Latest news with #comingofage
Yahoo
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘Adults' Peaks In Episode 6 With Julia Fox, Ketamine, And Charlie Cox Eating Raw Chicken
Thanks to FX's Adults, a new comedy series that follows five twenty-something roommates as they struggle to navigate adulthood, I now see life in two phases: the roast chicken phase and the raw chicken phase. While I love a good coming-of-age story that seeks to replicate Friends/Girls/New Girl vibes, the fresh but familiar series from Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw admittedly took a while to grow on me. In early episodes, the writing and deliveries of certain jokes felt-try hard to a distracting degree. As the series progressed, characters and personalities started to feel much more lived-in. And in Season 1, Episode 6, 'Roast Chicken,' everything clicked. Hilarious spoilers for Episode 6 ahead. The standout installment — written by Sanaz Toossi and directed by Jason Woliner — showed Billie (Lucy Freyer), Samir (Malik Elassal),Paul Baker (Jack Innanen), Issa (Amita Rao), and Anton (Owen Thiele) throwing their very first dinner party for special guest, Mr. Teacher (Charlie Cox), the 42-year-old high school educator Billie's been dating. On the menu? Roast chicken and a heaping side of pressure, because Billie needed the night to go perfectly so she could impress her new man and prove the roommates have their shit together. 'We are more than capable of throwing a dinner party, despite what people say about people our age — that we're neurotic, irresponsible, directionless, or that we lie about using menstrual cups,' Billie told her pals in a pre-dinner party pep talk. 'Tonight we're gonna prove them wrong. We are in the roast chicken phase of life. We can be mature. And we can be normal. And we can cook a roast fucking chicken like the goddamn grown ups we are.' Minutes before Mr. Teacher rang the doorbell, Billie was thriving. She changed into a stunning black dress, did her hair and makeup, put an apron on, and popped her chicken in the oven. The vibe she was curating? A sophisticated evening full of delicious food, good banter, and thoughtful discourse over The Atlantic articles. Did Samir's dad's suit that made him look like he 'runs Gotham City' fit in with her dream dinner decor? No. Did Anton's short velvet suit jacket and ass-less leather chaps, aka his bartending uniform, clash with the event? Yes. But like Issa said, 'There's napkins on tables. There's nuts in bowls. This is basically a gala!' Despite the early red flags, Billie tried her best to relax and convince herself perfection was within reach. When the doorbell rang in unison with the fire alarm, however, it should have been a clear sign that the night would be all downhill (complimentary) from there. Though Mr. Teacher made an A+ first impression, minutes after Samir took his coat, he revealed he was on a large, introductory does of ketamine and asked Samir to keep the secret between them. For literal seconds, Samir obeyed his former educator. Even after telling Anton 'he's tripping his balls off,' Samir couldn't stop overthinking the problem and longed to loop in Billie. With Disaster #1 in motion, Adults took a detour to introduce Disaster #2: Paul Baker's mystery dinner guest, Jules. Issa, confident in herself and her relationship with Paul, was excited to meet his good friend, 'Foxy J.' But when actress and model Julia Fox answered the door looking glam AF with an edgy black and white fit, bleach blonde hair and eyebrows, and a famous glow to her, Issa full-on spiraled with insecurity. While 'the A++ version' of Issa was 'being interesting all over the sofa,' Billie remained in the kitchen determined to conquer the roast chicken, and Samir followed a wandering Mr. Teacher into a bedroom, where he found one of Billie's old yearbooks and had a ketamine-induced epiphany. 'I have to end it with her! Oh fuck! What the fuck am I doing? This girl was a child! I'm dating a child,' Cox's sky-high character said before performing a random somersault and fleeing the room. Meanwhile, Julia Fox ate all the crab dip! And Issa went into her closet and changed into her best Julia Fox fit! Sadly, she couldn't compete with Jules' stories about hanging in Lorne's office at Saturday Night Live, her poetic toast, or Mr. Teacher's chaotic dancing to Boney M's 'Sunny.' But despite everyone's best efforts, the real star of the show was Billie's roast chicken, which genuinely looked great until Mr. Teacher carved into it and blood splattered across the table. 