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Ethan Hawke: ‘The most romantic thing I’ve done is have sex’

The actor, 47, on being an optimist, avoiding marriage advice and why other people make him anxious

I have so many bad habits it’s impossible to measure the worst. My son would say I don’t take enough care with how I dress, my daughter might say I work too much, and my wife that I can’t seem to help in the kitchen at all. But in my opinion I have none.

As a former kid actor, I know how hard it is to turn that attention into anything but self-destruction. The heat of the spotlight makes ordinary temperatures real cold.

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Eco-chic and trouser suits: how Meghan Markle’s style reads the room

The future royal wore a trouser suit for her first official evening engagement with Prince Harry, ushering in a new kind of sartorial diplomacy

Last night, for her first official evening engagement with Prince Harry, Meghan Markle wore an Alexander McQueen trouser suit. It was slim-fitting, with cropped cigarette trousers, worn with very high stiletto heels and a cream dishabille blouse. The outfit was many things: very Saint Laurent’s Le Smoking, a bit Princess Diana, with a soupçon of Marlene Dietrich, even a hint of Carine Roitfeld (although Roitfeld probably wouldn’t have worn a blouse underneath the tux). What it was not was a Sandringham-appropriate boxy Catherine Walker skirt suit. It was notable because it didn’t feel like standard royal family dressing at all.

The royal family wrote the rule book on sartorial diplomacy. Usually, their approach is unambiguous. It is a gown embroidered with 2,091 shamrocks in Ireland; a Chanel tweed coat in Paris in the middle of Brexit; a dress by Polish designer Gosia Baczyńska at a garden party in Warsaw. It is the opposite of wearing a cult band T-shirt that only fellow devotees will recognise. The clothes are designed to speak of decency and propriety; the visual messages are clear enough to charm heads of state and reach the rest of us in the cheap seats as well.

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How Instagram changed our world

It started as a photo-sharing platform, but quickly rose to become the most influential app of our generation. Now, a forensic new book reveals the struggles and eccentricities of the men behind Instagram

One day in the autumn of 2015, a small but significant change was implemented at the Instagram offices in Menlo Park, California. Employees arrived at work to discover the rubbish bins under each desk had disappeared. The bins had allowed people to work efficiently – no one had to stand up to throw away a coconut water carton or wasabi pea wrapper after they’d enjoyed the company’s free food. But the bins weren’t really Instagram’s – they were installed by Facebook, which had purchased the photo-sharing app for $1bn in 2012.

Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s co-founder, didn’t like the bins. He didn’t like the cardboard boxes employees used to file papers and paraphernalia. He hated old, sagging birthday balloons. Instagram’s offices, he explained, after removing the bins, should represent its ethos. They should be beautiful, simple, pristine – much like the app itself.

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Artists find fans and creative outlet as they flock towards crowdfunding sites

Coronavirus crisis has forced musicians and others to adapt, says founder of platform

Musicians, artists and writers have turned to crowdfunding sites to make up for lost opportunities in lockdown, and their audiences have followed them, leading to a rise in contributions through platforms such as Patreon.

Since mid-March more than 70,000 extra creators have joined Patreon, which allows fans to give monthly payments to artists in exchange for exclusive content or simply out of a desire to support someone whose work they appreciate.

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Tom Hunt's recipe for tin-can curry: five-minute dal | Waste not

Tinned food is an invaluable back-up, and can be transformed into a nutritious meal at the drop of a hat

Tinned food has a best-before date of about three years, but is still likely to be good to eat decades later, making it an invaluable back-up. It also helps you prevent food waste by letting you be more sparing with perishable purchases – though, as with fresh food, it’s a good idea to rotate the cans in your cupboard, bringing short-date items to the fore, so you can build them into the week’s meals.

