Pop the Champagne at 15 Bastille Day celebrations in Chicago

Bastille Day celebrations: Festive Paris parade in 360

Thursday is Bastille Day, and there are myriad ways to celebrate French National Day with food and drink specials around Chicago and the suburbs, from classic bistro fare to creative prix fixe menus. And in "let them eat cake" fashion, there are even free cake and complimentary Champagne offerings. Here"s a selection of delectable ways to mark the French holiday. (The specials take place on Bastille Day (Thursday, July 14), unless noted otherwise.)

La Banque Hotel and La Voute Bistro and Bar (2034 Ridge Road, Homewood, 708-798-6000): From Thursday to July 21, La Voute"s prix fixe menu ($36) features selections such as an heirloom tomato tart with goat cheese and basil, vichyssoise, braised short ribs bourguignon with seasonal roasted vegetables, Provenale bouillabaisse, La Voute opera cake and creme brulee-filled beignets with raspberry sauce. Both the hotel and restaurant are also celebrating their one-year anniversary with additional special deals through the week, including a Champagne brunch Sunday and half off a selection of popular dinner entrees Wednesday.

Bistro Campagne (4518 N. Lincoln Ave., 773-271-6100): Offers a three-course prix fixe menu ($33) with wine pairings ($48) for Bastille Day. Other specials will also be available alongside the regular menu, and a jazz duo will perform. Call for menu details.

Bistronomic (840 N. Wabash Ave., 312-944-8400): Through July 16, chef Martial Noguier offers a history lesson with a three-course gluten-free menu ($36.95) that pays homage to the flour shortage and subsequent rise in price that caused unrest and was a prelude to the French Revolution. Menu items include pate or duck confit as a first course. Main-course choices include a duo of New York steak and beef tartare, Faroe Island salmon or Maple Leaf Farms duck breast, and desserts include poached pear with chocolate sauce or baked Alaska with raspberry sorbet and berries. On Bastille Day, lunch and dinner guests can also enjoy a $17.89-priced bottle of French wine.

Bistro Voltaire (226 W. Chicago Ave., 312-265-0911): The bistro offers a three-course Bastille Day menu ($38) through July 16. First-course options include classic French onion soup, traditional fried frogs legs or one of two salads. There are four main-course offerings, including braised short ribs, sea bass, salmon or rack of lamb. Dessert is a choice of gelato trio, apple tart or chocolate lava cake.

Le Bouchon (1958 N. Damen Ave., 773-862-6600): From Thursday to Saturday, Le Bouchon will feature special dishes, including wild boar pate, sockeye salmon tartare, nectarine gazpacho, quenelles de brochet (pike), rabbit coq au vin, creme caramel and mousse au chocolat.

Cafe des Architectes (Sofitel Chicago, 20 E. Chestnut St., 312-324-4063): A three-course prix fixe dinner menu ($39) combines housemade and local ingredients prepared in a French style, and includes items such as English pea veloute and roasted pork belly with Green City Market vegetables. Guests can also enjoy a complimentary red, white or blue macaron in the lobby.

Chez Moi (2100 N. Halsted St., 773-871-2100): From 1 to 10 p.m., Alsace-born chef Dominique Tougne and Veuve Clicquot join forces for a Champagne bar featuring signature cocktails such as raspberry peach sangrias ($10). There will also be half-priced bottles of wine and a la carte specials, such as escargot persillade ($13) (snails in parsley sauce) and coq au vin ($24). Guests can enjoy live French music on the patio, weather permitting.

La Creperie (2845 N. Clark St., 773-528-9050): A French flag-inspired raspberry-blueberry crepe with creme anglaise ($12) will be offered, and live French music will also be featured.

Kiki"s Bistro (900 N. Franklin St., 312-335-5454): Everyone gets to eat free cake during Kiki"s festive celebration, which also includes a fully costumed Marie Antoinette, 12 French revolutionaries roaming and French accordion music. Special menu items are crafted in an old-school French style, as in the kinds of food that would"ve been eaten during the time period, such as rognons a la moutarde, aka kidneys ($26.75). Other specials include mussels mariniere ($13.50) and leg of lamb with green beans ($26.75). There will also be ros wine bottle specials, such as Chateau Revelette ($40).

Les Nomades (222 E. Ontario St., 312-649-9010): Diners can indulge in a complimentary glass of Champagne Ayala Brut Majeur.

