Amid doubling prices and fraying tempers, shoppers hunt for elusive eyewear to prepare for rare eclipse of sun
• Europe solar eclipse – latest updates
A secretive WhatsApp group was pinging with notifications throughout Wednesday, letting its members know where in London the latest “drop” would take place.
The group’s focus, rather than being for an illicit substance, was for the much-coveted eclipse glasses, which have prompted a frantic rush on shops before the celestial event.
Continue reading...First time director Dylan Meyer’s female twist on the genre is let down by silly stereotypes and jokes that land with a thud
Want to feel old? Superbad turns 20 next year. It’s been decades since the stoner comedy ruled the box office. In fact, the genre’s best theatrically-released film of recent years – the hilarious buddy movie One Of Them Days – didn’t feature any weed smoking at all despite hitting all the usual outlandish beats of a stoner flick. If the streaming success of Hulu’s recent R-rated bong-ripper Pizza Movie is anything to go by, audiences would rather watch this particular strain of movie on the couch where they can spark up in peace.
The Wrong Girls aims to reverse that trend with a nationwide US theatrical roll-out by Neon, the arty distributor which propelled Parasite and Anora to Oscar glory. Best friends Molly (Alia Shawkat) and Frankie (Kristen Stewart) live in a PeeWee’s Playhouse coded stoner cave with macrame decor, a life-size cut-out of Céline Dion, multiple cat towers and a contraption called the bong-o-tron – a complex rig of tubes and bubbling conical flasks – that fills the entirety of their coffee table. Being high all the time gives them a daffy kind of magical thinking, as they drive around town belting out power ballads and imagine that they are under the ocean with all manner of friendly sea creatures.
Continue reading...The body is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light about 30bn light years from Earth
Astronomers claim to have discovered a new kind of cosmic object, a black hole “star”, which is the size of the entire solar system and glows with a brilliant red light.
The international team made the breakthrough after focusing their attention on a mysterious red spot in images of the early solar system captured by Nasa’s James Webb space telescope.
Continue reading...Aircraft carrier’s crew in ninth month at sea and has spent record 250 days consecutively without making land
Military families and Congress members are sounding the alarm about an intensifying mental health crisis onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, as its 5,000 sailors and marines endure a record-breaking deployment at sea tied to the war with Iran.
Two leading specialist military papers, the Navy Times and the Stars and Stripes, are reporting that there have been multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stresses on the Lincoln reach breaking point. The crew is in its ninth month at sea, and has spent 250 days consecutively without making land – a record for an aircraft carrier in modern times.
Continue reading...AMSTERDAM (ANP) - De aandelenbeurs in Amsterdam is woensdag met een verlies de handel uitgegaan. Techinvesteerder Prosus was een negatieve uitschieter na kwartaalcijfers van het Chinese internetconcern Tencent, waarin het AEX-bedrijf een groot belang heeft. Beleggers wereldwijd reageerden ook op nieuwe cijfers over de inflatie in de Verenigde Staten.
De AEX sloot 0,4 procent lager op 1112,28 punten. De MidKap steeg juist 0,1 procent tot 1122,15 punten. De beurzen in Frankfurt, Parijs en Londen gingen tot 0,5 procent omlaag.
Prosus verloor bijna 6 procent en eindigde onderaan bij de hoofdfondsen. Tencent maakte bij de kwartaalcijfers bekend de uitgaven aan AI-projecten te verdubbelen. De vrije kasstroom was negatief doordat de kapitaaluitgaven in het afgelopen kwartaal meer dan verdubbelden.
ABN AMRO
ABN AMRO was met een plus van 5 procent de sterkste stijger in de AEX na goed ontvangen kwartaalcijfers. De bank voerde de winst in het tweede kwartaal met bijna een derde op. Daarbij verstrekte ABN AMRO meer hypotheken en meer leningen aan bedrijven. De kosten daalden juist bij de reorganiserende bank.
