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LUNCH BREAK READS

Over nine years, Nolan O’Neal’s court-appointed lawyer won 41 extensions and then filed a two-page petition, in a state that sets no deadlines for post-conviction counsel.
A fifth grader named Sol drops to all fours at home, says she is four animals at once, and her mother believes her.
Jason Schreier traces how Rockstar built Grand Theft Auto VI through two delays, a co-founder’s exit, and 34 firings.
Two-minute soap operas for phones are on track to earn $1.5 billion in the U.S. this year, and A.I. is coming for the actors.

01 • 19 Minute Read

ProPublica

Samantha Melamed and Dylan Purcell

He Waited Nine Years in Prison for His Lawyer to File a Single Brief. In This State, There’s No Rule Against It.

A collage of overlapping legal documents partially obscuring a man’s face

Nolan O’Neal was a 20-year-old high school student when police in Chester, Pennsylvania, arrested him for murder, and the four eyewitnesses who named him recanted at his 2005 trial, saying police had pressured them. In 2013, a court-appointed lawyer, Scott Galloway, was assigned to help him seek a new trial. Over nine years Galloway won 41 extensions, then filed a two-page petition raising just one of the issues O’Neal wanted raised. The judge began dismissing it, partly as too late. O’Neal’s case reflects a statewide pattern. Pennsylvania guarantees lawyers to people challenging their convictions, but sets no deadlines, training standards or caseload limits. At least 250 prisoners have waited five years or more for their lawyers to act.

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02 • 13 Minute Read

Boston Magazine

Kara Baskin

The Kids Who Identify as Animals

At 11, a fifth grader who goes by Sol began dropping to all fours at home and kneading blankets like a cat. She later learned the word for it. She is a therian, someone who identifies as an animal rather than as human, in her case four at once, including a calico cat and a golden retriever. Unlike furries, who are fans of animal characters, therians say they aren’t playing anyone. When Sol told her mother, Susanne, Susanne took her at her word. Many parents are baffled, and critics accuse them of indulging a fantasy for which adult life has no use. An interesting read from Kara Baskin for Boston Magazine.

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03 • 20 Minute Read

Bloomberg

Jason Schreier

The Making of Grand Theft Auto VI

Jason Schreier looks at how Rockstar Games, the creator of the Grand Theft Auto videogame franchise, reinvented itself as it set out to create the biggest videogame in history. Due Nov. 19, more than eight years later and after two delays, Grand Theft Auto VI is almost certainly the most expensive video game ever made. It was pushed back for years when the company pulled most staff onto Red Dead Redemption II, and co-founder and lead writer Dan Houser left. Executives say they avoided the months of 60-hour weeks, known as crunch, that marked that game, though some employees say they still crunched. Then Rockstar fired 34 employees, most of them trying to form a union. The company says they leaked confidential information, which the group denies, and a tribunal ruling is due at the end of October.

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04 • 39 Minute Read

The New York Times Magazine

Daniel Kolitz

Secret Billionaires, Mafia Brides, Alpha Kings: The Insane World of Microdramas

Quibi, the short-form phone streaming service launched in 2020 by entertainment mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, collapsed after eight months, yet six years later short vertical shows called microdramas are the fastest-growing form of streaming worldwide. These are soap operas for phones, with episodes under two minutes, built on romance tropes like forced marriages and billionaires posing as homeless men. They began in China and are on track to earn $1.5 billion in the United States this year. Hollywood studios are now launching their own platforms. On the set of one show from ReelShort, a leading platform, scenes were shot cheaply and designed to hook viewers before a paywall. The next step is A.I. A part-owner of ReelShort’s parent company plans to replace 75 percent of its actors with A.I. in China, and A.I. microdramas already fill ReelShort’s charts.

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Nolan O'Neal sat in prison for nine years. His lawyer kept asking for more time.

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