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Straits Times
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Straits Times
Fun With Kids: Book Bugs cards, free screening at Gardens by the Bay, Hong Kong Disneyland turns 20
Visit the Book Bugs: Unearthing Memories exhibition, watch Walking With Dinosaurs series and be part of Hong Kong Disneyland's 20th anniversary celebrations. PHOTO: BBC, HONG KONG DISNEYLAND, NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD Fun With Kids: Book Bugs cards, free screening at Gardens by the Bay, Hong Kong Disneyland turns 20 SINGAPORE – Make family time all the more special with these ideas and activities. Book Bugs cards exhibition If your kids are avid collectors of the National Library Board's (NLB) Book Bugs cards, take them to the Book Bugs: Unearthing Memories exhibition, which will showcase all 425 cards from five editions since 2016. Until July 17, four public libraries in Punggol, Tampines, Jurong and Woodlands, as well as the Central Library in Victoria Street will each showcase a panel of cards from an edition. Complete the activities at these libraries to get a limited-edition Book Bugs postcard. From July 29 to Aug 17, all five panels will be exhibited at the Asian Civilisations Museum, where you can collect a commemorative card featuring Empress, a new Book Bug inspired by a royal assyrian butterfly. These Book Bugs programmes kick off NLB's 30th anniversary celebrations. Book Bugs: Unearthing Memories will exhibit all 425 cards from five editions since 2016. PHOTO: NATIONAL LIBRARY BOARD Book Bugs was launched to encourage children to visit libraries and discover the joy of reading. They earn points by borrowing books or e-books, which can then be exchanged for the collectible cards. As of April 2025 , more than 486,000 people have participated in Book Bugs activities and events, with more than 9.1 million cards redeemed. Find out more at BBC Earth Screening Festival Watch the new Walking With Dinosaurs series' first episode at the free BBC Earth Screening Festival, which returns to Gardens by the Bay. PHOTO: BBC A new series of Walking With Dinosaurs has premiered on BBC Earth, 25 years after its original debut. Each of the six fresh episodes offers the perspective of a different prehistoric creature. These include a Spinosaurus, the largest carnivorous dinosaur, navigating the rivers of ancient Morocco and a Triceratops fending off a hungry Tyrannosaurus rex in North America. Your family can catch the first episode at the free BBC Earth Screening Festival, which returns to Gardens by the Bay's Supertree Grove on July 5. Arrive early to enjoy a line-up of dinosaur-themed fringe activities, which start at 5pm, before the 8pm screening. Budding palaeontologists can dig for bones and eggs at the fossil excavation pit and unleash their creativity at the dino egg painting station. Families can also enjoy free popcorn and Choco Dinosaur drinks – while stocks last – and watch animated shows Bluey (2018 to present), Hey Duggee (2014 to present) and Stan Can (2025). Go to for details on the event. Watch the remaining episodes on BBC Earth (StarHub Channel 407 and Singtel Channel 203) and BBC Player. Hong Kong Disneyland turns 20 Meet the beloved characters of Encanto at the Friendtastic! Parade. PHOTO: HONG KONG DISNEYLAND Plan a trip to Hong Kong Disneyland, which is celebrating its 20th birthday with a year-long party. The festivities, which kicked off on June 28, feature a 15-minute concert-style show Disney Friends Live: Party At The Castle!. The star-studded line-up includes Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Duffy and Disney Princesses – all in special party attire. Be sure to catch Friendtastic!, the largest parade in the park's history. This 30-minute spectacle features 11 floats and more than 100 performers, including the debut appearances of Isabela from Encanto (2021) and Officer Clawhauser from Zootopia (2016). Round up your outing with an evening show that illuminates the sky for nearly 30 minutes. Momentous: Party In The Night Sky involves eight multimedia elements, including projection mapping, drones, lasers and pyrotechnics effects. Find out more at Get the ST Smart Parenting newsletter for expert advice. Visit the microsite for more
USA Today
22-06-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
'You're not getting scouted at 12': Youth sports tips from a LLWS hero
