Twitter Inc, trying to boost its sagging advertising revenue, will allow brands to buy commercials on its video streams for Periscope, signaling a major push to make money off the live-streaming platform, the company announced on Tuesday morning.

With sponsors growing more wary of exactly what kind of online videos their ads are being placed against, Twitter is allowing a select group of advertisers to purchase pre-roll videos, meaning those that run prior to the publishers’ content, on Periscope streams.

Twitter acquired Periscope in 2015.

Google’s YouTube, long the dominant force for online video ad dollars, has seen an exodus from brands upset to find their ads running alongside anti-Semitic and other videos that shocked customers. Companies that left included Verizon Communications Inc, AT&T Inc and Johnson & Johnson.

YouTube’s selling process automatically places ads next to videos that meet the criteria for the audience advertisers want to reach, but the Alphabet unit has had difficulty policing the vast array of videos that are uploaded.

Twitter is only offering up a select group of publishers for brands to buy ads against, which will let advertisers know exactly where their ads are showing up. “This is the solution to that problem,” Matthew Derella, Twitter’s vice president of global revenue and operations, told Reuters. “We believe the advertiser should have control.”

The video ads will only be seen when viewed within Twitter’s platform. Twitter allowed for Periscope streams to be integrated within Twitter last year. The advertisers will be able to purchase ads on Periscope videos through Twitter’s Amplify program.

Until now, Twitter has monetized Periscope by relying on brands to purchase Promoted Tweets, which are placed in user feeds, even for those who do not follow the company on Twitter. The goal is to draw more attention whenever the company is live-streaming something on Periscope.

Twitter is looking to turn around its sagging fortunes. Its stock has slumped 8 percent so far this year as investors have worried about slowed user and advertising revenue growth, along with mounting competition from Facebook Inc’s Instagram, and Snap Inc’s Snapchat.

In the fourth quarter of 2016, Twitter posted the slowest revenue growth since it went public four years earlier, and revenue from advertising fell from a year earlier. The company warned that advertising revenue growth would continue to lag user growth during 2017. The company is also considering a paid subscription offering.

 
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Leonardo da Vinci is, simply put, one of the greatest artists of all time. The world still marvels at his genius and some of his most famous works, such as the Mona Lisa. One of his uncompleted works, Adoration of the Magi, had fallen on hard times, but thanks to more than five years of restoration, the painting is back on display. VOA’S Kevin Enochs reports.
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“Migration Blues”, a new album from veteran bluesman Eric Bibb, uses the sounds of the American South to tell the tale of everyone from 1920s farmers fleeing the Dust Bowl for California to refugees crossing the Mediterranean to Europe in the 2010s.

Along the way are Mexicans seeking a future in the United States, families moving from land the government has just seized for corporate expansion, and a Cajun jig reminding listeners of the expulsion of French Canadians south down the Mississippi.

“We are all linked by one migration or another. We are all connected to migrants,” Bibb told Reuters ahead of the album’s release on March 31.

“The hysterical reaction against migrants is really hard to understand. Have we really forgotten our history?”

The album’s most contemporary subject is to be found in “Prayin’ For Shore”, a blues about the plight of millions of Syrians and others who have fled civil wars in the Middle East on sometimes fatal journeys to Europe across the Mediterranean.

“In an old leaky boat, somewhere on the sea/trying to get away from the war/Welcome or not, got to land soon/Oh lord, prayin’ for shore,” run the lyrics.

The song, Bibb writes in an accompanying booklet, is about remembering the drowned.

But the fleeing migrants of today are nothing new.

For Bibb, an African American, another key moment in history was “The Great Migration” of millions of southern blacks away from America’s segregated South.

By some estimates, more than 6 million left the rural areas for industrial places like Detroit, New York and Chicago between 1910 and 1970.

“(They were) not just looking for jobs but fleeing racial terror,” Bibb said.

Such a point is made in his mellifluous rendition of “Delta Getaway” about a man fleeing a lynch mob to Chicago.

“Saw a man hanging from a cypress tree/I seen the ones who done it/now they coming after me”.

The album is being released as anti-immigrant politics is on the rise across much of the world, including the United States where U.S. President Donald Trump wants to build a wall on the Mexican border to keep out immigrants.

Bibb said it was all laid down and finished before Trump’s election, but that he was nonetheless “astounded by the synchronicity of it”.

Most of the songs on the album are Bibb’s, although he offers covers of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land”, originally an angry riposte from the dispossessed, and Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War”, about the merchants of destruction.

