Flix Gab

Anything but Fox

Last week I spent the better part of two hours in a waiting room at the VA hospital here in Little Rock. As in every VA waiting room, this one had a TV bolted high on the wall and spot-welded to the Fox News channel. The Fox team was doing their best to whip the viewers into a frenzy with steeply slated reports on both recent events and some going as far back as Benghazi. The dozen or so other patients in the room were all in a lather. A comfort animal cowered in the corner with his paws over his ears. I tried to offer the little fella comfort, but I felt as out of place as Plaid Shirt Guy at a Trump rally.

Many veterans have stress issues, some related to combat, while others are related to previous encounters with the VA health care system. The suicide rate among veterans is appallingly high. The VA says they care, but running Fox News 24-7 seems to indicate otherwise. Sometimes I wonder if the VA views suicide as a problem or simply a way to cut down on the workload.

I don't know what would be a better TV choice for the captive audience of veterans. Obesity is often an issue with this group so The Food Channel is out of the question. The Weather Channel once served as a peaceful oasis, but with constant reports of floods, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and tornadoes, it now looks more like the Book of Revelations illustrated. With all the options available, surely the VA can find a better match for stressed-out vets. Anything but Fox News.

David Rose Hot Springs

"We the People ..."

The Preamble, the first words of the Constitution, shapes American democracy by laying out a blueprint for making this grand experiment of government work. Certain words within it are capitalized and much larger than the rest, intended by the Founding Fathers to emphasize their importance.

Article I imparts legislative powers to a congress composed of a Senate and House of

Representatives. Articles II and III address the presidency and judicial system. The last four articles map guidelines for governance, citizen rights, matters of revenue and passage of amendments.

Our Constitution was and is a noble and worthy endeavor: government of, by and for We the People, a more perfect union. Its Preamble is the idea, the heart. Everything else is detail. The first and most important detail is that power to make laws lies with a gathering of delegates chosen by and in service to We the People.

Upon gathering, the Founding Fathers were not all of one mind as to how this dream should be made real. They wanted a country embracing the ideals of liberty and justice for all. They sat, stood, paced, talked, suggested, argued and worked it out. That's the key; they got together and worked it out. We owe them and ourselves a sincere attempt to do the same.

A true patriot is not necessarily someone who thinks the same as you. A patriot actively supports the details and ideals of our constitution. It shouldn't be us against them, my way or no way. It was always meant to be We.

Earth has two poles. Opposites exist, but share an attraction. This gives balance, without which collapse is inevitable.

Americans cannot allow themselves to become so polarized as to deny and refuse to consider everything in between. We must not fall into the trap of thinking that partisanship is patriotism. It's not.

United we stand, divided we fall. Not just words, these speak reality. America isn't black or white, Christian or Muslim, right wing or left wing. Eagles can't leave the ground, much less achieve great heights, with one wing. Two wings work together pursuing one goal.

As citizens of the United States our goal should always be to insure life, liberty and justice for all, to provide for the common good. We. The People. Union. Give it real thought if you would be a true patriot.

Jim Frey

Witter

From the web:

In response to the Sept. 29 Arkansas Blog post "Brett Kavanaugh's record raised questions long before the women came along":

The GOP waits 400 days on Garland and we need to rush this selection through? The GOP is devoid of decency and running scared from the orange blob.

I am pleased that there will be an FBI investigation and hope they can clear the air.

However, in the end, voters must get off their asses and vote ... period! How is it that almost half of eligible voters fail to get out and vote one day every two years? This is insane and leads us to the poop pile we have today.

Wake up, folks, drive friends and family to vote. Our country is not this ugly and with greater turnout, things should get better as we avoid what is up until now quite possibly the most embarrassing and destructive president in our history.

yapperjohn

Ford's yearbooks are irrelevant. She may have been drinking at other times when she was underage but that has no bearing on whether her allegations are true. A common tactic to discredit women who have been sexually assaulted is to look for behavior in their past to portray them as unreliable. That is why survivors of rape and sexual assault are afraid to come forward. Past drinking or sexual behavior in no way invalidates a report of sexual assault. Victim blaming is not a defense.

