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VIDEO: Gwyneth Paltrow hired by Astronomer to 'answer' questions after scandal

VIDEO: Gwyneth Paltrow hired by Astronomer to 'answer' questions after scandal

The Stara day ago
Gwyneth Paltrow married Chris Martin in 2003. The couple divorce in 2016.
In a surprising turn of events, Astronomer has hired Gwyneth Paltrow to 'answer questions' from the Internet.
Paltrow and Coldplay's frontman Chris Martin married in 2003 and divorced in 2016.
This comes after the company's now former-CEO was mired in controversy after being seen at a Coldplay concert with the firm's HR head.
The Oscar-winning Paltrow says in the video that she has been hired on a "very temporary" basis to answer common questions that people have been asking on the Internet.
While the star doesn't actually answer any questions or address any real concerns that netizens may have conveyed earlier, the actor does redirect the conversation to the products that the firm already offers.
Just last week, Astronomer's CEO Andy Byron put in his resignation, according to a statement issued by the tech company.
Andy Byron and Kristin Cabot have since left Astronomer. Photo: TIkTok
The company said on X, "As stated previously, Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding. Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.
"Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted. The Board will begin a search for our next Chief Executive as Cofounder and Chief Product Officer Pete DeJoy continues to serve as interim CEO."
The HR head Kristin Cabot, accused of having an affair with Byron, has reportedly left her job as well, according to TMZ. – Khaleej Times/Tribune News Service
Thank you for your interest in Astronomer. pic.twitter.com/WtxEegbAMY — Astronomer (@astronomerio) July 25, 2025
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The claw grip is trending, and it says a lot about women's fashion woes
The claw grip is trending, and it says a lot about women's fashion woes

The Star

time6 hours ago

  • The Star

The claw grip is trending, and it says a lot about women's fashion woes

Everywhere you look, women have their hands full. They are clutching water bottles, phones, cups of matcha and wallets. Now that it's summer, sunglasses dangle off the pinkies of already stuffed hands. Never mind that women's handbags, where these items could theoretically live, make up an entire industry and that bigger bags, in particular, are having a moment. The phenomenon, in which women are gripping their necessities without the aid of pockets or bags, is called the claw grip, and on social media, it has been crowned as a secret superpower. In one video on TikTok, a woman challenged herself to carry as many items as possible in one hand. She managed 15, including a lip balm, a pen, a bottle of hand sanitiser, a Kindle, a notebook, a wallet, a power bank, a comb and three water bottles. Read more: Why toes are taking over: Fashion's growing obsession with feet-first style An Instagram account dedicated to girls carrying things (which uses a profane synonym for 'things' and sometimes goes by GCS) posts images submitted by users of their hands full of various bric-a-brac. 'I have seen my grandma do the claw grip all her life,' comedian Atsuko Okatsuka said in an email. 'Every grandma of every culture and race always has, like, a napkin or a piece of trash that they've been carrying around for a long time, maybe years. 'I have taken on the passed-down tradition of claw hands myself,' she added. 'Whether it's mayonnaise packets, or napkins or my cellphone, I am always holding stuff.' For Halle Robbe, personal experience with this tradition prompted her to create the GCS account on Instagram. In 2021, Robbe had run out to a nearby bodega. 'I just brought my keys, my wallet and my AirPods with me, and then I was going to get a Red Bull,' she said, noting that she did not bring a bag. 'I had it all in my hand so I took a photo and put it on my personal Instagram with some silly caption that was some version of, like, 'After hundreds of years of evolution, this is what I can do.'' Her friends responded to her post almost immediately, saying they do the same thing. Robbe created the GCS account that same day. She initially solicited photos from friends and co-workers, and now she receives more than 100 submissions a day. 'I think we've all been there when we have just, like, an assortment of stuff and we're running out the door,' said Abby Cox, 29, a fashion historian and a YouTube content creator. 'I need to make sure I have my glasses. I need my water bottle. Do I need to bring a snack? 'And so you're going out the door with your purse,' she added, 'And then the stuff that should be in your purse.' A popular theory around the origins of the claw grip is that it is a reaction to the fashion industry's refusal to provide women with the functional pockets that are standard in men's clothing. It was not always this way. As far back as the Regency and Victorian eras, women had pockets in the form of bags that were tied around their waists underneath their big, flouncy skirts, Cox said. Their dresses had slits through which women could access these pockets, which could be as big or small as necessary. Cox added: 'They would have pockets in the hems of skirts or they would have what we call butt pockets, because in the back pleats of gowns, you could hide a deep pocket.' In one of her YouTube videos, in which she is dressed in Victorian clothing, she put an entire bottle of prosecco in such a pocket. In the late 20th century, as female clothing shifted toward narrower silhouettes and lighter textiles, substantial pockets became difficult to incorporate, so they were sized down or erased from garments altogether, she said. In February 2024, Hailey Bieber's brand, Rhode, released a phone case with a built-in lip gloss holder that generated a wait list of more than 200,000 interested customers. Now the case and the lip gloss have become immediately recognisable, partly because of how many times they're seen peeking through women's hands – or particularly, Bieber's hands. This month, Glossier – which from its earliest days had packaged items in pink transparent reusable pouches – released a pair of terry-cloth shorts with a sliver of a pocket that fit only lip balms. There are also side pockets, which could fit a phone, and a single belt loop, potentially for key rings. 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At 70, Godzilla keeps on smashing expectations and buildings.
At 70, Godzilla keeps on smashing expectations and buildings.

