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Serious pianists sometimes pound out a little honky-tonk, just for fun. That's like what Steven Soderbergh is doing in "Ocean's Eleven." This is a standard genre picture, a remake of the 1960 Frank Sinatra caper, and Soderbergh, who usually aims higher, does it as a sort of lark. It's slick, all right: directors this good don't usually handle material this routine. It has yearnings above its natural level, as if hoping to redeem itself and metamorphose into a really good movie.

The movie stars George Clooney , who can be powerfully impassive better than almost anybody, as Danny Ocean, fresh out of prison and eager for a new job. He's a smooth operator who, his parole board notes, figured in a dozen investigations where he was never charged. He contacts his old sidekick Rusty Ryan ( Brad Pitt ) with a scheme to steal millions from not one but three Las Vegas casinos. Amazingly, the movie specifies and shoots in real casinos (the Mirage, the MGM Grand and the Bellagio) and incorporates the destruction of the Desert Inn.

Casing the job, Rusty sees the casino owner ( Andy Garcia ) with a woman he recognizes: Tess Ocean ( Julia Roberts ), Danny's ex-wife. "Tell me it isn't about her," Rusty begs Danny. Of course it is. Ocean wants to steal from his ex-wife's current lover and get her back again. They assemble a team, including Matt Damon , Don Cheadle and Casey Affleck . I suppose there are 11 in all, although even during a long tracking shot I forgot to count.

The outlines of a caper movie are long and well established: the scary external shot of the impenetrable targets; the inside information; the voice-over as we see guards going about their work, and the plan with the split-second timing. "Ocean's Eleven" even includes an elaborate full-scale mock-up of the strong room used by the three casinos, leading to such practical questions as, (1) Why does it need to be this elaborate? (2) How much did it cost? and (3) Who contracted it for them, or did they knock it together themselves overnight? The movie excels in its delivery of dialogue. The screenplay by Ted Griffin is elegantly epigrammatic, with dialogue that sounds like a cross between Noel Coward and a 1940s noir thriller.

Roberts: "You're a thief and a liar." Clooney: "I only lied about being a thief." R: "You don't do that anymore?" C: "Steal?" R: "Lie." They do this so well I was reminded of the classic exchanges between Bogart and Bacall. And notice, too, the conversation involving Clooney, Roberts and Garcia, when the casino boss finds the ex-husband at Tess' table in the dining room. The two men of course despise one another, but are so smooth and cool we note it only in the precision of their timing and word choices, leading up to a final exchange in which Danny, leaving the table, says "Terry" in a way that uses the first name with inappropriate familiarity, and Terry responds "Danny" on precisely the same note.

Brad Pitt has a nice dialogue passage, too, when he's briefing the Matt Damon character. The jargon is all about strategy and entirely in modern terms, but listen to the music instead of the words and you realize it's a riff on Hamlet's instructions to the players.

As movie capers go, the specifics in "Ocean's Eleven" are not necessarily state of the art. I can think of more ingeniously executed plans, most recently in " The Score ," but then this is not a movie about suspense but about suavity. Clooney and Roberts deliberately evoke the elegance of stars like Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman , Garcia is as smooth, groomed, polished and tailored as George Raft , and the movie blessedly ends not with a shootout but with a complicated plot finesse. I enjoyed it. It didn't shake me up and I wasn't much involved, but I liked it as a five-finger exercise. Now it's time for Soderbergh to get back to work.

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Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Rated PG-13 For Some Language and Sexual Content

116 minutes

Andy Garcia as Terry Benedict

Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan

George Clooney as Danny Ocean

Scott Caan as Turk Malloy

Julia Roberts as Tess Ocean

Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy

Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff

Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom

Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell

Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr

Directed by

• Steven Soderbergh

Screenplay by

• Ted Griffin

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Danny Ocean’s Character in the Film “Ocean 11” Essay

Ocean 11 is a 2001 American chef-d’oeuvre film that borrows heavily from its 1960 version. George Clooney acts as the protagonist of the movie, Danny Ocean. He is a serial criminal, and he violates his parole barely a day after his release and heads to Los Angeles, where he hatches a robbery plan in conjunction with his godfather in crime, Rusty Ryan. Danny Ocean is both a master at what he does, but he is also eccentric. This paper explores Danny’s character through how he looks, what he says, and what he does to prove that he is both an expert in his field and eccentric.

The film’s producer Jerry Weintraub once noted, “The reason George Clooney is perfect as Danny Ocean is that George is a born leader…He’s a wonderful actor, and he helped keep the sense of fun during filming ‘ even after we wrapped for the day”( TNT par.2). This observation fits well in the description of Danny Ocean. He comes out as a natural leader in what he does, which blends perfectly with his role in the movie as the protagonist, for he is supposed to determine what happens in the movie. After breaking his parole, he heads to Las Vegas via Los Angeles, where he comes up with a plan to rob three casinos. A leader does exactly that, as he takes charge, hatches plans, and implements them.

The movie depends entirely on what Danny does and how he does it. After getting to Las Vegas, as a leader, Danny acknowledges teamwork, and so he decides to come up with a team to execute his plans. He also appreciates the role of specialization, and so he picks eight team members, all talented and experienced in different areas. He picks a pickpocket, a casino worker, mechanics, surveillance expert, explosives professional, a con man, and an acrobat. A leader sees the end from the beginning (Covey, Merrill, and Jones 75,) and Danny does that by envisioning all the needed executions and putting together a team to accomplish the same.

In addition, Danny speaks as a leader. After putting his team together, he addresses them professionally by laying down the facts of the mission ahead of them. He notes that the mission is risky, but rewarding, after which he gives everyone an opportunity to leave is he does not think that the risk is worth taking. He posits, “What I’m about to propose to you is both highly lucrative and highly dangerous…and safe journey, no hard feelings. Otherwise, come with me” ( Ocean 11) . A leader does not sugarcoat information in a bid to lure team members into undertaking a given mission. A true leader lays down all the facts and lets individual team members decide on whether to take part or not, and Danny knows that extremely well.

A leader takes charge and leads by example. On the day of executing the robbery, Danny makes a sacrifice by exposing himself to Benedict at the casino. Danny knows that he is on parole, and his exposure will lead to automatic apprehension. However, he knows that someone has to pay the price, and he does not delegate that duty to anyone else. Moreover, a leader is proactive, and he knows how to use misgivings as opportunities. After being arrested, Danny does not resort to self-pity, but he sees it as part of the plan. He uses his friendship with Bruiser to negotiate his way out to meet his team. In addition, a leader keeps his word, and Danny does that after promising Bruiser that he would be back to the holding. After meeting his team at the vault, he comes back, and in the closing stages of the movie, Benedict returns to the holding room where he finds Danny intact.

