Latest news with #Leven
The Irish Sun
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
The New York-style hotel in middle of the UK's coolest city
COMING from the Dutch word 'to live,' Leven is one of the many converted warehouse hotels in Manchester. Read on to find out more about what the rooms are like and what there is to eat at Leven. Advertisement 5 The Leven Hotel feels more like New York than the UK Credit: Supplied 5 The Lobby is where you can find both merch and drinks Credit: Supplied Where is Leven? By Canal Street in the heart of What's the hotel like? The boutique hotel feels more like an urban, trendy city escape than the UK. Expect exposed red brick walls and cool artwork pieces with a New York loft feel. What are the rooms like at Leven? They're more like small apartments, with the smallest Life Size option still having a kitchenette and seating area. Advertisement Read more on hotels And the best views come from the king-size bed, if you opt for a canal-side room. The power showers are a highlight, with fancy Grown Alchemist toiletries (which you can buy full-size downstairs). Need more space? There is the Living Space room, with a larger sofa area, Living Large with a sitting room or their top option, Living The Dream, with second bedroom. Rooms start from £105 per night at Advertisement Most read in Travel What is there to eat and drink there ? Underneath the hotel is restaurant Maya, which opened last year and is filled with locals, not just guests. Run by Manchester Chef of the Year Shaun Moffat, its rich mushroom parfait was a starter highlight, followed by the creamy walnut butter pasta. Best of British Manchester: Brooke Vincent and Ellie Leach reveal their favourite things to do in the city Swing by the Lobby Bar for a nightcap, where drinks are served until 1.30am. I'm still thinking of my Rhubarb Sour now. What else is there to do at the hotel? The Lobby has their own hotel merch so you can stock up on a branded hat or pair of socks, and a co-working space (where you will find the limited breakfast of pastries and cereals). Advertisement Not only is the hotel on buzzing Canal Street, but Chinatown is nearby. As it is in the Gay Village it can get a bit noisy outside at weekends but hey, it's Manchester - you won't be going to bed early. Is Leven family-friendly? The two-bedroom Living The Dream room is ideal for families. Is there access for guests with disabilities? Yes, there are a number of rooms with disabled access and facilities. Advertisement Looking for a place to stay? For more hotel inspiration click here 5 All the rooms have parquet flooring, high ceilings and bespoke furniture with a New York loft feel. Credit: Supplied 5 Leven promotes itself as the kind of hotel where you would stay for much longer Credit: Supplied 5 The bar does coffee and pastries for breakfast and cocktails, coffee and snacks in the evening Credit: Supplied Advertisement
Scottish Sun
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
The New York-style hotel in middle of the UK's coolest city
And how much rooms cost PRIME LOCATION The New York-style hotel in middle of the UK's coolest city Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) COMING from the Dutch word 'to live,' Leven is one of the many converted warehouse hotels in Manchester. Read on to find out more about what the rooms are like and what there is to eat at Leven. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 The Leven Hotel feels more like New York than the UK Credit: Supplied 5 The Lobby is where you can find both merch and drinks Credit: Supplied Where is Leven? By Canal Street in the heart of Manchester's vibrant Gay Village, Leven is a five-minute walk from Manchester Piccadilly station and handy for pretty much everywhere in the buzzing city centre. What's the hotel like? The boutique hotel feels more like an urban, trendy city escape than the UK. Expect exposed red brick walls and cool artwork pieces with a New York loft feel. What are the rooms like at Leven? They're more like small apartments, with the smallest Life Size option still having a kitchenette and seating area. And the best views come from the king-size bed, if you opt for a canal-side room. The power showers are a highlight, with fancy Grown Alchemist toiletries (which you can buy full-size downstairs). Need more space? There is the Living Space room, with a larger sofa area, Living Large with a sitting room or their top option, Living The Dream, with second bedroom. Rooms start from £105 per night at What is there to eat and drink there? Underneath the hotel is restaurant Maya, which opened last year and is filled with locals, not just guests. Run by Manchester Chef of the Year Shaun Moffat, its rich mushroom parfait was a starter highlight, followed by the creamy walnut butter pasta. Best of British Manchester: Brooke Vincent and Ellie Leach reveal their favourite things to do in the city Swing by the Lobby Bar for a nightcap, where drinks are served until 1.30am. I'm still thinking of my Rhubarb Sour now. What else is there to do at the hotel? The Lobby has their own hotel merch so you can stock up on a branded hat or pair of socks, and a co-working space (where you will find the limited breakfast of pastries and cereals). Not only is the hotel on buzzing Canal Street, but Chinatown is nearby. As it is in the Gay Village it can get a bit noisy outside at weekends but hey, it's Manchester - you won't be going to bed early. Is Leven family-friendly? The two-bedroom Living The Dream room is ideal for families. Is there access for guests with disabilities? Yes, there are a number of rooms with disabled access and facilities. Looking for a place to stay? For more hotel inspiration click here 5 All the rooms have parquet flooring, high ceilings and bespoke furniture with a New York loft feel. Credit: Supplied 5 Leven promotes itself as the kind of hotel where you would stay for much longer Credit: Supplied
