In Pictures: The week in Culture
Clem Burke, whose versatile drumming propelled the iconic rock group Blondie during its decades performing everything from new-wave punk to disco-infused tunes, died this week aged 70.
Each year, Meltdown chooses a different musical act to direct the festival's programme. 2025 is Little Simz's year, and her curation of the 30th edition at London's Southbank Centre - which will take place from 12-22 June - is looking very promising.
Sustainable retailer Awesome Books has put together a list of the most Instagrammable bookstores around the world, ranking based on the number of posts tagged with the store's name. The list is mighty pretty.
The grave marker of director David Lynch was revealed by his daughter Jennifer, and it bears a cryptic epitaph that couldn't be more Lynchian. We unlocked the mystery behind "Night Blooming Jasmine."
A high court in Colombia ruled this week that the song '+57', recorded last year by urban music stars J Balvin and Karol G, violated the rights of children because its lyrics sexualized minors.
Tennis legend Billie Jean King became the first woman to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the new sports entertainment category.
Fans and countrymen shared their remembrances of Dominican Republic music icon Rubby Pérez, who was among the scores of people killed this week after the roof at the Jet Set club in Santo Domingo collapsed. He was 69. His wake took place at the Eduardo Brito National Theater in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
For the first time ever, London's National Gallery is offering one lucky person an overnight stay among some of the most iconic paintings in history. Read all about it here.
We're getting a new Patti Smith book this year... And we're all sorts of excited.
The line-up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival was announced this week - and the selection looks fantastic. However, it coincided with a special committee report on sexist and sexual abuse in the world of French culture - something which may end up overshadowing this year's festival... Read the full story here.
Pete Best, the drummer who performed with the Beatles before Ringo Starr, confirmed his retirement this week. The 83-year-old's brother announced the news on social media, writing that the drummer would no longer be performing with his band, the Pete Best Band.
Ready to dive back into the world of The Last Of Us? Well, the celebrated zombie show is back on your screens on Sunday. We loved Season One, so fingers crossed the return will bring the goods...
See you next week and stay tuned to for all your cultural news.
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USA Today
28 minutes ago
- USA Today
Trump weighs in on American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad
President Donald Trump is entering the national debate surrounding American Eagle's Sydney Sweeney ad. In a Newsmax interview Friday, Aug. 1 with host Rob Finnerty, Trump was asked about the "Euphoria" actress starring in the clothing retailer's fall 2025 denim ad campaign that some critics saw as a veiled attempt to endorse eugenics. Eugenics is a highly controversial (and discredited) set of beliefs that the human population can improve or advance itself through selective breeding. "Sydney Sweeney, an actress was in an ad for blue jeans. The ad is doing very well, it's very popular. The jeans have sold out. Does America need to see more ads like that and maybe fewer ads with people like Dylan Mulvaney on the cover?" Finnerty asked, referring to the controversial 2023 Bud Light campaign starring the transgender TikTok star which elicited criticism from certain groups. Trump addresses Diddy pardon decision, but questions remain Trump said that "advertising's a very funny thing," telling Finnerty that "I've done ads where I thought they were lousy, and they turned out to be iconic. And then I've done some that I thought were beauties that were going to be fantastic and they weren't so good, so to each his own." Before addressing his thoughts on advertising, Trump told the conservative cable host earlier in the interview that "I think the Dylan Mulvaney ad was perhaps the most unsuccessful ad in history. It knocked $35 billion off the value of a certain company if you know what I'm talking about." Trump continued: "(The Mulvaney ad) was one of the great disasters of all time. I would say that's probably the most unsuccessful ad, worst ad ever." It is unclear what exact $35 billion valuation the president is talking about, but sales for Bud Light – owned by Anheuser-Busch – tanked after the backlash