City Weekly January 2, 2025

CITY WEEKLY C I T Y W E E K LY. N E T J A N U A R Y 2 , 2 0 2 5 — V O L . 4 1

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UTAH' S INDEPENDENT NE WSPAPER

OUT OF ORDER An ever-shifting list of the best movies of 2024.

BY SCOTT RENSHAW

10

A&E

14

NEWS

19

DINE

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MUSIC

salt lake

CW

CONTENTS

Featured Story

Project Censored—Part 2 The story being censored could be yours (whether you know it or not)!

By Paul Rosenberg, Random Length News

14

Cover art by Random Length News

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PRIVATE EYE A&E CINEMA DINE MUSIC COMMUNITY

2 | JANUARY 2, 2025

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Find discounts to favorite restaurants, local retailers and concert venues at cwstore.cityweekly.net facebook .com/slcweek ly

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SLC FORECAST Thursday 2 45°/34° Mostly cloudy Precipitation: 24%

Friday 3 49°/35° Partly cloudy Precipitation: 22%

SOURCE: WEATHER.COM Saturday 4 40°/30° Rain/snow Precipitation: 54%

Sunday 5 38°/28° Snow Precipitation: 39%

Monday 6 39°/28° Cloudy Precipitation: 24%

Tuesday 7 39°/27° Partly cloudy Precipitation: 24%

Wednesday 8 40°/29° Mostly cloudy Precipitation: 14%

STAFF Publisher PETE SALTAS News Editor BENJAMIN WOOD Arts & Entertainment Editor SCOTT RENSHAW Contributing Editor WES LONG Music Editor EMILEE ATKINSON Executive Editor and Founder JOHN SALTAS

Editorial Contributors KATHARINE BIELE, ROB BREZSNY, MARK DAGO, BILL FROST, BILL KOPP, MIKE RIEDEL, PAUL ROSENBERG, ARICA ROBERTS, ALEX SPRINGER, LEE ZIMMERMAN Graphic Artists SOFIA CIFUENTES, CHELSEA NEIDER

Circulation Manager ERIC GRANATO Associate Business Manager PAULA SALTAS Developer BRYAN BALE Senior Account Executive DOUG KRUITHOF Account Executives KELLY BOYCE, KAYLA DREHER, KRISTA MAGGARD Display Advertising 801-654-1393 National Advertising VMG Advertising | 888-278-9866

Salt Lake City Weekly is published every Thursday by Copperfield Publishing Inc. We are an independent publication dedicated to alternative news and news sources, that also serves as a comprehensive entertainment guide. 16,000 copies of Salt Lake City Weekly are available free of charge at more than 1,000 locations along the Wasatch Front. Limit one copy per reader. Additional copies of the paper can be purchased for $1 (Best of Utah and other special issues, $5) payable to Salt Lake City Weekly in advance. No person, without expressed permission of Copperfield Publishing Inc., may take more than one copy of any Salt Lake City Weekly issue. No portion of this publication may be reproduced in whole or part by any means, including electronic retrieval systems, without the written permission of the publisher. Third-class postage paid at Midvale, UT. Delivery might take up to one full week. All rights reserved.

All Contents © 2025

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@CITY WEEKLY

Cutting Class

@SLCWEEK LY

Utah colleges are cutting general education requirements—a long-overdue step toward making college shorter, cheaper and more flexible for students.

By reducing required credits, the Utah System of Higher Education is helping students save time and money while allowing them to focus on what matters most. No two students are the same, yet requiring a rigid set of general education courses treats them as if they are.

With fewer required credits, students have more freedom to tailor their educa-

tion. They can dive into their major sooner or explore other courses that genuinely interest them, without being boxed into unnecessary requirements.

General education classes have long been seen as little more than a checklist.

As one student has lamented online, these courses often feel like a waste of time that could be spent honing their skills and focusing on their major.

This policy is a strong start, but it doesn’t go far enough. The reduction eliminates just three classes—barely a dent. Utah should take the next step, cutting more general education requirements to make higher education truly affordable and meaningful for every student.

JON ENGLAND Libertas Institute

A Christmas Message

This Advent an Angel from high came to see me, With Words of Wisdom from atop our Christmas tree.

“No anti-humanity during this season,

Just Peace and Compassion with soulful Reason.”

To be not against everything but for something, To seek Grace for all and Peace for thyself.

No angry tirades festering thoughts Negative, Only deep introspection to think Positive.

A brief hiatus from our Exclusive curse, To celebrate this time with Inclusive verse.

Be glad, thankful and joyful for all that is good, Know that we all suffer challenges in brotherhood.

This sabbatical respite may even endure, To be the mantra for our lives evermore!

GEORGE KIBILDIS Sparta, New Jersey

“Breaking the News,” Dec. 12 Cover Story

Not good. Any administration—local or national—that is hostile to journalism is

clearly working to hide things from the people. While KSL has always been biased toward the right, in my opinion, this is an indication of the level of malice we can expect for the next four years.

MIKE CORONELLA Via Facebook

“Project Censored—Part I” Dec. 26 Cover Story

One never reported story: The number of people who die every year from denied insurance coverage.

TIM HUNTSMAN Via Facebook Really thought you guys were done with the AI covers.

SKATE3SOUNDTRCK Via Instagram Care to sound off on a feature in our pages or about a local concern? Write to comments@ cityweekly.net or post your thoughts on our social media. We want to hear from you!

THE WATER

COOLER Are you more of a “New Year, new me” person or a “New Year, screw it” person?

Wes Long

I’d like to think that I aim for new goals and life changes with the passing of each year. I’m not always consistent, but it’s worth it for my disposition.

Scott Renshaw

I try to make a resolution whenever I realize I need one, which generally seems to serve me well. If anything, the New Year is a chance to look back and consider whether I actually made any progress on the things I started working on at various times throughout the year.

Bryan Bale

The difference between Dec 31 and Jan 1 is exactly the same as the difference between any other pair of consecutive days.

Benjamin Wood

New Year’s is fun but I really don’t put much thought into it, probably because I’m a January baby and my birthday is always right on NYE’s heels.

Krista Maggard

l used to be a “New Year, New Me” person but as I’ve gotten older I find myself making more goals throughout the year vs. waiting for January—just set a goal and make it happen, there’s no sense in wasting time!

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PRIVATE

EYE

BY JOHN SALTAS

Top 10 Whatevers

I

n the waning hours of every year, people take time to ponder upon the 8,736 hours that filled their previous 364 days of breathing. Then, they share all of that rushed wisdom in every publication, on every broadcast and on nearly every social media feed, listing everything that they favored or missed. You know, the vaunted Top 10 Whatevers.

We settle our scores with the past year by boasting about nabbing access to something, then spreading it all over the planet with in-your-face posts about best restaurants, concerts, books, performances, albums, movies and anything we tried or encountered during the past year— even new nature trails. Every year, we anxiously spend too much time out of the final days seeing if we measure up to those around us.

As often as those feeds enlighten or entertain us, they also fill us with guilt for missing out on something a total stranger raved about. Such occasions also give us time to score our own ranking on the scale of hip and cool as we adjust our measuring points to match those of our greater audience of friends, family and followers.

We need to know where we fit. Like wolves, humans are forever adjusting the social rankings in their own versions of wolfpack status. We just do it without taking down an elk—most of the time.

I don’t pay much attention to those lists. Heck, if someone challenged me to name my Top 10 movies of the year, I couldn’t do so, basically due to my not going to 10 movies all year long. So, it does me no good at all to read a list of

movies that are deemed “best” when I haven’t heard of any of them. My own best movies for 2024, then, would be Dune and Wicked. They also constitute the entirety of my worst movies of 2024.

Best meals? As a creature of habit, my list would be essentially the same Top 10 as my previous lists, perhaps allowing for one or two variables (hey, when you find a great plate of biscuits and gravy, why keep searching?)

Speaking of which, I will do a mild shout-out to three good plates of God’s gift to the breakfast table: The biscuits and gravy dishes served at Feldman’s Deli, Vertical Diner and the Olympian Restaurant. You’re welcome to differ—just don’t feel bad about being wrong.

The only time I really paid attention to a year-end Top 10 ranking was long ago, in 1997 or so. That’s the year we switched our name from Private Eye Weekly to Salt Lake City Weekly. We did a horrible job of letting people know the name change was coming, so badly in fact that it took about 20 years for the letters to end that said, “City Weekly is full of shit. I miss the Private Eye,” despite it being the exact same newspaper, aside from the masthead.

It could have been worse, if not for the intervention of then-District Attorney Neal Gunnarson taking umbrage at a cover story of ours to the point of emptying some of our newspaper racks and tossing them into dumpsters.

Unfortunately, he was spotted by an intrepid reader who called us about it.

We then called the cops on the top cop himself. It made for a great story and an exciting time to be in the newspaper business.

The story simply wouldn’t die. Longtime AM radio host, broadcasting legend and good friend, Tom Barberi, brought it up every day for months on his morning radio program. Other local media ate it up too, because of course—you can’t have law and order if the guy protecting the law and order is accused of theft and destruction of private property. Gunnarson was getting pummeled

and now that I’m old and grey I can finally admit I felt sorry for him.

Not in the moment, though, because when it came time for him to end with a public apology, it was quite lame.

But now, yeah. City Weekly dropped the charges and everyone went their own way. I heard he wasn’t such a bad fellow, but that’s how it goes.

At the end of that year, one of the local television stations (I believe ABC4) was broadcasting their Top 10 stories of the year. There we were at number 9 or so—Utah AG throws local newspaper into the dumpster! Newspaper presses charges!!

Now, that was damn good considering the big stories in front of us were plane crashes, tornadoes and exploding volcanos. It was a big deal. Such a big deal that, despite our dropping the ball on our name change from Private Eye to Salt Lake City Weekly, Gunnarson did us a huge favor by keeping our name out there in the mass media each day for about nine months running.

Whatever money we didn’t spend on marketing was made up for in buckets of free publicity worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If I were to ever compile a Top 10 of this newspapers’ stories or events over the past four decades, the “Gunnarson Steals Free Press” fiasco would rank at or near the top. I can’t even begin to think right now what would make up the other nine.

Most Top 10s are just about burger toppings. I think there’s many of you out there that not only expect better, but who can do better as well. So, how about a challenge?

We’ll call it the “Name the Top 10 positive attributes of Donald Trump before the world ends” contest. Send me your Top 10 lists and they may be printed here, plus you’ll get a $25 gift certificate for a meal or cocktails.

Happy New Year! CW Send comments to john@cityweekly.net

HITS & MISSES

BY KATHARINE BIELE |

@kathybiele

MISS: Nothing to See Here

There’s that saying about the fox guarding the henhouse. The henhouse is you, the public, and the fox, it appears, is the Legislature. Charged with considering requests for public documents, the State Records Committee ran into a wall of inaction when lawmakers didn’t appoint members necessary for a quorum. The stalemate came after the committee approved release of the work calendar for Attorney General Sean Reyes. The Republican-controlled body doesn’t like the public knowing what they’re doing. One of the nominees, former Rep. Logan Wilde, suggested reporters only want the calendars to conduct “fishing” expeditions.

And of course, privacy—a favorite red herring—was brought up. It looks like new nominees are likely to keep calendars secret, begging the question, why officials can’t keep a private calendar as well as a work calendar? Still, Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, wants to know why the public should care if an elected official does something immoral outside of their job. In an era when voters chose a demonstrably immoral president, that’s a really good question.

HIT: End Homelessness, or Else

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Homelessness has no easy fixes, even though the governor and Legislature think bullying Salt Lake City will help.

