Newark Central rolls past Newark East Side in NPS Holiday tourney - Girls basketballAustralians are rejoicing, reflecting and remembering on Christmas Day as the holiday kickstarts summer celebrations for some and bookends a difficult year for others. or signup to continue reading Almost the entire country is set to bask in a sunny day, with warm northerly winds lifting temperatures above 30C in several capitals. Few blemishes are expected elsewhere with showers in Western Australia's southwest and storms in the Top End. Millions of Australians will mark the day with present giving and lunches with family and friends. But it won't be all festive cheer, particularly for those remembering those missing around the table. That includes the 70 Palestinian Christian families marking Christmas in Australia, including a 28-year-old refugee whose wife and two daughters were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a church in 2023. He's among those granted refugee status in Australia after Israel invaded Gaza as retaliation to the October 7 Hamas attack. "There's so much trauma, the families are suffering the trauma from the war because it is ongoing and a lot of their families are still in Gaza," Palestinian Christians Association President Suzan Wahhab told AAP. "I would say it's bittersweet." Still, Ms Wahhab said the group is working hard to ensure the day can still bring joy, by throwing gift drives and church services across the country. "But the shadow of the war, the shadow of losing loved ones and thinking about them during this time is overpowering," she said. The war and the ripple effect of hatred have also cast a shadow over the Jewish Festival of Lights, which begins on Christmas Day for only the fourth time since 1900. But the leader of Sydney's Great Synagogue said the message for Hannukah was one of community strength and unity after a spate of anti-Semitic attacks across the country. "It's always better when any community - Jews or otherwise - think about their own traditions and celebrations and what they enjoy about their culture," Rabbi Benjamin Elton told AAP. "That is more sustaining than thinking about attitudes of hostile outsiders." He noted a resurgence of Jewish community spirit and interest in Jewish practices in the past year. "When there is such a sense of external aggression and hostility by a very unpleasant minority, then people come to re-examine why they value their traditions and their community," he said. Christmas Day will also be a time of reflection for Australia's northern capital as it marks 50 years since Cyclone Tracey tore Darwin to shreds, killing at least 66 people. "This will be a difficult period where people will remember lost loved ones and remember as well the traumatic experience that they had," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Darwin. He also thanked doctors, nurses, hospitality staff and all those working over Christmas to make the season of celebration and reflection possible. "I do want to wish everyone the very best and a peaceful and joyful Christmas," he said. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton celebrated Australian stoicism in the face of financial pressures in his Christmas message. "I salute our charity workers, our food banks and those feeding the poor and homeless who, although overstretched, are always outstanding in what they do," he said. Up to 1000 people experiencing homelessness and social isolation are expected to attend the Wayside Christmas street party in Sydney. Four times that amount are expected to be treated to a free lunch across town with Reverend Bill Crews at his charity's headquarters. Bushfire risk meanwhile will keep communities in Victoria's west and South Australia nervous. 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WEEKLY Get news, reviews and expert insights every Thursday from CarExpert, ACM's exclusive motoring partner. TWICE WEEKLY Get real, Australia! Let the ACM network's editors and journalists bring you news and views from all over. AS IT HAPPENS Be the first to know when news breaks. DAILY Your digital replica of Today's Paper. Ready to read from 5am! DAILY Test your skills with interactive crosswords, sudoku & trivia. Fresh daily! Advertisement AdvertisementThis includes spoilers for the film Inside Llewyn Davis , a movie that its co-writer and director Joel Coen once said “doesn’t really have a plot” so don’t worry too much if you haven’t seen it. “If it was never new, and it never gets old, then it’s a folk song.” These are the first spoken words by Oscar Issac in Inside Llewyn Davis , the Joel and Ethan Coen masterpiece released in 2013, and their last perfect movie. They followed-up with the zany Hail, Caesar! and short film collection The Ballad of Buster Scruggs , both very good but not a punch to the solar plexus like Llewyn . Having just seen A Complete Unknown , which shares the setting of the folk revivalism scene of New York’s Greenwich Village in the early 1960s, it has been much on my mind. The Coen Brothers are currently on their own making inferior work, Joel with the surprisingly dull The Tragedy of MacBeth and Ethan with the lightweight Drive-Away Dolls . It’s a little ironic, because much of Inside Llewyn Davis hinges on the titular character unable to find footing after he splits from his partner, the unseen Mikey Timlin, voiced by Marcus Mumford. (In