CouldnoT

Name: CouldnoT De cand asculti Radio B-Zone: 2016 O dedicatie: Tunisian community will love it Playlistu propus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3KmAQA1uAs

The Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 is the pinnacle of the GLS family when it comes to luxury amenities, and if you dream about owning one but do not fancy spending your money on an example with only the delivery miles under its belt, then perhaps buying used is the way to go. Mind you, due to the luxury-oriented nature of this model, one might be tempted to think that they need to be extremely loaded in order to dream about buying something like this. And that’s not really the case, because depreciation has struck this model like a train. You see, older, high-mileage examples tend to fetch in the five-digit category. That’s around $90,000, if you must know the numbers, and nearly-new ones that pack plenty of gear are usually worth double in today’s used car market. A brand-new one will set you back north of $180,000. That’s the official MSRP of the 2026 model year in the United States of America. And if you forgot, it was recently replaced by the facelifted iteration. The 2027 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 680, which is its new name (or suffix, in this case), comes with new front and rear fascias, including star-studded lighting units, boasts the latest MBUX infotainment system on the inside, complete with the Superscreen, and can be ordered with new leather upholstery in different colors. The engine is also new, and you are looking at a 4.0-liter twin-turbocharged V8 unit with a flat-plane crank design, assisted by a 48-volt mild-hybrid system. The 9-speed automatic transmission delivers 603 horsepower (612 ps/450 kW) and 627 pound-feet (850 Nm) of torque to all four wheels, and the ISG (integrated starter generator) contributes with an extra 23 horsepower. A revised steering system, a reworked air suspension, an optional E-Active Body Control function, and many others are part of the mid-cycle refresh. Mercedes has yet to announce how much the “new” Maybach GLS 680 will cost in our market, but it will likely be more than $180K, which is the MSRP of the outgoing iteration. Production of this model takes place in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, so it is one important machine that is born in the US of A, which is on the opulent side of things. Mind you, you can enjoy similar (if not identical) opulence in the example pictured in the gallery above. This is a 2022 Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 that originally came in black. The factory paint finish has been covered in blue wrap, in this case, which is joined by plenty of chrome elements from bumper to bumper. This luxury-oriented SUV rides on the typical Maybach wheels, features a black leather interior with the old dual-screen setup, has ambient lighting, and numerous gizmos that are expected from such a thing. According to the vendor, which is @motorcarsofchicago on Instagram, the 2022 model year Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 in question has a clean title, and in the region of 31,000 miles (50,000 km) on the clock. As mentioned above, these things tend to sell for roughly $90,000 in today’s second-hand market. So, do you reckon that this is the sticker price attached to this SUV? That would be a no, because the dealer is in this business to make money, so it was asking $109,995 for this machine at the time of writing. Curiously, the vendor did not have anything else to say about this Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600, but we will remind you that this thing took 4.6 seconds to accelerate from 0 to 60 mph (0 to 97 kph). It features a detuned version of the engine powering the Mercedes-AMG GLS 63, and it is a 4.0-liter bi-turbo V8 that steams out 550 hp (558 ps/410 kW) and 558 lb-ft (770 Nm) of torque. The peak thrust is available from 2,500 to 4,500 rpm, and the maximum output between 6,000 and 6,500 rpm. Thus, as you already know, the previous Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 is less powerful than the new GLS 680. There is a 53-brake horsepower (54 ps/40 kW) difference between the two, and 69 pound-feet (94 Nm) of torque, with the balance obviously tilting in favor of the new one. The selling dealer is not particularly fond of direct messages, as the short caption that accompanies the pictures shared above reveals, it offers financing, and accepts trade-ins. But is $110K really a good deal for this 2022 model year Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600? And better said, if you had that kind of money lying around, and the desire to buy such a thing, would you blow it on the pictured example? Don’t forget that a new Maybach-branded GLS will set you back north of $180K, and it can easily exceed the $200K mark if you tick a few boxes on the options list. The used market value for a Bentley Bentayga is $50,000-$200,000+ in the USA, and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan typically sells for $230,000 to $420,000 used. autoevolution.com

Name: CouldnoT De cand asculti Radio B-Zone: 2016 O dedicatie: Tunisian players will love it Playlistu propus: https://youtu.be/IJHPpTYtIqk?si=qy5dgt5kKKFl9_nJ

Before screenings of their new documentary, the members of Katseye appear in a video message to thank fans for their support. Their followers, Eyekons, have played a critical role in their rise to stardom, so it makes sense that Katseye: Wild Hearts, released in global theaters this month, takes a beat to shout out to them. Perhaps more than many other big music groups today, the group’s rise has depended on their relationship with their devotees who ensure that few corners of the world are safe from Katseye mania. Katseye’s multinational members – Daniela, Lara, Manon, Megan, Sophia and Yoonchae – were selected through a combination of fan votes and judge scores on the 2023 YouTube reality competition The Debut: Dream Academy. The joint project between the American record label Geffen Records and Korean entertainment company Hybe aimed to create a global girl group, with hopefuls participating in a rigorous bootcamp to test their singing and dancing skills. The following year, Netflix’s docu-series Pop Star Academy: Katseye – which documented