Latest news with #SlidingDoors
Scotsman
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
Hibs hero Rocky in shock red card admission as defender misses drama following another Sliding Doors moment
Goal-line clearance just part of the job as Partizan crushed by David Gray's powerhouse team Sign up to our Hibs football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Landing hard on his shoulder after a dramatic goal-line clearance, Rocky Bushiri couldn't quite enjoy his latest Sliding Doors moment to the full. In fact, the defender admits that he didn't even notice Partizan's Vukasin Durdevic being red-carded as Hibs went straight up the park to force a turning point in their UEFA Conference League clash in Belgrade. Bushiri, a man who loves a game-changing – or even season-saving – intervention, was genuinely hurt when he threw his body in front of Milan Vukotic's goal-bound effort with the first leg of Thursday night's third round qualifier still finely balanced at nil-nil heading towards the latter stages of the first half. He can be forgiven, then, for missing Kieron Bowie rolling Durdevic and drawing a second booking for the defender almost directly from the big man's clearance. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's difficult to describe moments like these,' said Bushiri. 'I'm a defender who loves to defend, to block shots, so there are moments in games where you just have to throw yourself at the ball, when you keep your hands out of the way of it and hope to get in the way. People talk about putting bodies on the line and that's what I did then. 'When I stopped the shot, I landed on my shoulder and didn't know what was happening after that. It was only adrenaline that meant I could get up and carry on. 'But honestly, I didn't even know they had a man sent off when we cleared the ball! It was only when we got in at half-time that the boys were talking about it that I realised what had happened. I guess I was just concentrating so hard on getting up and getting on with it that it passed me by.' Already a cult hero by dint of THAT dramatic late equaliser against Aberdeen at Easter Road last November, not to mention a Scottish Cup winner away to Ayr United and two or three other big contributions to the cause, Bushiri loves the relationship he's built with Hibs supporters. As evidenced by the joy on his face during Thursday night's celebrations with the 350 or so fans who had travelled to Belgrade. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The time we had with the fans at the end were special, they go straight to your heart and stay there forever,' said the Belgian-born Democratic Republic of Congo centre-half. 'It's not like it's just next door for them. So all we wanted to say was thank for you very much for being there – that's why we stayed with them a little longer than we usually would. 'Now we can't wait to play at home next Thursday night, because it will be amazing. We already have a taste of it from the Midtjylland game, and this could be even better. We feed ourselves from the energy of our fans. 'We got everything from everyone in Belgrade, and we know when that we're all at 100 per cent we're a really good side. To get a two-goal lead and a clean sheet made it a great night. 'But not a perfect night – because the job's only half done. We need to stay humbled and switched on all the time. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'We've another game against Kilmarnock before we play Partizan again, so we have to recover and go again. I go straight in an ice bath, then eat well and rest and then I'm ready to go.' Reflecting on the controlled and composed performance by David Gray's team, who coped admirably with the hostility of the Partizan 'Gravediggers' who make their home ground such an intimidating arena, Bushiri insisted: 'We knew what the atmosphere was going to be like, so we also knew we'd have to be disciplined to stay in the game. Their fans were always going to push, so we had to stick together and keep our shape. 'I think we could have been better on the ball at the start, but we managed our way into it nice and slowly, we did it well. Boyley scored two and I'm really happy for him. 'He has so much energy, he always leads by example. These are two such important goals, but he always seems to be there when it matters.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Scotland striker Bowie inspires Lukaku comparison While Boyle bagged goals 100 and 101 for Hibs, courtesy of a smart finish at the back post and then a confident penalty that prompted wild celebrations in the small away section allocated to travelling fans, there were plenty of top performances to admire. It would be impossible to overlook, for instance, the contribution of Kieron Bowie. The 22-year-old Scotland striker has spoken about training against Bushiri as a way of toughening himself up for the physical challenges he'll face in the Scottish Premiership. And it's clear that the benefits of those sessions go both ways. 'I benefit from working with him, he benefits from me,' said Bushiri. 'It's all good for the team. 'He is so good for such a young player and we're not close to seeing the best of him yet. He works so hard and I can't wait to see him score loads of goals this season. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'He's a proper kind of target man, the kind they always used in the past – a target man like, say, Romelu Lukaku. He's a great focal point when we need to breathe, to go long. That's how the sending off came along, we needed to clear the ball, and he got on it. 'As a team, we keep working hard now. The motivation is to be better every day, one percentage at a time. That's how you achieve perfection.'
