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John Mayer was careful not to name names, but he talked all aboutrelationships and, yes, potentially marriage, in a new interview.

The “Daughters” singer appeared on the Call her daddy podcast and wasgrilled about his dating life at 45 — and six years after quitting drinking.He talked about being branded a “man whore,” and similar labels, in his 20sand 30s amid high-profile romances with partners including Jennifer Aniston,Jessica Simpson, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Jennifer Love Hewitt. He alsoadmitted to struggling with fame then, and how retreating from the spotlighthas benefited him — though it took a little time for his ego to get used toit.

“Currently single,” is the musician’s relationship status. “I don’t date thatthat much. I look at it like this: Dating is no longer a codified activity forme. It’s not patterned anymore.”

He said his dating style changed when he stopped drinking.

“I quit drinking like six years ago, so I don’t drink anymore,” he said. “Idon’t have the liquid courage.” As a result, “You have to be really glaringlyhonest” in relationships. “Here’s who I am. Here’s what I like. Here is whatmakes me nervous. Here’s what I reject as an idea in relationship. You have toexpress your anxieties — you can’t you can’t just walk over them by drinking.”

He said as he’s gotten older, he no longer has “five-hour dates in me.”Instead, his dream date is for “someone to say, ‘Hey, I’m coming over to yourhouse for an hour and a half. I’m bringing my laptop — just need the Wi-Ficode. I’ll be on the couch. I’m not trying to take up all your space… I don’twant to do the thing where I start to make you feel claustrophobic because Ireally have a good feeling about you. Give me the Wi-Fi code, I’ll eat one ofyour yogurts. Talk to me when you want to talk to me.’ I’d be like: I want todo that.”

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Mayer, who moved to Montana in 2012, said, “Of course, I want to get married.”He “can’t wait for someone to be mad at me because I said that I would takethe dry cleaning in” and didn’t. He looks forward to a partnering that’s”deep, meaningful and secure.” He said nothing is “hotter to me than conflictresolution. I am horny for conflict resolution.”

He goes into it knowing that he’s had labels slapped on him for his pastpairings, which were always fodder for the celebrity websites.

“I have a couple of nameplates on me, like ‘Lothario’ and ‘womanizer’ andstuff and, look, that is what that is,” he said. “That’s the role I play onthe big TV show that I didn’t write. That’s fine. Maybe I had a hand in it …”he admitted.

However, “Every relationship I’ve ever been in was devoted to the idea thatthis could go the distance,” he said. “My entire life. Today included… I havealways sought potential for long-term relationship. I know what my mistakeswere looking back.” He said they’re “not worth talking about … as long as youdo the accounting. As long as you do your homework as a human being … and go,’Yeah, I really meant well, but… Or, “Yeah, they meant well, but…” As long asyou’re aware of what [the issues were]and how you can apply that to the nextrelationship, I don’t see a problem with any past relationships ending badly.”

He spoke of having closure in many past relationships, admitting he has “acouple little outstanding, still vibrating things” with some people, withoutnaming them. (We’ll volunteer Simpson and Swift, but he literally did notrefer to any ex by name throughout the conversation.) In some cases, some are”always going to be incomplete,” he said.

Mayer talked about struggling with fame in his earlier years; his infamous_Playboy interview_ calling Simpson sexual napalm, and impromptu pressconference to discuss why he broke up with Aniston come to mind.

“I’m the musician guy that writes songs that are, like, kind of hits,” hesaid. Earlier on the scene, “I thought that I was, through my own manipulationof the thing, an A-lister … I thought, Well, this is where I belong …Obviously, it wasn’t because I didn’t handle it very well.”

He found himself in a loop of correcting the record about himself, saying, “Ifsomebody gets [something about] you a little bit wrong … you’re gonna jump outand go: ‘That is not what I said. Here’s how I said it.’ You’re going to fine-tune that thing that you’re being misunderstood for. [But] there comes a pointwhere if you’re so misunderstood, it’s almost like they’re thinking about adifferent person … They’re talking about a character.”

He eventually realized that trending on social media wasn’t where it was at.While initially “tough” to adjust to, he did and has made largely his publicpresence about music.

“It’s scary — the idea that if you pulled away, you’d be forgotten,” he said.”That if you got off Twitter, you be forgotten. That if you didn’t throwyourself into the mix every day, you’d be forgotten.” However, “It’s beautifulto be forgotten in the ways you ultimately don’t want to be known.”

As a society, “we haven’t learned that retreat is an option,” he said.”Retreat is an option. I don’t know where this idea of ​​stubborn fight tothe death stuff came from. You lose everything.”

Now that he has retreated, “I haven’t ever been happier in my life.”

Mayer played music during the interview — and talked about some of his mostfamous songs. For instance, he revealed that “Your Body Is a Wonderland” wasnot about Hewitt.

“No it wasn’t,” he corrected Alex Cooper. “That was about my first girlfriend”in high school. I was 21 when I wrote that song — and I was nostalgic forbeing 16. I never met a celebrity when I wrote that song.”

Asked if his high school girlfriend knew it was about her, he said, “That’s agood question. Maybe she didn’t.” He went on to add that he doesn’t “writesongs about people” — perhaps a veiled reference to Swift, who has writtenmore than one about him. “I might use a relationship that inspires me to writesomething,” but whoever inspired it goes away “and I’m left with the song.”Besides, he added, “I don’t like telling anyone that a song is about somebodybecause most of the time it’s not and it takes people away from themselvesbecause they’re just visualizing who I’m writing about.”

