logo
Daredevils run with charging bulls at Pamplona's famous San Fermín festival

Daredevils run with charging bulls at Pamplona's famous San Fermín festival

Boston Globe2 days ago
Most runners wear the traditional garb of white trousers and shirt with red sash and neckerchief. The expert Spanish runners try to sprint just in front of the bull's horns for a few death-defying seconds while egging the animal on with a rolled newspaper.
Advertisement
Thousands of spectators watched from balconies and wooden barricades along the course. Millions more follow the visceral spectacle on live television.
The festival kicked off Sunday with the traditional 'chupinazo' firework blast after which revelers doused one another with red or sparkling wine.
While gorings are not rare, many more people are bruised and injured in falls and pileups with each other. Medics rush in to treat the injured and take the seriously hurt to a hospital.
On Monday, Spanish newspaper El País reported that a few revelers had been injured, but it wasn't clear if their injuries were from gorings.
Unofficial records say at least 15 people have died in the bull runs over the past century. The deadliest day on record was July 13, 1980, when four runners were killed by two bulls. The last death was in 2009.
Advertisement
The rest of each day is for eating, drinking, dancing and cultural entertainment, including bull fights where the animals that run in the morning are slain in the bull ring by professional matadors each afternoon.
The festival isn't without its detractors. On Saturday, animal rights activists marched through Pamplona wearing horns and splotched with fake blood in protest against the San Fermin bull runs. Some held up signs saying 'bullfights are a sin.'
The festival was made internationally famous by Ernest Hemingway's classic 1926 novel 'The Sun Also Rises,' about American bohemians wasting away in Europe.
Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

'Superman' Review: David Corenswet Soars but James Gunn's Movie Hits Rough Air
'Superman' Review: David Corenswet Soars but James Gunn's Movie Hits Rough Air

