Category: Новини

A virtual music competition with real prizes — this is the concept of a new music platform called Djooky. Both amateur and professional songwriters and musicians from around the world are invited to participate for free. Mariia Prus has the story.
Camera: Kostiantyn Golubchyk  
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David Fincher’s “Mank” led FILE – Chloe Zhao poses for a portrait to promote her film “Nomadland” during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, Jan. 22, 2018.The other directing nominees were Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari,” Fincher for “Mank” and Thomas Vinterberg for “Another Round.”For performers, it’s the most diverse slate of nominees ever — and a far cry from the all-white acting nominees that spawned the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag five years ago. Nine of the 20 acting nominees are people of color, including a posthumous best-actor nomination for Chadwick Boseman (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), and nods for Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal”), Steven Yeun (“Minari”), Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), Leslie Odom Jr. (“One Night in Miami”), Viola Davis (“Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”), Andra Day (“The People vs. Billie Holiday”) and Yuh-Jung Youn (“Minari”).Davis, who won for her performance in 2016’s “Fences,” landed her fourth Oscar nomination, making Davis the most nominated Black actress ever. Yeun is the first Asian American ever nominated for best actor.The other nominees for best actress are: Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”; Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”; Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman.”The remaining nominees for best actor are: Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”; Gary Oldman, “Mank.”After a pandemic year that shuttered most movie theaters, the best-picture nominees had hardly any box office to speak of. The Oscars won’t just lack blockbusters, it’s going forward with many movies that have barely played on the big screen at all. That leaves streaming services set to dominate Hollywood’s biggest and most sought-after awards.This image released by Netflix shows, from left, Yahya Abdul-Mateen, Ben Shenkman, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp in a scene from “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”Netflix, as expected, led the pack with 35 nominations. The service is still gunning for its first best-picture winner, and this year has two shots in “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” — a movie Paramount Pictures sold off during the pandemic. Netflix led last year, too, with 24 nominations, but came away with just two wins.Other streamers were in the mix. Amazon, in particular, was well represented with “Sound of Metal,” “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” and “One Night in Miami.”The nominations were announced from London by presenters Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. The Academy Awards would typically have happened by now but this year were postponed by two months due to the pandemic. They will instead be telecast April 25.The film academy confirmed Monday that the show will be held at both its usual home in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles and the city’s railway hub, Union Station.In addition to Youn, the nominees for best supporting actress are: Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”; Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”; Olivia Colman, “The Father”; Amanda Seyfried, “Mank.”In addition to Odom Jr., Kaluuya and Stanfield, the nominees for best supporting actor are: Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”; Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal.”The nominees for best documentary feature are: “Collective”; “Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution”; “The Mole Agent”; “My Octopus Teacher”; “Time.”The nominees for best international film are: “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” Bosnia and Herzegovina; “Another Round,” Denmark; “Better Days,” Hong Kong; “Collective,” Romania; “The Man Who Sold His Skin,” Tunisia.The nominees for best original song are: “Husavik” from “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”; “Fight for You” from “Judas and the Black Messiah”; “Io Sì (Seen)” from “The Life Ahead (La Vita Davanti a Se)”; “Speak Now” from “One Night in Miami”; and “Hear My Voice” from “The Trial of the Chicago 7.”The nominees for best animated feature: “Onward”; “Over the Moon”; “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”; “Soul”; “Wolfwalkers.”The nominees for best original screenplay are: “Judas and the Black Messiah,” Shaka King and Will Berson; “Minari,” Lee Isaac Chung; “Promising Young Woman,” Emerald Fennell; “Sound of Metal,” Darius Marder and Abraham Marder; “Trial of the Chicago 7,” Aaron Sorkin.The nominees for best costume design are: Alexandra Byrne, “Emma”; Ann Roth, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”; Trish Summerville, “Mank”; Bina Daigeler “Mulan”; Massimo Cantini Parrini “Pinocchio.”The film academy and ABC will hope that the nominees can drum up more excitement than they have elsewhere. Interest in little golden statuettes has nosedived during the pandemic. Ratings for a largely virtual Golden Globes plunged to 6.9 million viewers — a 64% drop from 2020 — last month. Though on Sunday the Grammys managed to break through the Zoom trap that has bedeviled other awards shows.With the notable exception of fueling streaming subscriber growth, the pandemic has been punishing for the movie industry. Production slowed to a crawl, blockbusters were postponed or detoured to streaming and thousands have been laid off or furloughed.But the outlook for Hollywood has recently brightened as coronavirus cases have slid and vaccines have ramped up. Movie theaters are reopening in the U.S.’s two largest markets, New York and Los Angeles. And several larger movies — including the Walt Disney Co.’s “Black Widow” (May 7) — are scheduled for May and beyond.