NeverVoteRepublican

I am 100 percent behind the #metoo movement and support the FBI investigating every charge of sexual aggression against women, men, girls and boys. If the FBI finds no evidence against Kavanaugh no matter what his future is, he won't have a stain on his reputation concerning sexual abuse.

But far more dangerous to U.S. families is what we don't know ... what the Republican Party is hiding from us concerning Kavanaugh's time working for Ken Starr, his time working for George W. Bush and his involvement in promoting torture in our wars without end. He is the man who could give us a Trump in the White House for the next hundred years.

The raising of millions of dollars to support a Supreme Court nominee is a brand-new thing and there shouldn't be such a thing going on for a seat on the Supreme Court, a lifetime seat on the highest court of the land. What could go wrong? Everything for the next 40 straight years! Or forever!

Deathbyinches

In response to Autumn Tolbert's Sept. 20 column "No sympathy for Sarah Huckabee Sanders":

Thank you for putting my thoughts into an acceptable language. You're absolutely correct, and I must stop before I become uncivilized.

Sharon Harris

The press secretary has got to be the most thankless D.C. job imaginable. There hasn't been a single one who could shake hands with the truth. The joke of Josh "Not" Earnest and his daily litany of deceit for the Obama admin comes to mind as a recent charade.

Still, Autumn makes the mistake, the cardinal sin of bemoaning Sarah and Trump as liars, while she partakes of the whopper of whoppers by calling Trump racist and sexist.

While there is a case to be made for the chauvinist in Trump, he has enjoyed the accolades of women seeking his power and largesse. When he was talking of "pussy grabbing," he was talking of women who would enter into that arrangement, would be movie stars, women using their ample assets to attract and gain an advantage for themselves.

The hilarious thing to see are these vag-hatted heifers wearing signs claiming Trump cannot grab their pussy, ignoring the fact that many of these cretins have a hundred Happy Meals past being considered for groping by Trump.

Maybe Autumn needs to talk with those women who support Trump, and the many more that will vote for Trump in 2020, helping him to a second term as prez.

Stevene

For the students in Mr. Friedman’s AP Lit class, what started as a normal, boring lesson just turned into an unforgettable experience that everyone in attendance will undoubtedly be talking about for years to come: Connor Hanson, a college freshman who was in Mr. Friedman’s class last year, just poked his whole fucking head into the room right in the middle of class!

Yes! The motherfucking king is back! The former student council vice president himself has returned from college to his old stomping grounds so that the mortals who sit in the very desks he once occupied may bask in his glory!

Just minutes ago, Mr. Friedman was right in the middle of a sentence when Connor threw the door open and thrust his entire goddamn head into the room like a fucking Viking storming a castle. Mr. Friedman immediately stopped the lesson and shouted, “Well, look who’s back! How’s college life treating you, professor?” and Connor just laughed and said, “Oh, you know, I’m doing alright. Reading some Roland Barthes, who’s kicking my ass, but I finally think I understand him,” and Mr. Friedman gave him a knowing nod and then all the kids in the class looked at each other as if to say, “Who the fuck is Roland Barthes? This guy’s got to be a stone-cold genius to be throwing a name like that around.”

Connor, practically glowing with college wisdom, then looked at the class and said, “Make sure you listen up, everyone, because Mr. F knows what he’s talking about!” Then he gave Mr. Friedman a high-five like they were best friends and went on his way, leaving the the students in stunned silence. Everyone knew they had witnessed something truly special.

Even though Connor is gone and Mr. Friedman has resumed his lesson, the air in the classroom is still absolutely electric right now, and everyone’s heads are still spinning from their brush with greatness. This is definitely a moment that every single one of these students is going remember for the rest of their lives.

Many Westerners are increasingly familiar with K-pop these days, thanks to continued collaborations between K-pop and Western pop stars. South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism invests hundreds of millions of dollars yearly into the $5 billion industry. South Korean electronic label Oslated, though, takes a much more DIY, community-oriented approach to music. Its beginnings are humble—as a weekly mix series that started in 2016 and continues to go strong today—but they’re globally minded. Oslated co-founder Jong-min Lee, who has a prodigious 20-year musical career of his own, felt compelled to start this series “after meeting amazing DJs” from around the world—from Japan to Germany, Taiwan to England. “They inspired me to build an underground movement,” he says, hinting at the strides necessary for South Korea’s dance music scene to live up to others around the world.