However, despite his commendable leadership skills, Danny portrays some level of eccentricity in what he does. A leader should focus on his mission solely, but when Danny realizes that Benedict has stolen his ex-wife, he expands his mission to include revenge. He admits, “I lost someone…That’s why I’m here…The problem is, now we’re stealing two things” ( Ocean 11 ). At this point, Danny becomes unpredictable and thus eccentric. He is prepared to risk the initial mission of robbing the casino and get his revenge and wife back. After Rusty confronts him on what he could choose between the mission and getting his wife back, he retorts, “Remember, Tess does not split ways” ( Ocean 11 ).

In other words, he implies that getting his wife back comes first and if he has to expose the mission in his quest to achieve his newly found agenda, then so be it. This side of Danny contradicts his initial character of a natural leader who knows what to do and when and how to do it. Luckily, the plan goes undisrupted, and Danny achieves the two missions by getting his wife back and having the money from the casino.

In conclusion, in the movie, Ocean 11, Danny Ocean, the protagonist, comes out as a natural leader. This aspect makes him an expert at what he does. In the movie, he is needed to be a leader, and he scores highly on this requirement. He envisions, plans, and executes his plan to rob Bellagio. However, after realizing his ex-wife is now married to Benedict, he changes his priorities and decides to have Tess back, which paints him as an eccentric person.

Works Cited

Covey, Steve, Roger Merrill, and DeWitt Jones. The Nature of Leadership, West Valley City: Franklin Covey, 1998. Print.

Ocean 11. Dir. Steven Soderbergh. Burbank, CA: Warner Bros. 2001. Film.

TNT: Ocean’s Eleven. n.d. Web.

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IvyPanda. (2020, May 22). Danny Ocean's Character in the Film "Ocean 11". https://ivypanda.com/essays/danny-oceans-character-in-the-film-ocean-11/

"Danny Ocean's Character in the Film "Ocean 11"." IvyPanda , 22 May 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/danny-oceans-character-in-the-film-ocean-11/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Danny Ocean's Character in the Film "Ocean 11"'. 22 May.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Danny Ocean's Character in the Film "Ocean 11"." May 22, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/danny-oceans-character-in-the-film-ocean-11/.

1. IvyPanda . "Danny Ocean's Character in the Film "Ocean 11"." May 22, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/danny-oceans-character-in-the-film-ocean-11/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Danny Ocean's Character in the Film "Ocean 11"." May 22, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/danny-oceans-character-in-the-film-ocean-11/.

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Ocean’s Eleven – Film analysis Essay

• Category: Film
• Words: 1949
• Published: 12.21.19

The blockbuster film Ocean’s Eleven, released in 2001, was the first film of a trilogy of heist films aimed by Steven Soderbergh. This big budget crime-thriller remake of the 1960’s Rat Load up favourite provides the intricately thrilling storyline where Daniel Ocean prospects a rag-tag group of people and ex-cons for the monumental heist of 3 major Las Vegas Casinos. This collection is significant because it creates the diegesis of the film and also provides us a tip into the character of the protagonist. Also, conceptually, the set up of the heist is crucial to setting up the audience’s substantial expectations and apprehensions of how something of this scale can be achieved efficiently.

Daniel Water, played simply by A-list celebrity George Clooney, will be interviewed by parole plank at a small New Jersey Condition prison. Soon after being released, Marine heads directly for Atlantic City then Las Vegas to begin recruiting older acquaintances for his grandest heist but. The genre feature of assembling the heist affiliates, each having a specific skill, is an extremely important one mainly because it functions to help make the audience foresee what role each may play and how, exactly, their abilities will come into play later. Through this kind of sequence, it really is made clear to us that Daniel Water is a innovator and an all-natural, experienced lawbreaker whose goals and plans are not afflicted with prison.

To place this film and its heist theme in to context, we must take into consideration the significance of by using a casino in Las Vegas as the target of the heist. Las Vegas, also known as sin city, is the entertainment and betting capital of the world, where prospects are made and lost. Vegas connotes specific values and attitudes. Heist genre motion pictures have to make the thieves charming and almost brave, therefore , the item or establishment being swindled must be viewed as evil in some personal or perhaps social way. A online casino in Las Vegas is a symbol of mass corporate greed, capitalism on the lurid scale, and a spot where the it�s likely that stacked inside the casino’s favor.

The buy-ins are so high when it comes to robbing a on line casino that, Daniel Ocean great 10 co-workers are not only betting their likelihood of going to jail, they are betting with their lives. We can say that this is the circumstance with this film since we can see Daniel Ocean unthreatened and not affected by jail life. MISE EN LANDSCAPE During the interview in the jail, The Mise en field lends meaning to the fact that it isn’t a nice place to always be, where conformity reigns, and individuality can be quashed. The dark mise en picture, with the wall space painted off white, as a penitentiary is, produces an institutionalized atmosphere. The empty benches behind the character indicate the character’s solitude in penitentiary.

There is also a banned window in the background, representing the and something that can be seen but is not experienced plus the fan that isn’t upon, further emphasising the without life atmosphere with the prison. Determine placement is definitely effectively planned to show Water in the centre, because the main character, and 1 side of him lit up, from outside the house light, the other in darkness in the prison, presenting the classic narrative structural competitors of good compared to evil, and showing Oceans two edges in the mounting and light. The low-key back light creates a luminosidad effect and prevents the group from recognising him, creating instant secret and indicating he is performing something wrong or perhaps secretive, feature of the genre.

Through Outfit, Hair, and make-up, we come across that Daniel Ocean, unshaven and slouched, is wearing a dark bis jumpsuit with a white undershirt, which represent his clampdown, dominance and captivity. Although Ocean is shown as a criminal, his slicked back curly hair, articulated talk and star image generate him interesting. Clooney is generally seen as playing the hero in films, a trait prevalent in facility films like this, so the viewers will expect the same of him with this film, although he is becoming portrayed, not as a law-abiding citizen or perhaps law enforcer, but as a felon. Since Ocean leaves the jail, we see natural light coming from away from the prison, with Marine, facing from us, silhouetted.

This mild is there to represent freedom, and escape from your confining walls of jail; Ocean’s outline raises but more enigmas. Figure location puts the “North Shirt State Prison” prison in back of Ocean as he walks away, setting the place and also comprising Ocean giving the penitentiary and your life of confinement behind. Within the next location, a casino in Atlantic City, we have a major contrast in mise en scene, which conveys to us Daniel Ocean’s persona in a non-confined setting. While this vacation spot is the start that Water visits following leaving prison, it shows that it plays a significant role in the narrative. In the background, chandeliers can be seen, along with potted plants, and a burgundy and gold colour scheme, symbolizing riches and desire.

