Latest news with #Founder'sDay
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
City of Beckley to unveil historical marker as part of Founder's Day celebration
BECKLEY, WV (WVNS)- Each spring, Raleigh County residents have the opportunity to connect with Beckley's origins, which date all the way back to 1838. The annual Founder's Day event brings the past to life through historical re-enactors, traditional craft vendors, and guided tours of the historic Wildwood House. This year's event will reveal a special connection between the city and the Civil War through a brand-new partnership between the City of Beckley and the Civil War Trails organization.'We are now officially on the Civil War Trail, and we're really excited about that,' said Parks and Recreation Director with the City of Beckley, Leslie Baker. 'We will be unveiling that and talking about the small part that Beckley had in the Civil War.' Raleigh County Historical Society President, Rebecca Graham said the community's appreciation for seeing the history of their area brought to life is what keeps the event coming back year after year. The Raleigh County Historical Society and City of Beckley Parks and Recreation Department will host this year's Founder's Day event on Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm at the historic Wildwood House Museum on South Kanawha Street across from the Memorial Baptist Church. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
NDTV
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NDTV
Hai Junoon Review: A Symphony Of Flaws Wrapped In Bollywood Beats
New Delhi: In a world where every college drama promises a fresh beat, Hai Junoon: Dream, Dare, Dominate attempts to dance to its own rhythm but ends up stepping on its own toes. Set in the vibrant and fiercely competitive environment of Mumbai's Andersons College, the series throws viewers into the midst of an ongoing rivalry between two student groups: the elite music band Supersonics and the rebellious dance crew Misfits. On paper, the premise feels ripe with potential - passion, rivalry, youthful angst, and the classic underdog story all blended with Bollywood-style musical flair. Unfortunately, this ambitious concoction struggles to hit the right notes and often feels like a cacophony of overused tropes and forced drama. The storyline orbits around Gagan Ahuja (Neil Nitin Mukesh), a former musical prodigy and celebrated alumnus who returns from a decade-long hiatus in Los Angeles to mentor the Supersonics for the college's 50th Founder's Day celebration. Opposing them are the Misfits, a group of passionate and untamed dancers led by Sebi (Sumedh Mudgalkar) and mentored by Pearl Saldhana (Jacqueline Fernandez). The narrative attempts to explore the classic clash of legacy versus rebellion, perfection versus raw talent and the universal search for identity and belonging. While the emotional core promises a meaningful exploration of ambition and self-discovery, the execution often falls flat, buried under a mountain of cliches and predictable conflicts. The writing suffers from an overambitious attempt to juggle numerous social themes, including sexuality, mental health, financial hardship and trauma, all crammed into a 20-episode arc. Instead of nuanced portrayals, these storylines often come across as tokenistic and superficial, detracting rather than adding depth. Characters exist more as checkboxes for inclusivity than as fully fleshed-out individuals. The romance subplots feel obligatory rather than heartfelt, lacking any real chemistry or organic development. Meanwhile, the direction struggles to maintain coherence, leading to a disjointed narrative that frequently veers off course, making it hard for viewers to stay engaged or invested. Neil Nitin Mukesh delivers a restrained and layered performance as Gagan, bringing some emotional gravitas to an otherwise underwritten character. Sumedh Mudgalkar's portrayal of Sebi offers the most genuine spark, grounding the show's energy with his earnest underdog charm. Jacqueline Fernandez, however, disappoints with a performance that feels perfunctory and uninspired, her character lacking a clear arc or motivation. The supporting cast adds some youthful enthusiasm but is hampered by limited screen time and shallow characterisation. Where Hai Junoon does find some footing is in its musical sequences. The choreography is energetic and the reimagined Bollywood numbers add nostalgic appeal. The involvement of veteran singers like Shankar Mahadevan, Shaan, and Sonu Nigam enriches the soundtrack, although the frequent musical interludes sometimes disrupt the flow rather than enhance it. The show's attempt to merge traditional Bollywood musicality with contemporary youth culture is earnest but often clumsy, evoking more comparisons to outdated dance films than groundbreaking new territory. Ultimately, Hai Junoon: Dream, Dare, Dominate is a sprawling, uneven series that tries to do too much with too little focus. Its heart is in the right place - championing passion, inclusivity, and self-expression - but the execution feels overstuffed, inconsistent, and lacking in narrative discipline. What could have been an inspiring ode to youthful dreams ends up feeling like a choreographed slog. For those craving a musical drama, the show offers sporadic moments of enjoyment, but it rarely sustains interest or delivers on its promise. With stronger writing, tighter editing, and more authentic character development, this series might have soared. Instead, it limps across the finish line.
