PicoBlog

Piazza San Marco or St. Mark's Square in Venice is one of the most beautiful public squares in Europe. Described as "the finest drawing room in all of Europe," this urban area is framed by buildings and is an example of a ceremonial civic space that celebrates the power of people coming together. It is used for marches, festivals, parades, outdoor dining, pigeon feeding, and more. It is the social, religious and political center of Venice.

Another brick fell out of the wall of traditional newspaper coverage when Gannett announced it will drop Associated Press coverage next week. Gannett is the nation’s largest chain of local newspapers, including The Des Moines Register, and USA Today. You can read background several places, like the New York Times story or directly from an Associated Press story. The goal of this column is to discuss what it all means for news consumers.

There is a difference between an analysis and an assessment. I don’t know that I have always used these two words properly and, while it might sound minor or like just a semantic difference, the words do have specific and very different meanings. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, an “analysis” is defined as the careful study of something to learn about its parts, what they do and how they are related to each other.

We are deep into our exhaustive exploration of the films of Ernest P. Worrell. After this piece only two movies remain, both shot in South Africa and released direct-to-video with a star whose seemingly limitless energy and stamina were drained by the lung cancer that would soon take his life.  We’re seven films into this most worthwhile and important of cinematic journeys yet 1995’s unfortunate fantasy sports comedy Slam Dunk Ernest marks a beginning for me as well, and not a happy one.

What is the lure of inebriation? For some (many?) it is indeed a pull of some sort. Consider the following. Of those setting aside alcohol and participating in “Dry January”, fully 20% replace alcohol with cannabis. If you are among the youngest cohort diving into the Dry January pool, you are even more likely to replace alcohol with THC. The number of those who make January dry is going to grow and so will those who are simply replacing one inebriant for another.

Her Hoop Stats is looking to grow our team! If you're passionate about women's basketball and want to contribute to our podcasts (on-air or production), social media, newsletter, stats site, the business side of Her Hoop Stats, or any other area, please email Aaron Barzilai at aaronbarzilai@herhoopstats.com. We're open to a range of experiences and availability. The WNBA Draft drew an average of over 2.4 million television viewers last week; the previous draft day record was just north of 600,000.

Welcome! We’re back with another issue of the Animation Obsessive newsletter. Here’s the plan today: If you’re new, you can sign up to receive our newsletter every week, right in your inbox: That said, let’s get going! In European animation, there’s no underdog story more inspiring than that of Cartoon Saloon. The upstart studio in Kilkenny, an Irish city of around 26,000 people, has clawed its way up from obscurity to global acclaim since it started in the ‘90s.

On Sunday I went to our local sandwich shop to pick up lunch. They were busy and I had to wait a while. That turned out to be a good thing. Normally I’m like just about every other 21st century human in that situation—I take out my phone and check my email or scroll through social media. But for some reason, this time, I didn’t. I decided to just sit off to the side and watch the world go by.

Friends, Jimmy Butler is a terrific NBA player. He’s a six-time NBA All-Star, five-time NBA All defensive team honoree, and an Olympic gold medalist. Most NBA insiders believe he’s one of the fiercest competitors in the game today. Since he arrived in 2019, Jimmy has managed to take two, very good, but not great, Miami Heat teams to the NBA Finals. On most nights, Jimmy isn’t the most talented player, but he always seems to do the little things, the things that don’t show up in the box score, so his team can stay competitive.