Latest news with #Michaelangelo
NZ Herald
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Renaissance men: Fascinating series looks at rivalry of original superstars of Italian art
Michaelangelo's David, Leonardo's Mona Lisa: we know the bare images as if we were born with them already in our minds. Less well known are the forces that shaped their creation. That's the story Renaissance: The Blood and the Beauty seeks to tell: one in which art was central to
Forbes
24-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
GI JOE And Cobra Battle Around The World In Latest Risk Kickstarter
Two Hasbro household names come together for the first time in Risk GI JOE Special Missions One of the best parts of playing with toys as a kid are the crossovers. This is how He-Man teams up with Michaelangelo to defeat Shredder or Barbie marries Luke Skywalker in a wedding suddenly broken up by Superman. Companies rarely risk such combinations but sometimes it's the most fun to pour out of the toybox. Renegade Game Studios has a big Kickstarter going on now that combines two big brands from my childhood. Risk GI JOE Special Missions lets players use the structure of the classic board game to play out the global conflict between GI JOE and Cobra. The company sent me an advanced prototype of the game to check out as part of the coverage for this article. How to Play Risk GI JOE Special Missions Risk GI JOE Special Missions is a 2-4 player game where players take on the role of commanders battling around the world. In two and four player games, each side plays either a GI JOE or Cobra faction. In a three player game, two players play GI JOE against Cobra who starts out with more resources. Players select one of five scenario cards. These give different objectives for each side and are the main way to gain objective points which win the game. Many of these are based on classic GI JOE storylines such as claiming the M.A.S.S. Device. There are also objective cards that, when accomplished, gain objective points. This is the classic gameplay element of taking specific territories lives. Battles occur with different units in the game that reflect classic vehicles like Rattlers and Wolverines. FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Each player also starts with a leader such as Snake Eyes or Cobra Commander. These leaders give a passive bonus as well as an action that's powered by command points. Kickstarter backers get an expansion pack that features more famous characters to play. What's Different About Risk GI JOE Special Missions? While the game uses the classic framework of Risk, it differs from the original game in a few ways. Sometimes when a game is paired with an IP, it's just a cosmetic change. That's not the case with Risk GI JOE Special Missions. In original Risk, the different pieces are a shorthand for how many armies are in a territory. The pieces here are different unit types with different bonuses and abilities. Air units, for example, can move through occupied territories. Units are also not permanently lost. They can be rebuilt and cycle back into play through the faction track. This mimics the feel of the classic cartoon where lasers were flying everywhere and vehicles blew up all the time but nobody ever seemed to get hurt. The game also uses an action card system. This has been seen in a few other Risk variants but it helps speed up play. Each player plays a certain amount of actions in their turn, the round ends and after three rounds the game is over. Risk GI JOE Special Missions Impressions I am always a little skeptical of board games that adapt one of the classics. Risk GI JOE Special Missions kept the things I liked about the original game while also adding in elements that changed up the experience. It's a solid balance between a new game and one everyone knows. The limited number of rounds addresses one of my issues with old school board games. Those games would drag on forever rather than have a clear winner or loser. With two phases over three rounds, things get fast and brutal. There's no time to hoard armies in Australia. I like how the game leaned towards the classic 80s cartoon. GIJOE is an IP that can bend between serious and silly. The cartoon is often silly but playing through games with things like the USS Flagg and Serpentor really hit what I love about the setting. I hope that there are expansions planned with more personalities and vehicles. They offer interesting wrinkles to the game play and also let players show their love for specific characters. I wouldn't mind miniature packs for the personalities rather than the tokens in the base game, either. Risk GI JOE Special Missions is on Kickstarter through August 14th, 2025. The game is expected to be released to backers in Q2 of 2026. Retail release is expected shortly thereafter.
Time Magazine
24-06-2025
- Politics
- Time Magazine
Is It Wrong to Have Fun in a World That's on Fire?
