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☆ Migrants not just numbers, Italian director says in Venice film
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

VENICE, Sept 7 (Reuters) - With migrant arrivals once again surging in Italy, director Matteo Garrone has brought a film to Venice showing the perilous journey from Africa to Europe through the eyes of two naive, but plucky Senegalese teenagers. "In these years we have got used to the idea that they are only numbers and we forget that behind these numbers there are people, there are families, there are dreams, there are souls," Garrone told Reuters following the premiere of "Me Captain". "(The film) was born out the idea of wanting to change the point of view," said Garrone, whose previous movies include the crime dramas "Gomorrah" and "Dogman". Almost 115,300 boat migrants have reached Italy so far this year against 61,870 at the same point in 2022. "Me Captain" is the second film tackling the theme of immigration at this year's Venice Film Festival, following "Green Border", which depicted the nightmares awaiting migrants at the crossing between Poland and Belarus.

Persons: Matteo Garrone, Garrone, Seydou Sarr, Crispian Balmer, Sharon Singleton Organizations: Reuters, United Nations, Golden Lion, Thomson Locations: VENICE, Italy, Venice, Africa, Europe, Libya, France, Senegal, Morocco, Poland, Belarus

☆ They’re Tiny, They’re Toony, They’re Packing Off to Uni
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Laurel Graeber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

First-year college students everywhere are now adjusting to campus life. Few, however, have to choose between classes like Banana Peel Placement and Whoopie Cushion Alternatives. Or suffer the crash of anvils on their heads when they give wrong answers. These experiences belong exclusively to the incoming freshmen of “Tiny Toons Looniversity,” a new animated series that begins streaming on Friday on Max and airing on Saturday on Cartoon Network. With Steven Spielberg as an executive producer, the show revives the characters and setting of the Emmy Award-winning early-’90s series “Tiny Toon Adventures,” whose own comic DNA descended from the “Looney Tunes” short films of the 1930s-60s.

Persons: Steven Spielberg, ”, Bugs, Daffy Duck, Wile E, Babs, Buster Bunny, Plucky, Hamton J, they’ve Organizations: Max, Cartoon Network, Acme, Warner Bros Locations: hilarity

☆ England out to play spoilers as 'Matildas Mania' sweeps Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Nick Mulvenney | Thomson Reuters | Leads Coverage Of Sport Across The Asia-Pacific. Still Reports On The Full Panoply Of Sport. Many Olympics World Cups World Championships Grand Slams Grands Prix | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

SYDNEY, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Australia and England re-engage one of the oldest and fiercest rivalries in sport when they meet with a place in the Women's World Cup final on the line at a sold out Stadium Australia on Wednesday. While England boast the pedigree as twice World Cup semi-finalists and winners of the European title last year, Australia's plucky Matildas have captured the hearts of a nation usually invested in other sports. In Dutchwoman Sarina Wiegman, they have one of the best coaches in the game and most of their players play for top clubs in highly competitive European leagues. Before Saturday's win, much of the narrative around Australia at the tournament focused on the injured calf of the one Matildas player everyone in the country knows, striker Sam Kerr. Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Peter RutherfordOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Australia's, Mackenzie Arnold's, Cortnee Vine's, Sydney's, Sarina, Millie Bright, Keira Walsh, Chloe Kelly, Lauren Hemp, Saturday's, Sam Kerr, Kerr, Hayley Raso, Mary Fowler, Caitlin Foord, Wiegman, Nick Mulvenney, Peter Rutherford Organizations: SYDNEY, Australia, Sports, England, Thomson Locations: Australia, England, France, Spain, Nigeria

☆ In ‘Operation Mincemeat,’ the Theater of War Is a Comedy
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-09 | by ( Alexis Soloski | More About Alexis Soloski | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At one time, those tanks were a feature of “Operation Mincemeat,” a punchy, plucky, highly unlikely West End musical, which tells the even more unlikely story of an MI-5 escapade. “Part of the joy was that the crazy stuff was all true,” said Natasha Hodgson, a member of the theater collective SpitLip, which created the show. But there was so very much crazy stuff. They especially doubted the dummy Sherman tanks, which the Allies created to misdirect the Germans. “We had to take the truth out because it was too silly,” the composer Felix Hagan, another member of SpitLip said.

