Latest news with #Brosnan
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Lily James is a mountain-climbing 'addict' after filming Cliffhanger
Lily James has become a mountain-climbing "addict" since filming the Cliffhanger reboot. The Cinderella star, 36, leads the cast of a new version of Sylvester Stallone's 1993 action movie alongside Pierce Brosnan and the actress has confessed she had the "had the time of [her] life" working on the film and she's thrown herself into the sport of climbing. She told The Hollywood Reporter: "Oh my God, I had the time of my life. It was so hard. I did five hours of climbing a day for many weeks. "I was on mountains nonstop. I fell completely in love with it. It's the most mind-body-soul activity. "And I'm a [mountain-climbing] addict now. I did all my own climbing [in the film], and I got real strong. I was just pounding press-ups between every take." The film is due for release next year and Lily can't wait to share it with audiences. She added: "I'm really proud of Cliffhanger. I'm so excited. We're in the edit and getting it ready, and I'm super hopeful. "It is such a cool reimagining, and while it's really unexpected at times, it keeps all the gripping glory of the original, I hope." Lily went on to reveal she loved working with Brosnan again after they previously appeared in 2018 movie musical Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. She said of her co-star: "We were so lucky to have him, and he's so brilliant in the movie. He's one of life's true gentlemen, and he was such a brilliant actor to have as our father in this story. "He just brings real heart, and he elevates the whole thing. He's just a dream, and getting to work with him again was so wonderful." Lily plays Naomi Cooper in the new film with Brosnan as her onscreen dad - and the actress previously insisted the new take is "definitely different" to the original. Speaking with Screen Rant, she said: 'I don't want to say too much to give it away right now. What I will say is I had one of the most thrilling experiences of my life. We shot in the Dolomites. We were there for six weeks on the mountains. 'I was really hanging off mountains. We had to shut down multiple times because of freak snowstorms. "The story is very much through Naomi and her sister Sydney. I would hope that we are maintaining what people love about the original cliffhanger, but it's definitely different. "It's feral, it's raw. It's a real re-imagining, and I am producing it too." Stallone was initially due to reprise his role as ranger Gabriel 'Gabe' Walker in the new Cliffhanger movie, but the actor ultimately left the project and it was subsequently overhauled with James and Brosnan leading the reboot instead. The official synopsis reads: 'In this reboot of Cliffhanger, seasoned mountaineer Ray Cooper (Brosnan) and his daughter Sydney run a mountain chalet in the Dolomites. "During a weekend trip with a billionaire's son, they are targeted by a gang of kidnappers. Ray's older daughter Naomi (James), still haunted by a past climbing accident, witnesses the attack and escapes." The cast for Cliffhanger also includes Nell Tiger Free, Franz Rogowski, Shubham Saraf, Assaad Bouab, Suzy Bemba and Bruno Gouery.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Celebrities who picked up painting as Ed Sheeran turns to art
A new exhibition of Ed Sheeran's artworks is taking place at Heni Gallery. The Grammy-winning singer and songwriter began painting in 2019 during downtime between recording sessions and touring. Last year, he exhibited his brightly-coloured, Pollock-esque paintings in a disused car park. Sheeran has now teamed up with Heni, the company that represents Damien Hirst, to put on a new exhibition: Cosmic Carpark Paintings, running until August 1. Prints will be on sale for £900 each, with 50 per cent of funds going to the Ed Sheeran Foundation, which supports music education in state schools and grassroots organisations across the nation. Kill Bill star Lucy Liu began making art when she was a teenager. Growing up in Queens in the 1980s, Liu would wander around the streets of New York City, taking photographs, which she'd use in collages. After doing an intensive class at New York Studio School, she turned to painting, which found to be a more freeing medium. The world-renowned Beatles star has a lesser-known creative outlet: painting. McCartney's artwork often depicts famous figures, such as David Bowie and Elvis Presley, through acerbic colours and warping shapes. Jim Carrey has been drawing and painting since childhood. The actor is drawn to vivid colours and abstract figures, often with fierce political undertones, such as his cartoonish depictions of Donald Trump. Alongside winning multiple Oscars, Anthony Hopkins is also a painter. Working with ink, oil and acrylics, the actor creates vibrantly-coloured artworks, often veering towards distorted faces. He might be best known for playing James Bond but Pierce Brosnan grew up dreaming of becoming a painter. An alumni of London's Central St Martins College of Art and Design, Brosnan has created at least 300 artworks. Often depicting psychedelic landscapes, Brosnan has recently ventured into ceramics. Beyond his Hollywood career, James Franco is also a Gucci model, a published poet and a visual artist (as well as holding a PhD from Yale). The two-time Golden Globe winner is drawn to themes of masculinity, celebrity and identity in his multimedia artworks. 'Acting, writing, painting – they all orbit around those ideas for me,' he told Numero Magazine, 'It's about capturing a person – their essence, their transformation.' The Golden Globe-winning actor Johnny Depp has also embarked on visual art, including a number of self-portraits. Last year, the artist's work was exhibited at an art gallery in Chelsea, New York, and received mixed critical acclaim. The New York Post described it as 'one huge, derivative, delusional ego bath'. Creativity is in Jemima Kirke's DNA. The Girls actress is the daughter of a rock musician father and fashion designer mother, a talented household that likely influenced her to pursue painting at Rhode Island School of Design. Her work often gravitates towards portraits of young girls. 'My kids are sick of being painted,' Kirke told W Magazine. Alongside his musical career, Bob Dylan is also a painter, sculptor, filmmaker and author. The Nobel Prize-winning singer has drawn since his childhood in Minnesota, continuing to take inspiration from American cityscapes throughout his life.
