Sonam at cannes film festival 2018

We are in the middle of the LGBTQ Pride Month -- a celebration to honour the Stonewall Uprising, which was a catalyst for the Gay Liberation Movement in the United States. Participate in the celebration by watching the finest films exploring the lives of LGBTQ persons. Here is our selection: Moonlight, 2016 Moonlight. (Image credit: a24films.com) The 2017 Academy Award winner in the Best Picture category chronicles the life of a young African-American man struggling with his sexuality and identity. The film's cast includes Mahershala Ali, Janelle Monáea, Naomie Harris and André Holland. It is available for viewing on Amazon Prime Video. Close Brokeback Mountain, 2005 Brokeback Mountain. (Image credit: focusfeatures.com) Ang Lee's classic film stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as two ranch hand who cross paths one summer in 1963 and form an enduring connection. Viewers can stream the film on Netflix. Boys Don't Cry, 1999 Boys … [Read more...] about Pride Month: 5 films that dive into LGBTQ lives

Image: Michal Krakowiak/Istock.com via AFP Relaxnews A rise in international travel to countries in Asia-Pacific and Europe helped drive up global tourist arrival numbers by 6 percent in the first four months of 2018, exceeding the United Nations’ World Tourism Organization expectations. According to the latest stats from the UNWTO, between January and April of this year, international arrivals increased by 8 percent in the Asia Pacific region. At the sub-regional level, international tourist arrivals spiked 10 percent for countries in Southeast Asia and 9 percent across South Asia. Not far behind, Europe also saw a 7 percent spike in international tourist arrivals during the same period, thanks to strong performances from destinations in the south and Mediterranean, and Western Europe. South America showed the strongest results in the Americas, with 8 percent growth in international tourist visitors, while the Caribbean, which is still recovering from the aftermath of … [Read more...] about Int’l tourist arrivals for 2018 exceed UN expectations so far

Commission on Audit. (INQUIRER FILE PHOTO) MANILA, Philippines  — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) said on Saturday that it received the highest audit rating from the Commission on Audit (COA) for 2018. The OVP cited a COA report, which read that state auditors rendered an “unqualified opinion” on the fairness of the presentation of the office’s financial statement for the said fiscal year. According to the COA, an “unqualified opinion” is  considered the best opinion that a government agency would receive from state auditors. “In our opinion, the accompanying financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the OVP as of Dec. 31, 2018, and its financial performance, statement of cash flows, statement of changes in net assets/equity, statement of comparison of budget and actual amounts for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies in accordance with … [Read more...] about OVP receives highest audit rating from COA for 2018

Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin A print Juul advertisement that ran in Vice Magazine in 2015 as part of the e-cigarette company'’s ... [+] launch campaign, “Vaporized.” Juul 'Vaporized' ad in 2015 via Stanford Research Into the Impact of Tobacco Advertising Juul Labs, the maker of the most popular U.S. e-cigarette, is growing meteorically—on track to generate an estimated $1 billion in sales this year, up more than 300% from a year ago. However, its products haven’t only gained traction among smokers trying to wean themselves off cigarettes. They are also a hit with teenagers. What medical experts are calling a Juul-driven “youth nicotine epidemic” is gaining heightened attention from regulators like the Food and Drug Administration, which on Thursday said it is seeking a nationwide ban on menthol cigarettes and flavored cigars and will sharply restrict the sales of fruity-flavored nicotine vaping cartridges. Juul, likely aware of the … [Read more...] about The Disturbing Focus Of Juul’s Early Marketing Campaigns

Actor Rakshit Shetty as Dharma and Charlie in '777 Charlie'. (Image: Screen grab) A crotchety young man Dharma (Rakshit Shetty) - who lives alone in a house watching videos, eating idlis and drinking beer - works in a factory as a welder. His co-workers hate him because he won’t socialise, his neighbours are wary of him and the kids have been told, ‘Eat or else "Hitler" Mama will beat you.’ But a puppy spots something special about Dharma, and she adopts him. Dharma just doesn’t know it yet. In the first 20 minutes of the film, this clever puppy gives us plenty of reasons to love her. She survives traffic, hunger, harsh summer and at least 20 people who throw things at her just to shoo her away. And she’s determined to take Dharma under her wing. Wait, what? The puppy’s antics are so much fun because they’re happening to Dharma who doesn’t know the first thing about raising a puppy. If you’ve been owned by a dog, you know that it’s like having a baby in the house. … [Read more...] about 777 Charlie review: Kiranraj K creates magic with Rakshit Shetty and a dog called Charlie