Daily Record
01-07-2025
- Sport
- Daily Record
Jet lagged Lee Westwood joy as LIV star reveals how he defied 90-minute sleep to make The Open
English star charges from Dallas to Portrush via Dundonald as he makes Open Jet-lagged Lee Westwood defied one-and-a-half hours sleep after his dash from Dallas to Dundonald to fly into The Open. The 52-year-old produced a brilliant display in Ayrshire to book his place in the 153rd Open Championship. LIV star Westwood stormed to victory with a seven-under par effort over two rounds to secure a golden ticket to Royal Portrush, despite having only seen the course for the first upon arrival late Monday night. The Ryder Cup hero will make his 93rd Major appearance and his 28th at The Open having shown desire to get from Texas to Scotland. Westwood's love for The Open tempted him to take the trip and paid off in style with big crowds following him around to the win. Afterwards, he revealed the chaotic build-up and, when asked how he felt, he smiled: 'Good, well, tired. It's a while since I've played 36 holes in a day and didn't really give myself the best chance, really. I turned up at seven o'clock last night and I've never played the golf course before, so I had to walk around it. 'I got off it at about quarter past nine last night. Got wet the last four holes. Good old Scotland raining on me there! So the first time I played it was this morning. 'I only made my mind up last week really. I only had an hour and a half sleep last night as well. So if I collapse, then you'll know why. Yeah, it's a strange route, isn't it? Dallas to Dundonald. 'IObviously it's not the ideal preparation, but it's the greatest championship in the world and I felt like I've played well the last few tournaments on LIV with a 62 and finishing 10th in Washington. 'I played solidly last week and there was a bit of breeze blowing and felt like my game was in decent shape. So I thought, come along and give myself an opportunity. You don't want to turn up at qualifiers if you haven't got plenty of game, but I felt like I'd got plenty of game. It was just not knowing the golf course that was really the conundrum for me. 'I've always said it's the greatest championship in golf. As a British player, you get phenomenal support and I really enjoyed Portrush last time. I finished fourth and played nicely, so I'll be looking forward to going back there. 'I'm 52 now, so I've played a lot. I was looking at the course next door and I think I tried to qualify around there in 1994 and I remember hitting a sprinkler and bouncing through the back and then losing out in a play-off. 'IAnd then obviously qualified the following year in 1995 at Leven and then played something like 25 or 26 consecutive Open championships. It's nice to be back playing,' Westwood admits he won't have big expectations at Portrush, but does concede that an Open offers his best chance to win a first Major. He said: 'I think of any major championship, you can compete on links courses. 'II think Tom Watson proved that around Turnberry in 2009 and then Greg Norman a couple of years later at Birkdale. I think if any form of golf gives seniors a chance, it's links golf because you get a bit of run on the ball and you have to use a bit of cunning and guile with the wind. 'I won't really have any expectations. I'm playing at Valderrama next week in LIV and I'll try and sharpen my game up. I'm looking forward to the next few days having some time off and maybe turn up to Portrush on the Tuesday on the Tuesday afternoon. 'II feel like I've played it before. I can get a practise round in on Tuesday afternoon and then maybe play nine holes on Wednesday and try and be as fresh as possible. 'Qualifiers have won it before, haven't they? But I'm just looking forward to enjoying the week at Portrush and seeing a few old friends and enjoying that golf course. I think for me, it's in the top three links courses in the British Isles.' An Open triumph would seal his career, but he said: 'Yeah, obviously it would, but I'm not going in there with any preconceived ideas. I've finished second, I've finished third a couple of times. I've finished fourth a couple of times. 'II've had a lot of Top 10s. I really enjoy playing links golf. It tests you like the week in, week out golf doesn't. You've got to use your imagination a lot more imagination around the greens. Obviously you can play the high ones, you can play the low ones, It's fun to play. 'There's no walk like walking down the 18th in an Open championship with the stands surrounding the 18th green.' Victory would, of course, put Westwood in Ryder Cup contention, but he brushed that talk off as he said: 'No. I've just played 36 holes, That's my 36 holes for at least another year!' Westwood last played The Open in 2022, but says the absence hasn't been that bad and added: 'Not really that tough. If I'd have wanted to play in them that badly, I would have come along and tried to qualify. 'II can't remember why I didn't try and qualify, but there's a lot of golf around this time of the season and I probably had something booked in. But this time around, I thought, why not?'
