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In Tough Times in Alabama, It Helped to Live in a Ballroom

In Tough Times in Alabama, It Helped to Live in a Ballroom

New York Times10 hours ago
In 2021, Mason McCulley, an actor, felt stuck in Los Angeles as he watched his mother's health decline in Birmingham, Ala., from afar.
'Life was dark,' said Mr. McCulley, 42, noting that his mother was suffering from frontotemporal dementia. 'I was avoiding my mother's illness and her impending death, and I was drinking way too much.'
After spending 20 years in Los Angeles, Mr. McCulley, whose recent acting credits include an appearance on the HBO Max streaming series 'The Pitt,' decided to at least take a look at Birmingham real estate.
He scheduled a tour of a condominium apartment that was rumored to be a former ballroom in a building from 1924, and as soon as he walked in, he was smitten. The unit had a ceiling that soared to 15 feet and grand, divided-lite windows offering plentiful sunshine and leafy views. It immediately seemed like a place he could picture himself living.
'It was such a magical place that it forced me, in that moment, to go home,' Mr. McCulley said. 'I hoped it would give me a sense of place and help me find myself again.'
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Penguins hatched at National Aviary join colony with new names
Penguins hatched at National Aviary join colony with new names

CBS News

time7 minutes ago

  • CBS News

Penguins hatched at National Aviary join colony with new names

The African penguin chicks that hatched at the National Aviary have new names, and they're ready to join the colony. The aviary revealed the penguins' names on Monday, sharing photos of the adorable siblings waddling around their new home. The oldest sibling's name is Oswald. It was picked by the family of aviary manager Kevin Fonner. The inspiration comes from the 1992 film "Batman Returns," starring Pittsburgh native Michael Keaton. In that movie, the Penguin's real name is Oswald Cobblepot. The younger sibling, a girl, was named Nora in honor of senior director Gina Grone's daughter. Oswald and Nora hatched back in February. They're the 11th and 12th chicks fledged by parents Bette and Sidney. The juvenile African penguin chicks that hatched at the National Aviary in February of 2025 have joined the Penguin Point colony. (Photo: Britta Moletz) Joining the Penguin Point colony Chris Gaus, the aviary's assistant manager of animal care, said staff members took a unique approach towards getting Oswald and Nora ready to join Penguin Point. "In addition to having them interact with their penguin parents, we created an opportunity for the young siblings to slowly acclimate to being in social settings as potential future Animal Ambassadors, while also educating thousands of guests during exclusive Chick Talks this past Spring. After witnessing their comfort levels around others and confirming that they could successfully feed on their own, we knew they were ready to make their official public debut with the colony!" Gaus said. The National Aviary's African penguin colony lives in the Penguin Point habitat. They're a temperate species comfortable in a wide range of temperatures, making them well-suited for Pittsburgh's weather. How the siblings help penguin conservation The aviary says Oswald and Nora's presence in the Penguin Point colony is an exciting step towards saving the critically endangered species from the brink of extinction. The National Aviary is part of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums Species Survival Plan, meaning the members of Penguin Point play an important role in helping their species rebound and keeping the genetic lines of those in zoos strong, diverse and healthy.

Zillow Lists the Fantastic Four's Home for a Surprisingly Low Price
Zillow Lists the Fantastic Four's Home for a Surprisingly Low Price

Gizmodo

time15 minutes ago

  • Gizmodo

Zillow Lists the Fantastic Four's Home for a Surprisingly Low Price

Few sites on the internet can be as fun, or frustrating, to cruise as Zillow. It's the place to see how impossible it is to afford your dream home and also see how far a dollar can go in places you don't live. However, it seems in whatever time and dimension the Fantastic Four live in, the dollar goes a long, long way, even in one of the priciest real estate markets of all, New York City. Marvel has teamed up with Zillow for a very fun piece of marketing where the Baxter Building, home to the Fantastic Four, is listed on the site. It's four bedrooms, four bathrooms, 4,444 square feet, and apparently costs only $4,444,444. All of which is super convenient considering who lives there. Now, of course, $4.4 million is a lot of money, but not for an apartment like that in New York City. I mean, just look at what that includes in this catchy little video. The official listing on the site has much more too. Lots of photos and information. You can head here to see it all. Now, it's off-market, of course, which makes this whole thing a little confusing. If it's not for sale, why is it being sold to us? The Fantastic Four still live there, right? Also, why list it as the whole building when clearly this is just the living and working areas? These are questions anyone who frequents Zillow will surely have, but none are the actual point. The actual point is just a fun way to show a bunch of images of these incredible sets that, we can only assume, play a large role in The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which opens later this month. A film that we are slowly becoming quite cautious about. Promotion like this (and this) makes it clear the film looks great, but does this story work? Will the Fantastic Four finally gel on screen in a way they haven't before? If it does, why are we being sold almost exclusively on the look of the movie, but not its story? We guess it won't be long until we find out. The Fantastic Four: First Steps opens July 25. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Relive Johnny Cash At Folsom And San Quentin In Photographs
Relive Johnny Cash At Folsom And San Quentin In Photographs

