Latest news with #WonderBoys
Atlantic
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
A Writer Who Slows Down the Speed-Reader
This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Welcome back to The Daily's Sunday culture edition, in which one Atlantic writer or editor reveals what's keeping them entertained. Today's special guest is Ashley Parker, a staff writer who has covered the decline and fall of Elon Musk, interviewed President Donald Trump for The Atlantic 's June cover story, and written about miscarriage and motherhood. Ashley is a fan of anything by Ann Patchett, recommends watching The Studio for a comedy break, and considers Wonder Boys the rare movie that surpasses the book. The Culture Survey: Ashley Parker An author I will read anything by: Ann Patchett. I came to her late, and the first book I read was Bel Canto, but then I was hooked. I went back and read everything else she'd written, and I now read everything she writes, as soon as it comes out. My dirty secret is that I'm basically a modern-fiction speed-reader and very little I read stays with me, but Patchett has a way of creating entire worlds and characters that linger. (I actually met her at the Martha's Vineyard Book Festival a few years ago, when we were both panelists, though it was far more exciting for me than it was for her, alas.) For literary mysteries, I am also obsessed with Tana French, and because I have to wait for each new book to come out, I have since discovered the Maeve Kerrigan series, by Jane Casey. The television show I'm most enjoying right now: My husband and I just binged The Survivors in a single night—me because I found it addictive, and him because he claims he wanted to 'get it over with.' We've since moved on to The Studio with Seth Rogen, which is consistently funny and well done. My favorite art movie: Wonder Boys. And this is not a question you asked, but I'm going to offer up anyhow that this is the rare—perhaps only!—instance where the movie is better than the book. (No offense, Michael Chabon.) It's got an amazing cast (Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, plus Katie Holmes in red cowboy boots) and an age-appropriate, middle-age romance. Enough said. An actor I would watch in anything: Michael Cera and Jesse Eisenberg—their essences are somehow endearingly familiar to me. Specifically: They both remind me of my dorky high-school guy friends, and I've always loved the movies they end up choosing. I recently watched Eisenberg's A Real Pain, which did not disappoint. And though I feel like I'm familiar even with Cera's more obscure work (see: Paper Heart), my all-time-favorite movie of his is probably Juno. Best work of nonfiction I've recently read: Invisible Child, by Andrea Elliott. On principle, I read almost zero nonfiction unless I have to for work, but I loved her series of stories for The New York Times on Dasani Coates, a young girl who comes of age in Brooklyn's homeless shelters. The book is similarly cinematic, and absolutely gripping. Also, for work—because I am interviewing the authors (separately) at Politics and Prose this month—I just read Empire of the Elite, by Michael Grynbaum, and 2024, by Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager, and Isaac Arnsdorf. They are very different books: Grynbaum's is an inside look at the golden years of Condé Nast and how it shaped our culture, and 2024 is an inside account of Donald Trump's, Joe Biden's, and Kamala Harris's 2024 campaigns. But they're both engaging, fantastic reads, and I'm glad I had an excuse to get early copies and violate my no-nonfiction rule. And on the topic of campaign books: I am wildly biased, but I'd be remiss if I didn't also mention my husband's 2020-Trump-campaign book, Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost, which I read a bajillion times—chapter by chapter, often out of order—as he was writing it. It remains the best Trump-campaign book I've read, in part because, in addition to having a slew of scoops, it explains the Trump phenomenon and what motivates the MAGA base, including Trump's now-famous 'Front Row Joe' uber-loyalists. A musical artist who means a lot to me: Billy Joel. Long story, but the first cassette tape I ever discovered was my dad's copy of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits—Volume I & Volume II, and for a year or two in elementary school, I absolutely refused to listen to anything else—or to allow my family to listen to anything else. The last museum or gallery show that I loved: Yayoi Kusama's 'Infinity Mirrors,' when it came to the Hirshhorn a few years ago. I like that she's basically a hipster nonagenarian, and that her work is very accessible and fun, because I'm a philistine. Visiting the exhibit was also one of the first dates my now-husband and I went on, and on our honeymoon in Japan, we ended up seeing more of her work, so her show has a nice full-circle quality for me. Something I recently revisited: I keep meaning to reread The Secret History, by Donna Tartt, which my first boss, Maureen Dowd, introduced to me one day in an airport bookstore and correctly predicted that I'd love. A favorite story I've read in The Atlantic: I will read anything by Caitlin Flanagan; in fact, she is the reason I finally subscribed to The Atlantic several years ago. But the specific article that still stays with me, now more than a decade later, is Scott Stossel's ' Surviving Anxiety.' The writing is so vivid and honest, and as someone who has dealt with various phobias of my own, I found it imminently relatable. Something delightful introduced to me by a kid in my life: Kuk Sool Won, a Korean form of martial arts that my 6-year-old is currently obsessed with. We discovered it randomly, when I signed her up for a Kuk Sool after-care club, and she instantly fell in love. She is now a yellow-striped belt and takes it so seriously. Nothing brings me more joy than watching her bark out Korean words I don't understand and practice her various 'forms,' her mouth set in a line of grim determination. A poem, or line of poetry, that I return to: These words, from Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, aren't technically poetry, but they might as well be. Now that I'm a mom and in my 40s, I find them regularly drifting through my thoughts, unbidden: 'Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.' The Week Ahead Superman, a superhero movie starring David Corenswet and Rachel Brosnahan (in theaters Friday) Too Much, a comedy series co-created by Lena Dunham about a workaholic who moves to London to find love (premieres Thursday on Netflix) Vera, or Faith, a novel by Gary Shteyngart about the eccentric family of a precocious 10-year-old (out Tuesday) Essay The Christian Rocker at the Center of MAGA By Ali Breland After wildfires erupted in Los Angeles County earlier this year, a team from the Department of Housing and Urban Development descended on the wreckage. Led by HUD Secretary Scott Turner, the entourage walked through the rubble in Altadena, reassuring victims that the Trump administration had their back. At Turner's request, a Christian-nationalist musician named Sean Feucht tagged along. 'I can't overemphasize how amazing this opportunity is,' Feucht had posted on Instagram the day before. 'I'm bringing my guitar. We're going to worship. We're going to pray.' More in Culture Catch Up on The Atlantic Congressional Republicans didn't have to do this. The whole country is starting to look like California. The birth-rate crisis isn't as bad as you've heard—it's worse. Photo Album Take a look at these photos of people across Europe doing whatever they can to keep cool during days of oppressive heat. Play our daily crossword.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Son of Pulitzer-winning author Michael Chabon accused of rape, strangulation in NYC
