List of All Articles with Tag 'ties'

Maurice Sendak's books were shaped by his own childhood: one marked by the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the concentration camp deaths of most of his extended family, and parents consumed by depression and anger.

Hugh Grant is no stranger to making his feelings known when it comes to politics, and this time, he's having the last laugh on Brexit. The actor appeared on The View, where he was quizzed over whether he thinks the UK leaving the EU had 'ruined' his home country. "Well I do...said with a smile", he joked. "Actually now the majority of Brits do, I think." "The Europeans may not want us back!", he added. Click here to sign up for our newsletters

After being linked to Zayn Malik and Andrew Taggart in recent weeks, Selena Gomez confirmed she is in fact single with a hilarious new TikTok. The singer sat on the sidelines of a football game with her friends, when she shouted at the players: "I'm single!", before quipping: "I’m just a little high-maintenance. But I’ll love you soooo much." 'The struggle man lol', she wrote on TikTok alongside the hilarious clip. Fans were quick to heap her with praise for her brutal honesty. Click here to sign up for our newsletters

Elon Musk has left his Twitter followers stumped with a bizarre comparison of Taylor Swift and Napoleon Dynamite. You'd think the tech mogul would have bigger things on his mind, but on Friday, it seemingly wandered elsewhere. Musk tweeted a picture of Swift and the awkward teen character, asking: "How do we know for sure they’re different people?" The caption above the photo collage of the two read: "When you realise Taylor Swift is actually Napoleon Dynamite." The tweet soon went viral across Twitter, with many flocking to the responses. "As both a Musk fan and a Taylor Swift fan, this is not the crossover I wanted," one person hit back, while another added: "Someone come get the owner of Twitter's phone, please. Now I can’t unsee it." Meanwhile, one person had enough and brutally wrote: "Elon pls go tend to ur baby DU-139X# before even coming on this shi**y app you wasted money on." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Now, this isn't the first time Musk has turned his attention to the 'Shake It Off' singer. In March, the Tesla founder complimented the star by saying her "limbic resonance skill is exceptional." Everyone was just as confused as each other, but it apparently means "a state of deep emotional and physiological connection between two people. The limbic system in the brain is the seat of emotions." He didn't stop there either. Under a series of photos from Swift's hotly-anticipated Eras Tour, Musk responded with a cigarette emoji which most people interpreted as him calling the singer smoking. When one Twitter user asked whether Musk and Swift would make a cute couple, he simply responded with a crying laughing face. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

