Paris – Michmutters
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Business

Has blockchain found a use beyond crypto trading?

The bitcoin boom spawned new billionaires and videos of beach parties and Lamborghinis. The crypto crash brought devastation for small investors and bankruptcy for many companies.

Blockchain technology underpins crypto and has been hailed as a world-changing innovation, but does it have any use beyond creating speculative financial instruments?

– More secure voting? –

A “blockchain-based mobile voting app”, I tweeted, would mean “we won’t have to wait for results, or have any questions on its validity”.

So far, experiments have been very small scale.

“From the American perspective, every single district runs its own voting programme,” he said.

“Centralizing the voting system in one digital place would be pretty risky -– then all you have to do is corrupt the blockchain and you could corrupt democracy.”

Blockchain at heart is a ledger, a way of storing transactions that is — according to fans — secure, transparent and permanent.

Diehl said it was “absurd” that the blockchain was “going back to things that were solved a millennium ago to justify its own existence”.

“The blockchain isn’t solving anything here.”

The blockchain emerged from a 2008 white paper on bitcoin, which was conceived as an alternative to fiat currency.

Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency. There are now more than 10,000 others sitting on many different blockchains.

Diehl pointed out that cryptoassets are speculative instruments not suitable for payments.

“It just doesn’t happen. You want something that’s going to be stable so the price of your coffee is the price of your coffee next week.”

Want to know where your handle came from? Some supermarkets believe the best way for you to find out is to access a blockchain-based system capable of tracking the fruit from the tropics of Central America to your cornerstore.

Carrefour told AFP earlier this year that shoppers would be able to scan a QR code and discover the provenance of an array of products.

Diehl pointed out that digital supply chain management has been around for years and is perfectly adequate without blockchain.

“If I have a carton of apples and report that I put 100 percent of them on the truck, but then I skim off 50 percent for myself, the blockchain is not going to prevent that.”

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Categories
Entertainment

Princess Diana’s bodyguard Lee Sansum claims she would still be alive if he had been on duty

He is the bodyguard who Princess Diana nicknamed “Rambo” and with whom she had several heart-to-hearts revealing her biggest fears and future plans.

And 25 years on from her death, Lee Sansum says he is adamant she would be alive today if he had been with her on the night she died alongside Dodi Fayed in a Paris car crash on August 31, 1997.

In an exclusive interview with The SunSansum has told how security guards drew straws to accompany bodyguard Trevor Rees-Jones in the car, and he lost.

He also reveals the fun bets he had with a young Prince and how he treasures a letter from Diana thanking him for making her final sunshine holiday in St Tropez “magical” — and her fears she may be assassinated.

“It could have been me in that car,” said Sansum, now 60.

“We drew straws to see who would be accompanying Trevor that weekend. I pulled a match and it was a long one.

“When I learned they were not wearing seatbelts in the crash I understood why they didn’t survive. That shouldn’t have happened.

“It was standard practice for the family to wear seatbelts. It was an order sent down from the boss, Dodi’s dad Mohamed Fayed. Dodi, in particular, hated wearing seatbelts and I always insisted on it.”

Through his work with Mohamed Al-Fayed — the owner of Hôtel Ritz Paris and formerly Harrods department store and Fulham FC — Sansum also protected Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Sylvester Stallone and footballer Pele.

Burnley-born Sansum, who has covered his incredible career in personal protection in a new book, The Bodyguard: Real Stories of Close Protection from Tom Cruise to Princess Dianawas assigned to look after Dodi and Diana, then 36, when they stayed at his boss’s 30-bedroom villa in St Tropez, in the South of France, during July 1997.

Every day Diana would wake up at 7am and chat to the bodyguard.

“She had been happy on that holiday,” he said.

“But I had seen her in tears too, when she learned of the murder of her friend, the fashion designer Gianni Versace. She confided in me her own fears that she might one day be assassinated.

“She asked if I thought his murder outside his home was a professional killing.

