Author: bestmedeal

mr. Probz is convinced that record company Sony Music Entertainment (SME) haswithheld a large amount of money. The singer, known for the hit Waves , istherefore suing the company for 10 million euros. mr. Probz suspects that therecord company has also funneled money intended for other artists andsongwriters. What’s up with that?

By Michiel Vos

mr. Probz broke through in 2013 with Waves. Not only the original version,but also a remix by DJ Robin Schulz became a hit. The success of the singer,who is actually called Dennis Stehr, was not limited to the Netherlands:Waves went all over the world.

The song became a number 1 hit in many European countries, including theUnited Kingdom. The remix has more than 817 million streams on Spotify and theoriginal another 114 million. The singer also scored a big hit with NothingReally Matters (89 million streams).

A lot of money has been made with the music. But according to mr. Probz didn’tput everything in the right place. Some of that money would have been left atthe mercy of SME and third parties.

The case against his former record company concerns the payment of royalties.A party that uses another person’s work must pay compensation to the author,artist, publisher or record company. This can involve sampling or coveringmusic, but also use in series, films or commercials, streaming or the sale ofan album.

To market their music, artists and songwriters work with a record company orpublisher. They lay down in a contract what percentage of royalties the artistor songwriter will receive and what he will give.

A percentage of something, but what is ‘something’?

“I always tell my clients: when you are offered a percentage, always ask whatthe percentage is calculated about. A percentage is always a part ofsomething, but it must be clear what that ‘something’ is,” emphasizes SanderPetit, who assists artists and record companies with his company De Dance-advocaat.

mr. Probz had an at-source provision in his contract, he says on his website.This means that when calculating the royalties, it is necessary to look atwhat is earned in total with the music and not only at what a record labellike SME has received. This provision ensures that a songwriter does notsuddenly have to give a higher percentage if the record company works withthird parties and local publishers.

“If you want to release your music in Japan, for example, you need a localparty that knows the market well,” explains Petit. Such a company charges afee for its services before passing on the revenue to the record company. “IfSony uses that amount – from which that fee has already been deducted – tocalculate the percentage that goes to the artist, then there is no longer anyquestion of at source As a result, the artist receives less money than whatis contractually agreed.

Zie ookIn de VS eisen ze miljoenen, maar hoe verlopen plagiaatzaken inNederland?

Lack of transparency is the biggest problem

The problem, according to Petit, is that the music industry is not transparentabout this. For example, it is often not clear to artists how much is earnedwith their music and what part of that income is passed on to them. “In thestreaming era, this is accompanied by enormous amounts of data, especially ifyou have such a big hit like Mr. Probz. As an artist you need a specialist tobe able to turn it into chocolate.”

In 2020, Mr. Probz already confronted SME with his company Left Lane BV incourt. At the time, it was determined that the record company had to open upbusiness in the form of accounting. The copyright law has also recently beenamended, requiring music creators to provide an annual statement of income andcosts. Petit: “The fact that it concerns complex data does not mean thatparties such as record companies have no responsibility to make thistransparent.”

mr. Probz and his lawyer state – substantiated with research by accountingfirm Grant Thornton – that SME and subsidiary Ultra Records owe the singer 10million euros, because the company would not have adhered to the at-sourceprovision in the contract. That amount “is no finger work”, Petit thinks.”That’s at least an educated guess.”

‘Many artists have no idea whether the compensation is reasonable’

“This could be a deciding factor when it comes to how transparent the musicindustry should be,” says the lawyer. mr. Probz thinks he’s not the onlyartist this plays for. Petit confirms this, but also says that not everyonehas the financial means to set up a lawyer and an accountancy firm. “Thereality is that many artists have no idea whether the compensation they aregetting is reasonable.”

Petit is positive about Mr. Probz’s case. “From what I read, they have a goodpoint. Grant Thornton’s studies reinforce that feeling. At the same time, Mr.Probz’s arguments are well-known and we don’t know Sony’s defense yet.” Shouldthe singer win the case, Petit expects many similar charges. “Then the gate is

Normally Sinan Can can be found in the Middle East with a camera crew, but forhis new documentary Fault lines he spends a year in so-called ‘no-go zones’in European problem neighbourhoods. Bee Khalid & Sophie the documentarymaker tells about what he found there.

Can traveled to the suburbs of Paris, where there is a lot of crime andunemployment. “I travel a lot to the Middle East, so I was shocked that it isalso so miserable in some places around here,” says the documentary maker.“They almost don’t last. They feel like they are abandoned. The state haswithdrawn from those neighborhoods and so the neighborhoods are being takenover by criminals.”

