A look inside the disturbing history of K-pop
Caroline Décoste 
They make young girls and boys swoon the world over, but behind K-pop bands lies a dark and secretive industry

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The world of Korean pop (K-pop) is notorious for the immense pressure its artists are put under. Singer SHINee, real name Kim Jong-hyun, committed suicide in 2017, saying that he felt “broken from inside.” Fellow K-pop star Sulli, real name Choi Jin-ri from the band f(x), also committed suicide in October 2019 after having spoken openly about suffering from cyberbullying.

Weighing in both morning and night, having no romantic attachments (let alone sexual relations), not taking drugs, spending hours in the gym and dancing with weights attached to their feet, undergoing plastic surgery, not eating candy or chips and having no time off: this is the kind of routine Korean pop idols are subjected to. It’s also the reality of apprentice idols, who attend “colleges” that train future pop stars.

As K-pop is an extremely lucrative industry, the contracts that artists enter into are not to be taken lightly. They’ve been called “slave contracts” because of their shocking clauses: if an artist wants to leave their record label, they have to repay the investment two or three times over. The same goes for the training schools: they have to be paid back once an act becomes famous. If an artist struggles to fill a venue, they have to pay the difference! All of this in addition to the threat of being replaced at any moment, and a career that expires the moment you turn 30.

Scandals

In 2019, the Korean pop industry was shaken by a scandal involving Seungri, a member of Big Bang. The singer was reported to have provided prostitution services for foreign investors and embezzled funds, as well as having posted videos of a sexual nature filmed by singer Jung Joon-young without the women’s knowledge on discussion forums. The scandal was nicknamed Burning Sun, after the club owned by Seungri.

Not only did Jung Joon-young film young women without their knowledge, but he was also found guilty of gang raping several drunk young women, along with singer Choi Jong-hoon (formerly a member of FT Island). He then posted the videos of these rapes on private forums.

Rigged charts and rigged votes

In South Korea, the manipulation of pop music charts has a name: sajaegi. By tweaking the algorithm, songs are played on a loop by streaming services to inflate statistics and keep songs at the number one spot. Even members of BTS, the world’s most popular Korean band, have called out this practice.

Winners of the TV show Produce X 101, the South Korean band X1 has disbanded amid allegations of rigged votes. The show’s director and producer have been charged with taking bribes worth tens of millions of Korean won to fix the public vote in favour of certain members.

With 'husbands' remark, Trump has sealed his fate with women (opinion)

As President Donald Trump pleaded for the support of suburban women at a Michigan rally Tuesday evening (amidst a pandemic and economic crisis that have caused a mass exodus of women from the workforce), he argued that he deserved their votes because "we're getting your husbands back to work." The implications here -- that he believes all women have or should have husbands and that workplaces are the province of men -- are so sexist and outmoded that they will likely alarm American women who have long become accustomed to inappropriate treatment from their commander in chief.

© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images LANSING, MICHIGAN - OCTOBER 27: U.S. President Donald Trump addresses thousands of supporters during a campaign rally at Capital Region International Airport October 27, 2020 in Lansing, Michigan. With one week until Election Day, Trump is campaigning in Michigan, a state he won in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes, the narrowest margin of victory in the state's presidential election history. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Before this rally, women were already fleeing from Trump -- in CNN's pre-election polls, Biden's support among White women (the ones Trump is clearly angling for when he says "suburban") is 18 points higher than that of Hillary Clinton when she ran against Trump four years ago. But, with these latest remarks, the President has probably put the final nail in his own reelection chances with many women voters.

Before Tuesday, it would have been hard to imagine how Trump could have offended women more than he already has. The president has, of course, been accused of sexual misconduct by more than two dozen women (allegations he denies) and been caught on tape bragging that he can get away with sexual assault. He has regularly disparaged and demeaned women -- including his own daughter -- by talking about their appearances rather than their accomplishments and by calling them offensive names. But previously, I argued when he called prominent women "nasty," for example, that he was a misogynist but not necessarily a sexist. On Tuesday evening, Trump made clear that he is both.

