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CNET
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
I May Never Ride an Amusement Park Ride Again After Watching Netflix's Latest Docuseries
Each week, Netflix releases a list of the Top 10 films and TV shows dominating the platform, and for the week of July 21, the new original docuseries Critical: Between Life and Death made a big impression on viewers and it ranked No. 7 in the platform's most-watched shows. While medical shows -- including series like The Pitt, Pulse and ER -- have always been popular, Critical is an unscripted documentary that depicts real-life emergencies as they're happening. What makes it so captivating is the intensity and high stakes of these situations, and there's no shying away from the blood, open wounds and emotionally distraught patients and their friends and family here. Interestingly, the show fell out of the Top 10 pretty quickly -- after its first week, it dropped. That's not to say it's not popular, but my personal theory is that it has proven a little too intense for some people. That was my reaction, anyway. After a couple of episodes, I couldn't keep pace with all the grim, traumatic events; in fact, I'm shocked I kept watching after the first episode, which featured four people getting thrown from or crushed by a malfunctioning amusement park ride. Being that this is the height of summer and there's a Six Flags nearby that my kids and I frequent regularly, this is not what I wanted to see, and seeing this real incident unfold may have turned me off of fairs and amusement parks for good. I can't be the only person who gets a nagging feeling any time I board any kind of thrill ride that something terrible could happen, that I'm an accomplice to my own Final Destination death scene and here it is, proof that those fears -- while obviously not common -- can come true. The episode depicts the hospital call centers that are first notified of the ride collapse, and we witness ambulances, helicopters and emergency responders dispatched to the scene, later returning with their patients, most of whom are unresponsive. As the four patients injured at the funfair (as it's referred to on the show) are sent to several trauma centers around London, 40 cameras follow them and the health professionals who are helping them. We're given a front row seat to all of their treatments as their bodies are cut open, scans are taken and they're assessed for physical and neurological damage. I'm someone who gets grossed out by Dr. Pimple Popper videos, so there were several moments while watching this show where I had to look away. (Spoiler alert: The patients do get an epilogue of sorts where we learn that all of them not only survived but are back to leading healthy, relatively normal lives.) Netflix The show does address the fact that 50% of calls to the trauma centers in London are because of violence; accidents such as this one are much less common. And yet even with that in mind, I will panic forever at the idea that the giant spinner ride at the fair is going to dislodge and become a flying projectile. Critical: Between Life and Death is a remarkable show for just how close the filmmakers are allowed to get to such life-threatening action but watching the show made me realize some fears I didn't even know I had. At least while watching The Pitt, there was a sense of relief that it wasn't real. Here, there's no such comfort.
Cosmopolitan
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Cosmopolitan
Why I Love Grey Pubes on a Woman
Nine years ago, the summer of the Pulse nightclub shooting, I discovered my love of the silver bush on a built butch. We were one thousand miles north of the queer Orlando club, in a Manhattan apartment I was house sitting to supplement my intern's 'salary.' It's been nearly a decade since my initial introduction to greying pubes that summer night, but the mere suggestion of a silver streak still remains one of the fastest ways to turn me on. And in more recent years, as I've entered my 30s, what I first fell in love with on a former lover's body has become a secret weapon for falling in love with my own. My knight in shining silver and I met up for the first time in Washington Square Park where, just 24 hours earlier, the Dyke March had spilled out of Fifth Avenue, transforming the park into our make-shift dance floor. It was 2016 and far from my first pride parade—I came out as lesbian in high school. But with 'One Dance' blasting, the fountain splashing, and glitter glitzing just weeks after the Pulse Massacre, it remains the most impassioned one I've ever been part of. Equal parts