The idea to start Oslated quickly gained support from other locals: Bumho (aka Zeze) from Idiotape, a band whose debut won Best Dance & Electronic Album at the Korean Music Awards in 2012; Djilogue and Suna, producers who help manage the techno-focused nightclub vurt.; Eexxppoann, a producer who runs techno parties via Constant Value, the first show of which featured Lee himself; and Unjin Yeo, a vurt.-affiliated producer who is responsible for starting South Korea’s first techno record label, ECI Korea. With a network of people to encourage him and collaborate with, Lee started Oslated with DJ Lavera. Today, the two work alongside producer Bluescript to run the label and its related events.

Lee’s curatorial excellence is ultimately what drives the label, right down to its name (“Oslated” is a portmanteau of his DJ alias, Oslon, and the word “curated”). The natural byproduct of this has been the label’s international scope. Lee notes that, while South Korea has been influenced by American culture for a long time, the current generation of youth are increasingly curious about music from Europe; the mix series follows suit, featuring DJs from France, Macedonia, Hungary, and more. That said, he adds, there’s no preferential treatment at Oslated where nationality is concerned: it’s a platform for supporting talented, local underground musicians of all stripes or scenes, domestically as well as abroad. To that end, the label’s discography contains releases by DJs and producers who hail from over twenty countries, spread across five continents.

That Oslated casts such a wide net is especially consequential for South Korea’s dance music scene, as it also allows for greater visibility of Seoul, the country’s biggest city and the underground’s central hub. Throughout the past two years, the label has occasionally taken part in Seoul Community Radio, an online radio broadcast similar to Boiler Room that has played a large role in showcasing local talent to the rest of the world. While SCR is undeniably important as a promotional tool, Oslated’s existence is also crucial because it’s an actual record label. In speaking with Bluescript about the country’s burgeoning dance music scene, I was told that there had been a steady stream of new DJs and producers, as well as visiting artists, in recent years.

Oslated is hardly the only South Korean label actively releasing dance music: other current outlets include Hazed & Confucius, Honey Badger Records, Scopávik, Grack Thany, Hexa, Ameniia, and the aforementioned ECI Korea. Nevertheless, the truth of the matter is that this is a drop in the bucket compared to other countries’ crowded scenes and few of these labels have more than a marginal international audience. Oslated is noteworthy because its inclusion of artists both in and out of South Korea keeps people around the world clued into Seoul’s underground dance music scene.

No album on Oslated better captures the label’s spirit—its desire to promote lesser-known producers and its unofficial role as spokespeople for the country’s dance music scene—than its two-part Seoul compilation. The releases have a simple but elegant conceit: each artist who contributed was asked to name their track after their impressions and experiences of the country or its capital. For example, the Japanese artist Hironori Takahashi’s “Samsunghyeol” is named after the three large holes on Jeju Island that are said to be the origin of three demigods. These demigods are purportedly responsible for starting the Tamna kingdom, one that had strong ties with Japan during its Yayoi period. Takahashi considers the location to represent a meaningful relationship between Japan and Korea. His presence on this compilation functions in very much the same way.

Some producers use the opportunity to reflect on their visits to Seoul, such as French producer Nems-B, who contributed the track “Deep Ways.” Nems-B says that he found the city to be somewhere “between futuristic vision and tradition,” and found the dance music scene to be “a great source of inspiration.” His track straddles the past and present too, working with a downtempo version of the antiseptic-yet-comforting ambient electro that one might find on labels like Tabernacle Records and Frustrated Funk. There’s another melding of old and new on “Illumination of the East,” a track that finds handpan player Sungeun Jin collaborating with producer Gangmin Kim. Elsewhere, French artist Küjuu utilizes traditional Korean percussion instruments on “Singmogil,” South Korea’s Eexxppoann provides listeners with blown-out, noise-infused techno on “Samoam,” and Hong Kong’s Romi writes poetry and delivers soothing ambient techno to describe Seoul’s dream-like nature on “Kkum.”

