SUMMARY
3 TECH GIANTS REPORT COMBINED PROFITS OF MORE THAN $50B SMART EYE DEPUTY CEO RANA EL KALIOUBY TALKS AUTOMOTIVE AI GAME WAR: NETFLIX ENTERS THE BATTLE ROYALE OF GAMING PLATFORMS NEW TECHNOLOGY PROPELS EFFORTS TO FIGHT WESTERN WILDFIRES
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TURN OFF, TURN ON: SIMPLE STEP CAN THWART TOP PHONE HACKERS 30 TOWN WANTS NEW CRYPTOCURRENCY MINERS TO BE ‘PRESENTABLE’ 42 AT MACK PLANT, BIDEN CHECKS OUT BIG RIGS, CHATS UP WORKERS 70 TESLA REACHES MILESTONE WITH FIRST $1B QUARTERLY PROFIT 92 WALZ SAYS ‘CLEAN CAR’ RULES HAVEN’T HURT IN 14 OTHER STATES 100 DELIVERY APPS EXPAND REACH TO MEET CUSTOMER DEMANDS 106 ‘SNAKE EYES’ DOESN’T PLAY ITS CARDS RIGHT 132 CRYSTAL WATERS, SOFT SANDS, CLUNKY DIALOGUE IN ‘OLD’ 144 MARSQUAKES OFFER DETAILED LOOK AT RED PLANET’S INTERIOR 154 GOOGLE DELAYS RETURN TO OFFICE, MANDATES VACCINES 170 BUSINESS TRAVEL STIRS, BUT MANY ROAD WARRIORS STAY GROUNDED 176 UPS EARNS $2.7 BILLION BUT VOLUME DIPS AS STORES REOPEN 186 CHINA LAUNCHES 6-MONTH CAMPAIGN TO CLEAN UP APPS 190 CHINA’S TENCENT ORDERED TO END EXCLUSIVE MUSIC CONTRACTS 194 PLANS FOR LARGEST US SOLAR FIELD NORTH OF VEGAS SCRAPPED 198
MOVIES & TV SHOWS 116 MUSIC 124 TOP 10 ALBUMS 160 TOP 10 MUSIC VIDEOS 162 TOP 10 TV SHOWS 164 TOP 10 BOOKS 166 TOP 10 SONGS 168
3 TECH GIANTS REPORT COMBINED PROFITS OF MORE THAN $50B
Three tech companies — Apple, Microsoft and Google owner Alphabet — reported combined profits of more than $50 billion in the April-June quarter, underscoring their unparalleled influence and success at reshaping the way we live. Although these companies make their money in different ways, the results served as another reminder of the clout they wield and why government regulators are growing increasingly concerned about whether they have become too powerful. 08
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The massive profits pouring into each company also illustrated why they have a combined market value of $6.4 trillion -- more than double their collective value when the COVID-19 pandemic started 16 months ago.
APPLE Apple’s first iPhone model capable of connecting to ultrafast 5G wireless networks continued to power major increases in quarterly revenue and profits for tech’s most valuable company. With iPhone sales posting double-digit growth over the previous year for the third consecutive quarter, Apple’s profit and revenue for the AprilJune period easily exceeded analyst estimates. The Cupertino, California, company earned $21.7 billion, or $1.30 per share, nearly doubling profits earned during the same period last year. Revenue surged 36% to $81.4 billion. But a Tuesday conference call with analysts, Apple CEO Tim Cook lamented that the steadily spreading delta variant of the coronavirus is casting doubt on how the rest of the year will unfold. “The road to recovery will be a winding one,” Cook said. That uncertainty has already led Apple to delay employees’ mass return to its offices from September to October. Most of Apple’s stores, though, are already open. The iPhone 12, released last autumn, is shaping up to be Apple’s most popular model in several years, largely because it’s the first to work on the 5G networks that are still being built around the world. Apple’s iPhone sales totaled nearly $40 billion in the latest quarter, up 50% from a year ago. 11
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Apple’s services division, the focal point of a high-profile trial revolving around the commissions it collects from iPhone apps, saw revenue climb 33% from last year to $17.5 billion. A potentially game-changing decision from the trial completed in May is expected later this summer. Among Apple’s upcoming challenges is whether shortages of computer chips and other key parts will force the company to delay its next iPhone this year, as it did last year. While Apple expects revenue to rise 10% in the current quarter, it said it may have more trouble getting parts for iPhones and iPad during the upcoming months. Executives skirted questions about another possible iPhone delay.
ALPHABET Google’s earnings improved markedly over the year-ago period, when the pandemic was starting to bite consumer spending and its partner, advertising. Now that vaccines have allowed people to shed the shackles of the pandemic and splurge again, a big chunk of that pent-up demand has spurred advertisers to spend more too, with a big chunk going to Google and its corporate parent Alphabet Inc. Powered by Google, Alphabet earned $18.53 billion, or $27.26 per share, during the quarter, a nearly threefold increase from last year’s earnings of $6.96 billion, or $10.13 per share. Google’s advertising revenue soared 69% to $50.44 billion thanks to what CEO Sundar Pichai called a “rising tide” of online activity among consumers and businesses. 13
Retail, along with travel and entertainment ads, were the biggest contributors to the revenue increase, the company said. Total revenue surged 62% from last year to $61.88 billion. Revenue after subtracting TAC, or traffic acquisition costs, was $50.95 billion. The April-June quarter looks particularly strong since the 2020 downturn forced Google to report its first decline in quarterly ad revenue from the previous year. Analysts were expecting Alphabet to earn $19.24 per share on revenue of $56.2 billion, and $46.2 billion after subtracting TAC. Alphabet’s stock jumped $135, or 5.1%, to $2,773 in afterhours trading after the results.
MICROSOFT Microsoft reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $16.5 billion, up 47% from the same period last year. Net income of $2.17 per share beat Wall Street expectations. The software maker also topped forecasts by posting revenue of $46.2 billion in the quarter that ended on June 30, a 21% increase over the same time last year. Analysts were expecting Microsoft to earn $1.91 per share for the April-June quarter on revenue of $44.1 billion. Microsoft profits have soared throughout the pandemic thanks to ongoing demand for its software and cloud computing services for remote work and study. But the company’s shares fell 2.9% to $278.19 in after-hours trading. Growth in sales of Microsoft’s cloud services, which compete with Amazon and other companies, and its Office productivity tools 14
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for handling work documents and email both outpaced overall revenue growth. The company’s historical pillar — personal computing — grew just 9% in the quarter. Microsoft noted that supply issues were affecting its personal-computing division, including for its Surface and Windows products. The company recently unveiled the next generation of Windows, called Windows 11, its first major update in six years. It will be available later this year.
