#Mr. Sheen broke GO Twitter

[gleafer]

Twitter today:

[kisekinodrabbles]

Can we get detective Aomine, who gets assigned a female partner but from the start they're always at each other's throats. During an undercover case, reader has to be super flirty and Aomine gets all jealous and mutual confessions ensues. Maybe some sexy times at the end? :') Sorry if this is too specific, feel free to come up with your own interpretation! I'm such a huge fan of your work Sam and I'm so excited that you're opening your askbox even just for a little while!

ngl idk what im doing here but this is the last request in my inbox so i wanted to finish it haha pls enjoy (not proofread so excuse mistakes) - also my first time writing smut in like years so forgive me!!

Sometimes, Aomine thinks that if he isn’t a law and order professional, he thinks he might actually commit murder and hide your body away in some undisclosed, obscure location. Most of the time, you feel the same way about him. 

The two work in different divisions—Aomine in homicide and you in robbery. The two divisions have always been highly competitive especially given how much overlap you both encounter. Things can get territorial, but their teams are used to your snide remarks and Aomine’s verbal assault. It’s just the way the world works. 

After all, the two of you were in the same graduating class. You, a valedictorian by books. Aomine, top of the class by combat. It’s natural that the two of you are so competitive with your conflicting personalities.

The two of you may have also fucked at some point. 

–

“I’m not fucking working with her, are you kidding me?” Aomine spits out at his boss. Any other person would’ve been kicked out of the room or probably fired, but Aomine is the best detective in his division so Akashi would never do such a thing. For now. Aomine’s been wearing his patience thin. 

The red-haired man sighs, folding his hands together atop his desk. “Aomine, I understand you both have had your immaturity in the past. This, however, isn’t the time for such trivial matters. There’s a double homicide downtown during a robbery. She’s the lead for the case on the robbery end because they’ve been tracking a series of these.” Aomine opens his mouth to argue again. “No more buts. She’s already down there getting witness statements. Unless you want to be behind again, I suggest you get in your car and start driving.” 

He grits his teeth. Breathe. Don’t strangle your boss, he’ll probably kill you first. “I’ll take Wakamatsu.”

By the time he arrives on the scene, a crowd has gathered behind the police line, snapping pictures in the hopes of getting something Twitter worthy. He growls past all of them and ducks underneath the tape. “Where’s the officer that called it in?”

“Inside talking to the detective.”

“I’m the detective,” he snaps right back, knowing full well you’re already three steps ahead of him. And you definitely won’t let him forget that.

He marches past the thick front doors, Wakamatsu in tow. From a distance, he spots you talking to another officer. When he finally approaches you, he realizes that you’re in a skin tight dress covered by an oversized police jacket.

Your name slips past his lips. “Did we interrupt a hot date?” He smirks.

You whirl around, knowing full well the irritating voice that grates on your nerves. Aomine Daiki. “Unlike you, I have actual friends and actual plans on a Friday night. Did you decide to give your wrist a break for the night?” 

Aomine bites back, “Well, it’s not getting much rest either when I had my fingers knuckle deep in something tight and wet tonight.” Complete lie but he’s not about to lose this battle. “Not sure you know how that feels though.”

“If you’re talking about the pudding in your fridge, you might want to ease up on that. Doesn’t look like it’s doing you any favors,” you smile right back at him, knowing full well you’ve won this argument.

Aomine growls low under his breath, jabbing Wakamatsu hard with his elbow when he hears the snort escape him. “Brief me on the situation,” he tells the police officer.

“Well, uh, I already told this detective here—”

“I’m the other detective in charge for homicide. Now, you better fucking brief me before I tell your captain.”

The guy glances at you warily and you just laugh. “Told you he hasn’t gotten any in a long time. Come on, sugar, I’ll brief you on the way down to the vault.” You curl your finger in a gesture to get him to follow you and he sucks up his pride for the first time and do as he’s told. If he solves this case, he still gets the credit and you can go back to that sewer where you came from.

There are two bodies at the vault and forensics are already working to collect evidence when they arrive. “Your area of expertise, double homicide. Both are surprisingly the robbers. Four of them broke in, only two were seen exiting with money bags. No other casualties.”

“Fucking weird,” Aomine mutters. It’s not new for robberies to go wrong, but for two of them to die with no civilian casualty? That’s fucking weird.  

“Interesting, isn’t it?” You grin, seeming way too pleased considering there are two dead people in front them. “The ammo is the same as the previous bank robberies in the area. We’re going to assume they’re linked to the Red Dragon clan.”

“Fuck,” he groans, “I fucking hate those guys. Bitches to deal with. Hard to infiltrate.”

You flick your hair over your shoulder, grinning at him. He can’t help but draw his gaze to your neck, a very attractive neck. Now that he notices how tight that dress is, he can’t help but admit that it has been a while since he’s gotten any action. The curves of your breast defined so clearly by the fabric that stretches across the mounds, the flow of your hips, every dip and rise. Your exposed legs further emphasized by your heels. God fucking damn. He feels his pants tighten as he licks his teeth. Get it together, Aomine. 

Of course, the clothes do nothing to remove the memory of your nude body from his mind. He’s seen all parts of you some time ago. A drunken mistake that ended in a brief, but extremely satisfying night of passion. Your tight pussy wrapped around his cock, your nails digging into his biceps. He can still picture the sheen layer of sweat on your skin as he rams into you, your broken moans falling from your lips. 

“Well, lucky for you,” you start again, pulling him out of the hazy cloud of lust. “I already have someone on the inside. They’ve set up a meeting for me tomorrow night meet with the head’s son. I’ll try to get some information done.” 

“Lucky for you, I’m free tomorrow to be your backup. You’re welcome,” Aomine smiles, “Don’t fuck this up. I don’t feel like cleaning up after your ass.”

“I should say that about you, asshole.”

–

Aomine is sat in a dingy van just across the street from the bar you’re having your meeting. You’ve hidden your mic in the perfect spot, a location which you do not disclose to Aomine. However, he has a feeling it’s somewhere promiscuous that he wants to be aware of. They can see the restaurant clearly, their brat hacker Sakurai having plugged into the restaurant’s security cameras. 

“Shut the fuck up, Aomine. I can hear you munching on your stupid sour cream and onion chips.” You mutter into your mic before the guy arrives. You sip your wine and take a deep breath. This isn’t the first time you’ve gone undercover but it is the first time to have Aomine behind you while you do so. 

The detective looks down at the can in his hands. Sour cream and onion. How did you know? He sets it aside, bringing the mic up to his lips. “Maybe you should do your job better and focus on your meeting instead of listening to me. Why are you so obsessed with me, hm?” 

However, a man’s voice on the other side of the headphones has him straightening. “Good evening, I didn’t expect to be meeting a lovely lady like you tonight,” the sleaze says and Aomine can just imagine him kissing your hand. “When Tanaka said I’d be meeting with the right hand of White Claw, I didn’t expect it to be a woman.”

“Well, we are moving up in life, Mr. Ito.”

“Your good looks are certainly quite persuasive. I’m sure there are ways you can convince me to strike a deal.”

Fucking. Sleaze.

“Oh,” you laugh lightly, “what a flatterer. You’re not so bad yourself. I can imagine people fall at their feet for you.”

“Well, I am quite knowledgeable in more ways than one. Perhaps I can show you tonight after dinner.”

The two banter back and forth, trading flirty comments that puts Aomine on edge. You’re supposed to be doing your job and he knows that. He knows this is all an act but you’re a damn good actress. 

“Aomine, where are you going?” Wakamatsu’s concerned voice carries through the speaker.

You freeze. This fucker better not screw this whole operation up. “Well,” you say, “this has been a lovely dinner. I’m sure we both can come to an agreement without doing anything reckless.” 

The double meaning, a sentence meant for the man across from you and the man listening to you rings clear. Aomine growls, sitting back down petulantly in his seat. He was about to rage in there and start a war, but holds himself back. Be professional, Aomine. Job first, dick needs later. 

“The same to you. It’s been a pleasure meeting you,” the man smiles. “Are you sure you won’t join me for the night?”

Aomine snarls low into his mic. Wakamatsu shoots him a weird look. You let out a little giggle and he knows it’s meant for him. “No, thank you, Mr. Ito. I’m afraid I have other commitments to tend to.” 

