Venice Film Festival lineup features Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Emma Stone and Dwayne Johnson
Two years after launching 'Poor Things' at Venice, Yorgos Lanthimos and Stone are returning with 'Bugonia,' an English language remake of the South Korean sci-fi comedy 'Save the Green Planet!' that is among the 21 films playing in the main competition. Clooney will also be back as star of Noah Baumbach's 'Jay Kelly,' in which he plays a famous actor on a trip through Europe with his longtime manager (Sandler).
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National Post
2 hours ago
- National Post
Travis Kelce channels Pretty Woman, calls himself 'NFL hooker'
Travis Kelce can identify with Julia Roberts' character in Pretty Woman, the NFL star said this week. Article content Talking on his New Heights podcast with brother Jason Kelce, Kelce said: 'I'm just an NFL stripper, that's it. I'm just an NFL hooker, man.' Article content The Kelces watched the film, which also starred Richard Gere and was released in theatres in 1990. Article content Travis Kelce said: 'We need to make 'Pretty Man,' and we need to have a CEO billionaire woman be so high class that she doesn't know where she's going, she doesn't know how to drive a car.' Article content At that point, older brother Jason mentioned the Taylor Swift angle, according to Page Six. Article content 'You're living Pretty Woman right now (by dating Swift). You are Pretty Man. You're living your own Julia Roberts' (moment).' Article content That caused Travis to laugh, before responding Article content 'I'm wearing nothing but a tie when Taylor comes home,' he said. Article content 'That's why … when I met Julia it felt like we were the same person. It was so cool. She spoke to me in this movie.' Article content The three-time Super Bowl winner previously gushed over meeting Roberts during a July 2024 podcast episode. Article content Travis Kelce and Swift have been dating since 2023. Article content Article content
Toronto Star
10 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Why Ozzy Osbourne was the prince not just of darkness but of pop culture
Recently, I came across a bit of screenwriting advice that goes something like this: all endings should be both surprising and inevitable. These words crept to mind on Tuesday, when I learned of the passing of Ozzy Osbourne at age 76. News of the death of Osbourne, a pioneering heavy metal singer who redefined pop culture (at least twice over and maybe three times), brought a sense of a shock and acceptance. Ozzy lived both hard and well. He too was surprising and inevitable. Born in 1948 in the English industrial town of Birmingham as John Michael Osbourne, Ozzy's beginnings were inauspicious. As a working class 'Brummie,' his career prospects were limited to tool maker, meat packer or car-horn tuner — the latter being about as close as someone of his stock could imagine to a career in the music biz. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW An encounter with the Beatles changed that. A teenage Osbourne hooked up with local musicians Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Terrance 'Geezer' Butler to found the group Black Sabbath — and heavy metal itself. Pulling equally from the paranormal and the predominant English blues rock sound — new listeners to the band's 1970 debut might be surprised to hear just how much honking harmonica it contains — Sabbath turned the flower power vibes of '60s rock upside down. Peace, love and smiling on one's brother were replaced by doom, gloom and a sinister vibe that (at least in hindsight) offered a more honest appraisal of the nuclear era. They were counter-counterculture. 'Who gave a dog's arse about what people were doing in San Francisco, anyway?' Osbourne wrote in his 2009 memoir 'I Am Ozzy.' 'I hated those hippy-dippy songs, man.' With Ozzy's wailing, urgent lyrics juxtaposed against Iommi and Butler's heavy riffing, Black Sabbath set a new template for rock 'n' roll. They were the fathers of heavy metal, whether they liked it or not (Osbourne himself rejected the term). The form was harder, weightier and altogether darker. It was further honed in the U.K. by bands like Witchfinder General, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, and in America by the likes of Metallica, Slayer and Pantera. Ozzy sang (or howled) about the apocalypse, drug abuse and shadowy figures lurking at the edge of the bedside — topics that inspired generations of heavy metal fans and practitioners, and raised the ire of just as many generations of concerned parents and church groups. Osbourne himself would long hold the moniker 'Prince of Darkness,' a nickname he shared with no less than Lucifer himself. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Ozzy was arguably as legendary for his music as the antics surrounding it. A prodigious consumer of alcohol and illegal narcotics, his erratic behaviour drove tension in the group. By 1979, Osbourne was dismissed from Sabbath. Undaunted, he began a lucrative solo career. If Sabbath defined the sound of '70s heavy metal, Osbourne's solo band brought it into the '80s: bleached hair, dive-bomb guitar solos and all. The music made Osbourne a superstar of the MTV era and one of the select few artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, alongside his heroes, the Beatles. Naturally, this new fame bred more controversy. In 1982, Ozzy drew headlines after biting the head off a bat while performing onstage. In '85, he and his label were sued by grieving parents, who claimed their 19-year-old son took his own life after listening to Osbourne's 'Suicide Solution' (a judge ruled that the lyrics were protected speech under the U.S. First Amendment). An appearance in the 1988 documentary 'The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years,' showed a jittery Osbourne, wide-eyed and wiped out, struggling to make breakfast in his kitchen. Ozzy's chemical dependencies would become the stuff of not only heavy metal myth, but pop culture fodder. In 2002, MTV premiered 'The Osbournes,' an early reality-TV hit that followed Ozzy and his family: wife (and manager) Sharon, daughter Kelly and son Jack. (Sharon and Ozzy's eldest daughter refused to participate.) A smash, the show offered a fly-on-the-wall look at the Prince of Darkness's relatively humdrum life. Here was the debauched metal icon who bit the head off a bat struggling with the satellite remote. Even judging by the standards of a debased medium like reality television, 'The Osbournes' seems gallingly exploitative today. His music made Ozzy an icon. The TV show made him a punchline. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Such ignominies did little to diminish Osbourne's reputation in musical circles, however. Ozzy eventually committed to sobriety. For years he had suffered tremors, which were written off as the effects of alcohol abuse. As it turned out, they were likely symptoms of Parkinson's disease, a diagnosis he revealed in 2020. Just a few weeks ago, Black Sabbath reunited for a final show in Birmingham, joined by a cohort of heavy metal and hard rock icons — members of Metallica, Slayer, Judas Priest, the Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Guns N' Roses and more — who paid their respects to the group. It was billed as a final farewell. Now it seems like a living wake. Onstage at Birmingham's Villa Park Stadium, a considerably diminished Osbourne sat in a throne befitting rock 'n' roll royalty, performing several solo songs and numbers with his Sabbath bandmates. He closed the concert — and, as it would turn out, his storied musical career — with 'Paranoid' from Sabbath's 1970 album of the same. Listening to it now, the track is at once urgent and sorrowful, surprising and inevitable. Its final lines ring like a cri de coeur from an artist whose altogether untimely passing is betrayed by the fact that he lived, in his 76 years, the lifetimes of several more men: And so as you hear these words Telling you now of my state I tell you to enjoy life I wish I could, but it's too late
The Province
a day ago
- The Province
Yue-Sai Kan: The Remarkable Life of ‘The Most Famous Woman in China'
With her 11th book, talkative powerhouse Yue-Sai Kan is reaching out to a wider audience. Yue-Sai Kan recounts her remarkable life in a new memoir, The Most Famous Woman in China. Photo by Fadil Berisha Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Though not a household name in the West, Yue-Sai Kan is a cultural icon in Asia. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by top sports columnists Patrick Johnston, Ben Kuzma, J.J. Abrams and others. Plus, Canucks Report, Sports and Headline News newsletters and events. Unlimited online access to The Province and 15 news sites with one account. The Province ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles and comics, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors A groundbreaking broadcaster, cosmetics magnate, philanthropist and author with 10 books to her credit, she was once dubbed 'the most famous woman in China' by People Magazine. Now, with her 11th book, the talkative powerhouse is reaching out to a wider audience. Taking its title from the nickname given her by People, The Most Famous Woman in China is the first book she has written in English as well as Mandarin. Because much of her audience already knows her story, the English version is different, at least in the beginning. 'I start with what was one of the most important days of my life, the day my television show premiered in China on CCTV (China Central Television),' Kan said. 'That was quite a day. It changed my life. But I'm sure that the show changed the life of many, many, many Chinese, of a few generations of Chinese.' The show was One World. Beginning in 1986, the bilingual program brought glimpses of the outside world to, reportedly, 300 million to 400 million Chinese viewers. Essential reading for hockey fans who eat, sleep, Canucks, repeat. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But it wasn't the first cross-cultural show she hosted. Kan grew up in Hong Kong before, at age 16, moving to Hawaii to attend university. She later moved to New York and, in 1972, began hosting Looking East, a series that introduced American audiences to Asian cultures, customs and perspectives. It ran for 12 years, first on PBS and then on Discovery. 'I remember Mike Wallace said to me, 'Don't do that show about Asia. Nobody wants to know about Asia.' But of course, he didn't know that one day Asia could be the fastest growing part of the world.' When she went to China to make One World, she encountered a broadcast system that didn't quite know what to do with her. She even had to write her own contract. 'The producers asked me, 'Is this how you look on TV in America?' ' Kan says. 'I said yes. They told me, 'Then do it your way.' That changed everything.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. For many in the country, One World wasn't only the first time they were seeing other cultures, but it was also the first time they had seen a woman on screen wearing red lipstick, jewelry and anything other than muted tones. Her hairstyle (the 'inside cut') and red lipstick (now branded as 'Yue-Sai Red') were copied across the country. In 1992, Kan founded her own cosmetics line, Yue-Sai Cosmetics. Twelve years later she sold the successful line to L'Oréal. Her new memoir charts her extraordinary path from teenage immigrant to global TV personality to beauty-brand founder. But the main reason for writing it, she says, is the unique perspective she gained from having had a front-row seat for the growth of China. Yue-Sai Kan recounts her remarkable life in a new memoir, The Most Famous Woman in China. Photo by Fadil Berisha When she first arrived in the country in 1984, she recalled: 'China was really, really poor. The airport was dingy, ugly, the road going to city was unpaved. I saw this guy on the side of the street and he had this oven to bake sweet potato. And I love sweet potato, the smell of sweet potato. I said to the driver, I need to stop, I want to get some. And I asked him, 'How many would you like?' And you know what he said? He said, 'During the Cultural Revolution, I was eating it every single day. It's OK if I don't ever eat it again.' ' These days, Kan splits her time between New York, Shanghai and Hawaii. She's coming to Vancouver as part of a North American book tour that includes a private event at the Vancouver Club on July 28. Her sister has an apartment in Richmond, and Kan has visited once before. 'Richmond reminds me of Hong Kong,' she says. 'The restaurants, the supermarkets — everything.' Read More Vancouver Canucks Local News Homes Sports Business