Sonali Bendre in 'The Broken News', an adaptation of British show 'Press'. After a long hiatus from movies and fictional shows, actress Sonali Bendre has made her OTT debut with The Broken News , released June 10, 2022, on Zee5. The Hindi adaptation of British TV series Press also stars Jaideep Ahlawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar in leading roles along with Bendre, who plays a journalist in the show. Edited excerpts from a conversation with Bendre: Your last acting stint in a fiction project was the television series 'Ajeeb Daastaan Hai Ye' in 2014, and a year before that, it was a cameo in the movie 'Once Upon a Time in Mumbai Dobaara'. What kept you away? I had always maintained that once I have my baby, I will not do fiction for the initial 7-8 years as I did not want to travel. I did reality TV because it was the closest to being in office in terms of timing and working around my son’s schedule. Then I did Ajeeb Daastaan … which was a fabulous subject but the story … [Read more...] about Sonali Bendre on ‘The Broken News’: “It’s a relevant story and my character has a voice”

You know the place, even if you haven’t been there. advertisement advertisement From the outside, it has a spare, severe look. But inside, past the flower stall and barbershop, the vibe is serene and hushed. Long tables and worn leather chairs invite people to cluster; the scent of locally roasted coffee mixes with the sound of the nearby photo booth, whirring in the background. There are vintage records on the shelves and slinky indie pop on the speakers, and the late afternoon sunlight makes puddles on the century-old wood floor. The feeling is both of the moment and timeless. To a remarkable extent, this place, the Ace Hotel, is the brainchild of a single man, a lean, mop-haired native of the Pacific Northwest named Alexander Calderwood. A kind of hipster polymath, he was able to look around the corners of culture and see what was coming years, if not decades, before everyone else. In his 20-year career, Calderwood cofounded a barbershop, a … [Read more...] about Behind Ace Hotel Founder Alex Calderwood’s Creative Life And Untimely Death

The Asia Pacific region is expected to see a 3.2 percent rise in the cost of air travel in 2019. Image: Grafissimo/IStock.com via AFP Relaxnews Travel is expected to get more expensive in 2019 with the cost of flights and hotels both predicted to rise, according to the fifth annual Global Travel Forecast, published by GBTA and CWT with the support of the Carlson Family Foundation. The proliferation of low-cost long-haul flights brings more opportunities to visit far-flung destinations without breaking the bank, and such carriers are predicted to multiply in 2019, while continuing to fight for long-haul routes. Ultra-long-haul flights will be another air travel trend for 2019. But factors such as rising oil prices and a lack of pilots are expected to drive up airfares next year in almost all global regions. In Western Europe, for example, the cost of air travel is expected to rise 4.8 percent. The increase could be particularly pronounced in Norway (11.5 percent), Germany (7.3 … [Read more...] about Travel to get more expensive in 2019 as hotel rates, flight costs go up

Ryza Cenon Horror is one of the genres Ryza Cenon finds most challenging in acting. But while she has already starred in a horror movie in the past, her latest one, “Rooftop,” presented a different dynamic: In her 2016 film, “Ang Manananggal sa Unit 23B,” she was the one who did the pursuing; this time, it was the other way around. “Back then, I played a manananggal. But this one is different because I’m the one getting scared away. I feel like that’s the toughest thing—convincing people that you’re scared and making them feel the same way,” Ryza said in a recent virtual conference for the said Vivamax film directed by Yam Laranas. “And if they’re able to relate to you, then that means you did a good job.” Making things more difficult, she pointed out, is her lack of practice. In 2020, Ryza took a break from show biz in preparation for motherhood. Did she feel rusty in her first project after giving birth to her firstborn? “Super! I hadn’t acted or worked in a while … I was … [Read more...] about ‘Back to zero’: Why last-minute assignment makes Ryza feel like a newbie

Thousands of ageing solar panels sited throughout China could trigger an environmental crisis over the next two decades, according to industry experts. China has more solar power plants than any other country, operating roughly twice as many solar panels as the U.S. with no plans on how to dispose of the old panels that break down. “It will explode with full force in two or three decades and wreck the environment, if the estimate is correct,” Tian Min, general manager of a Chinese recycling company, told The South China Morning Post . “This is a huge amount of waste and they are not easy to recycle.” There could be 20 million metric tons of solar panel waste, or 2,000 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower, by 2050 according to Lu Fang, the secretary general of solar power at the China Renewable Energy Society. Solar panels use hazardous materials, like sulfuric acid and phosphine gas, in the manufacturing process that makes them hard to recycle. Solar panels also have … [Read more...] about Old Solar Panels Causing An Environmental Crisis In China