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Review: ‘The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes’ is a prequel for pre-sold fans only

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

Michael Phillips | Chicago Tribune (TNS)Like its title, “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes” takes its sweet time getting where it’s going. Seriously, I would’ve gone with just songbirds, or snakes. As is, it’s two-fifths of the way to “The Ballad of Songbirds, Snakes, Presidential Origin Stories, Katniss Everdeen Wannabes and Problems with Pacing.”Running times are relative, of course. In a separate division, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is an hour longer and twice as compelling. But “Songbirds and Snakes” takes its job super seriously, with more solemnity than imaginative excitement.The “Hunger Games” prequel asks: How did future dystopian hellhole president Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland in the previous “Hunger Games” movies) tip over to the dark side, where all the cool, misunderstood kids from Darth Vader to Elphaba to Cruella de Vil hang out? Pre-invested fans of the “Hunger Games” franchise, intrigued by the rising politico Snow’s young adult...

Boston College freshman split end Jaedn Skeete making an impact

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

True freshmen have a hard time making an immediate impact at the Power-5 level in the age of redshirts, fifth-year graduate students and the open transfer portal.Boston College wide receiver Jaedn Skeete is one of the few exceptions. The 6-1, 176-pound speedster from Hyde Park has become a fixture in quarterback Thomas Castellanos’ progressions despite a crowded field of receivers.Freshman WR Jaedn Skeete. (BC Athletics photo)“We need the next guy to step up and do the best that he can and we have a lot of young guys playing right now,” said BC head coach Jeff Hafley. “Guys that step up have to play and Skeete is one of those guys.“If you look at what Skeete did the last two weeks, he is a young guy that is starting to play really well. He has started now in multiple games and he is seeing significant playing time.”Skeete will compete in his fifth game since replacing Ryan O’Keefe at the X-receiver slot when BC (6-4, 3-3) encounters the Pittsburgh Panthers (2-8, 1-5) on Thursday nig...

Novelist Tess Gerritsen’s neighbors are retired spies. So she wrote about it.

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

A mystery writer moves into a town full of spies.It sounds like the plot of the latest streaming series, but that’s really what happened to the internationally bestselling mystery writer Tess Gerritsen, best known for her police procedural series featuring Boston homicide detective Jane Rizzoli and medical examiner Maura Isles (which inspired the TNT television series, “Rizzoli & Isles”).Originally from San Diego, Gerritsen moved with her husband to a 5,000-person town on the rocky coast of Maine some 33 years ago – and what happened next eventually ended up inspiring her most recent novel, “The Spy Coast.” This novel also launches a whole new series for the author about a group of retired spies who called themselves The Martini Club.Gerritsen makes a recorded appearance on Friday’s episode of “Bookish,” the virtual program produced by the Southern California News Group that goes live at 5 p.m. via Zoom with fellow guests David Ulin talking about his noir thriller “Thirteen Ques...

Rep. Peter Durant to be sworn-in as state senator on Nov. 29, officials confirm

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

State Rep. Peter Durant will be sworn-in as a senator the afternoon of Nov. 29 after winning a special election for a Central Massachusetts seat last week, Senate President Karen Spilka’s office confirmed Wednesday.Durant, a Spencer Republican, claimed victory over Rep. Jon Zlotnik, a Gardner Democrat who plans to run for reelection to his House seat next year. Durant succeeds Anne Gobi, a Democrat who left the Legislature to serve as rural affairs director for the Healey administration.“I’m looking forward to our new role and we’re currently working on transition from the old district to make sure that no constituent issues fall through the cracks,” Durant said in a statement to the Herald Wednesday.A spokesperson for Spilka said the ceremony will take place at 3 p.m. in a yet-to-be-determined location.Durant will bring the total number of Republicans in the Senate to four, well below the number necessary to break Democrats’ veto-proof majority in the ...

Red Sox announce return of Winter Weekend fan festival in Springfield

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

The Red Sox Winter Weekend fan festival will return to Springfield early next year, with the club announcing the eighth annual event will take place on January 19-20, 2024.For the second straight year and for the third time overall, Red Sox Winter Weekend will be held at MGM Springfield and the adjacent MassMutual Center in downtown Springfield. The event will include a welcome and introduction of new and returning players, roundtable discussions with club officials and decision makers, as well as autographs, photos and more.Members of the coaching staff will also be in attendance, as will a number of Red Sox alumni. A specific list of attendees has not yet been announced.The weekend has traditionally served as a celebration of all things Red Sox, though last year’s event took a foreboding turn when owner John Henry and then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom were booed on stage by fans during a question and answer session.Whether the vibes improve this year remains to be seen...