De Dijk’s lyrics have always been meaningful, but on Sunday evening, at thevery last performance of the Amsterdam band, lines such as “I can’t do italone” and “A man doesn’t know what he’s missing”, are heard by singer Huubvan der Lubbe, pronounced with played nonchalance, extra appropriate.

The last concert ever is given where it started: at the end of 1981, assupport act for singer Raymond van het Groenewoud, in Paradiso. The groupwould play there often afterwards, tonight for the 83rd time. After a long,sold-out farewell tour, the farewell is now celebrated with a room full offriends, family, colleagues, employees, and fans in decades-old Dijk shirts.

Here we say goodbye to a band that in 41 years has grown into the most stable,diligently working, reliable and dearest group in the country, which alwaysfollowed its own course and stole the show with humor and musicality. And withcamaraderie, because the core of De Dijk is still the same as in 1981.

Read also: De Dijk never had a number 1 hit, but what a pleasure they had

Melancholy undertone

With the eight band members on stage, this evening shows both sadness and joy,but, it seems, mostly fun. With his words between the songs, Huub van derLubbe refrains from emotion, although there is a melancholic undertone when hetalks about his love for the audience: “It felt good, it felt mutual.” This isevident, for example during ‘Seventh Heaven’ where men and women stretch theirarms towards the stage as if for an embrace.

Meanwhile, careful music is being played. Guitar solos merge nicely with theaccordion or the saxophone, as in the brooding ‘Onderuit’, there is anirresistible swell in ‘Als Het Golft’, there is excitement in ‘Dansen Op DeVulkaan’. There is a tribute to Solomon Burke, with ‘Hou Me Vast’, formerguitarist JB Meijers will play a number of songs. Up to and including the lastsong, the music is paramount.

What will be De Dijk’s legacy? In addition to the example of idiosyncrasy, thegroup has helped to integrate Dutch as a pop language – together with DoeMaar. Through the endless merry-go-round of concerts and ever new LPs, thenative language was ingrained in the collective consciousness. With De Dijkthe words are unadorned and effective, Van der Lubbe always chooses thestriking sound.

Exuberance and comfort

For the fans, De Dijk is “simply the best”, says a man. Another recalls how DeDijk was “always there”: “I went to see them when I was having a hard time orwhen things were going well. They took me through all levels of my life.” Withdramatic facial expressions, attendees sing along to the lines: “Slowly we’regoing down” and “It’s raining in the streets/ There’s no one in town.”

After two and a half hours of introspection, exuberance and comfort, theclosing number follows in a darkened hall: ‘Mag Het Licht Uit’. After that, nogroup hug or bow, the band members walk off as on a normal evening.

Their legacy also lies in the musical elan. Hoempa, boogie, waltz, rock, soul,heartthrob – Huub van der Lubbe, Hans van der Lubbe, Pim Kops, Nico Arzbach,Antonie Broek, Jelle Broek, Roland Brunt and Peter van Soest have made ittheir own. In their dreams they will still play songs like ‘Niemand In DeStad’, ‘Bloedend Hart’ and ‘Wat Een Vrouw’. And in ours.

In a 2017 role recall interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Salma Hayek musedthat the 2011 animated hit Puss in Boots __ — in which she voiced thetitular feline hero’s feisty rival/love interest Kitty Softpaws — marked thefirst time Hollywood hired her for her Mexican accent, not shunning her forit.

Needless to say, Hayek, 56, was eager to reprise the role of Kitty in theinevitable sequel to the Shrek spin-off that grossed more than $550 million.But then she waited… and waited… and waited. “We were hoping this would happenfor over a decade, Antonio and I,” she told us in a recent interview,referring of course to Antonio Banderas, whose swashbuckling tabby cat withthose impossibly swoony eyes first stole the show in 2004’s Shrek II.“Because they told us the first movie was a huge success.”

There were a couple of false starts, to the point where Hayek said it feltlike The Boy Who Cried Wolf any time they would hear the sequel was inmotion again.

So what took so long for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish to finally hittheaters this week? The follow up to How to Train Your Dragon — anotherDreamWorks animated series, for example — came out four years later, with athird installment five years after that.

There were a variety of reasons for the long gestation, Banderas says.DreamWorks changed hands, from Paramount to Universal, in 2016. There werechanges at director (Guillermo del Toro was even among those temporarilyonboard) before Joel Crawford eventually stepped in. There was a pandemic in2020, maybe you’ve heard.

“And I suppose that actually has to do also with a scare that I had in 2017,in which I almost lost my life,” Banderas told us in a recent interview. InJanuary of that year, the now-62-year-old Spanish-born actor suffered a heartattack. In seemingly fine health at the time, he was rushed to the hospitaland later underwent surgery to have three stents implanted into his coronaryarteries. (He has since called the health scare “one of the best things that’shappened in my life” for changing his perspective on what’s most important tohim.)

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Fittingly then, and perhaps not so coincidentally, The Last Wish centersaround the mortality of its hero. When Puss is killed in action in the earlygoings (you may want to warn the kiddos), he’s told in the afterlife that hehas one of his nine lives left. This eventually sends Puss on an adventure,joined by Kitty and scene-stealing newcomer Perrito (Harvey Guillén) to thefind the mystical “Last Wish” in hopes Puss can restore his lives lost.

“It’s very daring, actually, that a movie that is for young people justreflects [on] these issues openly, in a very elegant way, and very carefully,too,” Banderas says. “I think it’s a beautiful proposal because it’s donebeautifully. I was surprised that we were going there. But if there’s [any]character that can do it, it’s Puss in Boots.”

Hayek says the 11-year interval between movies “was worth waiting for theright situation,” pointing to Crawford. “The right 400 people involved,because that’s what it takes to make one of these movies.”

