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How niggling hip pain led a squash coach to life-saving cancer diagnosis

Melbourne squash coach and player Malcolm McClarty had been experiencing frequent pain in his right hip area for about 12 months before he mentioned it to one of his clients, a top medical oncologist, in October last year. The 63-year-old father-of-three coaches Professor Niall Tebbutt at the Kooyong Lawn and Tennis Club in Melbourne. Despite having lost his younger sister to pancreatic cancer just months earlier, Malcolm had been brushing off the pain, thinking it was a niggling sporting injury. Now Malcolm credits Niall, who ordered a prostate-specific antigen test (PSA), with saving his life. Malcolm also coaches Weranja Ranasinghe, a urologist with the Urological Society of Australia and New Zealand (USANZ), who has been his ‘unofficial second opinion’ throughout the journey. Associate Professor Ranasinghe says Malcolm’s diagnosis comes as the newly-released Lancet Commission on Prostate Cancer predicts cases worldwide will double from 1.4 million to 2.9 million by 2040. The USANZ says although the findings are alarming, Australia is well-placed to manage the spike thanks to availability of advanced diagnostic tools, improvements in treatments and quality control registries, but it needs to be coupled with more awareness. “Australia is better placed than many other nations to deal with a sharp spike in prostate cancer cases, but the urgent review of guidelines can’t come soon enough,” says Associate Professor Ranasinghe. “Prostate cancer is not commonly understood or spoken about, particularly amongst high-risk younger men, leaving too many in the dark about their cancer risk and that can be deadly,” he added. “Prostate cancer is already a major cause of death and disability, and the most common form of male cancer in more than 100 countries,” says Associate Professor Ranasinghe. “It’s the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia with over 25,000 new cases every year, and more than 11 deaths a day.” Malcolm was devastated to learn his cancer was aggressive Stage Four and had spread to three spots in the pelvic bone. He also experienced other symptoms including frequent and weak-flow urinating at night. He will begin radiotherapy, with chemotherapy on the cards as well. But his attitude is positive; he’s hoping to live for another six to 10 years. Malcolm’s message for other men is simple: if you’re 50 or older, get tested for prostate cancer now. He warns waiting can lead to complex and limited treatment options. Five Risk Factors For Prostate Cancer 1. Age - the chance of developing prostate cancer increases with age. 2. Family history - if you have a first-degree male relative who developed prostate cancer, like a brother or father, your risk is higher than someone without such family history. 3. Genetics - while prostate cancer can’t be inherited, a man can inherit certain genes that increase the risk. 4. Diet - some evidence suggests that a diet high in processed meat, or foods high in fat can increase the risk of developing prostate cancer. 5. Lifestyle - environment and lifestyle can also impact your risk, e.g. a sedentary lifestyle or being exposed to chemicals. For more information, visit <a href="https://www.usanz.org.au/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.usanz.org.au/</a>

Caring

Should Taylor Swift be taught alongside Shakespeare? A professor of literature says yes

