newyorker--2020-10-26--What Foreign Journalists See in the U.S. Election

Two days after Donald Trump ’ s Inauguration , in 2017 , Karl Sharro , a Lebanese-Iraqi satirist better known by his Twitter name , Karl ReMarks , wrote an essay for Politico that went viral , titled “ America , You Look Like an Arab Country Right Now.
” Arguments over the existence of a “ deep state ” sounded like conspiracy theories from home ; the same was true of the scenes at Inauguration protests : the police cordon lines , the tear gas , and the foreign correspondents trying to explain what the heck was happening to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ side will the Army take ?
” Sharro asked in a satiric leap , probably never imagining that , three and a half years later , a U.S. senator would call to deploy the Army against American protesters .
This summer , memes proliferated on Twitter likening American police behavior to that of security forces in countries that the U.S. typically lectures on human rights and democracy .
And , in the runup to the 2020 election , the similarities have eclipsed those Sharro poked fun at in 2017 .
Rigged election ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ on !
This is bordering on plagiarism now , ” Sharro wrote , back in 2017 .
“ Please write your own plots and stop borrowing ours.
” “ It is stunning for me , as an African , reporting on it , that the same things that America has been lecturing Africa on appear to be happening right here , ” Larry Madowo , a journalist for the BBC , says .
In the short documentary “ The America Bureau , ” he is joined by twelve journalists from all over the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ covering the U.S. election for other countries ’ networks .
Many of the journalists share Sharro ’ s bewilderment , his Schadenfreude , and , above all , his impression of just how badly the U.S. is doing .
They point to America ’ s economic and racial inequality , and the cost of health care and education .
Living in America can be an outrageous ripoff , and it baffles outsiders that Americans don ’ t just accept these conditions but seem to think that their system is the best one possible @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Americans that you seem more free than the rest of us , ” Jesper Steinmetz , a reporter from Denmark , says .
“ In so many ways , you ’ re the opposite of , of exceptional , ” Arjen van der Horst , a reporter from the Netherlands , adds .
As the Presidential election approaches , the rest of the world is watching , sometimes amused but also afraid .
As much as many hope that the U.S. will wake up to its unwarranted smugness , most don ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ When there ’ s a forest fire in California , the air in Canada is hazy , ” Alexander Panetta , a Canadian , points out .
Burning fossil fuels in the U.S. contributes to droughts everywhere from the African Sahel to Guatemala , leading migrants to areas where the climate , so far , is more hospitable .
Much of the responsibility for these events is collective , but few countries have as large a role in determining the fate of the world as the U.S. does .
American “ voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vote counts , a lot , ” Sonia Dridi , from France , says .
“ Not only for them but for the rest of the world.
” And no Presidential election is observed with keener interest by the rest of the world than an American one .
I was twelve years old when I followed the Bush-Gore election , in 2000 , from a small town in the Egyptian Nile Delta .
I was too young to understand much , but I remember poring over the bright polling charts that often ran @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pausing at one that displayed the faces of George W. Bush and Al Gore side by side , and feeling immense pressure to take a side .
I doubt that I could have articulated why the election mattered , but it was clear that it did .
I was twenty—and , by then , I knew why it mattered—when I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning in a university town in Scotland to watch the results of the Obama-McCain election , in 2008 .
“ Nothing that happens in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or ugly—the rest of the world , ” Abderrahim Foukara , a reporter for Al Jazeera , says .
And , as with those that preceded his , the next President ’ s decisions about war , the economy , migration , and climate change will be felt around the world .

Two days after Donald Trump’s Inauguration, in 2017, Karl Sharro, a Lebanese-Iraqi satirist better known by his Twitter name, Karl ReMarks, wrote an essay for Politico that went viral, titled “America, You Look Like an Arab Country Right Now.” Arguments over the existence of a “deep state” sounded like conspiracy theories from home; the same was true of the scenes at Inauguration protests: the police cordon lines, the tear gas, and the foreign correspondents trying to explain what the heck was happening to a startled outside world. “Which side will the Army take?” Sharro asked in a satiric leap, probably never imagining that, three and a half years later, a U.S. senator would call to deploy the Army against American protesters. This summer, memes proliferated on Twitter likening American police behavior to that of security forces in countries that the U.S. typically lectures on human rights and democracy. And, in the runup to the 2020 election, the similarities have eclipsed those Sharro poked fun at in 2017. Rigged election? Peaceful transfer of power? “Come on! This is bordering on plagiarism now,” Sharro wrote, back in 2017. “Please write your own plots and stop borrowing ours.”
“It is stunning for me, as an African, reporting on it, that the same things that America has been lecturing Africa on appear to be happening right here,” Larry Madowo, a journalist for the BBC, says. In the short documentary “The America Bureau,” he is joined by twelve journalists from all over the world, who speak about their experiences covering the U.S. election for other countries’ networks. Many of the journalists share Sharro’s bewilderment, his Schadenfreude, and, above all, his impression of just how badly the U.S. is doing. They point to America’s economic and racial inequality, and the cost of health care and education. Living in America can be an outrageous ripoff, and it baffles outsiders that Americans don’t just accept these conditions but seem to think that their system is the best one possible. “There is this notion among Americans that you seem more free than the rest of us,” Jesper Steinmetz, a reporter from Denmark, says. “In so many ways, you’re the opposite of, of exceptional,” Arjen van der Horst, a reporter from the Netherlands, adds.
As the Presidential election approaches, the rest of the world is watching, sometimes amused but also afraid. As much as many hope that the U.S. will wake up to its unwarranted smugness, most don’t want to see the nation fail. “When there’s a forest fire in California, the air in Canada is hazy,” Alexander Panetta, a Canadian, points out. Burning fossil fuels in the U.S. contributes to droughts everywhere from the African Sahel to Guatemala, leading migrants to areas where the climate, so far, is more hospitable. Much of the responsibility for these events is collective, but few countries have as large a role in determining the fate of the world as the U.S. does. American “voters are not always aware of how their vote counts, a lot,” Sonia Dridi, from France, says. “Not only for them but for the rest of the world.” And no Presidential election is observed with keener interest by the rest of the world than an American one.
I was twelve years old when I followed the Bush-Gore election, in 2000, from a small town in the Egyptian Nile Delta. I was too young to understand much, but I remember poring over the bright polling charts that often ran in the Arabic edition of Newsweek, pausing at one that displayed the faces of George W. Bush and Al Gore side by side, and feeling immense pressure to take a side. I doubt that I could have articulated why the election mattered, but it was clear that it did. I was twenty—and, by then, I knew why it mattered—when I stayed up into the wee hours of the morning in a university town in Scotland to watch the results of the Obama-McCain election, in 2008. “Nothing that happens in the United States spares—whether good, bad, or ugly—the rest of the world,” Abderrahim Foukara, a reporter for Al Jazeera, says. And, as with those that preceded his, the next President’s decisions about war, the economy, migration, and climate change will be felt around the world.


