Saturday, November 7, 2020

Negromancer News Bits and Bites from November 1st to 7th, 2020 - Update #33

by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

Support Leroy on Patreon:

ENTERTAINMENT AND CULTURE NEWS:

POLITICS-HALLELUJAH - From CNN:  Joseph R. "Joe" Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States.  Inauguration Day is Wednesday, January 20, 2021.

From CNN:  The Moment When Networks Called The Presidential Race For Joe Biden

MOVIES - From Deadline:  After 18 months and 40,000 COVID-19 tests, "Jurassic World: Dominion" has finished shooting.

From CNN:  Kamala Harris, who on Saturday became America's first female, first Black and first South Asian vice president-elect, represents a new face of political power after an election all about who wields power and how they use it.

MOVIES - From BleedingCool:  Vince Vaughn talks about a sequel to his 2004 hit, "Wedding Crashers."  [When your career is in decline, make a sequel to your biggest hit ... ]

TELEVISION - From Deadline:   Donald Glover speaks excitedly about Seasons 3 and 4 of his FX television series, "Atlanta."

CRIME - From TMZ:   Rapper King Von is dead after a violent confrontation outside an Atlanta nightclub that ended in gunfire

AWARDS - From Deadline:  The nation of Guatemala has made the horror film, "La Llorona," its selection to compete in the race for an Oscar nomination in the category, "Best International Feature Film" (which has previously been known as "Best Foreign Language Film").

MOVIES - From Variety:   Johnny Depp says Warner Bros. asked him to resign in his "Fantastic Beasts" role of Gellert Grindelwald, and he says that he has agreed.

HOME RELEASE - From Deadline:  Warner Bros. has announced a December 15, 2020 Blu-ray and DVD release date for his much talked about hit film, "Tenet."

SCANDAL - From Variety:   A murder suspect has been arrested in the Sunday, November 1st shooting death of actor Eddie Hassell in Grand Prairie, Texas.

POLITICS-MOVIES - From InformedComment:   Top Five Horror films on Halloween that remind us of Trump’s Presidency

DISNEY - From Deadline:  It is a day of layoffs from Disney units, ESPN and Searchlight. This is related to the COVID-19 fallout.

CELEBRITY - From YahooGMA:  Emmy-winning actor, Michael J. Fox, who is suffering from Parkinson's disease, reveals that he is losing his ability to act.

SPORTS - From NBA:  The best player from the last 20 NBA drafts, according to NBA.com.

POLITICS-CELEBRITY - From YahooEntertainment:   Duchess Meghan of Sussex has another first to add to her resume: She's the first member of the British royal family to vote for president in an American election.

STREAMING - From Deadline:  Warner Bros. and director Robert Zemeckis' remake, "The Witches," is getting backlash from disability community.

STREAMING - From ShadowandAct:   Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx will star in and executive produce "Dad Stop Embarrassing Me" for Netflix.  It is based on his relationship with his daughter, Corinne Foxx.

STREAMING - From Variety:   Oscar-winning actor, Jeremy Irons ("Reversal of Fortune"), will headline Netflix's adaptation of Robert Harris' 2017 bestselling novel, "Munich."

TELEVISION - From CinemaBlend:   Actress Hilarie Burton ("One Tree Hill") has been cast as "Lucille," the wive of Neegan in AMC's "The Walking Dead."

TELEVISION - From Deadline:   Actress/recording artist, Eve, is leaving the CBS afternoon talk show, "The Talk," after four seasons.

POLITICS - From BET:   U.S. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) criticizes Black supporters of President Donald.

CELEBRITY - From THR:   Oscar-nominated actor, Johnny Depp, has lost his defamation lawsuit in the United Kingdom.  Depp has brought an action against News Group Newspapers over "The Sun's" 2018 article, "Wife Beater," about Depps contentious marriage to and divorce from actress Amber Heard.