All these disparate styles consolidate into a unified representation of the city and its dance music, simultaneously a time capsule and a foreshadowing of things to come. It’s also a tourism campaign of sorts, one that’s born of undeniable pride in the accomplishments made thus far. It’s apt that the compilation features subtitles named after Korean mountains, one of which appears in the country’s national anthem and was voted Seoul’s most scenic attraction.

While Oslated’s global interests may paint Seoul’s relationship with other cities as being unidirectional, the label’s output proves otherwise. Even before Seoul came out, Polish producer Attaché was making music that made reference to Korea. His self-released track “Pyongyang” was a minor hit on YouTube channel HATE, which prompted Lee to contact him. Attaché asked if he could collaborate with Wudec—a friend he met while studying at the University of Silesia in Katowic—to release an album on Oslated that was inspired by East Asia. Lee was delightfully surprised by the proposition and eagerly agreed. Consolidation marked the label’s first release from a non-Asian producer, and it wouldn’t be their last. The album’s most memorable piece, “Seoul,” is a house track which features a driving beat surrounded by warm synth pads and fluttering effects. Attaché says that while he has not visited Korea, the track conjures up images of life in Seoul for him. A greyscale image of Gyeongbokgung Palace adorns the cover of the album. When Lee received the track, he responded that it felt nostalgic, reminding him of his own childhood. This cross-cultural revelation may have been pure coincidence, but it points toward a greater truth that is revealed through Oslated: the universality of dance music.

Memories of childhood are also brought up by Eyvind Blix in his description for his album Västberga Allé. To the Stockholm-based producer, electronic music is an “open playground,” and producing it is thrilling because it grants listeners a space where they can “be free of fears.” Unsurprisingly, the album’s six tracks are monolithic and expansive, replete with barrages of rolling drums. Amidst those punishing thuds are bits of musical filigree that keep people locked in the songs’ grooves. Whether it’s the airy train-like noise in “Introvert” or the lonely synth melody in “Hemlängtan,” these embellishments add depth to every track without taking away from their inherent physicality. While Blix was inspired by the titular Stockholm district’s raves and general industrial character, he also wanted to embody the feelings he had during his visit to Seoul. The four remixes on the album are consequently interesting, not just for showcasing the interfacing of ideas from multiple producers, but for their refracted presentations of two different locales.

If Västberga Allé was built on the premise of music being a gateway to another world, Georgian producer Saphileaum completes that idea by building his own on Uninhibited Kingdom. With an enigmatic album cover and a brief description that calls the album an “expedition” in an abandoned kingdom, these five tracks are made livelier because of their underlying concept. The tribal drums that define “Lost in the Forest” and “Treated by Herbs and Fire” do enough on their own, but it’s the album’s synths and their sci-fi veneer that deepen the experience. While it would be enough to simply immerse listeners in a specific sound-world, Saphileaum aims for the particular feeling of being from a relatively advanced civilization, entering a space that’s less developed. The remixes flesh out the mystique of this imaginary place by offering alternate and expanded interpretations. Asked about Javier Marimon’s remix, Saphileaum says that it shows a “different side of the track,” one that was initially “hidden from the listener.” The appreciation he has for the collaboration—one that was set up by Lee—is a reminder that Oslated’s curation is both thoughtful and astute.

From numerous conversations with Oslated affiliates, there was a sense that its network of producers felt familial—a feeling clearest when speaking to Marimon, the Spain-born and Ho Chi Minh City-based producer, who also released the label’s newest album, General Noise. He initially connected with Lee through Kizen Records founders Romi and Linda Sarah Kotin. When asked why he decided to join Oslated, Marimon says that “there was no ‘decision’ to join them, it just happened organically, like any other good friendship.” He says that meeting Lee was one of his personal highlights of 2018, and that through him he got linked up with several other producers, like Saphileaum. His own album deserves much praise as well, especially for its carefully considered sound design. The intro is minimalistic sound art, its sparse clacking and dusty ambience having a hypnotic effect. The remaining tracks are more dance-oriented, but no less evocative. The decision to have the outro after the remixes is a nice touch, further establishing the admiration Marimon has for these other producers.

