The transformation of Walt Disney's(NYSE:DIS)least visited theme park in Florida is complete. Wednesday morning's debut of Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway, a family-friendly trackless ride that glides guests through high-tech animated scenes, completes the massive upgrade of Disney's Hollywood Studios, the gated attraction that was dead last among Disney World's four theme parks in attendance in 2018.

A lot has happened at the park in a little more than 20 months. Toy Story Land opened in the summer of 2018, a nod to Pixar's first full-length feature franchise. Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge came along last year, an ambitious 14-acre expansion that opened in two phases between August and December. Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway becomes the third and final piece of the revitalization of Disney's Hollywood Studios.

Image source: Disney.

There's a lot riding on Disney's theme parks business. Disney's parks, experiences, and products segment accounted for 38% of revenue and 45% of the operating profit in fiscal 2019. And Disney World is the largest theme park resort on the planet, unmatched in terms of the number of parks, on-site hotels, and annual visitors.

Disney's Hollywood Studios attracted 11.3 million guests of the 58.3 million visitors to Disney World's four theme parks in 2018. The least visited of the four Florida theme parks will never catch up to Magic Kingdom and the more than 20 million folks who travel through its turnstiles every year. However, it shouldn't be a surprise to see Disney's Hollywood Studios catapult to becoming Disney World's second most visited park in 2020.

We've seen this play out before.Disney's Animal Kingdom leaped to second place in attendance at Disney World following the 2017 debut of Pandora -- The World of Avatar. If a single expansion was enough to breathe new life into the animal-themed park, just imagine how three major additions in less than two years will do for the once-struggling movie-themed attraction.

The new ride is drawing largely positive reviews, and that's a good thing since the same ride will open at Disneyland in California two years from now. The attraction uses next-gen visual effects to create a textured experience without the need for 3-D specs, drawing guests into the whimsical universe of Mickey Mouse.

This week's debut of the first ride starring Mickey and Minnie Mouse may be bittersweet, though. The opening comes as all three of the Disney-branded resorts in Asia are closed as a result of the novel coronavirus outbreak, and it seems like only a matter of time before the stateside parks take a hit.

Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway was supposed to open last year, but Disney pushed its rollout to early 2020 -- probably as a result of spacing out the debut of Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge into two phases months apart in the second half of 2019. The timing is unfortunate, but the real value of the work that Disney World has done with its least popular theme park has always been for the long haul. The family-entertainment giant was a market darling among consumer discretionary stocksbefore the COVID-19 outbreak rattled the market, and that's just where it will be when bullish sentiment bounces back.

Read more:
Disney World's New Ride Will Save its Worst Park - Motley Fool

March is expected to be very busy for Pokmon Go as Niantic revealed just about everything that is coming to the popular mobile game this month.

In its latest blog post, Niantic confirmed what players can expect in March which includes another Shadow Legendary, Raid Battle debuts and much more. There's even more weekend events happening the entire month to keep players busy.

Here's a rundown of every event coming to Pokmon Go in March.

SHADOW ENTEI

Shadow Entei returns to Pokmon Go in the Team Go Rocket Special Research tasks.

Like how trainers were able to defeat the Team Go Rocket Leaders and Giovanni to battle and capture Raikou and Suicune, the Fire-type Legendary from the Johto region returns to give players another chance.

Be sure to complete these special tasks before March is up.

DARKRAI AND OTHER LEGENDARY RAIDS

Thundurus, the second of the Djinns from the Unova region, will begin appearing in Level 5 Raids starting Monday, March 2 at 4 p.m. EST. This is the first of many Legendary Pokmon coming to the mobile game in March.

Niantic confirms each weekend in March will have a special Raid Day event featuring a Legendary Pokmon.

The first features Darkrai from Friday, March 6 at 11 a.m. to Monday March 9 at 10 p.m. local time in Level 5 Raids. Players will also have a chance at catching a Shiny Darkrai for the first time in Pokmon Go.

From Friday, March 13, at 8 a.m. to Monday, March 16, at 10 p.m. local time, Altered Forme Giratina will appear in Level 5 Raids and also give players a chance at catching its Shiny Variant for the first time.

Cobalion returns to Level 5 Raids from Friday, March 20 at 8 a.m. to Monday, March 23 at 10 p.m. local time. Like the other two weekends, this will be the first time Shiny Cobalion appears in Pokmon Go. Cobalion caught in these Raids will also know the exclusive move, Sacred Sword.

And finally, Lugia will appear in Level 5 Raids from Friday, March 27 at 8 a.m. to Monday, March 30 at 10 p.m. local time. Not only will players have a chance at catching a Shiny Lugia during the event, these Legendaries will know the exclusive move, Aeroblast.

MYSTERIOUS WEEKEND EVENT

On the weekend of March 20, Normal, Fire, Electric, Water and Ice-type Pokmon will appear more frequently in the wild.