Mon Ami Gabi (2300 N. Lincoln Park West, 773-348-8886): New executive chef Michael Battocletti has crafted several Bastille Day specials, including chilled fennel and grapefruit soup, Moroccan-style cod and Gabi"s fish and frites.

Retro Bistro (83 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake, 815-893-4465; 1746 W. Golf Road, Mount Prospect, 847-439-2424): Both locations celebrate Bastille Day from Thursday to Sunday with an upgraded prix fixe menu and live entertainment. Call for menu details.

La Sardine (111 N. Carpenter St., 312-421-2800): From Thursday through Saturday, La Sardine offers special dishes, including a basket of gougeres, vichyssoise, salade nicoise, filet of sole "Bonne Femme," tournedos Rossini and a floating island dessert.

Suzette"s Creperie (211 W. Front St., Wheaton, 630-462-0898): The annual Grand French Picnic ($35) runs 5-9 p.m. and includes salads, chickpea Provencal, tuna nicoise and charcuterie, along with grilled flank steak, sausages, mussels with mint and curry sauce, and paella. There will also be beignets, French-themed cookies and cake for dessert. Drinks, including blueberry bourbon Bastille Day Punch and ros, will be available for purchase.

Webster"s Wine Bar (2601 N. Milwaukee Ave., 773-292-9463): From Thursday to Saturday, all Champagne by the bottle will be 40-percent off. The wine bar has a deep selection of grower-made Champagnes, as well as myriad biodynamic options.

Althea Legaspi is a freelance writer.

Source: http://www.chicagotribune.com/dining/ct-bastille-day-best-events-chicago-20160713-story.html

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Kiwis Danny Lee and Steven Alker make poor starts at British Open

The British Open Golf Final Round 2015 Part 1

Last updated00:42, July 15 2016

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Danny Lee plays a shot during round one of the British Open at Royal Troon.

Danny Lee and Steven Alker have both made poor starts to the British Open, carding well over par scores in the first round.

They were among the first on course at Royal Troon on Thursday, and finished with scores of six-over and two-over respectively.

Leehad a double bogey on the second hole cancelled out by two birdies, on the first and the sixth, then a third birdie, on the ninth, moved him to one-under.

Golf Channel

Colin Montgomerie"s first hole at the British Open for six years ended with a double bogey.

That was as good as things got, however, as he fell apart on the back nine, registering fivebogeys and a triple bogey, on his way to sitting in a tie for 77th as he entered the clubhouse.

READ MORE:* Ko wins ESPY award* McIlroy no"Ringo"*Lee to be OpenBremainer*McIlroy won"t watch Olympic golf on TV

Alker had a slightly better start, but was in a tie for 62ndas Lee finished. He had a bogey and a birdie on the front nine, then followed up with two more bogeys on the back nine.

As Lee completed his round, Rory McIlroy, Patrick Reed and Soomin Lee had a share of the lead at four-under.

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-Stuff

Source: http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/golf/82125800/danny-lee-and-steve-alker-steady-at-british-open-as-colin-montgomerie-makes-magic-return

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How the ESPYs" powerful opening happened

Stephen Curry at The ESPYS

Soon after the recent deadly shootings in Dallas, Minnesota and Baton Rouge, the New York Knicks power forward posted an Instagram plea using an iconic June 4, 1967, photo of Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown and Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and others from what is known as the Ali Summit. That was the Cleveland news conference in which Ali"s fellow athletes flanked him to show support as he announced his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War.

Anthony used the historic photo to implore his fellow athletes to to "step up and take charge."

"There"s NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore," he wrote in his caption. "Those days are long gone."

First off let me start off by saying " All Praise Due To The Most High." Secondly, I"m all about rallying, protesting, fighting for OUR people. Look I"ll even lead the charge, By Any Means Necessary. We have to be smart about what we are doing though. We need to steer our anger in the right direction. The system is Broken. Point blank period. It has been this way forever. Martin Luther King marched. Malcolm X rebelled. Muhammad Ali literally fought for US. Our anger should be towards the system. If the system doesn"t change we will continue to turn on the TVs and see the same thing. We have to put the pressure on the people in charge in order to get this thing we call JUSTICE right. A march doesn"t work. We tried that. I"ve tried that. A couple social media post/tweet doesn"t work. We"ve all tried that. That didn"t work. Shooting 11 cops and killing 5 WILL NOT work. While I don"t have a solution, and I"m pretty sure a lot of people don"t have a solution, we need to come together more than anything at this time. We need each other. These politicians have to step up and fight for change. I"m calling for all my fellow ATHLETES to step up and take charge. Go to your local officials, leaders, congressman, assemblymen/assemblywoman and demand change. There"s NO more sitting back and being afraid of tackling and addressing political issues anymore. Those days are long gone. We have to step up and take charge. We can"t worry about what endorsements we gonna lose or whose going to look at us crazy. I need your voices to be heard. We can demand change. We just have to be willing to. THE TIME IS NOW. IM all in. Take Charge. Take Action. DEMAND CHANGE. Peace7 #StayMe7o