Bibb said that apart from “Prayin’ For Shore”, his favorite composition on “Migration Blues” is “Brotherly Love”.

He said it reflected his personal belief.

It offers more hope for the future, one in which people can live in peace.

 
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Political satire dates back to the ancient Greeks, 2,400 years ago when Aristophanes made fun of the Peloponnesian War. It’s a staple of late-night American television talk shows and the editorial pages of most newspapers. Successful political cartoonists are able to draw biting commentary with the stroke of a crayon. VOA’s Anush Avetisyan profiles an award-winning cartoonist.
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Russia’s nationalist propaganda machine kicked into high gear after the 2014 annexation of Crimea sparked the worst East-West tensions since the Cold War.

 

State media quickly fell behind the Kremlin line while Russia’s few independent media came under increasing pressure to conform or self-censor.

 

As Russian authorities shrank the space for independent reporting, one group of Russian journalists escaped the pressure by relocating to the European Union in Latvia’s capital, Riga.

“Because, you know, a lot of white noise propaganda creates some kind of fake agenda. And, we want to provide [a] real agenda to our readers,” says Meduza Project founder Galina Timchenko.

 

Timchenko was fired in 2014 as chief editor of Russian news website Lenta.ru after publishing an interview with a far-right Ukrainian nationalist that Russia’s state media regulator called “extremist.”

 

Timchenko says she ran out of time and energy to fight Russian authorities and can work easier in the EU countries.

Baltic countries are willing hosts

In the Baltics, authorities responded to Kremlin propaganda with temporary suspensions for Russian state media that incited unrest. But also by hosting independent Russian media like Meduza.

“Those Russian journalists who left Moscow, who left [Saint] Petersburg, who left Russia and other cities, and who established their own media outlet here and who are also, to some extent, helping to tackle these propagandas,” says Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics.

 

Meduza battles increased cynicism about Russian politics and current events by focusing on online content and humor to attract young Russians.

Use of humor

A big focus is using humor to point out absurd politics and alleged corruption.

During a March visit to their office in Riga, reporters were shown an online game Meduza created, one of many on their website, that has players try to purchase more shoes and shirts than Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The game refers to Russian anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny’s investigation of alleged corruption linked to Medvedev. The investigation started by tracing who paid for a pair of Medvedev’s sneakers and ended asking the same question about a massive villa estate in Tuscany that Navalny claims is Medvedev’s. Russian officials have dismissed Navalny’s previous allegations, though Medvedev has yet to comment himself.

 

Target young Russian internet users

Meduza aims to reach internet-savvy young Russians who, unlike 80 percent of their compatriots, are not yet hooked on state television.

“These people have more chances to see another Russia. These people have more chances to see Russia without the current government, the current president. So, that’s why we think that we have to invest all our resources exactly into this audience,” says Meduza Chief Editor Ivan Kolpakov.

 

But he says they are not activists or opposition media; just reporters trying to do independent journalism.

“And the main thing we’re trying to do, we’re trying to, you know, make news interesting again, Make News Great Again, for the people in Russia,” says Kolpakov with a slight grin in sarcastic reference to U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again.”

 

Older Russians are harder target

Timchenko acknowledges reaching most older Russians is quite a challenge.

“They want to see themselves, with their beliefs and desires, in media. They just do not want to see different views. It’s the most difficult, difficult thing.”

While in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, a news-comedy program is using a similar strategy.

 

 

Political satire

An online show called Laikykites Ten, or “Hang In There,” recently began a Russian-language version making fun of Russian politics.

“Inspiration comes from the — our beloved  — Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Also, Jon Stewart, [Stephen] Colbert,” says host of the show and TV journalist Andrius Tapinas.

 

The show’s name refers to a comment made by Russian Prime Minister Medvedev to a retied woman in annexed Crimea who confronted him in 2016, telling him pensions were too low to keep up with rising costs. Medvedev responded there was no money left in the budget and hastily left shouting “You hang in there. Best Wishes! Cheers! Take care!”

The comments sparked a social media storm.

 

The crowd-funded, online program uses satire to reach Russian speakers and poke holes in Kremlin propaganda.

“We’re making fun of Russian politics and Russian government. And, that’s where the market is pretty empty, I would say. Because, inside of Russia, it’s not advisable for your health reasons to be very critical or even a tiny bit critical of your government,” says Tapinas.

 

Like Meduza, Tapinas seeks the next generation of Russians who mainly get their information online, but are fed up with nationalist politics and could use a good laugh.

