I've been bruised, but I’ve had an amazing life

Cruz-Mendoza has been deported or has left of his own free will on 16 occasions

would ban any restrictions on abortion in the first trimester

'It was spinning full circles and one of the engines was definitely out'

Another Boeing whistleblower has spoken up ahead of CEO Dave Calhoun's Senate testimony

'Biden has sent mixed messages'

'Americans look to him'

News Get Jiro Anthony Bourdain’s Get Jiro! Is Becoming an Adult Swim Animated Series Violent, sexy food stories in cartoon form. By Molly Templeton | Published on June 18, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Over a decade ago, chef/writer/TV host/generally excellent guy Anthony Bourdain co-wrote a graphic novel with Joel Rose. Drawn by artist Langdon Foss, Get Jiro! is set in a near-future Los Angeles, where people literally do murders for seats at the hottest restaurants. Seriously. Here’s what the summary says: In a not-too-distant future of food-obsessed L.A., where master chefs rule the town like crime lords and people literally kill for a seat at the best restaurant, Jiro, a renegade and ruthless sushi chef arrives in town with strong ideas of his own. It’s a bloody culinary war of epic proportions, and in the end, no chef may be left alive! In 2015, Bourdain told Eater, “To be able to go back to my teenage years and do a comic book—especially a really violent, sexy, food-oriented one—it’s an unfinished or unrealized dream.” Get Jiro! is now coming to a small screen near you: The Hollywood Reporter has the news that Adult Swim has ordered an animated series adaptation of the graphic novel. Creators Brian Gatewood and Alessandro Tanaka were both writers and producers on the series Superstore, and co-wrote the movie Sharper. The animated Get Jiro! will be a half-hour show, but no further details, such as number of episodes or voice cast, have been announced.[end-mark] The post Anthony Bourdain’s <i>Get Jiro!</i> Is Becoming an Adult Swim Animated Series appeared first on Reactor.