hungry and horny, I looped the spitting mouth masterpiece, hunting for the muscled frame I'd only ever seen, unclothed, on my phone screen. Later, when we were covered in sweat and cum and city, she'd tell me she'd used those moments before I spotted her as an excuse to watch how the animal of my body moved in real time. Finally, I felt her—heard her. A 'hi' in my ear, a thick hand on my lower back, a smile more smirk than sugar. Finally, her. With the same urgency that marked that entire summer, I took her back to the brownstone I was babysitting and we fucked on the first date. Although, with the 'mine' and 'yours' braided in between our every 'on,' 'under,' and 'now,' I've always thought it might be more accurate to say we made love in the Manhattan moonlight. On account of my recent arrival to the city and her upcoming departure (she was days away from a West Coast relocation), we intended our romance to be a one-night stand. For her, a last hoorah, a happy ending. For me, a chance to be with someone older, established—to have the kind of May-December relationship I didn't need to see in Babygirl or The Idea of You to know I'd enjoy. But chemistry quickly consumed self-control and our one-night fling became a full-blown age-gap relationship. In fragments as horny as Anne Carson and as incessant as Sam Delaney, I confessed my love for the visual markers of our 13-year age difference: 'I want to lick your crows feet, feel my tongue caress the creases. I'm going to braid my hands through your hair, spot the silvers while you swallow my cum.' 'If you like the silvers that speckle my scalp,' she responded, 'you'll love the ones I can grow between my legs.' The next time I saw her, my older lover sported a silver-streaked bush where she'd previously been bare, just for me. I wanted to feel each buttery bristle against every pink part of me—and I did. Again and again. For the remainder of our love affair, each time we met up, she came to me like that: grey, glistening, and gloriously mine. Eventually our fling ended, as the most fiery ones always do. But even today, our sex life continues to have a lasting impact on my desires. So while my silver-bush kink might have bloomed in a specific moment in my personal and queer history, my love of grey pubes remains. This affinity for grey pubes has not only encouraged me to date people across multiple decades (fun!), but as I gradually begin to transition from hot bisexual babe to queer elder, I suspect this formative experience of eroticizing my lover's greying pubes has helped me embrace my own signs of aging. Over the past few years, with my 30th birthday in the rearview mirror, I've started to notice a few such signs. Smile lines that linger when I've stopped giggling. A neck creak that creeps in while giving cunnilingus if my lover's hips aren't sufficiently lifted. Fingers that fatigue before I'm finished, well, finishing. Certainly, there are moments when I miss the smooth skin and endurance that marked my sex life of a decade ago. But just as often, the passing dawn of my youth makes me think of her—and I feel hot. But more than just hot, I feel as hungry and horny for my own body as I once was for that salt-and-peppered summer fling. My early experience of loving someone older for all her wisdom and wiry greys, as it turns out, has become a kind of blueprint for admiring my own gradually aging body. 'The only exposure most of us have to sex in middle and later age is Viagra commercials and jokes about 'undesirable' older bodies,' says sex therapist Stefani Goerlich, a kink expert and author of With Sprinkles On Top: Everything Vanilla People and Their Kinky Partners Need to Know to Communicate, Explore, and Connect. '[This] can leave us to internalize the false message that our erotic lives are over the minute we get our first grey hair or pube.' But when we can find specific signs of aging in our past or present partners that turn us on, Goerlich says, we're better able to see ourselves as sexy and desirable when similar changes occur in our own bodies. Joan Price, the 81-year-old author of several senior sex books including Naked at Our Age: Talking Out Loud about Senior Sex, agrees. 'Accepting—and even celebrating—your partners' bodies for the delights they give you can help you celebrate your own, which is ultimately key to a spicy sex life throughout a lifetime.' Will my love of grey pubes alone dismantle the ageist rhetoric about good sex—especially in queer spaces? Probably not. But that won't stop those silver tufts from starring in my fantasies, or from reminding me of those unforgettable summer nights with my silver-bushed butch.