Through its mix series and record label, Oslated gives people an opportunity to get a glimpse of the “Oslated Night” live shows that are regularly held at vurt. Seoul-based producer Messiahwaits says that he named his Seoul compilation track “樂浪Parlour” (“Nakrang Parlour,” a famous Korean dabang during the 1930s) because the coffeeshop/tea house represented an oasis from the rest of life, a cultural hub where people interested in art could gather. “In many ways, I do think current clubs in South Korea serve a similar purpose to dabangs in the 1930s,” he says. “Clubs are a utopia for the people.” Taiwanese producer Vice City ecstatically describes her experiences of these clubs, saying she was “totally blown away by how everything is done so perfectly. No matter how ‘underground’ [these clubs] are, things are usually done professionally and with respect. The music, the sound system, and lighting at all the events I’ve been to in Korea have always been fantastic.”

Despite its importance in Seoul, the club scene is likely to remain relatively insular. This comes across clearly, speaking with Bluescript about his Seoul contribution “Metamorphosis.” “Korea’s rapid development has quickly brought wealth and honor to its people, but I think this rapid development has left some human values missing,” he says. He also explains that there’s a large imbalance of wealth distribution in Seoul, and “relatively little support for non-commercial music.” While lesser-known R&B singers, indie singer-songwriters, and underground rappers have been able to write for some of the country’s biggest K-pop stars, there’s little chance that any of these producers and DJs will cross over any time soon. And considering the clubs and venues that are central to the city’s independent music scenes are north of the Han River—away from the affluence of its southern districts, Gangnam included—the divide is also manifested in distinct physical separation. Oslated is just one example of a label that is injecting that non-manufactured “human” element into the country’s music scene. In other words, they’re putting the soul back in Seoul.

-Joshua Minsoo Kim

OCTOBER 2--An Ohio woman who allowed her 10-year-old son to get a tattoo from an unlicensed teenager has been charged with child endangerment, according to court records.

Nikki Dickinson, 34, was named yesterday in a misdemeanor criminal complaint filed in Municipal Court in Bellefontaine, a city about 50 miles northwest of Columbus.

Local police learned of the child’s tattooing after video of the inking was uploaded to Facebook. The criminal complaint, sworn by a Bellefontaine Police Department officer, alleged that the tattooing took place inside a residence amid “unsanitary conditions.”

While Dickinson recorded with her phone, the 16-year-old tattoo artist inked the child’s right arm. The complaint does not indicate what was tattooed on the child.

During police questioning, Dickinson (seen above) reportedly said that she got “tired” of her son Skylar asking, so “she allowed Skylar to get the tattoo” on September 24 (a week after the boy turned 10). 

Kyle Richardson, the underage tattoo artist, has been charged in Juvenile Court with inking his minor client in violation of state “safety and sanitation standards.” An investigator noted that “it is believed” the unlicensed Richardson gave another client a tattoo “which turned into a MRSA infection.”

While minors can be tattooed in Ohio with parental consent, the procedure has to be done in safe and sanitary conditions. Police have notified county child services workers of the incident.

In the below image from the tattoo video, the child is flanked by Richardson (left) and Justice Oyer, 22, who is referred to as a "witness" in the criminal complaint . (1 page)

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Native Instruments this fall unveiled a bunch of low cost alternatives to its flagship producer products – and the one that perhaps attracted the most attention is Maschine Mikro. Can you fit more into a small package?

If you’re really into Maschine, here’s my advice: MK3. Full stop. The MK3 has the most expressive, playable pads of any of the Maschine line. It’s got the same big display as the previous Maschine Studio – meaning you can make arrangements, adjust parameters without squinting, and set mix levels really easily. (None of that is possible on the Mikro.) And it has all the latest refinements, but it’s in a perfect form factor, as beloved on the original model and MK2.

It’s also reasonably compact. Maschine is my lifesaver for gigs because whatever may be in checked luggage (and therefore lost in checked luggage), you can fit Maschine MK3 into a backpack.

By comparison, I’m not fond of Push on the road, as I think its layout is better suited to studio creation than live performance, and it’s just a little bit bigger and a lot heavier than other devices – plus no audio interface. Small details, major difference if you’re playing fit-the-rig-in-the-backpack. And I know that sentiment is shared.

But there are times when you might want smaller, and you might be on a tighter budget – particularly if you’ve already invested in another controller.