The Earth will be torn apart by a nuclear disaster before the year is out, according to a legendary mystic credited with predicting many of the biggest events in history. Baba Vanga, a blind Bulgarian woman is said to have foreseen 9/11, the Covid pandemic and the death of Princess Diana, among other era-defining moments. And despite the fact she’s been dead for some 27 years, her loyal disciples still follow her prophesies with great devotion. They claim that many of her predictions came true long after her death, and there are still more to come. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Indeed, the rest of 2023 is set to be busy on the catastrophe front, according to Vanga’s followers as reported by The New York Post. Not only will a major nuclear power plant explosion take place at some point over the coming months – causing toxic clouds to settle over Asia – by the Earth will be hit by a devastating solar storm and suffer a potentially apocalyptic shift in its orbit around the sun. Other forecasts for the year allegedly include a bioweapons attack launched by an unnamed superpower, the emergence of a new religion based on artificial intelligence, and the end of natural pregnancies. According to her fans, she foretold that all babies would be grown in laboratories and parents would be able to select their physical traits. To be fair, that sounds eerily plausible when you consider one biotechnologist has already begun planning a “human factory” – though, admittedly, not before the end of the year. The issue with all of this is that Vanga’s predictions are cryptic and impossible to verify, as Sky History notes. And yet, there is a reason why a poor, blind woman from rural Bulgaria has been branded the “Nostradamus of the Balkans” and become a global icon. Legend has it that she was blinded in a dust storm at the age of 12 after which she announced that she had been endowed with the gifts of prophesy and healing. Her reputation soon spread beyond the local area and soon everyone from tsars to peasants would make the pilgrimage to her home in the Kozhuh mountains to seek her counsel. She was unable to write, however, so everything she said was documented by those around her, meaning there are no first-hand accounts of her visions on paper. Still, she is understood to have proclaimed in 1989 that “American brethren will fall after being attacked by steel birds […] innocent blood will be gushing” – which many people have taken to be an omen for the September 11 attacks. She also said that America’s 44th President would be Black, which was fulfilled by Barack Obama in 2009. And whilst her claim that Europe would “cease to exist” by 2017 hasn’t come to pass geographically, some have read this as a reference to the 2016 Brexit vote. She also predicted that the US’s 45th president would be faced with a crisis which would “bring the country down.” Given that the 45th president was Donald Trump, we’ll let you be the judge of whether or not there’s any truth to that one. Countless Bulgarian and Soviet scientists studied and tested Vanga throughout her life, ultimately concluding that she had an 85 per cent success rate with her predictions, Sky History reports. She even allegedly foresaw her own death on 11 August 1996 at the age of 85. All we can do now is hope that her doomsday visions for the rest of this year fall into that 15 per cent margin of error... Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Actress Elle Fanning revealed in a new Hollywood Reporter roundtable that she got turned down for a movie role at 16 for being "unf**kable". The Great star joined other female comedy actresses including Jenna Ortega, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Ayo Edebiri, and more. All are nominated for this year's Emmys. One of the topics the actresses discussed explored dealing with sexism in the industry, in which Fanning spoke about an experience she said she had as a minor whilst auditioning for a movie. "I've never told this story," the former child star said. "But I was trying out for a movie. I didn't get it. I don't even think they ever made it. But it was a father-daughter road trip comedy. I didn't hear from my agents because they wouldn't tell me things like this. That filtration system is really important because there's probably a lot more damaging comments that they filtered." Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "I was 16 years old, and a person said, 'Oh, she didn't get the father-daughter road trip comedy because she's unf**kable.'" She added. "Woah. at 16?" Lee Ralph responded in shock. "Of course, there are so many stories like this," Fanning said. "I've talked to people about this. And I can laugh at it now, like 'What a disgusting pig!'" Comedy Actress Roundtable: Jenna Ortega, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Elle Fanning, Ayo Edebiri & More youtu.be Fanning also took a moment to thank the adults around her for protecting her. She said "I have an amazing manager and agent who've been with me since I was 8 or 9." Around the age that comment was made, Fanning had featured in films such as Disney's Maleficent, as well as having a supporting role in Oscar-nominated film Trumbo. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

A federal district court judge on Tuesday granted a motion barring two New York counties from executing orders aimed at stopping New York City from sending migrants and asylum seekers to their communities for shelter.

Elliot Page claims he had sex with Juno co-star Olivia Thirlby "all the time" while filming the 2007 indie dramedy. In his hotly anticipated memoir Pageboy, the Canadian actor opened up about his past relationships. One of which included Thirlby, who he felt "taken aback" by the moment he saw her. Page said that while the pair were both the same age, she seemed "so much older, capable, and centred," with chemistry that pulled him in. The Umbrella Academy star went on to describe Thirlby, who played Page's best friend in the film, as "sexually open," which was "far removed" from where he was at the time. They spent most of their time together shooting for the film, with Page recalling the time Thirlby "looked directly at me and said point-blank, ‘I’m really attracted to you.'” Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "At that we started sucking face, it was on" he claimed in the memoir. "I had an all-encompassing desire for her, she made me want in a way that was new, hopeful." Page went on to candidly detail that Thirlby was the first person to make her have an orgasm. He continued: "Her hotel room, in our trailers at work, once in a tiny, private room in a restaurant … We thought we were being subtle. Being intimate with Olivia helped my shame dissipate. I didn’t see a glint of it in her eyes and I wanted that — done feeling wretched about who I am." Page came out as gay in 2014. In another section of his book, the 36-year-old detailed an incident at a birthday party two months later in which an A-list Hollywood actor said: "You aren’t gay. That doesn’t exist. You are just afraid of men." The chapter, titled 'Famous A**hole at Party', goes on to add the male then reportedly told Page: "I’m going to f*** you to make you realise you aren’t gay." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