I recently attended one of the thousands of No Kings protests held across the country. The next day, I went surfing. I truly enjoyed myself. But then, because I'm a Democrat, I found myself wondering if having a good time during bad times makes me a bad person. Is it moral to enjoy a world at the intersection of looming AI apocalypse, climate catastrophe, and societal breakdown? Ironically, this was exactly the kind of question I thought learning to surf would help me avoid. I've always taken current events a little personally. I used to write speeches for President Barack Obama, so you could argue that this tendency has helped me professionally and personally. Then, during the pandemic, a perfect storm of global crises became an existential one. A year devoted primarily to wine and PlayStation didn't help. In 2022, approaching my 36th birthday and desperate to break free from a downward spiral of depression, I bought my first surf board. Because most of what I knew about surfing came from the Beach Boys, I assumed I'd find an escape from the dread that accompanied reading the news. But it turned out surfing was more connected to crisis than I realized. Great waves in one place often start with tragedy someplace else. Nowhere is this truer than on the Jersey Shore, where I learned to surf. Here's just one example. On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico. The storm killed more than 3,000 people, knocked out the island's power grid, and caused more than $90 billion dollars in property damage. Eleven days later, a Jersey–based news site posted a video of Maria's arrival in the Garden State. The caption read, in part, 'Surfers cash in on the great conditions.' During my first few months in the water, I found a clever way of setting aside concerns that a broken world made fun immoral: I didn't have any. Between abject terror, physical exhaustion, and being pummeled and humiliated by waves the size of garden gnomes, I never had to worry about having too grand a time. But I stuck with it. The fear of being dashed against a stone jetty or eaten by a great white shark was, while unpleasant, vastly preferable to depression. Eventually, to my surprise, I started catching waves. Before too long, I couldn't stop smiling each time I hopped off my board. My new hobby thus put me between a rock and a hard place. If I couldn't have a good time surfing—an activity so iconically fun it's been enjoyed by everyone from Michaelangelo (the ninja turtle, not the sculptor) to Lilo and Stitch—then that made me a wet blanket. But I fretted that the alternative, having a great time and not worrying about a world in crisis, would make me complicit. It was hard not to think about my friends still in politics, ceaselessly fighting the good fight. By spending so much time on something so frivolous, wasn't I betraying my broader responsibility to the world? At times, riding climate-change-fueled waves felt like dancing to the fiddle as Rome burned. No single surf session changed my mind. Instead, there was an accumulation of tiny moments, diamonds sparkling so brightly they changed the way I thought about the rough. The time I clocked a pod of Jersey bros gawking at a dolphin. The time, on a trip to California, when an otter floated alongside me. The winter wave I thought would pound me into oblivion, but which instead launched me, via a kind of reverse gravity, from trough to lip. The more fun I had in the ocean, the more passionate I felt about protecting our planet. It made me appreciate how much is left to save. About eight months after I started surfing, a speechwriting client approached me about a project involving climate change. While the work seemed interesting and meaningful, my instinct was to say 'no.' I worried I couldn't handle so much depressing information. But thanks in no small part to waves made more intense by a warming planet, I went for it. The project did not, I'm sorry to say, solve climate change. But I'm glad that surfing helped make me the kind of person willing to try. Today, I look back on the bygone era (2023) when I first learned to surf and can't help but feel naïve. Climate isn't the only crisis far worse now than it was two years ago. The rule of law is fraying. President Donald Trump is trying to turn the military against Americans. Cruelty toward the most vulnerable is, it seems, in vogue. Sometimes reading the news these days, I'm reminded of the line in Casablanca where a young Bulgarian refugee describes her homeland. 'The devil has the people by the throat.' And yet, is anything made better by obsessing over how terrible everything is? At some point in my life, I internalized the idea that I had a responsibility to bear witness to as much dispiriting information as possible. I don't think I was alone. The instinct behind this trend—to broaden one's circle of concern—was noble. As Martin Luther King famously put it, 'We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of identity.' But when did our mutual garment become so funereal? Joy, it is sometimes said these days, is resistance. Maybe so. One of the most striking features of the No Kings day protests attended by millions of Americans was just how joyous many of them were. But fun is different. It's superficial. It's frivolous. And it's less an act of resistance than an affirmation that there is still something worth resisting for. That's especially true right now, when the world seems increasingly in the hands of people who have unlimited wealth, money, and power, yet seem unable to crack a smile. I'm still no advocate of pure escapism. As much as I would love to devote myself to surfing and nothing else, it would feel too much like shirking a debt. But several years after picking up a board I've learned that loving life in a world filled with tragedy doesn't make you complicit. It makes you complete.