A man who is a misogynist, according to Cornell philosopher Kate Manne, punishes women who won't do what he wants. Trump's behavior has long made it evident that he fits this bill. Meanwhile, a sexist, Manne says, believes men are better than women at things like business or sports.

Before Tuesday's comments, it wasn't entirely clear that Trump was a sexist; he did put some women in powerful positions in his administration and in the Trump Organization. But by appealing to suburban women to support him because he's helping their husbands, Trump suggested he believes the workplace is the proper domain of men. This is textbook sexism.

Of course, Trump's assumption that all women have -- or should have -- husbands is also terribly retrograde and offensive and will almost certainly be off-putting to single women (among others). Unmarried women are more than a quarter of the country's population, according to the Women's Voices Women Vote Action Fund.

His sexism isn't even the most jaw-dropping of the implications made by these offensive remarks -- that's reserved for how divorced they are from the reality of what American women are really going through. Trump says he's looking out for the husbands, but it's women themselves who need help getting back to work: over 800,000 of the 1.1 million people who left the workforce between August and September were women, according to the National Women's Law Center.

This is unsurprising, since job losses have been especially concentrated in sectors where there are more women, according to the International Monetary Fund, while moms have also been disproportionately taking on the impossible burdens of trying to juggle work, childcare, and home schooling while their kids have been home during the pandemic. Of course, these resume gaps will be devastating to the careers of the women who have lost or left their jobs. According to a 2020 study, Americans with the most employment gaps earn salaries that are 40% lower later on.

But the exodus of this many women from the workplace will also be terrible for the country overall, because it will deprive many organizations of the well-established benefits of women's leadership and influence. Companies with more women and cultural diversity have significantly better financial outcomes, according to the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. But it usually isn't enough to have just one or two women. Studies consistently find that women must make up at least 20-30% of an institution before they actually shape outcomes. The mass departure of women could deprive organizations of this critical mass, which will make it even harder for our economy to recover. It's astonishing that a president who claims to be a successful businessman doesn't recognize this.

Yet while Trump may not understand that the way to help struggling women -- and his floundering campaign -- isn't by focusing on men, his remarks do help women understand the president even better. They suggest that he thinks that it is men who belong in the workplace and that women all are or should be married. I suspect that women will respond on Tuesday by putting Trump in his own rightful place -- and voting him out of office

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© c/o Kara Alaimo Kara Alaimo

Stevie Nicks Admits The TikTok-Driven Resurgence Of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’ Has ‘Blown My Mind’

Stevie Nicks admits her mind has been blown to see a Fleetwood Mac hit she wrote nearly 50 years ago return to the charts thanks to a social media app.

CBS Sunday Morning

The 72-year-old singer spoke with Tracy Smith of "CBS This Morning" about how Fleetwood Mac's 1977 hit "Dreams" has received a newfound burst of popularity thanks to a video on TikTok that went viral, of Nathan Apodaca riding his skateboard to work while chugging from a bottle of cranberry juice while blasting "Dreams".

- 16m TikTok views

- 2000% increase in streams of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Dreams’

- Nathon Apodaca has received $10k+ in donations from fans

- Accidentally created the coolest Ocean Spray advert ever

So many parties have benefitted. pic.twitter.com/jgruxuN2Aa

— Paris (@ParisaParmar) October 1, 2020

"So four decades after 'Dreams' and Rumours came out, they're both in the top 10 again," Smith told Nicks.

RELATED: Mick Fleetwood Surprises Nathan Apodaca From Viral ‘Dreams’ TikTok Video

"I know," Nicks marvelled. "This TikTok thing has, kind of, blown my mind. And I'm happy about it because it seems to have made so many people happy."

Rock star @StevieNicks, in her own words https://t.co/tKtOaPBuHa pic.twitter.com/KHUY94oygI

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) October 25, 2020

One thing she's not happy about is being sidelined from performing due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"Time is being stolen from all of us," Nicks said. "Absolutely. Especially if you're 72 years old."