New Indian Express
17-05-2025
- General
- New Indian Express
Remembering a visionary...152 years on
In 1873, 152 years ago, Dharmarathnakara Rai Bahadur Arcot Narrainsawmy Mudaliar, known as the 'merchant prince of Bengaluru' founded the first free English primary school in Bengaluru on Commercial Street. In the following decades, Mudaliar would go on to start many more institutions focused on serving low income, first-generation learners from marginalised caste-class backgrounds for whom the barriers to accessing an education were sky high, including one for girls. It is to celebrate him and his vision that RBANM's educational charities hosted their Founder's Day celebrations on May 14, held at the newly-renovated Sabha, Kamaraj Road, which was once an RBANM school. Advocate and RBANM's secretary Arvind Narrain, walked an audience of Mudaliar's family members, staff from RBANM's institutions, and other guests through the founder's journey of establishing schools, orphanages, and technical institutes at the 'high noon of colonialism'. Narrain said, 'The founder himself did not know English but understood the importance of an education in English. It [his institution] was the first place where Indians could learn English,' Interestingly, the first principal was social reformer and freedom fighter Bipin Chandra Pal, who was associated with the Brahmo Samaj. 'Brahmo Samaj encouraged the education of women, campaigned for widow remarriage and was against the system of caste. In terms of his vision, the founder wanted a principal who embodied that way of thinking about education being for all people,' added Narrain.
The Hindu
14-05-2025
- General
- The Hindu
RBANM's Educational Charities celebrate Founder's Day
U RBANM's Educational Charities celebrated Founder's Day on May 14 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of renowned philanthropist Dharmarathnakara Rai Bahadur Arcot Narrainsawmy Mudaliar. Arvind Narrain, Secretary of the RBANM, spoke about the relevance of the Founder's vision today, saying, 'The Founder's notion on wealth was for the benefit of society and the definition of philanthropy is the diffusion of knowledge, precisely what he did with his endeavours.' He elaborated on the institutions that the Founder established as a part of his efforts to eradicate caste and gender discrimination, like the free English school in the Cantonment area, and the Govindammal school for the free education of girls. Gyanamurthy, currently part of Rotary International and an alumnus from 1950, shared an anecdote on how they were taught the meaning of charity in school. 'We were each given a sweet and asked to share it with a downtrodden child if we wanted one for ourselves, but we ended up sharing both,' he recalled, learning that charity means to become poor after giving. The event concluded with a musical rendition by folk artist and researcher Shilpa Mudbi. She presented her social take on the Yellamma folk story and informed the audience how the folk form has been able to create moments of community catharsis. Faculty from various departments presented original poems in Tamil, Hindi, and English on the topics of Dalit resistance, womanhood, and social identity. Representatives from over eight institutions marked their presence along with members of the board.
Los Angeles Times
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
A generic teens-in-peril slasher, ‘Clown in a Cornfield' can't cut the crop
Is there anything as dependable as the slasher formula? It waxes, wanes and winks its way through cultural cycles but it endures; malleable yet sturdy, high or lowbrow (usually low), requiring just a few key elements: some teenagers and a masked killer. A small town would be nice. Change up the costumes and the weapons and it practically writes itself. Enter 'Clown in a Cornfield' from 'Tucker & Dale vs. Evil' filmmaker Eli Craig. This slasher does exactly what it says on the tin: A murderous clown emerges from the cornfields of Kettle Springs, Mo. and mauls misbehaving teens to shreds. In an opening prologue set in 1991, Craig signals the silliness with which we should enjoy the film: A future victim marvels at the size of a footprint in the damp soil and the clown's shoes give him away with a squeak as he impales our unfortunate soul. What sets this particular movie apart is its provenance, adapted from a 2020 horror novel by Adam Cesare. That literary origin does give this otherwise light, disposable genre romp a bit more heft, though the backstory and generational history that's alluded to isn't entirely explored onscreen. Craig and Carter Blanchard collaborated on the screenplay adaptation, and the film relies on the kind of quickie reveals and twists that audiences would expect from this kind of thing. Craig is self-reflective while being appropriately reverent to the tropes of the genre. The closest recent comparison would be Eli Roth's 'Thanksgiving,' another outrageously costumed killer movie, and while Craig doesn't have Roth's gleefully sadistic creativity when it comes to kills, his teens are a bit more fun to be around, especially the snarky Quinn (Katie Douglas), who moves to Kettle Springs with her doctor dad (Aaron Abrams) and immediately falls in with a group of popular YouTube-obsessed classmates who make horror films on their phones about their town mascot, Frendo, of the corn syrup factory. Quinn starts crushing on Cole (Carson MacCormac), the scion of the town's founders. Every year, they celebrate tradition with the Founder's Day parade, foregrounding Frendo's iconic visage. But it seems as soon as Quinn shows up, things start to go wrong. Teens start turning up dead, evil clowns start revving their chainsaws. It's initially challenging to tell what's real and what's an elaborate prank. There's a theme that drifts through 'Clown in a Cornfield' about teens and their phones and how we live our lives through screens and ever-present cameras, but Craig never fully threads that needle. At a time when it's increasingly difficult to discern what's real and what's not, especially on our phones, that more sophisticated story never gets told, in favor of more throwback-style bloodbaths and showboating bad-guy speeches. 'Clown in a Cornfield' is fun, to be sure, but feels about as substantial as a corn puff. Douglas is beguiling enough with her humorous, spunky performance, and MacCormac capably keeps up with her. Will Sasso and Kevin Durand are welcome supporting players as a few of the oddly aggressive town elders. While things get a little too 'Scooby-Doo' at times, Craig smartly keeps it moving: This is a light and breezy affair with a few unexpected twists, some social commentary that doesn't entirely land and not enough staying power to be truly memorable. Ah, well: Cesare already has two sequel novels published, so there's already plenty more Frendo the Clown ready to be harvested. Katie Walsh is a Tribune News Service film critic.