Nincada, the rare Ground and Bug-type Pokmon will also appear in the wild and hatch more frequently from 5km Eggs. Shiny Nincada will also make its debut in Pokmon Go during this event.

Shelmet and Karrablast will also hatch more frequently from 5km Eggs while Level 1-4 Raids will feature Bug and Steel-type Pokmon.

This event will offer double the catch and hatch Stardust and there will also be a special research story event attached to this weekend. More details to come in the future.

TEAM GO ROCKET GLOBAL TAKEOVER

The weekend of March 6 will see Team Go Rocket try and takeover Pokmon Go once again.

Poison and Dark-type Pokmon will appear more frequently in the wild including Absol, which is normally a Pokmon found only in Raids. This event will mark the debut of Shiny Skorupi.

PSYCHIC SPECTACULAR EVENT

The weekend of March 27 will see the debut of two Psychic-type Pokmon from the Unova region, Solosis and Gothita.

Solosis will be found in the wild during the day while Gothita can be encountered at night. Both Pokmon will appear in 5km Eggs after the event is over.

Abra, Drowzee, Ralts, Spoink, Baltoy, Wynaut, Beldum, Gothita and Solosis will hatch more frequently from 2km Eggs during the event with Baltoy having its Shiny variant debut.

Psychic-type Pokmon will also start appearing in Raids and appear more frequently in the wild. There will also be Field Research specifically tied to this event.

What do you think of the upcoming Pokmon Go events in March? Which are you looking forward to most? Let us know in the comments section.

Read more here:
'Pokmon Go' Announces March Events and Additions Including Thundurus and Shiny Legendaries - Newsweek

Cast, most of staff return for Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen season based on Keisuke Itagaki's martial arts manga

The official website for the new anime of Keisuke Itagaki's Baki (New Grappler Baki: In Search of Our Strongest Hero) manga began streaming a teaser promotional video for the anime's second season on Thursday. The video reveals that the second season, titled Baki: Dai Raitaisai-hen, will debut exclusively on Netflix this year. It also confirms that most of the main staff is returning with two new main additions.

Most of the staff are returning for the second season, with the addition of Shingo Ishikawa and Masanori Nishiyama. Toshiki Hirano (Rayearth, Dangaioh, Magic Kaito: Kid the Phantom Thief) is directing the the second season at TMS Entertainment (Lupin III, ReLIFE). Fujio Suzuki (Shin Getter Robo vs. Neo Getter Robo, 009-1, New Getter Robo) and Shingo Ishikawa (Tetsujin 28: Morning Moon of Midday) are designing the characters. Tatsuhiko Urahata (DNA, Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere, Tsuredure Children) is in charge of the series scripts. Masanori Nishiyama is the new art director. Other returning staff members include color designer Hiromi Miyawaki, director of photography Tatsuo Noguchi, editor Yuriko Sano, composer Kenji Fujisawa, and sound directors Keiko Urakami and Yasuyuki Uragami.

The cast returns for the second season.

Netflix premiered the first anime season in June 2018 inside Japan, and it ran for 26 episodes ending in December 2018. Netflix posted the first 13 episodes outside of Japan in December 2018, followed by the second half of the first season in March 2019.

Netflix describes the story:

Source: Baki anime's website, Comic Natalie

See the rest here:
Baki Anime's 2nd Season Teaser Reveals Netflix Debut This Year, Added Staff - Anime News Network

Amazons Lord of the Rings show is moving ahead, with filming now underway over in New Zealand. However, only the first two episodes of Season 1 will be shot. After that production takes a several months hiatus to work on scripts for Season 2. The plan is then to reconvene the production and shoot the rest of Season 1 and Season 2 concurrently.

The new show will deal with events from the Second Age of Tolkiens Middle-earth. Though, since that Age lasted thousands of years, its hard to say exactly where the show will begin. Most of the cast has been announced and paraded before the press. Though, we dont know exactly who they are all playing. So far the only character which Tolkien fans might be familiar with is Galadriel. The Elven queen is one of the oldest living beings in Middle-earth by the time of The Lord of the Rings story. Now we have a new cast member to add that ever-growing list. Maxim Baldry has signed on and his character is described as having a leading role in the show. Thats all we know really for now about the character Baldry will be playing.

However, why not let us do a little speculation? There is one character who I believe HAS to be in this show, and thats Sauron. Fans will, of course, remember Sauron as a flaming red eye, and the main antagonist of The Lord of the Rings. However, during the Second Age, things were a little different. Depending on where Amazon set this show, Sauron could be played by a normal non-CGI actor.

Until the very end of the Second Age, Sauron was known as Annatar by some. Sauron (or Mairon to give him his oldest name) is an angelic-like being. What I mean by that, is that he was pure spirit, taking on any appearance he wished. Sauron could, therefore, appear Elven, or Human (or even Werewolf) depending on his audience. It was not until the Fall of Numenor (signaling the ending of the Second Age) that Sauron lost this ability.

