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Readers response: What do you regret not appreciating more when you were younger?

When it comes to ageing, we often learn to appreciate things that we often dismissed when we were younger. We asked our readers what they have only truly started to appreciate with age, and the response was overwhelming. Here's what they said. Ross Forbes - Being brought up on a farm in a family environment where I was taught excellent work ethics and the value of community. Alice McMurdo - The beauty of the scenery in Scotland and not taking the opportunity to see more of the beautiful countryside when I had the chance. Pat Isaacs - My health and energy. Esther Miller - Not having to pay bills. I now understand why my daddy was always telling us cut off the light, shut the door, stop wasting food, do not pour more milk than you are going to drink. I remember him saying "wait till you have to pay for it yourselves". Lesson learned. Marie Chong - My parents. Rosalie Jones - Movement without pain. Michelle Nightingale - My family. Sally O'Neill - Being happy and free, not having any responsibilities to worry about. Chris Gray - My mum. If only I had known what I now know. Margie Buckingham - My ability to always be employed and buy my first house at 21. Also, my upbringing and great start my parents gave me by ensuring I went to a good school and studied hard. Kerri Anderson - Being younger. Linda Kauffman - My mother. Image credits: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

BBC star's heartbreaking plea after wife and daughters were killed

Grief-stricken BBC racing commentator John Hunt has broken his silence after his wife and two daughters were <a href="https://oversixty.com.au/finance/legal/man-arrested-after-bbc-presenter-s-wife-and-children-murdered" target="_blank" rel="noopener">killed</a> during a crossbow attack. Carol Hunt, 61, Hannah Hunt, 28, and Louise Hunt, 25, were fatally injured at their home in North London last Tuesday, with Hertfordshire Police confirming that 26-year-old Kyle Clifford had been arrested in connection to their murders. Speaking to the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx825zwy2r5o" target="_blank" rel="noopener">BBC</a> about the devastating incident, John's friend and fellow commentator, Matt Chapman, said, "Family means more to some than others and for John, his family unit was something he absolutely adored." "He told me: 'Matty, the message I would tell everyone is you never know when it's going to be the last day you see your family'." "The message was very clear: make the most of every day because you just don't know." Mr Chapman said proceeds from a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-family-of-john-hunt" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener">fundraiser </a>set up after the horrifying attack, which has currently raised more than $53,000 AUD, will go to John's surviving daughter, Amy. He said John had said his "biggest desire" was to make sure Amy had "no money worries for the rest of her life". "There are a lot of people, including myself, who feel helpless and would like to do something," he said. "John would like nothing more for Amy after these horrific events than a life that is a little less stressful, because life will never be stress-free again." "It's not going to take their grief away - it's not going to take the pain away or change anything - but it might help them have an easier life." John and Amy released a joint statement on Saturday, thanking the public for their messages of support during what they described as "an extremely difficult time for us". "The devastation that we are experiencing cannot be put into words," they said. "We would like to thank people for their kind messages and for the support we have received in recent days. These have provided great comfort to us for which we are very grateful." "As you can imagine, this is an extremely difficult time for us, and we need time and space to come to terms with what has happened and start the grieving process." As the investigation continues into the brutal deaths, police shared that they have not yet been able to speak to him as he remains in a serious condition after suffering self-inflicted wounds. Image credits: GoFundMe / Facebook

Family & Pets

"You were our whole damn sky": Tributes flow after alleged murder of young teacher

The family of a young teacher from Victoria are in mourning after the body of 23-year-old was found in a burnt-out car just hours after she was reported missing. Hannah McGuire was found near State Forest Rd in Scarsdale, an area near Ballarat surrounded by bushland, on Friday after her family had reported her missing just before. On Sunday, two young men were arrested over her death, and on Monday, a 21-year-old was charged with one count of murder. The young man is believed to be Hannah's ex-boyfriend, who had been living with Ms McGuire for about a year before their recent separation. Police will allege the man drove her body to a remote national park and set the car on fire, before posting a loving tribute on social media and telling her friends she had taken her own life. The man will appear in Ballarat Magistrates' Court on Tuesday. As news of Hannah's untimely death broke, her parents shared a heart-wrenching tribute to their daughter on Facebook. Her parents run the National Hotel in the regional town of Clunes, and shared their tribute on their business Facebook page to inform patrons that the pub will remain closed until Wednesday. "Thank you everyone for your love, support and kind words. Our hearts are broken," the post read." "You weren’t just a star to us. You were our whole damn sky. Miss you Princess!" A <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/in-memory-of-hannah-mcguire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe</a> page has been set up by the Clunes Cricket Club supporting McGuire’s family, and has already raised over $45,000. “As a community we send our deepest love and condolences to Glenn, Debbie, Jude and Fletcher,” the club said. “Hannah was known by many as a bright young woman and had a heart of gold.” Image credits: Facebook / GoFundMe

Legal

Sam Kerr’s alleged comments may have had a racial element, but they were not ‘racist’

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> Footballer Sam Kerr has been charged with “racially aggravated harassment” over a January 2023 incident in which she allegedly insulted a London police officer. According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/mar/06/sam-kerr-allegedly-called-police-officer-a-stupid-white-bastard-source-says">widespread media reports</a>, she is said to have called the officer a “stupid white bastard”. Kerr has pleaded not guilty to the charge and has <a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/sam-kerr-legal-team-reportedly-challenge-allegations-of-police-harassment/744598ef-75f9-4e03-acb5-7b37aecde8d1">reportedly denied</a> using the word “bastard”. According to section 33 of the British Crime and Disorder Act, to be found guilty of such an offence, the conduct would have had to cause – or have intended to cause – alarm or distress. Regardless of the court’s ultimate verdict, one big question seems to occupy the minds of many: does the phrase attributed to Kerr constitute racism? Kerr was born in Western Australia, and has Indian ancestry on her father’s side. Can she be racist towards a white person, and more specifically to a white police officer? Assuming it is true Kerr used the term “white”, there is a racial element. But “racial” is not the same as “racist”. <h2>Definitions of racism</h2> It is important to note here that “race” is not a biological category (there is only one human race). Race is a <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/race-is-a-social-construct-scientists-argue/">social construct</a>, invented and cemented centuries ago to legitimise colonial atrocities, oppression and forms of subjugation including slavery. There are many definitions of racism, but there has been a broad consensus for decades that racism is more than “just” prejudice and discriminatory behaviour. It is not simply a matter of less favourable treatment of an individual or group of people based on their actual or ascribed ethnic background, skin colour, origin or related characteristics. Racism also reflects and manifests as systemic exclusion and marginalisation based on historically rooted power imbalances and racial hierarchies that put white people at the top. To put it very simply, the scholarly (if not the legal) definition is that “<a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1998-07453-002">racism equals power plus prejudice</a>”. In a vicious cycle, everyday racism and discrimination are shaped and justified by racial hierarchies, while they operate continuously in a way that cements power imbalances and racial marginalisation. This may sound a bit abstract, but if we do not recognise this power dynamic, we trivialise racism as little more than name-calling. We will fail to understand how racism operates and how it continues to affect people from racially marginalised groups in their daily lives. One way to illustrate the systemic nature of racism is to look at the persistent lack of representation of people of colour in leadership positions in the corporate sector, the media and governments in Australia and elsewhere. In the United Kingdom, where the alleged incident occurred, institutional racism – including within the police force – has been recognised since the release of the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-stephen-lawrence-inquiry">Macpherson report</a> in 1999. It was reaffirmed in 2023 by the <a href="https://www.met.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/media/downloads/met/about-us/baroness-casey-review/update-march-2023/baroness-casey-review-march-2023a.pdf">Baroness Casey Review</a>, despite some political pushback. The review found “Met officers are 82% White and 71% male, and the majority do not live in the city they police. As such, the Met does not look like the majority of Londoners.” <h2>Reverse racism?</h2> Anti-discrimination legislation in the UK and Australia usually does not speak explicitly of “racism”. It outlaws certain acts that are motivated, partially or wholly, by a person’s race (or other personal identity markers). Legislators introduced these laws with the intention of enhancing the legal protections for those who were considered vulnerable to racism. In Australia, for example, the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2004A00274/latest/text">Racial Discrimination Act</a> (1975) is often celebrated as a legal cornerstone in the country’s journey away from its racist “White Australia” history towards a modern multicultural society. The United Nations’ <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-convention-elimination-all-forms-racial">International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination</a> (1965), ratified by Australia in 1975 and the UK in 1969, makes its intention explicit when it calls on all state parties to make it an offence to disseminate “ideas based on racial superiority”. The issue of power structures should also be seen through an institutional lens. It is difficult to imagine a person on the streets of London with more institutional power than a white police officer. Being called a “stupid bastard” might hurt someone’s feelings. But while I’m in no position to judge whether Sam Kerr’s alleged actions have caused “distress” to the officer – as the law would require – labelling the incident as racist is clearly not in line with what racism means. Such a definition would not align with the concept’s institutional and systemic dimensions. It is not what anti-discrimination laws were intended to outlaw. Claims of anti-white or “reverse” racism are based on a shallow, misguided and inaccurate understanding of what racism really constitutes. If Kerr’s court case fails to acknowledge the deeper purpose of anti-racism legislation by equating “racial” with “racist”, it risks setting a highly problematic precedent that would undermine efforts to acknowledge and tackle racism in all its forms. What would be the message to those millions of people in the UK, Australia and elsewhere who have to face racism every day without recognition of the harm it causes and without the support and capacity to sue the perpetrators? What would they think about their right to equality and their place in society?<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225267/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/mario-peucker-192086">Mario Peucker</a>, Associate Professor and Principal Research Fellow, Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/victoria-university-1175">Victoria University</a> This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sam-kerrs-alleged-comments-may-have-had-a-racial-element-but-they-were-not-racist-225267">original article</a>.

