Latest news with #CarltonHotel
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
After the glory and the after-party Levy faces Postecoglou crunch time
The Tottenham after-party was in full swing at the Carlton Hotel in Bilbao; players, management and family members just surrendering to the moment. Many of the players were still in their full match kits, medals draped around their necks and the centrepiece was the Europa League trophy, 15kg of the purest bliss. It is heavier than you think, according to Son Heung-min. 'Very heavy, very heavy,' he said. The Spurs captain had accidentally head-butted it as he hoisted it high into the sky after the 1-0 win over Manchester United, a teammate having pushed into him as he performed the move he had dreamed about ever since signing from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015. The angry red cut on Son's forehead was a part of the tapestry. Advertisement Related: The agony and ecstasy of watching Spurs win a trophy from 10,000 miles away | Max Rushden It was about 3am and, suddenly, the lights in the Carlton's function space were switched on. How do you think that went down? According to one of the revellers, it was the lamest attempt in the history of lame attempts to end a party, to usher people off to their beds. Nobody was leaving. And so they did not, the celebrations pushing on from the small hours into the slightly larger ones. It was the night that nobody connected to the club wanted to end. When you have waited 17 years for a trophy, 41 years for one in Europe, this is going to happen. There was food laid on. Probably. Maybe … The drinks flowed. One of the musicians who plays at Spurs' stadium did a turn. There was a DJ. And for Ange Postecoglou, who was there with his family, posing happily for pictures, it was an impossibly sweet time. Vindication had to be prominent in his emotions. When he pointed out after the derby defeat against Arsenal last September that he always won a trophy in his second season at a club, it was an attempt to rally the troops behind him, to inspire confidence. Postecoglou did not imagine that the comment would track him so remorselessly; the memes, the growing levels of ridicule. As he has suggested, this is life at Spurs. Advertisement But Postecoglou has delivered again and in the fuzzy afterglow, as the club prepare for an open-top bus parade on Friday at 5.30pm, there were two questions that pounded, both related. Did the glory of San Mamés make this a successful season, making up for the historically awful Premier League campaign? And will it mean that the lights do not go out on Postecoglou's managerial tenure? Ask any Spurs fan about the first – certainly right now – and they would probably say that the trophy trumps everything, even a season in which they have lost 21 times in the league, a club record for a 38-game campaign. If it becomes 22 on Sunday against Brighton in the final match, it would equal their all-time low from 1934-35 and that was across 42 games. In terms of the win-loss-draw record, the club have only been worse off once – in 1914-15. Whether the chair, Daniel Levy, feels the same way is key; it is easy to believe he does not, even if Champions League qualification via the Europa League has been salvaged. It was interesting to hear the reaction of the players to the second question, many of them treading a diplomatic line. Guglielmo Vicario and Micky van de Ven essentially dropped their shoulders and stressed a desire merely to celebrate. Brennan Johnson, who scored the goal in the final, his 18th of the season, said that 'if there's ever a time for a mic drop, it's now' – raising the prospect of Postecoglou striding off gloriously into the sunset. Advertisement None of the squad explicitly called on the hierarchy to stick with Postecoglou, despite showing their obvious affection for him, although Son came the closest. 'He won the trophy, nobody [else] did it, so ….' Son said. 'Look, it's not up to me or the players. But we just have to look at the facts, at the fact that we hadn't won in 17 years. It's the manager who wins the trophy. So we see what's going to happen.' The Spurs supporters had been heard singing Postecoglou's song in one of the tight streets that led towards the stadium before the game. And afterwards, at a little before midnight, as he and the players stood before the packed Spurs end, a wall of brilliant white, it was heard again; the rolling, rhythmic tribute. If Postecoglou is to leave – and he says that he wants to stay – it would be with their eternal gratitude and as a legend. Only two previous Spurs managers have won European silverware: Bill Nicholson and Keith Burkinshaw. Posteocoglou gave a speech at the after-party in which he talked of his players as family and paid tribute to their own nearest and dearest. In the team meeting before the game, he had shown the players a series of video messages from their family members, a man-management touch that went a long way. 'It was very emotional and in the back of our minds they were a big part of the game,' Vicario said. 'My mum and dad spoke on my bit. They just said to fight for the badge, for Tottenham Hotspur and to make them happy.' Advertisement Son said: 'I was emotional when I watched the video and I desperately wanted to win for the family. People think players are deserving of this trophy but it's the families who deserve this for their sacrifice, their commitment.' It was a difficult decision for Postecoglou to omit Son from the starting XI; the player had only recently returned from injury, which was a factor. Postecoglou preferred Richarlison, hoping to harness his physical threat. Son said last week that the reason he had stayed at Spurs for 10 years was to succeed where so many others had failed and win something. Being a substitute in one of the most important games of his life was not a part of his thinking, and he did not attempt to hide it. 'Look, you always want to start,' Son said. 'Obviously, I was a bit disappointed, of course. But this was not a stage where you can be selfish. You just have to think about what the team needs and, of course, I was ready to do it. It was difficult but I was committed to the team.' For Levy, an even bigger decision looms.
