All posts tagged: Steve

Steve Bannon Is Out of Prison and Spreading Lies Online

Steve Bannon Is Out of Prison and Spreading Lies Online

Published by skeptic

Steve Bannon got out of federal prison at around 3 am Tuesday. Seven hours later, he was live on his War Room podcast to “flood the zone with shit” exactly one week before the presidential election. Flooding the zone with shit is Bannon’s own oft-quoted description of his media strategy: churning so many lies or half-truths into the stratosphere that it becomes impossible to draw a line between fact and fiction. “I am more energized and more focused than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” said Bannon on the War Room stream on Rumble, which garnered nearly 100,000 live viewers at one point. “The four months in federal prison not only didn’t break me, it empowered me.” Bannon, 70, a longtime ally of and former strategist for Donald Trump, spent four months at a low-security federal prison in Danbury, Connecticut, for contempt after he defied a subpoena in the congressional probe into the January 6 Capitol riot. Bannon has cast himself as a martyr—someone who, like January 6 rioters and like Trump, is being …

Steve Martin hilariously edits his photo with Martin Short and Meryl Streep

Steve Martin hilariously edits his photo with Martin Short and Meryl Streep

Published by skeptic

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Steve Martin shared a hilarious edit to his photo with Meryl Streep and Martin Short, amid rumors that his co-stars are dating. The 79-year-old actor took to Instagram on October 19 to share a snap of himself and his two Only Murders in the Building co-stars, as it was featured in a recent article by Glamour. In the picture, which was captured in 2023, Martin stood right behind Streep, while Short stood on the other side of her, with a big smile on his face. However, in his post, the Cheaper by the Dozen star took himself out of the picture by having a giant red X covering his face. In the comments, fans were quick to question what Martin’s edit meant, specifically wondering …

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff reveals Steve Jobs’ influence on Agentforce AI strategy

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff reveals Steve Jobs’ influence on Agentforce AI strategy

Published by skeptic

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, unveiled the profound impact of a decade-old conversation with Steve Jobs on the company’s groundbreaking AI initiative, Agentforce. Benioff shared this intimate story during a press briefing last week, just hours before Salesforce launched its most ambitious project to date. Salesforce positions Agentforce, a suite of AI-powered autonomous agents, as a pivotal shift for the CRM giant. The new platform aims to change how businesses interact with AI, moving beyond simple chatbots to intelligent systems capable of complex reasoning and decision-making. Benioff’s recollection of his meeting with the late Apple co-founder illuminates how Jobs’ laser-focused approach to product development has shaped Salesforce’s strategy for Agentforce. In Benioff’s own words: “In 2010, Steve Jobs called me up. He said, ‘Mark, I need you down in my office today.’ I came down there with a few of my executives. We had a great relationship; he’d helped me so much with Salesforce, and I …

Kill for Me Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

Kill for Me Kill for You by Steve Cavanagh

Published by skeptic

When Strangers Make a Deadly Pact You know that feeling when you’re reading a thriller and you think you’ve got it all figured out? Yeah, well, forget about that. Steve Cavanagh’s latest psychological rollercoaster, “Kill for Me, Kill for You,” will have you second-guessing every assumption until the very last page. Trust me, I thought I was clever enough to see where this was going. Spoiler alert: I wasn’t even close. The Premise: A Dangerous Game of Revenge So here’s the deal: Two women, Amanda and Wendy, meet by chance in New York City. They’re both drowning in grief and anger, having lost loved ones to violent crimes. Over drinks (because let’s face it, that’s when all the best/worst ideas happen), they cook up a plan straight out of Hitchcock’s “Strangers on a Train.” The idea? Simple but deadly—they’ll kill for each other. Meanwhile, poor Ruth is attacked in her own home by a blue-eyed stranger who vanishes into the night. Her sense of safety? Gone. Her husband Scott? Well, he’s about to make some …

Steve Dymond inquest: Clips of unaired Jeremy Kyle show played in court | Ents & Arts News

Steve Dymond inquest: Clips of unaired Jeremy Kyle show played in court | Ents & Arts News

Published by skeptic

Jeremy Kyle has defended both his chat show and his presenting style during the inquest into the death of a man after appearing on the programme. It came as the court was also shown clips from the unaired show for the first time. Steve Dymond, 63, was found dead at his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire, in May 2019, seven days after taking part in the show. Image: Steve Dymond died after filming an episode of The Jeremy Kyle Show. Pic: Family handout/PA A coroner found he had died of a combination of a morphine overdose and left ventricular hypertrophy in his heart. Mr Dymond had taken a lie detector test for the ITV programme after being accused of cheating on his ex-fiancee Jane Callaghan. Following his death, the episode was never aired, and the series was later cancelled. Speaking on day three of the inquest at Winchester Coroner’s Court, Kyle stood by the structure of the show, saying the stories featured were “a journey” containing both “conflict” and “resolution”. The court was shown clips from …

Portrayal of character in Steve Coogan’s film The Lost King is defamatory, judge rules | UK news

Portrayal of character in Steve Coogan’s film The Lost King is defamatory, judge rules | UK news

