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The Last Voyage of the Demeter Sinks Dracula into Silliness

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

The most seductive thing, or the only seductive thing, about the new Dracula riff The Last Voyage of the Demeter is its rather inspired B-movie concept — one that’s apparently been in development hell, with scores of personnel changes, for over 20 years. We all know the plot beats of Dracula well enough, including the elliptical passage of the title schooner from Bulgaria to the south of England, where it shows up with a crew of corpses and crates of Carpathian sand. It’s only a five-page chunk of Chapter 7, in which the local Whitby newspaper quotes the captain’s log, and what happened on the voyage is something filmmakers have usually skipped over as well — only Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922) and Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979) paused to make a stark memorable meal of the situation.In fact, focusing on the unnamed marginal characters in the famous larger story has a postmodern pedigree — the Demeter’s tribulations could be a monster-culture Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. ...

SF Giants surrender 18 hits in blowout loss to Rays as offensive woes continue

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO — If Oselvis Basabe’s at-bat in the fourth inning Monday night looked foreign, it’s because the Rays’ rookie shortstop did something few, if any, Giants have done this season. With two on and two outs, Basabe put on a masterclass of situational hitting.The Giants’ shifted infield opened a wide hole between first and second base, and Basabe adjusted his swing to poke a ball through with surgical precision.When an out of any kind would have kept the game knotted at zero, Basabe’s single drove in the Rays’ first two runs and was only the beginning of a barrage of hits as they sent San Francisco (63-56) to its eighth loss in its past 10 games, 10-2.Barreling up just about everything out of the hands of the Giants’ opener, Ryan Walker, and the pitcher who relieved him, Tristan Beck, the Rays (72-49) had amassed a dozen hits and a 5-0 lead by the time they were done batting in the fifth inning. They padded their lead with five runs o...

Baseball equipment stolen from Rodeo little league

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

RODEO, Calif. (KRON) – A Bay Area little league team is stunned and saddened after they found most of their baseball equipment stolen.Someone broke into the Rodeo Baseball League sheds, causing a lot of damage, and ran off with thousands of dollars of equipment. The loss is a lot for the small league to shoulder.Little League baseball is supreme in the tiny East Bay town. With the season on the line, the kids are crushed someone would steal from them.“They are upset and asking questions… Why would anybody take from Rodeo baseball?” said league mom and board member Heather Farmer. The little league players are used to stealing bases, but the 14-and-under youth league is not at all okay with someone stealing most of their equipment. Pittsburg man arraigned for violent carjackings involving hammer “They spent some time trying to cut that lock. The lock is this far from being cut open,” Farmer said. The thief also destroyed the walls of the two storage sheds. Now missing are a lot of ...

Rockies rally for 6-4 win to snap 5-game skid, send Diamondbacks to 10th loss in 12 games

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Nolan Jones singled in the go-ahead run in a four-run eighth inning and the Colorado Rockies beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 6-4 on Monday night to snap a five-game losing streak.Charlie Blackmon, Ezequiel Tovar and Ryan McMahon opened the eighth inning with singles to load the bases against Joe Mantiply (1-1), the third Arizona pitcher. Scott McGough entered and retired Elias Diaz on a liner to shortstop Geraldo Perdomo before Brandon Rodgers’ two-run single tied the score and sent McMahon to third.Jones followed with his go-ahead single to center for a 5-4 lead, and pinch-hitter Alan Trejo greeted Kyle Nelson with a single to drive in Rodgers. The Rockies had six singles in the inning.“I think hitting kind of breeds hitting,” Blackmon said. “Seeing good events happen kind of puts you in the mindset of ‘I’m going to have a good at-bat because my teammate did.'”Matt Koch (2-0) struck out two in a 1-2-3 eighth and Justin Lawrence struck out the side in the ninth for...

Nearly a week after Maui wildfire, islanders survey the aftermath and look ahead to long recovery

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

The wildfire that swept across Maui nearly a week ago turned one of the nation’s most celebrated island vistas into an ashen moonscape and killed at least 99 people, a number that officials warn could rise by scores as the search continues.The deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in more than a century devoured homes and businesses, blackened cars and left only ruins where thriving neighborhoods once stood. In some places, the flames advanced as fast as a car at highway speed — a mile a minute.The most serious blaze swept into Lahaina on Tuesday and destroyed nearly every building in the town of 13,000. When the flames were out and the smoke cleared, all that remained was a grid of gray rubble wedged between the blue ocean and lush green slopes.Now begins a long recovery as survivors mourn the dead, search teams look for more victims in the charred debris and families try to begin anew.The cause of the wildfire is under investigation. Fueled by a dry summer and strong winds from a passing...

