Pelican Press

‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Review: Can You Fight City Hall? ‘Daredevil: Born Again’ Review: Can You Fight City Hall? None of this makes the story, with its simplistic dynamics of criminal violation and righteous retribution, come alive, though; for that, some of the straightforward comic-book energy of the original would have helped. The best that “Born Again” can do is to deploy familiar characters and plot points in the standard Marvel fashion, revealing them or alluding to them like surprise gifts. In this season we’re given the homicidal Dex Poindexter (Wilson Bethel); Fisk’s ruthless wife, Vanessa (Ayelet Zurer); and the particularly brutal vigilante the Punisher (Jon Bernthal). The show’s long, stuttering development process also needs to be taken into account. Matt Corman and Chris Ord, creators of the lightweight USA spy series “Covert Affairs,” took the first crack at “Born Again” in 2022; their version, reportedly episodic in structure, was well into production when they were dismissed and replaced by Dario Scardapane (“The Punisher”). That could explain the season’s herky-jerky nature, with a stand-alone bank-heist episode and a pair of short, flat arcs involving a minor costumed hero and a serial killer. The lack of narrative shaping takes away any force the themes of vigilantism might have had, reducing them to limp excuses for the sometimes stomach-turning violence. Among the cast, Bernthal is about the only performer who demonstrates a real pulse; his handful of appearances as the ultra-cynical, ultraviolent Punisher snap the show to life. Nikki M. James, as a colleague of Murdock’s, and Michael Gandolfini, as Fisk’s chief lackey, also make an impression. Other accomplished performers don’t have enough to do. Cox has always been a mild, slightly dull Daredevil; D’Onofrio’s hulking, stentorian presence as Fisk was entertaining in the early seasons but has settled into a rut. There is one noticeable thing that “Born Again” has picked up from the final season of the Netflix “Daredevil”: the propensity of its main characters, particularly Murdock, to indulge in primal screams. In the context of the story, it’s an irritating affectation, but in the context of the current moment, it may be the only thing that makes sense. Source link #Daredevil #Born #Review #Fight #City #Hall Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Glenn Phillips produces a stunning catch to dismiss Shubman Gill ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Glenn Phillips produces a stunning catch to dismiss Shubman Gill Glenn Phillips produces yet another “incredible” piece of fielding, this time dismissing Shubman Gill for 31 runs with a leaping catch at cover to leave India on 105-1 in the Champions Trophy final against New Zealand in Dubai. FOLLOW LIVE: India v New Zealand – Champions Trophy Final Available to *** users only. Source link #ICC #Champions #Trophy #Glenn #Phillips #produces #stunning #catch #dismiss #Shubman #Gill Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Jason Isbell’s Bare-Bones Breakup Tune, and 7 More New Songs Jason Isbell’s Bare-Bones Breakup Tune, and 7 More New Songs Every Friday, pop critics for The New York Times weigh in on the week’s most notable new tracks. Listen to the Playlist on Spotify here (or find our profile: nytimes) and at Apple Music here, and sign up for The Amplifier, a twice-weekly guide to new and old songs. Jason Isbell, ‘Eileen’ Jason Isbell’s new album, “Foxes in the Snow,” is decisively unadorned: just Isbell singing over his acoustic guitar. It arrives following his divorce from Amanda Shires, who has her own songwriting career and was a member of his band. Over bare-bones fingerpicking in “Eileen,” Isbell sings about separation, regrets, self-deception and how “It ended like it always ends / Somebody crying on the phone.” He contends, “Eileen, you should’ve seen this coming sooner,” but adds, almost fondly, “You thought the truth was just a rumor, but that’s your way.” It’s not about blame — it’s about getting through. I’m With Her, ‘Ancient Light’ The virtuoso string-band supergroup I’m With Her — Sarah Jarosz, Aiofe O’Donovan and Sara Watkins — has reconvened with the intimately ambitious “Ancient Light.” The verses are in a gently disorienting 7/4; the instruments mix acoustic and electric, juxtaposing fiddle tune and math-rock; the lyrics lean into the metaphysical. As the song begins, Jarosz sings, “Better get out of the way / Gonna figure out what I wanna say / I been a long time comin’,” and it only gets more cosmic from there. Car Seat Headrest, ‘Gethsemane’ Will Toledo’s band Car Seat Headrest has announced its first album since 2020, “The Scholars,” and it’s a full-scale rock opera. The first single, “Gethsemane,” is an 11-minute suite that ponders faith, morality, creativity, free will and love as the music unfurls with stretches of ******-rock keyboard minimalism and roaring power chords that echo the Who’s “Tommy.” Toledo sings, “A series of simple patterns slowly build themselves into another song / I don’t know how it happened,” but the structure is ironclad. Illuminati Hotties, ‘777’ Sarah Tudzin — the songwriter and producer behind Illuminati Hotties — cranks up distorted guitars and harnesses quiet-LOUD grunge dynamics in “777,” a song that nearly explodes with joyful anticipation. “I wanna figure you out,” she declares, but she’s already sure that she’s won any gamble: “You’re my spade / lucky 777.” All the noise doesn’t hide the pop song within. The Ophelias, ‘Salome’ ​​”I want your head on a stake / I want your head on a platter,” sing the Ophelias, an indie-rock band from Cincinnati, turning “I” into a peal of vocal harmony. “Salome” adapts an incident from the ****** into a seething, churning, implacable crescendo of guitars, drums and voices, calmly announcing, “The knife sways heavy in my hand.” Yaeji featuring E. Wata, ‘Pondeggi’ Yaeji, a New York City musician with Korean roots, and her co-producer E. Wata transmute a hand-clapping game into a mutating electronic beat in “Pondeggi.” She chant-sings cryptically about the truth versus disinformation: “Watch where you’re going, head distraction / Keep, keep scrolling till you’re rolling in passive.” There’s a warning under the nonchalant surface. Nathy Peluso, ‘Erotika’ “You make me erotic like 1990s salsa,” the Argentine songwriter Nathy Peluso exults in “Erotika,” and she revives the style to prove her point. Piano, percussion and a swaggering ***** session help her seduce a partner — and herself. Lyra Pramuk, ‘Vega’ The electronic composer Lyra Pramuk sets things swirling in “Vega,” an assemblage of electronic and vocal loops that gets more menacing as it goes. A pulse gathers into a fitful beat; wordless sounds float in stereo; glitches and bleeps slice through. And eventually, Pramuk intones, “Tell me your name” and “Tell me your story.” Is this an acquaintanceship or an interrogation? Source link #Jason #Isbells #BareBones #Breakup #Tune #Songs Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Canada’s Liberals will elect new leader to replace Trudeau as country deals with Trump’s trade war Canada’s Liberals will elect new leader to replace Trudeau as country deals with Trump’s trade war TORONTO (AP) — Canada’s governing Liberals will announce a replacement for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday as the country deals with U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats and as a federal election looms. Liberal Party members look set to pick former central bank governor Mark Carney as the new party leader and Canada’s next prime minister in a vote to be announced on Sunday evening. Carney, 59, navigated crises when he was the head of the Bank of Canada and when in 2013 he became the first noncitizen to run the Bank of England since it was founded in 1694. His appointment won bipartisan praise in the U.K. after Canada recovered from the 2008 financial crisis faster than many other countries. The opposition Conservatives hoped to make the election about Trudeau, whose popularity declined as food and housing prices rose and immigration surged. Trudeau announced his resignation in January, but remains prime minister until a successor is chosen and sworn in. Election laws mandate a general election before the fall, but one is expected this spring. Trump’s trade war and his talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have infuriated Canadians, who are booing the American anthem at NHL and NBA games. Some are canceling trips south of the border, and many are avoiding buying American goods when they can. The surge in ********* nationalism has bolstered the Liberal Party’s chances in a parliamentary election expected within days or weeks, and Liberal showings have been improving steadily in opinion polls. After decades of bilateral stability, the vote on Canada’s next leader now is expected to focus on who is best equipped to deal with the United States. Carney, 59, has picked up one endorsement after another from Cabinet ministers and members of Parliament since declaring his candidacy in January. He is a highly educated economist with Wall Street experience who has long been interested in entering politics and becoming prime minister, but he lacks political experience. The other top Liberal leadership candidate is former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. Trudeau told Freeland in December that he no longer wanted her as finance minister, but that she could remain deputy prime minister and the point person for U.S.-Canada relations. Freeland resigned shortly after, releasing a scathing letter about the government that proved to be the last straw for Trudeau. The new leader is expected to trigger an election shortly afterward. Either the new Liberal party leader will call one, or the opposition parties in Parliament could force one with a no-confidence vote later this month. Source link #Canadas #Liberals #elect #leader #replace #Trudeau #country #deals #Trumps #trade #war Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

French great Dupont reveals he’s suffered ACL injury French great Dupont reveals he’s suffered ACL injury Antoine Dupont is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines after revealing he has ruptured the anterior cruciate ligaments in his knee. The injury rules the world’s best rugby player out of his side’s final Six Nations game against Scotland in a massive blow to their bid to claim a second title since 2010. Dupont limped off in the first half of France’s 42-27 victory over Ireland on Saturday after his knee buckled under pressure from the Irish defence at the back of a ruck. “My heart hurts even more than my knee when I have to abandon my friends before the last step,” Dupont wrote in a post on social media. “I’m proud of what we achieved yesterday and with all my strength with you, you’re going to do it. Rupture of the cruciate ligaments. This is the start of a new challenge, and I look forward to seeing you on the pitch in a few months’ time.” France moved to 16 points, two ahead of Ireland and six clear of England, and any win over Scotland will almost certainly help them secure the title, given their far superior points difference. Coach Fabien Galthie said France had recommended that the two Irish defenders who made contact with Dupont — Tadhg Beirne and Andrew Porter — should appear before the disciplinary commission. Speaking after the game, Galthie branded the incident “reprehensible” and said France had cited both Beirne and Porter in their post-match report. Dupont looks likely to miss the rest of the season, which is due to end in June. It’s also a huge blow for his club Toulouse, who lead the French Top 14 standings with 46 points after 13 games, one ahead of Bordeaux Begles. Source link #French #great #Dupont #reveals #hes #suffered #ACL #injury Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

