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A new Swatch model is introduced, and a case study in overexcited ‘drop culture’ plays out
LONDON | In Paris, police deployed tear gas. In Milan, Italy, a fistfight erupted. In London, Singapore and New York, all-night queues snaked from the doors of Swatch stores — the latest examples of status-symbol “drop culture” to flash across the globe when status symbols and resale value collide. The company at the center of […]
Argentina’s icy outpost at the end of the world fears the hantavirus will chill tourism
USHUAIA, Argentina | Travelers hoping to catch a glimpse of Magellanic penguins and humpback whales have journeyed in greater numbers every year to Ushuaia, the main Antarctic cruise hub at the southernmost point of Argentina. The wind-lashed city that bills itself as the “end of the world” now fears for its future. In the last […]
Barney Frank, a liberal congressman and trailblazer for gay rights, dies. He was 86
WASHINGTON | Barney Frank, the longtime Democratic congressman and leading liberal who brought new visibility to gay rights and crafted the most significant reforms to the financial system in a generation, has died. He was 86. Frank died late Tuesday, according to Jim Segel, Frank’s former campaign manager and close friend. After representing broad swaths […]
Don’t sleep on ‘Is God Is,’ a primal scream of a movie inspired by Westerns and Greek tragedy
Aleshea Harris wrote “Is God Is” with the assumption that it would never be performed as a play, let alone turned into a movie. It was simply a story she needed to get onto the page: A tale of rage and revenge, an ancient Greek tragedy melded with Spaghetti Western tropes centered on contemporary Black […]
In Cannes standout ‘Fatherland,’ Sandra Hüller stuns again
CANNES, France | For Sandra Hüller, eruptions of emotion don’t come naturally. She prefers to be quiet and calm, and often her screen presence radiates intensity when she’s simply watching. But when she explodes — whether in grief or karaoke — she can be magnificent. “It’s not something that I like to do, particularly,” Hüller […]
Jane Schoenbrun’s queer slasher movie ‘Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma’ jolts Cannes
CANNES, France | “A good electric chair” is how Jane Schoenbrun describes their first Cannes Film Festival premiere. “I really felt like my body was in a state of convulsion,” says Schoenbrun. The day after the premiere of “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma,” a bold, bloody queer slasher film starring Hannah Einbinder and […]
Mark Fuhrman, former LA police detective convicted of lying during OJ Simpson murder trial, has died
BOISE, Idaho | Former Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, who was convicted of lying during testimony at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, has died. He was 74. Fuhrman was one of the first two police detectives sent to investigate the 1994 killings of Simpson’s ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in […]
Lettuce introduce you to the live frog found in this grocery store salad bag
MELBOURNE, Australia | When Australian farmer Rhys Smoker announced he’d found a live frog in a bag of lettuce, his housemates didn’t believe him. Smoker had been preparing a steak and salad dinner on Saturday for the three people who share his house in Esperance in Western Australia state when he spotted the frog among […]
Animal welfare groups say 3 South African zoo elephants are depressed and sue to move them
CAPE TOWN, South Africa | The mental well-being of three elephants in a zoo in South Africa is the subject of an unusual court case, with animal welfare groups saying they are depressed and should be moved to a larger conservation park where they can be happy. The case this week will ask a South […]
The breathless Korean sci-fi monster movie ‘Hope’ leaves the Cannes Film Festival floored
CANNES, France | Sprawling action movies with aliens do not generally compete for the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or. But Na Hong-jin’s “Hope” is not your average science fiction. Few movies were more anticipated in Cannes. It’s been 10 years since Na’s last film, the well-regarded 2016 thriller “The Wailing.” While some of Na’s fellow […]