the group’s nascent era, behind-the-scenes drama and all – catapulted them to a new level of visibility. Katseye blend western pop’s individualism with the intense training and choreography of the well-oiled K-pop machine. Though they identify as a “global girl group”, much of Katseye’s domination can be credited to their K-pop DNA. “Katseye started with that core K-pop training [and high standards], which ensured they were firing on all cylinders from the start,” said K-pop columnist Jeff Benjamin. “Often in pop, there is a rewarding payoff in seeing an artist finally get backed by a big-label budget for a certain song, music video, or project, but K-pop ensures everything is supported from the start.” As a $5bn company with offices in Seoul, LA, Mexico City, Tokyo, Miami and Mumbai, Hybe’s resources have certainly contributed to the group’s success, but Katseye don’t adhere to all of K-pop’s structural norms. “There’s no hiding that many top-down decisions are made for them,” said Benjamin. “But Katseye divert by openly speaking about decisions they don’t agree with – the members seem not to like Pop Star Academy and the competition format they were created from – and addressing things most K-pop acts don’t speak about, including their personal lives and sexualities.” In 2026, Katseye are experiencing a surge of popularity that’s impossible to ignore, including a sold-out tour, nearly 40m monthly Spotify listeners and two Grammy nominations. Katseye: Wild Hearts, which features behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and fan-submitted videos, pulled in nearly $4m its opening weekend. The band have vacuumed up major marketing deals: they’ve worked with State Farm, Pandora, Target and the bougie LA grocery story Erewhon, where they have their own $22 smoothie. Their Gap Better in Denim campaign sparked a wildly viral TikTok trend and saw an upswing in revenue growth for the brand. Fans in their 20s, teens and younger are eating up what Katseye are serving far beyond retail shelves thanks to their hybrid western pop/K-pop mythos, high-energy performances and inclusive cultural and LGBTQ+ representation. (Two members identify as queer.) There’s also their digital posturing: Katseye is quick to leverage a viral meme to promote their product as well as build relatability with their fans. They reference zoomer Disney Channel nostalgia, collaborate with other chronically online stars such as Troye Sivan and rally fan participation with popular TikTok dances. “Katseye emerged in a landscape where social media isn’t just a promotional tool, but part of how pop culture is made and circulated,” said Dr Lucy Bennett, senior lecturer in Popular Music and Fandom at Cardiff University. “Fans can take a song, performance or interaction and repackage it for their own social media, promoting the group further.” In short, the Eyekons are better than any marketing team. “This is particularly significant for a new group because fandom can help create a sense that something is happening around the group, such as a feeling of momentum and cultural relevance.” Katseye’s core gen Z and Alpha fanbase isn’t by accident. Their easy-to-replicate dance trends, collaborations with toy brands such as Monster High and Gui Gui slime, and “brain rot” lyrics are targeted to young audiences. “Boba tea (gnarly) / Tesla (gnarly) / Fried chicken (gnarly),” they sing on Gnarly, while their latest single features lines such as: “Carry my matcha / Mount Valley water / I like my mochi drenched in chocolata.” The group’s fast-tracked success has not come without friction. Katseye say they have faced “heavy” racist and sexist harassment, dealt with extreme toxic fandom and received death threats. Lara, a Connecticut-raised US citizen of Tamil Indian background, told the BBC she was falsely reported to ICE, while Sophia, who is Filipina-American, revealed their family members had received hateful comments. Manon, who is of Swiss-Ghanaian heritage, called the experience “terrorizing on the mind”. Like the Pussycat Dolls, Fifth Harmony and other girl groups before them, Katseye have faced an onslaught of rumors of tensions within the group. Shadily edited clips of the girls have been presented on social media as proof of enmity between members. Some have outright pitted the girls against each other. “People see us as women to rank. They’ll grade us based on how pretty we are, our singing skill, dancing skill, and then add it up and give us a percentage. That’s so dystopian,” Lara said. The all-too-familiar parasocial expectations fans have of artists weigh heavily over Katseye, but that’s nothing new in pop. “The more intimate the digital relationship becomes, the more complicated it can be to maintain boundaries,” said Bennett. “Because fans can invest so much time and emotional energy in an artist, this can create expectations around access and responsiveness.” Other public scrutiny surrounding the band has been murkier. In February, the group announced Manon was taking a temporary step back to “focus on her health and wellbeing”, leaving the band to perform at Coachella as a five-piece. Soon after, she removed references to Katseye from her Instagram bio. In August, just months after Manon stepped back, Hybe announced Sophia was similarly going on hiatus for her “mental health and wellness”, casting another shadow of uncertainty over the group’s seemingly dwindling roster. It’s unclear if she will return in time to join her bandmates on their global Wildworld Tour this September. Meanwhile, the active members have voiced their support for both bandmates during recent promotional activities and appearances. Bennett said “the participatory nature of Katseye’s formation” makes their relationship with fans complex. “If fans have voted, promoted, defended and helped shape the formation of the group, they may feel they have a genuine stake in what happens to it. That can be a really positive thing, creating a strong sense of loyalty and investment in the group. At the same time, fans may feel that their investment gives them a particular interest in questioning or discussing decisions about [the band].” Katseye’s trajectory has so far triumphed over hiatuses, controversies and sneery rumors. Released on 14 August, Wild is a mega-success. The EP debuted at No 1 on the Billboard 