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-e-semler-1507004">Liam E Semler</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> Does Taylor Swift’s music belong in the English classroom? No, obviously. We should teach the classics, like <a href="https://www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/shakespeares-sonnets/">Shakespeare’s Sonnets</a>. After all, they have stood the test of time. It’s 2024 and he was born in 1564, and she’s only 34. What’s more, she is a pop singer, not a poet. Sliding her into the classroom would be yet another example of a dumbed-down curriculum. It’s ridiculous. It makes everyone look bad. I’ve heard all that. And plenty more like it. But none of it is right. Well, the dates might be, but not the assumptions – about Shakespeare, about English, about teaching, and about Swift. Swift is, by the way, a poet. She sees herself this way and her songs bear her out. In Sweet Nothing, on the <a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/taylor-swift-midnights/">Midnights</a> album, she sings: <blockquote> On the way home I wrote a poem You say “What a mind” This happens all the time. </blockquote> I’m sure it does. Swift is relentlessly productive as a songwriter. With Midnights, she picked up <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/04/entertainment/taylor-swift-album-of-the-year-grammys/index.html">her fourth Grammy for Album of the Year</a>. And here we are, on the brink of another studio album, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tortured_Poets_Department">The Tortured Poets Department</a>, somehow written and produced amid the gargantuan success of Midnights and the Eras World Tour. <h2>An ally of literature</h2> Regardless of what The Tortured Poets Department ends up being about, Swift is already a firm ally of literature and reading. She is <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/taylor-swift-donates-6000-books-to-library/">a donor of thousands of books</a> to public libraries in the United States, an advocate to schoolchildren of the importance of reading and songwriting, and a lover of the process of crafting lyrics. In a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnbCSboujF4">2016 Vogue interview</a>, Swift declared with glee that, if she were a teacher, she would teach English. The literary references in her songs are endlessly noted. “I love Shakespeare as much as the next girl,” she wrote in a <a href="https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/a26546099/taylor-swift-pop-music/">2019 article for Elle</a>. <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mdgKhdcQrNw?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> Her interview Read Every Day gives a good sense of this. Swift speaks about her writing process in ways that make it accessible. She explains how songs come to her anywhere and everywhere, like an idea randomly appearing “on a cloud” that becomes the first piece in a “puzzle” that will be assembled into a song. She furtively whisper-sings song ideas into her phone when out with friends. In her <a href="https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/read-taylor-swifts-full-nsai-songwriter-artist-of-the-decade-award-speech">acceptance speech for the Nashville Songwriter-Artist of the Decade Award</a> in 2022, Swift explained how she writes in three broad styles, imagining she is holding either a “quill”, a “fountain pen”, or a “glitter gel pen”. Songcraft is a joyous challenge for her. If, as teachers of literature, we are too proud to credit Swift’s plainly expressed love of English (regardless of whether we like her songs or not), we are likely missing something. To bluntly rule her out of the English classroom feels more absurd than allowing her in. Clio Doyle, a lecturer in early modern literature, has <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-taylor-swift-belongs-on-english-literature-degree-courses-219660">summarised</a> Swift’s suitability for English in a recent article which concludes: <blockquote> The important thing isn’t whether or not Swift might be the new Shakespeare. It’s that the discipline of English literature is flexible, capacious and open-minded. A class on reading Swift’s work as literature is just another English class, because every English class requires grappling with the idea of reading anything as literature. Even Shakespeare. </blockquote> Doyle reminds us Swift’s work has been taught at universities for a while now and, inevitably, the singer’s name keeps cropping up in relation to Shakespeare. This isn’t just a case of fandom gone wild or Shakespeare professors, like <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/why-taylor-swift-is-a-literary-giant-by-a-shakespeare-professor-20230518-p5d9cn.html">Jonathan Bate</a>, gone rogue. The global interest in the world-first academic <a href="https://swiftposium2024.com/">Swiftposium</a> is a good measure of how things are trending. Moreover, it is wrong to think Swift’s songs are included in units of study purely to be adored. Her wide appeal is part of her appeal to educators, but that doesn’t mean her art is uncritically included. The reverse is true. Claire Hansen <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/pop-star-philosopher-poet-taylor-swift-is-shaking-up-how-we-think-20240207-p5f342.html">taught Swift in one of her literature units at the Australian National University</a> last year precisely because this influential singer-songwriter prompts students to explore the boundaries of the canon. I will be teaching Midnights and Shakespeare’s Sonnets together in a literature unit at the University of Sydney this semester. Why? Not because I think Swift is as good as Shakespeare, or because I think she is not as good as Shakespeare. These statements are fine as personal opinions, but unhelpful as blanket declarations without context. The nature of English as a discipline is far more complex, interesting and valuable than a labelling and ranking exercise. <h2>Teaching Midnights and Shakespeare’s Sonnets</h2> I teach Shakespeare’s sonnets as exquisite poems, reflective of their time and culture. I also teach three modern artworks that shed contemporary light on the sonnets. The first is Jen Bervin’s 2004 book <a href="https://www.jenbervin.com/projects/nets">Nets</a>. Bervin prints a selection of the sonnets, one per page, in grey text. In each of these grey sonnets, some of Shakespeare’s words and phrases are printed in black and thus stand out boldly. The result is a <a href="https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/palimpsest">palimpsest</a>. The Shakespearean sonnet appears lying, like fertile soil, beneath the briefer poem that emerges from it. Bervin describes this technique as a stripping down of the sonnets to “nets” in order “to make the space of the poems open, porous, possible – a divergent elsewhere”. The creative relationship between the Shakespearean base and Bervin’s proverb-like poems proves that, as Bervin says, “when we write poems, the history of poetry is with us”. The second text is Luke Kennard’s prizewinning 2021 collection <a href="https://www.pennedinthemargins.co.uk/index.php/2021/04/notes-on-the-sonnets/">Notes on the Sonnets</a>. Kennard recasts the sonnets as a series of entertaining prose poems. Each poem responds to a specific Shakespearean sonnet, recasting it as the freewheeling thought bubble of a fictional attendee at an unappealing house party. In an interview with C.D. Rose, Kennard <a href="https://thequietus.com/articles/30078-luke-kennard-interview-the-answer-to-everything-notes-on-the-sonnets">explains</a> how his house party design puts the reader <blockquote> in between a public and private space, you’re at home and you’re out, you’re free, you’re enclosed. And that’s similar in the sonnets. </blockquote> The third text is Swift’s Midnights. Unlike Bervin’s and Kennard’s collections, in which individual pieces relate to specific sonnets, there is no explicit adaptation. Instead, Midnights raises broader themes. <h2>Deep connection</h2> In her Elle article, Swift describes songwriting as akin to photography. She strives to capture moments of lived experience: <blockquote> The fun challenge of writing a pop song is squeezing those evocative details into the catchiest melody you can possibly think of. I thrive on the challenge of sprinkling personal mementos and shreds of reality into a genre of music that is universally known for being, well, universal. </blockquote> Her point is that the pop songs that “cut through the most are actually the most detailed” in their snippets of reality and biography. She says “people are reaching out for connection and comfort” and “music lovers want some biographical glimpse into the world of our narrator, a hole in the emotional walls people put up around themselves to survive”. Midnights exemplifies this. It is a concept album built on the idea that midnight is a time for pursuit of and confrontation with the self – or better, the selves. Swift says the songs form “the full picture of the intensities of that mystifying, mad hour”. The album, she says, is “a journey through terrors and sweet dreams” for those “who have tossed and turned and decided to keep the lanterns lit and go searching – hoping that just maybe, when the clock strikes twelve […] we’ll meet ourselves”. Swift claims that Midnights lets listeners in through her protective walls to enable deep connection: <blockquote> I really don’t think I’ve delved this far into my insecurities in this detail before. I struggle with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and […] I just struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person. </blockquote> Midnights is not a sonnet collection, but it has fascinating parallels. There is no firm narrative through-line. Nor is there a through-line in early modern sonnet collections such as Shakespeare’s. Instead, both gather songs and poems that let us see aspects of the singing or speaking persona’s thoughts, emotions and experiences. Shakespeare’s speaker is also troubled through the night in sonnets 27, 43 and 61. The sonnets come in thematic clusters, pairs and mini-sequences. It can be interesting to ask students if they can see something similar in the order of songs on the Midnights album – or the “3am” edition with its seven extra tracks, or the “Til Dawn” edition with another three songs. Paul Edmondson and Stanley Wells, in their edition of <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/all-the-sonnets-of-shakespeare/AE1912C43BE4F50391B25B83C0C03B1F">All the Sonnets of Shakespeare</a>, say Shakespeare’s collection is “the most idiosyncratic gathering of sonnets in the period” because he “uses the sonnet form to work out his intimate thoughts and feelings”. This connects very well with the agenda of Midnights. Both collections are piecemeal psychic landscapes. The singing or speaking voice sometimes feels autobiographical – compare, for example, sonnets 23, 129, 135-6 and 145 to Swift’s songs Anti-hero, You’re On Your Own, Kid, Sweet Nothing, and Would’ve, Could’ve, Should’ve. At other times the voices feel less autobiographical. Often there is no way to distinguish one from the other. Swift’s songs and Shakespeare’s Sonnets are meditations on deeply personal aspects of their narrators’ experiences. They present us with encounters, memories, relationships, values and claims. Swift’s persona is that of a self-reflective singer, just as Shakespeare’s is that of a self-reflective sonneteer. Both focus on love in all its shades. Both present themselves as vulnerable to industry rivals and pressures. Both dwell on issues of power. <h2>Close reading</h2> Shakespeare’s sonnets are rewarding texts for close reading because of their poetic intricacy. Students can look at end rhymes and internal rhymes, the way the argument progresses through <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/quatrain">quatrains</a>, the positioning of the “turn”, which is often in line 9 or 13, and the way the final couplet wraps things up (or doesn’t). The songs on Midnights are also rewarding because Swift has a great vocabulary, a love of metaphor, terrific turns of phrase, and a strong sense of symmetry and balance in wording. More complex songs like Maroon and Question…? are great for detailed analysis. Karma and Mastermind are simpler, yet contain plenty of metaphoric language to be unpacked for meaning and aesthetic effectiveness. Shakespeare’s controlled use of metaphor in Sonnet 73 makes for a telling contrast. The Great War, Glitch and Snow on the Beach are good for exploring how well a single extended metaphor can function to carry the meaning of a song. Sonnets 8, 18, 143 and 147 can be explored in similar terms. Just as students can analyse the “turn” or concluding couplet in a Shakespearean sonnet to see how it reshapes the poem, they can do the same with songs on Midnights. Swift is known for writing effective bridges that contribute fresh, important content towards the end of a song: Sweet Nothing, Mastermind and Dear Reader are excellent examples. Such unexpected pairings are valuable because they require close attention and careful articulation of what is similar and what is not. Shakespeare’s Sonnet 129, for example (the famous one on lust), and Swift’s Bigger than the Whole Sky (a powerful expression of loss) make for a gripping comparison of how intense feeling can be expressed poetically. Or consider Sonnet 29 (“When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes”) and Sweet Nothing: both celebrate intimacy as a defence against the pressures of the public world. How about High Infidelity and Sonnet 138 (where love and self-deception coexist), considered in terms of truth in relationships? There is nothing to lose and plenty to gain in teaching Swift’s Midnights and Shakespeare’s Sonnets together. There’s no dumbing-down involved. And there’s no need for reductive assertions about who is “better”.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223312/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liam-e-semler-1507004">Liam E Semler</a>, Professor of Early Modern Literature, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/should-taylor-swift-be-taught-alongside-shakespeare-a-professor-of-literature-says-yes-223312">original article</a>.

