Latest news with #Fleming
Boston Globe
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
The problem with the Las Vegas Sphere's new take on ‘The Wizard of Oz'
Director Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The 17,600-seat, 366-foot-tall, 516-foot-wide Sphere is the largest spherical structure on Earth and features an Exosphere with a 580,000-square-foot display, the largest LED screen in the So, why is all hell breaking loose in online cinephile circles? Because, as the CBS This Morning feature reported, 'The Wizard of Oz' is being modified by AI to create images and performances that were not present in the original film. Characters who were not originally in the frame now appear onscreen, as does scenery that was originally offscreen. All of this is generated by AI. 'Our standard on this was not to modify the film at all,' says Dolan in the CBS interview, 'but to try and bring you into the film, as if you were in the studio when it was shot.' Then, CBS showed a scene where AI created onscreen actions that one of the actors, who was offscreen in the original film, did not perform. Advertisement Sounds like a modification! This alteration brings to mind that commercial where Actress Margaret Hamilton is shown in character as the infamous Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz." AP Adding to the online fury, the CBS reporting cited here was done by Ben Mankiewicz, the primetime host and the face of Turner Classic Movies. In the interview, Mankiewicz seemed unfazed by a billionaire sanctioning the artistic butchery that changed director Victor Fleming's original vision. For fans of the network, this is akin to the world's most famous vegan interviewing Colonel Sanders and raving about his chicken. The entire interview clearly hit a nerve, especially for folks who remembered how TCM's founder, Ted Turner, originally had This is what Mankiewicz tweeted: '[T]he concerns over AI are real. But it is here. We must accept that. But this is not what our concern should be. The actors are gone. All they're doing now is extending performances to fit a large screen – completing work Fleming and LeRoy would have if it had been possible.' Advertisement Frank Morgan, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, Judy Garland and Bert Lahr in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz." Warner Home Vide How do we know what Fleming or LeRoy (who also directed some scenes) would have done? We can't ask them. And no, we don't have to accept AI chicanery, no matter how hard tech bros and websites are trying to cram that technology down our throats. These assumptions are infuriating. Remember that the excuse for colorizing movies was a billionaire's assumption that contemporary audiences would only watch black and white films if they were in color. This reasoning failed to take into account that Technicolor existed when those films were made, and also ignored that shooting in black-and-white was a stylistic choice that required different lighting and color schemes. Keep in mind that this alteration of 'The Wizard of Oz' is different from George Lucas updating the special effects in the original 'Star Wars' trilogy, or Steven Spielberg replacing guns with walkie-talkies in a re-release of 'E.T.'. For better or worse, those instances were a case of the director modifying his own vision. We can argue that these alterations are also wrong, but at least we know the filmmaker's intent wasn't violated. Regardless of the quality of a film, each shot, scene, and camera movement represents what the filmmaker wanted to convey to the consumer. Without that knowledge, adding or removing something from the frame, or changing angles or aspect ratios, may very likely alter or distort that intention. For example, when Orson Welles's 'The Other Side of the Wind' was finished by others in 2018, 48 years after Welles shot the footage, the editing job didn't always feel Wellesian. Everyone involved did their best to mimic the director, but the 'happy accidents' Welles always said influenced his decisions will never be known. Advertisement Margaret Hamilton as The Wicked Witch, arms extended towards Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz." Turner Entertainment That violation of a filmmaker's original intent is the major issue those cinephiles arguing with Mankiewicz have with the Sphere version of 'The Wizard of Oz.' (Which will cost you between $150 and $350 to see, by the way.) The idea forces the question: 'what next?' Will some billionaire bankroll an immersive 'Gone With the Wind' where Prissy is seen learning something about birthing babies, and audiences can feel the heat of Atlanta burning? A reimagining of the lost footage of 'The Magnificent Ambersons' featuring AI-generated performances? A version of 'Titanic' where the door is big enough for Rose and Jack? 'The Wizard of Oz' is only the beginning. And to think, this nightmare started with Fred Astaire being forced to dance with a vacuum cleaner. Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