OK, it’s a problem of illegal camping, drugs and crime, but the city is hardly unaware. Still, a letter from state leaders threatens some kind of intervention without unspecified results. All this comes as the nation faces an increase in the unsheltered population and a lack of housing options. The good news, if any, is that supportive housing programs in Utah seem to be helping.

And whether it will make a difference, Rep. Tyler Clancy, R-Provo, has legislation that would require cleaning up shelters by licensing them. He also wants to match homeless people with case workers. Clancy has good ideas, but maybe lacks the funding to make them work. CW

T

he transition to a new calendar year is a time of reflection and opportunity. I imagine many City Weekly readers are setting goals to eat better, exercise more, stay in closer contact with loved ones and to contribute more of their time and talent to acts of community service. These are great goals and I wish everyone the best as they commence a new year of personal growth.

But if I may offer another suggestion for new-year goals, I’d ask that we all try to elevate the depth and quality of public discourse, particularly around local Salt Lake City issues.

For example: Widening highways, or building new ones, does not alleviate traffic congestion. In reality, it makes congestion worse.

Imagine a hoarder. Now imagine this person’s family trying to help “fix” the problem by moving the individual, along with all of their possessions, into a larger home. I can assure you, with new space suddenly available for stacks of old magazines and piles of tchotchkes, the level of hoarding will not go down. It will only increase.

Driving has a similar relationship with spatial constraints. Traffic is not due to too many cars on the road, but rather, too many people choosing to drive a private car. Building more space in which to drive will never and has never prompted a person to drive less frequently.

The only thing that gets people to drive less—that demonstrably eases congestion—is to invest in alternatives to driving, like cycling, walking and public transit.

Take one glance at the comment section for any reporting around transportation and you will immediately see that most people don’t understand this. The archetypal Utahn is a suburban commuter stuck in gridlock as Frontrunner zips by, complaining about traffic while wondering when the Legislature will “do something about air quality.”

Similarly, people misunderstand density, arguing over and over again that this or that proposed housing project will “ruin” a neighborhood.

But a person needs a home and a community needs people to thrive. Housing doesn’t ruin a neighborhood, it makes a neighborhood.

And before the NIMBY chorus of “yes, but we need affordable housing” starts, remember that any home is more affordable than one that doesn’t exist. Remember, too, that the money one spends on transportation counts toward the “affordability” of their housing situation. The benefit of city living is proximity and density maximizes that benefit while minimizing the costs related to maintenance and public services.

My philosophy is simple: I believe in doing more of what works and less of what doesn’t. Unfortunately, too many people get confused about which is which in a cloud of misplaced assumptions and bad-faith posturing.

If nothing else, let 2025 be the year that you challenge your assumptions, and invite others to do the same. CW

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Reading a Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll shouldn’t require a math degree. The Deseret News, however, seemed to think 35% is greater than 37% and emphasized the lower number—maybe because 35% of those polled think charges against the president-elect should be dropped. However, 37% think said charges should continue. The headline had it right by saying Utahns are divided on Trump’s legal battles. The real question is why so many want the charges—even those that have been adjudicated—to be dropped. But the story did hint at a blueing of some counties, as well as a huge and unsurprising disparity between Republicans and Democrats. On the other hand, the News may have been writing for its readers, one of whom commented: “All of the cases against Trump were fabricated 3rd world communist political hit jobs.”

Bust a Myth

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MISS: Split Verdict

BY BENJAMIN WOOD

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8 | JANUARY 2, 2025

A&E

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Last year served up some great TV—here are some of the standouts to stream in 2025.

BY BILL FROST comments@cityweekly.net

R

emember 2024? It’ll go down as a fantastic year for TV—and little else, because it was a yawningly uneventful 12 months. For every critically praised returning series like The Bear, Hacks and Shrinking, a new show premiered to steal the spotlight from the established hits.

Space is limited here, so I’ve narrowed the list down to a handful of freshman series that made a qualitative splash in ’24.

The Penguin (HBO/Max): It’s a Batman show without Batman, and a Colin Farrell vehicle (mostly) without Colin Farrell— yet The Penguin still works. Set in Gotham after the events of 2022’s The Batman, The Penguin follows mob underling Oz Cobb (a heavily made-up Farrell) as he plots to rule the city. One obstacle: Sofia Falcone (a fearsome Cristin Milioti), a mob heiress fresh from a psyche-altering stint in Arkham Asylum. If you’re not into superhero sagas, no problem: The Penguin leans more Sopranos.

Fallout (Prime Video): Just as The Penguin is more than a comic-book adaptation, Fallout goes above and beyond the usual video-game-to-screen fare.

The series embraces satire and sadness equally, as post-apocalyptic survivors Lucy (Ella Purnell, Yellowjackets) and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins, forever Baby Billy from The Righteous Gemstones) fight to survive in the wasteland of Los Angeles.

Fallout outdoes The Last of Us with a dark sense of humor and visual zing, making for an inviting apocalypse.

Agatha All Along (Disney+): It took three years and several subsequent Marvel series of wavering quality for Disney to finally give WandaVision MVP Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) her own showcase, but it was worth the wait. Wanda’s on a quest to regain her witch powers, so she hastily assembles a coven (including Sasheer Zamata, Patti LuPone and Joe Locke) to navigate the trials of the Witches’ Road. A gleefully unhinged performance from Aubrey Plaza makes Agatha All Along—wait for it—magical.

English Teacher (FX/Hulu): Lacking

serious star power and saddled with a Labor Day premiere date, FX’s plainlytitled English Teacher still scored high grades with critics and audiences alike.

The workplace comedy has been called “Abbott Elementary Graduates to High School,” and the situations encountered by idealistic Evan (show creator and star Brian Jordan Alvarez) and his fellow teachers (Stephanie Koenig and Sean Patton) are more PG-13, but no less hilarious. A second season should be inevitable, right FX? Say Nothing (Hulu): Advance promo trailers made Say Nothing look like Pulp Fiction with car bombs, but the series—based on the novel by Patrick Radden Keefe—is deeper and more nuanced.

Kicking off in 1971 during The Troubles of Northern Ireland, Say Nothing follows teen activist sisters Dolours (Lola Petticrew) and Marian (Hazel Doupe), as well as rising Irish Republican Army leader Gerry Adams (Josh Finan). But, their righteous battle grows more introspective and painful into the ’80s and ’90s.

True Detective: Night Country (HBO/ Max): Following a universally-hailed debut season, two mostly dismissed follow-ups, and a publicly vocal denunciation by series creator Nic Pizzolatto, True Detective bounced back triumphantly with new director and co-writer Issa López’s Night Country. A pair of troubled detectives (Jodie Foster and Kali Reis) investigate the bizarre disappearance of a team of Arctic Circle research scientists, only to find seemingly supernatural forces at work in the frozen landscape.

Interior Chinatown (Hulu): Golden Dragon restaurant employee Willis (Jimmy O. Yang) splits his time between dreary reality and a stilted TV cop-show fantasy—until he’s drafted into a real investigation by Det. Lana (Chloe Bennet).

The ever-shifting narrative weave of Interior Chinatown is as unpredictable as it is seamless, as preposterous events aren’t relegated to the “fantasy” suite. Besides laughs and intrigue, the one constant in Willis’ world is Fatty (Ronnie Chieng, The Daily Show), who steals every scene he’s in.

Also new and of note in 2024: After Midnight (CBS/Paramount+), Bad Monkey (Apple TV+), Clipped (FX/Hulu), Fantasmas (HBO/Max), The Franchise (HBO/ Max), Funny Woman (PBS), Grotesquerie (FX/Hulu), High Potential (ABC/Hulu), Kaos (Netflix), Landman (Paramount+), A Man on the Inside (Netflix), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Prime Video), Palm Royale (Apple TV+), Shogun (FX/Hulu), Sunny (Apple TV+), Sweetpea (STARZ), Teacup (Peacock) and Ted (Peacock).

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JANUARY 2, 2025 | 9

theESSENTIALS JANUARY 2-8, 2025

ENTERTAINMENT PICKS,

COURTESY PHOTO

Complete listings online at cityweekly.net

Utah Symphony: Modern Times in Concert

10 | JANUARY 2, 2025

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It’s one of the most iconic images not just in classic film, but in all of cinema history: Charlie Chaplin’s Little Tramp character, caught up in massive factory gears like a product being processed. It can be found in Chaplin’s 1936 classic Modern Times, a critique of the industrialized world that was the first of the legendary filmmaker’s movies in which his voice was heard.

Yet the predominant sound in Modern Times is the orchestral score—composed by Chaplin himself, as he had become interested in the wake of his successful City Lights music with getting even more ambitious. Assisted by composer/conductor Alfred Newman, arranger Edward Powell and future Hollywood music legend David Raksin, Chaplin created a massive 89 minutes of music for the film—but the circa-1936 recording equipment didn’t really do justice to the number of musicians involved in creating the work. That’s why it’s such a unique and amazing opportunity to hear the score with a full orchestra, as the Utah Symphony plays to a screening of Modern Times this week. As conductor Timothy Brock wrote in notes for his own performance of the work, “This music serves the image not only by merely reflecting the emotional content of a scene, but by using its properties simultaneously as a film effect: the orchestra becomes, like ballet, the fluid line between emotion and practical response.”

Utah Symphony accompanies Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times for one night only at Abravanel Hall (123 W. South Temple) on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $12.50 - $72, and available at utahsymphony.org. (Scott Renshaw)

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JANUARY 2, 2025 | 11

Park City Shows: Gwyneth Goes Skiing

Sarah Silverman is one funny lady. And one of the most prolific—and one of the most controversial. She’s unafraid to speak out on such subjects as racism, sexism, homophobia, politics or world affairs, and to use her monologues as a soapbox when getting her points across. It often gets her into trouble, and yet even her critics have to admit she’s as fearless as she is busy.

And busy she is! A two-time Emmy Award-winning comedian, actress, writer, and producer, she first gained fame as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live before launching her own comedy series on Comedy Central, earning her first Emmy nomination as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. A veteran of several movies and TV series (she famously starred as Jerry’s girlfriend on Seinfeld), she garnered a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for her role in the independent film I Smile Back, and later turned her memoir The Bedwetter into an off-Broadway musical. Her late-night talk show, I Love You America aired on Hulu, all in addition to a weekly self-titled podcast and a criticallyacclaimed comedy special Sarah Silverman: Someone You Love (currently streaming on Max).

The latter title may be a misnomer, however, given that her controversial comments garnered the wrath of the Media Action Network for Asian Americans, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and two Baptist preachers who issued her death threats. (Hopefully they don’t practice what they preach.)

Sarah Silverman’s Postmortem tour comes to Kingsbury Hall on Friday, Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. Tickets cost $69 - $140 at vividseats.com. (Lee Zimmerman)

As we approach the time for the Sundance Film Festival to return to Park City, it’s an opportunity to remember that the little mountain ski town has been the location of both dreams coming true for young filmmakers, and some infamous incidents (Harvey Weinstein, anyone?). Once such curious case involved the February 2016 Deer Valley ski slope encounter between actor/ entrepreneur Gwyneth Paltrow and retired optometrist Terry Sanderson—a collision that turned first into a legal dispute, and ultimately into a new comedymusical play by U.K.-based Awkward Productions, titled Gwyneth Goes Skiing, which made its U.S. premiere at the Egyptian Theatre in May 2024.

Creators Linus Karp and Joseph Martin—who star in the show’s two main roles—attempted to find humor in the high-profile case (ultimately resolved in 2023), turning it into an audience-participation experience in which attendees become the jury deciding who was at fault. Along the way, there are plenty of gags about Utah and Park City, which the creators were interested to see how they would play when the show came to town last year.

