Entertainment

Thank This Projectionist for The Odyssey’s 70-mm. Imax Run

When Oppenheimer came out in 2023, Imax undertook a massive effort to project it in Christopher Nolan’s preferred format, Imax 70-mm., in 30 theaters around the world. That might not sound like a lot of theaters, but the task proved easier said than done. Two decades ago, the company largely shifted away from Imax 70-mm. — the analog format it built its name on back in the 1970s, which Nolan still considers “the highest-quality imaging format ever devised” — in favor of digital projection, expanding its theatrical footprint with cheaper, digital-only theaters while the number of “true” Imax 70-mm. venues dwindled. Few existing theaters can accommodate the format’s tall, 1.43:1 aspect ratio, and Imax literally lost the half-century-old design files for its 70-mm. projectors. As a result, rolling out Oppenheimer in Imax 70-mm. required dusting off old projectors and tracking down semi-retired projectionists familiar enough with the machines’ quirks to run them. (Among other idiosyncrasies, Imax 70-mm. projectors run film horizontally instead of vertically, like standard film projectors.) Ever since Oppenheimer’s success solidified an Imax 70-mm. renaissance, some of those projectionists have settled into a new rhythm, awaiting a phone call from Imax to see where they’re headed next whenever Hollywood puts out a movie tailored for the format, like last year’s Sinners. As the projectionist Pat Caldwell puts it, in his southern twang, “Kiss the wife, pet the cat, and head on out.”
A Tennessee native and longtime film projectionist who first started working in Imax theaters in the ’90s, Caldwell has become integral to Imax’s 70-mm. rollouts even as he considers himself mostly retired. After projecting Nolan’s Interstellar on Imax 70-mm. at L.A.’s TCL Chinese Theatre in 2014 (“a bucket-list thing for me,” he says), Caldwell returned to the same theater to project Oppenheimer in 2023 and has run other Imax 70-mm. releases closer to home in the time since. With The Odyssey, which is playing in a record 41 Imax 70-mm. locations, Caldwell took on a dual role, training up new projectionists on the format and projecting the film himself at L.A. Live, where he’s working 12-hour night shifts to meet audience demand for 3 a.m. showings.
As the cult fandom around Imax exploded over the last decade, Caldwell, 69, has also become something of a legend among Imax nerds, answering their questions about projector components on Reddit and giving them tours of the projection booth when they come knocking after screenings. Caldwell hopped on the phone with Vulture (while projecting the movie) to talk about the Odyssey rollout, Imax 70-mm. projectors, and the wild days of his youth spent projecting at various theaters in 1970s Tennessee.
It was good to hear you’re back projecting again for a Nolan film. It’s just like Michael Corleone: When you think you’re out, they pull you back in.
How’s it been going so far?
Prior to Odyssey, we were doing 70-mm. film in ten, 12, 13 theaters at a time, but now we’re doing 41. That meant a lot of struggling from the technical department, getting projection systems ready to go. That also meant getting people ready to operate them, too. I led three training classes prior to Odyssey. There have been other people training as well up in Canada and over on the East Coast.
Imax made determinations of which theaters they want, who they want where. I thought I was going to be in Nashville, and then two weeks before I was scheduled to be in Nashville, suddenly, “Pat, can you go to Los Angeles?” “Okay, whatever. Send me a plane ticket and I’ll go.”
How does this whole thing gear up? I’m picturing a montage of semi-retired projectionists getting phone calls and heading out the door to wherever they’re sent.
Yes, a bunch of the retired people came back. Some aren’t retired. Imax film started falling out of favor about 20 years ago, and there were very experienced people back then that are still of a reasonably young age and willing and able to do it. Then a lot of new people came from the 35-mm. world and the 70-mm. world. People who had jobs in those areas are very easy to train to cross over to Imax. They just need to be trained about the Imax part.
What’s the difference there? What does learning “the Imax part” entail? The projector would be the primary focus, because it doesn’t work anything like a standard 35 or 70 projector does. The film moves horizontally instead of vertically, and a lot of people get thrown off by that. And it’s just a different method of operation. For instance, one thing with 35 or 70, if you accidentally thread it out of frame, you’ve got a knob right there that you can quickly turn and put it back in frame. Not so with Imax. Imax, there is no framing. If you don’t thread it properly, it’s not going to project properly. So it requires attention to detail. Some people like to try and do it quickly, and I tell them accuracy is more important than speed. The speed will come, but the accuracy has got to be there.
So we concentrate on the projector and its idiosyncrasies. You cannot let film run out of an Imax projector like you would a regular projector — it will tear every sprocket hole in the last two feet of film up.
How are the newer projectionists doing? Do any of them come in overconfident? I think they’re overwhelmed at first. They were intrigued by the opportunity, and now some of them wonder if it was the right thing to do because there is quite a bit to learn. [Laughs.] Their graduation is to thread a five-minute test reel up and run it three times with no errors — something you can sync sound to and check focus. And that seems to work out pretty good.
Has Nolan sent any words of wisdom down the pipeline for Imax 70-mm. projectionists during the Odyssey rollout?
Yeah. You can boil it down to one main instruction: Don’t do anything dumb.
So on the weekends at L.A. Live and other Imax 70-mm. locations, they’re basically running The Odyssey 24/7. Does that mean you’re working 12 hours on, 12 off? Three screenings in a row?
Pretty much. I come in at 5:30 p.m. and work all night till 5:30 a.m. Then Owen comes in at 5:30 a.m.
