Author: Ewang Johnson

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

Getty ImagesIn 11th-Century England, a dark-skinned saint with a promiscuous past became a boundary-breaking cultural and religious icon. A new study is hoping to reassert her place in history.She was old. She was dark-skinned. As a young woman, she had been promiscuous and enjoyed sex. But after rejecting the world and spending 47 years living naked in the desert, Saint Mary of Egypt became a wise and virtuous teacher of Christian scripture – or so 11th Century readers were led to believe.When the extraordinary legend of Saint Mary was first translated into Old English from Latin by an unknown author…

President Donald Trump’s administration is set to impose new travel restrictions targeting 43 countries, with 22 African nations on the list. The draft, published by the New York Times, categorizes countries into red, orange, and yellow lists based on the severity of restrictions. Libya, Somalia, and Sudan are placed on the red list. Consequently, they face a complete US travel ban alongside countries like Iran and North Korea. Eritrea, South Sudan, and Sierra Leone fall under the orange list, signifying heightened restrictions on travel to the US instead of a blanket ban. Meanwhile, 16 African nations—including Angola, Cameroon, and Zimbabwe—feature…

Our cultural moment simultaneously adored the ’80s with artifacts—like this year’s Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and Chappell Roan creating ’80s synth pop—and relived the decade with presidential elections, American conflicts with Russia, and the excitement of… inflation. As we compare events and pop culture from 1984 to 2024, I’m excited to say we’re halfway through this series, which started in 2020 (vs. 1980).This year we’re reviewing how 1984 screen staples like The Cosby Show, Miami Vice, and Beverly Hills Cop present the theme of freedom compared to this year’s highlights like American Fiction, the WWF’s Mr. McMahon, and Beverly Hills Cop: Axel…

His recent documentary, “From Ground Zero”, is a cinematic mosaic of life in Gaza since the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 sparked all-out war in the region. Rashid Masharawi joins us to talk about the work of documenting the struggles and tragedies of the Palestinian people, as well as the moments of joy and hope. Rashid’s new film, “Passing Dreams”, explores family ties and the quest for freedom, in a landscape where geopolitical tensions affect every aspect of day-to-day life. We also discuss cinema’s great potential and his hope that Palestinian filmmakers can one day make features without campaigning…

Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston(Credit: Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)At the toughest, most turbulent time of his life, the Impressionist painter was supported by an unlikely soulmate, Joseph Roulin, a postman in Arles. A new exhibition explores this close friendship, and how it benefited art history.On 23 December, 1888, the day that Vincent van Gogh mutilated his ear and presented the severed portion to a sex worker, he was tended to by an unlikely soulmate: the postman Joseph Roulin.A rare figure of stability during Van Gogh’s mentally turbulent two years in Arles, in the South of France, Roulin…

Speaker Anita Among has called for a fight against illicit financial flows that see Africa lose an estimated US$88 billion annually. The Speaker made this call while presiding at the African Organisation of Public Accounts Committee (AFROPAC) Conference and Fifth Annual General Meeting at Golden Tulip Hotel, Kampala on Monday, 17 March 2025.  “The impact of this loss has and continues to be felt by our citizenry through foregone health facilities and services, schools, roads, rural electrification and development of natural resources,” Among said. The meeting that will run until Friday, 21 March 2025 is being held under the theme,…