Business Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Times
Sushi satisfaction at Keijo
NEW RESTAURANT Keijo 76 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189558 Tel: 6338-6131 Open for lunch and dinner Mon to Sat: 12 pm to 3 pm; 6 pm to 10:30 pm SUSHI restaurants are like cockroaches – you can kill them, but another one will spring up to take its place. For the past couple of years, we've been predicting the demise of Japanese restaurants in Singapore, as local diners follow their yen to the motherland of raw fish and rice. They may be down, but they're certainly not out. Good ones still trundle along, even if they don't have waitlists to show off anymore. They are banking on reputation and regulars who still need their sushi fix when they're not queuing at Haneda immigration, so it looks like reports of their death have been grossly exaggerated. One thing we do see is that prices have moderated to somewhat saner levels, with more options under S$200, and in some cases, even below S$100. That Keijo manages to limbo itself just under that three-digit threshold is one way that the new sushi-ya hopes to endear itself to customers. The Carlton Hotel eatery has big shoes to fill. It used to be the one-Michelin-starred Shinji by Kanesaka, which has now consolidated its operations in its remaining outlet at St Regis. Former head chef Ishizawa now goes by his own name at Raffles Hotel. Helming Keijo is a new face, Naoya Nakamura, and a familiar one, Andrew Lim – the latter helming one corner of the long sushi corner, entertaining a coterie of regulars. You might remember Nakamura from Aoki – a quiet presence at the sushi counter in both the old and new Millenia Walk location for some eight years. Now he's front and centre at Keijo, and from the looks of it, well deserving of his own spotlight. A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU Friday, 2 pm Lifestyle Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself. Sign Up Sign Up We can't help thinking that the cheapest lunch set, at S$98, is really a ploy to tempt you to upsize to the next level menu at S$168. It's quite a big jump, but the server plays on your greed by saying 'you don't get uni' with the cheaper set – comprising one starter and nine pieces of sushi. The S$168 menu gets you two starters and 12 pieces of sushi. Both have maki and dessert included. Fresh bamboo and kinome paste; tuna in tofu sauce. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT We confess we took the bait and went with the pricier option. The two otsumami seem skimpy, though: a little dish of fresh bamboo topped with a perky paste of kinome leaves; and an equally small dish of mountain vegetables and tuna cubes in a tofu sauce. Aji, or horse mackerel sushi. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT The sushi starts immediately, and the first thing we notice is the shari (rice). Warm, with a good chew from the individual grains which are not sticky or soft, and just enough seasoning. The second is how there's a bit more rice in relation to the fish, almost dominating it. But we enjoy the rice enough not to quibble, especially when it distracts from occasionally not-stellar seafood. In fact, we like it enough that we do the unthinkable – upset a Japanese chef's carefully organised work flow by asking to upgrade to the S$268 menu after four pieces of sushi. Seeing the chef's obliging facade while his eyes betray the cartwheels his brain is performing makes us feel bad, but we want to see how high the quality can go. Starter of botan ebi, bafun uni and ikura. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT It may not be a good idea if you're sushi-focused, because this set gives you only seven pieces of nigiri, but six otsumami. But we're rewarded with a very good combination of botan ebi, bafun uni and ikura daintily piled onto a lacquer dish. It's followed by passable bonito in a sharp onion sauce, and a grilled slab of tilefish. The winning dish is vegetarian – melting-soft grilled eggplant smeared with sweet, dark miso and topped with a crispy burdock chip. Bonito in onion sauce. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT Overall, it's the sushi that makes the bigger impression, with more-than-acceptable quality tai, kinmedai, shima aji, chutoro and uni, done gunkan style, albeit with more rice than necessary. In fact, the best mouthful is when he gives you a piece of sushi with less rice because he's run out of it and needs to fetch a new batch. Chutoro or tuna belly sushi. PHOTO: JAIME EE, BT While the ratio of fish and rice could be improved, it's not that big an issue because of the strong harmony between the two. Nakamura is even-handed with the vinegar, knowing when to keep things subtle, and when to ramp it up a bit. Your best bet is to go with sushi all the way, and pay according to your appetite. Dessert-wise, there's ice cream with rice puffs, and a monaka wafer stuffed with mochi and red beans. The pricey menu includes a wedge of musk melon. Keijo may be starting from scratch, but with good sushi, cosy surroundings and a friendly vibe, everything's in place for it to be a new, reliable standby. Rating: 7