Forbes

time36 minutes ago

  • Forbes

Relive Johnny Cash At Folsom And San Quentin In Photographs

"The Prison Concerts: Folsom And San Quentin (Jim Marshall's Photographs of Johnny Cash)," installation view at the Momentary in Bentonville, AR. Jared Sorrells for the Momentary Johnny Cash was a protest singer. The genre was country, but the message was protest. America's mistreatment of Native Americans, veterans, working people, poor people. Most famously, America's mistreatment of incarcerated people. Songs including 'Folsom Prison Blues,' 'I Got Stripes,' 'Jacob Green,' 'Man in Black,' 'The Wall,' 'Starkville City Jail,' and 'San Quentin' all showed empathy for inmates in a country that has almost none. Cash spent a couple nights in jail, but never did prison time. As an artist, as an empath, he didn't need to to understand how barbaric caging people was. 'San Quentin, what good do you think you do? Do you think I'll be different when you're through? You bent my heart and mind and you warp my soul And your stone walls turn my blood a little cold.' 'Jacob Green' offers an even fiercer indictment of the prison system. A young man busted for the simple offense of possession is humiliated and abused by his guards resulting suicide. America's worst-in-the-free-world prison system would become dramatically worse following the height of Cash's prison advocacy and chart popularity in the 1960s and 1970s. The nation's so-called 'war on drugs' and 'get tough on crime' hysteria fostered during the Nixon Administration and accelerated under Ronald Reagan did nothing to abate drug use or reduce crime, but prison populations exploded as petty criminals and drug users were locked away. Today, America imprisons more people than any other democracy on earth by a wide margin. A disproportionate percentage of these inmates were and are Black and poor. America's system of 'criminal justice' from policing to prosecution to punishment has always been rigged against poor people and minorities. Cash saw this 50-plus years ago. He was awake to the injustice. Woke. The singer testified before Congress and met with Nixon in 1972 to discuss prison reform. Still a patriot through and through, despite it all, Cash exposed the stupidity of the old right-wing saw, 'love it or leave it.' Cash loved it and wanted to use his songs to make it better. He knew America wasn't perfect. That obvious conclusion didn't mean he didn't love it. Johnny Cash At Folsom And San Quentin "The Prison Concerts: Folsom And San Quentin (Jim Marshall's Photographs of Johnny Cash)," installation view at the Momentary in Bentonville, AR. Jared Sorrells photography for the Momentary. Cash first played at Folsom in 1966. He wrote 'Folsom Prison Blues' way back in 1953, his first big hit. The song came to him after watching 'Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison' (1951) while serving in the Air Force in West Germany. In 1968, Johnny Cash was spiraling personally and professionally. An idea he pitched to his record label many years prior of performing live at the notorious state prison in Folsom, CA was finally approved after a leadership shakeup at Columbia Records. The company's hopes were not high. Conventional wisdom held that country music's ultra-conservative, Bible-thumping, 'law and order,' fan base wouldn't be interested in hearing Cash sing to and dignify criminals. On January 13, 1968, Johnny Cash showed up at Folsom for the show along with June Carter–the duo would marry two weeks later–his band, the Tennessee Three, and opening acts and background singers the Statler Brothers and Carl Perkins. Then history happened. Cash turned in a fully engaged performance for the ages. When the album was released later that spring, the public went wild. Number one album. Number one single. Grammy award. Cash actually played two separate shows that day, assuring the album would have enough quality recorded material to choose from. The first take was nearly perfect. Cash was back, off the strength of a live album recorded in a maximum-security prison to an audience most country music fans would recommend be executed, not entertained. Such is the power of music. The following year, he gave a similarly lauded in-person, in prison performance at San Quentin. He performed for inmates multiple times. Jim Marshall Johnny, June, and the band were joined by music photographer Jim Marshall at the Folsom and San Quentin concerts. Requested personally by Cash, Marshall was the only official photographer present at the concerts and granted unlimited access. Twenty-five photographs documenting the two concerts, including candid and performance images helping solidify Cash as an outlaw king can be seen through October 12, 2025, at The Momentary, an art exhibition and live music space, in Bentonville, AR, Cash's home state. 'The Prison Concerts: Folsom and San Quentin (Jim Marshall's Photographs of Johnny Cash)' showcases the powerful snapshots of a legendary musician by a legendary photographer. The presentation is free to the public. 'The godfather of music photography,' Marshall (1936–2010) maintained a 50-year career that resulted in more than 500 album covers, an abundance of magazine covers, and some of the most celebrated images in blues, jazz, country, and rock and roll, including those from Cash's Folsom and San Quentin prison concerts. Tall. Lean. Pompadour. Cash is dressed in his trademark black although 'the Man in Black' moniker wouldn't come formally until the early 70s, in part resulting from his stark outfits at the prison concerts. His 1971 hit 'Man in Black' explains 'why you never see bright colors on my back.' It was a wardrobe of protest from a protest singer. 'I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down Living in the hopeless, hungry side of town I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime But is there because he's a victim of the time.' Cash was in his late 30s when he gave the performances. He looks at least 10 years older. Growing up poor and hard living always made Cash appear much older than he actually was. Marshall's Folsom photos show the deep lines on the singer's face. The weight of the world seemingly on his shoulders. Cash is serious, resolute, commanding. He's going to work. Cash isn't nervous, certainly not afraid, but there's a hint of self-doubt in his countenance and posture. 'This might not work,' he seems to think to himself. The prison's stone façade looks positively medieval. A photo of Cash lighting a cigarette with a more hopeful looking June Carter in the foreground looks so much like Joaquin Phoenix, the actor who played him in the biopic, it forces a doubletake. Tragically, Folsom State Prison continues housing inmates today despite opening in 1880. Only San Quentin is older in California. More From Forbes Forbes Historic New Orleans Collection Explores Human Tragedy Of Mass Incarceration In Louisiana By Chadd Scott Forbes Sherrill Roland Correctional Identification Numbers Portraits Humanize The Wrongfully Incarcerated By Chadd Scott Forbes Exhibition Of Paño Arte Highlights Creativity Under Mass Incarceration By Chadd Scott

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