As well as helping to reduce food waste, tinned food is a good choice compared with other packaged food, because cans are made from a relatively low-impact material that actually gets recycled, unlike most plastics and Tetrapak. It’s also worth noting that, no matter how new it is, if a tin has a dent or is rusty, it is safest to compost the contents to avoid the deadly bacteria Clostridium botulinum.

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The Quarantine + Pandemic Survival Map: 'It's escapism, with a lot of humour'

No longer able to walk hundreds of miles to create his hand-drawn maps, the Beijing-based artist Fuller is charting his thoughts – and the global crisis – while stuck indoors

I’m interested in the psychology of a place and how it makes you feel. So I don’t really see myself as a map-maker – even though I draw maps. It’s about the process of travelling through a place to capture a sense of it. First, I walk for hundreds of miles and make all sorts of notes, and then take thousands of photos to use as triggers for my memory.

I walked more than 840 miles around Beijing when researching the map that became part of my Purposeful Wandering series. I circumnavigated the city and then walked around each ring road. Beijing (where I’ve lived for three years) is built on a Central Axis, and the map is, too. A lot of the drawing is literal, but I also built in personal experiences, references, visual puns and semiotics.

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‘It makes me feel human’: 11 women share their lockdown beauty regimens

We’re interacting less with the outside world – and the societal pressures that come with it. Are some women still wearing makeup every day?

The shutdown feels like a good opportunity to examine an age-old feminist question: when women put makeup on, can they ever truly be doing it for themselves?

We will probably never have an answer. The pressure imposed on women to look good is such a part of our existence that we might never get rid of it – even “dressing up for oneself” can be traced back to self-hatred fueled by a beauty-obsessed culture.

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Move over, Villanelle: Killing Eve's Dasha is the style hero we need now

With her clashing animal prints and penchant for comfort over taste, the drama’s new character is the perfect lockdown fashion icon

When Sam Perry was pulling together costumes for season three of Killing Eve last year, she wasn’t to know that, come April, tens of millions of us would have watched a show called Tiger King about the big cats and bigger characters of the US’s exotic wildlife scene. But, even before Villanelle returned to our screens last month, many of us were seeing spots thanks to the gun-toting and sometime libertarian candidate for governor of Oklahoma, Joe Exotic.

Yet Dasha, a new character to Killing Eve in season three who occupies a senior role within The Twelve, is the Tiger King-adjacent dresser whose wardrobe feels particularly of the moment.

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What animal is a sarcastic fringehead? The Weekend quiz

From Matilda the Hun to the first fleet, test your knowledge with the Weekend quiz

1 Which South American was the world’s first female president?
2 What was the destination of the First Fleet?
3 Who lived at 308 Negra Arroyo Lane, Albuquerque?
4 Which epic poem is based on the Battle of Roncevaux?
5 What animal is a sarcastic fringehead?
6 What German car was last made in Mexico in 2019?
7 Pollex is the medical name for what part of the body?
8 Thomas Neuwirth won Eurovision under what stage persona?
What links:
9
Norwich; Newlyn; St Ives; Camden Town; Bloomsbury?
10 Platypus and four species of echidna?
11 Renren; QQ; Sina Weibo; WeChat?
12 Sydenstricker; Stearns; Staples; Surajprasad?
13 Colonel Ninotchka; Mt Fiji; Zelda the Brain; Matilda the Hun?
14 Harmost; satrap; voivode; bey; subahdar?
15 Ridley Scott; James Cameron; David Fincher; Jean-Pierre Jeunet?