Legal

14 personal finance tips you were never taught – but need to know

Take a day to think about large purchases to avoid impulse buys “Delaying your purchases for a day gives you time to think about whether or not you really need the items, and it curbs regrettable impulse buys,” advises Marc Diana, CEO of MoneyTips. “Sale items may be an exception to this rule, but even then, question how badly you need the item compared to saving or investing the money you would use to purchase it. When times are tough, and you’re cutting expenses, would you rather have a rarely worn $300 pair of shoes or $300 cash?” Budgets are freeing, not constricting Says financial educator Tiffany Aliche, “Keeping a budget allows you to say yes to your goals in a strategic way. If you have a budget, you can save for the holiday, house or car you want to get. You can look at it as ‘No dining out,’ but I see it as ‘Yes to a trip to Paris.’ A budget is not a NO plan, but a YES plan with actual steps towards achieving your goals.” Budget with the 50/20/30 rule Lynn Toomey, co-founder of Your Retirement Advisor, suggests following this easy budgeting rule: Use 50 per cent of your income for non-discretionary necessities like food, rent/house payment, utilities, and transportation. Put aside 20 per cent of your income for an emergency fund (three to six months’ salary is a good target), retirement, savings, and to pay off any debts. Use 30 per cent of your income for discretionary (non-essential) spending such as entertainment, holidays and gifts. Penny-pinching is not the road to wealth Spending less doesn’t mean you’ll have more. Saving is a good way to stabilise your finances, but you still need to invest. “Pretend there are two islands,” advises Aliche, who is also known as The Budgetnista: “Financially Stuck Island and Wealthy Island.” She says that your savings can be like a car – you can’t drive off Financially Stuck Island without a bridge. Investing is the bridge to financial success. “To get from one island to another, you need to get in your savings car and drive it over your investment bridge.” It’s OK to put yourself before your kids Many people want their kids to go to university, says Aliche, “but it’s more important for you to save enough for retirement. Because the best gift you can give your child is not a free ride to school, but rather not to be a financial burden on them when it’s time to start their own family. Kids can get student loans; no one is going to lend you money without collateral when you’re retired.” Financial advisors aren’t only for wealthy people Millions of people have trillions invested in stocks, bonds, mutual funds and other stock exchange investments, but just because you can easily make trades yourself doesn’t mean you should. “Why not do what you do best to earn money and let a trained professional invest it for you?” asks Brian Saranovitz, president of Your Retirement Advisor. “A recent Vanguard Investments study indicated that integrating proper retirement strategies can add as much as 3 per cent efficient return to a retirement portfolio.” Adds Aliche, “You need to purposefully seek out knowledge. If you break a leg, you know that you need to go to a doctor. With personal finance, people have got the notion that they could just fix it themselves. When it comes to investing, don’t be afraid to seek professional help.” Get a clear picture of yourself at 80 Barring tragedy, you will live to a ripe, old age. Aliche recommends naming your 80-year-old image of yourself. “Mine is Wanda. I imagine Wanda sitting on the front steps in her yard. People feel disconnected from their older self. The more you can picture her, the better. I don’t want to see her mopping floors at 80. When I’m making a decision, I think, ‘How will this affect Wanda?’ If I dip into my retirement funds to buy an expensive car, that’s going to hurt Wanda.” If it’s easier, pretend you’re living with your grandfather or grandmother. “You’re not going to tell Granny, ‘You have to go to work. We need the money,’” she says. You can never have too much retirement savings Says Lynn Toomey, co-founder of Your Retirement Advisor, “Life is good. Retirement is better, if you are prepared.” She points out that retirement is laden with potential costs, such as healthcare, longevity, market volatility and inflation. “Even if you think you’re saving enough and have assets, it still may not be enough. The earlier you start saving and investing, the longer compound interest can work its magic to help you achieve a successful retirement.” Don’t blow your tax refund “What are you planning on doing with your tax refund?” asks financial advisor Mike Zaino. “If you’re like most people, the world of instant gratification is beckoning. It could be extremely damaging to your retirement account, however, especially given the time value of money and what Albert Einstein called ‘The eighth wonder of the world” – compound interest.” Ask current lenders for a better rate “Banks, credit unions and other lenders are keenly aware of their competition,” says Diana of MoneyTips.com. “If your credit score qualifies you for a better rate from another credit card issuer or lender, ask them to match the rate. There’s no downside to asking; the worst they could do is refuse.” Asking for your credit limit to be raised can improve your credit score Keep your credit utilisation – the amount of credit you use compared to your credit limit – low to boost your all-important credit, advises Diana. “You can borrow less, or you can ask for a raise in your credit limit.” A recent study from CreditCards.com found that only 28 per cent of respondents have never asked for an increase in their credit limit. However, a whopping 89 per cent of those who asked for a credit limit increase received one. Unless they have a high annual fee, don’t close your old credit cards “The longer your stable credit history, the better it reflects on your credit score,” explains Diana. “The age of accounts is averaged over all of your credit accounts, so closing an older account that is infrequently used actually harms your credit score in two ways: it lowers your credit limit, which raises your credit utilisation; and it lowers your average account age. If you have an old card with a decent credit limit, use it at least annually to keep it open. But don’t forget to pay the bill on time!” Don’t ever co-sign a loan “Co-signing a loan isn’t just vouching for someone’s character,” explains Toomey. “Understand that if the borrower doesn’t pay, then you’re responsible for every single missed payment. If they don’t pay, it’s your credit that will be ruined.” Being debt-free should not be your goal Says Aliche, creator of the Live Richer Challenge, “People focus on getting out of debt. If they use that money to grow wealth instead of getting rid of debt, they could be debt-free faster. Do you pay off your student loans to get debt-free, or invest money in your business to grow and secure wealth for yourself? If you focus on being debt-free, that’s all you’ll be. If you focus on building wealth, then you can be wealthy and debt-free.” Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/money/14-personal-finance-tips-you-were-never-taught-but-need-to-know?pages=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>.

Money & Banking

Mum left shocked and distraught after Christmas gifts were stolen

A young mum from Melbourne is "fuming" after a pile of Christmas gifts were stolen from her front porch. Mother-of-three Jasmine Yoong captured the young man allegedly taking five presents from her front door, which were due to be picked up by a courier and delivered to her friends. CCTV video captured the man stealing gifts from the front of the home in Melbourne’s west on Wednesday, holding them close to his chest before he threw them into his car and made a break for it. After discovering the footage of her gifts being stolen, Yoong decided to turn to TikTok in an attempt to get her presents back before going to the police. “I was so angry in that moment, I was so ... I was fuming,” she told <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/mum-fuming-after-man-allegedly-steals-christmas-presents-from-melbourne-home-c-12915860" target="_blank" rel="noopener">7News</a>. <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C03juMwJL3b/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C03juMwJL3b/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by 7NEWS Melbourne (@7newsmelbourne)</a> </div> </blockquote> The 27-year-old mum took to social media to expose the opportunistic crook. “All that hard work for you to come and steal them off my front door when the postman was collecting them, and then he couldn’t collect them. Why? Because you stole them,” she said in the video, which reached more than two million views in one day. “All I want is my five parcels back.” Yoong admitted the idea may “sound stupid” but she hoped the video would find him. “My initial thought was, all right , let me go to the police straightaway,” she said. “I thought, well, what can I do to actually increase my chances of getting it back. I’ve seen TikTok do some pretty crazy things." “I didn’t want to ruin his life if it was just a snap of the moment decision, you know. I wanted to give him a chance to do the right thing, make it right.” Her TikTok video reached a worker at a nearby McDonalds, who said they had seen the man in fast food restaurant just before the presents were stolen. “He was apparently causing a ruckus, disrupting diners,” Yoong said. Yoong contacted her local police to report the theft after the parcels were not returned. <div> Her message to the crook is simple: “Just don’t take from others.” “It’s just a shortcut to steal from others ... everyone needs to work hard to get what they have,” she said. Image credits: 7News </div>