Sinan Can: ‘There was a constant fire in this district’

As an example, Can mentions the suburb of Clichy sous Bois, which is locatedeast of Paris. “I have never seen such a place in Europe. Think of chunks ofconcrete thundering down, constant fires and rubbish not being picked up. Thealleys deal. If a police does come into the neighborhood because teenagers aremessing around, it is with tear gas. What you see a lot there is that thestate is withdrawing.”

For example, Can sees with his own eyes how a tunnel in Clichy sous Bois,> which led to the inner districts of Paris, is closed by a number of masons.> According to residents of the problem neighborhood, this was commissioned by> the Paris police to keep the problems out of the center. Popularly in Paris> today it is called ‘the wall of shame’. And in another neighborhood too, it> has been ensured that people cannot walk from one side to the other by means> of road blocks. “As a result, those people become even more isolated,” says> Can in Khalid & Sophie.

Documentary Broken Lines is about no-go zones in Europe

Also in Sweden, a country that is seen as an example for many when it comes toprosperity, there is a notorious district. It concerns Rinkeby: a districteast of Stockholm. According to Can, it is even one of the most dangerousneighborhoods in Europe. “We were there with the director and a cameraman. Wewere told not to come out after 8pm. At one point there were attacks againstthe police and a bomb exploded at the police station. Then the police left.”

Can also see harrowing situations in Molenbeek, a dangerous neighborhood in> Brussels. There he speaks with a woman who has lived there for fifty years.> “When we came here it was a dream to live here. Everything was clean. All> Belgians among themselves, talking to each other. A real village feeling.”> Because of all the crime in her neighborhood, the woman hardly dares to> leave her street. And so the woman, like many, votes for a right-wing party.> “Macron may have won now, but who says Le Pen won’t win in four years?” Can> wonders about French politics.

‘Keep investing in community police officers’

There are no such problem neighborhoods in the Netherlands as in Paris, Swedenand Belgium, but if, for example, community police officers or facilitiesdisappear due to budget cuts, they can arise. “I also see this as a wake-upcall for Dutch policymakers. Watch this series and make sure this doesn’thappen in the Netherlands. Don’t give up,” he said in an interview with thenews agency _ANP. _

Watch the episode of Khalid & Sophie back on NPO.

For the ninth season, Love for Music can count on strong and diversecandidates. DAAN, Günther Neefs, Jaap Reesema, K3, Metejoor, Portland and StefBos must ensure a successful ‘clash of genres’. Both popular pop music andalternative bands are well represented this year.

© DBA

READ ALSO. Portland, from PXL Music to the musical top

“We’ll be gone on October 9,” ​​says Sarah Pepels. The Hoeselt half ofPortland says it feels healthy tension. “We are especially excited that aftertwo corona years we can do our thing as musicians again. In this edition weare the alternative youngsters who are allowed to collaborate with someestablished values, and we are looking forward to that. It will also be alearning experience for us. We know all the artists by name, but we have nevermet them in person.”

Portland originated in the corridors of the Music Department of the HogeschoolPXL in Hasselt. In 2016 they took part in Humo’s Rock Rally. In 2018 they wereone of the three winners of De Nieuwe Lichting from Studio Brussels. Portlandwas a hit with the public from the start. Their passage at Werchter in 2019,before their debut album Your Coulors Will Stain popped up, caused goosebumpsmoments in a packed tent.

Last season the group was already asked for Love for music. “But then itdidn’t work out for us, this suited us better.” The duo provided in theprogram a year ago The Best Of Frank Vander Lindenfor a musical climax. Theiredit of Somewhere Along the way, a song by De Mens, was greeted with loudapplause. “We think this is the people of Love for music also inspired us toask again. We were able to show that we are able to edit an existing song.”

Portland Stamp

The recordings will start in about two weeks, most of the work should be doneby now. “During the summer we searched hard for the right songs, there werealso some rehearsals with the band behind us. Wednesday we have the lastrehearsal. This adventure has been doable so far, although we had to combineit with the festival summer and other projects.”

Sarah calls it Love for music-adventure also a playground. “We (Sarah and hermusical partner Jente Pironet, ed.) both studied at PXL Music in Hasselt,where we were regularly commissioned to make covers. That was the idealschool. We enthusiastically dived into the oeuvre of Stef Bos, Daan, K3 andthe others. We looked at which songs lent themselves best to put a Portlandstamp on them. We enjoyed that process.”

Happy and crazy

It promises to be an ultimate clash of genres under the Spanish sun, becausewhat does a rocking Daan do with a catchy pop song by Metejoor? And who daresto tackle K3’s ‘Waterfall’?

