the golden age of scene bands and screaming, is one that divides opinion, ten years on. Its not very good, is it? Matt laughs. Im not sure it was particularly good at the time, and I wouldnt say its aged well.

Play Friends Like These shouted out by hecklers has become a running joke at Deaf Havana gigs. But if the bandwereto ever play a song off the album perhaps only by having guns pointed at their heads I wondered which would be the most likely choice.

I think the last track. The last track is alright. In Desperate Need of Adventure, because obviously, it needed that many syllables in a song title, because it was 2009. Ah, the golden era of whole essays as song titles.

Another nod to that moment in time is the feature from Young Guns Gus Wood on 3 Cheers for the Easy Life. Along with bands like We Are The Ocean, Kids In Glass Houses, The Blackout, Lower Than Atlantis, Blitz Kids and now Mallory Knox, Young Guns are another band that didnt survive to see the 20s. Its probably time to firmly conclude that that scene, incredible as it was, is dead. But why have Deaf Havana along with You Me At Six and Don Broco survived?

The band have evolved so much through the years, and have always left themselves with room to develop further. Perhaps this is why in an era where most of the bands they came up with are either breaking up or staying stagnant, Deaf Havana are still steadily growing, countless Radio 1 plays and big festival slots under their belt. And theyre deserving of it all.

Post hardcore, alternative, folk, straight-up pop Deaf Havana have done it all. Apart from jumping away from being a screamo band, weve never really made a conscious decision to change a genre or a style. Its just sort of happened, Matt says.

Theyve not yet hit their plateau, and the fact that theyve never released two albums that sound the same and never regressed in their songwriting is likely why. But where does Matt see the bands sound heading in the future? Hes not sure.

I have no idea. People have asked us this after the last couple of records, and weve been like,Yeah, I reckon well carry on down the same route, or maybe go a bit heavier, and its always been the opposite.

Having toured with the band since 2012, Matt officially joined Deaf Havana in 2015. I asked him what it was like slotting into such an already well-established band. It wasnt too tough; it was just fun, he says.

Perhaps the biggest change-up Deaf Havana have had was the shift in sound from 2011sFools and Worthless Liarsto 2013sOld Souls. What almost felt like a full departure from the scene was a big folk nod to the likes of Mumford & Sons. Did Matts involvement in the band have anything to do with it? Im not sure. But he is very much involved in the writing these days.

It varies from song to song, but generally speaking, James will do the bulk of the writing, and then Ill come in and help out with that. The last record, I helped out a lot, and the record before. And then well all have our own flavour, but Id say sometimes Ill come up with a main part of a song and well flesh it out like that. It is mainly James; me and him together, a lot of the time.

Perhaps the synth-enthused, dreamy pop sounds of latest album,Rituals, are a product of his own influences. Right now, Im listening to a lot of electronic music. I cant stop listening to Bonobo at the moment. Probably because weve been travelling loads, and I find it lends itself really well to that.

Whatever it is that inspires the sounds that Deaf Havana are making, it works. They may not be the same screamo band that you first heard of back in 2009, but theyve outlived almost all of their peers, and ten years later, theyre at the top of their game.

Theyve matured as have their fans and grown into something truly substantial; a band that can hold their own in the charts amongst the heavyweights of UK music. Theyve left MeetMe Halfway, at Leastbehind and the dodgy haircuts that came with being in a band of that ilk to graze on pastures greener, and deserve every bit of success theyre now getting.

Evolution is key.

Happy 10th birthday,Meet Me Halfway, at Least. Gone butneverforgotten. Especially by that one guy who has a Friends Like These tattoo.

Catch Deaf Havana on their UK tour, starting tomorrow. 1 from each ticket will go to War Child. The dates are as follows:

November 6th Brighton, Concorde 2

November 7th Oxford, Academy

November 8th London, Alexandra Palace Theatre

November 9th Wolverhampton, KKs Steel Mill

November 11th Bournemouth, The Old Fire Station

November 12th Northampton, Roadmender

November 13th Leeds, Stylus

Related

View post:
Deaf Havanas Meet Me Halfway, at Least Ten Years On, and Why Sound Evolution is so Important (Interview) - VultureHound Magazine

The markets are at all-time highs again. A fresh volley of positive trade news, lowered interest rates, and strong consumer spending has investors less concerned about a near-term recession. Obviously, this makes bargain-hunting a bit more difficult, and value-conscious investors have to be more tactful about which stocks to buy.

In my view, Talend (TLND) is one of the best value plays available in the software sector at the moment. Shares are down about 10% in the year-to-date, and all for the wrong reason in my opinion. Though investors have balked at the company's slowing revenue growth, they've also failed to appreciate the fact that Talend is just now bringing up its cloud division and transitioning its customers to longer-term contracts. As we've abundantly seen with other SaaS names that have embarked on the same transition (like Adobe (ADBE)), the short-term revenue hit from a cloud transition eventually gives way to a stabler and more profitable revenue base.

Talend just released third-quarter results that showed massive growth in the company's nascent cloud division. And despite overall beats to Wall Street's top and bottom-line expectations, shares stayed relatively flat.

With this in mind, it's a fantastic opportunity for investors to re-assess the bullish case in this stock. Valuation remains the key driver here. At present share prices around $35, Talend trades at a market cap of $1.07 billion. After netting out the $172 million of cash and $127 million of debt on the company's latest balance sheet, we're left with an enterprise value of $1.03 billion.

For the following fiscal year (FY20), Wall Street analysts are expecting average revenues of $298.5 million (per Yahoo Finance), representing 21% y/y growth over the $247 million midpoint of Talend's latest full-year guidance outlook of $246.5 to $247.5 million for 2019 (versus a prior wider range of $246-$248 million):

Figure 1. Talend guidance updateSource: Talend Q3 earnings deck

This means that Talend is trading at just 3.5x EV/FY20 revenues.

A point I made last quarter, which continues to be even more true this quarter as Talend shares have continued to crumble, is that Talend is essentially trading on par with stocks like Dropbox (DBX) and Box (BOX) - both dogs of the software industry that are tearing each other apart with competition. Talend, meanwhile, exhibits similar low-20s revenue growth rates while having a far more differentiated product in the market.

I continue to believe in a $49 price target on Talend, implying a ~5x EV/FY20 revenue multiple (still well below most peers in the SaaS sector) and 40% upside from current levels. Once investors' attention turns to strong results in Talend's cloud division, sentiment for the stock should improve.

The one key driver that investors new to Talend should be aware about is that the company recently decided to shift its focus to cloud bookings. Though SaaS has caught on with most of the software industry, it's not as common in the infrastructure/backend software space - prime competitor Alteryx (AYX), for example, is still primarily selling extremely high-priced on-prem licenses.