 

“When people laugh there is no place for fear,” says Meduza’s Timchenko. “You know, you can make those tough guys silly and stupid and funny and have some joy and to show that news is not boring.”
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The globally popular statue of a young girl will keep staring down Wall Street’s famed “Charging Bull” through February 2018 instead of being removed this coming Sunday, the mayor said.

She’s “standing up to fear, standing up to power, being able to find in yourself the strength to do what’s right,” said Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, who appeared with the “Fearless Girl” statue Monday on the lower Manhattan traffic island where the two bronze figures face each other.

The mayor said the political turmoil surrounding Republican President Donald Trump makes the endearing child particularly relevant.

“She is inspiring everyone at a moment when we need inspiration,” he said.

The 4-foot-tall, 250-pound ponytailed girl in a windblown dress was installed this month to highlight the dearth of women on corporate boards as she stands strong against the 11-foot-tall, 7,100-pound bull. The girl became an instant tourist draw and internet sensation.

On Monday morning, Democratic U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, of New York, led a group of prominent women in front of City Hall to honor the artist, Kristen Visbal, and State Street Global Advisors, the asset management firm that commissioned the work and, with the McCann advertising firm, helped Visbal create her sculpture.

“She was created to bring attention to the courage and unrealized power of women in so many fields, and she has clearly struck a nerve,” said Maloney, who is pushing for the statue to become a permanent installation.

Visbal said the positive response to her artwork “renewed my faith in sculpture to make an impact on society, to create a debate the way a good piece of art should.”

She has received more than 1,000 emails from India, Denmark, Sweden, Spain and elsewhere, including one from a mother who wanted to wallpaper her daughter’s room with the girl’s image.

“I see men and women as the ying and yang of society,” Visbal said. “They bring different things to the table. They solve problems in a different way. But we need to work together.”

“Fearless Girl” will stay in place for another 11 months through an art program of the city’s Department of Transportation that manages lower Broadway near Wall Street.

Visbal said one of her models was a friend’s young daughter, whom she asked “to envision staring down a great big bull and, boy, she really had style.” The girl was white, and the creative team then incorporated another girl, a Latina, “to come up with a child that has universal appeal,” Visbal said.

The fictional figure is linked to a very real message: Women make up only about 16 percent of U.S. corporate boards, according to the ISS Analytics business research firm.

Artist Arturo Di Modica’s bull arrived after the 1987 stock market crash as a symbol of Americans’ financial resilience and can-do spirit. He wants the girl gone, calling the statue an “advertising trick” fashioned by two corporate giants, while his sculpture is “art.”
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With their gravity-defying trampoline flips, graceful acrobatics, juggling and tightrope walking, the children in San Francisco’s circus school are bringing a touch of Cirque du Soleil magic to this bohemian Pacific beach town.

In jewel-colored leotards with feather headdresses and intricate makeup, they romp through seamless routines in an exuberant take on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with pumping music and hula-hoops, under the direction of Cirque co-founder Gilles Ste-Croix.

Wearing an ethereal illuminated dress and carried as fairy queen Titania, Juliana Palomares Rodriguez — like many of the 150 children in the Circo de los Ninos school — has set her heart set on joining the world-famous Cirque du Soleil.

“I love it,” said Palomares, 15, from the town of around 3,000 residents, known locally as San Pancho. “It’s really exciting to be in the show — the circus school has taught me how to present myself and work in a team.”

Her dream now is go to circus school in Montreal, Canada, where Cirque du Soleil has its headquarters.

Ste-Croix raided costumes and circus gear from Cirque du Soleil’s warehouses for the children’s circus, which was set up in a converted warehouse six years ago.

Originally it worked with the Entreamigos community center next door, whose projects aim to equip the small town north of Puerto Vallarta to meet the challenges of increased tourism and development.

“Circo has become a project for the town … it’s something more than it was at the beginning, just to train kids in acrobatics,” said Ste-Croix, before walking through the school where girls swung upside down on aerial hoops and stilt-walkers practiced skipping. “It’s not a business plan for the sake of money — it’s more a human resource plan.”

Now aged 21, Jose Luis Herrera Botello graduated from Circo de los Ninos to a professional course in Mexico City. Here he is learning skills such as juggling, contortion, trapeze and acrobatics from Russian, Cuban and other teachers, which he will eventually pass on to the children in San Pancho.

“What I learned from the Circo de los Ninos is do things well or don’t do them. If you really want something, just go for it,” said Herrera, who is sponsored by Circo de los Ninos and Entreamigos.

Ready for change

For American Nicole Swedlow, whose Entreamigos project began at a table set up under a tree, access to good education is key to ensuring children from local families can earn a living, find professional jobs, and lead the town as it rapidly evolves along with an influx of tourists.