newyorker--2020-10-26--How We Discovered Water on the Moon

How We Discovered Water on the Moon

SOFIA—the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy—is an airborne telescope facility funded jointly by NASA and the German Aerospace Center .
Built into a converted 747 , it flies at an altitude of between thirty-eight and forty-five thousand feet , putting it above Earth ’ s layer of water vapor , which might otherwise interfere with observations .
Scientists apply for time on it—there are about four hundred hours available each year—by proposing experiments .
Honniball ’ s first application was rejected .
She reapplied , and the director of SOFIA agreed to give her some “ director ’ s discretionary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ overnight flight departing on August 29 , 2018 .
She would have twenty minutes to search for water on the surface of the moon .
Using infrared telescopes , astronomers have searched for water on the lunar surface before , but the results have been ambiguous .
The familiar sort of water that flows from a tap consists of molecules made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom : H O .
Light is emitted by H O at a particular wavelength ; spot the wavelength , and you ’ ve found @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like every other place in the universe , is also covered in hydroxyls—highly reactive ions , each made of a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom bonded together .
You can ’ t make a pile of hydroxyl , or use it to fill a swimming pool .
Unfortunately , to many infrared telescopes , the light emitted by a hydroxyl group—OH—looks indistinguishable from the light emitted by H O.
It ’ s possible for a specifically calibrated telescope to distinguish H O from OH .
But such a telescope wouldn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ vapor in the atmosphere , and none of these instruments have yet been deployed in space .
As a result , scientists observing the moon haven ’ t been able to tell for sure whether they ’ re observing H O , hydroxyls , or both .
Honniball thought that SOFIA ’ s telescope , flying at an altitude of about eight and a half miles , might do the trick .
As the telescope pointed at Clavius , a crater in the moon ’ s high southern latitudes , she watched the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ usually aimed at distant supernovae and nebulae ; Honniball ’ s lunar observations required different protocols and necessitated certain atmospheric-data corrections .
She received the corrected data six months later .
When she began processing it , she was on the phone with Paul Lucey , then her dissertation adviser at the University of Hawaii .
“ Oh , my God , ” she said , when she realized what she was seeing .
She screamed .
“ You ’ re not going to believe this !
There it is .
It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is an extreme place , and any water that formed or arrived on its surface would live a brief , tumultuous life .
A molecule of H O has a hydrogen bond , a slight charge that causes it to behave differently in different environments .
In extremely cold places on the lunar surface , hydrogen bonds might cause H O molecules to stick to minerals .
But if those minerals warmed up—for instance , during sunrise—then the water molecule would be kicked away , into space .
Gravity on the moon is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a hundred kilometres before landing again .
If it landed somewhere cold , it might stick until the temperature rose .
If it landed somewhere warm , it might again bounce off the surface .
A bouncing water molecule could get broken up by the sun ’ s ultraviolet light , and then swept away by the solar wind .
Alternatively , it might find a resting spot .
Long before the Apollo program , scientists wondered if there were places on the moon where water molecules might be able to collect permanently @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , because of the relative positions of the sun , the Earth , and the moon , the latter ’ s polar regions were ideal for this purpose .
An astronaut spending a day at the moon ’ s north or south pole would see the sun revolve around the horizon , just at its edge .
If she descended into a crater , however , she ’ d find the sun blocked entirely by its walls .
No sunlight would illuminate the crater bottom , no matter the moon ’ s position @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of those permanently shadowed regions and determined that , if water molecules landed in them , they could survive in perpetuity .
Scientists who study other planets are interested in volatiles—molecules that vaporize easily .
“ Water on the moon , whether it be in the equatorial region or at the poles , is telling us something about the evolution of volatiles in the solar system , ” David Kring , a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute , in Houston , told me .
But NASA ’ s interest in lunar @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 , the agency announced the Artemis program , an initiative that aims to send robots and astronauts to the lunar south pole , and to establish a permanent moon base by the end of this decade .
Ideally , such a base would become self-sufficient .
Water can be consumed by the crew , Kring explained , and used to create oxygen for breathing ; it can also be employed as a radiation shield and turned into propellant for rockets .
Honniball ’ s research , published this week in Nature Astronomy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ molecular water on the sunlit lunar surface .
“ It was not known , before these observations , if any molecular water was present on the lunar surface , ” Lucey , who is the second author on the paper , said .
“ It could all have been hydroxyl.
” In her paper , Honniball , who is now a postdoctoral fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , in Greenbelt , Maryland , offers some hypotheses about exactly how the water is stored .
It ’ s not lying around @ @ @ @ @ @ @ she and her colleagues believe it is trapped in glass beads formed by micrometeorite impacts .
When balls of space dust collide with the moon , they usually vaporize , along with the lunar surface at the point of impact .
But the directly adjacent material melts , cools , and forms glass .
This fusion happens instantaneously , and anything that happens to be incorporated into the melt is imprisoned .
The micrometeorite could itself contain water , which would be trapped ; there could be water on the lunar surface already @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or the impact could cause a hydroxyl on the surface to fuse with other hydroxyls , forming water molecules .
“ It ’ s actually something that is happening right this minute , ” Honniball said .
“ Micrometeorites are always hitting the moon , constantly generating this water and trapping it in the glasses.
” It ’ s unclear how widely distributed water is across the sunlit lunar surface .
“ We need more observations with SOFIA , looking at more locations on the moon , and at multiple phases , ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have requested seventy-two more hours of observation time .
If they get it , she said , “ we ’ re going to map the near side of the moon , and examine how water is moving and how it ’ s stored.
” NASA , meanwhile , can begin thinking about how refining water on the moon might work .
Future lunar-spacecraft missions can investigate water abundance .
The dark splotches on the lunar surface are referred to as mare—a term taken from the Latin word for “ sea.
” Neil Armstrong @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Tranquillity .
When Mare Tranquillitatis was given its name , in 1651 , it was not meant metaphorically .
For millennia , astronomers considered the moon to be Earthlike , with land and oceans .
The only real question was whether the dark or light areas were submerged .
Plutarch , the Greek philosopher , considered the darker regions of the moon to be seas and oceans ; Johannes Kepler , who between 1609 and 1619 published the laws of planetary motion , believed that the sun would reflect forcefully on the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Galileo was cagier on the subject : he left readers to infer his belief that the seas were dark .
Now Casey Honniball can add her observations to Kepler ’ s and Galileo ’ s .
There is water in both the dark and light regions—just not in a form that her predecessors could have imagined .

It was a ten-hour flight from takeoff to landing, wheels up just after 6 P.M., from Palmdale, California, out over the Pacific. For the first nine hours and forty minutes, Casey Honniball, a twenty-seven-year-old planetary scientist, didn’t have much to do. She took a nap, ate a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich, and used her laptop to work on research proposals. The plane seemed bigger than usual—almost all of the seats had been removed, along with much of the fuselage’s interior panelling—and it was very cold and very loud. In the main cabin, which looked like mission control, her fifteen fellow-passengers worked at alternating intervals behind giant computer consoles. A large blue rotating fixture, resembling a bank-vault door studded with scientific instruments, dominated the plane’s rear wall. It was the interior half of an eight-foot-wide infrared telescope, its mirrors angled out the left side of the plane and into space. Honniball watched its hydraulic counterweight move subtly and ceaselessly, compensating for turbulence.
SOFIA—the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy—is an airborne telescope facility funded jointly by NASA and the German Aerospace Center. Built into a converted 747, it flies at an altitude of between thirty-eight and forty-five thousand feet, putting it above Earth’s layer of water vapor, which might otherwise interfere with observations. Scientists apply for time on it—there are about four hundred hours available each year—by proposing experiments. Honniball’s first application was rejected. She reapplied, and the director of SOFIA agreed to give her some “director’s discretionary time” at the end of the overnight flight departing on August 29, 2018. She would have twenty minutes to search for water on the surface of the moon.
Using infrared telescopes, astronomers have searched for water on the lunar surface before, but the results have been ambiguous. The familiar sort of water that flows from a tap consists of molecules made of two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom: H 2 O. Light is emitted by H 2 O at a particular wavelength; spot the wavelength, and you’ve found water. And yet the moon, like every other place in the universe, is also covered in hydroxyls—highly reactive ions, each made of a hydrogen atom and an oxygen atom bonded together. You can’t make a pile of hydroxyl, or use it to fill a swimming pool. Unfortunately, to many infrared telescopes, the light emitted by a hydroxyl group—OH—looks indistinguishable from the light emitted by H 2 O. It’s possible for a specifically calibrated telescope to distinguish H 2 O from OH. But such a telescope wouldn’t work on Earth, because of water vapor in the atmosphere, and none of these instruments have yet been deployed in space. As a result, scientists observing the moon haven’t been able to tell for sure whether they’re observing H 2 O, hydroxyls, or both.
Honniball thought that SOFIA’s telescope, flying at an altitude of about eight and a half miles, might do the trick. As the telescope pointed at Clavius, a crater in the moon’s high southern latitudes, she watched the preliminary results stream in. SOFIA is usually aimed at distant supernovae and nebulae; Honniball’s lunar observations required different protocols and necessitated certain atmospheric-data corrections. She received the corrected data six months later. When she began processing it, she was on the phone with Paul Lucey, then her dissertation adviser at the University of Hawaii. “Oh, my God,” she said, when she realized what she was seeing. She screamed. “You’re not going to believe this! There it is. It’s so obvious!”
There are several avenues by which water might arrive on the lunar surface, but very few ways for it to persist there. Water could be delivered by micrometeorites—grains of space dust from comets, asteroids, and other celestial objects, which constantly slam into the lunar surface. It might also originate, in a manner of speaking, from the sun. In the nineteen-fifties, Eugene Parker, a physicist at the University of Chicago, hypothesized that the sun’s corona—the shimmering outer layer best seen during a total solar eclipse—was hot enough that its particles could billow out into space, in a phenomenon he termed solar wind. The Soviet Union’s Luna 1 spacecraft detected solar-wind particles the following year. The wind’s currents contain hydrogen; scientists theorized that, if that hydrogen landed on the moon, it might react with oxygen it encountered to form hydroxyls, or perhaps even water.
The moon is an extreme place, and any water that formed or arrived on its surface would live a brief, tumultuous life. A molecule of H 2 O has a hydrogen bond, a slight charge that causes it to behave differently in different environments. In extremely cold places on the lunar surface, hydrogen bonds might cause H 2 O molecules to stick to minerals. But if those minerals warmed up—for instance, during sunrise—then the water molecule would be kicked away, into space. Gravity on the moon is weak; a water molecule might fly a hundred kilometres before landing again. If it landed somewhere cold, it might stick until the temperature rose. If it landed somewhere warm, it might again bounce off the surface. A bouncing water molecule could get broken up by the sun’s ultraviolet light, and then swept away by the solar wind. Alternatively, it might find a resting spot.
Long before the Apollo program, scientists wondered if there were places on the moon where water molecules might be able to collect permanently. In 1961, researchers hypothesized that, because of the relative positions of the sun, the Earth, and the moon, the latter’s polar regions were ideal for this purpose. An astronaut spending a day at the moon’s north or south pole would see the sun revolve around the horizon, just at its edge. If she descended into a crater, however, she’d find the sun blocked entirely by its walls. No sunlight would illuminate the crater bottom, no matter the moon’s position in orbit. Researchers calculated the temperatures of those permanently shadowed regions and determined that, if water molecules landed in them, they could survive in perpetuity.
Scientists who study other planets are interested in volatiles—molecules that vaporize easily. “Water on the moon, whether it be in the equatorial region or at the poles, is telling us something about the evolution of volatiles in the solar system,” David Kring, a geologist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, in Houston, told me. But NASA’s interest in lunar water is not purely academic. In 2017, the agency announced the Artemis program, an initiative that aims to send robots and astronauts to the lunar south pole, and to establish a permanent moon base by the end of this decade. Ideally, such a base would become self-sufficient. Water can be consumed by the crew, Kring explained, and used to create oxygen for breathing; it can also be employed as a radiation shield and turned into propellant for rockets. Honniball’s research, published this week in Nature Astronomy, is the first definitive observation of molecular water on the sunlit lunar surface. “It was not known, before these observations, if any molecular water was present on the lunar surface,” Lucey, who is the second author on the paper, said. “It could all have been hydroxyl.”
How much water are we talking about? Current estimates for lunar water are on the order of several hundred parts per million. Imagine pouring a typical, half-litre bottle of water into a cubic metre of sand. Distributed, the water would be impossible to notice: according to Lucey, there is about a hundred times as much water in a cubic metre of dry sand from the Sahara Desert. In the best case, therefore, a workable water-harvesting effort on the moon would look less like a Mars rover and more like a major industrial refinery.
In her paper, Honniball, who is now a postdoctoral fellow at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Maryland, offers some hypotheses about exactly how the water is stored. It’s not lying around in easy-to-collect ice chunks. Instead, she and her colleagues believe it is trapped in glass beads formed by micrometeorite impacts. When balls of space dust collide with the moon, they usually vaporize, along with the lunar surface at the point of impact. But the directly adjacent material melts, cools, and forms glass. This fusion happens instantaneously, and anything that happens to be incorporated into the melt is imprisoned. The micrometeorite could itself contain water, which would be trapped; there could be water on the lunar surface already present at the point of impact; or the impact could cause a hydroxyl on the surface to fuse with other hydroxyls, forming water molecules. “It’s actually something that is happening right this minute,” Honniball said. “Micrometeorites are always hitting the moon, constantly generating this water and trapping it in the glasses.”
It’s unclear how widely distributed water is across the sunlit lunar surface. “We need more observations with SOFIA, looking at more locations on the moon, and at multiple phases,” Honniball said. She and her team have requested seventy-two more hours of observation time. If they get it, she said, “we’re going to map the near side of the moon, and examine how water is moving and how it’s stored.” NASA, meanwhile, can begin thinking about how refining water on the moon might work. Future lunar-spacecraft missions can investigate water abundance.
The dark splotches on the lunar surface are referred to as mare—a term taken from the Latin word for “sea.” Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed in the Sea of Tranquillity. When Mare Tranquillitatis was given its name, in 1651, it was not meant metaphorically. For millennia, astronomers considered the moon to be Earthlike, with land and oceans. The only real question was whether the dark or light areas were submerged. Plutarch, the Greek philosopher, considered the darker regions of the moon to be seas and oceans; Johannes Kepler, who between 1609 and 1619 published the laws of planetary motion, believed that the sun would reflect forcefully on the lunar seas, casting them in white. Galileo was cagier on the subject: he left readers to infer his belief that the seas were dark. Now Casey Honniball can add her observations to Kepler’s and Galileo’s. There is water in both the dark and light regions—just not in a form that her predecessors could have imagined.


