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Entertainment

Eliza Dushku on Joss Whedon: Backs ‘powerful’ abuse claims

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Charisma Carpenter has another high-profile co-star in her corner.

“Bring It On” star Eliza Dushku is the latest “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum to voice her support for Carpenter, 50, who alleged on Wednesday that “Buffy” creator, Joss Whedon, 56, “abused his power” and fostered an “increasingly volatile work environment.” 

“CC, my heart aches for you and I’m so sorry you have held this for so long,” Dushku, who is no stranger to workplace harassment battles, wrote on Instagram. “Your post was powerful, painful, and painted a picture we’ll collectively never un-see or un-know.”

Dushku played rogue vampire slayer Faith opposite Carpenter’s Cordelia Chase on both “Buffy” and its spinoff, “Angel.” She joins an increasing list of “Buffy” vets — including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Benson and Emma Caulfield — to voice support on social media, telling Carpenter: “I admire, respect, and love you.”

The 40-year-old “Tru Calling” and “Dollhouse” actress has previously experienced toxic workplaces. In 2018, Dushku alleged that “True Lies” stunt coordinator Joel Kramer sexually abused her when she was 12 years old.

Then came the bombshell report that same year revealing Dushku was secretly paid $9.5 million by CBS in 2018 for claims she was retaliated against and written off “Bull” after complaining about alleged sexual harassment by lead Michael Weatherly on set.

“I frequently think of the saying, ‘we are as sick as our secrets,’” Dushku continued in her post. “Our secrets indeed make and keep us sick. What I’m learning more and more — and have personally found most valuable — is that profound healing can only come from naming and disclosing what actually happened, the necessary first step (once someone’s ready) to freeing ourselves from our secrets, untold truths which have kept us isolated, ashamed, and held hostage.”

Carpenter cited Ray Fisher’s unceremonious firing as Cyborg from the forthcoming “The Flash” flick as the catalyst for her coming out against Whedon. The “Justice League” actor had accused his director of being “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable” to him and others on the set of the Warner Bros. superhero film. The 33-year-old actor retweeted Carpenter’s emotional post and called her “one of the bravest people I know.” 

Carpenter and Fisher’s claims add to Trachtenberg’s allegations of “not appropriate behavior” by Whedon toward the then-teenager on the set of “Buffy,” and that “there was a rule saying he’s not allowed in a room alone” with her again.

Reps for Whedon — who “parted ways” with HBO’s “The Nevers” in November — have not responded to The Post’s requests for comment.

Dushku (second from right) and Sarah Michelle Gellar (center) on the set of the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” season finale in 2003.
©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett C



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Sports

Amanda Gorman recites powerful original poem at Super Bowl LV

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Activist and poet Amanda Gorman, who was the country’s first ever National Youth Poet Laureate, recited an original poem before Sunday’s Super Bowl game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Gorman’s poem, “Chorus of the Captains,” celebrated and introduced the three honorary captains — Pittsburgh-based Marine veteran James Martin, who volunteers with the Wounded Warrior Project and works with at-risk kids, Los Angeles educator Trimaine Davis and Tampa ICU nurse manager Suzie Dorner — who were specially invited to the game by the NFL.

Watch her full performance, pre-recorded by the NFL, here:

Gorman, 22, is the first poet ever to recite a poem at a Super Bowl game. “These are the moments I strive for in my lifetime, which is to bring poetry into places that we least expect it, so we can fully kind of grapple with the ways in which it can heal us and kind of resurrect us,” she told Trevor Noah on “The Daily Show.”

The young activist, who has recited multiple original works commissioned by “CBS This Morning,” became a viral sensation when she performed her original poem “The Hill We Climb” at President Biden’s inauguration. She is also the youngest poet to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. 

She told “CBS This Morning” co-host Anthony Mason then: “Poetry is a weapon. It is an instrument of social change…and poetry is one of the most political arts out there because it demands that you rupture and destabilize the language in which you’re working with. “Inherently, you are pushing against the status quo. And so for me, it’s always existed in that tradition of truth-telling.”

Gorman’s poem followed musical performances from Grammy-winning artist H.E.R., R&B and pop star Jazmine Sullivan and the Grammy-nominated country singer Eric Church. Grammy-winning H.E.R. sang “America The Beautiful,” while Sullivan and Church gave an original rendition of the national anthem. ASL performer Warren “Wawa” Snipe signed the two songs as well.


Super Bowl LV highlights and halftime show

30 photos



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Science

This Insane Picture of The Moon Was Actually Taken From Earth

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A test of a powerful new space imaging instrument has given us a gloriously detailed new perspective of the Apollo 15 Moon landing site.

By bouncing a powerful radar signal off the lunar surface, the new instrument has been able to achieve spectacular resolution, showing objects as small as 5 metres (16.4 feet).

 

Designed for the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia by Raytheon Intelligence & Space, this proof-of-concept technology paves the way for even more powerful radar imaging in the future, potentially allowing scientists to study objects even as far away as Neptune.

Radar imaging of the Moon is not a new idea, however. It’s an extraordinarily useful tool for revealing fine structures on the surface and, at longer wavelengths, even probing over 10 metres below the surface to observe variations in the density of the regolith (here on Earth, this technology can help us find buried ruins).

But the Green Bank Observatory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and Raytheon Intelligence & Space are trying to push the technology even further.