Entreamigos is now a vibrant focal point, with around 300 people passing through its shutter doors each day for free activities such as football, technology, English, art and capoeira. Others shop at its gallery and secondhand store.

“The danger for me is that we leave behind some of our most local families because they don’t have access to the resources that you need to live in a growing community,” said Swedlow in the airy library where children sit on the floor playing games and battle noisily over table football.

“Entreamigos is a classic example of resilience,” she added. “We’re asking a community to prepare themselves, or become prepared for everything that’s coming, so they can be active leaders in that process.”

Picking motivated children from low-income backgrounds for Entreamigos’ scholarship scheme is crucial, she said.

Around 90 are now enrolled, with some at local universities, while two brothers with barely literate parents are at a nautical school.

Some women have trained as beauticians, allowing them to earn a living from their front yard while looking after their children, said Swedlow, whose work has been recognized by the Dalai Lama.

New path

One of six siblings, Glenda Ponce said she secretly applied to university and finally got a scholarship through Entreamigos, despite objections from her parents who could not afford to pay and wanted her to get married and work as a cleaner.

She is on the leadership council that will soon take over running Entreamigos, where her parents both now work. Having completed only a couple of years of primary school themselves, they are improving their literacy as part of a deal that all employees study.

“The biggest impact of Entreamigos has been to change patterns — the course of a generation,” said Ponce, 25, sitting in front of a huge banner with photos of scholarship recipients.

Isis del Rosario Vivas Rodriguez, 20, who met Swedlow when she first started classes under a tree, said her scholarship had changed her options, and she is now training to be a teacher while working at Entreamigos.

“It’s helped find a path to follow. … In my generation, hardly anyone studies. Normally they work in a little grocers’ or stationery shop,” she said.

Entreamigos also generates jobs and a chunk of its income from a town-wide recycling program, selling upcycled products such as glasses in its gallery.

More than 1,000 people come to volunteer with the organization each year, many of them U.S. and Mexican university students, while others visit to work out how to replicate parts of its model elsewhere.

“We’ll educate anybody and everybody to give them the ability to do this in their own communities,” Swedlow said.
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A Houston high school student has lost her battle with terminal cancer days after having a dream come true in a talk with Beyonce over a video chat.

 

Alief Independent School District spokeswoman Kimberly Smith says senior Ebony Banks died late Saturday night.

 

The teen’s Hastings High School classmates started an online campaign before her death to give her a chance to meet her favorite singer, Beyonce. Banks received a FaceTime call Wednesday from the star.

 

The school gave Banks her diploma during a graduation ceremony in the hospital last week.

 

Students gathered at a candlelight vigil Sunday to remember Banks. Video posted on social media shows students raising candles to Beyonce’s “Halo.”

 
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Hollywood actress Shailene Woodley has reached a plea deal that calls for no jail time over her involvement in protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline in North Dakota.

 

The “Divergent” star was among 27 activists arrested Oct. 10. She livestreamed her arrest on Facebook.

 

Woodley initially pleaded not guilty to criminal trespass and engaging in a riot, misdemeanors carrying a maximum punishment of a month in jail and a $1,500 fine.

 

She signed a court document Friday agreeing to plead guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct, serve one year of unsupervised probation and forfeit $500 bond. The agreement is awaiting a judge’s approval. Woodley was scheduled to stand trial this Friday.

 

Opponents of the $3.8 billion pipeline worry about potential environmental damage. About 750 protesters have been arrested since August.

 
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Driving around the hallowed grounds at Vicksburg National Military Park in the state of Mississippi reminded National Parks traveler Mikah Meyer of another famous battlefield: Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War and where President Abraham Lincoln gave his immortal “Gettysburg Address.”

Gettysburg of the south

“Having lived in Maryland before this trip, which is very close to Gettysburg — one of the most popular battlefields to visit — I heard people often talk about Vicksburg as kind of a similar experience… just in the South,” Mikah said.

Tour Vicksburg National Military Park:

Like Gettysburg, Vicksburg is a large battlefield site, with licensed national park guides who cheerfully help visitors navigate the grounds.

Mikah, who’s on a mission to visit all of the more than 400 sites within the National Park Service, says he felt lucky to have had “one of their best guides,” David Maggio, who accompanied Mikah during his drive around the battlefield to explain the significance of the site.

Vicksburg is the key!

