News

‘Severance’ Season One Review – A Head-Splitter of an Entrance

Ben Stiller would not be the first name you think of when you think of a workplace thriller like this: Severance, an elective surgical procedure at Lumon Industries that separates your work memories from your private ones after you leave work. Adam Scott plays the lead role of Mark Scout, a depressed and alcoholic widow trying to soothe the pain of losing his wife. At the time we meet Mark, he’s been working as a Data Refiner for a while judging by his daily routine and awards on his desk for his achievements. The entire show enthralled me over three days and I did nothing but inhaling it all at once.

Data refining is what it sounds like. That’s a great question, we’ll cover it later. When all nine episodes became available, I watched them immediately. According to Variety, as of this writing, the show has been renewed for a second season following an incredible discussion on Reddit.

After we’ve cleared that up, here are my thoughts (and some spoilers) on Severance.

You have coworkers no matter what job you have, and Mark’s coworkers are at the top of the casting list. Zach Cherry is a well-known face in the Marvel universe (the impromptu martial arts bus commentator in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, or what he called “Do a flip!” in Spider-Man: Homecoming) but his talents will blow you away. Initially you may dislike Dylan, but as the show progresses you’ll find yourself sympathizing with him within and outside the walls of Lumon Industries.

Currently, John Turturro is making headlines for his portrayal of Carmine Falcone in The Batman as Irving, the longest-serving “innie,” as they are called, a member of the 8-hour split inside the walls of Gotham City. Tramell Tillman and Britt Lower round out the main cast who spend their time on the Data Refinement floor as Helly, a newly severed employee who frequently questions the morality of firing, and Seth Milchick, a manager who maintains many aspects of Lumon Industries behind the scenes. Patricia Arquette is Mark’s supervising supervisor Harmony Cobel, who operates outside of company policy and is extremely cold.

Severance MDR Team

After meeting Christopher Walken’s Burt as Head of the Optics and Design department, we meet the ensemble of the data refinement team. Severance is certainly a good indication of AppleTV’s willingness to pay Top Dollar for talent.

Even if these characters are not severed, they are presented with incredible scenes to work with. Jen Tullock plays Devon Hale, Mark’s sister and her husband Ricken Hale, a self-help author with strange traditions, and Michael Chernus plays his wife Rebecca. We will encounter fewer and fewer characters without ties to Lumon Industries as the series progresses. Mark talks about the intimate decision quite often in public, leading to sour feelings as strangers become envious.

Historically, Lumon’s reach is similar to the mining and lumber company towns that have come and gone in the United States. A company-managed township called Kier (named after Lumon’s founder) includes housing and retail stores. The amount of intrusion Lumon has into these employees’ daily lives becomes increasingly concerning. People ask what people create/do at gatherings as well. Someone else jokes, “What do they make?” implying that they’re a conglomerate with interests in medical, technological, agricultural, biological, and manufacturing industries.

Now let’s talk about Data Refiners. In the MDR department (Macro Data Refinement), team members collect clusters of numbers on screens and categorize them into certain digital buckets according to their interpretation and emotional connections to what they see. The film captures the suspense as if the robot was being operated by a rookie on the bomb squad, even though this is possibly one of the most mundane assignments a person could ever be given.

It shouldn’t be scary to deal with numbers, right? But what do they mean? We still don’t know. What kept me watching this show was its lack of answers. Even though it was frustrating to be left on a cliffhanger, it was inevitable that this season would end with a smattering of unresolved issues by the 6th or 7th episode.

Zooming in and out of the camera to show the difference between the “innie” and “outie” is great for the drama, you go from Mark at his worst to a cheerful leader who feels completely out of his depth in his new role. The uncoverings of Lumon are horrific as the season and work progress – aversion therapy that presses them to mean their apologies until they finally “mean it,” as Milchick urges them on for the 1,287th time. There are a number of realizations and a series of curiosities that ensue as Dylan, Irving, and Helly wonder what their “outie” is up to.

The hallways, offices, and even the break room were instrumental in adding to the bleak and tediousness of the corporate life structure – checking off quarterly milestones, mandatory team exercises and a drab vending machine all punctuate the boring cycle of day-in-day-out clock-punching.

Away (but not really) from Lumon, Mark is disconnected from everything and everyone, his sister being the only person left after his wife’s passing. Through some conversations and car rides, some more information is expanded in regard to the loss of his wife. Things such as it being partially recent and her being involved in a car crash are at most of what we know about her.

When Mark is on a date set up for him, the topic comes up and it’s quite apparent how fresh the wound still is for him. His alcoholism more than once drove people away from him and it was interesting to see this depicted quite accurately throughout the season (one example is Mark eating minimal food to drink more instead). Even when in his “innie” mode, others notice things such as the smell he sweats off to help underscore the severity of his drinking.

While Mark navigates through some new to him truths, Helly and Irving keep things moving inside as they explore new sections of the Severed floor. Between multiple visits to the O&D department and Perpetuity Wing, the love and detail from the set creators is at its height during these long walks. Going from dim, space-age-era engineering floors to a fully reconstructed house and then to the haunting and dark “break room” is almost like entering a trance.

