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‘Shazam! Fury of the Gods’ – come along for a fun ride

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Shazam! Fury of the Gods”Rated PG-13. At the AMC Boston Common, AMC South Bay and suburban theatersGrade: BA little humor goes a long way when you’re saving the world as shown in “Shazam! Fury of the Gods,” a fun (and merely 2 hours and 10 minutes-long) outing that starts with Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu as two daughters of Atlas, not very comically stealing the Staff of Life from a museum, transforming innocent museum-goers into zombies and then turning them all to stone.Cut to Philadelphia where Billy Batson (once again, Asher Angel) aka Shazam (again, Zachery Levi) and his super-heroic siblings live with their foster parents Rosa (Marta Milans) and Victor Vasquez (Cooper Andrews). Shazam, who does not know his superhero name, and his superhero siblings are known as the Philly Fiascos by the Philadelphia Tribune because of their supposed inability to do superhero things right. After the James Bond-like opening sequence at the museum, the film begins in earnest whe...

Lowry: Race-focused activists come for Shakespeare

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

Shakespeare has long been dismissed, with others in the Western canon, as a dead white male. Now, there’s another, worse charge against the bard — he created the concept of whiteness.Yes, instead of standing in the line of literary giants such as Dante, Chaucer, and Goethe, Shakespeare is to be associated from now on with the likes of the 19th century French apostle of scientific racism Arthur de Gobineau, George Wallace, and — why not — the Oath Keepers.If you’ve wondered if there’s anything that race-obsessed activists, bureaucrats and academics can’t ruin, the answer is “no,” as they begin get to work in earnest trying to tear down a towering genius who has had an immense — and profoundly edifying effect — on our culture.According to a new volume, “White People in Shakespeare,” the immortal playwright was engaged in “white–people–making.” The contributors to the book aren’t...

Editorial: Border Patrol asks for $$ while climate plans rake it in

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

U.S. Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz had a simple message for House Republicans Wednesday: we need help.Testifying at the House Homeland Security Committee’s field hearing in south Texas — which committee Democrats boycotted — Ortiz said that the current flow of migrants to the U.S-Mexico border “represents challenges, and in some areas, a crisis situation,” as The Hill reported.“Now, unlike in previous surges, we are seeing traffic including large groups, spread across multiple locations, instead of just one or two specific sectors,” Ortiz said. “This places tremendous strain on Border Patrol resources and our operational posture.”As has been reported,  a large group of people in Mexico approached a US border entry point in El Paso, Texas, Sunday in an attempt at mass entry into the U.S., causing disruptions along the border and authorities to erect barricades, US Customs and Border Protection said.The group made a formation and approached the international boundary at El Paso, “pos...

Fonda and Tomlin have a field day in comic ‘Moving On’

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Moving On”Not rated   At the AMC Boston Common and suburban theatersGrade: B“Moving On” is, first and foremost, a vehicle for Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda as sunset seniors reunited for a funeral.But unlike their frothy, sentimental and laugh out loud teaming with Sally Field and Rita Moreno for the recent “80 for Brady,” “Moving On” seeks more solid ground in its pointed dilemmas.This happens to be the third teaming for Tomlin with writer-director Chris Weitz (“About a Boy,” “American Pie”), several years after they jointly triumphed with “Grandma.” That was written by Weitz expressly for Tomlin who played a lesbian grandmother helping a teenager fund an abortion.Here, Tomlin’s Evelyn is also queer, living in senior housing in California. Long after college she reunites with Fonda’s Claire at the funeral service. Evelyn drunkenly interrupts the eulogy by the dead woman’s husband (Malcolm MacDowell) which hardly matters when compared to Claire’s reaction on se...

‘Boston Strangler’ a winning account of infamous killings

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

MOVIE REVIEW“Boston Strangler”Rated R. On HuluGrade: B+Set in the early 1960s, “Boston Strangler” tells the dark, relevant and resonant tale of a Boston Record American lifestyle reporter named Loretta McLaughlin (Englishwoman Keira Knightley), who uncovers a link between the murders of three women in the Boston area and insists on covering the case. McLaughlin insists in spite of the extreme reluctance of her crusty, irascible editor-in-chief Jack Maclaine (Kingston  resident Chris Cooper), whose fears about putting a woman on the story turn into the realization that such a move might boost circulation. Some crazed killer is targeting older women who live alone. The killer strangles the victims and leaves stockings tied round their necks in a neat double-hitch knot.As a woman reporter covering a grisly murder case, McLaughlin is a pioneer. Part of her problem is the lack of respect of her peers and the police, although the fact that she is attractive can work in her favor. Another ...