“I thought it was. Then she said something that always stayed with me — ‘Do you think they’ll do that to me?’ She was shaking and it was clear from her tone that she really thought that they might, whoever ‘they’ might be.

“I spent some time reassuring her that no one was going to try to kill her and she was safe with us, but she definitely thought there was a risk that one day she might be assassinated.”

Diana also told Sansum she wanted to live with Dodi in the States.

“I actually signed up to join Diana and Dodi in America,” he added.

“She was definitely going, and that was that. She told me she was going there.

“She didn’t want to, but that was the only place she felt people weren’t having a go at her. It was probably her way of keeping sane, to get some respite.”

Sansum took an instant shine to young princes William and Harry, who he says were down to earth and friendly, like their mother. William was 15 when Diana died and Harry 12.

Sansum believes Diana’s plan to move to the US influenced Harry’s move there with Meghan.

“This trauma happened when the building blocks for life were being formulated,” he said.

“His mother saw America as a place of sanctuary. He will be drawing on his experiences of her from then. ”

Sansum, a martial arts expert, tried to teach William and Harry how to kickbox, but they were too apprehensive.

“I rigged up a punch bag in the garage,” he said.

“One day I told the princes, ‘Come on, I’ll teach you a bit of kickboxing.’

“When I showed William and Harry how to do it though, they seemed a little bit in awe from watching me kick that bag so hard and weren’t too keen to try it themselves in front of me.”

But Harry did challenge him to jump off the top deck of Al-Fayed’s yacht for money.

When Sansum said he would do it for £200, Diana joined in the encouragement and told Sansum they had his money.

“It was a bloody big yacht and a fair drop from its highest point into the water,” he said.

“A bet’s a bet, after all, and this one was by royal command, from an actual princess.

“So I jumped off the boat, hit the water with a big splash and they were all delighted, especially Harry.”

Sansum — who has also served in the Military Police, worked undercover for the Forces in Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles and in Somalia and Libya — does not believe Diana was murdered.

But he reveals the presence of intelligence services following her just weeks before the crash might have been a factor.

On a counter-surveillance drive near the Al-Fayed home in Surrey just before they all went to St Tropez, one of Sansum’s colleagues saw someone from the Special Reconnaissance Unit, working on a building site. He knew him as they had both been in the SAS.

“We were generally followed by MI5 but this was the first time we had seen a Special Forces guy,” he said.

“We thought, ‘They’ve upped their game.’

“A witness driving a car traveling in front of the Mercedes in Paris on the night of the crash told the inquest that he saw a high-powered motorbike overtake the car just seconds before the crash.

“Another witness traveling in the opposite direction saw a second motorbike swerve to avoid smoke and wreckage then carry on out of the tunnel without stopping. The riders of those bikes were never found — and that is no coincidence.

“I believe that security officers following Diana, possibly British or a combined British – French team, may have either inadvertently caused the crash or were in proximity to the car when it happened.

“If it was known that MI6 operatives were right by the Mercedes at the critical moment, a lot of people would have blamed them for it, and that would have been a huge scandal.”

Sansum will never know the truth. But he will always treasure the letter he received from the princess 25 years ago.

“I received a lovely letter from Diana that was signed by her and both of the young princes,” he said.

“She told me she wanted to thank me for taking such good care of them all in St Tropez. I was blown away by that. She assured me that she and her boys de ella had a ‘magical’ time there and that this would not have been possible without my help.

“I couldn’t believe that a woman as famous and in-demand as Diana had taken the time to write to me in that way.

“It showed the empathy she was rightly famous for.

“Diana was almost always able to put herself in someone else’s shoes, it is one of the reasons why she was so highly regarded.

“She signed off with her warmest possible thanks. I still have that letter and will always treasure it.”

This article originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced with permission

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Categories
Entertainment

Game of Thrones star Sean Bean says intimacy coordinators ‘spoil the spontaneity’ of sex scenes

Actor Sean Bean has hit out at the presence of intimacy coordinators on movie and TV productions.

the game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings star, 63, said in a profile interview with The Times UK intimacy coordinators “spoil the spontaneity” of sex scenes.

