Posts in category: Uncategorized

Kate Bush has shared her hopes for an end to the conflict in Ukraine in her 2022 Christmas message.

READ MORE: Kate Bush’s best on-screen syncs – from Stranger Things to ‘Being Human’

The singer, who called for a pay rise for doctors and nurses in her 2021 Christmas message, has shared a new post on her website titled ‘Merry Christmas’, in which she reflects on how life has continued to be “incredibly frightening” after the pandemic.

“Every year seems to fly by a little faster. They say this happens as you get older, but there’s no doubt that the speed of life is accelerating at a greater rate than ever,” she opened the message.

“I don’t think any of us have ever known a year like this one. Life became incredibly frightening in the pandemic, but just as we think it might be over soon, it seems to keep going.

Kate Bush in the 1970s. Credit: Chris Walter/WireImage

“It’s a bombardment,” she continued, “the horrific war in Ukraine, the famines, the droughts, the floods…  and we lost our Queen. Many of my friends were surprised at how upset they were at her death especially as we aren’t royalists, but I think her passing became a focus for grief, for unexpressed loss that so many people had felt during the pandemic.”

The singer also reflected on the renewed popularity of her 1985 single ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ after it appeared in the fourth season of Stranger Things, going on to break three Guinness World Records and as well as being the most-streamed song on the planet at one point.

“It’s been a crazy, roller coaster year for me. I still reel from the success of RUTH, being the No 1 track of this summer,” Bush continued. “What an honour! It was really exciting to see it doing so well globally, but especially here in the UK and Australia; and also to see it making it all the way to No 3 in the US. It was such a great feeling to see so many of the younger generation enjoying the song. It seems that quite a lot of them thought I was a new artist! I love that!”

She also thanked everyone who “supported the track and made it a hit”.

The message continued: “I wonder where on earth we’ll all be at the end of next year? I hope the war will end. I hope that the nurses will be in a position where they are appreciated – they should be cherished. Let’s all hope that next year will be better than this one. I keep thinking about hope and how it was the last to fly out of Pandora’s box. Sometimes it’s all that seems to glow in the dark times we find ourselves in right now.”

Bush concluded: “I used a little robin in some of my Christmas gifts to friends this year. I felt that this humble little bird, which symbolises Christmas could also symbolise hope in the context of Emily Dickinson’s beautiful words: Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul.

“I‘d like to think that this Christmas when joy is so hard to find, hope will perch in all our souls. Merry Christmas!”

Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ was among the most streamed songs in the UK this year, also ranking number six in the Top 10 most popular songs in the UK on TikTok for 2022.

The post Kate Bush hopes for end to Ukraine conflict in 2022 Christmas message appeared first on NME.

Four South Korean films have been invited to screen at the upcoming Palm Springs International Film Festival, including Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave. 

READ MORE: Decision To Leave review: the year’s most addictive K-drama so far

The Korea Herald reported yesterday (December 21) that a total of four Korean films have been selected to be screened at the film festival, among the 134 films handpicked from 64 countries across the globe.

All four films – Decision To Leave, Kore-eda Hirokazu’s Broker, July Jung’s Next Sohee and Kim Jung-eun’s Gyeong-ah’s Daughter – will be shown throughout the 10-day affair, slated to take place from January 6 to 16, 2023. Decision To Leave has also been nominated for best international feature film at the festival, under the Award Buzz category.

Per The Korea Herald, Palm Springs International Film Festival organisers shared that a “special jury of international film critics will review international nominees for best international feature film of the year, as well as for best actor, best actress and best screenplay.”

Starring The King’s Letters actor Park Hae-il and China’s Tang Wei (Long Day’s Journey Into Night), Decision To Leave is a slow-burn mystery romance centred on a detective who gets dispatched to investigate the scene of a man’s death. When he calls in the man’s wife to have her confirm his identity, he notices something peculiar about her. He begins falling for her as he carries out a separate investigation into who she really is.

Earlier today (December 22), Decision To Leave was also spotted on the 2023 Oscars shortlist for International Film Feature, becoming one of only 15 films selected out of submissions from 92 countries. From each shortlist, only five nominees will be selected for the award, which will be announced officially on January 24, 2023.

Decision To Leave first debuted at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, where director Park was awarded the festival’s coveted Best Director prize. Park is well known for helming acclaimed Korean films including the bloody Vengeance Trilogy – comprising Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy and Lady Vengeance – and The Handmaiden, as well as the 2013 English psychological thriller film Stoker. 

The post ‘Decision To Leave’ and three other Korean films invited to Palm Springs International Film Festival appeared first on NME.

National Treasure producer Jerry Bruckheimer has revealed that a third film with Nicolas Cage is “still” in the works.