This is Part 1 of a three-part summer series visiting with three former major league All-Stars turned sports dads. They offer sports and life advice about how we can make our kids better players, but also how get the most out of athletic experiences with them. This week: Youth baseball with Todd Frazier, the former heart of Toms River (New Jersey) Little League who has returned home. Do you have youth sports figured out? "I think if anybody says they know what they're doing," Todd Frazier says, "they'd be lying to themselves." These words come from someone who spent 11 seasons as a standout in the major leagues, who was the MVP of the 1998 Little League World Series, who led off its final game with a home run and who recorded its last out as a pitcher. Today, he coaches his son Blake on the same field of his Jersey Shore township where he played as a kid. He broadcasts the annual championships from the one in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where his team toppled Japan. He watches fellow dads urging on their players, and he knows exactly how they feel. "I'm coaching third base, you're trying to will 'em to hit the ball," Frazier tells USA TODAY Sports. "It's the worst. Now, as a parent understanding it, your son's 0-2 count, we're in the last inning … as a parent, it's very hard to distinguish when they're struggling and when they're doing well. "But everybody's been there." How we handle that moment – and not so much the result our kids produce in it – can define our athletic experiences with them. "There's no book, so you see these parents, some of them are just out of control," says Frazier, 39. "I've learned a lot over the years. I've honed back a little bit, understanding that it's not the end of the world when your kid does strike out with the bases loaded." How do we get to that space with our minds and emotions? Frazier, now a sports dad of three – sons Blake and Grant, 6, who play baseball; and daughter Kylie, 9, a gymnast – spoke to us about gaining the intrinsic value of youth sports while still staying keyed in and competitive. We were connected through his "Squish the Bug" campaign with OFF! Mosquito and Tick Repellents. It stresses batting fundamentals and how kids can stay active and intent through organized sports. 'You're not getting scouted at 12': When you're a kid, it's the experience of sports that matters Brent Musburger is on the call. Frazier swings and launches the pitch into a sea of people beyond the left field wall in Williamsport. When Frazier grew up, there was really nothing around that resembled travel baseball. Little League was everything. Now, in some cases, one entity replaces the other. "Little League is the best, and I feel bad because a lot of kids aren't really experiencing it anymore because they're hearing it from some upper-tier people that say if you don't play travel ball, you'll never go to this college and that," he says. "And I think that's ridiculous. "You're not getting scouted at 8-, 9-, 10-, 11-,12-years old, man; (not) until you get to the big field." Everything, in a way, happens in miniature in Little League. The 12-year-old Frazier, who would grow up to be 6-3, was about 5-2. His 102-pound frame nearly floated around the bases after his leadoff home run and leaped gleefully into a dog pile after it was over. The events of our sporting lives when we are kids, though, are outsized. Sometimes, we think back to them in slow motion. When Frazier looks back, the end of his team's magical run is icing on the cake to the full portrait of moments his Little League career provided. In Williamsport alone, he became good friends with kids from Saudi Arabia and Japan. He traded team pins to other players for theirs and he rode cardboard down the hill at Howard J. Lamade Stadium. "I was telling my wife the other day, my team was the last team to play the last game in Little League Baseball," he says. "Going to Williamsport's great, but the memories I've had were not only for myself but seeing the kids – so-called not really good baseball players – do well and get like a game-winning hit, and to see the smiles on their faces and the parents how excited they are. Those are memories that are lasting. And my success came from the help of a lot of other people. So did I have the skill? Of course. But you know, you need a lot of help as you move along the way." The help starts at the grass roots, back to where Frazier has gone, where our sports journey begins. And it starts with you. A 'good' team begins and end with good parents When kids set out to play baseball, or any sport, big league dreams bounce around their heads. But as they continue onward, the sensory moments they see, feel and experience in real time move front and center. They gain confidence in small steps: recording an out by throwing the ball to the correct base; kicking it within the