This shift to cloud is the primary headwind to Talend's revenues, because large license deals that would have given a strong kick to current-quarter revenues are now being spread across longer intervals of time. So when we look at Talend's results, we have to look at it in the context of the revenue shifting to cloud.

Here's a look at the company's third-quarter results:

Figure 2. Talend 3Q19 resultsSource: Talend 3Q19 earnings release

Revenues grew 20% y/y to $62.6 million, beating Wall Street's expectations of $62.1 million (+19% y/y) by a one-point margin. This revenue growth rate represents two points of deceleration relative to last quarter's 22% y/y growth - but again, cloud is the key driver here.

For the thirteenth straight quarter, Talend Cloud notched greater than 100% y/y revenue growth (the difference being that now, the prior-year bases are growing larger, pegging greater significance to the doubling in revenues). In addition, the contribution of cloud bookings as a percentage of total ARR has hit 49%, up six points sequentially and quadruple the year-ago mix:

Figure 3. Talend Cloud contribution to total ARRSource: Talend Q3 earnings deck

The company has also continued to grow ARR at a mid-20s pace. It's important to note that Talend's current ARR of $225 million covers about 75% of Wall Street's consensus revenue projection for next year - giving us high confidence in Talend's ability to execute to that target.

Figure 4. Talend ARR growthSource: Talend Q3 earnings deck

In addition, management noted that there are now 74 customers with total cloud ARR in excess of $100,000 - more than triple the number of large customers from the year-ago quarter, indicating that Talend is also getting its enterprise customers on board with its SaaS offering. Another key development in the cloud business is that Talend is now available on Microsoft Azure (MSFT), widening the company's sales net.

Here's some additional helpful commentary on Talend's cloud progress from CEO Mike Tuchen's prepared remarks on the Q3 earnings call (key points highlighted):

The momentum we're seeing in our cloud business makes us incredibly excited about the opportunity ahead. Our excitement is further bolstered by the fact that our win rates remain consistent even as our cloud business scales exponentially.

Several secular trends continue to drive market growth in cloud adoption; The explosion of global data volumes, a broad transition to public and hybrid cloud environments and increase in data privacy regulation and rapid technological innovation and evolution. With these trends come significantly greater integration and integrity complexity and the need for a modern and complete integration solution.

Talend is at the forefront of the market with Talend Data Fabric, our unified environment that shortens the time to trust the data and solve some of the most complex aspects of the data value chain. In Q3, we announced the availability of Talend Cloud on Microsoft Azure with advance integration and data quality capabilities optimized for the Microsoft cloud platform with native support for Azure services."

It's also important to note that Talend is heading the right direction on the profitability front as well. This quarter, Talend pared down its pro forma operating losses to -$2.8 million, representing a non-GAAP operating margin of -4.4%. In a market that has recently started caring much more about SaaS companies' profitability, that's a highly positive indicator. This also marks a 130bps improvement over 3Q18's pro forma operating margin of -5.7%.

Figure 5. Talend operating margin trendsSource: Talend Q3 earnings deck

The company's pro forma EPS of -$0.08 also smashed Wall Street's expectations of -$0.23.

Right now, Talend's performance is muddied due to the impacts of a rapid cloud transition and the leaping mix of recurring-revenue bookings versus the large, one-time deals of the past. This optical deceleration is obscuring the fact that Talend is signing on key partnerships (Azure), moving some of its largest enterprise customers into the cloud, and improving its long-term revenue stability and visibility.

With a stock trading at just over 3.5x forward revenues, the risk-reward profile in Talend is heavily toward bulls. This is as good a time to buy as any.

Disclosure: I am/we are long TLND. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Read more:
Talend: A Value Name To Buy While The Market Sits At New Highs - Seeking Alpha

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS TO AIR GLOBALLY ON NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IN 172 COUNTRIES AND 43 LANGUAGES

FOX to Air the Complete Season Summer 2020

The Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning Series Hails from Executive Producer, Writer, Director and Creator Ann Druyan with Executive Producers Seth MacFarlane, Brannon Braga and Jason Clark; Series is Hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson

The 13-part Mind-Blowing Voyage Boasts an All-star Team of Creatives Including Acclaimed Costume Designer Ruth E. Carter, Cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub and Composer Alan Silvestri

Voiceover Artists Include Seth MacFarlane, Sir Patrick Stewart, Viggo Mortensen and Judd Hirsch; Author Sasha Sagan, Ann Druyan and Carl Sagans Daughter, Recurs In Live-action Role of Sagans Mother, Rachel Gruber Sagan

The most beloved, wonder-filled science franchise in television history returns with a new, 13-episode, mind-blowing adventure when COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS premieres March 9 on National Geographic. This out-of-this-world trip through space and time will transport viewers across 13.8 billion years of cosmic evolution and deep into the future.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191107005943/en/

The next chapter of COSMOS, announced in celebration of what would have been visionary Carl Sagans 85th birthday this Saturday, Nov. 9, continues the legacy of the groundbreaking series co-written with Ann Druyan and Steven Soter, which was broadcast to a global audience 40 years ago. COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS airs on Nat Geo in 172 countries and 43 languages and on FOX this summer. The previous season was seen by over 135 million people worldwide.

This Emmy-winning, worldwide phenomenon is the brainchild of Emmy and Peabody Award winner Ann Druyan, creative director of NASAs legendary Voyager Interstellar Message, who serves as creator, executive producer, writer and director, and Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated executive producers Seth MacFarlane (The Orville, Family Guy), Brannon Braga (The Orville, Star Trek) and Jason Clark (The Orville, The Long Road Home).

Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, host of the four-time Emmy-nominated StarTalk series and best-selling author (Death by Black Hole, Letters from an Astrophysicist), returns as host and series executive science editor. This season begins with him on the shores of the cosmic ocean as COSMOS enhanced and upgraded Ship of the Imagination and Cosmic Calendar return, taking viewers on a journey through time and spanning a stunning variety of worlds. Throughout these adventurous episodes, COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS integrates one-of-a-kind VFX, animations, holograms and stylized reenactments to carry viewers to never-before-seen worlds and meet unsung superheroes who have made possible our understanding of lifes spectacular voyage from its origin at the bottom of the sea to its possible future on the exotic worlds of distant stars.

This third season of COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS is our boldest yet, says Druyan. The Ship of the Imagination will carry us places we never dared to venture before: lost worlds and worlds to come, deep into the future and straight through that hole in the curtain masking other realities and all of it rigorously informed by science and made real by lavish VFX.