When he knows it’s safe, he storms into the restaurant where you still sit, sipping your drink. Sliding into the seat across from you, he rolls his eyes. “Enjoy yourself?” 

He didn’t see when you were set up with the mic earlier so he also hadn’t seen what you were wearing. He’s almost grateful because he knows he might’ve lost it if he did. Tight ass dress, deep neckline that shows ample cleavage (he’s always a sucker for this), sultry eyes, red lips. God, all his favorite things packaged into one. 

Your lips quirk up. “The breadsticks here are quite nice.”

“Fucking hilarious. Let’s go.”

“Why the hurry?”

“Unless you want Wakamatsu to hear me fuck you, you better dump that mic and get your ass up.”

You lean back, narrowing your eyes at him. “I’m not sure I like your tone.”

“Trust me, you don’t have to like my tone to enjoy what I’m going to do to you.”

Licking your lips, you consider your options as you bring the wine back to your lips. “Fine,” you mutter, unclipping the mic from the strap of your dress. Aomine moves faster though, snatching it from your hands and dumping it into the wine. Before you can protest, he already has a hand wrapped around yours, tugging you up from your seat and into the back room. 

You’re stumbling in his manic rush, heels barely keeping up with your movements. “Aomine!” You chide as he pushes all the way to the employee break room. The space is fortunately empty and Aomine locks it to make sure it stays that way. “Can you please stop?! You’re such a caveman, I—”

He’s quick to shut you up, swallowing your words with his lips as they slot over yours. He doesn’t waste time, shrugging off his leather jacket as he licks your bottom lip for permission. You gasp a complaint, but he takes advantage of the situation to stick his tongue in, pressing it up against yours. 

All your worries fall away into a moan as he separates from you only to gasp for breath and pull his t-shirt over his head. With nimble fingers, he’s unzipping the back of your dress and yanking it down, leaving your top half exposed. Shivering, you’re about to voice your disapproval but your brain seems to stop functioning the second your gaze lands on his tanned body.

Aomine’s always been attractive. No one can deny. There’s a reason why he’s simultaneously the precinct’s most eligible bachelorette and most insufferable jackass. His confidence matches his skills. His looks live up to his brags. Hard lines and shadows are painted on him like a masterpiece in a museum. His broad shoulders make him look even bigger with his height. His jeans that hang just low enough to be tantalizing with the hint of a v that leads to the space between his legs. 

Your mouth dries up at the sight and Aomine smirks knowingly. You’ve fallen into his bed before, he can make it happen again. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

“Fifth grade humor doesn’t become you, Aomine.” You scowl as he backs you up against the table in the middle of the room. He effortlessly grabs you by the ass to lift you up and onto the surface, the metal cool against your exposed thighs. 

“Did you dress up for me, doll? Knowing full well that this was going to happen,” he grins devilishly, bringing his hands up to shamelessly cup your breasts. 

It’s not as if you’re embarrassed for being so bare before him. You’re proud of your body and he damn well knows that. You let him fondle you through your bra for a little bit. “No, you animal. I dress for the job.”

“You tell me you wear this flimsy thing—” he teases the light coverage of your lingerie. The lace is sheer and barely covers your nipples, the material holding onto your breasts for dear life. “—for the job?”

“I do my job right, asshole,” you spat right back. “So are you just going to stand there or are you going to fuck me?”

A wide grin stretches across his face. The heat in his eyes carry to his hands as he works to unclasp your bra and let it fall to the ground. Aomine doesn’t waste time as you lean back on your palms, granting him full access to fondle and suckle on your tits. His tongue swirls around the sensitive nubs that have grown stiff in the contrast between the cold air and his warm breath. His teeth graze the sensitive skin hard enough to have you groaning in pleasure. His lips close in around them and suck. He uses his hand to tease and tug your other breast, pinching it to elicit that delicious whimper out of you. Aomine alternates between the two, making sure you stay warm. 

Meanwhile, you let your hand fall to the bulge between his legs. He lets out a small grunt at the initial touch but seems to respond favorably to the way you stroke the tent, nudging his hips forward for more friction. “Is that a gun in your pants or are you just excited to see me?”

“You’re so fucking ridiculous,” Aomine mutters, both humored and unamused by your comment. 

“Fuck,” you let slip as your fingers struggle to unbutton his jeans. “Your fucking pants. Don’t you live in sweats? You choose today of all days to wear your stupid tight jeans?”

Aomine chuckles, “Patience, baby. You know you like my ass in these.”

You do, but you’re not about to admit that. He quickly works off his pants, letting them drop to his ankles as he moves towards you again. While he continues to stimulate your tits, your hand begins groping his cock which is rock hard and peeking from the top of his boxers.

“God, I miss having this inside me,” you whine, pulling the flimsy fabric off and letting it pool on top of his jeans. “Condom?”

“You don’t want me raw? You know you want to feel all of my cock,” he grins. You throw him a glare and he just chuckles as he reaches for his wallet on the floor, pulling out a packet and tossing it onto the table. “But first,” he pauses, letting his hands slide down to cup your pussy, which is admittedly already drenched at that point. 

He hisses when he feels your juices drip and coat his fingers. “You’re so fucking wet, goddamn. How long have you been waiting for this?”

“When that robbery happened, I was about to get laid for the first time in months. So fucking sue me,” you snarl at him. 

“Well, I am here to please,” he wets his lips. He slips one finger in, sliding in all too easily. So he adds another finger and feels your walls pulse around him. He begins pulling it out before shoving it back in, repeating the measure to stroke your walls. He curls his fingers inside as he watches your face closely.

Your expression morphs from irritation to blinding pleasure in an instant. Your eyes slide shut, your lips part to exhale shaky breaths. Aomine seems to know exactly how to angle and twist his fingers to induce a heart attack. The sounds falling from your mouth are ephemeral, Aomine wishes he can film this moment so he can replay it over and over again. 

He pumps his fingers into you and ducks his head to take your nipple into his mouth again, tongue circling the tip. “God, you taste so fucking good. I forgot how wet you can get. Don’t even need lube to slide into you, huh? You’re already dripping for me.” 

“Asshole,” you murmur weakly, clearly in no place to retort. 

“Remember the first time I fucked you? God, you were so easy,” he grins, “you were so wet, so turned on already. Remember when I stuck my tongue in your pussy? Licking up your juices. You tasted so sweet.” 

Your breath stutters in your chest, hitching in your throat. “Fuck you, let’s not forget how quickly you came when I sucked you off.”

“I mean, the sight of you on your knees is enough to get anyone off, sweetheart.” 

“Fuck me,” you groan. Any rational thought has fizzled from your brain. The feeling of his fingers inside you is enough to consume you whole, overwhelming you in waves of rapture. 

“What was that?”

“Dickwad.”

He chuckles darkly, licking his lips again. “Beg me.”

“I’m not going to—”

Aomine yanks his fingers out, looking down at you, taunting you. He waits as you internally struggle with your moral convictions. Are you willing to give up your pride for one night just to get fucked out of your mind?

Easy.

Yes.

“Please,” you huff, “please fuck me.” 

“Please fuck me who?”

Your eyes find the ceiling, wondering what in the hell you did in your lifetime to have met the devil that is Aomine. Biting your lip, you lean closer to whisper, “Please fuck me, Da-i-ki.” 

The man is a sucker for you calling him by his first name. And to get what you want, you’re willing to play into his hands. Aomine lets out a low growl before ripping open the condom packet and rolling the thin rubber along his length. Your pussy squeezes at the sight. Just imagining what it’s like to have that thickness inside of you, fucking you full, has you on edge. 

He doesn’t waste a single second, pulling you forward and slowly positioning himself in front of you. He holds onto his cock, letting the tip trace your pussy lips, circling it and letting your juices drip onto his cock. Stroking the wetness along his dick, he uses it as a lubricant before he slides himself inside you.

When he’s buried to the hilt, Aomine leans forward and lets his forehead rest on your shoulder. Your pussy is so fucking tight. It’s squeezing and throbbing around him with the engulfing heat. He feels as if he’s going to explode right then. 

“Fuck, you really haven’t been screwed in a while,” Aomine rasps. 