Surely the most interesting character in this timeline (and for any actor to play) would be Sauron? Since Baldrys casting announcement there are many fans, like me, who look at the actor and see potential for Sauron. This is merely speculation, so please dont think we are suggesting for certain Baldry will play Sauron, we dont know that. It is, however, possible for Sauron not to appear at all in Season 1. Again, it really is going to be dependent on where Amazon begins this story, which we dont know.

Baldry is not going to be recognizable to most fans. The actor is probably most known by U.K. audiences for appearing in soap opera Hollyoaks. Baldry has also appeared in Doctor Who. Most recently appearing in the BBC/HBO limited series Years and Years, where he played standout Viktor (see Image above). It should be pointed out that Amazon had stated that the cast was never rounded out. We might then expect even more cast additions as production continues. I doubt its urgent for Amazon to cast roles outside of the opening two episodes of Season 1. Thats given the hiatus I mentioned above, which would give them several more months.

The casting of Sauron is the one piece I am waiting on for this show. Is Baldry that character, or will Amazon go for someone a bit more experienced and high profile for that role? My personal top choice has always been Tom Hiddleston of MCU fame. Hiddleston is one of my favorite actors right now, and Sauron would be a very different role to that of Loki. However, I could genuinely see Baldry as someone a little darker. Whether that is the big bad of the Second Age or not, we just dont know?

If you have an interest in Amazons Lord of the Rings show then check out my weekly column What This Fan Wants From. This week I will be covering Amazons Lord of the Rings show, and that should be with you by Thursday or Friday at the latest.

What do you think of Baldrys casting, do you think he could be Sauron, if not, why not? Leave us your thoughts in the usual spots below.

Have you checked out LRM Onlines official podcast feed yet The LRM Online Podcast Network? This includes our flagship podcast Los Fanboys, our premiere podcastBreaking Geek Radio: The Podcast, GeekScholars Movie News, and our morning showLRMornings. Check it out by listening below. Its also available on all your favorite podcast apps!

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SOURCE: Deadline

Original post:
Could Lord Of The Rings Lead Actor Be Playing Sauron? - LRM Online

Arizona Diamondbacks outfielder Starling Marte laughs while watching spring training against the Oakland Athletics at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Feb. 23, 2020.(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)

Expectations are high in Diamondbacks land. Not only are they coming off an encouraging 85-win season, the team is fresh off an offseason in which it made several high-profile additions. For those wearing the rosiest of glasses, the moves left them dreaming not just about the Diamondbacks reaching the playoffs, but about them chasing down the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.

It is clear not everyone views the Diamondbacks this way in particular, the projection systems in place at Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs, two of the leading baseball analytics sites on the internet. Not only do they not see the Diamondbacks being much improved from last year, they actually envision them being worse.

Baseball Prospectus PECOTA system sees the Diamondbacks as a 79.8-win team. Similarly, FanGraphs ZiPS projections has them at 79 wins. They are projected by PECOTA to have the eighth-best record in the NL, two spots ahead of ZiPS forecast.

Both sites envision the Diamondbacks once again sitting at home come October while the Dodgers, with an average of 100 wins between the two projections, run away with the division.

They do not love us, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen said. That is a true statement.

Of course, none of this means the Diamondbacks should cancel the season. Baseball predictions are difficult. This is true for both the computers and the so-called experts. Every year, the projection systems are wrong about a number of teams for a variety of reasons, including unexpected breakouts, injuries, trades, et al. And the systems tend to be conservative in their win-total predictions; most teams that are alive in October outperform their projections, and rare is the club that is projected to win 100 games.

Arizona Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte (4) runs the bases against the Oakland Athletics during spring training at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Feb. 23, 2020.(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)

The Diamondbacks, of course, do not agree with what the projections are saying. And, in some cases, neither do those running the projections. PECOTAs general ambivalence to the Diamondbacks was a topic of discussion within Baseball Prospectus before the projections were released last month, according to Harry Pavlidis, BPs director of research and development.

They were a team that kept popping up, like, Shouldnt they be better? Pavlidis said. Everybody was surprised. That might be a little low.

What the projection systems do, essentially, is look at each players track record, compare it to track records of similar players in baseball history and then spit out a most likely outcome for the upcoming season, taking into account how others before them have aged.

A player who, say, hit well in the minor leagues then did the same for his first two seasons in the majors at ages 23 and 24 would likely be viewed as a safe bet to do it again in Year 3 at age 25.

But the picture can get cloudy when a player is coming off an unexpectedly good year, one that looks like an outlier compared to his past performance. Or when he suddenly performs well in the majors at a more advanced age. Or when a host of other considerations, like home ballpark, division or health, are baked into the equation.