A Peeling 17th-Century Palazzo and the Man Who Was ‘Crazy Enough’ to Buy It A Peeling 17th-Century Palazzo and the Man Who Was ‘Crazy Enough’ to Buy It WHEN RAFFAELE FABRIZIO was growing up, he lived in a small village close to Lake Como called Fino Mornasco that was near the headquarters of Dedar, the Italian fabric house that his parents, Nicola and Elda, founded in 1976. Fabrizio, 55, and his sister, Caterina, 56, have spent their careers at Dedar, bringing the firm into a new era by introducing novel combinations of color, pattern and texture, attracting clients like Hermès and the movie director Luca Guadagnino. As a younger man, though, Fabrizio had wanted to be an architect — he would study the field in college and practice in his 20s — since taking an interest in a desolate 17th-century villa around the corner from his family’s home that had been occupied, and then deserted, by a countess who’d lost her fortune. “It’s always that same story,” he says, laughing a little, “but I was fascinated by this forbidden place.” Most days after school, while his parents were running their company, he’d wriggle past the locked gate and wander through rooms decorated with faded frescoes. When friends came over, he forced them to visit “this beautiful world,” as he describes it, “hidden and abandoned.” He recalls this on a gray September afternoon while crossing a grassy courtyard in Valmorea, another village west of Como with its own haunted character. On the street, barren of the few thousand people who live here, a ****** cat creeps from under a bright yellow Mustang. When church bells toll the hour three minutes early, Fabrizio jokes that the lag is “the right time to make a *******.” As he remembers his youth, he mentions the emotion required to create interesting textiles — not nostalgia, per se, but the “feeling of something that was a memory … the atmosphere.” But given that he’s now standing outside his own tumbledown 17th-century palace on seven acres that he purchased three years ago, and has since kept in glorious disarray, it’s clear he’s not just talking about work: As someone who’s planning to move soon from his Milanese apartment (where he lives by himself) to be closer to the family business he helps oversee, he knows that his history is also his destiny. “Your desires are formed when you’re younger,” he says. “And then we live to satisfy that ancient desire.” IF IT’S TRUE that all houses choose their owners, then this one has been discerning: In nearly 350 years, it has been passed between only four different hands, about once per century. Around 1690, some of the valley in which it sits was acquired by the Sala family, who, according to municipal records, combined a few extant buildings (a noble manor, a farmer’s house) to create the structure’s oldest, central core. In the early 20th century, the Sassi family bought it in several phases and purportedly rented part of the estate to a professor who’d tutored the children of the 19th-century painter Giovanni Segantini. The Sassi clan, descendants of two brothers who ran home-building companies in nearby Switzerland, divided the C-shaped property in half for their respective families, Fabrizio says, and decided to sell to him after the pandemic. There are more than 50 rooms, many of them with busted-through floors and ceilings that make traversing sections of the three levels treacherous. But Fabrizio was particularly drawn to the grandeur hidden behind the classic Lombardian facade, with its three-arched portico, yellow stone walls and green painted shutters. In finalizing the deal over two years, he told the sellers that they would never recruit someone else “crazy enough” to undertake such a sprawling renovation. Parts of the 22,000-square-foot palazzo may have been built by the same family of architects, the Quadrios, who worked on Milan’s Gothic duomo in the 17th and 18th centuries. Yet Fabrizio has found little historical documentation for the building, which was listed by the Italian cultural heritage commission only after its ***** to him; while he has peeled back paint on wooden ceilings and excavated stone floors in the downstairs common areas and upstairs bedrooms, it’s impossible to tell when something was added or removed — every room is its own palimpsest. The lower level’s ballroom, for instance, has a cathedral ceiling with trompe l’oeil windows and coffers, painted at some point to balance out the symmetry of the architecture, above a swirly red-and-white terra-cotta floor that’s likely original. Its walls are more than 20 feet high because in the 1700s art was displayed in vertical stacks. The home has no heat and needs new wiring and, so far, the only real furniture Fabrizio has added is a bed, a clothing rack and some tables with sawhorse legs in the few rooms he’s “colonized,” as he says, while he goes back and forth to the city and figures out what to do here. There’s no rush, however: “I want to keep this feeling of living in a place that doesn’t belong to me.” Once he starts renovating, he knows, he’ll forever change the ambience that first enticed him — not that he’s aiming to restore the house to its 17th-century glory or any thereafter. Instead, he wants to add his own modern layer on top of all the ******* details; why not, for example, consider lacquered ceilings? For him — for any good designer, in fact — the project’s true success won’t rest in its physical manifestations but in the mood it provokes and the behavior it encourages. And this house, just as the countess’s was, is somewhere he likes to come to be alone, to consider the world before and beyond him. Last summer, he was awakened one morning by a storm that had torn down 20 of his cypress trees. He’d never experienced such intense winds in Italy, nor was he aware that his country had small scorpions, which he’s caught scurrying about the wide, empty halls. Fabrizio shares this fact while roaming from undone room to undone room, latching the shutters. “I don’t want the ghosts to get in,” he says. “Sometimes there’s a need to close the door — to keep everything out. This is the place to do that.” Source link #Peeling #17thCentury #Palazzo #Man #Crazy #Buy Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

terrified Alawites in Syria flee attacks terrified Alawites in Syria flee attacks For two days, Rihab Kamel and her family hid terrified in their bathroom in the city of Baniyas as armed men stormed the neighbourhood, pursuing members of Syria’s Alawite *********. The coastal city is part of Syria’s Alawite heartland that has been gripped by the fiercest violence since former president Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. “We turned off the lights and hid. When we were able to flee our neighbourhood of Al-Qusour, we found the roads full of corpses,” Kamel, a 35-year-old mother, told AFP. A Christian family sheltered them and then helped them reach the frontier with Lebanon, she said, adding that they planned to flee across the border. “What crime did the children commit? Are they also supporters of the (toppled) regime?” she said. “We as Alawites are innocent.” The violence erupted on Thursday after gunmen loyal to Assad attacked Syria’s new security forces. The ensuing clashes resulted in dozens of deaths on both sides. War monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights later reported that security forces and allied groups killed at least 745 Alawite civilians in Latakia and Tartus provinces. Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham that spearheaded the lightning offensive that toppled Assad, on Sunday called for “national unity (and) civil peace” to be preserved. “God willing, we will be able to live together in this country,” he said at a mosque in Damascus. But in villages and towns on the coast, people spoke of systematic killings. – ‘Minutes’ from death – Assad, himself an Alawite, sought to present himself as protector of Syria’s minorities. The new authorities have repeatedly promised an inclusive transition that protects the rights of religious minorities. The Alawite heartland has nonetheless been gripped by a fear of reprisals over the Assad clan’s decades of brutal rule. Baniyas resident Samir Haidar, 67, told AFP two of his brothers and his nephew were killed by “armed groups” that entered people’s homes. Though an Alawite himself, Haidar belonged to the leftist opposition under the Assads and was imprisoned for more than a decade. He said he began hearing explosions and gunfire on Friday morning with the arrival of forces deployed to the city, adding that there were “foreigners among them”. “They entered the building and killed my only neighbour,” he said. He managed to escape with his wife and two children to a Sunni neighbourhood, but said: “If I had been five minutes late, I would have been killed.” That same day, armed men entered his brother’s building 100 metres (yards) away. “They gathered all the men on the roof and opened fire on them,” Haidar said. “My nephew survived because he hid, but my brother was killed along with all the men in the building.” He added that another brother, who was 74, and nephew were killed along with all the men in their building. “There are houses with four or five dead bodies in them,” Haidar said. “We have appealed to be able to bury our dead,” he said, adding that he has so far been unable to bury his brothers. – ‘Bodies in the sea’ – In the port city of Latakia, AFP heard testimonies from residents who said armed groups abducted a number of Alawites who were killed. Among them was the head of a state-run cultural centre, Yasser Sabbouh, who was kidnapped and whose corpse was dumped outside his home, an AFP reporter said. In Jableh further south, a resident spoke to AFP in tears, saying they were being terrorised by armed groups who had taken control of the town. “There are six of us in the house, with my parents and my brothers. There’s been no electricity for four days, no water. We have nothing to eat and we do not dare go out,” he said on condition of anonymity, fearing for his safety. “More than 50 people from among my family and friends have been killed,” he added. “They gathered bodies with bulldozers and buried them in mass graves.” Jaafar Ali, a 32-year-old Alawite from the region, fled to neighbouring Lebanon with his brother. “I don’t think I’m going back soon,” he said. “We are refugees without a homeland. We want countries to open up (channels for) humanitarian migration for Alawites.” lk-at/jsa/srm Source link #terrified #Alawites #Syria #flee #attacks Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Interview: Abdulrazak Gurnah on ‘Theft’ and His Reading Life Interview: Abdulrazak Gurnah on ‘Theft’ and His Reading Life In an email interview, the 2021 Nobel laureate talked about the pleasure of meeting new readers and why he writes about “unexpected kindnesses.” SCOTT HELLER What books are on your night stand? Mircea Cartarescu, “Solenoid”; Beata Umubyeyi Mairisse, “The Convoy”; Juan Gabriel Vásquez, “Retrospective.” How do you organize your books? I cluster together books by the same author. Which books end up as their neighbor is sometimes a matter of chance, although generally nearby books are on nodding terms with each other. Describe your ideal reading experience (when, where, what, how). Usually in the afternoon, after having spent the earlier part of the day writing or dealing with the chores life throws up. Then for a few hours it is possible to read with pleasure, most of the time, and without distraction. What kind of reader were you as a child? My parents were not readers, so my early reading was what was provided at school. As we grew older, we found ways to get hold of other kinds of books, and these circulated among us, sometimes causing great excitement. I remember when “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was doing the rounds, although I suspect most of us did not make much of it. When I read it later as a student, it was all new to me. Most of the books we read were unmemorable, although a handful stand out — “And Quiet Flows the Don,” “Crime and Punishment” and “Far From the Madding Crowd,” which was the first Hardy novel I read, prompted by the beautiful film with Julie Christie, Alan Bates and Terence Stamp. Have you