Will “Challengers” nab a best picture nomination at this year’s Academy Awards? The question might seem trivial to anyone who’s not a “Challengers” superfan — and, full disclosure, I am one, having chosen it as my number one movie of the year.
Remember the shrewdly crafted, seductively entertaining, unabashedly accessible mid-budget drama for adults? (The thing we used to call…a movie?) It’s become a fading form. But it was once the meat and potatoes, the bread and butter, the hallowed centerpiece of the Oscars. Movies. For adults (and maybe teenagers too). That audiences showed up for in impressive numbers. Are we willing to say that that’s now a ghost of awards seasons past?
Will “Challengers” nab a best picture nomination at this year’s Academy Awards? The question might seem trivial to anyone who’s not a “Challengers” superfan — and, full disclosure, I am one, having chosen it as my number one movie of the year.
Remember the shrewdly crafted, seductively entertaining, unabashedly accessible mid-budget drama for adults? (The thing we used to call…a movie?) It’s become a fading form. But it was once the meat and potatoes, the bread and butter, the hallowed centerpiece of the Oscars. Movies. For adults (and maybe teenagers too). That audiences showed up for in impressive numbers. Are we willing to say that that’s now a ghost of awards seasons past?
Since its launch in 2013, Telegram has grown from a simple messaging app to a broadcast network. Its user base isn’t as vast as WhatsApp’s, and its broadcast platform is a fraction the size of Twitter, but it’s nonetheless showing its use. While Telegram has been embroiled in controversy for much of its life, it has become a vital source of communication during the invasion of Ukraine. But, if all of this is new to you, let us explain, dear friends, what on Earth a Telegram is meant to be, and why you should, or should not, need to care. At its heart, Telegram is little more than a messaging app like WhatsApp or Signal. But it also offers open channels that enable a single user, or a group of users, to communicate with large numbers in a method similar to a Twitter account. This has proven to be both a blessing and a curse for Telegram and its users, since these channels can be used for both good and ill. Right now, as Wired reports, the app is a key way for Ukrainians to receive updates from the government during the invasion. On Telegram’s website, it says that Pavel Durov “supports Telegram financially and ideologically while Nikolai (Duvov)’s input is technological.” Currently, the Telegram team is based in Dubai, having moved around from Berlin, London and Singapore after departing Russia. Meanwhile, the company which owns Telegram is registered in the British Virgin Islands. "Someone posing as a Ukrainian citizen just joins the chat and starts spreading misinformation, or gathers data, like the location of shelters," Tsekhanovska said, noting how false messages have urged Ukrainians to turn off their phones at a specific time of night, citing cybersafety. Just days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Durov wrote that Telegram was "increasingly becoming a source of unverified information," and he worried about the app being used to "incite ethnic hatred."
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