Category: News
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In the face of a coronavirus outbreak that has now reached the White House, the president, his supporters, and Fox News are blustering about Barack Obama.
Emmy-award winning actor Sterling K. Brown (“This is Us,” “Black Panther”), jogged 2.23 miles on Friday to celebrate slain African-American jogger Ahmaud Arbery’s birthday. After his run, Brown reflected on how Arbery’s murder is an example of the racial disparities in America.
While on his jog, Brown wore a mask to protective himself and others from COIVD-19. But in light of the Arbery murder, he saw the connection between the mask he wears while jogging and the metaphorical one he’s forced to wear to make white people comfortable.
“There is this thing you have to do sometimes as a black man who tends to negotiate largely white circles,” Brown said on Facebook Live. “Where in order to be heard you must first appease or put at ease the people which you want to have authentic communication.”
Sterling K. Brown shares thoughts on Ahmaud Arbery
www.youtube.com
Arbery was murdered by men who chased in in a truck and shot him simply for jogging while black. Brown sees this as a prime example of how a black man has to self-sensor, emotionally and verbally to prevent white people from being uncomfortable.
“The mask that you wear sometimes as a black man in this country is like, ‘Hey, there’s nothing to fear here. I’m just like you. If you prick me I bleed. My blood is red just like yours. Let’s find the common ground. Hey, let’s have fun,'” Brown added.
For Brown, wearing the mask day in and day out is an exasperating experience.
“Sometimes you get tired of wearing the mask,” he said.
It is happening again. Even David Lynch can’t resist reviving old IP. But when he does it he does it his way. If you loved Twin Peaks, his crowning televisual achievement, you were stoked to hear he was bringing it back…and then you were perhaps frustrated, even traumatized, that it wasn’t, to put it lightly, more of the same. (Or maybe that’s what made you love it.) Now he’s bringing back another popular thing he used to do: The maker of Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, and Hollywood’s first stab at Dune is once again giving daily weather reports.
This comes from Entertainment Weekly, who noticed the acclaimed filmmaker, artist, and occasional actor kicked off the second week in May by doing a thing he used to do in the aughts: delivering weather reports for Los Angeles County. Why would he do this? Why not! It’s a helpful service! He gave that up in June of 2010, meaning this return is a hair shy of the decade mark.
As with the Lynch weather reports of old, they’re surreally direct and unfussy. Lynch simply sits at a desk, uttering words you could hear from a TV meteorologist, minus anything approaching jokes. As always, it runs just over 30 seconds. It remains to be seen if this will once again become a regular thing, but it’s good to have the man back, entertaining even those who live far, far away from southern California. Heck, maybe it’s a sign that he’s trying to get more content out there, perhaps another short featuring a lovelorn, tragic talking chimp.
You can watch Lynch’s weather report in the above video.
(Via EW)
Cities across America are finally beginning to implement delivery app commission caps in an effort to protect restaurant profits, which have continued to falter during the coronavirus pandemic. Eater reports that last Thursday Jersey City signed an executive order that put a 10% cap on all commissions to third-party delivery apps like Uber Eats, DoorDash, Grubhub, and the like, joining the cities of Washington D.C., Seattle, and San Francisco, which have put similar caps in place over the past month. Boston, Chicago, and New York are all considering following suit, which could create a domino effect nationwide.
Currently, third-party delivery apps take up to a 30-percent commission on orders and their existence poses a bit of a blessing and curse for local restaurants. On one hand, third party delivery apps open up a business to a considerable amount of customers (especially now) by offering delivery and increasing their range of service, options that restaurants often don’t have the infrastructure to manage or the workforce to spare. On the other hand, the fees connected to delivery can quickly become exorbitant, benefitting the apps more than the restaurants themselves.
order directly from restaurants https://t.co/iTUyZyyy0R
— Vince Mancini (@VinceMancini) May 1, 2020
As you might expect, the third-party apps are pushing back on the caps arguing that such restrictions hurt delivery drivers and may drive up costs to the customer. In a joint letter to a member of the D.C. City Council ahead of the city’s cap, DoorDash, Grubhub, Postmates, and Uber Eats argued that “Delivery people — who are currently relying on on-demand work opportunities to earn an income — would have fewer work opportunities and lower earnings” as a result of a 10% cap.
Speaking to Eater SF, a spokesman for Grubhub explained that a cap would affect “struggling delivery workers… seniors and families at their most vulnerable time” and alerted customers that a cap would “immediately cripple delivery orders” and wind up costing consumers more.
And yet… in quarter one of this year alone, which spans from January to March, Grubhub saw record revenues of $363 million, an increase of 12 percent compared to the same time last year. Nationwide, orders were up by 20% in the month of April, with some markets seeing an increase as high as 100%. According to Buzzfeed, in that same earnings report, Grubhub called the COVID pandemic a “net tailwind for our growth metrics.”