Music

Pete Evans gives up his wellness retreat

Former My Kitchen Rules chef Pete Evans and his wellness advocate wife Nicola Evans are selling their Northern Rivers wellness retreat. The couple have been renovating the property - located 66km northwest of Byron Bay - since 2020, after initially purchasing the Byrrill Creek rainforest property for $1m. The seven newly renovated cabins now run as a space for Evans' cooking retreat, Evolve Sanctuary, which costs $1650-a-weekend. "Our weekend cooking retreats offer our guests to learn the fundamentals of a paleo and keto lifestyle,” the Evolve Sanctuary website reads. Recent events at the sanctuary include fasting retreats with Pete in a five-day juice, water and broth fast, costing $2250 per person. In addition to cooking courses, it also offers ice baths, red light treatment, a float tank and an infra-red sauna. JET Real Estate agents Tania Sheppard and Elizabeth Hickey have listed the 7.9ha property as “a leader in wellness tourism with a strong cashflow”. The vendors are offering a leaseback, as this is the first property for sale in Byrrill Creek in the last 12 months. This comes after Evans and Robinson sold their longtime 10ha Tweed Shire hinterland property in 2021 for $3.15m. They also previously sold two Malabar homes for a combined $6m when they were heading north. Images: Realestate.com.au

Money & Banking

Marvel star ties the knot in super secret ceremony

Marvel movie star Chris Evans has tied the knot with his girlfriend Alba Baptista in an intimate ceremony at their home in the state of Massachusetts. According to <a href="https://pagesix.com/2023/09/10/chris-evans-marries-alba-baptista/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Page Six</a>, the Hollywood A-lister and Baptista, a Portuguese actress, got married on Saturday, with only a handful of their closest friends and family attending the nuptials. An insider told <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/celebrity-life/hook-ups-break-ups/chris-evans-marries-alba-baptista-in-intimate-athome-wedding/news-story/872c843aa221bc8173f0a82feb7c6477" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news.com.au</a> that the nuptials were “locked down tight,” as guests signed NDAs and phones were forfeited for the "beautiful" ceremony. The guest list also included some of the actor’s Marvel co-stars, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and Jeremy Renner. The Captain America actor and Baptista first sparked rumours of a romance in November 2022, when a source told <a href="https://people.com/movies/chris-evans-dating-alba-baptista-source-exclusive/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">People</a> that the duo had been dating for “over a year.” “They are in love, and Chris has never been happier,” the insider said, already calling their relationship “serious” at the time. “His family and friends all adore her.”<iframe id="google_ads_iframe_/5129/ndm.nent/entertainment/celebritylife/hookupsbreakups_5" tabindex="0" title="3rd party ad content" role="region" name="google_ads_iframe_/5129/ndm.nent/entertainment/celebritylife/hookupsbreakups_5" width="4" height="4" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" aria-label="Advertisement" data-load-complete="true" data-google-container-id="6" data-integralas-id-69c76c0a-f5d2-9885-70ea-25cce3e0243a=""></iframe><iframe width="1" height="1" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe> Just hours after the news broke, the couple was spotted holding hands during a stroll in Central Park. While little is known about the low-key couple’s relationship, Evans has proudly been flaunting his affection for Baptista online. The Knives Out star was spotted leaving a flirty comment on Baptista’s Instagram post around the same time that news broke of their relationship. Then, in February, the couple went Instagram-official as Evans began posting a series of PDA-filled pics to his Instagram Story in honour of Valentine’s Day. Image credits: Instagram

Relationships

Pete Evans "silenced" by Kyle and Jackie O

Pete Evans has been silenced while defending his controversial opinions on The Kyle and Jackie O Show. The disgraced celebrity chef appeared on the KIISFM show on Thursday morning in an attempt to clear his name, after destroying his own career by spreading misinformation about the Covid pandemic. Throughout 2020 and 2021, Evans found himself in hot water after claiming that Covid-19 was a "f**king hoax", and was slapped with many fines after peddling fake, and often dangerous, treatments for the virus online. Calling into the show from his property in north-eastern New South Wales, the 50-year-old doubled down on his opposition to Covid vaccines, masks and social distancing. The former My Kitchen Rules judge also went on to cast doubt upon Covid rapid antigen tests and defended his claims about the "healing" abilities of the BioCharger lamps he was fined for promoting in 2020. However, much of his conversation with Kyle and Jackie O was beeped out by the station's censor. The censorship divided listeners, while some fans of the show called in to declare it was time to "un-cancel" him, because he is a "real man" who "stands up" for his beliefs. Another alleged that Evans had "gone and done the research" and "wasn't just talking s**t", and therefore shouldn't be barred from sharing his opinions publicly, even if they are viewed as scientifically incorrect. Others praised the work of the station's censor, saying the hosts and the station have a responsibility to stop dangerous misinformation being spread, especially when it could cause harm. One caller, who was a medical professional, pointed out that Evans, isn't qualified to give health advice, and that what he said on-air was "just the tip of the iceberg". "The issue is everyone with 100,000 followers, or whatever it may be, thinks all of a sudden they're a doctor or a personal trainer or wherever it may be and that they're qualified to give this health advice," she said. Another argued that Evans should remain cancelled because he has never apologised over his claims that were proven wrong by Australia's top medical authorities. Kyle Sandilands later explained why the censor had beeped out parts of Evans' interview, as well as some of what was said by the fans who called in to defend him. "I believe that this isn't the censor beeping out what she doesn't believe is right or wrong. This is the censor beeping out what legally we can and cannot put to air," Sandilands explained. Image credits: Instagram

Caring

"Forgotten pizza cook" Pete Evans' wild new look

Former Seven personality Pete Evans has made an unexpected appearance on social media, though many took a moment longer than usual to realise who it was they were looking at in the clip. The former chef and My Kitchen Rules judge was a far cry from the polished persona audiences had come to expect from his days at the helm of the hit cooking competition, roaming through an outdoor kitchen in a ‘Food is Medicine’ t-shirt and unexpected mullet cut. The footage marked a new chapter in Evans’ public fall from grace, and as one account sharing the content wrote, it had “captured a quick raw video of the set up” for a cooking retreat with eight guests and “approx 25 recipes”. It did provide some insight into Evans’ new ‘career’ path, with the chef having turned his back on the entertainment industry in 2020, after 11 years as a household name hosting My Kitchen Rules. His controversial opinions on health - and his mounting support in conspiracy theories as well as his non-scientifics views - had initially turned attention his way, but it was his take on the global COVID-19 pandemic that sealed his fate. Also in 2020, Evans received a $25,000 fine from the TGA for his part in peddling a $15,000 ‘Biocharger’ device with the incorrect claim that it could combat the coronavirus. Evans was quickly removed from social media - namely Facebook and Instagram - for spreading misinformation during the pandemic, and lost 15 different sponsors in just 38 hours after sharing a meme that contained a neo-Nazi symbol with his remaining followers. It was estimated that the latter act alone could cost Evans millions of dollars. In the time since, Evans has purchased a $1 million tourist ‘healing’ retreat close to Byron Bay, where he offers the likes of ‘fasting retreats’ - charging $2250 a head for a “5-day juice, water, and froth fast” with Evans. When news of the venture broke on social media, opinion poured in thick and fast, with most condemning the experience. However, it wasn’t enough to keep Evans from returning to the internet, with the 50-year-old launching his presence on the alternative platform, Telegram, where he shares the likes of detail on his retreats, his experience with bitcoin, anti-vaccination takes, and right-wing political opinion. As one user wrote in response - and on behalf of the majority - to the fresh footage of the disgraced chef, “I won’t have what he’s having”. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Obviously vaccines are bad. Not ‘licking toads’ though. That’s cool. Forgotten pizza cook Pete Evans continues to have a normal one. <a href="https://twitter.com/krunchymoses?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@krunchymoses</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/petesscience?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@petesscience</a> <a href="https://t.co/a5fDzGIups">pic.twitter.com/a5fDzGIups</a> — Cam (@camliveshere) <a href="https://twitter.com/camliveshere/status/1664565941219508225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2023</a></blockquote> “This is a hard second-hand cringe,” one said. “And here I was thinking that scone of his couldn't get any more offensive,” another said. “I was wrong.” “So funny, and sad at same time hope he is ok,” one wrote, “but I have had 4 vax, travelled [the] world twice in ]the last 12 months, kept a good job and have healthy friends and fam around me. Pete's approach hmmmm”. And as someone else pointed out., “he seems quite short of breath after placing a few small sticks under the pizza oven. Not a great advert for his lifestyle.” Images: Twitter, Facebook

