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The Girlfriend Experience (Starz, 8 p.m., third-season premiere): “The beauty of presenting this particular series as an anthology is that it truly is a new experience every time out. It’s no small task to establish a new world, complete with compelling characters, in a familiar, if engrossing, situation. But in season three,
The Girlfriend Experience levels up
, an appropriate term given the role technology plays in the narrative. In fact, this sentiment is expressed early on in the story in a unique manner as Iris (Julia Goldani Telles), an American Ph.D. student studying neuroscience, decides to ditch her classes to work for a start-up in London. By taking on a fancy new job and a shiny new persona in a foreign land, as well as making her foray into being an escort, Iris seems to have massively leveled up her life.” Read the rest of Anne Easton’s pre-air review.
R.I.P. Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis
Photo: Theo Wargo (Getty Images)
Olympia Dukakis has died. The Oscar-winning actor, director, activist, teacher, playwright, and more was celebrated for roles in films like
and
Steel Magnolias, once romanced Abe Simpson himself, and spent her life and career as an advocate for progressive causes and LGBTQ+ rights. Dukakis died today in her home in New York City; she was 89.
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Born to Greek immigrants in Massachusetts in the 1930s, Dukakis wasted little time in excelling; she was a New England fencing champion three times over at an early age, and used her degree in physical therapy to aid the recovery of victims of polio. She moved into acting in the early ’60s, starting in Massachusetts theater before moving to Off-, and then On-, Broadway productions. By 1962 she was married to fellow actor Louis Zorich with whom she remained married until his death in 2018 and continuing to work steadily even while raising three children. H
Thing we were happiest to learn:
Mad Pooper V. Colorado never became a landmark first amendment case. Once the local news picked up on the story and the Mad Pooper’s fame grew, a video appeared on YouTube from a man purporting to be a family member of the Mad Pooper, who he identified as “Shirley.” He apologized on her behalf, saying she had suffered a traumatic brain injury. But he insisted that she was breaking no law (in fact, she was breaking several), and that public pooping was protected by the First Amendment and belonged in the same protected category as breastfeeding. The local news brought on a lawyer who “emphatically rejected that claim,” and a few days later the video was revealed to be a hoax the man claiming to be “Shirley”’s relative was in fact an established YouTuber “known for producing videos of flatulent pets,” and his pro-pooping manifesto was an attempt at satire.
Photo: Andrew Ferraro/LAT Images (Getty Images)
Great news for all my North American friends who also love electric racing: Formula E is now one step closer to hosting its second Canadian ePrix this time in Vancouver. And the city actually seems amenable to the idea.
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This past week, the Vancouver City Council voted in favor of partnering with the Canadian promoter of Formula E, One Stop Strategy Group, as a way to “support recovery of the gutted tourism sector.” The prospective ePrix wouldn’t take place until July of 2022, but that gives Canada plenty of time to get its COVID-19 situation under control and to begin revitalizing tourism. One Stop Strategy Group was also responsible for putting together the second Swiss ePrix in Bern.
This new Roku-Google fight has big divorced parent energy
Photo: ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images
Across many years of covering our increasingly fractured media landscape, there’s really just one thing that’s given us some true hope for the triumph of the human spirit over the rampant rise of cold corporate logic: The continued existence of the petty-ass “Just
LOOK what your father is making me do!” energy that pervades any big conflict between content studios and the service providers who carry their work to the masses. Once upon a time, you would have seen this fight play out between the networks and the cable providers, with the likes of DirecTV and Viacom running massive ad buys to pull guilt trips on each other via their audience, with all the subtlety of two parents navigating to get the kids at