Op de financiële markten waren de ogen ook gericht op de inflatiecijfers in de Verenigde Staten. De prijsontwikkeling in 's werelds grootste economie was grotendeels in lijn met de verwachtingen van economen. De inflatie in juli koelde ook iets af in vergelijking met de voorgaande maand.
Arbeidsmarkt VS stimuleren
Op de markten voor kortlopende schulden wordt de kans op een renteverhoging door de Federal Reserve in september nu kleiner ingeschat. De meevallende inflatie geeft de centrale bank in de VS mogelijk meer ruimte om de arbeidsmarkt te stimuleren door de leenkosten voorlopig niet te verhogen.
De olieprijzen bleven vrijwel onveranderd, in afwachting van nieuws over het conflict tussen Iran en de VS.
From materials we normally discard like padded packaging or the mesh sleeves that protect fruit from bruising, Suzanne Jongmans summons elegant and dreamlike Renaissance portraits.
The artist drapes models in lush velvet fabrics and typically positions them against deep backgrounds in the vein of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Lady with an Ermine” (1489-91) or Antonello da Messina’s “Portrait of a Young Man” (c. 1470). The settings and the addition of fine garments contrast found plastic detritus with hints of refinement and the figures’ dignified postures, mirroring the solemn, pious expressions of individuals in Renaissance portraiture. Recently, she has also incorporated copper coils extracted from the electric motors of disused household appliances and fuses.
Jongmans infuses her works with nods to gender roles and issues that still raise the hackles of “polite society,” such as breastfeeding in public. The artist seamlessly ties a centuries-old aesthetic to salient contemporary concerns, exploring femininity, individuality, and the nature of concealment. Through the latter especially, she delves into the human capacity for wonder and its significance at a time when technology, the gears of so-called progress, and revisionism endanger our connections to the natural world, our histories, and one another.
The artist describes her approach as an exploration of the space between the material and the immaterial world, one where society, eras, emotions, and cosmic forces converge. “Since the Enlightenment, reason has been glorified and the Western tendency towards a drive for modernization and mechanization has increased,” Jongmans says in a statement. “The significance of myths and imagination in our daily lives seems to have been lost or at least faded into the background.”
By exploring the past, Jongmans creates exquisitely contemporary compositions, prompting us to consider the meaning of value and how it is assigned. The works are also sensitive, introspective meditations on human feeling, and she has even occasionally turned the camera on herself. “In the Midst of It All,” for example, is a self-portrait taken during the pandemic that serves as a reminder to slow down, rest, and reconnect not only with the surrounding environment but with oneself.
See more on Jongmans’ Instagram.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Suzanne Jongmans Recycles Everyday Materials for Elegant Renaissance-Style Portraits appeared first on Colossal.
Flying Saucer Video is an ongoing webcomic by Cam Marshall. It's 2019 and Franky works at the best DVD rental store in the world, crushing on most of her coworkers. Especially the (suspiciously) oblivious Tulip. Franky has a lot of complexities in her life but she is perfectly happy. An enthusiastic story about the joy of love in all its forms. And it's just wrapped up its fourth chapter, where absolutely nothing bad happens.
It does that thing where it has characters (or the narrator) say their feelings out loud, but I find the whole sufficiently charming that I don't care. Matchmaker was Cam's queer pandemic slice of life comic. It completed its run in 2023 and is also available in print form. Ethernet Cable Girlfriend (human/android lesbian romance) is ongoing in parallel with Flying Saucer Video and is available on Cam's itch store or via Patreon.
It does that thing where it has characters (or the narrator) say their feelings out loud, but I find the whole sufficiently charming that I don't care. Matchmaker was Cam's queer pandemic slice of life comic. It completed its run in 2023 and is also available in print form. Ethernet Cable Girlfriend (human/android lesbian romance) is ongoing in parallel with Flying Saucer Video and is available on Cam's itch store or via Patreon.
Een oud-medewerker van jeugdinstelling iHub in Alphen aan de Rijn bekent dat hij seks heeft gehad met een 15-jarige cliënt. De 29-jarige Bilal H. uit Maassluis zegt dat het met wederzijds goedvinden was.
