Latest news with #CliffsNotes
Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Shakespearean TV Trivia Quiz — BuzzFeed Quizzes
As much as I LOVE a period piece, when it came to reading Shakespeare, I often needed the Cliffs Notes to ensure I was understanding the plot correctly. You know that you're having a tough time when you think a touching, love-struck soliloquy is ACTUALLY a call to war. But as much as Shakespearean prose can be difficult to parse, when it's used to describe our favourite TV becometh an intrigue most rare. So put on your garbs and berets, and let's see how well you can decipher these favourite TV shows. Let me know in the comments what your favourite TV show is and how Shakespeare would describe the premise to an audience. For more, follow BuzzFeed Canada on TikTok and Instagram!
Axios
15-05-2025
- Sport
- Axios
Shuttling FIFA fans, no driver needed
Self-driving shuttles could soon carry residents and FIFA World Cup visitors from MARTA's West End station to the breweries and restaurants along the Westside Trail. Driving the news: Project officials are asking the Atlanta-Region Transit Link Authority for $1.75 million to launch a pilot program with Beep, an autonomous mobility company. Zoom in: The two-mile experiment route would launch in January and run through 2026, Shaun Green, the Beltline's principal engineer, told the board at a called meeting on Monday. It would run on city streets between Atlanta University Center, the rail station and Lee+White every 10 to 15 minutes for roughly 10 hours a day. Follow the money: The award from ATL's transit trust fund would cover roughly 58% of the project's $3 million cost. The Beltline would kick in the remainder. Yes, and: Beltline officials have not settled on a fare; Green said he thinks the rides would be "on the free side" during the pilot program. Zoom out: Beep is one of a growing number of micro-mobility companies using autonomous technology for cities, parks, and business districts. In 2023, Beep and the Cumberland Community Improvement District partnered on a micro-mobility pilot program serving the business area. Green said Beltline officials have been discussing the project with Beep for the past two years. Between the lines: Mayor Andre Dickens' decision in March to punt the construction of Beltline rail to his successor shook up Atlanta's transit future, Etch-A-Sketch-style. How Atlanta plans to move large numbers of people at the same time throughout the city is very much an open question. What they're saying:"As you all know, transit is a part of our whole DNA when it comes to the Beltline," Clyde Higgs, the president and CEO of Atlanta Beltline Inc., told the board. "CliffsNotes version: It's going to require lots of different modes and options, and so this is something, as we try to get ahead of the FIFA World Cup for next year, that we want to experiment with." What's next: The ATL board could vote on the request at the June board meeting. Green said the Beltline would launch a community engagement process while Beep prepares vehicles for the January rollout.
AU Financial Review
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- AU Financial Review
And you thought Oscar voters actually watched the films?
New York | It has not always been necessary to read the book in order to write a book report, as many a devious middle schooler familiar with CliffsNotes or artificial intelligence can attest. And it turns out that Oscar voters have not always had to watch all the films they passed judgment on.
