Latest news with #RockyMountains
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Boardwalk Empire' actor Devin Harjes dies at 41
Actor Devin Harjes, known for his roles in "Boardwalk Empire" and "Daredevil," died on Tuesday, a representative confirmed to NBC News. He was 41. Harjes died at Mount Sinai West Hospital in New York City due to complications from cancer, which he was diagnosed with in the winter, according to the spokesperson. Representatives for Harjes did not provide additional details about his illness. "He was an artist of great conviction who never gave less than one hundred percent to any role he undertook," his representative said in a statement. "As a person, he was generous, kind, understanding and devoted to his family and friends, a great horseback rider and had a magic way with all animals." Harjes grew up in West Texas and studied acting in college before starting his career in the Dallas-Forth Worth theater scene, according to his website. He later moved to New York City, where he continued pursuing his craft. The actor performed in off-Broadway productions and independent films before transitioning to television, where he played Jack Dempsey in "Boardwalk Empire." Harjes also had notable roles in "Daredevil," "Gotham," "Blue Bloods" and "Orange Is the New Black." "Outside of acting, Devin was a dedicated student of martial arts and a regular at the gym — he often joked it was safer than getting kicked in the face by a horse," his obituary on his website read. Harjes spent his time in his home near the Rocky Mountains, in West Texas, or in Hell's Kitchen in New York City. This article was originally published on
The National
a day ago
- Entertainment
- The National
Mountainhead spoiler review: Ending explains what HBO film is really about
The world is a comedy to those who think and a tragedy to those who feel. Horace Walpole coined that phrase, Succession creator Jesse Armstrong quoted it in his review of a book on disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried, and his new film Mountainhead brings that sentiment to life. Mountainhead is a film built for the moment – and these days, moments are more ephemeral than ever. That's precisely why Armstrong, rushed his idea for a fictional summit between tech billionaires to the screen in a matter of months. He pitched it to HBO in December, filmed it in March, and released it today on OSN+ across the Middle East. The film stars Ramy Youssef, Cory Michael Smith, Steve Carell and Jason Schwartzman as four of the world's most powerful – and self-declared 'smartest' – men, each with a different claim to fame. It's not based on a true story, but it clearly draws from reality. Randall (Carell) is an elder statesman financier in the style of Peter Thiel, Jeff (Youssef) is an AI entrepreneur like Sam Altman, Venis (Smith) is the richest man in the world who owns a major social media app similar to Elon Musk. Schwartzman, meanwhile, plays a character call 'Souper' – short for soup kitchen, due to his significantly lower net worth. The film is entirely set at a house in the Rocky Mountains, where the four old friends meet for a weekend of fun and end up becoming consumed by the impact of Venis's latest product – generative AI that can create undetectable deepfakes. Within hours of its launch, the world descends into chaos – with inflammatory uses of the tech causing mass violence across the world. Their reactions are naive and self-interested, to say the least. Armstrong has long been interested in the workings of power. But after the conclusion of Succession, and in preparation for his review of Michael Lewis's book Going Infinite, chronicling the rise and fall of Bankman-Fried, he grew obsessed with those on the cutting edge of new technology – men who were changing the course of human history with a hastily-cobbled philosophy guiding their way forward. The venal Prometheans in Mountainhead speaks the language of this philosophy – they talk reverently of 'first principles', for instance – an idea that guides many in the tech space, including Musk. First principle thinking in tech involves boiling down complex problems into their most fundamental, indisputable truths to build new solutions from the ground up – rejecting all orthodoxy completely. The success that the Mountainhead billionaires – who call themselves the Brewsters – have found in life has led them to believe that they have it all figured out. They see themselves as the world's true leaders – and they have their fingers on the buttons that can bend the world to their will. And in their minds, all their actions are for the greater good. The future they are working towards is transhumanist – in which the consciousness of every person on earth will be uploaded into the cloud to exist in a state of bliss. In the meantime, they believe their every innovation will solve all the world's problems and heal all wounds – despite all evidence to the contrary, and with little depth to their analysis. 'Once one Palestinian kid sees some really bananas content from one Israeli kid – it's all over!' Venis remarks. In Succession, Armstrong needed to make his lead characters somewhat sympathetic for the sake of keeping viewers on board for a long-term narrative – here he has no such necessity and chooses not to. The only one with any semblance of a conscience is Youssef's Jeff, who realises his AI detection tech holds potentially the cure to the info-virus that Venis has just unleashed into the world. Youssef, who is an outspoken activist for peace in Palestine in real life, is a knowing bit of casting – but his character proves to be just as corruptible as the rest. Youssef's performance as he captures those layers proves to be the best turn of his career. This all could have become something more akin to a Black Mirror episode if Armstrong had wanted to, but that's just not what interested him. It seems at first that things will play out as a spin on the work of Ayn Rand (the title is a play on Rand's The Fountainhead, after all), with the world's most powerful literally removing themselves from society completely as the world burns. Instead, it becomes a darkly comic spin on Hitchcock film Rope. Before that, the film does toy with the idea of what these men may do if they decided to wield the levers of power at their disposal completely – they consider staging a coup of the United States, buying a country such as Haiti and 'relocating' its inhabitants and turning it into their own state, and more – but these plans are forgotten when they decide that their real problem is Jeff. Jeff wants Randall to push Venis out from his company and stop the world from burning, giving his own AI detection tech to the government for regulatory purposes. Randall, on the other hand, has incurable cancer, and Venis promises him that he will be the first to have his consciousness uploaded to the cloud. Randall then