The Star

time12 hours ago

  • The Star

At 70, Godzilla keeps on smashing expectations and buildings.

Steve Ryfle remembers scouring the TV Guide each week to find the monster movies and Universal horror films he loved. 'You had to make an appointment with yourself to be by the TV, so it was really special,' recalls Ryfle, an author and co-writer of the Emmy-winning documentary Miracle On 42nd Street. 'The Japanese films always appealed to me the most. 'They were intriguing because they took place in a world that was unfamiliar, a culture that was unfamiliar.' Godzilla, he says, was especially captivating to a dinosaur-loving kid. 'Of course, when you're younger, you're into dinosaurs,' he says. 'Godzilla seemed like the greatest dinosaur I'd ever seen, and it did all these crazy things, and I just loved it.' 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'Godzilla, at its very heart, is a monster rooted in trauma,' says author Ryfle. — Famous Monsters/Instagram Reflection of the times The book, which features introductions by Halloween and The Thing directing legend John Carpenter and recurring Godzilla actress Megumi Odaka, is the culmination of an effort by the publisher and Toho Studios to mark the anniversary with the ultimate English-language book examining the narrative and visual history of the films, says Ryfle. 'Dating back to 1954, Godzilla has, of course, gone through all of these different iterations and ­evolutions and changes and its motivation and its personality and the way it's depicted on screen, and even the techniques that are used to bring it to life,' says Ryfle, who points to the recent box office success and critical respect for 2023's Godzilla Minus One . 'I mean, who would have thought 70 years ago that a Godzilla movie made in Japan would win an Academy Award? It would have been impossible, and yet here we are.' 'It's a real evolution from the time when these movies were sort of misunderstood and just relegated to the scrap heap of low-budget cinema they were assumed to be.' 'Obviously, there are interesting stories to tell about these movies and the people who made them,' he says. 'It's really kind of a celebration of the people and the culture that they come from. The people who made these movies were proud of the work that they did, because they were basically, by and large, handmade films.' History of Godzilla is looked into extensively in a massive new book titled Godzilla: The First 70 Years. — TNS Rooted in trauma Unlike other schlocky mid- century genre movies, the original Godzilla films reflected Japan's experience during and after World War II. The films were a response not only to the devastation caused by the United States detonating atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also to the firebombing of Tokyo in which nearly 300 US planes dropped 1665 tonnes of napalm on the city, creating a firestorm and killing 100,000 people in what the Truman Library Institute called 'the most devastating aerial bombardment in history'. 'Godzilla, at its very heart from the very beginning, is a monster rooted in trauma,' says Ryfle. 'It's also really about that collective experience of the war and the struggle and the hardships that people went through – and also the collective experience of the post-war period when the economy was in shambles and there were food shortages and political unrest and unemployment and deprivation of extreme magnitude.' There are images in the original film that directly correspond to wartime destruction, says Ryfle. 'When I'm giving talks about the first Godzilla film, I'll show stills of Tokyo on fire,' says Ryfle, referring to actual photos taken during wartime bombing raids. 'I'll put up these two pictures side by side ... it's almost like a mirror image.' As well as exploring the film's inspirations – such as the original King Kong, which had been a huge success upon re-release just a few years before the initial Godzilla film – Ryfle and Godziszewski did interviews and scoured archives for fresh insights – and found things that surprised them despite having decades of experience writing about the films. 'Ed and I've been writing together for a number of years and working on a lot of different projects. We actually met 30 years ago at the very first Godzilla convention that they had in Chicago,' says Ryfle, praising his writing partner Godziszewski as 'a legend' when it comes to knowing the topic and where to dig up information. Not only did they discover the audio elements of the iconic Godzilla roar – many of the ­monster cries were made with different musical instruments, says Ryfle – but they also learned something surprising about the changing face of Godzilla over the years. 'From 1954 to, say, 1975, the suit looks different pretty much in almost every film, and I always thought that was on purpose. 'But no, they actually made the suits, at least for about the first 15 years, from the same mould. They just came out differently every time,' says Ryfle, who credits the actor inside the suit, Haruo Nakajima, both for his artistry and his superhuman stamina. 'The very first suit was almost unusable. It weighed so much and the interior of it was almost inflexible ... the guy tried to walk in it and just tipped over.' 'It was impossible to be inside without suffocating if you were in it for more than a few minutes ... it was almost a death sentence to do this stuff,' says Ryfle, adding that Nakajima would sweat out dozens of pounds during filming. 'They would have to pour the sweat out of the suit every day, and then dry out the interior for the next day, because it was just a sauna in there. Though the 'man-in-the-suit' aspect could sometimes be viewed as comical, Ryfle says Nakajima's work was instrumental in the creature's evolution and popularity. 'I attribute a large part of the success of those movies to Haruo Nakajima, who played Godzilla for roughly the first 18 years of the first cycle of Godzilla films,' says Ryfle, while also praising the original film's special effects wizard, director and cast. 'He was just a wonderful man who died a couple of years ago. 'He loved his work, and he's largely responsible for the personality that starts to come through.' 'He turns Godzilla from a walking nuclear bomb into a character over a period of time,' says Ryfle. In the beginning, original King Kong films served as an inspiration for Godzilla movies. Presently, the two gigantic creatures have appeared together in Hollywood films. — Handout Lasting power While we discussed a range of topics and there's much more in the book, Ryfle summed up the project as we were concluding the conversation. 'Someone asked me, like, what was your goal at the start of it?' he says. 'We wanted to make the best Godzilla book for the widest possible audience. 'I've always felt from the beginning that (the films) were unfairly maligned and misunderstood, and that maybe I could help, especially after I started meeting the creators and realising what passion they had for their work, and starting to understand how culturally specific these films are.' But he also understands another reason for Godzilla's lasting power. 'On a gut level, no matter what's going on in the film and how quote-unquote 'serious' it is as a movie,' says Ryfle, 'people really want to see the spectacle of Godzilla destroying things.' – The Orange County Register/Tribune News Service