GMA Network
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- GMA Network
Chelsea Manalo, Tatiana Calmell, Matilda Wirtavuori grace Michael Cinco's Cannes fashion show
Miss Universe Continental Queens Chelsea Manalo, Tatiana Calmell, and Matilda Wirtavuori walked the runway for Michael Cinco's fashion show in Cannes, France. On Instagram, Chelsea shared photos taken from the event. 'Walked in Cannes!' Miss Universe Asia wrote in the caption. 'We made it for the amazing [Michael Cinco] and what a dream it is to be in this beautiful city. First time and I am ready to experience this journey once again. Busy but glad I'm doing this with my ate [Tatiana and Matilda],' she said. Chelsea also called the experience a 'dream come true,' tagging Miss Universe. Michael also shared a video of the Continental Queens on Instagram Stories. 'Thank you to these gorgeous Continental queens [Matilda, Chelsea, Tatiana] for gracing my show tonight in Carlton Hotel in Cannes,' he wrote. Chelsea, Tatiana, and Matilda, as well as Miss Africa & Oceania Chidimma Adetshina and Miss Universe 2024 Victoria Kjaer Theilvig, were previously in the Philippines and attended the Miss Universe Philippines 2025 pageant. —Carby Rose Basina/CDC, GMA Integrated News
Telegraph
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘He's human, not a criminal': Inside Kevin Spacey's Cannes comeback
At around 7.50pm yesterday in Cannes, an enormous seven-tiered white cake wobbled its way out of the Carlton Hotel and across the Boulevard de la Croisette. Five feet in height and more than three in diameter, it was borne along by three male chefs in pristine kitchen whites, and shepherded by a waistcoated member of staff across four lanes of traffic, down the wooden steps of the hotel's beach club and into its kitchen. 'See that?' said one man queuing outside the club in evening dress to his companion, pointing at the confection. 'I wonder if Kevin's going to jump out of it.' Yes – how would Mr Spacey make his appearance at this most glamorous of film festivals? For most stars, the arrivals procedure is simple and direct. One is driven in a black air-conditioned car to the foot of the Palais des Festivals red carpet, where one presents oneself to a living wall of lenses while flashing one's best Riviera grin to the plebs. But for the 65-year-old actor – who had three films, The Usual Suspects, Looking for Richard and LA Confidential, premiere at the festival in the 1990s – a more tangential approach is now required. Hence his presence at Tuesday night's gala dinner hosted by the Better World Fund, a black-tie charity event unaffiliated with the festival itself. At the champagne reception, the vibe was less Hollywood glamour than Euro-socialite pizazz: a swirling sea of pursed lips, lacquered complexions, swept-back silver hair and cantilevered bosoms. They had assembled, the organisation's president and founder Manuel Collas de la Roche explained, 'to achieve extraordinary change by implementing concrete solutions to tomorrow's challenges'. Quite how boozing it up on the Côte d'Azur brings this plan to fruition is anyone's guess, though the Fund has been around for 10 years and has received support in the past from stars as lofty as Leonardo DiCaprio, who is pictured in the programme with three Brazilians in indigenous robes and headdresses, as proof of the whole enterprise's humanitarian credentials. Women's empowerment is a priority, as is the welfare of youngsters in the third world. 