Persons: ”, Natasha Hodgson, “, Felix Hagan, SpitLip Organizations: British Intelligence, Royal Marines Locations: Spain

☆ Fuelled by Rice, Arsenal ready for next step in title race
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-04 | by ( Martyn Herman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Those three signings were all completed early in the close4 season meaning Arsenal should be ready to hit the ground running when they kick off at home to Nottingham Forest next Saturday. While Rice's price tag appears over-inflated, he looks capable of giving Arsenal the drive their midfield began to lack in the closing months of the campaign. Timber offers the sort of defensive depth Arsenal sadly lacked after France's William Saliba was injured in March. "The players will have learned a hell of a lot with that title run, and this year is about going that one step ahead. ($1 = 0.7843 pounds)($1 = 0.9112 euros)Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Ken FerrisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Arsenal's Kai Havertz, Declan Rice, Peter Cziborra, Mikel Arteta's, Kai Havertz, Martin Odegaard, Havertz, Mikel Arteta, Granit Xhaka, William Saliba, Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Jesus, Rice, Arsenal's, Martyn Herman, Ken Ferris Organizations: Soccer, Arsenal, AS Monaco, Emirates, Peter Cziborra LONDON, Manchester City's, Premier League, City . Arsenal, West Ham United, Ajax Amsterdam, Nottingham Forest, Bayer Leverkusen, Timber, City, Barcelona, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, West, Chelsea, Arsenal's, California

☆ Women’s World Cup: Australia Faces Its Injuries, While Newcomers Face Off
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-27 | by ( Claire Fahy | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Thursday’s World Cup matches feature unlikely upstarts who faced top contenders in their opening games and fared better than most expectations. Portugal and Vietnam, both World Cup debutantes, will be vying on Thursday for their first-ever wins. Australia vs. Nigeria Australia will be without star striker Sam Kerr for a second straight game. Nigeria is emerging as a threat after its performance against Canada, but is also no stranger to the World Cup stage — the Nigerians advanced to the round of 16 in 2019 and have qualified for all nine World Cup tournaments. Playing in its fourth World Cup, Argentina is still hunting for its first-ever win.

Persons: Bradley Kanaris, Sam Kerr, Kerr, upstarts, Thi Kim Thanh Tran, Alex Morgan, Simply, Mary Fowler, Aivi Luik, Tony Gustavsson, Fowler, Luik Organizations: Australia, Canada, ., Nigeria, Ireland, South Locations: Portugal, Vietnam, Nigeria, Australia, Nigerian, Vietnam Portugal, Netherlands, United States, American, . Nigeria Australia, Argentina, Africa South Africa, Sweden, South Africa, Dunedin , New Zealand, Italy

☆ Barbie, Nike Air, Cheetos, Mario: Why Movies Are All About Brands Now
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Jared Holst | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

But the release of half a dozen movies about brands — Barbie, Flamin' Hot Cheetos, Tetris, Nike Air, BlackBerry, and Beanie Babies — in six months isn't just the result of Hollywood groupthink and coincidence. But just as these brand-centric movies ring hollow, so does the gig economy they're catering to. While the plot isn't about the making of Barbie, Barbie and Ken do step outside Barbie Land to peek behind the curtains of their creation.) As more companies look to gig workers to replace full-time jobs, more workers take up gig work. As the economy continues to emphasize the importance of self-branding through gig work, brand movies will continue to resonate.

