‘Sable, Fable' Review: Bon Iver's Delicate Distortions
The creation of 'For Emma' has taken on the quality of myth, and the album has become a symbol of the idea that artistic purity comes from solitary contemplation. Its metaphorical power is so strong that ensuing Bon Iver LPs are framed as reactions to or continuations of what it represents. With 2011's 'Bon Iver, Bon Iver,' Mr. Vernon formed a band, reacquainted himself with the joy of collaboration, and indulged his love of soft rock. '22, A Million' from 2016 was a 180-degree pivot away from his two previous records, with noise and chaotic edits that thoroughly deconstructed his sound. And 2019's 'I, I' found him darting between these extremes, as if struggling to reconcile his contradictory impulses. On the fifth Bon Iver album, 'Sable, Fable' (Jagjaguwar), out Friday, Mr. Vernon revisits the simpler approach of the project's earliest style and judiciously uses high-tech processing, finding an ideal balance between experimentalism and accessibility.
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Vox
15 hours ago
- Vox
Superman is a socialist
In a recent interview with The Times, Superman director James Gunn said that his new blockbuster tells the story of 'an immigrant.' He also explained it was a story about 'basic human kindness.' But that first comment — about Superman's foreign origins — is the one that set off some pundits on the right. Fox News commentator Jesse Watters joked on air: 'You know what it says on his cape? MS-13.' Ben Shapiro blasted Gunn and the Hollywood left for being out of touch with everyday American audiences: 'The reality [is] that Hollywood is so far to the left that they cannot take a core piece of Americana and just say it's about America.' But, Grant Morrison — author of the seminal comic book series All-Star Superman — said the conservative backlash ignores the leftist origins of the world's most famous superhero. Not only was Superman created by the sons of Jewish immigrants, but those very first comics portrayed their character as a 'socialist figure.' Today, Explained Understand the world with a daily explainer, plus the most compelling stories of the day. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. In one comic published in 1939, Superman is seen shielding young thieves from police because he figured the kids were victims of poverty, then tearing down slums and forcing authorities to build low-rent housing. Before becoming the 'Man of Steel,' Superman was 'The Champion of the Oppressed.' Gunn has said that All-Star Superman was a big influence on his new film. Morrison sat down with Today, Explained host Sean Rameswaram to talk about where Superman came from, how the character has evolved, and why he will endure. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There's much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify. How did you get into Superman? What did this character mean to you? I grew up on the west coast of Scotland next to an American naval and nuclear base. My parents were anti-nuclear activists. My father was a World War II soldier who became a peacenik. So, my big fear in the world was the atom bomb, and I associated it with the Americans, but the Americans also brought the comics. Then I discovered Superman. And although I knew no real Superman was coming to save me from an actual atom bomb, metaphorically he really solved a lot of problems for my head when I was a little kid. Those are the primal roots for me, and they're quite deep. So yeah, getting a chance to do that character, sitting here overlooking that same stretch of water where we did the protests…To write All-Star Superman kind of defies the forces of entropy. If anything survives in my career, it will be that one book. Who was the Superman that you created in that series? We went for an older Superman. The basic idea was: What if Superman was dying and he had a year to live? Basically, it's a part of Lex Luthor's scheme to send Superman to the sun, and the solar radiation overcharges Superman's cells, so they begin to decay and die. Basically, Superman's dying of cancer. What would this man do in the last 12 months of his life to leave the Earth a better place than he found it? Were you surprised to find out that James Gunn wanted to relaunch this character and relaunch an entire cinematic universe with your story about a dying Superman? James didn't necessarily take the dying part. His is a younger Superman. But I think he certainly took the character as we decided to define it, and he saw something that he could work with. Instead of Superman having flaws, let's present a fictional character who doesn't have flaws. You know, he has problems of his own. He still can't get the girl. He still works for a boss in an office, but he's Superman. He's a kind of everyman whose life happens at a much higher scale. He's got an unruly dog, but his unruly dog can laser his own dinner and cook a steak. His unruly dog can fly through buildings, but he's still dealing with an unruly dog. In previous attempts people have asked: What would Superman be like if he was in the real world? Which to me is an absurd question. The only existence Superman has in the real world is as a comic book or movie character, and that's where he is most useful and most functional, as far as I'm concerned. He's a metaphor. He is an allegory. He stands for everything that is good in us. It sounds like there have been at least some iterations of this character throughout his near-century of existence — from your dying version to this ideal