“Time for something cheerful and crazy, I thought. Especially after the pastcorona years,” says DAAN. “So why no Love for Music this year? I have justrecorded a great new album with Jeroen Swinnen, the orchestra leader, and Ihave also known the other musicians intensely for years. So that can only be amusical party. With every other artist participating this year, I can alsoimagine their own ‘Danish’ interpretation, so let that adventure begin.”

“Thanks to K3 I have been able to do a lot of great things, but I admit thatparticipating in Love for Music was definitely still on my bucket list.Another nice tick that I can put on that list,” says Marthe of K3. Thisadventure is also special for Hanne, who is seven months pregnant. “All thoselovely colleagues, so much love for music… that is so inspiring andcontagious.”

The new season of Love for Music can be seen on VTM in the spring of 2023.

September is a top month for tomatoes. A selection of the possibilities fordishes that you can make with it: eat them raw as a salad, go crazy andferment them or cook a winter stock of soup and pasta sauce. These are thetomato recipes that culinary journalist Janneke Vreugdenhil heartilyrecommends.

Starters with tomato

1. Perfect for late summer: tomato soup with figs and lots of cumin

An old-fashioned recipe. This tomato soup is inspired by a soup that Janneketasted at restaurant Moro in London in 2013 – the restaurant still exists andJanneke still recommends this soup as a late summer favourite. Sweet yetsavory at the same time, it has a deep, earthy taste thanks to a generous doseof cumin that you rarely taste in tomato soup. Tip: When buying dried figs,make sure they look fresh. If they are covered in sugar crystals, they areold, tough and not tasty.

In the recipe you will find the ideal ratio of cumin, tomato and fig: End-of-summer soup

2. Shopska salata, a tomato salad from Skopje

In 2019 Janneke traveled after the main character from (and author of) GrandHotel Europa, Ilja Leonard Pfeiffer. It brought her to Skopje, the capital ofNorth Macedonia. The menus were full of local dishes, each sounding evenbetter than the next. She found one dish on every menu: shopska salata, asalad of cucumber, tomatoes, onions and white cheese. Since there is littlechance that you will find Macedonian white cheese at the supermarket aroundthe corner, any other white cheese will do as well.

Shopska salata, salad of cucumber, tomatoes, onions and white cheese. In therecipe, Janneke explains which white cheeses you can use: A salad fromSkopje.

3. Janneke’s favorite tomato salad with marinated onion

According to interest group GroentenFruit Huis, tomatoes have been the mosteaten vegetable in the Netherlands for years. Onion comes second. Janneke putthem together in an extremely simple, but now favorite recipe. The trick isbuying the tastiest tomatoes, and soaking the onions in the red wine vinegarso that they lose their pungency but retain their crunch.

The recipe says what the magic ratio is: On to 800 grams of vegetables perday!

4. Tourin à la tomato

As far as Janneke is concerned, it is the ultimate tomato soup: tourin à latomate. A tomato soup from the southwest of France, which gets a velvetysoftness due to the addition of goose fat. By the way, if you don’t havepiment d’espelette at home, you can of course also use a different dried chilipepper.

But not too much, because, as mentioned, the main role for the tomato is: It’s tomato season, that’s why: tourin à la tomate.

Main dishes with tomato

4. The simplest, most ingenious tomato sauce

Sometimes it doesn’t take much for something delicious. Not so for this tomatosauce. Marcella Hazan, celebrated cookery writer in the last century, came upwith the recipe and Janneke brought it to the attention again in 2013. _NRC_when Hazan died. And because according to Janneke it is still one of the mostingenious tomato sauces ever, here again in the repeat. All you need aretomatoes, stewed with butter and onion.

Bonus tip: make a big stock and freeze it in portions. This way you alwayshave a delicious sauce in stock with tomatoes from the season: The simplestand most genius tomato sauce

5. Pasta with cherry tomatoes and nutmeg and how to cut tomatoes like aninja

Who does not honor the small. Cherry tomatoes are small, but stronger andsweeter tasting tomatoes than regular ones and you can go anywhere with them.The only crime is the lot of carving involved – you have to cut a lot morebefore you can really do anything with it.

Janneke wrote down in this recipe from 2014 how you can do that moreconveniently, and what delicious pasta you can make with cherry tomatoes:Hit on YouTube: ninja cherry tomato trick

What else can you make with tomatoes

6. Ukrainian fermented tomatoes

A few years ago, Janneke did an experiment: she loved the taste of pickledtomatoes and their effervescent juice and wanted to learn how to fermenttomatoes herself. After several failed attempts, the last one went well. Thetomato pieces are fine, finely chopped, great as a salsa with, for example, apiece of grilled white fish, or on a bruschetta.