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A team of engineers saved Morgan Stanley more than 280,000 hours this year. The bank says their tool won't take jobs.
Morgan Stanley's newly patented tool was developed in-house and released in January. The bank says it has saved almost 300,000 hours this year alone but won't replace developers' jobs. solves a long-standing headache for coders within and beyond Morgan Stanley. During a Morgan Stanley hackathon at the end of 2023, two teams were trying to solve a problem that has plagued developers for years: how to rewrite legacy code into modern programming languages. Those nuggets of an idea turned into a tool the bank unveiled in January that has so far saved developers more than 280,000 hours as of June, or 11,666 days they would have previously dedicated to deciphering outdated code, said Trevor Brosnan, the bank's global head of technology strategy, architecture, and modernization. Brosnan led the effort to build the tool, which turns code from old languages into plain-English specs that can then be rewritten. Legacy code refers to outdated, older software code — think of languages such as Cobol, which was developed in 1959 — that can raise security risks and slow down how quickly companies can take advantage of new technology, as The Wall Street Journal reported. Banks and financial institutions are especially dependent on older programming languages, the Journal said. "In early 2024, I pulled some of our top distinguished engineers at the firm out of their line of business teams and into a new applied AI team, because my instincts told me that there was some great opportunity here," Brosnan told Business Insider. His instincts were right — the tool has exceeded even his high expectations. It was granted a patent in early June with assistance from the bank's Patent Accelerator Program, which Megan Brewer, the head of firmwide market innovation and labs, helped start. Brewer and Brosnan said wouldn't take software engineering or other jobs with the time it saves. The technology, Brewer said, replaces "onerous" rote work. "That means those people can actually go work on what we need to be working on, which is the future," she said. AI presents opportunities throughout the firm, Brewer said, and Morgan Stanley is looking into how it can use agentic AI across teams. "The reality is we have so much modernization work to do, and we have ongoing demand from all of our businesses to deliver more functionality, more capability for our clients," Brosnan said. Young people are struggling to land quality positions in the tech sector in particular, and AI is already starting to gobble up jobs across industries. White-collar job postings nationwide are shrinking faster than blue-collar listings, including for software developers. Still, Brewer and Brosnan were adamant that wouldn't render developers obsolete. Morgan Stanley had 233 technology jobs in the Americas posted on its website at the time of writing, including dozens of openings for software engineers. Not many of the technologists at the bank worked on — Brosnan said the initial team was fewer than five people "who are passionate about this." Eventually, the core group expanded to about 20 engineers. Throughout the process, they consulted with subject matter experts across the firm to figure out different use cases for the tool, Brosnan said. Morgan Stanley could have outsourced the development of the tool, but Brosnan said they decided to develop it internally in part to "implement all the kinds of security controls." Now, he said, employees across divisions, from its institutional to wealth management businesses, are using the tool. "Even within the world of generative AI, this was a very, very, very clever use of it, but it also was extremely impactful," said Larry Bromberg, the global head of intellectual property legal, who co-leads the Patent Acceleration Program. Pleased as he is with the result, Brosnan said his team very briefly celebrated their successes. "Frankly, they are still very focused on their day job. Our mission is to accelerate modernization at Morgan Stanley, and we've still got lots of work to do," he said. One cause for celebration was receiving a patent, which Morgan Stanley employees are encouraged to do through the Patent Accelerator Program. Brewer said the program provides support throughout the invention and legal process. Patent-holders span the firm — there are about 500 across 14 different divisions, Brewer said. From 2023 to 2024, the Patent Accelerator Program increased final submissions to patent offices by 53%, and Brewer said they'd "definitely" surpass that this year. Brewer said 20% of patent holders were junior staff, and 10% were distinguished engineers. One of the lead engineers on the team is something of a serial patent recipient, or a "serial offender" as Brewer put it, with 13 patents to date. Brosnan said the team didn't have immediate plans to license the newly patented tool externally; it would probably be in high demand given how many financial and Big Tech companies have to deal with outdated coding languages. "Right now, our plan is to leverage this definitely for all of our modernization demands internally. We haven't decided anything different from that," he said, adding that Morgan Stanley had shared technology with peers in the past. In the meantime, the question of how to use AI and modernize the bank isn't going anywhere. As Brosnan put it, his technologists are back to "hands-on keyboards" after every win. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Business Insider
01-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
A team of engineers saved Morgan Stanley more than 280,000 hours this year. The bank says their tool won't take jobs.