newyorker--2020-10-26--Kendrick Lamar and the Mantle of Black Genius

Much like Kanye West before him , critics and fans view Lamar as an unparalleled virtuoso who pushes boundaries with each new project , his coronation to the pantheon of great contemporary artists not so much an “ if ” as a “ when.
” These accolades , obviously , aren ’ t without merit .
Lamar is a prodigiously gifted lyricist and performer who consistently makes bold aesthetic choices .
He deploys lacerating wordplay , nearly frantic in its motion yet piercing in its lucidity .
When his verbal skills combine with his fine-tuned hood morality , Lamar opens @ @ @ @ @ @ @ existence : what it ’ s like to navigate the territorial Compton streets with a sixth sense for trouble .
Both West and Lamar have been christened with the glow of Black genius , which the writer Jason Parham defined as “ an uncanny power to awaken our deepest and most sacred sentiments.
” The Roots drummer Questlove connects this genius to extraordinary insight into the everyday Black struggle : “ Anyone who is Black that started in meagre or so-so conditions that are not that of the privileged of the world—when they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it is guilt they feel .
Having survivor ’ s guilt .
And that is one thing that every Black genius wrestles with.
” For Lamar , survivor ’ s guilt came to a head in 2015 , in the form of “ To Pimp a Butterfly , ” where he grappled with celebrity and civic responsibility—the internal conflicts and the external pressures , the tension between materialism and spirituality .
It is an album that begins with a Wesley Snipes parable on the exploitation of the Black artist and ends with a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t even really rappin ’ , ” the late rapper says from beyond the grave , with his living heir apparent listening intently .
“ We just letting our dead homies tell stories for us.
” The intersection of Black genius and Black strife is the focus of a new book , “ The Butterfly Effect : How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America.
” The writer Marcus J. Moore places the rapper on the list of historic Black musicians who “ spoke to us and for us.
” “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see our full , beautiful selves , and they helped us remember that we weren ’ t second-class citizens , even when the world tried to render us invisible , ” Moore writes .
“ America can beat you down if you let it , but through Sly ’ s howl , Curtis ’ s falsetto , and D ’ Angelo ’ s hum , you felt the beauty and bleakness of black culture.
” Moore points to Black genius itself as an act of dissent .
“ Sometimes that ’ s what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ solely about picket signs and clever chants , it ’ s about the full breadth of the experience , about wading through the misery and finding light through it all.
” The beauty and bleakness of Black culture are on full display in Moore ’ s examination of Lamar ’ s musicianship .
The book ties his radical music and its incredible growth curve to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin , in 2012 , then a travelling apprenticeship with West during the “ Yeezus ” tour , in 2013 , and finally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ about Nelson Mandela , in 2014 .
Here , Lamar ’ s breakthrough is presented as a turning point for modern Black artistic expression , not just in America but in Africa as well , ushering in what Moore describes as the “ most fertile period of socially conscious black music ” since the nineteen-seventies .
Lamar—like Dave Chappelle and LeBron James before him—becomes a crossover star so transcendent that he embodies the American ideal of upward mobility .
Lamar ’ s career is still unfolding , thus making him difficult to evaluate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has conquered nearly every cultural sphere , and that success has made him somewhat impenetrable .
His peerless genius is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy .
There has been little need for criticism but little room for it either .
The white-hot reverence for his work can , occasionally , blot out valid grievances .
On the “ To Pimp a Butterfly ” closing track “ Mortal Man , ” his hero worship of Michael Jackson extends to the denial of abuse .
Subsequently , in 2018 , Lamar threatened to pull @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new policy punishing abusers like the late rapper XXXtentacion and the disgraced R. & B. icon R. Kelly .
Though Lamar has been praised for the ethics of leadership displayed in his work , he has remained silent throughout a summer of protests and riots .
Moore ’ s cultural history is less concerned with exploring the contradictions and complexities of Lamar ’ s life and career than with weighing its outsized impact .
The book pieces together the notoriously private rapper ’ s background—his N.B.A .
aspirations , his working-class roots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and , at five , his early exposure to gun violence—illustrating both the connective tissue of Black experience and how Lamar drew upon it to become a generational voice .
Here are just some of the threads used to make a case for Lamar ’ s significance : the white Seattle rapper Macklemore ’ s absurd rap Grammys sweep , in 2014 , the public outcry in response , and his subsequent public apology to Lamar ; Lamar ’ s controversial BET performance , in 2015 , and his war with conservative @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Lamar ’ s unforgettable Grammys return , in 2016 , when he performed in a blue jumpsuit along a chain gang .
In each case , Moore spells out what these events say about the politics of race in public space .
He identifies Lamar as the unlikely point of intersection between the Pulitzer Board and the Disney conglomerate—an artist capable of clearing the barrier to entry into highbrow culture and also radicalizing the music of a billion-dollar cat superhero franchise .
Principally , he points out how Lamar ’ s rise runs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Matter movement and counter to the rise of President Trump .
The trouble with chronicling genius is that , if not careful , the process can quickly veer into hagiography .
The most resonant chapters in Moore ’ s book are less focussed on kingmaking than on craft and coöperation : the “ lesser ” influences that spark inventiveness , such as the high-school English teacher , Regis Inge , who brought poetry into Lamar ’ s life and fostered his interest in creative writing , or the instrumentalist Terrace Martin , who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pianist Robert Glasper to the “ Butterfly ” sessions .
It is in these snapshots that we learn how talent only becomes genius when nurtured .
One passage illustrates how the indie-rap empire that Kendrick now fronts , Top Dawg Entertainment , is the byproduct of so many coincidences that its success begins to feel like destiny , when in fact it has also been made with hard work .
Top Dawg Entertainment became the support system that allowed Lamar to reach his creative peaks .
His artistry bloomed in combination with Martin @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sound was refined under the stewardship of the engineer Derek Ali .
His skills as a lyricist were sharpened by the competitive , albeit friendly , atmosphere of Black Hippy , the supergroup that formed in 2009 with Jay Rock , ScHoolBoy Q , and Ab-Soul .
The visual acumen displayed in his videos was heightened by his creative partnership with Dave Free , who co-directs with him in the Grammy-winning “ The Little Homies.
” And none of this would have been possible without Top Dawg himself ( a.k.a .
Anthony Tiffith @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , creating the space where Lamar grew into his personality .
“ This was boot camp and domination was the ultimate goal , ” Moore writes , and it ’ s as if running that gauntlet prepared Lamar for greatness .
In essence , this is the story of how Lamar became the kind of rapper who could make a paradigm-shifting album like “ To Pimp a Butterfly , ” and how “ To Pimp a Butterfly , ” in turn , pushed the pop landscape toward jazz and soul sounds and made @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in entertainment , for rule-breaking .
“ That record changed music , and we ’ re still seeing the effects of it .
It went beyond jazz ; it meant that intellectually stimulating music doesn ’ t have to be underground .
It can be mainstream , ” Washington told Pitchfork , in 2017 .
“ It just didn ’ t change the music .
It changed the audience.
” Moore ’ s enthusiasm for Kendrick ’ s work jumps off the page , and while that occasionally drifts into hyperbole and conjecture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ trace the music ’ s genealogy .
In so doing , the book explores how hip-hop culture is inextricably linked to the Black American experience .
An entire section is devoted to victims of police brutality , their stories , their cases , and the injustice of acquittal after acquittal for the cops involved .
The Wu-Tang Clan rapper Method Man , who grew up on Staten Island , speaks of the prohibited chokehold that killed Eric Garner in the borough , in 2014 , as if inherent to life there .
Another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was an aspiring rapper himself and a Lamar fan .
Though Kendrick ’ s controversial take on Brown ’ s death is somewhat glossed over , the book is constantly putting into context how the rapper ’ s art is a product of the same trauma and working in service to the Black communities that experienced that trauma .