National Geographic is proud to be the worlds leading destination for viewers who are passionate about science and exploration, says Courteney Monroe, president of global television networks at National Geographic. Which is why were excited for the next chapter of the most-beloved and most-watched science show to date, COSMOS, to return to our air. COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS takes complex themes from astrophysics, astronomy and anthropology and makes them accessible and entertaining for millions of people around the world to devour.

COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS ventures to previously uncharted territories: starting back to the dawning of our universe, moving forward to the futuristic 2039 New York Worlds Fair and then far beyond into the distant future on other worlds. Visit an open house in the first apartment ever built and climb a 10,000-year-old stairway to the stars. Return to the foreboding Halls of Extinction, with living dioramas of the broken branches on the tree of life, and venture to the new, glorious Palace of Life, with its soaring towers filled with vibrant marine creatures. Stand beneath its Arch of Experience to know what its like to soar with the eagles or swim with the whales on their epic voyages.

Story continues

Associated with the series are some of television and films most revered creatives across all crafts, including Emmy-nominated cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub (Independence Day, Stargate); Academy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated costume designer Ruth E. Carter (Black Panther, Roots); Emmy-winning and Academy Award-nominated composer Alan Silvestri (The Avengers, Forrest Gump, Contact); visual effects supervisor Jeffrey A. Okun (Clash of the Titans, Blood Diamond); and supervising animation directors Lucas Gray (The Simpsons, Family Guy), Emmy-nominated Brent Woods (American Dad!, Family Guy) and Academy Award-nominated Duke Johnson (Anomalisa, Mary Shelleys Frankenhole).

Many celebrities compose the noteworthy corps of actors who lend their voices to COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS. This season includes Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning actor Seth MacFarlane (The Orville, Family Guy) as President Truman; Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated actor Sir Patrick Stewart (Star Trek, X-Men) as German, British-born astronomer William Herschel; Academy Award-nominated Viggo Mortensen (The Green Book, The Lord of the Rings) as Soviet plant geneticist Nikolai Vavilov; and Judd Hirsch (A Beautiful Mind, Independence Day) as Robert Oppenheimer, famously known as the Father of the Atomic Bomb. Sasha Sagan, Druyan and Sagans daughter, appears in a recurring live-action role as Sagans mother, Rachel Gruber Sagan.

In conjunction with the launch of the new season, National Geographic Books is publishing a companion book, Cosmos: Possible Worlds, by Druyan, the long-awaited follow-up to Sagans international bestseller, Cosmos.

COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS is produced for National Geographic and FOX by Cosmos Studios, the company Ann Druyan co-founded in 2000, and Seth MacFarlanes Fuzzy Door. Druyan and Brannon Braga are the series writers and directors. Druyan, MacFarlane, Braga and Jason Clark executive produce. Kara Vallow (Family Guy, American Dad!) co-executive produces, and Joseph Micucci (Patriots Day, Ted 2) produces. For National Geographic, Kevin Mohs is executive producer and Geoff Daniels is EVP of global unscripted entertainment.

Like COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS on Facebook at CosmosOnTV. Follow the series on Twitter @CosmosOnTV. See photos and videos on Instagram by following @CosmosOnTV.

About National Geographic

National Geographic Partners LLC (NGP), a joint venture between the National Geographic Society and Disney, is committed to bringing the world premium science, adventure and exploration content across an unrivaled portfolio of media assets. NGP combines the global National Geographic television channels (National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Nat Geo MUNDO, Nat Geo PEOPLE) with National Geographics media and consumer-oriented assets, including National Geographic magazines; National Geographic studios; related digital and social media platforms; books; maps; childrens media; and ancillary activities that include travel, global experiences and events, archival sales, licensing and e-commerce businesses. Furthering knowledge and understanding of our world has been the core purpose of National Geographic for 131 years, and now we are committed to going deeper, pushing boundaries, going further for our consumers and reaching millions of people around the world in 172 countries and 43 languages every month as we do it. NGP returns 27 percent of our proceeds to the nonprofit National Geographic Society to fund work in the areas of science, exploration, conservation and education. For more information visit natgeotv.com or nationalgeographic.com, or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

About Cosmos Studios

Co-founded in 2000 by CEO and visionary Ann Druyan, Ithaca, NY-based Cosmos Studios creates, produces, and distributes eye, brain, heart and soul-nourishing science-based entertainment in all media.

Cosmos Studios aims to tear down the walls that have excluded so many from the scientific enterprise. We work to demystify the language, values, and drama of science, to give everyone the power of its permanently revolutionary methodology.

Carl Sagan, and those privileged to work with him, demonstrated that there is a world-wide appetite for compelling entertainment that reflects our dawning awareness of cosmic evolution and our place in its great story. There is a planet-wide hunger for images and dreams that reflect our radically altered sense of who, where, and when we are where we might go, who we might become.

In collaboration with award-winning writers, artists, filmmakers, producers, researchers, engineers, educators, artists, and a growing list of partners across science, communications, and finance, we seek to touch audiences with the soaring spiritual high that comes from grasping science's central revelation- our oneness with the cosmos.

Come with us at http://www.cosmosstudios.com on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/CosmosStudiosOfficial/ on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/cosmosstudios on Instagram at http://www.instagram.com/cosmosstudiosofficial/

About Fuzzy Door

Led by writer, producer and director Seth MacFarlane and president Erica Huggins, Fuzzy Door is the production company behind many of todays most successful film and television projects. With potent irreverence, biting satire, rule-breaking humor, compelling social issues and engaging storytelling, it has created an enviable portfolio of award-winning properties. Currently, the company produces the Hulu space adventure series The Orville; the beloved and Emmy-winning animated comedy series Family Guy, which is currently celebrating its 20th anniversary; and the fan-favorite series American Dad!, now airing its 14th season. Fuzzy Door strategically built on the success of the 1980s Cosmos series by producing the award-winning Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which garnered 13 Emmy nominations and was seen by more than 135 million people worldwide, and is gearing up for the next installment, COSMOS: POSSIBLE WORLDS, set to air in 2020. On the film side, Fuzzy Door has created several commercially successful comedies, such as Ted, Ted 2 and A Million Ways to Die in the West, which have collectively grossed more than $800 million at the worldwide box office. The company is committed to weaving a socially conscious and intellectually curious thread through projects to bring fearless, innovative and bold stories to life, while maintaining its trademark sense of humor and wonder.

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COSMOS Returns! Season 3 of the Most Celebrated Science Show on the Planet to Premiere March 9, 2020, on National Geographic - Yahoo Finance

Partners gather to celebrate the launch of ARC CMIT in Melbourne on November 8, 2019.