As the National Park Service explains it, at the time of the Civil War, the Mississippi River was the single most important economic feature of the continent — the very lifeblood of America. Upon the secession of the southern states, Confederate forces closed the river to navigation, which threatened to strangle northern commercial interests.

President Abraham Lincoln told his civilian and military leaders, “See what a lot of land these fellows hold, of which Vicksburg is the key! The war can never be brought to a close until that key is in our pocket…”

47 day siege

Historians say the battle that took place at Vicksburg between the Union (northern) and Confederate (southern) armies was a turning point in America’s civil war.

“It was actually a 47 day siege,” Mikah explained. “The Union was trying to control access of the entire Mississippi River… so the only thing stopping them from having a complete shipping route was this last Confederate stronghold at Vicksburg.”

Aware that the Union army was planning to take Vicksburg, the Confederates built a perimeter around the entire city, so that when the Union came the defenders would have more of a buffer zone. They were fortified so well, apparently, that despite various attacks, General Ulysses S. Grant and his soldiers were never able to penetrate them.

War tactics

“So rather than beat them, they (Union Army) just laid siege to their fortifications for 47 days until they ran out of food and ran out of clean water,” Mikah explained. “There were examples of everything from General Grant throwing dead animals in the creeks that supplied them water so that it would spoil their water and poison them… to kind of really starve and dehydrate them into giving up, which they eventually did after 47 days.”

The National Park Service states that Vicksburg’s surrender on July 4, 1863, coupled with the fall of Port Hudson, Louisiana a few days later, divided the South, and gave the North undisputed control of the Mississippi River, thus providing President Lincoln with the highly coveted key to victory.

Today, Vicksburg National Cemetery, spread out across 47 hectares (116 acres), holds the remains of 17,000 Union soldiers. The first national cemeteries established by Congress in 1862 were to provide a burial place for “soldiers who shall die in the service of the country,” so that applied only to Union troops.

Confederate dead from the Vicksburg campaign, originally buried behind Confederate lines, were re-interred in the Vicksburg City Cemetery, in an area called “Soldiers’ Rest.” Approximately 5,000 Confederates have been re-interred there, of which 1,600 are identified.

Historic accuracy

Mikah observed that the battlefield is an extremely well laid-out park and very historically accurate “because it was turned into a park in the 1800s, so when they were creating it, they had soldiers from both the Union and the Confederate fill out maps, and basically put markings where their unit was.”

“So as you drive around now, there’s a stone marker in every single place that there was a unit.”

There are also many stone monuments where those units were… and “every state that had people in the battle also built a memorial, so you have these really gorgeous memorials that are set up all around the perimeter of this battle,” Mikah added.

Visiting Vicksburg, “was a very unique experience,” Mikah said, “and thus far, one of the most interesting and most well-told battles of the Civil War” that he’s seen.

Mikah invites you to learn more about his travels across America by visiting his website, Facebook and Instagram.

 
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Adele fans who didn’t catch her on her world tour that’s winding down may be out of luck in the future.

The New Zealand Herald reports Adele told the audience during Sunday night’s show in Auckland that “touring isn’t something I’m good at” and she doesn’t know if she “will ever tour again.”

The concert was Adele’s last one before she formally finishes the tour in her hometown of London with four sold-out dates at Wembley Stadium this summer.

 

Adele sang through heavy rain at the outdoor show in Auckland on Sunday. Photos show her in a drenched dress for part of the concert and also donning a plastic poncho.

 

She joked that she “just spent two hours in hair and makeup for nothing.”
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Authorities have made an arrest stemming from a shooting involving hip-hop star Fetty Wap in his New Jersey hometown that left three people wounded.

 

The shooting happened outside a 24-hour deli in Paterson at about 5 a.m. Sunday.

 

Authorities on Monday charged Raheem Thomas with assault and weapons offenses.

 

Investigators say the rapper, whose real name is Willie Maxwell, and several friends, became involved in a heated altercation with another group.

 

Officials say the rapper was not hurt and the three victims were taken to a hospital.

 

There was no immediate word on the extent of the injuries to the shooting victims. The investigation is ongoing

 
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Stars and fans will gather Saturday for a public memorial to honor late actresses Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher nearly three months after their deaths. 

 

The ceremony honoring the lives of the mother-daughter duo will be at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, the storied cemetery that is their final resting place. People will be granted attendance at the event on a first-come, first-served basis, and it will be live-streamed beginning at 1 p.m. PDT. 

 

The ceremony is slated to feature music by James Blunt and “Star Wars” composer John Williams and display Hollywood memorabilia that Reynolds collected throughout her life. 