Earlier this month, Disney+ released National Treasure: Edge of History, a spin-off TV series of the popular film franchise. The show introduces a brand-new cast, which doesn’t include Cage.

Speaking with E! News, however, Bruckheimer clarified that the actor still has a future in the franchise, and that a third film is currently being developed on top of Edge of History.

“We said we’d like to make another National Treasure and they [Disney] said, ‘Sure, let’s come up with a new cast,’” Bruckheimer said. “At the same time, we were developing National Treasure for the theatres with Nicolas Cage – which we still are. So, that’s ongoing.”

Nicolas Cage at the premiere for ‘The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent’ CREDIT: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

Earlier this year, Cage played down the possibility of a third film, suggesting it would be difficult to convince Disney to go ahead with the project.

“The phone stopped ringing. It was like, ‘What do you mean we’re not doing National Treasure 3? It’s been 14 years. Why not?’” Cage told GQ in March. “Well, [Disney’s] Sorcerer’s Apprentice didn’t work, and Ghost Rider didn’t really sell tickets. And Drive Angry, that just came and went.”

He continued: “I enjoy making movies like Pig and Leaving Las Vegas more than I enjoy making movies like National Treasure.

“When I talk about fair-weather friends in Hollywood, I’m not talking about Jerry [Bruckheimer]. I’m talking about Disney. They’re like an ocean liner. Once they go in a certain direction, you’ve got to get a million tugboats to try to swivel it back around.”

Back in April, Cage said he was hoping to land more comedic roles in the future, adding that he’s particularly “curious” about musicals.

“I’m excited that the comedy is back on the menu. It hasn’t been there for, gosh, 15 years,” he said. “That’s nice that I may have the opportunity to do more comedy. But I’ve never done a musical. That would be something that I would be curious about.”

National Treasure: Edge Of History is now streaming on Disney+

The post ‘National Treasure 3’ with Nicolas Cage “still” happening, says producer appeared first on NME.

Top FTX executives close to Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang, have pleaded guilty to fraud and are cooperating with prosecutors. The pair were convicted “in connection with their roles in the fraud that contributed to FTX’s collapse,” said Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York in a press conference.

Ellison, the former CEO of FTX sister company Alameda Research and ex-girlfriend of Bankman-Fried, pleaded guilty to seven counts and faces up to 110 years in prison. Former FTX co-founder Wang pleaded guilty to four counts and faces 50 years. Depending on the level of cooperation, however, they could receive lighter sentences. The pair also face civil fraud charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC). Both were released on $250,000 bonds.

The announcement was made as Bankman-Fried was being extradited from the Bahamas to New York, and add to his mounting legal woes. Wang’s lawyer Ilan Graff said that his client has “accepted responsibility for his actions and takes seriously his obligations as a cooperating witness,” according to The Washington Post. 

Despite their cooperation, the SEC didn’t mince words in laying out its case against Ellison and Wang. “Mr. Bankman-Fried, Ms. Ellison, and Mr. Wang were active participants in a scheme to conceal material information from FTX investors,” said SEC deputy director of enforcement, Sanjay Wadhwa. “By surreptitiously siphoning FTX’s customer funds onto the books of Alameda, defendants hid the very real risks that FTX’s investors and customers faced.”

Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, is accused of a long list of misdeeds by multiple agencies, including the SEC, Department of Justice and CFTC. Those include defrauding FTX investors and customers of more than $1.9 billion, multiple counts of wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud investors by sharing misleading information and “surreptitiously” siphoning customer funds. The CFTC also alleges that Bankman-Fried and his cohorts “took hundreds of millions of dollars in poorly-documented ‘loans’ from Alameda,” which they then used to purchase real estate and make political donations.

Tim Westwood has been booked to perform at a New Year’s Eve party in London, despite the DJ being accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

The Hatch Club shared a poster announcing the event on their Instagram page earlier this week. The venue is promising the “littest party in London” from 9pm to 4am on December 31, with Westwood behind the decks. Tickets are on sale for £10.

Westwood himself announced the performance much earlier, on November 29, sharing the poster to his own Instagram page. The DJ – who also performed at a party in Lagos, Nigeria over the weekend – has since reshared the poster multiple times.

According to The Sun, multiple comments left on the Hatch’s Instagram page announcing the performance have since been deleted. NME has reached out to Hatch Club for comment regarding their decision to book Westwood for the event.

Westwood, a former BBC Radio 1 and Capital Xtra presenter, was first publicly accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women earlier this year. His alleged behaviour was detailed in a joint investigation conducted by The Guardian and BBC, and a BBC Three documentary titled Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power.

