Kyle Van Noy has the same question you do.

How the heck was he available for the Ravens to sign in late September?

Two months ago, before he became an unlikely sack machine for the Ravens, Van Noy was stuck waiting for a team to come calling.

“I mean, what are we doing?” Van Noy recalls thinking as he sat at home with the NFL season beginning without him. “Are people watching the film and whatnot? Because I’ve produced and, you know, you get a little annoyed cause you’re, like, watching and you’re saying I can’t play?”

Van Noy is on the wrong side of 30 and no longer in the prime he was in when he played for Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots teams in 2016 and 2018. But he ended last season with the Los Angeles Chargers on a high note and said it was “frustrating” when NFL teams didn’t seem interested in him this offseason.

“I’ve made plays everywhere I’ve gone, doesn’t matter what team it’s been,” Van Noy said, noting an exception for his first stop in the NFL with the Detroit Lions.

After going unsigned throughout the offseason, training camp, preseason and the first few weeks of the regular season, the Ravens needed help at outside linebacker and signed Van Noy to their practice squad. He said the Las Vegas Raiders were also in contact with him but that he chose the Ravens because he believed it would be a better fit.

Six weeks later, it’s hard to imagine the NFL’s top defense without him.

“He’s the player that we anticipated him being,” defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald said. “The things that he’s done over the course of his career, he’s doing here. He’s playing obviously at a high level, but he’s the type of player that I expected him to be. So, credit to him for being ready to go. I don’t mean that to take anything away, but that’s how highly I thought of him.”

In six games with the Ravens, the 32-year-old outside linebacker has five sacks, all in the past four contests, while playing about half the defense’s snaps. He ranks second in sacks behind Justin Madubuike (7 1/2) for a Baltimore defense that leads the NFL in the category at just under four per game.

Van Noy isn’t surprised by how quickly he caught on in Baltimore.

“I pride myself on having a high IQ,” he said. “You can ask anybody, and I think they’d tell you I’m a smart football player. I take pride in that. I take pride in being a professional. I tried to learn the defense in a week, so I feel like I got a good grasp on it. I know what everyone’s doing and where I fit in.”

His importance was never more obvious than in Sunday’s 37-3 rout of the Seattle Seahawks.

There might not have been a traditional turning point in the blowout victory, but if there was one, it was Van Noy’s back-to-back sacks — the second forcing a fumble — in the second quarter.

Ravens wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. had just fumbled near midfield to give the Seahawks a chance to score and gain momentum heading into halftime. But Van Noy ensured that wouldn’t be the case, rushing past Seattle left tackle Charles Cross and slapping the ball out of quarterback Geno Smith’s hand before he could attempt a pass.

The play stood out to coach John Harbaugh so much that he mentioned it during his Monday news conference after answering a question about backup tight end Isaiah Likely.

“One thing I also want to mention is Kyle Van Noy,” Harbaugh said. “Didn’t get a chance to mention him [Sunday]. How about the swing of events that he led at the end of the half, right? Probably flipped the game or broke the game in a way. It kept them from getting back within one score, just crazy good pass rush right there.

“So, side note: Kyle was awesome.”

In his first game with the Ravens, Van Noy totaled four quarterback pressures and got his hands on two passes while playing 23 snaps against the Cleveland Browns in Week 4 — just five days after his first practice. He got home two weeks later with a sack in Baltimore’s win over the Tennessee Titans, and two more (with five tackles) versus the Lions. Going back to last season with the Chargers, Van Noy has 10 sacks in his past 11 regular-season games.

He is far from the first veteran pass rusher to make an impact in Baltimore. From Justin Houston, Jason Pierre-Paul and Calais Campbell in recent years to Pernell McPhee’s second stint with the team a few seasons ago to Chris Canty a decade ago, the Ravens have prided themselves on having veterans to bolster their defense. This year, Van Noy and Jadeveon Clowney, who signed in August, make up that group with David Ojabo on injured reserve, Tyus Bowser on the non-football injury list and Odafe Oweh missing four games because of injury.