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SMART EYE DEPUTY CEO RANA EL KALIOUBY TALKS AUTOMOTIVE AI
Rana el Kaliouby co-founded and led Boston startup Affectiva, which uses artificial intelligence and computer vision to analyze mood and emotion. Now she’s got a new job as deputy CEO of Smart Eye, after the Swedish eye-tracking company bought Affectiva for $73.5 million in June. The auto industry is the prime market for Kaliouby and competitors like Australia-based Seeing Machines. Carmakers are bracing for new safety rules and standards around the world that could require dashboard cameras to detect dangerous driver behavior, especially in vehicles that are partly driving themselves but still need human attention. El Kaliouby says that’s just the beginning of where in-car AI systems are going. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 21
Q: Ten years from now, a family’s in a car. What might your technology be doing on their trip?
A: OK, family’s in the car. You’ve got two kids in the back seat. First of all, the kids are fighting. The car knows that and can see that mom, who’s driving, is getting frustrated, a little mad, distracted. The car intervenes by recommending content for the kids — or through a conversational interface, mediating a game between the kids. They play for a little. They fall asleep. The car can see that so the lights dim and the music or movie turns off. Then the car realizes mom is exhausted and also starting to doze off, so it gets into this chatty mode to reengage her. And then mom leaves the car, forgets the child is in there, and gets a text message that says, “Oh, you may have forgotten Little Baby Joe!” I’m making this up on the fly. It can basically personalize the whole cabin experience — music, lighting, temperature, based on knowing who’s inside the car and what they’re doing.
Q: What is Affectiva bringing to Smart Eye, and vice versa?
A: Smart Eye is a 22-year-old company. What they’ve been focused on the past couple years — and they are the undisputed market leader — is driver monitoring. They’re able to very accurately determine where a person is looking and they also monitor eye behavior. They can identify when a driver is distracted or drowsy. They’ve been contracted by 13 global automakers. Affectiva spun out of MIT 12 years ago and our focus is humanizing technology by bringing emotional intelligence to machines. 22
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We project there’s going to be an evolution in driver monitoring to everything that’s happening inside the vehicle. What are their mood and emotions? What activities are they engaged with? You become the eyes and ears of the car.
Q: How do you detect someone’s mood or emotions?
A: We do a lot of facial analysis but we’ve expanded to do a lot of body “keypoint” tracking so we can detect what people are actually doing — are you slouched in the car? Are you agitated? We monitor all of that.
Q: What about someone’s face will tell you they’re panicked?
A: There are expressions of fear. You can also start tracking other vital signs, like your heart rate or heart rate variability, breathing rate, via an optical sensor. That’s a direction we’re headed. It’s not at all ready for prime time but it’s something Affectiva and Smart Eye are exploring. And once you know a person’s baseline, you can find out if they are deviating from that baseline and the car can flag that.
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Q: How do you protect against concerns you can misread someone’s emotion or mood based on race, gender, neurodiversity?
A: This is one of the things Affectiva’s really bringing to the table. It’s something we’ve been super intentional about. It starts with the diversity of the data. If you’re training an algorithm using middle-aged white men, that’s what it’s going to learn. The training set is critical and it’s everything from racial and ethnic diversity to diversity of facial appearances — maybe people are wearing glasses or hijabs or have beards. We’re partnering with synthetic data companies to augment our data sets and fill in the gaps. The second thing is, how do you validate the accuracy of the algorithms? If you just look at high-level accuracy, it might be hiding biases that exist in specific subpopulations. We dissect the data to make sure no bias is creeping in. And finally, the diversity of the team is how you overcome these blind spots.
Q: What about the privacy of people who don’t want to be analyzed or watched in the car?
A: In automotive, the good news is none of the data gets recorded. You do all the processing on the fly and make an inference, say, if the driver is drowsy. The car will hopefully respond to keep the driver safe. I think there needs to be a lot of consumer communication and transparency about what exactly the sensor is doing. I imagine there will be scenarios where you can switch it off. But if it’s a safety consideration, like your semi-autonomous vehicle needs to know if you are paying attention so it can transfer control back and forth, I imagine you may not be allowed to turn it off. 27
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TURN OFF, TURN ON: SIMPLE STEP CAN THWART TOP PHONE HACKERS
As a member of the secretive Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Angus King has reason to worry about hackers. At a briefing by security staff this year, he said he got some advice on how to help keep his cellphone secure. Step One: Turn off phone. Step Two: Turn it back on. That’s it. At a time of widespread digital insecurity it turns out that the oldest and simplest computer fix there is — turning a device off then back on again — can thwart hackers from stealing information from smartphones.
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Regularly rebooting phones won’t stop the army of cybercriminals or spy-for-hire firms that have sowed chaos and doubt about the ability to keep any information safe and private in our digital lives. But it can make even the most sophisticated hackers work harder to maintain access and steal data from a phone. “This is all about imposing cost on these malicious actors,” said Neal Ziring, technical director of the National Security Agency’s cybersecurity directorate. The NSA issued a “best practices” guide for mobile device security last year in which it recommends rebooting a phone every week as a way to stop hacking. King, an independent from Maine, says rebooting his phone is now part of his routine. “I’d say probably once a week, whenever I think of it,” he said. Almost always in arm’s reach, rarely turned off and holding huge stores of personal and sensitive data, cellphones have become top targets for hackers looking to steal text messages, contacts and photos, as well as track users’ locations and even secretly turn on their video and microphones. “I always think of phones as like our digital soul,” said Patrick Wardle, a security expert and former NSA researcher. The number of people whose phones are hacked each year is unknowable, but evidence suggests it’s significant. A recent investigation into phone hacking by a global media consortium has caused political uproars in France, India, Hungary and elsewhere after 33
researchers found scores of journalists, human rights activists and politicians on a leaked list of what were believed to be potential targets of an Israeli hacker-for-hire company. The advice to periodically reboot a phone reflects, in part, a change in how top hackers are gaining access to mobile devices and the rise of so-called “zero-click” exploits that work without any user interaction instead of trying to get users to open something that’s secretly infected. “There’s been this evolution away from having a target click on a dodgy link,” said Bill Marczak, a senior researcher at Citizen Lab, an internet civil rights watchdog at the University of Toronto. Typically, once hackers gain access to a device or network, they look for ways to persist in the system by installing malicious software to a computer’s root file system. But that’s become more difficult as phone manufacturers such as Apple and Google have strong security to block malware from core operating systems, Ziring said. “It’s very difficult for an attacker to burrow into that layer in order to gain persistence,” he said. That encourages hackers to opt for “in-memory payloads” that are harder to detect and trace back to whoever sent them. Such hacks can’t survive a reboot, but often don’t need to since many people rarely turn their phones off. “Adversaries came to the realization they don’t need to persist,” Wardle said. “If they could do a one-time pull and exfiltrate all your chat messages and your contact and your passwords, it’s almost game over anyways, right?”
