Latest news with #Greek-American
Daily Mirror
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'I visited every country in the world and asked everyone I met one question'
Michael Zervos embarked on a trip around the world, visiting 195 countries in 499 days and asking hundreds of people exactly the same question - what was the happiest day of your life? What is the happiest day of your life? That's the question Michael Zervos asked hundreds of people during his record-breaking, mammoth trip around the world. Last week, the Greek-American globetrotter returned to Detroit, his goal of reaching all 195 countries in the shortest time ever completed. He stopped the clock at 499 days. The former movie maker was not just motivated by the glory of becoming the speediest nation-visiting completist but also by a desire to understand what makes people tick in different parts of the world. Some similar themes quickly emerged. "There were a lot more similar answers than different ones. Many of them fall into particular themes, of connection, of relief or release from pain or agony. Many were mixes of sadness and happiness, like a knot. Sometimes, it was people coming through a period of sadness after a great event," Michael told the Mirror. "Specifically, about 10% of people who responded would say motherhood, fatherhood, or marriage." Amid all the expected answers were some more unusual gems, highly specific to the person and place. "In Russia, I interviewed six people. One was a 65-year-old woman who was at an art museum with her children. Her happiest moment was seeing her grandkids' artwork being exhibited alongside her own. Another time, a guy told me that his happiest day was at college when he met his idol, a rockstar of the Moscow mathematics scene. He met him and was given some words of wisdom," the traveler explained. Michael embarked on his project in the hopes of connecting with people across the world, in a way that would let him scratch a little beneath the surface. If, he had realised, the question was 'what makes you happy?' he'd be inundated with short, repetitive answers. 'Family'. 'Friends' 'Money'. However, ask people what the happiest day of their life was, and the answer is likely much more personal and considered. During our conversation, Michael suggested a quick-fire quiz. I'd name a country, he'd give me a 'happiest day' anecdote. We start with Samoa. "There was a fella named Christopher. A big, friendly, jovial guy. He was so proud of their heritage. Christopher's happiest moment was the time he got his entire heritage tattooed on himself. It is an extremely important decision for Samoans. You are taking upon the past traditions, heritage and the stories of your people on your body. It is very painful and traditionally takes place over long, long periods of time. You can't take any pain killers. You can't drink at all. It's 10 hour sessions, day after day. His happiest moment was when he completed it," Michael recalled. Next up, Sierra Leone - a country that typically finds itself at the bottom of global development indexes. "I got more interviews in Sierra Leone than in any other country. People lined up to be interviewed by me. There was a guy on the street talking about being a child soldier. This guy told me his happiest moment was running away, escaping (from the army)." The third country causes more pause for thought, and links to another reason Michael landed on his question. It is Finland, recently ranked as the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report for the eighth year in a row. "It was immensely difficult to get interviews out of Finns. Did I find them to be more happy? No, no I didn't." The more people Michael spoke to, the more he questioned the metrics used to measure happiness in the Report. He found them "somewhat Westernised" and unable to get to the core of what people want and what they're about. While he admits his work is limited by being so anecdotal and interpretive, Michael felt he got to the heart of some countries and what brings joy to the people there. "The Pacific Islands seemed the happiest region to me. There is a high level of community and support. It is a high trust society with tight cultural norms. They're in the here and now. We're here today and tomorrow and the rest is a dream. That is how people think of their realities there. They build together." Other places remained a mystery. "It was hard in some countries, especially Japan. There were things that seriously disappointed me and some that surprised me. I was walking through Tokyo, which I had imagined as the city of the future, a cyberpunk world. When I visited, it was hard for me to separate the metal from the living, undulating mass of people and concrete. The humanity and dignity of people somehow faded. It can be very isolating, immensely lonely, and amazing at the same time. The overstimulation in Japan. It can be extremely difficult to penetrate and interpret." Now Michael is back home he is working through his interviews, which are uploaded to his Instagram account. Soon, he will turn his investigation and travels into a book for Penguin Random House. Whether he gets to the bottom of what makes people happy, or the ingredients for a happy life, once all of his notes have been read through and interviews rewatched, remains to be seen.