Dear Abby: Grandma sniffs at young woman’s nose stud

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

Dear Abby: My 20-year-old niece, “Andrea,” came to visit her grandmother wearing a nose stud. Andrea is quiet, is polite to her grandparents and aunt and is in her third year of college. Her grandmother is livid at her daughter for “allowing” the girl to do this. (It appears Andrea may be trying to rebel at this age.) Her grandmother is footing the bill for her college.Who can help the grandmother to get her granddaughter to stop this behavior, and how? Andrea has never done anything like this before, and this is not like her. Her friends don’t look or act like Goths or punks. This is so out of character. She earns good grades, and she is usually a quiet girl who never speaks to anyone other than her mom or brothers. Please advise. — Taken Aback in New YorkDear Taken Aback: You keep referring to your niece as a “girl.” Allow me to enlighten you: This “girl” is a young WOMAN. If Granny has a bone to pick with Andrea about he...

Beached whale found in Carlsbad dies

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- A pygmy sperm whale that was found washed ashore Thursday at Carlsbad State Beach died, rescue officials said.The whale died despite a grand effort by crews and beachgoers, SeaWorld San Diego confirmed to FOX 5.Around 6:40 p.m., FOX 5 captured video of beachgoers at Lifeguard Tower 28 on Carlsbad Village Drive helping the SeaWorld San Diego rescue team carry the animal off the beach and up a hill of rocks. Bluff collapses in North County The whale appeared to have lacerations and could be seen moving its tail and breathing while it was being lifted to the street above.Rescuers then took the whale offsite, but it later died due to its injuries, per officials.

North County sinkholes cause headaches for residents

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

OCEANSIDE, Calif. -- Three sinkholes around the county are keeping crews busy with repairs. Crews are working to repair sinkholes in Encinitas off Lake Drive in Cardiff, SR-78 in Oceanside and off Sky Haven Lane in Oceanside.The Oceanside sinkhole caused evacuations on the road behind, which happens to be in Vista.“So far we are trying to stay positive,” said Brenda Stebbings, an evacuee in Green Valley Mobile Home Park off Sunset Drive in Vista.Behind a row of homes towards the back of the neighborhood, a sinkhole formed on a hill off Sky Haven Lane. The sinkhole forced evacuations in the Green Valley Mobile Home Park.“We were given about maybe ten minutes to grab what we could and come out,” Stebbings said.The ground slid pushing through a retainer wall at the bottom, so strong it knocked some homes off their support stands.The slide even buckled the end of Denise Dougi’s driveway.“It has trapped my car. I need help, please somebody free my car,” Dougi said. “I really just need my...

New Zealand lawmakers banned from TikTok amid data use fears

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand lawmakers and other workers inside the nation’s Parliament will be banned from having the TikTok app on their government phones, officials said Friday.The ban, which takes effect at the end of the month, follows similar moves in many other countries. However, New Zealand’s ban will apply only to about 500 people in the parliamentary complex, not to all government workers like bans in the U.S. and Britain. Other New Zealand agencies could decide later to impose their own bans.Global concern about the app comes after warnings by the FBI and other agencies that TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance could share TikTok user data — such as browsing history, location and biometric identifiers — with China’s authoritarian government. New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said he didn’t have TikTok on his phone.“I’m not that hip and trendy,” he told reporters.The New Zealand move came on the advice of government ...

Asian shares up after First Republic aid spurs Wall St rally

Published Sun, 02 Feb 2025 00:21:37 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) — Shares advanced Friday in Asia, tracking a rally on Wall Street after a group of big banks offered a lifeline to First Republic Bank, the lender investors had focused on in their latest hunt for troubles in the banking industry. Chinese markets gained more than 1% while others also rose. U.S. futures edged lower and oil prices climbed. The S&P 500 jumped 1.8% Thursday, erasing earlier losses following reports that First Republic Bank could get help or sell itself to another bank. Markets have gyrated this week on concerns over the toll on banks from the fastest set of interest rate hikes in decades. The turmoil flared with last week’s collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, the second largest bank failure in U.S. history.In Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.8% to 19,545.94 and the Shanghai Composite index surged 1.6% to 3,278.01. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.8% to 27,222.25 and the Kospi in Seoul was up 0.8% at 2,396.06. Shares in major Japanese banks...