progression of forward motion of the game; moving naturally to the open spot on the court for an open shot. As they get a little older, we are the ones – Frazier even admits to doing it – most likely to overanalyze what's going on. "Sure, you lose the game or you're eliminated, there's a lot of raw emotion," Patrick Wilson told USA TODAY Sports in March. Wilson is Little League International's president and chief executive officer and a longtime member of the operations ranks of the organization. "But shortly thereafter, they're being 12-year-olds again. They're stealing peoples' hats, trading pins … they move on very quickly. Now the adults, the coaches and their parents, they hold onto it a little longer." Frazier and his old Little League teammates had a different vibe around them, even by the time they reached Williamsport. He felt zero pressure. "None whatsoever," he says. "And I give the credit to the coaches and the parents as well. I think that's another thing in youth sports: If you have really good parents, you're gonna have a pretty good team, whether you win or lose, because you have no complaints. They're not worried about where their kid's hitting. And they're focused on how the coach is coaching and how the kid is getting better each day. And I think that was the big thing for us." Ex-teammate Tom Gannon, who would go on to become a police officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told in 2018 that Toms River "had no intentions of getting that far. But we had great coaching, we meshed well as a team, and we gained more confidence as each round went on." First and foremost, they were allowed to be kids. Think of those first road trips your child takes with a team. There are always a few parents who are sticklers about keeping the players away from pools and amusement parks that might tire them out or otherwise distract them from the "reason" they are on the trip. But as I wrote to a reader in 2023, these are also moments that can make the event whole for young players, offering them not only memories but release from the moments you want them to be at their best on the field. "Of course you want to win," Frazier says. "That's just the nature of the beast. But are they getting better? Are they having fun? Are they putting their best foot forward? "It comes with time, and I've learned a lot over the years." 'DON'T BE A HELICOPTER PARENT': A golf giant's advice to help make youth sports more fun 'Sometimes you reach the stars and you hit the moon': Don't be afraid to set grand goals The idea behind Frazier's new campaign is to make a hitting drill more enjoyable and relatable to kids. As you swing, he teaches, turn your back foot as if you're "squishing a bug," which pops your hips through the zone to help with leverage and power. Frazier shot a commercial with Blake at Toms River's Little League complex, where his son is playing 11-year-old All-Stars this summer. Next year, Frazier will coach Blake in Little League as his son looks for his own dream shot at Williamsport. "It's a big leap and bound," Frazier says. "I'm sure he's going to put his best foot forward. But yes, it's a goal and I think young kids nowadays need goals, and I think they need to understand: Set your goals high. You want to bat .500 and you bat .400, that's pretty darn good. So sometimes you reach for the stars and you hit the moon a little bit. That's still pretty good feat." He says, though, he's never really thought about sports goals he has for his kids. His sons and daughter are the ones developing those. "I would love for them all to play professional sports. I think that's the end goal," he says. "But knowing how hard it is, I tell my kids all the time: bring energy, emotion, enthusiasm, to anything you do, and you can't go wrong. Practice the right way. Just be you, but at the same time focus. And I think at this age, if you're focused and under control and not taking any pitches off, you're gonna to have fun and you're gonna to enjoy the moment." Frazier coaches Blake in travel baseball when he's not playing Little League. I have seen them at tournaments in our region. My son approached Frazier and told me how personable and conversant he was with kids on other teams. It's a approach Frazier has used to improve his coaching. COACH STEVE: Parenting tip from sons of former major leaguers 'Expect failure': It's an opportunity for your kid to grow We're back in that situation many sports parents dread: Our son or daughter is up with the bases loaded. When it happens, Frazier now sits back and observes. Whatever happens, it's a launching point for teaching. "Come here," Frazier might say