Latest news with #Versailles
New York Times
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- New York Times
What's on Cupid's Mind at Versailles? AI Can Tell You.
Early one midsummer afternoon in the Palace of Versailles' gardens, a pigeon landed effortlessly on a masterpiece of French outdoor sculpture: a 17th-century statue of Apollo on a chariot, pulled by four horses. The statue, made of gilded lead, has stood in a vast fountain at Versailles in the three-plus centuries since Louis XIV was king of France — and it has now entered the digital age via a new feature on the historic site's app: Powered by the tech giant OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, an audio tool lets visitors (on or off site) converse with 20 outdoor statues in three languages. On that summer afternoon, I put the chatbot to the test. I asked Apollo a few obvious questions — who had put him there, what he represented — and received textbook answers, delivered in perfect English by a confident male voice. Then, spotting the pigeon still perched on Apollo's head, I opted for a bolder line of questioning: What if a pigeon took a toilet break on this peerless treasure? 'When pigeons show their affection on my chariot, it's hardly a grand moment. But the caretakers of Versailles are vigilant,' Apollo replied. 'They ensure I remain in shining condition, restoring my brilliance after such interruptions. So no lasting harm from those little birds!' Versailles receives 8.4 million visitors a year, according to France's culture ministry, more than any other French heritage site except the Louvre Museum. Yet 80 percent of them are international tourists, and their average age is 40. So the palace is engaging with OpenAI and other big tech companies with the hope of not just informing visitors, but also luring audiences that are younger and more homegrown. (The New York Times filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against OpenAI for using published work without permission to train its artificial intelligence. OpenAI has denied those claims.) Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Fairytales continue to inspire those who dabble in 'the imagination business'
You may have been read fairytales as a child, but centuries ago the original stories were intended for adults. As tales of warning about sexuality, violence and death, the stories were far from suitable for younger minds. Jo Henwood, co-founder of the Australian Fairy Tale Society, gives the example of Charles Perrault's Little Red Riding Hood, written in 1697. She said it was about wolves, or gadabouts, luring Versailles girls off the path, where there was no woodcutter to rescue them. "The grandmother is killed and Red Riding Hood drinks her blood accidentally, thinking it's a bottle of wine. "The wolf, as grandmother, is in bed saying, 'Take off your cloak, Riding Hood, you won't be needing that anymore; take off your dress, Riding Hood, you won't be needing that anymore' and he's just luring her into bed." Henwood said the transition of fairytales to children's stories happened later, with the release of Grimms' Fairy Tales. "The French salon stories are absolutely adult stories, and they're very subversive, but when you get to the Grimms, that's when they transform from adult stories to children's stories," she said. The first edition of The Fairy Tales of The Brothers Grimm was published in 1812. "They collected folklore and, realising a new market, turned them into moral tales for middle-class Lutheran children, but there's a lot of misogyny and punishment that goes on," Henwood said. "At the beginning of the 19th century you get the invention of children, that they need to be tamed, and the Grimms are very much leading that change in society." Fast forward to the 21st century and fairytales are still finding an adult audience. The Australian Fairy Tale Society joins like-minded people in conversations about the stories and their meanings, with regular book clubs and an annual conference. Henwood said the great thing about the society was that people pointed out differences in perspective and that was where creativity could spring from, coming up with something new, fresh and authentic. Author Kate Forsyth, who has penned more than 40 books blending historical fiction with fairytales, writes for children and adults. Her 2014 novel Bitter Greens, for adult readers, is an adaptation of Rapunzel and she said the fairytale's tower represented "a universal experience all of us share". "Rapunzel is a story about liberation, about the human soul that is held in stasis, is tied back and must find strength in order to escape," Forsyth said. "Our tower can be different things. It might be an unhappy marriage, it might be a job that is a toxic environment, it might be our own doubt and fear. "The tower is different for every human; that we need to escape it, is universal." However, Forsyth particularly enjoys writing for children. "They haven't lost their sense of wonder and it's wonderful to give them the gift of enchantment that can change their lives," she said. Forsyth said children in harm's way needed books that gave them hope to change their world. Australian fantasy author Isobelle Carmody, who started writing at nine and also