Food & Wine

As the global musical phenomenon turns 50, a hip-hop professor explains what the word ‘dope’ means to him

After I finished my Ph.D. in 2017, several newspaper reporters wrote about the job I’d accepted at the University of Virginia as an assistant professor of hip-hop. “A.D. Carson just scored, arguably, the dopest job ever,” one <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/07/03/virginia-ad-carson-hip-hop-professor/435032001/">journalist wrote</a>. The writer may not have meant it the way I read it, but the terminology was significant to me. Hip-hop’s early luminaries transformed the word’s original meanings, using it as a synonym for cool. In the 50 years since, it endures as an expression of respect and praise – and illegal substances. In that context, dope has everything to do with my work. In the year I graduated from college, one of my best friends was sent to federal prison for possession of crack cocaine with intent to distribute. He served nearly a decade and has been back in prison several times since. But before he went to prison, he helped me finish school by paying off my tuition. In a very real way, dope has as much to do with me finishing my studies and becoming a professor as it does with him serving time in a federal prison. <h2>Academic dope</h2> For my Ph.D. dissertation in Rhetorics, Communications, and Information Design, I wrote a <a href="http://phd.aydeethegreat.com/">rap album</a> titled “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions.” A peer-reviewed, mastered version of the album is due out this summer from University of Michigan Press. Part of my reasoning for writing it that way involved my ideas about dope. I want to question who gets to determine who and what are dope and whether any university can produce expertise on the people who created hip-hop. While I was initially met with <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2016/04/clemson-university-arrests/478455/">considerable resistance</a> for my work at Clemson, the university eventually became supportive and touted “<a href="https://news.clemson.edu/clemson-doctoral-student-produces-rap-album-for-dissertation-it-goes-viral/">a dissertation with a beat</a>.” <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> A Dissertation with a Beat. 🔊🎤 🔊<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Clemson?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Clemson</a> doctoral student produces rap album for dissertation; it goes viral ➡️ <a href="https://t.co/wgiM9LS6k5">https://t.co/wgiM9LS6k5</a> <a href="https://t.co/r1lmBYXV2S">pic.twitter.com/r1lmBYXV2S</a> — Clemson University (@ClemsonUniv) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClemsonUniv/status/845990987440652289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 26, 2017</a></blockquote> Clemson is not the only school to recognize hip-hop as dope. In the 50 years since its start at <a href="https://theconversation.com/hip-hop-holiday-signals-a-turning-point-in-education-for-a-music-form-that-began-at-a-back-to-school-party-in-the-bronx-165525">a back-to-school party</a> in the South Bronx, hip-hop, the culture and its art forms have come a long way to a place of relative prominence in educational institutions. Since 2013, Harvard University has housed the <a href="https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/institutes/hiphop-archive-research-institute">Hiphop Archive & Research Institute</a> and the <a href="https://hutchinscenter.fas.harvard.edu/faq/nasir-jones-hiphop-fellowship">Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship</a> that funds scholars and artists who demonstrate “exceptional scholarship and creativity in the arts in connection with Hiphop.” UCLA announced an <a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2022-03-28/ucla-hip-hop-initiative-chuck-d">ambitious Hip Hop Initiative</a> to kick off the golden anniversary. The initiative includes artist residencies, community engagement programs, a book series and a digital archive project. Perhaps my receiving tenure and promotion at the University of Virginia is part of the school’s attempt to help codify the existence of hip-hop scholarship. When I write about “dope,” I’m thinking of Black people like drugs to which the U.S. is addicted. Dope is a frame to help clarify the attempts, throughout American history, at outlawing and <a href="https://www.ilsos.gov/departments/archives/online_exhibits/100_documents/1853-black-law.html">legalizing</a> the presence of Black people and Black culture. As dope, Black people are America’s constant ailment and cure. To me, dope is an aspiration and a methodology to acknowledge and resist America’s steady surveillance, scrutiny and criminalization of Blackness. By this definition, dope is not only what we are, it’s also who we want to be and how we demonstrate our being. Dope is about what we can make with what we are given. Dope is a product of conditions created by America. It is also a product that helped create America. Whenever Blackness has been seen as lucrative, businesses like record companies and institutions like colleges and universities have sought to capitalize. To remove the negative stigmas associated with dope, these institutions cast themselves in roles similar to a pharmacy. Even though I don’t believe academia has the power or authority to bestow hip-hop credibility, a question remains – does having a Ph.D and producing rap music as <a href="https://theconversation.com/hip-hop-professor-looks-to-open-doors-with-worlds-first-peer-reviewed-rap-album-153761">peer-reviewed publications</a>change my dopeness in some way? <h2>Legalizing dope</h2> Though I earned a Ph.D by rapping, my own relationship to hip-hop in academic institutions remains fraught. Part of the problem was noted in 2014 by Michelle Alexander, a legal scholar and author of “<a href="http://newjimcrow.com/">The New Jim Crow</a>,” when she talked about <a href="http://www.drugpolicy.org/resource/new-jim-crow-whats-next-talk-michelle-alexander-and-dpas-asha-bandele">her concerns about</a> the legalization of marijuana in different U.S. states. “In many ways the imagery doesn’t sit right,” she said. “Here are white men poised to run big marijuana businesses … after 40 years of impoverished black kids getting prison time for selling weed, and their families and futures destroyed. Now, white men are planning to get rich doing precisely the same thing?” I feel the same way about dopeness in academia. Since hip-hop has emerged as a global phenomenon largely embraced by many of the “academically trained” music scholars who initially rejected it, how will those scholars and their schools now make way for the people they have historically excluded? This is why that quote about me “scoring, arguably, the dopest job ever” has stuck with me. I wonder if it’s fair to call what I do a form of legalized dope. <h2>America’s dope-dealing history</h2> In the late 1990s, I saw how fast hip-hop had become inescapable across the U.S., even in the small Midwestern town of Decatur, Illinois, where I grew up with my friend who is now serving federal prison time. He and I have remained in contact. Among the things we discuss is how unlikely it is that I would be able to do what I do without his doing what he did. Given the economic realities faced by people after leaving prison, we both know there are limitations to his opportunities if we choose to see our successes as shared accomplishments. Depending on how dope is interpreted, prisons and universities serve as probable destinations for people who make their living with it. It has kept him in prison roughly the same amount of time as it has kept me in graduate school and in my profession. This present reality has historical significance for how I think of dope, and what it means for people to have their existence authorized or legalized, and America’s relationship to Black people. Many of the buildings at Clemson were built in the late 1880s using “<a href="http://glimpse.clemson.edu/convict-labor/">laborers convicted of mostly petty crimes</a>” that the state of South Carolina leased to the university. Similarly, the University of Virginia was built by <a href="https://dei.virginia.edu/resources">renting enslaved laborers</a>. The University also is required by state law to purchase office furniture from a state-owned company that <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/02/14/public-universities-several-states-are-required-buy-prison-industries">depends on imprisoned people for labor</a>. The people who make the furniture are paid very little to do so. The people in the federal prison where my friend who helped me pay for college is now housed work for paltry wages making towels and shirts for the U.S. Army. Even with all of the time and distance between our pasts and present, our paths are still inextricably intertwined – along with all those others on or near the seemingly transient line that divides “legal” and “illegal” dope. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/as-the-global-musical-phenomenon-turns-50-a-hip-hop-professor-explains-what-the-word-dope-means-to-him-200872" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Music