The Hindu
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
The biopic Maria is an ode to an opera legend and a style icon
With the release of Pablo Larraín's new biopic Maria, starring Angelina Jolie, the world is once again drawn into the life of Greek-American opera legend Maria Callas, whose artistry, ambition and isolation were inseparable from her myth. The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2024 and has been streaming on Lionsgate Play in India since May 9, 2025. A childhood marked by struggle Maria Anna Cecilia Kalogeropoulos was born in New York in 1923 to Greek immigrant parents. Her childhood was marred by family discords and poverty. When her parents separated, her mother took Maria and her sister back to Athens, just before World War II. Life in wartime Greece was bleak, but within that landscape, a remarkable voice came into being. Maria trained at Athens Conservatoire under soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who saw not only the potential but the ferocity in her voice. She practised obsessively, isolated from friends, fuelled by her mother's ambition and her own growing hunger for greatness. She would later say her youth was stolen from her by music. A meteoric rise Her professional debut came in the 1940s in Athens, but it was in post-war Italy that her legend started to crystallise. By the age of 25, Maria had conquered the major Italian stages, singing with an intensity that audiences had not seen in decades. At Milan's Teatro alla Scala, she redefined operatic acting. Maria brought Bel Canto opera — long considered decorative and outdated — back into cultural prominence. In works by Bellini, Donizetti and early Verdi, she found emotional depth. Her Norma was torn between motherhood and priestly duty. Her Lucia descended into madness with devastating realism. These were not just performances. They were revelations. Her voice was unusual: expansive in range, volatile in colour, capable of both lyrical delicacy and volcanic force. Critics sometimes called it uneven. But even those who questioned her technique admitted they could not look away. Glamour and grit By the 1950s, Maria had become a global celebrity. Her drastic weight loss transformed her physically and visually aligned her with the 'fashion elite'. Designers such as Dior and Biki dressed her, photographers pursued her , and tabloids devoured every detail of her life. But the transformation was not without cost. Many believed her voice became fragile after the physical change. Others pointed to the sheer emotional toll her performances exacted. Either way, her career began to slow by the early 1960s. Offstage, her relationship with the Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, made headlines. When he left her for Jacqueline Kennedy, Maria was devastated. Those who knew Maria, said she never recovered emotionally, though she rarely spoke about it in public. Jolie's Maria In her final years, Maria withdrew from limelight, living in solitude in her Paris apartment. Friends noted her growing frailty (physical and emotional). She concealed her pain behind dark glasses and tailored suits. It is this fragile, human side that director Pablo Larraín explores in Maria, his introspective biopic starring Angelina Jolie. Set entirely in the last years of the singer's life, the film avoids the grandeur of her career, and instead, lingers on the quiet rituals of memory: letters, old videos, echoes of applause. Angelina's portrayal, informed by months of archival research, is inward and dignified. She plays Maria, not as a legend, but as a woman who once commanded the stage, but now, wrestles with silence. What emerges is not a portrait of a diva, but of a woman confronting the ghosts of her former self. A legacy etched in sound Maria died in 1977, at the age of 53. Her ashes were scattered in the Aegean Sea, not far from the land that had shaped her identity. In 2023, Athens inaugurated the Maria Callas Museum, marking her centenary with a collection of personal objects, costumes, recordings and letters. The museum reflects not only her artistic legacy but her enduring relevance to opera, theatre and performance. Her recordings remain widely studied and sold. Even today, no soprano can sing Tosca, Norma or La Traviata without facing comparison to Maria. But her influence is not measured only in sound. She changed the expectations of what an opera singer could be: not merely a singer, but an actor, a thinker and a human being on stage. Perhaps that is why Maria Callas still matters. Not because she was flawless, but because she was fearless.