"Does that weigh on you?" Smith asked.

"Yeah, it does. When you're really working, you really stay young. You stay young because you have to," Nicks replied. "But, when you're just sitting around in your house, I think that Old Man Time starts to get ahold of you."

RELATED: Stevie Nicks Joins TikTok By Lacing Up Her Roller Skates To Recreate Viral ‘Dreams’ Video

Smith also asked Nicks if she's had "a great love" in her life.

"Yeah. Three," she admitted. "But it's not easy to be Mr. Stevie Nicks. Even if you happen to be Mr. Really Famous Rock Star Guy."

On #MeToo anniversary, leaders say focus is on inequality

DETROIT — When #MeToo movement founder Tarana Burke thinks about the group's future as the world celebrates its anniversary, her vision is clear.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

It predates the moment that most people know — when the #MeToo hashtag went viral three years ago on Oct. 15, 2017, sparking a global conversation about sexual harassment and assault.

For her, that mission emerged years earlier — in 2006, when Burke, after a career of community service, began working directly with survivors, many of whom were young Black girls and children of colour.

“It sort of triggered something in me because I had experienced sexual violence myself as a child,” Burke said. “What would my life have been like if somebody had intervened at 12, 14 or 16, even just to say that I deserve healing, and that I deserve wellness and wholeness and joy?"

“And so it started off trying to bring those messages, that idea of healing into these young women’s lives and using the power of empathy,” she said.

As the #MeToo movement marks the third year since it received global recognition, Burke is working to make sure it remains inclusive and reclaims its original intent: A focus on marginalized voices and experiences.

She sees that path forward through Dani Ayers, a 39-year-old Black woman who quietly, yet with a bold vision, transitioned into becoming the movement’s CEO in July after joining the organization in 2018.

In a year marked by a nationwide reckoning over systemic racism and inequities that have disproportionately impacted Black Americans, the #MeToo movement is now jointly led by two Black women keenly aware of the inequality that has long existed in America — something they find both empowering and challenging.

“I think it’s a testament and it’s a representation of the fact that there are many movements that have been started by Black women. The Black Lives Matter movement was also started by Black women,” Ayers told the Associated Press in her first joint interview with Burke.

“It’s an opportunity to shine a light. We are absolutely centring Black women and girls, people of colour, queer, trans, disabled folks in our work because we know that solving and interrupting the issue of sexual violence in those communities means ending sexual violence everywhere.”

Several events are planned to mark the third anniversary, including the announcement of the new leadership structure and a survey of survivors that Burke and Ayers expect will reignite momentum behind the movement. Their goal is to create a global network of organizations united behind the movement to end sexual violence.

But after a groundswell of support from celebrities, politicians, marches and more, they said it’s been challenging to keep the spotlight on the need for funding to continue the fight against sexual violence.

As Black women, they said it’s frustrating that many don’t see the intersection of race and the sexual violence women of colour endure.

“We’ve got to make that connection clear for folks,” Ayers said. “We’ve seen money start to be pushed to Black-led organizations and it needs to happen, but sexual violence has not seen that same funding support. And I think it’s because folks don’t automatically understand the intersection of sexual violence and structural racism. And so we really have a lot of work to do.”

They also noted the Breonna Taylor case and the #SayHerName campaign, which brings attention to Black women like Taylor whose cases go unheard or are silenced.

Burke said she herself has dealt firsthand with the erasure that Black women often endure, when people failed to acknowledge the #MeToo movement was started and led by Black women and people of colour.

“I’ve heard people … not acknowledge that there is a Black woman right now trying to hold this narrative, hold this work and push a narrative forward that is opposite of what we’ve heard in the news, about it being about Hollywood and white women, powerful white men, or powerful men, period,” Burke said.

“So as a Black woman, I feel both the pride and the burden of carrying this kind of work forward," she said.

The coronavirus pandemic has also presented unique challenges for the movement.