'Did she forget to thaw that out?' Julia Fox, also a culinary genius, asked the group. Yes. Yes, she did. But Mr. Teacher was so high that he didn't notice he was serving everyone raw chicken drizzled with raw chicken juices. As everyone looks on in disgust and bewilderment, Cox's character chowed down on the uncooked bird in a gag-inducing, laugh-out-loud-worthy culmination of the episode's mounting chaos. Samir took the moment to free himself from the shackles of his secret and told Billie her Teach was on drugs. And rather than collapsing on his plate for the night, Cox jolted upward and kept his scene stealing streak going, dialing up his unhinged performance by shouting at the group for not saying grace, then hiding out in the bathroom, where he broke up with Billie. In a genuine show of maturity and capable problem-solving, a crushed Billie called her 42-year-old ex's ex wife to come pick him up, and after Foxy J got a car home, the friends said 'Fuck Mr Teacher!' before Billie let out one final scream into the oven in a delicious dinner party conclusion. While the chicken wasn't cooked, the episode absolutely ate. Adults delivered a wild, hilarious 24-minute ride that featured seamless writing, delightful performances, and smart callbacks that made viewers feel like they were part of the friend group — from Issa's Jane Fonda story and Paul Baker's 'weird milk,' to the boys not knowing how to waft. Cox fully embraced the chaos, delivering an amusing performance ripe with physical comedy. And Fox was perfectly cast as someone with just the right amount of fame, fashion, and influence to impress viewers while rattling Issa. As Samir said, 'she knows Sandler,' but she's not SO famous that she wouldn't believably befriend Paul Baker at Meals on Wheels. The episode unequivocally proved that Adults' core characters (and crucially, Mr. Andrew Teacher) are still in their raw chicken phase of life. But at least they're trying! They're making solid efforts to figure themselves, their careers, their relationships, and their futures out. And who among us can't relate to that journey? At the end of the day, we're all just adults hoping to successfully reach our roast chicken phases. (Unless you're vegan like Jules!) And when Adults serves up raw, relatable (occasionally heightened) moments of fear, humor, love, heartbreak, humiliation, and chaos, the show has the power to shine. Adults Season 1 is now streaming on Hulu with new episodes airing Wednesdays on FX.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Gold and other precious metals leak from Earth's core and reach the surface
Editor's note: A version of this story appeared in CNN's Wonder Theory science newsletter. To get it in your inbox, sign up for free here. For a long time, there has been a missing puzzle piece in Jerusalem's history. Though ancient texts offered some clues, an archaeological record of the city during the Early Hellenistic Period, from 332 to 141 BC, was largely absent — until now. Excavators at the Jerusalem Walls National Park unearthed two child-size gold rings set with shiny red gemstones from a dig site within less than a year. Both pieces of jewelry were in such good condition that at first glance, archaeologists thought they were modern. Now, they believe the 2,300-year-old rings were intentionally buried by young women as part of a coming-of-age ritual before marriage. Together, the rings and other objects from the excavations are painting a more detailed portrait of a period of Greek influence in Jerusalem's history. Speaking of precious caches, most of Earth's gold lies trapped in the planet's seething, molten core. But a new analysis of volcanic rocks in Hawaii suggests gold and other precious metals such as platinum are escaping into the mantle. Within the rock samples, researchers saw traces of a silver-gray metal about as rare as gold that was likely more abundant in Earth's early building materials when the core developed about 4.5 billion years ago. As volcanic islands form, gold and other metals eventually make their way to the surface — and more will probably emerge in Earth's crust if the metallic core is still leaking, researchers say. SpaceX's ninth test flight of Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, lifted off Tuesday reusing a Super Heavy booster for the first time. The spacecraft made it farther than it had during the past two tests but failed to achieve key objectives, including deploying dummy satellites that went along for the ride and reigniting its engines in space. Mission controllers lost contact with Starship, and the spacecraft spun out of control on reentry to Earth. Sharks usually prefer dining alone. But observers captured footage of at least 12 sharks from two distinct species sharing a feast for more than eight hours off the coast of Hawaii's Big Island. Astronomers have detected an unusual object known as ASKAP J1832-0911 emitting flashes of radio waves every 44 minutes — and it may be a new entry in a class of recently discovered mysterious objects called long-period transients. The object is releasing not only radio pulses but also powerful X-rays that NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory happened to observe. The high-energy X-rays are what sets ASKAP J1832-0911 apart from other cosmic phenomena. 