Legal

“There were bodies everywhere”: Five people dead in horror pub crash

Disturbing details have emerged from a horror crash where five people have died after a BMW crashed into a beer garden at a pub in regional Victoria. On Sunday evening in Daylesford, north of Melbourne, families were enjoying the last of the weekend at the Royal Hotel when a BMW X5 crashed into the busy venue. The pub was filled with hundreds of patrons in the hours before the crash due to the unofficial long weekend before Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup public holiday in Victoria. Superintendent John Fitzpatrick confirmed on Sunday night about 11pm four people had died at the scene: two men and a woman and a six-year-old boy, while a fifth person, a teenage girl, later died in hospital. Four others were injured, while a boy is fighting for his life in hospital. “I haven’t seen anything this drastic for a long time,” he said. “Any time you have five people die at a particular scene, it’s horrible.” “There are families that have got loved ones that are no longer going to be around.” “We don’t like to see anyone lose their life but to see a child – you don’t ever want to see anything like that.” The driver of the BMW, a 66-year-old man, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. "The exact circumstances surrounding the collision are yet to be determined and investigations remain ongoing," Superintendent Fitzpatrick said. “We are waiting to speak to him… It’s a very complex scene.” A woman who was working at the business next door to the pub witnessed the horrific moment, recalling how she and her staff saw bodies lying on the pavement. “We’re all pretty shocked,” she said. “It’s pretty bad, I’ve never seen anything so traumatic in my life.” “There were bodies everywhere, it was horrifying,” she said. “I watched the whole crash. The car went up into the sky. I thought it was just dust. It’s only now I know it was bodies.” Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, whose electorate Ballarat includes Daylesford, said the community was “devastated” by the incident. “Five people have lost their lives, and their families’ lives have changed forever. “It will really have shocked a lot of people, and I think we’re really only just coming to terms with what happened today.” “These sort of terrible accidents, the sort of level of trauma goes on for a long period of time, and people will need a lot of support and care, and the police obviously will need to undertake a significant investigation into what’s happened.” Image credits: Nine News

News

"You were loved": Tributes flow over tragic passing of Matthew Perry

The world was left in shock and mourning as news broke of the tragic death of beloved actor Matthew Perry, best known for his iconic role as Chandler Bing on the hit sitcom Friends. The 54-year-old actor passed away in an apparent drowning accident at his Los Angeles home, leaving a void in the hearts of countless fans and colleagues. Emergency services were summoned to Perry's residence in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood after an assistant found him unresponsive. Initial reports indicated that it was a "water rescue or water emergency". Disturbingly, a 911 call made from Perry's home shortly before first responders arrived mentioned the word "drowning." The actor was found unresponsive in his jacuzzi, where his life was tragically cut short. In the aftermath of this heartbreaking incident, the Los Angeles Police Department confirmed the death investigation at Perry's residence, marking the untimely end of a talented and cherished actor. The circumstances surrounding Perry's death remain the subject of public speculation. While law enforcement sources reported that no drugs were discovered at the scene and foul play is not suspected, the investigation continues. The family, including his mother Suzanne Morrison, father John Bennett Perry, and stepfather Dateline NBC's Keith Morrison, issued a statement expressing their profound grief and gratitude for the outpouring of love from fans. "We are heartbroken by the tragic loss of our beloved son and brother," the family said. "Matthew brought so much joy to the world, both as an actor and a friend. You all meant so much to him, and we appreciate the tremendous outpouring of love." In the dispatch audio obtained by TMZ, emergency responders referenced a "drowning" incident. While it is reported that Perry was found in a hot tub, a source later claimed that he had just returned home from a game of pickleball. Perry's passing has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry and beyond. Former colleagues and fellow stars have paid their heartfelt tributes to the actor who brought laughter to millions with his portrayal of Chandler Bing. Maggie Wheeler, who portrayed Chandler's unforgettable on-again, off-again girlfriend, Janice, in Friends, expressed her gratitude for the joy Perry brought into people's lives. She shared on Instagram, "The joy Matthew brought to so many in his too short lifetime will live on. I feel so very blessed by every creative moment we shared." Morgan Fairchild, who played Chandler's mother, Nora Bing, described herself as "heartbroken" by the untimely loss of her "son". She acknowledged the brilliance of the young actor and the shock that this tragedy has brought to the entertainment world. Even Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who knew Perry from their shared history when Perry's mother worked as an aide to Trudeau's father, former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, expressed his grief. Trudeau remembered the schoolyard games they played and the worldwide joy that Perry brought to fans. He said, "Thanks for all the laughs, Matthew. You were loved – and you will be missed." Piers Morgan, the renowned broadcaster and journalist, acknowledged Perry's talent as an actor but also recognised the struggles he faced. Perry's candid autobiography about his battle with addiction left a profound impact, and his passing is a stark reminder of the difficulties he endured. Warner Bros Television Group, which produced Friends for its entire run, released a statement expressing their devastation over the loss of their dear friend. “We are devastated by the passing of our dear friend Matthew Perry. Matthew was an incredibly gifted actor and an indelible part of the Warner Bros Television Group family. The impact of his comedic genius was felt around the world, and his legacy will live on in the hearts of so many. This is a heartbreaking day, and we send our love to his family, his loved ones, and all of his devoted fans.” NBC, the network that aired Friends, also paid tribute to the late actor, highlighting the immense joy he brought to millions through his pitch-perfect comedic timing and wry wit. They emphasised that his legacy will continue to live on through countless generations. The passing of Matthew Perry is a loss not only for his family and friends but also for the countless individuals whose lives were brightened by his humour and talent. His portrayal of Chandler Bing on Friends remains etched in the hearts of fans around the world, and his memory will live on as an enduring source of laughter and joy. Images: Getty / NBC / Instagram

Caring

Booking customers on flights that were cancelled – how could Qantas do that?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/volodymyr-bilotkach-145437">Volodymyr Bilotkach</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/purdue-university-1827">Purdue University</a> Fining Qantas <a href="https://www.atn.aero/#/article.html?id=87951">A$600 million</a> if it is found to have knowingly sold so-called “ghost flights” would be fair, according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. The commission this week <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/accc-takes-court-action-alleging-qantas-advertised-flights-it-had-already-cancelled">launched action</a> in the Federal Court alleging Qantas engaged in false, misleading or deceptive conduct by selling tickets on flights that had already been cancelled, and not informing passengers of cancellations in a timely manner. The regulator’s charges against the airline, which last month reported a record <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/24/qantas-delivers-record-247bn-profit">$2.47 billion profit</a>, have precipitated the early exit of longtime chief executive Alan Joyce, who quit this week two months ahead of schedule. This court challenge will certainly add to the workload of his successor, Vanessa Hudson. Qantas <a href="https://www.atn.aero/#/article.html?id=87951">has acknowledged</a> that service standards might have slipped as the airline was struggling to recover after the pandemic. The nature of the oversights that led to the airline’s errors will determine the airline’s liability – both to the consumer regulator and to individual claims for compensation. Importantly, the case also points to the need for greater regulatory protection of the airline’s passengers, in line with other jurisdictions. <h2>How did Qantas get in this mess?</h2> The short answer, most likely, is that the carrier did not handle flight cancellations promptly due to the sheer volume of work and labour shortages as it sought to resume operations following the end of pandemic restrictions. The consumer regulator’s allegations relate specifically to May and June 2022. Australia lifted many of its COVID-related travel restrictions in <a href="https://www.voanews.com/a/australia-lifts-covid-restrictions-and-welcomes-travelers-/6451955.html">March</a>, and travellers entering the country <a href="https://www.travelpulse.com/news/destinations/australia-lifts-remaining-covid-19-travel-restrictions">after July 6</a> were not required to show proof of vaccination. The airline was trying to bring its planes back into service and hire or retrain its employees, and generally was struggling to get back to more or less normal operations. In its statement, the competition watchdog noted the carrier cancelled nearly one in four flights scheduled during that period; and for two out of three cancelled flights it either continued selling tickets or failed to inform the passengers –sometimes for extended periods of time – or both. Flight cancellations are a normal part of an airline’s operations. However, the “usual” cancellation rate is <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/air-travel-consumer-report-march-2023-and-1st-quarter-2023-numbers#:%7E:text=DOT%20remains%20committed%20to%20ensuring,first%20three%20months%20of%202022.">less than 2%</a>, less than a tenth of what Qantas experienced in May and June 2022. What is unusual is that Qantas did not immediately remove cancelled flights from its booking system. This is something I have never heard of. One also suspects the airline has had enough “practice” with schedule adjustment during the pandemic to know better. There are clearly gaps in the carrier’s management. It has lessons to learn from this debacle. <h2>What is Qantas’ liability?</h2> The question of the extent of the airline’s liability is not straightforward. Obviously, a business willingly selling a product or service it has no intention to deliver is at fault, and has to face consequences. At the same time, a business selling a product that has defects it is unaware of, despite doing its best to prevent such defects from occurring, will face certain costs (such as those associated with a product recall) but may be spared sanctions. The onus will be on Qantas to demonstrate it made an honest mistake rather than a lapse of judgement. But considering the scale of the problem, the airline faces a very difficult task here. <h2>Individual claims pending</h2> As well as a potential fine, Qantas should brace for a flood of claims from individual passengers who bought a ticket for an already cancelled flight or were not informed in a timely manner. Timing will be of the essence here. If a passenger incurred expenses assuming the flight was operating when it had already been cancelled, such as making a non-refundable hotel reservation, there is a case to request compensation for such expenses. Otherwise, the standard policy will apply: the airline is not usually responsible for any non-refundable and uninsured expenses a passenger incurs prior to the flight cancellation. <h2>Closing the regulatory gap</h2> The regulator should, however, also take a closer look at the existing air passenger rights in Australia. Currently, <a href="https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/specific-products-and-activities/travel-delays-and-cancellations">the consumer is entitled to replacement or refund</a> if an airline does not provide services “in a reasonable time” - that is, in the event of a lengthy delay or a flight cancellation. However, the definition of “reasonable time” and the specifics of the compensation policies are left to the airlines. In other parts of the world, actions have been or are being taken to strengthen customer protection. For instance, in <a href="https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/travel/passenger-rights/air/index_en.htm">the European Union</a>, lengthy delays that are the airlines’ fault lead to the carriers paying out cash compensation as well as the cost of accommodation and meals. Similar regulations <a href="https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot-propose-requirements-airlines-cover-expenses-and-compensate-stranded-passengers">were proposed in the United States</a> earlier this year. Perhaps, if stronger consumer protection rules had been in place in Australia in 2022, Qantas would have managed the aftermath of flight cancellations more diligently.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212793/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/volodymyr-bilotkach-145437">Volodymyr Bilotkach</a>, Associate Professor, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/purdue-university-1827">Purdue University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/booking-customers-on-flights-that-were-cancelled-how-could-qantas-do-that-212793">original article</a>.

