Today: October 12, 2024
Today: October 12, 2024

Latest From The Los Angeles Post

Arts

British and Swiss police break up a crime ring and recover a valuable Ming vase in a sting operation

A sting operation at a London hotel helped authorities recover a 15th-century Chinese vase worth about 2 million pounds ($2.5 million) and break up the criminal ring believed to have stolen the artifact from a Swiss museum, British police said Saturday. The vase, which dates to the Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty, was one of three items stolen from the Museum of Far Eastern Art in Geneva in 2019. The Metropolitan Police Service made the announcement after a London court on Friday found two men guilty of charges related to the gang’s effort to sell the

British and Swiss police break up a crime ring and recover a valuable Ming vase in a sting operation
Arts

Michael Jackson sexual abuse lawsuits revived by appeals court

A California appeals court on Friday revived lawsuits from two men who allege Michael Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were boys. A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the lawsuits of Wade Robson and James Safechuck should not have been dismissed by a lower court, and that the men can validly claim that the two Jackson-owned corporations that were named as defendants in the cases had a responsibility to protect them. A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of sexual abuse cases enabled the appeals court

Michael Jackson sexual abuse lawsuits revived by appeals court
Arts

Natural history museum closes because of chemicals in taxidermy collection

A South Dakota museum has closed after almost 40 years over concerns that the chemicals in its taxidermy collection could endanger visitors and staff, the affiliated zoo announced Thursday. The Great Plains Zoo said Thursday that it is has closed the Delbridge Museum of Natural History in Sioux Falls. The zoo’s CEO Becky Dewitz said strong chemicals were used in the taxidermy process and that tests found detectable levels of those chemicals in the museum, KELO-TV reported. It wasn’t an easy decision to close the museum but it’s the right one, she said. “The specimens

Natural history museum closes because of chemicals in taxidermy collection
Arts

Dealer gets 10 years in prison in death of actor Michael K. Williams

A New York City drug dealer was sentenced Friday to 10 years in prison for providing “The Wire” actor Michael K. Williams with fentanyl-laced heroin, causing his death. Irvin Cartagena, 40, of Aibonito, Puerto Rico, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams. Cartagena had pleaded guilty in April to conspiring to distribute drugs. Williams overdosed in his Brooklyn penthouse apartment in September 2021. He died hours after authorities said he bought the heroin from Cartagena on a sidewalk in Brooklyn’s Williamsburg neighborhood in a deal recorded by a security camera. Williams famously portrayed Omar Little,

Dealer gets 10 years in prison in death of actor Michael K. Williams
Arts

Florida ethics commission chair can't work simultaneously for Disney World governing district

The chair of Florida’s ethics commission has an ethics problem, but it’s due to working at The Mouse rather than being a rat. Glen Gilzean, the new administrator of Walt Disney World’s governing district, can’t continue to work in his new job and chair the Florida Commission on Ethics at the same time since Florida law prohibits public employees from serving as members on the commission, according to a legal opinion issued Thursday. The ethics commission is charged with setting the standards of conduct for public employees and public officeholders in Florida, and it investigates complaints of violations. Gilzean is

Florida ethics commission chair can't work simultaneously for Disney World governing district
Arts

Rhiannon Giddens is as much scholar as musician. Now, she's showing her saucy side in a new album

Most people familiar with singer Rhiannon Giddens know her scholarly side. She won a MacArthur “genius grant” for her work making sure the contributions of Black Americans aren’t ignored in the history of folk and country music. Earlier this year, she earned a Pulitzer Prize for co-writing the opera “Omar,” about an enslaved Muslim man who lived in Charleston, South Carolina. She’s produced an online series on the history of the banjo — which she plays adeptly — and has lectured at Harvard, Stanford and Yale. Her saucy side, not so much. That will change for

Rhiannon Giddens is as much scholar as musician. Now, she's showing her saucy side in a new album
Arts

Broadway's 'Here Lies Love' to show love for other Filipino stars with Lea Salonga's departure

As Tony Award winner Lea Salonga prepares to depart the first ever all-Filipino Broadway cast this week, her role will become a revolving door to showcase other well-known talent from the Philippines. Actor and singer Vina Morales, also beloved in the Philippines, will take over as Aurora Aquino in “Here Lies Love” for a month-long engagement starting Sept. 22, the production exclusively told The Associated Press on Friday. Producers say they are committed to highlighting the country’s “abundance of talent,” allowing guest performers a Broadway debut. “To be able to perform on Broadway is a dream come true for any

Broadway's 'Here Lies Love' to show love for other Filipino stars with Lea Salonga's departure
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

'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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Renowned British talk show host Michael Parkinson dies at age 88
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

Britney Spears' husband files for divorce, source tells AP
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

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

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

Florida art museum sues former director over forged Basquiat paintings scheme
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

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

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

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

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

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