Home and Away star shares astonishing 10kg transformation

Home and Away’s Matt Evans has stunned fans and followers after sharing the results of his eight-week body transformation on social media. The 26-year-old actor - best known for his work as Theo Poulos on the hit soap - posted two side-by-side snaps, apparently taken just two months apart, of his body at two different stages in his fitness journey. The location was the same in both, with Evans standing in Bonds underwear in front of a door in both, with only the lighting - harsher in the ‘after’ pic - and Evans’ muscle mass and body weight changing. “8 WEEK CHALLENGE RESULTS,” he captioned the image, before thanking his trainer, Harris Barclay. “I did a massive bulk last year which then lasted through christmas and it was the first time I had ever weighed 90kgs in my life. I am now back at 80kgs where I like to sit.” Evans went on to explain that his trainer had helped him come up with both a diet and training plan, and then revealed the key element that they had dropped from his regime, with Evans telling followers that it “DID NOT involve cardio. “I just went for an occasional walk if I wanted to be more active. Harris made the diet easy to follow and all you have to do is eat the food and show up to the gym. The training program was catered to my needs with weight training. Harris also checks in fortnightly to keep you on track and is just a downright good bloke.” <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CprfXTBvYFQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CprfXTBvYFQ/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Matt Evans (@thisismattevans)</a> </div> </blockquote> Evans’ friends, fans, and fellow Channel 7 personalities were primed to celebrate his progress in his comments section, with many declaring that his “hard work paid off”. “Well done mate,” wrote Seven’s Sam Mac, who had recently undergone his own intense body transformation, “now, can I just borrow a couple of those abs. Don’t be greedy.” “Bloody hell mate well done!” said Home and Away’s Kirsty Marillier. “Looked good before and looks good after!” one fan declared. “Well done!! Phenomenal results,” stylist Donny Galella praised. “You should be proud,” another said on TikTok, where Evans had posted his ‘8 week shred results’ in video format, “all the hard work pays off.” <div class="embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none !important;"><iframe class="embedly-embed" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 16px; vertical-align: baseline; outline: none !important; width: 620.262px; max-width: 100%;" title="tiktok embed" src="https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2Fembed%2Fv2%2F7210308452218932481&display_name=tiktok&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tiktok.com%2F%40thisismattevans%2Fvideo%2F7210308452218932481&image=https%3A%2F%2Fp16-sign-sg.tiktokcdn.com%2Fobj%2Ftos-alisg-p-0037%2FociBnEnnI8AcQoBEQBDQEKEfBeCvbRQQkxVEgD%3Fx-expires%3D1680595200%26x-signature%3DUDQ2Y1sY0ji5sKmGAxwXeCnw%252Bes%253D&key=5b465a7e134d4f09b4e6901220de11f0&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=tiktok" width="340" height="700" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></div> Images: Instagram

Body

More details revealed by father of Queensland cop killers

The father of the two men who shot at two Queensland police officers has opened up about his son’s gun obsession and how they turned away from religion which eventually led to the horrific murder of the officers. Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, were fatally shot at a property in Wieambilla, three hours outside of Brisbane as they carried out a missing persons call. Nathaniel and Gareth Train were identified as the two brothers who killed the officers, with their father Ron Train revealing how the pair turned to the dark side. “I’d describe them as two boys who lost their way in life,” he told A Current Affair, refusing to say they are monsters. Mr Train explained that he raised his sons with Christian beliefs but they turned away from religion before becoming estranged from their parents when they were in their 20s. “They went down this track, this dark track, which we have no understanding of.” He explained that the pair soon became obsessed with guns and that it was Gareth who showed more interest in the activity and was more controlling. “He was very difficult to control, very overpowering.” But in a surprising turn of events, Mr Train believes that Nathaniel’s marriage to Stacey Train, the third shooter, was up in the air after Gareth married her. “I just think in the end that he took over that relationship that Nathaniel and Stacey had,” Mr Train continued. Nathaniel and Stacey’s two children however were also estranged from the family. Mr Train said he broke down in tears after hearing what his sons had done saying he couldn’t take responsibility for their actions or defend them. “I cried out to God, because, you know, I’m a believer. I just could not understand,” he said. “Those decisions were made as adults. I can’t accept responsibility for something in an adult mind. “There’s no excuse for that. No excuses for their behaviour, and I don’t excuse my boys of their actions at all. “They’ll stand before God in this world. They can’t be brought to justice in the secular world, but they will before God.” Constable Matthew Arnold and Constable Rachel McCrow were at a property in the western Darling Downs, about three hours west of Brisbane when they were shot on December 12. One of the neighbours, Alan Dare, 58, was also shot and killed in the attack. Constable Arnold and Constable McCrow were joined by two other officers, Constable Keeley Brough and Constable Randall Kirk, both aged 28, at the property. A six-hour siege ensued, with the officers opening fire about 4.45 pm which saw Constable Arnold and Constable McCrow killed. Constable Kirk was also wounded while Constable Brough, who was only eight weeks into her new role, managed to escape and raise the alarm. The pair were finally joined by Special Operations police and helped them shoot dead three suspects, including brothers Nathaniel and Gareth Train, and Stacey Train, after a six hour siege. Images: Nine News

