Author: admin

Often the best movies of the second half of the year come almost preordained as the Oscars Industrial Complex revs into high gear. The first half, though, can offer more of a thrill of discovery. The first six months of 2025 have offered plenty of that, including indie gems, comedy breakouts and sensational filmmaking debuts. Here are our 10 favorites from the year’s first half. The Ballad of Wallis Island “The Ballad of Wallis Island” is the kind of charming gem that’s easy to recommend to any kind of movie lover. It is goofy and friendly, has an armful of…

LONDON (AP) — It was not her best goal or most important soccer match, but when the ball hit the back of the net in Natalie Washington’s debut on a women’s team in 2017, she felt a sense of belonging that had been missing.It was long in coming: Washington had struggled to fit in on a men’s team and eventually stopped playing when she decided to transition to being a woman and go through gender-affirming surgery. When she joined a women’s team, she quickly felt accepted.Now, after the United Kingdom’s highest court in April said that for anti-discrimination purposes the…

NUUK, Greenland (AP) — Greenland has a message for the rest of the world: We’re waiting for you.“Come visit Greenland,” said Nukartaa Andreassen, who works for a water taxi company in the capital city, Nuuk. “Learn about it, learn about us. We love to have you. We love to tell our stories and our culture.”The mineral-rich Arctic island is open for tourism. Whale-watching tours, excursions to the iconic puffin island and guided charters through remote settlements are just the beginning of what Greenland has to offer visitors. Locals want to show what makes the island unique beyond a recent diplomatic…

When I was a kid, my aunt and uncle grew tomatoes in plastic buckets lined up like soldiers on the cement patio in their tiny Queens, New York, backyard.They also grew dozens of vegetables in their 10-by-10 foot (3-by-3 meter) patch of soil and installed a pergola they made from green metal fence posts above a picnic table. While it provided much-needed shade, it more importantly supported grapevines that produced enough fruit for their annual homemade vintage.Space — or the lack of it — doesn’t have to stand between you and a fruitful garden. You just have to be creative.Start…

NEW YORK (AP) — If you have a cocktail scene in your neck of the woods (and it’s safe to say that I do in NYC), you might have noticed the words “pickle juice” appearing more often on drink menus.Pickles and pickle brine have been an ingredient that mixologists — and chefs — have played with for a long time, but they’re finally getting a star turn in beverage menus around the world. Pickle juice is salty, tangy acidic, and sometimes a little spicy. It adds zing to all kinds of cocktails.“Pickles are a great gateway into savory cocktails,” says…

On the Portuguese island of Madeira, espetadas are made by threading chunks of beef onto fresh-cut branches of bay and cooking the skewers over the embers of a fire. The bay infuses the meat with its unique menthol notes while also releasing a heady aroma.In this streamlined take on espatadas from our cookbook “ Milk Street 365: The All-Purpose Cookbook for Every Day of the Year,” we pulverize dried bay leaves in a spice grinder to make a seasoned salt, mix in garlic and olive oil, then use the mixture to season the meat before threading it onto metal skewers…

Kesha enjoying her freedom on her first new album since she left her old label and Ryan Coogler’s guts-spilling vampire film “Sinners,” are some of the new television, films, music and games headed to a device near you.Also among the streaming offerings worth your time, as selected by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists: Charlize Theron in “The Old Guard 2” on Netflix, National Geographic’s 25-hour “SharkFest” and John Cena playing a U.S. president opposite Idris Elba as the UK’s prime minister in the comedy “Heads of State.” New movies to stream from June 30-July 6– Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” arguably the…

PARIS (AP) — If any force swept through the fashion industry this season — and sent shockwaves around the globe — it wasn’t a new silhouette or a daring color. It was the spectacle of celebrity. Star power eclipsed fabric and form, transforming the runways of Paris Fashion Week into arenas where A-list icons, K-pop idols, and digital megastars didn’t just attend — they became the main event. As the week wraps up Sunday, it’s clear: the world is watching not for what’s worn, but for who’s wearing it.Beyoncé and Jay-Z didn’t just attend Louis Vuitton’s blockbuster show — they…

The lavish, celebrity-packed affair in Venice, replete with private water-taxis, three-Michelin-star catering and Murano glass gifts for guests, is over the top, but far from the most expensive billionaire wedding on record. Love is lavish-er the second time around. Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are celebrating their nuptials in a star-studded, and controversial, three-day celebration in Venice—and most of the focus has been on how much the affair cost. More than six months ago, rumors started circulating that the Bezos-Sánchez wedding (the second time each has said, “I do.”) would be held in Aspen and cost $600 million.…

NEW YORK (AP) — The monthlong celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride reaches its rainbow-laden crescendo as New York and other major cities around the world host major parades and marches on Sunday.The festivities in Manhattan, home to the nation’s oldest and largest Pride celebration, kick off with a march down Fifth Avenue featuring more than 700 participating groups and expected huge crowds. Marchers will wind past the Stonewall Inn, a Greenwich Village gay bar where a 1969 police raid triggered protests and fired up the LGBTQ+ rights movement. The site is now a national monument.In San Francisco, marchers in another of…