“Told you.”

Aomine starts off slow, pulling out and pushing back in. With how thin the condom is, he can feel every ridge, every bump in your heat rub up against his cock. The sensations is enough to have his thighs quivering, but he’s not one to back down. He begins to pick up the pace, thrusting deep inside of you repeatedly. HIs mouth latches onto your neck, tongue lapping and teeth nipping to paint purple blooms upon your skin. 

His movements are building a bubbling pressure in the pit of your stomach. You feel your heart tightening with every move, your insides squeezing. The absolute pleasure that crashes over you has you breathless, your hands finding purchase on his arms. 

He mutters filthy words in your ear, one of his hands reaching up to tangle in your hair. He yanks back lightly, just enough to have you moaning. You like it rough, he’s well aware of that. He pounds into you relentlessly, hands keeping you in place as whimpers tumble from your mouth. 

“Fuck, right there, oh god,” you gasp, “fuck me harder. God, your dick feels so good. Filling me up so full with your thick cock.” 

“Keep talking like that and I’ll be tempted to come in you, baby,” Aomine grazes his teeth along your ear, hot breath kissing your skin. “God, I want to just fucking cream inside you.” 

“Better watch yourself, Daiki.”

Aomine grins lasciviously, sweat beginning to bead his forehead as he attempts to keep himself in check. He feels you tighten your pussy, walls closing in around him. “Bitch,” he growls. You know what you’re doing but he’s not about to let you gain dominance of the situation.

So his hands dig deeper into your hips as he fucks you harder and deeper, his cock pulsating inside of you on the brink of his self-control. “I’m about to come,” he says with eyes squeezed shut. If he sees your tits bouncing as he fucks you again, he might actually combust in that second. 

“Me too,” you panted, fingers scraping down his arms. 

With a few more pumps, Aomine spills into the rubber with a grunt. He feels you convulse around him, your entire body trembling in the aftermath of your orgasm. He can feel his come continue to leak from his cock. God, he hasn’t come this hard in a fucking long time. 

His heart is thundering in his chest from the impact of his climax. He slumped forward, leaning against you for support—also partially to feel your tits press up against his chest. “Fuck,” he huffs.

“That was good,” you admit to yourself, still breathing heavily as you begin fixing your hair. “We should do that again sometime.”

Aomine just laughs, huffing against your skin. “You’re the fucking she-devil.”

“Says the guy who’s fucking me in the back room in the middle of an undercover operation.”

“Dick first, job second.”

–

Wakamatsu looks at him when he walks into the precinct that morning. “You do realize the captain is going to kill you for fucking up that expensive mic, right?”

Fuck.

[bigyack-com]

Clint Eastwood’s ‘Richard Jewell’ Is at the Center of a Media Storm

ATLANTA — Clint Eastwood received a standing ovation on Tuesday when he was introduced by the Georgia House speaker, David Ralston, for the red-carpet premiere of “Richard Jewell” at the Rialto Center for the Arts in downtown Atlanta. The audience broke into applause again at the climax of the fact-based film Mr. Eastwood directed about the security guard who was suspected by the F.B.I. of planting a bomb at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.The reaction was a contrast to how the film was received Wednesday at a screening arranged by Cox Enterprises, the owner of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, at a theater near the newspaper’s headquarters. During a scene in which a Journal-Constitution reporter is shown offering sex to an F.B.I. agent in exchange for information — a scene the paper has called “false and defamatory” — an audience member hissed.The film shows Kathy Scruggs, a law enforcement reporter, sidling up to the F.B.I. agent at a bar days after a pipe bomb packed with nails had exploded at Centennial Olympic Park in the city’s downtown area, causing two deaths and injuring 111 people. “Give me something I can print,” says Ms. Scruggs, who is played by Olivia Wilde.The agent is played by Jon Hamm. Using crude language, he implies that he would not give her the name of the leading suspect in the bombing even if she were to have sex with him. After the reporter’s hand climbs up his thigh, he relents, saying the F.B.I. was looking into Mr. Jewell, a man who had been hailed as a hero in news reports for his discovery of the bomb, a heads-up move that led to the clearing of the park, greatly limiting casualties.The movie, which is being released on Friday, depicts the reporter as grateful for this piece of information. “Want to get a room, or just go to my car?” she asksIn most respects, “Richard Jewell,” based on a 1997 Vanity Fair article, “American Nightmare,” and a recently published nonfiction book, “The Suspect,” is faithful to the events it describes. But the scene in which Ms. Scruggs, who died in 2001 at age 42, trades sex for a scoop did not appear in either the article, by Marie Brenner, or the book, written by Kent Alexander, the United States attorney in Atlanta at the time of the bombing, and Kevin Salwen, a journalist who was based in Atlanta for The Wall Street Journal.As the movie shows, Mr. Jewell was indeed a suspect, and The Journal-Constitution reported that fact in a front-page article. After a CNN anchor read the story aloud on the air, other networks and newspapers joined the media herd. The suspect, who was never charged, spent his days holed up in his apartment as reporters staked him out, an ordeal that ended only when he was exonerated three months after the bombing.In 2005, Eric Robert Rudolph, a serial bomber, confessed to the crime. Mr. Jewell died in 2007, a symbol for those who have faced trial by media during the 24-hour news cycles that came about when cable television was on the rise, a syndrome that prefigured the rushes to judgment of the social media era.Tom Johnson, who was the president of CNN at the time of the bombing, said the news media’s handling of the story was regrettable. “We were almost saying that he was guilty,” he said in an interview. “Nobody wrote that, but the unbelievable amount of coverage that was being given to Richard Jewell and the way in which all of us were trying to investigate it and report on it — it was incredibly complex, but it was unsettling.”(The New York Times played down Mr. Jewell’s status as a suspect at the time in an article that focused on the media reaction, cautioning that there was not enough evidence to charge him.)Mr. Eastwood’s film, written by the veteran screenwriter Billy Ray, follows the standard practice for movies based on real-life events by taking liberties with certain facts to speed the story along. But it uses Ms. Scruggs’s real name while giving a new one to the F.B.I. agent, raising the question of whether the filmmakers risked damaging the reporter’s reputation in their efforts to convey how Mr. Jewell lost his.This week, The Journal-Constitution sent a letter to Warner Bros. and the filmmakers, hinting at legal action for what it characterized as a defamatory depiction of Ms. Scruggs and an incomplete portrayal of how the paper arrived at the article naming Mr. Jewell as a suspect.“For a film that purports to be about the besmirching of someone’s reputation to proceed to smear Ms. Scruggs and the paper she reported for in this manner is highly offensive,” said the letter, which was also signed by Cox Enterprises, the owner of the newspaper and one of the country’s largest cable companies. Cox hired the litigator Martin D. Singer, known for his work on behalf of celebrities like Charlie Sheen and Bill Cosby, to represent the paper.Warner Bros. fired back with a statement that said, “It is unfortunate and the ultimate irony that The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, having been a part of the rush to judgment of Richard Jewell, is now trying to malign our filmmakers and cast.”Weeks before the film’s release, The Journal-Constitution published an article headlined “The Ballad of Kathy Scruggs.” It described a “hard-charging” police reporter who used “salty language,” wore “short skirts” and did not leave crime scenes “until her notebook was full.” The article also said the film version of Ms. Scruggs “veers from reality, according to people who knew and worked with her, in suggesting she landed scoops by offering to sleep with sources.”The film’s bar scene has turned a cinematic examination of privacy, due process and the excesses of the news media into a target for critics who have called it the latest example of Hollywood’s sexist take on women in journalism. The trope of female reporters sleeping with sources or story subjects has appeared in the HBO limited series “Sharp Objects,” the Netflix show “House of Cards” and the movie “Thank You for Smoking,” among other productions.Kelly McBride, a onetime police reporter who is the senior vice president of the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit organization that supports journalism, said the portrayal of Ms. Scruggs did not reflect reality. “It is so exceedingly rare,” she said. “And yet this male-dominated world of Hollywood needs to cast female reporters as subject to the whims of nature.”“I think Clint Eastwood is showing his age, frankly,” she added of the 89-year-old director.Critics have noted that a film focused on a low point for law enforcement and the press was directed by a prominent conservative at a time when President Trump has vilified the F.B.I. as an arm of the so-called deep state and has repeatedly called the news media “the enemy of the people.”In the Vanity Fair article, Ms. Brenner wrote that an unnamed staff member at The Journal-Constitution referred to Ms. Scruggs as a “police groupie.” But the article did not report that she had used sex to learn that Mr. Jewell was a suspect or had a sexual relationship with any F.B.I. agent on the case.Ms. Scruggs shared a byline for the July 1996 article naming Mr. Jewell as a suspect with Ron Martz. In an interview, Mr. Martz, who spent 26 years at the paper before leaving in 2007, said that he had not been contacted by anybody working on the film and that its portrayal of his colleague was false. “She could be flirtatious, but she wouldn’t have done that sort of thing, because she was very conscious of her role as a reporter and she wanted to be known as a top-notch reporter,” he said.He added, “That sort of portrayal of her, it’s an insult not only to her, but to just about any other woman who’s been a reporter.”At an awards-campaign talk in Los Angeles last month, the film’s screenwriter, Mr. Ray, said he had spoken with people involved in the case. “I will stand behind every word of the script,” he added.Ms. Wilde defended the role in a thread she posted on Twitter on Thursday in which she expressed support for journalists and said that, in her understanding of the role, Ms. Scruggs and the F.B.I. agent “were in a pre-existing romantic relationship, not a transactional exchange of sex for information.” While the movie shows the pair having an earlier acquaintance, there is no indication that their relationship was romantic.Mr. Alexander and Mr. Salwen, the authors of the book that served as source material, met with Mr. Eastwood over the summer. “We realized we had the same motivation,” Mr. Salwen said. “This is the story of a man who should have a statue for the lives he saved, but, instead, this unsung hero is misunderstood.”The book refers to Ms. Scruggs’s “reputation” for sleeping with sources but reports that she got the tip about Mr. Jewell from someone in the Atlanta police department before having it confirmed by the F.B.I. agent. In a statement, the authors said: “We have been asked repeatedly whether we found evidence that Scruggs traded sex for the story. We did not.” They declined to discuss their input on the bar scene.After the screening held for Journal-Constitution staff members on Wednesday, Ken Foskett, an investigations editor at the paper, interrogated the authors of “The Suspect” in a question-and-answer session. The film is fair in its treatment of Mr. Jewell, Mr. Foskett said, but not Ms. Scruggs. “Why are the liberties taken with her?” he asked. “That’s my question. And why is that defensible?”“I will leave that to Warner Bros.,” Mr. Salwen said.The discussion also went into the question of whether the newspaper had been right, in the weeks after the bombing, to report that Mr. Jewell was the leading suspect and to describe him as someone who “fits the profile of the lone bomber.” (A libel lawsuit filed against the newspaper was dismissed in 2007.)“I think it’s worth addressing the broader criticism, regardless of what the movie got right or wrong,” Meris Lutz, a reporter at the paper, said. Of the bar scene, she added: “It felt so unnecessary. If they had cut that, I don’t think it would have affected the movie at all.”Brooks Barnes contributed reporting from Los Angeles. Read the full article