The last three episodes of the season had me on the edge and nearly out of breath. In the last 20 or so minutes of the season one finale “The We We Are” I should have worn my Apple Watch to see the leaps my heart rate was making as the final moment intensifies and cuts to black.

I haven’t been so drawn to a show that made me want to binge it all in one go like this in a very long while. The fact that viewers had to agonize over weeks for resolution is incredible to me as I was not as patient, and the ending setting up a second season can be viewed differently depending on the viewer. Granted, I do want to spend more time with Lumon and the Data Refinement team, I am indeed curious as to what Lumon really does and the answers to many questions. AppleTV has a hit on their hands, they know it and I wish I could “sever” myself until more releases.

Source: thecosmiccircus

News

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding, But Still Accounting 48% Search Revenue

Google is so closely associated with its key product that its name is a verb that signifies “search.” However, Google’s dominance in that sector is dwindling.

According to eMarketer, Google will lose control of the US search industry for the first time in decades next year.

Google will remain the dominant search player, accounting for 48% of American search advertising revenue. And, remarkably, Google is still increasing its sales in the field, despite being the dominating player in search since the early days of the George W. Bush administration. However, Amazon is growing at a quicker rate.

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

Amazon will hold over a quarter of US search ad dollars next year, rising to 27% by 2026, while Google will fall even more, according to eMarketer.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the forecast.

Lest you think you’ll have to switch to Bing or Yahoo, this isn’t the end of Google or anything really near.

Google is the fourth-most valued public firm in the world. Its market worth is $2.1 trillion, trailing just Apple, Microsoft, and the AI chip darling Nvidia. It also maintains its dominance in other industries, such as display advertisements, where it dominates alongside Facebook’s parent firm Meta, and video ads on YouTube.

To put those “other” firms in context, each is worth more than Delta Air Lines’ total market value. So, yeah, Google is not going anywhere.

Nonetheless, Google faces numerous dangers to its operations, particularly from antitrust regulators.

On Monday, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that Google must open up its Google Play Store to competitors, dealing a significant blow to the firm in its long-running battle with Fortnite creator Epic Games. Google announced that it would appeal the verdict.

In August, a federal judge ruled that Google has an illegal monopoly on search. That verdict could lead to the dissolution of the company’s search operation. Another antitrust lawsuit filed last month accuses Google of abusing its dominance in the online advertising business.

Meanwhile, European regulators have compelled Google to follow tough new standards, which have resulted in multiple $1 billion-plus fines.

Pixa Bay

Google’s Search Dominance Is Unwinding

On top of that, the marketplace is becoming more difficult on its own.

TikTok, the fastest-growing social network, is expanding into the search market. And Amazon has accomplished something few other digital titans have done to date: it has established a habit.

When you want to buy anything, you usually go to Amazon, not Google. Amazon then buys adverts to push companies’ products to the top of your search results, increasing sales and earning Amazon a greater portion of the revenue. According to eMarketer, it is expected to generate $27.8 billion in search revenue in the United States next year, trailing only Google’s $62.9 billion total.

And then there’s AI, the technology that (supposedly) will change everything.

Why search in stilted language for “kendall jenner why bad bunny breakup” or “police moving violation driver rights no stop sign” when you can just ask OpenAI’s ChatGPT, “What’s going on with Kendall Jenner and Bad Bunny?” in “I need help fighting a moving violation involving a stop sign that wasn’t visible.” Google is working on exactly this technology with its Gemini product, but its success is far from guaranteed, especially with Apple collaborating with OpenAI and other businesses rapidly joining the market.

A Google spokeswoman referred to a blog post from last week in which the company unveiled ads in its AI overviews (the AI-generated text that appears at the top of search results). It’s Google’s way of expressing its ability to profit on a changing marketplace while retaining its business, even as its consumers steadily transition to ask-and-answer AI and away from search.

google

Google has long used a single catchphrase to defend itself against opponents who claim it is a monopoly abusing its power: competition is only a click away. Until recently, that seemed comically obtuse. Really? We are going to switch to Bing? Or Duck Duck Go? Give me a break.

But today, it feels more like reality.

Google is in no danger of disappearing. However, every highly dominating company faces some type of reckoning over time. GE, a Dow mainstay for more than a century, was broken up last year and is now a shell of its previous dominance. Sears declared bankruptcy in 2022 and is virtually out of business. US Steel, long the foundation of American manufacturing, is attempting to sell itself to a Japanese corporation.

Could we remember Google in the same way that we remember Yahoo or Ask Jeeves in decades? These next few years could be significant.

SOURCE | CNN

News

The Supreme Court Turns Down Biden’s Government Appeal in a Texas Emergency Abortion Matter.

(VOR News) – A ruling that prohibits emergency abortions that contravene the Supreme Court law in the state of Texas, which has one of the most stringent abortion restrictions in the country, has been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. The United States Supreme Court upheld this decision.

