Latest news with #Clash
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Science
- Forbes
Monsters That Roamed Earth In The Day. What Would Fred Flintstone Say?
Paleontologist Ken Lacovera with a femur bone from his 6' 3' Dreadnoughtus discovery in Patagonia. Courtesy of Robert Clark In the day, how big could the real monster dinosaurs get? Renowned paleontologist Ken Lacovera, best known for his discovery in 2005 of Dreadnoughtus shrani, a 65-ton, 77-million-year-old Titanosaur unearthed in Patagonia, can tell you. Dreadnoughtus is one of the largest land animals ever to have roamed the Earth. One wonders what 1960s fictional television character Fred Flintsone would have thought had he encountered such a beast. Dread (pun intended) might be an appropriate word. We recently caught up with Lacovera, 64, for thoughts on his 'mammoth' discovery two decades back. Following are edited excerpts from a longer conversation. Jim Clash: What were you thinking when you first unearthed Dreadnoughtus? Ken Lacovara: When I found a 1.9-meter [6' 3'] femur bone in the desolate badlands of Patagonia, I suspected I'd discovered a new species of colossal plant-eater. That evening, under the blazing southern stars, I stared at the first few of the 145 bones we'd eventually unearth, wondering: 'Who are you? Where did you come from? What happened to you?' And, more practically, 'How am I going to get you out of here?' Our site was accessible only by raft and horse. Clash: What have been the implications of that find for the science of paleontology? Lacovara: At 65 tons - nine times the mass of a T. rex - you'd think Dreadnoughtus was near the upper limit for terrestrial animals. But bone analysis revealed it was still growing fast, even at its death! Clash: You're also a noted jazz drummer. Was there a moment when you had to choose one path over the other? Lacovera: Yes. After a stint at the Golden Nugget in Atlantic City [New Jersey], I was offered a Broadway gig in New York. But science had already gripped me, ignited largely by Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos,' so I chose graduate school. In a cosmic bit of serendipity, years later my first expedition was funded by Ann Druyan, Sagan's widow. Music remains part of my life, though. I still carry sticks when I travel, and can usually find a spot on stage to sit in. Clash: You recently cut ribbon on a new museum, correct? Lacovera: Over the past two decades, I've gone on to excavate thousands of fossils in southern New Jersey of all places, opening a window on the final chapters of the dinosaur age. To share these discoveries, we have opened the Edelman Fossil Park & Museum, a carbon net-zero architectural wonder with state-of-the-art exhibits, gardens, nature trails and a quarry where visitors can dig for fossils themselves. How about that?
Perth Now
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Winona Ryder cuts her own hair
Winona Ryder always cuts her own hair when she wants to wear it short. The Beetlejuice star was known for her quirky pixie cuts after shooting to fame in the 1980s, but Winona is adamant she didn't spend a lot of money on her hair - revealing she likes to take scissors to it herself because she has perfected her technique over the years. Winona told Ella magazine: "Honestly, I always loved having short hair. One thing is, I have to cut it myself ... "[I turn my head] upside down and you cut up." The 53-year-old actress went on to talk about the ageing process and admitted some directors have encouraged her to get Botox. She explained: "I always knew I looked young. But I also knew that when I started ageing, it was gonna happen fast ... "They'll [directors] say: 'Just relax your forehead. Relax.' I'm trying to be a great actor, and they're saying that over and over. It's nice that people are talking about how it's OK to age, but there's still enormous pressure. Every role I get is for a mother, you know? My career has definitely shifted." Winona previously opened up about her personal style revealing she's a big fan of casual clothing. When asked about her fashion essentials, Winona insisted she only has five key items, telling "Everyone's different, but socks and underwear, a comfortable pair of jeans, a favourite T-shirt, and a soft sweater. But that's just me." She also insisted she wasn't surprised to see 1990s fashion make a comeback, saying: "It's not my 90s style that's been revived! I certainly don't feel any ownership over it - that's just way too much responsibility. I guess it's just sort of inevitable in terms of fashion. "Everything always comes back into style about 20-25 years later, right?" The Stranger Things star also admitted she has a hard time letting go of her favourite items of clothing and she framed one of her T-shirts because she didn't have the heart to throw it away. She told the publication: "I just had to retire an old Clash T-shirt from the first time I saw them in 1980 because it was so incredibly thin and just disintegrating. But I ended up framing it. I inherited my fathers 'archivist' gene, so it's really hard for me to let go of things."
