Double standards: FKA twigs defends banned semi-nude Calvin Klein advert | FKA twigs

 Posted on June 26, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  499 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

FKA twigs‘Double standards’: FKA twigs defends banned semi-nude Calvin Klein advertBritish singer says ‘I am proud of my physicality’ after advert is banned by Advertising Standards Authority FKA twigs has defended a Calvin Klein advertisement she featured in that was banned earlier this week by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The singer appeared in the poster ad dressed in a shirt held across her semi-nude body. Following two complaints from the public, the ASA said the ad framed her as a “stereotypical sexual object” and the “image’s composition placed viewers’ focus on the model’s body rather than on the clothing being advertised”. [Read More]

Astounding ocean temperatures in 2023 intensified extreme weather, data shows | Oceans

 Posted on June 25, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  865 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Oceans‘Astounding’ ocean temperatures in 2023 intensified extreme weather, data showsRecord levels of heat were absorbed last year by Earth’s seas, which have been warming year-on-year for the past decade “Astounding” ocean temperatures in 2023 supercharged “freak” weather around the world as the climate crisis continued to intensify, new data has revealed. The oceans absorb 90% of the heat trapped by the carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels, making it the clearest indicator of global heating. [Read More]

James Patterson calls off his fictional Murder of Stephen King | James Patterson

 Posted on June 25, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  523 words  |  Christie Applegate

James Patterson This article is more than 7 years oldJames Patterson calls off his fictional Murder of Stephen KingThis article is more than 7 years oldThriller writer had been due to publish a book about an attempt on the horror master’s life, but decided against after learning of real-life threats Bestselling thriller writer James Patterson has cancelled publication of his novel The Murder of Stephen King, belatedly deciding that he did not want to cause King and his family “any discomfort”. [Read More]

My boyfriend wants sex only if I watch porn and then play with him while he's asleep

 Posted on June 25, 2024  |  2 minutes  |  286 words  |  Christie Applegate

Sexual healingSexNow that I have said no, he has stormed out and I feel like I’m in the wrong I'm 31 and my boyfriend of 18 years prefers having sex a certain way: me playing with myself while watching porn as he sleeps; then I do him while he sleeps and wake him up after. At first this was fun but then he wanted it this way all the time. If I want normal sex he shouts and says he'll go with someone else. [Read More]

On the beach where US troops landed 50 years ago, a new Vietnam flourishes

 Posted on June 25, 2024  |  8 minutes  |  1542 words  |  Delta Gatti

Observer dispatchVietnam This article is more than 8 years oldThis article is more than 8 years oldThis week’s anniversary will pass quietly in a rejuvenated nation where the young are more interested in tech and social media than memories of the past A solitary fisherman crouches in the surf, his eyes skimming the surface for signs of movement in the shallows. A conical hat protects him from the afternoon sun. He is alone on the beach, which lies 14km north of the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang. [Read More]

The gender wars of household chores: a feminist comic

 Posted on June 25, 2024  |  1 minutes  |  54 words  |  Christie Applegate

You should’ve asked. Illustration: EmmaYou should’ve asked. Illustration: Emma
Gender

The French comic artist Emma illustrates the concept of the ‘mental load’. When a man expects his partner to ask him to do things, he is viewing her as the manager of their household chores

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Bill Withers obituary | Bill Withers

 Posted on June 24, 2024  |  6 minutes  |  1187 words  |  Brenda Moya

Bill WithersObituaryBill Withers obituaryAmerican soul singer who enjoyed huge success with hits such as Lean on Me and Ain’t No SunshineThe career of Bill Withers, who has died aged 81 of heart complications, followed an unusual trajectory. He did not try to enter the music industry until after he had spent nine years in the US Navy, leaving the service in 1965 and moving to Los Angeles two years later. By the time he released his debut album, Just As I Am, in 1971 he was 33, an age at which many pop careers have already been and gone. [Read More]

Heathers the Musical review teenagers safely on the rampage

 Posted on June 24, 2024  |  3 minutes  |  597 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

MusicalsReviewTheatre Royal Haymarket, London Defanged for darker times, the cult 80s high-school revenge saga homes in on the universal agonies of growing up and outsmarting bullies ‘Have you had a brain tumour for breakfast?” “What’s your damage, Heather?” and, most of all, “Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw!” The 1980s produced plenty of catchphrase-heavy movies, but none were quite as kitschy as the 1988 cult film Heathers. Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, both absurdly beautiful and cool, played teenage misfits Veronica and JD, who – at his instigation – kill off the popular bullies at school, embodied by a trio of girls each called Heather. [Read More]

The Expectation Effect by David Robson review mind-changing science

 Posted on June 24, 2024  |  5 minutes  |  1065 words  |  Barrett Giampaolo

Book of the dayScience and nature booksReviewFrom exercise to old age, the latest research shows that what we believe can have some very concrete consequences When dozens of apparently healthy young men who had emigrated from Laos started dying in their sleep in the late 1970s, US medical authorities couldn’t fathom what was going on. They termed the phenomenon “sudden unexpected nocturnal death syndrome”, but that was just a label for their bafflement. [Read More]

Top 10 beaches of the world | Beach holidays

 Posted on June 24, 2024  |  9 minutes  |  1707 words  |  Merlyn Hunt

Beach holidaysTop 10 beaches of the worldFrom deserted white sand lapped by turquoise water to waves crashing against rugged shores, Gavin McOwan tips 10 dream destinations for every beach bum See the online gallery of the Top 10 beaches in the world1. Las Islas Cíes, Galicia, SpainMention Spanish beaches and most people instinctively think of the Mediterranean. Yet the wilder, stunning Atlantic coastline of Galicia, just north of Portugal, has far more dramatic praias – with far fewer people on them. [Read More]