Miami Herald
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
‘Fight a little more for Overtown': TED talks focus on preserving Black neighborhood
Remnants of Overtown when it was a Black entertainment hub are still standing, such as the Lyric Theatre, the Ward Rooming House and the D.A. Dorsey House. But like many other historic Black neighborhoods, Overtown has faced changes: the construction of the I-95 highway right through the middle of the neighborhood and the ongoing development gentrifying the area. The is one of the reasons Joshua Jomarron wanted to bring back TedxOvertown, an event now in its second year that hosts a diverse group of speakers to give talks focusing on Overtown's progress and its future. This year's theme is 360 Perspectives, with a focus on understanding and respect for diverse veiwpoints and creating a space for people to have meaningful conversations that challenge assumptions. Jomarron said the theme also builds off of last year's theme which focused on the neighborhood's legacy and progress. 'Progress is inevitable, so it's either you hop on or get out of the way,' Jomarron said, ahead of Saturday's event, which takes place at Booker T. Washington High School in Overtown. 'But how do we do it in a way where we can preserve our history and preserve the legacy?' Jomarron said the theme is intentionally broad to allow for a flow of ideas to emerge from this year's speakers, which include developer and entrepreneur Derek Fleming and Booker T. Washington High School alum Jasmine Williams. Jomarron said he chose the Overtown community to specifically focus on because residents are proud of the area's rich cultural heritage and its preservation. 'You have all of these places that are preserving history, and it's very much different than what we see in other communities in Miami,' Jomarron said. Areas like Wynwood look drastically different from when he first moved to Miami when he was a child, he said. Fleming, who splits his time between Miami and New York and helped redevelop the former Clyde Killens' Pool Hall into Red Rooster in Overtown, said TedxOvertown is a way to ensure Overtown is a part of the conversation at a time when it comes to fortifying communities that have been neglected. 'I think with what's happening right now in our national political conversation, it's important to reaffirm that equity and inclusiveness is integral to how we build community, how we build cohesiveness in our cities,' he said, adding the area has seen a commitment to preserving the Black landmarks and investment in youth with places such as the Overtown Youth Center. Fleming said his talk will focus on how the inclusion of historically-marginalized voices is important to the community development process and emphasized the importance of including voices of elders who live in Overtown and know and understand its rich history. 'There's an imperative that you consider the cultural capital of this place as it gets developed but another important piece of my talk is that cities like Miami really need to understand that when they replenish Black communities like Overtown, they actually benefit the entire city,' he said, adding he hopes people come to the event inspired and are reminded of what the neighborhood has lost and are pushed to protect the community. Nicole Crooks spoke at the inaugural TedxOvertown event and is an advisor for this year's talks. She said she hopes through the talks people understand the importance of preserving the many physical spaces in the neighborhood as possible noting the restoration of the Lawson E. Thomas building and D.A. Dorsey Park as key fixtures in the community. 'We have a few places that have been historically designated, but my prayer is that we'll hold onto the ones that remain and that people who live here in Overtown and have deep roots whose families have lived here for generations will not be continually pushed out,' she said. Jasmine Williams, Crooks' daughter and a recent graduate of Booker T. Washington High School in Overtown, will also be speaking at the event. She wants to ensure the voices of youth are heard and believes younger people have just as much to offer in the conversations about Overtown as those that came before them. 'I want people to know that the youth in Overtown are very resilient,' she said. 'There's nobody I've met at Booker T. that couldn't make a way for themselves if they wanted something.' Like Fleming, she's worried about gentrification further overtaking the neighborhood, and wishes it could reclaim its moniker, 'Harlem of The South.' She's hoping the TedxOvertown event will spur some energy in people to preserve the community: 'I hope they see a reason to fight a little more for Overtown.' WHAT: TEDxOvertown WHEN: Saturday, Aug. 2 WHERE: Booker T. Washington High School, 1200 NW 6th Ave, Miami, FL 33136 COST: $25 INFO:
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Tampa Breaks Heat Record as Heat Dome Bakes Eastern U.S.