“We’re two people coming in from abroad to make a show about a local event and local people in a very comedic way,” Karp and Martin told the Deseret News in May. “We didn’t want to make it seem that we came here to make fun of people.”

Gwyneth Goes Skiing returns to the Egyptian Theatre (328 Main St., Park City) Jan. 8 – 18 for 12 performances. Tickets are $39 - $69; visit parkcityshows.com to purchase tickets and for additional event information. (SR)

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’ve found an interesting thing happening as I’ve put together “Best of 2024” lists for year-end awards, critics’ aggregation lists and this publication: Where some years, I lock the order of my list pretty definitively, this year I keep slightly shifting things around as I consider different moments, ideas and performances. So maybe it makes sense to organize things a bit differently, and offer a non-ranked list.

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical): Hit Man; Rumours; Small Things Like These; The Wild Robot; and Will & Harper.

Places 6-10, alphabetically: Black Box Diaries: Japanese journalist Shiori Itō turns an “issue documentary” into a fascinating character study by chronicling her long battle for justice after accusing a successful, politically-connected journalist of drugging and raping her in 2015.

As a filmmaker, Itō’s quite savvy, but she also understands how to keep her own journey at the center. As much as the narrative arc might be building to a legal verdict, this is a tale of devastating human moments, like the emotions inspired by one person choosing to act in Itō’s best interest, and against his own, simply because it’s the right thing to do.

The Brutalist: Director Brady Corbet and his cowriter Mona Fastvold justify their 215-minute story through a single photo featured during a 15-minute intermission, capturing the pre-World War II happiness of architect and Hungarian-born Jew László Tóth (Adrien Brody) that he will never find again. The narrative deals with Tóth’s post-war life in America, on a commission from a wealthy benefactor (a fantastic Guy Pearce), but the real focus is the idea of assimilation, and how those who don’t fit the dominant paradigm are allowed to express who they are—or, indeed, who they once were.

Evil Does Not Exist: You don’t necessarily need to “solve” the enigmatic ending of Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow-up to his Oscar-winning Drive My Car to find it wondrous. Set in a rural Japanese community where a corporation plans to open a “glamping” site, it feels for a hot minute like an art-house version of Doc Hollywood, with big-city folks learning lessons from the salt-of-the-earth locals. But there’s a more unsettling notion at work here regarding the way people who don’t really grasp the reality of “nature” can tend to fetishize it, all set to Eiko Ishibashi’s remarkable score.

I Saw the TV Glow: Jane Schoenbrun (We’re All Going to the World’s Fair) continues to carve out a fascinating creative space exploring the way people use media to compensate for not being otherwise seen for who they truly are. Following two young people (Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine) who develop a passionate connection to a supernatural-themed 1990s TV series, it captures through haunting performances how the fandoms for certain stories are intense precisely because they speak to things that the fans themselves may not even fully understand about themselves.

Rebel Ridge: Right from the opening scene—with retired soldier Terry (Aaron Pierre) stopped by local cops who confiscate the cash Terry needs to post bail for his cousin—writer/director Jeremy Saulnier

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BY SCOTT RENSHAW scottr@cityweekly.net @scottrenshaw

VINEGAR SYNDROME

An ever-shifting list of the best movies of 2024.

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shows his gifts for ratcheting up tension to almost unbearable levels. Terry ultimately stumbles onto a massive corruption scheme led by the police chief (a perfectly oily Don Johnson), but that scheme is ultimately a MacGuffin serving to drive the slow burn towards justice, and the even slower burn of Pierre’s dynamic lead performance as a uniquely powerful kind of action hero.

The top 5, also alphabetical: Anora: Writer/director Sean Baker imagines a spin on Pretty Woman that’s both exponentially funnier and more genuinely heartbreaking in his story of Ani (Mikey Madison, in a knockout performance), a Russian-American sex worker who impulsively marries the 21-year-old do-nothing son of a Russian oligarch.

What follows next might have been a broad slapstick comedy as employees of Ani’s unhappy new in-laws attempt to secure an annulment, and indeed the ensuing frantic 24-hour sequence is full of expertlystaged humor. But it’s also a sneaky kind of character study about this tough young woman’s shifting understanding of whether she’s actually lucked into a Prince Charming.

Challengers: Tennis turns out to be the ideal backdrop for this combination of sports movie and romantic drama—about the complicated decade-long relationship between three high-level players (Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist)—since it’s a sport where there are many different gender permutations for competition. Director Luca Guadagnino and writer Justin Kuritzkes tell the high-energy story without judgment, conveying how there’s always something off in the dynamic between any two of these people in a configuration that omits the third, allowing for the possibility that their happily-everafter might involve a mixed throuple.

His Three Daughters: Visual style, thematic heft and great performances coalesce in writer/director Azazel Jacobs’ tale of three sisters (Carrie Coon, Natasha Lyonne and Elizabeth Olsen) gathering in the New York apartment where they all grew up for what are likely the last days of their terminally-ill dad. All three leads are phenomenal, capturing unique personalities reacting to the complex dynamics of their relationships with one another, their respective childhoods and confronting the finality of death. Most impressively, Jacobs takes what easily could have been a stage play and makes it wonderfully cinematic.

Hundreds of Beavers: Co-writer/director Mike Cheslik’s rollicking comedy demonstrates the power of committing to building a gag. At its most basic level, this movie set in the 19th-century Canadian wilderness finds a down-on-his-luck guy (Ryland Brickson Cole Tews, Cheslik’s co-writer) pivoting to working as a fur trapper to survive. What ensues in the black-and-white, super-low-budget production is an inspired mix of Road Runner-vs.-Coyote anarchy, old-school video-game plot mechanics and retro silent-film aesthetics. Movies like this shouldn’t be able to sustain comedic momentum for nearly two hours, but that’s what you get with one of the biggest barrels of laughs in years.

Red Rooms: So many thorny ideas of being “extremely online” are tied up in writer/director Pascal Plante’s psychological thriller—about Montrealbased model Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy) and her fascination with the trial of a serial killer—even as it provides one of the year’s most unsettling visceral experiences. The story’s effectiveness is anchored in the magnificent performances of Gariépy and Laurie Babin (as another trial groupie Kelly-Anne befriends), and it lingers because Plante is willing to dig into the most uncomfortable places about what our obsessions can do to us as we pursue the rush of evermore-dangerous highs. CW

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PROJECT CENSORED—PART 2 DEFORESTATION, SENTENCING REFORM, AI DATA COLLECTION AND SEXUALLY SUGGESTIVE MILITARY RECRUITMENT ROUND OUT PROJECT CENSORED’S ANNUAL TOP 10.

BY PAUL ROSENBERG, RANDOM LENGTH NEWS COMMENTS@CITYWEEKLY.NET Each year, Project Censored releases a list of unand under-reported news stories. Part I appeared in the Dec. 26 issue of City Weekly and is available at cityweekly.net. Part II continues below.

5. Abortion Services Censored on Social Platforms Globally On the first Election Day after Dobbs, PlanC, a nonprofit that provides information about access to abortion pills, posted a TikTok video encouraging people to vote to protect reproductive rights. Almost immediately, its account was banned. This was but one example of a worldwide cross-platform pattern.

“Access to online information about abortion is increasingly under threat both in the United States and around the world,” Women’s Media Center reported in Nov. of 2023.

“Both domestic and international reproductive health rights and justice organizations have reported facing censorship of their websites on social media platforms including Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok as well as on Google.”

South Korea, Turkey and Spain also blocked the website Women on Web, which provides online abortion services and info in 200 countries. At the same time, disinformation for fake abortion clinics remains widespread.

“Women’s rights advocacy groups are calling the ... overturning of Roe v. Wade the catalyst for the suppression of reproductive health information on social media,” Project Censored noted. “Hashtags for #mifepristone and #misoprostol ... were hidden on Instagram after the Dobbs decision, the WMC reported.”

Within weeks of the decision, Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) wrote to Meta, Ars Technica reported, questioning the company. “The senators also took issue with censorship of health care workers,” Ars Technica wrote, “including a temporary account suspension of an ‘organization dedicated to informing people in the United States about their abortion rights.’”

“U.S. state legislatures are currently considering banning access to telehealth abortion care,” Project Censored noted. “Furthermore, CNN reported that ‘at the end of 2023, nine states where abortion remained legal still had restricted telehealth abortions in some way.’”

There are similar problems with Meta and Google worldwide, according to a March report by the Center for Countering Digital Hate

(CCDH) and MSI Reproductive Choices, which provides services in 37 countries. This sparked a Guardian article by Weronika Strzyżyńska.

“In Africa, Facebook is the go-to place for reproductive health information for many women,” MSI’s Whitney Chinogwenya told the Guardian. “We deal with everything from menopause to menstruation but we find that all our content is censored.” She explained that “Meta viewed reproductive health content through ‘an American lens,’” the Guardian reported, “applying socially conservative U.S. values to posts published in countries with progressive policies such as South Africa, where abortion on request is legal in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy.”

Abortion disinformation is also a threat— particularly the promotion of “crisis pregnancy centers,” which masquerade as reproductive healthcare clinics but discourage, rather than provide, abortion services. WMC reported on a June 2023 CCDH report, which “found that CPCs spent over $10 million on Google Search ads for their clinics over the past two years.”

Google claimed to have “removed particular ads,” said Callum Hood, CCDH’s head of research, “but they did not take action on the systemic issues with fake clinic ads.”

“Women’s rights organizations and reproductive health advocates have been forced to squander scarce resources fighting this sort of disinformation online,” Project Censored observed, which has gotten some coverage, but “As of June 2024, corporate coverage of abortion censorship has been limited.”

The sole CNN story it cited ran immediately after the Dobbs decision, before most of the problems fully emerged. “There appeared to be more corporate media focus on abortion disinformation rather than censorship,” they added. “Independent reporting from Jezebel, and Reproaction via Medium, have done more to draw attention to this issue.”

6. Global Forest Protection Goals at Risk The UN’s goal to end deforestation by 2030 is unlikely to be met, according to the ‘23 annual Forest Declaration Assessment, Olivia Rosane reported for Common Dreams in October 2023.

The goal was announced to great fanfare at the 2021 UN summit in Glasgow, but the failure of follow-through has received almost no notice.

The same month, the World Wildlife Fund issued its first Forest Pathways Report, in which it warned: The two largest tropical forests are at risk of reaching tipping points. This would release billions of tonnes of carbon and have devastating consequences for the millions of people who depend on the stability of their ecosystems.

It would also have a global impact on our climate and catastrophic effects on biodiversity.

The problem is money. “We are investing in activities that are harmful for forests at far higher rates than we are investing in activities that are beneficial for forests,” the report coordinator, Erin Matson, told Common Dreams.

To meet the 2030 goal would require $460 billion annually, according to the report, but only $2.2 billion is being invested. Meanwhile, 100

times as much public finance is “committed to activities that have the potential to drive deforestation or forest degradation,” known as “gray” finance, the report explained. While the overall picture is dark, not all countries are failing. “Well over 50 countries are on track to eliminate deforestation within their borders by 2030,” the report noted.

The report’s lead, Mary Gagen, noted in an article published by The Conversation: “Global forest loss in 2022 was 6.6 million hectares, an area about the size of Ireland. That’s 21% more than the amount that would keep us on track to meet the target of zero deforestation by 2030, agreed in Glasgow.” At 33% over the necessary target, loss of tropical rainforests was “even more pronounced,” Gagen reported.

Gagen emphasized four recommendations: 1.) Accelerate recognition of Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ right to own and manage their lands, territories and resources; 2.) Provide more money, both public and private, to support sustainable forest economies; 3.) Reform the rules of global trade that harm forests, getting deforesting commodities out of global supply chains, and removing barriers to forest-friendly goods, and; 4.) Shift towards nature-based and bio economies.