200, setting a remarkable new record for the biggest week by a girl group in the streaming era. Wild also marks the biggest US debut for a girl group since Danity Kane’s 2008 album Welcome to the Dollhouse, and is the fourth No 1 album by a girl group this decade following K-pop releases such as Blackpink’s Born Pink, NewJeans’ second EP Get Up, and Twice’s With You-th. Despite record-breaking sales, critics are less enthused about the band’s recent output. Vulture called Wild a “war between bittersweet pop … and deliberately juvenile singles”, while Pitchfork shrugged at its “hollow” songs. Perhaps a testament to their rebellious gen Z pop swag, Katseye refuse to be chained to any one rhythm in particular – for better or worse. When the EP bangs, it bangs: Pinky Up, the spiritual successor to the initially polarizing Gnarly, is an intoxicating blast of thumping techno-pop. Co-penned by Ed Sheeran, Animal is a slice of radio-primed, early-2010s throwback pop. Tragically, one of the EP’s best songs, Unloveu, is a Target physical CD exclusive. Written by Lara, the ballad highlights the individual members’ voices as they harmonize about recovering from a toxic relationship. It hints at what could be if Katseye’s artistic input and vocals were emphasized above viral choreography and brand endorsements. Wild’s sonic incohesiveness and genre-hopping make for an uneven listening experience. It’s also woefully devoid of standout solo moments, the girls’ voices often blending into a sleek but frustratingly symmetrical monovocal. Bel Air, an unreleased 13-year-old Charli xcx song, is so languid it sounds more like a raw demo than the original. Then there’s Hootie Frutti. The Brazilian funk-flavored single is the EP’s most divisive, with some celebrating its chaotic, campy silliness and others criticizing its sexually charged, comedically product placement-heavy music video. (Manon and Sophia might be on hiatus. Orange-flavored Tic Tacs are decidedly not.) Amid a whiplash-inducing string of brand deals and promotions, fans are worried Katseye are being overworked. Maybe so. Representatives for the band did not respond to the Guardian’s requests for comment for this article. K-pop has long been under scrutiny for its infamously intense work schedules, while the western pop industry is no better for the many pressures facing female artists in particular. Coupled with various health-related hiatuses and public controversies, a cloudy patina of skepticism lies over the group’s nonstop schedules. In the past two weeks alone they have performed at the Disney Legends awards, appeared on the Today Show and Tonight Show, performed a Spotify event called Klub Katseye, signed CDs at Hot Topic and Barnes & Noble and headlined a music festival. Katseye’s potential for mainstream pop staying power is undeniable. As the global pop group of today, they are heralded by fans for their confidence, vibrant and distinct personalities – they embody an attitude emblematic of modern sisterhood in all its messy, magical glory – and celebration of diversity and digital culture. But something feels unsustainable. While one demand of the pop industry seems to be maintaining momentum at all costs, Katseye’s grueling commitments coupled with unrelenting public scrutiny could be harmful in the long run. Nonstop activity could also be holding the group back from more intentionally developing their core image and artistic perspective – both paramount to solidifying a musical legacy outside of flash-in-the-pan trends. Time will tell if the band’s current hyper-saturation is a natural outcome of the well-earned hype surrounding them, or a consequence of a larger, more insidious system that views pop stars as products. Perhaps after the Wild promotion is done, the band would benefit from a collective recalibration to figure out what artistic goals exist for Katseye beyond going viral. These talented performers deserve as much. theguardian.com

Artificial intelligence and the growing difficulty of telling real photographs from fake ones are at the heart of this year’s Visa pour l’Image photojournalism festival, which opens in the southwestern city of Perpignan on Saturday. Visa pour l’Image, now in its 38th year, says its mission is to show and document “the real world”. But that world is increasingly affected by artificial intelligence. For the first time, the festival is organising a “journalism convention” to “reflect on and defend the future of press photography” at a time when “generative artificial intelligence technologies are challenging the very notion of visual evidence”. Threat to trust A series of workshops will explore the changes and challenges AI is bringing to the industry, including the threat it poses to the way news photographs are made and shared and to the trust the public places in them. "2026 began with a fake image" writes festival director Jean-François Leroy in his editorial, referring to a photograph of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro, apparently bloodied and handcuffed and surrounded by US soldiers. The image was picked up by established media organisations and experienced journalists and widely circulated on social media. Its circulation illustrates a wider problem – AI tools can now create images of events that never happened, while many people, particularly the young, rely on social media as their sole source of information. Yet Leroy does not see AI only as a threat. He describes the technology as “perhaps the greatest opportunity journalism has to save itself”, arguing that AI models need reliable, recent and verified information to work properly. That gives professional journalists and established news organisations an important role because they produce photographs under rules designed to ensure accuracy. Conflict and change This year’s festival continues its traditional focus on major conflicts and crises, with the theme of “society in transition”. The 27 free exhibitions include work on Gaza, Syria, Sudan, Ukraine and Lebanon, as well as climate change, migration and the situation of Afghan women. Two exhibitions are devoted to Lebanon. Local photographer Mohammad Yassine captures the country’s most recent crisis since March, while photographs by Diego Ibarra Sanchez for The New York Times document the period from 2015 to 2026. Philémon