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Time of India
9 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Former APRIL member first look at ‘The Defects'; fans react to idol's comeback after 2021
Former APRIL member Lee Naeun , who had been on a sabbatical ever since she had been accused of bullying a fellow member. After facing a lot of backlash in 2021, she has returned to the entertainment industry with her latest role in the Korean drama ' The Defects '. Naeun returns to the small screen In 2021, Naeun was accused by one of the other members of APRIL that she had been involved in bullying, which caused her to face a lot of backlash. The actress who was on the rise at the time was dropped from various brand partnerships and was even removed from ' Taxi Driver ' as well. After nothing was proven legally, she is finally back with her small-screen return. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas in Dubai | Search Ads Get Info Undo The first look of her role in 'The Defects ' has officially been shared online on social media platforms by the makers. In the teasers, the idol-turned-actress can be seen as the edgy and eccentric Somi , who gets involved with other people who have superpowers. This role presents a new opportunity for Naeun as she plays a rough role that directly contrasts her previously known image as a girl-next-door actress. Most of the roles she featured in before her hiatus, the actress played much softer roles as compared to what she will be playing on 'The Defects'. Fans and netizens react As soon as the news dropped about the actress, as well as her first look from the drama, was shared online, fans and netizens alike reacted positively to it.
Forbes
21 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Method Leading: How Great Leaders Rehearse Past The Peter Principle
Man practicing his presentation in front of a video camera. The Peter Principle suggests leaders rise to their level of incompetence. But what if the real problem isn't that they've reached their capability ceiling, but that they haven't rehearsed enough for their new role? Award-winning actors would never choose to walk onto a set without thoroughly rehearsing their character. They understand that the key to delivering a stellar performance comes from the time spent developing the character they want to play. Robert De Niro, preparing for Taxi Driver, obtained an actual taxi license and drove 12-hour shifts in New York City for a month before the filming of the movie began. This immersion enabled him to understand even the tiniest details about his character and added authenticity to his entire performance. Yet executives often step into leadership positions relying primarily on their previous skills to help them succeed in the new role. This approach fails to equip them with the necessary tools they need at the beginning. The Development Dimensions International (DDI) Leadership Transitions Report revealed that nearly half of all externally hired executives fail in their new positions, and internally, one-third face a similar Listening Skills To Leadership Active listening is the foundational piece in method acting. Actors must respond authentically to fellow performers and stay present in the moment. When Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks as CEO in 2008, he approached the role as if it were a completely new one, despite his previous success. He first listened to and observed the company's needs, then adjusted his leadership approach and retrained 135,000 baristas. Rosalind Brewer's transitions across Sam's Club, Starbucks, and Walgreens tell a similar story. Moving from retail to coffee to healthcare, Brewer approached each role with a new leadership identity, investing months in learning and listening. Just as method acting requires actors to find ways to immerse themselves in their characters, "Method Leading" insists leaders develop into their roles through deliberate Beyond Memorized Lines Method actors may memorize lines, but they also seek to understand why their character would speak those words. Similarly, effective leaders must master both their verbal and nonverbal communication. Research by UCLA professor Dr. Albert Mehrabian suggests that 55% of communication is nonverbal, 38% is vocal (encompassing tone, pitch, and rhythm), and only 7% relates to the actual words spoken. Leaders should rehearse not just what they say, but how they say it. Recording the way you communicate can be enlightening. Video can help you analyze how others see you and identify any unconscious or negative habits. Actors constantly review film footage to ensure they are always giving their best Your Unique Strengths Great actors don't abandon themselves to become their characters; they find aspects of themselves that connect to the character and sharpen those elements. Similarly, effective leaders take notice of their existing strengths while identifying any skills gaps. Previous roles may have required specific skills, but there are additional capabilities that need continued development. McKinsey & Company revealed in 2017 that 40-50% of new leaders fail within their first 18 months, despite following textbook transition plans. Successful transitions depend less on strict timelines and more on allowing the leader to grow into the new position. Great leaders, like great actors, embrace the process of character development. They understand that leadership isn't about pretending to be someone else, but becoming the best version of yourself in a new context. The Peter Principle only applies to those who stop rehearsing. 'Method Leading' turns leadership concepts into real-world skills through the same practice that actors use to become their characters. By committing to this approach, leaders not only avoid transition failures—they create the breakthrough performances that transform organizations.