Records are starting to fall to the continuing heat dome that is covering much of the eastern U.S. More than 250 million people in the U.S.—nearly three quarters of the population—are experiencing moderate, major or extreme risk of heat effects on July 28, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service. The warnings come as a heat dome continues to smother the eastern U.S.—and records are starting to fall under the oppressive heat. Perhaps most surprisingly is that, on July 27, the current heat dome pushed Tampa, Fla., into triple digits Fahrenheit for the first time since monitoring began during the 1890s, according to the Tampa Bay Times. 'We're frequently over 90—for three, four months a year, almost every day it gets above 90,' says Tyler Fleming, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Tampa Bay office. 'But getting to 100 takes a lot of heat, so it's never happened in the recorded history of Tampa.' Surrounded by water, Tampa—and Florida at large—is usually cursed with enough humidity to keep the overall air temperature, as a thermometer measures it, a bit lower. It takes a lot of energy to heat up water (think about how long it takes to bring water to a boil on the stove), so it takes more energy to heat up humid air to a given temperature than it takes to heat up dry air to the same point, Fleming explains. [Sign up for Today in Science, a free daily newsletter] READ MORE: Heat Is More Than Just Temperature—Here's How We Measure It He says there wasn't any special factor that caused Tampa's heat record to occur on Sunday beyond the extremity of the current situation. 'We've been close many times; we've been to 99 several times before,' Fleming says. 'It was just a strong heat wave—that was just enough to push us over the edge.' Tampa is the highest-profile city to see a heat record fall. But the current bout of extreme heat has tied record temperatures in several other cities, including Jacksonville, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. Climate change is increasing the odds of breaking heat records everywhere because the global temperature is now higher overall and extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and hotter and lasting longer. A brutal heat dome has smothered much of the eastern U.S. since last week, with the worst conditions beginning in the Midwest, traveling to the East Coast and then settling over the Southeast. The heat dome is the result of a remarkably large ridge of high pressure that has been stalling over the region. 'When that high pressure is overhead, it pushes the air down,' Fleming says. 'As the air sinks, it compresses and heats up.' If you live in an affected area, check out Scientific American's science-backed tips for staying healthy in extreme heat and for keeping your house cool. The current heat dome is expected to linger for several more days until the high-pressure system migrates westward, which, Fleming says, should return the region to what he calls 'a more typical summer pattern.' But for now, huge portions of the country remain at risk from the sweltering heat. The NWS HeatRisk map calculates the number of people exposed to different categories of heat risk. On July 28, 16 million people are at extreme risk, which NWS describes as 'rare and/or long-duration extreme heat with no overnight relief'; another 135.9 million are at major risk. The map estimates that by July 29, more than 12 million people will remain at extreme risk, and nearly 150 million will be at major risk. And as of July 30, nearly 115 million people are expected to be at major or extreme risk. The widespread high risk will not begin to abate until July 31. Solve the daily Crossword
Scientific American
3 days ago
- Climate
- Scientific American
Tampa Breaks 100 Degrees F for First Time on Record as Heat Wave Bakes Eastern U.S.
