U.S. President Joe Biden says he is mystified about continuing opposition by some Americans to getting vaccinated against the coronavirus, particularly among Republicans who opposed his election.”I honest to God thought that, once we guaranteed we had enough vaccine for everybody, things would start to calm down,” Biden told ABC News on Tuesday. “Well, they have calmed down a great deal.”Still, Biden told ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos, “I don’t quite understand – you know – I just don’t understand this sort of macho thing about, ‘I’m not gonna get the vaccine. I have a right as an American, my freedom to not do it.’“Well, why don’t you be a patriot? Protect other people,” Biden said.Biden, who was inoculated before his inauguration two months ago, said getting vaccinated let him show Americans it is safe and also was personally satisfying “because I can hug my grandkids now.””They come over to the house,” the president said. “I can see them. I’m able to be with them.”More than 35 million Americans are fully vaccinated, about 13% of adult Americans. Former President Donald Trump and his wife Melania were both vaccinated before he left office.On Tuesday, Trump told Fox News, “I would recommend it, and I would recommend it to a lot of people that don’t want to get it, and a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.”However, he added, “But you know, again, we have our freedoms, and we have to live by that, and I agree with that also.”Dr. Anthony Fauci, Biden’s top medical adviser and the country’s top infectious-disease expert, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” show last Sunday that anyone’s reluctance to getting vaccinated was “disturbing” and makes “absolutely no sense.”Three recent national polls showed that Republicans who voted for Trump were far more reluctant to get vaccinated than Democrats who supported Biden.A recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll found that 47% of Trump voters and 41% of Republicans said they will not get a shot when eligible.A CBS News poll in recent days found 33% of Republicans won’t get inoculated when it becomes available to them, while just 10% of Democrats took the same view. A Monmouth University found 59% of Republicans were either hesitant to get vaccinated or said they would likely never get inoculated. By contrast, 23% of Democrats felt the same way. Fauci called the political split on vaccinations baffling.“It makes absolutely no sense,” he said. “We’ve got to dissociate political persuasion from what’s common sense, no-brainer, public health things.”
…
Month: March 2021
James Levine, one of the world’s most acclaimed conductors who served as music director for the Metropolitan Opera in New York for four decades before sexual abuse accusations ended his career, has died at age 77.Dr. Len Horovitz, his personal physician, said Levine died on March 9 in Palm Springs, California, of natural causes. The maestro, known for his wild hair and bespectacled face, was long revered by the Met’s audiences, singers and symphony-sized orchestra at America’s cathedral of opera whose standards he helped place among the highest in the world.
Levine, considered the foremost American conductor of his time and perhaps the most celebrated since Leonard Bernstein, led about 2,500 performances of 85 different operas since his Met debut in 1971, more than anyone else since it was founded in 1880. He also conducted some of the major orchestras of America and Europe, most notably the Munich Philharmonic and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
He stepped down as music director in 2016 after struggling with health problems, but was fired in 2018 from his reduced role with the Met after three men accused him of abusing them as teenagers as far back as 1968. His final appearance at the Met was leading a concert performance of Verdi’s Requiem in 2017.
Levine and the Met, the largest performing arts organization in the United States, reached an out-of-court settlement in 2019 resolving his lawsuit accusing the company of breach of contract and defamation and the company’s countersuit. The settlement called for him to get $3.5 million.
Peter Gelb, the Met general manager who made the decision to part ways with Levine, called the outcome “a tragedy.” Levine called the accusations “unfounded” and said he was not “an oppressor or an aggressor.”
In a statement on Wednesday, the Met said it “honors the memory” of Levine and acknowledged his “undeniable artistic achievements” but said his relationship with the opera company frayed in the wake of the sexual misconduct allegations.
Levine worked with the greatest opera singers of his era, including Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, Renee Fleming, Anna Netrebko, Marilyn Horne, Jessye Norman, Samuel Ramey, Kathleen Battle, Frederica von Stade, Bryn Terfel, Roberto Alagna, Kiri Te Kanawa, Cecilia Bartoli, Renata Scotto, Leontyne Price and Grace Bumbry.