‘Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ (Photo: DreamWorks/Universal)

One of those “right” people is Guillén ( What We Do in the Shadows ), whosehilarious hyperactive therapy dog ​​Perrito is to The Last Wish what Pusswas to Shrek II. He chews up the scenery like it’s a bone.

Not that the actor will acknowledge his star turn.

“I didn’t steal anything,” he laughs. “I just wanted to be as authentic as Icould with Perrito, [that was never] my thought to process. To hear that isvery nice, thank you for the compliment, but he’s just a nice addition to thisworld, I think. And his energy is something I think everyone can long for,especially with the last couple years that we’ve had and the world that welive in.”

As a newcomer to the series, Crawford ( Croods: A New Age ) loved seeing(hearing) Banderas and Hayek continue to put their own distinct twists on thecharacters.

“They bring so much to it, not just knowing their characters, but alsoculturally,” he says.

“It’s important to include our culture, who we are, our language,” Hayekresponds.

Harvey Guillén, Salma Hayek and Antonio Banderas arrive for the premiere of’Puss in Boots: The Last Wish’ in New York City on Dec.13, 2022. (Photo:Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)

That returns to what Hayek told us in 2017, an experience Banderas says heshared as well.

“I arrived to the United States in the beginning of the ’90s, I was 31 yearsold when I got there, 32 when I did my first American movie, and I didn’tspeak the language,” he explains. “So the fact that they called me 10 yearslater, just for the use of my voice, that was unprecedented. It wasunexplainable to me. But in a way, it also [meant] the acceptance of theSpanish community in Hollywood.

“This was a movie aimed at young audiences. And the fact that the hero of themovie has an accent, and the fact that some of the bad guys, they don’t, heopens a door for diversity and to change the [minds] of those young people tothink in a different way. To think that everything is possible and we are notanswering to [stereotypes]. You know, there are good people in every communityand bad people in every community, and that’s how life operates. We are notgood or bad because of the color of our skin or the accent that we have. Andthat was an important message for the Spanish community. This this characteris adored all around the world, in many different countries. By the Spanishcommunity, he is worshiped.”

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish is now playing.

This is the period when people are milder, more forgiving and warmer thanusual and we can’t escape that either: just recently, after the World Cupfinal, when we saw a disappointed Kylian Mbappé, we even had a feeling that wecouldn’t be any different. than to call pity. But when the VRT fires aChristmas special of ‘Dertigers’ at us, an episode that just takes an hour anda half, yes, it becomes very difficult to remain peace-loving.

Stephen WerbrouckWednesday December 21, 202212:00

At the beginning of this year, the finale of ‘Dertigers’ was already shown onOne, but that does not mean that the series will end: a new season of the soapwill start in a few weeks, but with a completely different cast and newstorylines that reflect the turbulent life. of the average thirties. Beforethe actors and actresses from the original series had to pass on their taskand their one facial expression to their successors, they were allowed to goto Lapland for a Christmas special. Since the recordings took place at a timewhen there is much less snow in the region than around Christmas and all theaction in Lapland was situated in and around the group of friends’ chalet, themakers could have saved a lot of energy and money by shooting in the Ardennes.rent a cottage and one snow machine. But come on, you only say goodbye once tothe character you will be associated with for decades to come.

Now ‘action’ is too positive a word for what happened in the Christmasspecial, because there was not much to experience. Of course ‘Thirties’ neverhad to rely on the surprising plot twists, but when you spread a story thatcould have fit into one episode of twenty minutes over an hour and a half, therinse becomes very thin. It started with a montage showing how the friendswere doing today – to the tune of ‘A Long December’ by Counting Crows , inhindsight an excellent hint at what was to come. Alex and Elias scoured thefloor of their new home together and argued about whether to choose white orblack outlets. There was an extended Secret Santa scene where the friends drewtickets to know who would buy a present. After fifteen minutes ‘All I Want forChristmas’ was over Mary Carey already passed twice on the soundtrack,while we weren’t even in Lapland yet.

The paltry attempts to provide some tension turned out to be little. In thetoilet of the Lappish log cabin, Alex and Elias, who were arguing about thetiles in their shower, found the leaflet for a pregnancy test. In the end itturned out not to have been thrown away by Louise, Bart’s daughter, but byCaroline, Bart’s new partner; when he heard that he was going to be a fatheragain, he got about the same look in his eyes as Bruce Willis when hediscovers in ‘Die Hard’ that his wife is trapped in a skyscraper with a groupof terrorists. And Saar and Pieter, even in the toilet, had a veryuncomfortable conversation about what it would be like to have sex one lasttime, without feelings or consequences, after which they of course jumped intobed together and just as naturally decided to drop their jumps. relationshipagain.

In the end, Alex and Elias had to do a tour around the log cabin completelynaked in the freezing cold, because, in the opinion of their friends, theytalk a little too often about the gyproc talked in their new home. Itwouldn’t have been bad if the screenwriters of this special had had to suffera similar punishment.

For 10 days, the jurors on the Harvey Weinstein trial debated issues ofconsent, morality, the casting couch and power imbalances in Hollywood.

At the end of their deliberations Monday, they reached a mixed verdict. Theyfound the disgraced producer guilty of raping a woman known as Jane Doe #1,but acquitted him of a sexual battery of Jane Doe #3. They were deadlocked oncharges involving two other women, one of which is Jennifer Siebel Newsom, thewife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

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When they were released from the case Tuesday afternoon, three jurorsexplained how they arrived at that outcome. Speaking to variety at thecourthouse, they said that while they empathized with all of the women, it wassometimes hard to determine what had happened beyond a reasonable doubt.