Hazen obviously does not agree with the projections, but he also doesnt seem to have a problem with them. He understands the models that shape them, and, he said, his teams internal projections, which also take into account information that isnt publicly available, use similar methodologies. He said the teams in-house projections are not vastly different from the 79-win seasons expected by PECOTA and ZiPS.

The issue both systems have with the Diamondbacks, essentially, is that they do not envision the team having enough elite players or even an above-average unit within the team.

Arizona Diamondbacks right fielder Kole Calhoun (56) runs back to the dugout after an inning against the Oakland Athletics during spring training at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Feb. 23, 2020.(Photo: Michael Chow/The Republic)

Thats kind of the story of the projections, said FanGraphs Dan Szymborski, the creator of ZiPS. It kind of has all aspects of the team around average: average rotation, average bullpen, overall an average offense.

According to ZiPS, the Diamondbacks lineup will have one truly valuable player -- second baseman Ketel Marte -- surrounded by a collection of average to slightly above-average regulars. And even Marte isnt projected to be the player he was last year. Marte was worth 7.1 WAR (wins above replacement) per FanGraphs last season; ZiPS projects him at 3.7 this year.

That is normal for star players, however, when it comes to projection systems. They often set the bar so high that the system believes it is unreasonable to expect them to clear it again.

Hazen, of course, sees things playing out differently than the projections.

The two biggest factors for us are probably age and theyre projecting regression for some of our elite players, Hazen said. We would choose to argue with some of that in that our elite players are young, and we believe the guys that theyre dinging for age, theres reasons to believe why they should still (be productive). The aging curve is a curve; there are guys who outperform that consistently.

The Diamondbacks could believe, for example, that new right fielder Kole Calhoun will be better than the 1.1 WAR that PECOTA projects because his numbers from previous years were dragged down by him employing a swing he has since abandoned. Or that Christian Walker has only recently begun to approach his potential and will prove to have a longer shelf life than the mostly anonymous comps PECOTA assigned to him, including Victor Diaz and Jerry Sands.

Each system has things to like about the Diamondbacks. Marte, for one. His new teammate, Starling Marte, is well-liked by PECOTA, as is another offseason addition, Madison Bumgarner.

But the player the systems might like most is right-hander Zac Gallen, who has made only 15 starts in the majors. PECOTA has him as a 2.9-win player despite projecting him for only 137 innings. ZiPS has him at a 2.5 WAR in 148 innings, which Szymborski called a pretty bonkers projection.

But its not enough, apparently, to lift the team as a whole. Of course, this isnt new for the Diamondbacks, who have outplayed the projections fairly significantly in two of the past three seasons and they were on target to do so in 2018 had they not fallen apart in September.

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Outperformance is a tricky thing to bet on, Hazen said. (But) Ive said this a number of times: Dont look at the manager (Torey Lovullo) and his coaching staff and look at bullpen moves on a given day to assess how the manager is doing. To me, look at that. Look at the consistency of outperformance in certain areas that the team has driven year over year.

Pavlidis said there are certain team characteristics that can often lead to outperformance, most of it involving smart deployment of players, including platoons and bullpen management. In recent years, the Diamondbacks also have seemingly done well at getting more than expected out of many of their players. That has been particularly true in the starting rotation, whether it was Zack Godley in 2017, Clay Buchholz in 2018 or Alex Young last year.

Still, for as underwhelming as a 79-win projection might seem, it still does not leave the Diamondbacks too far out of a playoff spot in a clustered National League. They might be well behind the Dodgers, but PECOTA gives them an 18.8 percent chance of winning the wild card.

Right now, the Diamondbacks could break either way, said Pavlidis, who said their projections have roughly a six game margin for error. Theyre close. Theyre kind of on the cusp. If anything, I wouldnt worry if I was a fan. Yeah, we have a shot. The Dodgers are better, but the Dodgers are better than everybody. Can they fight for a wild card? Yeah.

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

At Surprise Stadium:RHP Luke Weaver, who failed to get through the first inning in his first outing of the spring, had another rough opening frame but managed to work into the second on Tuesday night. Weaver gave up two runs in the first on two hits and two walks, throwing 31 pitches. He struck out CF Bubba Starling to open the second and was lifted from the game with his pitch count at 38. Besides putting my fielders to sleep, throwing a bajillion pitches in the first inning, again, and getting my heart rate above the normal limit, I think it went well, Weaver said. I think Im trending up. Weaver said he was happy to see he was again touching the mid-90s with his fastball velocity. He said he feels good, which is no small consideration for a pitcher who missed most of last year with elbow problems. And he said his command issues were mostly due to adrenaline-related mechanical issues that he does not think will be difficult to correct. Im getting a little frustrated out there not putting away guys, letting them stay in the at-bats, Weaver said. We call those kill pitches, those putaway pitches, they arent landing where I want them to. But thats just reps and getting out there and getting it done.