Barbier, winner of the Perpignan-Rémi Ochlik Visa d’Or for his work, has an exhibition on Syria, while photojournalist Yoray Liberman documents Israel in his War Diary. Khames Alrefi has turned his lens on Gaza with an exhibition on the “first victims” – civilians – which received the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Humanitarian Visa d’Or award. Forgotten conflicts Other exhibitions cover war zones making fewer headlines, including the Donbass, Cambodia and Sudan. French-Syrian photographer Abdulmonam Eassa, who documents Sudan, won this year’s World Press Photo in the Stories category. Danish photographer Mads Nissen explores “the geography of cocaine”, while Gaël Turine documents the ravages of the synthetic drug kush in Africa. The festival also showcases more intimate stories, including Jérome Gence’s Virtual Weddings in Japan and Jérémy Lempin’s long-term project on illiteracy. Laurent Ballesta, winner of the Ecologie 360 – Reporters d’Espoir prize for his exhibition Far from the Sky, traces 25 years of underwater expeditions. The festival is also marking 200 years since the invention of photography. rfi.fr

‘You don’t come to Paris to be good’, declares Lucas Bravo’s enigmatic, organic wine-loving chef, Gabriel, to the new Audrey Hepburn for the Instagram generation, Lily Collins, star of Darren Star’s sequel to SATC – Emily in Paris. The sparks certainly fly between Lily Collins and Lucas Bravo, France's hottest new hearththrob since Alain Delon. They can't keep their hands off each other and their will they or won't they romance courses through the rom com of the moment with Paris itself as the twinkling matchmaker, while Collins shows her talent for comedy as a serious dramatic actress. Collins plays Emily a bright, ambitious, label-loving all American girl with a masters in marketing to who suddenly gets to trade places with her boss and move to Paris. To that you add a pinch me I must be dreaming wardrobe of couture that makes Amal Clooney look like a fashion wallflower. How she can afford a mortgage in Chanel handbags I have no idea, but her fairy fashion godmother is Patricia Field and she is having her American in Paris fashion moment. Now let's get one thing straight reader. Emily in Paris is more like a trip to Disneyland Paris than the real Paris. The series has provoked fierce debate about the way Parisiens and French people are portrayed as being mean, snobbish, lazy, unwashed, naked and with bad plumbing. Here's the thing. In my experience as a journalist, Paris can be a little chilly, and I am not talking about the weather. It all changes in an instant if a Parisien native likes you. Suddenly they are inviting you to dinner or even on holiday. As for Americans in Paris, they don't come off lightly either. Emily massacres the french language, she's too loud and opinionated and she sleeps with adorable Camille's seventeen year old brother and then steals her boyfriend! It's comedy, get over it. Comedy is meant to be in bad taste. Plus what we all want right now is a good helping of fantasy, romance and ridiculous levels of glamour and decadence, and that's what Darren Star delivers. Ditto the possibility of love, friendship, beauty and seriously good food and wine and I'll take it all, Paris mon amour! In Emily's new world, the streets are always beautiful, with an artisan boulangerie on every corner, and her world is suddenly full of sensual delights and intriguing, powerful men who are so into her. She has a wardrobe of clashing couture and she is about to get an education from love to steak, Van Gogh to French plumbing and how to survive in Paris when you don't speak French. Are you ready? There's just one thing. Don't come to Emily in Paris expecting to pickup where Sex and the City ended. Emily is more SATC's upstart, younger sibling. For starters, Emily is in her mid twenties, she is just starting out in life, and she is less worldly, introspective and sophisticated than SJP and the gang. She doesn't hide her excitement or opinions on anything from croissants to sexist perfume campaigns and she wears her heart all over her latest bag or bucket hat. She downs her tasting champagne in one girlish gulp and her only reference for Gabriel's native Normandy is the beach in Saving Private Ryan. But this is what makes her real and likeable. Reader, do you remember what it was like to be 21 or 24 and in Paris for the very first time? I do. I had my bottom pinched incessantly, the plumbing was definitely a challenge and the steak and pain au chocolat tasted like heaven. As for the fashion in Emily in Paris it's just as beautiful as in SATC, but less experimental. Emily favours a riot of colour and clashing prints and textures. She also likes to expose a whole lot of leg. As for the storylines, they are lighter, sillier, more romantic and strewn with cultural cliches. It's all so Instagram perfect and rather like stepping into a perfume ad for Chanel No 5 - it's Emily in wonderland which makes it the ideal escapist viewing as the nights draw in. Emily likes rules, hard work and status symbol labels as a cultural badge of success. She could be Margaret Thatcher's secret love child. She lives to work. One moment she is living in Chicago faking interest in her almost fiancee's Socks game; the next moment she grasps the opportunity to move to Paris and work at Savoir - the exclusive luxury marketing firm her company has just acquired. What could go wrong? Of course, there has to be some impediment to this charming scenario of a dream life in the city of love. There is. Her French colleagues hate her and cruelly brand her ‘la plouc’, the hick. Emily doesn’t speak a word of French, her enthusiasm is considered de trop, and so far her experience extends to marketing the hell out of pharmaceuticals and geriatric products. What could she possibly understand about the rarefied realm of French luxury goods when she has never set her well-shod feet in Europe before? She is branded ‘obvious’ as opposed to mysterious and je ne sais quoi sexy like her steel and sex bomb boss, Sylvie, brilliantly underplayed by Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu. Fortunately for us, none of this stops our plucky heroine from meeting insults with penis cake and flaunting her Eiffel Tower shirt at every Instagrammable opportunity. Collins