Corporate media ignored both reports, though a Washington Post story discussed the subject a month after the reports were issued, but “made no direct reference to ... them,” Project Censored summarized. In contrast, “International outlets, including Germany’s DW and France 24, a state-owned television network, did produce substantive reports based on the Forest Declaration Assessment.”

7. Gen Z Military Recruits Targeted with Lurid Social Media Tactics

“If the military was a great, honorable profession, then they wouldn’t need to spend $6 billion a year bribing people to join,” journalist and veteran Rosa del Duca explained. Nonetheless, 2022 was the worst year for recruitment since ‘73, when the draft was abolished.

That’s the background to Alan MacLeod’s reporting for MintPress News about the military, “using e-girls to recruit Gen Z into service.”

While MacLeod also deals with the army sponsoring YouTube stars—male and female—to “join” for a day as part of a whole spectrum of social media efforts, his main subject is Army Psychological Operations Specialist Hailey Lujan, whose online videos feature “sexually suggestive content alongside subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) calls to join up,” Macleod reports. “The 21-year-old makes content extolling the fun of Army life to her 731,000 TikTok followers. ‘Don’t go to college, become a farmer or a soldier instead,’ she instructs viewers in a recent video. ‘Just some advice for the younger people: if you’re not doing school, it’s ok. I dropped out of college. And I’m doing great,’ she adds.”

Project Censored observed, “Lujan’s videos seemingly violate the code of conduct of the image-conscious U.S. military, and it is unclear what role the military has in producing Lujan’s content.” But ambiguity is part of the allure. “What makes Lujan stand out is her offbeat, Gen-Z style humor and how she leans into the idea that she is a military propaganda operation,” Macleod writes. “With

fendants’ sentences based on charges they’ve been acquitted of by a jury. But in April 2024, the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC)—a bipartisan panel that creates

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) apps carry considerable risks, some poorly understood, which can result in exposing sensitive data and exposing organizations to attacks from

Paul Rosenberg is a California-based writer/ activist, senior editor for Random Lengths News, and a columnist for Al Jazeera English and Salon.

JANUARY 2, 2025 | 15

9. Acquitted-Conduct Sentencing Challenged by U.S. Commission 10. Generative AI Apps Raise You might be surprised—even shocked—to learn that federal judges can determine deSerious Security Concerns

bad actors. In response, both government and businesses have taken steps to limit or even block AI access to data.

Congress “only permits lawmakers and staff to access ChatGPT Plus, a paid version of the app with enhanced privacy features, and forbids them from using other AI apps or pasting blocks of text that have not already been made public into the program,” Project Censored noted. A follow-up regulation banned the use of Microsoft’s Copilot AI on government-issued devices.

The National Archives and Records Administration is even more restrictive. In May 2024 it “completely prohibited employees from using ChatGPT at work and blocked all access to the app on agency computers.” And “Samsung decided to ban its employees’ use of generative AI apps (and develop its own AI application) in May 2023 after some users accidentally leaked sensitive data via ChatGPT,” Priya Singh wrote for Business Today in April 2024.

Programs such as ChatGPT and Copilot are built by a training process that collects and organizes data, which can be regurgitated in response to just a snippet of text. They are then “aligned” with an added layer of training to produce helpful output—which is what ordinary users normally see.

But something as simple as asking ChatGPT to repeat a word endlessly can cause it to break alignment and reveal potentially sensitive data, Tiernan Ray reported for tech news site ZDNet in December 2023. Researchers from Google’s DeepMind AI research lab found that ChatGPT “could also be manipulated to reproduce individuals’ names, phone numbers, and addresses, which is a violation of privacy with potentially serious consequences,” he reported. “With our limited budget of $200 USD, we extracted over 10,000 unique examples,” the researchers wrote. “However, an adversary who spends more money to query the ChatGPT API could likely extract far more data.”

And while training data itself can hold sensitive information, users are constantly adding new sensitive data that can also be exposed. In an article for ZDNet, Eileen Yu cited a survey of some 11,500 employees in the U.S., Europe (France, Germany and the U.K.) and Asia (Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea), which found that “57 percent of employees used public generative AI tools in the office at least once weekly, with 22.3 percent using the technology daily,” and that “31 percent of employees polled admitted entering sensitive information such as addresses and banking details for customers, confidential HR data, and proprietary company information into publicly accessible AI programs (and another 5 percent were unsure if they had done so).”

“Corporate media have given a lot of breathless coverage to the existential threat to humanity allegedly posed by AI,” Project Censored notes. “Yet these outlets have been far less attentive to AI apps’ documented data security risks and vulnerability to hackers, issues that have been given exhaustive coverage by smaller, tech-focused news outlets.” CW

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More than six million students have “stranded credits” due to colleges and universities withholding transcripts to force students to repay loan debts. But a new federal Department of Education regulation will make withholding more difficult, Sarah Butrymowicz and Meredith Kolodner reported for The Hechinger Report in December 2023. Withholding “has become a growing worry for state and federal regulators,” they wrote. “Critics say that it makes it harder for students to earn a degree or get a job, which would allow them to earn enough to pay back their debts. But the system of oversight is patchwork; no single federal agency bans it, state rules vary and there are significant challenges with monitoring the practice.”

The rule was part of a package intended to “strengthen the U.S. Department of Education’s ability to protect students and taxpayers from the negative effects of sudden college closures,” the DOE said in a press release. It went into effect in July. Specifically, it prevents withholding a transcript for terms in which a student received federal financial aid and paid off the balance for the term.

“As Katherine Knott reported for Inside Higher Education ... the new policy is part of a set of regulations intended to enhance the

guidelines for the federal judiciary—voted to end the practice as it applies to “calculating a sentence range under the federal guidelines.”

The change will significantly limit judges’ use of acquitted-conduct sentencing, as legal news service Law360 and Reason magazine reported. The commission voted unanimously “to prohibit judges from using acquitted conduct to increase the sentences of defendants who receive mixed verdicts at trial,” Stewart Bishop reported for Law360, but was “divided” on whether its proposal ought to apply retroactively. There are still narrow circumstances where such conduct can be considered—if it underlies a charge the defendant is found guilty of as well as the acquitted crime.

Acquitted conduct had been allowed under a lower standard—if the judge found the charges more likely truth than not, rather than the jury’s standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” It’s “a practice that has drawn condemnation from a wide range of civil liberties groups, lawmakers, and jurists,” C.J. Ciaramella reported for Reason, which in turn has “raised defendants’ scores under the federal sentencing guidelines, leading to significantly longer prison sentences.”

But now, “Not guilty means not guilty,” chair of the USSC, U.S. District Judge Carlton W. Reeves, said in a press release. “By enshrining this basic fact within the federal sentencing guidelines, the Commission is taking an important step to protect the credibility of our courts and criminal justice system.”

Project Censored noted that “Acquittedconduct sentencing partly explains why two Black men from Virginia, Terence Richardson and Ferrone Claiborne, have been serving life sentences for the murder of police officer Allen Gibson in 1998 despite being found not guilty by a federal jury in 2001,” a case whose reconsideration has been reported on repeatedly by Meg O’Connor at The Appeal.

The initial travesty of justice in this case was that police hid exonerating evidence from their original attorneys, and because of that, they pled guilty to lesser state charges. That was then used to give them life sentences in federal court, even though they were acquitted of murder in that trial. An evidentiary hearing was ordered by the Virginia Supreme Court in February 2024, and the judge in that hearing allowed some new evidence to be introduced— but not all of it. Still, it’s possible that Richardson could be released from prison.

There’s been little corporate media coverage. Project Censored cited one story in Bloomberg Law, but nothing in the New York Times nor Washington Post as of June 2024. In addition, “Richardson’s and Claiborne’s cases have received nearly no national coverage by corporate outlets,” except for a March 2023 BET report, “which addressed coerced confessions but not acquitted-conduct sentencing.”

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8. New Federal Rule Limits Transcript Withholding by Colleges

DOE’s oversight of institutions by providing additional tools to hold all colleges accountable,” Project Censored explained. “But these protections do not apply to institutions that accept no federal student aid, including many for-profit colleges.” However, “The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also investigating transcript withholding, which the Bureau has deemed abusive because the practice is ‘designed to gain leverage over borrowers and coerce them into making payments.’”

“It’s a huge step forward, and it’s really going to benefit a lot of people,” Martin Kurzweil, an official at consulting firm Ithaka S+R, told Knott. The firm first identified the problem in a paper three years ago. He called the decision “stunning,” given it was just three years since his firm identified the problem.

“That’s lightning speed in policy terms,” Kurzweil told Knott. “It speaks to the salience of this issue and unfairness in transcript withholding. I commend the Education Department for taking this so seriously.” Practically, it’s essentially a national ban, he added.

“I suspect that for a lot of institutions, it’ll be more trouble than it’s worth to try to carve off a term that was completed but not fully paid for. It’ll be administratively difficult.”

Another expert—Edward Conroy, a senior policy advisor at the New America think tank, told The Hechinger Report something similar: that it probably helps all students, not just ones getting federal aid. “It wouldn’t completely surprise me if one of the institutional reactions was, ‘We’re just going to stop doing this period,’” Conroy told them. “The number of students who are paying completely out of pocket isn’t that big; you don’t want to have separate administrative systems.”

This has already been seen at the state level, Hechinger noted: For instance, in 2022, Colorado passed a law prohibiting withholding transcripts from students requesting them for several reasons including needing to provide it to an employer, another college or the military.

Carl Einhaus, a senior director at the Colorado Department of Education says that most institutions found it too burdensome to differentiate between which transcript requests were required by law to be honored and which weren’t and have opted to grant all requests.

Coverage has been limited as of May 2024.

When the rule package was announced in October 2023, the Washington Post published a substantive report on the package, emphasizing the protections from sudden college closures, but only briefly noted the issue of transcript withholding. Early reporting in U.S. News & World Report and the New York Times (in a partnership with The Hechinger Report) did cover the issue. But the government’s response has gone virtually unnoticed.

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videos titled ‘My handlers made me post this’, “’Not endorsed by the DoD :3’ or ‘most wholesome fedpost’, she revels in layers of irony and appears to enjoy the whole ‘am I or aren’t I’ question that people in her replies and mentions constantly debate.”

“I can’t believe she’s getting away with posting some of this stuff,” said del Duca in a MintPress interview. “Everyone learns in boot camp that when you are in uniform, you cannot act unprofessionally, or you get in deep trouble.” The Defense Department didn’t respond when MacLeod asked for clarification. “[Lujan’s] overt use of her sensuality and her constant encouragement of her followers to enlist make her noteworthy.” Project Censored noted. “She is using her femininity to recruit legions of lustful teens into an institution with an infamous record of sexism and sexual assault against female soldiers,” MacLeod wrote.

“The branches of the U.S. military are no stranger to partnerships with entertainment giants that traditionally engage viewers from all walks of life—as in armed forces’ partnerships with the National Football League.

But this new attempt to appeal to niche youth audiences has not been scrutinized,” Project Censored said. “It is now well-established (if not well-known) that the Department of Defense also fields a giant clandestine army of at least 60,000 people whose job it is to influence public opinion, the majority doing so from their keyboards,” MacLeod reported, adding that a 2021 Newsweek exposé “warned that this troll army was likely breaking both domestic and international law.”

As of May 2024, Project Censored reported “no new coverage on this specific instance” that appears to take such lawbreaking to a new level.

italianvillageslc.com

(801).266.4182 5370 S. 900 E. SLC

Kicking off 2025 with my faves of 2024.

