Entertainment

In Russian culture, fear has never been just an emotion – it’s a way of making sense of the world. Where Western horror often pits the individual against some invading evil – the ghost, the vampire, the creature in the dark – Russian horror sees evil as something earned, deserved, or even necessary. The monster doesn’t come from the outside. It’s sent as punishment, or reminder.The Russian language is full of proverbs about fear: “Fear has big eyes,” “The eyes fear but the hands keep working,” “Two deaths can’t happen, but one is inevitable.” Fear, in these sayings, is not paralysis but duty – an emotion to be mastered, not escaped. ...

Kiev has blacklisted Yury Kolokolnikov designating him as a threat to national security Ukrainian streaming platforms have begun removing episodes from the Game of Thrones fourth season featuring a Russian actor, according to local media reports. The move follows a decision by Ukraine’s Culture Ministry to blacklist Yury Kolokolnikov, whose global profile has risen in recent years.In August, the ministry added Yury Kolokolnikov to the list of individuals allegedly posing a threat to Kiev’s national security. It noted that the actor, who also works as a director and producer, had appeared in films reportedly financed by the Russian state budget.Several other productions featuring the performer including the third season of The White Lotus, Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, and the supe...

A surprise visit by Hollywood star and former UN humanitarian ambassador Angelina Jolie to Ukraine on Tuesday was disrupted by draft enforcers, who detained a member of her entourage and conscripted him, according to local media reports.The incident reportedly took place at a military roadblock near the city of Yuzhnoukrainsk in Nikolaev Region, while Jolie’s convoy was en route to a part of Kherson Region controlled by Kiev.Despite telling officials he was transporting an “important person,” a member of Jolie’s group – identified in some reports as her driver and in others as a bodyguard – was detained by military recruitment officers.Jolie apparently went to the draft center in person to try to secure his release, according to footage circulating on Telegram. TASS sources said she even a...

A fully functioning, used golden toilet, titled ‘America’ that was once stolen from a British palace, has been put up for auction at Sotheby’s with a guide price of $10 million.Billionaire New York Mets owner Stephen Cohen purchased the 18-karat throne, unveiled in 2016 by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan, from the Marian Goodman Gallery in 2017. The 103-kilo participatory piece was installed as an actual public toilet in the Guggenheim in New York before being flushed out into the open last week, when a press release from Sotheby’s lifted the lid on the artwork’s listing in its fall contemporary art sale. The auction house is hoping for a level of buzz similar to Cattelan’s previous work, ‘Comedian’, a duct-taped banana that sold for $6.2 million last year.Five anonymous expert...

Estonia’s foreign and culture ministries have both voiced fierce opposition to a planned Limp Bizkit concert, accusing the rock band’s frontman Fred Durst of making “pro-Russian” comments during the time he was married to a woman born in Crimea.On Friday, the organizers announced that the American rock group would perform at an open-air arena in Tallinn on May 31, prompting an immediate backlash from multiple government officials.“Those who justify Russian aggression and the occupation of a neighboring state are not welcome in Estonia,” said Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna, as cited by ERR.A spokesperson for the ministry added that those who do not fully support Ukraine’s territorial integrity “have no place in Estonia, nor in Estonia’s cultural space.” ...

A driver for Hollywood star Angelina Jolie has said he was conscripted into the Ukrainian military after being detained during her recent visit to the country.Dmitry Pishikov was part of Jolie’s entourage during her surprise trip to Ukraine last week, but was detained by draft officers after being stopped at a military roadblock.“At this checkpoint they detained me for some reason, without providing an explanation, and asked me to drive with them to clarify some details. By deception, it turns out,” Pishikov told local broadcaster TSN in an interview published on Friday.He was taken to a local draft center, where he was held on false pretenses, he added.“‘Ten minutes, there’s a small detail, we’ll let you go as soon as we clarify’, they said. They lied,” he told the broadcaster, adding tha...

Russian figure skating star Petr Gumennik has been added to the ‘kill list’ run by Ukraine’s state-backed Mirotvorets website, which publishes the personal details of individuals it labels as ‘enemies’ of the state.According to a November 9 entry, Gumennik is accused of “war propaganda” and “attacks on Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” and deemed “complicit” in Russia’s alleged “crimes” against the country.The entry featured Gumennik’s photos alongside other Russian public figures previously listed by Mirotvorets and included a mention of his father, Oleg Gumennik, a priest of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Under the current Kiev regime, the Ukrainian church affiliated with the ROC has faced raids, arrests, and bans over alleged ties to the Kremlin. ...

Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok has been telling users that its owner is smarter and more physically fit than anyone in the world, according to media reports. Many of the posts were later deleted, renewing questions about the bot’s objectivity.Musk’s social network X on Thursday was reportedly flooded with examples of Grok praising the billionaire, calling him “strikingly handsome,” lauding his “lean, athletic physique” and describing his intellect as “genius-level.” The bot also claimed Musk could beat Mike Tyson in a boxing match, ranked him above Leonardo da Vinci, said he was funnier than Jerry Seinfeld and even suggested he would rise from the dead faster than Jesus.Musk addressed the issue on X on Thursday, saying Grok had been “manipulated by adversarial prompting into saying absurdly p...

US pop singer Katy Perry and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have confirmed their long-rumored relationship by posting joint photos and videos on social media. The posts show the pair together in several settings in Japan, ending speculation that had been building for months.Trudeau resigned as leader of the Liberal Party in January and stepped down as prime minister in March, ending his nine-year tenure. He has long courted controversy, from domestic scandals to foreign‑policy posturing.In 2023, Trudeau had to apologize after the Canadian Parliament honored a Ukrainian veteran who had served in a Nazi-affiliated unit during World War II – an incident that drew significant domestic and international criticism. While condemning the mistake, Trudeau also used the moment to reit...

Iceland has become the fifth country to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest 2026 after Israel was cleared to take part, joining Spain, Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.The move was announced on Wednesday by Iceland’s public broadcaster RUV, which said it will neither send a performer to Eurovision nor air the show next year.RUV linked the boycott to widespread public opposition in Iceland to Israel’s presence in the competition and to what it described as the failure of contest organizer European Broadcasting Union (EBU) to address concerns raised by member broadcasters. The network said it had urged the EBU to allow a formal vote on Israel’s eligibility, but the request was rejected.“It is clear that neither joy nor peace will prevail regarding the participation of RUV in Eurovision,...