'This object is unlike anything we have seen before,' said Dr. Andy Wang, an associate lecturer at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy in Australia. Excavations in Luxor have uncovered three tombs in an ancient Egyptian burial complex. Located in a cemetery called Dra' Abu el-Naga, which was reserved for prominent nonroyals, the burial chambers date to the New Kingdom, which lasted from around 1539 to 1077 BC. Painted figures, hieroglyphs and inscriptions found inside the tombs helped researchers determine the names and occupations of those laid to rest there. Catch up on the latest stories: — Sixteen states have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, asking a federal judge to end new policies by the National Science Foundation. Tasked with advancing scientific discoveries, the agency is halting millions of dollars' worth of research across the country. — Researchers say they now know what the massive megalodon really ate to meet its 100,000-calorie daily requirement. — China's Tianwen-2 mission is on a quest to land on an asteroid that might be a chunk of the moon and then fly by an 'active asteroid' trailing dusty, comet-like tails. — A roughly 43,000-year-old fingerprint, which appears to mark where a nose should be on a rock resembling a face, adds to evidence that ancient human ancestors were capable of creating art. Forensic police helped unravel the mystery of who made the print. Like what you've read? Oh, but there's more. Sign up here to receive in your inbox the next edition of Wonder Theory, brought to you by CNN Space and Science writers Ashley Strickland, Katie Hunt and Jackie Wattles. They find wonder in planets beyond our solar system and discoveries from the ancient world.
Geek Tyrant
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Retro Trailer For The 1985 Coming-of-Age Adventure BIG SHOTS — GeekTyrant
This week's retro trailer is for the 1985 coming-of-age adventure Big Shots, which follows the unlikely friendship between two boys from vastly different backgrounds. Obie Dawkins is a sheltered suburban kid grieving the sudden death of his father. After a series of unfortunate events leads him into the rough streets of Chicago, he crosses paths with Scam, a savvy, streetwise orphan. Despite their differences, the two boys quickly bond and embark on a wild journey to find Scam's long-lost father, dodging criminals, carjackers, and corrupt adults along the way. The film is a mix of action, comedy and heart. It was directed by Robert Mandel and written by Joe Eszterhas, Big Shots offers a charming yet thrilling ride that captures the spirit of bring young and wild.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'A cry from the council estate' - the trans teen drama that pulls no punches
What It Feels Like For A Girl. A fairly innocuous title for a teen TV series, right? But the stars of BBC Three's new drama say it's taken on a deeper resonance since the show was filmed last year. That's because it's a coming-of-age story about a gender-questioning teenager growing up in a working class town near Nottingham. And it's hitting our screens just a few weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that the terms "woman" and "sex" in the 2010 Equality Act "refer to a biological woman and biological sex". While some groups have celebrated the decision, some trans campaigners have expressed dismay. Given the court's ruling, even the title of the drama is divisive. Some will take issue with it as it is inspired by the autobiography of the same name from trans writer, journalist and trans rights campaigner Paris Lees. And that's because they believe that Lees isn't a woman - and that the Supreme Court judgement supports them. Hannah Jones, who plays sharp-tongued trans sex worker Sasha in the series, acknowledges the timing: "The title of our show changed overnight. You know, the whole meaning of it is exactly what is going on in the news right now. What does it feel like for a girl? The trans narrative is so different for so many people." Maya Forstater, who set up the campaign group Sex Matters, has told the BBC she strongly opposes the drama's narrative: "Presenting the idea of an effeminate boy 'becoming a girl' as an edgy coming-of-age story is presenting delusion as self-discovery." The series is a raw, hedonistic, brutal - but often hilarious - tale of Byron (Ellis Howard), a 15-year-old boy who is trying to find his identity and is desperate to escape the small-mindedness of his home town. In the heady days of the early 2000s, the teen (based on Lees) is taken under the wing of "The Fallen Divas" while clubbing in Nottingham, a group of hedonistic, anarchic outsiders who soon become a second family. But beyond the hardcore party lifestyle, the dark underbelly of an exploitative sex work industry lures Byron in. Local drug dealer Liam - played by Jake Dunn - is an intoxicating influence on Byron, embarking on an underage relationship with this young wannabee while also enticing the youngster into selling sex. Grooming and child abuse are a constant backdrop. "Essentially, he's