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  • Life and style

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Lionsgate Sues Starline Over ‘La La Land’ Branded Tour

Here’s to the fools who dream — and to the mess they make. Three years ago, Starline Tours dreamed up a branded tour of the locations in “La La Land,” the musical starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. But now, the Hollywood tour company has ended up in litigation. Lionsgate, which produced the film, filed […]




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Film News Roundup: Kaniehtiio Horn Romantic Comedy ‘Tell Me I Love You’ Lands at Vision Films

In today’s film news roundup, romantic comedy “Tell Me I Love You” finds a home; the Canadian government gives COVID-19 relief funding to the Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada; and the cancelled Sun Valley Film Festival gives out awards. ACQUISITION Vision Films has acquired Los Angeles romantic comedy film “Tell Me I Love You,” […]




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Chris Meloni Lists Ozzie and Harriet’s Haunted House

After just over five years of ownership, versatile TV and film actor Christopher Meloni (“Oz,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Wet Hot American Summer,” “Happy!”) and his longtime wife Sherman Williams have punted their historic Hollywood Hills home back onto the open market, where it’s landed with a nearly $6.5 million thud. The […]




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Andre Harrell, Music Executive Who Discovered Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, Dies at 59

Andre Harrell, a veteran music executive best known as the founder of Uptown Records, where Sean “Puffy” Combs got his start in the business, who later went on to head Motown Records, has died. He was 59. The cause of death is as yet unclear. DJ D-Nice revealed the sad news while spinning on Instagram […]




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Little Richard, Flamboyant Rock and Roll Pioneer, Dies at 87

Flamboyant singer-instrumentalist Little Richard, whose high-voltage, keyboard-shattering R&B singles supplied lift-off for the ’50s rock ‘n’ roll revolution, has died. The musician, whose birth name was Richard Penniman, was 87, although some sources say he was older. His death was confirmed by his son, Danny Jones Penniman, who told the New York Times the cause […]




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Thousands lose last hope of having a baby as lockdown closes IVF clinics

Women tell of ‘bereavement’ because they will be too old for fertility treatment when the coronavirus shutdown ends

Coronavirus – latest updates

See all our coronavirus coverage

Thousands of couples may have missed their last chance of conceiving via IVF as fertility clinics shut their doors to patients on Wednesday. Some women who are only just young enough to be eligible for treatment will be too old in a few months’ time.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates Britain’s fertility industry, has ordered private and NHS clinics to stop treating patients who are in the middle of an IVF cycle by 15 April. All new treatments have already been banned, a decision which is likely to prevent the births of at least 20,000 desperately wanted babies if it remains in place for 12 months.

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Poorer expectant mums lose over £4,000 through ‘unfair’ anomaly in benefits

System treats maternity allowance as unpaid income, skewing the amount of universal credit paid out

Pregnant women on the lowest incomes are being denied vital financial support during the Covid-19 crisis, according to unions and women’s support groups, who are calling for urgent reforms to universal credit.

An anomaly in the way universal credit differentiates between pregnant earners has created an unfair system, it is argued. Universal credit treats maternity allowance, which is paid to the lowest-earning women and those who are self-employed, as “unearned income”, which means it is deducted from their benefit payments.

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Sudan to outlaw female genital mutilation

Campaigners welcome move to criminalise those carrying out FGM, but warn it will take time to eradicate practice entirely

Sudan looks set to outlaw female genital mutilation (FGM), in a significant move welcomed by campaigners.

Anyone found carrying out FGM will face up to three years in prison, according to a document seen by the Guardian.

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Chef Pete Evans exits Seven's My Kitchen Rules amid ratings slump

Celebrity TV chef from MKR has been repeatedly criticised by scientific and medical groups over his views on health and nutrition

The controversial reality TV chef Pete Evans will exit My Kitchen Rules, Seven’s defining show of the decade which slumped badly in the ratings this year.

Evans, a self-styled health guru held one of the most lucrative jobs in television despite a series of controversies related to his views on health and nutrition.

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World cities turn their streets over to walkers and cyclists

From Berlin to Bogotá there are new footpaths and bike lanes – but not in London

A growing number of cities around the world are temporarily reallocating road space from cars to people on foot and on cycles to keep key workers moving and residents in coronavirus lockdown healthy and active while socially distancing.