“It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things. Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hands there, while you touch his thing… I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise,” Bean said.

But acting is generally considered a technical exercise in which an actor is directed by somebody who tells them what to say and do.

Intimacy coordinators are increasingly common on sets to ensure that actors are comfortable with the physical movements required in a sex scene. The inclusion of intimacy coordinators has been supercharged in the wake of the MeToo movement.

Intimacy coordinator Ita O’Brien explained to news.com.au in 2020 what her job entailed. She said: “We have an understanding of physicality, body movements and anatomy, and of an actor’s process and how they can serve the script.

“We want to know what’s not suitable for you as a person, and we can work creatively with an actor with your agreement and consent and help the production. When we work from a clear ‘yes’ from the actors, it’ll be a way better sex scene.

“Then once you get in front of the camera, your actors can be free because they know they can trust where they’re going to be touched and where they’re touching their fellow actor.”

Bean made the comments in the context of Lady Chatterleya 1993 TV movie with him and Joely Richardson.

He said of his experience: “Lady Chatterley was spontaneous. It was joy. We had a good chemistry between us and we knew what we were doing was unusual because she was married, I was married.

“But we were following the story. We were trying to portray the truth of what DH Lawrence wrote.”

Bean also told The Times UK of a scene from his current series Snowpiercer which featured him and another actor – later revealed to be co-star Lena Hall – in the nude and involving a mango.

“I think they cut a bit out actually,” he said. “Often the best work you do – where you’re trying to push the boundaries and the very nature of it is experimental – gets censored when TV companies or advertisers say it’s too much. It’s a nice scene, quite surreal, dream-like and abstract. And mango-esque.”

when The Times UK reporter pointed out to Bean that intimacy coordinators are often there to protect actors, Bean responded by saying it depended on the actor and that Hall “had a musical cabaret background so she was up for anything”.

Hall later responded on Twitter by saying that she felt completely comfortable with Bean in that scene but she still saw the value of intimacy coordinators.

She wrote: “If I feel comfortable with my scene partner and with others in the room then I won’t need an intimacy coordinator. But if there is any part of me that is feeling weird, gross, over-exposed etc, I will either challenge the necessity of the scene or I’ll want an (intimacy coordinator).

“I do feel intimacy coordinators are a welcome addition to the set and think they could also help with the trauma experienced in other scenes. Sometimes you need them and sometimes you don’t but every single person and scene and experience is different.”

Stream the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon on BINGE or FOXTEL from August 22. New BINGE customers get a 14-day free trial.

Hall also clarified that her professional background is in theater and not cabaret, although she occasionally performs cabaret, but that “does not mean that I am up for anything”.

Other actors have also come out in defense of intimacy coordinators, including West Side Story breakout Rachel Zegler.

She wrote on Twitter: “Intimacy coordinators establish an environment of safety for actors. I was extremely grateful for the one we had on (West Side Story) – they showed grace to a newcomer like myself + educated those around me who’ve had years of experience. Spontaneity in intimate scenes can be unsafe. Wake up.”

An infamous incident of an unsafe set environment is the experience of actor Maria Schneider, who as a 19-year-old filmed a rape scene in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 film Last Tango in Paris.

She said the scene, which involved penetration with a stick of butter, wasn’t in the original shooting script and she was only told of it in the moments before filming. Bertolucci has said that he had n’t told her about the scene because he wanted her performance by her to be real and rageful.

Later recalling the order, Schneider said: “I was so angry. I felt humiliated and to be honest, I felt a little raped, by both Marlon (Brando) and by Bertolucci.”

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Categories
Business

NSW government announces driverless bus trial in 2023

Self-driving buses could hit NSW roads as soon as next year, with trials for the futuristic vehicles preparing to begin.

The Perrottet government has announced it will invest $5m for an on-road connected and automated vehicle (CAV) bus trial to kick off the beginning of the future on NSW roads.

With driverless vehicles predicted to hit our roads commercially in less than a decade, the government is working to set up a CAV-friendly road network to keep up with the likes of San Francisco, Paris and Singapore.