The Hindu
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Hindu
Maria Callas's final aria: an ode to a voice that echoes eternity
With the release of Pablo Larraín's new biopic Maria, starring Angelina Jolie, the world is once again drawn into the life of Greek-American opera legend Maria Callas, whose artistry, ambition and isolation were inseparable from her myth. The film premiered at the 81st Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2024 and has been streaming on Lionsgate Play in India since May 9, 2025. A childhood marked by struggle Maria Anna Cecilia Kalogeropoulos was born in New York in 1923 to Greek immigrant parents. Her childhood was marred by family discords and poverty. When her parents separated, her mother took Maria and her sister back to Athens, just before World War II. Life in wartime Greece was bleak, but within that landscape, a remarkable voice came into being. Maria trained at Athens Conservatoire under soprano Elvira de Hidalgo, who saw not only the potential but the ferocity in her voice. She practised obsessively, isolated from friends, fuelled by her mother's ambition and her own growing hunger for greatness. She would later say her youth was stolen from her by music. A meteoric rise Her professional debut came in the 1940s in Athens, but it was in post-war Italy that her legend started to crystallise. By the age of 25, Maria had conquered the major Italian stages, singing with an intensity that audiences had not seen in decades. At Milan's Teatro alla Scala, she redefined operatic acting. Maria brought Bel Canto opera -- long considered decorative and outdated -- back into cultural prominence. In works by Bellini, Donizetti and early Verdi, she found emotional depth. Her Norma was torn between motherhood and priestly duty. Her Lucia descended into madness with devastating realism. These were not just performances. They were revelations. Her voice was unusual: expansive in range, volatile in colour, capable of both lyrical delicacy and volcanic force. Critics sometimes called it uneven. But even those who questioned her technique admitted they could not look away. Glamour and grit By the 1950s, Maria had become a global celebrity. Her drastic weight loss transformed her physically and visually aligned her with the 'fashion elite'. Designers such as Dior and Biki dressed her, photographers pursued her , and tabloids devoured every detail of her life. But the transformation was not without cost. Many believed her voice became fragile after the physical change. Others pointed to the sheer emotional toll her performances exacted. Either way, her career began to slow by the early 1960s. Offstage, her relationship with the Greek shipping magnate, Aristotle Onassis, made headlines. When he left her for Jacqueline Kennedy, Maria was devastated. Those who knew Maria, said she never recovered emotionally, though she rarely spoke about it in public. Jolie's Maria In her final years, Maria withdrew from limelight, living in solitude in her Paris apartment. Friends noted her growing frailty (physical and emotional). She had become dependent on a particular sedative that was prescribed for insomnia and anxiety during the 1960s and '70s. According to several biographers, Maria's reliance on prescription medication intensified post Onassis's marriage to Jacqueline. She reportedly battled bouts of depression, irregular heartbeat and fluctuating weight in the early 19'70s. Though these were rarely acknowledged in public, Maria too concealed her pain behind dark glasses, tailored suits, and carefully worded silences. It is this fragile, human side that director Pablo Larraín explores in Maria, his introspective biopic starring Angelina Jolie. Set entirely in the last years of the singer's ife, the film avoids the grandeur of her career, and instead, lingers on the quiet rituals of memory: letters, old videos, echoes of applause. Angelina's portrayal, informed by months of archival research, is inward and dignified. She plays Maria, not as a legend, but as a woman who once commanded the stage, but now, wrestles with silence. What emerges is not a portrait of a diva, but of a woman confronting the ghosts of her former self. A legacy etched in sound Maria died in 1977, at the age of 53. Her ashes were scattered in the Aegean Sea, not far from the land that had shaped her identity. Even in death, as in life, she was elusive — no autobiography, no farewell interviews, only an echo of her voice. In 2023, Athens inaugurated the Maria Callas Museum, marking her centenary with a collection of personal objects, costumes, recordings and letters. The museum reflects not only her artistic legacy but her enduring relevance to opera, theatre and performance. Her recordings remain widely studied and sold. Even today,no soprano can sing Tosca, Norma or La Traviata without facing comparison to her influence is not measured only in sound. She changed the expectations of what an opera singer could be: not merely a singer, but an actor, a thinker and human being on stage. The flame that endured Maria was never content to be admired from a distance. She demanded engagement. Her artistry was messy, raw, sometimes painful. She reached into roles and ripped them open. Her voice cracked. She missed notes. But she was never boring. She made the audience feel. In an era of perfection, hers is a voice that reminds us of something more human. She did not hide her pain, but transformed it. In doing so, she changed the face of opera. Perhaps that is why Maria Callas still matters. Not because she was flawless, but because she was fearless.