At the plate: After several games in which their offense was nonexistent, the Diamondbacks saw some positive signs in the early innings. In the first, DH Carson Kelly had a lengthy at-bat against Royals RHP Kyle Zimmer that ended with a single to center. RF Kole Calhoun walked and C Stephen Vogt hit a hard line drive to center. The Diamondbacks didnt score, but it was more noise than they had been making in most innings in recent days. They broke through in the second. With two out and nobody on, CF Tim Locastro was a hit by pitch his second already this spring then scored on 3B Domingo Leybas double into the right-field corner. 2B Josh Rojas followed by launching a two-run homer to center field. Calhoun added a solo home run of his own in the fifth, taking former Diamondbacks closer RHP Greg Holland deep.

Extra bases: The game was delayed an hour as police investigated a possible bomb detected by a police-trained dog, who alerted officers to a vehicle parked outside the stadium. 1B Jake Lamb committed an error in the third inning, failing to find the bag at first while taking the throw from Leyba.

Wednesdays game: Diamondbacks LHP Madison Bumgarner vs. Indians RHP Aaron Civale, 1:10 p.m., Salt River Fields.

Excerpt from:
They do not love us: What the projection systems have against the Diamondbacks - AZCentral

My father turned 100 last week. Not in a nursing home or at an awkward family gathering with 1-0-0 candles on a cake. Not in his physical form at all he died in 1976. But I marked his centennial because, to the few people left on earth who still grieve for him after nearly 44 years, it had to matter for just one day, as just a fleeting number in this life of constant additions and subtractions.

But alongside this is another gnawing number: I am now 56, the age that my father was when he died. I have always known that my father lived a short life every parents life is short if they die when youre a child but now Im consumed with an even greater understanding of just how fast it all must have seemed to him. And how even a century can be fleeting from a certain vantage point.

Born in a migrant coal mining camp in West Virginia in late February 1920, Okey Belcher arrived into a world short on opportunity. My grandparents dragged their nine children constantly around the coal-rich hills of southwestern West Virginia in search of work. My father began mining at 14 and was seemingly on track for a life of hardship and black lung. But World War II took him from that bleakness to a submarine in the South Pacific, and then the Korean War took him back to Asia for a second time, then a stint in San Francisco in the early 1950s before marrying my mother in 1955. It must have all seemed like such a whirlwind in his first 35 years.

But it was in the postwar suburban bliss of Dayton, Ohio, where it all went wrong: an inoperable brain tumor at the top of his spine at age 46. He was basically handed a recurring prescription of phenobarbital and sent off to play out whatever years were left. What ensued was 10 years of a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde evolution into uncertainty, years of high-functioning fear, depression and self-medicating with alcohol. Divorce, car wrecks and a series of grim jobs at a Dickensian factory and a solo life in an equally grim trailer park ultimately led him home to his older sister in Kentucky, who kept him, as she had her parents and a brother before, until he too left his hard-knock life.

Ive never deluded myself into thinking that hes in what Ive always considered that mythological place called heaven, looking down on my sister and me and the smattering of nieces, nephews and other kinfolk who still remember him. His death, 10 days before I turned 13, was so brutally final for me. I have never harbored the Christian promise of eternal life that has comforted so many in my family. I envy them for envisioning some eternal family potluck where well all be happy again.

But the realm he does exist in for me is in dreams, consistently about every five years or so, where he is alive and has simply been taking time away from us a pause of 15, 30, 40 years, just because he needed to sort things out. Its as if in my dreamland of grief where I always seem to be childlike and confused even though Im aware of the years and decades that have passed its simply standard behavior for people to slip away but return in an instant. And sometimes we are going to visit him in his new, faraway home. And its in those moments that I know everything will be OK and that I will touch him and hear his war stories that I was too young to care about when he was alive.

Like my father, Ive traveled extensively in my life and career, much of it for work but mostly, admittedly, to run. Perhaps to run as my father did. Im not fleeing coal mines and Appalachian poverty, though that legacy haunts me. I think I am fleeing what my father must have been: the fear of an unfulfilled life, driven by the urgency that it could all be ripped away from me at any moment. Ill never know what motivated him to re-up for the military twice. It was no doubt to escape poverty, even after World War II when he returned to coal mining and a failed first marriage before the Korean War broke out. But he did decide, like millions of others, to settle down and have children as the Eisenhower-era boom created a middle-class bubble for those scarred by the Great Depression and perhaps their own great depression.

My aloneness in my travels and my fear, at this semi-ripe age, that it could all go haywire for me too is, I suspect, common among grown children whose parents died young. Ive sought and still seek, in the age of 24-hour work cycles, hookup apps and boundless TV and escapism in every corner of the planet emotional refuge in all the places that feel safe and immediate. There is not much comfort in the future when its ripped away from you at a young age.

