Latest news with #Amazing
Mint
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Mint
Emma Stone recalls 'special time' while working with Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man films
Los Angeles [US], August 18 (ANI): Emma Stone has made a rare mention of her ex-boyfriend, Andrew Garfield, sharing her experience of sharing the screen with him in 'The Amazing Spider-Man' films. Before Tom Holland took over as the face of Peter Parker, Garfield donned the famous Spider-Man suit for the 'Amazing' franchise alongside Stone, who played his on-screen love interest. The Oscar winner recalled some fond memories of working with Garfield. "I mean, I really loved doing Spider-Man. I loved everyone I worked with. I met Andrew there. I met Sally Field, and Marc Webb was wonderful. It was really a special time in my life," Stone said in a recent interview, as quoted by People. She added that the people around her made the shooting experience better for her. "The recurring theme is the people, more than the film itself, that sticks with me for so long. And so I have only the fondest memories of this whole experience," Stone said. This marks a very rare instance when Emma Stone has opened up about her ex-boyfriend, whom she met on the sets of 2012's 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and dated for four years. On the other hand, Andrew Garfield has always been full of praise for Stone. In a 2021 interview with Variety, the actor said that his experience on films with Emma Stone was "beautiful" as he got to meet and work with her. Stone made her debut as Gwen Stacy in the 2012 film, which was a reboot of the original 'Spider-Man' trilogy. It was in the sequel that her character died during a battle with the Green Goblin. Garfield later made a return as the superhero in 2021's 'Spider-Man: No Way Home,' alongside Tobey Maguire and Holland. It is yet to be seen if the actor will come back for a fourth time. (ANI)
ABC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Alex Lloyd
Skip to main content Introduced by Australian Story presenter Leigh Sales. For the past year, Australian Story has been filming with the musician lauded as one of the best voices in the business, as he gets his life and career back on track. In a raw and unfiltered account, Alex Lloyd speaks exclusively about overcoming a five-year prescription drug addiction that followed in the wake of a 2009 court case where he was accused of stealing his hit song, Amazing. The case was dropped mid-trial and the court awarded Alex costs, but he lost his marriage and his impetus to write music, which had always been his solace. Now aged 50, and almost three years free of addiction, Alex is preparing to release his first collection of new music in 12 years. Airs Monday 18 August, 8pm on ABC TV and ABC iview
ABC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
After years of private turmoil, Alex Lloyd is ready for the spotlight again
Life was so sweet for Alex Lloyd for a while. Amazing, even. The boy from Balmain's hit song had catapulted him to stardom. He'd met and married his great love, started a family and moved to London. But then, to borrow from the lyrics of that song that is so deeply woven into Australia's fabric, every wolf was at his door. "I ended up in a place where no one could really help me," Alex tells Australian Story in an exclusive interview. A legal fight over the authorship of Amazing sparked an unravelling. Resurfaced childhood trauma led to a marriage breakdown, extreme weight gain and ultimately an addiction to oxycodone that saw the four-time ARIA Award winner, including three for Best Male Artist, fade from view. But now, at 50, with his first studio album in 12 years in the works, Alex Lloyd is learning to "be OK with me" and is ready to do some amazing things. "Now, I'm seeing the world differently. And I think I'm ready to share this part of me now and be scrutinised again," he says. He was a chubby kid with a mohawk, an acoustic guitar and a voice that mesmerised the bustling crowd at the Balmain Markets in the mid-1980s. "He would play blues covers with such strength and conviction, people would just stop what they were doing," says friend Sally Gluckstern, who met Alex when he was 10. "He came alive when he sang, but when he wasn't singing, he was incredibly shy," she recalls. "I remember feeling there was something sort of heavy about him. Heavy inside." Music was always Alex's escape from a chaotic childhood of dyslexia, violence, love and loss. By 13, he was gigging at pubs and his bluesy, soulful voice and poignant storytelling would become his ticket out of struggle street. When Amazing hit the airwaves in 2001, it took Alex into rarefied air. "It genuinely is one of the Aussie anthems of the last 25 years," says friend and former triple j announcer Adam Spencer. "It's left an indelible mark on Australian music." They were heady days — travelling the world, partying and making music. "I've had some extreme highs, like highs that hardly anyone gets to experience," says Alex. "I got to sing in a castle and meet kings and queens and princesses, like, it's crazy." He married Amelia Mills, who he'd spotted in the crowd on a tour for his debut album Black the Sun, became a dad and moved to London to work on his first independent album. He was the "happiest guy