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A robust market currently exists for hacking tools that can break into phones. Some companies like Zerodium and Crowdfence publicly offer millions of dollars for zero-click exploits. And hacker-for-hire companies that sell mobile-device hacking services to governments and law enforcement agencies have proliferated in recent years. The most well known is the Israeli-based NSO Group, whose spyware researchers say has been used around the world to break into the phones of human rights activists, journalists, and even members of the Catholic clergy. NSO Group is the focus of the recent exposés by a media consortium that reported the company’s spyware tool Pegasus was used in 37 instances of successful or attempted phone hacks of business executives, human rights activists and others, according to The Washington Post. The company is also being sued in the U.S. by Facebook for allegedly targeting some 1,400 users of its encrypted messaging service WhatsApp with a zero-click exploit. NSO Group has said it only sells its spyware to “vetted government agencies” for use against terrorists and major criminals. The company did not respond to a request for comment. The persistence of NSO’s spyware used to be a selling point of the company. Several years ago its U.S.-based subsidy pitched law enforcement agencies a phone hacking tool that would survive even a factory reset of a phone, according to documents obtained by Vice News. 37
But Marczak, who has tracked NSO Group’s activists closely for years, said it looks like the company first starting using zero-click exploits that forgo persistence around 2019. He said victims in the WhatsApp case would see an incoming call for a few rings before the spyware was installed. In 2020, Marczak and Citizen Lab exposed another zero-click hack attributed to NSO Group that targeted several journalists at Al Jazeera. In that case, the hackers used Apple’s iMessage texting service. “There was nothing that any of the targets reported seeing on their screen. So that one was both completely invisible as well as not requiring any user interaction,” Marczak said. With such a powerful tool at their disposal, Marczak said rebooting your phone won’t do much to stop determined hackers. Once you reboot, they could simply send another zero-click. “It’s sort of just a different model, it’s persistence through reinfection,” he said. The NSA’s guide also acknowledges that rebooting a phone works only sometimes. The agency’s guide for mobile devices has an even simpler piece of advice to really make sure hackers aren’t secretly turning on your phone’s camera or microphone to record you: don’t carry it with you.
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TOWN WANTS NEW CRYPTOCURRENCY MINERS TO BE ‘PRESENTABLE’
A New York town along the Canadian border plans to impose a 90-day moratorium on new cryptocurrency mining operations to make sure local roadsides are not cluttered with trailers and shipping containers loaded with computers. Massena Town Supervisor Steve O’Shaughnessy said officials decided to draw up new regulations for miners after noticing trailers with computers in them on a main road in the town. 43
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“We don’t want it littered with these trailers that are pumping out Bitcoin,” he told WWNY-TV. “We just want to make sure if they’re going to come here, that it’s a nice presentable building.” Cryptocurrency operations have been drawn to this part of northern New York for years because of the availability of cheap hydropower. Operations can requires hundreds of computers to make the complex calculations required to mine cryptocurrencies. Massena Electric is currently negotiating with three cryptocurrency operations and has its own moratorium on working with any new ones. “The key components for the developers is low-cost electricity and reliability, which are two things we’ve always had,” said Andrew McMahon, Massena Electric superintendent.
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Game War NETFLIX ENTERS THE BATTLE ROYALE OF GAMING PLATFORMS
Image: Freepik
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Over the past 18 months, consumers have spent more time at home than ever before, not only working, but socializing, learning new skills, and playing games. Video gaming as a whole saw a significant increase during this period and the gaming platform Steam recorded an all-time high of 23.6 million average concurrent users in April 2020. A year later, rival firms want a slice of the pie. Following Apple’s expansion into gaming with Arcade, Netflix is the latest player entering the game, announcing its intention to launch its own gaming titles.
NETFLIX EXPANDS INTO GAMING After months of rumors and speculation, Netflix confirmed mid-July plans to expand into mobile games, revealing that new titles would be available to play as part of a standard Netflix subscription. Days before its announcement, the company hired former EA and Oculus exec Mike Verdu, and revealed to investors that it was “in the early stages of further expanding into games, building on our earlier efforts around interactivity (eg, Black Mirror Bandersnatch) and our Stranger Things games. We view gaming as another new content category for us, similar to our expansion into original films, animation, and unscripted TV.” “Games will be included in members’ Netflix subscription at no additional cost similar to films and series,” the company added. “Initially, we’ll be primarily focused on games for mobile devices. We’re excited as ever about our movies and TV series offering and we expect a long runway of increasing investment and growth 51
across all of our existing content categories, but since we are nearly a decade into our push into original programming, we think the time is right to learn more about how our members value games.” Although the announcement was light on any specifics, Netflix recently extended deals with creators such as Shonda Rhimes to include both feature films and games, suggesting that the potential to expand into the territory has been in the works for a while. With little detail thus far, it’s hard to know exactly how gaming could work on the platform - indeed, on iOS, users wouldn’t be able to download separate apps as premium Netflix games without the company allowing people to subscribe via iTunes, so it could be that the Netflix app serves as a way to stream new games, though that’s also currently against Apple’s terms of service. The company could follow in the footsteps of Apple Arcade (more on that later) by launching several new games via apps and let users subscribe to access them all. Although gaming has seen a significant uptake over the past two years, some might still question why the streaming giant would consider gaming its next move. But co-CEO Reed Hastings revealed that the company “competes with” and “loses to” Fortnite more than it does HBO - it’s a constant effort to compete with games for time and attention. Plus, it’s worth noting that Netflix already has games under its belt, releasing experiences like Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Carmen Sandiego, and it may hold data that shows gaming makes sense. It won’t be an easy battle, but it’s a battle Netflix’s executives think is worth taking. 52
Image: Kwaku Alston - Netflix
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FACEBOOK ENTERS THE CHAT Far from being the only new player to enter the gaming world in recent years, Facebook is also set to boost its interest in the market. Although the company has offered social gaming experiences for a number of years - remember, its platform was the pioneer behind titles such as Candy Crush and Farmville - the company confirmed in July that it was to launch a new gaming platform of its own. Facebook Gaming won’t be available on the App Store due to cloud gaming limitations from Apple, but it will be available via a progressive web app so that users can access engaging, attention-grabbing games from the Safari web browser. Speaking to The Verge at the launch of the new platform, Facebook’s vice president of gaming, Vivek Sharma, said that Apple’s game streaming limitations have hampered their efforts, but added that it “game to the same conclusion as others” like Microsoft that it made sense to launch via a web app instead. “We’ve come to the same conclusion as others: web apps are the only option for streaming cloud games on iOS at the moment. As many have pointed out, Apple’s policy to ‘allow’ cloud games on the App Store doesn’t allow for much at all. Apple’s requirement for each cloud game to have its own page, go through review, and appear in search listings defeats the purpose of cloud gaming. These roadblocks mean players are prevented from discovering games, playing cross-device, and accessing new games natively; even for those who aren’t using the latest and most expensive devices.” The criticism follows Microsoft’s launch of the 57