version, to this all-powerful version. But I believe Superman even started as a bit of a tough guy, a headbasher, and maybe even a left-wing revolutionary. Can you tell us about the non-Kryptonian origins of this character, and how he came to be on Earth? Well, he arrived in Cleveland, Ohio. He was created by two teenagers, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, who'd met at school. Jerry was the writer and Joe was the artist. They wanted to work for newspapers. Newspaper syndication was the place to go for cartoons back then. They were working on this notion called 'The Superman.' The original version was an evil bald guy who eventually became Lex Luthor in the Superman story. But after a few tries, they hit on this fabulous notion of: Let's give him a wrestling costume with a cape so that we can track his movement across the panels, and make him very colorful so that he's memorable. The greatest addition to the design was to put his monogram on his chest so that the character's entire identity was summed up in this very simple advertising motif that people can remember and people can also wear and partake in being Superman. It was created by two young kids who were the sons of immigrants — European immigrants, Jewish boys — and this was their vision. Superman was a do-gooder. He was here to help people. He'd come from a distant world, but thought the only use for power and strength was to help the downtrodden and the oppressed. Early issues of Action Comics depict a Superman who's very much an outlaw. He goes after corrupt union bosses. He goes after mine owners. He goes after politicians who are corrupt. Superman later was seen as a messianic figure of hope, which I don't really like, because I think he's a fighter, he's a scrapper. He gets into fights on behalf of the little guy. He gets bloodied up and he gets up again. You shoot him [with] a tank shell, and he gets up again. Through the years, that changed quite radically. The socialist figure of the early years hit 1942 and suddenly it was war, and Superman became incredibly patriotic, and that's where the 'Truth, justice, and the American way' thing first appears. Then, in the 1950s, Superman changes again completely. You're dealing with guys coming home from the war, domestication, and living in suburbia. So Superman becomes a family drama, but on a titanic scale. He has friends from the future who visit and cause trouble. He has a cousin who survived the destruction of Krypton, he has a dog, and he has a monkey. So Superman then, to me, was probably at his peak, but he was representative of post-war masculinity trying to adjust to a world of relatives and not being married. Those stories were obsessed with the relationship with Lois [Lane]. In the 1960s, he becomes a cosmic seeker. He almost goes back to his roots, and we have stories where he is fighting for Native American land rights, he's up against polluters, and very much back to the activist Superman. And so it goes. In the 1980s, he's a yuppie. In the 1990s, they kill him in order to make it interesting, then bring it back as a soap opera set around the fictional newspaper, the Daily Planet. And into the 2000s, you get the work that I did. It's funny to hear you lay out this history in which Superman at one point is something of a socialist warrior, because all of these pundits who are mad about James Gunn saying that Superman's an immigrant, if they really knew the history here, there's so much more they could be mad about. Absolutely. As you say, if anyone had bothered to look at the history of Superman, they'd see that he was always an immigrant created by immigrants. He represented that experience, but he was assimilated. I mean, he was an American. He'd been raised by American parents. So that was very important as well. And I think the combination of these two qualities is what maybe drives people mad, because they want it to be either one thing or another, but Superman's trying to embody everyone. It's funny, a thing that we talk about the first half of the show is that depending on how tuned into the news you are, you can see a lot of what's going on in the world today in this movie. But of course, this movie wasn't made this week. It was made a year ago. Yeah. The meetings about this movie probably started five years ago. Do you think there's something about the nature of Superman that makes him timeless? I definitely believe that. I mean, we are talking about the history of Superman, which goes back to 1938. Superman has outlived his creators. He's also outlived the people who took over from his creators, and the next generation of the people who took over from his creators.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Beyond The Gates Recap: Anita Demands The Truth From Vernon
