Victory

‘It wasn’t that much of a rivalry,” joked Emily Blunt, during a bit of onstage cross-talk with Ryan Gosling at the Oscars – and she wasn’t far wrong when it came to winning awards. Blunt, who appeared in Oppenheimer and was nominated for best supporting actress, and Gosling, the now legendary Ken in Barbie, traded a few gags at the microphone, but there was no getting away from the reality: as far as the Oscars were concerned, the A-bomb film had nuked the walking-talking-doll movie.A winner in seven categories including…

On Saturday night, in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Covid conspiracist filmmaker Mikki Willis debuted the fourth film in his Plandemic series to an audience of about 150 fans and fellow travelers. Then, before he and his cast and crew could get into a planned Q&A session, the audience was told it had about five minutes to clear out of the ballroom venue. “I did not know that,” Willis said after confirming with event workers the screening space had to be empty by 8 p.m. Unlike the first three…

UCLA’s rich basketball history was on display at halftime, alums going back to 95-year-old George Stanich gathering on the court in blue sweaters with a gold UCLA patch on the chest.For much of Saturday night, it appeared that what came before and after would need to be immediately erased from the memory bank.The Bruins trailed Arizona State at halftime before falling into another epic offensive funk in which they missed 13 straight shots and went more than six minutes without a point.It was not exactly the stuff of Ed…

Violin plots showing the distributions of hope for peace and hope for victory Among Israeli Jews (Study 1, N = 306) and among Pakistanis (Study 2, N = 253). Credit: British Journal of Social Psychology (2024). DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12722 Research on group-based hope typically focuses on the positive effects of hope, such as peace and harmony. However, a new research project shows that another collective hope can stand in the way of…

Unicorn Overlord MSRP $59.99 “Unicorn Overlord is the strategy RPG fans of the genre have been waiting for.” Pros Standout presentation Fun characters Deep battle system Lots of customization potential Cons Generic story Minor technical hiccups…

Rep. Adam Schiff succeeded on two fronts Tuesday night, winning the California Senate primary and ensuring that the Republican opponent his campaign propped up with millions of dollars defeated progressive Democrat Katie Porter. But if Schiff (D-Calif.) thought his election night would be smooth sailing, he got a surprise when he took to the stage at Hollywood’s Avalon Theater.  As Schiff attempted to deliver his planned victory speech, protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza — where more than 30,000…

You have to respect Madonna’s idea of a nostalgia trip.Standing onstage before an adoring audience of thousands Monday night at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, the pop icon flashed back 40-something years to the evening in the early 1980s when she debuted her song “Burning Up” for a smaller and more hostile crowd at New York’s legendary CBGB.“People were screaming at me, ‘Show us your tits!’” she recalled. “And at the time, I didn’t have any tits because I wasn’t eating.” She laughed. “Being broke and homeless and friendless…

Given the Supreme Court’s possible responses to Donald Trump’s appeal of the D.C. Circuit’s denial of his claim of immunity from prosecution, the justices’ decision Wednesday has to be counted as a gift to the former president. That’s because the court came through for him on the most important axis: time.The court’s fairly Delphic order retains a stay on the case pending its consideration of the merits, with oral arguments scheduled for the week of April 22. Doing the math, that means the all-important election…

KYIV — Russian President Vladimir Putin is on a decades-long quest to restore his country to what he views as its rightful place in world affairs, and he is willing to crush anyone who stands in his way. Putin’s regime has ruthlessly consolidated power through murder and oppression, while using unfettered militancy abroad to expand the Kremlin’s reach. Until recently, the West has largely accommodated Putin, deluding itself that engagement and dialogue would temper his remorseless thirst for control and appetite…

US climate scientist Michael Mann has prevailed in a lawsuit that accused two conservative commentators of defamation for challenging his research and comparing him to a convicted child molester. A jury awarded Mann, who is based at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, more than US$1 million in a landmark case that legal observers see as a warning to those who attack scientists working in controversial fields, including climate science and public health.“It’s perfectly legitimate to criticize scientific…