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Father is fined £80 for taking his son out of school for 20th anniversary of Boxing Day tsunami that killed his two brothers
A single father has been fined £80 after he removed his son from school to mark the 20th anniversary of a tsunami that killed his two brothers. Jack Coop, who was 16 when his siblings perished in the horror wave in 2004, flew out with his family to Thailand at Christmas time last year to remember the tragic event. Mr Coop had stayed at home on Boxing Day 21 years ago when the horror occurred to look after his cancer-stricken grandfather as his mum, her fiance, and two young sons jetted off to their dream holiday. But none of the family would return, except mum Sharon Howard who was miraculously saved, when a tsunami struck the Thai resort of Khao Lak. Ms Howard lost her partner David Page and sons Mason, eight, and Taylor, six. Now, Mr Coop, Sharon's surviving son has branded the school as showing 'no empathy' after he took his own son Leven out of St Ives School in Cornwall for a few days to mark the occasion. Mr Coop said there was no one else to look after Leven and that he wanted to involve him in something important. He claimed he had been 'ignored' when trying to get the trip waived for 'exceptional' circumstances. Leven missed a total of seven days of school to enable the three-week trip and had previously had no issues with attendance. Mr Coop, a carpenter from St Ives, who was returning to Thailand for the first time in 18 years, said: 'I was 16 when it happened and was very young to see a lot of the things I saw. 'A lot of things have to live with you forever. I don't talk about them that often - they are things you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy what we had to see and go through as a family. 'Mason and Taylor were my son's uncles at the end of the day. He has heard so much about them. 'He's never had the opportunity to go over there and it was financially a stretch to go. But to make the effort to go out there and support the family - and then get fined - seems a bit of a crazy thing to do.' Sharon's three loved ones were among 151 Brits killed in the tsunami as water engulfed their ground floor hotel room. Mason was on a sunbed outside the room while Taylor had been taken to a kid's club. David was killed instantly when the wall of water struck him and Sharon was knocked unconscious. She later scrambled out of her room and her life was saved by Australian holidaymaker Ian Walsh, who hauled her to safety by dangling a beach towel from above. Mr Coop said: 'I knew I would regret it if I didn't go. I feel more emotional now than I did when it happened. I think it was because it was like a part of my brain shut down for years. 'You learn to live without them but you never forget. You never heal. I see their friends around still and what they are doing and it makes me wonder what my boys would have been doing - if they'd have had children, what they would look like. But I'll never know.' Mr Coop added he had needed to go and support his mum and flew back with her. He said: 'It was incredibly traumatic for her. I was settling her in, we were meeting people that saved mum, working that network. Mum also had to do a number of interviews and there were ceremonies to attend. 'There were some nice things and it was nice for the country to remember everyone that was lost with all the families there celebrating their lives. 'Rightly so, mum was there and brought her family. Thailand is such a big part of our lives. I only went back very early on after the tsunami so it has been around 18 years now since I've been. 'It was an emotional experience for everyone and it was nice to celebrate them and to see they are still remembered. It has been a long time but was very emotional.' Jack said he initially made an application to take Leven out of school for four days, which was turned down. He then decided to go a few days earlier so he could fly with his mum, who had changed her date so she could meet some of her rescuers. After returning, he was told the fine could be 'waived' by the school in 'exceptional circumstances' but claimed all efforts to communciate with the school had fallen on deaf ears. He added: 'I've still not heard from the school. It was originally going to be four days but as I was getting fined anyway and mum had left earlier we thought we would go early to support her. 'I would have just liked to see a bit of empathy towards the situation from the school and the headmaster - but there has been none of that. 'I explained it all on the form why I was going. But was told by Cornwall Council they won't accept it. I was told if there were any issues and "exceptional" circumstances the school could revoke it. You can not get much more exceptional than this in my eyes. 'I would understand if I was taking him out of school on a regular basis. There needs to be some enforcement for education but he's had no previous issues with attendance. 'I've not paid it yet. It is not even about the money or the fine. It is only £80 but it is the principle and the fact you can not communicate with anyone. 'I put in an application and it got turned down. 'Mum then changed her date as she was going over to meet people saved her. She was going a bit earlier than Boxing Day and as I was getting fined anyway I went out seven days early before the school broke up so we could be with mum. 'I am a single dad and there is no one else that can have him. 'Regardless of that he had to come - it was very important for him to learn about the history of our family and what happened. 