the movie, Timlin is dead; in real life, Joel and Ethan just need to have a good meal this holiday season and work things out.) Both Llewyn and Unknown begin specifically in 1961. The last scene of the Coen Brothers’s film (also the first scene, as it employs a record-stuck-in-a-groove gimmick) shows Llewyn Davis, the Job of folk music, at his absolute nadir, about to get ethered by a 20-year-old Dylan on the night that made him famous. Just as Davis is exiting the club, the Minnesota newcomer is spotted introducing his music to the crowd (and a critic from the New York Times ). He takes the stage just after Davis’s “never new” comment. Dylan, of course, skyrocketed to success off the back of his own compositions. Though the folk revivalism scene has a huge footprint in the culture, there haven’t been too many movies about it. Paul Mazursky’s Next Stop, Greenwich Village is set earlier (and it’s about actors, not singers) and Milos Forman’s Taking Off (to pull just one goodie out of a hat) is set later, focusing on plugged-in hippies. By which I mean it’s set in the counterculture rock world that Dylan helped invent when he “went electric” at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, the climax of A Complete Unknown. Inside Llewyn Davis ’s unnamed Dylan easter egg sixty seconds before the credits roll is one of the few direct representations of someone from the scene in that movie. The closest other one is F. Murray Abraham’s Bud Grossman, who is basically representing Albert Grossman, Dylan’s manager played by Dan Fogler in A Complete Unknown . The real Grossman actually ran the Gate of Horn club, where Abraham’s version serves Llewyn Davis the atomic diss “I don’t see a lot of money here” after Davis sings his brain out on “The Death of Queen Jane.” (Joan Baez, played by Monica Barbaro in A Complete Unknown , recorded the same song on her fifth album.) The trio group Grossman pitches back to Davis is meant to be the real band Peter, Paul and Mary, who are seen in the wings of A Complete Unknown , and who hit paydirt by making the first substantial recordings of Dylan’s songs, easing his unusual voice onto the radio. Davis’s dismissal of the offer, like him waving away royalties to “Please Mr. Kennedy,” like him telling his sister to throw away his seaman’s license, like him not making the exit to Akron, like him not being more thoughtful to people in general, is one in a long list of poor decisions that doom him to wander the slushy streets of New York and Chicago in search of a couch and some kindness. At first glimpse, Inside Llewyn Davis looked to be a biopic of the folk legend Dave Van Ronk, but that’s not really accurate. The commonalities are that Van Ronk, like Davis, spent some time in the Merchant Marine and that he released an album called Inside Dave Van Ronk . The copy of the album Inside Llewyn Davis within the movie Inside Llewyn Davis looks almost exactly the same—same font, some expression on the face of a guy hanging out in a doorway. The main difference is that Van Ronk’s cover has a cute cat poking its head out. That’s not on the cover seen in the movie—instead, the cat (or, more accurately, cats) are a major character in the film. But Llewyn Davis isn’t Dave Van Ronk at all. Oscar Issac’s clear, soulful tone sounds nothing like Van Ronk’s gruff gravel, and by all accounts Van Ronk was a beloved figure (something of an avuncular one to young Dylan when he first came to town), and also a righteous man. Llewyn Davis gets decked on MacDougal Street by an angry husband in the movie. In 1969, Van Ronk was beaten by cops during the Stonewall Uprising, standing up for gay rights. Though not named, the actor Michael Chernus plays a very Van Ronk-looking character early in A Complete Unknown , directing Timothée Chalamet’s young Dylan to the right address to meet the ailing Woody Guthrie. Dylan really did seek out Guthrie when he first came to New York, though the new film fudges some of the specifics. What’s important, though, is how so many of the old guard embraced the newcomer, letting him hop from couch to couch during his early days, much like Llewyn Davis does while wearing out his welcome in his later ones. A funny moment in Inside Llewyn Davis , when he spies a piece of mail addressed to Albert Milgram (whom he knows as cowboy hat-wearing country singer Al Cody, played by Adam Driver), foreshadows the moment when Elle Fanning’s character Sylvia Russo (based on Dylan’s real life early girlfriend Suze Rotolo) sees a package meant for Robert Zimmerman, Dylan’s birth name. That’s just about the only exact note sung in both films. But what’s remarkable about this unanticipated double feature is how they nail the specifics of the time—the locations, the clothing, the props, the vibe. (Not that I was personally alive back then, but I’ve read a lot about the period and lived in the area as a college student closer in time to then than to now, if that makes any sense.) Inside Llewyn Davis conquered social media with memes—Oscar Isaac and a cat will do that—but won no Academy Awards. It only got nominated for two, cinematography and sound mixing. Many awards soothsayers have Chalamet as a front runner for the 2025 Oscars , and he’s well deserving of the praise. It’ll be some extra slush in Llewyn Davis’s shoe if Bob Dylan eclipses him once more. Jordan Hoffman is a writer and critic in New York City. His work also appears in Vanity Fair, The Guardian, and the Times of Israel. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and tweets at @JHoffman about Phish and Star Trek.
HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans didn’t need to see what Baltimore’s Derrick Henry is doing this season to be reminded of just how dangerous he can be. Read this article for free: Already have an account? To continue reading, please subscribe: * HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans didn’t need to see what Baltimore’s Derrick Henry is doing this season to be reminded of just how dangerous he can be. Read unlimited articles for free today: Already have an account? HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston Texans didn’t need to see what Baltimore’s Derrick Henry is doing this season to be reminded of just how dangerous he can be. He ran all over the Texans for years while playing in the AFC South for the Tennessee Titans. Henry and the Ravens (10-5) visit AFC South champion Houston (9-6) on Wednesday, looking for a win to keep their AFC North title chances alive. Baltimore has clinched a playoff berth for a third straight season but needs wins in its last two games and one loss by the Steelers to capture the division. Henry, who ranks second in the NFL with 1,636 yards rushing, has had some of his greatest success against the Texans. Four of the 30-year-old’s six career 200-yard rushing games have been against Houston, including a career-high 250 in the season finale in the 2020 season to surpass 2,000 yards. “You talk about fast, explosive, physical — he’s looking probably the best he’s looked in his career,” Texans coach DeMeco Ryans said. “He’s found that fountain of youth ... he’s a great player. It’s fun to see guys rebound and bounce back the way that he’s done this year.” Dealing with Henry along with all the challenges that quarterback Lamar Jackson presents makes the top-ranked Ravens one of Houston’s more difficult matchups. “You talk about MVP, (Jackson’s) definitely the MVP in my mind just for what he’s doing not only in the run game but also throwing the football,” Ryans said. “The accuracy, the decision-making, like, he’s playing unbelievable ball right now, so it’s going to be a really tough challenge for us this week.” Another challenge for the Texans is moving on after Tank Dell sustained a season-ending knee injury in Saturday’s loss to Kansas City. His injury is another blow to a receiving group that already was without star Stefon Diggs, who tore his ACL in Week 8. “The position we’re in, it’s not a lot of times where you can sulk in your feelings for very long,” quarterback C.J. Stroud said. “You’ve got to just keep rolling. I think that’s a testament to just life in general. Everybody has stuff on their plate. Everybody is going through something. And just because we’re in this position, doesn’t mean you get to feel sorry for yourself.” Houston will rely on Stroud to keep the passing game rolling despite the loss of Dell, who ranks second on the team with 667 yards receiving. Baltimore coach John Harbaugh has been impressed with Stroud’s growth in Year 2 and knows that dealing with him will be difficult for his team, which ranks 31st in the NFL by allowing 254.9 yards passing a game. “He’s just a supertalented guy... he’s surrounded with some good weapons, and he gets the ball out quick,” Harbaugh said. “He handles pressure well, he can move, he’s athletic, scrambles and makes plays.” Missing out Jackson is a big fan of Beyoncé, though he didn’t know the title of his favorite song of hers, saying it was “To the left,” which is just the first lines of her hit “Irreplaceable.” And he doesn’t think playing in Wednesday’s game should stop him from seeing her halftime show on Christmas. “I’m going to go out there and watch,” he said. “First time seeing Beyoncé perform, and it’s at our game — that’s dope. I’m going to go out and watch. Sorry Harbaugh, sorry fellas.” He later clarified that he was kidding about sneaking out at halftime to get a glimpse of Queen Bey. “I was just thinking about just seeing Beyoncé for the first time,” he said. “Not saying it like that; no disrespect, because I know how people can take things. Next question.” Metchie’s moment Houston receiver John Metchie could have a chance for a big game with Dell out. Metchie is playing in his second NFL season after missing his entire rookie year while undergoing cancer treatment. He has just 182 yards receiving this season, with his best game coming against Detroit, when he had a career-high 72 yards receiving and his only NFL TD. Stroud is looking for Metchie and fellow reserve Xavier Hutchinson to help make up for Dell’s absence against the Ravens. “Those guys have another opportunity to show who they are and I know that they can do it,” Stroud said. “I see them in practice do it every week. So, I’m excited for them and it’s a good opportunity for them to step up.” Record watch Jackson is up to 6,023 yards rushing for his career. The NFL record for a quarterback is 6,109 by Michael Vick, so Jackson could break it with a big game on Wednesday. Jackson also leads the NFL in passer rating and is in the conversation for his third MVP. Although it sounds like that’s a discussion he’d rather not get involved in. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. “No other choice but to hear it,” Jackson said. “They (are) tagging me in it. You don’t (have) to tag me. You can talk about it all you want, but you want to tag me to get like clickbait because you know sometimes I (will) say something back like, ‘That was stupid.’ It is what it is. I don’t care, though. I really don’t care about the talk.” ___ AP Sports Writer Noah Trister in Owings Mills, Maryland, contributed to this report. ___ AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl Advertisement AdvertisementThe Transportation Security Administration has some reminders for those heading to airports during the holidays. “People seem to forget some of the more common and routine steps that they need to take when packing for a flight or when they are going through a checkpoint, perhaps because they’re focused on being at their destination and not focusing on what needs to happen before getting there,” said TSA officer Christopher Kirchein of John F. Kennedy International Airport. “Travelers sometimes ignore the advice that we give them,” said TeaNeisha Barker, a TSA uniformed adviser. “We are providing guidance so that they get through the checkpoint as simply and conveniently as possible. Not every airport has the same technology, so listen to the guidance we are offering.” “Passengers forget that knives and other weapons are not allowed through our checkpoints. It’s shocking to see so many people with knives,” said TSA officer Aisha Hicks of Philadelphia International Airport. “Weapons of any kind are prohibited through a TSA checkpoint.” TSA officers shared this list of the common things that travelers forget and should remember when coming to a security checkpoint. Ten things that travelers need to remember when preparing to go through the security screening process: • Remember that you cannot bring bottles of water, energy drinks, juice, coffee, soda or any filled insulated reusable container through a security checkpoint. However, they can finish their beverage and bring the empty bottle or container with them. • Remember to bring your ID to the checkpoint. • Remember when TSA officers remind you to remove everything from your pockets that it does not only mean metallic items such as keys and mobile phones, but it means everything, including non-metallic items such as tissues, lip balm, breath mints, etc. • Remember that you cannot bring a firearm through a checkpoint. Instead, pack your unloaded firearm in a locked hard-sided case and declare it at your airline check-in counter and the airline will ensure it is transported in the belly of the plane where nobody has access to it. • Remember that you need to remove your shoes when getting screened and then end up barefoot on the floor. It’s probably a good idea to wear socks. • Remember that children 12 and under are allowed to travel through a TSA PreCheck screening lane with a parent who has TSA PreCheck on their boarding pass. In addition, don’t forget that children up to the age of 18 can also come into the TSA PreCheck lane with their parent if they are on the same airline reservation as their parent. • Remember that passengers that appear 12 and under or 75 and older do not need to remove their shoes and light jacket. • Remember, if you are putting a lock on your luggage, make sure it is a TSA compatible lock so that if TSA officers need to open your luggage, they can unlock it and relock it. If the lock is not TSA compliant, TSA officers who need to open your luggage will cut off the lock, rendering it useless. • Remember that you can bring medications through a security checkpoint, even liquid medication. Just let the TSA officer know that you have liquid medication with you so it can be screened separately. • Remember to get a REAL ID-compliant driver’s license sooner rather than later because REAL ID goes into effect on May 7.Mariah Carey's reign as the "Queen of Christmas" continues. The Grammy-award-winning singer's holiday ballad, "All I Want For Christmas Is You," is now the first to have topped Billboard's Hot 100 list for six years in a row. It's the first song to top the Hot 100 in six distinct runs on the chart, according to Billboard . Only one other song, "The Twist" by Chubby Checker, has even led two stays on the chart. Carey has now placed at the top of the Hot 100 for a record-extending 20 years thanks to her holiday song, which was first released in 1994. RELATED STORY | Barbie released a new Mariah Carey doll for the holidays She also holds the record for number of weeks an artist has sat at the top of the Hot 100 chart with 94. Behind her is Rihanna with 60 and The Beatles with 59. In just the first week of December this year, “All I Want For Christmas Is You" drew 38.2 million streams and 24.4 million radio airplay audience impressions, according to data from Luminate. Carey has leaned into her reign as a Christmas queen since her song started to chart again, even attempting to file a trademark for "Queen of Christmas" but was ultimately denied. Each year, as the holiday season starts to peak over the horizon, she releases special videos on her social media saying, "It's time."‘Gladiator II’ review: Are you not moderately entertained?
"Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" To keep reading, please log in to your account, create a free account, or simply fill out the form below.Unlock the Secrets of Successful Investing! Expert Tips Inside