Deaths a day apart 

Fisher, 60, an actress and writer who starred as Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, died December 27 after suffering a medical emergency days earlier aboard a flight from London. Reynolds, 84, an Oscar-nominated actress who shot to fame after starring in “Singin’ in the Rain” at age 19, died the following day after being briefly hospitalized. 

 

“She said, ‘I want to be with Carrie,’” Reynolds’ son, Todd Fisher, told The Associated Press after his mother’s death. “And then she was gone.” 

The back-to-back deaths of two prominent actresses were stunning, but they were made even more poignant by the women’s complex history. Fisher and Reynolds had a strained relationship that Fisher explored in her writing, but they later reconciled and became trusted confidantes brought closer by painful events in their lives. 

 

Reynolds lost one husband to Elizabeth Taylor, and two other husbands plundered her for millions. Fisher struggled with addiction and mental illness, which she candidly described in books and interviews. 

Fisher’s last role

 

Fisher died after finishing work on “The Last Jedi,” the eighth film in the core “Star Wars” saga. Disney CEO Bob Iger said this week that Fisher appears throughout the film, and her performance will not be changed. 

 

Reynolds earned an Oscar nomination for her starring role in “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” 

 

The actresses participated in an HBO documentary on their lives called “Bright Lights,” which aired in January. 

 

Todd Fisher organized Saturday’s memorial to give fans an opportunity to honor his mother and sister. Fisher’s daughter, actress Billie Lourd, is expected to attend. 

 

Stars including Meryl Streep, Tracey Ullman and Stephen Fry mourned the actresses at a private memorial in January. 
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Fallingwater is a house in rural southwestern Pennsylvania designed in 1935 by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Although it is not easy to get to, Fallingwater is a must-see, and not just for architecture buffs. VOA’s Masha Morton takes us on a tour.
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Academy Award-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle reunites with his original Trainspotting cast twenty years later to make a sequel that deals with aging, accountability, friendship and, once again, betrayal. Trainspotting 2 becomes a worthy companion to the original, as VOA’s Penelope Poulou reports.
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Academy award-winning filmmaker Danny Boyle reunites with his original Trainspotting cast 20 years later to make a sequel that deals with aging, accountability, friendship and once again, betrayal.

Those who saw the original film remember four friends in their twenties. They are up to no good, living on the fringes, immersed in drug culture and pulling a heist. Their exuberant youth and reckless lifestyle captured the popular culture of the 90s.

Trainspotting became a cult movie and few could believe that a sequel could measure up. Yet, Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting 2 becomes a worthy companion to the original.

As in all Danny Boyle films, Trainspotting 2 takes us on a wild ride from its first frame. The camera focuses on treadmills at a gym and on a seemingly fit Mark Renton, running on one full speed when suddenly he falls off with a bang. He’s just had a heart attack. With this jolting introduction, Boyle reunites the cast from the original Trainspotting, which became a cult film in the 90s.

In this sequel, 20 years have gone by since Renton betrayed his gang after their heist in London, running away with the money. Now Renton, a broken man with a broken marriage, returns from Amsterdam to Scotland and to his ‘frenemies,’ seeking redemption. “He’s had a heart attack and he’s come back. These are the only people that really know him that he knows. And I suppose it’s a midlife crisis of sorts or a life crisis of sorts,” says Ewan McGregor, who played Mark Renton in 1996 and rose to stardom when the original Trainspotting became such a hit. The movie was a landmark in the lives of each of the cast members, but also for the filmmaker who — despite his wide-ranging success — reserves a special spot in his heart for this film.

In a way, Trainspotting 2 is Danny Boyle’s return to a familial place dealing with his own existential crisis. The filmmaker tells VOA he didn’t want to make just another sequel. He wanted a companion piece reflecting on the life of these aging men, who failed to amount to much in life and stubbornly cling to a youth that is not there.

“I think we were all conscious returning to it. How much a huge part it played in our individual careers. It gave us a life into the world which was surprising! We set the film to resemble the first film, everybody was paid the same, there wasn’t huge amounts of money, we didn’t treat it as a cash cow, we were not cashing in on our successful original, and we also wanted to surprise people with what the film has to say,” says the Oscar-winning filmmaker.

The reunion is dramatic. Simon, played by Jonny Lee Miller, schemes revenge, and Begbie, the most feral of them all, played by Robert Carlyle, recently escaped from prison and has vowed to kill Mark Renton. But the most redeeming character is Spud, played by Ewen Bremner. The hopeless addict, stuck in an endless loop of addiction and rehab, attempts suicide but is saved by Mark Renton.