During a Morgan Stanley hackathon at the end of 2023, two teams were trying to solve a problem that has plagued developers for years: how to rewrite legacy code into modern programming languages. Those nuggets of an idea turned into a tool the bank unveiled in January that has so far saved developers more than 280,000 hours as of June, or 11,666 days they would have previously dedicated to deciphering outdated code, according to Trevor Brosnan, the bank's global head of technology strategy, architecture, and modernization. Brosnan led the effort to build the tool, which turns code from old languages into plain-English specs that can then be rewritten. Legacy code refers to outdated, older software code — think of languages like Cobol, which was developed in 1959 — that can raise security risks and slow down how quickly companies can take advantage of new technology, The Wall Street Journal reported. Banks and financial institutions are especially dependent on older programming languages, per the Journal. "In early 2024, I pulled some of our top distinguished engineers at the firm out of their line of business teams and into a new applied AI team, because my instincts told me that there was some great opportunity here," Brosnan told BI. His instincts were right — the tool has exceeded even his high expectations. It was granted a patent in early June with assistance from the bank's Patent Accelerator Program, which Megan Brewer, the head of firmwide market innovation and labs, helped start. Cutting out 'onerous' work, not jobs Brewer and Brosnan said that won't take software engineering or other jobs with the time it saves. The technology, Brewer said, replaces "onerous" rote work. "That means those people can actually go work on what we need to be working on, which is the future," she said. Brewer said AI presents opportunities throughout the firm, and that Morgan Stanley is currently looking into how it can use agentic AI across teams. "The reality is we have so much modernization work to do, and we have ongoing demand from all of our businesses to deliver more functionality, more capability for our clients," Brosnan told BI. Young people are struggling to land quality positions in the tech sector, in particular, and AI is already starting to gobble up jobs across industries. White-collar job postings nationwide are shrinking faster than blue-collar listings, including for software developers. Still, Brewer and Brosnan were adamant that won't render developers obsolete. Morgan Stanley had 233 technology jobs in the Americas posted on its website at the time of writing, including dozens of openings for software engineers. The initial team for was tiny Not many of the technologists at the bank worked on — Brosnan said the initial team was fewer than five people "who are passionate about this." Eventually, the core group expanded to around 20 engineers. Throughout the process, they consulted with subject matter experts across the firm to figure out different use cases for the tool, Brosnan said. Morgan Stanley could have outsourced the development of the tool, but Brosnan said they decided to develop it internally in part to "implement all the kinds of security controls." Now, he said, employees across divisions, from its institutional to wealth management businesses, are using the tool. "Even within the world of generative AI, this was a very, very, very clever use of it, but it also was extremely impactful," said Larry Bromberg, the global head of intellectual property legal, who co-leads the Patent Acceleration Program. Pleased as he is with the result, Brosnan said his team very briefly celebrated their successes. "Frankly, they are still very focused on their day job. Our mission is to accelerate modernization at Morgan Stanley, and we've still got lots of work to do," he told BI. The technology will stay internal for now One cause for celebration was receiving a patent, which Morgan Stanley employees are encouraged to do through the Patent Accelerator Program. Brewer said the program provides support throughout the invention and legal process. Patent-holders span the firm — there are around 500 across 14 different divisions, Brewer said. From 2023-2024, the Patent Accelerator Program increased final submissions to patent offices by 53%, and Brewer said that they'll "definitely" surpass that this year. Brewer said that 20% of patent holders are junior staff, and 10% are distinguished engineers. One of the lead engineers on the team is something of a serial patent recipient, or a "serial offender" as Brewer put it, with 13 patents to date. Brosnan said the team doesn't have immediate plans to license the newly patented tool externally; it would likely be in high demand given how many financial and Big Tech companies have to deal with outdated coding languages. "Right now, our plan is to leverage this definitely for all of our modernization demands internally. We haven't decided anything different from that," he said, adding that Morgan Stanley has shared technology with peers in the past. In the meantime, the question of how to use AI and modernize the bank isn't going anywhere. As Brosnan put it, his technologists are back to "hands-on keyboards" after every win.