How Janneke finally got the job done, she wrote down in this recipe: Theredeeming tip for fermented tomatoes

7. Break your breakfast routine with this avocado toast with tomatoes,coffee and chocolate

It may sound bizarre, but Janneke is convinced. In 2019 she read in aninterview with the Italian-British chef Giorgio Locatelli about his favoritebreakfast: a piece of avocado topped with fried tomatillo, a fried egg andgrated raw cocoa beans.

Janneke didn’t necessarily have the right ingredients, but made a variation onthem and encourages everyone to give them a try: Brilliant at breakfast withthis toast

8. Save the summer, make chutney from tree or regular tomatoes

Tamarillos are also known as tree tomatoes. The oval fruits have a smooth,yellow-orange to dark red skin, which is very bitter and unpleasant to eat.The golden yellow flesh, on the other hand, is slightly sweet and veryaromatic, and is perfect for making a chutney. This way, you can still benefitfrom the good taste of September tomatoes long after the tomato season.

The film blonde , which comes out on Netflix today, has been dubbed a biopicabout Marilyn Monroe and her turbulent life. Director Andrew Dominik based theplot on the book of the same name about the famous actress. But that book is anovel, not a biography. Which parts of the story can we take for granted andwhich should we take with a grain of salt?

By Esther Villerius

“Marilyn Monroe is still alive – she’s reborn to tell her story; the story ofone made a star,” reads the novel’s blurb. ” blonde is a dazzling fictionalportrait of the complex emotional world of the idealized and beloved moviestar.”

The novel blonde , written by Joyce Carol Oates in 2000, is fiction.Inspired by a photo of a young Norma Jeane Baker, later known as MarilynMonroe, the author set to work.

Oates based her book on Monroe’s life, but added a lot of detail here andthere. This story subsequently became the basis for the film of the same name,which appeared on the market as a biopic: a biographical film.

There is no doubt about the credibility of well-known scenes, such as Monroe’sdress blowing up. But there are also moments in the film that are completelymade up. Director Dominik keeps the line between fact and fiction vague.

Affaires with the Kennedy brothers

Monroe once sang sultry to US President John F. Kennedy for his birthday. Thishappened in 1962, a few months before her death. That event sparked rumorsthat Monroe was having an affair with the then president. According tobiographer James Spada, the actress would also have had an affair with thepresident’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy.

The film hints at that long-running rumor about Monroe. In one scene, thesinger, played by Ana de Armas, is dragged through the hallways of the WhiteHouse to meet the US president. Monroe asks how she can help him, after whichKennedy forces her into various sexual acts.

The film also suggests that Monroe did not take his own life, but was murderedby Robert F. Kennedy to cover up these relationships. No proof has ever beenfound for this conspiracy theory.

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A love triangle and an abortion

Dominik also places Monroe in a love triangle with Charlie Chaplin Jr. andEdward G. Robinson Jr. In blonde we see so much gossip about the trio thatMonroe’s agent asks her to stop the affairs.

But Monroe has never experienced anything quite like it. In Chaplin’sautobiography, he only confirms that there was a short-lived affair betweenhim and Monroe.

In the film, the threesome’s relationships are ended by a pregnancy and theabortion that follows. Monroe becomes in blonde haunted by the thought ofher unborn child. She would have had that removed because she was afraid ofhereditary mental disorders. She also had two miscarriages.

There is no evidence for Monroe’s abortion. But she is said to have had threemiscarriages during her marriage to Arthur Miller.

‘It is what it is’

Monroe’s billowing dress is not a fabrication, but there is some debate aboutthe ramifications of this scene from The Seven Year Itch. In blonde JoeDiMaggio, who she was then married to, becomes so jealous that he beats herwith a belt. This moment suddenly comes in the film: the couple seems to haveit right in the period before.

No shortage of strong candidates in The smartest person in the world , butwe were still slightly impressed by the flexibility with which Bart Cannaertsgot through the quiz rounds. That is not entirely surprising, because thecomedian was the only person in the world to hold all positions in Thesmartest person : he was a jury member dozens of times, he was a presenterfor two episodes and now he is working on his third series as a candidate. Thequestion arises: which place is the best?

Joris BellwinkelSeptember 27, 202215:00

Bart Cannaerts: “This place. I like to play games, and _The smartest person_is a very fun game to play.”

The fun is visible.

“The first two episodes I was very nervous, but as a jury member I am everytime. Then you feel the pressure: I have to be funny now. By the way,presenting was also very intense and exciting, because I wanted Erik (VanLooy, ed.) and don’t disappoint the editors. As a candidate it is a lot morecomfortable, the only pressure is the pressure you put on yourself.”