Time of India
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Who is the billionaire who transformed the iconic Playboy Mansion after five years of renovations? Here's how it looks now
Live Events FAQs (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel The Playboy Mansion has finally concluded the long awaited renovations after 5 years, reports said. The mansion was bought in 2016 for $100 million by Daren Metropoulos , a Greek-American businessman. Daren is 42 years old and used to run Hostess Brands and Pabst Brewing Company, according to the DailyMail dad is billionaire Dean Metropoulos , who is 79 years old. Dean likes iconic houses and once partied at the Playboy Mansion in 2012 with Snoop Dogg and Playboy bunnies, as per has spent about $326 million buying fancy properties. He also owns a $148 million Mediterranean-style house in Palm Beach, Florida, according to the Realtor also owns a smaller mansion next door to the Playboy Mansion worth around $60 million and might join both houses in the future. Renovations were led by celebrity architect Richard Landry, who has worked with Tom Brady, Kylie Jenner, Rod Stewart, Mark Wahlberg, and Sylvester Stallone, according to the filed with Los Angeles city said they fixed the kitchen, family room, bathrooms, and powder room. The outside now looks completely different, it has a cream and aqua blue color scheme. It has a new guest house, a bright cobalt blue tennis court, and perfect lawns and gardens, as mentioned in the DailyMail back terrace was made bigger so more people can hang out there. There is a new 42x23-foot glass solarium. Under the solarium is a luxury spa-jacuzzi. The spa also has a cold plunge, like the ones Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga, and Madonna use. When Daren bought the mansion, he let Hugh Hefner live there until he died in 2017 at 91, according to the mansion was famous because it appeared in Playboy magazine and for crazy celebrity parties. There were lingerie-only dress codes for women, and a famous grotto for Presley allegedly slept with 8 Playmates there at the same time. John Lennon once burned a Matisse painting with a cigarette. Donald Trump filmed an episode of The Apprentice at the mansion and met Hefner there, according to the Cosby was accused of assaulting two women there, Judy Huth said she was 15 when it happened, and Chloe Goins also accused him, though no charges were filed. The mansion was super dirty in the past, old bunnies said there was dog poop and pee on the 2023, permits showed workers fixed termite damage and dry rot in the wooden parts of the house. The Playboy Mansion is in Holmby Hills near the LA Country Club and off Sunset to the reports, the house was first built in 1927 by Arthur Kelly for Arthur Letts Jr. In 1971 Hefner bought the house for $1 million and then it became the second Playboy Mansion.Q1. Who owns the Playboy Mansion?Daren Metropoulos owns the Playboy Mansion.Q2. What is the worth of Playboy Mansion?Playboy Mansion is $100 million worth.