conspires with Venis and Souper to kill Jeff – and they speak about his murder with the same euphemistic Silicon Valley speak. It is there that the film's real message starts to emerge. Yes, these people may be brilliant in many ways, and yes, they may truly believe in their moralistic ambitions. But they are still human, as much as they may pretend to have transcended the rest of humanity. There are still guided by fear, jealousy and pride. They are still capable of stupidity, as much as they feel their net worth inoculates from it. As a result, the techno babble and first principles talk become another tool which they use to get what they want – a lie they tell themselves, each other, and the world. This is a film about the hubris and folly of man – the only true constant in an ever-changing world. They worship 'progress' – and the progress they want is whatever grants them more power. They don't kill Jeff, in the end. After locking him in a sauna, filling it with gasoline and threatening him with a match, they force him to sign over his company to them. And the next morning, when the dust settles, Jeff comes to breakfast with only moderate disgust for his friends. When Jeff goes to leave, Venis follows him, offering him a partnership – to integrate Jeff's tech into Venis's destructive tech to make it even more powerful, and bring about the transhumanist world that they always wanted. Jeff agrees, dropping all of his previously held moral qualms – his only condition being that they cut Randall out completely as an act of revenge. To them, this is all a comedy. They have lost the ability to feel and have no concern for the well-being of humanity. They don't need to create a secret Randian retreat to separate themselves from society – they have already separated themselves in their minds. As a result, we can infer, their actions from here will never take humanity's well-being in concern – and for everyone else, this will become a tragedy. They do the thinking, but the rest of us must feel the consequences. Ultimately, this is the most cynical work yet from Armstrong, and may prove to be his most divisive. But as far as food for thought, there's plenty here to chew on – just be careful of the bitter aftertaste.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Annual snapshot of CO kids shows decrease in suicides, increase in homelessness
An annual report on the state of Colorado's children shows improvements in insurance coverage and suicides, but a sharp increase in homelessness.
CBS News
6 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Plummeting water levels leads to fish kills at Northern Colorado lake; owners wait for access to water rights
One of the largest lakes in Northern Colorado is experiencing low water levels in the middle of a season when it's normally almost full. Lake Loveland in May 2025. CBS Lake Loveland, located in the heart of the city of Loveland, has had drastically low levels in recent weeks, as the lake's ownership group waits for access to spring runoff from the Rocky Mountains. Lake Loveland may be named after the city; however, it is owned by the Greeley Loveland Irrigation Company, which largely provides water for farming irrigation in Weld County. CBS News Colorado viewers said they noticed the lake was far lower than normal for this year, many saying they couldn't help but to notice the hundreds of dead fish peppered along the clay. "It is kind of sad to see it that way," said Harrison Bennett, a resident who walks his dog along the lake often. "The water is really low for this time of year. Usually by now, it is really full." Many residents, including Bennett, said they were not sure why the water levels were so low of late. And the amount of dead fish in the water and clay only increased that concern. "I've seen a lot of dead fish ... It is sad," Bennett said. "(The cause of the low levels) was a mystery to me. I was wondering that." CBS Colorado learned the low levels are the result of the lake having lower priority when it comes to accessing snowmelt from the Rocky Mountains. While those with the Greeley Loveland Irrigation Company did not return CBS Colorado's request for interview on this story, a manager for the organization did say they are waiting for several other lakes with higher priority to be filled before they are able to retrieve their access to the water. CBS Colorado hoped to learn more about what would happen to the fish that were killed, including whether the farmers the lake serves have been impacted by lack of access to fresh water, and what the timeline might be to fill the lake. Until then, some residents have found ways to still recreate at the property. A man named Jesse, who wished not to share his last name publicly, has used the drying lake bed as a way to play with his grandson. The duo brought remote control trucks to the lake and were using the uneven clay ground as a way to race and jump their remote controlled cars. "We are out here just having fun with them, jumping the hills and crashing," Jesse said. "We like that the water is down low." The duo burned through two sets of batteries in the last two days, each battery lasting more than three hours on average. "The only time I have seen it this low is when they were clearing out the sand," Jesse said. While the lake's ownership group continues to wait for access to its water rights, Jesse said he is among those who are OK with the level being low. "Maybe the fishermen (don't enjoy it) because they can't fish. But it doesn't bother me at all," Jesse said.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
Denver weather: More afternoon thunderstorms for the workweek
DENVER (KDVR) — Showers and thunderstorms will wrap up Monday evening, but more are in Denver's weather forecast for the workweek. Monday evening, there will be more thunderstorms. Overnight will be dry, but fog will develop and continue into Tuesday morning as low temperatures fall to the 40s. FOX31 Weather: View the latest Denver forecasts, maps and radar Tuesday will start off dry, with areas of morning fog. Then, as high temperatures climb to the 70s, clouds will increase ahead of a few afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Rain and thunderstorms become more widespread on Wednesday, especially in the afternoon and evening. This will limit high temperatures to the upper 60s, which is nearly 10 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for weather alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team Thursday, the chance for showers and a few thunderstorms returns by the afternoon as high temperatures approach 70 degrees. Then, warmer and drier conditions return Friday and into the weekend. There is still a chance for a few spotty afternoon thunderstorms as high temperatures climb to the upper 70s Friday and Saturday, then to the 80s Sunday and Monday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