During the pandemic, the group has seen a 20% rise in intimate partner violence and increased concerns about child sexual assaults, Ayers said, so they've shifted toward offering virtual resources and programming, including a survey that revealed stark disparities.

“We're hearing Black survivors say, ‘I don’t have money to eat,'” Ayers said. “The disparity is just growing as a result of the pandemic and we need to be able to talk about that, not only in a qualitative way but we need the data to be able to help those who have money understand where we need to be pushing resources and why.”

Ayers and Burke also recognize the power that survivors hold — especially in this moment as the nation is just weeks away from selecting its next president after a campaign fraught with divisiveness.

Burke late last year launched #MeTooVoter as a way to galvanize the millions who have supported the movement. Both Burke and Ayers view survivors as a significant voting bloc whose voices deserve to be heard.

While the group has not officially endorsed either candidate, the women said they have serious concerns about what another four years of President Donald Trump would mean for survivors of sexual violence.

“I think we are in a critical moment and survivors’ voices in this moment should be the loudest,” Burke said.

“If we look at the two candidates, for a lot of people, neither of them are their top choice," she said. Trump has faced multiple accusations of assault and harassment, all of which he denies. Earlier this year, a former Senate staffer accused Democrat Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, which Biden has denied.

“But this fight that we have will continue, not just for the next four years, it will continue for the next four decades. We have a person right now who won’t even get in the fight, who won’t even engage in the conversation," Burke said. “I think survivors are lined up to get Trump out of office.”

But beyond the election, Ayers is hopeful about the work that remains.

“The survivors, they inspire me every day,” she said. “We’re creating a culture inside this organization that gives people the space to be who they are and to show up as their full selves. There are so many people working to end sexual violence and watching their work inspires me. So there is hope.”

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Kat Stafford is a member of The Associated Press’ Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter at https://twitter.com/kat__stafford

Film depicts Black Lives Matter, #MeToo as new feminist wave

LOS ANGELES — The documentary genre’s power of immediacy is evident in “Not Done: Women Remaking America," which includes the still-unfolding possibility of the first Black female vice-president and the loss of Breonna Taylor.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The film depicts a powerful female-driven advocacy, one represented by Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and other 21st-century movements that have built on and transcended past efforts.

“There is a newfound language around who gets to claim feminism,” Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors says in the film debuting Tuesday on PBS (check local stations for time).

Or as Gloria Steinem puts it: “Now it’s a majority and it’s unapologetic. Now we know it’s a revolution."

While the enduring feminist leader provides context, this era's activists are centre stage. Among the voices: a Native American who's in her teens but already a veteran activist with a global perspective —and gender confidence.

“If I’m not fighting against the climate crisis, I’m fighting for Indigenous rights,” Tokata Iron Eyes says in the film. “If I’m not fighting for Indigenous rights, I’m still a brown person. And then I’m still a woman, which is also like a superpower at the same time.”

“Not Done” is an extension of 2013's “Makers: Women Who Make America,” about the late 20th-century quest for female equality, and a 2014 follow-up series. There's also an ongoing Makers initiative to advance the cause.

“Part of what was becoming obvious about the period we were living through was that women were back in the streets” after settling into complacency, said Sara Wolitzky, the film's director. There's an "awakening that sexism, racism and transphobia are entrenched” and collective action is required.

Women leading the charge is nothing new, although their work often has gone uncredited, Cullors said in an interview.

In America's civil rights movement, “the most visible have always been men.... I think there was an unfortunate perspective that women were to contribute, but not receive any accolades for the contribution that we’ve given,” she said.

There's a who’s who of activists in “Not Done,” which moves briskly from historical prologue through the roller coaster ride the country has been on since Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton failed to shatter what she called the highest, hardest glass ceiling.

Her 2016 loss to Donald Trump fueled the nationwide women’s march, which quickly revealed the fractures that haunted the “second wave” feminism of the 1960s and ’70s: what critics saw as a blinkered focus on white women’s issues.