began. American Eagle breaks silence on Sydney Sweeney jeans ad controversy Why is the 'Sydney Sweeney has great jeans' ad sparking backlash? The Sweeney ad has been the subject of both online praise and anger for over a week. On July 23, the brand launched the new campaign starring Sweeney, which American Eagle originally described as "a return to essential denim dressing," with Sweeney sporting 1970s-style flare jeans paired with a denim jacket. In one of several videos for the campaign, Sweeney, clad in a denim-on-denim fit, dabbles in some word-play, telling cameras: "Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color." "My jeans are blue," Sweeney said in the video. Each promotional video ends with the tagline, "Sydney Sweeney has great jeans." The Trump comments aired the same day that American Eagle broke its silence on the backlash and doubled down in an Instagram post following days of discourse about the Sweeney ad blitz. "'Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans' is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. We'll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way," the statement read. "Great jeans look good on everyone." Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Nicole Fallert
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bill Maher Knows Trump's Losing 'Credibility' When These Supporters Smell ‘Bulls**t'
Bill Maher weighed in on President Donald Trump losing control over a particular section of his MAGA fanbase amid the Jeffrey Epstein scandal during his Friday night opening monologue on 'Real Time With Bill Maher.' 'The interesting part of this is that Trump's QAnon base, who are always about the pedophiles — oh boy, are they serious about the pedophiles — they may be turning on Trump on this one,' Maher said. 'They really wanna see what's in these files.' Trump and his administration have been embroiled in controversy and backlash from his supporters for weeks following the Department of Justice's memo stating Epstein died by suicide in prisonand did not have a so-called 'client list.' 'Trump was hyping the Epstein files for so long. This was the conspiracy that we had to get to the bottom of, and now his horrible creation has turned on him,' Maher said. 'It's like if Elon Musk got run over by a Cybertruck.' For weeks, the president has provided conflicting information about his friendship with Epstein during his attempts to distance himself from the disgraced financier and sex trafficker. On Friday, Maher suggested the president knows he's losing 'credibility' when even his QAnon supporters, 'the people who believe in chemtrails and Jewish space lasers and [that] the Democrats eat babies,' are turning on him. 'When that crowd says, 'I smell bullshit,' you're in trouble,' Maher told a laughing audience. Related... Bill Maher Scoffs At 'No Kings' Protests, Even Though Trump 'Is Acting A Little King-Like' Bill Maher Unveils New Trump-Musk 'Couple Name' As Their Bromance Combusts Bill Maher Blames Diddy Accuser For Not Coming Forward Sooner
USA Today
5 hours ago
- USA Today
Trump White House ballroom: A look back at Grand Ballroom Trump built at Mar-a-Lago
Twenty years after the opening of the Grand Ballroom at President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Trump announced another new ballroom on a grand scale — this time at the White House. The Trump Administration on July 31 said construction on a $200 million, roughly 90,000-square-foot White House State Ballroom will begin in September. The project will be paid for by donors including Trump and have a seating capacity of 650 people, the White House said. The U.S. Secret Service will oversee security features of the new structure, officials said. "President Trump is a builder at heart and has an extraordinary eye for detail," Chief of Staff Susie Wiles said in a White House news release. "The President and the Trump White House are fully committed to working with the appropriate organizations to preserving the special history of the White House while building a beautiful ballroom that can be enjoyed by future Administrations and generations of Americans to come." The style and architecture of the exterior of the new ballroom will be "almost identical" to the rest of the White House, Trump officials said. The work will include major renovations to the White House's East Wing, where presidents have historically held large receptions. Trump has frequently complained the White House lacks a proper large-scale ballroom for entertaining. While the outside of the new ballroom at what is known as the people's house will feature the same iconic styling as