Today: September 20, 2024
Today: September 20, 2024

Arts

Arts

Accounts of 'body checks' at Miss Universe Indonesia shock the nation as contestants speak out

Their dreams of representing Indonesia in the 2023 Miss Universe pageant turned to nightmares when they were forced to undergo “body checks” in front of local organizers. Now seven contestants have filed complaints with the police, accusing the organizers of sexual harassment, their lawyer said Tuesday. During the July 29-Aug. 3 Miss Universe Indonesia contest in the capital of Jakarta — and ahead of the show’s Grand Final event — the contestants were told to strip to their underwear for “body checks” for scars or cellulite, said lawyer Melissa Anggraini. The checks took place in a

August 15, 2023
Accounts of 'body checks' at Miss Universe Indonesia shock the nation as contestants speak out
Arts

Madonna reschedules tour after ICU stay, North American dates kick off this December

Madonna ‘s rescheduled Celebration Tour will kick off in Brooklyn, New York, in a matter of months. In June, Madonna suffered what her manager called a “serious bacterial infection” that led to her hospitalization in an intensive care unit for several days. The North American leg of her Celebration Tour was originally scheduled to start July 15 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and to run through October 8 in Las Vegas. It was postponed as she recovered. Her tour will now start on October 14, at London’s O2 Arena. On Tuesday, Live Nation announced that the majority

August 15, 2023
Madonna reschedules tour after ICU stay, North American dates kick off this December
Arts

'Wounded Indian' sculpture given in 1800s to group founded by Paul Revere is returning to Boston

A marble statue that depicts a felled Native American pulling an arrow from his torso is being returned to the Boston-area organization cofounded by Paul Revere that thought it had been destroyed decades ago. “Wounded Indian,” sculpted in 1850 by Peter Stephenson and modeled on the ancient Roman statue “Dying Gaul,” was a gift to the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association in 1893 and was displayed in its exhibition hall, according to Cultural Heritage Partners, the law firm that represented the Boston organization during negotiations. That hall was sold in 1958, and the association was told that during

August 15, 2023
'Wounded Indian' sculpture given in 1800s to group founded by Paul Revere is returning to Boston
Arts

Oprah, Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan to be honored at Academy Museum Gala

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will pay tribute to Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Michael B. Jordan and Sofia Coppola in its annual fundraising gala on Oct. 14, the museum announced Tuesday. The Academy Museum Gala has become a key fundraising event for the Los Angeles movie museum since its opening in 2021. This year’s event, the third such gala, received a greenlight from the striking actors and writers guilds. SAG-AFTRA and the Writers Guild have limited what promotion activities their members can do during the ongoing work stoppages. Streep, Winfrey, Jordan and Coppola will each

August 15, 2023
Oprah, Meryl Streep, Michael B. Jordan to be honored at Academy Museum Gala
Arts

Tuohys call Michael Oher's filing 'hurtful' and part of a shakedown attempt

Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy are calling Michael Oher’s claims that they enriched themselves at his expense “outlandish,” “hurtful and absurd” and part of a “shakedown” by the former NFL offensive tackle, whose relationship with the family was the inspiration for the movie “The Blind Side.” In the statement first issued Tuesday by attorney Martin Singer to TMZ.com and later obtained by The Associated Press, Singer said the Tuohys are heartbroken and accused Oher of threatening to plant a negative story about them unless they paid him $15 million. Singer said the Tuohys hope Oher regrets his recent decisions and

August 15, 2023
Tuohys call Michael Oher's filing 'hurtful' and part of a shakedown attempt
Arts

DeSantis' appointees ask judge to rule against Disney without need for trial

A Florida judge should rule without trial against Disney as the company fights Gov. Ron DeSantis’ takeover of a board that oversees Walt Disney World, the Republican governor’s appointees said in a Tuesday court filing. Members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District asked the state judge in Orlando for a summary judgment that would rule in their favor on five of the nine counts in their case. The case is one of two lawsuits stemming from the takeover, which was retaliation for Disney’s public opposition to the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation championed by DeSantis and Republican lawmakers. In the

August 16, 2023
DeSantis' appointees ask judge to rule against Disney without need for trial
Arts