Beyond The Gates Recap: Anita Demands The Truth From Vernon originally appeared on Daytime Confidential. On today's Beyond The Gates recap: Anita and Vernon's Mansion: Vernon tells Anita the surviving attacker returned to the area. He got a job as a bus boy at the country club and listened in on their conversations. He says the man has been back for more than a month. Anita is furious he kept the secret and demands to know every detail. Vernon says he tried to pay the man off but things spun out of control. He says the man tried to get to Martin through his children but did them no harm. Martin scheduled a press conference to take all responsibility. He didn't go through with it because the man is dead, gunned down in a robbery (Not Vernon continuing to lie to Anita!). Anita turns and asked if he made this happen. Vernon says he had nothing to do with that man's death. He also wanted to stay out of it so he left the details up to Bill. Anita tells Vernon he couldn't have known Bill would resort to murder. Vernon continues by telling her the Joey Armstrong of it all. She hates that Martin and Joey are now tied together forever. Anita wonders if the press got wind of anything, but Vernon says Martin ended the presser before anything got out. That being said, it's all a mess and Dani and Nicole are going to have questions. She thinks Nicole is going to be especially difficult to deal with. Vernon wonders if they should have included her the entire time since Martin and Ted are so intricately involved. Anita worries Nicole will pull away when she learns more secrets have been kept from her. Martin and Smitty's Place: Smitty has no clue how Kenneth could be dead then wonders if Martin had something to do with it. Martin vehemently denies any involvement. He realized to protect his family he needed to admit the truth. Martin was ready to go through with revealing all at a presser but then learned Kenneth was deceased. Smitty isn't stupid and knows someone made this happen to help him. Martin says the only thing he knows is his grandfather wasn't a part of Kenneth's murder. Smitty starts to ask who did kill Kenneth but stops as he's certain Martin already knows. Martin says his family didn't tell him what was going on (True, but he sort of knows who's responsible). Smitty counters saying Martin knew Malone was involved and then hired him to protect their family. Martin says he doesn't know if Malone was involved in today's events. Smitty asks about Joey and Smitty admits he was at the press conference and doesn't think it was a coincidence. As they continue to argue, Samantha and Tyrell march downstairs and demand to know what's going on. Smitty begs the kids to go back upstairs but Tyrell says they deserve to know what's going on. Martin agrees and says he will fill them in. Martin tells them the story of that fateful night two years ago, while smoothing over many of the details. Smitty watches as Tyrell and Samantha go to search their phones for details. Martin says they didn't report the incident to the police which confuses the kids. Martin didn't think the police in that area would believe they were acting in self-defense. He then reveals the man was Kenneth. Both kids are stunned and wonder why, like Smitty, their pop didn't tell them the truth. Martin says it was better for them not to know for their protection. Samantha asks what they do about Kenneth now but Martin says he's gone. Tyrell and Samantha have all kinds of questions about the presser and Kenneth. Smitty intervenes and says their pop waited too long but finally decided to tell the truth about the situation. Samantha thinks pop's plan worked as Kenneth probably ran when he realized how much trouble he would be in. Tyrell jumps in asking why he ended the press conference early. Martin simply says Kenneth is gone. Samantha wants so badly to crush the conflict saying she's so happy everything has been settled and they can go back to normal. Smitty says he's going to need a little more time. Samantha can't imagine why and doesn't want her dad to punish her pop for being the hero. Smitty says he's not trying to punish anyone and Tyrell backs him saying pop has been lying to them from the beginning. Samantha backs Martin who steps in saying her dad and brother have a right to be upset. Martin says it's going to take more than apologies to fix what is broken. Smitty says he can't make any promises about what's to come. With that, Martin says he won't be far, takes his bags and exits. Samantha rolls her eyes and heads upstairs. Tyrell follows saying he will talk to her. Nicole's Home: Vanessa arrives to see Nicole and says her blood pressure is up after dealing with 'that bitch' Leslie. She explains about the scene at Orphey Gene's after confronting Leslie about Laura. She hates she didn't just walk away. Vanessa is certain Leslie deserved whatever words Nicole threw her way. Nicole admits she threw more than insults as she came close to strangling Leslie. Vanessa thinks she was justified. Vanessa says no one is talking about her and Leslie as all are focused on Martin and his very odd presser. Nicole is strangely unaware of this event which puzzles Vanessa. Nicole grabs her tablet and finds some news. She immediately wonders why Bill was there, which also surprised Vanessa. She says Bill was acting like his spokesman and was very supportive of Martin. Vanessa fills Nicole in on all the details. Nicole is beyond annoyed her family didn't bring her in the loop. Vanessa thinks Martin is in trouble and suggests she not wait for an invitation to get involved. Nicole thanks her friend and heads out to find Martin. Fairmont Country Club: Dani and Bill continue to snark and chat. Bill tells Dani to stand down as he's met his 'read for filth' quota for the day. Dani realizes Vernon's words really cut Bill, who says her father cut him to the core. He admits he still desires her father's approval and is annoyed it's still the case. Dani isn't buying it as Bill is so cold. She notes the only person whose approval he's ever needed was his own father, who only withheld it because Bill wanted it so badly (Oooooh, a mention of Bill's father!). Bill says approval and respect are different. What he wants from Vernon is respect. Martin and Smitty's Place: Nicole arrives and promises not to always stop by unexpectedly. Smitty is happy to see