How To Turn Your Bedroom Into The Sanctuary You Need Right Now

Many of us are going into a third month of lockdown, spending more time than ever getting to know every inch of our homes. Subsequently, we’re becoming ever more sensitive to how important it is to feel good in them. According to a Harris Poll conducted on behalf of Marvin, 92% of Americans agree that it is important they feel happy in their home right now. Nearly half (46%) plan to do renovations or projects to feel happier about their home in the next three months. The room in which we spend nearly a third of our lives, the bedroom, might be the most impactful place to start. Here are some of the easiest ways to turn your bedroom into a sanctuary.

According to Sue Wadden, Director of Color Marketing at Sherwin Williams, "We spend about a third of our lives in our bedrooms. Your bedroom should be your sanctuary, a place you can retreat to after a long day. A warm brown like Poised Taupe SW 6039 envelops you and sets the mood for a satisfying slumber. You can create the ultimate "zen" bedroom by playing off of the earth tones in this color and add greenery and wood tones. For those that prefer a cooler tone for the bedroom, I really love the color Silvermist SW 7621. The color is a beautiful silvery green and harmonizes well with browns, greenery and wood tones. "The Mantra palette by Sherwin Williams, specifically, seems to be having a moment with its contemporary neutral tones. According to Wadden, "Mantra was inspired by the intersection between the East and West, particularly the ongoing desire for Scandinavian simplicity and elegantly efficient Japanese design. This palette features muted neutrals like Grayish SW 6001 and Software SW 7074 that effortlessly glide from warm to cool, embracing simplicity and versatility."

In terms of what to paint where, Wadden shares that, "Pure White SW7005 is always a great choice for a ceiling, but if you’d like a little bit of color above, Spatial White SW 6259 and Individual White SW 6008 are soft neutrals that, when used on a celling, would make the room seem lighter and airier."

Meet The Startup Aiming To Solve Overtourism

GetYourGuide, an online travel company based in Berlin, is launching a new platform called “Beat the Crowds” — because crowds aren’t just an annoyance anymore, they’re a public health threat.

Like most online travel startups, GetYourGuide is still reeling from the impact of Covid-19. An aggregator of small travel businesses like museums, cultural attractions, and guided excursions, its value proposition is a curated selection of over 58,000 things to do in 150 countries, accessible via its website and mobile app. Founded in 2009, the Berlin-based unicorn with $650+ million in its coffers was built on the promise of globalization—until that promise was broken.

“It’s no secret. Revenues dropped 95%. We were selling north of 40 million experiences, and doing tens of thousands of bookings every day. Now it’s in the hundreds,” said GetYourGuide’s Chief Operating Officer Tao Tao on a recent Zoom call.

It’s not just Tao Tao. Almost every online travel company (OTA) is currently in survival mode. TripAdvisor, Klook, Expedia, and (in-person) Airbnb Experiences have all watched booking revenues fall off a cliff in March and April, as the pandemic closed international borders, grounded passenger jet planes, and shuttered accommodations around the world.

And yet, innovation persists. As a small, relatively nimble company, GetYourGuide engineers are working quickly to build new tech that can remain relevant in a post-covid world. Their goal is to combat the resurgence of overtourism by providing a solution called “Beat the Crowds.” If it works, the startup-that-could might just make a comeback.

Fashion Films As A Medium For Cultural Diplomacy

Film as a medium of diplomacy has historically transcended brewing conflicts and changing borders. The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film for the Soviet classic “Moscow Doesn’t Believe In Tears” was awarded in 1981 at the height of the Cold War and helped re-humanize the Soviet people in the eyes of a world caught amidst propaganda wars. Fashion has never been too far from the international relations scene as well. Much discussed images of First Lady of the United States Melania Trump still speak volumes to the political power of style. No wonder that fashion film as an emergent genre keeps true to its diplomatic mission roots.

From the open landscapes to the vacuum-tight spaces of memory, this fashion season was held during an unprecedented time, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, yielding new, creative ways to showcase fashion. In Russia, designers and brands presented digital fashion films in lieu of the in-person runway shows. It was the premier online edition of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Russia F/W 2020. Socially distant, yet globally accessible!