Do you prefer the night shift? Yeah. I do my best work at 3 a.m. I prefer to do evening screenings because it’s higher attendance. If something goes wrong, I want to be there to fix it. It goes with the nature of having been a chief projectionist for so many years — you don’t want to leave it to someone even though you know they’re perfectly capable. You still want to be there if something happens with shows selling out. God knows what they’re charging per ticket for seats here. So if you have something go wrong, I’d rather be there than not.
What kind of things can go wrong? I imagine that this being such a hyped-up movie raises the stakes. People are booking tickets weeks out and traveling to see it. Mistakes and mechanical breakdowns do happen. There have been several instances in the past — it hasn’t happened this time around — of people not getting the sound synchronized when they start. If you don’t have it properly synchronized at the very beginning of the film in Imax, there is no way to recover synchronization. You have to run the film all the way to the end, which means no audience. You got to refund a full auditorium.
Everything before Odyssey — Project Hail Mary, One Battle After Another — all those films used our old audio-playback system, which was a 30-year-old design. It was running Windows 2000. So it’s out. Imax designed a new system for theaters running film for Odyssey. I’m quite pleased with it. But sound was a big factor in previous film launches.
Have you had any other tech issues running The Odyssey?
Well, I’m struggling with my own issues here. My air compressor has failed. You want the air to be dry going into the projector because emulsion on film and water do not mix. We’ve got the compressor guy coming tomorrow. He’s going to work on the projector between 3 a.m. and 7 a.m. Then Thursday we go back to running six shows a day.
You must’ve seen The Odyssey 20 times already. What do you think of it?
Excellent movie. Excellent photography, excellent acting. All these complaints over which actor is playing what role — all that is meaningless. That’s just people trying to raise a ruckus, as we say in Tennessee. And it’s obviously doing well. I’m not going to debate the point of whether it’s Nolan’s best work, but it’s different and it’s good. What more can you ask?
It must make your job easier if you like the movie you’re showing over and over.
Yeah. Now sitting in Dallas and forcing myself to watch Joker 2, that was bad. I would love to meet the guy or girl that gave the green light to spend all the money on a movie that sucked. Opening night, the first show in Dallas, we had people walking out.
But you must’ve seen it at least 30 times anyway, right? Oh, yeah. I ran the rerelease of Lawrence of Arabia on 70-mm. back in the ’80s, and I ran it four times a day for I think six months. I knew every line of dialogue in Lawrence of Arabia. I ran all three of the first Indiana Jones, all three of the first Star Wars in 70-mm.
Can you tell me how you got into projecting movies as a kid?
When I got into the theater business in the ’70s, I got a summer job as an usher. I was in junior high school and worked my way up through the ranks. And then I was at the Colonial drive-in working in the box office. After the box office closed, I would bug the projectionist to let me watch him run the movie. Well, Sam was the gentleman’s name. Sam was an alcoholic. So Sam taught me how to run the projectors, and he got drunk, passed out on the couch. And after the concession stand in the box office closed, I would go up and run the rest of the movies for him. This went very nicely until one night there’s a knock at the door. I opened the door and here’s this old man standing there. And I said, “Well, who are you?” He says, “I could ask the same question. Who are you? I’m the business agent of the local projectionists’ union.” I explained what was going on. He woke up Sam, chewed him out. And the next day they made me an apprentice. I trained for a year with no pay at all the local theaters in Nashville.
My father had been a projectionist briefly in the ’50s, and that smoothed my path into the union, which was a very closed union. The first question on their application to join was: What is your religion?
What was the “correct” answer? Well, I was honest, and apparently nothing was said. When you went to the city to take the knowledge test to get your projection license, the union provided them with the test. There were a couple of trick questions on there that you had to have been told the answer to or you wouldn’t get it. That’s how they controlled who went in the union. There’s other stories I could tell you about being arrested as a purveyor of pornography.
Well, I have to ask for that story.
You don’t start at the nice theaters. The new guys get the lousy theaters. So that is the porn theaters back in the mid to late ’70s. So once I finished my apprenticeship, the business agent, Ben, put me at one of the nicer porn theaters — 35-millimeter equipment, very good equipment, well-maintained. And so as he’s leaving the booth, he says, “Oh Pat, by the way, up under the rewind bench there’s an envelope.” He says, “There’s $142 in that envelope. Don’t mess with it. You’ll know if you ever need it.”
I forgot about it. A year goes by. One day I’m sitting in the chair upstairs reading the National Geographic, and there’s a frantic knocking at the door. It’s the police. They’re busting the place. So they barge into the booth, two or three of them, and shut it down, turn up the house lights. They arrest me. They arrest the ticket lady. And that was the charge: “purveyor of pornography.” And so I’m arrested, sitting in the booth. And I said, “Well, what happens now?” The cop says, “Well, you’re under arrest, but you can post bail.” I said, “Well, how much is the bail?” He said, “$142.”
So the fix was in with the law. They took the handcuffs off me. The court case was dismissed. They left. And all the people that the cops chased out, they were still hanging around outside. So the cops leave and we step out the front door and we’re waving at them all, “Y’all come on back. We’re open again.” It was business as usual.
I guess that’s Tennessee law enforcement in the ’70s for you?
Yeah. I found two dead people in theaters too. That was kind of crazy.
Back in those days? One was in one of the porn theaters, and sadly the other one was in a projection booth. I went up to relieve a guy one night, and I relieved him. Had to make several changeovers while waiting for the funeral home to come pick him up. He’s dead in his chair.