'Please, for the children!' the auctioneers regularly beseeched the crowd during a sale of dresses, artworks, a five-day detox at a clinic in Montreux, a 'transformative wellbeing and anti-ageing journey' in Geneva and other such lots which collectively raised €92,000. Spacey was technically there to be presented with an award which, according to the programme, honours remarkable individuals who have 'engaged, inspired and mobilised for a cause'. (Previous recipients include the UAE princeling Sheikh Ahmed Bin Faisal Al Qassimi, Dominique Ouattara, the First Lady of the Ivory Coast, and Sharon Stone.) The main cause being mobilised for last night, however, was clearly Spacey's comeback, which the actor has been doggedly pursuing since the British high-profile criminal trial in which he was acquitted of sexual abuse in 2023. A handful of roles in smaller films have been obtained (last night he described the forthcoming revolutionary-era thriller 1780 'one of the most exciting and fulfilling films I have ever made'), though Hollywood has been thus far unreceptive. He may have been cleared of the charges, but the taint of his #MeToo reckoning, along with the persistent stories of inappropriate behaviour over the years (Spacey himself has conceded he was a 'big flirt' who made 'clumsy passes'), still loom large. Even the role currently billed as his highest-profile in years doesn't seem especially high-profile. Before he took to the stage at the Better World Gala, a trailer played for The Awakening, a forthcoming independently made conspiracy action thriller starring Alice Eve and Peter Stormare, in which Spacey plays the villain. But judging by the trailer, his screen time appears to be brief: of the three shots of Spacey it contained, two appeared to be the same one. Around the main festival campus earlier that day, delegates were sceptical that Spacey could use this award to leverage a return to mainstream movie-making. 'Yes, he was found innocent,' said one buyer for a British distributor, who had declined to watch The Awakening at the sprawling Cannes Market, where international release deals are struck. 'So it's absolutely fair that he should be looking for work again, and it's down to the individual consciences of other actors and filmmakers as to whether he finds it. But is it a good look for him to be lording it up and collecting dubious awards at this point? Arguably no.' At the Better World Gala that evening, however, the mood was more supportive. 'Kevin is one of Hollywood's greatest stars,' said one attendee, a glamorous woman who described her line of work as philanthropist and entrepreneur. 'It is ridiculous that this industry he has done so much for would deny the world more of his great performances.' Others agreed. 'Show me anyone in this room who has been nothing but a saint in their personal life,' added a French-accented man in global entertainment management. 'Kevin is human but he is not a criminal, and I'm sure a much nicer man than many of his peers. For him to be frozen out is nothing more than' – a dramatic pause and a sniff – ' le wokisme.' Kevin Spacey compares his blacklisting from the film industry to that of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in a fiery speech at #Cannes. — Variety (@Variety) May 20, 2025 In these fringier circles, where mainstream and new media hold less sway, the former Lex Luthor is far from social kryptonite. Indeed, the going rate for a place at the Better World Gala – which entailed a beachside reception, three-course dinner, charity auction, and the possibility of an encounter with Spacey himself – was between €2,400 and €6,000 per head, with tables and VIP packages significantly more. When Spacey arrived at 8.25pm prompt, it was without much ceremony: the cake remained in the kitchen, intact. He and a small entourage swept onto the red carpet for a brief but busy photo call – ' Bonsoir Keveen! Monsieur Spacee! Zztrait ahead please!' – before he and his team were chaperoned into the main marquee, while guests drained the last of the fizz. Eyes bright, hair styled in a vaguely Trumpian bouffant, his smile was hard to read: clenched in the flesh yet natural in the photographs that almost immediately began to circulate on Instagram. In the room he was friendly to selfie-hunters, and even came to the stage during the charity auction to gee up the crowd when bidding was slow. (Someone then spent €28,000 on a red bass guitar signed by Sting: Spacey gave them a standing ovation.) When the time came for his award, though, the velvet glove was removed and a steelier Spacey emerged – the one familiar from his performance on Netflix's House of Cards as Frank Underwood, the fictional US president whose dramatic fall from grace ran in queasy parallel to Spacey's own. 'Who would have ever thought that honouring someone who has been exonerated in every single courtroom he's ever walked into would be thought of as a brave idea?' he began. 