“Everybody seemed very believeable — it’s just hard to prove all of it, withtime and memory. It’s just their word,” said Jay, a mechanic supervisor whodid not provide his last name. “Nothing was black and white. Nothing was superclear.”

Siebel Newsom tested that Weinstein raped her in 2005, when she was an up-and-coming actress and filmmaker. Several jurors said they were troubled that shehad exchanged dozens of emails with Weinstein after the alleged rape. In thoseemails, she sought meetings with Weinstein and asked for campaigncontributions on behalf of her husband, who was the mayor of San Francisco atthe time.

Michael, another juror, a 62-year-old who works in banking, said that he votedto convict Weinstein on Jane Doe #1 and #2. But he voted to acquit on SiebelNewsom’s allegations.

“I was considering the situation while also looking at her subsequentactions,” he said. “She wanted access to Harvey Weinstein and it sounded likeshe wanted access to a lot of his resources too… That did raise somereasonable doubt in my mind.”

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Jay was also troubled by the communications and meetings between Siebel Newsomand Weinstein: “It looked like they just had a relationship.”

Asked if there was anything the prosecution could have done differently tosecure a conviction, Jay said, “Maybe make the emails go away.”

The jury ultimately voted 8-4 in favor of convicting Weinstein on the SiebelNewsom charges. Another juror, Arnold Esqueda, said the vote was divided 6-6earlier in the deliberations.

Some of the jurors found her testimony to be overly dramatic, said Esqueda,who works as a security guard for the LA Department of Water and Power. Hesaid that he suggested that they all re-read the transcript, which allowedthem to focus on her words and not on her presentation.

“That switched a couple of people without the emotion,” Esqueda explained.

Some of the jurors saw the allegations through the prism of the “castingcouch,” picking up on a defense argument that the women had willingly engagedin “transactional” sex.

Michael said the testimony was like “pulling back the curtain on a section ofthe entertainment industry where flexible morals was a way of doing business.”

He argued that the “casting couch” has been a part of Hollywood for 100 yearsand transactional sex goes back to Biblical times.

“Now it’s, ‘If you want to have sex with me, you gotta greenlight my career,’”he said. “’If you want to have sex with me, you gotta push my books and myscripts. If you want to have sex with me, you’re gonna have to give me fullaccess to you and all your resources.’ Those are things that go on. Morally Idon’t think it’s right… At the end of the day they’re making decisions that —ultimately, they’re trying to further a career.”

Michael believed that two of the “prior bad acts” witnesses — Natassia M. andKelly S. — hurt the prosecution’s case because they appeared to concede thatthey were “playing the game” with Weinstein in hopes of advancing theircareers.

“If I was the prosecutor I would have not had them testify,” Michael said.“Those two almost proved the defense’s case… It’s an industry of flexiblemorals. I’m sure all these women hated every second of what was going on, butthis is how the industry is.”

The “casting couch” defense did not work on Jane Doe #1, however. Shetestified she barely knew who Weinstein was before meeting him at the LAItalia Film Festival in February 2013, stating she had only minimal contactwith him after he raped her at the Mr. C Beverly Hills hotel.

The defense argued that Jane Doe #1 had simply made up the entire sexualassault — and that neither she nor Weinstein had been in her hotel room thatnight. The jury did not buy that argument.

“I think the consensus was, their argument that he was never there — we justfelt like he was,” Jay said. “It looked like he probably was there.”

All three judges who spoke with variety suggested that the argument hurt thedefense’s credibility. With a different approach, it appeared that the defensecould have won a mistrial on those counts.

“I personally feel they would have had a lot more to work with had they saidhe was there,” Michael said.

The jurors voted 10-2 in favor of convicting Weinstein of sexual batteryagainst Jane Doe #2, Lauren Young. Ultimately, they landed deadlocked on thatcount. One juror revealed that the two holdouts were swayed by the defense’sargument that Young’s dress had a button above the zipper, which would havemade it difficult for Weinstein to undress her.

“I thought it was a slam dunk,” said Esqueda, who voted to convict on thatcharge pertaining to Young. He said the others believed that the dress wouldnot have come off her shoulders. “If we could have shown it got off hershoulders, it could have had a solid case.”

The jurors said that the deliberations were respectful, and did not becomecontentious. Esqueda acknowledged that one juror was “stubborn” and initiallyvoted not guilty on all charges. That juror was eventually persuaded toconvict on Jane Doe #1.

They said that Gov. Newsom and his politics were not discussed and were not afactor. The jurors also said that Weinstein’s past conviction and theavalanche of accusations against him did not come up during deliberations.

“Everyone realized the weight of this trial,” Michael said. “The #MeToomovement raises a lot of extremely important issues… Predators have to knowthat type of behavior is wrong. It’s criminal and it will be prosecuted.”

Michael continued, stating that a main message of the trial is that if a womanis trapped in such a situation, she should get to safety as quickly aspossible. “Go to the police,” he said. “Report it. And for God’s sake do notcontinue to do business with this person.”

Regarding the casting couch, Michael said, “It’s time that it stops — itreally is.”

“These people are getting basically what they deserve,” he said, referring topredators who have been exposed by the #MeToo movement.

Michael added that it was difficult, however, for jurors to determine whathappened many years later, without any video or audio of the incident and withlittle to go on aside from the accuser’s word.

“Just because someone is found not guilty, it doesn’t mean they’re innocent,”he said. “It just means the facts weren’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt.”

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‘Tatta’ is the slang name for white Dutch people, potato eaters so to speak,derived from the Surinamese word for potato ‘ptatta’. The new multiculturalfilm comedy The Tattas is therefore mainly about native Dutch people whohave to find their way in the multicultural neighborhood ‘Hollandwijk’.