Three women accused Westwood of opportunistic or predatory sexual conduct when they agreed to meet with the DJ for a discussion regarding the music industry of their work. They were aged 17, 19 and 20 at the time of the alleged incidents. Four other women claimed the DJ groped them when they attended his club night sets. All seven women were Black.

Westwood denied all these allegations when they emerged. Shortly afterwards, Capital Xtra’s parent company Global Radio announced that, due to the claims, Westwood would be stepping down from his Capital Xtra radio show “until further notice”. Multiple venues cancelled planned DJ appearances from Westwood.

Despite BBC’s Director General Tim Davie saying in April that the station found “no evidence of complaints” being made against Westwood, in July, the company revealed they received six allegations of misconduct against the DJ prior to the aforementioned accusations becoming public in April.

The same month, more accusations came to light. One woman came forward to allege that Westwood had sex with her several times when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. Two other women said they were sexually assaulted by Westwood when they were in their mid-teens, and another said she was in a “controlling” relationship with Westwood when she was 16 and he was in his 40s. Westwood again denied all allegations.

In August, the BBC launched an independent inquiry into what the corporation knew about Westwood’s alleged conduct. The inquiry is set to last six months, and the BBC wants to include Westwood’s other employees, MTV and Global. As part of the investigation, the inquiry will also examine whether concerns about Westwood’s behaviour were a factor in his departure from the BBC in 2013.

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

The post Tim Westwood booked to play New Year’s Eve party in London despite sexual misconduct allegations appeared first on NME.

Tory Lanez has declined to testify in his own defence in the ongoing trial where he is accused of shooting Megan Thee Stallion.

Lanez (real name Daystar Peterson) is accused of shooting Megan (real name Megan Pete) in the foot in July of 2020 during a dispute that unravelled following a pool party at reality star Kylie Jenner’s house in California.

He faces three felony charges, all of which he denies: one count of assault with a semiautomatic firearm; one count of carrying a concealed, loaded, and unregistered firearm in a vehicle, and a third charge of discharging a firearm with gross negligence.

If convicted Lanez faces a possible 22 years and eight months in prison in addition to deportation since he is a Canadian citizen.

Appearing in court yesterday (December 21), Peterson told the judge before opening statements (via Rolling Stone): “I will not testify.”

During the day’s proceedings, Megan’s lawyer Alexander Bott called the trial “a case about a guy who shot a girl, people saw it, and then he apologised for it,” saying the alleged incident occurred because of “nothing more than a bruised ego”.

He added: “You know what? Megan did find the courage to come out. She did find the courage to [say] what the defendant did to her, and after more than two years of this torture, it is finally time for you, members of the jury, to find the defendant guilty.”

Megan Thee Stallion performs live in 2022. CREDIT: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

Elsewhere, Bott referenced the testimony of Megan’s ex-assistant Kelsey Harris, who took to the witness stand last week and appeared to retract an earlier statement that Peterson threatened her with gun.

“She was only thinking about Megan at that time,” Bott said. “I just want to stop here for a second. The defence is asking you to believe that Kelsey Harris shot Megan that night, then was comforting her and [held] Megan’s legs bleeding on her.

“Are these the actions of a girl who just shot Megan?” he added. “Within five minutes of the shooting she sends this text message. Is Kelsey some kind of sophisticated criminal mastermind I didn’t know about, where she’s framing the defendant within five minutes? The defence doesn’t make sense.”

In response, defence lawyer George Mgdeseyan said the prosecution’s claim is “full of holes,” adding: “Megan Pete is a liar.”

Last week (December 13), Megan delivered an emotional testimony in court. Taking to the stand at the Los Angeles court, Pete was reportedly visibly emotional and told prosecutors she was “nervous” to testify, according to Billboard.

She also teared up repeatedly as she spoke about depression and suicide. “I wish he would’ve just shot and killed me if I knew I was going to have to go through this torture,” she said (via LA Times).

Closing arguments in the case continue today (December 22).

The post Tory Lanez declines to testify in Megan Thee Stallion shooting trial appeared first on NME.

Brixton Academy’s licence could be temporarily suspended after a crowd crush at an Asake gig this month which killed two people.

The incident occurred on December 15, when people who were outside the venue tried and were able to force their way in to the Nigerian star’s show, leading to overcrowding in the venue and the gig being cancelled half way through.

Rebecca Ikumelo, aged 33, died in hospital on Saturday morning (December 17), while Gaby Hutchinson, 23, died on Monday (December 19). A third attendee, aged 21, remains in hospital in a critical condition.

Following the incident, Scotland Yard has applied to have the venue’s licence temporarily suspended, citing “serious crime and disorder” during the show, while a separate criminal investigation from the Metropolitan Police has been launched, applying for a review of the venue licence. As of now, the venue remains closed.