Xbox Cloud Gaming service, which allows users to stream Xbox games onto their phones. Rather than watering down the gaming experience for mobiles, Microsoft developed technology that allows users to take advantage of hardware from an Xbox Series X and play cutting-edge titles, even if they’re away from home. It’s similar to a service launched by Google earlier last year, known as Stadia, and though both have enjoyed strong reviews from gamers and technology enthusiasts, the truth is that they’re limited in functionality compared with native apps, can’t send notifications, and can’t fully utilize a device’s hardware. What’s more, discoverability is poor - users have to remember a web address rather than an app icon, though there are some useful workarounds. 58
Image: Reuters
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A SLOW - BUT STEADY - START FOR APPLE ARCADE Although Apple might not be making the most noise when it comes to gaming, the company has taken a different approach that seems to be working. The truth is that it’s hard to say that any of Apple’s service offerings, other than iCloud and Apple Music, have been a hit, as it’s well-documented that Apple TV+ and Apple News+ have struggled to generate any major interest from consumers. It’s been almost two years since Apple Arcade was released, and whilst the $4.99 service on its own won’t make Apple billions, partnering it up with Apple One makes Arcade a more compelling product. Remember: Apple Arcade offers users access to more than 100 exclusive premium games on iOS, macOS, and tvOS for just $4.99 per month, and though favorites like What the Golf and Hot Lava were popular, paying the same five bucks per month to play the same one or two games seems excessive and expensive. However, Apple One has made the service more accessible, as those casual gamers who only dip into titles now and again can still access them under a $19.99 family plan, which also includes iCloud+, Apple TV+, and Apple Music. Add in that Apple has added dozens of classic titles - now taking the number of games on the platform to over 180 - and Arcade now seems more attractive than ever before. Cut the Rope, Monument Valley, Chameleon Run, Reigns, and Fruit Ninja Classic are just some of the nostalgic favorites, ideal for capturing the attention of casual gamers and those not interested in the more intensive titles of today like Chivalry 2, Final Fantasy 7 Remake 63
Intergrade, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, and Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance. Apple Arcade won’t compete with the PlayStation or Xbox - but Apple doesn’t want to. It’s cornering a different market, and it’s starting to pay off. Another major boost to the Arcade platform is that iOS and iPadOS support gaming controllers such as the Xbox Wireless Controller and PlayStation 5 DualSense 64
Wireless Controller, but Apple could go one step further. It has been reported for a number of years that the Cupertino company is working on its own virtual reality headset that could pave the way for more interactive games on the platform. Pair this with a redesigned Apple TV with an M1X processor that can allow for more complex and futuristic games to be played on the Apple ecosystem, matching 65
the power in the iPhone, iPad, and Mac under the Apple Silicon migration, and Apple could further boost the chances of Arcade’s success, making Apple a serious gaming contender. The truth is that we’ve come a long way since the early days of gaming on the iPod touch, and Apple has transformed the way we play. With new competitors like Netflix and Facebook on its heels, and the possibility of Disney+ entering the landscape with its own games, Apple has a challenge on its hands. But if the firm continues to innovate and offer new, engaging experiences, Apple Arcade will continue to thrive, and eventually, prove victorious.
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AT MACK PLANT, BIDEN CHECKS OUT BIG RIGS, CHATS UP WORKERS
President Joe Biden on Wednesday checked out half-built big rigs and chatted up workers at a Mack Truck plant in Pennsylvania as his administration pushes new “buy American” efforts and advocates for government investments and clean energy as ways to strengthen U.S. manufacturing. Biden toured the Lehigh Valley operations facility, hoping to connect with the plant’s 2,500 workers. Biden has made manufacturing jobs a priority, and Democrats’ political future next year might hinge on whether he succeeds in reinvigorating a sector that has steadily lost jobs for more than four decades. The administration is championing a $973 billion infrastructure package, $52 billion for computer chip production, sweeping investments in clean energy and the use of government procurement contracts to create factory jobs. 71
On the visit, Biden heard about Mack’s electric garbage trucks. “The ability to build and sell these new trucks would be helped by the president’s proposed investment in buy American production incentives for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jeanne-Pierre said. The plant was neatly organized, with the thousands of truck parts organized in aisles and the hulls of half-finished trucks awaiting the president’s inspection. The plant was silent other than the whir of fans. Work was halted to accommodate Biden’s visit. The president won Lehigh County in the 2020 election, but he is facing the perpetual challenge of past administrations to revive a manufacturing sector at the heart of American identity. Failure to bring back manufacturing jobs could further hurt already ailing factory towns across the country and possibly imperil Democrats’ chances in the 2022 midterm elections. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., said Biden should siphon off unspent money from his $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package to cover the investments in infrastructure, instead of relying on tax increases and other revenue-raisers to do so. “Hopefully, he will use his visit to learn about the real, physical infrastructure needs of Pennsylvanians — and the huge sums of unused ‘COVID’ funds which should pay for that infrastructure,” Toomey said in a statement. Layoffs of white factory workers led communities to vote for Republican challengers and turn 72
Image: Susan Walsh
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against Democratic incumbents, according to a 2021 research paper by McGill University’s Leonardo Baccini and Georgetown University’s Stephen Weymouth. They found a connection between deindustrialization and greater racial division as white voters interpreted the layoffs as a loss of social status. Areas with more factory layoffs also became more pessimistic about the entire economy. The trends documented in the research were most pronounced in 2016, when Donald Trump won the White House while emphasizing blue-collar identity and racial differences. One challenge for Democrats is that they’re not being forced to deal with the most recent manufacturing job losses, but layoffs that began decades ago. “Biden would benefit from an improved manufacturing jobs outlook,” Weymouth said. “But a lot of economists think that many of these jobs are gone for good. And so, it’s an uphill battle. There’s alternatives: The president can pursue a more substantial social safety net for people who lose their jobs or investments in these communities that declined for decades.” The Biden administration is trying to help domestic manufacturers by proposing to increase the amount of American-made goods being purchased by the federal government. Administration officials said they are proposing that any products bought by the government must have 60% of the value of their component parts manufactured in the United States. The proposal would gradually increase that figure to 75% by 2029, significantly higher than the 55% threshold under current law. 75
The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss the measures and spoke on condition of anonymity. Manufacturing has improved since the depths of more than a year ago during the coronavirus pandemic-induced recession. Labor Department data show that factories have regained about two-thirds of the 1.4 million manufacturing jobs lost because of the outbreak. Factory output as tracked by the Federal Reserve is just below its pre-pandemic levels. But the manufacturing sector — especially autos — is facing serious challenges. Automakers are limited by a global shortage of computer chips. Without the chips that are needed for a modern vehicle, the production of cars and trucks has dropped from an annual pace of 10.79 million at the end of last year to 8.91 million in June, a decline of nearly 18% as measured by the Fed. Analysts at IHS Market estimate that the supply of semiconductors will only stabilize and recover in the second half of 2022, right as the midterm races become more intense. For the past several decades, presidents have pledged to bring back factory jobs without much success. Manufacturing employment peaked in 1979 at nearly 19.6 million jobs, only to slide downward with steep declines after the 2001 recession and the 2007-09 Great Recession. The figure now stands at 12.3 million. Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Trump each said his policies would save manufacturing jobs, yet none of them broke the long-term trend in a lasting way.
