At around noon on March 20 last year, Air Force One landed at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport for Barack Obama’s first presidential visit to Israel.
With a nod to the films Rebecca and Mildred Pierce, not to mention a sly reference to The Glass Menagerie, entertaining camp has scored again. Drop Dead Perfect by Erasmus Fenn, starring downtown actor Everett Quinton, is a clever send-up of movie queens and 1950s’ melodrama.
Now at the Theater at St. Clement’s, Drop Dead Perfect is fast-paced and funny. Set in 1952, Quinton plays Idris Seabright, an eccentric matron of a Key West estate, whose ward Vivien (a terrific Jason Edward Cook) and Cuban nephew Ricardo (Jason Cruz), double as the Lucy and Ricky of Florida.
Vivien, the victim of an overbearing Idris, has artistic ambitions, while Ricardo, a hot Latin boy with his own agenda, stirs up the household in unforeseen ways.
Idris, a rather demented grand dame, given to quoting her deceased sea captain father’s off-the-wall remarks — “I know how many beans make five!” — is forever changing her sizable will. Obsessed with stillness, she wreaks havoc on loved ones, while hiding various family scandals and secrets.
The tale, narrated by Michael Keyloun, has a wonderfully overheated quality, thanks to a strong ensemble and Joe Brancato’s lively direction. Paying homage to the outrageousness of Charles Ludlam’s Ridiculous Theatrical Company, Drop Dead Perfect parodies pop culture from the ’40s to the ’60s with a keen eye and tongue-in-cheek naughtiness.
First done at the charming Penguin Rep Theatre in Stony Point, NY, the production utilizes Quinton’s gift for oversized performances as he channels Joan Crawford, joined by a sexy Cruz, versatile Cook and even-keeled Keyloun. Sound designer William Neal’s love of Laura-themed music, coupled with a perfect set by James J. Fenton, ensures the comedy clicks.
Drop Dead Perfect is delicious summer fare.
Photo: Ed McCarthy
UNITED NATIONS, July 20 (Reuters) – Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said on Sunday there was no kidnapped Israeli soldier, dismissing a televised announcement in the Gaza Strip from Hamas’s armed wing that it had captured an Israeli soldier during the fighting in Shejaia.
“There’s no kidnapped Israeli soldier and those rumors are untrue,” Prosor told reporters at the United Nations as the Security Council held an emergency meeting on the escalating crisis between Israel and Palestinians. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Michael Urquhart)
Uruguay president Jose Mujica has slammed FIFA for its treatment of Luis Suarez, claiming he needs help from a psychiatrist rather than a ban from soccer.
Suarez received a nine-game international suspension and a four-month ban from all soccer-related activity — along with a fine — after being found guilty of biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini in Uruguay’s 1-0 win on June 24 in the group stage of the World Cup.
President Mujica was scathing in his assessment of FIFA in the immediate aftermath of the punishment, calling the sport’s administrators “a bunch of old sons of b—,” and has now added that the new Barcelona signing would be better off with psychiatric help, rather than a widespread ban.
“He comes from a poor background and his main intelligence is in his feet,” the Uruguayan leader said in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. “It’s better to take him to hospital and once there, see a psychiatrist. I’m not disputing the sporting sanctions, they’re fine. What I’m disputing is that there are certain things that shouldn’t have anything to do with the ban.
“The fact he can’t go on any football pitch, that he can’t be with any of his teammates in the national team, he can’t go to a football stadium or even support a charity event linked with football — it’s crazy. Not even a government can prohibit someone from entering a football stadium, without the signature of a judge. Then FIFA come along and say he can’t do that for four months … without even a legal tribunal.”
Mujica, once dubbed “the world’s poorest president” due to his austere lifestyle, added that FIFA has displayed an old-fashioned attitude over the course of the affair as the world waits to see Suarez play for Barcelona following his 88 million-euro move from Liverpool.
“I believe FIFA have a mentality of old people,” the 79-year-old added. “They want to appear as though they’re learning from their mistakes, but never do. The only thing they generate is hatred and resentment. What this lad needs is someone to give him a helping hand. Now we’ll get to see [Suarez] playing alongside Neymar and [Lionel] Messi. We don’t know when that will be, though.”