NEW YORK — The 22-year-old son of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon has been accused of choking and raping a woman in Manhattan last year, prosecutors announced. Abraham Chabon, a student at New York University, is facing a count of second-degree strangulation and first-degree rape in connection with the the alleged attack, according to a criminal complaint viewed by the Daily News He pleaded not guilty to both counts during an appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court on June 13 and he was released following the arraignment, after Judge Kacie Lally set bail at $45,000 cash or a $150,000 bond. The alleged incident occurred inside a building on East 12th Street on Jan. 25 2024, according to the complaint. That's where Chabon allegedly grabbed the woman by her neck and forced her onto the bed. She said he choked her to the point where she struggled breathe as he raped her. She also alleged that Chabon repeatedly struck her in the face 'causing stupor and loss of vision in one eye' as well as pain, swelling, and bruising to her neck and face. An attorney for Chabon, Priya Chaudhry, declared his innocence in a statement to The New York Times, adding that he 'was as shocked by these false allegations as anyone.' Chaudhry also noted that Chabon 'has strong family support and a devoted partner who all believe in his innocence. We hope the prosecutor's investigation reveals his innocence quickly.' His father, Michael Chabon's writings include 'The Mysteries of Pittsburgh,' 'Wonder Boys,' 'The Yiddish Policemen's Union,' 'Telegraph Avenue,' and 'The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay,' which won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It also served as inspiration for an opera of the same name, set to have its New York premiere at the Metropolitan Opera this fall. His mother, Ayelet Waldman, is also a writer known for her books 'Bad Mother' and 'A Really Good Day: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life.' The couple share four children, including Abraham.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
8 Mile's Kim Basinger Shared Lovely Thoughts About Working With Eminem, But I Just Can't Get Over The F-Bomb Related Script Request She Had: ‘F–king Pancakes'
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. In the history of moviemaking there are many, many absurd stories about how and why people got cast (or didn't get cast). I have a feeling 8 Mile would have been a very different movie without Kim Basinger playing the role of Stephanie Smith, the mother to Eminem's character Jimmy in the movie. But if the script had gone just a little bit differently, there's a chance someone else entirely would have occupied the role. In a wide-ranging interview, Kim Basinger revealed that she actually had a problem with the 8 Mile script when she read it, and it honestly nearly turned her off from the role. Her one request? If they changed one f-bomb-oriented line to another f-bomb-oriented line, she could get behind the character. I remember reading one line where the mother says, 'Do you want some fucking cereal or some fucking eggs.' And I called Curtis. He picked up the phone, and I didn't even say hello. I just said, 'If you'll change the line to 'fucking pancakes,' I'll do the movie. Just thinking about what it must have been like to be director Curtis Hanson on the line during that phone call cracks me up. I have no idea if he felt like it was a six-to-one sort of change or if he maybe even thought 'fucking pancakes' sounded way better or way worse. But just the thought of that being a negotiating point amuses me. In the history of wild movie requests, this one definitely stands out as both an unexpected request but also one that was likely relatively easy to fulfill. It's worth noting Curtis Hanson and Kim Basinger had previously worked together on what some would argue is the "best" detective movie L.A. Confidential before he brought her back into the fold on 8 Mile. She even called him her "dearest friend" in the same interview with Variety. So, she already had a working relationship with the director when she made this script request. But she'd also passed on his movies before, saying no to Wonder Boys a year or two before 8 Mile. I'm guessing he was confident enough in her intuition, because he gave the change the greenlight, with her giggling about the nature of the request even now, so many years after the movie wrapped. The rest is history, and the movie even went on to win an Academy Award for Best Original song thanks to Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' and it's notable lyrics. Working as a director on a movie does not sound like it is for the faint of heart. Once on set, though, Ms. Basinger said everyone was a delight, particularly Marshall Mathers, who really went for it in some of the movies tough subject matter scenes. When Marshall and I started doing these really heavy tough scenes, I remember saying, 'This is only a movie. We're only pretending, but we have to go for it. Let's just go for it. I'm going to say some things and it's going to be horrible and I'm going to keep saying them and they're going to come out of my mouth.' I think we were kind of like two fighters in a ring. To have someone that talented and to have someone that you would have thought had a huge ego, would puff up himself and have an entourage and everything around him, he had some of the nicest people surrounding him that I've ever known. There's nobody in the world like him. Eminem's 8 Mile had an impact on a whole generation of teens growing up in tough circumstances in struggling cities. (Me, I'm talking about me.) The rapper would go on to return to the Academy Awards in 2020 to pay homage to the song and the movie that lived on, though Hanson didn't live long enough to see it. Despite its resonance, the story behind this request is what will likely leave the most lasting impression on me in the coming years. In fact, one could say I lost myself in the story.