RTÉ News
28-04-2025
- Politics
- RTÉ News
World waits for conclave date after Francis laid to rest
It was inevitable that the death of Pope Francis would lead to rumination about a successor. Now that that he has been laid to rest, speculation has intensified as the world waits for a start date to the conclave. Rome entered a nine-day period of mourning on Saturday which involves prayers and masses for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. It also gives cardinals who may not already be in Rome, time to travel for the conclave, which must begin 15-20 days after the death of a pope. The next conclave could begin between 6-11 May, or sooner if the cardinals agree. General congregations are held in the lead up to a conclave to allow cardinals speak freely about the church and what they're looking for in a papal candidate. It's widely reported that Francis secured his election when he spoke briefly about the future of the church and its pastoral priorities at a general congregation. The gatherings are important because they enable cardinals to get to know one another. Four general congregations have already taken place at the Vatican in last week, since the death of the Pope. The fifth congregation is taking place this morning and a start date for the conclave could emerge from the meeting. Of the 135 voting cardinals, 108 were appointed by Francis in recent years from all corners of the globe. Travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic curtailed in-person introductions at the time, which is why the current congregations are particularly significant. The word 'conclave' comes from the Latin 'cum clave' - meaning 'with a key' which reflects the tradition of locking the cardinals away until they make a decision on a new pope. Only cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to vote. Pope Francis's election in 2013 was swift - secured in two days after five rounds of voting. Previous centuries have seen conclaves last for months and even years. While the Holy Spirit is central to the secretive voting process, it does not occur without some soul-searching. Lest it be forgotten, women who make up half of the Catholic Church's faithful, are not in the room. What will be in the room is Michaelangelo's 'Last Judgement' fresco, looming large over the cardinals as they vote. They will be choosing a spiritual leader at a time of significant global turmoil. The importance of their decision underscored by the photo depicting Presidents' Trump and Zelensky in discussions on the day of Pope Francis's funeral. What makes the conclave particularly intriguing is the oath of secrecy taken by the cardinals. The prospect of more than 100 men making a significant decision under lock and key without it being leaked to the press is almost unheard of today. Indeed, the upcoming conclave will be the first in a world that AI, social media and smart phones dominate. However, the central form of communication will be through smoke signals from the Sistine Chapel to the crowds in St Peter's Square. Those signals - black smoke for waiting, white for a new pope - will mainly be communicated through social media. Will their time of contemplation in the Sistine Chapel result in the next 267th pope prioritising a pastoral approach to his papacy or could Catholics see a return to more conservative values? We Are Church International, which is seeking reform of the Catholic Church, has called on the cardinals to reform "with courage and vigour". In a statement, it said that it was the only way to truly overcome the internal and external crises of credibility in the Roman Catholic Church triggered by sexualised violence, clerical abuse of power, discrimination against women and self-centeredness. It's not known how long the conclave will take, but considering that these men aren't overly familiar with one another, it could take longer than Jorge Bergoglio's election in 2013. If there's no clear winner after 33 rounds of voting, there will be a run-off between the top two candidates, but the winner must attain a two-thirds majority.
The Independent
12-02-2025
- The Independent
Rome is more family-friendly thank you think – these are the best things to do on a budget
Most primary school children will learn about Ancient Rome at some point in the curriculum, coming home with tales of gladiators, emperors and what occurred in the Colosseum. Completed in AD80, the ancient epicentre of the Eternal City holds a magical appeal for everyone who's ever been told about the spectacles that occurred in the arena. While only one of my four children is old enough to have learned about the Romans, such was his enthusiasm for the subject that I found myself searching for flights to Rome over half term. I also figured that my six-year-old, four-year-old and two-year-old would study the same subject at some point, and could approach it with first-hand experience of having seen the Colosseum walls for themselves. I couldn't believe the price: during school holidays, when flights are notoriously higher, the figure in front of me was £40 per person, return, on WizzAir. At that point, I hit the book. From the ancient Pantheon to the beauties of Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel and Salvi's Trevi Fountain, there's beauty and history at almost every turn in Rome. I was cautious about navigating these turns, and the ancient cobbled streets, with a large double buggy containing my two youngest children, but I figured that finding a hotel within walking distance of some of the main attractions would cut down on how far I had to push my double chariot, and that it would be a good way of working up an appetite for some of the city's pasta dishes. And to cut down – and in most cases avoid – queuing up with four impatient children, we booked slots for the majority of tourist attractions in advance. With some advance planning, it's easier than you might imagine to have a budget-friendly family break in Rome that will please travellers of all ages. When is the best time to travel to Rome? If you want to avoid the crowds but still want pleasant conditions to walk around Rome, September and October, and February