Do you put a lot of pressure on yourself?

“Not very consciously, but I am competitive. I can handle my loss very well,but winning is a little bit more fun. Especially because I know: if I win, Ican come back.”

As a child you already designed your own quizzes. That love has never goneaway.

“No, I think participating in quizzes as well as inventing them is keitof. Inthe past year I have worked behind the scenes on four TV quizzes. Putting itall together, coming up with the right questions, it’s a bit nerdy of course,but I like it all very much.”

You are gradually becoming the quiz expert in Belgium.

“ (laughs) That is quite a difference with when I started ten years ago Thesmartest person took part: I had never participated in a quiz at the time.Hopefully the experience will give me an advantage this time.

“I already notice that I can see through the quiz maker mechanics faster whileplaying. That I have to list five keywords for a certain writer and I canquickly get to the essence: they are still looking for the title of that onebook anyway and I don’t know it, so I’m not going to list all the other thingsI know about that writer.”

I note: it is a beginner’s mistake to immediately display all your knowledge.

“Yes, you should not be distracted by everything you know about a subject, butthink about what the quiz makers want to hear. Especially in the final, everysecond is crucial, so you have to talk as little as possible and shout ‘stop’as soon as possible.”

That’s what Erik meant when he said before your participation: ‘Bart knows thetricks of the trade.’ Are there still gaps in your general knowledge?

“I’m now over 40, so I’m not completely up to date with what young people aredoing. When you are 30, you go to parties more often, you go to the cinemamore often, you know the popular music.

“Last spring I spent five weeks Today I was allowed to make, then I learneda lot from current events. Then I heard that Rihanna had a child with A$APRocky and I thought: ah yes, now I know A$AP Rocky. I work for that programwith a very young editors and that also keeps me young. (blows) Now I soundvery old, don’t I?”

Image Play4

As a quiz maker, you undoubtedly look at many other quizzes. Which one do youlook up to?

“I am a big fan of pointless on the BBC. Then a hundred Britons are asked toname a Greek god, for example, and you as a participant must then name a Greekgod who has never or as little as possible been said. That’s such awonderfully quizzical thing: wanting to know something that nobody knows. Itis often completely pointless knowledge, but that is exactly what is rewardedin that quiz.”

During your first participation in The smartest person , in 2008, you playedPhilippe Geubels home after just one episode. To do this, you had to loweryourself for 40 seconds in the final game. 40 long seconds, because Geubelskept calling ‘ what a loser’ you were.

“ (laughs) Yes, there you saw how completely different we approached ourparticipation: the difference between a player who really wants to win and thecomedian who is just his funny self. My only plan was: I just have to win thatgame here, because who knows, maybe I can reach more comedy fans this way. Iwas only doing quizzes and nothing else. In the meantime, Geubels was mainlybeing himself and everything that came out of his mouth was hilarious. He didwhat a comedian should do: joke. And he did it in a legendary way.

“I stayed in it for four episodes myself, never been funny at all and it hashad no impact on my career. Four years later I was allowed to participateagain because nobody really remembered my passage. (laughs) ”

After the final, Geubels said that he wished a ‘comedian on his way’ thevictory. But look, fourteen years later you are more famous than ever, withyour own quiz on One, participation in The smartest person and on TheMasked Singer.

“I have become more known in the broadest sense. Thanks to The Masked Singer_children suddenly know me. On holiday by the sea, the number of selfies withchildren went from zero to a hundred last summer. (laughs)_

“My participation in The Masked Singer and the fact that I was allowed toreplace Erik twice as presenter of The smartest person may have led me tomore top of mind was with the bosses. That because of that I was asked to gofor One Today and then suddenly came up with my head on TV every day.

“I wouldn’t call this the pinnacle of my career, but it’s probably thepinnacle of my fame.”

This year it has been fifteen years since you humors Comedy Cup won. Did youspend a lot of time on career planning during that time?

“No, there was never a clever plan behind it, I especially had the incrediblechance that everything overtook me or came my way. Of course I signed up for_humors_ Comedy Cup because you know it opens doors when you win. That turnedout to be the case: I was soon asked to work for television. A little laterTom Lenaerts called me: ‘Do you want to The Pappenheimers present?’ Well,yes. At one point he asked: ‘Do you want to set up a production house withme?’ Well, yes. VTM asked if I wanted to participate in _The Masked Singer_The Sound House asked if I wanted to write a radio play… Well, yes.

“They weren’t big dreams or things I was desperately waiting for, but Ithought each and every one of them was super cool to do. The lump of butter Ifell into is huge.”

Are you not only at the height of your fame, but also at the height of yourhappiness?