[movietvtechgeeks]

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Kevin Spacey falls hard, Alec Baldwin off Twitter and Netflix mess

Actor Kevin Spacey continues his downward spiral… As you have probably heard, Kevin Spacey was recently accused of sexual misconduct. In addressing the accusation, Kevin proceeded to acknowledge and apologize for his likely past wrongdoing and then quickly changed the subject of his statement to being about him coming out. Inevitably, people were not impressed with him trying to distract the wrong of his actions by coming out. It was rather obvious that he was trying to lessen the severity of the accusation against him. Since the accusation surfaced, Kevin has been plagued with criticism from fans, social media users, and his peers. Now, his major employer is taking action to punish him for his misconduct, as well as how he handled the whole situation. On Friday, it was revealed that movie and TV company Netflix had officially fired Kevin from their award-winning show, House of Cards. In addition, the company also cancelled his upcoming Gore Vidal biopic Gore. As the news of the firing surfaced in the media, one of Netflix’s spokespersons released a statement addressing the company’s decision. They said, "Netflix will not be involved with any further production of House of Cards that includes Kevin Spacey… We will continue to work with MRC during this hiatus time to evaluate our path forward as it relates to the show. We have also decided we will not be moving forward with the release of the film Gore, which was in post-production, starring and produced by Kevin Spacey." Earlier this week, it was reported by numerous media outlets that the star is currently seeking “evaluation and treatment.” When “House of Cards” debuted in 2013, it catapulted Netflix into a whole new level of Hollywood recognition and acclaim. The dark political series about an unscrupulous Washington power couple became Netflix’s first breakout hit, planting a flag for the streaming service in the competitive world of original TV programming. But just as its protagonist Frank Underwood fell ignominiously from power last season, the series itself has collapsed in scandalous fashion following allegations around actor Kevin Spacey, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by numerous men including employees on the show. Netflix isn’t the only company left holding the bag. Media Rights Capital is the production company that owns the series and licenses it to Netflix. Since news about Spacey broke Sunday, followed by additional allegations, the companies moved quickly to cancel the seventh season of “House of Cards” and put production of the sixth season on indefinite hold. Netflix said in a statement Friday night that it is cutting all ties with Spacey and that he will not be involved with the show that he has starred in since 2013. “Netflix will not be involved with any further production of ‘House of Cards’ that includes Kevin Spacey,” the company said in a statement. While the scandal represents a public-relations debacle for Netflix, it isn’t likely to materially affect the company, even though “House of Cards” remains one of its most popular series, experts said. “I think of ‘House of Cards’ as a trampoline,” said Paul Levinson, a professor of media and communications at Fordham University. “Netflix put it up, jumped on it and Netflix got so high that it no longer needs ‘House of Cards.’ ” Netflix spent about $100 million to produce two 13-episode seasons for “House of Cards.” The political drama launched the company’s venture into original programming, helping to transform the streaming service into a global powerhouse and disrupter of the TV business. The Los Gatos-based company now has 104 million paid streaming subscribers and has made massive investments in new shows. It will spend as much as $8 billion on content next year alone. As a result, Netflix now has multiple hit series — including “Stranger Things,” “Orange Is the New Black” and “The Crown” — that it can rely on to retain and attract subscribers. The speed at which Netflix responded to the allegations against Spacey — the first of which was made by actor Anthony Rapp on Sunday in Buzzfeed — will likely work in the company’s favor, according to Michael Pachter, a digital media analyst at Wedbush Securities, where he covers Netflix. “I think Netflix is handling this extremely well,” Pachter said. “This is what you want them to do from an investor’s point of view.” Analysts said the cancellation of “House of Cards” was likely an easy decision for Netflix to make because the series was already past its prime and nearing the end of its run. Public scandals are rare for major TV series but not unheard of. The most recent instance was CBS’ “Two and a Half Men,” which saw the departure of Charlie Sheen after the actor’s personal problems became public. His character was killed off from the show. Among “House of Cards” fans, the most recent season was seen as something of a creative resurgence, but the show was clearly on the decline and had lost a lot of its buzz. Creator and showrunner Beau Willimon had left the show last year after four seasons. "During the time I worked with Kevin Spacey on 'House of Cards,' I neither witnessed nor was aware of any inappropriate behavior on set or off,” Willimon said in a statement. “That said, I take reports of such behavior seriously and this is no exception. I feel for Mr. Rapp, and I support his courage." Rapp alleged that he was 14 when Spacey made an unwanted sexual advance on him during the 1980s. Spacey responded by saying that he didn’t recall the incident, but offered Rapp “the sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.” The two-time Academy Award winner also used the opportunity to come out as a gay man. Since Sunday, the accusations have quickly snowballed, including an unnamed artist who told Vulture that he was a minor when he entered into a consensual sexual relationship with Spacey decades ago. On Thursday, eight current and former “House of Cards” employees alleged to CNN that Spacey created a “toxic” work environment with his behavior. The allegations include one former production assistant who said Spacey sexually assaulted him during one of the show's early seasons. A representative for Spacey could not be reached for comment. Netflix could face civil legal exposure from any employee harassment that occurred on “House of Cards” because Spacey was also credited as an executive producer on the show, which means that he was in a supervisory position, according to Genie Harrison, an attorney who specializes in employment and sexual harassment cases. “The company will have strict liability because he's a supervisor and because he would be seen as acting on behalf of the company,” Harrison said. As the studio behind “House of Cards,” Media Rights Capital could also face legal exposure for any of its employees who were harassed by Spacey on the show. MRC, which is based in Beverly Hills, declined a request for an interview but said in a statement that during the show’s first year of production, in 2012, someone on the crew shared a complaint about a specific remark and gesture made by Spacey. The company didn’t elaborate on the nature of the complaint. “Immediate action was taken following our review of the situation, and we are confident the issue was resolved promptly to the satisfaction of all involved. Mr. Spacey willingly participated in a training process, and since that time MRC has not been made aware of any other complaints involving Mr. Spacey,” the company said in the statement. Netflix, which also declined an interview request, said in a statement Friday that it was just made aware of the 2012 incident and was informed that it was swiftly resolved. “Netflix is not aware of any other incidents involving Kevin Spacey on-set,” the company said in a statement. “We continue to collaborate with MRC and other production partners to maintain a safe and respectful working environment.” Both companies said they are evaluating the future of “House of Cards.” It remains unclear if writers and hundreds of Maryland-based crew are being kept on the payroll as executives decide on the fate of the sixth season. MRC would be on the hook for whatever expenses have to be absorbed as production on “House of Cards” is shut down, though