The state government says the trial will be subject to “robust testing” to ensure the buses will operate safely.

A government spokesperson said where and when the vehicles will pop up will depend on proposals from industry groups, which are being called on to get involved with the first 18-month trial in 2023.

Minister for Customer Service and Digital Government Victor Dominello is hoping the project puts NSW on the map as a world-leading adopter of CAV technologies.

“Vehicle connectivity and automation are game-changing technological innovations with the potential to sustainably transform the future mobility of people and goods,” Mr Dominello said.

“Globally, these technologies are advancing rapidly and already appearing in vehicles on the market today.”

He said the move would put NSW “in the front seat” in the race to roll out of the new technology.

The strategy will introduce, test and deploy CAVS on the road network, shape policy, prepare the road network ready for the new models and develop physical and digital testing capabilities for the driverless cars.

Part of the project will also include supporting freight services and increasing knowledge of autonomous vehicles.

Metropolitan Roads Minister Natalie Ward said the strategy would “revolutionise the way we travel”.

“The CAV readiness strategy outlines six priority areas focused on integrating this new technology into our transport system,” Ms Ward said.

“This will include working within the national regulatory framework over the next five years so we’re ready for the safe commercial deployment of CAVS in Australia.”

Ms Ward said adopting the new technology would help the state keep up with constituents’ expectations.

“Getting ahead of the game will make it easier to upskill our transport staff so customers have a seamless service when it is officially on our roads,” she said.

Regional Transport and Roads Minister Sam Farraway said NSW had already set several national and international firsts in autonomous vehicle technology.

“This is big-picture thinking – by putting NSW one step ahead it will bring investment opportunities, knowledge and better customer outcomes,” he said.

The state introduced the world’s first fully automated shuttle service in a public setting through the Coffs Harbor BusBot trial, which was completed late last year.

“This builds on what NSW has already achieved through autonomous shuttle trials, partnerships with local universities and investment in the Future Mobility Testing and Research Center at Cudal,” Mr Farraway said.

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Categories
Entertainment

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s ‘never-ending war’

Next month will mark the six-year anniversary of Angelina Jolie shocking the world by filing for divorce from Brad Pitt.

But despite being declared legally single in 2019, the exes are still no closer to reaching a custody agreement for their children – even as they reach college age.

“It appears that Angelina is determined that Brad should never get 50/50 custody,” one source familiar with the legal battle told Page Six. “And there are some who say that she won’t rest until the kids are legally adults, so Brad will never have shared custody.”

The couple have six children together: Maddox, 21, Pax, 18, Zahara, 17, Shiloh, 16, and twins Knox and Vivienne, both 14.

It’s just the latest except in a seemingly never-ending war.

French estate center of bitter war

“Angelina makes a constant stream of attacks on Brad. And she deliberately sold her disputed share of their vineyard to a buyer she knew he didn’t want,” a friend of Pitt claimed.

Pitt has been seen on red carpets around the world recently for the premiere of his latest movie Bullet Trainbut he apparently can’t escape the long reach of his ex-wife.

In legal papers in June, Pitt, 58, claimed that Jolie, 47, intentionally “sought to inflict harm on” him by selling her interests of the Chateau Miraval wine brand to Russian businessman Yuri Shefler, the founder of Stoli Vodka.

Pitt said they had agreed to never sell their respective shares without the other’s permission. He also asked for a trial by jury.

“It’s his baby. He’s very proud of it and he’s put all of the revenue from the business into the vineyard and Miraval studios,” said a Hollywood friend, noting that the Correns, France, vineyard estate also houses a recording studio.

“Unfortunately, Angelina sold her part, which was contrary to their agreement, to somebody they had both turned down before,” the friend added, as Pitt had previously said no to a deal with Stoli.

And then there was the recent news that lawyers for Jolie sent process servers to the SAG Awards in February, hoping to catch Pitt off-guard with a subpoena for Miraval matters at the event. (He did not attend.) Sources claim this was another example of Jolie trying to create a public scene to exacerbate the situation.

