https://www.themarysue.com/university-of-austin-advisers-jump-ship/
It’s been one week since former New York Times writer Bari Weiss announced that she and some other conservative grifters were opening a “university” and people are already jumping ship.
It’s been one week since the University of Austin was publicly announced and things are going great so far! https://t.co/sQ0rWFJSYK
— David Klion (@DavidKlion) November 15, 2021
Robert Zimmer, who is the chancellor of the University of Chicago, issued a brief statement explaining why he chose to step down from his position on the advisory board only a few days after the project went public. (He says he resigned last week.)
Zimmer says while he values the “organization’s commitment to a liberal arts education and free expression,” the unaccredited university “made a number of statements about higher education in general, largely quite critical, that diverged very significantly from my own views.”
As a reminder, the entire project appears to be based on an idea that conservative voices are being silenced in education, especially higher education. This comes from a group of people who love to scream about their own silencing, doing so from gigantic platforms like Fox News, the New York Times, and MSNBC, while simultaneously ignoring the very real war being waged right this moment against discussions of race and racism in schools.
Additionally, in his brief statement, Zimmer makes sure to note that the advisory board “had no fiduciary, oversight or management responsibilities.”
Along those same lines, the “University” of Austin issued its own statement, saying that “as is often the case with fast-moving start-ups, there were some missteps.”
“In particular, our website initially failed to make clear the distinction between the Founding Trustees and the Advisory Board. Although we moved swiftly to correct this mistake, it conflated advisors, who were aligned in general with the project but not necessarily in agreement with all its actions and statements, and those who had originated the project and bear responsibility for those things,” the statement reads.
This is reminiscent of the infamous and terrible Harper’s letter (which was signed by Bari Weiss), where a bunch of prominent writers and other public figures signed their names to a vague condemnation of cancel culture, only to have a number of them walk back their involvement after it was revealed how many famous transphobes were on the list of signatories, giving the impression that their own transphobia was the thing they were ultimately defending from “cancelation.”
It sounds like Zimmer may have signed on to help advise this upstart “university” in a vague capacity, only to face intense backlash for being associated with the obvious grift, and he’s not the only one of these “advisers” who seems to have been caught off guard with what the school actually stands for.
Gordon Gee, longtime college prez and adviser to the University of Austin, distances himself from the organization’s key claims: “I do not agree other universities are no longer seeking the truth nor do I feel that higher education is irreparably broken.” https://t.co/qxBSqizYxM
— Lindsay Ellis (@lindsayaellis) November 8, 2021
Zimmer also isn’t the only adviser to resign in the first week. Psychologist Steven Pinker also resigned, writing on Twitter that he was going to concentrate on his book (which came out in September) and his podcast.
So Steven Pinker is stepping down from his role in the University of Austin to concentrate on a book he’s already written, and which is already published? How much concentration does that require?
— Dr. Rhiannon Dauster
(@RhiannonDauster) November 16, 2021
You don’t have to hand it to any of these people but this is absolutely humiliating to anyone who is still involved with the project https://t.co/Qh1a4WuYFI
— David Klion (@DavidKlion) November 16, 2021
Pinker’s resignation is actually a bit of a surprise since he is 100% the kind of person you’d expect to be associated with this sort of conservative-contrarian academia scam.
steven “reports of rape are overblown” pinker
also known as steven “jews are high IQ” pinker
also also known as steven “cancelled by caitlin” pinker pic.twitter.com/qiqxlULyJs
— Dr. Green, PhD in not being evil to students (@caitlinmoriah) November 8, 2021
It’s nice to see that one week in, things at the University of Austin are going exactly as well we would have expected!
(image: NBC)
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The post One Week In and Things at the University of Austin Are Going Exactly as Poorly as You’d Expect first appeared on The Mary Sue.
It’s been one week since former New York Times writer Bari Weiss announced that she and some other conservative grifters were opening a “university” and people are already jumping ship.
It’s been one week since the University of Austin was publicly announced and things are going great so far! https://t.co/sQ0rWFJSYK
— David Klion (@DavidKlion) November 15, 2021
Robert Zimmer, who is the chancellor of the University of Chicago, issued a brief statement explaining why he chose to step down from his position on the advisory board only a few days after the project went public. (He says he resigned last week.)
Zimmer says while he values the “organization’s commitment to a liberal arts education and free expression,” the unaccredited university “made a number of statements about higher education in general, largely quite critical, that diverged very significantly from my own views.”