the company could have insurance to cover such events. “House of Cards” is estimated to cost several millions of dollars per episode, with each season consisting of 13 installments. MRC sold the international rights for “House of Cards” to Netflix in a deal estimated to be worth more than $200 million, according to one industry executive familiar with the show. Even if Netflix emerges relatively unscathed from “House of Cards,” the streaming service faces another challenge with an upcoming movie it is making with Spacey, in which he plays the late writer Gore Vidal. The movie, which had been expected to be released next year, is believed to focus on the years that Vidal spent in virtual exile in Italy. Netflix said Friday night that it will not release the film. Netflix rival Amazon Studios confronted its own scandal last month when Roy Price resigned as head of the studio after accusations made by an executive producer that Price had made lewd remarks and unwanted advances. For the fourth time, actor Alec Baldwin and his wife Hilaria are expanding their family! On Friday, Hilaria joyfully announced that she and her husband are expecting their fourth child together. The star took to her Instagram page to share the exciting news with fans and followers. Alongside a photo of her and her family sharing some bonding time on the floor, Hilaria captioned, “Our Baldwinitos are getting a new teammate this spring. I’m [going to] make them a special cake to tell them if it’s a boy or girl…I’ll post tomorrow midday. We are so excited.” Hilaria Baldwin, Instagram post:   As of now, Alec and Hilaria are keeping busy, raising their four young children: Carmen, 4, Rafael, 2, and Leonardo, 1. Later on Friday, Hilaria showed off a picture of the cake she made with “Baby?” written across it in pink and blue icing. The star promised fans and followers that they would soon find out whether her kids can expect a baby brother or a baby sister. Congratulations to Alec, Hilaria and the rest of their clan! Alec Baldwin announced Saturday morning that he would be stepping away from his Twitter account following backlash over his recent remarks regarding women settling sexual harassment suits in the context of Harvey Weinstein. “It is w some degree of sadness that I will suspend posting on this a TWITTER account for a period of and in the current climate,” he wrote. “It was never my intention, in my public statements, to ‘blame the victim’ in the many sexual assault cases that have emerged recently,” he continued. “I simply posited that the settlement of such cases certainly delayed justice, though I am fully aware that those settlements were entered into w the understanding that settlement is wise, intimidated https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926855125511163906 https://twitter.com/AlecBaldwin/status/926856382883745792 He added that his heart goes out to all the victims of sexual assault and that his foundation will continue to post on the topic of its work with the arts and environment. Baldwin faced backlash over comments regarding settlements that he made during an interview with PBS NewsHour, in which he pointed out that when women settle sexual harassment suits and are silenced in the process through NDAs, “the course of change” is delayed. “When you talked about Harvey Weinstein in the business, you knew that he was highly intrusive in the process of making films … you knew that he was a very intense guy … and last but not least, you heard the rumor that he raped Rose McGowan. You heard that over and over — we heard that for decades. And nothing was done,” he began. “Rose McGowan took a payment of $100,000 and settled her case with him,” he continued, after being asked why no one had come forward if they were aware of the alleged incident. “And it was for Rose McGowan to prosecute that case.” He referenced a New York Times article and stated that many people had wondered, “Do the settlement of these cases hurt the cause of exposing and bringing us to a place of real change?” “When women take money, and are silenced by that money – even though they took the money and were silenced because they were told beyond the money it was the right thing for them to do, keep quiet, don’t make too many waves, it’s going to hurt your career — when they do it, nonetheless, does it set back the course of change? That’s an issue, I think,” he finished. Asia Argento, who accused Weinstein of raping her in a New Yorker piece following the original New York Times exposé, retweeted the PBS NewsHour video, and wrote, “Hey, [Alec Baldwin] you’re either a complete moron or providing cover for your pals and saving your own rep. Maybe all three.” She followed up with a second tweet: “Alec Baldwin mansplaining ‘the cause’ for women everywhere. That’s a good caption for that video.” She also commented on Baldwin’s departure from Twitter, asserting, “We won’t miss you bully boy.”

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Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London

  London, England (Dec 2, 2019) – Boisdale of Canary Wharf hosted the seventh annual star-studded Cigar Smoker of The Year Awards Dinner celebrating the world’s finest cig­ars, pro­duc­ers, writ­ers, ter­races and icons. Thirty-seven year cigar veteran Daniel Marshall received the “Lifetime Achievement Award.” The annual event, considered to be the “Academy Awards” of the Cigar World, is the world’s most pres­ti­gious Cig­ar Awards event out­side of Havana.

  Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include: Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons; Leg­endary Hol­ly­wood actor and direc­tor, Burt Reynolds; British Conservative member of the House of Lords and once a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, Baroness Trumpington; Edward Sahakian of Davidoff London, and cel­e­brat­ed British broad­cast­er and jour­nal­ist, Andrew Neil. Historical win­ners of the Cigar Smoker of the Year Award, nom­i­nees and guests also includ­e Simon Le Bön, Arnold Schwarzeneg­ger, Jonathan Ross, Kelsey Gram­mer, Tamar Has­san, Char­lie Sheen, James Cos­mo, and Chris Noth.

  London holds a special place in Marshall’s heart as he reflected upon his beginnings during his acceptance speech. “Thirty-eight years ago, a 19-year-old California surfer landed in this amazing beautiful city of London with a dream and a challenge. The dream was to obtain Alfred Dunhill of London‘s approval of quality and trust for the humidors I was making in California.”

  Marshall told two stories from his 37-year journey on the cigar trail. At age 12, He was in an oratorical contest and up against the most popular boy in school at the time – 14 year old actor Sean Penn. Marshall would go on to win the contest. “With Sean’s massive popularity and with me being an overweight, insecure, least popular kid at school, I was terrified to go onto the playground and possibly meet him or any of his friends for fear of being beat up. I very happy that this never occurred!” Marshall continued, “Two years ago I met Sean at President Macron’s environmental summit and told him this story. He remembered the contest and laughed. Hardly the reaction I was so scared of. I learned an important life lesson on this day that most of our fears never come to pass.”

  His acceptance speech included an example of the “power of the cigar” and whom one can meet thru a cigar. “One of my most memorable moments was when Mr. Marlon Brando called me to build two large humidors for him. He told me when he visits his island off the coast of Tahiti, all his scripts get moldy and destroyed by the humidity and he wanted to use our humidors to keep the humidity out!”

  He went on to acknowledge Ranald Macdonald of Boisdale, “Thank you and your incredible team for your vision and commitment for having cigar lounges in each one of your outstanding destinations, allowing us a place where we can create the ‘modern day campfire’.”

  Marshall expressed his deepest admiration for all nominees and congratulations for the winners including “Cigar Smoker of the Year”. This top award recognizes a high-profile individual that possesses a passion for the pure enjoyment of the cigar. This year’s honor went to actor, filmmaker and martial artist Dolph Lundgren best known for his roles in Rocky IV, The Expendables, The Punisher, and Universal Soldier.