Books Dissecting the Dark Descent Poisonous Nostalgia and Destructive Antidotes: “Within the Walls of Tyre” by Michael Bishop A fraught portrait of two deeply damaged people set on a collision course by one long dead and toxic individual… By Sam Reader | Published on June 18, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Welcome back to Dissecting The Dark Descent, where we lovingly delve into the guts of David Hartwell’s seminal 1987 anthology story by story, and in the process, explore the underpinnings of a genre we all love. For a more in-depth introduction, here’s the intro post. Michael Bishop was one of the most versatile writers in fantastic fiction. While nominally he worked in science fiction and fantasy, his works were complex social and psychological portraits of characters often caught within bizarre circumstances. He took premises that would sound standard in anyone else’s hands (“Pretentious art critic becomes comic book superhero” and “Frankenstein’s Monster joins a baseball team” being two of my favorites of his) and turned them into unusual and touching character studies. “Within the Walls of Tyre” is Bishop applying his studied hand to a number of complex subjects—the poison of nostalgia, processing trauma, and how one chooses to live in a society of all-encompassing artifice—and merges them into a tense and disturbing work of psychological suspense about what happens when someone decides to tear down the walls we build for ourselves, and the monstrousness that comes with that act. (For anyone who hasn’t read the story, consider this a content warning for pregnancy loss/medical issues treated in a disturbing way.) On a tense day during the holiday season, Marilyn Odau is managing her department store when she receives an unexpected visitor in the form of a novelty salesman named Nicholas Anson. Anson’s a charming enough man selling a gaudy version of painted-on stockings to the department store and Marilyn quickly rebuffs him—but is stopped in her tracks when she sees that he resembles a long-lost lover who died during the war. This shocking resemblance pulls the two of them onto a dark path, one that will reveal the harrowing secrets of Jordan Burk, the man whose path they both shared, and the horrifying petrified fetus Marilyn keeps in a bassinet in her townhouse. The world of “Within the Walls of Tyre” is governed by artifice. In the opening moments of the story, Marilyn muses on how she’s not actually controlling her car so much as keeping it steady on the roads. This continues throughout the story, whether it’s the way the Summerstone mall (one of several artificially pastoral names Bishop drops throughout the story) makes it impossible to tell the time of day, the various holiday decorations on display, or the speech Anson gives to Marilyn loaded with weaponized nostalgia for the 1940s and 1960s meant to sell his bottled stockings. While Marilyn prides herself on being smart enough to see through the illusions, she’s even taken in herself—she drives a half-hour to work through tense traffic solely because she thinks that her housing development with a cheery name is “less gaudy,” and she’s blinded by her own nostalgia for her past, digressing about how dignified and beautiful the department store she used to work at (a place she drives by every day) is, compared to the place she works now. Marilyn’s view of the past and her dependence on those illusions are a comfort and bastion to her. She seems a little superior when she brings up the past, whether it’s the way that she can’t shake her habit of saving for her (now dead) impoverished parents, her rejection of Anson’s weaponized nostalgia during the sales pitch for his “Liquid Sheers” bottled stockings, or imagining herself as the protagonist in a doomed romance with Jordan Burk, her long-lost love who died during the war. She’s cast herself in a narrative where everything she’s experienced is simply another event in the story, because it’s the way she derives meaning and weight in a world where everything is crafted from artifice and nostalgia. The narrative (as most narratives are) isn’t real, but it creates the illusion of order and allows her own recollections of the past to matter, as opposed to recognizing them as empty nostalgia of bygone days.  All of which makes Nicholas Anson the perfect foil for her. Anson is cut from the cloth of a gothic-fiction staple, that of the “demon lover,” a charmingly handsome (and possibly supernatural) man who knows more than he lets on about the protagonist’s past and uses it to torment and bedevil them even as he seduces them. He plays that role in Marilyn’s narrative well enough—his past is a mishmash of 1960s cliches, he’s selling a product that weaponizes nostalgia specifically for the past era that Marilyn views as central to her own narrative, and when Marilyn mentally picks at Anson’s story, the details don’t completely make sense. If Marilyn uses the past and her own carefully assembled narrative as a defense mechanism for her trauma and adversity, Anson uses the past as a mechanism to attack. This is most clearly seen in his introductory scene hawking paint-on stockings inspired by the 1940s and the body-painting trends of the 1960s, but is at its most damaging in his final strike against Marilyn, filling a storefront window with a display advertising “Stone Children for Christmas” based on her own petrified ectopic pregnancy and inviting her to come take a look. Anson then smiles and vanishes into the crowd as she smashes the window and breaks down in front of bewildered shoppers. In a further twist of Bishop’s knife, all the women in the crowd are wearing Anson’s tacky painted-on stockings during Marilyn’s breakdown. While Anson is the villain of the piece, weaponizing Marilyn’s trauma against her in a wholly unwarranted way, it’s interesting he doesn’t do this at first. When he finds (it’s ambiguous whether he stumbled upon the petrified fetus in Marilyn’s bedroom or “stumbled upon” it) the result of Marilyn’s ectopic pregnancy, his first response is to reassure her while telling her about the real Jordan Burk, the one who used her and abused his family while claiming her as an excuse. He listens sympathetically as Marilyn tells her story about her medical trauma and the subsequent coma. Anson even says flat out he isn’t interested in revenge, though the fact that he seduced a woman solely out of self-interest and curiosity certainly speaks negatively about his character. Things only turn dark when he chooses to bludgeon Marilyn with the knowledge that her lost love was a horror to those around him. The horror in his actions doesn’t simply lie in the fact that he’s manipulative and every bit the equal of the men in Marilyn’s life who forced her down this path, but that Anson believes he’s justified in forcing her to confront the harsh reality behind her fantasy. His attempt to “free” her only extends the chain of harm and self-interest. Ultimately, that’s the point that matters. “Within the Walls of Tyre” is a portrait of two deeply damaged people set on a collision course by one long dead and toxic individual. Both cling to their own illusions, but Marilyn’s are used to comfort and mitigate her trauma, while Anson’s are used solely to attack others and generate profit. There’s no “tough love” in what he does, just brutal malice and rage against a person who isn’t even alive to feel the pain. While the world around them is an artificial and bleak one tinged by an unhealthy nostalgia, stripping that away does more harm to Marilyn than any good. Anson might have tried to do something noble by destroying Marilyn’s illusions, but ultimately, he thrives in that world of bleak artifice and nostalgia, and (despite both being damaged) is a much worse person for it. In the end (as so many in these stories do), he embraces that monstrousness in his final act. And now to turn it over to you. What do you think of this story: Would it have been better to leave Marilyn to process things (or not) through her illusions, or shatter them in the hopes that she’ll recover better and stronger? What is your favorite Michael Bishop story or memory? And please join us next time for more gothic character studies with J.S. Le Fanu’s “Schalken the Painter”[end-mark] The post Poisonous Nostalgia and Destructive Antidotes: “Within the Walls of Tyre” by Michael Bishop appeared first on Reactor.