Limited urban park space and leisure trails are under increasing pressure, with many closed to prevent the spread of coronavirus, further limiting urban dwellers’ access to outdoor space. While traffic has dropped around the world, and with it nitrogen dioxide levels, there are widespread concerns over a rise in speeding drivers endangering those walking and cycling.

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My partner left me before lockdown and I can't get over him

With so much time on our hands, it’s easy to dwell on loss, says Mariella Frostrup. Try distracting yourself with online dates, box sets and classic novels

The dilemma Several months ago my partner of five years left me very suddenly. He’d gone abroad to work, but as far as I knew everything was fine. I even had flights booked to go and visit. The break-up was a huge shock that left me in a low place. After a few weeks I felt I was beginning to come out of the fog and start moving on with my life, going out and seeing friends, going to classes, etc, but then the lockdown was imposed. Being shut away in my flat all day, alone with my thoughts, I seem to be going backwards.

I’m very aware that we are in the middle of a global crisis and it’s awful for everyone. Luckily, I’m in a good position regarding pay and I’m not paying rent, so I really don’t have any reason to complain. However, all I can think about is my ex. It’s driving me a little bit mad. Do you have any advice on dealing with non-Covid-related troubles during this crisis? Talking to others about it is hard, and I don’t want to make it all about myself.

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I am used to living alone. Why has lockdown made me feel invisible? | Annalisa Barbieri

When life is necessarily small, the more negative feelings we’ve managed to keep in abeyance can loom large, says Annalisa Barbieri

I had adjusted to living alone after I was widowed six years ago, and since the lockdown friends have telephoned frequently and I chat to neighbours at a distance.

Although I feel I am one of the lucky ones and should be fine, I miss, above all, hugs and physical closeness. I have also started to resent people with partners, children or cuddly pets (which I have not done before).

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Patterns of pain: what Covid-19 can teach us about how to be human

We can expect psychological difficulties to follow as we come out of lockdown. But we have an opportunity to remake our relationship with our bodies, and the social body we belong to. By Susie Orbach

When lockdown started, I was confused by bodies on television. Why weren’t they socially distancing? Didn’t they know not to be so close? The injunction to be separate was unfamiliar and irregular, and for me, self-isolating alone, following this government directive was peculiar. It made watching dramas and programmes produced under normal filming conditions feel jarring.

Seven weeks in, the disjuncture has passed. I, like all of us, am accommodating to multiple corporeal realities: bodies alone, bodies distant, bodies in the park to be avoided, bodies of disobedient youths hanging out in groups, bodies in lines outside shops, bodies and voices flattened on screens and above all, bodies of dead health workers and carers. Black bodies, brown bodies. Working-class bodies. Bodies not normally praised, now being celebrated.

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Cheating a hangover is one of life's gems

Waking up without a hangover after a night of getting plastered is the world saying: here, have one on me

Brace yourself. That is the first thing that enters one’s head after a heavy night out, before the eyes are even open. Sometimes, listing nausea or a banging in the brain is what wakes us in the first place. We all know that if someone invented a cure for hangovers – and boy, have they tried – that person would be very rich indeed. Or worshipped as a deity. Most likely both.

It doesn’t matter if it has been one too many after work drinks or cracking open a second bottle of wine with one’s partner… the consequences of over-indulgence patiently lie in wait.

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My life in sex: the man with a small penis

‘I’ve heard of women rejecting a guy for his size, then making fun of him to others’

I was 15 when I realised my penis was below average in size. Feeling increasingly ashamed, I gravitated towards humiliation pornography (in which women demean men over their size) and that only made me focus more on my anxieties. I used to upload pictures of my penis anonymously on to sites such as Reddit, and the comments were all about how small it was.