  In concluding his speech, Marshall left the esteemed audience with a final thought, “I truly believe it’s all about dreams. Dreams cost nothing. The hard part is keeping them going and never giving up. As Sir Winston Churchill said so famously, ‘No matter the challenge, we must never, never, never give up.’”

  View a film of the event: https://youtu.be/p7_o0aSjeXU

  About Boisdale of Canary Wharf:

  Boisdale of Canary Wharf is a lively restaurant and music venue serving modern

British food featuring a glowing amber whisky bar of liquid gold, stunning terrace and oyster bar & grill overlooking the city skyline of Canary Wharf. The Whisky bar holds over 1000 bottles of rare malt whiskies and is undoubtedly one of the most extensive and magnificent bars in the world. On the first floor the art deco inspired oyster bar is surrounded by palm trees and serves a definitive range of oysters and shellfish. Or you can settle down outside on the awning-covered heated terrace with tartan upholstered armchairs and sofas, equipped with tartan blankets. The main restaurant on the second floor overlooks the fountains of Cabot Square with a view to the City of London skyline. This restaurant is one of the most majestic premises to have opened in London in recent years. It bears the distinctive Boisdale design of lacquer red and dark green walls, rich mahogany paneling, with an eclectic collection of classical and modern original artwork including works by Picasso and Gauguin. www.boisdale.co.uk

  About Daniel Marshall:

  Daniel Marshall, a 37-year veteran of the cigar industry is one of the leading names in the cigar world. He is Cigar Aficionado’s No.1 rated Humidor designer and creator of the coveted 24kt Golden Cigar. DM Humidors & cigars are enjoyed in the homes and offices of countless Hollywood celebrities, US Presidents, dignitaries, titans of industry, fashion designers and the most discriminating cigar lovers worldwide. Marshall is also a cigar and humidor supplier of England’s Royal Family.

  Since 1982, Daniel Marshall has created and designed for the prestigious luxury gift houses Dunhill, Tiffany & Co., S.T. Dupont, Cartier, Hermes, Fred Joaillier, Harrod’s, Bally of Switzerland, and Garrard’s of London. Daniel Marshall’s humidors are historic, with a collection on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

  One of DM’s highly collectible Governor Schwarzenegger Humidor’s broke sales records in 2016 at Leonardo DiCaprio’s Foundation Gala Fundraiser in St. Tropez. This extremely rare humidor topped the charts for highest amount paid for a modern day humidor with new world DM Cigars.

  In September 2017, a 1 of 1 humidor DM made for Prince Albert II of Monaco with Daniel Marshall Cigars was put on the block and raised 75,000 Euros to benefit our global oceans.

  Since the opening of the Daniel Marshall Cigar Lounge in the Kitzbuhel Country Club, Austria in 2013, Daniel Marshall has been hosting elite and exclusive “Modern Day Campfire” Experiences with discriminating connoisseurs across the globe.

  For upcoming DM Campfires and to join the “DMCC” The Daniel Marshall Campfire Club email: TheCampfire@DanielMarshall.com

  Visit Daniel Marshall’s site at www.danielmarshall.com

  You can also find Daniel Marshall on Facebook at www.facebook.com/danielmarshallhumidorsandcigars or follow Daniel Marshall on Twitter @DMCigarWorld or Instagram @DMCigars for real-time updates.

  For Daniel Marshall:

Trang Trinh, 714-973-8660, info@danielmarshall.com

Press Release: Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London London, England (Dec 2, 2019) – Boisdale of Canary Wharf hosted the seventh annual star-studded Cigar Smoker of The Year Awards Dinner celebrating the world's finest cig­ars, pro­duc­ers, writ­ers, ter­races and icons.

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Six Must-Haves Needed to Seduce Buyers

Developers have long worked with starchitects on their luxury buildings, but some years ago they also began hiring top-flight designers to give the interiors the same panache as the exteriors.

Having the likes of Paris Forino, Ryan Korban or Lee Mindel associated with a building became yet another way to brand it as special — and worthy of prices that today can run more than $2,400 a square foot, compared to the norm of $1,500 a square foot, according to a recent Douglas Elliman report.

But while developers hire designers to add a signature style to differentiate their buildings from the competition, it doesn’t always work out that way: The apartments end up having quite a lot in common with others in the same market niche.

“Everybody’s looking at what everybody else is doing,” said Jonathan Miller, the president of Miller Samuel Real Estate Appraisers & Consultants, comparing the phenomenon to the so-called amenities war in which projects try to match one another in the number and lavishness of common spaces. Similarly, an apartment can be “really nice and special and unique — and not dissimilar to the other five places you just looked at,” Mr. Miller said.

So how do you distinguish a high-end apartment from a standard-issue one? Here are some of the materials and finishes — trending, but not always new — that developers are hoping will attract affluent buyers.

Herringbone or Chevron Patterns

Remember dark-stained floors? Today, high-end apartments are more likely to have white oak underfoot — particularly European or French white oak from trees that, yes, grow in France — though it’s probably not solid oak but rather an engineered product with the wood veneer on top.

Often the planks of wood are not lined up next to one another in staggered parallel lines, but laid out in zigzag patterns known as chevron and herringbone.

Although the patterns are slightly different — with chevron, the planks of wood have diagonal, or mitered, ends so as to create a series of neat, arrow-like points, whereas with herringbone the ends are cut at a right angle, for a woven effect — the overall look is similar. The technique can also be used with other flooring materials, including marble, and sometimes appears in bathrooms.

Such floors do require more time and expertise to install, and have a whiff of the intricate parquet that designers sometimes specify for one-off interiors for individual clients. But they can be achievable even when you’re “doing the floors of 100 units in a building,” said Ms. Forino, who selected chevron for the 53-unit 359 Second Avenue, which recently broke ground in Manhattan’s Gramercy neighborhood.

Other designers stick with the standard layout but specify extra-wide wood planks for an industrial-chic look. Whereas planks in most new developments today are three-and-a-quarter inches wide, said Joel Lefkowitz, the executive vice president of Wood Manners, a Spanish-based flooring company, the Daniel Romualdez-designed apartments in 70 Vestry, in TriBeCa, have planks that are seven-and-a-half inches wide. At 111 Leroy, in the West Village, the oak planks are nine inches wide.

Whichever flooring pattern or plank width chosen, the finish of choice is matte, usually achieved with low-gloss polyurethane. “Shiny looks fake,” Mr. Lefkowitz said.

Marble Is Everywhere

The man-made stone — like Caesarstone, Corian and so-called quartz — specified in more moderately priced interiors is certainly durable, but high-end homes are done up in marble. At 40 Bleecker, in NoHo, Mr. Korban employed marble for two-tiered kitchen counters and used “book-matched” pieces (mirror-image slabs laid side by side) on stove hoods, an appliance more commonly associated with utilitarian stainless steel. In bathrooms, marble can appear on practically every surface.

Calacatta, a gray-veined marble quarried in Carrara, Italy, remains the go-to choice. Bianco Dolomiti has its followers, too. “We like it because it is subtle,” said David Mann, the founder of MR Architecture & Décor, who designed the interiors of 111 Murray, in TriBeCa.

As with floors, the highly polished stone of yesteryear has, well, lost its shine. Increasingly, marble is “honed,” which has a soft sheen and is “less showy,” said Nancy Piraquive, a broker at Brown Harris Stevens and former interior designer.

Kitchen Appliances Abound

High-end buildings are piling on warming drawers, built-in coffee machines, double dishwashers, wine refrigerators and more.

Appliances made in America? Not so much. Subzero refrigerators — the status brand from the last development cycle — still make an appearance, as do Viking and Wolf stoves. But today you are more likely to find European brands like Miele, Bosch and Lacanche — with Gaggenau being “the crème de la crème,” said Whitney Kraus, director of architecture and planning for Halstead Development Marketing.

Ms. Kraus said the European brands have a reputation for possessing a “sleeker aesthetic” and being “more high-tech.”

Snob appeal might be involved, too. “There’s something exotic about having a brand that most people haven’t heard of,” Mr. Miller said. “It sounds fancy.”