A photo posted by @carmeloanthony on Jul 8, 2016 at 8:02am PDT

On Wednesday night, Anthony doubled down on that as he and his "brothers" stood before a hushed crowd at the Microsoft Theater.

"Good evening," Anthony began. "Tonight is a celebration of sports, celebrating our accomplishments and our victories. But, in this moment of celebration, we asked to start the show tonight this way, the four of us talking to our fellow athletes, with the country watching."

Anthony went on to talk about the "injustice, distrust and anger that plague so many of us" before each man had their say.

Paul described himself as "an African-American man and the nephew of a police officer" before reciting the names of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Laquan McDonald., Alton Sterling, and Philando Castile whose deaths have all stirred debate about racial profiling and the treatment of African Americans in the United States.

"The racial profiling has to stop," Wade said. "The shoot-to-kill mentality has to stop. Not seeing the value of black and brown bodies has to stop. But also, the retaliation has to stop."

James closed out the remarks by saying "We all have to do better."

Journalist T.J. Holmes tweeted "The start of the show was not a network idea. LeBron, Carmelo, CP3, and D-Wade approached the network and asked to open the show."

Anthony told Holmes in an interview after the opening that he debated what to say.

The foursome"s profound words resonated. So much so that former president Bill Clinton tweeted that he was inspired by them.

CNNMoney (New York) First published July 14, 2016: 8:43 AM ET

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/14/media/espy-awards-opening/

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Television|Patrick J. Adams Is Happy to Take the Suits Out of "Suits"

The Ultimate Harvey Specter Record Music Collection (From Suits)
Photo Patrick J. Adams in Suits. Credit Ian Watson/USA Network

When Suits returns for its sixth season on Wednesday night, youll be forgiven for thinking it has morphed into Orange Is the New Black.

There is Mike Ross getting stripped down, felt up, showered and shorn as he enters the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution, its guards poised to scare him straight. Wake-up comes at 6 a.m., cells must be kept sanitary, and no contact is allowed with Rachel, the fiance he left at the altar last season or else.

Do you mind if I ask what disciplinary action means? Mike wonders aloud.

Im sure youre gonna find out soon, comes the reply.

For me, the story of Suits is the story of Mike Ross becoming more and more mature and learning what kind of man he wants to be, said Patrick J. Adams, the Canadian actor who plays him on the USA legal drama. Ross ended up at Danbury because he faked his Harvard law degree and copped a plea for conspiracy to commit fraud to keep colleagues out of jail. I think that if Mike can get out of prison having admitted what hes done and relieved himself from the burden of the secret hes been carrying, then h**l be a changed man and able to really move on with his life with his head held high.

In a recent phone call from a vacation on Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, north of Toronto, where the show is filmed, Mr. Adams talked about Mikes decisions, lurking danger and ditching those bespoke suits. These are edited excerpts from the conversation.

We know where Mike has been, but where is he headed?

At the end of Season 5 we saw Mike make the decision to take the bullet for his friends and, finally, responsibility for what hes been doing the last five years. Now we get a lay of the land of what prison is like, and plant the seeds for Mike and Harvey working together to get him out of there before those two years are up.

So we should expect a prison break?

Were going to attempt some pretty creative maneuvering. In the world of Suits, the law is a very bendable thing filled with back-room deals and owing people favors. And in that spirit, theres going to be a lot of Mike and Harvey trying to convince the powers that be to let him out early before something severe happens in the hands of his enemies.

Frank is currently enemy No. 1. What fuels his rage?

Harvey has a checkered past hes done a lot of things to a lot of people and put a lot of people away, and Frank Gallo is one of them. But hes different than a lot of villains, whove done duplicitous things or hurt people in ways that arent physical. This is a character whos very much a physical menace, and thats new to our show.

How realistic is the prison set?