NZ Herald
3 days ago
- Sport
- NZ Herald
Central Pulse shooter Amelia Walmsley to miss Silver Ferns series against South Africa
Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua has explained why the ANZ Premiership's best shooter is opting out of the Silver Ferns team to battle South Africa in late September. Central Pulse goal shoot Amelia Walmsley shot 492 goals – 97 more than her nearest rival – at 96.1% this season,
Otago Daily Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Tactix benchmark for clinical netball
The ANZ Premiership wrapped up on Sunday. Netball writer Kayla Hodge examines the season, the future and names an all-star team. The highs That final was evidence clinical and simple netball is still a proven winner. The Mainland Tactix were the benchmark for that all season under Donna Wilkins, who knew the value in the basics from her tenure under the late Robyn Broughton. While there have been innovations — two-point shots, coach's box, time-outs — the final was a glowing endorsement of everything that is great about the fabric of the game. Captain Erikana Pedersen was outstanding, Ellie Bird played some of her best netball in her final season and Karin Burger was simply sublime. It also showed the old-school value of having a strong starting seven and backing them, even when things get tough. Not knowing who would make the top three, or where the final would be held, until the final round was another highlight, proving the competition was tight across the board. Most teams stepped up and pushed each other the entire way. While the Northern Stars were hampered with injuries, they still pushed teams. After a tough couple of seasons, the Steel held their own. Georgia Heffernan showed the maturity of her game and Aliyah Dunn was a game-changer in her return. Across the board there was more competition and fight among the teams and not one team dominated the entire league. Player reinvented themselves under the new innovations. Filda Vui (Mystics) had far more impact than previously and became a two-point specialist while Amorangi Malesala (Pulse) came off the bench for the latter part of each quarter, tasked with nailing the two-pointers. Her two-pointer on the buzzer to seal a come-from-behind victory and put the Pulse in the playoffs will long stay in fans' minds. But perhaps the best part was seeing the young talent coming through and stepping up to challenge. Catherine Hall (Mystics) and Carys Stythe (Steel) topped the defensive statistics and pushed their case for an international call-up, and Amelia Walmsley (Pulse) was stronger under the post. Defender Lili Tokaduadua (Stars) played beyond her years, as did Steel midcourter Serina Daunakamakama. Sophia Lafaiali'i was strong when called upon by the Mystics. The lows No season comes without adversity and 2025 was no stranger to that. Obviously the competition being slashed back to 10 rounds was tough and the dark cloud over the future of the competition lingered. Netball New Zealand have confirmed the league will go ahead in the same format — in the same time frame — next season. But most will hope it returns to a 15-game regular season past that. That low is closely followed by the injury toll that continued to climb. The Stars were one of the worst hit, Greer Sinclair and Kate Burley gone in the opener. Samon Nathan managed all season, Monica Falkner tore her ACL and others were on managed minutes. Donnell Wallam (Mystics), Kate Heffernan, Daunakamakama and Summer Temu (Steel) all missed games and Dakota Thomas (Steel) never took to the court. Maddy Gordon and Whitney Souness (Pulse) were injured early, as was shooter Khiarna Williams, and Paris Mason missed the last few rounds with a sickening neck injury. Other players missed rounds through concussions and there were countless niggles as always. It brought several former players out of retirement. Kayla Johnson, who is pregnant with her third child, returned to the Stars and assistants Liana Leota (Steel) and Leana de Bruin (Stars) were named for a game each. Former Australian Diamond Gabi Simpson, who never officially retired after being dropped by the Queensland Firebirds in 2023, answered the Pulse's SOS call. While some might see it as an exciting chance to see former stars in action, it does nothing to show a pathway or back the depth in New Zealand. Overall the Magic were a disappointment and showed flashes of what they could be in their final game. Commentators Adine Wilson, Anna Stanley and Jenny Woods all picked them to be in the top three, but they finished with a record of 2-8. You also felt for the Stars. They looked good in their opening game until three players were injured — two seriously — and the roll-on effect followed from there. ANZ Premiership All-star team Goal shoot: Amelia Walmsley (Pulse). Strong, accurate and big volume under the post all season. Goal attack: Ameliaranne Ekenasio (Magic). Accurate and court craft second to none. Wing attack: Peta Toeava (Mystics). Fleet-footed feeder topped the league with 442 feeds. Centre: Mila Reuelu-Buchanan (Stars). Big engine in a tough season. Wing defence: Paris Lokotui (Tactix). An absolute standout in the most underrated position. Goal defence: Karin Burger (Tactix). Never lets you down. Goal keep: Carys Stythe (Steel). A break out season in her move south. Coach: Donna Wilkins (Tactix). Joined an elite coaching group when she led the Tactix to their first title in her first year. Reserves: Ellie Bird (Tactix), Te Paea Selby-Rickit (Tactix), Claire O'Brien (Magic), Kate Heffernan (Steel), Michaela Sokolich-Beatson (Mystics) Paris Mason (Pulse), Catherine Hall (Mystics). Big questions for 2026 — Where is this competition heading? NNZ has confirmed the competition next year but, as of right now, no broadcast deal has been announced. It leaves players, staff and fans anxious about the future. Mystics captain Michaela Sokolich-Beatson was in tears as she spoke about putting their best foot forward to try be role models for younger generations and keeping this league going. That sort of pressure on players, on top of their core roles, is not good enough. — How many players will be heading to Australia? Changes to NNZ guidelines to allow players to apply for exemptions, but the criteria depend on each case. Many are tipped to be leaving, so teams could look very different in 2026. — Are we losing some key stalwarts of the game? Several players are tipped to be moving on and experience could be dwindling. — Will the innovations stay? Largely they were successful, and you cannot measure their impact in one year. It will be fascinating to see more strategies now that teams are used to them.