How old were you at that point? Nineteen, 20, I guess. It’s not a big deal, because I have relatives in the funeral business, so it’s not unknown to me.
So how did you get from the pornography theaters in the ’70s to projecting stuff like Lawrence of Arabia at regular theaters in the ’80s to working for Imax?
When the union fell apart, the theater chains scrambled to find people capable of running films. So Carmike Cinemas hired me as a manager projectionist, and I happily ran a little ten-screen theater for them. And then in 1991, I got hired by Regal as a 35-mm. technician — so I was traveling and fixing theaters. When Regal opened its first Imax theater in Lincolnshire, Illinois, north of Chicago, they asked me if I would quit being a service tech and be a projectionist again because no one at Regal had 70-mm. experience. So I went to Lincolnshire, hired the projection staff and trained them. Regal then opened up New Roc City in New York, Mall of Georgia in Atlanta, and then Nashville. And I went to each of those and trained the staff and went to the next theater basically. In Nashville, my Imax service tech guy asked me to come over to Imax to be a technician. And I said, “Oh, yeah.” Because Imax is the pinnacle for projectionists to get to operate.
Even then? Yeah. For me, working in the TCL Chinese Theatre running Oppenheimer and Interstellar was like a bucket-list thing. And once Oppenheimer came out and became so immensely popular, then suddenly film was a thing again. And it’s kept me busy. It was really excellent timing with my retirement. All of a sudden, here I am retired, but people need me to run movies. So I work for them when they need it and train people when they need it, and eat some popcorn occasionally.
Over your years as a projectionist, what’re some pet peeves you’ve developed, whether it’s audience behavior or something about different projection booths? Let’s start with the audience. Cell phones. People are just no longer aware of what’s going on around them or don’t care. It’s an all-me kind of attitude today. Me, me, me, me, me, and to hell with the rest. We had a guy the other day who wouldn’t leave. He had already sat through and watched a second showing of The Odyssey. And we only knew that because he admitted it. And then we said, “Oh, okay. You’ve seen two shows. One you didn’t pay for. Now you want to stay and see a third?” And he got argumentative. LAPD came and hustled him out of the door, and that was the end of that.
Projection rooms — poorly maintained equipment because the company that owns them won’t put money into it. And not being given the tools to put on a good show. The Chinese Theatre has nice movable masking for the screen. L.A. Live does not. So we have to work around that little problem simply because they cheaped out and didn’t get masking.
And that’s to frame the image correctly on the wall?
Yes. You always want a nice sharp edge, and masking provides that sharp edge. And you need masking — especially for all these different formats now with designer aspect ratios.
Last time I spoke to you, you said Imax superfans and other people would come up to the projection booth after Oppenheimer screenings at the Chinese Theatre, say hi, give you a compliment, and ask for a tour of the booth. Have you had the same thing happen with this movie?
Not at L.A. Live. For Oppenheimer at the Chinese Theatre, they had to build a special booth, and people soon discovered the entrance to it. As soon as the credits came up, every show, there’d be people knocking on the door. And had I remained in Dallas, I think that would have happened again with this movie. I’ve got a guy, and — bless his heart. I’ve known this guy for several decades. He’s sending me one of those Imax-camera popcorn buckets for me to sign. Me? Why? [Laughs.]
You’re a legend to Imax nerds, Pat! Apparently in some people’s eyes. I had quite a following down in Texas. One guy brought the whole staff of the theater a barbecue dinner, gave us T-shirts saying “World’s Greatest Projectionist.” Every movie that came out and I ran there, some of these guys would bring me a little gift basket of candy. And I said, “Are you crazy? I work in a theater. Last thing I need is candy.”
I talked to another Oppenheimer projectionist who said he memorized the flow of the movie so he could know precisely when to hit the dust-removal button to keep particles off the projector, which are especially noticeable during brightly lit scenes. Are there moments in The Odyssey when you have your finger hovering over that button?
The specks of dirt on the screen, that’s a byproduct of the process that Imax projectors use to advance the frames. You can’t get away from it. But we have a very good way of cleaning that dirt off — simply a button that we can push. We’re hyperaware of dirt on a light background in the movie because that’s when it’s most visible. Movies like Everest — oh my God.
Because of snowy mountains?
Yeah, and at that time in history, film was being released not on Vision3 stock, but on a different Kodak stock called “Triathlon.” It was terrible film to project with, and it made the projector very dirty. God, that was trash film.
Has that been an issue during any specific Odyssey scenes? I saw it on Imax 70-mm., and you do notice when something’s on the projector since it gets blown up to such a massive scale.
Yeah. Some of the daytime ocean scenes make it quite visible. But this is Vision3 film stock. It is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s the best film I have ever used. It has good anti-halation properties — halation is the effect you get around white letters on a black background. And it’s lubricated differently, too. It doesn’t leave waxy buildup on projector components. It’s very easy to clean. It’s just superb film.
How do you feel about the online griping about the fact that Nolan shot all of The Odyssey for Imax 70-mm., which can only be displayed properly in 41 locations?
It’s a problem that we might have created for ourselves, and we had the help of the theaters. Some theaters, when they converted to digital 20 years ago, it was up to the theater what to do with the Imax 70-mm. film system. What did they do in Austin, instead of just keeping it and putting it in a corner? They threw it out, took a cutting torch to it, cut it into pieces big enough to get through the doorway, and threw it in the dumpster. Lots of places thought, Oh digital, we’ll never run film again. And look where we are now. We’re running film.