Before thousands of pink hats bobbed down America's streets, the initially white-organized event was called out by women of colour who were giving it “kind of side-eye,” Linda Sarsour recounts in the film.

“I'm supposed to go follow, like, a bunch of white ladies who never marched with us before?" was the reaction, she said. When Sarsour pointed out the need for others to be included, including Muslims, she was among those invited to join as leaders.

When “Not Done" pivots to the issue of sexual abuse, it calls on Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey of The New York Times to detail their reporting that toppled Hollywood powerbroker Harvey Weinstein and propelled the #MeToo crusade originated years before by Tarana Burke.

America Ferrera, Natalie Portman and other celebrities got involved (leading to creation of the Time's Up initiative) and found an unlikely ally: the National Women’s Farm Workers Association, which offered its support over a shared problem.

“It was such a revolutionary act of love,” Ferrera says in the film. “They saw past vast things that divide our experiences in this world, and chose to stand in solidarity.”

There's a retelling of how Black Lives Matter was launched by Cullors, Opal Tometi and Alicia Garza after Florida jurors acquitted the man who killed teenager Trayvon Martin. The three founders insisted on melding feminism and racial justice.

“Patrisse and I and Opal have been very clear from the beginning that it’s all of us or none of us. Black women, black queer and trans folks are disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system, by policing, by issues of safety, violence, and harm,” Garza says in the film.

“Not Done” also recounts the rancorous confirmation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the rise of female lawmakers. It concludes with footage of Democratic vice-presidential contender Kamala Harris expressing her gratitude to “the heroic and ambitious women before me,” and a portrait of Kentucky police shooting victim Taylor gracing the expanse of an outdoor sports court.

While equality and justice are very much works in progress there is reason for optimism, Wolitzky said.

"The one thing you know for sure is that all of the women that we see in the film are incredibly brilliant, courageous and determined. Women are are not going to be giving up,” she said.

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Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber.

Lynn Elber, The Associated Press

Animals, people rescue each other in heartfelt docuseries

LOS ANGELES — In a new docuseries, a child who uses a walker meets a dog with its own version of wheels. Inmates find solace in training canines for adoption, and pigs strut their stuff in a “body positivity" celebration.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

That and more is part of “That Animal Rescue Show,” an endearing project that reflects its unexpected creators as well as its stars, human and otherwise. All 10 episodes are out Oct. 29 on the CBS All Access streaming service.

“What the series is about is people rescuing animals, and animals rescuing people,” said Oscar-winning documentarian Bill Guttentag ("Twin Towers," “You Don't Have to Die”), one of the big names behind this small gift of touching and quirky stories.

The other: Oscar-nominated filmmaker Richard Linklater (“Boyhood"), who acknowledges that a documentary is a rare venture for him. But he sees a connection to his films, which include “School of Rock” and the bookend romances “Before Sunrise” and “Before Midnight.”

“I’ve often done films about people who are kind of obsessed or passionate people. That’s what you’re looking for in a story,” he said.

He and his collaborators, including Nayeema Raza, Guttentag's writing-producing partner, committed to holding themselves and the series to a high standard.

“Rick said something to us which I thought was just great,” Guttentag recalled. “’What I’d really like to do is come up with 10 little documentaries that could all make it into Sundance (film festival) on their own.’”

An episode of “That Animal Rescue Show,” which had largely completed taping before the pandemic hit, cleared that bar with an episode that was accepted by the Telluride festival before it and others were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Even the title sequence is notable, a nod to the early photographic sequence that captured a galloping horse with all hooves off the ground. Cats, chickens and pigs are among those who get the cinematic treatment here.

The project found a myriad of subjects in and around Austin, Texas, where longtime resident Linklater has a farm and where the idea for the series was born.

Networking credit goes to Dood, the Linklater family pig that drew the filmmaker into the company of the Central Texas Pig Rescue and managing member Dan Illescas, described by Linklater as “kind of a pig behaviourist.”