It’s hard to recall a time when the world presented more crises with fewer easy solutions. And for the Republicans, all of these woes have a common genesis: American weakness projected by Barack Obama.
People in the Middle East, former Vice President Dick Cheney said recently, “are absolutely convinced that the American capacity to lead and influence in that part of the world has been dramatically reduced by this president.” He added, “We’ve got a problem with weakness, and it’s centered right in the White House.”
Really? It’s instructive to ask: What exactly would a Republican president advised by Cheney do in each of these crises? Let’s take them one at a time.
Iraq. It’s now clear that Cheney’s invasion of Iraq and its subsequent Shiite client state under Nouri al-Maliki only deepened sectarian strife and laid the groundwork for another brand of Islamist radicalism, this time in the form of ISIS, and more backlash against the U.S. for creating the mess. What’s the solution — a permanent U.S. military occupation of Iraq? Republican presidential candidates should try running on that one.
Syria. Obama took a lot of criticism for equivocating on where the bright line was when it came to Syrian use of chemical warfare. In fact, American military pressure and diplomacy has caused Syrian president Assad to get rid of chemical weapons. But the deeper Syrian civil war is another problem from hell. How about it, Republican candidates — More costly military supplies to moderate radicals, whoever the hell they are? A U.S invasion? See how that plays in the 2016 campaign.
Israel-Palestine. A two-state solution seems further away than ever, and time is not on the Israeli side. No American president has had the nerve to tell the Israeli government to stop building settlements on Arab lands, despite $3 billion a year on U.S. aid to Israel. What Would Jesus Do? (What would Cheney do?)
Putin and Ukraine. Russian President Putin’s fomenting of military adventures by ethnic Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has created a needless crisis. But our European friends, who have trade deals with Russia, don’t want to make trouble. So, what will it be — a new U.S.-led Cold War without European support? A hot war?
Iran’s Nuclear Capacity. The policy of détente with Iran in exchange for controls on Iranian ability to weaponize enriched uranium is a gamble that could well pay off. The alternative course of bombing Iran, either ourselves or via a proxy Israeli strike, seems far more of a gamble. Who’s the realist here?
China’s New Muscle. The U.S., under Democratic and Republican presidents alike, has become pitifully dependent on borrowing from China. Our biggest corporations have put the attractions of cheap Chinese labor ahead of continuing production in the U.S.A., creating a chronic trade deficit that requires all that borrowing. Now, China is throwing around its economic weight everywhere from its own backyard in East Asia to Africa and South America. Our troubles with Putin have helped promote a closer alliance between Moscow and Beijing. Anyone have a nice silver bullet for this one?
Those Central American Kids. What do you think — failure of immigration policy or humanitarian refugee crisis? On the one hand, American law says that bona fide refugees can apply for asylum and that children who are being trafficked fall into the category of refugees. On the other hand America is never going to take all the world’s refugees. Border Patrol agents interviewing terrified nine-year-olds lack the capacity to determine who is a true candidate for asylum. If shutting down the border — ours or Mexico’s — were the easy solution, we would have done it decades ago.
And I haven’t even gotten to Afghanistan, or the problem of nuclear proliferation, or new Jihadist weapons that can evade airport detection systems, or the total failure of democracy to gain ground in the Middle East.
The Republican story seems to be: we don’t need to bog down in details — somehow, it’s all Obama’s fault.
Here’s what these crises have in common.
When I was growing up, there was a nice clean division between the good guys and the bad guys. Hitler was the ultimate bad guy. Or maybe it was Stalin. America won World War II, and we won the Cold War when the Berlin Wall came down and the Soviet Union collapsed.
Policy choices were easy only in retrospect. The neat world of good guys and bad guys started coming apart with the Vietnam War.
Today’s crises are nothing like the ones of that simple era. Who are the good guys and bad guys in Syria and in Iraq? In China’s diplomacy in South America? Among the murdered Israeli and Palestinian children and the children seeking refuge at our southern border?
To the extent that policy options are even partly military, the American public has no stomach for multiple invasions and occupations.