I’m 22 now, and have never had a girlfriend, which I attribute to my low self-esteem. I think that in a loving relationship you accept each other’s faults – that is what I’d try to do – but I’ve heard stories of women rejecting a guy for his size and then making fun of him to other people. I’ve asked out a female friend or two while drunk, but always been rejected. Hell, I’d have rejected myself – I have overeating issues, an introverted personality, no banter. There are a million factors, but I can’t help tying them all up with having a small penis. I used to blame my inability to date on anyone but me, and for a while I gravitated towards incel [involuntary celibate] groups, but I soon realised that their ideology is toxic. I don’t believe women owe men sex.

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  • Sex
  • Health & wellbeing
  • Dating
  • Life and style

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How to have fun during lockdown | Oliver Burkeman

Ask yourself Carl Jung’s question: what did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes?

I hesitate to suggest what anyone else ought to be doing to stay on an even keel, psychologically, in these frightening times – partly because I don’t always manage it myself, but also because any such advice tends to turn into yet another item for the to-do list. You’ve noticed, for example, how quickly all those online yoga classes and Zoom cocktail gatherings, intended to add some lightness to lockdown, began to feel vaguely like a chore. (You’re not imagining “Zoom fatigue”: experts say video conversations really are more tiring.) Likewise, “self-care” practices easily turn into new duties, so people end up forcing themselves to be kind to themselves, which doesn’t make much sense.

This is why what I think we probably ought to be doing, to whatever extent possible, is having more fun. Not meditation or gratitude journalling or jogging (unless you find those fun). Not things you think are supposed to be fun. I mean the things you actually find fun. This distinction matters, partly for the aforementioned reason that self-care, however important, isn’t synonymous with fun. But it’s also because in the modern attention economy, all sorts of things – celebrity memoirs, bad new TV dramas, expensive consumer goods – want you to believe they’re the funnest thing you could be doing. Conceivably, for any given person, they might be. But true fun – “deep fun”, as the fun scholar Bernie De Koven called it – is a subtle and personal thing, and not necessarily in anyone else’s commercial interests.

Related: No spare time in lockdown? That's not such a bad thing

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  • Life and style
  • Health & wellbeing

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Minnesota Gov. Walz Says More Testing Is Needed Before Many Businesses Can Reopen

Gov. Tim Walz is hesitant to reopen businesses until his state's daily testing rate dramatically increases. "You can't flip it like a switch and say you're open if you don't have testing," he says.




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Lawmakers Want To Get Americans More Relief Money. Here's What They Propose

A trio of Senate Democrats wants to give $2,000 per month to individuals through the end of the health emergency. One Senate Republican suggests covering payroll for companies that rehire workers.




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Pence Spokeswoman Katie Miller Tests Positive For Coronavirus

The case is the second confirmed by the White House this week. President Trump said Miller hasn't come into contact with him but has "spent some time" with the vice president.




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Attorneys: Watchdog Wants Coronavirus Scientist Reinstated Amid Probe

Rick Bright, a top scientist working on a vaccine, says he was reassigned for not focusing on treatments favored by President Trump, even though they lacked "scientific merit."




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Civilian Coronavirus Corps Aims To Get Pennsylvania Back To Work

Gov. Tom Wolf hopes a New Deal-inspired plan will help get the state's more than 1.7 million unemployed residents working again.




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Anti-Vaccination Activists Join Stay-At-Home Order Protesters

Among those rallying against state shutdown orders are anti-vaccination activists. They see these protests as a way to form political alliances that promote their movement.




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Windsor, Ont., health-care workers to get gift cards from U.S. Consulate as thanks

"Your support to vulnerable Americans during this crisis is deeply appreciated," said U.S. Consul General Greg Stanford.




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Canada backs American-led effort for Taiwan at World Health Organization

Canada has backed an American-led effort to allow Taiwan to be granted observer status at the World Health Organization because of its early success in containing COVID-19.




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Media outlets push for regulatory changes to level the playing field amid coronavirus pandemic

Publishers of several of Canada’s major newspapers signed a joint letter to the federal government this month, taking aim at the advertising revenue earned by Google and Facebook.