In just under 30 minutes of total screening time, the 16 specially selected films below preserved the cultural zeitgeist, and provided a rare insight into the mindset of a current generation of Russian designers, performers and artists facing the ever-mounting pressures of contemporary politics, business and love. Life appears as an intoxicating exploration of styles in a form of cinematic spectacle that foregrounds costume, adornment, and visual mood as the all-six-senses vehicle for pleasure. Not to be missed!

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How Can Fashion E-Commerce Be More Inclusive?

Fashion is making great strides toward inclusivity. As models of all sizes, ages and ethnicities walk down runways across the world, it’s more clear than ever that inclusivity and diversity aren't merely buzzwords -- they're the norm.

However, the same has not translated into e-commerce, which is surprising, given that retail is the natural extension of fashion. It is especially significant given that we live in this time of social media where consumers are more vocal and vigilant than ever before. Here are three ways in which retailers can enable inclusive experiences for their online customers.

Most female editorial models are 5 feet, 9 inches tall and quite slim, whereas the average American woman is about 5 feet, 4 inches tall and veers between size 16 and 18. When consumers are shopping online and see these tall and thin models, one of two things happens. They may shop aspirationally, which often leads to returns because of fit problems and costs e-commerce retailers a lot in return shipping and restocking. Or, the consumer refrains from making the purchase. Many times, had she seen the garment on a model of her size, she may have actually been convinced to buy it by the way it looked.

Size visualization is when the same garment can be displayed to shoppers across a number of different sizes, and if your e-commerce platform isn't practicing it, you should consider the impact it could have on your bottom line. Everlane, for example, shows garments in four sizes: 0, 2, 6 and 10. Universal Standard sells and photographs garments on models in sizes ranging from 0 to 40.

The Good American is another example of a brand that does size variation well and has a more diverse range of models too -- here, shoppers can see models of sizes 0, 8 and 16. It is worth mentioning that Khloe Kardashian, who is one of the co-founders of the brand, announced only this month that the brand was making more efforts to make its e-commerce experience more inclusive by casting real women across all sizes instead of models for its denim. Inclusivity has been the brand’s anchor from its inception, and it has firmly stuck behind it -- resulting in sales that crossed $1 million on its first day and making it the biggest denim launch in history.
 

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Milan's Best Trattorias Combine Personality With Panache

Owing to Milan's international character, finding all kinds of first-rate food from sushi to Indian dosas is certainly easier than in Rome or Florence, and in its number of Italian regional trattorias and ristoranti you'll find Milan dotted with entries from Sicily, Tuscany, Liguria, Abruzzo and, of course, its own region of Lombardy.

         Many have been in the city a long time, and the local favorites are certainly more interesting than the tourist-favored places within the Galleria. Since Milan is such a fashionable city, the concierges tend to steer foreign visitors to the most stylish and most expensive spots—some good, some merely expensive—like Pacifico, Niko Romito, Torre in the new Prada building, the Armani Ristorante and Dolce & Gabbana's Bar Martini.

         Good or not, those are decidedly not where the Milanesi eat regularly. Smaller trattorias are more their style and cheaper.

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Macao Is The Fashionable Playground For The Young And Rich In China

The mainland Chinese market has an insatiable appetite for all things beautiful and bespoke. According to Dr. Daniel Langer, CEO of Équité (a luxury, lifestyle and consumer brand strategy firm), they are the Nouveau Riche and "disrupting (the) luxury (industry) the most." He explains that "the youngest customers now have the highest expectations toward luxury brands...in China, more than 80 percent of luxury goods are bought by consumers under 40, including a rapidly increasing share of Gen Zers, who are all 20 years old or younger." And nowhere is this more apparent than in Macao, China - the "Vegas of Asia"- and a vast playground for the wealthy Chinese.

According to Lily Cheng (Director of Public Relations for Sands Resorts Macao) the number one demographic for those seeking a "staycation/getaway" are from Mainland China, who apparently have plenty of hedonistic desires in need of satisfying.

In trying to navigate the future of luxury, it's been the objective of Sands Resorts and its family of brands to carve out an enduring space in an otherwise volatile market; so they are not only appeasing needs, but attempting to anticipate and anchor them as well. With 8 hotels (and growing) to choose from and their combined 12,000+ rooms, properties are frequently upgrading their respective "luxe life" to remain top-of-mind, experiential and "Instagram-worthy". Moreover, "because competition is so keen in Macao - and the standards of hospitality so high - in order to differentiate ourselves, we need buildings and properties that are iconic and easily identifiable," explains Joyce Chiu, Senior Public Relations Manager for Sands China Ltd.