They did a pretty incredible job building it to scale and getting the details rights. In these white-collar prisons, theres more room to breathe, the doors of the cell are left open, theres a little bit of moving around in the common spaces. But for Mike thats an even more threatening situation. He never quite knows where Frank could sneak up on him.

Do you foresee law school for Mike after hes released?

At this point its hard for me to imagine who would allow Mike Ross to become a lawyer. But we are inside a television show. Last season, Mike came to the realization that he had been wasting his talents helping the super rich become super richer rather than working to actually make peoples lives better. I think if he saw a window for him to be able to do that, he would definitely jump through it.

Does he regret leaving Rachel at the altar?

I dont think so. I think he knows that it was the right thing to do, and I think thats justified through a lot of Rachels story line this season. Obviously their motivation to get back to each other is powerful, but shes doing exactly what he asked her to do, which is to focus on her career. And shes got a really great case that, as Im reading the script, packs an emotional punch. As a fan, I would be frustrated that Mike and Rachel have to be so far apart. But I would also be so satisfied that this character is getting to do some new and dynamic and interesting stuff completely free and clear of Mike Ross.

Whats to become of his old firm, Pearson Specter Litt?

Its hard to see the characters you love in tough times. But getting to see this incredible firm, the best in New York City, reduced to a shell of what it once was, and watching these really brilliant people find a way to keep it afloat and get it back on track thats what a show in its sixth season needs.

How much longer can the show can on?

So far we havent been picked up for a seventh season. But what happens with Mike Ross after he gets out of prison is ultimately a really interesting story to tell. Im definitely on board.

Suits has some of the best-dressed characters on television. What is it to trade those designer duds for prison blues?

Oh G*d, its so good! Its a real vacation. I get to go to work and stay in my uniform all day. All my shoots are on the same set. I definitely miss my friends but its great for the character because it gives me good inspiration to work from. But from a technical side, its like going to work in my pajamas. [Laughs.] Its not terrible.

Continue reading the main story

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/arts/television/patrick-j-adams-is-happy-to-take-the-suits-out-of-suits.html

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The Open 2016: Rory McIlroy"s good start goes to waste as Patrick Reed leads American challenge

Top-10 players to watch at the 2016 Open Championship

Rory McIlroy put the controversy over his views on the Olympics firmly behind him to make the ideal start to his bid for a second Open title.

McIlroy withdrew from the Games citing concerns over the Zika virus, but subsequently made it clear where Rio ranks in his priorities - saying he would not even watch thegolfon TV, preferring "the stuff that matters."

The 27-year-old believes his career will be judged by the number of major titles he wins and set about trying to make it five after recovering from an unconvincing start at Royal Troon to card four birdies in the space of five holes.

McIlroy had to save par from sand on the first two holes but took advantage of the fourth and sixth, both downwind par fives, before holing from 12 feet for another birdie on the seventh.

The world number four had taken "eight or nine" at the famous Postage Stamp in practice after struggling to get out of a greenside bunker, but had no such problems when it mattered thanks to a superb tee shot to just two feet from the hole.

And things could have got even better on the ninth, where his approach clattered into the pin and finished 15 feet from the hole, from where he was unable to convert the birdie putt.

However, at four under par McIlroy was in a share of the lead with American Ryder Cup star Patrick Reed and Korea"s Soomin Lee as the real challenge of the back nine began.

Justin Thomas had raced to the turn in 31 but bogeyed the 10th and did well to salvage a double bogey on the 15th after tangling with the gorse, while Kevin Chappell had been four under before running up a triple-bogey eight on the 16th.

The biggest damage was being done by the par-four 11th, which played the hardest hole on the course in the 2004 Open and had yet to yield a single birdie.

The group containing former champions David Duval and Sandy Lyle and British amateur champion Scott Gregory had taken 23 shots between them, with Lyle and Gregory needing seven each to complete the 482-yard par four - flanked by a railway line - and Duval nine.

Royal Troon member Colin Montgomerie, who had hit the opening shot at 6:35am, had three-putted the 11th from short of the green in an eventful level-par 71, the 53-year-old starting with a double-bogey six but then carding five birdies in the space of seven holes from the third.

McIlroy was fortunate to find a good lie in the rough after a wayward drive on the 11th which headed worryingly towards the railway line, and made the most of his good luck to save par by two-putting from 10 yards short of the green.

Patrick Reed holds the clubhouse lead at Royal Troon on -5 (Getty)

That was not good enough to retain a share of the lead, however, as Reed birdied the 18th to set the new clubhouse target on five under - a shot ahead of compatriot Thomas, who had also picked up a shot on the last.