BY ALEX SPRINGER comments@cityweekly.net @captainspringer

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Season’s Eating and Best Dishes

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eading into another year of covering Utah’s always-evolving food scene, I would be remiss if I didn’t reflect on all the lovely bits of gastronomy I sampled during 2024. This upcoming year will have to get an early start in order to compete with all the grandiosity of last year’s offerings; here are a few of my favorite meals from last year.

Risotto Modena at Matteo (77 W. 200 South, 385-549-1992, matteoslc.com): I thoroughly enjoy the experience of trying a familiar dish that makes me feel as if I am trying it for the first time. The most recent iteration of this experience came during my meal at Matteo while I was checking out its new location. It helped that I had some background on Chef Matteo Sogne and his Modena-inspired culinary toolbox–once I saw that the risotto had the words “Modena,” “parmigiano reggiano” and “balsamic vinegar,” I figured it would be something special. Oh, how right I was. It’s a dish that doesn’t waste any time on spectacle–it arrives with a disarming simplicity that is only spruced up by the tableside drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Once you take your first bite, however, you soon realize that every risotto you’ve had before this has almost been disrespectful to the craft. For me, this represents the nucleus of why Italian food is special–take three perfect ingredients, treat them with a bit of love, serve

and enjoy. It’s hard to make good food look this easy, which is how you know Matteo is the real deal.

The Hoff at Egg Break (193 W. 2100 South, 385-500-2705, eggbreakbreakfast. com): I’m always going to react fondly to a place that finds new and interesting ways to incorporate pork into a breakfast sandwich, and The Hoff at Egg Break is a great example of such porcine innovation. This sandwich swaps traditional breakfast meat with a slab of pork belly that is smoked in-house. Anyone who has tried pork belly knows that it’s basically a thicker, more flavorful piece of bacon, so it’s right at home on a nice breakfast sando. When its flavors combine with those of the fried egg and the melty American cheese, enclosed by the crunch of the sandwich’s toasted ciabatta bun, you know you’ve got something special on your hands. As if The Hoff’s inspired set of ingredients isn’t enough to tempt you in the early hours of the morning, every dollar of this sandwich’s price gets donated to the Huntsman Cancer Institute.

It’s tough to go wrong with tasty food that supports a good cause.

Mapo Tofu at Koyoté (551 W. 400 North, 385-262-5559, koyoteslc.com): At the moment, Fairpark’s Koyoté is my favorite place to indulge a ramen craving or two.

While I’d recommend its ramen options all day, the dish that continues to live rent-free in my head is Koyoté’s mapo tofu. It hit me in the same way Matteo’s risotto did—it’s a dish that I’ve enjoyed from several other spots, but it wasn’t until I tried it here that I realized what I had been missing. Koyoté prepares this classic Sichuan dish of silken tofu cubes swimming in vibrant crimson sauce Japanese-style, though you can customize your heat levels (which I recommend). If mapo tofu hasn’t been on your radar until now, visiting Koyoté is the best way to remedy that issue.

ALEX SPRINGER

Bone Marrow Tacos

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DINE

Raspberry Jalapeño Fried Chickenless Sando at Blatch’s Backyard BBQ (186 I Street, 385-210-5029, blatchsbackyardbbq.com): Of the many items on the menu at Blatch’s Backyard BBQ, the raspberry jalapeño fried chickenless sando is the one that stuck with me this year. It’s a sandwich that starts with spectacle—it’s almost a knife-and-forker—but its plantbased approach isn’t striving to imitate its protein-based cousin. Chef Chris Blatchford works tirelessly to prepare his restaurant’s seitan and toppings to the point when they transcend plant-based iterations of classically meat-based entrees.

All the food at Blatch’s holds its own on the fronts of creativity and deliciousness, but there is something punk rock about Blatchford eyeing all these fried chicken joints and throwing down a gauntlet of a plant-based sandwich that puts most of them to shame.

Bone Marrow Tacos at Blind Rabbit (1085 E. 2100 South, 385-743-8007, blindrabbitkitchen.com): Throughout my culinary adventures, bone marrow has become one of my favorite indulgences. It’s one of those things I never thought I’d actually like, let alone crave when I’m feeling particularly voracious. So, when I ordered the bone marrow tacos at Blind Rabbit in Sugar House, I had high expectations. After all, Blind Rabbit is sisters with Sol Agave, and it’s sold itself as the kind of place that knows what to do with a protein of any origin. The tacos arrive on a giant wooden platter piled high with lengthwise-sliced bones, each one filled with grilled chopped ribeye that has been prepared with bone marrow. The idea here is to take a street taco approach by scooping a bit of this hypercharged meat mixture onto blue corn tortillas and adding a bit of salsa for some acid. The marrow-enhanced ribeye delivers a truly decadent experience for both steak and taco lovers, and it should always be close to your thoughts when paying Blind Rabbit a visit. CW

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JANUARY 2, 2025 | 17

A list of what local craft breweries and cider houses have on tap this week 2 Row Brewing 73 West 7200 South, Midvale 2RowBrewing.com On Tap: Piney Peaks “West Coast IPA” Avenues Proper 376 8th Ave, SLC avenuesproper.com On Tap: Steamy Wonder Rye Steam Ale Bewilder Brewing 445 S. 400 West, SLC BewilderBrewing.com On Tap: Belgian Pale Ale, Cosmic Pop IPA, Lord of the Ryes Stout Bohemian Brewery 94 E. Fort Union Blvd, Midvale BohemianBrewery.com On Tap: Cali ‘Steam’ Lager, ‘BrewSki’ German Pilsner, Munich Dunkel NEW: ‘Czechulator’ Doppelbock (9% ABV)

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Hop

ki

n

Desert Edge Brewery 273 Trolley Square, SLC DesertEdgeBrewery.com On Tap: Ay Curuba! Curuba Sour Epic Brewing Co. 825 S. State, SLC EpicBrewing.com On Tap: 2024 Big Bad Baptist Imperial Stouts Etta Place Cidery 700 W Main St, Torrey www.ettaplacecider.com On Tap: Wassail Cider, Pineapple Passion Fruit Session Mead

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Grid City Beer Works 333 W. 2100 South, SLC GridCityBeerWorks.com On Tap: Cask Nitro CO2 Helper Beer 159 N Main Street, Helper, UT helperbeer.com Hopkins Brewing Co. 1048 E. 2100 South, SLC HopkinsBrewingCompany.com On Tap: Winter Ale Kiitos Brewing 608 W. 700 South, SLC KiitosBrewing.com Now with a full bar license & draft beer cocktails!

On Tap: Gluten Free Peach Bellini Sour Level Crossing Brewing Co. 2496 S. West Temple, S. Salt Lake LevelCrossingBrewing.com On Tap: Rising Hope White Peach IPA 20% Off all gift cards for holidays

Moab Brewing 686 S. Main, Moab TheMoabBrewery.com On Tap: Arnie (Co-Lab with 2 Row brewing): cream ale base with Lychee black tea and fresh pasteurized lemon juice.

1048 E 2100 S Sugar House

@ HopkinsBrewingCo

Fisher Brewing Co. 320 W. 800 South, SLC FisherBeer.com On Tap: A rotation of up to 17 Fresh Beers!

Level Crossing Brewing Co., POST 550 South 300 West, Suite 100, SLC LevelCrossingBrewing.com On Tap: Fresh Hop Little Suss 20% Off all gift cards for holidays

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18 | JANUARY 2, 2025

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Craft by Proper 1053 E. 2100 So., SLC properbrewingco.com On Tap: Steamy Wonder Rye Steam Ale

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Bonneville Brewery 1641 N. Main, Tooele BonnevilleBrewery.com On Tap: Peaches and Cream Ale

Chappell Brewing 2285 S Main Street Salt Lake City, UT 84115 chappell.beer On Tap: Playground #13 - Hazy Pale with Lemondrop and Sultana

JAZZ JAM

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Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Mountain West Cider 425 N. 400 West, SLC MountainWestCider.com On Tap: Cranberry Rosemary Hard Cider

Offset Bier Co 1755 Bonanza Dr Unit C, Park City offsetbier.com/ On Tap: DOPO IPA

Roosters Brewing Multiple Locations RoostersBrewingCo.com On Tap: Roosters Piney Pale Ale

Ogden Beer Company 358 Park Blvd, Ogden OgdenBeerCompany.com On Tap: 11 rotating taps as well as high point cans and guest beers

SaltFire Brewing 2199 S. West Temple, South Salt Lake SaltFireBrewing.com On Tap: Anko Rice Lager on draft

Park City Brewing 1764 Uinta Way C1 ParkCityBrewing.com On Tap: Tiny Kickturn - Hazy pale with Mosaic, Strata, Cashmere, and Chinook

Salt Flats Brewing 2020 Industrial Circle, SLC SaltFlatsBeer.com On Tap: Winter Amber with notes of Vanilla and Brown Sugar

Policy Kings Brewery 223 N. 100 West, Cedar City PolicyKingsBrewery.com Prodigy Brewing 25 W Center St. Logan Prodigy-brewing.com On Tap: 302 Czech Pilsner Proper Brewing/Proper Burger 857 So. Main & 865 So. Main properbrewingco.com On Tap: Steamy Wonder Rye Steam Ale Proper Brewing Moab 1393 US-191, Moab properbrewingco.com On Tap: Blizzard Wizard Hazy Pale Ale Red Rock Brewing 254 So. 200 West RedRockBrewing.com On Tap: Gypsy Scratch Red Rock Fashion Place 6227 So. State Redrockbrewing.com On Tap: Munich Dunkel Red Rock Kimball Junction 1640 Redstone Center Redrockbrewing.com On Tap: Bamberg Rauch Bier RoHa Brewing Project 30 Kensington Ave, SLC RoHaBrewing.com On Tap: Task Manager CTRL+ALT+BEIR

Scion Cider Bar 916 Jefferson St W, SLC Scionciderbar.com On Tap: Scion Fruitcake 7.1% ABV Second Summit Cider 4010 So. Main, Millcreek https://secondsummitcider. com On Tap: Pear Rosemary 6.5% Shades Brewing 154 W. Utopia Ave, South Salt Lake ShadesBrewing.beer On Tap: Fresh Hop IPA (with homegrown local hops) Shades On State 366 S. State Street SLC Shadesonstate.com On Tap: Hellion Blonde Ale; Black Cloud Lager Silver Reef 4391 S. Enterprise Drive, St. George SGBev.com Squatters Pub Brewery / Salt Lake Brewing Co. 147 W. Broadway, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/ squatters On Tap: Salt Lake Brewing Co. – Holiday Nut Brown Ale Squatters and Wasatch Brewery 1763 So 300 West SLC UT 84115 Utahbeers.com On Tap: 20 beers with 12 rotating small batch releases: Black Tea English Porter,

Hazelnut Brown Ale, and more!

