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A Vienna cafe offers a welcome for Israel supporters as tensions brew at the Eurovision Song Contest

VIENNA | Vienna’s famed coffeehouses have embraced the Eurovision Song Contest. They have also been touched by tensions over Israel’s inclusion in the sequin-drenched pop music competition. When officials announced a list of “Eurofan Cafes” — Vienna coffee shops offering food and music from competing countries — Israel was initially left out. MQ Kantine, a […]

6 mins read

Movie Review: Sorry not sorry — ‘Is God Is’ stakes a claim for unapologetic female rage

As playwright Aleshea Harris tells it, something felt missing when she first sat down to write her searing and startling play “Is God Is,” which made waves off-Broadway in 2018. Harris was writing an epic story of Black female revenge, one that drew on Greek tragedy and mythology, but also spaghetti westerns and a liberal […]

6 mins read

Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani among ‘A List’ Asian American, Pacific Islander names in new HBO doc

Director Eugene Yi has always been interested in the term Asian American and Pacific Islander and which ethnicities it includes. “When we’re talking about Asian Americans or Asian people in the U.S., oftentimes it’s people who might look like you and me, and maybe not people who look like (New York City Mayor) Zohran Mamdani,” […]

2 mins read

Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Chaka Khan and Vince Gill recordings enter national registry

LOS ANGELES | Albums and songs from Taylor Swift,Beyoncé,Chaka Khan and The Go-Go’s are joining America’s audio canon. The new inductees into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress include Swift’s blockbuster 2014 pop album “1989,” Beyoncé’s era-defining 2008 anthem “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” Khan’s genre-blending hit “I Feel for […]

6 mins read

Jason Collins, NBA’s first openly gay player, dies at 47 of brain cancer

Jason Collins, the NBA’s first openly gay player who went on to become a pioneer for inclusion and an ambassador for the league, has died after an eight-month battle with an aggressive form of brain cancer, his family announced Tuesday. Collins spent 13 years as a player in the league for six different franchises. He […]

6 mins read

Peter Jackson receives honorary Palme D’Or as Cannes flaunts star power despite Hollywood’s retreat

CANNES, France | The 79th Cannes Film Festival opened Tuesday with politics, artificial intelligence and the shifting priorities of Hollywood taking center stage at the film gathering on the French Riviera. The festival launched with a tribute to director Peter Jackson, handing the “Lord of the Rings” filmmaker an honorary Palme d’Or. He was introduced […]

6 mins read

20 years after a 22-minute ovation, Guillermo del Toro and ‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ return to Cannes

CANNES, France | Twenty years ago, Guillermo del Toro premiered “Pan’s Labyrinth” at the Cannes Film Festival. He went in anxious. It was toward the end of the festival and many journalists had left. The movie’s production had been a nightmare. Then the audience gave it a 22-minute standing ovation, the longest in Cannes history. […]

6 mins read

Sandra Oh, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are in a HBO doc on being Asian American, Pacific Islander

Director Eugene Yi has always been interested in the term Asian American and Pacific Islander and which ethnicities it includes. “When we’re talking about Asian Americans or Asian people in the U.S., oftentimes it’s people who might look like you and me, and maybe not people who look like (New York City Mayor) Zohran Mamdani,” […]

2 mins read

Conan O’Brien to return as Oscars host in 2027

Conan O’Brien’s era as Oscars host is becoming a trilogy. The Emmy-winner and comedian will be back to host the 99th Academy Awards in 2027, film academy leaders said Tuesday. O’Brien hosted the last two Oscar ceremonies to positive reviews. Earlier this year, in his opening monologue, he said he was “honored to be the […]

6 mins read

Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera reunite on Day of the Dead in new Met Opera production

Racked by unrelenting pain, Mexican painter Frida Kahlo wrote in her diary shortly before she died: “I joyfully await the exit — and hope never to return.” Yet return she does — if only briefly — on the Day of the Dead in “El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego” (“The Last Dream of Frida […]