“I’m doing well, but I don’t often ask myself: how happy am I now? And is thathappier than last week? Happiness is in many things, isn’t it? Can you reallymeasure that?

“I just took my 6-year-old daughter to school, she’s now going to first gradeand a few friends immediately ran up to her to play together. The realizationthat my daughter likes to go to school, has friends and is healthy, we haveall the luck in the world in that area too. Yes, I can tell you that I cycledhome this morning with a big smile on my face.”

The smartest person in the world Monday to Thursday at 9 p.m. on Play4.

The Old Man is one of the success stories of series year 2022 in the US: ahighly regarded and highly regarded thriller series in which a living filmlegend stars in his first major television role.

The very fact that we can use the word “alive” in this case is worthmentioning, because it seemed like lead actor Jeff Bridges would never be ableto finish the series. Bridges (72) hung on the brink of death while therecordings were far from being completed. Four episodes were filmed when hewas diagnosed with lymphoma, but that was not all: while he was undergoingchemotherapy, a corona infection was also added. Bridges was in intensive carefor five weeks. Cancer seemed nothing compared to corona, he later said duringinterviews.

Production was severely delayed, but despite all the setbacks (the coronacrisis caused all kinds of other production headaches), the _The Old Man_finished, with seven episodes instead of the planned ten. And in the first twohours of the season it also seems as if we are dealing with a real TV classic:intriguing, smart and above all packed with acting to feast on.

Bridges plays Dan Chase, a former CIA agent who has been living a quiet lifefor thirty years, far from danger. He has a gray beard, clattering joints anda raucous voice that sometimes makes him almost unintelligible. This old manlacks the inner peace of Bridges’ most famous character: The Dude in the Coenbrothers movie The Big Lebowski. Also understandable, because as is so oftenthe case in the espionage genre, the past always haunts you, even many yearslater.

High level

Peace is disturbed when a person invades his home. Chase shoots the intruderdead and flees with his two dogs. There seems to be a connection to his timein Afghanistan, the country where he stayed when the country was at war withthe Soviet Union. While he must find out exactly what is going on, he mustensure that his daughter stays safe. A former colleague, now employed by theFBI, must track down Chase. This man is played by another acting cannon:76-year-old John Lithgow (Winston Churchill in The Crown memorable serialkiller in Dexter ). The growling retiree Chase can still fight quite a bit.Towards the end of the first episode, he finds himself in a brutal one-on-onebattle with a much younger opponent.

You can almost feel the bones breaking as the realistic combat moves throughstages: first inside a car, then outside. Strands of hair are pulled fromskulls and painful hold-ups are performed. This old man has another killerinstinct , as it turns out. However, the character does not become an olderaction hero in the Stallone or Schwarzenegger category: _The Old Man_sprinkles only sporadically with the action scenes.

More important are the long dialogues and monologues that the charactersspeak. These are of a high level in the first episodes, although they are donejust too often by phone (possibly a corona measure to protect the old actorsas much as possible).

Jeff Bridges and Amy Brenneman. Prashant Gupta / FX

Showrunner Jonathan E. Steinberg also seems aware of the fact that women areoften an afterthought in this type of series and knows how to avoid being usedonly as ‘wife of’ or ‘daughter of’. The woman who is dragged into Chase’smisery, played by Amy Brenneman, declares that she is not there to play asimple supporting role. “I want to be more than just a complication in yourstory,” she says. As a young FBI agent, Alia Shawkat also gets enough to chewon. She sometimes even steals the show in scenes with Lithgow.

clichés

But after a flying start, the series unfortunately loses more and more power,although it remains entertaining enough to keep watching. This is partly dueto the flashbacks to the Afghanistan period of the main character. It isnecessary to provide crucial background information, but the actor who has tofill in the younger version of Bridges lacks the necessary charisma. After afew episodes you get the idea that the writers have lost their gun and fallmore into the clichés of these kinds of stories. And those who expect a fullycompleted story will also be disappointed: a second season is coming.

Still, it feels good to see Bridges at work. Even if the scenario losesquality, he still makes something of it. For the actor himself, the pastperiod feels like a bizarre dream. He is happy that he can start with a newseason, he tells the New York Times : “I was in survival mode. And now I’mback working with the same actors and crew. It felt like a long weekend. Itwasn’t quite a nightmare either: there are wonderful things that you onlydiscover in such times.”

While a crisis is underway and the need for more homes is enormous, projectdevelopers deliberately leave their building land fallow for years in the hopeof being able to earn more later on.’ Shame! This is the literal core messageof the TV program ‘Take the power’ by Tim Hofman. This Hofman has achievedhero status by exposing the ‘Me too’ affair at Endemol.