BOX OFFICE - From Deadline:  The winner of the 10/30 to 11/1/2020 weekend box office is "Come Play" with an estimated take of 3.15 million dollars.

COMICS - From GamesRadar:  George C. Romero is partnering with publishing company, Heavy Metal, to produce a comic book prequel to his late father, George A. Romero's seminal zombie film, "Night of the Living Dead" (1968).

MOVIES - From NewYorkTimes:  "The Purge" film franchise reveals the ugly truth about America. 

OBITS:

From BBC:  The English actor, Geoffrey Palmer, has died at the age of 93, Thursday, November 5, 2020.  Palmer was best known for his roles on British television sitcoms like "As Time Goes By" (1992-2005).  He also had memorable roles in films such "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988) and "The Madness of King George" (1994).

From Variety:   Actress Carol Arthur has died at the age of 85, Sunday, November 1, 2020.  Arthur was best known for her appearances in several Mel Brooks films, including "Blazing Saddles" (1974).  Arthur was married to the late actor Dom DeLuise from 1965 to his death in 2009.  The couple had three sons, actor Peter, Michael, and David DeLuise.

From Variety:  Actor Eddie Hassell has died at the age of 30, Sunday, November 1, 2020, apparently shot to death.  Hassell is best known for his roles in the 2010 Oscar-nominated film, "The Kids Are All Right" and on the NBC television series, "Surface."

From BBC:  The Scottish actor and film producer, Sean Connery, has died at the age of 90, Saturday, October 31, 2020.  Connery was best known for playing seminal secret agent and spy, James Bond, Agent 007, in seven films over a 21 year period, beginning with "Dr. No." in 1962 and ending with "Never Say Never Again" in 1983.  Connery also won a "Best Supporting Actor" Oscar for his role in the 1987 film, "The Untouchables."

From Deadline:  Tributes for the late Sean Connery flood in...

From YahooEntertainment:  President Donald pays tribute to Sean Connery... by lying about him.
--------------------------------

COVID-19:

From CDC:   The Centers for Disease Control has a "COVID Data Tracker."

From YahooNews:  Why does COVID-19 kill some people and hardly affects others?

From YahooNews:  Yahoo has a dedicated page of links updating news about COVID-19.

From Deadline:  The news site "Deadline" has a dedicated page for news about coronavirus and the film, TV, and entertainment industries.

From TheNewYorker:  The venerable magazine has a dedicate COVID-19 page free to all readers.

From YahooNews:  Re: the federal government's response to COVID-19: What if the most important election of our lifetime was the last one - 2016?

From YahooLife:  What is "happy hypoxia?"  And do you have this COVID-19 symptom?

From JuanCole:  Remember when President Donald went crazy and suggested that we ingest household cleaning supplies and UV light to fight COVID-19.  Here is the video and commentary from Juan Cole.

From TheIntercept:  The federal government has ramped up security and police-related spending in response to the COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic, including issuing contracts for riot gear, disclosures show. The purchase orders include requests for disposable cuffs, gas masks, ballistic helmets, and riot gloves...

From TheAtlanticThe Coronavirus Was an Emergency Until Trump Found Out Who Was Dying. The pandemic has exposed the bitter terms of our racial contract, which deems certain lives of greater value than others.

From ProPublica:  Hospital's Secret COVID-19 Policy Separated Native American Mothers From Their Newborns

From TheGuardian:  More than 20 million Americans could have contracted COVID-19, experts say.

From RSN/WashPost:  The COVID-19 mutation that has taken over the world.

7/13 - From YahooSports:  Maybe a pandemic means that there will not be college football this fall.

7/13- From YahooNews:  The CDC adds four new symptoms (including nausea and purple or blue lesions on feet and toes) to the list of COVID-19 symptoms.

7/19 - From YahooFinance:  Harvard Public Health professor Dr. Howard Koh says the U.S. "needs to regroup" to find COVID-19.