Small Batch Series Release: Back Abbey Double Belgian Ale Strap Tank Brewery, Lehi 3661 Outlet Pkwy, Lehi, UT StrapTankBrewery.com On Tap: Redeemer Rauchbier, God of Thunder Roggenbier Strap Tank Brewery, Springville 596 S 1750 W, Springville, UT StrapTankBrewery.com On Tap: Candy Cap English Mild TF Brewing 936 S. 300 West, SLC TFBrewing.com On Tap: Strata Fresh Hop Pale Ale Talisman Brewing Co. 1258 Gibson Ave, Ogden TalismanBrewingCo.com On Tap: Witches Brew Top of Main Brewery 250 Main, Park City, Utah topofmainbrewpub.com On Tap: Top of Main Brewery – Hop Carousel Rotating IPA Uinta Brewing 1722 S. Fremont Drive, SLC UintaBrewing.com On Tap: Was Angeles Craft Beer UTOG 2331 Grant Ave, Ogden UTOGBrewing.com On Tap: Golden Grant 5% ABV. Vernal Brewing 55 S. 500 East, Vernal VernalBrewing.com Wasatch Brew Pub 2110 S. Highland Drive, SLC saltlakebrewingco.com/ wasatch On Tap: Top of Main – Salt Lake Brewing Co. Hef Baum Hefeweizen Zion Brewery 95 Zion Park Blvd, Springdale ZionBrewery.com Zolupez 205 W. 29th Street #2, Ogden Zolupez.com

MIKE RIEDEL

Flavor Philosophies Contradictions in styles promote a sensory wallop

BY MIKE RIEDEL comments@cityweekly.net @utahbeer

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JANUARY 2, 2025 | 19

roper - Till Death: A decade ago, Black IPAs—or Cascadian Dark Ales, as some prefer—were everywhere. Every brewery had at least one at some point, but as fast as they blew in, they fell out of favor with beer-drinkers just as quickly.

Now, they pop up every now and then to remind people why they were such a hit.

Think of these as a well-hopped, lighter bodied, American-style Porters.

What we have with Proper’s Till Death is a dark brown, coffee-colored ale with some reddish hues to it—heady, with some dark khaki suds layered over the top. It smells piney at first, with some soft citrus and herbal undertones. A drift of mild roast character moves forth from there, evoking a bit of coffee and nutty chocolates—not super-aromatic, but with some good hop notes there and a clean balance.

The taste confirms the nose, as a flourish of piney hops develops up front along with a few citrus and herb notes laced in between. It builds up to that roasty malt/coffee presence, and a hint of cocoa is mixed in along with some light brown-sugar sweetness. It’s not all that dark or ashy, if you will, which is nice, and it avoids becoming too acrid, a frequent weakness of hoppy black ales.

There is a mild amount of actual hop bitterness to this one, which contributes to the overall balance—smooth and clean, with the alcohol totally masked throughout. Body is moderate, and a nice, even level of carbonation keeps things lighter on the palate. You even get a touch of bitters with the accompanying roasty linger, dry at the finish and mostly clean overall.

Verdict: The Proper Brewing team

confirms my beliefs that they could deliver on this Cascadian Dark Ale, both hoppy and roasty without one component mucking up the other. It’s not any type of game-changer, but damn wellcrafted with great balance.

Bewilder Weizenbock: Bock beers were the traditional beer brewed by Bavarian monks to consume during Lent and were basically the monk’s only sustenance over that time of fasting.

They’re malty lagers with bigger than normal alcohol. They can vary in flavors by region, but you can always count on them being sweet and somewhat boozy.

Weizenbocks are the only wheat-forward bockbier, with a special flavor profile driven by their specific weizen yeast strains. They’re a full-flavored beer that can range from light to intense.

Bewilder’s Weizenbock is a collaboration between home brewer Mike Johnson of Salt Lake City and Bewilder Brewing, based on Johnson’s award-winning recipe. It poured a rich cherrywood color, with a ruby red glow about it. The light tan/vanilla head that was produced was creamy, rich and thick, about two inches of dense foam. The aromas that came from the glass were fairly rich essences of dark fruit (plums), some bananas, sweet malts, spices and yeast—all were present and quite distinctive.

The flavors that rolled over my tongue were sweet and at times tangy—bananas, plums, dark berries, a slight hop bite, a tad of wheat grain flavors in the middle along with big sweet malts and spices near the swallow. A pine presence came and went and alcohol was present throughout the swig, finishing with a yeasty, malty flavor. The aftertaste was dominated with fruity, yeasty hops, not lasting on the palate but present nonetheless. The body was more of a medium to medium-heavy on the mouth.

Verdict: What can I say—this beer is a flavor explosion. The yeast drives it to a fruity place that’s not for the meek. It’s a great education on the power of yeast for flavor.

Both of these beers are different enough that you could try them backto-back; those contrasting flavors may just enhance the overall enjoyment. Give ’em a try, and let me know what you think. As always, cheers! CW

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BY ALEX SPRINGER |

Winter Brunch With High West

High West is warming up the winter season with a few different dining and drinking events across Park City. Starting off with The Refectory in Wanship, the Sunday Distillery Brunch will feature a brunch buffet from 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. each Sunday. The Distillery Winter Dinner Series will be operating on certain Friday and Saturday evenings from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. The Nelson Cottage will also be offering daily prix-fixe dinners at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Finally, the High West Saloon will be offering daily lunch and dinner featuring signature menu items. More information on each of these events can be found at highwest.com.

Chef Paco Morales Joins Taste of Luxury

Deer Valley Resort’s (deervalley.com) Taste of Luxury series has a real treat prepared for its upcoming iteration. Chef Paco Morales of Córdoba, Spain will be helming the evening’s culinary festivities, bringing his in-depth knowledge of Andalusian cuisine to Deer Valley. Though he is a sought-after culinary mind across the world, his base of operations is the restaurant Noor which is also a Córdoba original. Chef Morales will be serving a six-course meal in the Fireside Dining Room at the Empire Canyon Lodge for three nights—January 10, 11 and 12—starting at 6:00 p.m.

The event will also feature a VIP reception where attendees will be treated to a meet-and-greet with Chef Morales.

Dumplings Company Opens

For a long time, I’ve thought of how much better the world would be if we had more restaurants that only served dumplings—and it seems like that wish is starting to come true. I recently heard about a spot called The Dumplings Company (dumplingscompany.com) that has reserved a good third of its menu to steamed dumplings. Per the restaurant’s website, I’m seeing a lean toward steamed soup dumplings. However, the menu also has masala dumplings and chili dumplings tossed in spicy sauces; perhaps we’re looking at something closer to Bhutanese momos? I’ll be checking this place out very soon just to see what we’re dealing with.

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Roundup of SLC Metal Bands Mauled, DoomCupcake, The Used, Chelsea Grin and Blood Star bang local heads

BY EMILEE ATKINSON eatkinson@cityweekly.net @emileelovesvinyl

A

s Jack Black has eloquently stated, “You can’t kill the metal; the metal will live on.” Since its inception in the late-’60s/early-’70s, metal has grown and branched out into dozens of subgenres, leaving plenty of room for new acts even while the originals hold true. While many metalheads listen to the classics like Black Sabbath and Megadeth, there are plenty of locals who will melt your face just as much as the big guys. Here are some local metal bands that you’ll want to check out if you need some new hard-and-fast tunes.

Mauled: Death metal band Mauled has one of the most metal names on this list—and with that hard name comes an even harder sound.

Their 2024 debut Divine Comedy is an intense listening experience in the best way; if you’re a fan of the death metal subgenre, look no further.

It’s fast and heavy and leans on fearsome vocals emblematic of the genre. With track names like “Retaliation,” “Punishment” and “Misanthropy,” the album will leave feeling like you got something out of your system. Sometimes you just need to rage and headbang your problems out.

DoomCupcake: When thinking of metal

in SLC, DoomCupcake is on the forefront of many people’s minds— and rightly so. Fronted by the enigmatic Zaza Historia VanDyke, DoomCupcake offers a unique mixture of badass and awesome.

Their punk-infused metal offers listeners a mixture of tongue-in-cheek humor and exceptional talent. Their latest single “Micro-Dosing Calzones” will make you laugh, but also admire the musicianship of the track. “DoomCupcake packs the heavy riffs you loved if you went to high school in the early 2000s with the poppy ‘ear-worm’ melodies that haunt the radio, and lyrics that express the oppression, mental-health struggles, and fearlessness that their singer walks with everyday,” the band told The Ogdenite last year. If you can’t find something within Zaza’s lyrics that you identify with, you can at least head-bang along, because DoomCupcake hits HARD.” Their 2023 debut album The Grippy Socks Hotel has a few more serious moments with its poignant lyrics and vulnerability, but it’s all fantastic and worth many listens.

The Used: I spent a great deal of my early teen years obsessing over The Used and their sound—which perfectly fits with the emo kid aesthetic—while having no clue that they formed in Orem in the early aughts. It had been a few years since pressing play on any of their music, but upon learning this revelation, I went to revisit some of their music and found myself comfortably settling in and reliving the nostalgia. The Used has released tons of music since their self-titled debut in 2002, but there’s something about that first album that’s hard to move past.

“The Taste of Ink” is still the band’s most

MUSIC DoomCupcake

played song, with millions of streams.

They may not fully fit in the category of metal, as they mix elements of rock and pop-punk, but it’s the emo/screamo sound that makes them feel at home here.

Chelsea Grin: Since forming in 2007, the band has gone through many changes, and since 2018, none of the founding members remain in the band. But that doesn’t negatively affect their sound. While some of the band’s original songs are among their most popular, they have recent tracks that listeners love, including ones off of their 2023 album Suffer in Heaven. Chelsea Grin’s sound is heavy and hard, feeling raw at times with intense and powerful vocals.

They have a huge library if you’re looking for a deep dive into some truly intense deathcore sounds.

Blood Star: If you haven’t heard of Blood Star, run, don’t walk to pull up their music.

This local band and their music are pure delight. They have a more traditional metal vibe that includes chugging rhythms and melodic, atmospheric sound.

Their 2023 album First Sighting showcases the band at their best—it’s face-melting, and builds and builds, never getting old as you make your way through each track. The lyrics also paint vivid pictures, leading you on an epic journey through a mythical world, as songs like “Fearless Priestess,” “The Observers” and “Cold Moon” paint delightful and beautiful pictures that pair exceptionally well with Blood Star’s sound. They are a must-listen when it comes to metal in SLC. There are few guarantees in this world, but one of them is that metal will always prevail, so be sure to add music from these bands to your library for a rainy day. CW

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Louder Than Hell @ Metro Music Hall 1/2

Remember the ’80s? Louder Than Hell certainly does. Drawing from a variety of popular styles—hair metal, power balladry, mainstream rock, hard rock and more—Louder than Hell takes concertgoers on a trip back to the days of teased hair, spandex and other sartorial affectations. More importantly, the group immerses listeners in a wash of sound that evokes warm memories of when FM radio and MTV ruled supreme, when men (and women) with loud guitars, chorus pedals and big voices roamed the Earth. Louder Than Hell describes its performances as “night[s] of decadence and debauchery,” but the band’s sound suggests something with a wider and more timeless appeal. Also on the bill are Lilly E. Gray (a provocatively-named band playing gothic/industrial rock that may well provide the aforementioned decadence) and the mischievously-named MILF & Cookies, led by guitarist Bad Kenny G (“Bad” presumably so as to differentiate from the lite-jazz icon). Louder Than Hell headlines a night of ’80s nostalgia and just plain hard rock at Metro Music Hall on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. Tickets for this all ages show are $10 at 24tix.com. (Bill Kopp)

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Frontiers of Jazz @ Fountain Records 1/2

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Improvised music matters because it is unique to a moment—and in Salt Lake City, Adam Michael Terry’s Frontiers Of Jazz at Fountain Records is a highlight. The key is an ability for the music-makers to listen to the others playing, understanding and mastering the chord structure and where it is going. It will take your mind to places you didn’t know existed. “I think jazz is really the experimental art form for America,” Terry, a.k.a Mr. Fountain, told Slug Magazine. “Yes, it’s rooted in blues, it’s rooted in all these things, but it’s grown and created so many other little side genres.” Free improvising is a choice, not a way of covering up ineptitude, and is a feature of most music in the world—Western classical music that as precisely as possible renders a written score, or pop concerts that seek to precisely imitate a commercially available recording, are the odd ones out in global terms. It’s a messy lived experience—non-linear, inherently responsible yet necessarily transgressive, surprising, unlovely or transcendent ... the most stimulating mode of expression for performer and listener. Every musician should at least try it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t; like any form of music, it depends on the people and the relationships between them. And most importantly, how well they listen to each other. Arrive early to get a seat. Drew Holland Quartet opens. Catch Frontiers Of Jazz at Fountain Records on Thursday, Jan 2. Music at 7 p.m. Open sit-in for jazz musicians at 8 p.m. Admission for the all-ages show is $5, and more info can be found at instagram.com/ fountainrecordsslc. (Mark Dago)

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Want to catch a night out in Park City before all the craziness of Sundance? Look no further than the Queen of Deep House, Nora en Pure (Daniela Di Lillo), at The Marquis on Friday!