Travel Trouble

"What were their parents thinking?!" Teacher releases list of hilarious student names

In a world where coming up with a standard name seems about as trendy as using a landline phone, parents are unleashing their inner creativity by bestowing upon their offspring names that sound like they were created during a fever dream. We are clearly smack bang in the middle of the era of "Name your child after a random object you find in the pantry" – and teachers are the unsung heroes bravely navigating the choppy waters of these monikers. Specifically, how to spell (and pronounce) them properly. Now, let's not pretend this phenomenon is fresh off the naming press. Celebrities have been gifting their kids with names that could pass as WiFi passwords for donks. It was just a matter of time before the masses caught onto the fad like a catchy tune you can't unhear. But spare a thought for those noble educators who are more baffled than a cat watching a magic trick when confronted with these labels during roll call. Enter one valiant and anonymous teacher, armed with a class register that reads like a cryptic crossword puzzle. She unveiled her list of quirky names on the modern-day town square, aka Facebook, explaining that she merely gave the enrolment list a "blink and you'll miss it" glance. Because let's face it, no one has time to decode this kindergarten code on a Tuesday morning. So, brace yourself, because the highlights of this peculiar parade include names like Jaxen (apparently the 'x' gives it that extra pizzazz) and Aliyah, which sounds like a harmonious collision of Aladdin and Elijah. But the true gems are still to come. Hold onto your hats, for there's a Syakyra in the house! It's pronounced like "Shakira", because why make life easy when you can transform spelling into an extreme sport? Also on the roster of eccentricities are Rhydah, Presillar, Christisarah (which sounds like someone sneezed while naming their child), Anjewel'Lea (because apostrophes are the new vowels), and Biar Biar – quite possibly the sound of someone giving up mid-naming. The list goes on, unveiling Deklyn, Alarna (Is this a name or an exotic spice?), Aaryah (a name that looks like a typo in progress), Maz (likely short for Mazel Tov), Angel-Lee (a tribute to both celestial beings and two first names), and Karleb (a rebel in the world of traditional spelling). Social media users eagerly devoured this buffet of bewildering baby names, chiming in with their own comedic relief. One humorist quipped that some parents should enrol themselves in school, presumably for a crash course in 'Name Your Kid Without Making Them the Butt of Jokes.' Another jester added, "This really is tragic, at least none of them will get bullied because they're all so bad lol." A self-proclaimed comedian jibed, "These parents really aren't thinking it through." Yet amid the chuckles and facepalms, some thought the names were about as wild as a cup of herbal tea. One wise soul pointed out that among the chaos were rather mundane names like Diamond, Aliyah, Jaylene, Porsha, and Aalijah. Apparently, normality is now measured against the Syakyras of the world. Meanwhile, teachers everywhere collectively sighed in sympathy as they remembered their own quirky classroom encounters. One recounted an encounter with a "J'ley" (pronounced like Jaylee), a name that's the linguistic equivalent of a Rubik's Cube. A pupil named Pistol also made an appearance – because what kid doesn't want a name that guarantees zero playground conflicts? And lest we forget, a friend's teacher had the honour of teaching A'Blessyn. It's like the alphabet gipped, and the resulting letters spelled "Bless this child with an unforgettable name." However, the chaos isn't limited to the classroom. It's infiltrated even the most intimate corners of existence. Enter Reddit, where an expectant British dad took to the digital confessional to seek advice on his partner's fantastical name choices for their impending bundle of joy. The British bloke confessed that he'd prefer his offspring not be mistaken for an experimental rocket launch or a motor oil brand. He's opting for classic dignity, imagining a world where his kid doesn't have to explain why their name sounds like a weather forecast for Mercury. Meanwhile, the partner, a visionary in the field of avant-garde nomenclature, has pitched names like Fennix (for the spelling-challenged phoenix), Park (because nature reserves are inspiring, apparently), and Diesel (coming soon to a gas station near you). And so, as teachers practice their tongue-twister warm-ups and parents wage a war of wits over naming rights, we bid adieu to a world where names like John and Sarah were once considered bold. The age of the bewildering baby name is upon us, and the only certainty is that there's a whole generation of kids out there ready to conquer the world with names that defy both pronunciation and reason. Image: Shutterstock

