Thursday, December 26

Tag: U.S. news

‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ is here. Here’s how to reconsider Taylor Swift’s transformative album
7Jul By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ is here. Here’s how to reconsider Taylor Swift’s transformative album

LOS ANGELES -- In 2010, newly anointed as a Grammy winner, Taylor Swift released “Speak Now,” her third studio album and her first without a single songwriting collaboration.Her 2006 self-titled debut and 2008’s “Fearless” had inspired both acclaim and criticism for her bold bridges and keen lyricism — these are masterful country-pop songs, critics argued, but surely a teen idol wasn’t responsible for them. Swift proved her detractors wrong on “Speak Now,” an album that arrived just before her pivot from country’s youngest hope to pop’s freshest voice.The album served as a close document of her nascent fame and future career ambitions, and now, 13 years on, it's back. “Speak Now (Taylor's Version),” released Friday, is the third release of the six albums Swift plans to re-record. The Tayl...
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An already full-tilt movie franchise turns it up a notch in ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning’
6Jul By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

An already full-tilt movie franchise turns it up a notch in ‘Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning’

NEW YORK -- There are, as a rule, only so many places you can go as an action movie after leaving Tom Cruise clinging to the side of an Airbus A400M and flinging him out a cargo plane at 25,000 feet.But in the kinetic, headlong world of “Mission: Impossible,” the pressure to keep upping the ante — like the films’ always-running star — never stops.“Every time we finish a movie, the first thing Tom says to me is: We can do better,” says Christopher McQuarrie.McQuarrie, the writer-director of 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” and the 2018 franchise high point, “Mission: Impossible – Fallout,” was working with Cruise on “Top Gun: Maverick ” (which McQuarrie co-wrote and co-produced) when they started talking about their ambitions for the next iteration of “Mission: Impossible.”Their...
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Toby Keith’s shows at his Oklahoma music venue mark return to stage after revealing cancer diagnosis
5Jul By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

Toby Keith’s shows at his Oklahoma music venue mark return to stage after revealing cancer diagnosis

Country music star Toby Keith was back on stage over the Fourth of July weekend with his first shows since revealing last summer that he had been fighting stomach cancerToby Keith performs at his Hollywood Corners restaurant and music venue in Norman, Okla., on June 30, 2023. Keith was back on stage over the Fourth of July weekend with his first shows since revealing last summer that he had been fighting stomach cancer. (Suzanne Cordeiro via AP)The Associated PressNORMAN, Okla. -- Country music star Toby Keith was back on stage over the Fourth of July weekend with his first shows since revealing last summer that he had been fighting stomach cancer. Hundreds attended the native Oklahoman's pop-up concerts Friday and Saturday night in Norman, where he lives, The Oklahoman reports. He perfor...
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Friends and family gather for the funeral of Houston rapper Big Pokey
2Jul By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

Friends and family gather for the funeral of Houston rapper Big Pokey

Family and friends gathered at the funeral over the weekend for Houston rapper Big Pokey, an original member of the pioneering group Screwed Up ClickHOUSTON -- Family and friends gathered at the funeral over the weekend for Houston rapper Big Pokey, an original member of the pioneering group Screwed Up Click.Pokey, who was born Milton Powell, died June 18 at the age of 48 after collapsing at a performance in Beaumont, located east of Houston. Those attending his service Saturday at Fountain of Praise church in Houston included Mayor Sylvester Turner, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and rappers Paul Wall, Trae Tha Truth and Slim Thug, the Houston Chronicle reported.Pokey was known for Texas and Gulf Coast hits such as “Ball N’ Parlay,” “Who Dat Talking Down,” and a verse on DJ Screw’s nea...
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Alleged shooter at Washington state music festival was stationed at US Army base
21Jun By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

Alleged shooter at Washington state music festival was stationed at US Army base

BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- The alleged gunman who fired into a crowd killing two people at a Washington state music festival Saturday was stationed at a U.S. Army base in Western Washington, law enforcement officials said Tuesday. James M. Kelly, 26, of Joint Base Lewis-McChord was booked into the Grant County Jail Tuesday on investigation of two counts of murder, two counts of assault and one count of domestic violence assault, Grant County Sheriff Joe Kriete said in a Facebook post. Law enforcement officers shot him Saturday and he was being treated at a hospital until Tuesday, the sheriff said. The shooting killed two people and wounded two others in an area where people were camping for the Beyond Wonderland electronic dance music festival at the Gorge Amphitheatre. The two people killed we...
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Stalled contract jeopardizes relations between new Disney governing body and firefighters
18Jun By adminNo Comments
Entertainment

Stalled contract jeopardizes relations between new Disney governing body and firefighters

ORLANDO, Fla. -- After appointees of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took over Walt Disney World’s governing district earlier this year, its firefighters were among the few employees who publicly welcomed them with open arms.But that warm relationship is in jeopardy as a new district administrator has reopened negotiations on a contract that was approved last month by the unionized firefighters, promising pay raises and more manpower.A vote on the contract originally was targeted for last month during a meeting of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board of supervisors. But it was never brought up, and it did not appear on an agenda released ahead of the next meeting scheduled for Wednesday.Under the three-year contract proposal overwhelmingly approved by 200 firefighters and first ...
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