So the Maschine Mikro is back. But this time, the pads are better, and while that display is small, you really can get away with using it. It could be ideal in a corner of your desk, and it’s more portable.

FACT Magazine have a great compact (natch) breakdown of how the Mikro works.

First, you inherit the touch strip and the note repeat from the rest of the line. That includes these clever performance effects, which are really quick to access from the touch strip. Note repeat and chord modes let you get away with squeezing lots of ideas onto a small palette — and, let’s be honest, they help you fake being way better at finger drumming than you actually are.

Sorry, might be projecting there. Better than I am, for sure.

And then there’s sequencing, too, which also scales well to this small form factor:

I’m personally sticking to the MK3 for one reason alone: the encoders to me are invaluable. I can load Reaktor Blocks instances in Maschine and then really shape sound on the encoders while keeping track of changing parameters on the displays. It’s like having a huge modular rig without the gear and back ache and debt. And I think the MK3 is good enough that it’s worth swapping in even the MK2 to get one – and certainly the MK1, which lacks the various workflow improvements and especially those great pads.

But I totally get the appeal of the Mikro.

I think ironically reducing that form factor finally lets you focus on learning some core features of Maschine and focusing on them. It looks like a no-brainer next to Ableton Push or an Akai APC or whatever you use as your DAW and controller arrangement (keyboards, etc). We’ve also seen previously how much musicality you can get just by focusing on the pads, as our friend Alan Oldham (DJ T-1000) took on even the first-generation model.

Cues: Detroit innovator Alan Oldham talks to us about techno, creation

So for getting out and playing, this is great stuff – and a bargain buy with the core software, a bunch of sounds, and a controller, too. I bet some people will get these as gifts – and have a great time.

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/maschine/production-systems/maschine-mikro/

Big Brother 20 winner Kaycee Clark, center, with runner-up Tyler Crispin, left, and third-place houseguest JC Monduix. (Photo by Sonja Flemming/CBS)

by Andy Dehnart 28 Sep. 2018 | 10:15 am

Big Brother 20 ended its run Wednesday with a taut finale that led to Kaycee Clark winning the final HOH competition, and then winning a majority of the jury’s vote and $500,000. She’s the show’s first openly lesbian winner.

Kaycee chose to take her day-one ally Tyler Crispin to the end with her, and the 5-4 jury vote shows how strong both finalists were as players. JC Mounduix came in third.

For a series that’s had a considerable amount of homophobia and bigotry in the past, it’s a remarkable shift for it to have two LGBTQ finalists whose sexuality was prominent yet also just part of who they were as players and people.

This season even included a broadcast a thoughtful (for Big Brother) conversation about the use of offensive words.

Perhaps more significantly, Big Brother 20 seemed to pick up where Celebrity Big Brother left off, leading to a summer of strong game play and a lack of both returnees and ludicrous twists. At least, that’s what I’ve heard from people who have watched; I stopped watching in July, and while I don’t regret the time saved, I do wish I’d seen more.

The 90-minute finale—which was fast but which I also appreciated, and which paired very well with a 90-minute Survivor premiere—ended with Julie Chen saying they’d see us next summer.

That Big Brother 21 will air next summer is entirely logical—all three of its episodes were usually in the top 10, and the finale tied Survivor in the 18-49 demo. It performs well, is relatively cheap to produce, and has a fanbase that pays extra to watch online.

The slightly odd part is that CBS still hasn’t officially renewed the show—even after Julie’s announcement, which seemed like she was sharing news of the renewal.

The show’s previous renewal came in August 2016 and was for two seasons, 19 and 20. And of course CBS renewed Celebrity Big Brother, though it’s not yet clear when that will air.

In the hours after the finale, its finalists and several contestants talked to the press, and here are some highlights from those interviews, from why Kaycee chose Tyler to JC’s defense of his behavior.

Kaycee: “It’s so huge to be the first lesbian” winner

“It’s so huge to be the first lesbian to win the game. It still hasn’t hit me, Kaycee told the Hollywood Reporter.

She said casting told her that: “Being full lesbian, with tattoos and into sports I was just different than what they’ve seen in past seasons.”