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A Slow Fashion Brand Celebrating Asian Women

Natasha Sumant was working as a freelance art director in New York when she started exploring South Asian feminism.

"I found that there was a hole in the market and nothing was really speaking to us," Sumant, who is 28, tells Forbes.

Gundi is a Hindi expression used for women who aren’t considered ladylike - or for female thugs.

"Gundi Studios is a progressive brand that celebrates outspoken South Asian womxn in motherland and diaspora," Sumant explains. "Gundi is the Hindi word for female-thug or gangsta, a colloquialism used to describe girls who misbehave. The brand was founded in response to the lack of representation in media of assertive and independent South Asian women."

Sumant had designed a piece of typography reading "Gundi" and had embroidered it onto a patch, and featured the patch on fashion shoots, which gained traction on social media.

"They really resonated with people, so I started selling the patches to others to pin onto their clothing and claim the word Gundi for themselves too.

"I started buying up vintage jackets and selling those with the patches pre-pinned. When I realized that people preferred buying the jackets over the patches alone, I decided to launch a collection that would enable people to wear their values. I moved back to India in 2018 to design our first collection, and build out our supply chain."

Gundi Studios’ products are handmade in India, and clothes are produced in small batches. Sumant’s hope is to turn the fast fashion industry on its head, by not just producing clothing, but also running a media outlet on the brand’s site - which includes producing short narrative films.

"Our streetwear is created in a women-led supply chain, and our media addresses issues related to gender and postcolonialism. Women are often victims of the fast fashion industry on both the demand and supply side—advertising regularly plays off female insecurities to generate demand for products made by disenfranchised (and often female and South-Asian) garment workers.

"Our clothes are made to last by a small and dedicated team of artisans, embroiderers and tailors based in India."

The studio uses aari, zari and cut dana techniques which are traditionally used on sarees and burkhas, but brings them into the modern day with streetwear-inspired styles.

Sumant said her company’s target audience is similar to that of NorblackNorWhite and Brother Vellies, who both merge design with sustainability and traditional techniques. "But we talk to the South Asian market in a way that is very different to others," she adds. "Our campaigns and content speak to a market of underground South Asian diaspora. We make streetwear that takes sustainability, and traditional craft techniques into consideration and our supply chain is womxn led and womxn run."

Sumant’s biggest challenge has been creating an ethical supply chain and employing South Asian women at "every level" of the business.

She says there are "real systemic problems" within the garment industry in India and while it’s quite easy to find a factory that will make anything for you, it is hard to find ethical spaces.

"In India, on the factory floor womxn often occupy lower positions of hand embroidering, hand sewing or using machines. Pattern cutters are almost always men. Embroiderers that can do our signature zari embroidery work are almost always men, so it was a challenge finding skilled women who could execute our designs."

The types of embroidery the company uses require long stretches of uninterrupted time, which Sumant says explains why it is often the domain of male artists who have fewer responsibilities at home, and therefore more time to invest.

After dedicating most of 2019 to finding ethical partners, Sumant can now say her supply chain is "100% womxn led and womxn run".

The collection and feminist artwork has already hit Mumbai, New York and London, and going forward Sumant hopes to continue growing her audience.

"We’d like to get more of our pieces into consumer’s hands so that we can provide the women working at our production partners with as much meaningful work as possible.

"We’re also going to keep making work that uses eastern craft techniques and recontextualises South Asian art forms into genres and styles that can be seen across fashion and not just the "ethnic" section of Anthropologie stores and Free People."   wedding dresses

The Clothing Rental App That Wants To End Fast Fashion

Brits purchase more clothing than any other European country, spending £2.7 billion ($3.5 billion) on fashion that they only wear once.

The founder of a fashion technology company called By Rotation is hoping to change consumer habits, and help the planet to boot.

U.K.-based, India-born and Singapore-raised Eshita Kabra came up with the idea when she was planning her honeymoon.

"I turned to social media for ideas on what to wear, and always saw influencers on social media wearing beautiful clothing—often only once—in idyllic settings. I started to wonder if these items were gifted from the brands themselves or bought just for the photo, and what would happen to them after."