In April, Page Six reported that Jolie had allegedly unleashed “a desperate fishing expedition” by suing the FBI under the name “Jane Doe” to find more about its investigation into an alleged 2016 private-jet altercation incident involving Pitt and their son Maddox, and why FBI agents didn ‘t charge the actor.

An anonymous call was made to authorities, which triggered the FBI investigation, but the case was closed on November 22, 2016, with no charges of wrongdoing. Days later, Jolie filed for divorce.

Dispute over psychologist

Page Six is also told that things became tense earlier this year when Pitt’s legal team believed that Jolie’s lawyers attempted to have their court-approved child psychologist sanctioned by the California Attorney-General’s office based on her perception that the doctor had sided with Pitt, concluding that Pitt should have 50/50 custody of the children.

Psychologist Stan Katz, who spoke to the Jolie-Pitt minor children for the custody case, is currently under a non-criminal investigation by the California Attorney-General’s office, per a filing submitted to the Superior Court of California and seen by Page Six.

Dr Katz is not believed to have had any complaints made about him in his 30-year career.

However, another insider with knowledge of the issues had stressed that Jolie had nothing to do with the investigation.

Meanwhile, one highly placed legal insider told Page Six that only one or both of the parties involved in the case could make a complaint. A friend of Pitt’s confirmed it was not him.

The filing noted that: “The Court finds the Petitioner (Jolie) has filed a notice of non-opposition and Respondent (Pitt) has taken no position.”

Dr Katz declined to comment. Page Six also contacted the AG’s office. The scope of the investigation is not known, and it’s unclear whether the investigation is still ongoing.

‘It was a technicality’

After years of back and forth, Pitt was granted joint custody of his minor children in May 2021.

Judge John Ouderkirk however, was subsequently disqualified from the case for not sufficiently disclosing business relationships with Pitt’s lawyers – so it was back to square one for the custody case.

Another source familiar with the case said: “Everything is at a standstill. Last year was a real rollercoaster. Brad was given 50/50 custody in a lengthy, detailed judicial decision. Then the appellate court vacated the decision based on something having nothing to do with the substance of the case.

“It was an internal dispute between the judges and the private judges in California, nothing to do with the custody agreement. It was a technicality. It’s unclear where things stand right now.”

Meanwhile, Pitt is not believed to be close to his and Jolie’s oldest child, they are Maddox, who turned 21 on Friday.

Asked how often the actor gets to see the other children, the source familiar with the case said: “He gets to see them, but he still doesn’t have 50/50. But he’s trying to ride it out.

Both Jolie and Pitt’s reps were unavailable for comment.

Jolie-Pitt brood grows up

The former couple have six children. Maddox currently studies biochemistry at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea. Pax, 18, is believed to be continuing with his schooling from him, and 17-year-old Zahara is about to begin college.

Jolie announced in an Instagram post that Zahara will be attending the historically black Spelman College in Atlanta this year.

“Zahara with her Spelman sisters!” the Eternals star captioned an image of her daughter surrounded by fellow students.

Daughter Shiloh, 16, showed off her hip-hop dance moves back in June in a now-viral clip set to Doja Cat’s Vegas.

Pitt joked about it at the Bullet Train premiere: “I don’t know where she got it from. I’m Mr Two-Left-Feet here.” He also said that Zahara’s acceptance of her to college “brings a tear to the eye”.

It’s a new side of the Oscar winner, who also shares 14-year-old twins Vivienne and Knox with Jolie, as he has previously been so protective about his kids he rarely talked about them.

Pitt has been on the promo trail for Bullet Traintraveling to Paris, Berlin and London over the past month.

In Germany, the actor hit the red carpet wearing a skirt that he co-designed with Haans Nicolas Mott.

When asked why he wore the skirt, Pitt told Variety: “I don’t know! We’re all going to die, so let’s mess it up.”

The Hollywood friend said the answer is simple: “Brad travels regularly, but this was his first major event for a few years and he had a lot of fun with it.”