Byron's pimp," explains Dunn. As can be the case in such instances, Byron is attracted to what he sees as someone with power, his own flat and independence - something he wants himself. "He [Liam] is very enigmatic," explains Dunn. "They [he and Byron] actually share a very similar back story. They sort of become magnetised to each other. [It's like] watching an unstoppable force meet an immovable object. "Part of Liam's obsession and desire towards Byron is because Byron reminds Liam of Liam at that age." Dunn, who hails from Nottingham himself, based Liam "off of two people I knew from Nottingham and a lad from Derby who really stuck in my head when I was a teenager, their voices and the way they acted". He adds: "At times Liam does feel very vulnerable in a strange way, and then he's also really hardened. And I think when you're working class from a place with no prospects, you're a survivalist and you'll do anything. "He looks out for himself in a way that is really scary and coercive." The drama also doesn't shy away from a serious crime committed by Liam and Byron (which led to serious consequences for Lees in real life as a teenager). Lees has previously said that, "for me, personally, the much more interesting journey of this book is the class transition", having become middle class in later life, after growing up working class. "I was living in a different city, I had a different accent, I had a different way of making money, shall we say, a different set of friends. I can't connect that with my life today. And a lot of it is the class thing," Lees told the Guardian in 2021. Dunn says of the drama: "The most exciting intersectionality of it is with the working class. What is that experience going to be for you if you are trans... and you are poor? What is the survivalist mechanism that exists for those people? "It's a hard watch but at no point did the humour leave, at no point did the heart leave. And that's a testament to Paris's life." In a Huffington Post interview in 2019, Lees acknowledged things were easier for her in later life. "I'm probably one of the most privileged trans women in Britain. If you're a LGBTQ kid in a council estate in Manchester and you're getting bullied every time you leave the house, you feel like it's not safe to go to school, and you're seeing all of this horrible stuff in the press – how is that going to make you feel?" Ellis Howard concurs, and says of the book: "I feel like it's a real cry from the council estate. "So you come out swinging as an actor because of how authentic the book is in terms of Paris's experience." Byron lives a very split existence, navigating a difficult home life with a macho father alongside a dangerous, illegal lifestyle on the outside. Things get more challenging when, as an older teenager, Byron begins to transition. There is one stalwart ally in the family though, Byron's beloved granny played by Hannah Walters, who co-produced hit show Adolescence alongside husband Stephen Graham. "We spoke a lot about code switching," Howard tells me. Code switching is the act of changing one's environment to fit in in certain environments. "I think it really highlights the pockets of Byron's life, where Byron is allowed to be who they are and where they aren't, or where they feel comfortable and safe enough to be," Howard says. "You can't do that if you just see all of the the glam and the chaos... we all have to come home, and what does that look like, and how does that feel? And I think it's incredibly pertinent for when someone is trying to figure out who they are. "When you taste authenticity, or when you collide into yourself - once you feel like that, you don't want to ever let it go." He adds that he has experienced this himself. "I feel like that as a queer person. Once you've felt liberation, one never wants to walk backwards, and so to be forced to is such an awful and really draining experience, but I think one that is really important to show on television, because it then begs the question of why our society forces people to do that." The trans teen drama comes in the wake of the UK Supreme Court ruling in April this year, that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities law. The campaign group For Women Scotland had brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people who are born female. The Scottish government had argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate were entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women - but it was defeated. Since the decision, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has issued interim guidance for England, Scotland and Wales for places such as hospitals, shops and restaurants, that says "trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities". However, part of the Supreme Court judgement stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people. The EHRC also states that trans people should not be left without any facilities to use. Following the Supreme