Prestige has been chasing the Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar ever since he broke through in 2011—first, in hip-hop, when he was the protégé of Dr. Dre, and then, beyond. His major-label début, “good kid, m.A.A.d city,” was deemed an “instant masterpiece”; his most recent release, “D.A.M.N.,” an “instant classic.” He has been hailed as a “literary genius” and a visual one. His lyrics have been annotated by the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Michael Chabon, and he himself collected the Pulitzer Prize, in music, in 2018, becoming the first pop artist ever to do so.
Much like Kanye West before him, critics and fans view Lamar as an unparalleled virtuoso who pushes boundaries with each new project, his coronation to the pantheon of great contemporary artists not so much an “if” as a “when.” These accolades, obviously, aren’t without merit. Lamar is a prodigiously gifted lyricist and performer who consistently makes bold aesthetic choices. He deploys lacerating wordplay, nearly frantic in its motion yet piercing in its lucidity. When his verbal skills combine with his fine-tuned hood morality, Lamar opens a window onto an imperilled, alienating existence: what it’s like to navigate the territorial Compton streets with a sixth sense for trouble.
President Obama’s New Memoir Read an excerpt in this week’s issue.
Both West and Lamar have been christened with the glow of Black genius, which the writer Jason Parham defined as “an uncanny power to awaken our deepest and most sacred sentiments.” The Roots drummer Questlove connects this genius to extraordinary insight into the everyday Black struggle: “Anyone who is Black that started in meagre or so-so conditions that are not that of the privileged of the world—when they finally transform to a higher level, it is guilt they feel. Having survivor’s guilt. And that is one thing that every Black genius wrestles with.” For Lamar, survivor’s guilt came to a head in 2015, in the form of “To Pimp a Butterfly,” where he grappled with celebrity and civic responsibility—the internal conflicts and the external pressures, the tension between materialism and spirituality. It is an album that begins with a Wesley Snipes parable on the exploitation of the Black artist and ends with a phantom Tupac interview. “We ain’t even really rappin’,” the late rapper says from beyond the grave, with his living heir apparent listening intently. “We just letting our dead homies tell stories for us.”
The intersection of Black genius and Black strife is the focus of a new book, “The Butterfly Effect: How Kendrick Lamar Ignited the Soul of Black America.” The writer Marcus J. Moore places the rapper on the list of historic Black musicians who “spoke to us and for us.” “They created music in which we could see our full, beautiful selves, and they helped us remember that we weren’t second-class citizens, even when the world tried to render us invisible,” Moore writes. “America can beat you down if you let it, but through Sly’s howl, Curtis’s falsetto, and D’Angelo’s hum, you felt the beauty and bleakness of black culture.” Moore points to Black genius itself as an act of dissent. “Sometimes that’s what protest is. It isn’t solely about picket signs and clever chants, it’s about the full breadth of the experience, about wading through the misery and finding light through it all.”
The beauty and bleakness of Black culture are on full display in Moore’s examination of Lamar’s musicianship. The book ties his radical music and its incredible growth curve to the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, in 2012, then a travelling apprenticeship with West during the “Yeezus” tour, in 2013, and finally a trip to South Africa to learn about Nelson Mandela, in 2014. Here, Lamar’s breakthrough is presented as a turning point for modern Black artistic expression, not just in America but in Africa as well, ushering in what Moore describes as the “most fertile period of socially conscious black music” since the nineteen-seventies. Lamar—like Dave Chappelle and LeBron James before him—becomes a crossover star so transcendent that he embodies the American ideal of upward mobility.
Lamar’s career is still unfolding, thus making him difficult to evaluate and scrutinize. At thirty-three, he has conquered nearly every cultural sphere, and that success has made him somewhat impenetrable. His peerless genius is a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. There has been little need for criticism but little room for it either. The white-hot reverence for his work can, occasionally, blot out valid grievances. On the “To Pimp a Butterfly” closing track “Mortal Man,” his hero worship of Michael Jackson extends to the denial of abuse. Subsequently, in 2018, Lamar threatened to pull his music from Spotify in response to a new policy punishing abusers like the late rapper XXXtentacion and the disgraced R. & B. icon R. Kelly. Though Lamar has been praised for the ethics of leadership displayed in his work, he has remained silent throughout a summer of protests and riots.
Moore’s cultural history is less concerned with exploring the contradictions and complexities of Lamar’s life and career than with weighing its outsized impact. The book pieces together the notoriously private rapper’s background—his N.B.A. aspirations, his working-class roots, his experience of the L.A. riots, and, at five, his early exposure to gun violence—illustrating both the connective tissue of Black experience and how Lamar drew upon it to become a generational voice. Here are just some of the threads used to make a case for Lamar’s significance: the white Seattle rapper Macklemore’s absurd rap Grammys sweep, in 2014, the public outcry in response, and his subsequent public apology to Lamar; Lamar’s controversial BET performance, in 2015, and his war with conservative commentators such as Geraldo Rivera; and Lamar’s unforgettable Grammys return, in 2016, when he performed in a blue jumpsuit along a chain gang. In each case, Moore spells out what these events say about the politics of race in public space. He identifies Lamar as the unlikely point of intersection between the Pulitzer Board and the Disney conglomerate—an artist capable of clearing the barrier to entry into highbrow culture and also radicalizing the music of a billion-dollar cat superhero franchise. Principally, he points out how Lamar’s rise runs parallel with that of the Black Lives Matter movement and counter to the rise of President Trump.
The trouble with chronicling genius is that, if not careful, the process can quickly veer into hagiography. The most resonant chapters in Moore’s book are less focussed on kingmaking than on craft and coöperation: the “lesser” influences that spark inventiveness, such as the high-school English teacher, Regis Inge, who brought poetry into Lamar’s life and fostered his interest in creative writing, or the instrumentalist Terrace Martin, who introduced the saxophonist Kamasi Washington and the pianist Robert Glasper to the “Butterfly” sessions. It is in these snapshots that we learn how talent only becomes genius when nurtured. One passage illustrates how the indie-rap empire that Kendrick now fronts, Top Dawg Entertainment, is the byproduct of so many coincidences that its success begins to feel like destiny, when in fact it has also been made with hard work.
Top Dawg Entertainment became the support system that allowed Lamar to reach his creative peaks. His artistry bloomed in combination with Martin and the producer Sounwave, and his sound was refined under the stewardship of the engineer Derek Ali. His skills as a lyricist were sharpened by the competitive, albeit friendly, atmosphere of Black Hippy, the supergroup that formed in 2009 with Jay Rock, ScHoolBoy Q, and Ab-Soul. The visual acumen displayed in his videos was heightened by his creative partnership with Dave Free, who co-directs with him in the Grammy-winning “The Little Homies.” And none of this would have been possible without Top Dawg himself (a.k.a. Anthony Tiffith), who provided structure and oversight, creating the space where Lamar grew into his personality. “This was boot camp and domination was the ultimate goal,” Moore writes, and it’s as if running that gauntlet prepared Lamar for greatness.


newyorker--2020-10-26--Daily Cartoon: Monday, October 26th

Daily Cartoon: Monday, October 26th

© 2020 Condé Nast .
All rights reserved .
Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement ( @ @ @ @ @ Policy and Cookie Statement ( updated 1/1/20 ) and Your California Privacy Rights .
may @ @ @ @ @ from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with @ @ @ @ @ this site may not be reproduced , distributed , transmitted , cached or otherwise used @ @ @ @ @ written permission of Condé Nast .
Ad Choices

“And that’s when they realized that Halloween, much like the rest of 2020, would be all trick and no treat.”


newyorker--2020-10-26--White House Quarantines Mark Meadows After He Tests Positive for Honesty

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —The White House has quarantined Mark Meadows after the chief of staff tested positive @ @ @ @ @ an abundance of caution , Meadows will be secluded in a locked room in the @ @ @ @ @ 3rd .
As part of his quarantine , Meadows will be socially distanced from microphones @ @ @ @ @ and all other recording and transmitting devices .
A White House source said that other @ @ @ @ @ by the news that Meadows had been infected by honesty .
“ This is why @ @ @ @ @ to journalists , ” the source said .
“ Mark probably caught it from one @ @ @ @ @ members of the Administration have yet to be tested for honesty , an official White @ @ @ @ @ American people should “ rest assured ” that Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence are @ @ @