is a force of nature as Emily, and handles the lighter comic moments with aplomb, while Luc and Julien are her perfect sparring partners, can we have more of them please? So far so good. Emily in Paris is fast, frivolous, often plain narcissistic, a reality free zone and as sugar sweet as a Mont Blanc. Have you noticed Emily hasn't even so much as looked at the Metro? Plus she only has to take a couple of steps on achingly chic streets and the next moment she encounters the most remarkable people from Mindy a runaway Chinese heiress slash pop star slash nanny with a hot wardrobe befitting a real Broadway starlet - to Camille a champagne heiress with the chef- boyfriend we all want to steal. Anyone for crepes at dawn? Suddenly, without clicking her heals, friendless and forlorn Emily has two new BFs in Paris. Soon the pavements will be paved with diamonds or bottles of de l'heure perfume. But who cares? It’s an adorable fantasy, I will take it. When life in the real world becomes Covid-grim out comes the fantasy and romance on Netflix and we love it. It certainly beats another depressing detective series set in the north of England about serial killers or dysfunctional families. Collins handles the comedy with the twinkling joie de vivre of Hepburn in Roman Holiday, if not quite the same degree of laissez faire innocence, regal rebellion and adorable insouciance. Oh and Ashley Park absolutely steals the show with her heartfelt version of La Vie en Rose in the park, dressed in a diva-worthy coat of white feathers, singing as if her songbird voice depended on every pitch perfect note. It's a moment when Broadway comes to Paris. It's also pure fantasy and sublimely magical. But there is a problem. Emily in Paris is clearly set in the present, with Macron as president, but nothing about Emily’s life new high-octane life in Paris seems to reflect the seismic events going on in the world from Covid-19 to climate crisis. Emily appears to have fallen down the rabbit hole into a near perfect version of the present. Even getting fired by Sylvie doesn't count, it's France! SATC did a better job of balancing all the glamour and privilege with grit and darkness too. Whereas Emily seems to reside in the equivalent of Paris Neverland, complete with spooning swans. As a result, the story of Emily seems to happen in a moral and social vacuum and it just doesn’t quite succeed in capturing the zeitgeist in the way that SATC did. If Emily is guilty of stepping over the real world, it does the lift the curtain on the secretive, elitist milieu of French luxury which has ruled the roost for more than a century. There are lots of silly, unwritten rules in luxury and fashion that one dare not break unless you want to be excommunicated. The snobbery and desire maintain a veil of mystique is real. Emily wants to lift the lid and it is fun watching her try. Look a little closer at the whip sharp battle scenes between Emily and her blowsy boss Sylvie and you are witnessing an existential crisis for the soul and identity of French haute luxury. It's a fight between old school marketing and the horrors of ‘opening things up’ and offering a peak behind the veil to the gawping ‘ringarde’ basic, Instagramming public. Emily is the cheerleader for the ringarde bitches of this world. Just a girl from the American mid west who loves Gossip Girl and flaunts cheap charms from Winetka in order to worship at the altar of French couture. “You need us,” she tells the couturier Pierre Cadault, who is horrified by her lack of reverence for tradition. Equally, he is tantalised by her bold ideas on how to reinvent his ailing fashion house and appeal to hot young Hollywood starlets, rather than his ancient clientele who have one very expensive foot in the grave. In a brief moment of candour, Sylvie tells Emily, “you want to open everything up and I want to close it down.” Technology and social media are tearing down decades of formality, secret codes and rules. Beyond the battle between the old and the new, Emily in Paris is a perfect binge watch if you hold your nose over the silly merde jokes, the rather naughty cliches about Parisiennes being rude, unfathomable, sex-mad, slightly crazy and fond of saying no to everything before they say ‘yes’. Because this just can’t be true right? One thing that does make me uncomfortable is seeing Mindy and her friends from Shanghai spray very expensive champagne over each other. It feels crass and wasteful in such dark times. Ditto the scene where a drunken Emily falls into bed with her friend's seventeen year old brother. No, that is just plain wrong. Lily Collins with Emily in Paris with Darren Star - Picture Netflix Is it bad taste? Yes. Perhaps Darren Star is taking us back to the greed is good decadence of the eighties. Any moment Emily is going to turn into Marie Antoinette and say ‘let everyone eat cake, we’ve got a drug for diabetes and obesity’. Does her lust for money, power and status remind you of anyone? Perhaps her creator is not just sending up American greed and French snobbery, but an ostentatious, rather selfish way of life which is equally endangered? But here's the thing. Emily in Paris isn't great, cutting-edge drama, but it is brilliantly fun, lighthearted, silly and entertaining. Darren Star has judged the mood perfectly. We are all craving escapism. Look at the rapturous mood on social media. I chatted to two ladies in my local cafe yesterday and told them I was reviewing the series. The excitement was unequivocal. They both loved Emily in Paris for the same reasons - the fashion, the glamorous storylines and hot French men. Oh Emily in Paris! I want to hate your joli jeune American in Paris. You really do know how to strangle a beautiful language and at times your life seems so self- centered and ridiculous. But hold on, I can’t do that, because I love your optimism, your shoes, your mermaid hair, your endless opportunities to dine out on real French gastronomy and your somewhat Wizard of Oz adventures and misadventures in this brazen fairytale vision of Paris where the Eiffel Tour always twinkles, no matter what disasters and scrapes you find yourself in. In Emily’s Paris there is no talk of Trump, climate change, homelessness or pick pockets and any moment I expect you to put on your red shoes and they will be Chanel, of