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Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish won the top prizes at the Grammy Awards on Sunday in a ceremony that also saw Beyonce become the most awarded female artist in Grammy history. Swift’s surprise lockdown record “Folklore” was named album of the year and Eilish’s “Everything I Wanted” won record of the year. Sunday’s win made Swift, 31, the first woman to take home album of the year three times. Beyonce’s four Grammys on Sunday took her total career wins to 28, surpassing the previous record for a woman set by bluegrass singer Alison Krauss.British singer Dua Lipa won best pop vocal album for her dance-y “Future Nostalgia.”Alicia Keys and Dua Lipa react at the 2020 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, March 14, 2021.The writers of “I Can’t Breathe” by R&B artist H.E.R won song of the year. It was written in response to the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States last summer. Rapper Megan Thee Stallion was named best new artist and the 26-year-old known for promoting women’s empowerment won two more Grammys for her rap performance of single “Savage,” featuring Beyonce. Hosted by Trevor Noah, the hybrid ceremony was packed with pre-recorded and live performances by the likes of Lipa, Taylor Swift, Post Malone, Cardi B, DaBaby, Black Pumas and Mickey Guyton. It took place both indoors and outdoors in Downtown Los Angeles but mostly without the elaborate sets and special effects that traditionally mark the highest honors in the music business. K-Pop band BTS lost in the best pop duo or group performance against Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande for their single “Rain on Me” but performed their hit English-language single “Dynamite” from South Korea at the close of the show. 
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Queen Bey is closer to sitting on her Grammys throne: The singer won her 26th Grammy on Sunday, almost matching, and on track to surpass, Alison Krauss’ record of 27 wins.Beyoncé, this year’s leading contender with nine nominations, won two honors during the pre-ceremony including best rap performance for “Savage” with Megan Thee Stallion and best music video for “Brown Skin Girl.” She shares the latter with daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who is also having a historic night: At 9 years old, she’s the second youngest to win a Grammy.Beyoncé’s other nominations, including song and record of the year, best R&B performance and best rap song, will broadcast during the live show, which kicked off with host Trevor Noah telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020.He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables.  That was followed by performances from Harry Styles, who is competing for his first Grammys this year, and Billie Eilish, who won five Grammys last year and picked up her sixth honor during the preshow.Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Beyonce Battle for Grammys Top Prizes  Beyoncé, now the most nominated female artist in Grammy history with 79 career nods, leads all comers with nine nominationsOther performances, taped days before the big show, will air throughout the night, including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, BTS, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Chris Martin, Lil Baby, John Mayer, Maren Morris and Doja Cat.During the preshow, Fiona Apple and Kaytranda were also double winners Sunday. John Prine and Chick Corea both earned two wins posthumously. Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Dan + Shay, James Taylor, H.E.R., Beck, Brandi Carlile, Burna Boy, Tiffany Haddish and Rachel Maddow also won Grammys.While Beyoncé is set to have a historic night, history could repeat itself and she could be shut out of winning a top award — a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists throughout Grammy history. Of her 26 wins, only one has been for one of the big four Grammys, song of the year. She has lost album of the year three times and record of the year five times.Jay-Z has never won a top award, and he and his wife join a list of mostly Black performers who have only won in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.This year The Weeknd was the one who was snubbed. Despite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a top-selling, multihit album, he didn’t earn any nominations.  Still, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” could become the second hip-hop song to win record of the year.Taylor Swift could make history, too, and become the first woman to win the show’s top prize, album of the year, three times. Her first surprise album of 2020, “Folklore,” is competing for the top honor, an award she first won in 2010 for “Fearless,” and again in 2016 for “1989.”  