has more than 40 books to her name, said reading could be empowering. "I was an unhappy teenager," she said. "My dad was killed in a car accident, I lived in a rough neighbourhood, I didn't get along with my mum. "So reading took me away to other places where people like me might make a difference in my world. "I wanted to be in a world where animals could talk to you, where love would last forever, where fighting for justice mattered." When retired English teacher Robyn De Mayo joined monthly meetings at the Illawarra Fairy Tale Ring, a branch of the national society, she brought her knowledge of history and storytelling with her. "I have an extensive collection of books. Whereas others have beautiful versions, I have the critical responses," she laughed. For De Mayo, fairytales are still relevant, with a modern spin. "I'm interested in how stories resonate over thousands of years and how we deal with them today, particularly the feminist aspect of taking the female characters and empowering them, of activating sometimes quite passive characters like Rapunzel," she said. Visual artist and children's author and illustrator Helen McCosker, from Thirroul, south of Sydney, started the Illawarra Fairy Tale Ring in 2022 to research stories for her art practice. Once…, her latest, sold-out show, took six years to complete and consisted of assemblages in wooden boxes, inspired by her lifelong love of fairytales. "Each assemblage has a potted story of the fairytale it was based on," McCosker said. McCosker said fairytales presented people with age-old human values that appealed to the imagination. She calls it the imagination business. "It [reading fairytales] widens our knowledge of various tales, how old they are, how there are so many versions of them, so that's been really fantastic.
Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Miami through Pitbull's eyes: a guide to his favorite spots in the Magic City
Imagine if you could tour Miami with Pitbull. You'd probably hear your fair share of 'Dale!' Now you can discover the Cuban-American rapper's favorite spots. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the release of his album 'Dale,' he's teamed up with Apple Maps to create a guide to his favorite restaurants and small businesses, Pitbull's Miami Spots. Each spot is dear to his heart and he explains their significance to his career or his love of Miami on the Apple Maps tour. 'I never forget my roots or the people who helped me along the way,' Pitbull says on the tour. Mary's Cafe and Coin Laundry This is one of Pitbull's favorite hangouts, and he's not alone. Lots of people come here to do their laundry and have pan con bistec or a Cuban sandwich. It's just as good as any place in town claiming to have the best Cuban sandwich in Miami. 'This spot's the real Miami—cafecito strong, abuelas louder, and hustle in the air. I grew up seeing magic in places like this, where every stain on the floor tells a story. Dale, if you wanna know the city's heartbeat, start here. No failures, only cafecito,' says Pitbull on the Apple map. Miami Coral Park Senior High Before he was Mr. Worldwide, Pitbull was just Armando — a student at this Southwest Miami high school. 'That's where I went from being a Cuban kid with three strikes to Mr. Worldwide,' the artist says of his alma mater. The hallways were his first stage. Versailles Pitbull has a special connection to this longtime Miami dining institution on Calle Ocho. 'My uncle Juan Pérez-Cruz designed the Versailles mirrors,' Pitbull proudly says in the text that accompanies the guide. La Carreta There are nine La Carretas around town. Pitbull probably likes the one on Calle Ocho, with its elegant rooster at the entrance. Domino Park There are things that never change in Miami, like the sound of the dominoes in Domino Park, says Pitbull of this spot in the heart of Little Havana. That park is where 'tradition and community' come together, he notes. Jose Marti Park Before the Miami River got trendy, Pitbull and his family used to hang out in this park. 'This park is my family's thriving and surviving. Resilience isn't a word here; it's the air,' says Pitbull. Pitbull Stadium Florida International University's stadium is now Pitbull Stadium, thanks to a major partnership with the university. He donates $1.2 million annually and gets to host 10 events a year. 'It's proof that with hard work and passion, anything is possible here in the 305,' he says. SLAM Academy Pitbull's impact goes beyond music. He founded Sports Leadership and Management Charter School (SLAM) in Little Havana to give back to the next generation — and it's expanded to West Palm Beach and even Nevada. Big Cypress Distillery Located in South Miami-Dade, this is where Voli 305 Vodka — a brand Pitbull has a stake in — is made. 'You can taste the soul of Miami in every drink,' says the rapper. Florida Keys When Mr. 305 wants to unwind, he hits the road to the Florida Keys. Key Largo is his go-to escape — a mix of ocean breeze, mangroves, seafood, and fan love. 'It's the kind of place that recharges you with positive energy.' Other Apple Maps guides include: Los Angeles Spots by Becky G; Miami Spots by Camila Cabello, Puerto Rico Spots by Young Miko, and Mexico City Spots by Enrique Olvera.