Bruins notebook: Jim Montgomery wants improvement in defending rush

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

The Bruins sit atop the NHL standings with a 12-1-2 record as we inch our way toward Thanksgiving. Given all their key personnel losses, it is stunning they are just a point off the pace they set last year in their record-breaking 65-win season.While many undoubtedly thought at this point last season their success rate was unsustainable – and then proven wrong – this year’s rate of winning seems even less likely to continue without some marked improvement in their defensive game.The B’s are often giving up as many — if not more – high-danger chances than their opponents.The good news is they’ve had the goaltending from Jeremy Swayman (.944 save percentage, 1.69 GAA) and Linus Ullmark (.928 save percentage, 2.23 GAA) to cover up those blemishes. The bad news is they are simply overly reliant on their goaltending to be tremendous every night with what they’re able to create offensively. They have yet to win a game in which their opponent has scored more t...

Trump’s lawyers want a mistrial in his New York civil fraud case. They claim the judge is biased

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)NEW YORK (AP) — Lawyers for Donald Trump asked for a mistrial Wednesday in the New York civil fraud case that threatens the former president’s real estate empire. His team accuses the judge of tainting the proceedings with “tangible and overwhelming” bias.In urging Judge Arthur Engoron to stop the case immediately, they argued he had irreparably harmed Trump’s right to a fair trial through “astonishing departures from ordinary standards of impartiality.” They cited his rulings against their client as well as the prominent role played by the judge’s chief law clerk.Engoron gave lawyers who are presenting New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit until Thursday to decide whether they will file a response before he rules.Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has long complained about Engoron, a Democrat. Trump was incensed by a gag order that judge impos...

A suspicious letter to the top elections agency in Kansas appears harmless, authorities say

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — The substance in a suspicious letter sent to the top elections agency in Kansas doesn’t appear to have been hazardous, and the mail appeared unrelated to threatening letters sent to election offices in other states, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation said Wednesday.The letter delivered Tuesday to the Kansas secretary of state’s office prompted authorities to evacuate its building just before noon and keep it closed for the rest of the day. The KBI said it has identified a suspect in Tuesday’s incident, though no arrest was announced. The KBI also said it has no reason to believe the letter was connected to threatening letters containing a harmless white powder sent in June to dozens of Republican legislators in Kansas, Montana and Tennessee.While authorities are still waiting on final tests of the substance in Tuesday’s letter, preliminary testing indicated it was not harmful, KBI spokesperson Melissa Underwood said in an emailed statement. The ...

Mayorkas warns of dangers to the US if it loses tools to block terrorists from using drones and WMD

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government is at risk of losing key tools for preventing terrorists from using drones, chemicals or weapons of mass destruction if Congress doesn’t take action soon, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas warned Wednesday.Congress could temporarily extend the measures dealing with drones and WMD as part of a bill the House approved Tuesday to avert a government shutdown. But a bill regulating chemicals stalled in the Senate after a Republican senator raised concerns that it could make the U.S. chemical industry less competitive, and those powers expired in July. The others also expire this year unless Congress takes action to extend them.“Congress must not allow these DHS authorities to lapse,” Mayorkas said, arguing that they are vital for protecting the country. “This is not a moment to let our guard down.”He spoke during a congressional hearing focused on threats to the homeland alongside FBI Director Christopher Wray and the director of the Nat...

Hospital director in Haiti says a gang stormed in and took hundreds of women and children hostage

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 06:11:35 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A heavily armed gang burst into a hospital in Haiti on Wednesday and took hostage hundreds of women, children and newborns, according to the director of the medical center who pleaded for help via social media.Jose Ulysse, founder and director of the Fontaine Hospital Center in the sprawling Cite Soleil slum in the capital of Port-au-Prince, confirmed the incident in a brief message exchange with The Associated Press. “We are in great difficulty,” he said.No further details were immediately available, and it was not clear why the assailants may have taken patients hostage. Ulysse did not respond to further questions for comment.The hospital is considered an oasis and a lifeline in a community overrun by gangs that have unleashed increasingly violent attacks against each other, with civilians who live in Cite Soleil routinely raped, beaten or killed.Ulysse identified those responsible as members of the Brooklyn gang, led by Gabriel Jean-Pierre, best known...