Published by skeptic

The portrayal of a former university official in Steve Coogan’s film about the discovery of the remains of Richard III is defamatory, a high court judge has ruled. Richard Taylor, a former deputy registrar at the University of Leicester, is suing Coogan, the production company Baby Cow and the distributors Pathe. He claims the 2022 movie The Lost King shows his character, played by Lee Ingleby, behaving in an “abominable way” towards the amateur historian Philippa Langley, played by Sally Hawkins, who spearheaded the dig. Taylor claims the film shows him taking credit for himself and the university that was rightfully Langley’s for the 2012 discovery of Richard III’s remains in a Leicester car park more than 500 years after the king’s death. The defendants denied that the film portrayed such a “saint and sinner” narrative but, in a judgment published on Friday, Judge Lewis said its portrayal of the former university employee was defamatory. Lewis said: “The character Mr Taylor was portrayed throughout the film in a negative light. At no point was he …

Trump White House aide Steve Bannon loses appeal of contempt of Congress conviction

Trump White House aide Steve Bannon loses appeal of contempt of Congress conviction

Published by skeptic

A federal appeals court on Friday unanimously upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of former Trump White House senior aide Steve Bannon for refusing to testify and provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. The appeals court rejected Bannon’s argument that he was not guilty because his attorney had advised him not to comply with a subpoena from the House committee. The ruling by a three-judge panel on the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit makes it more likely that Bannon will soon have to begin serving a sentence of four months in jail for his conviction of two counts of contempt. An attorney for Bannon said he will now request that the full judicial panel of the D.C. Circuit hear his appeal again, which might postpone his jail term. Bannon’s lawyer Doug Schoen told CNBC in an email, ”The Court of Appeals panel held today that it does not have the authority to overrule the 1961 panel of the …

Read the Uncompromising Letter That Steve Albini (RIP) Wrote to Nirvana Before Producing In Utero (1993)

Read the Uncompromising Letter That Steve Albini (RIP) Wrote to Nirvana Before Producing In Utero (1993)

Published by José

Today, Steve Albi­ni, the musi­cian and pro­duc­er of impor­tant albums by Nir­vana, PJ Har­vey, the Pix­ies and many oth­ers, passed away in Chica­go, at the all-too-ear­ly age of 61. In trib­ute, we’re bring­ing you this clas­sic 2013 post from our archive.  Jour­ney­man record pro­duc­er Steve Albi­ni (he prefers to be called a “record­ing engi­neer”) is per­haps the cranki­est man in rock. This is not an effect of age. He’s always been that way, since the emer­gence of his scary, no-frills post-punk band Big Black and lat­er projects Rape­man and Shel­lac. In his cur­rent role as elder states­man of indie rock and more, Chicago’s Albi­ni has devel­oped a rep­u­ta­tion as kind of a hardass. He’s also a con­sum­mate pro­fes­sion­al who musi­cians want to know and work with. From the sound of the Pix­ies’ Surfer Rosa to Joan­na Newsom’s Ys, Albi­ni has had a hand in some of the defin­ing albums of the last thir­ty plus years, and there is good rea­son for that: noth­ing sounds like an Albi­ni record. His method is all his own, and his …

Steve Albini, musician and producer for Nirvana, the Pixies and PJ Harvey, is dead at 61

Steve Albini, musician and producer for Nirvana, the Pixies and PJ Harvey, is dead at 61

Published by skeptic

Musician Steve Albini of Shellac performs onstage during FYF Fest 2016 at Los Angeles Sports Arena on August 27, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. MATT WINKELMEYER / GETTY IMAGES VIA AFP Steve Albini, an alternative rock pioneer and legendary producer who shaped the musical landscape through his work with Nirvana, the Pixies, PJ Harvey and more, has died. He was 61. Brian Fox, an engineer at Albini’s studio, Electrical Audio Recording, said Wednesday, May 8, that Albini died after a heart attack Tuesday night. In addition to his work on canonized rock albums such as Nirvana’s In Utero, the Pixies’ breakthrough Surfer Rosa, and PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me, Albini was the frontman of the underground bands Big Black and Shellac. He dismissed the term “producer,” refused to take royalties from the albums he worked on, and requested he be credited with “Recorded by Steve Albini,” a fabled label on albums he worked on. At the time of his death, Albini’s band Shellac was preparing to tour their first new album in a decade, To …

The Many Lessons of Steve Albini

The Many Lessons of Steve Albini

Published by skeptic

Nearly 20 years ago, my high-school calculus teacher introduced me to a book that would, although I didn’t realize it at the time, permanently reframe the way I thought about music. Written by the journalist Michael Azerrad, Our Band Could Be Your Life was a study of the 1980s independent-music landscape—of bands who had unconsciously responded to the commercialism found on MTV and mainstream rock radio by going underground, and by getting very weird. The book introduced me to groups such as Black Flag, Dinosaur Jr., and the Replacements, the last of which had beer-drunk songwriting and electric punk-rock hooks that soon made it my favorite band. These groups had never become traditionally successful, Azzerad explained, but their careers represented a romantic and uncompromising approach to making music, which could too easily become cheapened by external forces. And in fact, many of the bands in the book had attempted to move up a level by signing to major labels, only to hit an artificial ceiling once it became clear that they couldn’t look or sound …