the rest of the property, renderings released by the White House show that the interior style is undoubtedly reminiscent of the Versailles-inspired Donald J. Trump Grand Ballroom that was completed at Mar-a-Lago in late 2004 and had its grand opening in 2005. Here's what to know about Mar-a-Lago's large ballroom and its history. When was Mar-a-Lago completed, and what are some of its features? Construction on Mar-a-Lago began in 1922. The house was designed for cereal heiress Marjorie Meriweather Post in the Spanish-Moorish style by architect Joseph Urban, who also designed the nearby Bath & Tennis Club and the Paramount Theatre farther north in Palm Beach. When completed in 1927 on its 17-acres, the crescent-shaped main house had 115 rooms, with 58 bedrooms and 25 bathrooms. Urban drew on classical designs, looking to the Thousand Winged Ceiling at the Accademia in Venice as inspiration for the 34-foot ceiling in Mar-a-Lago's living room, and the Palazzo Chigi in Rome as inspiration for the hand-painted ceiling in the dining room, according to a 2002 Daily News report about Mar-a-Lago's history. After a major redecoration in 1956, Post added Mar-a-Lago's White and Gold Ballroom as a venue to host to her popular charity events and the square dances for which she was so well-known, according to the 2002 profile. She also added three bomb shelters during the Korean War. What has Trump added to Mar-a-Lago? Trump paid a reported $10 million for Mar-a-Lago in 1985: $5 million for the property itself, an additional $3 million for the furnishings, plus $2 million for the beachfront stretch that years prior was sold to a neighbor. When Mar-a-Lago's club opened in 1995, it had amenities such as a spa, tennis courts and nine-hole golf course. In 2000, construction began on the $3 million beachfront project at Mar-a-Lago that added a new swimming pool, a pair of two-story buildings with cabanas and a snack bar, a spa, fountains, and ramps and stairs down to the beach, the Daily News reported in 2002. In 2004, Trump received approval from Palm Beach to tear down an aging slat house on Mar-a-Lago's property to build a kitchen to help serve the estate's new ballroom, which opened in 2005. Over the years, some of Trump's plans for Mar-a-Lago have been shot down by state and town officials, including a proposal for a 120-slip marina and, before opening the club, a concept that would have subdivided Mar-a-Lago's acreage to build estate homes. What about Mar-a-Lago's Grand Ballroom? The Daily News first reported in 1996 that the National Trust for Historic Preservation was reviewing plans for a new ballroom or expansion of the dance pavilion at Mar-a-Lago. Because Mar-a-Lago is a national landmark, all major changes must be reviewed and approved by the trust. "We're just looking art different concepts, different ideas. It's very preliminary," Trump told the Daily News in 1996. "We need a ballroom because of the success of Mar-a-Lago. It has been so successful that the crowds are potentially hazardous to the facility, and the ballroom could remedy this problem." Mar-a-Lago's team "did a lot of shuttle diplomacy with the National Trust for Historic Preservation," said Wes Blackman, who was Mar-a-Lago's project manager for the ballroom. The trust has easements at Mar-a-Lago, including two to protect the views to the east and west, and one to protect the tree line along the south property line, he said. After Mar-a-Lago opened as a club in 1995, the events coordinator at the time brought Blackman and Trump to the ballroom built by Post and said it would not be able to meet the demand for large events . "There isn't room to put them that is weatherproof," Blackman recalled the coordinator saying. When the ballroom was officially pitched to the town in 1999, it was set to replace a large white tent that Mar-a-Lago had temporarily erected to host large events on the property, Blackman said. Because the structures could not be permanent, air conditioner compressors for events in the tent were placed on trailers, and temporary bathrooms were brought in, he said. The ballroom was "a very large building," he said, with records showing that it was 17,000 square feet, larger than the 11,000-square-foot ballroom built by Post. West Palm Beach-based architect Rick Gonzalez of REG Architects was the lead designer on the project. Blackman said he and Gonzalez took a lot of trips to Washington, D.C., and the trust visited the property as well, as they worked to finalize a design the trust would approve. Together with Gonzalez, Blackman said Mar-a-Lago's team "chased that building all over the property" with the trust