Daily Mail
20-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Revamped Playboy Mansion finally finished after five years of renovations under new billionaire owner
Renovations on the infamous Playboy Mansion are finally complete after five years. Aerial images show the stunning property looking vastly different than before with a brand new cream and aqua blue color scheme. From some angles, the one debaucherous mansion now resembles a picturesque Disney castle. The surrounding area boasts an impressive guest house, a cobalt blue tennis court, and perfectly manicured lawns and gardens. The rear terrace deck appears to have been extended to allow more space for outdoor entertaining. And to help guests unwind, there's a new 42 by 23-foot solarium. Underneath the solarium, a new luxury state-of-the-art spa-jacuzzi is believed to be finished. The spa also includes a 'cold plunge,' favored by celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Lady Gaga and Madonna. The late Hugh Hefner's legendary home, which served as the backdrop to his Playboy magazine, was sold in January 2016 to Greek-American business mogul Daren Metropoulos for $100million. Daren, 42, is the son of billionaire businessman Dean Metropoulos, 79. Daren boasts a packed business portfolio, as he headed companies such as Hostess Brand, which produces snacks like Twinkies and HoHos, and Pabst Brewing Company – both at some point owned by his father. Dean is a fan of Hefner's fantasy home, as he was photographed partying it up at the 29-room Holmby Hills property in 2012 alongside rapper Snoop Dogg and an entourage of bunnies. He entrusted the makeover to architect Richard Landry, who has renovated multiple star's houses such as Tom Brady, Kylie Jenner, Rod Stewart, Mark Wahlberg and Sylvester Stallone. Dean has spent the last 18 years buying up iconic properties, with estimating that the mogul has splashed out around $326million so far. Outside of the Playboy Mansion, his purchases include $148million on a Mediterranean Revival-style home in Palm Beach, Florida. 'My general approach is very measured and tactical and I am particularly interested in hidden jewel properties that rarely come to market,' he previously told The Wall Street journal. In addition to owning the $100million Playboy Mansion, Dean also owns a 'miniature' mansion next door worth around $60million. He has hinted in the past that he plans to combine the two estates. Building permits filed with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety at the start of renovations five years ago, showed his intention of remodeling the kitchen, family room bathrooms and powder room in the main house. When Dean originally bought the mansion in 2016, he allowed Hefner to live out his last days at his beloved mansion. He died the following year at age 91 from sepsis he had developed after he contracted E. coli. The Playboy Mansion is emblematic of celebrity culture with some of the biggest stars scrambling to enjoy Hefner's lingerie-only dress code for the female guests who cavorted in the caved grotto. Elvis Presley reportedly slept with eight Playmates at once at the home, while John Lennon burned a Matisse original with a cigarette. Donald Trump even filmed an episode of The Apprentice at the mansion where contestants got to meet Hefner and his girlfriends. It also has a dark side, with allegations against disgraced actor Bill Cosby purported to take place during these debauched parties. Judy Huth claimed Cosby assaulted her when she was 15 at Hugh Hefner's home. Chloe Goins claimed she was assaulted by Crosby at the mansion, but criminal charges in the case were ruled out. It was also dirty. Multiple former Playboy bunnies spoke out about the dilapidated building and floors being strewn with dog feces and urine. In 2011, health officials confirmed that the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease was found in a whirlpool spa at the Playboy Mansion where more than 100 people fell ill. The Los Angeles County Health Department presented its findings at an annual conference at the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. The legionella bacteria also cause a milder illness called Pontiac fever. Symptoms, which include fever and headache, are the same as those suffered by the Playboy Mansion partygoers. Building permits, accessed by in 2023, revealed workmen repaired 'termite and dry-rot damage' from the original wooden framing. The Playboy mansion sits on five acres adjacent to the Los Angeles Country Club – on Charing Cross Road in the exclusive Holmby Hills neighborhood just off the famous Sunset Boulevard. The house was designed by Arthur Kelly for Arthur Letts Jr - the son of Arthur Letts who founded The Broadway, a now-defunct department store – and was completed in 1927. It was purchased by Hefner in 1971 for $1million, becoming the second Playboy Mansion house. The first was a 54-room classical brick and limestone mansion in Chicago's Gold Coast district.