“He is one of the greatest artists of all time. He has created one of the greatest orchestras in modern history. He may be one of the greatest opera conductors who ever lived,” Gelb told The New York Times in 2011.
‘Music chose me’
Levine was respected for his conducting abilities, his penchant for eliciting the finest performances from musicians and his endless enthusiasm.
A traditionalist, he conducted sparkling performances of venerable operas by composers including Verdi, Mozart, Puccini, Rossini and Wagner, as well as new compositions. A piano prodigy, Levine remained active as a keyboard recitalist. He worked to create an exceptional rapport with his musicians.
During his career, he was bothered by health problems, notably a series of back operations. This forced him to cut back on performances and conduct while sitting down. He injured his spine in a fall while on vacation in 2011 that required surgery and left him partially paralyzed.
Complications related to Parkinson’s disease prompted Levine in 2016 to step down as the Met’s full-time music director and become music director emeritus, a position in which he would still conduct. His later suspension and dismissal ended that arrangement.
“I sometimes say that music chose me because I can’t remember my life without it,” Levine said in a PBS documentary. “I feel music gave me a real continuum of creative, constructive life. … As I look around at other professions in the world, it seems that to have a life in music is the most beautiful life I could imagine.”
Levine was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1943. He made his debut as a piano soloist at age 10 with the Cincinnati Symphony. After studying at the Juilliard school of music in New York, he was invited in 1963 to serve as assistant conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra under prominent conductor George Szell.
He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1971, conducting Puccini’s Tosca. He was appointed the Met’s principal conductor in 1973, its musical director in 1975 and was given the expanded role of artistic director in 1986.
“The crisis of how to enact opera onstage visually has some alarming facets,” Levine once told New York magazine. “I’m referring to productions the composer and librettist would denounce. I’m speaking of a production that uses a piece instead of presents the piece. People will say, ‘Oh, Jimmy, he’s so fanatic.’ … But there are so many contemporary productions that just destroy the piece, for nothing.”
From 1996 to 2000, he also led more than a dozen concerts on the popular “Three Tenors World Tour,” with Domingo, Pavarotti and Jose Carreras.
…
A Japanese district court ruled Wednesday that a ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.
The historic ruling by the Sapporo District Court was in response to a lawsuit filed by six plaintiffs, including two male couples and one female couple, who demanded more than $9,100 each (1 million yen), in damages from the Japanese government. The court said the prohibition violates Article 14 of the Japanese constitution, which declares all people are equal under the law, but it rejected the plaintiff’s demand for damages.
The lawsuit is one of five that have been filed in various Japanese courts seeking to overturn the ban.
Japan is the lone holdout in the world’s top seven economies, known as the Group of Seven, that refuses to recognize same-sex marriage. The government says the constitution defines marriage as one based on “the mutual consent of both sexes,” meaning one solely between a man and a woman. The ban prevents same-sex couples from sharing in the same benefits granted to opposite-sex couples, such as inheriting their partner’s houses and other assets, or maintaining parental control over their children.
Several municipalities have issued “partnership certificates” that give same-sex couples some of the same rights as heterosexual couples.
Homosexuality itself has been legal in Japan since 1880. Taiwan is the only place in Asia that has legalized same-sex marriage.