Ocean himself is now well shaven, smartly suited and may now be seen as much more of a person, with the high-key lighting showing all of his facial expression. All of the mise-en-scene shows the audience how the brand new setting is much more welcoming, the colours used give the environment a sense that Ocean feels at home plus the artificial lumination brightens up the entire shot. The establishing is made clear to the audience and the significant budget from the film is created evident by the use of props including the slot machines, different roulette games tables and the uniformed croupiers.

These outfits are also significant because the croupiers are wearing nametags, giving them an identity, which additional contrasts the prison existence where the prisoners in uniforms have no identification. Cinematography and EditingArguably the most critically recognized aspect of Ocean’s Eleven is definitely the exceptional cinematography and editing and enhancing. Stephen Soderbergh’s creative effect as a great auteur is observed through cinematography and croping and editing and it is considered to be effective in conveying the plot with or with no dialogue.

The shots with this sequence are normally quite lengthy durations of shot since they allow for the setting and context to sink in. The creating shot is medium close-up shot for the character, that is positioned in the centre of the shot. This kind of long duration of shot enables the audience to take in Daniel Ocean’s character in greater detail, illustrating his importance. A fast cut into a close up shot reveals the character to be Showmanship star Matthew mcconaughey, fixed and focused on to his encounter, allowing for a far more personal connection with the character, and in addition allowing style.  This close-up also reveals his sight, which help gain the audience’s trust, emphasizing his importance even further.

The bobbing camera movement implies the point of view coming from another persona, the leitspruch interviewer. An area of look at shot through jail cell bars and slow monitoring shots of Ocean leaving the jail suggests that different criminals admire Ocean while an icon. A close up shot of Daniel’s ocean’s hand possessing a wedding band conveys the value of the diamond ring, and hence, the importance of his ex partner. This impression is affirmed when the camera slowly pans up to Ocean’s face, revealing his yearning expression.

An in depth up traffic monitoring shot via behind Ocean is used as he exits throughout the prison gates to emphasise his importance wonderful role like a leader. In Atlantic Town, a superficial focus taken of Sea rising in an escalator, filmed via a low-level camera position, indicates Daniel Ocean’s surge from an unteresting repressed lifestyle to the snobbish planning of the epic heist. The shallow focus allows for more focus on Ocean. When Ocean is definitely seated by a blackjack table, there are numerous shot-reverse-shots of Ocean and the croupier, which in turn doesn’t break the 180-degree rule, and also allows for dialogue. This helps to establish narrative.

A point of perspective shot, by Ocean’s perspective, shows one more croupier speaking with somebody, showing that something had captured his vision. This advises one of the personas in this taken, plays a role of importance in the future narrative. The female croupier walks out of your frame and is also replaced by the man from the prior shot.

This raises enigma as to why she has left, and satisfies the audience’s expectations of one of the previous characters being of some significance. The camera then zooms in closer to Frank’, whose name is made from the dialogue. This zoom suggests that this conversation between him and Ocean is that of a more top secret nature, between those two, and the market. Both personas seem to get their eyes at the same height in a great eye-line match, suggesting camaraderie and equal rights, but also raising a great enigma between the two character types, as to the way they are friends.

SoundDiegetic and non-diegetic sound are used to collaboratively to augment the sequence in several ways. Off screen, steel diegetic noises can be heard, like large, heavy doors, or secrets, and noises can be observed, but not noticeably. This off screen sound raises an enigma in regards to what the source of such noises will be, cueing their significance to the plot as associated with confinement and prison, setting up the threat of prison pertaining to the thieves later on in the film.

Off screen diegetic dialogue can be heard from a well educated, apparently law tough character, selecting our persona, who we discover out to become Danny Ocean, tying in with the title, and giving more reason that he is the protagonist in this film. This job interviewer acts as a compare between law-abiding citizens, plus the stereotypes that are commonly found in prison, representing the good, with this film. If the interviewer requires Ocean “What do you think you should do if perhaps released? ” he does not respond, although a cut to a close up of his face and a non-diegetic baseline insinuates that this individual indeed strategies to break what the law states again.

We don’t will need any program to advise this because the mischievous, jazzy low diegetic sound and the close from Ocean’s cosmetic expression notify the audience all your mate needs to know. The non-diegetic sound thickens with additional instruments because Daniel Marine leaves the solitary penitentiary life and enters the lively online casino. Combined with the diegetic sound in the casino devices and the gambling crowds, this sound build-up represents Daniel Ocean gathering together concepts and the gang members intended for the heist, slowly coming back to life.

The non-diegetic audio is of a cool jazz genre, reflecting Ocean’s optimistic attitude as well as giving a sense of mischief and complexity. Crucial Reception Ocean’s Eleven, with it’s A-list cast and artistic representative, was considered to certainly be a success at the box business office and with critics. The film received a score of 80% at Spoiled Tomatoes. Persons magazine known as the film “pure entertaining from start to finish, ” and included it in its end-of-year Best of Display list.

Using its 85 most important budget, Oceans Eleven grossed over 183 million US dollars in america alone and over 260 , 000, 000 dollars offshore, making it an exceptionally commercially effective film. Bibliography: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240772/

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The Definitives

Critical essays, histories, and appreciations of great films

Ocean’s Eleven

Essay by brian eggert march 31, 2024.

Is Ocean’s Eleven the coolest film ever made? It’s certainly a contender. But what makes Danny Ocean and his ten professional thieves so cool goes beyond their movie star good looks, stylish wardrobe, chummy camaraderie, and glitzy Las Vegas backdrop. Part of it entails what they don’t do and say. They don’t need violence to rob the world’s most impenetrable safe because they’re smarter than that. They don’t need to articulate every idea because they have an unspoken understanding. And although they’re criminals, they adhere to a personal code that supports the group, which is more than can be said for their target. Director Steven Soderbergh described the film to Entertainment Weekly as “a throwback. Nobody gets killed. There’s no bad language. It’s just an old-fashioned heist movie with lots of stars.” Like many Soderbergh films, Ocean’s Eleven also confronts an unscrupulous commercial entity, represented here by three casinos and their ruthless owner. In an increasingly corporatized world, George Clooney’s Danny Ocean and his crew represent a team of Davids taking on a Goliath who wears expensive suits and thinks of money first. While the house always wins because multinationals have rigged the game against those on the lower end of the economic divide, the viewer watches Danny play a perfect hand. In the parlance of the film’s hero, they bet big, beat the house, and get away with the American Dream of love and money. And they make it look damn cool. 