There have been many questionable items for sale in recent months, including bottles of spit and bath water. But now, Lil Yachty has jokingly suggested he's selling Drake's half-eaten pizza for $500,000 (£402,800). Over the weekend, the rapper took to his Instagram story with a snap of the partially eaten pizza. "Selling this drake bit slice of pizza for 500k," the on-screen text read. The post soon made its way over to Twitter, where one person responded: "The fact that someone will actually buy this". "We just hit a peak of the financial bubble," another tweeted, while a third joked: "Make the bread... Or sell that bread". One intrigued investor asked: "Where do I inquire?" Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter It comes after Lil Yachty joined Drake on a live stream on Saturday (3 June) for online betting agency Stake. At one point, the Toronto rapper was left red-faced after attempting to donate $500 (£400) to an online streamer – but his card declined. After entering a verification code to authorise the purchase, the dialogue box disappeared to show the payment hadn't in fact gone through and Drake would have to try and pay again. "Embarrassing," Drake sang in a high-pitched voice, as fellow rapper Lil Yachty smiled at the mishap next to him. Many more viewers turned their attention to Drake's yellow-painted nails. While some were quick to praise the star's decision, others weren't too keen on the colour choice and wished he had opted for a different shade. "I never have an issue with men wearing nail polish itself but my issue is the fact they always choosing ugly colour," one person quipped. Meanwhile, another added: "Why is Drake wearing yellow nail polish…. Ugh." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Taylor Swift and Matty Healy have reportedly parted ways after rumours that the pair were dating had the internet in a chokehold. During the star's hotly anticipated Eras Tour in Chicago on Saturday (3 June), Swift surprised fans with two new additions. One of which was a piano version of her 2017 song 'I Don't Wanna Live Forever'. The song is centred around heartbreak and losing the love of your life, prompting the singer to seemingly hold back emotions on stage. One part of the song says: "Been sitting eyes wide open behind these four walls, hoping you'd call/ It's just a cruel existence like there's no point hoping at all." The performance garnered a lot of attention from fans, who first praised the emotional rendition, before speculating that Swift was hinting at what was going on in her personal life. It came a day before reports of Swift "splitting" from The 1975 frontman. "Her voice breaks - she‘s looking up trying to hold her tears - continues to sing like that, it’s literally heartbreaking," one Swiftie wrote, while another noted: "That voice crack." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter A close source told TMZ that Swift is "single" again, but unclear what happened. Meanwhile, Entertainment Tonight claimed, "Taylor and Matty broke up. They are both extremely busy and realised they’re not really compatible with each other." "Taylor’s friends want what’s best for her and aren’t shocked that their relationship fizzled out since she recently got out of a long-term relationship," a source told the publication on Monday (5 June), referring to Swift's split from British actor Joe Alwyn after six years of dating. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Nearly a half-century after its release, Queen’s classic “mock opera”—a favorite of Wayne and Garth’s—is still regularly cited as one of the greatest songs ever recorded.

Excerpts from an upcoming memoir by The Umbrella Academy actor Elliot Page have revealed the Juno star allegedly received a rape threat from an “acquaintance” at a Los Angeles party – six years before they came out as transgender. Page came out as gay in 2014, but in a section of the book seen and shared by People, the 36-year-old details an incident at a birthday party two months later in which the unnamed individual claimed, “you aren’t gay – that doesn’t exist” and that the Canadian was “just afraid of men”. The chapter, titled “Famous A**hole at Party”, goes on to add the male then reportedly told Page: “I’m going to f*** you to make you realise you aren’t gay.” Despite the threat of ‘corrective rape’ – a hate crime where the abuser seeks to change or ‘cure’ a person’s sexuality, often to heterosexuality – the anonymous actor apparently told Page at the gym, where they saw each other again a few days later, that they “don’t have a problem with gay people, I swear.” “I think you might,” Page replied. Expanding on the situation, Page told People he’s had “some version” of the incident “happen many times throughout my life”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “A lot of queer and trans people deal with it incessantly. These moments that we often like don’t talk about or we’re supposed to just brush off, when actually it’s very awful. “I put that story in the book because it’s about highlighting the reality, the s*** we deal with and what gets sent to us constantly – particularly in environments that are predominantly cis and heterosexual. “How we navigate that world where you either have more extreme, overt moments like that, or you have the more, like, subtle jokes. [In Hollywood] these are very powerful people – they’re the ones choosing what stories are being told and creating content for people to see all around the world,” they said. Page added that although he’s “purposely” not sharing the name of the individual, the person “will hear about this and know it’s him”, and there were others who saw and heard what happened at the party. Pageboy is published on Tuesday. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.