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Egyptian leader el-Sissi expands presidential powers amid coronavirus

The new amendments allow the president to to take measures to contain the virus, but they also include expanded powers to ban public and private meetings, protests, celebrations and other forms of assembly.




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N.L. archive collecting stories, art from ongoing coronavirus outbreak and past pandemics

The Rooms is eager to document how people are coping with the current pandemic to build a record for the future.




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Republicans trying to strip Democratic governors of authority on COVID-19 response

The efforts to undermine Democratic governors who invoked stay-at-home orders are most pronounced in states such as Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all three of which have divided government and are key to President Donald Trump's path to reelection.




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Some Canadian cruise ship crew members finally heading home

Roughly 19 Canadian crew members aboard Holland America’s MS Koningsdam disembarked at the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro, Calif. on Friday while another group of 53 aboard the Emerald Princess is hoping to do the same on Saturday at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.




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Calgary business charged for price gouging during COVID-19 pandemic

An investigator went to CCA Logistics Ltd. (Newsway) on April 1, where they say they found several pieces of personal protective equipment (PPE) for sale at grossly inflated prices.




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Recovery effort for missing N.S. boy Dylan Ehler will continue over the weekend

Police say the recovery operation in Truro, N.S., will continue over the weekend after a three-year-old boy disappeared from his grandmother’s yard Wednesday afternoon.




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Ontario records lowest number of new COVID-19 cases in more than a month

Ontario health officials reported 346 new cases of COVID-19 on Saturday morning, the lowest number of new cases since April 6.




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See How This Mom and Her 5-Year-Old Daughter Recreated Iconic Album Covers

There is no time like the present to get creative. Photographer Stephanie Girard is normally bustling about on the set of different photoshoots across Los Angeles but with the ongoing...




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Sandra Bullock's Daughter Laila Makes Rare Appearance While Surprising Coronavirus Nurse

As Jada Pinkett Smith suggested, "Grab a tissue!" If you needed a reason to cry happy tears, look no further than the newly released Mother's Day episode of the star's...




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Grey's Anatomy's Caterina Scorsone Splits From Husband After 10 Years of Marriage

After a decade of marriage, one Hollywood couple has decided to call it quits. E! News can confirm Grey's Anatomy star Caterina Scorsone and her husband Rob Giles have decided to go...




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Bethenny Frankel Shares Extremely Rare Photo of Daughter Bryn on Her 10th Birthday

Bethenny Frankel is wishing her daughter Bryn a very happy 10th birthday. The former Real Housewives of New York star marked the pre-teen's birthday by sharing a rare few photos, one...




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Author Alison Roman Shades Chrissy Teigen's Cooking Empire: ''That Horrifies Me''

Move over, Martha Stewart and Gwyneth Paltrow. There's a new feud brewing between two leaders in the lifestyle industry. Best-selling cookbook author Alison Roman has caught the...




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Tyra Banks Breaks Her Silence on Problematic America's Next Top Model Moments

Tyra Banks agrees that America's Next Top Model has aged, well, poorly. The Sports Illustrated covergirl and host of ANTM came under fire this week when resurfaced clips from the...




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NFL Star Tracy Walker Remembers Cousin Ahmaud Arbery as "Full of Laughter and Joy" After Fatal Shooting

This Friday, May 8 would've marked Ahmaud Arbery's 26th birthday. And though he's no longer with them, the Arbery family is finding comfort in the fact that Georgia state...




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Outer Banks Deep-Dive: Your Guide to Netflix's Hottest New Cast

Confession: we are all about that Pogue life this summer. Wait, you don't know what that means? Gosh, you are a total Kook. In case you are the proverbial nerd that fell asleep first...




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Into the Woods: Spine-Tingling Secrets About the Friday the 13th Franchise

Kids, if you've ever wondered why it's a bad idea to have sex at your picturesque lakeside summer camp, look no further. While it didn't invent the idea of punishing teenagers...