The Herald Scotland
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Herald Scotland
Hibs hero Boyle on 'perfect' experience of Partizan victory
Time and time again, when Hibs have needed a talismanic figure in a big game, he has stepped up to the plate. He was unlucky with disallowed goals in both legs against Midtjylland, but there was no doubting the legality of his first goal in Belgrade; a smart finish at the back post from Jordan Obita's corner that might just have been helped on by the head of Warren O'Hora. His second came from the penalty spot after Kieron Bowie was fouled as Partizan defended a Hibs corner. The captain thumped the ball emphatically past Marko Milosevic before wheeling away to celebrate with the band of Hibs fans tucked in one corner of the cavernous arena. "The atmosphere was brilliant. It was a joy to play in front of that," he said afterwards. "It was intimidating, but the boys never cracked, never crumbled. It was a professional performance. Defensively, a great display. A clean sheet away from home. Everything you ask for. But it's only half the job done." It has been fascinating watching Boyle combine his madcap personality with his increased responsibilities as a senior player in the dressing room and, since Joe Newell's injury, skipper of the team. It was telling when O'Hora, handed the armband when Boyle was subbed off, put it back on the Australian internationalist's arm. His press conferences nearly always contain laughter and leadership. "The red card came from Rocky Bushiri putting his body on the line. You can see how he's matured as a defender. He's a real leader for us. "He loves a Sliding Doors moment. He really does. But that's because he's just so tenacious. He puts his body on the line. We're very lucky to have him." If it seemed unusual to see Boyle ghosting in at the back post from a set-piece, don't worry, You're not alone. "I've been telling them to put me at the back post because for corners because I reckon there's ten goals a season there," Boyle explained. 'We've worked a lot on set pieces through the week. We know we're an attacking threat and we know defensively that we're really good. Thankfully, it paid off tonight and I was lucky to tap it in." Boyle's decision to head straight for the Partizan fans and cup his ears was markedly different from the celebration for his second goal, when he simply ran to the pocket of Hibs fans tucked away in the corner of the stadium. "It was better than the first one when I was getting vodka bottles off my head! But it was brilliant. "I actually asked the ref at half-time if I could go over and celebrate in front of our fans, if I scored again, after he told me not to celebrate in front of the home fans, so I already knew in my head that there could be another goal for me. 'It's great to celebrate with the fans. They can have that memory, it's hopefully something that lives with them for a long time. But that will mean us finishing the job off next week." Easter Road will no doubt be an electric place to be next Thursday but it will struggle to match the decibel levels reached in Autokomanda this week. But for all the noise, Boyle insists players thrive on the chaos. "As a player it's just amazing. Playing at an international level, you get the feeling of it. I've played Jordan away with Australia, played at Tynecastle, Ibrox is intimidating, so I knew exactly what to expect but there are a lot of people in the squad that haven't experienced it. And it's a great experience for them. "Everyone rose to the occasion. It's perfect. It's the crowd you want to play in front of – intimidating. It can only give you that buzz and keep you going." A heart-in-mouth moment early in the second half when Boyle hit the deck with nobody near him turned out to be a false alarm, even if he did leave the stadium heavily bandaged. "The knee's alright. I had a bit of a scare, I slipped and hyperextended it, so hopefully it settles down well," he said. "I've got no time to dwell on it. We've got a game in a few days! But when you've done your knee before, your first thought is always a worrying one when something like this happens. And then when I knew it was alright, I was just telling them to waste time a little bit. "But these things can happen in a game. Touch wood, it doesn't happen again and I'll be alright. [The strapping] is just precautionary at the moment so I'm ready to go again – and ready to hopefully score more goals."