“There are scenes in it which we benefited from addicts who told us that ‘you can’t really eradicate addiction,’ what they do in modern treatment is replace it with another obsession, an alternative obsession which is often sports. But in Spud’s case, it’s actually this writing and it was certainly true in Irvine Welsh’s case, the original writer. So, the film becomes ironically full of hope by the end,” says Boyle.

Spud goes on to write the original story of Trainspotting. Boyle says he wants to create this loop between the two films, showing that despite our aging process, our outlook to life is not linear. Like any other Danny Boyle film, Trainspotting 2 offers exuberant music, electrifying visuals, brutal scenes and yet its success lies in the honesty and tenderness with which the filmmaker and screenwriter John Hodge treat the aging characters.

“If you’re gonna do a sequel, a 20 years later sequel, the actors are not going to be able to hide from that. You’re gonna feel it in every frame of the film. It’s gonna be the protein of the film. And so, it’s a more confessional film, although there is a lot of the film that enjoys some of the pleasures that you get from the first film,” says Boyle.

Whether it appeals to the nostalgia of the older fans or the fast sensibilities of younger ones, Trainspotting 2 is slated to be another Danny Boyle success.
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Think your home furnishings are a dust magnet? New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine just spent 16 years cleaning and conserving its rare, supersize wall hangings.

 

Now the historic house of worship is inviting the public to enjoy the fruits of its labor – “The Barberini Tapestries, Scenes from the Life of Christ,” which once graced the Vatican and European palaces. They were designed by baroque master Giovanni Francesco Romanelli; created by weavers for Francesco Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, from 1644 to 1656; and donated to the cathedral in 1891, a year before its cornerstone was laid.

 

Centuries ago, tapestries were appreciated not only for their beauty but also for being a warm buffer against chilly palace walls.

 

These days, they’re kept well-groomed by experts at the Gothic cathedral’s textile conservation laboratory – a labor-intensive process using dental probes, tweezers and a HEPA vacuum with microsuction attachments.

There’s also a special “bathtub” – measuring 20 by 16 feet (6 by 4.9 meters).

In addition to removing the standard dust and dirt, the massive undertaking included work on tapestries that suffered smoke and water damage during a 2001 fire.

 

Ten tapestries, their images woven with wool and silk yarn in rich earth tones, deep blue, green and russet, are displayed around the cathedral, with a focal point at the Chapels of the Seven Tongues, which honor immigrant populations. They’re accompanied by fragments from a severely fire-damaged tapestry of “The Last Supper,” as well as before-and-after photos from the blaze.

 

The works, hung with hand-sewn fabric fastener, are 15 feet (4.7 meters) high and up to 19 feet (5.8 meters) wide.

There’s plenty of room, though. The Episcopal cathedral in upper Manhattan is larger than France’s Chartres and Notre Dame cathedrals combined.

 

Rare books, period objects and computer kiosks provide context on the “cultural, dynastic, political and religious worlds of the Barberini family,” organizers say.

 

The exhibit, which also will offer educational activities, runs through June 25. The suggested admission contribution is $10.

 

The tapestries and artifacts will travel to the Jordan Schnitzer Museum in Eugene, Oregon, in the fall.
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Bob Dylan’s new album “Triplicate” explores American standards from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s, but the veteran singer-songwriter says that does not mean he is yearning for the past.

Dylan also is unconcerned whether his fans like the album — the third in as many years that features cover versions of classic songs like “Stormy Weather,” “As Time Goes By” and “Stardust.”

“These songs are some of the most heartbreaking stuff ever put on record and I wanted to do them justice. Now that I have lived them and lived through them, I understand them better,” Dylan, 75, told music writer Bill Flanagan in a rare interview.

“It’s not taking a trip down memory lane or longing or yearning for the good old days or fond memories of what’s no more,” he added in the lengthy Q&A, posted on the bobdylan.com website on Wednesday.

The three-disc album “Triplicate” will be released on March 31. It follows 2015’s “Shadows in the Night” album of Frank Sinatra covers and 2016’s similar “Fallen Angels” in marking a strong contrast from the early, socially conscious folk and rock compositions for which Dylan remains most famous.

Songs ‘for man on the street’

Asked what his fans might think of the cover albums, Dylan said: “These songs are meant for the man on the street, the common man, the everyday person. Maybe that is a Bob Dylan fan, maybe not, I don’t know.”