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NEW TECHNOLOGY PROPELS EFFORTS TO FIGHT WESTERN WILDFIRES
As drought- and wind-driven wildfires have become more dangerous across the American West in recent years, firefighters have tried to become smarter in how they prepare. They’re using new technology and better positioning of resources in a bid to keep small blazes from erupting into mega-fires like the ones that torched a record 4% of California last year, or the nation’s biggest wildfire this year that has charred a section of Oregon half the size of Rhode Island. There have been 730 more wildfires in California so far this year than last, an increase of about 16%. But nearly triple the area has burned — 470 square miles (1,200 square kilometers). Catching fires more quickly gives firefighters a better chance of keeping them small.
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That includes using new fire behavior computer modeling that can help assess risks before fires start, then project their path and growth. When “critical weather” is predicted — hot, dry winds or lightning storms — the technology, on top of hard-earned experience, allows California planners to pre-position fire engines, bulldozers, aircraft and hand crews armed with shovels and chain saws in areas where they can respond more quickly. With the computer modeling, “they can do a daily risk forecast across the state, so they use that for planning,” said Lynne Tolmachoff, spokeswoman for Cal Fire, California’s firefighting agency. That’s helped Cal Fire hold an average 95% of blazes to 10 acres (4 hectares) or less even in poor conditions driven by drought or climate change, she said. So far this year it’s held 96.5% of fires below 10 acres (4 hectares). Federal firefighters similarly track how dry vegetation has become in certain areas, then station crews and equipment ahead of lightning storms or in areas where people gather during holidays, said Stanton Florea, a U.S. Forest Service spokesman at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. In another effort to catch fires quickly, what once were fire lookout towers staffed by humans have largely been replaced with cameras in remote areas, many of them in high-definition and armed with artificial intelligence to discern a smoke plume from morning fog. There are 800 such cameras scattered across California, Nevada and Oregon, and even casual viewers can remotely watch wildfires in real time. 83
Fire managers can then “start making tactical decisions based on what they can see,” even before firefighters reach the scene, Tolmachoff said. Fire managers also routinely summon military drones from the National Guard or Air Force to fly over fires at night, using heat imaging to map their boundaries and hot spots. They can use satellite imagery to plot the course of smoke and ash. “Your job is to manage the fire, and these are tools that will help you do so” with a degree of accuracy unheard of even five years ago, said Char Miller, a professor at Pomona College in California and a widely recognized wildfire policy expert. In California, fire managers can overlay all that information on high-quality Light Detection and Ranging topography maps that can aid decisions on forest management, infrastructure planning and preparation for wildfires, floods, tsunamis and landslides. Then they add the fire behavior computer simulation based on weather and other variables. Other mapping software can show active fires, fuel breaks designed to slow their spread, prescribed burns, defensible space cleared around homes, destroyed homes and other wildfire damage. “It’s all still new, but we can see where it’s going to take us in the future when it comes to planning for people building homes on the wildland area, but also wildland firefighting,” Tolmachoff said. Cal Fire and other fire agencies have been early adopters of remote imaging and other 84
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technologies that can be key in early wildfire detection, said John Bailey, a former firefighter and now professor at Oregon State University. Some experts argue it’s a losing battle against wildfires worsened by global warming, a century of reflexive wildfire suppression and overgrown forests, and communities creeping into what once were sparsely populated areas. Climate change has made the West hotter and drier in the past 30 years, and scientists have long warned the weather will get more extreme as the world warms. Yet, firefighters’ goal is to replicate the outcome of a fire that started last week in the canyon community of Topanga, between Los Angeles and Malibu. It had the potential to swiftly spread through dry brush but was held to about 7 acres (3 hectares) after water-dropping aircraft were scrambled within minutes from LA and neighboring Ventura County. What firefighters don’t want is another wildfire like the one that ravaged the Malibu area in 2018. It destroyed more than 1,600 structures, killed three people and forced thousands to flee. In another bid to gain an early advantage, California is buying a dozen new Sikorsky Firehawk helicopters — at $24 million each — that can operate at night, fly faster, drop more water and carry more firefighters than the Vietnam War-era Bell UH-1H “Hueys” they will eventually replace. It will also soon receive seven military surplus C-130 transport aircraft retrofitted to carry 4,000 gallons (15,140 litres) of fire 87
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retardant, more than three times as much as Cal Fire’s workhorse S-2 airtankers. For all that, firefighters’ efforts to outsmart and suppress wildfires is counterproductive if all it does is postpone fires in areas that will eventually burn, argued Richard Minnich, a professor in Riverside who studies fire ecology. “No matter how sophisticated the technology may be, the areas they can manage or physically impact things is small,” he said. “We’re in over our heads. You can have all the technology in the world — fire control is impossible.” Working with wildfires is more realistic, he said, by taking advantage of patches that previously burned to channel the spread of new blazes. Timothy Ingalsbee, a former federal firefighter who now heads Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, also said firefighters need to adopt a new approach when confronting the most dangerous wind-driven wildfires that leapfrog containment lines by showering flaming embers a mile or more ahead of the main inferno. It’s better to build more fire-resistant homes and devote scarce resources to protecting threatened communities while letting the fires burn around them, he said. “We have these amazing tools that allow us to map fire spread in real time and model it better than weather predictions,” Ingalsbee said. strategic and working with fire to keep people safe, keep homes safe, but let fire do the work it needs to do — which is recycle all the dead stuff into soil.”