Besides being schooled by Illescas on pigs — “You want to treat them like dogs, but they’re not dogs. They’re pigs,” — Linklater said he was introduced to the volunteer operation caring for some 200 homeless pigs. (Many are given up by owners who find their so-called “mini-pig” is an underfed animal destined to grow, Illescas says in the series.)

“I met another guy who had a pig rescue and I was like, ’Wow, this is a whole subculture,” said Linklater. Impressed by the commitment of the animal rescuers, “it just felt like something worth sharing.”

Among the gems that are showcased: Safe in Austin, created by a mom who saw a service dog help her son with autism to blossom. It's a haven for a menagerie of abused and neglected animals, visited by children with challenges who “pet, and love and heal alongside the animals,” as owner Jamie Wallace Griner says in the series.

The Guttentag-directed episode that was bound for Telluride highlights the Paws in Prison program at a correctional facility. Dogs in need of adoption are paired with inmates who are given the skills to train them and a shot at new confidence.

And there is, really, a pageant to celebrate porcine heft featured in episode three.

The series' approach is far removed from rote reality TV, Guttentag said, “where they cast you and you play that role, whether or not that’s who you are. In our show, the folks you see, that’s who they are.”

The soundtrack features local Austin bands playing cover versions of tunes by artists including Paul McCartney, Carole King and Willie Nelson — all of whom made their work available at a “very reduced” fee, Guttentag said.

“Once you start moving down this track of trying to show compassion, I think people want to be a part of it,” he said.

Raza offers an expansive and hopeful take on the series' appeal.

“So much of the world right now and the content we’re consuming is about differences, and I think this is really a show about the universal elements of humanity," Raza said. "There’s something equalizing when you know a story is real, and for us there’s something equalizing when you see a human and animal rescue each other.”

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Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber@ap.org and is on Twitter at http://twitter.com/lynnelber.

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This story was first published on Oct. 21, 2020. It was updated on Oct. 22, 2020, to correct the name of a Richard Linklater film. The correct title is “Boyhood,” not “About a Boy.”

Lynn Elber, The Associated Press

Maestro Fresh Wes lends voice to charity single on Toronto gun violence awareness
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With 'husbands' remark, Trump has sealed his fate with women (opinion)

Maestro Fresh Wes lends voice to charity single on Toronto gun violence awareness


TORONTO — Eight Canadian hip hop artists, including Maestro Fresh Wes and Jelleestone, have lent their voices to a new charity single that speaks out against Toronto gun violence

.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

“Wish I Could” debuted on streaming services today with verses from other Canadian artists, including R&B singer Jrdn and local rappers JD Era, Bizz Loc, Turk and Roney.

The song addresses the senseless deaths and a wish to "bring back the loved ones we lost."

The track was produced by Dub J as the launchpad for an initiative he’s calling “Enough is Enough,” which aims to unite local business and community leaders around the cause and draw nationwide awareness.

The producer says money raised by the single, and donations to an "Enough is Enough" fundraiser, will be distributed to local communities impacted by rising gun violence.

Toronto is expected to surpass last year’s record number of shootings even in the pandemic.

According to police data last updated on Monday, there have been 409 incidents of shootings and firearm discharges this year, with 35 people being killed.

Two years ago, rapper Kardinal Offishall, filmmaker Director X and producer Taj Critchlow met with Toronto Mayor John Tory to discuss possible solutions to Toronto's gun violence.

The meeting came days after two men associated with the local rap scene – 21-year-old Jahvante Smart, also known as Smoke Dawg, and 28-year-old Ernest Modekwe – had been killed in a shooting in the downtown area.

Around the same time, Drake’s producer Noah Shebib took to his Instagram account to express concern that the murders were being framed as all gang-related. He pointed to a “troubling” focus on increased policing, instead of improved funding for community resources.

"Enough is Enough" fundraiser on PayPal: https://paypal.me/enoughisenoughto

Follow @dfriend on Twitter.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 23, 2020.

