Author: Ewang Johnson

Many of us in Panem eagerly await the new Hunger Games prequel from Suzanne Collins, Sunrise on the Reaping, which covers pivotal moments in the backstory of everyone’s favorite high spirited curmudgeon, Haymitch Abernathy. Though this new installment is sure to place Haymitch at the forefront of the story, showing an even more heroic side to the gruff exterior readers have grown to love, there is a unique way for Christian readers especially to appreciate his many small moments in the first three books of The Hunger Games trilogy. While much has been said about the Christological presence of the two…

FRANCE 24’s TV critic Dheepthika Laurent joins us from Lille, where the Séries Mania festival is kicking off with two hotly anticipated French shows. The sumptuous dishes of a 19th-century celebrity chef are the jumping-off point for “Carême”, and we check out the fifth season of “HPI”, which sees Audrey Fleurot embody an exceptionally intelligent part-time sleuth. We also find out more about Amanda Seyfried’s latest show “Long Bright River”, which the award-winning actress is presenting at the festival, while Christina Hendricks’ latest project takes the “Mad Men” star to rural Ireland. Plus, as “Adolescence” sparks debate in the UK,…

National Portrait GalleryWith her award-winning Wolf Hall series of books, novelist Hilary Mantel made sympathetic a figure long considered a historical bad guy. But did she also ‘sidestep crucial matters’?Nearly 500 years after his death, Thomas Cromwell lives again, reborn in the popular imagination thanks to novelist Hilary Mantel, and her Wolf Hall trilogy. For decades, historians piled layer after layer of interpretation upon Henry VIII’s astute chief minister, a key figure in the Reformation, when King Henry broke from the Catholic Church to establish his own Church of England. But now, with the emergence of Mantel’s fictional Cromwell –…

Elon Musk’s Starlink has quickly risen to become Kenya’s seventh-largest internet service provider (ISP), boasting over 19,000 users just months after entering the market. Its satellite broadband service is gaining traction, especially in remote areas where traditional fiber and wireless networks fall short. However, Starlink’s rapid growth has sparked regulatory concerns, with Kenya’s Communications Authority planning to hike satellite license fees and impose a turnover levy. Despite pushback, the company is expanding aggressively—building a Nairobi ground station to improve latency and launching cheaper data plans and hardware rentals. Beyond this, Starlink plans to roll out direct-to-mobile satellite connections in 2025,…

I am a Christian; therefore, I am a poptimist. My understanding of my faith compels me to take a stand in favor of poptimism, and against elitism, in the arts. By “poptimism,” though, I mean much more than the strictly defined sense of the term as used in reference to modern recorded music. I include within “poptimism” the ideas that all genres and styles of art are worth studying; that all artwork, regardless of style, medium, or genre, has the potential to convey value; that all well-made and sincere art is worthy of serious attention; and that there is no…

Join us as we explore the heated discussions around the newest “Assassin’s Creed” video game, praised for its beauty but sparking debates over character choices and historical accuracy. Plus, discover the incredible rescue of 18th-century French masterpieces from Los Angeles wildfires, now on display near Paris. Finally, don’t miss the groundbreaking exhibition at the Pompidou Centre honouring Black artists, before the museum closes for a five-year renovation. Source link

Warner Bros Discovery(Credit: Warner Bros Discovery)Full-frontal male nudity in all three series of The White Lotus has provoked waves of reaction and comment. Why does showing a penis on screen still have the ability to shock?Episode four of The White Lotus season three, which is set in Thailand, saw the increasingly agitated millionaire dad Tim Ratliff (Jason Isaacs) sit down for breakfast in a loosely tied dressing robe. His family are unaware that Tim is wanted by the FBI for illegal financial dealings and will likely end up in prison – and that he’s been popping tablets of anti-anxiety medication…

The Generating Growth Opportunities and Productivity for Women Enterprises (GROW) Project has come under scrutiny following the under-absorption of funds. According to the Auditor General’s report for the financial year ended 31 June 2024, only Shs18.52 billion out of Shs75.1 billion was spent. The report further indicates the unspent balance of Shs56.6 billion affected the provision of line of credit to financial participating institutions that were supposed to finance the beneficiaries.“. Management explained that they have implemented measures such as joint and collaborative efforts with implementing partners, which has significantly enhanced the speed of project implementation and facilitated the efficient…

This past December, Spotify released the annual “Wrapped” feature for their users. Each user’s listening habits were captured and condensed into a personalized and easily shareable compilation that highlighted their top artists, most-played songs, and total listening time in a year-long retrospective. Spotify has been offering this feature to users for a decade, as well as marketing it to artists and labels as a way to track worldwide trends in genre and listening habits.For 2024, though, Spotify used Google’s NotebookLM to offer a free personalized podcast based on a user’s “Wrapped” results. Although AI had already been integrated into certain…

A new live action remake of “Snow White” stars Gal Gadot and Rachel Ziegler; film critic Emma Jones tells us why revisiting the 1937 animated classic has stirred up controversy for Disney and resulted in a quieter premiere than usual. We also discuss poignant French comedy “The Safe House”, starring Michel Blanc in one of his final roles before his death in 2024. Plus we hear why Italian snow-swept drama “Vermiglio” impressed the jury at the Venice Film Festival, and a young woman in southern Tunisia takes her fate in hand in Mehdi M. Barsaoui’s “Aïcha”. Source link