…
U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Moderna has begun testing its two-dose COVID-19 vaccine in young children to determine if vaccinations should be expanded to people younger than 18 years of age. The company will administer the vaccine to about 6,750 children in the United States and Canada between the ages of six months and 12 years old. The doses would be given 28 days apart so researchers can monitor the side effects from the vaccine and determine its ultimate effectiveness. The study is being conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped Moderna in development of the vaccine. Moderna has been conducting a separate study on the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness since December involving 3,000 children between the ages of 12 and 18 years old.A nurse draws a Moderna coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, in Los Angeles, March 12, 2021.In a related development, the Vietnamese government says its homegrown COVID-19 vaccine called Nanocovax will be available by the end of this year. Vietnam has inoculated more 15,000 of its citizens with the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine this month, and is negotiating to purchase more vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and the developer of Russia’s Sputnik V. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Wednesday that the country will send about 8,000 doses of its supply of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to neighboring Papua New Guinea, which is battling an ever-increasing spread of the disease. Prime Minister Morrison also called on the European Union and AstraZeneca to ship one million doses of the vaccine to Papua New Guinea that had been purchased by Canberra. The EU recently blocked a shipment of more than 250,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia in order to help make up an acute shortage of vaccines in Europe, plus Australia’s success in largely containing the virus. Australian Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly told reporters that half of expectant mothers who have been admitted to hospitals in the capital of Port Moresby have tested positive for COVID-19. Kelly said large numbers of frontline health care workers have also contracted the virus. Morrison says all travel between Australia and Papua New Guinea has been suspended.
…
Researchers in Japan recently discovered that some sea slugs can regrow their bodies. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports that studying these slugs may one day help answer questions about our own health.Produced by: Arash Arabasadi
…
A growing number of companies are making products with the environment in mind. VOA’s Julie Taboh learned about an item finder made from ocean trash.
Producer: Julie Taboh/Adam Greenbaum
…
Pakistan says it is now facing a third wave of the novel coronavirus. Officials have particularly expressed concern over the spread of the so-called UK variant of the virus. VOA’s Ayesha Tanzeem reports from the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. Camera: Malik Waqar Ahmed Produced by: Malik Waqar Ahmed, Rob Raffaele
…
South by Southwest, the annual event in Austin, Texas, that brings together technology, music, politics and Hollywood, is happening digitally this year after being canceled last year due to COVID-19. Michelle Quinn reports.Producer: Matt Dibble
…
Facebook has reached an agreement with Australia’s News Corp under a new law that makes social media giants pay domestic news outlets for their content.The terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed in Tuesday’s announcement. The deal comes nearly one month after Australia’s parliament approved a law that would allow a government arbitrator to decide the price a digital company should pay news outlets if the two sides fail to reach an agreement.News Corp Chief Executive Officer Robert Thomson said the agreement “is a landmark in transforming the terms of trade for journalism, and will have a material and meaningful impact on our Australian news businesses.”According to Facebook’s head of news partnerships in Australia, Andrew Hunter, the deal means the social media giant’s 17 million users in the country “will gain access to premium news articles and breaking news video from News Corp’s network of national, metropolitan, rural and suburban newsrooms.”The law’s passage occurred after a bitter standoff between U.S.-based Facebook and News Corp, owned by global media mogul Rupert Murdoch, that culminated with the social media giant blocking all Australian news content from the site, as well as the websites of several public agencies and emergency services, including pages that include up-to-date information on COVID-19 outbreaks, brushfires and other natural disasters.The situation was resolved after negotiators for the government and Facebook reached an agreement on a set of changes to the legislation before its final passage.News Corp says its Australian subsidiary, Sky News, had also reached a separate deal with Facebook that extends an existing agreement.Australian media companies have seen their advertising revenue increasingly siphoned off by big tech firms like Google and Facebook in recent years.Google had also threatened to block news content if the law were passed, even warning last August that Australians’ personal information could be “at risk” if digital giants had to pay for news content.But the company had already signed a number of separate agreements with News Corp and other Australian media giants such as Nine Entertainment and Seven West Media.Nine Entertainment and Seven West have said they have signed letters of intent with Facebook on a potential deal.