Kabra didn't want to follow the footsteps of Rent the Runway, or China's YCloset, as she wanted to "build a sustainable community, rather than a cheaper alternative to dressing new."

By Rotation launched via a beta platform in April 2019, while 28-year-old Kabra was still working full time at a hedge fund.

Kabra says her company differs from players like Rent the Runway, or U.K. companies such as Girl Meets Dress, Front Row, and Our Closet, as they are the "U.K.'s first and only fashion rental app."

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7 Affordable Tips For A Fabulous Same-Sex Wedding

Wedding season is upon us, and same-sex couples across the country want to make their special day as unique and special as they are. With many of these couples funding their same-sex weddings, what options do they have to make their day memorable? How can they avoid letting their wedding ruin them financially?

Palifroni’s been planning same-sex weddings and commitment ceremonies since before marriage equality in June 2015. She’s seen the evolution of these ceremonies and says same-sex couples are growing more comfortable just with the idea of throwing their own wedding. They’re embracing it more, whereas initially many were wrapping their heads around the concept that weddings were actually an option for them.


Palifroni says, “We’re loving that more LGBTQ couples are reaching out and saying, ‘Yes, we do want to have a wedding. We do want to have a celebration. And, what does that look like for us?’”

When asked if same-sex weddings are becoming more traditional in look and feel now that we’re four years into Federally recognized same-sex marriages, Palifroni says no. “The thing about weddings today is there are no rules anymore, and that goes for opposite and same-sex weddings,” she says. Palifroni continues, “Once you have all the base pieces together—who, what, where, when—it’s really up to the couple to add in their own personality.”
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Dom Pérignon's Head Winemaker Looks To The Future

The future at Dom Pérignon is, dare we say, as bright and bubbly as a glass of its signature wine.

This year marks a turning point for one of the best-known names in Champagne. In 2018, longtime chef de cave Richard Geoffroy announced he would step down after a storied 28 years as the head of the storied wine house. Vincent Chaperon took over as Dom Pérignon's chef de cave at the start of 2019.

A scant six months into his new tenure, Chaperon is at an inflection point for Dom Pérignon, releasing vintages that have been waiting in the wings for their moment, while also looking ahead to the future.

Chaperon has been at Dom Pérignon for years, working closing with Geoffroy, so he's well-versed in the house philosophy. "I'm really at the front line," Chaperon says, of getting used to his new role. "It's really intense. This year has been very exciting. Still, I need a little bit of time to find my own path."

One issue on the horizon, for Chaperon as well as anyone working in agricultural products, whether it's wine or coffee production: Variance in temperatures due to climate changes.

In terms of wine, the harvest time (historically in mid- to late September) is now sometimes earlier, and it means grapes don't always develop the way they have in the past.

"Globally, we can see that the harvest is advancing," Chaperon says. "For 20 years, it has been earlier and earlier. It is simply explained by the fact that the climate is warming. As it gets warmer, the vine cycle is shorter."

The harvest will vary by year to year; in 2019, for example, harvest is projected to take place after September 15, based on recent cool temperatures.

"Weather is changing. It's moving, but on the other hand, it's always been part of our job," he adds, noting that Reims, in the north part of France is used to harsh climates. "Champagne is used to building its model on an aggressive climate. It's a persistent adaptation."

Global changes in weather over the next century will determine if Champagne in general, and Dom Pérignon in particular, will ever have to change grape varietals, to say, grapes that can withstand harsher winters and earlier harvests. Still, if and when that happens, it won't be for several more decades in the future.

Right now, Dom Pérignon is only made with Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, and they only produce vintages, as they have always done since the 1700's; Chaperon doesn't see that changing during his tenure. "One day, perhaps in 20, 30 years, we [may] have to change [grape varietals], you never know," Chaperon says. "Everything is moving around us. If it happens, you need to be really clear on who you are and what you are."

In the meantime, the house is celebrating the release of a special new vintage, the Vintage 2002 Plénitude 2, which was released last month. It is the secondary expression of the previously released 2002 Vintage. To create the Plénitude 2, however, part of the same 2002 stock was kept in the cellars longer, and therefore in longer contact with the lees, or yeast.