New Straits Times
4 days ago
- New Straits Times
Kelana Jaya line signalling upgrade: 10 LRT stations to open late on Aug 9-Sept 14 weekends
PETALING JAYA: Ten LRT stations between KLCC and Gombak will open at 9am on weekends beginning Aug 9 as Prasarana begins Phase 2 of its signalling system upgrade for the Kelana Jaya line. The three-hour delayed opening every Saturday and Sunday will be until Sept 14. Meanwhile, Phase 3 of the upgrade, scheduled from Oct 11 to Nov 22, will affect 17 stations between Lembah Subang and Ampang Park, including KL Sentral, Pasar Seni, Masjid Jamek and KLCC. This also applies only on weekends and selected public holidays. Prasarana group chief operating officer (strategy and development) Dr Prodyut Dutt said the upgrade was to replace the Kelana Jaya line's original Automatic Train Control (ATC) system, which has been in use since 1998. "We are upgrading the signalling software from version 2 to 8, and replacing obsolete hardware that's no longer supported by the manufacturer. "This will significantly enhance safety, enable better train regulation and ensure reliable operations for the next 20 years," he said. To ensure service continuity and minimise inconvenience, Prasarana is introducing a combination of shuttle trains, replacement buses and intermediate vans to support commuters affected by the delayed opening. "A limited shuttle train will operate between Pasar Seni and Kampung Baru at 10- to 20-minute intervals," said Prasarana chief operating officer Nor Azmi Mohd Yusof. During Phase 2, he said commuters travelling beyond Kampung Baru would be able to use two dedicated shuttle bus services. Bus Route 2 will stop at all affected stations between Dang Wangi and Gombak, including KLCC, Ampang Park, Damai, Dato Keramat, Jelatek, Setiawangsa, Sri Rampai, Wangsa Maju, Taman Melati and Gombak. "Meanwhile, Bus Route 3 will operate as a limited-stop service, halting only at Dang Wangi, KLCC, Ampang Park, Setiawangsa, Sri Rampai and Wangsa Maju. It's designed to offer a faster alternative for long-distance commuters," he added. A fleet of five intermediate vans will also operate between Kampung Baru and KLCC to accommodate passengers needing last-mile transport to the city centre. "These vans will run continuously from 6am to 9am and no prior booking is required," said Nor Azmi. Prasarana estimates that 7,000 passengers will be affected during Phase 2, which involves 10 stations. For Phase 3, the number of those affected is expected to rise to about 20,000 passengers. The overall cost of the mid-life upgrade is RM150 million, covering the original Kelana Jaya line from Kelana Jaya to Gombak. To prepare commuters for the phased closures, Prasarana has published flyers available at all stations and uploaded detailed information to its official online channels. The National Transport Commission has approved the revised operating hours, which are intended to extend engineering access and speed up the work. Commuters are encouraged to plan ahead, use the Pulse app to check for live updates and consider alternative arrangements when travelling during the affected weekends.