…
Despite the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines, France is once again under pressure to take new measures to curb a new spread of the virus in the country. The situation is once again deteriorating rapidly in the French capital. Hospitals in the Paris region are close to capacity and health professionals are rushing daily to find beds for their COVID patients. As of Monday, more than 4,200 patients were in intensive care units across France. The pandemic’s third wave is a reality in France and health workers have been evacuating seriously ill COVID patients to other parts of the country to cope with bed shortages. Enrique Casalino, a medical director with Hopitaux de Paris, the largest health system in Europe, describes the epidemic situation as deteriorating in the Paris region where every 12 minutes a new patient enters an intensive care unit. Casalino thinks medical evacuation to other French regions is just a temporary solution that does not solve the current crisis. He says there are only two options: a quick and massive immunization campaign to safeguard 70% of the population, which he doubts is currently achievable in France. The other would be a strict lockdown to prevent the virus from spreading further.On top of a delay in the delivery of vaccines, France is among European nations that are pausing the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to public concerns about side effects.Lockdowns have already been imposed in some hotspots in France, including Dunkirk and Nice, but not in the capital region. A national nighttime curfew has been in force since the end of January, and bars, restaurants, museums, and movie theaters remain closed. Still, a general lockdown in the Paris region has not been ordered. Jerome Béglé, deputy director at Le Point, a French weekly, sees a lockdown of the Paris region as equivalent to a national lockdown as this region is the main economic center of France with 12 million people living there and a few tourists still visiting.With neighboring Italy imposing new restrictions Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron resisted the idea of a third national lockdown.Jean Castex, France’s prime minister says a national lockdown would be a last resort that cannot be ruled out due to the current situation. He says he would like to avoid one as it would place a heavy burden on the population.More than 90,000 people have died so far in France due to the COVID. The country is expected to reach a dreaded 100,000-death milestone next month.
…
Researchers working with NASA say the discovery of three new strains of bacteria growing on the International Space Station (ISS) could prove helpful in growing crops in space and perhaps on Mars.In a study published Monday in the scientific journal Frontiers in Microbiology, researchers in the United States and India working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) have discovered four strains of bacteria living in different places on the ISS – and that three of them, until now, were unknown to science.All four strains belong to a family of bacteria found in soil and freshwater; they are involved in nitrogen fixation and plant growth and can help stop plant pathogens. In other words, they are bacteria helpful to the growth of plants. It was not entirely unexpected to find soil bacteria growing on the ISS. For years, astronauts living on the space station have been growing plants for research and food.The three new bacteria were sequenced and found to all belong to the same, previously unidentified species, with genetic analysis showing them to be closely related to Methylobacterium indicum. The researchers proposed calling the novel species Methylobacterium ajmalii, in honor of the renowned Indian biodiversity scientist Ajmal Khan.In a statement, JPL researchers Kasthuri Venkateswaran (Venkat) and Nitin Kumar Singh said the strains might possess “biotechnologically useful genetic determinants” for the growing of crops in space. Further experimental biology, however, is needed to prove that it is, indeed, a potential game changer for space farming.Venkat and Singh said with the U.S. space agency one day looking to take humans to the surface of Mars – and potentially beyond – the U.S. National Research Council has recommended the space agency use the ISS as a “test-bed for surveying microorganisms.”Along with the JPL researchers, scientists from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles; Cornell University and the University of Hyderabad in India contributed to the study.
…
Britain’s Prince Philip left a London hospital on Tuesday after being treated for an infection and undergoing a heart procedure.
Philip, 99, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, had been hospitalized since being admitted to the private King Edward VII’s Hospital in London on Feb. 16, where he was treated for an infection.
He was later transferred to a specialized cardiac care hospital, St. Bartholomew’s, for a short stay, before returning to King Edward VII’s.
Photographers standing outside the door of the private hospital captured his departure in the back of a black car. Buckingham Palace has not yet commented on the matter.
Philip’s illness is not believed to be related to the coronavirus. Both Philip and Elizabeth received COVID-19 vaccinations in January and chose to publicize the matter to encourage others to also take the vaccine.
Philip, also known as the Duke of Edinburgh, retired in 2017 and rarely appears in public. Before his hospitalization, he had been isolating at Windsor Castle, west of London, with the queen.
His illness comes as the royal family has been rocked by an interview with Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry. In the explosive broadcast, Meghan, who is biracial, said the palace had failed to help her when she had suicidal thoughts and that an unidentified member of the royal family had raised “concerns” about the color of her baby’s skin when she was pregnant with her son, Archie.
The interview, conducted by Oprah Winfrey, divided people around the world. While many say the allegations demonstrate the need for change inside a palace that hasn’t kept pace with the #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements, others have criticized Harry and Meghan for dropping their bombshell while Philip was hospitalized.