Entertainment

Former Nickelodeon Star Of ‘All That’ Was 46

TMZ reported that Christy Knowings died on Tuesday, August 11 after she was taken off life support in a hospital near Los Angeles. She was 46.
Tyleah, Knowing’s Aunt, posted the news of her death on Facebook yesterday, without revealing the cause.
According to TMZ citing sources from her family, Knowing had been placed on life-support after an asthma attack that occurred on August 7 left her brain damaged. On Tuesday, the family decided to remove her from life support.
Knowings appeared in a Nickelodeon pilot for a sketch comedy called And Now This that failed. She joined All That on the network the following year. Her three-year stint on the show included Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thomson, Danny Tamberelli and Amanda Bynes.
Jessica, the star of Whateverrr!!! She played a dental assistant to Amanda Bynes’ dentist, Jessica from the recurring Whateverrr!!!
Knowings appeared alongside her twin brother Chris Knowings in Sesame Street episodes from 2008-2011. Chris was the more prominent actor in Sesame Street and appeared in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, a 1994 Spike Lee film.
Knowings, the former All That actress who died in January last year after a fatal car accident that killed Kianna Underwood.
Knowings’ aunt posted on Facebook last night that “My brother Charles’ daughter Chrissy has passed…She is an outstanding actress, comedian and twin sister ….Rest In Power Chrissy.”
Information on all survivors is not available immediately.

Entertainment

‘All That’ Star Christy Knowings Dead at 46

TMZ reports that Christy Knowings, the former “All That’ star who died after an asthma attack left her brain damaged.
According to a family member, Christy was placed on life-support Friday morning after her attack.
Christy was reportedly on life-support until Tuesday when her family took the hard decision to remove her. She passed away Tuesday evening at a hospital in the Los Angeles area.
After appearing on Nickelodeon’s sketch comedy special “And Now This”, a Rosie O’Donnell production, the actress joined Nickelodeon’s show “All That”.
Christy played several characters on “All That”, including Penny Lane, Jessica in the “Whateverrr !!!” Amanda Bynes in a sketch.
In 2020, she released the single “To the World”, a folk song. She appeared with her twin brother Chris Knowings in three episodes of Sesame St.
Christy was the second “All That’ cast member who died this year. As TMZ reported previously, Kianna Underwood died in a hit and run collision in Brooklyn last January.
Christy is 46 years old.

Entertainment

Live updates: Kennedy Center board approves 2-year closure for renovations, AP sources say