Persons: Ryan, — Barbie, Flamin, isn't, Barbie, doggedly, Zach Galifianakis, Ty Warner, Ken, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Ben Affleck, —, it's, hadn't, they'd, it'd, Jared Holst, Jared Organizations: Nike Air, BlackBerry, Hollywood, Hulu, Mattel, Federal Trade Commission, Amazon, Economic, Institute, Brands Locations: American, New York, Brooklyn

☆ ‘Wonka’ director teases all singing, all dancing Timothée Chalamet in new teaser trailer
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

The chocolatier and torturer of naughty children is getting the prequel treatment in a new film starring Timothée Chalamet, coming to cinemas in December. Chalamet steps into shoes previously filled by Gene Wilder in 1971 and Johnny Depp in 2005. Speaking in London ahead of the teaser trailer release, King promised an all singing, all dancing Chalamet and a film that “answers all the questions you never had” about Wonka. The director shared that he’d accessed Dahl’s personal archives and read early drafts of the novel, gleaning ideas from there. CNN and Warner Bros. Pictures are units of Warner Bros.

Persons: Willy Wonka’s, Timothée Chalamet, Roald Dahl, Wonka, Gene Wilder, Johnny Depp, Charlie, Paul King, King, ”, ” King, Sally Hawkins, Tom Davis, Simon Farnaby, Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan, Michael Key, Calah Lane, Hugh Grant, Grant, I’ve, “, chuckling, Chalamet, ” “ Organizations: CNN, Paddington ”, “ Paddington, Warner Bros . Locations: London, “, American

☆ Why job searches suck right now
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Adrienne Matei | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Finding a job right now isn't only tough, it's deeply weird. Individually, ghost-job postings can erode both trust in the job market and the morale of job seekers who are applying to hundreds of positions and never hearing back. On a macro level, ghost-job postings contribute to a skewed sense of how many opportunities are really out there for US job seekers right now. Job platforms — including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Monster — also use language-processing AI tools to filter applicants. Suddenly, knowing how to work with AI tools and resources is an important edge for job seekers to have.

☆ Your Job Search Sucks Right Now Due to AI Hiring, Ghost Job Listings
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Adrienne Matei | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Finding a job right now isn't only tough, it's deeply weird. On a macro level, ghost-job postings contribute to a skewed sense of how many opportunities are really out there for US job seekers right now. Job platforms — including LinkedIn, ZipRecruiter, Indeed, and Monster — also use language-processing AI tools to filter applicants. And now, generative AI tools like ChatGPT are contributing to job loss. Suddenly, knowing how to work with AI tools and resources is an important edge for job seekers to have.

☆ ‘Mott Street’ Chronicles 4 Generations of Chinese American Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Dwight Garner | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

MOTT STREET: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming, by Ava ChinOld family stories are hard to revivify, even when they’re good family stories. This is the problem Ava Chin is up against in her sensitive, ambitious, well-reported, heavily peopled yet curiously remote memoir-cum-history, “Mott Street: A Chinese American Family’s Story of Exclusion and Homecoming.” It’s a book that has everything going for it except that intangible spark that crisp and confident storytelling throws off. The air is a bit still in this book, as if one is walking behind the docent on a long museum tour. Chin’s memoir takes its title from the narrow north-south road in Manhattan’s Chinatown that’s generally thought of as its Main Street, to which Chin’s family has a long and intricate and prosperous connection. When she’s on Mott Street, Chin feels she’s at home — except when she feels like an out-and-out alien (she can’t decide) because she and her mother were abandoned by her father and driven from the home place.

☆ Tucker Carlson's texts from the Dominion lawsuit reveal the real Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Rebecca Zisser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Private texts reveal incredible detail about Fox News' inner workings. Among the messages is a thread where Tucker Carlson privately bashes Trump. Top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, privately insulted Chris Wallace and hatched a plot for a rebellion — November, 16, 2020. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues, including then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, were spared. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues such as then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace were spared.

☆ Texts from the Dominion lawsuit reveal the real Fox News
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Brent D. Griffiths | Rebecca Zisser | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Among the messages is a thread where Tucker Carlson privately bashes Trump. Dominion captured a number of texts that show Fox employees' apprehension about the growing conspiracy claims about the company's voting machines in the wake of the election. Top Fox News hosts, including Tucker Carlson, privately insulted Chris Wallace and hatched a plot for a rebellion — November, 16, 2020. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues, including then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace, were spared. In a group chat between the three biggest hosts, Carlson, Hannity, and Ingraham, few colleagues such as then-"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace were spared.