Court ruling, Sex Matters' Maya Forstater, said: "I think every organisation is going to have to tear up their policies and start again. It's much simpler than people have thought. There are men, there are women, there are spaces and services that are for men and women - most spaces and services. "And then there are things that are single sex – and when things are single sex, it's not the start of a negotiation." Laquarn Lewis, who plays the indefatigable Fallen Diva Lady Die in What If Feels Like For a Girl, says the show's characters are "just rebelling against how society is telling them they should be". "And that's exactly what we have to do with the recent law that's just been announced, we have to just rebel. Human rights must exist. The last thing we need to do is focus on such a small demographic who are a minority and just ostracise them and make them feel targeted and become victims." Howard is hopeful the show will be something of a beacon. "It's a really scary time in our culture, politically, and so hopefully what the show does is provides relief, but also community. Because I think we need community. We need structure and safety now more than ever." What It Feels Like For A Girl will be on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three from 3 June.
BBC News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
What It Feels Like For A Girl: Trans teen drama based on Paris Lees memoir pulls no punches
What It Feels Like For A Girl. A fairly innocuous title for a teen TV series, right? But the stars of BBC Three's new drama say it's taken on a deeper resonance since the show was filmed last because it's a coming-of-age story about a gender-questioning teenager growing up in a working class town near Nottingham. And it's hitting our screens just a few weeks after the Supreme Court ruled that the terms "woman" and "sex" in the 2010 Equality Act "refer to a biological woman and biological sex".While some groups have celebrated the decision, some trans campaigners have expressed the court's ruling, even the title of the drama is divisive. Some will take issue with it as it is inspired by the autobiography of the same name from trans writer, journalist and trans rights campaigner Paris Lees. And that's because they believe that Lees isn't a woman - and that the Supreme Court judgement supports Jones, who plays sharp-tongued trans sex worker Sasha in the series, acknowledges the timing: "The title of our show changed overnight. You know, the whole meaning of it is exactly what is going on in the news right now. What does it feel like for a girl? The trans narrative is so different for so many people."Maya Forstater, who set up the campaign group Sex Matters, has told the BBC she strongly opposes the drama's narrative: "Presenting the idea of an effeminate boy 'becoming a girl' as an edgy coming-of-age story is presenting delusion as self-discovery."The series is a raw, hedonistic, brutal - but often hilarious - tale of Byron (Ellis Howard), a 15-year-old boy who is trying to find his identity and is desperate to escape the small-mindedness of his home the heady days of the early 2000s, the teen (based on Lees) is taken under the wing of "The Fallen Divas" while clubbing in Nottingham, a group of hedonistic, anarchic outsiders who soon become a second family. But beyond the hardcore party lifestyle, the dark underbelly of an exploitative sex work industry lures Byron in. Local drug dealer Liam - played by Jake Dunn - is an intoxicating influence on Byron, embarking on an underage relationship with this young wannabee while also enticing the youngster into selling sex. Grooming and child abuse are a constant backdrop."Essentially, he's Byron's pimp," explains can be the case in such instances, Byron is attracted to what he sees as someone with power, his own flat and independence - something he wants himself. "He [Liam] is very enigmatic," explains Dunn."They [he and Byron] actually share a very similar back story. They sort of become magnetised to each other. [It's like] watching an unstoppable force meet an immovable object."Part of Liam's obsession and desire towards Byron is because Byron reminds Liam of Liam at that age."Dunn, who hails from Nottingham himself, based Liam "off of two people I knew from Nottingham and a lad from Derby who really stuck in my head when I was a teenager, their voices and the way they acted". He adds: "At times Liam does feel very vulnerable in a strange way, and then he's also really hardened. And I think when you're working class from a place with no prospects, you're a survivalist and you'll do anything."He looks out for himself in a way that is really scary and coercive."The drama also doesn't shy away from a serious crime committed by Liam and Byron (which led to serious consequences for Lees in real life as a teenager). Lees has previously said that, "for me, personally, the much more interesting journey of this book is the class transition", having become middle class in later