and March, tend to be sunny and not too busy. The temperature regularly tops 30C in July and August, but most hotels are prepared for this with rooftop bars and outdoor swimming pools. Best family-friendly hotels in Rome A few steps away from the delights of the Vatican Museums, St Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel, Mama Shelter makes for an excellent base for anyone who wants to spend less time walking and more time sightseeing. When it comes to rest, it's one of the few hotels in Rome with an indoor pool, which children are allowed in all day – plus it's a beautiful space with pink walls, turquoise waters and gold detailing on the ceiling. There's also a sauna and steam room for adults to nip into when the other parent has control of the kids. Most of the rooms have an interconnecting option, and all come with an excellent in-room entertainment system that includes a free movie channel in English, so you can treat the little ones to some Disney at the end of a long day. For the convenience of a hotel with a 24-hour reception and the flexibility of a holiday apartment, Aparthotel Adagio Rome has several one-bedroom apartments. Ideal for families, these have a sofa bed (and places to arrange travel cots) in the living room and a comfortable king-sized bed in the bedroom. All apartments have in-built kitchenettes so you can save on eating out, or buy some ingredients to make packed lunches for the day and store them in the fridge. Best things to do with kids in Rome Colosseum Whether your child likes performing, thinking or exploring, going inside the ancient walls of the Colosseum offers a chance for them to imagine life in the amphitheatre and to burn off some energy exploring different levels. Advance planning is vital to ensure a smooth visit, as the Colosseum welcomes around four million visitors a year, which is equivalent to around 16,000 every single day of the year. You can book a timed entry slot online up to one month before your visit, allowing you to bypass all queues and walk straight in. The full experience includes entry to the arena floor and the underground vaults as well as access to the nearby Roman Forum and Palatine Hill – we spent around three to four hours. Adults €24, children go free; Vatican Museums and Sistine Chapel Even if your child isn't particularly into art, there's so much to look at on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel that it's enough to render even the most hyperactive child speechless – allowing parents to have a moment of reflection. While there are several guided tours offering to walk you around and talk through the details, if you have younger children you'll have more flexibility walking around by yourself (and save money, too). Children under seven go free, and you can pay extra to guarantee a time slot. Just be warned that there's no flexibility on the slot and security pays close attention to the time written on your ticket, so you do have to get there exactly on time if you want to 'skip the line'. Adults €20, children €8, with 'skip the line' entry €5; One of Rome's biggest and most beautiful landscaped gardens, Villa Borghese is a great place to let kids run around and decompress after a day of the city's sights dazzling them. If you have some time to spare, it's worth spending a morning or afternoon at the affordably priced zoo, where you can see giraffes, zebras and elephants up close. In front of the zoo, there's a small tram that takes you around the park at a leisurely pace. On the weekends, there are pony rides outside the Cinema dei Piccoli with ponies of all sizes, including some adorable miniature ones. They'll give you helmets so you can simply rock up and ride. Best family-friendly restaurants in Rome There is no shortage of pizzerias in Rome, but if you want one that the whole family will enjoy, a good bet is the Mama Shelter Pizzeria. With marbled details, XXL Roman columns and a gigantic wood-fired oven, there's a lot to look at as you wait for dinner to be served. Over-18s will appreciate the imaginative cocktail menu that allows while youngsters will undoubtedly enjoy the classic tiramisu dessert. For the famous regional dish of carbonara, a great wallet-friendly option is Pasta e Vino, where you can see the pasta made fresh in front of your eyes in a rustic setting with exposed brick walls and wooden tables. Carbonara big enough to feed two is €12.90 (£10.75). If you want to try something different from pizza and pasta, Il Secondo Tradizione specialise in meat and fish dishes. Rome is 30 minutes by car from the beach, and locals love their fish. Il Secondo Trazione caters mainly to those who live in the city rather than tourists, making it a great way of experiencing something local. Finish with some traditional Italian gelato at one of the city's many gelaterias. Cremaria Candia serves up some soft, creamy gelato with especially appealing flavours for chocoholics, including Snickers and Oreo. The tiramisu flavour tastes just like the actual pudding. Where to shop with children From big-name brands to smaller boutiques, you could easily spend a whole day shopping in Rome. However, if you're with children who have short attention spans, head straight to the department store La Rinascente, near Villa Borghese, to look at fashion and beauty items from several different brands in one place. Then, if the kids behave themselves, treat them at Citta Del Sole — where you can find traditional, STEM and interactive toys for all ages. How to get there At two hours flying time from the UK, you can wake up at 7am and be in Rome in time for lunch. Airlines flying to the Italian capital include easyJet, Ryanair, British Airways, Jet2 and Wizz Air. With all this competition for tourists, flight costs are very reasonable: Wizz Air flights cost us a total of £250 for six passengers, and that included an outbound flight on Valentine's Day. The Vatican museums are completely free to enter on the last Sunday of every month. Walk fast past the gift shops inside attractions – the price of postcards and mugs inside the Colosseum is about 10 times more expensive as the same souvenirs at a streetside newspaper kiosk.
