Brad Pitt's 'F1' zooms to victory: record-breaking global opening leaves box office in the dust
Pitt, who plays the lead character, racecar driver Sonny Hayes, has achieved the biggest global opening of his career. Pitt has acted in more than 60 films thus far.
After just ten days in theatres, the movie, which has been produced by Apple, has revved up an impressive $300 million plus at the global box office, surpassing the total theatrical runs of Apple-produced 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and 'Napoleon', which earned $158 million and $221 million respectively.
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The Citizen
5 days ago
- The Citizen
Step up for annual Sanca Zululand fun walk
SANCA Zululand's message that children, teens and adults can have fun without taking drugs or other substances is going to be heard loud and clear at their upcoming spring walk. Lacing up their tekkies for the 19th time is the Sanca/Zululand Observer's Walk Away from Drugs team, who encourage the community to participate. ALSO READ: Pongola Regional Court sends 2 rapists to jail The fun 5km walk is scheduled for Saturday, 6 September, starting and finishing at Richards Bay's Zululand Yacht Club. This year's theme is 'Break the Cycle, #SpringIntoAction'. Registration starts at 7am, with the walk getting under way at 9am. A donation fee of R5 for children and R20 for adults. Join the fun and games from 7am for a karate demo and Café Gym's warm-up session. Café Gym will also bring a body assessment machine and give free assessments. Exciting prizes and trophies are up for grabs, including awards for the most learners registered (on the day only), most corporate entries, best team spirit, and best banners or slogans. Everyone in this walk against drugs is a winner and will receive a medal and a free hotdog! To preregister as a team, call the Sanca Zululand office on 035 772 3290. For more information, call Sanca on 035 7723290 or Dave Savides on 060 9719249. Don't have the ZO app? Download it to your Android or Apple device here: HAVE YOUR SAY Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. For news straight to your phone invite us: WhatsApp – 060 784 2695 Instagram – zululand_observer
IOL News
29-07-2025
- IOL News
What makes a person cool? Global study has some answers
The study showed that coolness is associated with the same six qualities around the world, regardless of culture. Image: Supplied Todd Pezzuti From Lagos to Cape Town, Santiago to Seoul, people want to be cool. 'Cool' is a word we hear everywhere – in music, in fashion, on social media. We use it to describe certain types of people. But what exactly makes someone cool? Is it just about being popular or trendy? Or is there something deeper going on? In a recent study I conducted with other marketing professors, we set out to answer a simple but surprisingly unexplored question. What are the personality traits and values that make someone seem cool – and do they differ across cultures? We asked nearly 6,000 people from 12 countries to think of someone they personally knew who was 'cool', 'not cool', 'good', or 'not good'. Then we asked them to describe that person's traits and values using validated psychological measures. We used this data to examine how coolness differs from general likeability or morality. The countries ranged from Australia to Turkey, the US to Germany, India to China, Nigeria to South Africa. Our data showed that coolness is uniquely associated with the same six traits around the world: cool people tend to be extroverted, hedonistic, adventurous, open, powerful, and autonomous. These findings help settle a long debate about what it means to be cool today. A brief history of cool Early writing on coolness described it as emotional restraint: being calm, composed and unbothered. This view, rooted in the metaphor of temperature and emotion, saw coolness as a sign of self-control and mastery. Some of these scholars trace this form of cool to slavery and segregation, where emotional restraint was a survival strategy among enslaved Africans and their descendants, symbolising autonomy and dignity in the face of oppression. Others propose 'cool' restraint existed long before slavery. Regardless, jazz musicians in the 1940s first helped popularise this cool persona – relaxed, emotionally contained, and stylish – an image later embraced by youth and various countercultures. Corporations like Nike, Apple and MTV commercialised cool, turning a countercultural attitude into a more commercially friendly global aesthetic. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ This is what makes someone cool Our findings suggest that the meaning of cool has changed. It's a way to identify and label people with a specific psychological profile. Cool people are outgoing and social (extroverted). They seek pleasure and enjoyment (hedonistic). They take risks and try new things (adventurous). They are curious and open to new experiences (open). They have influence or charisma (powerful). And perhaps most of all, they do things their own way (autonomous). This finding held remarkably steady across countries. Whether you're in the US, South Korea, Spain or South Africa, people tend to think that cool individuals have this same 'cool profile'. We also found that even though coolness overlaps with being good or favourable, being cool and being good are not the same. Being kind, calm, traditional, secure and conscientious were more associated with being good than cool. Some 'cool' traits were not necessarily good at all, like extroversion and hedonism. What about South Africa and Nigeria? One of the most fascinating aspects of our study was seeing how consistent the meaning of coolness was across cultures – even in countries with very different traditions and values. In South Africa, participants viewed cool people as extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous – just like participants from Europe to Asia. In South Africa, however, coolness is especially distinct from being good. South Africa is one of the countries in which being hedonistic, powerful, adventurous and autonomous was much more cool than good. Nigeria was the only country in which cool and uncool people were equally autonomous. So basically, individuality wasn't seen as cool. That difference might reflect cultural values that place a greater emphasis on community, respect for elders, or collective identity. In places where tradition and hierarchy matter, doing your own thing might not be cool. Social sciences, like all science, however, are not perfect. So, it's reasonable to speculate that autonomy might still be cool in Nigeria, with the discrepancy resulting from methodological issues such as how the Nigerian participants interpreted and responded to the survey. Nigeria was also unique because the distinction between cool and good wasn't as notable as in other countries. So coolness was seen more as goodness than in the other countries. Why does this matter? The fact that so many cultures agree on what makes someone cool suggests that 'coolness' may serve a shared social function. The traits that make people cool may make them more likely to try new things, innovate new styles and fashions, and influence others. These individuals often push boundaries and introduce new ideas – in fashion, art, politics, or technology. They inspire others and help shape what's seen as modern, desirable, or forward-thinking. Coolness, in this sense, might function as a kind of cultural status marker – a reward for being bold, open-minded and innovative. It's not just about surface style. It's about signalling that you're ahead of the curve, and that others should pay attention. So what can we learn from this? For one, young people in South Africa, Nigeria, and around the world may have more in common than we often think. Despite vast cultural differences, they tend to admire the same traits. That opens up interesting possibilities for cross-cultural communication, collaboration and influence. Second, if we want to connect with or inspire others – whether through education, branding, or leadership – it helps to understand what people see as cool. Coolness may not be a universal virtue, but it is a universal currency. And finally, there's something reassuring in all this: coolness is not about being famous or rich. It's about how you live. Are you curious? Courageous? True to yourself? If so, chances are someone out there thinks you're cool – no matter where you're from. | The Conversation Todd Pezzuti is Associate Professor, Business School, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez
Daily Maverick
29-07-2025
- Daily Maverick
From TMO madness to English ‘pies' — why did they have to go and make things so complicated?