ever gotten in trouble for reading a book? No, never. What’s the best book you’ve ever received as a gift? I was given a book as a school prize when I was about 12 years old. It was a big, **** book, a kind of illustrated encyclopedia, with stories about various peoples of the world, what they looked like, what they wore, what houses they lived in, what uniform the police wore. I remember that in particular, the police uniforms. I read that book endlessly. What’s the most interesting thing you learned from a book recently? The life history and the cultural significance of the Andean condor. Do you prefer books that reach you emotionally or intellectually? I prefer books that engage me intelligently, whatever the content. Was there added pressure writing a new novel in the wake of the Nobel Prize? No, the pressure was in making the time. I was a little way into the work that has become “Theft” when the award was announced, and for a good while it was not possible to find the time and the silence to continue with it. I prefer to write with a good stretch of time in front of me, so I had to wait awhile. Then it was possible to create space and resume, and I did so without any sense of pressure. Is this a book you might have written before that? I think so. What have you learned about all the new readers who found your work thanks to the Nobel? It has been a great delight to meet and hear from new readers. It has been great also to meet readers who have been with me for some time but about whom I did not know. The generosity and pleasure of both has been wonderful and unexpected. With some work now translated into Swahili, what have you heard from East African readers? They seem pleased, and so am I, of course. You’ve said in interviews that capturing “unexpected kindnesses,” even in grim circumstances, is important to you. Why? Because it reassures us about our shared humanity, and of course because it may result in some relief from whatever troubles we may be struggling under. Because it is unexpected is all the sweeter. Your American publisher is featuring paintings by Lubaina Himid on your book covers. Did you know her work? What do you like about the covers? I knew of her work beforehand, and a little about her experience of Zanzibar and her reconnection with it. I like her colors and the wit with which her figures mingle and recline. What’s the last book you read that made you laugh? Percival Everett’s “James.” The last book that made you furious? I would rather not say. Source link #Interview #Abdulrazak #Gurnah #Theft #Reading #Life Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Johnson says Zelensky has done ‘about face’ on mineral deal Johnson says Zelensky has done ‘about face’ on mineral deal House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said during a radio interview that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has done a complete “about face” on the U.S.-Ukraine minerals deal that was not signed after the heated meeting between the two delegations late last month. “I’m really grateful and glad that Zelensky, in the last several days, has done an about face. He’s effectively apologized for all that. And he said, ‘Oh no, no, we would like that deal after all.’ I think he had a rude awakening,” Johnson said during his Saturday appearance on John Catsimatidis’s radio show “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM. “I think a lot of the people in his country were upset with the way that was handled. Certainly we all were, but we’ve got to get him back to the table,” Johnson told Catsimatidis. The minerals deal, which President Trump said would allow Washington to regain some of the assistance it had given to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion started three years ago while bolstering Kyiv’s economy, was slated to be signed by Zelensky during his Feb. 28 visit to the White House. The agreement was not signed as Zelensky, Trump and Vice President Vance had several contentious exchanges over peace agreement negotiations. Zelensky argued that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin could not be a trustworthy negotiator during peace talks as he has gone back on previous ceasefires in Eastern Europe. Trump and Vance contended that Zelensky was not grateful enough for the military assistance the U.S. has given to Ukraine and that Ukraine’s leader does not have very much leverage if negotiations ensue. “You’re gambling with World War III. And what you’re doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country,” Trump said. Zelensky said the U.S. has not experienced the consequences of the three-year conflict since it is far removed from the war-torn region, but that could be different in the future, prompting a forceful response from Trump. “Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel,” the commander-in-chief said. “We’re trying to solve a problem. Don’t tell us what we’re going to feel.” Shortly after the heated meeting, Zelensky said he would not apologize. Days later, he described it as a “regrettable” gathering. Ukraine’s leader also wrote that he is ready to sign the minerals deal, arguing it would be a “step toward greater security and solid security guarantees.” Johnson said during the radio interview that Trump was “excited” for Zelensky to sign the deal during the Feb. 28 meeting. Since then, the U.S. halted aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, moves seen as a way to bring Zelensky back to the negotiating table. Despite the late February back-and-forth, Washington is still optimistic that a deal for the minerals will be struck. “The mineral deal is an important part of the president’s policy. No. 1, the American people have got to get some payback for the incredible financial investment we’ve made in this country,” Vance told reporters while on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Backers of the deal said the agreement would provide Washington with a strong argument to defend Ukraine against potential future aggression from the Kremlin. Those who are critical of the bilateral agreement argue it equates to Washington extorting Kiev while also sidelining Zelensky from talks between Putin and Trump. Johnson reiterated his view that if Zelensky cannot deliver the “deal for this country,” then Ukraine needs to “send a leader who can.” Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. Source link #Johnson #Zelensky #face #mineral #deal Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

After Trump’s berating of Zelensky, Ukraine’s tennis players find support on American soil After Trump’s berating of Zelensky, Ukraine’s tennis players find support on American soil INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Marta Kostyuk, the top-ranked Ukrainian tennis player in the world, drew home-crowd favorite Robin Montgomery for her first match at the BNP Paribas Open Friday. Listening to the crowd at Stadium 4, the match could have been in Kyiv, not California: they were there for Kostyuk, the world No. 24, from the first ball to the last as she beat Montgomery 6-1, 6-3. That was no small thing for a Ukrainian player enduring one of the more tumultuous weeks in her country’s war against Russia, since Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion in early 2022. Last Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine endured a withering attack from U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice-President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office. With television cameras rolling, they criticized Zelensky for not being sufficiently “thankful” for American aid and ridiculed him for trying to use leverage that they said he did not possess. “You don’t have the cards. You’re either going to make a deal, or we’re out,” Trump told Zelensky. He then announced a pause in U.S. military aid to Ukraine. Sudden cutbacks at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) had already affected the flow of humanitarian aid, after Trump directed Elon Musk, an unelected “special government employee”, and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is named for an internet meme featuring a dog, to shut that agency down. After that White House confrontation, Kostyuk said her phone was flooded by American friends and acquaintances — some in tennis, many outside it — expressing empathy. “A lot of messages and a lot of apologies, which is amazing,” she said in her news conference after beating Montgomery. “It’s incredible to see this, that people still support us.” Three years into the war back home, Ukraine’s tennis players have felt just about every emotion they could possibly feel. The concern is never far from them. In the late afternoon Friday at Indian Wells, after she had upset three-time Grand Slam finalist Ons Jabeur 6-3, 6-1, Dayana Yastremska opened her phone to demonstrate how she keeps up with developments. She thumbed through a series of apps including the messaging service Telegram, which keeps her up to date on the latest missile attacks, and the alarms that warn the citizens of her home city, Odesa, to head for the bomb shelters. Her sister, father and grandparents still live there, so Yastremska checks the alerts as soon as she wakes each day before she calls home. She repeats the process once her matches are over. The news has been especially bad the past week, as the growing split between the Trump administration and Zelensky has emboldened Russia’s forces. GO DEEPER Trump and Zelensky’s confrontation sends Ukrainian tennis players to Sunshine Double under a cloud “After what happened on this day, the attack on Ukraine got higher than it was before, and on my city it is the same,” she says. “It’s very intense. So many days, we don’t have light and water.” Yastremska was in Ukraine just a few weeks ago. She travelled there following the WTA tournament in Linz, Austria, to celebrate her younger sister Ivanna’s 18th birthday. Ivanna used to be a professional tennis player too but is now at university studying journalism while also pursuing a singing career. Dayana had to fly from Austria to Chișinău, capital of Moldova, before driving about five hours across the border to reach Odesa. If Odesa were easier to get to, she would move home in a heartbeat, she says, war or no war. “I love my city,” she stresses. Last Friday was an especially trying one for Yastremska, who landed in San Francisco from Europe to the news of the disastrous Trump/Zelensky meeting. Then, immigration officials told her that someone had reported her passport to Interpol as stolen. That invalidated her 10-year visa to enter the U.S., and she was nearly sent back to Europe during four hours of wrangling to sort through the issue. Ultimately, she received a six-month visa to tide her over; she will need to extend that if she wants to return to the States to play the U.S. Open in August. “Crazy, crazy day. I thought I would explode,” she says. She didn’t, of course. And a week later she was beating a three-time major finalist in straight sets, to set up a match Sunday against five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek, who has won two out of the past three BNP Paribas Opens. Yastremska in focus mode at the *********** Open in January. (Ng Han Guan / Associated Press) She, Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina, who also won here Friday, have had three years of learning to cope with these kinds of hazards. “We are Ukrainians, we have this kind of character that we are able to get through difficult situations,” Yastremska says. Or at the very least manage them, and even sometimes find a silver lining. Kostyuk was heartbroken when that meeting of the presidents went so poorly. But she has since come to embrace the idea that so many people in the U.S. wanted to help early on after Russia’s attack, and still do. “It’s important to remember that that was not one person deciding to help Ukraine and to be an ally of Ukraine, but a lot of people,” she said. “And I’m very thankful for all these people.” There’s a saying Kostyuk keeps coming back to, on and off the court. “Everything