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The spring semester has arrived, and chief faculty advisor for the Weezer Institute of the Arts, Professor Rivers Cuomo (now officially America’s most popular Cuomo), has prepared a lecture connecting the Bard and Vivaldi to domestic conviviality. “Shakespeare makes me happy,” he declares, repeating that thesis a couple of times before concluding, “and I’m happy to be with you.” There’s acoustic guitar, and pan pipes, and a big, lush Brian May–style guitar solo playing themes from Vivaldi’s “La Primavera”, all complementing the Prof’s supporting arguments that Hamlet,...

The best parts of HBO Max’s latest documentary, “15 Minutes of Shame” have less to do with shaming and much, much more to do with the innate failures of humanity, which in effect leave viewers in a place of relative hopelessness — a shrug emoji made manifest.

Executive produced by Monica Lewinsky and Max Joseph, the film attempts to give insight into the way that the internet and social media feed into the modern methods of public shaming and the rise of “cancel culture.” Those groundswells of judgement are so vitriolic and widespread that it sometimes results in ordinary people, whether they made a mistake or were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Lewinsky knows all about going from an anonymous citizen to the center of a scandal resonating on a global stage overnight. And Joseph is no stranger to internet culture, as a filmmaker best known...

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. Over the next several days, He would create the evening and the day, the light and the dark, the waters and the firmament, the movies and the Military Industrial Complex and various corporate marketing divisions.

On the fourth day, He created Hasbro, a collective maker of toys, and watched as it dreamed up many ideas for figures of action. One was a line of large, burly soldiers of various types, some with beards and some without, all with scars upon their cheeks.

Rich Mento and Russell Boast have been named co-presidents of the Casting Society of America. Mento, who was formerly the Society’s vice president, will serve alongside Boast, who as Csa president has headed up its Inclusion and Diversity and Training and Education Committees.

Mento’s casting credits include all five films in the Step Up franchise, as well as such films as Cedar Rapids, No Strings Attached, Dear John, Chloe, Safe Haven, Take Me Home Tonight and Youth in Revolt. Boast’s film credits include The Tribe, Paradise Club, Tortured, The Guest Room, From the Head, Home Run Showdown and White Irish Drinkers, as well as numerous TV shows.

Six other Csa members have been given expanded roles in the organization, including:

Ally Bader – Vice President of Events

Sunny Boling – Vice President of Membership & Governance

Zora DeHorter – Vice President of Communications

Richard Hicks – Vice President of Finance and Treasurer...