According to lawyers and the U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, the Kennedy Center Board has decided to include President Donald Trump’s name on the front of the building. According to U.S. Rep. Joyce Beatty, and her lawyers.
After the Board decided on a 2-year shutdown to permit substantial renovations, some outdoor programming could continue.
Two people with knowledge of the situation say that the Kennedy Center plans to close the vast performing arts center for two years to carry out renovations. However, some outdoor programs may still be held, they said.
A board made up mainly of allies of Donald Trump made the decision on Thursday. It was a double-down, doubling back to an initial plan for changes that were deemed necessary by leaders. The critics have expressed concern that Trump may move forward with even more radical renovations in order to remake Washington into his own image during his second term.
They spoke under condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss publicly the action taken by the board before an announcement was made.
In May, U.S. district judge Christopher Cooper blocked the closure that was to go into effect on July 5. The move of the Board was unclear at first. Cooper had said that the March 16 board vote to support the decision appeared “ill informed and predetermined.”
Board members might be under pressure to show that they’ve thoroughly weighed their options before moving on.
In a report released on Thursday, the Trump White House stated that many countries route their exports via third-country countries in order to avoid U.S. Tariffs. The White House estimated tax revenue losses between $19 and $26 billion per year.
Report specifically highlights China’s response to the new tariffs of 2018 in sending goods from Mexico to Malaysia to be packaged and assembled — this practice is known as “transshipping”. This pattern gave the impression that U.S. exports to China were down, while Beijing continued growing its manufacturing industry in ways which could threaten U.S. employment and factories.
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This week Democrats will finalize the 2028 calendar for their presidential primaries. The Democrats’ voters are deciding between moderate and progressive candidates, and this could lead to a very open contest.
At its meeting this summer in Austin, Texas the Democratic National Committee will vote on a new order which prioritizes states that have a more diverse population.
This meeting is held ahead of the bitterly contested elections for midterms that will determine control of Congress in later years. Democratic voters sent mixed signals on where they wanted to take the party. They backed candidates who were seen as leftists as well as those who were viewed as moderates during crucial primaries in several states.
This group is also convening during a period of turmoil within the DNC, as some members are calling for Ken Martin’s replacement.
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Check your account if you purchased something last year from an international vendor.
FedEx, UPS and other shippers that served as customs agents for packages imported from abroad and were refunded by the U.S. Government have begun to refund the original tariff-paying customers.
Refunds are being made to the consumers at the end of a long process which began in February, when the Supreme Court repealed the tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on March 20, 2025 in accordance with the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The court ordered that the government return all tariffs collected.
A system created by U.S. Customs and Border Protection has refunded about $100 billion of tariffs to the companies who paid them.
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Labor Department announced Thursday that 209,000 individuals filed claims for unemployment benefits last week. This is up from the revised 200,000 in the previous week and above the 205,000 expected by forecasters. The four-week average of applications, which smooths out week-to-week-volatility, was unchanged at 199,000.
In the last week ending August 1, 2016, the number of individuals receiving employment benefits dropped from 1.78 to 1.78million.
The number of claims for unemployment benefits is a good indicator for layoffs. They’ve been in a low-level range, around 200,000-230,000 per week, for the last year. This suggests that Americans with jobs have unusually high job security. U.S. Unemployment Rate is 4.1%. The economy continues to be resilient, despite the spike in energy costs caused by fighting with Iran.
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Stocks are rising to a new high on Thursday, following the latest signs that inflation has weakened. In their latest move, the stock market also saw a boost from lower oil prices.
S&P 500 climbed by 0.8%, and is on course to surpass its previous record. As of 10:15 am Eastern Time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 185 points or 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite was also 1% higher.
Wall Street was relieved after the report revealed that prices in wholesale markets were 4,7% higher than they had been a year ago. Although it is still high, the rate of inflation at wholesale was only 4.7% in July, which is slightly lower than what economists had expected.
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Hakeem Jeffries, House Democratic leader during an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists in Atlanta. Thursday August 13 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Brown)
Jeffries, in an interview given at the National Association of Black Journalists’ convention in Atlanta said that recent victories in congressional elections show a generational shift.
Jeffries stated that “I believe transition, change and renewal will continue be important parts of the story. This energy is brought into the House by a number of ways including our progressive members.”
He also cited his ascension to Democratic leader as well as some wins for moderates as being part of this same trend.
Jeffries replied, “We’ll have to wait and see how the caucus will look on the other end of the midterm elections.” When asked whether the progressive wing of the party would be more influential. Our focus is to win as many votes as possible in November.
Some experts doubt that the order will lead to meaningful change, despite its precedent-setting nature.
The FDA or the White House cannot force drugmakers into developing and seeking approval of new vaccines. From a commercial perspective, there is little reason for companies to create individual versions of the vaccines that they sell as combination shots.
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s vaccine researcher, Dr. Paul Offit (a former government advisor), said that “they’d be in competition with themselves and there’s really no need to do this.”
While Trump’s executive order encourages federal researchers to conduct more research, it is only the state governments who have legal authority over vaccinations in schools. It is not a directive to update state laws, but rather a suggestion to states that they consider doing so to align with the Trump administration.
Offit stated, “I believe states will ignore it.” I think the bottom line is we do not need to turn to Donald Trump to get medical advice.
According to Trump’s Executive Order, officials from the federal government are required to create within 90 days a plan for breaking down MMR and spreading out other vaccinations.