7/22 - From YahooNews:  A public health employee predicted Florida's coronavirus catastrophe — then she was fired.

7/22 - From YahooLifestyle:  Florida mom loses son, 20, to coronavirus, and then days later, her daughter.

7/23 - From TheWrap:  The site has a list of movie and TV stars, entertainment and sports figures who have tested positive for COVID-19

From Bloomberg:  Will the COVID-19 pandemic turn Millennials into socialists?

7/27 - From CNN:   Chief of critical care at Baltimore's Mercy Medical Center, Dr. Joseph Costa, passes away due to Covid-19 complications... after treating the hospital's sickest COVID-19 patients.  He was 56 and leaves behind family, including a husband of 28 years.

7/31 - From Slate:  COVID-19 is airborne - for reals!

8/9 - From YahooAFP:  According to the real-time tally kept by John Hopkins University, the United States has hit 5 million cases of COVID-19.

8/16 - From Truthout: COVID Deaths Continue to Surge in Countries Led by Far Right Authoritarians

9/19 - From WashPost:  U.S. coronavirus death toll reaches 200,000

9/23 - From CNBC:  Mark Cuban, who owns the NBA's Dallas Mavericks and star of ABC's "Shark Tank," suggests that every household in American get a $1000 check every two weeks for the next two months.

9/28 - From Deadline:  John Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker reports that over 1 million people have died of COVID-19 worldwide.

10/2 - From YahooNews:  President Donald and the First Lady have tested positive for COVID-19.

10/26 -  From YahooFinance:  Walmart CEO detects a new wave a panic buying as consumers stock up for another surge in coronavirus cases.

11/5 - From CNN:  The US set a grim new Covid-19 record Thursday -- following a week marked by high case numbers -- surpassing 120,000 infections in a single day. 

11/7 - From YahooNews:  "It's a slaughter," doctors say of new coronavirus wave.

BLACK LIVES MATTER:

From RSN:   Judge's Blistering Opinion Says Courts Have Placed Police Beyond Accountability

From TheGuardian:  Yusef Salaam, one of the "Central Park Five," says in an interview, "Trump would have had me hanging from a tree in Central Park."

From NPR:  Prosecutors' plea deal required drug suspect to name Breonna Taylor a "co-defendant."

From ChicagoSunTimes:  Rev. Jesse Jackson: America has millions of people in poverty because Americans choose not to demand the policies that would lift them out of poverty.

From APNews:  No one will be held accountable for the killing of Louisville African-American resident, Breonna Taylor.

From Channel4:  Revealed: Trump campaign strategy to deter millions of Black Americans from voting in 2016

From GuardianUK:  California is going to consider paying reparations to the descendants of African slaves after adopting a landmark law to study and to develop proposals around the issue.

From TheRoot:   What to Do When Your Country Turns Into a Dumpster Fire

From Vox:  It's True: 1 in 1,000 Black Americans Have Died in the Covid-19 Pandemic

From CBS:  Breonna Taylor's boyfriend certain cops didn't identify themselves

From DonaldTrump:  Well, because it has been in the news a lot lately (via Ice Cube and Li'l Wayne), here is "The Platinum Plan."  It is impressive, but no Republican Congress would go along with even 10 percent of this plan which is basically a long list of promises to the Black Americans - individually and as a group.


Thursday, November 5, 2020

2021 Grammy Award Nominations to Be Announced Nov. 24th

Save the Date: 63rd GRAMMY Awards® Nominations

Chair and Interim Recording Academy® President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and Eclectic Group of Music Creators to Reveal Nominees in All 84 Categories During the Virtual Livestream Event

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Recording Academy® will announce nominees for the 63rd Annual GRAMMY Awards® on Nov. 24, 2020. The hour-long livestream will begin at approximately 9:00 a.m. PT/12:00 p.m. ET with Chair and Interim Recording Academy President/CEO Harvey Mason Jr. reading categories and will be joined by past GRAMMY® winners, nominees and hopefuls from remote locations across the country. The nominations virtual livestream will be available to view on GRAMMY.com.

