Fashion

Lady Gaga dressed in a comfortable low-key ensemble as she left her New York hotel on Wednesday and, it’s safe to say, it was a surprising departure for the usually wildly-dressed star. The pop singer, 35, beamed with joy as she emerged from the hotel and flashed two peace signs to fans. She wore a black Balenciaga tracksuit with her hood up and black sunglasses to shield her eyes from the flashing cameras. The Bad Romance singer – known for rocking meat dresses and insane heels the approximate height of a mountain – completed the relaxed look with white Nike trainers, and she carried a coffee cup in her hands. The look was worlds away from the fierce outfits Gaga had been spotted in this past week , however, she appeared to be on cloud nine following her concert with Tony Bennett on Tuesday evening. Gaga performed with the jazz legend at Radio City Music Hall, the second and last show will be on Thursday August 5. The highly anticipated evening was held on …

[Read more...] about Lady Gaga throws us all by opting for comfort in a black tracksuit after a week of fierce fashion in New York

So a mediocre male weightlifter transitions and becomes a mediocre female weightlifter? Is that the story about New Zealand’s Laurel Hubbard who crashed out of the  Tokyo women’s finals with three failed lifts? The first one of 120kg saw her take the bar behind her shoulders, her second lift of 125kg was ruled invalid and a third attempt similarly failed. At this Olympic level, no athlete can be described as mediocre. The weights these women are lifting are phenomenal. Hubbard, said to be a quiet and private person , has put herself under an immense amount of scrutiny and the pressure on her must have been enormous. This year we have seen more and more elite athletes talking of their mental health. They are not just amazing bodies who can do things most of us can’t, but also vulnerable humans, terrified of career-ending injuries. Hubbard did not win a medal but she did take a place from an 18-year-old who might have done, Roviel Detenamo. Indeed one of the issues here was not …

[Read more...] about Laurel Hubbard’s Olympic quest hasn’t helped trans rights

British holidaymakers to Europe will be forced to pay €7 in order to be allowed in under plans from Brussels. The European Union is progressing with plans to pre-screen travellers entering the border-free Schengen area in order to prevent the need for visas . The European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS) will work in a similar fashion to the US Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) which permits citizens from 39 countries a 90-day visa-free stay. On Tuesday the regulations for the system were confirmed. The ETIAS plan was originally mooted in 2016, before the UK left the EU. Once implemented it will cost visitors around £6.20 to undergo the checks. Those granted entry through the ETIAS would be allowed to enter and leave the Schengen area multiple times over a three-year period. The scheme is expected to cover 60 countries, including the UK, Australia and the US. Tuesday’s approval means the plan is on track to be implemented by the end of …

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Alex Salmond knows his audience. This is, after all, the most effective politician of his generation. Elected to the Commons in 1987 as one of a three-strong band of SNP MPs, he went on to lead his party twice, winning power in the Scottish Parliament and securing an overall majority there – an achievement his successor has so far failed to emulate. At the independence referendum he secured by his own efforts, Salmond brought Scots to within five percentage points of independence. Arguably, the tide of nationalist popularity that secured all but three of Scotland’s 59 constituencies for the SNP at the 2015 general election was a legacy of Salmond’s rather than any achievement of Nicola Sturgeon’s . So, yes, Alex knows Scotland, and he knows Scottish politics. More importantly, he knows what motivates nationalists. Which is why the election broadcast of Alba, his new party, unveiled to a dumbstruck and largely mocking audience yesterday, will probably be quite effective in a …

[Read more...] about Salmond’s mistaken – the SNP are every bit as Anglophobic as Alba

Drake revealed his feud with Kanye West is not over, though the pair reportedly worked on pieces of West's latest album together. At his Chicago show on Saturday, Drake dissed West while he performed his track "Know Yourself." A line in the song normally reads "then Kanye dropped." Drake, however, changed the lyrics to "then Kanye flopped." This isn't Drake's first time rapping about West. On his latest album Scorpion , released July 29, a few of Drake's lyrics have prompted speculation in relation to West. Most notably, however, were lines in Drake's July freestyle Behind Barz . One reads "They wanna link when they got no chunes. They too worried about selling out shoes," most likely referring to West's Yeezy fashion brand. Behind Barz was released one week after Scorpion . Though it caught attention for the West lyrics, it's not his most notable freestyle this year. Drake's release of "Duppy Freestyle" caused a social media stir at the end of May. The track addressed …

[Read more...] about Is Kanye West’s and Drake’s feud really over? Drake disses West at Chicago show