Artists competing with Swift for album of the year include Coldplay, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Jhené Aiko, HAIM, Black Pumas and Jacob Collier, who picked up a win during the pre-ceremony.The Grammys were originally scheduled for Jan. 31 but were pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Dame Zaturoski from Struga, North Macedonia, is a lawyer by training, but his true passion is making models of boats and ships. Reporter Miki Trajkovski went to North Macedonia to see his latest creation and filed this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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Taylor Swift, Beyoncé and Dua Lipa lead the charge at the reinvented Grammy Awards on Sunday, where the music industry hopes to put a year-long pandemic behind it.But an unusually diverse line-up of contenders for the top prize – album of the year – mean it could be anyone’s night.”The nominations were so surprising – The Weeknd not getting nominated – it’s a very strange year to try to predict,” said Melinda Newman, Billboard’s executive editor for the West Coast and Nashville.”I think it’s going to be a year where no-one makes a clean sweep,” she added. The winners are chosen by some 11,000 voting members of the Recording Academy. Interim Recording Academy president Harvey Mason Jr said he hoped the show would be “a chance to have a little bit of normalcy, of people coming together and playing music.”Beyoncé, now the most nominated female artist in Grammy history with 79 career nods, leads all comers with nine nominations. The nods come mostly from music like single “Black Parade” that celebrated Black culture in a year of racial turmoil in the United States.But Beyoncé is not on the list of musicians booked for Sunday’s three-hour show, which will take place as a mix of live and pre-recorded performances from the likes of Swift, K-Pop band BTS, newcomer Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish, Harry Styles, Latin star Bad Bunny, and Black country singer Mickey Guyton.Swift and British pop singer Lipa got six nominations apiece, along with rapper Roddy Ricch. Lipa, and her album “Future Nostalgia,” may have the edge as the only one of the trio to get nods in all three of the big races – album, record, and song of the year.”Dua Lipa has been everywhere this last year. It’s a really great happy dance disco revival,” said Alex Suskind, a senior editor at Entertainment Weekly. Suskind said he felt that Swift, who got the best reviews of her career for her surprise lockdown album “Folklore,” has a better shot at winning song of the year – which is awarded for writing – with the track “Cardigan.”Eilish, 19, who swept the 2020 Grammys with her debut album, is back again with three nods for her ballad “Everything I Wanted,” and one for her theme song for the upcoming James Bond film “No Time To Die.””I think the Billie Eilish train at the Grammys is going to keep rolling,” Suskind said.South Korean boy band BTS marked a breakthrough year in the United States by securing their first major Grammy nomination for their English-language hit “Dynamite.”They will be performing from Korea on Sunday and hoping for a win in the closely contested best pop duo or group field.”We just keep seeing these amazing acts coming out of Korea and it doesn’t seem like it’s ending at all. It’s really great fun, pop music,” said Newman. 
 
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Marvelous Marvin Hagler stopped Thomas Hearns in a fight that lasted less than eight minutes yet was so epic that it still lives in boxing lore. Two years later he was so disgusted after losing a decision to Sugar Ray Leonard — stolen, he claimed, by the judges — that he never fought again.One of the great middleweights in boxing history, Hagler died Saturday at age 66. His wife, Kay, announced his death on the Facebook page for Hagler’s fans.”I am sorry to make a very sad announcement,” she wrote. “Today unfortunately my beloved husband Marvelous Marvin passed away unexpectedly at his home here in New Hampshire. Our family requests that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.”Hagler fought on boxing’s biggest stages against its biggest names, as he, Leonard, Hearns and Roberto Duran dominated the middleweight classes during a golden time for boxing in the 1980s. Quiet with a brooding public persona, Hagler fought 67 times in 14 years as a pro out of Brockton, Massachusetts, finishing 62-3-2 with 52 knockouts.He fought with a proverbial chip on his shoulder, convinced that boxing fans and promoters alike didn’t give him his proper due. He was so upset that he wasn’t introduced before a 1982 fight by his nickname of Marvelous that he went to court to legally change his name.’A real man'”He was certainly one of the greatest middleweights ever but one of the greatest people that I’ve ever been around and promoted,” promoter Bob Arum said. “He was a real man, loyal and just fantastic person.”Any doubts Hagler wasn’t indeed Marvelous were erased on a spring night in 1985. He and Hearns met in one of the era’s big middleweight clashes outdoors at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, and when the opening bell rang, they traded punches for three minutes in an opening round many consider the best in boxing history.Hagler would go on to stop Hearns in the third round, crumpling him to the canvas with a barrage of punches even as blood poured from a large gash on his own forehead that nearly caused the referee to stop the fight earlier in the round.