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Movie Review: Pickleball is the star of the sports comedy ‘The Dink’
It’s the tennis establishment versus pickleball enthusiasts at an uptight club in “The Dink,” a kind of spiritual descendant of “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story.” The story itself is very by the books: A once promising tennis prodigy learns to get over himself and his disdain for the “lesser sport.” In one version of the […]
Louvre reopens Apollo Gallery after a brazen heist, but no jewels are on display
PARIS | The Louvre’s Apollo gallery on Wednesday reopened to the public for the first time since 88 million euros ($102 million) worth of crown jewels were stolen in a dramatic daytime heist. The public can tour the majestic room and view its gilded ceilings and Greek frescoes en route to the nearby Mona Lisa, […]
Los Angeles medical examiner pushes for greater transparency in high-profile deaths
LOS ANGELES | Autopsy reports rarely come with barbed comments. So eyebrows rose when the autopsy results of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez were released with a statement from the Los Angeles County chief medical examiner saying it was “unfathomable” her grieving parents had to wait months to learn how their daughter died. The autopsy performed […]
Danny Boyle’s Rupert Murdoch movie ‘Ink’ to open Venice Film Festival
A new film about the rise of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and “The Sun” editor Larry Lamb has been selected to open the Venice International Film Festival, organizers said Thursday. Directed by “Trainspotting” filmmaker Danny Boyle, “Ink” is an adaptation of James Graham’s acclaimed play, which dramatizes Murdoch’s 1969 acquisition of the daily newspaper “The […]
Powerball ticket sales begin Tuesday in the United Kingdom
Powerball ticket sales in the United Kingdom will begin Tuesday, giving players across the Atlantic a chance at winning the same massive jackpot that U.S. players already play for — with the same minuscule odds. The expansion, first announced in April through an agreement between the Multi-State Lottery Association in the U.S. and Allwyn UK, […]
A gardener’s guide to 5 orchids that mimic animals, insects and even a naked man
Like most gardeners, I occasionally stumble upon fruits and flowers that resemble something else. But a naked man was not on my botanical bingo card. Sure, tomatoes can be mischievous, taking on the shape of horned animals, Russian dolls, large-nosed characters and even unmentionables when exposed to extreme temperatures and vivid imaginations. But I thought […]
Luke Skywalker’s ‘Empire Strikes Back’ lightsaber with severed hand attached auctioned for $3.75M
LOS ANGELES | A lightsaber with Luke Skywalker’s severed hand from “The Empire Strikes Back” has sold for $3.75 million at auction. Heritage Auctions announced the results of its Hollywood & Entertainment Signature Auction on Monday. The lightsaber, used onscreen by Mark Hamill in the climactic Cloud City fight where Darth Vader declares “I am […]
Cut the number of choices you make each day. Your brain will thank you
Jeans that fit perfectly. The ideal Netflix show for a Tuesday night. Your one and only soulmate. Modern life promises that with enough options, you will happily find the best of everything. But behavioral scientists say the increasing flood of choices — whether it comes to shopping, social lives or relationships — is doing the […]
A centuries-old festival in Japan brings Shinto traditions and towering floats to the streets
KYOTO, Japan | There’s a special moment when Katsushi Horikawa feels closer to the gods. It comes as he rides atop one of the towering floats pulled through the streets in a centuries-old procession in Japan. This is the Gion Matsuri festival, born more than 1,000 years ago as a ritual to ward off epidemics […]
Japanese beetle advances through northern Italy’s vineyards and orchards, frustrating farmers
DONNAS, Italy | The iridescent green beetles native to Japan have become a growing menace in Italy, swarming through orchards and vineyards and leaving behind devastating lattice patterns in leaves that weaken the plants and reduce production. The Popillia japonica, or Japanese beetle, is a familiar pest in the United States, where it arrived more […]