New York Times
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
A New Requirement for Oscar Voters: They Must Actually Watch the Films
It has not always been necessary to read the book in order to write a book report, as many a devious middle schooler familiar with CliffsNotes or A.I. can attest. And it turns out that Oscar voters have not always had to watch all the films they passed judgment on. But now the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is trying to change that. The academy announced a new rule this week that most filmgoers could be forgiven for assuming was already in place: From now on, members of the academy will be required to actually watch all the nominated films in each category they vote in. Cue the collective side eye. 'Like 'Casablanca,' I am shocked, shocked to discover that there are academy members who don't watch all the movies,' said Bruce Vilanch, a comedian who has written for 25 Oscar shows, who added that the new rule was 'kind of hysterical.' Skyler Higley, a comedy writer who was on Conan O'Brien's writing team when he hosted the Oscars last month, called the new requirement 'un-American.' 'What we do in this country is we sort of vote based on vibes and preferences and biases,' he said. 'So to suddenly require that these guys know what they're talking about when they're voting, it's just not what we do in this nation.' Doug Benson, a stand-up comedian and host of the podcast 'Doug Loves Movies,' said the rule was 'crazy' because most voters were too busy making movies to watch them. 'This sucks for academy members,' he said. 'But the upside for moviegoers? Maybe award-bait movies will start clocking in at a more reasonable 88 minutes. If they implemented the rule this year, 'The Brutalist' would have won squat.' Laurie Kilmartin, a comedian who wrote for the most recent Oscars, noted that she had watched each movie just to be able to write jokes about them. 'I can't believe they couldn't be troubled to watch every movie to vote,' she said. The change will require commitment when it comes to voting for best picture, since the category now includes 10 nominees, up from five in the past. On social media, the move has been met with a mixture of relief and disbelief. 'It took them nearly a century to make this law?' Peter Howell, a film critic for the Toronto Star, remarked. In discussion threads on Reddit, some users noted how unfair it was that academy members could have voted for — or overlooked — films they had not seen. Some wondered which movies might have been robbed in the past. And in some academic circles, the subject revived critiques that the system has long been flawed. Racquel Gates, an associate professor of film and media studies at Columbia University, said she was not optimistic about the changes. 'It's a very necessary acknowledgment of the fact that the awards have not been based on the merits of the films or the performances,' she said, adding that too many awards had been won in the past based on the strength of the Oscar campaigns waged by studios, the popularity of films, or the familiarity voters have had with filmmakers. How will the new system work? Past writers for the telecast had a few ideas. Vilanch mused that it would be entertaining to watch academy officials try to round up and penalize people for not being honest about their Oscar ballots. 'The honor system has always worked very well in Hollywood,' he observed dryly. Kilmartin suggested that voters should be asked to write a short summary of each film before being allowed to vote. The academy plans to keep track of what members have seen in its digital screening room, and to require members to fill out a form noting films seen elsewhere, including in theaters or at festivals. If any film in a given category has not been viewed, the member will not be able to vote in that category. The new rule comes as the academy has grown in recent years. It now has roughly 10,000 voting members, up from about 6,700 in 2017. It is not the only awards show trying to make sure that voters actually see the works they are weighing in on. Several years ago, the Tonys implemented rules requiring voters to see every nominated Broadway production and mark their attendance in an online portal.
Associated Press
16-04-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Don't like a columnist's opinion? Los Angeles Times offers an AI-generated opposing viewpoint
In a colorful commentary for the Los Angeles Times, Matt K. Lewis argued that callousness is a central feature of the second Trump administration, particularly its policies of deportation and bureaucratic cutbacks. 'Once you normalize cruelty,' Lewis concluded in the piece, 'the hammer eventually swings for everyone. Even the ones who thought they were swinging it.' Lewis' word wasn't the last, however. As they have with opinion pieces the past several weeks, Times online readers had the option to click on a button labeled 'Insights,' which judged the column politically as 'center-left.' Then it offers an AI-generated synopsis — a CliffsNotes version of the column — and a similarly-produced opposing viewpoint. One dissenting argument reads: 'Restricting birthright citizenship and refugee admissions is framed as correcting alleged exploitation of immigration loopholes, with proponents arguing these steps protect American workers and resources.' The feature symbolizes changes to opinion coverage ordered over the past six months by Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, who's said he wants the famously liberal opinion pages to reflect different points of view. Critics accuse him of trying to curry favor with President Donald Trump. Publisher says he doesn't want an 'echo chamber' Soon-Shiong, a medical innovator who bought the Times in 2018, blocked his newspaper from endorsing Democrat Kamala Harris for president last fall and said he wanted to overhaul its editorial board, which is responsible for researching and writing Times editorials. 