Immediately following, all nominees for the 84 categories will be released via press release, on GRAMMY.com, and the Recording Academy's social media platforms. The 63rd GRAMMY Awards will be broadcast in HDTV and 5.1 surround sound on the CBS Television Network, Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021 at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT.

Follow "Recording Academy / GRAMMYs" on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook and use #GRAMMYs to join the conversation as it unfolds on Nov. 24, 2020.

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Wednesday, November 4, 2020

Sony Pictures Signs First-Look Deal with Jeff Friday Media

Sony Pictures Entertainment and Jeff Friday Media, Production House of the American Black Film Festival Founder, Announce Unique First-Look Deal

Under the Multi-Year Partnership, the Studio Secures First Access to Festival Content and Top Emerging Filmmakers

Culver City, CA – Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) signed a unique first-look deal with Jeff Friday Media (JFM), the newly-formed production house launched by Jeff Friday, founder of the American Black Film Festival (ABFF) -- the leading annual film festival for Black content creators. Under the multi-year deal, the studio will be offered first consideration for narrative feature films submitted to the Festival, and year-round access and introductions to emerging filmmakers discovered by Jeff Friday, CEO of JFM.

The deal will broaden SPE’s pipeline, ushering in the next generation of storytellers, and accelerating exposure and opportunity for filmmaking talent of color.  Friday will produce original films helmed by talent he discovers.

“Diverse voices and stories propel our studio and the industry at large. We are grateful to Jeff for opening up his vast rolodex to us and are looking forward to meeting and working with these brilliant, creative minds,” said Josh Greenstein, Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President.

“We are very excited to grow our partnership with SPE and create opportunities for emerging writers and directors of color to produce studio films,” said Jeff Friday, founder and CEO of Jeff Friday Media. “Our goal is to aggressively expand the market for Black and Brown content and demonstrate that diversity is great for the motion picture business.”

“This distinct partnership accelerates relationship-building, inroads and opportunity on both sides, which is critical for a sustainable pipeline,” said Paul Martin and Keith Weaver, co-chairs of Sony Pictures Action, the studio’s racial equity and social justice initiative. “We are energized about capturing the breadth of emerging storytellers and content and bridging the gap; funneling creators and projects directly into the hands of our engaged studio executives.”

For over two decades, Jeff Friday – distinguished producer and film financier – has supported the early work of many of the industry’s most successful Black artists and content creators through ABFF such as Anthony Anderson, Issa Rae, Ava DuVernay, Kevin Hart, Omari Hardwick, Kerry Washington, Halle Berry, Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Will Packer (Girls Trip), Saladin K. Patterson (The Big Bang Theory) and Ben Watkins (Hand of God) to name a few.

This partnership furthers SPE’s long-standing relationship with Friday. SPE most recently became the founding sponsor of Friday’s latest endeavor, the Social Justice Now Film Festival (SJNFF). The inaugural festival will take place virtually October 21 through October 25, 2020, and showcase content to heighten awareness, inspire action, and confront the social and economic issues disproportionately impacting communities of color. 


ABOUT JEFF FRIDAY MEDIA:
Jeff Friday Media (JFM) is a production company founded by American Black Film Festival creator Jeff Friday in 2019 as a platform to license and produce a diverse portfolio of feature films, unscripted television and digital content. The studio’s output will focus on Black and Brown audiences, and is designed for dissemination across an array of platforms including major studio partnerships, streaming platforms, traditional broadcast and cable television networks. The company maintains its headquarters in Los Angeles, Calif.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT:
Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition, and distribution; television production, acquisition, and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. Sony Pictures Television operates dozens of wholly-owned or joint-venture production companies around the world. SPE’s Motion Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures, Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures Animation, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, and Sony Pictures Classics. For additional information, visit http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html

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Monday, November 2, 2020

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