This is a new development within ‘Dutch multicultural film’, from comedies topopular crime series such as Macro Mafia. Until now, such films as Moroccanwedding (2022), mainly focuses on Dutch people with a migration backgroundwho are trying to find their way in society.

“Look Macro Mafia? Yes? It’s not like that here with us,” says the Moroccan-Dutch Appie with a reassuring smile to Daan. That is a native Dutch boy whohas just come to live in ‘Hollandwijk’. He’s like a cat in a strange warehousein that diverse neighborhood. Appie takes his white peer under his wing andcalls him a ‘tatta in training’.

It’s a good joke, Appie’s comment about the Macro Mafia not to say a keyscene The Tattas. Also because the 18-year-old Moroccan-Dutch actor MarouaneMeftah, who plays Appie, plays an important role in the series _Macro Mafia_fulfills. He plays with verve the young Zakaria, street name Komgoed, who getsincreasingly entangled in crime. In that mini-series, a white Dutchman is notcalled ‘tatta’ but ‘cancer cheese’. Last year there was even a spin-offminiseries ‘Komtgoed’ dedicated to him (which can be seen on the Videolandstreaming service).

Growing self-confidence

Do more Macro Mafia actors in The Tattas ; the Dutch film industry hasvisibly become more diverse since the first wave of multicultural films. Itstarted in 2004 with a series of feel-good films starring, for the first time,young Dutch actors with a migration background. Like Mimoun Oaïssa, star inthe witty Moroccan comedy Shouf Shouf Habibi (Look, look, honey), which hehimself initiated.

The multicultural genre was emancipated in 2011 when the road movie _Rebate_won a Golden Calf, the most important Dutch film prize, about young Dutchpeople with a North African background who travel to Morocco in an old taxi –on their way to adulthood.

After that, the fear of making multicultural crime dramas also disappeared;they were no longer seen as stigmatizing – as in ‘all Moroccans arecriminals’. hence Rebate -protagonist Nasrdin Dchar now in Macro Mafia_participate; he said about that _NRC : “I would like to play a crook, but acrook with a story.”

This emancipation shows the growing self-confidence of Dutch filmmakers withdiverse cultural backgrounds. This is in line with the Netherlands becomingmore diverse. Despite persistent anti-migrant and anti-Islam voices fromright-wing politicians, about two-thirds (71 percent) of the Dutch without amigration background – so ‘tattas’ – have a ‘predominantly positive’ attitudetowards the multicultural society, according to a recent survey by the Socialand Cultural Planning Office (‘Established but not at home’, SCP survey ofOctober 2022). And 90 percent of all Dutch people with a migration background– together a quarter of the population – consider the diverse society “a goodthing”. Although the ‘tatta’s’ could be more inclusive, according to thatgroup.

Cheerful look

This positive vision of the Netherlands as a multicultural society is in linewith the views of the director of The Tattas , the Algerian-Dutch JamelAattache (1974). “I grew up in Delfshaven,” he says, “and had friends withTurkish, Moroccan and Surinamese backgrounds – such as Appie in The Tattas.We got along well, and it was no problem that a Turkish friend spoke Turkishto his brother, for example. For me, the multicultural society was a positiveexperience.”

He did notice, for example, that his ‘tatta’ sister-in-law was a bit anxiousabout it when she first came to their multicultural neighbourhood: it wasunknown. “But she soon understood that it is a neighborhood in which helpingeach other and supporting family are important. I also recognized myself verymuch in films in which the multicultural society in the Netherlands is viewedin a cheerful, positive context, such as Shouf Shouf Habibi and Schnitzelparadise. When I wanted to make films as an autodidact, I always wanted tomake films like that.”

When he got the script for The Tattas he was hooked by (also self-taught)screenwriter Donny Singh, who grew up with an Indian background in a similarneighborhood in The Hague. “The idea for the script is based on the reversalof the usual drama in multicultural comedies: what if the native Dutch weretaken like a ‘fish out of water’ and ended up in a different culture, adiverse neighbourhood?”

Prejudices

After Aattaches success with romkoms like Heavily In Love and Casanovas(with Tygo Gernandt as dating guru) could The Tattas made. We follow awealthy, white family, father, mother, daughter and son, who have to leavetheir expensive villa as a father (Leo Alkemade – who lives in Shouf ShoufHabibi debuted as a film actor) has lost all his money due to a badinvestment.

They can go to a flat in the multicultural neighborhood of Hollandwijk (afictional neighborhood was chosen when residents of the Bijlmer, where thefilm was originally supposed to take place, feared negative images). Theyinitially find it horrible and frightening. There are mutual prejudices oftattas and other local residents, but after misunderstandings and comicalentanglements, they become established with the help of the local residents.

For example, father, without a job, gets a job in garage Ali Baba from afriendly Turkish-Dutch entrepreneur whom he meets in a Turkish coffee house.His daughter (Sterre Koning) finds love (Oussama Ahammoud – he also plays in_Macro Mafia_ ). When father says in the garage that he feels like a strangerin the neighborhood, all his colleagues with migration background say: “But weare also Dutch. We were born here.”

In the comical final chord, father ‘tatta’ serenades his flat to make amendswith his wife (Leonie ter Braak), who is tired of marriage due to all thecircumstances. He sings a touching, sentimental Turkish song he learned fromhis colleagues: ‘Sensiz olmaz’, or ‘I can’t live without you’, by Turkishsinger Hüseyin Yalin (the original music video for that Hazes-esque song wasreleased in 2018 recorded in Amsterdam).