But “fun” doesn’t mean romance right now. Pitt is “not currently dating anyone,” said the Hollywood friend. “He’s gone on dates over the past couple of years, but he’s not dating anyone currently.”

Instead, Pitt is spending time on his art, architecture and hanging out with friends. He will appear in the Damien Chazelle-directed drama Babylon with Margot Robbie and Olivia Wilde, which opens on Christmas Day.

“He’s in a good place,” said the Hollywood friend. “He had a good break in Europe. He seems refreshed and relaxed.”

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission

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Categories
Sports

Football 2022: Lionel Messi scores ‘outrageous’ bicycle kick goal in PSG’s Ligue 1 win over Clermont

Lionel Messi scored twice in the second half, including with a stunning overhead kick, as Paris Saint-Germain began their defense of the Ligue 1 title with a 5-0 demolition of Clermont on Sunday (AEST).

Neymar was also in outstanding form for a PSG side who did not miss the injured Kylian Mbappe, with the Brazilian opening the scoring in Clermont before setting up Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos for further goals before halftime.

Watch the world’s best footballers every week with beIN SPORTS on Kayo. LIVE coverage from Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Carabao Cup, EFL & SPFL. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Messi then exchanged passes with Neymar before sidefooting in the visitors’ fourth goal with 10 minutes left.

Yet Messi saved the best for last, darting into the box four minutes from the end to control a Leandro Paredes pass on his chest with his back to goal, before converting with an acrobatic overhead kick.

That goal had the crowd at Clermont’s Stade Gabriel-Montpied singing the name of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, who endured a difficult first season in Paris.

PSG’s victory in new coach Christophe Galtier’s first league game in charge was achieved despite Mbappe missing the trip due to an adductor injury.

Mbappe also missed last week’s 4-0 defeat of Nantes in the season-opening Champions Trophy due to suspension.

Messi had opened the scoring in that game, while Neymar netted a brace. The duo therefore already have six goals between them this season, with PSG looking in ominous form.

“There is no denying we have lots of talent but what I retain is the collective desire to win the ball back very early, to play with intensity, to never let up,” Galtier, who replaced the sacked Mauricio Pochettino, told broadcaster Canal Plus .

“The squad have been very receptive since I arrived. They like to work hard together, have fun together. But the season is long. This was just the first game.”

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Categories
Sports

Football 2022: Lionel Messi scores ‘outrageous’ bicycle kick goal in PSG’s Ligue 1 win over Clermont

Lionel Messi scored twice in the second half, including with a stunning overhead kick, as Paris Saint-Germain began their defense of the Ligue 1 title with a 5-0 demolition of Clermont on Sunday (AEST).

Neymar was also in outstanding form for a PSG side who did not miss the injured Kylian Mbappe, with the Brazilian opening the scoring in Clermont before setting up Achraf Hakimi and Marquinhos for further goals before halftime.

Watch the world’s best footballers every week with beIN SPORTS on Kayo. LIVE coverage from Bundesliga, Ligue 1, Serie A, Carabao Cup, EFL & SPFL. New to Kayo? Start your free trial now >

Messi then exchanged passes with Neymar before sidefooting in the visitors’ fourth goal with 10 minutes left.

Yet Messi saved the best for last, darting into the box four minutes from the end to control a Leandro Paredes pass on his chest with his back to goal, before converting with an acrobatic overhead kick.

That goal had the crowd at Clermont’s Stade Gabriel-Montpied singing the name of the seven-time Ballon d’Or winner, who endured a difficult first season in Paris.

PSG’s victory in new coach Christophe Galtier’s first league game in charge was achieved despite Mbappe missing the trip due to an adductor injury.

Mbappe also missed last week’s 4-0 defeat of Nantes in the season-opening Champions Trophy due to suspension.

Messi had opened the scoring in that game, while Neymar netted a brace. The duo therefore already have six goals between them this season, with PSG looking in ominous form.