Irish Daily Mirror
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
'Was I photobombed by a Hollywood A-lister in Mayo? The evidence is compelling'
It could be said with some justification that anyone can look like Robert De Niro when they itch their eye. The very act of eye itching triggers De Niro's trademark slight head tilt to the side, and downturn of mouth, in all of us. We all have the potential to win Oscars and have our own NYC sushi restaurant - just by prodding a midge that might have entered our general eye socket area. READ MORE: Americans baffled by chicken fillet roll and county's flag READ MORE: Ryanair passenger sobs after being told she cannot board 'over hand luggage' I mention this because it's entirely probable I wasn't photobombed by Robert De Niro in Mayo a week ago. But it's also entirely possible I was. Some context: I was in Westport trying to partake in cafe culture which in Ireland means sitting at a wobbly table half on a town centre footpath, half on the road. To raise a family holiday atmosphere, photos were taken. I'm pictured putting my phone in my pocket having been told to stop Oldham Athletic scrolling. Here's a closeup of a man who at the very least looks a bit like Robert De Niro - either that or it's Robert De Niro Three days later, while scrolling photos of my trips to see Oldham Athletic, I had a closer look at the Mayo cafe photo and noticed... well... what did I notice? You can see here for yourself. Over my left shoulder is a man scratching his eye. But is it any man, or is it an 81 year old legend of the big screen? The man - pictured itching his eye which is something we've already discussed - looks undeniably like Robert De Niro, at the very least. He's wearing a casual jacket and grey shirt and understated sun glasses - a style combo much loved by the highly regarded star of Meet the Fockers. There's the trademark downturn of mouth. Could this really be Robert De Niro, walking past me unnoticed and unacknowledged, or is it some random Focker? This actually is Robert De Niro - not in Mayo but outside Donald Trump's trial in 2024 (Image: Fox News) There's many unanswered questions in this photo. If the man was confirmed at that moment to be Robert De Niro, would I have done anything differently? Would I have stopped him and asked him to replicate his "you talkin' to me" Taxi Driver mirror scene, to much mirth and hilarity? I bet he loves that. Would I ask why actors, who play pretend for a living, give their views on politics even though nobody asked? We could have had an interesting chat about that. Would I have asked him if he likes Ireland, and gurned clapping like a seal if he said yes, which is what Irish people do with foreign celebrities? And what other celebrities have walked past me in my lifetime, completely unnoticed? Is it possible that, when I was a child, Mr T was nearby just as I was losing another tooth to a Wham bar? The answer to that is yes. But the story my Mayo photo could tell remains unfully told. Unless Robert himself can offer clarification. There's all we don't know - but there may be more to follow. He's not the type to turn down an underwhelming sequel - surely. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here
Atlantic
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Atlantic
When It Feels Good to Root for a Bad Guy
This article features spoilers for the ending of Eddington. The director Ari Aster specializes in bringing stress dreams to life: becoming plagued by a demonic curse, as seen in his debut film, Hereditary; joining an evil Scandinavian cult, in his follow-up, Midsommar; realizing a person's every fear, as occurs in the strange, picaresque Beau Is Afraid. But for his latest movie, Eddington, he turns to a more prosaic topic to get our blood running: the events of 2020. The film initially presents itself as a neo-Western, set in the small, fictional New Mexico town of Eddington at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. In true Aster form, the familiar portrait of that period—and the gnarly headspace it trapped many of us in—disintegrates into something disturbingly surreal. The film dramatizes this downward spiral through the experience of a man consumed by anxiety about how his community is shifting around him. Lockdown may have driven some people to question one another's reality; Eddington 's protagonist, however, seeks control of his—with violent and gory results. In interviews about his inspirations, Aster has invoked John Ford's masterpiece My Darling Clementine, a bittersweet retelling of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. But what I thought of more than anything while watching Eddington was Taxi Driver, a dark fable that's grounded in the point of view of a delusional maniac similarly defined by his paranoid, even conspiratorial, thinking. In the Martin Scorsese classic, Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro) lives out his fantasy of 'cleaning up' New York City by murdering a man who prostituted young girls in a brothel; the subsequent press coverage cements him as a folk hero, ending the film on a strange, bloodily triumphal note. The local sheriff in Eddington, Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix), is the film's Bickle, though his final showdown is a far more absurd spectacle than the one in Taxi Driver. Aster's film is frightening, yes—but it's a dark and lacerating comedy first and foremost, playing out the power fantasies that fueled many an online