on the planet". Then, the legal letter arrived. Out of the blue, truck driver and one-time musician Mark O'Keefe alleged Alex had stolen Amazing. O'Keefe claimed he'd co-written the hit with Alex on the back of coasters when they played at the same pub when Alex was a teenager. The "ridiculous" claim challenged Alex's artistic integrity. "I couldn't think of anything worse than stealing somebody's song," he says. But more destructively, in order to rebut the claim, Alex had to cast his mind back to those tough years he thought he'd left behind. Childhood trauma "just comes and bites you in the arse", Alex says. Alex's parents split when he was about six, and he and his brother, Oliver, lived with their mother, Bridget Lloyd. He loved his "crazy in a beautiful way" mum, a struggling artist who'd start painting at midnight, waking Alex up with the smell of oil paint and Ry Cooder on the stereo. Her relationship with a violent binge drinker led to terrifying times, when the man would beat Bridget, "banging her head against the hard wood floor". Alex would try to intervene but was too young and powerless — and had his own battles with his volatile brother. "I had to go back in time and discover all this shit that I hadn't dealt with," Alex says. "The beatings on my mother, the beatings from my brother, being called a fat shit all the time." When Bridget died suddenly, when Alex was 16, he "cried for six months". The legal action took him back there, with O'Keefe initially claiming Amazing was written in 1989 soon after Bridget's death. But Bridget died in 1991. O'Keefe withdrew his claim soon after the case reached court, but the damage was done. Depression set in, his weight ballooned and the songs wouldn't flow. "I fell apart," Alex says. "I was scared to write songs on my own because I thought, 'If I write this song on my own, anyone can say they wrote it.''" By 2012, Alex and the family returned to Australia but the marriage didn't survive. Losing Amelia and not living with his four children sent Alex into a spiral. On the weekends, when he had the kids, he'd cook up a storm and "pull out all stops". But when they left, he'd walk up the street to the bottle shop. "I'd buy really expensive champagne … and a pack of Twisties," Alex says. "Then the next three days, I'd eat KFC and Pizza Hut and Domino's. And I'd lie in bed." He was frittering money away, "trying to doubly be destructive to my bank balance", which had already taken a $300,000 hit in legal fees from the court case. Performing had always been a joy but this period was different. "I was 168kg and I was going out and doing shows in front of 10,000 people with my face on a massive screen," Alex says. Photographs of him online attracted a flood of fat-shaming comments. "I didn't feel very good about myself," he says. "[I was] in a lot of pain all the time, emotionally and physically." He was suffering crippling nerve pain caused by the complete wearing away of the cartilage between vertebrae in his neck. Nothing he was prescribed worked. One day, someone offered him the painkilling opioid oxycodone. It is, Alex says, "an evil drug". None of Alex's rock star partying prepared him for the insidious assault of oxycodone. At first, he thought: "This is the answer to everything." His pain was managed, his depression eased and he was motivated, pulling back his drinking and running long distances. But, he says: "I had no idea what I was getting into with that drug … I didn't know how addictive it was." He took more and more — but it wasn't enough. He tried to get off it but couldn't. "Eventually, it's a very empty, lonely sense of impending doom," Alex says. It was in this state that Alex headed to Brisbane to do some gigs with multi-instrumentalist Salliana Seven. She describes Alex as an open soul and says he never tried to hide his addiction from her. His failed attempts to break free of oxycodone were heartbreaking. "I saw him at his lowest of the lowest of low," she says. "You know, suicidal." "As cooked as he was when I met him … he opens his mouth and I'm just blown away." Relief came with Suboxone, a medication to treat opioid dependence. It was a gruelling transition as his body adjusted, but his children, and his renewed joy for music, gave him the impetus to push through. "I think he's finally let go of the broken fairytale of his marriage," Salliana says. "I really feel that losing that just destroyed him on top of all the other trauma that he's had … He's moving through that, which is massive." As he works through his own long-buried trauma, Alex is hoping to help today's kids navigate tough times by working with the KIDS Foundation. "I really believe in and want to be an advocate for childhood trauma and giving kids skills at an early age to deal with it later because it hit me and I didn't even know what it was," he says. At a recent musical workshop, as Alex sits in a field with a guitar on his lap, a couple of teens share their fear of being judged, or trolled, for their music. Alex tells them that every artist must face those fears, and every artist falls on their face at some time. Getting back up is where the success lies. "You can't beat yourself up over everything," Alex says, as much to himself as the kids. "Otherwise, you'd just be stuck there forever. There is no such thing as mistakes, only lessons."