Yahoo

time30 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

'Superman' Review: David Corenswet Soars but James Gunn's Movie Hits Rough Air

In recent years Superman has become something of a nowhere man, a caped irrelevancy. You just know all the superheroes over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe make fun of him on their Slack channel. Yet for decades he was a figure of glory, flying at the highest altitudes, fists clenched in strength, jaw and chin firmly set with the fortitude of a true champion of civil order. In the era known as the American Century, he symbolized the country's sense of exceptionalism, justice, optimism and might. (His alter ego, Clark Kent, was just as morally sound, if awkwardly virile — a point that Vladimir Nabokov addressed in a 1942 poem: 'I have to wear these glasses—otherwise / When I caress her from my super-eyes / Her lungs and liver are too plainly seen.') Superman had his own radio show by 1940, and a feature movie, Superman and the Mole Men, as well as a TV series little more than a decade later. In both vehicles he was played by George Reeves, polite, bland and not noticeably muscled. But Metropolis in those days wasn't terribly violent. Superman's 'S' could have stood for 'security.' With time, as America's sense of itself became more complex, Superman could be discussed analytically, abstractly or ironically without having his integrity questioned or compromised. Norman Mailer invoked him in his book about JFK, Superman Comes to the Supermarket. Charles Strouse and Lee Adams created a Broadway musical version (It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman!). Roy Lichtenstein turned him into a pop-art icon. But his apotheosis came with the 1978 blockbuster Superman: The Movie. The promotional campaign touted the slogan 'You will believe you can see a man fly' — well, no, not really. Not now, not ever. But you did believe in Christopher Reeve's charmingly diffident, classically beautiful Superman. If it was good to be the king, it was better to be Superman. Since then, though, Superman has been critically weakened, and not because of the green toxic glow of Kryptonite. In the still-expanding superhero action-movie universe, he's a stolid old moon eclipsed by bright, zippy asteroids. He's also languished in the inky shadow of mystery that director Christopher Nolan brought to D.C.'s other major superhero, Batman, starting with Batman Begins. Henry Cavill's Superman aimed for a similar muscled gravitas, but without much success. (If you wanted a 'dark' Superman, he can be found in Laurie Anderson's song 'O Superman,' which equates him with American nuclear capability.) But now he comes again, our Superman, in his first film appearance since 2017's Justice League, and directed by James Gunn, whose restless visual style and irreverent humor practically created a Marvel subgenre out of the Guardians of the Galaxy films. You don't get the impression Gunn will waste any time trying to make Superman great again. The film isn't guided by the vaulted principles of truth, justice and the American way as much as it is by Hollywood's playbook of reboot and tentpole. The result is a dizzyingly wild, wildly imperfect movie with one radical flash of inspiration — we'll get to that — and a refreshingly different Superman. David Corenswet, best known for two Ryan Murphy series, The Politician and Hollywood, has a face that's handsome but short of chiseled superhero perfection, and his hair, dyed raven-black, to some degree doesn't work with his natural tone. He occasionally looks seasick. (He also tends to get banged up a lot, as if he'd been observing the Queensberry rules in a World Wrestling fight.) But his features are strong, attractively so, and they tend to settle into an expression that's friendly, uncomplicated (but not dumb) and open. Shot in closeup as he soars through the sky, he's most likely thinking about how to quash nemesis Lex Luthor (a funny Nicholas Hoult, long, thin and round-headed as a Q-tip). But, for all you know, he might also be anticipating the lunch his robot staff will have prepared for him at the icy compound he calls home. A Superman who can be imagined looking forward to a decent meal isn't a bad thing. The movie barely deals with Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent, whose hair appears to have been zhuzhed with some special gel that survived the exodus from Krypton. His life at The Daily Planet is sketched in lightly, perhaps too lightly, although Skyler Gisondo's Jimmy Olsen is buoyantly likable as he cultivates an underworld source, a romance-minded moll named Eve (Sara Sampaio, delightfully cartoonish). Rachel Brosnahan's Lois Lane comes to life only fitfully, but in those moments Superman has flashes of genuine feeling. In one provocatively long scene, Lois, who knows Superman's secret identity, argues with Clark that Superman should let her interview him (Superman, of course, always gives Clark the exclusive scoop). Lois's professional pride, Clark/Superman's surprisingly prickly self-defensiveness and the couple's seesaw of friction and attraction are the closest a superhero movie will ever come to Woody Allen's Husbands and Wives. You're also grateful for Gunn's willingness to indulge in silly, throwaway moments. Why, for instance, is there a shot of Clark's hands dropping two slices of bread into a toaster? I have no idea, but I laughed anyway. Gunn also takes a break from the action to show Superman sipping hot chocolate and quietly saying, 'Mmmm!' These small, humanizing touches are more memorable than any of the world-threatening chaos being created by Lex Luthor. But of course chaos is what drives the film. Luthor wants Superman hampered, injured or simply destroyed as he schemes to provoke a war overseas. This is just a lot of busyness. When the aggressor nation's military finally advances against the hapless opposition, you may find yourself wishing movie directors would stop throwing in toothless battle scenes. This one couldn't look less authentic if you filmed an army of parking valets stumbling around a desert, searching for car keys lost in the sand. Before this rather dull international incident, Superman has journeyed into a pocket alternate universe where Luthor stashes and tortures anyone who's tried to thwart him. The prisoners are housed in an enormous complex of stacked glass cubes that could serve as an arena-sized production of Company. Alternate universes never bode well, though, and this one soon is collapsing into a black hole. Visually the whole sequence is a mess, a surging digital spray of color. It's as if someone had thrown handfuls of costume jewelry into a wood chipper. Gunn also finds time to introduce Krypto, Superman's (CGI-rendered) dog. Krypto is cute and boundingly energetic, always eager to play and, as the movie goes on, a bit tiresome. It wouldn't do him any harm to spend a day with a mythic dog whisperer, possibly in the company of Cerberus and the Hound of the Baskervilles. This bring us, at last, to that radical tweak I mentioned earlier — a tweak that has the potential to upend a sizable chunk of the Superman legend. (That's assuming Gunn takes it seriously. Maybe he doesn't.) I don't intend to spoil it here, but it has to do with the high-minded moral instructions that little Kal-El, the future Superman, received from his now-dead parents. It turns out that their full message, spelled out in a hologram of papa Jor-El (played by an unexpected A-lister), was until now garbled because of a technical message isn't nearly as lofty or empowering as Superman might have wished. Even on Krypton, it seems, the Philip Larkin line applies: 'They f--- you up, your mum and dad.' Superman is in theaters July 11. Read the original article on People