Family & Pets

If the world were coming to an end, what would be the most ethical way to rebuild humanity ‘off planet’?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/evie-kendal-734653">Evie Kendal</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a> Last week, scientists announced that for the first time on record, Antarctic ice has failed to “substantially recover” over winter, in a “once in 7.5-million-year event”. Climate change is the <a href="https://theconversation.com/antarctica-is-missing-a-chunk-of-sea-ice-bigger-than-greenland-whats-going-on-210665">most likely culprit</a>. Petra Heil, a sea ice physicist from the Australian Antarctic Division, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-24/antarctic-sea-ice-levels-nosedive-five-sigma-event/102635204">told the ABC</a> it could tip the world into a new state. “That would be quite concerning to the sustainability of human conditions on Earth, I suspect.” And in March, a senior United Nations disarmament official <a href="https://press.un.org/en/2023/sc15250.doc.htm">told the Security Council</a> the risk of nuclear weapons being used today is higher than at any time since the end of the Cold War. Both warnings speak to concerns about Earth’s security. Will our planet be able to support human life in the future? And if not, will humanity have another chance at survival in space? <h2>‘Billionauts’ and how to choose who goes</h2> Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed the rise of the “billionaut”. The ultra-wealthy are engaged in a <a href="https://theconversation.com/billionaire-space-race-the-ultimate-symbol-of-capitalisms-flawed-obsession-with-growth-164511">private space race</a> costing billions of dollars, while <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/oliverwilliams1/2021/12/21/billionaire-space-race-turns-into-a-publicity-disaster/?sh=79056f7e5e4d">regular citizens often condemn</a> the wasted resources and contribution to global carbon emissions. Space – described in the <a href="https://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html">Outer Space Treaty</a> as being the “province of all mankind” – risks instead becoming the playground of the elite few, as they try to escape the consequences of environmental destruction. But if we have to select humans to send into space for a species survival mission, how do we choose who gets to go? In Montreal last month, the <a href="https://irg.space/irg-2023/">Interstellar Research Group</a> explored the question: how would you select a crew for the first interstellar mission? A panel led by <a href="https://www.erikanesvold.com/">Erika Nesvold</a>, a co-editor of the new book <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/reclaiming-space-9780197604793?cc=au&lang=en&">Reclaiming Space</a>, discussed the perspectives of gender minorities, people with disabilities and First Nations groups regarding the ideal composition for an off-world crew. I was on the panel to discuss my contribution to the book, which explores how we can promote procreation in our new off-world society, without diminishing the reproductive liberty of survivors. <h2>The ultra-wealthy and reproductive slavery</h2> The first step in deciding how to allocate limited spaces on our “lifeboat” is identifying and rejecting options that are practically or ethically unacceptable. The first option I rejected was a user-pay system, whereby the wealthy can purchase a seat on the lifeboat. A 2022 Oxfam report showed the investments of just 125 billionaires collectively contribute 393 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year: <a href="https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/billionaire-emits-million-times-more-greenhouse-gases-average-person#:%7E:text=Recent%20data%20from%20Oxfam's%20research,%C2%B0C%20goal%20of%20the">a million times more</a> than the average for most global citizens. If the ultra-wealthy are the only ones to survive an environmental apocalypse, there’s a risk they would just create another one, on another planet. This would undermine the species survival project. The second option I rejected was allowing a reproductive slave class to develop, with some survivors compelled to populate the new community. This would disproportionately impact cis-gender women of reproductive capacity, demanding their gestational labour in exchange for a chance at survival. Neither a user-pay system nor reproductive slave labour would achieve the goal of “saving humanity” in any meaningful way. Many would argue preserving human values - including equality, reproductive liberty, and respect for diversity - is more important than saving human biology. If we lose what makes us unique as a species, that would be a kind of extinction anyway. But if we want humanity to survive, we still need to build our population in our new home. So what other options do we have? <h2>Reproduction and diversity</h2> How can we avoid discrimination on the basis of reproductive capacity – including age, sexuality, <a href="https://theconversation.com/infertility-through-the-ages-and-how-ivf-changed-the-way-we-think-about-it-87128">fertility status</a> or personal preference? We could avoid any questions about family planning when selecting our crew. This would align with <a href="https://www.seek.com.au/career-advice/article/illegal-interview-questions-what-employers-have-no-right-to-ask">equal opportunity policies</a> in other areas, like employment. But we would then have to hope enough candidates selected on other merits happen to be willing and able to procreate. Alternatively, we could reserve a certain number of places for those who agree to contribute to population growth. Fertility would then become an inherent job requirement. This might be similar to taking on a role as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/surrogacy-laws-why-a-global-approach-is-needed-to-stop-exploitation-of-women-98966">surrogate</a>, in which reproductive capacity is essential. But what if, after accepting such a position on the mission, someone changed their mind about wanting children? Would they be expected to provide some sort of compensation? Would they be vulnerable to retaliation? The more we focus on procreation, the less diversity we will preserve in the species as a whole – especially if we deliberately select against diverse sexualities, disabilities and older people. A lack of diversity would also threaten the long-term viability of the new society. For example, even if we exclude all physiologically or socially infertile people from the initial crew, these traits will reappear in future generations. The difference is: these children would be born into a less accepting community. Cooperation will be essential for the new human society – so promoting hostility would be counterproductive. So, what options are left? Using a random global sample to select travellers might alleviate concerns about equity and fairness. But the ability of a random sample to maximise our survival as a species would depend on how large the sample can be. A global sample would minimise bias. But there’s a risk it might yield a crew without doctors, engineers, farmers or other essential personnel. <h2>Random selection versus a points-based system</h2> The best balance between competing needs might be a stratified random sampling method, involving randomly selecting survivors from predetermined categories. Reproductive potential might be one category. Others might focus on other elements of practical usefulness or contribution to human diversity. Another option is a points-based system, whereby different skills and characteristics are ranked in terms of their desirability. In this system, an elderly person who speaks multiple languages may score higher than a physiologically fertile young person, due to their ability to substantially contribute to language preservation and education. This does not entirely eliminate the potential for discrimination, of course. Someone would need to decide which traits are most desirable and valuable to the new human society. However we determine our lifeboat candidates, it should be carefully considered. In our attempt to “save humanity”, we must avoid sacrificing the very things that make us human. <hr /> Evie Kendal is a contributor to <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/reclaiming-space-9780197604793?cc=au&lang=en&">Reclaiming Space: Progressive and Multicultural Visions of Space Exploration</a> (Oxford University Press)<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210647/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/evie-kendal-734653">Evie Kendal</a>, Senior lecturer of health promotion, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-the-world-were-coming-to-an-end-what-would-be-the-most-ethical-way-to-rebuild-humanity-off-planet-210647">original article</a>.

Travel Trouble

Sinead O'Connor was once seen as a sacrilegious rebel, but her music and life were deeply infused with spiritual seeking

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brenna-moore-1457909">Brenna Moore</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/fordham-university-1299">Fordham University</a> When news broke July 26, 2023, that the gifted Irish singer <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66318626">Sinead O’Connor had died</a>, stories of her most famous performance circulated amid the grief and shock. Thirty-one years ago, after a haunting rendition of Bob Marley’s song “War,” O’Connor ripped up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on live television. “Fight the real enemy,” she said – a reference to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-catholic-church-sex-abuse-crisis-4-essential-reads-169442">clerical sex abuse</a>. For months afterward, she was banned, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/sinead-o-connor-booed-pope-bob-dylan-concert-1176338/">booed and mocked</a>, dismissed as a crazy rebel beyond the pale. Commemorations following her death, however, cast the protest in a very different light. Her “Saturday Night Live” performance is now seen as “invigorating,” <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/26/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-snl-pope.html">the New York Times’ pop critic wrote</a>, and “a call to arms for the dispossessed.” Attitudes toward Catholicism, sex and power are far different today than in 1992, whether in New York or O’Connor’s native Dublin. In many people’s eyes, the moral credibility of the Catholic Church around the world <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/245858/catholics-faith-clergy-shaken.aspx">has crumbled</a>, and trust in faith institutions of any sort is <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx">at an all-time low</a>. Sexual abuse, once discussed only in whispers, is now beginning to be talked about openly. I join the chorus of voices today who say O’Connor was decades ahead of her time. But leaving it just at that, we miss something profound about the complexity and depth of her religious imagination. Sinead O’Connor was arguably one of the most spiritually sensitive artists of our time. I am <a href="https://www.fordham.edu/academics/departments/theology/faculty/brenna-moore/">a scholar of Catholicism in the modern era</a> and have long been interested in those figures – the poets, artists, seekers – who wander <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/K/bo90478851.html">the margins of their religious tradition</a>. These men and women are dissatisfied with the mainstream centers of religious power but nonetheless compelled by something indelibly religious that feeds the wellsprings of their artistic imagination. Throughout her life, O’Connor defied religious labels, exploring multiple faiths. The exquisite freedom in her music cannot be disentangled from <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2021/09/16/sinead-oconnor-rememberings-memoir-moore-241369">that something transcendent</a> that she was always after. <h2>‘Rescuing God from religion’</h2> Religion is often thought about as discreet traditions: institutions that someone is either inside or outside. But on the ground, it is rarely that simple. The Catholic Church had a strong hold on Irish society as O’Connor was growing up – a “theocracy,” she called it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/10/sinead-oconnor-pope-visit">in interviews</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/126006/sinead-oconnor">her memoir, “Rememberings</a>” – and for many years she <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oconnor/singer-sinead-oconnor-demands-pope-steps-down-idUSTRE5BA39Y20091211">called for more accountability</a> for the clerical abuse crisis. But she was also open in her love of other aspects of the faith, albeit often in unorthodox ways. She had a tattoo of Jesus on her chest and continued to critique the church while appearing on television with a priest’s collar. Ten years after her SNL performance, O'Connor took courses at a seminary in Dublin with a Catholic Dominican priest, Rev. Wilfred Harrington. Together, they read the prophets of the Hebrew Bible and the Psalms: sacred scriptures in which God’s voice comes through in darker, moodier, more human forms. Inspired by her teacher, she made the gorgeous album “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xncY5WP12BQ">Theology</a>,” dedicated to him. The album is a mix of some of her own songs inspired by the Hebrew Bible – like “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/wat,h?v=Kf24-rgyOeI">If You Had a Vineyard</a>,” inspired by the Book of Isaiah; and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh7s5BKphw8">Watcher of Men</a>,” which draws from the biblical story of Job – and other tracks that essentially are sung versions of her favorite Psalms. In <a href="https://wfuv.org/content/sinead-oconnor-words-and-music-2007">a 2007 interview</a> with Fordham University’s WFUV radio station, O'Connor said that she was hoping the album could show God to people when religion itself had blocked their access to God. It was a kind of “rescuing God from religion,” to “lift God out of religion.” Rather than preaching or writing, “music is the little way that I do that,” she said, adding, “I say that as someone who has a lot of love for religion.” <h2>Reading the prophets</h2> In doing so, she stood in the long line of the prophetic tradition itself. The great Jewish thinker <a href="https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/abraham-joshua-heschel-a-prophets-prophet/">Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s</a> book “<a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-prophets-abraham-j-heschel?variant=40970012721186">The Prophets</a>” begins with this sentence: “This book is about some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived.” Over and over, the Bible shows the prophets – the prophets who inspired “Theology” – mounting bracing assaults on hypocrisies and insincerities in their own religious communities, and not politely or calmly. To many horrified Catholics, O’Connor’s SNL appearance and her many other criticisms of the church were blasphemous – or, at best, just throwing stones from outside the church for attention. Other fans, however, saw it as prophetic condemnation. It was not just a critique of child abuse but of church officials’ professed compassion for children – sanctimonious pieties <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/nov/26/catholic-church-ireland-child-abuse">as they covered up the abuse</a>. In calling this out and so much more, O’Connor was often seen as disturbing: not just the photo-of-the-pope incident, but her androgyny, her shaved head, her openness around her own struggles with mental illness. But for many admirers, as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VLy1A4En4U">the documentary “Nothing Compares</a>” makes clear, all this showed that she was free, and like the prophets of old, unashamed and unafraid to provoke. <h2>Rasta to Islam</h2> At the same time, O’Connor’s religious imagination was so much more than a complex relationship with Catholicism. Religion around O’Connor was eclectic and intense. She was deeply influenced by <a href="https://theconversation.com/reggaes-sacred-roots-and-call-to-protest-injustice-99069">Rastafarian traditions</a> of Jamaica, <a href="https://wfuv.org/content/sinead-oconnor-words-and-music-2007">which she described</a> as “an anti-religious but massively pro-God spiritual movement.” She considered Sam Cooke’s early album with the Soul Stirrers the best gospel album ever made. She counted among her spiritual heroes Muhammad Ali – and <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45987127">converted to Islam in 2018</a>, changing her name to Shuhada’ Sadaqat. Yet O’Connor’s vision was not fragmented, as if she were constantly chasing after bits and pieces. The miracle of Sinead O’Connor is that it all coheres, somehow, in the words of an artist who refuses to lie, to hide or not say what she thinks. When asked about spirituality, O’Connor once said that she preferred to sing about it, not talk about it – as she does in so many songs, from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkP-0rnr_Gw">her luminous singing of the antiphon</a>, a Marian hymn sung at Easter services, to her Rasta-inspired album, “<a href="https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/5945-throw-down-your-arms/">Throw Down Your Arms</a>.” In “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=haYbyQIEgQk">Something Beautiful</a>,” a track from the “Theology” album, O’Connor speaks both to God and the listener: “I wanna make/ Something beautiful/ For you and from you/ To show you/ I adore you.” Indeed she did. To be moved by her art is to sense a transcendence, a peek into radiance.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210540/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/brenna-moore-1457909">Brenna Moore</a>, Professor of Theology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/fordham-university-1299">Fordham University</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/sinead-oconnor-was-once-seen-as-a-sacrilegious-rebel-but-her-music-and-life-were-deeply-infused-with-spiritual-seeking-210540">original article</a>.