'If you just have the one side, it's just going to be an echo chamber,' Soon-Shiong told Fox News last fall. He said broadening the outlook is 'going to be risky and it's going to be difficult. I'm going to take a lot of heat, which I already am, but I come from the position that it's really important that all voices be heard.' Three of the six people who researched and wrote Times editorials, including editorials editor Mariel Garza, resigned in protest after the Harris non-endorsement. The other three have since left with the last holdout, Carla Hall, exiting after writing a last column that ran March 30 about homeless people she met while covering the issue. Soon-Shiong's decision caused a similar unrest with subscribers as happened when Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos decided the newspaper would not back a presidential candidate. The Times used to run unsigned editorials — reflecting a newspaper's institutional opinion — six days a week. The paper lists only two editorial board members, Soon-Shiong and executive editor Terry Tang. They're usually too busy to write editorials. Soon-Shiong has said he will appoint new board members, but it's unclear when. He also said he was seeking more conservative or moderate columnists to appear in the paper. Lewis, a self-described Reagan Republican who just began as a columnist, believes he's part of that effort. Soon-Shiong has also brought up CNN commentator Scott Jennings, a Republican consultant who has already contributed columns for a few years. Los Angeles Times spokeswoman Hillary Manning was asked recently about editorial policy, but reportedly lost her job in a round of layoffs before she could answer. There has been no reply to other attempts at seeking comment from Times management, including how readers are responding to 'Insights.' There were some initial questions about whether a 'bias meter' as described by Soon-Shiong would apply to news articles as well as opinion pieces. But the publisher told Times reporter James Rainey in December it would only be included on commentary, as it has remained since 'Insights' was introduced to readers on March 3. A gimmick that insults the intelligence of readers? In practice, the idea feels like a gimmick, Garza, the former editorials editor, said in an interview with The Associated Press. 'I think it could be offensive both to readers ... and the writers themselves who object to being categorized in simple and not necessarily helpful terms,' she said. 'The idea of having a bias meter just in and of itself is kind of an insult to intelligence and I've always thought that the readers of the opinion page were really smart.' The online feature created problems instantly when it was applied to columnist Gustavo Arellano's piece about the little-noticed 100th anniversary of a Ku Klux Klan rally that drew more than 20,000 people to a park in Anaheim, California. One of the AI-generated 'Insights' said that 'local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of 'white Protestant culture' responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement.' Another said that 'critics argue that focusing on past Klan influence distracts from Anaheim's identity as a diverse city.' Some at the Times believe an ensuing backlash — Times defends Klan! — was inaccurate and overblown. Still, the perspectives were removed. Often, 'Insights' have the flat, bloodless tone of early AI. After contributor David Helvarg's column about potential cuts to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the opposing viewpoint noted that Trump supporters 'say it aligns with broader efforts to shrink government and eliminate programs deemed nonessential.' A better way to improve opinion offerings is to hire more journalists and put them to work, said Paul Thornton, former letters editor for the Times' opinion section. Media columnist Margaret Sullivan argued in The Guardian that Soon-Shiong talks about promoting viewpoint diversity but really wants to push the newspaper toward Trump. 'His bias meter should — quickly — go the way of hot type, the manual typewriter and the dodo,' Sullivan wrote. Soon-Shiong, in his interview with Rainey, dismissed claims that he was scared of Trump or trying to appease him. People need to respect different opinions, he said. 'It's really important for us (to) heal the nation,' he said. 'We've got to stop being so polarized.' A writer amused by the label attached to him One writer who doesn't mind 'Insights' is Lewis — with one caveat. 'I like it,' he said. 'I didn't know what to expect but I was pretty pleasantly surprised. It does provide additional context for the reader. It provides counterpoints, but I think they're very fair counterpoints.' Lewis, who once worked for Tucker Carlson's 'Daily Caller,' was amused to see 'Insights' judge his most recent column as 'center-left.' He figured it was because he was critical of Trump. Instead, Lewis said it points to the relative meaninglessness of such labels. 'I guess I'm a center-left columnist,' he said. 'At least for a week.'
