Author: Freddie Jones

The director of a contemporary art gallery once said: “If you’ve got an Alison Lapper up on the wall, you’ve got to justify it every day.” All her life, artist Alison Lapper has faced constant scrutiny about her artwork and personal life. Born with a condition called phocomelia, meaning she has no arms and shortened legs, Alison sparked debate when she posed, naked and pregnant, for a sculpture. The artwork sat on the fourth plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square for two years from 2005. As she reflects on being shown videos and photographs from across her life for a new…

Andrew Garfield has high praise for timepieces. The Omega brand ambassador was present at a preview of the luxury watchmaker’s Chelsea Factory exhibit in Manhattan on Wednesday. The star spoke with Interview Magazine about why he thinks fellow watch experts are “hot,” and his feelings about leaving a timepiece on during intercourse. Though Garfield is still “relatively new to understanding the depth and breadth of [watches],” the Hacksaw Ridge Oscar nominee has nothing but respect for people who consider themselves experts. “I love anything that has a nerdy quality to it. It seems to me that people who are into…

Spoiler alert! This story discusses parts of the October 12 episode of The Golden Bachelor. The formats of The Golden Bachelor and the flagship Bachelor Nation dating shows may be similar, but just three weeks into the first season of the franchise’s newest spinoff, it’s pretty obvious that they couldn’t be more different. Gerry Turner’s journey so far has been uplifting and pure, if not a little tragic, with the cast members searching for someone to spend the final years of their lives with, after many have already dealt with the loss of a spouse. There’s another issue, too, that The Golden Bachelor faced again on Thursday’s…

As K-pop and K-drama began to captivate audiences across the world, soju inadvertently rode the ‘Korean wave’ to international fame Fans of South Korean popular culture may have had their first encounter with soju through shows with drinking scenes or celebrities endorsing the beverage. And as entertainment media from the Asian nation began to captivate audiences across the world, soju inadvertently rode the “Korean wave” to international fame. “As Korean culture and the entertainment industry gained worldwide recognition through the Hallyu wave, soju, closely related to the lifestyle of Koreans, naturally drew the curiosity of many consumers as it appeared…

YG Entertainment’s newest girl group Baby Monster, has officially confirmed their much-anticipated debut for November. Preparations are currently underway for their music video shoot at the end of October. The announcement was made on October 10 KST via a ‘coming soon’ poster on YG’s official blog, thereby confirming the imminent emergence of Baby Monster on the music scene. In a statement, YG acknowledged, “We were meticulous in the selection of the debut song with the aim of providing the best possible outcome. We kindly ask for understanding regarding the slight delay from our initially shared debut date of September, resulting…

Netflix and Amazon Studios are among the backers of a new German programme entitled NewMotion to promote greater diversity in the nation’s film industry. It was officially launched at the Explorer Conference at Filmfest Hamburg this month. The programme is the brainchild of producers Roshanak “Rosh” Khodabakhsh (Port au Prince Film und Kultur Produktion) and Jorgo Narjes (X Filme Creative Pool) in cooperation with the Producers Alliance Initiative for Qualification (PAIQ). “A central element of this initiative is a shadowing programme giving on-the-job training where you follow one person around for a few days and get to learn their jobs,”…

Jennie of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK released a video of her live performance of the jazz version of her latest solo single, “You & Me,” the group’s agency said Wednesday. The video shows Jennie performing live the song’s jazz arrangement version, which was featured on the stage of a Chanel fashion show in June. Jennie, in the video clip, showed off her unique voice on top of the gentle piano melody, performing with rich emotions against the backdrop of a mysterious full moon. Released Friday, the original version of “You & Me” topped the iTunes’ Top Songs charts in 60…

NewJeans continues to set new records on the Billboard charts with their latest album! Two months ago, NewJeans made history as the fastest female K-pop act ever to debut on the Billboard 200 when their second mini album “Get Up” entered the chart at No. 1—and the EP has proven the group’s popularity by holding steady in the top 60 in the weeks since. NewJeans has now become the first female K-pop artist ever to chart an album for 10 consecutive weeks in the top 60 of the Billboard 200: for the week ending on October 7, “Get Up” ranked…

This year’s MAMA Awards, the K-pop industry’s biggest annual year-end music awards, will be held in Tokyo in November. The awards ceremony will take place on Nov. 28 and 29 at the Tokyo Dome, making it the first Korean music awards show to be held at the venue, Mnet, the cable channel that broadcasts the show, said Thursday. Tokyo Dome is a large-scale venue for music concerts that can accommodate around 50,000 spectators. It is known as a “dream stage” for singers. Launched in 1999 as the Mnet Video Music Awards, the country’s first awards ceremony centered on music videos,…

Madrid’s tourist board has appointed four famous South Korean personalities as international ambassadors to promote the city’s lifestyle, cuisine, culture and heritage. The quartet are Cho Yeo-Jeong, known for her appearances in films such as Parasite and The Concubine; Kim Joo-Ryung, famous for her role in the Netflix series The Squid Game; Jeon Changa, global brand ambassador for Boss and model for MAC; and fashion designer Danha, known for being the creator of the wardrobe of the K-pop group Blackpink. Madrid Turismo by Ifema Madrid appointed the four stars in a ceremony at the city’s historic Palacio de Santoña. It…