World-leading specialist biomedical engineers, scientists and clinicians will come together to develop individually tailored orthopaedic and maxillofacial implants, with todays launch of the Australian Research Council Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies (ARC CMIT) in Melbourne heralding a new evolution of personalised medicine.

As one of four research partners in ARC CMIT, Griffith University is leading two key projects with the potential to deliver significantly better clinical outcomes for orthopaedic deformities, injuries and disabilities.

CMIT Program Leader, Griffith University Professor of Biomechanical Engineering David Lloyd said one project was focused on virtual planning and personalised cutting guides for juvenile femoral osteotomies.

Griffith researchers, alongside clinical colleagues at the Queensland Childrens Hospital, have developed ground-breaking personalised virtual surgery plans for children with complex hip deformities, said Professor Lloyd, who also heads the Gold Coast Orthopaedic Research and Education Alliance(GCORE) at Griffith.

It is a novel approach to complex orthopaedic surgeries utilising digital twin modelling and 3D printing techniques which its hoped can also be translated to other conditions and scenarios.

Dr Chris Carty, senior researcher at Griffith and clinical research manager in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Queensland Childrens Hospital, said the technology allowed the surgeon to plan precise surgeries that would not have been possible with current technologies.

We are conscious of incorporating function into the design, he said.

We want to restore the anatomy of the bone but more than just a good x-ray, we are concerned about how the young patient recovers and functions in the future.

Three successful surgeries have been performed in the past month demonstrating improved precision for surgeons with dramatic reductions in theatre time, helping to minimise time under anaesthesia and blood loss.

We hope this approach will lead to better clinical outcomes in these young patients.

ARC CMIT Director Peter Lee from Melbourne School of Engineering said CMIT would bring together PhD and early career researchers with industry and government, to support translation of research into new products, processes and solutions.

The CMIT ARC training centre will equip a new generation of engineers to work with clinicians, to have a good understanding of regulations and gain experience in entrepreneurship and innovation, Professor Lee said.

Compared to other Australian industry, med-tech is young, so the opportunity for research and development is great. CMIT is one of the largest partnerships of industry, hospitals and universities; an ideal environment for training.

Griffiths other ARC CMIT project aims to improve outcomes after surgery for a rupturedanterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee, a very common sports injury, by tackling the complications of harvesting hamstring tendon for the ACL repair.

Project lead Dr David Saxby said they would look to regenerate the hamstring harvest sites to prevent pain and weakness and subsequent hamstring and ACL injuries by seeding the tissue with the patients own blood plasma.

Our industry partner, Arthrex, has developednext generation platelet rich plasma (PRP)technology and well be applying it to see how much tendon regeneration we can achieve so that patients have more strength in flexing their knee and better post-operative function as compared to conventional best practice surgery performed by one of Australias leading knee surgeons Prof Chris Vertullo.

Griffith University research partners in ARC CMIT include The University of Melbourne, Flinders University and Epworth Healthcare. There are a further 18 CMIT partners from industry, academia, hospitals and government sectors.

The ARC CMIT research partnerships are incredibly valuable because each institution or facility involved brings with it their unique expertise and knowledge, said Professor Lloyd.

Griffith is highly regarded for its world-class modelling of the neuromusculoskeletal system, creating digital twins, or what we refer to as personalised digital humans, so we can customise training, personalise surgeries and tailor rehabilitation to the individual.

The ultimate goal of ARC CMIT is to support research translation that leads to new best practice processes, products, clinical procedures and solutions and we are incredibly excited to be part of this journey.

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Griffith researchers at the forefront of developing personalised medical implants - Griffith News

Cinema Italian Style, SIFF's celebration of the country's vital film industry, kicks off this weekend! Other noteworthy movie options include a Basquiat-starring avant-garde fairy tale, Downtown 81, the Shining sequel Doctor Sleep, and the wicked satire Greener Grass. See all of our film critics picks below, and, if you're looking for even more options, check out our film events calendar and complete movie times listings.

Note: Movies play FridaySunday unless otherwise noted

10 Things I Hate About YouRevisit one of the great '90s rom-coms that avoids saccharinity and sexism in favor of wit and genuine chemistry. Even though it's based on the most sexist Shakespeare play! Go for Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles, stay for the genuine Seattle/Tacoma filming locations. Central Cinema

The Battle of AlgiersDirector Gillo Pontecorvo managed, along with actor, writer, and producer Saadi Yacef (who was himself a part of the Algerian liberation forces during the campaign), to re-create the revolution in the streets of Algiers with breathtaking honesty. Shot in stark black and white, the camera often handheld, the film achieves a level of realism that is really quite startling. It is not documentary-like, but something else, and that something brings me back to the word "document"; feeling as if it were living and breathing history, the film is so masterfully assembled that it is a perfect piece of cinematic art. BRADLEY STEINBACHERThe BeaconFriday & Sunday

Cinema Italian StyleThe Cinema Italian Style is a weeklong SIFF mini-festival featuring the best in contemporary Italian cinema. Notable films this weekend include the auteur Marco Bellocchio's mafia drama The Traitor, based on the true story of a gangster who flipped on his Cosa Nostra bosses, and Illustrious Corpses, a 1976 crime thriller by Franco Rosi, who also made Salvatore Giuliano. (These two films play Saturday.)SIFF Cinema Uptown

Constantine Constantine is far from perfectthe pacing drags, and the often silly plot (which has something to do with a requisite powerful relic) is unabashedly secondary to the premise. But Constantine's still a viscerally enjoyable, even philosophically intriguing treatment of religion: Christianity as an action film. ERIK HENRIKSEN MoPOPSaturday only

Doctor SleepDanny Torrance, the psychic kid from The Shining, is all grown upand messed up, understandably. When he meets a girl with the "shining," the same ability as his own, the two allies must fight a cult that tries to exploit their power.Wide release

Downtown 81This peculiar New York punk fairy tale is an invaluable document of 1980s vanguard country, starring none other than Jean-Michel Basquiat (who was homeless during filming) and featuring his paintings. The plot is something about Basquiat wandering the city trying to sell art, looking for a strange lady with a convertible, and kissing Debbie Harry. The bands DNA, Kid Creole and the Coconuts, and James White and the Blacks, as well as graffiti artists Lee Quiones and Fab Five Freddy, also appear.The Beacon

Engauge Experimental Film FestivalThis experimental film festival will once again screen "films that originated on film" from artists around the world. Tired of everyone being obsessed with narrative? Take a break from it with direct animation, experiments with time, and more.Northwest Film ForumThursdaySaturday