NZ Herald
02-08-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Sorry, you'll never be Gwyneth Paltrow. Whoever she really is
Odell's take on Paltrow's early, less-documented years is thin, reliant on tenuous sources. There's a buffet of mean-girl quotes about a woman who has been beautiful, tall, thin, rich and famous for most of her 52 years, inducing envy from those excised from her inner sanctum. In Upper East Side theatrical productions, where Paltrow attended the exclusive all-girls Spence School, 'everybody from the lowliest spear-carrier to the few boys to the upperclassmen were all simultaneously terrified of her and in awe of her and wanted to be with her,' a high school friend said. Paltrow's early films, like Sliding Doors and Hook, were either charming indies or bigger productions that made small use of her. For better and worse, Harvey Weinstein changed all that. After Shakespeare in Love, the Miramax honcho used Paltrow's success as bait to prey on other women. Paltrow was one of the first stars to speak out about Weinstein's harassment. The trauma of working for him, she is quoted saying here, is one of the reasons she quit acting so young. 'I had a really rough boss for most of my movie career at Miramax,' Paltrow said on a podcast during the pandemic. 'So you're like, I don't know if this is really my calling.' (She has two upcoming movies, including one with Timothée Chalamet.) The book is strongest on Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop era, when she played a central role in the wellness market. Photo / Getty Images The book is strongest on the Goop era: the company's volatile financial history, and Paltrow's central role in the factually fungible, potentially dangerous wellness market. (It's also explored well in Amy Larocca's How to Be Well: Navigating Our Self-Care Epidemic, One Dubious Cure at a Time.) Paltrow has long been her best product, and selling herself has increasingly overshadowed her considerable acting chops. 'Gwyneth has spent her career manipulating her own coverage, and she applied the same savvy to Goop, beating her competitors at their own game,' Odell writes. When she suggested launching a travel app called 'G. Spotting,' Paltrow was prepared for the reaction and net result: 'Everybody will make fun of me for being an idiot and we'll have the ten thousand downloads we need right there.' As for dish, there's plenty: Paltrow dumped former pal Madonna after the singer 'went off on her daughter, Lourdes' at a large gathering, behaviour that disgusted Paltrow and Martin, her then husband. The pop star also seemed a bit stalky, showing up without prior notice on the island where they were vacationing. Paltrow told friends that Pitt – her former fiance – 'has terrible taste in women'. Paltrow told friends that Brad Pitt - her former fiancée, seen here in 1997 - 'has terrible taste in women.' Photo / Getty Images She has long been insulated from anything resembling a normal life. Perhaps that's why she created a consumer one of her own. For the Paris promotion of Emma, Paltrow, all of 24, requested a private plane for an entourage of 10 and the penthouse suite at the Ritz and attendant rooms, and demanded that no other guests stay on that floor. Later, she took to travelling on location with two yoga instructors. By her own admission, Paltrow 'basically stopped making money from acting in 2002'. She lives extravagantly, often fuelled by the generosity of sponsors. She is the ambassador and the product. Paltrow's well-publicised second nuptials to television producer Brad Falchuk, in 2018, featured a bouquet of donated goods and services, documented in a 'sourcebook' and promoted in an article on the Goop website: 'The Wedding Party: GP x Brad Tie the Knot.' She asked the bathroom firm Waterworks to help outfit a US$10 million ($17m) home with Martin, Odell reports, and Restoration Hardware to furnish her offices and be featured in a six-year rebuild of her latest Montecito home with Falchuk; the design accents are available on the Goop website. While Paltrow projects intelligence as an actor and has appeared in some cinematic gems (Shakespeare, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Royal Tenenbaums), she's made some wretched choices as well, appearing in a string of critical and box-office duds (Shallow Hal, View from the Top). For all her style and seeming grace, Paltrow has also made some inane utterances, many of them catalogued here. On the benefits of wearing a fat suit in Shallow Hal: 'I got a real sense of what it would be like to be overweight, and every pretty girl should be forced to do that.' At one Goop leadership meeting, when everyone was asked to share something that wasn't true of the rest, Paltrow responded, 'I won an Oscar.' PARK CITY, UTAH - MARCH 27: Actor Gwyneth Paltrow sits in court during her civil trial over a collision with another skier on March 27, 2023, in Park City, Utah. Retired optometrist Terry Sanderson is suing Paltrow for $300,000, claiming she recklessly crashed into him during a run at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah in 2016. Paltrow has countersued, claiming Sanderson was uphill of her and crashed into her back. (Photo by Rick Bowmer-Pool/Getty Images) Paltrow's inability to read the room and her remove from lesser mortals was broadcast to the world in her 2023 Park City, Utah, ski-accident trial, where she uttered the Bartlett's-worthy 'Well, I lost a half day of skiing.' (The trial inspired not one but two musicals.) At Goop, Odell reports, Paltrow repeatedly failed to put in the hard work, or get others to do it for her, including research into dubious wellness claims of products on the website. The quartz and jade eggs (US$55 and US$66) to be inserted in 'your yoni' for 'better sex,' based on absolutely nothing, sold out in three hours with thousands on the waitlist. Despite constant criticism from experts, items promoted with unsubstantiated promises long remained on the website. Paltrow's gift is selling, but she's not adept at managing, Odell writes. She won't delegate, creating an unhealthy work environment marked by frequent churn. Paltrow has a tendency to avoid conflict while rarely hearing anyone tell her no. Her greatest cultural impact, Odell writes, is 'showing the world just how much consumers will spend and how much effort they would undertake for the luxury of being well, no matter what science tells us'. In Goop world, 'there wasn't a lot of tolerance for imperfection,' Odell writes. Which is understandable, as perfection, that impossible, impractical, expensive ideal, is Paltrow's brand. Gwyneth: The Biography By Amy Odell is available on August 5.