As early as the mid-1980s, Hollywood had been clamoring to remake Ocean’s 11 , the 1960 heist movie that marked the first feature starring the Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop). Sinatra stars as Daniel Ocean, who enlists ten World War II paratrooper buddies to use their military precision to rob five casinos. Cheering from the sidelines, Angie Dickinson and Shirley McClaine round out an impressive cast of protagonists, while Caesar Romero plays the crook who thwarts their plans. Conforming to the Production Code, director Lewis Milestone and the top brass at Warner Bros. delivered a casino heist movie where the thieves go home empty-handed. Trying to outsmart their pursuers, Daniel and his crew hide their money in the coffin of a fellow thief (Richard Conte) who dies of a heart attack, only for the man’s widow to order the coffin to be cremated. Since the Code couldn’t have thieves getting away with their loot—a paltry $5 million—this accident cleared them on moral terms. Unbound by such castigating oversight, the remake’s screenwriter, Ted Griffin, delivered a story that, according to scholar Aaron Baker, changed to reflect the growing wealth inequality in America. If the original was about veterans reasserting themselves in an ever more complex postwar environment, Soderbergh’s remake presented a yarn about the have-nots pulling one over on the ultra-rich. 

Since his meteoric debut sex, lies, and videotape earned the Palme d’Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival, Soderbergh’s career has been eclectic and prolific. Critics and scholars have struggled to define Soderbergh as a singular auteur, while most cannot deny that his body of work is that of a talented and controlled filmmaker. Following his impressive debut, Soderbergh’s career wavered with a string of commercial disappointments: Kafka (1991), King of the Hill (1993), The Underneath (1995), Gray’s Anatomy (1996), and Schizopolis (1996). Then, with so many unfairly dismissed films to his name, Soderbergh took a studio job directing Out of Sight (1998) for Universal. The film jumped on the post-Tarantino bandwagon in Hollywood that led to several adaptations of Elmore Leonard texts into crime pictures in the 1990s and beyond, including Get Shorty (1995), Jackie Brown (1997), Touch (1997), The Big Bounce (2004), and Be Cool (2005). But Out of Sight also marked the first collaboration of six between Soderbergh and George Clooney, which helped ground the actor’s flailing career, making him one of the last true movie stars. Their commercial success together on Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels ensured that their later, less accessible projects would receive funding and creative license. But Ocean’s Eleven is more than a “one for them” project in the longstanding filmmaker equation of “one for them, one for me.” The film contains a sly message under its surface-level glamour and cool-as-a-cucumber scenario. 

The film unfolds against the backdrop of aggressive corporatization in Las Vegas. Andy Garcia plays Terry Benedict, who operates three luxury hotel-casinos (the Bellagio, the MGM Grand, and The Mirage) with meticulous, possessive attention to every detail. Based on real-life developer Steve Wynn, Benedict is tearing down the old Las Vegas, once known as Sin City, and plans to diversify with broad appeal tourism—upscale restaurants, sporting events, entertainment, and even a curated art museum. Despite his seemingly varied interests, Benedict signifies the rampant corporate identities dominating American business. Note the subplot that involves Benedict buying out the Xanadu from under its previous owner, the old-school Reuben (Elliot Gould). The loss, followed by his hotel’s demolition, motivates Reuben to finance Danny Ocean’s scheme and get revenge on Benedict. After all, Benedict cares about nothing except having control, making money from his investments, and perhaps his golf game. This is clear when his museum curator girlfriend, Tess (Julia Roberts), asks if he likes the Picasso hanging on his museum wall. “I like that you like it,” he deflects, avoiding any discussion that might reveal he has no eye for art. Andrew deWaard and R. Colin Tait describe the film’s conflict as taking on “the indifferent forces of excessive capitalism, with the little guys triumphing in the face of overwhelming odds.”

Against a soulless corporate embodiment like Benedict, who’s armed with an ostensibly infinite bankroll, the titular den of thieves doesn’t seem so bad. Indeed, before meeting Benedict, we meet the newly paroled Daniel Ocean, who just completed a four-year stint in prison. While away, his former wife, Tess, left him for Benedict. Once released, Danny assembles his crew, each with a specific skill needed for their heist of “the least accessible vault ever designed.” He promises them a take of $165 million, divided equally. But while Danny was away, his cohorts have been slumming in menial cons and subpar work, framing the characters as underdogs from various locations around the country: Frank (Bernie Mac) has been dealing cards at a sleazy Atlantic City casino. Brad Pitt’s ever-eating Rusty (who consumes a fruit cup, nachos, shrimp cocktail, etc.) teaches dopey TV celebrities to play poker. The Mormon twins (Casey Affleck, Scott Caan) spend their time in Utah, immersed in petty brotherly competition. The nervous techie Livingston (Eddie Jemison) helps with police wiretaps. Demolition man Basher (Don Cheadle) works with less “proper villains” on a doomed heist. And experienced con man Saul (Carl Reiner) has since retired. Danny also enlists new faces with Yen (Qin Shaobo), a Cirque du Soleil acrobat, and the son of a former colleague, the young pickpocket Linus (Matt Damon). 

Besides the implication of taking down the super-rich, what’s at stake is a classical conflict: Danny’s masculine identity, which he will restore by reclaiming Tess and asserting his superior intelligence over Benedict with the casino robbery. Rusty isn’t pleased to discover this truth, as he points out: Tess doesn’t split eleven ways. But if all goes according to plan, Benedict will lose his money and Tess. Does Tess even want that, though? Upon seeing Danny again for the first time in four years, she appears angry about her abandonment and declares her commitment to Benedict. The scene finds Danny meeting Tess before her scheduled dinner with Benedict. After Benedict arrives, Soderbergh frames Danny, standing, between Benedict and Tess, sitting. Danny engages Benedict in polite conversation, all the while touching his wedding ring, a detail Tess notices, along with his restrained, affectionate body language and smiles in her direction. This terrifically acted scene establishes the emotional stakes for Danny. Although Tess later tells Danny, “You won’t win me back,” her relationship with Benedict suggests that she’s one of his many possessions, and she knows the relationship is hollow. Only a flashback to Danny saying goodbye to Tess hints that she still has feelings for him: Danny gives her one last hug, and the way she closes her eyes communicates plenty without words. In the end, Danny’s ultimate redemption and victory come not when the viewer realizes that his crew got away with the money, but when Tess races toward him at the end, as police prepare to take him away, and she shouts, “That’s my husband!” 