"The front nine is definitely scoreable but I felt like I was grinding the entire back nine to salvage pars, bogeys and even double bogeys," Thomas said after a 67 on his Open debut. "So to finish like that with a birdie was nice."

Australia"s Matt Jones had matched Reed and Thomas in racing to the turn in 31 to join Reed in a share of the lead, with South Africa"s Haydn Porteous just a shot behind after eagles on the fourth and sixth.

McIlroy"s round was in danger of unravelling when he fired his approach over the 13th green and compounded the error by three-putting for a double bogey, before dropping another shot on the next after failing to get up and down from a bunker.

And although the world number four bounced back with a birdie on the 15th, at two under par he was four off the lead held by Porteous, who had completed a brilliant front nine of 30 thanks to birdies on the seventh and eighth.

Jones had dropped back to three under par after becoming the latest victim of the 11th, but playing partner Richard Sterne had become the first player - in match 23 - to make birdie on the hole to reach four under.

PA

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Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/golf/the-open-2016-report-latest-rory-mcilroy-good-start-goes-to-waste-as-patrick-reed-leads-american-a7136886.html

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Is Mr. Robot channeling Psycho?

Mr. Robot: Previously On season_2.0

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One giant 90-minute episode into its second season, Mr. Robot feels more confident than ever and much, much less stable. Tensions are high: fsociety is engaged in the important work of castrating a golden bull, Angela"s joining the dark side, and Elliot is every bit as suspicious of us as we are of him. We can"t watch his control "loop" without hunting for cues as to whether anything is real. There are no familiar interiors. Our characters have scattered. Darlene is crying. Things are fragmented and weird and bleak.

As a sort of consolation prize for this ambient paranoia, the new season is full of terrific cinematic touches that offer some compensatory contiguity and cohesion. One of my favorite sequences begins with Elliot reaching into a filthy popcorn machine right before the title card pops up. The words "Mr. Robot" bridge two of Elliot"s most important memory gaps, carrying us from Tyrell Wellick to the aftermath of the concussion that probably caused Elliot"s neurological issues. It"s possible we"ve just witnessed Mr. Robot"s (desperately understated) origin story. It"s such a clever transition.

That sequence moves from the popcorn (there"s still a gun in there, right?) to a comfortingly straightforward EKG the rhythms of the heart, so linear and clean. But then we get to the murkier question of Elliot"s mind, and it"s no coincidence that the shape of the popcorn kernels (our last memory of Elliot with Tyrell Wellick before he blacks out) resembles the shapes of the brain scans and the camo pattern on Elliot"s composition notebook. All these things add up to a smudgy portrait of Elliot"s brain.

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

Popcorn, of course, automatically makes us think of going to the movies. The popcorn at the beginning signals, among other things, that we are in intense dialogue with film this season and that film history is as good a way to scan for what"s happening onscreen as anything else.

In fact, this season of Mr. Robot is playing with movie references like never before.

It"s no secret that Mr. Robot"s first season is heavily indebted to Fight Club. (Writer and director Sam Esmail cites other influences too, including Taxi Driver, all of Kubrick, and Girls.) That upset some people who found the Mr. Robot turn blatantly derivative. To others, the blatancy of that choice was the most interesting thing about it: Despite borrowing one of the most famous plot twists in recent memory, Mr. Robot seemed confident and at ease, totally and mysteriously immune to the anxiety of influence.

Rewatching Season 1, it"s clear that the show"s loud borrowings are just another way into its intelligent use of programming metaphors: Borrowing liberally is kind of what hacking is. Elliot gives a whole speech about it in "eps1.6_v1ew-s0urce.flv":

I remember when I was a kid I got into web design by ripping off sites I liked. All you had to do was view source on your browser and there it was, the code. You could copy paste it, modify it a little, put your name on it, and like that it was your site. View source.

So what is Mr. Robot"s second season View Sourcing?

My sense is that it"s shifting from American Psycho (another film Esmail cites as an influence) to ... Psycho.

