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IT’S A DAY of rest, and you may be in the mood for a quiet corner and a comfy chair.
We’ve hand-picked the week’s best reads for you to savour.
An interview with Succession director Mark Mylod about making the series – and THAT finale.
(Vulture, approx 10 mins reading time)
Because we shoot the story in order, and because the script evolves so much beyond our initial road map, by the time we get to episodes seven and eight and nine, everybody’s been on this journey, the actors especially, inhabiting those characters. We’re all a team. You know, about 90 percent of us have been working together since season one. So when it comes to shooting Kendall’s breakdown and everything that follows, we all know where we’ve been in order to get there, and we all know what’s required. As a director, my job at that point is to set the scene where I know the actors can excel and know their specific processes.
Chester Weger spent 59 years in jail for the murder of three women – but now he is on a mission to prove his innocence.
(Chicago Mag, approx 50 mins reading time)
When he ceased to be a free man back in 1961 and became known far and wide as the Starved Rock Killer, Weger was only 22, a chain-smoking ex-Marine, avid hunter and fisherman, and married father of two young children. In those days he had James Dean’s swooping pompadour and svelte build, if not quite a matinee idol face. But now, at the age of 80, he showed signs that he had been hobbled by time served in concrete-and-steel cages all over Illinois — at Stateville and Menard and Pontiac and Graham. He was down to only 113 pounds, his pale scalp encircled by a faint halo of short gray hair that he no longer bothered running a comb through
A look at the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and what happened after.
(New York Times, approx 70 mins reading time)
As civilians, the guests at the party faced a stark question that summer, which they repeated to me: Berim ya bashim? Should we stay or should we go? Afghans had endured the agony of displacement and exile for 40 years; the latest wave began in 2014 at the end of the U.S. troop surge, which was followed by an economic recession and the steady loss of territory to the Taliban. The following year, when Europe’s borders collapsed and a million people crossed the Mediterranean in boats, Afghans were the second-largest group among them, after Syrians.
A really interesting profile of the food writer Alison Roman, who could have been so-called ‘cancelled’ in early 2020 but who found her way through controversy.
(The New Yorker, approx 37 mins reading time)
Dusk was falling. Marigolds sat on a coffee table in a green glass vase. Roman had just lit a candle and was playing moody music. Eighteen months after a disastrous interview and its attendant miseries—“I was single, I was cancelled, I was in a pandemic”—she was feeling reflective. “The only way I will be successful is if I’m myself, because (a) I can have a really shitty attitude if somebody asks me to do something I don’t want to do and I can’t be myself, and (b) there’s so much noise out there, so many people that develop recipes, so many places that you can find one.”
Adults who were diagnosed with autism after their children were share their story.
(The Guardian, approx 10 mins reading time)
Purnell, managing director of a successful business, has adapted well – on one level at least. “Now I understand my autism, I can see how helpful it has been through my working life,” he says. In a letter to colleagues after the diagnosis, he wrote: “Among the many benefits I see for being autistic is that I’m incredibly organised and get a lot done. I also have a very strong attention to detail, can take into account a lot of information quickly and see relevant patterns that help me make good decisions.”
Paul Fennessy does a deep-dive into the great year that breakout Irish footballer Gavin Bazun has had.
(The42.ie, approx 13 mins reading time)
“But where he stood out was his distribution. From an early age, you could see how comfortable he was on the football, he was ahead of most ‘keepers his age. You’d have no problem putting him into an outfield session. He was like a holding midfield player where he was comfortable receiving the ball under pressure, playing passes. He was like a little playmaker. “Even at that stage, it was ‘wow’. He had only come back from a broken foot and you think to yourself: ‘Jesus Christ, we’d love to have this guy in for this camp.’”
…AND A CLASSIC FROM THE ARCHIVES…
Back in 2016, Wired spoke to teenagers about their lives on social media.
(Wired, approx 23 mins reading time)
Lara and Sofia are shy, almost painfully so, with people they don’t know. They move around in the world with heads close, chatting conspiratorially. This belies how substantial their Instagram reach is. Each 16-year-old has more than 1,000 followers, especially surprising when you realize that their feeds are locked, and the girls say they at least vaguely know every single person that follows them. Perhaps more impressive, though: Each post on their feeds has at least 300 likes—meaning that roughly a third of their followers have signaled their approval.
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I’m looking forward to your post on the all the Hillary scandals.
What scandals? The media keep telling me it’s the Russians
Oh you’ll find those posts over on the Alt-Right fanatic blogs.
@Damien McCarthy: Wikileaks reveal Hillary broke super PAC rules
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZVdGKA8-C8
Can you imagine if Donald did this
“WikiLeaks: Chelsea Clinton Used Foundation Cash for Her Wedding”…http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/wikileaks-chelsea-clinton-used-foundation-cash-wedding/
Lol! The stink of desperation off you now Eddie?
“Clinton directed her maid to print out classified materials”…http://nypost.com/2016/11/06/clinton-directed-her-maid-to-print-out-classified-materials/ negligent mishandling of classified information. Forget your pant suits Hillary, get the orange jump suit ready.