until the location was settled. "It's in a hollow, a low spot, and it's behind the wall, and you really have a hard time even knowing the building is there when you pass the property," Blackman said. Before finalizing the architectural plans, Trump sent Gonzalez and Blackman to New York to meet with famed architect Philip Johnson, whose Glass House in Connecticut remains an iconic example of the International Style of design. Johnson, who died in January of 2005, declined to take on the task of designing the new ballroom, which was essentially "locked into the Mediterranean revival framework" because of the rest of the property, Blackman said. "He wasn't into that," Blackman said. "He was in his 'monster phase,' which were a lot of oblique angles, and he wasn't into having to fit into a mold like that." Trump also asked Blackman to consult with another friend: crooner Paul Anka, whom Trump hoped would weigh in on the new ballroom's acoustics. "I did call him," Blackman said. "It was a unique experience." He added that because Trump had already made the decision to have marble floors in the ballroom: "There's nothing you can do with that. It's gonna be a reflective surface," Blackman said of Anka's advice. Trump was adamant that the new ballroom needed to be larger than the 15,000-square-foot Ponce de Leon Ballroom at The Breakers Palm Beach resort, Blackman said. While that was part of the inspiration, he said that Trump also wanted to bring the annual International Red Cross Ball to Mar-a-Lago. Trump was successful, and one of the highlights of Palm Beach's social season soon moved to Mar-a-Lago's Grand Ballroom. "We always thought that it helped getting the National Trust to approve something first, and then that kind of gave us the 'Good Housekeeping' certificate that we could cash in with the Landmarks Commission," Blackman said of the town's approval process. While the project to build the new ballroom received approval from Palm Beach's council in October of 1999, the timeline was pushed back several times because of construction of a new Royal Park Bridge, the Daily News reported in September 2002. The project received final approval from Palm Beach's landmarks board in April of 2002, and construction began the next year, with the building permit issued in August of 2003, Blackman said. While his 10-year tenure with Mar-a-Lago ended soon after receiving the permit, Blackman returned to work on other projects at Mar-a-Lago, including the ballroom's kitchen and the massive flag pole that led to a legal battle between Trump and Palm Beach. What does the Grand Ballroom look like? The exterior of the ballroom building, which is on the property's south side between the main house and Southern Boulevard, was designed by Gonzalez to mimic the Spanish-Moorish style of the rest of the estate, the Daily News reported at the time. But the ballroom's interior was designed with France in mind. The decor drew on Versailles, with shining marble floors, intricate gold leaf designs, crystal chandeliers and soaring 40-foot coffered ceilings. The Daily News reported at the time that the gold leaf alone carried a $7 million price tag, and the overall project cost stood at $35 million. "I modeled the interior after Versailles, and there is nothing like it in the United States," Trump said of the ballroom in a 2005 interview with Florida Design magazine. When it opened, guests were reportedly awestruck by the 17 Stras chandeliers, each with a cost of $250,000 and imported from Czechoslovakia. The first major event in the new ballroom was Mar-a-Lago's annual New Year's Eve Gala to ring in 2005, according to news reports. From a Dec. 31, 2004, Daily News report: "A 1,200-square-foot loggia leads into the two-story foyer through a series of Palladian-style mahogany doors with wrought-iron borders. A staircase leads to a 45-foot observation tower. For New Year's Eve, there will be stages at opposite ends of the ballroom, one for the dance orchestra and one for headliner Vanessa Williams." The next event: a grand party to mark the marriage of Trump to his then-fiancée, Melania Knauss. Their marriage ceremony was Jan. 22, 2005, at the Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, and celebrants then made the short drive to Mar-a-Lago for the reception. Anka, a guest at the wedding, treated guests to two songs at the reception: "Diana," and a version of the song "Lady Is a Tramp" that Anka dubbed "Donald is a Trump." USA Today contributed to this report. Kristina Webb is a reporter for Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach her at kwebb@ Subscribe today to support our journalism.