Escape from New YorkJohn Carpenters 1981 classic sci-fi thriller film Escape from New York is a dystopian extravaganza starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, and Ernest Borgnine. After a botched hijacking, Air Force One crashes in Manhattan. The president survives, but, owing to the fact that the island has been converted into a maximum-security prison, finds himself among teeming hordes of violent criminals. A special operative named Snake is sent in to save him. Snake has a checkered past. The year is 1997.Central Cinema

For SamaThis heartbreaking film by documentarists Waad Al-Khateab and Edward Watts chronicles young mother Al-Khateab's experiences in Aleppo during five years of the Syrian Civil War. Among other prestigious prizes, For Sama was awarded the Prix Lil dOr for Best Documentary at Cannes. Northwest Film ForumThursday & SaturdaySunday

Greener GrassA hilarious, unsettling satire of suburban politeness, Greener Grass has my vote for this years unforgettable sleeper comedy, on par with films like Napoleon Dynamite or Wet Hot American Summer. But cowriters/directors/stars Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe have turned out something so much tighter than either of those films. Greener Grass is so relentlessly funny that I expect youll soon be hearing its lines traded around between film buffs. (Do the children play soccer on graves? I havent noticed that before.) My only criticism is in the time-honored casting of a large woman with greasy hair as one of the films more obvious villains, but then again, its suburbiaso really, theyre all villains. SUZETTE SMITHSIFF Film Center

HarrietWith Harriet, audiences are given a live-action reimagining of Harriet Tubmans journey to self-liberation: changing her name, hiding in bales of hay, being chased by dogs, and getting cornered by armed men on a bridge before jumping into the river. Harriet shows how Tubman (Cynthia Erivo) got help from a secret network of safe houses and trusted free Blacks (Leslie Odom Jr. and Janelle Mone) who stuck their necks out to help her cause. Throughout the film, the only music youll hear, gladly, are negro spiritualssongs that enslaved Blacks used to express their sorrow and joy, and to secretly communicate. (Tubman, who was nicknamed Moses, would sing Go Down Moses as a signal to enslaved Blacks that she was in the area, and would help anyone who wished to escape.) Harriet doesnt subject the sensitive viewer to excessive gore or violence (though there is one particularly unsettling scene), because for once, this is a story in the slave movie genre about tremendous triumph, leadership, and Tubmans unwavering faith, both in God and herself. JENNI MOOREVarious locations

Jojo RabbitThe latest from Taika Waititi starts off with a bright, Wes Andersonian whimsiness: Young Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) joyously bounces about at summer camp, having the time of his life as he frolics and laughs with his second-best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) and his first-best friend, the imaginary Adolf (Waititi). Just one thing: Jojo is at Hitler Youth camptheir campfire activities include burning booksAdolf is Adolf Hitler, and World War II is winding down, with Germany not doing so great. Both because of and in spite of its inherent shock value, Jojo Rabbitbased on a book by Christine Leunensis just as clever and hilarious as Waititis other movies, but as it progresses, the story taps into a rich vein of gut-twisting melancholy. Theres more to the complicated Jojo Rabbit than first appears, and only a director as committed, inventive, and life-affirmingly good-hearted as Waititi would even have a chance of pulling it off. He does, to unforgettable effect. ERIK HENRIKSENAMC Pacific Place & Thornton Place

JokerJoker isnt really the story of a good man gone bad; clown for hire Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is troubled from the outset. Hes barely scraping by, living with his mother (Frances Conroy), and coming undone due to cuts in social services. Sure, Phillips overdoes it with long, panning explorations of Flecks bruised, skinny ribs, but then again, men with insecurities about being skinny are presumably the films target audience. The first half hour unfolds like a dog-whistle symphony for insecure guys who think they have it bad. Fleck berates his black social worker (Sharon Washington) for not listening to him when shes obviously doing her best. He fixates on a black single mother (Zazie Beetz) after the briefest sign of camaraderie. Yet there are a series of trap doors throughout Joker that unexpectedly drop its audience into new perspectives. Early on, an obvious foreshadow shifts Fleck onto a new path, and as that plotline plays out, Joker offers some surprisingly rewarding reflections on the relationship between the villain and Batman. (Oh yeah! This is a Batman movie, remember?) Both men, Joker suggests, might be equally deranged, making sweeping moves against the world without regard for those who become collateral damage for their respective manias. SUZETTE SMITHVarious locations

Kamikaze Hearts + The Prostitutes of Lyon SpeakThis double feature pairs Juliet Bashore's pseudo-documentary about the sexism and exploitation of the 1980s porn industry, Kamikaze Hearts, with Carole Roussopoulos's true documentary The Prostitutes of Lyon Speak, which witnesses the sex worker protest occupation of the St. Nizier church. The Beacon Cinema calls the latter "one of the best sex work documentaries ever made."The BeaconFriday only

The LighthouseThe Lighthouse, the second film from Robert Eggers, the director of the excellent, wildly disconcerting period horror The Witch, is... funnier than expected? Sure, its also fucked-up and intense and distressing, but there are significantly more fart jokes than one might expect. Robert Pattinson, with a voice like The Simpsons Mayor Quimby, and Willem Dafoe, with a voice like The Simpsons crusty old sea captain, play two lost souls manning a decrepit lighthouse on a miserable, unnamed island. Like The Witch, this is a story and a setting that feels old, and Eggers captures it in joyless black and white, antiquated dialogue, and a squarish, 1.19:1 aspect ratio. Pattinson and Dafoe squabble and fight and scream, and something is lurking on the rocky cliffs, and something else is lurking at the top of the tower, and man, this one seagull really hates Pattinson. Things get weird, and sad, and unexpectedly touching; Dafoe and Pattinson are both great, and if youre going to descend into Eggerss particular brand of fraught, bleak madness, one could hardly ask for better company. As we head into another dour, dark Northwest winter, Eggerss whipping gales and damp despair are here to remind you that hey, things could always be worse. ERIK HENRIKSENVarious locations

Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic SoundsIn what's being described as an "inspiring, entertaining, epic journey" for movie-lovers (Serena Seghedoni, Loud & Clear Reviews), longtime sound editor Midge Costin directs this tribute to the underappreciated art of sound design and the people who pioneered it. Grand Illusion

Midnight TravelerHassan Fazili's Sundance World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award documents the filmmaker's own journey as a refugee as he is forced by the Taliban to flee his native Afghanistan with his wife and daughters. Right now, there may be few better ways to feel what it's really like to leave home under threat of death and try to resettle in safety during these xenophobic times.Grand Illusion