Kaycee was confident she’d win against Tyler. “He was getting a lot of blood on his hands. I didn’t. I was trying to be as physical as possible and he had the master plans. But I wanted to keep it simple,” she said. “The house was already going crazy and I wasn’t going to stop him from getting blood on his hands! And he did an amazing job, but I knew people weren’t liking him.”

Kaycee’s strategy going into BB20 matched what she did, which surprised her: “I wanted to stay as loyal and true to myself as much as possible. And I wanted to stay low from the very beginning. It’s crazy how everything worked out as how I wanted to play the game,” she told THR.

Tyler: “Kaycee deserved it”

Tyler celebrated Kaycee’s win and strengths: “I always say whoever won deserved it. It’s all about how you work the jury. Kaycee deserved it,” he told THR. “She had the personal relationships better than I did. And I was a nervous wreck before those speeches. I couldn’t get across exactly how much I played. ”

When Julie Chen Moonves announced that Tyler won the $25,000 fan favorite award, he looked almost as shocked as when she said her name as Julie Chen Moonves.

“That was the biggest shock of my entire life! It feels better than a win,” he said. “There was a thing in my head that said, ‘America does not like you.’ But I feel like they saw how passionate I was about the game and I just let everything out there. I didn’t think I could cry, but I cried a lot! I played the game to the best of my ability.”

JC: “I am not a pervert”

BB20’s JC Monduix’s unwanted touching of his fellow Big Brother 20 cast members’ genitalia has prompted a statement from CBS. (Photo by Sonja Flemming/CBS)

JC said that Kaycee’s choice at the end really didn’t matter: “I think she was going to win no matter what,” he told EW. “She had no blood on her hands whatsoever. We were the ones, me and Tyler, doing all the dirty jobs. I was the one basically spying and infiltrating the other side and trying to get them out. Tyler was winning and back-dooring people — we were the full team members. I loved playing the game.

EW’s Dalton Ross asked JC about kissing Tyler while he was asleep, and opening the door while Haleigh was in the bathroom. (Dalton did not ask him about trying to touch other contestants’ genitalia.)

JC’s response started with, “We were really close in the house,” and he explained kissing Tyler like this:

“I was in the middle of my sleep. I pulled his bandana down so he could sleep and I gave him a kiss on his shoulder. I guess if it wasn’t on his shoulder, honestly I don’t even remember that much. You know we were super friends and super close. I can be a lot of things but I’m not a pervert. I can tell you that.”

Entertainment Tonight asked JC about his behavior, and he said,

“I don’t even think, in my mind, I misbehaved that bad. It was all in jokes and jokes, and just living together and doing things as people. I got done so many bad things to me and I didn’t complain or nothing. I am so sorry if anyone out there is offended. I swear that I, nothing evil ever came out of my brain and stuff. … So, if anything out there is offending anyone, please do not take it that serious! I like to be open-minded, I like to understand and I like to express myself how I’m feeling all the time with words, I don’t like to go around in a circle. So, if I offended anyone, please, I am so sorry. Please don’t, like, troll me online!”

Bayleigh and Swaggy’s engagement—and pregnancy?

Bayleigh Dayton and Chris “Swaggy C” Williams during the Big Brother 20 finale. (Photo by Sonja Flemming/CBS)

The finale included confirmation that three couples are still together: Tyler and Angela; Haleigh and Fessy; and Swaggy C and Bayleigh, who inexplicably got engaged on the live finale even though they only knew each other for 23 days and it’s been 3.5 months since they’ve even seen each other.

That was, of course, the season’s second engagement, after Victor and Nicole’s engagement earlier this summer.

Update: Bayleigh and Swaggy revealed that they were pregnant but had a miscarriage. Watch their video message.

Earlier: Asked about pregnancy rumors, Swaggy told ET, “We’re not going to really comment on that. Yeah, we don’t talk about it.”

An image he posted to Instagram included a note Bayleigh wrote for him while she was in the jury house. The note, which is at the bottom of the image below, mentioned “Sex during pregnancy” and included this: “There are so many changes happening in my body.”