As Republican jingoists scapegoat President Obama for all the world’s ills and try to impose a simple story of weakness and strength on events of stupefying complexity, you have to hope that the American people have more of an attention span than usual.
Robert Kuttner’s latest book is Debtors’ Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility. He is co-editor of The American Prospect and a senior Fellow at Demos, and teaches at Brandeis University’s Heller School.
Odds are that you’re used to ironing some of your clothes to keep them wrinkle-free, or taking them to the dry cleaners when you can’t (or just won’t) put them through a washing machine. No great shakes, right? Well, Procter & Gamble and Whirlpool…
So recently EA tried to justify why they would not be including some key features into The Sims 4 which made previous The Sims titles so endearing. Naturally players weren’t too thrilled by EA’s decision, and it looks like The Sims 4 could be getting another feature that may or may not sit too well with gamers, depending on how you feel about paying for additional features.
This was recently revealed when EA and Max released a 20 minute gameplay walkthrough which showed off some features from the game and showed gamers what they could expect. However it seems that during the walkthrough, a smaller banner was spotted which revealed The Sims 4 Premium.
In case the image above is a bit unclear, it reads, “The Sims 4 Premium. Save on new packs with early access and exclusive items. Become a Premium member to get early access to three new packs, with exclusive items. Your Sims can throw a spooky costume party, camp in the great outdoors, and toast to the new year in style.”
If anything this sounds a bit like Battlefield’s Premium membership which gamers can subscribe to in order to gain access to new features. However as the game’s producer, Ryan Vaughan notes in the video, everything shown off is unfinished and could be subject to change ahead of its release, so it is unclear if The Sims 4 Premium membership will be implemented.
In the meantime what do you guys think? Would you be interested in subscribing for The Sims 4 Premium membership?
The Sims 4 Could Feature Premium Membership Subscription
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A few years ago, games like Rock Band, Guitar Hero, DJ Hero, and so on were all the rage. Perhaps it was the novelty of playing such games in our living room where previously they could only be found in arcades, but admittedly that trend has somewhat died out. However it looks like Harmonix, the developer behind Rock Band and Dance Central, could be interested in reviving the series.
This is thanks to an online survey Harmonix had been recently sending out to gamers. Basically the survey asks gamers is they still had their instrument controllers with them, which platform did they play most of their rhythm games on, and asked if they would prefer to see more DLCs or ports of previous games, or even an entirely brand new game.
All of this seems to suggest that Harmonix could be gauging the interest of gamers to see if they might be receptive to the idea of a new rhythm game from the developer. Of course there’s no way to actually be sure if Harmonix is planning a new game, but we guess the survey could be taken as a sign of interest at the very least.
That being said, Harmonix did mention that they could return to the Rock Band franchise in the future, so could this be the first sign of Harmonix looking to get themselves back in the game? What do you guys think? Would you be interested in playing a rhythm game today? Or do you think that the trend of such games has long died off?
Harmonix Could Be Gauging Interest For New Rock Band Game
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Earlier this year a company called Gionee unveiled the Elife S5.5. The handset was dubbed the world’s thinnest smartphone that measured an impressive 5.5-inches thick. However it looks like that record could soon be shattered by none other than the company themselves, thanks to recent certification from China’s TENAA.
According to the certification, the new handset GN9005 by Gionee is expected to measure 5mm thick, meaning that the Chinese company managed to outdo themselves. Previously with the Elife S5.5, they managed to beat out the Vivo X3 by 0.25mm, so by shaving 0.5mm from their previous efforts, well let’s just say that it’s mighty impressive.
Unfortunately due to the slim nature, certain luxuries had to be sacrificed. This means that if you were hoping for a powerhouse of a device, you might be disappointed. Instead Gionee’s upcoming handset is expected to feature a 4.8-inch 720p AMOLED display, a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of onboard storage, an 8MP rear-facing camera, a 5MP front-faciong camera, and a 2,050mAh battery.
No word on when Gionee plans on making their announcement or if it will even be available stateside, but either way regardless where they are planning on launching it, safe to say that they will be able to claim bragging rights, assuming that no new device manages to beat them from now until its launch.
Gionee’s Upcoming GN9005 Smartphone Measures 5mm Thin
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