As a reminder, the entire project appears to be based on an idea that conservative voices are being silenced in education, especially higher education. This comes from a group of people who love to scream about their own silencing, doing so from gigantic platforms like Fox News, the New York Times, and MSNBC, while simultaneously ignoring the very real war being waged right this moment against discussions of race and racism in schools.
Additionally, in his brief statement, Zimmer makes sure to note that the advisory board “had no fiduciary, oversight or management responsibilities.”
Along those same lines, the “University” of Austin issued its own statement, saying that “as is often the case with fast-moving start-ups, there were some missteps.”
“In particular, our website initially failed to make clear the distinction between the Founding Trustees and the Advisory Board. Although we moved swiftly to correct this mistake, it conflated advisors, who were aligned in general with the project but not necessarily in agreement with all its actions and statements, and those who had originated the project and bear responsibility for those things,” the statement reads.
This is reminiscent of the infamous and terrible Harper’s letter (which was signed by Bari Weiss), where a bunch of prominent writers and other public figures signed their names to a vague condemnation of cancel culture, only to have a number of them walk back their involvement after it was revealed how many famous transphobes were on the list of signatories, giving the impression that their own transphobia was the thing they were ultimately defending from “cancelation.”
It sounds like Zimmer may have signed on to help advise this upstart “university” in a vague capacity, only to face intense backlash for being associated with the obvious grift, and he’s not the only one of these “advisers” who seems to have been caught off guard with what the school actually stands for.
Gordon Gee, longtime college prez and adviser to the University of Austin, distances himself from the organization’s key claims: “I do not agree other universities are no longer seeking the truth nor do I feel that higher education is irreparably broken.” https://t.co/qxBSqizYxM
— Lindsay Ellis (@lindsayaellis) November 8, 2021
Zimmer also isn’t the only adviser to resign in the first week. Psychologist Steven Pinker also resigned, writing on Twitter that he was going to concentrate on his book (which came out in September) and his podcast.
So Steven Pinker is stepping down from his role in the University of Austin to concentrate on a book he’s already written, and which is already published? How much concentration does that require?
— Dr. Rhiannon Dauster
You don’t have to hand it to any of these people but this is absolutely humiliating to anyone who is still involved with the project https://t.co/Qh1a4WuYFI
— David Klion (@DavidKlion) November 16, 2021
Pinker’s resignation is actually a bit of a surprise since he is 100% the kind of person you’d expect to be associated with this sort of conservative-contrarian academia scam.
steven “reports of rape are overblown” pinker
also known as steven “jews are high IQ” pinker
also also known as steven “cancelled by caitlin” pinker pic.twitter.com/qiqxlULyJs
— Dr. Green, PhD in not being evil to students (@caitlinmoriah) November 8, 2021
It’s nice to see that one week in, things at the University of Austin are going exactly as well we would have expected!
(image: NBC)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
The post One Week In and Things at the University of Austin Are Going Exactly as Poorly as You’d Expect first appeared on The Mary Sue.
Peter Parker isn’t having an easy time. The last we saw, Mysterio gave away his identity to the world in one last trick, and now on top of trying to keep himself hidden from the world (because they think he murdered Quentin Beck) he also has the multiverse to deal with. Wow, really what a week for people that Jake Gyllenhaal has wronged.
But in the newest trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home we get to see Peter Parker struggling with his reality while trying to fix a spell that “he” messed up. I can’t wait to hear Peter Parker make some remark at Stephen Strange about how he’s not the wizard in this situation but still, watching as Peter, MJ, and Ned all try and navigate this world full of villains is about to be exciting!
So my sweet good boy wants to save his villains instead of having more people die on his watch? What I love about the Tom Holland universe is that Peter Parker is still a kid, meaning he makes fun of things like a kid. Like Otto Octavius’ name. But I want to go back to him talking about his villains because Peter Parker, at his core, is someone who cares and that’s what makes him so special.
Peter is about heart. Why I love Spider-Man as a character is because it isn’t about the mask, it is about the person who is willing to do the right thing behind it. The mask is a symbol but Peter’s drive to do the right thing makes him a good hero. Miles wants to protect those he loves, Gwen wants to do right by those she lost…they’re all driven by their own heroic acts and it’s why Spidey works as a hero.
Spider-Man: No Way Home feels like the perfect encapsulation of that. All around him, Peter has seen death. Whether at his own hand (albeit accidentally) or because of something outside of his control. So him wanting to protect his villains, to be the one who saves people for once? That’s so Peter and so much of why I love him.