Oweh, a third-year outside linebacker and 2021 first-round pick, said the “chemistry” among the team’s pass rushers is among the reasons the Ravens lead the NFL in sacks.

“I learn different things from different vets,” Oweh said Wednesday. “[Clowney] is more like a [Pierre-Paul] mold. He’s going to play [all] out and just go hard. [Van Noy] is the [strong-side linebacker] prototype. He just knows everything, coverages, [he’s] savvy, just little things like that that you can really add to your game to get more just to get more plays.”

Whether Van Noy maintains his torrid sack pace, he’s proved there’s more in his tank. And the fact that other teams questioned that has perhaps given him the motivation to keep making the “game-changing plays” he knew he was still capable of months ago.

“Who needs training camp?” Van Noy quipped Sunday after another big performance in a Ravens win.

Clearly not Van Noy.

Baltimore Sun reporter Brian Wacker contributed to this article.

Week 10

Browns at Ravens

Sunday, 1 p.m.

TV: Fox

Radio: 97.9 FM, 101.5 FM, 1090 AM

Line: Ravens by 6 1/2

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The United Arab Emirates quietly established sweeping restrictions on the hundreds of journalists expected to visit the country for international climate talks later this month.

Now, the UAE says it was a mistake.

The strict rules against publishing news that could antagonize the rulers of the seven monarchies that make up the country were removed from the United Nations’ website for the climate talks after POLITICO’s E&E News asked the UAE for comment this week.

But the incident has inadvertently highlighted the sharp divisions between how the UAE and its Western allies treat journalists and protesters. It comes as E&E News and other outlets have published stories about the conflicts between the Emiratis’ climate commitments and oil ambitions that could have run afoul of the UAE rules.

The constraints on news reporters were spelled out in a “Media Content Standards” issued by the UAE Media Regulatory Office and posted to the website of the U.N. climate agency Oct. 23. The UAE is leading this year’s climate talks, which begin in Dubai on Nov. 30.

The document called for journalists and media outlets to “refrain from publishing anything that could offend directly or indirectly the ruling regime of the State” or that “could be offensive to the national unity and social cohesion.”

They should also avoid running stories that are “considered as an offense with or without intention to other countries,” that “could include the disclosure of any secret that might damage the reputation” or wealth of any person and “that is officially requested to be kept confidential,” the standards document said.

On Monday, the U.N. climate agency included a link to the standards on an information page it created for journalists who are preparing to cover the climate talks, known as COP 28, an annual conference where geopolitical tensions run high and most reporting is focused on backroom dealmaking.

When E&E News asked the UAE organizers of COP 28 how journalists could accurately cover the event without fear of reprisals, the link and document were removed from the U.N. site. (A version of the deleted file was retained by search engine Google.)

“The document in question is an old guide. Its content is out of date and not relevant for media attending COP28,” a UAE spokesperson for the talks responded in an email Wednesday. “It has been removed from the [U.N. climate agency] website where it was posted erroneously.”

“Thank you for bringing this to our attention,” said the spokesperson, who declined to be named in the story. “We are looking forward to hosting the most inclusive COP ever.”

Sultan al-Jaber, the oil executive chosen by the UAE to lead COP 28, served from 2016 to 2020 as chair of the UAE National Media Council, which predated the Media Regulatory Office.

While the document has been removed from the U.N. site, it’s unclear if the restrictions apply to other journalists who work in the Emirates. The UAE embassy in the United States didn’t respond to questions.

The prospect of unfair treatment for the press and visitors during the climate conference was a point of concern among some democratic nations even before the media standards were posted.

“The EU has repeatedly raised the issue of safeguarding media freedom and the freedom to protest among Heads of Delegation, and we were provided with reassurances that these freedoms would be respected,” a European Commission spokesperson said in an email Tuesday, before the standards were withdrawn.

The spokesperson was granted anonymity to discuss private conservations between E.U. and UAE officials.

The U.S. State Department didn’t respond to a request for comment on the UAE’s media standards.