conspiracy theory in the pandemic's early days (and still do now). And although Cross may not be as crushingly lonely as Bickle, he does share the character's escalating sense of paranoia. By plunging the viewer into this chaotic inner world, Aster illustrates the dissonant appeal of being enmeshed in the perspective of, and maybe even rooting for, an individual committed to their belief in justice—even if that commitment can border on sordid. Each of Aster's movies descends into chaos by its third act, but the bloodbath at the end of Eddington is particularly challenging because of what precedes it: a recognizable, if satirical, investigation of life under lockdown. As such, the film is much more concerned with modern society than the director's past work, contorting the anxiety and extreme politicization that arose during the early pandemic to fit into Aster's strange world. Embodying those feelings is Cross, a lonely sheriff who eventually stands up to shadowy, destructive forces. Eddington introduces its protagonist in much more mundane fashion, however. Cross serves the town of Eddington as a useless figure of authority—a shiftless, asthmatic grump who mumbles complaints at lawbreakers and halfheartedly manages a staff of cops at his office. When the film starts, he is struggling to uphold the state-mandated quarantine regulations, which he rarely follows himself. Eventually, the viewer learns that Cross has a personal connection to the position; his father-in-law once held it, and his tenure is still revered by both his family and his community. But Cross can hardly keep up with his job's basic tasks, let alone the kind of slick change represented by the person often challenging his control over Eddington: its mayor, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal). Garcia, unlike Cross, is a friendly, tech-focused modernizer; he's backing the construction of a local data center that has proved divisive. Garcia and Cross's mutual disdain initially drives the film's tension: Garcia has some personal animosity with Cross that revolves around a rumored, long-ago dalliance withthe sheriff's wife, Louise (Emma Stone). Just as Garcia and Cross become fixated on each other, Louise develops an obsession with a seeming cult leader named Vernon Jefferson Peak (Austin Butler). Peak posts his elliptical wisdom in popular short-form videos that Louise affirms in the comments. Louise's mother, Dawn (Deirdre O'Connell), who lives with the Crosses, is similarly buying into questionable lines of thinking; she's constantly spouting misinformation about the origins of the pandemic, and parroting whatever else comes across her Facebook feed. Eddington makes plenty of satirical sport of all the characters, including a swath of overly sensitive teenage protesters. But the rageful engine driving Cross's actions is more disquieting than simple family or small-town drama. In the simplest read of what happens next, Cross becomes a local celebrity of sorts. After an altercation with Garcia at a supermarket, instigated when the sheriff supports a customer refusing to wear a mask—and similarly goes without one, pointing to how it affects his asthma—Cross announces his own mayoral run. He campaigns on a vague populist platform of throwing unhoused people out of town and resisting COVID restrictions, posting his progressively more inflammatory screeds to Facebook. The ramblings go viral, pushing Cross into further confrontations with Garcia. The sheriff's simmering anger, which reaches boiling point as a result of Eddington's growing air of claustrophobia and his own loosening grip on his life, leads to Cross assassinating Garcia. He kills Garcia's son too, and tries to cover up both murders by pinning the blame on a fellow cop. But as the sheriff's tangled web of lies begins to unravel—and his focus is diverted further away from the town—Eddington is besieged by frightening special-ops forces of unknown origin. The attack culminates in a bloody gun battle in the streets, and Cross barely survives; he emerges as a vigilante who has defended his community from, well, somebody. The film ends with Cross, now paralyzed and heavily medicated, functioning as the town's mayor. Unlike that of Taxi Driver 's Bickle, however, the sheriff's victory is a hollow one; his mother-in-law appears to have seized the real power behind the throne, rendering him more a puppet than an icon. This turn of events offers a perfectly grim button to Cross's ridiculous hallucinations of grandeur. But it's also a reminder from Aster that for all the thrilling gunplay of Eddington 's final act, there is no real happy ending awaiting Cross. Eddington does not aim to be a simple tale of heroism, and its events are so outlandish that they are hard to take at face value. The movie, in its fullest expression, is a feverish swirl of the charged opinions that drove so many conversations during the pandemic's height—be they from the right, the left, or all the way on the fringe. The shadowy characters invading Eddington could be interpreted as a fascist hit squad or an antifa battalion; on-screen, they simply represent the nonsensical extremes that our internet-addled brains are capable of reaching. The uncomfortable result is that Aster at times seems to be challenging the audience to root for Cross, despite laying out all his buffoonery very plainly—because even the most composed person may have found the limits of their patience tested at some point during those strange, dark days.