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The White House has quarantined Mark Meadows after the chief of staff tested positive for honesty.
Out of an abundance of caution, Meadows will be secluded in a locked room in the White House sub-basement through November 3rd.
As part of his quarantine, Meadows will be socially distanced from microphones, cameras, phones, and all other recording and transmitting devices.
A White House source said that other staffers were “shaken” by the news that Meadows had been infected by honesty.
“This is why you shouldn’t talk to journalists,” the source said. “Mark probably caught it from one of them.”
Although other members of the Administration have yet to be tested for honesty, an official White House statement said that the American people should “rest assured” that Donald J. Trump and Mike Pence are totally asymptomatic.


newyorker--2020-10-27--Never Meet Your Heroes

Never Meet Your Heroes

When I found myself face to face with my favorite actor , he ripped my autograph book in half with ease .
I don ’ t remember much after that , but I can tell you firsthand that his hair and teeth are real .
And , I will say , it was pretty cool when he let out the trademark roar that ’ s filled theatres for decades—almost made getting mauled by the M‑G‑M lion worth it .
Almost .
I ’ ll never forget the night I ran into an artist whom I still consider a genius , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her studio , which I invited myself into .
Now , I ’ m not an art historian or anything , but , as far as I ’ m concerned , you won ’ t find a better painting than that famous one with the banana on it .
I don ’ t know what it ’ s called .
“ Banana Painting , ” maybe ?
You may have seen it on the news .
Anyway , when I witnessed that gorilla putting her God-given talent to use , up close and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of GoGo ’ s cage .
Then froze again when the spotlight was turned on me .
It was around this time that I stopped sneaking into zoos at night , but that didn ’ t make the celebrity encounters any better .
I looked up to the F.D.N.Y.
, and they burned my house down .
I asked Michael Jordan for a selfie , and he punched me in the face before vigorously washing his hands .
I humiliated both myself and President Barack Obama when he refused to kiss me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t a baby .
Yep , all of my heroes have let me down , even when I tried to manage my expectations .
You can spend hours in line thinking about how things likely won ’ t go the way you want them to go when you finally get your book signed , but that won ’ t prepare you for your favorite author writing a message dedicated to someone who isn ’ t you inside the hardcover you shelled out decent dough for , despite the fact that it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bookshelf next to your “ Family Guy ” DVDs .
I can understand confusing “ Alex ” with “ Alec , ” but “ Alex ” with “ Dorothy ” ?
That ’ s my aunt ’ s name .
I ended up giving her my signed copy , but only after I ripped out the page with “ Your nephew sucks ” on it .
I suppose I should be happy that the Long Island Medium really is a psychic , but let ’ s just say that I ’ m borrowing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ You probably won ’ t believe me , but I promise I ’ m not trying to brag when I tell you that I begged Ringo Starr for his drumstick and he threw his drum set at me .
Just when I thought it couldn ’ t get any worse , it did .
On what should have been the greatest day of my life , the day I finally conquered the Meatball Parmasaurus Challenge and was supposed to get my photo taken , for the Wall of Fame , shaking hands with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mustache you ’ ll find emblazoned on every box—he was clean shaven .
At the lowest of the low , I found God .
I said prayers , built shrines , and looked for Him in every single piece of burnt Wonder bread that came out of my toaster , but , when we met outside those pearly gates , She told me to go to Hell .
I don ’ t know what it is , but I always seem to bring out the worst in people .
Maybe it ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Or maybe it ’ s the horrible things that I say .
If you pulled a Taser on me and asked me why , I ’ d probably tell you that it ’ s because I care too deeply , before I stomped on your toes and made a break for it .
As it turns out , the netherworld isn ’ t so bad .
It ’ s so , so , so bad .
The Devil is exactly as evil as he is on TV , but way shorter than I @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regret having told him .
Now , in addition to poking me with his stick , he ’ s reading over my shoulder while I write this .
Ow !

They say “Never meet your heroes,” and I can tell you from experience that it’s good advice. I’ve met all of my idols, and I’ve been disappointed by every single one.
When I found myself face to face with my favorite actor, he ripped my autograph book in half with ease. I don’t remember much after that, but I can tell you firsthand that his hair and teeth are real. And, I will say, it was pretty cool when he let out the trademark roar that’s filled theatres for decades—almost made getting mauled by the M‑G‑M lion worth it. Almost.
I’ll never forget the night I ran into an artist whom I still consider a genius, even though she threw me out of her studio, which I invited myself into. Now, I’m not an art historian or anything, but, as far as I’m concerned, you won’t find a better painting than that famous one with the banana on it. I don’t know what it’s called. “Banana Painting,” maybe? You may have seen it on the news. Anyway, when I witnessed that gorilla putting her God-given talent to use, up close and personal, I froze. Then flew out of GoGo’s cage. Then froze again when the spotlight was turned on me.
It was around this time that I stopped sneaking into zoos at night, but that didn’t make the celebrity encounters any better.
I looked up to the F.D.N.Y., and they burned my house down.
I asked Michael Jordan for a selfie, and he punched me in the face before vigorously washing his hands.
I humiliated both myself and President Barack Obama when he refused to kiss me on the forehead because I wasn’t a baby.
Yep, all of my heroes have let me down, even when I tried to manage my expectations. You can spend hours in line thinking about how things likely won’t go the way you want them to go when you finally get your book signed, but that won’t prepare you for your favorite author writing a message dedicated to someone who isn’t you inside the hardcover you shelled out decent dough for, despite the fact that it’s only going to collect dust on your bookshelf next to your “Family Guy” DVDs. I can understand confusing “Alex” with “Alec,” but “Alex” with “Dorothy”? That’s my aunt’s name. I ended up giving her my signed copy, but only after I ripped out the page with “Your nephew sucks” on it. I suppose I should be happy that the Long Island Medium really is a psychic, but let’s just say that I’m borrowing her next book from the library.
You probably won’t believe me, but I promise I’m not trying to brag when I tell you that I begged Ringo Starr for his drumstick and he threw his drum set at me.
Also, I saw Gallagher gardening.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it did. On what should have been the greatest day of my life, the day I finally conquered the Meatball Parmasaurus Challenge and was supposed to get my photo taken, for the Wall of Fame, shaking hands with its creator, Fuzzy Fabrizio, whose mustache you’ll find emblazoned on every box—he was clean shaven.
At the lowest of the low, I found God. I said prayers, built shrines, and looked for Him in every single piece of burnt Wonder bread that came out of my toaster, but, when we met outside those pearly gates, She told me to go to Hell.
I don’t know what it is, but I always seem to bring out the worst in people. Maybe it’s the terrible things that I do. Or maybe it’s the horrible things that I say. If you pulled a Taser on me and asked me why, I’d probably tell you that it’s because I care too deeply, before I stomped on your toes and made a break for it.
As it turns out, the netherworld isn’t so bad. It’s so, so, so bad. The Devil is exactly as evil as he is on TV, but way shorter than I thought he’d be—which I really regret having told him. Now, in addition to poking me with his stick, he’s reading over my shoulder while I write this. Ow!


newyorker--2020-10-27--The “Borat” Sequel Is a Parable of Russian Interference in American Politics