News

Family of female cop killer speaks out

The estranged family of Stacey Train have opened up about how their daughter made one decision that eventually saw her killed. Stacey was killed along with her husband Gareth Train and his brother, also her ex-husband Nathaniel Train, on December 12 after police responded to a missing person's report. Constable Rachel McCrow, 29, and Constable Matthew Arnold, 26, were also shot at the Wieambilla property, three hours outside of Brisbane. Now Stacey’s family members have spoken about how she was raised religious but eventually left the family as a teenager to join the independent church of Ronald A Train - her husband’s father’s church. “I wish she never did.This would never have happened,” the relative, who asked to remain anonymous, told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/dec/15/wieambilla-shooting-stacey-train-had-limited-contact-with-family-after-entering-controlling-relationship-with-brother-in-law" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Guardian</a>. “I knew Gareth was an arsehole when he took over his brother’s wife,” the family member continued. “It was all downhill from there. Now she is dead because of them.” The family member also said that Gareth “was a control freak” and that Stacey “could never say anything”. Another family member said she saw Gareth drag Stacey up the stairs by her hair. Their comments come just days after Gareth and Nathanial’s dad Ron appeared on A Current Affair speaking about their gun obsession and leaving Christianity. Mr Train explained that he raised his sons with Christian beliefs but they turned away from religion before becoming estranged from their parents when they were in their 20s. “They went down this track, this dark track, which we have no understanding of.” Mr Train said he broke down in tears after hearing what his sons had done, saying he couldn’t take responsibility for their actions or defend them. “I cried out to God, because, you know, I’m a believer. I just could not understand,” he said. “Those decisions were made as adults. I can’t accept responsibility for something in an adult mind. “There’s no excuse for that. No excuses for their behaviour, and I don’t excuse my boys of their actions at all. “They’ll stand before God in this world. They can’t be brought to justice in the secular world, but they will before God.” Constable McCrow and Constable Arnold will be farewelled at a funeral service at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre at 10 am on December 21. Details on how the public can offer their condolences will be available in the next few days. Images: Facebook

News

"She sat on a throne of blood": Uni professor launches another attack on Queen Elizabeth

A controversial university professor has doubled down on her celebration of Queen Elizabeth's death, claiming she "sat on a throne of blood". Uju Anya, a linguistics professor at Pennsylvania's Carnegie Mellon University, <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/news/news/uni-professor-slammed-for-wishing-the-queen-excruciating-pain" target="_blank" rel="noopener">came under fire</a> earlier this week for a series of controversial tweets in which she hoped the Queen was in "excruciating pain" as she died. Now, the Nigerian-American lecturer has reiterated her claims on a podcast, saying, "This was a ruler. The very crown she had on her head signified the fact that she's a monarch was made from plunder. Diamonds. Blood diamonds." "The throne that she was sitting on is a throne of blood... Her very position as a monarch, the palace she lived in... were all paid for by our blood." She stood by her controversial tweets, which she admitted were an "emotional outburst", but said, "I said what I f****** said." "I was triggered by this news. It went deep into pain and trauma for me. Due to my family experience with the rule of this monarch." Anya also shared her thoughts on the Queen's role in the Nigerian Civil War in 1967 by showing support for the turbulent government. She said, "People expected me to be calm or to be... when the person who literally paid money for bombs and guns and military supplies to come and massacre your people is dying, you're not supped to dance." Anya's claims forced her employer to say in a statement, "We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her social media account." "Free expression is core to the mission of higher education. However, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster," they concluded. Despite thousands of people being up in arms over her comments and demanding an apology, others have jumped to the professor's defence. Over 4,000 people have signed a petition defending Anya, saying her posts on Twitter spoke to personal anguish the scholar still feels about atrocities by the British Empire decades ago that touched her family. Refusing to apologise, Anya once again tweeted, "If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star." Image credits: Getty Images / Youtube

Caring

Uni professor slammed for wishing the Queen “excruciating pain”

A linguistics professor has come under fire after tweeting that she hoped the Queen's death was "excruciating". Uju Anya, a critical race theory professor from Pennsylvania, posted on Twitter last week, "I heard the chief monarch of a thieving raping genocidal empire is finally dying. May her pain be excruciating." She went on to say, "That wretched woman and her bloodthirsty throne have f***** generations of my ancestors on both sides of the family, and she supervised a government that sponsored the genocide my parents and siblings survived. May she die in agony." Her original tweet was deleted by the social media platform for violating their guidelines. Since going viral and thousands of people calling for Anya to apologise, she doubled down on her stance, saying she has nothing but "disdain" for the monarchy. Again unleashing on Twitter, she wrote, "If anyone expects me to express anything but disdain for the monarch who supervised a government that sponsored the genocide that massacred and displaced half my family and the consequences of which those alive today are still trying to overcome, you can keep wishing upon a star." Her employer, private university Carnegie Mellon, said in a statement, "We do not condone the offensive and objectionable messages posted by Uju Anya today on her social media account." "Free expression is core to the mission of higher education. However, the views she shared absolutely do not represent the values of the institution, nor the standards of discourse we seek to foster," they concluded. Despite thousands of people being up in arms over her comments and demanding an apology, others have jumped to the professor's defence. Over 4,000 people have signed a petition defending Anya, saying her posts on Twitter spoke to personal anguish the Nigerian-born scholar still feels about atrocities by the British Empire decades ago that touched her family. The online petition and accompanying letter claim the professor was well within her right to speak freely over the matters, and had just cause to do so. “As colleagues at other institutions, one thing that sticks out to us is that universities have nothing to gain by calling out individual employees on free speech—especially when they can be seen doing it selectively—as is the case for CMU. Professor Anya’s Twitter clearly states: ‘Views are mine,’” the letter reads in part. “Yet, her institution took up the charge to admonish a Black woman professor, calling her response to her lived experiences of the real and tangible impacts of colonialism and white supremacy, ‘offensive and objectionable.’ This is unacceptable and dehumanising." Since the passing of Queen Elizabeth, many have mourned the loss of the monarch, as she was revered as a leader of grace, longevity and resilience. However, her death also has brought to the surface lingering bitterness in parts of Africa, Asia and the Caribbean, according to reports by <a href="https://apnews.com/article/king-charles-iii-africa-caribbean-slavery-50f9175b541f307adb2e494fcccc80f5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Associated Press</a>. Image credits: Getty Images / Carnegie Mellon University

News

My Kitchen Rules makes its highly-anticipated return

My Kitchen Rules is once again hitting the screens on Sunday August 7. The cooking show’s future was up in the air for a bit following terrible ratings as well as the controversy around former judge Pete Evans’ covid conspiracy theories and anti-vaxx stance. But alas, fans have been given an air date with Manu Feildel coming back to judge the food along with newcomer, television cook Nigella Lawson. "Going to restaurants can be a treat, but for me, the true story of food is told through the cooking we do at home,” Nigella said. “So, to have the chance to champion home cooks and be given the intimate privilege of being invited into people’s homes to eat their food fills me with gratitude and excitement in equal measure!” The show will go back to its roots of everyday Aussies showing off their culinary skills and love for food as they compete for the winning prize of $250,000. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgk2z5ghkJC/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgk2z5ghkJC/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by MKR (@mykitchenrules)</a> </div> </blockquote> Manu recently spoke on the I’ve Got News For You podcast about missing Pete by his side judging the food but said the pair remain “good friends”. “Of course, Pete and I have known each other for a long time, we’re still good friends today, so yeah – missing that,” he told host Andrew Bucklow. “At the same token, you know, it was nice to work with someone new and someone different. The show has been on the shelf for a couple of years, so it was exciting to be working with someone else.” The new season of My Kitchen Rules airs on Sunday August 7 on Channel 7 at 7pm. Image: Instagram

