BUSINESS Steven Boivie, Texas A&M University In December 2001, Enron Corp. collapsed into bankruptcy – at the time the biggest U.S. publicly traded company to ever do so – following years of fraudulent accounting. Two decades later, Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes faces criminal charges that she defrauded investors as she built her blood-testing startup. In both cases, the companies’ respective boards of directors have been blamed for allowing misdeeds to happen – or not doing more to prevent them. That’s because boards are broadly seen by regulators, governance experts, lawmakers, newspaper reporters and the public as the main body meant to hold senior executives accountable. Legally, their role as overseers is baked into the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which is the most recent major legisl...

Five Reasons Andy Warhol Is So Popular Right Now

13Sep

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CELEBRITIES, VIDEO REELS

Five Reasons Andy Warhol Is So Popular Right Now

Andy Warhol, like an image on one of his silkscreens, is multiplying. Suddenly, he is everywhere: in documentary series (The Andy Warhol Diaries on Netflix and Andy Warhol’s America on the BBC), in plays (The Collaboration at the Young Vic in London), and soon, at an auction house (his Marilyn Monroe painting goes on sale at Christie’s in May). Wikimedia So why the current obsession with the pop artist? We believe there are striking resonances with our contemporary moment that might be fueling the revival. Here are five of them: 1. War, death and disaster The early 1960s marked a time when, much like our own, Russian tensions were high and the media was awash with violent scenes of war (Vietnam was often considered a proxy war between the US and the USSR). Warhol’s Death and Dis...

22Aug

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HEALTH & WELLNESS

CBD: Rising Star Or Popular Fad?

Cannabidiol, or CBD, has become a household name. On many social media sites, people suggest “but have you tried CBD oil?” on posts pertaining to any health-related issue. CBD, a minor constituent of marijuana, is widely touted as nature’s miracle by CBD enthusiasts. It does not get people high, unlike marijuana’s main constituent, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). However, given the recent surge in its popularity, you’d think the molecule is magic. We are behavioral pharmacology scientists, and we study how drugs act on the body. Specifically, we have an interest in developing new drugs for the treatment of pain that possess lessened drug abuse potential, and therapeutic interventions for drug abuse. Although there is scientific interest in the use of CBD for both pain and drug addict...

A Tale Of Two Cities Is One Of Charles Dickens’s Most Popular And Dramatic Stories

11Jun

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BOOKS

A Tale Of Two Cities Is One Of Charles Dickens’s Most Popular And Dramatic Stories

Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, A Tale of Two Cities is one of Charles Dickens’s most popular and dramatic stories. It begins on a muddy English road in an atmosphere charged with mystery and it ends in the Paris of the Revolution with one of the most famous acts of self-sacrifice in literature. In between lies one of Dickens’s most exciting books—a historical novel that, generation after generation, has given readers access to the profound human dramas that lie behind cataclysmic social and political events. Famous for its vivid characters, including the courageous French nobleman Charles Darnay, the vengeful revolutionary Madame Defarge, and cynical Englishman Sydney Carton, who redeems his ill-spent life in a climactic moment at the guillotine (“It is a far, far b...

The Most Popular Late-Night TV Host – How Conservative Comic Greg Gutfeld Overtook Stephen Colbert In Ratings

31Mar

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TELEVISION

The Most Popular Late-Night TV Host – How Conservative Comic Greg Gutfeld Overtook Stephen Colbert In Ratings

In August 2021, Fox News’ “Gutfeld!,” a late-night comedy-talk show hosted by right-wing pundit Greg Gutfeld, overtook “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” in overall ratings. Surprised? We weren’t. As media and comedy scholars, we’ve been tracking the recent ascension of right-wing comedy, which has flourished thanks to shifts in media industry economics and political ideologies. Gutfeld’s success might come as a shock because it punctures long-standing assumptions about what comedy is, who can produce it and who will enjoy it. These prejudices obscure an important truth: Right-wing comedy has become both a viable business strategy and a crucial element of conservative politics. Yes, “Gutfeld!” is on Fox News, the cable channel known for partisan, right-wing political perspectives an...

19Mar

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CULTURE, TOP FOUR, VIDEO REELS

Diana – The Popular Culture Princess

Despite being dead since 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, is once again the focus of much attention. This time it’s not due to the anniversary of her death or the apparent breakdown in her son’s relationship. Instead, the much-anticipated film, Spencer starring Kristen Stewart is being released. Focusing on December 1991 at the Queen’s Sandringham Estate, Spencer is an imagining of Diana’s decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles and leave the royal family. Following its world premiere, Stewart’s performance as Diana has already been heralded as Oscar-worthy. The reception of the film even achieved a three-minute standing ovation. In her lifetime, Diana lived out many roles in the public eye. She became a princess after a fairytale-like wedding, a mother, a victim of bulimia, a targ...

How ‘Karen’ Went From A Popular Baby Name To A Stand-In For White Entitlement

10Mar

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SOCIETY

How ‘Karen’ Went From A Popular Baby Name To A Stand-In For White Entitlement

When I read about Amy Cooper, the woman in Central Park who called the police on a black birder because he’d asked her to leash her out-of-control dog, I was horrified. But, as a sociolinguist who studies and writes about language and discrimination, I was also struck by the name given to Cooper in several headlines: “Central Park Karen.” On Twitter, the birder’s sister also referred to her as a “Karen.” There was no confusion about what this meant: It was a label for a white woman who had used her privilege to threaten and try to intimidate a black man by calling the police. But this was just one way “Karen” has been deployed in recent months. There was the woman dubbed a Karen who, after being told that a waiter would bring ketchup to her table, ended up helping herself at the server’...

The History Of ‘Coming Out,’ From Secret Gay Code To Popular Political Protest

15Jan

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LGBTQ

The History Of ‘Coming Out,’ From Secret Gay Code To Popular Political Protest

You probably know what it means to “come out” as gay. You may even have heard the expression used in relation to other kinds of identity, such as being undocumented. But do you know where the term comes from? Or that its meaning has changed over time? In my new book, “Come Out, Come Out, Whoever You Are,” I explore the history of this term, from the earliest days of the gay rights movement, to today, when it has been adopted by other movements. Selective sharing In the late 19th and early 20th century, gay subculture thrived in many large American cities. Gay men spoke of “coming out” into gay society – borrowing the term from debutante society, where elite young women came out into high society. A 1931 news article in the Baltimore Afro-American referred to “the coming out of new debut...

Jason Statham One Of The Most Popular And Bankable Action Stars Working Today

21Aug

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CELEBRITIES

Jason Statham One Of The Most Popular And Bankable Action Stars Working Today

CELEBRITIES Jason Statham is the red hot British export that wasted no time scoring a role in major movies. His first film was the cult smash Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). Since then he has become one of the most popular and bankable action stars working today. While Jason likes to work out to stay in Skintastic shape, he doesn’t take his clothes off very often, but he does make exceptions every now and then. Throughout his films you can see Jason shirtless, but in the two Crank movies he does take it all off. Crank (2006) shows Jason running around in a very flimsy hospital gown that shows off all his naughty bits as he moves. He also drops his pants and exposes his royal rear. A few years later in Crank 2: High Voltage (2009) he gives the world a much better view of his...