will be fine, and if it’s not fine, it means it’s not the end,” she said. She also does not forget that everyone in tennis has their own problems and has to figure out how to leave those on the side of the court and approach their jobs professionally. Chances are, she said, your opponent is spending very little time worrying about your mental state, or the traumas of your life. “Everyone is going through something in their lives,” she says. “Whether it’s war or some of their relatives are not feeling well or dying or some problems in the family. It’s very important to kind of put everything that’s outside of the court aside and just go out there and do the job that you are doing.” With that, Kostyuk was off to prepare for another day at the office — Sunday’s round-of-32 date with another American opponent, Caroline Dolehide. There’s a good chance she will get plenty of support in that one, too. (Top photo of Marta Kostyuk: Robert Prange / Getty Images) Source link #Trumps #berating #Zelensky #Ukraines #tennis #players #find #support #American #soil Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Sadie Sink Heads Back to School, in Broadway’s ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ Sadie Sink Heads Back to School, in Broadway’s ‘John Proctor Is the Villain’ For much of her high school career, Sadie Sink took her lessons inside an old lifeguard shack that had been converted into a schoolhouse for the child actors on the set of “Stranger Things.” When the cast wasn’t battling Demogorgons in a parallel dimension, “everyone was studying different things at the same time,” Sink told me recently of her experience in the shack. “It was chaos.” With that hit Netflix series nearing its end, and as Sink plotted her next move, she read the script for Kimberly Belflower’s “John Proctor Is the Villain,” a play about teenagers reading “The Crucible,” together, in a more typical school setting — though one that hides troubles of its own. On a February afternoon, Sink sat at a desk in a rehearsal space in Manhattan’s Flatiron district, in a simulated classroom that had a timeless quality. There were pencil grooves atop the melamine desks, tennis ****** at the bottom of the chair legs. On a blackboard in the back, cryptic remnants of a lesson: “SEX IS POWER” was scrawled in chalk in uppercase letters, and below that, in lowercase, the words “changes nothing.” Just as “The Crucible,” Arthur Miller’s 1953 classic, used the Salem witch trials as an allegory for McCarthyism, “John Proctor Is the Villain” uses “The Crucible” to interrogate the complexity of growing up in the #MeToo era. In an English class in Appalachia in 2018, the students are studying Miller’s play just as that movement against ******* violence tears through their one-stoplight town, breaches the doors of their school and collides with their reading of the play itself. The result is a prismatic revelation: “John Proctor Is the Villain” is, at turns, a literary critique, a tender bildungsroman, a loopy comedy, a study of rural America and a Taylor Swift appreciation post. This month, it becomes a Broadway show, directed by the Tony Award-winning Danya Taymor. Inside the rehearsal space, Taymor lit a stick of palo santo. Cast members — playing five high school girls and two boys — worked through a scene in which a meeting of the fledgling feminist club explodes into accusations against the men in their lives: a teacher, a student, the mayor. In each case, the students’ personal entanglements test their commitment to their ideals. Mid-scene, Sink burst through the classroom door, the pages of her script rippling in her hand. Her character has returned to school after a conspicuous absence only to find that, despite all these revelations of male bad behavior, it is she who has been made the scapegoat. Sink’s eyes poked around the class, widening at her friends’ hypocrisy. Then she pinned one of the male students, Mason (Nihar Duvvuri), in her sights and sliced into his sweet exterior: “Thank you for being an ally,” she said. They took the scene three times, with the actors testing out different kinetic impulses. Taymor paused after each iteration to ask: “Thoughts?” She wanted to know if they preferred to sit or lie on the couch, whether the doors to the classroom ought to stay open or closed. And how their understanding of the text was shifting in the room. “This is the first scene in the play where the word ‘*****’ is used,” Duvvuri realized. These characters can confidently discuss, as one puts it, how “white feminism is monopolizing the mainstream body positivity movement,” but they remain somewhat naïve to how power operates in their own lives. Now the glow of childhood has been rudely extinguished, and they must fumble through the dark toward a collective social consciousness. Taymor advised her actors to resist the urge to make all of the lightbulbs appear to go off right away. “I know there’s discomfort because you care for your characters so much, but sometimes they don’t know yet,” she said. “They’re on the longest journey of discovery.” A coven is a gathering of three or more witches, and it took the combined powers of Sink, 22, Taymor, 36, and Belflower, 37, to bring the play to the Booth Theater, where it will begin previews on March 20. (Sink also appears this month in “O’Dessa,” a musical movie coming to Hulu.) Over breakfast before that day’s rehearsal, they convened to tell the story. The spark was lit in October 2017, when Woody Allen compared the mounting ******* harassment and assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein to a “witch hunt.” Belflower decided to reread “The Crucible.” She was struck by how John Proctor — long venerated as the tragic hero in this paradigmatic tale of American persecution — was also a menace who conducts an “affair” with Abigail Williams, a teenager working in his home. “I was like, this is a teenage girl and a grown-**** man,” Belflower said. She began to envision a play of her own, one titled after her central revelation: John Proctor is the villain. She wrote the script in 2018, with the help of a grant from the Farm Theater’s College Collaboration program, which commissions plays featuring younger characters and produces them at college drama departments. It has since been licensed for dozens of nonprofessional high school and college productions. “So, I kind of thought that was all this play was going to do,” Belflower said. Instead, “John Proctor Is the Villain” went on to well-received runs in Washington and Boston, and eventually made its way into Sink’s hands. She was drawn to the role of Shelby Holcomb, a traumatized girl accused of smearing a good man’s name, not unlike Miller’s Abigail. “When she comes in, it’s like a tornado,” Sink said of Shelby. “There’s a heaviness to her, masked by a lot of energy and a really fast mouth.” With Belflower and Taymor, Sink put together a workshop in Manhattan. “Every character felt like a real teenager,” she said, neither dumbed down nor overly mature. “And that is so rare to find.” SINK WAS 10 when she made her Broadway debut, portraying various orphans in a 2012 revival of “Annie” before being promoted to play the title character. At 14, she joined the second season of the fantasy series and ’80s pastiche “Stranger Things,” which began streaming in October 2017 — just as the abuse and misogyny of the entertainment industry was erupting into public view. “It was a scary feeling,” Sink said. “It was an intense time, being so young and not really able to wrap my head around it.” In the years since, she has emerged as somewhat of an avatar for her generation’s pop-feminist imagination, one that delights in remixing the cultural relics of the past. In “Stranger Things,” as the skeptical and scrappy Max, she gave Kate Bush’s 1985 weirdo feminist anthem “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” a new life on TikTok and the U.S. singles chart. In 2021, Taylor Swift picked her to star in “All Too Well: The Short Film,” a music video set to a devastating expanded version of Swift’s 2012 power ballad about the end of a Hollywood love affair. As Swift ripped up her song’s foundation to show the grief and betrayal beneath its floorboards, Sink embodied the expanding feminist consciousness of the world’s biggest pop star, crystallizing the moment she reclaimed her music for herself. Now, in “John Proctor,” that spirit of cultural revision and renewal comes to Broadway. “The play is so much about cycles, and about how systems of power perpetuate themselves,” Belflower said. Though she wrote the play as #MeToo was developing, it’s now a ******* piece. But it also illuminates a generation contending with accumulated decades — centuries — of American cultural messaging. The characters make references to John Mayer and “Twilight,” Joan Didion and Daniel Day-Lewis, Walt Whitman and SparkNotes. Alongside “The Crucible,” Belflower read the historian Stacy Schiff’s 2015 book, “The Witches,” which documents how Salem’s young women suffered PTSD from rampant violence. She quotes Schiff in the play’s epigraph, writing on how the Salem woman, though “officially voiceless,” made herself heard: “In legal records she hectors, shrieks, quarrels, scolds, rants, rails, tattles, and spits.” Belflower’s text gives that insight a modern spin, transforming stigmatized feminine vocal tics into the raw creative materials of girls who must fight to be heard. On the page, her style takes on the cadence of a text message, its urgent lines freed from punctuation. As her characters challenge adult interpretations — whether of “The Crucible,” or of Lorde’s “Green Light” — they stage a proxy battle for the right to be the narrators of their own lives. There is something enduring about this play, and about the teenage experience itself. Taymor claimed her Tony last year for directing the musical adaptation of “The Outsiders,” another ******* piece about the trials of youth. “Being a teenager — there’s something about it that never changes,” Taymor said. “For anyone who has been alive in America, this place will feel like home.” Belflower wrote the play during the first Trump administration, and “John Proctor” will now have its biggest stage at its second coming. Callback auditions for the Broadway production fell on Election Day 2024. Actors vying for the role of Raelynn, Shelby’s on-again, off-again best friend, had to read a monologue in which she says: “one day / maybe / the new world we were promised / will actually be new / one day / maybe / the men in charge won’t be in charge anymore.” “To hear that text,” said Taymor, “over and over that day — it was so, so intense.” The #MeToo movement may not have destroyed gendered power structures in the entertainment industry, but “it shifted some things inside, internally,” Taymor said. It opened a lane of expression for discussing experiences that were previously suppressed, and allowed her and other women storytellers to recast their own lives from a new perspective. Back in the rehearsal room, Sink, as Shelby, entered the classroom just after the remaining members of the feminist club emitted a spontaneous collective scream — as if Shelby had been drawn to the room by the howl of her wolf pack. In one iteration of the scene, Fina Strazza, playing the studious Beth, tested out wailing into the cushion of the classroom couch. Afterward, Belflower had a note: “Don’t you dare stifle that scream.” Source link #Sadie #Sink #Heads #School #Broadways #John #Proctor #Villain Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

Why Mark in 'Severance' Drives a 1997 Volvo, and More Answers from the Show's Car Coordinators – The Drive Why Mark in 'Severance' Drives a 1997 Volvo, and More Answers from the Show's Car Coordinators – The Drive Why Mark in ‘Severance’ Drives a 1997 Volvo, and More Answers from the Show’s Car Coordinators The Drive Source link #Mark #039Severance039 #Drives #Volvo #Answers #Show039s #Car #Coordinators #Drive Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