David Friend, The Canadian Press

Tim Burton Pitches Rebooted ‘The Addams Family’ Live-Action TV Series

"The Addams Family" is revving to entertain a new generation.

© Photo: CPImages "Addams Family Values" cast Carol Kane, Christina Ricci, Raul Julia, Carel Struysken, Anjelica Huston, Christopher Lloyd, Jimmy Workman.

RELATED: ‘The Addams Family’ Is Back In First Teaser For Animated Sequel

Tim Burton is pitching a new live-action television series based on the iconic Addams family, according to Deadline.

Burton is currently negotiating to executive produce and possibly direct the entirety of the series. "Smallville" executive producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar are expected to serve as head writers and showrunners.

If "The Addams Family" reboot comes to fruition, it would be the first major live-action TV series under the helm of Burton. The reimagined series is expected to take place in present time and focuses on the perspective of Wednesday Addams.

MGM TV controls the underlying rights to the IP and has financed the development of the series. Multiple buyers are currently bidding for the project. Netflix is believed to be the frontrunner.

RELATED: Christina Aguilera Drops ‘Addams Family’ Track ‘Haunted Heart’

The original "The Addams Family" TV series aired from 1964 to 1966. It was rebooted with the 1991 Oscar-nominated movie starring Anjelica Huston, before a couple more follow-up movie sequels and "The New Addams Family" TV series in the late '90s.

Then in 2019, the animated movie, starring the voices of Charlize Theron, Oscar Isaac and Choe Grace Moretz, came to the big screen. An animated sequel is set for 2021.

Alyssa Wapanatâhk, A Cree Actress From Alberta, Will Play Tiger Lily In The New 'Peter Pan'

Maija Kappler 2020-10-21

Get used to saying Alyssa Wapanatâhk’s name.

The 22-year-old Cree actress from Alberta was just cast as Tiger Lily in Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of “Peter Pan.” She’s joining as cast that includes Jude Law as Captain Hook, Milla Jovovich’s daughter Ever Anderson as Wendy, and New Zealand newcomer Alexander Molnoy as Peter.

Wapanatâhk’s agent confirmed that she had been cast in the role, but told HuffPost Canada that she’s not yet doing interviews.

But here’s what we do know about her: she was born in Fort McMurray and grew up in Conklin, Alta. She’s a member of the Bigstone Cree First Nation and her reservation is Wabasca, southwest of Fort McMurray in Treaty 8 territory.

Earlier this month, she opted to change her name from Alyssa Alook to Alyssa Wapanatâhk. “Wapanatâhk” was a name she was given at birth, which translates to “first star in the sky” or “morning star,” she wrote on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/CGBN9QfBoab/?utm_source=ig_embed

She gave her daughter, who was born in spring 2019, a Cree name, Nitanis, and wants to speak the language with her.

“It feels very right to change my name to this now. I have so much love and respect for my culture and nehiyawewin, the Cree language,” she said.

“It is a part of my goal in this world to bring our language back, and to learn it day by day.”

Last year, she made a short film, “The Boy and the Braid,” about an Indigenous teenager’s relationship with his hair and his cultural traditions. The movie was one of the first-ever recipients of the Telus Indigenous Storyteller Edition grants.

Wapanatâhk’s role as Tiger Lily will be interesting to watch. The character, an Indigenous princess, has been tricky to get right in film. She was certainly written as an offensive stereotype in J.M. Barrie’s original 1904 play, and predictably, Disney’s 1953 animated version didn’t do much to give the Indigenous characters more depth or humanity. (Remember “What Makes the Red Man Red?”)

But Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a Chickasaw composer who worked on NBC’s 2014 “Peter Pan Live,” told The Guardian that the character reflects the actor and the culture that continues to re-create her, “and even as a culture we do grow and get better.” Tiger Lily’s bravery, strong will and significant charisma could make her a compelling character, if writers are willing to do the work to understand the cultural context she comes from.

