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‘Taken' actor reveals close bond with ex-Playboy model

‘Taken' actor reveals close bond with ex-Playboy model

Independent7 days ago
Liam Neeson has expressed his strong admiration for Pamela Anderson, stating he is "madly in love" with her after they filmed the new Naked Gun movie together.
Neeson, 72, and Anderson, 57, developed a close bond while shooting the comedy spoof reboot, where Neeson portrays the son of Leslie Nielsen's character, Frank Drebin.
Anderson reciprocated the praise, describing Neeson as "the perfect gentleman" and crediting him with bringing out the best in her.
Despite their evident connection, both actors have dismissed any romance rumours, with Neeson indicating he is "done with dating" and Anderson affirming a sincere, lasting friendship.
The new Naked Gun film, directed by Akiva Schaffer, is set to be released on 1 August.
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Arnold Schwarzenegger makes ‘cameo' return to popular movie franchise
Arnold Schwarzenegger makes ‘cameo' return to popular movie franchise

The Independent

time21 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Arnold Schwarzenegger makes ‘cameo' return to popular movie franchise

Arnold Schwarzenegger 's likeness has been used in an epilogue scene for Predator: Killer of Killers, marking his return to the franchise after almost 40 years. The actor, 77, gave his permission for his character, Major Alan 'Dutch' Schaefer, to be featured in the new scene, which is canon to the series. Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, the epilogue shows predator warriors carrying coffins of several human characters, including Dutch, Lt Mike Harrigan, and Naru. Schwarzenegger previously provided voice work for the Predator: Hunting Grounds video game five years ago. Separately, Schwarzenegger identified Terminator: Salvation as the worst film in The Terminator franchise, citing his absence from the movie as the reason.

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review – is this the future for America?
Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review – is this the future for America?

The Guardian

time21 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart review – is this the future for America?

Gary Shteyngart is the observational standup of American letters, a puckish, playful Russian-born author who views the US through the eyes of an inquisitive tourist. The immigrant melting pot of New York is his stage; the intricate English language his prop. Shteyngart's characters, typically lightly veiled alter egos, are always getting lost, tripping up and mangling basic social interactions. It's the missed connections and short circuits that give his fictions their spark. Shteyngart's sixth novel is a lively, skittish Bildungsroman, shading towards darkness as it tracks the journey – literal, educational, emotional – of 10-year-old Vera Bradford-Shmulkin, an overanxious, over-watchful academic high achiever whose run of straight As has just been blighted by a B. 'Being smart is one of the few things I have to be proud of,' laments Vera, who diligently maintains a 'Things I Still Need to Know Diary' in which she makes note of difficult words and intriguing figures of speech. The girl is articulate and precocious, bent on self-improvement, and never mind the fact that she confuses 'facile' with 'futile' and 'hollowed' with 'hallowed' and is wont to wax lyrical about the 'she-she' districts of Manhattan. Her vocabulary is almost – but crucially not quite – sufficient to give us the whole story and explain what it means. Always happy to show his workings, Shteyngart cites Henry James's 1897 novel What Maisie Knew as the prompt for Vera, or Faith's child's-eye account of complicated adult affairs, although his gauche heroine bears a passing resemblance to the author himself as portrayed in his 2014 memoir, Little Failure. Friendless Vera lives with her rackety Russian-Jewish father, Igor (Shteyngart's name at birth), who edits a floundering liberal arts magazine, her harried Wasp stepmother, Anne (who added the 'e' in tribute to Anne Frank), and a boisterous younger half-brother, Dylan, who likes exposing himself to houseguests. But she also has (or possibly had) a Korean-born mother, long since vanished from the scene. Invisible Iris Choi plays the tale's white whale or MacGuffin; the elusive hidden figure that Vera is determined to locate. The eccentric Bradford-Shmulkins are lurching towards crisis, but they seem a model of stability when compared with the rest of the country, which reveals itself in unflattering flashes in the corners of the narrative. Shteyngart's novel, we come to realise, plays out a decade from now, in a 'post-democracy' USA where red state officials monitor menstrual cycles, self-driving cars shop their owners to the feds and the news platforms are abuzz with Russian disinformation. Desperate to redeem herself at school, Vera prepares to debate in support of the proposed 'Five-Three Amendment', a piece of racist legislation that would grant added voting weight to those 'exceptional Americans' whose ancestors arrived before the revolutionary war, 'but were exceptional enough not to arrive in chains'. In so doing, of course, she's arguing against her own interests. Blond, blue-eyed Dylan would count as an 'exceptional American'. Dark‑haired, brown-eyed Vera would not. Henry James provides the prompt but his involvement begins and ends there, because Vera, or Faith isn't Jamesian at all. The prose is simple, breezy and conversational, even when it's stumbling artfully over its words. If Shteyngart's novel possesses anything so fixed as a north star or a patron saint, it's surely not James but Vladimir Nabokov. The title references Ada, or Ardor, while its protagonist comes styled in the manner of a pint-sized Timofey Pnin: a dogged innocent caught between cultures and half-lost in translation. In the course of her adventures, Vera learns that she was named after Nabokov's wife, 'a woman who was a genius herself but in the olden days she had to serve her husband'. Vera Nabokov's 21st-century namesake – driven and decent and at the top of her class – similarly risks being dismissed as a second-class citizen. The novel is busy and ingratiating, almost to a fault, which is to say that it feels distracted, unsettled; a cultural code-switcher itself. Vera, or Faith was reputedly drafted at speed in a little under two months, incorporating elements from a spy novel that the author had recently abandoned. That accounts for its messy vitality and its frequent, perturbing shifts of gear. Shteyngart's ode to a good American in a bad America conspires to be, by turns, a rueful human comedy and a coming-of-age caper, a dystopian chiller and an espionage yarn. The colourful tale never satisfyingly hangs together; its component pieces tend to jar more than gel. But Shteyngart sets about his material with abundant energy and charm. He sketches a convincing caricature of a near-future USA and provides a stoical heroine that we can uncomplicatedly root for. Even in a degraded, compromised, up-is-down social climate, that has to be deserving of a solid B grade at least. Vera, or Faith by Gary Shteyngart is published by Atlantic (£16.99). To support the Guardian order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.