F1 Academy’s Lia Block learned to drift from her dad. Now she’s making her own name F1 Academy’s Lia Block learned to drift from her dad. Now she’s making her own name Motorsports history is littered with sons of famous fathers following in Dad’s footsteps and trying to make their own names. Michael and Mick Schumacher. Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bobby and Graham Rahal. The Andretti and Sainz families. Bill and Chase Elliott. The list goes on. But motorsports isn’t just a man’s world anymore. One of the women rising through the racing ranks is F1 Academy driver Lia Block. She’s the 18-year-old daughter of Ken Block, who made his name with his rally racing, the popular “Gymkhana” video series and brands such as Hoonigans before dying in a snowmobiling accident in January 2023. Lia grew up in paddocks and naturally drifted towards off-road racing, eventually becoming a rally champion and later winning the Pro-Stock division of the Baja 1000 with her mother Lucy and the Block House Racing Team just over a year ago. Having become successful in her own right, the Williams Academy driver is now staring down her second full season in single-seaters, wanting to fight for the F1 Academy title. Block is grateful that her father and his reputation opened doors to the motorsports world early in her career, but “it’s been really hard” navigating her career as ‘the daughter of.’ “I don’t want people (to) think that I’m cheating my way through it because I have a leg up. I do have a leg up into the sport because he was so renowned, and he gave me the opportunities to pursue my career,” Block told The Athletic ahead of the 2024 F1 Academy season. “But I do try and step away from it just a bit because I do want to create my own personality and I want to be my own self. “I don’t want to be known as his daughter. I have a name, which is hard sometimes because I love being his daughter and I would take that over anything any day.” Although Block’s early childhood was when her father competed in different rally and rallycross championships, her earliest motorsport memory happened at a racetrack in Florida. Ken bought her an electric go-kart to use in their driveway. “It would only go 20 miles an hour,” Block says. So, when she tried her first proper go-kart at around six, she was in for a surprise. “I didn’t know that the faster you go, the less you have to turn. I got in this new go-kart, and it was a lot faster. I went into the first turn and went straight into the infield,” Block says, adding, “My dad held that over my head forever. It was just a funny experience. It wasn’t the time I really fell in love with motorsports. I was still trying everything else, but it was just what made me realize, ‘Oh, I gotta work hard for this one.’” Growing up, she did gymnastics before switching to competitive dance. Those were constants in her life, even while trying other sports, including basketball, soccer, flag football, tennis and swimming. Block admits, “That’s kind of weird to say — ‘Hey, I was a dancer turned racecar driver,’ but I think that’s something I really loved growing up.” Both of Block’s parents raced competitively. Ken secured podium finishes in various rally competitions, including the X Games, the World Rally Championship and World RallyCross. Lucy made her rally debut in 2009 and competed in her first full American Rally Association season in 2022. Lia Block racing in Miami in 2024 (Clive Mason/Getty Images) But they never forced her into motorsports, despite their passion for it. She says, “My dad had always given me open doors and given me the option to go and do motorsports.” At around 10, she returned to racing. “It was kind of … on my own merit. And I think once I realized that I loved it so much and I tried all these things, I felt comfortable with myself and just knew that, ‘Yeah, I’ve tried all of this and this is really where I want to go.’” A self-described “adrenaline junkie,” Block made her start in the Lucas Oil Off Road Series, which was a short-course series that competed in the United States and Mexico, and eventually went into karting. At 13, drifting came more into the picture. “My dad wanted to teach me how to drive stick. So I’d never learned how to drive stick. I was only 12 or 13 maybe, but he took me in his Ford *******, and I learned how to drive stick in that,” Block recalls. “He was like, ‘Hey, do you want to learn how to drift? You want to learn how to do donuts?’ And I was like, ‘Of course.’” They filmed a YouTube video of it, which is nothing new for the family considering Ken created the popular “Gymkhana” videos that sometimes featured different racing stunts like those he and his daughter were doing. “I looked back at it the other day, and I was like, ‘Wow, I was so awkward.’ I did not know how to talk to a camera,” Block says. “He was doing the Gymkhana videos on YouTube for a long time, so he’s always been kind of like a crazy person for drifting and making cars do really cool things. So being able to learn how to do donuts and do it like my dad was really cool.” She learned how to drift in other cars but what kickstarted her career and brought her into the media was hopping into Ken’s famous 1,400HP Mustang ‘Hoonicorn’ to drag race at 14. “I don’t know whose idea that was,” Block says, “but it was probably a bad one.” Block followed in her parents’ footsteps in 2021 when she made her national-level rally debut at age 15, competing in the final round of the American Rally Association Championship for the Hoonigan Racing Division. Bitten by the bug, she progressively added more rallying appearances before winning the American Rally Association Open Two-Wheel-Drive (ARA O2WD) championship in 2023, becoming the youngest ARA champ in history at 16. She was the first woman to compete in Group E for Nitrocross and the first woman to drive Pikes Peak, which she did in her father’s car (the Hoonipigasus). “It just makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something,” Block says. “I think it definitely gives me a name. People can’t just say, ‘Oh why is she here?’ I’ve done something, and I think to carry that, no matter where I go in the future, is really special.” But Block took a risk after winning that championship. Williams announced in November 2023 that she would compete in F1 Academy with ART Grand Prix and join the F1 team’s academy. And that happened to be the same month she would go on to win the Baja 1000 with her mother. The two disciplines are completely different. “Kind of have to switch off one part of my brain that’s for rallying, switch on the other part that’s for open-wheel,” Block said. F1 Academy marked Block’s single-seater debut. The first car she tested was from Formula Four, which is similar to those in F1 Academy, but she faced a steep learning curve. She went from winning a rally championship to being at the bottom of a different series and learning “everything from scratch.” She had three months to prepare for the opening race in Saudi Arabia, and Block remembers thinking at one point, “Am I gonna be able to do this?” It was a new car, all new tracks and people she’d never competed against in her career. Her goal is to be P1, but with 2024 being a learning year, Block knew winning the championship wouldn’t be possible. She qualified P7 for her first race at Jeddah Corniche Circuit, something she said, “I’ll take any day.” She did damage her car’s rear wing while trying to pass for fifth during Race 1 that weekend, though it is a memory that she likely looks back on fondly given the aftermath. Back at the Block House headquarters in Utah, wrecked or damaged parts are displayed on the “Ain’t Care Wall.” A description above reads: “To strive to win at any cost, with zero mechanical sympathy or regard for one’s well-being.” Her mechanics took part of that damaged rear wing and signed it. Block says, “My mechanic said that I can either not come back the next time or come back with the car in half. He said no more of the little crashes.” She brought that piece home from Saudi Arabia to be added to the wall. Given Block’s motorsports career to date, her switch to single-seater racing raises a few eyebrows. But as Lucy explains it, this change makes sense for where her daughter is right now. “She’s had a lot of calls for different types of driving. But at this point in her career, she really wants to focus on F1,” Lucy told The Athletic’s Jeff Gluck last spring. “It’s something you have to get in at a younger age. She could rally when she’s 30. You can’t do F1 when you’re 30. She knows that, and she doesn’t want to look back in 10 years and say, ‘Oh man, I wish I would have done that.’” Fast-forward nearly a year, Block is on a Zoom call with The Athletic, sporting a Rockstar Energy cap while at home in Utah. She’s still her bubbly self, balancing questions about the significance of this new partnership and how she’s prepared to fight for the 2025 F1 Academy title. But the biggest difference is a sense of quiet confidence. Qualifying in Singapore last fall was “the big wake-up moment,” Block says. She secured her best qualifying spot of the season after a last-moment effort promoted her to fourth. She says, “It was when hard work started to pay off, and it’s hard when you work so hard behind the scenes and are doing so much and trying to learn so much, but you don’t really see it too much on track, and other people don’t see it. “But that Singapore qualifying, it really felt like I was doing something right. I felt like I could be there, and I deserved that spot.” Singapore was a breakthrough for Lia Block in 2024 (Joe Portlock/Getty Images) Block scored a combined 24 points that weekend after consecutive fourth-place finishes, her biggest points haul of the seven-round season. She ended the year eighth with 44 points and now faces her second — and final — season in F1 Academy. That debut season presented a massive learning curve for Block, as she went from winning the ARA O2WD championship to jumping into a single-seater for the first time. She did have higher expectations for herself heading into 2024 because, naturally, she wanted to win. But Block revisited those expectations around the Miami GP weekend in May, and both she and Williams talked about how “it’s just a learning year.” One of the biggest lessons Block learned was patience. “You have to take these little, small, marginal gains as really big accomplishments, because if you keep building those up, you keep going up the ladder,” Block explains. “Mentally, just stepping back, you can only control what you can control. Everything happens for a reason, and kind of just go with the flow.” The 2025 season presents a new challenge, with over half of the grid changing from last year and four of the seven drivers who ranked above her last season no longer competing in the championship. The target is to become more comfortable with her car as well as improve working with her engineer and extract the maximum performance from the car each race weekend. Block is keen to learn more about the mechanical side of the sport and dive deeper into the Formula One world. “F1 Academy is the big focus this year. I want big wins, and I want to go for that championship, so it’s definitely the main focus,” Block says. “But I’m looking into doing some rally on the side in between, where we can fit it.” This is where Rockstar Energy, her new sponsor, comes in. It’s no secret that motorsports is expensive, and Block says while her father’s career opened the door for her, “I’m an adult now, and I have to kind of pay for everything now.” “I don’t think people know how expensive it is. Only really when you get to F1 is when you get paid,” Block explains, later adding, “Rockstar, they support me in everything I want to do. They’re here for me. Let’s go rally this year. Let’s go do some big projects as well as F1 Academy. It’s super-cool to have them and to be able to fuel my dreams.” Block’s next step in her motorsports career will be decided based on how this season unfolds. F1 Academy only allows drivers to compete for two seasons, and she will need to show continuous growth. But rallying is still a big part of her