France 24
23-07-2025
- Entertainment
- France 24
Versailles orchestra plays New York in 'Affair of the Poisons'
Artist Kylie Rose was among the performances in the program "Versailles in Printemps: The Affair of the Poisons" Monday's immersive show "Versailles in Printemps: The Affair of the Poisons" centered on France's 17th-century period of excess and seediness that its creator, Andrew Ousley, told AFP has parallels to the present day. At the evening staged in Manhattan's new Printemps luxury emporium, guests and performers alike donned velvet waistcoats, silky corsets, feathered headdresses and powdered makeup. Core to the performance's tale was the discovery of arsenic, Ousley said -- the first "untraceable, untasteable poison." "Everybody was just poisoning everybody." The Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra performs at the Printemps store in Lower Manhattan July 21, 2025 during a show called "Versailles in Printemps: The Affair of the Poisons" © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP And at the web's center? A midwife and fortune teller named La Voisin, he said, a "shadowy-like person who basically would peddle poison, peddle solutions, peddle snake oil." "She was the nexus," Ousley continued, in a scheme that "extended up to Louis XIV, his favorite mistresses" -- inner circles rife with backstabbing and murder plots. The poisoning scandal resulted in a tribunal that resulted in dozens of death sentences -- until the king called it off when it "got a little too close to home," Ousley said with a smile. "To me, it speaks to the present moment -- that this rot can fester underneath luxury and wealth when it's divorced from empathy, from humanity." The drag opera artist Creatine Price was the celebrant of a recent so-called "Black Mass" at a night of classical music and performance art in lower Manhattan © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP Along with a program of classical music, the performance included elaborately costumed dancers, including one who tip-toed atop a line of wine bottles in sparkling platform heels. The drag opera artist Creatine Price was the celebrant of the evening's so-called "Black Mass," and told AFP that the night was "a beautiful way to sort of incorporate the ridiculousness, the campness, the farce of Versailles with a modern edge." Drag is "resistance," she said, adding that her act is "the essence of speaking truth to power, because it really flies in the face of everything in the opera that is standard, whether it's about gender or voice type." Period instruments Madame Athénaïs de Montespan played by Erin Dillon joins other performance artists at the Printemps store for a performance of the Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP The Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra formed in 2019, and its first stateside tour is underway: the series of shows kicked off at Festival Napa Valley in California before heading to New York. On Wednesday it will play another, more traditional show at L'Alliance New York, a French cultural center in Manhattan. The orchestra aims to champion repertoire primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries, and plays on period instruments. At the evening staged in Manhattan's new Printemps luxury emporium, which opened on Wall Street on March 1, guests and performers alike donned velvet waistcoats, silky corsets, feathered headdresses and powdery makeup © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP "Playing a historical instrument really gives me a feeling of being in contact with the era in which the music was composed," said Alexandre Fauroux, who plays the natural horn, a predecessor to the French horn distinguished by its lack of valves. Ousley runs the organization Death of Classical, an arts non-profit that puts on classical shows in unexpected places, including the catacombs of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery and crypts in Manhattan. Monday's spectacle included over-the-top performance, but Ousley emphasized that the evening was ultimately a celebration of classical artists. "These are players who play with such energy, to me it's more like a rock band than an orchestra," he said. Monday's immersive show "The Affair of the Poisons" centered on France's 17th-century time of excess and seediness that its creator, Andrew Ousley, told AFP has parallels to the present day © TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP And the mission of putting on such shows is about something bigger, Ousley said: "How do you fight against the darkness that seems to be winning in the world?" "When you can sit and feel, with a group of strangers, something that you know you feel together -- that's why I work, because of that shared connection, experience and transcendence." © 2025 AFP