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

(Screenshot/YouTube/Movieclips/Psycho)

(Screenshot/Movieclips.com/Psycho)

Here"s Norman Bates coming into the Bates Motel:

(Screenshot/Movieclips.com/Psycho)

And here"s Elliot coming into his "mother"s" house:

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

Here"s Norman Bates with the painting that conceals the peephole through which he"ll watch Marion:

(Screenshot/Movieclips.com/Psycho)

And here"s Elliot, our spiritual Peeping Tom, who"s feeling badly about how he treated Krista in "eps1.8_m1rr0r1ng.qt". "She"s just like everyone else too afraid to peek over the walls to see what she might see," he says, as the camera zooms in on the lone figure on the left. "Not me. I look."

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

These are gentle echoes, to be sure. Still, the introduction of Elliot"s mother suggests there might be some thematic changes going forward. If last season was indebted to Fight Club, it introduced a filial dimension to the problem of provoking worldwide anarchy. As Hamlet knows, there"s nothing like a dead dad to torment a son out of spiritual paralysis into agency. Elliot likes borrowing scripts. That"s the script. This season is all about shutting that agency down, and there"s a script for that too: Unstable son conjures up repressive mothers. Psycho. When his therapist, Krista, asks "why her?" "She"s the strictest person I know," Elliot tells her. Mothers are not particularly safe people in this episode (I"m nervous every time Joanna is onscreen).

Even the unusual overhead shots that set mark Elliot"s loops can be interpreted as nods to Psycho:

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

Remember when Detective Argobast dies in Psycho? Yup, overhead shot (Cody Hamman has an interesting reading of that scene):

(Screenshot/Movieclips.com/Psycho)

And Mrs. Alderson, whether she"s real or imagined, seems to share a hairstyle and a predilection for sitting and staring with Mrs. Bates.

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

Did you notice that every time Elliot pops in to see what she"s watching, the caption onscreen is the same? Poor President Obama is always addressing a concerned nation, LIVE. That insistence on LIVE worries me. Here"s what Mrs. Alderson is watching in the morning:

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

In the afternoon:

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

Later that day:

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

This might just be a joke lampooning our redundant 24-hour news cycle, but it seems a touch too exact to be just parody. Either Elliot"s loop is somehow affecting the TV broadcasts, or something screwy"s going on with Mrs. Alderson.

Finally, there"s a temperamental affinity between Psycho"s Norman and Mr. Robot"s Elliot that could easily grow stronger. Elliot"s much smarter, but if someone made one of those "Who Said It?" quizzes, it would be hard to tell them apart:

No one really runs away from anything. It"s like a private trap that holds us in like a prison. You know what I think? I think that we"re all in our private traps, clamped in them, and none of us can ever get out. We scratch and we claw, but only at the air, only at each other, and for all of it, we never budge an inch.

That"s Norman, but Elliot could have easily said this, right?

Regardless of where all this is headed, Elliot"s struggle for control is incredibly moving. So is the addition of the journals, which offer a new point of entry into his mental state, and his failure to keep them private from us. His journal entry after his confrontation with Christian Slater is wrenching, and so is the brutal context in which we first see Rami Malek smile.

It worries me, finally, that Leon"s outfit mimics the same camo design we saw on Elliot"s notebook, brain scans, and in the popcorn. It doesn"t bode well for his existence. But maybe (in Leon"s words) "that"s the show"s point. That s**t is just pointless, you know? Life, love, and the meanings therein. I tell you, the human condition is a straight-up tragedy, cuz."

(Screenshot/USA/Mr. Robot)

Source: http://theweek.com/articles/635786/mr-robot-channeling-psycho

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2016 ESPYs: Kobe Bryant, Ciara, Usher among stars at Hollywood show (PHOTOS)

Couple Reacts : Kobe Bryant Interview at 2016 ESPYS Reaction!

The ESPY Awardsgotunderway Wednesday evening in Los Angeles, the annual award show hosted by ESPN honoring the best in sports throughout the previous year. (It"s the only day of the year one of the four major sports doesn"t have a game.)

And this being Hollywood, many celebrities are in attendance as well, lighting up the red carpet with the athletes. Former wrestler and current actor/reality TV host JohnCena is emceeing.

Former NBA player Kobe Bryant, along with NFL cornerback Richard Sherman are at the show, as is Golden State guard Steph Curry and Yankeeslefty CC Sabathia. Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson and his new wife Ciara are there, too. Usher is there too. (See the gallery above for more.)

Early in the night NBA playersCarmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, and LeBron James delivered an impassioned speech about the recent gun violence across America. See part of it here:

Ryan Hatch may be reached at rhatch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanhatch. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

Source: http://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/07/espys_kobe_bryant_bryce_harper_cc_sbathia_celebrit.html

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