life, a door she hasn’t closed entirely. “I still really love rally and off-road and rallycross and stuff like that,” Block says. “But I also fell in love with the formula series and F1. I guess we’ll just have to see.” (Top photo: Joe Portlock – Formula 1/Formula 1 via Getty Images) Source link #Academys #Lia #Block #learned #drift #dad #shes #making Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ricardo Scofidio, Boldly Imaginative Architect, Is Dead at 89 Ricardo Scofidio, Boldly Imaginative Architect, Is Dead at 89 Son of a Jazz Man Ricardo Merrill Scofidio was born on April 16, 1935, in New York City to Earle and June (Matthews) Scofidio. He had a brother, Basilio. His father, a jazz musician who played the alto saxophone and the clarinet, was ******, “but he insisted to his dying day that he was Italian,” Mr. Scofidio told Arthur Lubow for an article in The New York Times Magazine in 2003. His mother “was light-skinned,” he said, “but she was actually half ******.” He added, “I was continually told as a child to be invisible.” He attended the Cooper Union School of Architecture and then Columbia University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in 1960. He began teaching at the Cooper Union in 1965. In 1955, he married Allana Jeanne De Serio, with whom he had four children. They divorced in 1979. In addition to his sons Ian and Gino, he is survived by his wife; two other sons, Marco and Dana; six grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. He lived in Manhattan. By the late 1970s, Mr. Scofidio was unhappy with his marriage and his career. Attempting to practice architecture, he said in 2003, he spent “more time flying around meeting clients” than designing. “It was a great frustration,” he added. “I realized at that point I had to change my life.” Change it he did, after Ms. Diller enrolled in his architecture studio. Romantic entanglement was postponed, because “she was a student, and I respected that,” he said. But after she took a semester off to think, they moved in together. “It meant abandoning everything and starting over,” he said. “It was like shedding skin.” In its early years, Diller + Scofidio was best known for designing theater and dance backdrops and installation art. In 1993, the couple installed a screen in Times Square on which a woman’s mouth, viewed in extreme close-up, murmured come-ons to passers-by: “Hey, you, wanna buy a ticket to paradise? Wanna buy a new lifestyle?” Source link #Ricardo #Scofidio #Boldly #Imaginative #Architect #Dead Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Steve Young still drives a 2011 minivan — here’s why even millionaires avoid flashy cars Steve Young still drives a 2011 minivan — here’s why even millionaires avoid flashy cars NFL legend Steve Young still drives a broken down 2011 Toyota Sienna with 132,000 miles — made over $49M in football but Dad told him to ‘get the most’ out of cars. Here’s what you can learn Legendary 49ers quarterback Steve Young earned nearly $49 million playing football, according to Spotrac, but you’d never guess it from the beaten-up 2011 Toyota Sienna he drives. In a recent interview with journalist Graham Bensinger, the two-time NFL MVP admitted he could easily afford a replacement for the car, which has 132,000 miles on it. However, he’s reluctant to let it go because of advice from his father, who always told him to “get the most out of it.” And he’s not the only Young family member who’s emotionally attached to the vehicle. “This is a car that the kids all grew up in,” he told Bensinger. “My youngest Laila — that seat over there with the camera is the seat that she won’t give up. That’s her seat for life … she’s like, ‘No, I love this car [and] how it smells.’” Surprisingly, multimillionaires driving modest cars isn’t as unusual as some might think. Contrary to the common stereotype, most wealthy people aren’t driving around in flashy Ferraris and bright orange Lamborghinis. A 2022 study by Experian Automotive, found that the top car brands for households earning over $250,000 were Toyota, Ford and Honda. Even billionaires opt for relatively inconspicuous cars. Warren Buffett reportedly drives a Cadillac XTS — no Bugatti for the Oracle of Omaha. In other words, most affluent people who could splurge on luxury vehicles simply choose not to. Meanwhile, many ordinary consumers are stretching their budgets to the limit. A recent survey by CDK Global found that 57% of car buyers said they hit the top end of their budget, while 7% exceeded it. The strain on consumers is also reflected in auto loan data. As of mid-2024, one in every 24 drivers with a car loan was paying more than $1,000 in monthly payments per vehicle, according to Experian — a ratio that has nearly quadrupled since 2020. For many, the family car is becoming a significant financial burden. Here’s how you can avoid the growing auto loan crisis. Read more: Jamie Dimon issues a warning about the US stock market — says prices are ‘kind of inflated.’ Crashproof your portfolio with these 3 rock-solid strategies Story Continues For most consumers, cutting transportation costs is one of the most effective ways to improve their finances. According to a 2022 report by the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, transportation is the second-largest annual expense for the average household. One way to reduce this expense is by purchasing a car that’s within — or even below — your means. Buying a used car, for example, helps you avoid significant depreciation and can lower transportation costs substantially. As of 2024, the average used car costs roughly $20,000 less than a new one, according to Edmunds. To figure out whether a vehicle fits your budget, consider the 20/4/10 rule: By setting up firm financial guardrails, you can avoid the auto loan debt trap many consumers are driving into. This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Source link #Steve #Young #drives #minivan #heres #millionaires #avoid #flashy #cars Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Oldest living ex-MLB player dies at 100 Oldest living ex-MLB player dies at 100 Art Schallock, a little-known New York Yankees left-hander who treasured his late-in-life fame as the oldest living former major-league ballplayer, died Wednesday at age 100. Schallock pitched a few dozen games for the Yankees from 1951-54, long enough to leave him with charming and oft-told tales of friends like Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle. Schallock spent his final years at a senior living facility in Sonoma, Calif., where he delighted listeners by spinning yarns about facing Ted Williams or pitching in Game 4 against the Brooklyn Dodgers as the Yankees went on to win the 1953 World Series. “I thought I had two strikes against me because of my size,’’ Schallock, who played at 5-foot-9 and 155 pounds, told The Athletic as he approached his 100th birthday last April. “But I made it. I mean, you can’t get any higher than the Yankees — world’s No. 1 team.” With Schallock’s passing, Bill Greason, 100 years and 186 days old as of Saturday, becomes the oldest living former major-league player. Bobby Shantz (99 years, 163 days) is No. 2 on the list. Checking out a commemorative 1953 Yankees bat with the oldest living former major leaguer. Art Schallock turns 100 (!!!) on April 25 and has some fun here remembering teammate Eddie Lopat. pic.twitter.com/2MDa8ZqAyU — Daniel Brown (@BrownieAthletic) April 19, 2024 Schallock’s family released a statement Saturday saluting his remarkable life: “As a pitcher for the New York Yankees, he was part of a historic era in the sport, contributing to multiple World Series championships. Beyond baseball, Art was known for his kindness, humor, and deep appreciation for the people around him. He lived a life filled with cherished friendships, family, and a passion for the sport that defined much of his journey. “While we mourn his loss, we also celebrate the memories and legacy he leaves behind. We are grateful for the love and support he has always received from the many communities he was a part of.” Schallock threw three complete games during a career in which he amassed a record of 6-7 with a 4.02 ERA. He spent much of his 58 career big-league games associating with baseball’s most legendary names. Consider that when Schallock got called up from the minors for his major-league debut on July 16, 1951, the Yankees made room on the roster by sending down a disappointing rookie named Mickey Mantle. Mantle exacted his playful revenge in 1955, when Schallock was with the Orioles, by hitting a mammoth home run against him. The Mick smiled his way around the bases. “Jeez, he could hit that ball,” Schallock recalled. Schallock’s first roommate on the road was Berra. In that arrangement, the veteran catcher shared his wisdom about attacking American League hitters while Schallock repaid him by doing a daily chore. “The first thing in the morning, I had to run down to the lobby to get funny papers for him,’’ Schallock said. “Hell, I didn’t know a thing about comic books, but he’d say, ‘Go down and pick up a half-a-dozen comic books.’” Schallock’s biggest claim to fame came many decades after his playing career. He took over the distinction of oldest living ex-MLB ballplayer when the aptly named George Elder died on July 7, 2022, at the age of 101. As Schallock approached the century mark last spring, he found himself in national headlines, with profiles of his life and times in The Athletic, MLB.com, the Associated Press and the “CBS Evening News.” Attendees at his birthday party held at his senior living community included Dusty Baker, the future Hall of Fame manager. Baker had never met Schallock but came to pay tribute to a bit of walking baseball history. “The interaction between Artie and Dusty was truly phenomenal,’’ said Wendy Cornejo, the executive director at Cogir on Napa Road. “Witnessing two legends shake hands, look each other in the eye, smile, and exchange congratulatory wishes was incredibly inspiring.” Today, Yankees players and Manager Aaron Boone had the opportunity to meet with former Yankees pitcher Art Schallock! Art, who celebrated his 100th birthday this past April, is the oldest living @MLB player pic.twitter.com/Mx1AkyHA72 — New York Yankees (@Yankees) June 2, 2024 Not long after that celebration, the Yankees invited him to be their guest when the team visited San Francisco for a series at Oracle Park. Anthony Rizzo sat down in the dugout and spoke with the centenarian for several minutes. Manager Aaron Boone engaged in a spirited conversation with Schallock about batting practice and fielding drills. Before that game, Schallock had not been to an MLB stadium since the early 1980s. Arthur “Art” Schallock was born in San Francisco on April 25, 1924, and raised about 15 miles north, in the Marin County city of Mill Valley. His promising early baseball career took a back seat in 1943 when he was taken into the Navy and served as a radio operator on the USS Coral Sea during World War II. Schallock was discharged in 1946, having received 11 battle stars. Not long after returning home, he went on a blind date with a woman named Dona Bernard. They were married for 76 years until Dona’s passing in 2023 at age 97. She died on Art’s 99th birthday. They had two children and five grandchildren. “They were amazing together. A true life-long love right there,’’ Zach Pascoe, one of the grandchildren, wrote in an email last year. “They were best friends. They truly enjoyed being in each other’s company, and as partners, they were even stronger. They complemented each other perfectly. They knew when to give each other space and when to be right there for each other.” Schallock spent his final years at Cogir of Sonoma Plaza, where he relished his status as a celebrity. The senior living community released a statement Saturday, saying Schallock “was not just a resident but a friend, mentor, and storyteller who enriched our community with his wisdom and warmth. Whether sharing memories from his time on the baseball field or enjoying everyday moments with