The Irish Sun
29-06-2025
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
USA women hit huge win milestone with another rout against Carla Ward's Republic of Ireland
USA women's team earned their 600th international win on Sunday night after another dominant performance against the Republic of Ireland. The five-time World Cup winners replicated their 4–0 victory over Ireland from Thursday night in Denver. 2 Carla Ward's Ireland suffered a second defeat to the USA after another 4-0 defeat 2 Alyssa Thompson and Emma Sears celebrate during the 4-0 win over Ireland in Ohio This milestone only fuels their relentless drive to dismantle every opponent they face. From the off, the USA were merciless, and Carla Ward's young Irish squad struggled to find any rhythm under sustained pressure. The visitors were on the back foot right from the start as Emma Hayes's team sizzled in the heat with slick one-touch football. It was 1–0 after 11 minutes as a smooth one‑two move tore through Ireland's compact defence. read more on football Emma Sears sprinted down the right flank and delivered a perfectly weighted cross to the far post. Lynn Biyendolo met it first time with a composed side‑foot volley that screamed into the top corner. The scheduled water stoppage at 25 minutes offered Ireland a much -needed breather as they absorbed relentless pressure. Pinned deep, they managed only sporadic counters - too few to spare their overstretched defence. Despite the lopsided play, Abbie Larkin chipped in with flashes of quality, and Chloe Mustaki punched above her weight at left-back, defending with grit and tenacity. Most read in Football But it was all USA on the scoreboard, and they added to that tally just before the break. Just as Ireland seemed poised to head into the interval trailing by only one, fate struck again. Chelsea vs Benfica SUSPENDED with just five minutes left as referee takes players off due to severe lightning storm Emma Sears appeared to double the lead, only for Brosnan to produce a brilliant close-range save. But the rebound fell kindly for Izzy Rodriguez, who powered it home to double the US lead at half-time - a cruel echo of Wednesday's Denver fixture. The second half kicked off at TQL Stadium in Cincinnati, with Ireland making three changes. Lucy Quinn, Hayley Nolan - who last played in the United States in April 2023 - and Megan Connolly all joined the action. Minutes later, a slick pass by 19-year-old Olivia Moultrie opened up space behind the defence. Izzy Rodriguez sent in a dangerous cross, but a loose volley gave Ireland a reprieve. It was still one-way traffic. By the 50th minute, Lynn Biyendolo ghosted in behind the defence, nearly catching Brosnan off her line - but the keeper recovered quickly and parried her firm effort to safety. Minutes later, another probing move saw Hayley Nolan caught out at the back, allowing Tara McKeown to surge into the box. Her cutback to Croix Bethune was decisively blocked by a scrambling Irish defender. At 54 minutes, Emma Sears unleashed a dipping strike that flew just over Brosnan's crossbar - a near miss that briefly rekindled Ireland's hopes. A third goal soon followed as Sam Coffey initiated a slick move by threading a ball into the middle for Yazmeen Ryan. The pass looked overhit, but Emma Sears kept it alive, finding Olivia Moultrie. Moultrie teed up Ryan, who slid home the U.S.'s third goal, putting the result beyond doubt. A further water break at 70 minutes offered Ireland some respite in the scorching Ohio heat. But Ireland still couldn't get hold of the ball, as the US side pinned them in their own half. Alyssa Thompson entered the game at 80 minutes. Courtney Brosnan made another strong save just moments later, after Emily Sams cracked a close-range shot following Ireland's failure to deal with a free-kick. A perfectly weighted lofted pass caught Ireland's flat defence off guard, and Alyssa Thompson took charge - first with a sharp touch, then rifling a powerful low finish into the net to make it 4–0. The final minutes fizzled out in the scorching heat of Cincinnati after another gruelling learning curve for Ireland. Ward's side now turns their attention toward the Nations League play-off with Belgium this autumn. USA 4–0 IRELAND Lynn Biyendolo – 11′ Izzy Rodriguez – 42′ Yazmeen Ryan – 66′ Alyssa Thompson – 86′ USA: Mandy McGlynn; Emily Sams, Jordyn Bugg, Tara McKeown; Lynn Biyendolo (Capt), Croix Bethune, Sam Meza, Izzy Rodriguez; Olivia Moultrie, Emma Sears, Yazmeen Ryan Republic of Ireland: Courtney Brosnan (Capt); Jessie Stapleton, Anna Patten, Caitlin Hayes, Chloe Mustaki; Emily Murphy, Tyler Toland, Marissa Sheva, Abbie Larkin, Kyra Carusa, Saoirse Noonan