More than 250 million people in the U.S.—nearly three quarters of the population—are experiencing moderate, major or extreme risk of heat effects on July 28, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service. The warnings come as a heat dome continues to smother the eastern U.S.—and records are starting to fall under the oppressive heat. Perhaps most surprisingly is that, on July 27, the current heat dome pushed Tampa, Fla., into triple digits Fahrenheit for the first time since monitoring began during the 1890s, according to the Tampa Bay Times. 'We're frequently over 90—for three, four months a year, almost every day it gets above 90,' says Tyler Fleming, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Tampa Bay office. 'But getting to 100 takes a lot of heat, so it's never happened in the recorded history of Tampa.' Surrounded by water, Tampa—and Florida at large—is usually cursed with enough humidity to keep the overall air temperature, as a thermometer measures it, a bit lower. It takes a lot of energy to heat up water (think about how long it takes to bring water to a boil on the stove), so it takes more energy to heat up humid air to a given temperature than it takes to heat up dry air to the same point, Fleming explains. On supporting science journalism If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today. He says there wasn't any special factor that caused Tampa's heat record to occur on Sunday beyond the extremity of the current situation. 'We've been close many times; we've been to 99 several times before,' Fleming says. 'It was just a strong heat wave—that was just enough to push us over the edge.' Tampa is the highest-profile city to see a heat record fall. But the current bout of extreme heat has tied record temperatures in several other cities, including Jacksonville, Fla., and Charlotte, N.C. Climate change is increasing the odds of breaking heat records everywhere because the global temperature is now higher overall and extreme heat events are becoming more frequent and hotter and lasting longer. A brutal heat dome has smothered much of the eastern U.S. since last week, with the worst conditions beginning in the Midwest, traveling to the East Coast and then settling over the Southeast. The heat dome is the result of a remarkably large ridge of high pressure that has been stalling over the region. 'When that high pressure is overhead, it pushes the air down,' Fleming says. 'As the air sinks, it compresses and heats up.' If you live in an affected area, check out Scientific American 's science-backed tips for staying healthy in extreme heat and for keeping your house cool. The current heat dome is expected to linger for several more days until the high-pressure system migrates westward, which, Fleming says, should return the region to what he calls 'a more typical summer pattern.' But for now, huge portions of the country remain at risk from the sweltering heat. The NWS HeatRisk map calculates the number of people exposed to different categories of heat risk. On July 28, 16 million people are at extreme risk, which NWS describes as 'rare and/or long-duration extreme heat with no overnight relief'; another 135.9 million are at major risk. The map estimates that by July 29, more than 12 million people will remain at extreme risk, and nearly 150 million will be at major risk. And as of July 30, nearly 115 million people are expected to be at major or extreme risk. The widespread high risk will not begin to abate until July 31.
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Fleming hoping to bring away form home at Irish Close
Emma Fleming is hoping the rich vein of form she has developed abroad this season will fuel a title run on home soil, as the Elm Park golfer prepares to tee it up at the AIG Irish Women's & Girls' Amateur Close Championship at Ardee Golf Club this week. One of the marquee weeks in Irish amateur golf, both championships begin on Tuesday morning with 85 of the island's top players set to battle it out across four days of competition on the County Louth parkland course. Having spent much of her 2025 season in Australia on an Erasmus programme, Fleming has sharpened her game overseas and reaped the rewards of the new challenge. The UCD student returned home with a runner-up finish at the Rene Reichsen Salver and a victory at the Victorian Amateur Championship, a prestigious match play event that could serve as ideal preparation for the week ahead. 'I loved playing over there,' said Fleming. 'It taught me a lot because the courses are set up very differently. It really made me put a huge emphasis on putting and they're designed to score low. When I came back, I was more used to going lower than normal, so I really enjoyed my time over there.' 'I've never won that long of an event before, so I feel definitely added confidence just knowing that you can go that far.' That confidence was further bolstered at the KPMG Women's Irish Open, where Fleming impressed by making the cut at Carton House, finishing as the top Irish amateur in the field. 'I was very happy to make the cut,' said Fleming. 'That event was really fun. It's fun to play with pros, especially Anna Nordqvist so it was a bit of a surreal experience.' Now, Fleming returns to domestic action looking to carry that momentum into a championship that has helped launch the careers of many of Ireland's female professionals. Six of the last eight winners, Olivia Mehaffey (2016), Sara Byrne (2018 & 2023), Annabel Wilson (2019), Anna Foster (2021) and Canice Screene (2024), have since joined the professional ranks and while adding her name to that list would be a special moment, Fleming is keeping both her short-term focus and long-term outlook grounded. 'It's definitely the most historic event in Ireland so it would mean a lot, but I'll try and just play well,' said Fleming. 'I think I'll definitely finish my degree. I'm probably leaning towards the academic route now. My family are very academically based, and I want to definitely have at least a backup.' Fleming tees off at 8.55am on Tuesday, where she will be joined by Libby Fleming (El Camino Country Club) and fellow Irish international Anna Dawson (Tramore) in one of the standout groups of the morning. The format will see players contest 36 holes of stroke play qualifying on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the top 16 in both the Women's and Girls' championships advancing to the match play stages on Thursday and Friday.