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TESLA REACHES MILESTONE WITH FIRST $1B QUARTERLY PROFIT
Tesla’s quarterly profit has surpassed $1 billion for the first time thanks to the electric car pioneer’s ability to navigate through a pandemic-driven computer chip shortage that has caused major headaches for other automakers. The financial milestone announced this week extended a two-year run of prosperity that has erased questions about Tesla’s long-term viability raised during its early years of losses and production problems. Tesla now has cemented its position as the leader in the shift away from gas-combustion that is expected to make it even more profitable than during its most recent quarter. The Palo Alto, California, company earned $1.1 billion, or $1.02 per share, in the April-June period. That was more than 10 times its profit at the same time last year. Revenue nearly doubled from last year to about $12 billion. 92
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Adjusted to exclude one-time times items, Tesla earned $1.45 a share in the latest quarter, easily topping the 94 cents expected by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet. Tesla now boasts a market value of roughly $630 billion, far more than any other automaker and 14 times more than what the company was worth just two years ago. Its mercurial CEO, Elon Musk, is now sitting on the world’s third largest fortune at an estimated $163 billion, according to Forbes magazine’s calculations. For all its recent success, Tesla’s momentum could still be slowed by a persisting shortage of chips that have become vital parts in modern cars. While other major automakers had to dramatically curtail production during the first half, Tesla so far has been able to secure an adequate supply of chips to churn out vehicles at the fastest rate in its history. In a conference call, Musk said Tesla keep its manufacturing lines running largely by finding chips from alternate suppliers and then scrambling to rewrite some of the software in its cars to ensure all the technology remained compatible. Although he said things appear to be slightly approving, Musk described the chip shortage as still being “quite serious,” making it difficult to plan for the second half of the year. “The chip supply is a governing factor on our output,” Musk said. “It is out of our hands.” In a telling sign that Tesla isn’t immune to the shortage of chips and other components, the company disclosed that it will delay the introduction of a highly anticipated semi truck to some time next year. Its original plan was to introduce it this year. 95
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Musk, who jokingly anointed himself as Tesla’s “Technoking” earlier this year, let investors know that he might not be the executive discussing how the company is faring during the second half of the year. After holding regular quarterly updates since Tesla went public 11 years ago, Musk said he no longer intends to be on future calls with analysts unless he has something extremely important to say. He told analysts that he wants to use the time to focus on other work at Tesla. The company already has eliminated the department that communicates with reporters. In its most recent quarter, Tesla produced more than 206,000 vehicles within a three-month span for the first time in its history. It is also gearing up to add another sports utility vehicle, the Model Y, to its lineup later this year. Some of those vehicles will be manufactured at a new factory in Austin, Texas that’s still on schedule to be completed later this year. Despite Tesla is now on a production pace that has raised hopes it will be able to manufacture more than 800,000 vehicles this year. That would be a significant increase from nearly 510,000 last year, when government restrictions during the early stages of the pandemic forced the company to temporarily shut down its California factory. The uncertainty about the chip shortage may have somewhat dampened the investor response to Tesla’s surprisingly strong quarterly results. The company’s stock gained more than 1% after the second-quarter numbers came out. The stock has fallen about 25% from its peak price reached six months ago. 97
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WALZ SAYS ‘CLEAN CAR’ RULES HAVEN’T HURT IN 14 OTHER STATES
Minnesota became the first Midwestern state to adopt a plan for encouraging the switchover to electric vehicles as Gov. Tim Walz predicted that someday people will wonder why there was such a fuss. The Democratic governor visited Phillips and Temro Industries, which manufactures electric vehicle chargers, to highlight the state’s “clean car” rules, which take effect in 2024 for the 2025 model year. He said the rules will mean more choices for consumers shopping for electric cars, cleaner air at a time of growing concern about climate change, and more jobs. 101
Fourteen other states already have adopted similar standards, which require manufacturers and dealers to supply more electric vehicles. The states’ rules are all based on California’s tough standards, and that’s been a major sore point for Minnesota auto dealers and other critics. “In the 14 other states, the sky did not fall,” Walz told reporters after his tour. “The car industry did not collapse. Jobs were not lost. In fact, just the opposite happened in all 14 other states.” The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency made the standards official by publishing them in the State Register following a contentious process. The Walz administration angered Republican lawmakers by bypassing the Legislature’s input and imposing them with its executive authority. Republicans held up an environmental projects bill for over a year and threatened to shut down state parks in an unsuccessful effort to force the governor to back down. And Walz paid a heavy political price for defying them. Laura Bishop resigned as commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency earlier this month when it became apparent that the GOP-controlled state Senate was about to vote to reject her confirmation over her agency’s leading role in the process. “It puts California bureaucrats in charge of our industry here in Minnesota,” Scott Lambert, president of the Minnesota Automobile Dealers Association, said in an interview. “The state has no ability to modify or amend these rules.” Lambert added that the changes will swamp Minnesota dealers with more electric vehicles than customers want to buy, and force up car prices for everyone. 102
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Republican Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka, of East Gull Lake, who has said he expects the rules to be a campaign issue in 2022. called them another example of Walz one-man rule, in line with his reliance on emergency powers to manage the pandemic. “I’m not surprised Governor Walz continues to issue mandates after the last 18 months,” Gazelka said in a statement. “His emergency powers may be over but his ego trip is not, and it looks like ‘One Minnesota’ is just ‘Walz’s Minnesota,’” he added, echoing the governor’s 2018 campaign theme. Walz said fears haven’t come true in the states that have already adopted the rules, and that he thinks it’s just a matter of time before the rest of the country catches up. And he predicted that electric vehicle buyers will flock to Minnesota because the state will offer more models than other states. “I think that this will be the national standard before long,” the governor said. Democratic Rep. Rick Hansen, of South St. Paul, who chairs a key environment committee, said proponents had overcome “unprecedented opposition” since Walz proposed the change in 2019. He gave a shout-out to Bishop for making it happen before she lost her job over it. “At the end of the day, this is going to benefit everybody,” Hansen said. “And whether we have some scars from this, whether it was difficult, whether it was challenging, it is worth it.”