"All of our wines are going through a moment in their lives that we call 'plénitude,' " Chaperon explains. "The wines are not transforming themselves in a linear way. They grown in stages, let's say, windows of expression, which we call 'plenitude.' "

Giving the wines, in this case the 2002 vintage, more time in the cellar means granting wines extra time to develop complexity and flavors. "The Plenitude 2 is a stage of more intensity and more maturity," Chaperon says. "The wine is unfurling its personality. We feel it's really alive. It's showing a lot of energy of life."

As Chaperon looks ahead to what is likely to be the start of several decades in Champagne, he knows there will be challenges, whether from consumer tastes, economics and changing weather patterns. "We need to drive Champagne to stay at the peak of the pyramid of sparkling wine," he says. "We have to go on improving."

"Plénitude 2 is an answer to that," he adds. "We're still Dom Perignon but we offer something with more intensity, a better aging potential."

Projects like the Plénitude 2 require planning and patience. The plans for this wine began in the 1990's, under the direction of now-former chef de cave Richard Geoffroy.

"It's a long-term project," Chaperon says. "We started 30 years ago thinking about it."

"Sometimes time is constraint but it can be an advantage," he adds. "Few people today have time."

Celebrity Takes Delivery of the Flora

Celebrity Cruises has taken delivery of its 100-guest Celebrity Flora, which is now preparing for her Atlantic crossing to the Galapagos, where she will be based year-round.

Marking the occasion, Royal Caribbean Cruises Chairman and CEO Richard D. Fain hosted a ceremony aboard Celebrity Flora, while docked in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Company and shipyard executives were also in attendance, plus more than 70 crew members, many of whom are Ecuadorian natives.

"The delivery of Celebrity Flora is a momentous occasion," said Fain. "Designing a new ship specifically for the Galapagos Islands was an exciting challenge and we think Celebrity Flora succeeded beautifully. It is of course luxurious – but it's also the most energy-efficient ship of its kind in the region, which further demonstrates our commitment to sustainability and protecting the vital ecosystem of this unique place."

"More than two years of planning, collaboration and construction have led to this very exciting moment," said Lisa Lutoff-Perlo, President and CEO, Celebrity Cruises. "Thanks to the hard work of hundreds of architects, artisans, engineers and more, we're one step closer to the first-ever sailing of the beautiful Celebrity Flora, which will forever change the way guests experience the Galapagos. Travelers will soon be able to step on board our stunning 100-guest mega yacht with the largest and most luxurious all-suite accommodations in the Galapagos Islands."

The ship was built by De Hoop in the Netherlands.

The new ship will feature Celebrity's signature outward-facing design concept, giving guests 360-degree views of the islands, and all-suite accommodations – including a 50 percent Sky Suites with Infinite Veranda – with service provided by personal attendants, the company said.

Unique to Celebrity Flora are the first-ever glamping experience at sea, new dining venues, an open-air stargazing platform, expert-led ecological seminars, and custom-designed Novurania yacht tenders, which create a seamless sea-to-shore experience.

Another Lexus makes it as a movie star

Quite recently it was the company's flagship LC500 coupe that starred in the blockbuster sci-fi fantasy film Black Panther.

Now it seems the movie bug has had a firm bite on Lexus as the RC F junior coupe is set for its silver screen debut in Men In Black: International. In this new adventure of the successful franchise, they tackle their biggest, most global threat to date: a mole in the Men in Black organisation.

The film is directed by F Gary Gray and stars Emma Thompson and Liam Neeson. The executive producer is the legendary Steven Spielberg.

The Lexus RC F has a prominent role in the film as the official company cars of Men in Black agents. The Lexus RX Hybrid and Lexus LX SUVs are also featured in scenes with alien encounters.

"We've added some advanced capabilities to the RC F to assist the agents, creating a truly one-of-a-kind alien-fighting machine," said Lisa Materazzo, vice- president of Lexus marketing. "We can't wait for moviegoers to see the RC F as they've never seen it before."

How a stray puppy rescued from a dump became a movie star

We've all heard the cliched stories of an actor's struggles before a career breakthrough: living hand to mouth, waiting tables, temping, couch-surfing and generally scraping by before landing that major role.

The star of A Dog's Way Home has a hard-luck tale to top them all. Before her big break, she was living in a landfill, rummaging through garbage for her next meal.

Meet Shelby, the tan-and-black mutt who portrays Bella, occupying the screen, often solo, for much of the film's 97 minutes – and whose trash-to-riches saga could itself be a gripping cinematic yarn.