course. It's a beguiling fantasy. Who wouldn’t rather be Emily right now biting into a pain au chocolat, motoring along the Seine with the heir to a couture house or sitting on Gabriel’s lap on the way to Champagne? Emily in Paris throws out cliches like strings of costume pearls, but it sparkles and twinkles like an chilled glass of Perrier Jouet and it crackles along with enough outfit changes, cat fights and French boyfriend shopping try outs to blow the gloom and uncertainty right out of Covid-19. It reminds me of my own Paris adventures. At twenty-five I went to Paris with less than £100 in my pocket. I had a wonderful time. Five years later I returned to interview Karl Lagerfeld’s latest actress muse, having been told over and over again that an interview with the designer for the Times was ‘pas possible’. Then, during the interview, Karl kept looking over at me, and eventually, he sent an assistant across and asked me if I would like to interview him too! An hour later, I was sitting with Karl at his favourite pavement restaurant, eating steak blu, with a Kir Royale while he proceeded to give me an interview at hundred and fifty miles per hour. He was outrageous, charming, erudite and spontaneous. So I always have a soft spot for Paris. Lily Collins is like a Henry James heroine in Europe. That wide-eyed startled appreciation and relentless thirst for life is uplifting while our collective wings are clipped. Through Emily, we can all fly around the city of love on a scooter, feel the flaky, chocolately pleasure of a proper pain au chocolat made with golden flour as it melts in the mouth and go out to play with Mindy or adorable Camille without a Covid care in the world. How I miss those carefree days with close girlfriends. Emily in Paris will do very well until the day we can visit Paris again for real. Who doesn’t long for that? Oh and finding out what happens to Emily, Camille and Gabriel in series 2. source: https://www.theluminariesmagazine.com/emily-in-paris-review/

Netflix dropped 27 minutes of new “Grand Theft Auto 6″ content Thursday at 3 p.m. ET in a collaboration with Rockstar Games ahead of the highly anticipated title’s November release. The event, which was first announced earlier this month, comes as Rockstar continues to suffer ongoing “GTA 6” gameplay leaks. The “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look” content was captured entirely from in-game footage on PlayStation 5 (the game will be released for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S on Nov. 19), per Netflix and Take-Two Interactive-owned publisher Rockstar. It marks the lengthiest look fans have gotten at “GTA 6” thus far, following two trailers released over the past three years. Per the official description for “GTA 6”: “Jason and Lucia have always known the deck is stacked against them. But when an easy score goes wrong, they find themselves on the darkest side of the sunniest place in America, in the middle of a criminal conspiracy stretching across the state of Leonida – forced to rely on each other more than ever if they want to make it out alive.” Netflix says the “GTA 6” “extended look” event represents “the next evolution of storytelling and content” on the streaming platform: “This trailblazing partnership with Rockstar Games elevates games to the center of modern culture — bringing an in-depth look at one of the most anticipated releases in the history of entertainment to Netflix subscribers first.” Rockstar has stated Netflix will be the exclusive home of the “Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look” special for six hours before the content is released on YouTube and across other platforms at 9 p.m. ET. It seems that exclusivity has had an impact as user error reports for Netflix spiked just prior to the Netflix “GTA 6” reveal, hitting 3,129 at 2:49 p.m. ET, according to service-monitoring website Downdetector.com. Several “GTA 6” gameplay videos have been released over the past week by a hacker group calling itself CyberLeek, which claims to have obtained a playable build of the game. The videos have been posted across multiple websites and subsequently removed and continued to appear in new locations. Rockstar Games — which last week filed subpoenas related to the “GTA 6” leaks — issued its first statement about the situation on Wednesday, just ahead of Netflix’s big gameplay footage debut. “Dear all, We know that many of you have been waiting to hear from us regarding the events of the past week. It would be an understatement to say that having videos of Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay leak in this way has been heartbreaking for our team, and this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time. We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has — from getting the game finished (nearly there!) to sharing more details and official gameplay, and providing the community with everything you want to know. We are very excited for everyone to see the extended look tomorrow. It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve. While it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers, we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19. We want to thank everyone in the community who has reached out with messages of support this past week — your words meant more to this team than you can imagine. Ultimately, we are making this game for you, and without you, we would not have the privilege of making games. We look forward to sharing more with you soon. Sincerely, Rockstar Games” Later Wednesday, Rockstar posted two messages on X noting its preferences regarding how fans go about creating content based on the Netflix event amid the outside leaks, writing: “Once Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look debuts on Netflix, creators can share their reaction content across social and video platforms.” In a followup, Rockstar added: “Quick clarification: you are free to livestream An Extended Look from 3 p.m. ET on August 27 providing you adhere to platform-specific guidance and you do not simply restream or repost the unedited video in full without context or commentary.” SOURCE: https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/gta-6-netflix-trailer-extended-look-release-1236845475/

I've seen this movie, I rate it 10/10, one of the best!