his fellow residents, Art had a way of making everyone feel valued and appreciated.” (Photo courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum) Source link #Oldest #living #exMLB #player #dies Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Continue ‘Wicked’ Theme at Oscars Red Carpet Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo Continue ‘Wicked’ Theme at Oscars Red Carpet In the words of Glinda, pink goes good with green. After months of method dressing, “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo both arrived on the Oscars red carpet in their Ozian characters’ signature colors. For Ms. Grande, nominated for best supporting actress, that meant an icy pink satin and tulle bustier gown from Schiaparelli decked out in more than 190,000 crystal sequins, rhinestones and beads. The wiggly waistline was inspired by an lamp designed by the artist Alberto Giacometti. Ms. Erivo, who is nominated for best actress, opted for a shade of deep forest green, so dark it almost appeared ****** at first glance. But make no mistake, the subtle homage was intentional. Speaking with E! on the red carpet, she said the velvet Louis Vuitton gown — with an almost vampiric architectural collar — was a “nod to Oz, a nod to the green, and a nod to old Hollywood.” Her signature fingernails by the nail artist Mycah Dior were decorated with elaborate, hand-sculpted gilded art, including a tiny watch and clock. Over the course of the “Wicked” press tour, both stars regularly stepped out in styles that referenced their characters. At the premiere in Los Angeles, Ms. Grande wore a pink Thom Browne gingham dress, while Ms. Erivo donned a green vinyl Louis Vuitton number. Even at events not officially related to the film, the pair remained committed to the bit, like during an appearance at the Olympics in Paris where they each wore … well, you know. The second installment of “Wicked” comes out later this year. We’ll have to wait and see if the duo will still be holding space for pink and green come November. Source link #Ariana #Grande #Cynthia #Erivo #Continue #Wicked #Theme #Oscars #Red #Carpet Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

The Big Clue Everyone Missed With John Cena's Heel Turn – Wrestling Inc. The Big Clue Everyone Missed With John Cena's Heel Turn – Wrestling Inc. The Big Clue Everyone Missed With John Cena’s Heel Turn Wrestling Inc.John Cena Drops Major Update After WWE Heel Turn — Teases a Nostalgic Return Yahoo EntertainmentCody Rhodes returns to SmackDown after John Cena’s vicious betrayal at WWE Elimination Chamber WWEJohn Cena Has Finally Turned Heel The RingerTopps unveils triple autograph card featuring The Rock, John Cena and Travis Scott ESPN Source link #Big #Clue #Missed #John #Cena039s #Heel #Turn #Wrestling Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

International TV Series to Stream Now: ‘The Leopard,’ ‘Newtopia’ and More International TV Series to Stream Now: ‘The Leopard,’ ‘Newtopia’ and More The United States’ relationships with the rest of the world’s nations are fluid right now, but one thing is for sure: We keep importing their television shows. Here are some recent additions to what appears to be an increasingly large trade imbalance, at least when it comes to scripted series. ‘Dog Days Out’ With “Bluey” on a hiatus, this cheerfully mesmerizing South Korean cartoon — it’s like a crackerjack action blockbuster for toddlers — can fill the animated-puppies vacuum. You might even consider the lack of hyper-articulate dialogue to be an advantage: There’s something restful about a soundtrack that consists of smashes, crashes and a variety of canine shrieks and laughter. On an idyllic suburban ****-de-sac rendered in candy-colored 3-D animation, the puppies come out to play when their barely seen masters are away and destroy everything they can get their paws on. Joining them in the slapstick mayhem are their toys, including a rainbow-hued chew doll that instigates much of the trouble; opposing them are curmudgeonly birds and crafty rodents. Many shows for preschoolers feature the same kind of nonstop action, but the animators at the South Korean studio Million Volt execute this one with a combination of fluid style and infectious spirit that can hook the unwary adult. (Netflix) ‘Douglas Is Cancelled’ Steven Moffat of “Sherlock” and “Doctor Who” wrote this dark four-episode comedy which, consciously or not, pulls a bait and switch. Starring Hugh Bonneville as Douglas, a popular broadcaster anonymously accused of having told a sexist joke, it begins as a brittle farce about the comfortably entitled running afoul of cancel culture and social media mobs. But then it shifts, becoming a sometimes didactic and unconvincing, sometimes powerful and unsettling, examination of men’s corrosive treatment of women. Moffat, who can be a very clever writer, takes the male repertory of gaslighting, stonewalling and veiled aggression and turns it against the men in his story in amusing ways. It’s also noticeable, though, how the targets of the most pointed satire tend to be young women, and how the best roles are written for middle-aged men. Karen Gillan, as Douglas’s on-air partner, and Alex Kingston, as his wife, are fine in fairly monochromatic parts. But the spotlight is on Bonneville, who is excellent as always; Simon Russell Beale, who is hilarious as Douglas’s diffidently loathsome agent; and Ben Miles, who is chilling as an utterly cynical producer. (BritBox) ‘The Eastern Gate’ This low-fi Polish espionage drama, set in 2021, is very different in mood from the spy thrillers American audiences are used to. The Polish agents who are the show’s protagonists are harried and weary, resigned to being underdogs as they confront the raw power of Russia and the ruthlessness of Russia’s partner state, Belarus. An American general may show up to deliver a speech about cooperation, but the Poles are clearly aware that they are on their own (a fictional dilemma made all the more poignant by recent real-world events). Lena Gora is terrific as Ewa, an agent who is smart and good in a fight but whose most important powers are resourcefulness and a determination that registers as principled rather than grim. The point of contention in the first season (which concludes on Friday) is the Suwalki Gap, a strip of Polish territory bordering Belarus that would be of vital importance in a confrontation between Russia and NATO. Amid reports of Russian mobilization, Ewa is sent to find a mole in the Polish embassy in Belarus. The disappearances, torture sessions, last-second rescues and threats to family members are familiar elements, but they feel fresh and authentic, set to a different rhythm and following different cues than those of slicker, more pretentious spy shows. (Max) ‘The Leopard’ This six-part series which premiered Wednesday, a British and Italian production, cannot help being seen in the shadow of one of the greatest historical dramas ever filmed: Luchino Visconti’s three-hour movie of the same title from 1963. The comparison is unfair, but Visconti’s “Leopard,” with its indelible performance by Burt Lancaster (in the title role of a Sicilian nobleman during the revolutionary 1860s) and its staggering, hourlong closing scene set at a ball, forces its way into your consciousness. So if you have seen and loved the film, you might want to pass on this somewhat monotonous but perfectly unobjectionable Italian-language series. That might also be the case if you have read the novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa on which both are based; in its second half the show’s plot diverges from the book’s in some predictably melodramatic ways. On the other hand, if you are a fan of conventional, handsomely appointed costume dramas, made with a degree of finesse and intelligence and with picture-postcard cinematography — shot on Sicilian locations, the series is very pretty to look at — then have at it. Just don’t expect any of the poetry that has graced this story in the past. (Netflix) ‘Newtopia’ The enthusiasm of the South Korean entertainment industry for zombies, and how it might tie into martial-law declarations and ultralow fertility rates, is probably generating a Ph.D. thesis at this moment. One of the jokes in this latest iteration, an eight-episode comedy written by Han Jin-won (who wrote the Oscar-winning “Parasite” screenplay with ***** Joon Ho) and Ji Ho-jin (“A Shop for Killers”), is that people in Seoul are actually surprised to see the undead running through the streets. The outbreak of flesh eating, initially unexplained (the series’s sixth episode arrives Friday), is the framework for a romantic quest in which the soldier Jae-yoon (Park Jeong-min) and his girlfriend, Young-ju (the pop star Jisoo of Blackpink), struggle to reach other through the bloody chaos. But the engine for much of the humor in this consistently amusing show is Jae-yoon’s situation: He is part of an antiaircraft unit located on the roof of a high-rise hotel, where the bored soldiers normally spend their time messing up missile drills and sneaking down to the hotel kitchen for snacks. They’re a comic take on the unit lost in the jungle or on a desert island, except that the burning question here is when will the instant noodles run out. (Amazon Prime Video) ‘Zenshu’ A young, flavor-of-the-month animator, miserably blocked on her next project, eats a bad clam and apparently dies. She wakes up in the world of an anime that obsessed her as a child and inspired her career; even better, she now has magic drawing powers that she can use to help her childhood heroes defeat their giant buglike enemies. But each time she uses them, she pushes the story she remembers further off its track. “Zenshu,” whose lead director (Mitsue Yamazaki) and writer (Kimiko Ueno) are women, is a jokey, good-looking example of the isekai subgenre of anime (protagonist wakes up in strange world) with a little something extra. The stakes are more real, and the dynamics less childlike, than usual; through nine of 12 episodes, the heroine, Natsuko, has believably progressed from malevolent grouch to inquisitive explorer and love interest. And the allegory of anime’s process and power is unforced but clear: Saving the day by herself at the last minute (on deadline) is exciting, but Natsuko will need to learn teamwork if she’s going to be successful either on the battlefield or in the animation studio. (Crunchyroll) Source link #International #Series #Stream #Leopard #Newtopia Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Forza Horizon 5’s PlayStation debut comes with a surprising catch Forza Horizon 5’s PlayStation debut comes with a surprising catch When Forza Horizon 5 arrives on PlayStation, it will require a Microsoft account to play, it’s been revealed. The game, which will be crossplay on all platforms and contain all of the content from both the Xbox and PC versions of the game, will require an extra account linking process from PlayStation players. As pointed out by Does It Play? A newly published FAQ confirms that the game, which will mark the debut of the series on PlayStation platforms, will require the player to have both a PSN account and a Microsoft account on PS5. Players will be prompted to do this when they start the game on their console. There will be no way around this, as the game is only being released digitally, meaning there is no way to play it on PlayStation without going through this step. As Does It Play points out, this has implications for the preservation of the game, as now not only does it rely on the PSN being active indefinitely to verify the ownership of the game, but it also requires Microsoft to maintain its account system. This also allows both parties to revoke or end service on the game without any physical recourse. Forza Horizon 5 will come to PlayStation on April 25 for those who purchase the premium edition, and then April 29 for standard edition players. As well as the PS5 port, a new free content update for Forza Horizon 5 called Horizon Realms is coming to all platforms. According to Playground Games, the