The Herald Scotland
01-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
A sliding doors romance set in Nazi occupied Europe
He wakes, and saves his parents. He'll go on to suffer persecution under the Nazis and fall in love with the beautiful Sophie Strom, who he met just before the arson attack. Life Two: Vienna, 1933. Young Max lies dreaming upstairs as Nazis torch his home because his father is Jewish. He doesn't wake. His parents die, but he survives, disfigured by fire. He'll go on to be adopted by a Nazi family. His Jewish heritage will be hidden, and he'll be renamed Hans. Hans will join the SS. He too will fall in love with the beautiful Sophie Strom, who he met just hours before the arson attack. In one night, a single life branches in two directions. One path leads to life as the persecuted; the other means life as the persecutor. Publishing execs must have popped champagne corks over the elevator pitch for The Two Loves of Sophie Strom. It's Sliding Doors in Nazi-occupied Europe. The movie is an inevitability. Sam Taylor's novel is highly contrived, indeed so highly contrived it sometimes teeters perilously, at risk of collapsing under the weight of its own plotting. Yet it manages to maintain its balance. There's risk injecting fantasy - this isn't quite magical realism - into a grim subject like the Second World War, but Taylor tiptoes around the bear-traps. Infrequently, he snags his toe on a snare, as the reader is broken out of the story's flow by a scene which pushes the limits of believability, but he's never hoisted by his own design, left dangling absurdly in the air. The book is so well written that the audience forgives the more over the top moments, and the characters are so finely drawn that you just don't want to leave them. We never fully discover why our hero splits in two that night in Vienna: why in one world he remains the Jewish Max, and in another he becomes Nazi Hans. Taylor is clearly saying something about the mutability of character, but exactly what is unclear. He plays tangentially with Freudian ideas around dreams - this is interwar Vienna after all - but the novel seems to hope readers just tag along without any firm explanation. (Image: Faber) We certainly tag along for the first three-quarters of the book. It's only in the final section, when it becomes a wartime spy novel, that the implausibility of some of the plotting starts to grate. After the fire, young Max becomes friends with Sophie. They team up with the rebellious young Jens, another Jewish boy, and spend idyllic days in the countryside. These middle-class kids have no idea what is waiting for them as the Anschluss with Germany approaches. In the other world, a lonely Hans is bullied at school by the very same Jens, for his scarred face. Soon his Aryan family dispatch him into the Hitler Youth. Not enough is ever made in the novel of Hans's secret Jewish past. Fear of discovery should stalk the page as he spends his summers at Nazi camps, but the truth feels almost forgotten. Hans does though - like his doppelgänger Max - find friendship with Sophie. Though it's strained to breaking point by his membership of the Nazi Party. Sophie isn't Jewish but her mother is a Bohemian painter who left her own husband because he cosied up to the Nazis. As war arrives, Max flees to Paris, while Hans moves up the Nazi ranks, becoming Adolf Eichmann's subordinate, deporting Jews across occupied France. Sophie has also fled to Paris, where she has married a Jewish psychoanalyst. There's those dream echoes again. The nursery rhyme Row, Row, Row Your Boat with its chorus 'life is but a dream' also keeps cropping up. Max and Hans begin to dream each other's lives. When Max sleeps he 'sees' Hans's life, and vice versa. Are we being teased that the entire novel is a dream? Or that dreams allow us to communicate with other lives? As much of the novel's denouement depends on information received by Max from his 'Hans dreams' it does feel as if we're being slightly cheated by the lack of explanation. If we're subject to a constant deus ex machina, then it would be good to know exactly how the machine works. When this novel is good, though, it's excellent. The shared moments between Max, Sophie and Jens are tender and funny, taking you right back to the days of your own youth. The scenes where Hans must betray his Nazi overlords to be true to himself are palm-sweatingly tense. Every so often, though, the book does frustrate. In the Paris of both world's, Sophie is married. There are times when the secret assignations between Sophie and Max seem more akin to French farce than high romance. Let's just say that she must have married the stupidest man in Paris to get away with her affair for even an afternoon. As the book closes, the two loves of Sophie Strom - Max and Hans - almost merge across this magical gulf of time and space which separates them. They communicate in dreams, each shaping the other's reality. Taylor has written an almost perfect summer read. That doesn't mean it's an almost perfect novel. There's a difference. This is the kind of book I like to take on holiday. It's well-written, with moments of rousing beauty. It races along like a patented page-turner. It's very good. But it is not great. When I'm on holiday I don't necessarily want to read books which demand my brain fires on all cylinders. In truth, when on holiday, I want a book which relaxes me. I'm not looking for mindless fun; I'm looking for intelligent entertainment. I want a well-crafted escapist novel that moves me, that's worth reading. Self-evidently, such a book won't change the world of literature or upend the way you think about the novel. But it's on that note that I urge you to slip Sophie Strom into your suitcase before you go on holiday. You won't regret it. Taylor will move you, and he may well make you shed a few tears, but like a dream the novel will fade as you return to the reality of your everyday life.