Tom Hanks questions why Tim Allen wasn’t in Lightyear

Tom Hanks has questioned why Disney replaced Toy Story voice actor Tim Allen with Chris Evans in Lightyear. Toy Story featured both Hanks and Allen as voices for Woody and Buzz respectively across the four films from 1995 to 2019. Lightyear, a spin-off of the series did not feature either Hanks or Allen, instead had Chris Evans who voiced Buzz. Hanks was asked about how he felt about his new film Elvis going head-to-head with Lightyear. “How ’bout that? I actually wanted to go head-to-head with Tim Allen, and then they didn’t let Tim Allen do it. I don’t understand that,” he told CinemaBlend. It comes as Allen revealed why he was not involved with the making of Lightyear. “This is a whole new team that really had nothing to do with the first movies,” he told Extra. “The short answer is I’ve stayed out of this ’cause it has nothing to do [with his character]. “There’s really no ‘Toy Story’ Buzz without Woody.” Allen said he was hoping that the spin-off would have more of a connection with the original series. “[It is] a wonderful story, it just doesn’t seem to have any connection to the toy.” Image: Getty

Movies

Former Channel 7 reporter’s fall from grace

A former Channel 7 reporter’s fall from grace has seen him end up homeless, addicted to drugs, and killing his best friend while driving under the influence. Trent Evans appeared in the Victorian County court where he pleaded guilty to culpable driving causing death following a car crash on February 27, 2021 that killed his friend Rex Willox. The 45-year-old’s guilty plea marked the end of what his lawyer Rahmin de Krester described as “descent into absolute chaos”. In just two years, Evans went from managing newsrooms at Seven and Ten before his life spiralled out of control due to the pressures of his job while working on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Evans tried to take control of his life and quit the network job in 2017 to work at a local Melbourne newspaper. But things continued to spiral. Mr de Krester said his client’s life was in a downward spiral for five years. “He became more and more unstable with drug use. His life had descended into absolute chaos,” he told the court, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/trent-evans-exchannel-7-journalist-pleads-guilty-to-culpable-driving-charge-that-killed-friend-rex-willox/news-story/f76455b333b3a915c5fcbebd2c455091" target="_blank" rel="noopener">news.com.au</a> reported. The court heard that Evans and Mr Willox were drinking champagne at Mr Willox’s house before deciding to head off to Evans’ short-term motel in Parkville. Evans was unfit to drive but still got behind the wheel of Mr Willox’s black Mercedes sedan to begin the trip back to his temporary home. The pair were driving along Barkley Ave in Burnley when Evans attempted to turn right while doing 40km/h above the limit. He lost control of the vehicle which flipped and ploughed into a timber pole that saw Mr Willox die at the scene. Evans returned a blood alcohol reading of 0.13 and spent three nights in hospital before he was finally questioned by police. A search of Mr Willox’s home found three empty bottles of champagne. Investigations began and it was found that Evans was attempting the right hand turn at a shocking speed of 113km/h in a 60km/h zone. Mr Willox’s sister provided a victim impact statement following his death saying she was struggling to find the words for her loss. Evan’s lawyer said his client accept that he was “broken man” who will “carry the responsibility for Rex Willox’s death for the rest of his life.” Mr de Krester said Evans “never recovered” and from 2018 was seeking help for homelessness but continued to succumb to drug use. Judge Gregory Lyon will sentence Evans on July 11. Images: Instagram

Legal

Saliva test could detect breast cancer

A saliva test could soon be used to help identify if women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, according to a study. The study was led by Professor Gareth Evans from Manchester University who sampled the saliva of 2,500 women. A decade later, the women were presented again and the research showed that 644 were diagnosed with breast cancer. “If all these women took drugs to prevent breast cancer, that could prevent a quarter of breast cancer cases and potentially save the lives of 2,000 women a year,” he said. “If young women at high risk were offered annual mammograms, that could save hundreds more a year. “It is particularly important for women under 50, who make up one in five cases of breast cancer.” Breast cancer is cancer that starts in the breast tissue and occurs when abnormal cells in the breast grow in an uncontrolled way. It can develop at any age and is more common in women but also affects a small number of men each year. “Breast cancer can be an incredibly difficult and personal journey for women,” Professor Evans said. “We know that genetics plays a major role in determining whether women are at higher or lower risk of the disease, alongside more ‘traditional’ risk factors.” Image: Shutterstock

Body

Pete Evans responds to being replaced by Nigella Lawson

Pete Evans has responded to the news that he is set to be replaced on My Kitchen Rules. The controversial celebrity chef, who has come under fire in recent years for his stance on the Covid-19 pandemic and vaccine mandates, will be replaced on the upcoming season of the cooking show by Nigella Lawson. As the news of his replacement was made public, the former TV judge took to his Telegram account to wish the show and his friend Manu Feildel luck for the new season. “I wish Channel 7, the crew and my dear mate Manu all the very best on their upcoming series,” he posted on the platform. “I will always cherish the many years we spent together, creating so many wonderful memories.” Pete was dropped by Channel 7 in 2020 after ratings for the popular show tanked. Around the time of his departure, the former TV personality was involved in a string of controversies including claiming coronavirus could be eradicated by a $14,990 “BioCharger” device he plugged on Facebook. On Sunday, British cooking queen Nigella Lawson announced she would be joining the show for the new season, and that she "can't wait" for the new experience. “Going to restaurants can be a treat, but for me, the true story of food is told through the cooking we do at home,” the 62-year-old said. “So, to have the chance to champion home cooks and be given the intimate privilege of being invited into people’s homes to eat their food fills me with gratitude and excitement in equal measure!" “I’m so looking forward to working with Manu too. Although he’s a chef and I’m a home cook, the fact is we both just want to eat good food. I feel I’ve got a lot to learn from him, but just know we’ll have a lot of fun in the process. I can’t wait!” Image credits: Getty Images

Food & Wine

Pete Evans speaks out on Shane Warne’s death

Controversial chef Pete Evans has spoken out on the sudden death of cricket legend Shane Warne to further push his unpopular health views. Footage of the 49-year-old former TV host has began circulating online, sharing his opinion on Warney's death of a suspected heart attack in a Thailand hotel room. “Shane Warne was an amazing cricket player for sure … (it’s) sad,” Evans said, allegedly during a public Zoom call. “Who knows what the reasons behind this are and I can’t comment on it." “However, so many doctors I’ve interviewed have been screaming for the last year-and-a-half, saying the vaccines are going to cause death like we’ve never seen across the planet." “And they’re all predicting we’re not going to see the outcomes of this — or the real side effects — for the next three to five years. We’re witnessing it happening with athletes on field and there’s a reason behind that.” Several anti-vax conspiracy theorists have also flooded the Facebook comments of several media outlets reporting on the news of the cricketer's death. The same rhetoric was also prevalent on Twitter after the death of Rod Marsh on Friday, who suffered a heart attack a week before he died. “Both dead within one day of each other and Shane’s last tweet was about Rod Marsh’s death. Vaccine injury or coincidence?” one person tweeted. “You really have to wonder if the vaccines killed Rod Marsh and Shane Warne, and if you dismiss it more fool you,” wrote another. Most online users were quick to condemn the “shameful” opportunism of these fringe anti-vax communities. “PSA. People had heart attacks before the vaccine and they will have them after the vaccine! Shane Warne died of a suspected heart attack,” one person posted. “It’s not even confirmed yet, but anti-vaxxers are already signing his death certificate. It’s shameful and disgusting.” Shane Warne's official cause of death has yet to be revealed, as his family are fighting for his body to be sent home to Australia. Image credits: Getty Images