Shelby's big break came in April 2017, when animal control officer Megan Buhler was driving in Cheatham County, Tennessee, a rural area about 25 miles from Nashville. Out on an unrelated call, Buhler spotted and approached what she recalled was a noticeably skittish dog emerging from the dump.

As messy as your life can be, there has to be a window you can escape through

young man walks into a bar and meets Sam Shepard, Christopher Walken and Al Pacino. The man is Tim Roth. The year is 1990, and the actor is in New York to film Jumpin' at the Boneyard, a bleak movie about drug abuse. Roth, who planned to nurse a quiet beer while watching American football, found himself in conversation with Walken and Shepard. "I thought: ‘What the fuck have I walked into?'" he says. "It was purely by chance." By the time he left, Shepard had promised to write him a part in his next play. It was not the first time Roth had been in the right place at the right time, and it wouldn't be the last.

This unlikely encounter took place at a propitious time, just as Roth was starring as Van Gogh in Robert Altman's Vincent & Theo, and shortly before his comic double act with Gary Oldman in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead hit the festival circuit. Writing in the New Yorker, Pauline Kael described Roth's acting as "a form of kinetic discharge". After a decade in which the film industry had largely curdled into a hit machine of bland studio blockbusters, independent film was stirring into life and craft was back in vogue.

Due back in London after filming, Roth instead chose to go prospecting in LA, expecting "to get swiftly kicked out the door". Like his encounter in a Manhattan bar, serendipity intervened. Its name was Quentin Tarantino, the movie was Reservoir Dogs, and it changed everything.

"He came back to my flat after a night in a bar, and we read every scene with all the characters, had a great time – and he gave me the job," says Roth. "I was very fucking lucky. I got given a window, and I jumped." When Shepard, good as his word, called back with a part in his next Broadway play, it was too late. "I couldn't do it," Roth says. "I always regret I lost that opportunity."

Dubs dominate again at ladies football All Stars

All-Ireland senior champions Dublin have been honoured with seven representatives on the 2018 TG4 All Star team.

Dublin's haul is an all-time best on an All Star team selection – as the 2010 and 2016 selections each contained six Sky Blues.

The selection was revealed on Saturday night at the annual TG4 All Star awards banquet, in association with Lidl, at the Citywest Hotel.

Captain Sinéad Aherne received a seventh All Star award, and her third in a row, and there was a sixth in seven years for right-half-back Sinéad Goldrick, who will line out for Foxrock-Cabinteely in next Saturday's All-Ireland Senior Club Final against Mourneabbey.


It's the second year in a row that a set of sisters was named on the All Star selection, as the Hegartys from Donegal, Ciara and Niamh, were listed on the 2017 team.

Aherne and Goldrick are joined on the 2018 list by Dublin team-mates Ciara Trant, Siobhán McGrath, Lauren Magee, Noelle Healy and Lyndsey Davey.

Trant wins an All Star for a second successive year, while McGrath picks up her first gong since 2010.

Midfielder Magee is one of five first-time recipients, 2017 Senior Players' Player of the Year Healy wins her fourth All Star award, and a third in a row, while Davey is also honoured for the fourth time.

Trant, Healy, Aherne and Cork's Emma Spillane are the only survivors from the 2017 selection, as TG4 All-Ireland Finalists Cork picked up four awards in total.

Ciara, now a four-time winner, and Doireann O'Sullivan, who collected her first, are joined on the team by Spillane and another first-time recipient, Róisín Phelan, who's named at full-back.

Spillane received an award at right corner back in 2017 but this time she earns the left-half-back slot.

The remainder of the team is made up of players from Donegal, Galway, Kerry and Tyrone.

Donegal's Treasa Doherty earns her first All Star at right corner back, while Sinéad Burke from Galway is also named for the first time on an All Star team at left corner back.

where to find the best horror films

It's been a long time since I last checked in on Shudder, the £4-a-month streaming service dedicated to horror, suspense and the generally creepy. Much as I enjoy the odd fright night, there is no genre to which I subscribe quite so literally. But with the nights drawing in and the burning scent of Halloween on the cooling breeze, it seemed an apt time to return. We're never likelier to chain-watch horror films than in October, and Shudder certainly makes a breeze out of spooky seasonal playlisting.