to Blake or one of his other players. "I want to know what you learned from this experience and how we could have made it better, or how you could have done better." He feels having pragmatic and good-natured style is more productive than saying, "What are you doing? Why didn't you swing at this pitch?" We want our kids to initiate solutions, but to learn to cope with situations where they don't succeed. Let them fall and pick themselves up, leaning on you only if they need it. "Expect your kid to fail," Frazier says. "And I think that's hard for them to understand, because in the world we live in, it's the now, now, now … why isn't he doing it now? Why is he doing this? It's not their swing, it's not their hands are dropping, it's not they took their head off the ball. That's just the nature of baseball, and it's gonna happen over and over. And you just got to understand, 'OK, I can live with it, but hopefully he's getting better next time.'" Next week: Chasing success through a high school and college baseball experience Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here. Got a question for Coach Steve you want answered in a column? Email him at sborelli@
Boston Globe
17-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
The clones of Bruce the shark
The only scare in this movie is the scuba diving photographer's attack, a scene lifted by John Sayles three years later for 'Alligator.' Advertisement Roy Scheider, Lorraine Gary, and Murray Hamilton reprise their roles as the Brodys and the Mayor of Amity. Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb and the original's uncredited co-screenwriter, Howard Sackler, tackle the script. In the director's chair is Jeannot Szwarc, whose prior film, 'Bug,' starred pyromaniacal killer insects. (They blow up real good!) Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up This is the best of the sequels, which isn't saying much. But it has one of the greatest taglines ever slapped on a poster: 'Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water.' In the 'Jaws' canon, this film kicked off the shark's obsession with getting revenge on Chief Brody's family. His adolescent kids Mike and Sean are trapped on a boat while Bruce tries to eat them. They're so obnoxious you'll wish he had. Advertisement Mike Brody (Dennis Quaid) and Calvin Bouchard (Louis Gossett Jr.) deal with a killer shark that invades a crowded marine park in Jaws 3-D. Universal Pictures 'Jaws 3-D' (1983) I could still perceive 3-D back in 1983, which was a blessing and a curse. The early 1980s gave us endless characters in 3-D: Jason from 'Friday the 13th,' the 'Amityville Horror' house, and yes, Bruce the Shark. Mike Brody is now played by Dennis Quaid. He works at SeaWorld alongside This abomination exists solely for the 3-D effects, which look hilarious in 2-D. Bruce attacks SeaWorld at one point, busting through the protective glass tank and sending glass into the audience's lap. In the must-see climax, the shark gets blown up, sending his jaws flying out of the screen. It looks as if Bruce sneezed and his gigantic dentures flew out. 2/2/1987 Edgartown, MA - Jaws: The Revenge films a scene on Martha's Vineyard on February 2, 1987. (David L. Ryan/Globe Staff) David L. Ryan/Globe Staff 'Jaws: The Revenge' (1987) Widely considered the worst film in the series (sorry, folks, 'Jaws 3-D' deserves that title), this was the first PG-13 'Jaws' film. Lorraine Gary returns as Mrs. Brody. So does the incarnation of the shark from the original 'Jaws.' It has a vendetta against the Brody clan, and who can blame it? '[W]hat shark wouldn't want revenge against the survivors of the men who killed it?' asked Roger Ebert in his brutally funny Sean Brody gets his arm ripped off before being devoured. As a result, Mrs. Brody goes out of her way to protect her remaining son, Michael, including shooting at the shark with a pistol. Another Michael, Michael Caine, infamously couldn't accept his Oscar for 'Hannah and Her Sisters' because he was on Martha's Vineyard filming this movie. Caine cops to never having seen the finished product. 'However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific!' he said. Advertisement The only bright spot here is Mario van Peebles's Rasta character, Jake, who comes complete with a Ja- fake -an accent and dreads. Jake was popular enough for the studio to reshoot his final encounter with Bruce. In the movie, he dies; on VHS and DVD, he miraculously survives. Though impaled in the movie version, Bruce gets a far more ignoble demise in the home video version—he simply explodes for no reason . Odie Henderson is the Boston Globe's film critic.