When the Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee next month, conservative leader Morton Blackwell once again will be in the middle of the action. This year’s convention will mark Blackwell’s 16th consecutive appearance, dating to 1964. Upon the convention’s closing gavel, it also will be the beginning of his 10th term as Republican national committeeman representing Virginia. Blackwell’s tenure puts him just behind Delegate Amata Radewagen, who was elected as American Samoa’s national committeewoman in 1988. She also represents American Samoa as a nonvoting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives. With the defeat in April of Massachusetts’ Ron Kaufman, Blackwell is poised to be move up in tenure among the 168 members of the Republican National Committee. (Each state and territory—56 in all—elects one committeeman and one committeewoman; each also has a party chairman). When Virginia Republicans gathered for their party convention May 31 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center, Blackwell defeated Tim Anderson and Patty Lyman defeated Jean Gannon. Lyman will begin serving her second four-year term at the conclusion of the GOP convention in Milwaukee. “I appreciate the honor of being elected to a tenth consecutive term as Virginia’s Republican national committeeman,” Blackwell told The Daily Signal. “The office is pretty much what one makes of it, because it comes with no special powers and few defined duties.” “My focus is on improving Republican political training programs and making sure that ‘the rules of the Republican Party’ continue to permit some power in the party to flow from the bottom up and not just from the top down,” he said. “And I always fight for conservative principles.” Blackwell is known in the conservative movement for founding the Leadership Institute in 1979. For 45 years, it has trained more than 250,000 individuals on campaign tactics, fundraising, grassroots activism, and communicating effectively. The institute also has a network of 2,300 campus groups and conservative newspapers to reach the next generation of Americans. Turning Point Action congratulates @MortonBlackwell and @pattilyman2 on their win in Virginia.These patriots have served tirelessly on the RNC and will continue to defend our conservative values for another four years.We are excited to see them continue to represent @VA_GOP… pic.twitter.com/HaireeCwDr— Turning Point Action (@TPAction_) June 1, 2024 Starting with Sen. Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964—when Blackwell was the candidate’s youngest delegate to the San Diego convention—he has made a point of taking an active role in Republican politics. He served as an alternate delegate for Ronald Reagan in 1968 and 1976, and was a Reagan delegate in 1980 when he secured the GOP nomination for president. Blackwell led Reagan’s youth effort for the 1980 campaign, then worked as a special assistant on the White House staff during Reagan’s first term. Blackwell’s conservative principles have made him a favorite among movement activists, particularly at times when the Republican National Committee didn’t reflect the sentiments of the grassroots. “As an oasis of conservatism in the RNC desert of establishmentarianism over the last 40 years, Morton Blackwell has been a steady and dependable defender of conservative principles,” said Ken Cuccinelli, Virginia’s former attorney general. “Virginia is proud to return the longest-serving dedicated conservative, probably in the entire history of the Republican National Committee, for another four years!” Former President Donald Trump was among the high-profile endorsements Blackwell received in advance of his reelection. Virginia’s trio of statewide elected officials—Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, and Attorney General Jason Miyares—also backed his bid along with several other political leaders. Following his victory, Blackwell credited two GOP power players in Arlington County: Republican Committee Chairman Matthew Hurtt and former Chairman Andrew Loposser. I want to thank the delegates to the @VA_GOP Convention for re-electing me as your National Committeeman and to the volunteers who helped get me across the finish line.I especially want to thank Andrew Loposser and @matthewhurtt for all your hard work. pic.twitter.com/XjG1ISCrea— Morton Blackwell (@MortonBlackwell) June 2, 2024 “As someone who has traveled with Morton to nearly every RNC meeting since 2013, I understand what an asset he is to grassroots conservatives on the RNC,” Hurtt told The Daily Signal. “His knowledge of rules and process and his commitment to empowering conservative activists within the GOP is unmatched. Virginia Republicans—and conservatives nationwide—are lucky to have such a well-respected and staunch advocate in their corner.” In 2020, The Heritage Foundation honored Blackwell with its Titan of Conservatism Award, noting his dedication to training conservatives over the span of 50 years. Rich Anderson, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia, told The Daily Signal that he personally benefited from Blackwell’s training during his own public service in the Virginia General Assembly. “Morton Blackwell has a long and storied history of training conservatives who are called to public service,” Anderson said. “Morton has an equally impressive period of lengthy service as a member of the Republican National Committee, and I am pleased that he and I will continue to partner as members of the governing body of our national party.” With the @VA_GOP State Convention in the history books, the people have spoken–and our RNC delegation team is set for the next 4 years. Congrats to @MortonBlackwell & @pattilyman2 on their reelections. We look forward to working with @ChairmanWhatley on a WINNING year in 2024! pic.twitter.com/9nzSp8FyUE— RPV Chair Rich Anderson (@RichAndersonRPV) June 3, 2024 Anderson and Blackwell will be together in Milwaukee next month to officially nominate Trump as the 47th president of the United States. The post Morton Blackwell’s Enduring Legacy: From Goldwater Delegate to 10-Term GOP Committeeman appeared first on The Daily Signal.