I returned to find it a little beefier than I remembered, with its menu of films and series healthily expanded and the addition of Shudder TV – multiple channels of pre-selected programming for that rarest of geeks, the undiscriminating genre obsessive. I sampled the free-to-stream channel, which can be watched by non-subscribers, to find Shrew's Nest playing. Juan Fernando Andrés and Esteban Roel's enjoyably ripe Spanish gothic piece is a lively choice, and there's no arguing with the value, though I suspect most horrorheads would rather pick their tasty poison.

The selection, after all, is more diverse than you might expect, covering the art-trash spectrum rather nicely. Traditionalists of varying gore capacities can access Tobe Hooper's original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in its slick 40th-anniversary restoration, Mario Bava's sticky-stylish giallo classic Blood and Black Lace or, more cosily, Ealing Studios' elegantly shivery anthology Dead of Night.

More modern tastes predominate, particularly when it comes to the service's sidebar of exclusive acquisitions. Here's the place to find, if you dare, Emiliano Rocha Minter's We Are the Flesh, a stunningly extreme incest-and-cannibalism exercise; Lake Bodom, a smart, self-reflexive Finnish spin on the old-school slasher flick that doesn't forget to tuck a few good sharp scares in amid the winks; or Anna Biller's gorgeously retro-styled occult fantasia The Love Witch. Shudder's genre remit is pleasingly catholic: arthouse titles such as Lucile Hadžihalilović's head-scrambling, nightmare-igniting vision Evolution, or Mother, Bong Joon-ho's thrillingly derailed blend of icy noir and high melodrama, aren't obvious Halloween-marathon fodder, but they'll leave your nerves suitably disarranged.

And on the series side, a month's subscription is worth it if only to belatedly discover, as I did, Beyond the Walls, a delicious French-Belgian miniseries that takes an old-as-the-hills haunted-house premise and probes every cobwebbed corner of it. Led with steely conviction by the excellent Veerle Baetens and ravishingly designed throughout, it's a treat for those who prefer a mounting wall of eeriness to violently bone-crunching terror.

Elle Fanning Elevates Max Minghella's Solid Directorial Debut

Max Minghella's directorial debut Teen Spirit totally won me over. It's one of those movies I hadn't planned to see in Toronto. One of those movies you see because it fits your schedule, and you just hope for the best. In this case, I was pleasantly surprised by this scrappy tale of a shy teen who sets out to realize her dream of becoming a pop star with help from a very unlikely source. It's a conventional underdog story as far as it goes, but it's handled quite well by Minghella and his leading lady, Elle Fanning.

Decidedly unimpressed with the wild-haired, world-weary old man, she doesn't think much of the interaction until it comes time for her audition for Teen Spirit, a British singing competition that requires the permission of an adult guardian. In a bind, Violet turns to Vlad and he agrees to become her chaperone/manager/unlikely mentor — for a staggering 50 percent! If you know anything about showbiz, you'd know that isn't a great deal for Violet, but at least it changes in time once the girl's mother finds out about their unusual arrangement. Vlad doesn't put up too much of a fight, as you come to discover that it's not really about money for him, but rather, a second chance to do things right. He may have squandered his potential and become content to drink his days away at the pub, but he also sees potential in Violet and finds renewed purpose in taking the reins of her career and coaching her technique. And off she goes on a true underdog story that will offer her temptation at every turn. Minghella effectively uses montage to whisk us through the early stages of the competition, but you've seen this story before, so you know it'll all come down to 'the finals' — though there are some pleasant surprises along the way.

Of course, the following isn't one of them, for assuredly when you enter one of these competitions, the idea is that you're kind of making a deal with the devil. In this case, Violet ends up being offered a recording contract prior to the final competition. If she loses, it doesn't really matter, because she'll still get to make an album. But if she wins, and other record labels come calling with more attractive offers, then she's stuck with the original deal… if she signs it. There's a catch, of course. The proverbial Devil, in this case, the Teen Spirit producers as embodied by a well-cast Rebecca Hall, want Violet to cut Vlad out of the deal. So not only does the competition test her talent, it tests her integrity as well. She wouldn't have made it this far without the crazy old coot, but does she really need him now that she has, to some extent, made it? It's an offer she shouldn't refuse, but whether she does or not is another question entirely.