'It was the last week of school before Christmas and they were just messing around anyway and watching videos. It was not like he had any exams.' Mr Coop said he has since tried to phone the headteacher on multiple occasions to speak with him personally but hasn't had a call back. He added: 'I can't stress how important it was to be with mum and support her after everything we saw and went through. 'There was no way I could just let my mum go back through that. She has suffered enough. There was no one else to support her and no one in their right mind would allow her to go alone. 'There is a lot of trauma still in the family from it all. We all live with it each day. It is hard to speak about the main thing was to support mum as she went to show her respects and be there for her.' Of the fine, Ms Howard said: 'This needs to be out in the open. We had hoped he could have gone a bit later but there were genuine reasons why he needed to go out beforehand. 'A lot of others wouldn't even have asked for permission so I hope the school sees sense.' She said she had needed to be in Thailand for the anniversary and added: 'I am not the same person I was before. 'I lost my two babies who still needed me. I needed to mark the anniversary where it happened. 'David had taken us to Thailand because I was convalescing from a hysterectomy. 'We had two days left when the tsunami struck. 'We suddenly heard this huge noise like a jet and the water came in. I blacked out after I told David: "I'm going now. I love you".' Cornwall Council said its only role was to administer fines on behalf of schools and wasn't part of the decision making process. A waive of the fine would have to be made by St Ives School under 'exceptional circumstances.'
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How ‘Severance' creates Lumon's ‘manufactured perfection' through VFX
As sci-fi TV shows go, Severance certainly seems lighter on special effects than the likes of Andor. There are no alien planets or laser guns to be had here, after all — but the 'manufactured perfection' of Severance still takes a lot of work. Lumon Industries is determined to shape the world according to the corporate ethos of Kier Eagan, and putting that world on screen requires a variety of techniques. In a new interview with Gold Derby, Severance VFX supervisor Eric Leven of Industrial Light & Magic explains how various aspects of Season 2 were constructed. Alongside his commentary, you can watch the finished shots in the reel below. Severance has constructed massive sets for the labyrinthine white hallways of Lumon's office. But filming Season 2's dramatic opening scene, in which Mark S. (Adam Scott) runs paranoid through seemingly endless corridors in a single camera shot, required more than what the production could physically build. More from GoldDerby 'Say Nothing' star Anthony Boyle on playing IRA activist Brendan Hughes: We 'get to the humanity as opposed to the mythology' Final 2025 Tony Awards winner odds in all 26 categories, including last-minute Best Actress in a Musical flip to Audra McDonald 'Deliciously at odds': Zachary Quinto on embodying the brilliant yet flawed Dr. Oliver Wolf in 'Brilliant Minds' 'Ben [Stiller] really likes to shoot as much practically as possible, he wants to have as much reality as possible, but particularly for that opening scene, there was just no way to do that,' Leven says. 'So even for the very first shot, where they had envisioned this very precise mechanical movement around Mark's head so it makes this 540-degree circle and then moves out of the elevator and then swings all over the lobby and then runs down the hallways, there was no way to shoot that practically. There is no camera setup that can make that happen. So we started combining a bunch of different techniques, one of which was this big giant robot motion-controlled camera.' But a camera that size couldn't fit in the Lumon elevator, so then Leven's team had to figure out how to create a digital version of the elevator to make it work. Ultimately, that opening sequence involved a combination of real sets and CGI environments, blended together to look seamless — a process that took nearly six months to complete. 'There's a part where we're pushing with Mark, and then we do this 180 around him,' Leven says. 'What became the most feasible was, let's put him on a treadmill and build a CG environment around him. So he was running through real hallways for part of this shot, but the trick was, even with these endless stages, there's only so much he can actually run through. So we did have to do a bunch of stitches. "Ben was really adamant that audiences are more sophisticated now, they can see these stitches. We wanted to make sure to avoid that. We basically shuffled the deck and made new techniques. So for example, when Mark goes around a corner, you would think that normally that corner wall would be the stitch point, but we would back in to, say, his ankle so that if you watch really carefully, you'd see his foot never leaves the frame. And this keeps the audience guessing." READ: The Bell Labs complex in New Jersey stands in for Lumon's office building where Mark S. and his fellow innies report to work every day. But as anyone who attended the Severance event at Bell Labs back in April knows, there's still a big difference between our real world and Lumon. Leven and his team help create that difference. 'It was important for Ben to be on a real location that the actors can react to,' Leven says. 