The justices did not provide any specifics regarding the underlying reasons for their decision to uphold an order from a lower court that declared hospitals cannot be legally obligated to administer abortions if doing so would violate the law in the state of Texas.

Institutions are not required to perform abortions, as stipulated in the decree. The common populace did not investigate any opposing viewpoints. The decision was made just weeks before a presidential election that brought abortion to the forefront of the political agenda.

This decision follows the 2022 Supreme Court ruling that ended abortion nationwide.

In response to a request from the administration of Vice President Joe Biden to overturn the lower court’s decision, the justices expressed their disapproval.

The government contends that hospitals are obligated to perform abortions in compliance with federal legislation when the health or life of an expectant patient is in an exceedingly precarious condition.

This is the case in regions where the procedure is prohibited. The difficulty hospitals in Texas and other states are experiencing in determining whether or not routine care could be in violation of stringent state laws that prohibit abortion has resulted in an increase in the number of complaints concerning pregnant women who are experiencing medical distress being turned away from emergency rooms.

The administration cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in a case that bore a striking resemblance to the one that was presented to it in Idaho at the beginning of the year. The justices took a limited decision in that case to allow the continuation of emergency abortions without interruption while a lawsuit was still being heard.

In contrast, Texas has been a vocal proponent of the injunction’s continued enforcement. Texas has argued that its circumstances are distinct from those of Idaho, as the state does have an exemption for situations that pose a significant hazard to the health of an expectant patient.

According to the state, the discrepancy is the result of this exemption. The state of Idaho had a provision that safeguarded a woman’s life when the issue was first broached; however, it did not include protection for her health.

Certified medical practitioners are not obligated to wait until a woman’s life is in imminent peril before they are legally permitted to perform an abortion, as determined by the state supreme court.

The state of Texas highlighted this to the Supreme Court.

Nevertheless, medical professionals have criticized the Texas statute as being perilously ambiguous, and a medical board has declined to provide a list of all the disorders that are eligible for an exception. Furthermore, the statute has been criticized for its hazardous ambiguity.

For an extended period, termination of pregnancies has been a standard procedure in medical treatment for individuals who have been experiencing significant issues. It is implemented in this manner to prevent catastrophic outcomes, such as sepsis, organ failure, and other severe scenarios.

Nevertheless, medical professionals and hospitals in Texas and other states with strict abortion laws have noted that it is uncertain whether or not these terminations could be in violation of abortion prohibitions that include the possibility of a prison sentence. This is the case in regions where abortion prohibitions are exceedingly restrictive.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, which resulted in restrictions on the rights of women to have abortions in several Republican-ruled states, the Texas case was revisited in 2022.

As per the orders that were disclosed by the administration of Vice President Joe Biden, hospitals are still required to provide abortions in cases that are classified as dire emergency.

As stipulated in a piece of health care legislation, the majority of hospitals are obligated to provide medical assistance to patients who are experiencing medical distress. This is in accordance with the law.

The state of Texas maintained that hospitals should not be obligated to provide abortions throughout the litigation, as doing so would violate the state’s constitutional prohibition on abortions. In its January judgment, the 5th United States Circuit Court of Appeals concurred with the state and acknowledged that the administration had exceeded its authority.

SOURCE: AP

News

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli, To repay $6.4 Million

Washington — The Supreme Court rejected Martin Shkreli’s appeal on Monday, after he was branded “Pharma Bro” for raising the price of a lifesaving prescription.

Martin appealed a decision to repay $64.6 million in profits he and his former company earned after monopolizing the pharmaceutical market and dramatically raising its price. His lawyers claimed the money went to his company rather than him personally.

The justices did not explain their reasoning, as is customary, and there were no notable dissents.

Prosecutors, conversely, claimed that the firm had promised to pay $40 million in a settlement and that because Martin orchestrated the plan, he should be held accountable for returning profits.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Martin was also forced to forfeit the Wu-Tang Clan’s unreleased album “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin,” which has been dubbed the world’s rarest musical album. The multiplatinum hip-hop group auctioned off a single copy of the record in 2015, stipulating that it not be used commercially.

Shkreli was convicted of lying to investors and defrauding them of millions of dollars in two unsuccessful hedge funds he managed. Shkreli was the CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals (later Vyera), which hiked the price of Daraprim from $13.50 to $750 per pill after acquiring exclusive rights to the decades-old medicine in 2015. It cures a rare parasite condition that affects pregnant women, cancer patients, and HIV patients.

shkreli

He defended the choice as an example of capitalism in action, claiming that insurance and other programs ensured that those in need of Daraprim would eventually receive it. However, the move prompted criticism, from the medical community to Congress.

Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From ‘Pharma Bro’ Martin Shkreli

Attorney Thomas Huff said the Supreme Court’s Monday ruling was upsetting, but the high court could still overturn a lower court judgment that allowed the $64 million penalty order even though Shkreli had not personally received the money.

“If and when the Supreme Court does so, Mr. Shkreli will have a strong argument for modifying the order accordingly,” he told reporters.

Shkreli was freed from prison in 2022 after serving most of his seven-year sentence.

SOURCE | AP