Just as the film keeps the audience guessing what will happen next during the heist, Soderbergh leaves much unsaid for his characters—a crucial aspect of their coolness. This is apparent in the first scene, when a parole board asks Danny, “What do you think you would do if you were released?” The next shot rests on Danny’s face. He thinks about how to respond and doesn’t reply. But whatever he said convinces them, because he’s soon discharged and leaving prison. A similar scene finds Danny and Rusty assembling the crew, with ten down. “You think we need one more?” Danny asks. Rusty, resting his head on the bar, does not respond. “You think we need one more,” Danny affirms. “Alright, we’ll get one more.” Similarly, when Saul tells Danny and Rusty, “Look, we all go way back, and I owe you from the thing with the guy in the place, and I’ll never forget it,” he speaks with a metonymic ambiguity that doesn’t require specifics. Soderbergh’s sense of cool in Ocean’s Eleven stems from his ability to communicate without words or exposition, all while guarding the particulars of the heist and showing that his characters are in control. Even when Danny seems to have lost control, getting himself caught by Benedict’s security right before the heist, it’s part of Danny’s master plan. While some unspoken moments are played for humor, others represent Soderbergh accessing cool by removing clunky exposition and keeping the audience at a distance. Danny’s crew doesn’t always need to speak to each other to communicate, and only by the end, when their heist comes together, does the viewer feel included in their unspoken code—a detail that makes rewatches so rewarding.

Soderbergh has never been a filmmaker interested in depicting violence on the screen, and Ocean’s Eleven involves characters smart enough to avoid shootouts and real guns. This is essential in a heist movie, where protagonists who resort to violence may alienate the audience. So, when they carry out their robbery, it’s not a “smash and grab” job, as Linus suggests in a quip lost on the room. Nor does it resemble the three “most successful” casino robberies in history, as described by Reuben, each propelled and resolved with sharp, unthinking violent acts—including a scene of guards who stop an unarmed ’80s thief by shooting him in the back. Rather, Soderbergh delivers an alternative to the standard Hollywood template of resolving conflict with violence, and the film associates violence with the Las Vegas establishment, the Terry Benedicts who deploy violence in hostile casino takeovers and backroom beatings. Griffin admitted in his commentary on the Blu-ray, “I’m not a big fan of shooting guns”—a curious remark for the writer of the cannibal horror-comedy Ravenous (1999), but no matter. As for Soderbergh, although exceptions do occur in the director’s career, such as 1999’s The Limey , his Ocean’s films value characters who restore order to power dynamics by relying on their wits and creativity, while characters who would resort to violence and intimidation are seen with a critical eye.    

Much of what makes Ocean’s Eleven such a pleasure is the feeling that we’re part of Danny’s crew but also part of the cast. There’s a vicarious sense that everyone is having fun making this movie, wearing fine clothes, staying in swanky Las Vegas hotel rooms, and enjoying the many luxuries the city has to offer. Before the film’s release, the production led to behind-the-scenes entertainment news stories about the actors working for scale to keep costs down but then spending their off-hours enjoying the Vegas nightlife. Clooney was said to have blown his salary on gambling and drinks, including a keg of Guinness installed in his hotel room. The casual atmosphere reported from the set enriches the on-camera result, enhancing the chemistry among performers who clearly enjoy each other’s company. The onscreen wisecracks seem to be delivered with a half-smile, keeping the mood light and airy—a necessary component that helps gloss over some confusing details in the otherwise ludicrous plot. Take when the team’s gophers, the Mormon brothers, leave their fake hotel uniforms in the elevator after a costume swap to security garb. Won’t someone find the discarded uniforms and ask questions?  

Shooting under his usual cinematographer pseudonym, Peter Andrews, the director achieves authenticity with real Las Vegas locations. His combination of a genuine setting and stylistic control, which blends realism with the director’s signature low-key visual polish, also lends Ocean’s Eleven an element of relaxed coolness. Elsewhere, David Holmes’ alternately jazzy and funky music gives the film a casual, easygoing tone, echoing his similarly groovy scores in many other Soderbergh features, including several heist stories: Out of Sight ; Joe and Anthony Russo’s Welcome to Collinwood (2002), which Soderbergh produced under Section Eight; the two Ocean’s sequels in 2004 and 2007 ; Logan Lucky (2017), the Southern-fried version of Ocean’s ; and No Sudden Move (2021), where a heist exposes corruption in the auto industry. But Holmes’ slick crime movie music breaks after the heist, when “Clair de Lune” by Claude Debussy plays while Tess runs across the casino to reunite with Danny, and the ten remaining thieves assemble at the iconic Bellagio fountain. The gentle music may break the cool mood, but it reimposes the themes of solidarity, camaraderie, and personal codes against Benedict’s moneyed interests. After Soderbergh’s camera pans across the faces of Ocean’s crew, who improvise their final moments together in this scene, Debussy’s music highlights the surprising yet effortlessly established bonds established among these characters and the viewer. 

Despite starting one of the director’s two mainstream trilogies (next to the Magic Mike series) and easily his most commercially successful picture to date, Ocean’s Eleven aligns with Soderbergh’s longstanding interest in packaging institutional critiques into genre entertainment. These include harsh appraisals of the government’s response to drugs ( Traffic ), environmental oversight ( Erin Brockovich ), Big Corn ( The Informant! , 2009), disease prevention and control ( Contagion , 2011), the business of mental health ( Side Effects , 2013; Unsane , 2018), tax evasion by the wealthy ( The Laundromat , 2019), and the auto industry ( No Sudden Move ). Though made for tens of millions and starring a rather stunning cast, Soderbergh and Griffin somehow make the production feel modest, if not almost like an indie, in its ambition to undermine the multinational mindset dominating world economics. And so, just like its characters, the film is shimmering fun and subversive, defying the corporate interests of Benedict and Hollywood that, in one way or another, worship money above all else. With unchartable cool and control, Danny and company steal that money, deliver a blow to the establishment, and remain faithful to their code and each other. Their brand of friendship and Danny’s ultimate goal, motivated by love, turn them into cathartic heroes in an age that continues to be dominated by corporate interests. 

(Note:  This essay was originally suggested and posted to Patreon on June 7, 2023. )

Bibliography: Andrew, Geoff. “Interview: Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney.” The Guardian , 17 February 2003. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/feb/17/features.georgeclooney . Accessed 30 May 2023. 

Baker, Aaron. Steven Soderbergh . Contemporary Film Directors. University of Illinois Press, 2011.

“Commentary by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Ted Griffin.” Ocean’s Eleven , Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., 2007. Blu-ray.