Former regulators and pharmaceutical scientists say that these changes could take many years to implement and would require the drugmakers spending tens or even hundreds of millions on new research and production facilities.
There are currently no vaccines available in the United States for rubella, measles or mumps. The Food and Drug Administration has approved only combination vaccines for these viruses. Since the 1970s, the U.S. has used a three-in-1 approach.
Former FDA chief Dr. Jesse Goodman said that companies will have to do large-scale studies to show new shots produce immune-system-boosting effects in children, similar to current versions.
Israeli settlers besieged for days three houses in the West Bank occupied, one of which was owned by an American Palestinian. The U.S. Ambassador called it a “horrific terror act” Thursday.
Mike Huckabee’s comments on X were an unusually harsh rebuke by the Trump Administration of the most recent episode of settler-related violence in the area.
According to the local authorities, Loui Ridi and Ridi’s brother, on Sunday, settlers began gathering around three homes in Qusra. The settlers, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, threw rocks, tried to knock down nearby stone walls, and stopped the residents from leaving.
Israeli troops intervened in order to restore the peace. Qusai Aburida, Ridi’s brother who was holed up with his son in the home to protect it on Thursday morning said that they had been moved to another house by Israel’s military but are still unable to leave the region.
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The world marches towards a grim landmark, one baby at a moment. Due to global aid cuts, Gates Foundation predicted that 2025 would be the year where the number of child deaths in this century will rise.
While the data on global child mortality for 2025 will not be released for a few months, officials in health are already preparing for an increase of deaths amongst the youngest and most vulnerable people around.
The United States Agency for International Development, once the largest donor to humanitarian causes, was dissolved by the Trump administration. This decision decimated nutrition for pregnant women, children, and scores of birthing centres.
The U.S. Government has insisted repeatedly that funding cuts have not caused anyone to die, and especially no children. The Associated Press, however, has reported on the deaths of children and women from Myanmar to Nigeria.
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The National Park Service is in an awkward political situation because of President Donald Trump’s botched repair at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Its iconic park rangers, as well as other employees, have served the public, while also managing the controversial demands of the Republican President. These include revising the exhibits in parks, destroying important buildings under their stewardship (such the White House East Wing), and arresting people for vandalism.
The months-long Reflecting pool saga, along with other Trump demands, critics say could undermine the integrity of an agency held in high regard by Americans for many years.
Bill Wade, former park superintendent and ranger, said: “Never, not in the past decades, have I seen such systematic degrading, disrespect, and destruction of the National Park Service under President Donald Trump’s and Secretary of Interior Doug Burgum”
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Experts have condemned an executive order by Trump that aims to change childhood vaccinations. However, the greatest obstacle may be the financial and logistical burdens it will place on parents, healthcare providers, and pharmaceutical companies.
The Republican President announced Monday that combination vaccines, including measles mumps rubella (MMR), should be divided into separate injections. The order says that appointments for this and other vaccines should be spread out as much as possible.
Drugmakers will need to restart a number of vaccines which haven’t been sold separately in America for many decades. The drugmakers would have to construct new factories capable of producing millions extra doses of vaccine than what the country currently consumes.
Parents would have to visit the doctors’ office more often if they separated the MMR shots and spaced them out. These appointments would also put pressure on pediatricians, who administer shots. They could increase costs for syringes as well as other medical supplies.
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A senior U.S. government official revealed that the two seniormost members of Trump’s cabinet, Marco Rubio, and Scott Bessent (Treasury Secretary), flew to Turkey last month for the NATO summit on a decoy aircraft, in response to an Iranian threat. Meanwhile, Trump secretly was moved onto a smaller, military-style jet.
An official who spoke under anonymity about sensitive information regarding presidential travel said Rubio knew of the switch, and the details behind the threat, but was unable or unwilling to say why he stayed in the plane. Bessent, the official stated, was probably aware of what had happened but didn’t know for certain.
Officials have noted, however, that the security measures for the President — particularly one who’s been the subject of multiple assassination efforts — are stronger than even those taken by top cabinet members.
According to the U.S. Constitution the secretary of State and Treasury follows the vice president, and then the most senior member in each chamber of Congress.
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(AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) The Kennedy Center exterior is seen in Washington, on Friday, July 31st, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Kennedy Center board members are expected to gather Thursday for an important meeting to discuss the future of this performing arts center. A federal judge had previously blocked a plan for a 2-year shutdown that was intended to allow substantial renovations.
The Kennedy Center management announced that it will present three options to the Board of Directors before the meeting.
There are two options: a total closure, or a partial closing that allows “some public access” and some limited programming to continue in areas not affected by the construction. Thirdly, “considering a limited number of phases of closures that would address the Center’s greatest infrastructure needs and schedule and maintain a full program.”
The board is made up mainly of Donald Trump allies. They may be under pressure in the future to show that they have thoroughly examined their options.
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Karoline leavitt will be leaving the Trump Administration at the end this month in order to spend time with her family.
Leavitt (28), called the decision “bittersweet” on social media Wednesday, shortly after Donald Trump revealed that she was stepping down. After the birth of Viviana in May, her daughter, she returned to the White House podium. She has also a son, who is 2 years old.
Leavitt said, “I have made the decision, despite the fact that it is bittersweet, to leave the White House to embark on another chapter of my life. I feel that, since I returned to the White House following the birth of my child, I can’t be the mother my two children deserve, while committing the time, attention, and energy required by the White House press secretary.”
Trump has not indicated who will replace the prominent figure in her high-profile position.
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Entertainment