Today (December 22), decisions will be made at Lambeth council chambers with regards to venue capacity, stewarding, alcohol sales and the suspension of the O2 Academy’s licence.

A spokesperson for the Met said: “The decision whether or not to suspend or vary the premises licence will be made by a Local Authority Licensing Subcommittee.”

The application for the licence review added: “Police were called to the premises in response to reports of serious disorder with a clear threat to public safety. During the incident, a crowd forced their way into the venue leading to serious injuries to several individuals, and two individuals have since lost their lives.

“The Met contend that the premises is associated with serious crime and serious disorder. A certificate signed by Detective Superintendent Daniel Ivey has been provided to this effect.”

Brixton Academy cordoned off by police on December 16, 2022, the morning after a crowd crush during an Asake gig. Credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images.

In an open letter, Lambeth councillors wrote: “Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Rebecca Ikumelo and Gaby Hutchinson who lost their lives, as well as with those who remain in hospital and those suffering the trauma of witnessing such distressing scenes at one of our borough’s live music venues.

“The venue is currently closed and we are set to undertake an urgent, in-depth review of its licence, which covers the legal conditions it must meet to run, including its public safety arrangements. This follows the Met Police submitting an application for a ‘Summary License Review’ on Tuesday.

“The council’s Licensing Sub-Committee will meet to consider immediate measures that need taking in relation to the venue, ahead of a full review of the premises’ licence which must be completed within 28-days.

“This review will be part of ongoing efforts to both seek answers and ensure such an incident never happens again.”

The venue said they “continue to be devastated by this tragic situation and are fully supporting the ongoing investigation”.

The police have called for anyone with information that could potentially help the case to come forward and have set up an online portal for people to submit information, images or footage. They estimate that there were around 4,000 witnesses present at the time of the incident.

Asake published a statement to his social media accounts on Saturday in response to the news of Ikumelo’s death, in which he said he had spoken to her family and “will continue to do so”.

“I am overwhelmed with grief and could never have imagined anything like this happening,” he wrote.

The post Brixton Academy’s licence could be temporarily suspended after Asake crowd crush appeared first on NME.

Wayne Coyne has spoken about a lost Flaming Lips musical which he said screenwriter Aaron Sorkin wanted to be about 9/11.

READ MORE: Life, death, love, drugs and spider-bites: Wayne Coyne looks back on 20 years of The Flaming Lips’ ‘The Soft Bulletin’

In 2007, it was announced that the US psych-rock band’s seminal 2002 album ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’ would be adapted for the stage, with the frontman having previously shared that he and screenwriter Sorkin had discussed ideas.

It was also set to be adapted by Tony-winning director Des McAnuff. In a new interview with Yahoo!, Coyne has elaborated on how he and Sorkin had conflicting ideas for the stage production.

“The Aaron Sorkin part is… I mean, I don’t remember it all that precisely, but we did a meeting. We were in New York City — I think we were going to be on the David Letterman Show or something — and in the afternoon we were going to meet with some potential writers,” Coyne said.

The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne. Credit: Jim Dyson/Getty Images

He also recalled how there was a strike on Broadway that day and the writers has “a lot on their minds”.

“And here’s my little record, and they’re talking about what it could be! We were only allowed to meet for probably 20 minutes or something.”

He continued: “You’ve got to remember, this is… not that long after the World Trade Center planes, the 9/11 stuff, all happened, and we were still dealing with George Bush Jr, who was the president.

He then explained that Sorkin wanted the musical to revolve around that period. “He saw the ‘Pink Robots’ as being the evil George Bush empire. And I really don’t know why I was so opinionated, but I just said, ‘Oh, I don’t really like that idea.’ Not that I had a better idea, but I just didn’t see this music as being connected to politics and stuff, you know?

“I mean, I felt like ‘Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots’ is going to last forever, but George Bush will be gone in a couple of years, so who cares? But I think [Aaron] was like, ‘Oh, so you’re going to say no to my idea?’ I mean, he wasn’t mean, there was nothing bad said, but I just got the feeling that he was like, ‘Well, that’s the way I see it. And if you don’t see it that way, see you later!’”

McAnuff later publicly shared that Sorkin exited the project because the musical would be sung-through. The ‘Yoshimi’ musical premiered in San Diego in 2012.

Meanwhile, The Flaming Lips recently added two more UK shows to their 2023 tour, where the band will play ‘Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots’ in full to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

The post Wayne Coyne says Aaron Sorkin wanted to make Flaming Lips musical about 9/11 appeared first on NME.

Welcome to Complete Elementor Demos – Phlox WordPress Theme. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!