DeWaard, Andrew and R. Colin Tait. The Cinema of Steven Soderbergh: Indie Sex, Corporate Lies, and Digital Videotape . Wallflower Press, 2013.

Gallager, Mark. Another Steven Soderbergh Experience: Authorship and Contemporary Hollywood . University of Texas Press, 2013. 

Kaufman, Anthony. Steven Soderbergh Interviews . Jackson University Press, 2002. 

Palmer, R. Barton and Steven M. Sanders. The Philosophy of Steven Soderbergh . ‎The University Press of Kentucky, 2011. 

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Movie Analysis: Ocean's Eleven - Essay Example

• Subject: English
• Type: Essay
• Level: College
• Pages: 4 (1000 words)
• Downloads: 2
• Author: johnhuels

Extract of sample "Movie Analysis: Ocean's Eleven"

Again, either audiences watched it because it revolved around one of everyone’s favorite occasions or the stars in it were popular in their own right. Introduction The movie Expendables is one film much like Ocean’s Eleven and Valentine’s Day because of the line-up of actors in it. Featuring major action stars in Hollywood, namely: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Mickey Rourke, Dolph Lundgren and Jet Li, The Expendables was number one at the box office in the United States, United Kingdom, China and India.

With a budget of $82 million, the movie was released by Lionsgate and was co-written and directed also by Sylvester Stallone. (Fritz) In my opinion, the main plot and the sub-plots were very simple. Generally, I think it was a movie made primarily to get all these big action heroes to act in one film. The story is about a group of mercenaries headed by Stallone’s character. He and Schwarzenegger, another leader of a different group of mercenaries, are approached by Mr. Church, played by Bruce Willis, to overthrow a dictator in an island called Vilena.

Schwarzenegger explains his group is too busy for the job and passes it over to Stallone. With Statham, Stallone goes to Vilena and do reconnaissance. They meet their contact who, later revealed in the movie, is also the dictator’s daughter. A fight scene with explosions and gunfire occur during the visit and Stallone decides to forego the mission. When he goes back stateside, the group comes to the conclusion that the real mission was to kill the ex-CIA agent manipulating the dictator and that Willis, who was probably CIA, could not assign government forces to the job.

Stallone discusses the dilemma with another member, Mickey Rourke’s character, and decides to do the job alone and at the same time rescue the dictator’s daughter. His other team members talk him into bringing them along. The group goes back and kills the ex-CIA agent which frees the dictator’s daughter and the people of Vilena. The rescue mission is filled with more explosives, gunfights and fight scenes. The subplots include Statham’s character discovering his girlfriend had left him for another guy who, apparently, beats her up.

Once he finds out about this, he heads out to where the guy is, beats him up and warns him to stay away from his ex-girlfriend. The other one is about Lundgren’s character. He manifests a psychologically disturbed persona during a mission at the beginning of the movie and later on confesses to Stallone about having drug problems. These issues force Stallone to let him go. Lundgren tries to get his revenge by siding with the enemy and being part of a plan to kill Stallone. The venture ends up with Lundgren fighting with Li’s character who was with Stallone during the ambush and getting shot by Stallone.

Convinced by Stallone to do a good thing should he die, Lundgren shares what he knows about the ex-CIA agent’s plans. Lundgren does not die and is back with the team at the end of the movie. Yet another is Jet Li’s character asking Stallone for an increase in his share of the earnings because of family matters. Strengths & Weaknesses: There are several factors that made this particular movie a hit. As proven by films with a

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The Ocean’s Eleven Original and Remake 

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“Ocean’s Eleven” Essay Example

• Pages: 6 (1639 words)
• Published: October 24, 2017
• Type: Research Paper

“Ocean’s Eleven” Path-goal Theory In “Ocean’s Eleven” Steven Soderbergh did a great job as a director in keeping the audience interested throughout the whole movie time. Path-goal theory of leader effectiveness can be easily applied to the movie. The path-goal theory by Robert House holds that the leader can affect group’s performance, satisfaction and motivation by offering rewards for achieving goals, clarifying paths towards these goals and removing obstacles to performance.

After being released from prison, Danny Ocean (Clooney) finds out that Las Vegas kingpin Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) is seeing his ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts). Danny sets up a goal to steal millions from Terry and his ex-wife back. Then he shares the “highly lucrative and highly dangerous” plan with old friend Rusty (Brad Pitt) – to knock off the vault of the Bel

lagio Hotel, which covers the MGM Grand and the Mirage as well, during the night of a big fight to the tune of about $150 million.According to House’s theory what leader can do is affected by situational factors – the environment and subordinates personality.

The great situational factor that caused Danny to consider casino robbery was heavyweight boxing championship being held in Las Vegas. Danny and Rusty ( the leader and co-leader ) can't pull this off alone so they find the team ( the followers) they'll need for creating "Ocean's Eleven. " Each team member selected has different skills and abilities, and therefore only sticking together they will be able to achieve the common goal.Linus Caldwell (MATT DAMON) is selected as a proficient pickpocket , Basher Tarr (DON CHEADLE) and Livingston Dell (EDDIE JEMISON) are chosen for their expertise in explosive

and technical skills, Virgil (CASEY AFFLECK) and Turk (SCOTT CAAN), are brought onboard on as the drivers, Yen (SHAOBO QIN) is selected as acrobat , and Saul Bloom (CARL REINER) is brought from retirement to pull this plan together. In some instances of the movie Danny is acting as directive leader, where he gives specific instructions to the group and clarifies expectations.Path-Goal theory assumes that leaders are flexible and they can change their leadership style depending on the situations.

Although, the leader behavior-outcome relationship is moderated by contingency variables - environment and follower characteristics. The followers do not have control of environment, and the environmental factors determine the leadership style. Follower characteristics are the locus of control, experience, and perceived ability. In the ocean’s eleven case the team members can be described as having external locus of control where they believe that their success is attributed to luck or fate.The whole robbery plan is based that each member will performed his specified duties and everything goes well as planned, also that boxing championship will not be cancelled on the weekend, which means that most significant high rollers will go gambling.

Danny and Rusty set up the path to be followed to achieve their goal - to rob three casinos owned by the ever ruthless Terry Benedict. Danny acts like the charismatic leader of the team. The plan is to pull off the heist, but what enhances the movie’s plot is Danny Ocean's charm.Besides the common shared goal, the film also focuses on Danny’s real heist - to win back the heart of Tess (Julia Roberts) who left her husband while he was serving time for

his previous crime.