NASA unveiled the suit astronauts will wear during the 2025 Artemis III moon mission. The new Extravehicular Mobility Unit spacesuit was developed by private company Axiom Space. NASA gave astronauts their first operational spacesuits in the early 1960s. The space agency just unveiled a new fit for the occasion, developed by private company Axiom Space. From the silvery suits of the Mercury program to Elon Musk's sleek Crew Dragon suits, here's how astronauts' spacesuits have evolved over six decades.

☆ Adani contrarian is a win for Hindenburg, too
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-03 | by ( Una Galani | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

GQG Partners is snapping up shares in four of the Indian tycoon’s nine core companies, including the flagship Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS), along with Adani Green Energy (ADNA.NS), Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) and Adani Transmission (ADAI.NS). The mogul was trying to do just that last month with a $2.5 billion Adani Enterprise share sale before it was scuppered by Hindenburg’s sortie. Barring something truly exceptional, the scars of Hindenburg’s successful attack on Adani will linger for a while. GQG bought shares in Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Adani Green Energy, Adani Transmission and Adani Enterprises from entities owned by the Adani family. Adani has dismissed the allegations outlined in U.S. fund Hindenburg Research’s Jan. 24 report.

☆ Why we love to anthropomorphize space-faring robots
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

We know Mars rovers are robots, but they feel like friends, or pets. "It's the way the rovers are designed," Abigail Freeman, the deputy project scientist of the Curiosity rover, told Insider. The first selfie NASA's Opportunity Mars rover snapped. Their ability to snap selfies on the Martian surface make them seem self-awareNASA's Curiosity Mars rover created this selfie in front of Mont Mercou. On February 12, 2019, mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, sent the last commands to ask NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars to call home.

☆ Can a Plucky Skin-Care Products Startup Unfreeze India’s IPO Market?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( Megha Mandavia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Initial public offerings from Indian startups have remained largely in the deep freeze for the past 12 months. A Sequoia Capital-backed beauty and personal-care-products startup is now hoping to break the curse. At the tail end of 2022, the parent of Indian personal-care-products startup Mamaearth—Honasa Consumer Ltd.—filed for an initial public offering. The company plans to issue new shares worth 4 billion Indian rupees ($49 million) and sell 46.8 million existing shares. Investors including Sofina, Stellaris Venture Partners and Fireside Ventures would sell part of their stakes while Sequoia would stay put.

☆ It should take another 300 years for NASA's Voyager 1 probe to reach the most distant region of our solar system. Until then, it's cruising through the void between the stars.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Voyager 1 and 2 are exploring the mysterious region between stars, called interstellar space. Both plucky spacecraft continue to send data back from beyond the solar system — and their cosmic journeys are far from over. A diagram showing both of NASA's Voyager probes in interstellar space as of November 2018. An illustration of the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud in relation to our solar system. NASA/JPL-CaltechFor the last decade, Voyager 1 has been exploring interstellar space, which is full of gas, dust, and charged energetic particles.

☆ The pink-slip parties of the dot-com bust helped laid-off tech workers get new jobs. They need to make a comeback.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-17 | by ( Rebecca Knight | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Allison Hemming started "pink-slip parties" in the early aughts after the dotcom bust. Back then, like now, tech workers lost their jobs en masse. Hemming began running regular meetups for laid-off tech workers — misery loves company, after all — giving them an opportunity to network and meet prospective hiring managers. Will the latest tech layoffs spur a return of pink-slip parties? The tech workers losing their jobs today have a nice runway because a lot of big nontech companies are still hiring.