Elle
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Elle
The McQueen Skull Scarf Renaissance Is Here
Alexander McQueen was a force to be reckoned with. With his 1993 'Taxi Driver' collection, he immediately achieved what most designers spend a lifetime trying to do—invent a new silhouette, namely his now-iconic Bumster pants. By the time his spring 2003 show, 'Irere,' came around, and the Oyster dress made fashion history, no one could have suspected that a less-featured accessory from the collection would go on to carry such weight. Few accessories have stood the test of time like the Alexander McQueen skull scarf. The print took its lead from the collection's theme. The show opened with a short film directed by John Maybury, depicting a shipwrecked girl diving into the ocean and surviving to metamorphose into a princess in the Amazon. The title 'Irere' is said to be taken from an Indigenous Amazonian language, meaning 'transformation.''Given the backstory, no shipwreck is complete without a pirate-inspired skull print. There are many varieties of the accessory; however, the original print has never changed— further proof of its iconic design. Recently, the skulls have been creeping back in. During his press tour for A Complete Unknown, Timothée Chalamet wore two versions of the scarf while hosting SNL. Then, on the fall 2025 runway, under current McQueen creative director Seán McGirr the scarves made a return alongside a green skull-printed blouse. And just this month at Glastonbury, Charli XCX wore multiple scarves tied together as a top—three major co-signs for its long-awaited return! The scarf has the potential to go the way of the Vivienne Westwood pearl choker and fully reintegrate itself into the mainstream. 'I want it to have a full comeback,' says fashion creator Jake Flemming. Joking that he may be a little biased as an avid fan of the brand (then and now), he adds, 'It's time for this gem to have its moment again, and I think people are going to absolutely eat it up. Gen Z will give it a cooler new life that hasn't been seen before.' He hopes the current generation of fashion fans will make full use of it, too, styling it as a tie, belt, or bag charm, 'since we all love to Jane Birkin-ify everything now.' Like all good nostalgic accessories, the scarf had a chokehold throughout most of the noughties, gracing the necks of celebrities like Nicole Richie, Kim Kardashian, the Olsens, and Ashlee Simpson, to name a few. More recently, it got a shoutout in season one of the Netflix show You—Beck splurges on the item, which she can't afford, as a gift; her friend admonishes her, saying they rarely go on sale—a testament to its lasting style and desirability. 'The design has always been so on the nose, macabre and pirate-y almost, that it borders on cheesy, but somehow that level of sincerity cuts through the noise,' fashion creator and theorist Rian Phin tells ELLE. 'Funnily enough, most people don't know that the scarf was technically never off the website! Retailers like Neiman Marcus and Saks still carried it' prior to McGirr's tenure, says Alejandro, founder and 'chief bag officer' of the go-to It accessory Instagram account Y2Kbags. He adds that he also knows people who never stopped wearing it. In a fashion world defined by transformation, not unlike that of 'Irere,' it's incredibly rare to find an accessory so unchanged after more than 20 years. While many brands reissue pieces from the archive, the McQueen skull scarf has had the pleasure of staying the same. Now it's time for it to make an official return to the limelight. ELLE Collective is a new community of fashion, beauty and culture lovers. For access to exclusive content, events, inspiring advice from our Editors and industry experts, as well the opportunity to meet designers, thought-leaders and stylists, become a member today HERE. Alexandra Hildreth is the Fashion News Editor at ELLE. She is fascinated by style trends, industry news, shake-ups, and The Real Housewives. Previously, she attended the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Following graduation, she moved back to New York City and worked as a freelance journalist and producer.