Sacha Baron Cohen reprises his role as a journalist from a fictional country that happens to share a name with Kazakhstan .
As in the first “ Borat ” mockumentary , which was released in 2006 , he gets unsuspecting and almost unsuspecting Americans to explain or expose the customs of the country he calls “ U.S .
and A.
” The United States is a darker place now than it was fourteen years ago , and the cultural standards that Borat explores this time around are terrifying .
Perusing the animal cages at a farm-supply store , Borat enthuses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he cage Mexican children !
” and high-fives the store owner .
Together , they pick out a cage for Borat ’ s fifteen-year-old daughter , Tutar ( played by the Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova ) .
Later , a propane tank catches Borat ’ s eye .
“ How many Gypsies could I finish with one cannister ?
” he inquires .
“ However many you had in the van , ” the farm-supply guy replies .
“ Let ’ s say I wanted to finish lives of twenty Gypsy—would this be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Maybe the bigger one , ” the farm-supply guy advises .
The premise , such as it is : Borat has been dispatched to the U.S. and A. to deliver a present to Vice-President Mike Pence , on behalf of the leader of Kazakhstan .
At a mailing center , a middle-aged , white male employee facilitates Borat ’ s negotiations with the imaginary government back home , which are conducted solely by fax .
Taking dictation from Borat and reading the responses back to him , the employee is privy to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fails in his quest and to a back-and-forth in which Borat and his interlocutor settle on the right gift for Pence : Tutar .
The guy doesn ’ t bat an eye .
At a crisis pregnancy center , Borat and Tutar lead a pastor to believe that Borat has got his daughter pregnant .
The pastor is visibly uncomfortable with this knowledge , but still argues against an abortion : “ It really doesn ’ t really matter how we got to this moment .
.
.
.
God is the one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t make accidents.
” A plastic surgeon , on the other hand , is willing to cut into Tutar to correct her nose and enlarge her breasts in order to make her more desirable to men , though he reassures her that she does not appear to have what Borat and Tutar call a “ Jew nose.
” When Borat spends five days of quarantine living in a cabin with two QAnon followers , Jim and Jerry , they tell him that the Clintons “ make this plague ” ( in Borat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , drink the blood of children , drawn directly from “ their adrenal glands , ” which Jim seems to believe are situated somewhere in the neck .
But when Borat shows Jim and Jerry an instructional manual for the parents of girls issued by Kazakhstan ’ s Ministry of Agriculture and Wildlife—specifically a page in which doctors are shown penetrating a woman in labor , and another in which a male baby walks at birth—Jim and Jerry break the news to Borat that his government has deceived him .
“ It ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a conspiracy theory , ” Jim says .
The movie layers conspiracies and conspiracy theories deliciously .
The perfect totalitarian subject , Borat is ever ready to believe anything and nothing .
Did a monkey , shipped from Kazakhstan , eat itself ?
Did the Holocaust ever happen ?
( Tutar tells him it ’ s a hoax not long after she discovers Facebook . )
Does the coronavirus exist ?
( Borat writes a song with Jim and Jerry which declares the virus a liberal fiction . )
And , of course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a conspiracy of his own , of sorts : he must deliver “ Sexy Gift to Rudy Giuliani in Last-Ditch Attempt to Save Borat from Execution and Make Benefit Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan.
” Kazakhstan ’ s leader , Premier Nazarbayev ( played by the Romanian actor Dani Popescu , who bears no resemblance to the actual Nursultan Nazarbayev , who ruled the real Kazakhstan for twenty-eight years ) , works out of a dusty dungeon in a dilapidated Presidential palace in Almaty , and wants to join the glorious community of strongmen @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Vladimir Putin , Jair Bolsonaro , Kim Jong Un , and “ Kenneth West.
” Naturally , Nazarbayev wants to ingratiate himself with a gift .
Like the real-life characters of Robert Mueller ’ s investigation , Borat and Tutar have no clear political agenda and no great strategic plan , only a deeply provincial sense of wanting to touch power .
Borat has little to offer : a monkey that meets an early demise , a bag of cash , and a young woman .
He is a hustler who will promise @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evokes the Moscow lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and her motley crew of entrepreneurs ; it was Veselnitskaya who secured the famous 2016 meeting in Trump Tower during which she had been said to be able to offer up dirt on Hillary Clinton—dirt she didn ’ t appear to be able to provide .
He evokes Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman , the two Soviet-born businessmen who helped Giuliani do whatever he was trying to do in Ukraine , or who were hoping that Giuliani would help them do whatever they were doing in Ukraine @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of them knew what they were doing other than trying to take advantage of the others .
Like Parnas and Fruman , Borat and Tutar find Giuliani to be an easy mark .
More than anyone else in the Trump-Russia orbit , Tutar evokes Maria Butina , the Russian who went to prison for insinuating herself into the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast .
Butina was never accused of espionage , and doesn ’ t appear to have been anything but a believer in some of America ’ s most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , she is a spy .
Like Butina as we imagine her , Tutar sidles up to older men who find her irresistible in order to make benefit her diminished nation .
She appears to gain access to Giuliani by introducing herself as a journalist from a conservative news outlet called “ Patriots Report.
” She arrives for the interview in the costume and coiffure of a Fox News bot ; she flatters Giuliani and touches his knee repeatedly , and he melts .
Like the Russians from the Mueller investigation , Borat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
“ Now we are part of the global community , influencing elections around the world , ” Borat narrates offscreen , as the camera cuts to show a giant hangar filled with women wearing Russian-style kerchiefs seated at desktop computers .
A young girl is typing a Facebook post : “ Speaking as a black man , I love Trump.
” The path to global greatness is paved by troll farms .
But where there is one conspiracy , another , greater one is always lurking—like the credits and intertitles of this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Russian Cyrillic ( not Kazakh ) , only to be obscured by English .
At the end , Borat learns that his secret mission was , in fact , an entirely different secret mission .
Of course it was .

As you’ve heard, Rudy Giuliani disgraces himself at the end of “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” The rest of the movie is funny, cringeworthy, ultimately delightful, a brilliant and layered exploration of the banality of evil, and a parable of Russian interference in U.S. politics. (Many spoilers lie ahead.)
Sacha Baron Cohen reprises his role as a journalist from a fictional country that happens to share a name with Kazakhstan. As in the first “Borat” mockumentary, which was released in 2006, he gets unsuspecting and almost unsuspecting Americans to explain or expose the customs of the country he calls “U.S. and A.” The United States is a darker place now than it was fourteen years ago, and the cultural standards that Borat explores this time around are terrifying. Perusing the animal cages at a farm-supply store, Borat enthuses, “I hear McDonald Trump, he cage Mexican children!” and high-fives the store owner. Together, they pick out a cage for Borat’s fifteen-year-old daughter, Tutar (played by the Bulgarian actress Maria Bakalova). Later, a propane tank catches Borat’s eye. “How many Gypsies could I finish with one cannister?” he inquires. “However many you had in the van,” the farm-supply guy replies. “Let’s say I wanted to finish lives of twenty Gypsy—would this be enough?” Borat asks. “Maybe the bigger one,” the farm-supply guy advises.
The premise, such as it is: Borat has been dispatched to the U.S. and A. to deliver a present to Vice-President Mike Pence, on behalf of the leader of Kazakhstan. At a mailing center, a middle-aged, white male employee facilitates Borat’s negotiations with the imaginary government back home, which are conducted solely by fax. Taking dictation from Borat and reading the responses back to him, the employee is privy to the fact that execution awaits Borat if he fails in his quest and to a back-and-forth in which Borat and his interlocutor settle on the right gift for Pence: Tutar. The guy doesn’t bat an eye. At a crisis pregnancy center, Borat and Tutar lead a pastor to believe that Borat has got his daughter pregnant. The pastor is visibly uncomfortable with this knowledge, but still argues against an abortion: “It really doesn’t really matter how we got to this moment. . . . God is the one who creates life, and God doesn’t make accidents.” A plastic surgeon, on the other hand, is willing to cut into Tutar to correct her nose and enlarge her breasts in order to make her more desirable to men, though he reassures her that she does not appear to have what Borat and Tutar call a “Jew nose.”
When Borat spends five days of quarantine living in a cabin with two QAnon followers, Jim and Jerry, they tell him that the Clintons “make this plague” (in Borat’s words) and, reportedly, drink the blood of children, drawn directly from “their adrenal glands,” which Jim seems to believe are situated somewhere in the neck. But when Borat shows Jim and Jerry an instructional manual for the parents of girls issued by Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture and Wildlife—specifically a page in which doctors are shown penetrating a woman in labor, and another in which a male baby walks at birth—Jim and Jerry break the news to Borat that his government has deceived him. “It’s a lie. It’s a conspiracy theory,” Jim says.
The movie layers conspiracies and conspiracy theories deliciously. The perfect totalitarian subject, Borat is ever ready to believe anything and nothing. Did a monkey, shipped from Kazakhstan, eat itself? Did the Holocaust ever happen? (Tutar tells him it’s a hoax not long after she discovers Facebook.) Does the coronavirus exist? (Borat writes a song with Jim and Jerry which declares the virus a liberal fiction.) And, of course, Borat is attempting to carry out a conspiracy of his own, of sorts: he must deliver “Sexy Gift to Rudy Giuliani in Last-Ditch Attempt to Save Borat from Execution and Make Benefit Diminished Nation of Kazakhstan.” Kazakhstan’s leader, Premier Nazarbayev (played by the Romanian actor Dani Popescu, who bears no resemblance to the actual Nursultan Nazarbayev, who ruled the real Kazakhstan for twenty-eight years), works out of a dusty dungeon in a dilapidated Presidential palace in Almaty, and wants to join the glorious community of strongmen who are chummy with McDonald Trump, Vladimir Putin, Jair Bolsonaro, Kim Jong Un, and “Kenneth West.” Naturally, Nazarbayev wants to ingratiate himself with a gift.
Like the real-life characters of Robert Mueller’s investigation, Borat and Tutar have no clear political agenda and no great strategic plan, only a deeply provincial sense of wanting to touch power. Borat has little to offer: a monkey that meets an early demise, a bag of cash, and a young woman. He is a hustler who will promise anything. In his quest, he evokes the Moscow lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya and her motley crew of entrepreneurs; it was Veselnitskaya who secured the famous 2016 meeting in Trump Tower during which she had been said to be able to offer up dirt on Hillary Clinton—dirt she didn’t appear to be able to provide. He evokes Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, the two Soviet-born businessmen who helped Giuliani do whatever he was trying to do in Ukraine, or who were hoping that Giuliani would help them do whatever they were doing in Ukraine, or both, provided that any of them knew what they were doing other than trying to take advantage of the others. Like Parnas and Fruman, Borat and Tutar find Giuliani to be an easy mark.
More than anyone else in the Trump-Russia orbit, Tutar evokes Maria Butina, the Russian who went to prison for insinuating herself into the National Rifle Association and the National Prayer Breakfast. Butina was never accused of espionage, and doesn’t appear to have been anything but a believer in some of America’s most conservative ideas—but, in the American imagination, she is a spy. Like Butina as we imagine her, Tutar sidles up to older men who find her irresistible in order to make benefit her diminished nation. She appears to gain access to Giuliani by introducing herself as a journalist from a conservative news outlet called “Patriots Report.” She arrives for the interview in the costume and coiffure of a Fox News bot; she flatters Giuliani and touches his knee repeatedly, and he melts.
Like the Russians from the Mueller investigation, Borat and Tutar succeed even as they fail. “Now we are part of the global community, influencing elections around the world,” Borat narrates offscreen, as the camera cuts to show a giant hangar filled with women wearing Russian-style kerchiefs seated at desktop computers. A young girl is typing a Facebook post: “Speaking as a black man, I love Trump.” The path to global greatness is paved by troll farms. But where there is one conspiracy, another, greater one is always lurking—like the credits and intertitles of this moviefilm, which flash for a moment in Russian Cyrillic (not Kazakh), only to be obscured by English. At the end, Borat learns that his secret mission was, in fact, an entirely different secret mission. Of course it was.