Prosecutors weigh second gun analysis in fatal shooting of cinematographer by Alec Baldwin

Prosecutors have received a second expert analysis of the revolver fired in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin on the set of a Western film in New Mexico, as they weigh whether to refile charges against the actor. Baldwin has said the gun fired accidentally after he followed instructions to point it toward cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, who was behind the camera in rehearsal. Baldwin said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired, fatally wounding Hutchins on Oct. 21, 2021, at a movie ranch on

August 16, 2023
Prosecutors weigh second gun analysis in fatal shooting of cinematographer by Alec Baldwin
Arts

Oppenheimer often used Sanskrit verses, and the Bhagavad Gita was special for him − but not in the way Christopher Nolan's film depicts it

The words Robert Oppenheimer quoted from the Gita, seen written in dust on part of a deactivated nuclear missile at the Pima Air & Space Museum. Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images A scene in the film “Oppenheimer,” in which the physicist is quoting a Bhagavad Gita verse while making love, has upset some Hindus. The information commissioner of the Indian government, Uday Mahurkar, said in an open letter the scene was a “direct assault on religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus” and alleged that it amounted to “waging a war on the Hindu community.” He also said that it

August 16, 2023
Oppenheimer often used Sanskrit verses, and the Bhagavad Gita was special for him − but not in the way Christopher Nolan's film depicts it
Arts

Renata Scotto, soprano of uncommon intensity, dies at 89

Renata Scotto, a soprano of uncommon intensity who became a successful director after her singing career, died Wednesday in her hometown of Savona, Italy. She was 89. Scotto’s New York-based manager, Robert Lombardo, said he was called by her family and informed of her death. “I had spoken to her several weeks ago and I didn’t get any any indication that anything was going on,” he said. Scotto maintained homes in Italy and Armonk, New York. “Renata Scotto is a true artist and profound connoisseur of voice and repertoire, gifted with technique, musicality, a personality of a rare power, always

August 16, 2023
Renata Scotto, soprano of uncommon intensity, dies at 89
Arts

Jon Batiste goes galaxy-building with ambitious new album 'World Music Radio'

How do you top a five-time Grammy Award-winning album that had critics applauding its rich blend of R&B, hip-hop, swing, jazz and pop? If you’re Jon Batiste, you go even higher and wider. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist returns this month two years after his triumphant album “We Are” with the complex “World Music Radio,” a collection he calls an “expansive, genre-less, popular music concept record.” “World Music Radio” is conceived like a timeless radio broadcast from a sort of interstellar DJ, gradually taking the listener from a hip-hop, pop and dance party to soul, Latin, folk

August 16, 2023
Jon Batiste goes galaxy-building with ambitious new album 'World Music Radio'
Arts

Michael Cera grapples with isolation and sibling strife in 'The Adults'

When director Dustin Guy Defa set out to make a movie about isolation, grief and familial strife, he wasn’t quite cognizant of the unmistakable ways in which the effects of the coronavirus pandemic were informing his script. Now, however, he concedes that “The Adults,” which hits select theaters Friday, is loaded with obvious inspiration from some of the flashpoints of 2020 — the year he wrote it. “In hindsight, it definitely did,” Defa said of the pandemic’s influence. “I definitely was thinking about the importance of family, even if you have strained relationships.” “The Adults,” which

August 16, 2023
Michael Cera grapples with isolation and sibling strife in 'The Adults'
Arts

Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records and Rock Hall of Fame member, dies at 88

Jerry Moss, a music industry giant who co-founded A&M Records with Herb Alpert and rose from a Los Angeles garage to the heights of success with hits by Alpert, the Police, the Carpenters and hundreds of other performers, has died at age 88. Moss, inducted with Alpert into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, died Wednesday at his home in Bel Air, California, according to a statement released by his family. “They truly don’t make them like him anymore and we will miss conversations with him about everything under the sun,” the statement reads in part, “the

August 16, 2023
Jerry Moss, co-founder of A&M Records and Rock Hall of Fame member, dies at 88
Arts

AP, other news organizations develop standards for use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms

The Associated Press has issued guidelines on artificial intelligence, saying the tool cannot be used to create publishable content and images for the news service while encouraging staff members to become familiar with the technology. AP is one of a handful of news organizations that have begun to set rules on how to integrate fast-developing tech tools like ChatGPT into their work. The service will couple this on Thursday with a chapter in its influential Stylebook that advises journalists how to cover the story, complete with a glossary of terminology. “Our goal is to give people

August 16, 2023
AP, other news organizations develop standards for use of artificial intelligence in newsrooms
Arts

Florida art museum sues former director over forged Basquiat paintings scheme

A central Florida art museum which was raided last year by the FBI over an exhibit of what turned out to be forged Jean-Michel Basquiat paintings has sued its former executive director and others, claiming they were part of a scheme to profit from the eventual sale of the fake artwork. The Orlando Museum of Art filed the lawsuit Monday in state court against former CEO Aaron De Groft and others whom the museum says were involved in the scheme, seeking undisclosed damages for fraud, breach of contract and conspiracy. The 99-year-old museum, also referred to

August 16, 2023
Florida art museum sues former director over forged Basquiat paintings scheme
Arts

Britney Spears' husband files for divorce, source tells AP

Britney Spears ‘ husband Sam Asghari has filed for divorce from the superstar 14 months after a they were married, a person familiar with the filing said late Wednesday. The person, who is close to Asghari but not authorized to speak publicly, confirmed the filing happened Wednesday, hours after several outlets including TMZ and People magazine reported the couple had separated. An email sent to a Spears representative was not immediately returned. Court records in Los Angeles and Ventura counties did not show where the case had been filed. Spears married Asghari at her home in

August 17, 2023
Britney Spears' husband files for divorce, source tells AP
Arts

Renowned British talk show host Michael Parkinson dies at age 88

Michael Parkinson, a renowned broadcaster widely considered Britain’s talk show king has died at age 88. His family said in a statement to the BBC on Thursday that Parkinson died “peacefully at home last night” after a brief illness. Parkinson’s career included interviews with celebrities such as Muhammed Ali, David Bowie and John Lennon. His talk show, which was called “Parkinson,” first aired on the BBC in June 1971 and enjoyed a successful run until 1982. In 1998, the show was revived on the BBC and proved an instant hit. It then switched to commercial rival ITV

August 17, 2023
Renowned British talk show host Michael Parkinson dies at age 88
Arts

What Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's canceled cage match says about masculine anxiety

Would a fight help them prove to themselves that they are ‘real men,’ despite their soft − probably manicured − hands? Photo illustration by Jonathan Raa/NurPhoto via Getty Images While the cage fight between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk seems to be on hold, if these men do ever end up sparring, it’ll give a whole new meaning to the term “tech bro.” The two billionaires’ business interests have butted heads in the past: Musk’s 2016 test launch of a SpaceX rocket destroyed Zuckerberg’s US$200 million satellite. In 2022, Musk said Zuckerberg shouldn’t dominate social media

August 17, 2023
What Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg's canceled cage match says about masculine anxiety
Arts

Progress toward parity for women on movie screens has stalled, report finds

A new study on inclusion in film shows just how much of a rarity “Barbie” is. For every woman as a speaking character in the most popular films of 2022, there were more than two men, according to report by University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. The USC report, published Thursday, found that 34.6% of speaking parts were female in the top 100 box-office hits of last year. The Annenberg Inclusion Initiative has been annually tracking that and many other metrics since 2007. And in its first such study in three years, USC researchers found

August 17, 2023
Progress toward parity for women on movie screens has stalled, report finds
Arts

'Blue Beetle' director Ángel Manuel Soto says the DC film is a 'love letter to our ancestors'

Director Ángel Manuel Soto didn’t think too much about the “Latino side of things” when visually crafting DC’s “Blue Beetle” alongside Mexican screenwriter Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer. The film — starring “Cobra Kai’s” Xolo Maridueña as Jaime Reyes, aka Blue Beetle and DC’s first Latino superhero — oozes with Mexican references and elements of other Latin American cultures through almost every scene. Still, the Puerto Rican director says that all of this came naturally due to his and Dunnet-Alcocer’s backgrounds. “We never were like, ‘Okay, so how are we going to make this Latino?’ We cannot hide

August 17, 2023
'Blue Beetle' director Ángel Manuel Soto says the DC film is a 'love letter to our ancestors'
Arts