In the wide-ranging interview, Dylan also touched on his admiration for the late Amy Winehouse, calling her “the last real individualist around”; his and George Harrison’s abortive bid years ago to record with Elvis Presley (“he [Elvis] did show up; it was us that didn’t”); and the power of early rock ‘n’ roll music, (“Rock ‘n’ roll was a dangerous weapon, chrome-plated, it exploded like the speed of light, it reflected the times, and especially the presence of the atomic bomb, which had preceded it by several years.”)

Cohen, Russell, Haggard missed 

Dylan also spoke of the loss of fellow musicians like Leonard Cohen, Leon Russell and Merle Haggard, all of whom died last year.

“We were like brothers, we lived on the same street and they all left empty spaces where they used to stand. It’s lonesome without them,” he said.

No mention was made of Dylan’s Nobel Prize for literature, and his nonattendance at the annual Nobel award ceremony in Sweden. Dylan is due to perform in Sweden next week as part of a European tour.
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A major World War II museum opened in northern Poland on Thursday amid plans by the conservative government to change its content to fit the government’s nationalist views.

The Museum of the Second World War in Gdansk is at the center of a standoff between the historians creating it and Poland’s populist government, which is seeking a court order to have it closed and then wants to reshape its current multi-national focus.

The museum was initiated in 2008 by then-Prime Minister Donald Tusk. But the current Law and Justice government, hostile to Tusk, wants to merge it with another museum and make it highlight Poland’s military effort in fighting the German Nazis and the nation’s own tragedy that, they believe, is not well enough known in the world.

Court to decide dispute

 

The dispute between the museum and the government is to be decided by a court in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the government has cut the museum’s annual subsidy from the requested 20 million zlotys ($5 million) to 11.5 million zlotys ($2.9 million), director Pawel Machcewicz said.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, he said the huge exhibition places Poland’s war experience at the center of Europe’s and the world’s war history. It says out of some 5.5 million Poles killed in the war, over 5 million were civilians.

War veterans get first look

He invited Culture Minister Piotr Glinski to visit the museum, saying  “let’s hope he will see for himself that it shows Poland’s history in the right way, that it fully explains Poland’s history to foreigners.”

War veterans, relatives of the fighters and schoolchildren were the museum’s first visitors.   
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We’re unlocking the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, for the week ending March 25, 2017.

The hit list continues to be in a generous mood, bestowing upon us another new song. It happens in fifth place where Ri-Ri is a chart-buster all around.

Number 5: Rihanna “Love On The Brain”

Rihanna jumps a slot this week, as “Love On The Brain” becomes her 22nd Top Five hit. Beyond that, it’s her 30th Top 10 single, and her 40th Top 20 hit.

All these achievements put Rihanna among the highest-powered chart artists of all time. In fact, only four acts own more Top Five hits than Rihanna. The Beatles lead the way with 29; Madonna has 28; Mariah Carey has 26; and Janet Jackson has 24.

Number 4: Zayn & Taylor Swift “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever”

Zayn and Taylor Swift step back a slot to number four with their Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack hit “I Don’t Wanna Live Forever.”

Zayn just did an interview with the Sunday Times Magazine, in which he talks about developing an eating disorder and struggling with anxiety. Both stemmed from that he said was an overly-controlled atmosphere while he was a member of One Direction – and he says he overcame both conditions after leaving the group in 2015.

Number 3: Bruno Mars “That’s What I Like ”

Bruno Mars rises a slot to third place with “That’s What I Like” – this is his eighth single to reach the Top Three.

Mars’ real name is Peter Hernandez – he says his father bestowed the nickname “Bruno” upon him because he was a chunky little boy who reminded his dad of the pro wrestler Bruno Sammartino. He says he picked the “Mars” name himself, to add a little pizzazz.

Number 2: Migos Featuring Lil Uzi Vert “Bad And Boujee”

Migos and Lil Uzi Vert stay strong in second place with their former champ “Bad And Boujee,” and these Georgia rappers have been making noise in Texas.

Migos went to Austin for the huge South By Southwest (SXSW) event and packed the house: fans began lining up more than three hours before the show, and the line eventually wrapped around three city blocks.

Number 1: Ed Sheeran “Shape Of You”

Fans also continue flocking to Ed Sheeran, who rules the Hot 100 for a seventh total week with “Shape Of You.” Sheeran’s hitting the road here in North America, and he just announced his support act.

He took to Twitter on March 20 to reveal that James Blunt will be the supporting act when he kicks off his North American tour on June 29.

In case your memory needs refreshing, Blunt topped charts the world over in 2005 with “You’re Beautiful” – including here in the United States.

What happens next week? Let’s meet in seven days and find out.
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