@Damien McCarthy: Trump for president …………………………..
How about an article on all the lies Hillary has told
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: Back to Israel with you!
Back to Narnia with you Chris you mad story-teller!!
Awww, meanwhile in the real world http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37892138
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: Shoo away hasbara!
@Harry Price: Endorsed!Trump ahead on Facebook poll 73,000 to 63,000 this very minute.
Oh Facebook polls, known for their accuracy and availability to absolutely anyone of any age anywhere
Lol. People need to get to work and start building their own interests. This fascination of trump is a clear sign of one thing only… it’s not good folks. Let’s take the strain off the tax payer please.
Oh the emails… oh dear looks like there’s nothing there either http://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2016-37892138
I send emails every day. Trump supporters say “server”… I say PC. Trump supporters say “lots of emails”… I say emails, emails, smtp and http. They say private, I say technology and conversation. It’s all too much stuff for even trump fans to comprehend. And it’s such a pity we’re all not being indicted right now for the emails we send to our darling, darling grandmother.
@Dave O Keeffe: the trumpets don’t like real world ….real world is rigged and bad…trumpland good…
This election has also been a sad time for journalism…
Journalism is dead.
The media are as compromised and corrupt as the political establishment.
Haha! Gavin, not even you needs to be told what to think, you’re more than capable of doing that yourself. Don’t worry, mankind will be okay.
So you’re unhappy about some Trump stories? If you really think about it, it says more about ye than Trump or Hillary.
Sexism, racism, segregation, locker room bantz, pure conjecture, childishness, unwitting incoherence, big gigantic off blonde ginger mullet, narrow distance between eyes, very strange semi- special repeated use of same hand gesture while attempting public “speaking”… wow. I can go on all night. Sure, CNN is all to blame!
You do realise they can report on that stuff about trump and (brace yourself) give fair airtime to Hillary’s misdeeds? Yes! That is journalism! If me being critical of the media says a lot about me, good! Now saying you think the media know better for mankind, and by media you mean a handful of very, very rich people, says a lot about you and Gavin, its not good.
Hilarious that you are so one side of the fence. It’s human nature. Pick a team and go for it hey. I’m not going to tell you the obvious. But once this is said and done, you need to be able to stand over your conscious decision to back the VALUES of Trump. Good luck with that.
Glad Hillary was such a pillar of humanity, miraculously untainted by controversy. F*** you Cianan, had the opportunity to write a balanced article and didn’t.
….and this is exactly the result of being unable to think for yourself.
You read my comments about the media and you lazily assume I support Trump . I don’t support either but I firmly believe both sides, and the public deserve fair, unbiased media coverage.
THAT is how you think for yourself.
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday night Gavin
@Linda: Too right it has:
https://youtu.be/ueCdV_wCVrc
Dear Journal..Can you please tell me why you are not covering the wikileaks story? I hope Trump wins
That was an art exhibition in world renowned artist Marina Abramovic’s house displaying the works from her 1996 series of etchings called ‘Spirit Cooking’,I can’t believe you think an art expo is the same thing as drinking menstrual blood and semen!! I don’t know what type of art exhibitions you go to Eddie,you must be into some freaky s**t!!
Consuming semen and menstrual blood is not an art form. Marina Abramovic is a satanist and Podesta is a total freak.
They’re a collection of sketches you moron.
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: Tariq for that ‘sin’ alone she would be executed in many Islamic countries for sorcery.
Accusations of occult practices and rumours of satanic rituals have dogged the elite for decades now. Abramovic mixes freely within those elite circles. And the latest wikileaks revelations reveal there is some substance to those rumours.
Even more serious and sinister are Hillary’s documented links with a child smuggling ring.
Simple, fruit of the poisonous tree
@Eddie Simon: Podesta AKA Jeddihead! Ought be locked up somewhere and will be when Donald Trump takes office.
Hi Patrick are fbi rigged again now?
Let me guess gabby, he’s a man of integrity again who shouldn’t be questioned again?
No robert his position is untenable.
I agree. His position is untenable. All the misinformation leaking from the FBI in the last week shows he has lost the run of the place. I’d love to hear more from Giuliani about his current agent and source, you know, the one that tipped him off two weeks ago.
Theirs has to be the most ridiculous convoluted electoral process in the world. Thank god it’s nearly over
Keep on trucking Donald, nearly there..The White House awaits.
No new evidence in emails.. how you like them apples?
Gabby it should actually untenable for both sides. If actual evidence should turn up and I mean emails where Clinton flat out says that she knows she’s breaking the law there’s no way he can come out again saying their investigating and be taken seriously. He has no option but to resign.
Julian Assange says it all in this rather excellent interview. Well worth watching. https://youtu.be/_sbT3_9dJY4
Yes….Trump will never be ‘allowed’ to win. Hillary was selected a long time ago and regardless of what people know or want, she’s the next POTUS.
What a skumbag mocking a disabled person. All the Trumplodytes will be along now to complain that this article is mean about Papa Twumpy. Get over it and head off to Stormfront.org if you don’t want your boyfriend to be slagged for the dumb s**t he did and said himself.