Im always drawn back to the thought of that young man who dropped out of school in eighth grade to work in the coal mines, only to be wrenched from that dark hole and flung far across the planet, strapping and with a head full of curly hair. Im certain he found refuge in the same anonymity and instant gratification that I have discovered in far-off lands and exotic people. And I find solace in that a camaraderie with a man whom I rarely got to bond with as the brain cancer morphed him into a different man as I was just becoming one.

And now, at 56, pondering what my father must have been facing in knowing for a decade that he might live only a few more years, or months or even days, I know that Ill most likely not live to see 100, and I wont have a child to grieve whatever vacancy my death will leave. But when I called my sister, Debra, this week from a beach in Zanzibar and we honored our fathers 100th, I was aware of distances across miles, continents, decades and now a century that seemed to narrow and to heal, and to connect all of us in this life of numbers long gone and still to come.

David Belcher is an Op-Ed staff editor who writes frequently about culture and the arts.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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More here:
My Father at 100, as Seen From the Age He Died - The New York Times

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. Playing to strengths and minimizing weaknesses is what every team has to do. After looking at all of Penn States position groups on offense and compiling their 247Sports Composite scores and star rankings and number of scholarship players, there are a few ideas of what to expect from each unit this year.

Keep in mind that ratings tell part of the story. For example, Penn State had two five-star players depart the program this offseason in Justin Shorter (Florida) and Ricky Slade (still in the portal). Neither lived up to the recruiting hype during the past two seasons. However, looking at the average 247Sports Composite scores for every scholarship player on the roster does help identify which groups have the most talent, on paper at least. Those ratings combined with the returning production for each position group help to make any teams strengths and weaknesses more apparent.

Penn State wraps up winter conditioning this week and takes a...

See more here:
Pedigree and production: Penn States strongest position groups on offense - The Athletic

These days, there has to be much more wonder in the wondering for Vancouver Giants fans.

A month ago, the Langley Events Centre stands had plenty of people probably pondering whether the Giants had the stuff to get out of the first round of the playoffs. Now, Giants backers are bound to be feeling much more optimistic. Vancouvers one of the hottest teams in the Western Hockey League, winners of 13 of 15 games going into Wednesday nights visit to the Kamloops Blazers.

The B.C. Division is much tougher this season than it was a year ago. There are three clubs that could finish with at least 35 wins. Vancouver was the lone one to reach that plateau in 2018-19.

Vancouver goes into the Kamloops game on Wednesday with a 32-22-3-2 record and tied in points with the Victoria Royals (31-23-5-2) in the race for second place in the B.C. Division and the home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs that goes with it. Vancouver has nine games left in league play and two games in hand on the Royals.

The Giants have climbed back into this season. They look like a contender again. How exactly did it happen? We have theories.

Vancouver Giants forward Tyler Preziuso (right, in action against the Victoria Royals) came to the Giants in a midseason deal with the Medicine Hat Tigers, where he spent parts of four seasons under coach Shaun Clouston, now the Kamloops Blazers bench boss.Rik Fedyck, Vancouver Giants / PNG files

There were stretches earlier in the season when it was difficult to name three or four Giants who were playing well. Right now, its hard to come up with someone who isnt doing whats expected or even more than expected.

General manager Barclay Parneta, coach Michael Dyck and the rest of the staff felt the chemistry was off early on. Parneta made five trades from early November right up until the Jan. 10 deadline. He signed Michal Kvasnica, the former Portland Winterhawk who was playing in the Czech Republic. He signed Holden Katzalay, the onetime Seattle Thunderbird who was in the BCHL with the Surrey Eagles.

Theres a reset for a group that has to follow that kind of change. Guys needed to figure each other out. Dyck needed to decide how he wanted to deploy his players. It looks like they have it dialled in now.

The book on Florchuk when he came over from the Saskatoon Blades in a deal the day before the trade deadline was that he was a dependable, two-way player who would fit somewhere in your top-six forward grouping.

So far with Vancouver, hes been much more. Hes been a play driver. Hes been a surefire No. 1 centre. Through 22 games with the Giants, Florchuk has 10 goals and 31 points. Thats 1.41 points per game, and that upped Florchuks career total through 245 career regular season match-ups to 0.67 points per game.

Vancouver bringing in Florchuk from Saskatoon for centre Evan Patrician, a 2020 first-round bantam draft pick the Giants had picked up from the Medicine Hat Tigers in a December swap, and a 2021 second rounder was arguably the second most significant trade at the deadline, following only the Victoria Royals adding winger Brayden Tracey from the Moose Jaw Warriors as part of a five-player, six-pick exchange.

Centre Eric Florchuk in action for the Vancouver Giants, driving between Jake Lee and Pavel Novak of the Kelowna Rockets during a WHL game at the Langley Events Centre.Rob Wilton, Vancouver Giants

Tracey was a first-round NHL pick last summer by the Anaheim Ducks. Florchuk was a 2018 seventh-rounder of the Washington Capitals.

Tracey has five goals and 18 points through 21 games with Victoria.