'But we want to make this place look isolated in the middle of nowhere, so we're getting rid of other houses, we're changing the trees. Everything has to be perfect, precise, and symmetrical. So we're changing the layout of some of the roadways and the surrounding environment. We're adding period cars, because Severance takes place in this nebulous world where, for some reason, a lot of the cars are from the '80s.' Leven credits Severance production designer Jeremy Hindle with the idea for the '80s cars. It's an aesthetic that Hindle personally likes, which also helps distinguish Severance's world. Meanwhile, the specific layout of the Bell Labs building posed its own problem. 'What's really interesting about the Bell Labs building is that it was the first building ever built with a mirrored exterior, the first mirrored building,' Leven says. 'So when the camera is looking away from Bell Labs in the parking lot, we obviously have a lot of work to do, like I said: Making the symmetrical roadways, making everything perfect, adding all these cars, changing the trees. But then, when you point the camera towards the building, you may think it's practical and we don't have to change anything in visual effects, but because there's a big giant mirror, we are now reflecting all of this stuff that also needs to be changed. So now we're adding the reflection of the period cars, the reflection of the symmetrical roadway. Just about every shot is, if not completely digital, almost 80 percent replaced in CG.' Special effects work best when they are a vehicle for storytelling, and all this work by Leven and his team does have a resonance with the show's big themes. It takes a lot of work to make things seem so perfect. Lumon often appears to have total control over their severed employees, but the past two seasons have shown that such control takes a lot of work, and can break down easily. 'It's a manufactured perfection that is never really achievable,' Leven says. 'That is one of the things Lumon is trying to do, but it feels like whenever mankind tries to do that, it always backfires.' Hindle also told Leven that one of his big aesthetic touchpoints for Severance, in addition to '80s cars, was a shot from the Joel and Ethan Coen's film Fargo, where a character is alone in a big wintry field, surrounded by snow that makes them seem like a small, insignificant speck. That's what Severance creatives want Lumon employees to feel like. Unfortunately, snow is hard to control. 'That's where a lot of that idea that there should be this constant snowfall comes from, and they schedule the shoot to happen in the winter,' Leven says. 'They're shooting in New York, they go to places like upstate New York and Newfoundland, and then the weather does what it does, and frequently it just doesn't snow. Or if it does snow, it's not enough snow or it snows and immediately melts the next day or whatever.' Once again, reality must be massaged by the magic of VFX in order to give Severance the required look of endless winter. 'There's a constant visual effects presence to make this snow a character throughout the series,' Leven says. 'Because Ben likes to shoot as much real as possible, we try to have some practical snow on set, but even when they have these big piles of snow that they shovel into the location, that snow is too chunky or it's not the right shape or not the right design. So even the practical snow is changed by visual effects to give the perfection of Lumon and the town of Kier. Everything has to be just so.' READ: One of the most dramatic moments in the Severance Season 2 finale comes when Mr. Milchick (Tramell Tillman) summons a marching band to MDR to celebrate Mark's achievement with the 'Cold Harbor' project. As you might expect, the band was mostly cast with real actors in costumes — but VFX helped swell their ranks. 'They had a band there, and they really wanted the band to crowd MDR,' Leven syas. 'But MDR is a really big space, so it was like, how many band members can we get? Because every additional band member is another costume and another instrument. So they got a certain number of band members, but then it was like, well, this area feels a little bit empty over here. Can you fill that in with extra band members? So we would do some of that. We'd fill in with extra band members where it felt a little empty.' But the biggest challenge of this sequence was the overhead shot where the band members hold up cards forming Mark's face and 100 percent completion of Cold Harbor. 'Ben and I thought, we really need to do this as practically as possible,' Leven says. 'The issue was that the real MDR set has a ceiling, and you just couldn't get a camera high enough to get that shot. So we actually had to shoot that one shot on a different stage, on a different day, with the whole band. But even then, the camera could only get so high. I think we only saw maybe 16 or 18 band members in the practical high shot. So then we were adding all the additional band members digitally, adding CG walls of MDR, and then all of the cards are CG. It was a really great use of having that practical base to work from.' Watch Gold Derby's exclusive roundtable with the cast and creators of Severance: Best of GoldDerby 'Say Nothing' star Anthony Boyle on playing IRA activist Brendan Hughes: We 'get to the humanity as opposed to the mythology' The Making of 'The Eyes of the World: From D-Day to VE Day': PBS variety special 'comes from the heart' From 'Hot Rod' to 'Eastbound' to 'Gemstones,' Danny McBride breaks down his most righteous roles: 'It's been an absolute blast' Click here to read the full article.