New York Times
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Echoes of Versailles at a Downtown Department Store
Good morning. It's Monday. Today we'll look at a $185-a-ticket immersive production whose director sees parallels between Louis XIV's Versailles and 21st-century New York. Tonight, after closing time in a luxury department store in Lower Manhattan, they're going to party like it's 1679. There will be actors and singers in velvety waistcoats and breeches, or in opulent gowns with puff sleeves. The Louis XIV look won't be the only allusion to the Sun King's court during a three-hour immersive performance. Attendees will be given vials of powder. Don't worry, says the director of the event, Andrew Ousley — the vials won't be filled with poison, as they were in a notorious incident at Versailles. These vials will contain nothing more than food coloring and the powder that puts the pastels in Parisian macarons. But the ringleader distributing the powder will be sentenced to death, as the original provocateur was 345 years ago. Ousley built the performance piece, 'The Affair of the Poisons,' around one of the most sensational scandals of 17th-century France, one so overwhelming that Louis XIV shut down the investigation after his favorite mistress was implicated. Ousley is staging the production with opera singers and the Versailles Royal Opera Orchestra, which was formed in 2019 for the French premiere of John Corigliano's opera 'The Ghosts of Versailles' in — where else? — the opera house that Louis XIV had commissioned at the palace itself, outside Paris. Now the orchestra is on its first tour of the United States. And, as 'The Affair of the Poisons' unfolds, the audience will encounter members of the Brooklyn dance troupe Company XIV, including a candelabra-balancing belly dancer. Ousley did not know about the scandal until he began doing research for the piece that became 'The Affair of the Poisons.' 'Everything I read about it made me more astounded, not only by how over-the-top wild it was but how relevant it was to the present day,' when New York is struggling with issues of affordability and income disparity, he said. But back to 17th-century Paris. Arsenic — 'untasteable and untraceable' — had come into vogue, and 'people were poisoning their spouses or mistresses,' he said. 'Louis's favorite mistress was plotting to poison him as well as a newer mistress who had gained his favor.' The poison came from Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin, a midwife and fortune teller known as La Voisin who had apparently counted the favorite mistress, Madame Athénaïs de Montespan, as a client for years. Worried that Louis's affection was waning, Montespan had tried to poison the newer, younger mistress, who was a teenage lady-in-waiting at Versailles when Louis noticed her. La Voisin, who will be portrayed in 'The Affair of the Poisons' by the drag opera artist known as Creatine Price, did more than traffic in poison: Ousley said that Montespan would lie nude while La Voisin poured blood over her. After the poison scandal broke, a special tribunal was convened, and more than 30 people were sentenced to death. But Louis suspended the proceedings once Montespan was implicated. 'The scandal got a little close to home,' Ousley said. The setting for 'The Affair of the Poisons' will be Printemps, the French department store that opened in March at 1 Wall Street. Ousley called it '55,000 square feet of some of the most intentional, thoughtful luxury.' The audience members will be served hors d'oeuvres prepared by Gregory Gourdet, the store's culinary director, and wine from Bouchaine Vineyards, whose proprietors, Gerret and Tatiana Copeland, underwrote the tour for the orchestra. (The tour includes another performance on Wednesday at L'Alliance New York, the French cultural center in Manhattan.) Ousley runs a nonprofit called Death of Classical, which puts top-flight performers in unusual places like crypts and catacombs around New York. But he said, 'even by my standards this is one of the most insane things we've done.' It is also one of the most expensive, at $185 a ticket, which, he acknowledged, is a lot of money. 