Although the film story is sometimes somewhat schematic, and you would like tosee more in-depth characters, the stimulating idea of ​​integrating ‘tattas’ abit more in the diverse Netherlands makes The Tattas to a successful comedy.

Netflix’s Christmas gift to its subscribers is what you hope for: a sparkling,labyrinthine, and slightly nonsensical murder mystery in the spirit of AgathaChristie. Director Rian Johnson made no secret of the fact that he honors,modernizes and plunders the most printed writer of all time. Freelance sleuthBenoit Blanc (Daniel Craig with a goofy southern accent) is the Americanversion of Christie’s eccentric Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot: a bit clownish,so that the villains underestimate him. With that in mind, Craig wears astriped blue and white jumpsuit as a summer outfit in this part.

Surprise hit Knives Out from 2019 Agatha Christie was without Brits; awhodunit in which Craig as Benoit Blanc unraveled the death of the wealthycrime writer Harlan. Anyone in his parasitic entourage could be the culprit,of course Blanc gathered them all in the front room to point out the killerafter many flashbacks.

The unexpected great success of Knives Out one of Kenneth Branagh’s dazzlingversion of Agatha Christies Murder on the Orient Express convinced the filmindustry that the whodunit – relegated to TV series for decades – is back.Netflix paid no less than $ 468 million last year for the rights to more_Knives Out_ movies; Rian Johnson directs at least two. That deal earned him,actor Daniel Craig and producer Ram Bergman many tens of millions of dollars.

Agatha Christie plots typically revolve around a murder within an elite familyor entourage settled in a lavish, closed location: mansion, train, cruiseboat. In this case, that is the Greek island where tech billionaire andslimeball Miles Bron (Edward Norton) has built a modernist monstrosity ofconcrete and glass as a James Bond villain, the Glass Onion. The Mona Lisathat hangs there on a rental basis completes the megalomaniac picture. Everyyear he invites his old friend group of ‘beautiful disruptors’ there, thistime for a murder mystery in which he himself will be the corpse. Such athing, of course, is requesting the gods.

Bron’s friends turn out to be shady or spoiled creeps: a scientist, socialite,macho influencer and Andi Brand (Janelle Monáe), the partner who swindled Bronout of his company Alpha. Everyone needs Source and holds a grudge. BenoitBlanc is also invited: we meet him when he is restless in his bathtub waitingfor action during a lockdown. But his invitation does not come from Bron, itturns out. From whom?

Glass Onions shuffles his cards in the mind of notorious cheater AgathaChristie: with her, the narrator could be the killer. The plot twistsunpredictably, the star-studded cast gleefully jerks off while the most staletricks are played without embarrassment: doppelgängers, bullets ricochetingoff cigarette cases, flashbacks and repetitions with advanced insight. Don’tgo looking for cunningly hidden hints about the true story; rather, the funlies in unexpected – and not always logical – twists in this refreshinglyrelaxed film that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. Whether the intrigueis watertight I doubt, but Glass Onions is such a pleasant ride that I wouldlike to check it again later.

One thing you immediately know for sure: the gaudy glass sculptures on plinthsof the tech billionaire have to die. Whoever peels a glass onion layer bylayer – Blanc’s ambition – ends up between shards. The final of _Glass Onions_is much rowdier than you would expect from a whodunit.

Murder mystery

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery Directed by: Rian Johnson. Starring:Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, David Bautista, Janelle Monae.Length: 139 minutes. To be seen on Netflix

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View an overview of our movie reviews

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Most of the jurors at Harvey Weinstein’s Los Angeles trialwere ready to convict him of crimes related to three of the four women he wascharged with raping or sexually assaulting.

Yet after weeks of deliberation the eight men and four women voted unanimouslyto convict him of crimes against only one: a Russian-born model and actorknown as Jane Doe 1. She lived in Rome and was visiting California for a filmfestival at age 34 in 2013, when she said the now-disgraced film mogulappeared uninvited at her Los Angeles hotel room door in the middle of thenight.

The jurors were released from service and allowed to talk publicly after morethan two months Tuesday, when they could not reach a unanimous decision on twoaggravating factors that might have made for a higher sentence. Theirdeliberations took nine days spanning more than two weeks, but those who spoketo reporters said the talks were never contentious.

Weinstein was found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexualassault against Jane Doe 1. He now faces up to 18 years in prison inCalifornia to go with a 23-year sentence for a rape and sexual assaultconviction in New York.

Jurors said that Jane Doe 1’s composure, and the fact that she did not contactWeinstein after he raped her, allowed the divided group to reach consensus onher accusations.

“I thought Jane Doe 1 was very convincing in her story,” said one juror, a62-year-old man who works in banking and only provided his first name,Michael, because he sought to maintain privacy amid the publicity surroundingthe case .

The physical and technical evidence surrounding Jane Doe 1 was some of thethinnest at the trial, but jurors were told that under the law, if they foundan accuser’s story credible, that alone could be enough to convict.

They acquitted Weinstein on a count of sexual battery against a massagetherapist. They were deadlocked, with 10 of 12 voting for guilt, on a count ofsexual battery against model Lauren Young; and voting 8-4 in favor ofconviction on rape and sexual assault counts involving Jennifer Siebel Newsom,a documentary filmmaker and wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Story continues

The Associated Press does not name people who have said they were sexuallyabused, unless they come forward publicly or have given consent through theirattorneys, as Young and Siebel Newsom have.

Jane Doe 1 only one among them who had no further direct dealings withWeinstein or his representatives after the incident. She testified she hadbarely known who he was, having been introduced only briefly at the filmfestival, and wanted nothing from him. Others, including Siebel Newsom, hadfriendly email exchanges with Weinstein or sought out future meetings aftertheir incidents, a point the defense pounded in their cross-examinations andclosing arguments.