'Tron: Ares' brings light cycles and Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, to Comic-Con
'Tron: Ares' brings light cycles and Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, to Comic-Con

The Star

time16 hours ago

  • The Star

'Tron: Ares' brings light cycles and Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, to Comic-Con

Atmosphere at the Tron: Ares panel in Hall H of the convention center during Comic Con International in San Diego, California on July 25, 2025. (Photo by Chris DELMAS/ AFP) The Grid took over Comic-Con on Friday, bringing the stars of the new Tron: Ares films to unveil footage and reveal the story behind the franchise's third movie. The film stars Jared Leto, Jeff Bridges, Greta Lee and Jodie Turner-Smith as the story brings the virtual environment of the Grid, complete with light cylces, into the real world. Disney showed off several minutes of footage, including a light cycle chase scene in the real world and another in the red-hued Grid. Propelling the onscreen action is a propulsive Nine Inch Nails soundtrack. "It's fun to see it on the big screen for the first time,' said director Joachim Rønning. Disney turned the Hall H panel into a spectacle, with red lasers filling the room and characters in suits with red lights entering the massive hall. Asked what excited her about joining the Tron franchise, Lee responded: "I just wanted to ride a light cycle.' Leto spoke affectionately about the original saying: "This movie just grabbed a hold of me and took me to a place that I'd never been before. It kind of rattled my imagination and it kind of showed me what was possible in the world.' He praised Bridges and Steven Lisberger, who created Tron and directed the 1982 original. Lisberger attended Friday's panel and laid out his case for why the franchise remains relevant. "My feeling about Tron is that the most important thing is we kick this technology around artistically before it kicks us around,' Lisberger said. "I am weary about hearing all the grim news about the future,' he said, and the way he thinks it can be avoided is to "inspire young people what can be done with this technology.' Friday's panel ended with the premiere of the music video for As Alive as You Need Me to Be , the first Nine Inch Nails song from the soundtrack. Tron has never been in the top tier of sci-fi franchises. The original 1982 film starring Bridges as Kevin Flynn, a man sucked into a computer vortex known as the Grid, was admired for its ground-breaking concept and effects, and was a modest hit with moderately good reviews. Perhaps more importantly, it won a cult following and has been maintained enough in cultural memory to remain a valuable property for Disney. The 2010 film Tron: Legacy , starring Bridges and Garrett Hedlund, made more than US$400mil globally. A TV show that followed, Tron: Uprising , lasted just one season. Rønning has helmed other Disney franchise films: 2017's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and 2019's Maleficent: Mistress of Evil . The Norweigan director said he was interested because he dreamed about making a sci-fi film and enjoyed the twist of Ares bringing the Grid into the real world. Leto and Bridges are both Oscar winners, and Rønning is an Oscar nominee. – AP

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