The broadcast is made up of nonsense, half-truths and manipulated information.First the facts. According to research (2022) by ‘Follow the Money’ andCobouw, 22 market parties own at least 6,000 hectares of land, 80 percent ofwhich is located outside the built-up area. The joint surface provides spacefor roughly 150,000 homes. That is not nothing, but also not too much: it hasthe size of two annual productions of new construction. The central questionis whether the 22 companies consciously let their property be wasted, inanticipation of a higher land yield. In the jargon these are called stalledsites.

Prof. dr. Edwin Buitelaar published research into stalled sites in 2018. Theresult: in only 7 percent of the cases, there is more than two years betweengranting the building permit and putting the house into use. So no problem.The research also offers no leads that market parties structurally leave landundeveloped with the sole motive of collecting more later.

Striking by-catch: municipalities are the biggest ‘loiterers’ in realizingresidential uses on their land. In an extensive survey (April 2021) by bureauStec among municipal officials into the obstacles in housing construction, theitem stalled sites dangles at the very bottom. In short: there is a lack ofguidance that the phenomenon of stalled sites has substantial significance inthe Netherlands.

The first concrete example that Hofman presents is the Metterswaeneresidential tower project by Kondor Wessels Projectontwikkeling (KWP), nearthe station in Nijmegen. This is not a stalled site, but a conflict betweenKWP and the municipality about the construction plan. If the municipal councilcomes to the conclusion that KWP is not fulfilling its self-realization right,it can proceed with expropriation. That is what the councilor is considering.

In his broadcast, Tim Hofman firmly denies that the municipality can doanything if a municipality cannot reach an agreement after negotiations with aproject developer. As proof, he uses this quote from the Guideline ‘Preventingdelays in housing construction with land policy’, a publication of theMinistry of the Interior (2022): ‘The deployment of compelling (legal)measures, whether by the government or a private party, is is in general notconducive to cooperation and therefore also not to the speed of development.’That’s right, of course. I am the co-author of this publication which – afterthis general introductory remark – expands for 20 pages about the (power)instruments the municipality can use if cooperation with the market partyunexpectedly breaks down. So Hoffman is lying.

The second practical example that Hofman presents concerns Lingotto’s projecton the Smakkelaarsveld, in the center of Utrecht. In the AD Utrecht, projectdeveloper Arda Basak states: ‘We have not been asked to answer the question.Presenter Tim Hofman implies that waiting a long time brings us more money,but that is also harmful to us. Now we are missing turnover.’

It was also claimed that Lingotto had already bought the land four years agoand that the relationship with the municipality is bad. That’s not right,Basak says. ‘The land was leased out ten months ago, when the final design wasapproved by the municipality after a careful process. We work well andintensively with the municipality and all other parties involved.’ As with somany complex inner-city projects, the sharply increased construction costs arehampering the realization.

The question arises whether deliberate journalistic disinformation on thepublic broadcaster (BNN/Vara) is justifiable. The whole broadcasting countryis (rightly) clamoring against the nauseating broadcasts of OngehoordNederland. The Media Authority is going to intervene. Tim Hofman’s fake newsseems like a suitable next candidate.

Last week I was a guest at the 100th anniversary of the family businessKlokgroep. The fast-growing developer and builder is number five on the 22landowners’ charts. Together with colleague professor Peter Boelhouwer, I wasallowed to talk about the housing market in a full marquee. Hoffman’smisproduct was also discussed there. My appeal: don’t be silent, but takeresponsibility and start the discussion. Show what you do and be transparent,also in financial terms. Because this discourse does not end. The next stationis the forthcoming investigation by the Netherlands Authority for theFinancial Markets (ACM) into the stalled sites and the self-realizationprinciple. We are ready, with sharpened knives.

The film blonde , which comes out on Netflix today, has been dubbed a biopicabout Marilyn Monroe and her turbulent life. Director Andrew Dominik based theplot on the book of the same name about the famous actress. But that book is anovel, not a biography. Which parts of the story can we take for granted andwhich should we take with a grain of salt?

By Esther Villerius

“Marilyn Monroe is still alive – she’s reborn to tell her story; the story ofone made a star,” reads the novel’s blurb. ” blonde is a dazzling fictionalportrait of the complex emotional world of the idealized and beloved moviestar.”

The novel blonde , written by Joyce Carol Oates in 2000, is fiction.Inspired by a photo of a young Norma Jeane Baker, later known as MarilynMonroe, the author set to work.

Oates based her book on Monroe’s life, but added a lot of detail here andthere. This story subsequently became the basis for the film of the same name,which appeared on the market as a biopic: a biographical film.