Mrs. Piraquive of Brown Harris Stevens sees a more sobering reality: Many new developments were designed with international buyers in mind, she said, and these are the brands they know. “Unfortunately,” she added, “those buyers are gone.”

Soaring Ceilings

New York’s prewar buildings typically have nine-and-a-half-foot ceilings. In the postwar era, ceilings dropped to eight-and-half feet. In later years, they began to inch back up in luxury buildings, to nine feet.

Today, 10 is the new nine, and some ceilings are higher. Madison House, the tallest building in NoMad, has ceilings that reach 11 feet in the apartments, which have been designed by Gachot.

High ceilings nibble into a developer’s profits because fewer floors — hence units — can fit in their buildings.

Can a ceiling be too high? Ms. Kraus of Halstead thinks so. Ceilings of 10 to 12 feet make for rooms that are “gracious,” she said. “Beyond that, it’s a waste for everybody.”

An Art Wall

This feature may reflect the emphasis that luxury buildings are placing on art �� a major piece of sculpture often installed outside the main entrance or in the lobby — and is based on the assumption that buyers who can afford an apartment in the multiple millions surely also collect paintings and photographs.

The problem has been that many new developments are glassy, offering floor-to-ceiling windows, yes, but leaving precious little wall space for hanging art. Enter the marketing geniuses, who once repackaged slop sinks in basement closets as “pet spas” and have now anointed a swath of unused wall somewhere in an apartment an “art wall” or “gallery.”

“Aren’t we nice?” quipped Mr. Miller. “We gave you a blank wall.”

Smart Tech

When luxury condos cost as much as they do today, the ability to set the temperature of your New York apartment via phone while vacationing on the other side of the globe is a requirement. No need to manually operate curtains or lighting, either.

The marketing team for the Centrale, in East Midtown, a Ceruzzi Properties project with interiors by Champalimaud Design, recommended Nest Learning thermostats for the apartments, said Tariq Mahmood, director of construction for Ceruzzi’s New York division. The devices have occupancy sensors and will turn the heat or air-conditioning on or off based on whether someone is in the room.

“It doesn’t make sense to have manually operated thermostats anymore,” Mr. Mahmood said.

Bathroom Floors Are Toasty

The master bathroom often has radiant heating, and at Parlour, on Fourth Avenue in Park Slope, it’s in the “secondary” bath, too. In the powder room, however, you’re on your own.

For weekly email updates on residential real estate news, sign up here. Follow us on Twitter: @nytrealestate.

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He would not confirm whether the Justice Department has already opened such an investigation. However, the F.B.I. is known to have examined possible contacts between Russia and Trump advisers, including Michael Flynn, who resigned as Mr. Trump’s national security adviser last month after it was disclosed he had made misleading statements about his contacts with Mr. Kislyak during the transition.

The remarks by Mr. Sessions came not long after President Trump on Thursday expressed his support for Mr. Sessions and said he should not recuse himself from the investigation. Mr. Sessions was a key adviser and surrogate for Mr. Trump’s campaign.

Touring the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, the newest American aircraft carrier, in Newport News, Va., Mr. Trump said that he “wasn’t aware” that Mr. Sessions had spoken to the ambassador, but that he believed the attorney general had testified truthfully to the Senate during his confirmation hearing.

“I think he probably did,” Mr. Trump told reporters.

Asked whether Mr. Sessions should recuse himself in the Russia investigations, the president said, “I don’t think so.”

Contacts with Russian officials have become a persistent distraction for the Trump administration. Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, was forced to resign over his conflicting statements about conversations with Mr. Kislyak. Now Mr. Sessions was forced to use his first news conference as attorney general to address questions about his impartiality.

Congressional Republicans began breaking ranks to join Democrats in demanding that Mr. Sessions recuse himself from overseeing an investigation into contacts between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Those calls came after the disclosure that Mr. Sessions himself spoke with the Russian ambassador last year, in seeming contradiction to his testimony at his confirmation hearing.

The partisan furor that broke out with the Justice Department’s acknowledgment of the contacts late Wednesday began to take on a bipartisan sheen as the controversy spilled into Thursday morning.

Representative Jason Chaffetz, the Utah Republican who leads the Oversight Committee, said on Twitter on Thursday, “AG Sessions should clarify his testimony and recuse himself.” Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said in a statement: “Jeff Sessions is a former colleague and a friend, but I think it would be best for him and for the country to recuse himself from the D.O.J. Russia probe.”

The House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Mr. Sessions “needs to clarify” his testimony, and at first appeared to indicate that he thought Mr. Sessions should recuse himself from Russia-linked investigations. “I think — the trust of the American people — you recuse yourself from these situations,” Mr. McCarthy said.

“For any investigation going forward,” he said, “you want to make sure everybody trusts the investigation.” Asked to clarify whether that required Mr. Sessions to step aside, he replied, “I think it’d be easier from that standpoint, yes.”

But Mr. McCarthy later backtracked on “Fox and Friends,” saying, “I’m not calling on him to recuse himself.”

Some Democrats were already going further, suggesting that Mr. Sessions had perjured himself in the confirmation hearing for the attorney general post and demanding that he step down.

“For the good of the country, Attorney General Jeff Sessions should resign,” said the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York.

The House Democratic leader, Nancy Pelosi of California, took the same position, saying, “Sessions is not fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer of our country and must resign.”

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter on Thursday to the Justice Department and the F.B.I. asking for “an immediate criminal investigation into these statements, which could potentially implicate a number of criminal laws including lying to Congress and perjury.”

The Trump administration dismissed the accusations as partisan attacks, and Mr. Sessions said in a statement issued shortly before midnight that he had not addressed election matters with the ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak.

“I never met with any Russian officials to discuss issues of the campaign,” Mr. Sessions said. “I have no idea what this allegation is about. It is false.”

On Thursday afternoon, at his news conference announcing his recusal, Mr. Sessions said that what he told the Senate “was honest and correct as I understood it at the time” because he had understood himself to be discussing whether he had had any campaign-related contacts with Russian officials.

He also said he recognized that his critics believed he had made a false statement. Saying that was “not my intent,” he said he would write to the Judiciary Committee to explain his testimony for the record.

Mr. Sessions’s decision exposed rifts between the White House and the Justice Department not only over whether he should recuse himself — President Trump said less than an hour earlier that he did not think he needed to do so — but also on the president’s public assertions about the controversy.

Asked why the White House had frequently asserted that no one from the Trump campaign had any contact with the Russian government during the campaign, a Justice Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “That’s the White House’s answer. I don’t know.”

The clash was the latest escalation in the continuing fallout over what intelligence officials have concluded was Russian interference in the 2016 election to help President Trump, including by hacking Democratic emails and providing them to WikiLeaks for release.

F.B.I. officials have been scrutinizing contacts between people affiliated with the Trump campaign over communication with the Russian government. And last month, the national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn, resigned after it emerged that he had misled Vice President Mike Pence about a conversation with Mr. Kislyak.

Now, Mr. Sessions, formerly an Alabama senator, appears to be at risk of becoming caught in that same wave. He was the first senator to endorse Mr. Trump and became an architect of his populist campaign strategy who sharpened the candidate’s message on immigration and trade. Mr. Sessions became a trusted adviser and is seen as one of the power centers in the administration.

At the confirmation hearing for attorney general in January, Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, asked Mr. Sessions about a CNN report that intelligence briefers had told Barack Obama, then the president, and Mr. Trump, then the president-elect, that Russian operatives claimed to have compromising information about Mr. Trump.

Mr. Franken also noted that the report indicated that surrogates for Mr. Trump and intermediaries for the Russian government continued to exchange information during the campaign. He asked Mr. Sessions what he would do if that report proved true.

Mr. Sessions replied that he was “not aware of any of those activities.” He added: “I have been called a surrogate at a time or two in that campaign, and I didn’t have — did not have communications with the Russians, and I’m unable to comment on it.”

But the Justice Department acknowledged on Wednesday that Mr. Sessions had twice communicated with the Russian ambassador last year. The first time was in July, at the Republican National Convention, after he gave a speech at an event for ambassadors sponsored by the Heritage Foundation. The second time was a visit to his office by Mr. Kislyak in September. The Washington Post earlier reported both encounters.

