Latest news with #Crossroads'
The Herald Scotland
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Sublime turn from Jennifer Lawrence in Die My Love
Set in rural America, amid a sticky, sweltering heat, it begins as Grace (Lawrence) and her husband Jackson (Robert Pattinson) move into his Uncle Frank's old house. Miles from the nearest neighbours, it's run down, left to rot after Frank took his own life. Jackson's father Harry (Nick Nolte), Frank's brother, seems to be suffering from dementia, while his mother Pam (Sissy Spacek) carries the worries of the world on her shoulders. There's even a loaded gun in the house, one that Harry used to leave by his bedside. Based on the 2017 novel by Ariana Harwicz, and adapted by Ramsay, Enda Walsh and Alice Birch, Ramsay doesn't waste any time in letting us sense that Grace is under huge strain. Early on, she leaves a knife right by their baby son as he plays on the porch. Nothing happens, it's just out of reach, but it's hardly the actions of someone who is thinking straight. 'Everyone goes a little loopy in their first year,' sympathises Pam, genuinely concerned that her daughter-in-law is struggling. Ramsay plays with ambiguity, placing the audience directly into Grace's increasingly fractured mind. Some sequences go unexplained, such as an appearance by LaKeith Stanfield, who barely has any lines and appears to represent Grace's untapped sexual desire. Suggestions are made that Jackson might be having an affair (she finds condoms in his car glove compartment), but maybe it's all in her head. Lawrence arguably hasn't taken on something this daring since she made Darren Aronofsky's mother! And she fully grits her teeth here, baring all. Pattinson, although very much in support, is an ideal foil, simmering with anger. 'This place is a hole,' he yells, as their domestic lives begin to splinter and Grace starts to unravel, typified when he brings a yappy dog home that soon gets under her skin. Spacek does a great deal with the few scenes she has, while Nolte brings his grizzled charisma, one that's been missing from prestige cinema for a long time. No doubt, Die My Love is also beautifully made, from its raw, infectious sound design to the resonant cinematography from Irish DoP, Seamus McGarvey. Music is also cunningly used, from Eric Clapton's 'Crossroads' to David Bowie's 'Kooks', encapsulating the mood of the piece. Following on from Ramsay's last film, 2017's vigilante tale You Were Never Really Here, Die My Love feels like a more complete film, rarely taking the obvious or melodramatic path. It would be a harsh Cannes jury that doesn't award this a prize; Lawrence in particular sets the bar high.
Yahoo
28-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Traveling Smithsonian exhibit to be in San Elizario for six weeks
EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — El Paso County and the Los Portales Museum in San Elizario are teaming up to host a special exhibit on rural America from the Smithsonian Institution. A traveling exhibit from the Smithsonian, 'Crossroads: Change in Rural America,' will be on display in San Elizario at the Los Portales Museum. There will be a special community celebration from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 3 at Los Portales Museum, 1521 San Elizario Road, for the opening of the exhibit. The exhibit will be on display through June 15. Saturday's celebration kicks off six weeks of free public programs and cultural events, the County said. Presented in cooperation with the Texas Historical Commission, 'Crossroads' is part of the Museum on Main Street (MoMS) initiative – a national collaboration between the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (SITES), state humanities councils, and local communities, the County said. San Elizario is one of only seven Texas towns selected to host the exhibition through a competitive statewide application process, the County said. 'Crossroads' explores the profound transformation of rural America over the 20th century, when the population living in rural areas dropped from 60% to just 17%. 'Despite economic and demographic shifts, rural towns remain hubs of creativity, resilience, and cultural heritage. San Elizario, situated at the intersection of local, national, and international histories, is uniquely positioned to tell this story,' the County said in a news release. 'Crossroads allows us to reflect on San Elizario's history, present and future and we are excited to explore what the future may hold for our community,' said Ari Velez, the Los Portales Museum director. 