Music

Bizarre reasons these musicians were sued by their own fans

Musicians aren’t exactly strangers to the law. From copyright lawsuits and contract breaches to brawls and bad behaviour, it’s not all that uncommon for a rock or pop star to spend a few nights behind bars. What is rare, however, is fans being responsible for landing their idol on the stand. Here are four examples of fans suing their favourite musicians for some simply bizarre reasons. 1. Rod Stewart The 72-year-old crooner has been a lifelong super fan of Celtic F.C., and has been known to kick a ball into the crowd at his concerts from time to time. However, this seemingly harmless act has left more than one fan worse for wear. In 1990, <a href="http://ultimateclassicrock.com/rod-stewart-soccer-ball-lawsuit/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Michigan resident was awarded US$17,000</a> after suing Stewart for kicking a ball the ruptured a tendon in her finger, which she said affected her sex life and led to the ruin of her marriage. Then, in 2012, a Californian man copped a football in the face, fracturing his naval cavity and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11119759/Rod-Stewart-sued-by-fan-who-claims-he-broke-his-nose-on-a-flying-football.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claiming US$10,000</a> to fix it. 2. Prince Back in 2004, the late Prince rented out a mansion belonging to NBA star basketballer Carlos Boozer, and made <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/basketball/bulls/ct-carlos-boozer-prince-house-20160421-story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">some serious changes</a> to the place in order to make himself feel at home. These changes included repainting the exterior of the house in purple stripes, installing black carpet in a guest room and purple monogrammed carpet in the master suite. Naturally, Boozer wasn’t thrilled. He sued Prince for over US$25,000, but later dropped the charges after the singer amended the changes. Nevertheless, Boozer remains a fan to this day. 3. Michael Jackson Three songs from the King of Pop’s posthumous album (Michael)became the focus of <a href="http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2016/07/01/sony-music-tricked-michael-jackson-fans-buy-fake-cds/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a bizarre lawsuit</a> between fan Vera Serova and Sony Music Entertainment. In 2014, Serova became convinced that “Breaking News”, “Monster” and “Keep Your Head Up” were not in fact sung by Jackson, regardless of the credits in the track listings. Serova’s case – a class action which continues to be fought today – cited consumer rights violation – namely that she was misled into purchasing the CD based on the belief all songs would feature the vocals of Jackson. 4. Sia The Aussie pop star has fans all over the world, but her follower count took a dive after a 2016 performance in Tel Aviv, Israel for a very odd reason – a lack of banter. Angry fans have <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Culture/Sia-target-of-class-action-suit-by-disappointed-Tel-Aviv-concert-goers-464152" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly</a> filed a class action suit against the “Chandelier” singer, complaining that the set lasted just 65 minutes and there was no stage banter between songs. Concertgoers who were unable to see Sia on stage were also disappointed that the screens on the side of the stage were not showing the performance as it happened, but rather a pre-recorded video of the singer and Kristen Wiig. Tickets for the show cost approximately US$91, so we can see why they’re less than thrilled. Image credit: Getty

Legal

5 times movies were banned for the silliest reasons

Sometimes films are banned for poor taste, extreme themes, or literal pornographic content. Other times, films are banned for ridiculous reasons. These are their stories. 1. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial <a href="http://www.ifc.com/shows/the-spoils-before-dying/blog/2015/06/10-movies-that-were-banned-for-crazy-reasons" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Apparently</a>, the governments of Norway, Finland, and Sweden worried that E.T. film portrays adults in such a bad light that if children were allowed to see it, it would provoke a full-scale revolt. The Swedish Board of Film Censorship banned anyone under the age of 12 from seeing the film in cinemas when it was released. 2. Back to the Future The much loved time travel romp is beloved around the world, not least of all because Michael J Fox is just so damn fun to watch. Unless you’re in China, that is, where any kind of time travel plot is outright banned from the country. 3. The Interview Written by Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (the same guys who wrote comedy hits Superbad, This Is the End, and Pineapple Express) The Interview was always going to be edgy and hilarious. Little did anyone realise just how much trouble the film would prove to be as it neared release. The film is about a TV talk show host and his producer who are recruited by the US government to travel to North Korea and assassinate Kim Jong-un. Strangely, the North Korean dictator and his government didn’t see the humour in the film’s plot, and had hackers break into Sony’s computer networks. The regime also threatened violence against any American movie theatre screening the film, which worried most theatre chain enough that the film was shunted sideways into an unglamorous video-on-demand release. 4. Wonder Woman Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was the superhero 2017 desperately needed, and the worldwide box office and reviews reflected how joyously she was welcomed in just about every corner of the globe. One notable exception to this was Lebanon, where the film was officially banned by the nation’s government. The reason? Because of the war between the two countries, Lebanon bans its residents from having contact with Israel’s people or products. Star Gal Gadot is Israeli, meaning that the film was a no-show. 5. Beauty and the Beast (2017 version) While there are those of us who could have done without this (perfectly fine) remake, some Disney fans (and professional angry-about-everything-ers) balked when director Bill Condon announced that the film would feature Disney’s first “exclusively gay moment” in a feature film. The news was met with mixed reactions from the LGBTQI community (which we won’t go into here), but with pure venom from some conservatives who believe that this constituted a direct attack on their right to see a young white woman fall in love with a violent beast without being exposed to gayness at the same time. As a result, at least one cinema, in Alabama, refused to screen the film when it was released. Image credit: Getty / Instagram