her but she recognizes things are not well. Samantha runs downstairs and greets her grandmother. She asks about Martin and Smitty says he's not staying there right now. Nicole is rightfully surprised and hugs Samantha when she learns these events just happened a few minutes prior. She mentions the press conference and Smitty says that was about something Martin should explain himself. Nicole tells Samantha her family adores and supports her. She looks at Smitty and says that sentiment is for everyone. Smitty thanks his mother-in-law. Anita and Vernon's Mansion: Vernon tells Anita that Smitty was assigned to write a profile of Malone. It was intended to be a puff piece but Smitty did a deep dive, uncovering Malone's connection to Joey. He continues saying that deep dive led Smitty to connect to Jacob who joined the investigation. Anita can't even imagine what Smitty will do with the information as he built his career on uncovering corruption. Vernon thinks Smitty's sense of loyalty will come before his career. Just then, Martin storms in with his bags. Martin says he gave the kids a sanitized version of what happened, but told Smitty everything… which is why he's there. Anita says it was unfair of them to pressure him to keep everything from his husband. Martin counters he should have told Smitty everything two years ago but he would have never gone along with covering it up. Vernon realized he was dead wrong to set the coverup in motion. Anita pushes back but Vernon says they could have dealt with the situation despite the consequences. If they'd done so, there wouldn't be another death on their hands. With that, Vernon says the situation is different now. They can't come forward or Joey will retaliate. Martin and Smitty's Place: Jacob arrives and tells Smitty an unidentified man was found dead by a single gun shot wound in the park, discovered by Malone. Smitty tries his best to avoid making connections but Jacob says he thinks there's a connection to Joey. Smitty thinks the connection is a stretch which confuses Jacob. He continues saying there has to be a larger issue going on here. Smitty doesn't disagree but says he's kind of done for the night. Jacob realizes something is going on and Smitty admits Martin moved out. Upstairs, Samantha tells Tyrell she doesn't understand why he and dad are so mad at pop. Tyrell says they can have differing opinions. Samantha thinks their parents should just forgive each other and be done. Tyrell says dad will eventually forgive pop. Previous Beyond The Gates Recap: Endings Samantha calls Tyrell a hypocrite because he wanted folks to stay out of his business. Tyrell rightfully says that situation was very different. He says Kenneth was dangerous and no one knew. Samantha admits pop should have informed them sooner but no harm no foul. Tyrell says there is way more going on than they know about. Jacob asks Smitty about Martin not being there. Smitty thinks it's for the best right now as he doesn't recognize the man he's become. Jacob says he and Naomi will do whatever they can to be supportive before making his exit. Martin tells his grandparents Smitty understands the entire situation which is why he's upset. He is trapped in a situation not of his own making. Vernon offers to talk to Smitty but Martin says to give him the time he asked for. Anita says they will support him no matter what. Just then, Nicole storms in and demands to know what the hell is going on. Keep checking back for the latest Beyond The Gates recaps! This story was originally reported by Daytime Confidential on Jul 18, 2025, where it first appeared. Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
20 Of The Flyest Coats From Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter World Tour
Beyoncé, as usual, is turning heads while on the road for her Cowboy Carter World Tour. With stunning outfits taking over our timelines every time she hits a new city, it's almost overwhelming how much work she and stylists Shiona Turini, Karen Langley, and Ty Hunter have put into the trek. With themes of Americana running throughout, fans have been treated to countless looks highlighting Bey's all-American roots, as well as her usual staples of form-fitting bodysuits and plenty of sequins. This time around, however, the singer's coats have grasped the fans' attention more than any other specific look. The coats add drama to the performer's already high-energy show, providing even more umph to 'fits that stand strong on their own. One coat in particular, designed by Burberry and featuring a large American Eagle emblem on the back, seems to be Bey's favorite, as she's worn it multiple times compared to others that — thus far — have been one and done. All of them, however, are striking in design and perfect for making a lasting impression from the front row to the cheap seats, affectionately known as the 'II Hands II Heaven' section. Check out 20 of Bey's best coats from the Cowboy Carter tour below, and keep an eye out for our ranking of every single look after the tour wraps up in Las Vegas on July 26. More from Beyoncé Shouts Out Viral "Husband/Cousin" Fan at Cowboy Carter Show Country Star Gavin Adcock Slams Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' For Charting Ahead Of His LP: "That Sh*t Ain't Country Music" Beyoncé Was "Sittin' Sidewayz" After Flying Car Malfunction At Houston Show Best of 10 Rap Albums Snubbed Of The Grammys' Album Of The Year Award 21 Black Entertainers Who Are Almost EGOT Winners 11 Black-Owned Games To Play At The Next Function Or Kick Back Solve the daily Crossword