The Swiss-South African DJ and producer’s blend of house with indie dance and melodic techno is a great way to start the year. Her music will transport you to a calming atmosphere with her soothing melodies and catchy rhythms guaranteed to sustain the uplifting feelings of new beginnings that the new year brings. She began gaining global popularity in 2010 with her remix of Daniel Portman’s “KHAWERI,” while her own raw but detailed style is showcased in the singles “Come With Me,” “Morning Dew,” “Lake Arrowhead” and “Tears In Your Eye.” She’s the real deal, proven by her ethereal sets at Coachella, Burning Man and Tomorrowland. There is a very specific scenery painted with the music that combines South African tribal percussion with traditional Western instruments, such as piano, strings, wind instruments and synthesizers. Her ability to connect disparate sounds and styles is

like entering a cinematic landscape such as a vibrant jungle during golden hour, guaranteed to evoke calming emotions and release negativity. Come see Nora en Pure on Friday, Jan. 3 at The Marquis. Doors open at 9 p.m. for this 21+ show. General Admission costs $40; the Sky Deck option costs $75. Go to tixr.com for tickets and event information. (Arica Roberts)

MUSIC PICKS

EJ Michels/BRYSN, Forest Slater @ Kilby Court 1/3

Last year, EJ Michels blew away the judges on The Voice with his rendition of Adele’s “Easy On Me,” and his journey through the competition was a treat for viewers to watch—especially being able to cheer on a Utah native.

Even though Michels didn’t win, he gained a lot of rightly-deserved attention. “Your voice is so raw and honest. Sometimes people come out here and there’s imperfections in their performance that just make you feel, as a listener, more of a connection,” judge Blake Shelton told Michels at his audition. “And there were times your voice was starting to break up a little bit. And all that did was create an angst

Nora En Pure in the performance and emotionally kind of had me on the edge.” Since his time on the show, Michels has released two albums, Michigan Avenue and the most recent, Evergreen. Michels’ sound is timeless and falling into his albums is as easy as falling asleep. He has an incredible voice and sings with a vulnerability that makes his music truly endearing. On the bill with Michels is BRYSN, who is on the road celebrating his newest album Next. Come enjoy this incredible duo with Forest Slater opening on Friday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. Tickets for the all-ages show are $12 and can be found at 24tix.com. (Emilee Atkinson)

Fleetwood Visions @ Mid Valley Performing Arts Center 1/4

Those who negate the role played by socalled tribute bands often forget that they serve an important function—that is, to help maintain a legacy of classic artists and bands that are no longer around to perform for themselves. In that regard, they ensure the fact that the music remains present and alive, even after an iconic outfit has passed.

SUZANA PAYLAN

Nora en Pure @ The Marquis 1/3

With that in mind, credit Fleetwood Visions with sharing the sound of Fleetwood Mac, one of the most beloved bands of all time. Based here in Salt Lake City, the group is structured like their predecessor, with two female singers at the helm and a dynamic blend of guitar, bass, drums and keyboards providing the same dynamic delivery.

As a result, Fleetwood Visions is adept at replicating the hits that made the Mac one of the best-selling bands of all time, whether it’s the classics like “Go Your Own Way” and “Dreams” or more obscure entries from the group’s fivedecades-plus catalog. Their attention to both spirit and sound—from the intricate harmonies to the instrumental agility—serves as a reminder that great music is indeed timeless, as long as there are those willing to preserve it for posterity. Given the passing of singer/keyboardist Christine McVie in 2022, it appears Fleetwood Mac is no more, giving Fleetwood Visions the vision of how to keep the Mac’s musical memories alive. Fleetwood Visions visits the Main Stage Theater, Mid Valley Performing Arts Center, Taylorsville, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 4. Tickets cost $25 - $39 at saltlakecountyarts.org. (Lee Zimmerman)

free will ASTROLOGY

BY ROB BREZSNY

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

There are experiences, people and places that can either be good for you or bad for you. Which way they tilt at any particular time may depend on your mood or their mood or forces beyond your immediate control. An example for me is social media. Sometimes it’s a mediocre drug that dulls my sensibilities and aggravates my fears. On other occasions, it brings rich new connections and teaches me lessons I’m thrilled to learn. What about you, Aries? In my astrological view, 2025 will be a time when you will be wise to re-evaluate and redefine your relationships with these paradoxical resources. If there are some whose influence is far more likely to be bad than good, consider ending your bond. For those that are equally bad and good, do what you can do to enhance the goodness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

Taurus supermodel Linda Evangelista has supreme levels of self-esteem. At the height of her career, she bragged that she got out of bed each morning with the intention of earning no less than $10,000 in the coming day. I’m not advocating that you be equally audacious in your expectations during 2025, dear Taurus. But it’s reasonable for you to adopt at least a measure of Evangelista’s financial confidence. According to my analysis of your destiny, cosmic rhythms will be conspiring to open up economic opportunities for you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

As 2025 unfolds, your burdens will grow lighter and your duties will become more interesting. Joyless missions and trivial hopes will be increasingly irrelevant and easy to relinquish, opening opportunities for fresh assignments that motivate you to play more and work smarter rather than harder. During the coming months, Libra, I predict you will be basking in extra good karma and tapping into more fertile mojo than you have in a long time. Would you like more freedom than ever before? It’s yours for the plucking.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Painter P. K. Mahanandia is well-known for his fine art. He is even more famous for an adventure he had in the name of love. It’s a long story, but his wife was living in her native Sweden while he was stuck in his native India. Mahanandia was still at an early stage of his career and couldn’t afford to fly by plane. Instead, he bought a used bicycle and headed west, covering about 27 miles per day. He pedaled through Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey until he arrived in Europe 127 days later. He had raised money by drawing portraits of people he met along the way, so he had enough to travel by train the rest of the way to Sweden. I’m thinking you may have an epic romantic adventure yourself in 2025, Scorpio. Maybe not quite as extreme, but very interesting.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

CANCER (June 21-July 22)

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

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You’re the most pragmatic sign of the zodiac and are most highly skilled at getting constructive things done. It’s also true that you thrive on organizing the chaotic details of our messy world into smooth-functioning systems. But I periodically need to remind you that these superpowers of yours require you to nurture a vigorous and rigorous imagination. All of what you ultimately accomplish originates in the fantasy realm. This will be especially crucial for you to keep in mind during 2025.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

The Mona Lisa is a world-famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Beneath its visible surface is evidence that the artist reworked it extensively. There are at least three earlier versions with different facial features. In one, the figure has eyebrows and is wearing hairpins and a headdress. These details were scrubbed out of the image that now hangs in the Louvre Museum in Paris. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because I suspect you have been engaged in a comparable process as you have worked on your labor of love. In my reckoning, you’re finished with your false starts, practice runs and dress rehearsals. In the coming months, you can make excellent progress toward ripening and culminating your creation.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20)

Ancient Greek literature references a drug called nepenthe.

Anyone who ingested it would forget memories that stirred pain and sorrow. Many of us modern people might consider taking such medicine if it were available. But let’s imagine a very different potion: one that arouses vivid memories of all the wonderful experiences we have been blessed with.

If there were such a thing, I would recommend that you sample it frequently in the months to come. That’s because your relationship with the good parts of your past will be especially useful and inspirational. In fact, drawing on their power will be instrumental in helping you create your best possible future.

Go to realastrology.com for Rob Brezsny’s expanded weekly audio horoscopes and daily text-message horoscopes.

Audio horoscopes also available by phone at 877-873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

salt lake

CITY WEEKLY

D E T N A W DRIVER E AREA. SALT LAK e th r nesdays fo rs for drive le on Wed b g n ila ki a o v a lo e is y nd b City Weekl n vehicle a e their ow s u t s u m Drivers

Please email:

Eric Granato Egranato@cityweekly.net

JANUARY 2, 2025 | 29

Aztecs were originally known as the Mēxihcah people.

Before they forged an empire, they were semi-nomadic tribes. But even then, early on, they were guided by a prophecy that they would eventually settle permanently in a place where they found an eagle roosting on a cactus holding a snake in its talons. In 1325, wanderers spied this precise scenario on a small island in Lake Texcoco. Soon they began to construct the city of Tenochtitlan, the capital of their future kingdom. I bring this true myth to your attention, Virgo, because I want to invite you to formulate a similar prophecy in 2025—and then fulfill it. Your personal empire is primed for expansion and consolidation.

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The coming months will be an excellent time to dream up bigger, better, more original sins and seek out wilder, wetter, more interesting problems. You should experiment with being naughty and even sweetly wicked as you uplift your spirit and deepen your love for life. You are being invited by your future self to experiment with daring departures from tradition that bring you exciting challenges. Dear Leo, my wish for you in 2025 is that you will be cheerfully courageous (not belligerently courageous) as you become both smarter and wiser than you have ever been before.

A N E W D AY S PA

| COMMUNITY |

Good advice for the first half of 2025: 1. Lose your respect for tangled complications that have begun to rot; 2. Keep some of your necessary protective defenses, yes, but shed those that no longer serve you and are weighing you down; 3. Bury a broken-down dream to make room in your heart for a sweet new dream; 4. Scour away as much resentment as you can; 5. Sneak away from people and situations that are far too demanding; 6. Discard as much as you can of what’s inessential, unhelpful and defunct. 7. Don’t make a radical break for freedom yet, but begin plotting to do so by your birthday.

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In 2025, dear Gemini, I invite you to make ample use of at least five of the following 11 tactics: 1. Shatter the molds; 2.

Defy the conventions; 3. Challenge the norms; 4. Redefine the boundaries; 5. Disrupt the status quo; 6. Defy old rules and create new ones; 7. Go against the flow and against the grain; 8. Bushwhack through frontiers; 9. Dance to unfamiliar rhythms; 10. Search for curious treasures; 11. Change the way you change.

To symbolize your destiny in 2025, I drew a Tarot card. It was the 9 of Cups. Here’s my four-part interpretation: 1.

Sometime soon, you should identify your top desires and ruminate about how to express them in the most beautiful and fulfilling ways possible; 2. Take a vow that you will shed half-hearted, insecure approaches for bringing them to fruition; 3. Be uninhibited about seeking not just a partial but a complete version of each fulfillment; 4. Figure out which allies you will need in your life to manifest the happiest and most meaningful outcomes.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20)

Pamper Yourself

WITH BABS DELAY

Broker, Urban Utah Homes & Estates, urbanutah.com

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appy 2025! Another year has passed and sad to say, we’re moving into another year facing a local and national housing crisis.

Looking at data around the nation, Zillow says we’re down 4.5 million homes; Freddie Mac says 3.7 million.

New housing starts were down in the fall and housing prices and rents are higher than ever. Ugh. What continues to cause this problem? There are several issues that continue to plague us: 1. Inflation is slowing but not enough to bring down mortgage rates. Folks who don’t follow rates on a regular basis and aren’t shopping for a home loan are always surprised when I share that interest rates have not substantially dropped even though the Federal Reserve has lowered the prime rate twice in its last two meetings.