Movies

Film stars’ surprising jobs before they were famous

Today, they’re Oscar-winners and household names, but before they were famous, these actors were just like us. From restaurant servers to professional jugglers, we take a look at the surprising jobs Hollywood’s most well-known names had before they hit the big time. <ol> <li>Whoopi Goldberg – Goldberg has had a couple of unexpected professions (including as a bricklayer), but perhaps her most bizarre was her stint as a morgue beautician – yep, she used to doll-up corpses for funerals!</li> <li>Hugh Jackman – Before he was Wolverine, the beloved Aussie actor was known as “Mr. Jackman” – he was a P.E. teacher at Uppingham School while living in the UK during his post-high school gap year. Jackman also worked as a clown for hire at birthday parties!</li> <li>Johnny Depp – Prior to becoming a screen star, Depp was a salesman of sorts! The actor sold personalised pens over the phone to “people who don't want you to call them.”</li> <li>Rachel McAdams – The Notebook star, like many young people, got her start at Maccas. In fact, she worked at the fast food joint for three years, but told <a href="http://www.glamour.com/story/rachel-mcadams-glamour-magazine-cover-interview-ok-we-love-this-girl" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Glamour</a> she “was not a great employee” but that it was “a great place to work”.</li> <li>Helen Mirren – She may have played the Queen, but Mirren’s first job wasn’t exactly the most royal role in the world. As a child, she worked as a promoter for the Kursaal amusement park in the UK.</li> <li>Harrison Ford – Before saving the world as Indiana Jones, Ford was just a regular tradie. Before hitting the big time, the actor was a carpenter. In fact, he was renowned as one of Los Angeles’ best cabinetmakers.</li> <li>Jim Carrey – The Hollywood funnyman worked as a cleaner in a factory before finding fame as a comedic actor. He took up the janitorial job after quitting school at 15 to help provide for his financially struggling family.</li> <li>George Clooney – Heartthrob Clooney had many jobs before becoming a successful actor, including as a door-to-door insurance salesman, tobacco cutter and ladies shoe store sales assistant.</li> <li>Nicole Kidman – She’s one of Australia’s most well-known exports, but prior to breaking into the film industry, Kidman worked as a masseuse! She took up the job at 17 to support her mother, who had been diagnoses with breast cancer.</li> <li>Christopher Walken – The acclaimed actor’s career almost went in a very different direction, after he took up the position of lion tamer in a travelling circus. “I used to go in and have this lion do tricks,” he told <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2012/09/christopher-walken-seven-psychopaths-interview" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Vanity Fair</a>. “It was a female named Sheba, and she was very sweet.”</li> </ol> Images: Getty

Movies

Famous movie plots that were stolen from other films

Some films stand the test of time, and you can watch them again and again. But unlike what we’ve been led to believe, the storylines of some famous flicks were ‘heavily influenced’ by other (read: lesser-known) films. Is it plagiarism or just inspiration? You decide. 1. Star Wars & The Hidden Fortress George Lucas appears to be so enamoured with Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress that he took what he could for his first Star Wars film and used the leftovers in the second. Using two tag-along types (R2D2 and C3PO) to tell the story is probably the most well documented similarity with The Hidden Fortress. In a 2001 interview, George Lucas openly discussed this specific component of his influences for Star Wars, saying “I remember the one thing that really struck me about The Hidden Fortress,” he said, “the one thing I was really intrigued by, was the fact that the story was told from the two lowest characters. I decided that would be a nice way to tell the Star Wars story. Take the two lowliest characters, as Kurosawa did, and tell the story from their point of view. Which, in the Star Wars case is the two droids, and that was the strongest influence. 2. Reservoir Dogs & City on Fire While Reservoir Dogs is not a direct copy of City on Fire, there are definitely similarities in the plot (a group of criminals plan and blow a big job) and a couple of whole scenes that are very similar. Quentin Tarantino’s 1992 hit’s famous scenes echo the Chinese film, for instance both have four men walking in black suits, a tense standoff where three characters point a gun at each other, and shooting cops through a windscreen that shatters. Tarantino admits it too, saying to the Baltimore Sun that City on Fire is "a really cool movie. It influenced me a lot. I got some stuff from it." 3. A Fistful of Dollars & Yojimbo Once again we see Akira Kurosawa’s name pop up, with another of his films being used as inspiration for the Clint Eastwood classic. This time the samurais are replaced with cowboys, and a hero with no name (Eastwood) arrives in a small town where two rival gangs fight for control. Unfortunately for director Sergio Leone, he was sued by Toho Productions due to the similarities, which delayed release of the film for three years. Eventually the two settled out of court and A Fistful of Dollars went on to become a major hit. 4. The Lion King & Kimba the White Lion Besides the obvious similarities between the main characters’ names (Simba and Kimba sound quite alike don’t they?), many more elements of the plot mirror each other. Both the Disney film and the Japanese Manga have a bird, baboon and hyenas as supporting characters in the movies. There is a scene in which both Simba and Kimba stand on the cliff tops overlooking their future kingdoms, and each has an evil lion wanting to claim their stake at the throne (both ’Scar’ and ‘Claw’ have a scar on one eye). Despite having many similar scenes, it seems that the Kimba creators didn’t want to take on the behemoth that is Disney. They are quoted in the LA Times as saying "Our company's general opinion is The Lion King is a totally different piece from [Kimba] and is an original work completed by [Disney's] long-lasting excellent production technique." Images: Jolly Film

Movies

5 films you didn’t know were inspired by Shakespeare

Hands up who had to study Shakespeare in high school English class? You may have had to sit through some B grade telemovie versions of the classic novels during your teen years, but many have actually been re-written as blockbuster films. See how many of these you knew were based on Shakespeare’s plays. 1. 10 Things I Hate About You – ‘The Taming Of The Shrew’ It might be an obvious one if you know the play, but in the modern film Heath Ledger is paid to take the highly strung Julia Styles to the prom so that his friend can date her younger sister. 2. The Lion King – ‘Hamlet’ An evil uncle kills the king and usurps the throne – yes, that’s right, it’s Shakespeare for kids (with lions). If you already knew this one, did you know this – Simba’s pals Timon and Pumbaa are based on Hamlet’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. The good news is, the film ends on a happy note and there is a lot less bloodshed. 3. Forbidden Planet – ‘The Tempest’ Considered one of Shakespeare’s finest works, The Tempest is all about the supernatural, while Forbidden Planet is more a sci-fi style. But while there were no lasers, aliens or robots in the original, it’s the themes and stories in the film where you can see the similarities. Swap a group of sailors for a space crew and it’s very much the same. 4. She’s The Man – ‘Twelfth Night’ This time the main characters (and many others) even have the same name (and the same predicament - love). Shakespeare’s story begins on a shipwreck where Viola decides to disguise herself as her twin brother, while in the film Viola dresses as her twin brother in order to play on the boys’ soccer team. In both stories she falls in love and has to deal with the fallout of her betrayal. 5. West Side Story – ‘Romeo and Juliet’ While Shakespeare didn’t have any catchy numbers in his play, he did have young lovers from rival gangs whose relationship led to tragedy. Interestingly, the modern version of Romeo and Juliet did rely heavily on the music to support the story. Essentially though, you can’t beat forbidden love for a rollicking good show. Images: Getty