You can’t evaluate a movie year (not really) when you’re only halfway through it. But you can take its temperature. And at the midway point, what we can say is that the patient looks healthier than it has in a long time. If the box office were up (which it is), but only because of processed franchise hits, that would be a mixed blessing. But the box office is up thanks to a great many commercial films that audiences experienced as unabashed and organic pleasures, from the bantery, media-savvy “The Devil Wears Prada 2” to the tricky, exbullient “Toy Story 5.” Then there were the megahit horror films, like “Obsession” and “Backrooms,” that came from outside the box, not to mention the pop performance spectacles (“EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert,” “Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft”), the crowd-pleasing behemoths with soul (“Project Hail Mary,” “Michael”), and the independent films with a bold spirit (“Is God Is,” “The Drama,” “I Love Boosters,” “The Furious,” “The Invite,” “Our Hero, Balthazar”…the list goes on). As Variety chief film critics Owen Gleiberman and Guy Lodge roll out their choices for the best movies of 2026 (so far), the news isn’t just that movies are alive but that they’re (almost) (kind of) thriving. Blue Heron In the mid-’90s, a Hungarian immigrant family attempts to settle and integrate itself into suburban Vancouver society, though their best intentions are frequently hijacked by the deteriorating mental illness of the black-sheep eldest son; through the eyes of his younger sister, caught between fear and hero worship, a formative tragedy plays out in slow motion. From a raw chapter of her own family history, Canadian filmmaker Sophy Romvari’s quite miraculous first feature extracts both devastating drama and a radically inventive formal inquiry into the boundaries between memory, memoir and imagination. That sounds like a lot, but “Blue Heron” wears its ambitions with humility, and its broken heart with a gauze of wise, measured perspective. This isn’t a film that leads with trauma, but with richly specific domestic detail and a vivid awareness of how children see and process the world around them. If the story on screen were pure fiction, it would be just as deeply affecting, though the elegance with which Romvari pivots into documentary is something to behold. — Guy Lodge EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert You might ask: Why Elvis, why now? The simple answer is that Baz Luhrmann’s electrifying documentary, which is built around lavishly restored footage of Elvis Presley performing in Las Vegas in 1969 and the early ’70s, is one of the most thrilling concert films you’ll ever see. The slightly more complicated answer is that there’s still a mythology hanging over Elvis during this period — the Liberace-as-rock-god white suit and car-grille sunglasses, the sweat pouring off his shag-carpet sideburns, the onstage karate moves — that can add up to a vision of the king of rock ‘n’ roll presiding over a kingdom of kitsch. The reality, however, is that the early-Vegas Elvis was an ecstatic gyrating rock dynamo, more electrifying than Freddie Mercury, with that tremolo vibrato that transformed every note into a pearly gem. Diving into a treasure trove of newly discovered footage, Luhrmann turns it all into an elegant streamlined concert movie that makes you want to applaud every level of its showmanship. —Owen Gleiberman The Invite A bravura dinner-party dramedy that’s like “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” remade by the Woody Allen of “Husbands and Wives.” Within those familiar tropes, the movie is so original, so brimming with surprise, so fresh and up-to-the-minute in its perceptions of how relationships work (or don’t) that you watch it in a state of rapt immersion and delight. Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde play a grousing, long-married San Francisco couple who have their upstairs neighbors (Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton) over to dinner, only to discover that these two are what used to be called swingers (they’re now presented as “enlightened” New Age addicts of group sex). Will a foursome happen? That sounds like the premise of a certain kind of indie movie (let’s call it kinky-cute), but “The Invite” is blessedly not that movie. Wilde, who directed it, invests Will McCormack and Rashida Jones’s relentlessly sharp screenplay with an astonishing feeling of lived-in experience. “The Invite” is about horniness and loneliness and love and possibility, and about how the movie is going to take this situation and run with it, neither playing it safe nor making it too easy. —OG Is God Is What happened here? It’s one of the year’s bigger mysteries that this auspicious directorial debut from acclaimed playwright Aleshea Harris didn’t show up anywhere on the festival circuit before being released with little fanfare in May. In another year, you could imagine this furiously visceral and caustically funny female revenge drama being the toast of Sundance or SXSW; as it is, even many critics don’t know it exists. But time should secure “Is God Is” a following, especially if stars Kara Young (a two-time Tony winner) and Mallori Johnson blow up the way they should. More than holding their own against a supporting cast that includes Sterling K. Brown, Janelle Monae and Vivica A. Fox, they’re the year’s most electric double act so far as twin sisters, physically and psychologically scarred by childhood abuse, seeking to even the score with the father who wronged them. A marvellous writer, Harris is conversant in the languages of both ruthless exploitation cinema and radical feminist theatre, with filmmaking brio to match. Whatever she makes next, here’s hoping more attention is paid. —GL Obsession Curry Barker’s breakout feature is the hero in Hollywood’s biggest David-and-Goliath narrative of the last few years: a simple chiller budgeted at under a million dollars, it has made over $200 million to date, outgrossing a new “Star Wars” movie in the spring box office race. This would be heartening even if the film weren’t up to much; even more happily, it is. In a multiplex wasteland of infinite sequels and rehashes, Barker proves that well-turned original