Troye Sivan Is the Perfect Pop Star for 2018

Troye Sivan, global pop star, shows up to his photo shoot alone. No manager. No assistant. No glam squad. Just a slight 23-year-old with wide blue eyes, artfully floppy bleached-blond hair and a voice that has captured the hearts of a millions-strong fandom, spread out everywhere from his hometown in Australia to his adopted home in Los Angeles. When Sivan stretches out his hand to introduce himself, he says his name earnestly: He's Troye. He'd like you to know about him. He'd like you to like him, and his music; his new album Bloom is out Aug. 31. But more than anything, he'd like to be there for you.

"I just want to provide for a young audience what I felt was lacking when I was a kid," he says, "which was representation of someone living their life." When Sivan talks about representation, he's talking about representation for someone like him: queer, sensitive, thoughtful.


Sivan is different from many of the stars who have come before. But for him, that's an asset, not an impediment. His music–delicate dance-pop that has notched hundreds of millions of streams, a Saturday Night Live appearance and one big Top 40 hit ("Youth")–has already won him fans like Bloom collaborator Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift, who brought him onstage during a recent stadium tour date. Maybe it's because Sivan is more than just your average pop star. He built a platform as a digital influencer first, building connections with fans who related to his unapologetically queer identity, then used his Internet following to buoy him to stardom as a bona fide artist. And it's working: Bloom marks a major artistic achievement, evoking influences from the Velvet Underground to Simon & Garfunkel, all wrapped up in a sleek pop package.

Pop superstar launches state-of-the-art radio studios

International pop star Bebe Rexha has played an exclusive gig in Geelong to mark the launch of Geelong Broadcasters' new hi-tech studios.
The American singer-songwriter took to the stations' Live Stage on Wednesday night in front of hundreds of guests including business leaders, politicians and other VIPs.
A handful of listeners, who became possibly Australia's luckiest teenagers after winning an on-air competition to see Rexha perform, seized on the opportunity to grab selfies during a once-in-a-lifetime meet-and-greet with the star.

Rexha's set included some of her biggest hits including Meant To Be and Me Myself and I.

Other performers at the star-studded launch party included Nathaniel Willemse, whose set included his smash Live Louder, along with Geelong father and son duo Cam and Taylor Henderson.

Guitarist Justin Derrico, who has played with the Pussycat Dolls, Tina Turner, Beyonce and Pink also treated the crowd to a display of his virtuoso skills.

Geelong mayor Bruce Harwood officially opened the studios, presenting a plaque to Janet and Alison Cameron, directors of Geelong Broadcasters' family-owned parent company Grant Broadcasters.

With the brief formalities sorted the crowd of up to 300 gave a rousing welcome to Bebe Rexha for her exclusive performance, one of her only public shows during her Australian promotional visit.

The new studios are located on the first floor of Geelong Broadcasters' Moorabool Street building and feature state-of-the-art digital broadcasting equipment and a high tech news facility.

It also brings under the one roof the company's booming digital media arm, payroll operations and region's leading tourist guide, What's On In Geelong.

World Cup: Falcao, Cuadrado fashion Colombia win against Poland, FT 3-0

 When the stakes are as high as an exit from the world cup for both the competing teams, one expects to see a hard-fought game. However, the match between Poland and Colombia was nothing like it. Colombia was a team on a mission to win and Poland came out on the field to make sure Colombia accomplishes the mission.

Such lack-lusture was the performance of Poland that they have become the first European team to be eliminated from the World Cup. Colombia dominated the game right from the kick-off. While Colombia played a well-organised team, Poland hinged and waited for Lewandowski to produce some magical moment. It never happened.

Mina was first one to score for Colombia in the 40th minute of the game, giving his team the lead with a wonderful header. The pressure mounted on Polish side as Falcao scored an amazing goal, doubling the lead for Colombia. Polish players did make some moves but they just could not complete them. They lacked finishing touch.

Scattered all over the field, lack of a playmaker who could make a definitive and productive move, missing golden opportunities were the reasons for Poland's defeat. Adding insult to the injuries, Cuadrado scored the third goal for Colombia in the 74 the minute, sealing a comfortable victory for his team. 

With this win, Colombia stand a good chance of progressing to the round of 16 of the world cup. Poland will play against Japan and leave for their home soon after.