That may be the most telling statement about how well Florchuk has played for Vancouver.

His addition had to be a confidence boost to the Vancouver dressing room as well. He was one of the better players available. Parneta bringing him in said to the players that the staff believed they had a playoff run in them. Consider that in this second-half run, along with the fact there had to be some concern among the players that the Giants, with their middling first half, might be sellers at the deadline.

Florchuk has yet to sign with the Capitals. Seventh-round picks are far from automatics to get deals. If Florchuk can keep this up and help Vancouver go on a playoff run, it will be easier and easier to wonder if the Capitals will give him a contract and have him play somewhere in their system next season, rather than Florchuk coming back to the Giants as one of their three overages (20-year-olds).

Going into Wednesdays game, Byram has eight goals and 27 points in his past 14 games. As absurd as it sounds, you can argue that hes played even better than his numbers of late.

Hes locked in defensively. Hes physical. Hes blocking shots. Hes nullifying opposing teams forechecks; if the puck comes to him in the Vancouver zone, its always quickly headmanned back up the ice.

The penalty trouble that plagued Byram early in the season has vanished as well.

This is as good as hes been as a Giant. And, yes, we do realize he set a team record for goals (26) in a season by a defenceman last year and led all WHL players in scoring in the playoffs (26 points in 22 games).

This is as good as it gets for Bowen Byram (left) with the Giants: Hes scored eight goals and 27 points in his past 14 games.Gerry Kahrmann / Postmedia News

Byram had pledged that hed step up his game down the stretch.

His focus has been diverted in various directions since the summer. There was the push to stick with the NHLs Colorado Avalanche after they picked him fourth overall in last summers NHL draft and then the return to the Giants.

Then there was the chase of a Team Canada post for the world juniors and all that went with playing in that tournament in the Czech Republic.

With those things behind him now, Byram finding his game for the Giants is completely logical.

He goes into Wednesday-night action with 11 goals and 48 points in 47 games this season.

The Giants are getting more from more guys since the trade deadline. That includes the third line of Cole Shepard and midseason additions Katzalay and Kvasnica. Their mix of skills clicks, with the abilities down low of Katzalay and Kvasnica especially opening up space for the speedster Shepard.

There have been games where theyve dominated their match-ups, like Vancouvers 6-2 win over the Victoria Royals last Saturday. They combined for six points, with a goal and an assist apiece.

As well, the WHL doesnt publish players ice times like the NHL does, but it feels like Dyck is beginning to trust youngsters like Kaden Kohle, Justin Lies, Tanner Brown and Jacob Brown more and more in giving them more shifts. More minutes from that group cuts down on the wear and tear on the older players as this season plays out.

Speedy Cole Shepard (above, in front) has meshed well with midseason additions Holden Katzalay and Michal Kvasnica to form a potent third line.Rik Fedyk / PNG

The Giants were 17-16-2-2 at the Jan. 10 trade deadline and their power play was working at 11.7 per cent (15-for-128). Going into Wednesday, the power play has clicked at 37.3 per cent (28-for-75) in the 22 games since the trade freeze.

Florchuk is part of that story. He calms things down. He resets the game plan when the Giants recover the puck after the opposing goalie makes a save. Hes similar to Davis Koch, who was a linchpin of Vancouvers man-advantage unit last season as one of the Giants overages.

It also seems that earlier in the season the Vancouver power play would only settle for highlight-reel goals. They were overly fancy. Theyre much better at getting pucks and bodies to the net now. Theyve seemingly realized that ordinary-looking goals count the same as the pretty ones.

How much Florchuk plays into things being more simple is hard to guess. Even before Florchuk, though, the Giants had the talent for a 20-per-cent power play.

Going into Wednesday, they are at 21.2 per cent (43-for-203), good enough for 12th in the league.

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Steve Ewen: Florchuk foremost in five Giants factors in team's surge up the standings - Ottawa Citizen

A fast-moving fire tore through a home in Bally Wednesday night.

The blaze gutted a frame and stucco house at 155 S. Church St. in the borough.

When we got here, flames were pouring out of every window and door, said Chief Michael Mutter of the Eastern Berks Fire Department.

Eastern Berks of Barto took command and was assisted by the Hereford, Boyertown and Pennsburg fire companies.

Firefighters were called to the scene around 9 p.m. and had the fire under control in about 15 minutes,but they remained fighting flare-ups until nearly midnight,Mutter said.

Fire police closed South Seventh and South Church streets for three and a half hours while crews were on the scene.

He said no one was injured, and no one was home at the time of the fire. The family is believed to be vacationing out of the country, he said.

The older construction of the home coupled with various remodelings and additions made fighting the fire a bit more challenging, Mutter said.

It's just a shame, Mutter said. Luckily, no one was home at the time and no one was hurt. We had a good water supply and plenty of help."

Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal Trooper Janssen Herb was at the scene again on Thursday to look for clues to what caused the blaze.

Herb said he believes the fire started in a room on the first floor, but he did not have an exact cause. He estimated the damage to be more than $100,000.

Albert and Tina Conley were displaced as a result of the fire. They are out of town, Herb said.

Inside the home, the second floor collapsed onto the first floor in two places and in one place collapsed into the basement.

The property is owned by Albert P. Conley Jr., according to online county records.

(Reporter Jeremy Long contributed to this story)

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Bally house fire sends flames 'pouring out of every window and door' [Video] - Reading Eagle

The lack of diversity in mainstream media has never been more hotly debated than now. From the widespread outrage over whitewashing in films like Ghost in the Shell and Aloha to Joaquin Phoenixs speech at the 2020 BAFTAs where he noted that Hollywood send[s] a very clear message to people of color that youre not welcome here, viewers and members of the industry alike have finally taken it upon themselves to challenge the medias long-held perception of what a marketable person looks and sounds like.

But as with every large-scale movement rooted in the intent to better society, there are those who trivialize its cause by making superficial and often unsettling adjustments to their content in order to label it diverse. Films and other forms of mainstream media often include words in other languages to supposedly boost authenticity a practice that, when executed poorly, leaves viewers feeling uncomfortable at best and appropriated at worst. Even our favorite childhood Disney films and their modern day live-action remakes and adaptations often make use of this strategy. Beauty and the Beast both the animated classic and the live-action remake is set in France but features little to no French apart from the occasional bonjour to remind the audiences of the setting.

Novelist Jeanine Cummins, who has described herself and her family as mostly white in every practical way, faced similar backlash for her controversial new release American Dirt about Mexican migrants. The novel was lauded with praise by household literary names like Stephen King and John Grisham, was one of Oprahs book club picks and was even hailed as a The Grapes of Wrath for our time. While she attempted to convey a harrowing, raw tale about immigrant experience, augmented by Spanish words and phrases, Cummins ended up presenting a narrative that left many Latinx readers uncomfortable. Writer Myriam Gurba said, American Dirt fails to convey any Mexican sensibility. It aspires to be Da de los Muertos but it, instead, embodies Halloween. An L.A. Times review of the novel called Cummins use of Spanish stiff sentences that sound like Dora the Explorer teaching a toddler. Words in foreign languages, though touted as a sign of the improving state of diverse representation in media, are rarely used in a meaningful manner that contributes to a narrative. They simply act as an easy way for media creatives to add an intriguing, authentic backdrop and play it off as an inclusive effort to play second fiddle to the true main character, English.

The issue arises when these efforts of diversification display a clear lack of effort or research, with accents botched by clearly non-native speakers and language conveyed in its most stereotypical form. These errors often betray a lack of respect for the community being portrayed, despite trying to sell their content as authentic samples of communication, media and entertainment ultimately deliver a depiction or representation. Languages other than English are too often used in media as flavor, something meant to attract the viewers attention and, in the current climate where many view diversity as a selling point, an additional bonus that enables the creators to pose as socially conscious creatives intending to produce a message of authenticity. This line of thinking in and of itself is flawed authenticity of language is determined not only by the words that are spoken, but also by whom and in which context. By sprinkling bits and pieces of language in content simply for effect, and additionally often giving these dialogues to non-native speakers, the media proves they are not interested in using languages other than English to convey any actual information or move a story forward they only intend to embrace the language when it is convenient for them, often as cringeworthy moments of comic relief or sincere but failed attempts at representation.

And yet, this same trivial treatment is not reciprocated when English is the language in question. Depictions of broken English are at most mildly accented, and often not even that no matter how comfortable the character is meant to be with the language. And while foreign films may make use of English, there is typically a purpose to such additions beyond just adding texture. Much of this staggering inequality stems from the fact that, in the Eurocentric world we unfortunately still live in, the deep-seated effects of imperialism are still felt exemplified in the arena of the written and spoken word. A 2016 study by the World Economic Forum published a Power Language Index meant to rank languages based on which allowed speakers to best engage in life from a global perspective gave English a score of 0.889, placing it at more than twice as powerful as Mandarin, the next closest language. The world expects people to understand and communicate in English, and the media epitomizes this burdensome belief by treating languages apart from it as tokens to add superficial legitimacy to their content.

True diversity cannot arise from the now accepted practice of choosing a cultural flavor of the month to represent disingenuously and perfunctorily through a few mumbled phrases of a language. Mainstream media must wake up to the countless ways in which the ever-present lack of diversity is manifested today, beyond casting choices and Oscar nominations. Fixing these glaring gaps in our acceptance is crucial but it will take a rallied effort, a cultural shift and an overturning of our historically entrenched perceptions of global dynamics to replicate the true diversity that exists in our world on our screens.

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The role of language in mainstream media: principles of exclusion - The Wellesley News