'But here we are.' He drew parallels between his plight and that of the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, the best-known victim of Hollywood's anti-communist purge in the 1940s and 50s. He quoted Kirk Douglas and sung Elton John. When he spoke about the loyalty and friendship of Evan Lowenstein – his manager since 2016, just before the allegations against him surfaced – his voice cracked with emotion. But then again, a two-time Oscar-winner's might well do. Spacey in his current form presents a problem to Hollywood, and from the content of last night's speech, one senses he knows it. He clearly has no intention of politely disappearing, and his exoneration in court leaves the industry open to charges of hypocrisy and cowardice: if he's innocent, and (per their own awards ceremonies) talented, the argument runs, why shouldn't his career resume where it left off? Because that's not how cinema works, the counter-argument explains: the art form's essence is images, and Spacey's has changed. Can he change it back? Even in the less pietistic Europe, he may have just missed his chance. Day one of this year's festival brought the news that Gerard Depardieu, a former Cannes Best Actor winner and jury president, had been found guilty of sexually assaulting two women, for which he received an 18-month suspended sentence. The French film industry has been notably more reluctant to react to #MeToo than their counterparts in the United States. Art and artists were still considered separate enough here that Cannes felt able to open with a new Johnny Depp film in 2023, shortly after the conclusion of his high-profile defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard. (As with Spacey, the verdict was in Depp's favour.) Last year, attendees were on tenterhooks for a #MoiAussi moment, as rumours whirled that the French press was preparing a damning exposé on multiple actors and producers. But the gossip fizzled out, and the story – if it ever existed – went unpublished. Yet Depardieu's fall felt like an omen: and sure enough, a day later, Cannes banned another French actor from walking the red carpet over accusations made against him by three ex-partners which are the subject of a coming civil lawsuit. Musing on the Depardieu ruling, this year's jury president, the actress Juliette Binoche, described the actor as a ' monstre sacré ', or sacred monster: the French term for national treasure, but with a menacing edge. Perhaps since Depardieu was no longer engaged in the sacred business of artistic creation, Binoche suggested, his monstrous aspect had faded too: now he was just a man, and therefore ripe for the toppling. Spacey has, of course, been convicted of nothing, but his own sacred monster status has been hanging in the balance for a while. No wonder he seized the opportunity.
RTÉ News
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Kevin Spacey 'glad to be working' as he is feted in Cannes
The Oscar-winning American actor Kevin Spacey said that it was "nice to be back" at an awards ceremony on the sidelines of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday evening. Spacey, who won Oscars for American Beauty and The Usual Suspects, was one of Hollywood's biggest stars before he was first accused of sexual assault in 2017, after which he was dropped from the TV drama House of Cards. He has denied all allegations of any illegal behaviour. In 2022, the now-65-year-old was charged in Britain with nine sexual offences against four men between 2004 and 2013 but was acquitted of all charges after a high-profile trial in 2023. In the United States in 2022, Spacey defeated a sexual abuse case against him after jurors in a Manhattan civil trial found his accuser did not prove his allegation that Spacey made a sexual advance towards him when he was 14. Spacey was in Cannes to receive an award for excellence in film and television from the Better World Fund, which fundraises in the name of "cinematic art at the service of humanity", at a charity gala dinner at the Carlton Hotel. "I've heard from so many of my friends, colleagues, and co-stars in the last week since this award was announced that I feel surrounded by support," Spacey said before the event. "I'm glad to be working," he added, when asked whether his appearance marked a comeback. Spacey is also in Cannes during the festival to help Britain's Camelot Films sell the conspiracy action thriller The Awakening, in which he plays the character Balthazar. He faces separate civil lawsuits from three men for alleged sexual abuse in London and is defending the cases.