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DELIVERY APPS EXPAND REACH TO MEET CUSTOMER DEMANDS
Spurred by skyrocketing consumer demand during the pandemic, restaurant delivery companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats are rapidly expanding their services to grocers, convenience stores, pharmacies, pet stores and even department stores. This week, Uber Eats unveiled its newest delivery option: flowers. Uber Eats will let users order flowers directly from its app as part of a partnership with ProFlowers, an FTD subsidiary. Flower delivery will be offered first in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and a few other U.S. cities; it will be available nationwide by early next year. 107
“If we can deliver your burrito in 30 minutes or deliver your ice cream still frozen, we should be able to deliver anything in under an hour,” said Fuad Hannon, the head of new verticals at DoorDash. “The technology makes that possible.” Expanding beyond restaurant delivery is critical for Uber Eats and DoorDash, which have struggled to make a profit on the slim margins they get from restaurants. Restaurant delivery can be profitable in dense urban markets, where drivers can complete multiple orders in an hour, said Ali Mogharabi, a senior equity analyst with Morningstar. But outside of cities, where deliveries take longer, adding orders from Walgreens or Costco makes better use of drivers’ time. Offering more items for delivery also attracts customers, many of whom will fork over the $9.99 monthly fee DoorDash and Uber Eats charge for unlimited deliveries. Raj Beri, Uber Eats’ global head of grocery and new verticals, said the company saw a huge influx of users after the pandemic began, and many are sticking with delivery even as the pandemic ebbs. To keep them, it needs to offer goods and services they value. “More of our users are trying these verticals outside of restaurants. Those customers have more stickiness on the platform,” he said. “They’re more engaged, so the membership becomes more valuable to them.” DoorDash and Uber Eats face stiff competition from established players like Instacart and Amazon, which are also experts in delivery logistics. Instacart currently controls 67% of the U.S. grocery pickup and delivery business, 108
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while Amazon controls 22%, according to Edison Trends. DoorDash and Uber Eats together control 1%. Non-restaurant delivery makes up around 5% of sales at both Uber Eats and DoorDash. But that business is growing rapidly. DoorDash started working with convenience stores like 7-Eleven in April 2020 and more recently opened its own DashMart fulfillment centers. It’s already the market leader in convenience store delivery, with a 60% share of the market, according to Edison Trends. And there’s enormous opportunity ahead. Beri says around 3 million customers per month are ordering non-restaurant deliveries from Uber Eats, but the company has a total of 98 million active users around the world. And Mogherabi estimates there will be $1 trillion worth of deliverable goods and services in the U.S. by 2025. Delivery comes at a price. The in-store price of a gallon of milk at a Meijer in Michigan is $1.68; on the DoorDash app, it’s $2.99. But so far, the extra fees aren’t dampening demand. Uber Eats said non-restaurant delivery jumped 77% between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of this year. DoorDash said non-restaurant delivery rose 40% in the same period. Cynthia Carrasco White, a single mother and a lawyer for a Los Angeles nonprofit, used to think delivery was a luxury she couldn’t afford. But she started getting meals, groceries and other necessities delivered last year so she could avoid taking her young, unvaccinated daughters to the store. 111
White has come to see delivery as a lifeline that saves her time, gas money and child care expenses. She uses various apps, including Uber Eats and DoorDash, and takes advantage of deals when she can. “Now that I’ve seen how beneficial it is, I’ll figure out a way to cut costs and continue to use it,” she said. Delivery also comes at a cost to stores, depending on the services they’re using. Some businesses, like Macy’s and Walmart, have customers order products on their own web site and use DoorDash to make deliveries. At other stores, like 7-Eleven or CVS, Uber Eats and DoorDash drivers do the shopping and make deliveries. In some cases, it’s a mix. The grocery chain Alberstons recently signed a deal with DoorDash for delivery from nearly 2,000 U.S. stores. In some locations, DoorDash drivers do the shopping and delivery. At other stores, Alberstons workers pack the groceries and DoorDash is only used for delivery. Albertsons laid off many of its own delivery workers earlier this year; at least some were given other jobs within the store, the company says. Amber Kappa, Albertsons’ vice president for e-commerce, said the chain simply couldn’t keep up with digital order demand, which nearly tripled last year. “If we don’t offer one- to two-hour delivery fast and near-free, I don’t know how long we’d last,” Kappa said. For some businesses, delivery companies are helping eliminate expensive shipping. Petco 112
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uses DoorDash to move heavy bags of kibble and kitty litter to customers’ doorsteps, which is much faster and cheaper than shipping them. “It costs the same amount of money to take a 40-pound bag as it costs for a tennis ball in that DoorDasher’s trunk,” said Petco CEO Ron Coughlin. But not every delivery driver is pleased about delivery’s expansion. Barbara Mensch of Rutherfordton, North Carolina, who drives for both DoorDash and Instacart, said business was booming in the early days of the pandemic. But lately, customers have been tipping less generously, and she often turns down DoorDash orders. She doesn’t like shopping for goods in unfamiliar stores like Dollar Tree or idling at Walmart while a worker prepares a delivery. “A $13 order that takes you 45 minutes? It’s not a good value for your time,” she said. “I would do better to stay at home and not use my car at all than go out and work for peanuts.” But Kweli Murphy of Englewood, California, who drives for both DoorDash and Uber Eats, says he’s happy with the work. Murphy, 19, just bought his first car with his delivery earnings, which average around $150 for six hours of driving. Most of his deliveries still come from restaurants, but he occasionally shops for orders in places like AutoZone and CVS. “It’s not a big deal to go shopping for people. It’s just an opportunity to go into different places other than restaurants,” he said.
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Movies
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The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard Unlicensed bodyguard Michael Bryce (Ryan Reynolds) joins hitman Darius Kincaid (Samuel L. Jackson) and his wife, infamous international con artist Sonia (Salma Hayek), on a mission to prevent madman Aristotle Papadopoulos (Antonio Banderas) from unleashing a terror attack.
FIVE FACTS: by Patrick Hughes Genre: Action & Adventure Released: 2021 Price: $19.99
1. This is a follow-up to the 2017 film The Hitman’s Bodyguard – with Reynolds, Jackson and Hayek all reprising their roles from that movie. 2. Richard E. Grant also returns from the first movie, playing the same character of Mr. Seifert, an old associate of Bryce. 3. Morgan Freeman is also in the new film as Michael Bryce’s stepfather of the same name. 4. While Hayek’s role of Sonia Kincaid was just a small supporting part in the 2017 film, the character has been given significantly more screen time in the sequel. 5. According to director Patrick Hughes, “Ryan and Sam know exactly how to play off of each other, and that makes them a classic odd couple.”
Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (2021 Movie) Trailer – Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Salma Hayek
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Salma Hayek and Ryan Reynolds talk new film, ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’ l GMA
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Out of Death Retired forest ranger Jack Harris (Bruce Willis) runs into Shannon (Jaime King), who has accidentally photographed a murder committed by corrupt local Sheriff’s duty, Billie (Lala Kent) – and is now trying to escape the clutches of her and a bunch of other crooked cops.
FIVE FACTS: 1. As a result of time taken up on preparing COVID-19 safety protocols, director Mike Burns was left with only nine days to shoot this film. 2. Although it was originally intended that Willis would attend two days of filming, all of his scenes ultimately needed to be shot in just one day.
by Mike Burns Genre: Thriller Released: 2021 Price: $14.99
3. Burns told Vulture that, as a result, “we had to actually start cutting themes and rejiggering things.” 4. This is the fourth film Willis has appeared in with Lala Kent in just two years. The other three films are Trauma Center (2019), 10 Minutes Gone (2019) and Hard Kill (2020). 5. Out of Death has garnered widely negative reviews, with Mark Dujsik of Mark Reviews Movies calling the movie “fundamentally faulty”.
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Out of Death | Official Trailer (HD) | Vertical Entertainment
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Mike Burns Talks About The Challenges In Bringing Humor To A Crime Thriller Like Out Of Death
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Gold-Diggers Sound Leon Bridges “We felt like the only way to unlock a unique sound was to create this immersive experience and find a place that was aesthetically inspiring,” Leon Bridges told Apple Music about his approach to his third studio album, for which he has recruited numerous collaborators. Genre: R&B/Soul Number of Songs: 11 Price: $10.99
FIVE FACTS: 1. The earliest-released single from the album, the Terrace Martin collaboration “Sweeter”, was released last summer in response to the murder of George Floyd. 2. Bridges said that the song, although written before Lloyd’s death, is “reflective of the perpetual narrative of Black men dying at the hands of police.” 3. According to Bridges, he wrote opening track “Born Again” after one of the album’s producers, Ricky Reed, sent him an instrumental and asked him to give it a lyric to send back the next day. 4. The album’s second single, “Motorbike”, was inspired by Bridges taking a trip to Puerto Rico for his 30th birthday. 5. Bridges worked on the third single, “Why Don’t You Touch Me”, remotely with songwriter Kaydence during the pandemic.
Leon Bridges - Sweeter (Official Video) ft. Terrace Martin
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Leon Bridges - Motorbike (Official Video)
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Therapy Anne-Marie “For so much of my life, I depended on other people to make me happy,” British singersongwriter Anne-Marie reflected to Apple Music. Being without other people close by during the UK’s first lockdown inspired her to create this meditative album about instilling inner peace.
FIVE FACTS: 1. Anne-Marie’s birth name is Anne-Marie Nicholson. 2. This is Anne-Marie’s second studio album after 2018’s hugely successful Speak Your Mind. 3. Anne-Marie said she wrote the new album “over months of having therapy sessions and writing songs after therapy sessions,” adding: “It’s been an experience, for sure.” 4. Her collaborators on this album include Ed Sheeran, Little Mix, Max Martin, Rudimental and KSI. 5. According to Anne-Marie, the album track “Breathing” is “the first-ever love song I’ve ever written, because I normally cringe when I’m trying to write a love song.”
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Genre: Pop Number of Songs: 12 Price: $10.99
Anne-Marie x KSI x Digital Farm Animals - Don’t Play [Official Music Video]
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Nathan Dawe x Anne-Marie x MoStack - Way Too Long [Official Video]
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‘SNAKE EYES’ DOESN’T PLAY ITS CARDS RIGHT
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Henry Golding has undeniable screen presence. He’s handsome, sure. Lots of actors are. But Golding also has that effortless charisma that the biggest movie stars possess. It’s no wonder that he was catapulted from relative, travel show host obscurity to film fame with just one role in “Crazy Rich Asians” and that his name often pops up as a fan choice for the next James Bond. If the powers in Hollywood don’t mess it up, he’s going to be around for quite some time. It’s also not surprising that the industry would capitalize on his breakthrough moment and come knocking with some piece of Intellectual Property for him to star in. Unfortunately that IP piece is “ Snake Eyes,” an origin story about a G.I. Joe character that completely misunderstands its star’s appeal. Golding is simply not the right actor for the part. He’s not exactly bad, just miscast and misused. And despite the novel trimmings and flash around him, his character is woefully generic.
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“Snake Eyes” has some things going for it. For one, the names Cobra and G.I. Joe aren’t even uttered for almost an hour. Credited screenwriters Evan Spiliotopoulos, Anna Waterhouse and Joe Shrapnel seem to have some understanding that a mere G.I. Joe association isn’t enough to get regular moviegoers into theaters. And after seeing Atlanta and Vancouver destroyed over and over again in superhero films it is a breath of fresh air to be transported to Tokyo, where director Robert Schwentke (RED, R.I.P.D.) makes sure to lovingly shoot both the neon and the ancient. He even takes our burgeoning hero to the Golden Gai and creatively utilizes the tiny alleyways for a fun fight. In fact, if you can make it to the Tokyo section, which takes almost a half hour to get to, you’ll be in for a fairly fun ride as Snake Eyes starts to train with an ancient Japanese clan called the Arashikage. In the unnecessarily dull first part, we learn that Snake Eyes’ father was murdered in front of him when he was a boy, he’s spent his life since as a loner living on the streets and stuffing fish with weapons for the Yakuza and he also saves the life of the Arashikage heir, Tommy (Andrew Koji). Is he just naturally a good fighter? Did he have training? You won’t learn that answer in “Snake Eyes,” but pretty soon both the Arashikage and another well-established crime syndicate are using him as their go-to muscle and brains. In other words, his ascent through these established ranks is alarmingly swift. This backstory also requires Golding to affect an unrefined American accent, which is a stretch and a mistake. His “ain’t” doesn’t sound like any 134
Snake Eyes | Final Trailer (2021 Movie) | Henry Golding, G.I. Joe
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INSANE Ninja Training | Snake Eyes
“ain’t” you’ve ever heard before. That can be forgiven though, he’s not the first Brit to be in over his head in that regard. The true sin is that Snake Eyes as a character is so deathly dull. He barely has a personality. He is purely driven by revenge and also doesn’t seem to have to work all that hard at anything. It’s frustrating because he’s actually surrounded by some fairly interesting characters, like the naive but arrogant Tommy, who is desperate for his grandmother’s approval (Eri Ishida plays Sen, who leads the clan). And there’s Akiko too, 139