As a successful leader Danny has the needed interpersonal, cognitive and technical skills which he demonstrated with abundance throughout the scenes. In the night club scene he showed up unannounced where Rusty was teaching other players to play poker, and pretended that he new very little about game. His intelligence allowed him to trick the other players and win.As a charming leader Danny also great interpersonal skills , like persuasiveness and diplomacy . He gets what he wants though motivation of his team, and not by ordering them what to do. When he convinces Ruben to finance their crime just by showing the newspaper with news about Terry purchasing Ruben’s casino hoping that he will want to revenge.

The best part was actually when Danny and Rusty convinced that this is actually Ruben’s plans to rob the casino. Danny’s and Rusty’s behavior enhances subordinate empowerment and satisfaction , and subordinate effectiveness.Throughout the movie both leaders Danny and Rusty follow achievement oriented leadership to be effective while engaging in behaviors that complement subordinates' environments in a way that compensates for deficiencies and results in subordinate satisfaction. The tasks are delegated to each of the members of the team so everyone knows what is their role in the largest casino robbery in history.

The first task is to find out Everything about casino , watch employees and know alternative routes to the casino. Second task is the power – to through the switch on Las Vegas.The last task assigned by task leader is surveillance – keep an eye on casino security. By setting and communicating the plan, which contained strict time constraints, paths to

follow, and interactions with others, Danny ( task leader) was also giving the team a norm that had to be met in order to successfully achieve the team objective of pulling off the casino heist. Throughout the movie Rusty played the most important roles – helped Danny with preliminary ideas and strategies , recruited the team , explained entire plan to the followers and significantly added to the plan of keeping everybody together .

Expectancy Theory of Motivation According to expectancy theory of motivation the followers (Ocean’s eleven team) will be more motivated to get involved in the task when it satisfies their personal goals . As the team was assembled it has been determined that 11 people are needed to pull off the heist. Ocean’s eleven gathered together to achieve a main purpose: to rob the Bellagio hotel central vault that had three casino share. Each member of the team had his own role to play, and if one of them failed in his job, then the work of all eleven would be ruined.Considering this fact the motivation factor is very important. Although each of the eleven members would get his share of money, the purpose where to spend the money is unique for everybody.

Considering the importance of each team member’s plans where to spend the money, each of them would be motivated at a different level. There was also a moment during the movie where team members doubted Danny about his true motivation for this job. It looked to them like they are stealing 2 things – the money and Tess ( Danny’s ex-wife). It appeared to the team members as if Danny

is getting more – “Tess is not split 11 ways”.

What they did not realized that Danny was risking more than everybody – he will go back to jail for parole violation , as he choose to do at the end of the movie –he sacrificed and went to jail , so his team will not be suspected to be involved in the robbery. The expectancy theory focuses on three relationships that can easily be applied the movie’s plot. Each team member is interested in giving maximum effort towards performance, and it gets a great appraisal from Danny. Motivation helps to keep the members focused and believing in overall team goal.Finally, if plan succeeds each member will get monetary reward that they can use to fulfill their dreams.

Vroom’s theory of motivation does not concentrate on needs, but rather focuses on outcomes, in the case of ocean’s eleven- 150 million dollars that team members get to share if they successfully achieve the goal. Only by linking performance and motivation the desired outcome will be achieved. Valence, Expectancy and Instrumentality accounts for motivation that results in effort. The expectancy in ocean’s eleven – increased effort leads to increased performance.It was affected by resources : right timing – the boxing championship in Las Vegas , right materials – the team was well prepared with explosives , the uniforms , casino architecture plans, tracking and surveillance devices. The team members had the right skills to do the job – great leader , explosives experts, drivers , acrobat , computer savvy people , pickpocket; necessary support to get the plan achieved – leader encouragement and motivation , correct information about

the events being held in casino, the tracking video devices that enabled them to watch.

Instrumentality is the belief that if a person performs good that a valued outcome will be received. In the case of this movie – if each team member does a good job , there will be something for him in result. Instrumentality is affected by a few things such as: trust in the leader on deciding who gets what outcome; transparency of the process , and clear understanding of the relationship between performance and result – each member of ocean’s eleven team had to follow the rules of the plan.Valence is the importance that the person places on the expected outcome.

Each team member in ocean’s eleven had different plans where to spend the money, so considering it they were all motivated to get the money so they can follow their plans of how to spend it. The only exception in this case is Danny. It appears to me that his true motivation was to get his ex-wife back and revenge the guy who stole her from him. Also, there is some thrill in the job as well- doing something illegal and not being caught.If the plan goes successfully, it would be the largest casino robbery in history.

The theory of motivation is not simply about individual interest in rewards, but also about the associations a person makes towards expected result, and the contribution one feels he can make towards the outcome. To summarize, the ocean’s eleven was a successful plan due to each of team member’s motivation and valuable contribution that they made towards the common goal.

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AIPC: This Time, Generative AI Is Personal

Guess what? Generative AI is all about you now.

Microsoft just unveiled Copilot+ , a generative AI model that lives inside laptops rather than in the cloud. That will give you a slew of new ways to help get more out of your meeting notes, calendar, photos, recordings, downloads – all your digital stuff. It could, for example:

• Suggest scheduling your follow-up meeting with the boss at 11 AM Tuesday, because your notes suggest that meetings around that time are more productive.
• Seek a photo of you and your grandmother on the beach when you were seven.
• Find a clue for what to get for a friend’s birthday based on your recent conversations with them.

It’s what we always thought Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri might become. And maybe still will.

Copilot+ was unveiled ahead of Microsoft’s Build recent developer conference in Seattle. At the same time, a stable of PC makers – including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft and Samsung – unveiled a new class of laptops called AIPCs, which are powerful and efficient enough to run on-device AI applications like Copilot+.

The first AIPCs are all built around Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon X Elite and Snapdragon X Plus, which Microsoft says are currently the only Windows processors with enough horsepower to run Copilot+ effectively.

“So many people are so busy these days,” Alex Katouzian, Qualcomm’s Group General Manager of Mobile, Compute and XR, told me. “If we can ask our laptops to pull something together instead of searching everywhere for what we might need, we can save ourselves hours. I’m really looking forward to that.”

Generative AI Spring

In what may become known as the generative AI spring, the status quo is changing dizzyingly fast – even for a technology that first floored us with its abilities just 18 months ago, whenOpenAI first introduced ChatGPT, the Kleenex of generative AI models. Generative AI is so transformative because just about anyone who can speak or type can prompt it to write essays, create artwork and even program computers.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Gemini from Google grew even easier and more engaging to use. If demos at recent events are to be believed, the new models have impressively lifelike conversational abilities to help you write or even just brainstorm.

At this pace, it may soon be difficult to distinguish tackling tasks with AI models from collaborating with other humans.

