Culture

Bruce Springsteen Reveals Hidden Albums After Four Decades
Bruce Springsteen Reveals Hidden Albums After Four Decades

American rock legend Bruce Springsteen announced Thursday that he will release a new box set in June featuring 83 previously unreleased songs across seven albums. Tracks II: The Lost Albums is set to be released on June 27. It includes full albums recorded between 1983 and 2018, many of which were mixed but never officially published, according ...

Anna Netrebko Returns to Royal Opera House Stage
Anna Netrebko Returns to Royal Opera House Stage

Russian superstar soprano Anna Netrebko — shunned on some world stages since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine — will appear at London's Royal Opera House later this year. Netrebko, 53, will star in a production of Puccini's Tosca from September 11, marking her return to Covent Garden after a six-year absence, the Royal Opera said on its ...

Great Writers, Gentle Neuroses, Small Literary Miracles (2/2)
Great Writers, Gentle Neuroses, Small Literary Miracles (2/2)

Literature loves outsiders. But what it cherishes most are organized outsiders—those who turn their strangeness into a narrative engine, their questionable lifestyles into bursts of staggering productivity. This second part focuses on writers who today might be considered, depending on one’s perspective, either misunderstood geniuses or ...

Spielberg's Original 1982 E.T. Model Fails to Find Buyer
Spielberg's Original 1982 E.T. Model Fails to Find Buyer

An original model of E.T., created for Steven Spielberg's beloved film E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, did not find a buyer after being put up for auction, Sotheby's auction house in New York said Thursday. The piece, a little over a meter high and which had been estimated to fetch between $600,000 and $900,000, comes from the collection of Italian ...

Lifelike Kylian Mbappe Wax Figure Unveiled in London
Lifelike Kylian Mbappe Wax Figure Unveiled in London

France superstar Kylian Mbappe received one of the greatest honors that England can bestow upon a sportsman from a rival nation on Friday — a lifelike waxwork at London's Madame Tussauds museum. The statue shows the 2018 World Cup winner striking a familiar pose — arms crossed and wearing France's white away jersey from last summer's European ...

Great Writers, Gentle Neuroses, Small Literary Miracles (1/2)
Great Writers, Gentle Neuroses, Small Literary Miracles (1/2)

The act of writing is peculiar in that it lies at the crossroads of inspiration and method – between the sudden emergence of words and the mechanics of movement. For some authors, routine becomes a sacred ritual, a meticulously orchestrated sequence of gestures meant to ward off the terror of the blank page. Others find in it a form of ...

Boualem Sansal’s Speech for Freedom Published in Bookstores
Boualem Sansal’s Speech for Freedom Published in Bookstores

This speech, given for “the German Publishers and Booksellers Peace Prize” and published in Gallimard’s Tracts collection, was originally delivered in Frankfurt, Germany, in October 2011. "The absence of freedom is a pain that drives one mad over time. It reduces a man to his shadow and his dreams to nightmares," Boualem Sansal declares in ...

First 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Movie Footage Revealed
First 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' Movie Footage Revealed

Evil Na'vi. Giant volcanoes. Airborne boats. The first-ever footage from Avatar: Fire and Ash, the sequel to two of the highest-grossing movies of all time, was debuted at the CinemaCon event Thursday. Out this December, the film "expands the beautiful world of Pandora and introduces two new clans," explained star Zoe Saldana, from the stage of ...

From Theft to Restoration: Shakespeare’s First Folio’s Journey Back to Durham
From Theft to Restoration: Shakespeare’s First Folio’s Journey Back to Durham

The Shakespeare First Folio edition stolen from Durham University's Cosin's Library in 1998 is one of only 235 known to survive, and is valued at more than £1 million ($1.3 million). The First Folio, published in 1623, was the first collection of Shakespeare's plays and each version is unique. It is considered to be one of the most important ...

'Who Believes in Angels?': Elton John Launches Boldest Album Since the 1970s
'Who Believes in Angels?': Elton John Launches Boldest Album Since the 1970s

The British artist Elton John is releasing his new album Who Believes in Angels? this Friday, co-written with American singer Brandi Carlile, and which he describes as his "most innovative" record since the 1970s. "This album marks a new beginning for me," said the 78-year-old singer in an interview with British radio Smooth Radio. "It’s very ...

Iconic Paris hotel Lutetia Taken over by Mandarin Oriental
Iconic Paris hotel Lutetia Taken over by Mandarin Oriental

Situated in the center of the Left Bank area of the French capital, the Art Deco institution was opened in 1910 and owes its existence to its neighbor Bon Marche, one of the first department stores in the world. Real estate group Alrov, controlled by Alfred Akirov and his family, will retain ownership of the building. Originally baptized with the ...

Tom Cruise Bids Emotional Farewell to Val Kilmer
Tom Cruise Bids Emotional Farewell to Val Kilmer

During the annual CinemaCon industry summit held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Tom Cruise paid heartfelt tribute to his late Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer, who passed away earlier this week. Before unveiling exclusive footage from his forthcoming film Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Cruise led theater owners in a solemn moment of ...