But in a 2022 review of the country’s human rights practices, the department found that the Emirates had imposed “serious restrictions on free expression and media, including censorship and enforcement of or threat to enforce criminal libel laws.”

“Government officials allegedly issued warnings to journalists who published or broadcast material deemed politically or culturally sensitive,” the State Department said. “Editors and journalists commonly practiced self-censorship due to fear of government retribution, particularly since most journalists were foreign nationals and risked deportation.”

The report also noted that nongovernmental organizations and “media outlets reported that the government targeted activists, journalists, politicians, and dissidents in systematic hacking campaigns.”

Two journalists are currently detained in the country, according to the watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. In recent years, social media users have also been jailed for criticizing the UAE government or satirizing Emirati culture.

Reporter Zia Weise contributed.

The Chicago White Sox have been busy since the World Series wrapped up.

Thursday, they introduced Paul Janish as the organization’s director of player development.

The next day, the Sox declined the club option on closer Liam Hendriks for 2024 while starter Mike Clevinger declined a mutual option. The changes continued Saturday when the Sox declined shortstop Tim Anderson’s club option for 2024.

All that activity came ahead of the MLB general managers meetings, which formally begin Tuesday at a resort in Paradise Valley, Ariz.

It will be Chris Getz’s first since being promoted to Sox GM on Aug. 31.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with other general managers around the league, just understanding their needs and conveying what we’re set out to do as well and see if we match up,” Getz said during a video conference Thursday. “Clearly, we’ve got some work to do based on the production we’ve had on the field the last two years.”

The Sox followed up an 81-81 season in 2022 with 101 losses in 2023.

The offseason work includes determining the best fits at shortstop, second base, right field and catcher, along with openings in the starting rotation and bullpen.

“I certainly have a vision for our club for next year and years after,” Getz said. “Some of it is going to be at the mercy of perhaps some other clubs and what their willingness is to do.

“We’ve got some holes to fill. We may have to get fairly creative on how we tackle some of those holes, but I look forward to really diving in deeper and getting in front of some of these other general managers and seeing what we can accomplish.”

The Sox know the defense must improve. They were tied for 10th in the American League with 95 errors and tied for 11th in the league with a .983 fielding percentage.

“Generally speaking, we certainly on the defensive side need to improve at many spots,” Getz said. “Fundamentally there were some breakdowns that led to some really ugly games.

“We have some talent on the roster but it’s not a team that has come together and produced on a consistent basis and that’s why we’re in the position that we’re in. So they’re certainly a short-term, midterm and long-term goal. It’s going to take a little bit of time to certainly present itself, but there is a plan in place. I look forward to executing it.”

The Sox will have a new look at shortstop after penciling Anderson in as the Opening Day starter in six of the last seven seasons (he missed the first two games of 2022 serving a suspension). Second base and right field continue to be spots where the Sox look for a consistent answer.

Korey Lee did a bulk of the catching down the stretch after arriving via a trade from the Houston Astros. He displayed a strong arm, but hit .077 (5-for-65) in 24 games.

Three of the team’s five starters from the beginning of 2023 (Lucas Giolito, Lance Lynn and Clevinger) are no longer around. Ditto with three of the top five relievers (Kendall Graveman, Reynaldo López and Keynan Middleton) based on appearances for the Sox.

“There is talent on this club,” Getz said. “Perhaps, you use some of that talent to plug into other holes. But deeper than that, there were players postgame in Texas (after Game 5 of the World Series) who pointed to (Rangers GM) Chris Young’s sentiment last offseason with some of the foundational values that he really prioritized. I felt when those players highlighted it, it was very powerful and when I was named to this position, establishing the values for the White Sox in who we are going to be is very important to me.

“That’s something that I’ve set out to do. We are in meetings right now with department heads and really establishing how we are going to operate. That will bleed into our players and continue to operate that way through the offseason as we execute in a way to improve our roster.”