life, after growing up working class."I was living in a different city, I had a different accent, I had a different way of making money, shall we say, a different set of friends. I can't connect that with my life today. And a lot of it is the class thing," Lees told the Guardian in says of the drama: "The most exciting intersectionality of it is with the working class. What is that experience going to be for you if you are trans... and you are poor? What is the survivalist mechanism that exists for those people?"It's a hard watch but at no point did the humour leave, at no point did the heart leave. And that's a testament to Paris's life."In a Huffington Post interview in 2019, Lees acknowledged things were easier for her in later life."I'm probably one of the most privileged trans women in Britain. If you're a LGBTQ kid in a council estate in Manchester and you're getting bullied every time you leave the house, you feel like it's not safe to go to school, and you're seeing all of this horrible stuff in the press – how is that going to make you feel?" Ellis Howard concurs, and says of the book: "I feel like it's a real cry from the council estate."So you come out swinging as an actor because of how authentic the book is in terms of Paris's experience."Byron lives a very split existence, navigating a difficult home life with a macho father alongside a dangerous, illegal lifestyle on the get more challenging when, as an older teenager, Byron begins to transition. There is one stalwart ally in the family though, Byron's beloved granny played by Hannah Walters, who co-produced hit show Adolescence alongside husband Stephen Graham."We spoke a lot about code switching," Howard tells me. Code switching is the act of changing one's environment to fit in in certain environments."I think it really highlights the pockets of Byron's life, where Byron is allowed to be who they are and where they aren't, or where they feel comfortable and safe enough to be," Howard says."You can't do that if you just see all of the the glam and the chaos... we all have to come home, and what does that look like, and how does that feel? And I think it's incredibly pertinent for when someone is trying to figure out who they are. "When you taste authenticity, or when you collide into yourself - once you feel like that, you don't want to ever let it go."He adds that he has experienced this himself."I feel like that as a queer person. Once you've felt liberation, one never wants to walk backwards, and so to be forced to is such an awful and really draining experience, but I think one that is really important to show on television, because it then begs the question of why our society forces people to do that." The trans teen drama comes in the wake of the UK Supreme Court ruling in April this year, that a woman is defined by biological sex under equalities campaign group For Women Scotland had brought a case against the Scottish government arguing that sex-based protections should only apply to people who are born female. The Scottish government had argued in court that transgender people with a gender recognition certificate were entitled to the same sex-based protections as biological women - but it was the decision, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has issued interim guidance for England, Scotland and Wales for places such as hospitals, shops and restaurants, that says "trans women (biological men) should not be permitted to use the women's facilities". However, part of the Supreme Court judgement stressed that the law still gives protection against discrimination to transgender people. The EHRC also states that trans people should not be left without any facilities to the Supreme Court ruling, Sex Matters' Maya Forstater, said: "I think every organisation is going to have to tear up their policies and start again. It's much simpler than people have thought. There are men, there are women, there are spaces and services that are for men and women - most spaces and services. "And then there are things that are single sex – and when things are single sex, it's not the start of a negotiation."Laquarn Lewis, who plays the indefatigable Fallen Diva Lady Die in What If Feels Like For a Girl, says the show's characters are "just rebelling against how society is telling them they should be". "And that's exactly what we have to do with the recent law that's just been announced, we have to just rebel. Human rights must exist. The last thing we need to do is focus on such a small demographic who are a minority and just ostracise them and make them feel targeted and become victims."Howard is hopeful the show will be something of a beacon."It's a really scary time in our culture, politically, and so hopefully what the show does is provides relief, but also community. Because I think we need community. We need structure and safety now more than ever."What It Feels Like For A Girl will be on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three from 3 June.