Shannon Elizabeth’s Long, Bumpy Road to OnlyFans Stardom

Shannon Elizabeth has a history of breaking the Internet.
After the 1999 release of “American Pie”, the film about coming-of-age that catapulted Elizabeth into stardom (and the status as a sex icon), Elizabeth decided to create a website.
She recalls Variety, “I was probably one of the very first actors who had a website.” The only ones who had websites were the pornstars. It was over. Everyone thought “Why do you have a site? But, we thought it was the next evolution.”
Elizabeth’s revealing performance as Czech exchange student Nadia won her the Breakthrough Female Performer award at the MTV Movie Awards, and she appeared on several Maxim magazine covers. She tried to hold a live chat with fans, but crashed the servers. In April of this year, Elizabeth, an animal rights activist and actress, launched a new platform called OnlyFans, which has raked in millions in its first few months.
She shares, “I reached $1 million in just nine days.” It was a real surprise, and it was an honor to have my fans come out and support me. The response was amazing. I didn’t know what to expect. “I’m always chatting to people and having a great time.”
OnlyFans has saved the life of “Scary” Movie star Drea De Matteo. She had just $10 on her account, and she used it to keep her home from foreclosure.
Elizabeth says, “There’s a group of actors who have just recently made it big and now we are starting to bring it back to its original form.” It doesn’t need to be for adults only. “It can be anything you want.”
Donna Mills (85 years old) is another example. She joined OnlyFans a month ago and has made a fortune. Joseph D. Reitman is the manager of both Mills and Elizabeth, who are also managed by Elizabeth’s former husband.
Shannon has always enjoyed connecting and giving to her fans. This allows her to achieve that more directly and meaningfully than before. Reitman said that OnlyFans is the most effective way to facilitate this connection.
OnlyFans, a subscription-based service similar to Patreon that allows celebrities to be paid by fans directly in exchange for access was first launched in 2016. It banned all explicit content. In 2017, the ban on explicit content was lifted. By 2019, after cam site owner Leonid Radinsky bought a majority stake in the company it became primarily a destination of adult creators. The popularity of the site skyrocketed during the Covid epidemic and corresponding recession. It grew from 20 to 120 millions users. OnlyFans has over 400 millions users and 4 million creators of content who have earned $25 billion. OnlyFans keeps a 20% share of the revenue, while creators retain the other 80%.
OnlyFans, like de Matteo has also helped Elizabeth get out of financial trouble. Her Hollywood residuals aren’t as high as they once were, and her acting opportunities had dried up because she was living in South Africa and running her animal rescue non-profit Animal Avengers. Elizabeth had always loved attending conventions and meeting her fans, like Comic-Con. It seemed to be a natural extension.
I was in the middle of a divorce in South Africa, and talked to Joe my manager about how to move forward and restart my life. He suggested it as an alternative because I was really neglecting a number of things. Elizabeth explains that she was unsure and did not know much about the topic. We looked into it and thought “Yeah why not?”
She says, “I’ve lived off my savings the majority of the time for the past ten years because I wasn’t as focused on working.” It’s definitely more liberating to be able choose projects that I enjoy and don’t need money for.
Animal Avengers began in 2001 as a dog and cat shelter in Los Angeles, after Elizabeth had seen “American Pie” followed by “Scary Film”. After watching a video showing an elephant poached, Elizabeth realized that she wanted to “help animals in a larger scale.” She then started researching animal rights in South Africa and moved there in 2016. After seeing a harrowing video of an elephant being poached in South Africa, she realized that “she wanted to help animals on a larger scale” and began exploring animal rights efforts there. She eventually moved there in 2016.
She adds, “It is horrific.” There’s also a difference between trophy hunting which involves animals that are endangered and people who just want to get the trophy. It’s not right to me to even consider doing that to animals.
Animal Avengers currently supports anti-poaching initiatives, such as programs to help rangers purchase supplies, tag the animals and trim rhino horns (to prevent poaching). They also have a sanctuary where they take care of a black blind rhino named Manute on a piece of leased land. She is looking for land to build an animal hospital and rehabilitation center in Cape Town or the surrounding area.
Animal Avengers gets to keep a large portion of the earnings from Elizabeth’s OnlyFans.
So much of my work goes to animals. It’s a big undertaking, with a lot to pay for. I also don’t take a salary or bill the charity for travels I make for charitable work. “I’ll cover that myself”, she insists. It allows me to pay for admin costs so that the money raised by the charity goes directly to the animals.
Elizabeth made her first appearance in acting during the senior year at Waco High School in Texas. She played a cheerleader in the video of the song “I Can’t Stand It”, sung by local R&B band Hi-Five, in 1990. The video, directed by Antoine Fuqua, the man who made the Michael Jackson biopic Michael a $1 billion hit, was produced by Robert Goodman. He encouraged Elizabeth to start modeling nine days after she graduated high school. Before booking the Sunkist commercial in Los Angeles, she modeled for Sunkist in Japan, China, and Taiwan. She booked another commercial. She signed up with a smaller agency, took acting lessons and got a role in the HBO series “Arliss” as a Russian Tennis player with an Accent. Next came “Jack Frost,” a low-budget thriller, followed by “American Pie” shortly after.
In recent years, “American Pie” has undergone a cultural assessment. This is especially true of the scene where Elizabeth’s Nadia was broadcast on YouTube disrobing herself and sexuating without her consent.
She explains, “With all the #MeToo publicity, people are afraid to speak out or to do anything. And comedy will always offend someone, it is just a new age.” But I do think that it all will come around again at some point. The people are looking for connection. “American Pie” has been a huge influence on my life. It was a great movie for me. I didn’t analyze the content. “I don’t think I can say anything negative about it.”
Elizabeth, after the huge success of her film “American Pie,” with a budget of $11 million, made a deal to make three films for Miramax. This put her right in the sights of the notorious Weinstein brothers, Harvey and Bob.
Elizabeth recalls, “We had some encounters with Harvey but both my manager, Joe and my former, Joe were very protective.” They didn’t let it happen when things could have been very bad. They would refuse to let me meet Harvey anywhere.
Elizabeth Weinstein’s relationship with Weinstein was strained by a miscommunication about whether Elizabeth would appear in a magazine for men to promote the movie “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”. Weinstein is a notorious rapist who has been convicted of holding actors’ careers at risk if they refused his advances.
Elizabeth claims that Harvey threatened her career, telling the representative she was working with to “lose my number.” Do not call me about her again or I will end her career.
Elizabeth’s deal for three films with Miramax ended only after two movies. She also claims that this is why she didn’t return to the franchise “Scary Movies” in future installments: “I believe there was a reason [they did not bring me back].
Elizabeth’s career as an actress began to wane not long after Weinstein turned against her, whether due to his machinations. In the early 2000s she dabbled with professional poker, raising funds for her nonprofit. She was also coached by Annie Duke, Reitman’s wife, at that time. Annie Duke had previously taught Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Matt Damon’s daughter, Kate. But “it wasn’t [her] calling.” After the divorce, Elizabeth says she is ready to get back to acting and production.
Elizabeth says, “I am signing up to be a part of a production and to participate in it. We are also looking into a couple other projects that may come our way.” It’s thrilling to be in the mix again in this sense. “I want to be behind the cameras and direct.”
Elizabeth is busy producing and directing her OnlyFans videos, none of which contain nudity. However, many of Elizabeth’s posts encourage fans to buy images of her that look nude only to find her fully clothed.
This may not be the case.
She teases, “I have to be a bit mysterious.” I do all sorts of content but don’t know where my limits will be. As I get more comfortable, I will push the boundaries.