scripts don’t even have to be radically new to stand out. His reworking of the age-old monkey’s-paw trope is classically structured and executed, but intelligently rooted in the present: Its tale of a lovelorn young man wishing for his crush to reciprocate his feelings — only to find that devotion on demand doesn’t feel good at all — engages with the politics of codependent relationships, the toxic narcissism of the manosphere and even the dehumanizing dangers of AI. But it’s also just a frighteningly effective straight-up horror movie, with a jaw-dropping, star-making performance by Inde Navarrette as a woman trapped in one man’s will. —GL Our Hero, Balthazar The title character is no one’s idea of a hero, but he’s certainly a creature for our time. Balthazar, played in a hipster fade and with a puppy-dog scowl by Jaeden Martell, is a New York rich kid who acts out his boredom by posting videos of himself crying in the most tormented and “sincere” way. Playing off an online world where everything is now performative (I act out my supremely empathic vulnerability, therefore I am), Oscar Boyson’s cutting, audacious, at times astonishing first feature captures a new lost middle-class youth culture that has turned exhibitionism into its own reality. When Balthazar posts a video in sympathy with the victims of a school shooting, he starts to get messages from someone who claims to be the shooter. Has he found his grisly soulmate? Playing this other phantom lost boy, Asa Butterfield acts with a socio-bro attitude and a raw sorrow that seems to slice open the dark heart of what now drives so many lonely young men. “Our Hero, Balthazar” turns into a screw-loose buddy movie (“The Edgelord and the Incel”), but what it’s really about is a virtual youth culture gone nuts. —OG Power Ballad I believe in the marketplace enough not to say this too often, but John Carney’s enthralling music drama really should have been a bigger hit. It’s got everything his earlier films have — the melodic rapture, the touching melancholy of those who truly believe a song can save your life — but it’s also got a brashly unfolding drama that smolders with anger and loss. Paul Rudd hits the true note as Rick Power, a gifted late-’80s/’90s rocker who didn’t quite make it and is now a more-or-less contented husband and father who works as a wedding singer in Ireland. One night, he finds himself noodling around on a guitar and piano with Danny (Nick Jonas), a former boy-band singer who hasn’t been able to thread the needle of solo stardom. Months later, Danny has a catchy slow-rock hit — with a song he stole from Rick. Rudd doesn’t soft-pedal the darkness of playing someone whose dream has been taken. “Power Ballad” is the rare authentic drama about the music industry, but is also taps into themes of identity and ownership that touch on the mysteries of pop. —OG Rose of Nevada Back in 2019, Mark Jenkin’s microbudget breakout feature “Bait” was the unlikeliest of crossover hits in Britain, snaring both arthouse cinephiles who thrilled to his handcrafted evocation of grainy ’60s realism and regional audiences who felt seen by his proudly working-class, Cornish-set riposte to middle-class gentrification. Two films later, his time-travel puzzle “Rose of Nevada” feels like a veritable blockbuster by comparison — it even has stars, in the form of a never-better George MacKay and rumored 007 contender Callum Turner — but stays remarkably true to those gritty, grounded principles. Gorgeously shot on tactile 16mm film that lends the whole movie the look of a forgotten, sun-faded family photo album, it’s lo-fi sci-fi with a killer high concept, following two hard-up contemporary fishermen as they take a job on a rusty old trawler bound for the past. The less you know going in, the better, but Jenkin is as interested in the poignant human fallout of his big idea as he is in its brain-melting logistics. —GL Silent Friend How did “tree-hugger” become a pejorative? Shouldn’t we all love trees a little more? Rallying brilliantly after the disappointment of her 2021 Europudding “The Story of My Wife,” Hungarian director Ildikó Enyedi certainly thinks so: Her strange, sensual and unexpectedly sweet new film does much to dignify that hippie-baiting term, with a century-spanning triptych of stories — linked by one weirdly sexy ginkgo tree — that collectively probe the connection between human and plant life in ways you might not have considered before, much less seen on screen. Tony Leung, bringing reliable gravitas to a wild idea, plays a scientist locked down in a Hamburg university during COVID, who in his isolation discovers a way to communicate with trees; in different strata of the past, appealing young stars Luna Wedler and Johannes Hegemann are the students whose botanic discoveries mesh with his. Like Enyedi’s beguiling, Oscar-nominated “On Body and Soul,” it’s a hard film to encapsulate on paper; on screen, it sprawls and spreads and winds itself around you with something close to magic. —GL Toy Story 5 I christened it the “Abbey Road” of “Toy Story” movies because it’s a sublime summing up, a film that reflects the entire series in its magic mirror. Yet just when you think the “Toy Story” series has reached its perfect ending, something else will happen in the culture that demands the “Toy Story” take. So who knows if and where this series will go next? For our moment, director Andrew Stanton and company have crafted a nimble, moving, irresistible fairy tale that uses the rise of tech toys — smart tablets for kids — to pose a more profound question than just, “Are Woody and Jessie and their analog colleagues now really obsolete?” The true question is: Who are we going to be, as children who grow into adult humans, if we lose the capacity for imaginative play? “Toy Story 5” escalates in delight (the climactic wedding ceremony must be seen to be believed), but it also has moments that hit you like a gut punch. The message is: Slow down, be real and play. The fun you take is equal to the fun you make. —OG source: https://variety.com/lists/best-movies-of-2026-so-far/blue-heron/

Nick: CouldnoT Factiune: Civil Mesaj: Why am I not on the legends list ?

It is funny, however it looks AI generated, which is something that makes me less attracted to it.