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Writer/director Kristoffer Borgli is interested in attention. Specifically, he’s interested in the paradoxical postmodern predicament of our addiction to attention, and the ways in which capitalism constantly cannibalizes it, chewing through our time, neurons and emotions like Pac-Man. In his debut feature “Sick of Myself,” set in his native Oslo, Norway, Borgli tracked one young woman’s desperate bids for attention through a series of contrived situations to showcase her suffering and martyrdom. In his second feature, “Dream Scenario,” Borgli sets his sights on America, and imagines what happens when someone gets too much attention for doing nothing at all.

The script for “Dream Scenario” feels like three ideas loosely woven into one absurdist screenplay. The first strand is the oddball but oddly simple premise based on a relatably awkward notion: what if everyone in the world started dreaming about one person? The subject in question is the profoundly average Paul Matthews (Nicolas Cage), a floundering evolutionary biology professor, husband and father of two.

Suddenly, he starts popping up in everyone’s dreams, and becomes the most famous man in the world through no effort of his own. So often overlooked in his everyday life, Paul is cautiously elated that everyone is talking about him. Perhaps there’s a chance to publish his book?

The second story strand is an exploration, of sorts, of cancel culture, or that time-honored tradition of collectively placing a public figure on a pedestal only to tear them down. Paul doesn’t necessarily garner adoration as the benevolent dreamland pal, but a strange sort of curiosity, and the focused mass attention on him irreparably changes his life.
When the dreams about him become violent, with Dream Paul as the aggressor, the masses — particularly his students at fictional Osler University — turn on him, through no fault of his own action. This line of argument is the most muddled in the film, mostly because Paul is an almost entirely passive figure, and it unfairly pokes fun at contemporary campus culture but doesn’t have any bite.

The third strand is the scantiest, but the most successful: an eviscerating satire of attention capitalism. At the advent of his inexplicable stardom, Paul is courted by a social media agency called “Thoughts?” staffed by characters played by Michael Cera, Kate Berlant and Dylan Gelula, who pitch him as a Sprite spokesman and claim they can call Barack Obama on his behalf.

Lily Bird, left, and Nicolas Cage in “Dream Scenario.” (Jan Thijs/A24 Films/TNS)

After Paul has been societally chewed up and spit out, a market rises in his wake, and Borgli presents a savage parody of a new kind of influencer using a technology inspired by Paul. The “dreamfluencer” (imagined as a group of diverse, winsome 20-somethings cohabitating in a sprawling L.A. mansion) can visit anyone’s dreams and sell them sneakers, supplements or a hot new track. The subconscious: advertising’s final frontier.

Borgli has a lot of ideas, and perhaps wove a few too many into “Dream Scenario,” which is busy with cultural commentary but not exactly deep. He has an absurdist perspective on American culture, and seems at once perplexed but also curious about the possibilities of America’s hypocritical relationship to fame and industry.

Thankfully, Borgli has the formidable Cage to hold this all together through sheer force of will, whose hyper-stylized acting lends to the surreal comedic happenings. Cage throws himself into Paul’s incredible averageness, and as always, Cage imbues an incredible amount of pathos and vulnerability in his performance. We ultimately feel for Paul because of Cage, who expresses how hard Paul is trying just to be liked, respected and loved.

Borgli’s visual approach to the dreamlike logic of “Dream Scenario” is to marry the average and the absurd, the banal and the baroque. The scenes look perfectly normal, but there’s a strangeness and humor to the edit (Borgli also edited the film), or a bizarre camera angle (the cinematographer is Benjamin Loeb) that lends to the distinct sense of something being off, which also helps to blend the dream sequences with reality — you never know what’s what, so there’s a sense of creeping unease the entire time.

“Dream Scenario” itself is a lot like a dream: there are big sweeping ideas, but they don’t all cohere into a logical narrative. Like a dream, you’re left with thoughts and impressions to mull over for a long time. These sticky images and profound ideas lodge themselves in place, even if you’re not quite sure they all fit together.

‘Dream Scenario’

2.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: (R for language, violence and some sexual content)

Running time: 1:42

How to watch: In theaters Friday

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