'We want to convene conversations about what makes our community unique and have developed local exhibitions and public programs to complement the Smithsonian exhibition.' Los Portales Museum has curated a robust schedule of complementary events to spark community dialogue, the County said. Highlights include a speaker series, hands-on workshops in adobe brick-making and metal embossing, culinary tours at Sara Farm, live performances, and a historical conference hosted by the San Elizario Genealogy and Historical Society (SEGHS). Visitors can also participate in the Texas Archive of the Moving Image digitization event and enjoy a screening of 'Fandango,' filmed in San Elizario. The Smithsonian exhibition is made possible through support from the U.S. Congress. Local programming is presented by El Paso County, San Elizario Genealogy and Historical Society, and regional partners. To learn more, visit or explore Texas history at Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Forest Lake ‘career offender' gets 12½-year prison term for swindling businesses, homeowners
A Forest Lake man with an extensive criminal history has been sentenced to 12½ years in prison for duping a dozen local businesses out of more than $232,000 in motorsports and construction equipment and swindling nearly $850,000 from homeowners for remodeling projects that he either did not start or finish. Richard Patrick Wooton, 55, pleaded guilty in February in Hennepin County District Court to two counts of theft by swindle in connection with two cases. A third theft by swindle case out of Stearns County was dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Wooton's sentence, handed down Friday, was an upward departure from state sentencing guidelines based on him being defined as a 'career offender' under state law. He had amassed 37 prior theft-related criminal convictions in Minnesota dating back to 1989, according to court records. The judge ordered Wooton to pay $228,008.52 in restitution, which was left open for 30 days. He was given credit for 426 days already served in custody. Wooton has been incarcerated since November 2023 after receiving a nearly two-year prison sentence on a theft by swindle conviction in Wright County for conning a Clearwater man into giving him $10,000 in 2019 for the purchase of a motorhome that didn't exist. According to a June 2022 criminal complaint, Wooton conducted business on behalf of Crossroads Remodeling LLC, soliciting remodeling contracts from homeowners in Hennepin, Sherburne and Wright counties. His bio on Crossroads' Facebook page stated that '(h)e brings his Christian values into his work' and that he was the owner of the business. In 2017, the actual owners of Crossroads Remodeling were granted a contractor's license by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry under the condition that Wooton, who was already in the crosshairs of the agency because of his criminal history, did not hold a 'position of fiduciary, managerial, ownership or supervisory responsibility' with the business, the complaint says. Wooton often induced homeowners to pay most of the contracts before any work was done by giving them a 5% or 10% discount. He told some homeowners he was a veteran and was donating part of the money to a veterans' cause, which he did not do. The complaint says Wooton stole $849,734 from 35 homeowners who paid him upfront for remodeling projects — everything from decks to full-blown additions — that either were not started or completed between July 2017 and July 2018. The investigation also revealed he had failed to pay $481,203.62 owed to subcontractors and businesses that supplied materials to him. When Wooton's victims would reach him, he often lied, according to prosecutors. His lies included that he was in a fire and suffered burns; his aunt was stricken with cancer; his stepson died; a subcontractor's brother died; other customers were dying of cancer; and one of the company's owners stole all the money. A January 2024 complaint says Wooton carried out another swindling spree from May 25, 2023 through Oct. 11 of that year. A police investigation showed he was behind 13 fraudulent purchases of motor sports and construction equipment — totaling $232,204.19 — in Anoka, Chisago, Dakota, Hennepin, Kandiyohi, Ramsey, Scott and Washington counties. Wooton paid for all the goods with checks from three Bank of America accounts, two that were in his name and the other in his girlfriend's name. 