Culture Alexander Hamilton Hamilton Lin-Manuel Miranda Theatre Hamilton is the Broadway success story of the year, maybe the decade. And it's about to become the hottest item on your 11th grader's U.S. history syllabus. In classrooms from New York City, where the show packs the Richard Rodgers Theatre nightly, to the West Coast, Hamilton is making educators rethink how they teach early U.S. political history—and making students rethink how much they care. "I first heard about it the way most of us did—from rapturous reviews," says Jim Cullen. A high school teacher at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in the Bronx, where he chairs the history department, Cullen's interests range from U.S. political history to popular music. (He's probably the only New York City schoolteacher who's published a book on Bruce Springsteen.) So when a group of Fieldston middle schoolers and faculty scored a block of tickets to Lin-Manuel Miranda's hit musical about Alexander …

[Read more...] about ‘Hamilton,’ the biggest thing on Broadway, is being taught in classrooms all over

Kanye West, who rose to fame 12 years ago on the strength of a church-inspired gospel march called "Jesus Walks," is trying to keep his faith. "Deliver us serenity / Deliver us peace," he sings on "Ultralight Beam," an opening cut so remarkable that it's striking to think it wasn't initially intended to appear on the album. West's voice is relatively unadorned—no distortion, no 808s & Heartbreak manipulations—while the surrounding track is a pause-and-release cavalcade of gospel voices, silky trumpet figures and snippets of prayer (the final of which is delivered by legendary gospel artist Kirk Franklin). In one of the album's most rousing verses, 22-year-old Chance the Rapper hops from Arthur (the '90s PBS cartoon) to "This Little Light of Mine," the civil rights–era anthem inspired by biblical passages. The song, in all its expansive generosity, is the direct inverse of "On Sight," the bracing Yeezus opener that drew the reluctant admiration of Lou Reed. It's an …

[Read more...] about ‘The Life of Pablo’ Is Kanye West’s scattered, unfinished masterpiece

This article was originally published in The Conversation . Read the original article . It's official: skateboarding is going to become an Olympic sport . At Tokyo 2020, the world of ledge-grinding, ollie-jumping, kick-flipping and bowl-riding will be showcased alongside several other new sports, as well as the usual Olympic fare. On the face of it, this decision seems surprising—some might question whether the largely street-based activity of skateboarding is even a proper sport. Yet given that the Olympics' governing body is seeking to attract younger audiences to bolster their ageing demographic, it's also a sensible move. Still, it's difficult to imagine how this will work in practice. Surely, the implicitly anti-capitalist, subcultural and "alternative" nature of skateboarding —where skaters appropriate urban streets, buildings and plazas for unregulated pleasures – is completely at odds with the training-intensive, performance-measured and medal-obsessed …

[Read more...] about Rio 2016: Why skateboarding as an Olympic sport is a win

Who is ready for another Kanye West takeover? The rapper has announced the opening this weekend of 21 pop-up stores around the world selling The Life of Pablo merchandise. West made the announcement on Twitter late Wednesday night: An interactive map on his official website points to pop-ups in U.S. cities such as his hometown of Chicago, New York, Miami, Atlanta and Los Angeles, as well as international cities like London, Berlin, Sydney and Cape Town. No exact locations or times have been revealed for the majority of the stores, except for the two pop-ups in Australia. If those are any indication of what the opening hours will be in other cities, expect the pop-ups to launch Friday at 10 a.m. local time. The stores in Melbourne and Sydney are advertising operational hours between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. West last opened pop-up shops in New York, Los Angeles and Paris in March. He claimed to have sold $1 …

[Read more...] about Kanye West’s ‘Pablo’ pop-up shops could be coming to a city near you this weekend

Kanye West is already a best-selling musician, has dabbled in fashion design, and has his own range of luxury sneakers with Adidas. What could possibly be next? How about Kanye West: furniture designer? The "Famous" rapper told the BBC he is looking to team up with Swedish retailer Ikea to create his own line of minimalist items. "I have to work with Ikea—make furniture for interior design, for architecture," he told BBC Radio 1 's Annie Mac in an interview airing Monday night. West was spotted visiting Ikea's headquarters in Sweden in March. He tweeted after the visit: West pleaded: "Yo IKEA, allow Kanye to create. Allow him to make this thing because you know what, I want a bed that he makes, I want a chair that he makes—I want more products from 'Ye.'" The star, who has recently been embroiled in further controversy with pop star Taylor Swift, also spoke of his political aspirations. He said he wants to do whatever he can to "make a difference" in the wake of the …

[Read more...] about Kanye West really wants to design furniture for Ikea