Motherless BrooklynDirector/star Edward Nortons decision to turn Jonathan Lethems postmodern neo-noir novel into a literal 1950s-set noir, with jazz music and vintage cars aplenty, is both an asset and a liability. Motherless Brooklyn is easy on the eyes, and the all-star cast conveys the senseif not the suspenseof a twisty-turny mystery populated by crooks, dames, reporters, jazz musicians, and an ultra-powerful tycoon inspired by infamous New York City developer Robert Moses. But the movies overlong and unfocused, too, and theres almost no emotional purchase, even as stakes escalate. NED LANNAMANNVarious locations

Moving HistoryMoving Image Preservation of Puget Sound presents another archival screening night, this time dedicated to Seattle's history of resistance in honor of the20th Anniversary of the World Trade Organization protests.Northwest Film ForumSunday

Nailed ItMixed-race Vietnamese filmmaker Adele Pham explores the eight-billion-dollar nail salon industry by diving into 40 years of Vietnamese American history.Northwest Film ForumSaturday only

Night and the CityThe memorably weaselly Richard Widmark stars as Harry Fabian in what many consider to be the quintessential bleak noir, where things couldn't possibly get any worse...until they do.The BeaconSaturday only

Once Upon a Time... in HollywoodOnce Upon a Time doesn't have the self-conscious, This Is a Quentin Tarantino Film feel of the filmmaker's past few movies. It feels neither reliant nor focused on those obsessions and quirks. We spend the bulk of our time with three people: Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), an earnest, anxious, B-list actor whose career is right about to curdle; Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), Rick's toughed-up, chilled-out former stuntman and current BFF; and Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), a bubbly, captivating actress who's just starting to enjoy her first taste of success in show business. How Tarantino plays with history in Once Upon a Time is one of the more intense and surprising elements of the filmand, thankfully, it's also one of the best. ERIK HENRIKSENMeridian 16 & Crest

Pain and GloryPedro Almodvar has long warmed his filmography with flickers of details from his personal life, but Pain & Glory brings us closer to the flame. In it, we look in on Salvador Mallo (Antonio Banderas), a filmmaker in self-imposed exile due to a creative decline and a variety of physical ailments. Banderas stifles his melodramatic tendencies to subtly and powerfully reveal Mallos agonies and evolution. ROBERT HAMSIFF Cinema Egyptian

ParasiteParasite is director Bong Joon-ho at his very best. It's a departure from the sci-fi bent of his recent movies, though it's no less concerned with the state of society today. Set in Seoul, South Korea, the families and class issues at play reflect our global era, in which the disparity between the haves and have-nots seems to be widening. Parasite follows the Kim family, who secretly scam their way into the lives of the wealthy Park family. Slowly and methodically, the Kims begin to drive out the other domestic workers at the Park residence, each time referring another family member (who they pretend not to know) for the vacant position. And so the poorer family starts to settle comfortably into the griftuntil a sudden realization turns their lives upside down. The resulting film offers an at turns hilarious and deeply unsettling look at class and survival, its essence echoed in the environments the characters inhabit. JASMYNE KEIMIGVarious locations

Perfect BlueIn 1997, Satoshi Kon, a Japanese animator, achieved fame with the anime film Perfect Blue. It is a thriller about a retired idol (or, in Japanese, idoru). An idol is a pop star manufactured by a talent corporation. They are young, they sing, they model, they appear on TV shows, they retire. In Perfect Blue, the former idol, Mima Kirigoe, decides to become an actor, but her first role in a drama series called Double Bind fucks with her mind badly. It's hard out here for a retired idoru. CHARLES MUDEDENorthwest Film ForumSunday only

RabidAn early outing from body-horror mage David Cronenberg, Rabid turns Montreal into an apocalyptic hellscape peopled by disease-ridden, blood-crazed biters.Northwest Film Forum

Sundance Indigenous ShortsSundance Institutes Indigenous Program and Art House Convergence present six films by Indigenous and Native moviemakers from the Arctic Circle, Ho-Chunk land in midwestern America, Migmaq territory in Canada, and elsewhere. Some subjects include the heritage of traditional crafts, the art of throat singing, and the Indian Pipe plant.Northwest Film ForumSaturdaySunday

Terminator: Dark FateIf nothing else, Dark Fate has one thing going for it: Sarah Connor. Linda Hamilton is back, which means there's a Terminator movie worth watching again. Well, it's worth watching, I guess, if you, like me, have devoted entirely too much of your ever-shrinking life span to thinking about terminators. For everyone else, Dark Fate's appealwhich largely hinges on seeing Hamilton, Arnold, and various bloodthirsty murderbots back in actionmight be limited. Deadpool director Tim Miller does a lot of things right: His action sequences are messy but intense; he knows to let Hamilton, with her wry eyebrows and smoke-scratched voice, steal scenes whenever she feels like it; and he somehow pulls off the insane-sounding task of making a Terminator movie that's legitimately, consistently funny. But at the end of the day, Dark Fate is another sequel that tries, with mixed success, to reboot a rusty series, and several of the attempts it makes to feel current land with a wet thud. ERIK HENRIKSENWide release

Urusei Yatsura 2Beautiful DreamerA gross boy saves the Earth by besting an alien princess in a weird competition, but then he has to marry her in this odd, dreamy anime by Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell).The BeaconSunday only

Words from a BearJeffrey Palmer's film is a visual meditation on the work of Navarro Scott Momaday (Kiowa), a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer who helped kick off the Native American Renaissance beginning in the 1960s. Northwest Film ForumSaturday only

Zombieland 2: Double TapThe problem with comedy sequels is that it's hard to tell the same joke years later, but funnier. Despite the ravages of time and changing tastes, filmmakers must suplex the lightning back into that bottle. But despite lurching into theaters a full decade after the original, Zombieland: Double Tap avoids those pitfalls while delivering a suitably zany Zombieland experience with the easy charm of an off-brand Mike Judge picaresque. Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Emma Stone all return to banter and blast zombies, and their wry camaraderie speaks a seemingly genuine desire to play in this viscera-splattered sandbox again (rather than, as with many long-delayed sequels, simply the desire for a new beach house). Added to the mix are a spate of goofy newcomers, including a delightfully unapologetic flibbertigibbet (Zoey Deutch) and a pair of dirtbag doppelgangers (Luke Wilson and Thomas Middleditch). It's more a live-action cartoon than a serious entry in the zombie canon, but as a low-key genre comedy, it totally works. BEN COLEMANWide release

Also Playing:

Our critics don't recommend these films, but you might like to know about them anyway.

The Addams Family

Arctic Dogs

Countdown

Downton Abbey

Holiday Hell

Joe Versus the Volcano

Last Christmas

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil

Midway

Playing with Fire

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31 Movies Worth Watching in Seattle This Weekend: Nov 710, 2019 - TheStranger.com

WASHOE CITY, Nev. Ed Alexander had a vision.