The longest-serving royal consort in British history, Philip married the then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947. He and the queen have four children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
…
Over the next 10 days, the United States will achieve what President Joe Biden describes as “two giant goals” — the completion of 100 million coronavirus vaccine shots in people’s arms and 100 million checks in people’s pockets.Those payments are among the disbursements from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package the U.S. leader signed into law last week.“The American rescue plan is already doing what it was designed to do — make a difference in people’s everyday lives,” Biden said Monday during remarks in the White House State Dining Room.What his administration is promoting as the “Help is Here” tour began on Monday. It features the president and others, including Vice President Kamala Harris, visiting numerous states beginning this week to promote the benefits of the plan.The appearances are intended to highlight to voters how the aid, approved by both chambers of Congress despite uniform Republican opposition, could help them. Republican lawmakers objected to the size of the deal and said that some of the funding is not tied directly to trying to end the pandemic in the United States. “The American Rescue Plan includes a $350 billion bailout for states, rewarding those with poor fiscal management and punishing those who operated responsibly during the pandemic. Funds can be used for virtually anything a state chooses to spend money on, with next to nothing in terms of constraints or restrictions,” said Republican Senator Mike Crapo in a statement on Monday. The ranking member of the Senate finance committee and his fellow Idaho Republican senator, Jim Risch, have introduced a bill to eliminate a provision in the legislation Biden signed that would prevent states from using relief funds to cut taxes. Biden is scheduled to be in a key suburban Philadelphia jurisdiction Tuesday in the eastern state of Pennsylvania that he carried over former President Donald Trump in the November election.His visit there is to “highlight how the rescue plan invests in small businesses,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.U.S. First Lady Jill Biden delivers remarks at the playground of the Samuel Smith Elementary School in Burlington, New Jersey, March 15, 2021.First lady Jill Biden went to the state of New Jersey on Monday where she joined Governor Phil Murphy at a school in Burlington.“We are going to safely open schools. We are going to get people back to work. We’re going to lift up the families who are struggling to get by,” she said at the Samuel Smith Elementary School.Harris traveled west to visit a COVID-19 vaccination site at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and several other locations in the area. The vice president was asked by a reporter why the administration is compelled to sell the plan, which enjoys widespread public support. “It’s not selling,” Harris replied. “It’s kind of like you buy a product — you’re already sold on the product, but you need some directions out of the box.” Both Biden and Harris are to make appearances in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday.Vice President Kamala Harris looks over a vaccination site at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, March 15, 2021.“When it’s a package of this size, people don’t always know how they benefit,” explained Psaki, responding to reporters’ questions on Monday about the president’s travel this week.The American Rescue Plan is one of the FILE – Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks with reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Dec. 17, 2019.Republicans, who mostly opposed the stimulus, captured the House of Representatives in the 2010 elections. The White House is also planning to make surrogates and senior administration officials available for local television interviews in cities across the country and get more than 400 mayors and governors to talk about what the relief package means for them and their communities. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, the House’s No. 3 Republican, said in a statement that only a small fraction of the $1.9 trillion deal was aimed at the virus and warned the relief package might eventually lead to tax increases to help pay for it.
…
U.S. automaker General Motors Corporation announced Monday it will build certain 2021 light-duty full-size pickup trucks without a fuel management module due to the global semiconductor chip shortage.In an email to the Reuters news agency, GM spokeswoman Michelle Malcho said the decision will lower the fuel economy slightly in those models effected by the decision, including the Chevy Silverado and the GMC Sierra.Malcho emphasized all trucks are still being built, something GM has repeatedly stressed it would try to sustain as pickups are among GM’s most profitable models. She declined to say the volume of vehicles affected.The change runs through the 2021 model year, which typically ends in late summer or early fall, she said.Malcho said it would not have a major impact on the Detroit automaker’s U.S. corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) numbers.Other automakers around the world, including Ford and Nissan, have had to make production adjustments because of the microchip shortage.Industry observers say the shortage has been driven by the pandemic in a number of ways, including a surge in demand for consumer electronics, as more people work and study from home. Automakers, meanwhile, expecting lower sales, cancelled orders for chips last year, only to see sales rebounding, catching suppliers unprepared.