That resonated with some judges.

Michael said he voted to convict on the Jane Doe 1 counts, but reluctantlyvoted to acquit on the counts involving Siebel Newsom. The difference, hesaid, was the women’s “subsequent action.”

“In a 2 ½ year period she had sent Mr. Weinstein about 35 emails,” he said ofSiebel Newsom. “She wanted access to Harvey Weinstein. It sounded like shewanted access to a lot of his resources. It raised a reasonable doubt in mymind.”

Weinstein has repeatedly denied engaging in any non-consensual sex. Hislawyers called some of the encounters in the charges consensual and othersflat-out fabricated, including the story told by Jane Doe 1. They pointed outthat prosecutors had not even produced independent evidence to place Weinsteinat her hotel.

“Jane Doe 1 is lying. Period,” Weinstein lawyer Alan Jackson said in hisclosing argument.

One juror suggested that the broad statement was undermined by defensearguments that engaged with the details of Jane Doe 1’s account.

“I think Jackson’s last comment where Harvey just wasn’t there, hurt him,”said the juror, Arnold Esqueda, who works as director of security for the LosAngeles Department of Water and Power. “They were defending all these things,and then they just say he’s not there. Well they should have just said he’snot there.”

He said he and other jurors made that point to a “very old school” man on thejury who who “decided that he was going to vote guilty on that one. He stayedpretty much not guilty on the rest.”

While tearful at times, Jane Doe 1’s testimony was restrained andstraightforward in comparison to some that followed. She spoke slowly with aRussian accent, and made nearly no use of a translator on hand.

Esqueda said the intensely emotional testimony of Siebel Newsom, who wasscreaming through tears at times during her testimony, might have been toomuch for some fellow jurors. The panel was divided 6-6 on the counts involvingher when he suggested getting a read-back of her testimony from the courtreporter.

“She had a little drama,” Esqueda said. “So I suggested let’s re-read it, andI think after we read it it switched a couple of people in her favor, withoutthe drama.”

Changes over time in the massage therapist’s story helped lead jurors toacquit on that count, Michael said.

Judge Lisa Lench tentatively scheduled Weinstein’s sentencing for Jan. 9 afterhis attorneys asked that it be done promptly.

But Lench said it might not happen so quickly given the issues surrounding thecase, including prosecutors’ pending decision on whether or not to retry thedeadlocked counts.

“We’ll need to consult the victims first and foremost,” Deputy DistrictAttorney Paul Thompson said.

He asked the judge if other Weinstein accusers, including some who testifiedagainst him at trial but were not part of the charges, and the women whosecounts were deadlocked, might give victim impact statements at the sentencing.

Lench promptly rejected the idea.

“I’m not going to make this an open forum on all of the allegations that werepresented in this trial,” she said.

“So it’ll just be Jane Doe 1 then,” Thompson replied.

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter:https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton

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For more on the Harvey Weinstein trial, visit: [https://apnews.com/hub/harvey-

Belgian fashion is doing very well on the set of the popular Netflix series’Emily in Paris’. Emily, the main character, not only strolls around in anEssentiel Antwerp sweater. She and her co-stars also wear jewelry from theAntwerp label NUE. Founder Priyanka Mehta even designed a unique ring foractor Lucas Bravo, who plays Gabriel.

The Antwerp jewelery label NUE has 11,700 followers on Instagram. FounderPriyanka did not know that there is someone in contact with the stylists atNetflix series ‘Emily in Paris’. “But then I got an email from the team inearly June, on behalf of the lead stylist Marylin Fitoussi. I couldn’t believeit at first. Too good to be true I thought,” says Priyanka.

Priyanka Mehta. © NUE

Not at all: before Priyanka knew it — and after a few meetings — she sent somediamond jewelry to the set of ‘Emily’ in Paris. Intended for Emily herself,played by actress Lily Collins, her Frenchwoman love interests Gabriel,played by Lucas Bravo, and his girlfriend Camille, played by Camille Razat.The modern and luxurious yet edgy look of NUE would have been the decidingfactor for the stylists.

© NUE

“Being recognized by a trendsetting show like ‘Emily in Paris’ and then beingchosen to play the main character Lily Collins is so incredibly exciting,”says Priyanka. “I am immensely proud.” As founder and designer, Priyankastarted her Antwerp label in 2019. She wanted to create delicate, playfuljewelery that you can wear every day and that, in her own words, capture thewarmth of the gold and the sparkle of the diamonds. To work sustainably,Priyanka uses recycled gold and lab diamonds.

A ring especially for Gabriel

In season three of ‘Emily in Paris’ four of Priyanka’s creations can bespotted. The ‘Anicia Earrings’ (1,980 euros) and the ‘Irene Bracelet’ (1,160euros), both worn by Lily Collins. The ‘Name Ring’ (2,020 euros), worn byCamille Razat, and the ‘Gabriel Ring’ (1,640 euros), worn by Lucas Bravo.

Left: Lily Collins. © NUE

The latter is special: Priyanka designed the ring especially for Bravo_himself_. “He wanted a signet ring that wasn’t too big or heavy, but elegantand minimalist.” Including a hidden diamond on the inside. When Priyanka waslooking for a name for her design, Bravo said: _“Let ‘s call it Gabriel. Itwas made for him.” _The actor is clearly fond of the creation: he wears thering everywhere, such as on a shoot for InStyle magazine and when he was aguest on the American talk show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Left: Lucas Bravo. © NUE

At least Priyanka’s creations are in good company in the series. Emilycontinues to dress in designer outfits from Moschino to Prada and Chopard inthis new season. “I am honored that my designs will be worn alongside itemsfrom such great houses. It’s also wonderful that the ‘Emily in Paris’ teamwants to showcase such a diverse collection of talent. I still get goosebumpswhen I talk about it,” says Priyanka.