Tariq this is why more and more people are turning away from the liberal ideology. You act all saintly and outraged whenever trump says or does something you don’t agree with and then call him a dumb s**t. People are tired of the lefts hypocrisy
Have a Kleenex Robert.
@Guru; Tariq is allegedly an athiest, he just set an account up to masquerade as a Muslim online.
What’s an athiest?
@Tariq ibn Ziyad:
Someone who doesn’t worship a dead paedophile and terrorist.
Jesus was a revolutionary rather than a terrorist I would have thought.
Jésus Guevara
You tell me Liam. You’re the one with the “masters in History” as you told the board here a while ago. It’s as believable as you being from Bradford innit.
Why would a historian study a fictional character?
Dain is a bit damaged,gets reality and fantasy a bit mixed up from time to time,had to get a restraining order against him.
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: Wow you really just outed your agenda in that comment! You really are a pig!!!
On March 17th, 2016 Trump forced himself on a hot looking corned beef sandwich. Might have been a bit of tongue action too. Disgusting man. Pervert. Then he claims the sandwich was asking for it. There hasn’t been a predator like this in the White House since Kennedy.
Trump is like a cartoon character, a U.S. version of Spitting Image.
Some take Trump seriously. I think that he is just a comic, an unsubtle and farcical comic, but a comic nonetheless.
You gotta admit there’s nothing funnier than Trump supporters getting wound up though. Especially about a minor online publication with about as much influence over the election as Thelma Mansfield being biased. For gods sake they’re even accusing people of Satanism…they’re straight out of the freaking loony bin…
The problem with the Alt-Right loonies is they believe EVERYTHING they read on the amateur conspiracy theory blogs they visit,not understanding that blogs can write absolutely anything they like without scrutiny or sources. The Alt-Right are probably the most gullible collective society has seen in decades,hoovering up made up stories about satanic rituals is just a new low,but they will sink far lower in their rabid fantasies purely based on their lack of intelligence and gullibility. You can even see in their comments that they have extreme difficulty with basic spelling and sentence formulation,their small brains are fertile ground for conspiracy theories,highly entertaining though.
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: Oh no!
Wikileaks is hardly an ‘alt-right’ blog though, is it?
What is wikileaks? Really? What do we know? So far they’ve gone all tabloid by taking every email out of context
@Francis,that’s that so! The game is up for Trump now, the far-right put all their stock in those emails and now the FBI have dropped the investigation,Hillary is home and dry now.
Tariq, I don’t know what’s actually more worrying. The fact they think an artists work is Satanism or the fact they believe in Satan in the first place. Wonder do they also believe that Jesus shows up in tacos ?Anyway, over $100 million dollars has been spent investigating Clinton and yet again no evidence of criminality has been found. Back to the drawing board.
Satanists are a harmless bunch anyway,it’s the people who follow Jesus you need to be wary off,especially their clergy.
Tariq, anyone who believes that any religion gives them the right to lord it over others needs to have a proper look at themselves but ffs Satanism ? The god of Abraham genocides the entire population of earth bar a few on a boat and he’s the good guy in their story, Satan offers someone a piece of fruit and he’s the bad guy ? People really need to pull their heads out of their asses.
Pretty biased. Where is Hillary’s hack job? And the picture on the link is shameful. This is not news! It’s an agenda!
I live in Chicago, (what a wild week, sports wise) and if Trump gets elected as Prez, I’m moving to Navan Ireland !! He is a total douche , and an embarrassment, which we don’t any more of.
Last ditch mainstream media attempt to promote their candidate.
There’s more truth in the comment sections than the features, media has changed and the people will make their own choice.
Nice to see an unbiased article about the US presidential race for a change. Well done The Journal.
Cry me a river.
@Tariq ibn Ziyad: You’re only a bloody troll with nothing better to do than spout sh!te.
Thanks for that pearl of wisdom Robbie,you just won the Internet,PMSL!
There’s that incontinence again Petr. You realise you’re logged in under the Tariq account right? Ya freak
It’s all gone very quiet since Comey admitted there’s nothing in the emails. Has the alt-right been the victim of a DoS attack?
‘Finally it will be all over”. It will only be the beginning no matter which nutter gets in!
I find Hillary more scary… https://www.rt.com/news/365405-assange-pilger-full-transcript/
@Alois Irlmaier: Probably because your a paranoid loon.
@Philip Gerard: No, I go by the facts and not let others tell me what to think as the media does so well today with little facts. Have you seen her emails?
A loon is better than rude and most of my comment are suppose to be comical, as what else can you do but cry at the craziness of situations fuelled by madness and greed in most cases?
So 3 years after Trump becomes president, if he becomes president, what will change in America and the world?
Trump’s businesses would be doing better
So what, Reagan stated he was visited by UFO’s twice and J.F. Kennedy had a STI that left him with constant back pain, Nixon use to go mad after mixing his tablets with alcohol wanting to launch nukes running around the White House screaming being as high as a kite…
This is a lie.
Trump mocks everyone with the same gestures. He wasnt mocking the disabled reporter in this case.
have your say