…
The top U.S. infectious disease expert said Sunday the country is going in the “right direction” with millions of Americans receiving coronavirus vaccinations, but he was cautious about the high plateau of U.S. cases. Speaking on the NBC-TV program “Meet the Press,” Anthony Fauci warned that “When you get a plateau at a level around 60,000 new infections per day, there’s always the risk of another surge.” Fauci used Italy as an example of a location that experienced “a diminution of cases.” People walk past army vehicles at a street on the final day of open restaurants and bars before tighter coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions are enforced, in Rome, Italy, March 14, 2021.He said Italy “plateaued, and they pulled back on public health measures,” which contributed to Italy’s current surge of infections, forcing officials to place portions of the European country in lockdowns Monday. “He urged people to continue to observe “public health measures,” especially wearing masks. The U.S. remains at the top of the list as the location with the most COVID-19 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, a research body constantly updating with COVID-19 data and expert input.The U.S. has 29.4 million of the world’s almost 120 million COVID infections, followed by Brazil with 11.4 million and India with 11.3 million. AstraZeneca said Sunday a review of its data found no evidence that its vaccine against COVID-19 causes blood clots. A woman receives a vaccine as Vietnam starts its official rollout of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for health workers, at Hai Duong Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Hai Duong province, Vietnam, March 8, 2021.“A careful review of all available safety data,” the company said in a statement. The vaccine “has shown no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country.” Pulmonary embolism occurs when lung arteries are blocked as a result of blood clotting whereas thromboembolic events occur when a blood clot breaks loose and travels through the body, causing harm. The AstraZenica review, which covered more than 17 million people who had received the vaccine in Britain and the European Union, was conducted as Ireland and the Netherlands joined Denmark, Norway, and Iceland in suspending the use of the vaccine because of clotting issues. Austria stopped using a batch of the shot last week while investigating a death from coagulation disorders. However, the company asserts that there is no connection with the vaccine. This photo provided by Berkshire Community College shows cellist Yo-Yo Ma performing at Berkshire Community College’s second dose Pfizer vaccination clinic in the Paterson Field House on March 13, 2021 in Pittsfield, Mass.In Massachusetts on Saturday, Yo-Yo Ma, the internationally acclaimed cellist, celebrated receiving his second vaccine. While he waited seated with others for the 15 minutes of observation post vaccination, Ma, 65 and wearing a mask, started playing his cello at a clinic in Berkshire Community College, Massachusetts, on Saturday. His impromptu performance included Ave Maria and Bach’s Prelude in G Major. As Ma got up to leave, he was applauded by others seated and socially distant waiting for their own observation periods to end.