And there is still a month left before summer, with more blockbuster events on the docket, including a big PC industry show in Taiwan called Computex and WWDC, Apple’s developer conference.

Laptop or cloud?

The cloud-based mega models can do everything that Copilot+ can do on a capable laptop – and more. Which begs the question: why bother building Copilot+ at all?

To be sure, there are benefits to using generative AI on each. The largest generative AI models – and the unfathomably massive libraries of information they were trained on – are without a doubt more powerful, skilled – and now, conversational. But the biggest models and data stores are too big to fit in many datacenters, let alone laptops.

Google search enhanced: Google all in on AI and Gemini: How it will affect your Google searches

Plus, do you really need a generative AI model capable of creating a Rembrandt-styled painting to find a cousin in your photo collection? It’s overkill – like taking a piece of wood to Home Depot to have it sliced on their massive table saw when you could have just done it on the spot with your own tools.

Squeezing generative AI models into your laptop is not only more efficient. It’s also more private. Microsoft says that anything Copilot+ does stays on your laptop. So your personal information won’t find its way into the cloud, where it could be accessed by others to train new models. Or worse.

Do you need an AIPC?

In a word, no. Many recent laptops are powerful enough to tackle Copilot+. But they will drain your battery. So don’t unplug them.

The new AIPC laptops are built around processors with highly focused, efficient engines that can handle anything Copilot+ and other AI applications give them. And they won’t drain your battery.

Today, Microsoft says that Qualcomm is the only PC processor supplier with an AI engine – NPU in industry parlance – powerful and efficient enough to make the AIPC cut. But things are changing fast.

Watch for AMD and Intel to have their own AIPC coming-out parties next month at Computex. And what Apple ends up unveiling at WWDC is anyone’s guess.

And of course, you haven’t heard the last from Qualcomm.

“This is just the beginning,” Katouzian agreed.

USA TODAY columnist Mike Feibus is president and principal analyst of FeibusTech, a Scottsdale, Arizona, market research and consulting firm. Reach him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MikeFeibus.

Frontiers | Science News

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Research Topics

Biodiversity loss: three research topics revealing threats and solutions.

The planet is demanding a reset in our interactions with nature. Protecting and restoring biodiversity is no longer optional because when nature suffers, so do we .

According to United Nations data, "current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems will undermine progress towards 80% of the assessed targets of eight Sustainable Development Goals."

As a result, the theme for this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity is ’Be part of the Plan’, a call to action for everyone to support the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework , also known as the Biodiversity Plan.

In light of the crucial role of biodiversity to the health of our planet, we have listed three of our most impactful Research Topics on the causes and consequences of biodiversity loss.

All articles are openly available to view and download.

1 | Aquatic One Health—The Intersection of Marine Wildlife Health, Public Health, and Our Oceans

33,400 views | 10 articles

This Research Topic provides insights into marine wildlife and aquaculture disease processes, conditions, and health issues. It also demonstrates the potential to influence public health within the One Health framework.

The interrelatedness of environmental, animal, and public wellbeing form the basis of the 'One Health' concept, a framework to guide research and conservation efforts by studying not only animal health in isolation, but also in the context of public and environmental health.

Humankind's past and present use of ocean ecosystems as waste sinks has had significant, wide-ranging, and negative effects on marine life and human health, making this topic highly relevant to the mission of biodiversity preservation.

View Research Topic

2 | Ethnofood Chemistry: Bioactive Components in Unexploited Foods from Centres of Biodiversity

45,000 views | 11 articles

A Research Topic looking at ethno plant foods from centers of biodiversity -Africa, Asia and Australia, North, and Central America, South America, Europe, and Central Asia- with bioactive components of nutritional and health value.

Ethnofoods—traditional foods—originate from the heritage and culture of an ethnic group that uses their knowledge of local plants and animal sources. They are also unexploited and underutilized by the wider community worldwide.

This topic highlights the importance of incorporating ethno-plant foods into nutrition intervention programs globally to combat hidden hunger and provide nutrition and food security. Furthermore, it contributes to demonstrating the possibility of developing sustainable food systems.

3 | Community Series in the Wildlife Gut Microbiome and Its Implication for Conservation Biology, Volume II

53,100 views | 21 articles

This Research Topic dives into the potential connection between gut microbiome and conservation biology. Microbiome studies can increase our understanding of non-native species invasion, host response to pathogens and chemical contamination, and host ability to tolerate climate change.

The animal gut microbiota can be beneficial in many ways, including dietary supplementation, host immune function, and behavior. The microbiomes of animals affect host fitness, population characteristics such as demography, and health status, as well as adaptability. For example, the fitness effects of gut microbiomes on wild animals may have important implications for the conservation and management of species.

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The Sunday Read: ‘Why Did This Guy Put a Song About Me on Spotify?’

The answer involves a remarkable — and lucrative, and ridiculous — scheme to game the way we find music today..

By Brett Martin

Read by Eric Jason Martin

Produced by Adrienne Hurst and Aaron Esposito

Narration produced by Tanya Pérez and Krish Seenivasan

Edited by John Woo

Original music by Aaron Esposito

Engineered by Sophia Lanman and Devin Murphy

Listen and follow The Daily Apple Podcasts | Spotify

Have you heard the song “Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes”?

Probably not. On Spotify, “Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes” has not yet accumulated enough streams to even register a tally. Even Brett Martin, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and the titular Nice Man, didn’t hear the 1 minute 14 second song until last summer, a full 11 years after it was uploaded by an artist credited as Papa Razzi and the Photogs.

When Martin stumbled on “Brett Martin, You a Nice Man, Yes,” he naturally assumed it was about a different, more famous Brett Martin: perhaps Brett Martin, the left-handed reliever who until recently played for the Texas Rangers; or Brett Martin, the legendary Australian squash player; or even Clara Brett Martin, the Canadian who in 1897 became the British Empire’s first female lawyer. Only when the singer began referencing details of stories that he made for public radio’s “This American Life” almost 20 years ago did he realize the song was actually about him. The song ended, “I really like you/Will you be my friend?/Will you call me on the phone?” Then it gave a phone number, with a New Hampshire area code.

So, he called.

There are a lot of ways to listen to ‘The Daily.’ Here’s how.

We want to hear from you. Tune in, and tell us what you think. Email us at [email protected] . Follow Michael Barbaro on X: @mikiebarb . And if you’re interested in advertising with The Daily, write to us at [email protected] .

Additional production for The Sunday Read was contributed by Isabella Anderson, Anna Diamond, Sarah Diamond, Elena Hecht, Emma Kehlbeck, Tanya Pérez, Frannie Carr Toth and Krish Seenivasan.

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