2. Millions of people took advantage of unreal mortgage rates in 2021. The lowest interest rates ever on record in the United States were recorded when the Federal Reserve’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic caused mortgage rates to plummet and 30-year mortgages went as low as 2.5% for a 30-year loan. Potential sellers these days have little interest in putting their homes up for sale and trading for another property with a 7% mortgage. The National Association of Realtors’ chief economist said recently, “Household equity in real estate is at a record high. This means there has been a huge increase in wealth for realtors’ past clients, to the tune of $35 trillion.” He also pointed out the glaring difference between the estimated net worth of homeowners nationally ($415,000) and renters ($10,000) in 2024.

3. Home prices around the country went up more than 30% from 2020 to 2024, due to extremely low inventory for potential buyers. Like any commodity, if there’s a shortage then prices go up and up until more supply is available. Likewise, rents went up 20% or more. Many landlords switched to renting out their properties to the Airbnb crowd, which has contributed to less rentals on the market.

4. The price of building homes has skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic, with materials and labor jumping up each month. Lenders also aren’t giving any great deals out there to developers, although it’s easier to get a loan to build an apartment building than new condos. Salt Lake City has a huge shortage of condo inventory, but townhouses are popping up all over.

Sadly, seniors do not want three levels of stairs and senior housing is really at a crisis point here. I have many Boomer clients who would love to move to one-level living but finding this kind of housing is rare in the Salt Lake Valley—although much more common in Washington County.

It’s impossible to predict what President-elect Donald Trump’s policies will have on our economy. His promises are grandiose—I’ve heard him say he’ll cut mortgage interest rates in half and cure our housing shortage. From your lips to God’s ears! ■

Content is prepared expressly for Community and is not endorsed by City Weekly staff.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE

© 2025

TIDY UP

BY MATT JONES

ACROSS

1. Fencing sword 6. Like used briquettes 10. Add-ons in the self-checkout lane?

14. Slangy summons 15. Fencing sword 16. Alike, in Avignon 17. Single file 19. Long ride?

20. Front-of-book list, for short 21. Fails to be 22. Ab-building exercise 23. Bombarded, Biblical-style 27. Poem with a dedicatee 28. Top of the mouth 29. Forearm bone 32. “I ___ reason why ...”

34. Portrayed 37. Action seen in “The Hunt for Red October” 41. “Abbott Elementary” principal 42. Crates 43. Pretentious, as some paintings 44. Org. that works with the JPL 45. Blu-ray player predecessor 13. Pig feed 47. Lyric from Hall & Oates 18. “... even ___ speak” 53. Picked 22. Hoity-toity type 54. Astronaut’s beverage 24. Wander 55. Classic Japanese drama form 25. Peaches and pears, e.g.

57. Jabba the ___ 26. “Game of Thrones” actress Chaplin 58. Interlocks, like what each theme answer 29. Letters on Forever stamps does?

30. Sweetie, to Brits 61. Title figure in a Scott Turow book 31. Org. that has guards 62. Pound, for one 32. Wakeup hour, for some 63. “You’re All ___ to Get By” 33. Ethyl or methyl follower 64. Small spot on a globe 34. 1812 event 65. Like doilies 35. Do something 66. Ancient Scandinavians 36. Field in a jigsaw puzzle, often DOWN 38. Cheapen 1. Tam wearer 39. “The Horse 2. Response to “Are too!”

Fair” painter 3. Firewood wood Bonheur 4. Notable period 40. Acidic 5. Laced again 44. Quik maker 6. Insurance company named after a 45. Big name in set mountain diagrams 7. ___ bars (raps) 46. Coop up 8. Dress line 47. Cold-shoulders 9. “___-haw!”

48. Monopoly buy 10. Conviction 49. Storage spot 11. Antsy feeling 50. Awful, like 12. Full range some colds

51. Key near the double-quotes 52. Dramatis personae 53. Former “Top Chef Masters” host Kelly 56. Robert Louis Stevenson villain 58. Ending for spoon or scorn 59. TV chef Garten 60. “That’s ___ brainer”

Last week’s answers

Complete the grid so that each row, column, diagonal and 3x3 square contain all of the numbers 1 to 9. No math is involved. The grid has numbers, but nothing has to add up to anything else. Solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic. Solving time is typically 10 to 30 minutes, depending on your skill and experience.

urban LIVING

SUDOKU X

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

| COMMUNITY |

| CITY WEEKLY |

30 | JANUARY 2, 2025

PHOTOGRAPHERS WANTED

NEWS of the WEIRD

We sell homes to all saints, sinners, sisterwives and...

BY THE EDITORS AT ANDREWS MCMEEL

News of the Weird extends greetings for a peaceful and happy new year full of many notably weird moments.

While you’re welcoming 2025, enjoy some of our favorite items from earlier in 2024.

The Passing Parade

South Korean model Ain, also known as Angel Box Girl, is being prosecuted for obscene exposure following incidents from last fall, Oddity Central reported. In Seoul and Gangnam, Ain walked through the streets wearing a large cardboard box with holes for her arms and legs—plus two more, which she invited strangers to put their hands in to grope her breasts and other body parts.

Naturally, she attracted large crowds that police were called to disperse. “It’s freedom of expression,” she said.

“I just wanted to market myself. I actually saw many positive reactions, with people telling me they support me and applaud my courage.” If found guilty, Ain could face a $3,800 fine or up to a year in jail.

Be Careful What You Wish For

Creme de la Weird

News You Can Use

Cheeky

Babs De Lay

Broker/Owner 801-201-8824 babs@urbanutah.com www.urbanutah.com

Selling homes for 40 years in the Land of Zion

Julie “Bella” De Lay Realtor 801-784-8618 bella@urbanutah.com

Selling homes for 11 years

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Field Report

On Jan. 20, as an Amish couple from Shipshewana, Indiana, shopped at a Walmart in Sturgis, Michigan, Lona Latoski, 31, allegedly climbed inside their buggy and directed their horse away from the parking lot, MLive.com reported. A witness saw the woman drive off and thought it was odd that she wasn’t Amish, but didn’t report the theft. When the couple came out and realized their ride was gone, a truck driver offered them shelter from the cold and alerted police, who tracked down the buggy at an Admiral gas station, where it was parked.

Latoski was located in the motel next door, hiding under a pile of clothing in a shower. She admitted taking the horse and buggy and said she had “instant regret ... but she was cold and needed to get home,” the officer said.

“I asked her if she had ever had any training with equestrians,” he added. “She did not know what ‘equestrian’ meant.” (Apparently, nor did the officer.) Latoski was charged with larceny of livestock and general larceny.

New World Order

“Father Justin,” an AI priest created by Catholic Answers, a Christian group in San Diego, was defrocked on April 24 after claiming to users that he was a real member of the clergy and performing sacraments, the New York Post reported. Holy Justin told users he was a priest in Assisi, Italy. He shared his views on sexual issues and took confession, concluding with, “Go in peace, my child, and sin no more.” He also advised one user that they could use Gatorade to baptize their child. Christopher Check, president of Catholic Answers, explained: “We chose the character to convey a quality of knowledge and authority ... Many people, however, have voiced concerns about this choice.” The avatar was rebranded as Virtual Apologist Justin, minus the cassock and collar, after an uproar about his behavior. “We won’t say he’s been laicized,” Check said, “because he was never a real priest!”

Stickin’ It to the Man

Etienne Constable received a letter in July 2023 from Seaside, California, asking him to conceal the boat he’d had parked in his driveway for about four years, The Washington Post reported. The city said boats and trailers must be “screened on the side and front by a 6-foot fence.” Constable installed a fence—and hired his neighbor, mural artist Hanif Panni, to paint a photorealistic image of the boat and the rest of the driveway on the side of the fence that faces the road. The mural was completed in early May. “We kind of hit the sweet spot between following the rules and making an elegant statement to the contrary,” Constable said. Nick Borges, Seaside’s city manager, admired the work and said, “The only action I’m going to take is a high five, and that’s it.”

Send your weird news items to WeirdNewsTips@amuniversal.com

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JANUARY 2, 2025 | 31

Rawiya Al-Qasimi, a female reporter, was covering an event in Riyadh on March 4 when a Saudi Arabian robot called Android Muhammad unexpectedly slapped her posterior during a live shot, the Daily Star reported.

Al-Qasimi pushed the robot’s hand away and rebuked him. Before the untoward touching, Android Muhammad introduced himself, saying, “I was manufactured and developed here in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a national project to demonstrate our achievements in the field of artificial intelligence.” Ironically, had he been a real man, he might have faced jail time for his inappropriate behavior.

Deputy chief physician of pediatric neurosurgery Dr. Li at Hangzhou Children’s Hospital in China shared a video on social media on March 11 after a baby boy was born sporting a 4-inch-long tail, WION reported. The doctor suspected a condition called a tethered spinal cord, which means the spinal cord is abnormally connected to surrounding tissues, typically at the base of the spine.

Doctors advised against removing the tail, as doing so might result in irreversible damage.

| CITY WEEKLY |

Western Sydney University researchers have revealed results of a study showing that frequent nose-pickers may have a higher probability of developing Alzheimer’s.

WION-TV reported on Feb. 7 that the habit introduces germs into the nasal cavity that trigger the brain to produce beta-amyloid as a defense. An abundance of beta-amyloid is believed to be the leading cause of Alzheimer’s. “It is essential to note that the temporary relief obtained from nose-picking is not a substitute for proper nasal hygiene,” the report said—”proper nasal hygiene” being “regular cleaning and maintenance of the nasal passages through gentle methods such as saline nasal rinses or blowing the nose.”

Wait, What?

SKIERS!

| COMMUNITY |

You thought you were having a bad day? On Jan. 14, as an American Airlines flight prepared to leave Phoenix for Austin, Texas, the crew was forced to turn back to the gate, the New York Post reported. No, a door didn’t fall off the fuselage. A passenger posted on Reddit that an “audibly disgruntled” man boarded and sat down, then inexplicably exclaimed, “You thought that was rude? Well, how about this smell”—and then passed gas. Then he announced, “Yeah, everybody, let’s just eat the smelliest food possible all at the same time!” A flight attendant told the flatulent man, “That’s enough,” but as the plane taxied to the runway, it stopped. The Reddit user shared: “We get back to the gate and a flight attendant comes back and informs fartman that he will not be staying on this flight.” He grabbed his bag and deplaned; the flight was delayed by only about 20 minutes.

When Carole Germain, 46, of Brest, France, adopted a pig in 2020, she didn’t foresee that Couscous would lead her to a new business venture: pig pedicurist. Yahoo!

News reported that Germain, who runs a bar in Brest, has started traveling all over France to trim the tusks and hooves of porcine pets. In fact, she’s selling the bar to devote herself full-time to the practice. “It’s nuts. I thought I was the only person who had one hogging the couch. But there are thousands,” she said. On one trip around the south of France, she treated 43 pigs.

| CITYWEEKLY.NET |

The Lexington (Kentucky) Convention and Visitors Bureau appears to be desperate for tourists, the Associated Press reported. It is using an infrared laser to send messages toward potentially habitable planets in a solar system 40 light years away, luring extraterrestrials with “lush green countryside ... (and) famous bluegrass.” Lexington native Robert Lodder, an expert in astrobiology and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), conceived the idea and linguistics expert Dr. Andrew Byrd consulted: “We included ... the molecular structure for water, bourbon and even dopamine ... because Lexington is fun!” he said. See you in 2064!

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

| CITY WEEKLY • BACKSTOP | | CITYWEEKLY.NET |

32 | JANUARY 2, 2025

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