There is also the topic of “You’re not Peter Parker” that we need to talk about…
I firmly believe that this trailer confirmed that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield are still canonically part of this universe and I do think that it means we will see them in the final battle of the movie. When Stephen Strange says that they’re breaking through? I think he’s talking about more villains but I do think that it also means that he’ll have the help of Maguire and Garfield.
Sure, it would have been nice to have them on screen all standing together but having that moment in a movie theater? That’s going to be worth the wait. And even if we don’t see them in this movie, the fact that Doc Ock says that this is not his Peter Parker is telling.
Spider-Man: No Way Home is going to change the way we look at the Spider-Verse and I can’t wait!
(image: Marvel Entertainment)
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The post The New Trailer for Spider-Man: No Way Home Is EVERYTHING first appeared on The Mary Sue.
Let's get to it, people! The longstanding Archimedes quote-"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line" remains as constant as well.....a straight line. Pull up a seat and listen to the latest musings of Afronerd Radio's Grindhouse broadcast airing every Sunday at 6 p.m. eastern on BTalk 100. The topics up for grabs thiS week are as follows: more news is coming out concerning the BTS production of Wakanda Forever, the sequel to the 2018 blockbuster, The Black Panther. If it's not speculation about Shuri actress, Letitia Wright, then it's the recent rumor that the actor who portrayed M'Baku, Winston Duke, might be donning the Panther mantle. Let's discuss.; the animated translation of the Blade Runner franchise, Blade Runner: Black Lotus, made its debut this weekend and we give our impressions;
One thing that Dburt is doing (finally) is investing in cryptocurrency, courtesy of Roundlyx. We would implore our followers to investigate, discern and then explore by using our referral code: afro-87A4BF
Call us LIVE at 508-645-0100. AFTER CLICKING ON THE HIGHLIGHTED LINK, GO DIRECTLY TO AFRONERD RADIO!!!
Also, Afronerd Radio's podcast format can be heard via BTalk 100 Pandora, Spotify and, IHeartRadio....more formats to follow!
Ghostbusters: Afterlife comes to us from Jason Reitman, son of the original director Ivan Reitman. And it feels like a return to the world of nostalgia that has become the legacy of the Ghostbusters themselves. While I am a fan of Ghostbusters: Answer the Call, I will say that watching Afterlife and having that connection back to the original movies raises the emotional stakes and makes Afterlife just work.
Focused on the estranged family of Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis), the film takes place in Summerville, Oklahoma, where Egon fled to live on a dirt farm after abandoning the Ghostbusters and leaving his daughter Callie (Carrie Coon) when she was just a baby. But when Callie and her children, Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Phoebe (McKenna Grace), fall on hard times, they take to Summerville to live in Egon’s farm and pack up some of his belongings to try to sell for money.
The breakdown of this movie is incredibly similar to the original Ghostbusters from 1984 but that’s the design of it. It’s meant to bring us back into that world from the 80s even so that those events are history and documented even though the younger characters in the movie don’t really know what happened (which is a fun commentary on how we view historical events versus how the younger generations deem their importance).
But what works about Afterlife is Phoebe. The entire movie is filled with fun characters and a wonderful new crew to take us on this journey (and future ones if they want) but Phoebe is the heart that connects it all back to Egon, Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Winston Zeddemore.
Phoebe is essentially a mini-Egon. While Callie doesn’t really care about science and even scoffs at it at times, Phoebe embraces her love of it and is constantly experimenting, even has glasses just like Egon’s despite not knowing that he was her grandfather. But as she learns about the Ghostbusters and learns about what her grandfather did, she knows that she’s like him and that heart drives the movie forward.
It’s filled with amazing performances from Finn Wolfhard (who has his own shared connection to the Ghostbusters movies thanks to Stranger Things) and Celeste O’Connor. Paul Rudd obviously understands the comedy of the movie and functions as a mix of Louis Tully as well as the history lesson that Phoebe and her friend Podcast (Logan Kim) need. Speaking of Podcast, I would truly lay my life on the line for this small boy who has a podcast about the supernatural that has only one subscriber but that doesn’t stop him.
To keep the mystery and the joy of Ghostbusters: Afterlife alive, I won’t get into spoilers but I will say that the movie knows exactly how to tug on your heart in the best way and I found myself crying multiple times over and it is worth it to be back in the world of the Ghostbusters once again. After all, who you gonna call?
(image: Sony Pictures)
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The post Ghostbusters: Afterlife Brings Nostalgia, Tears, and a New Life to the Franchise first appeared on The Mary Sue.