Unfortunately, most of them haven’t, over the course of the half-dozen adaptations we’ve had in the last few decades. The character was cut out of 1991′s “Hook,” and in the 2015 adaptation, she was played by white actress Rooney Mara. The 2003 movie, though, cast Haida actor Carsen Gray, and the 2011 miniseries “Neverland” featured Q’orianka Kilcher, an actor with Quechua roots.

Disney hasn’t yet released any information about the upcoming remake, beyond the casting. But we look forward to seeing what the movie — and Wapanatâhk in particular — have in store.

Over 60 exhibits damaged at Berlin museums, motive a mystery

2020-10-21

BERLIN — More than 60 artworks and artifacts at some of Berlin's best-known museums were smeared with an oily liquid by an unknown perpetrator or perpetrators earlier this month, authorities said Wednesday. They were hopeful that the apparently random damage can be repaired, but said the motive was a mystery. 

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The works at the Museum Island complex, a UNESCO world heritage site in the heart of the German capital that is one of the city’s main tourist attractions, were targeted at some point between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Oct. 3. Investigators said they had watched hours of surveillance camera footage but hadn't found any obvious sign of anyone applying the liquid.

In all, 63 works at the Pergamon Museum, the Alte Nationalgalerie and the Neues Museum were affected, said Christina Haak, the deputy director of Berlin's state museums. There was no thematic link between the targeted works, and “no pattern is discernible” to the perpetrator's approach, Haak added.

The liquid was oily but not corrosive, said Friederike Seyfried, the director of Berlin's Egyptian collection, which is housed in the Neues Museum. She wouldn't give more specific details of the colorless fluid, citing the ongoing investigation.

Carsten Pfohl, a senior official with Berlin's criminal police office, said that more than 3,000 people visited the Museum Island on Oct. 3, a Saturday on which Germany marked the 30th anniversary of its reunification. Complicating investigators' efforts, most of that day's tickets were sold on site and only 1,400 personalized tickets had been booked in advance; all who ordered the latter have been contacted by email to ask whether they noticed anything untoward.

Police said they had decided initially not to go public about the incident out of “tactical considerations related to the investigation.” On Tuesday night, the weekly Die Zeit and Deutschlandfunk radio broke the story. On Wednesday, police called for witnesses to come forward with any accounts of suspicious people or events they noticed on Oct. 3.

It wasn't clear how the liquid was applied to the works, Pfohl said. They appeared to have been chosen at random, and investigators are inclined to believe that a lone perpetrator was responsible, he added — but they aren't ruling out multiple perpetrators.

Pfohl said that police are investigating “in every direction” but wouldn't participate in local media speculation that conspiracy theorists might be involved.

There was no indication of it being “an act that speaks for itself,” he added. “This is a variety of objects that do not have any immediate connection in terms of context ... we have no self-incriminating letter or anything like that, so we have to assume for now that the motive is completely unclear.”

Pfohl said that the incident isn't unique because artifacts in museums in other countries have been attacked with liquids over recent years. Officials weren't aware of any threats. The damage was discovered by museum staff.

Seyfried said the works affected didn't include any paintings and also weren't among the complex's best-known attractions. Those attractions include treasures such as the Pergamon Altar, Babylon’s Ishtar Gate and a famous bust of Egyptian Queen Nefertiti.

Germany's culture minister, Monika Gruetters, strongly condemned the damage to the artworks.

She said in a statement that “there is justified hope that the damage can be repaired," but said that Berlin's state museums once again need to answer questions over their security precautions.

In March 2017, burglars broke into the Bode Museum, part of the Museum Island, and made off with a 100-kilogram (221-pound) Canadian gold coin known as the “Big Maple Leaf.”

The suspects are believed to have smashed a protective case and then lifted the coin out of a museum window before fleeing along a railway track with their haul in a wheelbarrow. It was never recovered.

Haak said the museums' security concept is constantly being reviewed and officials are considering how to improve it, but “100% security for the objects would mean in principle having to withdraw them from public view.”

Geir Moulson, The Associated Press