Entertainment

‘Heated Rivalry’ Season 2 Casts Emily Hampshire, Edvin Ryding

Five new cast members have been added to “Heated Rivalry”, Season 2.
Variety reports that Emily Hampshire (Schitt’s Creek, VisionQuest), Edvin Ryding (“The Young Royals,” “28 Years Later”), Robert Naylor (“Mile End Kicks,” “Cardinal”) Sabrina Jalees („I Used to Be Funny,” „Black Mirror“), and Priyanka („Drag Brunch Saved My Life,” “Meet Me Next Christmas”) will all be joining the Crave – HBO Max series.
The newcomers Justice Smith and Charlie Gillespie will join returning stars Hudson Williams, Connor Storrie and other members of the cast.
This hit show is based off the Rachel Reid books “Game Changers”. Ryding will be playing Luca Haas, while Hampshire is set to portray Vanessa. Naylor is set to play Wyatt Hayes and Jalees will be Farah Jalali. Priyanka is playing Tarek.
Hampshire is represented by Atlas Artists, Paradigm, Creative Drive Artists, and Felker, McGinnis & Ryan. Ryding is repped by CAA, Agentfirman Planthaber/Kilden/Mandic/ Bostrom, and Independent Talent Group. Jalees and WME represent Naylor. The Talent House represents Priyanka.
The show “Heated Rivalry”, which was launched by little publicity in November 2025, became a surprise cultural hit. In December, it was renewed for another season.
Official logline of Season 1, “Rival Hockey Players Shane Hollander and Ilya Rossanov are bound together by rivalry and an attraction neither one could fully understand.” The secret affair between the two rookies turned into an emotional journey that lasted for years.
Canada Media Fund is involved in the production of this series. Jacob Tierney is the writer, executive producer, director and editor. Brendan Brady, Jayme Alter-Wilson and Reid are also Executive Producers. Lori Fischburg, Liane Cunje and Reid are the producers. Mike Goldbach is the co-writer for Season 2. The series is internationally distributed by Sphere Abacus a Bell Media Company.