☆ 'National Treasure: Edge of History' review: A Disney+ series adds a young-adult chapter to the movies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Brian Lowry | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Giving the “National Treasure” movies a young-adult spin, “National Treasure: Edge of History” transforms the franchise into a Disney+ series, one that offers the same playful approach to the past while weighing that down with tiresome relationship issues and a protagonist with her own Scooby gang. The opening episodes have their moments, but it’s less something to treasure than at best mildly enjoy. Nicolas Cage starred in the 2004 movie and its sequel, a sort of discount “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The baton here passes to Lisette Olivera as Jess, a whip-smart Dreamer whose father, a protector of treasures, disappeared when she was a baby. As the recent “Willow” reminds us, Disney has aggressively mined its movie library for titles that might lend themselves to streaming-series treatment, and “National Treasure,” with its episodic aspect as Jess must locate and crack new clues, perhaps works on that level better than most. “National Treasure: Edge of History” premieres December 14 on Disney+.

☆ How Big Tech Shakeup, Layoffs Leave Social-Media Creators Scrambling
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( Brooke Erin Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Meanwhile, laborers who rely on social-media platforms for visibility, reputation burnishing, and income have been left reeling — from journalists and academics to freelancers and adult performers. Last month, a plus-size creator told me how self-censorship becomes a risk-reduction strategy for marginalized creators. As the journalist Paul Gallant argued, queer content creators face a continuous struggle to avoid "the wrath that comes from violating ever-changing and poorly explained terms of service." Even coverage of the influence on social-media creators has been more tuned in to those with the biggest followings. But the real pain from this tug-of-war for the future of social media will be felt by those who have long faced the greatest hurdles: marginalized creators.

☆ South Koreans cheer dramatic win, shed joyful tears with Son
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-03 | by ( Hyonhee Shin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

They celebrated striker Son Heung-min's tearful post-match interview and munched Ghana-branded chocolates to honour the plucky performance by the African nation whose match result ensured South Korea's berth in the knockout round. Cheers erupted from apartment complexes and the streets across South Korea. "I felt absolutely thrilled - we were cornered going into injury time, and Sonny was running like crazy," said Lee Tae-woo, referring to Tottenham Hotspur striker Son, after watching the game with friends. Many on social media circulated Son's interview, in which he said through tears he had not performed well, thanking his team mates for pulling off the dramatic win. The term "Ghana chocolate" was trending on South Korean Twitter, referring to a brand by Seoul-based Lotte Confectionery Co Ltd (280360.KS) using cacao beans from Ghana.

☆ 'Oswald the Lucky Rabbit' returns in his first Disney film in 94 years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] A screen grab from an undated handout video shows a frame from "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" film, featuring a character that returned in the new Disney film for the first time in 94 years. Walt Disney Animation Studios/Handout via REUTERSLONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Walt Disney Animation Studios has produced its first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit film in 94 years, creating a new animation short of the much loved character said to be a prototype for Mickey Mouse. "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit" was created by the studio's hand-drawn animation team as part of the Disney 100 Years of Wonder celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of The Walt Disney Company. Animator and producer Walt Disney created Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927 for Universal, introducing the mischievous character to audiences in the short film “Trolley Troubles”. Disney and his team created 26 Oswald short films, with the last released in 1928 when he lost creative control over the character.

☆ World Cup 1950: When the US beat England in the greatest sporting upset of all time
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Ben Morse | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —On one side of the pitch was a team made up some of the biggest names in world soccer. Described as a “real bunch of ragamuffins” by the author Geoffrey Douglas, the US beat a star-studded England side 1-0 at the 1950 World Cup. I mean, a plucky group of underdogs just beat what was generally universally recognized as the best team in the world,” Holroyd told CNN Sport. PA Images/ReutersAnd so when the 1950 World Cup approached, there was little national interest or coverage of the US’ participation. On the other side of the pond, hopes were sky high for a star-studded England team.

☆ Listen to the Best Songs From the Opportunity Rover's Morning Playlist
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Paola Rosa-Aquino | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

There's a new documentary about the Opportunity rover's life on Mars. For more than 15 years, NASA's Opportunity rover was a robot geologist on the Martian surface. From ABBA to George Michael, wake up with the stirring playlist NASA engineers made for the Opportunity Mars rover. While dusty storms can silence rovers, dust devils can blow away some of the dust that blankets the rover's solar panels. Months later, mission engineers hoped Opportunity would reboot once the weather cleared, as it had in the past.

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