(Sophia Dagnello, NRAO/GBO/Raytheon/AUI/NSF/USGS)

In a test in November of last year, the new transmitter sent out a radar signal to the Moon, specifically targeting the Apollo 15 landing site – a small patch of Moon, on a disc 3,474.2 kilometres (2,158.8 miles) in diameter, hundreds of thousands of kilometres away.

This signal, when it bounced back, was collected by the Very Long Baseline Array. This is a collection of radio telescopes across the US, basically combining to create a continent-sized collecting dish.

The image below is the result. That divot in the top middle is a crater called Hadley C, about 6 kilometres across. Snaking past it is the Hadley Rille, thought to be a collapsed lava tube.

(NRAO/GBO/Raytheon/NSF/AUI)

Believe it or not, though, this ain’t even the half of it. Now that they have successfully proven the concept, the team will be working on an even more powerful transmitter: a 500-kilowatt, high-power radar system that will enable them to see in even more incredible detail.

This tool would be useful for all sorts of science. We could see our Moon more closely, sure. We could see other planets’ moons. It could even be used to image passing asteroids and space debris, which are too faint to see using optical telescopes, but that we can probe using radar technology.

 

This could help us better understand the population of objects – both natural and anthropogenic – in near-Earth space, which in turn could aid in planetary defence against potentially hazardous objects.

“The planned system will be a leap forward in radar science, allowing access to never before seen features of the Solar System from right here on Earth,” said site director Karen O’Neil of the Green Bank Observatory.

And if it gets us even more incredible pictures of the Moon, we’re so here for it.

 

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US

As the Midwest digs out, the East Coast braces for a powerful nor’easter

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It’s been almost two years since Washington, DC has had a snowfall greater than 1 inch, but that could change drastically by later Sunday. The city is under a winter storm warning through Sunday evening, with 4-8 inches of snow possible. Additional snow will likely fall on Monday.

“Forecasting snowfall amounts in the nation’s capital is rarely easy, but confidence is increasing that the DC area will see a significant snowfall developing on Sunday and lasting into Monday,” says CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward.

A big winter storm is in the works that could bring the nation’s capital as much as 10 inches of snow. This would end the 709-day streak that Washington, DC has gone without a snowfall greater than 1 inch.

“The only other time this has happened was a 788-day streak that ended in 2013,” says CNN meteorologist Brandon Miller.

The storm’s path

On Sunday morning, more than 100 million people were under winter weather alerts from the southern Great Lakes to New England. The storm’s impacts have already been felt as heavy snow fell across northern Illinois and central Indiana, causing travel headaches.

The storm will strengthen into a powerful nor’easter by Monday morning as it reaches the coast. This will be a long duration event for many along the eastern seaboard as the system will be slow to exit. Snow will fall in periodic bursts over the next three days from DC, Philadelphia, New York City to Boston, ending gradually from the southwest to the northeast.

Major impacts expected

Strong winds will accompany the heavy snow, reducing visibility and creating power outages. Travel disruptions will be extensive from the ground to the air as the storm coats roads and runways with fresh snow. Snowfall rates of 1-2 inches per hour were reported near Chicago’s suburbs late Saturday evening, where up to 9 inches of snow is forecast by Sunday night. As the storm moves east, it will reorganize and intensify. The highest snow accumulations will occur from New Jersey to southern New York, eastern Pennsylvania and parts of Maryland, where up to a foot of snow is possible.

Ice and sleet accumulation is also a concern for portions of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia. The highest totals will likely fall north of Charlotte and Raleigh where up to 1/2 inch of ice is possible.

The warm sector of this storm is creating numerous showers and embedded thunderstorms across the central and southeastern US today. Expect a rainy Sunday in Atlanta before showers exit the region by the start of the work week.

Areas farther west such as St. Louis and Springfield, Illinois, will see more of a rain/snow mix through Sunday evening. Exactly how much snow will stick to the ground remains uncertain.

One week after areas of Iowa were pummeled by snow, the Hawkeye State could see a few additional inches by Sunday night.

A developing nor’easter

“Snow will move in from southwest to northeast late Saturday night and early Sunday morning, with snow likely widespread by mid-late morning Sunday,” said the National Weather Service office in Baltimore and Washington, DC.

By Sunday afternoon into Monday, there is the potential of a changeover to sleet and freezing rain.

With any nor’easter, there is uncertainty in the forecast snow totals because so much depends on the exact track of the low pressure.

“There seems to be a consensus amongst forecast models that moderate to heavy snow will occur from portions of Virginia to Pennsylvania and New Jersey, but there continues to be some uncertainty on the exact track of the low pressure Monday into Tuesday,” Ward said. “This will have a significant impact on how much snow falls from New York City into New England. A storm system that tracks parallel to the coast would provide greater snowfall, while a more eastward track out to sea would limit snow totals in New England.”

That could make the difference in places like Boston and New York City between seeing 4 inches of snow or a foot.

Philadelphia’s NWS office is forecasting more than 6 inches of snow with gusts of wind as high as 45 mph “creating significant blowing and drifting snow.”

In its forecast discussion, the office also noted that the storm is forecast to be an abnormally long event, with 36 or more hours of snow and wintry precipitation, and that the highest snow totals and rates will likely not be realized until late Monday.

The NWS office in Boston had already hinted Friday at the storm and its possible effects.

“There is the potential for a significant winter storm later Mon into Tue,” the Boston office said on Twitter. “If this storm materializes significant snow accumulations would be possible for some along with a period of strong winds & coastal flooding along the eastern MA coast.”

The storm will then push off the coast by Wednesday.

CNN’s Jennifer Gray contributed to this report.



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