Wales Online
30-05-2025
- Wales Online
This four-bedroom rural farmhouse is stunning, but it also comes with so much more
Immersed within the glorious and majestic landscape of Eryri Snowdonia National Park, and at the end of a winding private road you find an absolute gem of a property offering an escape to the country that is unique. Bryn Y Gwin farmhouse is a pretty four-bedroom home nestled within a beautiful site of an impressive 64 acres, with far reaching views over the Aarran mountain range. Within this substantial slice of surely one of Wales' most famous areas you will find a wealth of nature - foliage, trees, small mammals, insects, bats and birds - and a whole lot more. This rural retreat can wrap you in an idyllic atmosphere, offering a tranquil sanctuary that feels far from everywhere but is actually only a few miles from the popular tourist village of Dolgellau and about 30 miles from the famous mountain peak of Yr Wyddfa Snowdon too. For more property stories sent to your inbox twice a week sign up to the property newsletter here READ MORE: Stunning designer home with incredible sea views and a brilliant surprise in the garden Bryn Y Gwin combines a character-packed, four-bedroom farmhouse with a thriving business that can support a new owner as well as provide such an idyllic lifestyle. The grounds are the first massive selling point to guests, and sprawling enough to be an escape into the countryside for the owners too. There's an acre lake teeming with multiple varieties of fish and a bluebell woodland that covers about 39 acres of the land, including meandering footpaths past a sparkling stream that wanders under three traditional stone bridges - sounds picture perfect. But the site can support a new owner as well as offer a wonderful place to call home - including a 25 touring caravan pitches, five pitches benefit from 12 months holiday use, with recently built, well-appointed and toilet and shower facilities. There's a 1.5 acre camping site, two holiday let apartments, one charming old waterwheel building with services, packed with potential if planning allows more changes, plus an impressive 148sqm stone clad and slate roofed gallery studio that was completed in 2020. Purchased in 2010, the present owners have enjoyed developing and being the custodians of the 64 acre site and all extra aspects of land and property that makes up Bryn Y Gwin Farm that the selling agent describes as now one of the most prestigious and envied estates in the area. They go on to day 'the site allows for a future owner to adapt their own ideas and business envisions to the property and land. There is plenty of scope to further develop the caravan site or to push the fishing lake to reach keen anglers. After having lived their ideal lifestyle and built their successful business over the past 15 years. The sellers are now keen to relocate to New Zealand'. Bryn Y Gwin is for sale for offers in excess of £2,750,000 with Christie & Co, Retail, call 07764 241302 to find out more. For more property stories and home content join our Amazing Welsh Homes Facebook group here.
Tourism Breaking News
27-03-2025
- Business
- Tourism Breaking News
Celestyal unveils new itineraries and maiden calls for 2025/26 winter sun season: Bookings for inaugural Arabian Gulf season 27% above target
Post Views: 82 Celestyal has launched four new 14-night repositioning cruises, as part of its winter sun season in the Arabian Gulf. The sailings feature two new countries for the brand, Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and four maiden calls: Aqaba in Jordan, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, Muscat in Oman and Sharm El Shiekh in Egypt. The itineraries also mark the cruise line's return to Egypt after a two-year break. A new 14-night 'Ancient Athens to Amazing Abu Dhabi' itinerary will be available across the two-ship fleet. Celestyal Journey will depart Athens on 22 November 2025, calling at Port Said, with maiden calls to Sharm El Shiekh, Aqaba, Jeddah and Muscat, followed by Dubai, arriving back into Abu Dhabi on 6 December 2025, in time for the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend. She then departs on her 'Desert Days and Abu Dhabi Grand Prix' sailing on 07 December, taking in the race weekend before embarking on the first 'Desert Days' itinerary of the season. Celestyal Discovery will depart Athens on 28 November 2025, charting the same course with an additional call at Kusadasi, Turkey, arriving for her maiden call into Abu Dhabi on 13 December 2025, ahead of its inaugural winter season sailing the new-to-2025 three-, four- and seven-night 'Iconic Arabia' itineraries and homeporting in the Arabian Gulf for the next three years. The two returning 14-night 'Amazing Abu Dhabi to Ancient Athens' cruises will also feature across both ships. Celestyal Discovery will cruise from Abu Dhabi on 6 March 2026, charting the same return course and arriving back into Athens for the summer Greece and Mediterranean season. Meanwhile, Celestyal Journey will depart Abu Dhabi on 21 March 2026. All four cruises will feature several bookable segments ranging between four and 13-nights. The announcement comes following Celestyal Journey's return into Athens yesterday, following a successful maiden season in the Arabian Gulf. Bookings were 27% above target for the first season, which saw the ship homeport in Doha, Qatar, as part of a three-year partnership with the state. Lee Haslett, chief commercial officer at Celestyal, said: 'Last year, we committed to offering our guests even more destinations. Whether they are returning travellers or new to cruising, we welcome everyone with the warm hospitality that is at the heart of our heritage. Our tenth anniversary year will be bigger than ever, beginning with extensive renovations across our fleet and an expanded programme featuring two new countries, four new ports of call, and a long-awaited return to Egypt. '2024 was a record-breaking year for Celestyal, with our highest-ever bookings. We know this success is thanks to the incredible support of our guests, regional partners, travel agents and staff. As we look ahead, we remain committed to delivering unmissable experiences for our guests.' Prices start from, $339 per person on a four-night voyage, and $1029 per person on a 14-night cruise including meals, soft drinks, WiFi, port fees and gratuities. >> ADD only in markets required: (with Junior Dream Suite prices starting at $2599 per person on each 14-night cruise). >> TRADE: For more information visit the Celestyal trade portal, contact your local Celestyal business development representative or call 0808 258 4170.