Norwegian royal comes out as bisexual
Norwegian royal comes out as bisexual

Yahoo

time34 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Norwegian royal comes out as bisexual

Move over, Red, White & Blue — a new queer royal has arrived! 22-year-old Maud Angelica Behn recently came out as bisexual after attending a Pride Parade in Oslo, Norway. Behn is the eldest daughter of Princess Märtha Louise and granddaughter to King Harald V and Queen Sonja, making the newly out royal fifth in line for Norway's throne. "Happy pride from a bisexual person!" she wrote on Instagram, sharing a series of photos that included one of her decked out in the colors of the bisexual flag. "Pride this year was incredible and there was so much love." See on Instagram Making the story all the sweeter, Behn's mother was also present at the parade. She left words of support on her daughter's Instagram post, but also made a separate post of her own, celebrating all forms of love. "Love is never wrong," she wrote. "During Pride I see a deep capacity for love - love that doesn't ask for permission or explanation. There's something profoundly beautiful about daring to love who you love, even when the world tells you to be quiet, to shrink, or to hide. But love isn't meant to be hidden. It's meant to be celebrated, lived, and shared in all its wonderful forms." Märtha Louise's second husband, Durek Verrett chimed in on her post with a thank you for celebrating Pride with him. Verrett, described as an American shaman, identifies as bisexual. According to Vanity Fair, Behn's coming out marks the first time a member of the Norwegian royal family has publicly identified as LGBTQ+. What a great way to celebrate Pride! This article originally appeared on Pride: Norwegian royal comes out as bisexual

‘Superman' director faces backlash for calling the Man of Steel an ‘immigrant': ‘Superwoke'
‘Superman' director faces backlash for calling the Man of Steel an ‘immigrant': ‘Superwoke'

New York Post

timean hour ago

  • New York Post

‘Superman' director faces backlash for calling the Man of Steel an ‘immigrant': ‘Superwoke'

'Superman' director and DC Studios co-head James Gunn is facing backlash for calling the Man of Steel 'an immigrant that came from other places' in a new interview. Ahead of the release of Warner Bros.' superhero reboot on July 11, Gunn, 58, told The Sunday Times of London that ''Superman' is the story of America… An immigrant that came from other places and populated the country.' The 'Guardians of the Galaxy,' the director added: 'But for me it is mostly a story that says basic human kindness is a value and is something we have lost.' Advertisement 'Superman' director James Gunn called the Clark Kent 'an immigrant.' AP Clark Kent is, of course, not human. Named Kal-El, he's an alien from planet Krypton who lands on Earth as a baby and is adopted by a couple in Smallville, Kansas. In the new movie, the iconic red cape is donned by 32-year-old actor David Corenswet. Advertisement Gunn said that some audience members who watch the action movie through a political lens could have a negative reaction to it. Driving home that point, the Sunday Times' headline is: 'Some people will take offense at my new 'Superman.'' 'Yes, it plays differently,' Gunn said. 'But it's about human kindness and obviously there will be jerks out there who are just not kind and will take it as offensive just because it is about kindness. But screw them.' Several media personalities bristled at Gunn's remarks. 'He's creating a moat of woke, enlightened opinion around him. He's got a woke shield,' said Fox News' Greg Gutfeld, with a graphic on the screen that read 'Superwoke.' Advertisement James Gunn said 'there will be jerks out there' who criticize his film's immigrant themes. WireImage Kellyanne Conway said, 'We don't go to the movie theater to be lectured to and to have somebody throw their ideology onto us.' The cast stood by Gunn's interview on Monday's red carpet in Los Angeles. 'My reaction to [the backlash] is that it is exactly what the movie is about,' Sean Gunn, James Gunn's brother who plays Maxwell Lord, told Variety. Advertisement 'We support our people, you know? We love our immigrants. Yes, Superman is an immigrant, and yes, the people that we support in this country are immigrants and if you don't like that, you're not American. People who say no to immigrants are against the American way.' Nathan Fillion, who plays the Green Lantern, put it more succinctly. 'Aw, somebody needs a hug,' the actor said. 'Just a movie, guys.' 'Superman' hits theaters on July 11.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store