Composer Bernstein's children defend Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose after 'Maestro' is criticized

After Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose in the trailer for the upcoming Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro” stoked criticism of antisemitism, the conductor’s children have come to the defense of the actor. The teaser trailer for “Maestro,” which Cooper directs and stars in, debuted Tuesday and offered the first close-up look at Cooper’s makeup and performance as the great American composer and longtime music director of the New York Philharmonic. Cooper, who is not Jewish, dons a prosthetic nose as part of his transformation into Bernstein, who was. To some, Cooper’s nose in the trailer seemed like the

August 17, 2023
Composer Bernstein's children defend Bradley Cooper's prosthetic nose after 'Maestro' is criticized
Arts

Carlos Vives and Juanes combine forces for ‘Las Mujeres,’ linking 3 generations to Colombian classic

Colombian superstars Carlos Vives and Juanes have officially collaborated for the first time to remake the Carlos Huertas’ vallenato classic, “Las Mujeres.” Vives originally covered the song in 2009 on the sequel to his breakthrough album, 1993’s “Clásicos de la Provincia” — both gorgeous collections of vallenato standards amped up with the Grammy-award winner’s idiosyncratic pop flair. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first installment — and Vives’ dedication to modernizing classic Colombian sounds — he teamed up with Juanes, the rockstar and fellow countryman who’s known for the same kind of sonic innovation. Their

August 17, 2023
Carlos Vives and Juanes combine forces for ‘Las Mujeres,’ linking 3 generations to Colombian classic
Arts

Paramount decides it won't sell majority stake in BET Media Group, source tells AP

BET won’t be sold after all: Paramount Global decided against selling the majority stake of the network. Paramount notified bidders late Wednesday night about its decision to conclude the BET Media Group sale process, said a person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to speak publicly. The person said the company determined maintaining a heavy stake in BET creates more value for Paramount than any of the proposals after consulting with a couple highly-experienced financial advisors. Some popular suitors included actor-director Tyler Perry, music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and businessman Byron Allen. At one

August 17, 2023
Paramount decides it won't sell majority stake in BET Media Group, source tells AP
Arts

Migos' Quavo releases 'Rocket Power,' his first solo album since Takeoff's death

Migos rapper Quavo has released his second solo album, “Rocket Power,” which includes two tracks with his late bandmate Takeoff. It is Quavo’s first full-length release since Takeoff was fatally shot outside a private party at a downtown Houston bowling alley in 2022. The pair join forces on the tracks “Patty Cake” and “Back Where It Begins,” which also features Future. “Rocket Power,” was scheduled to be released two weeks ago, but was delayed to “run some more tests before the rocket is ready to launch,” Quavo wrote on Instagram. Little was known about the album

August 18, 2023
Migos' Quavo releases 'Rocket Power,' his first solo album since Takeoff's death
Arts

'Blue Beetle' actors may be sidelined by the strike, but their director is keeping focus on them

In a normal summer, Friday’s arrival of “Blue Beetle,” the first DC superhero movie to feature a Latino lead, would be a splashy, triumphant moment for its filmmakers and stars. But with actors and screenwriters on strike, the film’s promotional campaign has been without its lead cast. That’s left director Ángel Manuel Soto as the main voice promoting the film, a rare big-budget summer movie highlighting Latinos and Latino culture. Soto has taken the burden in stride and found clever ways to spotlight his cast. At a film screening this week, Soto and his wife held

August 18, 2023
'Blue Beetle' actors may be sidelined by the strike, but their director is keeping focus on them
Arts

Agreement central to a public dispute between Michael Oher and the Tuohys is being questioned

In 2004, when Michael Oher was a coveted college football recruit, the 18-year-old high schooler agreed in court to allow the Memphis couple he lived with to make decisions for him about signing contracts and any medical issues. Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy had taken in Oher, who had been in the Tennessee foster care system and at one point lived on the streets. The judge-approved agreement, called a conservatorship, was made with the permission of Oher’s biological mother and inked about two months before Oher signed to play offensive line for Ole Miss, where Sean

August 18, 2023
Agreement central to a public dispute between Michael Oher and the Tuohys is being questioned

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