While confirming the conversations, the department played down both. Of the Heritage Foundation encounter, a Justice Department official said the Russian ambassador was among a small group of diplomats who approached Mr. Sessions as he was leaving the stage. The ambassadors, the official said, thanked Mr. Sessions for his remarks and invited him to join them at various events they were sponsoring, but he made no commitments to do so.

Of the office visit, the official said, the discussion focused on relations between the United States and Russia and issues the two countries were facing, although the department left open the possibility that there had been “superficial” comments about news related to the election.

A spokeswoman for the Justice Department, Sarah Isgur Flores, said “there was absolutely nothing misleading” about Mr. Sessions’s answers at his confirmation hearing. She said that Mr. Sessions, as a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had at least 25 conversations with foreign ambassadors, including those from Australia, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, India, Japan, Korea, Poland and Russia.

She added: “He was asked during the hearing about communications between Russia and the Trump campaign — not about meetings he took as a senator and a member of the Armed Services Committee.”

But Democrats were unassuaged. In a statement, Mr. Franken called Mr. Sessions’s testimony “at best misleading,” noting, “It’s clearer than ever now that the attorney general cannot, in good faith, oversee an investigation at the Department of Justice and the F.B.I. of the Trump-Russia connection, and he must recuse himself immediately.”

And Representative Elijah E. Cummings of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, went further, calling for Mr. Sessions to resign because he let a “demonstrably false” statement stand for weeks without correcting the public record.

“There is no longer any question that we need a truly independent commission to investigate this issue,” Mr. Cummings said.

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  Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London

  London, England (Dec 2, 2019) – Boisdale of Canary Wharf hosted the seventh annual star-studded Cigar Smoker of The Year Awards Dinner celebrating the world’s finest cig­ars, pro­duc­ers, writ­ers, ter­races and icons. Thirty-seven year cigar veteran Daniel Marshall received the “Lifetime Achievement Award.” The annual event, considered to be the “Academy Awards” of the Cigar World, is the world’s most pres­ti­gious Cig­ar Awards event out­side of Havana.

  Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include: Academy Award Winner Jeremy Irons; Leg­endary Hol­ly­wood actor and direc­tor, Burt Reynolds; British Conservative member of the House of Lords and once a code-breaker at Bletchley Park during the Second World War, Baroness Trumpington; Edward Sahakian of Davidoff London, and cel­e­brat­ed British broad­cast­er and jour­nal­ist, Andrew Neil. Historical win­ners of the Cigar Smoker of the Year Award, nom­i­nees and guests also includ­e Simon Le Bön, Arnold Schwarzeneg­ger, Jonathan Ross, Kelsey Gram­mer, Tamar Has­san, Char­lie Sheen, James Cos­mo, and Chris Noth.

  London holds a special place in Marshall’s heart as he reflected upon his beginnings during his acceptance speech. “Thirty-eight years ago, a 19-year-old California surfer landed in this amazing beautiful city of London with a dream and a challenge. The dream was to obtain Alfred Dunhill of London‘s approval of quality and trust for the humidors I was making in California.”

  Marshall told two stories from his 37-year journey on the cigar trail. At age 12, He was in an oratorical contest and up against the most popular boy in school at the time – 14 year old actor Sean Penn. Marshall would go on to win the contest. “With Sean’s massive popularity and with me being an overweight, insecure, least popular kid at school, I was terrified to go onto the playground and possibly meet him or any of his friends for fear of being beat up. I very happy that this never occurred!” Marshall continued, “Two years ago I met Sean at President Macron’s environmental summit and told him this story. He remembered the contest and laughed. Hardly the reaction I was so scared of. I learned an important life lesson on this day that most of our fears never come to pass.”

  His acceptance speech included an example of the “power of the cigar” and whom one can meet thru a cigar. “One of my most memorable moments was when Mr. Marlon Brando called me to build two large humidors for him. He told me when he visits his island off the coast of Tahiti, all his scripts get moldy and destroyed by the humidity and he wanted to use our humidors to keep the humidity out!”

  He went on to acknowledge Ranald Macdonald of Boisdale, “Thank you and your incredible team for your vision and commitment for having cigar lounges in each one of your outstanding destinations, allowing us a place where we can create the ‘modern day campfire’.”

  Marshall expressed his deepest admiration for all nominees and congratulations for the winners including “Cigar Smoker of the Year”. This top award recognizes a high-profile individual that possesses a passion for the pure enjoyment of the cigar. This year’s honor went to actor, filmmaker and martial artist Dolph Lundgren best known for his roles in Rocky IV, The Expendables, The Punisher, and Universal Soldier.

  In concluding his speech, Marshall left the esteemed audience with a final thought, “I truly believe it’s all about dreams. Dreams cost nothing. The hard part is keeping them going and never giving up. As Sir Winston Churchill said so famously, ‘No matter the challenge, we must never, never, never give up.’”

  View a film of the event: https://youtu.be/p7_o0aSjeXU

  About Boisdale of Canary Wharf:

  Boisdale of Canary Wharf is a lively restaurant and music venue serving modern

British food featuring a glowing amber whisky bar of liquid gold, stunning terrace and oyster bar & grill overlooking the city skyline of Canary Wharf. The Whisky bar holds over 1000 bottles of rare malt whiskies and is undoubtedly one of the most extensive and magnificent bars in the world. On the first floor the art deco inspired oyster bar is surrounded by palm trees and serves a definitive range of oysters and shellfish. Or you can settle down outside on the awning-covered heated terrace with tartan upholstered armchairs and sofas, equipped with tartan blankets. The main restaurant on the second floor overlooks the fountains of Cabot Square with a view to the City of London skyline. This restaurant is one of the most majestic premises to have opened in London in recent years. It bears the distinctive Boisdale design of lacquer red and dark green walls, rich mahogany paneling, with an eclectic collection of classical and modern original artwork including works by Picasso and Gauguin. www.boisdale.co.uk

  About Daniel Marshall:

  Daniel Marshall, a 37-year veteran of the cigar industry is one of the leading names in the cigar world. He is Cigar Aficionado’s No.1 rated Humidor designer and creator of the coveted 24kt Golden Cigar. DM Humidors & cigars are enjoyed in the homes and offices of countless Hollywood celebrities, US Presidents, dignitaries, titans of industry, fashion designers and the most discriminating cigar lovers worldwide. Marshall is also a cigar and humidor supplier of England’s Royal Family.

  Since 1982, Daniel Marshall has created and designed for the prestigious luxury gift houses Dunhill, Tiffany & Co., S.T. Dupont, Cartier, Hermes, Fred Joaillier, Harrod’s, Bally of Switzerland, and Garrard’s of London. Daniel Marshall’s humidors are historic, with a collection on display at the Smithsonian Museum.

  One of DM’s highly collectible Governor Schwarzenegger Humidor’s broke sales records in 2016 at Leonardo DiCaprio’s Foundation Gala Fundraiser in St. Tropez. This extremely rare humidor topped the charts for highest amount paid for a modern day humidor with new world DM Cigars.

  In September 2017, a 1 of 1 humidor DM made for Prince Albert II of Monaco with Daniel Marshall Cigars was put on the block and raised 75,000 Euros to benefit our global oceans.

  Since the opening of the Daniel Marshall Cigar Lounge in the Kitzbuhel Country Club, Austria in 2013, Daniel Marshall has been hosting elite and exclusive “Modern Day Campfire” Experiences with discriminating connoisseurs across the globe.

  For upcoming DM Campfires and to join the “DMCC” The Daniel Marshall Campfire Club email: TheCampfire@DanielMarshall.com

  Visit Daniel Marshall’s site at www.danielmarshall.com

  You can also find Daniel Marshall on Facebook at www.facebook.com/danielmarshallhumidorsandcigars or follow Daniel Marshall on Twitter @DMCigarWorld or Instagram @DMCigars for real-time updates.

  For Daniel Marshall:

Trang Trinh, 714-973-8660, info@danielmarshall.com

Press Release: Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London Daniel Marshall Takes Home Lifetime Achievement Award in London London, England (Dec 2, 2019) – Boisdale of Canary Wharf hosted the seventh annual star-studded Cigar Smoker of The Year Awards Dinner celebrating the world's finest cig­ars, pro­duc­ers, writ­ers, ter­races and icons.

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