Metro
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Metro
Gwyneth Paltrow's ‘savage' new Astronomer spokesperson job after kiss cam drama
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Gwyneth Paltrow has been hired as Astronomer's 'temporary spokesperson' to answer the many questions received following her ex-husband Chris Martin's involvement in the company's kiss cam scandal. The Hollywood star, 52, and the software company alike were praised for the 'brilliant' move and having a 'savage' sense of humour in the wake of the world's unexpected scrutiny over two former employees. In case you've been living under a rock, Astronomer's CEO Andy Byron was caught in an embrace on a jumbotron at a Coldplay concert in Boston earlier this month with his HR chief Kristin Cabot before they both abruptly tried to hide. This led frontman Chris to joke: 'Either they're having an affair or they're just very shy!' Both have since quit their roles at the company after the clip went viral and sparked countless memes and jokes at their expense. But Astronomer has had the last laugh in hiring actress and Goop founder Gwyneth for a parody video in an expert crisis management move. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The Shakespeare in Love star – who famously 'consciously uncoupled' from rock star Chris, 48, in 2014 – revealed in the surprise video on Friday night that she had been 'hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer'. 'Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days, and they wanted me to answer the most common ones,' she explained, brightly, before the video cut to on-screen text typing out the question, 'OMG! What the actual f—'. The actress then leapt in to, um, definitely not answer that question, instead enthusing: 'Yes, Astronomer is the best place to run Apace Airflow.' She added: 'We've been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.' 'As for the other questions we've received,' the Oscar-winner continued, before on-screen text again popped up to wite out, 'How is your social media team holding—'. The Sliding Doors actress again responded on an obviously unrelated note to advertise that yes, there was indeed still space at an upcoming conference Astronomer is holding in September. She then signed off the video on Astronomer's social pages by thanking people for their interest in Astronomer and adding: 'We will now be returning to what we do best.' 'You got Chris Martin's ex-wife???!!! Savage,' commented Molly O'Shea on X, while Dan Go praised the video as 'marketing jiu jitsu' and another fan laughingly called Gwyneth's hire 'diabolical'. 'Whenever [sic.] was behind this idea should be the first to enter heavens pearly gates,' commented @empressatlantis as @tednotlasso added: 'CMO should be new CEO.' 'I want to hate on it but I cannot. Masterclass,' added Josh Pate. 'The Entertainment from now until the end of time,' tweeted @nearcyan while Sam Kampner suggested: 'Just another proof [sic.] that there's no such thing as 'bad publicity'.' The kiss cam moment also resulted in a surge of interest in Coldplay's chart-topping music, with streaming up 25% on the band's tunes. According to data from Luminate sourced by Billboard, in the five days before the Boston concert on July 16, Coldplay had 28,700,000 streams. This soared up to 35,700,000 in the five days after the scandal. The clip was filmed by Grace Springer, 28, from New Jersey, who stood by her decision to share it online in the wake of the media frenzy, saying she had 'no idea' who the couple was and just thought she had 'caught an interesting reaction to the kiss cam and decided to post it. She told The US Sun: 'A part of me feels bad for turning these people's live's upside down, but, play stupid games… win stupid prizes. 'I hope their partners can heal from this and get a second chance at the happiness they deserve with their future still in front of them.' Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Nicole Kidman could be next to flee Trump's US after applying for residency in Europe MORE: The Jonas Brothers reflect on creepy questions about their sex life aged 14 MORE: Denise Welch reveals why she's 'glad' to not be Taylor Swift's mother-in-law