Realms update “will give players the chance to explore a curated collection of some of the community’s favorite previously released Evolving Worlds, alongside some other surprises”. Following its release in November 2021, Microsoft claimed Forza Horizon 5 had enjoyed the biggest launch in Xbox history at the time, with more than 10 million players in its first week. VGC’s Forza Horizon 5 review called the racer “the first essential game of the generation”. “Forza Horizon 5 is the best game in the series and the best Xbox Series X/S game to date,” wrote critic Chris Scullion. “Its flawless racing and wealth of activities are backed up by a gorgeous setting and a fantastic new progression system which encourages players to focus on the features they enjoy most. Utterly essential.” Source link #Forza #Horizon #PlayStation #debut #surprising #catch Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘Oedipus’ and ‘Rocky Horror Show’ Are Returning to Broadway ‘Oedipus’ and ‘Rocky Horror Show’ Are Returning to Broadway Roundabout Theater Company, the largest nonprofit on Broadway, will present three very different classics next season: a Greek tragedy, a drawing-room comedy and a monster musical. The English writer and director Robert Icke’s “Oedipus,” a new version of the seminal Sophocles drama about a king who inadvertently kills his father and marries his mother, will come to Broadway in the fall. The production, starring Mark Strong (“A View From the Bridge”) and Lesley Manville (“Phantom Thread”), had an enthusiastically reviewed previous run in London, and just received four Olivier Award nominations (for best revival as well as for the work by Icke, Strong and Manville). “Oedipus” is a commercial venture, with Sonia Friedman, Sue Wagner, John Johnson and Patrick Catullo as lead producers; Roundabout is presenting it this fall at Studio 54 and will offer it to subscribers as part of the nonprofit’s season. There were multiple versions of “Oedipus Rex,” as the show is traditionally called, on Broadway in the early 20th century, but then it largely disappeared — the last production, a weeklong run in 1984, was performed in modern Greek. After “Oedipus,” Roundabout will pivot to lighter fare: The musical “The Rocky Horror Show” in the spring of 2026 at Studio 54, and the play “Fallen Angels,” that same spring, at the Todd Haimes Theater. (The Haimes will close this fall for a renovation, which will include a restoration of the interior and an upgrade to the bathrooms, elevators and seats.) “The Rocky Horror Show” is a 1973 sci-fi spoof by Richard O’Brien; it first ran on Broadway in 1975 and was revived once before, in 2000. The new production will be directed by Sam Pinkleton (“Oh, Mary!”), who had been scheduled to direct a version of the musical in 2020 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, but that production was scuttled by the pandemic. “Fallen Angels” is a 1925 comedy by Noël Coward about two married women with a shared ex-lover. This revival will be directed by Scott Ellis, the Roundabout’s interim artistic director, and will star Rose Byrne (“Bridesmaids”) and Kelli O’Hara (a Tony winner for “The King and I”). “Fallen Angels” has had two previous Broadway productions, in 1927 and 1956. Roundabout also has an Off Broadway theater, the Laura Pels, where next fall it plans to stage “Archduke,” a play by Rajiv Joseph (“Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo”) about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Darko Tresnjak (a Tony winner for “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & *******”) will direct, and Patrick Page (“Hadestown”) will star. Roundabout plans to follow “Archduke” next winter with an Off Broadway production of “******** Republicans,” a satirical workplace drama by Alex Lin, directed by Chay Yew. Source link #Oedipus #Rocky #Horror #Show #Returning #Broadway Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

‘[They] just about fell off their chairs’ ‘[They] just about fell off their chairs’ Conservationists are cheering remarkable news out of France, as an otter was spotted in Normandy for the first time in nearly 100 years. The animal was spotted on a wildlife camera near the Andelle and Lieure rivers, according to a report in The Connexion. Cameras had been put in the location by conservation groups to examine the wetland area, and when researchers reviewing the footage spotted the otter, they “just about fell off their chairs,” they told the publication. The previous confirmed otter sighting in the region occurred in 1932. Otters were once prevalent in France but had disappeared from much of the country by the 1980s, according to Wildlife in France. That population decrease was largely due to hunting, trapping, and habitat loss from the building of roads and the drying up of waterways. At their lowest, The Connexion wrote, there were fewer than 1,000 wild otters in France. But a concerted effort to preserve and protect them has paid off. “The reappearance of the otter is a direct result of our conservation policies,” local official Myriam Dutell told the publication. “The area has, since 2009, benefited from a policy of particularly intensive ecological management.” Watch now: Giant snails invading New York City? Officials aren’t sure if this newly spotted otter came from another area or may be part of a previously unspotted population in Normandy. But no matter how it got there, it’s an encouraging sign for the region. Reintroducing a species into a native area promotes a healthier, more diverse ecosystem. In Alabama, for example, Eastern indigo snakes were reintroduced into a forest where they once thrived but hadn’t been seen in roughly 70 years. A reintroduced herd of bison is expected to help air pollution in Romania, and in the Galapagos Islands, reintroduced tortoises should improve biodiversity. This also isn’t the first unexpected otter sighting in recent memory. Last year, two sea otters were spotted off the Oregon coast — the first such sighting since the early 1900s. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don’t miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Source link #fell #chairs Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

Huge Battlefield 6 gameplay videos have inevitably leaked from this weekend’s test Huge Battlefield 6 gameplay videos have inevitably leaked from this weekend’s test The first Battlefield 6 gameplay videos have leaked online from the game’s ongoing pre-alpha closed testing program. The first of EA’s ‘Battlefield Labs’ testing sessions kicked off this weekend, and despite users being sworn to secrecy, a significant amount of game footage has inevitably made its way online. EA is taking a more transparent approach to the development of the next Battlefield, following significant community disappointment around the last instalment, 2042. Initial Battlefield 6 tests will focus on the game’s core pillars, like combat and destruction, and later transition to balance and feedback for weapons, vehicles and gadgets, before moving on to maps, modes, and squad play. Players can register now for the chance to participate, with initial invites set to be distributed to a few thousand players in Europe and North America. Over time, EA plans to open testing up to other territories and tens of thousands more users. Four internal EA studios, which the publisher collectively refers to as Battlefield Studios, are building a connected universe set in the modern day. Dice is responsible for its multiplayer component, Motive is working on multiplayer maps as well as single player mission content, Criterion is mainly focused on single-player, and Ripple Effect is creating a new experience for the series. “Battlefield Labs is a place for us to test concepts and experiences we’re excited about with you, our players,” according to EA. “We want our community to play a key role in the future of Battlefield and this is an opportunity for many of you to do just that.” “This is an unprecedented moment for Battlefield,” it added. “We will start by testing the pillars of play, like core combat and destruction. Then transition to balance and feedback for our weapons, vehicles and gadgets, ultimately leading to where all these pieces come together in our maps, modes, and squad play. “And yes, we will be testing Conquest and Breakthrough, the heart and soul of our all-out warfare experience, but BF Labs will also be a place to explore new ideas and fine-tune and improve Battlefield pillars like our class system (Assault, Engineer, Support, and Recon) to create deeper more strategic play.” Source link #Huge #Battlefield #gameplay #videos #inevitably #leaked #weekends #test Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]

AMD’s Zen 6-based desktop processors may feature up to 24 cores AMD’s Zen 6-based desktop processors may feature up to 24 cores AMD’s upcoming Zen 6 processors will remain compatible with AM5, but they are set to introduce a new chiplet-based CPU design and significantly boost core counts across desktop and laptop products, according to sources of ChipHell, as well as Moore’s Law Is Dead. Premium processors for gamers will also feature 3D V-Cache. AMD’s next-generation Ryzen processors based on the Zen 6 microarchitecture will feature 12-core core chiplet dies (CCDs), marking a major shift from eight-core CCDs used in Zen 3/4/5 generation processors, if the linked reports are accurate. As a result, desktop AM5 processors will be able to feature up to 24 cores. Meanwhile, advanced laptop APUs will transition from a four Zen 5 eight Zen 5c (8+4) configuration to a 12-core structure, at least according to MLID. A Zen 6 CCD is 75mm^2 large, MLID claims. Now, the increased number of cores is a big deal. However, premium versions of AMD’s desktop processors will feature up to 96MB of L3 cache, which is 4MB per core. 4MB per core is in line with existing Zen 5 configurations, so AMD does not cut down caches in favor of core count. AMD is expected to release Zen 6-based products in 2026, so it is reasonable to expect them to use a more advanced node than they use today (TSMC’s 4nm-class), so think TSMC’s N3P (3nm-class) given that AMD does exactly use leading-edge nodes (possibly due to supply constraints), which will be N2 (2nm-class) next year. AMD’s Zen 6-based Ryzens for gaming PCs will also feature 3D V-Cache. Some laptop processors with built-in graphics will also feature 3D V-Cache, though exact configuration is something that remains to be seen. AMD Medusa Point and Medusa Ridge Interestingly, and according to MLID, AMD’s standard APUs will be chiplet-based, moving away from the monolithic approach. Medusa Point — a laptop APU — is expected to feature a Zen 6 CCD with 12 cores and a 200mm^2 I/O die (IOD), featuring eight RDNA work groups, a 128-bit memory controller, and a large NPU. There is speculation that Infinity Cache may be added to enhance GPU performance. MLID also claims that the desktop version of Medusa Point — allegedly called Medusa Ridge — will use up to two 12-core Zen 6 CCD in the AM5 form-factor. That product will have a 155mm^2 IOD without an advanced built-in GPU, but possibly with a large NPU. Get Tom’s Hardware’s best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox. Source link #AMDs #Zen #6based #desktop #processors #feature #cores Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content] For verified travel tips and real support, visit: [Hidden Content]

What to Know About the On-Again, Off-Again Trump Tariffs – The New York Times What to Know About the On-Again, Off-Again Trump Tariffs – The New York Times What to Know About the On-Again, Off-Again Trump Tariffs The New York TimesWe texted 1,000 Americans about Trump’s tariffs. This is how they responded. The Washington PostTrump’s erratic trade policies are baffling businesses, threatening investment and economic growth The Associated PressTariffs are likely to push auto prices higher. Should you buy a new car now? CBS News Source link #OnAgain #OffAgain #Trump #Tariffs #York #Times Pelican News View the full article at [Hidden Content]