A fourth generation Nevadan, cannabis activist and Deadhead, Alexander had dreams of opening a dispensary in his home state that was warm and inviting, championed the performing arts and propped up local nonprofits. Whats more, he wanted a facility that enabled him to grow marijuana on site.

Due to the size of his vision, Alexander, a Spanish Springs resident, knew finding space to plant a facility in Reno or Sparks would be next to impossible. So he found a patch of land in Washoe Valley, tucked between Reno and Carson City, at 275 US-395 ALT, in New Washoe City.

Years later, on Oct. 26, 2018, SoL Cannabis came to fruition. More than a dispensary that sells cannabis products, SoL houses a greenhouse, commercial kitchen and extraction lab.

In fact, if youve ever wanted a window literally into Nevadas budding cannabis industry, look no further than SoL.

The 8,000-square-foot dispensary includes a lobby area with a wall of windows, offering customers expansive views of the 30 strains of marijuana growing in a 25,000-square-foot greenhouse. Moreover, SoLs extraction lab and kitchen are surrounded by glass, offering visitors a view of how their products are made.

Our mantra is about complete transparency, says Alexander, gazing at his crop of sun-kissed cannabis plants on a Monday morning in late October. We want people to see its just a plant thats being cultivated under the sun in organic soil.

All told, Alexander and his team lobbied the state of Nevada for roughly eight months to allow viewing windows into the facilitys cultivation and production spaces. Its about as up-close-and-personal as cannabis consumers can get with a legal grow operation in Nevada or anywhere, according to Alexander.

From our standpoint, we understand that not a lot of people have seen cannabis being cultivated, said Alexander, noting the greenhouse has the capacity to produce in excess of 3,000 pounds of marijuana annually. Thats the reason we lobbied the state to allow us to put the windows in place. When people come down, theyre able to see the plants growing in front of them that they may end up at some point consuming.

SoLs use of a greenhouse was also fueled by the companys commitment to being good stewards of the land, said Alexander. He added: We believe that with the full spectrum of the sun, you get a higher quality product, and you have a much lower environmental footprint.

Inside SoLs open and spacious dispensary, an array of products flower, pre-rolls, edibles, cartridges, CBD tinctures and more hang on walls, sit on shelves and lie under glass.

To simplify the shopping experience, SoL labels each product with one of four different icons: Charge (sativa), Compose (sativa dominant hybrid), Connect (indica dominant hybrid) and Calm (indica).

Since opening a year ago, SoLs customer base has grown about 25 percent each month, Alexander said.

We have people that travel from as far away as Elko, Alexander said. We have customers from 21-year-olds to 90-year-olds were a very inclusive environment.

Alexander said SoL prides itself on being very medicinally-minded and making its customers feel more informed about cannabis when they leave.

Inside SoL, the companys connection to music is also on display: guitars signed by the Grateful Deads Bob Weir and country music legend Willie Nelson on the walls; Dead-inspired swag on shelves; an a 2,500-square-foot deck outside that holds a summer music series.

Moreover, in September, SoL created a musical instrument drive for OBrien Middle School in Stead.

We believe that cannabis and the performing arts walk hand-in-hand, Alexander said. What we want to make it more of a community center that just so happens to provide marijuana and CD products. Were really try to change the perception and some of the stereotypes associated with the industry.

To that end, Alexander said SoL tries to bring in a local nonprofit to highlight every Saturday during its music series. In the past, SoL has promoted nonprofits such as the High Fives Foundation, My Hometown Heroes and For the Kids Foundation, among others.

Were trying to be conscious capitalists, Alexander said. We want to make sure that as we benefit from this platform, the local community benefits and the nonprofits benefit. Its a platform where nonprofits can spread their message.

Recently, SoL celebrated its one-year anniversary by hosting its second annual Harvestfest, an event for those 21 and older that included live music, food and more, in late October.

With a year in the books, Alexander said he has even grander plans for the Washoe Valley dispensary.

As we move forward, were going to focus on combining entertainment with a culinary experience with the cannabis experience, he said. Similar to a vineyard in Napa. We want people to have an all-encompassing experience as opposed to just a transactional experience.

First, the state of Nevada has to OK cannabis consumption lounges, which wont happen for at least two years. In June 2019, the Nevada Legislature adopted a bill that delays the opening of any legal cannabis venues until at least July 2021.

Still, Alexander feels the evolution of Nevadas fast-growing cannabis industry will lead to lounges eventually being allowed in the Silver State hopefully in the not too distant future, he said.

Continued here:
1 year later, Washoe Valley dispensary offers window into Nevada's budding cannabis industry - NN Business View

Visionary director of the Imperial War Museum whose history of the air offensive against Germany became a cause clbre

In 1966 the Queen visited the Imperial War Museum (IWM) in London to open an extension that Noble Bunny Frankland, its director, had persuaded the Treasury to fund. Minutes after she and her entourage had passed, a deluge of oil fell on to the red carpet. It came from a reconnaissance aircraft that had, at Franklands behest, been hoisted aloft and suspended from the ceiling, without anyone first checking that its engine had been drained. Lesser men would have sunk to the ground, clutching at their heart, but Frankland, a veteran of Bomber Command, was made of stronger stuff. He merely counted his blessings.

His appointment as director arose from fortuitous circumstances. In May 1960, as a 38-year-old deputy director of studies at the Royal

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Noble Frankland obituary | Register - The Times

PUBLISHED: 11:11 07 November 2019 | UPDATED: 11:11 07 November 2019

ANDREW ADONIS

John Bercow, ex-Speaker of the House of Commons poses for a portrait inside the House of Commons. Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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The change of Commons speaker is a pivotal moment for politics and for Brexit, says ANDREW ADONIS.

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For Remainers, the poison pill of the parliament just ended was the replacement of John Bercow with Sir Lindsay Hoyle as speaker. Is the change as bad as it seems?

Undoubtedly, a forthright, innovatory champion of parliamentary independence has been succeeded by a highly cautious long-time deputy speaker who will almost certainly row back on some of Bercow's reforms to strengthen parliament against the executive.

It is a conscious act of counter-reformation driven by ministers and Brexiter MPs desperate for a pliant rather than assertive speaker.

The final choice between Hoyle, MP for pro-Leave Chorley (56.8% to 43.2%), near Preston, and Chris Bryant, a continuity Bercow extrovert, could not have been more starkly one of 'radical' v 'conservative', disguised only by the fact that both are Labour MPs.