Several huge sports events suffer from complex rules, leading to anticlimactic viewing. Somewhere in a time long ago (2002 to be precise), my oldest child drove me slightly crazy by constantly demanding a particular song by Avril Lavigne. The chorus of that hit came echoing back this weekend as I attempted to indulge in what I thought would be a cornucopia of top-level, global, highly competitive sport – the second Test between the Wallabies and British & Irish Lions, England versus India Test cricket, the climax of the Tour de France and the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix. As each of those events progressed (or didn't) in increasingly bewildering ways, I found myself channelling Lavigne and singing loudly: 'Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?' At one point I was switching between elite F1 drivers doing the first four laps of the mere 44 they were going to be allowed in a 20-minute uncompetitive procession behind a safety car, elite cyclists drifting through the countryside drinking champagne and elite cricketers arguing about whether they should be on the field at all given that the Test was grinding towards a draw. The day before, the thrilling series-deciding second rugby Test between the Wallabies and Lions ended up, inevitably, with everyone watching lengthy slow-motion TV replays to determine whether the Lions' last-gasp try would stand. What we saw was a highly dangerous assault on a Wallaby neck or a perfect clean-out, depending entirely on your bias. My conclusion was that it was probably both. It was legitimate but shouldn't be. And it was definitely anticlimactic and unsatisfactory. The entire thing was the apex of the television match official (TMO) madness which has descended on rugby and means its myriad complex laws are being second- and third-guessed all the time. The authorities need to be asked the Lavigne question. 'Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?' Judgement calls TMO's should be for groundings over the try line and seriously dangerous or foul play which the on-field officials have not seen (an important qualification). Leave the rest to the judgement of the guys with a whistle and flags. If the occasional marginally forward pass, tiny knock-on, head-on-shoulder contact or truck-and-trailer side-entry channel block (I made that up but it could be a thing for all I know) gets missed, then so be it. If the disciplinary committee post-match wants to reassess dangerous-play calls and impose bans, then that's okay, but let's not stop the game for a Supreme Court hearing. Meanwhile, back at the venerable Spa-Francorchamps F1 circuit (a legendary track beautifully set in the Ardennes Forest which could soon be replaced by a soulless expansion venue in Thailand), the torturous rules of that sport were, yet again, getting in the way of a decent contest. Rain was causing issues but watching cars parked for an hour in sunshine and then not compete for one-10th of the shortened 'race' before a 'rolling start', which is nothing like the drama of a normal start, probably made cautious sense somewhere in a rule book but made none at all to an average punter like me. I still do not understand what happened to Lewis Hamilton back in 2021 when he was cruising to a world title over Max Verstappen until some random behind him crashed and his substantial lead was wiped out by the safety car and some drivers were 'unlapped' and some changed tyres but he couldn't. F1 measures things to milliseconds on lap times and milligrams of vehicle weight and yet cannot contrive a system where a safety car means the gaps remain the same as they were before it came out. And then we have the compelling yet bizarre dance that is the Tour de France. So many questions. Why don't they race properly for most of the final day? Why do the main riders stop when a leader crashes? Why are some teams complaining that one team 'wins too many stages'? Why is it unacceptable to attack in a particular way but not in others? Why is the best rider on the day often reined in to help his teammate rather than going for the stage win? In short, 'why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?' And then, the world-champion sport on rules and etiquette complexity, Test match cricket, really kicked in. England were frustrated on the final day at Old Trafford by some superb rearguard batting from India, which gained them a draw and kept an excellent series alive. Once a decisive outcome was impossible, the English team felt everyone should shake hands and get off work early. India captain Shubman Gill, rightly, was having none of it because he wanted his not-out batters to reach their hundreds and to tire out his opponents (who had invited this fate by putting them into bat after winning the toss) before the decisive Test starting on Thursday. The English then sulked and bowled what we used to call 'pies' – part-timers delivering rubbish. It was an unedifying and completely uncompetitive spectacle. And one that is almost impossible to explain to anyone other than a Test cricket tragic.