“There is no denying we have lots of talent but what I retain is the collective desire to win the ball back very early, to play with intensity, to never let up,” Galtier, who replaced the sacked Mauricio Pochettino, told broadcaster Canal Plus .

“The squad have been very receptive since I arrived. They like to work hard together, have fun together. But the season is long. This was just the first game.”

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Categories
Entertainment

Sun & Sea: Operatic artwork is ‘strange thing I’ve ever seen’

It’s meant to astonish those who are lucky enough to witness it, yet what’s going on in this picture is creeping some people out.

Bikini-clad women lie sprawled on beach towels as they sun themselves, while men dressed in shorts relax and children build sandcastles.

But there’s a twist; these people are not at the beach. Instead, they’re inside a building, and there are fully dressed spectators watching from above and scrutinizing their every move.

The picture has some social media users puzzled, with comments that it looks like a scene from a bizarre prison movie.

“You’ve got people packed in, and some people watching them like they’re at the beach but they’re not at the beach, they’re in a building with sand in it,” one social media commenter said.

“Without a doubt this has to be the strangest footage I’ve seen in my whole life … It’s pretty crazy, pretty wild, pretty out there.”

Another commented it could be like a “prison for the super rich”, while a third said it looks like a “prison floor”.

It turns out that it’s actually the artwork/opera Sun&Seawhich has traveled to different art galleries around the world, each time looking a little different.

The “beachgoers” are opera singers, and they sing as nature around them crumbles.

Many who have seen the display have raved about it, calling it “extraordinary”.

“There is less a feeling of doom than an elegy of beautiful sadness,” one audience member wrote.

In 2019, the opera won the coveted Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, while representing Lithuania.

At the time, Guardian reported that visitors looked down at the display from a minstrel’s gallery inside an old naval warehouse in the Venice Arsenale.

More recently, the piece was featured at Iceland’s Reykjavik Art Museum in June this year for the city’s arts festival, featuring black sand from the volcanic country’s coastline.

Sun&Sea project curator Lucia Pietroiusti has an intriguing description of the display. “Imagine a beach. The burning sun, sunscreen and bright bathing suits and sweaty palms and legs,” she said.

“Tired limbs sprawled lazily across a mosaic of towels. Imagine the occasional squeal of children, laughter, the sound of an ice cream van in the distance.

“The musical rhythm of waves on the surf, a soothing sound. The crinkling of plastic bags whirling in the air, their silent floating, jellyfish-like, below the waterline. The rumble of a volcano, or of an airplane, or a speedboat.

“Then a chorus of songs – everyday songs, songs of worry and of boredom, songs of almost nothing. And below them, the slow creaking of an exhausted Earth, a gasp.”

The performance loops continuously, for four hours each day and the audience can come and go as they please.

Upcoming tour locations include Helsinki, Barcelona and Lisbon.

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Categories
Entertainment

Sun & Sea: Operatic artwork is ‘strange thing I’ve ever seen’

It’s meant to astonish those who are lucky enough to witness it, yet what’s going on in this picture is creeping some people out.

Bikini-clad women lie sprawled on beach towels as they sun themselves, while men dressed in shorts relax and children build sandcastles.

But there’s a twist; these people are not at the beach. Instead, they’re inside a building, and there are fully dressed spectators watching from above and scrutinizing their every move.

The picture has some social media users puzzled, with comments that it looks like a scene from a bizarre prison movie.

“You’ve got people packed in, and some people watching them like they’re at the beach but they’re not at the beach, they’re in a building with sand in it,” one social media commenter said.

“Without a doubt this has to be the strangest footage I’ve seen in my whole life … It’s pretty crazy, pretty wild, pretty out there.”

Another commented it could be like a “prison for the super rich”, while a third said it looks like a “prison floor”.

It turns out that it’s actually the artwork/opera Sun&Seawhich has traveled to different art galleries around the world, each time looking a little different.

The “beachgoers” are opera singers, and they sing as nature around them crumbles.

Many who have seen the display have raved about it, calling it “extraordinary”.

“There is less a feeling of doom than an elegy of beautiful sadness,” one audience member wrote.