Trump and co-defendants given until Aug. 25 to surrender on Georgia charges. Follow live updates

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

Follow along for live updates on the indictment of former President Donald Trump over his efforts to overturn the results of his 2020 presidential election loss in Georgia. The charges focus on alleged schemes by Trump and his allies to attempt illegally overturn his loss in the state. It’s the fourth criminal case brought against the former president as he seeks to reclaim the White House, and the second to allege that he tried to subvert the results of the vote.___WHAT TO KNOW— Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has overseen the sprawling Georgia case against Trump— More information on the law associated with mobsters that is central to the Georgia charges— Trump was charged earlier this month by the Justice Department for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election— A look at all of the investigations currently pending against Trump— Trump also was indicted in June on charges that he illegally hoarded classified documents___TRUMP AND OTHERS CHAR...

Jordan Walker’s bases-loaded triple sparks the Cardinals to a 7-5 win over the A’s

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Rookie Jordan Walker hit a bases-loaded triple in the seventh inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals rallied for a 7-5 victory over the Oakland Athletics in a matchup of last-place teams on Monday night.“It’s a learning curve,” Walker said. “I’ve been in those situations before and didn’t come through.”Walker’s first career triple capped a four-run seventh.“When he comes through, it’s exciting to see,” St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol said. “Hopefully, we’ll see a lot more.” Paul Goldschmidt hit a two-run homer in the fifth, his 19th, for St. Louis.Jo Jo Romero (3-1) worked 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for the Cardinals, who had lost their previous six meetings with the A’s.In the seventh, Angel Felipe (1-1) walked the bases full with one out and gave way to Francisco Perez, who walked Lars Nootbaar on five pitches to move the Cardinals within 5-4.Perez struck out Luken Baker looking, then yielded Walker’s triple to r...

The Orioles traded Manny Machado to start their rebuild. It paid off faster than he thought it would.

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

On the television inside the Orioles’ clubhouse before Monday’s game at Petco Park, a group of MLB Network broadcasters discussed whether the best team in the American League should call up the best prospect in baseball, wondering what 19-year-old Jackson Holliday could bring to Baltimore’s lineup. The segment came before the Orioles faced a player who they promoted in that aggressive fashion more than 11 years ago.Manny Machado has grown a lot, as a player and a person, since he was a 20-year-old joining Baltimore straight from Double-A for its 2012 playoff push. He’s now in his fifth season with the San Diego Padres, with many more to come after he signed an 11-year, $350 million extension this spring. But his time with them thus far still leaves him nearly a full season’s worth of games short of the total he played with the Orioles after his August 2012 call-up.His tenure in Baltimore ended just shy of six years later, when the Orioles started their ...

Braves overmatch Yankees, ruin Clarke Schmidt’s homecoming

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

ATLANTA — If Monday night was any indication, the Yankees are in for a long series.The last-place club looked overmatched against the best team in baseball, losing to the Braves, 11-3, at Truist Park. Atlanta’s mighty offense scored eight runs off Clarke Schmidt, ruining a homecoming start for the Acworth, Georgia product.Schmidt, pitching in front of family and friends, found trouble right away, as Austin Riley put the Braves on the board with a solo home run in the first inning. No. 9 hitter Nicky Lopez then hit a two-run single in the second before Michael Harris II pushed another across the plate with a single of his own.Three more singles followed in the third inning, as knocks from Eddie Rosario, Orlando Arcia and Lopez drove in four before Scmidt hit the showers.Monday marked Schmidt’s first time allowing more than three earned runs in a game since May 14. That span covered 15 games and 14 starts, during which the righty had a 3.12 ERA.The 27-year-old, getti...

Expert weighs in on driving factors of Maui wildfires

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 11:53:02 GMT

SAN DIEGO – One week after fires first began their devastation on Maui, the death toll is reaching nearly 100 with hundreds still missing. Many people have wondered what exactly caused the quick-moving fires.“This is basically an amplified event of the kinds of things and routinely happen in Lahaina,” said Pat Abbott, SDSU Professor Emeritus of Geology.Low humidity and high winds set the stage for fire danger on Maui last week, with much of Hawaii under a red flag warning when the wildfires broke out.Abbott explained how powerful winds were generated by Hurricane Dora, even hundreds of miles away from Hawaii.“A hurricane forms by winds flowing in over the water surface and going up vertically carrying that moisture up with them, but they cover such a large area, hundreds of miles across. When you’re on the outer fringes it’s not rain you’re getting, getting the twirling winds going around the center,” Abbott said.Gusts above 60 miles per hour knocked down power lines and damaged hom...