My ex-husband of 12 years left for my SISTER after I couldn't have kids – now I'm babysitting their kid at the wedding
My ex-husband of 12 years left for my SISTER after I couldn't have kids – now I'm babysitting their kid at the wedding

The Sun

time21 minutes ago

  • The Sun

My ex-husband of 12 years left for my SISTER after I couldn't have kids – now I'm babysitting their kid at the wedding

A WOMAN has revealed the jaw-dropping reason she's spending the day babysitting, while her ex-husband marries her sister. In a viral TikTok, content creator Chloe Cotterell recounted the explosive story, but made clear she's telling someone else's tale, not her own. 2 And it's one that's left viewers completely stunned. The anonymous woman, whose identity Chloe keeps private, opens up about her 12-year marriage to her now ex, who she refers to simply as Mark. The couple had been together for over a decade and were desperate for children. But after struggling to conceive, things started to unravel. She said: 'I'd like to think that was the breaking point in our marriage, because we both wanted kids so badly.' She believed, aside from that pain, their relationship was solid. But one ordinary Tuesday, Mark came home from work and asked for a divorce out of the blue. Heartbroken and confused, she turned to her sister, her closest confidante, for support. But that, she now says, was a 'big mistake.' Although she still doesn't know if her sister and husband had been secretly involved before the divorce, what happened next made things crystal clear. Coldplay fan who filmed CEO 'cheating' with HR chief at gig takes swipe at couple As the divorce dragged on, partly because she earned significantly more than Mark and he was, according to her, 'trying to take the majority of my money'. She discovered her sister and ex were in fact officially seeing each other. Before the papers were even signed. 'It was such a shock,' she said. 'I was absolutely distraught.' But now, some time has passed and with her ex and sister tying the knot, she's able to see it in a very different light. She revealed the couple now have a child together and she would be on auntie duty, babysitting their love child through the wedding ceremony. Despite the shocking betrayal, she says she's not bitter. In fact, she's surprisingly upbeat about the whole thing. She said: 'I've escaped a lifetime of hurt with that man. And honestly, I think it's hilarious my sister's so desperate, she ended up with my ex.' Now, with a new chapter ahead, she's hoping the wedding brings at least one silver lining. 'Let's hope there's some hot single men at the wedding,' she laughed. 'Because I need one.' The TikTok has gone viral, racking up thousands of comments from viewers urging her to get revenge smartly. One user said: "Whoever's story this is, is stronger than me. I would never see or speak to them ever again". Another added: "I am gobsmacked, I would never speak to my sister again". While a third fan revealed a similar situation: "My Mum divorced my Dad and then married his identical twin brother 3 months later". It seems betrayal within the family is more common than you might think. Recently, a woman ran to TikTok begging for help after discovering her husband had cheated on her with her little sister. After finding out her little sister had gone through a difficult break-up and lost her job, she let her come and stay with her and her husband, trusting her sister completely. But that trust was shattered after she walked into the kitchen one afternoon and saw something that left her sick to her stomach. Meanwhile, not everyone handles cheating so calmly. A mum has got the ultimate revenge on her cheating ex after he threatened to rob the home she lives in with his kid. The furious woman has gone viral after destroying her partner's designer clothes in a blaze of paint-splattered glory. Four red flags your partner is cheating Private Investigator Aaron Bond from BondRees revealed four warning signs your partner might be cheating. They start to take their phone everywhere with them In close relationships, it's normal to know each other's passwords and use each other's phones, if their phone habits change then they may be hiding something. Aaron says: "If your partner starts changing their passwords, starts taking their phone everywhere with them, even around the house or they become defensive when you ask to use their phone it could be a sign of them not being faithful." "You should also look at how they place their phone down when not in use. If they face the phone with the screen facing down, then they could be hiding something." They start telling you less about their day When partners cheat they can start to avoid you, this could be down to them feeling guilty or because it makes it easier for them to lie to you. "If you feel like your partner has suddenly begun to avoid you and they don't want to do things with you any more or they stop telling you about their day then this is another red flag." "Partners often avoid their spouses or tell them less about their day because cheating can be tough, remembering all of your lies is impossible and it's an easy way to get caught out," says Aaron. Their libido changes Your partner's libido can change for a range of reasons so it may not be a sure sign of cheating but it can be a red flag according to Aaron. Aaron says: "Cheaters often have less sex at home because they are cheating, but on occasions, they may also have more sex at home, this is because they feel guilty and use this increase in sex to hide their cheating. You may also find that your partner will start to introduce new things into your sex life that weren't there before." They become negative towards you Cheaters know that cheating is wrong and to them, it will feel good, this can cause tension and anxiety within themselves which they will need to justify. "To get rid of the tension they feel inside they will try to convince themselves that you are the problem and they will become critical of you out of nowhere. Maybe you haven't walked the dog that day, put the dishes away or read a book to your children before bedtime. A small problem like this can now feel like a big deal and if you experience this your partner could be cheating," warns Aaron.

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