newyorker--2020-10-27--Curtis Sittenfeld Reads “A for Alone”

Curtis Sittenfeld Reads “A for Alone”

Curtis Sittenfeld reads her story from the November 2 , 2020 , issue of the magazine .
Sittenfeld is the @ @ @ @ @ , “ You Think It , I ’ ll Say It , ” and six @ @ @ @ @ , ” “ Eligible , ” and “ Rodham , ” which came out earlier @ @ @

Photograph by Jenn Ackerman / NYT / Redux
Curtis Sittenfeld reads her story from the November 2, 2020, issue of the magazine. Sittenfeld is the author of one short-story collection, “You Think It, I’ll Say It,” and six novels, including “Prep,” “Eligible,” and “Rodham,” which came out earlier this year.


newyorker--2020-10-27--Waiting for the Help That Was Promised in Eastern Kentucky

In July , the Jayneses gave up on returning to their previous home .
Robin had a nephew in Paintsville , who told her that the family could come stay in his trailer for a while , so they moved back to town , living in the trailer as they applied for low-income housing .
They were placed at the top of the list because of Tim ’ s status as a veteran , and a two-bedroom apartment in Paintsville quickly became available .
It was a privately owned unit and needed a number of repairs before it would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ move in on September 15th ; rent would be just a hundred and five dollars a month .
But , before moving in , they would have to pay half a month ’ s rent and a utility-bill deposit , which they didn ’ t have .
Robin kept calling the unemployment office to check on her claim .
“ Getting through to unemployment is like pulling eyeteeth without Novocain , ” she said .
She was placed in a queue and received robocalls once a week , after work hours , which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a wait list .
More than seventy-five thousand people in Kentucky are in the same boat as Robin and Tim , waiting for unemployment claims to be resolved .
The governor ’ s office pointed me to a statement from its general counsel , Amy Cubbage , to the effect that about eighty per cent of payable claims have been paid—roughly the same proportion as before the pandemic .
But far more people have filed claims this year than is typical .
( The Kentucky government has spent millions , since June , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up on the backlog . )
Sometimes Robin thought about returning to work ; she knew she could get her job back at the dollar store , or at a gas station on Euclid Avenue .
But she didn ’ t want to risk her family ’ s health .
Cubbage , in her statement , noted that any mistake on an application for unemployment required a “ fact-finding ” investigation that could slow the process down .
One of the things that the government has been investigating is whether people who left @ @ @ @ @ @ @ virus did so on explicit orders from their doctors .
It had not been clear to many Kentuckians that this would be necessary—the reference to “ self-quarantine ” at the governor ’ s press conference , in March , seemed to imply that this was a decision they could make on their own .
Some people who applied with that understanding received benefits , only to be asked later to pay back thousands of dollars because their claims had been deemed invalid retroactively .
Beshear has said that he was simply following the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which , at the beginning of the pandemic , informed states that people who left the workforce to avoid contracting the virus could be covered , but subsequently backtracked .
In a statement provided to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting , the governor ’ s office said that Beshear “ disagrees with the federal government and believes that individuals can and should qualify on this basis , but Kentucky ’ s unemployment insurance office is obligated to follow federal law.
” Timmy found it difficult to sleep in his cousins ’ trailer @ @ @ @ @ @ @ noise of his cousins and parents talking and arguing and worrying .
Like both of his parents , he suffers from anxiety , and he sees a counsellor every week .
His father takes anti-anxiety medication ; Robin ’ s nails are often picked down to the nub .
As the weeks stretched on , Tim ’ s tremors got worse , and sometimes his feet and ankles swelled so badly that he could barely stand .
“ Even to help with her cleaning the apartment , helping make the meals of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was a challenge , he told me , referring to Robin .
“ I can ’ t stand long enough to actually do a lot about it.
” One day in August , he woke up at about four in the morning and walked into the kitchen to get a soda .
His head was pounding and his breathing became short ; his heart felt like it would beat out of his chest .
He told Robin that he thought he was having a heart attack .
They went to the hospital , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and kept him for a couple of days .
“ Everyone says to calm down , the stress will hurt your heart .
It ’ s easier said than done , ” Tim told me .
“ I can ’ t help worrying about a lot of stuff .
Where are we going to live ?
I ’ m not sure we ’ ll have enough food .
I worry about my youngest son .
I just wanted to make sure we had a place for my family , what you might call @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little extra income could really help .
”

In July, the Jayneses gave up on returning to their previous home. Robin had a nephew in Paintsville, who told her that the family could come stay in his trailer for a while, so they moved back to town, living in the trailer as they applied for low-income housing. They were placed at the top of the list because of Tim’s status as a veteran, and a two-bedroom apartment in Paintsville quickly became available. It was a privately owned unit and needed a number of repairs before it would be up to code. The Jayneses could move in on September 15th; rent would be just a hundred and five dollars a month. But, before moving in, they would have to pay half a month’s rent and a utility-bill deposit, which they didn’t have.
Robin kept calling the unemployment office to check on her claim. “Getting through to unemployment is like pulling eyeteeth without Novocain,” she said. She was placed in a queue and received robocalls once a week, after work hours, which asked her to confirm her placement on a wait list. More than seventy-five thousand people in Kentucky are in the same boat as Robin and Tim, waiting for unemployment claims to be resolved. The governor’s office pointed me to a statement from its general counsel, Amy Cubbage, to the effect that about eighty per cent of payable claims have been paid—roughly the same proportion as before the pandemic. But far more people have filed claims this year than is typical. (The Kentucky government has spent millions, since June, partnering with Ernst & Young to catch up on the backlog.) Sometimes Robin thought about returning to work; she knew she could get her job back at the dollar store, or at a gas station on Euclid Avenue. But she didn’t want to risk her family’s health.
Cubbage, in her statement, noted that any mistake on an application for unemployment required a “fact-finding” investigation that could slow the process down. One of the things that the government has been investigating is whether people who left work out of fear of contracting the virus did so on explicit orders from their doctors. It had not been clear to many Kentuckians that this would be necessary—the reference to “self-quarantine” at the governor’s press conference, in March, seemed to imply that this was a decision they could make on their own. Some people who applied with that understanding received benefits, only to be asked later to pay back thousands of dollars because their claims had been deemed invalid retroactively. Beshear has said that he was simply following the guidelines provided by the federal government, which, at the beginning of the pandemic, informed states that people who left the workforce to avoid contracting the virus could be covered, but subsequently backtracked. In a statement provided to the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the governor’s office said that Beshear “disagrees with the federal government and believes that individuals can and should qualify on this basis, but Kentucky’s unemployment insurance office is obligated to follow federal law.”
Timmy found it difficult to sleep in his cousins’ trailer, which was often filled with the noise of his cousins and parents talking and arguing and worrying. Like both of his parents, he suffers from anxiety, and he sees a counsellor every week. His father takes anti-anxiety medication; Robin’s nails are often picked down to the nub. As the weeks stretched on, Tim’s tremors got worse, and sometimes his feet and ankles swelled so badly that he could barely stand. “Even to help with her cleaning the apartment, helping make the meals of the day, and stuff like that” was a challenge, he told me, referring to Robin. “I can’t stand long enough to actually do a lot about it.”
One day in August, he woke up at about four in the morning and walked into the kitchen to get a soda. His head was pounding and his breathing became short; his heart felt like it would beat out of his chest. He told Robin that he thought he was having a heart attack. They went to the hospital, where the doctors said he was right and kept him for a couple of days. “Everyone says to calm down, the stress will hurt your heart. It’s easier said than done,” Tim told me. “I can’t help worrying about a lot of stuff. Where are we going to live? I’m not sure we’ll have enough food. I worry about my youngest son. I just wanted to make sure we had a place for my family, what you might call home.” He added, “A little extra income could really help.”


newyorker--2020-10-27--Kavanaugh Supports Cutoff For Vote-Counting But Not for Drinking

WASHINGTON ( The Borowitz Report ) —In an opinion that sparked controversy in legal circles , Brett Kavanaugh wrote that @ @ @ @ @ for vote-counting but not for drinking .
The Supreme Court Justice wrote that , while @ @ @ @ @ Election Night should not be counted , drink orders placed after closing time at a @ @ @ @ @ .
“ While the Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote , it clearly @ @ @ @ @ , ” Kavanaugh wrote .
“ If a patron is seated at a bar at @ @ @ @ @ allowed to continue for hours , if not days , until drinking has been completed.
@ @ @ @ @ is “ no scenario in which it would be right to cut a drinker off.
@ @ @ @ @ example , a drinker is at a bar after a UB40 concert and some other @ @ @ @ @ and the dude—the first one—starts punching the other dudes , cutting off that dude would @ @ @ @ @ wrote , adding , “ UB40 is the best band evahhhh !
”

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—In an opinion that sparked controversy in legal circles, Brett Kavanaugh wrote that there should be a cutoff for vote-counting but not for drinking.
The Supreme Court Justice wrote that, while ballots received after midnight on Election Night should not be counted, drink orders placed after closing time at a bar should always be honored.
“While the Constitution does not guarantee the right to vote, it clearly enshrines the right to drink,” Kavanaugh wrote. “If a patron is seated at a bar at midnight, drinking should be allowed to continue for hours, if not days, until drinking has been completed.”
Kavanaugh added that there is “no scenario in which it would be right to cut a drinker off.”
“If, for example, a drinker is at a bar after a UB40 concert and some other dudes start dissing UB40, and the dude—the first one—starts punching the other dudes, cutting off that dude would be bogus,” he wrote, adding, “UB40 is the best band evahhhh!”