'There's no question that New York City is in the midst of a massive affordability crisis, not to mention ever-increasing income disparity,' he said. 'The problem isn't luxury in and of itself, but rather luxury as an end unto itself.' Still, he said, Death by Classical's programs are value propositions. Tonight, he said, attendees will leave with a goody bag. Among the items inside will be 'a small candle by Trudon from, wait for it, their Versailles collection.' The candle sells on Amazon for $70. Weather It's going to be a bright one! Prepare for a sunny day with temperatures nearing 84. Tonight will be clear with a low around 66. ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING In effect until Aug. 3 (Tisha B'Av). The latest Metro news Mamdani travels to Uganda: Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic candidate for mayor, took a break from campaigning to fly to Uganda, where he was born. He said he had made the trip to Africa with his wife, Rama, to celebrate their five-month-old marriage with family and friends. Meanwhile, in New York, Mayor Eric Adams criticized Mamdani for taking time off, and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been making appearances across the state. Health care union endorses Mamdani: Local 1199, the city's most powerful health care union, rescinded its support of Cuomo and is now endorsing Mamdani. Since his win, Mamdani has continued to gain support from unions who had first endorsed Cuomo. Can Washington warm to Mamdani? While Mamdani has charmed much of New York City, he has yet to charm Washington. National Democrats are grappling with how much to embrace him and whether they should endorse him. Habba's tenure may be running out: Alina Habba, President Trump's choice to run the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey, pursued investigations against Democratic political figures, damaged morale among prosecutors and was declared unfit to serve by the state's two senators. She offered a pre-emptive farewell in a staff meeting last week after acknowledging that the state's district court judges, who have the power to extend her tenure, were unlikely to do so. New York agrees to settle with ex-Cuomo aide: New York State agreed to a $450,000 settlement with the former executive aide, Brittany Commisso, who accused Cuomo of groping her in 2020. The state did not admit wrongdoing. METROPOLITAN diary Mornings with Mom Dear Diary: Our mom, Deborah, died in 2011. She was a New Yorker. After 14 years, upon my leaving the military, my sister and I finally had the time to go through her stuff. Plus, I am studying law at Columbia now, which means we can visit the storage unit in Bedford-Stuyvesant once a week. We call it Mornings with Mom. It's not cheap to keep the unit, so the goal is to empty it out as quickly as possible. But our progress is delayed by nostalgia and curiosity. It's hard to simply save our mom's journals. We get caught up in reading the entries aloud to each other. We reminisce over what we remember: family photographs, clothes our mom loved to wear that still smell like her closet, and other trinkets. We find some gems we never knew existed: Mom's application to law school, newspaper clippings she saved that are still relevant today, some truly fabulous shoes. We reread our favorite children's books and vow to read them to our cousins' children. We save the M.R.I. scans of the masses in her breasts, though we are not sure why. We find names of her friends in a Filofax from the 1980s. Some still live in New York. I call one of the numbers. 'This is Deborah Edelman's daughter,' I say. 'She passed away in 2011, but my sister and I found your contact. Do you remember her? If so, would you like to meet?' We meet for drinks, swap stories and become friends. This summer, box by box, my sister and I are working our way through the collection. When we finish going through enough for the day, we call it quits and get a drink. — Julie Roland Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here. Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B. P.S. Here's today's Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here. Davaughnia Wilson and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at nytoday@ Sign up here to get this newsletter in your inbox.