Body

Dear Evan Hansen is an inspiring and entertaining film

When Dear Evan Hansen was released on Broadway over five years ago it became a generation defining Broadway phenomenon. Now we have the film version with Ben Platt reprising the main role and he does this with breathtaking results. Some critics have complained it's not realistic for Platt to play Evan Hansen in the film version because Platt’s now 27 years old and it’s difficult for him to play an anxious, isolated high schooler. But does it matter that he’s a bit older now? Well, from an audience's point of view, it doesn’t and when Platt starts to sing those amazing songs, we can see why he won an Emmy and a Grammy for the Broadway production. As well, we have the song-writing team from La La Land and The Greatest Showman writing the songs and everything works. Plus, the serious nature of this film – the fact it deals with teenage suicide and how hard it is for some people to simply get by – makes it an important film and one which could help a lot of people. This makes Dear Evan Hansen an important and inspiring film. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CjA50VxlxAw" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> The storyline The gist of the story is that Evan Hansen is a high school loner, awkward and inept with his only friend being the equally nerdy Jared (Nik Dodani). He shows up on the first day of school with a cast after breaking his arm, and he’s been instructed by his therapist to write “Dear Evan Hansen” letters to himself in order to work out his issues connecting with other people. Fellow student Connor Murphy (Colton Ryan) has a run-in with Evan and grabs one of said letters from a printer. A few days later, Connor’s mother Cynthia and stepfather Larry (Amy Addams, Danny Pino) show up at Evan’s school with the letter saying that Connor committed suicide, and they’ve determined that the letter “to Evan” was his suicide note. Instead of telling them the truth, Evan concocts an elaborate lie about being friends with Connor in order to sooth his parents’ misgivings about his death. In order to maintain that illusion, Evan continues to lie to them as well as to Connor’s sister, Zoe (Kaitlyn Dever from Book Smart), and his lie just snowballs. Pretty soon, the school’s social justice activist Alana (Amandla Stenberg) has up the Connor Project so that others who feel alone can feel seen and heard, and Evan has become hugely popular at school. But this doesn’t last forever and Hansen has to face up to his lie later on. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/5d05305e536f427786bcdaecf7d7a755" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 359.29432013769366px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844257/evan-hansen-2-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/5d05305e536f427786bcdaecf7d7a755" /> The singing really does work Although a lot of the focus of the singing is on Platt and his quite beautiful voice, each of the other primary cast have some amazing singing moments, whether it’s Stenberg doing a song about feeling anonymous like Connor or the song, Requiem, which shows off the amazing singing prowess of Devo, Pino, and even Adams. Julianne Moore, who plays Evan’s hardworking single mother, even gets an absolutely epic number towards the end which will get the waterworks flowing if nothing beforehand has done that job. The showstopper is You Will be Found The movie’s absolutely showstopper is the number You Will be Found and it’s another great example of how the songs by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul of La La Land fame translate so well to the screen. In fact, this song alone shows you why many people became obsessed with the Broadway version of Dear Evan Hansen. The film is directed by acclaimed filmmaker Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Wonder).and he shows here he has a strong grasp on social media, cyber bullying, viral videos, and even cancel culture and how it destroys people, including families. <img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/6a5aa0b50b9b4978b0a9de506110c641" /><img style="width: 0px; height: 0px;" src="/nothing.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/93c5188b8e734808ba1159d8b2176137" /><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.6550348953141px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7844259/evan-hansen-um.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/93c5188b8e734808ba1159d8b2176137" /> Dear Evan Hansen will be in cinemas by December 9 The film brings out many emotions and one of the reasons is because as we watch it, we can relate to so much of what Hansen is going through. The characters and the story feel very real, which is as much a testament to Chbosky as a filmmaker, but also his cast and the people behind the original musical. There’s a good reason why Dear Evan Hansen was such a success on Broadway, and a great deal of that is retained by the movie. Dear Evan Hansen will be showing in cinemas by December 9 and there’ve been no announcements as to whether it will stream. Images: UPI

Movies

New study warns how high Sydney COVID numbers could rise

New research from Sydney University has found the daily COVID numbers for Greater Sydney will continue to rise, peaking between 1500 and 6000 cases by October under the current settings. The study found the daily numbers could spike up to 40,000 if the current restrictions are lifted. The complex modelling was led by Professor Mikhail Prokopenko, Director of the University of Sydney’s Centre for Complex Systems, who used data available until August 25. The total number of Australians infected in the month following reopening may exceed half a million, even with continued testing, tracing, isolation, quarantine and international travel restrictions. Consistent adherence to social distancing is important Professor Prokopenko said: “Our extended projections suggest that Delta cases will initially peak in early October and will begin to drop off as more of the population is vaccinated. However, consistent adherence to social distancing is important to prevent a sharp peak in cases.” “Although it is encouraging that more people are being vaccinated, we can expect to see a rapid increase in cases when we exit the lockdown. In fact, our modelling suggests the worst is yet to come if the restrictions are removed too soon and too abruptly,” he added. Professor Prokopenko said pandemic growth is expected to slow from mid-December, when 75 percent of the population is projected to be vaccinated and natural immunity will be developed by three to five percent of the entire population by the end of the year. Explaining further, Professor Prokopenko said: “The clear take away is this – with increasing vaccinations there is a path out of the current outbreak, but as a society we can either choose to land softly or come to a dramatic crash landing.,” “This will depend on the community continuing its high vaccine uptake, people maintaining social distancing over the coming months, and our healthcare system preparing and bolstering itself to meet the surge of hospitalisations which will come after the lockdown. “Although the current situation is frustrating, the lockdown end is now in sight, and we must not lose our focus until it is safe to do so. As Mahatma Gandhi famously asserted, `to lose patience is to lose the battle’ – this is a warning we must now all heed,” he added. Some restrictions to stay after vaccination target reached NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has pledged to keep some restrictions in place even after the 80 percent vaccination threshold is reached. Dr Kerry Chant said earlier this week that mask wearing might remain “for years.” It comes as NSW has reached new COVID-19 records with over 1000 cases recorded on Thursday. Easing of some restrictions if you’re vaccinated Despite the spike in infections, Berejiklian has announced a range of eased restrictions for those who are vaccinated surrounding outdoor gatherings which will come into effect on September 13. She added people need to get ready for when we reach the 70 percent vaccinated target and more restrictions will ease, but “…the condition of you participating in what will be reopening is on you being vaccinated. Because when you start opening at 70 per cent, there are certain activities only vaccinated people can do.” Those who live outside of the LGAs of concern will be allowed to have outdoor gatherings of up to five people, including children, so long as all adults are fully vaccinated. The gathering must occur within their LGA or within 5km from home. For those who live in the LGAs of concern, households with all adults vaccinated will be able to gather outdoors for recreation, including picnics, within the existing rules. This means for one hour only, outside curfew hours and within 5km of home. This is in addition to the one hour allowed for exercise. Photo: Getty Images

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