News24
11-06-2025
- Business
- News24
BUZZ kill: KWV strikes blow for its Bug shooters
For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page. KWV, which produces the popular Bug shooter, has successfully defended the brand against what it contended was a copycat competitor. Bug is sold in 20ml bottles, with alcohol levels varying from 12% to 24.5%, depending on the flavour. The group filed a complaint to the Advertising Regulatory Board (ARB) against BUZZ, a product created by the Johannesburg-based Craft Link, accusing it of imitating its packaging design. KWV claimed BUZZ's bee-inspired branding closely mirrored Bug's look and feel, 'taking advantage of the goodwill relating to the advertising property vested in the Bug packaging'. KWV argued that BUZZ ripped off its insect imagery, which features 'Bug-man', with its own bee, at the top of the packaging design. It further argued that the names 'BUZZ' and 'Bug' shared a similar visual style, with white text and green outlines, raising concerns over consumer confusion. This, KWV argued, would be exacerbated by similar bottles with comparable shield-shaped labels and barcode placements. While Craft Link denied plagiarism claims, it agreed to stop BUZZ production and distribution. The group also denied any contraventions of the ARB's Code of Advertising, specifically the exploitation of goodwill and imitation. To meet ARB regulations, they ensured a three-month 'grace period' for clearing existing stock from shelves. The ARB Directorate ruled in favour of a resolution, acknowledging Craft Link's decision to pull BUZZ off the market. Craft Link's voluntary measures to halt BUZZ production fulfilled the necessary ethical and procedural requirements without requiring an explicit admission of guilt, the ARB said.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Yahoo
Minneapolis man sentenced for stabbing, hanging St. Paul woman's dog after argument
A Minneapolis man with a significant recent criminal history was sentenced this week to four years in prison for killing a woman's dog inside her St. Paul apartment after the two argued. The sentence handed down to 25-year-old Emmanuel Joe Ware Jr. in Ramsey County District Court on Monday will run at the same time as a four-year term he received in Hennepin County in March for possession of a firearm and ammunition by a person who is not eligible due to a conviction for a crime of violence. The Ramsey County complaint says the woman told police that she left her West Side apartment on Jan. 9 to stay with her sister after she and Ware got into an argument. When she returned the next day, her bloodied and dead dog — a white Pomeranian named 'Bug' — was hanging by his neck in her closet. Officers saw a shattered mirror, blood 'all over' the walls and the dog hanging. He had a deep cut to his eye. A knife block in the kitchen was missing two knives. A necropsy later revealed Bug had broken bones and stab wounds to his head. The woman told police Ware sent her a series of threatening text messages after she went to her sister's place. She said she is pregnant with Ware's child and fearful of him because he was assaultive with her in the past, the complaint says. Investigators spoke with Ware four days later at Hennepin County Jail, where he was booked Jan. 12 on the gun possession charge. Ware said he 'loves Bug' and would never hurt him, and that he was with his girlfriend, 'Fantasia,' in Minneapolis on the day in question, the complaint says. Investigators pulled video surveillance footage from the apartment building, which showed Ware in the first-floor elevator lobby around 5 p.m. Jan. 9, and in the fourth-floor lobby around 7:45 p.m. Investigators, with apartment surveillance photos in hand, returned to the jail on Jan. 27 to interview Ware again. He said that he had lied to them before and was at the apartment on Jan. 9, but reiterated he did not kill the dog. Ware pleaded guilty to felony mistreating or torturing an animal on March 20 after reaching an agreement with the prosecution. Ex-Metro Transit employee claims religious discrimination in lawsuit Verdict awaits after closing arguments in Derrick Thompson's trial for crash that killed 5 Ex-teacher of Hmong College Prep Academy in St. Paul sentenced for criminal sexual conduct with student 'Felt as though they were going to kill me,' Mahtomedi man beaten and robbed of casino winnings says in court Macalester alum sues over animal testing in psychology labs; college responds Another case was dismissed at sentencing as part of the plea deal: felony mail theft after police say video surveillance at the woman's St. Paul apartment building showed him stealing a package of Christmas gifts from the mail room on Dec. 4. Ware has one pending case. In December, he was charged with misdemeanor domestic assault stemming from a Dec. 11 incident involving the woman at the HealthPartners Clinic on Wabasha Street in St. Paul during an OB/GYN appointment. A jury trial is scheduled for next month. At the time of the dog's killing, Ware was on intensive supervised release after serving three years and three months for a 2021 conviction in Hennepin County for abetting and abetting first-degree robbery. He has two other felony convictions out of Hennepin County: first-degree robbery in 2017 and fourth-degree possession of a controlled substance (cocaine and ecstasy) in 2019.