…
David Fincher’s “Mank” led FILE – Chloe Zhao poses for a portrait to promote her film “Nomadland” during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Jan. 22, 2018.The other directing nominees were Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari,” Fincher for “Mank” and Thomas Vinterberg for “Another Round.”For performers, it’s the most diverse slate of nominees ever — and a far cry from the all-white acting nominees that spawned the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag five years ago. Nine of the 20 acting nominees are people of color, including a posthumous best-actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), and nods for Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Steven Yeun (“Minari”), Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”), Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Andra Day (“The People vs. Billie Holiday”) and Yuh-Jung Youn (“Minari”).Davis, who won for her performance in 2016’s “Fences,” landed her fourth Oscar nomination, making Davis the most nominated Black actress ever. Yeun is the first Asian American ever nominated for best actor.The other nominees for best actress are: Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”; Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”; Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman.”The remaining nominees for best actor are: Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”; Gary Oldman, “Mank.”After a pandemic year that shuttered most movie theaters, the best-picture nominees had hardly any box office to speak of. The Oscars won’t just lack blockbusters, it’s going forward with many movies that have barely played on the big screen at all. That leaves streaming services set to dominate Hollywood’s biggest and most sought-after awards.This image released by Netflix shows, from left, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Ben Shenkman, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp in a scene from “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”Netflix, as expected, led the pack with 35 nominations. The service is still gunning for its first best-picture winner, and this year has two shots in “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — a movie Paramount Pictures sold off during the pandemic. Netflix led last year, too, with 24 nominations, but came away with just two wins.Other streamers were in the mix. Amazon, in particular, was well represented with “Sound of Metal,” “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “One Night in Miami.”The nominations were announced from London by presenters Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Academy Awards would typically have happened by now but this year were postponed by two months due to the pandemic. They will instead be telecast April 25.The film academy confirmed Monday that the show will be held at both its usual home in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and the city’s railway hub, Union Station.In addition to Youn, the nominees for best supporting actress are: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Amanda Seyfried, “Mank.”In addition to Odom Jr., Kaluuya and Stanfield, the nominees for best supporting actor are: Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal.”The nominees for best documentary feature are: “Collective”; “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution”; “The Mole Agent”; “My Octopus Teacher”; “Time.”The nominees for best international film are: “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” Bosnia and Herzegovina; “Another Round,” Denmark; “Better Days,” Hong Kong; “Collective,” Romania; “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” Tunisia.The nominees for best original song are: “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”; “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”; “Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”; “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami”; and “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”The nominees for best animated feature: “Onward”; “Over the Moon”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers.”The nominees for best original screenplay are: “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Shaka King and Will Berson; “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung; “Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell; “Sound of Metal,” Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; “Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin.The nominees for best costume design are: Alexandra Byrne, “Emma”; Ann Roth, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Trish Summerville, “Mank”; Bina Daigeler “Mulan”; Massimo Cantini Parrini “Pinocchio.”The film academy and ABC will hope that the nominees can drum up more excitement than they have elsewhere. Interest in little golden statuettes has nosedived during the pandemic. Ratings for a largely virtual Golden Globes plunged to 6.9 million viewers — a 64% drop from 2020 — last month. Though on Sunday the Grammys managed to break through the Zoom trap that has bedeviled other awards shows.With the notable exception of fueling streaming subscriber growth, the pandemic has been punishing for the movie industry. Production slowed to a crawl, blockbusters were postponed or detoured to streaming and thousands have been laid off or furloughed.But the outlook for Hollywood has recently brightened as coronavirus cases have slid and vaccines have ramped up. Movie theaters are reopening in the U.S.’s two largest markets, New York and Los Angeles. And several larger movies — including the Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow” (May 7) — are scheduled for May and beyond.
…
A virtual music competition with real prizes — this is the concept of a new music platform called Djooky. Both amateur and professional songwriters and musicians from around the world are invited to participate for free. Mariia Prus has the story.
Camera: Kostiantyn Golubchyk
…
Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish won the top prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in a ceremony that also saw Beyonce become the most awarded female artist in Grammy history. Swift’s surprise lockdown record “Folklore” was named album of the year and Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” won record of the year. Sunday’s win made Swift, 31, the first woman to take home album of the year three times. Beyonce’s four Grammys on Sunday took her total career wins to 28, surpassing the previous record for a woman set by bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.British singer Dua Lipa won best pop vocal album for her dance-y “Future Nostalgia.”Alicia Keys and Dua Lipa react at the 2020 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, March 14, 2021.The writers of “I Can’t Breathe” by R&B artist H.E.R won song of the year. It was written in response to the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States last summer. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion was named best new artist and the 26-year-old known for promoting women’s empowerment won two more Grammys for her rap performance of single “Savage,” featuring Beyonce. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the hybrid ceremony was packed with pre-recorded and live performances by the likes of Lipa, Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Cardi B, DaBaby, Black Pumas and Mickey Guyton. It took place both indoors and outdoors in Downtown Los Angeles but mostly without the elaborate sets and special effects that traditionally mark the highest honors in the music business. K-Pop band BTS lost in the best pop duo or group performance against Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for their single “Rain on Me” but performed their hit English-language single “Dynamite” from South Korea at the close of the show.
…