'At no time did (Wooton) have sufficient funds to cover these checks,' the complaint says. According to a complaint, the thefts included: • $48,500 on May 25 from Tri-State Bobcat in Burnsville for a skid steer and a trailer, which Wooton then sold the same day to a business in Faribault. • $5,429 on June 30 from Ecofun Motorsports in Columbus for three Escape scooters, which were later recovered during the execution of a search warrant at Wooton's residence in Balsam Lake, Wis. • $22,133 on Aug. 8 from Tousley Motorsports in Vadnais Heights for two Honda dirt bikes and $13,352 four days later for a Seadoo boat. • $5,435 on Sept. 15 from Forest Lake Trailer for a trailer, which was recovered in Wisconsin. • $8,830 on Sept. 20 from Frankies Live Bait and Marine in Chisago City for an ATV. • $18,250 on Oct. 3 from Hugo Equipment Company in Hugo for a Toro Zero Turn lawn mower. In nearly all the cases, the businesses reached Wooton after the checks bounced and he told them he'd either send another check or come in and pay with a credit card. He didn't do either. Investigators learned Wooton sold some of the goods on Facebook Marketplace. Other items were recovered at Wisconsin properties connected to his girlfriend and her family, the complaint says. Barbara McQuade: Nationwide injunctions are a problem. Ending them isn't the answer 'Your daughter's life is more than any jail time,' judge tells St. Paul woman whose 1-year-old died after ingesting fentanyl St. Paul man sentenced for killing girlfriend's dog after it took 4-year-old son's hot dog Final gunman sentenced in 2022 gang slaying of man on St. Paul's West Side Charges: Drunken driver fatally struck woman, 72, in White Bear Township
Los Angeles Times
28-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Over 25 years later, Shakira's MTV ‘Unplugged' concert is available for streaming
Shakira's beloved 1999 performance on the MTV series 'Unplugged' has been released from the vault. Paramount announced Tuesday that it added more than 50 episodes of the MTV series 'Unplugged' to its streaming platform. Each episode famously showcased live acoustic sessions by such acts as Nirvana, Mariah Carey, Lauryn Hill, which were also released as albums. The show aired regularly from 1989 to 1999, then only periodically until 2009. With the exception of some heavily pixelated clips shared on YouTube, most of these historic performances have not been available for viewing in more than 20 years. Episodes of VH1's 'Storytellers' and CMT's 'Crossroads' have also been added for streaming on Paramount +. After 'Unplugged' introduced rock en español acts like Maná, Los Tres and Soda Stereo to viewers in the United States, Shakira became the first Latina to perform in the series. Taped in front of a live audience at the Grand Ballroom in New York City, the red-haired Colombian singer-songwriter took the stage on Aug. 12, 1999. The album, performed completely in Spanish, was subsequently released Feb. 29, 2000. Poised to break into the domineering English music world during an era known as pop's 'Latin explosion,' Shakira was backed by her mentor and producer, Emilio Estefan. He helped her reach commercial success as a producer of her groundbreaking 1998 pop-rock album, 'Dónde Están los Ladrones?' — just as he had done with his wife, Gloria Estefan, years before in the Miami Sound Machine. Although Shakira was already working on material for her 2001 English-language crossover album, 'Laundry Service,' her episode of 'Unplugged' proved a pivotal precursor for her ascent into the mainstream. She showed off her riffs in the gloomy introduction of 'Tú,' flaunted her vibrato in 'Estoy Aquí' and triumphed in a mariachi rendition of 'Ciega, Sordomuda' featuring the Miami troupe Mora Arriaga. Shakira's powerful stage presence and authenticity hinted at her future as an international superstar. Ahead of the first Latin Grammy Awards in 2000, for which the album was twice nominated, an L.A. Times editorial read: 'Fortunately, the recording includes some of Shakira's stage chatter, proving that fame hasn't affected her down-to-earth persona.' The live album helped Shakira secure her win for Latin pop album at the 2001 Grammy Awards — making it the first Latin MTV 'Unplugged' to win the award. Despite the large volume of 'Unplugged' episodes now available on Paramount+, Shakira is the only Spanish-language act included in the mix. Other Latino artists who previously aired include Charly Garcia, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Los Tigres del Norte, Juanes and La Ley — but those episodes have yet to become available on streaming.