There is no doubt about the credibility of well-known scenes, such as Monroe’sdress blowing up. But there are also moments in the film that are completelymade up. Director Dominik keeps the line between fact and fiction vague.

Affaires with the Kennedy brothers

Monroe once sang sultry to US President John F. Kennedy for his birthday. Thishappened in 1962, a few months before her death. That event sparked rumorsthat Monroe was having an affair with the then president. According tobiographer James Spada, the actress would also have had an affair with thepresident’s brother, Robert F. Kennedy.

The film hints at that long-running rumor about Monroe. In one scene, thesinger, played by Ana de Armas, is dragged through the hallways of the WhiteHouse to meet the US president. Monroe asks how she can help him, after whichKennedy forces her into various sexual acts.

The film also suggests that Monroe did not take his own life, but was murderedby Robert F. Kennedy to cover up these relationships. No proof has ever beenfound for this conspiracy theory.

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A love triangle and an abortion

Dominik also places Monroe in a love triangle with Charlie Chaplin Jr. andEdward G. Robinson Jr. In blonde we see so much gossip about the trio thatMonroe’s agent asks her to stop the affairs.

But Monroe has never experienced anything quite like it. In Chaplin’sautobiography, he only confirms that there was a short-lived affair betweenhim and Monroe.

In the film, the threesome’s relationships are ended by a pregnancy and theabortion that follows. Monroe becomes in blonde haunted by the thought ofher unborn child. She would have had that removed because she was afraid ofhereditary mental disorders. She also had two miscarriages.

There is no evidence for Monroe’s abortion. But she is said to have had threemiscarriages during her marriage to Arthur Miller.

‘It is what it is’

Monroe’s billowing dress is not a fabrication, but there is some debate aboutthe ramifications of this scene from The Seven Year Itch. In blonde JoeDiMaggio, who she was then married to, becomes so jealous that he beats herwith a belt. This moment suddenly comes in the film: the couple seems to haveit right in the period before.

“We’ve known each other too long, ladies and gentlemen.” This roguish remarkby Prime Minister Rutte towards the camera, because of a slyly looking at himSven Kockelmann at the end of an hour On 1 interview, was killing for thevalue of their conversation Monday night. Repeating rifle Rutte had kept upthe momentum, survived the cross-examination, distributed all aroundunderstanding and finally showed that he had never been afraid of the WNLjournalist. Viewers who watched consumer program earlier that evening _Radar_had watched, no doubt many questions still burned on their lips.

Because the editors of Radar (AvroTros) had been digging diligently again.And was together with the journalists of the investigative collective Followthe Money did the math: why does the Netherlands have the highest gas pricein Europe, what does the energy ceiling mean in practice and what can we doagainst all those cowboys on the free prairie of gas and electricity?

Sven Kockelmann and Mark Rutte

The conclusion you can draw, even after Radar -conversation with beloved MPsRenkse Leijten and Pieter Omtzigt: we seem to have passed the United States bynow, with our holy belief in the free market, the persistence of self-regulation despite all the derailments and the now bizarre fear of governmentintervention. Yes, but now there’s that energy ceiling, isn’t it? The measurewas dismissed by Leijten and Omtzigt as a rush job, which may cost us all morethan 15 billion, while it will not save many households and companies frombankruptcy. But it does fill the coffers of the energy companies.

How bad do we want it to be? Many of those energy companies immediatelyannounced a price increase on 1 October, which resulted in complaints from theNetherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM). The watchdog responded,but with a pitiful bark: as a customer you have to object to the rate increaseyourself, for which the ACM will provide a sample letter.

I imagined that the whole of the Netherlands nodded in agreement when Leijtenstated that the government should regulate the energy market.

Especially when you hear the stories of people who have really ended up in thedeepest darkness because they have been tempted to sign a contract with acompany like the Hollandse Energie Maatschappij (HEM), which seems to be runby real criminals. If the stories in this excellent broadcast of Radar aboutHEM’s working methods, such a company must immediately be taken off themarket. Rather a few sad crooks than all those distraught consumers.

Also VPROs Backlight Monday made us realize how important it is to havetenacious journalists, in a world where little people are so easily bulldozedand the truth so blatantly denied. It was a portrait of young hero ChristiaanTriebert, a Dutch investigative journalist who The New York Times kicked.And there his team has already won two Pulitzer Prizes for reconstructionprojects: on the basis of public sources such as satellite images and privateinternet films, they provide rock-solid proof of what really happens in warzones. _Trust me, I ‘m a journalist _is called the documentary. And believeme, he offers hope for the future of truth.

_Maaike Bos and Renate van der Bas write columns about television five times a