Mediocre movies often appear and then disappear, as though they’d never been, but “Peppermint” (directed by Pierre Morel and written by Chad St. John), which opens today, leaves a trace of slime that’s hard to wipe up—and leaves the feeling that it would be better for the world at large if this movie hadn’t been made. It’s a new version of an old genre, the vigilante tale, but with a special whiff of prejudice, hatred, and resentment that—for all the film’s absurd artifice—blend all too readily into the distorted mental landscape of current American life. Its subject is a long-familiar bugbear of respectability and decency, the drug trade, which it looks at with a despicably ignorant and contemptuous perspective.

Jennifer Garner plays Riley North, an employee in a Los Angeles bank whose husband, Chris (Jeff Hephner), runs an auto-repair shop. They live in a modest house; she and their daughter, Carly (Cailey Fleming), endure the contempt of the school’s rich kids and their parents (one in particular, played by Pell James, is especially cruel). A friend lures Chris into a scheme to rob drug dealers; Chris backs out, but he’s nonetheless implicated. Afterward, while the North family is on a holiday-season outing, gang members murder Chris and Carly. Riley survives the attack; she identifies the killers in a lineup, but to no avail. A cabal of corrupt officials—including a police officer, a district attorney, a defense attorney, and a judge—helps to free the suspects. Riley then vanishes. Five years later, she resurfaces as a lone killing machine whose targets are the entire drug network and the officials who are in its grip.

From the start, Riley’s bloody acts of vengeance have a self-sacrificial cast. She endures grievous wounds, and, because she is living off the grid and unable to risk exposure in the medical system, she treats them herself, with a staple gun and duct tape. What’s more, to carry out her plan for vengeance, she lives undercover in the guise of a homeless person on the city’s Skid Row—where she’s treated like its guardian angel, and celebrated as such in a mural, because she has single-handedly made it a safe neighborhood.

Moving fast through drug dealers’ warehouses, safe houses, and homes, Riley shoots whomever she sees moving, or, for that matter, standing still (except for one woman, who has been beaten into submission by a drug lord and is then rescued by Riley). But, when she has a bit of leisure to formulate and enact a plan, Riley reveals herself to be not only a killer but also a torturer, as when she nails a retired judge’s hands to his desk and ties him to his chair with detonating cord. Morel directs the movie’s scenes of violence with a cool swagger, an understated briskness that dispatches victims with just enough blood to titillate, not enough to disgust. He shies away from pain, except for Riley’s, because the movie is built on a hierarchy of victims—those who deserve what they get and those who don’t—and its flip, slick aesthetic reflects that narrow, undoubting perspective.

“Peppermint” is a racist film that reflects the current strain of anti-immigrant politics and its paranoid focus on MS-13. It features a diverse cast of actors in roles that go beyond stereotypical criminals (including Annie Ilonzeh and Eddie Shin, as F.B.I. agents, and John Ortiz and Method Man, as police officers), but its virtuous nonwhite characters are all isolated, as if diluted in number and dissolved in the institutions and manners of white Americans. In the terms of “Peppermint,” one Latinx person is a constructive exception; two are huddled, passive and dependent, in an encampment of the homeless; a group of them working together is a menace. It’s emblematic of the movie’s approach that its one exemplary mark of Latinx identity, a shop that manufactures piñatas, is a front for drug dealers.

The movie’s jaundiced depiction of multi-ethnic American society is anchored in its view of the North family as middle-class white people caught between a criminal underclass and an indifferent or contemptuous élite. This tendentious vision meshes with the film’s view of American institutions over all. “Peppermint” is a movie about drugs that has nothing to say about the ongoing absurdities and injustices of a legal system that prosecutes users and dealers alike, not a word about America’s ridiculously high rates of incarceration and the disproportionate incarceration of people of color, not a word about corporate complicity in the opioid crisis. In a film in which most of the villains—and most of the victims—are Latinx, there isn’t a word about the politics of immigration.

Though there isn’t any explicit politics in the film, there is an intensely and biliously political dimension to “Peppermint” ’s ingrained and pervasive cynicism regarding law and institutions, regarding police practices and the constraints placed on law enforcement. A final fillip of cavalier connection between police and vigilante practices suggests that American heroism is defined by unlawful actions undertaken by the agents of the law, acting in their own name in unleashing violence against those whom, in their determination, deserve it. “Peppermint” is a movie of unmitigated ugliness, a reflection and intensification of the current of hate that is currently coursing through the American mainstream.