“That was an unbelievable fight,” Arum said. “Probably the greatest fight ever.”Hearns said Saturday that he was thinking about Hagler and their historic fight. Hagler wore a baseball cap with the word “War” while promoting it while on a 23-city tour with Hearns that Arum said made the fighters despise each other before they even entered the ring.“I can’t take anything away from him,” Hearns told The Associated Press. “His awkwardness messed me up, but I can’t take anything away from him. He fought his heart out and we put on a great show for all time.”FILE – In this April 1987 photo, Marvelous Marvin Hagler, left, moves in on Sugar Ray Leonard during the third round of a boxing bout in Las Vegas. Leonard won with a split decision. Hagler died March 13, 2021. He was 66.Hagler would fight only two more times, stopping John Mugabi a year later and then meeting Leonard, who was coming off a three-year layoff from a detached retina, in his final fight in 1987. Hagler was favored going into the fight and many thought he would destroy Leonard — but Leonard had other plans.Split decisionWhile Hagler pursued him around the ring, Leonard fought backing up, flicking out his left jab and throwing combinations that didn’t hurt Hagler but won him points on the ringside scorecards. Still, when the bell rang at the end of the 12th round, many thought Hagler had pulled out the fight — only to lose a controversial split decision.Hagler, who was paid $19 million, left the ring in disgust and never fought again. He moved to Italy to act, and never really looked back.”I feel fortunate to get out of the ring with my faculties and my health,” he said a year later.Hagler was born in Newark, New Jersey, and moved with his family to Brockton in the late 1960s. He was discovered as an amateur by the Petronelli brothers, Goody and Pat, who ran a gym in Brockton and would go on to train Hagler for his entire pro career.He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1983.  
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Japan will not take part in China’s offer — accepted by the International Olympic Committee — to provide vaccines for “participants” in the postponed Tokyo Games and next year’s Beijing Winter Games.Olympic Minister Tamayo Marukawa said Friday that Japan had not been consulted by the IOC about the Chinese vaccines, and that Japanese athletes would not take them. She said the vaccines have not been approved for use in Japan.”We have been taking comprehensive anti-infectious disease measures for the Tokyo Games in order to allow participation without vaccinations,” Marukawa said. “There is no change to our principle of not making vaccinations a prerequisite.”Announced by IOC President Thomas Bach on Thursday, the surprise deal comes as China faces mounting international pressure over the internment of at least 1 million Muslim Uyghurs, which has been labeled a “genocide” by several governments and human rights bodies.The IOC has indicated it is a sports body and will not meddle in domestic issues in China.The IOC initially said it would not require athletes to get vaccines, but only encourage it. The deal with China puts more emphasis on getting vaccines to young, healthy athletes and others.The IOC has said it will pay for the vaccines but gave no indication of the cost or quantity.Marukawa pointed out that the Olympics are being held as if vaccines are not available, relying on testing, masks, social distancing and keeping athletes in a “bubble.”Distribution of China’s vaccine will be through international agencies or existing vaccine agreements countries have with China, Bach said.The IOC clarified on Friday that athletes in countries which have not authorized Chinese vaccines for use could not benefit from the program.”This offer will really only apply to (national Olympic committees) in territories where the Chinese vaccination has been approved by their national health authorities,” said James MacLeod, the IOC official who works with those Olympic bodies.China, where the COVID-19 outbreak emerged in late 2019, has actively engaged in vaccine diplomacy, using doses developed by Sinovac and Sinopharm. Trials have produced generally lower levels of efficacy than vaccines produced outside China.Bach said Thursday “that a significant number of Olympic teams have already been vaccinated.” He did not name the countries.”The IOC will make every effort to have as many participants in the Olympics and Paralympic Games arriving already vaccinated in Japan this summer,” Bach said.Tokyo organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto, in a news conference on Friday, said people coming to Japan with vaccinations might help reassure a skeptical public.About 80% of Japanese in recent polls say the Olympics should be postponed or canceled, and almost as many do not want fans from abroad.Hashimoto said again that the decision on fans from overseas will be made before the torch relay begins on March 25. Numerous reports in Japan say the decision has already been made to ban foreign visitors.She also said a decision on venue capacity will be made in April.”The sooner the better,” she said. “At an earlier stage it is better to present the direction. We’ve been receiving requests to make the decision sooner.
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