newyorker--2020-10-27--The Unsettling Anti-Entertainment of “A World of Calm”

In the streaming era , television has become increasingly split into categories that serve specific moods or contexts .
Looking for a jolt of adrenaline ?
Try “ Tehran , ” a geopolitical spy thriller about the Iran-Israel conflict , from the head writer of “ Fauda.
” Want to be entertained yet slightly exasperated ?
Watch “ Emily in Paris , ” the endlessly riffable Netflix series about a young American who accidentally becomes an influencer in France .
If you need to be cocooned in nostalgia—and slightly repulsed by adolescence—there ’ s the middle-school comedy “ Pen15 , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ two-thousands .
And , for anyone looking to escape the news cycle , there ’ s the burgeoning genre of apolitical , ahistorical comfort television , exemplified by “ The Great British Baking Show ” and “ The Great Pottery Throw Down.
” A new show , HBO Max ’ s “ A World of Calm , ” takes this last category to an extreme .
The show is an outgrowth of the meditation app Calm , which is trying to adapt its vast library of audio material for TV .
The series @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t just service a viewer ’ s mood or desire ; it seeks to induce a new state of mind—namely , a deep state of relaxation , or even a good , long nap .
The first episode whisks us to the coral reefs of Indonesia ’ s Raja Ampat archipelago .
Narrated by the actress Lucy Liu—whose voice , in this context , becomes so gentle and measured as to be unrecognizable—the episode zooms in , in ultra-high definition , on the details of the archipelago ’ s exotic , flourishing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to absorb the animals and vegetation with shock and delight , as with traditional nature documentaries .
Instead , they ’ re presented as our harmonious proxies .
The show ’ s climax , if there is one , involves a sea turtle visiting the archipelago , as it has done for “ over one hundred million years .
.
.
to rest and relax.
” The turtle is shown settling onto the floor of the ocean , its own “ underwater spa , ” and waiting for fish to gently “ polish @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Liu goes on to explain that nine minutes pass between each beat of the turtle ’ s heart—a description so evocative that I could imagine my own pulse slowing as I watched .
“ A World of Calm ” is Calm ’ s latest attempt to transform itself into a media empire .
Launched in 2012 by a pair of entrepreneurs , the app serves the many , many people who are newly intrigued by the potential benefits of meditation and mindfulness .
In its early days , the app ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ designed to help users fall asleep , relieve anxiety , or focus at work—was mostly narrated by Tamara Levitt , a Canadian mindfulness instructor with an especially humane and lucid voice .
By 2017 , the company was reporting twenty-two million dollars in revenue , earned from the app ’ s subscription-based model and merchandise such as an aromatherapy spray ; now it has raised more than a hundred million in venture capital and been valued at a billion dollars .
At some point , flush with cash , the company began recruiting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long hiatus from the app , I was shocked to open it and find a tabloid ’ s worth of celebrity names : I could choose a bedtime story read by Matthew McConaughey ( one of the app ’ s more popular pieces ) , another recited by Harry Styles , or a multipart series from LeBron James about how his personal meditation journey has helped his success on the court .
In addition to Liu , “ A World of Calm ” will feature narrations from stars with conveniently dulcet voices , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Keanu Reeves , and Idris Elba .
One episode even includes Oscar Isaac , who narrates a story about a noodle recipe passed down from generation to generation .
There is , of course , a deep contradiction running through phrases such as “ star-studded meditation content ” or “ venture-funded meditation service.
” Insofar as meditation is about solitude , peace , and the private tensions of an individual , it was never meant to be sold , let alone scaled .
And there ’ s something especially perverse about how @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the practice ; it ’ s turned mindfulness upside down , into a tool not just for self-discovery but for superhuman levels of productivity .
And yet , despite this broader , unsettling repackaging of meditation , “ A World of Calm ” demonstrates a great deal of restraint .
There is absolutely nothing entertaining or titillating about it , by design .
It will not make you better at your job , or less lonely , or more inclined to support LeBron James .
The show has hints of A.S.M.R.
, the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ provoke a soothing sensation of “ brain tingling.
” ( A closeup shot of coral reefs , in which tiny bubbles pop off the reef ’ s structure and into the open water , does , in fact , give one a pleasant buzz in the head . )
“ Calm ” shares some DNA with canonical nature documentaries— “ Planet Earth ” or its Netflix spinoff , “ Our Planet ” —mostly in its astonishing cinematography , and in the way it moves from the small and the particular to the panoramic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ tension , in underscoring the drama and grandeur of the wild .
Violent death and extinction are a constant presence , as is environmental decay , which such series have begun to invoke with increasing urgency .
“ A World of Calm ” skips over those sorts of menaces altogether .
They are , after all , the kinds of things one loses sleep over .

In the streaming era, television has become increasingly split into categories that serve specific moods or contexts. Looking for a jolt of adrenaline? Try “Tehran,” a geopolitical spy thriller about the Iran-Israel conflict, from the head writer of “Fauda.” Want to be entertained yet slightly exasperated? Watch “Emily in Paris,” the endlessly riffable Netflix series about a young American who accidentally becomes an influencer in France. If you need to be cocooned in nostalgia—and slightly repulsed by adolescence—there’s the middle-school comedy “Pen15,” which is set in the early two-thousands. And, for anyone looking to escape the news cycle, there’s the burgeoning genre of apolitical, ahistorical comfort television, exemplified by “The Great British Baking Show” and “The Great Pottery Throw Down.”
A new show, HBO Max’s “A World of Calm,” takes this last category to an extreme. The show is an outgrowth of the meditation app Calm, which is trying to adapt its vast library of audio material for TV. The series débuted in October, and it doesn’t just service a viewer’s mood or desire; it seeks to induce a new state of mind—namely, a deep state of relaxation, or even a good, long nap. The first episode whisks us to the coral reefs of Indonesia’s Raja Ampat archipelago. Narrated by the actress Lucy Liu—whose voice, in this context, becomes so gentle and measured as to be unrecognizable—the episode zooms in, in ultra-high definition, on the details of the archipelago’s exotic, flourishing habitat. We aren’t meant to absorb the animals and vegetation with shock and delight, as with traditional nature documentaries. Instead, they’re presented as our harmonious proxies. The show’s climax, if there is one, involves a sea turtle visiting the archipelago, as it has done for “over one hundred million years . . . to rest and relax.” The turtle is shown settling onto the floor of the ocean, its own “underwater spa,” and waiting for fish to gently “polish his shell” by nibbling on it. Liu goes on to explain that nine minutes pass between each beat of the turtle’s heart—a description so evocative that I could imagine my own pulse slowing as I watched.
“A World of Calm” is Calm’s latest attempt to transform itself into a media empire. Launched in 2012 by a pair of entrepreneurs, the app serves the many, many people who are newly intrigued by the potential benefits of meditation and mindfulness. In its early days, the app’s small library of recordings—guided meditations that were designed to help users fall asleep, relieve anxiety, or focus at work—was mostly narrated by Tamara Levitt, a Canadian mindfulness instructor with an especially humane and lucid voice. By 2017, the company was reporting twenty-two million dollars in revenue, earned from the app’s subscription-based model and merchandise such as an aromatherapy spray; now it has raised more than a hundred million in venture capital and been valued at a billion dollars. At some point, flush with cash, the company began recruiting stars to do voice-overs and narrations.After a long hiatus from the app, I was shocked to open it and find a tabloid’s worth of celebrity names: I could choose a bedtime story read by Matthew McConaughey (one of the app’s more popular pieces), another recited by Harry Styles, or a multipart series from LeBron James about how his personal meditation journey has helped his success on the court. In addition to Liu, “A World of Calm” will feature narrations from stars with conveniently dulcet voices, among them Nicole Kidman, Mahershala Ali, Keanu Reeves, and Idris Elba. One episode even includes Oscar Isaac, who narrates a story about a noodle recipe passed down from generation to generation.
There is, of course, a deep contradiction running through phrases such as “star-studded meditation content” or “venture-funded meditation service.” Insofar as meditation is about solitude, peace, and the private tensions of an individual, it was never meant to be sold, let alone scaled. And there’s something especially perverse about how the world of corporate wellness has appropriated the practice; it’s turned mindfulness upside down, into a tool not just for self-discovery but for superhuman levels of productivity.
And yet, despite this broader, unsettling repackaging of meditation, “A World of Calm” demonstrates a great deal of restraint. There is absolutely nothing entertaining or titillating about it, by design. It will not make you better at your job, or less lonely, or more inclined to support LeBron James. The show has hints of A.S.M.R., the vast genre of Internet content designed to provoke a soothing sensation of “brain tingling.” (A closeup shot of coral reefs, in which tiny bubbles pop off the reef’s structure and into the open water, does, in fact, give one a pleasant buzz in the head.) “Calm” shares some DNA with canonical nature documentaries—“Planet Earth” or its Netflix spinoff, “Our Planet”—mostly in its astonishing cinematography, and in the way it moves from the small and the particular to the panoramic. But those documentaries delight in narrative tension, in underscoring the drama and grandeur of the wild. Violent death and extinction are a constant presence, as is environmental decay, which such series have begun to invoke with increasing urgency. “A World of Calm” skips over those sorts of menaces altogether. They are, after all, the kinds of things one loses sleep over.