In 2019, the opera won the coveted Golden Lion at the 2019 Venice Biennale, while representing Lithuania.

At the time, Guardian reported that visitors looked down at the display from a minstrel’s gallery inside an old naval warehouse in the Venice Arsenale.

More recently, the piece was featured at Iceland’s Reykjavik Art Museum in June this year for the city’s arts festival, featuring black sand from the volcanic country’s coastline.

Sun&Sea project curator Lucia Pietroiusti has an intriguing description of the display. “Imagine a beach. The burning sun, sunscreen and bright bathing suits and sweaty palms and legs,” she said.

“Tired limbs sprawled lazily across a mosaic of towels. Imagine the occasional squeal of children, laughter, the sound of an ice cream van in the distance.

“The musical rhythm of waves on the surf, a soothing sound. The crinkling of plastic bags whirling in the air, their silent floating, jellyfish-like, below the waterline. The rumble of a volcano, or of an airplane, or a speedboat.

“Then a chorus of songs – everyday songs, songs of worry and of boredom, songs of almost nothing. And below them, the slow creaking of an exhausted Earth, a gasp.”

The performance loops continuously, for four hours each day and the audience can come and go as they please.

Upcoming tour locations include Helsinki, Barcelona and Lisbon.

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Entertainment

Elle Macpherson’s son Flynn is the spitting image of his billionaire financier father Arpad Busson

Flynn Busson, the son of billionaire Arpad Busson and Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson, appears to be the spitting image of his father in new photos.

Flynn, 24, shared pictures on Instagram of himself the same speedboat that his financial father drove him around in as a toddler.

“22 years apart… 2022, 2012, 2000,” he posted alongside three photos of himself aboard the boat.

The first two images show Flynn driving the boat as an adult, the third from 2000, is a throwback to him as a child, sitting on his fathers lap at sea.

Elle and dated Arpad from 1996 until they spilled in 2005. But they remained friends and appeared together when Flynn graduated after studying finance and real estate at Boston University last year, with his mother sharing family photos to Instagram.

“Where did the time go? You boys are a credit to your selves, and your dad and I are so in awe of the men you have become,” she wrote at the time.

Flynn, who is also a licensed pilot, is the former couple’s oldest son. They also share another son, Cy, 19

According to both Elle and Flynn, the mother and son share a close relationship. In recent years, they’ve appeared at various events together, including the Christian Dior Haute Couture 2022/2023 fashion show in Paris, France.

The 58-year-old and her son wore complimentary Dior designs. Busson’s girlfriend Anna de Ferran was also in attendance.

The star, who is famously known as “The Body,” posted several snapshots of the outing on her Instagram account, Fox News reported.

“My favorite date,” she boasted in one post.

“Loved sharing these special moments with my sons,” she wrote in another, noting that her other son Aurelius Cy Andrea Busson, 19, was greatly missed.

Despite living in the public eye, the model previously revealed she has been determined to give her children a more low-key life. It was not until 2019 that Macpherson appeared alongside her sons de ella on the cover of Vogue Australia.

“We kept the children out of the public eye,” she explained to the outlet at the time. “It was a decision that their dad and I made. We didn’t think it was necessary for them to be recognized in public. Of course, you can’t stop paparazzi.”

Macpherson told the outlet that “for years” many asked her to model with her sons. But up until then, she had always said no.

“We had one experience where a family shot was used on the cover of a magazine without our permission, and at the time it was terrible, but actually I am strangely grateful now because it’s so beautiful,” she said.

“Now, with Instagram, the boys are public, and they make their own choices,” she continued. “[And] they are amazing company. Who wouldn’t love taking them places?”

In an interview with Vogue Australia in 2019, Flynn – who reportedly divides his time between London, New York and Miami – spoke glowingly of his mother: “I know everyone says that about their mum, but it really is true. My mother has always been so incredibly devoted to me and my brother.”

“I always knew we were her number-one priority.

“It has shone through everything from the way she chooses her jobs to the way she cooks dinner.”

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