Extra.ie
22-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Fan frenzy as tickets for Robbie Williams' sold-out Croke Park gig back on sale
Limited tickets for Robbie Williams's live show at Dublin's Croke Park on August 23 have just been made available for purchase. His upcoming stadium tour is in support of his upcoming record Britpop his first studio album in over 6 yearswhich will be released October 10. Just this week, the former Take That frontman shared the latest single of his new record, 'Spies,' following the release of 'Rocket' in May. 'I set out to create the album that I wanted to write and release after I left Take That in 1995. It was the peak of Britpop and a golden age for British music,' said Williams in an interview with Clash after announcing the forthcoming record in May. 'There's some 'Brit' in there, and there's certainly some 'pop' tooI'm immensely proud of this as a body of work, and I'm excited for fans to hear this album,' he added. Manchester band The Lottery Winners and rockers ELBOW will be acting as support acts for the 'Angels' singer next month. A limited number of tickets for Robbie Williams's Dublin show on August 23 are now available via
Fashion Value Chain
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Fashion Value Chain
Coated Lens – The Platform Connecting Creative Professionals with Brands & Clients – Launches Creative Clash 2025
Coated Lens, a dynamic new platform designed to bridge the gap between creative professionals and clients, is redefining how talent meets opportunity across India's thriving creative economy. Whether its photography, videography, cinematography, editing, motion graphics, or graphic designing, Coated Lens provides a powerful stage to showcase their work, attract clients, and grow their creative business. For brands, agencies, and individuals seeking top-tier talent, Coated Lens offers a curated network of professionals, enabling seamless discovery and direct connection through the app for project collaborations, all within a user-friendly, commission-free environment. The platform is available now on both the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. This isn't a Contest. it's a Clash. Creative Clash. Creative Clash 2025: India's Premier Talent Showdown is Now Live To mark its launch, Coated Lens proudly announces Creative Clash 2025, a nationwide creative competition designed to spotlight India's boldest visual artists. Open to professionals in Photography, Videography, Editing, Graphic Design, and Motion Graphics. Creative Clash 2025 invites creators to submit their best work, showcase their signature style, and compete for national recognition. With a total prize pool worth Rs. 30 Lakhs, including a 1-Year Adobe Creative Cloud Subscription for winners and a 6 month Coated Lens App subscription for all the participants, the competition aims to empower creative professional with resources, visibility, and industry credibility. Participation comes at a nominal registration fee of Rs. 999/- (including GST). 'Creative Clash 2025 isn't just a contest, it's a movement. We're creating a platform where true craft gets the attention it deserves,' said Vamsee Krishna, Bhattiprolu Founder of Coated Lens. 'Our mission is to celebrate authenticity, elevate Indian creative talent, and offer a space where work isn't judged by likes, but by skill, story, and originality.' Entries are now open via the Coated Lens App under the 'Events' section. Participants can choose their category, and submit their recent works for jury review.
Spectator
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Spectator
Turgid, vacuous, portentous: The Sandman reviewed
One of the great things about getting older is no longer feeling under any obligation to try to like stuff you were doomed never to like. Steely Dan, Dickens, Stravinsky, Henry James, George Eliot, Wagner, the Grateful Dead, Robin Williams, the collected films of Wes Anderson and Tim Burton, Graham Greene, the Clash, The Young Ones, Seinfeld, Emily Dickinson – obviously I could go on. I don't like them; I never did like them; but the difference between then and now is that now I know I'm right, whereas then I thought it might be a personal deficiency. Also fairly high on my 'No' list would be superhero comics, superhero movies and late-1980s graphic novels, including the excessively fawned-upon Watchmen. This was in the period of my life when I was trying to eke out my last flush of youth by growing my hair long, wearing black DM boots, dropping LSD and going to indie gigs (while trying to hold down a job at the Telegraph). If you did those things, it was sort of taken for granted that you were also into contemporaneous literature like Tank Girl (a comic about a skinny girl with a stupid haircut and a tank who had sex with kangaroos, or something) and the Sandman comic book series of Neil Gaiman. But I wasn't. Today I feel vindicated, especially in the case of Gaiman, who looks in serious danger of being cancelled (at least by studios such as Netflix, which has put all future adaptations on hold) as a result of sexual abuse allegations levelled against him by at least eight women (which he denies). Normally, I wouldn't drag up such tittle-tattle but here I think it's highly germane to the charge I'm about to level against Gaiman, which is this: his excruciatingly woke-avant-la-lettre writings helped to generate the cultural climate that is now devouring him. To understand what I mean, try – I dare you – sitting through an episode of the latest season of The Sandman. If you last more than ten minutes, I shall be very surprised. My immediate family don't tend to agree on much, TV-wise (or anything-else-wise) these days, but the four of us were unanimous: this was turgid, vacuous, grindingly portentous, achingly dull drama of a standard so abysmally low it was almost cherishable. Think of all the things you most hate about the modern world. If you're a cantankerous, reactionary old fart like me, it will definitely include models who've been chosen not because they're pretty but because they're fat and/or ugly (something which we must learn to find attractive); actors who've been cast because they have the right skin colour rather than because they can act; and the whole general culture of rainbow flags, blue hair, indeterminability of gender, massive fragility, weaponised solipsism and the desperate need to find offence that has gripped the perfervid imaginations of (at least some of) the youth. Well, I blame Neil Gaiman for this. Not totally, for I'm sure there are many other offenders we could truffle out. But if you're in any doubt that he's at least partly responsible, simply look at the casting, tone and aura of The Sandman. It's diversity, anti-lookist, trans, gay – you name it – central. Which you could forgive, just about, possibly, if the politically correct homily to which you were being treated was leavened by an element of humour, or sparkling dialogue, or plot. But it's not. It's merely a bunch of mopey goth types in an over-elaborate computer-generated fantasy landscape striking attitudes, declaiming cod pieties and being generally inert and miserable. I'm not even going to try to describe the plot for you because it barely exists. Essentially, the protagonist, called Dream (Tom Sturridge), is in charge of the world we all go to when we're asleep and where pretty much anything can happen. Into which nebulous space Gaiman has shoehorned every mythical or supernatural figure you've ever heard of, from Death (who is black and female, obviously) and Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie, as in the big knight woman from Game of Thrones) to Thor – together with some annoying characters of his own invention, including Desire, Delirium and Despair, a talking dog and a foul-mouthed pumpkin-headed scarecrow. Where, though, is the actual artistry at work here? When, for example, we see Lucifer – who is in charge of Hell – deciding that she no longer wants the job and so gets Dream to cut her wings off so she can go and do something else, what exactly is this telling us about anything which matters, other than that Gaiman has decided to drive a coach and horses through millennia's worth of religious tradition and just make a famous supernatural character do something weird and unexpected and kind of whimsical and cute? This is my beef with Gaiman: not that he is – possibly – a bit of a perv, but that he is a second-rate literary talent whose fame and prosperity derive not from his creative genius, but rather from pushing the woke agenda that the comic book industry found congenial to push. Now the revolution has eaten one of its own, as revolutions always do. Good riddance.