Priyanka cannot yet say what effect the appearance of the jewelery will haveon sales. The colorful sweater from Essentiel Antwerp, which was shown a fewtimes in the trailer for season three, is already sold out. That promises.

The Formula 1 season has ended and Viaplay has now been active in theNetherlands for nine months. It is high time to see how you like the serviceafter a long time and whether it is worth extending your subscription.

Read on after the ad.

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Viaplay review update: 9 months after launch

At the beginning of March, Viaplay was launched in the Netherlands, theservice when it comes to live sports, including Formula 1, football and darts.However, you can also go there for all kinds of films, series anddocumentaries. In our review we were not blown away by the service and we didnot get further than a 6.5 as a grade.

We are now more than nine months further and that is why it is time to checkwhether and how Viaplay has improved. In doing so, we mainly ask the questionof whether we are going to extend our annual subscription or not. Curious?Read more quickly in this review update!

Complaints, complaints and more complaints

When Viaplay was released, complaints poured in. Taking out subscriptions didnot go well, logging in to the service via providers did not work and thenthere was the mediocre quality of the streams. From blocky images to low framerates or streams that cut out completely. Not exactly useful if you watch afootball or Formula 1 match.

The complaints continued, various authorities, including the Consumers’Association, started to get involved and Viaplay promised to compensatevictims. The best part of the story is that the service did not believe you onyour blue eyes, but simply had to make and send videos to show how badly thestreams were going. Then it was decided whether or not you were entitled tocompensation.

We ourselves have also suffered from a faltering live stream, or a stream thatdid not work at all. We have no major complaints, but in 2022 it will be timeto come up with 4K support, something that “is not possible at the moment dueto the system and its limitations”. Not all services have 4K image quality, bythe way; SkyShowtime also lacks this option.

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Offer is nothing to write home about

In addition to live sports, Viaplay offers all kinds of other content, such asfilms, documentaries and films. At the release we wrote about the offer thatit was far too scant and that has improved slightly. There are indeed morefilms and series now, but that too remains very limited. You don’t have toturn to Viaplay for big blockbusters; services like Netflix, HBO Max, orAmazon Prime Video are still the better choice. And exclusive series can becounted on one hand, for example Billy the Kid.

Time for some figures and comparisons with the Viaplay offer in March. Then wecounted 13 science fiction movies, 20 horror movies and 27 adventure movies.At the time of writing, that range has been expanded to 15, 39 and 98 piecesrespectively. That is certainly more, but it is of course also about thetitles that you can view.

These are often films from years old, which you have probably already seen.Since the Formula 1 season has ended, exclusive F1 documentaries have alsobeen made by Viaplay, starring Max Verstappen. That’s nice, but not enough.

Live sports: Viaplay has to keep tinkering

We mainly watched Formula 1, but also kept an eye on coverage of other sports– such as the World Darts Championship. Unfortunately, we still see problemswith the resolution, glitches and we also read about such issues on variousinternet forums.

Viaplay itself said earlier that because such sports are broadcast live, itpresents all kinds of technical pitfalls. That will be fine, but it is truethat the service has been active in other countries for years – and there arefar fewer problems there. For example, in Sweden or Norway you can watch a lotin a 4K resolution, even live sports. Then it is a bit of a shame that this isnot possible in the Netherlands.

Apps, Chromecast or streaming

You can watch Viaplay via the apps, website or the corresponding televisionchannel of your provider. The app still offers a mix of Dutch and Englishwords and menus, which looks messy. Major changes to the mobile app have notbeen made, so everything still works as we wrote in the initial review.

Viaplay: Film, TV & Live Sports

via play

Navigation works through the hamburger menu on the left or, of course, throughthe search function. Everything can be cast directly to a Chromecast andtherefore a larger screen. It is still striking that certain content quicklydisappears from the offer. Watching back a certain F1 race is not an option,something that is possible with F1 TV Pro, the best-known alternative.

We do see major improvements in the web version of Viaplay. If you streamsomething via the website, you can now easily operate it. Earlier the buttonsfell away and that was a lot of fiddling, but a lot of work has been done onthat. Unfortunately, a picture-in-picture mode is still missing.

Conclusion Viaplay review update

The subscription of 99 euros for the first year was a great price, but has> now been cancelled. I would have to pay 13.99 euros per month for a service> that almost exclusively watches Formula 1. For the rest, Viaplay simply> offers too little. Of course it may be different for you.>> The app still does not work well and is illogical. Certain content is only> available for a short time and sharing of the account is too limited.>> Time will tell whether a subscription will be taken out again in the future.> That depends on a possible good offer or a turnaround in live sports – and> of course the resolution and stability of the associated streams.

Take out a Viaplay subscription

Viaplay costs 13.99 euros per month. If you take out an annualsubscription now, you will receive a discount. For example, you pay 10.49euros per month throughout the year, after that you have lost the full blow.You can pay via iDeal or your credit card (Visa and Mastercard). This offer isvalid until the end of February 2023.

If you already have internet or television from a provider, there is a goodchance that you can also go there for a Viaplay subscription. There are alsovarious offers, so you can temporarily watch for free or with a discount. Socheck for yourself what offers apply to KPN or VodafoneZiggo. You can alsocontact T-Mobile and YouFone, among others.