This latter fact is also the reason that Hoyle won, whereas a Tory Brexiter might not have done so. For Labour MPs split. A group of stalwart Labour friends and associates of Hoyle gave him a majority, allied to overwhelming Tory support.

His supporter base was immediately demonstrated by the identity of the two MPs who 'dragged' him to the Speaker's chair in the traditional show of reluctance: Nigel Evans, one of the most raucous Tory Brexiters, and Caroline Flint, Labour's Brexiter-in-chief and MP for pro-Leave Don Valley in South Yorkshire.

"This is a Brexit takeover," a pro-Bryant MP said to me ruefully after the six hours of voting. "We won't get a look-in after the election."

Maybe so, if there is another hung parliament with Boris Johnson in constant battle with an anti-Brexit parliamentary majority. But history never quite repeats itself, and counter-reformations rarely succeed in completely turning the clock back. The change from Bercow to Hoyle may turn out to be more of style than substance.

Indeed, if a minority Labour government takes office next month, seeking to pilot controversial Brexit referendum legislation through the Commons in the New Year, Hoyle could turn out to be a blessing in disguise. He would probably hold back a Tory opposition from frustrating ministers in the way Theresa May and Johnson were subject to constant parliamentary assault over the past three years. It all depends on the result on December 12 and who is in Number 10 thereafter.

It is important to appreciate the three different categories of innovation made by Bercow in his decade in the speaker's chair, spanning four prime ministers and three minority governments.

The first and most obvious was his constant, loquacious rhetoric from the chair. Never has a speaker spoken so much and at such length, or relished so many archaic and unusual words. ("As for you Mr Lucas, I've told you you need to go on some sort of therapeutic training course if you're to attain the level of statesmanship to which you aspire..."). He wasn't only the most impactful speaker since William Lenthall, who refused to let King Charles I enter the Commons chamber to arrest MPs in person in 1642. He even spoke a similar language.

Bercow's finest hour was his statement, issued on holiday abroad minutes after Johnson's announcement of the five-week suspension of parliament in late August. "I have had no contact from the government," he declared. "But if the reports that it is seeking to prorogue parliament are confirmed, this move represents a constitutional outrage. However, it is dressed up it is blindingly obvious that the purpose of prorogation now would be to stop parliament debating Brexit and performing its duty."

This had echoes of Yeltsin standing on the tank in defiance of the coup against Gorbachev, and Lenthall's historic words, to Charles I: "I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as this House is pleased to direct me whose servant I am here."

Hoyle is a virtual mute by comparison and will appear almost invisible and inarticulate in the chair. However, it is the substance of the speaker's decisions that matter more than the manner of their delivery, and less oratory may not matter much.

The second Bercow innovation was to make ministers far more accountable to parliament, day by day, by allowing far more emergency debates and urgent questions, and allowing questioning of ministers - particularly the prime minister - to continue far longer than previously. This was most notable at the weekly prime minister's question session on Wednesdays, which Bercow virtually doubled in length from half an hour to nearly an hour by the simple expedient of calling more questioners.

In the year before he became speaker only two urgent questions, requiring ministers to answer immediately, were granted. Last year it was 152.

I doubt the Hoyle counter-reformation will completely reverse all this. If Hoyle were to notably shorten question sessions or start routinely refusing urgent questions on topical matters, he would appear weak and ineffectual by comparison with his predecessor. I doubt he will wish to go there; nor will most backbench MPs, on whichever side of the House they sit.

It is the third and least visible area of Bercow innovation which has been most far-reaching. As May and Johnson both hit an impasse with parliament over Brexit, the speaker allowed backbench MPs to introduce legislation, and to vote down and amend government motions, in new ways. This was done by Bercow reinterpreting standing orders to enable backbenchers to command parliamentary time, and take initiatives previously thought to be the preserve of ministers alone.

Bercow's constitutional legacy turns on his action in this crucial third sphere. It was this innovatory spirit which enabled the Benn Act to pass, requiring the government to apply for the latest extension of Britain's EU membership at the end of October. Introduced by a crossbench coalition of MPs led by Labour's Hilary Benn, the legislation even included the terms of the letter which Johnson was required to send to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, requesting the extension.

In my view Bercow's decisions were justified by the fact that a parliamentary majority backed virtually every opportunity provided to enforce its will against May and Johnson. The existence of such a majority, at a time of acute crisis, deserved to find parliamentary expression and Bercow's actions were well judged and in the spirit of the sovereignty of parliament, which is the central principle of the British constitution.

However, the big question is what does the sovereignty of parliament mean in the modern British constitution? Bercow's actions cut across the evolution over more than a century's growth of executive control of parliament. Until Bercow, the modern constitutional practice was that once a government secured the 'confidence' of the House of Commons - in that there was no majority of MPs to vote it out of office and replace it with a different government - then ministers had a largely free hand to fulfil their mandate, as they defined it, until the following election.

It is what Lord Hailsham, a Tory Lord Chancellor in the 1970s and 1980s, called Britain's "elective dictatorship" - something he deplored when in opposition but exerted to the full when in government.

The decisive shift to elective dictatorship came with the First and Second World Wars and their imperative of total national mobilisation. It was perpetuated after 1945, partly because it was by then the status quo and partly because of the long, virtually unbroken era of majority governments until 2010.

Another key factor in the 'elective dictatorship' era was the willing subservience of Tory and Labour MPs to their party leaderships. Until recently we took this too for granted, but it was more contingent than appreciated - contingent on the fact until party leadership election systems were changed in both parties after 1981, party leaders were chosen by MPs alone. Now, party activists are involved in choosing party leaders. This has fundamentally changed the relationship between MPs and their leaders, exacerbated by minority governments since 2010.

A large part of the Brexit battle, in the context of minority governments and growing discord between MPs and their leaders, has been controversy over the legitimacy of these models of executive-parliamentary relations - 'elective dictatorship' model or 'parliamentary supremacy'. Bercow has been at the fulcrum of this debate, but it is far bigger than him and it is not remotely concluded.

In my view, parliamentary supremacy is a far more liberal, plural and modern view of how democracy should work. It needs to go hand in hand with greater devolution to local and regional government in England and the replacement of the House of Lords with a federal senate. All this would make the United Kingdom much more like the Federal Republic of Germany, the best governed large state in Europe since 1949, whose constitution was largely written by enlightened British experts whose views held little sway in Britain itself. Just as on Brexit.

In decades to come, Bercow may be seen as a catalyst and the agent of fundamental constitutional change in the UK. Or he will be regarded as an aberration caused partly by his exceptional extrovert personality - Netflix movies are already in the making - and partly by the exceptional nature of the 2017-19 Brexit parliament. Time will tell.

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