Movies

Beauty ideals were as tough in the middle ages as they are now

After turning up at this year’s Grammys, Madonna was subjected to a <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/madonna-now-grammys-facelift-recent-b2279848.html">vitriolic online attack</a> over her appearance, particularly what was deemed her excessive use of plastic surgery. The irrepressible 64-year-old instantly hit back, saying, Once again I am caught in the glare of ageism and misogyny that permeates the world we live in. I look forward to many more years of subversive behaviour pushing boundaries." It’s a familiar story. Standards of beauty have been embedded in different cultures, in varying forms, from time immemorial. The standards that women and, increasingly, all people are expected to meet to embody a certain level of beauty, are often based on binary notions of idealised forms of femininity or masculinity, or both. <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> Look how cute i am now that swelling from surgery has gone down. Lol 😂 <a href="https://t.co/jd8hQyi2Az">pic.twitter.com/jd8hQyi2Az</a> — Madonna (@Madonna) <a href="https://twitter.com/Madonna/status/1627713003238965248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 20, 2023</a></blockquote> Women’s bodies have been pathologised throughout history, from Plato’s notion of the “<a href="https://www.rcn.org.uk/library-exhibitions/Womens-health-wandering-womb">wandering womb</a>” which was used to account for every female physical and emotional ailment. In medieval <a href="https://juliamartins.co.uk/what-is-the-humoral-theory">humoral theory</a>, women were considered <a href="https://www.medievalists.net/2011/08/the-female-body-in-medieval-europe-theories-of-physicality-versus-practical-gynecology/">cold and wet in constitution</a>, and more prone to certain afflictions. The association of beauty with health, and ugliness with disease, has been taken up in more recent feminist debate over the modern cultural obsession with women’s appearance as an <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/beauty-sick/renee-engeln/9780062469786">epidemic</a>. It’s no wonder that instances of anxiety, depression, eating disorders and dysmorphia can all be connected to modern – and indeed, pre-modern – people’s experience of beauty standards. In her 1991 book <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/oct/18/classics.shopping">The Beauty Myth</a>, Naomi Wolf argued that the standards of western female beauty were used as a weapon to stagnate the progress of women. But in medieval culture, such pressures were doubly weighted, since beauty was closely aligned with morality: beauty was associated with goodness and ugliness with evil. Such cultural associations are addressed by Eleanor Janega in her book <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/events/the-once-and-future-sex-eleanor-janega-in-conversation-with-cat-jarman/london-gower-street">The Once and Future Sex: Going Medieval on Women’s Roles in Society</a>. In her lively exploration of medieval women’s social roles, Janega shows how beauty “was a key to power”, crucially connected to wealth, privilege, youth and maidenhood – to create “a ‘perfect’ sort of femininity”. Janega explores medieval gender norms to consider the ways that women’s roles have – and haven’t – changed. Focusing on female beauty standards and contradictions, sex and female sexuality, and women’s roles as workers, wives and mothers, Janega reflects on what this study of women in the middle ages means now, "Turns out that the way we think about and treat women is socially malleable, and while some of our constructs have changed, we continue to treat women as inferior to men." <h2>Weaponising beauty</h2> I’ve recently been examining a type of weaponised beauty that some religious women in the middle ages appeared to practise to emphasise the more superior beauty of their inner selves. In BBC Radio Wales’s <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001l1rl">The Idea</a>, I explored how some medieval saints subverted standards of “traditional” female beauty to avoid living lives that would hinder their chastity and spiritual goals: in other words, taint the beauty of their souls. Some of their tactics were extreme. In a female monastery in the Scottish borders, the abbess was a woman known as Æbbe the Younger, daughter of Æthelred, King of Northumbria. As marauding Vikings attacked the monastery, and terrified of being defiled, Æbbe attempted to repel them by disfiguring her face, "The abbess, with an heroic spirit… took a razor, and with it cut off her nose, together with her upper lip unto the teeth, presenting herself a horrible spectacle to those who stood by. Filled with admiration at this admirable deed, the whole assembly followed her maternal example." From Roger of Wendover’s Flowers of History, Comprising the History of England Though the nuns’ mutilated faces did cause the Vikings to flee, they later returned to set fire to the monastery, burning the women alive. But in their martyrdom, the nuns’ souls remained beautiful and untainted, which was what they had desired. In 15th-century legend, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilgefortis">Wilgefortis</a>, a young Christian Portuguese princess determined to live in perpetual virginity, was commanded by her parents to marry a pagan Sicilian king. At her refusal, her father had her imprisoned and tortured. Wilgefortis starved herself in penance and prayed to God that she should be disfigured. Her prayers were answered and she miraculously grew a moustache and a beard. Horrified at the loss of her beauty the suitor rejected her, and her furious father ordered that she be crucified. As she died on the cross, Wilgefortis beseeched other women to pray through her to be delivered from vanity and erotic desire. Wilgefortis’s metamorphosis from female-coded standards of medieval beauty to a type of <a href="https://www.health.com/mind-body/transmasculine">transmasculinity</a> offered by her beard and moustache, is, like Æbbe’s self-mutilation, an act of physiological resistance. Wilgefortis prays for deformity and God bestows her with the facial hair that repulses her suitor and secures the beauty of her soul. <h2>Eternal beauty?</h2> Today’s cosmetic surgeons, in supplying women like Madonna with surgical answers to their supposed aesthetic problems, might also serve as God-like figures in the continuing quest to adhere more closely to the standards of beauty that medieval saints like Æbbe and Wilgefortis harnessed in order to subvert. In fact, the “gods” of cosmetic surgery, like the God of medieval Christianity, somehow enable their worshippers to match their outward appearance with their inner feelings – the states of their souls – allowing them to make peace with the variants of beauty that they desire. As in the medieval past, women today negotiate the parameters of beauty in which they have been historically confined, embracing change and letting their souls spill out as they decide what beauty means for them and their bodies. The pursuit of youth and beauty – and beauty within – is rarely without pain, but as we know, that makes for a powerful weapon. Image credits: Getty Images This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/beauty-ideals-were-as-tough-in-the-middle-ages-as-they-are-now-203751" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.

Beauty & Style

5 unbelievable movie stunts that were real

The rise of CGI in films has made audiences suspicious whenever there is a perfectly executed stunt. However, these films actually pulled of these unbelievable stunts in real-life. 1. Live and Let Die (1973) In Live and Let Die, Roger Moore as James Bond, finds himself stranded on an island surrounded by crocodiles. Bond then uses the crocodiles as a bridge, jumping to safety on the other side of the reptiles. This stunt was executed by using the owner of the crocodile farm where they were shooting, Ross Kananga. To prevent the reptiles from swimming around, Kananga tied their feet to concrete blocks. He then attempted to cross the reptile bridge five separate times, and a few of the attempts led to near-death experiences. In one attempt, Kananga slipped midway and was stuck on the back of a croc and then another time, a croc got a hold of his shoe and he was in a tug-of-war battle to keep his foot. On the sixth try, he nailed the stunt. 2. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991) Near the end of the film, T-1000 shapeshifts into a helicopter and flies beneath an overpass. Director James Cameron wanted this stunt to be real but he had to make sure there was enough space for the helicopter to fit under the overpass. After wheeling it under the overpass, he found he had five feet of space above him and four on each side. The scene was so risky that the camera crew refused to film it so Cameron shot it himself. The risky stunt was successfully pulled off. 3. Speed (1994) This move features a scene where the bus has to clear a huge gap in a freeway. Sandra Bullock’s character, Annie Porter, successfully clears the gap and the bus lands safely on the other side. The filmmakers digitally removed the missing bit of concrete in the road but, the director actually got the bus to fly in the air. A stunt driver sped along a LA freeway and went up a constructed ramp. The jump made the driver go up in the air and land 0.49 seconds later. The landing ruined the bus but the driver survived due to a special harness that was designed by the stunt director. 4. Mission: Impossible II (2000) Tom Cruise is known for being a daredevil and performing his own stunts. In Mission: Impossible II, the actor’s character gets into a fight with a villain on a beach. The guy gets a knife and tries to stab Cruise in the eye, and during filming, a real knife was used. To make sure he wouldn’t lose his sight, there was a steel cable that was attached to the weapon and Cruise positioned himself so it would stop a quarter of an inch away from his eye. 5. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) In the third movie of the Bourne series, Matt Damon is chasing an assassin and has to leap across an alleyway and crash through the window to get him. To film the scene, director Paul Greengrass got a stuntman to leap from one building to another, smashing into a false window. In order to get the perfect shot, another stunt guy was attached to a wire rig and was given a handheld camera to follow the body double. The director said that they had to film the scene a couple of times to get the perfect shot and in one attempt, the cameraman’s harness got stuck and ruined the shot. Images: Getty

Movies

5 films we didn’t know were books first

While you might already know that films such as Gone With The Wind or The Shining were based on books, there are some other very well known films that you may not have realised started out the same way. Not many people know that, for instance, Forrest Gump was actually a novel first. How many of these have you seen? 1. Jaws The film that made us scared to go back in the water started out as a chilling novel called Jaws by Peter Benchley. Interestingly, Benchley based the novel on a series of real shark attacks at the Jersey Shore in the early 1900s. The producers of the film read an advanced copy of Benchley’s book and purchased the rights to the 1975 film before the book was even published. 2. Forrest Gump This box office sensation was based on a novel of the same name by Winston Groom. There were many differences between the two, and several more ‘out there’ parts of the novel were left out of the film. For instance in the novel Forrest is sent on a mission for NASA where he meets an ape named Sue. They crash in the jungle and get attacked by cannibals. 3. Die Hard Bruce Willis became a household name starring in the 1988 film adaptation of Nothing Lasts Forever by Roderick Thorp. Thorp penned the novel based on NYPD detective Joe Leland (the main character’s name is changed to John McClane in the film). The movie has a relatively happy ending compared to the book - one might assume they had planned to make the sequel if the original film was successful. 4. Slumdog Millionaire The smash hit Academy Award winning film directed by Danny Boyle was based on the novel Q&A by Indian author Vikas Swarup. Both the novel and the film follow the story of a young orphan who faces accusations of cheating after becoming a winner on a popular game show. One of the main differences is the main character’s motivation for going on the game show – in the novel his love interest Latika is a prostitute and Jamal hopes to win the prize money to pay off her pimp. In the film he hopes to reach out to Latika as he knows that she watches the program and hasn’t seen her in a long time. 5. Psycho Robert Bloch sold the rights to his horror novel Psycho to Alfred Hitchcock for $9,500 in 1959. So keen was Hitchcock to keep the story a secret that he bought every copy of the novel in the country. Psycho became one of the director’s most popular films but at the time Paramount Pictures didn’t want it made. Hitchcock believed in the film and used his own money to make it, shooting in black-and-white to save money on production costs. Related links: <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/04/five-books-to-read-before-seeing-film-2016/">Read these five books before you see the film</a> <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/04/best-books-to-read-in-autumn/">6 classic books to get you in the mood for autumn</a> <a href="/entertainment/books/2016/03/celebrities-who-have-written-books/">7 celebrities that you didn’t know have written a book</a>

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